Tag Archives: tours

Estes Park Colorado

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From Diamond Resorts Destination Page

Estes Park Colorado

Good Morning Travel friends! Sorry I missed last weekend. It was just a busy 2 days. I’m one step closer to being travel ready. I got my first COVID shot. 2nd one coming up this week. I hear we will need a booster every year!

 

Well let’s get back to vetting Colorado locations, shall we? How about Estes Park next? That’s a familiar name. I think Estes Park is a fairly well known destination. I also think it’s a winter destination known for skiing. But just wait til you hear what the web has to say. Might as well start there.

Google for Estes Park

 

Photo from Wikipedia

Estes Park is a town in northern Colorado. Located as a base for the Rocky Mountain National Park, it’s home to wildlife including elk and bears, plus miles of trails. The park’s Trail Ridge Road winds past craggy peaks, forests and tundra. Nearby are the wilderness areas of Roosevelt National Forest. The Estes Park Aerial Tramway connects the town to the summit of Prospect Mountain for views over the valley. ― Google

Estes Park in Summer

Estes Park is a popular winter vacation destination but what can we do in the summer. Turns out, quite a lot. I found a link marked Extreme Estes Park from Trip Advisor. Loaded with hiking and private tours; looks like lots of adventures waiting.  There’s a Rocky Mountain Jeep tour. (Jeep tours are always fun) . I like the sound of the Evening Wildlife tour in Rock Mountain National Park. It has 5 stars! Nearly every Summer Safari they see Moose cows and sometimes bulls, Elk bulls and cow herds with calves, Mule Deer, Bighorn Sheep on the distant mountains through the spotting scope, Yellow-bellied Marmots, American Pika, and a number of small cute critters only found in the Rockies like Least Chipmunk, Ground Squirrels, many different birds and some hawk & eagles.

Of course being a photography nut this tour caught my eye: Evening Private Wildlife Safari in RMNP
Here’s the description-For the Landscape option we can shot Sunrise at an Subalpine Lake, on the Tundra, or along the river of a Mountain Meadow. Wildlife like Moose, Elk, Mule Deer, Marmots, Pika, and on lucky days Bighorn Sheep can be captured. 

All guests have access to our arsenal of Nikon pro cameras and lens like the D810 and 600mm lens.

 I’ll need more than 1 trip to see everything I want to see.

Captain John and the Whales

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Captain John’s Whale WatchingWhale Tail

Captain John Boats lives in Plymouth, MA and sails the seas of Massachusetts Bay and Stellwagen Banks. Why, Matey? What does the Captain John do on the bay? We be lookin’ for whales. Mostly humpback whales but also finbacks and minkes. So come on board and let me tell you a “tail” of the sea.

Whale Watching in Massachusetts

Summertime on the Massachusetts coast means whales. The evening news happily reports when the first whales of the season begin to arrive along Cape Cod. The first are usually the rare right whales. We watch them from the shore. We recognize them by their distinctive wide V-shaped blow. All the while we watch we also freeze in the early spring blustery cold.

Whale TailWith Warmer Weather come the Tours

As the weather warms the Right whales move out and the Humpbacks, Finbacks and Minkes take their place. I’ve followed the whales for 43 years through good years and bad. South of Boston there are 3 main tour companies, Boston’s New England Aquarium, Captain John Boats in Plymouth and the Dolphin Fleet out of Provincetown. It doesn’t seem to matter which one you take, they all seem to end up at Stellwagen Bank within sight of each other and the Pilgrim Tower in Provincetown.

A Whale of a Trip

Last Saturday I finally had a free afternoon. I usually prefer the morning trip out of Plymouth with Captain John. I seem to have better luck on those tours but this time I couldn’t get away until the 2 pm tour. We no sooner reached the feeding grounds of Stellwagen Banks than 3 humpbacks sounded right next to the boat. They stayed close for 3-4 dives before moving out.  We had several other humpbacks cruise along with the boat and then one tried to ride our bow! It was a very active trip and the passengers were really excited.

Riding a bow wave

Rate the Trip

If this was your first trip it was a definite 10. There were lots of whales and lots of activity. For a more experienced whale watcher it might have been a bit of a let down. There were no flipper slaps, bubble net or surface feeding, or breaches but some lovely flukes…a 5. I am so spoiled!

Gurnet Light

Gurnet Light

Riding the Old Town Trolley

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Old Town Trolley Tours

The rain stopped. There’s a big golden ball in the sky! I think the call it the sun. Its not real warm only in the 50’s but at least it’s dry. I’m heading into Boston to ride the Old Town Trolley.

Old Town Trolleys Then

Old Town Trolley! The Best Trolley in Boston

The orange and green trolleys have been in Boston for a long, long time. I became most familiar with them when my friend Joe spent some time driving for the  company. He started in Boston but eventually began driving for them in Florida in Key West. The trolleys they were using then were “Molly” Trolleys. They had wooden benches and were just 1 story or level. I’m not sure what to call it.

