Cheating

I am in the UK again for work. And I am cheating.

Cheating on my kitties with other kitties. I'm sure my kitties would feel betrayed and be highly offended.
Simba and Nahla belong to Amish and Shameela. Amish is one of my UK colleagues. They very generously offered me their spare room for my first two nights.

Their kitties are very sweet and I think we bonded straight away.

Please....don't anyone tell my kitties.

Vieux Nice

Vieux Nice = Old Nice

In "the book."

This is the type of neighborhood where you want to get lost. Don't use a map. Just wander around and see where the winding streets take you. You can't really get lost because of the geography, so just go with the flow!

We walked through a market on the edge of Vieux Nice.



I stopped in a chuch that was built in 1640. I lit a candle there for the baby of a colleague. (This one's for you Kaylee Hope!)

I saw maybe a dozen art studio/stores. I love to buy from local, struggling artists. I didn't buy anything though because I saw too many beautiful things and couldn't decide.

I saw pretty fountains and was mooned by a pigeon who was bathing in one of them.


I ate passion fruit gelato.

I ate in a Dutch restaurant. (Yep, this was a bit strange in this part of France, but it was tasty.)


We climbed up to Castle Hill and saw beautiful panoramic views of the Mediterranean. We also stopped and played in a playground.

We saw a Shiba Inu as we were walking down the hill. He was just as stuck-up as my Shiba. I always miss my pup when I am traveling. (My prayer to all of the missing Shibas and humans in Japan.)

Boscolo Exedra hotel in Nice

I don't usually write posts about hotels that I stay in, but this one is special.

It is the biggest hotel room I've ever stayed in while in France.
There are benches in the elevators.
There is a spa in the hotel; with pool, sauna and steam room.
There is a pool table (billiards) in a room off of the lobby.
The door handle is a rose.
Bathroom has a bidet.
We have two balconies (ledges) - one off of the bathroom and one off of the main room.
We are four blocks (approx) from the Mediterranean.
We have four different fragrance options for bath products (shampoo, etc.)


This hotel allows dogs, so we also have a barking dog two doors down. I have a dog and love her to death. I like how much French people love their dogs, but I don't really like dogs barking in my hotel.

DH and Andy have their own room, which isn't quite as nice as ours. They only have one balcony; and their bathroom is separated from the main room by a curtain, not a door.

I think this hotel is in the top 2 of the nicest places I've ever stayed. Number 1 is still the Halekulani in Oahu, Hawaii.

Iowa State Fair 2009

Yes, it is in "the book," and I have already checked it off my list. This was my second trip to the fair.

The weather was beautiful. The picture is of a cow carved out of butter. It is almost life sized. Ick! I don't actually like butter, but it does make a cute picture.

The crowds were not too bad. It was a good family day - the last one for months because Andy is back at college now.

We started with the bunnies. Jill wanted to bring one or more home, but we have too many pets. They were cute. I didn't realize there were so many varieties of rabbits.

Next stop was junk food - cheese curds and fry bread taco. And then on to chocolate chip cookies.

We rode the sky glider, which gave us a great view of the entire fair. We skipped the midway (rides and such), and then had roasted corn and mountain dew.

We walked through the animal barns - goats as far as you can see.....pigs - they were all sleeping... horses.....cows. Did you know that goats don't like to be bathed? We heard the worse noise ever, and it was a goat crying in the bath. Poor thing.

We went through the Cultural Center to look at the art.

It was a good day. Looong drive home though from Des Moines, IA to St. Paul, MN.

South Carolina

I love to travel, but - sadly - not every trip is a good one. Here is an example of a good trip gone bad.

I spent a horrible weekend in Charleston and Isle of Palm over Thanksgiving 1993. It was with an ex and his friend's family.

His friend invited us and our two large dogs to spend the weekend with them in their townhouse. The friend's (now ex-) wife told us upon our arrival (after driving down from VA) that we could not stay with them. She expected us, if we decided to stay, to sleep in our vehicle and use the gas station down the street for potty breaks. It was horrible, and we should have turned around and went home.

We did stay in the townhouse, but were subjected to an entire weekend of fighting between that couple. Thank goodness they were right on the beach so I spent lots of time there with my dogs.

I managed to get in a little sightseeing and can check this place from "the book" off of my list."
The Heart of Charleston

North Carolina

A long time ago in a galaxy* far, far away... I went camping on Cape Hatteras. I drove from VA to NC (and ultimately to SC - just wait for that blog post).

I remember thinking I was really in "the south" as soon as I crossed the border. It was the first time I saw cotton fields.

The Outer Banks are listed in "the book" and I have been there. The best part of NC and SC was running the beach with my dogs.

*galaxy = a former life that I don't particulary wish to recall or talk about.

Home Sweet Home

I love to travel, but I really love coming home too. Travel makes me appreciate home. Home is where my pets are. They were very glad to see me. I tried to spend time with each and every one of them yesterday.

I missed Jill too. She is very good at pet care, which helps alleviate some of my worries when I am traveling. I like traveling with Jill, but selfishly like it when she stays behind.

The "book" has two Nevada destinations. I can check both off my list.

1. Bellagio

2. The Las Vegas Strip

Other highlights from my trip:

1. Pool

2. Poker

3. Brunch at Mesa Grill - Bobby Flay's restaurant

4. Stalked Mario Batali around the Venetian

5. Slept late

6. Stayed up late

7. Dinner with family (cool cousin Kerry, his wife Amy, parents, brother Bruce, sil Jodi, and dh Dave)

Travel Problem

I have one, smallish, problem when I travel. I really miss my pets. Sushi is good on road trips, as pictured here. Give her a blanket and a seat and she will sleep. However, I have not yet introduced her to airplane travel. She is too big to fit under the seat in front of me; and is probably too badly behaved to pass for a working dog. I think she would be fine on a plane, especially if she could sit on my lap. I would really like to bring her and/or Tallie, my cat, on every trip; but for now...they stay home.

I guess she doesn't know what she is missing. But, I really miss Sushi, Tallie and Hobbs.