After an extremely maddening travel experience to get to Africa (just typing that made my BP spike!), we finally made it to Cape Town and proceeded to truly enjoy our trip. Our first stop was Franschhoek, a small winery town that reminded us A LOT of Napa. Cute little town that we really didn’t get to enjoy cause it was 11:30 p.m when we arrived. We checked into the stunning Leeu House Estates (garden pic below) and went straight to bed.
Day 2 dawned with a pickup from a lovely man named Ian, who was to be our guide for the next two days. Just a word here about Ian – he turned around the bad experience we’d had getting to the country and made our first two days a fantastic experience. He was knowledgeable, funny, patient, kind, and proud of his country – a winning combination. Our first day was a wine tour, and we enjoyed the wines, food, and views at two wineries in the Stellenbosch area. It was a beautiful day, and we loved every minute of it. Ian dropped us at our Cape Town hotel and we wandered to a local restaurant he recommended for game meat – and then didn’t eat any!
Day 3 was all about Cape Town – Table Mountain, Signal Hill, a beautiful row of really old houses that signify the tribal culture that is still a part of Cape Town, down to the Cape of Good Hope, and then to Boulders Beach to see the penguins. After a late lunch, Ian dropped us back at the hotel, and we once again wandered around for dinner.
Cape Town is a beautiful city and not what you expect when you think of Africa. It’s lush and green, with manicured common areas and an abundance of trees. And it’s surrounded by mountains, which we did not expect (our assumption being that Africa is flat.
While Egypt was all about motion and tours, Madrid was the laid back portion of our vacation. And it was magnificent. First off, we had perfect weather – sunny and high 70s during the day. Second, it’s just a beautiful, clean, orderly European city. It felt very familiar to us. And third, it offered our favorite of all European pastimes – sitting at a cafe, drinking wine, and people watching.
From the hop on, hop off bus, to the Prado art museum, to the e-bike tour, to our “self-guided wine tour” and loooooooong hike to the zoo, to our walk through Retiro Park, and to the never ending supply of wine, gelato and churros … we had a blast.
One thing deserves a longer mention. Some may not like this, but we attended a bullfight in the most famous bullring in the world – Las Ventas. I wasn’t sure what to expect or how I would feel about it. We know it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea. Setting aside the sensitivities some may have about this, the cultural aspects are really fascinating. The training, the bravery, the customs, and the pageantry – it was all very interesting and educational. We happened to see a young matador get gored twice, which was really shocking. News reports suggest that he will recover with no lasting issues.
The other item that deserves special mention is churros – specifically, churros with hot dipping chocolate. OMG, why have I never had this before? We discovered this culinary masterpiece on day 1 at breakfast and proceeded to have it every single morning after that. 😉
We kicked off our fall odyssey by touching down in Cairo for 5 days. This has been a bucket list item for us for about 25 years, so very excited to be here.
Our hotel was situated right on The Nile River, and the rooftop restaurant had an amazing view of the rivers and lights.
First stop had to be the pyramids! They’re big, they’re old, they’re in the desert. It was hot. Like really hot. We learned that the Great Pyramid (the one behind us in the first pic below), which was built roughly in 2650 BC, was for King Kufou (sometimes referred to in English as Keops), who was the father, and there are two slightly smaller pyramids next to it that are his son and grandson – who were Pharaohs after him. Next to each large pyramid are much smaller pyramids that are the tombs of each of their wives and other children. A total of nine tombs in all – they can all be seen in the pic with us on the camels. Our gentle camels – Mickey and Alibaba – carried us across the desert to the Sphinx. We learned that the monument was made using the leftover rock from the quarry, after the pyramids, and it kind of seems like an afterthought. It’s majestic, but a bit worn down. Next we traveled to Sakkara – home of the very first pyramid built, roughly 3,000 BC. It’s a rudimentary thing, called The Steppes. Big takeaway from this site was the large open area next to the pyramid that was used for games, kind of like the Olympics. There, the Pharaoh at the time would fight a bull every few years and cut off its tail to prove his worth and power to the people. I’m writing this in Madrid (more on that in the next blog post), and after seeing a real bullfight, this act was really brave! This is also the day we bought my Kartoush – which has my name in hieroglyphics on one side and a series of ‘blessings’ for love, devotion, patience, and strength on the other side. We had dinner at a nice Italian restaurant and signed our name on the wall at the owner’s request.
