Big Trip Coming Up

When Jay and I went to Italy in 2022, we had hoped to be able to take a "big" trip across the pond on even years and a smaller, closer trip on odd years. That hasn't quite worked out, with job changes and such, but we're both in good, stable jobs again and ready to get back on track.

Our "rules" for travel are:

• we only visit places that we've either never been to, or that only one of us has been. 
• For example, we've both visited Rome (before we were married), so Rome's off the table. 
• He'd visited Fussen, Germany a couple of times before we were married, but I hadn't, so Fussen was a go. Now that we've both been, Fussen is no longer an option.
• we can re-visit a country that we've both been to, but we can't stay in a place that we've already been.
• We loved Costa Rica and want to return, but the Guanacaste Provenance is off the table. Same with Italy (the exception with Italy is that if we're ever able to buy property there, it would be in Radicofani).
• we alternate choosing destinations.
• We both agreed on our Italy trip, because it combined places we both wanted to see. Jay chose to spend a couple of days in Germany (see Fussen, above), and I wanted to go back to the Tuscan region of Italy. Our desires aligned and we were able to do both.
• This year's trip is to Scotland, my choice. The next trip is to the Swiss alps, Jay's choice.

The reason we put those rules in place is because there's a lot of the world to see, and it's easy to keep going back to familiar places. Our travel time and budget is limited, so we have to be strategic in how we do it. 

In just a few days, we'll be boarding the plane for Scotland, and we're both incredibly excited. Scotland was never really on Jay's list, but as we started planning and researching, he got more and more excited. I found a free countdown app that I've been using for the past few years. As soon as our tickets are bought, I put the leave date/time in the app and let it do the counting down for me. It's fun to watch it go from year(s) to months, to weeks, then days, etc.

This countdown app has some
fun "random" options.

With just four days to go, we're in the "what have we missed, what else needs to be done?" stage. After a year of planning and waiting, the trip is right around the corner. One of the best things about sharing property with L.E. is that we each have built-in house/horse/cat/garden sitters. L.E. will let the cats in and out, make sure the horses are safe, and water my garden while we're gone. When she goes on trips, I do the same for her. It works out perfectly. This year, we've made it even easier. Jay and I will put out two round bales in slow feed nets, so she won't even have to worry about putting hay out for the horses.

Our trip is going to be a combination of city and countryside. We'll start in Edinburgh for a few days, then head out of the city to Glencoe for a few days, then Portree on the Isle of Sky. Even though I'm not much of a city girl, I am looking forward to our time in Edinburgh. We've got reservations for potion making at the Department of Magic, bag making at the Islander, and the thing Jay is most excited about, and was the first thing he booked, afternoon tea at the Signet Library.

Typically, Jay books us Airbnbs whenever we travel, and we've gotten to stay at some absolutely incredible places. I know a lot of people are anti-Airbnb, but we've never had a bad experience. However, this time, he chose to book us at actual B&Bs, which made Mom happy as an owner of a B&B herself. The reasoning is that we want to go hiking, and the hosts will have a lot of ideas and pointers for best hikes, something we've learned over the 28 years that Mom has run the lodge.

In Glencoe, we'll be staying at the Fern Villa Guest House. I guess it's technically "near" Glencoe, not in it, but the pictures are amazing. And when we're in Portree, on the Isle of Sky, we'll be staying at the Viewfield House, which is super fancy-looking. Outside of Mom's lodge, I've only stayed in one other  B&B, on my last trip to the UK. I'm looking forward to the experience of staying at others. We all know Mom's B&B gives a rustic experience with fantastic breakfast. From the pictures, I feel like the Viewfield House gives a hunting lodge vibe. 

Needless to say, posting will be nonexistent while we're away, followed by a flurry of posts once we return.

Long Holiday Weekend, Part 3 (fin)

The primary reason for us to travel to Arizona was so Jay could attend an Indiana Fever game. Getting to hang out with Deejo's family was just a bonus. Like most sports enthusiasts, Jay's a rabid fan of Caitlin Clark, and bought tickets last December when they became available. It was a win-win situation - a long weekend hanging with my brother, and getting to go to a game.

Since it was an evening game, Jay and I had time to kill. Deejo and Mrs. Deejo had to return to work, which left us free for the day. Not to worry, Jay had plans for us! One of the toy stores that he has purchased collectibles from is only about thirty minutes from Deejo's place, so off we went to visit Retro Exchange. (Collectibles is what you call toys when you're using your adult money.) It's a gem that's kind of hidden in plain sight in a strip mall. In fact, despite using GPS and our eyeballs, we drove past it the first time and had to double back.

Very unassuming and easy to overlook.

I think I've mentioned that we basically live in a toy store at home, with all of Jay's collectibles. We have cabinets full of Star Wars collectibles. However, I can't completely blame Jay, because I have found some joy in finding John Wick, The Walking Dead, and Supernatural toys as well. Our house is an eight year-old boy's dream. I wasn't looking for anything in particular when we went to Retro Exchange, but was looking forward to just enjoying looking at all the toys from my childhood. It was amazing!

They carried more than Star Wars, but those are the ones I gravitated to, given who I've married. We spent a good bit of time wandering up and down the aisles a couple of times, seeing something new with each pass.

