The road to Charleston, SC

Woke up today jetlagged, but ready to go. The hotel had a complimentary breakfast, our favorite kind. Refreshed a bit, we head out on the road. The GPS tells us it is a simple 2 hour drive from Savannah to Charleston and it is a simple drive. We stop at the Tourist Info Center and the clerk there is very helpful with a map and shows us where to park and what to look for.

We follow his instructions and we are soon walking around downtown Charleston in the sweltering heat and we locate the “Circular Church” for some fun photos before finding the horse and buggy rides for a guided tour of downtown Charleston. We pay for and arrange a front seat ride and are not disappointed as our guide, Will, educates us about the downtown area and the buildings and streets that we see with his mighty steed, “Gary”, the horse that pulls us around the streets without hardly breaking a sweat.

After thanking Will, we depart to find our way on our own the the “Rainbow” section of Old Town where the colorful houses don’t disappoint and the old architecture amazes us with centuries old style. We make our way down to the waterfront and catch many photos along the way as we go. The heat and humidity are breaking us into the South in the fastest way possible. So we make our way back to the car and revel in the air conditioning in the best way.

We had heard about an old tree, the “Angel Tree” along our way. We asked Will on our Horse and Buggy ride. Will identified it as the “Angel Oak Tree” and said it was on “John’s Island”. We thanked him and looked it up. It was a 30 minute ride and we set our GPS and head out to find it. It turns out it is in a protected park that is open until 5PM. We arrived at 4:35PM and had just enough time to get some shots so we were lucky. The tree is estimated to be 400 years old, however there is controversy about its age. Suffice it to say it is old, very, very old. I would guesstimate the trunk to be in excess of 15 feet in diameter. The branches spread more than 200 feet and its height is in excess of 100 feet. The branches are gnarled and twist in a beautiful dance.

We chat with the lady in charge, Maria, and would you know that she is from the city next door to ours in Southern California? Wow, it IS a small world! Well, before we know it, the area is closing and we need to leave so we reluctantly walk out. But we are tired and still jetlagged and we find our way to our hotel, the ‘Tru’ Hotel in North Charleston. We check in and then locate a ‘Low Country’ restaurant for dinner, for when you find yourself in ‘low country’, you eat ‘low country’ food! We find “Nigel’s Good Food” restaurant and sit down for some good Soul Food. The food was good, however they were out of a lot of their BBQ and their Greens so there was some disappointment there. I will say after eating in the South that I understand the expression now, “A moment on the lips, A lifetime on the hips!”

Well, until tomorrow….

Time to Fly

We board our plane in Los Angeles to Detroit and sit there waiting to take off. A short while later we are told this plane is not going to fly today! WTF? So we are told to take our belongings and leave the plane. So it’s back into the terminal. The airlines are telling us that they will bring us an identical plane within 3 hours. 3 hours??? Oh my, this doesn’t sound good at all!

But it turns out it is less than an hour and we are boarding another plane and it’s only 2 Gates away. Crisis is not as bad as we’re being told. Still, stress levels are higher than we like. But this is the world of travel. Relax, we had found a bar and a cold drink in between. Oh, the world of alcohol infused libations! And while we were at it, I found a pair of lovers to photograph! Those who know me know I always do this when I travel!

Okay, in the meantime, Elee has the foresight to talk with airport personnel and get them to upgrade our seats to some empty seats we saw on our first plane. A passenger on the next plane questions me as to why I am getting into the empty seat as we were told to take the same seats as the first plane and I get settled in and explain it to him and all is good.

Since we had a long layover in Detroit to start with, we make it with time to spare and we arrive in Savannah in plenty of time to get to our hotel and all is good to start our vacation and we are off and running!

Tuesday, March 19

So after a fun couple of days with friends in Big Bear, we found out there was a “Superbloom” happening all over Southern California and we chose to drive south to a place called Walker Canyon near Temecula where the Bloom was supposed to be spectacular. It did not disappoint!

A two mile hike into the canyon proved to have absolutely amazing views! As far as the eye can see! Mostly orange California Poppies. Native only to this region of the country, they bloom every year, but most years it is sporadic with dots of color here and there.

