July 26 - Copenhagen part 1

Here are several pictures from Copenhagen.  The last three pictures are from the train station and the outside of the train station.  The first three pictures show the biking paths and you would almost refer to it as a biking street, even though they run alongside the other street. You will notice in another picture, there is a right turn lane and that is for bicycles. In the first couple of pictures you see three levels of street; the lower level is for the traffic of cars and buses, the second level is the dedicated bike street, and the third level is the sidewalks for the pedestrians.  The Danes claim Denmark, particularly Copenhagen, is the biking capital of the world. Actually that is believable because of the number of bicycles all over the place.  A large part of the interest in riding a bike or taking a bus is easy to explain; the tax on the purchase of a car is 180%!!!!! Woe be to the innocent pedestrian that accidentally stepped out into the bike street or path. We were told by a local native that the Danes are actually quite friendly until they get on their bicycles and then they become Nordic aggressors.

The sixth picture shows the old and the new, it shows the electric car charger available for electric cars in the foreground, and the Scandic Palace Hotel in the background.

Denmark is very liberal and many of the women are not modest at all. That is evidenced through them riding bicycles in dresses and they don't seem to care what all shows as they're riding their bicycles.

It is rather staggering the amount of people that smoke here. The price of food is rather high by US standards and so one has to question if they smoke just in order to suppress their appetite.

July 6

Here are several pictures from around Bald Head Island. The one picture of the swimming pool where there are lots of people is at the Bald Head Island Club. The other pool where  there's just Jackson, Maggie and Kerri in the pool is just for the condo area where we're staying.

The second floor dining area with the green roof over near the swimming pool at the Bald Head Island Club is elevated so you can see out into the ocean or look down into the pool area.

There is a picture of the Old Baldy Lighthouse that dates back many many years.

There are several pictures of houses on the island, just random pictures, and the last picture is of Maggie fishing off the boardwalk right out in front of our condo.

July 5 - Fishing at Bald Head

My little Maggie fishing from the boardwalk in front of our condo.

July 4

The pictures are of Bonnie kayaking with Jackson and Maggie on the Fourth of July on Bald Head Island.  This is in the marsh right in front of our condo.  We later attended a family picnic and BBQ complete with live music.

July 2nd - starting our vacation to Bald Head Island North Carolina

The first picture is at the ferry terminal that we take out of Southport, North Carolina to get over to Bald Head Island.  The second picture is the ferry departing the docks heading to Bald Head Island. The rest of the pictures are from our condo on Bald Head, down the beach just different looks and views of what we are seeing on our vacation.

Back home

Friday, April 15
  
The whole time we were out west, I have to admit I was a bit disappointed that we did not see a rattlesnake or a scorpion. Well, after leaving Roper Lake SP, we stopped back in Las Cruces, NM at our niece's house for the weekend. On Saturday, we were going to cook out and her husband pulled a tarp back off the wood pile to have access to the wood to start a fire. There it was; a small rattlesnake curled up on top of the log pile!

We put it in an ice chest and took it out to a desolate area and turned it loose.  Now I'm sure many of you are wondering why we did not introduce Mr. Rattler to Mr. Machete; well the explanation is very simple.  Our niece has two children ages six and eight who do not like to see or know about anything being killed.

Sunday, April 17

We left Las Cruces and decided to take the southern route, I-10, and stop in San Antonio.  When we got to where I-10 and I-20 split in west Texas, we took I-10 and stopped at the first state park for the night.  We watched the weather channel that night only to find out that a line of thunderstorms with heavy rain, damaging wind, and large hail stretched from Loredo, TX up through San Antonio, Austin, Waco, and Dallas and was traveling east to include Houston.  So, we decided to change our plans and go back up to I-20 and come home that way, thinking we would stop back in Tyler, TX and  surprise cousin Greg.  However, I checked the weather Tuesday morning and the forecast was severe thunderstorms with damaging winds from Dallas on east to Shreveport, LA starting in the afternoon.  That did it; we drove all day to get through Louisiana and stop in Mississippi for the night.  That plan worked as we only got into about ten minutes of heavy rain with no wind or hail.

 Wednesday, April 20

 We arrived back home Wednesday afternoon only to be reminded that we really did miss a majority of the allergy irritants.  As soon as we got into Mississippi, the eyes started itching and watering and it is still that way.  At least we missed most of it!

 I've had a few people ask me if our plan to avoid allergies actually worked.  Well, we did not totally avoid allergies when in Arizona and New Mexico, but it was no where near the level of misery here at home.  We both took some allergy meds and eye drops,  but nothing like we would have if we were here.  It was well worth it!

OBSERVATIONS:

• Like I said before, the number of single men traveling and camping by themselves was surprising.  By and large, after overhearing some of them talking to each other, it was men over 55 and widowed.
• It was a lot cooler in Arizona than we expected.  I was expecting 80's + everyday and that simply was not the case.  We were thrilled when it got up to 75.  Part of that was the elevations we were in; ~4,700 feet.
• I was surprised to see the Robert Trent Jones Gold Trail in Alabama advertised in Arizona.

