ETA-TBD

9/15/22-10/15/22

Our flat is on a charming narrow street, with 100-year old balconied buildings that have residential flats upstairs and businesses (mostly bars and restaurants) on the ground level. In the U.S. real-estate world they would call this “mixed use development.” Ours is a cobblestoned walk-street that is only about 10 yards wide. The restaurants have high-top tables (no stools), lining the wall along the outside of their establishments. In the evening, the crowds from each spill out and merge and fill the whole street. From lunchtime on there is usually a steady sound of folks chatting, but as things really get going in the evening (primetime is from 9pm-1am) it can get pretty loud, confirming the scientific fact that the more you drink, the louder you talk.

We arrived on a Thursday, and thought “oh it’s just so loud because the weekend is getting started” and we were proved right as Friday and Saturday’s crowds enjoyed themselves louder and later. On Sunday night we said “So much for it quieting down on a Sunday.” Through Monday and Tuesday we figured “Okay, it’s just always like this.” Then, on Wednesday it stopped for one night, and we couldn’t sleep because it was “too quiet!” We’ve adjusted, and come to embrace it as part of the cultural experience – what else can we do, we paid for this apartment for one month! During the first week we’ve enjoyed looking over our balconies at the frolickers at night, listening to a group of singers serenade one afternoon, and – for some unknown adorable reason – a little fife and drum corps marches by every Sunday morning.

Our flat is a small 2-bedroom unit on the second floor (which is actually three floors up, because in Europe they don’t count the ground level.) It is simply furnished and decorated, clean, and has two balconies (one in the living room and one in the main bedroom). The tiny kitchen has no dishwasher or garbage disposal, but it does have a washing machine. You air-dry the clothes afterward on a portable rack.

We are situated in the oldest part of the city, Parte Vieja, – founded in 1180 – and are a two-minute walk to two great beaches, any number of amazing walk/run/bike/hike trails, five giant churches, a port, a couple of castles and an endless number of pinxto bars (Basque tapas). In short, we like it here!

Sept 13 to Sept 14 – CA-Madrid (via Zurich), – Kelly

The good news about our flight was that we didn’t have to wear masks. The bad news was that we were (a) in coach, and (b) connecting in Zurich which added an extra four hours of “coach discomfort” to our trip. The highlight of the flight happened when we were boarding in Los Angeles. We were being herded toward the hinterlands of coach, and passing through business class with its spacious, leather seats, footrests, elbow room, and complimentary bottles of Evian, when we overheard a fellow coach traveler behind us say “They don’t even show us first class because they know we’d kill ourselves.” Made my day!

Our Madrid hotel view looked out on several ornate, gorgeous buildings that were built before the United States was even a country. We spent the next day and a half seeing one grand and amazing castle, cathedral, statue, and plaza after another. Welcome to Europe!

What’s different? Breakfast fare has more charcuterie-type offerings, coffee comes in tiny cups (this could be a problem!), the ambulance and police sirens are different, way fewer folks wearing leisurewear and tennis shoes, a glass of wine is a smaller pour than at home – but it is also cheaper than a bottle of water (that’s a win!), they don’t have Uber/Lyft – so had to figure out what their version was and get the app.

Sept 1 to Sept 12, 2022 – Southern California – Kelly

We spent a couple of weeks in SoCal, visiting relatives, taking care of last minute admin stuff, and acclimating the dog to his new digs. Really, the main activity of this time was the challenge of paring my stuff down from two suitcases to one. It was hard enough packing for a full year into only two suitcases, but now it was being suggested that I should pare that down to just one for the next three months. What to keep? What to leave behind? Let me just say here unequivocally: it’s harder for girls. Guys (well, fashion icons like Jim) can get away with wearing the exact same clothes from one season to the next by simply adding socks and a sweatshirt as the months progress and the temperature drops. Not so for the ladies! For example, women progress from open-toed shoes to closed come late fall and winter, and (regardless of weather) summery colored cotton tees make way for leather jackets, sweaters, and scarves. To complicate matters further, even the length and fit of denim jeans can change from season to season. Damn you, Fashionistas!

My packing woes were helped greatly when I received this sage piece of advice from my real estate partner, and millennial friend, Scott Petersen, who had packed once to spend a year in Thailand. “I just had a few shirts and shorts, showered in my clothes, and when I needed something different, I bought it.” Taking his last three words to heart, I pulled out just enough things to be able to zip up my duffle bag and said “let’s roll!” I can’t wait to go shopping in Spain!

