Posts in category Travels

Road Trip to Balloon Festival

Oct06
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Steve

This past weekend was something special. Some of the family went out on the road to take a trip together. My daughter, son-in-law and their two girls joined my wife and I on a trip to visit family in Corrales, NM. Road trips are special in many ways. They get all of you in a very closed in space with nothing but time on your hands. Since this was the first family road trip in a very long time, it brought back memories. We talked about all of the past road trips memories. We laughed (mostly at my expense) about the happenings on those trips. It was pretty cool.

We decided that we would head over during the night. We had to wait for everyone to get off of work… Since we were traveling with two very small children, they could sleep most of the trip. Driving for around 7 hours in the dark is definitely interesting. The most exciting part of that trip was when an elk decided to cross the road. Definitely woke up everyone in the car. We arrived in plenty of time (around 4:30am) to get to the Albuquerque International Balloon Festival! Parked and met up with family inside the event.

The views of watching those hot air balloons getting ready to launch is pretty cool. For most of us, it was our second time. We did have a few first timers…  There were over 500 hot air balloons that morning that launched in the mass ascension. The pictures in this post come from our family cameras. Not professionally done, but we like them. Watching my grand daughter’s face when we were in the middle of the field with all of the balloons getting to ascend was pretty special. She was pointing out all of the balloons and commenting on the ones that she liked. Made the trip well worth it.

Or fun times were just beginning. We spent the rest of our trip catching up with the my brother-in-law and his family. Of course, we had to watch NFL football. We were staying with one of the biggest Pittsburgh Steelers families and watched the game in the man cave. We all got to watch the interaction with the cousins… It is funny to watch how they get along for only really being with each other a few times a year. The running around, laughter, sharing and just talking to each other was pretty cool. When in New Mexico, you have to eat green chile… I definitely did! Love the Hatch green chiles.

Our last day came up pretty quickly, not before we got a knock on the door from a hot air balloon pilot asking to launch his balloon in the yard next door. Was very cool to have your own private viewing. The pilot was trying to drop his key on the target to win a car… Shortly after that we set out for the drive back. The drive back seemed longer than the drive out.. Maybe it was the rain that we drove in and out of all the way home. Overall, the trip was awesome. Getting to spend time with family is very important to me. Spending time with the grand kids is something very special and I would not trade those times for nothing…

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Spring Break Travels

Mar22
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Steve
Las Vegas Strip

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This past week, was spring break for my wife from school. She gets 2 weeks off to get ready for the reminder of the school year. Those 2 weeks have been a blessing over the years, we have used them as a way to get out and travel some. Since I am now on a limited retired budget, we did not have any big plans or any trip way out there. So, we did a nice little trip to Las Vegas and then drove over to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Not too far from Arizona, but out and about, just the same.

Las Vegas was way of celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. We usually like to give Las Vegas a couple days during the year. See what has changed and if any of the construction that we saw the last time get finished. Usually we add a show to the mix, but not this time. I surprised my wife with reservations out to dinner on our anniversary. We ate at Alize! We had an awesome time. From the moment that we were greeted downstairs until we left – the staff welcomed us with happy anniversary. The view from the 56th floor of the Palm’s was awesome. When the food came, we were not disappointed. 30th wedding anniversaries do not come around often (maybe less now than ever) and we did it up nice!

After coming home for a day, we set out to drive to Albuquerque, New Mexico to meet up with family that lives there. Driving across country for some people a welcome task. For me, I am not so sure about sitting in a car for 8 hours or so, when you can get there within 45 minutes by plane. The drive there took us through Payson, Arizona. We had not driven that route before and it was nice to get a look at spring time in northern Arizona. Our time spent in Albuquerque was to catch up with family! We did that and enjoyed a nice soccer game while there (Myles way to go)! Heading home we went another route down through Tonto National Forest and Globe, Arizona. All in all, we got to see much of the countryside between Arizona and New Mexico. There is not a lot to see, but some of the views are just outstanding.

We got accomplished what we set out to do… Enjoy ourselves, celebrate and have special time with family. Mission accomplished!

