StraightAhead » Travel

Monterey Penninsula

Terry — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:56:10 +0000

I was pretty tired driving yesterday because I didn’t sleep too well the night before, but I made it up to the Monterey Penninsula and stayed at a Hotel right on the beach. It is beautiful. I watched the seals swimming and diving as I had my coffee and Ultimate French toast in thee restaurant on the 4th floor. It’s a best western resort and I loved it. I drove through more beautiful country and mountains yesterday but couldn’t enjoy it as much as I usually do because of tiredness. I went to sleep last night at 9 so it should be a better day today not that any of it has been bad. The Pacific is beyond awesome, I just love to stare at it and the seals riding in the waves. Today I head for San Francisco which is just a little over 100 miles i think from here. I have booked a hotel for two nights and hope to find some hot Jazz somewhere while I am there. I may still go up to the redwoods from there, but I am not sure. I may turn toward Denver after San Francisco and then home. The car is still running like a champion. later.

San Diego/Oceanside

Terry — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:40:34 +0000

This was a great,great place to visit. I stayed in the La Quinta at Oceanside for three nights and went into San Diego Saturday and toured around the old historic district and then the downtown area. The climate here is very good and the palm trees and mountains side by side are beautiful. I ate at a Cuban restaurant yesterday for lunch and it was a fantastic experience and the food was great too. First time I think for me to have cuban. Sunday I went for a long walk on the beach , long walk. The pacific has very big and beautiful waves and it was pretty cold. I think it’s always that way. It’s almost as if it doesn’t care about you and will beat you up, if it had feelings. There were a lot of surfers out, they like it and I could see why. The weekend was pretty tiring but very satisfying, it’s a beautiful place to visit. I think the earthquakes will keep from ever moving here, though. I’m taking off up the coast of Cal today maybe as far as Monterey or San Francisco. later.

The Last Few Days

Terry — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 05:22:28 +0000

I haven’t posted anything about my trip lately, because some of that time I wasn’t connected and other times I was just too busy or driving most of the day. I went back to my nephew’s in Anthem after I left Flagstaff. I had a great time visiting with them and their children. They are the Phoenix Dunns. I really liked the church where they worship. It was a meaningful God experience for me. So was Zion National Park and points between Anthem and there. The drive up to Zion was pretty awesome and memorable. I got to wondering how they would pick one area from this amazing scenery to call a National Park. When I got to Zion I understood why they picked it. I was awestruct most of the time, but when I went through that mile long tunnel through solid rock with no lights inside of it, that really did it for me. I loved actually driving at the bottom of canyons and looking up at the amazing cliffs and formations, partial arches etc. I saw and felt God in that valley. I stayed in the lodge which was nestled in amongst the large sheer faced mountains.

The Drive from Zion Today was amazing too. Some of the best windy roads I’ve ever driven on and my car loved them as much as I did. Of course I know it’s an inanimate object but many people will know what I mean. You become one with the car at times. The mountains along the coast of California as you see them when coming from the east are breath taking. There was a mist on them and they are big and some of the valleys you drive down into are big and you fly down the road back and forth getting to the bottom. I was thinking as big as Texas is and as many great things there are in my state , I saw things today that are bigger than anything you will ever see in Texas. Maybe Big Bend is an exception, maybe it’s the angle you come into these places from , I don’t know. I was getting loud every now and then just from sheer joy. Anyway , here I am close to San Diego, tomorrow I go to the Pacific. It has been a trip for the ages and it is not near over yet. later.

Tired in the Canyon

Terry — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:44:29 +0000

Today I did the hike down the South Kaibab trail here at the Grand Canyon. I was kindof euphoric on the way down , it is such a beautiful piece of God’s work. I hiked in about an hour and a half leaving the top at 9:30 am and turning around about 15 minutes below Cedar Ridge at 11 am. I lost a lot of that Euphoria on the way out when the real work started. It is a hard thing to do in the high altitude. I had to stop and rest every now and then. I got out in about 2 hours, so I was in a total of 3.5 hours. I will sleep good tonight, no doubt. It’s a great place but my next big hike will be at a new place. I don’t have any desire anymore to hike all the way down to Phantom Ranch. I will leave here tomorrow and head down to Flagstaff to stay with friends tomorrow night then back to my Nephew’s Thursday… later

Seventh day I think

Terry — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 04:15:03 +0000

I drove up to the Grand Canyon today through Flagstaff. I ran through some ice and snow on the roads up here but it didn’t last too long. It is definitely colder up here and is supposed to snow tonight maybe 7 inches, so I will find out in the morning when I wake up. I’m staying here in the bright angel lodge and it is really old and neat. I will hike part of the South Kaibab trail tomorrow and have lunch down in the canyon and walk back out. It will probably be cold and snowy. I drove through some really beautiful scenery today and it took me about four hours to drive up. I’m sixty two now so instead of costing me 25 dollars to get in the park it only cost me 10 and that buys me a lifelong pass to every national park in the country. That was a pleasant surprise. Anyway, I’ve been having a great time at my Nephew’s with him and his family. more later.

