Summer Vacation Time - San Diego, Hotel Del Coronado, Catalina, and of course DL

[I'm mikey]

One day away. Sort of.

We leave Friday!!! I have to go into work for a few hours in the morning and then we head out.

Mike, I hope you and your family have fantastic and safe trip.

Bummer you have to work a few hours on friday.

 

[kylie71]

Have a BLAST!! Be safe.

Lori

 

[KCmike]

Thanks everyone so much. I do have to work a few hours but after those few hours I will be free for almost two weeks. You won't see a post until we get back. Take care everyone!

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm late! But have a great time and enjoy your trip. Can't wait to see your pictures when you get back.

 

[kylie71]

Mike, how was your vacation?? Looking forward to an update!

Lori

 

[I'm mikey]

Welcome back Mike, hope you had a great trip.

 

[KCmike]

Thanks everyone. We are officially back home. It took us an extra day to get home because we we're so tired. Even now we are still on California time. I am downloading pics to the computer now and will have an update by tonight.

 

[KCmike]

Crowds we're not bad all week long. We were there from June 26 - July 2nd and only the first day of the trip was busy. I would say the crowd levels were about a 7 out of 10 for our whole time there. We were shocked.

 

[mom2rtk]

Welcome back! Can't wait wait for the full report!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Welcome back!


And I hope you didn't get caught up in any of the fires in Colorado!

 

[mvf-m11c]

Nice to hear from you Mike. Can't wait for your update.

 

[MommyLove]

Hi, I hope you had a beautiful time with your family! I can't wait to hear all about it!

I just started checking out the POTD #4 thread since we are planning our first DL trip in three years and I'm starting to get super excited. I'm still early in the thread and the pics I'm looking at are from a year ago (I'll get caught up soon ) but I am really enjoying your beautiful photos. You have a great eye and a fantastic technical talent too. It's super inspiring. This next trip will be the first time since I got my dSLR. I still have a kit lens, but I'm excited to learn more and improve my photography. Anyway, just wanted to give you props for your great photos. I love seeing them!

 

[pas130]

Welcome home Mike! Can't wait for the details...and pics

 

[kylie71]

Welcome back Mike!! We have ben waiting....

Can't wait to hear all about your journey, and see your pics too!!!

Get some rest...

Lori

 

[KCmike]

Day 1 Trip Report.

The first day of the trip was to drive from KC to Colorado Springs, CO. or as far as my wife's back would allow. We started out around 1:45pm and headed out on I-70 West to Colorado. Our first stop was in Hays, KS where we stopped for a bite to eat. We ended up at a place called Montana Mike's steakhouse. It was decent and well needed as we had drove around 5 hrs to get there. From there we thought we would drive a bit further down the highway and try to stop somewhere around the KS/CO border. I ended up seeing a billboard that stated "The quickest route to Colorado Springs" and asked the wife what she thought. We decided to go for it. For those that don't know I-70 is a four lane highway that crosses straight through KS to Colorado. This quickest route was a two lane highway with little or no stops along the way. Think end of the earth with no living beings to ever be seen.

Huge diesels would pass by giving us gusts of wind trying to knock our minivan off the road. We ended up driving this road to another road then to another road and then to yet another road with little hope in sight. Long story short we made Colorado Springs just short of Midnight Mountain Time. Yes we gained an hour heading into CO. One of the scariest parts of the trip was in the middle of nowhere as we were racing towards our destination, we saw what turned out to be cows in a field looking over a wire fence with what looked like red eyes. It reminded us of the movie scene in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles where Steve Martin and John Candy are headed down the wrong side of the highway and they turn to each other and Steve Martin see's John Candy as the Devil. We were very thankful to had made it. It was a long first day journey. We should have stayed on I-70 and stopped somewhere by the border. Lesson learned, never trust the billboard that states fastest route to your destination again.

Here are a few photos of the daylight portion of the Day 1 journey. Amazingly we saw huge windmill farms along our path. Does anyone know exactly what they are doing with this energy they are housing especially in the middle of Kansas?

Up next will be Garden of the Gods and the Manitou Springs Cave dwellings...

 

[KCmike]

Hi, I hope you had a beautiful time with your family! I can't wait to hear all about it!

I just started checking out the POTD #4 thread since we are planning our first DL trip in three years and I'm starting to get super excited. I'm still early in the thread and the pics I'm looking at are from a year ago (I'll get caught up soon ) but I am really enjoying your beautiful photos. You have a great eye and a fantastic technical talent too. It's super inspiring. This next trip will be the first time since I got my dSLR. I still have a kit lens, but I'm excited to learn more and improve my photography. Anyway, just wanted to give you props for your great photos. I love seeing them!

Your very kind. Congrats on the upcoming trip. There's so much to learn with the slr and you will find so many capable people here on the disboards willing to help with any questions you might have. I think I brought home some "keepers".

 

[kaoden39]

I think that farming electricity must be a money maker because I see a lot of farm land in our area being used for that instead of the crops they did before.

 

[onelilspark]

Joining in! I have friends who used to live just north of Denver. I went out a few years ago to visit and we did all the same things! It was breathtakingly gorgeous!

 

[MommyLove]

Cool first day report!

I think I brought home some "keepers".

Can't wait to see them!

 

[mom2rtk]

Wow, that was certainly a quick start to your TR!

And yes, I can attest to what a mind-numbing drive that is. We didn't get started until around 10 the morning we left. But I'm impressed you could do it all in one day starting at 1:45!

I don't even remember the route we took into Colorado Springs. I know we didn't go through Denver, so it was probably the same you took. We had the same issue going home, not being able to decide on the best route home. And once we did, we encountered a "road construction ahead, highly advise taking detour" sign......... and out in the middle of nowhere...... the detours are a whole new route, not just a few extra turns.

I actually like being in the middle of nowhere like that........altough we usually don't travel after dark. My family knows I'd never stay awake to drive!

Can't wiat to hear more!