Ranch Activity

Hi All! So, here's the schedule for the next several weeks so get out your calendars... Up to ranch Thursday pm, taking a couple (few) horses for the summer. Time to fix fences, get the water ready, etc etc. We will return Sunday afternoon at the earliest, maybe not 'til a bit later in the week. It will be Lynn and I and Autie and maybe Mark Jr, plus Justice and HotShot and maybe Forrest. The Next Sunday am : head for Carlsbad CA! I have Ash/Paul and family logged Sunday to at least Thursday, Erica Thursday to Sunday. We will have a ton of fun. Hoping to meet up with my "kid" brother and favorite Sister-in-Law sometime in there!! Remmber, it is a 3 bedroom! The next week :-( I have to work. Ugh. But, Then, back to the ranch! Then it will be time to think about the 4th of July! As always, any and All are Welcome at any time, anywhere!! Love, Dad

Memorial Day

Little barbecue @ Jeff and Erica's. I'm pretty sure I'm related to almost all of these pretty girls! But an old friend snuck in there too.
Happy Memorial Day; Remember those who have their lives for us.
Dad

Leaving.

Sad to say, last night.  But, One or two last beers,  the Red Light district, Amsterdam. Fun place!
Arrive Phx about 3:30 pm tomorrow.. Can someone come get us? Delta.
Live to all, Dad

Connected by DROID on Verizon Wireless

Howdy!

Greetings from Amsterdam! Bad news, have to come home tomorrow! Need to pack.
Hoping we can get a ride home to EJ's?
Www.flightaware.com..
Delta # 259 to MN, then # 899 to% Phx.  Lvg Amsterdam 10:30 or so.
Arr about 3:30 I think!
What a great trip!
Lots of pics to share.
See you soon! Love, Dad

Ste. Michelle

A lonely empty fireplace...I remember a little blond girl cavort ing around in here once! 33 yrs ago or so...

Dinner

Off the boat for dinner in St. Malo! Yum!

A lunch in England

Fish and Chips in my new hat!

Dinner

Typical dinner on the ship. Good has been amazing.

Le Mont Ste Michel

Having a wonderful journey..lunch here on a tour.
More later! Love, Dad

Howdy!

Greetings, this time from the middle of the English Channel, heading for the French coast.

 Last night we Were to have sailed to the Isles of Scilly, but the weather was bad and we diverted to a charming little old British sea port called Falmouth. We didn't take any tours there per se, but had a great time walking around the town, doing a little shopping (I bought a cool British hat, Lynn got a sweater and neck wrap). It rained and was cool and overcast but I figure we will really miss that when we get home! Had some Great fish and chips and a tasty local beer in one of the little pubs overlooking the harbor. Was a great day, and now we are on the high seas again! Tonight it's a little rocky...

 Tomorrow we arrive in St. Malo, on the French coast. We have all day in France, don't have to get back to the ship until 11 pm! Yea! We are going to take the tour of Mont Ste. Michel. Inger, do you have any memories of that?? You were There, climbing around the walls and up and down the stairs. I have a picture of you somewhere next to a huge fireplace...age 6 or 7.

 Looking forward to some local French lunches and even a dinner tomorrow night.

 Tomorrow night is Lynn and my 6 mo anniversary...oh I can hear you now, "sheeesh Dad, what are you, 17?"

 We are having a great time;

 I wish I could send a photo along with my Droid now and then but I can't get that contraption to work on this boat.

 Lynn has some photos she has taken, will email them to me, and I will try to forward them and see if that works.

Love to All, DAD

 

Travel

Greetings from the middle of the English Channel, en route to Waterford! The trip over was typical, long, tiring, but we made it fine. We are in fact quite impressed with ourselves with the first days in fact... Landed in Paris, found our luggage, found a taxi, and satifactorily told him that we wanted to get to St. Lazare train station. Made it there w/o difficulty, paid the 55 Euros, and went in. At the station we could NOT just go to a kiosk and get our tickets, like the pre-paid voucher said we could. No, we had to go stand in a French line with the rest of Nigeria and India and Pakistan and wait. Once at the counter it was a simple matter, just stamp something (the French are big on stamping things) and we got our tickets. We then found the train, got on, found some seats, and away we went! Arriving at Rouen we satisfactory got off the train, schlepping our baggage around, and found our rental car. In Rouen, people don't speak English too well but it worked! We then studied a map, and took off. Actually, it went ok. I tried to find the square where Joan de 'Arc was burned, but got a little lost in a parking garage, went the wrong way, so got frustrated and just left. Then started the trip out of Rouen and headed for Asnieres le Bissen, a farmhouse in Normandy, about 2.5 hours away. We passed Caen, passed Caen, and kept on going...at dark...in the rain...and fairly tired tired. We found our B and B, got settled, passed out. The next day we got up early, had breakfast, and headed out on the most fantastic guided tour of Omaha and Utah beach sites I could imagine. We saw exact locales where this happened and that happened, and it was amazing. St Mere Eglise courtyard where the parachutist got hung up and witnessed his whole platoon get annihilated below, etc. Have lots of pics of the countryside, houses, little lanes, bunkers, and I hope you will let us enjoy them again with you guys. The tour guide was truly excellent with lots of first hand knowledge by growing up in the area, speaking with veterans as they returned over the years, etc. We said our good bys after a wonderful dinner in a little cafe by the sea in GrandCamp, close to Omaha Beach; what a meal that night. Anyway, on the way to Rouen we stopped by Bayeau and drove into the museaum of the Bayeaux Tapestry. I've always loved that story and they have done a great job with the display of this 1000 year old piece of tapestry depicting the story of William of Normandy and how he became William the Congueror,King of England. We then made it successfully back to Rouen, checked in the car, caught another taxi, and made the ship! We found Nick and Judy Montalto in fine shape, and we have a great time since. This is our second night on board. The first day we just completed, by crossing the Channel, mooring in Portsmouth England, and getting on a bus to visit Stonehenge. That's another place I've always loved to visit. We've spent the first two evenings on board by going to a couple of excellent live shows, enjoying fantastic food, and dancing and laughing. We have such a good time so far. We are en route to Ireland!! We will stop in a port clase to Waterford and a tour awaits there, but I think we will just take a bus into town and explore on our own. Thinking of you all at home, hoping things are ok! Be in touch..can't exactly get my Droid up and running to do email with all the firewalls etc so while I wish I could send a pic or two via phone email, can't get it done. But I've got some cute ones...Lynn is having a great time as well; her head is on a swivel and it's so good to experience these things with her. Love to all, DAD

Made it to Minn!

Fine dining in the MN airport...but next stop, Paris!

Connected by DROID on Verizon Wireless

Travel

Well, Greetings to all: After a hiatus, I think once again I am ready to get up and running on this blog again. If anyone does not want the info, then either 1)delete it, or 2)just let me know (kindly as possible that you no longer care about my life here in Arizona) and I can get your email off the blog. Welcome Rich Flynn who is nosey enough to enjoy the gossip and is hoping to gain info about cabin schedules so he can come up too. Actually, that would be fantastic. This is a dry run...I am going on a trip, far far away, and will be gone about 2 1/2 weeks total. My plan is to use this as a kind of travel log and to let you know where we are, what we are doing, etc. Jeff Could try again to call me and ask for Erica's hand in marriage....didn't work out the first time in Germany over a year ago. I'm going to try again to use my phone/direct email to publish something later on. If it works, you'll even get the occ pic! Love to all, Dad