Invisible Kangaroo Update

I realize I've been rather lax in providing updates on Ike's travels. Back in September Ike took his first flight across the pond to meet my family. While there he had many typical American experiences.

Ike's 1st Road Trip (don't worry I wasn't driving)

Ike's 1st Football Game

And what football game isn't complete without a tailgate party.

Walk Like an Egyptian

Yesterday I got back from a mini-holiday to Giza and Cairo, I spent 3 days touring the sites. Now I don't normally do tours but when I started researching Egypt everything seemed to point to the need to have a guide so I found a tour that seemed to be offering what I was looking for in terms of lots of free time and flexibility and the dates fit with my schedule. I left Thursday morning and arrived in Cairo around 4 in the afternoon (2 hour time difference between London and Cairo). Traffic in Cairo is horrible and reminded me of Jakarta, it can take up to an hour to travel only a couple of miles. I would not recommend trying to drive in Cairo there are no lane markings on the road to indicate lanes there are no street lights or traffic signs from what I could see it mostly seemed like a free for all. Add to that the pedestrians walking in the street even though the sidewalks exist many people seem to just walk on the road, you even see pedestrians standing and walking on 4 lane highways. There are no crosswalks or pedestrian crossing so pedestrians frequently jump in front of cars crossing the road. Oh yeah and there's also people in donkey-drawn vehicles. Given there is no real demarcation of where a lane ends and begins the curbs on the sidewalk are high (probably about 2 feet) I can only guess the height is so cars don't drive on the sidewalks. This came as a bit of a surprise to me when I was walking to dinner on my first night and stepped off the curb without looking and fell quite a distance, luckily I only stumbled and didn't fall flat on my face.

On the bus from the airport all of the women on the trip were given a single red rose by the tour guide. As I expected most of the people on the trip were couples there was only 1 other person that was travelling alone, Richard or Chris or Wellington depending on who was asking (I called him Richard). Luckily we got along well and "adopted" one another for the duration of the trip. It was nice to have a companion to have dinner and drinks with and also to go off exploring. The one thing that did surprise me with the group was that I was the youngest person by a couple of decades (this was also pointed out to me by others on the trip) it wasn't a problem as I had many interesting conversations with the others on the trip.

Friday morning we were off to the Egyptian Museum for the morning. There is unfortunately no photography allowed inside the museum - that is of course unless you find a security guard wanting to earn a "basheesh." Basheesh is a tip and is a way of life in Egypt, everybody wants one from the people in the toilets that hand you paper towels and toilet paper to the people at the pyramids that "offer" to take your picture. After an hour with the tour guide getting an in-depth history lesson on the artifacts in the museum I decided to go off on my own so I could see more of the museum. The information being given was good but it was too much sometimes the guide would speak for 10 minutes about a single sculpture, I usually tuned out after 3 or 4 minutes. It was while Richard and I were exploring on our own that we came across a film crew from Japan that was shooting footage in the museum for a documentary. We stopped to check out the filming and ask a couple of questions, it was at this point that the security guard with them came over and told us we could take some photos - now all cameras had to be left either on the bus or with security so the only thing we had were our mobiles but I was not going to let this opportunity pass me by. He took us around to two sculptures and allowed us to take pictures when other people tried to do the same he said they couldn't we were working with the museum and were allowed to take photos. The one thing that amazed me about the museum were the sculptures that were from 2000 BC and earlier that were still in amazing condition, of course not all were there were some that had many pieces missing but the majority were fully in tact. In the sculptures of the men and women the woman always has her arm around the man, this signifies that the man is the center and the woman is supporting him. By far my favorite part of the museum was the animal mummies. Not only were the kings and queens mummified but animals would be mummified as well. Some of the animals were provided as food so the king and queen wouldn't starve others were sacred fish or pets. Some other little tidbits I learned at the museum:

• The beard attached to statues and masks indicates that deceased, these statues also have their arms crossed.
  
• The mask is attached to the mummy so that the King can be recognized, as the face of the mummy is bandaged there is now way to recognize him without the mask.


• The face painted on the sarcophagus is usually identical to the mask on the mummy.

