Pierogifest 2023

Posted on July 28, 2023 by JimG

July 28, 2023

A few years back, I was working in the Chicago area and saw a TV advertisement for the Pierogifest in Whiting, IN.  It looked fun, This was one of my favorite foods and I have met so many people who have no idea what a pierogi is.  I knew that pierogies were popular with people who knew about them but a festival?  How cool is that?  I wanted to go but I couldn’t change flights around so that I could be in the area for the festival.   Things came up, the pandemic happened and I wasn’t travelling during that time and five years later, I decided that I needed to make the time to attend this food festival.

As I drove from Chicago into Indiana, I began to wonder, have I been to Indiana?  I am pretty sure that I haven’t.  I like to travel and am proud at the list of states that I have seen but I have a ways to go to say that I have been to all 50.  This was another state that I could add to my list of places I have been and what better reason to go to Indiana but to celebrate the pierogi!

I grew up with pierogies, to me it was the ultimate dish, a potato dumpling, sometimes potato and cheese or potato and onion. It was sauteed in butter. It was considered a side dish but growing up, I would be more than happy to give up a steak or piece of chicken to have more pierogies. I could make a meal out of it.  At the festival, they had pierogies filled with potato, potato and cheese, sweet cheese, mushroom, mushroom and sour kraut, cherry, strawberry and plum.  The had sauteed pierogies and deep fried.   They even had a Pizza-rogi.   The only thing I didn’t try was the strawberry pierogi.

I loved them all!

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San Simeon 2023 – Bye the Wind Sailors

Posted on June 15, 2023 by JimG

May 29, 2021

San Simeon is considered central California, it is just south of Big Sur, and it is home to Hearst Castle.  If you aren’t familiar with Hearst Castle, google it. It is something to see.  The climate in Central California is very different from the warm sunny weather we get in Los Angeles.  I remember going to Northern, CA and Central, CA in July and August and having to wear a jacket during the evening.  The Central Coast which is just south of Big Sur is much cooler and although the beaches are beautiful, it is not a beach to lay out in the sun.

I saw a news story about a month ago about these creatures called “By the Window Sailors”, they are fascinating!   The are various shades of blue but as they die, the become transparent.   I had heard that these start washing up on shore before an El-Nino year but I had no idea just how many of these would wash up.  There were thousands of them in just a few square yards.

The have a couple of tentacle underneath them but according to the news story, you could pick them up by their sail.  I picked on up and threw it back into the ocean hoping it sail off but instead of it being carried out to sea, it washed backed up again.

At any rate, I hadn’t seen the before and I was fascinated with them! Continue reading →

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San Simeon 2023 – Seal Beach

Posted on May 28, 2023 by JimG

May 29th, 2023

The name of the beach isn’t seal beach.  I have seen a few names for it including the San Simeon Seal Rookery and Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery.  It is something to see, according to the literature that I picked up, it is home to over 25,000 elephant seals.  The have built a walkway above the beach which allows people to watch and view the the seals basking on the beach.

They are entertaining to watch, they like to lie close to each other but one seal will get fussy which disturbs other seals.  It seems like they spend a lot of time lying there and then adjusting and readjusting.   We had visited this beach the last time we were here in the fall and we could clearly see that the seals were molting.

We also spotted some very friend squirrels, especially the baby squirrels.  They were cute and very friendly, only to realize that everyone was feeding them whatever snacks they had in their car. Continue reading →

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Margaret Brown House, Denver CO 2023

Posted on May 13, 2023 by JimG

May 13, 2023

Margaret Brown, also known as the unsinkable Molly Brown, lived not too far from our hotel, her house is not a museum. I have always been fascinated by everything related to the Titanic and how she survived the Titanic.  I thought this could be an interesting stop.

I was also aware that after she died, the American Socialite’s life became highly fictionalized and she became known as the “Unsinkable Molly Brown”.   I thought it would be interesting to learn about about the really Molly Brown who was a wealth woman, a philanthropist and a fight for women’s rights.

I thought this would be a quick stop and it was much better than I expected.  First, the house looks like a small house from the front. Once inside, I realized there were three floors and much bigger than I expected.  It was a glimpse into life around the turn of the last century. There was a wooden stove, fireplaces in almost every room. I wondered how many kids would recognize the wooden phone on the wall.

I was really impressed with how well everything was documented.  There was printed material in every room, you could read more about it on the internet and listen to audio tours.  The offered both guided tours and self-guided tours.  I opted for the self guided tour so that I could go at my own pace.

The following morning, we headed back to Los Angeles, overall a wonderful adventure.  I would have loved to have spent some more at some of the stops but you never really know how much time you need (or want) until you get there.  I will be going back to spend some time at some of those spots.   I am going to be looking at scheduling a Rocky Mountaineer trip in Canada.

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The Rocky Mountaineer – Glenwood Springs, CO to Denver – 2023

Posted on May 12, 2023 by JimG

Glenwood Springs Train station

May 12, 2023

We had time to grab breakfast before getting on the train, we found a spot called the Daily Bread.  On our way to the place, we spotted a “Mama’s Pierogi” food truck and at the restaurant they had blintzes on the menu and pierogies on the lunch menu.  Clearly, there was an eastern Europeans population in Glenwood Springs.

As we walked around, I couldn’t help but notice how picturesque Glenwood springs was.  It sits in a canyon along the Colorado river surrounded by the Rocky Mountains.  There are hot springs in the middle of town.   It has a small town vibe, an old town, something out of a western movie.   Gunslinger Doc Holiday is buried in the cemetery.

I could have spent an extra day or two exploring the area but it was back on the Train where out crew started the morning with a toast.  We then headed out through the Rockies to Denver. The scenery was just as amazing as the day before and we saw a lot of wildlife.   We went through areas that weren’t accessible by car.   The service on the train was outstanding and the crew made us all feel that this was an event – and it really was.

