From Sea to Shining Sea

24 Saturday Feb 2018

Posted by Jane R Hendrickson in Retirement, Seeing the World, Senior Travel, Travel

Palm Springs turned out to be a lovely choice for a month…wish we would have booked here even longer. The palms were among the highest we’ve ever seen and the population is less than 50,000, much smaller than we had anticipated. We had read that the weather could be cool but compared to Michigan we knew we’d find it enjoyable. As it turned out the weather was in the high 70’s and 80’s for the entire month we were there. Now that’s January weather I can get used to! We rented our Airbnb apartment from a guy who lives in New York and it was perfect. The two bedroom apartment was spacious, great cooking facilities, comfy bed, lots of stores were nearby and just a short drive from downtown. Couldn’t have been better!

Our apartment faced the pool with two chairs and a table on our balcony making it a perfect location for an afternoon glass of wine to go with our cribbage game. The complex was divided into eight separate units each with its own stairway which was covered by a profusion of bouganvilla.

One afternoon as Bob was sitting there reading he swatted what he thought was a fly away from his ear. How surprised he was when he realized it wasn’t a fly at all but a hummingbird!

One of the jaunts we enjoyed most was a side trip to San Diego. It’s about a two and a half hour drive through the mountains from Palm Springs and oh so beautiful.

Our route took us over the San Gorgonio Pass one of the windiest places in the US, and which acts as a wind tunnel between the coast and the Coachella Valley, so it was understandable that we would once again encounter the ubiquitous windmill. And wide-lane highways made it possible for even the driver to take in the sights!

Our first destination was the San Diego Zoo. It was warm and sunny, just as we would expect in San Diego, and we saw a baby giraffe, pandas, koalas, even a zoo medical assistant applying lotion to a flamingo’s feet because just like people their feet dry out in the desert climate.

We had made reservations to spend the night in San Diego so we could see a bit more of the area. We asked locals about suggestions for a seafood restaurant and Kings Fish House seemed to be the place. http://kingsfishhouse.com/. Yummy! Bob had the seafood platter and I had the fresh salmon and both were wonderful. But I was a bit surprised that the menu marketed my plate as British Columbia Atlantic Salmon. Hmm… Last I knew BC was on the Pacific!

We woke up the following morning to unusually warm weather and headed for the boardwalk in Coronado where we watched the surfers. Then headed back to Palm Springs travelling first up the Pacific coast to La Jolla where we strolled along the water enjoying the sun and surf just like the sea lions on the beach.

In August we had been in Seattle for the solar eclipse and were a bit disappointed by how little it affected the daylight, but on January 31 we were treated to a wonderful view of a lunar eclipse. We got up about 4:30 am, took our coffee outside, and had a seat on our balcony for an amazing show. For nearly an hour we watched as a shadow slowly covered the moon. Then much to our surprise, it quickly disappeared as the moon went down behind the mountain. We hadn’t anticipated that!

Another place on my “must see list” was the Salton Sea. We had captured glimpses of it from the interstate on our initial drive into Palm Springs. We were thrilled to find friends from Michigan were also visiting Palm Springs so we decided we’d make the trek together, about 60 miles. The Salton Sea is a really fascinating place. It’s 236 feet below sea level and located directly over the San Andreas fault.

The sea is only a little more than a hundred years old and was formed when the Colorado River broke through irrigation gates in Yuma, Arizona, and the entire area around the main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad community was flooded. This flooding went on for two years and wasn’t halted until 1907. Now the Salton Sea is the largest lake in California. In the 1950’s this was a big resort area; it has since deteriorated in large part due to the pollution of the lake. We encountered many dead fish as we walked along the beach.

And although we had read there is a stench associated with the sea, we didn’t find that to be the case. We also read that there are mud pots and mud volcanoes on the eastern shore but we didn’t see either. There are some unusual man-made sights, however. For instance, there’s a banana museum which was unfortunately closed. Hmm…and bananas don’t grow in California; well, at least aren’t commercially grown. Then there’s Salvation Mountain near Slab City. This mountain was the idea of Leonard Knight who constructed the mountain from adobe, straw, and lead free paint. The mountain is covered with biblical sayings. Hard to explain. You just have to see it!

Driving back we came upon the now all too familiar sight of border patrol checking cars driving north. They gave us a smile and waved us on. I can’t quite decide if this is racial profiling or credible security.

Palm Springs is also about a 45 mile drive from Joshua National Park. I had seen where in the summer the temperatures can reach 115 degrees or more. Winter is definitely the time to visit.

The park is particularly interesting because two distinct deserts meet there. The northern part of the national park is in the Mohave Desert and much prettier, I believe, than the southern part of the park which is part of the Colorado Desert (part of the larger Sonoran Desert) and much more barren. We didn’t realize there was such a difference between the deserts. The Joshua Tree is a yucca and we were told seeing them is a good indicator that we were in the Mohave Desert and as we left the high desert and moved into the Colorado they indeed disappeared. (But later we were told some Joshua Trees do grow next to the saguaro in western Arizona. It gets confusing!) There is also an abundance of boulders which makes the park a favorite place for rock climbers!

We were lucky to be there on a clear day which made the stop at Keys View (in the northwestern part of the park) spectacular. Just as we walked to the top of the viewing area a ranger came up behind us and explained what we were looking at. We were standing at just over 5,000 feet. Wow! We could see Palm Springs, the San Andreas Fault and the Salton Sea.

He also explained that the small cut outs in the road, which I had assumed were for water runoff, provided a way for desert turtles to cross the road! And while we saw lots of cut outs we never sighted a turtle! We also liked the Cholla Cactus Garden.

We’ve seen other cactus gardens but this one is natural and wild. There’s a flat trail less than half a mile long that winds through it. I can only wonder how gorgeous it must be when it blooms! We didn’t encounter large crowds anywhere. Perhaps because we were there on Super Bowl Sunday? And with all our stops it was about a three hour trip through the park.

Time again to move on. As we began our trip back across country we decided we wanted to see Las Vegas. The drive there would take us a little over four hours across the high desert. We were reminded that we were entering desolate country when we came upon a sign indicating no services for the next 96 miles. The vast barrenness of the land is beyond description. As far as the eye could see…nothing… Then in the middle of no where we came upon a row of mailboxes, here in a place where we saw no evidence of a community. I can’t begin to imagine how self-sufficient you’d have to be to live here. Surprisingly, and perhaps reassuring, we regularly encountered vehicles traveling in both directions.

Las Vegas just appears! This huge mecca of entertainment seems to rise out of nowhere. Evidently Las Vegas really sprang to life in the 1930’s when Boulder (now Hoover) Dam was being built. We stayed at the Excalibur, and we walked down the steps, up the escalators along the strip and saw the famous fountain of the Bellagio, tried our hands at the slots in the Venetian. We took in a wonderful show that was a tribute to the Bee Gees. (And were flabbergasted at how old Bee Gees fans have become!) But after a day and a half we were ready to say enough and move on.

We drove through Lake Mead National Recreation area toward Hoover Dam.

The dam is amazing. It is truly hard to imagine how this massive project was ever moved from a vision to a reality. Then there’s the impact it’s had on the area. We forget that it’s created recreation areas, provided hydro electricity and irrigation. American ingenuity at its best! We also had to stop at Lake Havasu. Really London Bridge in Arizona? We were surprised by how very beautiful it is and how natural it seems in the desert environment.

The forecast continued to be good so we decided we could take a shorter, more northern, route east as we headed for our next stop North Carolina. We spent the night in Flagstaff, elevation 6900 ft, and asked our waiter at dinner if this 50 degree weather were typical for this time of year; he shook his head and said last year at this time they had a foot and a half of snow. As a snowboarder he was pretty frustrated, but added that it looked like in a week they should get some snow. Great! We’d be far far away by then!

