Something tells me its all happening at the Zoo

Happy Birthday to Grandma! And to celebrate, how about if we take all of the grandkids to the Zoo! Oh what fun! Well, actually, it was more fun than I expected. Despite the 100+ degree temperatures, losing Clara in the snakes and spiders and schlepping Eli and a 200 lb bag of water, pbjs and cheese in a "modern day" radio flyer that was a challenge for Grandpa to steer, we had a blast. We had John, Josh, Jasmine, Koree, Clara, Eli, Noelle, Rachel, Grandma Nee and Grandpa Walrus and Auntie (me :) ).
I especially loved the company of my niece, Noelle, who could really care less about the bears and the penguins, but is more interested in just walking around playing with the other kids.

Weekend at The Lake

What a great weekend! I had the pleasure of joining my Dad and step- mother along with other siblings and friends, at Bob and Judy's cabin in Bear Lake.

We had Dad, Kathy, Ben, Amy and Koree, me, Rachel and Noelle, Kati and her boyfriend Ben, Emily and Riley and his friend Ethan.

Grandpa Ted and Noelle, going for a stroll.

While in Bear Lake, we all went to the Pickleville Playhouse to see Pickleville's version of Pirates of the Caribbean. Better be careful, if you're the first to find the treasure you will be cursed with the heebee-geebees for the rest of your life!

What would time spent at the cabin be without a "it-will-only-be-a-one-hour-game" of Settlers of Catan? Three hours later...

Saturday we spent the day at the beach with David and BoDawn and their kids, Megan and her boyfriend Mike, Stephanie, Nathan and Matthew. Everybody was pretty sunburned by the end of the day, except for me, who slathered on the sunblock and looked like a ghost next to all the lobsters. Overall it was a fun day for everyone - Ben and Koree building sandcastles, Emily sunbathing in the lake

Riley and Ethan frolicing on the beach and Koree taking a joyride on the boat.

What happens at Bear Lake, stays at Bear Lake, NOT:

1. They're downstairs making mouth babies
2. Is she wearing two pairs of glasses?
3. Kati's an original Cindy Crawford, I mean, Betty Crocker
4. Anybody want anything for wood?
5. You drive way faster than my Dad!
6. Riley, there's a spider on your head!
7. LaBeau's Too - burn their own almonds and get their bananas right from the monkeys

Keepin' Cool on the 4th of July

On July 4th, the family got together for a barbeque at Grandma's house. Since it was 100+ degrees outside that day, Noelle, visiting from Boston, decided she needed to take a dip to cool down. So we filled up the tub with water and she jumped in. It wasn't long before more than just the tub was full... Fun for everyone!

Final Thoughts on Euro Traveling...

1. Jet lag kills
2. It is really hard to find Mountain Dew in Budapest
3. A taxi driver in Budapest had a sign in his taxi saying "New York City Taxi Cab."
4. Don't play too long in the market or the natives will cast their spells
5. Always pack your favorite shoes, regardless of style or fashion. Stacy and Clinton, this is the one time comfort matters!
6. If you are a white girl going to the beach, get a mist-on tan! Anyone looks good in a bikini with a tan.
7. Don't forget the bikini wax
8. Go commando when its 100+ degrees and 300% humidity. Nothing worse than sticky unders!
9. Yes, Eastern Europe is riddled with apartment block housing of "stupefying ugliness." Deal with it.
10. At what age do the Europeans put a bathing suit on their children? 10? 12? Oh, wait, never. There's plenty of topless to go around!

Amsterdam, Netherlands

The final stop on our trip is in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Not exactly the same feeling as Eastern Europe and a little off the beaten path for this trip, but I figured since we were on the continent we should stop by, hang out with some family and show Mr. G around the place.

The biggest difference of this place from where had been was how COLD it was in Holland. We had gone from 100+ degrees and sunshine to 50 degrees with rain and wind. I'm talking hypothermia. I was not prepared. I only packed a light rain jacket and long pants, but nothing terribly warm. It was hard to stay focused during the day. All I wanted to do is take cover in a cafe or bakery somewhere. Or better yet, just stay on the canal bus all day. But we didn't. We made our way to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and saw some amazing art from the best Dutch artists, Rembrandt in particular. My favorite painting though, was the Kitchen Maid by Jan Vermeer. The colors in this painting are so vibrant.

