Embargo broken! Rose Bowl Parade photos the day before the parade!

We hit the road early this morning to see the Rose Parade floats as they were being completed. There were busloads of tour groups coming to see the floats - but we were able to get into 2 of the 3 sites. It's amazing how many flowers were used and what the floats must cost.

December 28, 2007 - Our 31st Anniversary

Palm Springs is just so 50's. Our hotel pool is pictured. Every building in the area looks like it was designed by Mike Brady. It just makes you want to jump in the pool and synchronize swim. (we are the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th from left).

In celebration of our 31st anniversary we visited the Shields Date Farm in Indio. We had a date milk shake (very tasty) and watched the video about the romance and sex life of the date. (very 50's). Then we went to the Living Desert and walked along the San Andreas Fault.

Day after Christmas

Day after Christmas started out all black, white and gray as we drove out of Yosemite - beautiful, but so different from the clear blue skies of the previous 3 days. Then we sat in endless traffic trying to get through Los Angeles at 15 mph. Finally, the scenery turned all brown and sand colored as we entered the desert. Hundreds of wind generating windmills were spinning on the side of the road. Sand and dust pelted the car. Then FINALLY we saw the green of Palm Springs and were warmly welcomed to our motel - the Desert Riviera (http://www.desertrivierahotel.com/) - a retro motel. What a surprise - a warm fire in the lobby fireplace, a 60's white Christmas tree, and champagne in plastic champage flutes - Just call us Ozzie and Harriet and Gidget!

Christmas Day

A beautiful day walking in the snow under a blue sky.

Merry Christmas from Yosemite!

Merry Christmas Eve to everyone! Here's a photo we took yesterday of Half Dome and the Merced River. It is quite breathtaking in person. We hope you have a wonderful holiday. We are enjoying the beauty of Yosemite and hoping you all have a wonderful Christmas, too.

Vegas at Christmas - It's no Williamsburg

There's no hot cider on the streets here in Vegas but Kelly keeps asking why there are so many vans driving around advertising "Hot Babes." So far it's been a lucky trip for us. After years of begging, Paula finally got to the Liberace Museum. It was quite an experience. That Liberace was a one of a kind! Kelly, won $69.40 at the penny slots and tonight we go see Cirque de Soliel Beatle's show "Love." Bob has lost at the tables but he lucked out to see the PETA demonstration at the M&Ms store.

Arizona Inn - Tucson

December 18

Left El Paso early this a.m.. The town doesn't seem to wake up till later. The coffee shop didn't even open until 7 a.m. We were outta there! West Texas speed limit is 80 mph. Blue skies and Christmas music kept us entertained till we arrived at Saguaro National Park just outside of Tucson Arizona. Huge cacti ringed by mountains and blue sky, warm breezes and sun. Staying at a great hotel in town.

From Houston to El Paso - the long and unwinding road

It was a relief to leave Houston this morning (at 4:30 a.m.) and get on the open road. In the time since we had lived in Houston (in 1977) it has become very big (just like us!) and very crowded (just like us in the car). Our old apartments were torn down and the Galleria where we used to spend our time is now a mega mall with 3 Gallerias and lots of designer stores. It always had an indoor ice skating rink in the mall but now on two weekends in December the mall has "ice skating in the snow" indoors sponsored by the Emirates. We saw the big fans that blow the snow down onto the rink from the 3rd or 4th level of the mall. As we drive, I like to listen to local radio stations and music and eat at local dives. (an affinity not shared by my companions who love McDonald's and oldies). In the interest of family harmony we take turns irritating each other. So driving through Louisiana we listened to the Cajun station and heard lots of music with accordians and fiddles and the DJ spoke in english and creole. At the Alabama Mexican restaurant we had the biggest and best frozen margaritas. To quote a country music song heard on the car radio this morning "the beer is good but the liquor is quicker." Anyway, back on the road on I-10 we stopped in a little town, Boerne, for breakfast at Guadalajara's Diner, a two person operation that probably used to be a filling station. A lot of these west Texas towns are very stark - but this one had lots and lots of charm on its main street. My huevos rancheros were covered in a wonderful salsa just brimming with jalapenos. Spicy and delish. The tortillas were so fresh. In New Orleans we decided to detour into town and had coffee and warm beignets at Cafe Du Monde - excellent. Tonight in El Paso we ate at a family retaurant that is near the University of Texas at El Paso. I guess that people don't tip much around here. As we were leaving the waiter came to shake Bob hand and thank him (for the 20% tip.). Driving through west Texas the road is straight and flat. If there was a big hill, the engineers just cut right through it and continued the road on the same flat and straight plane. The landscape is empty for as far as you can see and mountain ranges rise up and fall. The hills are covered with scrub and cactuses and the sky was big and blue with a few white clouds. It was hard to believe that the Rio Grande was just parallel (but out of sight from) the road. At sunset the mountains just glowed. No wonder Texas thinks it is a sovreign country unto itself. It is so different from anyplace else in the US.

