September & October are busy months for my family. We have 4 birthdays in September & 1 wedding anniversary. In October we have 3 birthdays and 1 anniversary. Due to Covid, we have been denied our family Spring Break trip, our beach trip & our annual pilgrimages to the Maryland Renaissance Festival and Maryland Seafood Festival. Something has to give!

I’ve always felt like I live in a three ring circus. Don decided we would throw a big birthday bash in honor of my landmark ‘social security’ milestone & our Autumn birthday boys. We would host a family carnival!

Don was a masterful Ring Master & along with Eric concocted loads of carnival fun. You would be rewarded with tickets for successful completion of carnival games and prizes would be awarded at the end of the evening. All set to begin on Saturday, September 12th. Time’s a wasting so let’s get set up!

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The day dawned dreary but there was promise of some clearing in the afternoon. Determined to not let the rain dampen our spirits, we began with an indoor game of “Bean Boozled”. This is where you blindly select a jellybean to eat. The flavor may be a delicious one, like “chocolate pudding or a horrible one, like “canned dog food”. To collect a ticket you must chew and swallow your selected jellybean. If you’re lucky you pick “peach” instead of “puke”.

The rain fizzled down to a spritz and we donned bathing suits, rain slickers and headed outside to our next event. Here you had 3 chances to bust balloons with a dart. We played 3 rounds.

The years of degenerate bar dart league play that Don & I participated in at JP’s Pub in the Bronx payed off well for us. Next we moved onto the ring toss.

When you consider that Mike, Dan, Zachary, Damian, Steve & Don all played football expectations were high that they would shut us all down when it came to throwing a football through a moving target.

Steve played quarterback in his youth but his rustiness showed as Damian won by tossing 2 out of 4 through the tire! Natalie came in as a serious underdog but managed to get one through also. This took us to the axe throwing competition.

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We were making fun of Steve for his unorthodox underhand throw while holding the axe blade instead of the handle but he had the last laugh as his blade thunked into the tree trunk. He spouted some science nonsense about weight and rotation blah, blah, blah.

Moving along to the bean bag toss allowed me to show off some of my skills acquired from playing corn hole at picnics, drive-ins, beaches and backyard barbecues. I racked up most of my tickets on this event.

Originally, Don proposed a bb gun shooting gallery but I protested that it would give Damian an unfair advantage as the kid can hit a garden digging squirrel right between the eyes at 200 paces (not that I condone that sort of thing – don’t send me any PETA letters.) Modifications were made for Nerf guns & cans. However many you knock off the table is how many tickets you score. Let’s just say the country dwelling Russos had it over those Reston & Raleigh city slickers.

Meanwhile, Don had been cooking up some serious carnival fare (get it, not ‘fair’ but ‘fare’ like in food. Oh forget it!) and the revelers were getting hungry.

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It was time for the main event – the jousting competition! We selected numbers from a bowl to pair off. The first competition would be Steve vs Mike.

Our second match resulted in a forfeit as we had to physically restrain Kim. After knocking her youngest child off the podium so hard that he fell into the horse field, she hurdled the fence and continued to chase & beat him. (Anyone who knows Kim realizes that I am bold-faced lying here.)

The worst draw of the day was done by Natalie, who had to face off with Eric. Before Natalie ascended her podium, Eric goes into the crane stance from Karate Kid, leaps from his podium and does a front flip onto Natalie’s unoccupied podium sticking the landing (I gave it a 5.8). She smartly blindsided him in the back of the head while he was bowing for applause.

Once the scheduled matches for tickets were completed things quickly went downhill as we entered the open warfare ‘challenges’.

After a good long while of beating each other into submission the boys began using the arena for wrestling practice. Finally, when all were sufficiently exhausted we trudged back into the house for the ticket tally.

And the winner, with the most tickets for the day was:

First place prize went to Eric. We had filled envelopes numbered 1 – 10 with varying amounts of lottery scratch tickets with the most valuable ticket being for 1st place then decreasing in value down to 10th place. We then worked up from 10th place with scratching off our tickets to see if we won a prize. Kim was holding strong at $10 but in true winner take all fashion, Eric walked away with the big prize of the day – $27.00 (If truth be told, I felt like we were all winners because of the amazing memories we made this day together.)

I like to make pancakes. They were the first item that I learned how to fix on my own. I was 15 yrs old and a nanny to 3 young boys. One day their mom turned her head toward me as she was running out the door to work and told me to make some pancakes for the kids’ breakfast. She indicated that the mix was in the cabinet. My eyes widened and I whispered that I had never made pancakes before and she responded, “Sue, follow the directions on the box. It’s pancakes, for Crissake!” (My tales as a Mafia babysitter will have to wait for another time.)

Many years later, as mother to 4 young boys, I liked to look to that experience as a training exercise. Flour, baking powder and a few other frugal pantry staples allowed me to keep the ravenous hoards satisfied at least for a couple of hours. My pancake prowess was legendary at that time and I would make Mickey Mouse pancakes by pouring batter into 3 tangential circles: 1 large and 2 smaller. Years later, when my grown sons had hankerings for pancakes they would call to ask why mine always tasted better (vanilla extract and 3 tbs of sugar) and always looked perfect (ice cream scooper).

To this day when we had our pre-pandemic large family gatherings my pancakes were always a staple on the breakfast table. (First come, first served, no saving – they know the rules.) Warm, sweet, comforting and filling they hearken back to simpler times and a menu that never elicited whining and complaints. Everyone loved pancakes.

This is my first attempt at writing something since sheltering in place. I knew I should be chronicling life in lock down but the words just would not come. Maybe it was the desire. The desire just wasn’t there. Fear, frustration, fun, facts, fiction, fantasy were a constant broth simmering in my psyche. Physically I am OK. I started out making a new normal include walking 2 miles outside each day. That has waned into, “maybe if I feel like it.” I fully dressed each morning before embarking on working at home remotely but now I often start before 7 a.m. and am in pajamas and a robe. I was largely abstaining from alcohol fearful I would emerge not only fatter but maudlin. Now a glass or 2 of wine or a Cosmo some days are fine. I try to continue to work on my meditation practice which gives me peace, I garden and give love to my plants, I am grateful and appreciative of my circumstances and most blessed that I have not lost anyone to this plague. Finally, living on top of the mountain has it’s perks!

Don and I have considered these past 2 months a ‘trial retirement’. So far we can still stand each other so I would consider it successful. His self discipline astonishes as he maintains a regimen of exercise and activity that exhausts me when I just think about it. Add to that he is preparing 3 meals a day now all of which rival restaurant quality. He has actually lost weight while being exposed to Damian’s boredom binges of Ramen and entire boxes of peanut butter chocolate granola bars.

Emotionally, well . . let’s say there are good days and not as good days. I have a really hard time trying to understand the politicization of a pandemic and science doubters. I can only give energy to the things that are within my direct control and hope that I position myself to thrive and help those with whom I have direct contact to thrive as well. Travel blogging has long been a creative outlet but what do you write about when you can’t travel? Today, I made pancakes.

As the Washington Nationals drew closer to the reality of their first ever World Series appearance Don and I began to toy with the “What ifs?”

Like, “What if it’s the Yankees and the Nats in the World Series?” “How cool would that be to attend?” For us die hard Yankees fans who happen to love the Nats as our National League team it would be the dream series. We would not be upset either way. We started to speculate on how we could make the cut.

There’s only one small problem with this plan.

OK, so it won’t be the Yankees vs Nats. That makes it easier for us to root for the home team. So now Operation Nats Tickets goes live. We assemble our crack team of operatives and are able to make a connection with our Deep Throat.

The mission is a complete success.

Unfortunately, the home team continues to underperform and the behind the plate officiating is less than adequate for this level of competition.

Despite the loss, the atmosphere was amazing, the weather unbelievable for late October and a good time was had by all.

Well, maybe not all of our gang had a good time. One of our illustrious crew sat in his seat before the first pitch was thrown and while sitting a woman came up to him and started taking photos of his seat. He looked at her and she explained that her husband had recently passed away and he was a season ticket holder and that was his seat. Our friend was sympathetic but nonetheless a little creeped out. That only worsened when at the conclusion of the game the same woman came over and while he was standing waiting to exit his row she began to sprinkle an ash-like substance on the seat. She then leaned over the railing and dumped some of the same substance onto the playing field.

Hey, if they win the next game I will be at Ye Olde Crematorium scraping the retort and flying a small envelope to Houston.

Happy Halloween & Go Nats!

(Totally a true story)

I think of Independence Day as the beginning of the end of summer. My garden is in full bloom, my spring crops are on their last legs, the summer bounty is almost pickable and we have just returned from our family beach retreat.

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We headed off last week to Kill Devil Hills, NC coming into the Outer Banks via Manteo as we met up with Steve, Kim and the boys in Raleigh. This route has us avoiding all the horrors of coming through 64, 168 & 158 where you mingle with all the Virginia Beach traffic. Unfortunately, Sun Realty which we have rented through for 30+ years figures we are coming in with all the rest of the Northern Virginia riff raff and schedules us to check in at the Kitty Hawk office instead of the Nags Head office. I call to try to mitigate that and request that our check in be switched to Nags Head. I am informed that is not possible. Fortunately, Kim and I are able to sail through to the Kitty Hawk office, which is empty when we arrive at about 4:20 p.m. As I am checking in I discover that I am not retrieving a physical key but instead am given a code to the keypad lock on the property’s door. Not for ‘nuthin Sun Realty but this is 2019. Airbnb has it all over you. Why can’t I just text you a photo of me holding my driver’s license and then you text me the code? Your system is archaic.

Meanwhile, we send Don & Steve to do the week’s shopping and the kids retreat to the pool.

The rest of the Russos were joining us for the long July 4th holiday weekend. There will be lots of room as there are bedrooms a plenty each with their own bathrooms and they are all located on another floor from my suite! The house is very well equipped including a fully stocked kitchen, gas grill, outdoor shower, basketball court, cornhole boards, ping pong, smart TVs in all the rooms and a great selection of games and DVDs. The place ain’t half bad. We unpack decide it’s cocktail time, watch the sunset and head to the beach for a night visit.

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We are fortunate as for the most part we had spectacular weather. The water was cold our first day but became progressively warmer each day. The surf was mild and there were no jellyfish, sea lice or sharks. The kids got roasted the first days as they are dumb and reluctant to listen when we tell them to put on more sunscreen.

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There was plenty of ‘friendly’ competition also as the family engaged in various games and activities.

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We engaged in creative cocktail making serving mojitos, moscow mules, Nana’s Caramel Apple & the winner:

July 4th began and ended with a bang.

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At the completion of the various displays accompanied by raucous Russo cheering we headed back home catching a glimpse of an ensuing fist fight that was predicated by someone being accused of pilfering someone else’s fireworks and that is why you should not mix alcohol and fireworks, kiddies!

There were a few side trips. We took the boys hiking up at Jockey’s Ridge. They had never seen the dunes before and were impressed and excited (briefly) to climb to the top and see the view to the bay. Darren & Kensley took in the Wright Bros. Monument and Museum there was some shopping for fudge, taffy and sundries plus a few alcohol runs.

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Our last beach day looked like it might be a wash out as the clouds gathered and there was a rumbling of thunder.

Soon the clouds parted, the sun was shining and it was time for Spike Ball. The boys attracted some attention with their spirited play (can you say “cutthroat competitors”?) and soon had challenges from on-lookers who never really stood a chance.

The last night consisted of an evening long binge of food and drink as my daughters-in-law cleared out the fridge and cabinets. It started with appetizers like a charcuterie board, buffalo chicken dip, pizzas, chips, pretzels, snack mix and progressed to bbq sandwiches, cole slaw, fajitas which were washed down with various beers, sodas, whisky and moonshine topped off with taffy & fudge.

After hide & seek the moonlight swim must have conjured “the spirits” as the kids tried to exorcise the demons from Steve by putting him in various wrestling holds while he tried to prevent himself from drowning.

The demons were exorcised and we awoke to say our good-byes and wish each other safe travels. Everyone made it home safely despite the holiday traffic and another mountain of memories made it to the books.

There’s something about your youngest getting married that turns the page on a generation. My grandsons were groomsmen and were amazing sentinels who ushered their uncle into his new life. Darren and Kensley were blessed to have the most perfect day and evening for their nuptials. The weather set the perfect stage for a venue that was spectacular in its simplicity and beauty.

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I had very limited knowledge of the part of Virginia’s Northern Neck known as Northumberland County before Darren met Kensley. Kensley’s family are original descendants of Tangier Island. Tangier Island is now on the verge of extinction as it is disappearing into the Bay. A ferry service and charters will transport you there now and depart from the same marina where Kensley’s Dad moors his boat. This was the setting for our festivities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangier,_Virginia

The family started arriving Friday afternoon in preparation for the rehearsal. The closest hotel to the marina was 25 minutes away in the quaint town of Kilmarnock. The hotel was full as there were numerous events occuring in the area.

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Once everyone was clear as to how the event was set to unfold we enjoyed some pizza, beer and soda together. The kids were skipping stones into the river when my youngest grandson, Dan the Man, lost his athletic slide shoe during his wind up. The shoe was drifting further away from the shore much to the dismay of his father. An all out effort to retrieve the shoe ensued and after it floated closer to one of the docks but still was unreachable, Zachary stripped down and dove in for it becoming the hero of the day.

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We transported the party back to our hotel and sent Zack to the showers while the adults took inventory of the alcohol: 1 bottle of apple pie moonshine, 1 bottle of salted caramel whisky, 1 bottle of Jack Daniels, 8 bottles of wine and assorted beers. Yup, we had enough for the night.

The morning dawned and Eric and Natalie departed for a 5 mile run, the wrestlers hit the gym and the rest of us parked ourselves poolside. We were anticipating the arrival of the rest of the clan (The Marables) later in the afternoon. Darren stopped by between running last minute errands and we all agreed to leave by 4:30 pm so we could be in place for the processional.
It is worth mentioning that Darren’s best man, Tyler, is the brother of Eric’s best man, TJ. Those brothers were the first friends my kids met when we moved to Fauquier County and the friendship between them and our families has endured through all these years.

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Final preparations were taking place when we arrived for the ceremony. Kensley’s family is a talented bunch and what they can’t do themselves, they have a connection to get it done.

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Seats were taken and the ceremony went perfectly. Mr. & Mrs. Russo led the revelers and the party began!

We ate, drank, danced and made merry into the night. There was a cool breeze gently blowing which seemed to keep away any bugs. Kensley’s cousin, our DJ, did a great job and was very accommodating when it became time for a Russo tradition: Drunken Disney Karaoke! Yes folks Aladdin, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Frozen and Moana came to life as various Russos took up their parts! The highlight was Zachary re-creating his Aladdin role with Eric singing Jasmine’s part on A Whole New World. (It certainly was!)

Reluctantly, it was time to leave as we said good night to the few folks who outstayed us. (#PartylikeaRusso) The Strawberry Moon shone bright over the boats and water and was a perfect end to a perfect day. Congratulations Darren & Kensley!

I am hard pressed to beat the post my son, Eric provided on his fantastic trip to New Zealand. I am anxiously awaiting part 2 when he talks about the southern island. However, knowing the pace at which Eric accomplishes things, I figured I’d fill you in on what the old folks have been up to in the meantime.

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We rented an absolutely grand cabin in Sevierville, Tennessee for our Spring Break trip. Conveniently located to Dollywood and the Pigeon Forge activities as well as Gatlinburg this cabin was up a twisty, turny death-defying road (not unlike my own road) and was sort of suspended off the side of a mountain. This seems to be the norm in this area as all the resort area cabins are precariously perched along the ridges of the hills. This affords picturesque views but made my son, Steve, extremely nervous.

Initially, we were told the cabin had no internet access so we were prepared with books and games to while away any inclement weather or evening hours. To our surprise, when we arrived there were instructions on how to use the wifi and Damian, who obviously never gave up hope, was prepared with his X-Box and immediately converted the downstairs game room. In addition to the huge flat screen equipped with Direct TV there was a full size billiards table, a ping pong table, air hockey and foosball. When we weren’t out and about these amenities provided much fun and entertainment. Of course, I spoke a lot of trash as I beat all the kids in ping pong only to be defeated by Steve, who commented: “I can’t let my 90 year old mother beat me.” Brat.

The mornings dawned chilly but clear and the days warmed up to provide the perfect climate for our outdoor activities. After a hearty breakfast we would venture forth to explore the area.

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Our first stop was the Visitor’s Center. We were able to park free here all day and for $2 each we were able to obtain an all-day pass for the trolley system. The trolley lines are distinguished by colors and they will take you anywhere you desire to go all the way from The Great Smoky National Park to Dollywood. It is a great way to get around and not have to worry about finding a place to park. Kim, the kids and I strolled the main drag in Gatlinburg while Don & Steve did a few whiskey and moonshine tastings. We people watched and strolled in and out of shops. Dan even scored a free bottle of hot sauce when he went into the store and yelled out some slogan they were advertising for their sauces. The weather was perfect for this low cost activity and when we had enough we hopped back onto the trolley to retrieve our cars and headed back to the cabin for dinner.

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Steve had been busy at home preparing for our trip by brewing and bottling up 2 cases of his craft beer. Every 50 ft in town there is a distillery so spirits were also readily available. Thanks to the well stocked kitchen and outdoor grill Don was able to keep everyone well fed.

One of the things high on my list of must dos was a visit to Great Smoky National Park. We set off but discovered that due to some of the areas being closed, parking for the trails I wanted to access was a nightmare! Cars were all over the narrow, winding road as people were parking on any available pavement. It kept us from the trails I planned to hike but we were able to find an alternative. I would not describe Steve, Dan and Zac as ‘outdoorsy’ (they run from bugs and are very hesitant when not on smooth pavement) but I think they enjoyed the experience.

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We had last visited this area about 10 years ago. The last time Steve was here he was about 8 years old. Needless to say, he was surprised at how built up the area has become and how much family-friendly entertainment opportunities there were.

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But of course the highlight of the trip was our day at Dollywood!

If you have never visited this amusement park you should definitely put it on your list. Although they were just getting started up for the season so shows were limited and their water park and new section were not yet open there was still plenty to do and see. The kids loved the roller coasters which were plentiful and I think we all agreed that our favorite was the Lightning Rod. This is a wooden coaster that is unique in 2 ways: First, it launches you up the incline instead of having the traditional chain pull and second, it is the world’s fastest wooden coaster with a peak speed of 73 mph. Steve’s family are thrill ride enthusiasts and Dollywood has plenty to satisfy even Dan, who although the smallest is the craziest of the bunch when it comes to rides. We spent the gorgeous day riding everything, including water rides and even got to take in a very entertaining show. The musical shows are top notch and not to be missed. We brought lunch in a cooler that we stashed in the car and took a quick break for some sandwiches. I understand that there are many top notch food items at Dollywood but when you are feeding the mongol hordes it is economically more friendly to tote in your own. The park closed at 7 p.m. since it’s not regular season yet but we were satisfied with our time there.

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When we returned to the cabin, Nana needed a little tonic to steady her frazzled nerves after a day defying death with my grandsons.

The day of departure we were able to arrange a reunion with some old friends who are now Tennessee retirees. While discussing their early retirement and our ever evolving plans for retirement they extolled us as the the virtues of putting Tennessee on our radar. Don assumed that the proximity to distilleries was a leading factor and was surprised that this did not figure into our friends decision to make the Knoxville area their home.

The long drive home gave us plenty of opportunity for research and discussion and we decided to come back to Tennessee a couple of weeks later and explore for ourselves.

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It was settled! Tennessee here we come! After locating the perfect neighborhood that satisfied our needs we were able to quickly close on what is now known as Rancho Russo of East Tennessee!

Y’all come by and see us now, y’hear!

Kia Ora!

