Weekend in Philadelphia

By the end of the summer I'm almost always itching to go somewhere.  I usually take two ski trips a year and a long weekend in the spring.  During the summer - when everyone on a school schedule is traveling - I try to stay home, albeit in the sweltering heat.  By the time school starts I'm ready to go somewhere, anywhere, just away from here.

I noticed US Airways had some pretty good fares to Philadelphia and I'd never been there.  I checked with my usual travel pals C and D to see if they wanted to join me.  C was in as she'd never been to Philly either but D had been there before and wasn't sure a weekend of history was her cup of tea - not to mention she'd need to take a full day off just to travel across the country.

So we booked a room at the Holiday Inn Historic District and it suited our needs perfectly.  It lives up to its name it that it's only a short walk to the center of all things historical in our nation's one-time capital.

We arrived on Thursday night, which gave us a full 2.5 days to walk our feet off.  And walk we did.  At the top of our list were the two most obvious sites: Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.  Beyond that we saw Declaration House (where Jefferson rented rooms while writing the document), Christ Church Cemetery (where Ben Franklin and 3 other signers of the Declaration are buried), Betsy Ross's house, Congress Hall, the Todd House (where Dolley Madison lived with her first husband, John Todd, and the place where she was formally introduced to James Madison), the portrait gallery in the Second Bank of the US building and more.  Most of these sites are part of the National Park Service and there's no charge to see them, though some require tickets or reservations which can be made at the Independence Visitor's Center.

Two-and-a-half days is the perfect amount of time needed for this historic roundup, in my opinion.  With neither of us being used to walking all day long we were able to pop back to the room for relaxing for a little while before dinner each night.

We had dinner at City Tavern on Friday night and it was wonderful.  All the staff is in colonial period costume and addresses guests as Master/Mistress, etc.  It's more than I'd normally pay for dinner but the food was excellent and the restaurant is part of the dining program so I earned miles for it too!

There's a lot more of Philadelphia that we didn't get to see but we soaked up a lot of history in a short amount of time. Next time we'll have a car and venture beyond walking distance.

Kona and the Volcano Park

We really liked the town of Kailua Kona (aka Kona). It's quirky, walkable, touristy and just fun. We had an early dinner one night at a pub just across the street from the ocean. Kinda weird to watch Monday Night Football at 4 pm but who's complaining? We had good food and some really good desserts too.

We spent one day at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which is at the southernmost tip of the Big Island. It would seem not to be too far from Kona but the major highway around the island is mostly a two-lane road, so it takes much longer than on an interstate (or the H1). We stopped to stretch our legs at one point and I got this photo of the lava fields. Out in the distance is the Pacific Ocean. You can tell how the lava just flowed all the way out to the sea. It's fascinating just because it's so different from any landscape I've ever seen. (Click any of the photos for a larger version.)

In the park the first major thing we saw was the Kilauea Caldera. It's huge, several miles across, and has this giant steaming vent, the Halema'uma'u Crater. It's only about half as deep today (500 ft) as it was when the first Western explorer found it in 1823.That's due to lava flows overflowing and building up the floor of the caldera, though at least four times the result has been the caldera floor breaks due to all the extra heat and weight. Since 1905 seven new flows have been added to the caldera floor.

We drove down towards the sea, keeping an eye on the weather. It had been overcast much of the day with sun peeking through every now and then. We stopped to hike out to the petroglyphs, which were .7 miles away. We hadn't gone very far when it started sprinkling. By the time we reached the petroglyphs we were soaked to the skin. It was relatively warm but it was just so odd how it wasn't raining on the road, but less than half a mile away we coudn't escape it! We hiked back to the car and found it still hadn't rained there. Fortunately we'd brought changes of clothes and were able get dry at our next stop.

That next stop was at the end of the Chain of Craters road, which is the main north-south connector in the park. The road stops abruptly as it turns eastward at the coast due to lava flowing over it. But it's a beautiful stop, very dramatic lava cliffs and the Holei Sea Arch is there. I love these two photos I took.

