June 12 - 15 2014 - Visit to Michigan

June Visit to Michigan 2014

Father’s Day weekend, the boys and I decided to travel to visit Omi, Uncle Fred and Aunt Betsy in Michigan. At first, I thought it would be fun to take an Amtrak train from Iowa through Chicago to Ann Arbor, MI. It became clear that the trip would take about 11 hours and I realized that the boys would enjoy the first four hours of the trip and then would probably grow bored of sitting in seats. The best train journeys are the longer ones in which you can rent a whole cabin with seats which become beds and travel overnight. That is more exciting. Firstly, before leaving we all enjoyed the annual Greek Food Fair in Des Moines. The most amazing frozen concoction is the homemade Greek coffee ice cream topped with baklava.

Then, on Thursday afternoon the three of us flew to Detroit.  The first site of interest was the welcome fountain at Detroit Metro Airport, which makes hops and surprising leaps.

As soon as we got our rental car at sunset and got on the Detroit highways, I remembered that driving is different than in Iowa. The Detroit driving is not only faster, but it is also completely irrational. Drivers in Detroit in both new and dilapidated old American cars driving 80 miles an hour exited from the left lane, crossed into our lane and narrowly missed our car often. I was amazed we made it north to I-75 at all.

On our way from the airport, I called one of a few pizza places in Rochester I found on my phone and ordered a pizza to pick up when we arrived there. It would be around 9:30 or 10 pm and I knew my mother would not have dinner still available for the boys. Having left at 4 pm, we were pretty hungry. So, we picked up a pizza at Georgios, a place that didn’t exist during my high school days and headed north to our house.   I am glad we picked up food because there wasn’t anything else to eat at home. Even the milk was finished when we arrived. My Mum had assumed that I wanted to shop for just the right food.

So, we all had some pizza and got ready for bed. It’s lovely to wake up at home and see the beautiful garden on a summer morning. While the boys still slept, I went out and bought some food for the days we would be there. We all ate some breakfast on the front terrace and enjoyed the sunshine and park like grounds. I would like to have a garden like my Mum’s acre, but it would require a full-time staff. 

We had decided that we would see the second half of Greenfield Village with my Mum on Friday. So, we made our way south again, almost back to the airport and visited Greenfield Village. While there, we took the steam train south to the bottom half of the village. 

We had not had time to see the homesteads on our visit last summer. We walked around to see the home of Noah Webster, a working farm, , etc. Here is the sundial at a cottage from Cotswald, England.

The boys are at that stage of potty training in which they are wearing underwear and using the toilet, but at a moment’s notice they might realize they need to go to the bathroom.  If we are in the unfortunate situation of being out in the world, like at Greenfield Village, we have to dash around looking for a restroom, hoping one of the boys can hold it. Just as we got our lunch food, Peter announced he had to go. Omi was already at the bathroom, so I had to leave our food and a scared Ted and run with Peter to find Omi. Luckily, Ted watched over our food while he munched on a corn muffin; no one approached him to ask why his mother had left him alone and Peter made it to the potty.

After the homesteads, we walked up to enjoy the old fashioned carousel and a playground near Main Street and to see the Model T cars driving around. 

We also exited via the store to see all the craft items and made our way back home. After more crazy Detroit driving and an encounter with a large pipe in our lane on the highway - this time at Friday rush hour, the boys and I took Omi out for a nice Italian meal, so none of us had to worry about food or cooking.

The next day, we drove west to visit some old family friends and then to Ann Arbor to visit Uncle Fred and Aunt Betsy. The boys and I stopped on the way to visit my Mum's old college friends, Phebe and Sid at their home, which looked the same as it has on all my previous visits for the past twenty years or so, although there are probably a few more wonderful art pieces on display. Even though recent health set-backs for Phebe have been scary, they were both in good spirits. The boys took a beloved, but hopefully sturdy Noah’s Arc art object out for a maiden voyage around their living room. It was nice to see both Phebe and Sid  looking happy and like themselves.

“Aunt Fred and Uncle Betsy” as the boys like to call Fred and Betsy, have been hard at work on their new place in Ann Arbor and it also looked park-like. The hidden gem of a stream running through the middle of their back yard has been exposed and was now a highlight. 

