Today is Tom’s birthday!…A celebration is on the agenda!…Photo of us from almost 30 years ago!…

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Tom went through all of our photos of us and chose this one to post today on his 72nd birthday. This was taken almost 30 years ago.

How time has flown since the above photo of us was taken on July 4, 1995. He was 42, and I was 47. Oh, good grief! When we think back over the years since we met in 1991, as most of us can, so much has transpired, most of which seems as if it was only yesterday. Now, on his 72nd birthday, in many ways, he still feels and acts as young as he did then. I totally agree.

He’s still a kid at heart, with the maturity that years provide while maintaining a playful attitude and sense of humor that’s hard to top. He keeps me on my toes with frequent teasing and good humor while still being the adorable man he’s always been.  We are undoubtedly “glued at the hip,” as they say while being able to flourish in our own tastes, desires, and attitudes.

Ironically, we have little in common besides our lifestyle and passion for travel. Still, somehow, we blend our differences into a magical potion that remains fresh, entertaining, and interesting, never taking our lives or one another for granted. We couldn’t ask for or want for more.

I have no gifts or even a card for him today. Long ago, when we began traveling, we decided to forego gifts and cards, but on each occasion, we felt loved and appreciated. So, I baked him his favorite cake, German Chocolate, which he savored after dinner last night. He will do so again when we return from dining out tonight at Luna Rosa, a fantastic, elegant Italian restaurant a short walk from our building in Lake Las Vegas.

Tonight, we’ll take photos of our meals and each other and the Christmas decor in the Village, which is breathtaking at night. Before heading to Luna Rosa, we plan to go to Happy Hour at The Pub at 4:00 pm, located at the bottom of the steps from our building. Drinks there are $5 from 4:00 to 7:00 pm, while drinks at the expensive restaurant average $15 to $25 each.

By the time we get to the restaurant for our 6:00 pm reservations, I’ll be ready to drink water, having had my two small glasses of wine at The Pub. That savings pays for one of our meals.

I realize we sound overly frugal, but one can’t travel for over 12 years and is not be mindful of saving money here and there while still having a great time. We are never obvious or embarrass ourselves being frugal, and, above all, we are generous tippers, knowing how hard servers work to make their customers happy.

And, although we don’t give one another “tips,” we both still find ways to show our appreciation for the many things we do for one another each and every day.

It’s almost noon, and I just returned from my workout in the fitness center. I’m feeling good about what I accomplished.  I have a schedule: the fitness center on one day and the BetterMe yoga exercises on an alternate day. Daily, I get plenty of steps logged on my Fitbit watch, ranging from 5000 to 7500 steps. I feel I’m doing all I can without overdoing it.

That’s it for today, folks. We’ll be back tomorrow with more as we make our way into Christmas Eve with plans for a pleasant evening and Christmas Day.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, December 23, 2014:

Yesterday, we spotted this humpback whale on the Big Island and got this shot from the lanai. We couldn’t have been more thrilled! For more photos, please click here.

What are we doing for Tom’s birthday tomorrow and Christmas?…

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All the shops and restaurants are decorated for Christmas.

We don’t have any big plans for the holidays. We’ll celebrate Tom’s birthday tomorrow by going to dinner at Luna Rosa, a short walk from our building. We spent my birthday there last February when our friends Rita and Gerhard suddenly appeared, having flown here from Vancouver, Washington, to surprise me. What a surprise it was!

There won’t be any surprises for Tom when he doesn’t even want me to buy him a gift when we have no room in our luggage and a need for so little. We gave up giving each other gifts for special occasions when we left for our world travels over 12 years ago. Our gift to one another has been the opportunity to continue to travel the world over all these years.

Yesterday, for the holidays, I made keto fudge and keto white fudge using recipes from several years ago when I first began eating this way. It’s wonderful to have a few treats for the holidays. Moments ago, I put two tin foil cake pans of Tom’s favorite cake, German Chocolate, into the oven to bake. Once it’s done and cooled, I’ll frost it.

The Village in Lake Las Vegas has multiple roads like this. Cars are not allowed. Over the next few months, we’ll walk these paved roads many times.

Each night, he’ll savor a piece of the cake that will last several days since I won’t eat any of it. Instead, I’ll have a few pieces of the fudge as a special treat this holiday season.

Usually, on Christmas Eve, we have steak and lobster tail and prime rib on Christmas Day. But after seeing the prices at the supermarkets in the area, I decided to make a seldom-made favorite dish, Keto Chicken, Sausage, and Cauliflower Bake, making enough to last to both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, along with a big salad and rice for Tom.

