Chapter 3 - London England

So the plane lands and we get off to go through customs, the United 1st class attendent had already gotten all of our stuff off and it was ready to go through the "VIP" customs line.  The five of us and maybe a half dozen others went through customs in about 1 minute.  The remainder of the passengers were in this HUGE gaggle waiting for their bags and we were done. It pays to fly United and save those frequent flier miles.

In case you never get to fly international 1st class, it doesn't end with the flight. Once through customs we were all treated to a little (fairly large for an airport) private "refresh room". Showers, heated towels, toiletries and a chance to look human again after the long and arduous flight from the US...

We had decided that we'd take the "tube", aka subway, from the airport to the stop closest to our "bed and breakfast" destination.  I found an ATM, stuck my debit card in and son-of-a-gun the right color money came out.  We had decided early (based on my previous trips) to put our money into our checking account and just use the ATM, much cheaper than money exchanges. I think between the five of us we may have had $50.00 in cash. The ATM might be one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century...

We finally leave the airport on the tube destined for downtown London. It's quite a long ride but the tube stop is clearly marked and we had an excellent map London Tube Map, our stop was Glouchester Road.  We arrive at the bed and breakfast at 10:00AM London time, DEAD TIRED because it's 3:00AM Moutain Time. Didn't matter that it was a sunny, warm day the body's clock said sleep, SCREAMED SLEEP... dang we can't check in until at least 1:00PM.  We did however leave our luggage while Susan and I walked around like zombies, the kids were off to fix Eddies tongue piercing...

We finally pass out on the bed for a short nap before we head to the theater for Cats.

I don't know why Rebecca HAD to see Cats, I didn't want to and the boys were pretty ambivalent.   James seemed OK with it but still not overly excited.

So we get to the theaer, I expect reasonably good seats, but these are like front row (maybe second) center. The stage/set is built right into the seats, the whole thing moves for scene changes. 

The "Cats" or the actresses (and I suppose actors but I didn't notice) were all dressed in SKIN tight leotards that looked like kitty cats, wiskers, ears the whole thing.  BUT the most noticable part was the skin tight. and DARN if those kitty cats couldn't resist rubbing up against the two boys mostly. They kinda stayed away from me as I'm OLD and my wife was sitting right next to me.  By rub up against I mean use your wildest imagination nd you might get the idea.... It looked like they both had catnip sprinkled all over them.... haha, it was great.

But really the play was fabulous. I never imagined a play could be this much fun... I saw "Cats" again a couple years later in Charlotte and I was very disappointed....

Dragging back to bed (didn't care about breakfast) it was like sleep heaven... But up the next morning to tour London. Very nice, I'd recommend the "New" Old Globe Theater. It wasn't open for performances when we went but we looked around and the museum was open, we saw a Shakespearian play there the following year, highly recommended... At least as good as Cats, probably even better.... Maybe we'll talk about that if I ever get to our "romantic" (without kids) trip.

The "tube" is just plain fun to ride around, goes everywhere... "Mind The Gap" as the conductor says.

Also the art museums are top notch.  I'm not going to bore everyone with the details, I'm not going to put all the tourist landmark pictures up... But they look just like the movies...

So Monday morning we're headed for Ireland, via Wales in a rental car... I told them I wanted the largest sedan they had.  It was, well shall we say, NOT big enough for five adults and all our luggage. Stuff was packed everywhere, the trunk barely closed... But never fear we have to turn this rental in as rentals don't go from England/Wales to the Republic of Ireland, or Northern Ireland for that matter. Something about the IRA (at that time). hmmm...

The drive through Wales was the most nondescript, boring drive I can remeber, It's almost like driving through southern New Mexico, desolate. We stopped at one place, I think to get something to eat. We went in and all the folks were chatting rather loudly in "Welsh" I guess. It was instantly quiet, the entire time we were there they all spoke in wispers, like we could understand them....

After what seemed like forever we arrived at Holyhead, Wales where we were to catch the "High Speed" ferry to Dublin.... Sounded interesting to me... ended up being pretty amazing.  We checked our luggage then went to the ferry dock... Oh My Goodness, this thing is maybe 110' at the beam (across) and at least 300 feet long, maybe longer.  It held 30 or so full size tour busses and over a hundred cars on the lower deck.  It's said that you can ride across in your car but it didn't look like fun to me.

