6/2/10
While fellow Escapee member Steve O’Bosky is working on our satellite TV system, I will have some time to finally update this blog. Our system went kaput several months ago, as we were heading back to Park Sierra after crossing the country. There was no need to fix it then because Park Sierra has good cable TV, and then we were off to Europe for a month. Now that we are going to be in this area for at least another month, this is our chance to get it fixed. Having Steve do it necessitated quite a drive up into the mountains near Kings Canyon NP, where he lives. It is beautiful up here and about 10 degrees cooler than in Fresno, on the valley floor. Yes, the weather here has warmed up quite a lot and the prediction is that we will have temps in the 100’s by Monday. A good time to shampoo our carpets and do some other much-needed Spring cleaning.
Our last blog post was from Yuma, where Elaine completed her dental implant, and we had a very nice visit with our friends, Rick & Denice Osborne. On the drive back from there we stopped once again in San Diego in order to visit old friends Kathy & Sally. It is rare that we are able to connect with them because they are also avid travelers, and they have a second home in Idaho for the summer, so we were lucky they were still in town. Here is a picture of the 4 of us at the restaurant.

Once we got back to Park Sierra, the main purpose to be there was to have some doctor’s appointments and tests, so we have been doing that in between social engagements. It has been fun to see old friends and neighbors at Park Sierra. Curt Rogers brought Elaine an old washing machine agitator to use as a fire pit so she has been having campfires and Happy Hours at our site on a regular basis. Here are a few pictures:
Carole Schneider, Dave & Mary Fountain, and Alan Rodely near our shed.

Viv & Curt Rogers, Bev Mauck, & Cecile Thompson with Rodely’s lot in the background.

Bev Mauck (on the right) a new Park Sierra member, with Susan & Betty, guests, at our ladies only Happy Hour.

Last week Carole & Dick Schneider arrived to stay at our park so we have been doing lots of wine tasting, picnicking, and Happy Hours with them. It has been fun to explore the area with them since we have done so little of it on our own in the past. We had no idea that the Madera Wine Trail had such good wineries! Our first one was the Idle Hour Winery in Oakhurst which had wonderful wines and a delightful picnic spot down by the Fresno River. We met the winemakers, a young couple named Deb and Anna Maria, and then ran into them 2 days later when we visited the Birdstone Winery for a tasting. They were there bottling a new white wine which they will be unveiling on June 12. They invited us to the party and we are looking forward to the music, food and wine and the chance to meet some more local women. Here is a picture of Deb and Anna Maria:

And here is a picture of Carole & Elaine tasting wine at Birdstone with Kimberly, one of the owners. They have wonderful wines and do a very nice tasting, and made us feel so welcome.

Another day we four drove up in the Sierras to have a picnic at Nelder Grove, which is a smaller grove of Sequoia trees than the Mariposa Grove in Yosemite NP. Unfortunately, because there has been so much snow and rain, there were waterfalls going across the road in, and lots of tree branches down, so we never made it all the way to the grove of trees. But we did stop at a sunny place for a picnic:

Memorial Day we were invited to a BBQ at our friends Gary & Ceceile Thompson’s lot. They had delicious salmon and smoked pork, and the rest of us provided side dishes. Our good friends Ken & Janice Ryder were there too and here is a cute picture of them:

It was also fun to schmooze with some other park members in attendance whom we don’t often see socially. Here is a picture of Elaine & Carole with Gary & Ceceile and Ken Ryder.

The food was delicious and here is an example of it – Cecile’s colorful berry trifle:

We will be at Park Sierra until at least the end of the month, having more medical tests and I am scheduled for foot surgery on June 17. Our health is good overall, and since these are just little maintenance appointments, you don’t need to worry about us – ok??

