Booked flight and hotel for Quito, Ecuador…Spending time with our grandson today…

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Here’s a map of the route of our flight from Minneapolis (MSP) to Quito (UIO), not that far away compared to many of our other flights over the years.

We waited to book our flight to Quito, Ecuador, departing on October 11, until we were here in the US, watching prices drop. With costs dropping only a small amount, we booked the flight and one night in the hotel JW Marriott in Quito, arriving one day early for our cruise/tour to begin.

Celebrity Cruise Line contacted us a few days ago for our passport numbers and expiration dates, flight information, and hotel information. Since we booked an extra night at JW Marriott, they wanted to tie it to the portion of our cruise/tour that includes two nights on each end for five nights, including our extra-booked night. They wanted to ensure we wouldn’t have to move to another room, which we appreciated.

Between the two booked nights for the hotel on either end of the cruise/tour, we’ll be flying to The Galapagos for a seven-night tour on the 16-passenger ship, basically a yacht, as opposed to a traditional huge cruise ship. It should be interesting. We’ll be flying from MSP on United Airlines. The cost of the flight for both of us is $1283.40.

As for the cost for the hotel, JW Marriott, for our one night, not included in the cruise fare, was $150.28, including taxes and fees.

The JW Marriott in Quito, Ecuador.

The next flight we’ll book in the next few weeks is the flight from Quito to our new holiday home in Manabi, Ecuador, about a one-hour flight, around $120 for the two of us, plus baggage fees. Our holiday home will be waiting for us, and we look forward to that part of our time in Ecuador as well as the cruise/tour. We’ll share more details later.

I’m a little concerned about the altitude in Quito at 9,350 feet above sea level, but hopefully, we’ll both be fine. I used to ski in the Colorado mountains in my younger years (before I met Tom) and never had a problem with elevations over 10,000 feet. I’m hoping it will be the same now. Tom has never experienced such a high altitude.

While we were at urgent care for Tom a few days ago, we got a prescription for Diamox (acetazolamide) to be used in advance for potential altitude sickness. With many possible side effects, we’ll wait and see how we do before taking the drug.

Later today, at 3:30, we’ll pick up grandson Vincent for skeet shooting and then for dinner. It will be great to spend time with him. He’s almost 18 years old, intelligent, and quite a conversationalist. No doubt, we’ll have a wonderful time with him.

Last night, we stayed in watching a few episodes of Formula One on Netflix and one episode of The Good Doctor, a delightful series we’ve watched intermittently, enjoying each episode. By 11:00 pm, we were both fast asleep and awoke feeling refreshed in the morning. Tom is taking his medications regularly and has started to see a slight improvement. Hopefully, soon, he’ll feel much better.

That’s it for today, folks. We hope you have a good Sunday.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 16, 2013:

No photo was posted here ten years ago. To read the text for that post, please click here.

Another enjoyable lunch with dear old friends…

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You know me and food photos! Tom’s taco salad yesterday at lunch with Pat and Charlie. I had the taco salad without the shell.

OK. I screwed up again. I forgot to take a photo of our friends Pat and Charlie, whom we met for lunch in Albertville, Minnesota, yesterday afternoon. But I didn’t forget to take food photos. Shame on me! Tom and Charlie, old friends from the railroad, had seen one another a few times when we’d come to visit in the past. But I hadn’t seen him, and neither of us had seen Pat since Tom’s retirement party just before we left 11 years ago.

I’d intended to take a photo of the two or have our server take a photo of the four of us, but the lively conversation distracted me, and the time flew by so quickly. We’ve been grateful to see so many friends while traveling lately and look forward to more opportunities.

Finally, after a delicious lunch at the restaurant, it was 3:00 pm and time to head out. We hugged Pat and Charlie, saying we hoped to see them again on another visit sometime in the future. It had been way too long since we saw them.

I don’t know what Charlie ordered, but it had lots of gravy. He didn’t eat all of it.

We’d planned to drive to the nearby outlet mall and see if we could find water shoes for our upcoming tour and cruise to the Galapagos Islands in a little over a month. We checked out a few stores in the outlet mall to no avail. All the water shoes were gone, with Minnesota winter looming, and styles were geared toward winter activities rather than being in the water.

Our next best option is ordering them on Amazon since neither of us likes to drive all over town to various stores. We don’t like shopping. Even when we walked into the Payless Shoe Store, we cringed over all of the options but could not find anything that worked for either of us.

When we didn’t find shoes at the outlet mall, we headed to the Gap store to purchase some tee shirts for Tom. All he had left were worn and tattered tee shirts, which could easily be tossed into the garbage when they weren’t worth donating to Goodwill.

Pat’s lettuce wraps.

Next, we need to find him several short-sleeve button-up shirts. Since we began traveling, the Bass button shirts he’s been wearing have become threadbare and are ready to be tossed into the trash. It appears that the particular style that he likes is no longer available. We often find that to be the case when we return to the US to make new purchases of items we want.

At the Gap store, we could buy him seven nice tee shirts at half price that appeared to be of high quality. Now he can toss the old ones. We were thrilled to get all the shirts under $70 without sales tax. Minnesota has no sales tax on clothes, saving us 7% or 8% when purchasing items here.

I found Tom two new Bass shirts on eBay this morning and ordered them for him. I hadn’t shopped on eBay for a very long time, but in the past, I often found some fantastic deals on various items. I’ve seen some shirts that may work on Amazon and will place the order soon, along with water shoes for both of us.

On the way back from the restaurant, we returned to the pharmacy to pick up Tom’s prescriptions for his cough. Finally, everything was in stock. We were anxious to get him on the medications that hopefully will help him. He started everything last night, but I don’t expect to see any improvement for several days.

Today, we’re heading out on a few errands and will pick up food for dinner, which we’ll have at the hotel tonight since we made no plans for tonight. Soon, Tom’s family members will return from out of town, and we look forward to seeing them soon.

Have a great weekend!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 16, 2013:

Hans, the owner of the house in Diani Beach, Kenya, and our next-door neighbor, made Tom one of his special local concoctions while I sipped on my usual iced tea while chatting with Hans’ lovely wife, Jerie. For more photos, please click here.

Tom’s trip to urgent care…Visit to Costco with information overload…Another Minnesota Vikings disappointment…

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The Vikings lost last night for the second time in the regular season. Our sons are big fans of the Vikings and were sorely disappointed, as was Tom.

Yesterday, we took Tom to urgent care for an unrelenting cough he’d had since he got the flu on the last cruise. We’d tested him for COVID-19 at the time, which was negative. But, his cough, mostly awful at night, was worrying. Finally, he agreed to get an appointment at the same urgent care facility he’d visited when he got COVID-19 pneumonia in 2022 when we were in Minnesota to see family. As it turned out, he was so sick and potentially contagious that we never saw family during that visit.

The doctor spent a lot of time with us and prescribed several prescriptions for Tom, which hopefully we can pick up today. The Walgreens pharmacy had to special order one of the meds, a popular drug we were surprised they didn’t have on hand. That was frustrating since the major medication would help him the most. Now, we’ve lost a day or two in his recovery.

It was wonderful to see our old next-door neighbor and good friend, Nelleke, again, who works at that urgent care facility. She’s the X-ray tech and did Tom’s intake. She, too, is a regular reader of our site and knew everything we’d done and everywhere we’ve been. We’re working on planning a get-together with her, her partner, friend Sue Sue’s daughter Sherry, and her husband Michael. Hopefully, this will all work out. We’d love that!

Fortunately, nothing horrible was found on his X-ray besides the same appearance of his “honeycomb lungs,” the same thing they’d seen on his last X-ray when he had COVID-19. The doctor explained this can happen for long periods after being infected with COVID-19. The end result, he, too, has long-haul COVID-19, just like me. Hopefully, this new round of drugs will help him.

Also, after finishing the post yesterday afternoon, we headed to Costco, only a few minutes from our hotel. We had about $500 in shop cards we’d accumulated since the last time we were here, including credits for using the Costco credit card worldwide for fuel and annual perks.

Most of the credit came from booking one of our recent cruises through Costco Travel. Each time a customer does so, they receive a “shop card” once the cruise has ended. We had booked many cruises through Costco, but seven were canceled due to COVID-19; thus, we never received those shop cards.

Walking into the store reminded me of past visits during our travel years and feeling overwhelmed by the amount of “stuff” in the massive warehouse store. We were in a state of “information overload.” I had a list of items we wanted to buy, but as it turned out, they didn’t carry most of my list.

We left with only purchasing dinner to bring to Greg’s house while we watched the Minnesota Vikings’ second game of the season. What a disappointment! Our favorite team has had little success over the years, and yet Tom and our kids and some of our grandkids continue to watch with the hope that someday they will do well enough to go to the Super Bowl, let alone win the big event.

