You Can't Win Them All, Sintra, Portugal

Turrets at Palacio da Pena

To See Our Portugal Photos, Click Here

We had enjoyed Sintra so much that we decided that another trip back was warranted.  We had skipped the Palacio da Pena then first time as we thought it might be too busy because it was such a beautiful day.  Well, on our return trip, the day started out fine, but as we closed in on Sintra, we noticed there was a big cloud hovering over the hills where the Palace de Pena is situated.  And then came the rains!! 
We attempted to avoid the downpour by taking a couple of buses around to see the town, but when the rain stopped, we decided to head up to the Palace to take a shot.  We were up at the Pena Palace for about 3 hours, and the thick fog never lifted at all.  What a shame as there must be some spectacular views from up there.  And it would have been great to see the architecture in some good light.
In saying this, the pea-soup fog did add some mystery and eeriness to the palace, but it was damn cold on top of that hill. 

Palacio da Pena

As you can see from the pictures, it is rather a storybook castle, with interesting turrets and towers everywhere.  I really like the entrance road, as it circled around on itself like a modern multi-storey parking garage.  Except this one passed through drawbridges and interesting archways.
A tour through the Palace took us through all the main rooms as they had been left in 1910.  The royal family went into exile at that time in a revolution, and the palace has been preserved in that state ever since.  Some of the interesting decorations were concrete ceilings painted to resemble wood, a room decorated with half finished painting canvases, The Arab Room - elaborately painted in frescos and tempera that gave it great depth, statues of Turks holding electric chandeliers, and a big circular Stag room decorated with plaster stag heads all around.
The exterior was not to be outdone, as a bizarre sculpture of a Triton was over the gateway to the courtyard.  The Triton is a half man-half fish figure, with an angry looking face.  It was decorated all around with coral and shells.

Cabo do Roca

We had stalled as long as we could and the fog just wouldn't clear, so we scrapped our plans to tour the gardens and grounds because you just wouldn't be able to see anything.  Back into town on the local bus, who manoeuvred around those tight corners with ease.  I always marvel at the driving skills of the bus drivers in Europe!!  Don't know how they get through some of those really tight places.
One more 'palace' to see in Sintra (the town of many palaces it seems).  At Quinta la Regaliera, we hadn't realized that the grounds were so large, and didn't leave enough time to tour the it all, so decided that a look from the outside was fine and save the 6 Euros for now. 
We still had one more stop for the day, and that was on the bus ride home.  Cabo da Roca is the most Westerly point in Continental Europe.  Here, there is a large light house 140m up on the cliffs above the ocean.  A monument also marks the location with latitude and longitude (9 deg 30" West).  We looked out from the cliffs towards Canada!!!  *Stub

Port in Porto, Portugal

To see our Portugal Photos, Click Here

Tasting Port at Croft Cellars

Of course! What else is there to do - especially when it´s raining! Walking around
the commercial yet rustic city of Porto, we got soaked the first day there, then thankfully discovered the Port district which is actually across the river Douro outside of Porto. We toured a couple of  independent family-run Port cellars, like Taylors and Croft. The wine for Port is made in vineyards up in the hills of the Douro area and is fermented just a few days before it is fortified with brandy (or whatever spirit) which stops the fermentation process. After this it gets shipped to the warehouses/cellars of Porto to age and mature. Needless to say the Ports we sampled were very warming and delicious. Plus we learned (and now forgotten!) the differences between tawny, ruby, white, vintage and late bottled vintage etc etc.

Porto is a very busy city with lots of neo-classical buildings,

Unesco World Heritage Ribeira waterfront

ancient gothic architecture with wonderful ceramic tile murals, and rough cobbled run-down alleyways and streets. As the days brightened we walked as much as we could through random streets and eating the local food: Bacalhao (dried salted cod) and Francesihno a delicious, extremely healthy toasted sandwich with ham, beef, and chorizo, smothered in melted cheese and downed in a spicy piri-piri tomato soupy-broth. Talk about comfort food!
The Ribeira waterfront area recently revamped from its use as a the docking and cargo area of town has been classed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We found the area fascinating, and so colourful.  We walked across the huge iron bridge (designed by a disciple of Gustavo Eiffel's) for some good birds eye views across the river and the Ribeira.  As we took an old fashioned tram along the river our of town we hopped off for some traditional Fado music (amateur style) - usually a solo singer accompanied by a

Old port barrel boats on the River Douro

couple of acoustic guitars. The rustic pub / cafebar was jammed packed with old men and women who had come especially to listen and sing along to this urban music.The atmosphere was buzzing and contagious, but when the singers took their turns, everyone was quiet and mesmerised by the soaring melancholy of the melodies and sentimental lyrics. As we got adopted and laughed along with some of the locals we relished in this rare, cultural experience. *Mush

Bones, Bones and More Bones in Evora, Portugal

Ossuary in Evora

To see our Portugal photos, Click Here!

