Month: April 2015

April 28, 2015

On Tuesday, Frank and I had signed up for a flight over the Canyonlands.   I took a Bonine pill since I was afraid I might get motion sickness.   I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I did not feel bad at all.  How cool it was to see many of the sights we had just visited like the Green and Colorado Rivers, the Delicate Arch and  Mesa Arch.

On our way south to The Needles, we passed Hole in the Rock.   For all of $6.50 we got the 12 minute tour of this house.  It was 5,500 square feet and had lots of rooms furnished from the fifties when the owners actually lived there. Tacky attraction but seeing the home was interesting.

After our plane ride, we headed to the southern entrance of Canyonlands National Park which is called the Needles because the landforms resemble needles of a pine.   We did all four of the easier trails.   It was quite hot with trails mostly over slickrock.  I can’t imagine coming here in the July or August when the temperatures average over 100 degrees!  Compared to the expansive views in the Island of the Sky, we were not as impressed.  I would have loved to hike to the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers, but that hike was ten miles and listed as strenuous.  Not too sure any of my companions were ready to take that on.   Where was Kate when I needed her?

Monticello, Utah was our destination for the night. It was a very small town. We ate at the Horsehead Grill.   Our waiter, Charles, who had just started his job and it was obvious, provided us with lots of entertainment. I  regret not taking a picture of the wrought iron horse salt and pepper shaker holders.  Nice!

We called it a day!  While our hotel was not the Hilton, we were too tired to care.   Another great day in Utah!

Daughter Kate had plans for us- a hike to Corona Arch. So all four of us seniors (Judy, Marty, Frank and me) trusted her hiking know how to lead us onward. It was quite an experience! You can see for yourself through this pics. The good news is that we all survived and three of the four of us made it to the arch! We are good!

We took Kate back to Canyonland Fields Airport at 2:30 for her 3:00 flight.  The security line wasn’t very long!

Next we headed for Canyonlands’ Island of the Sky which is a mesa where you can drive to scenic overlooks.   The views are breathtaking.   Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Again, it is hard to capture the magnitude and beauty of these scenes. Having Kate, aka Drop n Roll, as our tour guide and lead hiker  was a great way to explore this area.  Thank you Kate for being patient with us!

Kate had planned to take us on a seven mile round trip hike to Horseshoe Canyon to see The Great Gallery, large walls of Indian pictographs.  It rained through the night which would have made the dirt road to the trailhead difficult to drive on.  So instead we headed for Goblin  Valley State Park.   The unusual goblin like landforms were fascinating. They seemed to invite visitors to climb them.   It was like we were surrounded by Martians!

Next next we headed to Belle Canyon which is a slot canyon.  it was amazing how smoothe the walls of the canyon get from the water erosion.

Above is a scene from Dead Horse State Park Our last stop of the day.  Legend has it that at one time horses were corralled on the narrow peninsula.  The cowboys  took the best horses and left the rest trapped on the peninsula to die from lack of water.  The scenes of the bend in the Colorado River were breathtaking!

An exhausting day full of amazing sights. 0ver 14,000 steps on my Fitbit!

April 24, 2015
We decided to go ahead with our plans to visit Canyonlands and Arches National Park.
We were able to make the necessary arrangements for Grandpas funeral which will be on Monday, May 3rd. I am not sure it was the best decision emotionally but everyone encouraged us to keep our plans, and here we are.

Our goal was was to head to Arches National Park. It is north of Moab and has over 2000 arches.  It is hard to image the forces that went into creating these landforms over the last 100 million years.   I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Arches was really an amazing place.  We were all glad to have Kate as our tour guide.   After dinner in Moab, we headed to Green River about an hour north of Moab. More adventures tomorrow!

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Yesterday was our flight home.   We left our hotel at about 5:20 am.  Our flight was at 7:50 am but considering our track record with driving in the city, we figured we’d better allow for errors.   Taking the freeway, we were surprised how easily we got to the Hertz car rental site where we were shuttled to the airport.   Since it was a full flight, we even were offered complimentary check in on our carry on luggage, which made our boarding and exiting much easier.

