The “least” Favorite Vacation

Posted on March 5, 2017March 5, 2017 by Dusty Roads | 4 Comments

If I have a favorite vacation then I guess I should have a least favorite. Doesn’t mean it was bad, just not one I care to repeat.

That one would be the Amtrak vacation Sandy and I took that covered San Antonio and New Orleans.

Yellow roses of Texas

San Antonio was great. I loved the River Walk and the tour of the old Spanish Missions.

dsc_1400-copy

Seeing the Alamo was interesting too.

dsc_1347a

It wasn’t what I expected but then I’m, not sure what I did expect. There is so much written about the Alamo. It’s been immortalized and romanticized in so many movies, books and folk lore. I was disappointed that they were repairing the façade so there was no way to take a photo for myself without the crane in front but I do understand the need to maintain the building to keep it from crumbling. I could have bought a post card.

dsc_1412-copy

The train ride from San Antonio to New Orleans was pleasant. We met some nice people in the dining car and the motion of the train and the clickity clack made it easy to nap along the way. There was a nice observation car with a dome and comfy seating if you wanted to sight see.

Once in New Orleans we had some minor issues with the room. That was fixed quickly but it was late (after 10 pm) so it was a bit annoying.

dsc_1516-copy

We didn’t have a car so we walked to the tour bus stop on the waterfront. We had to be there early and I found myself watching over my shoulder. The street was pretty messy and with the garbage pickup still sometime in the future it was pretty smelly.

dsc_1498-copy

Not too many people were out walking and although we did pass a jogger or two, I still couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling. I was very happy to see the ticket booth come into sight.

dsc_1506-copy

I got the same feeling when we were out in the evening. We passed obvious “ladies of the night” and were accosted by hawkers and street vendors. Some even continuing to follow us after we said no thank you. I was just very uncomfortable. In all my travels I have never felt this way anywhere else.

On the plus side we had a nice time riding the steam boat up the Muddy Mississippi and the aquarium was great. Our trip into the bayou got rained out. That was disappointing but even with the pouring rain we got to the Court of 3 Sisters for an amazing, elegant dinner. So I can’t say New Orleans was a total loss, just not someplace I’m anxious to return to anytime soon. I’m sure that comes as a surprise to many. I know all my friends said I would love it. Maybe once I’ve seen all of the other states I’ll go back for that missed trip into the bayou.

Rain Forest Exhibit, New Orleans Aquarium

The #1 Vacation

Posted on March 4, 2017March 4, 2017 by Dusty Roads | 4 Comments

It’s so hard to chose one vacation as the best. Every vacation has a high point, a sight or event that makes it special. Some have several but as I sit back and review the places I’ve been so far I keep going back to one particular vacation. It may come as a surprise to you when I tell you that my #1, absolute favorite vacation so far was our trip to South Dakota.

Maybe it was because I had no expectations for it so it couldn’t fail to live up to anything.

As Sandy and I prepared for the trip my friends all asked me, What’s in South Dakota? What could I say at that point? Mount Rushmore? I really had no idea.

We stayed in Rapid City. I remember that even though we were tired from the time zone changes and plane travel, I insisted we start exploring right away. We were burning daylight and thus started a jaw dropping adventure where each day was better than the one before.

040a

Our first view of the Badlands was as an afternoon sun was dropping toward the horizon. The lower angle brought out the colors and made the whole scene surreal. Throw in some animals, deer, rabbits, pronghorns and it was magical.

062a

Wait, was that a Unicorn?

085

The vacation continued like that.

113-copy

Buffalo herds in Custer State Park along with some silly wild “beggin'” burros.

141

More pronghorns, prairie dogs, wild horses, big horn sheep even dinosaurs.

360-copy

prarie-dog-with-flower

We laughed ourselves silly on what we named “the longest dirt road in the world” when we got lost on the reservation looking for a Pow Wow.

008-copy

We passed through beautiful land and saw more animals and very few people.

279-copy

We road an 1880’s steam train and went deep underground in Wind Cave National Park.

098-copy

And oh yes, we did see Mount Rushmore. That was pretty awesome too but not the main event by any means.

Mount Rushmore

So you see, I get excited just reliving that vacation. Even though I love Hawaii and Florida and so many other places I’ve been, this one is still the #1 Vacation.

488-copy

My Favorite Experiences

Posted on March 1, 2017March 1, 2017 by Dusty Roads | 8 Comments

Let’s leave the supernatural behind. I’ve got a long list of places I visited over the years so I thought I’d mention some of my favorite experiences. That’s not as easy as it seems. but at least it’s fun to reminisce.

The very first trip I took was to Hawaii on 2007. My Mom and Sister went with me. We went to the Big Island. In a way I wish I could get that innocence back.

akaka-falls

I think I spent the whole vacation with my mouth open. Everything amazed me from the condo overlooking the golf course and the ocean waves to the Chain of Craters Road in Volcano National Park. Everything was new and fresh.

kona-hawaii-hotel

The following year I went back to Hawaii. This time to Oahu. This time my sister went with me but my mom stayed at home. We were in a high rise building only a block from Waikiki Beach. And we saw rainbows ever day, morning and afternoon!

100_0037-copy

That trip had so many highlights. Of course there was Pearl Harbor. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, everyone should go there and pay their respects. It is such a moving experience.

100_0086

I snorkeled in Hanauma Bay, a volcanic crater. What an amazing time!

100_0209

We spent a day at the Polynesian Cultural Center, another don’t miss stop and nearly got blown off the “pali ” (cliffs) at Nuuanu Pali State Park, our first experiance with the trade winds.

