After our earlier visit to DEVA we thought we might come again because it seemed as if there were signs that we’d find some nice flowers in March or April. Then we started reading reports of the rain the park had had and seen photos that implied perhaps even a February trip might be a good idea. Because of that we made reservations for both late February and March, and waited for more news.
Well, even more rain meant now might be a good idea, so early this morning we headed on our way.
The drive was uneventful — especially for me since I didn’t do the driving. Here are just a few shots (the train bit was in Tehachapi).
While in the Panamint Valley, just prior to heading up the mountain, we saw a car veer off the road on to the playa. That’s a huge, ugly, rotten, illegal thing to do. Dan held on to the horn for a good long time and whoever was driving must have gotten the message. But driving on the playa just ruins it for everyone else. What a dumb thing to do!
As we neared DEVA we saw a lot of the yellow … desert gold was definitely plentiful! There were places that were just blanketed. We also saw evidence of Phacelia … the purple does stand out! Eventually we pulled over and did a bit of investigating. I took a few iPhone shots just for the record. (Tomorrow I’ll get more serious about some macro photography.)
I learned about the name Stovepipe Wells…
Dan drove to a few different spots, just to get ideas of where we might shoot in the next few days. We also visited Salt Creek, where we saw more pupfish than we’d ever seen before! Stay tuned for the video … maybe It’ll appear soon, or maybe we’ll have to wait until I get back home.
More driving and I did pull out the Canon with the macro lens. I hope some of the shots turn out nicely — won’t know until I get home, though.
Eventually we headed to our motel. Places in DEVA were outrageously expensive so we found a Motel 6 in Beatty, Nevada for less that 1/3 of what we’d pay in the valley. It’s a drive, but so be it!
We checked in — the kind woman at the desk moved us to the first floor and we were relieved since the elevator was broken and we have a lot to haul into the room. She had her Fox News running — we are in a different part of the world now. Go figure.
For dinner we went to Smokin’ J’s BBQ. I had a turkey sandwich, Dan had turkey slices with fries (and more), and we ordered a salad to share.
Too. Much. Food.
Who knew? But in any case, it was just fine and it was one of the very few places open. Beatty isn’t exactly a hoppin’ happenin’ sort of place. (Population 880)
Then back to our hotel we went. We have to get up far too early in the morning so I am quickly writing this before a bit of reading and then sleep.
Stay tuned for more adventures. Today was just a “gotta get there” day, after all.
My watch and phone alarms went off at 5:30 AM. I woke (actually I was sort of awake already) but noticed Dan’s alarms didn’t go off. Hmm. I figured I must have misunderstood the time he said we needed to get up. I decided to check his phone to see what time he’d set: turned out he hadn’t set it at all. Double hmm. So I woke him and, yes indeed, he wanted us to rise at 5:30 AM. Oops!
Thankfully we are pretty quick to get up, and we weren’t planning on even a hotel coffee before leaving so we dressed, loaded up the car, and headed to Badwater and Manly Lake. It was pretty dark outside …
I’d never seen the lake with enough water to qualify as a lake, but the November 18 storm they had here meant it would be a good time to check it out.
Don’t get me wrong … no one would be boating this lake. No swimming either, but we did see a few people walk into the water to have pictures taken.
The light was pretty. A very pastel sunrise appeared. I actually took a few Fuji camera shots, and a lot of iPhone photos so I could find decent ones for this blog.
We stopped one other time for another view looking back from where we had come. I noted that while it looks rather dead right now (no flowers), there were lots of little green things growing.
We also drove the short road to Devil’s Golf Course. No one was golfing. (No, you can’t really golf there.) I should have snapped a boring photo just to say we’d been there. Too late now.
Finally we made our way to Zabriskie Point and Dan got the car parked. We didn’t head up to the point, though: it was breakfast time. First up was coffee, and then it was granola and banana slices in milk. Food is so yummy when eaten outside in a National Park, I think.
