A Savannah Weekend

This past November, Ken took me to Savannah to celebrate my birthday.

I had never been to Savannah before and I fell in love with its historical buildings. It is a beautiful southern city even though the tourists are wrecking havoc on the peace and serenity that once was.

In the brief time we were there we visited many of the places made famous by the book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott, just a few steps from historic Savannah.

As soon as we had checked in we, headed out to Tybee Island span>where we visited the beach on the Atlantic Ocean, and the Tybee Lighthouse. On the way back to the city, we stopped at Fort Pulaski. There they were having cannon firing demonstrations that Ken captured on film. Great explosive photos. What a beautiful place. It is hard to remember that these places played an integral role during the Civil War.

From the fort we went to Bonnaventure Cemetery, established in the mid 1700's. It was fascinating to see the old crypts and head stones.

We returned to the hotel late afternoon, cleaned up and we were off again. This time was to do a Pub Crawl.( or Pub Walk).

We had cocktails at the hotel bar to get orientation about the city from the locals.

Then we went to the Riverfront and visted Fiddler's Crab Shack, Bernie's Bar, and Kevin Barry's Irish Pub. We then went back to Bay Street above, and stopped in at Tony Roma's and Churchill's. We really enjoyed the rooftop bar at Churchills.

From there we went to dinner at Girabaldi's Italian Restaurant where we had a superb dinner and we ended the evening at Club One, home to the Lady Chablis. We had a really nice time watching the drag show. Our first. The Lady was not appearing that night but the performers were very good.

The next morning we got up and visited Monteray Square, The Mercer-Williams House, Lafayette and Chippewa Squares, The Savannah River and waterfront, The Waving Girl Statue, The Fountain at Forsythe Park, The Owen-Thomas House, The Cotton Exchange, and the Ogelthorpe statue. We loved all of the parks and squares located through out the historic district.
But the place was overrun by tourists, in trolleys, carriages and tour buses. The price for having been discovered through the popularity of the book that speaks so well of its beauty.

We were very impressed by the Ironworks in Savannah. Beautiful intricate designs for light fixtures and fences made out of wrought iron .

Before we left town we stopped for lunch at the Whistle Stop Cafe, adjacent to the Savannah's Visitor Center. This was a train car from the 50's converted into a restaurant. It was very charming and the sandwiches and fried green tomatoes were very good, but service was very, very slow. After lunch we got back on the road for the 4 hour ride home.
We loved our weekend in Savannah. We recommend everyone visit Savannah at least once in their lives to see some Southern History first hand.

Ken and Len's Weekend in New York City 2007

"Start spreading the news, we're leaving today.....". Yes, you guessed it, New York, NEW YORK. We had talked about going to New York since September '06 when I went with my family and Ken could not make it because he would be visiting his family in South Africa.
So, since October 8th was a Holiday,(Columbus Day Observed), we decided to spend that weekend in New York City. "These vagabond shoes ....". Okay, okay, enough now !!

Our flight left early Saturday (7:00 AM) morning on the 6th of October, so we had to get an early start for the airport (4:15 AM) (Very early indeed after having gone to bed about midnight.

We get to the airport, go through security without delay, and settled in for breakfast at the Nathan's Concession in our departure terminal for our Delta flight to NYC.(about 5:30 AM)

I ordered two bacon and egg breakfast sandwiches and Ken ordered 2 sausage and egg sandwiches. Ken's sausage patty was a normal 2 to 2.5 inch diameter piece of meat on top of his eggs. The bacon however must have been in short supply, because I had one inch of one slice of bacon on each of my egg sandwiches. Essence of bacon may have been a better description of my egg sandwiches. But the good news, is that they were tasty and hot and it hit the proverbial spot.

After breakfast, we confirmed that our gate had been changed and made our way to the new gate assignment to wait for our flight.

The time passed quickly and we were on board before we knew it.
The flight was not crowded. so we were able to have 3 seats for the 2 of us.
The flight attendants were pleasant and helpful when it came time to order a cocktail. ( Yes a cocktail...we were technically on vacation and it was already noon in Paris France by this time).

We prepaid for 2 drinks, gave the young lady a tip and a contribution for Breast Cancer Awareness. We lucked out because she made us 3 drinks each saying that the first one she had made us was not mixed correctly. (It had vodka in it so as far as I knew, it was correct) but we didn't argue the point and graciously accepted all three.

The flight was very comfortable and we were in NYC ("that never sleeps.."), in relatively short order.
We landed in La Guardia and took a taxi to our hotel, The New York Hilton on Avenue of the Americas (6th Avenue) in Mid-town Manhattan.

We checked in, but our room was not ready so we went to the Time Warner Center to have lunch. We walked around, checked out some of the shops (The Samsung Experience - a store full of electronic gadgets; Border's Books; The Armani Exchange Shop; J. Crew; Bose; Colors of Benetton and others) and eventually made our way to Bar Masa for lunch.(See our restaurant review section for more on Bar Masa) On the way out of the Time Warner Center, we stopped of at the Lincoln Center's Rose Theater Box Office located in the first floor lobby, to pick up our will-call tickets for the following day's center piece of the New York Film Festival, No Country for Old Men. (Please check our movie review section for more on this film.)


The room was still not ready, (even though we had requested an early check-in) when we came back from lunch. The front desk attendant was a very nice fellow and gave us a pair of vouchers for $15 each that we could use for drinks at the lobby bar.
So off we went to have our free beverage. We ordered a Flirtini, which was vodka, champagne and pineapple juice. That was not too bad but we didn't care for the taste of the Kettle One Vodka served as the house vodka. After the drink we went to the front desk to see if they would continue with their hospitality of free drinks, but our room was ready so we went upstairs, unpacked and headed back out.
(They were not able to upgrade our room to a suite but we did manage to stay on one of the Concierge Floors, next to the Presidential Suite).

