Vegas Vegas Kiwi

Whaaat?  OK, I'll 'splain.

Never been to Vegas.  I know, right?  She's over 50, single, and has never been to Vegas.  Hard to imagine, but true story.  But here's the thing.  I have a little side gig that I absolutely love, as an independent consultant for Rodan + Fields.  It's a great product, really does what it says it will, and I like to share that good news.  Check out my website.

Plug over, it's ok, you can read on.

Anyway, there's an annual convention for this company and this year it's in Vegas, so I figure, meh, why not?  So early October, I'll be heading down to spend three days exploring, learning, meeting friends that I've known for months but never met in person, and generally having a blast.  Don't worry, the camera will be at the ready all...the....time.  This will be a fabulous experience for street photogs, people watching, and who knows what else.  And yes I know, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, so I won't name names.  Tee hee!

Then in early November, the company that I WORK for (notice the difference, the side gig is not really work at all....) is all going down for some team building, cavorting, and general mayhem.  Or maybe there will be a half hour business meeting in there somewhere.  Anyway, it should be fun.  

And now, officially, I have my vacation approved, and it's just a matter of booking the flights, and then it's New Zealand here I come!  In Kiwi summer even!  This is just so awesome.  So I'm working hard to make sure that every photo I take will be one to keep, and maybe even share, and saving my pennies (well, maybe not pennies since they no longer work in Canada) and trying to figure out what to pack and where I'm going to find the time to buy new clothes and need to lose some weight.....  omg.  So much to do, so little time gotta go see ya..........

New Zealand, here I come - back

When I visited New Zealand the first time, back in 2010, I started this blog.  The hope was that it could be a way for people back home, friends and family wherever, to come along with me and enjoy the adventure.  Little did I know how many people would participate and follow.  Little did I realize how much fun it would be to take the photos, write the stories and share them.

In past years, before the internet, and before digital photography, I always carried a camera, and wrote a journal of each day's activities in the evening while it was fresh in my mind.  As soon as the pictures were developed, I carefully documented what each one was about, so that my daughter and I could enjoy them again years later.  And it has been wonderful to look at those photos and stories again, bringing back memories that time had faded.  But the reach of that was limited.  We are so blessed to be able to now record so much of our memories so quickly and easily with the use of digital photography and blogging!

Since then, I have also worked hard, and continue to work hard, to step up my game and learn how to better capture the scenes that I visit.  As an apprentice in The Arcanum - a "Magical Academy of Artistic Mastery" - I am learning so much about light, colour, art, and the craft of photography from the master that I'm working with, +Laurie Rubin and learning almost as much from other masters and the other apprentices.  My goal is to become completely comfortable and confident about shooting my next adventure.

And my next adventure will be......ta da da da.... New Zealand!  Back where it all started.  And this is a little story in itself.

My friend Linda was one of those original tagalongs - virturally - on my first sojourn over to the other side of the globe.  It has been a lifelong dream of hers to visit NZ, and when I returned, she said - 5 years, give me 5 years and then I'll go.  Would you come along?  Of course I would.  So a couple of months ago, she reminded me that the 5 years was up, and we needed to go to NZ.  Yes, that's right.  Need, not Want.  Kiwi country calls loud and clear for those who listen, and when you answer, it's like a rope connecting you, and it just keeps pulling you in.

So, planning has commenced.  This blog will now be part of our way to track those plans, and then the trip, and hopefully pull some more people in and along.  No tickets yet, but dates are tentatively set, and we are sooooo excited!

Right now it looks like 2 weeks (not nearly enough), and hitting:
Wellington, Blenheim, Christchurch, Dunedin, Invercargill, Stewart Island, Te Anau, Fjordlands, Queenstown, Twizel, and Middle Earth.

Can't wait to see the sky set ablaze over The Remarkables

Thank goodness for a little extra income from +Rodan + Fields !!!

The last leg

Well, dear diary, I'm home again.  Didn't post yesterday but I don't want to lose the experience.  Even though it seems a bit mundane, the last few hours of driving from an outlet mall (essentially) to the place I usually call home, was all part of this particular road trip Peter Pan adventure.  So....

First, now that I have a good connection, I need to upload my photos from the Friday drive through North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.  Wow, did I really drive through 4 states in one day?  Sounds like a movie.  Whatever.

  Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, where the guy was sleeping in his jeep.  At least I think he was sleeping.  There was no blood dripping down from the bottom of the door like you would see in Criminal Minds.  But you never know...

