Category: travel
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Bike, Hike, then Bike again
We failed in the lottery again today! But once again we had a good backup plan. So this morning we took our bikes over to the shuttle stop, put our bikes on the shuttle and road out to the furthest stop. From there we biked (well coasted) back down the canyon to the trailhead for the Emerald Pools. Along the way we stopped to appreciate yesterday’s destination from the canyon floor. Yep, we were way up there!
The Emerald pools hike makes a nice triangle, from the trailhead to the upper pool to the lodge and then back to the trailhead about 3.5 miles in all. So we locked up our bikes and headed up the trail. The hike to the upper pool was beautiful, and the pictures just don’t do justice to the views of the canyon. I even took some photos with my iPhone in spatial mode hoping that one day I’ll buy a headset or glasses and can appreciate the 3d view of this place.
The hike back down took us directly to the lodge, where we decided to grab some lunch. We kind of wanted to eat at the restaurant, but when it was our turn they said there was a wait (even though half the tables were empty). So we decided to just do a grab and go instead. After enjoying a burger and fries, we completed the triangle. We then biked the remaining 8 miles back to our campsite just enjoying the beauty all along the way.
Back at camp we have the afternoon to relax, and think, I like these vacations where I have some time to think about projects like Runestone without the ability to do. It’s good to step back and gain perspective from time to time without the temptation of putting my hands on the keyboard.
Last night we had a nice dinner at Thai Sapa in Springdale. It was just a short walk from our campsite. Tonight is campfire night, probably just brats for dinner, and I’ll break out the guitar to do some playing. My fingers are starting to get calloused again so I want to keep up the habit!
Observation Point
We failed in the lottery for Angels landing, but Jane had an even better plan. We will do the Observation Point hike. Of course she failed to mention that in order to do this hike we would need to go on one of her crazy off road vehicle expeditions. It was an hour’s drive to the trail head, but it was the last mile that was really exiting. The road to the parking lot was so deeply rutted that it looked sure to break an axel if you made one tiny bad turn.
Of course we did make it to the parking lot where there were only a few cars parked, and we headed down the well marked, well traveled trail. I had no idea of the views that were in store for me when we arrived at the point 3.5 miles later.
Truly the most spectacular view in all of Zion. With an extra bonus of looking down on Angels Landing. There are so many great views here in Zion, but this one really is the best.
After seven miles of hiking and a couple of hours of driving we were both tired and hungry. So we had a late lunch and agreed that an afternoon of hanging around the campsite was just fine. Jane had found a hot spring spa that we could go to but it was another 30 minutes of driving and neither of us seemed too excited for that.
Grand Staircase Escalante and Bryce Canyon
We awoke in the dark, to the sound of rain dripping outside our door. Falling back did not result in a lot of extra sleep. When it was light enough to see outside we saw that it was snowing. No rush to leave as the long hike we were planning was suddenly not going to be an option. So we took our time, and enjoyed the scenic drive and lots of scenic overlooks from Capital Reef to Bryce, with a little side trip down the Burr Trail.
Our first little hike was to the singing canyon.
Then we stopped at this amazing overlook about 17 miles down the Burr Trail. The trail goes for 74 miles before turning into a dirt road, and somehow connecting to a Lake Powell ferry. The overlook was far enough for us.
Here is a view looking back down the trail.
After a delicious lunch at the Burr Trail Burger joint, we drove through Escalante and enjoyed some great views.
We finished up the day with a great late afternoon hike in Bryce Canyon. It was cold and snowy when we checked in to the lodge. But we decided to head over to the rim anyway to check out the views. As we got there the sun started to peek out. We hiked from the Sunset Viewpoint to the Sunrise Viewpoint. About 3 miles, with a solid climb to get out of course. It was great to get down in the canyon out of the wind. The longer we were down there the sunnier it got and the views just got better with every step.
Tomorrow will be a long day in the car, driving from Bryce to Indio. Maybe through Zion depending on road conditions in the morning.
Capital Reef
We love to use the drive to California each Fall to visit some of the national parks. But it is tricky to find a national park to visit this time of year. Most things are shutting down, and in many parks the scenic drives are closing, and the risk of snow increases every day. Our original plan had been to visit Great Basin, but park officials closed the scenic drive two weeks ago. So we rerouted to Capital Reef. We are glad we did. The drive in was spectacular, going past Goblin Valley state park. As you approach from the North, its not hard to imagine you are seeing a goblin sleeping on its back.
What was so great about this time of year is the contrast of the yellow leaves on the Cottonwoods and Aspens, both as you approach the park, and as you drive through.
There are many interesting hikes in the park. For our schedule we chose do do the Hickman Bridge, which is about two miles and fairly easy. The views are great.
Or in some cases spectacular!
We also did a much shorter hike to Sunset Point, This was fantastic because we were the ONLY people on the trail, so we had the point all to ourselves to enjoy 360 degrees of viewing.
