Road Trip 2007 - Day 1

Well, its been a long delay since I said I was going to work on the Road Trip story. Oh well!

So, we left on July 28 at 7:46 AM. On the first day we just drove and drove all the way to Cranberry, Pennsylvania. We took the Indiana Tollroad, the Ohio Turnpike and then the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

I decided to try to take a photo of every 100 miles on the road. What a cute idea! However cute, it only lasted for about the first 600 miles.

Here is the photo of 100 miles out:



This was taken on the Indiana Tollroad near Elkhart, Indiana.

We decided to stop somewhere for breakfast, so we asked our Garmin for a suggestion. She suggested a place in Edon, Ohio called the Feed Bag or the Feed Mill or something like that. Anyway, we drove about 5 miles down a little road and there it was. We had a great breakfast in a cute little town.



After that, we just kept driving. Here is the 204 mile photo:



This one was taken somewhere in Ohio at about 1:37 PM.

And the following photo was taken at 357 miles on 80 East in Ohio near the Cuyahoga River:



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And one more: taken at mile 436 on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, east of Pittsburgh -


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So, Day 1 is almost over. We have arrived in Cranberry, Pennsylvania in the late afternoon. We are staying at the Hyatt Place for the night. This is a really cool hotel - our room has a 42" plasma tv!


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For dinner we drove across the street to a restaurant called "Eat & Park". It was pretty similar to a Baker's Square. The thing is, though, wouldn't a more correct name be "Park & Eat"? I don't get it at all. I would think you need to park before you eat, rather than after. Someone didn't think that name out very well at all.
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Have a nice rest! Tomorrow we take off bright and early for Gettysburg.

Road Trip 2007 - Intro

We have returned from Road Trip 2007 and it was a very long road! I can't believe how much we did and saw in 8 days. We logged 1,875 miles from beginning to end.

Its kind of a strange thing that I love Road Trips, but I hate to ride in cars. I always like to sit in the back seat and do things to take my mind off the traveling - listen to my ipod, do cross-stitch, read a book, play my PSP, etc. But I love the planning and I love the thought of seeing the country!

I've been on a lot of road trips - the first major one I can recall was my Mom and Dad taking me and my younger sister to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Huntsville, AL. My Dad was driving our new (used) 1966 gold chevy with the black vinyl top.



We weren't too far out of Chicago when the a/c conked out. The real crime about that happening was that this was our very FIRST car that had a/c. So it was a huge excitement to have this cool and comfortable ride to look forward to. But it just wasn't to be.

Anyway, the road trip that year (1970, I believe) took us through Carbondale, IL to visit our brother at SIU, then on through the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee where we visited Lookout Mountain and Rock City.


I recall being so very impressed with Rock City, that I brought my kids back there many years later.

We did make it to Huntsville and had a nice visit with the relatives before the long trek back home.

Many of my other Road Trips have run together in my head -- I know I took a wonderful Road Trip to the East Coast once upon a time in the early 80's. Traveling through Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island...maybe more - I just can't remember!

Then there was the Road Trip with the destination of Virginia Beach in 1987. We visited Williamsburg and Chincoteague, where we saw the stuffed "Misty" - those who are book readers will know what I'm talking about. And then on the way home visited those same relatives of the 1970 Road Trip, only this time in Kentucky.

I loved the Road Trip of 2002. It was kind of a cheating Road Trip because we flew part of the way, but really....driving to California was not an option. We started in San Francisco, drove over to Sequoia National Park in the Sierra Nevadas, down through the Garlic Capital of the world - Gilroy -, to the Hearst Castle in San Simeon (wait a minute -- not sure if we did that on this particular trip or not!), but I know we did visit the Winchester House in San Jose; Monterey, Carmel, then on to Los Angeles before flying home. And yes, we traveled the great Highway 1 along Big Sur.

The reason this one is not totally clear is because its kind of like the Road Trip of 1998 (with my sisters and Mom) in that we flew to California and drove from there. I know we did many of the same things as the Road Trip of 2002, but in an all-girl kind of way instead of a family type thing. Just a different experience.

And back in 1992, like I was talking about above -- took our little kids (they were 5, 4 and 6 months old) to the same relatives' anniversary party in Kentucky and from there went down to Rock City and Lookout Mountain.

