More of spring's trip in Spain

While we were in Bilbao we got some rather shocking news.  We have friends where the husband is a couple months older than me and the wife a couple months older than my wife.  My wife worked with him back when we lived in the Netherlands back in 1998.  The guy was visiting relatives in Germany and while mountain biking fell and a rock pierced his right eye.  In the US you would be given a prosthetic eye and sent on your way.  Apparently Germany is quite a ways ahead of the US when it comes to eye surgery because they were willing to try to save the eye.  (This happened in April.  Now, almost August, he is still undergoing surgery and healing.)

From Bilbao it was a short drive to Pamplona.  We were careful to inquire before heading there if there was any danger from bulls!  Of course there was none so off we went.  There was the autoroute sort of way and the curvy way; of course we went for the curves.  And we sure got them and the beautiful views that can go with them.  As usual our hotel was on the outskirts of town so when we decided to walk into town we expected a fair hike.  It turned out quite a bit more than that but it was interesting. 

One thing we didn't even know was that there is a huge fort in the middle of the city that has been turned into a park.  The word 'huge' isn't right; it's way more than that.

The photo is of only a tiny portion of the fort but it does give you an idea of the size of the walls.  We walked along one side of the fort headed for an exit from the city walls.  As we were walking we found a lot of people apparently just clustered around this church.

It was only after we'd passed it that we discovered that it is on the pathway of the running of the bulls.  Oh well, it was pretty touristy.  We found our way out of the town and headed back out to the hotel.  We had to cross this bridge, the Puente de la Magdalena.  It is one of the oldest in the city and is, of course, pedestrian only.

All around Pamplona we saw people with walking sticks and backpacks and such.  It turns out that Pamplona is on a walking tour that Catholics can take to gain favor.  Some of these tours are several hundred miles long. 

After tiring ourselves out in Pamplona we headed for Zaragoza.  We arrived on a Monday following a holy day so many things were still closed.  Our first tourist stop was the cathedral, La Basilica del Pilar.  It is absolutely enormous!  Wow.  There were plenty of tourists but it was nice to see people praying as well.  It is clearly a working church.  It is along one side of a paved square and I simply couldn't get far enough away to get the entire cathedral in one photo.

The Romans spent quite a lot of time here so in the middle of the city you find an ampitheatre.  Doesn't every city have one?

We also visited the local castle; the Aljaferia - the Moorish-Christian castle of the kings of Aragon.  This one is kind of interesting because it has been used by so many rulers.  It started out being built by the Moors and just kept being useful for whoever was ruling the area.  It sustained a lot of damage over the years but has been carefully restored. 

Finally we left Zaragoza and headed for Tarragona.  Tarragona is on the Mediterranean Sea and has a LOT of Roman ruins.  Of course there is an ampitheatre - and just near the beach as well.

From the top of the ampitheatre you can look out over the water and see the remains of a fort on the other side of the beach.  Amazing.

It is kind of crazy for me but right across the street were more Roman ruins:  the Circ roma combined with the Pretori roma.  The thing that continues to surprise me is that on the other side of the street is a little shop; it is the most natural thing in the world for these people to live next to a World Heritage Site.  Finally we walked around the old city walls.  In the distance we could see the aquaduct that had moved water.  It is in the center of the photo going almost straight up.  You can also see where some of the stone for all the Roman buildings was quarried.

My wife used her telephoto lens to get a closer view.

Finally we strolled around the old city which is actually just a neighborhood like any other.  All in all we were blown away by the Roman past on display in Tarragona. 

That's it for this time.  Next we'll visit Barcelona where our visit to Spain ends.  Until then, thanks for stopping by!

Not Dead Yet!

Though I haven't blogged since May I really am alive and well.  Sorry about the erratic nature of my writing.  I don't have any good excuse, it's just a lack of discipline.  At any rate, here goes!  Back to April and Spain.

We picked up a rental car in Madrid and headed for Sergovia.  Why?  The aquaduct of course.

It really was quite amazing.  You walk downtown, turn a corner and there it is.  It's just amazing.  We were staying at a small hotel close to the outskirts of town and were able to follow the aquaduct almost the whole way back to the hotel.  It was chilly but not actually raining. 

The next morning was different.

Yeah, snow.  Happily it was just a bit and quite wet so it went away quickly.  We were headed north towards the Basque regions.  My wife had heard of cave paintings near a small town called Ribadesella which is a bit west of Bilbao.  So off we went.  Ribadesella is a very small place on the Bay of Biscay but quite beautiful.  Our hotel was outside of town on top of a hill.  We had nice views.

The reason for chosing this town was Tito Bustillo - caves containing ancient cave paintings.  The cave was quite easily accessible and had regular tours.  The tour was in Spanish but the guide was nice enough to add in some English for us.  No photos unfortunately but it really was very nice.  The town is proud of it's history and had a series of humorous signs showing it's history.  This is the pre-history one.

Most people go to this area for a different reason:  the beach.

It is supposed to be a nude beach but it was pretty chilly so the only people we saw were well covered!

