Arrived in Rio De Janiero

All of my travel plans worked out great. My cousin Jo Ellen arrived in Rio an hour ahead of me. She got a ride with 6 other people from our travel group to our hotel. When I arrived at 9:15 am there was a driver to get me and take me to the hotel. The hotel is very close to the world famous Cocacabana Beach. The view from our room is less than spectacular. 

Today is is a rest day to catch up on sleep before our group meets tomorrow afternoon. After a short nap Jo Ellen and I walked to the beach and ate a very tasty salmon dinner at a beach side cafe. We sheltered under a leaky canopy during an intense tropical thunder, lightning and heavy rain storm that lasted about 20 min. 

 

 

It was about 100 degrees here this afternoon. The hot sticky tropical weather with late afternoon storms reminded a lot of Malaysia weather. 

 

Plenty of time at the Houston Airport

 If you look closely at the picture of departure flights the current time is  February 2, 1:19 PM. About halfway down the list you see that the United flight to Rio De Janeiro departs at 8:20 pm.  When I arrived from Portland I had 7 hours at the Houston airport to wait for my next flight.  I walked around and discovered that there is lots of art on display here. 

 

I really like the ceramic bunny. I located my departure gate and in case I want to do duty free shopping that is right by the gate.

My primary destination was to find the nearest United Club lounge since a small bag of free pretzels on the plane didn't quite meet my food needs. I had saved one of my two free United club passes to use today. I ate lunch and learned that I can come and go as much as I want today. Maybe I'll locate more art and I will certainly eat more food before I board my flight to Rio De Janeiro.

 

 

 

A Trip to South America

I have a 7 am flight on February 2 from Portland to Houston, a long layover and then an overnight flight to Rio De Janeiro. If all goes well I will arrive at 9:30 am on February 3 in Rio.  I am going on a trip that is with Overseas Adventure Travel  (O.A.T.) My trip is "Exploring South America: Rio, Buenos Aires, Patagonia & Chilean Fjord Cruise." I will be traveling with my first cousin Jo Force who is a retired forestry professor from the University of Idaho in Moscow, ID. If all goes well we will meet at the airport in Rio de Janeiro on February 3. I am spending the night at a hotel near the Portland Airport so I can take a 4:30 am shuttle to the ternimal. I hope to post updates regularly on my blog about the trip. Anyone who is interested and check my blog to see postings. Here is a map of the tour. 

 

This is the map of when the ship we board goes through the Fjords in Southern Chile.  

We added a trip extension to Easter Island onto our trip. Then we fly back to Santiago, Chile and I hope to be back in Newberg, OR on February 28.
 

 

Heading Back ro Oregon

I had a flight that departed at 7 am and it was still dark in Honolulu. Eli left a on aa 8 am flight and Mark had one more day in Honolulu. 

Mark did a run in Tasha's neighborhood and took a picture of these signs.  

Mark had an overnight flight back to the mainland. Tasha was a wonderful hostess and tour guide for our time in Hawaii. 

 

A Day on the North Shore

Today was the last day in O'ahu for Eli and me. We headed to the famous North Shore with a picnic lunch and beach towels. We stopped for a visit at a coffee plantation and then happened upon a surfing competition at Hale'iwa Alli's Beach Park. It was a great place to eat lunch and watch the competition. As you can see they start children young on surf boards!

 

 

We ended our time together at the Barefoot Beach Cafe near Waikiki. Another glorious sunset. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waikiki and the Univsity of Hawaii

 Monday morning Tasha, Mark and Eli headed to Waikiki Beach and and I stated home. 

In the afternoon Tasha's friend Connie gave ua a tour of the University of Hawaii campus. Connie got both her undergraduate and law degree at UH. Tasha has campaigned for her neices and nephews to attend there but none have but it was fun to see the campus.

 

We ended the day with a Rook game at Tasha's condo.

 

Iolani Palace Tour

Iolani Palace was the home of Hawaiʻi’s last reigning monarchs and served as the official royal residence and the residence of the Kingdom’s political and social life until the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893. It is op of evening tours the last weekend of December.