After the game, we headed back to the hotel, leaving leftovers for Greg and enough leftovers for us for tonight’s dinner. To keep costs down, we’re trying not to dine in a restaurant more than once a day, and when we’re alone, to have meals we’ve selected from the grocery store that we can reheat in the hotel’s microwave oven.

With plenty of good shows to stream, we don’t mind the quiet nights when we don’t see anyone end up hanging out in the living room in our suite hotel room. We have a refrigerator and use of the big kitchen here for dishes and flatware. It’s easy for us to entertain ourselves.

Today, at 1:00, as mentioned, we’re meeting old friends Pat and Charlie in Albertville for lunch, about 40 minutes from here. Thus, if we’re hungry tonight, we can eat our leftovers from last night. If not, we can eat them tomorrow night since we have no plans for Saturday night at this point.

Many members of Tom’s family are out of town this weekend, but once they return, we’ll make plenty of plans with them, and our schedule will fill up in no time. In the interim, we can spend lots of time with my son Greg, his girlfriend Heather, and the two remaining grandkids, Madiighan and Miles, who spend every other week at their mom’s house. They’ll return to Greg’s home this Sunday for a week, and we’ll plan something with them during that time.

That’s it for today, folks.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 15, 2013:

We had dinner in a cave restaurant in Kenya. Diners began to filter in around 8:00 pm, filling all tables by the time we were ready to leave around 9:45 pm. We’d be warned not to rush the servers worldwide when customs and expectations differ from the US. Many countries’ servers are accustomed to taking their time in delivering the food and the bill. Most often, as is the case here in Kenya, tips are only allowed to be paid in cash, not added to the credit card slip. Of course, this requires us to keep adequate foreign money currency on hand. For more, please click here.

A special dinner with my granddaughter Maisie…

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My sweet granddaughter, Maisie, is heading to school in Wisconsin. Last night was a special time for us to get together before she had to leave today. We had a fantastic time.

When we knew we were coming here, we were aware that Maisie would be attending school in Wisconsin, and we wanted to spend as much time with her before she left. We planned last night as a special time for just the two of us to chat and commiserate as granddaughters and grandmas often do.

The time passed quickly as we chatted and ate our dinners while situated in a comfy booth at the familiar restaurant we often visit when we stay in Eden Prairie. Tom had perused the menu before I left and picked out his “dinner to go,” which I ordered for him during the last 20 minutes in the restaurant.

When son Greg dropped me off at the hotel with Tom’s dinner, he hugged Maisie and wished her well on her new experience. Gosh, our grandkids are growing up fast. Fortunately, we’ve returned to Minnesota many times over the years to see them and see how much they’ve grown and matured.

Maisie enjoyed her pasta but couldn’t eat all of it and gave her dad the leftovers when he came to pick us up.

Back in our room for the remainder of the evening, we streamed the last episode of The Lincoln Lawyer, a great show, and began watching a series recommended by our friends Marylin and Gary, who visited us in Henderson, Nevada, about a week ago. The show is on Netflix entitled Formula One, a docu-series with five seasons to watch. We got into the show right away and look forward to many other episodes.

Thanks, Marylin and Gary! I apologize for spelling your name wrong in past posts. I recalled something unique about the spelling of Marylin’s name, but I looked up a past email to see if I’d been spelling it wrong. Sorry about that, dear friend. I will get it right in the future!

Speaking of dear friends, in a few minutes, my friend Chere will arrive at the hotel for us to visit. We saw each other about a year ago when we were here, and it will be fun to see her again now. We’ve been friends for about 25 years, and conversations with her are exciting and delightful.

Later today, Tom and I will head to Costco, just around the corner from the hotel, to use some of the gift cards we received from booking one of our last cruises through their travel department. Plus, he had a few other Costco credits from buying gas using the Costco credit card and another bonus we received. Overall, we have about $500 in Costco gift cards.

My Cobb salad from Champps was good but not great. The chicken should have been cut into small pieces and tossed into the salad. Otherwise, it was good.

We’re going to Greg’s home tonight to watch the Minnesota Vikings game at 7:00 pm. We’ll bring some ready-made food from Costco, so we don’t have to cook and make a mess.

After a wonderful get-together with my friend Chere, I just returned to the room. As usual, she and I sat at a table in the hotel lobby area and enjoyed chatting. Hopefully, she and I will figure out other times to meet again before our month in Minnesota ends.

