Road Trip to South Lake Tahoe

We had a wonderful road trip to S. Lake Tahoe. Steve and I are truly compatible travel buddies! We drove the rental car, so were fairly comfortable. We took 2 days each way, coming and going, taking the back roads there and the freeway returning, and 3 days with Tyler and Sara.

I thought it was treacherous in the snow, even tho this picture doesn't quite look like it.

Ty and Sara have a really lovely life together.


I loved seeing him as a sweet and affectionate boyfriend (and neat in the kitchen!) and she is, well, there's no other way to say it, a great addition to all our lives. She's adorable, smart, and funny. They do crossword puzzles together!

We played in the snow with their new pup, Aspen (they live on Quaking Aspen Lane), and here's Steve "wrassling" with her, did the requisite parent things like getting a warm curtain for their bedroom window and putting a door sweep and insulation in the gaping hole of their front door.
Their apartment has had some "settling' issues (see upstairs porch in picture of Ty outside with Aspen). We walked over to the ski lift from his place, which is only a few hundred yards away from his door. His restaurant is even closer, about half way to the ski lift. He's doing well at the restaurant,and was promoted to sous chef, which means he's second in command to the head chef! Sara's learning a lot and writing some controversial stories in her new job as a journalist at the Tahoe Daily Tribune newspaper..




Ty made lots of scrumptious food for us, including a fab leg of lamb and a panna cotta. Oh, yum.. I'd left my camera in the car or there'd be a picture of it.




Steve and Tyler did some derelict-bonding, too.

On our return trip we had to put on chains at the Oregon border from California. This was my very first experience with chains, ever. (I've led too sheltered a life, I guess!) So I found it quite exciting, even tho it's quite mundane for all the trucks lining the roads who have to do it so often.


On the first day we started out Steve had to put on the chains and then they closed the freeway so we had to take them off and go back to Yreka, to a motel earlier than we'd planned. (Yreka Bakery is a palindrome),


Then the next day we had to put them on again, in the sunshine, with no snow on the road, and then they were barely necessary for a very long time until we could take them off again.

We arrived home quite late at night the next day, always glad to be home. We'd left on a Friday and returned late on the next Thursday, and still had no word about the insurance for my wrecked car. Now it's the day after Christmas, and maybe we'll get a call some day this week letting us know how much they're going to give us, so we can look for another used car. I'm having a bit of a problem understanding that my crappy looking car (because of the previous deer incident damage) , which was doing well internally, won't be worth as much to USAA as it was to me. Sob.

Back home, abroad no more, for now....

Now that we've been back for 2 weeks, I may have forgotten most of what I would have written, but I'll try to make a nice precis of the last week of our trip in Antalya and Prague.





Why the heck does there have to be an Abercrombie and Fitch in Antalya!?

And here's Sidney with a stray cat he sneaked into the hotel for a little "pick me up."







We sent our Iraqi friends off for a couple of days in Istanbul before they flew back to Baghdad. A bus picked them up to go to the airport in Antalya and there was much, much hugging (females only...) and tears and picture taking as our new buddies went away. I've already received an email from Hashim, the most charming of the young guys and I'm going to be sending a stash from my beanie baby collecting days to his kids and the kids of the others who work with him.

We flew to Prague via Istanbul and then Zurich and arrived back late at night Saturday, with only Sunday to play before heading back to the states on Monday. It was VERY cold, even snowing as we took the trams to Steve's office to pick up the cold weather items we'd left there for safekeeping. Here's Steve waiting for the #7 tram and me braving the cold on a couple of our forays out on Sunday. These older women (below), chatting on the tram, reminded me of my grandmother in her gorgeous Persian lamb black coat.















We then went for a Thai massage, a couples massage, as it turned out, so I could watch some little woman sit on Steve's cute butt and massage his back. He never opened his eyes to meet mine (isn't that what "couple's massage implies?) and my masseuse didn't sit on my butt, anyway. She might have thought I was too fragile...but it was a good massage. The best part was that she INSISTED on dressing me afterward, probably because she saw me have trouble getting up off the floor and thought I needed help. She put on my socks and underwear, hooked my bra, zipped my jeans and put on my coat and I hugged her for being so sweet, tho she only understood a few words of English. Oh, the best part: Her name tag read "Porn." A certificate showed her name as something like Samporn, so a logical nickname.




