Home again

As covid isolation wears on, I'm grateful to Alaska Airlines for extending our tickets so we can eventually go on the trip we missed spring 2020. Raise a glass to travel dreaming! 

 

Zion National Park

As Covid restrictions loosen and we all give in to our wanderlust, hubs and I opted for a road trip to Utah. Researching the Big 5 national parks in Utah was challenging so just for simplicity, I'm going to break this story into a few separate posts. Coming from Seattle, our first stop was obviously at In-N-Out near Salt Lake. Yum! 

We got our national parks pass before we left so when we arrived we were ready to drive right into the park. Parking is limited so if you have to park outside the gates, it can cost $30/day. So it pays to get there early. Or stay within walking distance, which is what we did. There are camp grounds inside the park, but as America is taking a collective vacation, they were all filled up. We booked a campsite at Zion Canyon campground and RV park and slept in the car. 

The road through Zion is fairly simple. We started at the south gate. From there you go north to the Canyon Junction. From there you can turn right, staying on HWY9, which leads you through the historic tunnel, an additional small tunnel and into another world. Pack a snack, you're going to want to pull over and stare at the rocks. 

Back at the Canyon Junction, you go north onto the scenic drive, but only in winter. The rest of the year, you need to get inexpensive shuttle tickets from recreation.gov. You'll be competing with panic buyers, hoarders, and scalpers so it's never too early to do your research and understand this process. Tickets are released for sale in batches a couple weeks ahead and then at 5 pm the night before. Have your finger on the "buy" button at 5pm. Last chance shuttle is after 2 pm walk on. They don't want you lining up early, but I wouldn't be late if my heart was set on getting up the scenic drive. Taking the shuttle is worth it even if you never get off. The shuttle goes from the visitors center, up and down the scenic drive with several stops to get on and off, then back to the visitors center. Once you get back to the visitors center, your ticket is void, but hopefully you saw everything you wanted. 

If you don't get a shuttle pass, you can bike it or hire a local car service.

The trails:

Watchman and Pa'rus trailheads are at the visitors center, no shuttle necessary. Watchman was a nice, uphill, natural trail to a great view. You can see the Watchman for practically the whole hike and you're up close and personal with amazing geology. The Pa'rus trail is paved and flat and leads to the Canyon Junction so if you're biking up the scenic drive, you're probably biking the Pa'rus. On the way, you'll pass a short trail to the human history museum. Closed for covid but the restrooms and water fill station are operational. Look for the interpretive sign at the museum that outlines the arch, visible from the trail. I would never have seen it without this sign. Other interpretive signs along this trail make it interesting and educational. And you thought you were just going to look at rocks. 

Other trails we took were off the scenic drive: Riverside walk, and Emerald Pools. These are perhaps the least popular and I can't say why we chose them, except I wasn't feeling up to the most adventurous trails here; the Narrows, and Angel's Landing. Riverside walk leads to the Narrows and follows along the stream, meandering through woods and hugging the rocks. After a rain, the rocks were seeping and flowers were blooming. (pay attention to flash flood warnings even if you don't see rain) This trail is paved and mostly flat. A wheelchair person would need some assistance getting up a couple inclines, I think. Emerald Pools consists of 3 pools; upper, middle, and lower. The middle and upper and out and back trails with stairs and narrow parts, and the lower takes you from one shuttle stop to the next. The lower feels like a grotto, not to be confused with the Grotto trail. They were all worth it if you have time and energy to spare. Feeling tired, I might have skipped the middle and upper but hubs said he wouldn't.

One trail we missed and is definitely on my list if we ever get back is the Grotto. It seemed really popular and sounds cool. 

One of the problems with researching the parks is the pictures and info from one park come up when you search another park, information seems scattered among the parks and it was just chaotic to research for me. Getting ahold of the Park's official brouchures and maps (sometimes called newspapers) would've been helpful.

Orcas island during a pandemic

Ok full disclosure, I only spent a couple hours on the island and I was working but i'm going to give you my impression anyway. Look, it's as beautiful a place as you'll find in the northwest and clearly draws tourist types probably from in state as much as out of state. Gorgeous! The beaches are typical northwest beaches. Rocky with dark water. Kayak and sup rentals can be had, some are closed for covid season. There are several state parks for camping and a shit ton of lodgings. West sound looked a little more upscale and quiet but I only drove through so what do I know. In East sound, stop at Clever cow creamery for an affogato. Best I've had state side. The crew is super safety conscious, coralling customers to keep the prescribed 6 feet gap. Lunch at Madrona is a win but I bet there's hardly a loser in town. 

