Topsail Beach

Our travels this summer now find us in North Carolina in a beach house on the ocean. I flew to Buffalo last week and visited with my family. We drove 14 hours to Topsail Beach on Saturday (and I use the term "we" loosely). I drove most of the way, but my brother-in-law, David drove a few hours...and thank goodness Cheryl stayed chatty to keep me awake. My "nephew/dog", Sketch road with us. It was Sketch's first trip to the beach. He slept most of the way along with my niece Melissa. The photo shows exactly what Sketch thought of the beach.

My nephews Eric & Ryan, along with Shannon, Eric's significant other....are here with Ryans dog Pogo. Wish our Scott could be here as well, but he is home being responsible and going to school. Check out my facebook page for more photos.

Tempus fugit

Well, time flies with barely a chance to talk about the fun time in OC with my sister-in-law and the rest of our delightful family. Now it's time to head out to Twin Falls Idaho with my husbands dad and that side of the family. (We hit my "sides" of the family in August). It's been quite the year for travel and other than the neglect to our garden, it's been lots of fun, with more to come.
I read my niece Kathy's blog today and she listed the 5 things that she likes more than most people...so here's my list.
1) Time with Family - I'm so lucky to love them ALL!
2) THE BEACH
3) travel
4) pizza - unreasonably so!
5) reading fiction
Do you have a list?

Anticipation

I am sitting the the Sacramento Airport anxiously awaiting a brief flight to Orange County. Affectionately know as The OC. My loving sister-in-law is celebrating a landmark birthday (which will remain uncounted for now) this weekend and I can't wait to be a part of the festivities to honor her.
Not to be one to miss a few minutes of frivolous free WiFi time, I took a few minutes to review my nieces blogs. The antics of my grand nieces and nephews always make my day, so I thought I would start a mini-saga for the weekend. Stay tuned for what is sure to be a visit filled with hilarity and most of all, the love of a family who accepts me for who I am. A very rare treat indeed.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAN!

Back in the swing

I find it so difficult to get back to normal since our vacation. I find myself daydreaming about parts of the trip. Today I needed an escape from the drudgery of month end accounting, so I re-visited Brugge. One of my favorite places. See how happy I am? Ahhhhhhhhhhhh

EIFFEL in love again

You CANOLA believe half of what you hear..

Ahhh Paris in the spring time. While on our tour bus driving through the Parisian countryside, we noticed fields of yellow plants. Mutterings of "mustard grass" and "goldenrod" were heard amongst us tourists...but "no, no no," said out Nazi tour guide..."that is canola. How you say canola oil like for when cooking." Well, imagine that. For the next 20 minutes, we learned all you wanted to know (or not) about canola. So, if you have any questions about canola, ask me when you see me next...oh, but don't ask Milo. He tried to tell us that the farmers held canola birds and squeezed them in rows.....

Monk-e business

Off road Jeep trip to Sintra in Portugal (outside of Lisbon)..Highlight of the trip so far. It started out very rainy and turned into a fog, which according to our guide was unusual (of course - Murphy again)! We arrived at the top of the mountain which was thick with trees & fern and the fog lent a surreal quality to the day. AMAZING! There was a surprise lunch set up in the thick of the lush forest where a fairly small young lady in a long,hooded brown robe served us homemade breads, cheeses olives and cherry liquer. Just delicious. I made such a fuss over how cute she was in her little hooded robe and mentioned that it felt like something from The Hobbit....why did Milo wait until we got back in the jeep to tell me that she was some sort of monk?

Who is Murphy and why did he make such a stupid LAW?

Captains Log, May 7th, today Milo and I got stuck in an elevator.
Ok, so it was for about a minute and a half, but stuck is stuck. LOL!!

Wine or Swine

Cinco d' Mayo...some party! I woke up in the wee hours "sick as a dog" as they say. We're talkin' Great Dane, not chihuaua. Obviously couldn't get off the ship, and was quanantined to my room. The obvious question was swine flu or bad food? When I was able to walk, I finally headed down to the Medical quarters where the Dr. said I had a virus....but no swine flu. He also said it wasn't the wine or the food. I think it was the trauma of my "near death experience" on the bus. It lowered my resistance and I caught the first germ that headed my way. After 2 days in the cabin (of constant sleep)...I was released. It took another full day to feel human, but here I am. If I had to get sick, that was the place, I have so many more fun things coming up!

The people on the bus go up and down, down, down

Many of you are aware of my unreasonable travel phobias. What you may not know is that topping that list is actually buses. I knew that when I signed up for this cruise that most or all excursions would involve some sort of bus transportation. I also knew that the buses in Europe are far cleaner and much more beautiful than those buses in the US that drive 85 miles an hour on the way to the casinos...so I reasoned that if I wanted to see the world, I could do it on a bus. Our first day in Monaco & Monte Carlo was great. The bus driver was patient and drove slowly so we could soak up the sights. We even got to drive the race route! So it was with much bravado that I boarded our bus the next day to Pisa and Tuscany. Tuscany was probably my most "looked forward to" excursion. The driver again was patient and cautious. The ride to Pisa, interesting. The we headed up a one lane road to the top of the hill in Tuscany where we were to enjoy lunch and wine at a farmhouse/vineyard. A very long story short, the bus could not make the hairpin turns, of which there were many. It often took us 10 point turns to get around the corner. Unfortunately there were cliffs behind us. For every inch we made forward, the bus slid back a foot. It was harrowing to say the least. Finally one lady totally flipped out and insisted that she be let off the bus. I was right behind her with 6 others. The clutch was burning and smelled horrible, the brakes were smoking and the back wheels were inches from going down hill. Our valiant driver managed to get the bus around the corner, only to find out we had gone the wrong way and he would need to turn around somewhere. We walked part of the way up the hill even though our tour guide wanted us back on the bus. 8 of us refused. My entire body was shaking so hard, I couldn't get the xanax out of the bottle. Finally we flagged down a little bus (they are blue here, not yellow) and made it to the farmhouse. I could barely eat, while others drank themselves into submission. I had eventually gotten the xanax to my mouth so I didn't have more than a taste of the wine....but it was amazing. Worth the trip? Not sure...glad I saw Tuscany and it was all I hoped it would be. I would like to go back again, but maybe in a limo? In case you are wondering, the driver found a straight route down the hill that accomodated the bus and we had an easy ride back to the ship with all 40 people singing "Volare" and "when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie..."

