http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Travels-with-Tom-and-Alice/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Travels with Tom and Alice en-us Sat, 19 Dec 2009 02:58:12 +0000 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 02:58:12 +0000 June 2009 We have finally arrived at our new summer home in South Surrey B.C. We officially took possession on the 1st of May but didnrsquot arrive here until the end of May after our adventures visiting family in the Canadian prairies and a few weeks in Calgary getting a few loose ends finished up and some final packing.We found a good place close to home for our Motor Home for the summer http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Surrey/blog-413556.html Arizona WinterIt is now the first of April and we are leaving our winter home in El Mirage AZ. in our Motorhome. We had a wonderful winter with nice weather lots of golf a bunch of great days visiting with friends some relaxing lawn bowling a few visits to the local points of interest a few NHL hockey games and a few baseball games at the the annual Major League Spring Training in the Phoen http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Arizona/Phoenix/blog-388381.html April 13 14 2008PAMUKKALE TurkeyWe were picked up this morning by our guide for the day for our visits to Hieropolis Pamukkale and the ancient city of Aphrodisias.The sites of the city of Hieropolis and the Hot springs and mineral baths of Pamukkale are actually one very large site that includes a very large ancient city and the old and new mineral baths of Pamukalle. The city of Hieropolis w http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Pamukkale/blog-268240.html December 23 2008El Mirage ArizonaOur wonderful adventure is finished and we are done traveling for awhile. We are settled in for the winter in our motorhome near Phoenix Arizona. From what we see on the news lately we are glad we are not in Canada with the cold and snow. Golf was great on a sunny day today I played very bad but it was a great day Best wishes of the season to all of th http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Arizona/Phoenix/blog-356777.html November 1 2008THE ENDHere we are sitting in Phoenix looking at each other wondering what we should be doing next Life will be different for a while as we adjust to ldquonot being on the roadrdquo.We returned to North America on Oct 31 after an overnight in Bogota and then to Miami Dallas and Phoenix. We will take the Motorhome out of storage and then go to Canada to find a ldquoReal http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/blog-341420.html October 27 30 2008CAMAINA and ANGEL FALLS VenezuelaWOW We left Margarita Island on an early flight and flew to Puerto Ordaz and on to Canaima National Park. Alice ldquojust lovedrdquo the small planes The views are spectacular in these aircraft as you fly fairly low. After a few hours and some beautiful scenery we arrived at the Canaima National Park that is home to Angel Falls http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Venezuela/Guayana/Canaima-National-Park/blog-340159.html October 22 26 2008MARGARITA ISLAND VenezuelaAfter a long day of travelling Bogota Caracas Margarita Island we arrived at Margarita Island and checked into Hesperia Resort for a few day of relaxing.This is a really nice part of the world with beautiful beaches and some great facilities. This is not really what we expected as the countryside is small mountains we were thinking flat a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Venezuela/Insular/Isla-Margarita/blog-338734.html October 17 21 2008CARTAGENA de Indias ColombiaFriday we flew 1 hour from Bogota to Cartagena. The flight was very interesting as we flew over a huge flood plain that is part of a large river system that drains into the Caribbean. Cartagena is a fairly big city over 1 million on the north coast of Colombia on the Caribbean east of Panama. After a short break at the hotel we were picked up http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Cartagena/blog-337369.html October 14 15 16 2008BOGOTA ColombiaWe arrived in Bogota in the afternoon following the 5 hour flight from Santiago Chile and spent a quiet afternoon looking around the city near the hotel. This is a very nice and clean city nestled into the mountains at 2600 meters altitude.Wednesday morning we were picked up by our driver guide for a trip into the country and a visit to Villa Leyva abo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Bogota/blog-337367.html Oct 9 14 2008Torres del Paine National Park ChileThursday morning we took an all day excursion from our hotel around the mountain range and onto a boat across Grey Lake for a close up very close up view of the mountain range from every possible angle and the face of the Grey Glacier. The Torres del Paine are