I know I did several Road Trips to Florida, both married and single. With kids, without. On one of the Florida Road Trips, the kids counted every Waffle House restaurant along the way and I wish I recalled the count. Its kind of funny that our brown Astro van's air conditioning broke down shortly out of Chicago on that trip..... It was fun anyway, and in addition to Disney we drove over to the coast and spent some days on the beach at Indialantic. Of course, on the way down we stopped at Rock City and Lookout Mountain because we had one more child by then who had never been there!

I kind of doubt that I have mentioned all the Road Trips I've taken. There have been many many short ones, that's for sure. But I'm not sure that weekend trips would count as Road Trips, no - not really.

So, this is the intro to the Road Trip Saga. I'll start posting photos and the story, day to day, of our great Road Trip 2007 in the upcoming days or weeks, depending on my enthusiasm!

Now I'm A Parrothead

I took a short hop to the islands on Saturday night. From the minute I sat down to a cheeseburger (in paradise) and a cool Corona at my sister and her husband's pre-Buffett party - I was on my way to the tropics.

It took awhile to get there (First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre) only because there were people coming from not only the Chicago area but many surrounding states and the traffic was being re-routed all over the place - but upon entering the parking lot a whole new world opened up.

Parrotheads to the left, Parrotheads to the right.

The most enormous tailgate party I have ever encountered. Cars decorated with shark fins, entire tiki bar set-ups, guys in grass skirts with coconut bras, and all kinds of parrots! What a crowd!

The concert was absolutely amazing -- we had lawn seats which I think were much nicer than sitting under the canopy in chairs. Thankfully, the weather was very cooperative, but I have a feeling it probably wouldn't have mattered much to most of the soused crowd if a blizzard had been going on.



The stage was set up to resemble the Bama Breeze, a beachside bar, with the aqua blue ocean behind it and a tropical sky which changed colors through the show. Jimmy entered the stage on a bicycle, barefoot and in shorts and t-shirt. The whole show was laid back and key wasted - just the best description I can come up with.

Even if you're not a die-hard Buffett fan, you can't help but have a blast at his concert. And if you are a Buffett fan or even if you just love the ocean - as soon as you begin that long trek back to the parking lot, you will be counting the days till Jimmy's next show!




The Daily Southtown has a review of Saturday's show at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre: "Buffett & Co. deliver again"

A big part of a Buffett concert is always the atmosphere, from the gaudy outfits of the fans to the sound of the steel drums and pedal steel guitar to the comely backup singers to the free-flowing libations. But the bare-footed beach bum and his band of cohorts Saturday once again showed that if you strip away all the accoutrements you still have the music. And Saturday, as always, it was like a good tropical drink: cool and satisfying.

"Haily/Katey"

I wanted to share my latest doll creation. This doll is from a kit by Wendy Dickison called "Haily". The kit comes in five pieces - a head, two arms and two legs - no hair, no paint! It is in vinyl, deep pink in color. I renamed this doll, "Katey" after I had finished.


Below is a photo that shows the hair somewhat. The "hair" that I use is pure mohair which is purchased in locks. I separate the locks into individual strands which are then rooted into the doll's head using a very fine needle which grabs only one or two hairs per insertion. Since you can see that Katey has a lot of hair, you can imagine how long this process took. Not to mention how many needles are broken in the process. But in the end, it actually looks as though this hair is growing right out of the scalp!

My earlier dolls mostly had wigs, but the more recent ones were hand-rooted. Like Katey.


Backing up, I usually do all the painting first. On this doll, the original vinyl color was rather deep pink. I wanted a paler look so after doing a light green wash to neutralize the pinky color, I simply gave the skin mottling by using a combination of very pale pink and white paints. I always add touches of pale blue here and there for shadowing and depth. In real babies you can usually see these blue undertones if you look carefully.

The fingernails and toenails are painted in a rose color and tipped in white before being sealed with a satin varnish. The lips are painted in the same color and also sealed with satin varnish.

Eyebrows are painted, but eyelashes are rooted in a slightly lighter color than the hair on the doll's head.

The head and limbs are then all weighted, the ends are sealed and then attached to the cloth body - which is also weighted and stuffed with a combination of poly beads and fluffy polyester.

