Las Vegas , Mt. Charleston and Red Rock Canyon

 June 5, 2021

The last year has been a challenging one especially in terms of travel.  Jim and I decided to take a chance and book a trip to Las Vegas, Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon in January.  It turned out to be a good decision as the Covid-19 travel restrictions started to loosen up in May.

 Our trip started on May 20 with a very early flight at 6:30 AM.  With a layover in Atlanta and the time zone difference we landed in Las Vegas at 11 AM.  The flight from Atlanta to Las Vegas was totally full so that indicated how many people were traveling!    

 We had reserved a standard SUV in January which was the right choice for our travels.  What we didn't expect was temperatures 20 degrees below the norm of 80 degrees.  Living in Florida full time makes 60 degrees feel chilly.  The winds were also whipping around at 30 mph, also unusual, and prevented Bellagio, from providing the fountain show that happens every day....except when there are high winds.  We did a lot of walking around the hotel which was decorated to the max.   The ceilings were decorated with glass flowers and other interesting glass decor.

 

                                                                Bellagio Hotel

                                                           The ceiling has glass flowers

 

The hotel also featured an inside botanical garden which changes every season

 

 There are numerous restaurants and shopping throughout the hotel.  We made reservations at Lago, a small plate restaurant for our second and final night stay at the hotel.  

 

 Here is one of the entrees we ordered.  It was yummy.  We had hoped to see the fountain show from our table but it was too far away.

 

 We did see the fountain show after dinner.  It runs every 15 minutes after 8 PM and each show is different because the fountain moves to various music such as Elton John, etc. 

We visited other hotels on the strip over the next day.  It was still cold and there was so  many people that we were anxious to leave Las Vegas and get out into more open areas...and hopefully some warmer temperatures.  There were not a lot of shows and performances going on in May but they were going to start opening more in June and July.

We moved on the third morning to a hotel in Summerlin which is about 30 minutes from the strip but still considered the western part of Las Vegas.  We had two destinations that day.  The first was Mt.Charleston which is located in the Spring Mountains National Recreation area.  I had heard much about this area but never had an opportunity to visit.  The road climbed up to 8,000 ft but you could hike up to the top of Mt. Charleston peak at an elevation of 11,000 ft.  It was very cold and surprise.....it started to snow.   

    

                                                       You can see the snow flakes in this photo. 

There were also horses roaming the area.  We think they belonged to one of the residents.   We had planned to do a short hike and we were able to find a quarter mile hike that was enough for us in the cold weather.

 

The lodge

                
There is an actual town of Mt. Charleston.  The lodge is the main tourist area but there are houses in the surrounding area  The winds had been over 60 mph the day before this photo was taken and the town was now running on generators .  What a different world exists on Mt. Charleston.  Note....the temperatures in Mt. Charleston returned to the high 80's a few days after we were there.  Go figure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Charleston,_Nevada 

 

Our next stop for the day was Red Rock Canyon.  It is a National Recreation area and there were timed tickets required for visits to the canyon. You can hike it, bike it and drive it.  There is a 13 mile road that meanders through the canyon and allows access to the hiking areas throughout the canyon.  Luckily I looked up information for the area the day before and discovered we needed a timed ticket and were able to obtain one before we got there.  You also need a National Park pass to enter as well as the timed ticket (the time ticket was only necessary through June 1 ) so we had both and access was easy. It is definitely worth a visit.  Here is the link for information on Red Rock.

 

https://www.redrockcanyonlv.org/ 

 

We had decided to do a hike in the canyon.  I had looked over some hikes and decided on Calico Tanks.  It was listed as a moderate hike with a scenic view.  It turned out to be a more difficult hike than we thought.  The sole of my hiking shoe started to come apart from the shoe and I slipped going back down the canyon and hurt my right leg.  Thank goodness it was not debilitating and we were able to finish the hike.   Here are some photos from our drive/hike in the canyon. 

 

This blog is the first of two blogs.  The second blog on our visit to Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon as well as Hoover Dam will be completed very soon.