After breakfast we went up the walk to the top of Zabriskie. It’s an extremely popular spot for tourists and Dan doesn’t usually go there any more, but I wanted to get some shots to post here so he was accommodating. He’s nice that way. And of course he took photos too.
Funny/weird side bit: I saw a man walking up on his own. When I got to the top I heard him telling awful stories to a family there that he somehow nabbed … talking about people who’ve fallen to their death at various locations. Mentioning how far they’d fallen. Talking about other horrors, like someone accidentally driving their car over an edge. Eek! Not quite the thing vacationers are probably wanting to hear. When he finished his spiel he turned around and walked back down. Hm. Odd to witness all that.
Okay … but back to our adventures!
After Zabriskie we went to drive to Echo canyon. We’d been there before and I had fond memories of eating lunch at the end of the canyon, where we had reached an old mine. (I also was remembering being bothered horribly by yellow jackets.) So up we went. And hey, we spotted yellow flowers. That was fun.
We also stopped to shoot Eye of the Needle.
When we reached the Inyo mine we unpacked for lunch. The weather was pretty nice: no need for a jacket, but not hot enough to be out of the sun.
Then back down the road we went. Dan had a very brief rest while I went out and shot some other yellow flowers.
These gravel roads are really something to drive … and I’m grateful that Dan does them as I’m uncomfortable navigating them.
I took another photo of Eye of the Needle. Just because.
People camp along some of the roads here. These days they have to get a permit for many of them, and have to camp in designated spots. (Dan used to just pull over and sleep wherever he wanted, and he can still do take some places. Me? I camp in a room. With a bed. And a bathroom. And electricity.)
From Echo we drove to Stovepipe Wells to tank up, and then, a very short hop away, we drove up to Mosaic Canyon. I think I know why they call it that.
We walked a bit up the canyon, finally getting to a spot that is a lot of smooth granite.
I had been up that before, but today I decided I wasn’t up for slipping, which I’m prone to do on that stuff. So that was the end for of the trail for us and back to the car we went.
The sun was quickly moving and while Dan initially thought he might go to “his rock” (a spot he likes that has good views) he decided instead to go to the “power pole road” spot. Dan had to move quickly to get his camera gear out. I only took out the the iPhone so I could post here. I find shooting sunsets and landscape things to be very challenging and I wasn’t in the mood for that challenge.
Dan is an extremely patient photographer, unlike yours truly. He is so good at waiting for the right light. But of course one never knows if the right light will show up or not! There were some incredibly interesting clouds, and they were light from the top … but, alas, it wasn’t to be tonight. When all went gray he packed up.
Next up … food! Since we were so close to Stovepipe Wells we opted for dinner there tonight. It wasn’t exactly an epicurean’s delight, but it filled our stomachs and it was nice and convenient.
Then it was back to our hotel. We arrived back somewhat early, but that gave us time to relax, I could finish up this blog entry, and early to bed is probably wise since I’m assuming it’s an early to rise morning.
Greetings from Death Valley! We are search at The Ranch at Death Valley or maybe it’s the Inn at Death Valley, or if we were to get very hopeful, the Oasis at Death Valley, but I’m pretty sure that last one is the expensive place. But when I made the reservation it was for the ranch, and when I look at the provided notepad it says the inn, and Dan said something else said the oasis. Go figure. I guess they just like to keep us guessing!
We woke quite early (for me, anyway) had our coffees, and after brushing our teeth (and my making the bed) we headed out. Our car had been loaded last night, so it went rather quickly.
The drive was just fine because my personal driver did it all. Yes, Dan did every bit of the driving. I guess I need to offer to drive on occasion. But today was not such an occasion. Go figure.
Going over Pacheco Pass was lovely. Fog. Nice light. And a shot through the car window (I could touch these up, but not tonight: I’m lazy that way).
The drive continued. I attempted to shoot through the window some more … capturing a Joshua tree was near impossible which was a disappointment as I always enjoy seeing those on our way to Death Valley. This one image will have to suffice — through a window and a fast moving vehicle!
