TRAVEL5 - Special Vacation Photos

Two of my blogs this year highlighted photos that Pat and I have taken over the years: “Views from our Tucson Backyard,” February 23, 2024; and “Our Favorite Photos of Scenic Arizona,” March 11, 2024.  Those blogs got a lot of positive feedback, so I decided to share some more of our photos, this time from vacation travels outside our home state of Arizona. 

 

I chose to focus on six great trips we have taken over the last five years, with our favorite tour companies.  These trips are listed in the table below:

 

No.	Name of Tour	Date	Tour Company
1	Colorado: Denver, Boulder, and the Rockies	13-20 September, 2019	Tauck
2	The Best of Hawaii	27 October to 9 November, 2021	Tauck
3	Yosemite and Sequoia: John Muir’s California	30 May to June 6, 2022	Tauck
4	Grand New England	4-17 October, 2022	Tauck
5	Vancouver and the Rockies with the Rocky Mountaineer	9-18 September, 2023	Tauck
6	Exploring British Columbia and the San Juan Islands	28 September to 6 October, 2024	Lindblad/National Geographic

 

For each trip, I will include a short summary of the adventure, followed by a map of the travel route, and then a series of photos from the trip.

 

Colorado

We chose this trip because of the beautiful mountain scenery and a chance to explore the old mining town of Leadville, where my mining engineer grandfather Ambrose Ring worked in 1919-1920.  We started in Denver and worked around the loop shown below in Tauck’s distinctive bus to visit Pikes Peak, the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Leadville, and on.  Along the way we viewed spectacular scenery, investigated my family roots, enjoyed a colorful botanical garden, rode in a hot air balloon, and visited the Celestial Tea Factory in Boulder where we discovered flavors we still drink today.

The “big loop” route of our Colorado trip.

 

At the summit of Pikes Peak.

The view from Pikes Peak.

Red rock formations in the Garden of the Gods.

My grandfather, Eugene Ring, lived in this house in 1919-1920 while working as mining engineer in Leadville.

 

One of many beautiful flowers in Vail’s Betty Ford Alpine Gardens.

 

Expansive view of Rocky Mountain National Park from Trail Ridge Road.

 

We weren’t the only travelers in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Getting set for an exciting hot air balloon ride.

 

 Hawaii

This was our fourth attempt to go to Hawaii in the last few years – the previous three didn’t work out for a variety of reasons - so we were ready.  We started in Oahu, then visited in turn, the Big Island Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui - as shown on the chart below.  We signed up for exciting helicopter rides to view the famous Kilauea volcano on the Big Island, and the fantastic coastline of Kauai.  We also visited the U.S.S. Arizona memorial in Oahu, had a sunset catamaran ride, visited a coffee plantation, and stood under the famous banyan tree in Lahaina, Maui (which unfortunately was later severely damaged in the horrible Lahaina fire in August 2023).  Our resort accommodations on all the islands were fabulous!

(Note:  This was the trip that we changed from using cameras to cell phones only for photography.)

Island-hopping route of our Hawaii trip.

 

Oahu’s famous Waikiki Beach with Diamond Head in the background.

Our ferry boat approaches the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Honolulu.

 

Getting ready for a scenic helicopter ride on the Big Island.

 

 

Looking into the crater of Kilauea volcano; note the smoke from bubbling lava.

 

We saw this ribbon waterfall on a helicopter ride along Kauai’s beautiful coastline.

 

I caught Pat enjoying our sunset catamaran ride off Kauai's coast.

 

Standing under the banyan tree in Lahaina on Maui.

 

Sunset during our farewell dinner on Maui.

 

California

Having visited Yosemite National Park before, and being disappointed with dry waterfalls, we timed this trip for maximum waterfall action and were “right on the money.”  We started in San Francisco, crossed the Golden Gate Bridge to get a taste of giant redwood trees at Muir Woods, and then back to San Francisco by ferry.  Then it was on to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks to view the unbelievably huge sequoia trees, and finally to Yosemite, where we hiked around Yosemite Valley to view the fantastic waterfalls and stupendous surrounding granite cliffs.

Route of our California trip.

 

The imposing San Francisco Bay Bridge.

