Hello Faithful Followers. Life has been pretty busy since returning from Italy in June. About a week before we got home, we got a call from my niece who was housesitting that we’d had a sump pump failure in our basement during a big June storm. Unfortunately, since there’s no reason for her to go into the basement, she didn’t discover it for about a week. Once she did, she and her dad (my brother) got rid of the standing water and changed the sump pump. By the time we got home, though, the damage had been done. The laminate flooring was trashed, there was green mold on the floor trim, the wet bar cabinets were ruined, and the water had “wicked” up the walls. Very long story short we had an absolute mess in our basement. It took about a week to demolish everything and as I write this (mid-December) we’re still putting it back together. We had to wait to be sure the 2x4s were dry before we could start rebuilding. It will be very nice when it’s finished but it’s been a lot of work for Peter since he’s doing most of it himself.
In between phases of the rebuild, we’ve managed to travel quite a bit. We drove to Niagara Falls for our 4th anniversary in September, of course stopping at as many National Parks as possible along the way. We stayed on the Canadian side of the river so we could see all 3 falls from our hotel. We had a lovely dinner at the restaurant on the top floor of the Hilton with a beautiful view of Horseshoe Falls which is the Canadian Falls.
On the way home we drove along the southern edge of Lake Eire stopping at the Theodore Roosevelt first Inaugural Site and the Lucy and Desi museum in Lucy’s hometown of Janesville NY. We also caught the First Ladies Historical Site and James Garfield Site in Ohio.
Then just a few weeks later we drove to Indianapolis for the Symphony Ball which is the opening of the symphony season. We had gone to the Chicago Symphony Ball in 2018 and had a great time. The reason we went to Indy this year was two-fold. First, we wouldn’t be in Chicago for the CSO ball but more importantly, Alma Deutscher was performing. Alma is a music prodigy who composed her first piano sonata at age 6 and composed an opera at age 7. She is now 14 and moved from England to live full time in Vienna. Peter has watched many of her YouTube videos so he really wanted to see her in person. The concert was amazing! They played several of Alma’s compositions and watching her perform was incredible. One of the things she’s famous for is “instant composing”. Someone draws 4-5 random notes out of a hat and Alma composes a piece that highlights those notes. She did this at the concert and it was unbelievable. The conductor actually looked at the notes, pulling the hardest ones he could find to make it more difficult for her. After about 2 minutes, she played a 5 minute piece that she had just made up. It was absolutely incredible. Here a link to a YouTube where she demonstrated this on 60 Minutes. This was filmed several years ago so she was even younger.
Later as we were walking to the restaurant for dinner, we saw Alma going into the reception that was being held in her honor. After dinner we went on a carriage ride around the downtown area. It was a very nice evening and we were glad we made the 3-hour trek to Indy.
We were only home from Indiana for 5 days before leaving on our fact-finding mission to Phoenix. We’ve spent the last several years looking for places to retire that are out of the cold and humidity. We spent time in Costa Rica in 2018 but crossed that off the list. It’s beautiful but we thought we’d be bored after about a month. Beside, it’s crazy humid down there even in the winter. Peter likes Florida and has family in the Clearwater area but again, the humidity is a problem for my arthritis. In 2017 we spent time in Henderson NV (outside of Las Vegas) and Green Valley AZ (just south of Tucson). We enjoyed both but while Henderson has very low property taxes, the housing is about 10% more expensive than in AZ. Green Valley is cheaper but it’s in the middle of nowhere. The big thing to do there on Friday night is to go to WalMart. The closest nice mall is 2 hours north in Phoenix and we’re afraid we’d feel too isolated.
So, this year we decided to check out Phoenix. We left on September 20th and took 10 days to drive so we could see as much as possible on the trip. Our first stop was St. Joseph MO where we visited the Pony Express museum and saw the house where Jesse James was shot. We didn’t go into the house but it was cool to see the outside.
In Independence we visited Harry Truman’s house, but unfortunately, the library was closed for renovation. Peter was pretty disappointed so we’ll have to be sure to go down again next year once it’s reopened. On Saturday (9/21) we visited Fort Osage National Historical Site before separating for awhile. Peter visited the WWI museum while I had a lunch with my dear friend Themum.
Day 3 we headed to Topeka, KS where we stopped on the Brown vs. Board of Education National Historical Site. The first floor of the school is a civil rights museum and it was very interesting. Then it was on to Tall Grass National Prairie and Ft. Larned.
I won’t bore you with a day-by-day list but suffice to say we worked our way west stopping at every National Park, Monument and Historical Site we could find including: Sand Creek Massacre, Bent’s Old Fort, Great Sand Dunes, Flourissant National Monument, Chimney Rock, Mesa Verde, Hovenweep, Natural Bridges, Navajo National Monument, Tuzigoot and Montazuma National Monuments. Along the way we also spent 2 days in Colorado Springs visiting Pike’s Peak, Cripple Creek, and the Air Force Academy. The weather was beautiful so we also managed to get in a round of golf at the academy. We didn’t play very well (at least I didn’t) but the setting was gorgeous so it was a fun afternoon anyway.
We also stopped in Prescott and finally Sedona before arriving in Phoenix on Oct 31st. We stayed in a small 1 BR condo in Glendale, on the west side of Phoenix. We were there for a month and really enjoyed our time. Just a few days after we arrived we went to San Diego for a wedding. Peter’s brother lives there and his son, Ross, got married. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding and it was nice to see Peter’s family. We hung out for the weekend and stopped at Joshua Tree and Lake Havasu on the way back to Phoenix.
