Have List, Will Travel

An Update on our Lives

I haven't posted anything for awhile.  We returned from Italy in late September and I did post the trip report from that trip.  Now it is Christmas and it occurred to me that my blog is a bit out of date.  I need to at least make an effort to get things current, even though I am no longer sure that anyone is actually reading this.  Still, if someone were to stumble across the blog and decide to view it, things should be up to date, shouldn't they?

So, with that in mind, I plan to post an update to my Christmas decorations and add pictures of the ones I have bought since that posting, and that will be coming.

And to update you on some of our upcoming trips.  Our next trip will be in February when we will fly to Iceland for 8 nights, with the hope of seeing the northern lights.  If you check my current list, you will see that is on the list.  Of course, there is no guarantee that we will actually see the lights, there is a chance that we will not see them, they are illusive, or so I have been told.  If we don't,
then we will have to try again, maybe in Norway next time, who knows.  

Then in March I will be going on an 11 night cruise with a friend.  George is staying home for this trip.  We will be stopping in several places in the Caribbean with the highlight being 2 stops in Cuba, Havana and Cienfuegos.  Checking off another destination on my list. And adding 3 new countries to my list - Cuba, Jamaica and the Grand Caymans.

In May, George and I will fly to St. Petersburg, Russia and do a 14 day river cruise to Moscow.  From there we will fly to Warsaw, Poland and meet up with our Scottish friends, Myra and Malcolm.  We will spend 2 weeks exploring Poland with them.  So checking off Russia on my list and adding 2 more countries.  

And we also plan to do a Panama Canal trip in the fall, although that is not yet booked.

Sadie

One of the reasons we are doing so many trips so close together is that this year we lost both of our dogs.  Sadie came down with cancer in February, just before our trip to Vietnam.  We lost her fairly quickly after the diagnosis, she wasn't getting better and we could tell she was in pain.  Baxter missed her, as did we.  Baxter was diabetic, mostly blind and mostly deaf.  But he still got around and was enjoying going for walks.  He was almost 14 years old and we knew we wouldn't have him long. We had a trip planned for Italy in September, and I worried about leaving him.  The trip was to celebrate our 50th anniversary, something we planned ahead for and didn't feel we could change. A neighbor took good care of him, and he was doing good when we got home.  But in October he all of a sudden couldn't walk and so we had to say good-bye.  Loving our animals as we do, that is always the hard part, saying good-bye.  We have decided to wait awhile before getting another dog.  So without any animals we have decided to get some big trips taken care of.  Then next October we plan to get another dog.  I can't imagine my life without one.  Right now though, we are still grieving for Baxter and Sadie.  They were the best!

Baxter

So, life goes on.  We look forward to the holidays.  Our tree is up and our house is decorated.  Then we look forward to the travels we have planned.  To anyone who is reading this, Happy Holidays and I hope 2018 is a good year for you.