Mediterranean Cruise - Part 1

I would like to apologize up front - this is likely going to be a long post. I have included links to my Flickr albums for each day. I didn't remove any images unless they were complete crap since I wanted to share with Ken & Karlene. Some of the highlights are included in this post, but if you want to see them all use the links provided.

Jeannette and I cruised with long-time friends Ken & Karlene on a 10 day Mediterranean cruise from Barcelona, Spain to Rome, Italy, and we also stayed an extra night in Rome for additional sightseeing. It was our first trip to Europe and served as a very exciting and entertaining way to whet our appetite for travel.

We booked this cruise as a package through Costco. I was overall very happy with the entire experience and felt like Costco provided us a very good value with one little hiccup I will describe later.

Our cruise itinerary on Celebrity Constellation.

Day 0 - Arrival and Embark on Constellation

Link to Med Cruise Day 0 - Arrival and Embarkation Pictures

We flew from Seattle to Barcelona in the early evening with a stopover in London. With the 9 hour time change and long flight to London, we arrived around the same time of day one day later, tired and exhausted from all the travel. Our layover in London was uneventful. Heathrow is a gigantic airport. We arrived in terminal 3 and had to move over to terminal 5 for our connection. A first time London traveller, I was more than a little nervous about the process. We had to follow the signs down to a shuttle over to T5, and then once there we had to go through security again. Seems like everything in Europe is a little more chaotic but we made it through with no major problems.

We managed to find a coffee shop and stretch our legs a bit before boarding the flight to Barcelona. The Barcelona airport was less frantic than London and we breezed through immigration and customs with no issues. Our package had a transfer from the airport to the hotel for the night. Jeannette was very excited to see a driver holding her name up! An uneventful drive to the hotel left us with plenty of time to go exploring for dinner. We elected to find a small Spanish cafe and enjoy something local and our hotel was able to point us in the right direction. Tapas and wine and exhaustion - it was a very good day.

We had another transfer booked from the hotel to the cruise terminal the next day at noon, so that left us a few hours to go out exploring. There is a park called Parc de la Ciutadella across the street from our hotel that looked promising so off we went.

The park was awesome with many great examples of old architecture and ponds to explore. It also contains the Barcelona Zoo, but we didn't have time for that adventure. The park also served as a major location for the demonstrations associated with the Catelonian region declaration of autonomy and we saw a media setup and the local authorities were erecting barriers throughout the park. The crowds hadn't arrived when we visited. We did see news reports later that highlighted several locations we had visited.

We also found time to visit a small beach behind the hotel and got our first exposure to the Mediterranean Sea. The weather was spectacular for our entire visit with temperatures in the mid-70's to low 80's all week.

Our transfer to the cruise terminal was the only hiccup associated with the Costco package. As noon approached and passed it became clear our driver wasn't coming. After calling the company and being told they had no record of our transfer we decided to grab a taxi and ride to the terminal. Karlene saved the day by digging deep and recalling enough Spanish to get us safely to our destination. It was all very smooth and we were at the terminal in plenty of time to check in. Once we were on board and had a drink in hand all was good!

Impressions of Barcelona - beautiful city. Clean, safe and wonderful to visit. Lots of graffiti, but it seemed more artistic than anything. Too much to see in a day. We will be back!

Our Chariot!

Some interesting architecture in Parc de la Ciutadella.

Artistic downspout on a school near Parc de la Ciutadella.

News media van setup for demonstrations later that day.

An example of Barcelona graffiti.

The travelers at Cascade Monumental.

Cascada Monumental in Parc de la Ciutadella.

Narrow streets on our trek to find dinner in Barcelona.

Goodbye Barcelona - we shall return :)

 Day 1 - Alicante, Spain

Link to Day 1 - Alicante, Spain Pictures

Alicante, Spain started at dawn and immediately looked promising. Ken and I noticed what looked like a fort positioned on top of a bluff overlooking the city and hoped we could find a way to visit. We had a shore excursion booked to visit a winery in the Novella region and the scheduled return time left us several hours to explore Alicante before heading back to the ship.

Off we went. Celebrity has a pretty good system for getting people off the ship and headed the right direction to their excursion bus. We all meet in the theatre and are assigned a group number. When our group is called we leave and proceed as a group to the assigned bus. Much less confusing than my previous experiences on other cruise lines.

