Travel – Page 4 – The Slow Lane Cafe

Road Trip 2010 – Part 3: Alien Hunting

Posted on 2011-01-11 | by Happy Traveller

We left Pagosa Springs, CO, and headed for Roswell, NM, which is where we decided to spend the night on the way to Dallas, TX.

Depart Pagosa Springs, CO, Aug 26 at 8:45 a.m.

Arrive Roswell, NM, Aug 26 at 3:30 p.m.

Actual driving time of 6 hours and 9 minutes

342.7 miles at 55 mph average

I’d wanted to visit Roswell since I watched – and liked – the Sci-Fi series that aired on The WB called “Roswell.” We made it into town in time to make a leisurely visit to the International UFO Museum and Research Center. I’m not going to say whether or not I think that Extra Terrestrials exist, but the museum and night in Roswell were certainly entertaining.

After the UFO museum, we had a great dinner at Cattle Barron’s Restaurant; if you’re ever in Roswell, I highly recommend it.

Only a short evening and one night in Roswell, then on to Dallas, TX (well, actually, Addison, TX) for OpenCamp 2010 Dallas!

Road Trip 2010 – Part 2: Rocky Mountain High

Posted on 2011-01-11 | by Happy Traveller

Colorado Springs

While in Colorado Springs, there were four things we really wanted to do: visit Focus on the Family; tour the Air Force Academy; see the Garden of the Gods; and drive up to the summit of Pike’s Peak. We managed to do all four!

Pagosa Springs

We traded a week at our timeshare in Myrtle Beach, S.C., for a week at the Wyndham Pagosa Springs. The trip from Colorado Springs to Pagosa Springs was not nearly as arduous as the first two days travel, but here are the stats anyway:

Depart Colorado Springs, CO, Aug 21 at 3:30 p.m.

Arrive Pagosa Springs, CO, Aug 21 at 10:30 p.m.

Actual driving time of 4 hours and 25 minutes

238.0 miles at 53.5 mph average

While in Pagosa Springs, we trekked up to Piedra Falls. I say trekked because it was a pretty arduous journey: mostly dirt roads with a lot of washboard-like sections, and one small gravel-bed stream to cross (yep, we crossed a stream in the minivan!). On the way to the falls the stream was bad enough, but it started raining while we were at the falls (about 1.3 miles from the stream), and the area guide book says to not even attempt to get to the falls in bad weather because the road gets treacherous. Well, we were already there, so we really didn’t have a choice. We were the last ones to leave the parking area, and I told Nancy that I’d seen a Hyundai sedan in the parking area, and if they could make it back over the gravelled stream, we might have a chance, too. At about that time, we got to the stream to find the Hyundai stuck; the fellow was out pushing it and his wife was driving. Just as we got up to the stream and I was about to get out and help push, they got the car free, so I just rolled on through what I thought would be the best place to cross. Luckily, we didn’t have any problems getting across it. The rest of the trip back was a bit of a nail-biter as the twisty dirt roads were very slick. We did make it back to the time-share, although the minivan was a bit worse for the trip.

A very dirty minivan after our trip to Piedra Falls. — After a trip on a wet dirt road

The following day we went to Treasure Falls, which, thankfully, has a paved parking area just off the main highway! See my video on YouTube!

After Treasure Falls, we found a coin-op car wash and got most of the mud off the minivan. Then we ate dinner at a place just east of town called the Branding Iron. Very good food and reasonable prices. By the time we finished eating, a storm had come over the mountains and it was raining pretty hard. We made a dash for it and got in the minivan (you gotta love those remote power locks!) without getting too wet. We drove out from under the storm and got back to the time-share just a few minutes before it got there. Once it did get there, it brought along some pretty impressive hail, along with the heavy rain and customary lightning.

Altogether, we had a really good time in Pagosa Springs – it really is a beautiful place. We also got some much appreciated rest. Then on Thursday, August 26, we headed out bright and early for Roswell, NM.

Road Trip 2010 – Part 1: The Journey Begins

Posted on 2011-01-11 | by Happy Traveller

The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu is credited with having said “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Well, this journey – Road Trip 2010 – will be something over four thousand miles, and it began with a single step… on the accelerator pedal of our 2007 Nissan Quest 3.5 SE minivan. We left the dogs with the house sitters and off we went!

Overall, there will be 5 major milestones on this trip: Colorado Springs, CO, for a couple of nights; Pagosa Springs, CO, for a few days of vacation; Roswell, NM, for some alien hunting; Dallas, TX, for OpenCamp 2010; and Nashville, TN, for an evening at the Grand Ole Opry and breakfast with my sister and brother-in-law. And then, of course, back home to Salisbury.

