Travel

Our quick trip to New York was one of the best vacations we’ve ever had!  (I think I’ve said that after each of our last 3 trips, but it’s all true).  It was such a great family event that we cancelled the babysitter we had lined up for the last night, when Adam and I were going to go out and have a romantic meal.  We both agreed that it was more fun to spend the time with our daughter, because she loved every minute of it and was clearly thriving in the New York environment.  3 years old is definitely not too young for New York City!

I wonder why people choose not to raise kids in the city.  Sure, there are problems and challenges, but there are also huge benefits.  And the argument that kids need “green space” is absurd.  They do need stimulation, but New York, with its buildings and lights and vehicles and restaurants and street performers is much more stimulating than a few trees and some grass!  And when you do want nature, there’s Central Park!  As for space to run around, Sammy was outdoors more and got more exercise in New York than she has gotten anywhere else, ever.  And frankly, it was the most exercise I’ve gotten in quite some time.

We took the train, which was fun and terrible, both.  I did not like the mad rush to find a seat and the stations were crowded with pushing and shoving masses of people – one of the most terrifying situations for me.  But it was nice to arrive 20 minutes before departure and to walk around all we wanted in the train instead of being stuck in our seats the whole time.  Unfortunately, the views along the eastern seaboard were as depressing as I remember them. 

We stopped in Philly on the way up to visit Adam’s aunt and uncle, parents of Nora The Piano Cat.  It was a really nice, but short visit.  They gave Sam a “thumb piano,” something I had never seen before.

We stayed in Midtown, around 8th Ave. and 51st St.  I love Midtown the most, and this was a perfect location for all of our activities.  I’ve heard that dining is better elsewhere, but we had 3 excellent meals within 2 blocks of the hotel, at Pigalle, Gallagher’s, and Sweet Emily’s.  This was the trip of bread and butter for Sammy.  She had bread and butter at practically every meal.  We don’t often eat bread at home, and she loves butter, so she just couldn’t get enough.  But we also discovered her new favorite food: prime rib.  She loves the fat.  She always eats the fat off our meat at home, so I should have known that this would be the perfect food for her.  (The prime rib at Gallagher’s was the best I’ve ever had – I wish I could go back right now!)

Our first night did not go well.  It was raining like hell when we arrived and we had to stand in a really long line for a taxi with street hawkers constantly trying to sell us umbrellas.  When we got to the hotel we ordered food delivered and when the delivery peopleguy came, he claimed he didn’t have any change and you could tell that he expected me to leave him with a $7 tip just to avoid the hassle.  What a scam.  The food was already in the room so we kept it and told him that we’d pay him when he could make change.  He left and came back a few minutes later with change.   And he got no tip.  Two typical New York experiences.  Thank goodness Adam used to live in New York and knows the ropes.

The weather was incredible the next day so we decided to do our outdoor activities.  It was the Sunday after Christmas so everything was packed, but it didn’t matter; it was just part of the atmosphere.  We didn’t think we’d have much chance to walk around so we didn’t bring the stroller.  That was a mistake.  Bringing the car seat was also a mistake.  We didn’t use it.  And we did take cabs.  Let the flames pour in. 

Here are some highlights:

The first thing we did was Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center).  Incredible!  Short wait and amazing views.  Sammy really loved it and she understood that we were going UP UP UP WAY HIGH.  The view of downtown with its gaping hole in the skyline still pains me, but it also brought tears of joy to my eyes to see so much concrete, steel, and other and man-made stuff in such a concentrated area.

Rockefeller Plaza was also wonderful.  The tree was ok, but the ice skaters really grabbed Sam’s attention.  We watched for quite a while.

We walked up Fifth Avenue and looked in the store windows from afar. 

We got a hot dog from a street vendor and then Sam fed part of the bun to the pigeons.  This was a thrill for her.  She loved those flying rats, I mean, birds.

We picked the first restaurant we passed for lunch, and it was great.  Lots of bread and butter.

We saw SpongeBob (yuck!), Winnie the Pooh, and Elmo.  It’s like Disneyworld, I swear.  Sam was scared of all of them, but of course all that means is that she couldn’t stop talking about them for the rest of the day.

We went up and down a thousand escalators and elevators, and Sammy learned that it is ok to walk over the grill in the sidewalk and that she won’t fall through.  But she refused to walk over the clear plastic floor in Rockefeller Center that made it look like you were on top of the building when it was under construction.  Even after I walked on it, she would not step out into what looked like thin air.  I say, good for her for using her own judgement, even if she was wrong.

We walked around Central Park and took a ride on the Carousel.  At the ice skating pond, Sammy was again fascinated.  I’ve promised her I will look into ice skating in our area because she obviously wants to try it.  She also enjoyed the ducks and watching the horse-drawn carriages.  But more importantly, I have decided that Central Park is my favorite place on earth.  I don’t think I’d ever been there as an adult until this trip, and I was so moved by the beauty of it.  I love art and scenery that contrasts the natural with the man-made, and looking at those buildings through the trees was more incredible than I would have guessed from what I’ve seen on movies and TV.  It just doesn’t get any better than that.

We walked to FAO Schwartz and then went right past it because there was a line to get in. 

There are some really cool new buildings at Columbus Circle.  I like that intersection.

We took the subway, just for fun.

We walked through Times Square at night, which was also really neat, and something I’d never done before. 

Adam had a business dinner on Sunday night so Sammy and I dined alone.  I swear, she is a great dining companion, and we had a lovely time.  Then we caught part of The Sound of Music on TV in the hotel room, and Sammy fell in love with it.  Good taste, that one.  That was the end of Day 1.  We slept well.

Monday was the day Adam worked, so Sam and I met up with Kim and her family at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan.  The museum was fun, but it was really just great to get to know another e-friend in real life.  We also had a nice lunch, and Sammy tried sweetbreads for the first time.

We took the subway again that day, and we were treated to some live music, aka, panhandling.  I know the locals hate it, but Sammy and I enjoyed it.

That afternoon we just chilled in the hotel room until Adam got back and we went to dinner.  Sammy was so exhausted that she fell asleep at the restaurant.  As I was ordering, she was saying, MOMMY, MOMMY?  But I couldn’t hear her.  After I ordered, Adam told me that she was trying to get my attention and she said, MOMMY, PICK ME UP? in the tiniest voice, and the moment I picked her up, she was asleep.  Luckily she woke up in time to eat a huge amount of that prime rib I mentioned.  Again, we slept well that night.