We’ll enjoy our meals with a glass of wine for me and a cocktail for Tom, Christmas music, and great conversation. No, we don’t have any Christmas decorations, but all we have to do is walk down that one flight of stairs to the Village, and the holiday spirit will surround us.

We are as cheerful as possible. We love our time here. We are looking forward to seeing family when they return from vacation after the holidays and enjoying every day during our remaining 69 days until we begin the long journey to South Africa on March 1. We’ll arrive on March 3 and then cherish the joys of seeing the wild animals and our many friends in the bush, including friends Kathy and Don, who will join us there from Hawaii a week after we arrive.

This area has many hills, making walking more beneficial for health.

On Christmas Day, we’ll probably take a walk in the morning and enjoy football in the afternoon, in between phone calls to and from family and friends. For us, living this peculiar lifestyle is as good as it gets. There is lots of love in our lives from family, friends, and readers, wonders awaiting us, and an itinerary we can’t wait to share on Christmas Day.

We will continue to post daily, even the trivialities of our daily lives, over the holidays and days to come in the New Year. May your holiday season be filled with love, faith, and hope for the future.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, December 22, 2014:

We spotted the Hawaii Snake Plant on the Big Island, Hawaii. For more photos, please click here.

We’re back…Feeling as if we have returned to our nomadic lifestyle…Today’s the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere……

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The embellished staircase in Once Upon A Nail Salon. The salon is only steps away from our condo.

Ah…the simplicities of life now that we are back to our lives of travel. Nothing hinders us: no worrisome health issues, no concerns over being close to a hospital, nor our fears and apprehensions over whether it’s safe to travel or not.Yes, I still struggle with my legs, but I have resigned myself to the fact that this is how it will be. I can walk for about 15 minutes uninterrupted, only requiring a short break to continue again. It’s painful, but I am adjusting to this reality. At times, for moments, I forget about the discomfort and can enjoy my surroundings in full.

This morning, I started working out in the fitness center here. Although I wasn’t quite back where I left off a week ago, today, I could add several exercise machines that weren’t available in the hotel in Cleveland. Thus, I will head to the fitness center every other day, and on alternate days, I’ll do the yoga exercises in the BetterMe app, giving me a balanced workout.

The nail area in the salon.

Some days, we’ll walk in the hilly Village to the shops and restaurants, which provides even more exercise. Plus, in this excellent condo, there is plenty of walking back and forth to perform various household tasks. In the hotel in Cleveland, we had a daily/weekly cleaning service. Here, we have none.

Tom will do the floors, while I’ll dust and clean the bathrooms. The clothes drying rack we purchased when we moved here last year was in the closet. Since there is only a washer in the unit, we can use the rack to dry clothes instead of hauling wet laundry down the long corridor to the laundry room. This system works well for us.

The pedicure area in the salon.

The refrigerator is a large double-door side-by-side unit with plenty of space for everything we use. It was easy to put away the $300 of groceries we had delivered yesterday morning. There’s a large storage closet with shelves for the non-perishables. Everything was spotlessly clean and perfect for our arrival. We couldn’t be happier.

The bed is comfortable, and much to my delight, there’s no top sheet; it’s a nice, easily washable comforter. I don’t like top sheets when I get all tangled up in the sheet. Tom prefers a top sheet, so I snickered when we got into bed the first night. Sleeping is good now that we’ve adjusted to the three-hour time difference between Ohio and Nevada.

I’m enjoying preparing meals again with plenty of space in the kitchen, and we both can move about without bumping into one another. We’re loving it all. We’re making baby back ribs that I will sell well, but don’t use commercial barbeque sauce with all their sugars and chemicals. Tom will have rice with his ribs, and we’ll both enjoy a big fresh salad with homemade dressing.

This is the salon’s ceiling showing the second floor railing. The photo is deceiving.

The photos I am sharing today are from yesterday’s pedicure. I walked down one flight of stairs and crossed a paved walk to the salon. I had a great time with the nail tech, a 19-year-old with whom I shared many interests. We both love watching videos of talking parrots, and we howled with laughter when we realized we were watching the same videos.

He offered me a glass of champagne, which I refused since it was so early in the day. If it had been three or four in the afternoon, I might have accepted, but I don’t drink wine until happy hour, and then after a glass or two, at most, I’ve had my fill. By discontinuing wine drinking after dinner, I find I sleep better.

In the past few days, I’ve spoken to several friends on the phone, and catching up has been outstanding. Over the holiday week, we’ll talk to our kids, grandkids, and other family members and friends.