This time our destination was The Guggenheim Museum. We walked the entire building and saw all of the exhibits in about 90 minutes. Some of the exhibits were contemporary; some were more traditional. We loved some of the impressionist works they had there as part of their permanent Thannhauser Collection. They had notable works by Paul Cezanne; Pablo Picasso; Vasily Kadinsky; Salvador Dali; Claude Monet;
Edouard Manet; Jackson Pollock and others.

The building itself is a work of art. It forms the shape of a modified inverted ziggurat, where it is bigger at the top than at the bottom. Once you enter you are whisked off to the top floor so that you can begin viewing the exhibits down a concentric set of circles that became smaller as you approach the first floor.
The building exterior is also very artsy but it was under restoration and covered in scaffolding. It was approaching 6 PM, so we rushed back to the hotel, cleaned up, got dressed and went to the Concierge's Lounge on the 47th floor of the hotel for drinks and appetizers. These were complementary appetizers which we ate as dinner since we didn't have time for a formal one before the show on Broadway, that night; Hairspray.

The show was excellent. It was fun and energetic; it made you dance in your seat. (at least me anyway) Lance Bass played Corny Collins and Jim J Bullock from TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT fame, in the 80's played Wilbur Turnblad. Jim was also a regular in the Hollywood Squares. Hairspray is set in the 60's in Baltimore and about the racial tensions as it pertained to Teen Dance Shows, and the politics of being a regular on those shows.

The show was a lot of fun and we will always remember it as one of the best times ever on Broadway. The theater was a beautiful old majestic Broadway Theater, The Neil Simon Theater. We picked up a collector's edition poster at intermission while we sipped on an Absolut & Soda. The seats were great albeit tight and cramped as they were.

After the show we went outside and it was full of people leaving the theater and looking for transportation. So we went away from Broadway towards 8th Avenue, and began hailing a cab. After maybe 2 minutes a Mercedes Benz Sedan 500 SL pulls up and says they can take us to our hotel. We inquired as to how much this would cost and the man said it would be $20. A regular cab fare would have been $10 but there were none of those available. We had asked a bicycle rickshaw how much they wanted and they said they wanted $30 for the same trip. So we choose the Mercedes Sedan for less money and more convenience of the two modes of transportation available at the time.
We were very tired having only had a maximum of 3 hours sleep in the last 48 so we decided to go back to the hotel for a night cap. We sat at the Lobby Lounge for about 30 minutes, had a couple of drinks and went to our room about 12:30 AM.
(We had an early and busy day Sunday)

Sunday morning we were up around 7:00 AM. We wanted to get some breakfast before the movie, so we went to the Concierge's Lounge again. There they had a continental buffet spread over several tables. They had a wide assortment of cheeses, pastries, breads, fruits and juices to satisfy any palette. We opted for several croissants, cheese, some pastries and several glasses of orange juice.

Once we had our fill we went back outside, hailed a cab and we were off to the Rose Theater at Lincoln Center for the showing of No Country for Old Men. It was as excellent as it was bizarre. We were so engrossed by the story and the unclear ending we bought the book when we came back in audio format so we could listen to it. The book was clearer than the movie. The movie was cut short to keep it less than 2 hours long. (See Movie Reviews in this Blog)

After the film, we went to an excellent little steak house called Porter House - New York, for brunch. (Please see Eating Around Town and Beyond... for reviews on this an other venues we visited during our trip.)

After brunch, we hailed a cab and we were off again. This time to the Al Hirschfeld theater for an afternoon showing of the Musical, Curtains.
Curtains was excellent. It was funny, it had a great original score, and it included this years Best Actor in a musical, David Hyde Pearce, of Frazier fame. (He played Niles Crane, Frazier's brother.)
This musical deals with a murder committed in a theater in Boston in 1959, and the detective sent to investigate and how he falls for one of the girls in the show. It was entertaining, interesting and fun. It features the music by Kander and Ebb (Chicago, Cabaret)
The seats were great orchestra seats but again cramped and tight. (Ken and I are not petite, we are both over 200 pounds and well over 6 foot tall)
We picked up the collector's edition poster for this show, again while sipping on a cocktail at intermission. There was a couple next to us that appeared to be "family". They were from Maine and come to NYC for the weekend also, when they have a chance.

After the show, we decided we would wander over to what we thought was supposed to be an Oktoberfest Celebration. We are still not sure what those folks were celebrating on Lexington Avenue between 47th and 57th streets, but it didn't seem like it was Oktoberfest.
As we walked past vendors, looking for an Oktoberfest Beer Garden we came upon Grand Central Market. It was an access hallway to get to Grand Central Station but it has been converted to a market. This was part of the revitalization efforts of the late 1990's to renovate and restore this grand old gem. It was great. They had tremendous varieties of cheeses, cold cuts, meats, vegetables, fruits and other consumables.
They also had restaurants and clothing stores along the different concourses.


We made our way all the way down into Grand Central Station and stood in the Grand Concourse and looked at the sky ceiling; it was breathtaking. We stopped in and visited the Museum Of Transportation of NYC. It was very interesting seeing the blue prints that were used to construct different elements of this Terminal.
Having little time to spare, we decided to walk the rest of the way to have a bite to eat near our next venue, The Eugene O'Neil Theater.

