Bucket List Trip to Peru & Ecuador - Part 1

At the beginning of 2020 we had a trip to Peru and Ecuador with our daughter all mapped out. Well, we all know what happened in 2020. Covid put the brakes on all travel. Five years later, we finally got to make this trip. With the original trip we had planned everything on our own. This time we booked through HX Expeditions so they arranged everything except for the post trip that we selected to go to the Amazon.

CLT Airport

We left Charlotte on November 21, flying first to Miami and then on to Lima. Our daughter was able to fly directly to Lima from Los Angeles, and she arrived in Lima about forty minutes before us. However while she breezed through customs, we had an hour and a half wait in an extremely long line. And this was at 11:30 in the evening!

After collecting our luggage, we headed outside to wait for our airport shuttle. We had decided to stay at the Holiday Inn by the airport since we were getting in so late. The hotel where we would join our group was about an hour away from the airport. After a few times of up and down curbs (no ramps), the handle broke off my large suitcase. This was not a good way to start a trip that was going to be filled with many changes in lodging over the course of two plus weeks. We finally checked into our hotel at 1:45 in the morning.

Following breakfast the next morning we took a cab to our hotel, the AC Hotel by Marriott Lima Miraflores. Fortunately they had our rooms ready, so we dumped our suitcases and headed out to explore the area. There was a mall area nearby, and we found a nice place to have lunch. Later we booked a van tour of Lima. There were only two other people in our group - a man from India and a woman from Jamaica. 

Lima November 22nd

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel before meeting up with our tour group. I think there were about 31 of us for this portion of the tour. We were transported to the airport for our flight to Cusco. One thing I didn't like about this tour is that we were just given our boarding passes right before getting on the plane. I was not seated with the rest of my family, which I didn't like. The seats were three across, so it should have been easy to keep us together.

Once we arrived in Cusco we had a short transfer via bus to the Hotel Palacio del Inka, where we had lunch. Cusco sits at over 11,000 feet above sea level, and we were lucky in that aside from a mild headache the first day we did not suffer from any other altitude sickness side effects.

After lunch we did a half day tour of the city, including the Santo Domingo Monastery, the archaeological site of Sacsayhuaman, the Sulca Textile House Museum with their animals, and Cusco Main Square. Then it was time to rest up for the next day's trip to Machu Picchu.

Cusco

Charlotte Douglas International Airport Tour

On Wednesday thirty-six members of our community took a tour of the Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT). As one of the top ten busiest airports in the United States, CLT always has some construction going on. Right now a new terminal is being finished up, and it will have seven gates for Delta Airlines and three gates for other airlines. Construction is also underway for a new public viewing area that will include a playground, picnic area and space for food trucks. The biggest project is a new runway, the fourth for Charlotte and the only new runway being built in the US right now.

Most of us on the tour thought we would be looking at the inside workings of the airport, but in fact that was not the case. They put us on two buses so we could see the massiveness of the airport holdings and get a closer look at the control tower and out buildings, including the original airport terminal building. We also parked by the runway and watched some planes take off and land.

The tour was interesting, and I hope we go back for the other tour which does include going inside the terminals. They are also getting ready to open the Sullenberger Aviation Museum in June. A Smithsonian affiliate, the museum will house artifacts of importance to North and South Carolina aviation history. Of special note is the "Miracle on the Hudson" collection, which will include the actual jet that landed on the Hudson River in 2009. The plane was headed to Charlotte on the day it made its emergency landing, which is why the local museum received the exhibit. That would be another fun field trip for us to go on.

Charlotte Airport

Voices from the Past

Elmwood/Pinewood Cemeteries

Saturday we attended Voices from the Past at the historic Elmwood/Pinewood Cemeteries in Charlotte. It's an event where volunteers tell the story of one of the interesting characters from Charlotte history at their grave site, dressed in period clothing. Because we are not from this area originally, we thought it would be a good opportunity to learn more about the people who once called Charlotte home. The event had been rescheduled from its original date in April due to rain. Because of that, not all of the 28 re-enactors were available but we probably listened to around 20 of them.