Tuesday was freezing cold so we went to the American Museum of Natural History.  It’s true that you could spend a week there.  We especially enjoyed the dinosaurs.  It was definitely the best dinosaur exhibit I’ve ever seen, with helpful but not overly-wordy text.  I’ve never been into dinosaurs and I never understood why kids like them, but after seeing this, I actually felt a little bit of that kid’s enthusiasm for the subject.  We also saw a live butterfly exhibit, and the life-sized blue whale hanging from the ceiling in the ocean exhibit is something not to be missed.  The place was a madhouse and it was expensive, but totally worth it.  We must have walked up and down 300 stairs and gone 2-3 miles inside that place that day.

After all of that, another nice dinner was all we could manage on Tuesday evening, but it was just perfect.

Unfortunately, once the momentum stopped on our departure date, Wednesday, it all caught up with Sammy and she was a nightmare the whole day.  Small price to pay, though.

There was so much else that we did in the down moments like drinking hot chocolate, jumping on the hotel bed, and just looking up at the tall buildings.  I wish I could better capture how incredible this trip was for all of us.  Part of it is all the great Little Things that happened.  Instead of going on longer here, I’ll save them to post over the next few days.

My final comment on this trip is that Samantha really surprised me with how well she kept up with us, both physically and mentally.  Since we didn’t have the stroller, she had to walk or be carried, and we’re not big on carrying her.  She probably walked 75% of the time.  Her mind was also active the whole time.  Any time I glanced at her she was observing, and I could see the wheels spinning inside.  She understood so much of what she was seeing, and she was never bored.  She’s really a kid now, and this trip showed me how exciting the future with her is going to be.

Wow!  What a great vacation we had.  We got back yesterday and there’s a ton of laundry and shopping and bill paying to do and the pets are puking all over the house to make us feel bad for leaving them, but I don’t care.  I had a real vacation!

The trip started out on a good note when I went shopping for shorts and actually bought a real two-piece swim suit for the first time in many years.  I’ve been wearing the mommy suits for a while, and even though I’m still about 15 pounds overweight, I finally felt confident enough to buy something that wouldn’t prompt children to ask me, “Is that a bathing suit or a dress?”

We spent the majority of the time in St. Petersburg, Florida, where Adam’s parents live.  They have a beautiful house with a yard and pool like a resort.  The weather was actually quite nice for this time of year so we got a lot of good swim time in.  The bad part was the mosquitoes.  Both Sam and I got chewed up pretty badly.  I have a new love for lizards, though.  They came out in droves at dusk and did their best to eat up the mosquitoes.  I’ve never seen so many lizards, even having grown up in LA.  Walking down the sidewalk, you’d see dozens of them scurrying away from you every few yards.   Sam was very excited, especially when one got in the house.  LOOK, MOMMY.  LIZARD!  LIZARD IN THE HOUSE!  For some reason, a lizard in the house was just about the most exciting thing she had ever seen.  Cute.

As always, Adam’s stepmom remembered our favorite foods. There was always a ready supply of pistachio nuts for me, and she made us steak and crab legs for dinner our first night there.  (Crab legs are both mine and Adam’s favorite food.)  I also got to drive Adam’s dad’s BMW convertible (I think it is the 335i).  Sweet!

We took Sam to the beach.  It wasn’t her first time, but last time she was only 3 months old, so I guess you could say it was a new experience for her.  She was really excited to go since we missed our chance in North Carolina a few weeks ago.   After parking our car, we had to walk through a narrow path through the brush to get to the sandy beach.  When we came out of the pathway onto the wide open expanse of sand, Sam immediately squatted down and started running the sand through her fingers.  If we didn’t make her get up and move along, I think she would have been happy to stay in that one spot, and she probably never would have even cast a glance at the ocean. 

As it was, she got to play in the sand and in the water, and she loved it.  Adam enjoyed just walking down the shore hand-in-hand with Sam.  I think that was one of his images of fatherhood, finally realized.  The beach was lovely, with fine, white sand, a lot of shells, and gentle surf, this being the Gulf of Mexico side of Florida.  I found it restful to my wound-up psychology to be somewhere where the water is in its proper place – to the West.

Adam and I left Sam with the grandparents for our 2 day “adult” vacation to Sarasota.  (If you have kids and haven’t had a vacation from them, you’re missing out on something very important.  Call up your parents today and make arrangements!)  We’ll definitely be going back to Sarasota – it’s a great place.  We stayed at a hotel on Longboat Key, right on the beach facing the Gulf.  We slept in, drank Pina Coladas and Mojitos, rented Wave Runners, and just floated around in the ocean.  We met a couple of cranky old men and we had a gripe session about the state of the country.  They were both self declared die-hard conservatives, but one of them voted for Obama because he wanted “change.”  I guess I didn’t really believe that whole phenomenon truly existed until I heard him say it.  Even more unbelievable, though, was that one of those crusty guys said we should go back to the gold standard.  We speculated on whether the country would collapse into dictatorship or Texas would secede.  They were a lot of fun, and one of them took this picture for us.

We ate two excellent dinners at St. Aramand’s Circle, a touristy place for shopping and eating on the next island over, Lido Key.  The first night it was Spanish/Cuban food at a place that reminded me of our days in New Orleans.  Sea Bass that tasted like lobster, mussels, and a dish of scallops and chorizo left us no room for desert.  The next night it was crab legs and stuffed meatloaf, with a slice of real Key Lime pie for dessert.  Beautiful food.

We watched TV in the middle of the day and enjoyed not planning out our days around nap-time.  We ate whenever we got hungry, which meant that we were able to have dinner at 8:30pm, which seemed positively decadent, after 3 years of dinner at 6:30.  The hotel’s outdoor bar had a mascot – an egret crane named Madonna.  She was bold and beautiful and we enjoyed ruminating on the diversity of life on this planet while eating crab cakes and watching her walk around with her knees bending backwards and her strange, floating grace.  The couple next to us must have overheard us because then we overheard them discussing how interesting it is that man is the only species who tries to destroy himself.  While it is true that humans are more capable of self destruction (both individually and as a species) than other animals, the mindset that chooses to focus on that rather than the glory and greatness that the rational mind can achieve is something that I’ll never understand.  It’s pathetic. 

