Road trip: California Dreamin' again

Amigo got an audio book for Christmas: Bill Geist's Way off the Road: Discovering the Peculiar Culture of Small town America. He would laugh out loud while listening to the stories. As he finished, he recommended that I look for a print copy and read it myself.

He was right. I found a copy on Paperbackswap.com, thanked the swapper who sent it, and got a note telling me that the book might make me want to take a road trip. Sure enough, reading got me thinking about a long road trip on my bucket list: getting our kicks on Route 66.

I've realized that the Route 66 trip will happen at the earliest in summer of 2013, perhaps a year later. With that in mind, I can plan and dream and seek sponsors for the potential adventure.

Ideally, we'd rent or lease a vehicle to drive from our Wisconsin home to the end destination. At the West end of our journey, we'd turn in the vehicle and take Amtrak back to the Midwest. From Chicago we'd ride the Hiawatha to Milwaukee, and either pick up our own car or have family/friends get us to take us back to our own house and our own beds.

In a perfect world, that vehicle would be a roomy sedan or a minivan. If we all go (essentially, four adults), the minivan would be better. It would have to have good air conditioning: a minivan type would have the passenger climate control vents to make it easy. Given the long stretches of desert on the trip, that's a necessity.

Taking into considerating the length of the trip, good gas mileage is important. A hybrid, perhaps? A sizable gas tank, too, so we don't have to stop too often to fill up. Maybe a gas company will sponsor us; discounted gas or a gas gift card for the road? It could be done. It's not a glamorous sponsorship, but it would certainly be one of the most valuable.

Cupholders! I request at least one cupholder per person, accommodating my coffee and the other folks' Mountain Dew. Perhaps Starbucks would sponsor me; free or discounted coffee for the trip in exchange for blogging it? I'm in!

I know that I'm simply dreaming at this point. Driving Route 66 is definitely on my bucket list. Since Amigo enjoys road trips in general and we like road tripping together, we'd like to do it before I get too old or he gets too busy to enjoy the adventure.

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Reading the walls

Inspiration sometimes turns up in unexpected places. We stayed several days in this lovely inn and noticed messages in strategic places. Can you read it, or is the glare in the way?

"What would you attempt to do if you knew you would not fail?"

Below is a little smaller, but worth the effort to read it, too. It's from Vincent Van Gogh.

"If you hear a voice within you saying, 'You are not a painter,' then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced."

Look below -- someone listened.

Her paintings are scattered throughout the inn.

For me, it was enough to see the quote beside the easel.

Now I think I'll log off and work on my book manuscript.

All photos from Sweetfield Manor. Readers, you know how much I need peace in my life; Sweetfield helped provide that, and good coffee, too.

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Family Travel Tips

Ten Tips from Daisy for Family Travel

Tip: Know your limits. Budget and plan accordingly.

These tips change as families get older. Chuck and I have traveled by train across the country from East to West, and along the East coast from Miami to Washington, D.C. Had we done this twenty years ago, we could have gone in coach the entire way. Now that we're both 50 and, well, mature travelers, we prefer beds at night, so we paid a bit more for the Amtrak roomette. It was worth it.

Tip: Acknowledge that each family member has different taste, and respect each other's tunes.

When our kids were younger, we'd bring our own music and take turns choosing what to play in the vehicle's CD player. Now each person brings their own headphones, earbuds, and music player - MP3, mainly. Well, that is, each person except the driver.

Tip: Have enough cup holders. Seriously.

Cup holders are awesome. Each traveler should have his/her own. Mine, of course, will hold my morning coffee. Chuck, La Petite, and Amigo? Most likely Mountain Dew. We all have our chosen vices.

Tip: Travel eco-responsibly as much as possible.

Whenever we hit the road, I feel some guilt for not being as green as we are at home. Instead of cloth napkins, we'll use paper. We'll pull out disposable wet wipes for convenience. There is room for compromise, though. I often bring my own water bottle or travel coffee mug. Many places make it easy to recycle; go ahead, do it. And when all is said and done, don't beat yourself up for not being perfect.

