Weekend at Alisal

We enjoyed a wonderful weekend at Alisal Guest Ranch, courtesy of Trace. It was great to be with Trace and all of our kids combined. It's a perfect time of year, chilly in the mornings and crisp sunshine during the day. Ben and Kristian experienced their first horseback ride. Since neither one fell off, we consider them ready for the advanced group now. Laine experienced her first hayride and she thought it was pretty cool. Everyone rode either on horseback or the hayride, out to a fantastic pancake breakfast, complete with campfire and singing cowboy. This ranch has something for everyone, with a lake for fishing, golf, a petting zoo (Laine was pretty impressed with the pigs and chickens), and on and on. Laine also had her first time on a horse. It was amazing to see her up on Bullwinkle , laughing and behaving like a little cowgirl. It can't get any better....

Barcelona=Gaudi

Barcelona is all about Gaudi, great food, cathedrals, warm beaches, cobblestone streets and a wonderful mixture of the old and the new. This was a city we fell in love with. Our apartment was tucked into an area of the city that was accessible to everything. The people are very engaging and there is always something to see and do. We had a food fair and wine tasting going on a block away. We had Barcelona's cathedral a block away, complete with Roman columns. We had lots of little shops (too many for Stan probably) all up and down our street. With the metro a block away, we had an easy run to the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's massive work of art, still in progress. Having Tamar and Martyn there with us meant we always had someone to do things with, whatever the choice of the moment. Here is a look at our street and of one of Gaudi's buildings in Parc Guell.

Dali, that's Salvador Dali

Dali chose to build his musee in his home town of Figueres, Spain. It also happens to be the transfer for Paris to Barcelona. For us a mandatory overnight stop and visit . Accomadations were incredible, Dali's work was beyond explanation. Anyone visiting western Europe should definately route through Figueres and experience it. Funny thing, they say the town has nothing to offer other than the museum, but we felt otherwise. Maybe it was burn out from being in huge cities, but we found the cobblestone streets, the beautiful squares with benches and shade trees, the small shops and the families out socializing to be delightful.

Paris

It takes a lot of walking to get it all in but it's worth it. The museums are fantastic. We were able to take photos and have the space to really see things, for the most part. Being the weekend and good weather, everyone is out and enjoying Paris to the fullest.

A day in London

This is what they're driving in London these days...

Returning to England

After more castles, lighthouses, waterfalls and distilleries we have returned to England. We had a beautiful drive through Yorkshire, where all the buildings are of brick or stone. We came into York, a walled city in the heart with cobblestoned, crooked streets and it's awesome York Minster. We wandered the streets in the evening, looking at the little shops, stopping in the pubs and viewing the Minster in the moonlight. We enjoyed our stay in a little b and b that served a hearty, full English breakfast. I'm not kidding; that includes eggs, fried bread, grilled mushrooms, tomatoes, sausage, bacon and toast. You have to walk for a long, long time to take care of that! The Minster is fabulous. We lucked out and toured it during a service so the organ was in use. It definitely added to the atmosphere. After York we traveled on to Cambridge and visited our childhood friend, Kate King. It was great seeing her and her family again and walking all around the colleges in Cambridge. More fantastic, old stone buildings and lots of bicycles, pubs, and chapels. We are now home with Tamar for a week and will take on London.

Another day, Another castle

Scotland is amazing! There is a castle for every type of person. They are really incredible. Unfortunately, we missed a sighting of Nessie by about 3 minutes but never the less, the scenery was beautiful. We stayed at a hotel right on the loch. One of the best things about this trip is getting to have salmon every day. There seems to be a distillery around every corner. I think that's why everyone is so friendly...... this photo is of Urquhart Castle, at the south end of Loch Ness.

How'd we get here?

Stan and I arrived in England at noon yesterday and within the hour we were viewing our first garden. We came prepared for rain and cool weather but so far it feels like summer. It's great to be here with Tamar and Martyn. Tomorrow we will all pile into the car, stuff our gear into the "boot" and take off for a week in Scotland.

Laine's first camping trip

Laine loves camping in Gunnison, Co. So far, she doesn't know about s'mores and we're trying to keep it that way, but she already knows how to sit around the campfire.....

This past year...

What can I say?? I've really fallen down on the job! This year was one of the longest and one of the shortest of my life. It seems the older you get, the more you have to do and the longer it takes to figure it out. Of course, I'm speaking for my brain only! Meanwhile, it's all pluses in our lives. The house is done, we have a beautiful granddaughter, and a wonderful, new daughter in law.