Let's not forget our stroll through the Red Light District. Yes, its as hoochy as as it sounds. There really are women standing in windows selling sex to whoever wants it. I know you hear about it all the time, but to see it and to think these ladies do this all day everyday...nasty! The ladies were not too pleased when Mr. G pulled out the camera. She's givin' him the bird here.

We had a great time visiting with some distance cousins. we took a train to Utrecht where Gert and Hanny picked us up and took us to Bas and Germaine's house. We went from there to the Happy Garden, a Chinese restaurant down the street from Bas and Germaine's home. Bas' kids and Germaine's mother, Louise, and father, "Big Bob," joined us for dinner. We night-capped at Bas and Germaine's house with drinks, good conversation and a little"makin' bacon." It was a lovely evening.

Varna, Bulgaria

Our next adventure was to Varna, Bulgaria to bask in the golden sands of the Black Sea. We had been to Zlatni Pyasatsi (Golden Sands) when we were in Bulgaria a couple of years ago, however we only spent one day at the Sea and I really wanted to return when we could stay longer and when the weather was warmer. Be careful what you wish for. We stayed for four days and it was HOT, maybe not as hot as Croatia, but steamy enough!

Check out this rental car we got from Avis. This is what you get in Bulgaria if you are a Preferred Gold member. Quality. Nothing fancy about his car. Doesn't even have power locks or hub caps and had only been smoked in about 100 thousand times.

We spent a good portion of our time in Golden Sands laying under cabanas on the beach beside the Black Sea. It was so hot, we would take a swim in the sea, then run across the hot sand to our lounge chairs and lay in the sun to dry out. We pretty much did this all day for two full days. It was true vacation AND we didn't get any sunburns! Wow, who's that white boy swimming out there?

Mr. G made a new special friend on the beach, Pluto the Bulgarian. How that guy didn't die of heat stroke in that furry costume is beyond me. He claimed the suit was air conditioned.

We did take a break from the beach and went in to the town of Varna where we strolled around the market looking for great deals on junk. I really wanted to get some Bulgarian dishes, which they say are all handmade. Each plate is unique with interesting painted designs. I'm excited to get these works of art hung on my kitchen wall.

Mr. G was making friends everywhere he turned. Sascho here owned the booth next to the dish lady. He said, "Bulgaria is a great country, just nobody has any money." He also noted that all he needs to be happy is "a two bedroom apartment, a salad, a little brandy and a t.v." He was quite comical. He had all the ladies laughing around us.

While in Bulgaria, all Mr. G wanted to eat was banitsa, a Bulgarian breakfast pastry made of filo and cheese (like feta). It was impossible to find in Golden Sands, but once we got to Varna, this hound sniffed out the closest bakery and bought himself the delightful snack. I prefer the roll filled with marmalade myself.

Another treat Mr. G was after was a type of sausage or hot dog. I call it the Sketchy Dog because the meat is kind of mysterious and looks like it can do nothing but stop your heartbeat, or at least send you straight to the bathroom.

While in Bulgaria, we made a short trip up the Black Sea coast to a town called Balchik, where we stopped by the Summer Palace Queen Marie & Botanical Gardens.

Here's Queen Marie's 'small and romantic' palace. Interesting place, with a great view of the sea and the lush gardens.

Pimp My Lada
The Lada. Russian car made during communism. Generally you see Sascho and the fellas stacked in these things with a crate of tomatoes on top. This particular Lada is 18 years old and one of the finer Lada's I've seen. Usually they are rust buckets and wobbly wheels. I want to get one and bring it to America and pimp it out. I'll trade in the Acura for a Lada any day.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

The next stop on our trip is to Dubrovnik, Croatia, "the pearl of the Adriatic." Dubrovnik is a beautiful city along Dalmatia, Croatia's Adriatic Sea coast, with its narrow streets, thousands of stairs, pebble beaches, stray cats, city walls, island excursions and plenty of fine dining. We rented an apartment, known as "Apartment Niksa," where we had to climb 5000 stairs to get to our room from the main street.