A Really Big Island

I've recently returned from Hawaii with my friends C and D, where we celebrated C's milestone birthday.

What struck me about the Big Island of Hawaii is just how diverse it is and how different from the other two islands I'd visited, Oahu and Maui. We landed at the Kona airport and since I had an aisle seat, I didn't notice the landscape until after we'd grabbed the rental car and were driving to our condo.

That's when I realized it was DARK outside and not just because there were no streetlights on the main highway. We could see that as we looked up to our right (going up the side of the volcano/mountain) there were lots of houses but there was nothing along the side of the road. The next morning we realized why: it's all lava. Tons of broken up lava chunks, some ground up, but mostly in very large slabs, are all along the side of the highway up & down the western coast of the Big Island.

We were amused at the graffitti that decorated the lava. Unlike permanent spray paint, here the stark brown-black of the lava is adorned with white rocks. That's great because if someone writes something offensive, it can easily be dismantled and changed to something entirely different. None of the graffitti permanent that way. Very clever, we thought.

We stayed at some condos in Waikola, which is north of the Kona airport and the town of Kailua Kona itself. It was very quiet there, lots of hotel resorts & condos, not really much to do but that was fine. Kailua Kona was only about 15-20 minutes away. We were very close to Anaehoomalu Bay (aka A-Bay, for obvious reasons) and it suited us perfectly. It had some shade, some sun and down in front of the Marriott it had lounge chairs. One advantage of going in late October is there are no crowds and we had our pick of places to sit. There was a reef that made getting in & out of the bay a little tricky since I'd forgotten my water shoes, but I managed not to scrape up my feet.

One day while we were there a seal had beached herself. The speculation was that she would soon give birth, but of course she didn't do that while we were around. We also saw several sea turtles on shore that day. We kept our distance but I would have loved to have gotten up closer to them.

Our condo backed onto a golf course so it was all lovely and green on our property with the stark contrast of the lava fields on either side of the main highway. We drove up the NW side of the island one day and the further north we drove, the more the lava fields disappeared and the more we saw traditional yards & houses. We'd gone north in search of a different beach, just for variety's sake, but it seemed to be more cliffs where the lava had run down to the sea, so we ended up back at A-Bay.

Next, the town of Kailua Kona and Volcanoes National Park.

Hot Town Summer in the City

My friend C (an avid Cubs fan) and I met up in St. Louis this weekend to watch the Cubs and Cardinals play. My first trip to Busch Stadium but the thing I remember most is how HOT it was. It was about 96 at 6 pm and we were sweltering just sitting in our seats. But the Cards won, so all was right with the world.

It was actually my first trip to St. Louis at all so we took the time to explore the city a bit. Of course we did the Arch, which provided my best photos for the weekend - both a photo of it and a photo from it! We took a riverboat cruise which turned out to provide some relief from the heat and gave me the best vantage point for my Arch photo. We had our pre-game dinner at Mike Shannon's restaurant and it was great to see the many photos and all the sports memorabilia on the walls. The old courthouse, site of the Dred Scott decision, is beautifully maintained, even if the a/c is sub-par by today's standards.

We also visited Grant's Farm, where the late president lived out the remainder of his life. His house - surprisingly small - still stands and they've built a nice visitor center and museum nearby. Most of the lands are now a small zoo of sorts and we enjoyed the elephant show and the exotic birds show.

We also checked out the St. Louis Science Center which had plenty for young & old as well as a cool OmniMax movie about tornado chasers.

I guess next year we'll return to Wrigley for the annual showdown.

The Fall Trip

Just realized I hadn't updated here in over a year. I guess the biggest trip of the year was a few days at the Olympics in Vancouver in February. My friend C from Chicago came along and we had a great time not only at the Games, but meeting up with our friend P who lives there.

Ski trips this year took me to Utah, where I skied Alta, Solitude and Brighton. That was my first trip to these resorts. The other trip was to Aspen and my cousin L and her hubby J drove over from Denver to ski one day with me. As they're not real experienced, we stuck to Buttermilk, but that's my usual first-day place to ski out there anyway.

