Singing guy with dancing chicken on head 

Colorful display of spices in market  

Bahia Palace in Marrakesh 

Fancy ceiling in Bahia Palace  

Another great ceiling in palace  

Selling carpets on the street 

Goats in trees eating argane seeds 

Our room in riad in Essaouira 

Elaine & cannon on walls at Essaouira 

Masks made out of tuija wood in Essaouira 

6/24/06
I was not aware that our last travelogue, which we sent when we got back to California, had not been added to this blog, so I just did that and you can find it below this message.
Currently we are in Woodland, CA where we have a vacant rental house which is badly in need of some TLC, so we are providing that. Just imagine our surprise when we finally got over jet-lag enough to check our accounts and learned that this tenant had not been paying the rent, and when we called him, he had moved! So we packed up our RV in quite a hurry and drove here to assess the situation. The place was in better shape than we thought it might be. But since he was in here for 15 years, it needs paint inside and out and there is a massive amount of yardwork to do, mainly cutting back trees and shrubs. Thursday we went out and bought 55 gallons of paint, and almost everyday we hit WalMart or Home Depot or Orchard Supply for parts and supplies. Our usual routine is to do yardwork in the mornings, while it is still cool, and then work in the air conditioned house after that. It has been over 100 degrees every day that we have been here, with 108 predicted for tomorrow. Our goal is to have this place re-rented by August 1. This is somewhat of a bummer because we had been planning to visit Mickey & Karen Bennett and Pat & Linda Jenkins up in Williams Lake, BC this summer, including visits with friends and family on the way.
If you are going to be in the Sacramento/Woodland area, give us a call on our cell phone so we can get together: 928-581-3624.

Last Travelogue From California

Dear Friends and Family, 6/14/06
Hello from sunny California where we are trying to get over jet-lag as we also endeavor to get our RV set up again for our next trip. It took us approximately 38 hours to travel from Casablanca to our RV at Park Sierra. Since we were awake most of this time, we were exhausted upon our arrival on Monday afternoon, and have been dragging around ever since.
Our previous travelogue was from Marrakech, which turned out to be the hottest place we visited in Morocco. Two land cruisers picked up our group and took us to Essaouira, which is a delightful smaller town right on the Atlantic where it was thankfully quite a lot cooler than Marrakech. The drive there was uneventful and the topography was standard Morocco – many grain fields, corn fields, olive groves, and other assorted crops. The most unusual one was argane. In order to harvest the seeds of the fruit for oil, they must pass through the digestive tract of goats, so we stopped to take pictures of some goats up in these trees, eating this fruit. Collecting the seeds from the goat poop and processing them to get the oil sounded like a heck of a job to us! Jesse, our leader, said she has some skin cream made with this oil and it is awesome, but pricey.
We stayed in a Riad, which is an old Moorish home centered around a courtyard, and which has been modified into a hotel. From our room we had a nice view of the beach and also the minaret of the mosque which was right next door. This meant that we got to hear every call to prayer quite clearly, an event that takes place 5 times a day and one of those times was at 3:45 AM! The really unusual event that happened was that our Australian friends, Gordon and Shirley, whom we had run into in the Todra Gorge, were also staying at the same Riad. So we had a very enjoyable evening with them, sharing Gordon’s Jamison’s whiskey, as we used to do in Vietnam together, and then going out for a delicious pizza at a nearby restaurant.
The village was a nice mixture of tourists and locals, all enjoying the beach amenities and nice temperatures, as well as some good seafood. We ate at one of the small seafood tent restaurants and then walked the beach for some exercise. The water was pretty cold but it felt good on our feet. Shopping in this town was much easier than the other places because there was a more laid-back attitude and less pushy salespeople. It is also the center for wood carvings using a unique wood called thuija, which is really beautiful, especially the products made from the root. So we purchased a few of these items to bring home because they are perfect for gifts: lightweight, unbreakable, beautiful, and inexpensive, yet unique to Morocco.
After 2 enjoyable days in Essaouira, we took a local bus back to Marrakech and then caught the train back to Casablanca. Once again we stayed at the Hotel Suisse, which is a 4 star hotel right near the beach and we had another nice beach view from our balcony.
This was the last night that our group would be together, so we all dressed up and caught taxis to Rick’s Café for a farewell dinner. Of course, Rick’s Café was in the movie “Casablanca”. This one is a relatively new one which was started by an American woman who was a diplomat here for quite a while and who wanted a career change after the events of 9/11/01. It is quite an elegant place and we had a delicious dinner with excellent wine. We gave Jesse a token of our appreciation and everyone said fond farewells to each other. The next day, everyone left except Elaine and I and Sheridan and Nicole. We spent a little time poking around the downtown part of Casablanca: the Medina and the French part nearby with a few art deco buildings. Then we walked most of the way back to the hotel – about 6 miles. On the way we stopped at McDonald’s because we were tired, thirsty and hungry and it was convenient. It was filled with Moroccan people who clearly enjoy fast food as much as Americans.
The next day we started our odyssey back to California. Looking back on our trip and what I have told you in these travelogues, there are only a few things more I would like to mention. We were surprised that there was cell phone service everywhere including out on the Sahara desert, and many Moroccans have cell phones. This is because they have installed towers all over. The other technological thing we noticed was the profusion of satellite dishes even on buildings that looked like slums to us. Both of these things were surprising because we had heard that the average daily pay for most people is rather low – perhaps $5 a day. The roads were good and this was due to the French. When they took over in 1912, there were only about 150 km of paved roads and when they left in 1956, there were thousands of kms of paved roads. Many of the innovations in Morocco are due to the new king, Mohammad VI. In 2004 he established a lot of new reforms, including reforms in the status of women, divorce laws and child care provisions. For the most part, we were made to feel very welcome in Morocco by all the people we talked to, even when they knew that we were Americans. This was a pleasant surprise because ever since the Iraqi war, we have not been very popular in other countries.
Our journey has come to an end and with it, these travelogues. We were glad to have you traveling with us. Please send us a personal e-mail sometime soon and let us know how you are doing. You are caught up on our news and we want to hear about yours.
Sending big hugs.
Love, Mary and Elaine

Travelogue 11 From Marrakech
6/6/06
Dear Friends and family,
We are still in a place where there are many internet places with decent prices (about 75 cents an hour), so here is another report.

