The second half of our Edelweiss tour was all about the beautiful island of Sicily. This somewhat ignored part of Italy is home to the mafia, Mt. Etna, an excellent little-known pasta called gnocchetti, and an agricultural economy. It’s a bit less well-kept than the rest of Italy — we’re guessing due to the lower economic level of this out-of-the-way place that doesn’t get the same tourism that the rest of Italy gets.

We set off from Taormina and headed west, skirting around the northern side of Mt. Etna. We got a great view of the volcano’s summit, which was covered with snow and appeared to be blowing steam out of the top. Makes sense, since it erupted just a week earlier. Ash everywhere, but a beautiful, lush green countryside. We circled around to the little town of Corleone, famous home of the mafia and an incredibly sleepy small town, and headed to the southern coast. The countryside reminded us a little of Tuscany, with lots of rolling hills, walled cities on high bluffs, vineyards, and lemon orchards.

Our trip home was rather uneventful. Another great trip in the books. Where to now? 🙂

We met our Edelweiss tour group on Thursday afternoon, October 28, in Rome. Good group, as usual from all over the world. We are from U.S., Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Qatar, and Jordan.

First full day was Rome to Pompeii. Pretty basic ride. What I remember is all of the greenhouses and gardens we passed – carrots, tomatoes, herbs, lettuce.

Third day was Pompeii to Aquafredda. We stopped at Greek ruins that looked a lot like the Parthenon. We also enjoyed the classic Edelweiss picnic lunch today, next to a pretty little beach. Not only a great lunch, but one of our tour guides, Stefan, pulled out a guitar and played us a few songs. He was GOOD! He’s a renaissance man – motorcycle rider and guide, taught math, excellent artist (we’ll post his daily drawings of our route), and a musician.

Fourth day was rainy off and on in the morning, and we rode Aquafredda to Maratea. The highlight of the day was a detour to a walled city high on a bluff and a walk through the little town.

Fifth day was all about getting across the channel to the island of Sicily. Interesting ride in the city (Messina) on the Sicily side. These people are crazy drivers! Arrived at the very nice hotel in Taormina.

Sixth day was another rest day, and Andy and I decided to do the ride around Mt. Etna. Our tour guide, Thomas, joined us for the ride, but the others declined because of the slippery ash that was reportedly covering the roads. The volcano erupted just one week ago, so there’s a lot of black ash all over the island. There was definitely ash on the roads — and in some places it was covering the entire road and about 2 inches deep — but Biker knows his way around a road, so we had zero problema, although we did get pulled over by the carabinieri on a routine stop. Beautiful, fast-paced ride (finally!) on some curvy and quite scenic roads. We even saw some sheep herders and sheep dogs herding sheep across the road in front of us. Unique and fun!

Tonight we are sitting at a cafe in Taormina, having a glass or two of wine and enjoying the people-watching — our favorite European pastime. Pics aren’t working well tonight, so you’ll have to wait for those.

We have three more days of riding, then home.

Ciao!

“Rome is like a lasagne, made of layers that were built at different eras.” That’s our favorite quote of this trip so far, delivered by our tour guide for the Colosseum underground. Today, we bid adieu to the Eternal City, so we wanted to spend a few minutes sharing our experiences this time around.

The history here is just awe-inspiring. I don’t think I’ve every appreciated it as much as I have this time. When you think about the fact that many of the buildings and infrastructure that are still visible here were built 2,000 years ago, it just blows your mind that we can still walk around in it today. I don’t think I recall ever hearing before that the Colosseum was built in 9 years. That’s incredible, especially when you consider they’ve been working on I-35 in Dallas for at least 30 years.

Our first day, we revisited the Vatican. The Sistine Chapel is a favorite and always something new to discover on that ceiling. This time we learned that the reason the four women on the ceiling look so muscular is because Michelangelo used male models while painting them. And that the male models were real and were standing on the floor of the Sistine Chapel, so he could look down at them then back up at the ceiling to paint.