Tip: Pack light.

Somehow, dirty clothes seem to take up more space than clean clothes do. Pack with room to spare. And then there are the souvenirs; leave room if you plan to buy anything at your destination or along the way.

Tip: Choose souvenirs wisely.

Did I mention souvenirs? My favorites are those that are useful and fun reminders of the trip. Coffee mugs make great purchases; so do t-shirts and sweatshirts if you wear them. On our last trip, we picked up a lovely hand-made wicker basket. It became an additional carry-on for the trip home, and now it lives next to my recliner with my lumbar pillow and recent magazines in it. This lovely yet simple basket will always remind me of the trip.

Moving on a bit more quickly, here are a few tips for traveling families:

Tip: Bring pillows or blankets. My best travel-related purchase ever was a horseshoe pillow. I use it in the car, on trains, and on airplanes. These supplies are almost always cheaper at home than on the road.

Tip: Bring reading material. Last trip I packed two books, read them both, and left them in the Bed & Breakfast's bookshelf for future travelers. One of my favorite reading tips? Buy a local paper.

Tip: Plan for the best, but prepare for the worst. If your plane is delayed, what will you do? If the car gets a flat tire, do you know how to change to the spare? If you're stuck in a traffic jam at lunch time, do you have snacks to prevent starvation and (worse) crabbiness?

Tip: Look for simple pleasures. Scenery. Sounds. Plants. Animals. Regional foods. Time together to talk and simply enjoy each other. The best memories of the trip aren't always those that cost a lot of money. After all, the key word in Family Vacation is Family.

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Alamo blogging program, with the possibility of earning a gift card worth $25. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

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Big Top Chautauqua

Look closely - behind the gravel walkway, beyond the tent on the left, is a hill. It's Wisconsin, so we can't call it a mountain. But in winter, people ski here.

Imagine - at the bottom of the hill, a big tent made of canvas, striped blue and white, sturdy and secure, with a stage inside. This place seats 900+ people in its theater for shows that run three and a half months a year, when the ground is thawed and the snow is gone.

Also on the grounds is a tent for concessions and souvenirs. We had a fish boil - Amigo's first. While he befriended the others at the table, I visited the souvenir stand and picked up a DVD and a t-shirt. Do you see the wires above the food tents? I wasn't kidding about the ski hill. The lift wires are up all year.

This, my friends, is the home of Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua. Amigo and I have fallen in love with the home troupe, the Blue Canvas Orchestra, and their guest on this lovely night, author and humorist Michael Perry. We traveled to the Big Top for the first time this year, and we'll definitely go back.

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It's Grandma's. It's all Grandma's.

If you can't read it well, it's Grandma's Saloon and Grill. Look up above; grandma's portrait is flanked by two cows, mounted on the side of the outside wall.

Well, that's that. Grandma clearly owns the place.

I must admit, the ice cream from Grandma's Boxcar was delicious.

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A radio - or a radio?

The first thing Amigo does when we enter a hotel room is follow this routine: take off his shoes, stretch out on a bed, and fiddle with the clock radio. He did this on Sunday night, but all didn't go as planned. Instead of music or news, we kept hearing frogs. And crickets. and babbling, bubbling water.

"Mom, how does this work? Can you help me get real radio?" This from the teenager who can figure out just about any electronic device, despite being unable to see it or read the labels.

Well, I took a closer look and found this:

The "Listen to" section was set to Brook. We had options of Ocean, Wind Chimes, or Music/Radio. If we used the clock's alarm feature, we could choose to wake up to a standard buzzer, a high pitched bell, cathedral bells, or radio. I showed him the buttons, and he figured out what he needed - a country music station. Of course - we were on a trip sponsored by Wisconsin Public Radio, and he was listening to Country.

Somehow, in the process of exploring all the buttons, Amigo must have set the alarm. Around midnight the buzzer sounded. In his sleep - he remembered not a bit of this the next morning - he rolled over, turned it off, and made himself comfortable again.

Then we went back to sleep, eventually waking up to (drumroll) Amigo's talking clock and its rooster alarm.

