Eat Dessert First and Fly into the Grand Canyon

Plenty of people create a "bucket list" of activities they want to do or achieve in their lifetime. I am not one of those people. During a recent vacation, however, I did remember a couple of things I thought would be fun to do. And I was delighted to be able to do them! 

Both happened because of the new man in my life, which also makes me happy to report.

Even more fun-loving and adventurous than I am, Marlowe acted quickly when I commented to him and some friends that I've always wanted to eat dessert first.

Although my friends thought it was a good idea and were game to try it, I chickened out when the server brought us menus at a restaurant in Oceanside, California. I felt like I should not force my whims onto everyone else at the table. But I should have remembered who I was with.

My friends and Marlowe are not people who are prone to backing away from a fun experiment. I am grateful that they can be silly like me.

The server was befuddled when our dessert requests came first, but we convinced him we were serious, and away he went to place our orders.

The chocolate mousse, mudpie, bananas foster, and crème brûlée were delicious!

I highly recommend eating dessert first. You end up ordering a lighter meal afterward while still getting the deliciousness of dessert into your tummy. Win-win! 

Thanks to Roy, Carla, and their daughter Alicia for playing with us!

A couple of weeks later, on this same vacation in the USA, a second item on my non-existent bucket list was fulfilled - my desire to go on a helicopter flight into the Grand Canyon.

When I mentioned this idea to Marlowe, he was also interested and made it happen! Yes, I am a fortunate woman.

During a trip to Las Vegas to see some shows, we booked a flight to the Grand Canyon with Maverick Helicopters. It was my first time flying in a helicopter, but I was assured that the flight would be smooth and safe, so the nerves were quickly gone as soon as we took off.

We were lucky enough to be seated beside the pilot on the first leg of the trip, so we had a fabulous view as we flew into the canyon. Wow!

We landed at the base of the canyon, beside the Colorado River, and had a small snack plus photo opportunities before taking off to head back to Vegas.

Such a wonderful, memorable experience. 

 

As widowers, both Marlowe and I know that each day should be treated as precious. We are committed to doing what we can, together, to enjoy each moment as best we can. I am grateful to Marlowe for coming into my life and for helping me live my life to the fullest.

I hope you can travel your road and check off items on your bucket list with a fun-loving someone too.

Starting the new year in Cuba

Varadero, Cuba was where I rang in the new year. Technically, I watched a movie in my room at our resort instead of partying, but that's beside the point. I was in a warm climate with people I love, taking a break after a busy year of work and other activities.

My youngest daughter, Dani, had invited me to travel to Cuba with her and her family (who don't share family photos on social media). I was delighted to accept the invitation. I've travelled a lot over the years, but I'd yet to go to Cuba. I had heard responses from other travellers who either loved Cuba or really disliked it, with not much in between. We, fortunately, chose a great resort and had a lovely time at the Iberostar Bella Costa. Our resort had friendly staff, comfortable and clean rooms, a great pool and beach, local musicians entertaining us at mealtime and in the evenings, and a variety of foods for every meal. The New Year's Eve buffet was exceptional!

Here's a glimpse at my Cuba vacation - in photos...

The beach in front of the Iberostar Bella Costa, Varadero - Deana J Driver photos

A wall of photos inside the Bella Costa resort, Cuba

Wall art

Cuban musicians entertained us at mealtime

More local music, including some Santana faves

Countryside on the way to Havana

Banyan (ficus) tree in Havana

I met a friend in Havana who loves books as much as I do! Too bad I didn't bring a sampling of my own books for him to read.

I did not understand this statue in Havana of the nude woman riding a chicken. Turns out I'm not alone in wondering. The artist has not talked about its meaning, but there are some interesting theories (see  https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/viaje-fantastico).

A town square, Havana

Old cars in Havana are maintained with whatever parts can be found from washing machines, etc. that might work.

Revolution Square in Havana

This was American novelist Ernest Hemingway's favourite bar in Havana. Many famous people stop by, and some who are not as famous too.

They invented the Daiquiri here at El Floridita.