Now we headed east towards Bilbao.  My wife is making hotel reservations looking for parking so we have another hotel on the outskirts of town in this case on top of a hill.  The hotel started as a cafe where the owners made their own wine.  They still make it and even gave us a bottle!  Pretty good stuff too.  Here is the view from behind the hotel.

 

 Bilbao has a lovely finicular railway going down to the downtown so that was pretty neat. 

It is s short ride but has great views and leaves you near a bridge that takes you into downtown. 

The big deal in Bilbao is the Guggenheim Museum.  We had read that the museum is more spectacular than the contents and I'd have to agree.  But we had to see it.  We also got to wander around the old town quite a bit and that was fun. 

In the photo above I found it interesting that the upper floors have windows that extend beyond the front of the building.  I haven't seen that often but it was all over Bilbao in older buildings like these and in newer ones as well.

I'll have to continue this another time.  But we are getting towards the end of our trip.  Take care and thanks for stopping by.

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Onward!

So having enjoyed our stay in Funchal the ship untied and headed off to Africa!  Yes, it is a new continent for us so we were excited.  Of course it's a cruise so we get to stay in port of a day.  No time for a safari but instead we got a tour of Tangier, Morocco.  Viking is fairly new to this ocean cruising thing so I'm going to give them a break and just say the tour wasn't the best use of our time.  We got a tour around the Kasbah in these groups of about 30 people.  You would have to say the area is extreme.  A beautiful building will be next to one that looks totally uncaredfor. 

Our guide was interesting enough but it did seem that every block contained a home that had been owned by some Hollywood-type who liked drugs.  That was kind of annoying but then he brought into TWO sales rooms; one selling rugs and the other selling some sort of herbal medicine.  Those were downright insulting.  Even if we had simply walked another couple of blocks it would have been better.

We did get to visit the Kasbah Museum which was, at least, a beautifully restored building.  The tile work and the wood work was amazing. 

Soon, of course, we were off to Spain.  Oddly the voyage went to Cadiz then to Valencia and finally to Barcelona.  The reason I consider it odd is because to visit Cadiz we had to go back west a bit.  However, it gave my wife and I a chance to visit Seville so that was fun.  Unfortunately the tour was a 2 hour bus ride, 3 hours in the city and another 2 hours back to the ship.  At least this guide wasn't trying to sell us anything! 

So we leave Cadiz just after dinner so we get to go through the Straits of Gibralter about midnight.  I must admit I think it should have been in daylight.  We had an entire day at sea between Cadiz and Valencia getting in quite early in the morning.  My wife and I both enjoyed Valencia.  The tour was in the old section of town and centered around two or three churches.  Churches are ok but it was some sort of holiday and most people prefered to leave the churches to the congregations.  It was kind of interesting that buses are not allowed in the older parts of town so the bus dropped us off then came back a couple hours later.  We took a walk that took us out past a university to a city park.  It just seemed a very beautiful city.

That left us one last night onboard the ship.  Most folks were headed off to the airport but my wife and I wanted to see more of Spain so set out early to catch a train.  People who were going to the airport had their luggage all piled in a building on the pier.  We are carryon folks so we just walked out.  I've got to say some people had quite the luggage collection!  We actually did carry an extra bag this time because of all that time on the ship.  In the end it was unnecessary and was mostly unused.  We found a taxi who took us to the train station for a very reasonable 20 euros or so. 

We had reservations on a late morning train so had plenty of time to just relax.  The Spanish train system seems pretty good; this one was a really high-end one and we found ourselves doing almost 300 kph (something around 185 mph) towards Madrid.  We had only one stop so made the journey in 2 hours 45 minutes.  We've been in Madrid so were only using it as a place to get a rental car.  Now we wouldn't have staff around helping with everything but we'd have to figure things out on our own. 

I'll do another installment in a few days.  Take care and thanks for stopping by!

Time for an Overview

So I figured out that I've been off-line for quite a while with no real explanation and I ought to do something about that.  So, here goes.  

Late last March my wife and I flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico.  We spent a couple days in the city before boarding a cruise on the Viking Sea.  The ship was making it's repositioning cruise.  It cruises the West Indies in the winter and the Baltic in the summer.  This cruise was to Barcelona, Spain via Sint Maarten in the Virgin Islands, Madiera, Tangiers and various ports in Spain.  We decided to also spend three weeks wandering around in Spain after the cruise.

We started, as I said, in San Juan.  We stayed in the old city never venturing into the new parts.  The old parts are in fair condition though there are some blue tarps covering damage from the hurricane but things are gradually being brought back to life.  The forts survived just fine.

The cruise is sort of a bucket-list thing.  For much of my life I wanted to buy a boat capable of ocean travel.  That never happened.  The next best thing is a cruise and it was pretty amazing.  Viking has positioned themselves as the cruise line for older folks and (aside from the crew) there might have been one person under 40 on this ship containing 900 plus vacationers.  The ship itself is only a couple years old and is nicely set up.  We chose a Deluxe Veranda stateroom.  It was 270 sq. ft. including the bath.  For rv'ers that's plenty of space.  All cabins have a balcony and there are two wrap-around decks for walking.  Of course there is also a gym and spa for those wanting them.  There is NOT a casino; NOT a Captain's night; and NOT big name shows.