The next morning we continued our drive through the desolate west. We stopped in Winslow Arizona, to see the construct of the Eagles’ “Standin on a Corner.”

Then we stopped at the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest spending little time there as we remembered both from camping trips when our kids were young. We felt like we were making progress as we crossed the Continental Divide just 25 miles east of Gallup, New Mexico. We’ve been surprised by the number of trains we’ve encountered throughout the west. And they’re long…often more than a hundred cars, mostly hauling containers. Can’t help but wonder where are they coming from? And where are they going?

Every so often we’ve seen sights that make us laugh right out loud.

And we were always on the look out for a place of historical significance. So when we came to Fort Smith, Arkansas, we had to stop. Fort Smith was established in an attempt to restore law and order to the area. Under the Indian Removal Act the Cherokee Indians were forced to move onto lands of other tribes, and not surprisingly the other tribes, in this case the Osage, objected. Disputes arose between the tribes as well as between the tribes and greedy businessmen who wanted the land.

The visitor center provided a lot of information about the disputes and how as the frontier moved westward, the fort was changed to the site of a federal court. An interesting character, Judge Isaac Parker–often referred to as “the hanging judge”–presided over the court for 21 years. During his tenure 86 men were hanged for murder or rape and once sentenced had no right of appeal. The jail was one large room where all prisoners lived together. One can only wonder how that worked out!

One of the Osage leaders was Chief Bad Tempered Buffalo–wouldn’t those sorts of names be helpful in the professional world of today? Particularly in education? They could give us some sort of preview of what communication issues may arise. Think of it: as an elementary principal I could have been called Chief Bad Tempered Tall Woman. I think it has real possibilities.

But the greatest stop for me was the Central High School Historic Site in Little Rock, Arkansas. The school is spectacularly beautiful with stunning architecture. The high school (grades 9-12) still operates with an enrollment of about 3,000. Since we had stopped here in 2008 they’ve constructed a visitors center commemorating the integration of the high school in 1957.

Looking at picture books I came upon a story I had never heard. The book, Ruth and the Green Book, by Calvin Alexander Ramsey, tells the story of a family traveling south from Chicago and how they are given The Green Book describing for them restaurants, gas stations and motels where they could safely stay. While the story is fiction, the guide book is not. It was written by Victor Hugo Green, a New York City postman. It was published annually from 1936 – 1966. 1966!!! Unbelievable!

We came upon an exhibit that shows the literacy test that Blacks had to pass in order to be able to vote. I wonder how many Americans could pass that test today! The ranger asked if we had any questions and I think he was surprised when we responded that no, we both could remember the event. We then drove to the Capitol to see a sculpture of the nine very brave students who on that day in 1957 made such a difference for the future of so many! How far we’ve come! How far we’ve yet to go!

Moving on to Tennessee the landscape changed dramatically becoming much more lush. Yep, we were definitely in the east…we entered the eastern time zone, crossed the Appalachian Trail! And finally we crossed into North Carolina, the state that will be our home for the next two months.

We managed to drive across country twice, in November and again in February, avoiding bad weather! I’m not sure I even thought it was possible. Once again we are feeling VERY lucky! And while technically we hadn’t driven “from sea to shining sea” we started out just 100 miles from the Pacific and 10 days later we’re just 130 miles from the Atlantic! We’ve traveled a distance of 2707 miles! Wow! After spending so much time in Europe in the past few years, we are reminded of just how vast and diverse our country is!

Panama: An Engineering Marvel

14 Sunday May 2017

Posted by Jane R Hendrickson in Living Abroad, Retirement, Seeing the World, Senior Travel, Travel

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We always try to get to our “new” location during daylight hours. We prefer to arrive when we aren’t exhausted and for us we’re more comfortable getting our bearings before sunset. But this isn’t always possible and while we weren’t thrilled with arriving in Panama City at 9:36 pm with the obstacles of customs and immigration ahead of us, we had arranged with the woman who ran our Airbnb, Sarah, to have a driver, Matt, meet us. Coming through customs was surprisingly easy, and as walked through the gate to the main terminal we saw lots of people lined up with signs in their hand, but no where did we see Matt. We went back again, still no Matt. Thankful for my cell phone I tried Matt’s number, no answer; I tried Sarah, no answer. I tried Matt again. This time he answered. Oh, he told us, he was tied up in traffic (At 9:30 on a Wed night this seemed unlikely, but who knows?) and he had sent Hilary instead. (Frustrated, I wondered why he hadn’t bothered to send me a text indicating the change! But again it was late and I was tired!) We went back and sure enough we found Hilary with a piece of paper with “Jane” written in light pencil. Hilary, a young lady who appeared to be in her early 20s, spoke little English, but was very friendly and walked us to her car and then headed into the city, about 45 minutes away to find our apartment. One problem was she really didn’t know where the apartment was. She asked us a few questions, the answers to which we had no clue and she chatted with someone on her phone. Finally we arrived at a skyscraper in downtown Panama, talked with a doorman, and then Hilary asked if I had keys to the apartment…which I didn’t, but I thought Sarah had said they would be left at the door. And alas! They were. Hilary and the doorman escorted us up the elevator to the seventeenth floor and we were FINALLY (a few minutes after midnight) exactly where we were supposed to be. It was about this time that it occurred to me how much trust we have in process as we travel. I had met someone online, who had been reviewed and verified by Airbnb, and I had talked on the phone with someone they had connected me with and then we had just crawled in the car with a complete stranger trusting that she would get us where we needed to be! And the amazing thing? It worked just the way it should!

The view from our apartment was spectacular: during the day, at sunset, in the evening. It was even a fascinating place to watch heavy rain showers and we were lucky there were few of those and they usually found us inside.

We found we couldn’t tire of it. Several nights we even enjoyed fireworks displays across the harbor! We had never stayed in a high rise before and a couple of times when we had power outages we did wonder about elevator access but that never turned out to be an issue as the outages never lasted more than a few hours. Looking at the building from a distance we found that we could easily locate our specific apartment because it was the one that had bouganvilla blooming from the balcony.

This Airbnb was the first one I missed the mark on. On paper it looked perfect. The apartment was comfortable, the view great, but the location truly didn’t work for us. We were located on a small triangle of land near Avenida Balboa–one article I read estimated more than 75,000 vehicles travel it in a day, and I think they were all next to our apartment. Our spit of land was bordered on both sides by lanes and lanes of traffic and as is typical with many larger Central American and Asian cities with little urban planning there were no pedestrian crossings. And the resulting noise was not to be believed. While we enjoy city life, here it wasn’t the cacophony of people and the neighborhood; the noise came from cars, trucks and most often, and annoying, motorcycles! We watched with wonder as locals strolled right out among the cars, busses and trucks, often indicating by a slight tilt of the hand that the cars should stop so they could cross. On the corner by the busiest of crossings stood a huge sign that warned walkers to cross with care!

Uber once again come to our rescue. In Panama you can order an Uber or an Uber English. And while they are extremely reasonable (I don’t think we ever paid more than $7 for any ride) we found it unnecessary to use an Uber English. I know a little bit of Spanish and when I would initiate conversation with the driver (who was most often Panamanian or Venezuelan) they were pleased to communicate! Unfortunately, while I can usually figure out how to ask a question in Spanish, I’m often perplexed by the response I get. But with a lot of questioning looks, smiles and laughter we usually got it figured out. The biggest problem with Uber is that the drivers rely on electronic maps while the city taxi drivers know the city! So many times my phone would say 5 minutes to pick up and then change to 10 or 15 or sometimes they would even cancel! Our building had a Papa John’s around the corner and that became our location point since everyone seemed to know where “Papa John’s in Paitilla” was!

But even with the great Uber service we often felt like we were hostages in our apartment since we couldn’t just go out and walk. (I did point out in my review of the Airbnb that this feeling could very much be just Bob’s and my perspectives. I’m sure many young people or those who grew up in similar environments wouldn’t have any issue!)