Over Memorial Day weekend D and I traveled to Chicago and spent the weekend with C. We took in a Cubs-Cardinals game (Cards won!) and also ventured up to Milwaukee to have a very enjoyable evening with our other friend C who lives there.

We've just returned from a long weekend in Las Vegas. D had been many times, but it was the first trip for C and me. C and I arrived Thursday afternoon (D had a class Thursday night) so on Friday morning we did the Hoover Dam tour. It was fascinating and our tour package included a flat-water float near the bottom of the dam which gave us a unique perspective. We also managed to be there for the second day of rain they'd had all year. Locals called it a downpour, we called it sprinkles. After the tour op dropped us off at the hotel, we popped over and picked up D from the airport. Reunited!

That evening we walked around and hit many of the free attractions: dancing fountains at the Bellagio, animated Caesar & friends at Caesar's Palace, pirate show at Treasure Island. While I'm glad to have seen these things, I feel like I can check Vegas off my list. It might be interesting to go back in 20 years to see how things have changed but it's not something I need to visit repeatedly.

On Saturday we set out for a day trip to the Grand Canyon. It's about a 4-4.5 hour drive from Vegas so it was lunch time before we arrived. In the rain. It not only rained, it poured and there was a thunderstorm with lightning. How do we manage to find rain in the desert?! And oh yeah, then it hailed! It was still lightly raining when we entered the park but after awhile it stopped and while the sun didn't shine on us, we could see it shining in other parts of the Canyon. We only got to spend about four hours here but it was fantastic and we decided we'd like to come back. We'd stay closer and maybe hike down one day & back up the next (there's a lodge on the canyon floor). Maybe we'd combine it with some spa time in Flagstaff or Sedona. It's something to look forward to anyway!

London - Day 7 - Sunday

Sunday, our last day! The week has just flown by. On our last big vacation together (the Mediterranean cruise), C, D and I learned to really appreciate the few "days at sea" we'd have between ports. We decided that on our next trip we'll be sure to build in some "days at sea" for rest and recovery, whether we're on a cruise or not!

Our first stop of the morning was up in Bloomsbury and the British Museum (free!) where we saw the famous Rosetta Stone, the key to decoding Egyptian hieroglyphics. I really enjoyed seeing the many Egyptian artifacts and, after having visited the Acropolis of Athens two years ago, it was gratifying to see many of the objects from there as well. Part of me thinks these objects should be back in their native countries but part of me is glad that they're available for lots of folks to see elsewhere. I may never make it to Egypt but I appreciate getting to see some of these amazing items.

We would have loved to stay longer and explored the place some more but by this point in the week we were really on brain overload. We'd read that the best way to visit the museum is in several shorter visits and that's great advice. It's just too bad it's not near a lot of other tourist sites - or even all that convenient to the tube!

We popped into a tourist shop just opposite the museum and D was overwhelmed by the amount of Holmes-related items they had. Naturally she had to have one of everything. Well, ok, not everything but she did threaten me if I found any more Holmes stores as she'd have no money left!

We stopped for lunch at Pizza Express which has a lot more than pizza. It had been recommended by a couple of my British co-workers and we were quite pleased with it.

Afterwards, we split up with C and I heading down south to the Imperial War Museum. Quite interesting and they had full sized tanks and planes in the museum. Meanwhile, A & D were shopping and following up on some Sherlock Holmes stops that we'd missed on our self-guided tour on Wednesday.

We all met back up at the hotel in the early evening and decided to visit our local, the Stanhope Arms, for dinner as they advertised "the best fish & chips" (something we noticed a LOT of places laid claim to!). They were actually quite good and we enjoyed a leisurely dinner before coming back to the room to pack.