We had looked on-line for an Irish Pub that was close to our hotel and this coincidentally was it; O'Lunney's Irish Pub Times Square. We went in and sat down and ordered our usual adult beverage. The young lady brought us a menu and we sat back and relaxed from a pretty busy afternoon. It was Sunday evening about 6:30 PM
All of the televisions had football on them which was great. We caught up on the day's final football scores and with the current games. We ordered the Shepherd's Pie and watched the games. (Please see our Restaurant Reviews Blog for more)
An hour later we were done and on our way to Spring Awakening; this years Best Musical Rock Opera and 8 Tony award winner.(11 nominations)
I am not sure if it was my imagination or if I had swelled up during the day but I must say these orchestra seats were the tightest and the most uncomfortable ones we had sat in all day. (This was our third performance in 11 hours) And this theater was not properly ventilated.
We were talking amongst ourselves about the fact that this show had no, "stars"; no one whose name we would recognize in the Playbill; and a young woman in front of us was compelled to turn around and tell us that the reason there were no celebrities in this show was because it was about a group of school children in late 19th century Germany and all of them were between the ages of 14 and 21, with the exception of the two "adult" roles.
Ok. We had been advised. So far so good. A little hot; a lot cramped; but ok.
(Research after the fact revealed that this musical was based on a very controversial German play of the same title, by Frank Wedekind, where the characters feel compelled to express their frustrations, motivations and desires directly to the audience.)
The music was very good and the voices were spectacular.
The stage set was interesting in that there were audience members sitting on stage and the actors, when off-cue, sat amongst them.
The end of act one involved what was shown as two children, with partial clothing removed, simulating intercourse.
We sat through the first act, and were relieved to get up and out of the Sardine-can like seats we were in; very uncomfortable.
We waited patiently in the bathroom line, had a cocktail and bought the poster.
(not all in that order)

Act 2 started, where act One left off; two kids simulating sex on stage.
We decided to stand in the back of the theater for as long as we could stand to be there to try and be more comfortable.(Both artistically and ergonomically)
Then the ushers from hell started to tell us that we had to stand closer to the last row of seats where the Standing Room Only crowd was standing. And that made us more uncomfortable so we decided to leave.

The streets were not as crowded since the shows had not let out. This gave us a great opportunity to enjoy the Times Square area without the masses being in our way. We walked up Broadway and we found Emmett O'Lunney's Harmony View Bar and Grill; Coincidentally, this bar was owned by the son of the Irish Pub owner we had visited earlier in the day for dinner. With a nice sports bar atmosphere, we settled in our seats and watched football and baseball on the screens while we sipped on some beverages. We enjoyed it and our bar tender was great and she kept buying drinks for us. After a while we decided to walk back to our hotel since it was already midnight and get ready for our trip home the next day.

Monday the 8th of October we got up early, had breakfast and made our way to the airport so that we could be there the prescribed two hours in advance of our 11:00 AM flight.
The flight back was more crowded that the flight to NYC. Ken however had our seats changed so that we could sit in the row with 2 seats instead of the row with three seats with an exit row, so that legs could be placed in front of us comfortably. That worked out great. We had an affable flight attendant that took care of us very well on the flight home keeping us hydrated with adult beverages. The flight home was a good one.

We get back to the Orlando airport, picked up our car and made our way towards home. On the way, we stopped at Fashion Square Mall, and walked the mall looking for a Book Store to buy No Country For Old Men. In the process we walked through Macy's and picked up some shaving cream; walked through Spencer's Gifts and looked at the Halloween costumes; walked through Victoria's Secret;(naughty store) and bought ourselves a hot dog wrapped in pretzel dough; a soft pretzel; and a Fanta Orange Drink. We took these to the car and made our way to the new Winter Park Village mall to visit the Border's Book Store. Ken ordered the audio book and bought the sound track to Spring Awakening, since we really did like the music to the show.
Once we had completed our shopping, we decided to check out an Irish Pub in Winter Park not far from the Mall, called Fiddler's Green Irish Pub, on Fairbanks Avenue, right where Orange Avenue merges with Fairbanks.

It must have been about 4 PM. We ordered a couple of drinks and decided to play some conventional steel tipped darts. Ken was kicking my butt at darts when a waitress comes around and says if we were interested in playing trivia. This bar hosts a trivia game challenge every weekday from 5 to 6 PM. So we said sure,and we played trivia and darts for the next hour. You got to write the answers down on a piece of paper which was collected and graded by the moderator. Ken and I placed in the top three most of the rounds. I think we came in tied for second overall. That was a lot of fun. (Our Team was called the Dart Guys.)

We decided to order dinner before we left Fiddler's Green, so we asked for a Shepherd's Pie and an Irish Stew to go. We brought that home and we enjoyed it very well. Delicious stew and pie. We had a night cap and called it a day.

That was the end of our fantastic weekend in NYC 2007. We had a great time and look forward to the next time we have another getaway. Plans are being brewed for a weekend to Savannah, GA, so come back soon.

Summer vacation......

All photograph's displayed here, plus others can be seen in our Albums hosted by Webshots

Saturday, June 30, 2007
We had decided some time ago that we wanted to take a trip over July 4th so that we could look at some fireworks in a different place. As neither of us had been to Yellowstone National Park, we decided that was a good place to head for, and then to fill in the remaining time amusing ourselves in Salt Lake City. One of us (no names mentioned), was excited - the other, wanted to go immediately and "tomorrow" was not good enough. With the result was that the excited one was organized and packed, ready waiting and the other had to run around at the last minute trying to do laundry etc. The very early start of 2AM on the morning of departure came up too quickly, but we managed to get to the airport ahead of schedule and start a wonderful trip out to Utah.

The flight to Salt Lake City was painless, and that includes the Airport check in and Security. The meal on the plane was also good, which proves that we had no idea of what was going on around us as we were GOING ON VACATION !! The lay-over in Atlanta was bearable, but by now we were getting tired, and were in no mood for any delay in getting to our destination. The connecting flight went by (with a little help from the on-board mojito's) and before long, Len was snapping pictures of the surrounding mountains of SLC.

The weather looked great from up there, sun was shining, mountains were green, intermittently capped with snow covered peaks. Really pretty to look at until we got closer to the ground, then the reality hit - the city is in a desert after all. It looked dry, very dry.

