Author Archives: Joe

Key West and More

By Joe

There is a worldly wonder when you wander to a barrier location in your travels. An excitement of seeing a stopping point that requires a change in your mode of travel if you want to continue. It brings to mind what decisions those before you made and how they breached the barriers brought before them. It’s part of what draws people to these places over and over. Cindy and I ventured a trip to one such place this year, one we had thought about doing for several years, Key West. We have been to the northern most point in the contiguous states in Washington so it is only fitting that we do the opposite. Continue reading →

Disney Darlings

by Joe

A trip to the world of Disney, in this case Walt Disney World, brings you into a one of a kind adventure and experience like no other. There are many places where you can travel that will certainly change your daily routine and your feeling of place. The mountains can do that. The beach can do that. A cruise can do that. But nothing changes your sense of place, your daily routine grind, and your happy spot like one of the Disney Parks. I’m a grandparent who enjoys these parks a lot and I can only imagine how wonderful it must be for children of age (those old enough to recall the experience later). Continue reading →

Utah is Unique

by Joe
There is no place on earth, let alone the USA, that looks and feels like Southern Utah. It’s extremely hot and dry in summer and cold and snowy in the winter. But the warm breezes in the summer and cooler mornings keeps everything in balance for an enjoyable summer experience. The sky during the day ranges from turquoise to navy blue and as black as coal at night which allows the stars to pop like top grade diamonds. The green trees against the dark blue skies and red rocks paints a picture like no other place. The dryness of the warm mid-day breezes and the cool ones in the evening wrap around you and embrace you. It’s almost spiritual in nature and in this vast piece of nature you can see, smell, and feel the wonder of the west as so many have before us. But it is at times, stark. It is dry and the land in many places dies of thirst. It is rocky and at times desolate. It can be brutally hot in the summer and I wondered how did so many people, for thousands of years, come to inhabit and thrive in this land. But humans have lived in this area for over 10,000 years. Even if you look back only a couple of hundred years ago, how did they do it? Continue reading →

Banff and Glacier NP – but Where Do I Eat?

by Joe
My lovely wife and I just returned from a road trip through western Canada and northern Montana which was a most scenic adventure as you might expect. We love the West but had never explored this state or been to Canada. We enjoyed the Alpine look and feel of the Banff area and the great northern Rockies. Since we went in September the mountain peaks were getting snow already and we had a couple of days when we saw a little snow at the lower elevations. The weather overall was quite good temperature-wise (although my shorts were the only piece of clothing I didn’t bring out of the suitcase). We saw the sun at least part of most everyday so it was all good! The glacier and mountain lakes were the most spectacular we’ve ever seen. The color was a blue we hadn’t seen before and they were cold and clean.

Great hiking and beautiful scenery everywhere, but where to eat? This was not a problem and in fact was, as usual, a wonderful part of the journey. Both locations are big on big game meat such as buffalo, elk, and AAA Alberta beef. But salmon and fish were very prevelant as well as poutine. This is the West and cowboy country. Here are some of our favorites and the locations: Continue reading →

O Canada, O Montana

by Joe
My wife and I anticipated a trip to the Canadian Rockies and Glacier National Park for several years. Seems like every time we got close, something else kicked our interest. We just completed this trip in September and were amazed at the beauty, the food, and the international appeal of the area surrounding Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. This was the end of the season for many of the lodges and great park hotels in Glacier and Banff. However, we had great cool weather to hike in and a little taste of snow in the upper elevations of the mountains. It just added to the beauty of the scenery.

The trip was twelve days and just about right for us. You could scale up or down the number of days to fit your taste but no matter how many days you spend you will not be disappointed. I would suggest you try to avoid the mid-summer months as we were told the crowds are quite large. At the major attractions in Banff we still saw buses loaded with tourists. Continue reading →

Sea Pines at HHI – The Perfect Beach Vacation

by Joe
My what a great week I just spent in Sea Pines on Hilton Head Island (HHI). If you’re not sure where Sea Pines is located just check out the coast of SC. It’s smack down in between Charleston and Savannah. A great southern state and typically referred to as the “lowlands” in this part of the USA! But that’s not why it was perfect.

The location is close to a huge part of the US population and in most cases can be an easy drive. From Louisville, KY it’s about a 10.5 hour drive which is about as quick as you can get to the ocean from our city. Florida (gulf side) is the same as well a few locations further north. But that’s not why it was perfect. Continue reading →

A Walk thru the Fire Garden

by Joe
What ‘da heck is a Fire Garden?  Doesn’t really sound refreshing or serene but it is quite a one of a kind experience.  While my wife Cindy and I were on a trip to London with our daughter Wendy and her husband Jack, we unexpectedly ran into a most unusual event.  Much like the surprise we all bumped into in Cordoba, Spain two years ago.  In the latter instance it was a huge religious procession that contained many enormous man powered floats, large numbers of clergy, altar boys, and lay people moving through the downtown streets of the city until dawn.  We had no idea we were going to be experiencing such a treat on our visit there.  The one in London was the 350th anniversary commemoration of the great fire of London!  We had no idea we would be seeing this one either. Continue reading →

Funny Travel Stories

by Joe
It always seems to me that unusual events or actions occur when you travel. Some occur to you and some are incurred by you. Either way for some reason these events can turn into the stories we tell our family and friends sometimes more often then about the things we saw or did and become magnified in their humor. Here are some of the funny stories from a recent trip to Iceland and London with my daughter Wendy, her husband Jack and my wife Cindy. Continue reading →

Iceland Hotels

by Joe
Iceland has a number of very diverse options for finding a suitable place to lay your head at the end of the day. For a country about the size of the state of Kentucky in square miles but only about 8% of the population, it has many new, old, expensive, B&B, and hostel type hotels. Although there is a wide price range, be prepared to pay more than you would in the USA. There appears to be new ones being built all over the areas we visited which is probably due to the large increase in tourism in recent years. I don’t recall seeing the traditional US chains but I do recall seeing a Hilton listed once when we were researching places to stay. There are other chains that are Iceland based: Icelandair Hotels, Fosshotels, Center Hotels, Keahotels.

My daughter Wendy, her husband Jack, my wife Cindy and me spent 6 days and nights in Iceland recently. We stayed in several areas: by the airport, in Reykjavik, in the southeastern part of the island as well as by the Thingvellir National Park. Although there are many “budget” options available they are limited in facilities and creature comforts. There also appears to be a great camping community at most of the major attractions we visited. We saw many backpackers, campers, hikers and people making their way via bicycles. Continue reading →

Travel and Mom

by Joe

Mom’s birthday would be March 18th. She would have been 95. However, she died a year ago last October ending a wonderful and beautiful life. Mom was a traveler both physically and mentally. She was a reader, of everything. I think that is why she loved to travel. She was an explorer and a searcher for knowledge. She was a prodigious reader and went to so many places in her mind as a young girl that she wanted to see them for herself. She was an only child and through her teenage years, she took several trips around the US with her mom and dad and sometimes with her aunt Doodee. She was fortunate enough to attend and graduate from the University of Wyoming. As an English major with several years of Latin, French and German she explored, lived with, and became part of many cultures through her extensive reading. She was a several books a week kind of reader up until a year before she died at age 93. She had an incredible life. Continue reading →