Roadtripping with Maggie - California and Oregon

It has taken me a long time to create the video, and subsequently, this blog post. This trip was back in early to mid July. The accompanying video can be found here.

Early on I had told my friends, Julie and her husband, Bob, that I wanted to meet them along their months-long thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. I figured I could meet them anywhere along the trail which runs from the Mexican board in California to the Canadian border in Washington state.

The window that opened was July 3 to July 16. As it turned out, Julie was in need of a rest and recuperation period so it was decided I would meet her in Mammoth Lakes, CA and the two of us would drive to Kennedy Meadows North to meet up with Bob who was continuing the trek.

I delayed the start of my trip to July 4 to time out better with Julie. I had wanted to see the fireworks at Mount Rushmore so this actually would help make that work out but, as it turned out, this year there were no fireworks at Mount Rushmore! They are saving them for a big event next year for the United States' 250th anniversary celebration. I didn't find this out until I had driven 574.5 miles to Rapid City, South Dakota. ☹️

But, as it turned out, the Rapid City fireworks were right outside our hotel window! Fun to watch but not fun for Maggie.

Day 2. We drove through the Black Hills of South Dakota to catch views of Mount Rushmore. I'd been to the monument years ago and figured it hadn't changed so took Monument Road and stopped to take photos now and again. We paid the park fee to drive through Custer State Park hoping to see bison or burros but didn't see either. ☹️

On into Wyoming...endless. Passed an enormous coal mining operation and some oil fields. Nearly ran out of gas 'cause they don't tell you that there is NOTHING along the way. Spent the night in Rock Springs, WY.

Day 3. Drove on into Utah, passsed Salt Lake City, and onto the salt flats (Bonneville Salt Flats) beyond the Great Salt Lake which I only caught glimpses of.

Kept going into Nevada and the Great Basin Desert. At least in Nevada, they warn you that that there isn't gas for...oh, 124 miles, then 167 miles! Our goal destination was McGill, NV but it turned out there wasn't much of anything there anymore, so we drove on to Ely, NV and the Four 7s Motel.

Day 4. Continued on through Nevada. Jill looked up some sites to see. We stopped at Lunar Crater on Bureau of Land Management land. We passed what I'm pretty sure was a missile site. Three police cars made sure we pulled off the highway to allow on oncoming wide load to pass.

The highways in Nevada are amazingly straight...like for a hundred miles. You will notice in the video that there are photos taken from inside the truck. Some are while it is moving thanks to lane keeping and adaptive cruise control. I never put Maggie in danger.

Still in Nevada, we passed a freaky solar energy site with a glowing tower. Into California and a fruit and plant check site. I hadn't had to stop for California's checks since I drove across the country in the 1980's. We drove into the Sierra Mountains to Mammoth Lakes. So very beautiful.

We met Julie at her hotel and got Maggie situated in the room. We went for a late lunch. Julie was getting as much rest as possible so while she napped with Maggie, I took a walk around the town of Mammoth Lakes. The elevation was very noticeable.

Day 5. Got some supplies before heading to Kennedy Meadows North to meet up with Bob. It is a short 110 miles mostly on California Highway 108. Incredible views going up to Sonora Pass, which is where the Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, crosses the highway. We happened to hit the summit when 3 PCT hikers landed at the crossroad/trail. We picked them up and Julie knew 2 of them! They were going to Kennedy Meadows North, too. I got to be a Trail Angel!

We were expecting Bob to arrive the next day. I took Maggie on a hike along a beautiful trout river while Julie rested. Bob had texted Julie while Maggie and I were out and said he would be arriving later that evening. We forgot Maggie's litter box at the hotel in Mammoth Lakes so the manager at Kennedy Meadows helped me figure out a substitute.... though Maggie never used it.

We drove back to the Sonora Pass summit to pick up Bob. We took another hiker who was looking to hitch a ride into another town up to the pass. More Trail Angel action! Bob hiked in just after sunset. He was with another hiker, Bespoke (trail name). We all drove back to the campgrounds and arrived just before the kitchen closed so Bob and Bespoke got a hardy meal before going to bed.

Day 6. Bob decided he didn't need to take a day of rest, so he and Julie went back on the PCT this day. I was already planning on driving to Ashland, Oregon to see Jill and her granddaughter, Ellie. It was a longer drive than I had originally thought but northeastern California is beautiful. I actually had to go back into Nevada for a bit. This is where California makes that angle jog because of Nevada. I picked up a new litter box and litter 😊

I saw two different pairs of sandhill cranes, the tall ones, and drove around Mt. Shasta. As I approached Ashland, there was a wildfire right next to I-5. I was shocked that the interstate was not closed as there were at least two large trees adjacent to the road that were completely engulfed in flames.

Days 7-10. I spent 3 days in glorious Ashland, Oregon, visiting my friend Jill and her grand-daughter. I got to see James Williams in August Wilson's Jitney at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. That was definitely a treat and highlight.

Maggie did pretty good as a house guest...at least better than last time we visited.

I knew it would be a stretch to get home in 3 days and wondered if it was really possible, but it was mostly a route Maggie and I had done before, so we went for it.

Day 11. Left Ashland and made it to Mountain Home, ID... a town we had stayed in before. Driving through eastern Oregon you realize you better have a full tank of gas. There is NO WHERE to get fuel for miles. We had to slow down twice for deer and fawns.

Day 12. We drove over 500 miles to Billings, Montana. We were on sections of I-15 and I-90 that we had previously avoided. There really was no stopping for sightseeing, however, this route goes along the Yellowstone River for tons of miles making for some lovely vistas.

Day 13. Had to decide if we were really going to get all the way home in one more day. We did! Over 830 miles and 10 1/2 hours of pretty much straight driving. There was light rain much of the way. The light rain wasn't difficult to drive in, but it meant we could only stop in specific places for Maggie to stretch her legs. This day was the most difficult for her and there were a few fits of "can we please get out of the truck!!"

But after all the miles, we made it home in advance of an event I had promised to attend. If you made it this far, congratulations and the accompanying video can be found here.

Home at last!

Africa Adventure - Animals

Acacia Tree, Hwange National Park

Wanted to get out a video quickly about my recent adventure to Africa. Traveled to Zimbabwe with 3 friends for 2 weeks. We stayed at 4 different lodge/camp sites which were located in Matopo National Park, Hwange National Park, and Zambezi National Park. The video covers the animals we saw. There will be additional videos and blog posts on each of the lodges/camps and more of the adventure of it all. 

I am grateful to my friend Jenny for loaning me her Canon camera. The photos and videos you will see are primarily taken with her Canon PowerShot with 50X optical zoom. And full disclosure, the photos have been "cleaned up" using Microsoft photo editing software.

Click here for the video which is designed to be watched in landscape. The video is 6 minutes long.

Stay tuned for future blog posts and videos of this bucket list trip.

A link to the Africa - Birds post and video.

Wisconsin Roadtrip - June

Well, I've been back from a Wisconsin roadtrip over a week and finally edited the photos and put together the trip video. You can see the video by clicking here. A lot was packed into the 10 days.

First of all this was a trip with my dear friend Jill. She flew to Minneapolis where we started our driving adventure.

First stop - Madison, Wisconsin. Jill is from Madison. We visited the house she was raised in. The current owners had just sold the house and by chance, the lady of the house was there when we stopped. She graciously let us walk through the house so Jill could see it. Turns out she and her husband had bought the house from Jill's parents!

We went to the University of Wisconsin - Madison campus and met an old friend of Jill's and hung at the student Union. We spent the night in Madison. In the morning I took a run along Lake Mendota and through the campus. After that we went to the huge farmer's market that surrounds the Wisconsin capitol building. We went in the building briefly. It was a very hot day.

From Madison, we drove to Milwaukee. There we met friends that Jill knew from 35 years ago, Shannon and Will! Destination was the James Taylor concert at Summer Fest. Sheryl Crow opened for James in the ginormous American Insurance venue...23,000 James Taylor fans.

Spent the night in Milwaukee. Left for Door County, Wisconsin in the morning and stopped at another childhood friend of Jill's who has a house on the lake (Lake Michigan). Made it to Sister Bay in Door County for a week's stay at the Liberty Lodge.

The video covers the Door County portion of the adventure pretty well. But in brief and in no particular order we ... 1) took the ferry to Washington Island where we saw lavender fields, a really weird building that someone told us was a Scandinavian church?, and visited a rock beach. 2) sat out at Newton State Park (a dark sky location) to see the stars, however, the moon was so bright the stars weren't all that visible. 3) went to Cave Point County Park to see the waves (not too wavy) but saw what turned out to be a duck with all its baby ducks tucked under her wings...you had to see it. It was cool. 4) strolled in Ellison Bluff County Park where Jill and I had been a winter ago. 5) ate and drank a lot 6) went to the world premiere of a play at Peninsula Players Theater 7) listened to steel pan music at Birch Creek Conservatory 7) ate and drank a lot 8) it was crazy smoky (Canadian fires) most of the time but had a few days of clear air 9) hung out at a beach on the Lake Michigan side (beautiful) 9) drove across Door County (it is the peninsula between Green Bay and Lake Michigan) every which way you possibly could. 10) saw some beautiful sunsets. 11) and have a mentioned that we ate and drank a lot?!

After we dropped Shannon and Will off at the Green Bay airport, Jill and I drove straight back to Minneapolis. I've basically been sleeping ever since.

The weird building. It has serpents and scary things.

It also has these strange goad gargoyles.

