This was a family vacation to Costa Rica. We swam, tried to surf, zip lined, went horseback riding and had great relaxing time. Family time like this hadn´t happened during the last ten years due to life! Aaron flew in from New York and Mary, Marc and I from Portland. I still remember Mary's face when she stepped off the zip line platform for the first time, fear followed by pure exhiliration. We also recieved a scare after telling locals how we waded into a creek and thier amazement that we had not seen alligators! We stayed up till 3 in the morning hoping to see the giant turtles come out of the ocean to lay eggs. The next morning Marc showed us their tracks in the sand. We probably missed them by a short time. ... read more

We visited Foundiougne Senegal to see our son, Aaron, a volunteer in the Peace Corps. This was our first trip to West Africa and what an experience! We stayed in the Billboa campamount and had a private bath with a shower. The beds were hard but we slept well. The food they provided was great. It is truly amazing what they can do with such little resources. We took trips to Kaolack, the only ATM in the area and this is a cash society. We also took a piroque trip down the Foundgioune river to where it empties into the Atlantic. The mouth of the river is approximately 3 to 4 miles wide and reminded us of the Columbia River. This was a very memorable trip, especially when we think back about the lack of safety ... read more

We left Sienna after 2 weeks of language school. We learned but are by no means fluent or conversational! From Siena we went to Lastra a Signa, a small town 15 minutes outside of Florence. we rented an apartment for the next 5 weeks. The family renting this apartment to us, well, we and were theie first renters so they went overboard in helping us. They took us on a day trip with them to their beach house in a small town about 1-1/2 hour by car. There were no tourist here, just the Italians. We took lots of day trips on our own to Lucca, Pisa and of course Firenze which was only a 15 min train ride from Lastra Signa. The real highlight of our time here was having Aaron joine us for 2 ... read more