Bruce's Travels

 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 working in the kitchen, and she saw us and came out to say hello, and I gave her a hug.  Update April 2024 Arta no longer there and had apparently sold the place. Lisa aka "the troll" still there, but not as bent over (hence the nickname) as she used to be.

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, a Choice prop...

Recently returned from an overnight getaway to Dubuque with sister, Dawn. Started with lunch at Decatur Dairy in Brodhead. Grilled cheese sandwiches, Diet Coke, and a bag of fresh cheese curds to take on the road. Then off to Dubuque along picturesque Highway 11, over the Mississippi River into Iowa, and checked in to the Julien Hotel.  First off, down to the whirlpool/pool for a relaxing soak in the whirlpool and invigorating couple of laps in the pool. Next, a relaxing nap. Then onto dinner at the Woodfire Steakhouse inside the Diamond Jo casino. Delicious, and served by our favorite waitress, Michelle. Awesome tenderloin steak, served with asparagus spears and an iceberg wedge salad with blue cheese dressing. A delicious fudge brownie dessert with sour cherries and ice cream, which Michelle comped on, since we were celebrating our escape from the Oscar apartments. Next, we went into the casino, where I found a $10 blackjack table, and Dawn played a $5 blackjack machine.  I ...

Just got back from an overnight outing, complete with dinner at Ishnala, gambling at Ho-Chunk, overnight at the Ho-Chunk motel, and breakfast at Paul Bunyan's in the Dells. First, dinner at Ishnala: Arrived there about 5:00. Place was packed. (Sister) Dawn and I had to wait 1.5 hours for a table. Had a couple of Old Fashioned cocktails to pass the time and sat outside on one of the decks overlooking Mirror Lake. For dinner, I had twin lobster tails, wedge salad, and baked potato. For dessert, key lime pie. Dawn had a beef filet with deep fried shrimp and au gratin potatoes. All delicious. Service was superb. Neither of us had been to Ishnala in years. Our dad, Howard, occasionally tended bar there in the '60s when it was owned by the Hoffman brothers, whose photos are still up on wall just inside the entrance.  Next stop, Ho-Chunk Casino, where I played blackjack at a $10 table with a live dealer. Wanted to take a break from the blackjack machine. They say the odds are the same...

Panama Canal cruise with sis-in-law Julie ended when we docked in New Orleans. By this time, I was sicker than a dog. We had a reservation at a Hamption Inn in the French Quarter. We had arranged some activities, including a tour of the new WWII museum which was quite interesting. There was a display of artifacts from the Enola Gay bombing expedition, including Paul Tibbets' wristwatch. Actually it was only one of the wristwatches that Tibbets owned (Bulova), and I doubt it was the one he wore during the bombing run. We walked around the French Quarter, and I limped along as best I could, not wishing to burden Julie. At night, back at the hotel, I asked Julie to pick up some soup for me. The next morning, I sent Julie on her way to the airport, and I set out to find an urgent care center. There, they set me up with an albuterol inhaler to ease my breathing and did some tests, and the news came back: I had pneumonia. They gave me some prescriptions which I obtained from a Walgreens....

Jeez, 2020 started out so "normal" in many respects. Social distancing? What is that? What do you mean, no toilet paper? Doctor Fauci? Who is he, a new character on Star Trek: Picard? Anyway, back to the start of 2020. I made the move from the Janesville apartment right after the New Year to new digs in Cottage Grove (Drumlin Residences or DR for short). Lost about 200 square feet in living space, but gained heated underground parking, elevator access, and about 100 square feet between two storage units, one in the parking garage (8 ft by 8 ft) and another small storage locker on the 3rd floor where our apartment is. Plus, all new appliances, including full size washer/dryer in the unit. Apartments were built in 2017 and we were literally the first tenants in this particular unit. Dawn and I loaded up my Prius to the brim with wristwatch material and took it down to Tom Harris auctions in Marshalltown, Iowa, around January 6 -- overflow of stuff that would not fit into the 8x...

Tuesday 12/11 Hello everyone. Long time since I've checked in, but Royal Caribbean (RC) is giving me 24 hours of "free" Internet as part of my "Diamond Club" bennies package, and I wanted to use it after we did the transit through the Panama Canal, the highlight of the cruise. I put free in quotations because the free applies to only the "basic" Internet, and everyone says the basic is crap, so I was able to upgrade to the "deluxe" internet for just $7 for the day (normally $32.95). We are currently pulling into Cartegena, and after going back and forth in my mind, I've decided to stay aboard the ship. Bummer. This was the one port of call I wanted to visit to see some emeralds. But I am still not up to strength and don't want to get caught short of wits and have to make a hasty decision to get back to the ship and end up in a rogue cab or something. Plus it's 90 degrees out with full sun. And honestly, there's nothing ash...