Time to Fess Up

Saturday, 2 August 2014
Gulf Waters RV Resort  — Port Aransas, Texas
Temps: LO 78F (26C) / Hi 83F (28C)

We left the RV park at NAS Corpus Christi and moved to our own site at Gulf Waters RV Resort (GWRVR) on Monday.  We’re back in Port Aransas, Texas … home sweet RV Pad!  It definitely feels like we’re back home now.

The temperature here was cooler this week — it didn’t go above 90F (32F).  And with the breeze, it felt much cooler.  I am on the patio at the moment — in fact, the picture to the right is the view from my chair.  It’s 7:00p and the temp is 82F (28C).  The weather website says it feels like 87F (31F).  Maybe in the sun.  But I’m here to tell you that it sure feels a lot cooler in the shade — I wouldn’t be lying if I said that a light sweater wouldn’t go amiss right about now.

Of course, today’s comfortable weather is due to a cold front that brought rain to the area this morning — much needed rain, I might add.  I’m sure things will warm up soon enough and I won’t be singing such a cheery tune.  Then again, who knows with Mother Nature anymore?  Everyone in Port A told us the winter was unusually cold the first four months we were here.  Maybe summer will follow suit ;-)

Those of you who know me personally — and readers of long standing — know that I can’t abide hot temperatures.  Combine that with humidity, and I’m pretty much hiding indoors round the clock.  If that's the case, why on earth would we be in Texas in the summer?  Several readers suggested in comments left on the previous post that we should turn the Phaeton’s nose north and get out of dodge.  Well, it’s time to fess up and tell you why we’re here and why we’re staying put.

Left: A hibiscus bloom from our overgrown hedge;
it sure went wild while we were gone for a month and a half.

Right: Ring-billed gull with a treat!
(I haven’t been taking photos, so I got a little desperate and dug into the archives.)

We’re here because we need to plan and prepare for our next multi-month vacation!  Yup, another non-Phaeton trip is looming on the horizon.  This one will be a winter trip — some might say a summer trip since we will be heading into the southern hemisphere.  I’ll share the details later, but a big part of this vacation will be a road trip around New Zealand — six weeks to be precise.  Road trips in an unfamiliar country require lots and lots of research and planning — much of it on the computer.  Which is why being in a hot spot in Texas is really not so onerous.

As it turns out, it’s a good thing we’re at our home-pad since I’m here all by myself — at least for the next 9 days.  You see, we got a call yesterday that Mui’s brother-in-law had passed away during the wee hours of the day (Turkey is 8 hours ahead of us).  He woke me up at 5:00a to give me the sad news.  Ergin had been quite ill and bedridden for a while now, so his passing wasn't entirely a surprise — but sad nonetheless.

So, Mui flew out of Houston last night and is at his sister’s house in Eskişehir already — that’s a 50-minute plane ride from Corpus Christi + a 7-hour layover in Houston + an 11-hour plane ride to İstanbul + a 1-hour layover there + a 1-hour plane ride to Ankara + a 3-4 hour layover at the bus station + a 3-hour bus ride to his final destination.  He called me at 4:45p CDT today; 00:45a his time on Sunday — I’ll let you do the math on how long his trip took!  The funeral is Monday, so he made it there in time to offer moral support.

It was bad enough dealing with an emergency that had overseas ramifications without Mui having to worry about me staying behind in the Phaeton in some unfamiliar campground somewhere.  Sometimes the decisions we make turn out to be a good thing for more than the reason for which the decision was made initially.

Still on Hiatus, but …

Monday, 9 June
Turgutreİs — Muğla, Turkey

… I couldn’t resist a quick post when I saw this ‘classic’ Class C parked at the timeshare I’m staying at with my family.  It’s odd enough to see an RV anywhere in Turkey, but to see it parked next door to us struck my funny bone.

10 days down, 14 more to go before we leave Turkey.  In the meantime, Mui continues to oversee renovations at his mom’s house in Ankara, and I’m off gallivanting with my family.  I think I got to better end of the deal.

OK … putting this blog back to sleep again ;-)

“Phaeton” Goes into Storage … “Phaeton Journeys” Goes on Hiatus …“Two to Travel” Goes on Vacation

Friday, 23 August

If you have been wondering why we’ve fallen off the sightseeing and exploring bandwagon these past months, the time has come to reveal the reason.  While we might have been physically inactive, I can’t say the same for our brains — busy cogitating; or our fingers — busy surfing the web.  All in preparation for our 3½-month vacation from life on the road.

When I dropped some hints about our vacation plans, some of you guessed Iceland, which is indeed part of our plans.  But far from all of it.  In fact, we started out with Greenland [the picture above being our inspiration], then added Iceland, Turkey, and finally, a couple of cruises to return us to the US.

