2019 30 Oct - 15 Nov China Viking Cruise

This was truly a vacation of a lifetime and Viking did an incredible job that made me rethink the value of their high priced cruise. The Great Wall, Forbidden City, Terra Cotta Warriors, and Potala Palace are all marvels of the modern world. My concepts of magnitude have been redefined by the size of China cities, the age of their culture, the speed of their industrialization, and the scale of their projects.





We were awed by the unheard of cities of Wuhan and Chongqing that are both larger than NYC and have technologically absurd city light shows. Beijing and Shanghai are both three times larger than NYC. We saw the Marquis Xian of Jin bells that were over 3000 years old, amazed that over 70 bridges have been built across the Yangtze river in the last 30 years, and stunned at the magnitude and impact of the 3 Gorges dam project.






It's hard to imagine the Great Wall extends over 13,000 miles although the best preserved parts of the Ming Dynasty Wall is only 5,500 miles long.

The Forbidden City was the home of 24 emperors over 492 years and covers over 180 acres, however, we were not able to enter any buildings.

I was surprised to learn that all of the Terracotta Warriors were destroyed by farmers after the death of China's first emperor. Only a fraction of the estimated 8000 warriors have been painstakingly reconstructed.



I was not familiar with the Potala Palace in Tibet but was impressed by its size and religious significance as the home of many Dalai Lamas.

Shanghai is one of my favorite cities and I was glad that we visited the Oriental Pearl Tower that featured a lookout level, the Space Capsule, the glass bottomed corridor, revolving restaurant, Fantasy World, and the Shanghai Municipal History Museum.

2019 Sep 24-Oct 8 New England & Canada

We were hoping to see the fall colors on this cruise from New York to Newport, Boston, Bar Harbor, Saint John, Halifax, Sydney, Charlottetown, Quebec, and Montreal. This was a busy cruise with nine port days and only one sea day. It started ominously with a delayed departure due to a high level of gastrointestinal disease on the prior cruise.

The ship was docked at the Brooklyn terminal that had a view of the Statue of Liberty with the sun setting behind it. I was a little disappointed in the lack of exciting excursions available at the various ports of call.

Cliff Walk Newport R.I.

We hiked Newport's Cliff Walk, flanking the magnificent mansions along the coast that included the Vanderbilts Breakers home.

We did the Freedom Trail walking tour starting from Boston Common that spent a little too much time at the Central Burial Grounds. It was a good history refresher of the American Revolution but really nothing much to see.



Bar Harbor is the gateway to Acadia National Park, which is the most popular National Park, as measured by visitors per acre, per our comedian guide. Also cruised on the four masted Margaret Todd schooner that took us around the many islands in Frenchman's Bay.

Saint John is on the Bay of Fundy and is the home of largest tidal change in the world at over 50 feet. The geography of the Bay also creates a unique phenomena where the the tide change actual causes the Saint John river to flow upstream.

Peggy's Cove

Halifax just survived Hurricane Dorian two weeks ago and is most famous as the recovery port for the Titanic rescue operation. Peggys Cove is a scenic small seaside village that took a long time to drive to.
Sydney is on Cape Breton Island on the northern tip of Nova Scotia. We saw the first glimpses of fall colors here as we took an 8 hour bus tour of the Cabot Trail on a cold and blustery day.
Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island was the site where the Confederation of Canada was established in 1864. The city is also the inspiration for the Ann of Green Gables series of books.

Chateau Frontenac

Quebec is a beautiful historic city with the Hotel Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac as one of its most famous buildings.




Just outside the city is the spectacular Montmorency Falls which is 100 feet taller than Niagara Falls and the beautiful St Anne Basilica.

Montmorency Falls Quebec

Notre Dame Basilica Montreal

St Anne Basilica Quebec

We rode the Via Rail train from Quebec to Montreal, another beautiful historic city. Montreal has a French half and a British half architecturally split by Rue Saint Laurent. The Notre Dame Basilica is the jewel of the city. The Montreal Botanical Garden and the Olympique Stadium are two popular attractions next to each other creating a huge park


area within the city. Montreal has a 33 kilometer long Underground City and mall where residents hibernate during the frigid months.

