A Great Group of Travelers...

We have a wonderful group going with us on our first official travel-ography.com adventure....and it's only about one month away! Duluth is our destination and the beautiful north shore of Lake Superior should be spectacular the last few days of September (28th, 29th and 30th to be exact).

We'll see waterfalls, lighthouses, rugged shoreline, a mysterious mansion, and nature's splendor revealed in breathtaking autumn colors. And I really hope we get to see a big ship or two enter or leave the harbor.


About 40 of us will embark on this journey...and if you'd like...we could probably take a couple more of you with us (although, as our wonderful and travel wise 'Aunt Shirley' advised us, we are not going to 'overcrowd' the bus).

If you'd still like to go, call 701-352-1810 as soon as you can. Amazingly, we've easily surpassed our goal of travel companions and we still haven't advertised the trip other than on this website and word of mouth.

The cost of the trip is only $299 per person (based on double occupancy). Included in this price is your choice of a Coffee Table Book, Deluxe Photo Album or DVD Video filled with images of our trip. That's what travel-ography.com is all about!

Steve

Rats ! .....

There's something about rodents, more specifically...rats, that just doesn't sit too well with Linda. In fact, all, or at least most, females have the same reaction when the furry little sewer dwellers are brought up in a conversation. More on this later.

On our recently completed West Coast trip we stayed in wonderful accommodations, mostly. From the upscale Marriott in San Francisco (walking distance from the ballpark) to the luxurious and historic Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, we were able to get beautiful and comfortable rooms by going 'online' and making reservations just a day or two in advance, as we traveled.

And, as a special bonus, we were able to get most of these rooms at about half the price of their advertised rates, simply by using Internet tools, such as priceline.com etc.

Our good fortune ran out one evening, about half way through our trip, as we wandered along the coastal highway a little too long and ended up pulling into San Luis Obispo later than we would have liked. Most of the motels were full, due to the fact that the state fair was in town. We grew more tired with each passing 'no vacancy' sign, until we finally pulled into the lot of a nice small chain motel on the edge of town.

As luck would have it, two young ladies behind the front desk informed us that one room remained unoccupied. Realizing we were in no position to negotiate a deal, we gladly paid the going rate, got our keys and headed down the hall looking forward to a good night's sleep. After inserting the key and opening the door, we were in for quite a surprise (although not as much as the present occupants). Yes, the room was already rented and the German lady must have said something to that effect, as she jumped up from the bed and tried to shut the door. Her husband, or male companion, was equally intrigued by this late night intrusion, as he raised his voice from the shower wondering what the commotion was all about. We quickly apologized, in English, and hurried down the hallway back to the front desk.

There, an embarrassed young lady, who informed us this was her first week on the job, admitted to making a mistake and giving us a room already occupied. However, if we could tolerate a 'smoking' room, they did have one other room we could rent for the night. Our options were limited, so we decided to abandon or usual standards and accept the 'smoking' room.

As Linda prepared for bed in the bathroom, I dropped a quarter on the floor and it rolled underneath the bed. Upon dropping to my knees to retrieve it, I was shocked to see this little, fresh pile of mouse turds underneath my side of the bed. Quickly and quietly I did a thorough check of the mattress and box spring to see if there were any holes. I also checked under the covers, under the cushions of all the furniture, and along the walls and corners of the room. I even checked in the small fridge and microwave.

Convinced we were in a room without rodents, I decided that if we were to get some sleep, without having to continue our search for accommodations in the middle of the night, it would be better if I didn't tell Linda about my discovery under the bed. We both slept 'OK' but once on the road Linda did tell me that she felt the motel was rather 'dirty'.

In complete contrast, our rooms the rest of the trip were clean and beautiful ...including the most modern room we've ever stayed in at the Marriott 'Gaslamp Quarter' in San Diego...right across the street from the ballpark!

Speaking of ballparks, which were the focus of our trip, Angels Stadium in Anaheim was to be our final stop before returning home. Unbelievably, as we were getting ready in our hotel room in LA that morning, the first local news story on TV was about the 'rat infestation problem' at Angels Stadium. It seems that the food vendors were waiting until the morning after the games to clean up and rats were moving in during the night to take advantage of the situation.

This was rather disturbing to Linda, although she still consented to attend the game with me that evening. However I did notice that after wearing sandals to all the other games on the West Coast, this evening she wore heavy socks and tennis shoes. And, although we both said that we probably would go without any ballpark food after seeing the TV report, we couldn't resist a fresh strawberry malt from a unique vendor called Ruby's Diner.


Only after convincing ourselves that rats probably don't like ice cream.

Steve

Hollywood 'Beauties'...

Hi again.

