Tuesday, October 5, 2010

This and That.....

Even though I haven't been working all summer, it seems like I've been busier than ever!  As you know, Scott and I have been traveling quite a bit, starting with our trip to California to pick up our Pleasure Way RV.  Let me tell you, that was QUITE the experience!  Although we love the van, we had a few challenges on the way home - haha.  Turns out that someone put on the wrong shocks (which we didn't know until later), and about midway through our trip, we noticed that we seemed to be bouncing around quite a bit (understatement)!  At one point I was in the back of the van, laying down on the bed, and I bounced so high that I almost hit my head on the ceiling!  You should have seen us when we stopped in Chicago on the way home to show the kids the van.  We bounced our way in, and then picked them up and stopped in a Wendy's parking lot for a quick chat, before heading home.  (It's hard enough to drive in Chicago, but in a malfunctioning van, it was quite the experience - Scott did a good job getting us to Holland.)  Long story short, after some repairs and numerous telephone calls, now all is well, and we've taken the "P-Mobile" on a couple of more trips.  The trip back from California itself was wonderful - we just loved Sedona, AZ and of course the Grand Canyon, and then we went to Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico; followed by a short stop in Denver, Colorado to see Cousin Dave, Mary, and even our cousins Nancy and Laila (Dave's sisters).  I hadn't seen Laila in like 40 years!  Great fun - I think she looks just like Aunt Lu - what do you think (she's in the purple shirt)?
 Here's just a couple more pictures from that trip, but if you'd like to see them all, I have loaded all them on my Facebook page:  RVing Out West

Below:  The P-Mobile near Sedona, Arizona - Red Rock country....beautiful!

What can you say about the Grand Canyon?  Absolutely breathtaking....
Then came our trip to Tuscany - are you KIDDING me?  Beyond gorgeous!  (only downside for me:  the driving!  We have many stories to share, including some driving escapades, at our upcoming Italian night - stay tuned for date and time....)

Here are my wonderful traveling buddies - we're visiting Cortona, an utterly charming hill town, where the film "Under the Tuscan Sun" was filmed....

Another shot of Cortona:


The Duomo (main church) in Florence:


Our last night.....(ahhhhhh, Rach, not sure what's up with that expression, haha.....)  Guess it was a long day...
We had a wonderful time - can't wait to show you all of our pics on "Italian Night" at the Hamberg's!  (If you want a sneak peek, mine are also posted on Facebook:  Tuscany

Stay tuned for more in a couple of  days, but for now......that's it!