We arrived at Searles Valley … such an odd place. And then the very bizarre city of Trona. I try to imagine what it is like to live in such a place … but nope, can’t imagine it at all! Dry. Dusty. And quite … um … unusual.
We reached a nice spot with a view, and I asked to pull over. I took a few shots, and then Dan saw a group and offered to take their photo. Turns out they were from Holland and he spent a bit of time recommending spots to visit in Death Valley. He’s handy that way!
We arrived at the visitor’s center where Dan got our permit and yakked with a ranger there about what roads were open now. (There are more opened than we thought, which was nice.)
Since we were early we then took a little loop before going to the Ranch.
After checking in we unloaded the car. Dan had purchased a little wagon sort of thing that worked quite nicely for unloading everything.
Our room is just fine. Nothing special, but rather roomy — with TWO queen size beds — and clean. It’ll do!
Then we walked to see what our dinner options were. First spot was the “tavern” which was serving what seemed mostly like lunch food, second was an grill that had dogs and burgers, then there was a buffet ($29 per person and I don’t believe that included drinks), and finally the saloon.
We ended up at the “Last Kind Words Saloon” even while knowing it wasn’t the least costly, but it looked nice and it was the final spot we looked at so why not? We had to wait a while to be seated so Dan had his alcohol free beer and I had a glass of merlot as we waited.
Eventually we were called in. I had chicken tacos (listed as a starter but PLENTY of food) and Dan had a burger. Nothing here is inexpensive, but it’s Death Valley and that’s to be expected. Thankfully we’ve brought food for our breakfasts and lunches, so we only have to pay for dinners. Whew!
Tomorrow we will head out on some sort of adventure. When it comes to places look this I leave it in Dan’s capable hands: he knows this area so well, and I’m happy to go along for the ride.
Yes, we’ve decorated our house for Christmas. We even did a bit more than many recent years because our whole family will be here come January 2 to help us celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. (FIFTY years?! How in the world did that happen? No pretending I’m 49, I guess.)
This year I used the ornaments we put up when the kids were … well … kids! Things they made, or things my mother bought us as each child was born, and lots of bikes because Dan was an avid cyclist back then. It was fun to unpack them all and enjoy them once again! I know the kids will crack up at some of their hand crafted works of art. (Hint: macaroni glued on paper, anyone?)
But of course a decorated house doesn’t mean we are necessarily not going anywhere, right? (If we weren’t I wouldn’t be posting here right now!)
So yes, we are packing for a very short trip to Death Valley. The timing worked well: a friend who is playing Nutcracker in San Jose can use our house rather than dealing with a two hour (or more) drive each way to get to and from the hall, and we have a house sitter. I know my friend is looking forward to the stay: our area has fabulous decorations … people drive here to see them. So she and her husband and daughter can enjoy those as a special little treat, and we can enjoy knowing our house is inhabited while we visit Death Valley.
Oh … and she can enjoy some Clementine mandarin oranges while they are here as well. The tree is bursting with them!
Anyone who travels knows that one has to be prepared for things to go wrong. I accept that. I say I’m ready. I acknowledge that I am not in control.
And then a plane is delayed.
Okay. Fine. I can deal. Just tell me when we will board.
But sometimes they don’t tell you for a while. So you sit. And wait.
This is what we did on our trip to Vermont. We had a flight scheduled at 6:20 in the morning. Ugh. But this was a more affordable flight and it would get us to our final destination at a fairly decent hour.
We got up before 3:00 AM so we could drive to the long term parking lot. We arrived in plenty of time, enjoyed a short moment in the United lounge, and headed to the gate, where we saw that people were already lined up to board. But then someone said something about a delay. Ah well.
Turned out that the Boston airport was only allowing a limited number of planes to land each hour, and that’s where we were headed. So we went and sat down. The next reported boarding time came and went. It took slightly more than two hours, but eventually we did get on that plane and headed to Boston.
