We had headed to southern California to escape winter in BC and decided we would like to get a bit warmer than a California winter so we booked a 14-day return cruise out of San Diego to the Hawai’ian Islands.  The weather was lovely the day we set sail.  And the weather was lovely two weeks later the day we returned to San Diego.  All of the days in-between were rainy and cool!  Every single day!  So much for getting warm in Hawai’i!  It was the first time I was ever happy to get off a cruise ship.  Absolutely crazy.It seems to me that half of the world’s ports have a three-masted schooner tied to a berth.  They are all over the place.  I love them though.

We have been to Hawai’i several times and have been to all the must-see tourist places so we did very little on the cruise and in the ports.  After four days at sea we docked in Hilo, on the wet side of the Big Island.  We have spent quite a bit of time on the Big Island and have been to Hilo several times.  We just walked into town from the port – and this was the only three or so hours of warm sunshine we had.  I actually got a bit of sunburn on our walk.  It took over an hour to get into Hilo, we walked the length of the main street and then walked back to the ship, arriving just as the sky opened for a torrential rain storm.

The only island we traveled around was Maui, as we have never stayed on that island, and have previously only seen Lahaina.  We rented a car and did a drive around the north west ‘thumb’ of Maui. We spent a month on Kauai a few years ago, so that island we have pretty much covered as well and felt no need to do anything but take a walk.

The last port was Honolulu on Oahu – a big city with a famous beach. Sailing away – Diamond Head is a very recognizable point in Honolulu.  And, then it was back to San Diego.

We left Las Vegas a day before our time-share week was up because we needed some time to make our way to San Diego before our round-trip two week cruise to Hawai’i departed on February 16.

First though, we drove east into Arizona to visit Hoover Dam. Some massively large fish we could see in Lake Mead from the top of the dam.From Hoover Dam we backtracked a bit, back to Boulder City in Nevada and turned south on Highway 95 to Blythe, CA where we spent the night. Along the way we traversed a section of the famous Route 66 which made John happy. I asked John to take my photo out in the middle of the nowhere and as I walked into the desert John suddenly made the sound of a rattlesnake behind me.  I jumped about 4 feet!  He laughed of course.  I was not impressed.

Driving along the southern boundary of California we passed through the Heber Dunes State Recreational Vehicle Area.  There was rolling sand dunes on both sides of the road as far as you could see.  Many people in off-road vehicles were zipping up and down the faces of the dunes having a great time. We watched them for awhile before continuing on our way to San Diego; where we spent the night before boarding the Holland America ship MS Zaandam the next day.           There is certainly no shortage of rocks on those hills.

On our final full day in Las Vegas we again drove out of town; and went to explore Red Rock Canyon.                   This is the view from the Visitor’s Center.                   This big guy was in the Visitor’s Center.  The canyon is very popular with rock climbers and it is quite common to see helicopter rescues of people who have fallen while climbing up or clambering around on the rocks.

I put the green smudge on the rock climber in the photo on the right. You can just make him out in the photo on the left if you know where to look.

I loved all the shapes and colours in the rocks – and here, there was such a definite line between the light, almost-white, and the brick red.
            How do plants grow in solid rock? Slowly, I guess.                      Lots and lots and lots of nothing out there.The next day, February 14, we checked out of our unit – a day early -to give us time to drive to San Diego for the departure of our 14-day Hawai’ian cruise.

We began our second day of walking the Las Vega Strip at the gorgeous Venetian.  We had been in Venice the previous spring and I was amazed at the number of well-known sites in Venice that had been incorporated into the hotel and grounds.  The main building is a mini-replica of the  Doge’s Palace.  The affect was spoiled somewhat with the large posters hanging down the front facade advertising a Tim McGraw/Faith Hill concert but the building looked just like the palace otherwise.   Below  is the Doge’s Palace in Venice and the tower at St. Mark’s Square. Above, Rialto Bridge in Venice, below ‘Rialto Bridge’ in Las Vegas.The tower at St. Mark’s Square in Venice and the tower at the Venetian.

