Travelling Photographer

Patagonia and Iguazu Falls Adventure – Day 5

First an apology – we have been on the go from 7am to 9 or 10 pm – leaving little time to work on photos. So, I’m going to show the best I can with the little time I have – then I will update the travel blog when I get back home. So, enjoy the slimmed down version.

Today we boarded a catamaran for a 2-hour sail through the Ulima Esperanza Fjord. BTW it was raining the entire trip with extremely low hanging clouds. Our trip passed the Balmaceda Glacier and several waterfalls in the area. Along the way we viewed nesting cormorants and not so friendly sealions. We disembarked at Puerto Toro for a hike through Bernardo O’Higgins National Park -no joke. The hike to Serrano Glacier covered a forest and along the shoreline leading to a viewing area of the glacier. After the return hike and boat ride we boarded a bus for the 4-hour ride to Torres del Paine NP.

March 7, 2023 4

Patagonia and Iguazu Falls Adventure – Day 4

Today started with an early morning transfer to the airport for a Flight to Punta Arenas, in the southwestern tip of Chile, the jumping off point to the rugged landscape of Patagonia. Our first stop was a view of the Strait of Magellan. Along the way to our overnight in Puerto Natales we stopped at Cerro Negro Ranch for a traditional lamb barbecue lunch. After lunch we watched sheep shearing and a demonstration of herding by a sheep dog. We then headed to our hotel arriving in the late evening to see our first views of Patagonian snowcapped mountains.

Cerro Negro Ranch

Puerto Nagales – BTW Patagonia means BIG FOOT

March 5, 2023 1

Patagonia and Iguazu Falls Adventure – Day 3

Our second day in Santiago started with a city bus tour of the varied neighborhoods of the city and a walking tour of the “old” city center. Much of the center has been redone in the early 20th century. The presidential palace has been rebuilt after a 1973 Pinochet coup which had started with the air force bombing of the palace, killing Allende who was the world’s 1st elected socialist President in 1970. After the city tour, we headed to Mount San Cristobal for a funicular ride to the mountain top to view the famous 150-foot statue of the Virgin Mary. We had a typical Chilian lunch of chicken and beef “shepherd’s pie” topped with a sweet corn mush. Our afternoon tour was of the Undurraga Winery the oldest in Miapo Valley. The wines were nice, and the tour was interesting especially because it was harvest time & we saw the de-stemming & crushing of the grapes. The owner of the winery has interest in the indigenous Mapuche peoples and had totem poles plus a small museum displaying varied artifacts reflecting their culture. Before heading back to our hotel, we decided to view the Santiago Sculpture Garden about a half hour stroll to the west. It was a very enjoyable walk with an eclectic mix of sculptures and a big hangout for the college crowd. Heading back to the hotel we enjoyed an excellent dinner at Pinpilinpausha in their garden area. Back to the hotel at nine for packing and our 5 am wakeup call for our flight to Patagonia.

Mount San Cristobal

Undurraga Winery

Santiago Sculpture Park

March 4, 2023 3

Patagonia and Iguazu Falls Adventure – Day 2

Our 9 1/2-hour flight from Miami had us arriving in Santiago at 7:00 am along with several other flights – so baggage and customs took another hour. Our driver met us after customs, and we found out what rush hour was like in a city of 5.5 million people. Glad the driver had a good set of breaks and was able to avert a stop and go rear ender. Arriving at our hotel in the financial district way too early for check in we left our bags and headed to the city’s Bicentennial Park for a walk along the river and past several statues of Chile’s war heroes. The path ended at the city’s general services and police building with an unusual triangle shape. We headed back to our hotel, stopping for lunch at the city’s oldest restaurant – Confiteria Torres founded in 1879. Meeting the owner, he proudly showed us a photo of him with Secretary of State Blinken taken last October. After getting an early check-in we started another trek to discover the Japanese gardens while walking around the capital city’s largest urban natural area, which is part of the Metropolitan Park. The gardens were small but well-appointed and provided good views of the financial district and especially the Costanela Center Tower – 62 stores and the tallest building in South America. All tolled 21,000 steps and after a group dinner we were ready to call it a night.

Bicentennial Park

Metropolitan Park Japanese Garden

Santiago Street images

March 3, 2023 2

Patagonia and Iguazu Falls Adventure – Day 1

This trip has been on my bucket list for about 10 years, and we are finally off. Day one is a full travel day Orlando to Miami then an 8-hour overnight flight to Santiago, Chile. Below is a summary of our itinerary and hopefully internet connections will allow me to write a daily blog.

Day 1-3 Santiago Chile

Day 4-9 Torres del Paine and Glaciers NP

Day 10 – 12 Buenos Aires

Day 13 – 15 Iguazu Falls

Day 16 -17 Rio de Janeiro

Mount Fitzroy Glacier NP, Argentina

Iguazu Falls

February 28, 2023 5

October Get-away – Biltmore Estate Ashville NC

We had the opportunity to get a discounted stay at Biltmore’s Village Inn, tour the mansion and experience a Di Vince immersive exhibit. Along with an add-on view of some of the fall scenery in western North Carolina.

