Travels

There are 243 posts filed in Travels (this is page 13 of 25).

Amtrak’s perplexing fares

I’m taking the train up to Virginia over the Fourth of July weekend to meet Kelly and the kids. Booking my travel on Amtrak provided an interesting choice in fares.

I’ve got two choices for travel: one leaves Raleigh at 10:56 AM and arrives at Fredericksburg at 3:39 PM. The other choice leaves Raleigh at 8:54 AM and arrives at Fredericksburg at 3:39 PM, but provides a convenient extra two hours to wander around the Richmond train station. So with an extra four hours of travel time you’d think they’d offer a cheaper fare, right? So what does Amtrak charge? An extra fifteen bucks!

I’m still not sure what makes doubling the travel time worth extra money. Bizarre. Maybe this is just a sign of how far rail travel in America has yet to go.

Bonus link: Check out RailServe for promotional codes and good tips about traveling by train.

Return to Carowinds, part 2

Hallie and I met up with Kelly and Travis after Hallie and I got off Thunder Road. We then headed back to our car to eat lunch. We thought we might go from there to the water side of the park (Boomerang Bay) but decided there were a few more coasters to be ridden before that. So we left our swimwear in the car and went back into the park.

Our first order of business was to cool off! It was now after 1 PM and the low overcast skies had now given way to hot sun. Thinking we could cool off at Rip Roarin’ Rapids, we reached the ride entrance only to find out it would be an hour wait. I smirked at this, as this has been the case with Rip Roarin’ Rapids since the first summer it opened. Some things never change. Rather than waste an hour for this ride, we split up again. This time Hallie would take Kelly on Thunder Road while I went with Travis to ride the “helicopters,” also known as Woodstock’s Whirly Birds.
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Return to Carowinds

Arriving at Carowinds

As much as I like roller coasters, and for all the fun I had working at Carowinds in 1985, you would think I would’ve found time to make the drive from Raleigh to Charlotte for a weekend of fun at the park. For whatever reason, though, I’d never done it. My last visit was in 1994, two years after I moved to Raleigh. Though it went largely unfulfilled, my love for coasters lived on. Now that I’ve got a wife and kids who are old enough to appreciate it I figured it was a good time to make the pilgrimage.

We hit the road a little around 6:45 this morning for the three-hour drive to the park. Traffic was light and the ride was easy. We got there right on time, rolling into the Carowinds lot minutes after the park opened at 10. After some thorough applications of sunscreen we headed for the South Gate, with the new Intimidator ride looming over us.

Carowinds now searches bags and runs its visitors through metal detectors. This was a sign of the times but quite effortless. We handed the attendant our preprinted tickets and made it through the gate with no problems.
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John Denver: still big in China

I was listening to the Beastie Boys’ Ill Communication as I was mowing the grass today. The B-Boys are Buddhists and their songs often have lyrics about Tibet. They’d never be welcomed with open arms in China, I thought.

Then I remembered someone who was welcomed with open arms in China: John Denver. Denver toured China in October 1992, playing multiple cities, apparently the first Western artist to tour there. I remembered someone telling me during my visit to China that his song Take Me Home, Country Roads was one of the most popular Western songs in China.
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Arizona Day 4: More hiking

We got in a lot more hiking during day 4 of our Sedona vacation. The day began overcast and a bit cooler (mid 50s) than we had had before, though not uncomfortable. All throughout the day’s hike I was conflicted about what to wear. In the span of 15 minutes I think I had three different arrangements of shirts and jacket.

Heading up

Our target hike this day was Doe Mountain, a flat mesa that we could see from our beautiful “Sedona Hideaway” rental house. Kelly’s parents joined us for this hike along with our nephew, Wesley. At the base we gathered our things and set out for the hike.

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Back from Sedona

We arrived back from our trip to Sedona late last night. Our travel was quite easy, with both kids being travel superstars.

On the way out of the RDU airport we met a family who we’d also seen in Sedona. After riding back to the long-term parking lot and fetching our car, we came upon them standing around their minivan. A quick jump-start later and we had sent them on their way. It was a great way to finish off our vacation.

We’re glad we have Easter Sunday to catch our breath before diving back into the work week. And it’s a beautiful day, too. This evening I’ll catch you up on all the things we did on our vacation.

More fun in Sedona

We got a big break yesterday in our Sedona trip because the rain and snow that were predicted came much later in the day than expected. We got in a good hike along Fay Canyon and enjoyed a lunch in downtown Sedona before the rain clouds began to gather. Around the time we drove the few miles back to the house we were greeted with snowflakes! In the span of one week we’ve gotten three seasons worth of weather!

Today we’re going to Flagstaff to visit the famous Lowell Observatory, where Pluto was discovered in 1930. I’ve also been intrigued by Flagstaff since I first caught a glimpse of it during our trip to the Grand Canyon. Because the messy weather that was expected for the end of this week didn’t materialize we’ve got a few “free” days to explore other cool things.

Grand Canyon

We made it to the Grand Canyon yesterday. Drove to Williams, AZ and hopped aboard the Grand Canyon Railway for the 65-mile trip to the park itself. Stayed about 3 hours at the Canyon and then returned again by train.

It was a great trip. I’ll blog more about it when we’re not on the way to somewhere else!