And then you have -- a baby! I have already had offers for this doll, but I was very lucky to obtain another kit by the same artist and I will most likely create a twin brother for Katey. At that point I may sell them together...or who knows - maybe these will be the ones that I keep for myself!

A Bunch of Buttercups

I confess - I love babies! From the little toes to the button nose, I find them irresistible. In fact, I think that if babies could stay babies forever -- well, we probably wouldn't get any sleep. But anyway, I thought I'd share some photos of babies that have been at my house:


















These are just a few. The truth is, that there has been over 100 of these babies in my house and the surprise is that I made them all! Amazing!

I have to be honest though, I am not superwoman - these 'babies' are all dolls and my business is Buttercup Babies Nursery. Now, I didn't actually sculpt these dolls or mold the plastic. The dolls are all play dolls - basic vinyl 'dollies'. The process of making a plastic doll like this:


Into a 'baby' that looks like this:


is a long and tedious process, but I find it to be a rewarding and challenging hobby.

For two years, I sold my dolls on Ebay. My first doll sold for $238. My highest doll sold for $1,875. I produced one doll a week during that period of time. And I became one of the best known and 'in demand' reborners on Ebay; 'reborner' being the term for someone who transforms a doll into a work of art.

After a couple of years of this, the demand for these dolls, in general, began to slow down. Just like the Beanie Baby phenomenon, the fad was losing momentum.

But there are still a lot of doll collectors out there who well recall Buttercup Babies. On occasion I will pick up a plastic doll that appeals to me and enjoy bringing it to 'life' as they say in the business. Or someone will send me an email asking me to work on a doll for her, maybe to try to make a doll that resembles one of her children or grandchildren as a baby. And I love to do it!

So, enjoy the photos of my Buttercups. All of these babies have been 'adopted' (again, business talk!). But, there will be more to come.

If you are interested in seeing a photo show of more of my Buttercup Babies, click on this link:

photoshow.comcast.net/grayhenry

and on the right side, click on the Buttercup Babies gallery. Enjoy! Let me know if you like my creations.....

The Story of Lily/William

When William was Lily:

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William loves to oversee and is very regal about it.



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William is one brave kitty. Here he is not only enjoying the dogs' bed, but he is claiming all their favorite bones for himself although he doesn't even like bones:


Well, almost there. Only two more pets to write essays about.

William's arrival is really the most complicated and strange story of all of them, however.

He was my Mother's Day gift of 2005. I really wanted a siamese kitten for the longest time. When we lost Henry (ooops, another pet story coming later), I just kept thinking about it even more.

I started out by checking classified ads in the paper, then breeders (ouch big $$$), and finally resorted to calling pet shops. I know -- this is SO politically incorrect. And it will become even more evident as this tale unfolds just why we are all advised to NOT adopt from a pet shop.

Well, I did manage to find a pet shop that had a litter of Siamese kittens and the price was $400 per kitty which really was a bargain. Yes, compared to the prices I had seen.

So I went directly there and told the young employee that I wanted a *female* Siamese kitten. She plucked two of them out of the cage and told me to choose. After some thought, but not much because they really looked identical, I picked one and charged her on my credit card.

According to the 'rules' of the pet shop, in order for the pet to be guaranteed, it had to have an exam by the veterinarian that the pet shop chose, so in a few days I took Lily, my little kitten, for her initial exam. She was pronounced healthy and adorable and all was good.

Until, I took her for her first shots to my own vet. Dr. Roy picked her up and said, "There is a problem." What?! My perfect little kitty had a problem? And he further explained, "Lily is a BOY!"

Oh no! I did NOT want a boy kitty. I've had boy kitties before. Both Reuben and Henry both suffered from FUS (feline urinary syndrome) which causes blockages and all kinds of bad things and is more prevalent in male cats. After losing two male cats to this, I was positive I did not want any more boy kitties. And here I was, already in love with Lily, and Lily had turned into a BOY.

I knew I didn't want to return her/him to the pet shop hell. But now I was pretty angry. So I called the pet shop and spoke to the owner who had the personality of a turnip.

I explained the problem and asked how in the world could his employee have told me that a male kitty was a female? He laughed and said, 'well nobody's perfect' and pretty much said - too bad for you!

Now I was no longer just hissing, but my claws were out also.

