We had a wonderful time in Rome, but it was time to move on. We boarded the train to make our way to Florence. We absolutely loved Florence. We stayed in a beautiful, spacious apartment within walking distance of most of the sights we wanted to see. The apartment had five huge bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms and a big kitchen. The only not so great thing about the apartment was a long entryway that had a step up. If the light was not turned on when we entered the apartment, it was easy to trip on the step and face plant on the hard floor. Luckily, that only happened to one of us. That was me.
We saw many of the sights of Florence. It’s a very walkable city. We went to the Centro Storico, which is the historic center of Florence. It’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s known for its art, culture and shopping.
We went to the Uffizi Gallery, which is a famous landmark and art museum. It has paintings by Botticelli, Michelangelo, and Leonardo Da Vinci. There are more, but those are the names I recognized. We also visited the Academia Gallery, which has the famous David statue by Michelangelo.
Now, I would like to say I am extremely cultured and know a lot about art. But I am not. I wanted to see some of the famous works of art I had always heard about, but other than that, I kind of lost interest roaming around the museums, looking at the statues and paintings. My friend Vicki, on the other hand, knows all about the works of art and wanted to look at everything. And I mean everything. I finally left her, made my much faster route and exit through the museum, and went to explore other parts of the city with my husband. She had a wonderful day, and so did we.
I had heard about this book, Wine Doors of Florence by Robbin Gheesling, that had pictures of all the wine doors in Florence. I ordered the book and took it with me to Italy. Wine doors date from around 1532 and were in use until the early 1900’s. These wine doors were used by the nobility to sell their wines. People would knock on the doors or ring a bell to be served.
We had so much fun walking around Florence, looking for the wine doors listed in the book. Each picture had an address included, making it easier to find the doors. Even so, some of the doors were still a little hard to find. Most of these doors are no longer functional, but there are a few from which wine is still sold. We found one door where they were selling wine. The kids, and Vicki, all had a glass of wine. I did not have one, because I do not like the wine in Italy. It is very dry. I only like very sweet wine. Basically, juice.
Looking for the wine doors was a wonderful way to see to the city. We went to places in the city we would not have otherwise explored.
There are pictures of 81 doors in the book. I did my best to find all of them, but we only had time to find 19 of the doors. Greg thought we did a good job finding the doors. I considered it just a start. We have to go back to Florence to find the rest of the doors. Greg rests when he can….
We rubbed noses with the boar in the Mercato Nuovo market. Rubbing noses with the boar is supposed to bring good luck. Maybe Greg was trying to find enough luck to make it through this vacation.
We ate at a restaurant called Garga. This restaurant was recommended to us by one of the “high finance” ladies on the bike trip. She told me that the chef would come out and talk to us, and that we should tell him she recommended the restaurant to us. The chef must have been busy that night, because he did not come to our table. We also have never been featured on a high finance show on Youtube.
I don’t remember if it was at this restaurant or not, but at one of our meals, my oldest daughter, Ally, ordered cow’s tongue. Cow’s tongue? A tongue that has been in a cow? I would be kind of grossed out if a living cow licked me. No way am I going to eat a dead cow’s tongue. Ally said it was really tender. Ew. That made it sound worse. My daughter, Sarah, decided she would be brave enough to try a bite. As she started to take a bite, I leaned over to her and made a loud, slurping sound. She put her fork down and could not take a bite. I know I could have acted more maturely, but a tongue?
We could have stayed in Florence for several more days. Everyone loved it. But we had a schedule. We were due in Cinque Terre. We took the train to La Spezia, stopping on the way to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Most of us took the wet, slippery, steep stairs to the top.
At the end of our visit, we parted ways with Vicki. She was going to Venice, while we were heading to La Spezia and Cinque Terre.
Please be sure to read my story next time about our visit to La Spezia and Cinque Terre.
Rubbing noses with a public boar seems a little unwise, considering we had all just been through the pandemic. I’m kind of surprised we all did it, but we survived.
Make sure you turn on the light when entering an unfamiliar apartment to avoid face planting on the stairs.
You can buy tickets for the Leaning Tower of Pisa at www.opapisa.it.
I highly recommend the book Wine Doors of Florence by Robbin Gheesling. It was really fun looking for the doors while exploring the city. And if you don’t find them all on your first trip, you will have a great excuse for going back.
Cow tongue, or any other tongue, should not be considered food, in my opinion.
For a good meal, check out Trattoria Garga. The address is Via del Moro 48/R, Florence, Italy. The phone number is +39 055 239 8898. The website is www.casatrattoria.com.
At the conclusion of my previous story, I mentioned that my friend, Amy, and I took separate trains to meet our families after the bike trip. This may not sound like a big deal, but I am not a solo traveler. I want to be a confident solo traveler, but that is something I have not accomplished yet. I have attended talks/webinars about solo travel, I have read Beth Santos’ book Wander Woman about solo travel, I have read books about women who have had amazing solo trips around the world, and I am working my way through the Backpacking Badass training about being a confident, competent, solo backpacker. The idea of being able to backpack or take a trip to anywhere anytime I want, without having to coordinate with others’ work schedules/PTO, being by myself in the quiet wilderness or wandering through the streets of a city in a foreign city, feeling confident and competent, is very appealing. But the truth is, I would probably be crying and shaking the entire time. I can be confident and brave when I travel with others, even if I am the one that is doing the planning and organizing. In fact, I really like planning and organizing a trip. But the idea of being by myself in unfamiliar territory turns me into an anxious mess. So casually saying Amy and I took separate trains may have been a bit misleading.
Anyway…I did manage to get on the correct train, and after an anxious ride during which I checked, double checked, triple checked the stops, I arrived in Rome. The train station in Rome is at the airport. I went out to the taxi line to get a ride to my hotel for the night. When I was reading tips about international travel, one tip was to always get the price of the trip prior to getting in the taxi. So being the confident, solo traveler that I was at that moment, I asked the driver about the cost of the ride. He gave me a fee, put my suitcase in his trunk, and off we went. When we arrived at the hotel, I gave the driver a euro bill that covered my fee plus a generous tip. He reached down between his door and his seat, and he held up a bill that was worth half of what I had given him. I thought he was trying to give me change, so I indicated that I did not need change. He started shaking the bill at me, and I finally figured out that he was asking for more money. He was saying that the bill he was holding was what I had given him. I knew that was not true, so I told him I had given him the correct fee. He continued to shake the bill at me, getting louder about insisting that I give him more money. I should have just left the taxi, but my suitcase was in the trunk and I was afraid if I got out of the taxi, he would drive off with my suitcase. I finally gave him more money. He got out of the taxi, got my suitcase out of the trunk and drove off. I was very upset and shaky when I got to the registration desk at the hotel. I was also furious-with the driver for ripping me off and with myself for giving him more money. That experience didn’t exactly inspire confidence in my solo traveling aspirations.
My friend, Vicki, who was joining my family for part of our vacation, was meeting me at the hotel. My family was arriving in Rome the next day. Vicki and I booked a stay at a hotel that had previously been a monastery, called Domus Sessoriana.
All of the rooms are converted from the cells in which the monks had lived. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was pretty much just a hotel room. My only information about monks comes from movies, but if they had decent rooms with private bathrooms, maybe it’s not such a bad gig. Except for the itchy robes. And the frequent meals of thin soup. And the isolation. And the no talking….People who don’t know me well think I’m quiet. People who know me well would agree that I would last maybe half an hour with the no talking thing. And that would be pushing it.
The Domus Sessoriana is next to the Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, which contains relics from the cross of Christ, including a piece of wood believed to be part of the cross, a nail, and a thorn from the crown of thorns.
