How we got to Colorado

When I lived in Nebraska, one day I was thinking, "There must be something else that happened during this stay here!", so my husband and I decided to visit Colorado.

We started our trip in (A) Lincoln, Nebraska and headed towards (E) Denver, Colorado on I-80. It is about 8 hours in a car, but takes much longer because you have to make several stops, so here they are.

I must tell you travelling that part of the Interstate 80 was probably the most boring time I have ever spent in a car. This is what you see for hours and hours...you just feel it will never end.

(B) Great Platte River Road Archway Monument - Kearney

Being on the Mormon, Oregon, California Trails, the Pony Express and the Lincoln Highway Kearney is home to several museums. One of them is Great Platte River Road Archway Monument, which spans Interstate 80. It contains exhibits that trace the history of the Great Platte River Road from the Oregon Trail days to the present.

(C) North Platte - Bailey Yard

North Platte is a railroad town and home to Union Pacific Railroad's world's largest rail yard Bailey Yard.
North Platte is served only by freight trains today, but during World War II the city was famous for the North Platte Canteen. Tens of thousands of volunteers from North Platte and surrounding towns met the troop trains passing through North Platte, offering coffee, sandwiches and hospitality.

The Golden Spike Tower and Visitor Center is an eight-story building which overlooks the railroad staging area. The tower and visitor center are open to the public year-round.

(D) Ogallala

The town's name comes from the Oglala Sioux tribe. It is also known as Nebraska's Cowboy Capital and it first gained fame as a terminus for cattle drives from Texas during 1875 to 1888. These trails are known as the Western or Great Western trails. Cattlemen met in Ogallala's hotel and saloons with Texas cattle drovers and haggled over prices to be paid for cattle which were used to stock Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, the Dakotas and Montana, and were also shipped east on Union Pacific. The business boomed during summer months. Today you can visit Ogallala's Front Street Museum depicting the era. It is open year-round at Front Street and is one of Ogallala's western and historical attractions.

http://www.ogallalafrontstreet.com/index.htm

Lake Mcconaughy is located 9 miles north of Ogallala. It is a reservoir named after Charles W. McConaughy - a grain merchant and mayor of Holdrege, Nebraska. It is a popular location for fishing, boating, water sports, camping and hunting.

I also got myself a souvenir at Ogallala. At that time we were about to relocate, and I wasn't sure whether it would be to Chicago or China. Yes, that is how crazy my life was at that time. So, I wanted to have something from Nebraska, just in case I was moving to Illinois - another US state or from the USA, in case I was moving to China. I wanted something that would represent both, and this was perfect - a photo album, but it is not your typical photo album. This one is made from a recycled car license plate made by Littlearth http://www.littlearth.com/home.html

And when it seemed that we would never leave the flatlands, here it was in front of us, out of the blue - the peaks of the Rocky Mountains. That is the moment when an entirely different adventure started...in Colorado. I will write about it later.

The Cocoa Trees

Last time my husband came back from his business trip to Singapore I got Lindt - Swiss chocolate that he bought at The Cocoa Trees.
I normally love to receive something local - especially from Singapore, but Lindt is one of my favourite brands, so I was very pleased anyway. Doesn't it look special! It tastes that way as well.

So, if you are in Singapore..., or Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Korea, India, Taiwan, Maldives, and want to get a 'sweet gift' visit The Cocoa Trees.
Look for this logo.

Finally gardening

As a child I was completely fascinated by a rock garden of my neighbor. I remember I just loved the alpine plans organized between rocks and the whole look of the garden. We had mainly carrots, tomatoes and potatoes in ours which I like to eat, but not so much to plant and care for, so I started to create my own tiny rock garden in a corner of the garden surrounded by vegetables.

If I think about it now that was exactly the moment when my passion for a landscape design started. My mother used to say that I have green fingers after my grandmother. Unfortunately with all the relocating and living mainly in apartments, I didn't have much opportunity to create many garden designs. Instead I turned to indoor plants ( WOW label - "house plants" in American English ) which I love as well.
Many years ago I also got my first Bonsai and I was hooked. I can't help myself, I love these mini plants and from there comes my interest in Japanese/Zen gardens. I find these arrangements so calming, peaceful and a feast for your eyes. At least for me it is, so it is no surprise that I would love to bring a bit of Japan in my own garden :-)

To be honest a tropical garden would be also on my list, I was in heaven when visiting my husband's family in South Africa and couldn't take my eyes off all the flora there, but I could hardly recreate any type of tropics here in Chicago. Well, at least not in winter. It is July now and the last week's temperatures were hovering near 35 C with the humidity around 70%. Definitely not for me, so I will stay with my Japanese ideas for now.

Last year I visited Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, Illinois which is about 1 hour and a half from my place. The 14 acre gardens were established in 1978 by John Anderson and landscape architect Hoichi Kurisu.