The flight itself was uneventful. Getting a shuttle to the rental car place was fine. The car was gotten, and we headed out. But that was a bit of a challenge: following the guidance on the iPhone, which we never could manage to connect to get sound in the car, was just a bit unclear. But out we (eventually went), and then it was a ton of turns before we got out of Boston.
At some point I had a thought, “What if we can’t check in as late as we will arrive?” I’m so very glad that hit me, because I called and, sure enough, we were arriving too late. Thankfully they could tape our keys (my sister was traveling with us) to the door of the place.
Meanwhile, we had nearly 3 1/2 hours of driving to do. Or Dan did. I navigated a bit. And it was long and we were tired!
And then it was dinner. But could we find anything right off the road? Nope! Finally we resorted to getting to a somewhat nearby McDonalds. We don’t do fast food, but we had very little choice in the matter so whatever.
More driving and we did make it to our lodging very close to 11:00 pm Vermont time.
According to the booklet: Distance 13.1 km | 8.1 miles Elevation: +400 m | -405 m Altitude: 584 m to 788 m Climb: 1,315 ft
Breakfast at Quinta Manhãs D’Ouro wasn’t available until 8:30. It appears breakfasts might be later on this trip. Since we have no luggage transfer today we didn’t have to rush to get things packed, and we could sit around for a bit. (I’ve managed to play my Wordle game every day so my streak continues. The other games aren’t always getting played, but I do like keeping the streak going. News you can use … or maybe not.)
I realized (too late!) that I forgot to take a room photo when we arrived. Honestly, it’s nothing worth seeing, but I still like to do these so when I go back through our trips I can remember the places. This Quinta is nothing fancy, the room is small, and quite basic. (And the tile floor in the bathroom is mighty slippery after a shower!) But it’s a very quiet location, and those running it are friendly.
But oh the view!
Breakfast, dinner, and, if we opt for them, drinks, are on the main floor.
So after breakfast we got ourselves ready, including our rain coats because, surprise, surprise, it was raining. I opted to leave my rain pants at the Quinta though, since my weather app said the rain would subside and it wasn’t going to reappear until much later.
Our app with instructions for the walk said it was to start back in the village just below us, so off we went.
We tried to find the start point (where the pillory is … hmmm … not finding it!). We went one way. We went another. Pillory? What pillory?!
We finally just opted to start walking since the app will show us where we are in comparison to where we should be. But, well, um, wouldn’t you know we ended up right back by where we are staying!? We could have started from there, and would have if only we’d started the app sooner. Ah well. Reaching “our” place, though, the rain had increased enough that I decided to go back to our room (up a steep hill, mind you) to get my rain pants.
In case you don’t know, this is the rule: if you don’t bring it, you will need it, and if you do bring it, you won’t. Better to choose the latter, I believe. (And no, I never did use them!)
Getting back down the hill the rain had diminished so much we just walked on without wearing the rain pants. Initially we were on the same route we took when we passed the Quinta yesterday, but the we went up a dirt road. There was a good uphill. Not killer, but definitely uphill. We still had some rain at times, and also heard thunder.
We had some lovely views, and there was a flower I don’t think I’ve seen before (anyone? Maybe an allium of some sort?).
More views. A cemetery. A town (Vilarinho de São Romão). The rain had stopped when we neared that town.
Until we decided to stop for lunch! Go figure. This is one of our lunch bags, provided by Green Walks. We hand the bags to someone at wherever we are staying, and they hand them back full of our lunch. Handy, right? So we ate our sandwiches in the rain, and saved the rest for later because we didn’t want to continue to sit there with the rain coming down.
After lunch was another uphill walk, but then a huge downhill. I’m never jazzed about downhills. I know that means an uphill is in my future! We got to the village of Fermentões, and took some time to eat what look like pancakes at this spot with water and a bucket … perhaps a laundry spot? In any case, the pancakes were sweet and a nice thing to enjoy before another big climb.