The "ferry is a flat front semi-hydro catmeran (it has two narrow hulls on the outside and rides mostly out of the water on hydrofoils). It must reach close to fifty mph as the wind outside is intense.  There's a little deck on the very back where passengers can stand and see the water purpulsion jets, I kid you not this "ferry" is a technological marvel. It's powered by turbine engines (same as a jet plane)which in turn pump HUGE columns of water out of the back... check out the movie clip (not mine). Off the back deck of the "ferry"
The entire front window goes from side to side you can be seated for a meal, sit at a bar, or just stand at the window. The "ferry" has a complete casino and one-arm bandits all over, shops, snacks and just about anything one could want.  It was so impressive Susan and I did it again the following year too.

If I remember correctly the trip takes about an hour and forty-five miuutes, seemed like 10 minutes... So we arrive in Dublin, the Republic of Ireland... hmmmm what a treat....

AND what a suprise, the rental car was even SMALLER than the one we left in Wales.... joy....

I do have a single photo, I'm skipping all the photots of things you've already seen in the movies (or on TV). This photo happens to be the place we stayed at in London. It couldn't properly be called a bed & breakfast as it was mainly used by students visiting and touring Europe, it had a bed but no breakfast.. It was certainly exactly right for us, not too fancy but served the purpose well....

Bed no Breakfast - London England

It really was more than adequate, we stayed the same place the following year, right in the neighborhood.....

Cheers

Chapter 2 - The Big days arrives.....

Well before I get to the "Big Day" a couple of side commentaries....

First if you didn't get the Pioneer Womans cook book for Christmas, either buy it or put it on you Birthday list..  I made the Rib-Eye with wiskey sauce for the second time and it was just as good as the first, maybe better.

Second thank you Ed and Rachel for the bottle of Jameson Irish Wiskey you gave me Christmas 2008. Since I ran out of "Jack Daniels" for cooking I snuck a little of the Jameson into the Rib-eye. Started with a little over half a bottle and have about an inch left.  Good thing about cooking with Jameson is it's REALLY tempting to taste... Needless to say this may be a little confusing, at least to the readers....

The big day... I don't remember the date but it was the last weekend in May 1997 something.  Oh by the way I guess I'm going to have to dig out the old film camera photos, that'll be fun....

Everyone was at the house on Wilde right on time with a lot of luggage. We were going for two(2) weeks so we packed at least enough for one(1) week and we planned on laundery. Question, do they have laudromats in Ireland, guess you'll need to read more to know,, haha.... It's the Jameson...

We arrive at the airport the required two(2) hours in advance for international travel.  We check in and wait, and wait etc.. Nothing really interesting at the Colorado Springs airport... Our flight is to DIA for a connection to Washington Dulles continuing on to London Heathrow.... The five of use took most of the first class seats to Denver, boy were they (the kids ) ever rowdy, Susan was terrified as usual as it was a "small" plane a local hop 737... But it was only a thirty minute flight from gate to gate, still white knuckled all the way....

We connected to a HUGE, brand new Boeing 777. Check it out, the first class section was bigger than our living room with only eleven(11) seats.  Much better for Susan, she FINALLY decided she could stand up and get to the bio-break facilities without panic.  The kids are now in the bussiness class, all with window seats in seperate rows to eliminate any fighting, bickering or kid stuff... There really isn't anything to see from 35,000 ft and it's Dark over the Atlantic.... All three were VERY well behaved...

Well first things first, we arrive in Washington Dulles and have to get off and actually go to the terminal. No problem there's an International 1st class lounge, which they let the kids into, with just about every kind of food and liquor you could ask for. I don't know about James but I'm pretty sure Rebecca and Edward helped themselves to EVERYTHING they could "drink" and certainly everything all three of them could eat..

After waiting in the 1st class lounge for what seemed like forever, we boarded the 777 for Heathrow. Of course they had a seperate jet-way for the eleven(11) 1st class passengers as well as the thirty or so business class passengers. The HUNDREDS of coach passengers loaded by the other jet-way (aka cattle shoot).

Hmmm. there is a flight attendent for just about every two(2) passengers in 1st class. They're waiting with wine, champaign (the fancy stuff I can't even recall the name of). and pre-flight snacks.  The seats recline to a full 180 degrees, all the liqour and food you can eat is shuttled right to your fully reclining seat.... asppetizers, Filet Mignon, Lobster, crab, you name it they got it.  I suppose that's why people pay over $12,000.00 dollars for a 1st class seat/ (ours were on frequent flier miles)... Almost forgot the personal entertainment facilities with movies, games and other superferlous stuff....

It is an eight(8) or so hour flight. I HAD made it once before in coach (aka cattle car) once in business and and several times upgraded to 1st class. which I can assure you I wouldn't do unless I had plenty of frequent flier miles (all due to expire in the next few months).

I think the key is the HUGE space for only eleven(11) seats, Susan felt right at home, like she was in our living room... It was luxerious. (but not worht $12,000.00 dollars per seat, at least MY money)... Susan even drank some Champaign without using the bag usually provided in the seat back pouch....

So the plane finally arrives at Heathrow London and we break through the clouds just after sun-rise (they had already served a huge breakfast).... It looks like the movies, you know all the shots you see with the cameras flying overhead... Quite impressive and since the pattern is SO BIG with all the arriving flights it's almost a tour unto itself....

OK, gotta go get some MORE Jameson and watch "House".... more soon


Cheers.... Might even be pictures to go with chapter 3...

Chapter 1 | The Greatest Family Vacation EVER!!!! - well for us anyway!

I was talking with James today, he was recollecting places we had visited when the kids were younger. He brought up what he called the "Family Trip to Europe". I told him, see that's something you could write about on "Your Blog" (which he's never created because he has nothing to write about), Well I thought that I might like to write about it myself!

First of all most of you know that I traveled thousands of miles while I was consulting, factually I traveled over 1,500,000 frequent flier miles. Keep in mind that at the time any trip under 500 miles was credited as 500 miles... OK it was still alot.  To get an even better perspective the two(2) first class tickets, and three(3) business class tickets (we didn't want to put up with the kids in the same cabin) I got on "frequent flier miles" would have sold for over $50,000.00 at the going discounted business and first class rates.  Yes I flew alot, and yes my wife suffered the most, taking care everything on the homefront... Now that we're past that.....

The concept of going to "Ireland" started in January of James senior year of high school, he was seventeen at the time, he's now thirty, so it's been awhile and hopefully I can be accurate...well mostly accurate....

So the first thing we did was decide that WE (Susan and I) wanted to go. We decided we'd go around June when the days were longest. We then asked each of the kids if THEY would like to go, dumb, dumb question... OK we're all going what do WE want to do???

Well actually before we get to that the first thing is make sure we ALL get passports as I was the only one that had one.  Of course it was REAL wise that we started early as James had a bit of a birth certificate issue.  For reasons unknown his birth wasn't legally registered until he was five(5), trying to get into kindergarten.  Looks kinda weird to the passport folks when your birth was registered in 1984 and you were born in1979... Needles to say it was a hassle and it did take several months, but it arrived just in time...

Back to what do you want to do in Europe.  Susan and I had decided that we'd fly into London then drive through Wales and catch a ferry to Dublin, the Republic or Ireland... hmmm no problem there. Rebecca decided that we should all go see the live play "Cats" while in London, then fly back through Paris to go to some cemetary where ????????? was buried... hmmm joys... Once James and Edward heard this, they jumped right on the bandwagon. talk as I might I couldn't talk them out of Paris, OR the cemetary...

We decided that we were going to stay in bed and breakfast inns for the entire stay. We made reservations at one in London well in advance and made a reservation in Dubln for one night. We purchased front row seats at about $80.00 each for "Cats" I scoffed at that too, but everyone else (Susan) that counts thought it would be OK...

In retrospec, all of the planning went amazingly well, we weren't stranded, weren't without a place to stay, NOTHING went seriously wrong, that may depend on ones perspetive, but from mine it went as smooth as anything I'd ever done.... NOW we wait.  Chapter 2 - The day arrives.....

cheers.

So the 2010 New Year is here, there and everywhere....

Way back on New Years day when I started this post..., got sidetracked which is EASY when you're old.

And where was I when the New Year arrived, sleeping next to my lovely wife..That's right sleeping.... We went to Minnesota Suzi's for "taco bar", she fixed Peach Margaritas, Pork, Beef and chicken, we brought guacamole and other people brought various sides, I really can't remember everything that was there. While I cut up the avacados I drank two, or three peach margaitas, ok maybe four, regardless I sat in the chair next to the Christmas tree and consumed some pork and beef on nacho chips...hmmm...hmmm....hmmm.. I had to get the margaritas out of the way early OR let Susan drive home... enough about that...

Slept late the first day of the New Year, until 7 or so... fixed "Sour Cream Pancakes" out of Susans "new" cookbook... boy are those good,... and easy...

Now I'm just bummin' around for the remainder of the day.

Fast Forward to 10-January-2010

James commented that I hadn't posted anything in several weeks. It's true, it's not that I don't have anything to post it's just that I seem to have other things to do, things that "get in the way", like taking a nap... (don't tell), or watering the equine when it's 6 degrees outside...

We've had some BRUTAL cold day, one where the HIGH was 6 degrees and the overnight lows were in the negative double digits. 

