Update and away I go again…

We got a mini-bernedoodles puppy in February and took Aurora Grace (Rory) to Alaska in May after a quick visit with Hannah & Nick in Tillamook, OR. Summer 2022 offered some challenges. We rented a home in Ninilchik and I washed my hair with bottled water to keep the well water iron from tinting it orange. A momma moose charged us in June. We picked up a hitchhiker who shared his COVID ("it's just allergies") with all of us (Greg, dad, & me) as a thank you. We lived to tell about it. Rory went into heat. Dad fell. On both boats. Mosquitos were vicious. A German shepherd attacked Rory & me. I volunteered at the library. Dad decided he was done with Alaska and flew to Texas for the remainder of the summer. Greg & I went off grid camping for a week. We found a place! Took an Inside Passage cruise and called summer 2022 a wrap. We are designing/engineering the retrofit we will do on the property next summer to make it into an efficiency apartment with shop & storage.

My bestie (finally) retired and we decided to do an early fall Avalon Danube River Cruise to celebrate. Over our 40+ year friendship Debye & I have traveled many places in this the big old world together. At lunch we were talking about while it is always fun, sometimes it is hard work to make all the moving pieces align. We returned to our room to find out our return flight has been canceled and we have been rebooked, me a day before the cruise ends; Debye the day after the cruise ends. We just THOUGHT the logistical piece of this travel puzzle was confirmed! Greg’s favorite mantra plays in my head, it’ll all work out as we message Delta representatives.

We rode a transfer coach from Munich to our river embarkation point, a couple of hours away. I was a bit zoomy from lack of sleep. Had every intention of sleeping across the big pond but the 25 high school students surrounding me didn’t get the memo that when the lights are dim, it’s quiet time. You would’ve thought they were on a school bus trip the way they laughed, teased, talked across the aisle all. night. long. 

The river cruise has simply been delightful. Full capacity is 168 but there are only 75 of us cruising and spoiled we are. Our room has an 11 foot wide wall of windows which are wide open any time we are in the room. Our first stop was Passau, Bavaria, Germany. A quiet Sunday morning guided stroll around town left me with these fond memories: learned the origin of “get off your high horse”, thankful for good health to hike up to the castle on the hill built in 1499, and listened to music from the largest pipe organ in Europe.

Thanks for coming along on the journey. Pics are here.