Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts

Thursday, April 24, 2008

one year

About a year has passed since I got back from a trip I took to Italy with my dad.

I should probably post some pictures or tell some stories since I have had time to reflect.

We'll see.

Friday, September 14, 2007

284 - alpine rail

Over a year ago, blogger did not have the technology to upload videos. Now that it does...here is one for kicks. This video came from our trip to Colorado last summer.

This is the alpine rail slide in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. It is more like a roller coaster ride than a luge track. You are in a single car and you have a lever in each hand that controls the speed of your vehicle by braking. Very fun.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

217 - the 4th of July weekend

Now that I think about it...the 4th of July is a holiday that last longer than the day itself. Depending on where the 4th lands in the week, we can usually make a long holiday over several days and plan all sorts of activities. In the nineties and the early aughties, I spent most of my 4th of July weekends at the Cornerstone Festival listening to music and camping with 25,000 other people.

So when the 4th lands on a Tuesday, it's easy to take Monday off and have a nice four day weekend.

Here is a real quick run down of our activities:

Friday-
  • Leave work at noon. It's my half day. Go home and pack the car full and leave about 2pm.
  • Drive south on 71 highway towards Bella Vista, Arkansas. It is about a 2.5-3 hour trip. With kids in the car we stopped once for a bathroom break and ice cream.
  • About 5pm, we arrive at my Grandparents house - Great Grandparents to my boys. Ewe has seen them many times and is really comfortable around them. But Els is a little shy at first holding close to mom. He soon warms up and begins to flirt.
  • After dinner, we all go swimming at their neighborhood pool just up the street. Grandpa came too. Both boys learned to jump off the side of the pool into the water. Els was fearless. Ewe was a bit more cautious, but soon let his guard down.
Saturday-
  • Spent the day at my Grandparents with little excursions.
  • We all went to one of our favorite hiking trails, next to a creek with a waterfall that is close to a lake.
  • After lunch, Els went down for a nap and I took Ewe out for a little drive where he ended up falling asleep. So, I kept on driving until I found a McDonald's with a playland. He played while I enjoyed a coke.
  • We all went swimming again. Ewe let me throw him up in the air so that he lands in the water by himself. Both boys made great strides in the swimming department this weekend. Being able to get comfortable with the head underwater was a major accomplishment.
Sunday-
  • We took our time in the morning, packed up, said our good-byes, and left for Branson to go to Silver Dollar City. It is about a 2 hour drive.
  • Branson traffic was crazy, as usual. We found our hotel. I went out to get a quick lunch and bring it back. McDonald's is not good on hot, sticky days.
  • We got to Silver Dollar City a little after 3pm. - which means we can use our tickets again the next day for free. We stayed until the park closed at 7pm.
  • In the car, we called Pizza Hut for carry-out and then ran to a grocery store for a few items. We ate dinner back at our hotel.
Monday-
  • Continental breakfast.
  • Back to Silver Dollar City for the day.
  • We left about 4pm. Went back to our hotel for a short break to nap, refresh.
  • Dinner at Olive Garden. The kids will eat breadstick and spaghetti. There is a funny story about our pager. (Later.)
  • Back at our hotel. We all go swimming at the pool.
Tuesday-
  • Continental breakfast.
  • Pack-up and check-out.
  • A quick stop at the Tanger Outlet Mall.
  • Eat lunch in Springfield.
  • Arrive home at 3pm.
  • A short little nap for me.
  • Ewe and I head over to Leawood Park to watch the fireworks with our family.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

216 - a few pictures from Colorado

This picture was taking in the car on I-70 just outside of Denver. The sun was setting and we could see the mountains in the distance.

We all piled on this bus that was to take us to our drop-off point for our rafting adventure.

This shot was taken after our rafting adeventure. I believe those clouds brought us some snow about an hour later when we were eating pizza in Breckenridge.

Here are a few pictures of the new Denver Art Museum that is currently under construction.

The new building soars out over the existing art museum.

Architecture that is dangerous. The architect is Daniel Libeskind.

This is the Denver Public Library, which is right next to the Art Museum. This building has nice geometrical shapes. This was designed by Micheal Graves (the Target guy.)

