Journeys By Jay

26/10/2024

Always fun to catch up with former guests from a tour. Polly and Paul went on the Southern Sights and Sounds Tour with Titan Travel.

19/10/2024

One of the quirky places to visit for a drink in Minnesota. Famous for its Woodtick races in June.

19/10/2024

Awesome to be home in Minnesota in fall.

16/10/2024

The Objibwe native Americans call this lake Gitchi-Gami, meaning Great Sea. Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes in North America. It is also the largest fresh water lake in the world by surface area or third largest by volume. It hold 10% of the worlds fresh water.

This was a must to dip our toes in the water. And yes it was very cold. This lake is cold even by Minnesota standards in the heat of the summer 🥶

16/10/2024

Welcome to Gooseberry Falls. This area was designated a state park in Minnesota in 1937. The park was built around the upper, middle and lower falls on the Gooseberry River on the north shore of Lake Superior. The park was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps between 1934-1941. The CCC was a program to help people get jobs and working during the great depression of the 1930s. The park is home to much wildlife, including white-tailed deer, Canadian lynx, black bear and timber wolves to name a few. We did not see any of these on our hike.

16/10/2024

Split Rock Lighthouse was built in 1909 and completed in 1910. After the famous Mataafa Storm in 1905, which sank or damaged 29 ships on Lake Superior, the shipping organizations got together to build this famous lighthouse. It served the Lake Superior shipping industry until 1969. Not a single ship was lost under her watch.

Split Rock is the most visited lighthouse in the USA.

Great visit today with some spectacular views.

15/10/2024

Minnesota North Shore icon since 1957. To think this started as a Fish Shack back in the day. It grew to this over the many years. Old fashioned apple with ice cream is my favorite 😋

14/10/2024

One of the many lakes you can experience in Minnesota the ‘land of 10,000 lakes’. Our visit was made even more special by the fall colors.

11/10/2024

A visit to Slippery’s Tavern and Ristorante, made famous by the movies " Grumpy Old Men" & " Grumpier Old Men". Great stop for lunch along the Mississippi.

11/10/2024

The Northern Lights in Minnesota 🤩 This is along Interstate 90 just east of Austin, MN. Who needs the northern latitudes to see the Aurora Borealis. Austin, MN sits on the about the 44 parallel. Pretty far south for the Northern Lights, but what a great show we saw.

06/10/2024

Great day watching the Vikings in London. Awesome win over the New York Jets to go 5-0. It was a nail biter but a win is a win. SKOL

05/10/2024

Had a great tour group yesterday to Windsor Castle. Had a father/daughter from Minnesota and couple sisters and one’s husband from Australia. All Vikings fans and all going to the game.

02/10/2024

The Minnesota Vikings are in London this weekend ! 🇺🇸 I went along to the fan meet up today after a tour. Even had the Skol Vikings fight song on the stairs, photos of the players and a Vikings menu! Was great to meet other fans in the UK.

SKOL VIKINGS!! Minnesota Vikings

29/09/2024

Butlin's is a chain of large seaside resorts in the United Kingdom. Butlin's was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families.

The first of the Butlin's holiday camps was opened by Billy Butlin in 1936 in Skegness, UK. There are three Butlins holiday camps in the UK today.

They offer family holidays along with music weekends out of season.

Butlins music weekends are offered regularly across all of the three of the resorts. Each weekend has a different musical theme, including soul music, alternative, 70s, 80s, 90s, disco, and rock and blues.

Enjoying the 80s weekend at the Butlins Bognor Regis holiday camp!

27/09/2024

The views from the Sky Garden on what was a wet day in London

26/09/2024

A visit to the Sky Garden situated at the top of the Walkie Talkie building in London. Magnificent views from the top - St Paul’s, Wembley Stadium, Thames and Tower Bridge. Had a spot of lunch and a cuppa tea while admiring the views.

23/09/2024

23/09/2024

We are at the end of the route. The beautiful Santa Monica beach.

23/09/2024

A quick stop at the bottle tree ranch on our way to Santa Monica.

The Bottle Tree Ranch is a ranch near Oro Grande, California.

It is a unique stop when passing by on Route 66.

The 2 acres ranch was created in 2000 by Elmer Long and has more than 200 bottle trees!

23/09/2024

Calico is a ghost town and former mining town in San Bernardino County, California. Located in the Calico Mountains of the Mojave Desert region of Southern California, it was founded in 1881 as a silver mining town, and was later converted into a county park named Calico Ghost Town.

An authentic historical view inside an old west mining town along with a myriad of shops, restaurants, and original buildings to explore.

One of our stops today.

22/09/2024

Received a card and cake for my birthday from my Route 66 guests along with a rendition of ‘happy birthday’ 🎵 Means a lot 😊.

22/09/2024

Some highlights from the last few days on our tour - Winslow, Angel Delgadillo and a cowboy show.

21/09/2024

We have now arrived in Vegas!

At the dawn of the 20th century, a railroad linked Las Vegas with the rest of the US. However, the spark that transformed the city into the “Entertainment Capital of the World” was the legalization of gambling in Nevada in 1931.

In the past century, Las Vegas has transformed from a small train stop in the desert to the "Entertainment Capital of the World.

Some great shows to see. Some of the group are going to “Vegas, The Show” which is the history of this entertainment capital.

20/09/2024

A stop at the enchanted Petrified Forest.

It is one of the world's largest concentrations of brilliantly colored petrified wood.

The current 346 square miles of Petrified Forest is more than 200 million years old.

We also saw the stunning painted dessert landscape.