Our primary destination was the Casa Sicillia winery in the Novelda region west of Alicante. The excursion included a walking tour of the grounds and some wine tasting. It was fun but the group was a bit large and there were multiple groups present. The tasting seemed more like cattle feeding at a trough and I found a less busy area to sit and relax a bit.

We also visited a nearby sanctuary named Santuario de Santa Maria Magdalena. This was a fantastic stop at a church with fascinating architecture. This place is not old by European standards, but it looks very old. I believe it was started in 1906 and finished in 1946, so compared to other places we visited it was just a baby.

Once back in Alicante we started wandering around and stumbled upon an elevator that took people up to the fort - Castell de la Santa Barbara. A couple of Euros and we saved ourselves a very long trek up the road in warm weather. Ken tried to break the ticket machine and we wound up having to walk a bit to find an ATM to get some money, but we made it. The castle was the highlight of the day for me.

Impressions of Alicante - another beautiful Spanish city. Very clean and felt very safe. Absolutely would visit again. Great stop.

 

Looking at the Castell de la Santa Barbara from our ship at arrival.

Sanctuary in the distance from the Novelda winery.

Detail above sanctuary entrance.

Fascinating architecture at sanctuary.

Best view of the front of the sanctuary.

Spanish flag flying over Castell de la Santa Barbara.

Looking down on Alicante and the bull fighting arena.

Castell de la Santa Barbara at night before departure.

Day 2 - At Sea

Day 2 was spent at sea with no port calls. It was a nice break and a good day to relax and rest. Jet lag was still playing games with us and we knew we had several days of early morning excursions coming up.

Celebrity is bucking the cruise industry trend of eliminating live music performances. We all really enjoyed the house band, Just in Time, and made an effort to go see them whenever we could. We had a couple opportunities during the at sea day and had a great time. Weather was good for the entire trip and it was always comfortable to be out on deck - different from my previous cruises in Alaska.

After a quiet morning without much going on we grabbed a table on the pool deck and played cards for a couple of hours.

Day 3 - Seville, Spain

Link to Day 3 - Seville, Spain Pictures

After having a day of "rest" at sea we were ready for the next adventure. The cruise terminal was in the coast city of Cadiz, but our excursion was a self-guided tour of Seville, Spain. We were provided transportation to and from Seville from the ship - about an hour each way. After talking to our guide we decided on visits to the Real Alcazar (a landmark Moorish royal palace with fountain-filled gardens, ornate arches & 16th-century tiles), and the Seville Cathedral (12th century - a large Gothic cathedral featuring iconic Moorish bell tower with city views, plus Columbus' tomb - 3rd largest cathedral in the world). Our guide also promised a quick stop by the Spain Plaza (1928 - a landmark square with a large water feature, seats with painted ceramic tiles & an ornate pavilion) on our way back to the ship.

Here's something that is good to know when traveling in Europe - they love their holidays! Our trip to Seville (including a stop at the Cathedral with the purported remains of Christopher Columbus) was made on Spain's holiday commemorating Columbus' birthday! As you might imagine, it was a tad busy all over Seville, and in particular at the Cathedral.

Our guide dropped us off after a short walk from the bus to a spot near the Real and Cathedral. We were to meet back at a set time. We went out armed with little information about what would be involved in a visit to the 2 locations and were quickly faced with long lines to enter the Real, and the Cathedral didn't open for another hour or so. The lines at the Real were long and confusing. There were really 2 lines - one for people with reservation (not us) and one for those poor suckers without (that would be us). At the point where we joined the line it was not obvious that there were 2 separate lines. We figured it out and made our way inside.

The Real Alcazar was pretty cool. There were 2 distinctly separate areas inside. The structures were impressive but crowded. The gardens were nice and very uncrowded. We chose to spend some time in the gardens to try to make a deposit in my "people tolerance" bank before heading back to the buildings.

The Cathedral was impressive inside and out. Huge - I can't explain how large it was without a few pictures to give a sense of scale. One of the things Ken had mentioned was walking up the tower steps to see a view from the top. Jeannette wasn't interested and so the 3 of us trekked up to the top. Narrow corridors and sloping pathways (instead of steps) made the walk tolerable and the views were impressive. Jeannette had agreed to stick around the area near the entrance but the3 of us made better time than she expected, and so when we came back down she was nowhere to be seen (she was off shopping at the gift store). I seriously thought we had lost her for a few minutes. There were many people in the Cathedral making it hard to pick anyone out of a crowd.

