Tag Archives: Trips

Trip 2012 – Day 4 – Grand Canyon to Bryce Canyon

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Here are some photos from day four, our day to make the long drive from Grand Canyon to Bryce Canyon. (I don’t have many good photos of Bryce from this day as we got into the park around sunset and it faces east. Sunrise is much better. Stay tuned for those.)

One last view of the Grand Canyon on our way out

Horseshoe Bend

Moon over Bryce Canyon Hoodoos

View from Bryce Canyon

Trip 2012 – Day 1 – Travel and Route 66

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We Made It!

We had a pretty good, though long, first day of the trip. The car to the airport arrived a bit early. With the very light traffic, it was 6:15 in the morning after all, we made it to the airport in plenty of time. We even had a decent breakfast before going though security as the offerings once past at Newark’s terminal B are pretty poor. Our flight was pretty full, but left on time and arrived in Minneanopolis 20 or so minutes early. This was nice as our connection as scheduled was a but tight at 49 minutes. We did have an issue in that we somehow messed up our seat selections for this leg. (Kyle and I were on one reservation while Suzanne was on another due to number of frequent flyer miles we each had.) Instead of sitting three across, Kyle and I were in one row in the window and middle seats and Suzanne was in the row behind in the window seat. The lady in the aisle seat very kindly offered to swap. (I wasn’t even going to ask as she was traveling with someone across the aisle, but she offered and insisted.)

We arrived in Las Vegas right on schedule. After getting our bags, we managed to get our rental car, a nice Chevy Malibu, right about when I had expected. On our way out of town, we stopped by Wal-Mart for lunch at McDonald’s, kind of grungy one, and some supplies.

Heading down Route 66

We were then really on our way, down over the new bridge by the Hoover Dam and into Arizona. After a brief stop in Kingman, we headed up Route 66. It was kind of cool to see some of the old places along it. Parts of it really are in the middle of nowhere, at least for us Easteners. Part way down, we stopped at the Hackberry General Store. This was certainly worthwhile for some kitsch and some good photos of lots of historic “junk”. Then it was back in the car for the hour drive to Seligman along some of the straightest stretch of road I’ve ever seen. (I swear it was 10+ miles without a turn.)

Hackberry General Store

Seligman is a cute little town where Rt 66 intersects back with Interstate 40. (Rt 66 takes a big loop between Kingman and Seligman while I-40 does it in a straight shot.) We checked into our very nice room at the Canyon Lodge. (Funnily enough run by a gentleman from Freiburg, Germany, who was born in Mainz. Mainz is just outside of Frankfurt, so quite close to Marburg.) He recommended a great place for dinner which I had planned on going to anyway (Westside Lilo’s). The food was very good. (I had the Weinerschnitzl.

Route 66 Gas Pump

Their chef was from Weisbaden, also right outside Frankfurt.) Also interesting was the waitress was from Michigan and had lived in Ypsilanti and Manchester, two towns right next to Ann Arbor where we lived while I was in grad school at MSU. Even better, Kyle was in a bit of a mood. (To be fair, it was getting on 10:30 Eastern time and he had been up since 5:45.) The only kid’s meal that wasn’t available was pancakes, which, of course, he wanted. They actually made a special dinner-plate sized one for him. (I’m not 100% sure they even charged us for it.) One thing we found very interesting about the town is the number of foreigners. At dinner, there was an Italian group, a German family, possibly another German family, and a French, I think, couple. At the hotel, there is a group of older motorcyclists whose language I don’t recognize. I find this pretty cool.

Tommorrow, our plan is to see a bit of the town and hop in the car for the 90 or so minute drive to the Grand Canyon. It should be exciting.