We had a two flight trip.   Our first took us to Chicago.  Unfortunately that had severe winds and at for about 5-10 minutes we really experienced a lot of turbulence.  It was the worst encounter I have ever experienced.  Both Linda P. and I get motion sickness and felt sick.    During our layover, my nausea passed but Linda’s did not; she continued to feel bad on our second flight.  Thank goodness for those white bags in the seat pockets!

We arrived in Philadelphia a little after seven, were in my car by 8,  and arrived at Douglassville by 9.  We dropped Linda P. off at her mom’s.  Frank drove Janet’s car to Michael’s Diner and switching cars, my Mt Holly Springs and Waynesboro friends continued their journey home.

While we had a fantastic trip, we were all very tired and glad to be home!

On a sad note, while we were at the Chicago airport, Frank called to tell me that his father, age 101, passed away.

Lester had been suffering from a UTI and had not been doing well since Easter. While we were expecting this, it is always difficult and I was glad I was on my way home.  Many details needed to be made and I wanted to be there to help.  Remarkably, Grandpa’s mind was alert right up to just the last few weeks.  Lester was a very special man, lived a long and fulfilling life, and will be greatly missed!   I know the angels will enjoy his PA Dutch jokes just as we have all these years!

Checking out of our hotel in La Jolla, we headed to the harbor for a two hour cruise.  It was a 69 and sunny; a beautiful morning to spend on the bay. We parked on the U.S.S. Midway parking lot so we got great views of it.   San Diego is the second biggest naval port in the U.S.  It was interesting to get a perspective of the naval fleet and the Coronado Bridge from the bay.   We passed by the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan. It is so big that it has its own Zip code!

How can you be at a seaport and not eat seafood?   I had a local fish named ona paired with a Michelobe Ultra which was heavenly.

Our next stop was Cabrillo National Monument on the Point Loma Peninsula. Getting there proved to be a challenge.   Our friendly GPS gal directed us to a naval base.  We decided to ignore her directives and found the park on our own. The park is located at the very end of the Point Loma Peninsula.   The view  overlooking the San Diego bay was awesome.  There is a lighthouse with walkways around the point.   The only causality here was my lost hat.

Sunset Cliff was our next destination.  Following our GPS lady once again, we found ourselves on a college campus along the cliffs.   Passing a student, we asked for directions and were directed towards the cliffs directly in front of us.   What a sight we beheld!   After looking over the cliffs, Linda P. and I immediately started to look for  a way to get to the beach far below; Janet and Linda Hasson rolled their eyes, ambled  to a lookout bench and enjoyed the view. Since It was now past five  and the the incoming tides would soon overtake the beach, we trailblazers had to give up our quest.  Shucks!  Maybe next time.

Heading for our hotel was certainly a hair raising experience; I was driving!  We probably caused the frustration ourselves by selecting the “least use of freeway” option.  We wondered why the crazy lady was telling us to turn around in .5 miles until we got there and saw that she meant a jug handle or a “turn around” lane.  With several recalculations, u-turns, and another vanishing act with the GPS screen, we eventually got to the La Quinta Inn.   We unanimously voted to have pizza delivered to our room that night!

It was a day of creating wonderful memories in spite of our driving dilemmas!

Carlsbad, a coastal town north of San Diego, was on our agenda for today.  We wanted to see The Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch.   We had a little trouble finding it and when we asked for help, a young man we questioned answered, “It’s up ahead on the left.  But there are no flowers any more.”

Fortunately he was wrong.   There were indeed flowers!  In fact the attraction boast having 50 acres of brightly colored ranunculus flowers.  We had another gorgeous day with sunny skies and in the 70’s,  so walking through these flowers was delightful.

There was also a maze made from sweet pea flowers.   We thought it would be fun so we tried it.   It was not fun!