5/18/10 Hi from Yuma, AZ. Yes, this is the wrong time of year to be here because it is starting to get hot, but we drove down for Elaine's final dental appointment. She was supposed to get her permanent implant installed yesterday but because the lab wasn't working yesterday afternoon, we have to go back today. It was kind of eerie to experience Algodones at this time of year because we are used to it being full of gringos getting dental work, new glasses, cheaper prescription drugs, cheaper booze, and a long line at the immigration line to get back into the USA. But yesterday the place was fairly quiet and it took about 5 minutes to get through the border. The good news is that our car had been successfully repaired and returned to us on Thursday, so we were able to drive down in our car, and stay overnight on Sunday with Darran & Marielle in San Diego, and last night in Yuma with our cruise friends, Rick & Denice Osborne. Hopefully, the dental work will be done this afternoon and we can head back north. It was only about 95 degrees here yesterday, and we were mostly inside buildings, so the heat didn't bother us.
Last week, while waiting for our car to be repaired, we mostly stayed at Park Sierra and tried to go through accumulated mail, take care of paperwork, clean out our shed, etc. Had a couple of doctor appointments and learned that yes, as Elaine had suspected because of my snoring situation, I DO have sleep apnea. Now I have to pursue treatment options. I thought this was mostly related to being overweight, which I mostly am not, so this was a surprise. But it does explain why I have morning headaches when I wake up. We both will be having other appointments in the coming weeks, such as colonoscopys, etc. I won't bore you with any other age related health complaints....
In downloading pictures from my camera, I came upon a few from the past few weeks that I want to share with you:
On our last day in Barcelona, our friends Duane & Dorothy McCarthy came in on the Voyager of the Seas so we were able to have a wonderful afternoon and evening with them. We went to the Picasso Museum (free on the first Sunday of the month), had appetizers and wine at our apartment, went out for a nice meal at an outdoor restaurant, and took them to the Plaza Espanya where the magical fountains had so entranced us the night before. It was just as fabulous when we were there with them and the weather was better so we stayed longer.
Here we all are at the restaurant:

Here is another look at the fountains:

When we finally arrived back in San Diego, we stayed with Darran & Marielle and one of the activities was joining Darran when he walked Daisy, Marielle's sister's dog. You can see that it was a sunny, beautiful day and Darran & Elaine both look healthy and cute:

Almost as soon as we arrived back at Park Sierra, some Australian friends, Kay & Brian Blinco joined us there. They had been in the USA for 2 weeks and had spent part of that time finding a big van and a trailer that would sleep 6 because they are traveling for 6 months with their adult daughter, and her 3 children. Here is a picture of us all which was taken on Mother's Day at the brunch which was provided for all of us in our park clubhouse.

It was wonderful to reconnect with them again because we met them 10 years ago on our Intrepid Travel tour in China, and we have kept in touch through e-mails. So far they said that they have been very well treated in America and we hope that continues as they travel everywhere, since we were very well treated in their country when we were there in 1999.
Saturday there was a dinner at Park Sierra to honor all the volunteers who do so much to keep the park functioning well and keep the costs down for all the residents. We helped our friends Ken & Janice Ryder who did a wonderful job planning and executing all the cooking for the meal. There were also lots of activities, such as a cakewalk, where Elaine won a cake to take to Darran's the next day. The emphasis was "hats off" to volunteers, so everyone wore decorated hats, and here is a picture of our great neighbors, Alan & Carol Rodely wearing their hats.

Carol loves gardening, so her hat has that theme, and Alan got his Rastafarian hat on their last cruise in the Caribbean. They are so cute! It is social events in the park, and all the delightful neighbors and friends there that make this such a great place to live whenever we are back.