October 24, 2022 7

Breckenridge CO-Final Day — September 2022

It’s been a great trip – good hiking, acceptable golf, and fine dining. We took two short hikes before our final round of golf.

Sapphire Point Overlook is one of the most popular hikes in the county. The hike offers stunning views of the Tenmile Range and Lake Dillon. Sapphire Point Overlook is located at the top of Swan Mountain Pass. The trail is flat, with very minimal elevation gain throughout the 0.6-mile loop. The trail loops around the top of Swan Mountain. As you continue around the loop, you see views of Grays and Torreys Peaks, two fourteener-foot mountains along the Continental Divide.

Our last hike was an easy trail that has spectacular views of the mountains of the Tenmile Range and the Continental Divide. The Old Dillon Reservoir was built in the 1930’s to supply water to the original town of Dillon, which is now covered by the new Dillon Reservoir. The trail is an easy 1.7 mile out and back. Just as we have seen all week long, we are about two weeks early for the Aspens to reach their full color. Timing is everything.

We never had a bad meal in Breckenridge, but I need to give a shout out to The Hearthstone Restaurant for one of the best meals I’ve had and applause to Keystone golf courses for fun and challenges.

September 23, 2022 2

Breckenridge CO. Part Two – September 2022

Sunrise views this morning then a surprise as the clouds lifted – 42 degrees and snow on the mountains. This didn’t deter us – we still headed out on our planned hikes.

Our first hike was north of Frisco on the Mayflower Gulch Trail.

Mayflower Gulch is an “easy” 3.1 mile out and back hike. Ha! Easy, but not if you are going from 11,100 to 11,700. I have been handling 9 & 10 K elevations, but this slowed me down. We took in amazing views and explored cool old mining ruins. At the end of the hike, we were greeted with the Old Boston mining site.

Our second hike was to Rainbow Lake in Frisco Co. The trail is 1.2 miles one way @ an elevation of 10,250 ft .

And our final Hike was Sawmill Reservoir Trail. Just west of downtown Breckenridge, Colorado, the Sawmill Reservoir is a 10-acre lake resting at 9,938 feet in elevation. The reservoir is in Summit County and is surrounded by White River National Forest land. The Sawmill Reservoir trail is a 1.3-mile loop trail around the water.

One day left – looking forward to doing the Swan Mountain Road loop in the morning and a round of golf at the Keystone River course – Going to be cold with a high of fifty! Bundle up!

September 15, 2022 4

Breckenridge Co. – Sept. 2022

We decided to take a break from the Florida summer heat and travel to Breckenridge, a place where we first visited about 30 years ago. Our goal was to do some hikes at more than nine thousand feet above sea level for a change and test our golf skills with dramatic side mountain lies. We flew into Denver and decided to take the scenic route along US 285 and CO 9, avoiding interstate 70.

Along the way we visited the town of Fairplay and its South Park City Museum, a 19th century mining boom town. The museum accurately represents a mining town between 1860 and 1900. Forty-four authentic buildings are filled with over 60,000 artifacts. They portray most of the economic and social aspects of boom town life. Seven of the buildings are on their original sites.

Our first day of hiking was on French Gulch Rd hiking the Mineral Hill Trail to the remains of a rock crusher operation, the Reiling Dredge Trail – viewing the devastation from dredge mining, and then hiking the B&B Trail to the Country Boy Mine. Over$7M of gold was mined along with quantities of silver, copper & enormous amounts of zinc

On our third day we drove the Boreas Pass Scenic Drive – The 22-mile off road drive that leads you from Como in Park County, up over an 11,481-foot summit, down into Summit County and Breckenridge. The Toyota Camary rental survived the drive.

Off to the Keystone ranch golf course for a mountain challenge. All I’ll say is putting on the side of a mountain is a lot different than at sea level.

Back to hiking on our fourth day when we took an early morning hike along the Trollstigen Trail to see the Breckenridge Troll and the Illinois Gulch Trail (the pic of Sept. snow is really the remains of a Zamboni at the Breckenridge Ice Ring) as a warmup for our afternoon hike along the Lily Pad Trail. The Lily Pad trail is a 4+ mile round trip trail to an alpine lake.

Lily Pad Trail

On our way back to our condominium we spotted these two having an evening meal.

Our fifth day hiking plans were interrupted by an 80% forecasted chance of rain. But there was a bright side – we luckily saw on Facebook that friends from Pasadena were spending a week in Vail – so we drove over for a reunion 11 years in the waiting. Vail weather started out just cloudy, so we rented E-bikes (a first) to do a half-day ride through bike trails in the Vail area – about two hours into the trip the rain came (hard) so we raced back to the city center and dried out at Pepi’s Bar & Restaurant sampling spicy Bloody Mary’s and German food. After the storm passed, we tour the village and topped off the day with a great charcuterie board and of course some additional libations.