Sam missed us, but by all reports, she did just fine without us for those 2 days.  She also was her usual easygoing self when it came to traveling.  She didn’t use many of the travel toys I bought her because she just liked the experience of the airport and the flight.  This was the first time that I can say for sure that she knew that we were GOING UP HIGH when we were in the airplane.  She saw the ground below and the clouds and she understood.  That was cool.  I actually enjoy being at the airport with that girl.  She makes it all a grand adventure.  The escalators, the people movers, the pictures of crabs and turtles on the carpeted floor in the Tampa airport, the airport play areas, the new foods and drinks, the buses and trains that get you around the airport – all of it is just fun when I’m with my daughter.  I especially liked it when we entered the airplane and I told her to take a quick look as we passed by the cockpit.  The stewardess said, “Go ahead and take a closer look.  Charlie’s up there and he won’t mind.”  Sam walked right in, looked at the pilot and said, HI CHARLIE.

It was a relaxing trip but we’re still exhausted now that it’s over.  But in a good way.

We’re headed to Florida tomorrow, where we’ll be visiting Adam’s parents.  Adam and I are taking a side trip to Longboat Key in Sarasota over the weekend, while Sam stays with her grandparents.  It promises to be an exciting trip, so hopefully I won’t be blogging too much for the next week. 

Today is packing day, but I haven’t started yet.  I’m still finishing up the laundry that I started yesterday (always do laundry 2 days before a trip), and I had to go to Target to buy shorts for me (I only had one pair!) and to Walmart for travel toys for Sam.  I got the best thing: a magnet board.  It’s an ice cream store scene and it has magnets in the shape of ice cream cones, bananas, cherries, and the like.  Sam already plays pretend ice cream store games, so that should be a hit.  Of course, I got a sticker book with Barbies too.  Finally, I got a miniature My Little Pony toy.  You can’t even tell that it’s a pony, it’s just some misshapen “cute” creature (with wings?).  But if my instincts are right, Sam will love it.  It’s always a kick to pick out toys for her.

It’s a week old now, so I’d better write up our adventures on our trip to North Carolina before I totally forget what happened. 

Besides our fun with GeePee, we had a pretty good time traveling by car with Sam.  She’s always been a fairly easy traveler but, of course, car trips at this age can be difficult.  We brought the Da-vi-da, which is the way we say “DVD player” when we don’t want Sam to know what we’re talking about.  (I’m sure she knows exactly what we’re talking about.)  We didn’t use it on the way down, but on the way home we let Sam watch her Barbie video.  For the first time, she watched an entire movie.  For 83 minutes, she was captivated.  For some reason, this made me proud. (By the way, I really like this movie, Barbie as Rapunzel, and I’ve heard that the whole Barbie series is quite good.  The music is nice, the story is charming, and there is not a lot of fast scene-switching.  Sam seems to understand the basic plot and talks about it afterwards.  We’ll definitely be buying more from this series.)

At the campground, we stayed in a little “cabin” which I think was half of a trailer home.  It was clean and cozy, with a bathroom and kitchen.  We brought our dog along on the trip but they didn’t allow pets in the cabins, so he stayed in my parents’ RV with them.  I guess the enormous bugs that could not be kept out of the cabin didn’t count as pets, though.  Holy cow, the bugs!  The bad part was the mosquitoes all day long, not just at dusk.  The good part was the dragonflies and butterflies that were hovering about at all times.  Quite pretty!

We were able to spend a lot of good time with my parents, also known as Grandee and Grando.  Grandee cooked a lot of good food, and, of course, brownies.  We had a campfire the first night, which is always my favorite part of camping.

The campground had a little lake with a fountain in the middle and we rented a paddleboat and took Sam out on it.  She seems to like boating, and I’m determined to get her out on the water at every opportunity to keep that interest alive.  I love boats.

The lake was stocked with fish and Sam got to seem them jumping out of the water.  That was a first.  She also saw a little girl, no more than 9 years old, catch a fish.  We saw the whole thing: she cast the line, the thingy bobbed, the girl pulled on the rod and then reeled it in.  Her older brother took the fish off the hook and put it in a bucket of water, where we watched the fish swim and jump angrily around in circles before settling in to his fate.

On the Fourth, we went to a little town called Elizabeth City to watch the fireworks.  There was a good military band playing, and a moon bounce to pass the time until it got dark.  We also saw a woman holding (wearing?) a python, and Sam got to touch it.  It’s not the first time she’s touched a snake, but again, we try to take every opportunity for Sam to have these interesting experiences. 

Since Sam has recently decided that she is afraid of thunder, I knew the fireworks might be a problem, but I didn’t think about it much.  We just kept a semi-casual, semi-excited attitude.  She was sitting on my lap as we waited for the show to start.  When she saw the first explosion, I felt her sit up straight with interest, but when she heard that first explosion a moment later, she cowered into my shoulder.  The rest of the show was the ultimate in what Adam and I call, “scared-curious.”  We actually invented that term for our cat, who seems to be in a permanent state of ambivalence, but it is certainly applicable to many things with Samantha as well.  She was fascinated and scared at the same time.  She alternated between being transfixed and saying, GO HOME NOW. NO FIREWORKS. SHOOK. [Scared.]  She was never scared enough for us to pack up and call it quits, and I think that she enjoyed it overall.  I was proud of her.  It was quite a nice fireworks show too.  We all enjoyed it.

We had planned to hit the beach at Outer Banks the next day, but we slept in late and it looked like rain, so we just went to another local town for a picnic at a park instead.  The park had a playground, so Sam was happy.

On the way home, we stopped for dinner at The Smokey Pig restaurant in Ashland, Virginia.  It’s just one of those hokey places with a silly name that you see everywhere on the side of the road, and the food was sub-par.  But it was a highlight of the trip because the whole place was filled with pigs – pictures of pigs, statues of pigs, stuffed pigs, carved wooden pigs, even a poster of Pigs in Space.  Sam loved it enough that we grabbed a to-go menu for the Adventure Box.

As you can tell, most of my thoughts about this trip revolve around Samantha.  That’s fine with me.  Watching her experience new things and places is one of the great joys of parenting.  Still, I’m really looking forward to our next trip, which will include a Samantha-free weekend for Adam and me.  Now that will be a first for the adults in the family!

For Independence Day weekend, we took a short trip to North Carolina to visit my parents, where they are staying in their RV for about a month.  This was our first road trip with our new friend, GeePee, the GPS.

I felt bound to name the machine after I heard how my parents talk about their own “Carmen”:  “Carmen told us to take the 123 but we didn’t listen,”  “I was just doing what Carmen told me to,” etc.  If you’re going to anthropomorphize a machine, the GPS is a fun one.  It might also be a solution for road rage, as people can now just yell at their GPS devices instead of other drivers:  “Goddamn it – that’s the wrong way!” or “How was I supposed to get over in time to make that turn, you stupid machine?”  I mean, somebody has to be the scapegoat for our bad driving, so why not a computer?