 

Getting Lost in Lancaster and Gettysburg, PA

 11/11/2020

 

As usual I am behind in my blogs.  It's been a busy few weeks since my return to Florida but that's no excuse.  I'll try to get these blogs done in a more timely manner in the future.

 Al Lowich and I had been talking about trying to get together for a short trip somewhere where there was no mandated quarantine. The solution was to head into Pennsylvania after meeting each other in New Jersey.  I was able to work out staying in New Jersey for less than 24 hours upon arrival toTrenton as well as departing within 24 hours so that I could comply with New Jersey regulations that I would be considered as "passing through"  and not required to quarantine for 14 days.

Al and I headed to our first destination on Thursday 10/15 to Lancaster, PA.  I had booked a room in Lancaster outside the main city so that we could cycle through the Amish countryside and hoping as well to see some fall foliage.  We were lucky to do both.  I found a route on the Lancaster Bicycle website that was 51 miles that included a covered bridge, a bakery and two ice cream stops.   Due to a afternoon start we were able to cover less than half the route but we saw everything except the last ice cream stop.   Here are some photos from that route.  It was a beautiful afternoon .  We started at 1:30 PM when the temp was 63 degrees.

Conestoga Covered Bridge

Conestoga Covered Bridge

Amish Country farmlands

An organic llama farm.  Is this the GEICO hump-day" celebrity llama?

A horse enjoying his meal

Amish Ice Cream stop

Unfortunately we arrived here at 4 PM.....just at closing time.   At this point in the route we decided to turn around and head back but my Garmin had other ideas.  It lost the route....due to operator error...and we had to use Google maps to find our way back to the start.   It was late and I was not sure how to switch the map from car route to cycling route so we were stuck going back on busy roads.   It still was a great ride!

We made it back to the start by 5:30 PM and it was still light.  We were never so glad to see Al's car at the start of the route!    Whew......

The hotel desk person recommended the restaurant next to the hotel.   There was no dressing up required and that suited us just fine.   What we didn't know was the chef/owner was a past chef for the White House.  

This book was on display at the restaurant and of course available for purchase.  We flipped through it and saw some great recipes.  We also learned that the chef prepared meals from Obama as well as George Bush.  I would highly recommend this restaurant if you are visiting the area.  The food was excellent, moderately priced and the inside was cozy and inviting.

This is the front of the restaurant.... The Greenfield. 

This is a photo of the front of the restaurant....The Greenfield Restaurant and Bar

Fall foliage in Lancaster in front of the hotel

The next day it rained as predicted.  We were glad that we rode the day before.  We decided to head up to Hanover, PA early even though it was suppose to rain there as well. As it turns out....the rain stopped and we were able to check into our hotel early at 10:30 AM.   We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Hanover, PA....the same hotel that the Philly Bike Club stays at when they have their fall foliage weekend.  Unfortunately due to the virus the trip was canceled so we decided to recreate our own fall foliage weekend.  

After settling in at the hotel we ventured off to Gettysburg to tour the Gettysburg National Military Park.  It was very busy when we arrived at the park.  We went into the visitor center to get some help planning a tour of the park.  We have been here many times...cycling around the park on one of our visits.. and were looking for a different twist to the tour.  The park ranger told us about the Eisenhower Farm and we decided to start there since we had never seen that part of the park.  We didn't even know it was part of the park.   However it didn't turn out that way.  We couldn't find the farm and we decided to take the regular tour.  Disappointing.....until we found the Eisenhower Farm when we were driving near Little Round Top on the regular Gettysburg tour.   Here are some photos of the Gettysburg part of the tour as well as our stop at the Eisenhower Farm.

