Here it is day 14, November 14th, we've been on a dead run. Since I last posted we've been to the Great Wall, I even climbed it. The Forbidden city. On to Xian saw the Terra Cotta Warriors and then on to the Yanztze River, we just finished a four day river journey this morning. I've never seen so many new bridges being built. The new Three Gorges Dam is so massive, it takes five locks to go up the height of the rise in the water to the reserivor side. The dam has increased the river so much it makes the Mississippi and the Columbia Rivers look so small now. The river only has about three more feet to rise and it will be at the max level for the dam. The villages have all been relocated above the water level. There are so many new apartment complexes along the river.
We saw the three Gorges and they are just like you see in the pictures. So beautiful. We took a small sand pan type boat down a smaller gorge and really had a good time taking pictures. I've probably taken 1000 pictures. So when I get home I'll have lots to share. Tomorrow we go to the Li River take another small boat and view the limestone formations. This afternoon we inside a limestone cave. The cave was all lite up with colored lights and the formations were beautiful.
This evening we walked downtown and found a KFC and had good old KFC for dinner. Then we walked to the night market to find the bargains. They love to bargain with you. After the shopping we went over to a big fancy hotel, that is about 10 stories tall and at 8:30pm they turn lights on the back side and a waterfall comes down all across the whole backside. It was really spectacular. I've never seen a hotel with a waterfall coming off it's roof.
I forgot to mention that where we got off our boat this morning in Chongqing, it's the largest city in the world, 35million. I want to know how come we Americans had never heard of it?
Sorry I haven't sent any emails but I can't get onto my wildblue account here in China. I have four more nights. Two here and two in Hong Kong and then I fly home on the 17Th. See you all soon. Chop Chop as our guide Joy loves to say....miss you all Cheryl.

Day 6, Bejing, we've been on such a run I haven't even had time to get on the internet. I heard Obama had been elected President elect while climbing the great wall of China. the weather has been absolutely beautiful. The pollution is still down from the Olympics and the city is very clean the people are so polite, it's a pleasure to be here and see this great city. I'm taking so many pictures. The group I'm traveling with are great. The tour guide is a cute lady about 38 and speaks perfect English, and has so much to share with us. we leave tomorrow for Xian to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. Hopefully there I'll be able to find an Internet Cafe where the price is reasonable. I'm using the hotel's and they are very expensive, so this will be short. I may just have to do this journal when I get home. but wanted you all to know I'm safe and traveling with a great group of people. The guide is very careful with us and lets us know what to eat and what not too. I'm thinking of all of you, love to you all. Hopefully I'll be back on sooner. Cheryl , Ps tonight we went and saw the Peking Opera that was a trip...

Ok we're on the way. Pray for us to be safe, no earthquakes, no floods.

Start of China Vacation

While the time has finally arrived, tomorrow is the big day. I fly to Los Angeles at 3:50pm for a midnight flight to Shanghai, China. So basically a 24 hour trip. I'll be really tired by the time I arrive but it will all be worth it when I arrive. I will try to up date the blog as the trip progresses. Just log on to http://cherylsvacations.blogspot.com/ ever couple of days and hopefully it will keep you up to date on what I'm doing. The tour company I'm traveling with is called http://www.smartours.com/ the trip is the Oct 31,2008 China, Yangtze River Cruise and Hong Kong trip. If you're interested in more information on the trip.

Attached is a photo of Barbara and Margee my traveling partners. Barbara had us over for Chinese dinner at her home to meet her husband Tom and her good friend Margee. Barbara is Rusty's 1st cousin on the Bolles side. I only met her about two months ago. She likes to travel as much as I do. She's been planning this trip for about a year and a half. I'm really excited about this new adventure. Rusty will be holding down the home front for me.

Boston has so many great tourist sights. I really appreciated seeing the memorial to the 6 million jews killed by the Nazi's during WWII. As you walked through the six glass cyclinders you could view the six million numbers of the six million Jews that were killed. Also as the you walked through the cyclinders steam was coming up through vents in the sidewalks to represent the gas in the gas chambers. It was a very erie feeling. But you really thought about what you were seeing.

Another favorite was doing the walking tour of old Boston, seeing where the Boston Tea Party took place, Paul Revere and the boys met. The old south church and the Boston Commons Park. There were docents dressed up in period costumes telling all the history and leading the various tours. Then of course the present was the Boston Red Socks were playing socks games every day to be in the play offs. The locals were all very pumped.

Sight seeing in Boston, what a workout that was. I'd start my days early. The hotel had a shuttle to the downtown area and from there I caught the hop on and hop off trolley. It was very convient as there were about 20 different stops that I could get off at. I had to choose was the most important to see, as I couldn't possibly see all the sights, but I gave it a good college try. The harbor cruise was a real treat, you could see the whole Boston sky line. The city really is beautiful. Of course I managed to find a nice military destroyer to tour, right next to the USS Constitution.

Then another morning it was off to the JFK Library and Museum. That took the whole morning. The Library and Museum sits right on side of the bay and you have a great view of the bay from the museum. I was impressed by the exhibits and displays, lot's of Jackie things too. There were several videos and it was like going back to the 60's and the day he died. I still remember that day. I was working at the telephone company and my switchboard lite up like a christmas tree with all the calls telling us that the President had been shot.

Boston-Rhode Island Vacation Sept 2008

In mid September Marilyn and I set off to Boston for a mini vacation. Vacation for me and trai

ning for Marilyn. Marilyn attended training at Simmons College in Boston for the entire week, from 8AM until 8 PM. While I went off and did the sightseeing thing on my own. I bought a three day pass on the Boston Trolley and that allowed me to hop on and off at about 20 different stops, plus admission into different historic buildings and museums. I crammed as much as I possibly could into those four days. There's just so much history there and so little time, you could easily spend several weeks there touring all the different spots.

On Friday I rented a rental car and off to Rhode Island we went to visit Wanda and Paul. They have a lovely home about and hour and a half from Boston. It rained the whole trip down there but the scenery was still lovely. It was nice to be in a home again instead of a big hotel. Saturday Wanda and Paul took out sight seeing in the rain. Hurricane Kyle was moving up the east coast about 80 miles off shore heading towards Maine. So we were just getting the rain. We had a great day.

The next day it was off to Newport to see the mansions and beautiful sailboats. We did manage tour the "Breakers" that was an awesome home and to think they only used it 2 months in the summer. What a waste of a beautiful home. But when you have money I guess it doesn't matter.

We had a great visit with Wanda and Paul and on Monday we set out back to Boston to fly home on Tuesday. A quick trip but well worth it. The fall leaves were just starting to turn and everything was beautiful and green, not brown and dry like California is.

Ok everyone, My next blog will be from China, coming up Nov 2, 2008. I'm going on an 18 day trip so look for my adventures here.

Talk to you all soon. Cheryl