Today our new adventure truly starts. We've got all the yard sale stuff done, utilities set to be turned off tomorrow and arrangements made for picking up furniture and other items going to different people today.
We are loading ALL of the rest of our household items into the Magic Bus and will be permanently living in there as of this evening.
To say we are excited is an understatement. We've been longing to doing this for years now ever since we started out in the summer of 2007 and had to return back home due to a family illness. In between then and now we have also been on this Michigan adventure moving from California and experiencing some REAL weather which we aren't too crazy about.
Anyway, we are "on to the next" and extremely happy. I'll post pictures of our adventures along the way and stay in touch as much as possible either through this blog or on facebook.
Cheers and Happy Trails
Bonnie
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Monday, June 17, 2013
MY HOW TIME FLIES
Our number one Grandson graduated from High School. I know it's the first step in to his new path in life and who knows where that will take him - the skies the limit.
It's a new path for us us as well but in a much different way. Our path is a time of reflection and remembering all the good times and milestones he had along the way like the first time we saw him through the glass at the hospital being proudly held up by his Daddy, and being lovingly caressed by his Mommie, the first time he called us Grammie and Papa, his first steps (which we were privileged to see), his first haircut (also there to see), his first day in school, first time he rode a two wheeler, driving a car, first job, first girlfriend and many more firsts along the way. Yes this is a time of reflection and looking back with great pride at what a wonderful young man he has turned out to be.
Congratulations Chris we love you very much, and looking forward to many more firsts.
Cheers and Happy Trails
OVER THE HORIZON
Two For The Road has been in some serious discussions lately, and we've decided we are ready for a change. We've been reviewing our priorities and have made some rather astonishing insights into what we find important to the both of us.I'm happy to announce that we will be making another change in our residency and will be moving on from Michigan and heading back to the West Coast and Southwest part of this great land.
The house here is up for sale and things are in motion. We are going to be traveling around in our RV and will be what RVers call full timers. We set out to do this back in 2007 but due to a serious family health issue we were called back home and stayed there until last year when we moved here to Michigan.
The two of us are extremely excited and looking forward to another adventure, and in finding out what's over the horizon. I'll keep you posted as things progress.
Cheers and Happy Trails
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
New York, New York!
As most of you know Glen and I became tourists and did a little sightseeing in New York City a couple of weeks ago. To say it was an adventure is an understatement. From our first view of the City across the Hudson river to our entrance into it through the Lincoln tunnel was exciting. Then coming out into daylight right into the heart of a vibrant, bustling City was a little scary, especially when you merge into all the noise and traffic with everyone changing lanes and a lot of them like us not knowing exactly where they should go. But Glen handled it like a champ and we made it to our Hotel.
Speaking of our Hotel - WOW what a beautiful, modern place it was. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt www.grandnewyork.hyatt.com on 42nd Street one block away from Grand Central Station. We choose the Hotel based on a recommendation from our friend Brenda who had stayed there before and said it was in mid-town Manhattan and centrally located. She was right and the place was AWESOME! From the moment we pulled up in front of the place we were greeted warmly by everyone we met. The lobby was beautiful and our room was clean, modern and very comfortable. What a nice way to start our adventure in New York City.
That first afternoon which was Thursday we went to the New York Public Library and went on a free tour of it. What a beautiful building. It's been in movies like Day After Tomorrow and others I'm sure. Then that night the Hotel Concierge directed us to a little pizza joint a couple of blocks down the street. That was something we both wanted to do in New York because we always hear about how good New York pizza is. It was good, but we've had pizza other places just as good a this was so nothing special. Its all a matter of taste I'm sure.
The next day Friday we went on an all day tour of the City and saw all the touristy sites like, Rockefeller Plaza (30 Rock), Empire State building (didn't go up), Central Park and Strawberry Fields memorial to John Lennon also the Dakota Building where Yoko still lives on the entire 7th floor! Cruised Park Avenue, and went to the Port to board a ferry for a cruise around the Statue of Liberty as well as Ellis Island and Governors Island. I actually got tears in my eyes when we were at the Statue of Liberty and they played the song by Neil Diamond "Coming to America". Because if you think about it almost all of our ancestors got here from other countries, it was very inspiring. We also cruised right under the Brooklyn Bridge then back to dry land. Oh we also saw Little Italy, Times Square, The Chrysler Building and went to Wall Street. BTW did you know how Wall Street got its name? Well, there use to actually be a wall around the area that the Dutch put up in the mid 1600's to keep their colony of New Amsterdam protected against English colonial encroachment or incursions by native Americans. The history is really quite interesting and the actual wooden posts are still in the ground where they had the fence. It's amazing sometimes to find out how things get their names.
The last site we saw was The World Trade Center and ground zero. We didn't actually go into the site but we were as close as I wanted to be. Very depressing and sad. Our tour guide was actually in building seven that was destroyed by building number two when it fell and got out of there just in time to save his life and the lives of his co-workers. That bit of the tour was a bummer but I'm glad we saw it.
After the tour we went back to the Hotel and got ready to go see the musical Jersey Boys! What a great time we had and a great musical. If you remember Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, this is a trip down musical memory lane! Great fun, also our first ride in a New York City taxi because I wasn't walking anywhere in my high heels :-) Speaking of taxi's, we mostly walked the entire time we were there. It is definitely a walking City and our feet and legs were definitely feeling their non use.
Saturday we got up and caught a taxi to the Museum of Natural History and as Glen likes to say "no we didn't spend the night" Night at the Museum - get it? Anyway . . . we did however spend the better part of the day touring it and checking out all the neat artifacts. By the time the day was over we got back to the hotel and just vegged that evening. We were exhausted!
The next morning Sunday we eased into the day , did some more sightseeing and then met my Brother In-law Steve's Mom Joan. She lives in the City part time and has a little studio apartment on 42nd Street right next to the Hudson River and the United Nations! She recommended a nice little Tuscan Restaurant called Cibo www.cibonyc.com that we went to and had dinner and drinks and talked about our adventures. She grew up in the City so it was her old stomping grounds. It was fun to listen to her stories about how the City use to be. The area she lives in is called Tudor City and is really a beautiful little area right at the end of 42nd street. I forgot to ask her why they called it Tudor City - oh well. It was a beautiful evening that ended with hugs and kisses and plans to meet again which I'm sure we will do. Glen and I walked back to the Hotel and that was the end of our NYC visit. Next morning we were up and out and off to another adventure - upper New York wine country!
We drove about half a day and ended up in a quint little town called Hammondsport,
New York which describes itself as "The Coolest Little Town in America" www.hammondsport.org at the south end of Keuka Lake one of the finger lakes as they are called. We happened upon a beautiful little B&B called The Blushing Rose www.BlushingRoseInn.com and stayed the evening. It was a gorgeous place and Marianne and Sam the proprietors treated us like royalty. We were the only guests in the house which consists of 4 bedrooms for guests so we had the run of the place. They recommended a couple of wineries and we were off before they closed. We have neighbors that are new to Michigan like us and they recommended a little artisan winery called Keuka Lake Vineyards www.klvineyards.com which we found and did some sampling which ended up with us buying a couple of bottles of wine. One white and one red. I'm having trouble getting into some of the wine in Michigan because the whites they make here are mostly sweet and I'm a dry Chardonnay kind of gal. We visited one more winery called Bully Hill www.bullyhillvineyards.com and sampled their wines, bought one bottle, then headed back to town for dinner. Next morning Marianne made us a beautiful breakfast all organic and fresh ingredients then back on the road to home.
It was a beautiful trip and one that we will remember always. Here are a few pictures we took along the way. Cheers everyone!
Speaking of our Hotel - WOW what a beautiful, modern place it was. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt www.grandnewyork.hyatt.com on 42nd Street one block away from Grand Central Station. We choose the Hotel based on a recommendation from our friend Brenda who had stayed there before and said it was in mid-town Manhattan and centrally located. She was right and the place was AWESOME! From the moment we pulled up in front of the place we were greeted warmly by everyone we met. The lobby was beautiful and our room was clean, modern and very comfortable. What a nice way to start our adventure in New York City.
That first afternoon which was Thursday we went to the New York Public Library and went on a free tour of it. What a beautiful building. It's been in movies like Day After Tomorrow and others I'm sure. Then that night the Hotel Concierge directed us to a little pizza joint a couple of blocks down the street. That was something we both wanted to do in New York because we always hear about how good New York pizza is. It was good, but we've had pizza other places just as good a this was so nothing special. Its all a matter of taste I'm sure.
The next day Friday we went on an all day tour of the City and saw all the touristy sites like, Rockefeller Plaza (30 Rock), Empire State building (didn't go up), Central Park and Strawberry Fields memorial to John Lennon also the Dakota Building where Yoko still lives on the entire 7th floor! Cruised Park Avenue, and went to the Port to board a ferry for a cruise around the Statue of Liberty as well as Ellis Island and Governors Island. I actually got tears in my eyes when we were at the Statue of Liberty and they played the song by Neil Diamond "Coming to America". Because if you think about it almost all of our ancestors got here from other countries, it was very inspiring. We also cruised right under the Brooklyn Bridge then back to dry land. Oh we also saw Little Italy, Times Square, The Chrysler Building and went to Wall Street. BTW did you know how Wall Street got its name? Well, there use to actually be a wall around the area that the Dutch put up in the mid 1600's to keep their colony of New Amsterdam protected against English colonial encroachment or incursions by native Americans. The history is really quite interesting and the actual wooden posts are still in the ground where they had the fence. It's amazing sometimes to find out how things get their names.