You’d think that having a virtual back-seat-driver would eliminate the need for real ones.  But when Adam was driving us back to the campground after fireworks on the Fourth, none of us could resist telling him where he should turn or which way would be faster.  Oh well, I guess technology can’t solve all our problems, after all.

Our GPS doesn’t have traffic information and we forgot to check before we left, so we probably didn’t take the best route out of DC.  Since we had consciously decided to let GeePee guide us, we didn’t bring maps or make alternate plans like we might have otherwise, and we didn’t have much of an idea of where exactly we were going.  That was a mistake, since we got caught in tunnel traffic near the Outer Banks area.  We tried pressing the “Detour” button on GeePee but I guess we didn’t trust him quite as much as we thought we did because we chickened out of actually changing course.  Next time, GeePee, I promise, I’ll listen!

We sure spent a lot of time fiddling with GeePee.  On our way home, we wanted to get off the freeway so we tried the “Avoid Highways” function, but it would have taken us way out of our way.  When we tried to turn off that function, we found a bug in the software which threatened to keep us on surface streets forever – the menus were not displayed properly and it wouldn’t let us go back to normal mode.  You mean, we can never drive on the freeway again, GeePee?  Please, don’t do this to us!  Fortunately, Adam was bright enough to find the “Restore Defaults” button on another menu and we were back in business.  But then, how could we get it to guide us up Highway 1 instead of the I-95?  I tried entering intersections, I tried to “Detour,” and I tried who knows what else.  Finally, we just left it alone and listened to “Recalculating” for 2 hours as we fought our way back to DC on a Sunday afternoon at the end of a holiday weekend.  God forbid we turn off the machine!  Do you think somebody might have programmed an Easter Egg in there so that if you reach 1000 instances of “Recalculating,” the machine will instead start saying “Why’d you buy me anyway?”

The defining moment of our travels occurred on that drive home.  We’d been stuck on the streets of Fredericksburg for about 20 minutes when a man in a truck in the lane to the right of us rolled down his window.  He said, and I quote: “Excuse me sir.  My GPS is telling me to turn left and no one will let me in.  Will you let me in so I can turn? I only have point-six miles to go and no one would let me in so I thought I’d ask someone.”  Talk about an appeal to authority!

I think that’s when Adam started talking back:

GeePee:  In point-two miles, turn left on Courthouse Road.
Adam:  No!  I reject the tyranny of the GPS!
GeePee:  Turn left on Courthouse Road.
Adam:  No!  I tell you, no!

It’s a contentious relationship, but we’re working on it.

Early this year, Adam and I agreed not to take a vacation this year for financial reasons.  We were really struggling, and a vacation is a budget-buster that is easy to cut out of the equation.

Now we have three trips planned.

Our financial situation improved a bit, so we thought, well, maybe we’ll take a quick trip somewhere.  But we also decided that we wouldn’t go visit any friends or family, but just get out of town on our own, just the three of us.

Two of the three trips are family visits.

It’s just irresistible.  My parents are staying in a campground just 4 hours away for the next month, so we’re going to drive there with the dog for the Fourth of July weekend.  Cheap and fun!  Then, Adam’s parents told us they’d chip in if we flew down to Florida to visit, and that they’d watch Sam for a couple of days while the two of us took a side trip.  How could we say no to that? 

Then, Adam has a business trip to New York just after Christmas, so Sam and I will tag along.  Going along on Adam’s business trips is an easy and cheap way to travel, but, again, it’s not something we really chose on our own. (But I have been dying to get back to New York lately anyway.)

Most of our vacations are like this – things that fall in our laps.  Mostly, they are a lot of fun, and we don’t end up doing the same thing year after year, which I prefer not to do.

But someday…someday…we’ll make it to Italy for our long-delayed honeymoon.  Maybe I should start planning now if I want to do it in the next decade.

Here is the fourth and final update in the Mexico series from my parents.  (Sorry about the formatting but I just can’t seem to paste from Word without strange problems.)

RVing is a great way to travel off the beaten path and really learn something about the culture of the place you visit.  My parents almost never take the big highways, which helps.  They also have the luxury of not having to plan ahead much.  If they like a place, they just stay a bit longer.  If they’re bored, they move on.   Their RV is huge and luxurious – it really is a nice home.  Modern technology also helps them in this lifestyle; maps are still useful, but GPS helps greatly with navigation, there is no need for land lines now that you get cell phone reception most anywhere, and many campgrounds have WiFi, just like hotels.  It’s a pretty great way to spend retirement traveling.  Now they just need to find a way to ship the RV to Europe for a while! 

April 7, 2009

Hola, Everyone!

We are now back in the U.S. spending a few days in a little town, Donna, in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

Pyramid of the Sun, near Mexico city

Our last days in Mexico went fast. Raphael, our favorite and only taxi driver, took us to Teotihuacan to see the Pyramid of the Sun, the world’s third largest pyramid (number one and two being in Egypt). It is touted as the number-one tourist draw in Mexico; but it did not rate that high with us. None of us had the energy or desire to climb to the top of the pyramid or walk the whole route to the Pyramid of the Moon. The most impressive part of our visit was the large scale-model of the greatest city in ancient Mexico under a transparent walkway in the museum, from where we could still see today, the Sun pyramid through a wall-sized window. The tour book was correct when it said it would be exhausting to fend off all the indefatigable hawkers. One hawker won the battle and sold us 10 clay turtle whistles.

Our plan was to take Mex 85, the old Pan American Highway north to Texas over the backbone of the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains. We would have to look for a Pemex for our first night as we knew we would not be able to reach the first campgrounds listed on this route. We made better time than we thought as the short cut we took turned out to be a much better road than expected. After lunch the mountains became MOUNTAINS big-time! They rose and fell, rose and fell, rose and fell like a continuous row of letter Ms. The road would run along one side of a canyon till the end, then run back on the opposite side. The scenery was spectacular. Little towns could be seen perched on neighboring mountainsides or in the deep valleys below us. Cows, burros, pigs, and chickens roamed at will along the roadside.

At one place a group of school girls began waving at us very energetically and then a woman waved and yelled something which sounded like, No Passable!, No Passable! We got off the road to find that the road ahead was blocked by a car and grass fire. We watched as people from the nearby houses took barrels of water, hoes, and rakes in the back of pickups up to the fire. In a short while we were able to proceed due to the work of these people. Later we saw the police and ambulance coming the other way from the not-so-near town with these services. These are self-reliant people, accustomed to taking care of the unexpected. Road construction is signaled by the waving of red shirts or blocking off where autos shouldn’t go by placing rocks in the way.

