Travel – Page 7 – Wandering Dawgs

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #157: Getting Away

July 22, 2021July 23, 2021Posted in Photography, TravelTagged Cedar Key, Disney World, Getting Away, Lens-Artists, Pandapas Pond, Photo Challenge19 Comments

Our guest hosts Bert and Rusha Sams of Oh The Places We See have challenged us with the theme: Getting Away.

Henry and I have always enjoyed getting away. When we were both working and raising our family, one of our favorite places to get away was to the Florida Keys. We started off camping in state parks there, first in a tent and later in a pop up trailer.

In 2006, we bought our fifth wheel trailer and took off for our first RV road trip with no set schedule and no reservations. For two months we wandered around the United States and two Canadian Provinces. We loved exploring the National Parks and National Monuments and all of the places in between.

After our first RV adventure we were hooked. We continued taking RV trips until the end of 2019. Our longest and most memorable trip was our four month journey to Alaska in 2013.

Majestic mountains and glacier in Alaska

This year we were able to get way to three completely different types of destinations for three short road trips . Oh, what a wonderful feeling to travel again!

In March we traveled to Cedar Key, Florida for a relaxing and fun weekend. Located on the Florida Gulf Coast in the area known as the Nature Coast, this small town was just what we needed for a short getaway.

In May we traveled to our daughter’s home in Virginia for Mother’s Day. It was wonderful to visit with family and on Mother’s Day we enjoyed a relaxing walk together around Pandapas Pond.

We returned to Florida in June for a week long getaway to Orlando. While we didn’t visit any theme parks we still enjoyed a little Disney Magic with two memorable meals at Disney resorts. We had fun being kids again at a dinner with Mickey Mouse and friends. Another day we had a fantastic lunch with a view of animals in the savanna of Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Many thanks to Bert and Rusha Sams for this challenge. Please be sure to visit their original post at Lens-Artists Challenge #157: Getting Away

A Magical Birthday Week

July 5, 2021January 22, 2024Posted in Celebration, Florida, Restaurants, Road Trip, TravelTagged birthday, Chef Mickeys, Disney World, Favorite Quotes, Kona Cafe, Orlando, Palatka, Sanaa, Walt Disney28 Comments

That’s the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up
Walt Disney

Henry and I both celebrated milestone birthdays this year. His was in May and mine was the last week of June. Sorry, you’ll have to guess our ages! What better way for two seniors to celebrate than to be kids again. We went to Disney World!

We took our time and stayed off the Interstates on the way to and from Orlando. We even broke up the trip on the way down with a night beside the St. John’s River in Palatka, Florida. Our room overlooked the Veteran’s Memorial Plaza and river walk beside the river. We enjoyed two fabulous waterside meals our first day. Lunch at Skippers in Darien, Georgia is always delicious. Corky Bells on the St. John’s River was crowded but we found two seats at the bar and enjoyed a great dinner.

The next day, our room was ready when we arrived at our resort in Orlando early in the afternoon. Our condo was about 15 minutes from any place we wanted to go at Disney World.

On most trips to Orlando we spend at least one day in one of the theme parks. This was not one of those trips. Our plans for the week were to relax, enjoy the amenities at the resort where we were staying, and get our Disney fix by dining at three Disney restaurants.

Our first Disney dining experience was at Kona Cafe at the Polynesian Village Resort. As we explored outside before lunch we had fun reminiscing about our stay there about 40 years ago. Lunch was fabulous!

We weren’t going to a theme park but we still wanted to experience some Disney magic. What better way to do that than to go to Chef Mickey’s Fun Time Character Dinner at the Contemporary Resort on the night before my birthday.

We arrived at the Contemporary Resort about an hour before our reservation. Sipping a cocktail while watching an afternoon thunderstorm over the lake was a nice start to the evening.

Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald Duck all made appearances. As each character walked through the restaurant they stopped in front of each table to wave and pose for pictures. Seeing the excitement in the kids eyes as each character came by was priceless. I don’t know who enjoyed it more – the little kids or us.

It was pouring down rain after dinner but before heading back to our condo we took a monorail ride around the lake.

The next day was my birthday. It would be hard to top dinner with Mickey Mouse but we did. Our lunch in Sanaa Restaurant in Kadani Village at the Animal Kingdom Lodge was amazing. The restaurant overlooks a savanna with giraffes, zebras, impalas, wildebeest, and other animals. Before and after our meal we watched the animals from an overlook outside. Our table was at a window with a great view of the animals as we ate. The meal was the best we had all week and the live entertainment outside the window was perfect.

When we weren’t out eating we enjoyed sitting on our screened in porch overlooking a pond or going to one of the pools. The pond attracted several Florida birds who came to the pond to fish. Great Blue Herons, a little blue heron, egrets, an osprey, and an ibis all made appearances.