Please respect the locals. They would probably love to stay home and safely away from illness imported to their town by vacationers. But their season is short and they gotta make the money to survive the off season. 

We are supposed to be in Hawaii today. We take the occasional trip with the whole family and since larger groups are less predictable and more expensive, we opted for flight insurance. Thank God, because Covid19 hit just in time. We are counting our blessings at this time, to include job security and having traveled recently and having been to Hawaii a few times. But we are grounded. But we are also determined to celebrate all that Hawaii is by stepping up the staycation game with a fakecation. 

I'm not talking about faking a trip to make people jealous, we're not pretending we're there. But we are soaking in the Aloha at home. I'm going to take this opportunity to list some of my favorite travel tips too! Put a flower in your hair, grab some coconut rum and join me. 

Tip #1 Use google maps and street view to check out intended destinations. You can virtually walk or drive down streets and some walking/hiking paths. You might walk past a restaurant-look at their online menu and choose something to try at home for fakecation. 

Fake the local food. In Hawaii, our hotel has a buffet breakfast so we have a ton of fresh tropical fruit every day. On the menu for the week... Spam musubi, kalua pork, tropical drinks, coconut peanutbutter, honolulu cookies (they ship) and I'm really hoping for some shave ice, if I can find the Snoopy ice shaver I know we have somewhere. 

Tip #2 Get an airline credit card. It doesn't matter which one, just start earning those miles. We like Alaska Airlines but it makes sense as we're in the Seattle area. Alaska has partners across the country so it could work for anyone. 

We don't always get flight insurance. Once the price of the airfare is higher than something we're really willing to just throw away, it's time to consider the insurance. When traveling outside of the US, we check out health insurance too. Your credit card might come with some insurance. 

Tip #3 Know what your destination is famous for. Hawaii is easy. Beaches and Pearl Harbor make the top of the list. 

On our last trip the Pearl Harbor memorial was closed for refurb but they took us out on the boat and told us stories and actually, I think it was a deeper experience for me. On the beach, toy rentals are easy to find. We love Stand Up Paddling but you could surf, kayak or peddle at any southern beach along the tourist area. A north shore surf lesson is a beautiful splurge. 

Tip #4 Know the neighborhoods. Whenever visiting a new city, research it by neighborhoods. Which have the most culture, which are dangerous at night, etc. 

In Hawaii, that probably means looking at differences between islands, or maybe just which side of the island you want to be on. Oahu is small enough to day trip to any corner. Know what your hotel offers. Our hotel has a craft market, hula and craft classes. Other hotels have great shopping, gardens, and most have their own luau. 

Tip #5 Search for the thing you love to do at the place you're going to visit. For me, that's hiking. We try and hike Diamond Head every time. 

Research tells me peak trafic, parking fees, and that there is often a shave ice truck in the parking lot. Score! Researching snorkling at Hanauma Bay told me it's become more crowded and going at a peak time means we have to Uber. Which reminds me...

Tip #6 Google "how to public transit" and the city you're looking at. Honolulu has public transit but if you're staying in town, the trips are short and it's actually worth it to take Uber to save time. Saving time means more beach time, right?

Tip #7 Take a day tour. You're an independent traveler, I know. But day tours can be really fun. On Oahu, we took a few hours to tour Kualoa Ranch. Many movies and TV shows have filmed here and you can tour it by many different vehicles. Some of us went on a big open bus and others went on a 4 person ATV caravan and got really dusty. Both were fun and the views and stories were beautiful. The ranch has zip lines and horses too. Find day tours on Air BnB "things to do" in any city around the world. 

Look for podcasts and audio tours too. For Europe tours, Rick Steves free app has a ton of free content. Mywowo has limited content and not free but I recommend it if they have content for your destination. 

Since I had my PTO reversed so I can work this week, fakecation will be a lot of looking at past trip pictures and other people's pics on Pinterest. Fakecation will probably turn into trip planning. If you fakecation, tell me about it! Aloha!

