Posts In The “Destinations” Category
Spring arrived in Seattle in March, with daffodils in bloom, and weather warm enough to eat outside. But winter was definitely still in force in the Cascade Mountains, where we made a couple of snowshoe trips and enjoyed the snowy scenery. James made several business trips this month, starting off in Denver, then to the…
We very much enjoyed last year’s trip to beautiful Santa Barbara, but didn’t spend much time downtown. We returned this year on a weekend trip before James attended a conference nearby, and this time stayed closer to the center of town. Our room at the boutique Palihouse Hotel was wonderful, and within walking distance of…
The snowshoe route to Hyak Lake leads just east of the Summit Central ski runs at the Summit at Snoqualmie. We set off on St. Patrick’s Day among the ski and snowboarding crowd, with frequent glimpses to the ski runs as we progressed. We mostly were following Hyak Creek, almost completely covered over with snow,…
The Cirque du Soleil show Corteo came to Climate Pledge Arena this year, and we somehow managed to snag last-minute front-row seats. The show is about a clown, Mauro, who imagines his own funeral procession and is told in typical Cirque du Soleil fashion through skilled acrobats dressed in fantastic costumes. We had an excellent…
In early March we made a snowshoe trip to the new Annette Lake Sno-Park just east of Snoqualmie Pass. We loved being out in the beautiful winter scenery with deep fresh powder everywhere, and had a great time. We first walked a portion of the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail, a historic rail trail,…
February was even colder than January, with Seattle setting a record low temperature for Feb 24th of 22°F (-5.5°C) and fountains and ponds freezing up throughout the city. We started the month at the Seattle Boat Show, where we presented a seminar on our the trip around the world and checked out some of the…
January was unseasonably cold for Seattle. The temperature fell as low as 27°F (-2.7° C), about 10°F (5.4°C) below average for this time of year, and several winter storms passed through. Except for a quick long weekend in Honolulu, we spent much of the month closer to home trying new restaurants and returning to old…
On a whim, we made a last-minute decision to go to Honolulu for a long weekend earlier this year. We’d both visited Hawaii many times, but hadn’t been back since we departed for Palmyra in 2013 on our trip around the world in Dirona. We had a fabulous time, and left with more warm memories…
We brought a lot of gear with us on our trip to Antarctica. Most was for keeping warm, dry, and comfortable in the colder weather, but we also brought a variety of other equipment, including cameras, binoculars and a dry bag. In this post, we describe what we brought, what we were glad to have,…
Iguazu National Park was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984 for its “striking natural beauty and the magnificent liaison between land and water” and also was voted as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. Straddling the border between Brazil and Argentina, the Iguazu River pours over the edge of volcano-blasted Parana…
At latitude 54°48′ S, Ushuaia is the earth’s southernmost city and bills itself as the “end of the world”. (Port Williams in Chile is actually further south, but has a much smaller population and is classified as a town.) Ushuaia’s population initially was not Argentinian, but British. The city was founded in the 1800s by…
In Choose Your Cruise Operator Carefully, we discussed the risks inherent in an Antarctic cruise, and described the three deaths that had occurred in the course of two weeks near the start of the 2022-2023 cruise season. It turns out there was actually four deaths in that period. The situation has become serious enough that…
The Drake Passage lived up to its reputation for big weather on our two-night passage back to Ushuaia from the Girlache Strait. We experienced 33-40 ft (10-12m) seas with winds blowing steadily 60 kts and gusting to 70. We didn’t, however, experience the dreaded “Drake Shake”. The National Geographic Endurance handled the conditions remarkably well,…
The Girlache Strait extends from the northern end of the Wilhelm Archipelago and separates the Palmer Archipelago from the Antarctic Peninsula. It was discovered in 1898 by Lt. Adrien de Gerlache, leader of the 1897-1899 Belgian Antarctic expedition. The crew included famed Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen, who in 1911 was the first to reach…
The Wilhelm Archipelago lies north of the Antarctic Circle and is the most southern point on the majority of Antarctic Peninsula cruises. It also is one of the most popular destinations, particularly scenic Lemaire Channel between Booth Island and mainland Antarctica. The protected waterway often is wind-free, yielding near-perfect reflections of snow and ice in…
Christmas Day in Antarctica was a big day for wildlife sightings, including an Emperor Penguin, Chinstrap penguins, crabeater and Weddell seals, humpback whales and Orcas. We were lucky to see an Emperor Penguin, rare this time of year. After navigating into ice-filled Barlas Channel, we set out for a tour in the zodiacs and found…
Antarctica is the only continent without a permanent native population. Instead, the year-round population of about 1,000 is made up mainly of visiting scientific researchers and support staff who live in roughly 50 permanent stations throughout the continent. A similar number of seasonal stations allows the summer population to reach 4,000. Forty-two countries operate research…
Pourquois Pas Island, at the north edge of Marguerite Bay, was discovered by Jean-Baptiste Charcot. He led the 1908-1910 French Antarctic Expedition, and named the island after his ship. Charcot in turn is the namesake for the French expedition ship Le Commandant Charcot, the highest rated ice class vessel in the world, that we’ll be…