Author Archives: Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

About Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

We are a husband and wife team living in St. Paul MN. Both of us retired by the end of 2012 and decided to travel and visit areas of the U.S. and Canada that we had not seen before. Most of the time we head out for 3-7 weeks; usually by driving, first in our 2001 Saturn and then when it hit 225,000 miles we traded it in for our 2016 Subaru Legacy . This travel blog is written to help us remember the great places we have visited and people we have met as well as to inform family and friends of our whereabouts. Contact us at ckeh72@comcast.net In 2013 we took the following trips: Trip 1-January--2 weeks in Florida to visit Orlando, St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Amelia Island. Trip 2-February and March-4 weeks in Hawaii, visiting the four major islands. Trip 3-March and April--several weeks in New Mexico visiting family followed by traveling cross-country to VA for VA Garden week. Trip 4-May and June--6-7 weeks driving to Las Vegas, the Sierra Nevada Mtns, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia N.P, Salt Lake City, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Devils Tower and home. Trip 5-June- a quick trip to Boston to visit family. Trip 6-July and August-a 6-7 week trip to Calgary, Banff, Mt. Ranier and Mt. St. Helens, Olympic N.P., North Cascades N.P., Victoria, Vancouver, Whistler, Revelstoke, Jasper, Yoho,Whitefish lake, Theodore Roosevelt N.P. Trip 7-August and September- our daughters wedding in MD and returning home through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Trip 8-October and November-3-4 weeks in the Ozarks, Arkansas, Missouri. Trip 9-December and January 2014-Christmas in Santa Fe and New Years in Flagstaff and points in between. In 2014 we took the following trips: Trip 1--a week in Ely MN, most of it dog-sledding in late Feb. Trip 2--6 weeks in the Deep South including LA, MS, AL, GA and FL in March and April. Trip 3--a trip to Boston to visit family Trip 4--May and June houseboating on Lake Powell followed by Monument Valley, Arches and Canyonlands N.P, Black Canyon of the Gunnison N.P, San Juan Mtns of CO Trip 5--time spent in MN and the Midwest Trip 6--visiting Ontario, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec, the Adirondack Mtns of NY, our daughters wedding in CT and home through Philly and Ohio, 7 weeks in September and October. Trip 7--Southern California including Joshua Tree and Mojave Desert N.P, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, and then to Flagstaff for Thanskgiving for three weeks in November. In 2015, we took the following trips: Trip 1- 8 weeks traveling around FL in February and March, most of it on the panhandle, penninsula and Gulf Coast. Trips 2 and 4 to Boston in April and July. Trip 3 was to Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior. Trip 5 was to southern MN. Trip 6 was to Voyageurs National Park and northwestern MN. Trip 7 was to the Great Smoky Mountains and neighboring areas. In 2016 Trip 1 was to Chicago IL. Trip 2 was to southwestern MN. Trip 3 was to Boston. Trip 4 was to southwestern United States. Trip 5 was to Lake Superior. Trip 6 was to Winona MN. Trip 7 to western Massachusetts (the Berkshire Mountains). Trip 8 to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Trip 9 to Boston and Rhode Island. In 2017, Trip 1 was to the Mississippi River Headwaters. Trip two will be a month long tour of Texas and another month traveling to and from Texas across the southern US. Image

2013 Trip Three, NM and VA, April 15

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Last night with Jude. We have stocked up on supplies and prepared meals. She had her first formal PT today. She has progressed extremely well and with some advance preparation, she is well positioned to advance further after we leave. Plus, Michele is coming down for a week starting Saturday and nancy and sally may be coming in mid May.

Her computer person came out to see her and filmed her at her desk starting to use Dragon Naturally Speaking for voice recognition on her computer. See the video at thecomputerg.wordpress.com

On our last days we made a visit to the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in Santa Fe. Much of the art is religious focused. It is a small museum so we went for a walk along another section of the Dale Ball trails by St. John College. We went back and picked up Jude and had dinner at Il Vicino restaurant.

Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, Santa Fe

Dinner at Il Vicino

A few days earlier we had gone walking along the Calabasas trail north of Santa Fe, part of another extensive network of hiking, biking and equestrian trails here.

Tomorrow we head out for VA and should arrive at Williamsburg Saturday. We are only doing about 500 miles per day and plan to tour Richmond VA Saturday before we end up in Williamsburg.

Next week is Garden Week in Virginia and we will be touring gardens in Norfolk, Richmond, VA Beach and the Middle Peninsula along with other sites. It should be quite a change from the dry, desert and mountainous area around Santa Fe. The spring winds continue with consistent winds over 20 mph on a frequent basis. New Mexicans talk about having low pollution but they seem to not consider dust storms and grit in the air as pollution. But the views are frequently seen through a dust haze that minimizes the beauty of the area.

Ed April 15 9:30 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Leave a comment

2013 Trip Three, New Mexico and Virginia, April 12

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

April 12
Sounds weird, New Mexico and Virginia in the same trip. Well we are a little unusual. Part one of this trip is coming towards an end. Tuesday April 16 we head out across country to Virginia.

This is 30 days worth of precipitation. Not much.

We have done a few more small trips. We drove down to Bernalillo and visited the Coronado State Monument. It is the location where Coronado met the people of Kuaua Pueblo. The pueblo was abandoned a few decades after Coronado swept through. WPA workers in the 1930s uncovered one of the best examples of kiva mural art which was removed and many of the murals are on display in a separate building. (No pictures allowed.) The ruins remain underground since excavation has proven to be unable to preserve them, only reproductions exist to demonstrate location and size.

kiva site at Kuaua Pueblo, Bernalillo, NM.

Today we hiked a new trail on the north side of Santa Fe. The city and county have a very nice set of well marked and maintained trails. The weather got up in to the 60s so the hike was quite pleasant. Mountain views are all around.

Sangre de Cristo mountains viewed from La Tierra trail.

Ed April 12, 10 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Coronado state monument, kuaua pueblo, La Tierra | 1 Comment

2013 Trip Three, New Mexico and VA, April 9

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Rio Grande from White Rocks

Valles Caldera

First of two Gilman tunnels

We have not seen measurable precipitation since March 12 while driving through Minnesota and Iowa. Snow was supposed to be falling in some of the higher elevations today but not around Jude’s house. We have, however, seen blowing dust frequently and beautiful sunsets.

Last Friday we drove to Los Alamos New Mexico, the Los Alamos national laboratory. Since the laboratory is not open to outsiders, we visited the Bradbury science Museum in the downtown area. The museum focuses not only on the atomic bomb but the many other accomplishments of the laboratory. We increased our scientific knowledge immeasurably.

Sunday we drove the Jimez mountains scenic byways. We stopped at white rocks overlook observing the Rio Grande canyon. We took a van tour of the 89,000 acre Valles Caldera preserve. While home to a herd of 1500 elk, they were all hiding in a different part of the preserve from where we were. The caldera was formed by one of three US super volcanoes but is not currently considered an active volcano. Our tour focused more on the grasslands at 8500 foot elevation which have been ranched since the 1800s.

Our drive on the Jimez Mtns byway continued with stops at Battleship Rocks, Jemez Springs and the Gilman tunnels. The tunnels cut through beautiful red rocks and were constructed to enable logging in the area.
THe scenery was beautiful even if dry. We have seen flowers and trees blooming in the Albuquerque area but it is slow to show itself at this higher elevation. Forests of aspen are still without leaves.

Note: The title of trip three has been modified to reflect that we will be driving directly to VA to catch up with what would have been Trip 4, the Chesapeake Bay trip.

Ed April 9, 9:30 pm

Update Wed AM.
Well Mother Nature decided if St. Paul was supposed to receive 4-6 inches of snow then we should at least get a light dusting. Overnight there was enough snow so we can see it but certainly less than an inch.

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Gilman tunnels NM, Jimez mountains scenic byway, Valles Caldera | Leave a comment

2013 Trip Three, New Mexico, April 4

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Well it is Thursday April 4 and we are in Santa Fe. Jude is recuperating from surgery; we are continuing to provide ongoing assistance.

As time progresses, we have made a few side trips. Today was our longest. After number of errands, we drove to the Santa Fe ski area. The ski area was still in use although the crowds were not heavy. The base of the ski area is at 10,000 feet in elevation. The lifts go up another 2000 feet. We did not ski.

We did look at the ski shop. Despite the 40% savings, we did not buy the ski jackets. List price was $785.

We stopped at the picnic area at a lower elevation which did have snow. We whipped out our portable tablecloth and ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the cold.

lunch in Santa Fe National Forest

We drove back towards Santa Fe. At a lower elevation, probably about 7500 foot, we went for a hike. Here the high desert vegetation was juniper and rock. The hike lasted about 1 1/2 hours and was warm enough to take off the sweatshirts. The Hawaii Haleakala sweatshirt did come in handy at the higher elevations.

Dale Ball trail above Santa Fe

Last Thursday, March 28, we visited the Georgia O’Keefe Museum in downtown Santa Fe. It was a pleasant experience but not overwhelming. It is pretty small. Maybe we will be able to visit Ghost Ranch or other locations in the future.

We squeezed in a hamburger/hot dog and malt at Burt’s Burgers, a local, not fancy institution and our orders were taken by a woman with a Science Museum of Minnesota shirt. She has been in Santa Fe for a long time, though. The malt and food were great.

Earlier this week, we hiked at a petroglyph site (La Cieneguilla) not far from Jude’s house. The drawings here were much more visible than previous ones we observed in Minnesota.