Our luggage had been sent ahead, so we were stranded at the baggage pick-up for a while before Len decided to go and look for it. After that, picking up the rental car was a breeze, directions into the city and the drive to the hotel was great. Both of us were amazed and wide eyed at mountains being so close to the city.

In about 30 minutes, we had arrived at our downtown Marriott hotel, and checked into the room. While unpacking we started having a look at the view from our hotel window, which showed not only the city, but the mountains in the background as well. It was Saturday afternoon, and we had time to explore the city and environs before heading up to Yellowstone on Tuesday. Plenty enough time to enjoy our favorite past-time of eating and dining out.

But, back to the current day. We had been recommended by the hotel staff to go to the Metropolitan (see our post on our Restaurant Reviews), where we enjoyed a great evening of food and talking to the couple on the next table. Chris and Alison gave us some pointers on where we could visit while in SLC.

Sunday, July 1, 2007
This morning saw us start the day with a quick tour around the city, first up to the State Capitol and the visitors center. The State Capitol was busy with reconstruction, and the visitors center was closed at 9:30AM, since it was a Sunday.





A couple of photographs resulted with us "posing" with the Bison statues outside the visitors center. After which, we continued on down to the Temple Square, and the beautiful gardens that surround the area.


Len thought that the last photo was a try-out for the Spice Girl's, however we soon realized that the setting was a little inappropriate ! After this we went and had a brunch at Cafe Trio's (see the entry at our Restaurant Reviews), followed by a trip to the Hard Rock Cafe, where I had to get my dose of hat pins.

A road trip out to Alpine Loop followed. It was about a 30 minute drive south of SLC and our first taste of canyons (can you imagine the oohs and aahs that were coming from our vehicle? ) The drive up into the loop started out at American Fork Canyon and soon after entering we came across the visitors center at the Timpanagos Cave National Monument. We did not enter the caves, but we did get the T shirt, the DVD of the Caves and, of course, some hat pins. We also stocked up on some buffalo jerky, which we do not recommend at all. We like spicy/hot foods, so we got their hottest buffalo jerky. It was soft, moist and definitely not spicy nor hot.

The next stop we made along the route, was at Cascade Springs. Here we had a breather from the tight mountain roads, and the green, cool and brief respite from the driving. From here it was back up into the mountain and then on to Sundance.

Sundance is set in a valley, with ski slopes on one side and residential houses on the other. The hotel and open air theatre are on either side of the main center in the valley. We took a ride up the ski lift, and enjoyed a peaceful ride up and back down the mountain, which took 45 minutes. The sun was hot and we came down as red as a couple of lobsters. This did not stop us from getting the additional hat pins though. But soon we were back on the road and in Provo Canyon, and soon thereafter in the city of Provo and back on the highway to SLC.

The day was not finished yet, and more canyons were beckoning. Which one, we had to decide quickly, studying maps for round trips, looking out for Cabela's, and trying to decide on a place to eat that night. We eventually saw Cabela's, promising ourselves that we would return. Then decided that because we could not find a round trip for Little Cottonwood Canyon, that we would go through Big Cottonwood Canyon and up into the town of Brighton and through to Park City. WOW, little did we know what we were letting ourselves in for, I am jumping ahead again.

The quickest way to Big Cottonwood Canyon, was back up I-15, across I-215 and then climb off at the south-east corner and up into the mountains. Beautiful drive, while SLC was dry, the canyon was green. A great contrast and smooth driving all the way up into Brighton. This is where we visited the nearby Silver Lake, which Chris and Alison had recommended, and which lies at 10,000 feet. Great views of the lake, forest and local people.

From Brighton we made our way across to Park City. The mountain road was not paved, and was corrugated, so driving smoothly was not an option. Too many drop off's into the valleys down below for me. We made it safely into beautiful Park City though. But as it was now getting late, we drove through and onto I-80 to make our way back to SLC.

Dinner that night was at Spencer's Steakhouse at the Hilton Hotel. (See our Restaurant Review). Good meal, hated the loaded baked potato though, was just too much placed on it to taste like anything that ought to be served at such a high end restaurant. The cocktails were good as well, so all was not lost.

Monday, July 2, 2007

Last minute planning last night, drinking cocktails at the hotel bar, brought to mind that the Arches National Park was only a couple of hours drive south of SLC. We HAD to see this, and set out fairly early this morning. The idea was to take I-15 south, to just south of Provo and then take a short cut across the Black Beaut Plateau towards the mid-south-east portion of Utah, where the Park lies near Moab, UT.

The weather again was great on Monday. We loaded up our Albertson's bought Styrofoam cooler, loaded it with Arizona Diet green tea and Sprite Zero and we were off. In no time at all we were south of Provo at Spanish Fork where we took the shortcut on Route 6. We went through Thistle, Soldier Summit and Colton before we stopped for gas and snacks in Helper, UT. This was about the half way point of the trip to the Arches. WE used the facilities, stocked up on Beef Jerky, and bought what would turn out to be a bad can opener. (it would bend from the resistance from the can, which by the way I am sending back).

The rest of the way included the cities of Price, Wellington, East Carbon and Crescent Junction.

The trip was full of interesting sights like rivers and water falls in these areas unknown to us. We had a good radio station on and for a while, we were singing along to the 70's whiling away the miles and miles of desert landscape eroding before us on our way to Arches National Park. A little after 4 hours of travel time we had made it to this "Arizonian" like landscape of red rocks and dry plains. But Oh so beautiful!



Three Gossips; Balanced Rock; Spectacles; Devil's Garden

The drive back seemed faster (Len was driving!!). It was the same route but in reverse. We always try to go back a different route to maximize our viewing (and other hobby of County counting), but in this instance retracing our steps was the fastest way.

