TravelStream™ news feed for member heiditournoux on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/heiditournoux en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:02:51 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/6/1180220460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/6/1180220460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/6/1180220460/tpod.html Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:02:51 -0400 Visiting Chelsea in Korea!!!

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Seoul, Korea Rep.

I will update this later!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/5/1150468500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/5/1150468500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/5/1150468500/tpod.html Sun, 21 Sep 2008 10:37:11 -0400 Italy 2006

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Rome, Lazio, Italy

I was not sure how a trip to Europe with the entire family would work out, but we were pleasantly surprised!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/4/1222005720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/4/1222005720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/4/1222005720/tpod.html Sun, 21 Sep 2008 10:25:43 -0400 Paris 2005

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Paris, France

When I found out that Geoff <i>had to go to Paris for work, I promptly invited myself along for the trip, and encouraged him to plan the trip so that we had some time together that was not just work. I was very excited because not only did we get to travel with work friends (Viraj was there!), but we got to see people that Geoff worked with in Seattle. I dont remember sleeping on the flight over, but I am sure I did, as I am able to pretty much sleep anywhere. However, our goal upon arrival in Paris was to stay up as late as possible and go to sleep at normal Paris sleep time when jetlagged. Geoff, Viraj and I took a cab from the airport to the hotel- Hotel du Cygne. We checked in, and the staff were just amazing. They spoke broken english, and they were very curious about what our plans were for the evening. Our room was typical tiny european, with just enough room for a bed and a desk in the room. We did have a private bath, so we were very happy about that. We decided to take a walk around to find out what our bearings were, and discovered that we were blocks away from the Louvre, and planned an entire day to do that.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1216122000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1216122000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1216122000/tpod.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:21:25 -0400 Never A Dull Moment- Oak Harbor/ Roche Harbor 2008

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Roche Harbor, Washington, United States

&nbsp; I think we were relieved when the next morning Ben was the first to arrive at the cabin for coffee, and then to start cooking breakfast. He told us the story of falling into the drink, and what happened was, right when Ben went to step into the canoe, the wake from another boat rocked the canoe and he fell in. Outboard and all into the drink. It did take 4 people to pull him out, but he was fine, and just needed to warm up, which he did. Needless to say, the motor was shot, so any canoe ride from then on out was by paddle only. Ben started making breakfast, so Grandma, Geoff and I started another game of scrabble. It was so warm and beautiful outside! We saw the rest of the family head down to the pool, and then Bridgette brought their dog up to the cabin because he was not welcome at the pool. A bit later we all wanted to go up to the mausoleum, so we took the dog with us. He is a really slow walker compared to Bogey and Spud, so it was funny to see him really pooped by such a short walk. It was really sweet. The mausoleum was painted and the table and chairs were repaired from last year, which was nice to see. The walk was very refreshing, and we went back to the cabin. We then hung out around the cabin for a while because Kendyll fell asleep on Grandma's bed, and we thought it would be neglectful to leave her alone there. Once she woke up, she and Nana Cheryl went to the slide at the pool, and Geoff, Grandma and I went to the docks for a while to sit and visit with family. We packed up a dock cart brought to us by Kaiser of course and headed up to the cabin with the rest of the dinner supplies. I think most of us were pretty tired by then, and the BBQ took longer to heat up tonight vs. last night. By 8:30 we ate, and at 8:50 we made our way to the flag ceremony while grandma waited at the cabin reading a book. The flag ceremony was over quickly, and Geoff and I made our way back home. We played another game of scrabble with Grandma before bed.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1215948960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1215948960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1215948960/tpod.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:02:12 -0400 Never A Dull Moment- Oak Harbor/ Roche Harbor 2008

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Roche Harbor, Washington, United States

