Geo: 40.4167, -3.70327Iberia! Monday, September 26, 2016DAY ONEPatrick and I headed to Madrid today, with our ultimate destination being Lisbon. We were meeting up with trip buddies Barcy Fox, formerly of St. Louis and many other places, including Memphis and Boston, and currently of Santa Fe. Anne Leverone, our other companion, is formerly of Cincinnati and St. Louis, currently of Douglas, MI and St. Paul, MN (believe it or not, she actually winters in St. Paul but I don't need to go there). I just have this to say: we have been friends since college and I've never visited her Minnesota home. Why visit her for the Winter Ice Festival when she has a lovely home right near Saugatuck on Lake Michigan?The four of us travel well together ... Alaska ... Africa ... South American, to ... read more

Geo: 40.7528, -73.9853DAY FOUR"Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story"9/11 Memorial/MuseumUPDATE: I think I jumped the gun using "Blow Us All Away" for yesterday's headline. Tonight there was a bombing in New York's Chelsea district, near Little Italy, not far from Subway Line “R” which we took north early evening. The explosion went off about 8:30; 29 people were injured. Several other “pressure cooker” bombs were found in the area. Thanks for all who inquired as to our safety. We are just fine. Perhaps because we are safe and sound, it didn't seem like that big a deal. We're tourists you know. The New Yorkers seem on edge. 9/11 MemorialThis morning we took the subway downtown to the 9/11 Museum/Memorial. We looked like a bunch of rubes trying to figure out our subway path... read more

Geo: 40.7528, -73.9853DAY TWOThursday, September 15, 2016We are pushing ourselves to the limit. I love that about us. We arose at 5:30 to dress, walk to the subway stop and ride uptown to the Live with Kelly show at ABC Studios in Lincoln Center.Our first experience was a little off-putting. We headed down the subway stairs to find a presumably homeless man sleeping at the base of the stairs. When he saw the six of us dressed up to be in Kelly's live audience, he yelled, "It's the Golden Girls!" He called us by name … Dorothy, Sophia, Blanche, Rose, etc. We tried to ignore him and headed quickly to the machine which would issue us our subway tickets. But clearly we didn't know what we were doing. The Golden Girls narrator took pity on us, ... read more

Geo: 38.5776, -90.4245My sister (Debby Fleming Wurdack), four other friends (Siobhan Brace, Kathy Leach, Kathryn Snodgrass, Nancy Pautler) and I are headed next week to New York City for a girls' weekend to celebrate Kathy's 60th birthday. We have tickets to "Hamilton: An American Musical" -- winner of the 2016 Tony Award for best musical. I am beyond excited.Ever since we purchased tickets for the musical last January, I have become obsessed. I read the biography by Ron Chernow. I read creator Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Hamilton, a Revolution." I have purchased two Hamilton tee shirts. I own the soundtrack and have listened to it endlessly. I have delved into YouTube and watched 100's of clips ... interviews, show footage, other groups' covers of the most melodic songs (Musicality being my favorite group). Don't miss Charlie Rose's many ... read more

Geo: 45.013, -62.0983Day 10Our weather good luck charm gave out this morning. It was rainy and foggy. The first several hours of our bus ride, we could see very little. Allison said she has had entire tours do the Cabot Trail (our day yesterday) where she would have to say, "If there weren't fog here, you would be seeing a magnificent view of the water." Luckily for us, our scheduled sights today were not those of Mother Nature.Our first stop was The Gaelic College in St. Ann's. It is a Scottish Gaelic school that operates just in summer. Kilt making. Bag piping. Step dancing. And many other classes designed to help revitalize the Cape Breton culture. The culture is especially strong here because of the island's isolation. For decades, there wasn't even a bridge to the ... read more