One of the most entertaining things that happened in Seville was Ken's attempts to get a pizza ordered and cooked in something like 12 minutes to allow us to get back to the meeting point on time! I am not sure I could have done it in an English speaking country, much less Spain. Well done, Ken!

Our quick stop at the Plaza was impressive but uneventful. I think the crowds were light because of the unseasonable warmth, or maybe because of the siesta? Either way, I was much happier.

Impressions of Seville - another beautiful, clean and safe Spanish city. Crowds were much larger, but we did visit on a national holiday.

Streets of Seville.

Entrance to the Real Alcazar in Seville.

Inside the Real Alcazar.

Gardens inside Real Alcazar.

Looking down the inside of the Real Alcazar.

The seville Cathedral - 3rd largest in the world.

Inside the Cathedral - impressive seems like I am low-balling it.

Columbus' tomb...maybe...who knows. But they claim his remains are there, and  that was enough to attract huge crowds on Spain's national holiday to celebrate his birthday.

Looking out on Seville and the Real Alcazar from the tower at the Cathedral.

This is the tower we climbed for the views. Long hike up!

Fountain at Spain Plaza on a beautiful day. 

I started taking pictures of the wines I sampled on our vacation. I missed my first - a Pinot Grigio. This one was my first red and it was delicious. I was lucky to be traveling with Karlene, my self-appointed sommelier :)

My HW3 Rally Results

I covered a lot of ground over 8 days :)

I just returned home after 8 days riding around portions of 7 states (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Montana and Wyoming). 3 days to get to Grand Junction, 3 days for the rally and 2 days to get home. Lots of great experiences over those 8 days and I'll try to capture the best without rambling on too long.

The Ride Out

3 days and a nice visit with Eric and Jodi before I made it safely to Grand Junction, CO for the How the West Was Won rally. I had a great ride with many curvy roads, lots of mountain passes and very little interstate riding. I had planned to ride WA-410 around Mt Rainier - one of my favorite roads - but made a wrong turn somewhere and wound up riding through the park instead. That was a nice little treat since there was very little traffic that early and I had the roads mostly to myself.

The two highlights of the trip (excepting the visit with the McCauleys) were US-12 between Lewiston and Missoula, and US-93 from Missoula to Salmon. If you haven't ridden those roads, give it a go. I have been on US-12 before but there has always been road construction. Not the case this time. Smooth sailing with very little traffic and no orange cones. It probably helped that I rode through on a weekday - I am sure it is busier on weekends. This was my first ride on US-93 south of Missoula, and what a treat. Again, very little traffic and no construction cones. And what a blast! If you need to even out the wear on your tires from too much interstate riding, this is the road to use :)

I was able to work in several memorial visits in Montana, Wyoming and Utah (7 in all). That helps keep me off the interstate. I rode through smoke all the way in to Idaho, and then again as I approached Missoula. Fires in western Montana made my Missoula visit kind of a bummer. The fire burned down to the road in many areas and I was struck by the efforts that must have been required to save the many houses and buildings along the highway. I was told there were mandatory evacuations in the area a few days before I arrived.

My exit from the park.

Not as much smoke up at this altitude.

A stop along US-12 and the Lochsa River.

Smoky morning in Missoula.

There should be a lot more mountains should be visible.

My favorite stop - Kemmerer, WY.

No road trip is complete without orange cones and flaggers...

The Rally

Next up is the rally. I had two routes planned. One went over high passes in Colorado and Wyoming and would have covered about 1350 miles. It was high on the "Wow" scale but I began to second guess the amount of time to schedule for an ascent up Pikes Peak and Mt Evans, especially on a weekend, after talking to some very helpful fellow rally riders from Colorado. My "backup" route covered more mileage but was on easier roads to make good time. I ditched the passes and focused  on my backup plan Friday evening.

This rally presented many challenges for planning. Some bonus locations gave positive points (Heaven), some gave negative points (Hell), and each rider had to balance the number of Heaven and Hell bonus stops or suffer a penalty. Additionally, combinations of Heaven and Hell bonus stops would provide a "Combo" point bonus. And there was also a theme involving spelling words to earn a wildcard to replace a Heaven or Hell bonus. Lots of variables, difficult to plan. And if you ran into problems on the ride there might not be a good way to recover. Definitely more challenging than last year.

Here's the route I planned and rode:

Lots of great riding on this route, but I have to say my favorite parts were headed up towards Teton National Park and the trip through the Rockies on I-70. Weather was very nice, too.