We had booked tickets to attend an opera that night. The opera was showing at the Baths of Caracalla. The Baths of Caracalla were the city’s second largest Roman public baths. They were likely built between AD 212-217 and fell into ruin after AD 530. They now have sightseeing tours of the ruins, and they host concerts, operas and other special events.
We saw the opera Carmen. I brushed up on the story because I thought it would all be in Italian. I know very little about opera, and did not realize Carmen is a French opera, so everything was in French. But they had the words in both Italian and English on a big screen, so it was very easy to follow the story. It was a beautiful night to be outside watching an opera. We had a wonderful time.
The next day, Vicki and I set out to find the Airbnb I had booked for our time in Rome. Soon, my family arrived and we started our Italy family vacation. We had about three days in Rome before we were to leave for Florence, so, as usual, we tried to stuff as much as we could into those three days. The first day, we just walked around the area near our apartment. We saw the Ponte Sisto Bridge.
We ran into a parade. It looked like some sort of religious celebration, but we had no idea what the occasion was.
We went to the grocery store and the bakery, stocking up on food to have in the apartment. We scheduled a food tour for our first night. When the food tour started, we were unsure if this was going to be a good experience. The lady who was doing the tour, Emma, seemed kind of nervous. We later learned that this was her very first tour. She ended up doing an incredible job. When the tour was over, we were trying to figure out how to get back to our apartment. Emma started giving us directions about which bus to take, and then she said she would just go with us, since she lived nearby. When we got off the bus, she walked us to our apartment! She joined the kids (young adults) that evening for drinks, and she met us for dinner the next night. We had made a friend in Italy!
I will admit, I am not a history person, so when I travel, I will research beforehand to try to figure out what it is I’m going to see. In case there is someone reading this that is willing to admit that you just memorized the history stuff for tests and then quickly forgot it, I will add a little information about the popular attractions in Italy that we visited.
The next day, we went to the Colosseum, which is the largest amphitheatre in the world, made of stone and concrete. It was built between 72 A.D. and 80 A.D. It could seat 50,000 spectators, and hosted events such as sporting events, gladiatorial combats, and animal hunts. There are many underground passages in the Colosseum. Two thirds of the Colosseum has been destroyed, mostly by vandalism, earthquakes and fires.
We went to the Roman Forum. The Roman Forum was the political, religious and cultural center of ancient Roman life. It is home to many ancient ruins, including the Temple of Vesta, the Arch of Titus, and the Temple of Saturn. It is rumored to contain the burial site of Romulus, the founder of Rome.
We enjoyed these tourist activities, but it was incredibly hot. Italy was experiencing one of the hottest summers in history that summer. The following day, we had tickets for a Vatican tour. My son, Ryan, had been up all night vomiting, because, well, it’s not a Hall vacation until someone throws up. He insisted he was ok to go on the tour, so off we went. Again, an incredibly hot day. Our tour guide was not the friendliest person in Italy. She was friendlier to a family in our group that was clearly not from the US, so we thought maybe she did not like Americans. That’s ok. We didn’t care much for her either. We did enjoy our visit to the Vatican.
We went to the Trevi Fountain that evening. The Trevi Fountain was commissioned by Pope Clement XII to display the power and influence of the Catholic Church in Rome. You are supposed to throw coins into the fountain to ensure that you will return to Rome. I threw three coins in because I wanted to keep going back to Italy. I’m kind of surprised Greg threw in a coin. He does not typically want to visit a place more than once. It was peer pressure, I’m sure. He looks so excited… and a little concerned when my third coin went in. Watch this video to see how excited he really was.
I have since read that there is a myth that if you throw one coin, you will return to Rome, if you throw two coins, you will fall in love with an attractive Italian, and if you throw three coins, you will marry that person. I was just trying to increase my chances of getting to return to Italy. I didn’t get to know any attractive Italian men on the trip. Which is fine. I think I’ll hang on to Mr. Enthusiastic.
That night, we ate at a restaurant that my daughter Sarah had heard about. It was a little family owned restaurant. It was a little hard to find, because we had to walk down several winding streets, but it was very worth it. The food was served family style. The host/waiter’s mother was the cook. She came out of the kitchen to our table with a huge bowl of pasta. Everyone was given a serving, except Greg, my husband. After everyone had some pasta on their plates, she took the huge bowl, still filled with pasta, handed it to my husband, and patted his stomach. She then handed him a fork and a spoon. She didn’t speak any English, but I think we all understood that she expected Greg to finish off all that pasta! We all had a lot of fun that night!
The next day we packed our bags and took the train to Florence. Read my story next time for more about our Italy trip.
Tips:
The good thing about trains is if you get on the wrong one, you just get off and get on the one going the other way. But that’s hard to remember when I am traveling by myself and shaking in my seat.
If you want to stay in a hotel that used to be a monastery, you can find one at domussessoriana.com. The price was very reasonable.
If you are by yourself and have only a small piece of luggage, I would keep it in the seat with you when you ride in a taxi, rather than putting it in the trunk. Then the taxi driver cannot drive off with it after he tries to scam you.
Another taxi tip would be to take a picture of the bill as you’re handing it to the taxi driver. I was completely taken by surprise by this scam, and certainly did not expect him to reach down and switch bills on me.
I don’t remember which company we used for our food tour, but I highly recommend food tours. They are a great way to see part of the city you’re staying in, and, in my experience, the food has always been great. Many of them will accommodate food preferences or restrictions, such as allergies or a vegan/vegetarian diet. And maybe you’ll make a new friend.
A great book to inspire and inform you about solo travel is Beth Santo’s book, Wander Woman.
You can book a Colosseum tour by going to thecolosseum.org. I recommend a tour. Of course, that could just be my lack of history knowledge talking. But I wouldn’t have known what I was looking at without the tour. There are several from which to choose, some that allow you to go in the underground tunnels.
You can get tickets for the Roman Forum at www.colosseumdiroma-tickets.com. We did not do a guided tour, but guided tours are available.
The myth about finding and marrying an attractive Italian if you throw three coins in the Trevi Fountain apparently is not true. Which was a good thing in my case. I’m just hoping throwing three coins tripled my chances of returning to Italy.
For a delicious authentic Italian meal, friendly people, and great atmosphere, check out Ristorante Der Pallaro.
I saw my first National Geographic Traveler magazine in a doctor’s office waiting room. There was an article about a guided biking trip and it caught my interest. But let’s be honest-just about every story about travel catches my interest. Years later, I came across a company, Duvine, that offered guided bike trips all over the world. I had always wanted to go to Italy, and the bike trips in Italy looked amazing. My friend, Amy, and I signed up for the trip, and then COVID hit and the trip was put on hold. A couple of years later, when travel opened up again, we made plans to go. We were going on a four day bike trip, and our families were meeting us in Italy after the trip so we could each go on a vacation with our families.
Maybe this is a good time to say that I am not an avid biker. I enjoy riding my bike, and I will ride it on the country roads and around my town or on some of the bike trails in the area, but I would not call myself a “cyclist.” I do not have a fancy, expensive bike. My bike is from Walmart. Years ago, when I was picking out my bike, I chose the smallest one, since I am under five foot. When I asked the salesperson if the seat would lower, he said, “no, but she will grow.” I didn’t tell him the bike was for me. I picked a purple bike, because, well, I like purple. This bike has served me well for several years. However, I did not realize that it might be a source of embarrassment to others. One time, when my son was in his snotty teenage years, I came in from riding my bike around town and told him I saw one of his friends. I said I had waved at him, but I didn’t think he had recognized me. Ryan said, “Good.” I said, “Ryan! Are you embarrassed by me?” He said, “Mom. You’re riding around town on a little purple bike.”