After the museum there was an optional tour to the Citadel and the Khan-el-Khalil market but I decided I would rather do those on my own on Sunday so I just had lunch and headed back to the hotel. We took a taxi back from lunch and knew that we would have to agree on a price prior to getting in the cab and we were told that it shouldn't be more than 20 or 20 LE (Egyptian Pounds). The driver first wanted 50 and this is where the negotiating started, he refused to budge and eventually as we started to walk away and another couple headed to the second taxi in the queue he started getting rather animated and upset saying he was there first so he gets the first fare. He told us he would take us and we confirmed the fare would be 30 he said yes yes. I have to admit I was slightly surprised when the taxi driver started smoking in the cab, I haven't seen a cab where smoking is allowed in many years. When we arrived and paid him the 30 LE he said no it's 40 - this is rather typical we held our ground said no we agreed on 30 and just walked away, he took the money and left. The process of negotiations are definitely an art form in Egypt.

That evening I went up to the rooftop terrace of the hotel to have a drink and watch the sunset. The only problem with the view from the rooftop is the radio tower smack dab in the middle of the second pyramid. Here by far is my favorite picture taken of me while in Egypt.

That evening I signed up for a dinner cruise on the Nile complete with entertainment. I realized when we were seated that we weren't given menus but other diners were we had only been given an option of 3 dinner entrees. Of course I wanted to see what I was missing and how much more we were charged by going through the tour so I asked to see the menu. The entrees we were offered were all £30 each which was the cost of most of the entrees only 2 were higher. As I had paid £45 which included transportation to and from the hotel I didn't feel I was ripped off which was good. The best part of the entertainment was the whirling dervish - I had never seen one before and watching this man spin around and around was impressive. I've got video which I'll upload later this week.

Saturday was the day I had been waiting for THE PYRAMIDS!!! You might think that the pyramids are out in the desert and far from the city but they aren't you can actually see them from the city and there are major roads and businesses all around them. Even though I could see them from my hotel and as we were driving around I was still eager to get up close and personal with them. The tour did not include entrance into the pyramids so I spent an additional 30LE to go inside the second pyramid, how can you not go inside. The trip into the pyramid is rather interesting you go 15M down a slope hunched over as the opening to the tomb is maybe 4 ft high. There is then a little chamber where you can stand up straight before heading up a 15M passage to the burial chamber. Unfortunately no photography is allowed inside the tomb so you'll just have to imagine it. As you start the upward climb it starts getting warm and musty at the top you are in the burial chamber at one end on a tiny altar is the crypt that you can look inside - bear in mind the room is completely empty as everything in it has been removed and is now either in various museums or possibly in personal collections around the world. The room isn't that large maybe about 10 ft X 20 ft and I just looked around and tried to imagine the room packed with the various belongings of the king.

The number of people at the pyramids that ask for Basheesh is ridiculously high you have to be very prepared for the people who will offer camel rides or to take their picture or come up and offer you something "for free" only to come back and ask for money. I managed to ignore everybody trying to sell something but ran into debates when taking pictures of Ike. When taking the photo on the right a man dressed as a security guard stood behind me watching me take the photo and after I was done followed me asking for basheesh I said no and walked away. (In case you're wondering why the photo is in B&W it's because Ike wanted an artsy photo of him. More photos of Ike's adventures in Cairo will be provided in a later post).

The reason I say he was dressed as a guard is I quickly realized that there were some people there wearing guards uniforms that weren't actually guards it's actually a pretty good scam if an official looking person offers to guide you to a good place to take a photo or to take your picture you'll be more likely to oblige than not. In addition to scaling the pyramid Ike also wanted a camel ride I went up to one of the men offering camel rides and asked if I could take a picture of Ike on the camel for 5 LE he said OK and we went off arranging him in various poses and I took some pictures he then said that he would take a picture of me and Richard we kept saying no but he did it anyways. Afterwards I gave him the 5 LE and he started asking for more he said that was for the bear but he took pictures of us too and we needed to pay for that. Saying no we didn't ask for that and walking away seemed to do the trick.

It really is impressive just looking at the pyramids and the construction and manpower involved in creating these.

