Tag: museums

Our Great Western Canada Road Trip

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On July 26th, Darlene and I set out in the camper van for a two-month journey across western Canada with the possibility of going all the way to Alaska.  The goal was to visit a bunch of their national parks like Banff and Jasper without any particular time constraints.  We didn’t have any camping reservations because we didn’t want to have to decide in advance how long we would want to spend in any given area.  Of course we expected that would be a bit of a challenge in the more popular parks where the campgrounds tend to fill up and you can’t just camp anywhere in the wild, but somehow we’d manage!

We ended up getting as far as the southwest corner of the Yukon territory before we had to make our way back by the end of September. Two months and 7,658 miles!  It was a great trip and we saw a lot of gorgeous scenery and we didn’t get mauled by a grizzly even once!

I’ve broken up the trip into separate posts and galleries for each of the national parks and other major travel sections but I created one video montage of the whole trip:

📍 Kootenay National Park
📍 Banff National Park
📍 Yoho National Park
📍 Jasper National Park
📍 Chicken Races at Fort St. James		 📍 Northbound to the Yukon
📍 Skagway, Alaska
📍 Kluane National Park
📍 Southbound from the Yukon
A seven-minute video montage of our two-month trip
Map of our overall route

Southbound from the Yukon

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By mid-September it was clear we needed to start our return journey.  Since we had come up via the Stewart-Cassiar highway, we chose to return via the part of the Alaska (Alcan) Highway we had yet to see, from Watson Lake on south.

In Watson Lake, we spent a little time browsing the tens of thousands of signs making up the Signpost Forest and Darlene bought something to add to the collection. We also enjoyed the very interesting presentation on auroras at the Northern Lights Centre in Watson Lake.  This is where we learned that what we had experienced a few nights ago in Kluane National Park was a full on aurora outbreak.

Other stops along our Alaska Highway return trip were to visit Smith River Falls and have a soak in the Liard River Hot Springs.  One favorite stop was the town of Chetwynd which hosts an international chainsaw carving championship and there are many dozens of these fantastic carvings spread all around town.

 

We stayed overnight again in Prince George and took the opportunity to do an oil change and tire rotation – it takes a lot of miles to travel up and down across Canada. Continuing south we eventually joined highway 99 (“The Sea to Sky Highway”), stopping off in Marble Canyon, Lillooet, Nairn Falls, Whistler and Brandywine Falls.  We found and stayed at a couple of different overnight sites near Squamish as we checked out the town and the local sights like Shannon Falls and the Britannia Mine tour.

As we reached the end of the Sea to Sky Highway we hit really heavy traffic before we could even get across the harbor so we gave up and found a restaurant and hotel in West Vancouver for the night.  And so after two wonderful months traveling around western Canada, we crossed back into the US from Vancouver.

Touring Through Turkey

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Theatre at Aphrodisias

Darlene and I enjoyed a three-week trip to Turkey earlier in April.  Our first twelve days was with a small group tour booked through Explore Worldwide that was mostly focused on visiting many ancient historical sites and ruins in western Turkey.  All of Anatolia (including western Turkey) is actually an amazing crossroads of ancient civilizations, including Hittite, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman influences across several thousand years that are still clearly visible and continue to be uncovered in archeological sites.

A six-minute video montage of our entire trip across Turkey.

We had a great, fun group of nine for the Explore tour and a particularly exceptional local guide, Timucin Sahin.  Tim is wonderfully enthusiastic and incredibly knowledgeable about the rich and complex history of Turkey, tracing it all the way back to the earliest civilizations in a way that is easy to follow and understand.  He was also able to share insights on other topics like flora and fauna, as well as present-day politics and culture.  I think having Tim as our guide really made the trip for everyone in the group.

Pamukkale Hot Springs (and travertine terraces)

After completion of the Explore tour in Antalya, we flew to Keyseri and caught an airport shuttle to our hotel in Göreme to spend the next four days exploring the Cappadocia region, known for its otherworldly landscapes, wind-sculpted rock spires, and centuries-old underground cities.  We had a tour guide booked through Intrepid Travel for two of those days and were accompanied by another couple for one day.  Unfortunately, while our local guide was well-intentioned, he tended to ramble a confusing stream of details and anecdotes that was even harder to understand through his heavy accent and somewhat broken English.  Also, we didn’t notice that our trip planning brought us to Cappadocia on Easter weekend and the crowds were very heavy at the primary tourist attractions.