I can't believe the week is over already! We're going to be sure we're up in plenty of time tomorrow to take the tube back to Heathrow. A's flight is a bit after ours - and from a different terminal - but she'll ride with us so we can help her with her luggage. Then it's back to Chicago where C will get to head home and D and I will catch our connecting flights.

Another wonderful trip with the girls....where are we gonna go next? Stay tuned!

London - Day 6 - Saturday

Today we were up at a decent hour but not too early. C and I had breakfast at one of the little restaurants near the hotel while A & D were still getting ready. Even though many of the tourist attractions aren't open early it seems that the first hour they're open is the best time to go as folks don't seem to mind standing in line.

Since A had just seen the Tower of London a few months ago, she visited the Natural History Museum. I would love to see that place too but will have to save it for another trip. C, D and I went to the tube station, intending to hop on the green or yellow line which leads straight to the Tower. Unfortunately, both lines were closed for the weekend for maintenance! We ended up taking the blue line and connecting with the red line and even then we had a considerable walk.

Fortunately it wasn't an issue as we were able to walk right in, thanks to having bought our tickets on Thursday along with our hop-on/hop-off bus tickets. We skipped the Beefeaters tour, though it looked interesting, and went straight to the Crown Jewels, following the advice we'd read in a few books. It proved to be a very good move. We were able to walk right into the building where the jewels are kept. As you might imagine, you have to wander through several rooms before you get to the actual jewels. They have a couple of movies set up so that as you thread through the queue it'll keep you entertained. A lot of people had stopped to watch the films but we just kept on moving and were able to walk right up to the jewels. I really liked how they had a moving walkway set up next to the jewels so that people couldn't congregate around them. It kept the traffic moving and they allowed you to go back and get on the sidewalk again if you like so you could see the jewels from either side. When we exited the building, the line was already getting very long so we were pleased our plan had worked!

We spent a couple of hours at the Tower, wandering through buildings and walking along the walls. There was a great exhibit on the armor of Henry VIII. Always a large man, it was amazing he could walk at all in his last suit of armor. The guy was really heavy by then and that armor had to weigh a ton! Once again, it was really too bad we couldn't take photos. They had some really cool stuff in there.

We'd arranged for Buckingham Palace tour tickets at 2:30 so we decided we'd get in the vicinity, try to meet up with A and have some lunch. Again we had to take a roundabout way, largely the way we'd arrived, to Green Park. We walked around looking for anywhere that served food. We finally found a little place but it was so expensive that D and C only ordered a giant cookie - which turned out not to be very good. I ordered a chicken sandwich (lettuce & tomato were 1 GBP extra) and a lemonade. Total cost: about $18!

We met up with A outside the Buckingham Palace ticket window and went right in for the tour. It was very interesting and I hadn't realized the tour is only available in the summer when the queen is not in residence. We were fortunate that it was a fairly cool day as many of the rooms did not appear to be air conditioned. I can't imagine what some of the ball rooms are like when they're hosting large parties. Must get very stuffy! Still, it was most impressive and afterwards we enjoyed some snacks at the little cafe in the back garden.

We walked through St. James Park and found ourselves approaching Trafalgar Square again. Since we had about an hour before it closed, we decided to take a quick spin through the National Gallery (it's free!). There was a LOT to see there and we didn't even come close to doing it justice.

At this point D wanted to stop in and get a drink at the Sherlock Holmes Pub, since we were right around the corner. As she was off buying the drinks and her souvenir mug, we were approached by a man we later named Seamus. Turned out this was one stop on his stag party/pub crawl. He was a bit drunk but not obnoxious. His brother, Sean, came over to check that he wasn't bothering us and ended up bonding quite well with D, though we all enjoyed talking to him. Alas, all the boys had to leave for the next stop on their "tour" leaving us alone.

We went back to the Covent Garden area which seemed like a fun place to be and had dinner at a restaurant over a little corner pub. It was quite good and I had an excellent fish & chips. C left her Palace guidebook behind but when we stopped by the next morning, they'd saved it for her!

Back at the room rather early, actually. Only one more day to see everything else. We'll never make it!