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Published: December 23rd 2023
Happy Holidays!
Seems especially important this year to think about acceptance of others - not only their faiths, but lifestyle choices as well. Ours is not to judge, but to love all mankind, warts and all. THEN GO BACK TO THE BLOG OR GO THROUGH THE 46 PHOTOS IN THAT ENLARGED FORMAT - CLICK ON 'NEXT' OR 'PREVIOUS' OR ON A NUMBER BENEATH THE PHOTOS. I PUT LOTS OF INFORMATION IN THE PHOTO CAPTIONS SO YOU CAN SKIP THE NARRATIVE, JUST LOOK AT THE ENLARGED PHOTOS AND CAPTIONS AND YOU'LL STILL GET MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU EVER WANTED. TO RETURN TO THE BLOG ENTRY, CLICK YOUR BACK BUTTON OR ON THE NAME OF THE BLOG - BELOW THE NUMBERS ON THE LEFT.
As you have probably figured out, these travel blogs are a way for Bernard and me to keep track of our adventures. I can't tell you how many times we've referred to one of our over 80 travel blogs looking for various details, maps, dates, etc. That said, feel free to enjoy the photos and just skim or ignore the text.
Happy Holidays and a Very Happy New Year
For this holiday blog, you can most CERTAINLY just look at the photos - way too much info for most of you, but this is our way
Meow Wolf
While in Santa Fe with Mara & Larry we went to Meow Wolf - hard to describe this crazy fun house; what a hoot! of 'journaling' and keeping track of our yearly comings and goings.
2023 Recap and Photos January 6 - 9 Santa Fe, New Mexico Good friends **
Mara & Larry from El Paso met us in Santa Fe for a long weekend. We had a nice Airbnb reserved and stayed one night before the sewer backed up into the bathtub. The hosts put us up in a hotel for 2 more nights, but it wasn't the same. No huge NY Times crossword puzzle spread out in the kitchen for communal contributions, indeed no kitchen, no living room to enjoy movies and snacks. Having said that, Santa Fe was, as always, wonderful - art, food, architecture, but most of all time spent with good friends.
**Met Mara & Larry in Leiden, The Netherlands in 2001 where Larry, a professor at the University of Texas, El Paso, was taking a year's sabbatical and Bernard was doing a master's program in Public International Law at the University of Leiden.
January 12 - 16 San Diego, California Met life-long friends **
Stuart and Susan (Seattle) in San Diego. Stuart
San Diego
Susan, Stuart, Kathy & Bernie in San Diego, California was looking for an all electric vehicle and San Diego had the new BMW and Mercedes models. We booked an Airbnb house near the center of SD and met Stuart & Susan for a long weekend of food and car shopping. Stuart did not find what he wanted; later bought an BMW SUV EV in Seattle. We drove it when visiting in October - what an amazing vehicle!!
**Bernie was in Stuart & Susan's wedding party in Texas in 1970; B & Stu had gone to Georgetown Law together.
January 29 - Feb. 1 Bernie to Colorado Springs, Colorado Bernard is still lecturing at the Air Force Academy in CO Springs once a year. Good friend
Chad, a professor at the Academy, and Bernie prepare the Air Force teams who are studying to participate in various International Humanitarian Law competitions (Pictet - this year in Nepal - and in San Remo, Italy). I've accompanied Bernie on several occasions, but have decided that Colorado in the winter is to be avoided these days. Yep, getting soft - don't 'do' below freezing anymore.
January 29 - February 7 - JJ Sister Donna, et al.
Friend Susan, Larry & Donna, their grandson Michael w/wife Elizabeth, Bernardo & Kathy in Tucson in February in AZ
As is her wont,
JJ came to Arizona for the Gem Show, her birthday and a trip over the border for dental work. Good times, good times, well, maybe not the dental work.
February. Don't have the exact dates, but my sister
Donna with husband Larry (Alaska) did their annual 'drive through' Arizona in their RV. They typically stop for a week or two. Their grandson,
Michael, and wife Elizabeth, live in Tucson now, so even more reason to have a prolonged stay in southern Arizona. In 2024 I think they are planning to spent three months here.