This concludes our spring trip for this year.  Thanks for riding along with us.  Your comments and questions are always welcome!   

To Tucson and Catalina State Park then Roper SP

April – 7

We left Patagonia Lake State Park and went just north of Tucson to Catalina State Park. We made reservations because, as it was nearing the weekend, it was selling out fast.  When we got there, both campgrounds were full, but it didn’t feel like it as the campground was laid out very well with lots of space between each camp site.  Here is a picture from our camp site; that is the Catalina mountain range.

There were a number of prairie dogs (rodents) in the campground that were quite entertaining.  It was obvious people feed them all the time because they were not shy about coming up, begging for food, and willing to take it out of your hand.

We rode our bikes and took a few short hikes here at Catalina SP.  There were several cacti flowering and the blooms were really pretty.  The good news is it did not irritate our allergies.

Other native flowers were also blooming which added color to the desert environment.

 

Have you hugged your Fishhook barrel cactus today?  If you look real close at the long, light pinkish colored spines, you will see why they call it a ‘fishhook’ barrel cactus.  Most of the ones we saw were between about the diameter of a basketball and a beach ball and about two feet tall.  However, we did see one that was about my height.

We stayed at Catalina SP until Tuesday, April 12^th, then drove on out to Roper Lake SP where we stayed for three nights.

Our observation has not changed with regards to the number of men who travel and camp alone; we have seen that everywhere we have been.

One thing we do find interesting is the number of people who check into the campgrounds and never come out of their rv’s whether that is a travel trailer, 5^th wheel, or motor home.  That just seems odd to me.

We are now at Roper Lake SP, and this one could be the favorite of all.  It is a bit out of the way when compared to the others but that reduces the number of people as well.  The lake is small but very nice.  Here is a picture from our campsite; the blue patch in the middle of the picture is Roper Lake.

In the background, you can see Mt. Graham which stands about 10,000 feet.  The day we arrived, so did snow on the top of Mt. Graham, but the temps were great down where we were camping.

It even had a natural hot spring that was nicely maintained and rarely used by guests of the campground.

When you see something like this, you just want to say out loud "We're not in Kansas anymore Dorothy."

A couple of interesting stories:

• One time when we stopped for gas, I swiped my card at the pump.  The prompt on the screen said “Please see cashier”.  So, I went in, and told the cashier and she said, “yes, that pump will do that sometimes.  You can either tell me how much you want, or if you want to fill up, you can leave your card here and come back in when you are done pumping.”  I told her I would leave my card there because I wanted to fill up.  After filling up, I went back in; she swiped my card and told me it was declined.  I was quite surprised by this as the card has a high credit limit on it.  She asked if I had another card I would like try, so I tried another card from the same bank.  It too, was declined.  At this point, I am getting a little edgy, so she called the manager over.  He asked if we were traveling through from a good distance away and I confirmed that we were.  He told me he sees this all the time and to call the customer service number on the back of the card to let them know we are traveling.  I agreed, went back out to the rv to call, and by that time Bank of America called me to confirm it was me and not fraudulent use of my card.  With all of the straightened out, I went back in and finished my transaction.  Of course, while all of this was going on, there were a number of other customers witnessing what was going on.  So, I go back out to the rv only to have my faith restored in fellow man; a guy with very trusting eyes pulled up and said to me, “aren’t you the guy that just had trouble with your credit card?”  I confirmed I was and he said “well, if you need gas I can help you out.”  I thanked him and told him I got it straightened out.  I was blown away by his generosity!

• When we arrived at Roper Lake SP, we got everything set up and were just relaxing at the campsite.  It was time to light the charcoal to grill dinner so I proceeded by putting the charcoal in the metal fire starting chimney then crumpled up some newspaper on which to set the chimney.  I set this on the grate of the campsite fire ring and lit the newspaper which in turn lights the charcoal without the use of lighter fluid.  Well, when the newspaper first starts burning, it smokes a little before the charcoal starts burning.  I am watching this closely when I heard someone about 50 yards away hollering to someone to “put your fire out, you’re stinking up my rig.”  I didn’t think much about it, but I did look up to see to whom he was hollering.  It was ME!  He was standing there staring at me and was disgusted that the wind swirled around and was blowing smoke his direction.  I looked away totally ignoring him but decided if he came up to me I would apologize for the direction of the wind which, was out of my control, but he could contact the ranger if he wanted some intervention.  Nothing happened, but it’s like I told Bonnie, “if you don’t want to get splashed, don’t sit around a swimming pool. If you don’t want smoke permeating the air around you, stay away from a campground.”  He left the next morning. That was a first time experience for us!