Downtown Denver from the civic lawn.

This is the structural suspension system for a pedestrian bridge at the west side of "downtown." The bridge looked somewhat like a ship with a nautical vernacular.

This is the view from the edge of the cliff where the "extreme swing" was placed. It was quite a rush flying out over that space. (Look for the semi on the road.)

These are the Alpine Cars that rode along a rail like a coaster. We were able to control the speed. This shot is taken at the end of the ride as we are being pulled automatically back up the hill.
Here we are pausing for a moment to enjoy the view.

Monday, June 12, 2006

209 - Vacation, Thursday, Day 6, June 1st


On this day (June 1st) in 1996, Verna and I were married. That is the whole point of this trip - to celebrate our 10 year wedding aniversary. That is why we left the kids with the grandparents. He we are traveling around together like our past trips to Jamica, Europe, Chicago, Flint Hills of Kansas, Florida and we realized that not much has changed - our spirits are still the same, maybe a little older.

Then I think of our more recent trips that we've had with our kids to Seattle, Arkansas, and through the Ozarks of Missouri, and realize that not much has changed with the addition of a couple of small travellers. Forrest and Vernal are still doing the same things we love to do and the kids get to come along for the ride. Our spirit is still in tact and not worn down or given over to and isolated compartment called parenthood.

It's hard to believe that 10 years flew by so quickly. We were 22 when we got married.

Back to our trip:

After spending the last few days driving to different destinations around the area, we decided to stay in the area. We were going to take it easy, with no plans. We did whatever popped into our head. Today was our day to lazy or adventurous - whatever we felt like. That was our attitude.

We had a slow morning, and then decided to go for a bike ride. We figured with all the amazing bike paths (recpath), it would be a good way to take in some of the views with a bit of thrill. We rented our bikes on the east side of Dillion Lake. We set out to take a 3 hour ride. We followed the lake over to the town of Frisco, with stops along the way to take in view and make the ride more of a stroll than a race. After riding through Frisco, we headed over to Copper Mountain following the banks of a river of some valley. I am not sure how close we got to copper, because we turned around at the 1 hour, 2o minute mark. On our way back, we stopped at a grocery store in Frisco and had fruit and sandwiches for lunch. Then we followed our path back to the bike rental. It was a great ride and a lot of fun.

Next, we just sort of went to a few shops. I wanted to price some used snowboards. We had ice cream from Dairy Queen. We picked up a few gifts for the boys, etc.

After that, we played some Tennis. We brought our racquets with us and we had time. We hadn't played forever, so we were both a little rust, but soon it started coming back.

Finally, we ate dinner at Carlos Miguel's Mexican Restuarant. It smelled good as we rode past it on our bikes in Frisco.

After dinner, we packed all our stuff, getting ready for the return trip on Friday.

Friday, June 09, 2006

208 - Vacation, Wednesday, Day 5, May 31st


Today, we drove west on I-70 to Glenwood Springs. I think Glenwood Springs boast the largest above ground hot springs pool. Our first activity was to take a gondola ride up the mountain to a place that is called Adventure Park. Adventure Park is pretty new and it was quite fun. We first took a guide cave tour that lasted about 70 minutes. One of the caves that we toured was recently opened to the public in 1999. We learned that a high school student studied this natural pool of water that was isolated form all other water for a science project. She sent a sample out to the lab and they discovered seven new life forms…one of which can live in human blood and fight cancer. Scientists only come out to study when grant money is available and right now there is none.

After the cave, we had some “The Amazing Race” fun. First we rode the Alpine Rail. It’s like an alpine sled crossed with a rollercoaster. You have your own person car with a lever that controls the speed. The rail has dips and bumps and goes slithering down the mountain for a good ride. At the end of the ride you car get pulled up by a cable much like a rollercoaster does at the beginning before that first drop.

Next, we rode the zip line. The set up had two seats that we buckled into. They pulled us back and let us go. We picked up some good speed as we were nearing the bottom before we hit this spring loaded mechanism that snapped us back and forth slowly until we came to a stop.

