Super-fantastic Journeys

This awesome shot of downtown Fort Worth was on a southbound departure from DFW airport to Phoenix, Arizona.  Was sitting in 11F when I took the shot. You can really see the buildings clearly and the Trinity river as it winds through town.

 The rock formations around Sedona Arizona make it a hiker's heaven. The red rock makes exploring by foot an ideal way to experience the area and see the sites from new perspectives.  These are the hikes that I have completed in the Sedona area.  I have many more that I want to return to hike again on future trips to the area.  If you are here during the summer months I highly recommend getting up just before the sun and try to be out on the trail at sunrise.  The benefits of this are that the hiking temperatures are much more friendly and if you are lucky you will actually be able to find a parking spot at the trailhead. It is important to know that for any trailhead that is developed in the area, meaning it has a restroom, you are going to need to have a Red Rocks access pass.  The pass is $5 a day and multiple day passes are available.  Some of the more popular trailheads have a kiosk where you can purchase a pass with a credit card, but others may not have this convenience. The

 Tuzigoot National Monument is a 53-acre site managed by the National Park Service near Clarksdale, Arizona.  The site became protected as a national monument in 1939 and is an example of the culture and housing of the protects and honors the ruins of a Sinagua people from 1125 CE to 140 CE before they moved north and east to what is now part of the Hopi reservation. This is a fee site for the National Park Service and will require payment on most days.  We were very lucky and happened to hit it on a free park day. Normally the fee is $10 per adult, children under 16 are free.  The fee is good for seven days and will also allow you to enter Montezuma's Castle National Monument. When you arrive and park in the loop lot you can head up the steps to the visitor center.  The visitor center has some interesting displays about the people who inhabited Tuzigoot and some items that were found when the site was excavated.  There is also a nice gift shop located in the visitors center.  Ther

 Neil's Harbour is a small village located on the north-eastern most part of Cape Breton Island.  If you are driving the Cabot Trail, it makes a great spot to stop for lunch and enjoy looking at the sea and the rugged shoreline here.  With a population of approximately 300 people, there is not a lot in town, but the restaurant is well known for its chowder and is on both the Chowder Trail and the Lobster Trail. When you are done eating you can walk across the parking lot and visit Neil's Harbor lighthouse. The restaurant is simply named Chowder House .  You order at the counter, get your drinks and pick your spot at one of the tables where they will brin you your food.  We had to try the chowder which was full of lots of seafood.  The soup is not overly thick for a chowder but had excellent flavor. In addition to the chowder I also wanted to get the lobster stamp for this restaurant so I ordered a lobster roll.  The lobster roll was fresh and had nice flavor.  It was full of lo

 This weeks view from the Wing Tip is of downtown Dallas, TX.  We had taken off to the south and turned left heading to Charlotte, North Carolina.  It was a nice clear day so you could see all of downtown without any obstruction.  The area is also a major hub for multiple highways so this area is called the mixmaxter, you can certainly see why from this view.

 The Five Islands Lighthouse has not had a very easy life.  Currently located in a wonderful park overlooking the north shores of Minas Bay where you can enjoy the wonderful park views of the bay, this has not always been its home.   The lighthouse was first built in 1913 and was located on Sand Point.   The design is a pretty classic square house design that holds both the living quarters and the light itself.  The original coast to build the light was $750.  I wonder what the exchange rate was back then? The structure has been moved three times before arriving at its current locations.  The first two moves were because of shore erosion back in the 1950s.  It came to its current locations in 1996 after the property it was sitting on had been sold.  I am thankful that the community cared enough to save this lighthouse because it serves as a focal point in this stunning park. The views here a panoramic and the tides are amazing.  Clamming is big here and as we visited during low tide we

 During our adventures in Nova Scotia, we learned that there is no shortage of breweries and distilleries available throughout the province. While we were in Lunenburg we walked down the street to check our and visit Ironworks Distillery.  Located in an old blacksmith shop just a block up from the waterfront the distillery takes its name from the heritage of the shop that they now occupy.  When you walk into the building you can see that they are passionate about their brand and connecting to the history that they have adopted for new purposes.  You can see the bright shiny copper still and yet it still breathes the years of history it has experienced. It is a very cool building. Ironworks distillery has a range of different products available for tasting. They had a number of different flavors of liqueurs including blueberry and cranberry which I enjoyed.  They had a decent selection of Rum products which is not one of my favorites so I did not taste any of them.   They also had a gin