Time to head out for a couple of days, and get away from our home base in Cascais. We took a bus up to Evora, and old walled city about 150km East of Lisbon. The historic centre is also a Unesco World Heritage site, and we tend to like to see as many of these as possible. Evora was a quaint little town, with little old streets and plenty of interesting old buildings.


First thing we had to do was find a place to stay. This feels more like traveling now, and a part that we sometimes enjoy, but also gets a little tiring. In Evora though, we found a little gem. After checking out a couple of dated rooms in some characterless hotels, we stumbled across a little hostel that we didn't have in our Lonely Planet guide book. The place called Evora Old Hostel, has only been open for about a year, and the owner Pedro was a great guy. He spoke excellent English and really made us welcome in his 4 room, very clean hostel. He had plenty of info and stories too, and we enjoyed speaking with him. A great start.

Termas Romana - Evora

He sent us out looking at some of the main sights in town, at we enjoyed just sitting around in the old square, watching life pass us by. Tons of old men in the square doing the same thing as us. Walking around, we passed the Termas Romano (Roman ruins), dating back to the 2nd century. Basically looked like a small version of the Acropolis, with 14 columns still remaining. Another ancient Roman addition to the town was a the aqueduct. This aqueduct was about 20km long or so, with big arches all the way into town. Some of the old townspeople took advantage of the pre-built walls and built houses in the archways of the aqueduct. Don't think they would be allowed to do that nowadays!!

The highlight for me, and the reason I heard about Evora 10 years ago, was the Ossuary. Basically, there were 42 cemeteries, full of monk bones. Since there was little space remaining in the city walls to build, they decided to consolidate all the bones into one sacred place. They dug up the bones, and built the interior walls and pillars of a church with them. It was a bit eerie, but we've also seen something similar to this in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic. The walls were as thick as femurs are long; as the femurs were stacked up on top of each other with mortar in between. Some rows of skulls thrown in for good measure! Lining the ceiling were archways of skulls, following the lines of the structure. Add to all this, some dim lighting and it made for a very interesting, but gruesome place to visit.

A great little side trip, but we were headed back to Cascais to our home base. *Stub

Fatima, Portugal

Basilica in Fatima

To see our Portugal Photos, click here

The Pilgrimage of Fatima is one of the most important ones in the Roman Catholic world, and millions upon millions of people flock to this sacred place every year. It is founded on a series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary to three peasant children back in 1917. My parents were keen to visit as they do whenever they come to Portuga so Martin and I accompanied them for the Fatima experience. The beautiful neoclassical Basillica was built in 1953 and contains the tombs of the three children; the last one, Lucia, died in 2005.



With my Mum and Dad in Fatima

At the other side of the huge sloping Piazza (which is twice the size of Rome´s St Peter´s Square) an new epic church has been recently built to hold 9000 people. To the side of the Piazza the tree in which the Virgin Mary appreared is long gone with a small glass chapel in its place. As for the farm village, sadly, that is now a busy, commercial town overtaken by pilgrims and tourists, and drowned in tacky souvenier shops.

Leaving our parents to return to Cascais it was time to move quickly on to Porto. The bus station, my parents assured me, had been improved, but you could have fooled me: it was pretty grotty and didn´t even look like a bus station from the road!

As we were getting into the swing of being on the road again, we arrived in Porto to find the budget guesthouse we were aiming for was closed for renovations. After our initial disappoinment luck was with us - as we turned around wondering what to do next, we saw the word ´HOSTEL´ across the street and discovered yet another gem - functional, friendly, helpful and the big one... clean. Phew! * Mush

Lisboa, Portugal

To see more Portugal Photos, click here.

