What Ana Does

Last post on the series of Europe 50th Birthday celebration trip. The final stop is Amsterdam!  We disembarked our comfortable Viking Cruise adventure in a very hot, very crowded Amsterdam. As you know from our 2024 trip here, it is not my favorite city (see this post) but I was determined to do this right and change my opinion of this city.  Amsterdam  Starting with the hotel. We stayed at the Amsterdam Renaissance hotel in the northern part of the city, near Central Station. Super big, comfortable, updated, beautiful with a coffee bar in the lobby. It's at the top of the Red Light District (so be aware where you walk). But near quieter canals, shops and restaurants. NOT near the museum district, which was a bummer, but we figured out the tram system so it wasn't a big deal. That morning, once we got settled into the hotel, it was early so Dave went to the gym and I did a tour of the Royal Palace in the middle of town. At 10am, this city is very manageable. But after ...

 Part 3 of the epic European vacation Dave and I took to celebrate our 50th birthdays! Let's pick up the story in Basel!  We drove in on Friday, returned the car and stayed the night at the Art House Hotel . A beautiful boutique hotel on the end of a pedestrian street full of restaurants, bars and shops. And a quick walk to the center of old town. The location couldn't be beat. However, the music and bar-noise from the streets below could be heard late into the night. So bring your earplugs. But the huge, comfortable room was worth it.  Basel  We got to spend the evening and the next morning explore Basel. We even got lunch with Dave's colleague from years ago who now lives in Basel. It's a super-expensive city to live in. But with great public transport, lots of public spaces and beautiful well-loved historic buildings. We walked through a farmer's market and got to explore a department store. It was great.  But it was also great to drop our luggage off at the ...

Continuing the Europe Spring Trip to celebrate our 50th birthdays, we left beautiful Vienna and rented a car to drive to Basel.  While planning the trip, we asked good 'ole ChatGPT for the best way to get from Vienna to Basel in a few days and it suggest a route with a few stops. So we picked to stop in historic Salzburg, Austria. We had no idea what to expect.  Salzburg After finding parking, we only stayed for a very short hour. We stopped at The White Horse for a late lunch and coffee and it was very good. Then, we just walked around.  If I was thinking more than a tight hour visit, I might have though "hey, this is where they filmed the Sound of Music" duh we should find some of the building and even the church Maria got married in, which is a scene that is burned in my brain from childhood. But I didn't think that far ahead and I just wanted to get the lay of the land, since it was a quick trip. I can see why people take a few days exploring this mountain town. ...

Our last stop on our RV trip was Colorado. I found a newer RV campground/glamping spot in Granby and it looked just like our speed.  But first, we stayed a night in Laramie, WY and spent a day in their downtown. It felt so good to walk around and explore a town, do a little shopping and we even ate out for the FIRST TIME in since the start of this crazy pandemic. And we had the BEST PIZZA ever.  We've been on a hunt for a new bike for Alice, since she's outgrown hers'. We had high hopes at this bike shop, but because of the pandemic, you can't buy a new bike anywhere ... even in a small town in Wyoming.  When booking the trip, I thought ahead. I imagined we'd be DONE sleeping in an RV and want a little comfort, so we booked a small cabin at this Colorado RV park, and the golf cart to drive around in.  It was a luxury to be in one place with a REAL bed and laundry and no where to drive for a few days.  And the kids enjoyed driving lessons in the golf cart!  ...

RV campgrounds vary widely, depending on the state and area. Some were gravel and some had grassy spots. Some had pools and activity rooms (which were closed) and some didn't.  We did our best to pick campgrounds that broke up the drive and had some amenities. Showers were always welcome. And laundry rooms soon became key. And we read reviews and filtered compliments and negatives through our lens -- do we care about certain complaints? Did we really need good shower pressure, as long as the bathrooms were clean?  We also quickly learned that this kind of vacation was a lot of work. Cooking the evening meal was an ordeal of planning, moving supplies out of the RV, cooking, then the long task of cleaning up. It was far from the relaxing vacation we'd have preferred.  In Sioux Falls, South Dakota we were lucky to get the pool (almost) to ourselves for a few hours. And could bike to the Sioux Falls falls for lunch and to explore the park. We're so glad we brought our bikes! ...