At 3:30 we came upon a Pemex , but thinking it was a little tight, we elected to go on as there were some towns ahead. But, in each of them, we saw nothing on the narrow main road and no space to park to explore the side streets for an overnight parking spot. In the mountains, flat space is valuable and it was already being used. No empty lots. At 5:30 we finely found a flat space on the side of the road leaving the town of Tamazunchal in front of a couple of residences, a muffler shop and beer bar.

Muffler shop

A gentleman on his way to the bar took Mike & Richard to the police station to check out parking and later explained our situation to the nearby residents. Even though no English was spoken, we were able to communicate with each other. Everybody agreed that we were welcome to stay the night. We later joined our new friends in the bar for cervezas and music. There was electricity in the bar but no electricity or water in the shacks that were near the RV’s. The water was brought in buckets from a communal well down the road. We were told we only had 40 miles of the slow-going steep roads ahead. Whew!

Behind the muffler shop, no electricity

We left at daybreak, as promised, so we wouldn’t be blocking access to the muffler shop and what also might have been a local bus stop.

Rain forest near east coast of Mexico

We were descending and driving through part of the northernmost tropical rain forest in North America known as the Huasteca. This area offers waterfalls, swimming holes, whitewater galore, caves, and miles of unexplored back roads. We were satisfied with viewing the tropical vegetation and the many fruit and flower stalls along the road. Later, there were very big and prosperous looking ranchos. As we approached Ciudad Victoria, we had traversed many barren mesas. There seemed little to offer us here, other than electricity and a night in a RV park.

The next day like trail horses on their way back to the barn, sensing the border was within range, we drove straight to the Los Indios border crossing with only a stop at a Pemex to get rid of all our remaining pesos. It took us about 1½ hours to turn in our Mexican vehicle permits and visas and go through US border security. Pat and Richard elected to go to Pharr, TX as they wished to attend mass at the San Juan Basilica the next morning. We elected to stay closer to Progresso, Mexico as we wanted to visit the dentist there. By 7:00PM on April 4, 2009 we were watching our first TV news show in 2 months. What was the top news—recent shootings in New York and Pennsylvania and a review of all the shootings so far in March. The US must be a dangerous place to travel.

Los Vemos,

Mike & Donna

Here are more pictures from the first part of my parents’ trip to Mexico.

This first picture (taken before they crossed the border) is an example of what my parents do when they meet up with the Boondockers group, the RVers who like to dry camp, without electricity, water, or sewer hookups.  My dad says some of them like to compete to see who can go the longest on their 100 gallon tank of water.  They shower by getting wet with one cup of water, soaping up, then rinsing with just one cup more.  And that’s supposed to be fun?  But the bonfires they have each night look like fun.

Ajo, AZ Bonfire

Here are examples of the color and food presentation that I mentioned in an earlier post.

Library mural

Market at Lake Chapala

The Malecon (seawalk), Jacotapec, Lake Chapala

Market in Old Mazatlan

Restaurant in marketplace, Guadalajara

Parade, Carnival

Juice stand, Guadalajara

And finally, here is the Lady of Guadalupe, an image my parents saw everywhere in their travels through Mexico.  She seems to be the symbol of Mexican Catholicism.

Lady of Guadalupe, San Carlos

I now have pictures from my parents’ trip!  Here is part 3 of the 4 part series chronicling their Mexican adventure:

APRIL 1, 2009

Hola Everyone,

Goodbye, Hello

Our last update left us at the Roca Azul RV park on Lake Chapala. We left there on March 22 and drove the scenic road south of the lake to the charming town of Patzcuaro. On one stretch we went through several towns one after another so that you could see the Feliz Viaje (Good Bye) sign for one town and the Bienvenidos (Welcome) sign at the same time. We passed a large new building with a heliport outside with the name Driscoll’s. It is a name of the distributor of the raspberries and now the strawberries grown here. Patzcuaro had narrow cobblestone roads lined with buildings of white-washed stucco with brownish red at the bottoms. It gave the jumble of different buildings a cohesive and placid look. We did our usual touring routine of visiting the town plazas, cathedrals, shopping and lunch in a Mexican restaurant.

Chapel on Jinitziu

We also visited the “Casa de los Once Patios” (house of 11 patios) where you can watch craftsmen work and buy their handiwork. Patzcuaro is nestled on a hillside next to a large lake where we took a half hour boat ride to the Isla Janitzio.

Janitzio, island near Patzcuaro

This island is like the top 4 or 5 hundred feet of a mountain sticking out of the water. There is no flat land, no roads and no vehicles but it is covered withhomes, shops, restaurants and bars. Only paths and steps lead you uphill where you have to continuously pass shops and restaurants to get to the top. There you are rewarded with the statue of Morelos. If you have any energy left, given the 7000 feet elevation, you can climb the 162 steps inside the statue to the top. Richard and Pat made it to the top but we gave up about half way.

Fishing "show"

At our arrival at the island we were treated to a group of fishing boats who did what could be called a dance as they formed a circle and then gracefully put their huge butterfly nets in and out of the water as they recreated how they once fished here.

After a few days in Patzcuaro we drove about an hour to Morelia, a city of about 600,000. Morelia does not have any RV parks so we pulled into a Wal- Mart and got permission to spend the night in their parking lot. We spent the rest of the day exploring this colonial city by car, on foot and a tour bus (unfortunately the guide only spoke Spanish). We were impressed by the central square and the cathedral as well as the no longer used aqueduct which crosses part of the city supported by 253 arches.

The next morning we headed for Pepe’s Hotel & RV Park in Tepotzotlan. We haven’t talked much about our experiences while driving but we had an incident en route that is worthy of mention. As you can probably imagine, driving a 40 foot motor home towing a car on these narrow roads is one thing but going through the small towns with narrowstreets can be an adventure. We entered one town which appeared on the map and GPS to be a straight through drive. What we didn’t know was that the road through town split into two opposing one-way streets and we wound up going the wrong way. Most small towns use traffic cops (they’re cheaper than signals) and this was no exception. These cops saw our dilemma, knew that we couldn’t turn the tight corners and started diverting traffic so that we could continue through town. We were then committed to driving the entire way through town going the wrong way on a one-way street. The on-coming traffic just moved to the side like this was no big deal. We made itwith no problems and note this as an example of how helpful the people and the police are. We later arrived at Pepe’s which is our base for exploring Mexico City about 30 miles south. We were advised not to try to drive into the city because of heavy traffic and crazy drivers (as we later observed, it is no worse than Los Angeles), so we decided to take a taxi into the city, stay in a downtown hotel for 2 nights and then a taxi back. Pepe’s is a very nice, modern and secure facility, so we were not concerned about leaving our RV’s there. The staff also made our hotel reservations for us.