One of our first places to visit was Casco Viejo which was established in the late 1600’s by the Spanish colonialists. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997. This is an area of Panama that is in the process of being restored. We often forgot that Panama is a national capital and like most capital cities there are lots of monuments. New buildings are mixed in among the ruins.

Lovely plazas are dedicated to historic leaders: Balboa, Bolivar, leaders of Central American countries. We visited the church with the gold altar which legend has it was painted black by its priests in the seventeenth century to protect it from pirates. But everywhere we travel among my favorite monuments are those dedicated to the Ministry of Education which usually feature a child and a book. (At the time of this writing I am hopeful we’ll never have a statue in the US of Betsy Devos, but I digress…)

Panama City is on the Pacific side of the country and we loved how we could watch from our bedroom as ships in the distance lined up to enter the canal. Its construction was first attempted by a Frenchman, de Lesseps, who had previously designed the Suez Canal. As we walked through Casco Viejo following a pretty promenade along the water we saw a lot of French influence and the breeze off the water was a welcome accompaniment. There’s a lot of French history here including a French Embassy. While there is the old city and also the ancient city it’s really the canal that is the reason for Panama City’s existence. We met a family visiting from Germany and asked that they take our picture at what we thought was a particularly pretty point along the walkway! How surprised we were when our son, Patrick, shared with us a picture taken of him and a friend in the same exact location seven years ago. (The causeway in the background of our photo hadn’t been constructed when his picture was taken!)

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One morning we took an Uber to the Miraflores Locks, the first locks boats encounter as they enter from the Pacific heading to the Caribbean. We had seen online that it was important to view the locks in the morning to see the boats heading east (or really north) toward the Caribbean because by 11 am the stream of ships would shift from east to west and there would be few coming through for several hours. We found this explanation confusing as the canal is open 24/7 but didn’t question and we arrived just in time to see the boat in the locks that a couple hours earlier we had viewed from our bedroom window lined up waiting to enter.

Patrick, sent us a link to https://www.vesselfinder.com that made the viewing even more fascinating. This site is live and gives specific locations of ships as they enter the canal describing their tonnage and cargo and also their ports of origin as well as their destinations.

For my birthday Bob and I visited the Biomuseo (designed by Frank Gehry) and located on the Amador Causeway. This road was built with the debris excavated from the canal’s construction and is today a very beautiful location with restaurants, marinas, hotels and a popular location for Sunday strolls. Until control of the Canal was turned over to Panama this causeway was off limits to the local people. It’s easy to understand the frustration the Panamanians felt during the second half of the twentieth century given how much control Americans had over their lives (and economy)! The construction of the museum is still in progress but it’s very interesting with lots of hands on exhibits.

Afterwards we visited Mi Ranchito http://www.restaurantemiranchito.com/en/home.html which became one of our favorite restaurants. It is also located on the causeway, is partially inside and partially outside with thatched roofs covering tables.

We particularly enjoyed the view of the skyline, the soft breeze off the water AND the great food!. I had the shrimp creole which was yummy. The restaurant is also a favorite with locals; its menu is diverse with lots of Panamanian choices and prices are reasonable. We returned several times during the month.

We made a trip via ferry to the Isle of Taboga, often referred to as the Island of Flowers. It’s another favorite with locals as there are few nice beaches in Panama. Even with the crazy traffic, we found life to be pretty laid back in Panama. And the ferry schedule to Taboga was no exception. The ferry landing was a modest affair, a tent behind a parking lot near the water. When checking in we were told there was an issue on the ferry and that when it was resolved they’d call us to board. People didn’t complain; perhaps they were used to it, and about 40 minutes later we were on our way. Our reservations were for the 9:30 trip but because we had way over estimated our travel time, we were boarding the 8:30 ferry departing at 9:15. Funny how things work out! It cost $20 for a round trip ticket and the majority of passengers seemed to be locals off for a day at the beach. (Although there is a sizeable expat community in Panama, we found that the majority of tourists tend to travel with organized tours.) Taboga is a lovely island. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

The island has a lot of history including one of the oldest churches in the western hemisphere dating to the 1500s. But the heat was so intense that after a short stroll up the hill to visit the church, and a stop for breakfast in a small hole in the wall (where we were waited on by an expat about our age from Wisconsin), we headed to the beach to enjoy the view under a sun umbrella. On the way we passed a mobile Uber stand. Ever the ubiquitous Uber! How strange, we thought! Taboga has no cars or trucks except for service vehicles. The stand was closed so we couldn’t ask! (Then again the fact they were closed might answer the question!) We found it interesting as we waited for our return ferry that residents returning to Taboga came loaded down with bags and boxes of groceries. Obviously they have to do their shopping on the mainland. Then as we got underway for our twenty minute ride back we realized the boat was turning in a circle and returning to the dock. What was happening? Ah, we learned a woman, perhaps a regular? had missed the ferry and we were returning to pick her up! Now just imagine that in the US or Europe!

At the top of our must do list was a trip through the canal! After researching the various options we finally decided on a partial tour. We would leave Panama City on a bus and head to Gamboa, about 40 minutes away, where we would board a boat in the locks at Gatun Lake. While both oceans are at sea level, the major problem with the construction is the height between the two. Gatun Lake is significantly higher so we would travel through three locks, each lowering us until finally, after approximately four hours, we would be at sea level again when we entered the Pacific Ocean. Our boat accommodated 300 people and because there were only about 100 in our party we had plenty of room to move about. Sailboats in front of us were tethered together. (And all ships that pass through the canal must have a canal guide.)

Our tour boat

Deepest cut of the lock

Not much room on the sides

Sailboats tied together in front of us

New locks just opened in 2016

US Coast Guard ship positioned at entrance to lock on Pacific side

There were other small tour ships, huge cargo ships. As I watched the smooth water of the canal, I realized the stick I had been following wasn’t a stick at all but a crocodile. I had read that the flooding was often so bad during construction that the men had to sleep in the trees. I don’t know what obstacle would have been the greatest: the climate, the snakes and crocodiles, the disease or the work itself. It truly is an engineering feat! As we entered the Pacific we were able to get a glimpse of the new lock, the one just opened in 2016 to accommodate larger ships. (It was also interesting to see a US Coast Guard ship sitting at its entrance!) At the end of the tour passing under the Bridge of the Americas, I felt like I was inside David McCullough’s book, Pathway Between the Seas.

We later toured the Museo del Canal Interoceanico de Panama. Here in addition to reading about the history of the construction of the canal, starting with the French, we watched videos and read newspaper accounts of the Americans turning over control to Panama. I think it’s interesting to note that there was some doubt that the Panamanians would be able to manage the canal effectively. In reality they’ve done an amazing job far exceeding expectations! (Ever the jingoistic Americans!) We also read with fascination the United States Senate voting rolls from March 1978 that showed the individual votes cast by each senator including among others Biden, Byah, McGovern.

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There were unusual exhibits as well: posters from the campaign for national sovereignty and a caricature portrait of world leaders from World War II.

Finally before leaving we decided to take a vacation of sorts. (Yes, even in our travels we sometimes want a break from what we’re doing.) And so we made a reservation for two nights at the Country Inn and Suites right on the canal. It had a wonderful pool where we could swim and watch the ships on the canal at the same time. Talk about up close and personal! We virtually sat mesmorized watching ship after ship until it became so dark we couldn’t see any more!

At dinner, we met a couple of expats from Canada and when we first began chatting the wife told us that she thought what we were doing was great, that they had made the mistake of selling their place in Canada and buying in Panama. It’s difficult to know how to respond to such a confession! That’s a pretty costly mistake that may be difficult, if not impossible, to correct. She spoke with a certain melancholy tone of her annual trips back to Canada. The conversation did a lot to reinforce that I’ve not yet found a place where I’m willing to settle permanently.