5/7/10
It is Friday morning at 8AM and we are driving up I-5 from LA towards Fresno. So we are into the 5th day of travel now and we AREN"T HOME YET!!!!! Here are the details:
On Monday morning when we checked in with US Airways for our 10:35AM flight which would have gotten us to Orlando at about 8:30PM (layover in Philadelphia), they said the plane was "broken" and since they were using a smaller plane, would we accept a move to an American Airlines flight that would get us to Orlando several hours sooner. Sure. So we took the first AA flight to JFK and when we arrived were informed that our next leg, to Orlando, had been canceled by AA and they were moving us to a Delta flight. That one didn't leave for 6 hours but was supposed to get us there by about 10PM. Then we sat at the gate for over an hour because the pilots were late, and had to wait on the runway, so we didn't arrive in Orlando until after 11PM. When we called our hotel for the shuttle to pick us up, they said it stopped running at 11 so we would have to take a taxi costing approximately $30. Because we were trying to get on the 7AM flight the next morning and would have to be back at the airport by 5AM, thus requiring another $30 taxi, we decided to just stay in the airport. Although we checked in at about 3 AM for the standby list, we were numbers 11 & 12 to get on the first flight and only 8 made it on. We then tried to get on every flight to DFW and every one was full and some had huge standby lists. We were numbers 35 and 36 on some of the lists! It didn't help that AA had canceled the 9:20AM flight. There were also big groups of high school kids on school trips filling up the planes, and apparently there was some kind of a golf tournament for AA employees and a bunch of them were flying standby back from that. By 6PM, when they told us there were no seats on any of the remaining flights, we got on the internet and booked a flight at 7:30PM on Delta that went from Orlando to Atlanta, and then on to San Diego, and it only cost $268 for both of us, which was actually a few less dollars than we had given for our standby tickets. So we arrived in San Diego at 11:45PM and Elaine's son picked us up and we crashed at his place.
Now for the next part of the saga. We enjoyed a nice morning with Darran and about noon packed up our car and headed for Fresno. This was now Wednesday. We made it through the LA area and were just starting to climb into the mountains when our car lost all power. Managed to get it pulled over to the side where there was a wide shoulder and when we got the hood up, it was smoking like crazy. Called our insurance company and they said they would have a tow truck out in 45 minutes. We were able to tell them exactly where we were because of our GPS. Somehow they screwed it up and it took 2 hours before we were finally towed. And we were only 3 miles from an exit where the gas station/tow truck was located! By now it was after 6PM. So they took us to a motel and said they would diagnose it the next day. The next morning they decided it was the clutch and they couldn't fix it there. It was going to cost about $800 to have it towed to Fresno. So we rented a car and drove back to Park Sierra, quickly got our RV ready to travel and drove back towards LA. After stopping overnight last night at a WalMart in Bakersfield, we have now returned the rental car, picked up our disabled car with our tow bar, and are heading back to Oakhurst to have it fixed at an automotive place recommended by other RV friends. CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS!!! Thank goodness the cruise and our time in Barcelona were so fabulously fun because the last 5 days of trying to get home have been rather Hellacious!

5/2/10 I know that I just did a long blog entry yesterday but last night we went to The Magic Fountain of Montjuic, and we LOVED it. The magic fountain is a spectacular display of colour, light, motion, music and water acrobatics - if you mix all these elements together in just the right combinations, you end up with pure magic! I think you will agree with me when you see a couple of the pictures we took last night. And the music that was playing while the fountains of water danced around and changed constantly in height, color, intensity, and arrangement was fabulous. We stayed for over an hour and the music changed with each little show. Then there would be a short break and another, different display would start.
For those of you who want more info, here are the times:
October to April
Fridays and Saturdays
Music sessions: 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30

Summer: (May to September)
Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Music Sessions: 21:00 21:30 22:00 22:30 23:00

To get there, take the Metro to Plaza Espanya and walk a short way towards all the fountains. The main event is at the biggest fountain and it is best to try to stand on some of the overlooks around it, or sit on the steps, because then you can hear the music too.
Here are a few pictures:
These are the little fountains leading up to the biggest one:

The colors were constantly changing:

Saturday May 1
Today is the first overcast day we have had in Barcelona since we arrived, and there have still been periods of sunshine. It has been a wonderful afternoon for exploring. We just started walking and ended up at Parc de la Ciutadella which is fairly near our apartment. There were people all over the lawn areas, just sunning, and almost everywhere we turned there was an incredible building, sculpture, or fountain. Here we are in front of a huge fountain with many figures spewing water and a huge golden chariot with horses and a historical figure, but we never found out who.