&nbsp; Waking up early was easy for Geoff and me, so we got coffee made and waited until Grandma got up as well. We had to get to the boat early (by 8:30) according to mom and Ben so that we would miss the scary waters crossing though Deception Pass. We got up early enough, but then Greg Jr. called Grandma from arriving in St. Louis for his National Guard Training, and after passing the phone around we lost track of time and of course were late getting to the boat at 8:45. We got Grandma, all our supplies, and ourselves on the boat and were off for a hasty start to the day. We were prepared for a bumpy ride through Deception Pass, and as we made our way through, we were jostled around quite a bit. But then we made it through, and we all survived that part. What really got to us was going through the Strait of Juan De Fuca toward San Juan Island. We were rolling at this point! It was nearly an hour of bouncing back and forth, then left to right, up and down with 8-10 foot swells and a small craft advisory. Ben (our captain) was smiling the whole time, so I didn't think we were going to die, but we all were shaken up a bit from that (I know, horrible pun). Two people (I'll be nice and keep it anonymous) needed the puke bucket, to give you an idea of all the rocking and rolling that was going on. Once Ben got us to Lopez Island, we called Uncle Rick on his boat (we were all meeting up at Roche Harbor for the few days) to tell him to go up and through the Islands, rather than out to the Strait. Apparetly, Deception Pass was worse when they came through, because it was reported that they ended up going through the pass sideways. So, taking his own advice, Ben decided to take us north and then around Lopez rather than stay south of Lopez heading West to San Juan. It was a longer trip, but our stomaches were definitely much happier to have the smoother sailing by traveling with the protection of the Islands rather than in the open ocean. We all were very happy to meet up with Uncle Rick and his crew at Roche Harbor at 1:30. We were greeted at the dock by Kaiser, staff from last year who remembered Grandma- probably because we always have fun with Grandma. Kaiser got us a ride on the golf cart to the hotel, who told us that check in wasn't until 3pm. So, we went back to the dock, pulled up some chairs and just hung out with family for a while. I think we all were still rocking with the dock moving back and forth. Ben, Geoff and Vannessa got the canoe down off the side of the boat Cathy kept joking that we looked like the Clampette's, so Geoff kept joking that we needed to put a rocking chair on the fly bridge. Ben hooked the outboard motor up to the canoe, and took it out for a spin. When he came back he said that it was pretty fun except it was a bit tippy taking the turns. I wasnt too interested in the motor part of the canoe, but wanted to row, so Geoff and I jumped in and paddled around for a while. When we got back it was time to head back to the hotel to get our keys for the cabin. Kaiser again picked us up with the golf cart (for Grandma- Geoff and I just rode along), and took us to our cabin, which ended up being different from last year, but in a good way. The kitchen and bathroom were way bigger so we were very happy, knowing that dinner always ends up being at the cabin. However, that night, dinner was on the docks, with Ben cleaning and cooking up the crab that they picked up the day before. Cathy made a great cucumber salad, and we were lucky enough to dock up right next to Rick and Cheryl, so they brought their crab along also, as well as a salad to round out the meal. Afterward, we got grandma back up to the cabin and we turned in for the night.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1216267320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1216267320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1216267320/tpod.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:46:12 -0400 Never A Dull Moment- Oak Harbor/ Roche Harbor 2008

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SeaTac to DFW, Washington, United States

&nbsp; Once on the plane, it was not difficult to get to sleep, with only the minor interruption of takeoff. Geoff is so smart, and got us the emergency exit row, which meant increased leg capacity, and we promptly fell asleep once everyone was settled. Then, after about an hour of sleep there was more excitement. Not necessarily in a good way, as the flight attendant got on the intercom to ask if there was anyone on board that was a licensed medical professional. A few people raised their hands, and they were ushered a few rows behind our seats. Not wanting to stare, but secretly curious about what was going to happen I was not able to fall asleep again, and I watched the flight attendant fumble around in the overhead bins before pulling out what looked like a medical bag, possibly holding an oxygen tank, or the AED. I was pretty impressed with the flight attendants because they did not seem to freak out, and the passengers actually just sat in their chairs waiting to find out what would happen. Then, the sound of the engines changed and Geoff uttered a "You've got to be kidding me" when I asked "Does that mean we are making an emergency landing?" Not too long afterward the flight attendant got on the intercom to let us know that we were heading back to Seattle. There were a few groans from passengers, but overall no one seemed too angry, and settled back down while the captain really started to descend. It was the fastest decent that I have ever experienced, and we landed at an airport. We were not in Seattle, but instead were in Boise, and were met at the plane by paramedics. They got on the plane, but didn't seem to be hustling too much, which made me think the passenger either died or was not doing too terribly bad. The paramedics left the plane, and returned with an airline wheelchair that they wheeled her off in. She was conscious when they went by, so I am hoping that she is still doing okay. We then had to wait a few more hours while the plane got fuel, and a mechanic inspected the plane because of the overweight landing. The captain also needed to get clearance to continue the flight because the crew had been in the air since 8pm the previous day, but after a while, they did get the plane up in the air. We finally landed at 8:30 in the morning, only 3.5 hours later than planned. We got back to the car then went to pick up the wienies from the kennel. They were so happy for us to be home, and we were happy to be home too!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1216207800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1216207800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1216207800/tpod.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:44:08 -0400 Never A Dull Moment- Oak Harbor/ Roche Harbor 2008

