2018 started with
a super blue blood moon in January. Perhaps a good omen. My husband, Ron, finished his final year for his business (Atlantic International) with an especially good sale and he asked me where I'd like to go in 2018?
Ron has traveled the world for business and pleasure and he always wanted to take me to Paris, London and Italy. For me, a trip to Norway was my dream as I was a Norwegian by heritage. We decided to do that trip to Paris where I had never been PLUS a Norway cruise. We booked an
Airbnb apartment in Paris for May, 2018 and invited Maine friends, Bob and Sharon, to share our Paris accommodations. We made reservations with Holland America for a cruise to Norway from Amsterdam for the first week of June. Ron contacted his friends Ron and Janti in Amsterdam and we then booked three nights there at the end of May. I booked us a
Thayls train from Paris to Amsterdam on May 31st and
"Voila!” we were set for a Grand European Vacation for 2018. So this trip satisfied most of our goals. London and Italy would wait while we planned to see the City of Lights in May, 2018 (see Part 3 for that trip) and cruise the Norwegian western coast in June (see Part 4 for that trip)
T
here are so many "Bucket List" destinations we wanted to check off. Ron had always wanted to visit the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. I checked the dates and costs and found the January 2018 Festival was too expensive for us so we looked at the smaller Film Festivals in Telluride and Durango, Colorado. We settled on the smaller
Durango Independent Film Festival scheduled for Feb. 28-March 4, 2018. I was able to book a timeshare accommodation in downtown Durango for that week.and we purchased punch passes for the films. My friend Cathy spent the first part of the week with me and then Ron Joined us February 28th.
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| Cathy along the Animas River in Durango, CO |
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| Me on the Animas River |
My daughter Mary brought the grand daughters, Melody and Rosemerry for one day and Cathy and I took them to the
Powerhouse Science Museum and the
Animas River Trail.
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| Melody ready to blast off |
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| Rosemerry building mountains |
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| A very cool project that lets you see the elevations of a mountain |
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| Propulsion experiment |
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| "Wow! Where'd it go?" |
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| Running across the bridge spanning the Animas River in Durango, CO |
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| Cathy enjoying the Animas River |
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| As did Melody |
In March, Mary brought the girls to Albuquerque and I got to take them to the Zoo and the Museum of Natural History where a special
"Leonardo da Vinci - The Genius" exhibit was available to see.
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| Aunt Amanda, Rosemerry, Melody and Mary at the NM Museum of Natural History |
What trip to New Mexico is complete without a visit to
Meow Wolf in Santa Fe?
In April, Ron and I drove to San Diego, California to see friends. Ron got to visit the Hotel Del Coronado which was a first for him.
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| Drinks at the Hotel Del Coronado with friends, Page and Laurie. |
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| Wine tasting in the Escondido Valley |
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| "Cheers!" |
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| Cappuccino at Scripps Institute of Oceanography (UCSD in La Jolla) |
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| Dinner with Takako and Eric in Clairemont. |
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| Takako is a good artist and I bought one of her paintings. |
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| Add caption |
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| Visited my old union brother, Ernie Medina. |
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| Ron, Hermelinda, Abigail, and I at Rancho's. |
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| Dinner at Costerra Restaurant on the San Diego Harbor with Page and Laurie. |
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| San Diego skyline |
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| Sandcastle on the beach at the Hotel Del Coronado. |
In late April and May, we made two more trips to Grand Junction, Colorado to be with Mary's family, staying at
Airbnb accommodations which have proven to be much better and far less expensive than hotels. This long trip (8 hours by car) takes us over the beautiful Rocky Mountains and through the
Four Corners area of the American Southwest. Of course, a trip that includes being with family is always wonderful!
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| Having dinner with Matt, Mary, Rosemerry and Melody at Enzo's in Clifton, CO. |
Part 3 will cover our European Vacation in May, 2018.
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