We’ve been having amazing weather, although very changeable from day to day. We have gone camping twice in the last 6 weeks and then spent Labor Day weekend at Ron & Dario’s mountain cabin with them and some other friends. It was rainy & chilly but that was perfect for eating too much, drinking too much, and reading by the fire. Nice!

Sep 11 -13 we headed off for camping at Cape Lookout, on the Oregon Coast. We hadn’t been to that campground before and arrived on Friday at noon to find the most perfect day imaginable. For anyone who hasn’t been to the Oregon coast, well, let’s just say it’s not always shorts & tee-shirt type weather! However, on that day it was around 75degrees, sunny, and miracle of miracles, no wind! We got camp set up and spent the afternoon playing on the beach with Maddy…wonderful time. After heading back to get jackets and some drinks we had a fantastic sundowner on the beach with a glorious sunset. Sometimes, things just all come together!

The next day, alas, wasn’t quite as nice, although fairly warm and no wind. We took several long walks on the beach, bummed about, and headed into Tillamook to get Jim a new beach chair, his finally having bit the dust after being ripped for over a year.  A storm blew in late that night and we had to get up around midnight to batten down the hatches, throw some things into the car and tent , stack everything down a bit better.. I fear the sunshade may not survive that wind. No worries.. up Sunday to head home fairly early and were shocked to find brother in law Ken home from deployment for the week!! Amazingly enough, pretty much EVERYONE else knew but us (they were getting us back for surprising them when we got home from our RTW) and no one spilled the beans.

Obviously, with that new development, Sunday night turned into a welcome home party and Monday morning was messy to say the least. Lucky me, I got to sit through 7hours of training on the new airline system. Oh joy! However we survived and started a busy week, dinner together, the boys taking a camping trip for 2 days with Ken’s brothers, and my pulling out my back a bit unloading the new keg (well, we had to have a new keg you know!) Friday night commenced with enchilada night at our house and what seemed like gallons of tequila. Ken was off again Saturday morning but, fingers crossed, may not have to actually leave to Afghanistan until October.

We have decided to go to Puerto Vallarta for our 20th anniversary next year. Jamaica was becoming a bit complicated trying to use miles, the hotel we wanted wasn’t availabel, etc. and when we started talking about it we realized that, although we do still want to get to Jamaica, Puerto Vallarta has such meaning to us we should go there. We’ve been there more than a dozen times. it’s sort of our place of refuge at moments like after my mom passed away as well as where we go to really just get away and relax. So, planning is going full force. Can’t wait to see our old friends on the beach.

As far as other travel goes, I spend my lunch hours drooling over other peoples blogs at bootsnall.com. We are still planning our next getaway for 4-5 years down the road and I’m honestly not sure we’ll last that long. Whenever I read a blog about a couple who has decided to NOT follow the path everyone expects them to and decides life should be about more than working 40-60hrs a week just to get by I remember that  is what we want too and we’re already straining at the bit. We really want to lead a “life less ordinary” and while we made a good start with our RTW, we’re not done!

One good thing about being back at work is that I’m writing a lot of catalog and webpage copy and even did a couple short blurbs for our ads in AARP so maybe I can get some travel writing thing going, even just freelance every so often.. that would certainly help keep us on the road longer. Until then, we’ll keep doing our thing, still enjoying spending most of our time together and dreaming of past and future travel and plotting the next departure. Until next time,Still living the Dream!

Cheers, Jim & Rhonda

I spent 2 weeks sending out dozens of resumes, calling on jobs, filling out applications and going door to door to drop resumes. Nothing much was coming of it in this tough job market but at least I was feeling productive. Then, miracle of miracles, I got an email from an Elizabeth at Grand European Tours (where I worked for  10 years prior to our RTW for anyone new to this blog) saying she got my email from my friend Jo and she was moving to Italy for 1yr and wanted to know what travel insurance we had on our RTW. I responded to her, of course, but also to Jo saying who is this person and can I have her job??? Within 24hrs I was on the phone with my old boss talking about options and the next day was offered a position back at GET. I was never happier than to walk into Direct Travel and give notice.