We traveled to Italy the summer of 2022. Our bike trip was called Tuscany 4-Day Bike Tour. Amy and I flew into Rome and took the train to Chiusi. We had booked a hotel in Chiusi near the train station, which was where we were supposed to meet our group from Duvine the next day. We got on the train, rode for a while, and then discovered that we were on the wrong train. We got off the train in a little town where no one at the train station spoke English. We were finally able to communicate that we wanted to go to Chiusi, and they indicated that we needed to be on the train going the opposite direction. We got on the train, hoping we had made ourselves clear enough to be on the correct train. We did manage to get on the correct train and successfully made it to Chiusi.
When we arrived, the door to the hotel was locked. There was a phone number to call so that someone could come and let us in. We called the number, and in a little while, a man came over and checked us in. We had booked a room with two beds. When we arrived at our room, the room only had one bed. We went back down to the lobby and called the number again. Apparently, this man worked at both the hotel and the restaurant behind the hotel, so he was running back and forth between the two. The man came back over. He told us we had, in fact, booked a room with two beds, and he gave us a different room. This room had a regular small bed and a rollaway bed, but at least there were two separate beds. I went into the bathroom in our hotel room and shut the door. When I tried to open the door, it was stuck. I tried a little harder, but the door would not open. I continued to try to open the door, but no luck. Amy started trying to open the door from the other side. Still no luck. I decided to go Chuck Norris on the situation. I started kicking the door and hitting the door with my shoulder. I mean, I did it tough guy style-standing back and punching the door with my foot with all of my strength. The door did not open. It was starting to get hot. There was no window in the bathroom and our room did not have air conditioning. I was a little concerned, but Amy was panicking. She went down to the lobby and called the poor man over from the restaurant for the third time. He did not speak English very well, and our Italian was even worse, but she finally convinced him to come to the room. She managed to make him understand that the door was stuck and I was on the other side of the door. It probably helped that I was yelling “I’m in here!” while banging on the door in the bathroom. He called a maintenance man to come to our room. He took the doorknob off the door, and I was able to escape from the bathroom. He held up the doorknob, looked at us, and said “it is broken.” I was not trying to be ungrateful, but I may have rolled my eyes. Mr. Obvious took the doorknob and the two men left the room. We could not completely shut the door the rest of our stay, but that was really ok with me. I’m not sure I would have been brave enough to shut the door even if it had a doorknob.
The next morning, we were met at the train station by the Duvine staff. We were taken to the village of Montofollonico to have lunch and to get our bikes. Let me just say, Duvine is not a company that expects you to “rough it.” I’m talking about five course meals and fancy hotels. Amy and I quickly realized that this particular group of people on this tour would probably not be on a trip that required them to “rough it.” During the week, we often heard conversations about high finance, personal chefs, health retreats. That is not our world. We had nothing to add to those conversations. We just took pictures of the scenery.
Every meal was delicious, but they had some weird stuff on the menu. As mentioned in previous blogs, I am not an adventurous eater. When they placed the food in front of us, the first thing Amy did was look at me to see my reaction. Amy, who is a very adventurous eater, often had to tell me what the food was and assure me it was edible. But I did try most things, so I was very proud of myself.
Every accommodation was luxurious. However, they seemed to have difficulty understanding that Amy and I were not a couple. At the first hotel, Villa Svetoni, we were listed as Mr. and Mrs. John Hall. At the second hotel, II Falconiere Relais, the two beds were separated by about two inches. If you look really closely at this picture, you can see the tiny split between the beds. We called them our “Bert and Ernie beds.”
II Falconiere Relais was like a castle. It had a beautiful pool and amazing scenery. The doors to the rooms were big and wooden, and we had an antique looking key on a big ring that we used to get into our room.
On the second day of cycling, we stopped at “Barbara’s Farmhouse,” where we learned to make pasta and had a delicious lunch. Our lunch included fresh vegetables from the farmhouse’s own gardens, as well as the pasta we had made. The ladies who taught us to make pasta were mother and daughter. They were so nice and made us feel right at home.
Amy was an experienced pasta maker, so she made it look easy.
My experience with making pasta consists of pouring a box of breakable noodles into a pot of boiling water. My pasta making efforts required much more concentration.
That evening, we went into the town of Cortona, where we wandered around the town, had some gelato, did some shopping, and looked at the beautiful views.
The scenery every day was gorgeous. On the third day, we biked around Lake Trasimeno.
We stopped and had a tasting lunch at a beautiful winery.
That evening, our final dinner was at the Michelin starred restaurant at our hotel, II Falconiere Relais. The servers placed the plates with covers in front of us, and then they all lifted the covers at the same time. Fancy!
The biking itself was fun, and sometimes challenging. Most of the people in our group had opted for the electric bikes. I did not, so I was often at the back of the group. Some of the people who had started out on regular bikes switched to electric bikes after the first day. I was determined to do this trip on a regular bike. Amy switched to an electric bike, but being a good friend, she continued to ride at the back of the group with me. On the last biking day of the trip, we had to go up a mountain. As we were getting ready to go, one of our guides asked me if I would like to ride in the van. I was somewhat confused and asked her why. She said because we were going up a mountain and it might be hard for me. She was trying to be helpful, but I have to admit, I bristled a little. Apparently, she did not know me very well. I told her “NO” and got on my bike. Honestly, the mountain was not as challenging as some of the other days because it was a switchback road, making it less steep than some of the hills we had biked. We reached the town, and Amy and I were waiting at a stoplight to cross the road. One of the members of our group came riding up. He said to me, “You made it! I’m impressed. I was one of the ones who voted that you would not make it.” The group took a vote? Who were these people? I just stood there looking at him. As he rode off, I looked at Amy and said, “I think I’m offended.” She replied, “I think you should be.”
Amy and I had not formed any close relationships with any of the members of the group during our trip, which was fine, but I was not having positive feelings after the voting episode. Let’s just say, there was no hugging or tearful goodbyes with the other members of the group as we parted ways at the end of the trip. However, I was tempted to take a poll to see which way each of them had voted. At the end of the trip, when Duvine took us to the train station, Amy and I took different trains to meet our families. She was meeting hers in Cinque Terre, and I was meeting mine in Rome.
Be sure to read next week’s blog about my family’s Italy vacation.
Tips:
If you want a luxurious cycling experience, Duvine offers trips all over the world. You can find them at http://www.duvine.com
You may want to consider closing the door from the outside of an unfamiliar bathroom first to make sure it opens again. That way, you’re not trapped inside when the doorknob malfunctions.
If everyone but you in a group is using an electric bike, you will be the last to arrive. Everywhere.
Don’t let it bother you if you are the last in a group. Take your time, enjoy the scenery, and be proud that you are doing the trip your way.
Pouring a box of breakable noodles into a pot of boiling water is not considered making pasta.
It’s ok to be offended if a group of people you barely know takes a vote about your ability to make it up a mountain on a regular bike, while they’re sitting on their electric bikes.
It was 2021. I decided we should take a family backpacking vacation. We had done plenty of hiking, but we had never done a multi-night backpacking trip. I wanted to backpack part of the Pacific Crest Trail. After all, I had seen the movie “Wild” and Reese Witherspoon was able to do it by herself, so surely we could do it. For Christmas, 2020, everyone received backpacking backpacks, backpacking tents, lightweight sleeping pads and sleeping bags, and water bladders/filters. We were all set. Did I mention it was 2021? There was a drought and record-breaking wildfires in Oregon in 2021. So of course, that is where I chose to go backpacking.
