Its a long flight from LA with a change in Brisbane, but the excitement always builds as I get the first glimpse of the West Coast and we start to cross the alps heading towards the intricate patchwork of the Canterbury Plains. I have flown this so many times but I never tire of it.
Some people come into your life, and in that moment you know you will be forever linked. I have been so lucky to have such wonderful people in my life and they will always be a part of it no matter time or place or circumstances. These past weeks of travel have highlighted this to me so much more, the joy of getting together with family, friends, weddings, birthdays, making contact with old friends and missing those I could not visit. There is never enough time but each time is just so wonderful I will always want to keep coming back.
I started out from Cape Coral Florida and headed to LA to stay with my friend Judy in Pasadena. I love Pasadena, its a part of LA that honors the past and has a character and uniqueness that is lost in many other parts of this huge metropolis. Brother Ian and I explored the Metro and South Pasadena and as always there was too little time…. next time I will carry my camera and not just my iPhone.
One of the original McDonalds
Pasadena Station
Union Station
The drive back to Cape Coral is through Alligator Alley and I really wanted to see an alligator – just as I pulled up for gas one obligingly crawled out of the pond – about 10 ft long and with a big smile.
Downtown Miami
Observatory on Versace’s old residence
Jupiter Island
Little Havana
Lincoln Mall
My first attempts at night time photography – next time a real tripod
Dancing girl on the building dances all night – Very Miami style
Only 3 hours from Cape Coral across alligator Alley the drive to Miami Beach was an easy one arriving in the evening to meet up with my good friends Ori and Ken from Fort Collins and their family. David and Steve’s apartment overlooks the most spectacular panoramic view of Miami down town around to south beach, you just can’t capture how breathtaking it is but I tried and tried and tried.
pan
I thought that my destination was Cape Coral but the opportunity came to go all the way to Miami Beach so I have transversed the country diagonally from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The longest route I could have chosen and I would love to do it again with more time and more stops to truly appreciate the unique character of the places along the way – in fact I have added the journey to my bucket list, this time with good company and no highways.
Its nice to be back with friends and what I thought was the end of the journey for now. But it seems nothing is quite what I expect and I start a new adventure in a few days. Its sunday and I have two days to rest before I start the next chapter.
Misty Mississippi – the day started in fog and it stayed like that for miles. A nice drive and the landscape changed to green and rolling hills and the smaller roads gave a glimpse of life that made me want to spend some time with the camera just to capture the character of the place. Unfortunately time and the fog kept me moving this time but its a place I want to visit again. I was trying to out run tropical storm Karen that was supposed to hit Pensacola and Panama Beach exactly where I was going – I am so lucky, by the time I got there it has dispersed and the weather was fine.
a rather disconcerting sight was a semi coming straight toward me … until I realized it was being towed.
Arrived in Panama city beach in time for lunch, the place was chokka with bikes and bikers. I chose somewhere that I thought would be quieter than the bars that were pumping loud music with reving bikes lined up outside. The hofbrauhaus seemed a good bet and I like german food. I ordered a Jaegerschnitzel with Spaetzel and what I got was the biggest schnitzel I have ever seen in my life – even the waitress and people around me were shocked at the size, it was literally bigger than my head!
–
Panama beach itself is billed as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world and it has the loveliest fine white sand. I met Trudy who showed me the beach and the whole island and kindly offered me a place to stay. I like it here and I will be back.
Today is just a traveling day to see how far I can get. My goal was Hattiesburg and I made it around 11pm after a hard days drive. The first delay was an accident on the other side of the road, a semi had wiped out a uHaul and the contents were scattered across the road and the semi itself crushed in the front. Almost an hour crawling to where the accident was then on the other side of the road the back up was 20 miles before the diversion to take traffic off the highway. You can just see the semi in a quickly snapped photo as we crawled past.
Endless road works and a rainstorm slowed me down even further but I stopped to take a picture as I crossed the Mississippi
I found a motel when I reached Hattiesburg and was allocated a room in the back corner, right beside the gang of tailgaters who proceeded to drink and yahoo and bang doors till 2am – getting up at 6am I started to work out that my 4 hours sleep cost me $20 per hour.
I explored downtown Grapevine today with my friend Kellie. Wonderful lunch at MiDia – I decided I needed to order something I had never had before and that I would never make myself – but first we wanted to try the Guacamole which they prepared at the table. I thought they were making it for the whole restaurant but I had forgotten I was in Texas and EVERYTHING IS BIGGER IN TEXAS. I ordered Duck Carnitas, shredded duck on little hand made tortillas with chile and pickled onion – absolutely delicious.
Grapevine is a lovely little town where they have retained the facades of the historic buildings from the 1880s giving the town a distinctive character. Lots of little boutiques and restaurants and the original jail and funeral home right in the middle of town and bronze art works in unexpected places.
Why does grain need an elevator?
The Traveling Kiwi 