Springtime Christchurch, New Zealand September 2023 Cherry Blossoms and Daffodils in Hagley Park North We just happened to hit the peak season for the beautiful cherry blossoms that line Hagley Park in Christchurch. The trees are the very popular hybrid, Yoshino Cherry, from Japan. Some of the 1st trees were planted in...
Rangitoto Island, Rugged and Riveting! August 25, 2023 New Zealand On August 25, 2023 we took a ferry from Auckland, Australia over to Rangitoto Island in the Hauraki Gulf. Rangitoto happens to be the youngest and largest of Auckland's 48 dormant volcanic cones and is home to the world's largest pohutukawa forest aka...
Mount Eden & Eden Garden: Massive & Mesmerizing! Auckland, New Zealand August 21, 2023 At 643 feet tall, Maungawhau or Mount Eden is the highest volcano in Auckland. Maungawhau is a large, elongated scoria (dark-colored igneous rock with abundant round bubble-like cavities known as vesicles) cone consisting of two...
Silo Park, it’s Sensational! Wynward Quarter, Auckland, New Zealand August 14, 2023 As most of you know we walk the streets…no…we are NOT street walkers! We just enjoy getting out and about and exploring the places we are calling home. During that time, we often find quirky and unique parks, neighborhoods, restaurants,...
Our first stop out of the states included a brief stop in Vancouver, Canada. We love Canada and this gave us a chance to help Melissa calm her travel jitters before putting too much distance between her safe spaces and the great unknown. The Capilano Suspension Bridge Park and Sea Wall walk deserve their own pages, but...
We said goodbye to St. Louis and headed off to Amarillo, TX to see our "peanut" (Brenna). We drove south from Missouri through Oklahoma to get to Texas. This page captures some of the interesting things we encountered along the way. We stopped at Redmon's Candy Factory because Melissa was jonesing for some popcorn, and...
While in St. Louis, we visited the Missouri Botanical Garden. This pages is a dump of the Chihuly glass on exhibit at the park.
St. Louis has a sculpture park near the downtown/arch area, so what better way to waste time on Independence Day waiting for the sun to go down.
Our timing put us in St. Louis over Independence Day so we walked to the Gateway Arch National Park to watch the fireworks over the river. We had a great time - I'll just let the pics and videos speak for themselves. Your browser does not support webm video Your browser does not support webm video Your browser does not...
A first time visit to St. Louis isn't complete without a visit to the Gateway Arch National Park, so Melissa had to go up into the arch to get a birds eye view of the city. So we grabbed some tickets and headed up. It's a long way down but the views are spectacular.