After a long weekend I started back at GET 2 years to the day I was last employed here. It was like an amazing homecoming, they had 2 boxes in storage of some of my old files, the computer desktop was my same old photo I took at the Melk Abbey, all of my old friends were there, etc. Just fantastic. I wasn’t able to come back at quite the same position and, unfortunately had to start over with being low man on the seniority totem pole.  Apparently, HR in California doesn’t think 2yrs is an acceptable “leave of absence”. LOL, but I guess I can’t blame them there. However, starting benefits at GET are vastly superior to anything I’ve had since we’ve returned and, for that matter, to most jobs out there so I am content. I am here in my super-sized cubicle, surrounded by photos from our RTW and looking forward to more travels to come.

Because of the job change we were also able to move our horse, Bug, back to the barn where we had boarded her while we were traveling. It’s more money but I was just not as comfortable with where we had been boarding her for the last 4 months. She had dropped quite a bit of weight and when I brought it up the woman said “oh yes, I had noticed she was having trouble chewing her food well” but she had never brought it up to me. That started warning bells ringing. So, back she went to Sunshine Farms in Oregon City to hang out with her old pasture friends. We’ve all sort of come full circle… Jim in a new industry but working with his friend Mike, me back at GET, and Bug back at her old farm. Dear Maddy is really the only totally new change going on! I guess the phrase “the more things change the more they stay the same” is accurate.

We’re starting to plan our 20th Anniversary trip to Jamaica for 2010 and hoping we’ll be in Europe as well, now that I’m back at GET. We’re also renting a beach house for my birthday in Nov. Since my 40th in Australia was such a bust we decided we’re doing a “redo”.  Can’t wait to walk on the beach, have hot toddy’s in front of the fire, and just chill. For now just enjoying the summer now that our heat wave has lifted, going out on the boat and camping.

Other than that, I feel as though a huge weight has been lifted. Jim says he feels he’s got his old wife back, and things are just easier than they were one month ago. Life certainly threw us curveball when we came home and now things are changing again. It certainly keeps things interesting.

With that said, we’d still rather be on the road! But, reality bites sometimes, and for now we’ve got a good place to live, good jobs, a great new dog and life is good. We’ll just keep rolling along and see what tomorrow brings. We’ll enjoy all that we have and start planning and saving for Central & South America. Best wishes to everyone we love who has been so supportive both during our high & low times. As always, Living the Dream! Cheers, Jim & Rhonda

The second big change was that we adopted a fantastic dog whom we named Maddy. I was walking into work one day and there was a woman walking a dog right outside with a coat on that said “adopt me”. I stopped to ask about her and this dog was immediately all over me, licking me, wanting to sit on my feet pressed against my leg, etc. I called Jim to have him look at Pixie Projects website for a photo of her and turns out they’d only had her 4 days so nothing online yet. Jim & I went to look at her together the next day and we took her home 2 days later. She’s 8-9yrs old, a black lab- Australian shephard mix and was found lost or abandoned in SW Washington. The humane society picked her up there and Pixie Project got her from them. (Ironically enough, the owners of the building that Dosha is located in are also the founders of the Pixie Project rescue). She’s exactly what we were looking for..active and fun but old enough that she loves to just hang out and nap as well. She’s leash trained, crate trained, excellent at fetch, shakes hands, and is very polite…an excellent addition to the family!!! She loves going out on the boat and just this last weekend while camping she discovered how much she loves swimming.

Third and latest change is that I also just got a new job. On July 6 I’ll be starting at Directworld Travel. They’re a hotel wholesaler and get lists of people/companies who will be exhibiting at conventions around the country. They then contact them to attempt to sell them their hotel rooms as opposed to booking online, through travel agencies, etc. It’s all outbound calling- which is not thrilling but…… it’s Mon-Fri, 7-3:30pm, no dress code (no more all black- yippee!!!), holidays off, closer to home and more $$. So, while not exactly what I’m looking for it is certainly a step in the right direction.  I’m still on the list for county jobs for the next 11 months plus am going to keep looking at other options but I am really excited about having a consistent schedule. I am really flexible in many areas of my life but I do really like knowing what time I go to work and come home each day and am THRILLED to not be on my feet on cement for 8 hrs every day!! No more sore feet, no more evenings, no more weekends and no more holidays. Fantastic! Having said that, however, I will truly miss the people at Dosha… I made many great friends and had a wonderful time working with them.