The weather was close to perfect the entire cruise.  Mostly there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  Walking was definitely a shorts and shirt kind of thing.  There is a pool with a cover.  It was covered in the evenings and one or two days when we got close to Europe.  It was only then we all realized it was only April!

Not the 'bikini contest' sort of pool area!  There was also a small 'infinity' pool with hot tub on the aft deck by the bar. 

Check out the lady walking the deck.  Did I mention the age of the cruisers?  Probably only about 5% of us were using assistance meaning canes, walkers or wheelchairs but that is still 50 people.  Four laps of the ship equals one mile in case you are wondering.

There is a buffet restaurant that we used for breakfast and lunch most days.  Dinner was at a more normal restaurant with waiters and all.  There are two 'specialty' restaurants and while we tried both I couldn't honestly say the food was any better.  A little more pretentious but that's about it.  There are a a couple of things Viking is doing right.  One is that they offer free beer and wine with your meals.  I'm sure it means nothing to many people but my wife and I like a glass of wine with our meals.  Another thing is that there is a free laundromat on each floor of the ship.  I've seen people with three or four huge suitcases but since my wife and I are carry-on folks we really appreciate being able to clean our clothes rather than pay the horrendous fees most ship laundries charge.

After a few idylic days at sea we came to tie up in Funchal on the island of Madiera.  It was rather strange coming upon this piece of land after so many days at sea.  But it was a beautiful green island.

After we landed we took an 'included' tour of the island.  It was rather disappointing since it was mostly a bus ride.  We did get to stop at this huge cliff that overlooks the sea. 

Then we got dropped off to shop in the downtown area.  No thanks.  We simply walked back to the ship. 

I'll get us on towards Barcelona next time.  For now, thanks for stopping by!

Yeah, I'm back.

I've been gone so long Google texted me checking to see if this logon was actually me!  Aside from the obvious question of who the heck is so bored that they would try to hijack my blog, gosh, maybe I should feel important.  Hmmm?

Anyway, the answer as usual is that we've been traveling.  I don't have any excuse for not blogging in the early portion of March except that I'd just be wasting the reader's time as well as my own.  However in late March we managed one of those bucket list things:  crossing an ocean on a ship. 

We flew out of Las Vegas to Charlotte, NC and then on to San Juan, Puerto Rico to join our ship.  Let me tell you, that was the flight from hell.  Not that they weren't smooth, polite and relatively on time; it's just a really long time to be traveling.  The time difference isn't too awful but it was just nasty.  The good thing is that you end up in Puerto Rico.

We went a couple days early so we could look around the city a bit.  We aren't hearing much about San Juan since Hurricane Maria hit there in late September 2017.  Well, let me tell you things are definitely NOT all fixed up.  Don't get me wrong, they have done a ton and as a visitor everything was great.  We stayed in a cute little hotel, ate well and visited a few of the many tourist destinations.  I've read that in the interior of the island they are still using portable generator sets for the power grid.  What you  have to be there to appreciate how many roofs are still covered in blue plastic tarps. 

San Juan has an old part of town and some of those old buildings weren't up to the stresses imposed by the hurricane.  No surprise there but just flying in over normal surburban housing provided one with a sea of blue tarps.  Whatever Chinese companies make those things must have had to go into overtime plus mode to fill the need. 

I'll write more and even add photos but right now we've only been back 4 days and I'm definitely not all here.  Take care!

I'm doing well - 1 post a month!

Hi there.  I hate to admit it but I have exactly no excuse for not blogging this year.  We've mostly been home, haven't been sick or anything, don't have a new job.  Nothing.  I guess the best I can come up with is that I'm just lazy.  And that is certainly not a new condition for me! 

January and February were really pretty nice around here; we even flirted with 70F (21C) on the odd day.  I feel for all those folks in the midwest and east where they are having such a lousy winter.  It was so nice that all the weeds started growing in our yard and I had to go after them with the Roundup.  Our daughter and her new boyfriend (40ish) have been out from Vegas a couple times.  He can't get over how quiet it is out here.  We were doing pretty good taking our daily walk but then we got a cold spell with consistant 15 mph (24 kph) breezes and that keeps us off the walk. 

No one has been doing any building in the valley for several years.  I remember 3 or 4 years back where there were 17 new construction permits issued all year for the entire county.  Now people are building again and entire neighborhoods are under construction.  There have been three new houses built in our vicinity and now someone is building one right in our neighborhood.  We walk past it every day.  Hopefully they will be able to sell it.  One new problem is that the state is requiring that the purchaser of a piece of land buy 'water rights'.  Up until now it was possible to just buy a piece of land and dig a well on it.  Now you have to pay the state quite a lot of money (I've read somewhere about $10,000) to dig that well.  Needless to say there is quite a backlash from the "Don't Tread on Me" crowd and I must say the state has been rather heavy-handed about the whole thing.  The problem is that people build places out here then pretend they are living in Georgia and think they can have trees and grass and flowers just like people who live in rainy climes.  We just don't have unlimited water.

We did take a trip down to visit parts of Southern California.  We visited Joshua Tree National Monument where we got in a little hiking.  We went down to San Diego, of course, to see Number One Son & his girlfriend of 23 years.  And on the way home we stopped in Palm Springs for a couple of days.  That was kind of interesting.  There is so much 'history of the stars' sort of thing.  I guess it would be appealing to some folks but the town is changing a lot so I'm not sure where it is going now. 

