North America: Stuck home in Texas

[*sigh*]

Well, as some of you may know, I was scheduled to go to Eastern Europe in the beginning of October. As luck would have it, I fell ill. Not sure what I'm going do now. I had made arrangements to go on another Rick Steve's tour to see some of the countries where my grandparents came from. Now the travel season is over for that part of the world. Bummer.

Not sure where else to travel. I need a plan and I need one soon. Cabin fever has set in, so I either need to go somewhere or get a job. Unemployment is great (when its planned for), but I'm getting restless. I've been keeping my job skills current for the eventuality that I go back to work, but I fear that may happen sooner than later if I don't get off my arse and make some travel arrangements.

Anyone have any ideas for some interesting destinations? I'm considering selling my impractical sport bike in favor of a cruiser type motorcycle. Riding the twisty roads of a mountain range for a few weeks would be sweet, but I would need to do that very soon before the snow sets in. Maybe I'll go live in an Amish community for a couple of months, or join a circus. Who knows!

North America: California (part 2)

Hey Kids!

It has been a great trip so far! I've been reconnecting with several relatives that I haven't seen in ages up here in northern Cali, and its been great. I started out in Rohnert Park to visit my cousin, Barbara, and her husband, Frank. They gave me the rock star treatment and set me up in their in their wonderful home for one night. I haven't seen Barbara since I was 6 years old! Next, I went to Hayward and Livermore and saw my Aunt Bea, Uncle Claude, and my cousins Carol, Carrie, Sue, and her husband Mike. I can't remember that last time I saw them!

Afterwards, I took a road trip from northern California to San Diego via the 101 freeway and saw the lots of scenery. I had the top down on the convertible and managed to get a nice tan in process. The trip took almost 12 hours (longer than I would've liked), but I finally made it to my hotel last night.

Today, I spent most of my day with my cousin, Tom, checking out the crazy real estate market around here (I don't think I'll be moving out here anytime soon). Then, I hung out with Tom's wife, Maureen, and my cousin Mary, and we all went out for a nice dinner. Then, tomorrow I head to Vegas! Hopefully I won't lose too much money, so I'll have too stick to my budget (which can be difficult after several drinks).

That's been my week so far. If anything cool happens in Vegas, I'll be sure to post something about...no wait...what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

So until next time...

Good times!

North America: California

Howdy kids!

I know, its been a while since I rapped at ya. Well, its mainly because I haven't really *been* anywhere lately. Last week I was supposed to go the New Orleans area to visit a friend, but that fell through on account of a bad sinus infection.

Presently, I'm in Napa California visiting Michelle and Chris, whom I met on my tour in Europe. I flew into San Francisco, rented a car, and took a small rode trip through the bay area to Napa. Its beautiful country out here. Tons of vineyards and small mountains....very reminiscent of Italy. And, lots-o-places for wine drinking. Apparently wine tourism is very popular around here.

Saturday we went hiking at Chris' family's ranch up in the mountains, which had some spectacular views of the city.


  

On Sunday, we went to Michelle's family's vineyard for some good ol' fashioned wine bottling. They use the vineyard primarily for selling the grapes to larger commercial wineries, but they keep a small portion of the grapes for their private winery.


  

Every year when they bottle wine, they invite several people over for food and all they wine they can drink in exchange for free labor on the bottling assembly line.


  

There were about 15 people in all at the bottling party and everyone got to experience the bottling processes by being either the bottle filler, bottle level checker, corker, labeler, and cellar stocker. The best part about it is that they sent everyone home with a few vessels of wine they helped to bottle. After being here I really wanted to watch the movie Sideways again.

Well, it's now Monday and I'll be on my way to see my cousin Barbara in Rohnert Park. I can't wait because I haven't seen here in well over 20 years. I've got several other people to see here in Cali until Friday, which is when I'll be ending this trip Las Vegas.

So until next time...

Good times!!!

North America: Tennessee

Howdy!

Still traveling, but this time in the states. Yeah, I started out in Texarkana Texas on August 9th, picked up my mom, headed to Illinois to visit some relatives, then to Indiana to visit my sis and bro-in-law, and now we're in Memphis Tennessee.

What's in Memphis you ask? Graceland!!! That's right, a shrine to the King himself, and in all of its glory. Ok, I got to admit that I'm not a big fan of Elvis. Anytime I think of him evokes images of black velvet paintings depicting Mr. Presley crooning in a microphone while wearing one of those hideous gem studded white jump suits.