On Tuesday, we did something we’ve never done before in Rome — the Appian Way. We took an e-bike tour out of town on the famous road and saw several of the original 14 acqueducts that brought water into Rome. These were built between around 300 B.C. and 200 A.D. And they are still looking pretty good in places. Here we are standing in front of one section of one of them – Acqueduct Claudia.

Yesterday, we did a tour of the underground of the Colosseum. This has only been opened to the public for about a year, and it was fascinating to see where the gladiators and animals were kept while waiting to be taken up into the arena to fight. Really interesting history here as well. For instance, did you know that the original fighting at the Colosseum was in the form of ship battles? They would fill the basin of the building with water and have ships in there to fight. Apparently, that wasn’t bloody enough, so they then built the subfloor structure of the Colosseum that remains today, where they would keep animals and people who would be sent up to fight through a series of 62 elevators and trap doors scattered around the arena floor. Here we are standing on the partially recreated arena floor.

Great trip so far. Today we meet up with our Edelweiss tour group and tomorrow we set off south, down the western coast. A few more pics from the last few days ….

We just realized it’s been 9 months since our last post. Like most people, we didn’t travel a ton during COVID, but we did manage to sneak in some safe, masked-up, socially distanced travel here and there:

September/October 2020: Andy took a motorcycle trip with some buddies through Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. They rode some great roads, like the Devil’s Highway, the Grand Staircase, and around Flaming Gorge. Andy then peeled off and spent a few days solo riding around northern Arizona before heading to San Diego, where Jake and Maggie had rented a beachfront house for a couple of months. He also made a quick trip up to Ashland to see Michelle and other family members. I flew out and joined the fam in San Diego, and we spent a couple of weeks just chillin’ at the beach. Such a relaxing time! Andy and I left in early November and did a couple of days in the hills on the northeast side of LA, and then back home.

January 2020: Andy went to south Texas for the annual Big Bend Freeze Out. It was a very pleasant ride, as this was not a cold year.

March 2020: We did a quick long weekend trip to the Hill Country in late March with a group of motorcycle friends. Stayed at the fantastic River Inn, per usual, and rode the Twisted Sisters, per usual.

April 2020: We made a quick trip out to DC to see Alex, and met his girlfriend, Chloe. Great visit and good to see DC beginning to open back up again. Had a chance encounter with my cousin, Natalie, at the DC Market. Small world.

May 2020: We spent a lovely long weekend at a resort in Puerto Vallarta to celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary. Just full-on pool time. Fantastic! We also made a quick bike trip up to Branson in late May; one nice day at Silver Dollar City and one nice day of riding southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. We also saw a couple of shows while there. Things are starting to feel back to normal.

We’re so happy to be getting back out there, sans mask for the most part!

With the newfound freedom to work from anywhere, we set off to prove the theory. Two weeks later, with nearly 4,000 miles and 10 states behind us, we can officially confirm it’s entirely workable.

Our first stop along the way was the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, where we spent a relaxed day moving ourselves east all while enjoying some of America’s finest bourbons. We started the day in Bardstown – the official bourbon capital of the world, did a tour and two tastings, and capped off the day with a nice bottle of red wine at a winery near Lexington.

Our first weekend in the D.C. area, we spent as much time as possible with our youngest son. He is swamped with work and med school applications, but we got in as much time with him as possible. On Saturday, we drove up to Philadelphia and had a nice visit with Biker’s mom. She’s in an assisted living facility there, and the rules they have in place for everyone’s protection are very strict but appreciated, as they are watching out for her health and ours. On Sunday, Biker and I wandered into D.C. to visit a museum, but found all of the Smithsonian museums closed due to COVID. We wandered a bit but it was hot and humid, and with no food or drink readily available, we gave up pretty quickly. Hurricane Laura had chased us as we moved east from Texas, and set up camp along the eastern seaboard for the first week of our trip, making it really hot and humid during that time.