The last site we saw was The World Trade Center and ground zero. We didn't actually go into the site but we were as close as I wanted to be. Very depressing and sad. Our tour guide was actually in building seven that was destroyed by building number two when it fell and got out of there just in time to save his life and the lives of his co-workers. That bit of the tour was a bummer but I'm glad we saw it.
After the tour we went back to the Hotel and got ready to go see the musical Jersey Boys! What a great time we had and a great musical. If you remember Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, this is a trip down musical memory lane! Great fun, also our first ride in a New York City taxi because I wasn't walking anywhere in my high heels :-) Speaking of taxi's, we mostly walked the entire time we were there. It is definitely a walking City and our feet and legs were definitely feeling their non use.
Saturday we got up and caught a taxi to the Museum of Natural History and as Glen likes to say "no we didn't spend the night" Night at the Museum - get it? Anyway . . . we did however spend the better part of the day touring it and checking out all the neat artifacts. By the time the day was over we got back to the hotel and just vegged that evening. We were exhausted!
The next morning Sunday we eased into the day , did some more sightseeing and then met my Brother In-law Steve's Mom Joan. She lives in the City part time and has a little studio apartment on 42nd Street right next to the Hudson River and the United Nations! She recommended a nice little Tuscan Restaurant called Cibo www.cibonyc.com that we went to and had dinner and drinks and talked about our adventures. She grew up in the City so it was her old stomping grounds. It was fun to listen to her stories about how the City use to be. The area she lives in is called Tudor City and is really a beautiful little area right at the end of 42nd street. I forgot to ask her why they called it Tudor City - oh well. It was a beautiful evening that ended with hugs and kisses and plans to meet again which I'm sure we will do. Glen and I walked back to the Hotel and that was the end of our NYC visit. Next morning we were up and out and off to another adventure - upper New York wine country!
We drove about half a day and ended up in a quint little town called Hammondsport,
New York which describes itself as "The Coolest Little Town in America" www.hammondsport.org at the south end of Keuka Lake one of the finger lakes as they are called. We happened upon a beautiful little B&B called The Blushing Rose www.BlushingRoseInn.com and stayed the evening. It was a gorgeous place and Marianne and Sam the proprietors treated us like royalty. We were the only guests in the house which consists of 4 bedrooms for guests so we had the run of the place. They recommended a couple of wineries and we were off before they closed. We have neighbors that are new to Michigan like us and they recommended a little artisan winery called Keuka Lake Vineyards www.klvineyards.com which we found and did some sampling which ended up with us buying a couple of bottles of wine. One white and one red. I'm having trouble getting into some of the wine in Michigan because the whites they make here are mostly sweet and I'm a dry Chardonnay kind of gal. We visited one more winery called Bully Hill www.bullyhillvineyards.com and sampled their wines, bought one bottle, then headed back to town for dinner. Next morning Marianne made us a beautiful breakfast all organic and fresh ingredients then back on the road to home.
It was a beautiful trip and one that we will remember always. Here are a few pictures we took along the way. Cheers everyone!
Sunday, April 21, 2013
FISH OUT OF WATER
Well I'm back, at least today. I noticed the last time I posted anything on this blog was in July of 2012. Lots has gone on since then but I just haven't thought about writing it on down until now, plus I've been posting most stuff on Facebook which is a daily occurrence. The title of this blog is appropriate to how we feel living here in Michigan - two fish out of water!
Let's talk about this move we made to Michigan, nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there.
OH WAIT I DO!
Dam, this move has been the biggest mistake of my life and unfortunately I drug my hubby along with me. I had high hopes of being able to spend more time with our family members here but it didn't quite work out that way. Yes, we do see them more often then we would have living in California, which was once every year or two, but you've heard of "quality vs. quantity" well that holds true for this situation. Specifically with the adult members, children are children and they love no matter what, but adults put more conditions on their love. I'm learning to adapt to that fact now that I've stopped feeling sorry for myself but it has really left me with a lot of disappointment to say the least. Our plans have always been to stay here for as long as our place in California is leased out which is 5 years but we sure wish it was sooner. We have one year down this month, but still 4 more to go. However, we are NOT going to stay here during the winter anymore, our plans are to head back to California right after the Christmas holiday and return in the Spring. Thank goodness we have a nice RV to travel and stay in when we get to California.So the last year here in Michigan has really been hell, but we aren't going to let the things that we had to endure this past year emotionally as well as financially happen to us again. We've made the decision to just live our lives for us and when and if our children want to be around us that's great! I've always said but of course didn't listen to my own advise - that you can't move somewhere just to be with your children because they have their own lives to live and it turned out to be true! Cheers and happy trails.
Oh, our next trip is in May - going to start seeing some of the East coast stuff with our first visit to New York City (always reminds me of the Pace Picante commercial)! Woo Hoo very excited about this upcoming visit.
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