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Our Big Adventure

Our Big Adventure

Today was my last day off before we leave on our Big Adventure. As I said previously we will be gone for 6 weeks. We Leave next Wednesday afternoon and will arrive in Paris, France early Thursday morning. Yes Paris, can you believe it!!! I have a hard time with it a little myself sometimes. No one in my family growing up has ever been anywhere, if we went somewhere on vacation we would normally go camping in a tent in Massachusetts. Nothing glamorous believe me. So we are glamming it up big, this time.
As I was saying, Paris next Thursday, for a couple days, It will be a whirlwind. The Eifel tower, which I do not want to go up because of my fear of heights, the Louvre, the sewers of Paris, which actually sounds kind of fun, the Arc de Triomphe, a wine tasting, and a night time boat ride on the river Seine, etc. etc.. We are trying to jam in as much as we can, in the little time we are going to be there.
Then Saturday morning we take one of the high speed trains (first time for me) to Bayonne and then a bus to St. Jean Pied de Port where we start walking early Sunday morning. We start out in France and walk into Spain. The next 30 days or so, that’s what we will be doing, walking. We will be walking about 20 to 22 miles a day. Mileage is in kilometers there, I haven’t gotten all that figured out yet. I will try to blog as much as I can and post lots of pictures.
After we walk across Spain, we go to Madrid to fly back to Paris to take a train to London. Kind of complicated but that’s how it worked out. Yes, London, I know!!! In London we will spend another couple of days another whirlwind, etc. etc.. I will keep you posted. Then we are renting a car and driving around some of England. I want to see the white cliffs of Dover, Al wants Stonehenge and Bath. Bath sounds fun too; I will need a good long soak about then. So that’s it, our Big Adventure.
Have any of you watched that movie yet? The Way is not a documentary, it’s a movie directed by Emilio Estevez and he and his father Martin Sheen star in it. I watched it on Netflix one night and got hooked. Here’s the link about that; http://www.theway-themovie.com/.
We have been planning this for over a year, and there was some concerns about our health, we each have issues. But we got the all clear so in a little over a week we leave.
Until then, be well .

The little things,

 

 

Recently one of my daughters went on a road trip across the US for 3 weeks by car. She went with her uncle and grandpa and they stopped to see the biggest frying pan and where Crayola crayons are made, they ate frog legs and a 3 pound hamburger. Just to name a few things, there were many. She brought presents back for all of us but one special thing she did for me was to face time me from my sister’s house. In case you don’t know what face time is, it is face to face conversation over an IPhone, you can see and talk to each other at the same time. It amazes me. It is like the future is here now, I know, crazy right. Now my sister lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we don’t get to see her very much. To give credit where it is due, I would also have to mention her uncle. They were up in Illinois and he said to my daughter, “doesn’t your mom’s sister live up here somewhere?” so they went out of their way to go say Hi to my sister and spend some time with her and her family, just a little thing to them. I get all mushy just thinking about it again. Anyway my sister and I were talking and meantime my father in-law; who is 91years young, is an old navy guy and my sister’s husband was also in the navy hit it off like gangbusters and the scrapbooks came out and I could hear their conversation in the background. It sounded like they were having fun. My sisters grandchildren and her son where there and they were saying their goodbyes to her. My daughter and her uncle were planning the next day’s agenda and the dog was barking, all of these conversations were going on in the same place at the same time, it was crazy and it was fantastic!! It was one of the best gifts I have ever received; it was a total surprise and so thoughtful from both of them. They didn’t think it was a big deal at all and just a little thing really but it meant so much to me. When life gets chaotic it is not so much the things you buy each other, to try to please each other but the thoughtful things you do, that say I care about you. I always tell my kids, don’t spend any money on me, just spend some time. So I just wanted to say, Thanks again you two, and I miss you already sis, can’t wait to see you again. And the rest of you, go spend some face time with the ones you love.

Until then, be well

Why Spain?

Why Spain?

Some of you have asked why are you going to Spain. Well I watched this movie on Netflix called, The Way, staring Martin Sheen. I recommend the movie, it inspired me and I loved it. I got the husband involved and we decided over a year ago to see if we could each get 6 weeks of work off to go, and we could and did. So we started training so we could be Peregrinos too.
Ok, I’m getting a little ahead of myself. What are Peregrinos? they are pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago. Now you ask, what’s that? Well in English it’s the Way of Saint James. A 780 km walk across Spain to the city of Santiago where legend has it that the remains of Jesus’s apostle Saint James the Elder lie in a huge cathedral there. We are not going on a pilgrimage just a really long walk. If you have more questions about it I have included a link. http://www.caminoadventures.com
So how did we prepare? We have been walking, a lot. Al and I walked our butts off last year, about 20 pounds of it at least. We actually haven’t been able to walk as much this spring and summer as last year. The plan was to bump up the walking to 3 days a week and to walk for longer stretches. Well it takes a lot of time to walk, which I have mentioned previously, spare time is a rare commodity with us, we just don’t have any. We leave in just 4 weeks and we haven’t walked once in the last few weeks. So in the training part of our planning, things haven’t gone as planned. In other areas we did better. We researched shoes and socks. Got really light weight backpacks. Yes, we have to carry everything for the 6 weeks on our backs. I wasn’t sure about walking sticks, but we tried with and without and yes somehow they lighten the load on your back by giving you more stability. We bought lightweight clothes as well, because we will have to wash and dry them daily. We have had to learn about euros and international calling. Can I bring my cell phone or I-pad, no and yes. We got Rosetta Stone but hardly ever had time to use it. There’s much more, and as I continue to blog here and in Spain, feel free to ask more questions and I will do my best to answer them.
Until then, be well

Finally

I have wanted to Blog for a while now. I do follow a few blogs and thought, Hey I want to do that, but to any of you who know me, I am a little ADD. So first I needed to understand what blogging really was and how to get started doing it. Okay, check, done. Then there was the time thing, I don’t have any. No spare time, but I needed to make time before we go on our big trip to Spain or I knew it would never happen. Finally, Check, here I am. Then ahhh what to say, Blogging is nothing more than conveying your thoughts or information to another person via the internet. Well my intent with this blog is to keep you up to date on what is going on in my life.  Or it may be about one of the walks we take.  Or it could be about one of my hobbies or interests that I have, or maybe some family achievement.  I mentioned the ADD right? Anyway this is the first of hopefully many. Until next time, be well.