 

 

 

I took many pictures there and have been researching more about the design and plants I can use.

My first load of plants arrived last week and I can't wait to enjoy them in my garden. I just have to wait for all the utilities to be marked on the property.

 

 

 

Where is home? Brno...

I was born (later also worked) in Brno which is, after Prague, the second largest city in the Czech Republic, but grew up in the countryside about 26 km (16 miles) north west from Brno on the border of Brněnský kraj /Brno region and Kraj Vysočina /Highlands region.

 

My "backyard"...

Pernštejn Castle

Pernštejn Castle

 

 

Brno is about 200 km (125 miles) from Prague.

I miss my home in the heart of Europe. My downtown coffee sipping and catching up with friends after work, surrounded by historical buildings which I took for granted, the cobblestones that were killing my feet in the heel shoes - you get used to it eventually :-), swimming in the Brno dam and dreaming about the ocean we didn't have, hours of forest hiking and the madness of the mushroom picking that we Czechs are so famous for, and so many other things that I gladly, for the time being (?!), exchanged for other experiences elsewhere.

 

Brno and the area is one of my many homes and I will write about the other ones next time. In the meantime you can find out what is life in Brno like in this video.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Brno Dam - would you believe that you can get right to the dam by a tram from the Brno downtown!

 

 

 Lednice Castle

 

 

 

Finger Lakes - New York State

When I was planning our trip to Canada, our friend from Erieau recommended that we should also visit the Finger Lakes back in the USA. I did some research and was so surprised. I had never heard about this area and it looked so beautiful from the descriptions on various websites.

There are 11 lakes: Otisco Lake, Skaneateles Lake, Owasco Lake, Cayuga Lake, Seneca Lake, Keuka Lake, Canandaigua Lake, Honeoye Lake, Canadice Lake, Hemlock Lake, and Conesus Lake.
They are called finger lakes because they resemble fingers - long and narrow, oriented from north to south, formed by glaciers in the Upstate New York region.

We decided to visit the area around the lake Cayuga and Seneca. The lakes are huge, Cayuga is the longest, about 61 km (38 miles), but only about 6km (3.5 miles) wide. Seneca is is the largest and also the deepest -188m (615 feet).
Unfortunately, we didn't have many days of our vacation left and stayed only for a couple of days. It was definitely worth it, but you could enjoy this region for weeks. It is a perfect spot for hiking enthusiasts, like my husband and myself, because of its rolling hills, waterfalls, gorges, lakes, forest, but the area is also known for its vineyards, so if this is something that appeals to you, there are numerous wine-tasting tours and trails. There is so much more to do, the list would be very long. You can find out more about the region here.

To organize this part of our trip was the most difficult as I had to synchronize everything with our previous accommodations in Canada. I just couldn't find a place to stay for that particular week and days. This region is extremely popular and when there is a special event in the area, it is almost impossible to find an accommodation. If you want to visit the region, book well in advance and be prepare to reach deep into your pocket. It gets really expensive. I couldn't believe that we had to pay more (much more!) here in the countryside than we payed in Toronto. Well, I guess it is called Upstate New York! It is only about 4 hours (...for my European friends: in American terms it is a short trip:-)  from New York city and I believe a very popular destination for long weekends etc.
In the end we got a room at Hilton Garden Inn in Ithaca.

Ithaca
It is a college town located at the south end of Cayuga Lake. In the tourist guides you will read a lot about Ithaca Commons (downtown Ithaca) and its variety of shops, restaurants, galleries, theatres and historic architecture. Although there are some nice places to see, have a dinner etc., to be honest this area needs a bit of "TLC".  The streets don't look very maintained, but perhaps some places I would recommend if you want to eat somewhere - Waffle Frolic - Waffle bar & Coffee house. We had a delicious hemp and buckwheat waffle and more than once :-) for a dessert and unforgettable dinner at Mia - Pan Asian Cuisine restaurant. If you like Asian cuisine, don't waste your money and head directly to this place. We tried other restaurants in Ithaca, but definitely remember this one. You will pay a bit more here, but leave with a great dining experience.



Ithaca

Mia Restaurant

I am also an art lover and had to pop in a local craft shop American Crafts by Robbie Dein. They have beautiful artwork of all kinds which made me stay and admire for a long time :-)  I purchased a very nice mug with a matching spoon and a picture of a dragonfly on it.

We did some hiking around Ithaca and some around Watkins Glen which is a town at Senaca Lake.
I was really annoyed as I was so looking forward to swimming at the base of the Buttermilk Falls, but unfortunately the area had been already closed for the season :-(
Otherwise, I had a great time hiking, being surrounded by forest, lots of water, gorges and hills that I miss so much here in Chicago.

 

 

 

Taughhannock Falls State Park

 

Watkins Glen State Park

So, this was an addition to our Canadian vacation. From Ithaca we were returning home along the south part of Lake Erie this time.