On Friday, at 1:00 pm, we’re meeting Tom’s old friend Charlie and his wife Pat for lunch in Albertville. He and Charlie were pals for decades while working on the railroad. It will be fun to see them both once again.

That’s it for today, dear readers.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 14, 2013:

Ten years ago today, we booked our first safari adventure at Sanctuary Retreat, Olonana, in the Maasai Mara, Kenya, one of the most fantastic safari locations in the world. For more, please click here.

Cherished visit with an old friend…Info for new booking in Ecuador…But, not photos…Those coming later…

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Tom and our dear friend, Sue.

This morning at 10:00 am, we drove a short distance to Friendship Village, a retirement community in Bloomington, Minnesota, to visit our dear long-term friend Sue, whom we hadn’t seen in a few years. No words can express how wonderful it was to spend time with her.

We thought we might stay for an hour or so, but it turned into three hours, and the time passed so quickly that we hardly noticed. Sue and Chip, her husband, whom we also dearly loved and adored, were our neighbors for many years when we lived in Minnesota. Chip sadly passed away in 2012 before we left, and we were heartbroken to lose our dear friend.

The two of them were an integral part of our lives, living four doors from us, and our lives were intertwined in many ways. Not only did Chip and Tom have a fantastic friendship on their own, but Sue and I did as well. And yet, when the four of us got together, which we did frequently, it was magical, with the lively conversations and laughs we enjoyed over the years.

Over the 11 years we’ve been gone, we’ve visited Sue many times, sharing our experiences while we’ve been traveling and sharing details of her life now without Chip and the many incredible experiences the four of us shared for 26 years. It was a delightful and emotional time.

This is only the beginning of many get-togethers we are planning while we are in Minnesota this month. Working out dates and times is tricky, with everyone living fast-paced lives with countless appointments and plans. In our peculiar life of world travel, we don’t experience this fast pace except on travel days when we have a tight schedule.

While we were away, Sue moved to Friendship Village, a lovely retirement complex with many amenities and beautiful decor.

But that’s life in the US and also in many countries throughout the world in the big cities. Tom just returned from an appointment he’d scheduled to get a haircut. He arrived early, and after waiting for 15 minutes, he canceled the appointment and left. I was shocked to see him back so early. When he explained how he was sitting there waiting and how frustrated he became, I understood. We’re not used to waiting for service in locations we’ve been visiting worldwide.

Life has been easy in many countries without crowds and people waiting for their turns. Perhaps we are spoiled. Even driving in traffic is frustrating for us when we haven’t done so for such a long time. We love the remote areas where we’ve lived, often for many months.

And…speaking of remote areas, in about six weeks, again, we’ll be living in a remote location, this time In Ecuador, away from crowds, traffic, noise, and commotion. It’s our kind of lifestyle.

Unfortunately, the photos of the new booking are in a format I cannot download, regardless of how hard I try. Thus, I am providing the link to the listing on VRBO, where, with only one click, you can see the property. Please click on the following link to see all the photos and information.

https://www.vrbo.com/3502330?adultsCount=2&unitId=4075476

Me and dear friend Sue.

Please note when you go to this site, you only need to click in the photo area where it says +36 photos, and you will see all the photos. This property is a duplex but based on its remote location, we anticipate the other side-by-side unit won’t be rented often while we’re there. Most likely, we’ll have the pool and the property to ourselves. When we lived in Placencia, Belize, over ten years ago, we lived in a condo with other units attached on each side. It was never a problem for us.

In that case, we had an opportunity to meet and socialize with our neighbors in Belize. Hopefully, if other travelers arrive, we’ll be able to socialize with them as well. We always prefer a single house, but we think this will work out well for us this time. It’s an oceanfront property with a pool and a lovely property. What more could we ask for?

That’s it for today, dear readers. Thanks to all of you for your support and readership of our site. We’re always amazed by YOU!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago  today, September 12, 2013:

Hesborn referred to this as a millipede.  We didn’t bother to count the number of legs. These are harmless, although if walking on a person, they leave a trail of “itchy liquid.” For more details, please click here.

Busy first day in Minnesota…Here’s how it went…Remembering 22 years ago…

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The entertainment at the venue in Tromso was undoubtedly a great representation of Norwegian customs.

I thought I was done with all the Norway cruise photos, but when I encountered the above photos, I thought it would be good to share this story again for those who may have missed it. It was a special night; details may be found at the above link to the post from the following day.

The past 24 hours have been a whirlwind of activities. First, at 10:30 am, Greg and the kids picked me up at the hotel. I didn’t know they wanted to go out to breakfast, so I had breakfast at the hotel. Instead, I joined Greg and the three kids at the restaurant while they ate, and I drank decaf coffee.

Afterward, we drove to Greg’s new place, which he moved to several months ago after his divorce and he moved out of the family home. He has the three kids at his place every other week, and I was thrilled to see them before they left for their other home at 4:00 pm.

On “Aza-mazing Night,” all the participating passengers loaded into buses, and we headed to a theatre for a live performance in Tromso, Norway.

We watched the disappointing Minnesota Vikings football. On and off during the game, my three teenage grandchildren checked in every so often. Greg’s girlfriend, Heather, who arrived around 1:00, was a delight. I’d never met her before and found her a perfect match for him. We all chatted endlessly.

Earlier in the day, Tom drove to TJ’s house, and they, too, watched the disappointing Vikings game. After the game, he met up with Tammy and Tracy to play trivia at a brewery in Robbinsdale.

We’d scheduled to meet Tom at the Brick and Bourbon restaurant at 5:30, and it all worked out. The kids were back at the other house, and Greg, Heather, and I headed out. We enjoyed the food and ambiance; of course, the flowing conversation was easily had among the four of us.

Upon returning to the hotel around 8:45 pm, Tom fell under the weather and crawled under the covers, shivering. He’d been coughing a lot since getting sick on the last cruise and still hadn’t recovered. My symptoms disappeared in a few days, but his lingered. It was a rough night, and neither of us slept much.

This morning, he was feeling slightly better but still not 100%. After breakfast at the hotel, we drove to the local Cub market for some items for dinner. He waited in the car while I went in to shop and got change for laundry. This hotel, Hyatt Place, doesn’t have laundry facilities, but arrangements had been made with a hotel across the parking lot for guests to use their self-serve laundry for $2 each for washing and drying.

Day 10…Norway Cruise…More from Tromso…Last night’s fantastic evening in Tromso…

We walked over each time, but when we went to pick up the dry clothes, they weren’t dry after all, and we had to do another drying cycle. After a while, we walked over there again to pick up the clothes, after which I folded everything and put it away. From there, the rest of my day is free. A nap might be ideal for both of us around 2:00 pm.

For dinner, I bought Tom his favorite soup, Chicken Wild Rice from Panera, with roasted chicken, guacamole, and raw veggies for me. Tonight, we’ll stay in and recover a little. It’s been a hectic period since we left Florida on July 28, and a day and night’s rest is definitely on the agenda.

Today, on September 11, we are reminded of the horrors of 2001 when the terrorist act killed thousands of lives. We send our love and prayers to those who lost loved ones. And…we also send love and prayers for all who have lost loved ones in the horrors of the pandemic and other causes over the years.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 11, 2012:

Tom engaged in power lounging in Diani Beach, Kenya, in our outdoor screen-less living room while searching for future cruises. Tom’s not naked. He’s wearing shorts. For more photos, please click here.

Leaving Las Vegas…Our trip to Minnesota…All is going great!!..

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Our last view of the pool at the Green Valley Ranch Spa Casino Resort.
With today’s busy schedule, I wrote the text for the post while flying from Las Vegas to Minneapolis. There were only 60 passengers on the Southwest non-stop flight, and we were asked to choose our seats when we boarded rather than in advance.

That was unusual for us, although we’ve had a similar scenario when we have flown on small planes. But this plane has a capacity for about 175 passengers, so it was weird that so few were flying to MSP. We chose seats across the aisle from one another.

There were no entertainment screens on the flight, so I could play non-WiFi games on my phone, which I did for the first 45 minutes and got bored. At that point, I decided to write the post based on how little time we have tomorrow with one family event after another.

Leaving the hotel was seamless, and since we had to check out by noon, we decided to head directly to the airport. It’s a good thing we did. Tom dropped me and the three bags off at the airport at curbside check-in and drove off to return the rental car. We picked a spot where I’d wait for him. I waited and waited, and no Tom.

After a while, I became concerned when he didn’t show up—an hour had passed. Las Vegas airport is undoubtedly chaotic, but he should have returned sooner. I wasn’t sure if he’d turned on his phone after putting it on Do Not Disturb last night, but I called him on WhatsApp hoping he’d answer, but he did not.

I didn’t panic. Sooner or later, he would arrive. I needed to be patient. Finally, he appeared, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled to see him.