A few photos:  we'll start with hiking in Joshua Tree.  Turns out we didn't take a single photo of a Joshua Tree!  But there were plenty of boulders!

Farther on there was a cholla walk.  This was a short trail through an area where there are an abnormal concentration of cholla cactus.  Some were nearly 10 feet tall!

Driving down those backroads in California is a totally different experience from the freeways of LA.  You didn't meet many cars and the speed limit was mostly 55 mph (88kph).  We also saw several signs warning that there were no services for 80-100 miles (125-160 km). 


Next we spent time in the foothills northeast of San Diego where our son lives.  There are several wineries in the area and we visited one that had a huge sculpture garden:  the Salerno Winery.

It was quite nice and totally free.  We were somewhat put off by the fact they seemed to want to serve food rather than wine tasting so toured the garden and left.  I cannot say anything at all about their wine.  (That's a first!)

Coming back through Palm Springs was interesting.  Of course the first thing we wanted to check out was the Tramway up to Mt. San Jacinto State Park.  There are two cars on the opposite ends of a line so when one goes up the other goes down.  They move people through the place pretty efficiently and you get a timed ticket.  Ours were for 13:00.  Here's the view from the waiting area.  I didn't get a photo of it but one of the cars came down with two maintenance workers hitching a ride on top!  Clearly it's the easiest and cheapest way to get folks up there but you've gotta like heights.

The cars are round and they rotate so you get to see lots.  Once you get to the top they mostly want to sell you food or beverages.  My wife and I split a $15 beer - a large beer and good but $15? 

From the top of the tramway you can actually go hike in the state park but most of us just ohh and ahh and head back inside.  Especially when it was 16F (-9C) and spitting snow.  The view of the city is pretty spectacular.  What I found more interesting was the HUGE wind farm.  The photo shows possibly a third of it; it was massive.  While waiting to go down you can see some of the mechanical parts that make the tram go up and down.  Coming down you can see the sights again.  I spent more time looking at the actual tramway.  Here is a car that we are helping pull up by the weight of our car.

There is a recorded story while in the tram that talks about how the thing was built by having everything brought up via helicopter.  You can see one of the landing stages that is probably still in use for maintenance work.  There are a few trails as well. 

 So that was our visit to the Palm Springs Tramway. 

The other big deal that we checked out was the  Living Desert Zoo and Gardens.  The zoo is divided into two parts:  Africa and North America.  The animal exhibits were nice.  They put compatible species together in the same area quite often.

Some of the exhibits were totally child oriented but most were for children of all ages.  (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)  There was a lot of information about various desert plants as well which we, as desert residents, appreciated.  I could see where it might get kind of boring for someone from Ohio.  One thing that they don't talk a lot about is the model train exhibit.  They claim it is the largest G-size exhibit in the world.  It was spectacular.  This photo is about a huge canyon.  It made up 15-20% of the total area of the exhibit. 

That concludes our travel for the year.  So far.  By car.  Travelling by car is kind of different for us and it's got it's own challenges.  Motels can be weird.  Finding meals likewise.  Neither of us is ready to give up on the RV but this is a new interest.  We'll see what happens.

We got home and Pahrump had it's annual Balloon Fest.  It is a three day weekend thing that usually works well.  This year, unfortunately, the balloons were only in the air on the Saturday as Friday and Sunday were both too windy. 

I guess that's all the news that's fit to print from around here.  Thanks for stoping by.

OMG - nothing?

Jeez, I'm worried that the President has died.  I mean he hasn't Tweeted anything stupid in at least 24 hours.  He must be gone.

Yeah, I wish.  But I sure don't care for the sound of President Pence either.

However, it is a beautiful sunny morning in southern Nevada.  24F when I got up with no breeze and certainly no clouds.  Aside from the usual creaks and groans from my body I'm feeling good so I really ought to be pretty happy.  My wife and I are in the process of planning our next three trips; a bit of a stretch even for us.  The first is pretty simple though:  visiting our son in San Diego.

This time we'll leave the trailer at home and try the motel route.  We are planning to abandon the Interstate highway system as well.  We'll find backroads down to the Joshua Tree National Park and 29 Palms and spend a day or two there.  Then on down to San Diego for a short visit then back up the back roads home.  I-15 and I-5 are just kind of ordinary even if they are quicker.  What the H, we are old retired farts with plenty of time!

The second trip is a cruise so that just takes money not planning.  The final trip is a return visit to England and Northern Ireland which we just didn't have time for when we visited Ireland.  Those will be documented when we finally get there.  Trust me, it won't be next week.

I am proud of being a veteran of the US Army and have been a member of the American Legion since at least the 1980's.  Last week I attended my first American Legion Post meeting.  Yep, after 30 years, I decided to visit the local post.  I'm a real 'joiner' aren't I?  Well, anyway, it was darned dull.  I'm not sure why but, jeez.  First of all, I'm going to be 70 on my next birthday and I was feeling young in that crowd.  Not to mention fit.   So here are 15 old white guys, sounds like the beginning of a bar joke but that's the situation, most wearing Legion hats and the Chaplin wearing a uniform....  Well, it goes downhill from there.  I won't bore you.  I'll probably try to go again if only to bring some youthful enthusiasm to the place. 

