Where's Wilderness: Our Cross Country Drive

May 7, Friday, Shanghai Bund Skyline, Yu Gardens

2010-07-14T11:03:00.000-07:00

May 7, Friday, Shanghai Bund Skyline, Yu Gardens

Beautiful, clear sky outside the window - 30 stories up - looking out over Shanghai. I won't say that the air is pollution-free, but it is much better than the rest of our trip so far and it feels bright and cheery rather than overcast.

As we ride the elevators down to the lobby for breakfast - and back up - and such - we have "incidents" where various elevator-sharers with us don't pay close attention and just step out the door - when it isn't their floor - then have to leap back in before the door closes. After a few of these happen, someone suggest that "there ought to be a word for that - for leaving an elevator before you actually get to your floor".

So I chew on that idea a bit and proudly come up with: "Premature Elevacuation". Learn it. Use it twice in a sentence today and it will become yours. I have no idea how it would translate to Chinese.

Down to the bus and a quick tour about town - tantalizingly whisking past what is usually considered THE skyline of Shanghai: the view from the Bund. We're in "Old Shanghai", but our bus whisks past the waterfront and across the river is the section with the new huge skyscrapers including the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and "the bottle opener" building - the SWFC: Shanghai World Financial Center. We'll get a much-better view of these later this afternoon, but have to just have our appetites whetted - for now. I do really love the look of the Pearl TV Tower: SO distinctive - and we hear that it lights up in different colors at night. I'm getting used to seeing and hearing about very-tall buildings and these are in the general category of the World Trade Center in New York - which means that they are "tall, but not world-class anymore". A little Google work shows that Dubai has just creamed all of the competition here: they have a building which is over 2700 feet high - as compared to these which are in the 1000-1300-foot range. So. Yes, these are "noteworthy" buildings, but while each city's guide tells us that *their* city's buildings are "the tallest in the world", Dubai has firmly taken that crown. At least for now.

But. We whisk past and I'm disappointed to hear that we're heading, instead, to Yu Gardens: "a charming shopping area recreated in the old style for tourists". Sigh. Sounds really cheesy and dumb.

But we pull in, park, and run a small gauntlet of vendors hawking actually-surprisingly-cute tourist stuff - and step through an archway - into - well - into a lot of fun. OK. I understand that this whole area was specifically *built* as a tourist trap, but they did a great job of making something that is fun for tourists. And most of the tourists are *Chinese* tourists.

WHAT is that? Dumplings on a stick? It isn't until I get back *home* that I watch Anthony Bourdain on FoodTV - who shows that these are more-traditional dumplings. They are huge (relative to the ones we'd been having) and they are carefully constructed so that only when they are steamed super-hot - do they "melt" inside and create a yummy broth. So the straw isn't to *carry* the dumpling with - it is to slurp out the broth - with. Basically, you *drink* your dumpling before eating the outsides. But I don't know that right now, so I don't try one. Pity.

It's a whole little city of shopping: T-shirts, chopsticks, trinkets, gobs of different smells and tastes - and the skyline of New Shanghai is periodically visible over the old.

Shortly, we emerge onto a beautiful small pond in the middle of it all - with a cool walkway zig-zagging itself across. In the middle of it all, 2 workmen quietly repaint a planter - between the inlaid stones - and we emerge at the entrance to YuYuan Gardens - smack in the middle of all of this.

Next: YuYuan Gardens: More Blood-pressure medication

May 6, Thursday, Shanghai Arrival

2010-07-10T06:55:00.000-07:00

May 6, Thursday, Shanghai Arrival

New airport, new city, new local guide (though, of course, Chen is still with us and doing a great job of keeping things running smoothly). We quickly collect our bags and load onto the bus for the half-hour drive into the city. It seems that more and more airports are being built far from city center - worldwide - just in order to get enough free land to do so.

It's still overcast and kind of dreary. The scenery outside the bus slowly changes from farmland to old-style decrepit low houses - then slowly gives way to brand-new Western-looking condos, then higher-and-higher-rise buildings.

As we drive, Chen offers to tell us what animal we are - from the Chinese zodiac. I'm a Sheep. Kathy is a Monkey. They are determined in a 12-year cycle - so your year of birth determines your "sign". In the process, everyone on the bus eventually yells out their year of birth - and Kathy and I firmly confirm that we're the youngest there - by almost a decade. This group is getting around quite well, but it is another reminder to me to "do while you're still young enough to be ABLE to do - and enjoy": we're glad that we're getting this experience so "young".

We finally approach The City as sun sets. And Shanghai, like other Chinese cities we see - has been lit. Beautiful colored strips of light adorn all of the tall buildings and even the highways - and flash light shows for a few hours each evening. Really cool. The sky line is very tall - and wide. Shanghai has more than 19 Million people - which is more than double the "greater New York City" population.

We thread our way past the site of "Shangai Expo" - the World's Fair opening up *this week*. The fair grounds are huge and we drive over and past it for maybe 10 minutes - peering out the windows of the bus then back into a stand of highrises. The architectures of the buildings are specifically designed to be striking - and we're told that over 300 high rise skyscrapers have been created there in just the last decade or so. A fevered pace of building and construction. But tucked in around the city are collections of old-style houses and parks, too, so the view is always-changing. The highway is a true *high* way - elevated perhaps 50 feet above ground level so I get a feeling of "flying low" through the city. The blue lights are the *bottom* of the highway.

It is beautiful. It is huge. It is NEW. It is *clean*. It is definitely cosmopolitan. It feels like a new, clean, hip, New York City.

We pull up to our pre-arranged dinner spot lit and beautiful - and ride the escalator to the 2nd floor to our familiar group of tables with lazy-susan's in the middle. As we take our seats, one of our co-travellers who has been - well - getting a reputation for being a bit grumpy - leans in and confides "I don't like Chinese (food)".

I nearly burst out laughing. And it gives me a good reminder to "find the good where you are instead of focussing on the bad". WHY would you pay to go on a trip where you know you "don't like the food"? Of course, that wasn't the only thing he didn't like. Seemed like he was constantly grumbling to himself - in this amazing, colorful, surprising country. I just have to smile in memory and remind myself to NOT become that guy - regardless of *what* I'm doing.

A short trip to the Shanghai Hilton. Elegant. Beautiful. Very high-rise (maybe 75 stories?). We wind up on the 30th floor and get familiar with the elevator and sharing it for plenty of traffic. Beautiful view.

I hook up my laptop and find FACEBOOK!!! and Blogspot!!! The hotel is charging double the "usual" rate to hookup to the internet ($15 per day), but they apparently have their own un-filtered access - perhaps their own satellite link - so the content-blocking of the Chinese government - has been circumvented. Nice to be able to get to whatever I want again. And a reminder of how - well - silly - it is for the Chinese government to *try* to censor information: it's available anyway. I get to catch up on my "internet fix" for a bit.

Then we decide to explore just a bit on our own. Down the elevator and out onto the street. Up onto a nice pedestrian walkway - elevated under the highway - and over to Nanjing Road: the "shopping mecca" - or so we've been told.

The intersection starts with an old monastery right there in the center of town - right next to an 8-story high shopping Mall - look to the right of the monastery to see the mall.

Nanjing Road has been decorated with lights in the trees which all change color together - slowly cycling between 4 or 5 different colors. Quite pretty - as we walk hand-in-hand down the street - passing big-name Western-brand stores that are too high-end for *us* to ever shop in - all of the places that spend more on advertising than on merchandise - the places where you don't buy things unless you're just trying to impress someone with the label.

But it is a nice walk for a half-hour or so and a nice romantic introduction to Shanghai.

Back up and over the pedestrian walkway and to the Hilton. And to bed. Here we are in *Shanghai* at the end of our 6th day.

Xian Farm Community - Part 2

2010-07-07T05:52:00.000-07:00

May 6, Thursday, Xian Farm Community - Part 2

We're lead thru an entryway to a smaller courtyard where there is a display of manual farm implements. Our host joins me and Art in demonstrating the grinding wheel (NOT easy to turn), then we enter a "typical farm house" next to it. Some of the implements and ways are still used, but they also use mechanization (tractors, etc) to multiply productivity. I have to keep reminding myself that, for the most part, this isn't a museum reconstruction of "how things were" - but is "how things ARE" - the melding, as before, of old ways with big-screen TV's and cellphones. It really is a different mindset. I'm used to looking at log cabins or museum rooms which are entirely artificial - and, in contrast, this is *real*. No need for a curator to certify the authenticity.

We're struck by the arrangement of stove and bed. That's the kitchen stove to the left (where the pot is). There are tunnels from under the stove - right out under the bed - to heat the bed. Double-duty on the stove. Note also the *hard* "pillows". Yes. The black enameled box and the marble pedestal - are *pillows*. The belief is to always seek *balance*. Yin and Yang. So if your mattress is soft (though it doesn't look that soft to *me*), you are supposed to have a *hard* pillow. Balance. Chi. And though it seems quite undesirable to me, well, it seems to work for *them*.

A spinning wheel and loom are in the corner of the "living room" and I can't resist giving a couple of twists to the Spinning Wheel. You can see that the mechanical advantage is huge: each spin of the big wheel causes maybe 100 revolutions of the little white spindle.

We're lead back out of the house and into - well - a studio. Upstairs to the 2nd floor and we arrive at a large room just *covered* with the original artwork of our host. It seems that he is quite multi-talented. He was playing the cymbal during the dragon dance - and now he sits and plays his simple bamboo flute. Just a short, simple tune, but very appropriate.
Then he lifts a brush and with deceptively-simple strokes, beautiful flowers begin to emerge. In less than 5 minutes a beautiful original piece of art - has flowed from his hand, through the brush, and onto the paper. He adds his red stamps (lower left and middle right) - THE way that Chinese paintings are signed - and I'm just amazed at how quickly it all just emerged.

Of course, when we entered, we quietly conferred with each other and agreed that we certainly didn't need to be trying to safely transport original art all the way back to Florida. But. Kathy finds a pair of paintings that would just go *so* well in our Guest room - and our host shows us that purchases include a nice box which will easily allow transport. Annnd before we know it, we have spent a *very* modest amount of money - for *3* original paintings. You'll just have to come visit us to see them. It just feels good to carry something halfway around the world and have something so "real" to hang on our walls. I don't think that many of our group resisted the temptation to own a piece - or two or three.

Back outside and I have to try another implement. Nope. I have NO idea what this does. Still don't. If you can tell me, please do.

We say our goodbye's and troop back out onto the street and get to peek into a courtyard with some women playing MahJong then on down the street flanked by old brick buildings then into an old Buddhist temple which had to be hidden during the Cultural Revolution while religion was totally outlawed. I just *loved* the carving of the happy Buddah face. Reminds me of Dom DeLuise.

Back outside and on down the road to the fields of flowers Kiwi fruit and that beautiful, lush, green, heavy-headed wheat that I mentioned earlier. We are told that it should be golden and ripe in about another month. Wish I could see that. A field of ripe wheat is just beautiful: an "inland sea" with the "amber waves of grain".

There is absolutely no feeling of rushing. Of performing. We just stand in the hot Xian sun and absorb the atmosphere - literally - of the lifestyle. Hard work. Smiling people.

We amble back toward the bus and are captured by a litter of puppies.

A little further and, painting in hand, I stop to scratch behind the ears of another tiny little dog, tail between his legs - looking SO much like he just wanted some friendly attention. OK, OK...after I petted him Betsy nicely offers me some hand sanitizer and I gratefully accept it - but he was *such* a little cutie.

We pack up our memories and get back onto the bus - and are whisked off to the airport. Good bye Xian!!

Except that our flite is delayed by a couple of hours, so we sit in the airport, comfortably talking and *then* board the plane to Shanghai!

Next: Shanghai

Xian Farm Community: Dragon Dance

2010-07-03T10:49:00.001-07:00

May 6, Thursday, Xian Farm Community

Start the day getting our bags packed again and outside the door: we're flying to Shanghai today, then down to the lobby for another huge spread of choices in our buffet breakfast, then onto the bus to head for a farming community. While we're still in downtown Xian, I'm reminded that this is a weekday and the morning traffic is rather chaotic: I'm glad that *I* am not trying to drive a bus here but I'm again reminded of "the Asian way of driving" - the cooperative method where "everybody just finds a way to flow together WITHOUT honking and cursing and flipping others off". RULES, per se, aren't the guide. This is a case where "can't we all just get along" really *does* work - if everybody cooperates and pays attention to their fellow drivers.

Kathy looks out the window and notices a couple of women doing their morning exercises in the plaza in front of a business. We see people exercising everywhere in China: people doing their Tai Chi or yoga - right out on the streets. Perhaps these women work in one of these buildings. Perhaps they just enjoy the large open space.

Finally we clear the city traffic and the scenery changes back to the green farmland. We transition back to a 2-lane road and suddenly the bus screeches to a halt: our guide for the day is sitting beside the road waiting for us - in an unexpected spot. He directs the bus driver to use "the back entrance" to the farm community we'll be visiting. The fields around us are *packed* with green wheat - soaking up the warm sun. Just beautiful.

We bounce over the road and pull to a stop and pile out onto the street as we follow our guides down to... whatever they have planned for us.

Another reminder of "the blending of old and new": I notice that our Xian guide, Jing, has on an IZOD shirt and logo - as we walk down the street of this farming village which seems totally removed from the modern world.

We troop into a small courtyard and immediately are "taken" with the cute Chinese babies. Again.

Then the people of the village give us a show: A dragon dance! The "music" is much like the Chinese Opera music - percussion with the "boing-y" cymbal, but here, it is appropriate and fun as the dragon bounces and weaves his way around. Loads of fun!

We applaud, then are invited to take a spot and *be* the dragon! I'm never shy, so I jump right in and wind up as the *head* of the dragon while other brave souls from our group fill out the necessary cadre. COOOL! My initial reticence at being able to handle the job
quickly gives way to pure silliness, excitement, and joy. I'm running around like a total fool - bouncing the dragon head (which makes it's mouth swing open and shut), "licking" people with the mouth - and then being reminded to "tie him in a knot" - so I double back and under and in circles - and note that the rest of the dragon is too smart to get in trouble: they keep managing to stay untangled. I am having *way* too much fun with this and they just keep playing, so we just keep running around being a dragon. It is a *blast*. Remember that we're *all*, well - over 50 - and I feel like a 5-yr-old and I'm LOVING it.

Finally the music ends and we laugh and smile and relinquish the dragon - and I find myself PANTING: it's a lot more *physical activity* than I'd thought: crouching and standing, running around, hefting the dragon up and down. I'm giddy - but that may be as much the "high" as the physical activity. Great fun!

We begin to resume normal breathing while the villagers continue with the show: first the men, then the ladies. I am struck by how this entire experience is one that Kathy and I would *never* have had if we had toured by ourselves - outside of a group. We never would have thought to look for such a village and I'm sure that they don't do their performances for "groups of 2". Another feather in Odyssey's cap.

My heart rate is returning to normal as Kathy uses the opportunity to capture more of the beautiful *faces* around us. A real "connection" with the *people* of China - without having to use any words. Our favorite memories of the whole trip always wind up being the ones of individual *people*.

Next: Farm Life and Art

Xian Garden of the Wild Goose and Burning DVD's

2010-06-30T15:09:00.000-07:00

May 5, Wednesday, Xian Garden of the Wild Goose and Burning DVD's

It's been a full day already, so I have to admit that I am *not* terribly excited about finding out that we have yet *another* stop today: "The Garden of the Wild Goose". We've been seeing signs around Xian - directing tourists to it, so I am fearful of a tacky tourist trap - and, anyway, we've seen gardens in Beijing so how good can this be? But. We're on the bus and they're driving, so off we go.

We drive through the bustle and traffic of the city of Xian and pull up to - well - a blank wall. My excitement drops another peg: I can't even *see* a garden - and how much of a garden can there be here in the middle of the city, anyway? We're told that there has been a misunderstanding: that the garden is usually open until 4:30PM, but, today, they closed early so even though we're "on time" it is closed. Frankly, I'm relieved. Let's just go back to the hotel and relax.

But, no! Odysseys comes thru again. Our local guide personally knows somebody who works in the Garden, so she gets on her cellphone and calls her friend - still inside.

And. Magically. The wall opens up into a gate. And the bus pulls through. And the wall closes behind us. And there is a whole "Central Park" stretched out ahead of us. It really is like some "bag of holding" in "Dungeons & Dragons": WHERE did all of THIS come from? - and we almost have the whole thing to ourselves - since it was officially already closed.

Wow.

My blood pressure drops 20 points again. We're in a quiet, beautiful little paradise and we slowly explore - not being hurried at all. Just take things at our own pace as we pass a 13-story-high temple and just enjoy the luxury of *quiet* and trees and beauty - in the middle of a city. A rose garden in bloom with quirky little statues. Picturesque junk. We open out into another large square and it is actually nice to see ancient roofs which are *not* kept spotless.

We all kind of congregate around a massive bell - which you can ring for a small fee and the deep "goonnnng" is just what you would expect - and very satisfying.

We split up again and find a Stone Pony which I suspect Bruce Springsteen never heard of. There are stone mounting blocks beside it, so I decide that it is OK to *ride* the pony and feel the joy of being a silly child while I do.

We seem to have gotten to the effective end of the park, so we slowly wend our way back toward the front, passing more "interesting things" on the way take a good look. This is a carving. Find the face, then work your way out from there.

It's just... *nice*.

We work our way back through the rose garden and back out to the bus. What a great ending to the day.

Back to the Sheraton and I try to burn some DVD's of the photos taken to this point - only to find that the old laptop I brought - just won't do the job. I suspect that it doesn't have enough RAM to handle the job of verifying the contents, but the bottom line is that I discover that I can't make back-up copies of the photos while we're in China. That's OK. We've got room on the SD cards.

So off to bed - and we've now finished day *5* of our 20 day tour.

Tomorrow we travel to a wheat farm / village outside of Xian - then fly to Shanghai!!!

Xian Glasses, Dumplings, Jade, University Visit

2010-06-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

May 5, Wednesday, Xian Glasses, Dumplings, Jade, University Visit

Odysseys, as usual, makes good use of our drive time as we wend our way back to Xian - as our guides talk to us. Among other things, we hear that anyone who is looking for a good deal on Chinese prescription glasses - needs to be careful to find an Optician who routinely handles Westerners - because Chinese glasses are *shaped* differently in order to fit the less-prominent nose bridge: they don't have the big bump that Westerners do - so they have to build their frames in a way that they don't fit Western faces.

As we pass through a toll booth, we notice that even though we're on a highway - that there are beautiful Bonsai trees potted and beautifully presented - just to make things prettier. Maybe this isn't such a big deal, but I think of having Bonsai's in a toll plaza on the New Jersey Turnpike - and it seems rather a remarkable "extra effort".

We unload at our Xian restaurant - and trek up to the 2nd floor to sit in front of the very-familiar lazy susan - and the appetizer course is presented in a way that clearly shows us that it is not pork or beef. Quite tasty.

But that is just the beginning. This turns into one of the most-memorable meals that we will have in China; DUMPLING LUNCH!

OK. It doesn't *sound* that exciting, but we are served a wicker basket of dumplings. Delicious. Nothing terribly unusual.

Then another. And another. And another. And when I finally start paying attention, each round is entirely *different*. Not just the contents: Shrimp, pork, chicken, walnut(!!), duck.... and on and on - but each dumpling is carefully *shaped* to reflect the filling. Each little dumpling is a complete work of art. It is almost a shame to pop them into our mouths, but they're delicious - and varied.
Even one that is shaped like a little oyster - complete with a pea for a "pearl".

They just keep coming. 5 different kinds. 10 different kinds. We're stuffed and "couldn't possibly eat another" - until the NEXT one comes out and is just too clever (and delicious) to resist.

Ultimately we are served **16** different kinds of dumplings (plus the appetizer - plus a huge pot of soup - boiled right at our table).

OK. I know. I get too excited about food, but this was *entertainment* as well as a meal. Just a really wonderful surprise when all I was expecting - was lunch.

Great stuff!

We waddle down the stairs and back to the bus for a short trip to another "retail therapy" session: a Jade Factory. We're shown how the figures are individually, carefully, shaped by hand - on little grind wheels - and we get an explanation of how to tell fine Jade (hold it up to the light: fine Jade has a transluscence and glow to it)... and the difference between Jade and Jadeite. I always assumed that Jadeite was "the cheap plastic imitation of Jade" - but it is exactly the other way around. The "good stuff" is the Jadeite because it is harder, has a higher inner glow, and is more difficult to shape - so it holds up better.

We're ushered into the showroom and it is astonishing what has been created with Jade - and the different *colors* represented. Just a note, too, to point out that nobody had any problem with us taking as many photos as we wanted. It's getting to where in the US there are signs everywhere forbidding photos: "If you want to remember it, you have to BUY it". That attitude hasn't pervaded China - yet.

As always, we're given a choice of shopping at the Jade shop - or "escaping" to a tour of a local University just down the street. Kathy and I decide to split up: she stays to look at the Jade while I hop on the bus: I *always* like to tour Universities. This one is a technical institute and we stroll in through the front gate. As we walk in, a student comes walking toward us - very quickly - but isn't interested in us. He finds a marker in the bushes, marks something on a sheet of paper, and hurries off. Apparently there is some kind of scavenger hunt in progress. I do *love* College life!

We stroll along and engage some students. Most speak excellent English - and Chen translates in situations where our questions about their majors or studies - gets too much for the language barrier. We talk to one young Engineering Management student who is a local to Xian and ultimately wants to teach Engineering. She seems quite happy to talk to us for awhile - to exchange some College notes with us old Engineers from the West. We stroll on down the street and see many students out exercising - playing Ping Pong on a group of maybe 50 outdoor tables. Doing Tai Chi. Playing a badmitton-kind of game. Active. It feels great just "being college" again.

We wend our way back to the bus - and suddenly realize that one of us set down a purse while we were talking - and walked off. Whoops! We all just assume that it will have been "acquired" by someone since it contained money and a camera and other valuables, but Chen runs back in with our "purse person" - and find the purse sitting right where it was left. Crisis averted - and a small demonstration of the honesty of the College students.

The bus takes us back to the Jade Factory and we are re-united with our spouses.

Next up: The Garden of the Wild Goose.

Xian "Terra Cotta" Warriors

2010-06-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

May 5, Wednesday, Xian "Terra Cotta" Warriors

The chemical smell in our room got too pungent last nite, so we changed rooms before we went to bed. We've been a bit surprised to find 2 double beds in our rooms (as opposed to Queen's or a King), but that's what we're getting, so "coupling up" is apparently not expected in Chinese hotels. Anyway, after changing floors, the smell was left behind - but so, too, were some electronics and a luggage lock that I forgot to transfer from one room to the other. I try to explain the situation to the front-desk attendant and she tries to understand my English, but can't help murmuring to herself "So FAST!" - at my blurted explanation. A quick phone call and our ever-available guide, Chen, immediately appears and helps me to explain the situation and I get admitted to the old room and find *most* of what I left - and Chen supplies another luggage lock out of a personal supply he keeps - just because tourists forget things like that. Real service. And, by the way, we've been *required* to lock all of our luggage anywhere in China: not just a suggestion. Anyway, crisis solved and a nice spread of choices for a buffet breakfast - is consumed.

A quick peek out our hotel window confirms that the air quality in Xian isn't any better than in Beijing.

Onto the bus and ride the half-hour out of town to the farming areas. As we drive, our local guide tells us that the entire area is just *full* of tombs and mounds - and that it is suspected that there are still *hundreds* of tombs which haven't been discovered - let alone excavated. Since this was the Capital of China - 2000 years ago, every leader made his own monument to himself, but when government moved away, the peasants intentionally covered the area: they resented the oppression of the leaders - and they needed the land to farm. In particular, the Qin (pronounced "Chin") emperor - who was responsible for killing one million people in the building of the Great Wall - and probably another 700,000 in the building of all of the "Terra Cotta Warriors" - was *not* beloved. So when he died, the farmers had a major uprising and they intentionally looted the tombs and Warriors of all of their weapons (great place to get weapons to stage an uprising!), then smashed, mixed, and burned the clay. So, to date, ALL of the recovered figures were in pieces at best. Dust at worst. So ANY figure you see whole - was laboriously *reconstructed* from the pieces. That's also why many of the figures are shown headless: their heads were so smashed that it was deemed best to not try to guess at what they had looked like. Meanwhile, the green fields we are driving past - probably cover a huge cache of yet-undiscovered tombs.

