Blogging A to Z — Nebraska

Posted on April 25, 2016 by renbog

NI used to live in Nebraska. That sounds about as exciting as living in Iowa or Kansas, In know. But it’s not as bad as you might think. Most people think of Nebraska as flat and only full of corn. And that’s not far off. There are for sure a lot of corn fields. But where I lived — Omaha — isn’t flat at all. It’s actually quite hilly and has some nice features. For instance, the Henry Doorly Zoo is fabulous. It’s really quite pretty to walk through. There is also Offut Air Force Base near Omaha. Visiting there caused me to dream of flying jets in the military! Another thing that, for me, was notable about Omaha/Nebraska was tornadoes. There sure seemed to be a lot of them there! The most memorable for me was the one that hit Omaha on May 6, 1975. I’m not sure I’d like to live in Omaha ever again, but it might be nice to go back to visit and see all the things I remember from my childhood.

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Blogging A to Z — Mumbai

Posted on April 19, 2016 by renbog

MBoy, do I feel some pressure writing this post! A friend I made on my first trip to Dubai (that’s you, Jean!) is a blogger and a writer and adores Mumbai! So I offer a disclaimer right now that I don’t write like Jean ❤

My dad has been living and working in Mumbai, India, for the past few years, and I have been ever so fortunate to get to visit him there twice, most recently last summer. I’m not going to lie — I really love Mumbai!

I love the alive feel of it. There are so many people and there is always so much activity — the city is alive at all times of the day and night. I love waking up in the middle of the night and hearing the car horns. I even got to where I loved the traffic — because sitting in traffic affords the opportunity to look around at everything, and there is just so much to see!

There is beauty and sadness in Mumbai. You can look at the city and see all the stray dogs and all the poverty and all the poor people on the streets and all the dirt and garbage and think there can’t be beauty. But you would be so wrong. Because there are colors, colors everywhere! The buildings, the trucks, the clothes, the faces of the people.

Being in Mumbai made me feel alive and vibrant. Maybe that is what it is like to live in a big city. I loved being surrounded by people and activity and life all the time. I thought visiting Mumbai would be a once in a lifetime opportunity, but I was lucky enough to be able to be there twice.

Enjoy some of the pictures I took!

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Dhobi Ghat

The craziness of how these guys are riding notwithstanding, I was struck by the colors of their clothes. In the US, neither men nor women would wear such bright combinations of colors, but it is a common sight in India, which I loved!

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Cows are everywhere!

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Gateway of India

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An all too common sight in Mumbai — a homeless dog.

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Blogging A to Z — Las Vegas

Posted on April 19, 2016 by renbog

LIn at least one of my other A to Z posts, I mentioned my road trip to California and back with my best friend and our daughters. One of the places we went on that road trip was Las Vegas. Our husbands flew out there to meet us. If I’m being totally honest, Las Vegas didn’t do much for me. And I don’t think it had much to do with being in Vegas with kids. I just think Vegas isn’t my kind of place.

Our original plan was to do the tourist-y stuff during the day then let the girls relax and swim at night when the adults would come out in drunken droves. That plan got thwarted immediately when we discovered that the pool at the hotel we stayed at (Excalibur) closed at 5:00. Not happy. So off we went in the night time with kids in Las Vegas.

I found Vegas to be not a lot of fun. It was too crowded and too hard to get around. There was way too much traffic flow into casinos when all I wanted to do was walk. But simply walking down the street is difficult. Also, things are pretty spread out. We tried using a cab for a while, but that was bad, too, because there was so much traffic, it took forever to get anywhere.

We did take the girls to Fremont Street, which was cool. But the coolness factor doesn’t last for hours. We also took the girls to the pirate show outside Treasure Island, but it was a teensy bit risque for our girls who were still in grade school/junior high. We also took them to fountains at the Bellagio which was really cool! (At least it was until last summer when I was in Dubai and saw the fountains outside the Burj Khalifa. But more on that in another blog post!)

The girls definitely loved the M & M Store, and we adults found Hoover Dam interesting (but the girls were sure we were killing them with boredom). We didn’t really gamble much. Truth told, I’m not a huge gambler anyway. I enjoy roulette, but when I did this Vegas trip, I didn’t know how to play roulette then.

Maybe I’d enjoy Vegas more without kids, but I just didn’t see much there that I thought was all that great. Time will tell if I ever get back there.