Today the plan is to make our way down to Bryce Canyon. Its cold and raining so we might not see as much as we had hoped, then Monday we will hop on the freeway and make our way to Indio! Can’t wait to reconnect with all our friends, and get back on the golf course and pickleball court.
A Day in Reykjavik
A Day in Reykjavik
We left our beautiful seaside house and headed to Reykjavik for a day of city touring. We were very lucky in that our AirBnB host had our apartment ready for us by 11:30 so we had a base for the day as well as a place for the kids to crash and rest during the afternoon.
Our first stop after dropping our stuff was for an icelandic hotdog at Bæjarins. Its just a hot dog stand, but they are worth the walk and the wait. There were at least 25 people in line when we arrived. The line moves quickly. As there is not a lot to think about. The hot dogs come with fresh diced onions, some cruncy onions fried in the air frier, Icelandic Remolade, ketchup, and pylsusinnep ( sweet brown mustard). As we were standing in line we struck up a conversation with the lady in front of us who was a tour guide. I think she was really just charmed by Maren. She warned us that we really needed to try the regular hot dog. When Bill Clinton visited, she told us, he only had mustard, and we’ve never forgiven him!
After the hot dogs we all went our own way to explore for the afternoon. We saw the Viking ship sculpture and the big Lutheran church.
We also checked out Rainbow Road, and lots of shops and a few bars.
Dinner was at Bastard Brew and Food, just down from our apartment. Delicious delicious stake sandwiches, in a quirky atmosphere.
Time to head home
Well, it’s been a great trip, but it is time to head home. We have a night in Lisbon and then an 11AM flight to Philadelphia tomorrow morning.
This post is a bit of a mishmash of the last day, and some summary thoughts about random stuff. Maybe more about our Polestar EV than is really necessary LOL.
After driving toward Lisbon for a while we stopped about 45km from the airport to have lunch, which looked like it was in the middle of a field. Well, not a field but a vineyard. We had a really nice Tapas lunch. Calamari, Squid, steak a couple of different ways, and some nice wine in a very nice setting. One of the dishes was called Pica-Pau which I have the recipe for and will definitely try to make this summer!
Drop off at the airport was chaotic, but the metro to our apartment was fine. Although we learned on the ride that we didn’t have hot water in one of the bathrooms or the kitchen. After being ghosted by our first AirBnB host here in Lisbon this was a bit much, but this host did offer us the use of BOTH of her apartments. We don’t need hot water in the kitchen and we can do showers in one bathroom, so we’ll be fine.
We did get out and do a bit of walking around Lisbon, although we are all mostly tired of being tourists so our hearts were not entirely in it. We found a nice rooftop bar that had a view of the city and then a more non-touristy Italian place where the risotto was very good, and the tortellini with bolognese was ok.
Back to our apartment by way of a gelateria, a pastry shop, and a supermarket for a beer to watch the UCL final! On our way home tomorrow! Not happy that Real Madrid won. Boo.
As a postscript to this post, I’ll just recall a few of the highlights. I’m writing this from 40,000 feet as we approach the Atlantic coast of the United States.
- The hiking in Madeira, especially along the Levada at the beginning of the 25 Fontes hike. Also the lunch we had by the sea after that hike was amazing.
- Loved our meal in Porto at Taberna dos Mercadores. Delicious and fun.
- The wine tasting stop on the Douro was a beautiful spot to enjoy some good wine. The hike down the hill was not everyone’s favorite, but it will be a lasting memory!
- Chilling out in the Algarve, and the morning light on the cliffs along the seven hanging valleys hike.
- The unexpected lunch stop in the middle of a vineyard on the drive to Lisbon. The steak sandwich and the Pica-Pau were worth the stop!
Renting the electric car turned out to be a fun experience. It was a bit nerve wracking a couple of times, but I think that was more to do with being in a foreign country and not having a backup way to pay for the power if the app wasn’t communicating with the pump. It was really nice to have the nav system show you the expected battery level at your next stop. For a long trip, like a drive to California, it would definitely make the drive longer, and require planning! Having a vehicle that was connected to the internet and had charging station locations integrated into the nav system would be great. Our rented Polestar had that feature, but the rental company didn’t have the car set up for internet access. So we ended up using the phone for finding charging, and the car for navigating. A bit frustrating.
I would certainly recommend time in Portugal if you are looking for a vacation option! We did a lot in a relatively short time. You could easily spend a week in Madeira all by itself. We didn’t get to see much of Lisbon, but that was OK for us as I’d rather be away from the city enjoying the green spaces.
Posting this from Minneapolis. Up way too early this morning. Going east to west always disrupts my sleep a lot more than west to east. But at 4am my body was saying that it was 10am in Portugal and that I was being very lazy for sleeping in!
The Seven Hanging Valleys
This morning we were up early and out the door to do the seven hanging valleys hike. It is about 4.5 miles along the coast in Algarve. Each of the “hanging valleys” is really a cove so we have to navigate around or down and up each of them. Along the way are many chimneys where the limestone has eroded all the way down to a sea cave. We would have seen many of these caves if we had been able to do the sea kayaking the other day. Instead we will see them from above.
