The Bates Photo Album

Follow the links below to see what Don and Mal have been up to lately...

Las Vegas. On March 20, 2011, we flew to Las Vegas. We again stayed at the Grandview timeshare (next door to the South Point Casino. On Monday we wandered around the Strip visiting many casinos and became Crime Scene Investigators (CSI) at MGM - quite an experience! On Tuesday we drove out to the Valley of Fire - awesome. That night we saw Celine Dion's show - what an entertainer! Our daughter Sue and her husband Rick joined us on Wednesday (they had the lockout unit next door). We had a tour of the Zappos facility (funky, but interesting) -- Joy had been to a conference in San Francisco the week before and met the CEO of Zappos and suggested we take the tour if available. The next day we all drove out to the west rim of the Grand Canyon in the Hualapai Reservation -- Don even walked out on the Skywalk (what a view!). On Friday we toured some casinos in the morning with Sue and Rick, but sent them back to the Strip by themselves while Mal and I spent the afternoon at the casino (we actually made money - for a change). We saw two other shows and spent one evening on Fremont Street in downtown Vegas. See the many pictures that we took.

South America. On January 13, 2011, our daughter Lisa drove us to Miami to catch an overnight flight to Santiago, Chile, to start our 20-day adventure. We spent 3 days sightseeing Santiago (double-decker bus, taxies, tango show, large shopping mall, winery tour, etc.). On Sunday, we were bused to Valparaiso (about a three-hour ride) where we boarded the Celebrity Infinity for our cruise down around the horn of South America (400 miles from Antarctica) ending in Buenos Aires, Argentina for 3 days. Click on the links below to share some scenes of our journey.

Egypt. On May 29, 2010, we left Boston for a 14-day tour and river boat cruise of Egypt. We met up with 125 other travelers in Cairo to begin our journey. We had several tours in and around Cairo, including the Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, and the ancient step pyramid Sakkara. A train trip north to Alexandria and several tours of the city, including the new Alexandria Library and Mal dipping her feet into the Mediterranean. After returning by bus to Cairo, we had more tours of temples and tombs. Security in Cairo and Alexandria was tight -- we had three busses with two armed guards on each, a chase car with four police in the back, and at one time a motorcycle escort. We next flew to Luxor where we boarded the M/S River Anuket (our home for the next 7 nights). One of the highlights of the Luxor area was the Valley of the Kings where 65 tombs have been discovered, all but one having been looted. Tutankhamun's was discovered in 1922 intact with all it's treasures, only because it was beneath another tomb. Tut's treasures have been displayed in several cities around the world. Tombs were started to be built when the king became the ruler, and the tomb kept growing until the king died. It's mind-boggling when you consider Tut only ruled 9 years (from age 9 to his death at 18) and the treasures that had been accumulated in that short period, while Ramses II ruled for 65 years -- I wonder what his tomb looked like before it was pilfered! Our riverboat only sailed during the daylight hours; so, we were able to see the sights along the banks of the Nile -- the Nile valley is very fertile, whereas Egypt is 96% desert (we also had security on the boat - a machine gun with two armed police at the stern of the boat). The river cruise ended in Aswan where we visited the High Dam which created Lake Nasser. As the lake was being created, 21 tombs and temples were relocated -the most impressive was Abu Simbel, which was originally in a mountain. The temple was moved 688 feet back and raised 213 feet above its original location, and a new "mountain" was built over it. After a great vacation in Egypt we boarded our Egyptair 12-hour flight back to New York where we spent two days touring the city and caught a Broadway show. Join us on our journey by clicking on the links below.

Scandinavian Capitals and St. Petersburg Cruisetour.  On May 31, 2009, we boarded a plane for three days in London before embarking on a 12-night cruise through the North and Baltic Seas on NCL's "Jewel of the Sea."  Early June in northern Europe was cool (around 60 degrees) and damp -- sweatshirts and jackets.  St. Petersburg's palaces were magnificent, but the city and countryside are very drab.  Also, the Russian customs officials caused huge backups for people trying to get off the ship the first morning (we were in line for over an hour, but some stood two-to-three hours while six agents processed 2300 passengers).  The Scandinavian capitals (we missed Oslo) and Estonia were beautiful.  Click on the links below to follow our journey.

Eastern Europe - River Danube from the Black Sea to Budapest. On May 25, 2008, Mal and Don headed to Romania in Eastern Europe and then a river cruise up the Danube from the Black Sea to Hungary. The Danube has two sets of locks - the first raised us about 17 feet; the second (the Iron Gate) consisted of a set of two locks which raised us 108 feet. When Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts was built and four towns were buried, the cemeteries were also relocated; when the dams on the Danube were built, over 35,000 people were displaced and the cemeteries were buried. All of the countries we visited were former Communist countries. Since 1989 they have been rebuilding and have done a great job at becoming Westernized. The people were friendly and very "upbeat."  We took almost a thousand photos - enjoy the 300+ we selected for this web site:

Don and Mal can be reached at:  malbates@aol.com