Walking around outside the pyramids I could avoid many of the crowds however this wasn't the case at the Sphinx. The masses of people jostling around to get their picture taken in front of the sphinx and jumping on anything in site is a tiny bit overwhelming. It's a much more enclosed area so while there may not be more people there than at the pyramids they are in a smaller space so it looks like more.

The afternoon was a trip further out of town to Memphis and Saqqara. Memphis is the site of a small museum with a giant statue of Ramses II and was originally the capital of Egypt. Personally I didn't think the trip to Memphis was all that impressive but Saqqara was. Saqqara is the site of the Step Pyramid of Zoser one of the oldest pyramids in Egypt. Comparing the construction of this with the "modern" Giza pyramids you can see how the thinking and construction evolved. In the distance you can see the bent pyramid and the red pyramid. The angle of construction of the bent pyramid had to be changed midway through construction which gives the bent perspective this knowledge resulted in coming up with the correct angle necessary to create the Giza pyramids.

Sunday was a free day and I opted to explore the Citadel and markets on my own. The military museum at the Citadel is unique. There are many wars, and battles that aren't discussed it would appear that only the wars that are favorable to Egypt are discussed if the end result was not favorable it is not mentioned in the museum. The views from the Citadel over the city were amazing. Everything is pretty much the same sand-stone color, there is very little in the way of colors on the buildings, my guess is that the paint would quickly look dingy with all the sand flying around. Satellite dishes are everywhere, looks like cable television didn't make it's way to Egypt. Many of the buildings look like they are unfinished, I found out that this is because if the building is under construction then there are tax breaks available.

Leaving the Citadel I headed to the market. Knowing that a bomb went off there a week ago I wasn't sure what to expect. All entrances to the market area are guarded by police every non-westerner is stopped and asked for ID and their bags are searched. We were able to walk in without being stopped. Once you get in the market the hawkers are all out in full force offering "just what you're looking for" - most of the shops are selling similar items jewelery, pipes, silk, purses and for similar prices I imagine the person that yells the loudest gets the business. Outside of the markets it seems like the majority of the shops are Papyrus and Perfume shops.
Anyways I wasn't looking to buy anything just photographing. It wasn't until we were on the way out that I stumbled across a nifty little trick to get people to stop bothering or following you. As soon as somebody came up to me I picked up my camera to take their picture they immediately said "no photo" and walked away. I tried it out on a couple of other people and got the same reaction. It was funny to see the reactions of course there were some people that let me take their picture and really got into it. Sometimes the people in the next shop would also ask for their picture to be taken. Through this I managed to get some great photos of the people in the souk. I'll have to remember this the next time I'm at a souk.

Sunday night was a sunset dinner cruise on a Felucca. It was a nice way to end the holiday. The only thing I was slightly disappointed in was the food. Of all the meals that were provided as part of the group excursions the meals were all identical - grilled chicken and lamb kofka. It would have been nice to have had some other options as well. I'll be posting more photos to my photography site over the weekend.

Week 10: Ike's in Love

This week work took me to Philadelphia and Minneapolis. Ike came along for the ride and I think the pictures say it all. Ike's in Love!



Camera: Canon 7D
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Week 3 - The Return of Ike

Breakfast time
Originally uploaded by expatdawn

Last year I was bad and didn't take Ike out any of my outings and adventures. This year as part of the 52 week project I plan to take him out more often. Expect to see him in more photos as the year progresses.

For those of you not familiar with Ike you can learn all about where he came from and the adventures he's been on.

This picture was taken at Red Door in Fremont prior to the monthly photo stroll with the Seattle Flickrites. All photos from the stroll can be found here.

Camera: Canon 7D
Location: Seattle, WA

Invisible Kangaroo on the A380

Last night was the flight I was looking forward to - the business class seats on the A380. The boarding of the flight occurs from 2 different gates, 1 gate for the lower level seats and 1 gate for the upper level seats. This I am sure greatly expedites the boarding process. Everything for boarding went smoothly we pushed back from the gate, started to taxi and then stopped. The pilot came on to say that something wasn't right so we needed to go back to the gate. They thought it would only take 30 minutes but 3.5 hours later they announce that the plane is getting powered down and powered back up as everything they have tried so far isn't working. Luckily that did the trick and we were able to take off. If this hadn't worked we weren't going to be able to leave as the crew was approaching their time limit.