This pelican landed near us before taking off on another flight and dive for food.

Ocean swimming was not allowed on days when the tide brought Portuguese man o' war animals onto the beach. It's technically not a jellyfish, and its sting and tentacles will leave large welts and worse.

A full sand dollar washed up on the beach beside some coral.

We joked that this sand sculpture we saw on the beach was the Cuban version of our Saskatchewan snowmen.

Hibiscus flowers

A New Year's Eve tree made from wine bottles

The Royal Palm tree is Cuba's national tree and one of my faves.

The New Year's Eve buffet at the Bella Costa had many wonderful food sculptures.

The cold meats section alone went on and on.

The bread selection was amazing and I didn't even take a photo of the hot foods!

When the delicious chocolate cake clock strikes midnight... (in my belly!) This was only one of the many scrumptious desserts offered on New Year's Eve.

We walked on the beach at least twice a day, enjoying the sun and sand in Varadero, Cuba.

The sun setting on the last night of our great vacation.

If you choose to visit Cuba, I recommend that you book your trip through a travel agent (we booked through CAA and were pleased we did). Check the online reviews of the various resorts and locations, and pay a little extra, if you can afford it, for a higher-rated resort. Read about the country and its history and amenities, as you should for all of your travel destinations. Before you go to Cuba, pack some of your favourite Canadian snack foods in your suitcase along with crackers, peanut butter and jam (for those who have specific diets). We were glad we did. Happy travelling!

Five Things you can say in February in the Bahamas but not in Saskatchewan

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Nassau, Bahamas for a week of vacation with my youngest daughter, Dani.

We had a wonderful, restful time.

The differences between the weather we left at home in Saskatchewan, Canada and what we experienced in the Bahamas were striking. See for yourself.


Here's my idea of  "Five Things you can say in February in the Bahamas but not in Saskatchewan":


1. "My swimsuit is still wet, but I'll put it on anyway. It'll dry quickly."

It was 28 degrees Celsius in Nassau every day we were there, even after a little rain fell on a couple of evenings. Saskatchewan weather was unusually warm when we were away, ranging from 1 degree to minus 16 Celsius, but it was no 28!

2. "There's a turtle!"

One of our biggest hopes was to see a sea turtle in the ocean, and we had that wish come true every day as we looked out from a nearby pier. The turtle didn't come close enough for a great photo, but we'll carry those images and excitement in our hearts. The turtle on the right is a horsehair pottery souvenir purchased in Arizona years ago.

3. "Look at those pretty flowers!"

Tropical flowers versus frozen rose bushes. Sigh. We can hardly wait for summer in Saskatchewan.

4. "Oh, thank God for that wind! It would be so hot otherwise."

Even though the wind stirred up the ocean and blew my hair all over the place, I love the feeling of standing on a pier, staring at the clear blue water. The wind in Regina, Saskatchewan, on the other hand, can be downright nasty. Even after wearing my toque yesterday while going for a long walk, my ears hurt for hours. Sigh again. But Saskatchewan is home and I love it here.

Which leads nicely into the final thing
you can say in the Bahamas in February
but you can't say it in Saskatchewan...

5. "I'm just going to leave my shoes here and go barefoot for awhile."  

  

 Nope. Not even for a minute.
Underneath those cold feet on the right are flip-flops sitting in the snow. I'm not that crazy!

Have a great day, everyone!

Never Leave Your Wingman's Excellent European Adventure - Part 4 - Italy

You're back! Great! Thank you for following along with me, the Never Leave Your Wingman book, as I share my photos from my wonderful summer adventure in Europe!
(If you didn't read Part 1 , Part 2, or Part 3, these are the links for those posts.)

This kind of feels like you and I are in the Sisterhood of the Travelling Book club together. Pretty neat, huh? And speaking of the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants movie - the parts of it that were filmed in Greece, anyway - well... hang on for a few minutes. I'll come back to that.

So the last time I blogged, my publishers and I were in Pisa, Italy and I was holding up the Leaning Tower, remember? Well, there was one other interesting place that we discovered in Pisa. And you'll probably be surprised to see what it was.