I'll quit rambling on now.  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good one!

Another day; another stupid remark

So it wasn't yesterday but Mr. Trump certainly managed once again to make a fool of himself.  This time he's explaining how he doesn't want immigrants from 'sh*thole' countries.  What a delightful fellow he must be in real life.  I read somewhere that people shouldn't just read things they agree with but should read other viewpoints.  One of the suggestions was that liberals should check out conservative, but responsible, news outlets like the National Review.  Well, I haven't heard of the National Review since Mr. Buckley was the editor but I thought it worth a try.  So what was the lead article this morning?  "Donald Trump the Porn President." 

To quote from the article.  "Stung by Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury, Trump held an open negotiation on immigration with congressional leaders in order to showcase his executive mettle — and then went on to provide a slow day’s worth of headlines when he voiced his contempt for tropical “s**tholes” and their would-be emigrants.

Scatapalooza was a fun news cycle, but it immediately was surpassed by pornapalooza."
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/455428/donald-trump-porn-star-payoff-why

 

'Pornapalooza' was their name for the claims that Mr. Trump paid a porn star $130,000 to keep quiet about him having an affair with her.  It was really rather fun reading their take on the Pres.  They point out that he's never been shy about  public affairs and has actually bragged about them; even in his own book.  The article goes on to discuss con artists and, while they don't actually call the President one, the author comes close making it sound almost acceptable.  Well, I guess to some people it is acceptable but not to me.  I would much prefer a President who could at least sometimes sound like the leader of the free world.  For that matter, I would prefer a President, unlike Mr. Clinton, could keep it in his pants much less brag about it.  Mr. Obama keeps looking better and better.

In happier news, we have had rain!  The last time it rained was September 12 when we got .01 inch.    Wunderground.com has just over an inch of rain in Mercury, Nevada on the 8th and 9th - the closest station that they have to Pahrump.  Since our annual average is about 5 inches; we're doing good!  To make it even better, there was no flooding.  Yep, sometimes we get flooding.  The rain comes down off the mountain and picks up some dirt and rocks that it deposits mostly on roads!  Actually, we are required by our lender to have flood insurance on our house.  Unusual I would have thought for a home in the desert.  

Ok, I'm going to quit whining.  2018 is upon us so I may as well learn to like it.  Have a good one!

Good God!

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/ohio-youth-team-kicked-rec-league-offensive-jerseys-185930020.html

Really?  What the hell are these people thinking?  I can think of several terms for them but none are sufficiently rude.  'Responsible' and 'adult' are certainly not among them.  Full points to the parent who complained to the league. 

Thoughts about the new year

I've read recently that October 20 was 'Information Overload Day'.  I find that an interesting idea.  I've read that the average person is spending over 2 hours a day on their smartphone in 70 sessions.  People find they cannot ignore a call or even a text message.  Why not?  It certainly isn't because every call, much less every text, is all that important.  I suppose it is because that attention from others makes us feel important.  And who doesn't want to feel important?  I certainly don't know the answer and I certainly WILL be answering calls from my wife(!) but there must be some middle ground.  Thoughts can be shy, fleeting things and losing them because of a text about a football game is a poor choice indeed.

2018 is going to be another 'interesting' year.  Financial markets are up, a lot.  Crypto-currencies are likewise up except when they are down.  Then there is the elephant in the room.  We have a President in this country who seems to lack the filter between his brain and his mouth that tiny children are easily taught.  He is certainly old enough to have some of the various age-related diseases both mental and physical that we hear touted.  And who, in their right mind, would declare themselves to be "a stable genius"?  Not to mention the many, many times he has made a statement then a few weeks later deny he'd said it?  Who thought the number of people at his inauguration were record breaking?  No one but him!  I've had experience with older people and their faulty memories.  It's not a condemnation, it's just what it is.  We may need to remove him.

Personally, it looks like a fairly good year assuming the President doesn't start a war or Congress doesn't triple the income tax.  We have an early trip planned down to Southern California but that's only for a few days.  Then there is a trip to Europe which, at the moment, is somewhat free-form.  We have been promising ourselves a dog after that but are having lots of second thoughts.  Many of the dogs in our local kennel are pit bulls; we could certainly manage one but traveling with it might scare a lot of campground hosts.  Then again leaving Fido in a kennel for several weeks at a time doesn't seem like something one would do to one's best friend!  Perhaps we'll do more trailer travel in the fall (with or without dog) but we certainly haven't planned that far ahead. 

Right now we are reveling in the first rain in something like 115 days.  And, for the first time this season, there is snow on the mountain. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good one! 

Happy New Year!

For once my wife and I actually saw the new year in - awake!  We weren't even particularly drunk.  Went outside to see if our town had any fireworks and they did but it was pretty chilly so we decided to go back inside to watch the ones from Las Vegas on the tv.  Still, I imagine I was in bed by 00:10.  It was a long day but pretty good.