Autum in Madrid 2019

We had the good fortune to find affordable airfare to Spain this fall. But we had to layover in San Francisco and Paris, which made each way a 24 hour travel day. I can't say it was worth it. We were tired the whole time. So, while I can recommend that you check fares out of a different city than your usual port, I might not recommend the long travel day! Of course, being jet lagged we didn't sleep one night then slept too long the next night. Mistakes were made. 
Researching Spain was not as simple as Paris or Italy. Partly because I hadn't seriously considered it as a destination even though I'd been studying Spanish. And partly because I think it lacks strong icons like the Eiffel Tower or view of the Cinque Terre. Sure there's Gaudi's architecture but other than the fleeting image I didn't know what any of them were called. Okay but that's Barcelona anyway, which will be a seperate post. 

We used taxis in Madrid more for saving time than anything else but we also walked a LOT. As with any city around the world, I started with researching neighborhoods. Which ones have a lot of culture, which ones might be dangerous. We found an Air BnB in a neighborhood called Malasana with a rooftop terrace overlooking a sea of terra cotta roof tiles. 

San Francisco 2019

I use Pinterest for trip planning. I just put everything on its own board and I can access it at the destination. I don’t have to remember ANYTHING! Ba ha ha!!! Pinterest

We love taking public transportation when we travel. Not so good at it at home but when it comes to driving in an unfamiliar area or taking the bus, we find some cultural richness in mass transit. The downside is, it can take exceptionally longer. This trip didn’t have us trying to pack every moment so transit time was just fine. We started by taking the world famous BART from the airport to the city for $10 (actually a bit less but you put $10 on your re-fillable card so it may as well cost $10)We got off at the Embarcadaro, the south/east end of the tourist district. From there, we worked our way west. Start at the Ferry Building on pier 1(odd number piers go west, even go east) I’ll just go ahead and compare the Ferry Building to Pike Place, if Pike Place was slicker and roomier. Try Blue Bottle coffee and Dandilion Chocolates. I hear good things about Gotts but we just looked at the menu and didn’t eat there. It looks like affordable American food, great for families. Across the street at Embarcadero center we happened across some arts and crafts vendors, my favorite type of souvenirs! We had ice cream and a cookie at Under the Moon, which was really good. We heard Paramo Coffee was really good. Follow the Embarcadaro past all the piers for the tourist experience and don’t miss In N Out, a quintessential California experience. If you do nothing else, do this.

Naturally, Golden Gate Calls. If you haven’t spotted it yet, keep on wandering westward to Aquatic Park (Maritime National Historic Park on some maps) Stop at the Cable Car terminus to buy your tickets if you haven’t already. A three day passport includes all the buses you can take plus the cable cars.

Walk out on the Municipal Pier (if you’re geocaching, snag this easy one) Ogle the bridge and Alcatraz Island from here.

(Keep going west to visit the Presidio, which we didn’t this time but it’s a nice walk. You can walk all the way down to right under the bridge) From here we went to Ghirardelli Square for the most amazing overpriced sundae we ever had. We went for the $13 caramel/hot fudge and it was worth every penny and big enough to share. If you visit a different Ghirardelli, be sure to ask for your sundae “for here” or you’ll get your ice cream in an ugly paper or plastic cup, which is not as nice an experience.

Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill gives you a mini-Notre Dame feeling. It’s Episcopalian with a coexist mentality so we loved it. They have two labyrinths and people use them every day as the spiritual mediation they’re meant for. But also for fun. Yield to those having a more spiritual experience than you.  

We wandered up to North Beach for dinner. This is San Francisco’s Little Italy and authentic, delicious Italian food abounds. We chose Piazza Pelligrini for their house made pasta and gnocci but every place looked just as good. I like that they placed the outdoor seating towards the street like a theater-it’s how it is in lots of places in Europe. Like Europe, we sat at the table for a good long time and never felt rushed to move on.

Way on the west side of the city there is a lot to do, including Golden Gate park which includes botanical gardens, boat rentals, bison farm, etc. It’s on our list but with our blissfully slow pace, we couldn’t make it happen this time. We did make it to Land’s End Labyrinth. We made our own botanical appreciation walk on the trail as all the spring blooms were popping. Wild calla lilies?? 10 foot tall Echnia!! Plus great views of Golden Gate Bridge and pelicans flying over, I loved this steep little hike.