The area of the Todra Gorge is on everyone’s itinerary and we were very happy to arrive at our hotel near there in a small town called Tinghir. We all needed a shower and some clothes washing after our time at the Sahara. Our hotel was on a small river, with a swimming pool even, and was in a beautifully green valley full of date palms and other crops. The situation with the local Berber population was also interesting because they had all relocated to the side of the river where the road and electricity were installed . This left their old family compounds, called kasbahs to deteriorate on the other side of the river, up in the hills. The next day we had a local guide who walked with us for 8 kms through the palmery and up to see the old kasbahs. We used the small walking paths that the locals used to get to their small plots to tend and harvest the crops. We were able to see them harvesting the wheat by hand , using small curved knives, and either carrying it along the paths back to their family compounds themselves, or loading it on their donkeys for transport. There were many other crops as well, such as veggies for their table. The women working in the fields were very friendly but wary of us when they saw our cameras. We all were careful not to photograph them. Generally the men did the harder work of plowing or turning over the soil by hand. The old ruined kasbahs were made of packed earth, straw, and lime and were usually designed so that the quarters for the animals were on the ground floor, then the family quarters, then the cooking area on the top on a terrace. The inside parts were sometimes whitewashed with some simple decorations.

After the hike, we drove to a restaurant that Jesse knew down near the gorge itself and we ordered lunch. While waiting for it out on the verandah, it started to rain. Then another van drove up with another small tour group and when the people got out of it, we realized that two of them were Gordon and Shirley Reyer, some friends of ours from Australia that were in our tour group in Vietnam in 2003 . What
a coincidence to run into them here. We had a happy reunion and caught up on their news, although we have also been in touch with them by e-mail. There was a break in the rain and we walked up to the gorge area to see what all the rainfall had done there. Many, perhaps 100, 4 wheel drive vehicles full of tourists had been coming out of the gorge and now they had to plow through all the water and mud that was pouring down the road. It was like a flash flood. Then more vehicles came up to enter the gorge and there was a big traffic jam with everyone honking . It was so
stupid. Finally some of them backed up and let the others through. By the time we were done with lunch, it had rained so much that there were several large waterfalls coming off the steep cliffs near the gorge. We gave up on the plan to see the gorge in the afternoon and went to town for a tour of the old quarter and a trip to the internet.

The next day, June 4, we drove directly to the gorge and not only was it a beautiful sunny day, but there were hardly any tourists around. The gorge is not really that long, just a few kms, but it has tall cliffs only about 300 feet wide and is a very
beautiful and dramatic place.

We left Tinghir and drove through another beautiful valley with palms and crops called the Dades Valley. This is part of the route they call the road of 1000 kasbahs. There was also dramatic mountain scenery with unique rock formations. Then we would drive for long stretches through very arid areas which looked a lot like Nevada. Towards the end of our drive we went through a town called Oazazate, which is where lots of movies have been filmed, such as Gladiator, and where there are several movie studios now. Finally we arrived at Ait Ben Haddou where we
stayed at an elegant old hotel looking across at the huge old Ksor (which is a collection of old kasbahs) across the river. After walking around the village a
bit, we had a very nice group dinner on the terrace overlooking the pool. The next morning, we met at 6 AM and hiked across the river and up the hill through all the kasbahs to the very top of the hill where there was the agadir, or grainery. A hot air balloon was being inflated to take a load of tourists floating over this whole magical scene.

Then we drove over the High Atlas mountains, passing many more lush river valleys where there were small villages, and up into the barren high mountains. The highest pass was 2260 meters, and it was really windy up there. By 1 PM we were in Marrakech, and it was blisteringly hot when we arrived. Luckily our hotel here is air conditioned and has a pool. Jesse took us by taxi to the main square near the Medina and showed us around. Then she left us to eat lunch, shop and explore on our own. The lunch was delicious because we finally had a break from Moroccan food and
had pizza. The souks, or stalls where all the goods are sold, are in the Medina and when we walked there, it was annoying because of the hassle to buy. We didn’t want anything anyway, so we went back to the main square. Here there were snake charmers, guys with captive monkeys wanting you to pay for a picture, women fortune tellers, men who pull teeth for people, about a zillion carts of orange juice sellers, etc. It is a real zoo, which completely changes starting at about 5 PM when people start showing up with carts and an entire night market of food stalls and seating areas is set up. Our group met and went to a local hotel for a drink, then went to the night market for dinner. First Jesse took us to the area where about 10 carts sell snails. You get them in a small bowl and eat them with a toothpick. At first I was not eager to try them but after tasting them, I ate the
whole bowl. They are cooked in a spicy broth and are delicious and cheap. Then we went to another area where we tried the local soup, which is served with dates and a type of honey sweetened doughnutty thing. This was OK. Then we went to another area where we sat at picnic tables and ordered from a menu and had salads, brochetes, calamari, and french fries.

Of course, after eating there has to be entertainment, so we went to the part of the square where there were groups singing, dancing, drumming, male belly dancers, a guy singing with a dancing chicken on his head, and a game where we tried to put a round weight over the neck of a coke bottle using a long bamboo fishing pole. Much more was happening but we were all tired so we went back to the hotel.

Today we got up early and took a taxi down to the old palace area where we toured a mausoleum, an old palace that had been stripped for parts when a new ruler built another palace in Meknes, and an elegant palace formerly used by the Grand Vizer. One bad thing that happened was that Joann went into a shop and knocked over a stack of decorated bowls, breaking one. So, of course, the price for that one was quite
high and she only got out of it by purchasing 2 necklaces at an elevated price.