Our 2013 travels mapped out!

For those interested, the full story of how our vacation mushroomed from 2 weeks to 14 weeks is here.

Tomorrow, the Phaeton goes into storage — along with the toad.  And with that, the Phaeton Journeys goes on hiatus.  But I hope to continue blogging — or at least posting teasers — on the Two to Travel blog.  Sign up to follow us there … or just click the “Our Travel Adventures and Voyages” tab at the top of this blog when the mood strikes.  I’ll probably Google+ the posts as well, so there will be no lack of means for those interested in following us around on our travels.

See you when we get back in December!

Blast from the Past: Modeling Career

1969

It wasn’t a long career … if I recall correctly, it lasted all of one day :-)

I have no recollection of how mom’s hairdresser convinced this essentially shy girl to be a hair model, but here’s proof that I agreed to a short stint on the catwalk!

İzmİr, Turkey

I Intended …

Tuesday, 9 October

… to write a couple of posts for this blog while on my annual trip to visit family in Turkey.  You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men …

Mom has a new wi-fi connection that my laptop doesn’t like.  No problem, her Windows-based laptop connects to the network just fine, and it already has Live Writer loaded so I can use it to post blog entries.  The problem is that I shoot Raw photos and that means I have to use my laptop to process them and then transfer them to her laptop with a thumb drive.  Add to this hassle … I’ve been on the go almost the entire time since arriving in Turkey on 3 October and haven’t had much time to polish any of my drafts.

So, the posts for this blog will simply have to wait until I return to the US.  In the meantime, if you want to know what I’ve been up to in Turkey, hop on over to Two to Travel and check out the “teaser” posts … I’ve been so busy that the full story of the trip is having to take a back seat … just like the posts for this blog :-)

(All of the teasers for this trip can be accessed from the October archive.  Mui’s also in Turkey, but we’ve gone our separate ways and he has yet to send me any photos with which to tease you.  Maybe he’ll see this blog entry, feel the pressure, and send me a photo to post soon!)

Invasion of the Minis

Thursday, 19 April

We’ve been invaded by the minis!  But that’s for later!  Let’s talk about our day first.

We were up and at ‘em really early this morning … our goal: to finish exploring the Cades Cove heritage sites before the crowds showed up.  We were on the road shortly after 6:30a and were amongst the first few cars to enter the loop when the gate was unlocked at sunrise.  I don’t know where the others went, but we were the only ones at the Cable Mill area during the first hour of our visit there.  Perfect!

We explored the sites along the dotted red line shown in the inset.
[GSMNP map courtesy of the nps site; inset map from smokiesweb.com]

I’m going to do a separate post about the heritage sites, but in the meantime …

An ‘Old Timey’ look at the heritage sites on the Cades Cove Loop.

We didn’t make too many stops when we first entered the loop.  After all, our goal was to beat the crowds to the Cable Mill area.  But a few scenes that caught our eye just had to be photographed and taped. 

Breakfast time for the horses that are stabled in Cades Cove.
By the way, that’s fog behind the treeline.

Nice to have a built-in fly swatter.

Wild turkeys strutting their stuff during a morning stroll in the meadow.

Pileated Woodpecker
(or so a birder standing nearby told me; horrible lighting, so you get a B&W Treatment.)

Glimpse of the distant mountains as the sun starts to burn off the fog.

In the language of flowers, the iris means ‘Good news’.
It takes its name from the greek word for rainbow.

The views that the native Americans and the settlers enjoyed back in the 1800s …

… we get to enjoy today.

We weren’t expecting to have to ford the creek on Sparks Lane, but the CR-V is up to the task.

We finished exploring the last of the heritage sites shortly after noon.  Time for lunch … but where?  After weighing our options, we decided to do something different.  Instead of eating at the picnic area near the NPS campground, we parked at the Carter Shields Cabin, one of the heritage sites.  Pulling out the picnic basket and our portable picnic table, we set ourselves up under the trees and had a quiet meal there, acknowledging the waves of visitors driving by.  Perfect.

Have picnic table … will eat anywhere we please.

Actually there was one other person who had the same idea as us — a biker who camped out behind the cabin to eat his lunch.  Later, he stopped by to share some berry preserves he’d bought at the visitor center; in return we gave him a couple of bottles of water and a bag of grapes.  It was an unexpected encounter that added to our pleasure in the day.

Our private picnic area — ain’t life great?