Sequoia trees in Round Meadow in King’s Canyon National Park.

 

Standing in front of the General Sherman sequoia tree, the largest tree in the world by overall mass.

Scenic country between Kings Canyon and Yosemite National Parks.

 

The iconic view of Yosemite National Park, from the entrance to the valley, where we could view El Capitan, Half Dome, and Bridal Veil Falls.

Cross-valley view of Bridal Veil Falls.

 

The one and only 2,425- foot Yosemite Falls

 

 New England

This trip’s objective was to see New England’s fall colors and we scheduled the date accordingly.  Mission accomplished; we bussed all around the picturesque small towns of New England - and found fabulous colors everywhere!  We also toured historic Boston, bussed to the top of Mount Washington, took a cruise on a lobster boat, and visited Arcadia National Park and an Atlantic-coast lighthouse.  We ended this trip with a wonderful dinner in Boston with grandson Clinton and his wife Shell.

Route of our New England trip.

 

Boston’s Old North Church.

 

Fall colors in Manchester, Vermont.

Fabulous colors at Franconia Notch, New Hampshire.

 

New Hampshire’s 6,288-foot Mount Washington - very cold and very windy.

 

Pat helps bait the lobster trap on our Lobster boat excursion.

 

How’s this for brilliant fall colors?

Lighthouse along the coast of Maine.

 

Grandson Clinton and wife Shell joined us for dinner in Boston.

 

 Canadian Rockies

We had visited the Canadian Rockies before, and enjoyed the scenery immensely, but the special objective of this trip was a ride on the famous Rocky Mountaineer train.  Starting from Vancouver, the train traveled in two days (with a night stop in Kamloops) to Jasper National Park.  From there we bussed southward through some of the most beautiful mountain scenery we’ve ever seen to Calgary.  Except for a few stoppages for competing train traffic, we really enjoyed the Rocky Mountaineer - a real high-end experience with special view cars, comfortable accommodations, great food, and free booze.  We also toured Vancouver, including a small plane flight over the area, walked on the Athabasca Glacier, and took a zodiac float trip down the Bowe River in Banff.  Our wonderful trip ended with a farewell dinner in Calgary with a couple of Canadian Mounted Policemen as guests.

Route of our Canadian Rockies trip.

 

Getting ready to board the Rocky Mountaineer train in Vancouver.

 

Front row seating on the Rocky Mountaineer. 

 

We walked around the lake at Jasper National Park.  Our hotel is visible in the distance at upper center.

 

Peyto Lake, along the scenic highway between Jasper and Lake Louise.

 

One of our favorite places - Lake Louise.

 

View from our raft, on a float trip on the Bowe River in Banff National Park.

 

Early morning view of the Bowe River from our hotel in Banff.

 

We were “arrested” by a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman at our farewell dinner.

 

British Columbia

We’d been to Seattle, Victoria, and Vancouver before.  On this trip we wanted to explore the islands in the area by boat.  Our 100-passenger ship, the National Geographic Venture, traveled along the route shown below, stopping at various islands where we could explore by zodiac along the shore, or be dropped off to hike to special sights, like waterfalls.  The Venture was first class all the way, with comfortable staterooms, very nice public areas, and great food and drink.  The staff was a combination of friendly Lindblad and National Geographic nature experts and photographers who hosted many informative talks on what we were seeing.  We also got to tour Victoria, including our favorite, Butchart Gardens, and learn about indigenous peoples.

Water route of our British Columbia trip.

 

Victoria’s beautiful Butchart Gardens.

 

Another of Pat’s beautiful flower photos.

 

Our National Geographic boat, the Venture.

 

Our National Geographic boat, the Venture.

Typical British Columbia island scenery - mountainous islands fronted with low clouds.

 

Lucky break - caught this rainbow off our stateroom balcony.

 

Approaching “Chatterbox” Falls in Desolation Sound by zodiac.  After landing, we took a short hike to the falls.

 

Approaching Seattle before sunrise at the end of our voyage

 

  

As senior citizens, Pat and I think that traveling with a small group, and especially with a knowledgeable tour director, who takes care of all arrangements and logistics, is the way to go.