I called my credit card company and they asked if the pet shop owner had offered to take the kitty back. WHAT? Obviously, not a pet owner. You don't have an adorable kitten for two weeks who now sleeps on the back of your neck, purrs when you pick it up, and comes running when you say "Lily, Lily!" - and just bring it back to pet shop hell to sleep in a wire cage.

So, I said no he didn't. The pet hater then said I should call him and ask him to take the kitten back and ask for a refund or to exchange him for a female kitten.

I thanked her for the excellent advice, hung up, and called back in the hope of speaking to someone else who actually owned a pet. And I got lucky the second time. The next person was horrified and thought that there was no way that I should tear the purring kitty from my son's grasp and bring her/him back to the wicked pet shop owner. She said she would immediately apply a dispute to the charge and send me a form to fill out.

The rest was simple. I filled out the form, said that I had paid for a female Siamese kitten, took it for its initial exam by the vet that was chosen by the pet shop who did not even diagnose her maleness, and that in the end I was stuck with a male kitten who would, in my mind, end up sickly and dead by age 3.

And the charge was reversed.

Lily became William. He is happy, healthy, feisty, believes he is a dog, and loves to jump on my shoulders from behind. Otherwise, I like him. The rest of the family - well, I'm not sure. He can become violent unexpectedly, especially if you touch the back of his particular chair in the kitchen. That really bothers him.

His favorite game, other than playing wrestling with Teddy the dog, is hide & seek. I will go up the stairs and hide behind a door, or in the bathroom right off the hallway, or sometimes in the bedroom. He will then go running up and look for me. Then I jump out at him and he jumps back. At this point, it is his turn to hide. He usually hides behind the shower curtain, between the tub and the curtain, and neglects to hide his tail. I don't think he realizes that hiding in the same place makes the game less than challenging for me.

In the end, I have to admit that I'm pretty happy I have William. And the price wasn't bad either.

We Miss You, Dixie!

When we were dogless, it was a difficult decision to make that leap. But we sure made the right choice getting our feet wet with Dixie Belle.

I wanted a shetland sheepdog because I've always felt that the breed is just gorgeous. I love collies, too, but they are just so big - I'm a small dog person.

First, I visited the local animal shelter and they had a nice sable sheltie, but unfortunately he was on 'hold' whatever that means. The pound said that if the people who were 'holding' him didn't come back by the next week, I would be next in line. But, fortunately for us, they did come back.

And I say fortunately because if we had adopted that sheltie, we wouldn't have gotten Dixie!

I contacted a Sheltie Rescue organization (http://www.illinoissheltierescue.com/) and filled out their application and passed the interview. The following day, I received a call from one of the directors. She told me that she personally knew a woman who had two shelties that she wanted to give away to good homes. These dogs were not going through the rescue. The woman who was giving them up just wanted to know that they would be going to a good home and for some reason, the director of the rescue thought of me. She asked if I would meet this woman halfway from her home in Peoria and take one of the dogs, sight unseen.

Hmmm......when someone is giving away a dog, there is always that worry -- why would someone give away a perfect pet? In this case, the woman had a baby and felt that it was too much to have two shelties along with the baby. It was either the dogs or the baby and I said no to the baby.

We took a chance and said OK - we would adopt Dixie!

I was nervous driving to meet her. It was about an hour drive and I worried about how the dog would fare in the car for such a long trip. We were getting a travel crate along with Dixie so I knew she could ride in that and her owner assured me that she was good in the car. And she sure was - she rode home in that crate without a peep.

I was a tiny bit disappointed that Dixie turned out to be a tri-color sheltie. I had fallen in love with the sable (brown/white like Lassie) at the pound. But I soon forgot all that because Dixie turned out to be the most laid back, gentle, and obedient dog ever.

She had already gone through obedience training and was close to receiving the "Good Canine Citizen" award. So she didn't jump on people or act like a crazy dog. I want to get her bad points out of the way right off the bat and yes, she did have a couple.

First of all - garbage raiding -- she had dragged the entire contents of the kitchen trash across the entire kitchen on more than one occasion.

Second, she loved to bark bark bark.

Third, she insisted on herding people which would freak them out because she would follow along behind people and snap at their feet. Never biting them, just kind of butting.