After that was the big swing. This ride had four seats – two in the front and two in the back. We chose the back. The scary or cool thing about this ride was that the center of the pendulum was right on the edge of a cliff – a big drop off – to the valley below. It was a long way down and we were pretty close to the top of this mountain. The cars looked like ants on the highway. Verna was a little nervous and I was excited. The ride was great – quite a rush and the views were spectacular. When the ride was over the operator asked if we’d like to ride in the front now. Sure…she’s giving us a free ride. I like the front view better. The way you swing along the ground and then go flying past the cliff. Wow! (Check out the pictures above.)

After we took the gondola back down the mountain, we headed over to the hot springs pool. It was a warm day…maybe in the low ‘80’s upper 70’s, but the pools felt so good. It made our legs turn to jelly. They have three pools of different temperatures. The largest pool was only slightly warm…not hot tub temps. The pool was so relaxing I can’t begin to describe how nice it felt. The Springs also had two waterslides that we each had 4 passes to ride. I forgot how fun waterslides are. We had figure 8 inner tubes and rode together. We eventually made our way over the next pool that felt like a hot tube. Evening was coming and the air was getting cooler, so the hot water felt great.

We were also getting hungry, so we got dressed and walked their little downtown and found a big brew pub restaurant. That sounded perfect. I got a bacon cheddar burger with onion rings that we shared as appetizers. Oh that was good. After dinner we walked over to this small café that served gelato and shared a bit of sweetness before we headed home.

I must say that the drive in and out of Glenwood Springs is amazingly beautiful.

Monday, June 05, 2006

207 - Vacation, Tuesday, Day 4, May30th



We started the morning off by doing a little shopping at the outlet malls in Silverthorne. From there, we drove into Denver. We found a place to park in their LODO district (Lower Downtown.)

It was lunchtime, we were hungry and wanted to grab a quick bite. Up the street from our garage was Chipotle and Noodles & Company. Both are yummy, but I have only been to Noodles once before, so I opted for some Japanese rice noodles. We ate as we gazed over some downtown maps and plotted our city adventures.

16th street is a pedestrian mall and the only allowed traffic is the free bus. We walked the whole distance because at the end was the Civic mall, the public library, and the new Art Museum. We checked all of them out.

I got lost in a Virgin Megastore while Vernal found a place to get a haircut. Two albums later we met up and walked across the river to the REI store. (Recreation Equipment International.) We each got some new shoes and picked up little backpacks for the boys. We were looking for normal solid color kid backpacks that were not plastered with kid things like Dora the Explorer or Thomas or Spiderman, etc. Oh, but first, we took time to relax a bit and sip an iced coffee at the in-house Starbucks.

Oh yeah, I thought it would be ironic to eat something form Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory on this trip. I made that dream come true with a chocolate covered rice crispy treat.

Back in LODO, we found this really cool bookstore called the Tattered Cover Book Store. We probably spent and hour or so browsing around. It was as big as a B&N and was in a really old building where the wood floors felt worn from all the traffic. It had two floors and in the upper floor there was a special assembly room where people were gathered as a featured author was giving a talk. I should have gotten another coffee and sat at their cafe soaking up the atmosphere.

It was getting late now and we were getting hungry. We found a Mexican restaurant (D'Corozan) a block away that claimed it was the best Mexican food in LODO. It was pretty good and not to expensive.

206 - Vacation, Monday, Day 3, May29th


We again slept in at our own leisure, woke up and ate some breakfast at the Moose. We were scheduled to go white water rafting with a rafting company called AVA ( Arkansas Valley Adventures.) I picked them becuase they sent me the best marketing material. In otherwords, they looked the most organized.

Their outpost was located about 14 miles south of Leadville along the Arkansas River. We had to meet at 11:30 to get geared up and by geared up I mean put on wet suits and water jackets with life jackets and helmets. It was a little chilly that day and the water is assumed to be a bit cold this time of the year, so the wet suits were nice to have on. Our hands and feet were the only parts exposed to the elements (besides our faces) and they did get a bit cold. But for me, it came in spurts and those parts soon warmed up.

