Yosemite National Park–Day 3 For Day 3, we signed up for a tour of the valley floor on “the Green Dragon”, a truck-pulled trailer of four-person seats. This was a two hour tour led by a Park Ranger, Carol. She has been in service in the Park for many years and was knowledgeable as well…

The Merced River runs through the valley. I liked this view of Half Dome over the river. Even when the light is nearly gone, the Merced River is beautiful and gentle. We had to take a Selfie during our walk and my eye was caught by this nice contrast in colors and textures of the…

Yosemite National Park–Day 1 We are in beautiful Yosemite Park for five days as the Evacuation Chaperones for about 60 of my high school seniors. They hike for several days and someone needs to stay on the valley floor in case someone is injured and needs to be sent home. The chaperones were having trouble…

Back Home, Sylmar, CA Getting back home is great. The Grand World Voyage was amazing, but getting back to your own humble surroundings is always pleasant. Our first task was to get back into running our charity Bingo. The bingo raises money for Guide Dogs of America. Guide Dogs trains the animals (every one of…

Today was our day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It is a little funny to be in a park that commemorates Southern California when we are FROM Southern California. Several Star Wars attractions are here and it is a reminder that Star Wars Day (May the Fourth… be with you) is in a few days. We…

The Magic Kingdom was the target of our third WDW day. We arrived at about 8:30 a.m., but the Park does not officially open until 9:00 a.m. Our first stop was the barbershop on Main Street. Ron stayed at the barbershop until it opened to be second in line. FIrst in line was a little…

Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida Our first day at Walt Disney World was spent at the Animal Kingdom. It’s iconic symbol is the Tree of Life which looks pretty small in photos, but is actually huge and the trunk is made up of interlaced sculptures of different animals. It is worth staring at…

Universal Studios, Orlando, Florida Ron and I are both fans of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter books so we could not pass up an opportunity to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We were here several years ago and saw Hogsmeade, but they had just announced that they were working on another portion…

Day 111 of 111. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida The last morning on the ship was full of moist eyes and details with which to deal. Our “breakfast club” got a picture one last time. As we said good bye at the end of the meal, the fact that we were all going our separate ways hit…

Day 108 of 111. Atlantic Ocean We are halfway through the seven day journey from Europe back to North America. Our Grand World Voyage is coming to an end and everyone is a little sad, a little nostalgic, and a little glad to get back home. I heard one person describe the feeling as, “It’s…