Lisbon from the Elevador Santa Justa

We are staying in Cascais, a beach town only about 30 minutes by train from Lisbon.  We have made a couple of trips in to Lisbon to check it all out.  As it typical with European cities, there is of course, a lot of history.  With impressive old buildings, main squares, and tons of churches.  Well, Lisbon also had a huge castle on the hills above.  The Castle of São Jorge looms over the city.  We traveled on the old style trams up the steep hillsides to get an idea of the town.  On our first journey, we got stuck behind a parked car, that the owner managed to return to eventually, but was greeted by the police.  They had backed up a couple of the old trams, and of course, when you are on rails, there is not really anywhere you can go.   Ooooopppps!
We took a tram to the end of the line at Prazeres, not knowing that this is the biggest cemetery in town.  We walked around to take a look, as I always find cemeteries a little interesting if not morbid.  Some massive tombs and such, and one that was in the shape of a castle itself. 

Elevador Santa Justa

We also too an old funicular up the steep streets of Lisbon.  I hadn't realized how steep some of these were, but the ancient little tram like funicular was a fun and welcome ride.  On the way back down from the hills, we stumbled upon the Elevador de Santa Justa.  Apparently designed by a disciple of Gustavo Eiffel, it is a weird elevator in the middle of town, that takes you up to a viewing platform above.  We loved it, and hadn't even realized that we only paid for a ride to the top (where you can continue along a platform to the upper part of the town) and not for the PRIVATE viewing platform.  Needless to say, we had accidentally passed the ticket taker, and were checking out the town up on the perch above.  Loved all the red roof buildings and the castle above.
We spent some more time walking up and down the labyrinth of little streets but vowed to return to see more of the interiors of some of the museums, towers, and castles in town.   *Stub

Palaces and Castles of Sintra, Portugal

To See our Portugal Photos, click here

National Palace, Sintra

We arrived in Portugal on Feb 6th.  This really felt like a vacation before our travels (sorry if you don't understand).  We are staying with Michelle's parents in their apartment in Cascais, just West of Lisbon.  It is a short 30 minute bus ride up to the old Unesco World Heritage site of Sintra.  From the bus, we walked into the old town and were greeted with views of the National Palace with two steeples (apparently one of the travel guides describes it as looking like one of Madonna's bras).  Sunday was FREE day around the palace, so our kind of price.  This place dates back to the 15th century.  It was a good cruise around the place, but we both loved the kitchen area.  A large room with fires under each pot, fires and spits, and two big chimneys which are the 2 steeples we could see from the outside.

In front of Old Sintra in Palace archway

The old town itself was very interesting to walk around.  Cobbled streets and alleys, with some steep inclines.  The other sights of Sintra were actually high above the town, so we took a hair raising bus ride up the switchbacks to the Moorish Castle seen at the top of the hill in the picture on the left. 
The castle was built between the 9th and 10th centuries.  It is high above the town and had stunning views of the town and ocean below.  It was still preserved in quite good shape, so you can really get an idea of what things were like.....well, maybe!!  Can't really imagine actually!! 
From here, we cruised out to the Parque de Monseratte.  I was expecting this place to be quite

Moorish Castle above Sintra

run-down as the tour book said, but I guess 3 years really changes things.  This place had quite a facelift, and was close to being fully restored.  The palace was most recently owned by Sir Francis Cook, who spent a great deal of time renovating it for his family, and also creating quite the extensive garden with plants and trees from all over the world.  I can't quite imagine living at a place like this, especially in the 1800's - too lavish!!   There were actually too many palaces and impressive buildings to see in Sintra in one day, so we have to return another day.  *Stub

So much time, but no time at all! England

To see our England photos, click here

The Doozers

I won´t get too sentimental, but how great was it to be back in England seeing family and friends? Challenging, juggling everyone, yes, but fantastic all at the same time! (Plus I wish Martin didn´t have so many friends here!)

Anyway, we divided our time between my parents, sister, brother, Martin´s family...and then everyone else. Quite a feat! The good thing is, is that everyone pretty much stays the same and you pick up where you left off. The kids, on the other hand, do change. My nephew and niece, Dylan and Christina, for instance, had grown and grown up so much in just a year and a half since I last saw them, and since Martin had seen them five years ago!

To catch up with other family members and friends, our travels took us to Birmingham, London, Ludlow, Liverpool, Leeds, Oxford, Manchester to name just a few. Some friends, I hadn´t seen some in 5 years or more: friends from primary school, secondary school, university days, my PhD, research work, and even from Portland, Oregon. Thankfully, everyone´s still the same (apart from some have kids now) and it´s sometimes really like I never left. Okay, sorry. I lied when I said I wouldn´t get sentimental. This is Michelle De Sousa talking!

