Travels

There are 246 posts filed in Travels (this is page 13 of 25).

Rancho Relaxo

We started our vacation this morning, taking the family to Emerald Isle, NC for three days of beach. We hadn’t planned ahead for a longer trip, nor did I have the vacation time saved up to take a longer vacation. It’s a shame, really, because though I rarely take it I really like knowing it’s there. But I digress.

We arrived at my friend Shane’s beachhouse, Rancho Relaxo, around noon, under overcast skies and with a gentle breeze blowing. After stopping off at the Lowe’s Foods to pick up some groceries (and stopping at Quizno’s to get some lunch) we showed up at the beautiful Rancho.
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Smiling in passport photos

Don't dare smile

I just had two sets of passport photos taken, one at work and one at the local Costco. Both photographers told me not to smile in my photographs: that they could get rejected by the State Department’s passport processing if I were smiling. I thought that was ridiculous but to hear it from two photographers made me wonder.

Checking the Internets, I see there are differing opinions on whether this is a legitimate requirement. A few web forums say smiling is (and is not) allowed. The U.S. Consular Services in Canada office (where one would expect to find the official word) says you may smile if you wish.this is because smiling breaks the facial recognition software. Now, I would think any facial recognition software that can be defeated by the bad guy smiling isn’t worth much. I chalk it up to more security theater.

Interestingly, the Costo guy asked if my photograph was for a U.S. passport or a Canadian one. Apparently you can still smile in your Canadian passport photographs. No wonder Canadian travelers get better welcomes than Americans.

Back from Virginia

We arrived home from Virginia yesterday afternoon after spending some fun time with Kelly’s parents. Kelly took the kids up in the middle of last week, with me joining them Saturday morning. I took the train up to Fredericksburg, where Kelly met me for some food and sightseeing in town before we headed west to Warrenton. The Oskar Blues Gordon beer at the Capital Ale House was quite tasty!

Sunday, we participated in the Leesburg Independence Day parade, with the kids on bikes and dog in tow. Rocket’s tender paws didn’t enjoy the blazing asphalt we encountered on that hot day but the rest of us had fun.

Monday was spent underground at Luray Caverns in Luray, Virginia. It was quite a respite from the heat wave, where temperatures have been in the mid-to-upper 90s.

Good to be home now, though I’m already looking forward to the next holiday!

Amtrak’s perplexing fares

I’m taking the train up to Virginia over the Fourth of July weekend to meet Kelly and the kids. Booking my travel on Amtrak provided an interesting choice in fares.

I’ve got two choices for travel: one leaves Raleigh at 10:56 AM and arrives at Fredericksburg at 3:39 PM. The other choice leaves Raleigh at 8:54 AM and arrives at Fredericksburg at 3:39 PM, but provides a convenient extra two hours to wander around the Richmond train station. So with an extra four hours of travel time you’d think they’d offer a cheaper fare, right? So what does Amtrak charge? An extra fifteen bucks!

I’m still not sure what makes doubling the travel time worth extra money. Bizarre. Maybe this is just a sign of how far rail travel in America has yet to go.

Bonus link: Check out RailServe for promotional codes and good tips about traveling by train.

Return to Carowinds, part 2

Hallie and I met up with Kelly and Travis after Hallie and I got off Thunder Road. We then headed back to our car to eat lunch. We thought we might go from there to the water side of the park (Boomerang Bay) but decided there were a few more coasters to be ridden before that. So we left our swimwear in the car and went back into the park.

Our first order of business was to cool off! It was now after 1 PM and the low overcast skies had now given way to hot sun. Thinking we could cool off at Rip Roarin’ Rapids, we reached the ride entrance only to find out it would be an hour wait. I smirked at this, as this has been the case with Rip Roarin’ Rapids since the first summer it opened. Some things never change. Rather than waste an hour for this ride, we split up again. This time Hallie would take Kelly on Thunder Road while I went with Travis to ride the “helicopters,” also known as Woodstock’s Whirly Birds.
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Return to Carowinds

Arriving at Carowinds

As much as I like roller coasters, and for all the fun I had working at Carowinds in 1985, you would think I would’ve found time to make the drive from Raleigh to Charlotte for a weekend of fun at the park. For whatever reason, though, I’d never done it. My last visit was in 1994, two years after I moved to Raleigh. Though it went largely unfulfilled, my love for coasters lived on. Now that I’ve got a wife and kids who are old enough to appreciate it I figured it was a good time to make the pilgrimage.

We hit the road a little around 6:45 this morning for the three-hour drive to the park. Traffic was light and the ride was easy. We got there right on time, rolling into the Carowinds lot minutes after the park opened at 10. After some thorough applications of sunscreen we headed for the South Gate, with the new Intimidator ride looming over us.

Carowinds now searches bags and runs its visitors through metal detectors. This was a sign of the times but quite effortless. We handed the attendant our preprinted tickets and made it through the gate with no problems.
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John Denver: still big in China

I was listening to the Beastie Boys’ Ill Communication as I was mowing the grass today. The B-Boys are Buddhists and their songs often have lyrics about Tibet. They’d never be welcomed with open arms in China, I thought.

Then I remembered someone who was welcomed with open arms in China: John Denver. Denver toured China in October 1992, playing multiple cities, apparently the first Western artist to tour there. I remembered someone telling me during my visit to China that his song Take Me Home, Country Roads was one of the most popular Western songs in China.
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Arizona Day 4: More hiking

We got in a lot more hiking during day 4 of our Sedona vacation. The day began overcast and a bit cooler (mid 50s) than we had had before, though not uncomfortable. All throughout the day’s hike I was conflicted about what to wear. In the span of 15 minutes I think I had three different arrangements of shirts and jacket.

Heading up

Our target hike this day was Doe Mountain, a flat mesa that we could see from our beautiful “Sedona Hideaway” rental house. Kelly’s parents joined us for this hike along with our nephew, Wesley. At the base we gathered our things and set out for the hike.

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