Two days and counting…USA, here we come…

Hot and sweaty after dancing at the silent disco.

It’s hard to believe we haven’t been in the US for two years and three months when we visited family in 2017 in both Minnesota and Nevada. We’ve missed everyone, and it will be fantastic to see them all once again.

Initially, when booking our time in Minnesota, we’d booked a hotel in a central location between our respective families. As time marched on, my dear friend Karen offered for us to stay in her gorgeous, spacious house on a lake in Eden Prairie.

We stayed with Karen for our final few weeks in Minnesota in October 2012 and found it easy and comfortable. There have been only a few other occasions when we’ve stayed at friends’ or family members’ homes in the past seven years.

It’s a rare occasion for us to stay with anyone when we don’t want to impose. We have our routine that may conflict with others, and we certainly don’t want to be underfoot.

The only family member with whom we’ve stayed has been son Richard in Henderson, Nevada. He has a roomy house leaving us with an area where we won’t be in the way. We’ll be staying with him in the next month.

As for the time we spend in Apache Junction, Arizona, near Tom’s siblings, we’ve rented a holiday home and will share details at that time. At this point, we haven’t pinned down how long we’ll stay in Minnesota. We can always book last-minute flights.

The ship’s casino. We do not partake.

The cruise is rapidly winding down. We had one “free” bag of laundry done and will be mainly repacking clean clothes. I didn’t include many of my tops and shirts when the ship’s laundry service tends to ruin some items by washing them at too high a temperature. I didn’t want to take the risk.