I know this is long so I will close for now and put the rest of our thoughts and observations in a future communication. Tomorrow we leave for a small town on the Atlantic coast so there should be relief from the heat. Sending the usual big hugs.

Love, Mary and Elaine

Travelogue 10 From Marrakesh
6/5/06
Dear Friends and Family,
We are now in Marrakesh, and it is well over 100 degrees here. This is the first time on this trip that we have experienced extreme heat, so we do not dare complain. This has been a very wet year here, after 8 years of drought, and we have had very comfortable weather due to the cloud cover. This is our first chance to have an internet in a few days, so now we are even further behind in our travel
reporting.

I last mentioned Fez, a place we stayed three nights because we did some day trips from there. One of them was to the Roman ruins at Volubilis. This was quite interesting to us because we had visited some Roman ruins in Portugal. These were a bit different, of course, but there were still some great mosaic floors similar to the ones we had seen in Portugal. The difference was that they are being protected in Portugal and here they are deteriorating rapidly due to no covering, even though this is a UNESCO world heritage site now. There is a very nice triumphal arch here and also a temple that was later changed into a basilica. The huge storks that were nesting all over Portugal and Spain are here too, and have nests on these ruins, so we got more good pictures. Later we went to Moulay Idriss, which is an important
pilgrimage city because his mausoleum is here. As we were walking through the town with our local guide, Elaine looked through the door of an internet place and saw some teenage boys on a porn site. When they saw her looking at them, she gave them the “shame on you” signal and they quickly exited the site. It was hilarious.

Leaving Fez, we drove south over the Atlas mountains and into Berber country. Morocco is mainly settled by Berber tribes and Arabs, with most of them also speaking French because of the French occupation between 1912 and 1956. This day was a long and hard travel day and it was also raining. As we drove through the various different areas the terrain changed rapidly, and we noticed that there was lots of agriculture, with a lot of wheat, corn and olives. They do a lot of the harvesting, such as wheat, by hand using scythes and piling the loads very high on
their donkeys. There were fields of colourful flowers, and also herders with sheep and goats, and sometimes cows. The area became more barren, with red dirt, and in the Ziz Valley area, there were green fields running the whole length of the river on both sides. These are called palmeries because the people plant date palms here where they can get enough water for them, and then plant other crops between the trees so as not to waste any space.

We finally drove out of the rain as we got closer to Erg Chebi, which was where we were going to be staying for our desert camp experience. The terrain was now very dry and looked like desert, but without dunes. Our driver turned off the main road right onto the desert and we were somewhat concerned because there really was not a road and the wind was strong enough that were were having a mild sand storm. The
desert is surprisingly firm there and within a short time we came to a place where there were signs for many auberges, which is French for small basis hotels. Imagine our surprise when we arrived at our auberge and it was almost completely surrounded by a lake. There had been a stupendous rainstorm the Friday before and all the water that was dumped on the desert had collected there, and also three or four rivers that are usually dry had filled up and run through there. About 20 of the auberges were heavily damaged and we were lucky ours was on a small hill. The
reason they sustain such damage is that most of the structures are made of mud mixed with straw and lime. Heavy rain like that causes them to collapse. In Mergouza, the next town, many people were living in tents because of all the collapsed houses, and several people had drowned.

When we arrived at our auberge, we had to walk across a makeshift bridge which was not much wider than a plank, carrying our bags. There was another group of tourists there, waiting to see whether the weather would ease up enough for them to take their
camel trip into the dunes to the Berber camp where they were supposed to spend the night. We were supposed to sleep in Berber tents near the auberge but they were now under the lake water, so we scattered all over the couches in the main salon. We had a group dinner there that we thought was good, but this is where Elaine got her food poisoning. The other group eventually left, even though it was still windy.

The next day we visited the village and went to the next village for a drumming and dancing demonstration by some Nubians, one of the minority groups who live in this area. Luckily, it was a sunny, quiet, and beautiful day. Then, at about 5PM, after the heat of the afternoon had abated, we were loaded onto camels for our night out in the Berber camp in the dunes. It was quite the experience just even being in the Sahara, let alone on a camel. The ride to the camp took about an hour, which was
certainly long enough for all of us, especially Elaine who was not feeling well. Once there, we climbed a dune, then sat around and drank beer and wine which we had brought along, while the Berber guys fixed our dinner. It was a beef tagine, one of the dishes we have been eating a lot, because you eat it using bread instead of silverware, and you all share a big dish of it. It is like roasted meat and veggies in a casserole and is pretty good. However, in the night two more of our people started getting sick. We slept on thin mattresses in the tents, with some of our
group outside until it started to rain again. One of the highlights is supposed to be having sunrise out there, but it was overcast the next day when we loaded up the camels and rode back. After cleaning up a bit, we packed up and left the auberge, only to have our van get stuck in the sand on our way out to the paved road. Luckily, we all pushed and it came out easily.

We drove to our hotel in a little town near the Todra Gorge and everyone was happy to have a shower or a swim and a rest because we now had regular hotel rooms with our own bathrooms. Hooray.
Of course, there were more adventures after that but they will have to wait for the next travelogue. Our friends will be waiting for us in the Medina for a cold drink on the terrace where we will all watch the setting up of the night market. Sending big hugs to you all.

Love, Mary and Elaine

Travelog 9 From Morocco
6/3/06
Dear Friends and Family,
We are now quite a few days behind in these travel tales, and once again we don’t have much time.
Last time we left off in Casablanca, having just met our group. The next day we started our group sightseeing by taking taxis to the very large Hassan II mosque. This is the only mosque in Morocco which allows non-Muslims to enter. It is a beautiful building on a very large plot, which is situated so part of the mosque could be built over the Atlantic. It is made of all Morrocan materials, such as cedar, marble, titanium, and other beautiful materials and is said to have cost more than 800 million dollars. We learned a lot about Islam and were glad they offered
tours in English, because the two major languages here are Arabic and French. Then we again took taxis to the train station to go to Fez.