2019 Aug 31- Sep 7 Alaska Cruise

Our 6th Alaska cruise but our first Medallion cruise on the Royal Princess. The medallion is an RFID coin that replaces a cruise card for entry and purchases but can also be used to locate people on the ship. Nice concept that's a little more secure than carrying a cruise card and i like how it unlocks your cabin door when it senses that you are close by. We had a big group with mom, Allyse, Steven, and Kevin & Liz.
Since we've done most of the excursions before we opted to go to a crab feast at George Inlet Lodge at Ketchikan. All you can eat fresh, steamed Dungeness crab. There was a 90 minute time limit but we were a little past capacity when it was time to leave.









We rented a car in Juneau and explored on our own along the 42 mile scenic highway. Stopped by at McCaulay Salmon Hatchery, Auke Bay, Eagle Beach, the National Shrine of St Therese, and Mendenhall Glacier. Saw a few eagles and a mama bear with a just caught salmon crossing a creek with two cubs at Eagle Beach. Another mama bear and cubs were crossing the road along the drive.

At Skagway, we visited the Kroschel Wildlife Center in Haines. Very entertaining place where they rescue animals but also do wildlife filming.The owner/guide had the personality of Doc from Back to the Future. Crazy and funny and strange, he introduced us to some exotic animals up close and personal. We got to see a bear, wolverine, arctic fox, baby moose, lynx, mink, feed a wolf, kiss a moose, feed caribou, and pet a porcupine.























The last couple of days were scenic cruising through Glacier Bay National Park and College Fjord. The highlight of Glacier Bay is Marjerie Glacier which is a 21 mile long tidewater glacier with a 350 ft high, one mile wide face where it enters the bay. We learned that it is one of the few glaciers that is not receding.

College Fjord is named for the 5 tidewater glaciers and 5 hanging glaciers that can be seen at the northern end of Prince William Sound, all named after elite east coast schools. They are tightly packed where we could see at least 8 of them from a single vantage point.




After disembarking the ship at Whittier, it was a 90 minute drive to Anchorage. We had 13 hours until our flight so we  drove 2 hours to Matanuska Glacier and a beautiful hike on the foot of the glacier. We climbed inside ice caves, saw moulins, crevasses, and many other ice formations. Not as adventurous as the Denali helicopter glacier hike or as strenuous as the Athabaska glacier hike but it's always interesting to be on a glacier in any circumstance.

2019 Aug 14-20 NP Roadtrip

We continued to check off a few more National Parks on our list. It was a 2900 mile trek from Oxnard to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, up to Black Canyon of Gunnison in Colorado and back home. We visited 7 National Parks along the way, Saguaro, Guadalupe Mountain, Carlsbad Caverns, Great Sand Dunes, Black Canyon, Mesa Verde, and Petrified Forest. These were some of the smaller parks so we really didn't have a good idea what to expect but I was surprised by beauty of what we did see.

We visited Saguaro West, not realizing that there was a separate Saguaro East park. Temps were in the 100s so the rangers did not recommend any trails but suggested the 8 mile Bajada Loop Drive to see some of the prominent trees and rock formations. Not the most exciting park but you develop a respect for the age of the Saguaro cactus.

On the way to Carlsbad, we noticed a sign to the Guadalupe Mountain NP that I had not known about or planned to visit but the visitor center was right off Highway 62 and was an easy stop. The park is primarily a hiking park with no scenic roads or lookouts. We did a short walk around the visitors center and viewed their "El Capitan" which they claim is older than the more famous Yosemite mountain.
Carlsbad Cavern was amazing as a one of a kind in the world. 80 stories below ground, the Big Room is so large with every imaginable type of underground cave formations. It's a 1.25 mile loop around the room. The dim lighting and the odd shapes made it a little creepy while exploring the cave. Hard to imagine how someone discovered the cave by following bats that far down. It was very nice that there was a kennel for Daisy at the Visitors Center for only $10.

The Great Sand Dunes is aptly named and rises up to 450 feet high. Once in the park, it's a one mile drive to a parking area and a 1/4 mile walk across an almost dry river bed to the base of the dunes. People brought their snow boards to slide down the dunes and we saw some people at the top of the dunes. You are free to do whatever you want there since you really can't destroy a sand dune that large.