Boundary Waters 2022

This year's Boundary Waters trip was very different. Our original paddle and portage trip was cancelled. So we opted for a late Fall trip up north to Jenny and Andrew's cabin situated next to Gust Lake just off The Grade.

We had no idea the weather would be as amazingly fantastic as it was. It was very late in the season, and it could have as easily been freezing temps instead of 60's.

Our foursome became a five-some with the addition of Maggie, my cat. Maggie has been to the cabin before, so she fit right in.

Brian cooked awesome meals...meatloaf one night and an incredible frittata another night. I made an apple pie with Jenny's apples. Reading (our normal BWCA activity) and puzzling were always active.

There was an excursion to Grand Marais on Sunday. We collected rocks for a project Jenny was working on. Also, a stop at the local bookstore resulted in several purchases,

I climbed up the mountain the hard way :-)

A hiking adventure at Oberg Mountain on Monday brought us back the big lake - Lake Superior. The park rangers had arranged a "monster" hike along the path. It was very clever and educational.

There were high hopes for northern lights (aurora) as the ratings were very high all weekend. However, no luck seeing northern lights, the stars were out in full force especially with the moon setting very early.

As is my thing these days, I created a video of the trip. Click here to view in YouTube.

Fall Biking - Camping Trip

 I forgot to write my usual story to accompany photos and the video. So here is a hopefully a short story of last week's biking-camping trip.

First a clarification...we did not bike with our camping gear. We drove to the bike trails and drove to the camp sites. Two guys in their sixties do not need to be overdoing anything :-)

We (my friend Bud and I) first went to Albany, Minnesota. It is just off I-94 between St. Cloud and Sauk Centre. Albany is along the Lake Wobegon Trail which has a side route that connects to the Soo Line Trail. The Soo Line Trail goes through Holdingford and Bowlus to the Blanchard Dam on the Mississippi River.

These are rails-to-trails -- old railroad rights of way converted to cycling, walking, and snowmobile use. Because they are old railways, they are super flat and nearly completely straight. While the countryside might go up and down a bit, the trails just glide right through. Perfect for biking. We also learned what State Rail Bank Property is (there are signs all along the trails)

We saw lots of different farms and fields but the rail rights of way also provide for trees to grow along the trails. I was surprised there weren't more flowers (asters, black-eyed susans, etc.) along the way but they mow along the trails and the farm fields don't have much of a buffer.

We stopped in Bowlus at Jordie's Trailside Cafe and ate the biggest sandwiches I've ever had. Our destination and turn around spot was the Blanchard Dam on the Mississippi River. It is much bigger than I thought. It produces hydroelectric power.

On the return trip, we stopped at BoHo Cafe in Holdingford for a beer and pretzel bites . It is only a year old and has a winery feel to it. Holdingford has a charming covered bridge over the trail. It is not as old as one thinks.

The first day ride was 40 miles! -- 20 out and 20 back. We were very sore but made it to our camping destination - Sauk Centre. We set up our tent at a campsite right in town next to a small lake. We were the only tent and were surrounded by giant RV campers. It was kind of comical.

We ate at the local Mexican place in Sauk Centre. The food was very good. Back at camp, we were the only ones with a campfire which felt good on a cool night. We could see stars but there were street lights and lots of car noise. Even so, I slept really well after a day of cycling.

Thursday morning we had coffee and breakfast at camp. I made scrambled eggs with my new camp stove. We drove to Brandon which was further north on I-94. Our destination was Chippewa Park in Douglas County. There was only one other camper set up when we arrived. This time we had a spot where only tents were allowed. It was very spacious. We went ahead and setup the tent before going on our bike ride.

Thursday's bike ride was on the Central Lakes Trail - another rails-to-trails path. We started in Brandon and headed north 15 miles to Ashby. Again it was very level and very straight.

Lots of lakes and ponds along this trail. In Ashby we found City Restaurant. We got there just 20 minutes before the end of lunch. Grilled cheese and chili were perfect. And best of all, homemade blueberry pie!

We got back to the campsite and were the only ones there. It was a bit creepy to be honest...out in the middle with no one around. There was no place to eat in Brandon. We had passed through Evansville on our bikes which was a bigger town. We ate at the Backroad's Bar and Steak House. I had a steak salad with a really nice balsamic vinaigrette. We were entertained by the stories being told a the table across from us.

Lantern holder?

By the time we got back the campsite, an RV camper had setup with a large family and a huge tent was setup 2 sites down from us. There was plenty of room and honestly it felt good having other people around.

I was hoping for clear sky for star viewing but clouds kept coming and going. The clouds ended up coming for good because it rained over night early in the morning. It stopped raining by the time we got up. We made coffee in camp and decided to close up camp, have breakfast somewhere, and head back to the Twin Cities. I had planned on making eggs goldenrod but it seemed a bit complicated and making toast was going to be a problem.

We had breakfast at the State Street Cafe in Garfield. We highly recommend the fritter French toast.

We took a scenic route back to Minneapolis and successfully avoided the interstate. It was nice driving through the towns and seeing more of the country side.

The video of the trip can be viewed by clicking here.

Cozumel March 2022

 

After boasting about getting these posts and videos out faster, I've procrastinated on this one. 

Cozumel with friends Bud and Dave. Also got to meet up with friends Adrienne and Shirley. And all the people I've met over the years (decades) of visiting the island of Cozumel.

This video does really cover this trip, click here. Best viewed landscape.

And the underwater photos are with my little Olympus Tough digital camera.

Retirement Trip 3 - Costa Rica

I think my video production is getting better. At least it is getting quicker. Click here for link to the video montage.

I had a few days between trips this time. Got back from the Palm Springs road trip on a Friday night. Departed for Costa Rica the following Tuesday.

It took about 12 hours and 3 different flights to arrive in my final destination: Quepos, Costa Rica. It wasn't too bad. I got a bit concerned in San Jose, Costa Rica with the time it took to get through passport control. I did not have the recommended 1 1/2 hours between arrival and departure. Fortunately the domestic terminal is an easy walk from the international terminal.

The metal detector at San Jose security was cranked because for the first time my shoulder replacement device dinged the detector. My Spanish is not good enough for me to try to describe why the detector kept going off. Pretty much everyone in Costa Rica speaks really good English though.

The mountain jumper flight from San Jose to Quepos is actually worth the price. It is a quick 1/2 hour flight, they give you beer, and the views are fantastic.

I stayed about 1.5 miles out of Quepos. While water in the form of a pool or river would have been nice, it was very close to a nature preserve and butterfly refuge. Y'all know how much I like nature.

I got to see three species of monkeys just by walking down the road. There were awesome plants, a friendly dog, a bamboo operation, and more.

I also so blue morpho butterflies simply enjoying the sunlight. If you don't know what they look like, click the link on their name.

The trip is pretty well covered in the video. If you ever get the chance to go, I recommend taking a tour at least on your first visit. I did back in 2015 and learned so much that really helped on this trip. You can see my blog posts from the 2015 trip by clicking here.

Let me know if you want to hear more details.

Road Trip (Palm Springs to Minneapolis-St. Paul)

Retirement trip number two. Home for less than 24 hours from Door County, Wisconsin, and hopped on a plane to fly to Palm Springs, California.

Friend Dave had spent the month of January (snowbird) in warm, sunny Palm Springs. He asked if I would join him on a road trip back to Minnesota.

From cold to desert to cold in a week!

Spent a day in Palm Springs hiking. Dave had been doing a lot of adventuring and shared some of his favorite treks with me. We did three hikes in one day!

We did not plan a definite route or timeframe back to Minnesota but I needed to get back by Saturday as I was scheduled to work at the hardware store on Sunday. The only sure thing was that Dave wanted to visit a friend and cousins in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

A major winter storm was forecast to pass right between us in Palm Springs and Minneapolis-St. Paul so we were going to have to be flexible as the storm's path kept being revised. We ended up going north through Colorado rather than east through Oklahoma/Kansas.

As is my custom now, I put together a video montage of the trip. It is available by clicking here.

A short recap and itinerary (though I won't guarantee my memory is serving me correctly):

• departed Palm Springs Monday, 01/31
• departed Santa Fe, New Mexico Thursday, 02/03
• departed Colby, Kansas Friday, 02/04
• arrived in Minneapolis-St. Paul Friday 02/04

We were successful in missing the winter storm. I love driving across parts of the United States. There is so much diversity. And with each season there are different things to see and do.

Door County Wisconsin

My retirement on January 21 was rapidly followed by a trip to Door County Wisconsin with my friend Jill, Penny (Jill's sister-in-law) and Maggie (the cat).

I have created another trip video. This one is here...Door County video

Jill, Maggie and I drove to Door County on Saturday, January 22. Door County is all the way across Wisconsin. It borders Lake Michigan and is a peninsula that creates the east coast of Green Bay. If you hold your hand in front of your face palm out, your thumb is Door County.

The trip was a chance for Jill to experience Door County in the winter. Her family has spent summer-time visits here for years. Our accommodations were the same home that the Rendalls have stayed in. It is perfectly located on the peninsula right on the Lake Michigan shore.

We were able to relax, eat out, shop and hike without issue as most establishments and parks were open at least part of the day. We even ate at a supper club that Jill and Penny had never been to!

The winter weather was what you would expect....very cold. There was only one snowy day.

Maggie was a great traveler. She enjoyed exploring new surroundings and even caught a critter in the house! Her favorite spot was on Penny's legs.

This was the first of a series of post-retirement travels. More to come.