Now that we're done with the bad stuff....let me just say that Dixie Belle was a beautiful dog, maybe a bit large for a sheltie, but lovely just the same. She had a gorgeous shiny black coat with brown and white trim and a white blaze on her nose. She loved to walk on a leash and never pulled and tugged. If she got out of the yard accidentally, she would just walk around to the front and sit on the porch.

Dixie was almost four years old when we adopted her and we had her for 7 years. She was just short of her 11th birthday when she died last summer. It was a very sad day for all of us.

We miss Dixie Belle and I don't think I'll ever have another dog as pretty as she.

What is Tuscan and how did we do without it until now?

Before I go off on my rant, let me just say that I really have a problem with trendy stuff. I also hate the term, 'upscale'. Just so you know where I'm coming from.

That being said, yesterday morning I was going to White Hen for coffee. Plastered on the front window was a huge sign advertising their new and wonderful TUSCAN vegetable soup. I was kind of admiring the look of the soup, it did look delicious, but my happy thoughts suffered from whiplash as I did a mental double take and re-read TUSCAN in the description.

WHY does everything have to be Tuscan suddenly? Is it because of that movie? As far as I know, Tuscany is what this Tuscan thing is based on. Tuscany, I learned, is part of Italy. I think its been there for a very very long time. Probably longer than the United States.

But I'd say its just in the past year or so that I've been seeing TUSCAN everything, including White Hen soup.

So, I did a Google search just to see how widespread this buzz word has become. I found that there is now Tuscan home decor, Tuscan cooking, the Best Western Tuscan Inn in California, Tuscan flatbread, Tuscan Hall conference center in Texas, Tuscan whole milk available at Amazon. com, Tuscan Lakes (an 870 acre planned community), AND a Tuscan Siamese cat breedery. How can all of these diverse things be described by one common word: Tuscan?

Why does everyone want Tuscan things, all of a sudden? What is the attraction here? It isn't a particularly lovely word; nor does it roll off the tongue melodically like cochlea or march importantly like Rastafarian. Just why would you need your soup to be Tuscan or your cat either for that matter?

I need to get off this rant immediately before someone gets offended. Most likely, someone somewhere has just named their new baby Tuscan Marie or Tuscan Elliott and you know how irritated people can get if you criticize their kid. Before I quit, though, I'm offering you this lovely Tuscan Rose so you can contemplate its similarity to a gallon of milk.


(yes, it really is called a "Tuscan Rose")

School is over and I'm.....what??

I never thought I'd feel sad to be out of school for the summer.

Remember those days of the past - the last day of school? Freedom! Joy! The long summer days ahead; it seemed they would go on and on; one endless weekend.

Well, it has happened: I am sad to be sprung. I finished my Medical Terminology class last night, took my final, and now I am going to miss going to school. It's a frightening realization because it means that maybe I am a real adult. Because, really - there is no way I could still be a kid and be sad about getting out of school for the summer.

I loved my class. It had been years since I went to school. Unless you count yoga or pregnanacy fitness or lamaze as higher education. So it seemed a big decision to actually sign up for a real class. After the first couple of sessions, I began to question my decision. I had to actually set aside time - my precious time - to do homework and study for the weekly quiz. I didn't even want to think about the BIG tests, the midterm and the final looming somewhere vaguely in the not too distant future.

I got into the routine quickly enough, though, and began to relax enough to actually learn things. My instructor was a registered nurse who infused the lecture with tales of her own personal experiences at the hospital and I found the lectures to be very interesting, even entertaining.

Now that my Tuesday nights are my own, once again, I feel a little bit empty. I think that not only did I learn all about medical terminology, body systems, and medical procedures; but I also received a dose of self-pride. Hey, I could actually sit in a class of a bunch of 'kids' and do as well as the rest of those freshly minted brains. Never mind that they were probably taking four other classes simultaneously and I was only taking the one.....

Let's see, if I stretch this out properly, I could probably be able to take one class per semester and have my master's degree in hmmm.......about 45 years.

That'll keep me busy!

It truly is Magic!

My daughter, Lauren, was talking to me today about some friends she met while we were on a Disney cruise in November of 2005. She still keeps in touch with these girls! But anyway, while we were talking about the cruise and the Disney ships, I started really wishing for another Disney cruise. I know I'm a cruise addict, there is no doubt about that. I'll take any cruise, any time. But there is just something more about a Disney cruise.

