Italy Day 3, Thursday, October 6, Rome to Pieve and Chianciano After the Hotel Albani’s elaborate breakfast offerings of eggs, ham, bacon, cheeses, yogurts, breads, pastries, fruit of all kinds, cereals and delicious coffees we chose our selections and prepared for the rainy travel day ahead. Our original party of four, Donna, John, my husband Dave and I settled into our seats on the bus along with 27 other Grand Circle tourists and watched Rome with its unique orange colored stone buildings pass away on our journey north to Tuscany. The color of stone used in buildings throughout Italy is as unique to the area as the landscape they sit on. Elegant and tall Maritime Pines punctuated the urban landscape. These tall stately pines with their dark green umbrella tops are as much a part of ... read more

10/22/15 Little River, Mendocino, Fort Bragg, Benbow Inn, Garberville Dave and I missed the allegedly spectacular meteor shower in the night at Heritage House in Little River because we were too tired to stay up until 3AM. We didn’t lose any sleep over it. We later heard that the weather was too cloudy and we wouldn’t have been able to see much anyway. We woke to a chilly morning with brilliant blue skies promising to be a gorgeous day. Wanting to enjoy as much as we could of the luxury resort we first enjoyed our coffee in front a our fireplace and then spent about an hour walking to the cliff and gazebo enjoying the ambiance and as we tried to figure out where the various movie sets were located over the resort’s 37 acres. Since ... read more

Our trip began the first week of October, 2015 in San Diego, CA.Two months before our departure my husband had a serious fall that resulted in brain surgery. Six days before we left I had knee surgery. It was time for a vacation! We flew into San Diego to share in the joy of my nephew’s wedding on Sunday, October 11. My husband, sister, her husband and I enjoyed our first Airbnb in Ocean Beach (OB), a quiet little town easily accessible to beaches and the city of San Diego, without the hassle of parking and driving congestion in the city. This began the first week of my husband’s and my three week long coastal California vacation. 10/8/15 Day 1 Ocean Beach and San Diego, California On our first night we all decided to drive into ... read more

October 6 Our last day in the Telluride area. We drove down from Sawpit Mesa into Telluride for lunch at the Butcher & Baker Cafe. This place is always busy with locals and that, to me, is a sign of good food. We have eaten in many restaurants in Telluride but this one remains a favorite for good simple food, organic and fresh, with local veg, home baked breads and soups and especially yummy small plates and sides. We sat inside but there is outside seating with that fabulous Telluride view on Main Street. We return to eat here every time we visit Telluride. Dave and I had the privilege of babysitting my one-year-old birthday boy, so we took advantage of the free gondola for a ride up to Mountain Village. Afterwards we walked over to ... read more

October 3, 2014 After a couple of days of hiking and birthday celebrations on Sawpit Mesa we all drove down into the tiny canyon town of Telluride to the wonderful Farmer’s Market. Telluride is a historic Victorian mining town set in a box canyon with echoes of gold, lead, copper and silver mines and cowboys, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (who began his career robbing the San Miguel Valley Bank), and of course Indians. The Native American Ute tribe lived in this area long before the miners and cowboys arrived in the mid 1800s and many Ute still live in the area. Over the years, mining took its toll with men working at challenging elevations of between 10,000 and 12,000 feet, harsh weather conditions, dangerous roads and substandard housing. After the mines closed a ... read more