Unfortunately, before we knew it, time had flown by (and there were several people that we didn´t get to see - forgive us), but after 6 weeks, it was time to get our act together and hit the road for our African adventure... by way of Portugal! *Mush

One Day in Wales

Martin on Conwy city walls

 To see our Wales photos, click here

As my country list grew to 48 with the recent addition of Iceland, I realized that there is an easy one I hadn't yet added, and it is right under my nose so to speak.  We HAD to make a drive to Wales.  So, after a visit with Michelle's friend Vida in Liverpool, we drove from the Wirral across into Northern Wales.  It was a cold, crisp morning with a nice layer of frost, but the sun was shining.  We had decided that we would aim for Conwy, a short drive along the coast.  On the way, of course, we past a few castles including Bodelwydan.  This one seemed to be a relatively new castle (last 100 years or so), and there was a hotel and spa residing in it now.   Another few kilometres down the road we past this massive castle on the hillside, but we couldn't find the way to get in.  Turned out it was a private castle........ A PRIVATE CASTLE!!!
We found Conwy, parked up and proceeded to climb up on the city walls.  You are able to walk almost the entire circle of the walls and you get some great views over the town, towards the castle and over the River Conwy.
We picked up some take-away fish and chips and climbed back on the wall to have lunch with a view over town.  

Smallest House in the UK

After lunch, and a few steps around the corner, we found a funny sight - The Smallest House in the UK.  With dimensions of 3.05 metres x 1.8 metres, it was in continuous occupation from the 16th century (and was even inhabited by a family at one point) until 1900 when the owner a (6 ft fisherman – Robert Jones) was forced to move out on the grounds of hygiene. The rooms were too small for him to stand up in fully.  The place made me look like a giant, which is nice for a change!!!
We followed the waterfront and went into Conwy castle.  The castle is still in pretty good shape and you are able to climb up some of the
towers to get a great view over the River Conwy and the town.  We enjoyed winding our way through all the nooks and crannys of the castle, even down to the old dungeon and kitchen areas.

On our drive back to Birmingham we cruised through the elegant resort town of Llandudno, with big Victorian buildings lining the rocky waterfront and a long pier out into the water.  A great little day trip out to Wales and another country checked off my list.   *Stub

Conwy Castle and River Conwy

River Conwy

England's Pubs

To see more England photos, click here!
It seems like it's become a tradition, but in England we seem to make it down to Shakespeare's

Stratford-Upon-Avon Pub Crawl

Stratford-Upon-Avon for a pub crawl with my old friends J-Lo and Biscuit.  We bounce around from pub to pub, visiting the famous Shakespeare sights in between, but not stopping long as there is another pub to get to.  Always a good time, and Michelle had another female this time, as Amanda joined us.
We also spent a few days down in London staying with both J-Lo and Amanda, then Biscuit.  J-Lo and Amanda live in a fancy place at Canada Water, with views over the whole city.  Pretty impressive.  We then crashed at Biscuit's place, and were pretty impressed with his first home purchase.  Just down from the fun pub too, that we celebrated his birthday.  A bit turnout of friends, that far outdid our reservation numbers.

England's Smallest Pub - The Nutshell

In keeping with the pub theme, we planned a trip up to see my Mum's best friend Barbara in Bury St. Edmunds.  We were happy to help out with her and Philip packing to move into a newer and smaller place after 30 years in their present house.  We always get treated so well at theirs, it was nice to be able to help them out too.  Since we were in Bury, we HAD to spend some time with our traveling friend Sarah.  We met her in Thailand and traveled to Laos.  She took us on a pub crawl of Bury, including the Smallest Pub in England called the Nutshell.  The place was PACKED!!  There must have been at least 10 people in there and things were tight.  I have heard that they sometimes have a band and back in the 80's, they actually fit 102 people in there to set a record.  Pretty cramped indeed for a pub that is only 7ft by 15 ft!!   *Stub

My Big Fat Portuguese-English Christmas!

When we did finally arrive in England, there were only 3 days to go to Christmas! And we pretty much launched into Christmas day. As always it was loud and crazy - a very big, a very fat and a very Portuguesey-English Christmas!

