John & Leianne's World Adventures

Road trip from Kamloops, British Columbia to Fort Lauderdale, Florida

john-leianne — Wed, 8 Feb 2017 19:28:00 GMT

Day 1-February 2, 2017.

First leg of our journey was to Couer d'Alene, Idaho. It was an uneventful day of an 8 hour drive. The roads were great and the sun was shining.

It is still very cool, lots of forest.

Day 2- February 3

It was a very winter and long day, 10.5 hours driving time and several blizzards with rain snow and sleet. We arrived safely in Clearside, Utah just outside of Salt Lake City. Tomorrow we plan to drive to Flagstaff, Arizona.

Day 3- February 4

Left Clearside this morning in the rain but then it turned out to be a beautiful day. The roads were fantastic, traveling a lot of the time at 80 mph+. Also, some beautiful scenery of the hoodoos and canyons of Utah and Arizona. Much better weather in Flagstaff.

Ate at a great Mexican restaurant called Aguava. They had the most amazing food that was really inexpensive and the furniture was all hand carved and painted, each piece was different.

Day4-February 5

Left Flagstaff before 8 am and took the legendary Route 66. Stopped in Windslow, Arizon. The song "Take it Easy," first hit by the Eagles was done with this town in mind.

After that we went to the petrified forest and painted desert. I had to buy a few pieces of petrified wood since I love rocks so much. All the colors in the desert are so beautiful.

We ended the day in Tucumcari, New Mexico and watched the Super Bowl in a cute little bar right next to our hotel.

Day 5-February 6

We left Tucumcari after breakfast and went across country to Texas, that looked so much like Saskatchewan, flat lands and fields, except the fields were cottons instead of grain. Things were fairly uneventful until we got to the suburbs of Dallas and then everything changed. The freeways were a mess with construction and detours and the time it takes to get somewhere. Anyway, we got to our destination just fine.

Day 6-February 7

We had a little mishap at our place outside of Dallas. Left our cooler plugged in by mistake for only a few hours. Heads up, those things suck a lot of power and killed the battery. Thanks to our AAA membership they came this morning within the hour, all good.

Travelled to Lafayette, Louisiana with no other events. Nice to see the green again. Texas and New Mexico were very brown. There is also a change in the housing styles, they are a little like mansion styles.

There is a hurricane watch around this area. 50 homes destroyed in the east New Orleans area.

Had dinner at Chilli's next to the hotel. Two for one margs and we shared an appi, always thing of how much they feed you in the USA.

Day 7-February 8

We stayed in Lafayette, Louisiana and headed for Tallahassee, Florida. Went through 4 states, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.

In Mobile, Alabama it was very fogged crossing the 8 mile bridge, probably due to the hurricane and bad weather the day before.

Went to a fantastic restaurant close to the hotel that was farm to table. The owner came and chatted with us about our trip and we were amazed at how everyone worked as such a great team, amazing to watch.

Photos: Kamloops, British Columbia to Fort Lauderdale, Florida road trip

john-leianne — Wed, 8 Feb 2017 14:44:00 GMT

Our road trip and what happens in between

Iceland June 2013

john-leianne — Sat, 8 Jun 2013 06:35:00 GMT

In Seattle airport getting ready for our trip. Meeting John's sister Carole in iceland.

Margarita Island

john-leianne — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 10:01:00 GMT

Ironic-can´t get a decent margarita on this island so far. We stayed three nights at a place on the beach that was at one time very nice but has not been kept up. Nothing works right. So we splurged and are now at the Hilton for three nights. Back to North American standards, hotwater, air con, nice sheets, etc. the things you take for granted. I burnt my lips accidently and I look like impants gone baaaad. My top lip was three times the size of normal, just about one solid cold sore but getting better now. We are going to enjoy the grounds today, they are just beautiful. I think there are five pools to lay around.

Gallery: Venezuela

john-leianne — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 10:00:00 GMT

Sao Paulo

john-leianne — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 08:57:00 GMT

Forgot to put in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We were there for one night before going to Venezuela. It is the 4th largest city in the world and has the most private helicopters of anywhere in the world. We had lunch at Hotel Unique, it is very unique. We watched hellicopters landing on top of buildings while we ate a fantastic meal.

Los Roques

john-leianne — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 17:45:00 GMT

Los Roques is listed as one of the places to see before you die. It is in the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela and is 45 min. out. It is very hot and white sand everywhere. Tomorrow we are going on a quick trip to one of the other islands (there are hundreds) to do a bit of snorkelling.

Buenos Aries again

john-leianne — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 12:10:00 GMT

We went to La Boca yesterday and the Sunday market was on here is San Telmo. The Boca is the colorful area of BA but you need to stick to only the tourist area. It is full of art pictures and Tango dancers. The market has about 30-40,000 visitors for the afternoon. It is huge. Today we are off to Brazil and staying overnight on our way to Los Roques.

Gallery: Buenos Aries

john-leianne — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 11:45:00 GMT

Uruguay

john-leianne — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 14:01:00 GMT

We really enjoyed our trip To Uruguay yesterday. WE crossed the widest river in the world called Rio de LaPlata. I thought it was just the Atlantic Ocean but its not quite there yet. It took an hour to cross on the fast boat. We ran into some people from Edmonton, Mike and Anrea. They have a golf course/rv park outside of Edmonton. She is from Argentina and also a travel agent so it was nice talking to them. We came back about 9:30 and had a hambergesa at the local pub.

