Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Travel

Pandemic Fears Benefit Catalina Island Tourism

Avalon HarborCruise ships normally destined for sunny Mexico are diverting to Santa Catalina Island to avoid possible exposure to the Swine Influenza Virus at Mexican ports like Ensenada and Puerto Vallarta. Cruise ship traffic to the island is normally three to five ships a week, depending on the season.

Through May, the island now expects 25 cruise ship calls, possibly more. With one ship in the harbor, it is our personal experience that the foot traffic in town and the island’s attractions become quite busy. Now, according to the Catalina Island Company, there are likely to be several more instances of two ships in the harbor at the same time.

Image: a 2005 photo of Avalon Bay taken from Island Express Helicopter.

Our anniversary is in September and, as usual, we’re booked in to the Hotel Metropole. We hope that the rush is over by then.

03 May 2009 by Current Events Travel

Going to the 2A Blog Bash

Blog BashWe’re still working out the details, but in a month, we’re going to head towards Phoenix to attend the NRA Convention and the Second Amendment Blog Bash.

We liked our winter cruise that we took this past December so much, that we decided to rent a motorhome again for this trip. That way, we can do some spring break sightseeing and camping with the convention and Bash as the centerpiece.

There are a few logistical details that still need to be resolved. We’re bringing our dog, ‘Bear,’ with us, so we need to find a kennel to leave her while we’re doing the convention/bash thing. If any Phoenicians out there have any ideas, we would welcome them.

Second, we’re not sure where we can park our RV near the convention center. We have a space reserved in a local RV park, but will have to drive to the convention center each of the two days we plan to attend. I’m sure that there has to be some accommodations for bus/RV traffic, but we just haven’t figured that out yet.

We’re looking forward to the trip and hope to meet many like-minded Second Amendment supporters and firearms enthusiasts. We can hardly wait.

14 Apr 2009 by Second Amendment Travel

Arizona Wanderlust

I started making some of the plans for our trip to the NRA Convention and the Second Amendment Blog Bash. Just the act of doing so induced a wave of nostalgic wanderlust. I dug out this picture that Damsel took along I-10 in December while we were on our winter cruise.

road-again.jpg

I still have to figure out where the dog will stay while we’re at the festivities. I’m looking into which kennels are in the area. We also still need to make the RV Park arrangements and finalize the RV rental.

We’re looking forward to it . . .

18 Mar 2009 by Firearms Travel

The El Tovar in Winter

We got this view of the El Tovar Hotel while standing near the famous Lookout Studio at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The hotel is about a quarter of a mile away on the next point extending into the Canyon. I took this picture in December while on our winter vacation – it was cold, too, about 13 degrees F. or so. Click on the image to enlarge.

el-tovar.jpg

21 Feb 2009 by Environment Travel

Lookout Point – A Winter Panorama

While looking at some winter vacation pictures as I was eating my lunch today, I ran across several images I took at Grand Canyon last month. I stitched them together to form this panoramic image of the canyon seen from Lookout Point on the South Rim of Grand Canyon. Lookout Studio, with all the icicles, is on the right. Just left of center, you can see the tower atop the El Tovar Hotel. This is much different than summer conditions at the Canyon.

Click on the image and scroll to view this panorama full sized.

Lookout Panorama

22 Jan 2009 by Panorama Travel

Winter Cruise Flashback – Scotty’s Castle

Our Server has been intermittently down today. The ISP changed the operating system and is still getting some of the bugs worked out. It’s not without impact to us, either, since some of our home-grown scripts need to be upgraded also.

Consequently, I have not had time to give due diligence to a post I’ve been contemplating.

Oh well . . . Please enjoy this nice photo that Damsel took of Scotty’s Castle in Death Valley NP. Click for larger size

scottys-castle.jpg.

12 Jan 2009 by Culture Travel

A Winter Desert Panorama

The first day out on our recent winter cruise, we camped in the RV Resort in Twentynine Palms, California. When we woke up on Christmas Eve, we unhooked from the camp and headed into the Joshua Tree National Park north entrance.

It was a perfect day to see the park in wintertime. There were patches of snow here and there and the mountains surrounding the drive had a nice dusting of snow. At one point, we stopped at a scenic point where I took several images to later be stitched into a composite panorama.

joshua-tree-pan.jpg

Image: Looking South and Southwest toward the Coachella Valley. Click 4 big.

We’re thinking about heading back to Twentynine Palms and back through the park in the springtime when the flowers will all be in bloom. The park was almost named “Wildflower,” but “Joshua Tree” won in the end.

09 Jan 2009 by Environment Panorama Travel

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