That’s it for today, folks. We hope you’re enjoying preparing for the upcoming holidays, if you celebrate.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, December 21, 2014:

View from the new house next door, where some of our family will stay during the Christmas family get-together in Pahoa, Big Island, Hawaii. For more photos, please click here.

We made it to Lake Las Vegas…Total expenses for almost five days on the road…

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Snow-capped mountains as we entered Nevada.
No words can express how thrilled we are to be in Lake Las Vegas while being unpacked with groceries ordered, coming tomorrow, and finding everything in the fabulous condo precisely as we remembered it a year ago. We couldn’t be more content.

The four-and-a-half-day road trip was a breeze. Tom moved along at a good clip, pushing the limits of the posted speed limits and making good time each day. The latest we ever arrived at the hotel for the night was 4:00 pm, giving us plenty of time to get settled for the evening with various plans for dinner.

The lobby at Little America Hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona.

We arrived in Las Vegas earlier than planned, at 11:30 am. The condo was being cleaned after the last guests moved out yesterday morning. With the cleaner coming and the owner needing to change the code on the door, we couldn’t check in until 2:00 pm.

We took advantage of the three hours we had to kill and headed to our mailing service to collect our mail after Tom got an excellent haircut at Great Clips. We stopped at a liquor store for wine for me and beer and brandy for Tom. We grocery-shopped for a few items to get us through two nights of breakfast and dinner until our Albertson’s delivery arrives tomorrow morning between 9:00 and 11:00 am. The extra time worked out well.

The beautiful hotel room’s bathrooms had two separate sink areas.

It’s comforting that we are entirely unpacked, and everything is in order, with the luggage tucked away in closets and no clutter except for various electrical cords for our devices in a few easily accessible areas.

This morning, we headed to Dollar Tree for a few household items and made a quick trip to the bank. Once back at the condo, I got back to work on this post and compiled our expenses from the road trip, which I will share with you today at the end of this post.

We dined at the Silver Pine Restaurant at the Little America Hotel in Flagstaff.

We thought sharing what we spent during the almost five-day road trip would be fun for our readers, considering that we may have used reward points in some cases. As we list our expenses, we will include the costs after credits from the reward points.

Tom has Chicken Alfredo, which is reminiscent of the dinners he ate for ten months while we were in lockdown in India in a hotel room during the pandemic.

Fuel: $192.77

Hotels: $205.69 + various rewards points for hotels. (One hotel was $7.17 with tax after using points; others were $0 using points)

Food: $266.66 (We used rewards points for the last meal in Flagstaff, also covering the room charge at a charming resort).

Rental car for seven days: $803.31

Total Trips Cost (out of pocket): $1468.43 (includes two extra days for the rental car after we arrived)

Average cost per day: $293.69 

My salmon dinner is reminiscent of the dinners I ate for ten months while we were in lockdown in India in a hotel room during the pandemic. We laughed over the irony.

Tomorrow, my much-needed pedicure downstairs at a salon in the Village is at 11:00 am, and Tom will return the rental car at noon.

We won’t have a car for the next 73 days, but we’re sure we’ll be fine using Uber or Lyft as needed to join son Richard for dinners or go out for any other reason.

The salad was served with my salmon instead of potatoes or rice.

Stay tuned for more folks. Thanks for all of the thoughtful wishes we received along the way.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, December 19, 2014:

With lave flowing in Pahoa, Big Island, toward the shopping center where this salon was located, the boys decided to get haircuts before it closed. Tom is on the far left. TJ is in the middle, and Jayden is on the far right after they decide they also need haircuts. Three generations of Lymans were having their haircuts simultaneously. Too cute! For more photos, please click here.

Day 4…Road trip…A memorable stop along the way…

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The Trstar Express Motel is reminiscent of the 1950s or 1960s

I wouldn’t say I like saying it was a podunk town, but in reality, it was…Tucumcari. New Mexico.As we drove down the main road in the old, worn-out town with a population of about 5,000, I was transported back to my youth, when I rode with my parents across the US from California to Massachusetts to visit my grandmother in the summers.

Tom, last night at dinner at Del’s Restaurant in Tucumcari.

Grandma lived in a mansion on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, which I recall as if it was yesterday, with the carved coconut heads hanging from the ceilings in the basement to the huge elegant dining room on the main floor and the no-touch parlor intended for observation rather than use.

I could go on about that magnificent house for hours, but I will return to the seven-day road trips I’ll never forget, including an overnight stay in Tucumcari, which looks the same today as I remembered it 70 years ago.

Fake flower decorations outside the door at Del’s Restaurant. We chuckled.

