Hello to all of our friends suffering in North America right now.  We are trying to represent your interests where things are a little better.

It is hard to come up with things to write about on a trip like this one because we aren’t really doing anything of any interest to anybody. This is merely intended to be a break from winter in North America and in doing that we are typically pretty lazy. Although in Denver we have been fortunate to escape the winter’s wrath experienced by many other parts of the country this year.

As mentioned in the first post of this trip, we do love this part of our hemisphere. We think that the water and beaches are superb. This year our house is terrific and our landlord is incredible. But we have found the islands in this area of the world to be a bit of a challenge in finding quality, diverse food which makes us long just a little bit for our two weeks in Mexico last year where the house, water and beach were not as satisfying but the cuisine was head and shoulders over what we have found here so far.

So this week we have spent time on a couple of beaches that are a mile from our house, searched for the best grocery store we could find and taken a lovely day sail on a catamaran operated by Aristocats. We highly recommend Aristocats if you ever find yourself here…small group, nice boat and a really great lunch prepared on board by Steve the owner and captain.

Our friends Dale and Debbie Cummins returned to the real world on Thursday after a too short visit with us. Coming on Saturday will be Dave and Lisa Wangsness from Big Canoe, Georgia and my brother Paul and his friend Jill from Indianapolis. Lisa and I grew up together in little Liberty, Indiana so everyone else gets a gold star for suffering through those discussions.

So until later I will just post some pictures of the fun and frivolity here as we partake in excessive laziness.

But you knew that.  But if you stick with me you’ll see to what extent they will lie.

The time has arrived for our fifth annual winter break.  We did a
week in Hawaii in 2007, two weeks in St. John, USVI in 2008 and 2009 and two weeks in Akumal, Mexico last year.  This year we decided to try Tortola in the British Virgin Islands because we love the water and beaches in that part of the Hemisphere.  This is the third year we have been joined by a variety of friends and family for this trip.

We met Dale and Debbie Cummins, friends from Liberty, Indiana, early Saturday morning at Dulles International Airport outside of Washington, DC.  It was Dale’s birthday and I won’t say how old he is now but leave it at we go back a mere 50 plus years.  We arrived in St. Thomas in the afternoon, took a cab to the ferry dock and then took the 50 minute ferry ride from downtown Charlotte Amalie to the West End Dock on Tortola.  With Tortola being part of a separate country, we had to clear immigration and customs before meeting our property manager for the trip to our rental house.

Because I was in need of some quick pictures so I could begin my blog, I opened my suitcase to retrieve my tripod.  But wait a minute.  I am sure I don’t have a bra like that!  Holy moly!!

This bag that is identical to mine in every way is not mine.

Using the ID in the bag I placed a call to the owner and sent an
email.  I have flown over 1.5 million miles and have never picked up the wrong bag.  And it even came in on a different airline.  How could this happen?

So I dutifully report the situation to United Airlines (UA).  They
tell me that my bag is still at the St. Thomas airport and in order to receive I must return there with the bag I picked up by mistake or they will not give me my bag.  I ask “But what if I hear back from the owner and she is on Tortola?  It would be rude to make her also make the approximately 4 to 6 hour round trip back to the airport if in fact she is on this island.”  But don’t bother them with practical considerations, the erroneous bag must be returned in order to receive mine.

Now simultaneously the property manager for our rental house is also calling UA.  She ties me into her call so I can complete the details.

Same story from UA except that this agent repeatedly claims they have been in contact with the owner of the bag that I have and that she is in the process of returning my bag to the airport.  Okay, at least that makes sense since she is on St. Thomas and not on Tortola.

Not five minutes after concluding that call, my phone rings and it is the owner of the bag.  She had just then opened the bag, saw it was not hers, pulled my id out of the slot and called.  She never even called UA.  She called me immediately.  The erroneous switch did not occur at the airport after all but fortunately at customs in Tortola.  She was staying less than a mile away and a quick and easy exchange followed.

So not one lie from UA but two that could have resulted in an extreme inconvenience to us both.  So be alert.  United Airlines will make up any story they can just to make their inflexible procedures make sense to themselves.

Okay.  That turned out well so back to our vacation.

It has been three years since we have managed to gather the time to send holiday cards to friends and family. We will try to bring everyone up to date through the 54 pictures included in our 2010 holiday card combined with the descriptions in this online letter of those pictured on the mailed 2010 card.

While our 2010 has been good for us and our families, we unfortunately cannot say the same for all of our friends. Our thoughts and hopes go out to those who have faced tougher times than us including battles with the economy and serious illness. We wish them a better 2011 and beyond.

So here is a summary about those pictured on our mailed card as well as all of the pictures with descriptions.

My daughter Kristin is a family photographer (Kristinmcdade.com) in Phoenix and is married to Rob. Rob works as a Captain and paramedic with the Phoenix Fire Department. Their children are Isabelle (12) whose present activity is to be the scholar in the family with her straight A report cards, just like her grandfather did. Kristin, Isabelle and I spent six days together this year in New York City enjoying the sights of America’s most interesting city.

Ryan (10) and Logan (9) are sports aficionados with Ryan playing baseball and basketball, just like his grandfather did, and Logan plays basketball and something called “soccer.” The boys and I did an eight day baseball stadium tour this year seeing six games in five cities in seven days. I began blogging with that trip so you can read all about that here on this blog as well as everything else of significance in my life from then until now.

My son Benjamin lives in Orlando and is married to Fernanda who is from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Benjamin began working for Disney in 1999 and concluded that part of his career this year when he left Disney to begin his own creative strategy firm. His businesses, Wonderstruk Media and Orlando Paparazzi provide website development, social media consulting and photography services. Fernanda is a Marketing Coordinator in the Travel Industry Marketing Department at Disney. Together they operate Brasilicano.com a travel guide for Brazilian tourists and a directory of Brazilian businesses in the United States.