This train ride was similar to our first one except there seemed to be quite a turnover of people in our compartment and all were interesting. One of them was an Arabic lady from Oujida, near the Algerian border. She now lives in Paris but was going back to handle some rental issues on her various properties. She said that there were many more women dressing in traditional dress now than when she was growing up and she is now 60.

In Fez, we stayed in the newer part of town in a modern hotel but spent a lot of our time there in the old town, called the medina. Here there are about 300,000 people living within the walls which were built in 808. Of course, they have been expanding
them and maintaining them over all these years. There are 9400 streets, like a maze, and we had to have a guide to see everything and not get lost. It was fascinating, especially the dyers souk and the tanners souk. Souk means the area where they live and work. We will post some pictures on the blog when we get back and you will see how great it was, although a bit stinky. While we were in there, we had to be on the alert because the streets are too narrow for vehicles so all is moved around by mule and donkey, or people carrying things on their heads. Our group also visited an area outside the medina where a ceramics workshop was and we saw every part of the process. There used to be a fairly large Jewish population in
Morocco, most of whom left for Israel after that nation was create in 1948 but the place they lived was quite different than the other areas so we visited that too. Of course, the people dress differently in this country, and that has added to the interest. It is hard to get pictures of women because they think that if their picture is seen by anyone it ruins their reputation and their chances for a good marriage.

This is getting long, so I will send it now and try to get off another one in a short time. We are both doing well, although Elaine and some other group members have had a short bout with food poisoning. The food is generally good and they serve large amounts. We are sending big hugs to you all.
Love, Mary and Elaine

Europe Travelogue #8 From Morocco
May 30, 2006
Dear Friends and Family,
Hello from Morocco where I am having a somewhat difficult time typing this because the keyboard is French. Being here has been an amazing experience so far and we are quite enjoying every moment.

Let me start from the beginning. Friday morning Lori, Mitch and Maddy drove us into Seville where we caught the bus to Algiceras. Arriving at about one, we had hoped to be able to get a ferry right away, as they usually ran every hour. This day however, the weather was bad with very high winds and the fast ferries were not running. We had to wait until 4 PM, and after loading up on time, that one didn’t leave until 5 :30. The turbulence was enough to cause quite a few people to be sick, but luckily not us. We got our passports stamped on the boat, and already there were signs about the restrictive culture, as there were separate lines for men and women. Once we arrived in Tangiers, we learned that although we had mostly traveled south, we had gained 2 hours because of the time change. After changing some money, we took a taxi to our hotel. This was a pretty nice one because I screwed up the name while booking it on the internet, so we stayed at the 4 star Intercontinental instead of the 2 star Continental. By this time, we were hungry and the average meal cost at the hotel was about 100 dollars, so we walked around looking for a place to eat. Nearly every place was filled with only men. Finally we found a pizza place and got some food to take back to our hotel. This was sufficient until the very excellent hotel buffet breakfast the next morning. It was included in the cost of our room, as seems to be the case here.

We took another taxi to the train station and bought tickets to Casablanca, a 6 hour journey. While we were waiting for the train, I tried to talk to the conservatively dressed Muslim woman sitting next to me and a guy working there came over and severely reprimanded her for speaking to me. She gestured to us that she couldn’t speak to me anymore and then turned away as if she was embarassed. The train journey was interesting because we shared a compartment with an Iraqi couple who are both PhD’s living in England for the last 20 years, and who are very knowledeable about the situation in Iraq. He was asked to head the Ministry of Justice after Saddam was removed but he refused because our government was not following any of the recommendations made by the institute he worked for with regard to policies for
the new government. It was also interesting because we got to see lots of Morocco terrain. This country reminds us of Mexico in many ways. There are burros and horse carts, people harvesting fields by hand, sheep and goats, areas of cactus borders around the fields, small villages with a mixture of brick buildings and mud houses, and always with a minaret. There were good crops too : grains, vineyards, trees, orchards, and vegetables.

Once we arrived in Casablanca and caught another taxi to the hotel there, we were pleased to have a very nice room overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. There was a nice promenade along the beach and we had a very nice walk there for several miles. I twas Saturday and there were tons of people there but we never had any hassels from anyone, as we had heard that we might. That evening we met part of our tour group and our leader, a young Aussie woman named Jessie. There are only 8 people in our group. One young Swiss girl, 1 young guy from New Zealand, 1 young Aussie girl working in England, and a New Zealand couple about our age traveling with their 26 yeqr old daughter who is also working in London. Everyone is very nice and very well traveled, so we hope to learn a lot from them and get lots of travel tips.

Unfortunately , because we have been doing so many fun and interesting things, we don’t have time right now to tell you about everything in the three days since Casablanca. And tomorrow we leave early for a long day’s drive down to our Berber tent camping experience down near the Sahara. So when we next have internet access, we will try to catch up. Sending hugs and hoping that all is going well.
Love, Mary and Elaine

Below I have tacked on a few of our pictures from Portugal and Seville. I couldn't put the labels right under them so you will have to try to figure out where we took them based on our travelogue reports. If you haven't read the travelogue we sent yesterday, #7, it follows the pictures. Enjoy!

