Clark Park, United States Travel Journals & Blogs

Laurie Reynolds Going to Greece
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- Oct 2, 2019, 11:53am
- ⛅ 28 °C
- Altitude: 244 m
- United States Illinois Champaign Clark Park 40.105488, -88.25968240°6’20” N 88°15’35” W
Day 1
On our way to Greece
October 2, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
Well, we made it to the Chicago airport, though our flight from Champaign was a bit late, and our next flight boards in about a half hour. This is a trip Joe has wanted to take for many years, so in the spirit of Carpe Diem, here we go. We fly to Santorini (Chicago - London - Santorini), have four nights there with me learning how to drive in Greece, boat to Mykonos, three nights there. Fly to Athens and pick up rental car for about a week to Delphi, some monasteries, some Byzantine churches, some mountains. Then we will relax for a bunch of days in a nice Athens hotel. I fell for the view of the Acropolis from the breakfast room and the snazzy fitness center with ellipticals.

I am a little out of my comfort zone, but I remember that I have driven in Hungary where the road signs were equally unintelligible. I ultimately decided to buy a real paper map for Santorini, because when I did a google street view of the route from the Santorini airport to our hotel, I saw that google was taking me on dirt roads, one of which seemed to end in a dump. So I figured I will be a lot better off with a real map. Lots of hours traveling ahead of us, but the excitement will make it bearable.Read more
Traveler Looking forward to reading all about your adventures! Have a fabulous time!!
10/2/19Reply
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Laurie Reynolds Camino Mozarabe April 2018
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- Apr 7, 2018
- ☀️ 0 °C
- Altitude: 244 m
- United States Illinois Champaign Clark Park 40.105656, -88.2597240°6’20” N 88°15’35” W
Getting ready to go
April 7, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 0 °C
Well, it’s four days till departure, and I thought I should get my penguins website going. This year, I will be starting in Almería, mediterranean coastal city in the south and east of Málaga. I had originally planned to meet up with three or four other people, since it is a very solitary route. We don’t know each other in the face to face sense, but have friends in common and have been in contact through the internet. Well, one thing led to another, and we are now a merry band of 13 or 14! We will all meet up on Friday the 13th, in the Bar Entremares in Almería, get to know each other a bit, and then set out the next day. We will probably spread out in the first couple of days since the albergues are small (usually around 8 beds), but it will be fun to start out at the same place.

This branch of the Camino Mozárabe starts in Almería, goes through Granada and Córdoba, and joins up with the Via de la Plata in Mérida. Those are all great cities to visit, so I will have some touring time as well.

I am not going to be able to walk into Santiago this year, unfortunately. It's 1400 km from Almería and I only have a month to walk, so I will have to stop somewhere in the middle. Not sure I like that, but oh well.

My pre-Camino jitters have started and I have finally found my backpack and started going through my stuff, tossing out expired betadine, mangled gaiters, and hoping to find my favorite FITS socks, which have mysteriously disappeared!Read more
Dana Davies Already with the El Corte Ingles plastic bag for early morning crinkling. And is that the same green fleece from 2000?!
4/8/18Reply
mary louise adams Dana - the green fleece is how I will recognize her!
4/8/18Reply
Laurie Reynolds Ha! I have worn that green fleece on 18 caminos! I cannot bring myself to get rid of it. Can't wait to get the plastic bag rustling going again. Tomorrow!
4/10/18Reply
Traveler Buen Camino amiga!!!👣👣
4/11/18Reply
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Laurie Reynolds Back to Lisbon, 2019
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- Apr 20, 2019, 5:40am
- 🌙 3 °C
- Altitude: 244 m
- United States Illinois Champaign Clark Park 40.105804, -88.25978940°6’21” N 88°15’35” W
Day 1
Travel Day
April 20, 2019 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 3 °C
It’s usually not much fun to get from Point A to Point B, especially not if the people who booked your ticket give you a 6 hour layover in Philadelphia! For these long travel days, I always try to get up very early to get to the gym, on the theory that I will feel better and maybe sleep a bit on the plane. So today at 5 am I was up and out. My Silver Sneakers gym is open 24/7 with a little purple thing to swipe, and there are always a few more nut cases like me there so it’s not too lonely.

We are headed to Lisbon — unbelievable though it seems to me, this will be the sixteenth consecutive year I have taught a short course at the law school in the Católica. Cannot believe it!

At the airport I weighed my bags to calculate how much olive oil I can cram in them on the way home. One of my favorite pastimes in Lisbon is buying lots of olive oil for my Berkeley crew, who has figured out that they use about 36 liters a year. I have been keeping up with that demand for about 6 years now and hope to extend it for a few more, at least till I am too feeble to lug all this around. Oil is lighter than water, though!

We arrived in PHL and made our way over to the Lego Liberty Bell and thus began our long layover. Only 5 hours till boarding time now! We will go straight to Lisbon, arriving around 9 am tomorrow morning. Easter Sunday, so it should be a slow day.Read more
Traveler Laurie, Lisbon, lucky you! Such a great place to have a job. Enjoy. If my Primitivo gets too hard I’ll come and visit.
4/21/19Reply
Traveler Great that you can continue this tradition! Greetings from Santiago. Un abrazo fuerte amiga
4/21/19Reply
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