For more information on these sites click on the links below.

https://www.nps.gov/gett/index.htm

 https://www.nps.gov/eise/index.htm

 

The Florida Monument

A Map of the Eisenhower National Historic Site

The Eisenhower Farmhouse.   Only part of it is original.  The park ranger gave a talk and mentioned that part of the house was a log cabin underneath and had to be torn down and rebuilt to make the farmhouse habitable

Eisenhower greenhouse

I highly recommend a stop at the Eisenhower National Historic Site while touring the main park at Gettysburg

We had a full day of sightseeing and were looking for a inexpensive restaurant when we got back to the hotel.  We ended up at a local Italian restaurant, La Cucina.   The food was excellent, a local favorite and the owner even waited on tables.

https://www.lacucinaitalian.com/

 

We expected cooler temperatures in the morning and boy was it cool.....33 degrees at 8 AM.  Thank goodness we were able to have breakfast included with our hotel stay so we didn't have to go outside.  There was no way either of us were going to cycle until it warmed up.   We found an Amish farmer's indoor market and picked up some shoofly pie as well as some whoopie pies in peanut butter and regular creme flavor to bring back as gifts.  You can't go to the Amish country without bringing back some shoofly pie!

 

By 9:30 AM it was 41 degrees....a heatwave...and we decided to explore Cordorus Sate Park.  It wasn't a far drive from our hotel and it has lots of areas to walk around and explore.  It is definitely worth a visit.  There are marina's in several parts of the park as well as a Veteran's memorial and disc golf.

https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/StateParks/FindAPark/CodorusStatePark/Pages/default.aspx 

 Here are some photos of the park

 

The disc golf basket where they try to get the disc in the basket.  Interesting game

 

Part of the disc golf course

Cordorus State Park became a big part of the rest of our trip there.  Al decided not to ride and since I knew the way to the park by car ....I felt it was safe to go back to the hotel and ride up to the park.  Al followed behind me with the car just in case I needed a sag.  The ride was hillier than I thought but I got 20 miles in for the afternoon.  I had to wait for the temps to get into the 50's and it was not until 2 PM that it was warm enough to ride.

We had spotted a local restaurant on that route and decided to try it for dinner.  It was a local diner and not worth a trip back for a future meal.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g52780-d509703-Reviews-Clair_s_Family_Restaurant-Hanover_Pennsylvania.html

When we woke up on Sunday it was 32 degrees and again too cold to ride.  Bummer.  After breakfast we went back to Codorus State Park, walked a few miles and visited the part of the park that had disc golf (photos above)

We decided to head back to New Jersey early and stop at Valley Forge National Historic Park on the way back.

 https://www.nps.gov/vafo/index.htm 

 We drove the Encampment Tour which was a nice drive with the final highlight of the Washington Memorial Chapel.   There were some other interesting stopping points along the tour as well.   By the time we got to the park the temperature was more moderate.  There were a lot of visitors that day.

It was getting late....and we got lost finding the PA turnpike on the way out of the park so it took us a little longer to get back to New Jersey to pick up Marty K for dinner at DeLorenzo's in PA.  They have 50% restaurant seating virus mandates so we made sure we made reservations.  The tables are space 10 feet apart and there is outdoor seating as well.  

If you enlarge the photo you can see that my mask says DeLorenzo's.   Al bought it for me as a souvenir of our trip.

 

Marty,Al and I enjoyed the tomato pie which I can't get in Florida.  I make sure I have tomato pie each time I come to New Jersey/PA....unless the virus would prevent me from accomplishing the task. 

We had a great trip.  What I neglected to mention is that we were got lost on most every adventure on this trip including getting lost in Lancaster on the ride, getting lost in Gettysburg trying to find the Eisenhower house and getting lost trying to find our way back on to the PA Turnpike to get back to NJ.  Thank goodness for Google Maps!

 

 

 

 

A Trip to the East Coast of Florida

 October 12, 2020

At the end of September Jim and I decided to resume exploring Florida.  I had not been to West Palm Beach and north so we scheduled a trip to West Palm Beach, Ft. Pierce, Coco Beach and Kennedy Space Center.  

Our first stop was West Palm Beach.  For those of you who have visited this area before you know well that it is an upscale community.  I had no idea how upscale!

These photo and the one above are of Mar a Largo, Trump's West Palm Beach home/hotel

We were able to get these photos from our bike while we were riding A1A the morning after we arrived.  There was a secret service agent hiding in the bushes and showed himself while I was taking these photos.  