On the climb we saw sheep, flowers, great views (eventually), and the ever-present broom (bright yellow flowers) that in our neck of the woods is considered an evil invasive species. It is ALL over the mountainsides here and I wonder what people here think of it. It’s really quite lovely, but it does seem to take over everything. Other flowers I’ve seen are lavender, some other yellow plant that I suspect is related to a pea plant (?), lupine (so far all yellow), your typical yellow daisy like flowers, and either heath or heather (I’ve never figured out the difference between those two). We’ve seen pine trees, eucalyptus trees, fruit trees, what we suspect might be nut trees (I was pretty sure I saw chestnut). There are berry plants of some sort (no blossoms or berries at this point), and obviously a ton of grapevines.
But I ramble … here have some photos!
We didn’t follow the app completely — it would have taken us back to the village below where we are staying and having seen it twice now we figured we could skip it, so back to our lodging we went. As we were getting quite close a car drove by and a man said, “Camino!” to us. Yes, there are signs that designate a Camino walks here. We’ve barely seen any walkers at all, though. Our Swiss friends from yesterday were nowhere to be seen. I’m guessing they are just too fast for us.
Getting back to our Quinta we came upstairs to get things taken care of, but eventually went downstairs to enjoy the remainder of a bottle of tinto vinho we bought yesterday. It was lovely to just relax and enjoy the view out the windows — one side showed puffy white clouds and sun and the other very dark clouds. We are learning that weather here is pretty crazy!
Next up was dinner, and it was very good. And relaxing. And I didn’t take a single photo so just trust me: we had a duck rice main after a dinner roll, sausage, olive appetizer. There was also salad, and a chocolate crepe for dessert, along with a decaf espresso. All very fine.
And I am all very tired!
Tomorrow we have our breakfast at 8:30 but our driver arrives at 9:00 to transport us to our starting spot so we will have to eat quickly, I suppose. I’m not sure if he is also the one who transports our luggage as that wasn’t mentioned in our booklet. So we will learn about that in the morning. I think tomorrow’s walk is an easier one, but it’s a long one. But again, we’ll know when we know.
It was another late start day. I woke at around 7, but Dan was asleep so I set my watch alarm for 8. When it woke me I thought Dan was still sleeping so I snoozed some more, only to wake up far too late (after 9:00!) to see Dan awake and reading. Ah well … we are on vacation so I suppose I can sleep in. (But I really hate losing time out and about.)
When we finally got moving we went first through Rossio Square with its crazy tile work that makes me want to step up when there is really no step.
Then on to the Rossio train station to see what we will do for an excursion we have planned for tomorrow.
It took us a bit of time to figure out the train ticket situation, but we did finally get that done, and then we went up to see “our” old place from 2023 and the restaurant we’ll return to after two years that was mere steps from our VRBO. First, though, there was this changing of the guard for who knows what reason: I think they are just in front of a museum, but who knows?
It was an easy walk from the station to “our place” and the restaurant and then we just rambled a bit. We went inside a church, and managed to get a glimpse of “pink street”, among other things.
With such a late start we soon decided we wanted to get lunch. We walked a while, and saw nothing inviting (but we did see a group of French guys who were already quite inebriated … go figure). Finallly I (foolishly?) suggested the Time Out Market. It’s really a tourist trap, and not a culinary delight as they might imply, but at least we knew we would find food.
Trouble is, we might not find a place to sit! And so it goes. People who do find a spot stay for eons, and no one thinks to look at two senior citizens who are on their last legs and offer to give up their chairs. Okay … maybe we look rather healthy. But still, I have gray hair and I’m old, doggone it! In any case, we ordered or chicken piri piri and stood at a table until, about when we were done, a woman next to us found a chair and brought it to me. (Dan never did get to sit.) The food was okay, but I think we could have done better a few streets down. We just didn’t know just where to go.