After visiting Graceland, I now have a better appreciation for this "King" that everyone worships (because hey, 50 million Elvis fans can't be wrong). He's had a career that most people in the entertainment industry now can't even come close to compare to. And not only was he a humble philanthropist, he was civic minded enough to serve his country for two years during the height of his early singing career. How many pop stars today would join the Army to serve in Iraq? Zilch!

So, tomorrow we visit the Clinton Library in Little Rock Arkanasas. That should be interesting. I wonder if it too will be a big shrine to the former President's career. I'll keep ya posted.

So until next time...

Good times!!!

North America: Texas

Howdy kids!

For those of you that don't know, I'm back in the good old United States of America! Although I had the time of my life in Europe, I'm so glad to be back on U.S. soil. Mainly, because I missed my friends, family, and meals that consist of at least 50% or more of animal protein. It's true. I've been exposed to some great cuisine, but nothing beats scrambled eggs for breakfast, fast food burger for lunch, and a Tex Mex beef burrito for dinner. Yeah, I've managed to put on a few pounds since I've been back. Also, free refills and ice cubes were a commodity and a rarity in most parts of Europe.

One thing I don't miss about being back: the heat. Humidity and 105 degree weather is not very enjoyable to me. But hey, you can't have everything. Also, finding a good cup of coffee is rather difficult, unless you make it at home. Starbucks is nice for when you want a double tall low fat decaf mocha latte or some other really complicated coffee drink, but nothing beats a fine espresso served to you by a sourly Italian for 80 cents.

As soon as I landed in Atlanta, I headed to a bar in one of the airport terminals for a good ol' American beer: Budweiser. It tasted awful, but for some reason I was glad to be drinking it. You see, beer and wine was usually cheaper than soda in most of Europe, and it tasted better. Also, it was nice to be in a public place listening to people and watching people on TV speak a language I can understand in an accent that's familiar to me.

Ok, for those of you that would like to see some pictures of this place I keep talking about, check out the link below:

View my photos.

So until next time...

Good times!

Western Europe: Netherlands (part 2)

Word.

Another day in NL. Didn't make it to the beach like we planned on account of the menacing rain clouds. However, we did take a day trip (via trian) to Rotterdam to explore the city. We ended up renting a couple of bicycles because, like all Netherland towns, it really makes it easier to get around the city (it's actually better than having a car or using public transportation). Tourist wise, there's really not a whole lot to do in Rotterdam, even though it is a fairly large city. So, we mostly ended up doing some more geocaching, which took us all around the city. My legs are in hella shape, and we got to do some great sight seeing.

After we got back into Amsterdam, we had to do the obligitory trip to the world famous Sex Museum. It was farking hilarious! The highlight was an animitronic guy who says "Psssst. C'mere." Then, he flashes unsuspecting people by revealing his goods and services.

Well, gotta run. So until next time...

Good times!

Western Europe: Netherlands

Howdy folks!

I'm back up in the good ol' Amsterdam, NL. As some of you may recall, I was here about 4 weeks ago with my tour group. However, we only stayed for one day, and that wasn't nearly long enough to really explore the city. So after London, I decided to meet up with my bro-in-law, Rod, in Amsterdam. After getting settled into our 5 star accommodations (check it out here), the city was our play ground.

First, we walked all over the "red light" district to get oriented around the neighborhood where our hotel is. My lawyer has advised me not to go into any further details about this.

Next, we decided to do some geocaching (see geocaching.com for more on this), which has taken us all over the city and has afforded us the opportunity for many activities. For instance, we took a canal boat tour that took us all over the city to find some coordinates for one of the caches. We also rented a water taxi to covertly explore under a bridge where another cache was hidden. Today, we rented bicycles and found several other caches.

A quick note about bicycles here: everybody rides 'em and its the most common form of transportation. In fact, there's bicycles lanes all over the place, and everything is within a 15 minute ride. Way to be eco-friendly, Netherlands!

Tonight, we're doing an organized bar tour. Basically for 20 euros (I think that's about 22.50 US dollars), the tour takes us to seven bars for a free drink at each, and I think there's some free shots included in there somewhere.

Well, that all the stuff I can remember that's happened in Amsterdam. I'll type at ya later if I think of some other stuff. So, until next time...

Good Times!!!