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Blogging A to Z — Falling Behind

Posted on April 17, 2016 by renbog

I had a really busy week and fell one day behind. This has turned into more than one day behind now because of some emergencies that have occurred. I plan to finish the challenge, but I’m not sure I will do it on schedule. I hope to finish by the end of April, but I may have to use Sundays and double up on some days. To those of you who have been reading my blog posts, please hang in there! I’ll be back to it soon. Thanks for understanding.

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Blogging A to Z — Key West

Posted on April 15, 2016 by renbog

KAnother day in the Blogging A to Z Challenge, another day I’m behind! Ahhh, I’ll get caught up this weekend 🙂

Letter K brings me to one of my favorite places to visit — Key West. My first trip there was filled with all the typical tourist events, including the southermost point, the butterfly conservatory, Hemingway’s House, the lighthouse, Margaritaville, Sloppy Joe’s, sunset festival, a ride on the conch train, and key lime pie on a stick. And if you’ve never been to Key West, you should probably hit up every one of those places and do every one of those things. They’re fun!

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A famous Key West sunset.

But I’ve been there enough now that I’m starting to learn about some of the less tourist-y places. Still popular and attractive to tourists, but not necessarily on the tourist-y map. Things like grabbing a mojito at the Rum Bar at Speakeasy Inn on Duval; breakfast at my very favorite restaurant in the whole world, Blue Heaven (get the cheese omelette with Key West pink shrimp and lime hollandaise sauce and a slice of homemade banana bread — screw the calories, fat, and cholesterol, trust me); a dozen oysters to slurp at Half Shell Raw Bar; drinks with a view that is second to none at Waterfront Brewery; and the only peel and eat shrimp I’ll eat accompanied by a frozen rum runner and some terrific music at Schooner Wharf. And for a little adult raucousness, maybe an uproarious and entertaining evening at Aqua 🙂 Top it off with a nightcap and some bathroom graffiti at Captain Tony’s (#ManUpLarry).

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Enjoying a drink with the hubs, watching the sunset.

There is something for everyone in Key West. Do you want to relax poolside or on the beach? Or do you want to be active — biking, kayaking, diving? Or do you want to eat healthy — fresh seafood and tropical fruit? Or do you want to indulge in frozen drinks and friend conch fritters? How about some great people watching? You can have all of this in Key West.

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My very favorite restaurant in the whole entire world! It’s like someone just decided to open a restaurant on their backyard!

Just don’t forget the 2 A.M. fried chicken run at Dion’s!

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One of my other favorite things to see in Key West — there are kitty cats everywhere!

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One of my favorite things to see in Key West — chickens are everywhere!

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Blogging A to Z — Jersey

Posted on April 13, 2016 by renbog

JIf you have ever participated in the Blogging A to Z Challenge, then you know that there is always at least one Achille’s Heel in your alphabet — at least one letter that gives you fits when it comes to choosing a topic. Well, welcome to my Achille’s Heel. Today’s post about New Jersey is quite a stretch.

Right out of high school, I got engaged and moved to Philadelphia to be with my fiance. Not really surprisingly, within months of my arrival, he began cheating on me and six months later I was back home in Illinois. But in the six months I spent out east, I had some fun. I got to see Philadelphia and feel the history all around me there. But I also got to have some fun driving across the Ben Franklin, Betsy Ross, and Tacony-Palmyra Bridges between Philadelphia and New Jersey!

The first time I ever encountered a traffic circle (or a roundabout or whatever other regional name you use) was in New Jersey. I found the traffic circles to be really confusing and, frankly, dangerous. I can remember being in the car with my friends Lauren and Ann, driving through a circle, and being in a cold panic. But I got used to it.

My fiance’s parents had a house in Manahawkin, which is not far from Atlantic City. It was a neat place to visit. The house was right on a lagoon that was fed from the Atlantic. We used to go out on the deck and drop crab traps. This was the first time I ever saw a real live crab. I loved the way they walked sideways! They had a balcony off the front of the house as well, and we would often go out there with a telescope during the day and look out on the wildlife sanctuary and watch birds, and at night we would use the telescope to look at Atlantic City. I was mesmerized by the array of glittering lights. I remember going to Atlantic City and waling along the boardwalk. I had never seen a boardwalk before, so I thought it was actually pretty cool. After all, I was literally walking the Monopoly board!

I don’t know if I have any really impressive memories of New Jersey, and I don’t know if I have a hankering to go back there any time, but I did enjoy the trips I took to Jersey all those years ago.