Wednesday while Jude was in a meeting, we stopped at a small shop in El Dorado that had very interesting items. We purchased a book for us that creatively discussed the pleasures of staying at home after traveling for years. THe husband of the husband and wife store was from Waterbury CT where Chris went to high school.

Ed April 4, 9:30 PM

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Burt's Burgers, Dale Ball trails, Georgia O'Keefe museum, La Cieneguilla petroglyphs, Santa Fe | 2 Comments

2013 Trip Three, New Mexico, March 16

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

We are taking it easy at Jude’s and planning future visits to NM sites. Driving down I-35 and I-40 brought back memories of Pennsylvania and being surrounded by tractor trailers.

The landscape as one enters New Mexico becomes more appealing to us. It is still brown, drought mode, but the highest mountains have some snow on them. The terrain is hilly and undulating. There are some trees. We drove the Turquoise Trail on the east side of I-25 to reach Santa Fe.

As we spend a few days here, we are struck again by the beauties of the sunrise and sunsets. Attached is a photo of Friday’s sunset from Jude’s porch. You have to continue to watch them as the colors change constantly and color the sky and mountains in differing shades.

Sunset at Santa Fe

Ed March 16 Noon

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Santa Fe, Turquoise Trail | Leave a comment

2013 Trip Three, Day Two, March 13, New Mexico

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Well, today was driving through Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. We saw our first flowers when we had lunch at a Cracker Barrel in Oklahoma city. It turned out to be the only flowers we saw all day. But, the sun was out and it was warm.

We missed the wrestling Museum in Oklahoma and the quarter horse Museum in Texas. Those will have to wait for a return visit. Topographically, the land was normally flat throughout the drive. The Flint Hills of Kansas were a pleasant rolling, Prairie view. Of course, the small oil derricks Took over after the Flint Hills of Kansas.

Western Oklahoma and eastern portion of Texas along interstate 40 had some rolling ravines, but not overly significant. We spent the night in Amarillo, Texas, and had a steak dinner in this thriving town of almost 200,000 people.

Ed March 14. 8 am

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: driving to New Mexico | Leave a comment

2013 Trip 3, day one, New Mexico?

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Well we are on the road again. No, we are not Headed for the Deep South. We are on the way to state of New Mexico. For family reasons, we have had to cancel our Deep South trip and are planning to spend several weeks in New Mexico. We hope to do a fair amount of travel around New Mexico but circumstances will dictate. Thus the posts will be somewhat hit or miss for a few weeks.

We have canceled all of our deep South hotel reservation. We are retooling for adventure in the southwest. We are driving, however, so we are continuing our trip Mentality. The car is packed with our travel by car equipment.

This is being dictated on day two As we travel through Kansas. Minnesota was snowing as was Iowa On Tuesday. The entire day was very windy.

We left Emporia Kansas and are headed for our next night destination Amarillo Texas. First days drive pretty boring scenery. The camera is in the trunk so you may not see any pictures.

My challenges will be learning how to correct spelling and grammar while dictating. Note, Chris is driving so I am not driving and dictating. My challenge will be to learn the iPad camera.

Ed March 13 for March 12

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: changed plans, Deep South trip out | Leave a comment

2013 Trip Two, Day 25, Oahu, March 4

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

North shore of Oahu on the last day of trip

Ko’olaus ridge

Chinaman’s hat

Breezy day

On east shore of Oahu

March 3
Last real day in Hawaii. Tomorrow is travel home day to St. Paul which is receiving 5 or more inches of snow. Sarah and Sarah arrive in St. Paul tomorrow, welcome to Minnesota girls. Actually while we leave Tuesday we will get home early Wednesday morning.

Today we drove to the east and north shore of Hawaii. We took several interstate highways. I guess Hawaii did not want to lose out on federal largesse even though there are no states to “inter” to. The H-3 to the east shore is a beautiful drive through (literally, a major tunnel is involved) the coastal range. (Ko’olau range)

We visited Ho’omaluhia Park Botanical Garden. It is more of an arboretum but a pleasant experience. It was built by the Army Corps of Engineers as a flood control project.

We drove along the eastern coast and saw the Chinaman’s Hat. Ocean waves were at high levels. We did not stop at any real beaches or take any long hikes. This was just a driving overview.

We had lunch overlooking Hale’iwa Bay at Hale’iwa Joe’s Seafood Grill recommended by Dave and Peg Van Lear and pastor Amy Butler-you “met” her son in the Saturday post.

We wrapped up the day watching the sunset over Waikiki Beach and will be heading out for our last dinner here. We have had a blast. So many new and wonderful experiences, this has exceeded our expectations.