Christmas dinner

Since the last time I was home, my sister, Jacqueline, had taken up cooking, so all I heard the first day or so was "Jamie Oliver this and Jamie Oliver that... etc etc". The plan was that my sister and I were going to cook Christmas dinner. When Christmas day arrived, Martin, my brother in-law Mark, and myself, prepared everything, except for my sister swanning in at the last second to do her Jamie Oliver Cabbage Dish! Needless to day, it was a huge wonderful feast, and so great to be with my family again, even if my sister was acting like she'd been slaving a ALL day in the kitchen! * Mush

To see more England Photos, click here

Surprise Stay in Iceland

Reykjavik, Iceland

To see our Iceland Photos, Click Here!!

We had planned a 10 hour layover in Reykjavik, Iceland on our way to England.  We figured this
would be enough time to take the 30 minute trip into town from the airport, have a good look around and then get back to the airport in time for our 4:30 PM flight.  Well, we got a bit of a surprise as our flight to London was cancelled because of snow in England, so we ended up being "stranded" in Iceland!  I say stranded, but as you can imagine, we saw it as a bonus vacation.  It's not like we had to be anywhere other than in England for Christmas Day.  I feel bad for the other people who had jobs to get to and families to be there for, but we actually felt lucky!!
We had arrived on Dec 19th, almost the shortest day of the year.  It was a bit strange having dawn for a couple of hours prior to sunrise at 11:30 AM.  And then the sun didn't really rise up very high in the sky at all.  This day, we walked around in the bone chilling wind, on a very quiet Sunday morning.  The capital of Reykjavik, was a quaint little downtown, with some colourful little buildings. 
We stopped for lunch at a small restaurant at the fishing docks, and had a nice bowl of lobster soup.  We noticed at the cabinet that they had all kinds of fish skewers, including whale meat!!  A walk along the coast brought us to the Solfan sculpture.  It looked like a a metal frame viking ship, and the mountains across the bay provided a beautiful backdrop.
Since we knew our flight was cancelled, we found ourselves a nice little hostel in town, and took a nap for a couple of hours as we had been up for almost 24 hours at this point.  Iceland is quite an expensive place, especially for us budget backpackers, so we found the cheapest food in town, and went out for a drink at a little local pub, where they show a movie on Sunday nights.
The next day, we had a flight scheduled for the afternoon, so we woke up early and went to a local outdoor hot pool to relax and try to warm our cores.  It worked, but on the walk to the Hallgrimskirka church, we quickly cooled off again.  The church had a very modern, simple look inside and a very new massive pipe organ  with hundreds and hundreds of pipes!  An elevator up the main steeple brought us up to some great views over the city, and when the bells chimed for Noon, the sun finally rose over the hills in the distance.  This provided some great light for photos of the town.

We headed back to the airport to find our luggage had already been sent to London on an earlier flight, but no worries, we were soon to join it......or so we thought.  As we were waiting at our gate, they announced that our flight was again canceled because of snow in London, so they we putting us up in a hotel for the night.  One problem for us though, we had been without a change of clothes for 3 days already, now one more!!

Gulfoss Waterfall

With everyone now scrambling to get on stand-by flights in the morning, we decided we didn't want to be handcuffed to the airport, so we rented a car and drove a couple of hours out to some amazing sights on the island.  First stop was Great Geysir and Strokkur.  The latter is a geyser that erupts every 4-8 minutes and shoots about 30 - 40 feet in the air.  Pretty impressive sight and then the mist freezes where it lands as it was really cold!!  A bit surreal really.

Blue Lagoon

From here, we drove 10 minutes further and arrived at the Gulfoss waterfall.  WOW, what a sight.  It was half frozen and all the mist around had created some cool features of ice on the grasses and vegetation around.  Martin walked out to the waterfall pictured, but we didn't stay long because it was absolutely freezing there..... oh yeah, and we had a plane to catch!!
Our last stop of the day was at the Blue Lagoon.  The water temperature is between 37 and 39 degrees celcius and creates a nice relaxing spa experience especially in the cold weather.  It is surrounded by dried lava beds and a geothermal power plant in the distance.  A pretty bizarre sight, but at least they have made the spa a pretty tasteful looking building.  
We headed back to the airport and finally were able to get on a flight to London.  We felt pretty lucky we were able to spend 3 days in Iceland, and it was a real bonus for us.  We would still make it in plenty of time for Christmas and got a little taste of what Iceland has to offer.  When we go back though, it won't be in the Winter!!!   *Stub

California

Bad Water Basin - Lowest Point in USA

Into the barren wasteland that is Death Valley, we found surprisingly enjoyable.  We were 280 ft below sea level at Bad Water Basin, before finding some very scenic sand dunes.  We got turned away at Giant Sequoia National Park because we didn't have chains with us (???) - winter tires and 4 wheel drive wasn't sufficient I guess.  We were worried we might not get in to Yosemite also, but a very nice ranger let us through, and we camped a night in the snow under Half Dome and El Capitan before continuing on to Oregon.

