It probably would surprise nobody that we could turn a four-day cycling trip into a month-long grand driving tour of the western US. 🙂 That’s exactly what we did, driving to and from a Bicycle Adventures cycling “Bend Breakaway” tour, and seeing lots of things along the way.
Last year on a driving trip to Dallas, we made a whirlwind visit of Big Bend National Park, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, and Carlsbad Caverns National Park…and knew we had to return. This May we did, spending a few days in each place so we could truly enjoy the natural beauty, not to mention the birds and wildlife. (And the food, and the beer, and…) Read about the landscapes, birds and other wildlife.
This driving trip of the southwest started out as a planned visit to Las Vegas NV for the Conservation Lands Foundation’s Friends Grassroots Network Rendezvous (big name for a gathering of conservation minded folks; we were there representing the Friends of the San Pedro River). It soon turned into a chance to see more national parks and monuments in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah – not to mention visiting cousins Bob and Pam Deichmeister in Prescott, AZ.
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, view from the Visitors’ Center
In September 2016 we embarked on a week-long driving tour of northern Arizona and southern Utah, joined by our friends Mark & Joanne Guralnick from Brooklyn, NY. While Liza and Joanne worked out all the accommodations, Robert was the daily trip planner (with the help of Arizona Highways and Highroads magazines), with a focus on national parks and monuments. There were some obvious goals – the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Petrified Forest & Painted Desert. But I have to say, we went to other national monuments that I’d never even heard of! What a great variety of parks, monuments, memorials, etc. we support!
In August, Liza needed to be in Dallas to see family, so we took the opportunity to visit, at long last, Big Bend National Park in Texas. It’s not exactly a quick stop off the interstate, you have to want to go there, but it is certainly worth the effort. It was a bit silly to have only one full day there, but this was more or less a scouting trip, and we’re definitely going back!
Liza had Mount Rushmore on her bucket list for a long time, so when friends Mark and Joanne Guralnick asked if we wanted to join them on a Bicycle Adventures tour in South Dakota, we said sure! And the main thing to tell everyone…if you haven’t been there, what are you waiting for?
Liza was happy to spend a weekend in Virginia for the wedding of Nick Deichmeister and Linh Hoang. (Nick is the youngest son of her cousin Bob Deichmeister and his wife Pam Ginsbach.) A lovely dinner was held Saturday evening at the Cranford House (home to the American News Women’s Club) with the ceremony on Sunday at Historic Blenheim, site of a 1859 brick farm house and a Civil War Interpretive Center. It was a lovely day and luckily for all it didn’t rain until a couple hours after everyone was safely back at the hotel!
We have wanted to visit Cleveland for awhile, ever since we heard they had the largest Slovenian population outside of Slovenia. In mid-May we had our chance, and were very happy to visit for the graduation of Richard Wanerman from Case Western Reserve University School of Law. (Richard’s father Rob and Robert are second cousins; their grandfathers Julius Farber and Mark [Farber] Markoff (he changed his name) were brothers.)
With Tom, Robert, and Diane Mosher…but where’s the bride? 🙂
After not having been to a wedding for literally years, we went to
our second wedding in a few months – this one in Salem, OR, with the happy couple being Robert Mosher (son of our long-time friends Tom and Diane Mosher) and Kaila Studebaker. We went up a few days in advance to do the sightseeing in Portland that we’ve never managed to get around to.
In April Liza had a work trip to Aberdeen MD, so took the opportunity at week’s end to dash up to NY to see friends Mark and Joanne Guralnick in Brooklyn. Robert joined Liza in Baltimore and together we took the train up to NY Penn Station. Continue reading “NYC Weekend – Apr 2014”→