In the Florida Keys, the locals call the road that connects the mainland to the islands the “18 Mile Stretch.” Here in Hawaii, we traveled another Stretch, the “Chain of Craters Road,” that starts at the top of the Kīlauea Caldera and follows the lava flow 18 miles downhill to the sea. The first part … Continue reading
The house we’re staying in is about 2 miles from the Kīlauea Caldera in the Volcano National Park. The volcano has erupted as recently as 1982! Here’s an aerial photograph to give you a little perspective on how close we are (the blue dot is us): The Hawaiian Islands are volcanic islands. As fissures have … Continue reading
We flew from Los Angeles to the big island of Hawaii today, with a short layover in Honolulu. We’re now near the little village of Volcano, about 25 miles southwest of Hilo, staying at Hale Mauka (Hawaiian for “mountain house”), our home exchange. Our home exchange partners, Rob and Diana, moved to the big island … Continue reading
Hola from LA! We flew into LAX yesterday and are visiting our dear friend, Debbie Yates, in Culver City, California, en route to Hawaii for our 30th anniversary. It’s been a beautiful day here in Southern California: clear skies and about 72° outside, so we took advantage of the weather and the fact that today … Continue reading
This past weekend, on Dale’s birthday, we flew up to Madison, Wisconsin, for a wedding: Jim and Von Gern’s son, Tyson, was getting married to his long-time girlfriend, Kristina. After arriving in Madison to 103° heat, we checked into the hotel and went to the Gern’s for a wedding party where we were able to … Continue reading
This past Saturday, Cinco de Mayo, was Kelly’s graduation from the University of Florida. The night before, we went to The Yearling Restaurant in Cross Creek for a family celebration. Dale and I had been here 29 years ago with our parents and siblings for our graduations from UF and the place has hardly changed. … Continue reading
On the way out to Brownsville, we took the most direct route after leaving the Florida panhandle. But on the way back home we wanted to drive along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast as much as possible. That meant that we were going to have to take ferries on the way back (they were … Continue reading
The drive along the Texas coast in some places is really fantastic. There are frequent, long expanses of empty beaches and at one point I saw a pod of dolphins from the road as I drove along. Dale was fascinated by the shrimp boats trawling just off the beach. But the drive along Galveston Beach … Continue reading
We left the southern tip of Texas and drove north to Corpus Christi where we camped on the beach at Mustang Island State Park. In the morning we were awakened by an attack of the birds right outside the RV windshield. Dale was starting to feel better and decided to go for a beach drive … Continue reading
Before we left South Padre Island, I drove to nearby Brownsville, Texas, to see the border crossing into Mexico. We neglected to bring along our passports (having packed them in our luggage that is sitting at home awaiting our upcoming trip to England), so I knew I couldn’t cross over into Mexico and return through … Continue reading
We had a really long driving day from Louisiana to Brownsville, Texas (540 miles), but here we are now on the opposite side of the Gulf of Mexico from Florida. In the Keys we watch the sun set over the Gulf, but here on the Texas side we watch the sun rise. We’re on South … Continue reading
We’re in Louisiana having the RV serviced after visiting Kyle and Kelly for a couple days in Gainesville. We left Gainesville Monday morning and drove along the Gulf coast, stopping for dinner in Apalachicola, a fishing village known for its oysters. We knew this was the place as soon as we stopped the RV – … Continue reading
It started to rain, so they closed the roof. There was a full moon over Miami. At the old stadium, we’d be getting wet now. And so, it begins…
We’re at the Miami Marlin’s first game in their new stadium against the University of Miami Hurricanes (it’s an exhibition game) with our friends from Germany, Suzanne, Frank and Lennart. We have great seats by first base. It’s a good thing that there’s a sliding roof because it looks like rain tonight.
We ended our day with a tour of the Mormon’s Conference Center, completed just a little while before the 2002 Winter Olympics that were held in Salt Lake City. The Conference Center is huge! It will hold 21,000 people, covers 1,800,000 square feet and has a four acre rooftop park, complete with pine trees and … Continue reading
On the ground floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, the Mormons have a computer facility for genealogical research. Most Mormons have researched their lineage because they believe that they can bring salvation to their ancestors through prayer but, first, they have to know who to pray for; ergo, their interest in genealogy. The main … Continue reading
We heard that the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, which was originally built as a hotel, had a restaurant near the top, called the Garden Restaurant. Much of the building still feels like a hotel and though it is (I think we were told) 100 years old, it has been immaculately rstored and maintained. The lobby … Continue reading
The first church building the Mormons built was the Tabernacle, built while the rest of the USA was involved in the Civil War. Utah was a territory at the time, not a state, so the War did not affect the Mormons to any significant degree. The Tabernacle has a very distinct dome-like appearance. The roof … Continue reading
It took the Mormons 40 years to build their Temple in Utah. Most of the building was constructed from hand-hewn granite, hauled from over 20 miles away on ox-carts. It is a very impressive building. That,s the front of the Temple behind us. The Temple is only open to members of the Mormon Church. Several … Continue reading
Salt Lake City is the home of the Mormon Church. The Mormons own a 35 acre complex in the heart of the downtown, known as Temple Square. The most impressive buildings in the Square are the Temple, the Tabernacle, the Assembly Hall, the Church Office Building, the Conference Center and the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. … Continue reading
We enjoyed our stay in the Utah mountains. Part of the reason we like home exchanging is that we don’t have to eat all our meals out while we’re traveling. Iit’s nice to have a kitchen and the comforts of (a) home. The kitchen at this exchange was really something special. Look at the view … Continue reading
We had thought about taking today off from skiing, but the weather report called for it to be really cold tomorrow, so we went skiing in Park City today, thinking that we’ll stay indoors tomorrow. It was relatively warm today. Since the holiday weekend ended yesterday, the slopes were pretty empty today. The Park City … Continue reading
Yesterday we drove to Robert Redford’s ski resort, Sundance. It’s about an hour from where we’re staying, on the way to Provo, Utah. We were expecting a quaint village with shops and restaurants since we thought this was the venue for the famous Sundance Film Festival held every January. It turns out that there is … Continue reading
We have no idea what “shredding the gnar” means, but that’s what Trevor says when he has a good day skiing. Our ski destination today was my favorite ski resort, Deer Valley, for a couple reasons: they don’t allow snowboarders; it’s less crowded than the other resorts (probably because it’s more expensive); and, it is … Continue reading
We’ve seen about a dozen deer in the last 24 hours. They are all over the mountain we’re on. We also see them along the roads. Today we drove into Park City and on the way we came upon this sign, which was just too good to pass up. I hope the deer can read. … Continue reading
The Road Less Traveled 