Fourth Day?

Terry — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:29:29 +0000

I’m writing this on my fourth day of the trip, but I will tell you about yesterday. Not much to tell, really. I did work out and take a long walk and drive around the area seeing where the starbucks were, there are two or three of them, cool. Today Andrew, myself and Dave, Andrew and Allison’s other Granpa are going on a good hike up in the mountains. It is a gorgeous blue sky day and I will be posting some pictures to flikr before too much longer. I’ll find some picture to post on this today too. We had some really good pizza last night. I was up kindof late in my room talking to a friend of mine so I stayed in bed this morning until about 9am. Jayme has been telling me about the church they go to now and I am looking forward to going with them Sunday. We are going over to Janice and Trey’s Saturday night to eat. They were over here for a while last night and was really good to see them. Trey is going to cook something on the grill Sat. evening. Andrew only has to go to school half a day today so that is how he is getting to go on the hike with us today. More later.

Toby in his Crate

Second Day

Terry — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:52:01 +0000

My second day of driving was good, but longer than the first. I didn’t go through anymore dust storms and that’s good. I encountered one traffic/safety camera but I wasn’t speeding.. They were nice enough to let me know that I was entering a safety camera zone so I slowed down to 75 after I saw the sign. I’m sure glad I saw the sign. I hate those things. This one was a mobile one too so it wasn’t in the data base of my radar detector. no good. It was in Arizona. Any way I got to my nephews about 6:30 or so in the evening. This place is beautiful , surrounded by desert mountains and cool and clear. Bluest sky you ever saw. I went for a long walk this morning after my workout. It felt very good to give my butt a break and actually use my legs after two days of driving. In Tucson, I tried looking up my cousin who is there helping her boy friend set up for the big gem show they are having. It’s bigger than I thought it would be, there was really no chance of finding her. Once I left Elpaso it didn’t take long to get through New Mexico and into Arizona. Anyway it’s good to be here and not driving long distances for a little while. I’m communicating with friends and Family on facebook while on my trip. that’s about it for this installment.

First Day of The Western Journey

Terry — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:37:34 +0000

I left home about 10 am and got to Fort Stockton about 5:15 pm. Pretty uneventful day except for the dust storm I got into after Ozona Texas. It lasted all the way to Fort Stockton and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees really quickly. My front end on my car is still pulling a little bit to the right, it’s enough to bug me after a while. There’s a little bit of a balance problem starting at about 95 mph too. The speed limit being 80 mph is great out here. I feel ok setting it on 85 and am pretty satisfied with that speed. I just hope they don’t have a no tolerance policy on this speed limit. Anyway it was a good day. The Garmin is great. I did exactly what it said to get through San Antonio even though I didn’t want to a couple of times, but I didn’t really know where I was for sure so I just went with it. It was great. The Roadway inn in Ft. Stockton is ok. FS itself is pretty bleak looking though. Until next time.

The West Trip

Terry — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:39:58 +0000

I will be leaving tomorrow for points west. I hope to surprise my cousin in Tucson when I pop in at the gem show which is right on the way to Anthem where my Nephew and his family live. I will use my blog for updates on the trip so anybody that might be interested can see where I am and what I am doing. I will put links to maps etc. to let everybody see my progress. I should be in Anthem by the weekend. I just have to do a few things here at home today and finish packing. Later

Germany

Terry — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 12:29:15 +0000

Well, here I am in Germany having a great time. My wife and I have traveled in the Rhine and Mosel River valleys, to the City of Worms, to Garmish in the Bavarian Alps, to Munich, to Saltzburg and back here to where we are staying most of the time in Hirchorn close to Kaiserslautern. Here we are staying with friends and relatives by marriage, long story. We are staying in a beautiful house that was built in 1786. We haven’t heard or seen any ghosts yet, but they gotta be here. We have done a lot of wine tasteing and something that’s called a wine probe over here. Sounds interesting doesn’t it. I’ve learned a lot about wine , especially German wine. I never could have imagined how much acreage is dedicated to growing grapes over here. They grow much of it straight up the sides of steep hills. They don’t waste any of the land. I am going to upload a bunch of the pictures I have taken to flickr.com and will post a blurb when those are done. The language barrier hasn’t been that hard to live with and I have learned a certain amount of German, but not nearly enough. I will be glad to get back to English all the time though. The trains are great over here, just as they are in England. Too bad the usa never got on that wagon. Munchen(Munich)is a beautiful city. We were there one very loud night. Didn’t get much sleep. We went to the world famous HaufBrau house while there. That was fun. They had a pretty good oompaa band happening there. We have to travel back across the ocean Monday, don’t really want to go back to the old routine at home. Gotta get the taxes in etc. More later.