Thankfully Ike and I were in business class where the seats are twice as wide and much more comfortable.

Ike wasn't sure whether he wanted to share the seat with me or sit on the footrest.
Once the video programming started Ike decided since the screen was much larger than usual he would sit in the seat with me.
By the time the flight took off it was about 2 AM, all I wanted to do was sleep but I forced myself to eat, I was paying for business class I was going to enjoy all the perks of it. The dinner menu was:

• Gooseliver terrine and duck rillette with fig and mixed salad
• Braised chicken in mustard vinegar sauce with green beans and celeriac-potato puree
• Gourmet Cheeses
• Vanilla creme brulee

Yummy!

The only good thing about the flight being delayed 4 hours is that I ended up arriving at SIN (yes that's the official airport abbreviation for Singapore) at the same time as my friend Michelle so we were able to share a taxi to the hotel. After a quick drink on the patio of the hotel bar I managed to sleep - hopefully jetlag won't set in again, once in a week is enough for me.

Back to the Grindstone

I have returned to a plugged in society again and will now endeavour to update you on my photographic training holiday earlier this month.

Sunday October 12 8:50 PM EST (My body thinks it's Monday morning).


This is a first for me I'm writing the blog post by hand to be transcribed when I return. For the 1st time in ages I am away and completely unplugged - no laptop, no blackberry, no nothing. OK to be completely honest I do have my blackberry but I get no data connection. The reason I have opted to write by hand is I am afraid I won't be able to remember everything when I am back in front of a computer.


The day started with a taxi pick up at 6 AM for a 9:45 flight. If this was me travelling alone it would have been 7 or 7:15 however since this was a group package we were told to be there three hours before the flight left. This left a lot of time to kill at the airport. As I'm not big into terminal duty-free shopping I decided to just walk from 1 end of the terminal to the other. I figured 9.5 hours on a plane I should do something to get the blood flowing.

The flight was just the way I like them - uneventful. I cleared immigration without a problem. I was asked a couple of questions in Spanish which I was able to understand & answer (those Spanish lessons I took earlier in the year seem to have paid off). Speaking to my travel companions they weren't asked questions. It must have been the silly American passport. Once immigration is cleared there is a security check just like you go through when boarding - all bags are scanned and you walk through a metal detector.

The next hurdle is collecting checked luggage. There were 2 baggage belts next to each other & it just so happened that bags from our flight were appearing on both! Luckily my bag appeared on the belt I was standing near.


On the drive to the hotel we passed a wide range of vehicles on the road. Motorcycles with side cars, 1950s autos, coaches and modern SUVs. What I find more intriguing are the license plates. I've seen 4 different colors so far. Not sure if this is significant or not - I'll find out. Here's a sampling of the different types of transportation I saw:

It has been quite entertaining to hear the Brits I am travelling with warn people not to expect to much from the food. Yes that's the right the British that are known for their gastronomical fare are critiquing others. The dinner at the resort tonight was roughly what I expected, lots of rice, chicken & pork, not a lot of fresh vegetables the hurricane has impacted a lot of the local produce.

One interesting thing about the resort is that you have to pay 2 pesos a day for use of the in-room safe. In all my travels I've never encountered this. The safe has a card reader which is programmed and accessed with the room key.

Signing off Sun 9:15 PM (These take much longer to write by hand than by keyboard.

Monday October 13 8:10 PM EST

I only have a few minutes before I have to meet the group for dinner so this will be short - more tomorrow. Of course since this is all being written off-line you have no concept of tomorrow this will flow seamlessly to the next entry.

Obligatory bathroom post:

The toilet in the hotel lobby has 3 stalls but only 1 toilet paper dispenser. The dispenser is located outside the stalls so it is very possible that if you're not paying attention you'll end up in a stall and not have any TP. Many public restrooms actually have somebody sitting outside handing you TP - of course you're expected to tip them. Many of the stalls don't even have locks.

