Local Stuff - August 2007

Aunt Lena & Uncle Ole came for a visit again in August.   I always enjoy it when they come.

This year we got to go to a Dodger game!

How exciting to be there in person!!!   It was a great game too - and the Dodgers won!!    And I had my first Dodger Dog... YUM!!!    And of course, Cracker Jacks......    

We also went to the Napa Rose restaurant at the Grand Californian Hotel at Disneyland.   This is the fanciest restaurant you'll find at the resort.   The food is AMAZING, service is impeccable.   But guess what?  They're not at all stuffy.   In fact, our waitress took me, Ole, & Lena back to meet the chef and he took pictures with us!!    

Lena, Ole, and me with Chef Andrew Sutton

I was really happy he didn't put us in that big oven!

Road Trip to Oregon! May 2007

It's been awhile since I've been on the road, so it was great to finally get out on a road trip with Annora and her husband Scott!

We were heading to Oregon, and we took scenic roads all the way up.    We had a fun stop at the Charles M. Schultz Museum in Santa Rosa, CA.

And Snoopy & Woodstock:

Even the bathrooms here have comic strips!

As we headed up the Redwood Highway, we stopped at a rest stop and saw a herd of elk!

Elk!

We finally got to our destination - Bandon, Oregon.    It was such a pretty spot, and check out the view from our balcony!

We were not far from "Face Rock"

And finally - we enjoyed our beautiful Oregon sunsets.....

Ireland - September 2006

In September, I got to go to Ireland with Mel's cousin Karen and her friend Kerry.....

Here I am at Trinity College in Dublin.  I'm feeling very collegiate.   It's beautiful here!   We saw the Book of Kells - an elaborately decorated copy of the four gospels which was painstakingly transcribed by monks.

Here I am at the beautiful St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.  It is an amazing cathedral.  What they don't tell you - there are St. Patrick's Cathedrals all over Ireland!

This is the view from atop the Rock of Cashel.   The Rock of Cashel was originally the home to royalty and was handed over to the church in 1100.   What stands today is a collection of religious buildings, once the home to both Protestant and Catholic Bishops.  It was a hike to get to the top, but the view was worth it!

Yummy!   With all this touring, it's important to start off with a hearty breakfast.  I was a big fan of the full Irish breakfast.  It's a good thing Gnomads don't have to watch their cholesterol!   My only suggestion - stay away from the Black Pudding - IT'S NOT PUDDING!

Blech!   I just kissed the Blarney Stone.   Karen would have gotten a picture of me actually kissing the stone, but the line was moving too fast.  Some people just don't understand us Gnomads...

I did get a cool certificate though, showing that I was there!

It was a long hike up a spiral staircase to reach the top of the Blarney Castle - here is the view from the top:

And this is Blarney Castle in the background:

What a view!   Here I am on the Ring of Kerry.  The weather was uncharacteristically warm and dry - perfect for all the pictures we were taking.   It was an adventure driving on the narrow roads on the "wrong side."

Brrr!  It was overcast and a little rainy today as we toured the Dingle Peninsula.  The wind nearly blew me over the edge!  The Dingle Peninsula is the western-most point in Ireland.  The views were amazing!

Hello from the Cliffs of Moher!   This was my favorite site in Ireland.   The cliffs were magnificent - it was like something you only see in a postcard.  They stretch along the coast for 5 miles.  For most of the walk, there is nothing holding you back from a sheer drop to the ocean.

If you look closely, you can see me in the window of these old ruins.  The ruins were on the grounds of Dromoland Castle (where we stayed on the last night).   The castle is a five star resort - this is how Gnomads should travel!!

Thanks Karen & Kerry - it was a GREAT trip!

Hershey, PA - May 2006

After a few days in Amish country, we headed over to Hershey, where we had rented a small house, met up with my other brother Georgie, and spent a few days in Chocolate Country!

Now, if you're turning 40 and looking for a great way to celebrate - I definitely recommend this!   Practically everything in Hershey has to do with chocolate!

We started out at Hershey Park....

Hershey Park is an amusement park, built by the Hershey company, originally for their employees.   Naturally it's grown over the years and now it's got some great roller coasters.   It was a lot of fun.    Of course, I LOVE roller coasters!

Later that evening, we had dinner at the Circular Dining Room at the Hotel Hershey.    What a MAGNIFICENT dinner that was!!!

Of course, it didn't hurt that we had a cutie-patootie waiter   :-)

Most of the items on the menu had some kind of relationship to chocolate.   We had seared scallops with a cocoa foam as an appetizer, which sounds odd, but was VERY good.   Chocolate martinis, chocolate creme brulee,      mmmm.... I'm drooling just thinking about it.    If you're ever in the area - make reservations.  It's WELL worth it!!

The next day, we rolled ourselves out of bed and headed over to Chocolate World!    That's the visitor center for Hershey - they used to do factory tours, but I suspect the health department didn't love that, so they built Chocolate World.    (Also known as "The Mother Ship")

Inside, there's a little ride that tells you all about how cocoa beans are turned into yummy chocolate candy (I'm sure there are other products too, but my attention span stopped at the candy and stayed there....).     It's a cute little ride, and free  :-)       

The ride drops you off and on your way out, they give you a little teeny tiny candy sample - but that's just to whet your appetite because when you get down the ramp, you're in the biggest chocolate gift shop I've ever seen!   They had just about everything you could imagine there!

Terry, Georgie, and I had some fun with the Hershey's Kisses!

I will admit that I pretty much wanted everything they had in that shop!!   And of course, there were lots of good gift ideas to bring back to those who couldn't make the trip   (wink wink)

After we had our fill of chocolate (is there such a thing?), we went out to the Hershey Botanical Gardens.    These were originally planted by Milton Hershey's wife (her original rose garden) and they've been built up and expanded over the years.    The gardens were sooooo lovely.   We just loved all the tulips that were everywhere, but we were a little too early for the roses.

Does this picture look familiar? 

It was taken just inside the entrance to the gardens.

There were tulips everywhere, and they were just amazing!   All sorts of different colors and shapes.   I had no idea there were so many varieties.   And I enjoyed ALL of them!

There's also a really cute Children's garden section.    There is a scavenger hunt for the kids that teaches them about the plants, and all sorts of fun kid-sized things to explore...

Oh and I almost forgot to tell you how cute the town of Hershey is!!

Here I am at the corner of Cocoa Ave & Chocolate Ave.....

And check out the street lights!

Even the pavement in the road in town was brown!!

On our last day, we went to the Spa at the Hotel Hershey.     Oooooh what pampering we got there!!!   This is a world-class spa, and boy did we enjoy it.    I had a Whipped Cocoa bath, a Cocoa Massage, Sweet Feet (a chocolate pedicure!).    I smelled so good!!!!   It was sooo relaxing and even in the lounges between treatments, they had hot chocolate and coffee for us.    We just loved it!!

After we were done, we walked around the hotel grounds, which are also lovely....

Hershey is a wonderful place - and not just because of the chocolate!    All of the people we met were just so wonderfully nice.   And of course, it was extra special that I got to spend the time with my brothers!

I really hope to go back there some day......

Amish Country - May 2006

One place I've always wanted to visit is Amish Country, and I got the opportunity in May, 2006.

Mel decided to celebrate her 40th birthday by drowning herself in chocolate in Hershey PA.   When we realized how close that is to Amish country, we tacked on a few days to the trip and spent 3 wonderful days exploring back roads, farms, family run shops.    I loved it!

On our first day, we found a really neat tour.    The funny thing is, we found it in a Target parking lot!   It's the Amish House and Farm tour, and it turned out to be one of our favorite activities.

This is a big old stone barn that is still in use today housing all sorts of animals.   The windmill in the background operates the pump that delivers water to the house.

We learned a lot about Amish life.   The really cool thing was that on the tour they listed off the core beliefs of the Amish religion, and they are perfectly aligned with "mainstream" Christianity.  They do take the idea of being "separate" to an extreme, but their core beliefs are very Biblical.  That was pretty cool.    

We got to see how they live and work.   Interestingly, they have modern appliances like stoves and refrigerators, but instead of being hooked up to the public electricity, they run their appliances off of generators fueled by kerosene or diesel.     

The amish dress very simply, and their clothes are all handmade.   Women's clothing has no buttons or zippers - instead they use straight pins for closures.   Can you imagine????   I'd get poked to DEATH!     They even secure their head coverings with straight pins.    Yikes!

While we were there, we got to see this baby goat.  She was just 4 days old.  Her name was Heidi.   Isn't she adorable?

Did I mention that my brother Terry got to join me on this trip??   He lives in Wisconsin with Mel's friend Julie.    Julie met us in Pennsylvania and toured both Amish Country & Hershey with us.   It was so nice spending time with them!

Another fun place where we stopped was the hex sign store.    You see these signs all over buildings, especially barns, in the area.    They are beautifully painted.   What I learned there was that they're not actually "hexes" (as in, spells), but the name comes from the German word for Six, (describing the six pointed star on most of the signs) and that word sounds like the English word for hex, so that's how that name came about.   Most of the symbols on these signs are actually blessings - like for happy marriage, long life, good crops....

Another neat opportunity we had was to take a tour in a real Amish buggy, driven by a real Amish guy named Menno.     Now when you are in Amish country, it's very important to be respectful.   The Amish do not want their pictures taken, so without express permission, it is rude to take pictures of them.   But they were open and friendly and very interesting to talk to.   We enjoyed riding in the buggy, through a working Amish farm, and learning about their lives.

We also spent a lot of time in quilt shops, marveling at the gorgeous, handmade quilts.   And bakeshops, enjoying all sorts of homemade goodies!    

Then, the last thing we did, and by far the coolest......

We took a hot-air balloon ride over Amish Country!!!

We got to watch while the balloon was unfolded (and boy did that look like a big tangle of cloth and lines!), and inflated - Julie & Mel even got to stand inside the balloon while it was being inflated!    And then we all got in the basket (8 of us plus the driver) and up, up, and away we went!

We went as high as a mile up in the air!   It was really cool - there'd be a moment when I'd realize I was a mile up in the air with 8 other people in a wicker basket and I'd panic, then I'd look around at the sights and forget all about that!

Things we saw:

• The house from the movie "Witness" with Harrison Ford & Kelly McGillis
• Amish farmers
• A barn raising in progress
• An Amish couple out for a walk, possibly courting....
• An Amish lady working in her garden
• A railroad yard round-about
• Lots of farmland

We landed in a field.   The spotters on the ground, who followed us in a van, had to go ask the owners if we could land in their field.   They were excited - they've seen the balloons go overhead, but never had one land in their field!    And a bunch of Amish kids ran out and helped the crew get the basket down and fold up/put away the balloon!