While in Phoenix we played a lot of golf, looked at a lot of 55+ housing communities, went to the State Fair and the Symphony (they played music while we watched Star Wars the Empire Strikes Back…it was very cool), danced tango, and met some fellow Italian lovers at an Italian meetup group. We also went to a fall league ball game at the Cubs spring training facility, visited Tonto National Park and Lake Pleasant. Several of our friends live in the Phoenix area so we enjoyed dinner with Mary, Tom and Ben as well as Leona and Jerry. A couple we met in Green Valley in 2017 come to Phoenix to meet us for lunch so it was fun to catch up with them as well.
The main reason for going to Phoenix was to see if it was a place we could enjoy retirement and so far it’s on the top of the list. We decided that we’d need to be on the east side of the city instead of the west as all of the things we enjoy doing are on that side of the valley. And while the traffic isn’t quite as bad as Chicago, it’s not pleasant so we definitely want to decrease the amount of commuting to our favorite activities as much as possible. Housing prices are very high right now, though, so if we sell our house we may travel for a bit or rent a place before we make the commitment to buy our forever home.
After a month in Phoenix we headed back home just in time for winter. We took another 9 days to get back stopping at more national parks (Painted Desert/Petrified Forest, Hubble Trading Post, El Morro, Petroglyph, Bandelier, Los Alamos, Ft. Union, Oklahoma City Memorial, Pecos Monument, Washita Battlefield and finally, Grant’s Farm). After spending Halloween night in Albuquerque where every child in town was trick or treating in the Old Town we headed to Santa Fe for the night. We also stumbled into the Will Rogers Museum outside of Tulsa OK. It was Will’s birthday so there was no admission charge. We visited Peter’s family in Springfield and Mountain View MO and our last stop was visiting with my niece in the St. Louis area before finally getting home on November 8th. We were gone over 6 weeks and put more than 15,000 miles on the car. We had a great time, though, and think we found where we want to live after we leave Chicago.
As if traveling and renovating the basement weren’t enough, we also did a lot of work in our kitchen, putting in new countertops, backsplash and appliances. We plan to put the house on the market in the spring so we’re working on getting it in shape to sell. We changed the flooring in the kitchen last year so the only thing left from the “original” kitchen are the cabinets. Those were too expensive to change so we just swapped out the hardware. The kitchen looks great and should be a nice selling feature.
After a wonderful Thanksgiving with my brother and his family, we took one more trip….we spent a week in a resort in San Jose del Cabo in Mexico. We got it as a gift for attending a time share presentation. We had no desire to buy yet another timeshare (already have 2 with Hilton Grand Vacations) but we wanted the free week someplace warm so it was worth the 90 minutes we spent at the presentation. Neither one of us had been to Cabo before so we were excited to go. It was especially nice since it was 20 degrees in Chicago when we left and 80 degrees when we arrived in Mexico.
We stayed at the Park Royal Homestay in San Jose del Cabo about 20 minutes north of Cabo San Lucas. It was a small resort but the condo was a nice 1 bedroom with a full kitchen and a balcony overlooking the golf course. There was a pool but the water was too cold to swim comfortably so we just hung out on the sunbeds and drank delicious margaritas.
We scored a free round of golf at one of the fancy resorts just north of here. It was all inclusive so every 3 holes we stopped for margaritas and tacos. We didn’t play well but it was a gorgeous course and we had margaritas, so who cares!!
We went to Cabo for a half-day kayak and snorkeling trip to the arch. It was a beautiful day and the water was heavenly. The arch is the point where the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez come together.
When we got back to the resort, we walked to “downtown” San Jose del Cabo. There wasn’t much there but we enjoyed the walk and had a nice lunch. Then it was back to the resort for more pool time.
Unfortunately, that’s when my vacation ended as I woke up on Wednesday morning with a slight touch of the stomach flu. I know what you’re thinking…yeah right….the flu. Honest, I hadn’t had any alcohol to drink since Monday and we only drank bottled water. I had a slight fever, chills, and generally felt like garbage. We had planned a rest day anyway so Peter hung out at the pool while I slept through the day. Thursday I felt a little better but didn’t stray too far from bed. By Friday I felt human again but was a little afraid to wander too far from home so Peter played golf at our course while I hung out by the pool (no margaritas….just Sprite). The only thing we had planned to do that got cancelled was taking the bus down to Cabo. We passed through the town on our way to our kayak trip on Monday but didn’t get to see much so we had planned to go back. I guess we’ll just have to return again some day soon.
As I write this we’re waiting for the car to pick us up to take us back to the airport for our trip home. Even with my being sick we still had a great time. But it’s time to get ready for the holiday and plan our next adventure…which begins exactly 10 weeks from today when we go to Aruba for a week. I am super excited about that trip as I’ve always wanted to go to Aruba. We used points from our Hilton Grand Vacation membership and are staying at a nice golf resort. Here’s the link to their website. https://www.diviresorts.com/divi-village-golf-beach-resort-aruba.htm
Well…happy holidays everyone and have a great 2020. We’ll talk again from Aruba!!
Love to all.
Peter and Lynn