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Hotels - a home away from home

I enjoy a place with character: more than just a set of beds in a room that's a clone on a hallway of more clones. Do you recognize the style of the room numbers? They're old post office box fronts. We had one like this in Sister Bay Wisconsin before the Post Office upgraded the the newfangled boxes that opened with a key.

Must love a hotel that has a deck opening onto the Great Lakes - or at least onto a bay that comes out on Lake Superior. It was windy, cool, and totally gorgeous.

All in all, it was a great place to lay our heads overnight. Amigo demonstrates below.

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Road Trip Sound Track

First, whistle the theme to "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly."

It should have been an easy trip home. Drive north, pick up La Petite at her summer "home," drive north again until home. Somewhere in the first leg of the journey, grab lunch.

First: I got dressed in the morning and realized I hadn't packed any shirts for myself. I packed an extra t-shirt for Amigo, so I borrowed it. Sigh. I'm not a fashionable mom, by any means. The teen looks much better in it.

Next: packed to leave, realized that the minivan front seats were not damp, but soaked. I'd left them open a crack - only a crack! - and the wild and woolly storms had made my ride home, well, a wet one. Sister-in-law loaned us thick towels and plastic bags to spread on the seats. My side, as luck would have it, was wettest. Sound track song? "Rain, rain, go away."

On the road! Public Radio on, grabbed a McDonald's drive-through lunch and onward! Note to self: never buy a quarter pounder with cheese again. At least, dear self, never try to eat a quarter pounder with cheese while driving. Self, that lousy excuse for 'food' isn't good for you to begin with, but even more so, it's sloppy. You guessed it, readers: ketchup and mustard on the borrowed shirt. The song to this sound track: "Pound sign, question mark, star, exclamation point." Yes, #?*! was about my speed at the moment.

Speaking of speed, the route was fairly direct - on paper. As we entered one of the lovely towns on the way, the police directed traffic off the main road. I didn't know the town at all, which made finding an alternate route tough, to say the least. At Amigo's advice, we turned on the navigator on my phone. It led us in what felt like the correct direction, but into bumper to bumper traffic. A traffic jam on Saturday afternoon? This was not a Chicago commuter drive. Sound track song: James Taylor's "Traffic Jam!"

Since we were stopped, hardly moving, I pulled out my Tide to Go pen to fix the stain on my borrowed t-shirt. Song: "(Kiss him) Goodbye" by the Nylons. Remember the commercial with Kelly Ripa? Great thinking, but no follow through: the stain remover was empty. I was stuck. Stuck in traffic, stuck in a stained, borrowed t-shirt. Song: Once again, Kevin Fowler's "#?*!" If you haven't heard this one yet, you need to. It's bound to become a classic.

Amigo doesn't handle situations like this well. He put in a folk song CD and we sang along to keep ourselves relatively calm. Theme song at this point? "Puff the Magic Dragon" - oh, how we wished for a flying dragon to lift us above the jam and onto the highway!

Finally (and I do mean finally; we lost close to an hour detouring and waiting to get back on Highway 31) We headed north. Song: Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again!" We took a quick bathroom break, I changed into the shirt I'd worn the day before (a little less dirty), and we hit the road again. I considered making a quick stop for a tacky tourist t-shirt from the mini-mart or one from the thrift store down the road, but Amigo was moody and it just wasn't worth taking the chance of another delay.

Finally! We crossed the border (it's okay, we're legal Wisconsinites) and enjoyed driving along highways surrounded by corn "...as high as an elephant's eye!" Yes, our sound track at this point was "Oh, what a beautiful morning!" from Oklahoma! Wisconsin farmland is really gorgeous in July.

We made it to La Petite's temporary home away from home, picked her up, packed the van, and hit the road. I changed into a dry pair of denim capri pants; despite the towel, I was still soaking up the overnight rain and I was close to adding a few new verses to "#?*!" as the trip went on.

At last! The home stretch. I could almost quote from Over the River and Through the Woods; my "horse" knew the way to carry the sleigh, or at least the way to turn the minivan wheels. Homeward bound! (Wait, that's another song. Maybe another trip.)