It was my birthday so Jim treated me to a 4 star hotel in West Palm Beach called The Brazilian Court hotel  

Here is the website for anyone who wants to treat themselves to an outstanding hotel with lots of luxury.

https://www.thebraziliancourt.com/ 

This is a photo of our room.  The flowers were from Jim for my birthday

We went to dinner at the restaurant in the hotel on our first night there.  It had a French menu.  The photo is of the bartender and we ate at the bar for dinner

 

We decided to try and get a sunrise photo that ended up not happening but we did walk the beach a bit and took a photo of us enjoying that walk.  Not a great photo, though.

 

For our second day we decided to treat ourselves to a visit and lunch at the Breaker's Hotel in West Palm beach   It was on the way to our second destination, Ft. Pierce.

 

Here is the website for more information

 

https://www.thebreakers.com/ 

 

 

Below are some photos of the restaurant and the view,

A view from our table at the Seaside Bar restaurant at the Breaker's

 

 

The bat at the Seaside Bar Restaurant.  It is a real aquarium with dory fish and two eels.  

We walked around the hotel and took some photos.  Above is one of the many sitting areas of the hotel.

The hotel is truly was an amazing structure and very elegant.

We left the hotel and next destination was Ft. Pierce.  Most of the day was driving along A1A looking at the homes along the Atlantic.  It was a beautiful drive. We arrived at the hotel in the rain so we just relaxed to be ready for another adventure.  We were lucky to find the Navy Seals museum on our drive into Ft. Pierce so we decided to visit the next day.

The Navy Seal museum was very interesting with lots of exhibits both inside and outside and we spent two hours visiting.  Below are some photos from out visit.

 

https://www.navysealmuseum.org/ 

If you are ever in Ft. Pierce this museum is definitely worth a visit.

We continued on our planned trip to Coco Beach/ Kennedy Space Center.  Coco Beach is very honky tonk and reminded me of Seaside Heights.   There are lots of bars and miniature golf places along the road.  It was definitely a different crowd than West Palm Beach.

We were able to get the top floor at the Hampton Inn which was considered beachfront.  We did have to walk a short walk along a pathway to access the beach but the view was great.

Since this is the east coast of Florida pictures of sunrise rather than sunsets (west coast) were the pictures to capture.  Most of the mornings were cloudy so the sunrise was not that great but the last morning we were able to get a few photos of sunrise.

This one looks like there was a funnel cloud but it was just the way the sun rose that morning that created that image.

On Sunday early morning we rode up AIA north so that we could get some photos of Patrick Air Force Base.  We were able to get a 30 mile ride in that morning with a quick rest stop at a 7-11

The balance of Sunday was saved for the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island.  We felt that we had plenty of time as we alloted 4 hours for the visit.  There are many exhibits that will take 4 hours to complete.  The bus tour to the launch pad was not running and that would have taken an additional 2 hours so if you do decide to visit in 2021 when the bus tour is scheduled to resume you should allow at least 6 hours for your visit.  The good thing was that you could purchase a half price entry ticket if you purchased one full price ticket at this time since the bus tour was not in service.  There is also another purchase option of paying full price for two tickets with complimentary return tickets in 2021.   It's your choice!

Here is is the link for more information on the Kennedy Space Center.

https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/?utm_source=GoogleMaps&utm_medium=Local&utm_campaign=visitorcomplex

It was definitely worth the visit.  Below are photos from our visit.

On our way out of Coco Beach I wanted to get a photo of a street sign with a strange name that I had seen on our bike ride the day before.    I have been sending these to Our Lady of the Perpetual Headwinds....aka Laura....so that I can help her add to her collection of strange/interesting street signs.

Turns out that Coco Beach was the site of some of the filming for I Dream of Jeannie.  Remember that show?

As are most vacations the trip home seemed a bit long but we had lots of great memories from this visit to the east coast.  We plan to continue exploring the east coast in the future starting where we left off and continuing northward.