If you’re reading this chances are you know my Mom, Susan, and in some capacity you know me her favorite son – Eric. As a reader of this blog, you’ve seen my parents travel all over the world, leaving me to sit and dream about some day going on a trip of my own. During my daydreaming there was always one place that sat at the top of the list of where I wanted to travel – New Zealand. It’s no secret I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan, I love the outdoors, wine, and Flight of the Conchords. When it was time to pick a honeymoon destination my wife Natalie knew that her best shot of getting me out of the country was to book a flight to New Zealand. This flight consumed almost two days of my life, but it was well worth the effort because we got to spend two weeks in the most beautiful place I have ever been.

TL;DR – For those of you with a short attention span or are just here for the pictures. New Zealand is amazing. The whole country is a photo-op and looks like it was photoshopped because it is unbelievably gorgeous. Meat (veggie) pies, wine, and coffee are amazing. People are super nice. We ate a lot of food, drank a lot of wine, saw a lot of LOTR stuff,  and hiked a ton of spots. If you don’t like wine and outdoors stuff, NZ might not be for you. If you do, it’s heaven.

Waiheke Island and Auckland

We arrived in Auckland at 7 AM and made it through customs without much trouble and we are immediately greeted with a massive dwarven statue from the set of Lord of the Rings and I couldn’t have been happier. We grabbed an Uber to our AirBnB and set out to track down some breakfast and explore Auckland. It took us about thirty seconds to find a cafe. Apparently New Zealanders love their coffee just as much as I do because every five feet in every city there was a small cafe with a barista making espressos. We took the sites in and forced ourselves to stay awake because that evening we had a wine tour booked on Waiheke Island.

Waiheke Island is the third largest island in New Zealand and they are known for amazing beaches, gorgeous scenery, and even better vineyards. We took a 30 min ferry from Auckland to Waiheke where we met our tour guide. On the thirty person passenger bus, there were only seven of us including a couple from Centreville, Virgina. Small numbers on tours are great and we learned that it is even better on wine tours. We walked two vineyards enjoying extra pours of wine, taking in the sites and history of the island. The night was capped with a dinner from the highest point on the island at Thomas Bach Vineyard where we bonded with our group over several bottles of wine and delicious food. After touring New Zealand from point to point I think it is safe to say that if I could pick one place to live, it would Waiheke Island.

The next morning was a very important day for me. It was my Christmas, Superbowl, the reason New Zealand was so high on list…. It was the morning we were going to visit Hobbiton. We met our tour guide before sun had risen and he drove us the two and a half hour trip to the movie set spouting off information about New Zealand the entire way. It was during this trip that I realized just how beautiful every inch of this island was. Around every corner of the drive was a scenic overlook all culminating to pulling into the movie studios parking lot. Our guide, who does this drive multiple times  a week with groups managed to get us into the first tour of the day and we began our trip down into Hobbiton. I could write an entire article on this trip alone from all the interesting movie trivia we learned but I will save you guys and simply say that every inch of Hobbiton is manicured to perfection. There wasn’t a blade of grass or flower out of place. The gardens were marvelous and the beer at the Green Dragon Inn at the end of the tour was the best stout I have ever had. This alone was worth the trip halfway around the world and our day was only half over.

We said goodbye to Hobbiton… some of us more reluctantly than others and continued another two hours to tour one of New Zealand’s glowworm caves. These little bioluminescent worms live in cave ceilings and light up to attract insects to long sticky spindles that hang from their little tunnels at the top of the ceiling. Our tour guide for the cave walk was impressed that I had been to Luray Caverns, which is apparently a very well known set of caverns within the cave dwelling community. We trekked down to cave to the river at the bottom of it and got on a boat to drift underneath where the glowworms nest. Once the cavern is dark enough these little glowing blue bugs fill the ceiling light stars in the night sky. It was a unique experience that is a very popular attraction on the island for good reason.

The last day in Auckland was spent pregaming and then attending a rugby match, another thing we felt that needed to be done while in New Zealand. For those of you that are unaware, New Zealanders love rugby and they are the best at it with back to back world cup titles and the favorites to win the cup again this year. Unfortunately the All Blacks, their national team, weren’t playing while we were in country (do yourself a favor and google All Blacks Haka and watch some of the videos if you want an idea how badass these dudes are) so we got tickets to watch the Auckland Blues take on the Dunedin Highlanders. When we got to the stadium we were a bit shocked at how few people were there and we then learned that the blues were considered the worst of the New Zealand professional teams and were currently on a 20+ game losing streak against New Zealand opponents. Needless to say, the good luck charm that I am brought them their first victory against a NZ team since 2016. You’re welcome. I offered to stay and attend all of their games to ensure future victorys providing they buy me a house but the ticket lady said that was a little above her pay grade to approve… as of writing this article they have lost both games vs NZ opponents… should have hired me.

Rotorua and Lake Taupo

We hit the road bright and early the next morning and started on what was one of our most ambitious days of events. We knew to see and do everything we had to keep moving, something that my fathers forced marches on every vacation prepared me for. Thanks Pops.