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Move the spill - virtually

As we edge into our fair country's Independence Day celebrations, many families will be traveling. While you're making plans and carrying them out, keep in mind the true cost of fuel.

How big is the Gulf Oil Spill now? Move it anywhere you wish, virtually. I moved it to Lake Michigan to put it in perspective.

Try it. If the size of the disaster didn't worry you before this, it will now.

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Getting my kicks on 66 -- planning or dreaming?

It seems strange; we're actively working on becoming more sustainable, remaining frugal, taking care of our family and our earth.


Yet on the Bucket List is a road trip of many miles - coasting along Route 66.


Amigo would enjoy listening to local radio, eating at diners, and meeting new people. I would enjoy the trip, blog each milestone, and probably bring a Flat Stanley along for the ride. La Petite would photograph it, when she wasn't sleeping through the daylight hours. Chuck? I'm not sure which part of the trip would be his favorite, but he'd probably find family along the way; his cousins are scattered across the U.S.A.

My goals for the trip include seeing different sections of the country, stopping at diners and local family restaurants, taking time out to visit history museums that honor the memory of the Mother Road. That's what really drives me: the history piece. I love the idea that we'll be traveling a route with so many memories, so many tales to tell.


Amigo and Chuck like to try local dishes -- within reason. Sampling road food would be more exciting and (mostly) healthier than identical golden arches along the way. Simply reading the menu in some places would be an adventure! La Petite has convinced me to try and enjoy sushi, at long last, but Da Boyz still resist. She'd be more of an adventurous sort with the road foods, too.


Vehicle choice is a challenge. It'll have to be something that can take heat, both humid and dry, to make a trip like this. Both of our current vehicles are elderly; neither will be suitable for a long trip. A rental rather than a new purchase would allow us to leave the car or minivan in California and catch the train home. We thoroughly enjoyed traveling on the Empire Builder from Wisconsin west to Washington; I am certain that the trip by rail would be fascinating and comfortable, too.


As for chronicling the trip, the blog is a good place to start. Daily like my other vacation journals or by topic, such as the Coffee Diary from another travel? Either would be effective.


Cost is an object. If this trip happens at all, it won't be soon. Replacing the shower plumbing and fixing the upstairs bathroom are higher priorities. But someday, we'll look for sponsors or grants or lottery winnings (just kidding, I don't buy tickets), and we'll hit the road -- the Mother Road.

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Get my kicks on Route 66?

Amigo enjoys road trips. He can't see the changing scenery or play the alphabet game on billboards, but he enjoys the travel nevertheless.

We've talked in an abstract way about taking a Route 66 vacation some summer. "Why?" you might ask. "Why Not?" we reply.

The highway itself has been largely replaced by interstates, but some of the blue highways and small towns near the old Mother Road still exist. It's the towns, the scenery, the ambiance, the history that attract us.

Family trips usually revolve around a purpose or an ulterior motive. Our visit to Nova Scotia was aimed at following Chuck's family history, filling in more of his research on the Lockeport branch of his family tree. Getting there by way of the Cat Ferry was a bonus. Amigo and I were along for the ride, taking our bikes around town and walking on the beach while Chuck waded through the archives of the historical societies.

Last July's trip was a celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary. We chose the destination (Seattle) and method of travel (Amtrak Empire Builder) for fun this time, but also to include life interests. Chuck is a train lover; I'm a coffee addict and a green machine. Amtrak to Pike Place Market? The Perfect Couple.

So why Route 66? Americana. History. People.

We met some wonderful and unique people on the Empire Builder.

• A young woman traveling the U.S. by train, filling her time by singing and playing ukulele in her roomette.
• A couple from Fargo, one a retired teacher and one a school librarian, who deepened our understanding of the landscape around the tracks while we shared a breakfast table.
• A family from Norway - mom, dad, and baby - heading to Minneapolis/ St. Paul to catch a flight home to Oslo. He had just finished his schooling in Chicago, and they were enjoying the scenery one last time before taking to the skies. Friendly baby, friendly couple, we had fascinating conversation over our dining car encounter.

