Photos of the 21st annual Kiwanis Hot Air BalloonFest

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These photos are from the 21st annual Kiwanis Hot Air BalloonFest at the Porter County Fairgrounds in Valparaiso, Indiana. I was here for last year’s event and enjoyed it thoroughly, so I hoped the weather would allow the event to go as planned. It was scheduled to be a two day event, September 9 and 10, however the weather on Friday did not look like it was going to cooperate, so I did not bother going there. Saturday was dry and not much wind, but the visibility was limited so the balloons did not seem to go as far as …

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Back to Indiana

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I am back for what will likely be one of my last visits to Indiana. After a long train ride from Los Angeles, Tanya picked up Buddy and me at the Chicago Union Station. Our first stop on the way back to Valparaiso was to the town of Munster and Three Floyds Brew Pub. I discovered this place back in June and immediately fell in love with their beer. I can not say that I have tried any of their brews that I did not like. Since no visit to Valpo would be complete without a visit to Don Quijote …

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A ride on the Southwest Chief

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Buddy and I needed to come back to Indiana for a while, so we decided to take Amtrak’s Southwest Chief from Los Angeles to Chicago. I have ridden Amtrak from Los Angeles to San Diego, and a few times in the Netherlands, but this was definitely the longest train ride I had ever taken. I was looking forward to the adventure since I have driven between CA and IN numerous times in the last few years. I figured that the train would take us through some scenery I had not seen yet and it would provide for some excellent photo …

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Photos from a day at Venice Beach

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Today, my friend, Phil, and I headed out to Venice Beach to check out the 4th Annual National Go-Topless Day march. The march was to “protest unconstitutional topless gender discrimination.” The idea being that it is not fair that men can go topless but women can not. To be honest, I agree with the cause but I foresee men being forced to cover up before women will be allowed to go bare. We shall see. It was a beautiful summer day, we took the bikes. Unbelievable as it sounds [to anyone that has tried to park in Venice on a …

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Photos from the Solvang Motorcycle Museum

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These photos are from the Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum, located in Solvang, CA. Although I was aware that this museum existed, this was my first visit there. It was never convenient on prior visits. Their hours are set up around the fact that Solvang is a tourist town. As I recall the museum opened at 11 AM on Saturday and Sunday. I do not recall their weekday hours. Anyway, I am really glad I stopped by. I am pretty familiar with antique motorcycles and feel confident that I have at least heard of most makes and models, however, this collection …

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Another visit to Solvang

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Last year, I introduced Tanya to Solvang, CA. Solvang is known as Denmark west due to its large Danish population. It is a quaint little town in the Santa Ynez Valley. It is a very nice ride or drive, either by car or motorcycle. Besides lots of touristy things, it is the home of my favorite winery, Sort This Out Cellars [STOC]. After a visit to STOC we found a nice hotel down the street to leave Buddy at, then we headed over to the Solvang Brewing Company. Solvang Brewing Company is fairly new and I guess we got there …

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Asperatus and storm clouds

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The other day, someone made a comment about a photo I had posted on Google+. It was of a cloud formation that I had seen in North Dakota or Montana. They informed me that the photo was of the newly named Asperatus variety. She sent me a link to a Youtube video and a website that is all about cloud appreciation. I was surprised that the clouds were something new because I saw them all across the country when I was following storms. I soon recognized that when I saw them, some very foul weather was to follow. I noticed …

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Photos from Antelope Island State Park

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Anyone that has followed my blog for a while has figured out that I have pretty much fallen for Utah. If they had an ocean I might consider living there. As Brett and I left Idaho I called Tanya to have her see what was coming up. I knew that if we veered too far off I-15 there was a great chance that I would not make it to LAX the following night. I had never followed I-15 past Salt Lake City, so I did not know what was in store for us. As it turns out, the Great Salt …

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Photos from Idaho

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We woke up Wednesday in Jackson Hole, WY. I had less than 40 hours before I had to be at LAX to pick up Tanya. Home was about 1,000 miles from here, if we took the long way. It should not be a problem. It was very overcast in Jackson Hole, but that made for some great photo ops when we got to the mountains overlooking the Snake River and what I think was Swan Valley. We headed into Idaho Falls, where I got to attend my first live cattle auction. After leaving the auction we found out where Idaho …

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A trip to Temecula wine country

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I had a gift I wanted to give to my son and since he lives down by Temecula I decided I would kill two birds with one stone and pay a visit to the Temecula wine country. After securing a room, Tanya, Buddy and I headed out to the Inland Empire. After arriving at my son’s home we tried to find a winery, with a restaurant that stays open past 5:00 PM. I had only attempted to go wine tasting in Temecula once before and noticed that 5:00 seemed to be last call at most of the places I tried …

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