If you've ever been to any of the Disney theme parks, you've experienced some of those extra touches. Now imagine these touches applied to a cruise and multipy it times 100 - and this is what sailing with Disney is all about.

For instance -- dining onboard the Disney Magic or the Disney Wonder. Not just a dinner, not even just an exquisite dinner....but an event.

We sailed on the Wonder in 2004 and the Magic in 2005 and discovered that they are identical ships, so the dining rooms are the same with the exception of the formal dining room on each -- on the Magic it is called Lumiere's and on the Wonder it is called Triton's.

Lumiere's features French cuisine and has a beautiful rose theme - which follows the Beauty and the Beast story.

Triton's was inspired by the Little Mermaid, of course, and has an art deco style with a beautiful 'under the sea' mosaic on one wall.

When you dine on a Disney ship, you rotate dining rooms nightly. What this means is that you are assigned a specific restaurant for each night so you get to take turns in each one. You have a wait staff that is assigned to your family and this wait staff also rotates with you. Thus, each night your preferred drink is brought to your table since your waiter remembers what you usually order. My daughter, Amy, always found not one, but two, glasses of cold chocolate milk at her plate at each dinner!

The girls with our waiters on the Magic: Johnathan and Pieroj, at Lumiere's --



Over our Thanksgiving cruise, we had the best rotation ever. There are over 1,000 passengers onboard each ship, so not everyone has the same rotation, obviously. I felt we were so lucky to dine at Parrot Cay on Pirate's Night and on Thanksgiving, we were in Lumiere's (which also coincided with formal night).
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I'll start with Animator's Palate restaurant which happens to be my favorite. Now 'palate' also can be spelled 'palette' -- and both of these spellings would apply to this restaurant. It features many of Disney's most loved films and this restaurant literally comes to life while you dine. As you begin your meal, everything is black and white - the walls, the giant paintbrushes and palettes in the center of the room, the waiters' vests. But with each course (and the music is synchronized to change with each course), a bit more color appears. There are framed portraits on the walls and if there is a song playing from say - the Lion King - only the portraits featuring Lion King characters will light up in full color. As the dinner goes on, more and more color is added until dessert - when even the waiters' vests are in full rainbow hues instead of the plain black and white. Animator's Palate is a true experience!
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The very tropical Parrot Cay restaurant:




Parrot Cay is a very brightly colored, tropical restaurant featuring a lot of bamboo and green leafy designs, pinks, oranges and a live steel drum band playing Caribbean music. The food is also Caribbean themed and so delicious! I forgot to mention that all the waiters perform in each restaurant every night (after they are finished serving) and in Parrot Cay they encourage everyone to join them in a Conga line around the room. We ate at Parrot Cay on Pirate Night which was so appropriate. I'll talk more about Pirate Night later, but in a nutshell - it was a night celebrating Pirates in the Caribbean - so dining in the Caribbean restaurant was perfect that evening.

Pirate Night at Parrot Cay:



The third restaurant, as I briefly mentioned, is either Lumiere's or Triton's (depending on the ship you are on). On the Disney Magic it is Lumiere's - I don't think I've ever dined in a more luxurious and beautiful setting. It is French cuisine (and David even tried escargot), and just extremely posh. The chandeliers have the little rosebuds inside them -- these little touches are all around. Here's a photo of one of the chandeliers, although you can't see the rosebud it is inside the very bright area:



And Triton's is equally luxurious with an art deco style. You are dining 'under the sea' which may or may not be a good thing to think about while you are on a cruise ship - but anyway, who doesn't love the Little Mermaid? I just loved the huge mosaic of Ariel and also the beautiful blues and greens in this restaurant.

Now since there are three main dining rooms, you do get to visit each one twice during a week long cruise. Or you can opt for casual dining at Topsider's or Beach Blanket Buffet. At these dining rooms you can take your tray outside and sit at the rear deck, watching the ocean churning behind the ship. There are not many things I can think of that are more relaxing than just watching the ocean go by, especially in the Caribbean where it is the most wonderful aqua blue in color. But I digress....
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Above: in the hallway just outside Palo.

Finally, a very special choice for dining is Palo Restaurant. If you want to dine here, you need to make reservations *before* you leave for the cruise. It is very popular at Palo for good reason. This is the adults only restaurant and although you pay $10 per person, you are catered to and doted on while you enjoy truly the finest Northern Italian cuisine.

