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Our Balloon Ride — Up With 10 Passengers, Down with 6…What’s Up (or Down) With That?
All my life I’ve looked forward to someday going up in a hot air balloon. I think it all may have started with my early obsession with the Wizard of Oz. When we were kids, there were no videos and when this movie came on TV once a year, it was a big deal. We carefully laid out blankets in front of the black and white TV (we knew that OZ was in color but it didn’t matter to us), popped popcorn, and nothing could drag us away. Last year, I bought a prepaid discounted balloon ride package from Zozi (a now-defunct company like Groupon) and intented to use it…
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Washington D.C. and Virginia
To some people a vacation means doing nothing. If I want to lay around and do nothing, I’ll just stay home and save the money. To me a vacation means getting out and seeing new places, trying new foods, and, best of all, learning something new. Staying in bed beyond, say, 8:00 (at home or on the road) becomes kind of tortuous for me. I often just get up and leave the room for a walk, jog or to get a snack and read the local paper while my poor exhausted traveling companions snooze away. (Some of my favorite times have often been these little solitary reprieves.)So, with that, earlier…
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California Citrus State Historical Park in Riverside
Saturday, January 15th was a gorgeous day here in Southern California. It was one of those days, when, even if you wanted to stay in, you’d feel guilty about it. Sometimes, if you’re in the mood to just stay in the house and clean or watch sports, bad weather is a gift because it gives you a perfect excuse to just hermit up. But, when a warm sunny day comes along in January, whether you want to or not, you’re obligated to get outside and enjoy it! So, luckily, I have this commitment to do something new each week – thanks to this blog. And, that means getting out to…
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Our Alaska Vacation
Whew, what a vacation — Trains, taxi cabs, a ship, a floatplane, lots of buses, and then more trains and airplanes! This Alaska cruise and vacation is something John and I have been planning for a long time. It started on Thursday, September 2, 2010. We got up early and had Hayley drop us off at the Pedley Metrolink Station. We took the Metrolink into Los Angeles’ Union Station. We got our Amtrak tickets, paid to have our luggage stored, and then walked across the street to have breakfast at Phillippe’s. Back on the train, everything was great. Because we upgraded our tickets to include a sleeper compartment, we were…
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Half Dome and Yosemite
Half Dome Hike, Annette, Danny, April and Wes — We made it to to the top of the world! Climbing to the Top of Half Dome is a really challenging hike. I had just turned 50 and wanted a challenge to show age who’s boss! I was so excited that I told everyone I knew I was climbing to the top of Half Dome. My son, Danny, daughter April and her husband Wes joined me for this challenge. We started the day well before dawn and accidentally hiked about a mile past our first turnoff –so it was just a little harder for us than for people who don’t miss…
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Don’t Look Down!
Just a few photos from our early morning Angels Landing Hike. We got up early and caught the 5:45 a.m. shuttle from our campsite at Watchmen to the trail head. We finished up the hike in time to get back to camp for a nice late morning breakfast.
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Camping and Hiking in Zion National Park
All my kids, their spouses and I tent camped in Zion National Park at the Watchment Campground. In Zion, there is a great shuttlebus system that allows you to just park your car and catch a bus that constantly goes up and down the canyon. It even picks people up in the sweet little town just south of Zion NP, Springdale. In fact, a lot of people just stay in one of the nicer hotels in Springdale — it really is just like being in the park. My kids and I spent an entire day hiking up The Narrows in Zion National Park. This is something I’ve been wanting to…