Elmwood was one of Charlotte's first cemeteries, and it opened its 72-acre plot in 1853. Many of the Who's Who of early Charlotte are buried there. It included Pinewood Cemetery, a segregated African American cemetery. There were two separate entrances, and until 1969 a chain link fence divided the cemeteries. Now they appear as one cemetery.

The event was well-attended, and we very much enjoyed the stories. The re-enactors did a fabulous job of staying in character. The most interesting was a clown, who stood at the grave of John King. King was part of a circus that was in town in 1880. The elephant he cared for crushed him. The circus moved on, but King was buried in Elmwood. His stone has an elephant carved on it.

John King's grave

The most memorable was Randolph Scott (1898-1987). He left Charlotte for Hollywood, and became a famous actor. While he appeared in a number of genres, he is mostly identified as a star of western movies. The man who portrayed him was just fantastic!

Randolph Scott's grave

Jim and I enjoy walking through cemeteries and looking at the artistry involved in the mausoleums and headstones. We are happy to learn of these historic cemeteries here, and will definitely go back when they are less crowded and we can spend time wandering around.

Fall Leaf Walk

Wednesday I went on the Fall Leaf Walk at Bellefontaine Cemetery with a couple of my friends. It was a freezing cold day with a light dusting of snow on the ground, so not ideal for looking at trees and leaves. At any rate, the tour guide was amazing and I learned a lot about not only the unique trees that exist at this Level II Accredited Arboretum, but also about the icons used on stones. The most interesting thing to me as a genealogist involves the use of a period. If a period follows the surname on a stone, that indicates the end of the family name, meaning there are no male descendants to carry on the name. Who knew?

period on headstone

It was a wonderful tour, despite the cold, and I would love to do it again and bring Jim with me. Just not when it is winter!

Bellefontaine Cemetery

Kim Wolterman

Today I had the privilege of being on Radio63119, the local radio station for my community. The topic was house research, so a woman from the Webster Groves Historical Society joined the conversation as well. The show host is so professional and easy going that it was like we were all just sitting around my coffee table. I had a blast! I would be happy to be on her show again any time she wants me. An added bonus is that she put in numerous plugs for my book on researching house history in St. Louis County. Once she has a taped transcript of the show ready, I will be able to share that on my social media outlets.

A Pickleball Festival

3rd Shot's a Charm

The first ever pickleball festival took place in Merriam, Kansas (a suburb of Kansas City) last weekend. On Facebook there is a group known as Pickleball Forum, with members from all over the world. The guy who set up the group had stated that when the forum reached 10,000 members, he was going to hold an event so that people could meet face to face. He lived up to his claim, creating the 3rd Shot's a Charm Pickleball Festival. I talked it up with some of my friends who play at the Salvation Army, and four of us signed up to attend the three day event. In the end, 140 attendees from 22 states (including Hawaii), Canada, England and even Serbia descended on Merriam.

The $135 registration fee included three days of pickleball from 8 in the morning until 9 at night, two nights of local food and entertainment, and a tour of Kansas City aboard a double decker bus. Franklin Sports was the sole sponsor of the event, and each attendee received a pickleball bag, three balls, a new paddle, a small towel, a pickleball keychain, and a festival t-shirt. Incredible!

swag

Our group drove over on Thursday, stopping for lunch at Maggie's Bar & Grill in Boonville prior to our scheduled tour of nearby Warm Springs Ranch. The ranch is a 300-acre facility that is the birthplace of every Budweiser clydesdale seen on television, in parades, at Grant's Farm and the Anheuser-Busch breweries. Walking tours are offered twice a day from March through October. Currently it costs $14 for adults to take the ninety-minute tour, which can be scheduled and paid for online at the Warm Springs Ranch website.

The grounds, as you might imagine, are beautiful and immaculate. Our tour guides were knowledgeable as well as funny. Oh, and like most if not all of their other tours, you get two free beers at the end of the tour. While the best time to see a newborn is in the spring or early summer, we were lucky enough to be able to meet five day old Rave and his mother Ria. Rave will hold the distinction of being the last baby born in 2017. So cute!

