Monday, November 20, 2006

11/20/06 Just a quick update to let you know that we are back at Park Sierra and enjoying reconnecting with friends and neighbors. Of course, we are also unpacking from the trip and re-packing the RV so we can leave again the day after Thanksgiving. We will be returning to San Jose to work on the vacant rental house. As soon as that is dealt with, we can think about heading south for adventures with Boomers, Boondockers, and RoVing Rods. Everyone is asking where the next big travel adventure will be but we haven't had time to do any research or make any plans yet! Hope to do that while camping in the southwest soon. More on this later.
If you didn't receive our last travelogue, please read it below as I just posted it (forgot to do it on the 14th when it was originally sent.) Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!
Dear Friends & Family, 11/14/06
Here we are in Key West, Florida and only 2 days
away from flying back to California from Galveston.
Yesterday we were in Nassau, The Bahamas. Luckily, we
have had wonderful weather for the entire crossing and
haven't needed the warm clothes that we carried along
on the entire trip thinking it would be cold crossing
the Atlantic in November! I suppose it is because we
took a southerly route.
Our last port before the 6 straight days at sea
was in Tenerife, The Canary Islands. It is located
off the coast of Morocco, and was a much larger island
than we had expected. There is also a large dormant
volcano there. We did a bit of shopping, since there
were also some low cost clothing stores. The people
were very nice and the entire place was clean, nicely
laid out with pedestrian streets, etc. and good
infrastructure for visiting cruise ships and
passengers. Next time we are there we are going to
explore the island more, as everyone said there was
lots to see.
I don't think I mentioned in a previous travelogue
that we missed seeing our RV friends, Joe & Carla
Calwell by just one day when we were in Messina,
Sicily. They had been camping near there in their
European RV but had to leave for the mainland the very
day we arrived. Now we will just have to see them at
the Boomer gatherings in the southwest this winter.
That is, providing we get down there ourselves. We
have another vacant house to deal with in San Jose
when we get back. Elaine's daughter, Tarra, and her
partner, Alonzo, have been handling things for us and
starting on the fix-up process and we really
appreciate that. Now we will have to finish things up
and try to get another good tenant in there before we
can travel south for the winter. We had hopes of
going to Mexico again this winter, as we haven't been
there for years, and we wanted to go with Jonna & Mimi
to their place in Akumal, near Cancun. Those plans
might be changed now.... Boo hoo.
Thursday night we will be landing in Oakland, and
spending the night at Tarra's in Fremont. Friday we
will return to Park Sierra to see our friends and
neighbors, pack up the RV, and head back to San Jose.
We will be trying to do a better job of keeping in
touch with people individually by e-mail, but probably
not right away. Thanks for traveling with us and we
will be looking forward to seeing all of you sometime
in the future. Sending huge hugs to you all.
Love, Mary & Elaine

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Travelogue #13
Dear Family & Friends, 11-2-06
Here we are in Barcelona which is the third stop
on our cruise itinerary. We areńt doing much
sightseeing today because we spent about a week here
in 2005 when our first transatlantic cruise ended
here. It is a beautiful and interesting place to
visit, however. Today it is cool and there is a 40
percent chance of rain, so being in the internet place
is OK.
Our cruise started in Venice on Oct. 29. We had
met Lee & Susie Blattner at our B&B on the evening of
the 27th and spent the 28th exploring Venice. It was
a warm, sunny day and it was delightful to just be
walking around and taking pictures. There were about
4 cruise ships in port so it was crowded with tourists
but still fun.
The first port of call was Dubrovnik, in Croatia,
where we had spent 3 days in 2005 when we toured 7
Central European countries. So we didńt go into the
old town but went shopping for jeans instead. Because
of our 2 months in the Middle East, our wardrobe was a
little light and we needed something warmer for the
cruise ship. In fact, last night we encountered gale
force winds and high seas on our way here, but we
didńt get sea sick.
We have several more stops in Spain, and then
Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, before we have about
a week at sea crossing the Atlantic. The ship food is
fabulous, as usual, and we are enjoying the leisure
time and socialization with Lee & Susie as well as
other passengers. We are over our colds and feeling
good.
Hoping that this finds all of you doing well and
enjoying some nice Fall weather.
Love, Mary & Elaine