Still, we had a wonderful time in Cappadocia and very much enjoyed taking in the amazing sights and scenery.  Even the hotels in the area are fascinating as many are built into the surrounding rock, mimicking the thousands of older dwellings carved into the rocks throughout the area.

Sunset overlooking Göreme city

The definite highlight was soaring over Cappadocia on a sunrise hot air balloon flight – it was gorgeous and magical.  It’s amazing that so many dozens of balloons (apparently upwards of 150) are launched by dozens of companies almost every day (weather permitting).  It’s an incredible sight – and an impressive logistics challenge.

A five-minute video featuring our sunrise hot air balloon flight over Cappadocia.

The other activity I was really looking forward to on this trip was getting to spend a day mountain biking some of the many trails in the area.  Unfortunately, after we booked the bikes for the following day, I got sick with a nasty cold the night before.  I decided to try to push through it anyway and take on the captivating 18-mile route that was mapped out for us by the bike shop.  What we did get to see and experience was really great but as I became ever more exhausted by the illness, we had to cut the ride short.


After four days in Cappadocia, we flew to Istanbul to spend three days in the old city district, visiting famous sites like Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and the underground Basilica Cistern.  We managed poor timing again with crowds by inadvertently choosing to visit on a national holiday, but then there was a significant earthquake midday which closed all of the historical sites and sent everyone away for the day.  Still we managed to squeeze in visits to the sites on our following final day in Istanbul and Turkey.

 
The Blue Mosque interior (left), Basilica Cistern (right)

Click through for the full gallery:

Exploring Sweden

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View from Skulebergets nature reserve along the High Coast

Continuing our extended Europe trip, Darlene and I crossed over from Copenhagen into Sweden in mid-May.  We had two weeks to explore a bit of Sweden, starting in Malmö.  We visited several connected museums in Malmö before venturing out to the southern coast to see the standing stones at Ales Stenar.  After Malmö, we made our way north along the west coast, stopping in Helsingborg, staying overnight in Falkenberg, visiting Tjolöholm Castle and an automobile/aviation museum before reaching Gothenburg where we spent three days exploring the city via foot, bicycle and canal tour.

4–minute video montage of our trip

After Gothenburg, we left the west coast to traverse across the country and north to the more remote High Coast region of Sweden, stopping along the way at a castle, Läckö Slott (apparently just missing the one daily midday tour) but then overnighting in Skultuna.  Our destination was the city of Örnsköldsvik, from where we went hiking in Skuleskogen National Park, kayaking in the bay, climbing up Skulebergets and touring the coast.


Our last five days were spent in Stockholm, walking and/or electric scooting around the city, visiting several museums, including the spectacular Vasa museum which houses the world’s best preserved 17th century ship – raised and recovered from the harbor sea floor.

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Our Copenhagen Visit

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Continuing our European vacation, Darlene, her sister Kathy and I spent four days in Copenhagen – first time for all of us.  We did some sightseeing around the city, from the top of the Round Tower astronomical observatory to inside Frederik’s Church, we enjoyed a boat tour of Copenhagen’s waterways and very interesting Danish architecture.  We visited the immersive Museum of Danish Resistance and climbed up Copenhill, a surprising combination of waste-to-energy power plant and recreational site for year round hiking, skiing and climbing.  We rented bikes to tool around a bit like proper Copenhageners, enjoyed an open air street food market and strolled some of Copenhagen’s famous streets and waterfronts like Nyhavn and Strøget.

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Six Days in Ireland

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I joined Darlene, her sister Kathy and her aunt Judy on a trip to Ireland last week – a return visit for me but their first time in the Emerald Isle.  Darlene organized the itinerary which included seeing the Book of Kells at Trinity College, taking the tour at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, visiting Blarney Castle and grounds, spending a couple of days in Killarney and touring a portion of the Ring of Kerry.

Here’s a video montage of our trip:

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Peterson Automotive Museum

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After our stay in Anaheim to visit the Disney parks, we spent a couple of hours on Friday at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.  They’ve got a large collection of historic and iconic cars including vehicles from Hollywood movies featured in various changing exhibits.  There’s currently a large Tesla exhibit there which was unexpectedly pretty cool.

