NOTE: I write these blogs primarily for personal memories...I make them public because maybe they may help a traveler who is willing to muddle through them (or connect me with a long lost friend!). They are full of personal experiences and honest opinions. If I don't like something, I say it...it's not meant as an affront to any area or people. If you're looking for politically correct, keep on looking...it's not here. _________ Having a championship Irish dancer as a daughter and a son interested in the UK (okay, just England, but close enough), Dad and Mom decided a trip to [View Full Entry]

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Destination: Cabo San Lucas (courtesy of PGP, Inc. for their 2nd Annual Recognition Conference) NOTE: I got my first kooky comment from some stranger about this blog, which prompted me to add this caveat to all of my blogs. I write these blogs for personal memories and to share our experiences with close friends and family. I make them public because they might be of help to a traveler who is willing to muddle through them. They are full of honest opinions....if I don't like something, I say it, not to offend, but to document our actual thoughts and experiences. If [View Full Entry]

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This is a journal from the second half of our Summer 2007 vacation...Part 1: Quebec, Part 2: New York City July 8, 2007 Today we headed back to Vermont for another pit stop before taking the train to New York City. We were making great time…until we hit the U.S./Canadian border. Terrorism impacts us directly…more than TWO HOURS later, we drove away from the checkpoint, a bit disgruntled (but very thankful for purchasing Prozak!). After tea and decadent butter bars in the parlor of our Vermont home - The Lang House - we went in search of a good eats in [View Full Entry]

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Part 1 - Summer Vacation 2007 June 28 and 29, 2007 We started our summer vacation with a nightmare, courtesy of Delta Airlines. We were “involuntarily bumped” from our flight to Vermont, thanks to overbooking and Delta not allowing us to check in online the night before departure. Fortunately for Delta, an agent was able to get us a flight (only 4 hours late) and gave me just the tranquilizer I needed… $800 in bribes. Later that evening, I learned to be grateful that we were only four hours late…people were sleeping in the halls of New York’s K [View Full Entry]

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Dedicated to my father, who brought me along on his journey to explore his ancestry. Several years ago when my father mentioned traveling to Poland to the regions where his maternal and paternal families originated, I made sure he knew I wanted to accompany him. I was starved for anything pertaining to my family heritage and culture as not much had been passed down to anyone in my generation. The trip came to fruition in September 2006, and my brother and myself joined my father and stepmother on an exciting journey with the hopes of finding documentation of our ancestors’ births [View Full Entry]

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Friends are family you choose”…that was the theme of this trip. The true purpose of this journey was to meet my four month old “nephew”, Paul, the first child of our close friends, Baptiste and Vanessa who live near Paris. It was a fringe benefit that I was able to accompany them on holiday in Corsica. It would be a short trip - only five days - as my own family couldn’t bear to be without me for too long. Corsica is one of three islands - Sardinia, Sicily and Corsica - in the Mediterranean Sea that are fiercely loyal to [View Full Entry]

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Cont'd from Part 1 - The BIG Summer Road Trip - The California Redwoods Day 8 Today was a long driving day…nine hours south on Highway 101 from the Redwoods to Novato for a one-night stopover before continuing on to Sequoia National Forest. The highlight of the drive was stopping in two of the small wine country towns I grew up in…Geyserville and Healdsburg. Geyserville’s main street hasn’t changed much in 32 years; if anything, it had declined slightly as I seem to remember a gas station that was no lo [View Full Entry]

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Days 1 and 2 Our Summer Road Trip 2006 seemed to have a theme…big trees. Or rather, just big…big car pulling big trailer (with big gas prices) in search of big trees. On this slightly shorter two week road trip to the California Redwoods (detailed in this journal) and Sequoia National Forest (continued in Part 2), we were destination-bound with no time for our typical leisurely driving pace. On the way to the very northern tip of the California coast, we stopped off in Redding to spend July 4th with family floating on a pontoon boat on Lake Shasta. After 10 [View Full Entry]

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LAPA RIOS ECO-LODGE - OSA PENINSULA, COSTA RICA Wonders never cease...it seems I've become quite acclimated to tiny little planes. I've been on two more flights and I managed to have a conversation and enjoy the beauty of the last one, which took us from San Jose to Puerto Jimenez (on the Osa Peninsula at the southern tip of the country). We flew over farms, mountains covered in rainforest, and coastline through clouds that were so distinct that they looked like paintings. We were bound for Lapa Rios, an eco-lodge set in a 1,000 acre rainforest preserve overlooking the Golfo Dulce. [View Full Entry]

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CHAN CHICH LODGE - GALLON JUG, BELIZE We arrived in Belize City's tiny airport at 11:00 a.m. on a beautiful day in April and were met by our charter pilot, Daniel, a native Belizean who had been flying planes for tourists for the past 30 years (my confidence in Javier’s Flying Service was immediately boosted). He would be taking us to Chan Chich Lodge in the middle of an ecological preserve. During a very slow walk to the plane, Daniel educated us on the socio-economic situation in Belize...quite sad, really, as all the young people leave for America (including his two [View Full Entry]

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