It was a relief to finally get past dull Kansas and into scenic Colorado for the last third of our cross-country trek. (Sorry, Kansas, but if you want us to give you another shot, you gotta up your game. Why Dorothy ever clicked her ruby slippers together to get home to Kansas is beyond me.) As we crossed into Colorado, it had become clear that our journey was progressing through several phases:

PHASE 1, Realization and Transition: It dawned on us early on, by around Pennsylvania or Ohio, that we had to put the kibosh on the Original Plan of leisurely exploring a few cities that we’d never visited, like Indianapolis, Kansas City and Columbus. Our Revised Plan: providing 24-hour entertainment for an English Lab puppy whose only known interests are shedding in our SUV and refusing to be left alone in a hotel room even briefly. Midwest minor league baseball games were out. Microbreweries with outdoor seating and pet-
friendly policies were in. Score: Pasha 1, Jim and Kel 0.

PHASE 2, Fleeing Kansas: One hour of Amber Waves of Grain was enough. Our new goal: getting through Kansas as quickly as humanly possible. (Sorry to go on about this, but c’mon, Kansas, I’m not asking for rugged coastline. Just throw in a mountain and a lake, or even just a couple of hills and a pond. And tornadoes
don’t count as a tourist attraction.)

PHASE 3, Park Bound: Through Colorado, Utah and Arizona, we began phasing out microbreweries (well, sort of) in favor of national parks, on the theory that dogs are not only welcomed in all parks, but practically required. All that driving would finally be broken up with long hikes in some of the most beautiful settings in the country (i.e., not Kansas).

PHASE 4, Scenic Overlook Bound: We learned that the Dog/Park Theory doesn’t really apply to most national parks, where dogs are pretty much restricted to the paved areas of scenic overlooks and the backseat of your car, confining their shedding to a small space that you will need to vacuum up at a car wash for about 20 minutes every morning of your grand adventure while your wife sits in a hotel room with the dog, who is preparing to cover the recently-vacuumed backseat with hair again, leading you to question why you decided to get a puppy the year before your long road trip was set to begin.

PHASE 5, Okay Fine: The national parks were fun, anyway. Utah is especially amazing, as it turns out that every inch of the state is covered by national parks, except for one square block in Salt Lake City. At the recommendation of our sister-in-law Sharon, we stayed well after sunset at Utah’s Arches National Park,
looking at the starry sky from a pair of beach chairs along the road. Kelly was determined to see her first shooting star. (Kel: “How do I know which star to look at?”) About an hour in, I spotted one, but Kelly, looking in a different direction, missed it. She decided to look the same way I was, and finally, just as we started to think Kelly had missed her one shot (no doubt prompting later suspicions about whether I’d actually seen one), we both saw one streak through the sky. Kelly was thrilled. Pasha seemed pretty unimpressed. Too bad Kansas
doesn’t have shooting stars.

PHASE 6, Prime Rib and Overlooks: Kelly, after we’d visited Garden of the Gods in Colorado, and Arches and Zion in Utah: “Those were so great, do we really need to go to the Grand Canyon?” Which is sort of like saying, “That prime rib was so tasty last night, do we really ever need to eat dinner again?” (A better question might have been, “Missouri was so impressive, do we need to do Kansas?”) Anyway, we did visit the Grand Canyon, where Pasha was welcomed at every scenic overlook on the south side. #worthit

PHASE 7, The Incredible Shrinking Pasha: We wound up our epic trip with a drive from the Grand Canyon to my parents’ place in San Clemente, California, via an overnight stop, for some reason, in Laughlin, Nevada, known as “Kansas, but with Casinos.” At check-in, the hotel clerk and I had this exchange. Clerk: “And how
much does your dog weigh?” Me (knowing that most hotels have an 80 pound limit): “He weighs about 72 pounds.” Clerk: “Our weight limit is 50 pounds.” Me: “I meant 50 pounds, then.” Somehow, that quick thinking on my feet worked. Thank heaven it did, or we’d have missed an evening in Laughlin.

2022 Aug 26 – Laughlin, NV to San Clemente, CA – Kelly

State Count – 14

Woke up. Drove. Made it.

2022 Aug 25 – Cameron, AZ to Laughlin NV – Kelly

State Count – 13

From here on in, it’s just one sprint to the coast! We did stopover in Flagstaff, AZ for a few hours. We enjoyed a nice leisurely loop-hike up in Buffalo Park. Gorgeous! From there we hopped over to a quick self-guided tour around the outside of the Riordan Mansion State Park. This interesting little park showcases one of the finest examples of American Arts and Crafts-style architecture out there. In 1904 two brothers who made their money in logging, each designed their own house but had them connected with a big shared family room, thus creating a duplex. We found it really interesting and they innovated so many cool ideas into the homes.

From there we headed to Laughlin, NV where the highlight was Jim convincing the front desk clerk at the hotel that 80 pound Pasha weighed 50 pounds. He can be very persuasive! Tomorrow we’ll be in California!