After a rest and a dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant, where they, surprisingly, had a picture of the World Trade Center in NYC


We then we had tickets to the ballet, Sleeping Beauty, which Steve had ordered when we were in Prague 2 weeks earlier. . We left with plenty of time to spare, GOOD THING! Because the tickets had the address of the ticket box office, not the theater where the performance was held. We walked and walked and by the time we figured out where we were going my legs had completely given out and he had to piggyback me for blocks and blocks and blocks. NOT VERY DIGNIFIED! We arrived at the most gorgeous theater JUST AS the performanhe began and the doors were shutting and I had to hike up the stairs in the dark and stumble to my seat. But it was all worth it, because the ballet was gorgeous and well done and the theater was spectacular.








Prague’s Estates Theater is the actual theater where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart chose to premiere Don Giovanni, on October 29, 1787, also conducted by Mozart himself!


We even met a woman from Pittsburgh during the intermission! Someone took our picture but you can see who the really beautiful people were...









Here's me, happy after an evening at the theater!





We got home in time to go to bed for our 5 a.m. cab to the airport he next morning. The pre-ordered cab didn't arrive, we had to call for another, but we got to the airport ok for our then grueling 26 hours from Prague to Frankfurt to Cincinnati to Salt Lake City to Bellingham, where it was snowing as Erin picked us up and I practically had to be carried down the slick outside ramp by a huge female airport worker.

Always happy to be back home, it took another week before my jet lag abated. Then I was hit by a stupid driver crossing two lanes of traffic, BAM! Without any warning she was in front of me. My car is probably totaled (93 Maxima) but I haven't had an appraiser out to look at it yet because of the bad flooding in Chehalis last week, they're too busy.





So I'm driving a horrid rental car, tho it does have the needed-hand controls, until we can get a $ amount they'll offer us to buy a new, used car. I'm sad at losing the car I've had for 5 years, even after the deer slaying incident,, and horrified at how quickly accidents can happen, but, of course, no one was hurt. NEVER CROSS TWO LANES OF TRAFFIC IF YOU CAN'T SEE BOTH OF THEM, even if someone waves you in.

Now we're on our way down to visit Tyler and girlfriend Sara in South Lake Tahoe for a few days, Steve wanted a road trip, I wanted to fear getting hit by an avalanche, so we're driving the rental car 2 days each way to spend 2.5 days with the kids!

Now that I've gotten the hang of blogging, I'll probably do this once in a while but I'll need a catchy new title.

Karen

etc. etc.

My daughter pointed out that I had used the wrong picture for Steve's dip in the sea, it was one of the balder guys. Here's Steve emerging from the sea like Venus on the half shell, only hairier:


Then there's the issue of the hotel bidet. I'm not a rube, ya know, I've seen my share of bidets. But this one is incorporated INTO the toilet, instead of being a separate unit. Steve took a picture. There's a lever on the right side for water.

Today's posting is more like a flogging than a posting, because I've been behind! Slog on, go to coffee and read more later!


On Saturday morning we got up at 5:30 to go down to the sea and watch the sunrise and then a few people, including Steve, dove in. The water is a shock at first at this time of year but is still warmer than the outdoor pool. Turns out the sun didn't rise until about 6:30 but we were there at 5:30. Bad pic but proof of Steve in sea rather than a bad picture of the sunrise:






The weekend then flew and dragged by. We had a bus tour with guide on Saturday. Steve was the ONLY one of the group who elected not to go. He doesn't like planned tours. He missed an interesting but long day. I offer this picture of our group of women: Iraqi, Palestinian, American, Belgian, and French. The men add Czech and Chinese to the mix but that picture is in another's camera.


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We drove an hour to the first place and beside each ruin and waterfall there was the ubiquitous market of crap and tchotchkes. Here is a link to the sights we saw, must be the typical tour bus tour. Perge, Aspendos, Side (C-day), http://www.adiyamanli.org/aspendos.html The pictures will be better than mine if you can wade thru.

Even tho this is not the high season, there were several full buses at each stop. I can't even imagine the horror of tourist season!!

The longest walk was in the old city of Perge, an ancient agora (marketplace - this is where Steve's agoraphobia comes from...)) and walked and walked and walked, it was hot and I got a little wrecked but carried on. I got an arm to lean on from many people. We always had the bus to get back to, very comfortable and everyone had their own double seat.

