Quest for Quirky Americana Pop Culture Landmarks III: Week 3 2008-07-01 23:19:00 Day 15From "The Good News, Bad News Department" today: I found gas in Youngstown, OH for only $.84 a gallon, the bad news that I was almost on full when I found it. Anyway at $.84 a gallon I had to stop and get gas.The first stop today was at home of "The Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary" the one, the only, Brian Boytano, er I mean Read more:Pop Culture
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Quest for Quirky Americana Pop Culture Landmarks III: Week 2 2008-07-01 23:15:00 Day 8I went to the Warden Show last night. It wasn't all that great. The Ranger was a bit too happy about her job. As I was driving back into the camp site, not wanting to bother the other campers, I turned off my headlights and was just using the parking lights. I hit the picnic table at full speed. Turns out the wagon is built stronger than the concrete bench. I got out to survey the damage and Read more:Pop Culture
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Quest for Quirky Americana Pop Culture Landmarks III: Week 1 2008-07-01 23:12:00 Day 1Saturday, August 8As I departed the old homestead in Newtown Square, the wagon queen family truckster's odometer was reading 91, 256. Today was not so much trip stuff, just a day of traveling. I had to get to my sister 's wedding in North East MD. Pam and Sam's wedding was rather nice. It was held at Elks Neck State Park, in a little chapel that they have there. After the wedding and receptio Read more:Pop Culture
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Quest for Quirky Americana Pop Culture Landmarks II: Week 3 2008-07-01 23:09:00 Day 15After a fun day of packing everything wet back in the car, we drove to New Orleans. There is a rather long bridge leading in to New Orleans. It's about 20 miles long, you do hit some land every now and then so it cant be classified as the world's longest bridge. It does give you a nice tour of the swamp land of LA.We arrived at our hotel and went for a swim and then ate at the Hard Rock Cafe Read more:Pop Culture
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Quest for Quirky Americana Pop Culture Landmarks II: Week 2 2008-07-01 23:06:00 Day 8We started out the day by jacking the car off the tree stump that Mike parked it on.... No damage to the car or the stump. We went out and about on the shuttle busses today. We were the typical tourist. They talked about this old mine that you could go and see. We got off the bus and walked only to find out that it had a 10 foot high fence around it. The fence also had DANGER HIGH RADIATION A Read more:Pop Culture
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Quest for Quirky Americana Pop Culture Landmarks II: Week 1 2008-07-01 23:02:00 Day 1 We are outta here! On the road again, launched off from "the pad" of the Newtown Square fire company tonight. We are on the road! Peter, Preston, MikeWe left at 7:15 PM from Newtown Square, PA. We took care of some stuff and got on the PA Turnpike in Harrisburg. Day one was rather uneventful. 234 miles later, it was mid night, and we were still in PA. We did stop for gas, and the great news Read more:Pop Culture
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Quest for Quirky Americana Pop Culture Landmarks 2008-07-01 22:16:00 Day 1We left Newtown Square, PA Thursday Night 7/11 at 9:31 PM. Doc got out of school at 9:30 PM so we had to wait for him. 2311 miles on the car.We entered Ohio at 3:00 am and our first stop was TYRRELL Ohio and the Tyrrell Fire Dept. Got lost and found our way. We got better at both of these as the trip went on.Next stop was the ROCK N ROLL HALL OF FAME in Cleveland. It was still early and they Read more:Pop Culture
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East Coast of America Trek: Moosehead Lake & Baxter State Park 2008-06-24 23:39:00 It was a really early start this morning - 4.45am we got up and left the campsite at 5.30am.The reason for the extremely early start is our white water rafting trip. There were no hiccups on the trip from Canada to the USA, we even managed to get Tom back in after a bit of paperwork. The rafting place was just over the border. Karola and all the guys got into the rafting gear, then it was on the b Read more:America
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East Coast of America Trek: Montreal 2008-06-24 23:37:00 A beautiful sunny morning! Even warm. We had breakfast packed up the tents and punctually at 9.30am we were on our way to Montreal
. It was a long drive and unfortunately we didn't take the "weather with us", it got consistently worse and by the time we got to Montreal it was really raining!I suppose we were lucky we got stuck in traffic, as by the time we pulled up at the campsite the rain took a Read more:America
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East Coast of America Trek: Quebec 2008-06-24 23:37:00 Cabins at Quebec
