skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Like, "I wonder why I prefer the beach"
We've been in a blizzard warning since yesterday and as you would expect the weather is super sucky. Things started off pretty nicely - beautiful, big, fluffy flakes of snow decorating everything and creating those vistas that people who don't live in this weather for four months a year believe is what "winter" is.
Then reality hit. High winds gusting up to 50+mph, snow falling, snow blowing, "high" temperatures of -5 and wind chills down to -39 (F or C, take your pick it's the same). Super big fun.
Coming out of the driveway this morning
Snow drifts everywhere - they might look pretty but they're cold to walk through and then you're damp and icky for the rest of the day. And it all has to be shoveled out - even when it's still -20 & windy outside.
Two words: Connected garage.
And then there's the fun of driving near the lake where sudden areas of no visibility can pop up. This silly soul ended up buried in a snow drift that was about six feet tall and covering one whole lane on our road; you can see in the upper left & lower right images that the other lane is perfectly clear. Bummer, Dude.
Some things can not be deterred by a mere blizzard...getting a morning pop & hitting Walmart for a few more Xmas decorations are on that list
Plows, snow blowers, ATVs & pickups with snow blades have all been busy. At our house Dad brings out the Bobcat to cope with the white stuff - unfortunately we have the bigger machine home and there proved to be just a smidge too much snow under the wheels, raising the cab height just enough to take out the top of the garage door. And then there was the big rock hidden under a drift that took out the right rear tire...
Winter in Iowa = SUPER BIG FUN!
Those who have lived here know; those who haven't, have heard the stories. It's all true. Four seasons in a day is normal. So far this trip we've had sunshine, rain, sleet, ice, snow, warm weather, sub-freezing weather, wind, no wind, crystal clear and fog so dense you couldn't see the end of the hood of your car- sometimes all in 24 hours!
Thanksgiving was clear, but cold & kinda windy. The wind kicked the lake up over the seawall, leaving icicles dangling from the trees & everything else lining the shore. Dave braved the cold during a lull in the breeze and took the baby Canon down to capture some of the neatest sculptures - I stayed in the warm, dry house & snapped a few of him from the windows.
Later I couldn't resist taking a new lens down and having a little photography play myself - this time Dave stayed in the house & snapped me in my super cuddly pink fleecy boots. I love the sun chair covered in ice - just thinking about laying out next to the lake sends shivers down my spine!
The ice had cocooned leaves, twigs & blades of grass. I am easily amused, I know, but I thought it was very cool looking (no pun intended!)
The next evening nature put on a show as only Big Spirit Lake can. I still believe the sunsets here are the most amazing anywhere.
Looking south
West
Into the basement windows
For those who are interested in such things, I shot these in RAW then bumped the black to +4 in Lightroom (except the basement window where I added +3 fill light, too). I didn't mess with the colours. Isn't the purple house just too funky?!
Then, of course, we had yesterday's lovely covering of snow. And it's still falling, though very gently. Roads are icy and polished to a slick black glass in places but the sun is shining. Zip-pe-di-do-dah around corners, on the lee side of groves and other funhouse road areas. It's a whole 20F (-7C) and that will be our high today - yippeee! I see it's about 37C in Exmouth again today, but I wouldn't trade places (since I'll only be here in the tundra for a short time!)
Heck, I'm so tough I stood outside in the swirling snow for, oh, I don't know, 90 seconds while posing for this shot!
My car sitting outside my dad's office this morning while I am warm & toasty next to the heater.
My Exmouth friends tell me it's 44C there today.
In the interest of honesty, we actually left Australia on the 10th, but with one thing and another I haven't gotten around to posting - so just pretend that these next few posts are happenin' in real time LOL
Dave and I packed up at the last minute as Dora really doesn't like it when she suspects we are going to leave her. She's got the poor, pathetic me thing down pretty well
This is the first trip Dave and I have taken together since Tilly joined our family and she erroneously believed there was a chance she was coming with us and so remained happy and goofy through the whole packing and loading the car process. Dora knew better but Til didn't pick up any clues from her
We had a stupid long layover in Perth thanks to Skywest canceling their early flight on the day our international leg was scheduled for. We had to get into Perth the day before and pretty much just waste 24 hours. We stayed at the Perth Ambassador Hotel on Adelaide Tce
It was just OK and we were able to get a "good" rate via my friend Amber.