This week we've been sharing some of the highlights of our recently completed 10 day trip to the West Coast. The primary focus of our travels was to see 5 more big league baseball parks in our quest to see them all (We're at 21 and counting!)

Many people (mostly females) wonder how Linda enjoys using her vacations visiting ball parks. I think she loves it! First of all, we get to the games early and explore as much of the park as we can before taking our seats. Most of these ball parks are absolutely beautiful and are filled with a lot of cool and interesting things.

Me in front of a 'cool' oversized glove in San Francisco.

We always meet interesting people, who find what we're doing quite fascinating and want to hear about the other stadiums we've seen. In fact, just 'people watching' is a rather engaging hobby. And we also explore the area around the ball parks (sometimes not so safe...but we seem to survive).

And...to make our travels even more enjoyable for both of us, we are open minded and enjoy diversity during the day, seeing the sights of the cities we are in.

For example, while in LA, we took a tour of Hollywood and actually saw some 'stars'. While walking along 'Hollywood Boulevard', we stumbled upon a large crowd of very excited people in front of the world famous Kodak Theater (where the Academy Awards are held). Upon joining in the excitement, we found out Michelle Pfeiffer was receiving her 'star' on the prestigious 'walk of fame' right in front of us. We pressed closer and saw her graciously signing autographs for a 'mob' of fans. Suddenly she turned and headed for shelter, while waving to the throng of admirer's. My 'paparazzi instinct' took over and I fired off some shots with my camera, while being jostled about by others with the same idea.


I didn't get any real good 'face shots' (like the one above that somebody else must have taken)...but I did get a shot the tabloids might be interested in, because (as I was told by a young Asian girl, who was quite a Pfeiffer fan...'That guy with a hand on her butt is NOT her husband!). Ahh.... the life of a bodyguard.


We also saw Paris Hilton drive by....and Lou Ferigno (the Incredible Hulk).

But I gave my camera to a couple of young girls from France and was photographed with the most beautiful 'star' I saw in Hollywood......Lucky me !



Only 4 spots left for the Duluth trip....call 701-352-1810 if you'd like to join us.

Steve

'Splash Zone...'

So you probably already heard, that while following the Giants and Barry Bonds down the coast from San Francisco to LA to San Diego in his quest to become the all time home run leader, we took a break from the games for one night and went to San Diego's Sea World.

Yes, that's the night Bonds tied the all time HR record. We were sitting in Sea World watching Shamu, while Barry hit the 'big one' less than 5 miles away. It didn't bother me a bit.

Shamu was sensational !

Actually, we saw the dolphin show first and the craziest thing happened. This nice young family was picked from the crowd to participate in the show.

First, the mom, while being introduced to the crowd, stumbled and fell backward off the rock she was sitting on and almost ended up in the water. How clumsy and....how embarrassing....and how comical for the crowd.

Then the little boy, at the coaxing of the trainer, almost jumped in with the dolphins with all his clothing on and no life jacket. The trainer was noticeably shaken, as he said most kids shy away or even run when told to jump in. Anyway, he caught the little fellow and all was well. Really, the trainer just wanted the youngster to feed the dolphin some dead fish...which he did without flinching.

However, the trainer then suggested the boy wipe his fish slimy hands on his own shirt and pants. Which the boy did...and which the mom and dad caught on their cameras. The mom, however, leaned off the rocks too far and suddenly fell into the water to the horror and amazement of her husband, the Sea World staff and the crowd of more than 3,000.

Worse yet, the dad shouted that she couldn't swim....which was quite obvious while watching her flail in the water. Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, a dolphin leaped out of the water right over the top of her. She looked horrified as the trainer and a couple of staff members tried to coax her to shore. Just when all appeared totally out of control and she was about to go under, a voice boomed from the PA system that she was a part of the show.


Linda and I, along with most of the crowd, had been completely fooled by this great performance.

Shamu Rocks ! was even more sensational...but I must tell you, when they tell you the first 13 rows are the 'Splash Zone', you should definitely believe them. Simply amazing how these huge whales can be trained to splash the spectators time and time again.


It sure was fun to watch from the 20th row !

(As always...to enlarge the photographs I've taken, simply double click on the image...then hit the back arrow at the top of the screen to get back into the blog. It's that easy.)

More on our West Coast travels in the next post.

By the way, there are still a few seats left on our travel-ography.com Duluth and North Shore Drive trip on September 28-29-30. Only $299 per person (based on double occ.). Quite a deal for the beautiful scenery we'll see from the comfort of a luxury motorcoach.

Steve

West Coast wonders....

Hi,

This week I'd like to share some of the highlights of our recently completed West Coast trip.

