{"id":4565,"date":"2016-01-04T06:00:07","date_gmt":"2016-01-04T14:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=4565"},"modified":"2016-01-03T20:37:43","modified_gmt":"2016-01-04T04:37:43","slug":"the-best-worst-of-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=4565","title":{"rendered":"The Best & Worst of 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Bob Sparrow<\/p>\n

\"Where's<\/a>Twenty-fifteen<\/strong> was a RED BANNER<\/span><\/strong> year in terms of playing \u2018Where\u2019s Waldo\u2019<\/strong> and showing up in a lot of fun and interesting places. I\u2019ve enjoyed having you readers come along vicariously, which has prompted many of you to ask, \u201cWhere are \u2018we\u2019<\/strong> going next year?\u201d As of this writing it seems I\u2019ll be lucky to get to the end of my driveway to pick up the paper, so forgive me if I do a little reminiscing of the mostly Good<\/strong>, but sometimes the Bad<\/strong> and the\u00a0Ugly<\/strong> of my 2015 travels.<\/p>\n

1st<\/sup> Quarter<\/u><\/p>\n

Good: Visit with Suzanne<\/strong>\u00a0and Alan<\/strong> in Scottsdale<\/strong> where I had my Best Cigar of the Year<\/strong>, A Cuban<\/strong>, from Bob Gett<\/strong>, while overlooking Scottsdale sitting in his and Liz\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0beautiful backyard after a delicious dinner.<\/p>\n

Bad Idea: Using my National Geographic Expeditions<\/em> <\/strong>to travel the world \u2018through beer\u2019<\/strong>; good at the time, bad the next day.<\/p>\n

The Best Place to Live<\/strong>: Completing the \u2018Southern California Trifecta\u2019<\/strong> \u2013 breakfast at a golf course in Palm Desert<\/strong>, lunch at a ski lodge in the San Bernardino Mountains<\/strong> and dinner at\u00a0Duke\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0Huntington Beach.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2nd<\/sup> Quarter<\/u><\/p>\n

\"Ladder\"<\/a>

Ladder Canyon<\/p><\/div>\n

\"HAVASUPAI\"<\/a>

Havasupai<\/p><\/div>\n

Great: My time with the \u2018odd couple\u2019, Patrick Michael<\/strong> and Marc Webb<\/strong>, on our hike through the unique terrain of \u2018Ladder Canyon\u2019<\/strong> adjacent to Joshua Tree National Park<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Best time with my in-laws (No that\u2019s not an oxymoron): Rochester, Minnesota<\/strong> celebrating Warren & Phyllis Barnes<\/strong> 70th<\/sup> Wedding Anniversary.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Biggest surprise: Hiking in the draught-stricken Grand Canyon in the Havasupai Indian Reservation<\/strong> with Rick & Chris Fisher<\/strong> and finding gushing waterfalls generated from flowing underground springs.<\/p>\n

Bad and Sad: the overweight<\/strong> and unfriendly<\/strong> Indians at Havasupai.<\/p>\n

Bad prediction: Saying LA<\/strong> would never have an NFL<\/strong> team; it looks like they could have up to three by next season. Good: Rams; Bad: Chargers; Ugly: Raiders<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Nepal\"<\/a>

Kathmandu, Nepal<\/p><\/div>\n

Bad news: The earthquake in Kathmandu,\u00a0<\/strong>Nepal<\/strong> that destroyed thousands of homes, including\u00a0Dom’s<\/strong>, our Himalayan guide; fortunately the family survived with no injuries.<\/p>\n

3rd<\/sup> Quarter<\/u><\/p>\n

Best time with the family: No question about it, our family gathering at Rocky Ridge at Lake Tahoe<\/strong> \u2013 great place, greater people!<\/p>\n

Baltic Cruise . . .<\/p>\n

Best photo: the photo I took of the \u2018No Photos\u2019<\/strong> sign as I was trying to sneak into Russia<\/strong> at Passport Control in St. Petersburg<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"no<\/a>

NO PHOTOS!!!<\/p><\/div>\n

Best reunion: After 28 years, seeting Mira<\/strong>, our au pair for Dana<\/strong>, in Helsinki<\/strong><\/p>\n

Best & Worse: St. Petersburg<\/strong> \u2013 spectacular sights, depressing people<\/p>\n

Great traveling companions: Jack & JJ Budd<\/strong>, John & Judy VanBoxmeer<\/strong>\u00a0and John & Mary\u00a0Billham\u00a0<\/strong>and of course Linda<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ugly: The living conditions in Sachenhausen<\/strong>, the concentration camp outside of Berlin<\/strong><\/p>\n

4th<\/sup> Quarter<\/u><\/p>\n

The Inca Trail<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"WW\"<\/a>

Winaywayna, Peru<\/p><\/div>\n

Good: Winaywayna<\/strong> \u2013 the mini Machu Picchu, without the crowds<\/p>\n

Bad: Mosquito bites I\u2019m still scratching<\/p>\n

Ugly: Disneyland-like crowds at Machu Picchu<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As 100 year old, Frank Sinatra<\/strong> would have said, “It was a very good year.”<\/p>\n

So while I\u2019m working on some adventures for this year, I’m sure you’ll find lots of laughs from our politicians in this election year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Bob Sparrow Twenty-fifteen was a RED BANNER year in terms of playing \u2018Where\u2019s Waldo\u2019 and showing up in a lot of fun and interesting places. I\u2019ve enjoyed having you readers come along vicariously, which has prompted many of you … read more<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[813],"tags":[2022,2023,1881,1251,2024,409,1942,1252,1879,2021,1969],"class_list":["post-4565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","tag-best-worst-of-2015","tag-havasupai","tag-helsinki","tag-kathmandu","tag-ladder-canyon","tag-lake-tahoe","tag-machu-picchu","tag-nepal","tag-st-petersburg","tag-wheres-waldo","tag-winaywayna"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/tragedy-comedy.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p31aN0-1bD","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4565"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4587,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4565\/revisions\/4587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}