In Barcelona

Wow! We're exhausted already. I should mention that when our plane landed in Barcelona, they wouldn't let us pull up to a jetway. We had to walk down the stairs where we were met by inspectors wearing masks in case we had swine flu. Everyone was laughing and warning each other not to cough or sneeze, or they would quarentine the plane. They put us on buses to the terminal. I'm just glad it wasn't some sort of "showers".
The first night, we had dinner with 3 of the pilots, all friends of Rhondas. Holy cow...I'm glad we didn't "party" with them BEFORE the flight. Man they were fun. We ate outside at a cafe with them in the pouring rain. We looked like drowned rats by the time we got back to our rooms. It was a great memorable night!
We are on our second day in Barcelona and leave tomorrow by ship. I loved Madrid and now I love Barcelona. We are staying on Las Ramblas which seems to be the hub of all activity. Street performers, acrobats and clowns (not just Milo) fill the streets. It turns out that today is Workers Solidarity Day (Labor Day) so all of the stores are closed, but I really don't mind. Milo and I walked all over the place looking at parks, cathedrals and amazing architecture. Rhonda and Frieda started out with us, but I think we wore them out after a couple of hours. After all, Frieda is 86.....people here are friendly and helpful and of course most speak some English. I keep saying "Vino Tinto", my favorite spanish words. Rhonda is tired of Tapas and doesn't want to stay awake until 9pm for dinner. Milo and I are just soaking up the experience and taking lots of pictures. Two cameras and memory cards with a zillion megabytes of space. I'll bet you can't wait to see them! LOL I try and post a couple on here before I log off. Once we are settled on the ship we will update you some more. Adios mi Amigos

CRUISE COFFEE

I didn't realize there were so many things to learn about cruises. Like coffee, evidently cruise lines are notorious for bad coffee. While not a coffee-holic, I do like a good cup of coffee in the morning. Milo on the other hand, depends on that jolt. I'm told the French Press is a necessity when cruising. Being too cheap to buy one of my own, I borrowed a nice thermal french press from our friends Stacey & Jim. Then of course we had to experiment with measurements of coffee and water. Now that we have it at a strength that is acceptable to both of us, I just spent the morning measuring 27 snack size baggies of coursely ground coffee from out local coffee house. They are all labeled (of course) and ready to pack. Not sure I'll have room for any clothing, but we will certainly be awake. Let's hope the TSA doesn't think it's contraband. The sniffing dogs will be wired....

COMING SOON: Travel update

Be sure to flag our blog to keep up with our travels.
Milo and I are leaving on April 28th for almost 3 weeks, along with Cousin Rhonda and Cousin Frieda. We will be flying from San Francisco, to Barcelona where we will begin our Western European Cruise!
We will do our best to keep you updated on our adventures.
Bon Voyage!

Amy needs an update

I am so inspired by my wonderful nieces who keep their blogs up to date. I love the entire family and I miss them terribly. It's a treat to keep up with the kids when I live so far away. My niece Amy, once said she stopped reading my blog because it never changed...so here's to change!
Last week I visited my sister Tammy who lives in Clearwater Florida. Sister Cheryl from the Buffalo area came too. I realized that if I ever start feeling old, all I need to do is call my sisters. We laughed the entire time. Every situation reduced us to tears, no matter how insignificant. They are all "had to be there" moments but I will try sharing one with you.
Getting ready for the beach is just as difficult without kids as it is with them. After loading the car with blankets, towels, chairs and tuna sandwiches, we all dog-piled in...seatbelts fastened without any scolding on anyones part this time. Tammy, who was the driver, couldn't get her car door closed. It was stuck on the curb. This alone was enough to send us into bouts of hysteria, but when we realized it was from all the weight in the car, it was even funnier. How much can four (Cousin Diane was with us) middle aged women weigh? OK, fair enough, one of us had to get out so that our tour guide could close the drivers side door. Being the gracious younger sister, Tammy bounced out of the car and gave a tug on the door. nothing. Now the question became "who's next"? Tammy, being slightly more diplomatic than the rest of us stood outside of the car waiting patiently and not saying a word. OK...I guess being the older sister, I should be the one to get out of the car. When I did it sprung back to it's original height and the car door closed effortlessly, humiliating me in the process.
....Now, you may not find that as amusing as we did, but lets just say not only does middle age add a few pounds, but it also takes it's toll on ones bladder.
Amy, is that what you wanted to hear?

Grand Cayman - smilebox

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