California beaches are sure different from the Jersey shore!   With rolling hills, cliffs, palm trees, bright blue water, and gold flecked sand, we took in the sights like kids in a candy shop.   Even our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches tasted great!

That’s all for today!   Goodnight!

This morning two of our foursome wanted a day of relaxing.  Janet and Linda Hasson did just that and had a terrific day at the beach and the pool.

Linda Psomas and I had other ideas. (Folks who know me know I do not sit still for long.)   We headed northeast about 50 miles to Julian, a town that started in the 1870’s when the Eagle and High Peak Gold Mines opened. The town is also noted for its wiildflowers in the spring and its Apple Festival in October when 10,000 pies a week are baked for tourists.   The whole town is designated as an historical district with frontier buildings and restaurants, many of which serve the renowned Julian apple pies.

The tour of of the gold mine was fascinating.   Southern California is dry and therefore there

aren’t rivers as there are in northern California. These mines were hard rock mines, which means the quartz had to be chipped and broken from the tunnels inside the mine.  Next, they were put in a big noisy machine that crushed the rock into dust.  On a water tray,  mercury was then used to attrack the gold dust  to separate it from the dirt.

Did you know that tunnels were made in levels in the mines? We got to tour levels 5 and 6, which were on the ground level and one higher.  In its heyday, miners used candles – no electric back then.  The mine closed in 1927.  Since it took a ton of rock to extract 2 oz. of gold,  hard rock mining was not a get rich quick operation.

While the gold mine tour was memorable it turned out to be costly.  I dropped my camera.  Hitting a rail track, it was a mine casualty.  With Linda’s savvy tec skills, we found a Walmart in them their hills, and with a mere swipe, my problem was solved.

We set off for the zoo.  Linda Psomas was the chauffeur and I was behind the GPS.  It was supposed to take us 24 minutes.  However, a few wrong turns, an illegal u turn, a disappearing GPS screen, and an unplanned stop at a storage unit  extended our trip to almost an hour.  I am happy to report that we finally got there safe and sound!

Linda Psomas, who adores tigers, wore her tiger shirt for good luck, but those big cats never came out of their den.  We did get some great pictures of the Giant Pandas and saw lots and lots of other birds and animals.   I had never seen a live kookaburra before.   Of course I had to sing the kookaburra sits in the old gum tree song, but he was not impressed.   Not even a chuckle from that bird!

The zoo is located in Balboa Park.  This park was the site of two international expositions, one in 1915 and the other in 1935.  Today it is a cultural and recreational center housing 15 museums and performing art venues.   The 200 foot California Tower houses a 100 bell carillon that chimes every 15 minutes and reminded us of the Old Main bells from our Millersville days.

The pool and hot tub at our hotel provided some much need R&R after hiking all over the hilly paths at the zoo and the cobblestone pathways in Balboa Park.  I felt every one of those 12,989 steps that were displayed on my Fit Bit!  Although tiring, we made some awesome memories at two very unique places.

There was one event from yesterday that I neglected to share. Our first adventure was to see the Pacific. Unfortunately at times we get too carried away with taking pictures. See for yourself what can happen.

This morning we headed to Old Town State Historic Park in the city. This is an area of the city where there are restored and reconstructed buildings that capture what San Diego was like from 1821-1872.  It reminded me of the Mexican version of Williamsburg with a lot more shops than actual museums and period actors. We decided to take The Old Town Trolley  to get an overview of the city first.

We got to drive through Balboa Park, the Gaslamp Quarter, the Seaport Village and saw  the USS Midway aircraft carrier, the San Diego-Coronado Bridge, the Navy yard, Little Italy, and Petco Park where  the Padres play. Above are some of my favorite pictures from our tour.

Getting back to our hotel Linda Psomas’ diet coke, which she had saved in our rooms’ refrigerator acted like an erupting volcano. No soda for her!

What could be better than ending our day with a gorgeous sunset on the beach?

Spending time with the pandas is the plan for tomorrow!