CIUDAD de MEXICO

What image do you have of Mexico City? We had an image; all the bad things we heard about. It is probably the largest city in the world with an estimated population of 20 million (nobody knows for sure) and including the towns that make up the urban sprawl an estimated 32 million. With that many people, Mexico City must have everything bad that can exist in a city. After spending 3 full days exploring the city we have a new image. Mexico City may be the most beautiful city that we have ever seen.

Mexico City

Even at 8000 feet elevation the city is surrounded by mountains. The downtown and central district has many large parks and plazas with beautiful landscaping and big old trees everywhere. The main boulevard is the Paseo de los Reformawhich has 10 or 12 lanes and three widetree lined dividers. It must be about a full block to cross it. There are many other wide boulevards and Grande TrafficCircles with statues, monuments and/or fountains in the centers. Architecture is a mixture of the colonial buildings over 300 years old and modern office buildings and skyscrapers, however the old buildings and cathedrals dominate the scene.

Mexico city fountain

We expected wall to wall people but it was really not that crowded. We expected it to be dirty but it was unbelievably clean. We expected to see poverty but saw very little of it. We maintained an awareness of possible crime but never felt we were in any danger. And topping it all off are the people.

University students who interviewed my mom

They are so friendly and helpful. If you ask directions they don’t just point the way, they lead you there. The exception is when they drive they become very aggressive. Being a pedestrian is the most dangerous thing in Mexico City.

We took our taxi into the city early Saturday morning, went directly to the hotel and were checked in by about 9AM. We decided to take the double deck (open seating on top) tour bus which had headphones for English narration. The bus followed a big circle of the attractions with about 20 stops where you can get off and catch a later bus. We got off at the museum of anthropology where we spent a few hours but spent the rest of the day making the circuit on the bus to get a feel for the city.

The next morning (Sunday) Richard and Pat planned to go to the Shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe. We wanted to do some other things so we decided to split up for the day. With the help and encouragement of a friendly man in the hotel lobby, we bravely set out on our own to explore Mexico City using the subway and light train system. Even though we had maps and train routes, it was a bit intimidating. In fact we got on the wrong train the first time and had to come back but we soon mastered the system. The subway system needs some comments here. We don’t know if this is new or renovated but everything looks new and modern. The trains and stations are absolutely spotless and clean – no graffiti. The train cars are guided by rails but ride on rubber tires. The ride is smooth and quiet. The cars are connected by rubber bellows that allow people to walk through from car to car. There are a few seats for the disabled but mostly it’s standing room only. They can be crowded in the central district but it thins out in the outskirts. It’s not uncommon to have vendors and musicians coming through looking for sales or handouts. The cost to ride is 2 pesos (about 14 cents). As someone said “For 2 pesos you get transportation, entertainment and a massage”.

Our day started with a visit to the Zocalo (Plaza de la Constitucion) second in size only to Red Square in Moscow. We visited the Palacio Nacional whose front fills the entire east side of the Zocalo. This is the office of the President of Mexico and various other government offices. The walls of the second floor around the courtyard are adorned with dramatic murals by Diego Rivera depicting the history of Mexico City from ancient times. We also saw the chamber where parliament meets. Next on the north side of the plaza we visited the main cathedral which is most notable for its massiveness. We saw Aztec dancers on the square next to the Templo Mayor where it is thought to be the exact spot where the Aztecs considered the center of the universe. A line of people with offerings of herbs and flowers awaited the blessing of smoke and incantations of a healer or priest in Aztec garb. We were having lunch on a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Zocalo when the bells of the cathedral began ringing. We could actually see the bell ringers pulling the ropes on the many bells situated on several levels of the towers. This, along with the sound system being tested at the huge stage erected in the plaza, gave a cacophony of sound for 15 minutes until noon when the bells tolled the hour. Sunday was the last day of a month-long Festival de Mexico and el Centro Historico. Some streets were shut down on Saturday for special events and concerts. We had our picture taken in front of a replica of Le Angel whichwill travel around the world to herald the 2010 celebration of Mexican Independence.

After visiting the Palace of Fine Arts and viewing the city from the 44th floor of the Torre Latino Americana, we went to Xochimilco. This network of canals flanked by gardens is a reminder of the city’s pre-Hispanic history when a great lake became a city from piled-up vegetation and mud.

Floating gardens, Mexico city

We were poled along the tranquil but yet very festive waterways, jammed with other gaily decorated trajineras(gondolas) with families and friends or just romantic couples. Mariachis, marimbas, and vendors offering beer, roasted corn, toys among other stuff hovered along side adding to the party atmosphere.

Altogether we rode about 50 miles on the subway, about 30 miles on light trains and a couple of miles each by bicycle taxi and on foot. A pretty grueling day but we got a lot done. Monday we returned to Pepe’s by taxi and rested up the rest of the day. We plan to leave Pepe’s on Thursday and start heading north to Texas. Until next time – Mike & Donna

NOTE

A few of our “Update” readers have replied to our last update expressing a concern for our safety. We have not heard or seen any news since we left Arizona but apparently there must be some bad news going on about Mexico. Whatever it is must be overblown as it is not apparent to us. We feel as safe or maybe even safer than in the US. Also there were questions about how we find our way around. We have a Mexico map book which has highway and city maps and we also use a Garmin GPS with a Mexico update. We would also not be without Mike & Terri Church’s book “Camping in Mexico”. This book is the “bible” for anyone RVing in Mexico as it describes almost every campground in great detail. Also many WalMarts and Pemex Stations allow free overnight RV parking.

Here is the second installment from my parents from their recent trip to Mexico.  I wish I had digital copies of the photographs they brought back, to post here on the blog.  The thing that struck me most in the photos was how colorful everything is.  The decorative art, the displays at the shops, and the clothing in Mexico are all brightly colored, creating a feeling of lighthearted fun.  They also took pictures of the food, which was always served in a beautiful way, not just slopped on a plate.  My parents told us that they were amazed at how, in Mexico, labor is never in short supply.  The time spent on creating beautiful things, sometimes with inexpensive materials, is a contrast to the way we do things in the U.S.  I’m not clear on exactly what in the Mexican culture is responsible for this, but you could see it in the pictures and I thought it was interesting.

March 21,2008

Hola, Everyone!