Black Canyon of Gunnison was a real surprise. Reminded me of a smaller version of the Grand Canyon NP. Beautiful, deep valleys and steep cliffs. The scenic drive took you to various lookouts along the upper rim of the canyon, similar to the other park. This one was one of my favorites for sheer beauty. Very dog friendly park since there were paved dirt trails to almost all the lookouts.







Mesa Verde was another interesting park. The main scenic drive is the 6 mile Mesa Top Loop, however it's 20 miles of uphill driving to get there from the Visitors Center. The park's purpose is to preserve the Pueblo Indian dwellings in the area. The cliff dwellings are fantastic and stunning in their location. I would skip all the stops of the pit dwellings as very uninteresting. I'd suggest the $5 Cliff Palace tour if you want to walk up to the dwellings but you can get a fantastic view of the Palace dwellings from the lookout right above.

The last park on this trip was the Petrified Forest that I had low expectations of. Didn't know how hardened wood would be exciting. However, it's really the painted desert that is the highlight. It's a 28 mile drive from the visitor center off Highway 40 down to the end of the park at Highway 180. The first 5 miles have many lookouts to see the beauty of the various sections of the painted desert. A few of the lookouts are a little too similar but we stopped at almost all of them. The middle section of the drive has no stops until you reach the Blue Mesa turnout. A few mile drive takes you to the Blue Mesa trail head and a 1 mile walk through some very amazing blue colored mound formations. The last 11 miles takes you to a large petrified tree bridge and a not so interesting Jasper forest that has the largest collection of petrified wood pieces. This park exceeded expectations.

Asia Cruise 30 Jan - 14 Feb

Lunar Celebration near Merlion Park

Spent a few days in my favorite city, Singapore, before the cruise. It was my fourth visit in the last 12 months. The Gardens by the Bay was spectacular as usual, the Garden Rhapsody night show had an operatic music theme this time. The Cloud Forest Dome at the Gardens is always gorgeous and the Flower Dome also had a beautiful Chinese New Year display. Chinese New Year is only 4 days away so there was a lot of New Year decorations for a planned celebration on the Bay on Feb 2. It was a first visit for Liz, Kevin, Mary, and mom so we visited the Botanic and Orchid Gardens and Merlion Park.  I finally made it to the Liao Fan Hawker Chan in Chinatown to have their $4 SGD Soy Chicken Rice dish. This is supposedly the cheapest Michelin rated restaurant in the world. We stayed at the Hilton on Orchard Road this time and the area is a huge upgrade from the Hilton Garden Inn Serangoon. We were near the Ion Mall that provided us with infinitely more eating and shopping options than Little India. One tour that I would not recommend is the Viator full day tour into Johore Bahru. I wanted to check off Malaysia as a country visited and I thought this would be an easy way to accomplish that. The immigration process both ways was miserable even with a private guide that did not require us to leave the van. At least an hour plus wait for both Singapore exit and Malaysia entry both ways was not fun. Johore Bahru is also not the Kuala Lumpur Malaysia that we would like to have seen as our guide explained. The highlight was the Malay Cultural Village where we were able to make a batik painting.

Cloud Forest Dome Gardens By the Bay

The 12 day Asia cruise on the Diamond Princess visited Phu My/Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, Hong Kong, Taipei, Osaka, Shimizu, and ending in Yokohama. This was my 5th voyage on the Diamond and the third visit to many of the cities in the past 3 years so I didn't expect a lot of novelty. What I also didn't expect was the Diamond to just come out of dry dock and have so many system problems. The AC in the cabins didn't work properly for the first 8 days where many cabins were extremely hot or cold while at the extreme temperature settings. There were also leaks around the ship primarily in the Santa Fe dining room and in the bathrooms outside the restaurant for most of the cruise. There were towels and buckets in the dining room to catch the leaks and the restrooms had noisy fans to dry the carpet. For long time cruisers, Princess also made changes to the coffee card plan where unused drinks cannot be transferred to future cruises. Also the daily charges to our credit card were a surprise instead of the one time charge at the end of the cruise on prior cruises. Evening entertainment did not compare to what we saw on the Majestic, however, The Secret Silk premiere was the most innovative show yet, produced by directors and song writers that did Wicked and Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Bravo also brought a standing ovation as it mixed Opera with pop music.

