Porkchop Applesauce

Hello to all! It has been a few months since we’ve posted a blog, but we haven’t done much. The winter here is just cold and wet enough to keep us inside. At the end of March, we were fortunate enough to have my Uncle Bill and Aunt Marianne come for a visit from Tucson, AZ. We were able to spend about two weeks together, and got some traveling in. Our first stop…Paris, France! We flew into Paris from an airport about 100 miles southwest of Scotter. After we took our taxi to the hotel, we headed out for some dinner at a café just around the corner. To this point, most of our travel in Europe has been pretty “language friendly” so trying to read a menu entirely in French, with a French-English dictionary, turned ... read more

Dec 22-29, 2007 Our Christmas Ski Holiday began with a 2 hour flight into Salzburg, Austria. Okay, imagine you are on an airplane, the seatbelt sign it lit…the captain comes over the PA and says “Ladies and Gentleman we have been cleared for landing, Flight Attendants please take your seats.” A few minute pass…you hear the landing gear open up and come out of the plane. A few more minutes pass…then…you proceed to witness a dumbass get out of their seat to rummage through the overhead bin. HELLO?!? A Flight Attendant comes over the PA…”Ladies and Gentleman, the seatbelt sign is on, please take your seat immediately as we are about to land.” The aforementioned dumbass dismisses the precautionary warning and continues rummaging. (I’m curious how close we are to landing so I look out the ... read more

Cardiff, Wales Friday, October 19th Brent and I set out on Friday morning at 9:30am towards Wales. We had 231 miles to travel, and in all it took us about 4 hours (30 minutes of that was sitting in stationary traffic) to get to our hotel. We ate a quick bite of late lunch, and took a quick cat nap before getting ready for the concert. The Police Concert One of the highlights of our trip was going to the concert. It was an incredible show, both vocally for Sting and musically for the band. The trio played all of my favourites just like I remember, some with a new twist, which made it even better. The set lasted over two hours with 2 encores…it was amazing. Saturday, October 20th On Saturday morning, we got up ... read more

Saturday, September 1st Today we celebrated Clayton’s 66th Birthday! Corsica is the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and is located southeast of France. Although the island is separated from the continental mainland by the Ligurian Sea, politically Corsica is considered part of Metropolitan France. The island's pleasant climate, beautiful mountains and breathtaking coastlines make it a popular destination among the French and other Western Europeans. However, the island has not had the same level of intensive development as other parts of the Mediterranean and is thus relatively unspoiled. We got on the bus at the port and travelled through the Zipitoli Forest to the Prunelli Gorge. We stopped for a photo opportunity and caught some of the local free roaming cattle having a grassy snack down the side of the road. From there we ... read more

Thursday, August 30th Today we celebrated Brent’s 33rd Birthday! Our first stop on the Mediterranean cruise was at the birthplace of the Godfather…that’s right, Don Corleone’s homeland, Sicily. Sicily is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is home to over five million people and noted for producing agricultural products like grain, oranges, lemons, olives, olive oil, almonds, and wine. Our tour took us through the countryside to the small town of Alia. Perched on the southern hillside of the Palermo province, eexperiencing rural Sicilian life is easy here because this old agricultural town provides a genuine glimpse into the Sicily of old. Here, sheltered by the towering Madonie Mountains, the locals still rely on cattle farming and olive-growing for their livelihoods. As a result, the landscapes are a ... read more