After lunch, we debated dallying around Cades Cove to try our luck with a few more bear sightings.  But in the end, with only one more day of our vacation left, we decided to return to the campground and enjoy the rest of the afternoon at home.  First, though, we detoured to the local IGA to replenish our fruits and veggies.  I don’t usually take pictures in the parking lot of grocery stores, but this time I couldn’t resist …

The minis — Mini Coopers, that is — have invaded Townsend.

They weren’t the only ‘minis’ in town.  When we arrived at the campground it was to find the far loop — and a few of the sites in our loop — filled with Casitas, Scamps, and other “egg campers.”  What a sight!  It was impossible to get a photo to show the full visual impact of all these mini-campers in one place.  But, I found some photos on Tremont Outdoor Resort’s Blog, which I combined into a collage.

Collection of photos from the 2012 Eggscursion of the Egg Camping Club.
According to the blog, there are 72 egg campers from 20 States and Canada at the campground. 
[photos compliments of the Tremont blog]

We later had an opportunity to chat with the woman who owns the Boler pictured in the bottom right corner of the collage — she’s our site-neighbor after all.  A former nurse from New York state, she travels by herself since her hubby prefers to stay at their stix & brix home.  I’m sure she would have been happy to give me the ‘grand tour’ of her Boler, but as usual, I was too shy to ask.

It sure looks like our Phaeton gave birth to a baby-camper!

And on that note, time to wrap up this post with a picture that I took early this morning.  I saved it until last, because it just screamed …

The End!

Fauna, Flora, and Water

Monday, 16 April

After relaxing at home on Sunday (post here), we woke up to a warmer day that allowed us to eat breakfast on the deck.  Yay!  Though we were tempted to laze about again, we decided to take an exploratory drive into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, specifically the Cades Cove area.

We’re just two of the millions of people that will be visiting the park this year.
With a  visitor count of 8-10 million, the GSMNP is the most visited national park in the US.

The drive from the Townsend Entrance to Cades Cove is 9 miles (14 km) of two-way, single lane traffic.  At this time of the year, we’re finding that vehicles are few and far between — except in the 11-mile (18) Cades Cove Loop.

The 20 mph (32 km/h) speed limit on the loop — 35 mph [56 km/h] elsewhere — and the curvy single lane road forces even those visitors who would like to whiz through the park to slow down and take it easy.  And if there is a wildlife traffic jam, then all bets are off — you’re not going to get anywhere fast.

But to really enjoy the park, one must stop and get out of the car.  There’s plenty of entertainment along the way — gurgling creeks and rivers; rapids and waterfalls; colorful wild flowers; birds, and bees, and butterflies; deer, elk, wild turkey, and everyone’s favorite — the American black bear.  Add to that the many, many hiking trails and you’re not lacking for things to see and do.

So, slow down we did.  In fact, we made so many stops and spent so much time at each spot that we only had time to see a few of the historic buildings on the Cades Cove Loop.  I’m going to leave the heritage sites for a separate post after we’ve completed exploring all of them, and focus on everything else that made up our day.

Here’s our story in pictures …

Just inside the Townsend entrance to the park, we make our first stop.

these waterfalls are easily viewed from the road; But that wasn’t good enough for us.
Scrambling over the rocks, we found this perfect spot to view the falls.

A short trail just before the tunnel gives us our first glimpse of wild flowers.
top:  Creeping Phlox; Bottom: daisy Fleabane.
[do correct me if I am wrong on any of the flower identifications.]

I was especially intrigued with this flower, which I believe is a Foamflower.

A close encounter with a millipede (aka thousand-legged worm) provides ample entertainment.

a White-tailed deer encounter during our short walk to the John Oliver Place.

Here’s your chance to see the very rare two-headed white-tailed deer (top left).
Just kidding, but the positioning of the two deer couldn’t have been more perfect.
the trio featured here were right next to the path and weren’t fazed in the least
by visitors walking to the john Oliver place.

Left: On the trail from the John Oliver Place to the parking lot.
Right: Mui with his trophy ‘ginormous millipede kill’ — that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

The lens needed to capture the wide open expanses has yet to be invented.
this is just a tiny portion of the meadow near the john oliver place.

We were alerted to this American black bear sow by a number of cars parked in
every possible spot along the road.  This bear was in a densely wooded area with lots
of branches and shrubs in the way.  She could have cared less about our presence …

… even though she had a yearling cub (top right) foraging a short distance from where she was ‘pretend-napping’.  The photos I managed to get may not be great, but they’re good enough.
After all, unlike some of the other visitors we witnessed approaching closer than was wise,
I had no desire to test mum’s patience and become bear bait.

You can see wild turkeys just about anywhere in the park.  This one  was one of two
that happened to be  foraging in the wooded area behind the cemetery at the Primitive
Baptist Church, another heritage site on the Cades Cove Loop.