Our little town has been blessed with a French bakery.  They make a really nice flute (short baguette) and some amazing desserts.  We had some of each for our celebratory dinner.  I wish them luck staying in business in this little place.  It cannot be easy.

My thoughts for 2018 are definitely mixed.  I'm hearing uncomfortable things about the economy.  I detest the idiot we have for President.  Discussions about war against North Korea are frightening to say the least.  Everyday violence seems to be an every day thing and not just in this country.  Maybe I'm paying too much attention to the news.

In contrast to my fears related in the previous paragraph  my hopes are quite different.  I'd like to wish everyone peace, joy and prosperity.  Happy New Year!

OMG another month!

Well, obviously this old guy is living life in the fast lane.  LOL  Maybe not!  Actually it's pretty quiet around here.  Just doing our usual computer fun; reading; going out for lunch and shopping.  Not much. 

This week was kind of different.  Monday was filled with shopping.  First the grocery store for the VFW Food Bank then Walmart for Toys for Tots.  Yeah, we probably could have done it earlier but this was the time we managed it.  Trying to get my wife into Walmart is a job in itself.  We were there one time 3 or 4 years ago and some old dirtbag sneezed on her; she caught a cold and hasn't wanted to go back since! 

Shopping for the vets was actually 'laugh of the week'.  We were checking out and I was using a debit card that I don't usually use.  I used the wrong PIN and immediately realized what I had done and said something about it.  My wife immediately said (fondly) "You old codger!"  The woman checking us out about fell on the floor laughing!  She said something like "You are just like my husband!"  Hmmm, should I be insulted?  I'm not sure.  

Tuesday was doing some cleaning around the house - I mean stuff that we don't ordinarily do.  Wednesday we washed both the car and the truck.  It doesn't sound like much but, hell, we have to get the ladder out to clean the truck!  My wife spent at least an hour cleaning bugs off the front of both vehicles.  Nasty.  Maybe we should do it more than once a year? 

Yesterday was one of those pleasure and pain days.  Wifie went for a spa day with our daughter in Vegas.  The daughter just got passed over for a job she wanted so there was some healing needed.  Hopefully it made her feel better.  I wandered around shopping for a few trivial things (mostly wine) before meeting them for a late lunch.  See how tough the week as been?  Yeah, boring!

We did seind out a few Christmas cards.  Yep, actual physical cards.  Of course it is mostly to older relatives but I do have a couple friends who are almost my age so they get them as well.  You can never tell about these 'old codgers'.  Anyway, we wanted to do a photo of us next to our tree.  I had to skip over this one where I am too close to fondling myself!

The tree is actually  old enough to vote!  We bought it in the Netherlands 19 years ago.  The tree skirt is something my wife's sister made even earlier.  The ornaments are all over the place.  Some are things the kids made when they were little; some are from my wife's mother; a few we bought.  Funny how the whole tree is full of memories. 

Merry Christmas to all.  Let's hope for a wonderful and peaceful 2018.  Thanks for stopping by.

Wow - it's been almost a month!

Yeah, not good.  In my defense I can only plead a quiet life in a quiet place.  We get up either with the sun or shortly thereafter.  My first task is to feed the birds then make coffee.  Mostly it is around 37F (2.7C) when I'm outside.  Then I usually settle in at the computer to check out what has happened in the world.  When I am sufficiently depressed, we get some kind of breakfast.  Breakfast, if it is at home, incorporates bird watching. 

I just noticed that ugly seating area in our back yard.  We set that up as a 'trial' seating to see if it was large enough, etc.  Hmm, that was at least 5 years ago!  What can I say, it works for us but maybe someday soon there will be a photo of the wonderful, new, prettier seating area. 

Then it is more computer work until we get ready to go out to lunch.  Most days we incorporate lunch with whatever shopping we need to do.  Since it is so cool early in the day we like to take a walk after lunch.  It is just around the neighborhood (about 2.5 miles or 4 km) but you can't sit around all day!  We get to say 'hi' to the various dogs and horses and, as a big thrill, we count the number of rabbits we see.  By now it's time to work on dinner but we do try to get a little time out in the yard (on the ugly seating area!) to check out the sunset (about 4:30) with a glass of wine or a drink. 

After our 'happy hour' we have dinner which will be followed by a couple hours of tv.  Exciting times!

Actually there are a few distractions.  Las Vegas is right there in case we want to do serious shopping and we usually make a trip every 10 days to 2 weeks.  A week or so ago we went the other way, towards California, and visited Ash Meadows.  The meadows are formed by springs bursting out of the desert floor and pumping thousands of gallons of water a minute along small streams until the water retreats and goes back underground.  These days the most famous residents of Ash Meadows are the pup fish.  These are little minow sized fish who live only in a few of these springs.  Back in the early 1900's people were trying to farm this area and they did so much damage to the environment that it cannot be repaired.  Still there are about 30 species of plants and animals that are no where else on earth.  What we have now are a few walks that one can take on raised wooden boardwalks.  The longest of the walks is just over a mile and in 80F (26C) weather it is quite pleasant.  Mid-summer and I don't think it would be that much fun.  We walked to the Crystal Spring and had a very nice time.