The New Gorge River bridge that I drove across that felt like it was a bridge across the sky.  The first picture is taken from the top of the stairs at the adjoining visitor center (I didn't go into the park, now on the bucket list!) looking toward the bridge.  After descending the stairs, which only go down about 200 ft - the bottom of the gorge is 600 ft down - I took the second shot looking left.  600 ft is a looong way down.

  

Young's Monument, WV, where a scenic lookout provided a lovely non-snowy winter vista, with the sunlight highlighting a distant rise.  

Now for the drive home.  When I left on Dec. 24, it was in the high teens Celsius, and the forecast was for the temps at home to be around the freezing mark.  So I had packed what I thought was enough warm clothes.  But it's cold here (in Grove City), the temperature has dropped (for me) about 25 C in the last 24 hours.  Savannah was hot and sticky when I left early Thursday afternoon, and I had been driving with the windows down and sunroof wide open most of the way to Winston-Salem, where it was about 9 C when I arrived.  That's chilly enough, but now... well, a windbreaker and sweater are just not going to cut it, and as it turns out, I've had a blowout in my favourite gloves.

So it's a good thing that there's an outlet mall just down the street and on the way to the highway, and they have a 75% off sale on just about everything.  Old Navy, here I come.  I find a lovely winter wool jacket for $13.99 (yes, you saw that right), and a warm fuzzy pullover for $3.99 (yup) and a couple of other goodies.  Next stop is G.H. Bass & Co., where I find two pairs of leather gloves at $14.99 a pair.  I know, right?

Off I go up the highway, and it looks like I might even be able to pick up the cat a little early.  At 11 a.m., little miss GPS (have to come up with a name for her, like Queen GPS) tells me that I should arrive at home about 3:15.  Cool.  I can take my time, maybe even stop for lunch, although the hotel included a hot buffet breakfast.  

I-79 North is mostly barren of traffic, or any life at all.  Still haven't seen any snow, anywhere, on this trip, although that's been largely due to the planning of my routes to avoid precipitation.  I'm about 15 miles south of Erie, PA when I start seeing a bit of white, just a dusting really, and still nothing in the air.  Hop on the I-90 toward Buffalo, start seeing a bit more, but nothing serious.  Then about 10 miles out from Buffalo, there's a sign that reads "Lake Effect snow ahead, reduce speed", and it starts to snow.  Not just snow, but sleet.  It's been a while since I've HEARD snow hitting the car, but this snow was downright noisy.  Not freezing rain, little white pellets (not hail either).  And traffic slows.  Good thing I have extra time!

But not really, although it gets worse and worse the closer I get to the city, and at one point I see a tractor trailer across the median, with the back tires of the trailer on one side of the median and the front tires of the tractor on the other side of the median, and not much underneath, and a lot of skid marks.  A bit further on, in the collectors lanes, there are two vehicles smashed into the guardrail, facing the wrong direction.  Traffic slows a bit more.

As I approach the city proper, the weather doesn't just clear up, it becomes almost dry.  Awesome!  The remainder of the trip is completely uneventful, and I have arrived to pick up Simba about half an hour early, and feeling like I've just had probably the best vacation ever.

Next blog post - interesting things seen on the road (that didn't make the daily post), and tips for making a road trip safe and enjoyable.  Home again - and planning the next one already.  Sigh.  

Driving through the mountains

Wow, it was a "bit brisk" this morning, as one of the other hotel guests said at breakfast.  About 5 C, which is the chilliest I've felt for a long time, considering that it was in the high teens when I left home on Dec. 24.  As I drive north, it's not going to get any warmer, I'm sure.  'Twill take a bit of getting used to.  Especially since I really didn't bring any winter clothing.  Good thing I'll be staying close to an outlet mall tonight!

Sooo.....  one last long drive, since tomorrow should only be about a four or five hour run.  Today looks to be about 7 hours, and since I also hope to get a few pics while driving through the mountain, I head out fairly early, before 9:30.  Not long after I hit the road, I see a car in the ditch off to the right - surrounded by yellow crime scene tape.  Yikes!  No cops around, so no worries.

A bit further, and I see an odd rock formation way ahead in the distance.  Look for a place to stop and take a photo, nothing around... wait... Aha!  Scenic outlook up ahead.  Pull over, and there's only one other vehicle, and that's a jeep parked there.  Weird, doesn't look like anyone is around.  Oh well, grab the camera and walk past jeep to get a shot - omg there's a guy sleeping in the jeep!  Well, at least he wasn't driving if he was that tired.  The whole back of the car is full to the roof with stuff, including his cowboy boots stuffed up against the back window.  I hope he's just sleeping - better not hang around too long in case he wakes up.  Grab the shot... (which I'll have to upload later when I have a decent wifi connection - again).