We relaxed and enjoyed time outside with them and then a lovely dinner with Betsy’s daughter Mel.

On Sunday, we went to downtown Ann Arbor to enjoy the outdoor artisans market, try to eat at Zingerman’s Deli, which was too crowded to enjoy, and then go to the Hands-On Kids Museum. The boys really liked the museum, which included three main floors of an Exploratorium of fun science exhibits and puzzles to explore and try. They liked the giant bubble and the ball factory.  

Then, we ate a quick snack and as with all visits, we made a mad dash for the airport for our evening flight home. 

March 14 - 22, 2014 - Spring Break in Steamboat, Colorado

Spring Break 2014

14 – 22 March 2014 – Driving from Des Moines, Iowa to Steamboat Springs, Colorado and Back

Based on this blog, you might assume we would have had enough of driving west and east bound highways this past summer. When we first entered Nebraska again on Friday, March 14, I felt as if we had never left. But, this trip was only 12 hours of driving and we split it up over two days. We also had five good days of winter fun in between the two sets of driving days. So, it did not feel like we spent our whole holiday driving – luckily.

After dropping Alle off at the DSM airport on Friday morning, we packed the boys, two bags of food, a cooler and two bags of clothes each (one bag of ski clothes and one bag of “regular” clothes) into the van and headed west. We drove through Iowa and most of Nebraska and spent the night in Sidney, NE. We braved blowing snow and interesting winter weather along the Continental Divide, all the way through Wyoming. The route from Laramie, WY to Steamboat, CO is a mellow, fairly high, but not very busy highway which takes about two and a half hours. We arrived at Steamboat Springs early Saturday afternoon; here's our first view from the car.  

We stayed at a very close-in condo, right near the Ski School for the boys and near the bottom of the gondola at the base of Steamboat for us to start each day of skiing. 

We had time to unpack Saturday afternoon and I had time to take my old boots to Surefoot to get new ortho-liners.  The last time I went skiing was five years ago. Two years prior to that, I had bought new ski boots. But, since then, I have been pregnant with the boys, had a serious hip injury and have not been skiing. I was wondering if I would ever be able to ski again.

Long story short, my skiing “memory” came back and the skiing was great. The boys did four days of ski school. They skied twice a day for four days and although we would have liked them to ski a bit more, they had fun. They learned how to wedge, stop and turn on a “bunny” slope with other four year olds. Ricardo and I tried out all of the intermediate runs on all sides of the various mountains of Steamboat. Amazingly enough, the weather at Steamboat was warmer, sunnier, and with more snow than in Iowa. On our second night, Steamboat got about seven inches of new powder. We had the nicest skiing conditions we have had in recent memory for our last two days of skiing. We found sunny, warm slopes with lovely powder and skied them all day.

In addition to skiing, we had other adventures in our afternoons and evenings. Steamboat also has natural hot springs. We visited the public hot springs one afternoon to sit in the rejuvenating mineral hot pools, which were about 105F. One of our evenings, we took a two horse sleigh ride to a ranch for a cowboy dinner and music night. Here's one of the sleighs arriving.

The two man band played lots of sing along music, which the boys really enjoyed. The ride back in the sleigh under a clear starlit sky was particularly beautiful.

On our last morning in Steamboat, the four of us went dog sledding with Sara and Kris Hoffman of the Grizzle-T Dog Sled Works. Sara and Kris have about 120 dogs they care for and Kris is working towards another Iditarod race. They drove us to a trail in the Routt National Park near Flattop Mountains. We mushed one of four sleds.

I was the driver for five miles in on the trail and Ricardo was the driver on the way out. The boys rode in the sled. We had a great time. The dogs were super friendly, loved the boys, and were very excited to be running. I have had a chance to drive a dog sled before, but never for such a long time. Once the dogs start running, it is a meditative and relaxing experience; the only challenge is getting them to stop! The scenery with river and mountain views was beautiful.

We left Steamboat for home on Friday and stopped over in Kearny, NE, before arriving back in Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday afternoon.  No snow in Iowa, but it has been more bitterly cold than in Colorado. Spring skiing can feel like a warm Spring Break!