After lunch we went outside to check and see what was on my to-do list. There were two things I mentioned: the “LX Factory” and the Capela de Santo Amaro. Both were over two miles away, and Dan and I weren’t really sure we were up for that, so we were looking at other things, but finally decided (as it was raining, but only lightly) that we’d give the Capela a try. Thankfully the rain stopped and the shower was so light I wondered if I really needed to bring my umbrella at all.
So off we went. On not lovely roads. As I mentioned to Dan, he hadn’t gotten his camera out once! But on we plodded, until I noticed, to my left, the LX Factory. Go figure! So we walked in. It’s a bunch of places to eat and shops, and very cool looking. But we weren’t hungry and we aren’t into shopping, so we decided we might return for a snack later and continued on to the Capela.
And the Capela (yes, I’m bilingual, if not more … hah! Capela=Chapel) was really rather cool. I’ll just let it speak for itself in photos.
When we left raindrops began to fall. And fall. And fall. Plus there was wind. We walked back down to the LX spot, but decided, since we weren’t into drinking alcohol, that there really was nothing there for us, so we opted to walk back to the hotel.
That rain was really annoying by this point, and the wind wanted to mess with my umbrella. But we plodded on and eventually we got back to the hotel for a very brief rest.
Soon it was time to head to dinner. I had been looking forward to our return so it was such fun to arrive and tell a server how we had enjoyed it so much two years ago. Back then both our meals were served outside, but since — can you guess? — it had started to rain again on our walk that certainly wasn’t going to happen today. We went inside, were seated, and proceeded to enjoy an absolutely delicious meal, with excellent service. If you ever go to Portugal, be sure and try and find Oficina do Duque. It is well worth it!
On our way home we stopped by a Ginginha spot we knew from 2023, and we enjoyed our little “medicinal” (!) treat.
It’s a cherry liqueur and surely it must be good for us. They can be served in a chocolate cup if ordered that way, and that’s what we did. Unfortunately this place doesn’t serve it with a cherry if requested, and I missed that. I guess that means we have to visit another one before we head out of Lisbon … right?
Then back to the hotel. I enjoyed a shower after spending far too much time trying to figure out how to get hot water. I think we need a universal law regarding showers. Yes?
Tomorrow we have another adventure. I suppose I should sleep now.
Oh … a bit of an aside: adjusting to the time change has been surprisingly easy this time. I have no clue why, but I’m not complaining!
We headed to the airport on the early side. Okay, the too early side! But since we thought we might hit traffic we had opted for our departure time. So be it.
We checked luggage, rapidly went through security, and headed to the Polaris lounge where we made our dinner reservations. It took a while to get in, but eventually we got there. Dinner was … well … it was fine, but nothing to rave about. The portions are pretty tiny, which was fine since we knew our flight would also have a meal. From there we went back to some seats and sat. And sat. And sat. (Below is Dan, being a good boy with his alcohol free beer. And yeah, that’s my wine.)
We haven’t flown Lufthansa for a long haul flight in eons, and back when we did it certainly wasn’t in business class. So here we are, lay flat seats, fancy devices (there’s a tablet you can pull out of it’s holder plus a usual monitor in front of you), a blanket, pillow, and even a mattress pad. (And it has now occurred to me that on United you are putting your head down on a seat where so many others have slept and I wonder how carefully they clean things.) Oh … and important news … we can heat our seats. Go figure.
Prior to take-off I noticed we had a plane camera, so I did take some videos. I love it!
Dan was served dinner before I was. It took them quite a while to get to me, in fact. I guess they like him more. Understandable! I opted for a green and white asparagus appetizer, which came with a small salad and a dinner roll. Since we’d had drinks at the lounge and one small drink after boarding it was sparkling water for me.