Next cool experience was in driving through Virginia, and there was a wall of mountain ahead of me.  I couldn't for the life of me figure out where the road went - it didn't appear to go up and over, and there was no discernible way of going around it.  As I went around a curve it became apparent - I was going through the mountain.  They had simply drilled a hole through the mountain, and that's where they put the road.  So, feeling a little Lord of the Rings - ish, I went through the mountain.  The song is wrong, she's not comin' around the mountain, she's comin' straight through!

Next up was West Virginia - wow those mountains are big, and gorgeous, and so dark.  Where the road has been blasted through, you can see that a lot of the rock is black, what's that about?  When I stop at the Welcome center to grab a coffee, there's a little gift shop.  Asking for the one thing I could buy that's truly West Virginia, the clerk suggests the little coal figurines - aha, the black rock is from coal!  Never occurred to me before, although it should have.

Not much farther along, I find myself driving across a huge bridge that appears to be floating in the sky that's how far down it seems the bottom is.  What the heck???  Did they just put a bridge from one mountain top to the next?  That's even weirder than tunneling through a whole mountain.  There's a sign on the other side for a scenic lookout - awesome, I need to see this.  And wow, there's my exercise for the day too, because they've built a staircase partway down the mountainside so that you can get a great view of the whole bridge.  There's a river way down at the bottom, I have no idea how far down it is, but there are tiny cars down there.

Suddenly I hear screeches from below on the other side of the gorge and see people in the river - whaaat???  It's like freezing out here and people are swimming?  Oh ya, it's New Year's Day, a polar bear plunge.  They jump in and race right back out again.

Another stop reveals stepped excavation to build the road.  This must have something to do with the geological formation in this area, I've never seen this before but it's easy to see the layers of different types of rock.  The sky is partly cloudy, and the patches of sun dance across the mountains creating really intriguing patterns.

The rest of the drive is mostly uneventful, although the scenery is quite interesting.  Coming around Pittsburgh at dusk reveals a ton of residential building at the top of each rise, ruining the vista.  Although I'm sure someone made a ton of money.

Arrive in Grove City to a temp of about freezing, so it's a good thing I'll have time to do a bit of shopping tomorrow, didn't bring enough warm clothing!  (Haven't needed it yet...) 

Historic Savannah

Wake up in Savannah GA with no fog, and only five hours of driving ahead of me.  That means if I get my butt out of bed quickly, I can take in a trolley tour.  A number of trolleys (many of them refurbished from days gone by) tour the city driven by knowledgeable guides, following specific routes and stopping at specific points, and they run at 15 minute intervals.  You can hop on and off, take in the sights, shop in the market, take photos, have lunch, then jump back on the next one and continue the tour.  Fabulous, and reasonably priced.

The tour I take is Old Town Trolley Tours, for two reasons.  The first is that they have a nifty GPS tracker system, just scan the QR code on the tour map you get, and it connects you with a schedule for the next trolley at your location, even gives you updated changes to the route.  This was important today as the City Market got blocked off for traffic for this evening's New Year's Eve festivities, and the tour route changed by a block or two.  The second reason is that they also operate tours in a number of other cities, many of which I would love to visit some day (and almost did on this trip).

The tour guides are very entertaining, and provide great details about this very old city with a rich history.  Rich for sure.  Historical, wow.  And I finally get some decent photos of some of the historical and Victorian homes of the south (note that all of these are SOOTC).

  

  

There are so many other wonderful pieces of the city, and if it wasn't for the cars, it might seem like you were stepping back in time, with the brick roads, cobblestone streets, old cotton warehouses, markets, and parks.

      

   

After a light lunch on a patio (how did I manage to find a patio table?) on the riverfront, Blackened Tuna Bites with a chipotle sauce and avacado mash, I finish the tour and fire up the GPS to take me to Winston-Salem, NC.

The first leg of the journey takes me over a very high, very long suspension bridge - of course I can't grab pictures because I'm driving - that is gorgeous.  Here's a stock photo from waymarking.com to give you an idea of what it was like:



Once on the other side, I find that I am no longer in Georgia, but in South Carolina.  Thank goodness I bought this GPS - it is talking me through the entire trip.  If I'm hungry, I ask it for restaurants, it remembers the ones I choose for faster navigation later, and tells me important things like to slow down in school zones.  It shows me little icons where gas stations are, including what brand (if it knows it).  Love it.