Germany Day 11 – A last, wet, day in Germany

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When we awoke this morning, the temperature had risen to above freezing. However, along with the warmer temps came a steady rain. We eventually got going around midmorning, having to wait for hot water for a shower as the water heater had gotten turned off last night instead of set on “Night”. After a quick stop to deposit the rent money for the apartment, we hopped the tram to Karlsplatz for a stop at Karstadt and Galeria Kaufhof, the two big department stores, to do some gift shopping. After finishing here, we headed down the main pedestrian street toward Marienplatz. Pushing the stroller was a bit easier as most of the snow was gone, but I think I would have traded the rain and temps in the upper 30s for snow and temps in the 20s as we had been having. We stopped by to visit the inside of the Dom (cathedral), which was nice. We continued our walk, through Marienplatz, and around the Viktualienmarkt (food market). Somehow, we missed this on our trip in 2000. It was pretty nice, and we took advantage of our visit to pick up a donut for Kyle and a couple of pretzels for us as a snack. Back toward Marienplatz, I grabbed a last glühwien while Suzanne and Kyle ran into the bookstore for a gift for one of Kyle’s friends. We next stopped by the other Galeria Kaufhof branch where I finally managed to find a wallet to replace my current one which is falling apart. An S-Bahn, tram ride, and a stop by the supermarket (for lunch and more gifts), and we ended up back at the apartment.

After a rest, we headed out to dinner. Given the weather and the amount of stuff we had to get done tonight before leaving in the morning, we decided to try the Italian place (Natales) a few minutes walk from the apartment. Kyle was able to get plain ziti, which he enjoyed very much, eating the entire plateful. Suzanne and I had pizzas, both of which were pretty good. (Kyle’s meal, a small salad, two pizzas, one beer, and two other drinks was €35.) After one last quick stop at the supermarket for a few items we forgot earlier, it was back to the apartment to start getting things together for tomorrow. While I helped Kyle with his bath, Suzanne packed up our stuff. Unfortunately, we did end up with a third bag to check. We’re just hoping our larger suitcase is not overweight.

It’s hard to believe the trip is over. It’s been great to be back in Germany after three full years. (For that trip, we spent only three days here before heading to Italy.) The Christmas markets were as wonderful as we remember, especially with the snow. It would have been better if it wasn’t quite so cold, but I decided I’d rather have the cold and snow than the rain we had all day today. Traveling with Kyle wasn’t the easiest, especially given his picky eating. It was much easier once we were in the apartment since we could make plain pasta every morning. We’ll definitely return to Germany at some point, but it will likely be at least a few years. (It will also likely be when the weather will be warmer.)

Germany Day 10 – Separate Mornings and a visit to the Tollwood Festival

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One of the things I wanted to do was to make the short trip to the suburb of Dachau and visit the concentration camp memorial. Suzanne and I had visited during our trip in 2000. She didn’t have a strong desire to return and Kyle is much too young. (While I did see some younger kids there, the museum is not recommended for kids under 12.) She felt it was okay for me to head off on my own, which I did. The trip was very sobering, as I expected. In 2000, we visited on a warm, sunny day in May, so visiting on a cold, overcast day in December made it more powerful. They have redone the museum since we were there and things are very well presented. Everything is captioned in both German and English. I don’t know that I’d call it a highlight of the trip in the traditional sense, but it was definitely worth doing. (Note, I have also visited Buchanwald, outside of Weimer, in late November 2003. While the museum at Dachau is much better, I feel that Buchanwald was even more powerful.)

Suzanne and Kyle slept in, eventually getting going around 10:00. They headed off to the Deutsches Museum transport center, near the Oktoberfest grounds. Kyle really loved a few of the exhibits, especially the computer game about driving an ambulance. After they were done, we met back at the apartment for a late lunch and a nap.

After our rest, Kyle did not want to get up, but it was getting toward time for dinner. We headed out to the Hacker-Pschorr Brauhaus near the Theresienweise park (Oktoberfest grounds). Dinner was quite good and the place wasn’t too busy. There were a number of other families with kids, so we didn’t feel out of place. They even had chicken nuggets for Kyle. (Two entrees, one kids meal, one beer, and two other drinks was €45.) After dinner, we headed to the Tollwood Festival at the Theresienweise park itself. This is something of an “alternative” Christmas market. It was interesting, and they had an amazing array of food choices. Of course we had just eaten, but we did pick up some fresh roasted almonds. After walking around for a while, we hopped the U-Bahn and Strassenbahn back to our apartment for the evening. It’s hard to believe we only have one more day. It’s our plan to visit the main market once more and do some last-minute shopping. We’re also hoping to visit the Viktualienmarkt since we forgot (yes … forgot) on Saturday. Then, we have to repack everything for the trip home.