February 23 - March 4 Bernie in Albania, AGAIN
I didn't accompany Bernie to Albania this year for the 40th Edition of the Jean-Pictet International Humanitarian Law competition held in Durres, Albania. I had worked the Pictet competition in Albania in 2021. Truly, nobody needs to go to Albania **twice, at least not when you've done it as thoroughly as we had. After the competition in 2021, we toured for three weeks in Montenegro and Kosovo, in addition to most of Albania. See:
http://www.travelblog.org/fred.php?id=1064016 Albania/Montenegro/Kosovo Nov.
Bernie in Albania
Durres in Albania is a lovely seaside town. This was the third Jean-Pictet IHL Competition to take place in Albania and B was at all of them. I was there in 2021 - Dec. 2021
**Bernie has worked the Jean-Pictet IHL Competition in Albania THREE times!
In 2022 Bernie got COVID while in Albania. They were still requiring COVID tests before flying and so B had to wait until he tested negative before he could fly home. He had to get a hotel in the capital, Tirana. A friend from Pictet and his wife who live in Tirana took good care of B - they ate all their meals to gather, got him to and from the lab for his COVID tests and when he finally tested negative, to the airport. In the end, B was only delayed getting home about 2 days.
March 12 - 14 Mara & Larry in Tucson March is a great month to visit Tucson and Mara & Larry took advantage of that for a long weekend - we do this frequently; they come here or we visit them in El Paso. Didn't do anything special, just spent time with dear friends, nice walks, good restaurants.
March 17 - 20 Bernie @Clara Barton D.C. Bernie is still working with
Bike & Barge Italy Trip
My sister MaryJean and husband Buzz have done half a dozen bike and barge trips, so were our 'guides' for this trip that began in Venice and ended in Montova/Mantua, Italy. Friend Susan from Tucson rode also. the Clara Barton International Humanitarian Law Competition that takes place in D.C. every year. It is patterned on the Jean-Pictet IHL Competition, but is only for the Americas; Pictet is truly international with, frequently, teams from every continent represented. This year Mexico, Canada and Brazil participated in the Clara Barton competition, so it continues to grow.
April 12 - 23 Bike & Barge Italy
My sister
MaryJean and husband Buzz have done many bike and barge trips in Europe, so they were our mentors for this wonderful week-long trip. We and friend
Susan were thrilled with the trip MaryJean and Buzz put together. We started in
Venice and ended in
Mantova/Mantua, Italy.
Each day we ate breakfast, then assembled our own picnic lunches (fresh breads, meats, cheeses, veggies and fruit provided). The crew would unload or help us unload the bikes and, with a guide, we'd head out for the day. Most days it was pretty easy riding, but we did have one 50 mile day that was killer.
We'd ride all morning, stopping for espresso (it was Italy after all) and sweets mid-morning, then a
Bike & Barge Italy
Good friend Susan Mejia joined us on this trip in Italy. The weather was generally sunny, but we did have one day of rain which enabled Susan and I to wear our rain gear and look like meat packers picnic lunch before riding back to the barge. Showers, drinks and dinner on the barge before we all fell into bed exhausted only to get up and repeat the routine for five more days. The barge usually sailed at night, so we'd wake up to start our ride in a new location. Pretty sweet deal!
Our barge, the Ava Maria, was comfortable and had excellent chefs. Every night was a gourmet meal with food from the region we were currently in - no Parmesan cheese when we were in Gran Padano country that was for sure. Dinners were three-course events with the chefs explaining each dish to us before we dug in. Excellent local wine was plentiful, the other guests (total of 25) delightful and from all over the world. A GREAT trip. If you are interested in more photos and info, take look at my Google photo album:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4vpRsqSsVdthPGd88 In late April JJ returned to Tucson for a quick trip to Nogales, Mexico for her final appointment affixing the 'tooth' to the post she'd had implanted in February. Turns out the post has to 'settle' for a while before the dentist can put the fabricated
Leiden, the Netherlands
Professor Fisher's wife, Renata with Bernie at Horst's retirement celebration. Renata and I were good friends as I saw her at her home twice a week when giving English lessons to her two daughters - did that for two years when living in Bochum, Germany tooth on it.
May 17 - 25 Bernard in Germany & The Netherlands This was Bernie's last year teaching at the University of Viadrina in Frankfurt on Oder, Germany on the Polish border - he has been affiliated with Viadrina for over ten years. Bernie suggested good friend and professor at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Spring,
Chad, take over the teaching position and the university agreed. This year Bernie and Chad taught together so B could show Chad the ropes, but next year Chad is on his own. Bernie is still reviewing and supervising students' theses, which he can do remotely, but won't be physically teaching in Germany anymore.
Bernard flew from Germany to The Netherlands after his teaching to take part in the retirement celebration for
Professor Fischer, Bernie's mentor and PhD supervisor. Many old friends were there as well - sorry I missed it.
June 5 - 8 Temecula for 40th Anniversary. We'd been trying to go up in a hot air balloon for ages - tried numerous times in South Africa, but the weather was never favorable. We finally succeeded
Temecula Balloon
We had the best time in Temecula - not only the balloon ride, but the food and wine were amazing on our 40th wedding anniversary in Temecula, California - turns out it is always good balloon weather in Temecula. Who knew? We stayed at a lovely winery where my sister MaryJean and JJ had arranged an upgrade for us to a fabulous suite.
As is usual in wine country, the restaurants were amazing - too many wonderful places to eat, but we gave it the old college try.
June is so hot in Tucson, so nice, cool Temecula was a delight.
June 26 - July 3 Kathy in Hospital with Collapsed Lung (aka Pneumothorax) After having surgery in 2021 that was to stop any future lung collapses/pneumothoraxes (I'd had **3 by then), it was a major disappointment when it happened again. I spent eight days in the hospital with a tube in my lung removing the air around the lung that was 'collapsing' it. At the end of eight days I still had as small pneumothorax in the bottom of my left lung that they couldn't 'resolve.' Long story short, after months of the pneumothorax not resolving itself (that was the hope) and discussions with numerous thoracic surgeons,
Temecula, CA
A fellow balloon passenger took this shot of us up, up and away over Temecula,CA I was scheduled for surgery in October.
**They think that when I had a growth spurt as a teen (grew 6 inches in one summer) that caused blebs, air pockets, to form on my lungs. When the blebs pop for whatever reason, they cause a pneumothorax.
July 20 - 29 Bernard, et al. in South Africa. Because of my unresolved lung issue, I couldn't take part in the
Alaska Reunion for which I'd done most of the planning.
Bernie, daughter JJ, nieces Denise & Colleen with daughters McKayla and Jonna joined our exchange student daughters and their families in South Africa for a 30+ year reunion
: From Argentina/Florida, Marcela with husband Tim and son Cal; from Argentina/Spain, Marcela's twin Victoria; from Guatemala, Jaqueline; from Poland, Bernie's cousin Marysia and significant other (of 30 years) Maciek; from Brazil, Camila with daughters Bia and Mika and sons Gui and Felipe. There were 18 in total.
Coming from all over the world, the 18 adventurers met in Johannesburg. Bernie, Marcela and family arrived several days late because of weather in Atlanta that delayed their flight to Jo’burg. Eventually they were put on a
South Africa/Kruger National Park/Alaska Reunion
Start of a sunset drive in Kruger - the whole gang: Victoria, Jaqueline, Marcela, McKayla, JJ, Colleen, Bernie w/Jonna in front, Tim, Cal, Maciek, Gui, Camie, Denise, Felipe, Marysia w/Mika in front and Bia on end flight to Ethiopia and finally to Jo'burg, but all arrived without luggage and didn't see it for a week. They were reunited with the bags at the airport in Jo'burg after their stay in Kruger National park, but before most of them flew to Cape Town.
We'd booked two big guest houses in Kruger, which accommodated the whole crew nicely. They had two vans and a car for their game viewing outings in Kruger where they saw everything, including the Big Five: lion, leopard, rhino, buffalo, elephants, plus LOTS of giraffes and kudos, our favorite antelope. Wisely, to maximize their experiences, they took advantage of the many ranger-led activities Kruger offers: morning and night drives, early morning walks and sunset drives, in addition to doing their own game-viewing outings.
After Kruger it was a long day's drive back to Jo'burg where Bernie flew home (had intended to go to Cape Town with the crew, but with me not being there . . .), Jacqueline flew back to Guatemala (had to work), and the rest of the crew flew to
Cape Town (actually stayed in
Stellenbosch, wine country, and did day trips to Cape Town, Simon's Town,
South Africa - Stellenbosch
The 'kids' - all the youngsters on the Alaska reunion trip in South Africa. Last part of the trip was spent in the Cape Town/Stellenbosch area etc.) for another five days.
The five young adults of the group bonded beautifully, which was one of the goals of the trip, and are already planning more international adventures together. Makes our hearts VERY happy.
August 19 - 27 Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado and Other Camping With B in South Africa I'd been going stir-crazy, so soon after he returned we loaded up the VW van and headed to the high, cool country in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. We stayed in a super nice National Forest campground (the national park camping was full) that was minutes away from the park entrance. The park is so busy in the summer that you have to get day passes in advance! Fortunately we knew that and I'd gotten our passes on-line before arrival. We spent two days going in and out of the park and doing short, easy hikes. I still had an 'unresolved' pneumothorax, so at that altitude (from 8,000 feet/2,400+ meters to 12,000 feet/3,600+ meters), I was being careful not to over-tax my lung. It was a great visit.
From RMNP we were headed
Maureen w/Eleanor & Claudia
Bernie's sister's best friend, Maureen (front and center) passed away unexpectedly in September, so we flew to New Jersey for the funeral. Sad time for everyone. to The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park for more camping when we had an auxiliary battery issue. I was driving and the driver's seat was getting super hot. We pulled over to check it out. Under the seat was the auxiliary battery for running lights, etc., when the van is shut off. It was radiating so much heat! We were near Grand Junction, so located a VW dealership. We went in with no expectations of getting the issue fixed as it typically takes months to get an appointment. We simply wanted them to disconnect the battery as it was positioned so you needed to remove the driver's seat to do so. As luck would have it, they had a guy who worked on vans, he was available and they had a replacement auxiliary battery for us - what were the odds!!! We were lucky in many ways. The mechanic said that the battery was bulging and on the verge of exploding!! Said if that had happened, we would have almost undoubtedly been sprayed with battery acid. Okay, that doesn't sound good.
September 8 - 10. New Jersey Claudia, Bernie's sister, lost her
very best friend, Maureen, unexpectedly. Maureen and Claudia were friends from high school, spoke to each other every day for many years and eventually, after Claudia's Charlie died, lived in the same building. They were truly sisters by choice and their families were close as well. All seven of Claudia's children were at the funeral; several flying from North Carolina and Florida to say goodbye to their Aunt Mo.
October 12 - 17 Alicia & Ben’s Wedding Seattle Daughter of aforementioned good friends Mara & Larry, Alicia, married her soulmate, Ben, in Seattle on October 14. It was a delightful event and we were honored to be invited. We also got to see their son Josh, wife Lauren and their new daughter, Roz. We'd attended Josh and Lauren's wedding on October 14 two years earlier in Austin.
Friends Stuart & Susan were not in town, but we stayed in their 37th floor apartment above Pike Place Market. Wow, what a great location with spectacular views. While there we had great-niece Elise, who is going to UW, meet us in the apartment before we took her to dinner.
October Bernie & Elise
Great-niece Elise visited us in Stuart and Susan's Seattle apartment in October. Views over the city, the water and Pike Place Market from the 37th floor were stupendous 19 - 22 Surgery Banner - Medical University Hospital Tucson.
On October 19 I had a mechanical pleurodesis - stuck my left lung to my chest wall. The chemical pleurodesis that I'd had in 2021 hadn't worked, so this was a more drastic approach. I was in the hospital for four days. BTW: At my last visit with my pulmonologist I asked what the odds were that this mechanical pleurodesis might not work. At first he said that was a question for my surgeon, then he thought long and hard and said, "In all my years as a doctor I've never known one the fail." That sounds good!
October 27 - 31 Back in Banner with Small Pneumothorax I was in the hospital four days and sooooo ready to get out, but I feared not all was well when the surgeon ordered me to have a follow-up x-ray a few days after I got out of the hospital, then another a few days later. When they called and asked me to come in, I knew something wasn't right. The very lower part of my lung had not attached sufficiently; I had
Washington State, Thanksgiving
Grandson Evan, Bernie, JJ & Chris on Thanksgiving day in Bellevue after dinner at Wild Ginger a small pneumothorax. You can imagine my disappointment! The docs recommended I go back into the hospital where they could insert a tube to remove the air and get that part of the lung to stick securely. I, naturally, didn't want to do it, entertained 'living with it' as they said I might be able to. Then the young surgeon said, 'You've already had the surgery; there is a good chance we can get that small bit of your lung to stick." But the kicker was when he said, "If you were my mom, I'd highly recommend the procedure." So, within a couple of hours I was back in the hospital.
No details, just to say I spent 26 hours in the emergency room before a bed in the thoracic unit was available (THAT was a horror show). Once in my big, beautiful, private room waiting out the four days with the chest tube wasn't too horrible. However, not being 'sick,' it is a mental challenge to be tethered via a tube to a bed; have limited movement and have to sleep elevated and only on your back. The good news is that it worked, my lung
Washington State, Thanksgiving
Kathy, JJ & Christina in Bellevue on Thanksgiving day has adhered, I'm breathing normally, back to normal activities. No restrictions on flying. Both my thoracic surgeon and pulmonologist said, 'I don't want to see you again." Feeling is 100%!m(MISSING)utual.
November 21 - 27 Edmonds & Whidbey Island, Washington
We drove (three days) to Washington State for Thanksgiving with our daughters, grandson and my sister MaryJean and family. It was only the third time in recorded history that it didn't rain that week in the Seattle area. It was sunny, but cold.
We spent four days in Edmonds; daughter
Christina lives very close-by in Shoreline - north Seattle. Chris's ex-husband Mark was visiting for the week and staying in her house, so we got an Airbnb and Chris stayed with us and
JJ, with
Evan coming and going. Worked out well.
Thanksgiving was a bit different in that we had our big family get together on Whidbey Island the Sunday after Thanksgiving - lots of reasons and it worked out well. On Thanksgiving day our core family had dinner at Wild Ginger in Bellevue - wonderful! We all love Asian food and knew we'd be having
Evan & Chris
Whidbey Island for Thanksgiving - fabulous Airbnb w/amazing views the whole turkey dinner on Sunday, so this great restaurant was a unanimous choice for just us. BTW: Evan, who turned 18 on 11/20 is a great cook and total Foodie, so he got lots of ideas from the meal.
We did a very small birthday 'thing' for Evan and Chris, whose birthday was 11/27. For his birthday MaryJean got Evan an Indian cook book and spices and JJ got him a nice set of chef's knives.
Evan graduates high school this year and is thinking of taking a Gap year to work in the restaurant business and see if it is to his liking. He might be heading to culinary school, or perhaps something else. We think it a good idea for Evan to take this time to experiment, get some experience, get a better handle on what he might like to study, at university or elsewhere.
The Airbnb on Whidbey was beautiful with a huge yard slopping down to a cliff - fabulous ocean views. JJ and friend
Mark from Alaska had brought king crab legs for the appetizer - outstanding!! MaryJean and Buzz had schlepped EVERYTHING from Olympia
Thanksgiving
The Whidbey Island Aibrnb had a great fire pit which we took maximum advantage of - turkey, turkey cooker, all the ingredients for the entire meal. How they managed to do it is beyond me - they didn't forget a thing. We all contributed something to the meal, but the lion's share of the planning and schlepping fell on MJ & Buzz . MJ & Buzz's son
Matt was there, but
girlfriend Sinead was in Ireland. Their son
Dan and wife Sally who live on Whidbey came, Christina and Evan drove over from Seattle - there were eleven of us.
November 27 MJ & Buzz's, Olympia, Washington We drove from Whidbey Island to Olympia to overnight with
MaryJean and Buzz before heading to a resort in Oregon. Not only had MaryJean & Buzz done everything for Thanksgiving, but they had decorated their home for Christmas BEFORE leaving for Whidbey Island - amazing.
November 28 - 30 Troutdale, Oregon, McMenamins at Edgefield McMenamins has numerous properties all over the Pacific Northwest. Edgefield is a restored depression-era work farm - lots of history, fun venue. Each room is named after someone who worked on the farm and their bio and history is somewhere in the
McMenemans Edgefield
Edgefield had a spa with a heated lazy river - we were on our way for a soak. The first time MaryJean and Buzz were there they thought they'd stumbled into some kind of cult because everyone was walking around in white robes. room. Our guy's info was actually written all over the walls.
There are several restaurants, a distillery, a pub, a wine cellar, a spa with a lazy river with thermal waters. In the game room Buzz and MJ taught to play shuffleboard and then beat the pants off of us. Good times, good times.
November 30 Jack & Sherri, Willow Creek, California
We headed out from McMenamins super early trying to out-run a snow storm - the sunny weather had come to an end and a 'pineapple express' aka river in the sky, was headed our way. We made it to friends Jack and Sherri in Willow Creek in the late afternoon where Sherri had a fabulous meal waiting.
In 2015 Jack, Sherri, Bernard and I spent three months traveling in a four-wheel drive vehicle around southern Africa (South Africa, Botswana & Namibia) mostly camping in remote places. We did stay at a few lodges along the way as a treat, but mostly we camped and cooked for ourselves. A fabulous adventure; we'd done a similar three-month camping trip with friends Ernie and Kaye in 2006.
Mexico - Valle de Guadelupe
Kathy & Linda at Las Nubes Vineyard in wine country near Ensenada, MX Obviously we've been in touch with Jack and Sherri over the years, but it had been a long time since we'd had a nice visit and catch-up with them. Unfortunately we only stayed one night as that snow storm was still threatening. We chose a route that we thought avoided the possibility of snow, but we did have a hairy 1/2 hour going through a mountain pass. Thankfully plows were out and we were able to get through pretty easily.
We spent a night in Carson City, Nevada and another in Yuma, Arizona before reaching Tucson on December 2.
December. 6 - 18 Linda MacMillan in Tucson Linda and her late husband, Tim, used to winter in Tucson, but Linda hadn't been back since Tim passed five years ago. It was a nice visit and Linda was an easy guest. We didn't do a whole lot of activities, just walking, shopping, mini-excursions around town. As I said, Linda was very familiar with Tucson, so no use 'showing her the sights' she already knew well.
December 10 - 13 Valle de Guadelupe, Mexico with Linda. Kathy, Bernie & Linda @Rosarito Sign
While staying in Valle de Guadeloupe, MX we visited both Rosarito and Ensenada We did a nice trip with Linda into Mexico, to the wine country around Ensenada. What can I say - good food, good wine, beautiful scenery. A lovely trip. Linda flew back to Anchorage on Dec. 18.
2024 Plans: End of January JJ arrives from Alaska and friend Becky from Hawaii too - for the Gem Show and JJ's birthday
February Bernard goes to the Air Force Academy once again
April 14 - May 7 we are in
Nepal and Bhutan. First part participating in another Jean-Pictet IHL Competition in Nepal, then touring a bit there before touring in Bhutan
July 24 to August 24 we are on a tour in
Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and that 2024 brings good cheer and prosperity. We also pray for cessation of the hostilities in the Middle East. Maybe naive to hope for a peace deal, but certainly we pray that diplomacy is given a chance - more talk and fewer deaths. We also pray the Israeli hostages are returned unharmed. We don't ask much, do we? 😊
Susan, Ronni & Kathy
The Van Gogh inter-active exhibit was wonderful. The 'boyz' were there too, just didn't want their photo taken Love & Peace, Kathy & Bernard
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Mark Epstein
non-member comment
Thanks for the update
I have to admit that I get tired just reading about all your travels and adventures. Where do you get all that energy? The good news about the pulmonary problems made my day. Best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous holiday season.