We stayed at this air B&B in Potrero hill which is a bit outside of the city. City miles are really long so it took a long time coming and going form here. But I absolutely loved the neighborhood. Best coffee was Farley’s-enjoy local art while you sip-and Plow was really good breakfast but they’re getting famous so you’ll be waiting for a table. A couple blocks up for a faster more casual breakfast, try Provender. They serve in hand made looking ceramic. Coffee=good but the scene stealer was the avocado toast. It’s life changing. (link) Don’t miss Goat Hill Pizza made with sourdough crust. Amazing! Potrero has a ton of indy shops and restaurants. We could’ve just spent the weekend right there and ignored the Golden Gate and other famous things. It was awesome! I think my favorite part of this trip was our private little backyard garden.

Qs go to Paris

Paris

Quick tips on public transportation: Other blogs tell you to buy your metro tickets by the carnet, but I didn’t see that word anywhere. I did see T+ which I only saw once in my research. So buy those by the 10s which was about 14euros and didn’t come out as a booklet like I expected. Don’t use your last ticket to get back to your hotel; not every stop has a vending machine and you’ll want that ticket in the morning.

My favorite day in Paris: We got up before sunrise to beat the crowds to Notre Dame. The payoff was huge. The square was empty and the sunrise was dramatic. The tours don’t start until later though, so after walking around the cathedral taking in the warm early light, we found a café on the a corner in view of Notre Dame. Café’s in Paris situate their outdoor seating theater style so the people watching is easy and natural. And like much of Europe, it’s perfectly acceptable to occypy a table for a couple hours with just a cup of coffee. We enjoyed watching commuters and workers naviget the intersection along with luggage laden tourists. Bicycles, scooters, cars, and trucks using 2 lanes, merging easily, threading where necessary and allowing others the right of way. It was beautiful chaos. This was my favorite Paris experience. A couple hours later we queued with other tourists to see the inside of Notre Dame, which was breathtaking. Use Rick Steve’s audio tour to easily learn and appreciate some otherwise overlooked details.

To climb the tower, queue on the north side of the building. Use the recommended app and wifi provided at the kiosk there to make your reservation, which, at your appointed time, only gets you in to the gift shop, where you purchase your ticket to climb. You won’t see the gift shop again, so do your shopping now. A flaw in the experience, in my opinion; I like to get my souvenirs on the way out. You climb at your own pace, there is no guided tour or anyone to keep up with. There is a prescribed route and the occasional worker, ostensibly to make sure no one misbehaves. You’ll climb many stairs and at one point you can choose to go down or continue up. If you have a fear of heights, this might be a turning point for you. I pressed on and was rewarded. At the top, I stood near a lightning rod as it started to rain. Pretty exciting! The views though…

There are lots of famous sites in Paris and that was our focus for this trip so next was Pont Neuf. Walk under to see the many faces carved into the bridge. A detail that is often missed.

Montmartre attractions include Sacre Cour and the art market. We arrived at Sacre Cour before sunrise. The funicular opens early. Buy a transit ticket for this. There wer several runners and a few photographers on the hill early. We got our pictures with a bland sunrise then hit a café for breakfast. After the magical morning at Notre Dame, this was all pretty bland. Montmartre was definitely more interesting in the middle of the day. But early, on the steps of Sacre Cour, overlooking the whole of paris, a young german man asked me to take a picture of him and his girlfriend. They posed, I snapped. Then he knelt in front of her and brought out a classic little ring box. As I continued snapping, she said yes. Beuatiful! What an honor to be part of their moment. 

MontMartre, known for its part in the impressionist movement, is still home to a thriving art culture. Lots of talent and unique souvenirs. The art market continues to grow throughout the day as artists arrive and set up. Most speak English and sell small and/or packable pieces. They know their clientèle. 

Ready for another tower climbt? At Sacre Cour, you must go down to go up. Theres like, a moat around the cathedral and you go down there for entrance to the climb. Like other towers, this climb is loaded with tight stairs, amazing architechture and views.

From here we had to visit one of Paris’ large and famous cemeteries. We chose Pere Lachaise, famous for all the trees. It was like walking in the woods with dead people. We got out from under the trees the trees quickly because of the chestnuts trying to fall on our heads. The mausoleums are amazing, uniquely designed and beautiful.

During our visit there was this immersive Klimpt/Hundertwasser thing at Atelier Des Lumier (they're going to have Van Gogh in 2019). Wow. Do it. It felt like a collective experience we were having with everyone else in the room. Even though we didn’t actually interact with anyone. (look for video to see how amazing it is)

Obligatory wine and cheese picnic under the tower complete with romantic picture. I hope you enjoyed hearing about our Paris experience. Please comment and ask questions, I could talk about it forever!