Category: Travel

Hola!

We are in Cabo San Lucas. Life is relaxing. Of course, it wasn’t relaxing all week…

There were some hiccups while trying to find the dive shop. We actually missed our first dive due to construction and our inability to find our way around. However, we were able to find a place to call from and got detailed directions from the owner and signed up for the afternoon dive instead. Along the way, we were suckered into the time share schpeil. Yeah, we got a free breakfast, but sheesh! The sales pitch was painful. Ah, well. Live and learn.

Finally, we got to the dive shop and found that it was a hole in the wall. Literally. Talk about tiny. We even had to jump into the boat from the sand of the beach. I guess I’m spoiled. I like the Cozumel way of doing things. So – we dove 3 days and decided to call it quits. There was not enough visibilty or things to photograph and the water got real cold down deep. We decided that 6 dives was enough and that some relaxation time was what we really wanted. Tomorrow will be a sit-by-the-pool day. I might even have an umbrella drink.

Oh – and my dive computer died early in the 4th dive. Nice. I’m back to gages and tables now. I hope it was just batteries and when I can find some new ones, everything will be fine… I hope. If not, well… we won’t be diving for a while due to having to save up for some new equipment.

We have taken a good amount of pictures, but nowhere near what I usually do. I will post them here as soon as I can.

Short Timer

Two days and I’ll be in Mexico. We are really excited about the trip and it couldn’t come at a better time. I REALLY need a vacation. I need to get my mind off of work and come back with a fresh attitude.

What I’m really looking forward to is the opportunity to take some underwater pictures with my new camera setup, but also to have no responsibilities except for choosing a place to eat. It’s been far too long since I had a real relaxing vacation – one where I can sit on a beach with an umbrella drink in my hand and not worry about what time it is or if I have to write a document when I get up in the morning… I’ll just have to remember to get up and go diving. That’s not hard.

Vacation (A Small One)

Today, Laura and I head out to Massanutten, VA. We’ve never been out there, but it should be fun. It will certainly be COOL since a massive cold front has blown in taking us down from the low 90s to the 50s or 60s. It is actually begining to be a little like fall.

We’re going to spend the weekend out there in a cabin and won’t be back until Sunday.

It’s certainly a needed break.

Dive Turkey 6: Dead For The Year.

It’s official now. No Dive Turkey this year. So, Laura and I will be going on our own little jaunt to Los Cabos in Mexico. This is our first venture to the Pacific coast of Mexico and the Baja. It’s certainly possible that we could see some large sealife – even up to the Whale Shark. Now THAT would be exciting!

Now I have to find a camera to use underwater…

Dive Turkey 6: Falling Apart?

I have been attempting to make some reservations around our upcoming dive trip to the Florida Keys. However: all the rooms in the cheap hotels are booked and going fast. The cheapest rooms are now going for over $220/night. That’s not going to be affordable, what with diving and all.

So – it might be necessary to either 1) re-evaluate the location and possibly chose the old standby [Cozumel] or 2) postpone until next year when we can reserve dates futher in advance.

Postponing will give us a chance to save up some more money for both the trip and the underwater case for the camera [which is expensive], and Cozumel is like … home…

Decisions, decisions…

Glacier National Park: Hiking

DAY 2: Western Tour
We woke up fairly early with good intentions, much like all first-time hikers. After a light breakfast in the cabins’ lodge, we headed out to the town of West Glacier, which is the western entry point to GNP. Checking the road that morning, we found that the road to Logan Pass [the highest point in along the Going-to-the-Sun road and where the Continental Divide crosses it] was still closed. So, we chose a pair of short hikes at the furthest drivable point: Avalanche.

On the way into the park, we stopped first in Apgar where we wandered around the town and gift shop and got a look at the lower end of Lake McDonald. The view was beautiful, but not clear – there was a little haze in the air, but at least there were no clouds in the sky. After browsing around, we decided to head up the road towards Avalanche, stopping along the way whenever we wanted.

There were several pullouts along the way where we stopped. Among the first was a place where I could see through the trees was an excellent view. I had to climb down a steep slope to the lake to get the pictures I wanted and even then, they didn’t turn out like I’d hoped. We drove on until there was a rocky beach where we got out and took quite a few pictures – some of which did come out good. By now, we’d driven only a few miles in a couple of hours. At this rate, the trip would take days.

Our next stop was Lake McDonald Lodge. It was around noon, and the lodge was just opening. We decided not to eat lunch, having just recently had breakfast, but instead we toured the site. The Lodge is quite beautiful with quaint separate cabins and a wonderul view of the lake. It also has a dock at which boat tours of the lake can be taken. We finally moved on to Avalanche, which is nothing more than a parking lot and a camp ground. There were road barriers up, but no snow that I could see which would account for the blockage. So, here we parked and loaded up for our hike of Trail of the Cedars and Avalanche Lake.

