Glacier County, Montana (Glacier National Park)

September 7, 2020 – September 9, 2020

Glacier National Park 

9/7/20 – Driving to lake McDonald West Glacier Park we stopped in the store that had dinosaur eggs that were found by the store owners wife Marion https://www.nps.gov/articles/mesozoic-egg-mountain-dawson-2014.htm

We finally arrived at our hotel and after settling in we decided to go and check out the park of course on the way to Glacier National Park there was an unexpected blizzard so a big part of the park was closed.

9/8/20 – Today we woke up and decided to hike the rocky point trail and it was well worth it because the landscape views were amazing.

After lunch and a nap, we hiked the sacred dancing cascades for a short while it was late in the day. Right after the hike we drove to town and had dinner at glacier highland restaurant.

9/9/20 – Today we woke up early and packed up our stuff and headed to Trail of the Cedars and Avalanche Lake Trail of the Cedars was beautiful. If you don’t have enough time to hike the Avalanche Lake Trail the waterfalls in Trail of the Cedars is a spectacular sight.

The John Deer Journal – Scrap metal art

Hotels We’ve Stayed In :-)

These are some of the fabulous Hotels we were lucky enough spend time in.

**If you would like to skip to any particular area please click on the links below.

Amsterdam, NetherlandsAmstel Hotel – April 8-12, 2013

Andasibe, MadagascarVakona Forest Lodge – June 15th – 16th, 2016

Anguilla, CaribbeanBelmond Cap JulucaApril 23, 2017

Asheville, North CarolinaOmni Grove Park Inn – October 23, 2020 

Athens, GreeceHotel Grand Bretagne – August 10th – 13th, 2005,
                                                                                      November 3, 2011,
                                                                                      July 12, 2018

Atlanta, GAWaldorf Astoria – November 2, 2019 – November 5, 2019 

Austin, TexasFour Seasons – May 17, 2021 – May 18, 2021

Baltimore, MarylandFour Seasons – October 14, 2020 – October 15, 2020

Bangkok, ThailandMandarin Oriental – March 30th & 31st, 2014

Bora Bora, French PolynesiaFour Seasons – January 21, 2015

Boston, MAXV Beacon – October 11, 2019 

Big Island, HawaiiHilton Hotel – February 28 – March 2, 2017

Charleston, South CarolinaBelmond Charleston PlaceOctober 26, 2020

Charlottesville, VirginiaAlbermarle Estate at Trump Winery – October 15, 2020 

Chicago, ILPeninsula Hotel – August 30, 2017 – September 1, 2017
                            Trump Hotel – March 21, 2019 – March 23, 2019

Cape Neddick, MaineCliff House – August 2, 2020 – August 5, 2020

Cincinnati, OhioNetherland Plaza Hotel – April 28, 2019 

Dallas, TexasThe Joule – May 15, 2021 – May 17, 2021

D.C. – District of ColumbiaTrump International Hotel– June 8, 2021

Des Moines, IowaEmbassy Suites – August 23rd – 24th, 2017

Dubai, UAERaffles – November 22, 2011
                            Medinat Jumeirah – September 2, 2019 – September 4, 2019
                            Burj Khalifa-Armani-September 4, 2019-September 6, 2019  
                            Burj Al Arab – September 7, 2019

Eze, FranceLa Chevre D’Or – May 27, 2019 – May 29, 2019

Florence, ItalyFour Seasons – February 2011

Grand Anse Mahe, SeychellesHilton Northolme – June 18th – 22nd, 2016

Grand Rapids, MichiganAmway Grand Rapids Hotel – April 26, 2019

Honolulu, HawaiiRitz Carlton Residences June 14, 2022 – June 18, 2022

Hot Springs, VirginiaOmni Homestead October 17, 2020 – Oct 19, 2020 

Huntington, NYOheka Castle – September 2018 

Jerusalem, IsraelWaldorf Astoria – July 15, 2018

Johannesburg, South AfricaIntercontinental – September 20, 2019 

Kahuku, HawaiiTurtle Bay ResortJune 18, 2022 – June 20, 2022

Ko ‘Olina – HawaiiDisney Aulani – September 13, 2018 – Sept. 20, 2018
September  14th – 21st, 2013
September 7th – 14th, 2014                                                                                                    September 23rd – October 1st, 2016                                                                                    February 23rd – February 28th, 2017

Kruger National Park/South Africa – April 2009

Livingstone, ZambiaRoyal Chundu – June 7th – 13th, 2016

Maui, HawaiiWestin Hotel – March 3rd – 7th, 2017

Milwaukee, WisconsinHilton Hotel – August 28, 2017

Montauk, New YorkGurney’s Star Island – October 9, 2020 – Oct 10, 2020

Monte Carlo, Monaco Hotel De Paris May 23, 2019 – May 27, 2019

Nairobi, KenyaGiraffe Manor – September 8, 2019 
                                    Angama Mara – September 9, 2019 – September 13, 2019  
                                    Salas Camp – September 13, 2019 – September 16, 2019   

Nashville, TennesseeHermitage Hotel – May 24, 2017 – May 25, 2017

New Orleans, LARitz Carlton – October 28, 2019 – October 31, 2019 

Newport, RICastle Hill – October 9, 2019 
                              The Chanler @ Cliff Walk – October 10, 2019

Orlando, FloridaRitz Carlton – August 25, 2022 – August 27, 2022

Oceania Cruises Suites

Palm Beach, FloridaThe BreakersSeptember 22, 2013, October 25, 2015
                                               Mar-A-Lago – Members since 2021 