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Field Trip – Tonto National

Jan17
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Steve
Lower Cliff Dwelling, Tonto National Monument,...
Image via Wikipedia

Volunteering is a special activity for me. Since I am not working at the moment - I have a bit more time to volunteer.  I was lucky enough to volunteer on my wife’s fourth grade class trip to Tonto National Monument. In the past, this all day event was hard for me to attend. Having to work and all. I wish I would have made time for it all along. This is one very special trip. I had a small group of four students that I was responsible for. Making sure that they did not get lost, learn something, followed the school rules and probably most important is having fun on the trip.

From my vantage point, here is what I got out of the day:

  • Those students in the fourth grade at Haley Elementary are a pretty special bunch. We had to start out the day ahead of the rest of the school day starting. Loaded up the bus’ and drove 2 hours. For me riding on a bus full of students before 8am – I had thoughts that were overall scary. Well, I am here to say, it was a very well behaved group! The trip was actually a complete opposite of my expectations.
  • There was work that needed to be done. Each student had a booklet that helped them to learn much about the desert and the Salado indians. As we walked around on the paths, there were questions that the students needed to answer. My job, was to help if needed. After the first couple of questions, my group was rolling along.
  • Hiking up to the Cliff Dwellings was an adventure for all. It was some good exercise for me, I think my group of students they had little difficulty making it up the slope. We talked about what we saw, what it may have been like living back then and just about the jumping cactus. Those jumping cactus got more attention then truly necessary. Fear of the cactus.. Which probably is a good thing.
  • Once at the dwelling, the ranger explain everything they needed to know about the rules around the dwelling and the history. He pointed out that the lake that we see today, was actually just a little river back when the Salado indians used the dwelling. So, think about hiking up and down for water. The students had time to fill out their booklets doing measurements in the dwelling and trying to figure out how many could sleep in each room. Some moments were spent drawing what they saw from up at the dwelling (art time).
  • We walked back down, insuring that we answered all of the questions that we needed to get. Next up was lunch.. We all sat together and talked about what we saw and then I listened to them just talk about anything and everything fourth graders talk about.
  • There was more work to be done. Reflection time on their overall day in the form of writing an essay. Almost like me know, writing my blog post. Lastly, we watched a video on Tonto and then loaded back up for the trip back to the school. Bus ride like the ride up was all good!

I have to say, I truly enjoyed this trip. I will make sure that I plan on this one – every year that I can. Tonto National Monument is definitely a sight to see. Going up there with some young minds – made it that much more special. My group was awesome! They followed the rules without me having to do anything. They did their work! The said, “this is their best field trip, ever!” I think they had fun… I know, I had fun!

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Fall Break 2010

Oct16
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Steve
Ocean Drive, South Beach, Miami, Florida 2009
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Last year was the first year that my wife and I made a trip during her fall break session. We had a blast – if you had not read it before – here it is. For this years trip, we decided to go where the weather was a bit warmer – Miami with a  short cruise in the Bahamas. Main purpose is using the time to step back and relax, read and reflect.

We started off with a couple of days in the South Beach area of Miami. Nice way to start off – on the beach! South Beach is an experience in and of itself. For me the people watcher, I had a ball. We did take some time to wonder around the shopping experience of South Beach. It was a Sunday and the streets were packed with shoppers, vendors and the locals. We had a mission on this trip to stop and enjoy lunch at Van Dyke Cafe. The food did not disappoint! After some more shopping and taking in the sites – back to the beach for the sunset! Watching the sun go down over the ocean is probably one of the best views in the world.

Monday rolled up pretty quick and we were off to the next leg of the adventure, four day cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Seas. We have found that cruising is definitely a lot of fun – done it more than 10 times. Nothing like unpacking once, not worrying about where and when the next meal is and just enjoying time relaxing. The itenary for this short cruise was Key West, Fl; Nassau, Bahama’s and Cococay, Bahamas. Last week’s weather scare of a hurricane in the area did not stop us from having a good time. We did encounter some rain in Key West and Nassau but not enough to stop us Arizona folks from having fun! Cococay is a private island that Royal Caribbean leases. It is set up for all of the usual island fun – relaxing in the sun, swimming with nature in the ocean, water sports a plenty and a great BBQ. The weather was sunny and we had a blast.

