Bruce's Travels

 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 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.

My 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 prope...

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, 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 won ...

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 already 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 ar...

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....