We pass some low-rise construction and I see what I think is bamboo scaffolding - but on closer inspection, it is steel pipe. I suspect that construction *used* to use bamboo in the same configuration and they have just updated the building materials, but that is just a guess. We see this kind of scaffolding *everywhere* as we drive.

We arrive at "The Site" and Odysseys again shows their "class": most buses are required to park in lots which are a half-mile walk from the actual site and museum. *We* get to pull right past the lot and right up to an interesting checker-board lawn - so that our walk is perhaps 500 yards. With the hills in the background and the quiet morning, it is *very* peaceful and nice as we walk to the courtyard and the museum.

Our local guide tells us that we'll go thru the museum first before proceeding to 3 separate dig sites. The current estimate is that there are over ***8000*** figures buried in this 26 square-mile area (the same size as all of Disney World, coincidentally) - and that only about 2000 of the figures have yet even been uncovered. They are proceeding very slowly in order to try to develop techniques to prevent the deterioration when the figures are exposed to air. So *nobody* has seen at least three-quarters of the figures - for at least 1000 years.

We're also told that the term "Terra Cotta" is a misnomer. The first reporter who came to the site - looked at the figures and decided that they looked like Terra Cotta - but the firing temperatures used to bake the figures - was much higher than that used for Terra Cotta - so the figures are actually closer to porcelain. But the name has stuck.

We file into the museum and encounter a *giant* reproduction of one of the soldiers - holding hands with a doll. It is a representation of the collaboration and friendship with a major sponsor: Johnson & Johnson from the US. Note how small the people are - standing at the feet of the statues.

Inside, we find reconstructions of a chariot for the Emperor - found in the tomb. The umbrella is of note since the holder was quite versatile - able to be leaned nearly any direction to keep the sun off the Emperor - no matter what angle was required.

The walls are filled with other artifacts, but they kind of blur together for me since the signs don't include English explanations. So I wander on out and wait for the group to collect - and walk over to the huge building which houses the first site.

OK. This is the one you've seen photos and videos of. We walk into a large building - and there they are. All reconstructed and lined up. You can see the original "ground level" which is the smooth *top* of the walls. Not the ones with the "18" on it... even higher. So the Figures were lined up in long pits - with dirt mounds between them. Wooden roofs were built across the mounds to protect the figures before the whole thing was again buried to ground level - and, indeed, mounded up much higher than that. So the figures were actually a good 5-8 feet underground. Under wood roofs. All lined up. All fully armed with real weapons. And painted with bright colors.

It is breathtaking. It is wonderful. It is amazing that these figures have been *reconstructed* from smashed pieces. It is a testament to what can be built - and made to last for 2 millenia. And it is ultimately, again, a testament to a gigantic ego and, likely, someone very insecure - to have to build such monuments to *himself*. Really quite sad, though I suppose it certainly provided "full employment" during the period.

We walk along the side of the dig and find that there is *active* excavation going on in the middle section. It *is* a tomb, so there is a sort of hushed reverence to conversation as we exit the rear and make our way to the next entire *building* which covers the next huge *section* of the dig. In this building, the lighting is more subdued. They are trying to carefully control the light, humidity, and temperature - to have a better chance at recovering the figures without the deterioration when the air touches them. The work is slow. Vast pits of debris being uncovered and examined. And a reminder that there is yet a third dig site that we won't even see.

We shuffle past the huge open pit - and back out into the warm Xian morning - to the obligatory Gift Shop. We watch a surround-movie which doesn't really add much - historically - and look at the opportunity to have your very-own Terra Cotta Warrior made - with *your* face - but it doesn't seem like something that would fit well in our luggage, so we collect back with the group and walk back thru the "checkerboard" to the waiting bus - contemplating the vast effort expended: how wonderful - and how awful.

Next: Dumpling Lunch!

Beijing to Xian, Xian Wall, Xian Museum, Tang Dynasty Show

2010-06-23T12:34:00.000-07:00

May 4, Tuesday, Beijing to Xian

Pack (it's surprising just how much one can *un*pack in only 3 days), Buffet Breakfast in the Hotel - and I nearly get caught putting *Soy Sauce* on my pancakes - since it - and the Maple Syrup - are right next to each other and both have about the same color. A reminder to be careful when dumping things onto my plate!

On the way out, we pass a Japanese couple, struggling to be understood by the Chinese hostess. Neither knows the others' language, so *both* are struggling along with *English* - the common language they share. Wish I could help, but I don't know any Chinese *or* Japanese, so we just smile and head down to the bus and back to the airport.

Wow. We're already *leaving* Beijing. Perhaps never to be here again. So much in such a little time!

Odysseys takes care of getting us all checked in - just hands us back our passports and boarding passes - and we head thru the security check. I always *hate* security checks: I get everything all packed carefully, then have to open it all up again, take out my laptop, strip down and put all of my metal into my backpack. Grrrr! And we get a bit of a surprise: "personal space" does not exist here in Beijing. We are told to stand on a little box, stretch our our arms, and be unceremoniously totally - well - "felt up" by the female security guards. They are quick - but very thorough. And this is not just people who beep the metal detector: EVERYBODY is frisked. OoooKay. Not a place where I want to make a scene and wind up in a Chinese jail.

So. We get to the gate and will be flying "Chinese Southern" to Xian.

Nice, modern airliners. No problems. I doze as we fly West and we are whisked thru arrivals and bag check - and onto a waiting bus. Very nice.

As we drive to Xian we are reminded that "The National Bird of China - is the Crane". Extensive construction is just *everywhere*. High-rise buildings shooting skyward.

In order to be efficient, we go directly to the Xian Museum even before our hotel. Since this is the land of the "Terra Cotta Warriors" - the museum is stuffed with them - and gives a preview of tomorrow - when we will travel to the main site. The real "stars of the show" here are rare pieces which have their *color* intact. We learn that all of the original figures were painted, but as soon as they come in contact with the air, the lacquer just peels off. Archaeologists have recently have success with a special injection technique which shoots a glue under the lacquer to keep it attached - but it is still experimental and difficult so the colored figures are still quite rare.

There are also other artifacts like Buddha's and *smaller* "Terra Cotta warriors": apparently the buried figures were originally made of *paper* and were small, then slowly progressed to harder substances - and larger sizes - until they got to life size.

The museum is actually surprisingly extensive - given that it doesn't look *that* large from the outside.

We wind up our viewing and as we walk back to the bus, I'm fascinated by an enterprising kite-seller outside. She is selling little 4" x 4" kites - strung together one after the other - into a line of *10* kites - and she has a set flying - stretching out from the front lawn of the museum. And then I keep looking and she has actually tied together maybe *10* *sets* of kites so that the little kites are stretching almost as far as I can see. Perhaps *100* kites all stretched out - flying in the breeze. Quite impressive!

The bus takes us to the City Wall. "Old Xian" was surrounded by a huge wall - of proportions to rival the "Great Wall" - but only about 2.5 miles total length - in a rectangle. At one point, Xian was the capital of China, so it has a proud history. We park by the wall and walk up the stairs onto the wall. *This* wall is flat - all along (no steps along the wall) - so it hosts regular 5K runs and bicyclists and such - and looks like it would be quite pleasant to walk the wall - but we don't have time - so we take photos and enjoy the feel and view. Both *of* the wall and *from* the wall

A quick stop at the Sheraton Xian to check in, then back out to a Tang Dynasty Cultural show and dinner. Much more tolerable than the Opera: beautiful costumes and movements and traditional, though more-Western-sounding music - including the "horizonal harp" (Well, that's what it *sounded* like to me).

Beautiful - including a piece which is said to have duplicated a wonderful dream that the Emperor had - featuring his mistress. He told his mistress all about it and, as a present to the Emperor, she re-created the dream. I'm betting that she was wearing a lot less in the original dream, but maybe that's just me. And the food was interesting and good, too.

A nice end to our first day in Xian. Back to the Sheraton. There is a strong chemical smell coming out of the A/C ducts, but to bed we go.

Beijing, Opera

2010-06-16T17:37:00.000-07:00

May 3, Monday, Beijing, Opera

OK. The Opera was *not* included in Odysseys Tour. That should have been a tip-off.

And we read about Chinese Opera before we went - understanding that it was "an acquired taste".

But Kathy has always been an Opera Fan, so when Vivian told us that she had an "in" to get reduced-rate, great seats - to a special performance of the Beijing Opera - which had been specifically tailored to Westerners, we decided to try it.

We are on our own for dinner, and Kathy and I decide to just enjoy the roll of Oreo's and the roll of Chips-aHoy that we'd gotten at the Wal-Mart on our first nite. It seems "good enough". Then down to the bus since there are enough of us who decided to "Opera" it - to warrant taking the bus.

We thread thru the Beijing streets again, the bus pulls right up to the entrance, and we file in.

It is really cool that the performers are all sitting in the *lobby* putting on their makeup. It's part of the show. ,

We file into the theatre and we've got great seats: pretty much *right* in the middle - at a table which is set with munchies. Oranges (or at least some kind of citrus), sesame cookies, a nut-kind of thing, and some kind of pickled fig (I think). Kathy and I sample everything and they are pretty good. OK. I wouldn't try the green pickled - whatever's - until Kathy did, but then I try it and it is tasty.

A young man appears with a very VERY long-spouted tea pot - and proceeds to give us a little show just pouring the tea. Even behind his back. Pretty cool.

The band appears in front of the curtain and plays some traditional Chinese instruments. Then the narrator appears and describes the evening-to-come. Fortunately, there are big Opera-style translation boards flanking the stage so we can read - in English - what he is saying. The upshot is that we're to enjoy 2 Opera scenes - selected as representing the best of Chinese Opera. A scene called "Picking up the Jade Bracelet" - annnd - uhhh... another one. Hey... I'm a guy who has slept thru performances of "Carmen" at the Met in New York: arguably the best Opera on the planet.

And so it begins. The costumes are beautiful and striking. But. Well. We find out what is meant by an "acquired taste". Apparently the original opera that the first scene came from - was 3 hours long. This little scene is "only" 45 minutes. And I don't really intend to be mean, but the title "Picking up the Jade Bracelet" - pretty-much tells you the *entire* plot. For 45 minutes. And, by the way, the background "music" consists almost-entirely of 2 kinds of drums. No melody. Just a snare-drum-kind of thing and something that sounds like a "boing" cymbal/drum.

And that's the good part.

The singing. Well. I understand that it was executed just exactly the way it is supposed to be. Which is something like the sound of putting an alley-cat's tail through a meat grinder. Seemingly random wails. It is excruciating.

For 45 minutes.

Thankfully, I succumb and fall asleep.

I awake just long enough to admire the costumes of the second "piece" - and, mercifully, doze off again.

Kathy wakes me at the end - to tell me that it was.... different... Kathy has always been an adaptable person.

If anyone ever invites you to watch a Chinese Opera, trust me. Just say no.

We load back onto the bus and ride back to the hotel - admiring Beijing at night: many office buildings are using LED lighting to decorate - with spectacular displays. Not advertising - just pretty, fascinating, moving light shows. We haven't been out much after dark, so it is really beautiful to see.

And into the hotel to fall into bed.

Take a deep breath. We've now just finished Day 3 of our 20-day tour. Tomorrow we leave Beijing to fly to Xian.

Wow!

Beijing, Summer Palace

2010-06-15T13:49:00.000-07:00

May 3, Monday, Beijing, Summer Palace

Can you believe that the day isn't over yet? With all of this, Odysseys still has more - and we don't feel rushed or packed in - never feel like we're remaking "If This is Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium". And, no, Odysseys isn't paying me anything to say that (yet...) it is heartfelt.

The bus driver does some *really* impressive driving to get us back *out* of the parking lot: very-tight with no clear aisles available - and we head back cross-town to the "Summer Palace" - where the nobility moved their court for the warm summer months - as opposed to the Forbidden City. Hey... you didn't think that an Emperor could get by with only 7.8 Million square feet, did you? Imagine the logistics and spectacle of moving "everything an Emperor wants" across town - twice a year - including all of the advisers, courtiers, courtesans (wives), cooks, etc. It must have been quite the "parade".

As we enter, there is a sign posted which ultimately reminds us that we're still in the "May Day" weekend: 100,000 people visited this site yesterday and (since it is Monday) "only" 70,000 are expected today. It is still overcast (maybe that's just the air pollution) and the fluffy pollen is still falling like a gentle snow as we "follow the bouncing Pandas" in toward the entrance.

We step through the gates onto the view of a large lake. Really *very* serene - despite the 69,976 other people. I can clearly see why the nobility chose to "summer" here. A bridge crosses part of the lake to give access to an island. The Palace sits high on the bank. Dragon boats silently cruise the lake - dodging paddle boats with individual families in them. Really very pretty and blood-pressure-lowering. I usually hate "crowd scenes" but this really made me smile.

Vivian and Chen lead us down a relatively-narrow walkway skirting the lake. It is packed - and supposed to be one-way the way we're going, but enough people are pushing their way thru the *other* way - that it is difficult to negotiate and is slow going. But that's OK. There are beautiful things to see.

We get to the "corner" of the lake, then start our way down "the world's longest walkway". Yeah, I know it's blurry, but I still think it's a cool photo - showing that we were walking along the walkway. It is decorated all along with individual, different paintings along the top. and roof

We follow our way along - jostling with the crowd - following the "bouncing Panda" (the white flag that Vivian uses to let us know where she is) - and stop occasionally.

It *is* quite the long walkway and about halfway we get to the Palace. And I'm relieved to hear that we're *not* going to climb up to it because there's not much to see *in* the palace - and I'm getting a little tired on my feet anyway.

More walking and we finally emerge at an open square with "buying opportunities" and people milling around. Some people get their pictures taken standing next to one of the uniformed Chinese army guards. But I, again, get more "taken" with the people around. One little girl has been presented with a special hat by her proud parents - and she is just - irresistible.

And we encounter "the Chinese Navy". Apparently the dowager Empress decided that money was better spent on beautiful gardens - than on a Navy - so she took the funds which were *supposed* to go to a Navy - and built beauty instead. I can't argue with her sentiments. But ultimately it likely contributed to the ease with which Westerners managed to force themselves onto Chinese society during the Opium Wars. Anyway. As a nod to the naysayers, the Empress *did* build *one* "boat" - made of solid marble. It was a nice place to sit and look out over the lake. Too bad that *somebody* always has to come along and make you wish that you had spent more on items of war.

Meanwhile, people are milling around taking plenty of photos - and we find another Chinese woman who clearly wants a photo with the Westerners. So Art, one of the "other bearded men in our group" and I - get to flank the woman and capture the moment. And, yes, I eat this stuff up! I wonder just where I'll wind up once the Chinese all get my image back to Photoshop???

We're lead around a corner - back to the main part of the lake, and I'm pleased to hear that we get to *ride* a Dragon Boat back to the entrance. Nice. Serene. Just gliding along the lake - looking back at what we'd walked past. Back to the Entrance/Exit.

We collect and John & Judy show us that they got a great deal on a pair of hats. Their friends throw a "silly hat" party every year and they figure that now they are ready. Annnd I like John's hat so much that it plants the idea firmly in my brain for later.... Then we turn around and find 2 little girls with their *own* hats - and poses to match. Just TOOoooo cute to ignore.

Back to the bus and Vivian tells us that she can arrange tickets to the Beijing Opera for that evening for those who would like an extra outing. Unfortunately, we decide that it is a good idea and we sign up.

Next, Beijing Opera

Beijing, Olympic Park: Birdcage and Water Cube

2010-06-14T12:47:00.000-07:00

May 3, Monday, Beijing, Olympic Park: Birdcage and Water Cube

Our bus threads through Beijing and seems to have to make a number of U-turns to get us into the parking area for the Olympic Park. OK... this is another "MUST SEE!" that I am excited about: after watching the 2008 Olympics we wanted to see the venue - the real thing. The parking lot is crowded, so our bus driver has to show some serious skill to thread thru the other buses and get parked. Then we all walk about a block to be screened just as if we were getting onto a plane: metal detector and looking into every bag - so my backpack gets a peek.

We've been seeing the "Birdcage" for awhile already, of course, since it is visible from quite a distance, but we walk another block or two and find ourselves - finally - in "The photo spot". Coooool! Of course, gobs of tourists are swarming around it and everyone is taking the same photo we are. I start to convince myself that there really *is* a symmetry to the structure - that it is reflected around the centerpoint, but then I look more closely and - no... it seems "random". A really-cool concept for such a large structure - like somebody just randomly drew lines then told somebody: Now. Really, actually BUILD this - the size of a football stadium - and slip in enough structural support so that it will actually stand up.

We're told that we *can* go inside, but it's an extra charge to do so - and we're told that there really isn't anything to see. So we just stroll on over, looking at the "dragon building" on the Water Cube side The building was intentionally built to look like a stylized dragon head (the part you see) - followed by 4 other buildings which make up the body. Really pretty clever. Sorry we didn't get a photo of the whole thing. Anyway, we get to the open plaza between the Birdcage and the Water Cube. Now. Am I the only person in the world who thought that the 2 were way across town from each other? They're maybe 100 yards apart. Right there together. The Water Cube, which always looked so cool on TV at night - looks pretty boring during the day - since it isn't translucent. It still looks kind of cool - but flat since you can't see thru the walls when it's light out.

We just meander down the plaza - watching the pollen "snowing" down - and watching the other tourists (the Chinese) enjoy the same show we're enjoying. There's an interesting sculpture which attracts some young women - who pose "in" the sculpture. Sorry we missed the "added attractions" in the sculpture photo - which should give you a big clue about which of us was taking the photos. But we, again, find that we're "attractions" by ourselves and I get to ham it up and pose with 2 or 3 groups of Chinese tourists who want to have a Westerner in our photo (and... you're seeing a trend here... the photos are on *their* cameras, not ours). The interaction with them and getting to be the center of attention - even though we have NO words in common - is my kind of thing. I really eat it up.

It feels special - and fun - and "World Attraction", but it is also low-key - just enjoying ambling along together, hand-in-hand, here at the site of the Olympics just 2 years ago. So we stroll back toward the bus - feeling a bit warm in the overcast day and I'm kind of surprised at how it somehow feels like an anti-climax: the things that I *most* was excited to see - turn out to be interesting - but not as interesting as the little un-scheduled things which just happen along the way. Perhaps I need to make a serious mental note of *that* revelation.

Next up: The Summer Palace

Beijing, Silk Rug Factory, Electronics Store and Hot Beans

2010-06-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

May 3, Monday, Beijing, Silk Rug Factory, Electronics Store and "Hot Beans"

With apologies from our guide - for taking us to another "captive buying opportunity", we arrive at the "Beijing No. 1 Carpet Factory" and watch the young woman who is hand-tying a room-sized carpet - made from very-fine silk threads. It is explained that this form of silk carpet has been made for centuries and only women are allowed to do the tieing. Since silk is so strong, it is possible to use very-fine thread so that the "thread per inch" count can be very high - which gives a high lustre and potential for very-intricate designs. The vertical threads are the backing, then the artist grabs a thread of the appropriate color (as specified by the pattern on the paper when she looks up), then she threads a short loop around 2 of the verticals, back under one of them, and back out toward her, then she pulls it tight and cuts it off with the black knife she is holding. She is lightning-fast at weaving and I can't tell *at all* what she is doing - until they invite all of the women to try it. Kathy is always quite observant, so she sits, weaves, cuts, and stands before I even get the camera focused. So I ask her to sit and do another and she waits for me to get the shot. Talented wife. We're told that a carpet of this size will take *** TWO YEARS *** for the artist to complete. I do some math and figure that the cost of these must be totally out of our ballpark. But we sit and listen to the presentation - and are lead into the showroom for the explanation of the different styles and sizes of carpets. They are really beautiful and it is amazing that the sheen is different when they are rotated: the way they are woven means that the light catches differently as you walk around the carpet. Truly beautiful.

And truly not something we think we need in our home: just no place for it at any price - so we take the "escape route" that Odysseys has nicely provided (as they always do with the "buying opportunities") and walk next door to a huge "electronics and home appliance store" that Chen tells us is kind of a "Chinese Best Buy" - while some of our tour members remain behind and do, indeed, acquire fine silk carpets.

OK. So I'm a geek - but I enjoy browsing through the multi-level store - with Kathy - looking at the Chinese way of "big box store" sales. We are astonished at the number of sales people: literally *hundreds* with a cheerily-faced person seemingly standing in front of *every* item. I suspect that they are all fully on commission, so the store figures it is better to have plenty of sales people - since if they don't sell anything - they don't cost anything. But they all seem truly friendly, not "salesman friendly". Most of them speak at least a good amount of English and are delighted to just practice their English with us - making small talk. We try to find a couple of attachments for our camera - and have to ask Chen to translate to get the complicated request across - and we find out that they don't have what we want, so we just keep browsing. A huge selection of cameras - and vacuum cleaners - and extreme-high-resolution flat-screen huge TV's. And rice-cookers and ... such. Really fun, but we don't find anything that we need to acquire, so we board the bus again and head toward Olympic Park, but stop just short for lunch.

Another buffet. This time showing us that the dish really was *fish* - without us having to ask - and a little surprise. Judy, one of the women we've grown to like - takes a bite of what looks like just green beans - and starts to tear up - warning us that they are a bit spicy. I figure that I'm kind of tired of the bland Chinese sauces, and a little spice would be nice, so I swing the Lazy Susan around - and put some on my plate and bite in.

Now. I'm not a total light-weight on spicy food, but I also don't claim to have an iron palate.

But this is *HOT*!!! Wicked hot. Burning hot. Tongue-on-fire hot. Tears and red-face hot. And that is added to the embarrassment that I kind of insinuated that Judy was just a light-weight - and here I am burning.

And Kathy pops some into her mouth. And is fine. And she eats her whole helping without a trace of discomfort.

Hmmm... I *suspect* that the "green beans" were mixed with some hot peppers - and that Judy and I just managed to get the hot end of a pepper on our first bite. "Lucky Us". But. Maybe I'm just a light-weight.

Next up: Olympic Park: The Birdcage and Water Cube.

Beijing, Hutong & Rickshaw Ride

2010-06-12T08:29:00.000-07:00

May 3, Monday, Beijing, Hutong & Rickshaw Ride

Up, Breakfast, and into the bus for a short ride to the "Hutong" district. This is the way most of Beijing *used* to be: one-story housing all run together to look like a maze of streets completely lined by grey walls. The doors in the walls lead to courtyards which accommodate small single-family residences, but they are constructed "wall to wall" so there is no space between what would otherwise be "outside walls" of the residences. In *present* day Beijing, the population can no longer afford the luxury of using land that inefficiently, so most of the Hutongs have been demolished and high-rise apartments have sprung up. The remaining Hutong areas are now preserved as historical landmarks - so their value is immense - perhaps a million dollars for one 700-square-foot home with it's small courtyard. Most owners couldn't afford to own them if their families hadn't owned them for hundreds of years.

A long line of bicycle-rickshaws are waiting for us and we all pile in - couple by couple. Our driver looks much older than *me* - and much more frail - but he manages to pedal us down the maze of streets. The walls are all the same color and look much the same - because it was controlled *by law* what your home was allowed to look like: everything was decreed - depending on your profession and rank in the society. Your door must be a particular color. The posts over your door must be a particular shape. Everything scripted to be sure that everyone knew where everyone else stood in society. Though I do suspect that the air-conditioner unit was added *after* the Emperor's rules were no longer in force.

