April 26 – May 13, 2024 Our first order of business the next day was to climb on our bikes and get a ride in on the Tucson Loop (Huckelberry Bike Path), a network of shared-use paths, maintained by Pima County, that when completed will comprise 131 miles of paved trails dedicated to cyclist, pedestrian, […]

April 26 – May 13, 2024 With a day to fill and not able to do much physically, we got creative.  Our first stop would be at the Riordan Mansion State Historic Park.  This park features the duplex home of Timothy and Michael Riordan, lumber baron brothers who married sisters, Caroline and Elizabeth Metz. The […]

April 26 – May 13, 2024 Our last day in Zion would be a simple one, that is we would get on our bikes and ride up the canyon to the end.  We took off in the late morning and rode into the park, a gradual climb of about 500 feet that was easy to […]

April 26  – May 13, 2024 We returned home from New Zealand and Australia and immediately drove north to Oakland to help celebrate our granddaughter Gemma’s birthday, returning home the following week to catch up on all that we had missed while being gone.  I saw my GP about the hip and fortunately had a […]

December 28, 2023 – February 6, 2024 Continuing with our conclusion we’ll look at the other cost categories we compiled. Food I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of the types of cuisine we would find in both countries and I would say that if there were any dominant categories, it would be the […]

December 28, 2023 – February 6, 2024 In summary, except for the issue I had with my hip, I don’t think the trip could have gone any better.  As we work our way through our concluding posts, we’ll examine our costs, logistics and explain the logic of our decisions, subject by subject.  Lodging For this […]

February 2 – 6, 2024 As mentioned in the prior post, our outing for the day would be to the  Hyde Park Barracks, directly across the street from the park of the same name.  Joanna and I rode over in an Uber from the Tramsheds while the rest of the gang walked the roughly three […]

February 2 – 6, 2024 The next day would feature another highlight, a tour of the world-famous Sydney Opera House.  Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbor, it is widely regarded as one of the world’s most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architecture. Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, but completed […]

February 2 – 6, 2024 Our three-hour flight to Sydney, departing at 9:30 in the morning, meant an early start and checkout for us the next day.  This flight, again on Jetstar for $153 one way, would be a shorter distance then the one from Melbourne was and it all went smoothly. After landing we […]

January 28 – February 1, 2024 Our Skyrail journey ended at the Kuranda station, where we disembarked and had to hike a short distance up to the town itself.  A cute little touristy destination with loads of the kinds of shops one finds in these locations, we stopped for a bit to grab a cold […]