Interstate highways are designed to get people where they're going quickly, directly, with as few stops as possible. The stops on a back road would be more like our Funday Friday adventures when Amigo and I choose a local restaurant or diner for lunch. Diners. Local family restaurants. We run into people we know and people we don't, but we always enjoy the encounters - and the foods. On a long trip, we'd rather sample local and regional fare when it's available, rather than the omnipresent McDrive-Thru.


For now, it's not a plan. It's more of a vague "maybe someday" kind of thought. I think we'll get our kicks on Route 66, someday, eventually. Of course, I'll blog the experience if and when it happens.

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It's all in the perspective of the one holding the camera

Along the road and along the track, Chuck (Husband) and I pointed our cameras in different directions. We did this not just because he sat in the forward-facing seat and I faced the back in our little roomette, but because we look out on the world in different ways.

I took this picture showing Chuck taking a picture of another train. In Chuck's photo, you see the train he was watching. Hey, wait a minute -- that train is on the same track as ours!

The last three may look the same, but they're not. Two are by night -- one with flash, one without. The bottom shot was taken by day. When he took the night shots, I was asleep in the top bunk of our roomette.

Chuck took a picture of this rare caboose still in use and hooked up to a freight train. I took a picture of the caboose that was turned into a cottage.

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Creative marketing and signage

There's more than fish at Pike Place Market in Seattle! There is coffee, of course. I sampled my share of the refreshing beverages. And as we wandered the booths of produce, I kept saying, "Honey, can we move here? I want to live here." Husband (a.k.a. Chuck) was kind as he reminded me that no, we had to go home.

But meanwhile, behind the big sign....

We shopped for cheese and we found this tip jar.

This sign not only announced what they were selling (fresh herbs), but gave a Rhyme Time reasoning to buy!

If you want to buy an avocado, though, be gentle.

And as for the beans, don't touch -- or even consider it!

At least they said "Thanks."

This offer may seem extreme, but they were handing out sample slices. The fresh and juicy peaches really did make people shout out in praise.

Sometimes, the hanging bundles need no written description. They sold themselves.

If I can't move there, can we go back? Soon? I'm free tomorrow....

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Eating in - locally, if possible

Last week I showed you our in-house snack on the rooftop deck at our hotel. That was just the warm-up for Iron Chef Chuck, the Husband re-named due to cool shoes. In true Iron Chef form, he decided our last meal on the trip should be a rooftop dinner with the entire menu found in and near the Public Market. The challenge: we had no way to cook. With no microwave and very little room in the fridge (due to crowding from overpriced minibar), we had to be creative in our preparations. With all that in mind, we hit the market.



We bought cheese at a creamery that would have been right at home in Wisconsin. They were making cheese all day; folks stopped to watch through full length windows. The cheese we bought was very fresh and delicious.




Next, the vegetable market. He picked out just enough mixed lettuces for a salad, and then he added carrots. Two small carrots. We found vinegar and oil for dressing at a tiny shop and added those to my tote bag with the bread from the bakery next door.

He knew he wanted crab, and he chose to pick that up just before dinner to avoid the storage hassle. Two crabs, fully cooked, gutted and prepared by the fish folks. Last item on the list: the perfect wine. With a little browsing time and a few suggestions from the expert at the shop, we had the entire menu planned and purchased.

He borrowed dishes from the hotel (they were happy to oblige), prepped the whole meal on the floor of the hotel room, and then we set up on the rooftop deck. The weather was perfect, the mountains were glowing from the sunset, and Iron Chef Chuck (he of the cool shoes) earned perfect scores for presentation.

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Coffee, of course.

Last year I chronicled my vacation in a journal of daily coffee consumption. I know some of you must be wondering, "Daisy! You went to Seattle, the birthplace of Starbucks! Did you not partake of the local fare? The local drinks? The coffee, of course!!"


Yes.


Yes, I did. In fact, I documented a few in pictures. I picked up a Big Train Choco Chip Latte from this place, conveniently located across the tracks from the first Amtrak station. It was delicious: a good omen for starting the trip.