Day two took us to the Egyptian museum, where all of the artifacts from the pyramid tombs and other ruins are housed (the pyramids are empty). Overall, there are some really cool things in here. But overcrowded and no AC, so kind of an uncomfortable experience. Cool things – Andy found out that he resembles Ramses II, The Great, and even shares his birthday. Also, we saw the King Tut golden mask (pic below shows golden masks of Tut’s grandparents). No pics allowed in the King Tut part of the museum, but sadly everywhere else you were allowed to touch, sit on, whatever, the antiquities. We were shocked and saddened that these precious treasures are not better protected. Our guide, Mahmoud, was a delight. That night, we took a dinner cruise on The Nile, which included a traditional belly dancing show. Rode home in a horse and carriage.
The following day we had a wonderful tour of the older part of Cairo – the Islamic quarter. The Cairo of today is a mix of mostly Muslim, but also Jewish and Christian, living, they say, harmoniously side by side. But it’s history is largely Muslim so there are dozens of mosques, with beautiful onion tops and towering minarets dotting the city’s skyline. Our guide took us to three mosques – one that is part of an old fort and is beautifully restored as mostly a tourist location, and a second and third that are still very much used by locals as prayer places. In fact, we happened to be there during the noon prayer and observed locals praying. One interesting thing about Cairo is that they play the prayers over loudspeakers all over town five times a day, as a call to pray. Our guide finished off our tour by taking us to the oldest market in Egypt and one of the oldest in Africa – Khalil el Khan. We wandered through a bit but weren’t interested in shopping, but we did have coffee at the oldest coffee shop in Egypt, which was really cool; pic below. That night, we took a ride on a felucca – the original wooden sailboats that were used to travel The Nile.
Last day was mostly about sleeping in, eating, and packing.
Overall, our impression of Egypt is that we are so glad we experienced this culture. The good – the Egyptian people are warm, friendly, and proud. They bend over backward to help you and they speak English really well. The food was great and easy to find something yummy. The bad – the city is very dirty and ill-kept, there’s trash everywhere, and the traffic is horrendous. Horns honking constantly. I think it’s the biggest city we’ve ever visited – 23 million – and is largely very poor. It’s a shame the amazing antiquities are not cared for in a way that promotes conserving them for many generations to enjoy. In the end, however, we had a great time and would recommend Cairo to anyone who wants to see and experience this amazing culture.
OK, so we skipped writing about the two-week back-to-back cruise that was part of our nomadic 2 months after moving out of the Dallas townhouse. It was a cruise – well, two actually – followed by a week in Dallas, a month in Hot Springs, and a month in a Dallas apartment. Then we moved into our new house. Not a vacation, actually, but sort of.
Cruise – two back to back week-long cruises. Typical – had fun, saw the shows, gambled, people watched, and generally just had a lot of laughs. Can’t recall anything that really sticks out.
Hot Springs – we did a lot of fun things during our time in Hot Springs. First, the house was really cool – large home with wraparound porch set on 5 acres with a pond and a little woodsy area. Andy had fun walking the perimeter most days, doing a bit of fishing and shooting squirrels and rabbits. In his element!! We took a few motorcycle day trips, Dave came to visit, and we did some of the local touristy stuff like a boat ride on the lake and a visit to the local hot springs. All in all, a reminder of why we love Arkansas!
Dallas apartment – a good reminder of how blessed we are. The apartment grounds and exterior were super sketchy – while Andy was gone, I did not stray out after dark. But once you got inside the rental apartment itself, it was fine. I was not sad to leave.
Enough about that “vacation” time. We were excited to move into our new house!
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 saw three herds of sheep being, well, herded during this trip. Check out the sweet little lamb in the road. He was tired!
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.
“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.
The Biker's Wife 