So, let me first explain the featured photo above.
The guy in the bright orange vest is Stan Lucas. I've known him since January of 1975, when I began my second quarter at the University of Washington. That's his cabin in the background, a beautiful rustic A-frame on a bluff above the Chiwawa River a half-hour north of the Bavarian-themed town of Leavenworth. The cabin has been in his wife Carol's family for several decades. (And I've known her since high school.)
Eric Edeen - the fellow in gray to his right - joined us at the UW the following autumn. Eric, Stan, and I lived together for the duration of our college years and have been fast friends ever since. Groomsmen at our weddings, godfathers to our children. You know, those kind of fast friends.
And Matt Minton in the Seattle Mariners cap with the stogie in his face, he and I met at the Pine Lake Ale House in Sammamish 20 years ago, and after 10-ish years of vetting, I finally brought him into the fold, where he's been welcomed with open arms.
We spent three days at the cabin together last week, Stan grilling pork chops and chicken, me slinging breakfast bagels with creamcheese, lox, pickled red onions, capers, and dill. An afternoon of “forest bocce”, curated playlists of two significant albums from our musical pasts, a trip into town for brats and beer, and a couple of late evenings by the fire with cigars and good bourbon.
Memories made. Love you guys.
The Website
Okay, you’ve surely figured out by now that this website is a work in progress. I’m learning loads and implementing changes (improvements, I hope) everyday.
A couple of things you’ll notice, and some navigation tips:
● An excerpt of every new post will be featured on the Home Page of the site, and a click on the Read more button will take you to that new post in its entirety. A list of previous posts is embedded on the right, descending chronologically.
● The Daily Journal page features a menu of the primary destinations of our nomad travels. Each page in the menu will include a summary of the posts from only that place.
● As for that Destination Calendar page itself . . . nothing fancy here, folks. It’s just a quick summary of the trip.
● The newest page to the site is Location Links. A click on the thumbnail images or the menu links above will open a page focused on the lodging, dining, drinking, and attractions for each of the core cities we visit. We’ll provide much of this information in specific blog posts, but believe it will be helpful having these links summarized in one place.
Gearing Up
So, we’re one week out from tying a bow on our month-long stay in the familiar Seattle-area and heading out into the great unknown. Every place we visit over those next 105 days will be fresh and foreign to both of us: Charleston, Asheville, Ireland and Scotland, Tuscany and Puglia.
We’ve booked seven flights, three trains, five rental cars, sixteen hotel rooms, eleven AirBnB/VRBO’s - and that doesn’t even count our five weeks in Puglia.
We’ve spent this last week outfitting our travels with lightweight, fast-drying clothing, UK-oriented rain gear, and new city walking shoes for evenings out - and to give our daily landscape-trekking daytime shoes a chance to breathe. We picked up a half dozen compression travel bags, and electronically, we’ve opted for a single Tessan Universal Travel Adapter, with 3 USB-C slots, 2 USB-A’s, and a plug to charge my electric razor and possibly Nancy’s hair dryer (still a game day decision).
Our complete packing list will be detailed in a later post, with links to the items we bought and where we made those purchases.
The Countdown
Six days to go. Our Alaska Airlines direct flight to Charleston lifts off at 8:45 on Monday morning. The hours leading up to that will be loaded.
Know Your Power
Remember that little cross-Channel Brexit feud between England and the European Union? Well, modus monetae was only the half of it. There’s also the whole how you get your power thing.
According to the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), there are 14 different plugs (Type A through Type N) used around the world. All of the British Isles - England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales - plug in with Type G. The rest of Europe uses Types C, E, F, K, & L, and Italy specifically C, F, & L.
Know what you need before you cross the pond(s).
Today we're picking up a half dozen packages at a nearby Amazon Locker. (We were "underly" confident about deliveries to our garage loft AirBnB. And the Locker thing has worked great, though we notice a few side glances each time the door pops open and we snag our contraband.) And later this afternoon, we'll enjoy our own personal runway show, as we don our new travel garb for any potential reconsiderations. (I'm still working on the playlist, and a bottle of white wine is on the chill.😉)
Tomorrow is favorite youngest granddaughter Cora's 13th birthday, so we're cruising over to Cle Elum to celebrate her and for our last visit with daughter Meghan's family before our travels. We'll return just in time for trivia at Big Block Brewing, hosted brilliantly - no doubt - by friend Steve Bendetto.
Thursday brings a morning visit to button up our storage unit, then various appointments for Nancy, a haircut for me (TIA, Emma), and a final pizza & beers rendezvous with the fellas.
Friday & Saturday are flex days, squaring away final details, tidying up our AirBnB for a favorable return to our hosts, dining at a few of our favorite eateries, and a last gelato and people watch on the Kirkland waterfront. (Triple scoop?)
Then, Sunday morning we drive to SeaTac airport to grab a rental car, caravan to Cle Elum for a car wash, lunch as the Volvo fully dries, then slipping her into our storage unit across the road from Meghan's home. Jaxon or Ava will take it for a spin every couple of weeks to keep all systems flowing.
Then back to SeaTac to return the rental and a check-in at the Aloft hotel there, for an easy skip & jump to the airport the next morning.
Phew!
We'll be in touch.
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