Then it was sleep time. It was a restless legs sleep, but eventually I managed to doze off. Upon waking I saw that Dan was already upright and reading. Event it was “breakfast” time (despite the fact that it was dinner time in the country we were flying over and soon to land in. I figured an omelette could be for any meal, so I opted for that, although I really couldn’t finish it. These flights usually feed us more than I can handle, and having a lounge before and after a flight means we could eat even more.
After a bit under 11 hours we landed
… hello Munich! Or, really, hello Munich airport because that’s as much as we would see.
Then we had to head to another gate, which required a shuttle ride. A woman who had been on our first flight chatted with us a bit. Turns out she is from Los Gatos and she and Dan have a friend in common. Gotta love our small world.
From the shuttle we verified our next gate, and then went to spend an hour in the Senator’s Lounge. For this year — and possibly only this year! — we are Star Alliance Gold members which gets us into these lovely, quiet spots. Food is available, but having eaten so much I opted for a cappuccino (yes, I know the Italians would shake their heads if they saw me do that in the early evening!) and water (planes really cause dehydration).
Finally, back to a gate we went. This time for just a short hop, really. Stay tuned for the final destination!
(I’m quickly posting this, despite not having time to really make sure things are done properly: we have about 15 minutes so it’s either now or when we get to our hotel, and I’d rather it be now!)
Hearing from your credit card company that someone has used your card (in other words, the number was stolen somehow) only three days before a trip can be rather distressing. Especially when it’s the card you use due to getting miles and “pqp” from your airline. Being told that they will expedite the card to you is better. Hearing from your first hotel, telling you your credit card was refused and if you don’t replay and either provide a new number or get that credit card to work your stay will be canceled is more than distressing. Hearing back from them after you write, and having them tell you that under the circumstances you can pay upon arrival is a great relief.
But this is also why we travel with more than one card. In fact between the two of us we have five cards we could use.
We also have our debit cards through a company that will give back the fee we are charged when we take cash out. Having just read about all the tourists who were traveling and hadn’t thought to have cash on hand since most places accept cards and were pretty stranded during the power outage, we were also reminded to be sure and have at least some cash on hand.
Today I also heard from one of the train companies. Turns out one segment of a scheduled train is a no-go and for that part of the trip we will be placed on a bus.
I have been telling myself to be ready for these kinds of issues. They are bound to pop up, after all.
I think all of this is actually good for me: a reminder that I am really not in control, control freak that I am!
In other news: all bedding has been changed, the house has been dusted and vacuumed, bathrooms have been cleaned … and now I wait until we’ve both had our showers so I can get the towels washed and dried. I even, with all of this, managed to get a short walk in with my sister (a MUCH needed walk, and I’m glad to get to do this with her before we head out).
And here … have a photo of my travel PacSafe Purse. It’s cute. In case you can’t tell. It’s also pretty theft proof if I am smart about using it correctly.
Yes, I’m here. Yes, I’ve not blogged for a while. No, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been planning trips.
You read that correctly … trips. Three, in fact. We have our walking holiday, a wedding trip, and a visit in a city here in the United States with my brother Greg and sister-in-law Jan, who will be coming in from Germany for a trip here. So tons of planning is going on, and lots of possibility for confusion.
Thanks to my spreadsheets, though, everything is clearly on the page. So it might not be clear in my brain, but I can check those spreadsheets easily. Much has been taken care of with two of the three trips.
Flights and trains? Well, sort of tricky sometimes. Spain and Belgium trains still aren’t available. I wrote to Renfe and they said they still didn’t know when my trains would be available because they are waiting for the permits. Belgium made it clear it’s not worth trying until a month before. Flights in the states are ones I wait a bit on: too early and you pay a lot. Too late and you pay a lot. So timing … it’s tricky, but I check in occasionally to see how things are going.
Oh, and one more trip that may or may not include me is on the calendar as well. I’m still waiting to see what my work schedule will be, but Dan has a reunion to attend!
Fun times here on the Emerson-Mitchell planet!
Here, have a photo from a time in Florence (or shall I say Firenze?) quite some time ago.