Europe Travelogue #7 From Moron Air Force Base, Spain
5/24/06
Dear Family & Friends,
Thought I had better send another message since we have the use of Jerry and Lori’s computer and internet access. We are staying with them in their lovely little home on the air base, which is about 35 miles from Seville, and it is nice to have all the
comforts of “home”. Jerry is Elaine’s nephew and these are the lovely people we visited last year when they were stationed in Germany. They are both looking fabulous, doing awesomely well in their new location, where Jerry is now the squadron commander here, and so are their very charming and intelligent children,
Mitch and Maddy. Mitch is in second grade and is learning Spanish rapidly after a similar feat last year in Germany. Maddy is in kindergarten and is also learning Spanish and is quite a good little artist. What a fabulous education they are getting with all their international exposure!
Jerry picked us up at the bus station last evening, and today took the entire day off to show us around Seville. What a beautiful and interesting city! There are many well preserved old buildings with interesting facets, windows, overhangs, doorways, and overall trim largely due to the Moorish influence here. And it is quite surprising how green the city is, with many types of large old trees, numerous
parks, boulevards, blooming jacaranda trees, flower beds, fountains and outdoor cafes. We visited the Plaza de Espana, built for the Ibero-Americano Expo in 1929. This is a huge building with several towers, a huge fountain and a lake (dry today), and many alcoves of intricate carved wood ceilings and colorful Spanish tiles showing coats of arms and pictures from the various regions of Spain. From there we visited the Alcazar, which is an old palace, part of which is still used by the royal family. It has an incredible garden, lots of Moorish architecture and colorful
tiles inside, and by using an audio guide, we learned about it’s long and colorful history.
The air base here is a small one which is located out in the countryside amongst many fields of golden wheat and green and yellow sunflowers, also orchards of olive trees and other crops we can’t identify. This part of Spain looks very agricultural and quite productive. There are lots of birds too, the most noteworthy being the very many large black and white storks that we have seen in both Portugal and here.
They make huge nests of sticks, a lot like osprey nests, which are perched high on power poles or even on people’s chimneys. Almost all of them have fairly large young birds in them. Jerry and Lori have a swallows nest under their eves and local ordinances prevent them from removing it. Today we could see all the little babies sticking their heads out of the opening, waiting for the mom to come and feed them.
Of course, we came here from Lisbon, where we ended our car travel adventures on Tuesday. It was somewhat of a relief to turn the car back in and not have to worry about it being hit, or maneuvering around in it anymore. Most of the time it was great to have it because it allowed us to go a lot of places that would have been difficult to see by public transportation. But in the cities, the streets are so
narrow and convoluted, with many one way streets, that we were always having a difficult time finding our way around. The car did enable us to end out trip on a relaxed note because we drove to the Algarve region, which is the southern coast area, where we managed to rent a small apartment right on the beach in a small
fishing village called Salema, and for only 50 Euros a night. We had three delightful days and nights there,with good weather, and because the apartment had a
kitchen and refrigerator, we could cook some of our own meals, something we enjoyed after all this time away from our RVs. Lee & Susie were fighting a cold while there, so they were glad to kick back for a while. One day we did take a small day trip to the most southwesterly point of Portugal at Sagres. There is a large old fort there, that we visited, and also watched fishermen catching fish off the very high cliffs.
Tomorrow Lori will drive Lee & Susie to the airport in Seville where they will start their journey back to the USA. Elaine and I will stay here until Friday, when we will try to catch a train or bus to Tarifa, where we will catch a ferry to Tangier,
Morocco. The next day we take a train to Casablanca where we meet up with our English tour group and start our 2 week swing through Morocco.
Sending big hugs, as usual.
Love, Mary & Elaine

Europe Travelogue #6 From Evora
5/17/06
Dear Family & Friends,
Today we have been wandering around another old walled city called Evora. This is the best preserved city with authentic old streets and buildings because it wasn't flattened by the big earthquake of 1755. There is a surprisingly intact Roman temple (14 columns still standing) from the first century AD, as well as other Roman ruins which have been found when they were digging under some of the buildings to make repairs. The old city wall has been incorporated into some of the buildings, and several of the towers are 100% intact. One of the churches has an ossuary,
which is a side chapel where they have rather artistically displayed the bones and skulls of 5000 people. They got the bones by digging up graves in the 1700's. Some of the church people thought that the people needed to be reminded to behave themselves because soon they too would be just bones.
I'm sure that Lee would tell you that the biggest pain about these walled cities is driving in them, which we have to do in order to deliver our luggage to the places we stay. The streets are so narrow and then often there are cars parked on them too! Also they are mostly one way and then it is like driving in a maze. Last night after we unloaded, he had to move the car outside the walls to a public parking area and we had to have the maid ride with us to guide us! We have mostly been staying in rooms called Quartos, provided by people who want to make extra money. Here
it is right on a pedestrian street not far from the main square, so it is convenient and inexpensive. Most of our rooms have been costing 30 or 35 Euros. They are very clean, the beds are mostly good, and we usually have a private bathroom, although here we are sharing.
The night before we stayed in a big old home of a lady named Albertina in the town of Mantiegas. It was way up in the mountains of the Serra de Estrellas, and
was quite a scenic drive to get there. Albertina made us feel very welcome and even kissed us goodbye, once on each cheek, as we left the next morning. She had gotten up early to fix coffee for us and served it with fresh rolls and her homemade jam. Yum.
That day we drove to another walled town called Marvao, located very high on a mesa. It had quite an extensive castle which was mostly built by the Moors,who took over beween the 8th and 12th centuries. It is located only 10 km from Spain, so that was another reason it was so heavily fortified. There were earwigs and flies all over the place, which caused us to hurry our visit quite a bit.
I wrote the last travelogue from Porto, and on our last day there we walked across the bridge to the area across the river where all the port wine lodges are located. We enjoyed a picnic along the river front and then did some port tasting at three of the lodges. The best one was Taylor's, both in taste and ambience. They had an informative video and tour and now we know a lot more than we did before about Port.
Mostly we learned that we prefer red wine to Port, even though some of the varieties were pretty good.
The day we left Porto, we drove to the Duoro Valley, where the grapes are grown for the port, and we visited a Quinta. Here we were able to walk around the vineyard while listening to an audio tape telling us about the business, and then we again tasted some ports. The Duoro Valley is truly incredible to see because the banks rise steeply from the river and they are almost entirely covered by terraces where grape vines are planted. All the work of building the terraces and growing the grapes is done by manual labor and requires tremendous amounts of work. They also still harvest the grapes in early fall by hand and then use people to stomp the grapes because they think machines are too tough on the grapes and would crush the seeds and skins. They even bring in musicians and people dance in the vats while stomping the grapes! Our drive that day was through some very beautiful countryside and we were glad it was sunny.
Yesterday, on our way here, we were driving through a region called the Alentejo, and it is here that there are lots of olive and cork trees. The cork trees are really just a species of oak (Quercus suber)and when they get to be about 25 years old, the bark is thick enough for them to harvest by peeling it off, usually only on the main trunk. It takes 9 years for it to regrow enough to be harvested again. The trees live to be about 125 years old. They are a rusty color right after the bark has been peeled off. We also saw a big truck carrying a huge load of the cork
peelings that had been flattened.
We also stopped at Estremoz, one of the marble cities. There are marble quarries here and many of the buildings are made with beautiful marble. Even the cobblestones in the streets and sidewalks, and the curbs are chunks of marble. Of course, there was a castle and wall here too, and we climbed to the top of
the castle keep, one of the only parts that survived when the castle blew up in the 1800's. They were using it for an ammo dump - pretty stupid.
If we can find our way out of town tomorrow, we will head for the south coast and some beach relaxation time as well as more exploring and enjoying the Portugese culture. Sending big hugs to you all.
Love, Mary & Elaine

