Blogs from Bakersfield, California, United States, North America - page 2

Well we do love our maps, although I tease Dale about being in love with his maps. We have now obtained maps for driving throughout Europe, free with our AAA Plus. I do find that it is easier to see the big picture before narrowing it down to the details. We find the places we want to go to then Google map them for mileage. Google maps will show the distance in miles or km and I find it easier to plan using miles. So after Google mapping the places we want to go and finding the miles we really had planned to drive, we found that several days would mostly be spent driving. Lots of driving is not a good plan for a vacation, especially with a teenager along. We took another look at the ... read more

We are getting our act together for our Europe trip. Finally!!! I bought airplane tickets for Dale and our grandson. They will fly out on a Tuesday arriving in Brussels on Wed a.m., the same day that our granddaughter and I fly to Brussels from Rome. I wish we could arrive in Brussels close to the same time but I doubt that it will happen that way. I haven’t even looked at tickets for our flight. Guess I should do that. Our younger granddaughter is planning to go with Dale but has decided not to go to Finland. Since her dates of return are not known yet we will get her tickets maybe next week. I did look and see that the Mozart Requiem is still being performed on Saturdays in Vienna at the St Charles ... read more

We were successful in doing it again; we got out of Washington State before freezing nighttime weather set in. And we made our way south on I-5 before snow and ice began to accumulate in the mountain passes of southern Oregon and northern California. So, we have launched our fifth snowbird trip, dragging our dirt yacht 5th wheel trailer to southern Arizona. This will be Miss Minnie’s second winter trip with us. This time, we are going to spend four months at Palm Creek RV Resort in Casa Grande, AZ; about 45 miles south of the hustle and bustle of Phoenix. We use a laptop computer and a software program called Delorme Street Atlas with GPS to monitor our travel. Before we begin our trip, I preplan our route, our stops, our stays, etc. While we ... read more

I haven’t even written about my trip to Toronto and here I am leaving tomorrow for New York. So I’ll try to keep with New York and then write my impressions of Toronto later. A few days ago I got called to go to New York, on Long Island, to work Hurricane Sandy claims. Mainly, as I understand it, we will be doing reinspections and writing some estimates. I did not work Hurricane Sandy last fall. I was working in Sacramento and just stayed with that assignment. So now I’m going to get a taste of what some of my co-workers did. I’ve already packed, pretty unusual for me; usually I’m finishing up as I dash off to the airport. But I’m packed; got a large duffle bag, a large wheeled suitcase, a wheeled carry-on, camera ... read more

Réveil à 5h45, départ à 6h50, 31 524 miles au compteur. Arrêt pour faire le plein d'essence, 9,618 gallons pour 40,00$ et 31 529 miles. Direction Séquoia park. Nous nous arrêtons dans la petite ville de Springville où la dame du bureau de tourisme nous explique qu'il y a 2 Séquoia Park, 1 au nord et le second qui est sur la route que nous avons prise, et que nous allons trouver un trail pédestre dans quelques miles. Nous y arrivons à 12h30. Il y a un cheminement bitumé, sauf à l'endroit où il est coupé par un séquoia qui est tombé en travers du passage il y a 2 ans. Après ce parcours de un peu plus de 2 kilomètres, nous reprenons notre route. Nous prenons notre repas de midi à 15h00 dans un petit ... read more