The first day’s journey was all travel, all day: a total of 18 hours and 40 minutes. Here are the stats:

Depart Salisbury, MD, Wednesday, Aug 18 at 6:20 a.m.

Arrive Shiloh, IL, Thursday, Aug 19 at 2 a.m.

Actual driving time of 16 hours 38 minutes

963.9 miles at 57.8 mph average

On the first day, we drove across Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, the southern tip of Indiana, and most of Illinois. We waited and ate breakfast at the Cracker Barrel on Kent Island so that we wouldn’t be near Washington, D.C., at the peak of rush hour traffic. Still, traffic on the Beltway around Washington, D.C., was heavy and slow. Also, it rained from the time we left home in Salisbury, MD, until we got to somewhere in West Virginia. Other than that the day went reasonably well.

…and the Journey Continues

We spent a too-short night in Shiloh, Il, and then hit the road again, bound for Colorado Springs, CO. We didn’t have quite as far to travel on the second day, but it was still a very long way, so the second day’s journey was also all travel, all day: a total of about 16 hours. Here are the stats for day two:

Depart Shiloh, IL, Thursday, Aug 19 at 10 a.m.

Arrive Colorado Springs, CO, Friday, Aug 20 at 2 a.m.

Actual driving time of 13 hours 38 minutes

826.6 miles at 60.5 mph average

On the second day we drove across the remainder of Illinois (about 20 miles), Missouri, and Kansas, and part of Colorado. A truly uneventful day, which is the best kind when traveling by car.

Vacation 2006 – Hawaii

Posted on 2006-08-10 | by Happy Traveller

4 islands, 5 cities, 14 days…

The Journey Begins…

We left Reagan Washington National Airport around 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 17, 2006, bound for Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport.

Oahu

Predictibly, we arrived at the Honolulu airport about 3 hours late – around 10:40 p.m.

On Sunday morning, June 18, we woke up really early – no surprise there, since we were still on Eastern Daylight Time – and had the breakfast buffet at Duke’s. Excellent food, good service, and a table not 20 yards from the beach – highly recommended!

After breakfast, we found a bus stop for route #58 to Diamond Head. While we were waiting for the bus, along with a family of 4 that was also going to Diamond Head, a mini-van taxi came by and asked if we wanted a ride to Diamond Head for $2 per person (the bus costs $1 per person). We all said “yes” and climbed in. Not only did we not have to wait for the bus, the the taxi took us all the way up to the gate – about a quarter-mile closer than the bus would have gone.

When we got back from the summit, we shared a “shaved ice” (a glorified snow cone) and while we were eating it we saw the same taxi that had brought us to Diamond Head waiting for a fare to return. He said if we wanted to wait for a full load (4 or 5 more people) it would be $2 each, but if we wanted to leave right then, it would be $5 each. We went for the $5 and left immediately. Enroute back to the hotel, we asked if he could take us to Pearl Harbor instead. He said that was a long way and that he couldn’t do it for less than $25. That sounded good to us so off we went. We also arranged for him to come back and pick us up around 4 p.m., so we had efficient travel for the entire day.

For Monday, June 19, we had Super Ambassador tickets to the Polynesian Cultural Center, which is near the northern end of Oahu. We paid just a few dollars extra to have a shuttle pick us up at the hotel at 10:15 a.m. So after the somewhere-between-continental-and-buffet breafkast at our hotel, we went downstairs and go on the shuttle. We spent the entire day at the PCC, including dinner and the show, and got back to the hotel around 11:00 p.m.

On Tuesday, June 20, we slept a bit late (well, until about 7:30 a.m., since we were *still* a little bit on EDT), had breakfast at our hotel, then packed and called for our transportation back to the airport for our inter-island flight to…

Kauai

We arrived on Kauai, got our rental car, found Poipu, located our hotel, checked-in, put our stuff in the room, got some lunch, and booked a two-hour introductory SCUBA lesson for mid-day on Thursday (which would be Nancy’s 49th birthday) all in time to spend an hour on the beach before our dinner reservation at the Plantation Gardens Restaurant at 6 p.m.

We slept a *little* later still – until about 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 21. We had breakfast at the Pool and Tennis club, which is part of the resort where we were staying. After a leisurely breakfast, we headed off in the rental car to find Wimea Canyon and do some hiking.