That's right - a McDonalds restaurant!  'And Here's The Party!' says the sign.

The folks at this restaurant had a hilarious sense of humour, and we had quite a few chuckles while eating our nutritious fast-food lunch. (Oh come on, somebody had a salad there some day.) 

Anyway, here are some of the signs we saw inside this McDonalds restaurant:

In case you can't quite make out this sign leading to the washrooms, here it is close up:

Hilarious, right? I wanted to cut that part of the door out and bring it home to share with my friends... but it wouldn't have fit in my travel bag and the airline would have charged me for extra baggage, so this photo will have to do.

While we were driving from Pisa to our next stop on our trip, we saw some really pretty fields. While Saskatchewan and Canada's other Prairie provinces often have bright yellow fields of canola in the late summer, here in Italy and other parts of Europe, we enjoyed this scene of bright yellow sunflowers.

My author Deana snapped a whole pile of photos of these fields. This is one of my favourites.

Did you know that in Europe, the semi trucks don't have solid side panels like our trucks do here in Canada? We found it strange to watch the canvas sides of the big trucks flapping with the wind. That can't be too aerodynamic, can it?

Here's Publisher Al driving us (himself, me and my author Deana, of course) to our next destination. 

Psst... that's the Mediterranean Sea in the background.

OH MY GOSH! I am SOOOO excited that we can see it!!

But wait. Before we could get into our next accommodation that afternoon, we had to park our rental vehicle... at the top of the huge hill leading into that town that you saw in the above photo. So this was the home for our VW vehicle - in a tiny (by Canadian standards) parking stall with its own pull-down door in a parking garage. Let's just say we've had more fun parking in other places.

Then we began the walk downhill....

...and further downhill....

...and still further downhilll....

...for about 20 minutes - not including the rests to catch our breath .... 

...to get to our room (up on the right-hand middle level of those buildings), at the seaside edge of the village of Riomaggiore. This is a working fishing village and is one of five towns close together in the Cinque Terre region of Italy which are popular with young tourists - "because young tourists still have good, strong legs that can handle the 45-degree hills," my publishers said. (Can you tell that my publishers are old and were a little cranky after going up and down this main-street hill that goes from one end of town to the other a couple times? Plus, it was only the day after they had climbed the 395,000 steps (or something like that) up to the top of the Duomo in Florence, too - so maybe they had a tiny reason to be a little tired and unhappy about more climbing.

 Anyway, my publishers and I took it fairly easy in Riomaggiore for the rest of the day. We just relaxed and enjoyed the views. 

Here are some photos of what we saw...

The view from our front walkway.

This village really reminded me of the rocky Greek village in the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants movie - except we didn't have a donkey to take us up the hills. Oh, wait. I hear my author calling out to me. "A donkey! That would have been perfect!" (As if she just thought of this herself. 

Silly author. Where would they have parked the donkeys?) 

These pretty flowers were blooming from a vine growing on the rock wall in front of our room.

Cool, huh?

In front and below our room, a bunch of Italian men noisily worked together to build this.... this... I don't even know what it was. A pier perhaps? Anyway, they had a little trouble deciding who would give the orders and who would follow them, and we thoroughly enjoyed watching this process. We also giggled a little when the group took a break to share some bubbly. Only in Europe. 

This very secure (not) closure on the gas cupboard was a little unsettling for us. Our room was just behind this wall. Yeah, a little unsettling.

Now this photo... this is a different story. What? Were you actually looking at the big red boaty thing. Pshaw. The legs. Check out the legs under the red thing! Well worth watching as they rounded the corner and wandered up the stairs. Wooeeee! I LIKE ITALY!!! (And don't get me started on his teeny tiny swimsuit...)

This cracked me up. When you gotta go, the Mediterranean Sea is as good a place as any, I guess.

The sea offers many pretty sights... In daylight...

...And the early evening.

So goodnight for now ... from the northwest corner of Italy. 

I'll see you soon for my next update. It's going to be awesome... just you wait!