Other than the big changes in our life, things are going along as usual. We’ve been camping a few times already for the year and just returned this afternoon from Lake Billy Chinook in central Oregon and had a fantastic time as always. We’re still seriously sorry that we’re not still on the road and we don’t really think that feeling will go away. Our year away just changed us too much to be happy in one spot, working at  so-so jobs, etc. is just not what we want to do. However, we’re very happy because we have a great life together.. we’ve now worked it out so we’re back to spending more time together again, enjoying the lovely summer weather of Portland and playing with our new addition. Until we are financially ready to hit the road again we’ll just enjoy family & friends and be grateful for the life we have.

For our long 4th of July weekend we’re lazing about on Friday, spending Saturday afternoon-evening at Ron & Dario’s new house at a pool party, and Sunday at Steve’s 40th bday party..it should be a lovely, relaxing weekend around town. Other than that we’re really looking forward to summer weekends at the beach, camping, and the farmers markets.

Everyone have a safe & happy holiday and enjoy the lazy days of summer. Cheers Jim & Rhonda (still living the dream, just in a bit of a different way!!)

The weekend between Christmas & New Years we moved Ken & Wendy out of this house and us into it. One word of advice…never, and I mean never, move 2 households in 3 days. Yikes! But, we mostly did it. At this point Ken & Wendy’s new house is not yet liveable so they’re still using the guest room and the office but things are moving right along. Ken left Friday for his 1yr deployment to Afghanistan (sad:( ) and Wen should be truly moved out of the camper and into the new house by the end of April. I know she’ll just be on the lot behind us but it is going to be strange not all living together after almost 8 months of being together.

Jim’s birthday is coming up this weekend and I’m treating him to a 1 1/2 hr massage at Dosha and we’re having a party that night. Certainly different than last year when we were cruising the Nile but will be fun anyway! We’re still dying to get away again. We are certainly going to make Jamaica work next year for our 20th anniversary. Silly enough, “Cocktail” was the first movie we saw together and we swore we’d get to Jamaica. Well, 21 years, 43 countries and 5 continents later.. we still haven’t made it! But, for our 20th  we are definiately going to finally get to that gorgeous island.

I am starting to plan part of our next extended adventure already.  We’re going to start in Mexico, work our way by bus down through Central America, and the circle South America. We’re planning on 3-4 years from now and because we won’t be selling a house this time we’ll have to work sometimes as we go but that’s fine..it will be great to actually be part of a community every so often and we can afford to be away longer that way.

So really, that is it. We’re all moved into the house and, while it’s cool to have all of our “stuff” with us again I have found it doesn’t mean as much to me as it used to. We do have  a lot of really great things we’ve collected from all around the world and it makes for an interestingly eccentric decorating style!

Fingers crossed Jim & I get new jobs soon so we can see eachother more and we’ll just keep doing our thing for now while dreaming of travels past and future! God bless you all and happy trails!

Back here in our newest reality, the good news is Jim got a job almost as soon as we started looking which was GREAT!  This economy is proving to be a very difficult one for us , as well as most other people. He’s working at Schwan’s doing sales and he really loves it. He loves being out and about, visiting with customers, and it’s an easy sell product.  The only issue is that it’s a lot of hours and bad hours, as in about 9am-10pm every day which makes it difficult to spend any time together. But right now we’re happy he has it.

I have had a much more difficult time of it. It seems I am either way under or over qualified and this, combined with the huge number of job seekers, has made it tough. In early November I did get hired on for a part time, seasonal job doing retail at Dosha NW Salon & Spa. Any of you that know me are probably laughing your asses off as you know that is not my type of gig at all. In fact our dear Ron, upon hearing the news, said “But, don’t you have to be pleasant to have a job like that?”.. ha ha Ron. Believe me I was extremely “pleasant” when I told him what I thought of that comment!