January 4 - 9, 2014 - Stranded on Captiva Island, Florida

“Stranded” on Captiva Island, Florida

January 4 – 9 , 2014

For the second year in a row, right after New Year’s, we have left the Christmas mess in our house behind and flown down for a long weekend in Florida. Ricardo has an annual executive team meeting and he rents a large house on Captiva Island for a week. The team only needs the house for part of the week, so we use it (and pay for part of it) for the long weekend. This year, we wanted also to take our cousin and exchange student, Luisa down to show her some of the warm part of the US before she had to return to Germany. It was also the week before final exams for the girls, so we thought they could have some quiet time to relax and study (which didn't happen until the flights home).

We all left Iowa one freezing cold winter’s day and flew on a non-stop flight to St Pete’s small airport in Florida. We loved arriving and walking off the outside stairs of the airplane into warm air. We ran to the bathrooms in the baggage area and changed into shorts and t-shirts from our carry-on bags. After we picked up our luggage, we walked outside to feel the balmy air. Even Florida’s winter is warmer than any weather we have in January in Iowa.

We rented a car and drove to the Lazy Lobster near Sarasota to meet my father’s sister, my Aunt Em and her husband, Uncle Bill for dinner. We love to see them and visiting in a restaurant on our way south is an easy way for them to see all six of us. Aunt Em has recently had back surgery and seemed like a new person; she was energetic and vibrant. We have a fun meal and even after flying, the boys were in good spirits. We had another hour or two to drive after dinner to pick up groceries and make our way south to Fort Myers and then west to Sanibel and then Captiva Island.

We stayed at a spacious, modern house situated just over the bridge from Sanibel on the narrow part of the island where it is only wide enough for the road and a house with land on either side of the road. We are on the Bay side or east side of the road. Down our long drive and across the main road, there is a path and the lovely Gulf beach.

The Captiva beach is one long stretch of sand and we rarely see more than a handful of other people on it.

It is remote, private and quiet and we love to be there.

It’s also the home of many native shore birds and birds of prey. Our part of the island looks uninhabited when we gaze out to the Bay; 

all we can see are pelicans, hawks, bald eagles, blue herons, and various sea-loving birds.

We were going to stay here Saturday through Tuesday, but on Monday the extremely cold weather hit in Chicago and the east coast and our flights back to Iowa were cancelled. So, we were “stranded” on Captiva Island for two extra days. If one is going to be stranded anywhere, Captiva is a great place to be stranded. We also got the cold weather; it did get down to 45F one night and we had to turn the heat on in the house. But temperatures in the 60s in the tropics are still better than 20 below in Iowa and it was nice to be here.

We visited our favorite ice cream shop on Sanibel almost daily, Poco Loco, which is near Jerry’s Market in a small mall. One afternoon when it was too cold to swim, we hung around a set of restaurants and shops on Captiva at the only four way stop in “town” on the island.

Mostly, we enjoyed our small, heated pool, walked to the Gulf beach to look for seashells on the world’s best seashell beaches (Sanibel and Captiva),

and wandered along the long, empty stretches of sand to watch the waves and sunset. 

October 3 - 6, 2013 - Four Days in New York City

October 3 – 6, 2013

New York City, NY

We made our now-annual trek to New York City this past weekend to celebrate my Mum’s 83^rd birthday and to show Luisa NYC during her stay with us. As always, it was a busy, exciting time. The amount of things we try to fit into four days is somewhat insane, but that’s New York. One wouldn’t want to waste any time there.

We arrived late in the morning on Thursday with a lovely clear view coming into LaGuardia airport, direct from Des Moines to meet my Mum’s flight from Detroit a half hour later.

We all shared a taxi via the Midtown Tunnel because of traffic on the Triboro Bridge and suddenly were in downtown Manhattan. The scale is larger, the pace is faster, and the crowd of cars, taxis, buses and people is amazing.

We checked into our hotel much earlier than we expected and our rooms were not ready for us. We like to stay right on Central Park, near the Plaza at 59^th and 5^th Avenue. It’s a splurge, but worth it for the view and convenience. We left our luggage there and went in search of lunch. In one of my worst ideas of the trip, I suggested the Carnegie Deli, which was close by and a NYC legend for sandwiches and rude NY service. We each ordered a sandwich and received a mile high pile of meat each. The deli meats were great, but as a sandwich, it was just a pile of meat without anything else with it.

