Today we took my dad to Babe's Chicken in Roanoake for his belated Father's Day celebration. Now we both are sitting on the couches feeling completely miserable. :-(
This evening I have spent some time researching all of the islands in French Polynesia that we will be seeing and have some ideas for food and activities. I think the trip will be pretty low-key. I have bought a couple of books to take with me and I even bought a few new clothes items in hopes of looking half-way decent while we are there. I am so excited about our trip. My friends, Laura and Michele, both went in 2005 and just rave and rave about it. Reviews on TripAdvisor are a little mixed. The biggest drawback being the incredibly high price of everything. Still...I've never made it to 5 before.
As all weekends, this one has gone by way too quickly. Yesterday I had a hair color appointment, then had lunch with my friend Patti from CTX Mortgage. Last night we went to a Frisco Rough Riders game for one of Joe's co-worker's birthday. What a nice stadium they have there. And the best thing - it's Dr. Pepper stadium, so they had Diet Dr. Pepper. I would have had a beer, but couldn't pass up on the only opportunity to get Diet Dr. Pepper at a ballpark.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Father's Day
Again, because by this time next year I will forget, I am posting what we did for Father's Day. This year we TRIED to go visit Joe's dad. Unfortunately, the visit was not overly successful due to the flights. Bad weather in Chicago caused the cancellation of a few flights on Friday. We lucked out on United again - although I guess it wasn't really THAT lucky, they were pretty open (there have been several times that we have made a UA flight either going or coming from Chicago - we consider them our little non-rev secret!!!). We made it up there, and although it was midnight before we got to their house, we were there! BUT...Sunday morning we awoke to more thunderstorms in Chicago and had to miss all the Father's Day festivities. We ended up having to leave Campus at 11:30 to make a connection through Wichita, Kansas!! Crazy.
Better luck to us next time!!
Better luck to us next time!!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Ireland
Surprisingly, I accomplished my weekend goal - booking the rest of our Tahiti trip. I had done enough research to know that if you book inside 30 days, the rates are ridiculously higher, so I had some incentive. We now will have a roof over our head for every day and a sea underneath us for 4 as we are staying in overwater bungalows while in Bora Bora. Super bonus!!!
Which brings me to our last adventure - Ireland. I had intended to re-create my travel journal online once I got home, but somehow I just never managed to do that. I did create it in Word format, but not on this blog. For the sake of keeping up with life, I decided to give the "recap" version of the trip. Again, from e-mails to Sheli, I offer the following about our trip to Ireland:
"Our trip to Ireland was excellent. Ireland is quite beautiful. There was quite a bit of driving involved and on the left-hand side of the road. The roads are just teeny-tiny there, too. Even the “major” roads are much smaller than here. It wasn’t horrible, although I did manage to hit one curb. Joe drove most of the time. You get used to it after a bit, but it’s hard to tell if you’re far enough over to avoid hitting the oncoming traffic. I was glad we had a car that was already beat up a little on the left side. That way, if we did more damage, the rental car company would never know!!!
We saw lots of scenery while we were there – the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, the Ring of Kerry. We went to a couple of castles – Bunratty and Blarney (see us below) – and we kissed the Blarney Stone! We went to the little town of Cobh (pronounced Cove). That was the major jumping off point for Irish immigrants coming to America in the 1800s. They have a statue there of Annie Moore. She was a young girl that traveled to America with her 2 brothers and was the very first person to be processed at Ellis Island (there is supposedly a statue of her on Ellis Island as well). Cobh was also the last port of call for the Titanic before it crashed into an iceberg and sank. We learned a lot about the potato famine and the millions of Irish immigrants who escaped the famine and poverty and came to America looking for a better life. Many suffered horrid conditions on “coffin ships” where they were allotted a space of 6 feet x 18 inches for the 6 week crossing. A lot of them died in transit and were buried at sea, and that is how the ships “earned” the nickname of coffin ships. Very sad.
We stayed at the Ritz Carlton, Powerscourt on our last night. The hotel is only 6 months old and I guess they were just trying to drum up a little business by making it part of a package. At first I thought it was a ridiculous display of how the rich live, but by the next morning, I was wishing I was one of them – the rich, that is. They upgraded us to a suite for reasons unknown (and unasked!!) and it was the most fabulous room I’ve ever seen. It had a sitting area / workspace / dining room on one side and then a bedroom / bathroom on the other side. In the middle, it had an extra bathroom with just a vanity and toilet and a dressing room. Everything was operated by a touch screen – open the drapes, close the drapes, turn on the lights, turn on the “do not disturb” light. Oh, and there was a TV IN the mirror in the big bathroom. The bed was like a little slice of heaven, but the best part of the room was the shower. It was a room (YES – a whole ROOM!!!) within the big bathroom and the shower head was this huge thing on the ceiling. There was also a hand-held shower head for getting in those hard-to-reach places. We both took 2 showers just because we thought it was so cool – one at night and one the next morning. I guess you could say that was a highlight of the trip.
One additional thing about Ireland:
One of their biggest sports is hurling. I have absolutely no idea what that is, but when we came across a hurling event while driving through Cork, I directed Joe far around and away from it. Taking no chances, there. Hurling. Anyone who knows me, knows what a phobia I have about hurling."
Which brings me to our last adventure - Ireland. I had intended to re-create my travel journal online once I got home, but somehow I just never managed to do that. I did create it in Word format, but not on this blog. For the sake of keeping up with life, I decided to give the "recap" version of the trip. Again, from e-mails to Sheli, I offer the following about our trip to Ireland:
"Our trip to Ireland was excellent. Ireland is quite beautiful. There was quite a bit of driving involved and on the left-hand side of the road. The roads are just teeny-tiny there, too. Even the “major” roads are much smaller than here. It wasn’t horrible, although I did manage to hit one curb. Joe drove most of the time. You get used to it after a bit, but it’s hard to tell if you’re far enough over to avoid hitting the oncoming traffic. I was glad we had a car that was already beat up a little on the left side. That way, if we did more damage, the rental car company would never know!!!