Which opens my thoughts about Great Societies. Civilizations build and eventually do astonishing things - and create rules and rule books. Some rules are necessary for civilization to exist: "Thou shalt not kill".... but eventually if a society exists long enough, it codifies things which are just silly and which ultimately drag that society down - preventing any further progress. 13 is unlucky for Westerners. 4 is unlucky for Chinese - because it happens that the word for "4" is pronounced to sound like the word for "die", but 8 is "lucky". Red is good. White is not. In European "court" societies, huge amounts of time were spent developing and enforcing rules about "court behavior": TINY little rules about specific etiquettes and such. And on and on. The more successful a given society becomes, the more that they eventually develop a "leisure class" which has nothing real to concern themselves with - so silly, stupid rules are codified just to keep the current class in power - and to give them *something* to concern themselves with. Clearly, I think that China got to that level. And I salute the leaders who realized that it was time to "break some eggs to make some new omelets". As I understand it, Deng Xiaoping was one of the people who went a long way toward cleaning up the totally-broken eggs of Chairman Mao. It's a tough balance - deciding which very-very old and respected things should be preserved - as museum pieces - while deciding which things to discard so that the society can move forward and reward *innovation* again.

We see lots of solar water heaters on roofs - actually all over China. I don't know how long these have been in place, but they do seem to be ahead of America in utilizing solar power that way.

We pull up at a lake in a park, then disembark our rickshaws to walk through the narrow streets.

Space is at a premium, so we find a tiny "motorcycle car" which I think is cute.

and we arrive at our "home visit". One of the long-time Hutong residents has opened his home to B&B guests - and to us. We shuffle through his courtyard and into his living room. All 26 of us. And we're seated while Jimmy Johnson tells us about his life and home - through our local interpreter, Vivian. He is very warm and open. I notice that, as with the rest of China, the old and the new are comfortably shuffled together: an XBox is next to the flat-screen HDTV - here in the ancient Hutong.

We mill around and talk one-on-one with Jimmy as his wife prepares a meal in the kitchen. then it is back out into the streets and back to the rickshaws. You can see why I felt a bit bad about having this gentleman pedal *me* - but note the big smile on his face: he works hard and doesn't complain.

We ride back through the Hutong - asking why some parked cars have pieces of tile leaned up against their wheels. We're told that there are lots of dog owners there and the tiles are to prevent the dogs from leaving cautic liquids on the tires (cough cough). Interesting solution to the problem.

Anyway. Back to our starting point, thanks all around, then back walking to our bus. As we're waiting to cross a street, a Chinese family seems to be leaning toward us to get a picture with the "weird Westerners" in the photo. I notice and smile and motion - and their smile breaks out wide as the wife - with her baby in a stroller - leans right up against me - smiling hugely - as her husband takes a photo. Really cool: they are as interested in us weird-looking Americans - as we are in them! I suspect that I'm even-more-weird looking than most since I'm one of the few in our group with a beard. At least I'll keep telling myself that that's why I was weird-looking enough to garner interest.

Next stop: A silk carpet factory and China's equivalent of "Best Buy".

Beijing, Tiananmen Square & Forbidden City

2010-06-11T14:56:00.001-07:00

May 2, Sunday, Beijing, Tiananmen Square & Forbidden City

Back into the bus and over toward Tiananmen Square. This is a big deal. This is one of the Iconic Images of China that I have in my head: an "important" place to visit - to actually BE here.

We're only able to go "toward" - not "to" because, as our guide explains, when the Forbidden City was built - between 1406 and 1420, the Emperor didn't realize that he needed to build a gigantic parking lot near it - so you can't actually park anywhere very nearby. This is another time when we're very glad to be on a group tour since our bus driver takes care of dropping us off as near as he can - and eventually picking us back *up* at the other end.

So we pile back off the bus and out into the warm, sunny day to walk a couple of blocks to the Square. OK. I'm from Florida, so when I say "warm, sunny day", everybody else on the tour found it to be a *hot* day with the sun blazing down as we entered a wide open square - big enough to literally accommodate one *million* people - with essentially no shade. But it's fine for *me*.

Tiananmen. Literally "Gate of Heavenly Peace" - because it used to be the gateway to the Forbidden City. The huge gate house is still here, though the "city walls" are not anymore. Still, it is a bit ironic to name it that given that political protesters were literally *shot to death* here - only 21 years ago. Something to keep in mind as we walk along the HUGE white Square (880m x 500m) - past Mao's tomb on one side and the Beijing Museum on the other - with numerous young men in Chinese Army uniforms - including holstered guns - in clear presence. Mao's tomb is closed today. Perhaps just as well since the wait to get in is usually interminable and there are rumors that Mao's "remains" are more Madame Tusseaud's Wax Museum than "preserved original". No. Literally. And I've seen Stalin in his tomb and it really wasn't worth the wait.

We tramp along, following our leader's cute little flag which has a couple of Panda's on it - so we just "follow the bouncing Panda's". Have I mentioned how *big* the Square is? In the direct sun? Anyway, we eventually round Mao's tomb and open out on "the iconic view that everybody thinks of": Now. *That* is actually the existing "Gate to the Forbidden City". Those walls and the gateway still very-much exist, but this square was outside *those* gates. And, of course, note Chairman Mao's picture. As others have said, given the heroic size of the Square, his portrait is actually pretty modest in size.

We are set free to individually explore the Square for a bit and walk past Mao's Tomb - with the "heroic Soviet-style statues" and a War Memorial and we eventually collect for a professional group shot before trooping down under the street to cross over and actually enter The Forbidden City.

OK. I really do apologize. I should be awed. I should be humbled. But my overall impression is: "What a GIGANTIC ego this jerk, the Emperor - had! Is somebody compensating for some serious `size' issues???" The Forbidden City is just massive. 7,800,000 sq ft, 999 1/2 rooms - because Heaven has 1000 and you can't do more than GOD or he'll be mad. HUGE gate outside a HUGE open, useless square - with *another* huge gate at the other end with *another* huge useless square with *ANOTHER* HUGE gate with *another* huge useless square before we finally *finally* get to the main building. I can't see *any* point to all of this other than to say "WOW, I must really be important".

As mentioned when I talked about the Great Wall - *this* is the building which has **12** little "animals" on each corner of the building - and *no* other building was allowed to have as many - because "This is the BIG cheese!" Thousands of concubines. Massive power. Just a huge - well - waste - for me. I can't help but think of all of the lives that were spent building this gigantic monument to ego. Remember that for centuries, the whole city was totally Forbidden to nearly everyone - so just *who* was the Emperor trying to impress?

We continue on through the "pleasant, warm, sunny day" and I kind of zone out and begin - again - to notice the *people*. Just enjoying the walk. Past the living quarters. And finally into the garden - which seems modest in size - given the size of everything else, but pleasant and shaded.

And then, suddenly, we're out the back gate and we walk past the huge walls - past the corner Guardposts and beautiful willow trees by the moat. Beautiful and peaceful.

Back onto our bus and a short ride back to the hotel - past the burned-out CCTV building.

It's been a long, very-full, wonderful day. Buffet dinner in the hotel. A little laundry washed out in the sink and hung up in the bathroom - and some time spent trying to get to alternate Blog sites: seems that China is blocking "Wordpress" sites in addition to this one - so I give up - and we crash into bed asleep. And this was only the end of "Day 2"!

Produce Market and Chinese Firewater

2010-05-30T06:43:00.001-07:00

May 2, Sunday, Beijing, Continued - Vegetable market and lunch

Another of the laudable practices of Odysseys Unlimited is that when they do take us to a "retail therapy opportunity" (some tourists NEED to shop every so often), Chen quietly also lets us know that as soon as someone is "done" with the shopping - that he has an alternate activity available to keep the men (usually it is the men who tire of shopping - first) interested and keep us from grumbling about how long the *shopping* is taking. In this case, Kathy and I are pretty-much the last to finish and the rest of our group has been walked down the street a few blocks to a farmers market. And that's where Vivian escorts us now. No pressure to hurry - just catching us up with the group.

It is wonderful. Huge piles of beautiful, fresh, weird-looking fruit and vegetables - mixed in with the familiar-looking. Unfortunately, in the spirit of avoiding gastrointestinal distress, we've been warned not to *eat* anything which we don't first peel or cook - so we don't buy anything, but the colors, smells, and sounds are a feast for the senses. Dumplings, noodles, pastries... We thread our way through the market and at one point, we pass a booth which has something that looks vaguely like small American hamburgers - stacked up. I ask Vivian if they *are* hamburgers and she immediately just *buys* 3 of them - with her own money - for us to try. They are *not* hamburgers. Kind of the same color, but more of a kind of crispy-fried dough - thing. Since it's been cooked, it's OK to eat - so we sample and have another "interesting experience". I have no idea what it was. Thanks to Vivian for being so sweet and buying that experience for us.

We emerge into a big open room and wander around. Fish. Gorgeous strawberries - carefully arranged. And we find some Dragon Fruit - so we can see the *outside* of the "white with black spots" fruit that we had for breakfast. The vivid colors make it obvious why it is called "Dragon Fruit": Something interesting everywhere we look.

But it's time to go to lunch so we're walked down the street another few blocks and to a restaurant. Another note here: the group-tour experience is, again, an advantage here: Odysseys has set things up so we have a Pearl Factory, a produce market, and lunch - all within a comfortable walk. It all just flows and we get 3 experiences in a compact timeframe so that we ultimately get to see and do *so* much more than we would have if we tried to arrange it all on our own. In addition, they have "in's" with the places so we are quickly shown to a private dining room - no waiting - and we are seated around the familiar Lazy-Susan and get plied with the multiple plates of "dining opportunities". Chen notes that Chinese people tend to take *one* thing at a time onto their individual small plate - and finish it - while we Westerners try to take "a little of everything" and fit it all onto our plate before eating anything.

Chen also is a good host and pours me a treat: Chinese Fire Water. I explain that I don't drink alcohol, but - like most Americans - I don't think he believes me - he just assumes that I'm being polite - and he explains that it is a treat - 100 proof (50% alcohol) - if I remember correctly - which I probably don't - because I decide to be a sport and down the shot. Wow! Firewater is right. Clear, colorless fire. Things get a bit fuzzy for awhile.

But we're only halfway through the day. Next up: Tinanmen Square and the Forbidden City.

Pearls and Pearls of Wisdom about Toilets

2010-05-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

May 2, Sunday, Beijing, Continued, Pearls

We all collect again and walk back through the greenery of the park - to our bus and off to a Pearl Factory tour. OK, it's a thinly-disguised ploy to get us to buy pearl jewelry. We've been quietly told that the government *requires* tour operators to expose their tourists to a certain number of local-specialty "buying opportunities", but that Odysseys choices are carefully picked for high quality and reasonable prices - and we're coached on what level of discount is *really* reasonable - as opposed to the first offers of the vendors. In this case, we're told 30% is good, 40% MIGHT be possible. And, yes, I suspect that we're being coached to pay *more* than we really could, but every buyer needs to exercise their *own* level of skepticism and caution. Kathy and I have reached a point in our lives where we finally realize that collecting more *things* is really actually *burdening* ourselves: we want memories and photos, but after moving 3 times recently - and moving all of our *stuff* time and again - we understand that it just becomes a millstone around our necks. So we will enjoy the views, but we're certainly not going to *buy* anything.

We pull up and we're encouraged to take advantage of the clean, Western-style toilets available there. OK. Perhaps you don't want to read about toilet stops, but another of the things that we *did* appreciate about Odysseys - is that they included planning for convenient breaks - and for clean places to take those breaks. Annnd now we get into a bit of a discussion about "East vs West" again. Particularly for the ladies. Bear with me. I do have a bigger point to make. Chinese facilities traditionally consist of a porcelain base surrounding a hole in the floor. Essentially just a place to put your feet - and squat. No "throne" like Western-style toilets. And that can be pretty disconcerting for Westerners when we first walk in and wonder "where did the toilet go???" And, perhaps-understandably, the women were *quite* happy to be directed to *Western*-style facilities and, while not making a big deal of it, Odysseys is commended for getting us to bathrooms which were mostly of Western style. But it *did* eventually make me think about "comfort levels" again. Well over 2 *billion* people deal with the "hole in the floor" system (personally estimating - between China, India, and others - at least), so it clearly *does* work. And, particularly for ladies, when you think about it, it is more *clean* to *not* sit on a public seat. Just squat. So ultimately our Western squeamishness is kind of backward: we *should* be more reluctant to use *Western* facilities. While most of us continued to wait in line for "the one Western toilet" in some places, I began to think about this as yet another place to challenge our comfort zones: "If something totally foreign works well for *one third of the people on the planet* then maybe I should at least give it a fair try". Food, customs, clothing, dances, toilets... There. I made my point. Thank you for your indulgence. A "pearl of wisdom", perhaps, and back to literal pearls.

One of our group is asked to pick an oyster out of a collection and we are all encouraged to guess how many pearls will be inside. How many? I figure that "one" is a good find, but we are encouraged to guess higher. Then it is opened and the guide shows us all of the little cultured pearls inside. ***Twenty Three*** if I recall correctly. Wow! See all of the little bumps near the edge of the shell?

We're schooled a bit on how to tell really-good pearls from lesser ones and she extracts a pearl or two and passes them around.

Then she explains that these are not at all of jewelry quality: that these pearls will be crushed and ground up into the delightful "pearl cream" that was in the afore-mentioned ladies room.

Then we're paraded through the showroom to the "special quality" showroom where we're shown the cases full of the "really good stuff". Beautiful. Different shades of pearls - pearl (of course), but also a kind of rose and a grey-ish hue. Beautiful and lustrous. Everybody begins to drift out into the main area as we're told that the room we're in is the "wife" room - while the main showroom is the "girlfriend" room - and the racks on the wall are the "mother in law" collection - purely costume jewelry.

Annnd Kathy and I browse the beautiful pearls in the "wife" room and I ask the fateful question: "Is there anything in particular that you like?".

Ahem. Kathy is *not* someone who gets things for herself. So when she points out a necklace with just *2* Pearls on it of different shades - carefully matched for shape and size - I take notice. And so does the sales girl who has been discreetly following us. Soooo we ask to see it. And it looks really nice. And it looks really nice *on* Kathy. So I ask how much. Wow. THAT much? OK. Well. We aren't buying anything anyway. They ask "So how much *can* you offer?" So I offer what I am willing to pay for jewelry (even with Kathy standing beside me) - which I'm sure is a complete insult. Far lower, even, than our guides told us was a good price. They frown and shake their heads, so we thank them and exit the "wife" room - and our local guide Vivian skips out of the "wife" room and tells us not to be so hasty. That the manager has asked us to come back and talk. Hmmmm... Okay. They counter offer 25% more than my offer - which is exactly *50%* of the original price. Really? Uhhh... OK. Done. And then, of course, we have to get matching earrings - and they help us find a nice set quickly - and I go pay for both transactions. And we smile. I have a happy wife. Which makes *me* happy. And we've got a small, light, beautiful memory of China to take home and remember each time Kathy wears them. But we *certainly* aren't going to *buy* anything. Maybe our guides are really VERY smart.... (smile).

Beijing Temple of Heaven, People meeting people

2010-05-28T02:49:00.000-07:00

May 2, Sunday, Beijing - Continued

We finally make it to the actual Temple. Beautiful. Colorful. Interesting in its architecture since it is ultimately held up solely by 8 massive pillars. Set in a medium-sized raised platform overlooking Beijing. We wander around and peek inside the temple and the surrounding area, but there's actually not much to see: we can't go in and there's not really anything *in* the Temple anyway.

But it *is* nice to stroll around the square. Looking out over Beijing. It *does* again highlight the poor air quality, but we're not *feeling* any ill effects. The visibility isn't helped by the substantial *pollen* which is constantly floating around. Literally, it looks like it is constantly *snowing* - white, fluffy pollen drifting down and actually "piling up" on the street - the entire time we're in Beijing. Pretty, actually.

The associated carvings and filigrees show a lot of detail and work but eventually the "star of the show" again becomes the *people* - here on their "Labor Day Weekend" - visiting the Temple with their families. We stroll around and see a young couple taking "fashion" photos - the woman jumping up into the air and doing "catwalk" poses - with the Temple as background. And actually, I'm struck by how young Chinese women just *do* seem to automatically fall into "high fashion" poses whenever a camera is pointed at them.

I find a pair of grandparents - PROUDLY taking a photo of their son who is holding their grandson (all of this is assumed, but it sure seemed likely): I offer to take a photo of *all* of them - with their camera - and they pose and seem delighted with the offer. And I'm delighted to have made a contact - with no common words between us. But everybody understands a smile.

Ultimately, we wind up compulsively taking photos of Chinese people: the old ones have such *character* in their faces. The little ones are just SOOoo cute! We just can't help ourselves, and the Chinese people are always SO proud of and happy for their "Little Princesses / Emperors". We had been warned that some older people would NOT want us to photograph them - superstitious hold-overs, but we find *very* few who object - and most of *those* object only because they want to be *paid* to be photographed. West meets East. Capitalism meets Socialism.

But mostly, people meet people.

Temple of Heaven

2010-05-27T04:40:00.000-07:00

May 2, Sunday, Beijing

Up early again: combination of adjusting to the 12-hour time change - and getting old (smile)... we're the youngest people in our tour group and we're being reminded that we're *not* unusual in *not* looking for "night life": we head to bed by 10PM so getting up at 6AM is no problem.

As we enjoy our extensive buffet breakfast in the hotel again (I'm getting to finally understand that there is NOTHING which is "not breakfast food" to *someone*: steak, squid, dumplings, congee, everything is fair game), I muse again that, so far, China doesn't really *feel* that "foreign". What I've seen of clothes and cars - and WalMart and KFC - doesn't look terribly different than the US. Of course, I don't have a Central Government telling me what my career will be - or rationing meat, but I also don't have a career *at all* right now. And even the "one child per family" rule which is VERY real - and which has now been in force for 40(?) years - is seeming like a difficult-but-necessary governing decision. American family sizes have been plummeting over the last few generations - as *we* move off the farms and realize that we don't need farm hands anymore - and that paying for college for 13 children - is *tough*. China has also altered the "one child" policy as it gets to 2nd - and 3rd-generation offspring of that policy: if a couple now forms and *both* people are "only" children, then the *couple* is allowed *2* children - to begin to move back to "replacement level" of births. At least 2 of our guides were "only" children - whose partners were also "only" children - so they were anticipating *2*-children families. Heck... *that* sounds much like mainstream America, too. Of course, to be fair, it was only 21 years ago that dissenters were *shot* in Tinanmen Square - and I don't recall that kind of thing in the US lately... though there are some who would argue with me on *that* point.

Down to the lobby and into the bus for the short trip to the "Temple of Heaven". On the way, I see a hatchback car with the hatchback wide open - with a videographer hanging out the back of the car, videotaping the long line of *RED* cars behind him. Uhhh... What? I ask Vivian, our local guide and she tells us that, yes, that's a wedding procession and it is traditional to rent a whole bunch of red (good luck) or black cars (NOT white) - to parade the wedding party around town before bringing them to the wedding. Apparently, the actual wedding affairs haven't blossomed to the level of American blow-outs, but the photography, dresses, and processions have - as the "single children" mature and the "Little Princesses" and "Little Emperors" are wed. Cool to see.

We arrive at the Temple of Heaven. A large "Central Park" with the Temple at the center, but which has become a meeting place for the people of Beijing. Particularly the retirees congregate here to dance, exercise, do Tai Chi, play Hacky-Sack and badmitton, sing, play cards and dominoes - and to *live*. It is *full* of activity and gentle, caring interaction. They don't sit home in front of the TV - rotting. OK... at least the ones we're seeing don't. And they bring their grandchildren. And they are VERY proud of their little grandchildren - very happy to have us make a fuss over the little cuties and take gobs of photos. The merging of East and West is quite clear: Disney Babies clothes at the Temple of Heaven.

We watch a large group of people ballroom-dancing and they invite our group to join them. The other couple from Florida (very active newly-wed octogenarians) and a couple of our other ladies - wind up dancing while we all cheer. We move a little further in toward the Temple and a group of people engage us in a kind of a Hacky-sack badminton (Kathy was pretty good at it!) , and a kind of combined Tai Chi with "balance a ball on a moving badminton racquet" (Linda showed talent) , and we are given the opportunity to *buy* corresponding equipment before we move on. I don't think that any of us tried the "sword Tai Chi" - .

And then we have a really wonderful experience. Vivian and Chen herd us onto a patio section and we slowly thread our way thru the crowd. Watching dominoes (where the men make every play dramatically and loudly) and traditional Chinese-instrument performances. Singing. Dancing. Literally "rubbing shoulders" with the Chinese. It takes awhile for us to traverse the 100 yards, but the point is not to "get where we were going" - but, rather, to *be* with the very-real, very open and sincere Chinese people. Just magical.

I always wind up as one of the last people to progress and I find myself rather behind, so as I make an effort to catch up to my group, I nudge my way between 2 people - and find myself literally face-to-face with a little boy. Maybe only a year old. In his mother's arms. We all just freeze - and *look* at each other. The little boy's face is full of wonder - his eyes dark, round, and huge. He reaches out and touches my arm - totally unafraid of this odd stranger. I say "Hello" gently, not realizing that my English probably means nothing to him - or his mother. But he responds: "Hello" and keeps looking at me. His mother prompts him to wave at me and I wave back. I wish that I had my camera ready - or that I wasn't already so far behind my group - so that I could savor this moment - but I have to move on, so I say "Bye Bye" and his mother smiles as he responds - in English - "Bye Bye" and smiles while still staring at me. Just... utterly magical.

I guess that this *is* the "Temple of Heaven".

Beijing (Peking) Duck

2010-05-26T04:27:00.000-07:00

Back thru heavy traffic to Beijing - but still not to our hotel yet. We pull up to a restaurant known for Beijing (Peking) Duck: we are in for a feast: eating the city's namesake.

We all trek into a reserved room and find seats around the large round tables with lazy-susan's in the middle. Tsing Tao beer is poured, but I select tea instead. Not surprisingly, the tea in China is very good - without bothering with sugar or milk - and we usually even get our choice of black tea or green tea.

Then the stream of dishes begins. Plate after plate after plate is added to the lazy-susan and a quick explanation made as to what *this* delight is: Lotus root, Bok Choi, Prawns encased in creamy-cheesy covering and crispy stuff and, of course, the Beijing Duck - carefully sliced and provided on duck dishes. You then take a slice or two of duck, some dark red sauce, and a "wrap", fold it all together, and pop it into your mouth.

It lives up to its billing. Subtle but WOW. Tender, juicy, moist, crisp, tangy. Worth the effort. Very nice.

We stuff ourselves and I top the whole thing off with (blush) "Magnum Ice Cream Bars". A guilty pleasure. Our daughter *loved* them when she toured Europe - and they've found their way to China as well. Typically, Chinese dessert is slices of watermelon and/or oranges - and I have a way bigger sweet tooth than that, so I enjoy the Western-style dessert instead.

It's still light out as we board the bus back to our hotel - and drive past the burned-out "CCTV" building I mentioned before - the one that looks like a couple of legs with a bridge across them . Next to that building is another - which is all burned out. Perhaps you saw mention of the fire in the news a couple of years ago. They were celebrating the "topping off" of the brand-new building and were using fireworks (which, in China, is really *not* unusual). We're told that they were a bit egotistical about the celebration - telling the local police to mind their own business when people complained about the noise and long celebration and flaunting of some safety laws. So. A sky rocket accidentally landed on the 14th floor and caught the building on fire. And the building hadn't had the fire-control system installed yet. And the whole building burned up. OOps! It was considered "too bad", but some people weren't as sorry as they might have otherwise been - given the cavalier attitude that the building owners had shown. The second building is being slowly gutted and rebuilt, but it took some time to make the plan as to what to do: it shares the same huge concrete-slab foundation with the "legs" building and it was feared that if they simply tore down the burned one - that the whole slab would tip from the weight distribution - so they're having to carefully do the reconstruction "in place".