So, anyhow…. it pays almost nothing and I work with a lot of perky 20’somethings but it does have it’s perks. First of all, it’s $$ coming in which we need at this point. Also, it is a very nice group of employees and we have a  pretty good time there. It’s a bit of a commute downtown but all in all it’s fine. And, looks as though I may be asked to stay after the holidays which would be good..again, certainly not a dream job but at this point I’ll take it! I continue to job hunt on my days off and had a fairly promising interview last week so we’ll see how that goes. It is disconcerting that every job I apply for has hundreds of other applicants as well, certainly nothing I’ve ever encountered before.

Ken & Wendy’s new house is moving slower than planned ( what else is new) and so we are still living in the camper. That in itself is not so bad and earlier this week when I wasn’t feeling well I reminded myself that last time I didn’t feel well I was freezing in India with no heat in the car, hotels, cold showers,etc. and completely miserable so this is a huge improvement! After we completed the first floor they hired framers to finish it up and it’s always fascinating watching people who actually know what they’re doing! In 3 weeks they put up three floors and the roof is now on, windows and HVAC are going in and siding goes up this week. Very exciting..for them since it’s going to be such a great house, and for us because we can kick them out of their current house so WE can move in! Pretty interesting to think that we’ve now been living out of a bag for 16 months.

The bad part of the last couple of months is how incredibly much we’re missing being on the road. We’re still in contact with some of the friends we met along the way, some are home and dreaming about traveling and a few are still on the road and I’m so jealous I can taste it. Funny how we thought about coming home and the excitement of seeing everyone but find that since we’ve been back we mainly only think about being gone. I can admit that a part of that is because I we have still been living out of bags and not had our own furniture and so on, and part of it is because I haven’t had a consistent schedule with job hunting and working different hours each week, etc. But, we truly have the bug and I am already researching our South America trip. Originally we had thought we’d wait 5-6 years before the next extended adventure but I’ve got to tell you I can’t see us lasting that long! My main goal is to attempt to figure out how we can earn some money on the road so we don’t feel we need to come home to get jobs again. We had also originally thought we’d buy another acreage but not sell next time and instead save up the money for the trip and just rent it out or whatever while we were gone. Now we’re thinking we may just continue to rent Ken & Wendy’s house for a couple of years and then be able to take off without having to worry about property. It’s a toss up with interest rates so low and house prices dropping but then, until I get a decent full time job we can’t afford to buy anyway so that solves that for now:)

So, for now life goes on. While dreaming of far away places, checking out airfares, and reading other peoples RTW blogs, I am focusing mostly on being grateful. Grateful that we have such great family they were willing to not only take us in but to let us stay this long. Grateful that Jim got a full time job and I have a job, at least for now, when so many people do not. Grateful that my big decision as commune chef is whether  we can afford beef tenderloin or pork tenderloin and not whether or not we can afford to buy anything. Grateful that America was finally smart enough to make a good election decision which will hopefully  get the country moving back in the right direction. And, mostly grateful that we have such an amazing life.. we’re happily married, healthy, and have had many great adventures so far with still more to come. Most of the people who crossed our path and touched us so deeply in the last year will never have such opportunities and possibilities and we are truly blessed.

And so, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you. We wish you all the best this world has to offer!

Lots of Love, Jim and Rhonda

Jim has had a bit more experience with the job hunting over the last few years, which doesn’t mean he’s liking it any better. We did attend a job fair and have each had several interviews so, fingers crossed, we’ll both get something soon. If not we may just need to take our remaining funds and buy a one way ticket to Puerto Vallarta and start working down there!!! There is a great little coffee shop called the Coffee Cup that is for sale…hmmmm, tempting!

We’re living in Ken & Wendy’s camper and helping with their new house. Thankfully the weather has been just fantastic and it makes it a lot easier to enjoy working outside. We are still hoping we can get their roof on by November but, we’ll see…Jim & I may be moving into an apartment for a while once we get jobs. Either way, we’re pretty used to being on the move so no big deal.

We did have a great camping trip last weekend to Deschutes State Park, which is right where the Deschutes enters the Columbia. A bit windy but otherwise pretty good weather. When they first made the reservation there were no electrical sites so we got a non-electrical one. Well, since it wasn’t great weather Wendy & I took it upon ourselves to see if there were any no-shows for a different site. Luckily, there were so on day 2 while the boys were fishing we moved the entire camp over…made quite a spectical of it for all the surrounding campers for sure.