First stop was Rotorua where we took in a local farmers market and the hot springs surrounding the national park in the town. We then headed down to Lake Rotorua where we got coffee and went on a walk through town where we bought ourselves a pair of New Zealand jade rings. Seemed like the most appropriate gift since the Maori (indigenous people of New Zealand) used this stone in their decorations and tools and it was our honeymoon. Immediately after this we jumped in the car and went to hike the redwood forest outside of Rotorua. We were approaching midday at this point and still had to drive to our AirBnB in Lake Taupo so we jumped in the car and checked into our house for the night. It was still beautiful outside so we went on a hike at Huka Falls, which was some of the bluest water I have ever seen in my life. We were pretty hungry at this point so we drove to Lake Taupo where we walked the water and selected a place to eat dinner.

Tongario Alpine Crossing or better known as Mordor and Mt. Doom

All of the hiking up to this point were warm up hikes for what we knew awaited us on the fifth day of our visit. The Tongario Alpine Crossing is one of the highest rated hikes in New Zealand, which is saying a lot. It is also the film location of Mordor and Mt. Doom from the Lord of the Rings so of course we were going there.  We knew this hike was going to take all day and had planned for it, what we didn’t plan for or even know was that if you wanted to make complete the crossing from start to finish you needed to book a shuttle to do so. Ooops.

After learning this from a park ranger at the end of the trail where we tried to enter we went to where the tour shuttles were located. After learning that they wanted to charge us $60 for tickets, Natalie and I decided to do what we do best and improvise in the name of being cheap. We drove to the start of the trial and I went and found the ranger at this site. The gentleman working the post was beyond cheerful so I approached him and explained our situation. He informed me that if we kept a good pace we could make it to the summit of the trail and back down to our car in about 5-6 hours. I told him we were hoping to do the whole thing and asked his advice. He told us the back end of the trail was just walking downhill and boring in comparison to the rest of the hike so we wouldn’t be missing much. He suggested hiking to the top, taking our pictures and returning to our car and saving the money.  I pointed to the 4 hour parking sign and he waved his hand and told me it was a slow day, leave my car and enjoy the hike. Pictures do not do this hike justice. Mt. Doom (I forget the actual name of the mountain so I will only refer to it as Mt. Doom) is an active volcano and there are several signs telling you what to do if lava starts flowing. Because of this you can only hike to the summit of the adjacent mountain to a spot called the Red Crater, the site of an eruption that blew the top off the mountain. The start of the hike is through streams, fields of black volcanic rocks, and tiny purple and yellow flowers and unfortunately for us long white clouds that made any views of the mountains impossible. New Zealand is called the Land of the Long White Cloud for very good reasons. It wasn’t the easiest of hikes, but the views from the summit were worth it and then some. On the journey home the clouds had broken up so we got to see all the views that the people who were doing the whole trek missed in the morning. So we saved money and got to see all the best views, win-win.

Windy Wellington

Our last day on the North Island was spent in the capital of New Zealand, Wellington. Wellington is known as the windiest city on the planet which luckily we didn’t experience a lot of. The main reason for going to Wellington was to tour the Weta Workshop. Natalie said something about touring the capital city and culture significant… blah blah blah, but the real reason was for the Weta Workshop. The Weta Workshop is where all the armor, swords, costumes, and digital work was done for, yup you guessed it, The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit Trilogy. They’ve worked on something like 50 other movies, but let’s be honest, that’s not why we were there. The workshop was exactly what you want it to be all the way down to the life size troll out front. The tour was awesome and I instantly hit it off with the tour guide. He was one of the props painters at the studio. I asked him where he got his start and he told me he started off by painting miniatures for a science fiction tabletop strategy game called Warhammer 40,000 and Dungeons and Dragons. For anyone who doesn’t know me that well, these are my two favorite things on planet earth.

I was touring the forges where they made the swords for Lord of the Rings while talking about Warhammer and Dungeons and Dragons. Need I say more?

After the tour was over we went to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa which is there national museum. We toured all the exhibits with two standing out above the rest. The first one was about New Zealand’s involvement in WWI that featured the most realistic larger than life statues I have ever seen that were made by the Weta Workshop we had just toured. The second was about the history of New Zealand. How the Maori first arrived and settled the land all the way up to present times. It answered a lot of the questions that had been floating in my head since we arrived. After the museum it was time for wine, dinner, and sleep because in the morning we were settling sail to the next leg of our adventure which will be continued on Part II of this post – South Island.

Happy New Year! Yes, it’s been a while and probably would’ve been even longer but I finally mustered up the courage to tackle this post. This blog is created through WordPress and they recently changed their editing system to something totally unfamiliar to me. Finally, today my resistance was low and after a quick YouTube tutorial I felt confident enough to dive in and get it done. It seems as if the new editor is actually much more user friendly particularly to idiots like me who know nothing about ‘code’ and has her eyes glaze over when I hear things like ‘CSS’.

Why are some of us so resistent to change? Change was a good thing for us this Christmas when we decided to hold our annual Christmas get together with my sister and brother-in-law in a mild climate. Charleston, SC was this year’s destination celebration and it did not disappoint.

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The temperature was in the high 60s-70s while we were there and although it was mostly cloudy the sun did shine one of the days. This was the day we did our scavenger hunt.