Papeete, French Polynesia – January 24, 2015

Park City, UtahSt. Regis – September 27, 2016 – September 28, 2016

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania –  Ritz CarltonAugust 8, 2019 – Aug. 10, 2019

Rome, ItalyWestin Excelsior Hotel – February 7th – 20th, 2011
                             Ritz Carlton -August 18th – 21st, 2012
                             Waldorf Astoria Rome Cavalieri – August 23, 2018
                             Waldorf Astoria Rome Cavalieri – June 2, 2019 – June 4, 2019

San Diego, CalifoniaThe US Grant – September 20, 2022 – September 23, 2022

Sedona, AZEnchantment Hotel – September 27- 29, 2010

St. George, UtahThe Inn at Entrada – August 27, 2013 – August 29, 2013

Venice, ItalyLuna BaglioniFebruary 3rd – 5th, 2011

Waikiki, HawaiiTrump International Hotel – June 20, 2022

Walland, Tennessee Blackberry Mountain – Oct. 21, 2020 – Oct. 23, 2020

White Sulphur Springs, VirginiaThe Greenbrier – Oct. 18, 2020 

Zakynthos, GreeceLe Sante Blu – July 7, 2018 – July 11, 2018

Zambia, AfricaRoyal Chundu – September 17, 2019 – September 20, 2019 

 

Athens, Greece 2018

July 12, 2018 

The first thing John and I always do while in Athens is walk through Plaka. We always stay at Hotel Grand Bretagne which is in the heart of the city.  After grabbing a bite to eat we decided to burn off what we ate and walked to the old Panathenaic Olympic stadium and we also visited the Temple of Hephaestus,  Stoa of Attalos, Zappeion and lastly the Temple of Olympian Zeus. The next day we woke up and got a transfer to the port to board the ship.

July 22, 2018 – Second time visiting Athens

Today we took a taxi to Syntagma Square with our friend Samantha and saw the official changing of the guards with the band after that we walked to Plaka which is my favorite place to visit while in Athens.  We decided to have lunch and then took a taxi back to the ship.

Follow us on our journey the next destination is Heraklion, Crete – Greece.

If you would like to see the food we ate while we were in Athens click this link.

A church we saw on the way to Patra, Greece.

Temple of Olympian Zeus

Panathenaic Stadium

Zappeion
Syntagma Square

Church of Panagia Kapnikarea
Temple of Hephaestus
Acropolis
Stoa of Attalos

This is a great store. Everything sold there is made from Olive Wood.

Athens, Greece (2005)

August 10th – 13th, 2005

This trip was my mom, and we visited Athens, Greece we decided to walk around the Acropolis of Athens and take pictures. I wish the pictures were better, but that was a long time ago my camera is much better now. The only problem is that there are a lot of people visiting currently, so it’s impossible to get pictures without crowds of people.

I had a great time with my mom in Greece we went to visit the rest of our family in Kalo Nero, Messinia but unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures we will have to go back so that we can have some pictures of my aunts, uncles and all my cousins.

Changing of the guards at the Acropolis of Athens

Parthenon

Maria and her mom Georgia
Parthenon
Maria

Maria

Erechtheion

Theatre of Dionysus
Odeon of Herodes Atticus Theatre
Syntagma Square

Athens, Greece (2011)

The Parthenon

November 3, 2011

Excitement is traveling to the Motherland!

Flying to Greece to visit my godmother, Roula, and godbrother, Basili. It is exciting; I haven’t seen them since September 2000 I was looking forward to a great reunion.

Maria – with My God Brother Vasili & My God Mother Roula

John has heard so many stories about them but has never met them. Unfortunately, my lovely Godfather Evangelos passed away a few years ago he was an unbelievable person. He was Greek but was born in Egypt, and he spoke nine different languages.  He had so many great stories enough to last a lifetime.

We flew into Athens two days before we were supposed to board the cruise ship for our 18-day voyage.  Our itinerary was from Athens, Greece to Dubai, UAE.  This was the first time I was going to be on a cruise which made me nervous and excited. I wasn’t sure how I would do with the rocking of the boat at night so wish me luck. The next day we had a private tour of the city.  I had seen all the monuments already, but I thought it would have been a good idea to hire a guide to explain things better especially dates and facts.

The first place we visited was the Acropolis sitting high above the city. You can’t miss this archeological site. It is truly spectacular to see it in person. I just can’t imagine how difficult it must have been to erect these structures. We primarily spent most of the time at the Acropolis and at the museum there is so much to see.  I have posted some pictures of the main monuments that we saw at the Acropolis such as The Parthenon, Temple of Hephaestus, the Erechtheion, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus & the Theatre of Dionysus.

When I was younger, you were able to walk up to the Parthenon and touch it, but over the years people were destroying the structures with graffiti, so they have all of the monuments roped off.

We also had a chance to visit Syntagma Square it was right by our hotel when we first arrived in Athens it was at night, so John didn’t get a chance to see the soldiers guarding the building, so we made sure he saw that. After the tour, we decided to meet my godmother and godbrother for dinner at one of the local restaurants that Roula loved.

The one disappointing thing was that we were staying at Hotel Bretagne and that is right next to the Parliament building, and at night there was a lot of protesting going on.  The people were breaking off marble from the surrounding buildings and throwing them at the presidents home.

Amazing staircase at Hotel Bretagne

We board our ship in the morning and cruising the mediterranean sea to our first port which in Cyprus. Follow us on our journey next stop is Limassol, Cyprus.  

Temple of Hephaestus
Erechtheion
Odeon of Herodes Atticus
Theatre of Dionysus
Photo courtesy of Greek Gateway
Photo courtesy of Greek Gateway
Photo courtesy of Greek Gateway
Riot Police