Learn Something Every Day -Scotland Travel

January 30, 12 Cousin Maureen sent us a great website with 7 different self-guided hikes in Scotland… each one has numerous photos and they offer a variety of services, B & B’s, maps, etc.  I think you will agree it is a wonderful website.  I likely spent an hour looking at different hikes on that Hillwalk Scotland site… including one that goes right past St. Andrews golf course.  How wonderful it that?  http://www.hillwalk-scotland.com/  I signed up for their newsletter.

January 31, 2012  I have been looking at some quotes about change.  It seems like I need to make a few changes… not the least, of which is trading offices with Shirley.

“Change before you have to.” –Jack Welsh, past CEO of G.E. 

“Change means that what was before wasn’t perfect.  People want things to be better." –Esther Dyson

“Change is such hard work.”  -Billy Crystal

Today I made the final decision to switch offices with Shirley.  She has tried to figure out how to rearrange my room so I would not have my back to the door.  The problem is that there are two doors in my office… one goes outside and looks into Shirley’s garden.  The other enters off the living room.  Shirley is the best… and if she can’t figure it out it cannot be done.  (Or is it that Shirley just wants my office?  hummm)

It is not going to be a simple move… we each have a lot of stuff.  There is no satellite TV in her office… so that will have to be fixed.  But Feng Shui or not, it is never good interior design to work at your desk with you’re your back to a door.  My trading coach says that if you have your back to the door all your money will go out the door.  Yikes!  So the sooner I get moved the better.  Do you think I can blame my trading losses on sitting at a computer with my back to the door?  Is this going to be another lesson learned the hard way?

What A Day!

This morning we were both awake before 4 AM... you know how you don't want to be late when you need to catch the early ferry?  We arrived in Sidney at least two hours before we had to be at the airport, so while Shirley was buying some seeds at the nursery I took a walk around and captured a few colourful blossoms... like this Gerber Daisy.

When I was shooting this Calla Lily I had no idea how screwed up my day was going to be.

With plenty of time to burn we did a little exploring and found Island View Beach Regional Park... a place full of people walking their dogs... a great place to walk along the shore and get a little exercise.  That island with the prominent bluff is James Island.

When we went to check in at the airport the lineup was crazy... and when we got to the ticket agent we found out why.  My flight to Seattle was cancelled due to mechanical problems... but they would reroute me thru Vancouver and I could get connections to Phoenix directly from there.  US Air had plenty of room but they told me that I would have to go to the US Airways ticket counter to get my ticket reworked and a boarding pass.

I had about 90 minutes before my connecting plane would leave, but it wasn't enough... they left without me.  You cannot imagine the run around that I got, and even after they printed my boarding passes for the remainder of my flight, they took them back and asked me to go to Alaska Airlines and have them reorganize my itinerary.

Time was slipping away... and after going to Alaska and explaining my plight yet again, they scratched their heads and said that they could not do it either.  And they tried to send me back to US Air.  That is when I got a little impatient.  I told them I was going to miss my connecting flight with all this running back and forth and no one accepting any responsibility to help me get rescheduled on a plane that was soon to depart without me.

I got the attention of a sympathetic ticket agent who grabbed the bull by the horns and walked with me back to the US Air ticket counter.  She told the girl there how the cow ate the cabbage, picked up a phone behind the desk and called their agent at the boarding desk, telling them that I was coming.  So they reprocessed my boarding passes and Kim, the kind lady, walked me thru the security check, met me on the other side and guided me thru to Customs.

That was the straw that broke the camels back.  The lineup there was sooooo looooong at Customs... and moved so slow... so many stipid questions.  When I was just about thru Kim came back to tell me that the plane had closed it's doors.  We missed it.  Damn.

But she told me that she had figured out a routing that would still get me there today... a little later... but it was the best she could do.  I just had to go to Gate 96 and she would have my revised itinerary sent there for me.  And it was there.  It was amazing how fast she got things done and buy the time I got thru Customs and walked clear across the airport to Gate 96 the lady smiled and asked to see my passport and handed me a package all neat and tidy.  Done.

So I was soon on a plane to Portland... where I am now writing this blog.  I called Lorne and told him that I would be later than planned.  My new arrival time would be 12:32 AM.  So if all goes well, I will be there just past midnight.

I know my kids thought I was a little crazy for driving to California a month ago... 4 days on the road with only 4 days there... but airline travel is not all it's cracked up to be.  Such is life.

Maybe tomorrow I will forget about all this hassle once I tee up that little white ball and drive it over the green!  It will be a whole new set of challenges!

Highlights from our California Trip -Part One

In eight days we did the round trip to Eugene, PUC, Sacramento, Roseburg, Marysville and home again.  People think we are crazy not to take a plane and rent a car... but we have a car... and what is better than a couple of days with your sweetheart on a road trip?

Waiting in line at the US/Canadian border I saw this cute little vehicle advertising the checkerboard guy.  When I got home and checked him out he does a lot of entertainment shows... like on cruise ships.

We had dinner the first evening with cousin Janice in Eugene... and then drove on to Roseburg yet that day.  This is the second time we have met her at P.F. Changs to eat... and again failed to take her picture.  The best I can offer is the horse at the entrance to the restaurant... Lovely horse, eh?  Shirley wanted a photo of it so she could draw it.

