Vagawandering.com Blog

Pegasus Taverna and Astoria Pastry (Detroit)

Pegasus Taverna Like stepping into an old-time Mob movie where the Greek ex-mobster maitre’d yells at you to follow him while the kitchen crashes plates in the background. Under the low hanging plastic ivy, under the low wood ceiling, the waiters flame the Saganaki. I think we were the only table to NOT get the Saganaki. Don’t be like us!...

The Great Loop

I have to admit that I knew virtually nothing about the United States east of Las Vegas. YouTube has opened up visibility to things I’d never laid eyes on. Our love of locks (don’t laugh) led us to the Keokuk Lock and Dam in Iowa on the mighty Mississip, which has a wonderful live Webcam often with up to 500...

YouTube/Boats – Mississippi & Great Lakes

StreamTimeLIVE channel hosts these interesting live cams: Mississippi River Lock & Dam 19, Keokuk, IA, USA – frequent tow barges thru what was the largest electricity generating plant in the US when it was built in 1913. Barges pass thru all the way up until ~midnight PST, good for west-coast watchers. Great Lakes: Ship Cam – Port Huron, Michigan USA...

YouTube Pets

We finally saw Itchy the Hedgehog tonight. At least i think that’s his name, something must live in Itchy’s hut. He eats in the early morning only. And the badger came out to eat the corn strewn on the ground. The deer were also out. A tiny flying squirrel came out too. His body was so tiny, I only spied...

Carnival Cruise Line Temporarily Limits Bacon at the Buffet Fleetwide

File this under: “End of the World”. https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/25686-carnival-cruise-line-temporarily-limits-bacon-at-the-buffet-fleetwide.html?fbclid=IwAR0Mq5TxnhYzXCSVEi7WemGmplCbeaYOdiLExeFlOqOdKEqMmEYck5SHMqY “Carnival Cruise Line is temporarily moving to an every-other-day bacon schedule at its Lido Buffet fleetwide. “We purchase thousands of pieces of bacon every week, and the people that supply us and the cruise industry are having some challenges sourcing bacon for our ships at the moment,” Heald said in a live...

Big Island 2021

It is still Covid times in Hawaii and those longing for the carefree trips of the past should still wait. Restaurants are not seating at 100pct capacity. Businesses of all kinds cannot get staff. Some businesses are still closed. Those that are open are short staffed. Restaurants in Hilo are generally not seating inside and takeout lines are long. Restaurants...

In the News 2021/08/04

– Can we stop beating up Simone Biles now? https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/simone-biles-aunt-dies-olympics/#app – Before the NY AG report, Andrew Cuomo long claimed to be a champion against sexual harassment and attacked GOP politicians for staying silent https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/08/04/politics/kfile-andrew-cuomo-past-comments/index.html – Russian officials to investigate possible consequences to flipping space station https://gizmodo.com/russian-official-experts-to-investigate-possible-cons-1847423624 “This seems ripe for conspiracy theories. This is Russia’s last piece before they...

Why I travel

This, my friends, is why I travel – to get out of my comfort zone. I have touched on this kind of experience during treks to Shaolin Temple (Dengfeng, Henan Province); the Great Wall Mutian section; PanyuLotus Hill (Lian Hua Shan, in Guangzhou); the Tian Tan Buddha part 1part 2 (Hong Kong); Suzhou city (Shanghai), and the Alakai Swamp Trail...

Live Webcams – List

Running list of my favorite LIVE webcams! (Note: exact channel names not given. Recommend you create a YouTube account and start saving to your playlist today!) UGH – I see that live webcams frequently change URLs. Please use the links to then find the channel so you can find the feeds again. Argghhh!! Live port of Miami (especially for cruise ship...

Live webcams of the World

A few interesting live webcams of the world. But as you and I know, this barely scratches the surface of live Webcam-ery on YouTube… (NOTE: Live Webcams periodically restart with new URLs so best to visit the home Channel to find the current links). Live Tour Around the World Webcams – with Lite Jazz Music (Boston and Maine Live) )....

Bergen Line and Flam Railway – YouTube

A fascinating “live” cab view of the Bergen Line and Flam Railway in Norway, in the winter. Many tunnels and stunning mountain vistas. Surprisingly addictive! If you like Country House Gent’s Narrowboat videos you will like this (no locks though lol). Winter Cab View from two of the most SCENIC RAILWAYS

CPK San Diego

It was a madhouse at California Pizza Kitchen. We watched them servicing several dozen meal tickets, and not very well. They started staging empty pizza boxes on the bar right in front of our plates. And just as a bunch of pizzas would come out of the oven, the gal manning the pizza boxing would disappear and new workers would...

Breakfast

Sometimes it’s nice to have a quiet cup of coffee by yourself. But now that we have our own espresso maker, it’s difficult to find a good Macchiato on the road.

Salty’s Alki Beach (Seattle)

Salty’s is one of my longtime favorite restaurants ever since my Oregon business trips back in the 90’s/00’s. Thus, we were excited to try the Salty’s Alki Beach location. We were extremely fortunate to snag a reservation by phone after OpenTable showed us nothing for days. Next time I will book Seattle restaurants 2 weeks out. Maybe more than that....