Today we spent the afternoon wandering around Old Havana - the town is pretty much what I expected lots of old buildings, lots of people trying to get money from tourists either offering tours or posing for pictures. There are a couple of famous people that hang out in the same place every day to pose for photos - cost 1 peso. I imagine they make 100s a day.

Police are very visible on the streets nearly every couple of blocks. Our Cuban guide kept getting stopped and had to show papers. The police are very concerned with locals fraternizing with tourists.

After wandering around for 2 hours a drink was in order. We stopped at The Floridita famous for Daiquiris and being a bar Hemingway used to frequent.

It's now 8:25 need to run - dinner at a Paladar tonight.

Tuesday October 14 8:25 AM
A good night's reset and I'm ready to go again. Right now I am sitting outside listening to the waves crash and eating breakfast - rough life I know.

Last night wasn't at all what I expected. To start out we were told the paladar was a 10 minute walk from the hotel - 25 minutes later we actually arrived. Luckily I was in the front of the group those in the back got lost, we weren't give the name or address of the place we were just blindly following the leader, luckily everybody showed up.

We were told that paladars are located in family homes and are not restaurants that are run by the government. Most of us were expecting to be in a house however the paladar looked an felt just like a restaurant - 2 fully stocked bars, lots of tables and a professional kitchen.

The food however was very tasty, I had rabbit but for the price I paid I was a little disappointed in the whole experience, it really seemed like just another giant tourist trap.

Of course milking tourists is the way everybody makes money here. Everyone no matter what profession makes the same amount of money each month. In order to survive side endeavours are taken - some legal some not - and it is all strictly cash, even the restaurant in the hotel wouldn't take credit cards

The photography workshops start today hopefully I'll learn some stuff.

Wednesday October 15 5:40 PM


Dinner at last night's paladar was much more along the lines of what I was expecting - a small room with only 4 tables and tasty food. This was a nice day to what was a mediocre day.

We were broken into 2 groups - beginners and advanced. The advanced group had 10 people while the beginner group had 5. With a group of 10 people all trying to photograph the same thing you don't get much instruction or time. We had a model and were shooting on location - as this we my first time photographing a model I was a little unsure about what to do. Overall I don't think my shots came out that bad although it's not really my cup of tree. I am much happier with the subjects I am more comfortable with like trees.
After the photo shoot we were off to the marina - yachts, boutiques, views of the city it sounded great. Unfortunately this isn't where we ended up. It was pretty apparent that we were dropped off in the wrong spot but we had no idea since no organizers were around so we just stayed there and figured we would leave when the taxi returned in 3 hours. About an hour later the organizers appeared and we were told we were in the wrong place - there was another marina they were thinking of however it has recently started charging $25 for entry so we were sent here instead. I felt this was a complete waste of an afternoon I would have much rather have gone back into town.

After this a group of us decided to go off on our own into town in the morning. Since we were getting up early, I decided to pass on the nightclub after dinner.

This morning we drove around some non-tourist areas, unfortunately we didn't stop and take photos. It felt we would be a bit intrusive and some people in the group didn't quite feel comfortable. I did ask to stop near the capital - it was fascinating, all sorts of local shops loads of people walking around. I easily could have spent all day here, however we only spent about 10 minutes before we headed back into the town centre. As there was so much to photograph I rolled down my window and started shooting from the car. I was rather surprised that some of the shots came out ok.

We wandered down to the markets and Ike was itching to get out. He has a thing for markets as he was raised in Spitalfields market. So here it is Invisible Kangaroo in Havana:

The owner of the stall then tried to convince me that Ike should stay in Havana he'd be happier there. I thoroughly disagreed and Ike remains with me. I was actually a little surprised that he didn't charge me for taking the photo. So far I haven't paid for a single photo I've taken (not counting the coast of the trip).

This woman didn't take too kindly to being jilted after her photograph was taken. She grabbed her badge (I can only assume it was a license or some other official document stating she was licensed to operated in the square) and ran after the tourist. I didn't catch if the fee was paid or not.

I've been writing for 30 minutes non-stop and my hands about to fall off so I'll sign off for now. Tomorrow we have a 2 hour bus ride to Varadaro should be able to write more then.