Our GPS routed us on a shortcut thru the backroads from Winters thru Lake Berryessa and Pope Valley to Angwin, where we planned to have dinner with Duane and Mary Cronk.  But first we had to stop for Shirley to take pictures of the sheep in Winters... which reminds me of this brunette joke.

This blonde was tired of all the hassles of being blonde, so she went to the beauty parlour to have her hair dyed brunette.  On the way home she passed by a field and saw the farmer out there tending his sheep.  So she stopped and asked him, "If I could tell you how many sheep you have here in this field, would you give me one of them?"


The farmer replied, "Sure."  So the brunette went back to her car, took out her calculator and added up all the legs of the sheep, divided by four, then came back to the farmer with her answer.


"You have 314 sheep here," she told him.  So the farmer told her, "go ahead and pick out one the sheep."


The next day the farmer came to the home of the lady and knocked on her door.  When she answered the door he said to her, "If I could tell you the natural colour of your hair would you give me my dog back?"

At the east end of Lake Berryessa was this Monticello Hydroelectric Project... built in 1986 for 17 million dollars.  Looked like a good deal to me!

It was such a lovely afternoon, we could have spent it all easily taking pictures along this road to PUC.

The grass was greening the hills, and the trees were starting to come into leaf.  What an idyllic setting for a home... but we had to stop stopping to take pictures if we ever hoped to get to PUC before dark.

As soon as we arrived at Cronks and made our greetings to everyone, Lorne, their son invited us to join him on a walk.  Perfect!  After many hours in a car we needed some exercise.

He took us on a trail behind PUC on college land and told us about how his dad had been active in saving this property from being sold for development.  It was a marvellous place to hike!

As soon as we returned we all went to nearby Calistoga to their favourite restaurant... Checkers.  I thought Duane and Mary looked great for their age... and we had such a delightful visit together.  It was just like we had never been apart.  Duane, who spent most of his life in Public Relations and writing articles for the engineering and construction industry is the publisher of their local community paper... the Angwin Reporter.  Check it out to see current photos of the wild turkeys on the hill.

When I was a student at PUC Duane came one day to the Art Department and talked to the art professors asking if they could recommend a student who could do photo darkroom work for him.  That is how we met... and for the next three years I did a variety of projects for Duane... even silkscreen printing of corporate brochure covers.  Above are some post card photos that Duane brought back from one of his trips to Europe.  I framed them up many years ago and have had them in my office ever since.

"The best things in life come in three's, like friends, dreams and memories."  


And I can say that I made some good friends, surpassed my wildest dreams and have the best memories of my time at PUC and my working for Duane and Mary Cronk.

Michael Palin... A Travelling Entertainer

Thanks to NetFlix we have become raving Michael Palin fans.  It started by viewing his Pole to Pole BBC series.  We loved it so much we hated to see it come to an end... so we then went with him on several more travelling adventures.

This 8-part series starts at the North Pole, and follows the line of longitude 30 degrees east as close as possible all the way to Antarctica.  Filmed in 1991 Michael uses every possible different form of transportation possible, starting with a ski plane, then an icebreaker, trains, ferries, buses, taxis and ending with a dog sled trip to the south pole.

It is interesting to see all the different cultures, in Finland, Russia, Turkey and the Mediterranean.  In Africa down the Nile... the pyramids, Ethiopia, Lerata, Kenya and Lake Tanganyika.  A witch doctor warns him of an "evil shadow" following him and shortly after he cracks two ribs whitewater rafting and misses the only boat from Africa to Antarctica.  To what lengths will he have to go complete his trip from pole to pole?

Michael sets himself a daunting challenge to circumnavigate the world in less than three months without flying.  It is amazing the cultures and frustrations he goes thru, missing travel connections and getting a week behind in the first three weeks.  The trip is plagued with problems, as well as fun stuff, like the unforgettable ceremony when crossing the International Dateline.  This 7-part series made me want to try to do it too... except take a little time to enjoy more details along the way.

We have seen several Everest expeditions... and in fact just saw a 6-part Everest -Beyond the Limit series with Russell Bryce that was exceptional.  But Michael's Himalaya includes more than just his trek to Base Camp One.  You get a real feel for the magnitude of this highest in the world mountain range as you travel with Michael thru Pakistan, India, Nepal, China, Tibet, Bhutan, and Bangladesh.

How much Michael Palin can a person take?  When we finished this incredible circle trip around and thru the Sahara I made a few mental notes of incredible architectural masterpieces I would like to personally visit... and I would think one could get some pretty good prices on hotels right now with all the unrest in that area... not to mention the free live entertainment and strife in the streets.

Michael Palin is such a gentleman in the travelogues it is hard for me to recognize him in his early days with the Monty Python boys.  So we dusted off a VHS relic and watched "The Meaning of Life."  I can see why it was such a hit with Shelby!  It fulfills every teenage boy's fantasies.  How can one understand the meaning of life without sex education?  There is a lot in this movie that challenges what you believe about life... and death.  Why are we here anyway?

I love the creativity of this piece of work.  Truly a classic!

I think this quote sums it up very nicely:

"Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations."