Palm Springs Visit

We took a short trip to Palm Springs on our way home from Arizona.
During the stay in Palm Springs, we rode the cable car to the top of the mountain

Madam out in the “wilds”

We did not enter the wilderness areas !

The view

We then took Annes car and went over to Melvyn’s for dinner.

Portugal

Portugal Stage1

Getting here was the trip from HELL!

It took 26 hours from home to the hotel in Lisbon.

We were about one hour late leaving LAX, by the time we got off the plane we had about 30 minutes to get through the airport in Madrid.

That included time for immigration and security.

That allowed just enough time to arrive at the gate to see the plane push back.

Washington DC

We have taken a whirlwind tour of DC. We left LAX on Friday March 24th and flew to DC via Dallas.

The plan was that we spent only 30 minutes on the ground in Dallas, however because of the weather we were there for almost two hours.

It does not look bad here but there had been severe weather in the area and take offs were delayed to avoid it.
Better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than in the air wishing you were on the ground.

As we approached DC we had a chance to get some good pictures as we came in to land.

That evening we met up with our niece Jackie and her husband Jonathan, just to catch up and plan the next day.

The first stop of course was the White House, Anne had a bag of rocks she had brought with her in case she spotted you know who.

She was in disguise, just in case the opportunity arose...

Well, not much of a disguise, I think that most of her friends would have picked her out in a line up.



Then it was off down the Mall to see the sights.

 The Washington Monument and the WWII Memorial.

 Followed by the Lincoln Memorial.

 This for me, the most moving place of all, the Vietnam Memorial. I think that this is because of all those young guys who were the same age as I was but did not get the chance to grow old.

 It's hard to put into words, but you get a strong feeling of connection.

 Next day we took a cruise down the Potomac to Mount Vernon which was Washington's home.
We passed some really fancy homes along the side of the river.

 Of course it would not be a real tour without El Leopardo being along for a visit.

 The following day we visited the Capitol, and very impressive it is too!

 During the same day we had the opportunity to tour the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

 These are perhaps two of my favorite exhibits. Above is a scale model of the Spruce Goose with a model of a DC3 in the same scale.  That gives you some idea of how big this thing really is.
When I first came to California, the Spruce Goose was on Terminal Island and then moved into a specially constructed geodesic dome next to the Queen Mary.It is now on display in a purpose built hangar at the Evergreen Space Campus in McMinnville Oregon.

Below is the iconic Spitfire, the very epitome of WWII battle of Britain.

 On our final full day we visited the Lincoln Cottage located in the grounds of the Soldiers Home.

 Pictures were not permitted inside the building.
This tour was not so much like visiting a museum, but more like an interactive history lesson.
The interactive part being the guide asking questions and the group responding with their points of view.

Of course there's more than just history to see in Washington, cranes at work, one of my favorite tourist attractions!

On our final night we had dinner with Jackie and Jonathan at a restaurant near their hotel.

Here is a small sample of the cherry blossoms you have all been waiting to see.

Of course, girls just wanna have fun!


Then all too soon we headed back to SoCal.

As soon as we got home I started missing the main component of the Washington political scene.

So, I ran over to Home Depot and bought some.

De Wilde West Tour

Touring De Wilde West With Erik De Wilde

Erik and Fabienne arrived from Belgium on the 12th coming into LAX.

Somebody mis-read the arrival information and arrived at the airport for the early flight and had to wait three hours extra for their flight!

LAX was like a zoo, there were crowds of people from the Orient milling round and pushing their  way to the front GRRRRR!

However once the guests arrived at Hotel Amer-Cain, they felt much more relaxed.

I think that they had some idea what to expect.

Relaxed can be taken to excess.


Pretty soon it was time to head off on the road trip.

We did about 1050 miles visiting Las Vegas, Williams, The Grand Canyon and Laughlin.

Of course you could be forgiven for thinking that we had included a trip to France in the mix.

In Las Vegas we met up with our nephew Steven and his wife Angela.


We then headed out to Williams AZ. 
On the way,we stopped to see the Hoover Dam from the bridge.

It was a bit tough on Anne, we got out onto the bridge and she felt a bit wobbly.

