Trip Update: Oct-Nov 2022 Part 2 Portugal

Colorful tiles

We needed to fly from Dubrovnik to Porto, Portugal. Of course, there were no direct flights and we wanted to avoid long layovers. We picked a cheap flight on Transavia Airlines. The first leg went to Orly, France. There we would collect our bags and check back in for our flight to Porto. Sounds simple, right? From the time we landed at ORY until we got to our next gate took 2 hours! ORY was a disorganized mess and security was just ridiculous.  The leg room on Transavia flights was the shortest I have ever experienced. When I win the $2B Powerball, I’m going to buy my own plane!

We arrived in Porto and realized our two weeks of perfect weather had come to an end. While no days were a complete rain out, you didn’t dare go out with a rain coat. We definitely had to switch gears as we were now responsible for all of our own arrangements. Being on a tour was certainly more relaxing. We found Uber to be the cheapest and most efficient way to get around the cities in Portugal. For some reason Portugal’s Uber is about half of the cost compared to Uber in the US and gas is $8/gal there! It also helped that the dollar was worth slightly more than the Euro. We stayed in AirBNBs in Porto and Lisbon; hotels in other cities and country houses elsewhere.

Imperial McDonalds

We toured Porto for two days. We stopped at their Imperial McDonalds when we needed a bathroom break. It’s like no other McDonalds that you will ever see, complete with chandeliers. One of the rooms at the Stock Exchange was so ornate, I thought I was in St Petersburg.                          

Church of Karma

 

Must be a politician

Lighthouse at Foz do Douro

Stock Exchange

Church or Halloween decoration?

They told the builder they wanted a cornerstone

Pat at Gust Waterfall in NP

We rented a car for a week as we left Porto and headed for Peneda-Geres National Park, the only NP in Portugal. The rains were worse as we approached the mountainous interior of northern Portugal. The only advantage to the rain was the waterfalls and rainbows. Some of the side roads were so tight that the car’s collision alert alarms kept going off. It didn’t help that Google Maps sent us to the wrong location. Sometime the fog was too dense to drive. After a few days of frustration, we gave up and headed to the Duro Valley.

Nice tile work

Double Vision

Temple of Diana

Despite all the hype about the beautiful Duro Valley, we were not impressed. Our lodging there was quite disappointing, so we left the area and headed to Coimbra. One day was enough to see the sights in this preserved medieval old town with a historic university. We drove to Tomar and walked through the gardens up to the castle walls. We tried to storm the wall but were unsuccessful. Next, we unsuccessfully tried to enter through an underground aqueduct passage. We finally gave up and hiked back to town and took the tourist entrance to The Castle of the Knight Templar. The next stop was Evora, which was happily outside the rainy area. This is a walled Roman town with the ancient Roman Temple of Diana and many other historical structures. We drove to a spot outside town where we found Almendres Cromlech, a Stonehenge type rock circle, 2000 yrs. older than Stonehenge plus we visited other megalithic monuments nearby.

Megalithic Monument

Belem Tower

Not being accustomed to dry sunny weather we headed to Lisbon. We returned the rental car at the airport and used Uber to get in and around town. For the first day and a half, we toured around the old city of Lisbon which included the Castle of St George, the neighborhoods of Alfama and Baixa and the Tile Museum. The next day we went to the Belem Tower and it started to rain when we got there -by the time we left we were in a thunderstorm. Even with a rain jacket and umbrella we got pretty wet from the blowing rain and flooded streets and walkways. It was 1.5 mile walk to The Monastery of Jeronimos, but first we had to wait in line for half an hour to get in. The main attraction here was the church, but it was closed for the funeral service of some local big shot. So, it wasn’t worth the effort. When we were through at the Monastery the rain was over, so we started walking back to our AirBNB.

Monument to the Discoveries

Pena Palace

For our last day in Portugal and because our 40^th Anniversary was in a few days, I had set up a private tour of Sintra. There is a lot to see in the area, but the sights are somewhat scattered and difficult to do with public transportation. So, the morning that we were set to go, we find out with tour driver was sick and the tour was cancelled. This left us scrambling to figure out what we were going to do and how to do it. We took Uber to Pena Palace and grounds, then we walked down a steep hill and up another one to tour the medieval Moorish Castle. Both are World Heritage Sites. Afterwards we walked down to the old town of Sintra.  From here we took an Uber back. I guess we did okay considering our lack of planning!

Fancy window

Castle of the Moors

Jack in the Pulpit

The next day we flew to Boston.

Trip Update: Oct - Nov 2022 Part 3 Boston

    

            

                                                   Massachusetts State House

State House ceiling 

Paul Revere and Old North Church

We had an uneventful flight from Lisbon to Boston. It rained overnight, but the next few days were unseasonably warm. It’s a good thing I dragged winter clothes across Europe so I would be prepared for the cold and snowy November days in Boston. So, I put my shorts on and we did the entire Freedom Trail. We took a free guided tour of the State Capitol and found it to be interesting and beautiful. 