Full after half a sandwich each, we made our way through Times Square (which was mind-boggling, as always) and over to the MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art. They have an American Modern show there which was very interesting. It is a mix of artists and medium from around the 1920s, including very early O’Keefe, Stieglitz and his circle’s photos, Hopper canvases, etc. The architecture of the MoMA building itself is an exhibit to see, also.

We returned to our hotel and really checked into our rooms. We had two adjoining rooms on the 22^nd floor, our highest floor at the Helmsley Park Lane yet and we had great views. Central Park stretched out before us. Here's our view looking north.

We “freshened up” and changed and headed back out for our first night on the town. We traveled south again to Aurellos on 42^nd Street near 7^th. It is ranked as one of the best restaurants in NYC and we wanted to try it. I tried their pumpkin risotto and scallops with potato and leek, both of which were subtle and very good. Luisa announced that the first appetizer exploded with flavors in her mouth and all in all, everyone enjoyed their food.

From there, we walked to the Shubert Theater for Matilda, the musical. Once there, Alle realized that the front of the Shubert is the one used in the movie version of The Producers and that was a touchstone in the Theater District for her. We all loved Matilda. It had a beautiful set, the songs were fun and the child star was incredible. Very worthwhile.  And, that was only our first day.

On Friday for breakfast, we enjoyed room service for as much as a typical dinner for four might cost in any other city. We walked through Central Park so that Luisa could see our hotel from the Park and the beautiful lay-out of the lakes, paths and central promenade.

We exited at 72^nd Street to the East and went to the Frick Collection. What a beautiful house and what amazing paintings. The Frick family acquired at least one of so many famous European painters from 1500 – 1900. Each room is more glorious than the next and it is difficult to imagine a family living amongst the treasures. There are Rembrandts and Vermeers, Holbeins  and Hobbema, as well as Monet.

From the Frick, we traveled down 5^th Avenue to meet one of Mum’s friends from High School. They both attended Music and Art, now LaGuardia High. He is an artist and a member of the Century Club. We met him there and viewed some of the amazing art there, as well. Early members were asked to contribute either $25 to join the club or a piece of art. Many, including Winslow Homer, contributed a painting rather than paying the “hefty” fee. Now, of course the paintings donated are worth thousands or millions of dollars each. We enjoyed lunch there and then walked around 5^th Avenue shops and to Grand Central Station. Grand Central still feels central and important. My Mum stated, “The most important thing Jackie Kennedy ever did was to restore Grand Central Station”.

From Grand Central, Mum decided to return to our hotel and rest. The girls and I decided to take a subway down to the southern tip of Manhattan, Battery Park and see the Statue of Liberty and the World Trade Center site. Battery Park is under construction, but we did see the Statue of Liberty from the shore. We walked north to the World Trade Center site and even though we only had a short time, we decided to try to see the new memorial. It was very worthwhile to see it. I found walking up to the large fountain and seeing all of the names and the water rushing down into an endless square stunning. I stood with my mouth open looking at the cascading water, replicating the falling of the towers and the loss of life. I was moved to tears, thinking about that day and the scale of the destruction.

We headed north again by subway and met up with my Mum at our hotel. Friday night (our second night), we were dressier and made our way to 1 Central Park West and Jean Georges restaurant, one of NYC's three star Michelin restaurants. This was a treat. Due to time, we chose the four course prix fixed menu rather than some of their larger and longer tasting menus. Every course, except for my entrée was exceptional. The real stand-out was the service. We had impeccable service. Our waiter was incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. Whatever we needed arrived before we had to ask for it. A real stand-out in a city of fabulous restaurants.

From Jean Georges, we walked up to Lincoln Center for the NY Philharmonic’s performance of Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony. We love Lincoln Center with its three vibrant theaters looking out on Broadway and Columbus streets and its fountain bubbling forth, forming a wonderful white backdrop for the figures of people hanging out around it before performances. It’s a beautiful space. Before Beethoven’s 9^th, we had to listen to a new modern tribute to it, composed by Turnage. Some people probably celebrate this piece, but I found it an atonal replication of some of the gang fight songs of West Side Story. Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, on the other hand, was a tribute to that work. The choral parts filled Avery Fisher Hall and were glorious.