Warm Springs Ranch

After we checked into our rooms in Merriam on Thursday, we grabbed dinner at a nearby restaurant before going into the World Gym to check out the facility. It was actually easy walking distance from our hotel, which was great as we only had one car for four of us. Twelve indoor tennis courts had been converted for pickleball, I suspect before this festival was even a thought. The facility was large enough to accommodate this group, and had an outdoor area where the food/music could be held. While it was a tad stuffy in the building due to the fact that it is a dome and the days were pretty warm, overall it was a good, central location to hold the event.

World Gym

On Friday we took a midday break from pickleball to visit the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City. Designated by Congress in 2004 as the official U.S. WWI museum, the 80,000 square-foot center is dedicated to remembering and understanding the Great War and its impact on the entire globe. It holds the most diverse collection of WWI objects and documents in the world, and thus requires a good amount of time to due it justice. It is well worth a visit.

National WWI Museum and Memorial

It was back to pickleball after visiting the museum, followed by the included meal of Kansas City barbecue accompanied by a jazz band. None of us were up for more pickleball after that, so we had a rousing game of Five Crowns back at the hotel.

Saturday morning I played a few games of pickleball after breakfast while the rest of my group rested up for the 11:00 bus tour. I met up with them after a quick shower, and we headed to the top of the double decker bus. Thankfully we did not need to take the interstate to get downtown, so other than ducking for a few low lying branches and the excitement of our bus slightly hitting another bus along the route (whoops!), it was a fun trip.

double decker bus tour of Kansas City

We grabbed lunch when we got back, and then it was off for more pickleball. The dinner that evening included grilled burgers and hot dogs with all the sides while a band played tunes from the 60s, 70s and 80s. They were great, and had the crowd out on the dance floor. We ended our evening with more Five Crowns.

Sunday morning we were all too pooped to play pickleball, and we had the drive home ahead of us. We did stop for a look at a relatively new facility just north of Kansas City with the unusual name of Chicken N Pickle. Looking to capitalize on the fastest growing sport in America, the site contains four indoor and four outdoor pickleball courts, along with a shop, restaurant, bar and numerous outdoor games such as ping pong, washers, and a large battleship game. The music was blaring, and families were having a great time with their kids. All the games are free except for pickleball, and I can see what the draw might be. It's an interesting concept, and it will be fun to see if a franchise comes out of it.

Chicken N Pickle

me with the Big Dill

What an amazing weekend we had. Everyone was friendly and kind at the festival, and there to have fun - not be overly competitive. It was great to get away with the gals, and see some sights as well. Hopefully this will become an annual event.

Dyeing to Please

I'm writing this as I wait for the timer to go off, telling me it is time to rinse the dye out of my hair. I'm going back to an old color I had used for years, Light Ash Brown, after a couple years of combining two colors together. The combination had worked well for a long time, but now I think the color ends up being too light. I don't know if Clairol changed the formulas or if my hair has just decided to do its own thing with the color. Hopefully I will like the end result. I leave next Sunday for my trip to Publishing University in New York, and I want to look good when I meet Barbra Streisand. Ha!

I've been working on the wall quilt for the remodeled bathroom this weekend. Today I will do the actual quilting, then all that will be left is attaching the binding. I was really hoping to do some planting yesterday or today, but this weather does not put me in the mood for either buying plants or getting them in the ground. We are now just four weeks from the house/garden tour, and I am beginning to fret about whether the yard will be ready in time. It looks good, but I have seen a couple of the other gardens on the tour and they are GREAT. We need to step it up around here, and it doesn't help that Jim went up to Iowa this weekend. Even if we didn't get any planting done we still could be planning. Or fretting together.

Katie spent yesterday organizing the stuff she brought home from school. She is setting up her containers by room, which will definitely help when she moves into her apartment in the fall. She is also purging clothes and other items she didn't use for the last nine months, and that is awesome. The Clean House folks would be proud.

There's the buzzer, so I'm off!

American Idol

So....I have a confession to make. I love American Idol! I know, I don't exactly fit the demographics, but I watch every year. This has been my favorite season so far. I think there is a lot of talent in the top 12, and I will be happy with either David as the winner. Today tickets went on sale for the tour, and I picked up two for the St. Louis concert. My niece turns 40 this fall, so this is an early surprise present for her. We will have a blast - can't wait!