! What luxury and even better they had little electric heaters. Half of the group went into Quebec drinking, but I stayed at the cabin with Erica, Catherine and Stephen. We sat around the "camp heater" chatting and Stephen made us hot chocolate with Yukon Whiskey. Very tasty.We nearly had a good nights sleep, but those that were out drinking didn't all return to camp. Tom & Gary st Read more:America
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East Coast of America Trek: Toronto 2008-06-24 23:35:00 Today Toronto
is on the programme, whilst the others went sightseeing, I went in search of help with my camera. I found it at "Japan Cameras" in Eaton Place. The guy there was really helpful and I now know that the camera is fine, it is the lens that is broken. I convinced the guy that I really did want to buy a new lens and am now the happy owner of a zoom lens, which I would have bought sooner o Read more:America
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East Coast of America Trek: Niagara Falls 2008-06-24 23:32:00 My trip got off to a "great" start. Not only am I fighting the flu, no the flight with Singapore Airlines was delayed from 8.30am to 10.15am.Luckily I live close enough to the airport and Florian and I went back home and watched the Olympics. I got back to the airport for the correct check-in time, only to find after sitting around for 30 mins, that we were delayed even further! We finally left Fr Read more:America
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Hawaiian Dream Trek: Big Island 2008-06-24 23:30:00 Woke with a jump this morning, my tour today included an unwanted wake up call at 5.30am! 6am would have been much better, but oh well!Was up and waiting at the front door to be picked up by 6.25am. Was actually picked up at 6.45am. Then it was off to the airport, where I got to be a " real " tourist and wear a silly badge!The flight was again uneventful and only took about 40mins. We were picked Read more:Big Island
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Hawaiian Dream Trek: Waimea Canyon, Kauai 2008-06-24 23:29:00 As we had all decided on the short hike today, we had a bit of a lay in and had a big fried breakfast at nine with scrambled eggs and bacon! Of course, I started with Cocoa Pebbles first. After breakfast and the washing up, we set off for Waimea Canyon
which is the Hawaiian
version of the Grand Canyon. Although not as big, it is still as beautiful, and when you are stood at the viewpoint you feel Read more:Dream
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Hawaiian Dream Trek: Kauai 2008-06-24 23:28:00 The flight to Kauai
was uneventful. Todd was there waiting for us, when we arrived, as was our luggage, which had obviously travelled on an earlier flight than us. What I liked about the baggage claim, was that as we left they compared the stickers on the bag to the stickers on our tickets. That stops anyone taking the wrong bags accidentally or even on purpose.We drove from the airport straight i Read more:Dream
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Hawaiian Dream Trek: Honolulu 2008-06-24 23:27:00 We were on our own today and we all split up and went our various ways. Nicki wanted to take back her GAP dungarees, so she headed off on her own to Ala Moana Shopping Mall.Ulrike and I headed off sightseeing on our own. But our first stop was breakfast at Denny's, where we both had a Belgian waffle with strawberries.Iolani PalaceThen we caught a No. 2 bus to Punchbowl Street in downtown Honolulu
, Read more:Dream
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Hawaiian Dream Trek: Canoe Sailing 2008-06-24 23:26:00 We were all a little later up today, cause of the windy and rainy night. Ulrike and I were the first to the " kitchen " where we realised that not doing the washing up the night before, was not a good idea! Well, we set about boiling some water for the washing up and got down to having some breakfast which was followed by doing the dishes. Having done that, we had to pack everything up as it was o Read more:Canoe
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Hawaiian Dream Trek: Pearl Harbour 2008-06-24 23:26:00 We were on the road by 8.45am heading for PearlHarbour
and the Arizona Memorial. It is hard to describe the memorial, I felt sad for all the young men that died there on 7th December 1941, but all I really could think is " War is stupid ".The V.C. is the start to the memorial and before you go out to it on a boat, you watch a 20min video about the Arizona and its part in World War II. All in Read more:Dream
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Hawaiian Dream Trek: Sacred Falls 2008-06-24 23:22:00 Set off today at 9am and our first stop was the hike to Sacred Falls
. That was fun, even though I did nearly break my ankle, when I slipped on the mud, but I luckily only grazed my palms!The falls were beautiful, and I am glad Nicki convinced me to change and go for a swim in the pool. I think I probably shocked most people when I just changed then and there, but as I always say, we are all made o Read more:Dream