Here's Sidney eyeing a cat at the amphitheater in Aspendos.( All the cats we see are strays and are so tiny and baby-looking, unlike our overfed feline children.)


a couple of the students at well known waterfall, Manavgat: Mohammed and Mohammed.(!)



We made a stop at a huge jewelry store. For more than 5,000 years, the people of Anatolia, the part of Turkey that comprises the peninsula of Asia Minor, have been crafting and wearing gold jewelry. Today, Turkey is the world's fourth biggest market for gold jewelry, its third largest manufacturing center and its second biggest exporter, according to the World Gold Council, an industry group. I lifted that from the web. I would have said "Turkey is famous for its gold." We were immediately swooped upon by slick, friendly, articulate men and women. I casually mentioned that I don't like/wear any real jewelry but that I might look at a very simple wedding ring, since Steve and I had never exchanged them. Ooops, I named a price I wouldn't go above, was brought a very simple band whose price in euros was way more than I wanted to spend, and it miraculously (with tweaking of a tiny calculator) was brought down to a price in dollars I could deal with. Items here are either in euros, Turkish lira or dollars. The experience of being whisked into a private room, given chai (their plain but strong tea, not spiced like what we call our chai tea) and charmed by a stunning, 35-ish Indian man, raised in Kenya, educated in England and now swindling tourists in Antalya, was more than I could cope with and Viola, I have a simple wedding band. And his email address. We're such good friends now.

I am also sure that the tour guide gets a kickback from every purchase made.

A bunch of us we went into Antalya old town yesterday. We took the bus and Steve was able to participate in the handing up of the liras. There were mosques and minarets and gates and ruins but I really get bored quickly and more prefer to watch the people. After seeing a few sights, we simply walked the streets. They are lined with shops ( mobile phone, photo, optical, clothing, carpets, all repeat every few yards) and then the alleyways are lined with more shops, each with more souvenirs and especially knockoffs of e.g. Prada, Dolce and Gabana, Dior, Tommy, you name it, clothing and purses. I am told by a hotel person that Turkey is known for these knockoffs, they are made in Turkey, not China, and are well-made and a fraction of the "Rodeo Drive prices!" Do I want any of these items? Yes/No. (There was a cute leather Batman jacket I would have bought for my grandson but the knock off price was $380.)

We went into a couple of carpet shops for a quick peek. My mother has told me repeatedly since the inception of this Turkey trip almost a year ago that I would be "a fool" not to purchase a Turkish rug. So we landed in this shop, started talking to the congenial owner, who began throwing down carpet after carpet, unrolling them with a flourish, on the floor. I wanted a rug in front of my sofa, something more modern looking. I didn't like anything he showed me. Then he unrolled a rug I did like, of course he was playing with me and it was much more expensive. Blah blah blah and much negotiating and I offered a price he didn't take, we began to leave the store and he suddenly went berserk, "get the fuck out of my store, you can take your fucking money and get out of here, and much more anger and cursing ensued and followed us down the little alley. I was afraid he was going to radio ahead and have a compadre shoot us. We escaped, and mom, I'm not getting a rug. Not yet, at least.. Then we had some apple tea at charming small restaurant veranda, the ower asked if we wanted to do some nargile, the Turkish water pipe tobacco smoking, and we had a tour of the cistern they use for the water. Suhair, our Arabic friend, (Steve's translator) said most houses have one built in underground.

I am so happy to meet Suhair!


Then we had a great lunch and came back by a lurching taxi, no lanes. I needed a nap and it was dinner, some time on the bike in the gym and bed.

Today, Monday, Steve and his group got to work, Sidney took off to town to get a shave and a haircut, and I signed up for a Turkish bath at the hotel. It might have been a bit more authentic in the old town but I needed the reassurance and safety of the hotel where someone at the front desk spoke English. My skin hasn't been this smooth since birth. You get naked, lie on a heated marble slab and have very, very warm water thrown on you for a while. Then you are left for 5 minutes to brine. Then you get slathered with bubbles and water and treated to a tingly scrubdown, all over, I mean all over. If I had any cellulite before, I don't now. I had expected some huge loofah but it was a thin, scratchy mitt. A massage, tons more bubbles and a hair wash (unexpected) and you're done.