From traveling down the California Coastal Highway #1 from San Francisco to LA to San Diego....photographing, by chance, Michelle Pfeiffer in Hollywood....and getting caught up in the wild world of Barry Bonds attempting to break the all-time homerun record...we had a blast !

As we traveled down the coast....we did so in a brand new Chrysler 300 (we were supposed to get a compact car but the rental company was all out of them so they 'upgraded' us, at no extra charge, to this very nice midsize Chrysler....which, by the way, came in pretty handy as we maneuvered our way through 8 lanes of traffic(on one side...16 lanes total !) in the metropolitan areas in safety and comfort.

We saw a lot of great sights along the coast, including the magnificent and rugged coastline of Pebble Beach and Carmel and Big Sur. As we took a break and strolled along the ocean we noticed this interesting sight down along the beach.


Must be some sort of 'visual social commentary' on the difference in interests between guys and girls. We thought it was comical.

As beautiful as the coastline and beaches were....one couldn't escape the 'smog' as we passed through Los Angeles.


By the way, I now have driven right through the heart of most of the countries largest cities, including New York City (downtown Manhattan in a green Jeep among all those crazy yellow cabs!)....Chicago (where we actually pulled our minivan over and asked a cop, who was sitting in his squad car eating a doughnut, directions to Wrigley Field.)....Washington, DC (which was probably the worst since the roads run in the shape of a pie rather than parallel.)....St. Louis, Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Miami, Denver, Cleveland, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Minneapolis and many others...and now, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. Quite a contrast from the long drives through North Dakota, where you can sometimes go for miles without even seeing another car.

More on our wonderful adventure to the West Coast in my next post. By the way, Linda has been out in Seattle the past five days in a reunion with her three college roommates. One of her roommates is married to a coach of the Seattle SeaHawks football team and she invited the other girls out. At last report they are having a wonderful time. She's really becoming a 'West Coast Girl'.

Steve

Trying Times....

This travel-ography.com blog is meant to be upbeat and positive...and to inspire all of us to travel together and see the sights of this wonderful country and world we live in.

With that thought in mind, it has been difficult to compose blog entries of late, since there seems to be an abundance of 'bad news' capturing the headlines. The tragic bridge collapse in Minneapolis, the trapped miners in Utah, the powerful earthquake in Peru, the unstable housing and stock markets, and, of course, the war on terror affect all of us in one way or another. Through prayer, we hope we can ease the burdens of those who are especially troubled in these trying times.

On a positive note, I'm happy to report that the first two travel-ography.com trips are going forward, as scheduled. In fact, the November 10-11-12-13, New York City trip is full and final details are being worked on with an itinerary due to be released in about a week. This is one of our favorite places we have ever traveled to...and New York is very nice in November.

The Duluth and North Shore Drive trip on September 28-29-30, is just a little over a month away and we've got a great group going with, who are going to enjoy some beautiful fall foliage and other interesting sites in this wonderful area of Minnesota. There are still 6 spots open if you'd like to join us. The cost is only $299 ppd. (per person double occupancy). I think we'll have a great time !

Finally, I have to share with you an experience from my 'other job'....as photographer at Steve Larson Studio. We're right in the middle of high school senior season and I sometimes find myself in some rather interesting situations. Such was the case earlier this week, when I was called upon to photograph a young man in his work atmosphere. He wanted to be photographed at his brother's drive-in 'flipping a burger'. We got the shot...and then I ended up on the 'other end' of the camera, as I was bestowed the 'honor' of wearing the 'hamburger hat'.

Pretty cool, huh?



Here's hoping your days are filled with 'good things'.

Steve

Back from Vacation...

Sorry....it's been a while since my last post on this site...but we just returned from a wonderful 10 day vacation.

Linda and I, in search of future travel-ography.com destinations, flew into San Francisco, rented a car, and traveled down the California coast.

Beautiful AT&T Park in San Francisco overlooking the bay.

Baseball parks were the primary focus of the trip, as we went to games in all five big league stadiums in California. An added, and somewhat unexpected, bonus was getting caught up in the wild and crazy world of Barry Bond's pursuit of baseball's immortal Home Run record. We were at games in San Francisco, Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles and San Diego where Bonds was only one HR short of tying Aaron's long standing record. He was revered in San Francisco and despised in LA and San Diego...and we were right in the middle of it, as impartial observers. It was pretty cool. Crazy scene as 'fans' wait for a chance to retrieve the 'historic ball'.

By the way, despite our 'opportunity'....we didn't witness baseball history, as we took a break from the games to go to San Diego SeaWorld one evening. Yes, we were watching Shamu, the whale, while Barry was hitting the record tying HR about 5 miles away. For the record...I'll take the Shamu performance.

I was set to capture 'history' through the lens...but Barry's bat broke.

We had a terrific time... but now it's back to work.

Steve