As it turned out, he’d accidentally left the computer bag in the rental car when he dropped it off. It had our passports, laptops, and essential documents. Also, it included his wallet with cash and credit cards. Oh, good grief. This could have been a major fiasco. Fortunately, the bus driver drove him back to the rental car return and the bag was still in the vehicle. Whew. He dodged a bullet.

He had to find his way back and forth on multiple bus rides to get the bag and make his way to the terminal to find me. I can only imagine how stressful that was for him. He surprised me by how calm he was when he finally arrived.

In no time, we made our way to the gate, where we waited for over 90 minutes to board our flight. Good thing we arrived so early.

As I wrote, when we were surprisingly comfortably situated on the plane, we appeared to be arriving in Minneapolis in no time at all. The flight was less than three hours long.

We got the rental car and headed to our hotel in Eden Prairie, where we will stay for the next month until we depart for South America.  All is good.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 10, 2013:
There was no post on this date ten years ago.

Day 9…Henderson, Nevada.. Posting photos from “White Night” on Azamara Journey…One day and counting…

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We won’t post more photos from our Norway cruise going forward other than today’s posting from the fabulous “White Night” aboard Azamara Journey, as shown on this post, not in a separate post. I appreciate your patience while we shared photos from our first cruise when the WiFi signal was too weak to post photos. We excluded a few ports of call for expediency.

The decor by the pool was decorative and festive for the occasion of “White Night.”

Day 11…Norway Cruise…Last night’s fantastic “White Night”…Today…Alta, Norway…

We were looking forward to posting the photos from the Azamara “White Night” but had decided to post them after we’d posted them from the ports of call on the Norway cruise. Now that it is completed, I can relax and return to preparing one post each day.

This was my delicious plate! It was amazing that there were many items I could eat.

We hope you enjoy the photos from that night, which we consider our favorite event on the two cruises. It wasn’t so much about the socialization, which was great, but more about the festive atmosphere on a night that put the Azamara staff to work on many aspects of the event.

There was plenty of seating for the ship’s 578 passengers.

Officers were serving food, and it appeared most of the staff was in attendance, ensuring it was a memorable night for each one of its passengers. It was flawless, with every aspect prepared and executed to the most finite detail. We couldn’t have asked for more.

The food was not only delicious but also presented beautifully.

We’ve had a busy morning. We slept until around 8:00, and by 9:00 am, we were comfortably seated in a booth in the restaurant for our usual delicious breakfast. There’s only one more breakfast, and we’ve both loved our delightful meal. Over the years, it has been a real highlight for us when we’ve stayed at the Green Valley Ranch Spa Resort and Casino in Henderson, Nevada.

There were more options than I had room for.

Once we finished breakfast, we headed back to our room to put together a pile of clothing to donate to the Goodwill store close to the DMV, where we went on Tuesday to renew our driver’s licenses. The licenses will be sent to our mailing service in a few weeks, and we’ll have them forwarded to us at the hotel in Minnesota where we’ll be staying for the next month.

We didn’t eat any of these items.

Next, we headed to Richard’s office to scan a pile of documents left from the mailing service pickup a few days ago, none of which we needed to keep hard copies. We don’t carry “papers” with us, adding to the weight of our bags. After we left Richard’s office, we drove to the Goodwill store, a 15-minute drive. Then, we filled the rental car with petrol and returned to the hotel.

Neither of us selected cheese with so many other exciting options.

Once back in our room, I completed communication with the owners of a house we’re renting in Ecuador, beginning on October 24, after the Galapagos cruise. Negotiating a reasonable price, details we’ll share with photos tomorrow. We’re excited about this new place where we’ll live until January 8, 2024.

Mouth-watering offerings.

From there, we have nothing booked at this time. However, in Ecuador, we’ll decide on future plans in South America or wherever we may travel. It’s all up for grabs. Since the pandemic, we feel comfortable not booking too far into the future, based on the hassles we experienced when we had to cancel many trips, flights, cruises, rental cars, and holiday homes.

The white theme was visually appealing to everyone.

I picked up a copy of our hotel bill so far and found an error this morning. They hadn’t credited us the 50% off we got on the resort fee when we first checked in. A few minutes ago, I received a call from the VIP reception staff, and she’s since made the corrections that will show up on our bill when we check out tomorrow at noon.

As we looked around, we realized how many wonderful people we’d met, all of whom were having a great time. Six sat at our table for more lively conversation.