Back to the hotel and time to do some more computer stuff - and I consciously note that the electrical outlets in China seem to be designed to accommodate "whatever" kind of electricity you need: 50Hz, 60Hz, 110VAC, 220VAC - it's a "combination plug" that automatically supplies the right kind of juice just by what plug holes you use. It isn't obvious that there *is* a "standard Western 2-prong plug hole", but it's there. In addition, our new camera's battery charger specifically warned us that it has it's *own* transformer and such - to accommodate anything from 110 to 220 - so that we should *not* use a separate converter or it will burn out the charger(!!). Kathy had carefully obtained converters and plug adapters - but we don't ever need them. Perhaps this is only because we're staying in 5-star hotels, but it sure makes things easier. .

And to bed.

And this is only our *first* full day!

Great Wall of China - photos

2010-05-25T03:16:00.000-07:00

May 1, 2010

We marvel at the beauty and power of the Wall - stretching in both directions - and branching to guard towers and side offshoots - and begin the walk along the wall. I can see another Cable Car in the distance so we decide to walk down to it - and take the other cable car down. The wall is - challenging - to walk. Steps vary in height from perhaps an inch each - to over foot-high clips - to sections which are flat - or ramped smoothly. The angle gets *quite* steep - particularly in the warm May sun and I'm glad that I'm heading significantly *down* as I pass others climbing laboriously *up* past me.

It's dry and dusty - quite the contrast to seaside Florida where I was just a day ago.

Periodically, I have to make a point of mentally "pinching myself". I'm *on* the Great Wall of China. It is *massive*. A "highway along the mountain peak". Inconceivable amounts of human energy expended to mound up the earth (and dead bodies), then top it with stones. And we've all seen it in movies and pictures and documentaries, but I'm here really, truly, *on* the wall. It is beautiful and massive and daunting and inspiring - reminding what humans can accomplish - for better or for worse.

We explore the guard houses - massive square 2-story blocks in the wall, but it seems that every opportunity to just sit and look out a window - is taken by someone who has decided to just "adopt" the spot with no intention of moving, so we peek out, then move on. Down and down and down.

We walk thru a low arch doorway and look down to find a *donkey* just standing peacefully. Just *standing* there. Kathy suggests that he carried the drinks and snacks being hawked by enterprising entrepreneurs: "You buy beer!? Hat? Hat for lady?"

An offshoot extends 100 yards - leading to another guard tower and I run down to it - thinking to have the tower to myself as Kathy stays back to take a photo - but as soon as I head down the wall, I have attracted attention to the empty tower and suddenly others are interested as well, so I don't really get the tower to myself. It has a whole second floor - like the others, and I REALLY want to shinny up through one of the holes in the roof - to get to stand on the *top* - but I see no way to get there without a ladder (the roofs are probably 8 feet up) - and I'm not carrying a ladder with me, so I trudge back up (not a run this time) to the main section. Reminding me again that I've been going *down* a lot and that *up* is a lot harder.

And then we catch up with another of the couples on our tour - who let us know that we are *not* allowed to take the other cable car down. We have to get back up to the original one. And time is running out.

OOps! Back UP!!! to the original spot.

So we turn around - perhaps halfway to the 2nd cable car - and begin the trudge back *up*. And I find that it is like climbing straight up - as far as my heart is concerned. My thighs are holding out - for the most part, but my heart begins to POUND - maybe a pulse of 150 - so I have to sit for awhile and let my heart slow down again - knowing that time is ticking away while I do. Kathy is doing fine: she's been exercising regularly for years now - but my heart is letting me know that I've missed too many days of Nintendo Wii FIT exercise.

I resume my climb and finally - Finally - make it back to the summit and the cable car. Kathy and I find a table to sit at and eat the Subway sandwiches that our tour provided - and gulp a bottle - or two - of water - and cool down - while looking at yet-another donkey quietly standing near the wall. Then we board the cable car for the ride back down. And another *extended* "gauntlet" of vendors to negotiate. The cry of "One Dolla! One Dolla" turn to "Two for dolla!!! TWO for dolla!" as we shake our heads and pass by: nothing here we need to take with us - but photos and memories.

It is over too soon, and we load back onto the bus for another extended ride - and talk with our guides - as we drive back to Beijing.

Enjoy the whole set of 68 photos on "The Great Wall of China" HERE - and remember that all of these are available as 12Megapixel photos so if you want to zoom in to see something closer, download the big versions and zoom away.

The Great Wall of China

2010-05-08T19:09:00.000-07:00

The Great Wall was built primarily to try to control attacks from the North - so the wall extends East-West along Northern China - for over 5500 miles - which is coincidentally pretty-much the same distance as the US/Canadian border - so imagine building a stone wall the entire length of that border (though I don't know WHY we would want to isolate ourselves from the Canadians - since they're so nice!). The wall is often built in mountainous terrain to make it *more* difficult to assault - but, of course, that also made it more difficult to build - and "interesting" to get to. For more background, refer to Wikipedia's entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wall_of_China

Odysseys Unlimited has chosen to take us to the "Mu Tian Yu" section which is a little further from Beijing and a little less commercial. Nice choice. There is quite an elevation rise from Beijing: Beijing is essentially at sea level while the Mu Tian Yu section of the Great Wall is at nearly 2000 feet. The bus parks, and we all begin the *walk* up to the Cable Car. The pathway is utterly lined with vendors hawking everything from copies of Chairman Mao's little red book to Camel rides to T-shirts saying "I climbed the Great Wall" - but we negotiate the gamut and board the Cable Car. Our guide smilingly tells us that the cars were intended for 6 *Chinese* people, but only *4* of us will fit.

The ride up makes me ponder the mind of an Emperor who looked at this terrain and decided that "Yeah... I can build a 20-foot-high, 20-foot-wide stone wall here - with no power tools or equipment." I don't think that I could even just *hike* up to the top - let alone haul up massive stones after mounding up earth as the base.

Now. Granted. The work was largely done by forced labor from people who had been conquered - and we're told that it is estimated that over 1 *million* people *died* while constructing the wall - and that they were simply added to the "fill dirt" to compose the wall. And, by the way, this was all going on at the same time that the "Terra Cotta Army" was being constructed and buried - and *that* took over 700,000 people to accomplish (and I'll be blogging about *that* since we do visit that site in Xian). Perhaps this is no different from "Crazy Ludwig" - the German King who was responsible for the creation of opulent castles like "Neuschwanstein" - and who nearly bankrupted Germany in the process. And I'm torn: do you *have* to be crazy and irresponsible to leave something truly amazing behind you? I can't admire the motivation, but here is something that has lasted far longer than all of Western Civilization - and you *have* to admire *that*. In retrospect, Emperor Qin is still dead and gone, but should I, nonetheless, admire what was created?

We arrive at the top, and climb the stairs - and it's impossible not to admire the beauty, accomplishment, and power of the Wall. Wide. Tall. Gorgeous scenery. Stretching as far as you can see - along the ridge of the mountains.

We walk down the steep, uneven steps, through the massive guard towers. Breathtaking. And very demanding to climb. I have to stop to let my heart pound - regularly.

More to come.

Beijing - People and Hard Times and Easier Times

2010-05-07T00:05:00.000-07:00

Saturday, May 1, 2010 - Beijing, China

We're still processing a 12-hour time-change jetlag, so we woke in Beijing at 5AM and decided that was "late enough" and got up to work on our Blog. Except that I couldnt' connect to Facebook and this site. There were comments that Google's blogspot and Facebook are *blocked* here in China. Weird since AOL and Gmail are fine. And it could just be a weak connection rather than something conscious.

It's May Day. Which is a 3-day Holiday here (like Labor Day in the US), so our guide at Odysseys Unlimited decided to re-arrange our tour schedule to accommodate the crowds of *Chinese* tourists likely to be at the spots we will visit. Very good of our guide, Chen, to think ahead that way.

Breakfast in the Hotel (Sofitel Wanda) - an amazing selection available at the buffet - including "Dragon Fruit": a white melon with black spots in it: tasty, but not really hugely different from honeydew in flavor.

We were very happy to see that our breakfast was included in the tour price - since the ultimate bill was 455 RMB - which is roughly $60. For breakfast for 2. Ouch. But this is "big city / fancy hotel" price - not necessarily an indication of "China" or "Beijing" price.

We still had time before our bus left, so we headed downstairs and just walked around the block and down the street and back. Very pleasant.

Kathy captured some of the beautiful flowers growing by the street.

Don't forget that you can click on any of the photos to see a bigger version of them.

As we walked down the street of Beijing, it almost seemed *too* "familiar": the clothing of all of the Chinese - making their way to their daily activities - looks just like ours - except they're more fashionable. They seem to avoid bright colors: everything seems to be white, black, or gray, but there are no "Chairman Mao" suits or "pajamas", but jeans, sneakers, suits, etc. When I think about it, it isn't surprising since *our* clothes are all made in China these days. In addition, the cars all look familiar: they are either American brands or look like the same cars we see at home. Most of the familiar brands are manufactured here, too: GM, Volkswagen, BMW, Ford... So while I want it to feel exotic, it feels like New York City - except that signs are in Mandarin and English. Lots of English - not that it would be easy to get around without knowing any Chinese.

We head downstairs to meet the rest of the people on our tour. 24 people in all - and we get an overall "China" briefing from our guide, Chen, then load into the bus for the ride out to the Great Wall. We're warned that the traffic is bad with "Labor Day Weekend" traffic, so it may take 90 minutes to get there, but our local Beijing guide, Vivian, trades off with Chen to frankly discuss any aspect of China and Chinese living that we care to pose - so we get a real exposure to "The Chinese" rather than just a traffic delay.

The 90-minute trip ultimately takes *3 hours* for us to get from Beijing out to the chosen section of the Great Wall, but that's OK. We pass "fishing ponds" along the way: tourist ponds heavily stocked with trout - so that city folk can come out and fish and catch their lunch/dinner. GOBS of families standing around pond after pond as we drive.

Lots of rural areas that make it clear that China has seen hard times - for a long time now - but that nobody is complaining. Chen matter-of-factly tells us that when he finished University - he had no exposure to tourism - but the Central Government assigned him to be a guide - so that's what he is. And he's very good at it. Later, he did also tell us that the influence of the Central Government has waned and he now can seek his own career. He's married and has a daughter - yet he will accompany us on our entire 20-day tour. He tells us that when he was a boy, that the government would allocate one pound of meat per person per *month*. But he is not complaining. That is just the way life is.

And then we arrive at the Great Wall.

*THE* Great Wall of China.

Coming up next.

Arrival in Beijing, China

2010-05-06T17:28:00.000-07:00

Wellll... the Beijing internet connection is weak, so I can't get to this website - or even Facebook, so the posts are delayed. But we now have an excellent connection - in Shanghai - so I'll start catching up.

April 29, 2010, Thursday morning. We actually got into Chicago about 10 minutes *early*. I'd been sweating it out - since we only had a 90-minute layover for an International flite - so was quite happy that we were early. Then we got off the plane and figured we'd need to sprint to another terminal - only to find out that our departure terminal was *right across the hall*. Oh. We're here. Cool. We checked the lounge which was (surprise!!!) full of Chinese people, then grabbed some lunch and walked around a little until time to board. We did manage to bump into one other couple on our tour - from Indiana. Found them by looking for the "Odyssey's International" luggage tags. Then we shuffled onto a *very* full 777. It *is* a wide-body, but it was crammed full and I was quite surprised that they were using it for a 14-hour flite: pretty tight. I started getting really worried about how I'd do. We were in a group of 5-across: Kathy, me, "Mike" - a Chinese-looking guy who actually is from Canada, another Canadian, and a Chinese woman. Poor Mike was *really* squished in.

But we did OK. The seats had individual entertainment units in them - so I watched "Sherlock Holmes" about 3 times - and think I caught a lot of nuances that I hadn't before - and enjoyed "Young Frankenstein" a couple of times - and we got fed 3 times (Raman noodles once) - and it was OK. Yeah, the 13-hour flite dragged by the end, but we were a little early getting in - and the 6700 miles went pretty easily. Up over Canada and Alaska. Bering Strait. Most of the time we couldn't see anything: we weren't near any windows - but the flite was in daylight the whole way and when we got up to walk around, we looked out and saw the ice floes and mountains in Alaska and the Bering Strait. And for anybody who ever played "Risk" - we flew right over "Ka-Match-Ka" and on down into Beijing. We followed the whole flite on the moving map choice of the video display - and watched as we crossed the International Date Line - and moved us to Friday instead of Thursday - but we ultimately have decided not to bother to change our watches at all: we're exactly 12 hours off, so I just swap AM for PM - and we're done. So. We arrived at about 2:30PM Friday afternoon - Beijing time - and really didn't have any trouble finding our luggage or our guide. We were on the bus by 3:30PM - and rode to downtown Beijing - past lots of traffic. Chen, our guide, said that the Beijing car show is going on right now and that Beijing is adding 2000 cars *per day* to the roads. Also said that a 700-sq-foot high-rise apartment goes for about $400/month - and most residents only *make* $400/month - so that a small apartment will be shared by 5 or 6 people - even mixing gender in the same room.

The temperature was delightful: 72 degrees - and it's been a beautiful sunny day. In contrast to the flite - where it said it got all the way down to MINUS 74 degrees F - while we were at 34,000 feet over the Bering Strait.

At this point, we checked into our rooms - really nice, but odd in some ways: the wall between the bedroom and the bathroom - is glass. You can pull down a curtain, but the "default" is to have a clear view from the desk where I'm writing - right on into the shower.

The view from our room looks right out over the tallest building in Beijing: the "stubbed off" one - the "China World Trade Center" - at 1083 ft. And the CCTV building - the oddly-shaped one to the right. That's the one that caught *fire* while they were celebrating the opening (a firework landed on the 14th floor and started a fire - and the building wasn't finished - so no sprinkler system). The "legs" building is OK - but the one next to it is still burned and rusted. Photos of that another time.

We were pretty wrung out: we'd left home about 24 hours earlier, but we knew that we should force ourselves to stay up.

So I checked out the computer connection: really cool to see Firefox bring up it's home page in *Chinese*.

And we walked over next door to (wait for it) - WalMart!!! Yup. A HUGE WalMart is right next door to our hotel. Down in the basement of a high-rise building - probably bigger than most Super Wal-Marts at home.

So we wandered around admiring all of the interesting-looking foods. Including *live* eel. The place was quite busy - clearly the Chinese have no problem buying at Wal-Mart. I suppose that makes sense: everything Wal-Mart sells is made in China anyway. We bot a 12-pack of bottled water (they warned us to NOT drink any tap water) - and were glad that Kathy had been smart enough to change $100 before we left home. Yuan - or "RMB"'s are about 6.71 to the dollar. Our total bill for water, Oreo's, and Chips a-hoy - was only 22 RMB - or about $7. We also enjoyed finding Pringles in some odd flavors: Clam, Shrimp, and Spicy Chicken - though we didn't try them.

Back to our "Sofitel Wanda" hotel for dinner. A very-interesting buffet with lots of choices - but I was quite suprised when they brought the bill: 661 RMB - or about $100 for the 2 of us. No tipping, but - *ouch*. We took a little-bit-each of a bunch of new-looking things - and haven't yet found anything that didn't taste good!

Then back to the room to *Crash* at 8PM. We woke up a couple of times overnite, but we slept soundly and pretty well in our king-sized bed.

We're in *China*!!!

We've been told that our schedule has already been altered: May 1 is a huge holiday here, so they're taking us to the Great Wall tomorrow - instead of the next day - to avoid the crowds that are expected at the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.

Orlando International Airport

2010-04-29T04:13:00.000-07:00

Up at 5:15AM, quick re-pack and out to the lobby to wait for the shuttle to the airport. 6AM and we load onto the shuttle. Only one other couple on the van: a grandmother is sending her adorable little blonde grand-daughter back to Montclair, New Jersey after a visit to Disney World.

The van drops them off first and Kathy and I just decide to get out on the "wrong" side of the terminal and walk thru - rather than wait for the van to drive around. United's automated check-in seemed to be working quite well - even *scanned* my passport and correctly read the information - but then choked when it wouldn't scan my *visa* (you have to have a *Visa* to visit China: I don't mean the credit card). Just wouldn't do it. So a very-helpful agent walked us down to the human-powered terminals and got us all checked in - including getting me a brand-new United frequent-flyer number - since just one trans-Pacific trip could add up.

We also did quite well with the baggage weight limit. Kathy managed to pack for 20 days - in 41 pounds. My suitcase tipped the scale at 32 pounds. We're allowed 44 pounds each in China, so we were kind of sweating it out. Also, I read that gel-sole inserts in shoes - are disallowed. So I *packed* my shoes that have the inserts and just wore my sneakers.

Walked up to the TSA checkpoint. Hmmm.... it appears that we've found a job where it is considered a bonus if you're grumpy and mean all the time. No. Seriously. I understand that "this is serious business" - but it seemed that all of the TSA people were *pointedly* scowling and barking and clapping and ordering. LONG line, but we just threaded our way thru. I was lucky enough to be "randomly selected" to have my palms swabbed for explosives. At that point, they got a pretty-good swab of *sweat* - but no explosives, so they finally released me from my glass holding cage and I got to find Kathy who had already rescued my shoes and carry-on. But. Gee. Don't we all feel *safer*? (sigh).

Kathy's been studying a bit of Chinese as we wait. Turns out that if you say "Tang" as a question - it means "Sugar". If you say "Tang" like a gong sounding - it means "soup". So don't "ask" for soup - or you'll get sugar. But Kathy is sweet either way.

But by 7AM - here we are sitting at the gate waiting for a 9AM flite to Chicago. We beat both the "weight limit" AND the "wait limit". BEAUTIFUL clear morning - with the sun rising over the horizon just as we got to the gate.

Life *is* good. We're on our way to CHINA!

The Adventure Begins

2010-04-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

Who knew that Orlando could be so entertaining? OK OK... the whole world comes here to play, but we've been here for 2 decades, so didn't expect anything new. Kelly & Glenn (daughter and Son-in-law) drove us to a hotel near the Orlando airport so we could get an early start tomorrow. We hear that the TSA is now recommending that you arrive for International flights *3 hours* ahead of your flite, so we wanted to eliminate the morning drive - and we didn't want to pay the $8 per day parking, either.

So. We arrived at our nice LaQuinta hotel, kissed Kelly goodbye - and wondered what to do with ourselves since it was only about 4PM.

So Kathy suggested that we lay out by the pool and read. Huh. Lay out by a pool in Florida. Who would EVER have thought of that? So. I read Steve Martin's "Pure Drivel" - and the AAA guide on the new Harry Potter land at Universal (officially opening June 18) - and napped - and Kathy again started her Historical Fiction about the Tudor era. And we talked to another couple who are staying at the same hotel - headed for Pittsburgh tomorrow. They, too, got burned by the stock market crash - and are adjusting their lives accordingly.

Then we tried to decide if we could just *walk* to dinner (a McDonald's was close-by - and a "Waffle House" (ain't they just *wonderful*???) was a mile away - and we ultimately decided that walking was just not reasonable, so we asked the front desk where we could get a good Mexican dinner. She recommended Garibaldi's - and called us a cab. Cab driver was from New York. Been driving a cab for 30 years. Interesting guy - struggling like everybody else these days - working 20-hour days to keep his head above water.

Then we had a wonderful Mexican dinner (... uhhh... is it OK to eat Mexican while on your way to *China*???) including fried ice cream and sopapilla's for dessert.

Then we ambled out into the huge parking lot - and wandered into a store called "World Market". Wow. Never heard of it before, but it seemed like the place that the Vanderbilt's would come to buy their decorations for Biltmore. Huge solid-marble fireplaces and Roman columns and statues. A life-size Komodo Dragon - probably 15 feet long - standing on top of a vintage pool table. Beautiful carved entertainment centers - as big as a whole wall. A bar stool which consisted of a pair of women's legs with a seat on top. We started off making fun of the stuff - and wound up really being impressed. The place was HUGE. Stuff after stuff after stuff. A life-sized statue of a tiger. Huge painting with antique frames. Anyway. Really cool and totally unexpected. Right next to the big "Florida's Mall" that we've been to many many times.

Cab back to the hotel. Overall, the cab rides cost more than the dinner, but I'm really glad we didn't try to walk it: we'll be doing plenty of walking once we get to China.

Anyway. Early morning expected. Looong flite expected. But. Beijing, here we come!

Stay tuned.

Art of Sand Festival, Cocoa Beach, FL

2010-04-26T14:55:00.000-07:00

Well. We're spinning up for another BIG trip - to China. I intend to report our progress right here - starting this week.

But in the meantime, we went to the Sand Sculpture Festival here in Cocoa Beach, Florida - last week, and tried out our brand-new Canon Rebel XSi camera - and thot you might be interested in the photos from that. Take a look at the set on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63304483@N00/sets/72157623893610710/

Amazing stuff!

And come back to watch us go to CHINA!!!

Pete

Washington DC in the Snow - a wonderful walk

2010-02-07T16:58:00.000-08:00

We're back on the road - in Washington, DC. We managed to just *happen* to get into town *just* before the "Snowmageddon" 21-inch snowfall hit. We just holed up yesterday and this morning, "Van Monroe" was still pretty-well parked (and snowed) in - and the roads were still kind of snowy and icy in unpredictable places - and we were worried about finding parking anywhere - and we knew that nothing was open yet. SO! We set out on foot. Walked down toward the closest subway station and found a stranger "high centered" in a Honda - stuck in the snow. 2 guys were already helping her, but we jumped in and helped dig her out enough that she was able to back out - and it was a good reminder that it was very difficult to tell which roads were navigable and which were *not* so I was again glad that we had decided not to try to drive.

On to the subway station right behind the headquarters of the "Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives". Uhhh... WHAT? I'd never heard the last one as part of the mix. Hmmm... Anyway. This subway station is above ground so it was locked up tight: only underground Metro stations are open. Ack. Walked back to the Courtyard right next door and were told that the closest station was another mile away. OooKay. But we were bundled up really well, so as long as we were in the sun - it was OK. We were constantly walking *into* a light breeze (ALWAYS coming from the West) and that made it chilly to any exposed skin (read "the 4 square inches around my eyes"), but we generally had a nice walk - hand-in-hand. Not much of anybody out on the streets so we constantly stopped in the streets or on the sidewalks to take photos. A really-nice day.

So we finally got to Union Station and went in to figure out where we wanted to go. And concluded that we were very close to the National Mall already - which is where I wanted to be. So we just bundled up again and walked on past the Capital building, Indian Museum, and down the National Mall. Lots of photos. I'll post a whole new set to Flickr soon.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63304483@N00/sets/72157623375479750/

Just a REALLY nice day strolling past the Smithsonians - the Washington Monument, the WWII Memorial, all the way down the reflecting pool (except that it was slush instead of a pool) and right up to the Lincoln Memorial. They had the steps cleared, but still weren't allowing anybody actually up to sit in his lap - but that's OK - we got "close enough" since we'd both been there before anyway. We accomplished what I really had wanted to do: walk the whole National Mall buried in snow. A wonderful day and it was only 2PM (it took us about 3 hours to walk all that way).

Now. My *plan* at that point was to somehow magically flag down a taxi, have it take us over to the Jefferson Memorial and then back to the hotel. But I'm a big wussy and I don't know how to find an empty cab. Soooo... we wandered over to Constitution Ave and began to amble back. We stumbled onto the Albert Einstein statue in front of the Academy of Science. I'd read about it, but it was cool to see it and sit in Albert's lap. And we found that we *finally* had the wind at our *backs* (constantly - since the wind was still ALWAYS coming from the West) - so it wasn't so bad. So we strolled back East - down the North side of the National Mall. Through all of this, we hadn't seen *any* open businesses - so we still hadn't had anything to eat or drink since breakfast at 9AM. Then Kathy noticed a couple passing - with a McDonald's bag - and was quick enough to ask where they got it. They happily *gave* us the bag (with 3 cheeseburgers) and told us where the McDonald's was (probably a good mile away, still) - so we thanked them a lot and turned up 17th street - right past the DAR building and the Red Cross building - and the White House - and found the "Ahhhhh!" (golden sunlight illuminating the golden arches) OPEN McDonald's. Yeah. OK. It was McDonald's - but it was *open*, was warm, had a place to sit - and had food and drink. Woo Hoooo! By the way, the new Angus burgers are actually pretty darned good. So we sat and warmed up and had a place to study the *map* and find out that we were only one block from a subway station (now). So bundled up again and set out for the subway station.