Our group consisted of me, my husband-Greg, my daughter-Sarah, my son-Ryan, and my son’s fiancée-Kelly. Also included were our dog, Josie, and Kelly’s dog, Stella. We opted to drive to Oregon, because we wanted to go home by way of California so we could stop in and visit with our daughter, Ally, who was not able to go on our vacation because of work. It would take us several days to make the drive. I had also booked an Airbnb in Portland for a few days after the backpacking adventure.
My husband and I had different thoughts about what traveling on this trip would look like. In my mind, I had pictured five backpacks thrown in the back of the car, a couple of coolers, and we were good. In reality, this is what we looked like.
My husband built a camping box, put it on a trailer, and we hauled it across the country. He calls it the Chuckwagon. He also built a smaller one for my son, so he and Kelly hauled one on the back of their car as well. This is us, stopped at a gas station parking lot, cooking tacos out of the back of our car. Definitely a Beverly Hillbilly sort of vibe to this trip.
I booked campgrounds along the way for each night. The first night I scheduled a campsite at a hipcamp. Hipcamp offers unique camping experiences by private landowners who rent out their land to campers. We were scheduled to stay at Uncle B’s hipcamp in Monroe, South Dakota. I had never stayed at a hipcamp before and I didn’t know what to expect. My family was a little apprehensive about the name. Uncle B? Does that sound a little creepy? I told them we were either going to have a great experience or we would be murdered in our sleep. Either way, it was going to be an adventure.
We ended up loving Uncle B’s hipcamp, and Uncle B was really nice as well. His hipcamp was a small farm. He had a very large vegetable garden, and a variety of small animals, including a litter of new puppies.
He brought us eggs every morning, and he brought us supplies to make s’mores every evening. He personally met and had conversations with all of the campers. He invited us to go into the barn to see the puppies.
The bathroom/shower facilities were very clean and nice. And we were not murdered in our sleep.
We continued to make our way to Oregon. We stopped at Wall Drugs in South Dakota, and we detoured slightly so we could stop at Mount Rushmore for a little while.
We stayed at a KOA in Sheridan, Wyoming the next night, we stayed in a campground in the Tetons the following night, and we camped at Crescent Lake in Deschutes National Forest in Oregon the next night. We were supposed to stay one night at Crescent Lake campground, and then set out on the trail. My family pleaded to stay an extra night at Crescent Lake to rest and relax before we started backpacking. I booked an additional night, and we rested from our long drive.
We sat around a campfire, explored the area, and went for a swim in the lake. Well, we sort of went for a swim. The water was extremely cold, so we didn’t stay in for long. Crescent Lake is a deep lake that is was formed by retreating glaciers, located in the Cascade Mountains at higher altitude, and it has limited direct sunlight due to its location in the mountain range. So it is very cold. We thought our dogs might enjoy a swim. Our furry dog, Josie, seemed to like it ok. Kelly’s dog, Stella, was not a fan. Here is a picture of Kelly-posing prettily for the picture, Ryan-looking lovingly at Kelly, and Stella-thinking this was the worst day of her life.
By the way, we were not the ones who made the cheesy heart. It was already there.
The next day we started out on the trail. Ryan woke up really grumpy that morning. He said he did not think we should be doing this since we did not know what we were doing. He’s had enough experience on our trips to have reason to be concerned. But he should have also known that not knowing what we were doing does not stop us from doing it. By the time we reached the trailhead, I think he had resigned himself to making the best of another family vacation experience.
We filled up our water bladders and our water bottles at the trailhead, and we were excited to try out our new water filter along the trail. Did I mention the area was currently having a drought? We hiked for several hours, and we began to consider finding a water source. We had an app that was supposed to show where we could find water. None of the places on the app actually had water. It looked like there had been water there at one time, but it was currently completely dried up. We finally found one place with a little water, but it was covered in mosquitos and looked really gross. We were also getting covered in mosquitos. We eventually came upon what looked like a dried up pond or lake bed. This was a very bad sign for water, but we found if we stood in the middle of the lake bed, the mosquitos did not bother us as much. We decided to camp there for the night.
We still had not found water, so we passed on trying to cook our dehydrated food, and we chose to just eat our snacks for dinner. We put all of the extra food in a few bags and Greg and Ryan hung them in a tree to protect them from the bears.
I guess they did it right. We were not eaten by bears that night. I actually have significant concerns regarding bears when hiking, especially in grizzly bear areas. And we were not exactly experienced backpackers. I once watched a program about dealing with bears on the trail. They taught that your response to the bear depends on whether the bear is being predatory or defensive. I’m not sure I would be able to determine this logically when I am facing a bear. I suppose I could just ask the bear, but then I feel like he would eat me just for asking stupid questions.
We set up our tents, ate our snacks, and tried to get some sleep. Something big inspected our tents during the night. We all heard it, but none of us was brave enough to open the tent to see what it was. In our minds, it was a bear or an elk. In reality, it was probably a raccoon or, at most, a deer.
The next morning, we got up and ate a few more of our snacks. We were a little apprehensive about going further on the trail since we had very little water left and we had no idea if we would be able to find more. We decided to go back to the trailhead where we started, fill up on water, and then decide where we would hike next. As we were hiking, Kelly said, “I would like to see the ocean.” It took us about five seconds to decide to abandon our hiking plans and go to the coast instead. I found a nice hotel in Newport, Oregon.
We arrived at the hotel, very dusty and dirty from our previous adventures, but they were very nice and assured us they were used to dirty travelers. We checked into our rooms, took showers, even bathing the dogs. We went out for a nice dinner, walked on Nye beach, and thoroughly enjoyed our time in Newport. Our hotel was right on Nye beach and the next morning I went for a run on the beach. It was beautiful.
If we had known about Newport when we were planning this trip, we would have planned to stay there longer.
We left the next day to go to Portland. We spent a few days in Portland, walking around the city, eating street food, and going to Powell’s bookstore. Powell’s bookstore is the largest independent chain of bookstores in the world. They actually give you a map when you arrive so you can find your way around the store. For anyone who is reading this and knows me, you would know that being surrounded by that many books was wonderful. Having to navigate a map was not.
After our time in Portland, we went to Sacramento to visit with Ally for a couple of days, and then made the long drive home. We have a rule in our family. Whoever is driving gets to pick the music. Sarah drove most of this trip, so this was my experience in the passenger seat. I love watching Sarah enjoy her music. Watch the video and see why.
Tips:
If you have never been backpacking before, your first trip should not be in an area that is experiencing drought and wildfires.
Actually, now that I think about it, you should not backpack in an area that is experiencing drought and wildfires even if you are an experienced backpacker.
Since I now know how little I do know about backpacking, I have joined the Backpacking Badass program. It is a program that helps you learn backpacking skills so that you can be safe and confident on the trail. I am currently working through the modules of the program and have learned a lot. If you are interested in checking it out, go to www.shedreamsofalpine.com.
I highly recommend visiting Newport, Oregon. We stayed at the Elizabeth hotel, which is very nice, but there are an abundance of hotels on the beach and in the town from which to choose. The town is walkable and peaceful, and was a great way to unwind after a backpacking adventure.
I always thought mosquitos were thicker in wet areas. Apparently, the Oregon mosquitos like dry conditions very much. We had the bites, in all sorts of places, to prove that fact.
For a really nice hipcamp, check out Uncle B’s hipcamp in South Dakota. We would like to return some day and stay there as a base while we do day hikes. The hipcamp website is www.hipcamp.com.
If you do choose to stay at a hipcamp, be sure to check on the facilities before you book. The different hipcamps vary quite a bit on the amenities they offer, so you want to make sure you know what you are getting before you book.
Ally has since informed us that it was a very bad idea to camp on a lake bed. She also informed us that hiking on a closed trail is a very bad idea (see previous post). Perhaps I should listen to my oldest daughter more often.