 In Venice, the Rialto Bridge is no where near St. Mark’s Square, but on the Vegas Strip you can condense all the elements into one beautiful complex.

Even the two towers at the canal entrance to St. Mark’s Square have been duplicated at the Venetian.

We were unable to take photos inside the Doge’s Palace but the inside of the Venetian looked just like it!

As you can tell I loved the Venetian.  It was by far my favourite resort in Vegas.The Mirage is across the street from the Venetian.  Further down the strip is Paris – my second favourite casino.  Once inside you feel like you are walking down some quaint little streets in Paris under a lovely blue sky.  At night the lighting changes so it is ‘night’ on the streets of Paris in Las Vegas.  It is pretty easy to forget you are inside a large building as you wander the cobblestone ‘streets.’

The Luxor was really neat; a massive black pyramid sitting among the palm trees.

 The Luxor was showcasing the “Bodies” exhibit.  We were very tempted to get tickets and check it out but we had tickets to go up the Eiffel Tower at Paris after dark and didn’t think we had enough time.

         The main entrance to the resort is through the Sphinx. The lovely strings of lights in The Cosmopolitan and the fountain playing at the Bellagio.

We made our way back to Paris as the sun was setting and had some gorgeous views of Vegas from the top of the Eiffel Tower. The two-day walk down both sides of the Strip completed our exploration of Las Vegas.  We don’t gamble, but we did take in two shows: Donny & Marie and Cirque de Soleil “Beatles: Love.”

We took a couple of days off and rested in the condo then spent two days walking the Las Vegas Strip.  We went down one side of the strip one day and the other side the next.  We checked out almost every casino/hotel/resort, and in the process wore out our poor feet. The Strip is LONG.  Caesar’s Palace is huge!  The complex covers several blocks.           What’s not to like about a diamond encrusted horse?The inner garden at the Bellagio has changing themes. When we were there  it was the Chinese Year of the Snake so the garden had lovely floral Chinese children and a Junk and a big snake with lucky coins.

New York, New York, from the outside, looks like a multi-building street.  They also have a fun-looking roller coaster than encircles the complex.  No expense is spared on these gambling, shopping, hotel, concert venues.

I was disappointed with the interior of Excalibur.  I expected it to be lavishly decorated in a knight’s theme, but, other than the main hallway entrance the rest was pretty subdued, and without much in the way of knights or princesses in towers.  I love the outside though.Excalibur was as far as we walked down the one side.  The Strip is longer still, but the large casinos stop about here.  There are more located in other areas around Vegas, but the main, well-known ones line the Strip.  The next day we walked the other side.

It is only about a four hour drive from Escondido to Las Vegas, so we didn’t have to stay anywhere overnight between one place and the next.  Childhood heroes of mine.  I loved Roy Rogers and Dale Evans – and Bullet, the German Shepherd Dog, and Trigger, Roy’s gorgeous Palomino horse.The next day we drove out of the city to the old ghost town of Calico and spent a pleasant afternoon wandering around.
Calico was a mining town and several of the area’s mines are nearby. Also a section of the old railroad is still in operation on a short loop track for tourists to have a ride. The ‘beer bottle’ house is now a pet shop full of all-things-dog.After a good time being immersed in the “Old West” we headed back to Vegas and a lazy day at the condo.

Escondido is only about an  hour’s drive from San Diego.  We settled into our condo, got our groceries unpacked, and took a walk around the resort. We have always tended to be lazy during our time share stays. We find a nice walking route in the area, or around whichever resort we are in, and go for a walk each day.  We do puzzles (me – word puzzles and John – sudoku), we read, we check out any interesting things in the area, and we take it easy.  On two separate afternoons we had lunch with friends we had met on the 2009 World Cruise, and one day we drove down to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, which is located not too far south of Escondido. I am always happy when I can go see critters.  I didn’t get the name of the bird on the left.  The one on the right is a White-headed Lapwing.