100_0058-copy

100_0064-copy

Jump to the fall of 2008. I was in a use it or lose it position with my time share points so I took another vacation. On a shoe string I booked Sedona, Arizona. This time I was traveling alone.

Snoopy Rock

The Red Rocks of Sedona are breath taking but nothing prepared me for my first sight of the Grand Canyon.

On the South Rim, Grand Canyon 2008

I stepped off the tour bus and my head spun. I had to step back. The sight made me so dizzy. My mind kept telling me it wasn’t real. Nothing could be that spectacular.

Grand Canyon

It’s fun to think back like this and almost embarrassing to look at my pictures. I’m happy to say I’ve improved in that department!

Wolf Island Rd

Posted on February 27, 2017February 27, 2017 by Dusty Roads | 2 Comments

In an effort to find local places of interest I’d spent last night on the internet. I was amazed at the number of supposedly haunted locations right around me. Apparently Taunton is right smack dab in the middle of the Bridgewater Triangle. More about that in a later post. I don’t want to get off today’s subject.

I’m not real fond of the paranormal, at least experiencing it. I’m happy to watch Ghost Hunters and re-runs of Destination Truth but I am not keen to go ghost hunting myself.

So back to Wolf Island Road. A recent article called it Massachusetts’ most haunted Street! It warned everyone to stay away, especially at night. That’s fine with me but in daylight I might be willing to explore so off I went to find Wolf Island Rd.

I expected a lonely, narrow road winding through a deserted wood. Something to support the “spooky” reputation. What I found instead was an angry 6 ft tall man out to protect his neighborhood.

Ellis Cenetery

I was stopped in front of the Ellis Cemetery (dated 1872.) I was impressed with how well maintained it was. Nothing spooky here, when I got a tap on my window. Tom Simpson introduced himself and got straight to the point. What was I taking pictures of and why was I there. I explained about my blog and that I was following upon on a ghost story for lack of a better word.

Tom explained that he has lived in the area all his life and no one has been killed in any car accident. Just like that he debunked the myth of the fatal 1970’s car accident with the phantom car.

The other myth I was aware of concerned the murder of Wampanoag natives and their ghosts. Tom admitted that although he knew the myth it was before his time. What he did know is that he has been out there many nights, even on Halloween and has never seen anything supernatural.

He told me about the increased traffic every time a paranormal myth circulates or is resurrected. The beautiful cemetery gets vandalized by “ghost hunters” especially this time of year when the ground is soft.

Wolf Island Rd

So what I found was not a dark and lonely road but a nice place with nice homes; a lady walking her dog and a guardian angel looking out for his neighborhood.

Ghost stories may draw readers but let’s remember that there are people living there now. Would you want strangers traipsing through your back yard searching for ghosts? I wouldn’t either. Between you and me I don’t think there’s anything paranormal going on there but you might not want to run into Tom Simpson on a dark night either! My advice, look for someplace else to search for the paranormal. But if you absolutely must go to Wolf Island Rd, do so with consideration and respect.

Destination What?

Posted on February 25, 2017February 25, 2017 by Dusty Roads | 2 Comments

I’m going to talk nonsense for now. I don’t mean to have this sound like a plug for a TV program so apologies up front if it does.

Have any of you seen the Travel Channel’s program called Expedition Unknown? Do you watch it?

The host , Josh Gates, is a Massachusetts native raised in Manchester- by the Sea, a little town on the north shore.

expedition-unkown-josh-gates-rend-tccom-616-462

You may have heard of it. It’s also the name of a movie starring Casey Affleck, but I digress. I haven’t seen the movie even though it got great reviews.

Back to Expedition Unknown and Josh Gates. I first came across Josh Gates when he was the host of a paranormal, monster chasing adventure, reality show on Syfy called Destination Truth.

destination_truth

Of course they never found any of the monsters or ghosts but the stories were great and the locales exotic. I loved the way Josh delivered his lines too. I was hooked. That show ran for 5 seasons. Who knew there were so many cryptids to investigate?

I was disappointed to learn that my favorite globe trotter was done with monster hunting but that didn’t last for long. Josh was back with a new program on the Travel Channel called Expedition Unknown.

On the “Expedition Unknown” series premiere, Josh Gates utilizes a bili-bili bamboo raft in order to get to a remote village on the island ot Viti Levu in Fiji/photo courtesy of The Travel Channel

The cryptids like Bigfoot are minimized ( although not completely gone) while real life mysteries are explored. The premier was an investigation into Amelia Earhart. Since then there have been investigations into King Arthur, Cloning the Woolly Mammoth and a visit to Everest Base Camp in search of the Yeti. (I told you the cryptids weren’t completely gone)

joshgateshimalayas-jpg-rend-tccom-616-462

Along the way he even hooked up with one of my favorite Naturalists, Casey Anderson.

091d7199c42a0d8581522fb633d98df0

So why am I going on and on about Josh Gates and his adventures? ( Or should I say Exploits?) It’s because at the moment I’m stuck working for a living and won’t be able to go exploring for another couple of months so I’m living vicariously through his show. If I were younger (read that as in better shape) I’d love to be chasing around the world like he does, riding horses, climbing mountains, scuba diving undersea ruins, etc.

images

I’d even settle for running around the US. I don’t need to travel the world but I do need to be out looking for new and exciting things to do.

I missed out on the Powerball. It was up to 4M before somebody in Indiana won. Oh the places I’d go !

seuss-632x362

Well, if you’d like a firsthand glimpse of what I would aspire to be, take a spin by the Travel Channel and check out Expedition Unknown. Then when I say something like “I had to take a moment to channel my inner Josh Gates” you’ll know I just had an OMG moment!

dsc_4314a