Riding 1450 miles in 32 hours (including 4 hours of sleep) is challenging. There were several bonus locations that required a visit during daylight hours only. Some roads had some dirt riding required to get the required picture. Weather is always a factor and this trip was no different. While I was lucky and didn't really see too much in the way of thunderstorms, there were a few on my path north into Wyoming that made me pull over and check the weather app on my phone. A 30 minute stop at a gas station was all that was required to wait out the strongest storm cell. Additionally, riding this far in such a short time requires night riding, and night riding in this part of the country means animal activity. I have very good lights on my bike and that helps, but the only solution that has worked out for me is to slow down, sometimes well below the speed limit. I did see a few deer and several "open-range" cows, but nothing that surprised me and all of it easily avoidable.

My first day of rally time went well without many problems, and I made it to my planned stop in Rawlins a half hour early and ready for sleep. Jackson, WY was the only real frustrating part of the ride, but I expected it to be slow and just tried to get through town as efficiently as possible. Given more time I might have found a loop around Jackson, but it all worked out in the end. 

The Rally Master threw us a small curve ball at the rider meeting - 25 points per church visit during daylight hours, and 50 points per cemetery visit after dark. I was able to plan several cemetery stops from Rawlins to Cheyenne before the sun came up.

My second day of riding was also mostly uneventful. I was up very early on a schedule to visit a church in Cheyenne along with several cemeteries before sunrise. I waited on breakfast to make sure I could get to the couple of cemeteries in Cheyenne before sunrise. The ride from Rawlins to Cheyenne is all interstate and traffic was just a bunch of trucks and me. I made all my stops and finally took a break to eat some real food and grab some coffee. It had been cool all morning and I was ready to warm up a bit.

The rest of the trip back to Grand Junction was all interstate riding and uneventful with great weather and expected traffic. The trip through the Rockies was awesome! Starting at 5200 feet in Denver, the interstate eventually climbs to over 11,000 feet as you pass through the Eisenhower tunnels. I was amused by the chain-up areas as the road continued to climb higher and higher. There were signs along the road giving mileage to the next area and I remember thinking I must be near the top only to be faced with another group of chain-up areas. 11,000 feet is easily the highest elevation I have ridden so far. This pass isn't as challenging as others since it is an interstate with friendly sweeping curves instead of the normally tight turns and lower speeds you encounter on less travelled routes. But the scenery was still spectacular.

Once I realized I was going to be back to Grand Junction fairly early, I started hunting for churches in the many small towns along I-70. There are an amazing number of churches in pretty much every small town.

One of many small churches I visited. They were eager to invite me to join them :)

I managed to visit one Colorado memorial site along my path back.

I had to pull over for this picture. Couldn't have asked for better weather.

Back in Colorado!

I did things a bit differently for this year than last year. The rally requires riders to keep a log of places visited with time and mileage. I kept that log real-time last year but felt like that process had slowed me down a it. This year  I decided to take a picture of my odometer (with clock) and a picture of the bonus at each stop. I used the pictures to build the bonus log after stopping for the day. It worked out well, and having the odometer pictures made building a timeline very simple. I also made a smaller version of my rally placard. This allowed me to keep everything I needed in my tank bag and not have to get off the bike at every stop (unless I needed to stretch my legs).

Also different this year was my approach to all of the word bonus locations. For last year's rally I had all of the stops pre-planned. This is my preferred method. Because of my last minute change of plans this year I didn't have all the stops prepared and had to pick them up along the way. It worked out fine in the end (I had all the stops completed on the first day), but made driving by a sign a bit stressful.

Different bike this year, too. Big change from the Wing to a BMW RT, but the gas mileage improvement made a huge difference in efficiency. 200 miles on the Wing and I was stressing the next gas stop. The RT routinely made it 250+ miles before the fuel light came on. I estimate I needed 2 fewer gas stops. It all starts to add up. I was also a lot more comfortable pushing my RT through he curves a bit harder than the Wing.

I wasn't sure how competitive my route was going to be this year. Unlike last year, nothing jumped out at me in terms of "the route". I found several that I thought would be strong, but they all required more miles than I was comfortable with. I ended up finishing 8th with a very competitive points/mile ratio. Overall I am very happy, had a great time and plan to do it all again next year!