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The Rocky Mountaineer

Posted on May 11, 2023 by JimG

May 11, 2023

We were picked up at the hotel and we boarded the Rocky Mountaineer.  The Rocky Mountaineer is a Canadian rail tour company.  It isn’t an Amtrak, and it isn’t about getting from point A to point B, it is about train ride and what you see on the ride.  We were boarding the train in Moab and heading to Glenwood Spring Colorado where we would spend the night at the Hotel Denver and then board our train in the morning and head to Denver.

We were greeted by our crew – one chef and three servers.  These four people weren’t for the entire train, they were for our car, each car had their own chef and servers.  It quickly became clear that they were aiming to make this an event.

While on board, we were served gourmet meals, and drinks. On the first day, we started out with hors d’oeuvres and then later dinner.  The Rocky Mountaineer employees kept announcing areas of interest and pointing out wildlife.   We spotted deer, eagles, eagles’ nests and bison.  We were also told that we should expect to see a full moon.  I had no idea that people rafting in the Colorado river liked to moon trains as they went by.   We saw it a few times!

There was plenty of room and we could wander back to one of the two bar cars or stand on a platform in between the trains to take pictures with unobstructed views.  Typically, I am always trying to get the best photograph, on this ride, I decided to focus in on taking it all in and not worry about the pictures.

We arrived in Glenwood springs as the sun was setting.  Our hotel, the Hotel Denver was across the street from the train stop.  We were handed the keys to our room and didn’t have to check in, our luggage had already been delivered to the room.

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Moab 2023 – Part II

Posted on May 11, 2023 by JimG

Park Ave

May 11, 2023

We were picked up at the hotel at 7:15 AM for our morning tour of the Arches National Park.  The night before, there were 24 people on a large bus.  This morning, there were two other people.  Although we were told these were pretty much the same tour, they ended up being very different.  The van could park in areas that the bus couldn’t, we didn’t spend as much time getting on and off the bus.  We ended up doing a lot more hiking!

Obviously the area doesn’t get much rain but I curious as to how hot it got, the guide said that it could easily reach 90 and 100 degrees start in June through August.   I was glad that we were seeing it in May.

There are over 2,000 arches in the Arches National Park. As I expected, seeing the park in different lighting conditions made it all look different and although I had seen some of the same arches the evening before, I was just as fascinated with seeing it all again.  This is one spot that I could have spent a few more days at.

After the tour, we headed back to the hotel and decided to have lunch at the BBQ place next door to the hotel and then it was time to start the best part of the trip – to board the Rocky Mountaineer!

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Moab 2023

Posted on May 10, 2023 by JimG

The double arches

May 9-May 10, 20223

We arrived in Moab mid afternoon and checked into the Hoodoo Moab Hotel by Hilton.   I had booked a sunset tour the following night and a morning tour the following morning. After checking in, we walked around the town to see where things were. We stopped into the Moab Adventure center who told me that the tour of the Arches park that I had booked were pretty much the same, I told them that I was OK with that, I wanted to see the park at different times of the day.

At dinner, we ran into Ellen and Carroll who was sitting in front of on the van from Las Vegas.  I remember Ellen saying something and I thought, her accent sounds like she is from Texas.   It turned out that they were from San Antonio, TX where I have spent a lot of time.  Everyone on the tour seems very nice and you begin to feel like you know them when you spend several days in the same van. .

The following morning we had breakfast at the Jailhouse Café for breakfast and then walked around the town. The previous days were up early with the luggage out by the door.  It was nice to have some free time.  We didn’t buy any t-shirts or refrigerator magnets, but it was fun looking.

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Bryce Canyon -2023

Posted on May 9, 2023 by JimG

Bryce Canyon

May 9th, 2023

The day before, we arrived in Bryce Canyon late afternoon.  Dinner was at Ebenezer’s Barn and Grill which provided a BBQ dinner along with a live country music show.  I don’t dislike country music but I am not a big fan of it either.   The BBQ was great and entertainment provided by the Bryce Canyon Wranglers was outstanding.  During the show they explained that Ebenezer Bryce had  discovered the canyon when he lost a cow and went looking or it.  “Helluva Place to lose a cow!”

We headed out early to beat the crowds. Like the previous days, I know pictures weren’t going to to it justice.  Although I took a lot of photos, I also wanted to experience the park and take it all in.   When we were done, we headed to Moab!

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Las Vegas to Zion National Park – 2023

Posted on May 8, 2023 by JimG

May 08, 2023

It was a rough start in the morning. One of my pet peeves is when you are on a group tour and someone is late.   I was that person this morning but in my defense, the documentation said the location was “To Be Determined”, I called the Rocky Mountaineer customer service number and asked and asked them and they said the hotel lobby.  The Nomad hotel is a hotel within a hotel, the meeting point was in the park MGM lobby, I was waiting in the Nomad Hotel Lobby.   We got it all straightened out but I felt like we were the ones who held up the group and as the last people on, we sat in the very back of the four row van.

There was  a total of 8 people on the tour bus besides the tour guide.   Las Vegas Blvd was under construction, as it always seems to be when I visit Las Vegas and it seemed like forever to go just a few blocks.  At one point the guy sitting in the front made a political joke.  I found myself wondering, why in a brand new group of people would he do that, it doesn’t matter if you are right or left, in a group of 8 people you are bound to offend someone. Yet I see the same types of political slamming on Social Media.

The tour guide didn’t miss a beat and said, “I once heard someone say, if you want to talk about religion, then go to a church, it is a place to  talk about religion, if you want to talk politics, the you can go to hell.” Everyone laughed and I thought it was a great way of shutting him down but I wondered, why in a group setting would you start out making political comments.

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