Except that I noticed that we were right on Pennsylvania Avenue - so I couldn't resist turning around and walking down - right past the White House. Kathy saw somebody in an upstairs window, but they were gone by the time I zoomed the camera in. It looked really pretty - and very *white* with the lawn all white around it. Yeah... we'd been there before on Segway's - but really cool anyway.

So we kept walking - intending to find a taxi (finally) - but then noticed that New York Avenue was *right there* and our hotel is - eventually - on New York Ave - so all we had to do was "just" keep walking.

So we did. Stopped at a Safeway to buy some apples. Walked by the NPR building and XM radio and Fedex - and finally made it back to the ATF building - then only another 600 yards to our hotel. Good thing it has a cool 2-person heart-shaped hot tub. That hot water sure felt good. And now we're watching the commercials for the Super Bowl.

I plotted it out and we walked about *** 9 MILES *** today. So I may just vegg out for a week or so - but we accomplished everything I wanted to today. Photos coming soon.

Happies!

Pete

Biltmore, less costs more

2009-10-14T17:04:00.000-07:00

Biltmore mansion day. Cold. Misty-rain ALL day long. And expensive. We booked online the nite before and got the tickets for "only" $94 for the 2 of us - and - well, overall my impression was that the previous day's (hiking at DuPont) activity - at the princely cost of - FREE - was much better.

We'd been to Biltmore years ago - with the girls, so we really only wanted to visit the *grounds* and enjoy the rolling hills - but there isn't an admission price for that: you take it all or nothing, so we signed up, drove in, and parked. The driveway in - at a mile or so - really is pretty - and we ultimately heard that the construction of Biltmore - over a 5-year period (1889-1894) included almost 3 *million* plants being bred, developed, and placed - in addition to the house. That is a staggering number of plants - and it is a beautiful setting.

Even though it was a Wednesday in October - and was 53 degrees - and forecast to be drizzly all day - they were expecting 4000 people today. Do the math. At $50 apiece, that adds up to over $200,000 in ONE off-season day. Biltmore is very-much a *business*. Parking was full, but we found a spot in a satellite lot - and walked over. VERY nice - and we emerged right at "THE view" of the house (refer to photo). A really nice surprise to emerge from the woods and see the green lawn spread out before us with the granite mansion at the end. A nice couple there offered to take our picture and - voila:

Our reservation for the house tour was 11:30 - so we headed to the left of the house - down into the garden - to explore the Conservatory. Pretty - particularly for a gardener and her husband. The flower colors were stunning in the subdued light:

And there were some surprising finds in the Conservatory. This is a "Magic Lantern" flower - that we'd never seen before:

We found a path which was marked as a 1.2-mile hike - and it looked like it would be beautiful - if it wasn't 51 degrees and steadily raining, so we, instead, hiked back to the mansion and joined the long lines SLOWLY wending their way thru the mansion. Annnd. OK. It is beautiful. It was architected very thoughtfully and beautifully. And it is furnished very authentically. But. It's "a big house". No photography allowed - so that they can *sell* you the photos. It was dark and generally depressing. And the crowd moved VERY slowly so I got very tired of standing and walking and I was "done" long before we finally emerged to find it (of course) raining.

We wandered over to what used to be the stable and had lunch in the "Stable Cafe" - and they nearly saved the day. Yeah, I know, I'm way too excited about food, but they had a really-interesting sample platter with chicken, ribs, pulled pork, some interesting stuffing with cornmeal and jalapeno's, a really-tasty cole slaw, and even collard greens. And our server was just bubbling over sunshine-y with her smile and attitude. Actually, I have to admit that every single employee we encountered thru the day was just wonderful. The Cafe was also entertaining because each booth was made up to look like a horse stall:

We walked back to the car, sharing a small umbrella (which is actually a very-nice thing to do with someone who is cuddly...) and we drove thru the grounds - over to the Farm area. It was still cold and rainy, but we enjoyed the Blacksmith (who made an iron "leaf" out of a bar of iron) - and the Carpenter - then to the Winery. The lines for the tour were long, so we just wandered thru the gift shop - and discovered the entry to the wine *tasting* at the end of the tour - so we just got into *that* line and Kathy found 2 of their wines that she liked enough to acquire.

By now, it was 5PM and I am *stiff and sore* and tired from standing and walking. Yeah, I guess I'm getting old. So we loaded into "Monroe" (with lots of groaning on my part) and headed back to the hotel to just chill out - and tell you all about it.

A good day, but, again, my "bottom line" is that there are plenty of things to do - which don't cost anything at all - that are more beautiful and inspiring. We'll aim for public parks instead of Biltmore - in the future.

We're FALL-ing and it makes us feel so UP.

2009-10-13T15:30:00.000-07:00

Hi, all,

Wow. What a great day. The pop song "Perfect Day" keeps running thru my mind. Huge thanx to Jack and Mary Ellen Farrar for pointing us to DuPont State Forest outside Asheville. There are short-hike trails which lead to spectacular waterfalls - all free. I just kept staring at them thinking "really LOOK at these - this is REAL - not Disney-created tricks". The combination of falling leaves (it looks like maybe our timing really IS good - bright leaves swirling down from the trees so it is "FALL") and the quiet solitude crunching along together on the trails - holding hands - and the beautiful waterfalls - made for a magic day.

OK. Back up a little. Great breakfast in our hotel (yeah, I know I get WAY too excited about food, but waffles AND biscuits and gravy and sausage AND orange juice get me excited!). Then ask Leila to find the DuPont forest. About a half-hour's drive and we found a little turn-off parking lot that just didn't look like much. But there were 5 waterfalls within "less than mile" hikes of that little parking lot. Enjoy the photos rather than my descriptions. Remember that you can click on any photo to get a bigger version of it. This next one just looks like a postcard or a picture puzzle.

Thanks again to Kelly for the loan of her good camera.

We wore out the battery, so had to pack up and head out. Bot another battery at Best Buy on the way home, then headed to Biltmore Mansion - figuring that we'd "do" the grounds today as well - but they close the gate at 3PM - so we were too late for today - but now we know where it is (again).

Great dinner at Texas Roadhouse (they keep the salads really COLD in seriously-chilled bowls and the salad just tastes SO much better that way - not to mention the cinnamon-butter yeast rolls which you could just feast yourself to death on) - and back to the room to catch up.

Just a perfect Fall day - looking at Falls - and avoiding any falls in the process - despite some slippery footing near the Falls.

Back on the Road: Leaf-ing home

2009-10-12T18:44:00.000-07:00

Hi, all,

It's been quite awhile, but we're back on the road for a short trip. Our lives finally opened up schedule-wise, so we decided to hop into "Monroe" and have "Leila" guide us to Asheville, NC. We think we're probably a week or two early to catch the turning of the leaves, but this is when it worked for us - and we've been meaning to get back to Asheville - ever since we visited Biltmore mansion with the kids - probably 20 years ago.
The drive up from Florida was relatively uneventful. Kelly brought over her camera at 7AM so we'd have the GOOD camera again, then we packed up and headed out - wearing shorts and T-shirts since it was 93 degrees. We cruised up I95 - and saw the aftermath of a multi-car accident near Daytona (again! - we saw a BAD one a couple of months ago - a few miles further up the road). But we just took it as a warning to "take it easy" and all went fine. We were fussing with Kathy's brand-new laptop - getting the Aircard to work - and totally missed when we left Florida and entered Georgia - and we had some really interesting rain patterns as we cruised: one sheet of rain couldn't have been more than 50 feet wide: clear, then RAIN, then clear again - all within 50 feet. Of course, that may have been caused by the drop in temperature from the 93 of Florida - to - eventually 56 here in Asheville, NC. Quite a temperature change for one day.
I had a hankering for Italian food, so we had Leila tell us where any Italian restaurants were nearby - and we wound up at a wonderful little restaurant named "Capri". Our waiter Justin was really attentive and friendly and I enjoyed my Lasagna - and dessert of "Brownie bites": *fried* balls of brownie so that they were crunchy on the outside but gooey and fudgy on the inside. Paired with ice cream, it was like little individual "molten Lava cakes".
Annnd I got some good news once I asked Kathy to drive for a bit - and got onto *my* brand-new laptop: I had "given up acting" - yet again - only to wind up auditioning for another 35mm film at Full Sail University - on Saturday. Usually it takes a couple of weeks to hear anything - but I had an email waiting - offering me the lead in "Box 304". It will shoot in November and I play a Father who is bent on cleaning up the world. I thought I'd done well in the audition, and it's great to get another lead part. Cool.
So. Our plan is to enjoy the grounds of Biltmore Mansion, browse Art Galleries in Asheville - and try a short hike or two which lead to waterfalls in State Parks. Then head over to Tennessee for a party with our friends Chris & Denise.
Hopefully we'll get to see some pretty leaves in the process.

Good to be back on the road.

What have we been up to since we got home?

2009-02-01T06:31:00.001-08:00

Hi, all,

If you'd like to read about what we've been up to since we got back home, take a look at the regular column I'm now writing for "The Examiner.com". We've put on another 3,000 miles, visiting New York, Boston, and Tennessee/North Carolina. Just click the link and follow along.

See you there!

Meanwhile, we've entered the contest to be the Tourism Ambassadors for Queensland, Australia, by composing and entering a song on video. The tune is "Waltzing Mathilda".

View the video here.

The lyrics are:

**************************************************

I'm Pete LaMaster, I love to travel while I Blog,
It's what I do - read my websites and see.
I drove across the States, blogging all of my dis-cover-ies
Now Bring me to Queensland and your spokesman I'll be.

I'll bring a fresh eye. Tourists will see why
Queensland is bonzer & there's lots to see:

All the fish, birds, and plant lifeKoala's, 'roo's and wallabies
If you want to Show-case your Queensland - pick me.

Hamilton Island, Sea and Blue Sky-land
Bushwalking, snorkelling, SCUBA - and Me!

Outback and hot tub, Great Reef and Great Grub
Queensland is bursting with great things to see

So just turn me loose and watch myDis-cov-er-y O-dyss-ey
If you want to Spot-light your Queensland - pick me!

Spoken:
Hi, I'm Pete LaMaster.
Travelling and Discovering and Blogging - is what I DO.Let me do it down-under - for YOU!

*********************************************

A few "extras" about us that didn't fit into the video:

Kathy and I retired recently and immediately hopped into the family van to explore the United States for 2 months. We drove 11,000 miles, visiting everything from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon, Disneyland to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival, Diners to Restaurants.

We took over 3000 photos and Blogged our whole trip while experiencing new places, new foods, and new people.

Check out our travels here on our blog.

I also write a regular column for "Examiner.com". Check it out at the link above.

Bottom line: We like to do things - and write about them.

With the 2 of us as a team, you get a computer geek engineer with an MIT Master's degree, a writer, a botanist, a teacher with Zoo experience, and 2 swimmers - and you even get an actor and model since I just finished 10 short films in the last 2 months.

We've been planning an exploration of Australia for over 10 years now and we're just busting ready to do the same kind of discovery of Queensland's Barrier Islands - that we did here in the States.

We're very real, just like the tourists you want to attract.

We're ready, and we've proven that we have the time, the interest, and the skills to be exactly the ambassadors you're looking for.

"Pick Me!" (and you get "us"!)

P&K

Home. For Now.

2008-11-20T06:59:00.000-08:00

November 18, 2008 - Tuesday

Sunny morning. Warmer than we expected it would be - since we're having a cold snap in Florida. Packed and into Monroe - with a quick stop at McDonald's for some coffee, then glide up I-4 and around Orlando's Greenway to the Beach Line - and down familiar I-95.

We've started a list of places we'll go on our NEXT trip - whenever that may be: we're not at all "road-weary" and not tired of each others' company.

We decided to stop for lunch before we got home - only about 100 yards from home - partially to try "Squid Lips" again (good, creative food, but STILL rather pricey - even for lunch!) - and partially to kind of prove to ourselves that we really were *not* anxious to pull into the driveway and call it "done".

But after lunch, we *did* pull around the corner and into the driveway and began to unpack. Everything is fine. My car started first-time-out after sitting for 2 months. I *did* have to find somewhere to inflate the tires (and the first 4 places I tried either had someone sitting in front of the Air pump - or the pump was broken or whatever) but I got the job done while Kathy unpacked. We had dinner with Kelly & Glenn - to catch up, talk, pick up our US Mail, and collect our little brat cat "Missy" - and bring her home, too.

We're home. It's been really great and we *do* intend to do this again.

Here is the final, updated map:

It has been a wonderful experience - visiting family, friends, and landmarks - and bonding with *each other* again. And it has absolutely been a confirmation that Early Retirement is

"A Lifestyle, not a Vacation" -

as the Kaderli's of "Retire Early Lifestyle" say. I didn't understand really what that meant until I retired and could look at life as *life* rather than looking at my *job* as my life - living 50 weeks per year just so I could pay for a rushed, mad scramble in the other 2 weeks - to do what I really wanted to do. We have been living the last 55 days "on an annual pass" rather than on a "day pass": we had plenty of TIME to do things so we didn't need to try to cram everything into those fleeting few vacation days. It's a whole different attitude that helps us realize that there are many things we really don't need - and many others that we *can* afford - if we prioritize to get *them* instead of what we thought we wanted - until we slowed down enough to really look at what we were spending our money and our precious *time* on. We only have so much time. Each of us.

We didn't "miss our lives" while doing this: this *is* living. We also enjoyed *not* being up on "the news" - even thru the Presidential Election. Most of what is in "the news" - really doesn't matter at all - one week later. It is freeing to just ignore "The Press".

And I'm very-pleased that we didn't let the outrageous gas prices change our plans. When we left home, we paid $4.11 per gallon to fill the tank - and were concerned about being irresponsible about setting off on a venture based on gasoline. By the time we got back home, that crisis had subsided again and we did our final fill-up for $1.97 per gallon. My point is that this world is in rapid flux: don't let a momentary, seemingly-important "world event" set the course of your life.

Some statistics:

10,785 miles as recorded by "Leila". We averaged just over 22 MPG, so that implies 488 gallons of gas.

55 Days - almost 8 weeks.

18 unique States (we entered and left a few multiple times): Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama - and back to Florida.

6 "Books on CD"

3218 Photos (that's only counting the ones we're *keeping* - as opposed to the ones we just deleted off the digital cameras). Wanna come over and see our "Vacation Slides"?

I *do* still intend to post accounts of Zion, Vegas, Yosemite, Sacramento, San Francisco, and San Jose, so do keep checking back.

But for now: thanks for riding along with us and "Welcome Home!"

Tampa and "So You Think You Can Dance"

2008-11-19T14:47:00.000-08:00

November 17, 2008 - Monday - Tampa

Well this was another "stake in the ground" - like the Albuquerque Balloon Festival: we needed to be in Tampa - at 7:30 PM on Nov 17 - since we had gotten tickets to the National Tour of "So You Think You Can Dance" - way back before we even planned this trip.

So I had been obsessing over getting TO Tampa so that we would know that we could make it to the show - so we loaded Monroe and headed East on I-10 for only about 10 miles before taking "Leila's" lead and heading *South* on US-19. Again, a more rural route, but most of it was 70 MPH, 4-lane road - just punctuated with the small towns of Gulf-coast Florida. Quite charming, actually, the "Old Florida" look before Disney and Interstate Highways.

And we popped in the last CD's of the Gothic Romance we had started - and just cruised down the sunlit roadways of Florida - while hearing about "Carrow" and "Michael" in Victorian England and their mystery and romance. Actually quite engaging and it sure helps the miles fly by.

We arrived at our LaQuinta across the street from Busch Gardens - by 1PM - and got to watch the "She-Kra" ride plunge straight down - over and over - from our hotel. We had a few hours before we needed to head the 8 miles to the "St Petersburg Times Forum" for the show, and I really did intend to spend some serious time Blogging - but a long day before and time changes and self-induced stress (we NEED to get to TAMPA!!!) - wore me out and we just laid down on the bed - and wound up napping the afternoon away. That was all very-good anyway, since it meant that we were awake for the show.

We got dressed up and followed Leila's directions downtown - and Tampa is another city where you *NEED* a GPS to even find your way around downtown: one-way streets, multiple lanes which *all* separate in different directions simultaneously without warning (so you'd BETTER be in the correct lane!) and such, but we got near the Forum - and just pulled into one of the many parking lots nearby, paid our $5 and walked the other 3 blocks.

And it felt really good. Me and my Life-Mate dolled up and walking arm-in-arm to a show. Felt like a million bux.

God Bless Kathy that she isn't fussy and settled for choking down a hotdog in the Forum (for "only" $21 for 2 dogs and 2 drinks!!) before heading up the escalator to our nose-bleed seats. Yeah. That's all that had been available by the time I went to get tickets - 2 days after they went on sale. Wayyyy up in the back - in the top.

Ultimately the place was *not* full and we were pretty-much as far up and back as anybody, but we had brought the binoculars we had bought all the way back in Kansas - at the garage sale - and they proved to be crucial: we really couldn't *SEE* without them, so we handed them back and forth thru the show. That's one thing about *dancing*: you really have to SEE the show - as opposed to music where you *can* miss seeing - as long as you can *hear*.

Kathy was silently very understanding - always handing me the binoculars when Courtney Galiano came onstage - and I handed them back when the guys were doing shirtless numbers (though Kathy didn't *ask* for the binoculars for that).

The show was good. 3 hours long and they did a lot of the favorite dances from the show. And they evoked the same *emotional* response they had on the show. I can't explain why the couples dances are so powerful, but the coreography and dancing just grab me - and they did. The Argentine Tango. The Frankenstein routine. The briefcase dance. And on. All the different styles from Hip-hop to Contemporary to Viennese Waltz to "Baliwood". Great stuff.

There were some disappointments: that we were so far away - and that "Twitch" - one of the favorite male dancers - had hurt himself the nite before so couldn't dance for us, but it was extra-special in that this *was* their *LAST* performance on this tour - probably the last time that this group of young men and women would *ever* be together this way. I was also concerned that after doing this tour for the last 3 months -that they'd be stale, but it was just as energetic and fresh as the first time they had performed these numbers on TV.

A good show. A great evening with my wife.
A short walk back to find "Monroe" and thread our way back thru Tampa to our hotel.

Except that I was hungry so at 11PM, Kathy found a Denny's and she had a hot-fudge brownie sundae while I had *both* an apple-carmel-ice-cream desert AND a piece of pumpkin pie. Mmmmmmmm.

Then to bed.

10,645 Miles and "almost home" - but stretching it out. :)

Sunshine, Gambling, Jets, Beach Sunsets, and HOME (kind of)

2008-11-17T15:00:00.000-08:00

November 16, 2008 - Sunday - on the road

Today was to be a "drive like crazy to get to Tampa" day, but it didn't turn out to be *only* that. It was QUITE the full day.

We awoke to cold but SUNNY! OH! How nice to have SUN! Whoopie! I just feel so much happier when there is SUN - and we'd been overcast for nearly a week. We skipped the *2* Waffle Houses near the hotel (in favor of the "included" breakfast *at* the hotel), then drove down to the waterfront in Biloxi, MS:
where the Casino's have been *re*built there. Hurricane Katrina really tore everything up when she came thru, but the area is thriving again.

We drove the length of the waterfront just to get the "lay" - and enjoyed the morning sun on the Gulf water:

and we admired the carved trees which have adorned the road median: much in the style and spirit of my step-father Glenn's carvings:

We parked in the MGM's "Beau Rivage" and strolled in.
We had read reviews which indicated that if you weren't a SERIOUS gambler, then they weren't interested in you - and, well, we kind of got that feel - the same as the MGM in Las Vegas. I was surprised to confirm that at 10AM on a Sunday morning - that the low-end tables were set to $10 minimums! ACK! Too rich for our blood. We tried a couple of the "Wheel of Fortune" slots - and didn't get so much as a single payoff for our money. Phooey! Back to "Monroe" and over to the Hard Rock instead.

What a difference in "feel". There's a marina there with a nice view of the fishing boats and the gulf:
Then we strolled in past the usual "Planet Hollywood" decorations: memorabilia from music figures: Billy Joel to "Kiss". And the Eagles (smile).

It was pretty quiet on a Sunday morning and we wound up standing near the row of table games - and a routlette wheel which was vacant. I started looking at the wheel and the attendant was very friendly and started showing us the features and telling us some history.

Features: Technology has just gotten *entirely* out of control. The Roulette table is mostly automated. The dealer "throws" the ball in the wheel, but the table itself notes what number the marble falls into - and posts it to a running-display so you can see what has come up recently. OK. All of that is "typical" for casino's these days. But this table took it further. The table itself is back-lit and knows what sections have won: the area where you lay your bets actually *lights up* the spots which have won: indiviual number, red/black, odd/even, 1st/2nd/3rd 12, etc, all of the ways to win. So once the ball drops, anything which isn't *LIT* - is a loser and is scooped off into the chip sorter. Yes. An automatic chip sorter. Each person at a Roulette table has their own-color chips so bets can be kept straight. It used to be that the dealer had to sort out all of the chips - but now he just scoops them all into an automated sorter which uses video sensing to separate by color - and stack the chips up to be used again.

Now. Far from making the dealer lazy, it gave him time to TALK to us and tell us that where we were standing - was under 5 FEET of water - during Hurricane Katrina. On the 3rd floor. The Hard Rock had been set to open *2 days* after Katrina: everything was ready, but the whole place had to be trashed, cleaned up, and rebuilt. But they're there and open now. Also, he directed us to some "Elvis" memorabilia including a uniform used in one of his movies. Katrina had blown the whole thing out into the Gulf - presumably lost. But someone found it, returned it, and it was restored - and on display again in the "High Limit" slot area. REALLY cool.

We thanked the dealer for his time - then circulated thru the casino and played a couple more "Wheel of Fortune" slots (OK... we play *those* because we like the game and because they are "Progressive" slots which could potentially pay us a million bux for one spin: might as well have the *chance* to win *BIG*!) We didn't win - but at least we had the possibility.

Anyway, we worked our way back around to the roulette table and decided to give it a whirl - though Roulette usually isn't our game, but we'd called Chris & Denise the nite before to ask for recommendations on Casinos there - and Denise always plays 17 on roulette. So we did.

The table was a $10 minimum - but we were just going for one spin - so I put the whole $10 on 17 - and Kathy scattered 10 more $1 bets around the table - including Kelly's birthday of 12 and 15.

Kathy has NOT been having good gambling luck on this trip (yeah, I know, I STILL haven't written up our time in Vegas, but Craps were good to me - and Kathy just never had any luck at all).

But 15 came up - and paid Kathy $35 for the $1 that was on 15 - so we actually cashed out and walked away "up" on Roulette - and Kathy felt like a winner. It really *is* a much-better feeling to win than to lose. :)

So! We strolled back to "Monroe" feeling like winners, and headed East on I-10 - rolling thru the rest of Mississippi - and into Alabama - our 18th (and final) *different* state for this trip. Yeah. 18 States. Pretty cool.

We passed the Battleship Alabama - outside Mobile. We didn't stop, but we saw it from I-10 - and I was surprised at how *small* it looked - relative to the aircraft carriers I've gotten used to.
I-10 traverses some low-lying swamp/inlet areas so has some impressively-long causeways - just elevated roadways - going for *miles* over the water and marshes. Quite pretty.

And finally at 12:30 - in bright sunshine - after 52 days on the road - we re-entered Florida - "The Sunshine State". COLD for Florida: 56 degrees, but I choked up a bit as we entered - finally being back "almost home".

I said "We're HOME" - and Kathy just said: "Darn!"

We've been *so* enjoying this whole trip and experience that she didn't want it to end. I suppose she's also never been as fond of Florida as I am, either. But back in Florida we are.

Kathy got out her laptop and fired up the Aircard and started looking at attractions ahead of us - and we decided that the National Naval Air Museum at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola - was just too good to pass up. It's the home of the "Blue Angels".