On Monday, we headed down to southern Virginia, where we spent the week in a nice Airbnb. It was a great place to spend our week, with easy access to historical attractions and a very comfortable place to hang out. We visited both Colonial Williamsburg and Yorktown – both very important locations in our country’s independence. Colonial Williamsburg is like Disney for history – very well preserved and all on brand. But a lot of it was closed off due to COVID. We enjoyed walking around but feel like we need to come back when it’s fully open and not so hot. Yorktown was another story entirely. It’s a drive through a battlefield and then, surprisingly, a REALLY great museum with some very engaging outdoor living exhibitions. Rounding out our trip to southern Virginia were a couple of stops at a peanut store to stock up on yummy Virginia peanuts, including peanut brittle and chocolate covered peanuts. They’re famous for a reason – yum!

Our second D.C.-area weekend brought even more time with our son. We kayaked the Potomoc on Saturday and made a trip up to Gettysburg on Sunday.

We had an amazing trip. It was mostly work for me on the weekdays, but as you can see from the above we were able to sneak in quite a bit of fun along the way.

So, we tried the RV life. Meh, not sure it’s for us.

But we still had a great time on our jaunt to Colorado. Couldn’t be bothered to write a blog every day — I mean, we’re on vacation! — so here are the highlights:

RV Life.

• Driving:  So, this was one of the challenges. The trailer – while at 26′ is relatively small for RV life – was kind of too much for the F150. You need a SERIOUS truck to haul these babies around at normal speed and without all the buffeting that’s making it hard for me to type right now.
• The RV: The RV itself was pretty good, even though it seemed small at times. i think if it was bigger and we had it kitted out the way we want it, things might be different. It was nice to be able to make our own breakfasts and most dinners. And to have our favorite snacks and beverages always ready to go. But we can also do that in a house.
• RV resorts: The places we stayed seemed pretty nice. I mean, we have nothing to compare it too, but still, they were well kept and had everything we needed.
• Setting up: This part is no fun. You finally arrive at your destination and now you have to maneuver the truck and trailer into place, and some of these places are tight fits. Then, you get to level the trailer and get the jacks in place just so. Then you get the lovely task of plugging in the electric, the water and the — shudder — sewer hoses.  And inside, there are all the things you had to tuck away for the drive – now you get to pull them out and set them up. It doesn’t take a ton of time to do all this – maybe 15-20 minutes — but it’s tedious.  And you get to reverse all of it the next morning when you’re ready to leave.  We got used to it, but still — a rented house seems so much easier.
• Meeting people: RV people are generally a nice crew. They’ll rush over to help you back your rig in, and they’re quick with a hello and a wave as you walk by their campsite.
• Wildlife: We saw our share of deer and other assorted small wildlife in the RV resorts. And we got an email one morning that a bear had been spotted in the camp the night before. Reminded me of the last time we did a level of camping at the Yosemite tent cabins, and 7-year-old Alex did his sleepwalking thing and scared me to pieces.

Overall, this is about the most camping I’m willing to do at this point in my life. I was a Boy Scout mom, and I’ve done my share of tent camping. No more. But even though this level of ‘glamping’ was pretty OK, turns out I’m lazy and just want to pull up, haul a suitcase into a house and call it good. Sensing a theme? 😂

 

The Sights.

• Pikes Peak: “America’s Mountain” is well worth the trip to the top. The drive itself is gorgeous — and sometimes a bit scary — and would be even more amazing on a motorcycle. They’re doing a lot of construction on the summit right now so we couldn’t drive to the top; we had to take a shuttle van the last three miles. It was snowing when we got to the top so that was exciting!
• Garden of the Gods: A really beautiful and peaceful place. We took a tour on electric bicycles, which was great to see the main sights and get in a bit of exercise. We came back the next day to take a hike on a couple of the trails. So pretty!
• Florissant Fossil Beds: We had a nice hike on a couple of trails to see the many petrified trees. No fossils to be seen, though. Hmmmm.
• Cripple Creek: We were nearby so popped over to this famous mining town. Had lunch and noticed a coal-fired narrow-gauge train we could ride (the coal made the ride a bit … interesting. Have they heard of the ongoing climate crisis?). Biker is a sucker for a narrow-gauge train. So, off we went. Cute little 45 minute ride with some nice views of the mountains and the mines that make the area famous.
• Manitou Cliff Dwellings: These are a really nice and easily accessible set of cliff dwellings. We’ve done the big ones over in the far southwestern corner of Colorado, but these are really well preserved and bonus — offered another Biker favorite — an audio tour.

