A couple of weeks ago we said goodbye to family and friends in Chicago before we were there long enough to remember that it gets very cold. We had planned to drive all the way to Maryland, grab out hiking gear and then drive to the Smoky Mountains for a week of hiking and relaxation. …
Tag: Travel
The Stadium Tour Continues
I have been somewhat of a hiatus from the blogosphere. Sue has been doing all the heavy lifting of keeping our blog up to date and all of you informed of our travels. I am deeply grateful that she has been shouldering that burden, but the time has come for me to do some scribbling …
The Siren That Is Chicago
Every time we land (or arrive in some other fashion) at O'Hare, it feels like home. Only we can complain about the death marches through O'Hare, the long waits for luggage and the trek to the Uber pick up because we are honorary Chicagoans in our minds. We have friends and family here. All is …
Our Penultimate and Last Weekends in Valencia
This is our last week in Valencia before we head back to the US for the Summer and Fall.
Lamu: The Last Leg
Or, we've been back for almost a month, but we're still milking it for the blog After our stint in Malindi, we met up with the group (except Robin who hightailed it to Amsterdam) for a flight to Lamu. At least, I thought it would be a flight to Lamu, but it turned out to …
Fallas!
I know we have more to write about Kenya, but I thought we could jump ahead to our first weekend back in Valencia. It was time for the annual Fallas festival. According to Wikipedia, the festival was originally a celebration of spring when the local artisans would burn scrap wood that was used during the …
The 100-Mile Walk That Wasn’t
Early signs appeared that challenges other than 100 miles would mar the Great Walk that we had so looked forward to. If you've been reading this blog, you'll know that we prepared thoroughly by doing death marches starting in D.C. when we signed up for this insanity. Robin also took the warnings about how physically …
Kenya Part 2: Maasai Mara Safari
Before we embarked on this crazy trip, I was referring to this portion of the journey as "the Disney safari" because I thought it was a rich American's idea of going into the wild to see the animals. I thought our walking safari would be much better. Mea culpa! In a harbinger of miscues to …
Karibu (Welcome), Nairobi
We arrived in Nairobi in the evening. We were whisked through immigration after being fingerprinted and driven to our hotel. So far, so good. Security is tight. Bomb-sniffing dogs, a mirror to sweep under the car, and x-ray machines for our bags and ourselves. Having made it through the security gauntlet and checking in, we …
A weekend in Granada
We are slackers. We haven’t written a blog since New Year's. Sorry. We didn’t do very much the weekend before last. A short – 8 mile – death march to the beach and back, watching American football and generally being lazy. Last weekend we made up for it. We had a three-day weekend because my …