The past several years I have become more enamoured of experiential gifts. So this year I bought 5 tickets for a self guided scavenger hunt through Charleston for all of us. I used a site called Let’s Roam to buy the tickets. This will direct you to an app for your phone that you link your tickets to and select the site for your hunt. Typically, there are a few options for each city and you can also add a ‘theme’ like a birthday celebration and then each person selects a character that they will assume during the hunt. They have options for kids, trivia-minded folks, photography lovers and even an ‘observer’ for the one who really doesn’t want to do much. As you negotiate your way to the various big stops each character is given specific individual challenges and the group also gets big challenges. You submit your accumulated information either through photos or via multiple choice selections. The idea is to get as many points as possible.

If you are extremely competitive you must do all challenges. (My sister and I are the worst. I am barking out orders like a German Panzer driver and my sister the director is staging photos with Fellini-esque style.) There was a slight learning curve involved as some our our group (ahem, Darren & Damian) would race to the stop and begin before the rest of us had caught up. There is a time component for when you open the information related to the stop so a few times early in the hunt we lost points because the group wasn’t together to answer. This abruptly ceased after I threw a tantrum and belittled them.

On some of the challenges you may have to recruit the help of unsuspecting people in your immediate vicinity as Dawn & I did when we needed an item of ‘food’. There was a girl eating a donut on the steps of one of the buildings in our stop. Fortunately, we are not shy and quickly explained what we were doing and asked if we could photograph her donut. She was more than happy to comply and we racked up some points.

Another nice feature is that you can pause your hunt. This came in handy when my sister started to get ‘hangry’ in the early afternoon. We were able to make a lunch stop and then resume. It says it covers about 2 miles and a couple of hours but because of our need to succeed we walked at least 10 miles, covered many areas of Charleston we had never seen before on foot and spent the better part of the day engaged in this extremely fun activity. If you have any interest, here’s a link: https://www.letsroam.com/

We would divert when we came across something we wished to explore further like the old historic Market area, the waterfront, Rainbow Row or the gorgeous homes and holiday displays.

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We even got in a little shopping as we would duck in and out of various shops and boutiques. When we completed our hunt we had a sense of accomplishment as our score indicated we did better than 94% of the other teams who’ve attempted this hunt. Of course I pointed out that we would’ve scored higher if we hadn’t made those foolish early mistakes!

Lest you should think that our night life was lacking in Charleston I can assure you that it was stellar. Dawn & Darren always pick some of the best restaurants and even though Charleston is a tough town in which to acquire reservations on relatively short notice they were able to succeed. Several weeks before we are scheduled to arrive somewhere they send me links to restaurants they are considering for our repasts. We settled on Blossom for our first night and the food was excellent! They also surprised us when they too opted for an experiential gift and took us to Peninsula Grill for dinner on our second evening. They even bought Damian a nice shirt as one of his Christmas presents because they assume we are morons who have never dined with them before and are unfamiliar with the caliber of dining establishments they frequent. (For the record, I had packed the kid not 1 but 2 nice shirts.)

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Considering we spent our previous Christmas gathering in Annapolis and the temperatures were in the single digits I think we all agree we much preferred the more mild climate of Charleston. Don has expressed vociferous protests to our proposal of visiting Quebec as next year’s destination pleading instead for a Puerto Rican Christmas. We’ll have to see.

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The indigenous people occupying Puerto Rico when Columbus arrived were a culture whose language similarities suggest they were related to the Arawak (Arhuaco) tribes of South America, specifically those from the Orinoco River delta in eastern Venezuela. They called themselves the “Taino” (meaning: relatives), possibly to distinguish themselves from other Carribean tribes. It was widely thought that the Taino were wiped out from Spanish colonization and it’s accompanying woes of disease and murder. However, the discovery of a 1,000 year old tooth in a Carribean cave led to DNA sequencing and the ability to detect this genetic evidence in modern day populations. The largest amount of Taino DNA today is found in those of Puerto Rican descent. Thanks to the magic of Ancestry.com we discovered that Don’s genetic make up contains Taino DNA. (Why wasn’t this information available to me when my kids were applying to colleges? I would’ve been checking the ‘Native American’ box on every application!) We are headed to the Parque Ceremonial Indigena de Caguana (Caguana Indian Ceremonial Park) to explore what’s referred to as the foremost archeological site in the Carribean.

The park is located in Utuado, a city in the central mountainous area of Puerto Rico. It’s a scenic 1 hr 45 min drive (give or take) from San Juan. It was an area hit particularly hard by Hurrican Maria as one of it’s main bridges was washed away leaving a portion of the citizenry unable to access food or other necessities. They wound up constructing a makeshift zip line to bring in supplies and transport people. When we arrived at the park after a hair-raising ascent up a mountain with a narrow 2-way road and many hairpin turns (Fortunately, the road to Rancho Russo shares most of these traits) we were acquainted with our guide, Michael. Born in Manhattan and a graduate of Bronx High School of Science, Michael decided to move to his ancestral home after serving in the U. S. Army. His grandmother gave him a piece of her land and he built his house by hand under the supervision of his uncle. He lives close by and although most of the locals like him have generators and cisterns for water collection after the hurricane they could not get any gas and what was available was being sold at $20 per liter. They need the generators to power their water filtration systems so potable water became an issue. Power was restored to their community 45 days after the storm. There is still no land line for telephone at the Park. They rely on cell phone service. After our museum visit and tour we sat in a bohio (recreated Taino shade structure) and spoke with Michael for over an hour while he told us the story of how the Park came to be and what challenges face the citizens of Puerto Rico today. He was a delightful conversationalist and we only left because it appeared that the sky was about to open up and unleash a torrential downpour.