We got back to the hotel around 7:30 PM. We cleaned up and at about 8:30 PM we went to have dinner at a sushi place that had been recommended by Chris and Alison on Saturday night. This place was named Takashi. ( Please see our Restaurant Review Section) Dinner here was great. We went next door for an after dinner drink and finished the evening at our hotel bar with a night cap. Tuesday was going to be a big day. We were going to YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

No breakfast this morning, as we had a long drive ahead of us today. We did make a stop at a local photography shop, as we did not want to run out of space on the digital camera. So we got another memory stick for the camera, and then left pronto for the trip north.

I-15 going out of SLC, was busy. Not much haste was made, and going thru the cities to the north of SLC was just as bad. But we eventually got out of the congestion and on to the open road. Soon we were crossing over into Idaho and up to Idaho Falls where we needed to branch off of I-15 onto SR-20. Another couple of hours and we were in West Yellowstone, MT and still had to go through the north eastern section of the Park and up to Gardiner, MT at the north entrance. This was our first nights stop.

No, I have not forgotten to talk about Yellowstone National Park, it was fantastic. On entering at the west entrance, we did not see much at all. There were a group of people parked on the side of the road, all trying to get a picture of a bald eagle perched on top of a dead tree. We decided that we would continue. We took a left at Madison Junction, and continued northwards. This was when we had our first encounter with a hot spring. A small group of hot springs with a short boardwalk, showed us the Terrace spring, very interesting, but just not impressive .... yet ! It was our first, so the camera came out, and a couple pictures taken to commemorate the moment. We then went on to see Beryl Springs, all the while driving alongside the Gibbon river, with beautiful views. One place had a couple of elk out grazing, very picturesque. We were even "questioned" by a very inquisitive chipmunk. He came out of his hole to greet us just a foot or two in front of us, decided to then give us the stare, hoping that we would give it some food. It continued to stare at us while we photographed and walked away to the car.

Numerous hot springs and sights followed, which we stopped at to look. Artists paint-pots (not too impressive, but we saw our first buffalo here, at a distance and from behind BUT it was a buffalo), Sheepeaters Cliff (interesting formation). At the junction of the the Norris Canyon road, we took some time to explore the Norris and Porcelain Basin. Some good photo's were taken of the area, after that the Gibbon river waterfalls and the Upper and Lower basins of Mammoth Hot Springs. The upper basin was the better of the two. Mounds formed from the calcium and the forming travertine. Huge mounds of the impure travertine filled with different colored algae. Cascading limestone infused heated and steamy waterfalls. We passed through the Lower basin, briefly taking a quick picture, after coming a little way down the mountain. This was on the outskirts of the village of Mammoth Springs. The mountain carries on downwards to the north entrance and out into the town of Gardiner, MT.

Gardiner, MT is a beautiful spot. Southern Montana, northern Yellowstone National Park, mountain air and streams, just a great place, albeit full of tourists in the summer and I believe full of snow-boarders in the winter. It did not take us long to find the hotel we were staying at - Best Western. On checking in, we were given a $5 voucher to be used at the local casino. The ground floor room was a real eye opener. There was a sunken spa/hot tub in the bedroom. We immediately decided that after dinner we just had to get a bottle of wine. Dinner at the Yellow Mine Restaurant alongside the hotel was good. (See our Restaurant review). Friendly staff, a curio shop next door for hat pins, a grocery store down the street for that bottle of Sterling Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon and the Casino on top of the hotel for easy access and the splurging of the $5 voucher. Yes, that is all we spent there. Need I say that we were only in the place for about 10 minutes, enough time to finish our cocktails. A slow stroll around the town gave us the opportunity to add to our ever growing souvenir collection (hat pins and T shirts).

Then it was time to head back to the room to share that all important bottle of wine. A keeper that will definitely need to be drunk again.

To recap, we saw a lot of hot springs, a couple of waterfalls, elk, lots of chipmunk but the elusive moose, bears, buffalo's and geysers were still to be found.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAY AMERICA! Today the sun was out shining in full force. Looked like a perfect day to go and celebrate this national day. But first there was coffee, then breakfast and the road ahead.

We once again went to the Yellowstone Mine Restaurant to enjoy their buffet breakfast. After which it was a short drive back into the park, to continue on the northern, eastern, southern and the remaining western parts of the park. We had decided on this pattern because the best was saved for last (as the song goes!!). Then back into West Yellowstone, where we entered the park for the firework celebration.

This eastern side of the park had a lot to offer though, so before I let you know ALL about the fireworks, I will go into some of the details of what we saw.

First we came across a lonely buffalo grazing in the fields. This was extremely exciting for us, and we held up the traffic a little to take a picture or two. This obviously was not the game plan for those cars behind us, and they sped angrily by. This was then followed by the Gardiner river canyon and Undine waterfalls on Lava Creek, petrified trees (name escapes me), the Tower waterfalls on Yellowstone river by the rest and shop area and Roosevelt Lodge. We heard at the gift shop that, up ahead was a black bear being friendly and placing it's paws on the cars as they stopped. By the time we got there, the bear was going over the mountain, looking as if we were probably not going to seen it again. However, this was not the case, and around the corner was, thankfully, also the other side of the mountain, and there stood our black bear, in full view. After that excitement we continued our drive along the Antelope river (tributary of Yellowstone river), and the road south to The Yellowstone Grand Canyon, when we came across a lot of cars parked on the side of the road. All the people were standing on the edge of the road looking down into a valley, with their small digital cameras clicking away. We could not see anything, so after asking, we were shown what was a grizzly bear with 2 cubs walking through the valley floor. Now, we could hardly see them with our naked eyes, so I have no idea how those digital camera's were taking pictures. The black bear mentioned above was relatively close and certainly appeared a lot closer than what our digital has shown. Needless to say, we did not get any pictures of grizzlies, but will always remember those 2 cubs and mother walking along so peacefully. Great site to see. Just up ahead was the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone Park", and in my opinion, the best views in the park. The canyons were good, as well as the upper falls on the Yellowstone river, but what is the most spectactular, was the view of the Lower Yellowstone river waterfalls from the Artists Point. Breath-taking vistas of the falls and canyon.