You stand there looking into this crystal clear water then look up to see that bare rock mountain in the distance.  It is quite a place.  You can see why people wanted to farm this land.  Apparently native tribes used the springs as a place to meet on special ocassions.  A couple years ago a new visitor center was built and the many displays discuss the history of the area.  You can even 'adopt' a pupfish for a $50 donation. 

This Thanksgiving our daughter offered to host at her home in Las Vegas so off we went.  We got to bring a pie and the stuffing but that wasn't too tough.  I may as well say there are no photos.  She had never cooked a turkey in her over 40 years on earth so she got advice from all her friends.  Somehow they talked her into cooking the bird breast side up for an hour or so then turning it over for another couple hours.  My wife and I had never heard of that but it turned out to be quite delicious.  I'm not too sure the skin was as crispy as it might have been but I don't eat it so I don't care!  She and her mother seemed to like it though so it certainly wasn't bad. 

Anyway, that was the month of November!  As I said, life in the fast lane.  Hope your month was more exciting in a good way!  Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Halloween!

No, just kidding.  I'm way too dull to gave much of a rap about Halloween.  I'm not religious enough to recall the religious end of it and I never got all hot and bothered about costumes so no.  Also I was brought up living out in the country with older parents who weren't going to drive me all over to collect candy so I don't even have childhood memories of the day.  However, it does seem to be an appropriate time to talk about this wonderful land, the U. S. of A. 

Ghosts and Gobblins Unite!  Doesn't it kind of feel like that these days?  We have the Twitter in Chief in this country; the nuclear holocost guy over in N. K.  We have the whole football player thing:  you need a scorecard to keep track of all the sides of that one.  Things are so crappy that there was hardly any news from people who want to ban guns after the Las Vegas shooting.  The Brits are exiting the EU even though some of the voters seem to have thought the whole thing was a joke.  The Catalonian's seem to be trying to break up Spain.  I haven't heard anything about Quebec wanting to leave Canada but that could be just because our US centric media can't find the electrons to spare.  (I typically check the BBC if I want to know about things going on outside the US and for some reason the CBC doesn't work well on my computer.) 

I'd like to think that as I'm growing older, maybe I just worry more but I don't really buy that.  For one thing my age still begins with a '6' and besides I've never really been a worrier.  Of course we used to have Presidents who acted, well, like leaders rather than acting like bad tempered children.  As I've recounted, we have been visiting Presidential museums.  My wife doesn't want to go see Tricky Dick's.  (I mean the original; not that guy who couldn't keep it in his pants.  We did go there.)  I'm thinking I want to see it; at least he opened up relations with China.  Even should he not be impeached, I'm looking forward to Trump's.  Of course it will be in some Trump Tower and you'll have to pay a Trump-sized fee to get in but still.  Imagine all the 'fake news' he will have to ignore.

And speaking of impeachment, having Mr. Pence be next in line does not fill me with glee either.  I remember reading about how the people of Indiana were thrilled to be rid of him.  Maybe I like Trump better after all?  Well, jeez, it's a tough question.  I guess I'll have to see how this whole investigation of Manafort et al turns out.  Listening to either or both of these idiots for another 3 years will be enough punishment; God forbid 7 years. 

Sorry about the rant.  This world just gets too much sometimes.  Thanks for stopping by.

Coming on home!

Once we'd visited the UP it was time to head back south and west.  On the last day of September we made the fairly long trek down to a campground near Grand Rapids, MI.  My wife almost always picks our campground from the various clubs we belong to:  Good Sam, Escapees or Passport America.  I don't know what was going on but we kept finding these places that were intended for locals rather than visitors.  This one was on a beautiful river and it was a nice enough site but there were no other visitors and most of the rigs were permanent.  Even though the park was closing on October 15; the rigs would just spend the winter there.  Interesting.

Anyway, the next day (a Sunday) we hopped up and drove down to Grand Rapids to see the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum.  It turns out that we were in the middle of a Art Prize celebration and traffic downtown was AWFUL!  Of course the fact that we are driving a 4x4 extended cab pickup with an 8 foot bed doesn't make things easier.  The Art Prize thing had taken over all parking for the museum.  We found a parking garage a couple blocks away that claimed to have empty spaces and headed into it.  At the last possible moment I decided we wouldn't fit and stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.  I was afraid that there wasn't enough headroom for us.  I get out of the cab and sure enough, we were at least 4 inches too tall.  So my wife grabbed her walkie talkie and walked out into the street and stopped the two lanes of traffic so I could back out.  Now that is something!  She managed it and I backed into the street, she hopped in and we took off.  Now all we wanted to do was to get out of Grand Rapids!

In the end we found an excellent pizza place called Mitten Pizza and Brewing Co.  Had a lovely pizza for lunch (and beer!) and went back to the rig.  I found someone from the office and told them we would be staying another night.  We met a local guy and he suggested we might also like to visit the Maijer Gardens so we added that to the itinary for the next day. The next morning we hopped up and flipped on the tv to learn that the previous night a very strange man had opened fire on a bunch of concert goers in Las Vegas.  My God!  It is beyond strange.  I want to talk about all that in another post so for now I'll only say we were just shocked.