So we exited at Pensacola, and I immediately steered us to a "Waffle House" there and FINALLY got my "Waffle House" "fix" for lunch, and found a really-cool "tricycle" in the parking lot as we were leaving:

Then we followed "Leila"'s directions to the Museum.

And wound up at a dead-end into a barbed-wire official-looking fence. Oh. Apparently, the traffic flow to the Naval Air Station has been changed a bit and nobody told "Leila" yet.

We just backed up our directions a bit and got back to "Blue Angel Parkway" (which seemed to be a likely way to get to the Museum - considering) - and found the entrance.
The guards were quite polite and confirmed that *lots* of people end up at the dead end. And also confirmed that our luck has gotten rusty: the Blue Angels just had their huge annual Homecoming celebration and show (when they come *back* to Pensacola after touring the world) - *yesterday* (and the day before). We JUST missed it. But, we were told, we also missed "about a billion people" - so there are advantages. So we drove on in and found the National Museum of Naval Avaition.
Really cool, huge place. Kathy had read up online and knew that we wanted to hit the IMAX movie and motion simulator right away - so we hustled in, bot tickets, and were seated in the IMAX theatre just as the movie started - about being a Fighter Pilot. Beautiful, moving, detailed coverage of a training exercise outside of Las Vegas - and a reminder of the amazing skills and dedication of those who serve and protect the rest of us. Moving. Perhaps strongly for me because of my weak stomach: there's just no way I could *ride* in a Fighter - let alone keep my wits about me enough to *fly* one. I salute, thank, and admire you pilots out there.

Out to the "motion simulator" to pretend to be in one of the Blue Angels jets as they did maneuvers... not really something you haven't seen in any motion simulator.

But then out into the main museum area where they have GOBS of planes hung up and on display.
I knew that we were pressed for time, and I said to Kathy that I felt like we were in the Louvre with only 2 hours to see everything. Cool, educational, and amazing and I *do* wish I could have done it with my Dad - who could have told me what I was looking at - though I *did* recognize many of the important planes on my own - like the Catalina flying boat (I do believe that Jimmy Buffet owns one of them personally and Dad and I saw *6* of them flying at the "Sun N Fun" Festival a couple of years ago), a Ford Tri-motor (of "Indiana Jones" movies fame - among others):
and the Blue Angels Jets.
And some I'd never seen before like this "NC-4" which was the first plane to cross the Atlantic:

We really *had* to get on down the road (to get to Tampa in time for the show tomorrow nite), so we quickly got a couple of pictures of me sitting in some static displays:
And then we piled back into "Monroe" and RAN for Tampa.

OK. No. We didn't.

Kathy had read that US98 was a pretty drive - down the Gulf Coast - rather than just going back to I-10 - so we cruised down US98 - enjoying the scenery - including the sunset while we were on a long bridge (don't forget that you can click on any photo and get a big version to admire):
Just Beautiful!
Sooo we decided to "push it" more and drove over the bridge to Pensacola Beach - paying the $1 toll for the privilege.

Annnd I was worrying about getting far enough down the road, so was getting less inclined to "stop and feel the sand between our toes" - but, without coaxing, I *did* find a place to pull off and we walked out onto the *gorgeous* white-powder-sand beach
and watched the colors of the sky as the sun sank lower - and dabbled our fingers in the Gulf waters: Atlantic to Pacific - to Gulf

AND found the broken remains of GOBS of sand dollars.

Then back up the incredible white powder - like snow - to "Monroe" - to drive on East across the coast.
We ultimately just parked and watched the sky keep deepening the colors - while staying warm in the car - with classic Rock on the radio. Ummm... really magical!
and the end to a really-great day. Together.

Except that it wasn't over yet. :)

We headed on down the road - only to find that it was washed out and didn't *exist* much past that last photo. We had to turn around and backtrack - and finally just head for I-10 and *drive* to get a few more hours behind us.

Kathy got online again and found a hotel just past Tallahassee and booked that, then we stopped for a salad-bar dinner at a Ruby Tuesday's - and drove thru the final time change (finally back in *Eastern* timezone - and making us seem to be an hour even *later* than we seemed) - and pulled into the hotel at about 11PM.

Quite a day. Quite a trip. And we're not home *yet*.

10,400 Miles - and Monroe has been making a "grinding" sound after a few hours at high speed. Hmmmm...

Driving thru Graceland, Overcast, Biloxi

2008-11-16T20:43:00.001-08:00

November 15, 2008 - Saturday

Big day of driving. Ozark, Arkansas - to Biloxi, MS. Biloxi? Where did Biloxi come from?

We checked out of the Lamplighter B&B in Ozark, then had breakfast with Fred & Jo at the Ozark Diner (thanks for picking up the tab - again, Fred), then said goodbye and got on the road by 9:37 - heading across I-40. Fred had overrulled both "Leila" and "Streets & Trips" - nixing both a route thru Birmingham AND a route thru Chattanooga - saying that it would be quicker to head straight south from Memphis to link up with I-10. So we headed down I-40 to Little Rock (again) - then over to Memphis - and actually went *right* by the exit to Graceland - but decided that we didn't have time to visit Elvis - and headed on down I-55 in the overcast.

I am getting really tired of overcast. I NEED to see some sun - but not today.

We got a bit of excitement when we tried to get online with the Aircard to book the hotel for the night. Kathy figured out that we could stop in Biloxi, MS, a city we've been hearing about as a resort community for awhile - so pulled out the Aircard to find a hotel. Uhhh... Aircard tells us that our password is blocked. Uhhh... why??? So she found a phone number, we called, and found out that Sprint had *mailed* our bill - and hadn't bothered to *email* anything to let me know that since we hadn't paid - that they shut off our service. Hmmm... So they asked how soon we could make a payment. I told the very-professional and helpful person (not being sarcastic at all, the Sprint representative was VERY helpful) that as soon as they turned on the service we could get online and use our banking website to pay them. So... as I was completing the sentence, Sprint turned the service on again. Ummm... thanks. We made the payment, Kathy made a reservation, and on we went. Cool!

No real problems - just let Leila lead Monroe and we pulled up to the Quality Inn in Biloxi at 7:30PM. 629 miles in one day! We intended to just unload, then go back out for dinner and some casino-ing, but there was a big, 2-person jacuzzi tub *in* our room, sooo welll... we never left the room and that's also why this post is a day late: never unpacked the computer - even though there were Waffle Houses on *both* sides of our hotel (yes, I've been really missing "Waffle House" since we got West of Texas: NO "Waffle Houses" out there - so I've been anxious for a "Waffle House" fix).

Good times. Good times *together*.

And we passed quite a milestone today: A total of (ta-da!): 10,004 miles as of today. Thanks for "riding along with us".

Wining, Whining, BBQ, slop, and Shuttle Launches

2008-11-14T18:53:00.000-08:00

November 14, 2008 - Friday - Ozark, AR

Another reminder that you can click on any picture - and get a bigger version of it. Then just use your "Back" button to get back to here.

Wine-tour day. Up at 8AM (early for me) to get downstairs in our "Lamplighter" B&B and socialize for Breakfast (blueberry pancakes (!), eggs, bacon, strawberries and grapefruit - wunnerful), then I managed to collect one of the 2 sweet cats who live here, grab a seat by the front door, and sit and "cat" for a good 20 minutes. Ahhhh... I NEEDED that! "Full contact sport" here - purring, rubbing, and everything. Nothing else like it!

Everybody pack into the cars and head off to the first winery of the day. They've been here in Arkansas for over 100 years - founded by a Swiss immigrant and running ever since. They currently have over 32 different types of grapes being grown here.

This is the place where we had dinner last nite and the facilities are quite extensive - as we saw in our tasting:

and tour:
The tour was quite interesting - talking about the evolution of wine-making and bottling
over the last 100 years - with some recent changes being rather significant (moving away from natural cork - toward synthetic cork - or twist caps - or even boxes - with the advantage that you don't need to keep wine inverted since the point was to keep the cork wet - and synthetic or screw-caps don't need to be kept wet).

Interesting stuff and we walked out with a case of wine - 'cause there were at least 2 that Kathy found particularly tasty!

Then to lunch. We piled into the "Rivertown BBQ" in downtown Ozark, and MAN that was great eating. Sorry, I didn't think to take photos, but the food and prices and atmosphere were just *great*. I had a pulled-pork sandwich and they let me choose *apple cobbler* for my *side* dish. Ohhhh... MAN! Both were amazing! But that's just a beginning. I noticed a menu item named "Slop". Yes. "Slop". Rice, Red Beans, cheese, pulled pork, and BBQ sauce in a bowl (if I remember correctly). My brother Fred decided to try it - and pronounced it excellent. THEN we noticed "Creamed Possum with Coon Fat Gravy" - and we asked if that was a real offering - and were assured that it was. Cute. And cool, but nobody had a hankering for Creamed Possum. But a few others did try the "Rib lunch" and got ribs with more meat than I'd ever seen on a rib - plus creative baked beans and potato salad - more than anybody could eat - for something like $6. A *great* place to eat. Thanks for picking up the tab, Dad - and thanks, Fred, for letting somebody else finally pick up *a* tab: Fred has been grabbing checks for our whole visit, bless him.

We waddled out to the car, spent some time browsing an Antique store across the street, then headed out to Winery #2 of the day:

Note that it, too, has been around for well over 100 years! And note the beautiful leaves. We're told that the leaves "peaked" about a week ago, but they are still beautiful.

We enjoyed our 2nd "tasting":

annnd walked out with *another* case of wine. They had some really-different offerings in addition to some very-good "traditional" ones.

And we got a "photo op" outside where I plopped my hat on Dad's head:
So. On to winery #3 - which we had passed on the way to lunch. I had been thinking about the name for awhile before it hit me. See if you "get it":
Clearly, it is a sophisticated French name - which, translated, means "Home at the Arc" - referring to the "Big Bend Arc" in the Arkansas River - here in Ozark. So it's classy and sophisticated and is kind of cute at the same time: "The Arc of the Ark".

But if you know French, then pronounce it. "Aux" is pronounced "O's".

So if you say it out loud it comes out: "Chateau O's Arc".... "Chateau Ozark".

Now *that* is clever! Sophisticated Hillbilly! I was really impressed.

Another tasting. Another couple of bottles of wine making it to the car. They also have a "Wineaux" list to keep you informed of doings. That is pronounced "Winoes".

So. Back to Aaron's house to help him get packed to head off to Pratt, KS, to go Pheasant hunting - then eating "Pickles Gap" Fudge and watching the Shuttle Launch (always exciting even though we live 40 miles from the Space Center) - then back to the Lamplighter B&B. Bless Carol at the Lamplighter, she brought one of the cats up to us so we could properly cuddle tonite (at our request). A great place to stay.

9375 Miles and we're done for the day.

Except that I really MUST correct a heinous omission from yesterday. Whitney has joined our circle of friends - being a friend of Aaron's. She's dog-sitting for him this weekend and seems quite sweet. She was also the one who *took* the group photo for us last night. She *begged* me to include a photo of her here because she *loves* to have her picture taken (big smile), but I forgot to include her photo yesterday, so here it is. Hi, Whitney - and please DO forgive me if I've spelled your name wrong. :)

Toad Suck, Pickles Gap, Booger Hollow, Paris, and London

2008-11-13T19:50:00.000-08:00

November 13, 2008 - Thursday - Arkansas

More family time - and time seeing the fun places in Arkansas. We loaded up "Monroe" and headed to Conway to have lunch with my niece, Jenna - then over to "Pickles Gap" to pick up some really-great fudge. My brother told us we *had* to try this fudge - and we found it as good as he claimed. In particular, I *love* their "Pumpkin Pie" fudge. Usually when I've had things which "taste just like" something else, they aren't really good. But in this case, the "Pumpkin Pie" fudge is perhaps better than pumpkin pie. Yummy! We also grabbed some of the Chocolate Mint, Maple Nut, and Chocolate Amaretto. Great stuff. They also have a fun gift shop there - selling things like "White Trash" - a "trail mix" with cute labelling - and cookbooks with Arkansas recipes. Fun and recommended - and they do ship for the holidays!

On up I-40, passing London on the way. Yeah, London, Arkansas. Paris, Ark is not far - and we passed Paris, TX on our way in, so we've been to Paris, London, Paris, and Toad Suck in the last week.

We visited Aaron, our nephew, in his Dentistry practice, then checked into the Lamplighter B&B in Ozark, AR. No, not "The Ozarks", but "Ozark, AR". The Lamplighter is beautiful and full of character - with a stuffed doll of Charlie Chaplin sitting in a chair to greet you in the parlor - and 2 cuddly cats who came right out and let me get a "cat fix". Our room has a beautiful view over the Arkansas River and the bridge over it.

Dinner at the Wiederkehr Wine Kellar with the whole family, then back to Aaron's house for a group shot: (Kathy, Me - yes, I'm wearing short pants in 50-degree weather, Aaron, My step-mother Joan, My Dad Dan, Sister-in-law Jo, and my "middle brother" Fred):
and to fire up the mud racer my brother has acquired (WOW it sounds great to hear a burbly engine fire up!).

Back to the Lamplighter for some fudge - and hit the bed to get ready for Wine tours tomorrow.

A reminder that you can click on any photo - to get a full-size look at them.

9328 Miles

Catfish, traffic, and being with Family

2008-11-13T08:14:00.001-08:00

November 12, 2008 - Wednesday - Little Rock

"Little Rock-ing" around the clock today.

Rainy and overcast - so rather a gloomy feeling, but that really means that I slept in until 10 AM (ack!) and everybody was waiting for me to get up and start the day.

I left Kathy with Jo (our sister-in-law) to let them just talk, then I drove up to my Dad's place and went out to a great catfish lunch with Dad & Joan. OK. I admit it. I don't eat fish, generally, and I was afraid of catfish, but this was really benign and tasty. Catfish, fries, hushpuppies (which I love) and a nice conversation.

Back to Dad's with a great view out over the beautiful leaves of Little Rock - while we spent a bit of time on his computer - and took care of a couple of minor questions he had. I don't really know as much about computers as I used to, so it's nice when I *can* help with questions anymore. But we also got some good "talk time" while we were waiting for Windows Vista to install "Service Pack 1".

Back to my brother's - thru 5PM traffic (not as bad as I'd been warned), then more talk, dinner out at an amazing Chinese buffet (it includes even steak and sushi), more talk - and bed.

Good "family" time. Off to Ozark tomorrow - for a wine tour. Yes. A wine tour in Arkansas.

9160 Miles.

Arkansas, Veteran's Day, Dad's Birthday and Family

2008-11-13T07:55:00.000-08:00

November 11, 2008 - Tuesday - Veteran's Day

Veteran's Day AND my Daddy's Birthday. We'll just say that the first digit is "8" and that he's one of the many many Veterans we salute on this day - and he's looking *good* - even if his first digit was NOT "8". Hi, Dad.

Into "Monroe" and brave the Dallas traffic to make it to I-30 to Little Rock - and find that the I-30 traffic is even *worse* than Dallas traffic: GOBS of heavy trucks - and that triggers a rant (though I think I already ranted about this): when there are only 2 lanes in a given direction WHY do people "pass" others when they're only going about 2 MPH faster? All it does is block *both* lanes for people who are trying to go 10MPH faster. Particularly with HEAVY 18-wheeler traffic, it really clogs up an interstate to have one 18-wheeler *inching* past another. If you're going to pass, then PASS at at least 10 MPH differential. Otherwise, just stay behind whoever you're behind. 2MPH ain't going to really make a difference - even over a 12-hour driving shift. Sorry. But I found myself rolling along behind a lot of 18-wheelers - waiting.

Meanwhile, we had a lot of time to talk about - things - and Kathy and I both confirmed that even with the minor annoyances of driving - that we are SO glad that we're not having to put up with the insanities of *flying* anymore: having to pack everything really tight so that you only have to pay $50 to check *one* extra bag, then having that bag opened there in front of everybody - spilling your underwear out on the floor and trying to jamb it back in, then take *off* your shoes, belt, cellphone, laptop computer, and watch - to hop thru security and try to get re-packed and redressed (while holding your baggie of clear liquids), then RUN for the plane since Security took an hour to not really make you any more secure. It does raise the argument that the *security* is costing America so much that it, alone, means that Al-Quaida "won" - just by messing up travel in the U.S. But you all know that. Just know that it is REALLY nice to be able to just throw things into a van, hit the road whenever we're ready and not have to worry about some TSA agent having a bad day and deciding to strip-search you while the airlines are busily raping you anyway.

But actually we had a GOOD day. (smile).

Just rolled Northeast. Stopped in Texarkana for $1.97/gallon gas - and a tasty lunch at Subway - and arrived at my Brother's house outside Little Rock - by early afternoon.

Then we visited. With brother and SIL and Dad & StepMom - and had some *great* chili and cornbread for dinner - and some *great* "WooPig" ice cream and brownies while talking and looking at trip photos.

Good stuff. This is what life is about.

We passed 9000 miles today - up to 9098 total. Looks like we'll be comfortably over 10,000 miles before we get back home - but we're on the final legs here.

Fort Worth Botanical Garden

2008-11-10T18:57:00.001-08:00

November 10, 2008 - Monday - Dallas/Fort Worth

Overcast, but that's OK - it just makes it feel like a Monday.

Kathy had gone online to look at "attractions" around Dallas - so we're off to the Fort Worth Botanical Garden. Just a 20-minute drive in the insane interstate network around DFW and we pulled in (it's like Los Angeles here: you have to *constantly* be aware of which *lane* you're in as lanes are added and go away and are "Exit Only" and you have to enter at the left of 8 lanes and get to the right lane in 400 feet...).

Can't beat the price of the Botanical Garden: free.

But it's November and overcast, so the flowers weren't really colorful. We strolled thru the 109 acres and were kind of disappointed, but then we found the Japanese Garden there. It's $3 each - obviously cheap - so we wandered on in. Again, the overcast day - and the muted colors of November kind of put a damper on it, but it is a HUGE Japanese garden and the Zen of it all began to seep into our psyche's:

Overall, a nice morning. It really didn't take long to soak in the atmosphere and start feeling it:

Smiles and a nice mental "soak" in the peacefulness. Nice.

"Leila" found a nearby Fuddruckers so we both had great Buffalo burgers for lunch.

Then back to the hotel by the airport - to just snuggle in and listen to the massive thunderstorm boom away outside.

Off to Arkansas tomorrow.

8789 Miles total.

Visiting Family

2008-11-09T19:13:00.001-08:00

November 9, 2008 - Sunday - Dallas

Kathy's cousin Ken lives in the Dallas area so we drove on down and spent the day visiting with him and Sandy
- and their - ummm - 6 or 7 dachsunds

- by the way, I'm rubbing ears and "loving" - not trying to hurt him.

Note the weathervane on their shed:
Then we went out for a special lunch at "Dave's" - run by a New Orleans chef who has relocated to Dallas. Tasty Cajun Tilapia.

Great visit. Great people. Great day.

8710 Miles.

Antelope Canyon - WOW!

2008-11-08T20:15:00.000-08:00

October 18, 2008 - Saturday - Page, AZ

Yeah. This is catching up with the "gap" in blogging, so realize this happened 3 weeks ago now.

Antelope Canyon day, but we booked the 10:30AM "Photographer's Tour" - meaning that we gave ourselves time to get up late and do some email and Blogging before heading out - AND meaning that we took the longer tour specifically set up to give us time to take pictures and mess around with angles and settings and such.

The tour provider was literally across the street, so we walked over and loaded up on the modified trucks and drove out past the Power Generation station - onto Navajo land - to the Canyon.

Well. Gee.Colors, textures, awe, reverence, challenges for photography - and a great guide.Nothing can really describe it - and photos don't really even fully capture it, but try THESE.

One of our favorite stops on the whole trip. Beautiful. Inspiring. Wow.

Back to Page, AZ by 2PM, lunch, then drive out toward Hurricane, UT to set us up for Zion and Bryce Canyon - driving past Lake Powell on the way: huge, winding lake created by damming the Colorado (like many *other* lakes in the area).

Pretty landscape as we drove along - listening to our "Edgar Allen Poe's Last Days" book on CD.
Mostly just driving - and getting to Hurricane - and going out for Chinese Take-out.

Beautiful day.

4884 miles.

"Cheap" Gas, Dallas, and Great Steak

2008-11-08T19:59:00.001-08:00

November 8, 2008 - Saturday

We asked "Leila" the quickest way to get from Carlsbad, NM, to Dallas, TX, and she lead us across State Road 180 rather than down to I-20. It made for a more-interesting drive - hitting little towns along the way and *was* probably faster since most of it was 2-lane, but 70MPH. Both Kathy and I *did* get our chance to get annoyed at how little towns seem to feel *obligated* to slow you down thru town. Hey. It's a 70MPH road. Deal with it instead of stepping you down from 70 - to 60 - to 55 - to... all the way down to 30MPH - then back up.

But we had a nice drive and Kathy drove some to give me time to get onto the computer to get the write-up done for "Antelope Canyon" - from October 18 - so I'll post that next.

We crossed from New Mexico back into Texas and, simultaneously, into Central Time - so we're back to being only one timezone away from Florida. We also passed miles and miles of fields of *cotton* all puffy and ready for harvest. It was cool to see "escaped" cotton lining the roads in some places - a white puffy "border" to the highway.

We also watched the price of gas continue to fall as we got into the heart of oil country, but I think it's more just that the price of oil is finally falling back to true "market" price - rather than what the speculators and gougers bid it up to. (Yeah... that was "political commentary"). But we left Carlsbad, NM with $2.29/gallon gas - and eventually saw it for $1.97/gallon in Texas - yes back under $2/gallon. To me, that shows how much B.S. it was when we were told that $4/gal was just caused by lack of refinery capacity and such. I hope that some "investors" who bid the prices up to $160/barrel - are happy *eating* their oil - now that the price of gas is literally *half* what it was when we left home 6 weeks ago. Yeah. How about that? We've been on the road for 6 weeks as of Thursday. And we still don't *miss* anything about home, though we're starting to make a list of "things we should do when we *do* finally get back home."

Anyway. We safely made it to our hotel near the Dallas airport, got checked in, then called Kathy's cousin Ken to ask for a recommendation for a *good* Dallas steak. He directed us to "The Keg" - only about 4 miles away - and it was, indeed, a very-memorable meal: Prime Rib for me, Steak Oscar for Kathy: excellent, seasoned very well - a wonderful romantic dinner for the 2 of us.

And we're only about 1000 miles from home now. 8626 miles total so far - a big driving day for us today.

In Praise of Skilled Workmanship, Carlsbad Caverns, No Whining Cafe

2008-11-07T17:24:00.001-08:00

November 7, 2008 - Friday - Carlsbad, NM

Wellll... "Monroe's" right rear tire was very low again this morning - so we figured we'd better actually do something about it. We limped next door to a gas station and pumped it up full, then asked Leila where Tire stores were in Carlsbad - and headed toward one. But on the way, we passed "AA Tire Co", so I pulled into the driveway, but then noticed a Wal-Mart across the street with a Tire center, so decided that I'd rather have something from Wal-Mart (so I could get it serviced anywhere if I needed to) - and drove across to the Wal-Mart. Got pointed to "she'll take care of you" and waited until she was done on the phone (another customer). Annnd she proceeded to do the "standard WalMart procedure" and collect all of the information about my life history. Engine size. Color of my car. My Phone number - having to *re*enter most information. Before we ever got to "and what size tire are you looking for?" Sigh. You guessed it. They don't carry Bridgestone tires - and I wanted to match what was there so I didn't have to replace the pair. So I wasted about 20 minutes finding out that they didn't have anything close to what I needed.

So I drove *back* across the street to "AA Tire Co", pulled up, and the owner walked right over and asked what the trouble was. I told him that I thought I had a leak in the sidwall and wondered if he could match the tire. He took a look and said "I can PATCH that". Uhh... Really? So he slid a jack under Monroe, popped the tire off, discovered immediately that there was a *screw* buried in the tread - and rolled it in the back to fix it.