When I was booking our Airbnb’s and plane tickets for Panama and Cuba I had thought we’d travel from one to the other, but as I looked at prices of plane tickets, it was much more expensive to fly to Havana from Panama than it was to fly back to DC and then on to Havana from there. Perhaps it was because it involved one way tickets; I’m not sure. I only know that on a Wednesday morning at the ungodly hour of 4:45 Jose, our charming taxi driver, met us at our door and took us to the airport! But at least our last jaunt out of downtown Panama left us with a picture of traffic that was a bit less chaotic!

Happy New Year 2017!

30 Monday Jan 2017

Posted by Jane R Hendrickson in Bob and Jane's Excellent Adventure, Living Abroad, Retirement, Seeing the World, Senior Travel, Travel

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Since we started our nomadic life two years ago, people often ask, “Don’t you miss your family?” What do your kids think?” To me living physically close to one another isn’t synonymous with being emotionally close. I’ve always believed my primary job as a parent is to love and guide my kids to become educated independent adults who have the confidence to fly toward their own dreams! I think that’s why I like Krismas so much. (It’s always been Krismas at our house because our oldest son is Kristoffer.) There’s a ten year span between our oldest and youngest child and for many years our family has been spread all over. Several years ago we gave up the notion of gift giving (except for the grandchildren) and instead as many of us as possible try to gather together sometime during the holiday season. This past year has been a challenging one for many of our family so we decided it would be a great year to gather in some place warm. Florida seemed to be the easiest location for everyone to get to. Bob and I found a five bedroom house in suburban Orlando with private pool, less traffic and interesting wildlife.

Krismas isn’t a day to us but a time of year. Many young families want to be home with their own kids on the day itself and I think that goes for Stephen’s and Kris’ families as well. All four of our kids and their spouses managed to arrange their calendars so their visits could overlap. Some would be able to stay for a few weeks, others for a few days. It didn’t matter, we’d all have a time together when everyone could catch up, laugh and cousins could have fun and get to know each other better!

An important part of any of our family gatherings is always game time. We drew names for Charades teams. Then each person wrote names of movies, books, songs and television shows on slips of paper for the other team to act out! Oh my! What fun! Our age range was from 14 – 71 so you can only imagine how foreign some of the titles seemed to others. “Really?” some asked. “Sentimental Journey?” “Ebb tide?” On the other hand there were those from a younger generation that some of us older folk were absolutely no help with. “Reservoir Dogs?” Or “Narcos? Or “Parents Suck?” I had the luck to draw, “Dave and Mike Need Wedding Dates!” Get one word and you don’t necessarily have the title. Guess that’s why it’s an acting game! Then there were the rules…no props! And ”No, you can’t point to yourself and your wife to get someone to say, married.” Or can you? I think you get the picture: we are a highly competitive family who take our games very seriously! But there was lots of laughter, and I don’t think any hard feelings, and it worked out well that we played two games and each team won one. Every year we try to add a new game and this year Patrick had created a trivia game about the hometown of all but two of the adults. He had divided us into two person teams. Talk about tough! After the third question, my teammate, Allison, and I decided we needed to latch onto another team. I truly think someone in Big Rapids ought to think about marketing this game to locals! (Perhaps whomever teaches Big Rapids history in the schools!)

Another fun game we played was Heads Up. This game is played on the phone with one person showing the clue on the phone while holding the phone on her forehead and her teammate giving clues to get her to say it. This game can be played with fewer people but the drawback is it tends to get really loud so it makes it difficult for others to sleep while the game is being played. I’m sure it didn’t help the noise level that the grown-ups were all consuming large amounts of beer and prosecco as they played!

But the game we usually resorted to was euchre, a card game played a lot in the Midwest. I think we managed to get in at least a couple of games each day and partners were always changing. In fact on the night before our oldest son’s family was leaving, my two oldest grandchildren, Alli and Brian and my daughter and I played euchre until 3 in the morning (knowing they’d have to get up at 5:30 to make the flight home). I think it was one way we felt we could keep the visit from ending. (Too Brian and I kept thinking if we played one more hand, perhaps we could win! Doesn’t matter we’ll get em next time!)

One thing I really like about our family get-togethers is the lack of schedule and routine, the spontaneous way we can do whatever we want to do. (A belief I’ve held as I raised my own kids is that overly scheduled kids tied to a routine tend to grow up to be pretty inflexible adults!) When we’re together people purpose ideas and those who are interested join them. People got their own breakfast when they got up. Lunch when they were hungry. Dinner was whatever was thought of at the time: a planned dinner, or pizza was ordered, or Chinese. A couple times we ate out. (After all, on New Years it only seems appropriate we’d go to the All You Can Eat Seafood Buffet.)

Stephen and his wife, Sadie, have two little girls ages 6 and 4, a perfect age to see Disney. So off they went for a day along with Kris and Alli. The rest of us stayed back. I’d say we did it to babysit Desmond, their 14 month old, but truly Andria, Kris’ wife, had that well in hand.

One day some of us drove up to Blue Spring State Park to see the manatees who gather there in the winter in the warm water while others chose to stay behind and see the new Star Wars movie.

A big must do for many was an airboat tour. After researching it on the web a decision was made to visit one close by on New Years Day. In the end, nine folks went. They saw a lot of wildlife and because it was a warm afternoon, they got to see a lot of alligators. (Evidently when it’s cool the alligators submerge themselves in the water to stay warm.) The guide started to lift into the boat a small, well maybe not so small, Bob described the gator as about 3 feet from nose to tail. The guide first grabbed it by its back, and then by the tail and as he was trying to hold it closer to the head it nipped him. The guide then reached down and washed his bloody hand in the water. Having situation well in hand he held the gator up and asked if anyone wanted to touch it, no one responded, so he tossed it back into the water. Our four year old granddaughter, Meta, was not thrilled. She snuggled into her cousin and started crying. The poor guide tried to console her, apologizing again and again but she was having none of it. I’m not sure what Meta’s “take aways” were from the experience but I’m thinking she may never ever want to get in an airboat again. But sometime in the future it may make for a pretty good story about the time I was in an airboat and the guide got bit by an alligator.

After Krismas Cary’s friend, Claudio, flew in to spend a week with us. (You may remember that we visited his family in Sicily last fall.) It was his first time in the States so Cary felt compelled to provide him with An American Experience. So what would that entail? Well, for starters there was American food: Waffle House is a definite part of the American Experience (at least in the south). Absolutely wonderful food, the fact that it perhaps has no nutritional value is a different story. Then of course, he had to try wings. And barbequed ribs! Can’t forget those. And while we’re on the subject of food…what’s a trip to the US without a trip to Costco and making a meal out of all those samples? Trivia is always a big deal for our family and we had already played once before he arrived. Claudio is fluent in English…fluent enough to play trivia in a second language is pretty impressive! At half time we were in first place, but only managed to get third when the game ended. Even so it came with a gift certificate for a later date but since we were leaving soon, we passed it on to folks at a nearby table.

People first arrived on December 20 and too soon it was January 13 and the house was empty except for Bob and me. But oh what happy memories we’ve made: games, miniature golf, swimming, just relaxing and enjoying each other. We feel so lucky to have family who genuinely like, as well as love, each other and look for those times when we can all gather! It truly is a Happy New Year!

Galway Bay…just as I pictured it!

14 Sunday Aug 2016

Posted by Jane R Hendrickson in Living Abroad, Retirement, Seeing the World, Senior Travel, Travel

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Whenever we told people that we were going to spend three weeks in Galway, the response was always the same, “You’re going to love Galway!” It’s so pretty and the people are so friendly! And they were right!

