Econo Lodge Richmond

... the oven, but was filled with lamb and sausage and white beans. The crumble on top was bread crumbs. It was rich and hot and yummy. Catherine prepared a beautiful plumb tart for dessert. I joked that they probably ate like this every night. Matthieu let me know that they night before he had to feed himself.

After dinner Laurent and Catherine looked at maps and guide books with me to help me plan some of our time in Provence. I feel a little ...

So i didn't really plan to go to Richmond, but was forced to spend two hours th**e when my Greyhound bus was late coming in from Washington DC and I missed my connection by 5 minutes.

I put my bag in the line-up for the gate, so as to get myself a good window seat when the bus finally arrived, and sat down to do some reading. I had already been th**e for a good hour or so when a lady came and sat a couple of seats away from me. I ...

Travel pointers:

Except for telAviv and Jerusalem….have a car. I can't tell you how many travelers we met that envied us with having a car. Especially in Galilee this gives you tremendous freedom and flexibility.

In a restaurant always ask for the check when you are ready.

10% is a standard tip, but be nice, play the friendly tourist and tip 15% for good service.

Respect customs ...

Well we started off right, but we hit lots of traffic on Rt. 95 heading into Mt.Vernon and Richmond. Made a historic pit stop at Mt. Vernon. Pretty impressive place. I almost embarrassed Kristi and had us kicked out for rubbing my face on General Washington's pillow. They take that stuff very seriously nowadays.

Then off to Richmond where we met Ryan and Kelly. First night...hotel...not bad.
We hit ...

Sunday July 26, 2009

Luba and I slept in until about 830am. Bevil and Stewart were, of course, up, dressed and waiting for us. Bevil and Stewart took us to O'Doul’s for breakfast and then afterwards took us to visit the family plot at the Hollywood Cemetery. It was great to see that Luba was actually interested to see where my father and family were buried. After a short ride through Richmond we headed back to the ...

We arrived at our son's on Tuesday July 21st at about 4:20pm. No one heard us pull in so we got to surprise them. Andrea and my 2 granddaughters, ages 1 and 3, were home. Our son was not home from work yet.

My 3 year old granddaughter loved the motor home and kept wanting to go to it. Both of the granddaughters loved our 2 dogs, Maggie & Bitsy and come to find out Maggie loved their rabbits.

On Thursday I went with my ...

... I don't remember ever being so scared or screaming out so loud while riding a rollercoaster. Oh, how time has changed.

I would go back only if I went on a Wednesday evening when not many people are there... the waits were just a little too long. There was an online special on top of it being a Saturday morning... that's just a lot of people. Even with a fun group, you kind of get drained and bored by the end.

From Austin, we went back to Virginia to spend a couple more weeks with my mom and Chuck. It was great getting to bookend our trip by spending time with them. Winter was snowy and pretty, then spring was beautiful. We went camping in Virginia, then took a quick trip to Florida (by quick I mean a 13-hour drive followed by an identical return trip a couple of days later). Camping was fun. We made smores. My mom and Lindsey love them some chocolate.

We ...

... placed a premium on setting up for the proper angle to approach the green...it would have been nice if there was a yardage book available to help you navigate the course. If you had the wrong angle, you were punished with tree as an obstacle, daunting carries over water or small greens protected by bunkers. I immediately ran across these concepts in the three holes #3-#5. Hole #3 was a short par 4 at 267 yards with a ...

Well this weekend I finally rented a car (after planning to the so for a long time). The reason was to fold: 1. Getting used to driving before the big trip to Washington next week, 2. Fun! And so I rented the Ford Focus you can see in the picture which was great accept for no central locking and no electric windows (very annoying!). On Friday we decided we're going diving Saturday night (yes night), so we went to pick up the diving equipment and then I ...