Lou's Cosmic Connection
2024 Travel: In January, we did a four-day road trip from Las Vegas, Nevada to Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. We stayed in Kanab, Utah and saw the Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell, Horseshoe Bend and Zion National Park. I had hoped to hike to the Wave after it took nine months to get the permit, but the eight-mile road to the trailhead was too slick even for our four-wheel drive rental SUV due to rain. Photos posted on my Facebook page.
In March, Kathy and I took a 17-day cruise on Oceania Insignia from Bali & East Java (Indonesia) to Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines, Taiwan and Japan. That makes four new countries for me and all six new countries for Kathy. My favorite port was Kagoshima, Japan as the shore excursion to Charin included Samurai and World War II history sites. Kagoshima also has the most active volcano in Japan called Sakurajima which was venting steam. Photos posted on my Facebook page.
In April, did an eight-day road trip to Texas to see the total solar eclipse which was on my Bucket List. We also saw Dallas, Ft. Worth, Corpus Christi and South Padre Island. Photos posted on my Facebook page.
In June, we stayed in a cabin in Pine Mountain Lake, Groveland, California with Kathy's son and granddaughter for three nights, and spent a day in Yosemite National Park while there. I broke my left fibula at the ankle on June 14th, just two weeks before this planned trip. I didn't let that stop me from going to my favorite place on earth (Yosemite), but I had to be pushed around in a wheelchair instead of hiking there. Since the fracture was displaced 5mm, I decided to have surgery (screws and a plate) to help the bone heal properly. I had the surgery the day after I returned from this trip. Photos posted on my Facebook page.
In September, we took a trip to Baltimore, Maryland to see the San Francisco Giants play the Orioles in Oriole Park at Camden Yards (Giants won 5-3!), then drove to Virginia to see the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond. We stayed at the historic Ragland Mansion Bed and Breakfast in Petersburg and saw the Petersburg National Battlefield and Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. A few days later, we flew to Kansas City, Missouri and saw the San Francisco Giants play the Royals (Giants won 9-0!) and the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library/Museum in Independence among other sites. We had some great Barbeque in Lee's Summit. I posted several groups of photos on Facebook.
In October, we did a six-day, 1,077-mile road trip to Southern California. On the way there, we stopped in San Luis Obispo and saw the Kundert Medical Clinic designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. We took the tour of Mt. Wilson Observatory near Pasadena, saw Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles and the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale. We spent two nights on Catalina Island and took the VIP Backstage Tour of the Casino, rented a golf cart and took the Conservancy Eco Tour to the Airport in the sky. I posted several groups of photos on Facebook. This trip was originally planned for July but was postponed because of my broken ankle and subsequent surgery.
In November, I flew to Nebraska for two nights and saw the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum in Ashland, Homestead National Historical Park, and Omaha: Union Pacific Big Boy and Centennial locomotives in Kenefick Park and The Joslyn (art museum).
2023 Travel: In March, I took a Stephen Ambrose historical tour to visit Pacific World War II sites on Hawai'i (Pearl Harbor, Ford Island, Punchbowl cemetery and more), Guam, Saipan, Tinian (where the atomic bombs were loaded on to the B-29's) and Iwo Jima where I climbed Mt. Suribachi to the spot where the U.S.M.C raised the U.S. flag during the battle. That required a 10-mile hike. The Japanese government only allows foreigners on Iwo Jima once a year during the battle memorial service called the Reunion of Honor. It was a small group tour and included a historian guide, all admissions, most meals and stays at 4-star hotels/resorts. It was an incredible tour!
In June, Kathy and I took a 12-day cruise from Montreal, Canada up the St. Lawrence River to Quebec City and several other stops in Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, to Bermuda and ending in New York City. We spent three nights in Ottawa before the cruise and then took a train to Montreal where we boarded the Regent Seven Seas Navigator. This was our first cruise with Regent Seven Seas which is one of the most luxurious cruise lines. It's much more expensive than most other cruise lines but includes shore excursions, tips, a specialty restaurant, all drinks, large suites and more. It was nice to experience once but we'll probably stick to more modest cruises from now on. Photos and video are posted on my Facebook page.