Public transportation makes it really easy to get around the Ireland. We took a train from Dublin to Galway. It only took a little more than 2 hours and cost $55 for the two of us. Then we got a taxi from the train station to our new apartment. IMG_20160716_180427 The owner met us there, which I especially like because she provides us with details about how things work and we also get a chance to ask questions. One of the best parts of the Galway apartment was that it had a piano! I hadn’t played one since we left Big Rapids in early January! Off we went in search of a music store to get a piano book. While there we found Irish whistles and I realized this was a must have for our oldest granddaughter!

Galway was founded in the early 1200’s by the Anglo Normans who built a wall around the city. This medieval wall still exists in some places. Part of it is built into the Eyre Square Shopping Center and the Spanish Arch still stands although this part was added later in the 16th century. The Claddagh, which means stony shore in Gaelic, is the area just outside the wall where the Corrib River meets Galway Bay. There are lovely places throughout the city to stroll along the river.

The Claddagh

Part of Medieval Wall inside Eyre Square Shopping Center

Spanish Arch

Views from the walk along the Corrib River.

The Corrib River, the shortest river in Europe

Bridge across the Corrib

One of my favorite parts of Ireland is the music so when a friend said we had to go to the Western Hotel (http://westernhotelgalway.ie/) to listen to their traditional music, we went. In this small hotel bar, a few locals who played fiddles, Irish whistles, drums, concertinas, even a portable harp, began to gather and as the night went on more and more musicians joined the group.

Local Musicians at the Western Hotel

Portable Harp

The audience also seemed to be mostly locals. The place was packed…standing room only. At one point a young man, probably about eight or nine went to the front and began to step dance. Everyone loved it and Grandpa, who was standing in front of us, was especially proud! There were two older guys sitting next to us, one with an obvious American accent. Bob asked where he was from. “I’m from here,” was the response he got. The guy said when his kids were grown, he and his wife were trying to decide where they wanted to live and because his wife had an Irish passport, they decided to move to Galway. That was a decade ago.

When we booked our stay in Galway we didn’t realize that we were going to be there during the Galway Festival. The streets were mobbed (and we met more Americans than we have in total during our five months in Europe). I love the street performers! And everywhere we looked they appeared. My favorites were the violinist who played wonderfully and had made a puppet who played in sync. (A note on the puppet said that the violinist had made him!) And then further down the street we encountered another violinist. This time he was a tightrope walker…playing as he walked!

Because we don’t have a car we decided it was important to check out day trips so we could see some of the spectacular scenery that surrounds us. We have found that local tourist information centers give us a lot of insight into the area we’re visiting. A must do was the Cliffs of Mohr. We had never taken an organized tour but this one looked really interesting and it was reasonably priced. This tour was especially nice because they picked passengers up at various stops around the city. We were told they could pick us at at the Supervalu right near our apartment. The coach was comfortable and we had an entertaining driver who added little interesting tidbits throughout the day. He could field our questions and also knew how to keep 50 people on schedule. He said early on in the trip that he would announce how many minutes we had at each stop and if you were late you would get to sing! When a woman and her two children were late getting on after our first stop, he invited them to sing (and they subsequently sang Happy Birthday, VERY quietly). It is important to note, however, that the son, who was probably 13, was appalled at their singing so later on in the tour he invited the group to join him in a fabulous rendition of “We Will Rock You!” Most of us, however, lacked that talent so we all made sure we returned at the appointed hour!

We stopped for lunch at a pub in the little village of Doolin which looked like something out of an novel.This was a great call on the part of the driver/tour guide. It allowed us to avoid the mobs of people (as well as the prices) of the coffee shops at the Cliffs of Mohr and allowed us time to meander through some of the village shops. The Cliffs are located in the Burren National Park, IMG_0585 (2) a barren landscape where the hills are made of carboniferous limestone. While the focal point of the tour was the Cliffs we stopped at several places along the way including Dunguaire Castle, once home to a sixteenth century king. We also stopped at Gleninsheen Wedge Tomb, which dates back to 2500 BC and just further down the road, we came to Poulnabrone Bolmen which was built about 5800 years ago making it older than the Pyramids and far earlier than Stonehenge that had fascinated us just a few weeks earlier. We also stopped at Kilfenora Cathedral with its many Celtic Crosses. Kilfenora was a sixth century monastery .

Poulnabrone Bolmen (dating to before the Pyramids)

Gleninsheen Wedge Tomb

Kilfenora Cathedral with Celtic Crosses

Dunguaire Castle

And from our bus we saw mile after mile of stone fences. These fences were constructed from the stones that lay in farmers fields and are constructed without any adhesive. Our drive told us these are called “hay penny walls” because workers were paid a half penny a day for their toil.

Hay penny rock wall extending up the hillside

More rock walls

They are omnipresent but we never tired of seeing them. The Cliffs themselves are over 700 feet high and stretch for more than 5 miles along the western Atlantic coast of Ireland. PANO_20160720_144526 We were incredibly lucky to have a sunny day for our trip. We felt as though we could see forever! We returned to Galway via The Wild Way of the Atlantic with its narrow winding road along the sea.

At one point the driver told us he was going to quit talking so he could concentrate on the road. Great idea!

As we traveled throughout Ireland we saw sheep, sheep and more sheep. While some sheep were kept within the brick walls, most seemed to wander free range including often on the highway! The color markings indicate who the owner is. Now that we’re in early August we see that most sheep have recently been sheared. This is a really big deal in Ireland and Scotland where the sheep’s wool is a big product. I read online where a Donegal man set a record shearing 731 ewes in 9 hours. He averaged 96.33 lambs an hour or one lamb every 37.37 seconds. Wow! Who knew?

We’ve had a bit more rain here than we’ve experienced elsewhere. Bob says the percentages of rain in the forecast here don’t mean the chances of rain but instead refer to the percent of the day it’s going to rain! So now I carry our rain hats, two umbrellas and our slickers in my daypack just as a matter of habit no matter how sunny it is when we venture out! One of the tour guides told us that trees in Ireland grow three times as fast because of the rain and the mild temperatures. I was amazed by the number of mountain ash trees. They are so beautiful! And the fuchsias! They grow wild among the hedgerow. I always thought my fuchsias in their pots were lovely but in the UK and Ireland they’re bushes! So spectacular! Obviously the climate has its advantages.

We walked from our apartment out to Salt Hill, an area just south of our apartment, located right on the sea. The first time we did this is it was very foggy but still lovely. Later we went again and it was clear and warm with folks swimming in the North Atlantic. Two very different places. We had tickets for the Trad on the Prom. Trad refers to traditional music and the Prom is the promenade that extends from Galway out to Salt Hill. The music and dance were wonderful! It was an extremely warm day and one of the performers explained that this was the warmest day in 400 years. Obviously, sunny warm days are a rarity in Ireland.

Churches are all beginning to look the same to us. But we did tour the St. Nicholas Cathedral, the church where supposedly Christopher Columbus worshiped in the 1400’s. On the floor there are tombs with engravings indicating the person’s profession… i.e. goldsmith indicated by crowns and hammers; sheep shearer with a lead and shears. If you look very closely you can see them in the photographs below.

Sheep shearer’s shears to left and lead to right

Goldsmith’s hammers with crowns above

We decided to take another bus tour. This time to Connemara. This area is primarily farmland but still near to the sea and it is known for the peat harvest. People have sections that they own and they go out and cut the rectangles of peat, let it dry and then use it for fuel in the winter. We also saw many thatched roofed cottages and a man training his sheepdogs…had we been travelling independently by car I would have loved to stop there and learn more.

Thatched roof cottages

Fjords, pretty even in the rain

Peat drying for winter

Kylemore Abbey was the primary destination on this tour and the rainy foggy weather made it even more beautiful in our estimation. There was a prestigious girls school here that closed in the 1960’s. It was run by the Benedictine nuns who came here during World War I after their school had been destroyed in Ypres, Belgium. Because we had visited Ypres a year ago and learned a lot of their history, we found this Abbey particularly interesting.