Europe 2006 Travelogue #5 From Porto
5/14/06
Dear Friends & Family,
Trying to keep these short, I will send another one. Tonight we are in Porto, the second largest city in Portugal and near the northern part of the country. It is here that they grow many grapes in the Duoro valley and make vast quantities of port wine which they ship down the river to Porto where there are 18 companies who finish the wine and either sell it or export it. We arrived today and had a delightful time poking around this city, which is very steep and hilly in parts. First we visited the Bolsa Palace which is a fabulous building built by the commercial association in 1834 and which is still in use today. The highlight was the Arabian Hall where there were many Arabic inscriptions and designs and they used 9 kgs of gold for the gold leaf decorations. There were also many wood inlay floors, and vibrant paintings, in addition to glorious chandaliers and intricate granite sculptures. We then spent some time walking through the Ribiera District which is right along the banks of the Duoro River and fun to stroll. Too bad this was our first overcast day! If it is sunny tomorrow, we will take a boat trip along the river, and also visit some of the port storehouses across the river for some tastes. Earlier today we visited the best preserved Roman ruins in Portugal at a place called Coimbriga. We had spent the night at a nice little hotel in a small town nearby, after trying to find a place in the much larger city of Coimbra and being unsuccessful, largely due to convoluted one way streets! It was a quiet small town and we enjoyed being there rather than in a large city. The Roman ruins were quite extensive and there were many well-preserved mosaic floors, garden areas and walls. In the museum there were many artifacts from everyday life. Because it was Sunday, it was free, so we enjoyed that part too.
The previous day we had left Obidos and visited the fishing village of Nazare. Here there was a huge sandy beach with an area where the fishermen had established nets guarding a drying area for the small fish they caught, cleaned and dried. The nets protected the fish from the birds. Part of the town was down near the beach and the rest was up on a high cliff overlooking the beach so we had to take a funicular to get up there.
From Nazare we drove to another beach town called Figuiera do Foz, and this was a much bigger town with hundreds of tall high rise apartment buildings and the largest sand beach I have ever seen. It was quite extensive in length, as well. They say that this place is quite impacted with vacationers in August, and if that is true, there must be millions of people on this beach! We are glad that we were here in May, when there were very few people on the beach. Coming here at this time has also made it easier for us to just drive from place to place and show up at a small hotel or pension and ask for rooms. If we were here in summer, we would have to have reservations.
Good news, today we actually drove on the toll road, figured out how to get a ticket, and made it here in record time and with a fee of only 6 Euros.
No more 40 Euros fines!
We forgot to say in our last report that while we were in Lisbon, we had a happy reunion lunch with Alistair and Paul, 2 friends from the UK, whom we met on the ship last year. They were sailing back to England and were in Lisbon for only a few hours and they joined us near our hotel. It was a fun time and we enjoyed showing them some of the sights of Lisbon and then escorting them back to their ship on the tram. This international travel results in some interesting and fleeting friendships!
From here we will be driving through the Duoro Valley, along the Duoro River, supposedly one of the prettiest places in Portugal. We will send a report about it in a few days. Sending hugs for this time.
Love, Mary & Elaine

Europe 2006 Travelogue #4 From Óbidos, Portugal
5-12-06
Dear Family & Friends,
Since there is free Internet here in Óbidos, I will send another travelogue. This is a very picturesque walled city often called “The Rothenburg of Portugal”. We arrived here late yesterday and are staying in a very nice little private home with 4 rental bedrooms just inside the walls for only 35 Euros and each room has a private bath. This city has been occupied on this site since 300 BC by a variety of peoples such as the Romans, Visigoths and Moors and it was the Moors, who built the very extensive walls. They are 45 feet tall and since the city is also on a rocky hill, parts of it seem very high indeed. We walked almost all the way around on the wall today and enjoyed the wonderful views over the countryside. There is a Roman aqueduct running about 3 km out from the city too, and it seems even higher than 45 feet tall. The streets are cobblestone, of course, and there are LOTS of tourists
here during the day, so there are shops selling touristy stuff everywhere.
We had quite an adventure getting here. The car was a little late being delivered to us in Lisbon, and it was a bit smaller than expected, but we managed to
cram Lee & Susie, Elaine and I and all our luggage into it. Lee is the driver and I am the navigator. We got out of Lisbon without any trouble and then missed our first turn onto the right freeway! After we got on the right one, there was a toll booth which we drove through but there was no arm down and also the place where we should have paid was covered by something, so we figured it was not working and we
could just drive on. Later, when we hit the place where we were supposed to pay, and we had no ticket because we hadn’t gotten one at the first booth, they tried to charge us 40 Euros as a fine. Lee & I complained and argued for about 5 minutes and they finally let us go on without paying the fine!
We stopped for lunch at Mafra and had an English tour of the very huge palace and basilica there. Then we drove minor roads to Obidos, arriving around 6 PM. We
tried to get a room outside the wall but that place wasn’t open and the other inexpensive ones were inside the walls so we parked and walked in. The first place
we tried was OK and the lady wanted 65 Euros per room but when we said no she quickly dropped to 35 because it was late and no one was staying there. Lee and I
went to get the car and had to drive in through the very narrow gate and couldn’t even get the car through the first one because it was so steep and our tires
kept spinning on the smooth, slippery cobblestones. We got in the last gate and then drove all through the town on the very narrow streets to the right area but
when we tried to drive up to the place we had reserved, we couldn’t climb that street either. Elaine retrieved her passport from the lady and said
we had to cancel and then we found another place in a much easier location for car access. It is also one we like better and there is a sunny verandah where we
have afternoon drinks and morning coffee. Thankfully, it is also much quieter than the place we stayed in Lisbon.
Our last day in Lisbon was fun because we took the train to a nearby coastal village called Sintra. This is where the imperial court built some palaces and
spent the summers especially after the earthquake in 1755 leveled most of Lisbon. It is a delightful place and we toured one of the palaces and also the old Moorish castle and fort. The palace was rather whimsically built and was absolutely crammed with elegant furniture and paintings. Both the fort and palace were built on very high hills and we were glad there was a public bus to take us up there and then a
trolley for the final leg through the gardens and up to the palace. The road was steep and narrow and our bus driver was a magician to get us up there without
hitting a wall or a tree.
Luckily, we have had excellent weather – mostly in the high 70’s and perfect for sightseeing. Tomorrow we will leave here and head for a coastal fishing
village. They eat lots of fish here and we will go see where some of it is caught. Sending big hugs to you all.
Love, Mary & Elaine