We took our boat, Springbok, out on the Columbia on Sunday and did some fishing but alas, no catches…oh well, guess that’s why they call it fishing.

Now, back to the grind of  job hunting….wish us luck and we’ll keep you all informed on whether we get jobs or whether we get an airplane ticket…who can tell! Still living the dream, Jim & Rhonda

For breakfast the next morning we stopped at a little place advertising Indian & American food….they had exceptional eggs benedict and, even though it wasn’t on the menu, the lovely Indian owner made us true Chai tea like we’d had in India..sooooo good.

The Okanagan region of B.C. is just amazing. Gorgeous mountain scenery with dozens of lakes and rivers crisscrossing the landscape. It’s the wine region as well with over 100 wineries and tons of farmers markets and orchards. Too bad we only had the 1 night there but we’ll definitely try to go back someday. It was about a 5hr drive to Vancouver from Osoyoos, a beautiful drive all along the way.

We stayed with our friends Mike & Malisa for 4 nights, with friends Dana & Dallas driving up from Portland to join us. On Friday the boys all went golfing..unfortunately, in the pouring rain. Not a great golf day. Poor Malisa had to work so Dana & I lazed about and then drove downtown to join her for some great dim sum for lunch. The balance of the weekend was just a few nice walks and lots of eating and drinking. Luckily, the weather broke and was great for most of the time.

Monday we drove back down to Portland to once again take up residence in Ken & Wendy’s camper. It was wonderful to see how much progress they’ve made in building their new house and we’re all geared up to help take on that BIG project! For now, we are truly looking for jobs and have both sent out some resumes and we’ll be attending a job fair soon to get that part of our life back on track. In some ways we’re looking forward to it but then again, this year of freedom from schedules as been the most fantastic year ever and I’m already thinking of where we can head to on our next trip!

We ended up driving around 9200 miles on our road trip, and after the 8000 in Africa we are certainly not taking another driving trip anytime soon. But, the Coffee Cup restaurant in Puerto Vallarta is for sale and hmmmmm??? Possibilities, possibilites!!! Who knows where we’ll end up next. For now, we’re just hanging out and attempting to assimiliate into “normal” society….how long do you think it will last?? Cheers, Jim & Rhonda

From Washington, DC we had a couple of long driving days heading to Mankato, Mn to visit my brother, Howard, and his family. The first night was spent in a little town in Ohio at the delightful (ha ha) La Siesta Hotel for the bargain price of $46/night! It was a very basic but clean with a very nice owner and really, for that price who can complain?! We also had a great dinner at the local Mexican restaurant with great margaritas and some good tex-mex.

Next night was in Chicago, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake. We had talked about staying outside of town but Jim had never been there so we decided to stay downtown. We did have a great location at the Best Western North River (and we have learned a valuable lesson along the way. I called the hotel and was given a rate of $189. We walked in the door and were given the room for $139..big savings and not the first time it happened in the course of this trip). We did have a good walk down to the Sears tower but didn’t go to the top as they wanted $39 pp!! Outrageous. So, we wandered a bit but just headed back to the hotel for some Olympics and pizza delivery. It was quite disheartening to be in big city USA and have all those people rushing down the streets, no one smiling, no one making eye contact, no one looking happy or even pleasant. It has been very obvious throughout this trip how different we are in the US from everywhere else we’ve traveled in the world, where people are much more “involved” with the street scene and their community than here.. I’m not liking our way of doing it so much as we’re all so disconnected from everyone else around us. The only place we’ve been that has not been like that is in the South..basically from Memphis to South Carolina people are much more laid back and interested in actually relating to those around them.

Anyway, we got to Howard and his wife Kathy’s house (along with their kids Nathan, Eric & Chelsea, dog Sebastian and 15 cats (15 is NOT a mistype!). We haven’t see Kathy and the kids in 5 years and Howard in 3yrs and both of those times was due to our mom’s illness so it was really great to see them just because. We mainly hung out, enjoyed their great fire pit , and visited some of Mankato’s historical sites and the local brewery. All good fun but then back on the road again!