Kylemore Abbey

On our way back from the Abbey we stopped in the little village of Cong. This is where the movie, The Quiet Man, starring John Wayne was filmed. Several people had mentioned this to us in the past few weeks. It was fun to see the statue of John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara as well as the pub that is also in the movie. One evening a few nights later we decided to watch the movie via our computer, Amazon Prime and Chromecast. The scenery was beautiful and we enjoyed seeing places we had just visited, but the movie itself? Oh my! Did all movies in the early 50’s lack a plot?

After three wonderful weeks in Galway we were ready to head to Northern Ireland. Unlike other places we’ve been, it’s not possible in Galway to purchase tickets from the tourist information office. We had to go directly to the bus station. We knew we wanted to go to Derry/Londonderry next…which name you use depends on whether one is Republican (Derry) or Loyalist (Londonderry). When we inquired at the ticket office the clerk said, “Derry and Londonderry are two different places.” Before I could figure out how to politely disagree, another man in the office corrected him.

On the morning of our departure we called a cab but inadvertently asked to go to the coach station. As soon as we got out of the taxi I realized we were in the wrong place. Luckily our bus station was a short walk away. I now realize that coach and bus are not synonymous! But it was no big deal. We had plenty of time, got on our bus and headed across another national border. This time to Northern Ireland! Another currency change…leaving the Euro behind and returning to the pound! How did travelers ever manage just a few decades ago when they changed in every country?

Our bus stopped in Sligo, Ireland, we thought for a driver change. We got out to get a snack and imagine our surprise when we returned, only to realize it was a different bus. Unlike in England, passengers are responsible for lugging their suitcases from one bus storage to the next. Bob managed to grab our coats and my backpack off the coach, as well as our suitcases, while I went ahead and got us seats! Just as I think I know what I’m doing we’re thrown another wrench! Next stop Derry!

A New Life Abroad

14 Friday Aug 2015

Posted by Jane R Hendrickson in Retirement, Travel

≈ 3 Comments

Leaving Florida at the end of July, we realized we still had way too much stuff! And I decided a 24 inch suitcase was too heavy for me to lug…especially on trains and buses and up stairways. So we trimmed our belongings once again. Our total belongings at this point include Bob’s 24 inch suitcase, my 21 inch REI lightweight bag, Bob’s carry-on Rick Steve’s bag and a tote for all our electronics (computer, reader, tablet, electronic cords and adapters). I have opted for a day pack instead of purse.

On Tuesday, April 4 we boarded Icelandair for Paris. As we were finding our seats, the third person in our row, asked Bob if we were from Michigan after noticing his Ferris State hockey sweatshirt. Turns out he was originally from Michigan and also a Michigan State grad though several years ahead of our daughter. We had a pleasant visit on the flight talking about Michigan and travels.

After a short layover in Iceland, we boarded the second leg of our journey landing in Paris three and a half hours later. It was very odd that we never went through customs. While they checked our passports as we changed flights in Iceland and because both Keflavik and Paris are part of the Schengen agreement, that was the extent of our customs check. We gathered our baggage at Charles De Gaulle airport and were thrilled when our daughter, Cary, appeared as we walked through the outside door.

Bob had found a small hole in the wall hotel not far from Notre Dame and we were amazed when we arrived at 7:30 in the morning and were told we could check in. We immediately went to breakfast at a sidewalk cafe and then headed back to our room for a two hour nap. It was just enough to give us our second wind and by evening we were able to fall asleep on Paris time.

Cary on our boat tour

Bob and me in front of Notre Dame

While we only had a day in Paris (we’ll return in October) it is everything I imagined it would be and more. The food was amazing. We walked to Notre Dame, thinking we wanted to sightsee but didn’t want anything that would take much concentration. We did a Seine boat tour and then found a sidewalk cafe for dinner. What an amazing few short hours! From the open windows of the hotel room we could hear people laughing and singing on the street below as we went to sleep. What an introduction to the City of Lights! The next morning I awoke to the sound of crashing garbage cans. I laughed thinking that if I were back in Michigan I’d be muttering and angry about the sound waking me up. Now this morning I was smiling thinking, “Oh, that must be the garbage pick up in Paris!” Amazing how perspective changes!

On Thursday we picked up our rental car. Because it was a lease not a rental, we picked it up in a different location and although our driver (who spoke only French) chatted with the woman at Peugeot, finding the car agency was like something out of a Chevy Chase movie. After numerous unsuccessful tries, he pulled up to a gate that clearly marked a closed road, got out and pointed to the agency. We unloaded our stuff and walked the rest of the way. Thankfully, it wasn’t far!

Bike lanes, car lanes, bus lanes, more bus lanes, car lanes and bike lanes! Whew!

After leaving Paris we arrived about five hours later at our new home for the next two weeks in Utrecht Netherlands. It’s just as it appeared on Airbnb. The owner is in the US for a few weeks so a friend led us through the place. I particularly love the French doors leading from the dining room to an enclosed garden with flowers, berries, and fig tree. (Who knew figs grew this far north.) It takes some time to get used to the roads here. There are as many, or perhaps more bikes here than cars. So when you go to cross the street, you first have to carefully cross the bike (and scooter) lanes, then you cross the road with traffic coming from the left, then you cross the bus lane. Then another bus lane, another traffic lane and another bike lane. It’s a lot to remember! As Bob said, thank heavens the use of red, yellow and green traffic lights are internationally consistent!

Vermeer’s, Girl with the Pearl Earring

We haven’t seen much of Amsterdam yet, but loved The Hague. We found a small art museum, Mauritshuis. The collection which includes paintings of Peter Paul Rubens Johannes Vanmeer, and Rembrandt Van Rijn, belonged to William V of the House of Orange. And the building dates back to the seventeenth century. There are only sixteen rooms which makes it very “doable” in an afternoon. It is truly a gem.

Gouda Cheese Market

Another really pleasant excursion was to Gouda (about 18 miles from Utrecht). On Thursdays the cheese market is open. It’s a festive air complete with music, young girls in their Dutch costumes offering cheese to folks and also stands of fruits and vegetables and fresh baked goods. And of course, we had to buy a round of the cheese!

Gouda also has an interesting Resistance Museum. The admission fee is 8 euros but because there was no audio available in English, the woman at the entrance didn’t charge us. Shortly after entering, a second woman came up to us and asked if we’d like her to take us on a tour and she proceeded to explain, in English, all that we were looking at. Very interesting and far superior to a recorded audio tour. She explained that at the beginning of the occupation, Hitler had thought the Dutch were a lot like the Germans and so provided food and other supplies for them. “Of course,” she said, “We are not like the Germans.” And then it all changed. What a horrifying time it must have been for the Dutch.

St Bavo Church in Haarlem dates to the fourteenth century. It was originally a Catholic Church and became a protestant church after the Reformation. Cary thought it was the most beautiful church she had ever seen. That’s pretty high praise coming from someone who lives in Rome! The most impressive part for me was the ornate organ that both Handel and Mozart played!

We drove to some towns like the Hague and Gouda but relied on trains to take us into the larger cities. We found the cheapest way use public transportation is to buy a chipkaart which can be used for trains and buses throughout the Netherlands and add money to it as needed.

Houseboats near our apartment

We also enjoy learning the neighborhood in which we live. Most people speak some English; many are fluent. Most people have been very helpful. The Netherlands is a very pretty country. Before coming here I thought the canals were primarily in Amsterdam but we find them everywhere! And the canals combined with the Dutch love of flowers makes this a very pretty country. We pinch ourselves often, not quite believing that we are indeed here!