5-11-06 Since I forgot to post my first three travelogues to the blog, my daughter, Laura, very kindly did it today and the first three travelogues are below. More later as we have further adventures and free internet here in Obidos, Portugal.

5/9/06 Once again we are a bit rushed for time but I am determined to tell you something about this place. We are happily established in our Pension which is very
well located on one of the busiest plazas in the historic center of Lisbon. The rooms are very clean and comfortable, and every form of public transport is nearby making it very easy to get around. We have purchased transportation passes and are going everywhere. In fact, when we got off the ship last Saturday, and we could not find a taxi to take us to our hotel for less than 25 Euros, we just went out on
the street and jumped on the tram and were here in no time.
This is a very easy city to poke around in and there is lots of atmosphere. The part where we are staying is called the Baixa, and is an area between 2 hilly areas, which was leveled by the horrible earthquake of 1755. It was rebuilt in a grid pattern and has lovely pedestrian streets with smart shops and good restaurants. We took tram 28 and explored in the Alfama, one of the older areas where the streets are
very narrow and convoluted. This was to confuse invaders who were trying to get to the castle which is at the top of the hill and which dates from the 700s.
We explored the castle another day.
Sunday we spent in the area called Belem, which is right on the river and not far from where our cruise ship docked. Most of the museums and other attractions were free on Sunday and we saw the huge church and monastery there call Jeronimos. It was
built in a new style called Manueline and was very interesting architecturally. The Monument to the Discoveries honors such famous men of history as Henry the Navigator, Magellan, Cabral, and Vasco da Gama. It was due to these explorers that so much richness came to Portugal in the 14th and 15th centuries and also accounts for all the places they colonized. We saw a video there about Lisbon, and also took the elevator to the top for stupendous views. There are statues of all the famous explorers on the outside, so we took lots of pictures. We also visited the Belem
Tower, the Maritime Museum, and the Coach Museum. This building was full of old carriages used by the monarchs and nobility. Not as good as the one at the
Nymphenburg Palace in Munich. To get to Belem, we took one of the old trolleys,
and just short of our stop, it hit a car!! Everyone was fine, even the woman driving the car, although she was pinned in for a while, so we just got off and
walked the rest of the way. All the books say the traffic here is heavy and dangerous and we believe them. Lee got clipped by a car the very first day here, but he is OK. They only stop for you if you are in a crosswalk.
Today we toured the fabulous Gulbenkian Museum, one of the finest collections of paintings, furniture, glassware, jewelry, etc. in the world and all donated
by an Armenian oil magnate who was offered refuge here during WWII. Then we joined Alistair and Paul for lunch and showed them around. We met them last year on our ship to Barcelona. They are sailing to England on the Jewel of the Seas and were only here in Lisbon for a few hours today. It was great fun to see them
again and be their tour guides for a few hours.
Tomorrow we take a train to a nearby town called Sintra, to see several more palaces. Then we will leave Judy and Lou here while Lee, Susie, Elaine and I
go off in our rental car. Ken and Carolyn left yesterday and are also in a rental car and have already sent us some tips by e/mail. Thanks Ken! We all have been having a great time, very nice and sunny weather, and the people are friendly and nice. More next time from another Portugal town.

5/4/06 This will have to be a fast (and possibly messy)message because I am on a free public computer in Ponta Del Gada, in the Azores, and my time is limited. We are only here for another few hours. The sea crossing has been mostly fine and warm, with only one choppy day. The entertainment and food on the ship have been good, as has been the camaraderie with our fellow RV travelers.
The most memorable ports for us were in Nassau, Bahamas, and then Kings Wharf, Bermuda. The Bahamas are quite a few islands (maybe 700) and it was warm and sunny there. We 6 rented a van together and our driver gave us a nice 2 hour tour, ending at the Atlantis. This is a mega casino and resort which was quite elegant and had a very large aquarium in the lower levels. There were a few stops at forts and such, but overall we didn't think there was a lot to see and do there. The standard of living is much lower than in Bermuda, which has the 3rd highest standard of living in the world. Bermuda was much larger and more elegant, with many inlets and coves
and lots of waterfront property with large, expensive homes. Average price was 1 million, with an overnight hotel stay at about $300 per night and a dinner for 2 about $100. Joe & Carla had a tuna melt and kisch lunch which cost over $30. Bermuda was also a place where we could have spent days exploring and the beaches are gorgeous. A return here would be welcome. We explored using an all-day bus and ferry pass costing $12.
Today we are just walking around the town, getting Euros at the bank, and using the internet because we were here last year. It is a nice, clean, friendly town and we enjoy it. There are trips to the interior but we haven't taken one. Elaine has a cold, I am getting it, and we are enjoying a lazy day. Lee, Susie, Ken, Carolyn, Lou & Judy, and Carla & Joe are all fine and we have many fun times together. Joe & Carla have a big room with a balcony and have had all of us in for 2 cocktail parties. There is nothing like getting a bunch of RV travelers together and
listening to the travel tales and philosophies.
More later from Lisbon, in 2 days.

