Blogs from North America - page 8277

We're combining three trips to Pittsburgh for this blog entry. We're so glad that our son's job transfer gave us this opportunity. The most recent trip was for our grand daughter's 4th birthday. Pittsburgh is a great town. You can forget the image of smokestacks and smog; it is really beautiful and nicely contained. Getting around by foot, train, or other public transportation is simple. On a previous trip we traveled up Mt. Washington on the Monongahela Incline - a cool way to get around in this very hilly city where three rivers - the Susquehanna, the Monongahela, and the Ohio come together. There are tons of parks (probably because few of the slanted backyards can accommodate a play set). There are three professional sports teams The Pirates, The Steelers and the Penguins hockey team, ... read more

While we were living in San Francisco we hosted people on couchsurfing. One of the people we hosted was a great guy named Louis who was travelling from Florida to see the Pogues (a fantastic irish band) in California. Every day he was at our house he said he'd leave the next day to go explore more of California, and every time he decided to stay, and we were happy to have him. Jump ahead five months, now Brandi and I are the one's on the road, and being hosted by couchsurfers. We were in Florida already, so we decided to contact Louis and see his world. It was the first time we were able to both host and surf with the same person. Louis actually lives in Hawthorne, a suburb of Gainesville, out in ... read more

This is my first blog ever....I mean, I tried to blog before but it never seemed to quite work out for me. I have not set out on my journey yet; we will leave in August from Lake Tahoe and drive to the Yucatan in Southern Mexico. The reason? I was awarded an Ambassadorial Scholarship from Rotary International to study for one-year abroad. My husband, Martin, will finish up his dive certifications. I guess, if pressed, I'd have to say that I am a bit nervous to travel all the way through Mexico, especially in August, as newly weds, for a whole month. There are so many unknowns. Which is both good and bad. Don't get me wrong, I've traveled before. I've been on three self-supported bike trips through W. Europe. I've traveled through E. ... read more

Well folks we are home in Canada. What a trip!!! I loved every part of Vietnam and would go again in a second. A bit of an update from when we left Hoi An. After picking up our new clothes (which we love!!) we decided we must head for Hanoi and Halong Bay. Once again we chose to fly cause we were almost out of time..another 1 hour flight and we landed at the Hanoi airport. The mini bus to town left us close to where we wanted to stay and a short walk later we were having trouble finding a hotel with a room available. I stayed in the lobby of one hotel while Shelly and an Aussie girl went in search of a room. Our firdt night we spent at the Orchid Guesthouse, a ... read more

OD Much nicer day than yesterday. Not as many hills and much more dirt than stone. There were only nine miles instead of 10. The day was overcast until about 3PM. We were walking in the fog through leafless trees silouted against the gray. We got some real great photos and made it to the shelter at 4PM. We had plenty of time to pull all the tent stuff out and let it dry. Plenty of time to cook and enjoy dinner while the sun was up. We still have about an hour of light left and I'm sitting at a bench in front of the shelter cathcing up on yesterday and today's journal entries. We are getting stronger every day and CC's ability to consume more than her normal food portions is getting better ... read more