Late this afternoon at 4:30, my son and his girlfriend will pick us up at the entrance to the resort to head to Summerlin for dinner and a movie. It’s been fun hanging out with them several times since our arrival. This has been a fantastic stay in Nevada, with quality time with family and friends. I am getting a few things done and enjoying this lovely resort.

There were many items I didn’t try when I didn’t want to bother the staff enquiring about ingredients.

Tomorrow, we fly to Minnesota and will attempt to get a new post uploaded before we fly away at 3:45 pm. Thanks for “traveling along with us” on these past journeys. We look forward to more in the future.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 8, 2013:

Our new vegetable stand in Diani Beach, Kenya, is a short walk from our holiday home. Notice the motorcycle. The produce is delivered by motorcycle each day! For more photos, please click here.

Day 8…Henderson, Nevada.. Posting photos from Trondheim, Norway continues today…Two days and counting…

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Not our photo, but what a great shot of the Northern Lights in Norway in the winter when they can be seen.

Yesterday afternoon, we watched another movie at the movie theatre in the resort, one Tom didn’t like, Meg 2, The Trench. I’m less picky about these types of movies, and although it wasn’t worthy of many stars, I was moderately entertained. I looked at him several times and hoped he was napping since I knew he was struggling. Finally, it ended, and we were returning to our room to make plans for the evening.

On our walk through the casino, we stopped and made a reservation at Borracha, the Mexican restaurant in the hotel. With our VIP coupon of 20% off all meals (not drinks) at any restaurants in the resort, we thought this would be a good choice. Once we returned to our room, we got a message from my son and his girlfriend that they had made a reservation at Borracha for 6:30 for the four of us. What a coincidence!

I texted the hostess to let her know we’d be canceling our 6:00 pm reservation since we were already included in a 6:30 reservation. Before dinner, while still in our room, I worked on setting up my new Fitbit, which we’d picked up from the mailing service. I charged it and installed a new band I’d purchased with it, a decorative stainless steel band instead of its usual ugly black band.

Since I’d dropped my old Fitbit, breaking the face, I was anxious to get it replaced. With my heart condition, I need to track my heart rate and perform occasional ECGs, provided accurately using the watch with an FDA approval feature. Since we arrived in Nevada a week ago, I haven’t had a single bout of Afib, which makes me hopeful after many episodes in the past month on the two cruises.

Focusing on getting plenty of sleep, which I think was a trigger when staying up too late too many nights, I may have discovered an additional important factor in preventing this awful irregular, fast heartbeat, often lasting for hours. I’ll continue to focus on sleep and lots of walking, which seem to help so much.

In this hotel, it’s a long walk from our room to the restaurants, and we leave the room several times daily. No, my legs can’t walk 10,000 steps a day, but for now, I am managing to get 5,000-6,000 steps per day, quite an improvement from when we were in Florida. Gosh, that seems like a long time ago.

Anyway,  by 6:30 pm, the four of us were situated at the comfy booth in the restaurant and had another fantastic time together. The food was mediocre, and Tom was disappointed he couldn’t get a blended Margarita in a Mexican restaurant. He doesn’t care for the non-blended versions. I had trouble finding something to eat and ended up ordering the equivalent of a taco salad, without the shell, topped with a small sliced flank steak. It was good but not great.

In two days, on Saturday, we’ll fly to Minnesota in the afternoon, arriving at 8:45 pm. It certainly has been fun being here. Couple that with feeling better and visits from our friends; our time here in Nevada has been delightful.

Speaking of visits from friends…around 11:00 am, our friends Marilyn and Gary from Utah will arrive to have lunch with us. We didn’t go to breakfast this morning since we’ll be having lunch before too long. We’ll probably have a late dinner tonight since, after eating lunch, we won’t be hungry for quite a while.

The only task we have left to accomplish while here is to go to Richard’s office tomorrow to shred a stack of papers from the mail we picked up yesterday at the mailing service, most with some confidential information. We don’t have a lot of tasks to do in Minnesota other than to go to a Minute Clinic to get a prescription for an altitude sickness medication, acetazolamide, for our arrival in Quito, Ecuador, in a little over a month. It’s 2859 meters (9350 feet) above sea level.

The last time I was at that high an altitude was skiing in Colorado in the 1980s. Tom hasn’t ever been that high. This drug is supposed to prevent the symptoms of altitude sickness. At this point, we don’t want to take any chances with our health.