spectacular but for us the Cuernos del Paine are even more impressive. There are http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/Torres-del-Paine/blog-334416.html Oct 7 8 2008Patagonia ChileToday was a 6 hour bus ride through the pampas into the mountains and ending in Puerto Natales Chile. This is another small city on the other side of the Andes that is a small port on a long fjord off the Pacific Ocean. Not much to do here except some spectacular sea kayaking and trekking for those that are that energetic. This was a very interesting albeit too http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/Puerto-Natales/blog-334414.html Oct 5 6 2008El Calafate ArgentinaFollowing our short flight from Ushuaia we landed in El Calafate a small city of 20000 or so near the Andes Mountains and home to some important glaciers on the east slope of the mountains.The largest lake in Argentina is formed by glacial melt and it is interesting to see the icebergs floating around the lake. These are very interesting glaciers as they are http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-332373.html Oct 5 Ushuaia ArgentinaWe disembarked from our cruise on Saturday morning were met by our local guide for a visit to Ushuaia. Ushuaia is a small city of about 65000 people that is the farthest south major city in the world. the farthest south smaller settlements are in Chile We visited a small national park close to the city but the weather was not very pleasant and not a great day to be s http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/Ushuaia/blog-332370.html Sept 30 Oct 4 Patagonia CruiseWe flew from Manaus Brazil for an overnight stay in Sao Paulo and then on to Punta Arenas Chile via Santiago. long day on airplanes and in airports We enjoyed a relaxing day in Punta Arenas Chile and visited some of the local attractions in this small city on the southern tip of Chile on the Straights of Magellan.On Tuesday we began a 5 day 4 night cruise on http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/blog-330859.html Sept 22 26 2008This has been a very enjoyable adventure. Getting to my computer to note the days activities was impossible. We were up every morning at 0530 for a canoe trip into the wilderness before breakfast. After breakfast we followed that with various long walks 1 2 hours through the woods with our expert guides at 35 C to learn more about the flora and fauna of the regio http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Amazonas/blog-330807.html Sept 21 AMAZONA BrazilWe boarded the river cruiser at the pier at our hotel to start our 6 nights cruising the Rio Nergro River. As you might expect it is very hot here with a ldquolittlerdquo humidity about 98 Our trip will include 6 nights on the river on the Tucano which has 18 passengers two guides two cooks and a crew of 4. We started in Manaus and will spend 5 days going up st http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Amazonas/blog-330805.html Sept 20 2008AMAZONIA BrazilWe are not too sure what to expect with this part of our adventure but maybe thatrsquos the best part This morning we flew 3 hours to Manaus a city in the heart of the rain forest on the Rio Negro River about 35 KM from the junction of the Solimoes River that then becomes the Amazon River and dumps into the Atlantic ocean. Or flight took us to Belem for a short http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Amazonas/Manaus/blog-330802.html Sept 17 20 2008FORTALEZA BrazilWe arrived in Fortaleza on a beautiful sunny and hot day and spent our first afternoon relaxing at the hotel and a brief short walk to the beach near the hotel.Fortaleza is a big city about 2.5 million on the north east coast of Brazil 3 degrees south of the equator. Almost everyday of the year is hot and sunny with early sunrise and early sunset. This looks l http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Cear-/Fortaleza/blog-330798.html BUZIOS BrazilSept. 12 15Our trip to Buzios started out badly with a 7 hour bus trip from Rio that should have been 2.5 hours. This bus stopped at the airport and waited for several late as usual international flights. Not what we planned on as we should have had a day at the beach and not in a bus. We should have been there for lunch and made it in time for dinner.Buzios is a very busy bea http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/B-zios/blog-330797.html Sept 9 11Rio de Janeiro BrazilFollowing our 10 hour flight from Madrid we arrived in the early evening in Rio de Janeiro to an early bedtime to try to catch up on the jetlag.Tuesday morning we awoke to a cloudy drizzly day in ldquoSunny Brazilrdquo. Not a good day to visit the ldquo Christ The Redeemerrdquo statue on a nearby mountain top and the top of the famous ldquo Sugarloaf Mo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-324058.html