The Trail of the Cedars is beautiful and smells like the inside of a cedar chest. The air is so fresh in the park that we stood still many times just to inhale and enjoy the freshness. The trail is actually a long boardwalk through tall cedar trees along a loop 0.7 miles long. This was the easy part. Half way through the trail comes a fork. This fork is the begining of the 2-mile (each way) trail to Avalanche Lake. We took this trail, stopping along the path several times to rest and take pictures. On the way up, we saw several deer, each unafraid of us. In some cases, they even strolled casually within 6 feet of us. By the time we got to the lake, I was completely exhausted – I never knew hiking with a fully loaded camera backpack and tripod set would be so hard. Now, I know. I’m in bad shape and need desperately to improve my physical conditioning.

At the lake, we sat and had some snacks for lunch and took many wonderful pictures. I even tried my hand at a panoramic shot. Hopefully, I’ll get it stiched together and posted for you to see soon.

The way back was easier, but still hard. We even encountered a bear. It was about 50 feet from us and paralleled our trail for a while. We got a couple of pictures, but it was hard to do so since the shade in the forested trail was so deep. At the end/begining of the trail, we continued the rest of the loop around the Trail of the Cedars taking pictures of a beautiful waterfall. We made it back to the car and collapsed. The drive back to Lake McDonald Lodge was quick without stops. At the lodge, we ate an early dinner and tried to relax.

We drove a little more once we headed out. We passed Apgar and took a short side trip to the other side of the lake, then headed back to the cabins [after stopping for a huckleberry shake along the way].

We went to sleep early.

Road Trip: Glacier National Park

DAY 1: Arrival
Today, we left lovely Spokane, WA and set out on a short weekend trek to Glacier National Park in Montana accross three states: Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Now, having never been to the area, Laura and I chose to drive a more “scenic” route. After a wonderful sushi lunch in Coeur D’Alene [who’da thunk they’d have GREAT sushi in Idaho, eh?] in a restaurant called Bonzai Bistro, we left town and headed north.

The next town on our path was Sandpoint, ID – voted one of the best small towns in the country. I’d have to say I agree. We stopped in to a small wine bar [yes, again: population 2,000 or so and a very trendy wine bar] to have a cappucino. It’s quite a nice town and I would not mind having a summer home there. I think we’ll have to go back one day.

After leaving Sandpoint, we had a run-in with the law: I was not paying attention to my speed and got pulled over and ticketed. Well, at least it’s not much of a fine, but I’m still disappointed that I wasn’t more careful. That puts us $62 over budget for this trip now. I guess I have to skip a couple of meals… 😦

After Sandpoint, we continued north [at this point, I was afraid we’d accidently drive up into Canada, we are so far north] through Bonners Ferry and then finally turned east. This part of the journey was even more beautiful, if that is possible. Northern Idaho is stunning, but it’s not quite up to the Montana standard.

Passing into Montana was uneventful since we could not see much besides the tree-lined road. And what a windey road it was: 70mph speed limit felt a bit too generous. Once we were on the downside of the pass through the mountains, we came close to Kalispell, MT. That’s where the view began to change. The trees faded back and the mountains opened up to a wide valley in which was the city. We didn’t go into the city, but skirted it’s northern edge on our way to the cabins.

Having not been up here before, we made the newbie’s mistake of forgetting about the time zone change. We are now in Mountain time which is an hour later. I had planned to be at the lodge to check in by the 8PM closing time, but since I forgot about the time zone change, it was after 8:30PM before we arrived to check in. The owners were very nice and understanding, however, and let us have our room and a place to sleep.

We’re here now and I’m somewhat astounded that there’s high-speed wireless Internet service at the hotel/lodge. So, I’m using it. We’ll let you know more when we start our day tomorrow as we travel into the park.

Good night, all!

Spokane Update

This week, I’ve been spending a good amount of time on training in the Windows security area. I have to say that I’m liking the format of the class pretty well. They have it set up so that I can choose my own pace and break whenever I want. This way, I’m much less likely to fall asleep or lose interest. I can just pause the lecture, take a walk, get some coffee, etc. It’s quite nice.

On the non-work side of things, I really like this town even though it’s a bit small. Spokane is in a valley surrounded at a distance by mountains. And it is GREEN here. Lots of evergreens and other beautiful plants. Then, of course, there’s the lovely Pacific Northwest rain… lots of that, too.

There are even some really good restaurants, although it’s not quite a cheap little town – it’s somewhat expensive here.

Well, back to the class now. Just wanted to update you all.