I was able to finish Linchpins by Seth Godin, which I will publish my book review on shortly. I was able to get plenty of relaxation time and think about my next chapter in my life coming up soon. For those that don’t remember or don’t know – I am retiring on 1/3/2011. I will be moving onto whatever is out there for me…

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Day 15 and Maybe 16

Jul06
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Steve

It is amazing, no matter where you are and what you are doing – stuff has to come to an end. Well, this trip is really close to finishing up. We packed up our clothes (laundry now) and out gifts for families and friends. Each item we packed, brought back some memories of our time in each city. Morning broke and we had to finally leave the cruise ship and off to the train to London. Everything went extremely well – all the way into London. We took a cab to the hotel (again, lessons learned and applied). Room was not ready, so we dropped off the bags and went out to get show tickets for our last evening in London. The weather was hot again (well, warm and humid)! Our air conditioner experience in the hotel and theater – were less than cool. Either way, we were going to have fun!

Once back to the hotel, we started to gear up for our trip back home. Back to family and friends.. We had a very early morning wake up call as our flight was out at mid morning. Which was late leaving.. Late landing in North Carolina.. Good thing was the flight to Phoenix was late leaving North Carolina. We landed only 30 minutes late total! All good.. We were greeted at the gate by all of our family (daughter, son, son-in-law, son’s girlfriend and of course, grand daughter!). That was a great surprise for us… We really were tired, but see them – put prep in my step.

We finally made it to our house, our dogs and our beds… Trip done.. Loved it. Now to get back into the swing of things.

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Day 13 – Gothenburg, Sweden

Jul05
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Steve

Gothenburg, Sweden

General information for Gothenburg or Goteborg, located on the southwest coast of the Kingdom of Sweden. Built by the command of a king, during its glory days in the 1600s and 1700′s, Gothenburg was a vital international port. Today, the population is around 500K, which makes it the second largest city in Sweden. Where our ship docked, we could easily see that the port is still very active. The city was founded some 350 years ago as a defense against repeated Danish attacks. Designed and built with the help of the Dutch and Scots, the city’s role was to be a gateway of trade and commerce to Europe. Today, the city is alive and vibrant. Plenty to do like visit the city’s historical sites and museums, or the many parks and maybe the simple joys of strolling along the broad tree-lined avenues with many shops and restaurants.

 Our ships dock was many miles away from the city center, so we decided the best course to take – was to take the shuttle into the city and then walk around. Walking around was fairly simple. If you needed to jump on mass transit, there was plenty of that right off of the city center square. We first set out to do some shopping. I have to say shopping was not a problem in Gothenburg. It seemed like the city center was one giant mall after another one. What looked like a simple storefront opened up to a mall inside (usually the complete city block). The prices for stuff was not too bad, considering that we are traveling. I found most of the prices in Gothenburg to be a bit lower than in Stockholm. We visited a few of the major sites but stayed away from any of the museum’s. I had seen too many museum’s on this trip.

My overall impressions:

  • Very friendly people. Every shop that we went into, the people were more than willing to help you out. When we looked lost out on the street, strangers were willing to help get you back to familiar territory (City Center).
  • Free wifi at McDonald’s! Again, I was able to get connected at all things, a McDonald’s.

    Snack Time

  • Ate lunch at a bakery that had plenty of outside seating. I did not have a hot dog, as the experience in Russia – with the hot dog outside of the Hermitage – just made me say – No More Hot Dog’s. Simple sandwich with local fresh bread and meats, was just the ticket. Dessert was a pastry with fruit! Yum…
  • Once back on the ship – we had a great view of the shipyard from our room. Not great view, but watching the operations of container movement and loading – was quite the operation.
  • Lastly, Gothenburg was the only port that had a send off for us. A local high school band (only some of the them) were there to play music. By late afternoon and just off the water, the wind was blowing pretty good and the temperature was down a bit. Those poor band members – their hats were blowing pretty hard. Their hands were cold, but they performed for about 20 minutes till the ship set sail. Then the raced to the bus to get warm.