On a nearby plaza was their version of the Arc de Triomphe:P

The zoo was also in this park and by the time we had walked around the perimeter of it, we were pretty tired.
On some other days of exploring we have come across street vendors and have bought a few items because they were artistic and priced reasonably. Here is Elaine at the stall of a gal who makes some pretty painted leather belts and necklaces:

And at Park Guell there was this innovative way to display earrings for sale:

One of the main occupations here seems to be sitting at outdoor restaurants with a coffee, beer, glass of wine or a meal and chatting the hours away. There seems to be a few tables and chairs in nearly every open sidewalk space that is wider than usual.

The weather has been sunny and warm for most of this week, so everyone has been reveling in it and the open-air seating has been very popular.
In our little apartment in the El Born district, we have been enjoying trying many of the local delicacies. Here is one of the wines recommended by our local supermarket/wine shop and we have found it to be much to our liking:

There are many different kinds of olives on offer, sometimes in deli windows and sometimes in buckets, such as these:

One of our favorite kinds has both green and black olives, little pickles, and small onions in it.

In our last blog entry we mentioned that we had been to Park Guell, which was created by the most famous Barcelona artist and architect, Antonin Gaudi. A few days ago we walked over to several of his other buildings. They are so different, they stand out from all the other buildings on the street. Here is the front of the one called Casa Batllo:

The balconies and windows in the front are very unique and distinctive:

There was such a long line we decided to skip the interior, although we saw some pictures of it and it was so amazing that we hope to see it on another visit. The house next door to it was by another architect but also distinctive.

Just down the street is another of Gaudi’s buildings called La Pedrera. It is not nearly as colorful as it doesn’t have any of the glass mosaic pieces decorating the front.

It’s main feature are the wrought iron balconies.

The most incredible place we have visited so far was Montserrat. This is a monastery complex, built very high up in the mountains about an hour’s train ride away. It is astounding that it was built several hundred years ago because must have been very difficult to reach at that time. To get there we took the metro to Plaza Espanya and a train towards Manrasa and got off where the funicular or rack train left for Montserrat. You can also take the cable car instead, but if you do, you have to get off at a different train stop. The mountains are very steep, which is why a funicular is required. Here is a picture of the mountains that I took through the train window, so it isn’t very good but it shows some of the steepness.

When we arrived at the top, we could see that the large rock faces still towered over the buildings:

There were 2 more funiculars on top that we took to get to other parts of the mountain. Here is a picture of one of the funicular tracks:

And here is a view of the complex taken from one of the trails we hiked after we got off the funicular towards Santa Cova, the cave where the children saw the vision which is why this is such a holy place.

There is a very beautiful basilica, here is a picture of the front.

where there was a performance by the boys choir.

There were so many people in there that I couldn’t take any pictures of the interior splendidness, and then when we went back later to do it, the lights were off! The biggest attraction is the black Madonna, which was found in the cave (I think) and we went through the special area where they have her on display.

There were solid silver doors leading to this chamber and also many beautiful gold and multicolored mosaic insets in the walls. After all this ornateness, it was refreshing to walk outside and see this magnificent view as we left the complex.

Tomorrow is our last day here and we discovered that the Picasso Museum, which is just down the street from our apartment, has free entry because it is the first Sunday of the month. So we will be meeting our cruise friends, Duane & Dorothy McCarthy, who will be arriving on the Voyager of the Seas, and touring that museum. Then we will bring them over to see our cute little apartment, serve them some good Spanish wine and various local delicious appetizers such as black and green olives, pate, various cheeses, good baguettes, and then treat them to dinner at a local place. There are so many small and good local restaurants that it is hard to choose! They have allowed us to stay with them in Houston before a cruise and entertained us lavishly another time, so we are happy to have this chance to reciprocate. Besides, it is fun to have friends join us at various places in the world when we travel. Why don’t YOU plan to do that the next place??!! It will be India in November…..