 

Traveling During COVID

Traveling right now is definitely different. You wear a mask everywhere you go. Many things are still not open, or are partially open. You’re generally a bit wary of people. And not everyone is as careful — it’s clear why we continue to have skyrocketing case counts.

We were able to go nearly all the places we wanted to go, and most were at least partially open. Although, sadly, another Biker favorite — the movie in a museum or visitor center — is not yet open as a general rule.

Colorado is beautiful, and we had a great time. Next time, though, we’ll rent a house and drive the truck while hauling a motorcycle. More our style.

Finally, for your viewing pleasure, I’m inserting a video Biker took when we came upon two very amorous muskrats in a little pond in a cute park we walked through in Manitou Springs. Background mood music provided by yours truly.

 

 

 

 

Welcome to 2020!  We rang in the new year in classic DesJarlais style — sleeping. haha

We’ve had a great week since our last post; here are a few highlights:

• On Christmas Day, we visited Volcano National Park on the Big Island. Kind of underwhelming cause the last volcanic eruption – which lasted almost 30 years – ended more than a year ago. So no lava, no steam, no nothing. Just a barren landscape. Interesting to see the after effects, but not as exciting as boiling orange lava bubbling in a crater.
• We moved to the island of Oahu – specifically Waikiki beach. Wow, the area has really changed even in the last six years since we were last here. Manhattan-level hordes walking around at night.
• Biker and I, and dad and Shirley, visited the North Shore to see the big waves and watch surfers, while the kids hiked Diamond Head and snorkeled Hanauma Bay. Lots of traffic and lots of people – the theme of Oahu.
• Some of us visited Pearl Harbor – always a moving experience – and some of us “tried” to windsurf. The windsurfing crew came back pretty beaten up, and Biker realized a day later when the red streaks were moving up his foot and into his ankle that he had an infected injury. A trip to urgent care verified he had an infection in his lymph glands; he’s on the mend now.
• We traveled to Maui and settled into our gorgeous rental house here.
• We drove the road to Hana yesterday. Long and gorgeous drive. So lush and lots of waterfalls.

That’s it for now. Variety of pics below.

And finally, for those of you who know dad, make sure you’re sitting down before viewing this photo of him:

Told ya to sit down. 🙂

Merry Christmas from sunny Hawaii!!

Santa made a surprise visit here overnight, and in a complete role reversal, Biker and I were going to the kids’ doors begging them to get up this morning. Whatever happened to the good old days when they were bouncing on our bed at 6 a.m., itching to open presents?!?!

Last night was the highlight so far — a night dive / snorkel with manta rays. SUCH a cool experience.  The rays are so graceful and beautiful – they do loops and they glide really close to you. They’re huge – from 4-16 feet wingtip to wingtip.  An amazing experience, and something everyone should do. Divers go to the bottom and look up, while snorkelers float at the surface holding on to special buoys. The mantas swim in between the divers and snorkelers to eat the plankton that’s attracted to these big lights set in the bottom of the ocean.

How did they discover that this was a thing, you ask? Story goes that in the 1970s, the Hilton on the Big Island put out some spotlights that went into the water and they noticed the mantas visiting every night. Voila! A business – and the #2 diving attraction in the world – after shark cage diving (shudder) – was born.

We have a video but couldn’t figure out how to load it. Wouldn’t it be great if we had some technologically savvy people here at the house with us to help?! 🙂   In the meantime, this YouTube video that someone else took gives a perfect view of what we saw.