In the world of COVID-19 and isolation we made a family decision: We still want to go on a summer vacation.  We are desperate to get out of the house. We need a break from work -- both our jobs have been super busy. We love travel. We just need a vacation. BUT we had to be thoughtful and careful. No unnecessary risks or no additional chances of exposure to the virus. So .... No airplanes. No hotels. No reliance on restaurants. No crowded spaces. It didn't leave much.  I'll spare you the discussion and research and just tell you ... we rented an RV and traveled to Colorado by way of Mount Rushmore.  Main stops along the way were gas stations and grocery stores -- so no different than the public places we're going to now. We booked RV campgrounds and planned to enjoy the outdoors, away from indoor spaces and crowds.  And we didn't post a lot of photos on social media, just to respect the decision of those who are staying home and safe. And not let anyone think we don'...

I'm not saying I'm in any way responsible for Brandi Carlile's growing fame, but I will say I called it years ago. See, in my 20s and early 30s I worked for AOL Music (I know, I'm a dinosaur) and we worked with artists and record labels and it was fun -- but not the party I'm sure you're imagining right now. Occasionally, along with the BIG NAMES we needed to keep the website viable, the record labels would send over emerging artists they wanted us to meet and get behind. Sometimes we did and sometimes we didn't. I remember the day Brandi Carlile came into our conference room. The label guys would all meet then the emerging artist would trail behind and introduce themselves. They usually had a box of CDs for us. I remember about a half-dozen artists we met this way. Brandi stood against the wall of our conference room with twins Phil and Tim who play guitar and introduced herself. I remember being mesmerized by her voice and the shy way she held hers...

I've been thinking a lot about Paris recently. Maybe because a year ago, we were heading back to our Paris apartment after a month back in the states and getting the girls back into school and what a wonderful experience that all was. And for the most part, I'm completely re-assimilated back into my USA life and feeling pretty good about things. ... EXCEPT ... EXCEPT ... I still (STILL) prep myself to say "bonjour" every time I walk in a store. And sometimes my brain starts to translate whatever I'm there to find in case I need help.  It's been 6 months, so I'm not sure when that instinct will go away. We were all so lucky to have that experience for 14 months. It's hard not to miss something so special. Onward! Related post: Catch up on the whole Paris experience

I'm finally getting this post together with all the details from our Hawaii adventure. It's almost too much to put into one post, but I do love to document the places we stayed and ate so I can pass it on to the next adventurer. Let me preface by saying David booked the whole thing (he did a fab job) and he choose family-friendly resorts. In fact, I think his search keyword was "resorts with water slide" in Hawaii. Monday - Friday: Oahu After an 9-hour flight, we checked into the Hilton Waikiki Beach , which is on the island of Oahu , in the city of Honolulu and a block away from Waikiki Beach . Honolulu  has a bustling main street with shops, resorts and restaurants. This was great, because we had lots of choice for meals and could wander and shop -- but not the relaxing, tranquil vacation I was looking forward to. However, Waikiki Beach is known for great surf and watching surfers catch waves quickly turned into my favorite pass-time.  We would recommen...

All Seven Chowing Down "Did I just volunteer to babysit seven puppies?!?!?!" This is what I asked as we got back into our car after visiting puppies. See, we're in the market to adopt. And since I'm home full time for now, we're considering adopting a puppy. We've never had a baby puppy before and I thought it might be an enjoyable life experience to try ... just once. So we got word there was a new litter of small breed puppies and we all jumped in the car to meet them. As we're rolling around playing with these teeny six-week old puppies, the foster mama was saying she's on vacation next week and would be leaving all seven of them with a neighbor who, unfortunately, works full time. So the pups wouldn't be getting a lot of attention until they got back. The Set-Up, In the Family Room Maybe I had a little puppy fever, but I offered our house.  It's Spring Break and we have zero plans -- we just arrived from Paris and we h...

While we were in Milan last weekend, strolling around Sforza Castle, I remembered so well the last time I was walking around this ancient castle. Flashbacks! Nine years ago, when Alice was just 2-years-old and Leah was 4 we visited this castle and I was enthralled by the history, but Alice wasn't impressed and she ran around like a nut -- or a toddler. Whatever. I talked her in to standing still for just a few minutes so I could take a picture. So, last weekend, I asked Alice to take the same picture on the same spot (ok, one bench away) in the courtyard and it came out pretty cute.  Alice: Oct. 2010 --- VS --- March 2019 Here are the two original pictures: Alice, Being 2, and Just the Top of Leah's Head Alice at 10!  This is just another perk about traveling Europe with little kids; these are such special memories that I'll have forever. And even get to revisit them. Related posts: Traveling with kids