5 days on the Mediterranean

Sarah loaned us the use of her apartment in Castiglioncello for the final days of our holiday. The weather was perfect, the water was gorgeous- we had a grand and relaxing time.

Here is our first approach to the beach


Later, our feet are very happy

A day in Florence

While at Sarah's we traveled into Florence- a hairraising 30 minute bus ride away. We walked all over, viewed Michelangelo's David, visited the Uffizi Gallery and stopped for our favorite drinks at a sidewalk cafe.

Under the Tuscan Sun

Next stop Italy where we stayed with my cousin Sarah in the Tuscan countryside near Florence

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LIving IN a Postcard

We spent 5 days in the Swiss Alps. It was like living IN a postcard- each direction you turned was another view that was more spectacular than the last. We were in awe continuously. I must have 100 photos- but here are a select few.
The tallest mountain in the background is the JungFrau- the tallest peak in Europe

We stayed in the town at the base of this funicular train

The hiking was spectacular- we hiked for hours each day

the town was way too cute and gorgeous with all the flowers

Beautiful Paris

We had about 4 hours to wander around Paris. It is a vibrant, colorful city. We visited Notre Dame, had lunch at a street side cafe and even managed to buy fruit, bread and cheese for our next train ride. Here we are overlooking the Seine, with the Eiffel tower off in the distance.

On to Paris

We took an early train from London to Paris- under the English Channel- and met up with Amy and Tim who had just flown in from the states. When the four of us emerged from the subway the first thing we see is a scale model of the rocket ship that will be carrying Amy and Tim's next satallite into space- of course we had to take a picture.

London

We next spent two days in London. On our first evening we enjoyed a delicious English dinner- thank you Anne! And thanks for joining us Lucinda and Eleanor, it was a wonderful evening.

The next day we toured the city. First stop- Buckingham Palace and it just happened to be time for the changing of the guard. We also toured the London Tower and ate lunch near the Tower Bridge. Here is a picture from Buckingham Palace.

The English Lakes District

Next stop after Scotland was two days in the Lakes District of NW England. This is a hikers paradise. Public walking paths cris-cross the hills around these beautiful lakes. The Paths often take you right through fields with sheep and cows. Here is the view from up above Derwent Water lake and another of Kurt shooing away sheep as we walk along.

Next stop - Edinburgh

We couldn't leave Scotland without visiting the beautiful city of Edinburgh. This castle was an easy walk from the train station. We explored around the castle and several blocks down High Street. The street and its side alleys are very narrow-since they were built centuries ago. It was fun to poke around and find little out of the way shops and dead ends.

Loch Lomond

On Sunday David and Jennifer took us to another district in Scotland- the highlands. We saw scottish highland cows and ate lunch in a pub at Loch Lomond (incase you are wondering-we took the LOW road)

5 Scottish gate and farmland

After two days in England we traveled on to SE Scotland. Above is a picture of the gate in the back wall of our B&B with farm land beyond. This was our morning view from our bedroom window.

While in Scotland we were wined and dined and chauffered through the countryside by David and Jennifer-We got quite a taste of scottish life. Below is a picture of their hometown of North Berwick

4 Glastonbury Abbey

When we hiked back down from the tor we entered the Glastonbury Abbey grounds. The Abbey was destroyed by Henry VIII in the 1500's - but the skeleton that remains is still amazing.

3 Hiking up the Glastonbury Tor

We spent one morning exploring the town of Glastonbury. After coffee at a sidewalk cafe we hiked up to the top of the Glastonbury Tor- a famous hill at the edge of town. There is a tower at the top and a fabulous view.

2 Quaint English countryside

While staying with our relatives Susanna and Geoffrey in SW England we took a stroll through the neighborhood. This house on a quiet lane was just too quaint for words.

1 Stonehenge

Our first stop after leaving the airport. To our surprise Stonehenge is located in a very unassuming place- right alongside the county road. The overall size of the formation seemed smaller than I expected, but the individual rocks are massive- hard to comprehend how it was constructed.

First day in England

Well, we are here!!! First stop Stonehenge!! Everything is great

Home sweet home

Here is why it is great to be back in Kettle Falls-- good friends, good view, good food.

Too close for comfort

Kurt is in Los Angeles and Joanie is in Louisiana-- and then this picture comes from our Kettle Falls neighbors. This view of the start of a forest fire was taken from a spot just down the hill from our home in KF. Luckily, the mighty Columbia River is between our house and this fire and I understand they have brought the blaze under control.

Quick trip to Sequim

Joanie is back in Sequim to tie up some loose ends for a few days. Here is the front yard of our Sequim house- the flowers are in their prime!

Quick trip to Kettle Falls

We arrived back in Tacoma on Friday Sept 1st and jumped in our car for the 6 hour "commute" to Kettle Falls. We spent the long weekend unpacking and unwinding! Here is a picture of Lake Roosevelt taken from the hill above our home.

Oregon Hiway stop

We got to take a break on our trip north from LA to Tacoma. Here is the big red truck- the first in line for a construction stop.

We were on the narrow route 57 going over the Cascade mountains in Oregon and today they were placing the bridge trusses for a new bridge- the road was completely closed. But the workers were fast and we were on our way after about 20 minutes.
Here is a picture of the bridge

R & R at the Parker Hotel

We took our required day off in LA on Tuesday 8/29 at the home of our friends Tom and Rickey Parker. Thank you for your hospitality Tom and Rickey, we had a great time.
As you can see, we spent the day in their pool….life is rough!

If you are reading this, please send your best get well thoughts to Tom as he battles pancreatic cancer.

Another beautiful canyon

Further down the west slope of the Rockies I-70 goes through a spectacular canyon that follows the White River. The canyon is so narrow the freeway is built double decker- it is an engineering marvel- and quite a drive.

We take the HIGHER road

There are two ways to get over the Rockies west of Denver.

The normal truck route is on I-70 which goes through the Eisenhower tunnel to get to the other side.


The SCENIC way is to leave I-70 and take the LOVELAND PASS route. This way climbs up another 1000 feet and goes over the mountains, crosses the Continental Divide and reconnects with I-70 on the other side. It add 9 miles to the trip- but is well worth it- even if it is not exactly the easiest place to take a 65 foot long truck. Here are some photos from our scenic drive.

Here we are at the top

The view going down the other side

Another Denver stop over

We had a 5 hour stopover with Lisa and Ben in Denver on Saturday 8/26. The house project list was shorter on this visit so we started our time by having a huge breakfast together. Then Kurt and Lisa got on the roof to replace some shingles- hopefully no more leaky livingroom ceiling.


Here is Lisa leaving for her first day at her new job as a Kindergarten teacher for the public schools in Denver.