Riding Home

Faced with possibilities for collecting some more TOH memorial sites or just getting home efficiently, I decided to take a direct route home and avoid the extra miles. My seat isn't great and my body was protesting the miles ridden over the last few days. I left at a reasonable hour on Monday morning, stopped in Boise overnight and pushed home on Tuesday. I did take a small diversion from Grand Junction to Salt Lake City that was worth the extra few hours.

A nice little stop in the Yakima Canyon on the trip home.

Not a memorial on the list, but a doughboy stop :)

I love Utah's sign :)

Obligatory bike picture.

Peaceful stop on my way out of town.

Montana!

Wonderful trip across Washington and Idaho to reach Montana today, even if it was hot and smokey. I took a wrong turn somewhere around Mt Rainier and wound up riding through the park at 7am - no traffic and great parking. Temps started rising as soon as I came out of the park and approached White Pass on US-12. 90F by 10am, 105F for a good portion of the ride from the Trip-cities through Lewiston and towards Lolo Pass. Thankfully it cooled off once I started climbing.

Very smokey all the way across Washington and Idaho. Most of the smoke in Idaho and Montana seems to be from fires in those states (unlike our smoke which has been donated by Canada).

Highlight of my day - US 12 over Lolo Pass. Let's call it a perfect storm of no traffic, good weather and no (yes, I said no) road construction. I think I passed one car the entire 100+ miles. I have never enjoyed that road so much.

Tomorrow takes me on a short trip down to Idaho Falls to visit friends. I have one memorial stop planned in Hamilton, MT. It will be a short day of zero interstate riding.

Here's a few pictures I took - the sun was interfering around Mt Rainier. Guess I should have ridden on the other side!

Along the Lochsa River on US 12. Time for a shade break to cool off.

Great riding in the park today. The secret is to go early.

Best I could do with all the sunshine. Mt Rainier.

No one around to interfere...I like going early.

On My Way to Colorado

I am headed out for a rally in Colorado this week. Travel plans are extensive and include Washington, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana...and maybe others. Should be a lot of fun. I have plans to visit several TOH sites along the way, but not until the second day since I have visited all of Washington and Idaho already.

You can follow along using this trip link here.

The app I am using does send a position update when there is no cell signal. It buffers them and sends as a batch when signal is regained. That's why it might look like I am time-warping :)

I have the ability to add custom text and pictures to custom messages, so take a look when you see them. I will try to send a few shots along the way.

More updates will follow as I make progress. The rally is Saturday and Sunday.

Headed to Colorado...and Other States

I haven't been out riding much the last few months because of work commitments, but finally there is light at the end of the tunnel and I have been able to plan out my trip to Colorado for this year's How the West Was Won rally out of Grand Junction. I took part in this rally last year and had a great time riding in beautiful areas not previously seen. My main goal this year will be to back off of my "Type A" traits and actually take time to enjoy the scenery a bit more. We shall see.

I also updated my Instagram username to "twoWheelTimothy". I plan to update from the road and keep with a mostly motorcycle (and probably food) theme for the account. Follow me on Instagram for somewhat real-time updates.

Last year's trip was fantastic. I rode out to Colorado with friend Bill Lynes over 2 days and we took a fairly direct route using mostly interstates. This year I am headed out there by myself and planning a trip on mostly state highways through southeast Idaho for a short visit with Friends Eric & Jodi.

2016 - First Colorado Visit!

2016 - Afternoon Theme - Thunderstorms!

2016 - And a Lot of High Elevation Riding :)

No ride this summer would be complete without figuring out how to gather some Tour of Honor sites...and this trip is no different. I don't have much planned the first day since I have already cleaned up Washington and Idaho, but should be able to visit 5 or so on the final 2 days. I am hopeful I can finish up all 7 sites in Utah and Wyoming while finishing the rally and riding home.

Here's my planned route to get to Grand Junction:

Route to Grand Junction

Highlights include riding US-12 through Idaho up to Montana. I have been on this road before and am hopeful the road construction isn't too much of a pain. Why ride US-12...?

That's why!

I am also looking forward to riding US-93 south from Missoula into Idaho. I have not been on that stretch of highway before and it looks promising.

Rally plans will have to wait for next weekend. The bonus pack is issued by the rally master next weekend allowing for a week of planning. I am on a work trip through the end of the week so this is something I will be looking forward to when I return to civilization! I'll post with a description of my plan once I get it sorted out.

In memory of Greg and others:
$1,000 raised for Mission 22 through Go Fund Me
$220 raised for Operation Tango Mike through my pledge (22 sites visited and counting)

Visit the pages linked above for more information.