Sand Dunes in Death Valley

To see more of our California photos, click here!

Nevada

Hoover Dam

We visited the Hoover Dam on the way into Nevada, crossing over the brand spanking new bridge towering above the dam and canyon.  We paid a visit to the city of sin, Las Vegas, and surprised ourselves with how much we actually liked it.  We camped outside the city at Red Rock Canyon, and after 2 nights, were on our way to Death Valley, California.

To see our Nevada photos, click here!

Dancing waters at The Bellagio

Utah

Toadstools in Paria Canyon

We love Utah, it's quite an amazing place.  We spent some wonderful days hiking Buckskin Gulch in Paria Canyon, although we missed out on the lottery to hike to the formation they call The Wave.  Also a bone chillingly cold visit to the stunning Bryce Canyon.  All we can say is WOW!!

To see our Utah photos, click here!

Buckskin Gulch in Paria Canyon

 

Bryce Canyon

Arizona

Petrified Forest National Park

We entered Arizona at the Four Corners, and went to Canyon De Chelly National Park.  From there, we drove up past Lake Mead and into Utah.  On our return trip back into Arizona, we decided to head to the Grand Canyon and hike down into the canyon a bit.  From there, we went East to Petrified Forest National Park, before hitting Phoenix to stay with Martin's parents in their winter home.  A quick trip to Tucson for Thanksgiving, before heading on to Nevada!

To see our Arizona photos, click here

Canyon de Chelly National Park

Antelope Canyon

New Mexico

Adobe Church in Taos

In New Mexico, we traveled down through Taos to Santa Fe.  We spent our coldest night camping near Santa Fe, and woke up to -10 degrees Celsius.  From here, we headed back into Colorado to head to Mesa Verde.

To see our New Mexico photos, click here.

Bridge high above the Rio Grande

Nov 9-10th
Sante Fe, New Mexico
Heading south across the dry desert plains passing small scrubby towns, we eventually hit scenic byways to the small adobe-style town of Taos and onto touristy, yet classy, Santa Fe. We spent our coldest night yet in the National Forest outside Santa Fe; we awoke to a temperature of -10C! Crazy! A stream that had been flowing when we arrived the night before was frozen solid! We warmed up at a balmy 8 to 10 degC exploring Santa Fe's down town. The adobe architecture was cool and funky and we couldn't stop taking photos. Canyon Road - the arty farty part of town was filled with galleries that were super sophisticated yet set in buildings with lots of adobe character. The street was choc-a-bloc with weird and funky sculptures inside and out, not to mention some really amazing (and pricey paintings and native Indian artifacts. Would love to come back sometime and spend days exploring the art scene. Pretty cool! * Mush

Colorado

Great Sand Dunes National Park

In Colorado, we visited the Great Sand Dunes National Park where Martin climbed to the to of a 650 ft dune.  After some chilly camping nights we made our way to Mesa Verde to see some of the native cliff dwellings which were quite incredible.

To see our photos of Colorado, click here.

Nov 8th Great Sand Dunes National Park.
A surprising and unusual stopover about 3 hours south of Colorado Springs at this relatively new National Park! On the high flat desert plains blown in from the San Juan Mountains and up against the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains are 30 square miles of pure, brown sand. Dunes rising over 750 feet. Amazing, and challenge to climb! After spending a very cold night at the campsite (2 degree C), it was blowing pretty cold, so I left the tallest dune climb to Martin. Who described it as awesome and rewarding with an incredible 360 view for a looong way.