Chiufen Shopping Area

The Vietnam cities were never great tourist attractions so we opted for private tours this time. We did see the Rex Hotel, Tet Flower Road, Glac Lam Pagoda, Notre Dame Cathedral, and Independence Palace in Ho Chi Minh City. We were in Nha Trang on the Tet Lunar New Year holiday so many places were closed and guides were twice as expensive as normal.
We planned to visit Hong Kong Disney while at the city but were convinced to skip it by the travel guide at the terminal. He said that Disney would be overcrowded due to families visiting from China for the New Year holiday so we decided to take the free shuttle to the Plaza Hollywood mall and visited the Nan Lian Garden and the Chi Lin Nunnery. Tried to wait for New Year Dim Sum but it was too crowded so we ate at a less busy restaurant.

Osaka Castle Park

Taipei was the only port where weather affected our plans. We've been on the Best of Taipei excursion before so we went to the hillside, old, shopping village of Chiufen. Very interesting, quaint town with steep stairs everywhere and hundreds of small stalls. Would be very scenic if we had better weather but we had a great time walking the winding streets and paths. We were told that we needed local currency but other passengers said vendors took USD.
We met a Goodwill Guide in Osaka and visited Osaka Castle Park, Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine, and the famous Dontonbori shopping area. The Osaka Castle is also a museum and has a top floor viewing platform. The Shinto shrine is like every other and Dontonbori was a hustle and bustle of activity with the famous Gilco sign as a symbol of Osaka.
We did a ship excursion in Shimizu that was all too similar to the free tour in Osaka. Sunpu Castle Park had some winter cherry blossoms but the castle has been long destroyed.  We couldn't see Mount Fuji from Miho Beach Pine Forest but the sky cleared just before we got back to the ship. Just like that, the cruise was over as we prepped for the 9 hour wait at Narita.

Sedona, AZ Jan 7-11

Mather Point Grand Canyon

It's been over 30 years since we've been to Sedona so we've forgotten how stunning the geological formations around the city are. We visited the South Rim of  the Grand Canyon on our way to Sedona and we had wonderful weather and loved having the park to ourselves. The park was not affected by the Government shutdown thanks to the state of Arizona, which maintained all park services. The Grand Canyon is actually pretty Daisy friendly since there are so many paved paths at the major lookouts. We entered from the south from Williams, crossed east along the Desert View Scenic Drive, then exited south to Flagstaff. Mather Point, Yavapai Point, and the Watchtower at Desert View all offered beautiful vistas of the snow covered Canyon.It was nice to see the Canyon in a different season than our last trip two years ago.

Oak Creek from Slide Rock State Park

The next day we drove down to Sedona along the Oak Creek Canyon Scenic Drive, Hwy 89A. It's a spectacular drop of 4500 feet to the canyon floor. At the bottom of the canyon we passed the parking lot for the West Fork Trail, which is a moderate hike that we have to do next time. Further down the canyon we stopped at Slide Rock State Park which is surrounded by beautiful cliffs and provides walking access to Oak Creek and its rock bed. It was here that we realized that Arizona State Parks and any use of National Forest land in Red Rock canyon charges a day use parking fee. We spent the rest of the day at four trail areas in Red Rock Canyon including the Chapel of the Holy Cross, Yavapai Vista, and the Bell Rock/Courthouse Butte Loop.

Day 3 was our attempt to reach Devil's Bridge. The overall round trip hike is just over 4 miles if you don't have a high clearance 4WD. It's a flat walk from the parking area to the trail head along a sometimes rugged dirt road or you can take a more scenic route along the Chuckwagon Trail. A 4WD vehicle will eliminate this part of the hike. From the trail head, a 3/4 mile moderate incline takes you to the base of the bridge. From here, there are two sets of steep stairs, the second requiring the use of hands and feet. Unfortunately Karen stopped at this point. At the top of the stairs you are rewarded with a fabulous view and are at the same level as the top of the arch that is the bridge that you can walk across. People say it's wider than it looks, about 5 feet, but it looked like a balance beam to me so I did not attempt to cross it. Everyone else up there did. Total elevation gain from the trail head is about 650 feet.

Cathedral Rock

Post Devil's Bridge we visited Crescent Moon State Park for a nice view of the Cathedral Rock Butte. However, the $10 view is only marginally better than the one from a free lookout a mile up the road. We took a chance at Montezuma's Castle and Well National Monuments on our way to visit friends in Prescott, however, both monuments were closed due to the Government shut down.