We saw lots of scenery while we were there – the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, the Ring of Kerry. We went to a couple of castles – Bunratty and Blarney (see us below) – and we kissed the Blarney Stone! We went to the little town of Cobh (pronounced Cove). That was the major jumping off point for Irish immigrants coming to America in the 1800s. They have a statue there of Annie Moore. She was a young girl that traveled to America with her 2 brothers and was the very first person to be processed at Ellis Island (there is supposedly a statue of her on Ellis Island as well). Cobh was also the last port of call for the Titanic before it crashed into an iceberg and sank. We learned a lot about the potato famine and the millions of Irish immigrants who escaped the famine and poverty and came to America looking for a better life. Many suffered horrid conditions on “coffin ships” where they were allotted a space of 6 feet x 18 inches for the 6 week crossing. A lot of them died in transit and were buried at sea, and that is how the ships “earned” the nickname of coffin ships. Very sad.
We stayed at the Ritz Carlton, Powerscourt on our last night. The hotel is only 6 months old and I guess they were just trying to drum up a little business by making it part of a package. At first I thought it was a ridiculous display of how the rich live, but by the next morning, I was wishing I was one of them – the rich, that is. They upgraded us to a suite for reasons unknown (and unasked!!) and it was the most fabulous room I’ve ever seen. It had a sitting area / workspace / dining room on one side and then a bedroom / bathroom on the other side. In the middle, it had an extra bathroom with just a vanity and toilet and a dressing room. Everything was operated by a touch screen – open the drapes, close the drapes, turn on the lights, turn on the “do not disturb” light. Oh, and there was a TV IN the mirror in the big bathroom. The bed was like a little slice of heaven, but the best part of the room was the shower. It was a room (YES – a whole ROOM!!!) within the big bathroom and the shower head was this huge thing on the ceiling. There was also a hand-held shower head for getting in those hard-to-reach places. We both took 2 showers just because we thought it was so cool – one at night and one the next morning. I guess you could say that was a highlight of the trip.
One additional thing about Ireland:
One of their biggest sports is hurling. I have absolutely no idea what that is, but when we came across a hurling event while driving through Cork, I directed Joe far around and away from it. Taking no chances, there. Hurling. Anyone who knows me, knows what a phobia I have about hurling."
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Movies & Another Concert
Memorial Day was a couple of weekends ago and Joe and I took off early on Friday and went on a date. First it was a movie and then cheese fries at Snuffer's. The movie we saw was Indiana Jones 4. I thought it was entertaining. Typical Indiana Jones stuff. I think Joe enjoyed it, too! While at the movie, we purchased a cup (with Sprite in it). The cup was the same price as a regular drink, but is good for $1 refills for the rest of the year. Sooooo...the next weekend (last weekend), Joe asked me if I wanted to go and see Sex and the City. Of course!!! I loved that show and own the entire series on DVD. It was bad, but it was funny. I couldn't help but get addicted. The movie was a long version of the show, but with the happy ending of the series extended. It was good and I LOL'd several times. I think even Joe enjoyed it.
Another thing we did last weekend was go to yet another concert. Joe's friend's wife works at SuperPages.com and they have the naming rights for the old Starplex. Apparently the Steve Miller Band isn't a huge draw, so they called and asked if we wanted some free tickets. It was something to do - got us out of the house. Unfortunately, it was a little bit of a beating. I like several of his songs - he opened with a couple that I know, including "Abracadabra." But, they lost me in the middle when they played a bunch of blues. I thought they were getting back on track with "Fly Like An Eagle" but they extended the song for probably 20 minutes and by the end as they were singing..."time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' into the future" I could feel myself getting older right then and there. Fortunately, they ended on a strong note and the last song was "the Joker" which was quite fun.
This weekend my goal is to complete our hotel bookings for - you guessed it - TAHITI!!!! The flights ended up working out just perfectly, which I can't believe! August (my best friend in California's husband) booked our interisland flights and I have the first 2 and the last 2 days secured at the hotels of our choice. Now, I just have to figure out the middle. I'm so incredibly excited. I said it before - I'll say it again - I never made it to 5, so this is going to be a super extra special way to celebrate!!!
Another thing we did last weekend was go to yet another concert. Joe's friend's wife works at SuperPages.com and they have the naming rights for the old Starplex. Apparently the Steve Miller Band isn't a huge draw, so they called and asked if we wanted some free tickets. It was something to do - got us out of the house. Unfortunately, it was a little bit of a beating. I like several of his songs - he opened with a couple that I know, including "Abracadabra." But, they lost me in the middle when they played a bunch of blues. I thought they were getting back on track with "Fly Like An Eagle" but they extended the song for probably 20 minutes and by the end as they were singing..."time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' into the future" I could feel myself getting older right then and there. Fortunately, they ended on a strong note and the last song was "the Joker" which was quite fun.
This weekend my goal is to complete our hotel bookings for - you guessed it - TAHITI!!!! The flights ended up working out just perfectly, which I can't believe! August (my best friend in California's husband) booked our interisland flights and I have the first 2 and the last 2 days secured at the hotels of our choice. Now, I just have to figure out the middle. I'm so incredibly excited. I said it before - I'll say it again - I never made it to 5, so this is going to be a super extra special way to celebrate!!!
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