Traveling v Living

16 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by Jane R Hendrickson in Retirement, Travel

≈ 6 Comments

Bob and I have always loved to travel. Our kids grew up thinking that every family spent hours in the family car stopping randomly to see the Continental Divide, the ocean, waterfalls, wandering battlefields and national parks, picnicking tailgate style for lunch whenever folks got hungry. We started with camping in large part because there was so much more to do in a campground than in a boring hotel room and of course it was cheaper. The minute we pulled into a campground the kids ran off to make new friends.

We’ve noticed when we tell folks about our adventure to see the world, having sold almost all of our possessions, people often comment how much they like to travel but they’d need to be able to go home. Our perspective is a little different. While we are indeed traveling to different locations…sometimes as short a time as two weeks and sometimes as long as 5 months, once we reach a destination we really try to settle in and make that location our home. I think Michigan will always be home to us…at least psychologically if not physically. We love the state. It’s spectacularly beautiful. And although neither of us is originally from Michigan, for most of the years our kids were growing up we lived in Michigan. We have family and good friends there. If home is where the heart is, Michigan will always be home to us! But in the next few years, maybe longer, we intend to make our home wherever we land!

Our move to Florida was interesting. Because we’ve never spent a lot of time in the southeast, we decided to stay away from interstate highways. (You know those highways that Steinbeck said made it possible for Americans to get from one place to the next efficiently without ever seeing anything!) We find places off the beaten path to be particularly interesting. The first night out of DC we stayed in New Bern NC and walking down the main street of this little town after dinner we found the birth place of Pepsi Cola. Then the next day near the Georgia border in South Carolina we came across locals selling handmade grass baskets on the side of the road. It was like a trip back in time!

We are currently wrapping up two months in Florida. Most people here this time of year are full-timers not transplants. Many of the homes around us are closed up for the summer.We have noticed that our stays already have a different feel from the travels we’ve done previously. As we settle into places we try to find balance between everyday activities we enjoy and sightseeing.

Everyday activity example: Get a local library card. (Florida and DC have both made this process very easy!) Find a favorite restaurant (Hurricane Charleys in Punta Gorda has a thatch-covered deck right on the gulf. And amazing seafood.) We also enjoy seeing the different flora and fauna in the area. Sightseeing examples include: Visits to US Treasury, and Library of Congress. Checking out the Gulf Beaches.

Florida is incredibly hot this time of year but with our own private pool and a very comfortable two bedroom air conditioned home, it’s really no different than other extreme weather. (Though I do keep one ear always open to the hurricane forecast…so far all has been quiet in the Atlantic and Caribbean! Keeping our fingers crossed…) We’ve basically used the time in Florida to plan for the next year. We want enough structure that we have some feeling of what’s next but at the same time enough flexibility to allow us to do things on the spur of the moment. It’s not an easy balance to achieve. So where do we start? Before we left Michigan we listed several places we wanted to live. Included in this random list were: Portugal, Malta, Southern France, Turkey etc. We also knew that we were limited to 90 days in Schengen countries and then we had to be out for 90 days.

We got out our handy map of Europe. We chose to visit Europe first because we have seen very little of it and also because it is probably the area of the world that will be the easiest adjustment for us in the beginning. As we learn more about what we’re doing we can venture to less familiar areas. Next we sectioned off general areas. We have a fairly structured budget and if we plan to visit areas near each other, we can save considerably in transportation costs. Finally, we looked at the weather. Whenever possible we’d like to live in locales during their shoulder seasons. Those couple of months on either side of their high season. Weather should be good and costs a bit less.

So this is the plan: We’ll fly Aug 4 to Paris via Icelandair because the airlines has this nifty perk that you can have a free stopover in Iceland for no additional cost. We visited Reykjavik in 2006 on our way back from Scandinavia and fell in love with it. But this time we’d like to try to see the northern lights so we figured a 2 night layover on our way back to the States would break up an extremely long flight and maybe, just maybe, the aurora borealis might be visible! (Plus on Airbnb I found a place for $116 total for the two nights and the owners will pick us up from the airport! Isn’t that amazing?)

I found that we can get a short term lease cheaper than renting a car traditionally. So we’ll pick up our car at the Paris airport and then head to Utrecht, Netherlands, where we’ll spend two weeks. (An extra perk in Paris is that our daughter Cary, will fly from Rome to spend a few days with us!) From there we’ll head to Ghent in Belgium for the next two weeks. The next three weeks will be spent in Normandy. From Normandy we’ll have 3 weeks in Bavaria. We hadn’t planned for that originally but Octoberfest is something we really want to experience. We’ll end up in Paris, turn in our car and then spend a final week in Paris. We decided on the length of our stays pretty randomly figuring that after a couple of months we’d know if future stays should be longer or shorter.

Because we are expecting a new grandchild at the end of October, we’ll head back to DC to meet him and help out with his sisters. November we’ll catch up with friends, get our physicals, and spend Thanksgiving in Seattle. December will be Christmas with our Michigan kids and grandkids!

This takes us up to the end of the year. We’ve made Airbnb reservations that far. I’ve been amazed by how helpful Airbnb hosts are. We’ve found renting from individuals (v corporations) a much more pleasant and personal experience. And while we have tentatively planned where we’ll be in January through June of 2016 (Portugal, Basque area of Spain, and Sicily for 90 days followed by Turkey, and UK for the 90 days we have to be out of the Schengen countries) we’ll wait until we get closer to the end of the year to make those reservations.

I think that at this point we’ve done all the planning we can. We’re ready to jump in but first I think I’ll plunge into the pool given that it’s currently 98 degrees (and the pool reads 87)!

Transition from Michigan to Virginia

09 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by Jane R Hendrickson in Retirement, Travel

≈ 1 Comment

I’m not sure how we would have managed everything without all the help of good friends and family. Christmas was extra crazy! We celebrated Christmas Eve traditionally with games and hors d’oeuvres at our home, and Christmas morning we spent with our son and daughter-in-law’s family with a fabulous breakfast followed by gift opening. (A robotic family dog? How cool!) After a fabulous Christmas dinner, we participated in a family euchre tournament and headed early to bed! On the 26th we got up and managed to complete all the final jobs: washing bedding, last minute packing, etc. Again our son and daughter-in-law’s family put up with us. We headed back over to the house early Saturday morning to meet up with the Wonder Women Crew who were hauling all our stuff to Lansing for our estate sale early in February! What an efficient group they are. A crew of 12 immediately set to work sorting stuff for charity and stuff for sale. A friend had brought his truck and trailer to haul stuff to local charities (given that we live in a small town where charities only schedule pick ups a few days a month). I lost track of the number of trips, but if it hadn’t been for friends and family, we’d still be unloading the stuff. And the rain gave us an extra challenge! By late afternoon the house was empty and we were exhausted! We texted the new owners we were out and wished them many happy memories in their new home!

Sunday morning after some emotional goodbyes to family and friends, we started off for the first stop on our adventure. We are a family of avid hockey fans so when Ferris State was selected to participate in the Great Lakes Invitational in Detroit, we knew we wanted to go! The Joe Lewis Stadium became our first stop. Ferris lost game one to Michigan State 2-1. Okay, disappointment, but we we still had Monday’s consolation game! What a devastation that was when we lost 6-0. With little interest in watching Michigan play Michigan State in the finals, we decided it was time to give up on hockey for the weekend. Because we are West Michiganders with a Chicago orientation we know very little about the Detroit area but found the People Mover to be a great asset transporting us from the arena to Greek Town in just a few minutes. (We did find it a bit disconcerting to think that we had just ridded ourselves are virtually all of our belongings and had the rest of it with us in the car that we were parking in a garage in Detroit with virtually one of the greatest crime rates in the country!)

The weather was unseasonably dry for our drive from Michigan to Virginia. The owner of our condo was waiting when we arrived in Alexandria and was extraordinarily friendly and helpful. The condo was just as we had viewed it on Airbnb and within an hour or so we had unpacked and settled in. What a relief! We headed to Rockville MD to spend New Years Eve with our second son’s family! What a great time we had!