The rafts would hold 5-7 people and one of those people was the raft guide. We all had paddles and would follow the instructions of our raft guide. The journey was beautiful through the Brown Canyon. The river was rated a level 3 (intermediate)...meaning between the serene and calm were rapids that were fun and wild, but not to difficult for us first timers. There was one tricky rapid ahead where the rafts pull over and we take a short hike to look at it. The guides then figure their best plan of attack and give us a little instruction and pep talk. Our group didn't lose anybody which was nice because...after the rapid our guide confessed that she lost all but one the day before, but she did say they were a rowdy bunch who kinda wanted to "go for a swim."

The raft trip was a blast. The rapids are the best parts - going up and down - it's like a roller coaster ride. It's amazing that we don't fall off. We went 15 miles down the river and I think that lasted about 4-5 hours.

When all of that was over, we changed back into our dry clothes and by that time we worked up quite an appetite. Vernal suggested that pizza sounded good and I agreed. We drove into Breckenridge and tried a local pizza joint called Extreme Pizza. It was an old house decorated with skis and snowboards that had a room of arcade games and TV's that hungs showing local sports. We ordered a large (leftovers are always nice) and I got a side order of spicy buffalo wings. Mmmmh!

205 - Vacation, Sunday, Day 2, May28th

Today was all about taking it easy. We slept in for as long as we could. We tried to take advantage of sleeping as much as we could on this trip.

We went out to eat breakfast at the Sunshine Cafe in Silverthorne. The Sunshine Cafe is a breakfast only place very much like a First Watch.

From there, we went out to explore the local surroundings and towns. First we went to the marina at Dillion Lake and walked along the shore. Then we drove up to Keystone and then over to Breckenridge. We stopped at Breckenridge's Main Street and walked along the shops. From there we drove into Frisco to get some supplies for the week at Wal-Mart and Safeway.

We got back to the Moose Lodge and put away the gorceries. I called a rafting company and made reservations for a rafting trip the next day. We ate lunch and then took a guilt-free Sunday afternoon nap.

Later that night, we saw Mission Impossible 3 at the theater in Dillion. I can't remember the last time that we saw a movie together at the theater...very enjoyable.

204 - Vacation, Saturday, Day 1, May 27th


The day started off with us taking the boys over to my parents house. My dad came over with his truck in which we took apart the crib to load. We also threw on the truck bikes, trikes, and scooters.

Now that the kids are dropped off, we come back home to load up our car, then gas-up and add air to the tires. It is about noon when we leave.

In the car, we listened to music and podcasts; we conversed; we read books: and Verna watched a dvd for MOPS. We stopped in Hays, Kansas for a mid-afternoon dinner at the Golden Corral for buffet food. (a decision I always regret later.)

I don't remember exactly the time, but I think we arrived at the Moose Lodge (Doc's place) around the 10 o'clock hour. After unpacking and getting a bit of the munchies, we picked up some McDonald's to take back to the Moose. It was our one and only stop at McDonald's on the trip.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

President’s Day Weekend 2006 – part III

Monday, February 20th

I really didn’t sleep well on this trip. Lack of oxygen – breathing slows down during sleep and the result would be a minor head ache in the morning. Also, my mind would be racing as I would go to bed and my body felt like it was going through the motions of snowboarding. Anyway, I didn’t sleep well Sunday night, so I got up early after my dad woke up and took his shower. I got up, took some headache medicine, jumped in the shower, got dressed, and packed up for the trip home. By this time everyone else was getting up and showered. We all packed up our stuff for the trip home and then went to a place for breakfast. I believe the place we ate at was Sunshine Café. There is another story to tell about our breakfast, but I’ll save that for another time when I can provide pictures. Back at the Moose Lodge, we loaded the van and said our goodbyes to Doc and headed home. More movies, music, and conversation for the trip home with several stops along the way for gas, potty, and food (which included Taco Johns in Goodland, Ks.) I think we made it home before 10pm.

Tuesday, February 21st

I took this day off in case we got back super late the night before. I decided not to go into work anyway. I got to sleep in until 10am in my comfy bed. In the afternoon, I took the boys to the park, while Vernal got a steam cleaner to clean our carpet in the house. When her work was done, we picked her up and went out for pizza at Papa Keno’s. I was craving pizza. Yum!

