Bruce's Travels

 I am putting together this blog entry in 2024, by memory as best I can recall it. I had it in blog form, but foolishly erased it after getting complaints  from the folks back home it was taking too long to load. It was my first winter getaway following Gwen's death in 2009, so I really want to get something down before my memory faded all together. I did not bring my kitties with me this trip; Dawn was kind enough to look after them. This was all about Orlando; the thought of spending winter in Fort Myers hadn't occurred to me yet. I started out in Kissimee at a cheap motel (I think it was a Motel 6) because I wanted to be close to all the Disney Parks, and reasonably close to the mid-winter NAWCC Regional. I paid for the room by the week to save a little money and was able to get a room with a 'fridge and a microwave oven.  One of the restaurants I remember during my time here was Tarentino's, an Italian place in Kissimee. They had a cute hostess named Leilani (or som...

 By Bruce Shawkey State Route 1 is a major north–south state highway that runs along most of the Pacific coastline of the U.S. state of California. Constructed: 1934, it is the longest state route in California, at  656 miles. The most popular stretch of the highway is between San Francisco and San Diego. I had a chance to travel part of the highway with my late wife in the mid-80s, and have a photo of her posing along the highway, next to her ashes at Roselawn. The Route is in danger these days, due to mid slides, rock slides, and forest fires which spur erosion. It cost millions to keep the route in drivable condition, with funds coming from state and federal sources. Is it worth saving and maintaining?  A recent episode on CBS Sunday Morning answers with a resounding "yes." I agree. Construction of the Pacific Coast Highway involved blasting through granite, marble, and sandstone with 70,000 pounds of dynamite. Lime was smelted to make concrete.  The most difficul...

 By Bruce Shawkey Found this interesting book in the Internet archive about keeping a travel journal, which I have done for a number of years. It's always fun for me to read about past travels, whether to the next town over, or the next continent. In her introduction, author Lavinia Spalding writes: "Keeping a travel journal is a time-honored art form steeped with tradition and romance, a practice with countless iterations and formulas. Some people approach it like a religious discipline, sitting each afternoon with pen and notebook to dutifully chronicle the events of their day. " I would add to that everything I ate (being a foodie), the hotels and motels I stayed at, and the shenanigans of my two cats, who were often my semi-reluctant travel companions when traveling by car to Florida, where I spent many winters.  Here's a look at her table of contents: 1 — Let the Wild Writing Begin Choosing a journal and beginning your journey    2 — It's the Intention that M...

 We are beginning our second full day here in New York at the Affinia hotel by Penn Station. We’ve had to scale back on our planned activities. Some was caused due to time delays getting here (fog in Milwaukee and apparently lots of other places in the Midwest, too). Other cutbacks due to running out of steam and the fact that things just seem to take longer than we anticipated. But let's focus on what we DID do. Yesterday (Friday), we went on the Circle Line Tour to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We had to go through a complete security check (very similar to what you do at the airport now) BOTH at the ferry dock, and again at Liberty Island to get inside the statue. For Gwen, this included a hand search and swabbing of her hydration backpack. At the Statue of Liberty, they also ran us through the "puffer" which I guess checks for explosives, drugs or both. I had quite mixed emotions at the Statue Tour, with the irony of the whole situation not being lost on me....

 By Bruce Shawkey One of my favorite places to go is Lake Mills and have a meal at the Downtown Café and say hello to Arta, the owner of the establishment. A visit to this place on Memorial Day weekend found the place was hoppin’. Always good food there, I had a Gyro while Dawn had a turkey melt sandwich. Fire Department was there in force soliciting donations for Muscular Dystrophy Association. We threw a dollar into the boot. Then, per our usual outing to this lovely community, we went to McDonalds for a vanilla cone. We didn't think Arta was there, but she was was working in the kitchen, and she saw us and came out to say hello, and I gave her a hug. 

M y latest cruise with Julie Holmes. We sailed out of Baltimore, Maryland to Nassau Bahamas on an 8-day cruise aboard the Vision of the Seas. Here is my daily log along with some observations. Overall, a wonderful cruise. Some much-needed R&R after a year filled with stroke rehab, a noisy drug dealer, computer issues, and more. But there were some hiccups and lessons learned. Wed. Jan 17 Julie here in the afternoon in preparation for cruise. Thursday January 18, 2024, Day one: First was just getting to Baltimore. Julie and I had to fly out of O'Hare, because there no available flights out of Madison. So we had to take a very early (5 a.m.) VanGalder bus to O'Hare. Once there, United Airlines was very accommodating to my handicap and wheeled me through security and to the departure gate.   While there, I had a meal at Berghoff's. I wanted breakfast, but they only had lunch,  so I got a bratwurst.   Once in Baltimore, Julie and I took an Uber ride to our motel...