4/26/06 Here we are at the first port of call on our cruise - Key West. We have been here about 4 times so we are doing non-touristy things such as checking e-mail at the library and writing this first travelogue.
All is going well. There are 5 other RV couples of our friends on the ship with us and we are having good times together, as well as meeting new friends. The weather has been humid, but in the 80's, so we have been able to walk the deck in a tank top andshorts and be comfy. Last night was the Captain's reception and dinner, so we all got spiffed up and after a few complimentary drinks at the reception, had a fantastic dinner. It started with escargot (yummy) and ended with Grand Marnier Soufflé so you can see that our weight loss efforts earlier might be undermined very soon! We have also been walking a lot and did an exercise class in the gym, so all has not been hedonism.
Tonight we head out of here towards the Bahamas, and I will try to send another update from there.

4/19/06 Sorry this update is so long in coming. We have been preparing for our upcoming trip. We are now packed and are doing all the last minute things necessary to leave our RV here at Park Sierra for two plus months. There have been many last minute social interactions with friends, and last weekend, a very pleasant visit in Fremont with our kids and grandkids. Elaine's daughter, Tarra, was having minor surgery on Thursday, and we promised to be there for her. She came through it OK and will be feeling fit as a fiddle very soon. That Friday, Mary's daughter, Laura, and her 2 daughters drove down from Sparks, NV so we could see them before our trip. On Saturday, Mary's son, Thomas, and his partner, Robert, took BART over from San Francisco so they could join all of us for a pleasant family reunion and dinner. The only one missing was Elaine's son, Darran, who was in London visiting a friend he made on his recent trip to Thailand.
Sunday we stopped in Modesto and stayed overnight at Ron & Barb Bonham's place. These are RoVing Rod friends who always entertain us in style and send us packing loaded up with walnuts, frozen salmon, and other goodies. This time we got to pay them back, in kind, by taking them to Chili's, for dinner. It was good to have some time with them.
Upon our return to Park Sierra, we started getting serious about packing. We also had a delicious and fun dinner Monday at Alan & Carol Rodely's, and last night with Willie Haynes and Doug Madison. Luckily, we are finally having sunny and dry weather so it is easier to get things done here, such as servicing our batteries, which Elaine did today. I am catching up on computer work and paperwork now that I have had all my files retrieved from my dead Compaq and installed into my new Tosihiba. This is the computer I acquired from Elaine when mine died. So we are up and running again and looking forward to hearing from all of you via e-mail.
Friday we close this RV down and drive back to Fremont to stay at Tarra's overnight. Saturday morning, rather early, she will drive us to the San Jose airport where we will catch our plane to Houston. There we will rent a car and drive to Galveston for several days of exploration before getting on our cruise ship on Monday. Then it will be 12 days of fun, fun, fun while we sail to Lisbon, Portugal. Internet access is rather expensive from the ship so my next update will either be from Lisbon, or earlier, if we can find an internet place at one of the ports where the ship docks on the way.

Elaine's daughter, Tarra, and her partner, Alonzo. 

Mary's daughter, Laura, with her daughters Paige and Michaela. 

Mary's son Thomas (on right) and his partner, Robert. 

Our kids, their partners, and our granddaughters. 

4/7/06 Sorry about the big lapse in updating this blog. I have had a major blow - my computer monitor went black and a guy in Coarsegold has had it ever since, trying to assess the problem and see if it is repairable, and at what cost, of course. In the meantime, I am using Elaine's Toshiba and this one doesn't have the right program on it to post pictures, so no pictures this time. I will have to see what I can do about that today.
There has been so much to do, here at Park Sierra, to clean up after the big snow storm we had in mid-March, and we have been helping with this. Mostly we join the guys on the tree limb cleanup - they cut branches with chain saws and we drag them to the road and feed them into the chipper. We keep hoping that all this activity will help get us off the weight loss plateau that we are on but so far the only thing that is happening is that we are in great physical shape and we are making new friends on the crew. We are also on the Site Improvement Committee and have dug the mud out from under three sheds so far. This is a LOT of work. On the days we can manage it, we are also working on preparations for our upcoming trip. Unfortunately, a lot of our documents and information are in the dead computer, so we are REALLY hoping that a repair occurs soon. I was also smack in the middle of doing our taxes. That problem can be addressed by filing an extension, and we can finish doing the math when we get back from Casablanca in June.
Of course, this being an Escapees park, there have been lots of social activities usually involving food. (No wonder we aren't dropping pounds...) There were also several Boomer couples here visiting, so we had a mini gathering at the inexpensive yet delicious buffet over at the Chuckchansi Casino which is just 1 1/2 miles from our park.
The biggest factor affecting things since our return has been the weather. There has been so much rain lately that we probably should be developing gills. The creek which runs through our park has been flowing copiously and it is lucky that it is at the bottom of the park where it doesn't affect any lots when it overflows its banks. Looking on the bright side, the rainy days give us a chance to recover from all the physical exertions on the dry days, and we also get some computer and paperwork done.
Darran was here to see us about 10 days ago, having returned from Thailand. He has now left for London to visit a girl he met on the Thailand trip. On the 12th we will be heading for Fremont to be with Elaine's daughter, Tarra, when she has surgery on the 13th. Thomas and Robert will be coming over from San Francisco to see us on that Saturday, and Laura and the granddaughters will come down from Reno, so it will be a mini-family reunion.
Wishing you all a very Happy Easter.