I’m assuming that most of the blog readers have flown, some many times but most have been thru security on more than one occasion. So we all know how very important it is to have our shoes and limited amounts of liquids checked, oh so thoroughly! I recently flew home on a 2-leg flight and was glad that I actually made it back. My meeting was over at noon and my flight home didn’t leave until 7pm so I was in no hurry at all. I got to the airport about 3 hours early and actually hoped that I could catch the earlier flight so that I could pick up some Starbucks. I had the check-in email sent to my phone so that I could use it instead of the usual check-in at a kiosk or ... read more

My husband, Dale, and I have been completely immersed in all things “Downton Abbey”. He was still working last year when Season 1 aired so I watched it alone, hooked. Just before Season 2 started in January our Public Television station aired season 1 and I insisted that he watch. After a few minutes he was hooked as well. So on nearly all of our Sunday evenings for some time now, we could be found in front of out telly! We’d cry at the sad parts and tell the characters what they needed to do. Then we started watching the episodes of Season 1 on Netflix during the week. We are amazed at what we missed the first round. When we sat down for Season 2 Episode 6 we decided to have champagne while we watched. ... read more

Last minute travel, not all options are great. So my son called this morning asking if I could come up by 11 tomorrow morning. The new baby will have her heart surgery and they really need someone to care for the 16 month old. Babysitter leaves at 11a.m. and my son has no time off available so they really need someone to help. I looked at United but there are no flights available for tomorrow morning. The flight for early a.m. isn’t available. Then looked at Amtrak but that arrives at 11:40. It is only $49 but just a little too late and the return is too early. Looked at rental cars, esh- $120 + gas. Realized that I’ll need a round trip so looked at United again but it is $450 even though there is ... read more

Like I posted earlier we were going to fly to Taos, NM in order to save Dale’s Frequent Flier Miles from expiring. Good logic according to us. We flew into Albuquerque and drove to Taos last night arriving in time to eat dinner. We checked into our hotel, The Historic Taos Inn, right at the plaza. I’d reserved early and got us a room with a kiva (pueblo type fireplace) and we were happily surprised to find wood and fire starter waiting for us. The old hotel is made up of adobe buildings from the 1800’s and I think, but am not sure, that there is a newer wing too. We wanted the old part. We went to Doc Martins for dinner, the restaurant attached to the hotel. When the waitress came over I asked about ... read more

After getting adults off to the Fancy Foods we piled the kids in the truck and were off to Lucas Films then the Exploratorium. We had planned to eat lunch with Clayton at Lucas Films but he got busy with work so we just did a little walking and visiting. Fortunately we’d brought plenty of food so we were able to have a picnic. We got to the Exploratorium and for those of you who are thinking of visiting, across the street to the north is a parking lot, maybe a 5 minute walk. When we were there it was free. We found a picnic table close by and set out our food, fed kids then off to the Exploratorium. The Exploratorium is in what was the Palace of Fine Arts; it is an old building ... read more

We got to the RV park by about 10:30 last night, Justin and boys asleep on the dinette and Camillo asleep on the couch. The night security met us at the gate and gave us a site but said it would cost $96 to camp, cash. The RV manager had not mentioned that we needed cash but fortunately we had nearly enough and our son had $20 so we paid up. This morning the office found that the night security had charged too much so refunded some money. Fortunately we’d had enough otherwise we would have had to go find a bank for cash only to have overpaid. So it is the perils of travel. We got out a bottle of Pipestone wine, some cheeses, set our picnic out on our bed and had a little ... read more

Finally, we are on the road! 3 little kids in car seats in the back seat of our truck, 2 adults and 2 big kids in the RV. We gave the 2 big kids Dale’s laptop and Justin brought his, so they will use the hotspot card we have and be online until we lose our signal, an hour or so up I-5. I have a hotspot in my phone so we have that here in the truck for my laptop. Getting ready was such a chore, had a bunch of laundry to do and kids had made shambles out of the house. I did get bathrooms cleaned, sheets changes and with my grandkids help we cleaned the rest of the house plus washed the kitchen floor to avoid the ants. As usual, the only way ... read more

We have 3 days in San Francisco, well mostly 3 days. So Monday we will eat lunch with our middle son at Lucas Films cafeteria in Marin, then we will want to leave as early as we can on Tues so another short day there. There are 3 things that top the list of to do’s with grandkids: 1. Zoo, 2. Exploratorium, 3. Aquarium/Natural History/Planetarium. 3 things in 3 days. I looked up the 3 different things; hours opened and cost. Aquarium/combo is the most expensive by far and probably has more available for all 5 kids. This would be smart to do for the day we have the most time. So for a heads up, there is a $5. Per ticket charge for those tickets purchased at the door during prime times, MLK being one ... read more

Many years ago I was in New Mexico and stopped at a shop for coffee, I ended up buying a bowl, about 900 years old. It had been broken and glued together so it didn’t cost much, maybe $40.00. That was the beginning of my antiquities collection. Now there are people who do not think that these items belong in private collections, I like my bowls so there it is. Since that early bowl I’ve collected a few others, I prefer the old ones, you can feel the places where the maker placed their fingers. They are not fancy but were used for meals or everyday containers. There is a connection. Dale bought a book on pots that we found at the Grand Canyon, turned out that our pot was discussed, or at least one like ... read more

Geez, so now that we are planning to go to New Mexico next week, yes next week, I realized that our San Francisco trip will make things really crazy. We were not planning to go to the Fancy Foods Expo this year but then our sons asked if we’d drive the guys up, babysit kids during show hours and then the guys could have a place to sleep in our RV. This would save our son, Nate, a bunch of money. We said yes thinking that we’d just do a mini version of a grandkids trip in combination. So I thought that the Fancy Food’s was Sat, Sun and Monday; we’d leave here on Friday and return home Monday night then fly to New Mexico on Wed a.m. and all would be hunky dory. Wrong! Fancy ... read more