Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures in travel, style, and food. Hope you have a nice stay!
All in Vacation
The reason we decided to make a road trip that brought us into Canada was because the National Parks were giving away free passes, which we started to use. Since the short drive from Calgary got us into Banff much before our room was ready, we went on a short hike which introduced us to Canadian mosquitoes.
Time to drive north to Canada, but not before driving through Glacier on the Going to the Sun road. Once we got to Calgary, it took longer than we expected to figure things out, but once we did, we ended up hopping all around our particular part of the University of Calgary campus.
No earthquakes, no one from New Orleans. We did make it to the Many Glacier area on the east side of Glacier National Park to hike.
Our first full day at Glacier National Park started with a jolt, a bit of déjà vu, and an impulsive change of plans. It got very hot, but we not only survived, but really enjoyed our long hike.
Time to hit the first national park on our trip, Glacier. Since it wasn't that far from Missoula, we went all the way to the park and did a quick trail before going back to our motel.
We had a quiet 4th of July in Missoula. We spent a bit of time with Ken and Karen, which is always fun. We also got to see the base of operations for smokejumpers.
We continued along the Idaho panhandle, having lunch at Lolo pass. Then on to Missoula for dinner with a group of my Montana family.
The Winkle Family reunion came to an end, so we went to the Idaho panhandle and back into Pacific Time.
Another full day of the Winkle Family Reunion. This time with lunch in the park, a stroll through campus, and a short hike along a segment of the Oregon Trail.
A full day with the Winkles started with a hike, continued with a big group lunch and a walking tour of downtown, and ended with a pizza night.
Our first time driving through Eastern Oregon and Southern Idaho was rewarded with great views. We also got to see lots of Winkles, wandered a bit around downtown Boise, and even acquired boots for Melody.
Our time in Yakima came to an end, as it was time to start making our way towards Boise. First, however, we toured the Hanford B Reaactor, then spent the night in Pendleton.
This was a hiking day, or at least attempt to hike day. The temperature cooperated while we were out and about, and we got back to the house and relaxed when it got hotter.
Vacation time again. This time we’re doing a road trip, anchored around a family reunion and swinging through a few National Parks. This will be the longest road trip we’ve taken. First stop, Yakima.
We made our annual trip to the Southern California area. Mochi was made and miles were walked.
It's taken me quite a while to put this last post together. Part of it is trying to get back into things here, part wanting for the experience to sink in a bit before reflecting. Instead of a regular blog post, I decided to summarize odds and ends our trip in a series of bullet points, with some final thoughts at the end.
We had two short days on the way to Japan, and we make up for it with a 41-hour day on the way back. We did manage to sneak in an art museum before heading to the airport.
It's come down to this. One more full day in Japan, and about six hours of that going from our Takayama hostel to our Tokyo hotel. We got some great views from the trains, and even managed to get a little sightseeing in.
We're heading into the last stretch of our trip, with this day being the last without travel (we travel to Tokyo the next day, then fly home the day after that). We spent it visiting the old Takayama government building followed by another walking course which went by several temples and shrines. It then went uphill to a park with the ruins of Takayama Castle.
We had two major sights planned for the day. The museum was about a half hour walk to the west of the hostel, and the walking course was about 20 minutes to the east. So we knew we had quite a bit of walking ahead of us, but we were able to break it up into different segments.