4/27/10 Here we are in our cozy little apartment in the El Born district in Barcelona, where we have been enjoying wonderfully warm, sunny weather ever since we arrived Sunday evening. Our 2 week trans-Atlantic cruise ended Sunday morning in Southampton, where it was rainy and cold when we disembarked. Happily, flights had been resumed several days before so we were able to take a bus to Gatwick and catch our Easy Jet flight to Barcelona. That is about the worst airline we have ever been on and they really nailed us for extra baggage too. We were happy to arrive and catch the Aerobus to Plaza Catalunya and then we walked down to our apartment. It is very small, but has most of the necessities and we have been able to cook some of our own meals, which helps with expenses. Here is a picture of Elaine sitting in the dining area of the apartment:

This is the same apartment we stayed in for one night when we joined our friends Carole and Dick Schneider here just before we all took the Navigator of the Seas back to Galveston in Nov., 2008. The El Born district has many old, tall apartment buildings with shops, restaurants and bars at street level. There are lots of very small streets which are too narrow for cars, so it makes walking around here delightful because of all the pedestrian streets. It also means staying here is more enjoyable because it is quieter.
Yesterday we had to get set up in the apartment so we went to the nearby Santa Catarina market to buy some food. There were wonderful displays of fruits and veggies, meat stalls, pastries, and just about anything else we could want.

We bought salad makings, some of the delicious Spanish green olives, a couple of great cheeses, and some fruit. Everything else we needed came from the nearby supermarket.
Today we did some walking around to get set up for our train ride to Montserrat tomorrow, then we took the bus to Park Guell. This was a park where the most famous architect and artist in Barcelona, Anthony Gaudi, lived for 20 years. He made some decorative benches and pavilions and several very fanciful buildings. Here are a few pictures of some of his creations in the park:
Part of his decorative benches:

One of the buildings at the park entrance:

Another park building:

It was hot and we needed a rest so we sat down at an outdoor eating area and had a beer and a sandwich. A delightful couple from Peru named Lucy and Armando came and sat with us. We had an enjoyable time discussing travels in their country, and other parts of the world, because they spoke good English and had been to quite a few places. It reminded us that one of the joys of traveling are these little incidental interludes with new friends. Here is a picture of them with Elaine:

Another interesting part of the park experience was seeing lots of small green parrots in the palm trees and listening to them squabbling. Here is a picture of one of them sitting on her nest:

Of course, while we were on the transAtlantic cruise, we had some fun times in ports also. One of our favorite port cities is Funchal, in Maderia, which are islands belonging to Portugal. The island has a mountainous interior so the city goes up steeply from the waterfront and forms a kind of a bowl. We took a bus to the area where they offer rides down the steep streets in a wicker toboggan controlled by several of the local men who run alongside.

Some people take a cable car to get up there, and there is a nice botanical garden up there too. Here is a picture of us with David & Diane after we got up there:

There was also a big flower festival going on during our day there, and here is a picture of Diane with some of the flowers:

There was also a nice flower arrangement with lots of the different types of flowers:

Lisbon was the next port and we enjoyed walking around for a few hours. We spent a week here a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed everything, so we didn't need to rush around trying to sightsee this time. The last port was Vigo, Spain, which was new for us. It specializes in good seafood and here is a lady in the market who shucks oysters:

There were lovely flowers in the park, and here we are with some of them and a fountain behind us.

It was a nice little town but we were glad that we weren't going to have to get off there and make our way to Barcelona, as we thought we should if air flights hadn't started up again from England. Whoever would have thought that a volcano in Iceland would have such a huge effect on so many people and in such far-flung places.
We will be here until next Monday, and the weather is supposed to be nice until Saturday, so I'm sure we will have lots to tell you gain next time.

