Archive for the ‘travel’ Category

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Bicycle trip from San Diego to Phoenix (NEW)

Friday, June 18th, 2010
Riding along the US / Mexico border

Riding along the US / Mexico border

Day 1 – San Diego to Alpine We left at about 9:30am from Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach after a few goodbyes, and were riding a high heading out of the city. We made some good progress, stopped for a pizza lunch, then hit the road again. Our last 20 miles were a serious uphill battle, and around the time our weary and not yet road accustomed legs nearly gave out, we had completed 50 miles and reached the Ma Tar Awa RV Park just east of the Viejas Casino. We were too late to check in, as the office had already closed, but we saw someone cleaning who let us slip in on the agreement that we would pay our dues in the morning. It wasn’t quite dark yet, [...]

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A Whirlwind weekend. SAN-BDL: CT, MA, RI

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

5/26 – Online flight check in. Arrive airport 12 noon. Washington DC 9PM. Hartford’s Bradley International Airport at 11:30PM. Hertz rental car at midnight. 90 degrees outside. Heavy winds. Get car and head to mom’s house. Heavy rains, crazy thunderstorm. Temperature now 65. Power out at mom’s. Sleep @ 1:30AM.

5/27 – Wake up, breakfast, visit with mom. 2:30PM hit the road, head to Boston. Arrive Boston @ 4. Check into Copley Square Hotel. Relax {briefly}. 5PM Complimentary wine in lobby. Walk down Boylston to Boston Common. Follow Freedom Trail to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. Bowl of clam chowder and our first quahog. Hop on the T, head to Newbury and the Back Bay for dinner at The Other Side Cafe. Down the street to The Pour House. 11:30 PM to bed.

5/28 – 11AM Farmer’s Market Copley Square. Hop the T again, lunch at America’s Oldest Restaurant, Union Oyster [...]

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Mammoth Lakes’ Bluesapalooza, Beer and Blues Festival

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

Memories from last years Mammoth Festival of Beers, Bluesapalooza Beer and Blues festival:

John Lee Hooker Jr onstage, Mammoth Lakes, Beer and blues festival

John Lee Hooker Jr onstage Mammoth Lakes, Beer and blues festival

The Bluesapalooza Beer and Blues Festival is a welcome getaway for anyone who enjoys the outdoors, beer, live blues music, or any combination of the three. Even though we’re located a good 6 hour drive away in San Diego, we decided it would be a good weekend trip to head up to Mammoth for a great weekend of relaxation. In case you’re not familiar with this event, it happens once a year at Mammoth Lakes, usually around the beginning of August, and takes place outdoors at Sam’s Wood Site.

The setting is actually quite spectacular. Somehow a stage is set up in a small clearing, and then the beer tents and [...]

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Weekend in Idyllwild at the Quiet Creek Inn

Thursday, April 8th, 2010
Quiet Creek Inn cabins

Quiet Creek Inn Cabins

This past weekend I was surprised by my girlfriend with a getaway to the mountains in Idyllwild, where we stayed at the Quiet Creek Inn. It was a quick, one night getaway, and though I would have loved to be there for a week, even taking a day or two away from home is a great way to relax. For those that don’t know, Idyllwild is a quiet little mountain community located in the San Jacinto Mountains, about 100 miles northeast of San Diego, and 100 miles southwest of Los Angeles. It sits at an elevation of 5300 feet, and is a great place for hiking and camping. From town, you have access to trails that take you up to Tahquitz Peak which is somewhere around 9000′ and San Jacinto Peak which is higher at 10,800′. I’ve [...]

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Arrival in Bangkok, Khao San, and Grand Palace

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

Entry #2 from Thailand Trip (see entry #1)

Bangkok syline at night from hotel roof

Bangkok syline at night from hotel roof

We finally made it out of Guangzhou, had an uneventful but comfortable flight from there to Bangkok, and successfully made it to the Lamphu Tree House Hotel where we had reservations for the first night. Even though we had been in transit for over 24 hours, and had only slept for a few hour increments on the planes, we didn’t want to waste our first night in Thailand. The hotel was really nice and had a lovely rooftop patio, but we really were itching to get out into Bangkok. The hotel was supposedly a 10 minute walk from Khao San Road, and knowing that it has been called the Backpacker Center of the Universe, we figured what better place to go for our first [...]

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Stuck in Guangzhou Airport without our passports

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

Entry #1 from Thailand trip (see entry #2)

First view of China from the sky

First view of China from the sky

We were sitting there in Guangzhou Airport without our passports. It wasn’t exactly how we wanted our trip to Thailand to start. Up until a few hours ago, things were fine. There were no problems boarding the plane in Los Angeles, and the flight to Guangzhou went off without a problem. We knew we’d be in the Guangzhou airport for 7 hours before our next flight, and though typically there is no red tape to navigate nor Visa concerns as long as you plan to stay in the terminal, from my research it looked China had some extra tight restrictions for American citizens arriving there, so I put in a call to the embassy prior to leaving to be certain that we would [...]

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Back to semi-reality from Thailand

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

I spent the past 14 days in Thailand (with a 5 hour stint in Narita, Japan). My New Year was spent on the beach at the Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan, and then I spent some time in the Krabi area, including Krabi Town, Koh Phi Phi and Ao Nang. So needless to say it will take me a few days to get back to reality. If I can get my ass in gear, over the next few weeks I will try to post some photos and some of my journal entries from the trip.

Hope all is well with all of you, and that you had a holiday as good as I did!

Looking down into town on Koh Phi Phi from viewpoint

Looking down to Koh Phi Phi from viewpoint

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Colorado Road Trip – Boulder, Fort Collins, and Denver

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

Memories from Colorado trip earlier this year…

Beautiful Colorado Rockies

Beautiful Colorado Rocky Mountains

After descending over the Rocky Mountains on one of the more bumpy flights I’ve ever had, we arrived in Denver on Friday morning. The plan was to check out the major cities of Colorado over the next four and a half days, and while we were at to sample a lot of the great breweries and pubs in the area as well. It turned out to be a sort of impromtu beer tour, but that worked just fine because it gave us direction and motivation to keep moving along. So to get started, we picked up the rental car and then headed straight to Boulder, which was the place I was looking most forward to seeing. I had only driven through Colorado, without ever having spent any time [...]

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