The story goes that this land was privately owned and often the owner would go out into the fields and try to plow his farmland. He kept hitting and uncovering rocks that had carvings on them. When the U.S. acquired Puerto Rico after the Spanish American War a team of anthropologists and archeologists was dispatched to conduct a survey in 1914-1915. The scientists were on horseback in the area of Caguana and were talking with the locals and were told that they might be interested in talking to the guy who kept finding these weird rocks in his field. They visited the farmer who agreed to allow them to explore. Initially, Dr John Alden Mason would describe and map his findings but it was years later before serious excavations led to the discovery of 10 intact ceremonial plazas. The Puerto Rican government took over the property in 1957. Today the complex contains a Visitor’s Center, picnic area and the plazas. It is estimated that this site is over 800 years old.

Around the perimeter of the site is a mountain formation called a cemi. It looks like 3 mounds lined up together. It is speculated that the Taino may have considered this geographical feature a representation of their deities related to fertility,healing and communication with the spiritual world and may be why this site was chosen by them. The plazas are ringed by stones containing petroglyphs (prehistoric rock carvings) with the largest plaza containing the largest stones. It is believed that the plazas were actually fields used to play ball. These batayes would see 2 teams compete in a game where they tossed a ball to players who couldn’t let the ball hit the ground. The spaces between the large fields may have been used for ceremonial dances, religious rituals and astronomical observation. It is believed the rocks were from the Tanama River which is adjacent to the site.

The amazing thing is that you can actually touch the stones and it’s like reaching back through time. The place definitely emits an energy that is palpable. (Even Don who thinks all that stuff is nonsense felt it.) The park was just recently named a National Historic Landmark (1993) and for many years vandalism and theft claimed many artifacts. Interestingly, today the Taino decendents are not a federally recognized tribal community so they are not granted any input into maintaining the site as a sacred tribal grounds despite the relatively recent use of DNA to show they are indeed alive & well. Our drive back to San Juan was a rainy one, as the clouds did burst but fortunately we were on the highway when that occured as opposed to the serpentine mountain road we had to negotiate on our descent from the park.

We decided that our last night in Puerto Rico we would spend doing a ‘progressive’ dinner where we would have drinks and appetizers as one establishment then dinner at another and then coffee and dessert at another. Our first stop was a Cuban themed restaurant and while I enjoyed a mojito and an appetizer sampler we had a very interesting discussion with Michael, our server, about his dreams and aspirations being a young person today in Puerto Rico. Michael has no desire to leave Puerto Rico despite the economic woes facing the population today, He is a very personable hustler who works several jobs while completing his on line education. I love talking to the locals.

Our next stop was a burger place unimaginatively named, “The Place”. An interesting choice for me since 1. I don’t usually eat meat & 2. I never eat ground meat out. It was a weeknight and there was a line to get in and the place was packed so naturally we were curious. They were advertising an extended ‘happy hour’ and were serving $2 Coronas so we figured we’d a least grab a couple of those. They obviously were not expecting this sized crowd as it took a while for our server, Will, to get over to us. I asked him was The Place always this crowded on a Thursday night? He informed me that they were hosting some type of fundraiser for a local school (the place was full of families with middle school aged kids and younger). He then correctly assumed that we had never been there before and gave us the low down about the restaurant which has an extensive menu but the build your own burger thing is like their speciality. (A scan of the neighboring tables did show us some excellent looking burgers.) As a wise friend once pointed out to me when I ordered fish in a rib joint and got food poisoning, “When you’re in a rib joint, order ribs. When you’re in a steak joint, order steak.” I now live by this rule so we ordered burgers. They were massive, juicy and delicious. (Note to self: When you don’t normally eat meat, especially greasy hamburger, and you will be spending a large portion of time the next day confined to airports and airplanes you should probably order a salad.)

We were so full after our brews and burgers that our progressive dinner came to a halt. Fortunately, we had a lovely walk on a sultry night to head back to our hotel where we concluded the evening by making yet another donation to the casino. The next day, which was our departure day, we were able to have an extended check out which afforded us only 2 hours before our car was coming to take us to the airport. We did a little last minute shopping and then as we vacated our room we decided to head to the beachside restaurant to have lunch. It was extremely windy but sunny as a tropical storm was expected to pass by the southern portion of the island the next day. A quick check of the flight status revealed that there were no problems as we were departing from the northern side of the island. Every one of the locals we encountered in Puerto Rico wanted to make it very clear that tourism in Puerto Rico is very much open for business and they look forward to your arrival.