We also had High Tea at Palo -- absolutely delightful with the wonderful creations of cakes, scones, finger sandwiches, and items that I've never seen before, served with several varieties of English Tea.

Well, I could go into the late night buffets, Pluto's Doghouse, Scoop's and other dining extravaganzas, but perhaps those are best talked about in another entry as this one is becoming very long and now I'm getting a bit hungry just thinking about them.

Truly, if you can only manage to put aside $1 every day, start saving for a Disney Cruise! You will have the time of your life and feel like a pampered princess or prince, whatever the case may be.

When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true!

Moms, No Tots

This is another Girlfriends Story.

Once we all had Tots. In fact, three of us belonged to Moms & Tots, a local park district sponsored program. When Moms & Tots ended for the summer, Sylvia had the idea to get everyone's number and she organized our own group - and we took turns meeting at one anothers' homes all summer long. And we added other friends to our playgroup.

We did this for a couple summers and became good friends. But as things go, the Tots grew up. And some of the Moms disappeared.

And we changed our meeting place from our backyards to restaurants which served Margaritas and we continued our friendship.

Finally, the idea of a field trip was brought up and embraced with much enthusiasm. So, off we went to Lake Geneva where we had much fun despite malodorous ham hocks hurriedly disposed of in public waste containers.

Soon we changed our destination to Michigan City and here we are - on our first Moms' Overnight in Michigan City - in front of "Barb's Cottage", where we witnessed mysterious happenings such as pumpkins appearing in unexpected places.



Michigan City has become our second home, if only for one weekend every fall. Although we have stayed at different cottages, we have many traditions. This kind of makes our weekend flow in a very predictable and comfortable pattern; without much effort required in planning. I think this is what really makes our weekend one of extreme relaxation and no stress!

What I really love about our weekend the most, though, is being able to visit the shores of Lake Michigan during the off season. The Fall still offers some beautiful weather and we have spent a lot of time walking down the beach for quite a distance without even seeing another person.

Lighthouse Outlet Mall is in Michigan City and we always spend time there; and Michelle and I will always try our luck at Blue Chip Casino even though we never win. Sharon's beer bread and candy corn trail mix are always very popular with everyone.

Here we all are, just sitting around discussing our great finds from the outlet mall:


And going for a walk to enjoy the beautiful fall colors --


It seems that our annual weekend passes much too quickly, as all good things do. But at least we all know that many Margaritas, strawberry daquiris, Coronas, O'Douls.....and ice waters.... will help pass the time in between!

Girlfriends & Girl Weekends

I had to start out with the above photo. That is me on the left and Mary on the right. When that photo was taken, we had actually been friends for three years already. Years went by and years went by and we are still hanging out together.

Fast forward 9 years.....

Here we are again and its 1971. That's Mary on the left, I'm in the middle and we have a new buddy, Teri, on the right. This photo was taken in San Francisco and you might consider this the original Girls' Weekend, our Junior Class Trip (although it lasted a week, not a weekend and included many other girls AND chaperones). Didn't stop us from getting into some serious adventures, however.

A few years went by, some of us went away to college, we all got married, had kids and suddenly it became 1989. A few phone calls later and we had re-organized the Girls' Weekend. Off to Galena, IL we went.

From 1989, we barely missed a single year. In fact, we expanded our getaways to include a second annual getaway, the Family Getaway Weekend which included husbands and kids. As the kids grew up, the Family Getaway Weekend fizzled out, but the Girls' Weekend never did.

Our adventures were numerous and some were unbelievable. Over one short weekend in the early 2000's, we were steamed out of our room in the wee hours by a faulty radiator; locked out of our room in our pj's; caught in a blizzard so bad that we literally had to feel our way down the street by walking next to buildings until we found the most wonderful Italian restaurant; and the next day we trudged through the snow without boots looking for antique shops. After that weekend, we all agreed it was the worst one ever. But it is the one we talk about the most today!

And in December of 1995, I was 8.5 months pregnant and afraid to venture too far from home. So we stayed in the suburbs and went Christmas shopping. When we returned to our hotel room, my dear friends wrapped every one of the Christmas gifts I had bought while I sat with my feet up and supervised!