Thursday October 16 - sometime past my bedtime (actually 11:15 PM)

Let's see where did I leave off or more precisely where should I begin ...

Last night was the last night in Havana. We went into town to a Flamenco restaurant just a little past the cathedral square where I have spent most of my time. IT seemed quite different than the rest of the city cobblestone streets, lots of restaurants and shops a very quaint little section of town - at least at night it was. Looking back I wish I had spent the whole day in Havana yesterday instead of going back to do the glamour photography sessions that were part of the course. The main reason I returned was I felt I had paid for the training and should be taking advantage of it. From my perspective I didn't learn a whole lot & mostly just felt uncomfortable. It seems like the photographic world users the word glamour to describe topless somewhat erotic photography.

This was a bit much for me to jump into and not something I am all that interested in oh well this is a learning experience all around. I've learned that for the rest of the holiday I will be skipping a number of the training sessions and just relax. As I'll be kicking back in hindsight I wished I harder to do things I wanted in town instead of following a set program. This doesn't mean I won't do another photo training holiday I've spoken to people in the group that have done other programs and speak very highly of them.

I know I said I would wrte on the bus to Varadero but I lied I spent the time chatting to others and looking at the sceneriy - go figure. The transfer was great we got to make a pit stop in a small town called Matanzas. This city is nothing like Havana - not many tourists, nobody harassing you for money and a much slower pace to the town. While walking around I did manage to ask the guide about the colours of the license plates, here's what I found out:

Blue - Government vehicle
Orange - Personal
White - Ministry
Burgundy - Tourist

There is a 5th colour that I haven't seen and don't remember what he said but that is for foreign diplomats

After the brief stop in Matanzas we headed to our luxury 5star all inclusive resort. The original plan for Varadero was that this is where all the tourists would stay. As I stated previously the government really doesn't like the locals mixing with tourists so they didn't want tourists staying in Havana. To keep locals out of Varadero there is a charge to enter the town.

At the resort you are given a bracelet to wear throughout your stay to identify you as a guest. Not sure why it matters as the place seems fairly empty, many of the bars and restaurants are closed or under construction.

I am quite looking forward to the workshop tomorrow - travel photography. I am hoping to learn some new tips and tricks. Signing off 1150 PM (Phew it's not tomorrow yet).

Sunday October 19 9:00 AM

Bored out of my mind at the airport. My flight leaves at 11:20 but for some unknown reason the holiday rep booked my taxi for 5:50. Varadero is 2 hours from the airport so I was anticipating a 6:30 or 7:00 AM pick up which would put me at the airport by 9 still plenty of time to check-in and pay my departure tax. That's right you need to pay to leave the country - the final way to milk the tourist.

As I am at the airport that means my holiday is sadly coming to a close. I spent most of the last 2 days just resting. I did manage to fire off a couple of shots on the beach for our travel brochure assignment. Do these photos make you want to come here?




There was supposed to be a group critique and slide show tonight however times got reshuffled and it was unfortunately dropped. I did manage to get a critique from both of the instructors. What was interesting was there perspective - one looked at things from a purely commercial perspective. I found that over the course that was the main focus of most people - how to make money from your photography. I seemed to be in the minority in that I wasn't looking on how to turn photography into a profession.

But I digress back to the critique. One of the things that kept being stressed during the workshops was about changing the angle of the shot or perspective, not to shoot straight on, tilt the camera, etc. In some of my shots where I did this one of the instructors commented that it needed to be straightened along the horizon (kind of defeats the purpose of shooting from a different angle). The other instructor liked the angle. It just goes to show that it pays to get multiple opinions as everybody is looking for different things.
The best compliment I received from the critique was that I have a very creative eye. My photographs pick up things that many people may miss. I was told it's easy to teach the technique but you can't teach creativity. My macro work also received very high praises.

Overall I am happy with the trip although the courses weren't for me . If I do another one I will likely look for one that focuses less on the commercial aspect of studio/staged shots and more on technique or travel.

It's not 9:40 only 1 more hour to kill before the flight starts boarding and I can sit down in my comfy airplane seat( I upgraded!)