                              

An entire park was decorated for Halloween

Bunker Hill Monument

                               USS Constitution - the oldest ship in the world still afloat

Courtyard at the Gardner Museum

The next day we went to the Gardner Museum. It the type of art museum you either love or hate. It had a great garden, but I didn’t like that you had to download a QR code for each room and then figure out which descriptions went with which pictures. Later we went to an Immersive Vatican show. They make the art and architecture of the Vatican come alive. Immersive Van Gogh and Immersive Monet are also available. Viewing tip, it is a 360-degree projection, so after watching the entire show switch seats to the opposite wall and watch the part you missed. 

                                                            Old South Church

Is this a monument to beggars?

        The next day we flew back to Maryland. This time the Uber driver did not get lost.

The last night of our month long trip, view from our room

                                

July-Sept 2022 MT to MD

 

                                        St John's Harbor

At Mallard Cottage with Aunt Catherine

On July 4, we flew from Helena MT, and landed at St John’s Newfoundland 20 hr later. We stayed with my Aunt Catherine and had a busy 10 days. Catherine took us out for a special dinner at Mallard Cottage, and we attended a Shakespeare in the Park play. Apparently, my taste in Shakespeare has not changed since high school.  Pat and I hiked several sections of the East Coast Trail. We were too late to see icebergs and not lucky enough to see whales.

Hiking the East Coast Trail

View from Elysia and Jason's Harbor House Deck

We spent a couple nights at my cousin Elysia and husband Jason’s house in Conception Harbor. At the time they were near completing a year long trip around the world. No small task with two kids and dealing with COVID travel regulations! This is the same house my grandfather built and where my mother grew up.

Bacon Cove, Conception Harbor

SMILE, you just caught COVID!

The highlight and low point of our visit was attending a dinner show with an ABBA theme. My cousin George and his wife Pam joined the three of us. Everybody had a good time and was fine until three days later when everyone came down with COVID, that is, everyone but me. Pat hated to see me missing out on all the COVID fun, so she shared her virus with me several days later.

Flood Damage in Red Lodge, MT

COVID felt like a bad cold for a few days. I tested positive for 2 weeks. For me the worse part of having COVID was the isolation. Weeks after COVID, I seem to have a lower energy level; the bar was not that high to start with. I needed to get out of our Helena house after my isolation so we took the RV down toward Billings MT. From here we took day trips into the mountains. We visited the small tourist town of Red Lodge, MT that was severely impacted by the flooding that closed Yellowstone NP back in June. 

Alpine Lake near Beartooth Highway

From Red Lodge, we took the Beartooth Highway that runs to the NE entrance of YNP. That entrance to the park was still closed, but the drive was spectacular. We enjoyed the 60-degree temps at the crest of the highway when it was 30 degrees warmer down in Billings.

Pictograph Cave SP in MT

SE of Billings we visited the Pictograph Cave State Park. There were over 100 rock paintings from 200-2000 yrs. old. Due to weathering and other factors, far fewer are currently visible. We also toured the Yellowstone Art Museum, which I found disappointing. 

                                  Aunt Ann, Pat's Dad, and Aunt Janice 10 years ago.

Pat flew back to MD for a few days to attend the funeral of her Aunt Janice. Janice and husband Mehrl had owned and run the Mayne’s Tree Farm in Buckeystown. They also loved to travel.

Minion feeling a little stiff

Sunset at Placid Lake, MT through a wildfire haze

In mid-Sept we started our RV trip back to MD. One problem with leaving a residence vacant for 6 -8 months is that a squatter could move in. This was one of the reasons we bought a secure condo in MD. Well, we were gone less than two weeks when our property was taken over by a big strong brute, pushing 340 lbs. The neighbors called it in and before long he was surrounded by officials. Feeling cornered he made a 30-foot dash up our large cottonwood tree. The Fish and Wildlife Officer felt he had no choice but to shoot the black bear with a tranquillizer dart. Apparently the first part of his body to feel the effects of this shot was his sphincter muscle, as a flood of bear poo poured down on the roof of our shed. The bear eventually fell to the ground, and was badly injured as a result of the fall. Later that day the bear died from those injuries. F&W should have known better.

His last stand

Mushroom of the Year

Sunrise in Siouxland

Field of Dreams Pitcher

One of our stops on the trip back to MD was Dyersville, IA, home of the Field of Dreams. We lucked out because shortly after we arrived a tour bus pulled in and the tourists were given a talk by the pitcher from the movie. We just happened to overhear the presentation. It was interesting to learn that after the movie was complete, the land was returned to its original condition, except for the pitcher’s mound. After the movie was released, tourists from all over the world started showing up at the site looking for the Field of Dreams. Finally, the landowner figured the best thing to do was to convert his field back into the movie set at his own expense.

