We're about to put this one in the books. 2017 was a great one. There were lots of new adventures as well as revisiting some of our favorite places.
We rang in 2017 with Sarah, Joey and Sweet Baby James. Within a few days we were on the way to Barcelona for a couple of back to back cruises. We hit some of those old favorites in Spain, Italy and France as well as visited two new countries, Malta and Morocco. A few months later we drove on the opposite side of the road across much of the UK and Ireland. Then there was an Alaskan Cruise, which seems to be coming an annual event. After Alaska we covered a fair bit of Western Canada from Vancouver to Banff. We took full advantage of Canada's 150th Anniversary which gave us free admission to all of Canada's National Parks. They have some really nice ones!
Summer was mostly in Florida, but we did escape the heat spending twelve nights in the great city of Chicago. They really appreciate summer up there (the current temperature as I am writing this is 31). There were free concerts and festivals all over town. We also caught Jimmy Buffet & Huey Lewis, James Taylor & Bonnie Raitt, Chicago and the Doobie Brothers, the Cubs and White Sox.
Late summer was the Canadian Maritimes (Eastern Canada). Very different from Western Canada but equally amazing, especially the Bay of Fundy and it's 50 foot tidal changes, which were amazing to see.
We capped off our overseas adventures with the India, Nepal and Dubai (UAE) trip. Three very different countries. They were all new ones for us, all amazing and all hard to describe for very different reasons (especially India).
Mid year Sarah, Joey and James gave us a new reason to visit the San Francisco area when they relocated to San Rafael. It is conveniently located just north of San Francisco and south of wine country (Napa and Sonoma). Of course there were also a few great visits with Ben in Texas which we always enjoy. These allowed us to catch up with friends and former colleagues as well.
When not traveling it was such a privilege for us to spend time in Florida helping out with Beth's mom (NaNa). This is where we are now (current temperature @ 9:00 AM is 71). She's so darn funny and witty. Also, whatever trash talking I do to her while playing rummy she throws right back at me, usually while beating me to a pulp.
Ben flew in last night so we have him with us until Christmas evening. He'll be heading back to Texas and we'll be heading to California for a second Christmas celebration. The second one will be with Sarah, Joey and SBJ. I wonder who will be the "star of the show" for that one!
There are a couple of adventures already on the books for 2018. From California we fly to Miami for a 14 day Southern Caribbean Cruise. Mid February through Mid March we'll be in Arizona and Utah and April we'll be in the Azores (Portuguese Islands) for three weeks. Ben, Sarah and James are scheduled to visit us here in Florida in March which will be extra special. We only wish Joey could join us but he'll be holding down the fort in California.
I wanted to attach a few pictures to this blog and opted to select one picture from each of the five new countries we visited this year. One thing we continue to find is that wherever we roam the overwhelming majority of people are good, kind folks who just want to enjoy life with their families and friends. Evil tends to rear it's ugly head every now and then. Hopefully kindness will always prevail.
We rang in 2017 with Sarah, Joey and Sweet Baby James. Within a few days we were on the way to Barcelona for a couple of back to back cruises. We hit some of those old favorites in Spain, Italy and France as well as visited two new countries, Malta and Morocco. A few months later we drove on the opposite side of the road across much of the UK and Ireland. Then there was an Alaskan Cruise, which seems to be coming an annual event. After Alaska we covered a fair bit of Western Canada from Vancouver to Banff. We took full advantage of Canada's 150th Anniversary which gave us free admission to all of Canada's National Parks. They have some really nice ones!
Summer was mostly in Florida, but we did escape the heat spending twelve nights in the great city of Chicago. They really appreciate summer up there (the current temperature as I am writing this is 31). There were free concerts and festivals all over town. We also caught Jimmy Buffet & Huey Lewis, James Taylor & Bonnie Raitt, Chicago and the Doobie Brothers, the Cubs and White Sox.
Late summer was the Canadian Maritimes (Eastern Canada). Very different from Western Canada but equally amazing, especially the Bay of Fundy and it's 50 foot tidal changes, which were amazing to see.
We capped off our overseas adventures with the India, Nepal and Dubai (UAE) trip. Three very different countries. They were all new ones for us, all amazing and all hard to describe for very different reasons (especially India).
Mid year Sarah, Joey and James gave us a new reason to visit the San Francisco area when they relocated to San Rafael. It is conveniently located just north of San Francisco and south of wine country (Napa and Sonoma). Of course there were also a few great visits with Ben in Texas which we always enjoy. These allowed us to catch up with friends and former colleagues as well.
When not traveling it was such a privilege for us to spend time in Florida helping out with Beth's mom (NaNa). This is where we are now (current temperature @ 9:00 AM is 71). She's so darn funny and witty. Also, whatever trash talking I do to her while playing rummy she throws right back at me, usually while beating me to a pulp.
Ben flew in last night so we have him with us until Christmas evening. He'll be heading back to Texas and we'll be heading to California for a second Christmas celebration. The second one will be with Sarah, Joey and SBJ. I wonder who will be the "star of the show" for that one!
There are a couple of adventures already on the books for 2018. From California we fly to Miami for a 14 day Southern Caribbean Cruise. Mid February through Mid March we'll be in Arizona and Utah and April we'll be in the Azores (Portuguese Islands) for three weeks. Ben, Sarah and James are scheduled to visit us here in Florida in March which will be extra special. We only wish Joey could join us but he'll be holding down the fort in California.
I wanted to attach a few pictures to this blog and opted to select one picture from each of the five new countries we visited this year. One thing we continue to find is that wherever we roam the overwhelming majority of people are good, kind folks who just want to enjoy life with their families and friends. Evil tends to rear it's ugly head every now and then. Hopefully kindness will always prevail.
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| Malta |
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| Morocco |
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| India |
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| Nepal |
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| Dubai-UAE |