The difference was the shuttered old businesses that had long since closed on Route 66. When the interstate came through in the 1950s/1960s, the well-known thoroughfare became obsolete due to modern change.

Ironically, time stood still for the little town of Tucumcari and remained as I remembered it many decades ago.

Decorations at Del’s Restaurant.

We made our way down the road to our quaint motel, which was still standing seven decades later. I checked in to meet the owner, Mike, who welcomed us with open arms.

Much to our delight, the Wi-Fi was good, the room was clean and comfortable, and we wanted for nothing. I couldn’t stop smiling.

There wasn’t an empty spot for another Christmas decoration. It was adorable!

Tom had never made that route but appreciated the charm and the mystery of this unusual little community, mostly filled with retirees, cowgirls, and cowboys of varying ages—many who had lived there all their lives.

We found a great restaurant that reminded us of an old-fashioned supper club from the 1960s. It had a 10-page menu, smiling staff, and an array of old-fashioned entrees and sides. The ambiance in the supper club was indeed a Christmas wonderland.

My liver and onions with vegetable sides and of course, my one glass of red wine.

I ordered the seldom-seen liver and onions, and Tom had roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, and a couple of squishy buns. I couldn’t resist ordering a glass of red wine, my first since we began this road trip.

Tom’s favorite dinner is roast beef, mashed potatoes with gravy, and sweet corn. Of course, he has two rolls on the side.

Back at the motel, we watched the Minnesota Vikings game and lay down for the night in the somewhat hard bed, which had insufficient covers to keep us warm. My feet were freezing all night, but the only sox I had was a compression type, unsuitable for sleeping. The water never warmed up for this morning’s showers. Still, we didn’t complain and took off by 8:30 to head to breakfast at Kix, a local diner comparable to those we’ve all seen in many TV shows and movies.

We had breakfast this morning at Kix Diner.

Of course, we sat at the counter with swivel chairs and ordered hearty breakfasts unlike any other we’d had during this road trip.

The seats at the counter in Kix Diner.

Before we knew it, breakfast was over, and we headed back down Old Route 66 to a rundown petrol station to top off the tank and be on our way.

Tom was perusing the giant menu at Kix Diner this morning.

Today’s photos illustrate the incredible scenes we encountered in our short time in Tucumcari, New Mexico.

Myriad license plates are on the wall at Kix Diner.

The other stops along the way on this 4½ day road trip have already begun to fade from our minds, but our time and Tucumcari will be a fond memory, always putting a smile on our faces.

My breakfast at Kix Diner.

Soon, we’ll arrive at another interesting hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona, where we’ll spend the night and see what delightful story we can add to share our experience once again.

Rundown classic cars are waiting to be restored at the petrol station. Perhaps they’d been sitting here for decades.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, December 17, 2014:

Sandy Beach spots for enjoying the tide pools filled with fish and turtles at the Onekahakaha Beach Park in Hilo. For more photos, please click here.
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Day 3…Road trip…

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Gosh, it’s going well. Last night in Tulsa was comfortable at the Embassy Suites hotel. Again. We did takeaway for dinner.

Now on Highway 40 in Amarillo, Texas we’ll make it to Tucumcari, New Mexico in a less than 90 minutes where we will hunker down for the night.

The days are passing quickly and in less than two days we will arrive in Las Vegas.

We hope all of you are doing well. We think of you often.

Be ❤️‍🩹 well.

Day 2…Road trip…

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We made it to Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was a good day of travel, freeway all the way with good weather.

Right now I am at a restaurant picking up my dinner order to go. Tom wanted McDonalds so I ordered burger patties and a salad from Cracker Barrel. What a cute shop!

Next we are checking into a nearby Embassy Suites hotel for the night. We’ll get settled in our room and watch a few shows and begin again in the morning.

Weather providing through Flagstaff and Albuquerque we should make it to Nevada as planned on the 18th when our condo will be ready by noon.

Hope all is well your way.

Be well.⛄🎄💓

Day 1…Road trip…

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We are moving along at a good clip. We’d planned to stay beyond Terre Haute but have decided to go to Effingham, Illinois which adds an extra 90 minutes. We will arrive by 4:00 pm which is perfect.

We found a good hotel rated 9* and will have time to settle in before going to dinner. The hotel was $3 since we had unused Expedia points.

We had breakfast at Denny’s outside of Cleveland and with one petro stop we will have driven 7 hours today, ideal since we aren’t in a rush.

All is good. Not a single photo op along the highway not a snowflake.

We will be back with an update tomorrow afternoon

Be well.🎄⛄💝