On the train I had the option of picking up a plain cup of coffee any time I wished; Jose, the car attendant, kept the pot fresh all the time.

I brought my daily pick-me-up into the roomette with me, set it in the cupholder beside my seat, and read the morning paper (local to whichever stop we'd made last).

Then we arrived in Seattle. I sampled the hotel packets (Seattles Best brand). We visited Starbucks - the original location! I was nearly speechless. Husband took my picture, I think. I was too wrapped up in the history of this tiny store and its location to notice.

Each day we went somewhere else for breakfast. I had so many different kinds of coffees I lost track. I know there were at least a few we didn't get to try. I guess that means I have to make another trip to Seattle some time. Darn.

You know me, though. I brought some home. A package from Starbucks, a package from Local Color (an awesome little shop with coffees, art, and fascinating people), and a couple of extras from the hotel room.

The thermos on the left is from Starbucks. It's made from 40% recycled plastic. We bought the Amtrak mug at our last breakfast on the train. As if I didn't have enough mugs...of course I brought a new one home from our trip!!

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Packing lists

As the A-list bloggers post the adventures of their trip to BlogHer in Chicago, I'll post the adventures of our train trip. Husband and I set off to celebrate our anniversary (25 years!) by ourselves while Amigo was at summer school and La Petite was available to watch the house and feed the bunnies.

There wasn't much space to spare in our roomette on Amtrak, so the carry-on luggage had to be planned well. You can see the camera case (it's tiny), reading material, empty water bottle, drink mixes (for water bottle), lumbar pillow (orange squishy thingie), and address book for postcards, stamps tucked inside cover. In the bag itself are a change of clothes, toiletries, and basic daily medications.

The sweater was a bargain. La Petite talked me into going shopping with her (she twisted my arm, really), and I found this. It's perfect for an airconditioned train; I'll just take it off or unbutton it when the temperatures are higher or when we take outside breaks at stations.

Packing? I'm getting good at this. Actually, the 22-year-old is getting good at it and I let her advise me. These kids of ours; they do grow up, and it's fun to have them around.

There it is, hanging on the wall beside Husband's seat where I could reach it whenever I needed it. The camera moved into my purse for the duration of the trip, but the rest was just right in the duffel.

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animal, vegetable, locavore?

I was reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle in our Seattle hotel room and I thought about how difficult it was at times to remain true to a locavore philosophy. We were fortunate to be near a fantastic source for both tourists and locals: Seattle's Pike Place Public Market.





At lunch on our first full day, I sat down to a sandwich with locally made sausage and potato salad on the side. Husband ordered a local beer and picked up a halibut sandwich and coleslaw. The coleslaw surprised him. Rather than the creamy or the tart styles we get in the Midwest, it was made with red cabbage and had a delicious sweet-tart tang.

We continued to focus mainly on local specialties. We looked for fish of all kinds, locally made baked goods, and (you know me well) coffee. We were in Seattle, people, home of Starbucks and more!


One night Husband asked the waitress where he could buy the unique raspberry lambic beer he'd had with his meal. It wasn't one of the restaurant's own brews, so she directed us to a store a few blocks away. On the walk there we decided to pick up supplies for an evening snack on the hotel deck. We gathered cheese, salami, crackers and the fruity brew, and then brought out a container of fresh cherries we'd picked up at the Public Market earlier in the day. It was a perfect evening treat. The sky was clear, the sun going down behind the Olympic Mountains, and Mt. Ranier was making an appearance in the distant sky.

Less expensive than the hotel's minibar, more relaxing than going out, we had the perfect combination of food and drink and ambiance.

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Some pictures, well, just don't turn out.

Top: Husband outside during a train stop

Next: Rocky Mountains. Really, they were sitting still and smiling. I wasn't. Sitting still, that is. I'm sure I was smiling!

Right, Below: It seemed like every time I got the camera ready and clicked, a tree jumped in front of the train window. Do the trees practice this? "Hey, I'll wreck this picture if you get in the way of the next one."