After spending all day driving and hiking around the breathtaking views at Wimea Canyon, we had dinner at the Tidepools Restaurant at the Grand Hyatt a mile or so down the beach. The Frommer’s guide said it was a good place to eat, and they were right!

On June 22, 2006, Nancy’s 49th birthday, we started off the day with breakfast at the Island Burger Cafe, then headed over to the Air Kauai terminal at the airport for a one-hour helicopter tour of the island, then went to our SCUBA lesson, *then* went to our first Luau (at the above-mentioned Grand Hyatt) – a day of firsts for both of us.

The helicopter tour…

The intro SCUBA dive was…

The Luau was okay; the food was great, but the show paled in comparison to the show at the PCC. Blah, blah…

Road Trip 2003 – Kitty Hawk (a.k.a. “The Honeymoon”)

Posted on 2003-12-02 | by Happy Traveller

Nancy and I were married at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 22, 2003, at Providence Presbyterian Church in Salisbury, Maryland. After the ceremony, we spoke to the guests by row, hung around the church for group photos, then headed to the reception at the Ramada Inn on Route 13. At the reception we ate a few bites, kissed, had a toast, kissed again, said a few words, kissed some more, talked to some people, cut the cake, kissed, tossed the bouquet and did the garter thing, then left for the Honeymoon! Woo-hoo…

We headed south on Route 13 at about 5 p.m., headed for Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. We stopped for dinner at a Pizza Hut somewhere south of Pokomoke City, Maryland, which is just a little ways south of Salisbury, then continued south. Of course, Nancy’s daughter, Lauren, and Lauren’s boyfriend, Ryan, had “decorated” the minivan (yes, we took the minivan on our honeymoon) so we got a bit of a reaction from the women working in the toll booths at both the Bay Bridge/Tunnel and the toll road a bit south of Suffolk, Virginia.

We arrived at the Cypress Moon Inn around 11 p.m. The Cypress Moon Inn is a Bed & Breakfast and doesn’t really have a reception area or front desk. I’d let the proprietors know that we’d be arriving late, and they had the room ready for us. Greg Hamby, co-owner along with his wife Linda, even waited up to help us with our luggage! After cleaning up a bit we realized just how exhausted we were, so we climbed up into the antique bed and were soon fast asleep.

We woke up Sunday morning rested, refreshed, and hungry! Not to worry, however, since Linda had coffee waiting on the balcony outside our room (see photo at right; the balcony runs all the way across the back of the Inn and is accessible from the main upstairs corridor as well as both guest rooms), and as we enjoyed the coffee Linda appeared with a freshly cooked breakfast – which was delicious! In talking to Linda we discovered that not only is she an excellent and creative cook, but she is a strong Christian, which was an added bonus.

Much of our honeymoon was spent sleeping late and then wandering around the Outer Banks looking for unique and interesting things, as well as stopping frequently for coffee and crab dip at the many roadside cafes. One of the “unique and interesting things” we noticed was that in many places there were horse statues that had been painted or decorated in some way. I don’t think we ever found out who put them there or why, but they were pretty fun.

One of the two things we really wanted to do while in Kitty Hawk was to visit the site of the Wright brothers original flight. It hadn’t really occured to us that December, 2003, would mark the 100th anniversary of that historic event. When we visited the site, we found that preparations for a big celebration were in full swing. One of the “exhibits” during the celebration was to be a recreation of the original flight, in a very faithful replica of the Wright Flyer (see photo at right). We were able to walk into the hangar where the replica was being worked on and get an up-close view of it; a truly awesome experience.

Since Nancy and I both like lighthouses, the other thing that we really wanted to do was to see the lighthouse at Cape Hatteras. The road to Hatteras had just been reopened (remember Isabel?) the day before we arrived, so we were able to drive down and visit the lighthouse. The devastation and destruction along the way were still very evident, even after a couple of months of recovery. We arrived at Hatteras late in the day, and were able to enjoy the view of a sunset that beautifully silhouetted the lighthouse.

For the most part, though, our honeymoon was exactly what we needed – a welcome respite from the seemingly endless wedding planning! We got plenty of rest and relaxation, along with lots of good food. On the last night we were there, we had dinner at a restaurant called Penguin Isle. It’s on the sound side of the island, and it was excellent. The food and service were both outstanding, and we highly recommend it if you’re in the area.

The sunset photo at the right was taken from the pier at the back of the Cypress Moon Inn, and seems a fitting way to end our honeymoon travelogue. Hope you enjoyed it!