Connected to the toy store was a comic book store. I don't really do comics, never understood the draw, but between Jay and Monster, I'm becoming comic book curious. I was flipping through the bins, idly, just to waste time. I saw a table labeled "TV Show comics" and headed over there, thinking I could find some X-Files or something that was interesting. Boy, did I find something interesting! Supernatural comic books!

Guess part of my Feral Fifties now includes comic books.

I knew about them, and had casually looked whenever we went to Mile High Comics, but hadn't any luck finding them. There are a total of 24 comics, so I've got 18 more to hunt and find. I've already pre-ordered the first one of the new series coming out, so I guess this is a thing I'm now doing.

By the time we were finished at the toy store, it was already triple digits out, so we headed back to Deejo's to enjoy the air conditioning.

We were lucky enough to get to spend a few minutes with Deejo before we left to the game, since we likely wouldn't see him before our flight out the next day. He leaves for work about 4:30 a.m., and our flight wasn't until late morning.

I think the last time I was at a live basketball game was the Nuggets many years ago, when my kids were playing rec ball and they got invited to go play on the court before the game. That had to have been ... almost thirty years ago. I've never attended a WNBA game, and it was thrilling!

We were surrounded by other Fever fans, though definitely outnumbered by the home team fans. There was one player who caught my eye for both her defensive and offensive skills, number 10, Lexie Hull. While she's not super flashy, she's steady and hardworking, just the type of player that draws my interest. Even though the Fever lost, and Jay didn't get to see Caitlin play, we had a blast! I'm looking forward to more games. WNBA is in post-season play now, their season has just about wrapped up, but college ball is starting up, and those tickets tend to be more reasonably priced, so maybe we'll get to go to one.

We've been home from Arizona for a couple of weeks, but a surprise showed up for me the other day!

Jay ordered me my own Lexie Hull Fever jersey! Now we have to go to a game next season.

Long Holiday Weekend, Part 1

Jay and I took a long weekend over Labor Day to go visit Deejo and family in Arizona. Last time we were there, we tried to go to Mel's Diner, the setting of the TV show "Alice", but it was closed. This time, our flight was getting in early enough that we could go have breakfast at the diner we remembered from our childhood.

Okay, to be honest, I really only remember "kiss my grits!" from childhood, and the fact that as a child I thought that was the funniest thing ever.

Deejo and family met us for breakfast, which was good. The menu had some scenes from the TV show sprinkled throughout, but I really wish they'd had a quick write-up about the show, how long it aired (1976-1982), etc. I love little histories like that when they're written into the menu. Also, non-Gen Xers don't know the show, so just saying that "Alice was filmed here" means nothing to them.

We really didn't have anything planned for the rest of the day, so after stuffing ourselves on diner food, we headed back to Deejo's to hang out. Jay and I are travelers, so to go vacation with next to nothing planned, was different. It felt good to not be going, going, going. 

I'd packed a couple of swimming suits and planned to sit in the pool and read. Deejo had warned me that it would be too hot, but I figured this Colorado girl could handle it. I could not. My swimming suits never got wet. I did plop my bare feet down into the pool after sun down a couple of times, but there was definitely no sitting in hot water while the sun pounded down on me while over 100*F.

That night, we decided to go to dinner at Oregano's, which is an Arizona-based restaurant chain. We have one in Fort Collins, but the portions are huge, so Jay and I very rarely go. Deejo's daughter sweetened the deal by telling us that they had bellini flights on special. Well, sign me and Mrs. Deejo up for that!

Not bad for $14

Just a few years ago, I could have, and would have, killed this flight of bellinis. However, Jay and I drink even less frequently than we go to eat at Oregano's. I managed to try each of them, and get down the equivalent of one. They were yummy, but I just couldn't do it.

The next day, we tried to escape the heat by driving north to Jerome. I've only ever been to Jerome one other time, several years ago, when Jay and I drove our Kia Soul down for a Soul Hamsters meet-up. I had really enjoyed our brief visit then, and looked forward to going again.

Y'all, I had serious deja vu when I stepped off the stone stairs leading down from the upper parking lot onto the street. Not because of our last visit, but I had an immediate sensation of being transported back to Blevio on Lake Como, Italy. I stepped onto the street and looked left, the retaining wall spanning the area, with the smallest amount of shoulder on the road, looked and felt just like the retaining wall that lead to our favorite market in Blevio. Even walking down the stairs, looking out over the street was familiar. I mentioned it to Jay, and he agreed. We even told Deejo and Mrs. Deejo that if we just followed the retaining wall a few yards, we'd end up at "our" market. I was so taken aback, that it didn't dawn on me to take a picture. It was a surreal moment.

Looking down over a very Tuscan-style hotel/resort (?).

When Jay and I had visited with the Soul Hamsters, we were there for a totally different reason, and thus only stayed in Jerome long enough to grab something to eat at the Haunted Hamburger before resuming our drive. With Deejo and Mrs. Deejo, we had time to just wander. I had enjoyed my brief visit to Jerome with the Soul Hamsters, but I fell in love with it this time around. It's quirky, witchy, haunted, and just plain fun!

The pictures of how they got this
truck into the "mall" were pretty incredible.

This bunny might be scarier than the
Rabbit of Caerbannog

Throw a coin to your sh*tter

I found my next craft for Maggie.

It's a good thing we only traveled with backpacks, because there were so many cute things that wanted to come home with us. I think we only covered about half of Jerome on this trip, so we'll be coming back (and with more luggage space to take things home!).