This was our last port of call for this trip. We had our last day left – which was all at sea. Our journey was coming to a close… I had a great time exploring places that I never thought I would ever go to..

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Day 11 – Tallinn, Estonia

Jul03
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Steve

Entrance to the medieval village

Never judge a book by the cover and most certainly don’t judge a port of call by the name. When I first read this on the port list, I was thinking what is the big deal. Well, I was definitely blown away.

Like the past posts on my stops, we must first set the stage with some background information. So, where the heck is Estonia – the northern most and smallest of the Baltic States – lies on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, between Russia in the east and Latvia in the south. Only 18,000 square miles and a population of 1.5 million folks. On August 20th, 1991 Estonian independence from the Soviet Union was declared (with the United Nations recognizing it as a Sovereign State). Currency is the Estonian Kroon. Tallinn is the capital and is situated on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland. Only 53 miles by sea from Helsinki. Tallinn has a population of 400K.

After walking around all day, I felt like this port of call was just outstanding and a solid surprise. Many of the folks that I talked with were equally impressed with this stop as well. Everything is easily reached from just walking around the city. We landed early, before many of the businesses were open, so my wife and I got to walk all over the city with no distractions (the ships handout had about 10 must see stops – we got to all of them). Once stuff started to open up, the city came alive. Many of the locals were dressed in their medieval dress to really give the tourists a feeling of true Tallinn back in the day. The streets were buzzing.

My overall impressions:

  • The town square was filled with local vendors and crafts – not just for the tourists, but for everyone. Which was

    Tallinn's Town Square

    fun to get a true sense of how Tallinn is. The costumes were a nice touch as well.

  • I sampled the local beer, Saku. A true test to enjoyment is would you drink it again, yes. On hot summer days, this was very refreshing. During the trip, I had local beers from almost every stop – and this is the first one that stuck in my head. (I guess, I will have to got to Whole Foods to see if I can locate some).
  • Shopping – for those that like to shop. Nothing really different than other places along the trip. Of course, if I had some room in my suitcases, I could have gotten some of the medieval clothing. Too bad, no room left in the suitcase.
  • We ate in one of the local outdoor cafes (no hot dog stands to be found) – the local cuisine is now for the jellied veal (sult) and roast stuffed breast of veal served with herring and beets (Taidetud Vasikarind). I had none of that – stomach was not in the mood for exploring too far away (the lunch in Russia was still not sitting well, I guess).

If it is still not clear how much I enjoyed this port – let me say it again. I enjoyed my day in Tallinn, Estonia.

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Day 9 and 10 – St. Petersburg, Russia

Jul02
2010 1 Comment Written by Steve

Catherine's Palace just inside the gates

Public service announcement: here is your very brief general information to get things started. St. Petersburg is situated on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Finland, some 400 miles from Moscow. Considered the most European of all the cities of Russia. City population is around 5 million and is the largest sea port in the country. It is built on a series of islands spread over a wide area. Founded in 1703 by Tsar Peter the Great. In 1712, Peter transfered government from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Catherine the Great continued to build the City into a major European capital. She founded the Hermitage Museum, which today is pretty impressive still. There is much more, if you want to learn more – look it up on-line. One more add, the currency is the Ruble. There money is tightly controlled, so taking into or out of Russia is illegal.

When I think back to some of the places that I wanted to visit, Russia was always one of them. Why? Maybe it was the times that I grew up in; being a member of the US military; Russia was not really open to visitors or maybe all of them and more. I was so looking forward to my 2 day visit to Russia. When I booked the cruise, I was told that I would need a visa to go out and about and explore. Since I did not have enough time to get said visa – I had to do the cruise ship tours. Since we were going to spend 2 days there – I wanted to make sure that I covered as much as possible, we went on 2 tours.