We drove a long , pretty boring day through southwest Minnesota and all of South Dakota to get to the Black Hills, near Mt Rushmore. On the way we did stop in Luverne, Mn…where I spent most of my childhood so Jim could see our old house and town. The house has changed a bit but, interestingly enough, in over 25years the downtown street looks almost exactly the same. Next stop was the Corn Palace in South Dakota…a stop everyone makes but not too exciting. Basically it’s a building that they do artwork made of corn on each year. Then, Wall drug..another cheesy stop that everyone makes…partially because you’ve seen billboards for it since Minnesota advertising $.05 coffee and ice water. We actually opted for a chocolate shake and skipped buying any of the souvenirs!

In the Black Hills we stayed at the KOA Mt Rushmore/ Hill City. We had reserved a tent site but upon arrival realized that all of their tent sites basically sucked…very few trees, on a hill with gravel and no grass. So, we opted for one of the cabins and had a late dinner. The next day was a very busy day touring the Motorcycle Museum in Sturgis, going through Deadwood (which has lost most historical value and is basically all cheesy shops and gambling halls), the amazing Crazy Horse Monument which was started in 1948 and is not even close to being done. It’s the largest monument in the world and the devotion of the original sculptur and how his family is amazing.

Next stop was the Custer State park where we saw quite a few bison and pronghorn sheep. We were going to explore one of the caves but were just too tired at that point so headed back to camp and ate dinner. At 8pm we headed up to Mt Rushmore for the lighting ceremony which proved to be very moving. There was a short film highlighting the 4 presidents and then they lit up the sight and had all the military people in the audience go on stage and help with the lowering of the flag. It was definately worthwhile.

From the Black Hills we drove to Cody, Wy…another pretty boring drive as anyone knows who’s ever been in Wyoming! Cody itself was good. We stayed at the Irma Hotel..built in 1909 by Buffalo Bill himself for his youngest daughter. We toured his museum which was well done, watched the “shootout” in front of the hotel, and had a good burger & beer at the historic Silver Dollar Saloon, which is now a biker bar. Overall, a very good afternoon.

It was a fairly short drive from Cody into Yellowstone park. We entered the park from the East entrance and stopped for some sightseeing, to get a fishing license for Jim, and to see Old Faithful blow before heading out through the West entrance on our way to our KOA.  It was another very nice KOA and they had really nice tent sites so we got all set up right near the camp kitchen and bathrooms..lovely! We had a great dinner of chicken pasta with peanut sauce, met some other travelers as we cooked and had a camp fire under a ceiling of stars. It doesn’t get much better than that.

We set the alarm for 5:30am the next morning because we were heading out for Jim to flyfish. However, it had been a VERY cold night (around 39 degrees) so we stayed snuggled in our sleeping bags until 6:30am! It was still pretty cold but we did get going and were in the park fishing on the Madison River by 7:30am. I hung out, read, and watched Jim fish and he had a great 3 hours or so of fly fishing. It was a beautiful site..lovely, meandering river through meadows with the mountains in the background. Right out of “A River Runs Through It”. We didn’t have any fishing luck but did then enjoy a great (albeit hot) hike to Mystic Falls and the overlook above it. We spent the rest of the day exploring a whole bunch of the other geysers in the park and watching for wildlife. We never did see a beer but we saw loads of elk, bison, pronghorn sheep, mule deer and one really cool moose.

Today, 26August, we celebrated our 1yr anniversary from the day we left on this incredible journey that has been our life for the last year. Time sure does fly by but we wouldn’t trade the last year for anything.

We had a gorgeous drive today, up through West Yellowstone, through Bozeman, Butte, and Missoula (a wonderful little college town) up to Kalispell with views of the Rocky Mountains all along the way..just beautiful.  Tomorrow we head up into Canada on the way to Mike & Malisa’s house for Labor Day weekend…keep tuned for our next adventures! Hope everyone is well and we’ll see you all at home soon. Love, J&R

For dinner we headed to Jestines Kitchen which we’d read about in Lonely Planet as well as a few magazines. It’s a tiny place and we waited in line around 45minutes to get in but it was well worth it! Named after Jestine Matthews, who lived to be 112yrs old, and owned by the daughter of the family she worked for , it is low country cooking at it’s best! Jim had blackened pork chops topped by roasted tomatoes and horseradish cream sauce and I had the best fried chicken anywhere and we both had table wine (southern talk for sweet tea) and the steamed cabbage and butter beans. We practically rolled home but it was the perfect finale to our time in the south.