When we got to our apartment, we were greeted by a barking guard dog I liked to refer to as Scruffy Pants, or Mr. McScruff. By the end of our stay, Scruffy had become our friend by greeting us without barking (this is not to say that we didn't still think McScruff wanted to chew our leg off every time we walked by), giving us so much as a limp wag of the tail and also guarding our difficult-to-maneuver parking spot.

Anyone who visits Dubrovnik visits Old Town, with its magnificent curtain of walls surrounding marble streets and baroque buildings. Inside the city walls you can't help but stroll down the main pedestrian thoroughfare, Placa, while eating several gellato ice cream cones during the day to cool down in the blaring Adriatic sun. Placa is a melange of cafes and shops with monuments, churches, museums with carved walls and fountains. There are several narrow "streets" filled with cafes and shops branching off Placa where we found plenty of outstanding Croatian cuisine.

We took a day trip to the island on Lopud, one of the few places around Dubrovnik with sandy beaches. We camped out on a small beach on the island. It was not until after we had been there all day that we saw a sign for Sinj Beach, which required hiking through Lopud's backcountry to the other side of the island (which felt like hell on what could have been THE hottest, most humid day in Croatian history). We were a little bummed that the lady who sold us the boat tickets didn't bother to mention this was the cool beach. Too bad for us, we missed out on all those Euro-style sunbathing beauties (wink, wink).

On this same HOT day, we decided to hike around the city walls to get a birds eye view of the Old Town.

While the views were awesome and the photo ops abundant, I thought I was going to die from the heat. I have never sweat so much as I did this day. I think I have permanently damaged the white shirt with sweat stains.

We decided we would take a day trip to Split, to visit the ancient walls of Diocletian's (a Roman Emperor)Palace, dating back to as early as 400 A.D. Our travel book said it would take about 4 1/2 hours to get to Split by bus, so being the speedy drivers we are, we figured we could get there in 2-3 hours. HA!! It took nearly 4 hours to get to Split. Would I say Diocletian was worth it? I don't know. It was a long day.

This is the statue of Gregorius of Nin, a 10th-century Slavic religious leader who fought for the right to perform Mass in Croatian. It's said that touching his big toe brings good luck. I'm buyin' it.

Budapest, Hungary

We arrived in Budapest on June 17th (happy birthday to me) were we were picked up by our friends, Lansing and his son Ethan. Lansing and Sarah were kind enough to let us camp out at there house for a couple of days before leaving for Croatia, as well as a day layover before Amsterdam and another day before going home. We really enjoyed spending time with them. Hopefully we didn't become stinky fish!

Sarah took us to an area known as The Danube Bend, which is north of Budapest where the beautiful blue Danube (which is actually poo brown when you really look at it), breaks through the Pilis and Borzsony Hills in a sharp bend before continuing in to Slovakia. Here we stopped by a majestic palace overlooking the river at Esztergom and Visegrad, where medieval kings once ruled Hungary. Afterwards we stopped in Visegrad for lunch at Gulyas Csarda, where we delighted ourselves in classic, heavy Hungarian cuisine.

While in Budapest, we wandered down the famous Vaci utca, an extensive pedestrian shopping street, strolled through a market place, where I found a wooden Rubik's cube-type toy that I totally fouled up and couldn't get back together, meanwhile the girl working the booth was casting her spell as she glared at me, and then we made our way to the Gellert Furdo thermal baths where we managed to survive an exciting wave pool and soaked in the thermal spas.

Around the World in 14 Days

To round out my sabbatical, we decided it would be fun to take a trip to Eastern Europe for a couple of weeks before I have to return to the working world.

The itinerary looked as follows:

1.Fly for 15 hours to Budapest, Hungary, where we will frolic with good friends. This is a reoccurring theme throughout the trip.
2. Fly to Dubrovinik, Croatia, where we will melt in the sweltering heat and humidity
3. Fly to Varn, Bulgaria, where we will melt in the sweltering heat and humidity
4. Fly to Amsterdam, Netherlands where we will freeze in the cold, wet rain and frolic with our Dutch cousins (no, not the ladies in the Red Light District)
5. Fly for 15 hours home to the sweltering heat (thank goodness we live in a desert with little humidity!)