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Blogging A to Z — Indianapolis 500

Posted on April 11, 2016 by renbog

ILast year, my husband and I joined our friends Larry and Cathy at the Indianapolis 500. Larry and Cathy have been going for many years and Jim and I have always thought it would be fun. Listening to Larry and Cathy talk about it just cemented our belief that this was something that we HAD to do! And it didn’t disappoint!

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Drivers getting in their cars.

I am so very grateful we went for the first time with experienced Indy 500 attendees. You simply can’t prepare yourself for the number of people who are there. I have never seen so many people in one place at one time. We parked in someone’s lawn and walked probably a mile to the race track. The whole walk there was wall to wall people. Now, this might sound ridiculous — parking so far away and walking — but it is a stroke of genius because the gridlock from the traffic is simply unreal. Seriously, such a smart move to park far away and walk! So wear comfortable shoes!

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Before the race.

I was blown away by the sheer size of the race track. I mean, you can’t even see to the other side of the track! And when you look down the grandstand, it simply boggles the mind how many people are there. The place is massive! But the really cool thing about being there with so many people is the buzz in the air. You can literally feel the excitement all around you.

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My husband and I (with an appearance by Larry is the background) on the track at Indy.

I was even more astounded when Larry said we could actually go out onto the race track itself. There is something so cool about standing where these cars are going to be racing, and again, looking all around you and up at the grandstand trying to wrap your brain around the size and number of people continues to be mesmerizing.

Once the race started, the boggling of my brain continued. I was in awe of the speed of the cars. Last summer, after the Indy 500, my husband and I went to a NASCAR race and I was chuckling to myself over how slow those cars looked compared to the Indy cars! I was also unprepared for how LOUD they were! I was extremely grateful for the tip Larry and Cathy gave us about earplugs. I seriously don’t know how anyone could watch that entire race without them.

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Pitting.

The whole day at the Indy 500 was such a fun, memorable experience. Jim and I are really looking forward to joining Larry and Cathy again this year and hopefully for many more to come!

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Blogging A to Z — Houston

Posted on April 10, 2016 by renbog

HI am still a day behind on my blogging, so today I am covering the letter H, which is for Houston, Texas. I guess I’m not talking about Houston itself but more about the Houston area. My father has lived in Houston for a number of years and I always swore I would never go to Texas because there are too many tornadoes on Texas. But I had to swallow that fear once my father moved there, and as it turns out, I really love Houston! My father has lived in the Houston area near Hobby Airport for a number of years, so I’ve also gotten to head out to Galveston often, too. Galveston is a roughly an hour from Houston depending on where in Houston you are coming from. It’s nice to live close enough to a beach town like Galveston but far enough not to be swamped with storm surge when hurricane waters surge in. I’ve also had the chance to go to Johnson Space Center a few times, too. It’s pretty cool to walk around there and see the Houston referenced in, “Houston, we have a problem.”   Also not far from my father’s home is Kemah which has a great boardwalk — fun carnival rides, souvenir shopping, and places to eat! When my daughter was young, she couldn’t get enough of Kemah. One of my favorite places to shop in Houston is Cavender’s, which is a chain of Western wear stores. I got my first pair of cowboy boots and my first cowboy hat at Cavender’s. If I was going to own those items, then dammit, I was buying them in Texas! There is also a restaurant my dad has taken me to called Gringo’s that has terrific Mexican food (actually, there are LOTS of places to get great Mexican food in Houston). They have this great green sauce they serve with the tortilla chips. It is so good, you could eat it with a spoon! I especially enjoy visiting Houston in the summer. My favorite season is summer, and the hotter it is and the more humid it is, the more I like it! And Houston in the summer definitely is hot and humid! Every time I have been to Houston and interacted with people who live there, they have always been exceptionally friendly. I stick out like a sore thumb to them when I speak since I’m from Chicago and have that nasally Midwestern accent. But they are always nice to me and ask where I’m from and make conversation. That’s one of the things I like best about Houston. My husband and I enjoy it so much there that Galevston is on our list of possible retirement locations. One day I’d love to get down there during the rodeo — it always looks so fun! I’ve visited the Battleship USS Texas a few times, and I’ve also been to the top of the San Jacinto Monument — also very cool places to see that don’t get old! There are lots of things to enjoy about Houston — consider visiting there if y’all are fixin’ to take a trip to Texas 🙂

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My cousin, aunt, and daughter at the Kemah Boardwalk.

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My aunt and cousin outside Gringo’s!