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Hawaiian Dream Trek: Kayaking 2008-06-24 23:21:00 We were up really early, but then again the first night on the floor isn't always the best nights sleep! Anyway we were up and had had breakfast, ready for the off at 8.15am.Today was Kayaking
! We drove to Kailua and then kayaked to the " Twin Islands " Mokulua (moku=island, lua=two), it was beautiful there. The island we stopped on was a sea bird sanctuary, and all these birds had made their nest Read more:Dream
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Hawaiian Dream Trek: East Coast of Oahu 2008-06-24 23:19:00 Nicki and I were awake extremely early, probably excited about meeting the rest of the group! We just lolled around reading all our free Hawaii brochures. Until at about 8.45am, after repacking our bags we made our way down to reception. The CrewIn the lift we met Marcus, who is on the Trek with us. He is 26 and from Germany (somewhere near Munich). We checked out, and I paid the $50 for a new saf Read more:Coast
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Hawaiian Dream Trek: Waikiki 2008-06-24 23:16:00 Well, so far so good! I am on the second leg of my journey and am safely on board my flight from Cincinnati to San Francisco. There was no problem connecting in Cincinnati, the flight was 1/2 hour early which left me with plenty of time even for a MacDonalds! The flight to Cincinnati was totally uneventful, except for the guy sat two away from me, who snored for most of the journey! Oh, and maybe Read more:Dream
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Best of the Rockies Trek: Seattle 2008-06-24 23:08:00 Oh dear, last day, We had to get up quite early as we had to clean up everything and count all the things. Well, we showed Andrew's grumpy group, how to do it all quickly and having fun! Then it was on to Seattle
. First stop there was an outdoor store REI, where a lot stocked up on outdoor clothes. I looked at the hiking boots, but the ones on sale unfortunately didn't fit.Start of Underground Tou Read more:Rockies
Best of the Rockies Trek: Vancouver 2008-06-24 23:07:00 We all stayed together as we went through Chinatown, Downtown and Gastown. In Gastown we went into the Irish pub for a drink, before we headed back to the van. Then it was on to our first campsite in a city. I wasn't impressed! But oh well. We were cooking again and we had Burritos, yummy! Then we had a hot tub party (Jenny, Gillian, Linda, Mike and me), and an early night, got to bed at about 11. Read more:Rockies
, Vancouver
Jordan: Aqaba & Return to Amman 2008-10-16 13:08:00 Chapter Nine - Aqaba & Return
to Amman
We returned to Rum the next day. I felt sorry that we had to leave so soon. It was again after dark that we headed back to the Desert Highway and then on to Aqaba. The Dominican woman accompanied us. There was one checkpoint between Rum and the highway. Driving along it was still nightmarish ...Before approaching Aqaba, there was a checkpoint but from what Read more:Jordan
Jordan: The Magical Desert of Wadi Rum 2008-10-16 13:04:00 Chapter Eight - The MagicalDesert
of Wadi RumWe headed south along the King's Highway. The whole road was under major reconstruction and it was only after 40 minutes or so that we reached the town of Tayyibeh, only about 15 kilometres further on. It's a rather quiet place, which the Taybet Zaman hotel complex cannot seem to change. I would think twice too before spending an outrageous JD110 or so Read more:Jordan
Jordan: Picturesque Petra 2008-10-16 12:53:00 Chapter Seven - Petra
(of Indiana Jones fame)From Shobak it's only a short distance to the most famous site in Jordan
: Petra. Petra was the capital of the Nabataeans, an Arab kingdom in pre-Roman times. It was conquered by the Romans and expanded and adjusted by them. Petra was hewn out of a sandstone terrace. The varying colours of the rocks make it very picturesque. It occupies a considerable a
Jordan: Heading South on the King's Highway 2008-10-16 12:48:00 Chapter Six - HeadingSouth
on the King's Highway
On to Muqawir, the place of Herod the Great's fortress. One can see the remains of the palace on the 700 meter high hilltop from some distance away and it's quite picturesque. You can drive up to the caretaker's hut, which is where the stairs to the top start. The caretaker is an enormously friendly and helpful man. We established a real friendship Read more:Jordan
Jordan: Madaba - mainly, but not all, mosaics! 2008-10-16 12:43:00 Chapter Five - Madaba - mainly, but not all, mosaics!I loathed the idea of having to spend another night in Amman, and decided to continue on to Madaba and hoped that its only place to stay, Lulu's Pension according to Lonely Planet, had vacancies. Luckily for us, it had.The place was easy enough to find. Signs to it are practically all over the city. The pension looks like an ordinary house, whic Read more:Jordan
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