Isn’t it ironic that the theme “Build it and they will come” was actually true, except that the movie executives and land owner didn’t believe it. Of course, the same mistake was made with the Hobbit sets in NZ. When will they learn?

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Laurel Hill SP - Fall is coming!

Md to MT April - June 2022

Grizzly at Discovery Center

After our return from Africa, we still had to deal with getting our RV and car ready for our trip out west. We traveled to NC to pick up our RV from a body shop. It was road ready, but still had issues we would have to deal with later. Progressive paid $18K to cover damage. We have been very happy with Progressive. Our replacement car was modified so that it could be towed behind the RV. On April 24 we started to head west.

We discovered our RV macerator/ dump system was not working as a result of the accident and the entire system had to be replaced, so our first stop was at the Phoenix Cruiser Factory in Elkhart, IN. Putting vehicle problems behind us for a while, we stopped in MN to have dinner with Andy and Karen, new friends from our Tanzania trip. We also camped out in Diane’s driveway. We spend the day shopping, eating and playing games.

Theodore Roosevelt NP

We returned to Theodore Roosevelt NP, but this time went to the North Section. It was already June, but still off season in this part of north-west ND. We arrived in Helena, MT on June 10 and later we picked up our U-Box with our stuff from Lewisburg WV. So, the move we started 16 months ago was finally completed. Pat signed up to be part of the Helena’s Dragon Boat crew, but after one practice, decided her body was not up for that.

Pat in green life jacket (second paddler, front)

Lone Mt 11,167 ft in Big Sky

Tom and Marie Potter had a trip planned to Yellowstone for the 150^th anniversary of the park and we decided to meet them there. First, we traveled to Big Sky, MT. Big Sky is a very popular ski resort, but we arrived during the mud season. Despite the rain, we managed to do some hikes and saw Big Horn Sheep and an Elk. We headed down to West Yellowstone for a few days. It was unplanned but we found out Phil’s son, Steven would be in West Yellowstone with his son Jamison, so we got together for a campfire. Pat and I went to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. The Center also added a River Otter exhibit. The wolfs enjoyed watching the otters through the windows.

Traffic Jamming Young Bison 

At Steam Geyser

                             

Biscuit Basin

The entrance road into the park from West Yellowstone is 18 miles. Bison frequent the area, as a result we ended up in a 10-mile-long Bison Backup. I don’t mind Grizzly Backups, because they are rare. In fact, we didn’t see any wild grizzlies, but bison are everywhere. The crowds were a problem and finding parking was difficult. I figured the Park will have to modify its entrance policy to avoid loving the park to death. We moved to an RV site in Fishing Bridge and didn’t have to deal the with the entry road traffic. Heavy rains came periodically during our visit. We did meet Tom, Marie, Steven and Jamison for dinner.  We got up early one morning and headed to the Lamar Valley to see wildlife. We did see a Grey Wolf and a Black Bear.

Don, Jamison, Steven, Marie, Tom

Grey Wolf

Black Bear

On Monday 6/13 we toured the southern loop down to Old Faithful and around to the Lower Geyser Basin. We stopped by Gibbon Falls on the Gibbon River and noticed how the flow at the falls had changed from flood level 3 days ago to super high flood level. We found the road to Mammoth Hot Springs was closed due to flood damage. On the way to Canyon Village, we heard the road from there to Fishing Bridge was closed. We decided to proceed there anyway. I knew the river was well below the road and didn’t see how it could be washed out. The road was closed, but they let us through so we could get back to our campsite. Turns out the road bed was unstable due to the rain; no RV or large vehicles would be allowed to pass.

 

Gibbon Falls in flood

Gibbon Falls in record breaking flood 3 days later

When we got to our site, we found a note on our RV telling us we had to evacuate the park immediately. I couldn’t believe it, where are 10,000 people going to go when all the local hotels and campgrounds are already full? Tom and Marie had to evacuate the lodge in Canyon Village. They had to drive to Idaho Falls to get a room, a three-hour drive.

We had planned to camp at the KOA in Livingston, MT when we left YNP, but we got a text message that they were closed due to flooding. The Yellowstone River runs right through Livingston. We knew we could park overnight at the old airport site in West Yellowstone, so we headed there. Of course, we had to take the long way around, due to the closed roads. Lots of other RVs ended up there also. The next day we decided the best course of action was to just head home and return another day.

Home for Evacuees

Bitterroot - Montana's State Flower

We took a week Master Naturalist course, had fun and learned a lot. We learned how much we didn’t know about nature. The term Novice Naturalist would be more appropriate. After the course we took a day trip to Sun River Canyon - another beautiful spot here in MT!

Northern saw wheat Owl

Sunset

Western Toad

Big Sky Country

Sun River Canyon