We often think of adventure as something that happens when we travel far from home. But adventure can happen right in our back yard. We live a few miles from the Shawnee National Forest, so we have access to many hiking trails, parks, and even a zipline. There are many beautiful areas and views, including forests, bluffs, and wetlands. Wildlife includes bald eagles, red tailed hawks, and bobcats. The River to River Trail is a 160 mile trail that runs through Shawnee National Forest, from the Ohio River to the Mississippi River.
I have been working on hiking the entire trail. I am hiking it in sections, since I don’t have the availability to take off weeks to do the entire trail at once.
On one of our hikes last summer, my daughter, Sarah, and I went for a day hike on the River to River Trail. We had my dog and my daughter, Ally’s, dog with us. I wanted to start where I had left off the last time I hiked on the trail. We arrived at the trailhead at Iron Furnace. There was a gate across the entrance to the trail with a Do Not Enter sign on it. But this is where I wanted to start! I convinced Sarah that the sign was meant for cars, not for hikers. She was not totally convinced, but being the good sport that she is, she reluctantly agreed to hike the trail with me.
That may have been a mistake.
For the record, this sign means you can hike on the trail. This is NOT the sign that was on the gate at the beginning of the this trail.
If there is a sign that looks something like this, you should probably stay off the trail.
We started out on the trail, and everything seemed fine. It was a beautiful day. This was the year that two broods of cicadas emerged at the same time, so the sound of their buzzing/clicking was very loud. We saw flowers blooming, butterflies flying, and turtles crawling.
What we did not see were other people on the trail. That should have been a clue, but….
After a little while on the trail, we started questioning our decision about being on this trail. It was rather overgrown, and it didn’t seem like it had been hiked in a while. It was a warm day. We stopped to rest near some bushes, so that the dogs could get a drink and sit in the shade for a few minutes. When I looked down at my dog, I noticed a tick on her nose. I bent down to remove the tick and noticed several more on her. She is very furry, so it was difficult to find all of the ticks. When I looked at Sarah, there were ticks crawling all over her-on her arms, legs and back! She started frantically brushing them off of me too. There was a lot of jumping around and screaming at that point. I am not exaggerating when I say we brushed off over a hundred ticks from ourselves and the dogs. They were everywhere. When you think about how these ticks were trying to get on us to suck our blood, it becomes a horror movie.
We quickly got back on the trail and left that tick infested area. Maybe we should have turned around, but we (by “we” I mean “I”) were determined to finish the hike.
Continuing with the horror movie theme, as we continued, we heard a sound that we could not identify. It was kind of a screeching sound. We all stopped and alerted-me, Sarah, and both of the dogs. We heard the sound again. We all took off at a run, with the dogs in the lead. We quickly came upon a stream that was across the trail. It was not that deep, so we waded through it without too much thought. We were very motivated to get further down the trail and away from whatever was making the unidentifiable sound. A little further on was a much larger body of water that was across the trail. This one was much deeper and actually had a small current. We found an area with some rocks we could step on, but we ended up getting water in our boots and soaking the bottoms of our pants. The dogs were wet too. We weren’t as upset about this as you would think. We were hoping the water would take care of some of the ticks. Turns out, ticks don’t drown. We reached the other side, and we stood there looking for the trail. Sarah looked at me and said, “You have a huge cicada chilling on your shirt.” Now, normally, I would calmly look down and remove the cicada from my shirt. But that day, my skin was still crawling from the ticks and I was pumped full of adrenaline from the screeching sound. I did not stay calm. I began screaming and flailing to get the cicada off of me.
We finally found where the trail continued. It was downstream, meaning we would have to wade through pretty deep water to reach it. We decided that we would improvise. We found some exposed tree roots. I climbed up the roots, Sarah handed each dog up to me, and then she climbed the roots. We wandered around until we found the trail and we continued on. We reached our destination, which was Basset Road, where my husband was waiting to pick us up. We were about an hour later than expected, but with all of the obstacles, I think we made good time.
As soon as we arrived home, we bathed both of the dogs and then took showers. But we continued to pick off ticks off the dogs for a few days. My daughter, Ally, was traumatized. Every time she found a tick on her dog, she came running in for me to pick it off. I told her it was a good thing she was not able to join us on the hike. She replied, “If I had been with you, we would not have been on that trail.” I think the implication there is that she has more common sense. Whether or not that is true, I did get in about another six miles in on the River to River Trail. I guess it depends on priorities.
Tips:
If there is a Do Not Enter sign on a gate across a trail, you should probably pick another trail.
Primitive camping is free and is allowed any time of the year. You need to set up primitive camp a quarter mile outside campgrounds and picnic areas.
The trail also runs near some campgrounds, so you can choose to camp in a campground rather than primitive camping in some areas.
I have read that ticks do not have nests. Rather, they lay their eggs in clumps, which is sometimes referred to as a nest. We must have come upon a bunch of ticks having an egg laying party.
Another resource for information about Shawnee National Forest is shawn@hikingwithshawn.com. This is a very useful newsletter that gives information about the River to River Trail, as well as information about other places to hike in the area.
It was the last day of our ascent. We would hike to the summit this night, which was the highlight of the trip. We hiked to Barafu Camp. There were hundreds of hikers camping at Barafu Camp. This was base camp for the summit.
However, we had a permit to camp at High Camp. This was a good thing, because although it meant we had a little bit longer to hike that day, we would be scrambling up some pretty steep rocks in the daylight rather than in the dark that night. High Camp was at 3950 meters in elevation, which is 12,959 feet. The summit, Uhuru Peak, is 5895 meters in elevation, which is 19,340 feet.
It was very windy and cold at High Camp. We rested that afternoon, and we tried to get some sleep before we had to wake up at 11:00 pm to be ready to hike at 12:00 midnight. Because of the wind and the cold temperatures, we were all wearing multiple layers of clothing. I personally had on four layers, including a heated coat. We started out on our hike at midnight. I wish I could say that I hiked to the summit as the sun was rising over the mountain. That was the experience for many of the women in our group. But that is not my story.
I was keeping up just fine for the first part of the hike. However, after a while, the altitude started to really affect me and I was starting to feel weak. I tried to choke down some snacks and drink some water, hoping it would help. We resumed the hike. I started hiking slower than many of the others in the group, but I was still going. However, as we continued, I remember having trouble making my legs move. I was literally telling my legs to move, but they were not cooperating. When I would have to take a step up, it took several tries to actually get my foot to raise up to the next level. I have never had to tell my legs to move! I worried that the high winds were going to blow me off the side of the mountain.
We were all wearing our headlamps. Now, my family will tell you, I don’t do well with headlamps. I can’t seem to figure out how to use them appropriately. I regularly blind others with my headlamp. I can’t quite seem to position the lamp so that I can look at other people without causing them pain. As we were hiking, someone patted me on my back. I turned around to see who it was and the person put her hand up in front of her face. Now, anyone else would have immediately realized that they were blinding her with their headlamp. I gave her a high five. It seemed to be the right thing to do at the time. But remember, I was kind of out of my head.
I began to lose awareness/memory of periods of time. My daughter, Ally, was with me, so she filled me in on what exactly happened that night. At one point, she said she asked me how I was doing. I replied, “I’m so cold, I can’t feel my arms or legs, and I’m having trouble breathing.” Then I turned around and continued the hike. Ally repeatedly tried to convince me to stop and go back to camp, but I was determined to make it to the top. By this time, we were behind the rest of the group, and a couple of the guides had joined us. One of the guides kept giving me hot water to drink, which would not be appealing at other times, but it really hit the spot that night. Ally told me later that one of the guides asked if I was all right. Ally said, “No, she needs to go back to camp, but she’s being really stubborn.” The guide said, “I would use the word determined.” Ally disagreed.
I didn’t know it, but the guide went ahead to get one of our WHOA leaders, Isabel. I remember seeing her standing above us. I thought she came down to me, but Ally later told me that I walked up to her. Ally said it took me about 15 minutes to go a very short distance. Ugh. I can just imagine what I looked like-shuffling along, feet barely moving, looking like I was going to collapse any minute. I had tried so hard to be a badass this whole trip, and now I was walking like I was about 100 years old. So much for my badass image. I was told that when I reached Isabel, she had to call my name several times before I responded. When she finally got my attention, she said, “Jill, this is your summit.” That I remember. I knew then that I was done. She gave me a hug, and she told me to give Ally a hug. Apparently, according to Ally, I hugged her and gave her my eulogy. I have no recollection of this. But, when the time comes, she will already have my eulogy prepared, so you’re welcome, Ally. Then two ladies, a guide and a porter, each took one of my arms and one of my hiking poles. I couldn’t really stand on my own, but that’s ok. My feet weren’t touching the ground anyway. Ally told me that Isabel said, “She’ll be fine. They will take good care of her,” and I disappeared down the side of the mountain. Then my badass daughter and badass Isabel ran up the mountain to catch up with the rest of the group, while I, the meerkat, was whisked down the mountain. That was a wild ride. At first, I was not really aware of much, but as we went down in altitude, I started to become more aware of my surroundings. It may have been better if I had stayed unaware. We were going very fast, and several times I was sure we were headed right off the side of the mountain. I have no idea how long it took us to get back to base camp. But when we got there, the ladies helped me take off my boots and my outer layer of clothing, and then told me to go to bed.
I slept for a couple of hours, and then got up to welcome all of the ladies coming down from the summit.
Everyone rested a while, then we started our descent. The descent took two days. When we arrived at the end point the second day, we were given a choice of either a beer or a soda. A bottle of soda has never tasted so good! We celebrated with pizza and souvenir shopping and then headed to the hotel, where we took our first showers in a week!
To say I was a little disappointed that I did not summit would be a huge understatement. I went on this trip determined to reach the summit, and that did not happen. But what I have realized is that I didn’t have to summit for this trip to be one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. I left my little Midwest town and flew to Africa to hike the highest mountain I have attempted to hike so far in my life. I didn’t know what to expect, and I almost made it to the summit. I was able to have this awesome experience with my daughters.
I met some amazing people, and everyday was absolutely a wonderful experience. I now know that I did not have to summit to be a badass. Congratulations to all of the women who summited, but, in fact, every woman on this trip is a badass. Even if they did not make it to base camp because of medical reasons. Even if they chose not to start out on the hike on summit night, or if they started and quickly realized that this was not for them and they turned around and went back to base camp. Even if I had to be whisked down the mountain because I was out of my head and could no longer move my legs. We are all brave, strong, adventurous badass women.
By the way, I have been doing a little research on meerkats. They are more badass than one would think. They can run at 30 mph. They are fiercely protective of their families. They eat scorpions and are immune to venom. While I think I will pass on the scorpions, maybe having a meerkat as my soul animal is not as wimpy as I thought.
Top Tips for Kilimanjaro, Summit
It is REALLY cold at the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Bring lots of layers.
If you have to talk to your legs, telling them to move, you might be having a bad reaction to the altitude. If you lose chunks of time, you might be having a bad reaction to the altitude. If you give your eulogy when you are told to give your daughter a hug, you may be having a bad reaction to the altitude.
Giving your eulogy to your daughter before you are taken down the mountain may be traumatizing to her at the moment, but it will save her some time later in life.
Wearing a headlamp without blinding others appears to be an acquired skill that not everyone has mastered.
If you are blinding someone with your headlamp and you give them a high five, your daughters will make fun of you for years to come.
Hiking Mount Kilimanjaro makes you a badass, even if you don’t summit.
Turns out, meerkats are actually sort of badass.
I mentioned them in my first Kilimanjaro story, but for an amazing adventure, check out www.whoatravel.com. They offer adventures all over the world, including some in the US.
On our second day of hiking, we hiked from Machame Camp to Shira Camp. We hiked out of the rainforest and into a drier, cooler climate. The hike on this day was shorter, but very steep. The views were beautiful, and they just continued to get better as we hiked throughout the week. There was a gap in some rocks that we had to cross. There was no way my short legs were going to reach across that gap. No problem. The guide grabbed my backpack and tossed me right over the gap. I was pretty surprised to find myself on the other side of that gap!
As mentioned in my previous story, WHOA partners with a guide company, Tanzania Journeys. We had several guides who hiked with us. They made sure everyone stayed safe throughout the hike. They were awesome. If they saw anyone struggling even a little bit, they were right there to help however they could, such as carrying a pack, lending an arm to hold to keep from falling, making sure we were drinking enough water and eating enough snacks. The porters were amazing as well. They carried all of our duffels. We only had to carry a daypack while hiking. They carried all of the tents and all of the water and food for the meals. They cooked the food, set up all of the tents, and filled our water bladders and water bottles each day. These porters would pass us on the trail, carrying about 50 pounds on their shoulders or heads, saying “pole pole” which means “slowly,” reminding us to go slowly so that we could acclimate to the elevation without tiring too quickly, while they sprinted up the mountain. When we arrived at the camp each evening, the tents were set up, with a sleeping pad and our duffels in each of our tents.
By this time, I was not reacting very well to the increasing altitude. I was not getting headaches or having any difficulty breathing, but the nausea was getting pretty intense. I was constantly nauseous and could barely stand the thought of eating food. Even drinking water was hard. Everyone said the food was really good. I just took their word for it, because I was able to eat very little of it. They always had ginger tea, which I heard was supposed to help with nausea, so I tried to choke some of that down at every meal. I don’t even like ginger, so I was really trying. I had lots of snacks, most of which I couldn’t eat, but the rest of the ladies seemed to enjoy them. Just in case you are thinking that I am just trying to get sympathy, this information about the altitude sickness is important for next week’s story.
It was always good to see all of those yellow tents because we knew that the hike was done for the day and we would get to rest. The porters also set up toilet tents. These were little portable toilets in little tents. The toilets actually flushed. As I was preparing for the trip, I was trying to be OK with always having to find a big rock or a bush when I needed to go to the bathroom. If you want to see my best impersonation of a meerkat, just approach while I am squatting behind a rock. My head will pop up and I will quickly be on full alert.
We did usually have to find a rock or a bush while we were hiking, but I was really glad when I realized we had toilet tents at the camp. The only problem with the toilet tents was that, on most days, it was really windy. Not trying to give too much information, but it was a little unsettling to be sitting on the toilet and have a side of the tent blow down on my head. There was also the concern that I would be sitting on the toilet when the tent stakes failed and the tent blew away. But still, the toilet tents were much better than squatting behind a rock.
The next day we hiked from Shira camp to Barranco Camp. It was getting colder. We stopped at Lava Tower and the porters had lunch set out for us.
We stopped to hug an unusual looking tree. I don’t really make a habit of hugging trees, but I didn’t want to be the only non-tree hugger in the group. After the hugging session, we were told by one of the guides that hugging the tree actually harms the tree. The one time I participate in a tree hugging activity, and I find out I hurt the tree. Great.
The next day turned out to be one of my favorite days. We climbed the rocks on Barranco Wall. I thought it was so much fun! Several of the other ladies in our group did not agree. The guides made sure we didn’t fall off the side of the mountain, which was much appreciated.
On all of the other days, when the porters were behind us, we were expected to step aside and let them pass. But on this day, there was no room to let them pass. I guess one of the porters became impatient because he was crawling UP THE SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN! Like Spiderman! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. If I could pick whatever Superhero I wanted to be, it wouldn’t be someone like Superman or Wonder Woman. It would be a Mount Kilimanjaro porter!
Next time…The Conclusion of the Mount Kilimanjaro hike!
Top Tips for Mount Kilimanjaro, Part 2:
Don’t worry if you can’t make it over a gap in the trail. The guides will just toss you across.
Hang on to the sides of the toilet tents when it’s really windy. It will help prevent them from falling in on you, and you will have a grip on the tent in case the stakes fail.
Don’t hug the trees on Mount Kilimanjaro. Even if everyone else is doing it. You might not be able to live with the guilt that you hurt the trees.
The name of the unusual trees is Senecio (Dendrosenecio kilimanjari).
Kilimanjaro porters have super powers.
Climbing the rocks on Barranco Wall makes you feel like a badass, even if you are a meerkat.
I really want to be a badass. But I am not what you think of when you hear the word “badass.” I am a petite woman who tends to worry a lot and startle easily. I took a test once to find out what my soul animal would be. I was hoping for an eagle or a lion. Nope. A meerkat. And all of my adult children said, “I can see that.” A meerkat? There is NOTHING badass about a meerkat!
I saw a post about a group called WHOA. WHOA is a women owned group that leads adventure travel for women. The post was about a trip to hike Mount Kilimanjaro. What could be more badass than that? I was retiring from my job of 35 years, so it seemed like a great time to go. I asked my two adult daughters, Ally and Sarah, if they wanted to go with me, and they both said yes!
I have to admit. I was definitely in meerkat mode preparing for this trip. I hike a lot, but I had never hiked anything like Mount Kilimanjaro before. WHOA provides very thorough instructions about things you need to do to prepare for the trip, including a very detailed packing list. I STRESSED over this list-I was determined to get it right. I read every word multiple times, researched, and did a lot of shopping. I spent at least a couple of weeks talking about and worrying about gloves. I started yet another conversation about the gloves, and the look on Ally’s face made it clear that I had reached her limit and I would be wise to not say another word about the gloves.
We left for the trip on July 13, 2024. I don’t know about the girls, but I was very excited about spending this time with them.
After a long flight from Chicago to Ethiopia, we had a few hours layover and then a short flight to Kilimanjaro airport. I was feeling nauseous as we boarded the plane in Ethiopia, and by the time we were on the plane, I was getting light headed and knew I was about to pass out. What was happening? I’m not a fainter! Maybe it was all of the stress about the gloves. I had a daughter on either side of me, fanning me with the life vest/oxygen mask instructions. Not exactly badass. This was not starting out well.
We arrived at the Kilimanjaro airport and we were met by one of the WHOA leaders. She was so friendly and welcoming. We went to our hotel, where we would meet the rest of the group, acclimate, and then leave for the hike in a couple of days. We started meeting the rest of the women in the group. So many strong, confident women. I was very intimidated.
First day of the hike: We arrived at Kilimanjaro National Park. We had lunch before we started out on the hike. There were monkeys that kept trying to steal everyone’s food. When a monkey jumped down close to me and stole Sarah’s apple off the table, I screamed. Not quite the badass image I wanted to present to this group of women. The women who cleaned the park were more badass than me. Part of their jobs appeared to be to chase away the monkeys. They didn’t scream or act scared of the monkeys. Of course, they were armed with brooms. Maybe I would not have screamed if I had been carrying a broom.
We started the hike. After a while, I noticed that Sarah had dropped behind the group. I was worried that she would not enjoy this trip, and I was worried that she was behind the rest of the group. She had already asked me what would happen if she decided she did not want to finish the hike.
I was concerned that she was by herself. I was reassured by the WHOA leader that a guide was with her, but I was not able to turn off the mom thing. We continued to hike. At the next stop the WHOA leader asked me how I was doing. I began to cry. Ugh. I was so embarrassed. I turned away and pulled myself together after a few minutes.
We arrived at our camp for the night. Rather than going to our tent to rest, I stayed at the end point and waited for Sarah to arrive. She arrived about an hour later, after dark, singing and laughing with some guides and a WHOA leader. She continued to hike at her own pace, in her own time, for the rest of the trip. Some of the other women in the group who either couldn’t, or didn’t want to, keep up the faster pace joined her after that first day. They formed their own little group and had a great time. I think I’m beginning to see who the real badass is.
Stay tuned next time for more on Kilimanjaro.
Below is a picture of our fearless, amazing, badass WHOA leaders.
Top Tips for Mt. Kilimanjaro, part 1
WHOA is an amazing organization. If you want to check out their adventures, you can find them at http://www.whoatravel.com
WHOA partners with a guide service called Tanzania Journeys. They were awesome, and more will be said about them in future blogs.
If your soul animal is a meerkat, you may not be considered a badass.
There is a limit to how many times you can ask your daughters about gloves.
The life vest/oxygen mask instructions make pretty good fans when you’re about to pass out on the plane.
You might consider arming yourself with a broom if you want to eat at the trailhead in Kilimanjaro National Park. And hang onto your food.
Our trip to Paris was almost over. We were going to go back to London to spend a couple of days before heading back to the US.
We took the Chunnel back to London. Because of our previous experience on the train, we were understandably a little nervous, but the trip went smoothly this time. We arrived in London, went to our hotel, and settled in. We had tickets for the theatre that night. We were going to see Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theater. If you say that with a British accent, it sounds more impressive. We got ready early and went to the Piccadilly Circus area to get something to eat before the show. We ate at McDonalds. We’re in a new country and we eat at McDonalds? My kids like to try the McDonalds in every country we visit, but I don’t see the appeal. We ate our McDonalds. I was not impressed. We went to the show and it was wonderful!
The next day, our flight was in the late afternoon, so we decided to get in some sight seeing before we left. We got up early and went down to the hotel dining room to have the complimentary breakfast provided by the hotel. Now, I will readily admit that I am not a foodie. I rarely investigate the food when I am planning a vacation. The food is not my focus. However, perhaps I should have done a bit of research for this trip. I was not expecting the food that was on the breakfast buffet. A traditional English breakfast typically includes eggs, bacon, sausage, fried mushrooms, fried bread or buttered toast, and grilled tomatoes. Even though I don’t eat several of those things, they all seemed fairly innocuous. But baked beans is also a part of a typical English breakfast. Baked beans? For breakfast?! There was something called “black pudding.” This is a sausage made of blood and a filler like oatmeal. THAT was not going on my plate. Kippers were also available on the buffet. Kippers are fish. You could smell them and know they were there. This was not something I was willing to try. I hope I’m not offending anyone from England that may be reading this story, but that is a weird breakfast. I’ll stick with the pastries in Paris. And ice cream. Ice cream is always good.
We decided to do the hop on/hop off red bus tour. It was a great idea, if we had all day, which we did not. We saw Big Ben and the Tower of London. We got to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, which was really impressive. When it was over, we realized that we were running later than we had planned. We got back on the bus to get to the metro so we could get back to the hotel. By the time we arrived at our hotel, we were running way behind schedule. We ran into the hotel to get our luggage, frantically asking the people at the front desk to call to request two taxis to get us to the airport. The taxis arrived, we loaded up, and we were on the road to the airport. I was nervous, but it looked like we were going to make it. Then, the taxi in front of us, which was carrying my mom and my aunt, pulled off the road and up to an ATM machine. My mom and my aunt got out of the taxi and went to the ATM machine. What was happening?! We barely had time to get to the airport! Did they not notice the frantic rushing and nail biting that had just occurred? We were leaving the country! Why did they need cash?! We were running late!