In August, Kathy and I went on the 8-day road trip through Alabama and Georgia that we've had to cancel the last three years. In Georgia, we saw the Museum of Aviation, the Jimmy Carter Presidential Center, the Fox Theater, Ocmulgee Mounds NHS, ate at the famous Varsity drive-in and saw the SF Giants play the Atlanta Braves in Truist Park. In Alabama, we saw the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Ivy Green (Helen Keller's birthplace), FDR's Little White House, Muscle Shoals Sound Studio and FAME Recording Studios. Photos and one video are posted on my Facebook page.
"Don't tell me how educated you are...tell me how much you've traveled." - Mohammad
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." - Mark Twain
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it." - Yogi Berra
"Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer." - Annonymous
"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." - St. Augustine
"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dryrot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time." - Jack London
"For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move." - Robert Louis Stevenson
"When I first caught sight of it over the braided folds of the Sacramento Valley, I was fifty miles away and afoot, alone and weary. Yet all my blood turned to wine, and I have not been weary since." - John Muir upon seeing Mt. Shasta for the first time.
"When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop...flying through space with all other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty." - John Muir"I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list." - Susan Sontag
"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." - Dorothy
About me.... |
| Lou's
Profile: some useless information about me. |
 Various incarnations of me: |
| Zweibrucken Air Base, Germany 1977
"Buggin' out" Bad hair day 1980 Airport Firefighter 1989 Rebel without a clue 1996 A puzzled look 2004 Cruisin' 2008 Park Ranger 2010 CSRM Docent 2010 Renaissance Man 2021 |
 Photo GalleryHere's a few of my travel and miscellaneous photos. |
| Angkor Wat, Cambodia Antarctica Athens, Greece Australia Chichen Itza, Mexico Easter Island, Chile Galapagos Islands, Ecuador Great Wall, China |
Machu
Picchu, Peru Moscow, USSR Stonehenge, England Rafting the Zambezi, Zimbabwe 1996 Tandem Skydiving 10,000' over Lodi, CA 2000 |
Comet Hyakutake 3/27/96 Comet Hale-Bopp 3/24/97 Comet Neowise 7/10/20 |
 Art GalleryTwo of my favorite artists are Albrecht Dürer and M.C. Escher (not to be confused with M.C. Hammer). Here's some of their work: |
Biography Gallery |
Official Web Site (biography, gallary, etc.) |
 Something to read (including photos and video): |
| Foreign Trip
Reports: Vietnam & Cambodia Antarctica South Africa & Zimbabwe New Zealand & Fiji Spain, Portugal & Morocco Eastern Europe Jamaica UK & Ireland Guatemala & Costa Rica Japan EgyptPanama Canal CruisePhilippines Danube River Cruise Paris and Normandy Caribbean Cruise Europe Black Sea Cruise Around-the-World to Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Oman and Dubai Cuba (2nd Western Caribbean Cruise) Someday, I may write trip reports for these trips: |
U.S. Trip Reports: Upper Midwest Nevada, Utah & Arizona Ohio & Michigan California, Nevada & Utah Arizona Tennessee New Mexico Florida & Georgia Alaska Cruise New York City Chicago & Indianapolis Route 66 Climbing Mount St. Helens California & Arizona Yosemite in Winter Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin & North Dakota California Coast California & Oregon Nebraska & Iowa Southern California Las Vegas & California Ohio, Kentucky & West Virginia Palm Springs The Carolinas Half Dome Hike Missouri & Kansas Toronto, New York & New England New Jersey & New York City Super Bowl XLVIII, New Jersey Someday, I may write trip reports for these trips: |
Miscellaneous: Stupid Tourist Questions The Art of Traveling Signs From Around the World My College Final Exam Beneath the Kilt Gene Autry's Cowboy Code Thanks for the Memory Last Will and Testament of Silverdene Emblem O'Neill My Bucket List Packing with a Purpose Models Concerts I've Attended The Wall My Favorite Place on Earth Collecting Vintage Cameras Addicted to Travel |
Sacramento - where I lived for 53 years
Placer County - where I live (Roseville)
Sacramento International Airport - where I volunteer
California State Railroad Museum - where I volunteer
World War II Honoree - my Dad
Kathy's "Travels Near and Far"
The Official Jimi Hendrix Web Page
Lonely Planet (travel)
Overseas Brats
NASA / Kennedy Space Center
Mutual UFO Network (MUFON)
The Crop Circle Connector