But every seven to ten years, we get this, “Superbloom” that follows a heavy rain year, which we had this year! We have seen Superblooms before and every time one occurs it is a marvel to see! This was my first Superbloom with good digital camera gear. The last one was early in the history of digital cameras and my equipment isn’t what it is now.

This Superbloom went for miles and miles in all directions and we thoroughly enjoyed the entire afternoon walking through the canyon! If you ever get the chance, go see one up close and personal!

Don’t forget to follow us for more fun days that we’ll share!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

We wake up and go to the restaurant at the top of the hotel, as usual for Peru and take a few last minute photos from the top overlooking the city. Then our taxi arrives and it’s off to the airport.

I do manage to get some fun photos from the plane on the trip to Lima. We arrive late in the afternoon and watch sunset from the terminal before boarding our flight back to the States.

We fly home in the dark and arrive before sunrise, tired and happy!

See you for our next adventure!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

This morning is brighter and the threat of rain is all but gone. We get up and don’t rush to the bus. We have 10 AM tickets for Waynu Picchu this morning. Waynu Picchu you ask? That’s the name of that pointy mountain at the backside of Machu Picchu. Yes, you can climb it AND there is another city on top of it! So we grab some fruit for breakfast and catch an 8:30 AM bus. Not as long a line today because the long lines are at 5 and 6 AM. By now, most tourists are in the ancient city.

So we get into Machu Picchu about 9 AM, take a few sunlit photos of the place and head for the back where there is a shelter with a roof on it where you wait to enter. Waynu Picchu has two entry times. 10 AM and 2 PM. We have tickets for 10 AM. Only 200 people can enter at each time slot and we had to buy these special passes 6 months ago. They sell out.

Precisely at 10 AM, they open the gate and check our passes. We are about the 10th people in this morning. At first the trail splits in two and we wonder which way to go. But shortly into it, we see the two trails merge back to one. I make a note that the first quarter mile goes downhill and I realize that it will make the last of the hike uphill and I cringe, knowing I will likely be exhausted!

We continue on and the steps prove difficult. The steps vary from 3 inches high to knee height! And add to that the rains of yesterday and before have the trail soaked and nothing has dried up. Elee is having difficulty and tells me to continue on and she will either meet me or see me when I come down. I continue on. Some parts are easy and some parts are extremely steep. Some of the steeper parts have cables on the side to help you pull yourself up. At one point, shortly after a really steep and irregular set of steps, I turn and get a glimpse of Machu Picchu and it is quite the sight!

I finally get near the top and there is a set of benches to rest on. I find a vacant seat and sit for 15-20 minutes, thinking about whether I can go on. This has been a tough climb. Some hikers come down a very steep set of narrow steps with no side rail and tell me the top is right at the top of those steps! Okay, good news! So I get up the courage to climb these steps and I go up, one foot after the other. The trail opens onto a small plateau and the view is fabulous! My camera is thrilled and chirps happily away! But then I look around and realize, this is no city. I’m not at the top!

I see a couple hikers enter a cave and that is the trail ahead. A couple other hikers come out of the cave with wet muddy knees and inform me that is the way to the top and the city. I am so exhausted that the idea of crawling through mud is out of the question. I point my camera up and get a couple shots of the walls of the city. This is the end of the road for me. So I hike back down to the benches on the level below and rest again, thinking it will be a long hike down.

As I’m sitting there, I look up and what a surprise, Elee has just walked up. She sits next to me to also rest and we chat. I am so proud of her for making the effort, knowing her knees and legs are not as good as mine. She wants to know if I made it to the top. I don’t tell her I didn’t, I tell her it’s at the top of those steps I point to. So she gets her second wind and climbs up. I go up with her. We make it to the plateau and we take some photos. I then point out the cave and how to get to the top and she agrees with me, it is too much.

So now it’s time for the hike down. It is very wet and slow to avoid slipping. It takes longer to go down than it did to come up but we make it.

We get back to Machu Picchu, happy and not disappointed that we didn’t get to the top, but happy for what we did do. We take the bus back to Aguas Caliente and the train back to Chinchero. They serve us dinner on the train and he wearily chat about our adventures. Then we take another bus back to Cusco and we check back into the same hotel. We are now on our way home. We get dinner and go to sleep exhausted yet happy!