The drive is easy all the way to Davidson, NC, just north of Charlotte.  There is a large lit sign by the highway indicating an accident ahead at exit 30 that is blocking both lanes.  Traffic slows to a crawl a couple of miles later, and after about 20 minutes, a tow truck and ambulance passing on the right, and no change to the crawling pace, my trusty GPS suddenly announces that I-77 has been closed and that it was calculating a new route for me.  Love it.  So I inch across to the right lane and take the next exit (which is before the accident), and little Miss GPS guides me around Davidson to the second exit after the accident and I'm on my way.  I tried giving the GPS a high-five but it just kind of bobbed on it's little stand.

Arrive in Winston-Salem, and it's much bigger than I expected.  There's a very tall building with a rounded shape on top that is brightly lit.  It will be interesting to find out what it is (Wells Fargo Center).  The hotel that I booked is really a conference center, The Hawthorne, and it's quite nice.  After the last couple of nights, my fondest hope is that I get decent wi-fi,  My wish comes true when I see that the WAP unit is attached to the ceiling in the hall - right above my room door.  Wonders never cease.

Tomorrow is a long drive up to Grove City, PA, and tonight is New Year's Eve.  Tomorrow is the beginning of a New Year, one which promises to bring many wonderful opportunities.  I hope that I am able to see them all, and grab all of them and make the most of each one.  I hope that more travel is in the future, and more photography, and more precious time with children and grandchildren, family, friends, love and life.  

Fried Green Tomatoes

After an awesome night's sleep, I awoke to... wait for it.. pick your jaw up from the floor after reading this...  Fog.  No shit.  Couldn't see much out the window, and had really hoped to go for one last walk on the beach.  However, it might be gone by the time I'm dressed and ready to go, so a quick shower and pack up (have to leave today :(  ), yup, the fog has lifted.  It's still very hazy out, although it has been since I've arrived.  After a couple of miles, a few more pretty blue jellyfish, some sand and surf between the toes, and feeling enough warm sun and breeze and water to hopefully last a few months, I head back to the hotel and check out.

First stop is... Starbucks.  Since I "lost" (ahem) my Miami Beach Starbucks mug, hopefully I can get a Daytona Beach one.  But no luck.  They are even sold out of the Florida ones, and never made a Daytona one.  That's ok, I can at least get a good cup of coffee, then it's off to find the Daytona International Speedway.  Ever since taking the course to become a race marshall (the people that wave the flags at races), I've thought it would be cool to see what a "real" world-class racetrack is like.  I was completely unprepared.  The sheer size of the place is something that you can't imagine until you see it.

It takes almost 20 minutes to drive on the ring road that runs around the perimeter.  You can hear the cars whining as drivers practise (I guess), and although it's very difficult to find a place to stop and get a photo, I manage to get a couple that at least (although not very photographically interesting) show sort of how big it is.  Unfortunately, due to a very slow connection here this evening, I will have to upload the pics later.  Although I missed the morning tour by about an hour, I find the gift shop, and need to find a few trinkets for my daughter, husband and grandkids.  Val and Chad are huge race fans, so this will be great.  

Next, off to Savannah, GA.  On the way south, I had skipped this in the hopes of getting to the Beach early enough to have dinner.  This time, I'll stay for a while and hopefully catch a bit of the historic area.  The traffic isn't nearly as crazy coming north along I-95 as it was (and is) southbound.  Nice, makes for a much easier drive.

Hitting Savannah before 4 p.m. means I can chill out a bit, figure out where I'm at, and book my next two nights hotel, which could be just as tricky as Christmas even and Christmas Day/night. Check the weather, which so far is holding at no more snow and ice for a couple of days at least.  Check the driving times and hotel availability, and it looks like tomorrow will be Winston-Salem, NC, about a five hour drive.  New Year's Day is probably a good day to just drive, so my next stop after that will be Grove City, PA so I can do a bit of shopping at the outlet mall on Saturday morning before heading home (a four-hour drive).

Anyway, now it's time for dinner.  My friend Myra has recommended two places that she and her husband love when they come to Savannah, the Olde Pink House, and Pirate House Restaurant.  However, neither have any reservations available.  So I check the hotel lobby for flyers, and find a couple that seem like they have good food, reasonably priced, take walk-ins, and are casual.  Perfect.  My trusty GPS gets me to the riverfront, and I'm already excited to come back tomorrow for a trolley tour.

