All posts by Gary or Joyce

Aurora Borealis Not 2X 3/10/2025

MONDAY 3/10 Alesund

It’s true we completed the cruise and never saw the dancing lights, but we still had some good times.

We docked Alesund around 7AM. After a quick breakfast we were on the small boat for the lovely scenery in the morning sunlight (yay-the sun!).

Returned just after 1 PM for the departure to Bergen where we will end our cruise no later than 9 AM.

Pictures below are from our sail through the fjord with great morning sunlight.

Aurora Borealis NOT

Trondheim Two Days 3/8 and 3/9

After the day and night at sea, we arrived in Trondheim around 7 AM on Saturday morning.

Saturday In Trondheim

After breakfast in the World Cafe, we headed out on our own to explore the city. Viking provided a shuttle bus on a half hourly schedule for guests who wanted to get to town and we took it! Once there we began to use our geocaching finds to see the interesting things while adding to our total cache numbers. We even started the day with sunshine! That was great for photographing the Old Bridge and colorful buildings.

Back to the ship for lunch! They do feed us well and you never want to miss a good meal! Then we were off for the organized bus ride excursion through town to a few view sites with a local guide giving narrative. Mostly there are no photo opportunities on a bus ride throughout town!

Sunday Back To Town On The Bus

We had a few more caches to find today before we leave for Ã…lesund tonight. Breakfast, then donning our rain pants and coats to avoid getting too wet! The bus was waiting, and we were on our way about 10 AM.

Returned in time for lunch. Today was laundry day for us aboard ship. Clean clothes for our week following the cruise on our own. Rented a car for pickup at the Bergen airport on Tuesday morning after we disembark the ship. Then on to see other parts of Norway!

Aurora Borealis Maybe

Today the bags are packed, airport shuttle on the way and flights to Montreal then on to London Heathrow for our Viking cruise to Norway!

We have been following other cruises on this itinerary and even though the prospects are low, we are hopeful!

More later as internet is available.

Gary & Joyce

Philly 55

We decided to book a weekend stay in Philly to celebrate our 55th anniversary.  With a little searching we found a lovely B&B near 18th & Pine–La Reserve convenient to the Kimmel Center for our Philly Orchestra concert, our favorite restaurant La Viola and of course some geocaches accessible by SEPTA bus.

We left home a little after 9 AM to drive to the Wawa (Wawa PA near Media PA) station, parked Ms. Merlot in the covered garage and paid for 2 nights parking.

Made the 10:08 AM departure to Suburban station.  From there we took Bus 17 to 19th & Pine. Walked with 1 rolling suitcase the 2 blocks to La Reserve and had an early check in.  We enjoyed lunch after settling in.

Then we were off via SEPTA Bus 2 and 64 to get to the Washington/South Street area.  All bundled up against the cold we found 3 geocaches in a few blocks.

Returned to our B&B via bus 40 and walked the 2 blocks from the nearest stop.  Inside it was toasty warm!!  Had a cup of tea, did some reading and rested up before heading out to dinner and concert.

Departed the B&B around 5 PM for La Viola where we discovered it was “restaurant week”. Had a lovely dinner with a nice wine we brought along (BYOB). Then on to the concert at the Kimmel.

Now time to call it a day! Tomorrow beckons….

Auto Train Trip-Florida & Home! Tuesday 6/25/2024

Up at 6 AM due to the alarm that went off unexpectedly! Didn’t check to make sure it was off at bedtime last night! Oh, well, we could organize our day and begin our journey home. After breakfast from hotel supplies, we packed up and were on our way around 9:15 AM.

We cached our way home as follows:

Carillon Park, Luray Virginia (sadly, no music during the week)
Samuels Public Library, Front Royal Virginia
3 Guardrail letterbox caches along the highway in Maryland

Today’s drive from Harrisonburg VA to home was along familiar roads that we have traveled for years. We took US 33 from Harrisonburg to US 340 through Harpers Ferry WV, Boonesboro, MD, Thurmont, MD and Westminster, MD. Today we covered 5 states and 215 miles. Ms. Merlot also passed the 82,000 mile mark along the way! Making the 3-week journey a total of 2,960 miles.

Arrived home around 5 PM today. Turned on the water in the house, lowered the air conditioner for a more comfortable temperature, unloaded the car and enjoyed our usual arrival dinner of Chef Joyce’s homemade pizza (previously frozen) and a very nice sparkling rose!

A little TV from our usual stations, some laundry, watered the plants and did a bit of catching up on all the things we missed while traveling.

Great trip all around. No car issues, fun doing different things we can enjoy together and visits with family we don’t see very often.

Auto Train Trip Florida & Beyond–Sunday & Monday–Railroads, Geocaches & a Waterfall

SUNDAY 6/23 Train to Bald Knob

Today was mostly about the Cass Railroad! We arrived around 10:30 AM at the parking lot for the Cass Company Store. Parked in the shade based on observations from a previous day. Then located the best photographer positions to take photos of the departure of the 2-hour round trip train.

Next, we converted our ticket receipt for a better ticket for the 12 Noon train to Bald Knob–a 4.5 hour round trip. Joyce’s good negotiation skills got us moved to the last car on the train–away from the locomotive! Boarded the train a few minutes before departure accepting the hobo lunch (ham & cheese on a bun, applesauce, chips & cookie) from the conductor as we boarded.

Returned from the great ride at 4:30 PM. Back to the house, prepared our contribution for the family dinner with those that stayed an extra night.

MONDAY 6/24 Green Bank Observatory

Began gathering our spread out “stuff” to repack and load Ms. Merlot for our drive north–destination uncertain! On our way about 9 AM. Our first stop was to take a tour at the Green Bank Observatory. See https://greenbankobservatory.org/ for more information.

Enjoyed the tour. There were two geocaches to find on the way today. And find them we did! In the seeds section of a library and at a waterfall.

Stopped in Bridgewater Virginia (where we went to college) to visit Joyce’s Aunt Janet. Had a lovely time on her porch at the Bridgewater Retirement Community. Left about 7 PM for our hotel in Harrisonburg, VA.

Checked in about 7:15 PM. Chef Joyce prepared another lovely dinner of rotisserie chicken, mixed rice, applesauce and rolls (leftover from the reunion). Also, cookies from the bakery in West Virginia saved from Friday. And a lovely rose sparkling wine.

The usual-a little TV (msnbc here….) and to bed!