2022 Aug 24 – Zion, UT to Cameron, AZ (near the east entrance to the Grand Canyon) – Kelly

State Count – 12

After a long drive, we pulled into our Native American run hotel which was named for the Cameron Trading Post built on this river crossing way back when and used by pioneers following the Mormon Trail which ran from Utah to Arizona and into Mexico. Once we had Pasha watered and “de-watered” we eagerly headed out again to see the queen mother of them all, the Grand Canyon!

Jim and I had similar, vague memories of seeing the canyon when we were kids: standing as a family on the rim, gazing down into it, nodding a few times and acknowledging its grand-ness, and then hitting the road out of there just like the Griswold’s in National Lampoons Vacation. But it was different this time as a grown up (perhaps because we were taller?) – it was amazing, it was awesome, it was – yes – so grand! And each pull off along the well-maintained 23-mile South Rim drive provided an impossibly better view than the last. Well done, Colorado River! Well done!

A fun side-bar is that at the second overlook we met a French family who were smitten with Pasha. All of us adults laughed as the two kids (8 and 10) were standing right smack dab in front of one of the seven natural wonders of the entire world, and all they had eyes for was a panting white dog. We kept seeing the family at each scenic overlook and Pasha happily accepted the kids’ ear rubs and attention, but then we got out of synch toward the end and they were gone. Fortunately, at the very last stop, we saw each other again and had a “grand” reunion (see what I did there?) With the help of google translator, their broken English, and Jim’s impressive ability to count to ten in French, we found out that they are traveling the world for a year, too! They asked to have a picture of all of us and Pasha (the real star!) taken together,. My big regret was that we didn’t exchange contact info, and I didn’t get my own copy of that picture. I’m hoping we bump into them again in another amazing place during our mutual travels.

2022 Aug 23 – Moab, UT to Zion, UT – Kelly

State Count – still 11

Sometimes (but less than you’d think) our lack of pre-planning bites us. Take today, for instance. We skipped Bryce Canyon and went to Zion National Park where we discovered that not only are dogs not allowed outside of cars in the park (expected)… but also, cars are not allowed into the park (unexpected!) There was a shuttle that you could hop on that takes you around, but no dogs were allowed on that either (even ones who had been on the Indy 500 tour.) Oh, and did I mention it was 100 degrees, further limiting our activity options? Whoops!

But the good news is that we found a drive in the northwest corner of the park that did allow cars (and dogs in cars), and it ended up being pretty awe inspiring in its own right. Kolob Canyon is a five-mile drive with plenty of scenic viewpoints with ever changing vistas of crimson box canyons that cut into the edge of the Colorado plateau forming majestic peaks and sheer 2,000 foot cliff walls. Not bad for a second choice!

Afterward we headed to the brew pub back in Zion, and – par for the course this day – it was closed for a private event. We ended up in a friendly Mexican joint up the block with a shaded patio, ice cold margaritas, and the perfect view of a post-downpour rainbow. Again, not bad for a second choice!

Ended the day with a one mile walk along the edge of the campground near the Zion entrance. The babbling sound of the nearby river was soothing after the hot day, and the massive rock walls were pretty even in the looming darkness. Sometimes an imperfect day can be kind of perfect.

2022 Aug 22 – Denver, CO to Moab, UT – Kelly

State Count – 11

A five hour drive brought us to our hotel in Moab where we checked in and headed right back out to Arches National Park with a picnic dinner and the dog. Since we were limited to just driving (dogs are only allowed out of the car in the parking lots), we figured we’d hit every scenic pull-over along the 18 mile drive. We took turns at the several parking lots with one of us hiking a little ways up a trail, while the other walked the dog and took in the views from near the car.

Despite our limitations, this was an amazing place filled with one incredible, immense, sandstone sculpture after another. Clearly, Jim and I need to work on our vocabulary, because we just kept repeating “wow!”, and “this is crazy!” As the day waned, we pulled over at a lonely overlook, set up two little beach chairs (and a blanket for Pasha), cracked open some White Claws (classy!) to accompany our picnic dinner, and watched the sunset. The changing light and shadows on the rock formations and arches were certainly a sight to see.

Then we waited, and waited, and waited for twilight to change to night…. and the dark moonless sky was filled with a bazillion bright and twinkling stars right down to the horizon. And Kelly – FINALLY! – saw a shooting star! Arches National Park for the win!

We started listening to a true-crime whodunnit podcast as we left Virginia. It was from 2017 and had a bunch of episodes. Turns out, it became as much a part of our journey as Pasha was! Jumping into the car for a four- or six- hour stint was less daunting since we were eager to see what happened next! As we left Virginia the podcaster decided to re-examine a cold-case about a missing women who lived in his grandma’s small Georgia hometown. As we drove across the country we discussed, guessed, paused, and debated the information and angles that arose with each episode. In Utah the case was solved , and as we pulled into Southern California the verdicts were handed down. Satisfying ending, and perfect timing!

The podcast we listened to is Up and Vanished/Season 1 – by Payne Lindsay.