Cliff Palace - Mesa Verde National Park

Nov 11 MesaVerde National Park.
We took some interesting, scenic (single track) backroads from Sante Fe, through the mesas of Los Alamos (where the first atomic bomb was built) up to the SW corner of Colorado to Mesa Verde National Park. In AD 450 native Indians, called ancestral Pueblo Indians, built on the tops of mesas then later cities adobe-style into the side of the steep walls of the canyons. Pretty amazing to see the the Puebloan villages dotted around the mesas and the cliff dwellings in the canyons. It seemed crazy to build and live in homes clinging to the side of steep cliffs. Getting in and out, accessing food, water etc. must have been challenging.  Mysteriously the people disappeared in 1300 and the buildings were only discovered in 1850.AD. * Mush

Good times with my old best friend, Colorado Springs

One of my best friends from secondary school was Michele Moore. When we were 14 we would spend our summers playing non-stop tennis and badminton, have bazillions of sleepovers and drove our parents nuts. Michele now lives in Colorado Springs and it was brilliant to see her, and to see that she hasn't changed! Excellent to see Dylan, her son - my Godson - a pleasant young man of 15 now! (OMG how time flies!) It was 8 years ago when I last saw him and I'm really glad I got to see him again.
One evening with Michele, hubby-to-be John, and their friends Kim and Brian, we went to the local comedy club, then found ourselves pole-dancing on Michele's pole at home and had some great laughs ...and a bad head the next day! * Mush

The Butterworths, Wichita Kansas

Martin with Dave and Matthew Butterworth

We were excited to land at the Butterworths as the last couple of days had seemed extremely long drives. It was great to see them and the next few days were spent catching up and celebrating till two in the morning! While we all nursed our hangovers the next day, Dave cooked up a storm and smoked pork butt and ribs pretty much all day. After salivating for most of the afternoon as it slow-cooked in the oven, we dived into a monster meat-fest with Angie's parents and aunt and uncle.

Our visit wasn't all about eating, enjoying delicious wine and good company: Angie did also give us a tour of Wichita where we learnt several totally random facts, such as: Pizza Hut originated here, Kirstie Allie hails from here, it is the aeroplane capital of the US and the President's Airforce One is serviced here, plus the private jets of many celebrities, such as Harrison Ford and John Travolta who are frequently seen in town. * Mush

 To see our Kansas photos, click here.

Mammoth Caves National Monument, Kentucky

Tues 2nd Nov.

These caves are huge caverns, some with stalactite and stalagmites. We did a couple of tours the first of which was very poor value for money and was disappointing. The second tour deep into the cavernous 'room's was actually quite good.  The caves are massive, with tons of off tunnels off the main ones.  At one point you have to snake your way through, then climb a huge tower of stairs to get out.  Pretty impressive, but I guess it is the largest network in the world - that they know of!!

The plains of Missouri were pretty flat as expected, but there were still items of interest: many roadside farm buildings, and like the plains of Alberta and Saskatchewan, occasionally dotted with slow-pumping mini oil rigs.

The Tomlinsons in the Carolinas

We didn't give our friends the Tomlinson's much notice of timing for our visit, but of course, we were welcomed with open arms into their 'new' home Fort Mill South Carolina (even though they've been here for 3 years). Fantastic to see them and great to hear that they are enjoying their 'new' vocations - marketing for John with Western Star and horticulture for Trish. The weekend was relaxed  with plain old catching up with their lives, eating Trish's delicious gourmet cuisine, getting a private tour of the Botanical Gardens where Trish works, and a great-value nine holes of golf at Tega Kaye Golf Course. Because we move pretty much from campground on to campground every day, we rarely have time to 'clean house' so we spent a highly  constructive morning clearing out the tent and camping gear, overhauling the 'kitchen' and doing and laundry. John, never one to sit around twiddling his thumbs, pulled out the shop-vac and promptly valeted the inside of the car from head to toe! Star! We reluctantly left two days later, but what a feeling of rejuvenation - from the gourmet pampering to the spring clean of our home on wheels! You rock Trish and John! * Mush

Thanksgiving in Ottawa, Ontario

Sacha and Mush at Canadian Parliament Buildings

Oct 9th
Time to hit the road again moving on to Ottawa via Kingston where Martin went to Queen’s University. Nostalgia hit as Martin showed me all his old hang-outs and recounted all the stories of his time at Queen’s. The student part of town, called the ‘ghetto’, was unusually quiet and we finally remembered that it was Canadian Thanksgiving so students would be at home for the weekend.

Leaving Kingston we headed to Ottawa passed Fort Henry for great views over the city and Wolfe island, and along the Thousand Island Parkway – a lovely drive along the Lawrence river between Canada and the US. A very pretty, scenic area with a number of small islands with homes built on them… What a great idea: to own your own island and live on it! Cool!

