The first few days of our time in Glacier National Park were spent on the west side of the continental divide. Here we enjoyed our lakeside hotel room, drove along scenic roads and took several day hikes to beautiful lakes.
The east side of Glacier National Park was no less spectacular than the west side. We continued our day hikes in the area and stayed in one of the historic lodges. A day trip to Waterton National Park in Alberta, Canada was a highlight.
After spending time in national parks, arriving in a big city like Chicago was a big change. During the three days we spent here we visited several museums and saw a Chicago Cubs baseball game.
New York City was our final destination on the Trans USA train journey. Here we visited a variety of locations in the city, including the United Nations, Brooklyn Bridge, Greenwich Village and Central Park.
Lima was our first stop on our three week journey to Peru. We spent time there both at the beginning and the end of our trip. Much of our time was spent walking around the large city and seeing the numerous plazas and cathedrals.
We flew to Cuzco from Lima and spent a day there touring the Sacred Valley before going to the Amazon Basin. After that trip, we returned to Cuzco to use it as a base for our trip to Machu Picchu. On both occaisions we enjoyed the beautiful and historic city.
One of the highlights of the entire trip was the visit to the Amazon Basin, which was a short flight from Cuzco to the gateway city of Puerto Maldonado. Once there, we boarded a boat for a journey up an Amazon tributary for a total of eight hours to a research center.
Our time in Machu Picchu consisted of a day trip from Cuzco. After the early morning four hour train trip, we spent several hours at the site, viewng it from above, as well as walking through the various structures of the lost city.
Two days were spent in the Lake Titicaca region, including a home stay with indigenous Aymaran families on one of the islands. Getting to the lake was half the fun, via a 10 hour train trip over a 14,200 foot pass and through the beautiful stark altiplano landscape.
We took a multi-day trek into Colca Canyon, one of the deepest in the world. We visited several villages and viewed condors from a canyon lookout.