Bison were all over the area, all of them were molting because of spring, so they looked a little untidy and unkept. Did not stop us from taking pictures of them though.

We continued our way towards the Yellowstone lake, passing a couple of notable places, like the Sulphur Cauldron (more bison), Mud Volcano and Dragon's Mouth Spring. We were treated to a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds, when a group of people came running towards us in panic, turning around every now and again looking back. After the Fishing Bridge had been cleared of people, across came a lonely bison, just trying to keep ahead of the vehicles behind him.

After a pit stop to freshen up on soda's, we left to travel along Yellowstone Lake for the next attraction at West Thumb. This part of the lake is another cauldron that sank deeper than the rest of the lake, and has numerous springs and geysers along it shore. Some interesting fumeroles were seen together with blue springs and algae run-off areas. We also found out here that Old Faithful was about to blow in a couple of minutes and the next occurrence would be in 88 minutes. We wanted to get a good viewing point. Old Faithful was only about 10 miles from this point, but we decided to leave West Thumb and make our way across. The Continental Divide was crossed over twice on the trip to Old Faithful, one pass was 8,391 ft above sea level and the other, called Craig's Pass was 8,262 ft above sea level. It was at Craig's Pass that we saw a beautiful mountain pond, covered in lilies. Very picturesque. After making a brief stop at Kepler Cascades, we eventually got to Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin, we managed to find an excellent parking spot in front of the lot, then great seats in the first row of benches provided in front of Old Faithful Lodge.

The temperature was 105 F, very dry. So we took the oppurtunity to get some ice cream at the Lodgewhile we waited (the hat pins and T shirt were bought soon after parking !). But then we enjoyed crowd watching as it grew bigger and bigger, wondering at the same time how many people actually visit the area every day. If each viewing of Old Faitful had this many spectators, of approximately 1,000 people, and if a maximuym of 20% were repeat continuous visits, and Old Faithful would erupt every +/- 90 minutes, with about 10 hours of viewing per day, well then that would work out to be about ....... you do the math, all we know is that would be a lot of people per day. The view around Old Faitful was fantastic, as the Upper Basin contained numerous big geysers that were erupting all the time. Really amazing.

The next stop along the route was a quick one at Biscuit Basin, before going down to the Midway Geyser Basin, where the very pretty Grand Prismatic Spring is located amongst others. After that we decided to head for West Yellowstone and to check into the hotel there. We were going to leave the Lower Geyser Basin and the Firehole Canyon drive for the next day when we had planned to travel back to SLC.

We left the Park at the West Entrance, and checked into the Best Western Westin Hotel (can you believe such a small town of about 1,300 people can have THREE Best Western Hotels??). We asked at check-in where the fireworks were being held, and received the VERY disappointing response that because it was so dry this year, that the fireworks had been canceled. This was the original purpose of our trip to this area, of course we do not want to take away the splendor and fantastic things here, but July 4th without fireworks is like having and entree with no dessert and a Grand Marnier Souffle at that !!

So it was off to Bullwinkles Restaurant (see Restaurant Review), and some cocktails at their casino. We also took a small walking tour of the town to see what hat pins and T shirts were screaming our name. The bar lady at Bullwinkles Casino suggested that we need to go 3 miles west of town to view the ever elusive moose. We did not take her up on the offer, as we had to leave the next morning to see a couple of sights in Yellowstone and then it was on to the Grand Tetons, and the long road back to SLC.

Okay, so I posed a problem back at Old Faithful and according to my reckoning, I get to about 5,500 to 6,000 people a day. I could not put this little poser down until I had figured it out myself !! That is approximately 2,000,000 a year - which doesn't seem that much after all, maybe some of my estimates were way off.

Update: Okay, my estimates for the day might have been a bit off. I did some research and found at The Total Yellowstone Page, that there were 2,870,293 people who visited in 2006, of which July was the busiest month with 738,807 people. Which is on average just under 24,000 people a day and for 10.5 hours of viewing daylight time (7 eruptions), that is about 3,500 people per eruption. WOW - Can you see Waldo????.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

We decided not only to skip the moose, but we skipped breakfast as well ( you know what that means right? Yeap. More Peppered Jerky) in order to sleep-in a little and get a head start on our day. The barmaid at the Casino, Terry, had recommended a place called the Running Bear Pancake House for breakfast. She said we couldn't miss it. It was in a pink building on the right hands side 3 blocks down on Madison Ave. We will certainly make time for it on our next trip to the area.

Instead, Ken filled up the gas tank, and cleaned the windshield, while I went inside to buy some jerky for the road.(Hey don't knock it. It is 97% fat free and it is sugar free too). Then we started our drive back into Yellowstone to do a couple of things we had postponed for this morning from the day before since we knew we would be going back this way through the SW section of Yellowstone.

First, was the Firehole Canyon Drive ( I was driving Ken nuts, because I don't think I ever called this area by its proper name; I kept referring it to it as Fireplug). That was a beautiful early morning drive. The roads were pretty much desserted and we had no one behind us to rush us along. Half way through this meandering deep canyon drive we came upon the beautiful FireHOLE Falls. Certainly a Photo Opportunity here.

Soon though we were back on the main road as the canyon drive was only about 3 miles and upon the picturesque Lower Geyser Basin and the Fountain Paint Pot. We got out of the car and took a boardwalk trail around the various volcanic features that distinguish this area. It was beautiful. I had never been so impressed by nature all in one place and so continously as I had been for the last two days at Yellowstone National Park. It is something to behold in person.

As we continued towards the park's south exit, we took a small detour and did one more scenic drive on the Firehole Lake Drive. Again beautiful nature every where we looked including the Great Fountain Geyser.

