Monsoon Season In Scottsdale

 

One of the things we learned when we went to the Phoenix Botanical Garden last year was that the Sonoran Desert is unique. It is the only desert in the world to have two rainy seasons. During our visit in July, we witnessed what they call "Monsoon Season". One of my friends from the area assured us that it was a small monsoon. I recorded this short video on my Droid. It is mostly dark but occasionally the lightning illuminates Crescent Peak and the surrounding area.

Our annual pilgrimage to Scottsdale

Once again we are in Scottsdale in late July, aka monsoon season. We are attending a Ministry Insights conference to enhance Judy's coaching ministry. We are once again staying at the Four Seasons at Troon resort. This is a fabulous resort (and we get a fantastic price through the conference.)
I will be blogging about some of our adventures and feasting over the next few days.
This blog entry is the first one using my Droid. It is very handy.  I just have to watch out for typpos :-)

MS Amsterdam in the Panama Canal

MS Amsterdam at Miraflores

My mother is taking a repositioning cruise from Fort Lauderdale, FL to Seattle, WA on Holland America's MS Amsterdam. Today they cruised through the Panama Canal. I was able to track her on http://www.marinetraffic.com/ and capture a picture as the ship was going through the Miraflores Lock with a live webcam at http://www.pancanal.com/ .

On Marine Traffic you can see what ships are in a particular port or you can locate and track a specific ship. Not every ship is trackable and there are many areas that are out of range, but it appears to cover most of the US ports. You can even receive email updates on your favorite ships. I have ejoyed tracking the Amsterdam on this voyage.

The Panama Canal website has live webcams at the Miraflores locks as well as the Gatun locks.

NEXUS Part Deux

I flew through Atlanta on the way home from a recent trip overseas and saw the "Global Entry" kiosks by Passport Control. Global Entry is a trusted traveler program that has kiosks in several US airports that allow arriving international passengers to bypass the passport control line when they are entering the USA. I was wishing I could use them and had planned on looking into it further when I was done with that trip. When I got home I had no less than four postcards from Customs and Border Protection informing me that since I was a NEXUS cardholder, I can use the Global Entry kiosks! There is no extra charge for this service.

This is a great benefit for NEXUS members, especially since the Global Entry program costs twice as much.

The website for the NEXUS program is:
www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/trusted_traveler/nexus_prog/nexus.xml

The website for Global Entry is:
http://www.globalentry.gov/


Safe Travels!

George

If you haven't bought your sweetie flowers yet...

Our self-service travel website (http://www.gracepointtravel.com/) offers much more than just hotel rooms and airline tickets. You can also order flowers and gifts for delivery. This time of year you can go directly to the flowers and gift site through our homepage.

There is also a special site called "YTB Romance" where you can book romantic getaways, etc. One unique feature is a Honeymoon Registry where you can book a honeymoon and friends and relatives can pay for part of the trip or buy extras, much like a gift registry at a store. YTB Romance can be found under the Extras tab on our main travel page (http://www.gracepointtravel.com/)

Have a great weekend!

George