Ed 3-3-13 7:00 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Hale'iiwa Bay, Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden, northern Oahu | 1 Comment

2013 Trip Two, Day 24, Oahu March 3

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Honolulu festival fireworks

Honolulu festival parade

Waikiki Beach sunday

Sunday March 3

Chris and I pride ourselves on being organized and having events planned. Just ask the people who have traveled with us. Today, however, was an example of just being lucky.

Oahu post girls was not really planned out. I guess after 3 weeks and 4 islands, we just ran out of steam. So today’s events were just serendipitous. Honolulu is having a festival called “Honolulu Festival”! which celebrates cultural diversity. A large part of the festival is workshops and seminars but today there was a 2 hour parade and the evening concluded with fireworks.

The parade started really slow and there were major gaps between parade entrants. However, there were numerous groups dressed in garb reflecting that nation and frequently performing music and dance during the parade. The greatest representation was from Asian countries, Korea, Samoa, Japan, China, etc. Once again, we gained an appreciation for the unique history and cultures that make up Hawaii.

We keep comparing Waikiki with South Beach, since South Beach is the only real comparison we have. So far, Waikiki is faring quite well. Kalakaua Street seems to combine both Ocean Drive and Lincoln Avenue so it has the ocean beach along with shopping, pedestrians, and restaurants. The beach is more active here with people surfing, snorkeling, sailing, family cookouts, etc while South Beach is more sunning and partying. South Beach is larger and busier (at least at the times when we are there).

We went to the local church by the beach. For the second week in a row, Mass was about 1 hour and 25 minutes. Today’s mass however had Hawaiian liturgical movement i.e., hula and Hawaiian music as a prelude and postlude. The church sponsors a hula troupe which is competing in the all Hawaii competitions in early April.

Of course, like the rugby youth group on Maui, there was a fund-raiser to benefit the hula group. Once again we had a lunch with social overtones. We took the box lunch to the beach and watched the waves and people as we ate. We went back to the hotel and changed and then spent more time on the beach before the parade.

Between the parade and the fireworks, I used up the capacity on my first memory card. Fortunately I had purchased a second memory card and second battery with this camera. (Aren’t you glad you only have to see 3-5 pictures per post?)

Chris and I have been diligent in deleting extraneous and poor quality shots but there will still be a lot of work when we get home to prune the shots to transfer to Shutterfly and make albums. Plus I need to archive the pictures and then delete pictures on the iPad. Boy, the few days at home are going to be busy.

Tomorrow will probably be touring around Oahu before we head for home on Tuesday. The two Sarahs will likely be there as they begin the move to Minnesota.

Ed March 3 10:30 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: fireworks, Honolulu festival, parade, Waikiki Beach | 5 Comments

2013 Trip Two, Day 23, Oahu, March 2

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Mughal Garden

Rebecca at Shangri-La

Last day together

Top of Diamond Head

Waikiki from Diamond Head

March 2

Well, a bittersweet day. We had two glorious weeks with Sarah, Deb, Rebecca and Sarah but they are now at the airport for their flights home. We will miss their cheerful attitudes and sense of wonder at new experiences. Conversation at dinner will go back to the two of us looking at each other rather than spirited talk.

For their last day, several different activities were in store. Sarah and Sarah did some beach and surfing, less successfully than they hoped maybe but still an experience they were adventurous enough to pursue on their own.

They met Hayden Butler for some beach time also. Hayden is the son of pastor Amy Butler of Calvary Baptist Church in DC. Amy is a good friend of theirs. Hayden joined us all in the late afternoon for malasadas from Leonard’s bakery, some whirlpool time at Aqua Bamboo Hotel, and our final pizza and salad meal before we departed for the airport. Hayden is a freshman at UH studying art.

Deb and Ed climbed Diamond Head with about 16 gazillion others but were smart enough to start early before the heat and crowds arrived. The grade was steep but overall the hike was not overly strenuous. We separated for a bit but met for lunch and the malasadas pick up. (malasadas = portuguese donut without a hole.)

Chris and Rebecca went to Shangri-La. This was the home of Doris Duke, wealthy philanthropist. After her death, her home here (1 of 5 overall) was endowed as a museum focusing on Islamic art. The tour was enjoyable and educational but they could not take pictures inside so we only have two exterior shots for you. One is of the Mughal Garden, a microcosm of royal gardens found throughout the Indian subcontinent.

Sunday we revert to our old style of two people exploring the U.S.

Ed March 2 9 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Diamond Head, Oahu, Shangri La | 2 Comments

	jklej on 2025 Trip 2: Madison WI April…
	judeheimel on 2025 Trip 2: Madison WI April…
	Bernie Heimel on 2025 Trip One: Mississippi Riv…
	judeheimel on 2025 Trip One: Mississippi Riv…
	James Walsh on 2023 Trip 8: Flagstaff, South…
	jklej on 2023 Trip 8: Flagstaff, South…