Another year we were adventurous and flew to Minneapolis and shopped at the Mall of America. But our big adventure, so far, was our 50th Birthday Celebration Cruise. We sailed on Norwegian Cruise Lines in March of 2005, ironically over the same dates as that California school trip of 1971.

We have some unwritten, but mutually agreed upon rules for our weekends. First of all, we try to take turns visiting each of our hometown areas - since we are separated by many many miles. Once in awhile, we choose a midway point, but generally we take turns going up to Wisconsin, down to Quincy and to the Chicago area.

The other rule is that we don't eat at chain restaurants. We have dined well and always search out the unique, local and BEST restaurants we can find.

And finally, the TV stays off. All we do is talk, drink wine, talk, shop (mostly antique and thrift stores), and talk some more.

Some of the places we've been: Galena, IL; Minneapolis, MN; Madison, WI; Quincy, IL; Orland Park, IL; Springfield, IL; Cedar Grove, WI; New Buffalo, MI; Bloomington, IL; Naperville, IL; the Caribbean.....and some I just can't recall.

Here's a photo of Mary and Teri taken just last week - on our weekend in Bloomington, IL.




Nowadays, if you pick up any women's magazine or do an internet search, you will find a lot of stories and information about Girls' Getaways. But back in 1989, before they were trendy, we were doing them. I don't want to say that we invented the Girls' Weekend, but it sure seems that way to us.

So, here's to you - my best friends! Cheers!

By the way, these are antique glasses that we found in a shop in Naperville - there were only three of them and it was the obvious thing to do - we each bought one and now we bring them along and toast one another on our annual Girls' Weekend every year!

More Pets - This Time In Action!

Here they are, the two active animals in this house. Doing what they do best:

The 60's

I love the 60's! I guess its because I was too young to understand exactly what was going on so it all seemed very vibrant and exciting. If you grew up in the 60's, you will probably enjoy this:

http://moreoldfortyfives.com/TakeMeBackToTheSixties.htm

About Teddy

This is Teddy, the little Pomapoo. Poma (pomeranian) and Poo (poodle). Teddy's dad was a pomeranian and his mom was a poodle. You can see that Teddy has little teeth that stick out on the bottom - he is so cute!

Teddy's Dad's name is Copper and his mom's name is Tabasco.

We adopted Teddy from a very nice family - his Dad (Teddy's Dad) lived a few doors down. We didn't meet the dad, but the owners of his Mom (Teddy's Mom) said that they could make a quick phone call and Teddy's dad would come running to their door for us to meet him. This is true.

When we were trying to decide whether to adopt Teddy or his brother, who was a lot smaller and seemed a little demonic, Teddy went running behind the couch. The little boy in the family evidently liked Teddy and didn't want to see him leave, so he shouted, "Chubby! Don't come out!" (the family had given Teddy the temporary name of Chubby).

This kind of became a family dog joke of ours. I think you had to be there, though.

Well, Teddy is also a very smart dog (see Toby, below). He is not even a year old and can already sit, lie down, and wave. He would be able to do hundreds more tricks, except we haven't taught him the rest at this point.

His favorite pal is William, our cat and they play together often, mostly chasing and hiding games.

Teddy loves to bark bark bark and his favorite crime is trying to escape the yard. Sometimes we can't figure out just how he did it, but we do have all kinds of interesting barricades at every possible opening. This makes it hard for the rest of us to enter and exit our yard, so we really don't use the back door much.

Teddy's birthday is May 30, so please stop by on that date and wish him a happy day. If you are a 'real person' out there reading this and you know where we live, please stop by for some birthday cake and bring your dog!

I Miss Board Games

These are some of the many board games I owned once, way back when I was a younger kid. I guess I must have been into ghosts and spirits and mystic things.

That Camp Granada Game was a real pain, though. It basically consisted of a camp bus and a game board. You would push the camp bus along the game board until it broke down and then you would read the instructions on the board. It was a LAME GAME.

During the summer, my friends and I would take games outside and play sitting on the picnic table in the yard. We would sit ON the table and play with the game board in the middle of us. I still keep buying games in the hope that someone will play, but it doesn't seem that people care about board games anymore. In fact, my son calls them 'bored games'. Ha ha.

Some of the best times I remember revolved around playing games -- I know I had a simple childhood. Thank goodness.