Quick trip to Utah

Duke and I just made a quick trip to Utah. On Sunday we drove from Reno to Provo, Utah. We stayed in a very nice Hyatt Place Hotel and had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel across the street.

Monday we drove to Price, Utah for a family event. It was sad circumstances but it was nice to be able to visit. While we were in Price we went to the Prehistoric Museum at Utah State University. A lot of fossils have been found in the area. It was pretty amazing to see so many of them.

In Price we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. We had a fantastic, very reasonably priced meal at Uptown Steakhouse. We haven’t had “meat on the stone” in a long time. It was so good. Our very nice bottle of red wine only cost $22. On his way out a guy at a nearby table told us he had paid for our wine! What a nice surprise.

Tuesday we drove to Torrey which is near Capital Reef National Park. We spent two nights at the fabulous Skyview Hotel. Our room had a wall of windows overlooking the mountains. We enjoyed the Skyview Hotel so much that it would be a reason to come back to this area. Tuesday night we ate at a great nearby Mexican restaurant, Chak Balan.

Duke enjoying our room at the Skyview Hotel
Our room
Sunset from the roof deck at the Skyview Hotel

Wednesday we hiked the Grand Wash Trail via the Northeast Trailhead in Capital Reef National Park. The trail goes along the wash. Eventually we hiked up towards Cassidy Arch. It’s an absolutely stunning hike. We got an early start so had quite a bit of shade going out. It was a very hot day. The sun was brutal at the end of the hike. All in all we hiked about 7 miles.

At the start of the hike
Our turnaround point
On our way back

The next morning we started home. We spent the night in Ely, Nevada. On the way we stopped at the site where the outlaw, Butch Cassidy lived from 1880 to around 1884.

Cabin where Butch Cassidy lived
Duke tempting fate in front of our hotel in Ely.

The next day we drove home. Outside of Ely we stopped at the massive KCHM Robinson mine.

The mine site
One view of the mine.

We had a Great Summer

I have found that having blog posts about our travels and activities is extremely helpful. So when Duke asks Where did we eat in Budapest? or When did we have that flat tire in the middle of nowhere? I can search the blog and find out.

We have had a busy time since we got home from our last trip on April 10. We leave on our next trip in just two and half weeks so I thought it would be good to publish a chronicle of some of our adventures during the last four months.

  • April 19 – 21 – We camped at Bass Lake in the Forks campground.
Our Bass Lake campground

We were in site 29

  • May 4-6 – We camped at Casini Ranch campground on the Russian River. During the night Friday the rain came down in buckets. Luckily our tent didn’t leak. But some of the campers in our group ended up in puddles of water, We went out for breakfast Saturday morning and by Saturday afternoon every thing was drying out.
Our campsite Saturday morning
Saturday morning after the skies had cleared
  • June 19 though 30 – We did a wonderful four night camping trip in Lassen Volcanic National Park. We camped in sites B03 and B53 in Manzanita Lake Campground. We hiked around the lake, hiked down to Kings Creek Falls, Visited Subway cave and drove Highway 89 through the park, along with a lot of other fun stuff. I made a YouTube video about the trip. You can see it here. Camping in Lassen Volcanic National Park – 4 nights at Manzanita Lake campground
    https://youtu.be/N-a6S1nPs_8
  • On July 2 Bonnie, Duke and I hiked to the Loch Leven Lakes. We had a picnic and went swimming.
Picnic at Middle Loch Leven Lake
Swimming at Loch Leven

Bonnie and I went to a day long yoga retreat at Lake Davis. In preparation for the retreat Bonnie taught me how to ride a paddle board. Standing up was a challenge.

I stood up briefly
At the yoga retreat

July 18-20 – We camped with Brian and Bonnie at Middle Creek Campground near Upper Blue lake. We also hiked to Granite Lake. This trip was almost a duplicate of another trip that Duke and I did when we camped here in 2020.

July is Artown in Reno. We attended several great concerts.

Dianne Warwick outside at Hawkins Amphitheater
  • Last weekend July 26 – 28 we camped in South Shore Campground at Bear River Reservoir.
Perfect roasted marshmallow
The grandkids spent a lot of time in the lake.

All in all it has been a wonderful summer. We are planning a short tip to Utah before we leave for Europe. I’ll probably blog that trip.

Barcelona, Spain to Reno, Nevada

We made it home! Sunday morning in Barcelona we went out for our last European breakfast.

Breakfast in Barcelona

Then we packed, checked out of our hotel and took the Metro to Barcelona airport.

On the Metro
In line to check in

A bit over two weeks ago Level Airlines cancelled our original flight and we had to get a flight two days earlier and cut our trip short. When we got to the airport in Barcelona we found out they had overbooked our new flight and bumped us from Premium Economy to seats in Tourist class next to the bathrooms. Although it was a pretty miserable 12 hour flight, the good news is that we are supposed to get a 75% refund.

On the flight

And the best news is that we made it home. We took BART to Lafayette and Allison picked us up. We spent the night, played a bit with the grandkids then drove home to Reno this morning.

Sweet Pea Restaurant in Auburn where we stopped for lunch.
The view from our room at Casa Vermazen where we are tonight

Bucharest, Romania to Barcelona, Spain

I set my alarm for 4:20 this morning because we had a 7:40 flight to Barcelona. All went smoothly and the next thing you know we were on the Metro to central Barcelona.

Bucharest Arc de Triumph from our taxi on the way to the airport
The metro station at Barcelona airport
Barceloba Arc de Triumph near our hotel.

We checked in to our hotel but it was too early to get our room so we had fun wandering around and enjoying the incredible street life of Barcelona.

A brand of women’s clothes, Sorellas, that does a pop up store tour. There was a very long line to get in.
Inside Estació de França
Archealogic site

For dinner we had tapas at a place we ate ate and loved another time we were in Barcelona

Restaurant Llamber
Tuna and tomato salad
Patatas Bravas
For desert we had a omething like a donut with a liguid liquor center

It was so great to enjoy the energy and street vibe of Barcelona as we walked back to the hotel

Walking back to the hotel.

Bucharest Day 2

It was beautiful day today and we had fun exploring Bucharest. We started with a tour of The House of Ceaușescu. It is the mansion where Nicolas Ceaușescu, the communist president of Romania lived. Unfortunately we couldn’t take pictures inside the mansion but it was a very interesting tour of the opulent residence.

House of Ceaușescu
Garden of the mansion

Next we walked through the park to the National Village museum. They have moved old typical building from regions all over Romania to this park. It was well maintained, large and very interesting.

The National Village Museum

We were very lucky that they happened to be filming some kind of a traditional festivity and dance while we were there. The traditional dress was beautiful and it was a lot of fun to watch the dancing.

Some of the dancers

When we had finished exploring the park we took a Uber back to our hotel. For dinner we walked to a nearby restaurant. I think tonight may have been the first time on this trip that it was warm enough to sit outside for dinner.

Eating dinner

Tomorrow we start our trip home. We have a 7:40 flight to Barcelona where we will spend the night.