Weblog (or Blog)

If you click on the travel item in the list of Filter Blog Posts By:, you will see that the last post is November 2019, after our cruise to Alaska. Winter weather and then COVID-19 stopped travel after that. But the end of our lockdown is near! Debbie and I have our COVID-19 vaccines. (I hope you have yours as the only way we will defeat COVID-19 is to vaccinate about 75% of the world's population.) The number of cases is dropping, the weather is getting warmer, and we are starting to think about our first trip in over 18 months. Hallelujah!!

I started a separate blog for our cruise out of Vancouver up the Inner Passage to three Alaskan cities. You can find that blog here. As you will see if you go there, I posted very little, opting to tweet photos and short descriptions once we were aboard ship. You can find those on my Twitter page. I'll do better next trip. :-)

We went riding in the mountains along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The main reason for the drive was to see the Rosebay Rhododendron (white rhododendron) in bloom. We saw lots of it on Highway 107 headed north from our Mountain Rest home and even more of it when we turned north on Highway 276 east of Brevard, NC. There's not a lot of it along the BRP, but we just love to ride along the Parkway and look at the spectacular views. We stopped at the Cowee Mountain Overlook and snapped this gorgeous sunset picture.

Posts about our travel are sprinkled throughout my blog. You can filter the blog to see only the travel-related posts. The posts contain a picture or two to illustrate the descriptions. Check my Twitter page for more pictures.

Today started a six-day stay at Disney World with two of our grandchildren (and their parents :-)). Allison made all the arrangements. We stayed at the Art of Animation Resort and used mostly bus transportation from the hotel to the parks. Pleasant to leave the driving to someone else. This was my first trip in 25 years so I was looking forward to the changes.

Today was Magic Kingdom. The constant rain did not keep us from following Allison's plan. Not a lot of changes in the rides we did today except for updating. Space Mountain is still my favorite and turned out to be one of Claire's.

Next day the rain stopped and we were at Animal Kingdom. Lots of changes here in 25 years. Pandora - The World of Avatar is, of course, completely new. The new ride Avatar Flight of Passage had a two-hour wait today, so Greg, Alex, and I came early on Thursday to ride it. It is now my all-time favorite ride at Disney. Alex liked it too.

Tuesday was Hollywood Studios. Lots of Star Wars and Toy Story stuff here. The Tower of Terrors was my favorite here although Slinky Dog Dash roller coaster was a close second.

Wednesday we were at Epcot. Lots of new here, too. Twenty-five years ago, it was mostly "educational" exhibits. Now there are lots of rides. Soarin' was my favorite although Test Track was a close second.

Thursday we re-visited Animal Kingdom while the girls went shopping. Debbie and I had dinner in Monsieur Paul in Epcot. Very upscale and very French.

Friday we hit both Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios to catch some of rides we had not had time for earlier in the week.

One of the big changes at Disney World since my last visit is with fireworks and parades. As best I remember, there was one big fireworks show, one laser light show, and one big parade 25 years ago. Now there are parades and fireworks in every park. The fireworks are now in the context of a monstrous-sized film projected on the sides of buildings and a laser light show coordinated to the film and the fireworks.

Hated to go home, but it was a great week!! According to Debbie's Fitbit, we walked 51 miles. Enjoyed every step of it.

After attending the college football National Championship game in Tampa two years ago, I did not plan to attend this year's game. But once Clemson made the game again, Debbie and I decided to go. After all, how many more of these will the Tigers play in during my lifetime? So we flew to San Jose on Saturday, January 5. We stayed in Mountain View and scouted the area on Sunday and Monday and went to the game Monday night at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, home of the 49ers. Tigers demolished Alabama 44-16. National Champs again, twice in past three years. Amazing.

Tuesday we drove over the Santa Cruz Mountains, then down California Highway 1, the Pacific Coastal highway, to Pebble Beach. This picture, my favorite from the trip, is of the Lone Cypress that is emblematic of Pebble Beach. Beautiful scenery along this drive. See the Twitter account for more photos. We relocated to American Canyon, just south of Napa, for the rest of the week's stay.

Wednesday and Friday were wine days. We took a guided tour of Napa Valley on Wednesday. Had a good guide, therefore a good tour, and bought some expensive (by our standards) wines that we had shipped to Aiken. Thursday was supposed to be a guided tour of San Francisco, but we did not feel well and skipped it, opting to ride around and see more of Napa Valley on our own. Friday was a self-guided tour through Sonoma Valley. Beautiful vineyards everywhere.

Saturday we drove to San Francisco and saw Fisherman's Wharf, Lombard Drive, and the hilly streets. We stayed in San Jose so that we could more easily make our flight Sunday morning. What a great week!

2019 is shaping up to be a busy travel year for us. We already plan to go to the CFB National Championship game in Santa Clara, CA, in early January if the Tigers make it. Later in January a trip to Disneyworld is on the books. And we're thinking about that Alaska cruise we've always wanted to go on. Oh well, that still leaves the last half of the year. UPDATE 09/28/2018: the Alaska cruise is booked for September 3 through 10. We plan to take the train from Skagway (see the picture).

Debbie and I toured Lake Jocassee with Lake Jocassee Tours. Brooks and Kay do a great job. This tour featured the full moon rising. We spent about 3 hours on the water, meandering in and out of coves along the eastern shore to see waterfalls, flowers, and foliage. You can see some of the pictures we took.