That’s it for today, folks. We’ll be back with more tomorrow, including a photo from today’s get-together with Marilyn and Gary.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 7, 2013:

Today, we met Nancy, one of the daytime support staff, at our guarded gate in Diani Beach, Kenya. She was so sweet, holding my hand the entire time we chatted. We love being able to talk to the locals. For more photos, please click here.

In reviewing the photos we hadn’t been able to post, it appears it will be very time-consuming and complicated to return to each post and add the photos we couldn’t post. As a result, we are posting some of the photos under the heading of each town over days, which can be found after each new day, listed as Part 1, Part 2 Norway, for example.

The new post with the photos is located below:

Part 6…Unpublished photos from the Azamara cruise to Trondheim, Norway…

Day 7…Henderson, Nevada.. Posting photos from Tromso, Norway continues today…Enjoying times in Nevada…

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Trolls are famous in Norway. What Are Trolls from Norse Mythology? Norwegian trolls are believed to be mythical creatures that live in isolated rocks or caves. They are believed to live alone or in small families and are hostile towards humans. As per the troll legends, they are believed to be evil and dangerous beings that prefer the wilderness.

We’ve run out of photos of Las Vegas and may not have time to take more local pictures while we’re here. As a result, we will only post one main photo on the regular daily post from one of the two recent cruises. Once we get to Minnesota, we will try to take photos, but it’s not always possible when busy with family events. Not all family members want their photos posted online. We always respect that.

Yesterday, when Tom’s old railroad friend Mark responded that his wife could not join us for drinks or dinner, I suggested Tom go on his own for some “guy time.” It’s a rarity that he has time to commiserate with friends without me there. Instead, I stayed in the hotel room and chatted on the phone with my friend Kathy (Kathy and Don), who lives in Hawaii. It was great that the time difference worked out when, so often when we chat, we’re dealing with substantial time differences.

Tom returned shortly after 8:00 pm when we headed to the restaurant for a nice dinner. Later, back in our room, we streamed a show and got to sleep by 11:00 pm. Twelve hours later, we were back in the restaurant, having breakfast, and now, close to 11:00 am, I’m making an effort to put a dent in today’s post so soon we can drive to our mailing service to pick up our mail.

Once we get the mail, we’ll be busy for an hour going through everything. We don’t have any big plans for today but have begun to book times to get together with our kids and grandkids in Minnesota. We’re starting with a busy Sunday, hoping to see all three of our kids in one day.

From there, we will have over a month to spend plenty of time with everyone, including time with Tom’s siblings and other family members and several friends we hope to see. It will be a fun and busy time until we finally leave for South America in October. It will be tricky managing the use of the rental car when we each have separate families to visit, and sometimes we each have to go our own way. But, as always, we’ll figure it out.

At least this time, we won’t be sick and can see everyone. When we had COVID-19, we spent weeks in Minnesota and never were able to spend time with the family for fear of infecting them, even after we tested negative. We were still coughing and wondered if we could infect anyone regardless of testing negative. There were mixed reviews on this topic.

It’s hard to believe we leave Nevada in three days, but we’ve got a lot done while we are here and spent quality time with family and friends who’ve come to visit. The surprise of Rita and Gerhard flying in from the state of Washington for six hours was quite a treat.

Tomorrow, friends Marilyn and Gary arrive at our hotel at 11:00 am, and we’ll have lunch together. We’re looking forward to seeing the two of them and are grateful they are driving the long way to see us. We are lucky to have such fine friends in many places.

Otherwise, we have a quiet day today with not much going on. We just returned from the mailing service and picked up all our packages and a small stack of mail, nothing too important. I’m anxious to set up my new Fitbit, but I will do that after everything else is gone through and when I finish today’s two posts.

This afternoon, we’re heading to another movie at the Regal Theatre here in the resort. It’s such fun for us to go to a movie after not doing so for a long time while living outside the US.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 6, 2013:

The goats in the rear yard of this property in Diana Beach, Kenya, posed for us when Hans‘ two small dogs, Gucci and Jessie, chased them into their goat house. For more photos, please click here.

In reviewing the photos we hadn’t been able to post, it appears it will be very time-consuming and complicated to return to each post and add the photos we couldn’t post. As a result, we are posting some of the photos under the heading of each town over days, which can be found after each new day, listed as Part 1, Part 2 Norway, for example.

The new post with the photos is located below:

Part 5…Unpublished photos from the Azamara cruise to Tromso, Norway…