Category: TRAVEL (Page 35 of 45)

I’ve barely made a dent in 1000 Places to See Before You Die. The calendar this past week revealed Brazil, Antilles, Australia, Spain, and Salzburg, Austria. I have seen none of these desirable destinations, while my wife at least has us covered for Austria thanks to a high school exchange program. We have both also been to San Juan, Puerto Rico, although separately. There was only one this week that have been crossed off that daunting list of 1,000. As the cliche goes: there is simply so much to see and so little time. As a result, I’ll soon be busy making airline, hotel, restaurant, and car rental reservations.

We did have better luck with a bucket list that Marriott put out this past week. I mention this only to make myself feel better about our overall travel accomplishments. It was their top 10 destination suggestions for the year, including Bangkok, Thailand; Key West, Florida; Dubai; Vancouver, British Columbia; Nashville, Tennessee; Berlin, Germany; Houston, Texas; Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Santorini, Greece; Napa Valley, California; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Rome, Italy. Between the two of us, since we’re traveling to Thailand in a few months, we’ll have been everywhere on this list but Dubai. Perhaps someday we’ll get to Key West, Vancouver, Berlin, and Jackson Hole together.

My wife announced another aggressive travel plan for the rest of this year last night. This includes several of her business trips. We’re already headed to Phoenix in February for her budget meetings, as well as a strictly recreational visit to Bangkok and Phuket in March. April (our 18th wedding anniversary), August (my 68th birthday), and December (Christmas) will be trips back through Chicago into Indiana. May travel involves Maui (auto dealers convention) and New York City (Network meetings). June we’ll go to Los Angeles and celebrate her birthday at our Santa Monica favorites after she does some business. In July she wants to see the five Canadian gardens in Vancouver. I’ve only passed through the city on several ski trips to Whistler. The August trip back home to Indiana will involve my 50th high school reunion festivities, and of course her mother’s 98th birthday. We also discussed going back to Bend, Oregon for Thanksgiving again, since her two girls will be spending that holiday with their father. Plus, I need to find a way to get down to Florida to see my son and his growing family, and we need to work on an excursion to San Francisco where my wife’s youngest daughter is currently in the process of relocating.

That’s a lot of nights away from home, and comparable with this past year’s hectic travel schedule. With kids and family scattered all over the country, it’s difficult to keep pace. It also doesn’t look like a favorable outlook on taxes, as W-2 forms continue to slowly roll in. Plus, there will surely be medical bills from my recent ER visit. This all adds up to perhaps another untimely IRA withdrawal. As I like to say, you can’t take it with you, but you can certainly spend it too damn fast!

They say “you can’t take it with you.” I’m not sure if that belief came from a 1936 comedic play, a 1938 film, a 1987 TV sitcom, a 2009 album, a BBC radio comedy series, or songs by Marah and The Alan Parsons Project. The Egyptian Kings certainly didn’t believe it and consequently tried to do just that. They loaded up their boats and tombs with treasures to serve them in the afterlife. Whether they got there or not, these valuables obviously stayed right where they left them, unless they were stolen by thieves. They are now spending eternity in a museum, no longer in the owner’s possession.

Perhaps the greatest tomb robber of them all was archaeologist Howard Carter who persisted in finding King Tutankhamen’s buried treasure. We visited the display at the OMSI yesterday and the boy king packed everything but a gold plated sink for his journey to the hereafter. However, this particular exhibit was cleverly designed to deter potential thieves by displaying nothing but replicas. Nonetheless, it was still fascinating to witness. In fact, I think we all would be surprised how many museum pieces are really nothing but copies, with the original safely secured in a vault. Plus, it takes a trained eye anymore to distinguish real from fake, especially if it’s placed behind glass. At least the organizers were forthcoming in admitting that these was not the same artifacts that accompanied the previous world tours, and that the only place to see the actual treasures are by going to Egypt – if that’s even true?

After absorbing the overall display that included a map of the massive Valley of Kings, the exhibit definitely enhanced my appetite to make the bucket-list trip. We’re scheduled to go on a Viking River Cruise of the Nile River in 18 months, and I will make it my mission to learn as much as possible about Egyptian history before we get there. Even yesterday’s short museum experience was overwhelming in attempting to grasp the concept of “taking it with you.”

Yes, we’ll pack a few bags for our journey, but nothing like King Tut. We all come into the world, even Kings, naked and screaming. I’m sure a King is immediately wrapped in a golden robe and fitted with a jeweled, silver spoon, while the rest of us take comfort in a warm blanket. From that point on, we all begin the process of accumulation. The amazing thing is that King Tut only had eighteen years of life to do this gathering. I’ve had 67 years to put together my collection, and I’m already starting to give it away. We’ve downsized our home, taken bag after bag to Goodwill, and have tried to suppress any future material needs. We will not need a tomb to store any valuables or even a stone marker to immortalize our existence. Our organs won’t be preserved in gold-plated jars for later use or our bodies wrapped and mummified. There will not be processionals, only a few words of remembrance. We’ll go out as we came in…with nothing. After all, “you can’t take it with you,” even if you are King Tut.

As I continue to count down the days of the year, I’m using the 1000 Places to See Before You Die Calendar as a guide. I apparently still have a lot of living to do, having seen less than 50% of these desirable destinations pictured during the first couple weeks of the new year. This week’s places to live for include the Terra-Cotta Warriors in Xi’an, China; Bonaire National Park; California’s Big Sur’s Coastal Highway; Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee; Vienna’s Winter Ball Season; and Nara Koen near Kyoto, Japan.

We went to the Terra-Cotta Warrior exhibit at the Portland OMSI when it was making its world tour last year. Tomorrow morning, we’ll visit the King Tut display at the same museum. The original sites of both of these discoveries are on our bucket list. Next year, we’ll travel to Egypt and the following year China to officially check-off these two marvels of the ancient world.

The only site on this week’s calendar that we’ve explored is the California coast line along Highway 101. We stopped in Big Sur at the Ventana Spa about 14 years ago for a massage. I had spent the night close to 50 years earlier in a nearby campground, a few days before we went to a Led Zeppelin concert in Oakland. There was a sharp contrast in luxury between the two visits.

We been to the Caribbean countless times, but the closest we ever got as a couple to Bonaire was probably St. Lucia. My wife, however, has been to neighboring Aruba. These tropical paradises are located just off the coast of Venezuela. I feel we’ve seen enough of the Caribbean, together and separately, that this is currently not a priority of ours. We’ve also been through Nashville many times but never for the night. My wife is not a big country music or bluegrass fan, so the spot where Johnny Cash met June Carter is also not a travel priority. I did, however, watch a documentary on the “Carnegie of the South,” and would enjoy someday seeing a performance at the Ryman Auditorium.

I feel that we’ll definitely get to Vienna in the next few years probably as part of a Viking River Cruise. I believe my wife has been to the area on a high school trip. She can also never get enough of The Sound of Music that was filmed in nearby Salzburg. “The Hills are Alive!” I never got to take a high school trip and finally got to Europe in my late 30’s, so I was once far behind my contemporaries in worldly travel. Fortunately, I’ve been able to catch up and surpass many of them.

We’ll get our first taste together of a Buddha-inspired country when we travel to Thailand in a few months. I have already been to Hong Kong, along with a brief excursion into China about 25 years ago. This will be my wife’s first trip to the Far East. We’ll actually change flights in Tokyo before we get to Bangkok, and this will be the closest I get to Kyoto along with the parkland and temples of Nara Koen. Once we get to Bangkok, we’ll see the reclining Buddha at the Temple of Wat Pho. This 150-foot long gold structure is worthy of even King Tut. At a future date we’ll also plan to get to Nara Koen in Japan and see the colossal bronze image of Buddha housed in Todai-ji, the great Eastern Temple. It’s the world’s largest wooden structure, and another landmark that we’ll want to see before we die.

We hop on a plane later today for Chicago and freezing temperatures. There might even be a dusting of snow by the time we arrive at midnight – officially Christmas Eve. We’ll leave behind some rain here in Portland that will generate some snow in the nearby Cascade Mountains. The skiers will be happy, while we’ll be driving by the flat, Indiana cornfields to our Indianapolis destination.

I’ll have an opportunity to do some writing during the boring 4-hour flight. Last night was our annual Christmas dinner with our good friends. We had quite the feast, topped off with Cherries Jubilee and Bananas Foster prepared table-side. These flaming dessert dishes are very festive, especially considering the occasion. However, the high sugar content, coupled with several bottles of wine prevented a sound sleep. I was wide awake in the middle of the night from the carbohydrate rush.

This was the first of many anticipated sugar rushes over the next week. There will be lots of rich foods and nightly wine overindulgence, as we get together with relatives (old & new), family, and friends. This will probably extend through our New Year’s Eve dinner at Portland’s Holdfast. It will then be time for resolutions involving dietary restrictions. I have been very good about controlling my intake of bread, pasta, and rice, so my weight is down about 15 pounds from this time last year. Likewise, my blood pressure and cholesterol levels are much lower. I’ve been a very good boy with my diet this year! However, I still eat lots of cookies and drink way too much wine.

This is the final leg of this year’s version of my California Adventure. It started back in April with Beverly Hills and the Anaheim Angels, followed by a couple days in Santa Monica. We were back again in September to San Francisco and the Napa Valley. Next it was Disneyland’s California Adventure just a week ago and finally this trip to Santa Barbara for the College Cup soccer finale.

Yesterday’s stop in Santa Barbara was by no means glamorous, and certainly the town didn’t make me feel ”like a star.” I got there too late for any signs of a “blood orange sunset” and only briefly saw the “shiny sea.” I spent the night in my very first Motel 6 that seemed only a smell step-up from outdoor camping. No shampoo, shower head adjustment broken, cheap toilet paper, no lid on the toilet, threadbare towels, and thin walls. I want my Marriott! To make matters worse, our Alma Mater lost at soccer.

My college friends were just down the street at the Kimpton, so we wined and dined in their restaurant/bar. I was able to sneak back to my room under the cover of darkness without anyone seeing me. To make this particular California Adventure even seedier, I bought a half-pint of Maker’s Mark masked inside a paper bag. It helped take the chill-off in the stands and made me feel more collegiate than retired.

I literally stopped in my tracks on this morning’s run through some Santa Barbara neighborhoods. I was dumbfounded when the words to California (There Is No End to Love) by U2 blasted through my headphones:

Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara
Barbara, Santa Barbara

California

Then we fell into the shiny sea
The weight that drags your heart down
Well, that’s what took me
Where I need to be
Which is here, out on Zuma
Watching you cry like a baby
California, at the dawn
You thought would never come
But it did like it always does
All I know
And all I need to know
Is there is no
Yeah there is no end to love
I didn’t call you
Words can scare a thought away
Everyone’s a star in our town
It’s just your light gets dimmer
If you have to stay
In your bedroom, in a mirror
Watching yourself cry like a baby
California, blood orange sunset
Brings you to your knees
I’ve seen for myself
There’s no end to grief
That’s how I know
That’s how I know
And why I need to know
That there is no
Yeah, there is no end to love
All I know and all I need to know
Is there is no
Yeah, there is no end to love
Barbara, Barbara
There is no end to love
Oh oh-oh all I know and all I need to know
Is there is no
Yeah, there is no end to love, whoa oh oh oh
We come and go
But stolen days you don’t give back
Stolen days are just enough

Songwriters: Adam Clayton / Dave Evans / Larry Mullen / Paul David Hewson

I didn’t even know I had it on my playlist, and thought I had picked-up a Santa Barbara radio station. As “Santa Barbara” repeated over-and-over you can imagine the initial confusion, quickly followed by a smile at the shear coincidence of it playing while I was in town. Maybe Siri had an unexplained influence? I had never paid attention to it being on there before and don’t remember even purchasing it. The sun was shining and I kept on running.

The song is really “California Dreamin’” Bono-style; from his unique perspective as an Irishman. The Mamas & The Papas along with the Beach Boys each inspired my first impressions of California. As a result, I was drawn to do the long drive to L.A. as a teenager without the permission of my parents. Six decades later, I’ve been back four times this year alone. More visits will undoubtedly follow as my wife’s daughter soon moves to San Francisco.

I’m on the road today. After a quick stop at Buffalo Wild Wings for the weekly Leadership Meeting, I’ll head to the Portland airport and a 2:30 p.m. flight to sunny Santa Barbara. Without a single suitcase or carry-on, this is the lightest I’ve ever packed. I’m in Santa Barbara for less than 24-hours, as I hope to get back in time for my wife’s company Holiday party. My Indiana Hoosiers square-off against Maryland for the third time this season and a spot in the College Cup soccer finale.  This will be my first college soccer game experience since the sport wasn’t even at Varsity level while I was in school – I’m that old! I never played soccer as a youngster as do most kids today. I’m meeting one of my former classmates and his wife for dinner before the game starts.  Hopefully, there will be no delays. I already won’t have time to check-in to the luxurious Motel 6 that was definitely not my first choice in terms of accommodations….but “they’ll leave the lights on for me.”

Neither of us can stay for the final game on Sunday, should our team advance, but hopefully we can share in any celebrations beforehand. I will see little of Santa Barbara and the California coast. I’ve been there a couple of times before, but never to the soccer stadium. It should be an electric atmosphere on a slightly smaller-scale than the College World Series that I attended earlier this year.  However, this was not the bucket-list level of the baseball event. To go today was simply one of those spur-of-the-moment decisions that retirement is all about. It wasn’t costly or time consuming, so I booked a cheap flight with limited expectations, including the game that some of my friends describe as “almost as exciting as watching paint dry.” Indiana has not allowed a goal the entire tournament and if this continues to hold true we’ll be painting the town crimson red. 

My wife told me to use my retirement to experience some of the things that she’s not at all interested in doing. Once she retires in a few years, she’ll be more in control of our travel decisions, and we’ll want to spend as much time together as possible. Right now I have a lot more time-off than she does. Consequently, I continue to boast that every single day now is a “vacation” to me, so the word is rarely in my vocabulary, limited to her busy schedule.

I’ve stuffed a few essentials in my coat pockets to alleviate any delays through airport security, and will live the life of a hobo for the next 24-hours. I’m not going to even take my computer or I-Pad and will take a day’s blog-cation. The weather is supposed to be in the mid-sixties with sunshine when I arrive, so I shouldn’t need any rain gear. The team will undoubtedly not be staying at Motel 6, and I will have to look elsewhere for fellow alumni and post-game parties unless they’re forced to leave early. Go Hoosiers!