FINALLY, CATCHING UP...


I can’t believe that I won’t be returning to work after 30+ years of FIRST DAYS OF SCHOOL! That’s probably when it will hit me that I’m actually retired, since it really has just seemed like any old summer vacation these first few months off.

We have really treated ourselves to a couple of terrific vacations these past couple of summers. Now that both sons are no longer in need of financial assistance, we figured that the money we spent on college tuition, would now be spent on us. Last summer we took a cruise on the Inside Passage in Alaska…experienced from Anchorage to Vancouver, British Columbia including the Hubbard Glacier calving, which was unbelievable! The Mendenhall Glacier was another phenomenal experience and so were all the little towns (Seward, Skagway, Haines, Juneau and Ketchikan) and breaching whales and bald eagles along the way! I never thought that I’d get my husband on a cruise since he really gets motion sickness but this cruise had a special appeal…there was a small segment of us who were on the Brew Cruise subgroup of the cruise…we did a pub crawl of microbreweries in Anchorage, AK before boarding the cruise ship in Seward and then along the way whenever there were shore excursions, our little group of 15 or so would hit all the AK micro breweries along with the usual sights…it was awesome! Alaska with a BUZZZ! I’m sure that’s why I had so much fun ‘cuz I’m really not an outdoor person at all but this trip was out of this world. We hit microbreweries in Haines, AK (which is the smallest brewery in Alaska…we had to take a fast ferry to get there) and we also hit a microbrewery in Juneau (Alaskan Brewery who in addition to a tour of the brewery and samples of their product, took us to an evening picnic on the beach in Juneau where we had all the grilled salmon and Alaskan King crab legs that we could eat!) When we got to Vancouver we did another pub crawl of micro breweries in that city and then our adventure was over…we did stay a few more days in Vancouver to check things out just like when we arrived in Anchorage early so that we could explore as well…figured that we wanted to take advantage of our visit in case we didn’t ever get the chance to return.

At Christmas, we were cajoled into another week at WDW and despite our misgivings at an upteenth visit...it was a week full of MAGICAL experiences. We managed to have a very private dinner for 3 (our younger son accompanied us) at the Chef's Table at Victoria and Albert's in the Grand Floridian! It was comparable to the French Laundry so about all you can say to that is WOW! What an experience! That alone made the trip for us. Another highlight, though, was staying in the newly created suites at All Star Music! The place is designed for 6 people and with a visiting friend, one night we reached capacity! The spaciousness of the new suites with the refrigerator and microwave facilities along with TWO bathrooms made it unbelievable! I'd sign up for those accommodations again, without a doubt! The fact that our room was right on the corner of the Calypso building, steps from the pool and food court made it a hit, as well. The parks have lost their allure for me but we did do a day at EPCOT and finally had dinner one night at SPOODLES which was surprisingly delicious. We were on Disney's new meal plan for 3 of us and we actually had enough food credits for all 5 when the pair from NJ arrived midweek! I think Disney has since closed some of the loopholes that allowed us to use up all those food credits, so I don't know if we'd ever opt for that again. Of course, having dinner at the Brown Derby on New Year's Eve was a delightful tradition that we never tire of and it fit in the meal plan!

But our previous summer's trip (2006) to the Pacific Northwest was SO unbelievable, we returned there again this summer! This time we toured Portland, OR, Victoria (on Vancouver Island), British Columbia and Seattle, WA. Wow! It was just as much fun. We began with Portland because they were having their annual Oregon Brewfest and what an event that was. (Have you noticed the theme to our vacations, yet?) It began at noon on Thursday and ran until Sunday night! Needless to say, Thursday afternoon and Friday afternoon were the calmest times to experience the various Pacific microbrews. My favorite was Waialua Wheat from Kona Brewing in Hawaii…it was a wheat beer with passion fruit! Yummy! While we were in Portland, we did check out the International Rose Test Garden and we explored the Columbia River Gorge on our way to visit a local brewery. While we were there we also took a tour of local microbreweries on a brew bus…this guy took us to 5 places where we sampled various beers and we were carted from place to place on a little “special” school bus! It was very funny to be a retired schoolteacher being hauled from microbrewery to microbrewery on a little school bus! From Portland, we drove up to Port Angeles in Washington State to catch a ferry across to Vancouver Island where the capital of British Columbia (Victoria) is located along with many microbreweries. A couple of them have accommodations and we stayed at one which was a bed and breakfast + microbrewery + restaurant called Spinnakers. The city of Victoria was really neat and of course we ate & drank our way through it…there was also an exhibit of Titanic artifacts at the museum there, which was fascinating. Besides just the unbelievable quality of the items that they’d recovered, when you entered the exhibit you were handed a card with the name and description of a person who sailed on the Titanic and whether they sailed in 1st Class, 2nd class or steerage. At the end of the tour you found out if your person survived the journey…it was pretty emotional! We had meals and beer at a few more pubs & local microbreweries with names like The Sticky Wicket (made with the reclaimed wood from ships that had wrecked), Swan’s, Canoe and Vancouver Island Brewery. After stumbling onto mile marker 0 for the Trans Canadian Highway, it was time to head back via ferry to Washington for the Seattle portion of our adventure. Unbeknownst to us, we had chosen the time of year when Seattle has their annual SeaFair celebration with parades, visits from aircraft carriers, hydroplane races and the Blue Angels! The town was one traffic jam after another but we were able to maneuver with the help of our Garmin GPS system (our newest toy), which really did come in handy there. We headed out to Woodinville, WA to check out the Washington wineries (Chateau Ste. Michelle and Columbia) as well as the Red Hook Brewery and Restaurant. (There is an intersection there in Woodinville where the 3 converge...2 wineries and a brewery! Talk about a tourist's dream!) Of course, one day was spent at the Pike’s Place Market where we not only watched them throw fish, we actually sampled and bought some delicious smoked salmon. Pike’s Place Market is also home to the original Starbuck’s and of course we withstood the crowds to get ourselves a cup of the special blend from place that started it all! Another day we toured the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field, where Boeing actually began building aircraft…it now has moved to a facility northwest of Seattle. At the Museum of Flight there is a Concorde on display, which you could tour and a retired Air Force One! It was from the days of Eisenhower, JFK, Johnson and Nixon but it was really incredible to check out. We also were lucky enough to be at the Museum of Flight right at the time that a Harrier jet, the Patriots & the Blue Angles were performing and we got to see them, front and center. It was a real treat and we didn’t even plan on it.

Well, now that I've caught up on vacations, I'll publish this...my last year of teaching was quite uneventful, although my coworkers threw a fabulous retirement party for 4 of us lucky enough to be retiring at a county facility right on the shore of Lake Ontario! Then upon returning to Michigan for a belated Michigan State graduation party at Comerica for a nephew in August, my family SURPRISED me with another retirement party...I guess two parties aren't too much after 30 years of service!