We went into the city and this time found some off street parking that was at least tall enough for our truck.  We were sticking out in front of all the cars but there was room enough.  The Ford museum was interesting as they all are.  I'm getting the distinct impression that we don't know much about the people we elect President.  For example, Ford is the name of his mother's second husband; the President's real father was named King.  Part of the Art show was inside the museum so there was no charge to visit the museum on this day.  A certain number of people were there simply for the art but the museum was more crowded than many that we have visited.

After the museum we headed off for the Maijer Gardens and were very happy that we did.  It turns out there are several conservatories full of plants and a huge outdoor area in which larger sculptures are shown.  We took a tram tour of the outside which we later decided was kind of a waste.  They wanted to tell us way more about some of the pieces that we wanted to know!  We did enjoy the experience however. 

This horse was tall enough that I could walk under his belly!

They also have a large Japanese garden which we enjoyed touring.


Having sampled Grand Rapids we were intent on heading south.  Since we were thinking of driving home on I-40 we had decided to go almost directly south and stop in Little Rock, AR to see the Clinton Museum!  We'd been finding places claiming wifi but then they either didn't have it or it wasn't working.  We are both addicts so not having internet was putting a dent in our fun!  I talked my wife into trying a KOA.  At least they had wifi!  We were happy enough with the KOA experience to go to another one in Little Rock.

The Clinton Museum is part of a complex that includes the library, museum and educational activities that are of interest to the Clintons.  They claim there are more exhibits than in any other Presidential library.  I wouldn't be surprised because there was a huge amount of detail:  like the President's plan for every day!  I mean you could look up what the President was supposed to be doing at 10:00 on July 29, 1995.  There was a reasonable discussion of his impeachment proceedings but oddly Monica Lewinski was pretty much invisible.  My wife used the word 'slick' to describe the museum and I cannot think of a better one.  About a third of the floor-space was devoted to a biography of Nelson Mandela.  Apparently he and the President became quite good friends.  The displays showed quite a lot about his younger days; his long years in jail and finally his freedom.  It was pretty good if totally unexpected. 

As an aside, the Clinton Museum was the only place we've seen since the Las Vegas tragedy that wasn't flying the flag at half staff. 

Downtown Little Rock has quite a bit of park area on both sides of the river.  They converted this old railway bridge into a pedestrian bridge.  As an aside, on the day of our visit there was an Autism Walk so all the parking was taken just as in Grand Rapids!  Happily we were able to find a place to park just a few blocks away.


After leaving Little Rock we were headed for Oklahoma City.  My wife had never set foot in Oklahoma so it was kind of fun that driving across on I-40 is actually very pretty.  Once we get well started on our way home sometimes we get in a state where all we want to do is get home.  For example, when returning from Florida in 2016 we didn't unhook the trailer from the truck for 6 days.  That's our record; I'm not proud of it but we have been known to take off home like that. 

After Oklahoma City we headed for Amarillo.  It was nice country but this was one of the windy days.  The wind came out of the north at 28 mph (45 kph) with gusts to 40 mph (65 kph).  That makes for a tough day of driving.  And in both Oklahoma and Texas there were road repairs; mostly to bridges.  Traffic was funneled into one lane and slowed to 55 mph (88 kph) which still seemed awfully fast to me.  Still, it worked.  It was going to be cold so we didn't deploy the slideout.  Keeping it in reduces our square footage by probably 40 sq ft (9 sq. m) so the rig is much easier to heat. 

After Amarillo the large city is Albuquerque however the Balloon Fiesta is on so places to park are non-existent - not just expensive but not there!  So we went on to the small town of Grants, New Mexico.  We found a park called Lavaland in Grants.  It had received some poor ratings but sounded like it might be ok.   As a matter of fact, it was just fine.  The office and common rooms are being re-modeled but is seems to be in turn-around mode.  There were people living in their rigs there but everyone was friendly and helpful.  The site wasn't quite level but we can deal with that.  As a bonus, the wifi was excellent! 

We needed one more stop and decided to check out Meteor Crater, AZ.  The crater is on privately owned land and these folks opened an RV park right next to I-40.  So you are renting from the owners of the crater; to see the crater you have to pay more.  But, what the heck, we went to check it out.  There were actually quite a few people there.  It is just one of those things.  If you want to see it, you have to pay.  If you don't care, well, it is just a big hole in the desert floor.  We liked it but it is BIG!  My 18mm lens on my DSLR doesn't open enough to get the entire crater in one photo. 

Down in the bottom there are remains from early explorations.  People thought there was a meteor down there somewhere so dug down looking for it.  Now we know the meteor just turned into tiny fragments that rained all over the place. 

So after that excitement, all that was left was to go along I-40 to Kingman and cut up US 93 to Las Vegas.  It is funny country, you see a bunch of ramshackle buildings off in the distance then come to a road with half a dozen mailboxes for those buildings.  I've no idea how those folks live.  We stopped for a night in Las Vegas to see our daughter and empty the tanks.  It was a good stop but we were sure glad to get home. 

Thanks for stopping by.  I'll be working on my rant about Charlottesville, Las Vegas, Weinstein and, of course, our Twitter-in-Chief.  Fair warning; you may want to avoid it!  Have a good one.