The first on was the big 10 hour city highlights, Pushkin (Catherine’s Palace) and Peter and Paul Fortress. Armed with camera’s and some high expectations… I have waited for this moment for a long time. We set off from the port towards the city center – passing by many residential housing along the way. Some of them are new, some fairly new and some were not. One thing that was noticed right away is the number of housing units and the lack of planning for cars. Ouch, cars were parked almost 3 deep. Parking is tough most places. As we moved around St. Petersburg, you got the true sense of the traffic, navigating around the various islands (bridges everywhere) and the views.

As our luck was not already pretty good but here are some of the causes of the extra traffic and congestion:

  • Economic Summit was scheduled for the 2 days we were there. This caused road closures – as the delegates never had to wait in traffic. Extra security was out.. Got to see plenty of SWAT folks.
  • Was Wedding season – were must have seen 30+ couples (and their families) out and about taking pictures at the many historical sites (same places we were going to). In Russia, this is very good luck. When you see them, you are to make a wish and it is supposed to come true.
  • That evening was a celebration for the end of the school year. Big concert and fireworks needed to be prepared for. Again, road closures or lane restrictions.

Back to our day on the tour. We must have circled St. Petersburg many times – as I started to get a very good sense of where I was on the bus. We headed out to Pushkin to visit Catherine’s Palace. Once there, we were treated to a walking tour of the Palace and the garden’s. I enjoyed every part of that tour. Our guide handed out receivers and headphones, so she could continue to tell us what all is going on – quietly (probably saying her voice from yelling). Once the morning was over, we drove back to St. Petersburg for the rest of the tour. Lunch was local cuisine at a hotel banquet hall (I would comment that it was not my favorite food, but okay). Back on the bus for more city highlights and then walking around Peter and Paul Fortress.

"Poppy Field" Claude Monet 1887

Day 2 of St. Petersburg was a 4 hour visit to the Hermitage Museum. Wow.. 4 hours was not enough, I felt like we were rushed to see as much as possible. The Hermitage is located on Palace Square, is one of the world’s greatest treasuries of fine and applied art with over 3 million exhibits. To say the least – impressive is right. We were able to get within inches of many of the greatest artist ever and their work was not behind glass. In fact, I was pretty shocked at how close you could get.

My overall impressions:

  • Looking at much of what was done during the early years, you can see that the government tried very hard to keep up with Italy and other countries – but they did it on a cheaper scale. What was marble in Italy was painted in Russia. What was solid gold, is gold leaf. Pretty cool – keeping up with the Jones’ on a budget.
  • Traffic – what a pain… I know this cost us some of our visit. We had less time in some places due to keeping to a schedule. We also missed out on visiting the Church of Spilled Blood (due to the economic summit street closures).
  • Our guides did an amazing job – they knew their stuff and were pretty good with answer questions. English was not a problem. What people can not hide is their opinion of stuff. We heard their pride and the disappointment as they talked about certain periods. I truly enjoyed not having a watered down version.
  • We had beautiful weather and got to see many of the celebrations. The wedding stuff was pretty cool. They drive around and take pictures before they are married. I was not even able to see the wedding dress ahead of time. The celebration for ending of school – military school, college and high school – all at once for everyone.
  • Security at Palace and Hermitage (in the rooms) were pretty much older women – just watching what was going on – which was really back-up. As the cameras were everywhere.

I can now say that I have stepped on Russian soil in my lifetime. Who would have thought about that some 20 or 30 years ago? Times change and this was a very good experience.

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Day 8 – Helsinki, Finland

Jul01
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Steve

Another quick city and country overview, or many a small history lesson (your call). Helsinki is the Capital of Finland, situated on the southern coast, overlooking the Gulf of Finland and Baltic Sea. Helsinki is predominantly a modern city with a population of 500K inhabitants. Surrounded by water on three sides, Helsinki has a natural seaport, which thanks to icebreakers can stay open year round. Currency used is the Euro. So, as you can see from this trip, money exchange has been a necessity (other than credit cards).