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My cousin, who is over 6 feet tall, offering perspective on this water line mark from Hurricane Ike on a building Galveston.

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The Battleship USS Texas as seen from the Jan Jacinto Monument.

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The San Jacinto Monument.

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A nice view from the top of the San Jacinto Monument.

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Blogging A to Z — Grand Canyon

Posted on April 9, 2016 by renbog

I am a day late with my post, but here is the letter G — the Grand Canyon.G

My first trip to the Grand Canyon was probably about 10 years ago. It was part of the road trip my best friend I took our daughters on to visit Disneyland. It was my friend Jennifer who wanted to spend a couple of days there; I had absolutely no desire. After all, it’s just a big, pretty hole in the ground. How much time can you actually spend looking at it? I figured my time there would be pretty much the same experience as Clark Griswold’s was in the movie Vacation.

I could not have been more wrong. The Grand Canyon is one of the most stunning, breathtaking places on this planet. It is impossible to ever get tired of looking at it. Pretty much every time you look out upon it, you find yourself thinking, “This can’t be real.” It is just too beautiful to be real. The way it looks changes all the time, depending on how the sun is hitting the Canyon. I found myself taking so many pictures just because EVERY picture was beautiful. It’s hard to tear yourself away from it. I made sure I saw it at least once at sunrise and once at sunset. I spent a lot of time wondering what it would be like at the bottom. I also wanted to hike it — ANY of it — just to say I did it. But I did not come prepared to hike on that trip, and if you’re going to hike the Canyon, you have to be very well prepared in many ways to do this!

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One of the many pictures I have taken of the Grand Canyon. This was probably taken on an iPhone and is completely unfiltered. It’s impossible to take a bad picture of the Grand Canyon.

Which is what I learned two years after my first trip when I joined Team in Training/Hike for Discovery and did fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in exchange for training and a trip to the Grand Canyon for a hike. On that trip, I got to hike about a mile or so down the Bright Angel Trail, which is the trail the mule trains also take. The we hiked out. In my training I learned to allow twice as much tome to get out as it took to go in, and that turned out to be very true. We hiked for about an hour down the train into the Canyon, and it took a good two hours to hike back out. I had all the equipment — a Camelback for water, hiking boots, trekking poles. And it was one of the most memorable experiences in my whole life.

One of my bucket list dream vacations is to hike to the bottom, spend a couple days at Phantom Ranch hiking along the river, then hiking back out. When I finally get to take that trip, you KNOW I’ll be writing about it here!

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I never looked so good, and it has EVERYTHING to do with the beautiful background — not me 🙂

 

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Blogging A to Z — Fun Ships

Posted on April 7, 2016 by renbog

Once again, I’m playing a little fast and loose with my travel theme! For today’s letter, I am talking about traveling on Carnival Cruise LinesF — the Fun Ships! I have been on (I think) 6 cruises and they have all been on Carnival. I really enjoy Carnival because it is a great mix of adult and family fun, casual and fancy atmosphere. My first cruise, I was super nervous about not being able to see land. It took me no time at all to love the feeling of being completely surrounded by water, feeling so small on that big boat. I have only cruised to Cozumel and Progreso, Mexico,

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My husband and I on our first cruise. In the foreground is my dad’s wife Brenda who introduced us to cruising!

but I don’t even really care where we go. I just like being on a cruise. I like the way the boat feels and the atmosphere on the ship. I feel very safe. I like the implied camaraderie with everyone else on the ship. It is rare that I run into a complete jerk. But that being said, cruises are great for people watching! The food is pretty decent, too. You’ll surely never go hungry! The shows sometimes are cheesy but sometimes they’re really cool! I love going to the comedy club or just hanging by the pool. I really love going to the casino! I love playing roulette, and honestly, the only time I ever play roulette is on a cruise despite the fact that I live 20 minutes away from 2 casinos.

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One of the best things about a cruise — towel animals!!!!

I have gotten spoiled, too. Now that I have had a stateroom with a balcony, I never want to be without a balcony on a cruise ever again! Nothing beats sitting on your balcony drinking coffee in your jammies or pulling into or out of port from your balcony or sitting out there in the dark and feeling absolutely small. Carnival has had some bad press in the past couple of years, but I have found their customer service and attentiveness to detail to be most impressive. I know there are lots of other great cruise lines out there, but right now, I am still a fan of the Fun Ships!

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My mom in front of our cruise ship on a spring break cruise. Port is Cozumel, Mexico.

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