10 minutes later, he had patched the tread, confirmed that the side-wall blemish was *not* leaking and the tire was back on the car. He asked for $10.68. I figure that *IF* WalMart had done the job, I would have wound up replacing at least 2 tires - and it would have likely been $300 by the time I got done.

I'll take this opportunity to remind myself that we really do need to support and appreciate the few *craftsmen* left in America - who actually know what they're doing and have a SKILL. The guys who look at something and say "I can fix that" - rather than throwing it away - and who really *CAN* fix stuff. My salutes to this gentleman.

So. Off to Carlsbad Caverns - about 30 minutes outside of Carlsbad, NM. We used our National Park Pass (again - we're up to $140 of "use" on the pass - which cost $85 for the year) to get free admission to the unescorted tours: the "Natural Entrance" (as opposed to the elevator which takes you straight down 750 feet):
and the "Big Room" tours. You just wander down a *mile* of paved trail - to get down into the main cavern - *** 750 feet *** underground. It's a BIG cave. Then you wander around a paved path thru the "Big Room" - the largest single chamber of any cave anywhere other than Borneo.

It was beautiful.
It was amazing both for the size - and for the fact that a commercial cave with *that* many visitors - still has beautiful formations and structures. Sigh. I know I keep saying this on this trip, but "Words Fail".
Particularly when I add that Kathy and I got to stroll along at our own pace, hand-in-hand - in this fairy-land. It has been lit by a Broadway lighting technician - to keep it subdued and still feeling like a *cave* and preserving some of the natural coloring - and it's just - beautiful.
We finished the unescorted tours, then took the elevator up for lunch (there *is* a gift shop and small cafe down in the caverns, but there isn't much there since this is the slow time of the year). The elevators were very appreciated: we didn't even want to *think* about walking back up the path we took *in*.

Then we grabbed the tripod for the camera and took the elevator back down for our "Palace Rooms" tour - escorted.
Photographic tip: a tripod is *really* helpful for getting non-blurred photos in a cave.
You really don't want to use flash since it washes out the colors - and the ambience. So. With Kelly's great camera - on a tripod -
and allowing the camera to just take as long as *it* thought the shutter should be open (up to *15 seconds!!!*):

Wow. Just WOW. We've seen lots of caves before, but the formations are - again - impressive because they are so *huge* - reminding us of just how long it took to form them - one little drip at a time - and because they are so complex and delicate and beautiful in their own right.
We were shown thru the Queen's Chamber and the King's Chamber - and on out of the cave - to wait for the evening flight of the bats.

Yes. Bats. There are something like 5 million bats who "summer" in Carlsbad Caverns - and it is quite impressive to see them emerge from the very opening we went down in earlier - each evening. So we sat and reverently waited, but it turned out that our luck didn't work that way this time: it is suspected that the bulk of the bats have already left for Mexico - as of 2 days ago. So no show this evening. But that's OK.

We drove back to Carlsbad and found a fun dinner place - the "No Whiner Diner".
One of the signs had "Whiner Diner" - so I thought it was for me (no kidding) - but when we got inside - we saw that the name had a circle around it with a line thru it - for *NO* Whiner Diner. Lots of fun. Lots of silly things to make the menu more fun - like a line at the bottom finishing with "management is not responsible for poor life choices on your part". Happy, fun waitress and staff. Very-good food. Finishing with a *great* slice of pumpkin pie. This place *should* be in the "Diners, Drive-in's, and Dive's". A great dinner - with each other - to finish a great day together.

8165 miles. Heading for Dallas tomorrow.

Thorny problems, Feeling Tired, and Getting lucky - again

2008-11-06T20:55:00.001-08:00

November 6, 2008 - Thursday

Well. We had an interesting nite in our cheapie "Motel 6" in Phoenix. First let me say that I applaud the approach of Motel 6: get rid of all of the things in a hotel room that you don't NEED - and bring down the price. Those things include: the little box of tissues in the bathroom, the shampoo and conditioner that nobody uses (at least *we* always prefer to use the ones we bring - with our own brands) - and even a lid on the toilet (seat included - no lid). We got a GREAT price on the Motel 6. But it was simultaneously (and amazingly) near: The Airport, The Train Tracks, AND 12-lane-wide Interstate 10 and they were ALL busy ALL night. It was actually *funny* because the office had a sign warning of "Planes, trains, and automobiles" and the noise wasn't a problem - except at about 9PM when a train came thru and - I swear - blew it's horn for at least 60 seconds *straight*. Kathy and I looked at each other and smiled when it started - then laughed as it continued, then couldn't believe it as it just *KEPT GOING*. Not "toot toot toot" - one *continuous* blast. We thot we were in a Ben Stiller movie or something. Anyway. Even with that said, we'd still recommend "Motel 6's" for people who only want to pay for a clean, reasonable hotel room - rather than a bunch of stuff they won't really use.

Anyway. Got packed up and on the road - and kept an eye out for somewhere to stop and get coffee for Kathy (I'd promised to stop somewhere since the room *also* doesn't include coffee-makers in the room). We jockey'd with the *substantial* big-truck traffic on I-10: frustrating since there were only 2 lanes and usually some truck would be trying to pass another truck - and going perhaps *1* MPH faster - so it wound up blocking both lanes - which was *particularly* frustrating on a highway which is *marked* for 75MPH. Sigh. No "road rage" HERE.

Finally found an exit with a mini-mart gas station so I could top off the gas - and Kathy could get some coffee - annnnd so that *somebody* (male) could get an iced cinnamon bun (total junk food, but I like them). No big deal, except that we noticed that our right-rear tire was quite low. Worry! But the station had an "air" station, so we filled the tire - and decided to *watch* it as we did some *serious* driving today. No problems: it's still inflated, but we'll still keep an eye out.

On to Tucson and Saguaro National Park. Ummm... Cactus. BIG Cactus:
LOTS of cactus. Actually, I thot this was cute: it looks like the cactus is "directing" the orchestra of the other plants:
Did I mention: LOTS of cactus?:

Kathy, of course, saw the beauty of the diversity of the desert plants.
But I tired of it quickly. LOTS of cactus.

So we set Leila for "Carlsbad Caverns" and hit I-10 again to try to really put some miles on today. We cruised along nicely at 80 (finally getting out of the truck traffic) and just enjoying watching the desert slide by. We *think* we passed the "airliner store-yard" between Phoenix and Tucson: GOBS of airliners parked out in the desert - not that far off I-10.

And we finally stopped for lunch at about 2PM - at a non-chain restaurant. Good food - home-made green chile stew and enchilada's. And we noticed as we were having lunch - that we got lucky again: the gas station across the street was just changing their prices (we're told that most stations change their prices on Thursdays - to prepare for the weekend) - to $2.29/gallon. And we had waited to fill up until *after* lunch - so we got a tankful of cheap gas (how ironic that I think that $2.29 is *cheap*) - and Kathy took over for a few hours of driving as I got onto the Aircard and set up our hotel in Carlsbad for the night.

We crossed the Continental Divide again - once we got into New Mexico again.

We got stopped by Border Control just after we slipped thru the little "ear" of New Mexico - down into Texas - rather close to the Mexican border. No. Really. Leila had us down off I-10 and they have a Border Control facility set up stopping *all* vehicles. We stopped and chatted a bit with the nice agent - until she was satisfied that we were US Citizens and that our van only had *2* people in it.

And, as we gently curved thru the extreme west of Texas - to eventually re-enter New Mexico - I realized that we were - again - in an area where there were NO lights - for a LONG LONG way. So we stopped "Monroe", turned off the lights, and looked up for a moment or two. It was only a moment or two - because it was COLD!!! (45 degrees!) - but it was - again - an amazing display of stars - reminding us that there are still VAST areas where there *aren't* people.

We started a new book on CD - a romantic novel - and rolled up the miles - finally arriving at Carlsbad, NM - ready to go caving tomorrow. We did about 9 hours of driving today and rolled up about 600 miles. Kudo's to both Monroe and Leila.

We crossed the 8000-mile mark today: 8115 miles so far.

Life is good - and I am pointedly NOT looking at what the stock market did to us today (smile).

London Bridge is standing up...

2008-11-05T18:01:00.000-08:00

November 5, 2008 - Wednesday

I took advantage of the excellent internet connection in our Super 8 Motel in Lake Havasu City - to catch up on email and post a few photos to some of this weeks' blog posts - so go back a few and see what I've added.

Then off to see London Bridge which was lovingly disassembled, moved to Arizona, and reconstructed - back in the 60's. It was a huge undertaking. Originally, it just sat there in the middle of the desert, but they have dredged out a channel so now it actually goes over water and connects an island to the mainland - with Lake Havasu surrounding it.

Really pretty cool. We drove over it twice last nite - looking for our "Italian Restaurant" - and we walked down to it and looked at it this morning. Annnd walked around the "English Village" surrounding it.

Really just a collection of souvenir shops. Ummm... It was... OK. But we were done really quickly. We even checked in to a "Tourist Information" station there and the very-nice woman confirmed that the area really has to do with the *lake* - and since it was cold and windy - there really wasn't much else to do there - so we could safely press on toward Phoenix. So we did. Via the "backroad" that she recommended - rather than I-10. Interesting landscape. A few really-pretty vistas

- but mostly just a quiet drive.

Kathy used the Sprint Aircard to get online and look for attractions in Phoenix: the Aircard worked very well - even on the back roads - but we didn't find much which was "compelling" - other than picking one of the *4* "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dive's" that are in the Phoenix area: "Thee Pitts Again".

Frankly not a great name, but it was a *great* restaurant.

It's in a diner-looking building - but they do *amazing* BBQ. We arrived at 2PM - so it was not a busy time, so the waiter - a nice young guy - started talking to us and confirming what a boost to their business that the TV show had been - and helping with suggestions about the menu. Kathy had read the menu online while we drove so we were somewhat prepared - but the food was really great. We got a "Combo" platter: ribs, ham, turkey, chicken, brisket, and more PLUS amazing cornbread AND really-tasty coleslaw and home-recipe potato salad. All of it was very very *flavorful*. Not hot and burning your mouth: just really *tasty*. A GREAT meal.

Annnd as we sat talking, the *owner* came out and started talking to us. He's been winning BBQ competitions for years now - he REALLY knows how to cook (and some of the recipes are his wife's - so *she* knows how to cook, too). We talked about business (generally not good, but the TV show has helped a lot. He is currently actually looking for an investor to help buy the building he's in - since bank loans have totally dried up - perhaps you'd read about that in the news?), and about the economy and art (he also loves Kush) and the food - as we waded thru the amazing platter of BBQ sampler.

Annnd then we *had* to try some desserts: Kathy had a bread pudding that was *just* the right amount of cinnamon - and I had an Apple pie/tart thing with ice cream. An amazing meal. And we decided to buy the "Diners, Drive-in's and Dives" *book* which has just been published - which includes some of the featured recipes - like the potato salad and the cole slaw.

The impression I got was that the owner REALLY knows how to make REALLY good food - but he could use a smart business person to help him ignite the business and perhaps even franchise him. The owner deserves to be rich - but like most small business owners these days - he's buried in taxes and regulations and rigid bankers. Eat there for sure, but invest in this guy if you can.

I think we spent over 2 hours there. Quite memorable. THIS is what a "restaurant of note" SHOULD be: special signature dishes, great cooking, great TASTE, and a fun and colorful atmosphere - AND very-reasonable prices.

But I'm gushing.

Anyway. Back to Monroe to get us to our hotel.

And in huge, amazing Phoenix, we really can't find anything that we just "have to" do here - so we think we'll just get up and drive *hard* tomorrow - for Carlsbad Caverns. We had thot that maybe we should consider retiring here in Phoenix - since everybody else does, but that, alone, is reason *not* to: it's too big and "big city" for us.

Another quiet, but amazing day: when you sit and TALK to people, the stories are very real. Thanks for sharing them with us.

7497 Miles.

Heading East. EAST??? Yes. East.

2008-11-04T20:10:00.000-08:00

November 4, 2008 - Tuesday. Election Day.

We arose and confronted the reality that we didn't know WHAT we were doing for the day - or week. We had a few ideas of how to spend another week in Southern California, but most of them had to do with warm weather and L.A. is having a cold snap - highs of 60's - sooo we looked at our list and pruned. And pruned. Decided that the joys of going to Mexico - just to do so while we're here - didn't outweigh the risks. So. We loaded up "Monroe" and waved goodbye to the Pacific and headed East - officially beginning our trip "home" rather than still mentally being on our way "out".

Kathy did some poking around online and decided that we should visit London Bridge in Lake Havasu, Arizona. So that's the way we headed. And she consulted the "Diners, Drive-in's and Dive's" list and aimed us at Victorville, California - on the way - to stop at "Emma Jean's Holland Burgers" - one of the places that had been featured on the show.

It was a bit of a "treasure hunt" to find "Emma Jean's" - not because it is hidden, but because GPS systems don't believe that the address exists. We tried to tell Leila to go there, but she insisted that no such address existed. So once we got to Victorville (passing some impressive mountains in the Santa Barbara area on the way out of Los Angeles), we had to *phone* the Diner and find out where they were. Right there on "D Street", but Leila continues to insist that no such address even exists.

Update on Nov 5: I poked around on the mapping systems and found out that they insist that *that* end of "D St, Victorville, CA" - is actually "Historic Route 66, Victorville, CA" - so if you want to find it, you'll have to tell your GPS system to look for *that* street instead. I even called Emma Jean's to tell them, but they seemed unimpressed with my research. Anyway....

The place is small

- a truck-stop on old Route 66 (we just keep paralleling Route 66) and had one friendly, very-hard-working waitress "stepping and fetching" to keep everybody served - so she didn't have time to really talk to us - but she *did* play a little practical joke on us and kept the feel fun as she took our order and got us (and everybody else) served. No. I won't tell you what joke she played - since she might want to play it on *you* when you go there someday.

Kathy, as usual, picked the best thing on the menu, so my "Mushroom Burger" was quite good, but Kathy's Patty Melt (with peppers) was better. And we couldn't resist the cherry cobbler - with ice cream - which was truly outstanding. That said, we *waddled* back out to "Monroe" to continue our "RVanning". We *do* recommend EmmaJean's: a great lunch was less than half what we paid for our lunch at "Joe's Cable Car" in San Francisco - and the ice tea was good - AND there was no cobbler at Joe's.

We listened to an investment book on tape while we drove - finally really enjoying being able to just lay back and *cruise* at 75MPH again: Los Angeles driving requires "active participation" at ALL times - so it was quite calming to get back to the OPEN road. We passed a number of *long* freight trains on the way: this is wide open country where it is best to load it up and let it roll - on a train.

We crossed the 7000-mile mark - total - for our trip - shortly before crossing back into Mountain Time - so we're only 2 hours ahead of Eastern time - again - working our way back.

Pulled into our Super 8 in Lake Havasu City by 5PM and settled in, then picked out "Papa Leone's" for dinner - from "Streets & Trips" on the computer. There is a long story about my encounter with the very-famous "Mama Leone's" in New York City - many many years ago, so I thot it would be nice to try *Papa* Leone's here. But after driving around in circles for about 20 minutes we concluded that this was yet-another destination which had changed since the maps were loaded - and "Papa Leone's" didn't exist. Phone calls just got a busy signal.

Update Nov 5: I asked around and found out that "Papa Leone's" - the Italian Restaurant listed in "Steets and Trips" - was just a pizza parlor in the "English Village" under London Bridge. Sooo we really hadn't missed anything, but it *does* exist.

So we found a Chinese buffet which was very good. We were the only customers there - which can't be a good sign for someone trying to run a restaurant, but we departed full - and with little origami birds presented to us by our waitress - that she had folded just for us.

This promises to be an interesting week as we semi-randomly zig-zag our way back East. No telling *what* will grab our fancies as we traverse the South.

7277 miles total. Enough to have gone round-trip and half-way back again - if we'd done it "straight-line". But this is much more fun.

Luck in L.A.

2008-11-03T22:27:00.000-08:00

November 3, 2008 - Monday - Anaheim, California

Well. We just keep stumbling into good things on this trip.

This was "Knott's Berry Farm Day" - to ride the coasters. Since it was a Monday - in November - Knott's didn't open until 10AM, so we took our time making reservations for Tampa for our day before getting home: we're set up with a hotel room so that we'll just go to the "So You Think You Can Dance" show - in Tampa - on our way home.

Off to "Knott's" with Leila leading the way and Monroe performing in an exemplary fashion. Knott's is only about 15 minutes up the road from Disney. Kathy says we were there before - long ago - with the kids. I don't remember ever being there before.

I'd checked Knott's website last nite and found out that they're currently offering a ***30%*** discount on tickets - with a AAA membership. Wow. So we bot our (cheap) tickets and walked into the park. Uh. Wow. EMPTY pretty-much. We *did* see a few collections of young adults - and kids - and wondered why they weren't in *school* on a Monday - but it was mostly a Ghost Town - which Knott's *does* have (a Ghost Town). Unfortunately, the big wooden coaster "Ghost Rider" and the real "accelerate and shoot you straight up in the air": XCelerator - were closed for maintenance.

Kathy selected - and we walked right onto "Silver Bullet" - a suspended, floorless coaster much like "Duelling Dragons" or "Raptor" - one of my favorite kinds - annnnd... I got dizzy and slightly woozy-stomached - right on the first ride. Sigh. Poor Kathy really needs a better "Coaster Buddy": I'm a real light-weight. Kathy enjoyed the coaster - and let me sit for a minute, then we wandered over to "Sidewinder": a very innovative coaster which has rotating "quads" of seats - so as the ride proceeds, the whole set of 4 seats rotates around to add to the coaster effect. I really agonized as to whether to try it or not, but decided that I wanted to experience this technology, so we climbed aboard - and it was very smooth: they actually used the rotations to smooth out the ride. But it certainly didn't do anything to improve my head - or stomach - so I begged off while Kathy rode "Montezooma's Revenge" (mostly just quick acceleration), "Jaguar" (pretty lame), and "Boomerang" (which she said really roughly threw her side-to-side).
Then we wandered thru the park: pretty-much had the whole place to ourselves. Kathy let me spend a bit of time in an Arcade where we played a bit of Ski-ball, then wandered on to find a really-clever coaster. Each rider is locked into their own "horse" - in a riding position. It is *very* cleverly-designed: the mechanical designs to contact each riders' back - to lock them in - is unique to what I've seen. So I couldn't resist and we rode together and enjoyed a smooth ride. Really cool from an engineering viewpoint and we wished that Kelly could have been with us - both to give Kathy a "Coaster buddy" with a strong stomach - and to enjoy this "horse ride" coaster.

So. 2 1/2 hours and we were *done* with Knott's. I'm not saying that they don't have a great collection of roller coasters there. Just that when there are no lines, you can cover a lot in a very-short period of time.

Soooo... we sat for a bit to try to decide what to do next. We're here in Los Angeles. What to do?

Soooo... yesterday, the couple in line at the Haunted Mansion had recommended "Pink's" - which is a little tiny hotdog stand on LaBrea - which has been around since 1939. Probably over-rated, but still an LA "icon". So we asked "Leila" if she knew where it was - and she did. About 20 minutes away. OK. So. We followed Leila and wound up in the *long* line for Pink's. Cool. While in line, we talked to another local couple and got some more ideas of things to do. Coincidentally, the guy reminded me of someone (EVERYBODY reminds me of someone) - and I eventually figured out that he reminded me of Paul Rudd - the "older step-brother in Clueless". Ultimately, we picked out our dogs. Kathy had a "Bacon, Chili Cheese-dog" - and I went for the "Ozzie Osbourne": HOT Polish sausage, guacamole, grilled chopped onions, and nacho cheese. Topped off with an order of onion rings and a Grape Crush.

Mine is the one on the left:
Well. I didn't understand that "HOT sausage" meant HOT!!!! Sausage. It was quite tasty, but I struggled to tame the burn. Overall, we really enjoyed "Pink's" and would, indeed, recommend it.

So. Uhhh... what now?

The couple behind us in line had said that they would recommend Venice Beach over Santa Monica Pier. Sooo... we asked Leila to take us to Venice Beach. About a half-hour away. No problems. We drove on down - passing billboards of various things, but a bunch of them with "I'm No Role Model" on them. Uhh. What? Anyway, we pulled up to Venice beach and admired the wide, beautiful beach and the bike/skate paths - and the Pacific Ocean. You've seen it in TV/Movies. We figured that we should literally make this a "Sea to Shining Sea" trip - so we made a point of walking down to the water and dipping our piggies into the COLD surf. Cool, both literally and figuratively - and let us officially get "sea to sea".

Then we strolled down the sidewalk past the head shops and bikini shops - and it was just - NICE - to enjoy the GREEN grass and sunset and the time walking together - despite the 64-degree breeze.

Back to Monroe to sit and ask each other "Sooo what now? It's still only 4:30PM"? Quite a day already. But we decided to see if we could see a movie in Mann's Chinese Theatre: we'd been to the hand-prints at the theatre, but we'd never been inside for a movie. Leila knew where Mann's was - so we just headed down Santa Monica Blvd to Hollywood Blvd and found the theatre and parked.

We had phoned while we were on the way - and confirmed that there really weren't any movies playing that we cared to see - but figured we'd walk the "Walk of Stars" and see what happened. Annnd as we walked up to the box-office at Mann's

- figuring that we'd just pick *something* to see - a man approached us. Now. I had *just* told Kathy that "anybody who approaches you on a street - is offering something you don't want". But. Well. It turned out that they were doing a press showing of a new movie - with Paul Rudd (!!) - the very movie which had been on the billboards around town. And we could help fill the theatre if we wanted to see the movie for free.

Uhhh.... Really? Free?

We talked a bit and got convinced that it was legitimate. So. We filed into the theatre and talked to the people around us until the movie was ready to start (getting a lot more suggestions of things to see/do around Los Angeles) - and watched the movie. Now. We're sworn to not say anything to anybody about the movie until it's released in the next few days. But it was *hilarious*. Definitely one of the best movies we've seen this year. GREAT stuff! Literally laugh-out-loud many times. And we just "fell into" seeing it pre-release - for *free*.

We feel SO grateful to have been so lucky - so many times - on this trip.

Anyway. We walked around the attached Shopping mall and found a sign which just begged for a photo:

Back to Anaheim for the nite. We still don't know what we're going to do *tomorrow*, but we had one great *today*.

Thanks for being "with" us.

6973 miles - almost over the 7000 mile mark.

Disney and Disney and Disney and being in love

2008-11-02T20:57:00.000-08:00

November 2, 2008 - Sunday

Anaheim, California. Yes, we live one hour from DisneyWorld in Florida, but we wanted to "do" Disney here in California again (we've been to Disney all over the world), so we did. We pulled into the parking area by 9:30 - and paid our $12 (!!) to park - then were directed to another parking lot... down the road.. around the corner, up the ramp, around... anyway, we got parked by about 10AM after driving another 2 miles just on Disney property. It was drizzling, but still felt so HAPPY being at Disney again. SO many happy memories. I really have to hand it to Disney that they had totally lined all of the major roads with Bird-of-Paradise. Both sides of each road - 3 feet wide *and* the center divider. It must have been hundreds of thousands of Bird-of-Paradise. Quite stunning.

We picked a one-day park-hopper ticket: $100 each instead of $72 each - but it allowed us to do both parks: Disneyland and "Disney California Experience" at our discretion and turned out to be a very-good choice: we were *easily* able to cover both parks in one day - given the light crowds and the fact that we have "done" Disney for decades so all we needed to "do" was "new stuff".

It was an utterly-magical day. Amazing how it feels to be back at Disney - with "just the 2 of us" - nobody to please but *us* - and getting back to the way we felt when we *honeymooned* at DisneyWorld - 27 years ago. All excited and googly-eyed and - well - stupid-in-love. Yes. Disney is still a very-special place. We essentially *raised* our kids at Disney and it was great for *that*. But it is also a very-special place for "just two people".

It started to rain just as we got our tickets, so we ran on into Disneyland and put on the vintage yellow "Mickey Mouse" poncho's we'd bot 20 years ago - and brot with us.