We were particularly pleased when the weekend brought nearly 70 degree weather. We decided it was time to go exploring. Wandering Civil War battlefields is an interest both Bob and I share so on the weekend we headed to Fredericksburg. I think we often forget the horrors of that time. A monument erected by the State of South Carolina honors a South Carolinian soldier who offered water to the wounded and dying enemy soldiers was particularly moving

Fredericksburg is a lovely little town and we were impressed that they chose to remember the atrocities of a previous time instead of hiding them. At the corner of Williams and Charles Streets, we were amazed to find a remnant of the auction block where slaves were sold during a previous, but not so distant past!

The weather has since turned cold, but we’re used to that. The hard part, we think, is behind us: we’ve sold the house, our “stuff” is down to manageable suitcase size, our dog has a new home, our kids took those things that were hard to part with and we have a budget to work with. We’re beginning to feel comfortable using the Metro, we’ve found a local team trivia game and we’re learning our way around the area and look forward to exploring more “off the beaten path” locations in the next couple of months. Then who knows where!

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Alaska

26 Friday Sep 2014

The house listed, we took off with good friends, Ginny and Ken, in early September for Seattle and then on to Alaska for a trial run… What an amazing time we had! While in Seattle we stayed with my sister in her beautiful home that hangs over the edge of Puget Sound with a spectacular view of the Olympic Mountains, and we did the “must see” sights of the city: Pike Place Market, the Locks, etc.

From Seattle we flew to Anchorage and drove up the Parks Highway to Denali. We stayed in a little place in Healy, not far from the park. The Inn was clean and well-furnished but the stay was a bit odd. We never saw anyone “in charge” from the time we arrived in the late afternoon through the time we left the next morning. We missed the small sign near the Inn the first time through but when I called, a pleasant woman directed us back to the entrance. When we did arrive, there was a sign requesting we remove our shoes, and a large shoe caddy inside the front door but try as we might, we could find no person to inquire about our room. So once again I called. The same woman explained the room assignments were posted on the deck by the entrance and keys were in the room, but if we had difficulties she could come down. A continental breakfast had been put in each of our two rooms for the next morning, and except for the fact that while making toast I set off the fire alarms in ALL of the approximate 8 rooms, and the hard boiled eggs had expiration dates two weeks prior, the night was uneventful. Beds were comfortable, rooms were clean, there were refrigerators to keep our beer cold and the rooms were spacious enough for our euchre game!

We were particularly grateful that Mt. McKinley, in Denali National Park, was out in full splendor. The Alaska wildlife was amazing: we saw moose, Dall sheep, mountain goats, Stellar Seals, sea otters, even a black bear wandering near our cabin in Glenallen. But for me the most amazing part of the trip was the two days we spent in Nome with a side trip to Tellar. This was the Alaska I had envisioned! Anchorage and Fairbanks could be cities in the lower 48. The Kenai Peninsula was nice but there was a lot of development. We had decided to visit Nome because our youngest son, Patrick, is working there for six months on a political campaign.

Nome is a small community of about 3,000 just south of the Arctic Circle and about 100 miles east of Russia. We stayed at a place called the Nugget Inn (and by the looks of it, it could have been there during the gold rush)! But that quirkiness fit the town. Our room faced the Bering Sea and we went to sleep at night listening to its surf. Nome is the end point for the Iditarod and besides dogsled you can only get there by plane or boat. It’s an expensive place to live given that everything has to be flown in or transported by barge. (The last barge of the season came the week after we left and there wouldn’t be another until spring.) We flew from Anchorage to Nome in a 737. It was a full flight that we boarded and deboarded from the back of the plane because passenger section didn’t begin until row 16. The first half of the plane was walled off for cargo.

We were particularly amazed by how friendly the folks of Nome were in particular, as well as the Alaskans in general. Alaska is made up of a lot of transplants from the lower forty-eight. Maybe that partially accounts for their friendliness. People are there because they choose to be. They aren’t the folks talking about what they’d like to do. They’re the people who actually took the risk and moved.

Nome reminded me a little of Newfoundland, small colorful homes mostly on stilts because of the permafrost and relying a lot on the sea for its sustenance. It’s situated on the tundra with a long main street lined with bars whose name reflect their location: The Bering Sea Bar and Grill, The Polar Bar, The Polaris. In the sea we saw a lot of dredgers; folks looking to find that big nugget. My son suggested we eat dinner at Pingos. Oh my! What a find! Pingos (named for the geological landform) Bakery and Seafood Restaurant. Here in the one of the most remote areas of the country was this wonderful gastronomical find! The small restaurant has four tables and seats about 16 people max. The staff appeared to consist of the chef/owner and one other wait staff. Three dinners were offered: a crab pizza, a beef skirt steak salad, and a halibut fillet. The four of us chose the Norton Sound Grilled Halibut fillet. Everything was homemade and the seafood all local! Needless to say, we headed back the next morning for breakfast. Homemade rolls! We came away with the conclusion that the chef never sleeps! I truly think the best food we had anywhere in the three weeks was at Pingos!

On Sunday we traveled with our tour guide, Richard, to Teller. A small native community located at the end of one of the three roads out of Nome. It was about a 70 mile drive across the tundra on the Teller Highway. Highway seems to be a misnomer. This one was unpaved. Richard, age 70, moved to Alaska some 35 years ago from New York City and provided us with interesting facts and local history along the way. The tundra seems unending and we were lucky enough to see a musk ox and also a small herd of reindeer atop a ridge on our trek. Richard also stopped near a small building explaining that behind it were some tall weeds that the woman could use. Luckily, Ginny, had thought ahead and brought some toilet paper. Obviously, things were easier for the men.

Teller has a population, mostly native, of approximately 200 people. Ginny and I were immediately struck by the sounds of children laughing and playing outside. Richard had arranged for us to visit a friend, Sarah, an older Inupiaq woman in her home. We sat around her kitchen table and just chatted while we munched on the salmon spread and crackers she provided. She told us stories and we posed questions. There was nothing “canned” about this conversation. What an understated people the Inupiaq people are. The native Alaskans were nomadic, but then the government got involved and the way I understand it, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) decided to provide the people with schools which meant that they had to stay in one place and could no longer migrate with the animals. Sarah worries about whether Teller, which is located on a small spit of land, will flood again and they’ll have to evacuate this winter. But she worries in much the same way we would worry about whether rain will spoil our outdoor plans; however, flooding could cut Teller off from the rest of the world.

Even in good weather, life isn’t easy for those in Teller. Sarah’s is a life of paradoxes. There is no indoor plumbing in Teller. Sarah has a honey bucket in her bathroom that she must empty. She is an accomplished quilter, but when asked where she got her materials, she told us she orders them off the internet. She loves Turner Classic Movies. But on the other hand, she dries her own fish and explained to us how important it is to be careful in order to avoid food poisoning. She also freezes fish for the winter. She thinks the musk oxen are magnificent animals but “not good neighbors” because of the damage they can do in the village.

Richard stopped to visit with a man on a four wheeler as we were leaving the village. The young man combs the beaches and showed us what appeared to be a very old ivory carving. He was very proud of it and said he would soon list it on the internet. He shared a recent sale of another piece of ivory and although he didn’t say how much he sold it for, he said he got what he was hoping for it.

We left feeling we had been really fortunate to have had a glimpse into what daily life must be like for the Inupiaq in these very small remote outposts. I can’t help but wonder what they must think of the daily news they read about and listen to on their computers. Hopefully, our future travels will provide us with more opportunities to share diverse cultures…knowing that this one will be tough to top!

Posted by Jane R Hendrickson | Filed under Retirement, Travel

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Bob and Jane's Excellent Adventure

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