Tell me about your summer vacation

In My Humble Opinion
21

We had one of the best vacations this year. We flew to Paris, then took the train to:

Lyon
Toulouse
Carcassonne
Nimes
Arles
Avignon
Aix-en-Provence
Marseille
Nice
Monaco
Then back to Paris for Bastille Day.

In three weeks! I bought a Nikon D90 camera for this trip, and took almost 4000 pictures! And believe me, I never in a million years would have thought I’d ever go to the French Riviera!

LavenderBlue: I wonder if our paths actually crossed. And in Arles, did you visit the wooden drawbridge that Van Gogh painted?

22

I wonder as well. Did you happen to see an adorable curly haired six year old anywhere in France?

We spent a day in Arles. We saw the museums, the Roman theater and coliseum and the cafes as well as a lot of side streets and a market that day. We also saw the garden Van Gogh painted.

We did not get to the wooden bridge. I loved Arles. So pretty!

What was your favorite part of France?

I adored Antibes, Avignon, the lavender fields of Provence, Chenonceau and much of Paris. I could definitely live in the Ile d’Saint Louis or Ile d’La Cite. The Sainte Chapel and Notre Dame have to be my very favorite cathedrals of all time. I just loved Notre Dame as opposed to the Vatican and some of the cathedrals in Florence. Your eyes alternatively feast and then get a rest.

23

Money was a little short this year so we decided to do a four day trip to Portland, OR for the Oregon Brewfest a few weeks back. It was definitely a relaxing, don’t-do-anything-strenuous type of trip. Mostly, we ended up just drinking several different beers, got a good buzz and then walked our way to Powell’s City of Books to browse and look for interesting books. A good time was had by all.

24

We just got back this afternoon. My wife had three weeks vacation left over from last year, and we had to use them up before September.

So; starting from Toronto, Ontario, we went to a large expensive waterslide park in Niagara Falls for two nights. The kids, 10 year old daughter and 7 year old son, loved it! My wife and I loved it that the kids loved it so much.

Then to a small town in the Welland Canal area to visit with my Brother in Law and his family. His kids are old enough to babysit, so the four grown ups went to a winery restaurant near Niagara on the Lake.

Home for a day or two, then we drove to my Mother and Father in Law’s, near Guelph, Ontario, where we left the kids for an evening and drove to Port Dover to have dinner with friends and go to the closing night performance at the Lighthouse theatre, which was ‘Outlaw’, which a friend of mine was in.

Back to Guelph the next day to pick up the kids, have a quick birthday party for my 7 year old son, do laundry and pack to go to The Briars, a resort on Lake Simcoe. We stayed there for a week, swimming, kayaking, horseback riding. One of the things we all love about the place is that there’s a kids’ club for the evening dinners, so that the young ones get a kid friendly meal and then go out and have treasure hunts or play goofy golf while the grown ups get to take a couple of hours to finish their wine.

Then, back to Guelph, where the kids are going to stay at Grandma and 'Pappy’s house for a couple of weeks. We dropped them there last Saturday and ran for Stratford, Ontario, where we stayed overnight and saw three plays at the Stratford Festival - ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ and ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum’. More good wine and outstanding restaurants. Then, back to Guelph to have another birthday party for my 7 year old son.

Then the next day, my wife and I left for Stirling, Ontario, where we saw a matinee performance of ‘Cats’, then off to Prince Edward County, where we visited breweries, cideries, wineries and restaurants.

Then, back through Toronto for a night and then on to Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, where we stayed in an antebellum B & B (before the war of 1812, I mean), visited restaurants and wineries and saw a total of six plays at the Shaw Festival - ‘Sunday in the Park with George’, ‘Born Yesterday’, ‘A Moon for the Misbegotten’, ‘Star Chamber’, ‘Play, Orchestra, Play’ and ‘Albertine in Five Times’. More wineries and a friends 60th birthday party today, and we have to get back to work tomorrow.

Ironically, we went to the Stratford Shakespearean Festival and saw no Shakespeare, followed by going to the Shaw Festival and seeing no Shaw.

We also managed to avoid seeing about 6 interesting guitar shops and/or luthiers along the way, thereby making sure the credit card didn’t melt down…

A fantastic time - 11 plays in just over two weeks, some real gems of performances, some outstanding cuisine and wine, and we didn’t go more than 200 km away from home in any direction.

25

Earlier this summer we flew to St. Kitts and sailed on to Nevis. Lots of golf, climbing volcanos, snorkling, deep sea fishing, shopping, diving, more sailing and beachcombing.

This past week we started off in Breckenridge, CO for a couple of days, then hung out at the ranch for awhile doing lots of exploring. I always take a couple of rifles up and we do all kinds of shooting for fun, different calibers, distances, etc. We went back into the mountains to a cabin inbetween the Spanish Peaks and enjoyed the sounds of streams, wind in the trees, hiking, etc. Cuchara and LaVeta were within reach so restaurants at the ready. Went back to the plains to work some cattle and do some riding, something I always find more relaxing than actual work.

I’ll head back up in October for the elk.