Old Town Trolleys Now

Today’s trolleys look like double decker buses but they aren’t. When you get on there are a few stairs that take you to an elevated seating section. The seats are cushioned seats like you find on a modern bus. Today most of the windows had clear plastic “storm” windows to keep the cold at bay. They reminded me of the window covers used on yachts. The windows in the rear of the trolley were open. The plastic was rolled up.

http://dustyroadsphotos.zenfolio.com/p1007424062/h888dd59b#h888dd59b

The Package

I bought my ticket at the Atlantic Ave ticket booth which is also Stop #1, the New England Aquarium and the Rose Kennedy Rose Garden. I haven’t ridden the trolley in a long time so I was in for a sticker shock. Senior discount and all it came to $39.85! It includes a harbor boat trip, a value of  $21.00. The only problem with that is I didn’t want a harbor cruise. There’s no way to purchase just a trolley tour. The cruise, however, can be used another day.

The Hop on Hop Off Tour

Another perk that I couldn’t take advantage of is the Free 2nd day on the Trolley. If I’d gone into town on Saturday I could have come back and ridden for free today. Next time I’ll know. There are 16 stops to explore and if you were to get off at every one you would need 2 days. According to the map, there’s also an option for 4 additional stops on what they call the Seaport Loop.

The Long and Short of it.

I had wandered into Boston after lunch and I got there by MBTA. In other words I started my excursion late; about 1:30. A bruins Game at the Garden had traffic snarled which made the trolley late to the #3 stop, The USS Constitution. I got off here to see the amazing ship in dry dock. By the time I finished that stop it was almost 3 pm! Time flies so I just road the rest of the time. I’ll start earlier for the hop on hop off part next time.

If you go

To take full advantage of the hop on hop off perk, go early. Make sure you have 2 days in a row so you can use the free 2nd day if you need it. Check on line for discounts especially Groupon. In my book, it’s still the number 1 tour company even if it’s gotten a bit pricey!

The Tour Begins

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It was still raining, windy and cold but the Navel Museum was open. The young man in charge was kind enough to let me wait inside. Admission to the museum is free. I didn’t go downstairs to see all of the exhibits, I didn’t want to miss my tour, but I looked over the items on display in the main lobby.

There was a bronze statue of a family reunion, a model of the Yorktown and etchings  on the walls about other ships including the Coral Sea. My brother served on the Coral Sea and I think my brother -in – law may have served on the Yorktown. It sounds too familiar to not have a family connection.

The memorial itself wasn’t turned on because of the cold. I think there are a series of fountains. I’m told they bring in the water from “All of the seven seas” and have a huge ceremony with the admirals and top chiefs of staff when they turn  them on. Washington does like it’s pomp and circumstance.

More people began to arrive while I waited and all were welcomed into the nice warm, dry lobby. Finally at about 9:45 a nice young man with a clipboard arrived to check us all in.

The bus was parked about 2 blocks away so we all hiked up the street. Our tour guide was a super nice lady named Joey. The bus driver was Tony. Joey explained that tours never leave from the Capitol building on Sunday because there is always something going on that closes the streets. She just shook her head when I told her that I was first told to go to the Capitol Building, then the Naval Memorial and finally the text with the address for the memorial that never came.

While we waited for any stragglers the other guests began to talk about what they were promised. Even though we were all on the same trip, everyone has been given different expectations. My tour was supposed to be 10 am to 2 pm to see the  Cherry Blossoms. (I expected that to change since there weren’t any cherry blossoms) Others said their tours were 10 am to 1 pm and still another group was 10 am to 3:30 pm with a break for lunch and a boat ride on the Potomac.

Poor Joey had to straighten out the mess and keep everyone happy! She promised to work it all out while we were doing the first part of the tour. Her job looks like fun except for the part where she has to straighten out the “back office” mess. That would make me very grumpy!

Finally the fellow with the clip board found the last of the group and herded them to the bus. We were ready to start out.

Aloha From Hawaii

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No I’m not there yet but I did get a call.

Yes a nice surprise. The phone rang and caller ID said Diamond Resorts. That’s my time share so I grabbed the phone before it could go to voice mail. As I gasped out a Hello I heard a man’s voice call out “Aloha”.

SURFER AT PEAHI (JAWS), MAUI, HAWAII.

That got my attention.

It was a combination confirmation call and orientation, not that I remember everything he told me. He gave me so much information. We confirmed check in times,  talked about the facilities, tours and events, what I had in mind for the vacation, everything.  It wasn’t a short call but it was very pleasant.

Oh and we talked about the weather. I mentioned it looked like they were getting a lot of rain. He laughed. He said the weather reports always show rain because at any given time its raining someplace on the island. Right now he says its mostly 70-80, low humidity and sunny. If it does rain, its warm and no lightening so just keep on with what we’re doing!

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Nice touch Diamond Resorts. Mahalo!

Current Weather Conditions

A few passing clouds. Low 71F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph.