Deep River

After a ton of obstacles we are finally on our way. Just crossed the Mississippi. To quote Clark Griswold" the Mighty Mississippi. Ole Miss, deep river.... ". We didn't do the Griswold thing getting lost or losing car parts, but we did cross the river. Still trying to get into travel mode though. The last few days were really wearing. Too much pre-adventure for me. I am hoping the "Gateway to The West" will be a gateway to travel mode. Hoping I can shake some not so great news and the way way too much "stuff" to handle, do, take care of before we left. We are seeing friends out here so hopefully that will help. 

Forget about tomorrow Scarlet. I'll think about that in three weeks.

Well, we had our denial damaged a bit today, but we are still leaving tomorrow for our cross country trek. It is not great having the wind taken out from your sails right before a big trip but we will try to shake it off and get on with "bucketlistours".We will deal with these complications when we get back in three weeks. First stop St Louis.

A Lame Post

                                                              Just saw a blog  about the top 5 things to do in London http://www.dangerous-business.com/2011/06/top-5-things-to-see-and-do-in-london/. So glad we hit the number one suggestion, the London Eye. Thought I would use this as a lame excuse to revisit some of our London pics.One of the great things about the Eye was our secret find right next to it.The secret (or secret in our minds because no one we knew had heard of it) was an indoor carnival and bar called Namco Station. Walk, no run, past the McDonald's that's right alongside the Eye. Go into the County Hall building and downstairs. There are different levels with all kinds of amusement type entertainment- Bumper cars, Skee- ball and arcade type games. Just like a Jersey shore boardwalk, except indoors. They even have a bowling alley!. Go down another 1/2 flight and there is a bar complete with casino type machines, more games and pool tables. Now this place is not glamorous, nor is it going to win any culinary or service awards, but they have cold beer, drinks and some type of bar food. My husband loves the gambling machines (of course) and I am a Skee-ball fanatic so this place was perfect. Also great - free internet. I didn't see it advertised anywhere but it worked great  in the seating area. The staff is not all that concerned with serving you, but also not concerned if you hang out with your laptop for a while. Don't plan your big London meal here, but this is a great place for a break, to post your pictures or an afternoon drink when the rain starts. I will definitely be blogging from here on our next trip to London.

Adventure travels before we even arrived.

Double vision

Secret waterfall near Playa Hermosa

Costa Crocs

Sunset at Playa Hermosa

The ditch loving truck.

Marley's view

Last year, about this time, we were on our way to Costa Rica. Yes we flew Spirit who should have beat Ryan's for worst airline ever and of course we got stuck. And yes, my cancer battling husband and I spent the night in the  airport. Not an auspicious start. The next morning it was (finally) off to Costa Rica. Our friends who run Surf the Earth Costa Rica ( here I will insert a shameless plug for them   http://www.surftheearthcostarica.com ) had spent the night in San Jose waiting for us. We piled into their truck for a seriously bumpy hour and 1/2 ride. The  amusement park style ride ended about 20 minutes short of our destination in a ditch with a flat tire. Do we know how to have fun or what? We had been warned about how bad the roads were in Costa Rica, but being from Jersey we didn't give it too much thought. Well alright all you guide book writers, we get it! The tire was not fixable where we had landed, so we were stuck.  Somehow, and I really have no idea how, in the middle of nowhere we finally managed to get a cab who just happened to be in the area. We finally ended up in a wonderful (small but delightful) hotel on the beach in Playa Hermosa. Only about 40 hours for what should have been a 5 or 6 hour trip. Not bad for us. And all this before we even started our (modified) adventure trip. Fortunately things picked up after that. Just thought I would put up some pictures here as I am remembering our adventure.

No news is good news.

The CT scan is done.  Check

No post- CT scan phone calls from the doctor's office, so I'm thinking no news is good news and feeling like it's time to start packing. For me this usually means over- packing. I'm really trying to curb my over-packing for this trip, but doubt I will be successful. The luxury of having an entire trunk, plus a back seat, instead of one check/one carry- on will only encourage my evil tendencies. Really trying to simplify though. I will either be bragging or lamenting here by Tuesday, depending on how it goes.

Good Luck

Planning our trip.Changing dates, changing directions, changing our minds? All this and we don't even have CT results yet. Talk about adventure travel.

Enjoy the ride

As the Phineas and Ferb song says “There's 104 days of summer vacation”.  Just listening to this reminded me of summer vacations when I was a kid. With the start of summer came longer days, warmer weather and no more school, all the things that helped make it my favorite season. The best thing I remember about summer as a kid was freedom, the total lack of structure or responsibilities. I recall my life being pretty structured during the school year, but summers were not. Other than 2 weeks at camp and a still way too early bedtime, I don't remember any structure at all. It was such a luxury getting up when I wanted, eating when I wanted to, and doing what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. My only job was to go outside and play. Summer was an adventure with the outdoors opened for business. Just a minute outside in the warmth of the June sun brings me right back there. I think this is why I am addicted to travel. I guess I keep hoping to o find that freedom again. Like Kerouac, I want to ramble aimlessly back and forth across the country. Free to come and go and experience the world on my own terms, not someone else’s.

My life is much more complicated than it was then, but I am hoping that this summer is filled with some of that childhood freedom and adventure. We have our challenges, whether traveling or not, but I am hoping for a stress-free trip. We are setting up only a very basic timeline with stops here and there for our cross country trek. I am hoping we can travel each day without pressure to “get there” and instead, experience new finds, have a little adventure, and most of all enjoy the ride.