We’ve been to Walt Disney World many times since the 1970’s. We learned on this trip that you can have fun without going to one of the theme parks. You are never too old to be a kid at heart!

I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.
Walt Disney

Forty Shades of Green

May 2, 2020Posted in TravelTagged Dingle Peninsula, Forty Shades of Green, green, Ireland, Johnny Cash, Ring of Kerry21 Comments

I close my eyes and picture the emerald of the sea
From the fishing boats at Dingle to the shores of Dunardee
I miss the river Shannon and the folks at Skibbereen
The moorlands and the midlands with their forty shades of green

~”Forty Shades of Green” by Johnny Cash

A year ago today was our first full day of a three week trip from the U. S. to Ireland and Scotland. One day as we toured the Ring of Kerry in Ireland, Dennis, our tour guide, played this Johnny Cash song for us.

I remembered the song this morning as I was thinking about our trip. Johnny Cash wrote it in 1959 while he was in Ireland.

We saw at least forty shades of green (and probably more) as we traveled around the beautiful Emerald Isle.

20190506-Dingle-Sony-(19) — Dingle Peninsula, Ireland

20190509-Day-9-Ring-of-Kerry-Sony-(167) — Wild Atlantic Way, Ring of Kerry, Ireland

20190509-Day-9-Ring-of-Kerry-Sony-(170) — Wild Atlantic Way, Ring of Kerry, Ireland

20190514-Day-14-Giants-Causeway-Sony-(58) — Dunluce Castle, Northern Ireland

20190507-Day-7-Dingle-Peninsula-drive-to-Killarney-IPhone-(17) — Lamb at the Fairy Fort on the Slea Head Drive, Dingle Peninsula

Here is Johnny Cash singing ‘Forty Shades of Green.’

I don’t know when we’ll be able to travel again but until then, I have my wonderful memories.

Lens-Artists #72: Waiting

November 19, 2019Posted in Photography, Sporting Events, Tourist Attractions, TravelTagged Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, Waiting19 Comments

This week, Amy has challenged us to explore waiting. It seems I spend a lot of my life waiting. Even when traveling or doing something fun we can’t get away from having to wait.

Whenever we attend a football game, waiting in line to go through security and have our ticket scanned is a normal thing. The photo above was taken after we got through the line and had entered the stadium for a Georgia/Florida football game in Jacksonville, Florida.

Theme parks such as Walt Disney World and Universal Studios have come up with great ways to keep the crowds entertained while they wait.

20090627Magic-Kingdom-(4) — At Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, we saw a show while waiting for the gates to open

20180624Universal-Studios-(24) — I wish all train stations were as much fun as the one at Universal Studios Orlando where we boarded the Hogwarts Express

When traveling, waiting to get in a major attraction is part of the experience.

20190522-Day-22-Edinburgh-Castle-Royal-Mile-Sony-(9) — Waiting to enter Edinburgh Castle, Scotland

There have been many times in our RV travels where we have waited in line to board a ferry or travel through a tunnel.

20130625Day-41Top-of-the-World-to-Chicken-(9) — Waiting in line to pull our RV onto the ferry to cross the Yukon River in Dawson City, Yukon

20130618Day-34Ferry-to-Haines-(27) — Waiting to pull our camper onto the Alaska Ferry in Skagway, Alaska

20070531At-Zion-(7) — Waiting our turn to go through the Zion Tunnel in Utah

Many thanks to Amy for this weeks Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Waiting

Throwback Thursday – August 1, 2013

August 1, 2019September 15, 2019Posted in Alaska, Glaciers, RVing, TravelTagged Fifth Wheel, Memories, Throwback Thursday, Valdez14 Comments

I originally started the Wandering Dawgs blog as a way to keep friends and family updated as we traveled from Georgia to Alaska in 2013. Six years later, the blog is still going strong. We’re not traveling as much in our RV anymore so I thought it would be fun to relive some of our most memorable days from previous RV trips.

On this day six years ago, August 1, 2013, we were nearing the end of our stay in Alaska. That day, we drove from Glacier View, Alaska, to Valdez, our last major Alaska destination. I remember that drive was one of the most spectacular drives of our Alaska journey.

There were mountains and glaciers along the way.

20130801Day-78Glacier-View-to-Valdez-(4) — On to drive to Valdez

We could see Worthington Glacier from the highway about 30 miles from Valdez

We had lunch with a view.

We had lunch at Willow Lake with a view of Mount Wrangell

As we got close to Valdez we descended a long steep grade through Keystone Canyon and saw jaw dropping scenery as we drove by. We couldn’t stop while towing the fifth wheel so I took these waterfall phtotos the next day when we drove back up the highway for a closer look.