                                               Southern Bald Ibis

             This lovely blue bird is a Victoria Crowned Pigeon                                                   Hyacinth Macaw                                   Lowland Paca – large tropical rodent

                                             The ever-curious Meerkat                           Hawai’ian Goose and a male Ringed Teal                                         A Snowy Egret and a Crowned Crane                                                        Bontebok

                                                  Western Giant Eland

                                                          An Okapi

                 Western Egyptian Vulture and Hooded Vulture European White Stork and a Kori Bustard; the largest flying bird in Africa.

.  A male Abyssinian Ground Hornbill.  The females don’t have the red.  Nyala, one of my favourite antelope species.  They are so pretty.                            The little, but fleet, Thomson’s Gazelle.                                             Yellow-billed Stork

                                            Southern White RhinoIt is easy to see where inventors got the idea for armoured plates.  Rhinos have thick, hard hides.                                                              Wildebeest                                           Fringe-eared Oryx from the Arabian Peninsula – this antelope species lives wild in the deserts of Oman.Watusi Cows – they can survive on very limited amounts of grass and water; a very handy trait to have in Africa. And this was the most interesting thing we did in our time at Escondido.  When our three weeks was up we headed north to Las Vegas where John had secured another week of time share.

We were on our way to southern California to avoid some of the BC winter and friends we had planned to visit in LA had to cancel because they were sick with the flu.  This gave us an extra day before we were due to check into the Lawrence Welk Resort in Escondido, so we made a course change and headed to Yosemite.

Most of the roads and trails are closed after November 1st but the main road into the village remains open all year.  It was a beautiful sunny day and Half Dome, El Capitan, and Yosemite Falls were spectacular.                                     Half Dome off in the distance.The rocks had been worn smooth by the flowing water.                          El Capitan, the Guardian of Yosemite.                    Ribbon Falls

             Yosemite Falls                                          The reflections in the river were stunning. After our ‘photo stop’ tour of Yosemite we spent the night in Tulare and drove to Escondido the next day.

In keeping with my plan to write blogs about the trips and travels we enjoyed before I began writing my blog for our 2014 Cross Canada Trip, I have been working on what I call our “Eight States Trip.”

In January of 2013 we decided to go south to escape some of the BC winter.  We own two time-shares and John is very good at maximizing our one week’s worth of product into a much longer time.  He managed to book three weeks in the Lawrence Welk Resort in Escondido, California beginning January 17.  Now, most folks that we know that go south in the winter drive straight down via the fastest route possible and arrive in southern California or Arizona in about three days.  We, as you probably know well by now, do not do that.  Still, we didn’t do too badly as it only took us five days to get to the resort.

We spent the first night at Chelan Falls, Washington, arriving after the sun set, which was quite pretty even from the window of the car. We woke the next morning to a lovely day and headed southward once again.                                              Lake Chelan, Washington

We had heard often about the quaint Bavarian-style village of Leavenworth in the Cascade Mountains of Washington.  We turned  westward north of Wenatchee and went to have a look-see.  The place is very popular over the Christmas holiday season because the entire village is decorated with garlands and lights.  It is popular to take a bus tour to go across the line to see it.  Since we were travelling through in mid-January we didn’t get the whole ‘seasonal feel’ but it looked like a cute place.  We just drove around a few blocks and then continued south toward Ellensburg. There is a viewpoint that overlooks the long Yakima Valley.  Even with the light snow layer it was pretty.  I think I took about six photos to capture the full length.  But when I stitch them all together the image is so skinny it loses all the power of scale.

We were blessed with another lovely sunset as we drove into Bend, Oregon for the night.The third day took us from Bend, Oregon to Red Bluff, California. We stopped for lunch at Sand Creek Station, about half-way between Chemult and Chiloquin, north of Klamath Falls.  We were driving through the mountains and there was still plenty of snow around.It wasn’t long after we crossed the border into California that we saw the lovely Mt. Shasta. We had made plans to go into LA to visit with friends we had met on the World Cruise in 2009, but we received a message that they were sick with the flu.  This provided us with an extra day, so instead of heading west, we kept going southeast through some of the old California Gold Rush areas and made a stop at Yosemite National Park.                                                Don Pedro ReservoirTo be continued…