We had a long drive up to Williamsburg, Va and checked into a pretty nasty Super 8 motel. But, it was clean, the cheapest in town,  and only 1 night so what the heck! We went for dinner to Tequila Rose mexican kitchen for dinner. Jim had chorizo burritos that were ok but I had a fantastic carnitas (pork marinated in herbs and beer and slow cooked) w/ beans & rice. yummy! The next morning we headed out for sightseeing. We had planned on seeing all 3 towns (Williamsburg, Yorktown & Jamestown) but found ourselves spending hours just in Williamsburg. It’s a fascinating place with 312 acres of traditional houses & shops, locals dressed in traditional colonial garb, and re-enactments of historical events…basically, we had a ball so we never made it to Yorktown or Jameston…oh well, maybe next time because we had to get up to Washingon DC.

DC is known for being an expensive hotel town, however, about 2 weeks ago Jim found the Washington Court Hotel for us on Orbitz.com for only $99/night! The hotel is a 4* hotel, about 3 blocks from the Capital and pretty nice. Of course, we’re paying through the bum for parking & internet use but after walking past the Willard hotel today and seeing THEIR parking is $8 /hr or $65 /day I don’t feel so bad! That first night we didn’t get here until about 7pm so pretty much just checked in, ordered a pizza, had a couple of gin & tonics and watched the olympics in bed..overall not a bad evening! Plus, we are blessed with having great weather! DC has been in the upper 90’s for weeks and during our time here it’s been in the low-mid 80s..lovely.

Ok, first full day in DC…what to do??? One truly amazing thing about this town is that all of the Smithsonian musums are free, thats right FREE FREE FREE…I’ve got to say we haven’t seen much of that so far on this road trip in the good old USA. We started out by walking to the Capital which is completely surrounded by police and chose not to wait in the extremely long line for the free tour. Walking down the mall we first stopped at the Air & Space Musuem to spend a few hours, next up was the original Smithsonian - now known as the Castle- for lunch before continuing along to the Freer Gallery, a lovely small gallery with mostly Asian & Islamic art.

From there we went to the US Holocaust Museum…what an amazing place. Jim & I are fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to have been to many Holocaust sites throughout the world and it was heartening to see how well it was documented and laid out in this museum. It was heart wrenching and informative and moving and we left there completely worn out.

We did walk down to the Washington & Lincoln Memorials, the reflecting pool, WWII memorial and Vietnam memorial and finally staggered back to our hotel 10 hours after our day began! We simply could not move so it was room service and bed.

Today, up and out again! We had to wait in a very long line at Starbucks for coffee, amazing to us until we realized we had seen very few Starbucks..it’s certainly not like home where there is one on every other block. After coffee we walked to the White House to get as close as possible (which is not very these days), then off to the Natural History Museum, one of the highlights of the trip. We spent almost 5 hours exploring this amazing place..it’s huge and really well done and I still can’t believe it’s free! Next up, the very interesting International Spy Museum….it was packed, which surprised me a bit, but very interesting and had a lot of hands on displays. By then it was 6pm and, exhausted once again, we drug ourselves across the street to Gordon Biersch brewery for a restorative beer & some dinner. Back at our hotel at 7:45pm after another really great day.

Tomorrow, we are going to Arlington Cemetery in the morning before starting our trip back West…So far it’s been a great trip and we’ve been having a ball! I will say, one thing that struck me here in Washington was how lucky we are to have traveled around the world to all of the many countries we’ve been too. With the exception of Japan, pretty much everything that we saw at the museums was from countries we’ve been to and seen the sights first hand. Pretty amazing.

That is it for now, we’ll update again soon and until then we hope you’re all living the dream as well! Love, J&R

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimandrhondartw/sets/72157606565400749/detail/

Cheers, Jim & Rhonda