A result of the effects of the Meniere's Syndrome.

Once in Williams and checking into the hotel, there was a Surprise from Surprise in store.

Barb and Leon had driven up to spend the night in the same hotel.

After checking in, we took the limousine service downtown.

These are golf carts operated by an outfit called Trips for Tips, worth remembering if you are ever in Williams.

Of course, we were headed for the Canyon Club, our kind of place.
(Right Tess?)

Next morning we said goodbye to Barb and Leon and took off to visit the Grand Canyon.

Pictures don't really tell the story very well, but here are some to give you and idea of the grandeur of the vistas.
It has been quite some time since my last visit and a lot of improvements to visitor services have been carried out by the Parks Service.


Once our visit to the Canyon was complete, we left to continue our journey to Laughlin.

If you don't drink or gamble then Laughlin is a bit of a non-event.
So it works for me on both counts.

The dice gods were not on my side for this visit!

Wrap Up

The Trip Home

The cab picked us up at the hotel as scheduled at 3:00 AM.

The drive to Naples airport was fairly quick as there was very little traffic at that time of day.

No matter which route you decide to take, you have to go over the mountains. A bit of a white knuckle ride during the day, even scarier when it's dark.

We arrived at the airport in Naples and checked in easily. Once they opened up the security screening area we were inside the terminal and ready to go in just a few minutes.

The lounge was scheduled to open at 5:00 AM, it was opened by a very truculent employee at 5:15 AM.

I have to  say it was not the best Lufthansa lounge I have seen.

The flight to Munich was just the way I like them, uneventful.

The lounge in Munich was much better.

Lots of choices for food, good seats and a great view out over the runway.

Not forgetting of course ample places to recharge the electronic leash.

That is of course if you hadn't put the charging cable in your checked bag, DUH!

Being Munich, it rained, This was my fifth time in Munich and on four of those occasions it rained.

Soon we were on the plane headed for LAX, a flight of eleven hours and thirty minutes.

A glass of wine before take off and settle in.

Check out the leg room, no please don't check out the legs.

Lunch on the way and then maybe a nap.

This part of the flight always seems interminable. You look at the map and you have just started crossing Hudson Bay, you look again an hour later and you are still over Hudson Bay.

It's kind of like listening to Mahler.

Our plane arrived at LAX right on schedule at 3:00 PM local time.

A quick trip through customs and immigration and we were on the sidewalk by 3:30 PM.

The car drive was not there at the "Meet and Greet" as he should have been, but a quick call and he picked us up at the kerb or curb depending upon your preferred lexicon.

Of course the traffic on the 405 was terrible at that time of day.

Finally we were home, 5:00 PM, exactly 24 hours since we got up in Italy.

We were met with a spontaneous round of indifference from Missy.

Severely jet lagged and ready for sleep.

Ciao Bella,

Norm

Last Day

We are starting our last day in Maiori.

Just a walk around town, a little poolside lounging and then pack the bags ready for the trip home.

I had seen this guy in town a few times with a small car, he stopped frequently and guys would come out to meet him, then money changed hands.

No product changed hands.

What would you think?

Same as me, the guy's dealing drugs.

This morning early I saw him pull into the entrance of the hotel.

Something was clearly visible in the back of the car.

Then I saw what he was doing.

He delivers fresh fish from last nights catch this was about 6:00 AM

The thing in the back is an ice box.

Then he drives around later in the day and picks up the money.

I guess that way the fish spends the least time in the car.

Of course El Leopardo had to take his annual vacation.

Here he is hanging out at his favorite bar.

Of course you know what they sell in bars, beer.

This is a good one, Nastro Azzuro.

However as with all things sold within the EEC it has to come with all kinds of warning.

One is obvious:

Don't Drink And Drive.

The others not so obvious:

Don't Drink Or You May End Up Pregnant.

Don't Drink More Than 18 Of These Per Day

HOT NEWS JUST IN

A new wild fire has broken out in the hills behind town.

There are no planes or helicopters yet.

Yeah! I know "Hot News"

A bit trite but still OK.

Ciao Bella

Norm