Rafting

Rafting!  This is white water rafting and there are many places you can enjoy this.  Some are fun float down the river in hot water type trips, others much more strenuous fighting rapids.  What time of year you can has a lot to do with how high the water can be, how difficult the rafting might be.  There are different sized rafts piloted by skilled guides.  Hubby and I enjoyed a white water rafting trip years ago out in Utah.  There was some calm and we were able to take in the beauty of the area.  There is one picture of us in the raft......this isn't it.  Perched high on a cliff a professional photographer snapped pictures as the rafts rounded the bend.  You then had the option to view them and purchase them later.

State Parks, National Parks and Forest Preserves often have organized raft trips that vary in skill needed.  I'm not a good swimmer and so once was probably enough for me to feel that my card is punched on this particularly outdoor activity.

Goodness, we're rounded in on Letter R of our A-Z challenge, not many letters left.

Want an R destination?  Get your Kicks on Route 66

**After the close of April's A-Z, I plan to continue to write a post a day in the month of May using again the A-B-C's as my guide.  My focus for the month of May will be Spain.  I've been planning and almost have every letter thought out.  If others are interested in continuing to blog daily using our A-B-C's, please let me know.  We could start a linky and continue what we've begun during April.  I don't imagine it will be anywhere near the scope of the annual April Challenge.  But, if you're interested, please let me know in your comment.  And even if you're not up for another blog challenge, do stop back in, I have much to share from recent travels to Spain.**

If you're a new follower, please let me know so I can reciprocate.

Wrapping Up Another Week with A-Z on Easter Sunday

Since it's Easter Sunday, thought I'd share this photo taken in Barcelona at Sagrada Familia.

Another week has been completed by lots of bloggers in the anual A-Z Challenge in April.  I appreciate all who've come by read and left comments.  I've returned all.........except a few who have the blogs set to only accept people signed in with Disgus, Google+, and or Facebook.  It's a bit frustrating.  Joining a huge linky with currently over 2,000 members (and was more initially) then making it difficult or impossible for people to leave you comments.  That defeats the entire purpose of the linky and the challenge.  What I wonder from time to time is...they join, knowing they will not be returning visits and comments, therefore they don't care that they've closed their blogs to a large percentage of people.  They still get the traffic...because you don't know you can't leave a comment until you've taken the time to visit and read their blog...ie..they get the traffic.  They won't be visiting you back, because you can't leave a comment.  Or is it not intentional and they simply don't understand?  One has to set ones blogs settings, so me thinks it's intentional.  How bout you all?

It's like sending someone an invitation to come to your house, and when they come knocking on your door; you don't answer it.  I do think as soon as those sites are visited by the hosts and the minions they should be deleted from the linky.

Last Sunday I asked that people please not leave the google+ page, that they leave the url to their actual blog, thank you to those that have changed. The same problem exists for those of us with multiple blogs, if I leave my google signature/ie my blogger dashboard you go to my profile page where you need to sort through my 5 blogs to see which one to visit, then hope it's the one signed up for a-z....though it's a bit more straight forward then the google+ pages it still puts the onerous on the visitor which I believe isn't quite the way it ought to be.  The blogger is the one that should take on the responsibility of making the path to his or her blog OPEN and EASY and QUICK.

Name and url (to your actual blog) is by far the easiest to me, but many don't like to have the setting available as you also have to have the anonymous option with it.  So then the next option is the hyper-link.  Many don't know how to make one, so they leave a cut and paste of the url to the blog...they're trying, but it's not a live link.  Here's how you make a live link...a hyperlink.



Alex Cavanaugh
Ann
Arleen Bird
ATarkabarka Holgy
betty
Bob Sanchez
Carolyn Branch
Cascadian Nomands Bethany
Chris Boothman
Christine Rains
Corinne Vail
cranthie
Crystal
Daidri Smythe
Fili
grammy
GSMarlene
Heather Gardner
Heather Musk
il;akshee
Jaime
Jaimie Ramsey
jenna,Mark Draddy
josephAlsarraf
Kate @Another Clean Slate
Kimberly
Kirsten
Kirsten
Leslie
Leslie Melby
Lila Asnani
Linda
lindalh
Liz A
looking for a view
Meandering Mind
Melanie
melaniegobledvm
Millie Burns
Nancy LaRonda Jackson
Natalie Bowers
Nicky
Nilanjana Bose
ovengoodies
Paige Rion
Paula
Perry
perspective of a writer
Preethi Venugopal
Rhonda Albom
Rikaine Hernadez
rscottamsbaugh.com
sean@His And Her Hobbies
Spacer Guy
Sue Kuentz
Sue McPeak
Susan leighnoble
Susan Scott
Suzanne Sapsed
thelmaz
thewayofwytch
Tina
Troy Miles
vanilla ban
Veronica Sicoe
Welcome to my World of Verse
Wendy
Zoe Byrd

