We cycled along the Elbe, toured Berlin, and traversed Norway on the Bergen Railway. What next? A couple of days in Iceland, taking advantage of IcelandAir’s stopover deal. Just enough time to figure out whether we should go back and see more – and the answer is an emphatic yes.
Continue reading Iceland: Reykjavik and the South Coast – June 2018
After a wonderful cycling tour along the Elbe from Dresden to Magdeburg, and visiting Berlin, the four of us (Liza, Robert, and Tom and Diane) flew from Berlin-Schoenefeld to Oslo for a week in Norway. We spent a whirlwind day and a half in Oslo before embarking on one of the great railroad journeys of the world, the Bergen Railway. This is the second of three posts.
Continue reading Norway: Oslo and the Bergen Railway – June 2018
In May we set off for Germany to cycle the Elbe Radweg, to visit the great cities of Dresden and Berlin, and to visit some Weissler family history sites. While planning the trip, Robert said, “you want to go to Norway, right?” 🙂 Yes! the Bergen Railway from Oslo to Bergen is something he did back in 1976, but was definitely on my own bucket list (routinely ranked as one of the “great railroad journeys of the world”). And finally, we were able to fly with IcelandAir and get the “free” layover on Reykjavik. So off we went! This is the first of three posts.
Continue reading Germany: Cycling the Elbe; Dresden and Berlin – May 2018
In January we were fortunate to have a week down in Nayarit, west Mexico, visiting friends Jerry and Linda who had rented a house in Rincon de Guayabitos (about 40 miles north of Puerto Vallarta). (We’d say we were escaping a harsh winter for warmer weather, but truthfully winter in southeast Arizona this year has been remarkably mild.) Continue reading West Mexico (Nayarit) – Jan 2018
In November we returned to Argentina for birding (not to mention a little wine-tasting), this time to the northwest to the provinces of Salta and Jujuy, followed by a quick trip into Uruguay. Robert will be writing a detailed birding account; following is a general summary of the trip.
Ho ho ho and holiday (Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, Kwanzaa…) greetings to friends and family, near and far. It’s been another good year for us, we’ve both settled into the retirement thing pretty well, with much travel, biking, birding, and (for Liza) baking/cooking.
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. Continue reading Cycling, Birds, Eclipse, and More! – Aug/Sep 2017
“Spain…didn’t you go there last year?” Well, yes, but it’s a big country and there’s much more to see (and we’re not done, either!). This trip included a week of cycling the Camino de Santiago from Burgos to Santiago de Compostela, bracketed by birding in the Sierra de Gredos west of Madrid plus a little bit in Extremadura, and the Picos de Europa up north in Asturias and Cantabria.
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.
Chile is an enchanting country with a unique long and narrow shape and a sea-to-sky topographic profile that gives it a great variety of climates and landscapes. From the deserts of the north, the vertiginous Andes and its glaciers to the east, the vast Pacific Ocean to the west, and the unforgiving Drake Passage and Antarctic to the south, Chile is isolated from the rest of South America. When it comes to bird species, Chile may not have the diversity of the neotropics to the north, but instead it offers endemism with an array of unusual birds. From large tapaculos to a backyard cotinga, Chile offers an offbeat birding experience. The highlights of this particular trip included a four albatross day at sea and a four tapaculo day in the Andes! Read more below or visit the photo galleries.