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

President’s Day Weekend 2006 – part II

Saturday, February 18th

Moose Lodge has two bedrooms. Doc has dibs on his master bedroom. The other bedroom has two twin beds and that is where my dad and I slept - (Although, I kept offering my bro-in-law the opportunity to sleep in the same room with his father-in-law.) My cousin-in-law slept in the living room on the hide-a-bed sofa and my bro-in-law in the same room on a mattress on the floor. We had breakfast at McDonald’s after several other attempts proved to be to busy. After our quick breakfast we made it to the slopes of Copper Mountain. My dad and Doc, both skiers, took off to ski together while I stayed with the others to teach them snowboarding. The started to pick it up, but by the end of the ski day they were pretty tired. I met up with Doc at the end of the day for a final few runs that took us to 4pm. We all went back to the Moose Lodge to change out of our ski gear and freshen up for a dinner in Leadville. The drive to Leadville was a very scenic tour through the mountains and passes the continental divide. I think it was about a 30 mile trip. Doc gave a good tour commentary as we passed places of interest. Doc recommended this place called Quincy’s. The only choice on the menu is the size of your steak. They alternate Prime Rib and Filet Mignon on different night. We had Prime Rib. It was sooo good and we were so hungry. Besides the steak, the meal came with a salad and a baked potato. The price for all of that and a 16oz Prime Rib was only $13.95. We ate well and then Doc took us to a place for chocolate milkshakes for the trip back. On the way back, we made stops at Wal-mart and a grocery store. Back at the Moose Lodge, we did what guys love to do – sit around the TV and flip through the channels. Basically, we just hung out as we each took turns getting a fresh shower.

Sunday, February 19th

I woke up to the smell of breakfast. My dad made omelets and hashbrowns. We were all sore. We soon got dressed and were back out on the slopes of Copper Mountain. We all stuck together for most of the day. My bro-in-law and cousin had improved greatly with a night of sleep. They were doing quite well. Close to the end of the day, they had their last runs, so Doc and I went for one final run. We made our way back to Moose Lodge to change and head into Breckenridge village for dinner and some night time street life. We ate at a Mexican restaurant and I don’t remember the name of the place – Mi Cocina or Mi Casa??? Breckenridge has a nice “main street” type of drag with lots of shops and eateries. We walked into a few and found a pretty cool bookstore that was an old house with all sorts of rooms with homey furniture and book cases and rugs. I picked up a book for my boys about the critter family who goes on a ski vacation. Back at the Moose Lodge, Doc made some chocolate chip cookies that we ate with ice cream. We sat around and watched more TV and Olympics.

President’s Day Weekend 2006 – part I

I have been away for a while, so here is a quick rundown of this last weekend. (in parts)

Thursday, February 16th

Rock music – a good way to start off a little vacation time… I hadn’t been to a show since U2 in December, so I had been itching to see some music. BB and I went to see the Violet Burning who were in town. The usual venue that they play at has closed down, so it appeared that they played at some friend’s house in the basement. It was more of a private show that opened to a few people in the public. I had to email and reserve a spot to the host. Needless to say, I had never done that before. It was a bit strange, but the violets were as good as ever. After the show, I came home a packed up for a weekend of snowboarding in the Colorado Rockies.

Friday, February 17th

I worked until noon and then went home and loaded up the car. The family drove me over to my dad’s house were I met up with my dad, bro-in-law, and cousin-in-law. We had rented a van with a DVD player. We hit the road and drove west on I-70 until we came to Silverthorne. I think we left about 1:30-2pm and got in at 12:30-1am. We stayed at Doc’s place in Silverthorne. We have come to call it “Moose Lodge” because everywhere you look is some sort of moose decoration. The weather across Kansas was bitterly cold. We stopped for dinner in Russell, Ks at the Golden Coral. An all you can eat buffet for 4 guys sounds like a good idea, but after a couple of trips you realize that all the food is crap. Music up front and movies in the back make the trip go by quickly.