Thanksgiving at the Singh/Wiseman's

In Ottawa we landed on Sacha, one of Martin’s high school buddies, and his wife Andie. Great to see them and their kids Rhianna and Callum, and Andie’s Mum and Dad and sister who were there for Thanksgiving. Sunday morning was bright and beautiful and we went hiking in Gatineau park across the river into Quebec to appreciate the last of the great autumn colours. It was pretty spectacular still.

We caught up with Martin’s roommate/ housemate of five years at Queen’s, Dan, also in town for Thanksgiving. Martin said ‘Same old Dan’ as they reminisced on old times, with some that they weren’t allowed to repeat! Then we hurried off to Andie’s amazing Thanksgiving dinner  - a monster sized 8lb chicken! Phew!

Monday 11th
Sacha and Andie live in a beautiful renovated townhouse in the centre of town and Sacha took us on a walking tour of Ottawa of this beautiful capital of Canada. The Rideau canal runs through the city and I discovered that in winter it freezes and people skate to work! The city maintains and keeps a short 5km stretch frozen. At the Rideau locks we watched a 70ft working boat practically fill the whole length of each lock as it slowly made its way to the Ottawa river. We walked along the river for a while and up onto parliament hill admiring its beautiful architecture. Into town and around the market area, we discovered lots of hidden alleyways and courtyards. Tin roofs of Notre Dame. The spider at National Gallery to name a few.   *Mush

Brampton (near Toronto), Ontario, Sept 29 to Oct 9

 To see our Ontario photos, click here.

Great to hang out seeing family and friends here. Spencer,  Martin’s nephew, had his 10th birthday. Martin's Mum and Dad had flown over too. And while Martin reunited with his high school buddies at his friend’s cottage near Huntsville, I went to Peterborough to see Kelowna friends, Aaron and Katherine, who moved here about a year ago. Fantastic to catch up and hang out with them and the kids. Being on the road after what feels like a long time, it felt nice and fuzzy to do normal stuff like the farmers’ market, Sunday brunch or the zoo ...including dressing up in wigs to family and friends' places!

The big 4 - 0 for Martin fast approached and back at Martin's  sister's his birthday meal of choice was delicious roast turkey which his mum had cooked. Together with his family and their friends Jim and Cheryl, crazy games ensued. 

Over the next few days we hung out at Lorraine’s, as well as caught up with a few old friends: Kevin (and his girlfriend, Fiona) who we’d met in China back in 2005, and  Andrew Parker who Martin traveled with in 2001/02.

By the end of the week we headed over to Peterborough: Martin hadn’t seen Aaron and Katherine yet. For me, it was great to see them all again so soon. We celebrated Martin’s birthday with Sushi - which we hadn’t had since we’d left Kelowna. It seems waaaay longer, but five weeks is definitely a long time to go without Sushi for us!  *Mush

The Big 4 0 - Birthday reunion, Baysville Oct 1 – 4

 To see our Ontario photos, click here!

7 of the 6-Pack in the Muskokas

 This is the reason we traveled across country.  2 years ago, six of my best friends from high school, had a reunion up in Revelstoke and we decided that we would do another for our 40th birthday’s.  It was decided to head East this time, to where it all began (at least close to Brampton).  I met up with Sacha for the first time since his accident (he broke his neck mountain biking in early July), and his parents.  Great to see Tage and Viv again, and even better to see how well Sacha was doing after the accident.  It’s a strange thing to hear that one of your best friends’ is seriously injured and you can’t do anything about it.  Sacha is in great spirits and recovering more everyday!!

Rob celebrating my 40th birthday with Ripps

Mark, Sacha and I picked up Colin on the way up to the Muskokas to the Stella and Steve’s cottage/house on Dickie Lake up in beautiful cottage country, Ontario.  Stella and Steve had graciously ‘loaned’ us the house for the weekend and taken off camping themselves – how nice is that!  The following day, Rob, Jeff and Greg arrived and we met at the local pub – The Pav.  Always a good laugh when we all get together.  Only Mike was missing, but not to worry, we had a life size cardboard cutout and Mike’s photo mounted on it.  Mike traveled with us everywhere.
Of course, the first night is a big celebration, with plenty of single malts drank, and cigars smoked.  And the next morning is filled with hangover’s from our 40 year old bodies.
You might ask, what did we do all weekend, and the answer is ……nothing really.  Unless you include drunken swims in the lake, late night canoes, and Frisbee golf with Tupperware lids.  We sure had our quota of laughs though – very healthy.  I don’t think I ever laugh as much as when I am with these characters. *Stub