Saturday July 2nd After a wonderful two weeks abrigado thank you and tchau goodbye Portugal. We spent the day on a long scenic journey from Porto on the western coast of Portugal to Ribadesella on the northern coast of Spain. We fell in love with Ribadesella a little coastal town cradled by the lush green peaks of the Picos de Europa National Park. Restaurants and popular ciderias wra

With no plans set for the weekend at all Meredith and I looked at this weekend as an open opportunity. We decided that we would attempt to explore Italy a little bit more. On Friday we decided to have a roomie date day and have adventures around Florence. Our two main goals pizza and gelatto yes I am gaining weight thank you for asking. But not just any pizza and gelatto the BEST pizza and g

The first trip we took while working in Germany was to Oktoberfest. I knew three coworkers also from DC that were working in Heidelberg Germany at the time. I convinced a coworker working with me at Ramstein Bill to come with us. We all drove down to Garmisch Germany together. Hotels in Munich were sold out and train tickets were super cheap so we decided to stay farther out. The mountains

Photos ..autumn is approaching by slow degrees. After another spell of 30C plus weather clear skies it39s clothing is now only damp rather than dripping after a day in the classroom . Since the last issue we39ve had our second week of teaching my schedule of back to back afternoon classes still hard to get accustomed to a trip to the historic canal city of Suzhou at the end of t

This entry should be dated the 7th of September. Don39t know what39s wrong with the date selection on here at the momentAfter the success of finding a Giant Rat I felt really good about trying to now finally find a hanging parrot. Just out of Ruteng is a little village called Pagal and just beyond that is some roadside forest which is supposed to be a good site for both the Wallace39s h

Hello from sunny Thailand or not so sunny but thats ok rain when its warm is all good We39ve been here just over a week and we had probably 2 days of terrential downpour and the last few days have been beautiful and nearing 100 pool time.Our hotel that was too good to be true turned out too good to be true...doh The Sunwing at Kamala beach was beautiful and pretty much 5 star but o

Today we left amazing Lake Atitlan and our wonderful stay at Pasaj Cap and headed for Antigua. Antigua is quite possibly the most famous city in Guatemala well known for its Spanish schools and colonial architecture. I would like to say our trip to Antigua was uneventful but it turned out to be quite an adventureIt all started about half way up a switchback road leaving San Marcos La Laguna.

And this entry should be dated the 8th of September. For crying out loudAfter last night39s owl hunt I returned to Ruteng about 8am had some breakfast then set off to the town of Lembor about two hours away roughly halfway between Ruteng and Labuanbajo. Near Lembor is a place called Istana Ular the snake palace a cave where apparently dozens or hundreds of pythons gather for some myst

We rounded up the group and headed off to Custer39s Battlefield at Big Horn Mountain. Ed is a history buff and a wonderful tour guide. We started our tour by walking the battlefield down to the ravine. There are headstones placed along the field where the remains were found for the Soldiers and the Indians. The soldiers headstones are white and the Indians are red. It is interesting to see

I39ve never been so happy to be off a plane I originally had thought that the ride from Seattle to Seoul would be 13 hours but then they announced that it was only 11 12 hours. The trip definitely brought back memories of going back and forth to Germany and all those 10 hour flights. I39m glad that I don39t have to do that again for awhile. If I was leaving in only two weeks then I a

Week one... Its been quite the week So after leaving Hong Kong which has a huge airport. You have a subway station taking you from one terminal to the other we arrived in Denpasar Bali. Walk off the plane and immediately you notice the slower pace here. The locals are so nice and seem pretty casual in their everyday life. Every morning and night from my observations they place offerings

We started the day at Mount Rushmore. The weather gods were smiling on us. The clouds parted and gave us a clear day While Ed was in the museum I sat on a bench in the sun and just studied the monument. It was a inspirational moment. Sometimes you can be in the middle of a crowd and have a wonderful solitary moment. I39m not sure how to describe it but I was there for several minutes

Have you ever been to a missile silo Well we have. We headed out just off the highway to a Minuteman Missile Silo. There was a very interesting guide there. He actually had worked at the site for many years. He gave us very informative tour and answered numerous questions. We drove on to the Badlands National Park. This area is formed by dry winds and arid conditions. I was surprised by

Howdiefor the last couple of days I39ve been on some short trips. Most of the areas I already visited in the past so you might recall some of pictures. But I39ve never been here in September and of course it looks totally different at this particular time of the year . So far I still haven39t left NH and to be honest I am not too eager to do that soon. But according to my schedule

Washington DC 91411Aleta and I went into Washington DC today. Road the Metro Rail system from Largo MD at 9.00 per person for day pass and 4.25 parking. Went to the Smithsonian Castle Air and Space Museum where I road a flight simulator several of the other museums Washington Monument White House Lincoln Memorial WWII Memorial Vietnam Wall etc. Walked all the way around the Nati

Leaving the cold South of Chile we were heading for the metropolitan area of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar which are two cities that have almost merged over the years. Valparaiso is a city of students and artists build on a lot of beautiful hills whereas Vina del Mar is more a tourist centre but still nice. Both have their charm no doubts but we soon remembered that neither of us is a bigcity

I thought I39d done so well avoiding jet lag... and then it hit me... in an almighty dose. Didn39t get to sleep until about 3am this morning which was midnight vancouver time where I39d just come from. Then I slept... for 11 hours. Then I got up. Then I slept again for another hour. Decided to conquer the overwhelming tiredness and head out and about around the 39burbs. Checke

Decided to rest our weary legs and hailed a taxi to 39down town39 instead of walking. We visited various historical sights and museums in the city centre including 39Plaza de la Constitucion39 in Zocalo Catherdrals and 39Templo Mayor39. There were HEAPS of people in the square and the streets.Making our way back to the hotel we saw a taco restaurant where Alan decided to taste o

Walked more today than in a long time. Probably a couple of miles. Toni and i walked down to Pike Street Market and met Ron and Jack. Hung around a little waiting for the rest of the gang as they said maybe they would come. When they did not arrive we walked down the hill past the chewing gum wall did you know they had one in Seattle people put their used gum there sometimes in the form of pi

Settling back in from my trip. I left here with 310254 showing on my odometer of my truck and got back with 316595 showing. A distance of 6341 miles a lot of them through desert and mountains. So my truck has performed very well again.