Buenos Aries

john-leianne — Thu, 8 Feb 2007 10:50:00 GMT

We arrived at our place (thecocker.com) and were met with open arms by Caroline, a lovely person who is looking after things for the owners while they are back in Britain. The place is amazing. Built in the 1700's and bought by the owners only 2 years ago. They are architects and redid the place, they were even written up in a fashion magazine in Canada in November. Our room, if you go on the website is 12-06. We love BA, there is so much to see and do. All the districts in the city have their own flavor. We ate at a fabulous restaurant last night. John had a huge ribeye steak, I had a beautiful prawn dish, we had 2 bottles of water, and a bottle of great wine for under $30.

Santiago

john-leianne — Mon, 5 Feb 2007 19:00:00 GMT

Saturday we went to the market in downtown Saniago and had lunch did lots of walking and enjoyed all the people around. It is amazing how many people end up in the same place, although it is a city of 6 million.

Sunday we had a tour of the city and learned a lot then our private driver took us out to the country for a wine tour. It´s not like in Candada, you have to make an appointment to go in. It was the best tour we have been on, very interesting, including the cellar of the devil.

Today we went to Valparasio on the Pacific ocean. It was a really good tour. We saw where the explosion was 2 days ago. We had lunch at a beautiful resaurant on the water where the boats come in. Then we went up to the top (44 hills) when you could look over all of the city.

Chile

john-leianne — Sun, 4 Feb 2007 08:15:00 GMT

We left Tacna (not our favorite place) with a private driver who took us over the Chile border. We were there for about 45 min. Everyone has to stand in line and put their luggage through screening just like at the airport. When we got through I asked the driver if there was any time change and he said no it was the same. That meant that we had a lot of time to kill at the Arica airport. So we had a pop and sat around, then about 12 noon we decided to order some fries and a beer. We just got a sip of beer and a guy comes running up to us and looks at our tickets. The plane was waiting for us. Not only 1 hour time change but 2! That was a near miss.

Colca Canyon

john-leianne — Thu, 1 Feb 2007 11:05:00 GMT

John said "I am not going, you go ahead and go if you want." That was about the trip to Colca Canyon to see the condors fly. What was I thinking, a pickup at 2 am, and not back until almost 5 pm. The bus ride was terrible, the road was so bumpy in most places I think I will vibrate for a week. It wouldn´t be bad but we had so many stops along the way. The whole trip could have been done in 8 hours easy. I also spent a significant time in the bathroom due to the buffet lunch we had on the way back, but some gatorade and sleep, I am pretty good now. It was great to see the condors fly, there are not there until 8 am and are suddenly gone at 9 am. They have a wing span of up to 12 ft. On to Tacna, Peru this afternoon, our last stop in Peru.

Arequipa, Peru

john-leianne — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 10:00:00 GMT

We got to Arequipa yesterday and decided to stay 4 days instead of 3. We love it. The weather is perfect. They have great outdoor resaurants, lots to choose from and great shopping which we haven´t looked at yet. We are going to book a trip to the valley to see the condors fly, but expect to do some relaxing here since we had enough of tours last week.

Lake Ticitaca

john-leianne — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 19:45:00 GMT

I have one correction from John. We ate alpaca on our anniversay not lama. Please excuse typeos, this computer is trigger happy.

Last night we had the most amazing dinner. It was fine dining and the presentation was beautiful, I forgot to take a picture Kelly. John had steak, I had a chicken dish, we had a bottle of wine and it was $40.

Today we were touring islands on Lake Ticitaca. It is the highest navigatable lake in the world at 3820 meters. The first 2 islands were floating islands made from reeds called the Euros Islands. The reeds are about 3 to 4 meters deep an they have to keep replacing them. The people that live there use the reeds to make their houses, boats and even eat them.Then the last island was a natural island. We climbed up to the top where it was 4000 meters high. We had lunch up there and then climbed down the other side.

Tomorrow we are off to Ariquipa on the bus. I forgot to tell the guy at our hostel to book first class so our $10 tickets should be interesting. Like John says its all about the experience. It takes 5 hours to get there, and we will be there three days, so you will hear from us there.

Machu Pichu

john-leianne — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 18:30:00 GMT

Machu Pichu was amazing. We have now travelled on trains, planes and automobiles and buses already. We had a 4 hour train ride each way.

We took lots of pictures and when I get time and find out just how to do it I will post some.

We are now at Puno and will post that later.

Sacred Valley and Machu Pichu

john-leianne — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 10:03:00 GMT

Loved hearing the comments from everyone, especially you funny boys.

We got rested up on the 23rd. and only had a little jet lag and time change, although we were up for more than 24 hours.

We went out for dinner and had Lama. It tastes a bit like beef and liver. We both decided it was Ok but we won´t have it again. I had a 2oz. glass of Pisco sour(I will have more) and John had a 2 oz. glass of red wine. Thats a first for our anniversay. We wanted to ajust to the altitude without a problem and we did.

We had a great trip in the Sacred Valley, a couple of great hikes, saw some fantastic ruins and went to the Pisac market. We also went to ruins at Ollantautambo and then to Chinchero which is at an altitude of 3850 meters, higher than Cusco and Machu Pichu.

Cusco, Peru

john-leianne — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 18:37:00 GMT

We left Toronto at 5:30 on January 22 traveling first class, what a way to go. We arrived in Lima at 1 am in the morning and then took the plane to Cusco at 6 am.

January 23 our 34th anniversary, we have spent arranging tours and recovering from jet lag, time change, and altitude. Tomorrow we will tour the Sacred Valley.

We are staying at the Marina Hostel and is fine for $30.