Ride to the Grand Canyon

Four friends left for a week of riding. We had two Hondas, a BMW and a Harley. One of the hondas had breakfast with us the first morning but had to return home until he met up with us on Wednesday in Las Vegas. We traveled over 3500 miles and on the last day three of us completed our Iron Butt of over 1000 miles in one day. (you can click on pictures to make them larger)








We left on Sunday morning and headed down I-5 for breakfast and then headed for the Oregon coast. The weather was cool so dressing warm was the apparel for the day.










We also traveled though the Redwoods. Then went on to Redding CA where we spent our first night.






On Monday we headed towards Reno, NV by way of Mt. Lassen.










After Mt. Lassen we had some extra time so we took a great ride on route 49 which went through Sierra CA a great ride with great curves and awesome scenery. On our way through here we hit one of many “road repairs” stops.







When you goal is to ride, how do you get good pictures of the things you are seeing? Well, what I came up with was a lanyard around my neck with the camera attached. And it worked!! So from now I was able take more pictures on the road as we left Reno and what great timing. The views from Highway 395 are great.






Here is a view of the Honda Goldwing cockpit moving at 50 mph, this camera thing is working.






A side trip up to Tahoe.



And the ride back down to Highway 395










Back on the Highway headed for Yosemite.









As you can see my back seat is empty. Marsha is back east visiting her family. But I am sure she would love this ride.






As I ride I keep checking to make sure David is doing OK behind me.






My view of David following me.






More scenes from the road.







We stopped at the entrance to Yosemite and decided to ride up towards the gate and get back on the road.



Views of the road up to Yosemite.








Packing up the next morning as we head towards Death Valley and Los Vegas.













Yup, David is still there and Jim is still leading.









Near the Entrance to Death Valley. As we stood looking down this canyon towards the valley, we heard some jets and saw two F-18s chasing each other up through the canyon. A few minutes later an F-18 came up the canyon and went vertical. It was amazing.

To see image of F-18 go to the wed page below.
http://www.1000pictures.com/aircraft/F-18/061105-n-8591h-330_1024x768.jpg









Choosing the next route to Las Vegas.







In-n-out Burgers in Las Vegas. Yum, Yum. Garry met us in Las Vegas so now we have a foursome.







Cleaning up out bikes before you head for the Grand Canyon.







Stopping for Gas, we found this station had all a man really needs.







Heading towards the Grand Canyon.





As we entered the north entrance of the Grand Canyon we realized we were near 9,000 feet above sea level.






As I walked to the edge of the Canyon to look it is very obvious why it is the Grand Canyon.










After a good nights sleep we headed north towards Bryce Canyon. On the way there we went through Red Canyon.










Then we drove through Bryce Canyon








We said good by to Jim as three of us were planning on going to Salt Lake City and doing our Iron Butt of 1000 miles in one day.







The road towards Salt Lake City was a good ride.










The next morning we left at 5am drove 1028 miles to Salem, OR and completed our Iron Butt.



Columbia River






Highway 197 from The Dalles



We had a great week and a lot of good riding.

2008 Christmas snow and skiing

Winter arrived with an "Arctic Blast" to celebrate our Christmas in 2008 with friends and family.





But the winter weather created some beautiful scenes.




The Grand kids loved having the snow right outside the house, a great change from Southern California.













The hill beside the house made a great place to play.















Look out here I come!













Then it is up to the mountians skiing, YEA!!





We all had a great time!


Even dad and the girls.


Dad and the kids had a great day.


Even Grandpa got into the aciton.

One Day Cruise

We had a good time on our cruise. We weren't sure if we would enjoy a long cruise, but we enjoyed the experience of a one day cruise and here is a picture of the Golden Princess and you can check it out at
http://www.princess.com/learn/ships/np/index.html


Here is a diagram of our room.
It was a nice day when we arrived in Vancouver BC. The mountains were beautiful above the city.

This is a view of Vancouver from the ship

You can just see the back of another ship that was docked next to us.

This is a view taken from the ship looking towards the Port of Vancouver.

In Vancouver BC there were lots of things to see.

Float planes were very active with many coming and going because many of the areas on the inland passage are only accessible by plane or boat.

This is a view from our deck looking towards the front of the ship. Each of the partitions is a room and the section sticking out near the front is the control areas of the ship.

This is Marsha playing a 9 hole mini golf game.

One of the things we did a lot of was eating. There was a buffet that was open most of the time, two main large dining halls and three specialty restaurants. The specialty restaurants had added charges but all the others were included in the price of the cruise. Plus there were a number of bars, an ice cream parlor (the death by chocolate was delicious), a hamburg-hot dog stand, a pizza parlor and most of it was free except the soft drinks, alcohol, specialty coffees, and ice cream parlor had fees attached.


The buffet had a wide range of items. We enjoyed blueberry cheese blintzes, salmon, roast beef, salads, soups, desserts, etc.
In the dining hall we enjoyed smoked salmon (the salmon was almost like a sushi, very good), shrimp cocktail, spring rolls, and mushroom soup for the appetizers. For the main meal Russ and I had prime rib and baked potato, Marsha had fresh water fish with couscous and asparagus tips. Pam had a puff pastry with lobster & shrimp in it. For dessert we had a strawberry cheesecake, ice cream, and peach cobbler.



The ship had about five swimming pools, about 8 hot tubs, a huge promenade with gift shops and often there were musicians playing and you could get your picture taken.

Outside pool with hot tubs, bar, sun deck, ice cream parlor.

This pool was inside with a cover over it. The designs on the posts and curved walls around the pool are all made out of small tiles approx. 1 inch square.

This is the Promenade area with shops, music, the main desk and some of the restaurants were also in this area.

We arrived in Seattle early Saturday morning and enjoyed a good breakfast before disembarking.







We disembarked the ship in Seattle about 9 am and boarded our bus for home.