From One Extreme to Another

The picture on the left is one of the better looking homes in New Orleans - but note the trailer that is sitting in the front yard. We saw many many homes in worse shape with trailers sitting in the front yard for the people to live in while they continue to work on their homes. A lot of the homes still have those circles painted on them from when the rescuers came in right after the flood. In New Orleans we drove past many abandoned apartment buildings and homes that were still unliveable since Katrina. It was shocking that so many homes and buildings are still a mess. In contrast, the top photos are the front yards of private homes in the River Oaks section of Houston.

The Balmy South

Greetings from the balmy south. It is so warm here in Mobile Alabama that people were dining out on the patio of the restaurant where we had dinner. We opted to stay inside with the mariachi band and our giant margaritas. Today we arrived in time to tour Bellingrath Gardens. On the way to the gardens we saw an actual field of cotton. I don't know why that seems so remarkable - but to someone from the north, it is always surprising to see cotton fields and cotton plants. Anyway, Mr. Bellingrath was one of the 10 original Coca Cola bottlers - and boy did he do well during the depression! The home was built on the Fowl River and it has a little lake. (That's the reflection (at the Japanese garden) in the lake that you see in the picture.The gardens have a special light show for Christmas - and it is gorgeous. We arrived early (surprise!) but as we were leaving the gardens there was a steady stream of cars going to this garden that is in the middle of nowhere. Bob remarked that there wasn't a child left in Mobile because they were all at the garden with their parents and grandparents. We'll post a few pictures. So far we've driven 15 hours. Today there were torrential rains and lots of people (mostly trucks) on the roads. We have so much electronic equipment in the car (portable dvd, 2 digital cameras, laptop, sleep apnea machine, GPS system) that we are probably showing up on radar as a supernova glowing blip of electromagnet radiation fields. The wires from the equipment to the cigarette lighter are constantly getting tangled into a cat's cradle at our feet and Bob, who likes to keep his car meticulous, has not yet been pushed over the edge. But it is just a matter of time.........

Tomorrow we head to Houston Texas. It's about 7 hours away. It was 31 years ago this month that a strapping young lad wed a wisp of a girl and took her to Houston to start their lives together. NO, it was not George and Laura! It was Bob and I! We're anxious to see how the town has grown in 31 years - because we know how much we've grown!

Check back for holiday travel updates

Thanks to our three Family Bowling Santas we are getting in the christmas mood.

Back Home

We arrived safely home after a very smooth flight. It's off to work today (for one of us, anyway.)

It looks like today will be a rainy gray day - very different from italy where it was so sunny and hot. In Cinque Terre we would wash out our laundry and hang it on the terrace (it's OK - there were clotheslines - it's a beach town) and it would bake and dry in the sun in about 2 hours. Also, on the transition fro,m Italy to France we took big roads in order to make good time. We paid over 100 U.S. dollars in tolls on just that one day. The wine in France may be inexpensive but the roads are very costly: Yesterday we had a lot of fun in wine country. While Bob waited for the mustard factory to open up, kelly and i went into an antique store nearby. Lucky for him we found a big old empty magnum wine bottle that had been used in the vineyards of Du Roy and has a nice label. Sure the thing is the size of a two year old child and weighs just as much - but how could we NOT buy it? The look of shock on his face when he saw us walking toward him was worth the cost. Of course, i've got to figure out how to get it home. Then we visited the last private mustard factory in the region, Moutarderie Fallot. You can buy Fallot mustard all over the world. We made our own mustard and sampled about 4 different kinds including gingerbread and black currant. Very tasty: Then we drove through acres and acres of grape vineyards and ate at a local bar where kelly and i and the waitresses were the only women. The food was delicious. Of course the wine was in an unmarked bottle. Then we toured a cassis factory and sampled a lot of liquers. Today we are off to Aboise and touring Chateaus. The team is here to go to breakfast - gotta run.

