New York, 11-Apr-2018
/We went way uptown to walk around the Cloisters and said goodbye to Marion and Lester, going to a hostel in Harlem.
Read MoreWe went way uptown to walk around the Cloisters and said goodbye to Marion and Lester, going to a hostel in Harlem.
Read MoreWe spent the first part of the day at the American Museum of Natural History, and the afternoon doing a walking tour through Greenwich Village with Celeste.
Read MoreMonday was a quieter day. We were planning on one attraction, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Looking at the weather and sky, though, we saw that it would be worthwhile to go up the Empire State Building, so we did that on the way. We relaxed for the late afternoon and evening. It's nice to have some planned downtime.
Read MorePart of our Sunday was spent driving back to NYC, but a larger chunk was spent at Storm King Art Center, a huge outdoor sculpture park west of the Hudson River, not far from West Point.
Read MoreEven though we'd only been in New York for a couple nights, we took an overnight side-trip to the Hudson River Valley. Our plans for the day were to visit the FDR Library and Museum, then have dinner at the Culinary Institute of America.
Read MoreOur tourist activities for Friday centered around Central Park, and dinner once again near Union Square. And once again considered the Empire State Building.
Read MoreFor a long time we had intended to go to New York to visit Celeste, and this was finally the year. We got a later start than we intended, but after a red-eye flight, we took it easy for our first day in the City.
Read MoreWe once again made the annual trek to Southern California to be with family and play tourist for a bit, this time at Exposition Park. We also get the opportunity to thaw out a bit in the warmer weather.
Read MoreWe made it home after the last leg of our trip. Of course, that meant crossing the border, which could have been worse.
Read MoreHaving finished the national park part of our trip, it was time to start the trip home. Our route happened to take us through a couple more national parks, so we made a quick stop in one of them.
Read MoreThe whole day consisted of one hike. One long, steep hike. A bookend for our long, steep hike at Glacier National Park.
Read MoreWe fit in a medium-length hike and got sidetracked watching a helicopter work on a small forest fire. Then we returned to the hostel to lots of haze and smoke in the air.
Read MoreOn the way to our fourth (and last) national park for this trip, we drove the Icefields Parkway again, this time stopping at the Athabasca Glacier. Then into Yoho where we saw a natural bridge.
Read MoreOur second of two full days in Jasper National Park was spent mostly north of Jasper town in the Maligne area, although we did wander into the town for a bit. And we got caught in afternoon animal rush hour traffic.
Read MoreAnother gondola ride with hiking to a summit, going around a set of five lakes, and a quick stop at another Fairmont hotel. Just another day in Jasper.
Read MoreBetween Banff and Jasper National Park we traveled along the Icefields Parkway, seeing lakes, waterfalls, and glaciers. Later, we saw several animals wandering along the side of the road.
Read MoreOur second full day in Banff, and we went to Johnston Canyon, Lake Johnson, and in between, took a boat ride on an artificial lake.
Read MoreThe weather started getting cloudier, but we lucked out on our gondola ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain. We then went back to Cave and Basin for a rematch with the mosquitoes, after which we walked around the Banff Springs Hotel area. That was enough for the day.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreTime 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.
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