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An Intrepid Tour of Spain

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Upon completion of our hiking trip in Portugal, Darlene and I flew to Madrid and immediately joined the guided group tour we booked with Intrepid Travel.  We met our guide, Sergi, who quickly proved to be both quite enthusiastic and entertaining, along with our nine fellow travelers (mostly Aussies) and David, a guide-in-training preparing for his upcoming first tour.

Here’s the link to all the galleries from the trip.

Day 2: Toledo

Our first full day was a day tour to Toledo from Madrid to explore the old walled city – and for Darlene to buy boxes of marzipan from the nuns at the convent.

Days 3-4: Seville

We were then off by high-speed train to Seville where we spent two days and nights to see the city.  We lucked out at the normally very crowded Plaza de España as it was being cordoned off in preparation for a concert and we swung by the replica of the Victoria, the only ship to return from Magellan’s circumnavigation voyage.  We skirted around Seville’s bullfighting ring, Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza and wandered through the shopping district.  We had a wonderful local guide show us around the amazing royal palace and gardens, Real Alcázar de Sevilla (also home to scenes of Dorne from the Game of Thrones tv series) and we wandered around the immense Seville Cathedral (one of the largest in the world), which was originally a grand mosque.  Lastly, we attended a flamenco performance on our final evening.

 

Day 5: Córdoba

Our next overnight stop was Córdoba, home to an amazing and incredible grand mosque – a mosque so large that a huge cathedral could be built within the center of it.  Our walking tour continued around the old town and that evening we got to see an Andalusian equestrian show.  (No pics or video allowed during the performance.) The following day, on the road to Granada, we stopped in at a olive oil mill and learned first-hand how olive oils are taste-tested.

Days 6-7: Granada

We stayed two nights in Granada whose star attraction is The Alhambra, a medieval fortress and series of palaces chiefly built by the Moorish monarchs of Granada.  We enjoyed a walking tour through various parts of the old city and there was also much shopping.  For the Alhambra, we had a daytime tour of the fortress (or Alcazaba) and the Generalife palace and gardens but then we were able to return after dark for a mesmerizing tour of the Comares Palace grounds and a quick peek into the more recent Palace of Charles V.

Days 8-9: Valencia

On the way to Valencia, we had a short stopover in Elche as a break for the long drive, where we saw a couple of renditions of the “Lady of Elche”.  Unfortunately our bus broke down and we had to wait for a replacement to come and get us.  We made it to Valencia eventually and the following day we walked around the impressive structures making up the City of Arts and Sciences – a substantial public space including science and art museums, opera house, planetarium and aquarium.  Would’ve been fun to check it out in more detail but our day was already filled with a trip out to and boat ride on Albufera Lake with a lunch of traditional Spanish paella and then a walking tour around the older quarter of Valencia.

Days 10-11: Barcelona

We had a long drive from Valencia to Barcelona and our group tour with Intrepid Travel came to a close in Barcelona, but not after a walking tour of the Gothic Quarter including La Rambla, the Mercat de La Boqueria (a popular marketplace), the Barcelona Cathedral and a farewell dinner.  We stayed on an extra night and took a tour of one of Gaudi’s amazing architectural and design wonders, the Casa Batló – so very worth the admission and the crowds.  We also explored the Gothic Quarter a bit more on our own and went through the Maritime Museum of Barcelona – before Darlene collapsed asleep on a bench.

 

Days 12-13: Madrid

The Intrepid Travel trip actually started in Madrid and some folks took in some of the sights ahead of the trip start but we didn’t have time between our Portugal trip and this one, so we flew back to Madrid after Barcelona for a day and a half of sightseeing with Jennifer before we all boarded a train for the upcoming party in Palencia.  We managed to get in a Segway tour of the huge El Retiro Park and visit the Prado Museum, the Cathedral of Santa Maria and take in the full royal palace tour (Palacio Real de Madrid) – mostly no pics allowed in the palace though.

Click through for the full gallery of our Spain tour!

Also, here’s a flyover I recorded in VR in MS Flight Simulator of several of the cities we visited: