2013 October 30  

This morning we went to Great Sand Dunes National Park. These dunes are up to 700 foot high at the base of the mountains! Incredible scenery. There is also a nature preserve on the park grounds. Saw deer wandering through the park, like the bears in Yellowstone. Just outside the park we went to Zapata Falls. Actually we only heard the falls after walking to their location. To see them we would have had to walk across the water and slippery rocks. As the air temperature was in the low 30s, we were sure that water was colder. There was also supposed to be a lake. We followed that trail for over a mile, up the mountain, over a rocky path and finally decided it was more than we were prepared to finish. So we ended up with some great exercise and pictures of our trek, but no waterfall and no lake!

The afternoon was spent traveling to our next overnight stay in Durango. That meant we drove scenic highway 160 over the mountains via the Wolf Creek Pass. At the top the temperature outside was 22 degrees and the snow was falling. The snowplow was out clearing the roads. Went through two tunnels, saw some outstanding scenery and were glad to have successfully completed the trip.

Tomorrow will be Mesa Verde National Park for sure. The four corners are possible. We will end up somewhere in Utah near Canyonlands National Park. There are a number of scenic spots to see along the way.

Still having issues with inserting pictures to the blog. Will continue telling the story.

2013 October 29

Yesterday we started our trip to the southwest. Planning to see many of the national parks on our scenic  route to Chino Valley, Arizona. Plan to spend some time with friends in Arizona before finding a new route to return home around the middle of November.

This morning we were in Dodge City, Kansas where we spent our first night on the road. We toured a museum that included some original buildings, Boot Hill Cemetery, a saloon, store fronts, and many items from historical Dodge City.

On the way "out of Dodge" we stopped at a place where we were to see wagon wheel ruts from the many wagon trains that traveled the Sante Fe Trail. The trail wasn't that obvious to us.... but the information at the site was interesting. Apparently, this area was on the border between the US and Mexico. The 100th meridian.

Then we drove through the rest of western Kansas and into Colorado. In Kansas we saw many sorghum fields, a few sunflower fields, a farm that raised game birds (pheasants, etc.), and many large cattle feeding stations (ranches). Not many trees along the way.... lots of open land. Into Colorado there were some changes in scenery. At first, more trees, then different types of shrubbery, then finally, mountains. We thoroughly enjoyed the views and are looking forward to the rest of our trip.

We are spending our second night in Alamosa, Colorado. We are only 35 miles from our first national park. First thing on tomorrow's agenda is Great Sand Dunes National Park!

Having trouble uploading pictures...... will try to figure out what the problem is..... wish I was more techy!!

Feb 14 last posting for awhile

Since it takes lots of internet time to post pictures.... I will be putting most of them from this point forward on Sam's blog site. I may just add additional information, stories, etc. on this site. But there will be few pictures.

We get off the ship for a couple of days starting at 8 a.m. tomorrow. The big excursion to Machu Picchu. Hope to have at least one awesome picture to prove we were there.

Feb 9 - Guatemala

After a late arrival at the Port of Quetzal in Guatemala and mass confusion while getting off the ship, we rode a bus to the city of Antigua. Along the way we saw three volcanoes. One was dormant, the other two were active. There were banana and sugar cane fields along the way. We stopped in a little village of San Antonio Aguas Calientes to see a textile cooperative. Here is a picture of a taxi that was used locally.

Duane and Karen in front of the church in San Antonio. Hope that you can see some of the hillside in the background. The people cultivated, by hand, plots of land all the way up the side of the hill.

 

Antigua, Guatemala used to be the capital of the country. After several earthquakes throughout the years, the people were tired of rebuilding the town. So they abandoned it and established their capital in Guatemala City. Some of the older people wanted to go back to Antigua as they had been born and raised there.  The city is a national historical treasure and there are restrictions on new buildings in the town center. At one time there were 30-40 churches in the town. The earthquake ruins of many of those churches are still visible. We are lunch at an old building that had been a convent. It was restored, in part, and is now used as a hotel and restaurant as well as a historical site. The next two pictures are from an area I think was originally the chapel in the convent. You can see that the partially crumbled wall, has been filled in with glass. All the original wooden doors are still in place below the windows.

The chimes in this picture are to alert inhabitants of an earthquake. They were massive. My guess is 30-40 foot top to bottom.

I had more pictures that I wanted to share from this excursion, but the internet connection, although it says it is excellent, has been very slow.

Feb 8 Huatuco, Mexico

Port of Huatulco, Mexico. We went white water rafting (level 1) today. It was a very scenic river. Rapids were fun but not challenging. There were many species of birds. Pictures from the excursion are on the other camera. Not sure how that I can transfer them from the camera to the laptop.

2013-02-06 Dolphins and sunset

From our balcony, we spotted a couple pods of dolphins swimming near the ship. I’m not sure how well they can be seen in this photo that I am posting, but there are probably 10-12 in the picture.  We saw whales yesterday and some sea-turtles as well.

We had a window seat in the dining room tonight and enjoyed this sunset.

It was formal night on the ship. This is as “dressed up” as we will be on the cruise.

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Here are a couple of pictures of the entrance to the harbor area in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.