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Roche Harbor, Washington, United States

&nbsp; Check out was at 11, so Grandma, Geoff and I raided the fridge for breakfast, and also packed up our items. Cathy wanted to go to Rosario Resort to have a BBQ lunch on the boat, and to check it out the resort on the way home for possible future lodging. We checked out of the cabin, and made our way to the boat. The ride over to Rosario was beautiful, and the resort had a lot of interesting history. Surprisingly, Uncle Rick and Aunt Cheryl's boat was docked at the pier, and it turns out they stopped in for lunch. We looked around the old mansion, took lots of photos at the beautiful gardens, and just checked it out. Grandma had decided to stay on the boat, so we didn't stay out too long before heading home. We again were taking the safe route as we did not want to capsize or get seasick, and wouldn't you know it, we ran into that pod of Orca's that we wanted to look for, but were not brave enough previously! We spent a good hour watching the whales play in the water! Cathy said that they likely were pods J, K, and L, and that one of the pods recently had 2 baby whales. We took lots of pictures, and Geoff and I agreed that this was way more exciting than getting to the airport earlier for the chance to get on an earlier flight. After watching the whales, we made our way back through Deception Pass, which was deceptively rocky at this time. At first it seemed that we were just rolling in with the rolling waves, but once we got under the pass, we were bounced back and forth, so much so that the captains chair fell over, with Cathy in it, and the refrigerator door flew open spewing forth its contents of soda and beers. Cathy reported that her "poo poo hurt" and that it would be pretty bruised tomorrow. I'm so happy she was joking about it, but I know that had to hurt. We got back to the dock, and Geoff and I had to jump in the car to make it to our 11:40pm flight out of SeaTac after first returning the rental car. The evening was beautiful, as was the rest of the trip, but we had clear skies which gave us a great view of Mt. Rainier in the sunset. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time, had a beer at the bar, then made our way to the gate. At this point, we noticed that our flight was 15 minutes late, so we sat and again waited. We then found out that the flight crew was stuck on a different plane waiting for a wheelchair to get a passenger off their previous flight, but they eventually showed up and we finally were able to board a bit after Midnight.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1216036800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1216036800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1216036800/tpod.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:40:15 -0400 Never A Dull Moment- Oak Harbor/ Roche Harbor 2008

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Roche Harbor, Washington, United States