We are about to venture into unknown territory to reach Mexico City and then to the Texas border. Much time has been spent getting advice as to which routes to take or NOT to take. Throughout our travels most of the people we have met and seen in the campgrounds and the towns have been Canadians from British Columbia, but some have been from Ontario and even Nova Scotia. The only Americans we’ve encountered have been those who we met at the rally in Guaymas, then at Celestino Gasca and now at Jocotepec. No matter where one wants to go, the discussion usually gets around to the question, “Use the LIBRE or the CUOTA?”. There are good arguments for each. The toll roads (Cuotas or Maxipistas) can be quite expensive especially if there is a free road (Libre) nearby. The Cuotas are like our Interstates as they are more direct and bypass little towns or pueblas on the way. Many RVers do not like to slow down and subject their rigs to the speed bumps (topes or vibradores) which always are found at the entradas and salidas of towns. There is also much more traffic on the Libres as the locals take them. One is sure at some point to have to follow a slow truck or two or three inching along the narrow and curvy roads with no easy or safe way to pass. So, it takes much more time to get places on the Libre. It took us over 6 hours to go about 200 miles; but we were going from sea level from Teacapan to about 4,000 feet elevation near Tequila on roads that had so many switch backs that it reminded us of the drive along Big Sur in CA! On the Cuota we would never had seen a man sitting under a tree talking on his cell phone while his horse grazed on the grass, the portraits of the Lady of Guadalupe painted on rock outcroppings, vendors selling goodness knows what by the inevitable tope, black lava rocks spewed from the volcanoes in the distance, and trucks piled high with sugar cane.

From the flat coastal roads with fields of wheat, corn and chilies we moved to vistas of blue agave and yellow sugar cane as we neared Tequila and Amititlan. A later visit, took us to the Mundo Cuervo distillery complex (producer of the Jose Cuervo brand of tequila) across from the Centro Plaza in Tequila. Because it was Sunday there was a big crowd at the plaza with vendors with balloons, wands with bubble mix, and plastic pull -toys for all the muchachos. A mariachi band played for a motley group of dancers who wended their way around the arched walkways. Because it was Sunday we did not see any production of tequila, but we were taught the ceremony to appreciate the drink, much like the procedures used for wine or bourbon tasting and got a margarita at the end of our tour. Tossing down a shot is not the Mexican way of drinking tequila. The rested or aged tequila, which has an amber color and is to be sipped from small glasses, is quite different from the clear tequila which is used for mixed drinks. We were also introduced to agave nectar or honey. It is touted as being very healthful as even diabetics can partake of it. A vendor was looking for a US distributor. Anyone interested?

We have stayed the past 2 weeks at Roca Azul, a campground on the shores of Lake Chapala, Mexico’s largest natural lake which is about 40 miles south of Guadalajara. We now understand why our travel companions, Pat and Richard Belanger, loved their stay here two years ago. The lake is surrounded by mountains, some of which slope dramatically down to the shore. Yellow and orange flowering trees and purple jacaranda are everywhere along with the fuchsia of the bougainvilleas. Three pools, one filled with water from the hot springs found hereabouts, tennis and basketball courts, and a shaded walkway along the lake can keep one occupied in the campground. But there are the towns of Jocotepec, San Juan Cosala, Ajijic, and Chapala, all of which have different personalities and attractions, to explore. Ajijic( (ah-hee-heek ) has a great gringo influence with its many boutiques, art galleries and restaurants. We enjoyed walking along the malecons catching the afternoon breeze in Jocotepec and Chapala, shopping at the local market days, and eating great food at great prices. We have bought pails of raspberries from the fields that surround the campground. Imagine a gallon of raspberries for under $2!

On our arrival to Roca Azul we were invited along with 18 others to come to a farewell dinner for one of the Canadians at a restaurant in San Juan Cosala (noted for its thermal spas). The fish tacos and the many ways we enjoyed shrimp (camarones) along the west coast are not as popular here. We thus began to try the different regional dishes offered in the western central highlands:

Chile en Nogada – mild green chilies stuffed with meat and fruit, served with a cream sauce, ground walnuts and cheese.

Birria de Chivo – steamed goat served in ceramic casseroles with chopped avacado, onions, cilantro, salsa and warm tortillas on the side.

Tortas Ahogadas – a baguette filled with chunks of pork then smothered with a searing chili sauce.

Mole – a complex sauce made with nuts, different chilies, spices, and sometimes chocolate to be served over chicken, turkey or pork.

We have gotten more confident about eating in the market places and stands and we are more at ease driving in the bigger cities as in old town Mazatlan and Centro Guadalajara. This may be because we have had more time to try these things than our last time in Mexico. Also, because we have been using our GPS which can tell us where to turn by watching the route on the screen. In Mexico the street names are hard to locate and read quickly if they exist at all.

We went into Guadalajara twice. We rode like sardines packed in with the locals on a high speed bus we boarded across from the Walmart where we parked our car. We ate and shopped at the huge three storied Mercado Libertad. Then we proceeded to view the Orozco murals at Instituto Cultural de Cabanas. The 57 murals painted in 1938-1939 warn of institutions (church and government) that subjugate humanity to cultivate power with images of fire, broken chains, blood and haunting “Star Wars” looking images. We walked up the bustling Plaza Tapatia with stands representing the tequila industry, to the Cathedral, Plaza de Armas, and the Palacio de Gobierno. Inside we came upon a volunteer who explains the history of Guadalajara and the Orozco mural of Miguel Hidalgo. Hildago’s Groto de Independencia launched the 1810 independence movement. (In 2010 Mexico will be commemorating the events of the 1810 and 1910 revolutions ). Since we didn’t have time to hear the history, etc.; he instead told us, in quite colorful language, his opinion of the current governor whose office was across the hall (he hates him). After walking through the Museo Regional de Guadalajara, we had an exciting and rapid taxi ride back to the Walmart. On our second trip we drove to the same Walmart but through a different section of the city than we went previously. (GPS does not know how many one-way streets there are in Mexico). We walked to nearby Parque Agua Azul where we saw parrots, an iguana, butterflies, orchids and The Casa de las Artesanias de Jalisco. It was a museum-like store that sold high quality Jalisco handicrafts. From there we drove to another section of the city to have a meal with a Mexican couple Pat and Richard had met at Roca Azul last year. It was nice to have a conversation with them as they spoke English quite well. The husband, Nick, has a company with 42 employees that sets up computer compatible environments for businesses. We learned that by law after 30 days of work, the employer is responsible to keep paying an employee even after he is no longer needed or is fired. He is grooming his 2 sons to run the business as they are preparing to leave the big city and have a farm with a few cattle to sell for income.