Perth hotels are way overpriced and this one is no exception. Our "good" rate made it less galling, but there's no way this property is worth what they charge. Tiny room, eensy tv with marginal reception, uninviting bed that was good enough for one night but I wouldn't want to sleep on it more nights. They did have extra pillows in the room, so points for that, and their bath towels were big. We were meant to have internet access in the room but neither Dave or I could get it to work on either of our laptops and the front desk was completely disinterested and unhelpful in resolving the issue. Our flight wasn't until late afternoon and we asked if we could have a late check-out - they offered us 1130 instead of 1030. Whoopeee.
We spent our Perth day doing not much of anything really. We did a little shopping for a few bits we needed to make travel more comfortable, ate a surprisingly good lunch at the Carillon Food Court off Hay St, looked at the Christmas decorations that were already up, had a pint at the Moon & Sixpence and generally wandered around until it was time to head to the airport.
I know you're looking at the first and last picture and thinking "what?" - well the first one is the very cool bark of some tree that for some reason I believed I needed to take some photos of and the last one is of a sign in the food court. I'm pretty sure "Mexican" and "pasta" shouldn't be together, really. It just struck me...remember, we were kinda bored and struggling to find the humor in wasting one of our holiday days!
The Grosvenor Hotel was very close to our hotel so we had dinner and a pint there the day we landed. They are remodeling and it's really shaping up nicely - it's going to be a lovely place to grab a drink when it's done. Hopefully they will also revamp their waitstaff - dismal service. Although several servers kept walking around the tables, not once did any of them stop to ask clients if more drinks were wanted or remove empties from tables. You'd think that wait staff at a bar would be good about trying to move another pint before patrons left, but that didn't seem to be a priority.
We both had the Harvey Beef for dinner and both pieces were not good - tough, overcooked, tasteless. We did let our waiter know and when I went to the bar to get another pint, one of the owners comped the pint since the meal was so disappointing. He was very friendly and seemed to appreciate knowing that the meat was subpar. I don't know that I'd eat dinner there again, but I would stop in for a drink.
In fact, we did stop in for a quick pint before getting on the second plane of our journey...off to Auckland we go!
Once again those of you in the US who are looking to come Down Under for a visit are being enticed by incredibly low airfares over a good range of dates. Shame that the fares aren't available going the other way, too!
So, if you keep thinking about it but haven't decided, check out this link for some super low fares.
If you can fly out of Chicago, you can get all the way to Perth for about $650 one way. That's a super nice deal.
Fares within Australia have been pretty good to get you to the West Coast, too. Unfortunately, Skywest - the only airline to serve the Ningaloo Reef - is still stupidly expensive most of the time, but there are some "reasonable" fares from Perth to be had on many dates that match up with the super low international fares.
So, don't put it off - come see us soon! The sale ends on the 2nd of June so you gotta hustle!
You all know that I'm a compulsive reader. Doesn't matter if I'm reading a book, waiting in a doctor's office, standing in line at the supermarket...I always find something to read (and I learn a lot of totally useless facts, too). I just can't stop myself.
This is not a bad thing, except when it comes to travel. I usually carry at least 7 or 8 books with me (I read pretty fast) and my carry-on is filled to the gills just with books. I usually run out and end up buying more at airports or wherever I happen to be...and since I seem to be unable to throw books away or leave them behind, my weight allowance gets eaten up quickly!
No more. Back in March I bought myself a Kindle. I wasn't 100% sure about an electronic "book" when I first came across the concept, but a little research and a lot of links from Amber convinced me that this was going to be a top gadget that would make my life easier.
And, so, as soon as I opened the box, I lost 8 pounds or more of carry-on and over 22 inches of space eating stuff.
In fact, I'll probably keep the Kindle in the outside pocket and free up the entire interior of my bag.
I'm not going to go into the technical aspects of the Kindle here, there's plenty of info on that with a google search or simply head to the Amazon site linked above. I will say that I really like my Kindle and am very glad I bought it. And I haven't even traveled with it yet. I've already read a few books, including the new Clive Cussler Corsair
I'm really enjoying it. I love having a huge range of books to choose from and I love being able to go right back to where I left off without having to spend 5 minutes trying to figure out if I've read that part yet!