Monday we snorkeled at Hohonau Bay (known as Two-Step because of the two steps you take to launch directly into the clear waters for some of the best snorkeling on the island). Flush with beautiful yellow fish, sea turtles and other sea creatures that feed on the reef in the bay.  Really a nice experience to kick off the vacay.

The house is beautiful, complete with a great lanai and a gorgeous infinity pool.  Great spot for our home base here on the Big Island.

We’re home now, but wanted to do one last post about the final few days of our trip, which we spent visiting family and doing a bit of sightseeing.

After an amazing ride in the Catskills, we set of for Amish country. While we’ve both been through it before, neither of us had spent any time there. We were so close, so took the one-hour detour to check it out. The area is beautiful rolling hills of farmland with large farmsteads. We were surprised to see so many Amish out and about on the main roads. They travel by horse and buggy and by bicycle. We saw them working in the fields with horses pulling plows, and we saw the cutest little group of toddlers in a wagon waiting to cross the road. No pics of that one, but here are a few that I did manage to snap from the back of the bike.

On to the west side of Philadelphia to visit Biker’s mom and his sister and her family. We had a wonderful visit with all of them and felt really glad to have spent the time with Biker’s mom. While there, we took a quick trip into Philly to see the Liberty Bell and tour Independence Hall. We had a great tour guide who gave us all kinds of history. Did you know that the Liberty Bell was originally called the State House Bell because it was originally commissioned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pennsylvania’s original constitution? It became known as the Liberty Bell and gained iconic importance when abolitionists adopted it as a symbol of their efforts to end slavery. What about the crack, you ask? Well, there are a lot of theories about it, but the bell apparently had quite a few cracks – both natural and manmade – but was ringable up until the final crack occurred in 1846 during an effort to fix one of the previous cracks.

Our final stop was the D.C. area to see our youngest. We had a great time with him, as always. After a quick stop on campus to buy Biker a Georgetown shirt, we grabbed some dinner and then headed into D.C. to wander around. We grabbed scooters and visited the Jefferson Memorial – under construction, the FDR Memorial – one of our favorites (so beautiful and serene!, and the MLK memorial. We whizzed by the Lincoln Memorial – my perennial favorite; I can’t ever see it too much! – and down the reflecting pool to the Washington Monument. Wandered up north a bit and ended up for a nightcap at the fancy and always fabulous Trump Hotel bar.

The drive home was uneventful. Just long. It’s good to be home.

 

The last two days have been mostly about moving south to get to Philadelphia to see Andy’s mom and his sister and her family.  We hit some really great roads along the way, including New York One, a curvy, smooth pavement road with great scenery, good visibility and no traffic. We took some great video, but it won’t load here at the hotel with this wi-fi; we’ll try to update this post later.

On this trip, we’ve seen some beautiful scenery – including noticing that the leaves are definitely changing – and we’ve made some wrong turns.  On these last two points, we title this blog post “turnt.”

While we’re a few weeks ahead of the official “leaf peepers” crowd that will descend upon New England for the fall color change, we noticed even in the week we were here that the leaves were turning before our very eyes. There are many trees that are already obviously red and orange, and many trees are turning more and more yellow every day, with lots of leaves falling, which was especially noticeable during our ride today.

Regarding wrong turns, we noticed pretty early on that we were making quite a few more u-turns due to missing a turn or making a wrong turn. Not our usual situation, but as we discussed the reasons, we realized we were “winging it” more that we usually do. Justifying our mistakes – ha!

Finally, moving to the real definition of “turnt,” (dictionary.com defines as being under the influence of alcohol or drugs) — we must discuss the hemp fields we passed today. We were driving along, minding our own business, when all of a sudden we both said, “I smell pot.”  Another u-turn to go back to see what was going on, and we came across a hemp farm We decided the local teenagers probably drive back and forth along this 1-mile stretch of road to try to get something of a high. The plants look like little Christmas trees; see pics below.