It’s
been quite a while since I’ve done any blogging, but I’m going to try and get
back to it and let everyone in on our mostly boring life. I am always on Face Book, but my page is set
to private and the only way anyone can friend me is send me a message and ask
to be my friend. I do not friend anyone
unless I have personally met them, so this blog is the only site that will remain public. I haven’t been on Twitter for
ages and even though I have an Instagram account, I haven’t posted anything on
it.
Anyhow, I was last on here in September of 2015, so have a
few things to catch everyone up on. In October, 2015, we once
again drove our motorhome back to Arizona then flew home in
December to have Christmas with our kids.
After Christmas, we drove our Grand Cherokee back to Arizona where we settled
in for the season. Lots of activities
take place during the months of January, February, and March. Ken is heavily involved in the workings of
the Rock (Lapidary) Shop and we do a lot of off roading in our little Wrangler. The resort puts on a lot of activities
(dances, dinners, and shows) so we are kept very busy!
This was an unusual year for us and on March 26, 2016, we
flew from Phoenix, AZ to Fort Lauderdale. FL for the night then the next day boarded a Holland
America Ship for a 14 day cruise to Barcelona, Spain. Our first 8 days were at sea then we had
stops at Funchal Portugal, Cadiz Spain, Malaga Spain, and Cartagena Spain before
arriving Barcelona Spain on April 10. It
was a wonderful crossing, smooth and storm free….There was another couple with
us and our rooms were side by side on the 5th deck verandah where we opened the
partition between our two verandahs and had a huge area to enjoy the sea view
and spend our happy hours.
Once in Barcelona, the four of us spent 3 wonderful days touring
area and enjoying the food & drink.
The city is so big we didn’t get to see all of it, but by taking the hop
on hop off bus, we were able to get to a lot of it. The highlight of Barcelona was the Sagrada Familia. This famous Basilica is still under
construction (since 1883) and isn’t expected to be finished for many more
years. It was an awesome sight to behold….inside
and outside!!!
On April 13 we all got on a plane for Rome where we stayed
in old Rome for 5 days. We had a great
B&B ran by a mother & daughter.
They were great and we were treated wonderfully. It was so fun to enjoy the different flavors
of Rome. The food and wine were
fantastic. There were many days that the
two couples split and went to different sights.
What an amazing place old Rome is.
There was so much to see and do there.
Of course, we spent time at the Vatican, the Museum & Sistine Chapel,
St Peters Basilica, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Coliseum, and so much
more. We all rode the hop on hop off bus,
took the subway, and rode the train to many different sites… way too many to
list here. This is one area we would
like to come back to sometime.
On April 18, we all took a limo to the city of Civitavecchia
where we got on another Holland America ship for a 12 day cruise to Venice
Italy. That was one awesome cruise as we
all had upgraded to the Signature Suites on Deck 8 where we had huge patios
(verandahs). It also was a very busy
cruise with many port stops. We ended up
at Naples Italy, Crete Greece, Santorini Greece, Kusadasi Turkey, Piraeus
Greece, Katakolon Greece, Corfu Greece, Dubrovnik Croatia, Split Croatia, and
finally Venice Italy. There were many, many
hours of walking and sight-seeing that we all were totally pooped by the time
we got to Venice. However, Venice has no
motorized transports, so once again that first day there, we spent a lot of
time walking around and getting our bearings before going back to ship for the
night (we were docked there overnight before disembarking on the second day).
April 30, 2016, everyone disembarked the ship and we toted our luggage
to the water taxi transport where we were taken to our stops in Venice to spend
the next 5 days. Our friends were taken
to one stop because they stayed at a hotel near St Marks in San Marcos, and we
were taken to another stop also in San Marcos where we had an apartment
rented (we were only 5 minutes apart). The assistant to the manager of our apartment met
us and walked us about 1/4 mile back to our room…..Like I said, there is
nothing motorized in Venice, so we had to roll and carry our luggage to our
room….that meant rolling over cobblestone and up and over the canal bridges. The assistant toted my luggage and Ken had to
tote his. Needless-to-say, we were on
the 4th floor, so that meant walking up and toting all we had with us (so fun)… No matter where we went in Venice, it was by
foot or boat. It was an awesome time and
we literally walked the whole island.
Saw so much art and history along with churches and so much more. Took a water taxi out to the island of Murano
where there are some fabulous glass factories (yes, ended up buying some).
Our friends spent three days in Venice before heading back
to the states, but Ken & I spent 5 days there. The food was incredible and we all ate so
much, but the walking wore it all off.
That was a huge plus.
On May 5, we took a water taxi across the canal to the
airport where we caught a plane to London for the night. Oh, we ended up flying business class and had
the use of the British Air Lounge to enjoy ourselves before the flight took off…..so
nice!!! The next day (May 6) we got on a
British Airways Air Bus in Business Class and flew just over 9 hours to Seattle
Washington where we went thru customs. Our
flight was a very comfy and even going thru customs was a snap. We had a couple hours to wait for our flight
on Alaska Air back to Phoenix and arrived very late afternoon where friends
from Apache Junction picked us up. It
was a long 40 days that we were gone and so nice to be back to our motorhome. We didn’t stay long in AZ before we were on
our way back to Salem.
Once again, we spent 12 days in Prineville Oregon camping
over the July 4 holiday with family and friends (always a fun time).
Labor Day, we were back in Seattle for a flight to Yakutat
Alaska and our yearly Salmon fishing trip.
As usual, we brought home a lot of Salmon filets.
Once again, we loaded up the motorhome and were back in
Arizona mid-October. This time instead
of flying home for Christmas, we flew home for Thanksgiving and had the
pleasure of spending that holiday with our daughter and her family, but were
totally surprised when our son’s family came in from Idaho and one grandson
came in from Alaska. We had a wonderful
time and loved being with all the family.
Another huge surprise was an announcement that our youngest granddaughter was
pregnant and due in May of 2017…. That will bring the total to 10 great
grandchildren when that baby is born….WOW!!
So, once Thanksgiving was over, we drove our Grand Cherokee
back to Arizona and have been here since then.
As always the park is nice and quiet until just after Christmas when all
the residents return and our activities begin.
It becomes a very busy Jan, Feb, and March then in April the majority of
residents tend to head back to their homes.
We are one of the few that tend to hang out until Mid to late May and
sometimes June…
So here it is the end of April and we are working towards
getting coach ready to move by May 10.
We would usually be here longer, but late February, Ken pulled something
in his lower back and some of the Jeeping we did in March hurt him even
more. So after a few chiropractor
visits, an urgent care visit, and finally an X-Ray in ER has us deciding to get
him home and have his doctor take a look at the x-ray results to see if he
needs an MRI for further analysis….his pain is not going away!! I also have a couple upcoming appointments (dental
and eye) in May & June, so it’s just as well that we get home fairly soon. We still have plans for July camping and
September fishing, but so much is going to depend on how much Ken is up to
doing.
Hopefully, I will get back on here after we are home with
some good results. More later!