 **After the close of April's A-Z, I plan to continue to write a post a day in the month of May using again the A-B-C's as my guide. My focus for the month of May will be Spain. I've been planning and almost have every letter thought out. If others are interested in continuing to blog daily using our A-B-C's, please let me know. We could start a linky and continue what we've begun during April. I don't imagine it will be anywhere near the scope of the annual April Challenge. But, if you're interested, please let me know in your comment. And even if you're not up for another blog challenge, do stop back in, I have much to share from recent travels to Spain.**

Queue Up

WOW......Todays's letter is Q.  Well I don't think you can travel in this day and age without finding yourself in a queue.....be it for a cup of coffee, to use the bathroom, to go through security at the airport, to board or deplane your plane.  Knowing that ahead of time and expecting it might make people be more patient.  Sadly, queuing up seems to bring out some ugliness in people who think they have the right to be in the front of said queue.......even though often they walk right in front of someone who's been standing there longer.  

Some perspective......see what the dictionary has to say about the word.

1. A line of waiting people or vehicles.

2. A long braid of hair worn hanging down the back of the neck; a pigtail.

3. Computer Science

a. A sequence of stored data or programs awaiting processing.

b. A data structure from which the first item that can be retrieved is the one stored earliest.

intr.v. queued, queu·ing, queues

To get in line: queue up at the box office.

---

[French, from Old French cue, tail, from Latin cauda, cōda.]

Word History: When the British stand in queues (as they have been doing at least since 1837, when this meaning of the word is first recorded in English), they may not realize they form a tail. The French word queue from which the English word is borrowed is a descendant of Latin cōda, meaning "tail." French queue appeared in 1748 in English, referring to a plait of hair hanging down the back of the neck. By 1802 wearing a queue was a regulation in the British army, but by the mid-19th century queues had disappeared along with cocked hats. Latin cōda is also the source of Italian coda, which was adopted into English as a musical term (like so many other English musical terms that come from Italian). A coda is thus literally the "tail end" of a movement or composition.

Another Q word related to travel, is Quin, which is apparently a hotel room for 5 people.

Pop in Often, remember Menu Mondays for dining tips, Traveling Tips on Thursday, and any day for vacation destinations.

Planes, Fly the Friendly Skies

P for Plane.  ( or for a P destination, I've blogger 39 times about Park City...yes there really is that much to see and do there. Traveling by plane can be positive or negative.  Yes, it's sometimes faster then driving your car, yes there are places you can fly that you can't drive your car, yes it's more expensive then driving your car........with a few exceptions.

How do you determine whether or not to fly or drive when making a trip?

• How far are you traveling, how many tanks of gas would it take to get there, and how long in terms of hours?  Explore that fully.  Gas isn't cheap, and depending on the distance you're traveling you may need to factor in a hotel stay.  You also need to factor in how many times will you be stopping to eat, and how many mouths are you feeding.  Some trips can be cheaper to fly.  
• Will you need a car once you're there?  Most likely and so now you also need to add the cost of a car rental.  
• Time is important, you hate to lose valuable vacation time traveling; but even though plane's are considered to be quickier; you can still loose a whole day traveling.  Example:  If a car trip is around 6-8 hours, it's not much longer then a plane ride to the same location.  Arrive at the airport 1hour earlier then your flight, go through security, board, and actual flight time, wait for your luggage, wait again for your rental, drive to your location....that can come pretty close to how long it would take you to drive.  So here the determining factor might come down to how many people are traveling.

**After the close of April's A-Z, I plan to continue to write a post a day in the month of May using again the A-B-C's as my guide.  My focus for the month of May will be Spain.  I've been planning and almost have every letter thought out.  If others are interested in continuing to blog daily using our A-B-C's, please let me know.  We could start a linky and continue what we've begun during April.  I don't imagine it will be anywhere near the scope of the annual April Challenge.  But, if you're interested, please let me know in your comment.  And even if you're not up for another blog challenge, do stop back in, I have much to share from recent travels to Spain.**

If you're a new follower, please let me know so I can reciprocate.