Posts In The “Destinations” Category
While the previous two years certainly had more big and unexpected plan changes for us, our first full year of living back on land was surprising in the new hobbies and activities we participated in, most that we’d not even considered six months earlier. Another very nice surprise for us was that Spitfire the “wonder…
We had a fabulous trip to Antarctica and currently are returning back to Argentina across the Drake Passage. Our southbound crossing was blissfully calm, but it looks like we won’t be so lucky on the return. Our current position in the Drake Passage We had a fabulous trip to Antarctica and currently are returning back…
Wishing you all happy holidays and best wishes for the New Year. Christmas Eve 2022 in Antarctica Wishing you all happy holidays and best wishes for the New Year.
We had a busy two weeks before our Antarctic cruise, where James was away on business for three days and we attended a Seattle Kraken hockey game and two Seattle Seahawks football games. The second football game, two days before we departed for Argentina, was even more exciting than normal. Amazon Prime Video has exclusive…
Prior to our Caribbean cruise on the Norwegian Encore, we had close to zero interest in cruising in general and none on the really big ships. But while sitting on our balcony watching the Encore depart from Pier 66 below us, in one of James’ spur-of-the-moment suggestions, he said “I’m not interested in big boat…
We arrived into Argentina on December 19th, the day that Argentina would take on France to decide the winner of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Everywhere we went, people were setting up televisions indoors and out in preparation for the game. Our hotel setup two and we watched the game from there. The game was…
The Miami Cruise Terminal is the busiest passenger port in the world, handling 6.8 million travelers in 2019. The facility has room for ten large cruise ships and has recently seen a number of upgrades and new construction projects to support the burgeoning industry. In 2018, Royal Caribbean opened the 170,000 sq ft (15,000 sq…
The infamous 500-mile (800 km) Drake Passage between south America and Antarctica is considered one of the most dangerous crossings in the world. Waves and currents that meet no resistance from land masses elsewhere are amplified here, the narrowest passage around the Antarctic continent, producing seas that can regularly reach 40 ft (12m) in height….
The summer weather in Seattle continued from September into October, with a high of 81°F (27° C) on October 15th, 20 degrees F (11 C) above the average for this time of year. The dry weather resulted in many burning forest fires and Seattle’s smoke-filled skies made the city among the worst in the nation…
The Georgetown Steam Plant was built in 1906 along the Duwamish River to power Seattle’s streetcars. The advent of hydropower soon made the plant noncompetitive, and it was used only as an emergency backup starting in the 1920s. Decommissioned in 1977 and declared a National Historic Monument in 1984, the plant houses the only two…
Friday Harbor is the only incorporated town in the San Juan Islands and the main transportation hub, with frequent ferry, float plane and small craft traffic. The many restaurants, bars, and other attractions, plus a wonderful waterfront setting, make the town an exceedingly popular summer tourist destination, and accommodations, flights and ferry reservations book up…
Point Ruston in Tacoma, the inspiration for Frank Herbert’s epic science-fiction novel Dune, was once one of the most polluted superfund sites in the world. In writing the first best-selling science-fiction novel with an environmental theme, Tacoma-born Herbert was influenced by the foul-smelling smoke that spewed from the ASARCO copper smelter at Point Ruston. After…
The South Point 400 NASCAR Cup Series was held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in mid-October, near the end of the racing season. It was our first live NASCAR race since attending the Daytona 500 five years ago and we had a great time. The race weekend included an Xfinity Series race on Saturday and…
We enjoyed our Ballard fresh hop beer tasting tour so much that we decided to go all out and attend the Fresh Hop Ale Festival in Yakima, WA the following weekend. Yakima is a 2:20 drive east from Seattle on I-90, but we instead took a slightly longer route south through Mt. Rainier National Park…
Autumn is fresh hop beer season in the Pacific Northwest. Most beer is made from dried hops, while fresh hop beers are made from hops that have never been dried. The beer must be brewed very soon after the hops are ripe, so can’t be made very far from the fields. Since over 77% of…
September was warmer than usual for Seattle, with the temperature frequently above 80°F (27° C) even late in the month, more than 10 degrees above average. The warm, clear, and dry weather was ideal for camping and we made two multi-night trips. The first was a three-night stop in Gifford Pinchot National Forest with a…
In the decade we spent traveling around the world in Dirona, we visited some remarkable and memorable places. Many destinations, such as Fjordland in New Zealand, had been on our list of special places to visit for nearly as long as we’d been boating. Others, such as Western Australia’s famed Kimberley region, we learned about…
In what would turn out to be our final camping trip of the year, we found a fabulous site at the end of a road with a sweeping view southeast across Kachees Lake. We’d been improving our skills in pre-scouting online for a campsite, and drove straight to this one without investigating any other potential…