Husband got a few blurry tree shots, too, but he had enough sense to go outside at the various stops to look around and take pictures on solid ground. If only he'd stood still a little longer, I might have had a decent picture of him, too!

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By train or by plane or by ferry? Anniversary trip plans continue

A while back I talked about plans for our anniversary. 25 years of marriage, people! We're ready to celebrate. We thought we needed to stay within a day's drive of our home. La Petite reminded us that she'll be home taking care of the bunnies and working at her job, and she can handle immediate emergencies that might pop up. In the meantime, we can get on a plane and be home within a day.


So...we're back to the first plan. We're doing the research and seriously considering Seattle as our destination. We'd like to travel by train: specifically, Amtrak's Empire Builder. We'd catch it in or near Wisconsin and travel Northwest across Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, and eventually Washington.


Seattle has brewpubs. It has coffee. And it's a green, very green city. What's not to like? We indulge Husband's love for trains in our chosen mode of travel; we'll indulge my eco-consciousness with the destination.


I stumbled across this hotel on Mother Nature Network. Of course I'm interested! My Midwestern frugal sensibilities, however, cringe just looking at the nightly rates. I'll have to do a little more research and find out if there are deals available for common folk like us - or if these are ballpark rates for a big city like Seattle. The idea of staying at Seattle's fir LEED certified hotel really appeals to me -- and to Husband, too. "...a new echelon in sustainability" sounds incredibly attractive. It may be worth the price. These hotels are also eco-friendly and have great locations. I read and appreciated the parent company's environmental statement as well. I don't need fancy, really, but I'd like to spend my green where it'll make the greenest impact.


Of course I want to visit Pike Place Market, the place where Starbucks Coffee was born! I enjoy local markets, whether farm or craft, wherever we go. We'll put it on the plan.


The main goal, however, is to spend time together. Be a couple. Enjoy each other's company: just us. Our offspring are wonderful people (teen and twenty-some that they are), but it's time for a grown-up break. Our twenty-fifth gives us that opportunity. We're thinking and planning now; we'll be ready for action later.

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Celebrate (25 years of) good times, come on!

Husband and I are coming up on our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Our 25th! Wow. We're thinking about celebrating, just the two of us, with a trip somewhere.
We're not big spenders. Our trip to Nova Scotia last year was part research (his genealogy), part family relaxation and fun. We stayed at a cottage off-season to get better rates, brought our bicycles, and cooked our own food while we were there. The biggest expense was getting there. This time around will probably be similar. We're not looking at a major expensive trip; we just want to spend time together and make it special.
Husband suggested Seattle. Coffee for me, brew-pubs for him, we'd both enjoy the destination. But it's a little farther away than we'd planned. You see, Amigo will be at camp and La Petite will house-sit, but we'd like to be within a day's drive in case of emergency. It can be a long day's drive, but we're still thinking of not straying too far away from home.
At the moment, we're considering putting a pin in the map at home and stretching out a string to make a circle about 400-500 miles from the center.
Our hairdresser suggested we find a bed and breakfast, snuggle into the room for a week, and just relax together. It could work.
Husband said thanks but no thanks to the idea of a dude ranch. I could be talked into Seattle, but it's a little farther than we want to go this time. Niagara Falls would be fun, but it's a little on the outer range for distance.
We're not sure if we want to find a rural cottage or B&B and just take walks and spend couple time, or if we want to go to a big city and explore the museums and restaurants and other exciting experiences. We're not casino gamblers, so Vegas and Atlantic City are off the list. Shows? We enjoy watching a good quality concert, whether jazz, classical, or a capella vocal, or a musical stage show. We also enjoy watching the sun rise or set over a simple yet lovely beach.
This makes it harder. We're looking for a long weekend or maybe a week. We don't know if we want to go country or city, fancy or plain.
Then again, we don't have to drive. We could take a train somewhere. Husband loves, loves trains! We could go a little farther by train...
Ideas, Internet friends and family? Drop a pin on the map in the heart of Green Bay Packer country and find a one-day drive. Then let me know what you recommend!

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