Saturday morning, we again tried a Room Service breakfast and headed north on an A train as early as possible, which for us, was around 10 am . We took the subway all the way up to 181^st Street, my Mum’s old neighborhood. We walked around the old park, up Pinehurst Avenue and to Fort Tryon Park. I have many happy memories of walking through that park as a child with my grandparents and to my eye, it appeared unchanged.

We arrived at the Cloisters around 12N. The Cloisters with its many inner courtyards, medieval stone pillars and artwork, is a sanctuary.

In celebration of the 75^th anniversary of the Cloisters being open to the public, they were playing the wonderful 40 part choral piece by Thomas Talis in one of the chapels. The 40 voices were separated and each part was playing out of a separate speaker. The result was to be part of what sounded like a live performance of a 15^th Century choral work in a 12^th Century chapel with wonderful acoustics. It was beautiful and everyone present stood with their eyes closed, in a trance.

We walked back to 190^th Street and took the A train back to Columbus Circle. We had more time to rest and get ready than previous nights, but somehow suddenly, we were heading out again for dinner and an evening event. We walked up to Café Fiorellos and the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center. At Fiorellos we dined on huge pizzas and an enormous “open-faced” lasagna, but after the incredible service and experience at Jean Georges the night before, it was hard to measure up. The food was good and it was wonderfully close to Lincoln Center. We left with a half hour to spare, to enjoy the lead-up to the Opera.

The people are always so interesting at the Opera. There you see people in slacks and sweaters along with couples walking in black tie with diamonds sparkling; Groups of students giggling standing along side season ticket holders and couples who look like they might own major parts of New York. I had splurged and bought tickets just a few rows up from the stage on the main floor. My Mum was delighted with her close-in seat. We also love the translation screens of the Opera text which are displayed on the seat backs in front of each attendee. Your screen is only visible to you and it is so nice to follow along with the words to the songs. Here's the view up to the ceiling from our seats.

We saw Cossi fan Tutti or something like “Women are always like that”. It is a Mozart opera which is not very complimentary to either men or women. But, it is a comedy of hidden identities, misrepresentations, and people becoming trapped in their own schemes. The only challenge is its 3 and half hour length. But, it was very grand to be there and each of us enjoyed the setting, the environment, and the seemingly effortless singing. The Metropolitan Opera is always excellent. I’m not a huge Opera fan (my Mum is), but the Met is always worthwhile. Last year’s Marriage of Figaro there was one of the finest productions of anything I have ever seen.

Luckily, NYC never sleeps and as we walked back at 12M, we were surrounded by other theater goers and people out on the town.

On Sunday, our last day, we took a taxi to the upper East side to visit an old friend of mine for breakfast. After a wonderful meal and seeing the East River with him, we walked to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to view their current textile show and photography of Julia Margaret Cameron. Both were excellent. Cameron’s portraits of family and friends of her time (mid-1800s) are glowing with soft light and captivating.

We taxied back to our hotel and left for La Guardia airport. My Mum was feeling nervous about her flight, so we left with about three hours to spare. Last year at the end of October, our flight was one of the last out of LGA prior to the Hurricane Sandy hitting New York, so we were grateful for on-time departures and no storms this year. After sunny days in the 70s in NYC, we were shocked to return to Des Moines to find rain and 50 F. Four action packed days in NYC and now, thankfully, sleep.  

 

September 12 - 15, 2013 - Long Weekend in Boston and Maine

Long Weekend in Boston and Maine

September 12 – 15, 2013

We have booked more travel than usual this Fall, using Luisa’s stay with us as an excuse. We decided to take her along with us as often as possible when we have the chance to travel. With this in mind, we took Alle and Luisa with us to visit Boston and coastal Maine when we were invited to a wedding September 14^th in Kennebunk, Maine.

The four of us flew to Boston early Thursday morning, after leaving our sleeping boys for the longest time we will be apart from them since they were born. They will be in good hands with their nanny, Savanna. We arrived in time to take a Boston Duck ride from the Prudential building, which is close to our hotel, the Fairmont at Copley Square. We settled into our two rooms, separated by four floors for some reason, and set out for the Duck tour. It was a good, quick tour of the top Boston attractions, as well as the mandatory dunk into the Charles River to have a quick look at Cambridge from a distance.  Here's our Duck Boat/Bus sliding into the river (as reflected in a near-by mirror).

