Since we last wrote, we left the hacienda north of Quito on Wednesday and made our way to Cotopaxi National Park about 50 miles south of Quito. We hired a driver to take us between the two destinations, which included a stop at the equator itself, about 15 miles north of Quito.
Quito was our last stop during our Ecuador journey. We had an afternoon to explore the Old Town, designated a World Heritage Site.
Sandy and I are now flying at 37,000 feet and have we have just crossed the coast of Africa between the border of Tunisia and Libya. The turquoise water is in stark contrast with the desert city of Tripoli.
Fairbanks was the first stop on our Alaskan journey. We visited a gold mine, the Trans Alaska Pipeline and took a riverboat cruise.
We took the train to the Pacific Ocean, at Whittier, and boarded the cruise ship to continue our journey. The first stop was a day cruise in Glacier Bay National Park, which was spectacular!
As we continued towards Vancouver on the cruise, we sailed through Alaska’s Inside Passage and stopped at three well-known cities: Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan.
Our time in Belize was primarily in the southern portion of the country, near Placencia. Here we relaxed at our beachfront bungalow and took a scuba diving lesson.
Traveling across the USA by train is an unique way to see and experience the variety and scale of the country. We broke up the journey, stretching it into a 17 day trip in August / September 2004, by stopping at Glacier National Park for five days and visiting Chicago before reaching New York City.
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.
After weeks of planning and researching and packing, the day of departure is here. Even with all the preparations that we had made, we were still busy literally up to the time we left for the airport on Sunday morning.