Being able to change the font size is a great thing when I read in bed. As my eyes get tired, I can simply increase the font size a bit if I'm not quite ready for sleep. I apologise, I should have taken a photo to really illustrate how crystal clear the type is on the screen but you can see that on other sites - so you'll just have to trust me when I tell you it is superbly crisp and easy to read.
I haven't needed to go this big yet, but I can if I want to
Usually I read on the font that turns out to be pretty close to a normal paperback's
How about comparing the Kindle to other stuff I usually travel with? Like a pen and some headache tablets...
I wasn't over the moon about the boring ol' white-ish colour the Kindle itself is, so I dressed mine up with a skin from DecalGirl. There are tons to choose from and I'm very glad I spent the extra $15 or whatever they are. The skin is very easy to keep clean and puppy & kitty fur just blows right off. And it looks be-a-u-ti-ful, too!
I love the size of this thing and I can't wait to do a trip, fully loaded with more books than even I can read and all in a package smaller & lighter than a magazine.
I'm going to cheat with this one and simply put the link for my Iguazu Falls installment here :)
Click here to read the story & see the pictures, enjoy and leave some love if you are so inclined.
Top of Devil's Throat
More from the adventure coming soon!
...unpacking!
Yes, I have been home since February.
Yes, I have been moving the luggage from our bedroom to the living room chair to the bedroom and back again for over two months without going that extra mile and actually dealing with it.
But all that is a thing of the past now. I am officially unpacked
- clothes are away (I foresee another closet cleaning in my near future), passports are secured, suitcases are ready for the bin. It was so cold when I left the US that when the taxi driver put the suitcase on the ground at the airport, its little wheel just snapped off into space. RIP Wally-World special, you served me well.
I am missing one glove, one mitten and one white sock, but I'm sure they are around somewhere - and since I don't immediately need those things, you know I'm not going looking for them right now!
I know, you've almost given up on ever seeing more from my cruise, but never fear, I am working on it, slowly but surely.
My story left off in Antarctica a few weeks ago, so now we have to cross the Drake Passage again. This time we did it during the day and let me tell you, there is nothing to see LOL It was a whole lot calmer going north - only gale force winds and waves instead of hurricane force. I tried to take some photos out of the window at the cafe on deck 5, but didn't put a whole lot of effort into it so they suck. Just imagine great big grey waves crashing and swamping the windows as you look out!
The first land we came to after our crossing is Cape Horn at the southern tip of Chile - it's part of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago.
We were blessed with calm waters, but the skies were once again flat grey and overcast. We had a little spitting rain, but it wasn't too bad...at least at first. My fingers were pretty frozen by the time I finally went inside to snag another cup of hot chocolate!
Arriving at Cape Horn, we first stop off the Chilean Naval Station so we can take on a new pilot to help us navigate through the new waters. The station isn't on Cape Horn itself, but Cape Horn towers behind it
There's a military ship at the base of the cliff and the pilot comes to us on another little zodiac. I'm sure they were just as thrilled as we were to have calm conditions!
Perspective is a tricky thing around these islands. There is a very cool memorial to all of the sailors who have lost their lives rounding the Horn. The sculpture has a silhouette of an albatross cut from the middle of the metal and the memorial itself is huge. It's also not next to the station, as it first appears
It stands on a remote hilltop between the station and Cape Horn
and it's not until you come all the way around the island that you can see it in isolated beauty. They tell me that the memorial is east-northeast of the real Cape Horn, but my sense of direction was all screwy and it felt like it was south of it!
Tierra del Fuego is rough and rugged country covered in lush vegetation, but no trees, thanks to lots of precipitation. As we cruised all the way around Cape Horn, we saw some the ruggedness that had claimed so many vessels and lives; even in our calm conditions, it didn't take much imagination to envision some pretty deadly waves.
It took us quite a while to cruise all the way around this island and there weren't many people left on deck by the time we finally got straight on to Cape Horn itself. It was nice to have space to myself on the Promenade! It's a pretty scene
and I can see why the Horn itself isn't inhabited!