We got a few looks from people wondering where we got those "new" ponchos. (smile). Even "Cruella DeVille" remarked "Nice Poncho's" as we went past.

And then we started old - and new - rides. Buzz Lightyear (Kathy whupped me), The Matterhorn (both sides - so we rode twice),

then decided to head to the "California Experience" since it closed earlier. We strolled across to the entrance and thru the park and found the "California Screamin'" roller-coaster.
Note that there's a coaster upside-down in the loop behind Kathy.

Kathy had the presence of mind to request the *front* row - and it was great. It gives the experience of an old wooden coaster, but it is smooth and solid (not scrambling my brains) - with a surprise or two thrown in. We enjoyed it enough to immediately ride again - first row again. With the wind making my eyes tear as we rode.

Then to the new "Toy Story" ride. REALLY fun and creative. You put on 3D glasses,
then shoot at wall-sized video screens - and it real-time computes the view to show *your* shot entering the scene - and its effects - and keeps score. LOTS of fun. HIGHLY recommended.

Huge smoked Turkey Legs for lunch. Another coaster. "Bug's Life", "Monster's Inc" (cute, but it really doesn't grab you) - annd we were pretty-much done with "California Experience". Back to Disneyland to get a sugar cookie, then get into "nostalgia" mode to ride the old stand-by's: Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean (better than Disney Worlds' - particularly the Jack Sparrow figures recently added - VERY life-like), Haunted Mansion (arriving in the line just as it got dark - and Disney gets so-much-more magical at night - lit up) - which has been *totally* "overlaid" with "Nightmare Before Christmas" motif - a special thing from Halloween thru New Year - really cool to see something new there. Thunder Mountain - with some noticable difference between Land and World: turtles and other animals beside the track. Star Tours - which still has Pee-Wee Herman's voice as the pilot (always has) - and finishing up with "Finding Nemo" which is the re-do of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" annnd... sorry... "Finding Nemo" is pretty lame.

But magic is magic and it has been a *wonderful* day of both "Being with a whole bunch of people" and being "Just the 2 of us" - hand-in-hand, arms-around-waists, holding each other thru the Matterhorn ride, walking a boardwalk and being "on our honeymoon". Again. At Disney. Sniff. Sniffle. A magical day and evening. And we were still back in the hotel room by 8PM. Can't beat *that*.

Pacific Coast Hiway, Elephant Seals, and Fog

2008-11-01T22:16:00.000-07:00

OK. I'm WAY behind on here, so I'm going to start keeping you up to date with "quick fire" postings - to let you follow along until I can continue with the full-report versions.

As of today (Nov 1) we travelled from San Jose, California, all the way down the Pacific Coast Highway - to Anaheim. Here's a "quick shot" of today:

Well.

We made it from San Jose to Anaheim today and had some blessings along the way. There's a big storm off the coast, so we didn't know if we'd be able to see *anything* along the "Pacific Coast Highway" - down the twisty highway which runs along - and above - the Pacific ocean. It has *beautiful* views - IF you can see. But it takes quite a bit longer to drive it than to just go inland to I-5 - if you *can't* see. But we got a very-good nites' sleep (no Halloween for us really) and got an early start from San Jose - on the road by 8:15AM - and I worried our way along thru drizzle, then fog, then clear weather as we got to Monterrey. I had decided to just go for it - and the weather remained clear as we got to Carmel - which is the first truly-beautiful part of the drive.

We got to catch a number of amazing vistas

before rain got heavier and it got uncomfortably cold. So we *got* our views - and then it TOTALLY socked us in with fog. 20MPH was "pushing" it because I couldn't see the *road*.

"Leila" told us that the Pacific ocean was *right there* - but I even stopped once to listen - and look - and I couldn't see more than about 10 feet into the fog. Didn't know if there was a 300-foot sheer drop-off - or if the Pacific was even *there*. But that's OK: I actually "told" whatever deities that are watching over us - that it was OK - that we had gotten "enough" - before it all fogged in.

So at that point, I decided to just bag the coasal route and asked Leila for the *fastest* route from *there* - to our hotel in Anaheim. (smile)... By that time, the fastest route *was* to just continue on down thru the fog. So we did. And eventually it opened up and we got more beautiful vistas - perhaps even more beautiful because of the overcast: angry sea and rolling clouds and all.

Just before we got to the turn-off for Hearst Castle, I noticed 2 seals on the beach - right next to the road. BIG suckers. Elephant Seals. (They HAD to be big for me to notice them at 60MPH) COOL! And there was a parking lot there, so we pulled in and took a look.

Holey cow! No. Holey BULL. The beach was *littered* with Elephant Seals. Must have been 300 of them! There were volunteers there to explain to the tourists who happen by. This area is where they come to mate once a year - and this is that time of year. They're only here for about a month or two - then are gone for the rest of the year. Lucky timing for us - AGAIN.

They said that these were just the *little* ones: the pre-adults. That the full adults won't arrive until the end of the month. And these suckers were up to 10 feet long. Mostly just laying on each other, but 2 or 3 pairs were practice fighting - getting ready to fight for mating rights.

Really cute as they scratched themselves and barked and burped at each other. It reminded me of the famous "wind breaking" scene in "Blazing Saddles": "breaking wind" sounds are always funny and there were GOBS of those - constantly - as their "verbal" utterances. So we stood and took pictures and marvelled - maybe 20 feet away from this gigantic mass of elephant seals.

Way better than any zoo I've seen.

Back on the road and eventually made it thru the Los Angeles traffic - to Anaheim. I think we did about 400 miles in 10 hours total time.

We had dinner across the street from Disneyland - and are targetting the new "Disney California Experience" for tomorrow. We continue to have good luck on this trip - even when it seems like it *isn't* good luck.

Arches National Monument, Dead Horse, and Driving to Page

2008-10-25T20:57:00.001-07:00

October 17, 2008 - Friday

A big day.

We made it to Arches National Park by 8AM and just took our time working our way thru the 18 miles of road and pull-offs. We tried to make a point of taking most of the side-roads and short hikes and really did enjoy the time together and the park - despite it being pretty crowded. I'll say that the formations generally weren't - in themselves - any more interesting than what we'd seen elsewhere, but we enjoyed the interaction with each other and the crowds - and had a good full day. We *did* verify that looking at the formations from even a half-mile away (the parking lot) - was just *not* at all the same experience as being right up on them - so we found that you really *must* hike out to each formation in order to appreciate it. We saw one pair of German girls set up with technical climbing gear and scale pretty-much straight up. Eventually, they set up ropes and got a group going:

We talked to lots of people and took pictures of them with their cameras - while they returned the favor by taking pictures of *us* (rather than just one of us at a time):

We enjoyed one large "double arch" - which had to be hiked to in order to see that it looks like a huge giant emerging from the ground: 2 eyes with a bulbous nose between:

I shared the story of our trip - and our blog - with anybody who would listen. Then as we were walking back to the car, we passed a teenage girl who just *happened* to be wearing a T-shirt that said:

"Nobody cares about your blog"

We had no interaction and she was past me too quickly for me to even take a picture, but it sure made me smile.

Across the street to the big arch. People were climbing WAY up in it:

The weather was nice, but we were getting a bit tired of walking up - and down - so that by the time we got to "Delicate Arch" - where it told us we just *had* to do a 3-mile round-trip, 2-hour hike to see it, AND we couldn't find a parking spot in the trailhead, we demurred. Of course, we were told later that it was beautiful and we really shouldn't have missed it, but I guess we have something to go *back* to Arches for - someday. Meanwhile, a 10x optical zoom on my camera - helped:

The highlight of the day, for me, was the last stop: Sand Dune. It is a huge pair of sandstone walls which surround a gigantic red-sand - well - sand-pit. Families literally brought chairs for the adults to just sit in and bask - while the kids played in this HUGE sand box. REALLY cool.

Meanwhile, in all of the talking to people, a woman told us that we just *had* to also go see "Dead Horse Point" - since it was only 5 miles up the road.

So. We finished with Arches Monument. Click HERE for the full set of photos - of BOTH Arches and "Dead Horse" - and a couple of extras as a surprise.

Then we ran for "Dead Horse". The *entrance* is only 5 miles up the road, but then it is 20 miles back - and the sun was heading for the horizon - so we rushed in, drove up, and - well - WOW. I was ready to be underwhelmed, but it was just SO different from anything else. Just beautiful:

Then we jumped back in the car and ran back *South* - because we needed to get to Page, AZ that nite to be ready for Antelope Canyon tomorrow. The Sprint Aircard was "roaming" as we left "Dead Horse" (not surprising since we were out in "nowhere"), but we fired up "Streets & Trips" on the laptop and looked for hotels near where we wanted, got the phone number, called on the cell-phone and managed to get a room at a good rate. But it was 5-hours drive away, so we had to seriously push along. One stretch of road warned us that it was a heavy deer-crossing area - for the next 15 miles - and we saw a LOT of deer. One sign warned that the average damage from running into a deer (or vice-versa) - was $7000. That was effective at slowing us down and making us look for deer even more.

Ultimately, we wound up connecting with the same route thru Monument Valley - that we had come thru before - and it was dead dark. So we pulled over at a random point and turned off Monroe's lights - and just looked up at the stars. Cooool. We were far enough away from any "civilization" that there wasn't any light pollution - and the sky was just full of stars - including the Milky Way.

We pressed on and kept watching for Monument Valley... and we were literally half-way thru it - before we even recognized that we were *there*: it was DARK at night and we just didn't see it at all until we were literally in the *middle* of the entrance. Great memories. I still think that Monument Valley is my most-memorable stop on the trip so far.

Then it became just "gotta' get there" driving: kind of grind - just pushing to make it to Page for the night - listening to the "book on CD" - a mystery about Edgar Allen Poe's death - to help make the miles go easier.

We pulled into the hotel there in Page and were quite pleased with the room - and managed to book our tour of Antelope Canyon for the next day - right there in the hotel - at 10PM - and the tour left from across the street. Quite convenient.

Lots of activity. Lots of driving. Good day. 4742 miles - 386 miles in addition to 2 parks just TODAY.

Leaving New Mexico: Off to Arches National Monument

2008-10-22T20:23:00.000-07:00

October 16, 2008 - Thursday - enroute to Moab, UT

Well. Despite our love of Santa Fe, it was time to move on, so Kathy went to get her morning coffee in the lobby - and was gone a long time. I started loading the car - and found her talking to our now-friend Randy. I got Monroe loaded - and they were still talking. He is just a great guy and was trying to convince us to just stay there - while also giving good advice about what else to see and how to get there. We DO hope to see you again, Randy.

We finally got Monroe on the road and, at Leila's direction, headed *down* I25 - back toward Albuquerque - to pick up State Road 550 toward Moab, UT - which would have us skirt just past Cortez, Colorado again (where we'd stayed to see Mesa Verde). We really struggled with whether to bother with the Arches National Monument since, at this point, it was 300 miles of extra driving, but ultimately "we" decided to go. (smile).

As we got established on 550, we saw signs saying to beware of trucks entering the highway because of a "special event". Uhhh... what? But we kept driving - and passed a turnout with a sign labelled: "Doc". Uhh WHAT??? THEN we passed a turnout and a bunch of trucks with a sign labelled: "Sets".

We looked around carefully and saw a bunch of *teepees* set up - up off the road - and concluded that someone was *filming* in the area. Cool!

The day went by and the miles rolled along as we passed over the Continental Divide - and went thru Cuba, NM. Yeah. We even visited *Cuba* on this trip (smile).

We stopped to get gas in Cortez - and wave "hello" as we powered on toward Moab. Kathy was wearing her new jacket:

The scenery was beautiful as we worked our way thru Colorado - including some sunflower fields (I think?):

up into Utah and finally wound thru the hills down into Moab - to our Rodeway Inn. Nice room - both a King AND a Queen bed in the one room, and a hot tub and water slide at the pool. AND they had a good strong wireless internet connection (which is even-more important than a bed! :) )

We walked down to a local pizza place for dinner and enjoyed the local atmosphere - and found out that everything was *mobbed* because this was a "teacher in-service" weekend in Utah - so the kids were out of school for Thursday and Friday - so everybody decided to hit the National Monuments. OK. We'll have company.

We shivered back to the hotel and enjoyed the beds. Ready for Arches tomorrow.

4356 Miles.

Santa Fe'ing (and loving it) - day 4

2008-10-22T19:55:00.000-07:00

October 15, 2008 - Wednesday - Santa Fe, NM

Pounded away at email and Blogging, then headed out - this time asking Randy where a Post Office was: about a half-mile away - in a Mall behind the hotel. Oh. Not all the way out in Los Alamos. Sooo... we mailed our ballots for the General Election and happily sent them on their way. We're done. We can TOTALLY ignore all of the lies and garbage in the campaigning and ads and all. Woo Hoo!

We also noticed *snow* capping the mountains in the distance: Santa Fe had gotten *snow* overnite - but we STILL love Santa Fe since Randy said that Santa Fe sometimes does get snow overnite but that it usually melts by mid-morning - while leaving the beauty of it up on the Ski Slopes.

We decided that perhaps we should sample the actual *museum* art - rather than just look thru the art galleries. So we headed down to the "Plaza" area again and finally managed to find a parking space (parking is difficult in that area), then walked back to the New Mexico Museum of Art - and paid the $8 apiece (!!) for entry.

Ummm. Ummmmmm... we were done with the 2 floors of "art" in about 20 minutes. Sure, I'm sure it had "historical significance" in the development of New Mexican art, but it was just *awful*. Ugly, meaningless paintings - with a few exceptions. A *total* waste of $16, so we vowed to go back to browsing the *free* art galleries and shops.

Lunch time. We'd been told by people as far away as Sedona that we *had* to get to "Tia Sofia's" downtown in Santa Fe: *authentic* New Mexican cooking. So we went. We parked in a public parking lot and Kathy admired the Pueblo-style architecture of some of the buildings around the lot:

Then we found Tia Sofia's:

and waited about 10 minutes for the lunch crowd to give us a spot - and we did, indeed, enjoy the genuine-ness of the staff and the food. Nothing to knock you over with HOT - just good food. AND they finished off with Sopapilla's - with honey right there on the table. Very tasty and "comfort food". I really don't understand why most Mexican restaurants seem to have never heard of the sweet Sopapilla's. I do, indeed, think they "make the meal".

Now. Remember that hot green chili I had yesterday at Tecolote's? Welll.... today I was the "Energizer Bunny": I just kept going and going and going... :)

Actually, it isn't fair to blame it on Tecolote's - since it could have been just general "too many different cities in 3 weeks" - but I had rather some delicate moments during the day. That's why Kathy went clothes shopping without me - after Tia Sofia's - and I eventually found her in a rambling shop where she found a really-pretty long skirt - and a jeans jacket - both of which she looked *really* good in, so we acquired them and you'll see them in subsequent days.

We went back to browsing galleries and I happened upon a T-shirt shop which had a T-shirt in the window which says:

RETIRED! If you want to talk to me, you'll be charged a consulting fee!

I loved it and you'll also be seeing *that* shirt in coming posts. Actually, I found that people were afraid to talk to me - and I obviously love to talk, so I need to change it to:

RETIRED! If you want to talk *business*, you'll be charged a consulting fee!

Anyway, I've *already* gotten a lot of comments on the shirt.

Back to the Red Roof for an early nite since tomorrow we leave Santa Fe.

3965 miles.

Santa Fe'ing (and loving it) - day 3

2008-10-22T19:07:00.000-07:00

October 14, 2008 - Tuesday

We awoke to rain. Cold rain. But we still love Santa Fe. Perhaps that tells you something about how *comfortable* this city feels! I hate rain - and I REALLY hate cold, but I could live here. We just put on our *long* pants - and kept our sweatshirts ready, and forged on.

I took advantage of a nice desk in the Red Roof Hotel room - and the reliable wireless internet connection - and banged out some Blog entries, then made up a couple of DVD's of photos - for folx who don't have internet (I *still* don't understand how ANYBODY can survive without the internet these days...), and then we packed up and headed out for our latest on the list of "Food Network's" "Diners, Drive-In's, and Dive's": Tecolote's:

It's right on the "main drag" so we'd passed it a few times already, but it's really only open for Breakfast and lunch, so we hadn't gotten to eat there yet. The parking lot was full - on a *Wednesday* at 10:30AM. It's a popular place! The staff was very friendly and helpful with menu suggestions - and they instantly knew which items had been featured on the TV show. So. I ordered the Atolé Piñon pancakes with pine nuts - and Kathy had the Huevos Yucatecos. Green chile and a banana on the side. Trust us. The banana is an excellent compliment: the sweetness of the banana taming the chile a bit. They were both very tasty - and Kathy's was quite hot. To the point that we ultimately decided that my pancakes also made a good compliment: combine the Huevos and the pancakes to tame the burn a bit. The prices were quite modest and we enjoyed the experience and do, indeed, understand the recommendation from the TV. But do remember that I had a not-inconsequential amount of Kathy's eggs - with the hot green chile. Keep that in mind....

So. Pack up and head for a Post Office to just quick mail the DVD's before continuing with the gallery tour. I had failed to ask a person where a Post Office was - so I asked Leila.

Ummmm.... Leila is pretty-literal in her searching, so she didn't find any Post Offices nearer than 17 miles. OK. No big deal. We'll just drive the 17 miles. We got on the road, and the 17 miles stretched out. She tells you how far things are *straight-line* distance - until you actually say to GO there. Once we actually had her calculate the route, it turned out to curl around quite a bit so that the actual distance was 30 minutes' drive. So we drove. And drove. Out of Santa Fe - out into the beautiful, rainy, surroundings - and found ourselves at the *Los Alamos* Post Office. OK. So. I screwed up in finding a Post Office, but the postman there was *very* helpful and got our DVD's mailed off - and, well, gee, we had wanted to see the Science Museum there anyway - since it was the site where the whole Manhattan Project development of the Atomic Bomb had been done, so... maybe it wasn't a mistake after all to pick that Post office.

No problem finding the museum:

We read history and tried interactive displays and watched movies and learned some new things about "the bomb" and its development and deployment. Like... I hadn't known that the US *tried* to end the war after the *first* one was dropped, but the Japanese government refused to negotiate - saying that it was an unrepeatable fluke. So. Bomb #2 was dropped - after a campaign of leaflets to warn Hiroshima residents to evacuate - to prove that it was *not* just a fluke. The museum also has a history of supercomputing and a nice treatise on the large herd of *Elk* which has developed around the lab. Quite important and interesting - and the museum is *free*.

The day was still overcast as we followed Leila's direction back to Santa Fe and to the State Capital building. We parked, then walked around the building - not sure it *was* the Capital - until we walked inside and confirmed. It is a *beautiful* building - marble and granite - and very-much in keeping with what *I* think is a wonderful Southwestern feel and motif. We walked thru the main rotunda - then walked up to some big doors that said "House of Representatives". I just tried the door - and it opened - so we walked right in. Nobody else was there, but the chamber was publically accessible - and I think that's *wonderful* that it can be totally accessible. We absorbed the view and the atmosphere - then continued on around the building - to walk thru the Senate as well. It really made us feel that there was an appreciation that the government is *for the people*.... to have it unlocked and just available for viewing.

By that time, it was after 5PM when the galleries close anyway, so we headed back to the Red Roof and, with the thoughts of the Capital Building in our minds - Kathy spent a few hours on the web looking up candidates and issues and we made our choices for the General Election, filled out our absentee ballots, and exercised *our* right to vote. It *did* take *hours* to pore thru all of the Florida decisions. But it is *done*.

Then we celebrated by asking Randy (our very-helpful front-desk-front) where to go for an Italian dinner and he recommended a great place: Pranzo's - which even happened to have special low prices on Tuesday nites.

Good food.

Good company.

Back to the hotel to sleep.

3947 miles.

Santa Fe'ing (and loving it) - day 2

2008-10-22T18:59:00.000-07:00

October 13, 2008 - Monday - Santa Fe Day 2

We revelled in the luxury of "sleeping late": 8AM. After getting up at 5AM for the last 3 days, it felt like a real luxury.

Drove to "Canyon Drive" - a long road just *full* of art galleries - perhaps 100 of them. As I've said, we *love* to just browse fine art together, though we never buy anything. Our target this morning was the "Chalk Farm" since we'd seen an ad on the back of a pedal-carriage - for the works of Vladimir Kush - an artist that we - and our daughter - have admired for 5 years or so since we saw his work in a shop in Las Vegas. The Chalk Farm had just had a *reception* for Vladimir. We had just missed seeing the artist in person - by one day - but it was a "by invitation only" event, so we wouldn't have been able to meet him anyway.

So. Parked and walked into an empty shop - and struck up a conversation with the owner, Lisa.

Oooooh, boy. I can talk - and she and I ranged thru politics, religion, art, finances, and a few other topics - and just kept getting more wound up on how *we* knew what would fix the world, but doubting that the world would ever *try* our solutions. She was obviously a very-bright woman to keep offering opinions which agreed totally with mine. :) We REALLY enjoyed talking - and folding in conversations about Kush's works - which absolutely *filled* the gallery - in between. A delightful woman. And gallery. Go buy some art there.

As I said, we've admired Kush's work for years, so we enjoyed looking at his new works as well as getting better looks at his older ones. In all, I think we spent over 2 hours in the gallery - and I feel that I could have talked to Lisa for the rest of my life. To be fair, as I've said, we found EVERY person we encountered in Santa Fe (actually in *New Mexico*) - to be REALLY friendly and wonderful - and Lisa was doubly so. I hope you read this, Lisa, and that someday our daughter can come ride the Arroyo's with you on your horses.

Anyway. Eventually we had to say goodbye and let Lisa get on with her life, so we went next door to the next gallery.

And wound up talking to *that* proprietress for perhaps 30 minutes. It would have been longer, but other customers came into the gallery and cut us "short".
I *do* just *love* doing this with Kathy - browsing, looking at wonderful, amazing art, and talking to people. We'd consumed a whole morning and had perhaps "covered" 2 of 100 shops. NOW you begin to understand why we think we could easily *live* in Santa Fe - browsing art and talking to folx. And have I mentioned that EVERYBODY was so *FRIENDLY* in New Mexico?

Lunchtime, so we drove the short distance back to the "Plaza" area (a kind of a "town square" in the middle of the old district) and decided to try the "Plaza Diner" there. Looked like something that should have been on the "Diners, Drive-in's and Dives". The menu looked good. But... well... the coleslaw tasted really odd - very vineagar-y - and the burger sounded really great but was - OK... just a bunch of things that didn't deliver on the promise - so we see *why* the Food Network skipped this place.

Oh! By the way... there *is* a place on "the list" - here in Santa Fe, but it was closed by the time we got there on Sunday - and they're closed on Monday - so we're anxiously waiting it out - to get to try "Tecolote's" - tomorrow.

Back to browsing art galleries. Really nice time just wandering together looking at crafts and art and stuff. Scupture, paintings, and on and on - hand in hand. Of course, photos of the artwork aren't allowed, so we have nothing to show for that browsing time. But we included one of the old churches there:

Inside is a circular staircase which is a bit of an engineering marvel. There is no center support and no external support - and it has no nails: just word work. Quite beautiful in itself, let alone the craftsmanship shown in building something which seems unsupported:
As 5PM approached, shops began to close, but we wandered into "one last shop" - and wound up talking *Real Estate* with the keeper - since she also has her Real Estate license. Very sweet and helpful. She printed out a few listings for us to drive by (!!).

So. Hagen-Dasz for dinner. Yeah. I know. But my mother wasn't there to scold me for making "dinner" out of a double hot-fudge brownie sundae, so that's what I had for dinner. Tasty.

Then we programmed in a couple of addresses and let Leila direct us to a couple of drive-by houses. One was quite a distance out in the "nowhere's" and our conclusion was - again - that Santa Fe is *expensive*, so we'll continue to visit - and consider moving there, but we probably wouldn't even try to buy a house there.

We *did* decide that we like it so much - that we extended our stay for another 2 nites - so we'll do *4* nites in Santa Fe.

3850 miles total.