 

We took Luisa to Legal Seafood for her birthday dinner that evening and were the last ones in the place as we ordered almost one of everything on the menu and then dessert.

On Friday, we did touristy things we have never done while in Boston before. We walked the Freedom Trail and then took the T (subway train) over to Cambridge for lunch and the Harvard University tour. The Freedom Trail is a wonderful walk around all of the best sites of colonial Boston. I have seen most of them before, but it was more interesting seeing them all together in one walk and thinking about the time and the actions of the people there as the US moved towards independence.  

 

Being in Harvard Square is like seeing an old friend, but it was new to Alle and Luisa. So, the Harvard tour was a good introduction for them.

It was fun to walk into Cardullo’s (shop of gourmet items), which I remember from spending summers near-by when I was between the ages of five and fifteen. I also forced the girls to walk west to see where I used to live and more interestingly, Longfellow House and its lovely gardens and view to Memorial Drive and the Charles River.

We went back to the North End for dinner later that night and had an amazing meal at Ristorante Saraceno, a small family run Italian restaurant on Hanover Street.  We found out the easiest way to embarrass teenage girls is to be serenaded by street musicians (whom we had to pay, of course) as we ate our gelato from a near-by gelato shop afterwards.

Saturday, we left the area after taking more photos of rowers on the Charles and of Memorial Drive on a beautiful, crisp Fall day.

We drove north about an hour and half to Ogunquit, Maine. We were staying at the hotel recommended by the wedding party and I had made the incorrect assumption that it would be near the wedding and reception. They both turned out to be another half hour away and so we broke a few traffic laws trying to make the wedding on time.

After a lovely, and unfortunately, very on-time wedding in a small church in Kennebuck, we had a chance to congratulate the bride’s father, who is an old college roommate of Ricardo’s.

We went to the reception, ate wonderful food, tried to figure out Tom’s statistics of the wedding guests (!), and danced with our teenagers.

On Sunday, we had another amazingly clear, sunny late summer’s day on the coast of Maine. We walked the Marginal Way in Ogunquit and at one end of it, ate truly fabulous lobster rolls at the Lobster Shack in Perkin’s Cove. There are other restaurants and ordering windows right near the Lobster Shack, but they are only trying to pretend they are the Lobster Shack. The real thing has the best food.

We then drove to Manchester, New Hampshire to try the new flights to Des Moines on Southwest Airlines. All in all, we had an action packed four days and we hope a wonderful four day introduction to the northern East Coast of the US for Luisa.

 

Day 21 – Back in Iowa

Day 21 – Back Home in Iowa

August 17, 2013

We arrived home at 2:30 am and carried our two sleeping boys up to their beds. They had tried valiantly to stay awake to see our house and cats when we arrived, but as bedtime came and went, each of them fell asleep.

4,030 miles. 3,286 photos (on my camera cards). Five people ready to sleep in our own beds and take real showers.

When we woke up this morning, I felt as if I had been on a boat for three weeks. I was off balance and kept expecting our bathroom to sway and tilt back and forth.  The boys and I walked out our back door and into our yard and I said “What a great campsite! We have our own waterfall, a big grassy area, a sandbox and two cats.” Peter said, “and our own swing!”

We unpacked the camper as we started, by putting everything into bins and placing them in our garage for later sorting and putting away. I started the first of about 20 loads of laundry and we all cleared out the RV. I feel grateful that the engine, brakes and tires all worked for the whole trip. Unfortunately, the rest of the features to support actually living in the RV were either broken or worn out. It felt good to say thank you and good bye to it.

Later in the day after we cleaned the RV, Ricardo left to return it, and I showered, I decided that we have the best shower in the world. It was nice to feel truly clean. It was also nice to setup my laptop, plug it in and have both power and an Internet connection. Both of those were hard to find during our three week road trip.

To start our next chapter, after Ricardo left with the RV and I showered, the kids and I left for the airport to pick up Luisa, one of Alle’s cousins who will be living with us for the next five months as an International exchange student from Germany at our high school. Tomorrow, we will all visit the Iowa State Fair (the biggest and the best in the world!) and start getting the girls ready to start school next week.

Thanks for your interest and reading. Safe travels and happy camping.

Self Portrait on Going-to-the-Sun Road, Glacier National Park