Back in France

Just quick update. Yesterday we left sunny Italy and the Mediterranean and drove through the Alps - through the long, long Mont Blanc mountain tunnel - tunnel phobes beware - it is very long. We saw lots of snow and a huge glacier and ended up here in Beaune. In Italy people either yelled at their spouses or mumbled to themselves as they walked away from the table: Here in France they love to insult you to your face. A really common retort from the staff is to answer a question with a sneer and an imperious "Of course!!!!" Yesterday it happened twice. The first time was at our snooty hotel (but we have a bathtub so all is forgiven). I asked the front desk clerk if the hotel had internet. She looked at me like I was the snail that had given her indigestion at lunch and she sneered "of course!" and went back to whatever she had been working on. Thank goodness kelly takes no guff. she waited about 5 seconds and said "so where is it?" Then we were touring some wine cave and Bob asked the guide if he had ever eaten at some little restaurant we are going to today. Guess what he said . Of course (you americaine idiot). -ok he did NOT say the last part. But he said it with great condesension. sp. Today we are off to see how they make cassis and maybe ,make our own mustard and then go to that little restaurant. trip is almost over - just 3 more days and then we all retreat into our own cones of silence: please excuse all the typos. the french insist upon using their own keyboard with all the letters in different positions from the rest of the u.s. and italy, anyway.

Food and Flowers

Our Hotel Stena is set in a lovely garden on top of the hill. These photos show you some of the plants right here at our feet. Just outside our terrace we have these lovely trees laden with lemons. There are also lime trees, plum trees, an orange tree and a cherry tree. We have huge rosemary bushes growing and grape vines and olive trees. The owners told me they use the lemons to make their own lemon preserves and limoncello. When you walk through the garden to get to the streets of town (down many stairs) you brush against the sage, mint, and more rosemary and oregano. In the heat of the day you can smell the herbs. We took the boats to see four of the five (cinque) towns of Cinque Terre. Tomorrow Bob hikes a two hour hike to the fifth town. Kelly and I will take the train. Right now Bob is out on a balcony drinking the sciacchetra (a local sweet dessert wine) fueling up for the hike tomorrow. I'll post some pictures of the beautiful area.

To the Sea

Left Volterra early this a.m. and have finally arrived in Monterosso al Mare. A lot of switchbacks and hairpin turns, getting stuck at the foot of a church in some small town because we could go no further on the narrow streets and voila! we are here. We took a stop en route and went to Pisa which is the most crowded tourist stop we've made. We quickly left there and tried to find Cararra. We found the town but not the marble caves so we had to content ourselves by just seeing the marble peaks of the mountains in the distance and the giant blocks of marble piled up looking like giant white sugar cubes at the marble companies along the autostrada. We are at another Wolf-recommended hotel. Like the others it is lovely and located high on a hill in the town. So before you can get into the limited access city you (I) must hike straight up a hill to the hotel office and get an access card. Going to a Wolf hotel is like taking an intense cardio class. The Mediterranean Sea is at our feet. Nice place!

Towers of San Gimignano

Volterra and San Gimignono

We are in the hill countries and prices have just dropped by about one third! Today we drove to San Gimignano, a town that used to have 80medieval towers because everyone needed a place to hide. Now there are about 17 towers and

it was a big medieval festival weekend. So we saw the four "tribes" assemble in the town square to much pomp and circumstance and blessings and rivalry and horses and people in medieval garb. Those were the days!

Here in Volterra we have also lucked out and been here for the 4th Alabaster festival and exhibition. So we have watched as about 16 young sculptors work outside. I'll post more pictures and save on the writing.