We have two(2) diesel trucks and the van with no heater motor. Of course the van started right up, the trucks turned over but wouldn't start, well they turned over until Susie ran the battery down on "her" truck.  YES, they do have block heaters but it's hard to find extension cords and outlets around here as the horse water tanks need to be heated or they freeze SOLID. I had used all of the long extension cords on those leaving none for the vehicles.  Believe it or not we have NEVER had the trucks not start because it was just too cold. 

Santa left me a GREAT espresso maker and Mary (my mother-in-law) bought me a deep fat frier. Between the lattes and french fries I still haven't gotten down to 199.  Yup, that's right just a couple (1.5 actually) pounds over 200 and the New Years resolution is to break the 200 barrier.. Actually the reality is it's probably not as much the espresso machine and lattes as it is the "Pioneer Woman" cookbook Rachel bought Susie (who rarely cooks).  Check this out - Sour Cream Pancackes, Rib-eye with wiskey sauce, Blackberry cobbler, and the list goes on. We've tried (I've cooked) many and all are very good.

Enough about food, I'm making myself hungry and I'll have to run out and cook up some french fries....

Squirt is still is California. Carson has sent a couple of updates and a few more pictures. He seems to really be content, at least in the pictures. Carson gets along with him just fine.  They are getting to know each other so Squirt can take Carson "down the fence" at a reined cow horse show, very popular in California... I've put this link out here before so if you really want to know what we (mostly I, and Robert) do with our horses see the web-site that I created just for reined cow horses, http://www.rch.table-rock.com/ . The cow horse site has links to other interesting Quarter Horse, and "horse" sites...

Susan brought home YET ANOTHER cat the other day, a neutered male "Maine coon". He's really BIG and really hairy, VERY gentle and friendly.  The word on the street is that he "sprays" in the house.  I'm betting he just holds his tail up and twitches (making it LOOK like he's spratying) time will tell... I guess it doesn't really matter too much he's living in the "barn/garage", too many cats in the house already....

Amanda made it through ANOTHER Christmas.  She seems quite content and happy. She loves to lay in the snow at 6 degrees.  She is starting to show her age around her muzzle and in her eyes, Sometimes I think she might be dead because she doesn't hear too well (well I'm not sure about this, she seems to hear me get in the treat bucket (liver snacks) just fine). I have to touch her to make sure she's still breathing.

Kat is still hobbling along and seems very content. I will in the next couple of days take Harley and "RedMan" over to the 80 and bring back the the "two year olds" (they just had a birthday on January 1st, same as ALL horses)... I'll probably bring Cory (Squirts younger sister) over with them... Oh the two year olds are Belle, named after the race horse Eight Belles, Love Muffin (Roberts horse from Kat, her last baby) I call her Love Muffin (or Muffin) because her daddy's name is "The Love Man", haha..... I think Linda, Roberts wife calls her Miss Kitty, nice name but I've always called her Muffin and probably always will, the third one is hmmm can't recall her name, but she is also one of Roberts babies... Dang hate it when that happens.....

I really enjoyed the days off over the last couple of weeks. I consumed the remainder of 2009 vacation and just hung out with Susie (well one day I hung out ALL DAY while she went to work hmmm)...

I've decided that I really like my "Demand Planning" job. A lot more interaction with people than the previous IT job. But interesting, challenging and it keeps me on my toes. I think it's the "Going where no man has gone before" thing that makes it the most interesting. No one can really "train me", it's pretty much "learn" and pretty self directed... I still don't like "meetings" but at least I can ride my "wind-trainer" (fancy term for stationary bike), and maybe get to the 199 goal, soon....

It's Saturday morning, Susan went to her Palmer Lake Art Group meeting (she's the treasurer) so I have the house and the computer to myself. When she returns we're going to get the Rebecca grandchildren and spend the day playing in the sunshine (42.8 degrees today, higher tomorrow)... We're thinking about taking them to the zoo i n the morning, mostly so Gabe can use his new camera on something more interesting than "stuffed animals".

Oh yeah, I gave myself one other Christmas present... well or Santa brought another, whichever you choose... Susan painted this REAL NICE watercolor of California Poppies. I don't know if she posted it on her blog-site so I'm not going to, BUT I took a picture of the SECOND best thing I see from my pillow when I wake up in the morning (too dark to see at night). 

Anyone care to guess what the BEST thing I wake up to is?

Susan will have to upload the image (which has no reflections)

 Gabe the photographer, Yes it WAS as cold as it looks

Playing ON Palmer Lake, the ice is 4-6 inches thick enough to hold a car

As you can see he isn't too afraid, Bambis daddy, I think?

Squirt & Carson, bareback... Note the contrast between CA and CO. I'm convinced Squirt is really in heaven, he looks VERY content...

Cheers.....