More on the hotel. Here's what we have to put up with every day in the "lounge." But this one, Petra, has become a friend. She's Dutch and speaks very good English. Even tho she's not wearing the requisite pointy-toed shoe/boots, she's a stunner with long legs. The Marlboros she smokes recklessly, in front of her darling 3 year old child (see rabbit). The wallet pays for the (at least) 6 cappuccinos and wines she imbibes in the lounge every afternoon and evening. Child (Ricky) is in the hotel room with a baby monitor.



Each breakfast and dinner presents us with many opportunities to see gorgeous, young women. Some look pretty tacky, some look beautiful, but most are very trendy. I am not the oldest or only slob here but I do need all new clothes.

I'll try to write a little bit more often! I wouldn't have missed this for all the turkish delight (candy) in antalya, but I'm ready to come home.

It has quickly become Friday in Antalya

I haven't posted since Sidney arrived. He was glad I showed up to pick him up, nothing like a friendly face in a new town. Then he was sick a day or so, jet lag combined with perhaps a bit of flu.

We took a mini bus to the old town of Antalya. One of the main street boulevards. There must be a trolley but we never saw it.
Walked around, saw a few sights and had a bite to eat and then the adventure began. We got on the bus for home, it was VERY VERY crowded. Interesting fact - people enter in the middle of the bus and then, in order to hand their money up to the driver, it has to go hand over hand over hand to the driver, then he starts the process in reverse to hand back the change. Very polite.

After about an hour we thought we might be on the wrong bus and asked a woman who happened to speak English. "Oh, you are on the complete wrong end of Antalya, you'd better get out here." We got out and immediately another mini bus came barreling along with its door open, crashed into a garbage bin and knocked the whole door off. Everyone had to pile out of the bus while the driver picked up the door, stuffed it inside and headed off. It began to rain and Sidney held his umbrella over a young woman with a sleeping child in her arms. We finally got on what we thought could be the correct bus (I'll save the suspense, it was) and it now became darker and darker and we were still driving, with many people and fogged windows and trust we would ever see the hotel again and yelled out the hotel name to the driver, who said to get out "here". "Here" was a pile of mud and we had to cross the busy highway to get to the hotel, I crossed myself in thanks, and we walked in. Not until I got to the room did I realize we'd tracked mud all over the clean white foors and the dark blue carpets in the room hallways!! I change my shoes and reported the infraction to the reception people and within minutes the carpets were being cleaned and the floors mopped. I assume we were not the only mud people, ever.

While in the old town we visited a restored old home fromthe late 19th century here. Very, as you'd expect, Turkish, with people lying around with a Black servant, beautiful stone courtyards, which they poured waer over to keep it evaporating and cool during the hot summer.





Pottery from the era, only interesting because it was labeled "sugar bowl."





The Hadrian's Gate (or Hadrianus Gate or Üçkapılar (meaning "The Three Gates" in Turkish)) is a triumphal arch which was built in the name of the Roman emperor Hadrian, who visited Antalya in 130 A.D.
Here is Sidney looking casual

Quiet afternoon

I changed my picture from the one in Paris to one from yesterday and it came out too huge but can't yet figure out how to change it, so forgive my EGO looking pic until I smaller it!

Met a few of the students, some speaking limited English and others speaking quite well. At lunch there were all these videos of burning cars (not sure of the orign) and one guy said, "nothing unusual for us." I wanted to scream but that's not the way a Canadian would behave...

Going to the airport tonight with yesterday's tour guide, who offered to pick up Sidney, who had a 5 hour layover in I'bul. After he recovers, maybe we will do a few things outside of the hotel that I can't do by myself.

I forgot to add a picture of only a tiny portion of the dessert area of the dinner buffet.

Monday morning

Today bloomed bright and so sunny I have to close the blinds to write! Now that the 24 Iraqi men and women have arrived (some not until 3 a.m. this morning), the training is underway and there will be fewer pics until I get out and around with Sidney. My first impressions were of the borg-like white attendants (thnk mental hospital) and the white white white surroundings but with careful walking I've come to almost enjoy everything. It's VERY comfortable, the staff is uber attentive and sweet. A woman just knocked on my door, said she was a floor supervisor and, after a bit of language difficulty, I understood that she was SIMPLY checking that there was an umbrella in my closet. I asked if she would come every day to check this and she smiled and said, "No."

Here's what is left on the bed after cleaning: