Preparing for a Pilgrimage

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01 – Preparing to Pilgrimage

It's time to pack up the suitcases and head out to explore another part of the world. This time we're going on a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. We're also being joined on this trip by my sister Erin and her husband Dennis. I (Sharon) am writing this introduction but we've all agreed that John will be responsible for writing the blog entries though he'll now have 3 people to help with editing it. So time to turn it over to John for the first entry. Hope you’ll follow along with us.

On Monday morning we'll attend a mass with the group before boarding a bus and heading to Chicago for our flight to Istanbul and on to Tel Aviv. Erin and Dennis are flying over separately since they don’t live in the area so we’ll meet them when we arrive on Tuesday. We’ve been promised box lunches on the journey, but we have plans to take some of our left-over turkey courtesy of Der Dutchman Amish Restaurant of Columbus which we visited last Tuesday. And of course, this being a “Road Trip” starting out, we’ll be taking along some Pepperidge Farms Chessman and Double Chocolate Milanos for snacking. Sharon’s mother got us started on those when we drove her to Chicago a couple of years ago so she could get a direct flight home. And we’re also bringing along some of the Buckeye’s that we helped make for the St. Vincent de Paul Society as part of the annual fundraising to support the Christmas Gift Fair for families helped by this group during the year. We’ll miss helping out with the Gift Fair this year since it’s being held the day we fly home. We've brought enough buckeyes for everyone on our bus (there will be two buses heading to Chicago).

St. George’s Travel of San Diego is the organizer of the pilgrimage, and have been doing similar trips for over twenty-five years. Our friends Sebastian and Debbie did a similar trip through them two years ago and had a marvelous time. We’re both looking forward to this twelve day trip. A couple of weeks ago, we had a dinner at a Catholic church in Cincinnati, and had the opportunity to meet, sing and dine with many of our fellow travelers, who were segregated into “Blue” and “Green” groups, significant for the buses we will ride in the Holy Land (but not for our trip to Chicago). Our fellow pilgrims include the Archbishop of Cincinnati. Joining us in the Holy Land will be our tour guides who are Franciscan Monks. And we will also be joined by our own liturgist. Based on the prayer service I think she actually expects us to sing. The catered dinner they prepared for us was quite good, including roast beef and chicken cordon bleu. Nonetheless, we will be having a nice farewell dinner of our own featuring “’Marican Food” at Fleming’s’. Prior to our China trip, our farewell dinner wound up being at a less than palatable burger/pizza joint. Instead of burgers and soggy French fries, we plan to enjoy either filet mignon or prime rib. Sharon is somewhat concerned about dining on Mediterranean cuisine, and will bring her stand-by Ritz’s Peanut Butter Crackers that sustained her from Shanghai to Beijing; but, thinks she will be okay with the chicken, lamb and beef dishes that she hopes to eat.

We’re still trying to figure out how many light weight and heavier shirts to take but so far the weather looks like it should be in the 60’s which is warmer than the 30’s we’ve had here for the past couple of weeks. It’s also been suggested we read one of the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles before the trip to prepare spiritually. I’m sure Sharon will.

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Comments

[Penny Grimes]

Bon voyage
I'm a few days late in looking at the blog, but am excited for you guys.Let me know about the music you hear on your trip.