April 15, 2010
Hello from the middle of the Atlantic. This is our 5th day on the Independence of the Seas and, as always, we are having a great time. Quite a few of our friends are on board with us and we have been having daily Happy Hours with them in the Diamond Lounge. The drinks and appetizers are free to Diamond and Diamond Plus members between the hours of 5 and 8:30PM but the real perk is having the time to schmooze with our good friends from other cruises. Here is a picture of some of the friends in the lounge:

Last night 14 of us went to one of the specialty restaurants on board called Chops, where we had a gourmet meal which unfortunately took quite a long time because of the slow service. But the food was fabulous!
This adventure started last Thursday when Elaine and I drove to San Diego and stayed with her son, Darran, and his partner, Marielle. It was another beautiful day there and we enjoyed walking around on the Mission Bay pedestrian path. Friday morning we got up at 2 AM and Darran drove us to LAX where we boarded a flight to Miami at 6:05AM. This was our first try at using a companion fare and flying standby, which we were able to do because one of our Boy Toys, Martin, works at American Airlines and put us on his buddy list. The flight was very full and we felt lucky to get on it, although we didn’t get into First Class, and Martin and Roger often do. After landing, Martin & Roger picked us up and took us out for a lunch at a Cuban restaurant we had enjoyed the last time we visited. We also stayed at their condo and we all used the hot tub in the evening, along with Roger’s brother and his wife.
The next day we worked out in the exercise room at their condo, then joined a bunch of friends for lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. The guys then dropped us off at the Ramada in Fort Lauderdale where we shared a room with our good friends David and Diane Wilson, and were just down the hall from Jim & Jan Sylvester. Both of these couples hosted us on our recent trip across the south as we returned to California in our RV, and we are also sharing a table at dinner with them on this ship. Here we all are at our table on the first Formal night:

Sunday we all took the hotel shuttle to the ship. Too bad the weather was cool and rainy on Sunday, and our suitcases even got wet while being transferred to the ship. It has also been the coolest crossing we have ever experienced, even while we were still in the Caribbean area between Florida and Bermuda. The swimming pools and lounge chairs aren’t getting any use on this trip so far!! We are hoping for better weather soon, especially as we approach our first port which will be Punta Delgada in the Azores.

April 3 Tomorrow is Easter, and we hope you all have a lovely day, whatever you decide to do. We will be having a delicious dinner with Ken & Carolyn Kimpton and Brenda & Dave Neil here on "our hill" at Park Sierra. These people are all good cooks, so we are happy to share this holiday with them!
Not many interesting things have been happening in our lives, and I wouldn't even be updating this except some of our family members have indicated that they want regular updates even if nothing exciting is in it. Today I whacked all the weeds on our lot and then sprayed them with Roundup. It just reminds me that I never want to live in a house again where there is lots of this regular maintenance!
Of course, we are having to do some maintenance on our bodies as well. This week we had more medical appointments, some of which are the prerequisites for some minor surgeries we are hoping to schedule when we get back from our Europe trip in early May. I am going to have a foot surgery for a hammertoe as soon as they can get it scheduled. Yes, I did try to convince Elaine to do it for me, since she was such an excellent foot surgeon but she says that after 23 years of retirement, she isn't going to take it up again, even for me. I will also be trying to schedule a surgery for a carpal tunnel problem, which I have in both hands. The left one is the worst so I want to get that one done in May or early June. Elaine also needs surgery on her hands because she has Dupyertins Contracture, which means she has knotted tendons which are causing one of her fingers to stick up and she can't straighten it. So that will have to be scheduled too. It really stinks when we have these problems, all of which are related to GETTING OLDER!
The next few days will be busy, as we organize and pack for our upcoming trip. The next blog entry will be when we start that trip, so I promise that it will be more interesting than this one!