Jane drove us to the beginning and did the first mile with us before turning back and driving the car back to the hotel. Brian and I carried on.
Here are a few highlight photos.
Driving to Obidos and Ericeira
After our busy day in the Douro Valley it was time to head south! Our first stop of the day was the Europcar desk to pick up our electric ID3. But wait… we were upgraded to a Polestar 2! We had looked at all of the charging stations and decided this would be a great chance to try an electric vehicle! All was well until we arrived in Nazare - If you haven’t watched 100 foot wave you really need to watch a couple episodes! In Nazare it was time to recharge. Using the MIIO app, it was no problem finding a station, but getting the car to charge was like a clown show! Rookies! Two young American college students were trying to do the same thing, and it was pretty funny that we could not quite get it. We had all foolishly assumed that we could swipe our credit card and charge away! (Pun intended.) Instead we had to create an account on the app and preload it with some $.
With the car finally charging, we headed out for lunch and some sightseeing! We found a great burger stand, which was just what we needed after a week of enjoying mostly native Portuguese food. From there we walked to the lighthouse and enjoyed the views of the beach. There are no 100 foot waves this time of year, but it was fun to see the sights from the show in person.
From Nazare we went to Obidos, this is a cool old walled town, supposedly the birthplace of Ginja. For me it also brings back memories of the early days of the internet and working with Amazon where the URL always contained obidos. Obidos was their original page rendering engine, named after a town in Brazil which is the swiftest part of the Amazon river. The town in Brazil was named after Obidos in Portugal. We walked the walls and enjoyed the sights from this little hill town.
After Obidos we headed to Ericeira for a two night stay on the ocean. We had a two bedroom apartment booked, which was upgraded to a four bedroom. Even better was that the parking ramp for the hotel had parking with free charging for electric vehicles! The hotel was lovely and we were too tired to do much more for dinner than eat at the restaurant in the hotel. The food was good.
The plan for the next day was a day trip to the hilltop castle in Sintra, the Peña Palace. As we get older we get smarter, so rather than hike up the hill we used the Bolt app (Uber competitor) to get a ride to the top! Eight euros later and we were there! We walked down, but more about that later. The Peña palace is a huge sprawling complex with miles of hiking paths, castle walls, and a tour of the inside of the castle (which we skipped). There are other palaces and castles very close by including the Moorish castle. We enjoyed the hiking and sites of the castles.
Then it was time to see what we missed on the hike up! Boy are we glad we took the bolt instead of walking! As we were headed down a particularly steep section we met a couple coming up, breathing heavy and sweating. He asked “how much further?” I responded, “where are you going?” Expecting either Peña Palace or Moorish castle, the reply instead was, “to the nearest Uber!!” I laugh every time I think about that!
Holly had several options picked out for lunch and we ended up with a really nice one. Then back to Ericeira and some restful time by the pool.
Tomorrow we head off to Algarve for the relaxing part of the vacation!
Levada das 25 Fontes (alt)
This is our first full day on Madeira after flying Minneapolis to Toronto to Lisbon to Funchal, overnight, etc. etc. We powered through a half day of walking around town eating pizza and trying some local drinks. We had to go see the statue of Cristiano Ronaldo to see if it was as bad as it was in the pictures!
It was… Next ask yourself the question, why is his crotch extra shiny?? There is so much to do in Funchal, that I can already see we could have spent a week here easily. We did try the Madeira wine as we were walking around. Just eating our way through all the local places could take more than a week.
We all made it past 9pm! Today we woke up around 7am local time. 1AM CDT. We had an extremely aggressive hiking plan for today and immediately realized we had to tone it down. So we opted for the Levada das 25 Fontes. A levada is an irrigation channel or aqueduct specific to the Portuguese Atlantic region of Madeira. Basically they are small channels designed to bring the rain water from the upper elevations to the region around Funchal and other areas that need the water. We saw the water flowing through channels along the roads as we climbed our way toward the start of the hike.
The first part of the hike was great, it was right along the Levada with great scenery lovely trees and greenery. Quite an engineering project if you ask me!
After about 4 miles of hiking we found ourselves at the actual 25 Fontes part of the hike! The usual way to the start of the hike was just a boring walk downhill on a very narrow road. So this way was much better and more interesting. But by then we were pretty tired from the long rough descent, so we only did a small part of the original hike.
By the time we finished it was 2:00 in the afternoon and we hadn’t really eaten anything other than a few snacks. So we picked a lovely restaurant down by the sea to stop for a delicious lunch!
The view was amazing and the food was great also! Brian had Scabbard fish, Jane had baked Octopus, I had Portuguese black pork and Holly had Tuna steak. All deliciously prepared over an open fire. We all shared and all the dishes were really good.
By the time we got back to our AirBNB we were ready for showers and then happy hour. At happy hour we tried the Poncha and some Portuguese green wine, and a cheese plate. We played a game of Qwirkle at another local establishment and called it a night at 10pm! Tomorrow is another HUGE day of hiking.