For Helsinki, we thought it best to finally take one of the ships tours. Reason why is that most of the sites are quite a distance from the port. Walking around town, would limit us to seeing just a few places. Our tour gave us the highlights of the Helsinki, trip to Porvoo and lunch at a local farm. Driving around the city we were able to see pretty much everything. Helsinki has plenty of parks and squares for the folks to sit out during the sunny days they have. We were once again lucky, that we had a rather nice sunny day. We passed by Senate Square, considered the masterpiece of the city. Our trip out to Porvoo, 30 miles outside the city, gave us a nice view of the countryside. Porvoo is the second largest city in Finland, established in 1346. We had time to wonder around the old town part, which is filled with old wooden shops, winding cobblestone streets and narrow alleys.

A surprise highlight was the visit to the farm. I was raised in the farm lands of upstate New York, going to a farm in Finland was not something that I thought I would enjoy. I did enjoy it. The family farm has been around for almost 70 years. The original owner is still operating it. The father and his adult children live on and run the horse farm (sort of a family compound). Of course, Dad gets to just keep an eye on things and mow the lawn. We were treated to some of the family recipes for lunch. I was not able to get a Finish hot dog – as the bus only had limited stops.

My overall impressions:

  • Helsinki is definitely different that Copenhagen and Stockholm. The overall ages of the buildings are newer (as the original city was made of wood – and many fires have fixed that).
  • Since I was on a tour, I was not able to get a sense of the overall atmosphere of the city and the people that live there. From the bus, I did not see many people smiling and enjoying themselves. Could be just a miss of observing on from the bus. The folks on the farm were definitely upbeat and loved sharing their story.
  • Provoo was cool. My wife and I took many pictures. We also stopped in a grocery store to see what all is in there. This store was like super Walmart or Fred Meyers – everything from food to clothes.
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Day 7 – Stockholm, Sweden

Jun30
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Steve

Stop number two was Stockholm, Sweden. Time for, once again, some limited history for Stockholm. Stockholm is the capital of Sweden, situated on the country’s east coast and is the Baltic Sea’s largest port. Population is about 1.65 million inhabitants that occupy about 14 islands that are connected by 50 bridges. The city has often been called “The Venice of the North” or “Beauty on Water.” The currency in Sweden is the Krona.

The cruise ship made its 5 hour sailing into the port around 4:00am (the view of that sailing was outstanding). This narrow trek was lined with many islands with many summer homes on them. I didn’t get up that early, because we had to leave Stockholm the same way (which was early evening). We decided to walk this one as well. First, we were very lucky, as we were in Stockholm only 3 days before the Royal Wedding of Princess Victoria and Daniel. The city definitely filled with excitement and love – theme of the summer is Love 2010. We watched many people making preparations for the upcoming celebration. Many of the public squares were getting new flowers, ribbons for the light posts and special cleaning. We spent time walking around the old town district, which houses the palace and many small shops and restaurants.

Our next, visit was to try and locate the Jewish Synagogue, which is the oldest standing since WWII. Our map was not very good, so I had to ask for directions from many (and I mean many) locals. We got many different answers and different locations. We finally found it, but missed one of the two opportunities to see the inside (there are two tours during the day). Our walk trying to local this, took us to the new parts of Stockholm. It was a nice blend of the old and the new within blocks of themselves.

My overall impressions:

  • Stockholm is another one of those clean cities. Was it just because of the Royal Wedding? I think not.
  • There are many different squares and parks throughout the city. We decided to take lunch at one of the parks small café’s. The food was pretty good too!
  • Another country that go crazy for their football. I guess coming from America – everything seems crazy.
  • If people are looking for a hot dog review. We forgot to get one in Stockholm, but have another stop in Gutenberg.

Odd ball items:

  • Wifi was pretty much everywhere. Local places offer free wifi for 30 mins. With the Love 2010, as a gift to the folks, wifi was free all over the city. I was able to connect! Always love cities that make connecting easy.
  • People were friendly, but trying to locate anything Jewish was a bit tough. Most of the locals did not know they have the oldest synagogue standing since WWII. When I finally found it, we ran into about 10 people that were looking for it too. They each had difficulty locating it as well, with people pointing them to different locations as well.
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