The restaurant I pick is Savannah River House, which seemed to have a fairly extensive menu and lots of southern food (when in Rome...)  I'm really getting to like this southern food, maybe a bit too much.  The drink of the area is the Chatham Artillery Punch.  Which is pretty much what it sounds like.  And I get to take the glass home - like I needed another brandy snifter?  Appetizer is Fried Green Tomatoes, which I've never had before because frankly, it sounds kinda yucky.   But here they are not super greasy, and are served with a paella onion relish and goat cheese - and I'm hooked.  Entree is Pecan Bourbon Salmon, served on a bed of sweet potato mash over sauteed collard greens.  Sooooo yummy!

After that it's time for a walk.  The streets are full of happy people, and live music drifts from a couple of restaurants and bars.  The streets themselves are cobblestone or brick, and you can see the old buildings that are now the eating establishments and stores are very old.  The streets come down to the riverfront down very steep hills, and there are long steep stairs for those brave enough to walk back up.  Hopefully I'll get some good pictures tomorrow.

Beach Days

A couple of days of slowdown.  Charleston appeared to be getting hit with a t-storm, so did some checking and discovered that most of FL would be getting sunshine and warmer than usual temps.  Sounds great, but no longer had the ambition required to drive down to the bottom end of the state, so a compromise, Daytona Beach, where I've never been, but have heard much about (mostly related to March break or Reading Week shenanigans and college students marauding the beaches).  This time of year seems safe enough, so a room is booked for a couple of nights.

Leaving Charleston, I realize that I didn't stop at Starbucks.  The last few trips have netted me some pretty cool Starbucks coffee mugs, and it seems appropriate to look for a Charleston one.  Unable to find one that says "Charleston" on it, like the ones I got from England and Bahrain, at least I was able to find one that was very Charleston-like - it has camelias on it!  Even better, it's 50% off in price.  Score!

The drive to Daytona takes me down the I95 for most of the way, and lo and behold, (I know this is a shock), it rains a good part of the way.  But it's not the kind of downpour I saw through VA and NC.  And somewhere halfway through Georgia, it stops, and the sun starts to appear occasionally through the clouds.  Traffic is very, well, interstate-ish.  Heavy, slow at times, constant watch required but not difficult, as most drivers appear to be quite courteous, not the kind of craziness that I'm used to on the 401.  Jacksonville is pretty busy with road construction everywhere, and then I'm in the home stretch.

Although I had booked a room at The Shores Resort and Spa in Daytona Beach Shores before leaving Charleston (actually, the night before), there was a bit of a glitch in the reservation system, and I arrive to find them scrambling to find rooms for more guests than they have places to put them.  I am asked if I could please stay at their sister property for one of the two nights that I have booked, and since it doesn't really seem like I have a choice I agree.  Not the best decision, not the best hotel, but that's part of going on an unplanned road trip - you don't always get what you expect.  Actually, it was a bit like an old, poorly maintained highway motel room, twin beds, chipped tub, an iron but no board, pretty basic.

The Shores is a 4-diamond VIP (hey, I'm on vacation, I'm worth 2 nights at a good place!) and went out of their way to compensate me, by providing a gratis dinner in the original hotel's very fine restaurant, valet parking, and the first night was on the house.  So all in all, it worked out, just last night wasn't the most pleasant surroundings.  But the room tonight is fab!

This morning I woke up early and took a long walk along the beach, had no idea it was so wide, and so soft.  The surf is pretty high, and there are signs warning of a rip current.  But the water is crazy warm and the air is already hot and humid.  A gorgeous breeze makes it lovely though, and I can't wait to get settled in the Shores in a proper room so that I can have breakfast and enjoy the sand and sea.  On my walk, I find some Tidal Treasures, and set them aside, but it seems the tide is still pretty high, so hopefully later in the day I'll find a few more.

Keeping in mind an earlier experience - Myrtle Beach many years ago - when we were warned to not step on the jellyfish that buried themselves in the sand to stay wet, I had worn my beach shoes.  Good thing, too, because I did find a couple - that I found out later were actually very poisonous, although very beautiful.

After a large, southern breakfast, I learn that my room at The Shores is ready, and I spend the rest of the day lolligagging about on the beach, enjoying the sand and surf and sun and soft warm air.  It may be a few months before I experience this again.  Can't help but think how great it would be to have my brothers and sisters and family with me so that we could splash about like we did when we were kids, swimming and running, and making sand castles and throwing frisbees and not wanting to ever go home.

But tomorrow, it will be time to start heading north again.  There has been a lot of snow and ice there in the past couple of days, so hopefully I will not have to drive through too much yucky stuff, but it will be another day or two I think before I have to worry about it.  Think I'll take a different route back.  First stop, Savannah.  I think.