Having done the other sites the day before, we had completed the tour of Yellowstone Park and we made our way towards the Grand Tetons National Park. But I needed one more souvenir, so we stopped at the Old Faithful Inn, where we finished our shopping and used the rest rooms once last time before leaving the park.

In no time we were out of the park and on Route 89 south towards the Grand Tetons. The route followed the Snake River which empties into Jackson Lake. What a beautiful big lake. Our route followed beautiful Jackson Lake, which sits over a mile high at 6772-foot elevation, for several miles. Once you see Jackson lake, you are in Grand Teton National Park. At first you see the smaller, and less clustered peaks such as, Ranger Peak (11355'), Eagles Nest Peak (11258') and Reynolds, Bivouac and Traverse Peaks all around 11,000 feet high. Then as you follow the scenic road south at Jackson Lake Junction, the peaks get taller. You see Mount Moran (12605') Mount Woodring (11590') and Mount St. John at 11430'. Here we also drove by a Chapel of the Sacred Heart which by the looks of it accomodates Alpine Weddings. Then you come upon the Cathedral Group, the tallest of the Tetons including Mount Owen at 12928' on the right, Mount Teewinot at 12325' on the left and Grand Teton at 13770'in the center. These were majestic. The name Cathedral Group refers to the fact that these jagged peaks looked like the steeples of cathedrals and the tree line below signifies the people in the cathedral.

We also saw a glacier on the north face of Grand Teton. Spectacular. There are a dozen glaciers in the Grand Teton Range. I had never seen a glacier. Need to learn more about these for when we take a trip to Alaska. We followed the scenic route south until it rejoined Route 89 in Moose Junction. This is the heart of Jackson Hole. Now don't get confused, Jakson Hole is a geological depression in the land that has dropped in comparison to the Grand Tetons. It encompases several hundred square miles. However most people think it is synonimous with Jackson, WY, the ski resort.

Once we left the Grand Tetons National Park, we were in Jackson, WY in less than 30 minutes. As you drive in to Jackson on Route 89 South from the Tetons you find yourself looking at the ski resort in Jackson. An impressive mountain at the end of the road(Snow King Mountain Resort). (Route 89 makes a right)

We stopped for souvernirs and refreshements in Jackson at around noon. Bought the proverbial T-shirts and some hat pins at a very nice Indian Trading Post type store. They even had a Totem Pole for a photo opportunity.(which I could not pass up).

Jaskson is a small resort town with many places for tourists to spend their money. It is charming and quaint and a beautiful place to visit. But unless you are there to go skiing, then perhaps there may not be a lot to do right in town other than eat and drink. Before we left we were told we had to see the Elk Horn Archway in Jackson Town Square. A very interesting architectural feature.

On the way out we followed Route 89 through the canyons in lieu of taking Route 26 back to Intersate 15. We wanted to see the local color, and while it took us longer this way because of the speed limits through the local towns, we loved seeing the inherent beauty of Wyoming. We saw little towns like Alpine, Etna, Bedford, Afton and Fairview as we made our way towards Idaho on Route 89. And we are glad we did. (By the way, we were having cheese and bacon dip on Savory Thins as a snack in Idaho. Not in lieu of the Jerky mind you but as an accompaniment)

Once in Idaho, we went through Montpelier and Paris and then we saw Bear Lake as we made our approach to St. Charles. We were up high and looked down on the Lake. It was beautiful. We traveled along Bear Lake all the way into Utah, where one half of Bear Lake resides. On the way we stopped at a convenience store in Idaho for a couple of T-shirts of a Bear Lake Fishing Camp and to check our Power Balls Tickets that we had bought in Idaho on the way north on Tuesday. I re-stocked my supply of Sprite Zeros too. The young lady at the cash register gave us the feeling that she is looking to move to a more cosmopolitan place. (We were both wearing t-shirts from Broadway Musicals, Lion King and Wicked, and she wanted to know if we had seem them in New York.)

The next stop was in Utah just as we were leaving the lake shore drive for Bear Lake. It was an antique/second hand shop where I picked up another T and a souvenir refrigerator magnet. Then back on the road towards Logan, UT. We could tell we would be crossing some mountains to get there because the road elevation started to climb and the lake behind us became much smaller as we did. (Nevermind Ken showing more nervous twitches).

Logan was a busy little city. It was getting to be about 4:00 PM and we experienced their version of rush hour traffic. I would say that it added about 15 minutes to our trip. Here we made a gas pit stop and loaded up on cold SOBE Green Tea. (we should see if we can get remunerated for product placement.)

Once we got out of Logan, we were in Brigham City in no time and on Interstate 15 on the final leg of our trip back to Salt Lake City. This time traffic was flowing smoothly and we were back at our hotel room in no time.

We got cleaned up in a hurry seing that it was already 7:30 PM and decided that this evening we would eat at Lamb's Grill and Cafe. It is the oldest continously running restaurant in Utah having been founded in 1919. Nationally, Lamb's has been recognized many times for exceptional quality and service: United Airlines Mainliner Magazine selected Lamb's to receive its "Excellence in Dining Award" three consecutive years; the United States Trout Farmers Association awarded Lamb's a 3rd Place Plaque for its preparation and service of fresh Utah trout; the Coffee Brewing Institute awarded the "Golden Cup Award" for brewing a superior cup of coffee; Town and Country Magazine selected Lamb's as one of "The Best 169 Restaurants in America" and in January, 1999, the Orange County Register selected Lamb's as one of the best restaurants to get a great inexpensive breakfast. Most recently, Salt Lake Magazine recognized Lamb's with its "Utah Lifetime Acheivement Award" and induction into their "Hall of Fame" for their long term commitment to excellence in dining in the March/April, 2000 issue.The service this evening was very good and the meals were delicious. (See Restaurant Review)

After dinner we visited Monk's House of Jazz, (See Restaurant Review) then back to the Hotel Lobby bar for a night cap and a good night's rest. It was interesting though, when talking to patrons at the bar, after hearing we had driven back from Yellowstone, the only thing they inquired about was " Did you see Bear Lake on the way back?" I am glad we took the back roads. It was great.

