December 11, 2016 - Not All Viewpoints are Friendly

Today we hit the road south for the next chapter of road trip. Our destination is Joshua National Park. Part way through our drive I was ready for a picture taking break and a viewpoint pull out was on the horizon. Denis pulled in only to find that it was not a pull-thru viewpoint like we are used to. There was no way out except for the way we entered and no room for a turn-around.

Here we are trying to figure out if we can get turned around. I point, Denis steers. It didn't work. we ended up having to back out into the highway. We survived because we were on a background in the middle of the desert with little other traffic.

December 8, 2016 - Christmas Vegas Style

Most people who know me know that I love Christmas decorating and lights. Just ask my family who have climbed great heights on teetering ladders to bring my lighting visions to reality; or tell me I’m crazy. And it's a ritual one evening before Christmas to load the family into the car to drive around to see the neighborhood lights.

When we returned to the mainland from Hawaii and hit the road south our first stop was to visit our life-long friends Jim and Theresa who live outside Las Vegas in Henderson, Nevada. My only request for an outing while there was a trip to the Bellagio conservatory to see their Christmas display. The conservatory does beautiful seasonal displays, mostly with plants. Their Christmas display did not disappoint.

November 30, 2016 – Lobby Crashing

Our family has been going to the same timeshare in Kihei on Maui for about 30 years so we know the area pretty well. One of our rituals developed over the years is to take a morning walk down the beach to the ritzy neighborhood of Wailea, home to hotels like the Four Seasons. Upon reaching the beach of one of the hotels we walk up to the open-air lobby just like their guests and help ourselves to the cucumber infused ice water or fresh squeezed orange juice. Once we are cooled off we hit the beach for home. This trip we tried out the new Andaz Resort whose lobby is centered with a zen sand patch, at least that’s what I thought it was, but there was no rake.

November 28, 2016 – Check Another One Off the Bucket List

I had never been in a helicopter, it was on my bucket list, but isn’t anymore. We splurged on a flight over Maui and Lanai. The 50-minute flight went by in a blink. What I found amazing is how slow it felt the helicopter was going. You look up at them flying by when you are on the ground and they seem so fast, but when you are in the copter it just seems like it is floating along.  The Hawaii scenery was spectacular and we spotted a pod of humpbacks.