Pat & Ray Whyde – Page 2 – The Chicken Scratches

Peru: Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu (19-20 June 2019)

by Pat & Ray WhydeJune 30, 2019September 10, 2022

Our main goal in traveling to Peru was a visit to Machu Picchu. This post will describe our private 2-Day Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu Tour, booked through Expedia. Our guide for the 2-days was Amadeo Valer from Inkayni Peru Tours. Amadeo is an archeologist with a side job as a tour guide – see his YouTube videos – so was able to give us many insights other guides would have skipped over. Wednesday, 19 June Our first stops were in Chinchero, where we were to visit the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Natividad. However, there was a wedding …

Peru: Cusco, Andahuaylillas, Pikillacta & Tipón (15-18 June 2019)

by Pat & Ray WhydeJune 28, 2019September 10, 2022

Saturday, 15 June Our flight from Lima arrived into Cusco about 2:30 PM and we took a cab to the hotel. The hotel, Hotel San Pedro Plaza, is new, opening about 3 months, and is located on the upper floors of a building with shops and restaurants on the lower floors. The sign announcing the hotel is very, very small and often overlooked by taxi drivers and tour operators and pretty much everyone else. Fortunately our driver was aware of it’s location. Our rooms were on the top floor and featured no windows, as it was built into the attic, …

Lima, Peru (11-15 June 2019)

by Pat & Ray WhydeJune 25, 2019September 10, 2022

We planned at trip to Peru with my son and grandson, specifically to go to Cusco and Machu Picchu. But first, Pat and I stopped in Lima. We arrived in Lima, Peru, late night on the June 11 – getting to our hotel (Hotel El Carmelo Miraflores) after midnight. We’re here for only 4 nights, before heading to Cusco for the second half of our trip. Wednesday, 12 June The good thing about our hotel was its location only a few minutes walk to the cliff overlooking the beaches and the Pacific Ocean. Lima has a park system running for …

Everglades National Park (23 March 2019)

by Pat & Ray WhydeMarch 23, 2019September 10, 2022

We now live in South Florida and the Everglades National Park is only a couple of hours away (map). Although we had been to parts of the park that is accessible off the Tamiami Trail (the southern-most portion of US Route 41), back when my parents lived in Naples, we had never actually been to the park headquarters, near Miami. When we got to the Visitor Center, the first thing I noticed was a sign listing events happening that day. The event that stood out was an open house at a Nike Missile Base within the park boundaries. After picking …

Costa Rica (July 2018)

by Pat & Ray WhydeJuly 31, 2018September 10, 2022

We have had Costa Rica on our list of places to visit for quite some time – now we made it with my son, David, and daughter, Michelle. David brought our grandson, Justin; Michelle brought our granddaughter, Claire. It’s been ages since we have all been together. So glad David and Michelle both wanted to go Costa Rica when we did. The biggest problem was logistics, as flights to San Jose, Costa Rica, from Cleveland and Columbus are limited. Although, Pat and I had a direct flight from Charlotte, everyone else had two flights each way. The drive to our …

Lyon, France (06-16 May 2018)

by Pat & Ray WhydeMay 16, 2018June 5, 20220

On Sunday, May 6, Drew, Drake, Pat and I boarded the train in Nice for our ride to Lyon. The train was comfortable and fast, hitting 181 mph at some point. We were in the first-class section in the upstairs observation deck, with a table between us. There was a single car between us and the dinning car where we went to pickup snacks to last us until we got to Lyon. Being in the upper deck was great, allowing us to really see the passing countryside. Once at the Lyon Part-Dieu train station, we picked up sandwiches to take …

Cap Ferrat and Around (22 April – 05 May 2018)

by Pat & Ray WhydeMay 5, 2018June 5, 20220

We drove from Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer to the Nice airport. It was a beautiful drive through the countryside, hugging the coastline. Jenny and the boys picked us up at the airport and we all headed to the house we would share for a few weeks in Cap Ferrat. This is a peninsula, jutting out into the Mediterranean, located between Nice and Monaco. As with many, if not most, of the towns and cities in France, the roads are narrow, and in the rental car we drove from Toulouse, and the car Jenny picked us up in, too narrow! These roads were not …

France – Driving to Nice (20-22 April 2018)

by Pat & Ray WhydeApril 22, 2018June 5, 20220

The bus trip from Andorra to Toulouse airport took a little over 3 hours and passed through some beautiful mountain scenery. In Toulouse, the rental car company, SixT, upgraded us to a bigger car with no drop-off charge because they needed the car in Nice. Turns out a bigger car is not necessarily a good thing in a country with narrow roads designed for smaller cars. Fortunately, we made it to Nice without any dents or scratches (there may have been a few indentation in the interior from us occasionally gripping too hard). We had decide to drive to Bezier …

Andorra (18-19 April 2018)

by Pat & Ray WhydeApril 19, 2018June 6, 20220

Pat and I took the 10:30 bus from Barcelona to Andorra, passing through some beautiful countryside, and arriving at Andorra la Vella at 13:45 (1:45 PM). When we reached the border with Andorra, there was no border control. Unfortunately, as with all E.U. countries, we didn’t get a stamp in our passports. Andorra is not an E.U. member country, so technically we should have gone through border control, however Andorra uses the Euro currency and is closely related to the E.U. A bit confusing. We arrived in the Andorra’s capital city, Andorra la Vella, we walked (uphill) from the bus …

Barcelona, Spain (13-18 April 2018)

by Pat & Ray WhydeApril 18, 2018June 6, 20220

Time to move on to our next adventure! Step One: drop rental car off at the Valencia-Estacio Del Nord train station (the easiest rental car drop off ever! Hardest thing was finding out how to get into the parking lot). Step Two: board the 13:50 train to Barcelona-Sants. The train trip was comfortable and the views of the coast as we approached Barcelona were beautiful in a back yard kind of way – always interesting to see the parts of a city that is relegated to the train lines. At some points, looking strait down from the window, all you …