This past Christmas our family decided we wanted to do something different to celebrate the holidays. Hawaii was at the top of the list, but it is so expensive to go there at Christmas time. After some discussion we settled on Palm Springs, California. None of us had spent any time there, and we thought we would enjoy some warm, sunny weather over Christmas rather than the typical cold, wet, gray skies of Seattle. While we did stay in Palm…
Destinations
Two Interesting Day Trips Beyond Las Vegas, Nevada
Most people go to Las Vegas, Nevada for gambling, drinking and partying. However, if you grow tired of these activities or are just not into that sort of thing, it doesn’t mean you have to sit in your hotel room. Here are two options of things you can easily do in a day or even in an afternoon. However, they are on opposite sides of the city so it is probably not the best to try to do them on…
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Autumn in Pinnacles National Park
Pinnacles National Park is a newer national park. It only became a national park in 2013. Perhaps because it is newer explains the reason why many people aren’t even aware of it. While it is located just 80 miles south of San Jose, it is the 13th least visited national park in the United States. Only a little over 233 thousand people visit in a year. Compare that to the 4 million who visit the popular Yosemite National Park just…
Exploring Angel Island
While visiting my daughter in San Jose, she decided we needed to explore Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. She and a friend had ridden bikes around the island and enjoyed it. She thought it would be fun for my wife and me to explore it as well. To get to the island was a journey in itself. We had to drive about a half hour north to catch the BART light rail system. After a half hour ride, we…
Discovering Australia’s Animals at Taronga Zoo
It was our final full day in Sydney, and we decided to go to Taronga Zoo. We had originally planned to take a train up into the Blue Mountains and do some hiking in this well-known region. However, age had caught up with me. After all the walking we had done, especially the Bondi to Coogee walk, my wife convinced me that hiking was probably more than we could handle at this point. She didn’t get much argument from me.…
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Discovering Australia: Bondi to Coogee Walk
When we researched our trip to Australia, one of the experiences that popped up was the Bondi to Coogee walk. We are big walkers, and a lot of our vacations are spent walking around various cities we visit. We had heard of the famous Bondi Beach, and this walk was a top priority for us to do. Yesterday we had walked in the city. Today we would walk the coast. Fortunately we had a beautiful day for our walk. The…
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Discovering Australia: Sydney CBD
Our trip to Australia was half over. Having spent time in Melbourne, we flew to Sydney. From the airport there is a very efficient subway system that travels into town or as Australians like to call it, the CBD (Central Business District). Buy an opal card at an airport convenience store and add money to it. It’s a tap on, tap off system. However, we discovered that there is an extra charge for those using the airport stop. The woman…
Discovering Australia: Melbourne’s Art Vibe
Sunday dawned on our final day in Melbourne. After Saturday’s trip to the beach, our plan was to check out the street art in the city. But first we needed breakfast. We walked over to the Italian district on Lygon Street. Walking down the street we noted quite a number of Italian restaurants before we reached our destination, Stuzzichino Restaurant. It had been recommended online as a breakfast place, but we didn’t find it to be that much better than…
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Melbourne’s Victoria Market and famous St. Kilda Penguins
Our second full day in Melbourne was the day of the Grand Final, but we had other plans. We started with a visit to the well know Victoria Market. For us it was a stop on our tram ride to the city so an easy stop. We planned to eat breakfast there. Later we would continue our tram ride out to the beach community of St. Kilda and see the St. Kilda penguins. To begin our day, however, we needed…
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Discovering Australia: Melbourne and the Footy Festival
Australia is one of those distant places people talk about, but often never expect to visit. Earlier this year an unexpectedly low fare for Australia popped up. I talked it over with my wife, and we decided to pursue it. Since I would be retiring in June, we decided that fall would be a great time to go. It would be my first opportunity in many years to travel in September rather than teach. With the trip booked, we began…
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