&nbsp; Geoff, Grandma and I all woke up early again, and got ready for the day. Breakfast for our family was to be at the cabin, and everyone came up to the cabin with supplies in hand. Geoff and I rescued another picnic table from the neighbor cabin (it was their second table so we didn't feel bad at all) and we started to have breakfast outside, until we all decided we were chilly and moved in. After breakfast we got a call from Cheryl that they were at the pool, so we got grandma down the hill safely and soaked up the sun while watching Kendyll play in the kiddie pool for a while. We went to the cabin for some lunch for Kendyll, and while she was wandering around, she got Nana Cheryl's camera and was walking around the cabin with the camera up to her eye. She ran into Grandma's bedroom to take Grandma's picture and totally ran into the corner of the dresser with her head. We were all worried that her mom would be upset with us, but she handled it pretty well. In the afternoon, we all decided to get back on the boat to get oysters for dinner, and maybe take in some whale watching. However, the whales seemed to be in the scary rocky part of the ocean, so we just decided to get the oysters and putter around. We got to the dock, and the man that was harvesting the shell fish told us to go away with our big boat and to tie up to the dock with a dinghy. But, our motor was on the canoe, so that would not work. We pondered what to do at this point, going farther away from the dock when Uncle Rick decided he would talk to the man, and Ben turned the boat around. But the man ended up cleaning up and getting in his truck. He went away, so we tied up to the dock. It did look like we would pull it off the pylons, but we didn't, so he really had nothing to worry about. Geoff, Ben, Uncle Rick went to pick out some clams and oysters, and came back to the boat pretty quickly with their load. We went back into the Harbor, and everyone met back at the cabin. Oysters and Clams were on the appetizer menu with steak as the main course. We took our family portrait for the year and then everyone but Geoff, grandma and me, Vannessa and her friend seemed to disperse to go to the flag ceremony at the resort. We thought that everyone was coming back to the cabin for s'mores afterward. Bridgette and Chad came back to pick up something, so we made them some s'mores also. They left, then a bit later Cheryl calls to let us know that Ben fell into the water! It sounded pretty scary, so we sent a worried Vannessa back to the boat with her friend. He was okay according to Cathy, so we played a game of scrabble before going to bed.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1215860400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1215860400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1215860400/tpod.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:35:31 -0400 Never A Dull Moment- Oak Harbor/ Roche Harbor 2008

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Oak Harbor, Washington, United States

Now, we had to be creative at this point, because from the hotel we had to get to the car rental agency so that we could start our drive up to Oak Harbor to meet up with Grandma and Ron. So, we hopped back on the shuttle to the airport, passed an amazingly clear view of Mt. Rainier on the way, and then had to hop onto the shuttle to the rental car. We were put into a Subaru Legacy, in blue with a sunroof. We were the first to rent this vehicle and as it was a beautiful day, we started the drive up north. We stopped at a grocery store, and picked up some scones for breakfast. The drive to Oak Harbor was non-eventful, but even in the 6 months that it had been since we had been there at Christmas time, there were many changes in the roads. The Holiday Mart was totally gone, and roads are being widened as we drove. We stopped into Frontier Ford, gave Ron a big hug, then were on our way to Deception Pass to get on the boat to harvest some crab pots that mom and Ben had placed out a few days ago to gear up for the trip. We again were blessed with amazing weather, and Geoff got the opportunity to pull up the pots. Overall, there seemed to be about 15 crab for the trip, and they put them in the live well on the boat for later on in the trip. That evening, Geoff and I went over to Grandma's house to wait for Ron to come home with dinner. He brought us Subway, which we ate on the porch watching the ocean and different boats come in. Ron got some fishing done before bed, and we were all asleep by 10.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1215801000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1215801000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heiditournoux/3/1215801000/tpod.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:32:40 -0400 Never A Dull Moment- Oak Harbor/ Roche Harbor 2008

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Seattle, Washington, United States

Our travels began really laid back for this trip. Geoff arranged for our flight out of Dallas to be at 6pm, to arrive in Seattle late in the evening. We dropped the dogs off at the kennel at around 2:30, went out to lunch, then made our way to the airport. We were able to get the upgrade into first class, so we had some dinner on the plane, and we were able to stretch out and relax. I brought a really good book with me, Dog Man, which I thought would keep me occupied, but instead I finished reading it halfway through the 3 hour flight into Sacramento. We had a very short layover, no time to get a new book to read before we got back on a plane and were on our way to Seattle. The SkyMall catalog never seems to get old, so I thumbed through that for a while while reading over Geoff's shoulder to read his Popular Mechanics magazine. We arrived in Seattle at around 10pm, and hopped on the shuttle to go to our hotel. Geoff booked us in a room at the Airport Hilton, which is beautiful of course, and managed to get us into the room on points alone. So far, so good!
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