http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/One-Girl-One-World/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from One Girl One World en-us Fri, 25 Dec 2009 19:38:20 +0000 Fri, 25 Dec 2009 19:38:20 +0000 Looking for three sisters who were in foster care in the late 1940's in Hillsdale County Michigan. For years my relatives have searched for these three sisters to no avail. If anyone has any information about Barbara Smythe born around 1939 Margaret Smythe born around 1940 and Mary Smythe born around 1941 please send me a message.Barbara Margaret and Mary Smythe lived with the Paul Lyle Kope http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/blog-458863.html A few photos from Sidney British Columbia...This charming little island is home to many retired people who use bikes to get from one place to another. The airport we use is in Victoria though our hotel is actually right on the water in Sidney.This is one of my favorite overnights. The hotel is firstclass with a running path that snakes along the water around the island. The workout room is the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/blog-454469.html Caught a late flight in to Seattle just in time to see a few friends at our favorite bar on Capital Hill where everyone was celebrating the birthday of our good friend Ross Almost nothing beats a dive bar and pitchers of cold beer with friends. Tehere was there along with Tuashua Brett Melanie Herbie and of course Ross. I stayed for several days and had a great time visiting Pike's Market a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-432528.html I spent a few days in southern Georgia with MaryAnne in early May. We spent a couple of days on Jekyll Island which included a visit to Driftwood Beach where I took a ton of pictures. We also visited the Sea Turtle Nursery. We were able to take a quick trip down to Jacksonville one afternoon and had a great seafood dinner there. I had accumulated quite a little collection of sea shells so we http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Georgia/blog-412392.html I played Chauffer and Tour Guide the first week of April on the Island of Oahu as my parents and I enjoyed a week in paradise. We stayed in a lovely BB in Kaneohe Bay overlooking the water. The view from the deck was spectacular and often my parents would look out over the water and see something large and round swimming around in the bay. We guessed it was probably a turtle sea turtles are a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Oahu/Honolulu/blog-390405.html I was lucky enough to get a 36 hour layover in Eureka in April. The crew and I rented a car and spent our free day visiting the redwoods and the ocean. Here are a few photos. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Redwood-National-Park/blog-395481.html Long story short Bruce drove Duke to Georgia to live with MaryAnne Duke is a big dog and hard for Bruce to handle with his arthritis and Duke didn't like being away from Bruce and let everyone know it in his own special way Two weeks later Bruce flew out to Atlanta to drive with MaryAnne and Duke back to Utah Duke doesn't like airplanes and a few days later on May 7th I drove back to Geo http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/blog-411559.html Most of you don't know that for the past eight months I have been training for the Marine Corps Marathon...a race I ran on October 26th. It wasn't something I wanted to tell everyone...just in case I proved to be a big weenie when it came to pain. I've delayed writing about it and quite honestly have thought once or twice that I might just skip it altogether. The marathon has been difficult for http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/District-of-Columbia/Washington/blog-341452.html She came to us as a puppy unexpectedly dropped off on our front door 13 years ago at a time when having a dog was absolutely out of the question. But MaryAnne and Craig wanted her and they begged and made promises and I gave in as I always did. Those first few weeks she barked all the time was difficult to house train and for the next 13 years destroyed everything in her path during thunderst http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Utah/Salt-Lake-City/blog-272970.html Here are a few pictures and videos from a short trip to Oahu with friends last week. Ingrid and Jim friends from Sacramento and Ingrid's brother Mark from Annapolis and I all met up in Oahu at Bellows AFS for a few days. Jim went diving every day while Ingrid and I hung out at the beach. Mark had to spend a few days at the Marine Corps Base at Kane'ohe Bay. Fortunately his nights were free http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Oahu/blog-328343.html MaryAnne spent her senior year of college in Paris. Her host mother is a famous french actress named Patrica who lives very close to the Eiffel Tower in a four story home. Needless to say MaryAnne wasn't anxious to return to the United States. She spent nearly every day walking by the Eiffel Tower and had a free pass to the Louve for the year she was there. Lucky girl The last time I was in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-279085.html I'm often asked if I ever have famous people on my planes. Those who know me well know that celebrity status alone does little to impress me. While I have flown with many celebrities and many more very special passengers there have been a few recently that I'd like to tell you about.Roy Clark Country music legend Roy Clark famous for hosting the variety show Hee Haw in the early 1970's was a p http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/blog-270910.html Had a layover in Yakima Washington a few days ago so took MaryAnne along for the ride. She's been staying with me since the accident in Nebraska totaled her jeep and sidelined her Sacramento plans so a short trip away to clear her head was a good idea. As you might guess there's not much to do in Yakima when the weather is cold but I had a really fun crew and we discovered happy hour in the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Yakima/blog-265567.html The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality. John F. Kennedy June 24 1963Showdown in BerkeleyTo summarize in January of 2007 the United States Marine Corps Recruiting Division opened an Officer Selection office at 64 Shattuck Square in Berkeley California. In September eight months later a group calling itself code pink http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Berkeley/blog-257850.html We were one of the early flights out of the city the morning these shots were taken. The flight deck received special permission for a rare 'Bay Tour' at 3000 feet. We flew out over the bay around Alcatraz and over the Golden Gate Bridge before heading south along the coast for Ontario. I imagine it was quite a sight to see an airliner flying at 3000 feet over Alcatraz http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/blog-255279.html Lesson 1Dont Drink The Water p.s. The ocean is water.MaryAnne and I had a blast surfing in San Juan del Sur with Larry our friend from the Scuba Shack. The waves at Remanso Beach were awesome and the water was perfect but I wiped out one too many times in the surf and... well lets just say I wont need a Neti pot for months but I could really use some Immodium AD. SWALLOWING THE OCEAN I http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/blog-251405.html San Francisco to Eugene Oregon January 31 2008. The most spectacular sunset above the clouds I've ever seen. There's nothing I could say about these photos that John didn't say better. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/blog-242230.html Here are a few shots from the last several months...enjoy And by the way though it may have taken me 47 days I've finally added a few pictures from the Costa Rica trip. One of these days when I get around to it I'll have to look into why I'm such a procrastinator. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/blog-238155.html Ive never been to Costa Rica during the rainy season before and now I know why. The rain stopped for five minutes my first morning in Puerto Viejo...long enough for Wendy Leah and myself to have coffee on the beach. The beach is just a few steps out Wendys front door and they have coffee on their favorite log every day. By the time we headed back into the house the rain began again and did http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Limon/Puerto-Viejo-de-Talamanca/blog-218771.html There's a scene in the movie Forest Gump when Forest is running along a lonely highway and then suddenly he stops turns around and says I'm kinda tired I think I'll go home. That's kind of what happened to me...somewhere in Bulgaria. I couldn't tell you where I was exactly I was following signs rather than using a map I only know I was headed for Thessaloniki Greece when the overwhelming http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Utah/Salt-Lake-City/blog-199056.html