Sunday continued 11:50
Am now en-route to Jamaica and I saw the strangest thing on the plane. Two passengers were allowed to take pictures of the cockpit. They just strolled right in without a care in the world and the pilots let them take a photo.
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This concludes my holiday wrap-up. I'll get the 100 or so photos that turned out well onto my photography site tonight or tomorrow we'll see if the jet lag gets the better of me

Invisibile Kangaroo on a Plane

Apologies for the delay in getting this photo posted. Ike had his first ever plane trip last week when I went to Norway. I was very lucky that the flight was empty and Ike was able to get his own seat (more importantly I didn't get strange looks while taking this photo).

Phone Lines are Now Closed

The name the bear competition is officially closed and I am pleased to announce we have a winner. Introducing... Ike (short for Invisible Kangaroo). Ike is heading on his first plane ride this evening- we're off to Norway for the day.

Cornish Coast

The past 2 years I've taken full advantage of the long Easter holiday with getaways to the Virgin Islands and Florida. This year was no different but instead of jetting off to an exotic location I decided to explore England and went away with some friends to Cornwall. We couldn't have better weather - beautiful blue skies and warm weather the entire weekend. We rented a cottage in St Tudy which is in the Moorlands section of Cornwall. The town
was charming and the people were all incredibly friendly. Everybody stopped to talk while I was out taking pictures asking where I was from and where I was staying, since it's a small town everybody knew I wasn't a local.


It is rumoured that this area is where King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table was based in this area. The river Camel runs through this region hence Camelot. On Friday we headed to Tintagel to see the ruins of the castle, breathtaking views of the ocean from the cliffs.

The other interesting fact about Tintagel is the hotel opposite the castle is the setting of the movie Dracula. After a few hours at the castle we headed out to the small fishing village of Port Isaac. While there we picked up some fresh mussels for dinner.





On Saturday we headed off to the Bodmin and Wenford Steam Railway for a ride on an old fashioned steam train. 70 minutes through the English countryside very relaxing. As we were leaving we got to see them refilling the engines.

Easter Sunday we went to the Eden Project. Biomes filled with Rainforest and Mediterranean flora. 5 huge domes to wander through with trees, waterfalls, flowers, and of course bees. Another little tidbit of movie trivia from Cornwall - parts of Die Another Day were filmed at the Eden Project.

To top off the weekend prior to returning to London we had lunch at Rick Stein's The Seafood Restaurant in Padstow.

Oh and in case you were wondering Ike came along too and had an wonderful time, riding his first Harley and meeting a wizard

Invisible Kangaroo at the Pyramids

Ike had many adventures in Egypt and wanted to write his own blog post.

I watched the sunset from the roof deck of the hotel and had my picture taken in front of the pyramid.

Did you know I have special powers and keep leap tall pyramids in a single bound?

I tried to climb the Great Pyramid but it was too tall.

I wanted to go for a camel ride but it was scary being up that high.


This is much better.

Playing Hide N Seek.

I pretended to be a Sphinx.

This is me and the captain of the Felucca.

He was nice and let me sail the boat for a little while.

From Seatown to Mile High

On July 3rd we packed up the car and hit the road, on the agenda was stops in Yakima, Boise, Salt Lake City and finally Denver.  There was a lot of ground to cover on the way to our new home and we wanted to enjoy the trip down.   We tried to break the trip down into smaller chunks of driving so we could take some detours along the way, some stops were planned and some stops were unplanned.

We stopped for scenery:

We stopped for history:

Much of our route followed the Oregon Trail.  We stopped a couple of times along the way. 

Fort Bridger - site of the first schoolhouse in Wyoming as well as a fur trading outpost.

Visiting the Golden Spike - where the first transcontinental railway was completed.  Unfortunately the golden spike is no longer at the site, it is in California.   

We stopped for random stuff on the side of the road

Farm equipment museum on the roadside

We didn't expect to see rockets in Utah

 We stopped for food & beverages

Finally we arrived in Colorado after 1500 miles and 5000+ feet in elevation gain.

I prefer the sign on the right than the one on the main highway below.

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Ike enjoying his first sunset over the Rockies.