The best conversations we have had were because the other party knew English and we could easily talk back and forth. The owner of the Viva Mexico restaurant in San Juan Cosala told us about the myths of earlier times at Lake Chapala and how he was able after 25 years to have such a good business. He said he learned English from speaking to his customers. A couple from Mexico City, who shared a table with us at the Cuervo margarita bar, gave us more insight on the lack of economic progress in Mexico. We thus have learned much about Mexican life and history. Regrettably, we still are not able to put enough Spanish words together to have a little conversation with many smiling people we encounter on the streets. The young children look at us so intently as they recognize we are different from themselves. On a visit to a local orphanage, it would have been more fun to engage with the children in their games and soothe them if a mishap occurred on the climbing apparatus, other playground equipment, and the many wheeled vehicles and bicycles that were in enthusiastic use. This orphanage is run by three nuns and have about 30 children under their competent charge. Pat and I visited and played while Richard repaired and refitted seats and handle bars on the bicycles and tightened screws on the tables and benches.

We are healthy, happy, tanned and sometimes well rested. Until next time, adios Familia y Amigos.

Mike and Donna

My parents are in town, which is a good thing.  They’re retired and live in their motorhome full-time, traveling around almost constantly.  They seem to love this lifestyle, and when they visit, they can stay in our area for a couple of weeks without having to stay in our house with us, which is a great arrangement!

Since I’m more interested in spending time with them than in blogging, I’m going to re-publish a few of the e-mail updates they sent to friends and family during their recent trip to Mexico. (No, they didn’t get swine flu.)  They really love Mexico and, because of they way they travel, they’ve experienced the country in a way that most people never do.  I found their updates fascinating.

3-02-09

Hola Everybody,

Here we are in Mexico again. We crossed the border from Arizona into Mexico for our second major adventure here on 2-18-09. It’s been two years since our first trip where we entered from south Texas, drove through central Mexico to Guanajuato, then west to Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta, up the west coast and back into Arizona. That trip was about six weeks. This time we are going the opposite direction. We’re traveling south along the west coast, crossing through Mexico City, and back up the east coast into Texas. We plan on about eight weeks for this trip. As usual we don’t have any reservations nor a fixed itinerary but plan each day as we go.

We spent 2 days in Organ Pipe National Monument in Arizona just before crossing. Organ Pipe is on the southern border between Yuma and Tucson. It is full of cactus plants most of which are Saguaros and Organ Pipes. This is a very unique park and well worth a visit even though it is remotely located. We toured the park by car and took lots of pictures of some unique shapes.

Our first couple of days in Mexico were uneventful in that we were just traveling to our first destination in Guaymas. This was the destination of an Escapee Club Rally of 50 RV’s that included many people that we know. We had pre-planned meeting our friends there, Richard and Pat, who will be our traveling companions for this trip. We spent a week in Guaymas with the Rally sightseeing and watching the celebration of their Mardi Gras which runs the weekend before Lent through Fat Tuesday. They had parades every day with music and lots of color. One day we went to a mini Sea World and watched sea lions and dolphins perform. Pat even got to swim with the dolphins which made her day.

On Thursday, Feb. 26, our caravan of two motor homes headed south to the beach town of Huatabampito where we spent the night. It would have been nice except that it was very windy there. We did walk the beach and did a walk around town but decided to leave the next day. We went to another beach town further south called Las Glorias and spent a couple of days there as the weather was much better. This is a big shrimp fishing area so we’ve been eating a lot of shrimp. We bought 3 kilos (about 6 pounds) of jumbo shrimp which are in our freezer. Yesterday we moved south again to another beach RV resort at Celestino Gasca which is about 45 miles north of Mazatlan. We met 2 other couples here who were at the Rally. We’re planning to join them tonight and build a fire on the beach.

We are finding as we did before that the Mexican people are friendly and helpful. We have seen police activity on the highway, usually truck inspections, but we have not been hassled at all. One major change that we have noticed was the inspection station for trucks headed north to the US border are thoroughly checking every truck. This has caused a backup of about 5 miles of trucks lined up waiting. There is a new inspection station being built to speed up the process and it looks almost ready to open.

Until the next update – Adios Familia y Amigos – Mike & Donna

One of my favorite amateur writers has finally quit the e-mail updates and started a blog!  Actually, Robert has gone back and forth between blogging and sending e-mails but either way, I think he’s a great writer and always has something interesting to say. 

His current subject is his adventure teaching English Literature at a university in Dalian, China.  I love his observations of everything from stinky fruit to timid students.  His photos are really great too.

Here’s a little taste of his writing, from a post called Road Sage:

Chinese-style “traffic control” might be arguably described as population control. There seem to be no actual rules of the road, and who owns a particular piece of the lane has much less to do with who has some sort of legal right, than with who has a stronger desire for it.

It is a battle of wills here. You don’t worry so much about what you’re “supposed” to do, as about what you can do. Elbows are strong in China, and they get used.

Car horns here are a basic means of communication.

Let’s say a taxi driver is approaching an intersection, and five people are trying to walk across the street in front of him, while two cab-drivers are trying to move into the street from his right. He can toot his horn, gently, to say “no, you wait: I really want to go now.” Another cabbie might lay on his horn, to say “sorry, my passenger is in a hurry, so I’m going to go anyway.” The first cabbie will either slow down and let the more-urgent driver get through, or lay harder on his own horn. It’s a kind of nonverbal communication that a professor could write books about…

You’ll have to click over to read the rest.  Enjoy!

A few years back we almost had the chance to live in Alaska for a year, and now that I’ve lived in 8 cities in 7 different states, I’m so glad we ended up in New Orleans instead.

When we lived in Michigan we missed the sun during winter.  It was cloudy most days, and when the sun did come out, it just meant that it would be colder than usual because there were no clouds to hold in the heat.  The sun had no power to warm.  You couldn’t feel it on your skin at all – you only knew it was there by looking.  Chocolate and cozy fires a few times a week got us through until April, when we’d start to feel like winter was over.

Here in Virginia I still hate the shortened days and chilly weather, but it is 68 degrees right now!  Even on cold days, when the sun is out it is powerful enough to warm up the inside of your car a bit.  You have a chance to soak up that energy and to produce some vitamin D.

The weather in Florida ranged from about 60-80 degrees while we were there.  It rained once, but otherwise, the sun was shining.  It was HOT.  It felt like summer.  I had to move into the shade after a half hour of sunning because I got overheated.  It was heavenly.