Friday, July 6, 2007

Today was our last scheduled full day in Salt Lake City. We had to decide what to see to maximize our sightseeing opportunities. It was between the Kennecott Copper Mines in Copperton, and the Bonneville Salt Flats at the west end of Utah, near Wendover, NV. We decided on the Salt Flats. And I am very glad that we did.

Again we skipped breakfast to get an early start, but this time we were able to get a Starbucks coffee to go from our hotel lobby. We stopped at the front desk to print our boarding passes for our flight home the next day, and discovered that our flight had been upgraded to a direct flight that we had been wait-listed on. So we would miss the Atlanta stop-over all together. (And I was so looking forward to another Pastrami Sandwich from The Budweiser Brewhouse!!! Yeah RIGHT.) This also meant we didnt have to be at the airport till 8:30 AM instead of 4:30 AM the next morning. So it was great news all around.

We then stopped in at Howell's Photo Shop to pick up a few gadgets and off we were on Interstate 80 towards the salt flats. We passed the Great Salt Lake on the way. Amazing landscape. I thought I was on another planet. Once we left the city behind us, it opened up into an ocean of salt, wet or dry that stretched out for miles in every direction from the highway. Travel time was somewhat better than the anticipated 90 minutes since I was just staying with the flow of traffic and it was flying. (Ken was running out of fingernails at this stage.)

Once we got there we saw a Rest Area that had a vicinity map and we wanted to make sure we knew where to find the International Speedway. We notice a couple of "different" things. They had covered parking at this Rest Stop for a number of cars. It was quite hot in the 105 degree Fahrenheit sun, but it was dry heat, so it really only felt like 41 degrees (Celsius). Another thing we saw was a shoe-wash area. They were warning visitors to wash their shoes if they stepped on the salt directly because it would eat away at their shoes. Very interesting stuff.

Once we got our bearings, we got back in the car, filled the tank up with gas, got some souvenirs, (a couple of Mormon cook books, a couple of hat-pins and magnets and went to see the Bonneville International Speedway. Everywhere you looked you saw salt. Miles of it. We got on it and raced our car to 80 mph or so and turned around. It would be really easy to get lost and not know where to return to a paved road. So we didnt risk it. We were in awe of this place. Almost feeling unusual and out of our realm on planet earth. Our mind had not experienced this landscape before and it was so different.

Once we toured the area we decided to check out Wendover, Nevada, just on the other side of the mountains separating Utah from Nevada. It is amazing the difference between the desert and the salt landscapes.

We are not gamblers by any stretch of the imagination, but decided to check out 4 new and one older Casino to see what was going on. All of the new ones looked the same. Seemed like they had the same owner and/or the same Interior Designer. We whiled away a few hours trying our luck at the Slot Machines. We lost a total of 80 dollars combined. However we did have some delicious pastries, and lattes, and soft drinks to hold us over till dinner. We considered doing the lunch buffet, but when we went to pay to get seated, we were warned that the buffet would be removed in 25 minutes. That defeated the purpose of an all-u-can-eat-buffet so we told them no and we went to have pastries instead. (We can both get our monies' worth at a buffet). We stopped at the gift shops of the Casinos we visited to check out what they had and we finally found a golf-shirt that would fit, so we got it.

We were back on the road to SLC about 4:30 PM. We came back the same way we came on Interstae 80 now heading east. We decided on the way to stop at Port O'Call for a couple of cocktails and maybe some games. We were very impressed with this place and were there for a couple of hours playing billiards and Golden Tee 2007 Video Golf. (See Restaurant Review) Then we went to dinner at our favorite place in SLC, Takashi's (See Restaurant Review).

After dinner we stopped back at the Martini bar next to Takashi's for an after dinner drink and went back to our hotel for a night cap. It had been a great day, in a week full of great days, and great nights. Saturday we fly home.

Saturday, July 7, 2007 (07/07/07 to some)

Luckily we didnt have to get up too early.(07:00 AM) We finished packing (we had shipped a box home yesterday so we could travel lighter). We checked out with the front desk. (Ken discovered that they had over charged us on the parking since they had charged us for the days we stayed at Yellowstone). They corrected their error and we were on the way to the airport at about 8:00 AM.

We arrived at the airport, turned in our car at the Alamo agency, and proceeded inside to check in our baggage. I had never traveled first class and it was great. Delta provides first class passenger check-in. So we walked by the check-in for coach which was packed (maybe an hour wait) and went to the front of the line since there was no one else in line for the first-class check-in. This happened both at Orlando on the way here and now on the way back. I loved that fringe benefit. But here in Salt Lake City they also had a first class passenger security check-in. There must have been another hour wait for security and we went to the top on the line, showed our first class boarding passes, and we were through. It was so cool. I must travel first class from now on. The comfort, the hassel free check-in and the mojitos are enough perks to get me to go first class.

We had breakfast at the airport and waited for our flight to depart. The flight home was great. We get to Orlando, picked up our car at the Valet Parking at the Hyatt and made our way towards home. We decided to stop for some groceries instead of going out to dinner. We had done plenty of eating out during the last week and were ready for a home cooked meal.

We celebrated 07-07-07 with some scallops and a bottle of Pinot Grigio Santa Margherita and some tenderloin strips of beef in a spicy oriental sauce and a bottle of a wonderful South African Shiraz from the Stellenbosh region. All that was missing was the hot tub from our hotel in Mammoth Hot Springs, Montana.

And thus came the end of this wonderful vacation. We had an awesome time.

I truly can not wait till our next adventure. We will be sure to keep you posted.

Please contact us should you have any questions, or leave a comment telling us of your travel experiences.

Cheers!!!

Ken and Len