Our second ‘close encounter’ with a black bear was after we exited the Cades Cove Loop.
Foraging for berries in a wooded patch below the road, this young adult was more
cooperative  in terms of providing us with a good photo op.

The ranger on crowd control duty at this bear jam told us that the national
Park service estimates the GSMNP black bear population to be around 1,500.

And on that note, we decided to call it an early day and return home to enjoy our campsite.  Comfy chairs placed near the railing behind the coach, we sat down to read, and in my case, process photos.  I didn’t make any headway :-) … hence the teaser post ;-)

I hope it was worth the wait.

Congrats! Two of Your Photos Appear In ...

Wednesday, March 28

“Old News” alert!  This post falls under the ‘blast from the not-so-distant past’ category.

In August 2009, I learned that two of the photos I had submitted for a Fodor’s contest were selected for publication in the seventh edition of their guide book for Turkey.  Here’s the post I wrote at the time in Two to Travel, our non-RV travel adventures blog:

---

What a wonderful surprise! I open my email and find a message from Fodor’s that starts out as noted in the title of the post.  This is all a result of a photo contest I entered on the Fodor’s website.

The content of the email is short, but sweet: “Congrats!  Two of your photos appear in Fodor’s Turkey, which came out last month.  One on page 220 (horse-drawn carriage) and one on page 188 (Temple of Trajan).  I apologize that it has taken me so long to connect with you.  We’d like to send you a complimentary copy. ...”

Unless the copy Fodor’s is sending me arrives in the next couple of days, I’ll have to wait until we return from our trip to the Canadian Rockies to see my photos in print.  In the meantime, here are the two photos in question.

Temple of Trajan — Pergamum

The ruins of the ancient city of Pergamum are located in the modern-day Turkish city of Bergama.  The Temple of Trajan was built to honor the Roman Emperor by the same name and dates back to somewhere between AD 100-130.  It is the one structure at the Acropolis of Pergamum that does not date back to the city’s Hellenistic period.  Visit my Favorites — Fairy Chimneys & More gallery for more images from my 2007 trip to Turkey.

“Fayton” in Gündoğdu Square — Alsancak, İzmİr

I came across the horse carriage on an early morning walk along “Kordon,” the waterfront promenade in İzmir.  I have many fond memories of riding these buggies as a child.  They were a fun and convenient mode of transport for us ... these buggies are now primarily a tourist attraction.  The monument in the background is “Cumhuriyet Ağacı Anıtı” (Republic Tree Monument).  It was erected to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Turkey becoming a republic.  The top portion represents Atatürk and the Turkish cavalry fighting the War of Independence.  The reliefs carved on the marble base depict scenes associated with Turkey becoming a republic.  I like the contrast of having something from my childhood in the same photograph with something that didn’t exist back then.  Visit my Favorites — Ruins & Memorials gallery for more images from my 2008 trip to Turkey.

---

So, why am I re-posting old news?

It was my intent at the time to scan the actual pages from the Fodor’s guide book and publish them in another post.  Well, somehow life intervened.  I got immersed in blogging about our Canadian Rockies adventure after we returned from our trip.  Then, one thing led to another and I never got around to scanning the pages.

A few days ago, as I was looking through what books to put in storage, I came across the guide book again.  It will likely not make the cut, so I thought I’d better scan the pages before it was too late.

Oh, and the two complimentary guide books I received in addition to the one on Turkey … I chose South America and Africa … both of which are on our must-return list for future travel.

Blast from the Past: It Was Meant to Be

Monday, 26 March

I’ve made considerable headway with the photo scanning project I began in December 2011.  Having started with 1982, I’m already through 1994; 1995 and 1996 are organized and waiting in the wings to be scanned next.  Photos after 2001 are already digital, so there’s definitely light at the end of the tunnel.

Looking through the photos we took on a 1995 trip to Turkey, I came across one that just begged to be posted here.  It was taken in May of that year when we visited Bursa, where the Ottoman Empire was founded back in the 1300s.  Today, the city that the Ottomans referred to as Hüdavendigar — God’s Gift — is a bustling metropolis best known for Uludağ (Great Mountain), a popular snow skiing destination.

But I digress.  The reason this photo deserves a place in this blog is in the sister-city post we came across by happenstance.  It’s not a great photo, but if you know the name of the maker of our Phaeton, you’ll understand why I just had to post it.

Of course, the Tiffin referred to in the post is the Ohio city by that name; it has nothing to do with our motorhome.  Still, what are the chances that 27 years ago we would be pointed towards Tiffin.  Call it fate; call it “kısmet” — I think it was meant to be that we would someday end up in a Tiffin-made ‘condo on wheels.’