GET. BACK. IN. THE. TAXI.
They finally finished their transactions and got back in the taxi. We arrived at the airport, jumped out of the taxis and went into the airport. We got through security, which is no easy task at Heathrow airport. We arrived at the gate as they were boarding the plane. But we had made it. Several hours later, we arrived back in the USA. Another great vacation for all!
Final tips:
I don’t recommend eating at McDonalds in London. Go find some fish and chips.
You need more than two days in London to see everything.
Going to the theater in London makes you feel very cultured.
I could not find the Queen’s Theatre online. It was a small theatre and looked older, so it may not be operating anymore. But if you are interested in booking theatre tickets in London, you can go to www.londontheatre.co.uk You can find a current list of shows and theatres, and you can book your tickets. I highly recommend seeing a show in London. It is a great experience.
It might be a good idea to research the food when you are visiting a new country.
Hop on/hop off bus tours in London are a great way to see the city. You can book your tickets on www.bigbustours.com
You need more than a couple of hours to get the most from your hop on/hop off bus tour.
Multi-generational travel has its challenges, but it is an amazing experience for everyone!
I would like to introduce the characters in my story.
First, there is my husband, Greg. He may not share my love for travel and sense of adventure, but he is tolerant, patient, and supportive, and he joins me on many of the trips.
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These are my three beautiful children, Ally, Sarah, and Ryan, who have grown into confident, adventurous adults. They have learned to survive the craziness, and they continue to join me on many of my journeys!
Thank you to my daughter’s friend, Heather, who sometimes looked at us a little strangely, but she never complained and she was a pleasure to have on this trip.
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And finally, my mom (Diane) and my Aunt Carol. They come from a long line of spunky women, and they are amazing. At the time this trip was taken, they were 66 and 71 years old. They are now 83 and 88 years old, and still going strong.
This is a continuation of Paris-Part 1, my story from last week, so if you have not read that one, you may want to stop reading this one, scroll down, read the first part, and then continue reading this one.
We were excited to begin our tourist activities in Paris. There was a little patisserie down the street from our apartment. We went there to get breakfast pastries every morning. In addition, we would each get a baguette. We would gnaw on this baguette all day rather than stop for lunch. We thought this was a really good plan until about the third day of eating baguettes all day. We also found out that the birds at Notre-Dame like baguettes. They’re a little aggressive about it.
We decided that we would use the metro to get around in Paris. Now, using the metro is pretty much the same in all cities around the world. If you know how to use a metro system in the US, you should not have any problems using the metro in a foreign country. The problem we had was that no one in our group had ever used a metro system. Anywhere. The best place to learn how to use a metro system for the first time is NOT in a foreign country. But after a few times of ending up on the wrong train, we finally figured it out. Or I should say the kids and I figured it out. Mom and Aunt Carol just trusted us. We could have taken them anywhere.
I read in my handy travel book that there was one day that offered free admission each month at the Louvre, and that day happened to be one of the days we were in Paris, so we decided to take advantage of the free admission. So did everyone else in Paris. It was exceptionally crowded-you could barely move. I was able to see the Mona Lisa, though, which was the primary reason I wanted to go to the Louvre. The painting was a lot smaller than I expected. And it’s roped off so you can’t get very close to it. Since I am under five foot in height, I kind of jumped around, trying to see it until there was an opening in the crowd. I scurried up to the rope, looked at the painting for a few minutes, and then pushed my way back out of the sea of people behind me. We stayed a couple of hours and then left.
Of course, we went to the Eiffel Tower. How can you go to Paris and not go to the Eiffel Tower? We waited in line forever, gnawing on our baguettes. The Eiffel Tower was impressive, and I was enjoying it very much. Then I noticed that my son, Ryan, was no longer with me. I looked around and could not see him anywhere. Part of my panic was the thought that he could have been taken by someone, but the other part of the panic was the thought that he may be crawling up the outside of the building like Spiderman. Now before you think that statement is a gross over-exaggeration, let me tell you a little about my son. Throughout his childhood, he has had four sets of stitches, a broken wrist that required surgery and a broken foot. We had to call poison control twice in one day. He fell out of a tree. My neighbor would call me to tell me that Ryan was up on our roof. He and his friends would chase and shoot each other with pellet guns. Until about the age of four/five years, he wanted to have a tail and he wanted to be able to fly, so he routinely jumped off high surfaces in hopes that he would soar through the air. He did not. So the Spiderman concern was not completely irrational. After about twenty minutes of panic looking for him, I found him, gave him a proper reprimand, and we finished our tour of the Eiffel Tower.
One day we went to Versailles. We took the train from Paris to Versailles. What a beautiful day! We saw gorgeous gardens and enjoyed touring the palace. We sat outside at a café and had lunch. We had ice cream. The kids rented bikes and rode around the grounds. It was a favorite day for everyone. The only hiccup was Aunt Carol throwing up in my souvenir bag on the way back. Well, it’s not a vacation until someone throws up. So we got that out of the way.
One night, my husband wanted a steak. We found a restaurant near our apartment. Our apartment was at the foot of Sacre Coeur. There is a plaza area with restaurants nearby. Our waiter was very helpful and friendly. In fact, he was a little too friendly. At one point, he came up and kissed me on the cheek. THAT has never happened to me in a restaurant before. I don’t know why he did it. He was saying something, but it was in French, so I have no idea what he was saying. But now, when I am in a group situation and the group leader says we have to say something that no one knows about us (I hate it when they do that), I can say I was kissed by a French waiter.
Later that night, my daughters, ages 18 and 16, and my daughter’s friend, age 18, wanted to go the festivities that were taking place in the plaza. They wanted to go by themselves, without adult supervision. Yikes. They finally convinced us to let them go for a little while. It stays light until pretty late in Paris in the summer. It started to get dark and I started to get worried. Now, Liam Neeson may have a particular set of skills, but so do I. My particular set of skills is called “mother’s intuition.” And my bells were ringing. My mom (the queen of “mother’s intuition”) and I set out to find the girls. We found them. They were walking away from the crowd with three boys who had invited the girls to go somewhere with them. The girls, and the boys, were not happy when I insisted that the girls come with us. I think that following my intuition allowed us to avoid a possibly very bad situation. And I didn’t have to call Liam Neeson. I’m sure he’s a very busy man.
Coming up next time: The conclusion of our Paris/London trip
More tips:
In 2008, there was a free day at the Louvre once a month. Currently, the free admission is on the first Friday of every month after 6:00 pm, except during July and August. Going during free admission will save you some money, but it might be worth paying admission to avoid the huge crowds.
If you have never used a metro system before, the best time to learn is probably not in a foreign country.
Souvenir bags from Versailles make pretty decent puke bags.
I highly recommend visiting Versailles and Loire Valley. They are well worth the trips to get there. Interesting fact about Loire Valley: The grave of Leonardo da Vinci can be found in the Amboise castle, in the Chapel of Saint Hubert.
The RER C line (yellow) will take you from Paris to Versailles for just €3.65 ($4) per person each way. Metro tickets are interchangeable with RER tickets, so you can use the same ticket from a Metro station to get on board an RER C train. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half to get to Versailles from Paris.
To get to Loire Valley by train, you will need to take the Trains de Grande Vitesse (TGV) trains. You can book train tickets on www.thetrainline.com or www.raileurope.com.
I believe moms have a God-given ability to protect their children. Follow your intuition every time.
Following your mom’s intuition will give Liam Neeson a break from fighting bad guys.
Hold on to your baguettes when visiting Notre-Dame. It is scheduled to reopen on December 8, 2024.
Jill's Journey Journals 