Konnie’s daughter Chelsea received her undergraduate degree in May from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Chelsea prudently decided to pursue graduate studies and after being accepted at numerous law schools settled on Seattle University where she is about to wrap up her first semester. She loves her studies and will soon find out if they love her.

Konnie has been a regular visitor to first Spokane and now Seattle this year. Their highlight together this year was Chelsea’s graduation gift of a trip to Paris together.

We wish everyone a healthy and happy 2011.

No.  Not mine.  My children were born but six calendar days apart in November.  This year we decided to be with each of them for their birthdays.  So on November 13 we were in Phoenix for three days with Kristin and her family with activities that included Logan’s (9) soccer game, a shopping trip for Isabelle with Konnie, an excellent dinner at Deseo with Kristin and Rob, morning runs with Ryan and Logan (separately due to leg length), other dining out and activities with the grandchildren.  Unfortunately all of Ryan’s sports were out of season.

Then off to Orlando the following weekend for time with Benjamin and Fernanda for Benjamin’s birthday.  Obviously those days are different from the ones in Phoenix given no young children to keep the activity level at a high pitch.  Great dining, relaxation and, most importantly for me, some technology assistance.

Then back to Denver so Konnie can prepare to head to Seattle to see Chelsea for Thanksgiving.  Our next major trip together will be Tortola BVI in early 2011.

As usual, more pictures than anyone could possibly be interested in other than me.

On October 23 Konnie and I headed to Chicago for the ultimate purpose of my attending a conference for mutual fund directors.  We headed out ahead of the start of the conference as we had been wanting to get back to Chicago together for the first time since 1996.  As the third largest city in the US, Chicago is, according to one guidebook, famous for magnificent and innovative architecture, its colorful and turbulent political history and significance as a transportation hub, the now vanished stockyards, as well as its educational institutes and vibrant cultural venues.

During our visit we hoofed it around town enjoying the architecture as exhibited by the photos but not enjoying the very, very frequent and aggressive begging on the streets which makes strolling the city a bit unpleasant.  We continued what we began in England with our connecting with people I have worked with in Belize working with the Mayan Research Program (www.mayaresearchprogram.org).  This time it was Keitlyn Alcantara who is working on her masters degree at the University of Chicago.  Keitlyn and I dug together on the same structure during my 2009 visit but Keitlyn was unable to return in 2010 because of an unfortunate confrontation with a taxi cab while visiting Chicago in the spring.

Otherwise we focused on the Art Institute of Chicago with two visits there because of the fabulous collection it houses in this beautiful city.

Oh yes, while there we heard that the people of Chicago are so disgusted with the political environment that they are each only voting once this year…

On October 14 Konnie and I headed to Georgia to spend some promised time with our friends Lisa and Dave Wangsness in an area called Big Canoe.  Located in the foothills of the North Georgia Appalachians, Big Canoe is
just one hour north of Atlanta. It's the perfect retreat
for the weekend, the summer or forever–because it is so
nearby.  A rich and established community, the Big Canoe lifestyle comes in as many shapes, sizes and colors as meadow wildflowers.  Oops.  Sorry.  I was reading the promotional material earlier.

Lisa and I grew up together decades ago in little Liberty, Indiana.  So Konnie (Greeley, Colorado) and Dave (Grafton, North Dakota) get the opportunity to be bored to tears during our times together as Lisa and I reminisce about places like the Liberty Restaurant and J's Dairy Inn, schoolteachers and friends, our two traffic lights and the Saturday nights of old when downtown was hopping with activities sponsored by the local merchants.   

But we did enjoy four days in an area of the country previously not seen by us, the company and hospitality of friends and experiencing their new and lovely secluded retirement home.  And the North Georgia Appalachians, as they call them, are very beautiful.  But having accidentally left my SLR camera at home, I was limited in what I could capture with the point and shoot camera I had along. 

Members of the Short High School classes of the 1960s gathered together on October 9, 2010 which was a perfect day at the beautiful Whitewater Memorial State Park just south of Liberty, Indiana.  The event was the brainchild of and organized by Jackie Peters Ginn from the SHS class of 1967.  Approximately 30 people attended the inaugural event including almost everybodies' second parents, Joe and Ginger Stanley who now reside in Greensburg, Indiana.  A day of catching up and viewing old pictures seemed to be enjoyed by all of those who took the time and effort to attend.

Jackie is tentatively planning the second annual event for October 8, 2011.  Mark you calendars and join in the fun and reminiscing.  Some pictures from the day follow.  

Today will probably consist of preparing to return to Denver plus our going away event, whatever that may encompass, at Patara, the Thai restaurant we will be visiting for the sixth time on Sunday evening.  Friday and Saturday did not consist of anything worthy of much comment other than our recommendation to include them on your potential activities when you are here.  They were light days with Friday being a little rainy and cool and our activities only consisting of some walking and a visit to The Courtauld Gallery (www.courtauld.ac.uk).  Courtauld is "one of the finest small museums in the world" according to their literature and contains a very fine collection of Impressionist paintings and other work dating to the early Renaissance.  I prefer the smaller galleries so it was a good find for my gallery attention span.  On Friday evening we joined Gail Hammond and Jacquie Martinez for dinner here in London after getting together in York last weekend.  Gail and Jacquie are Brits who I work with in Belize for the Maya Research Program.  Jacquie just finished her Masters in Archaeology and is on the hunt for employment and Gail begins her PhD. work next week.

In 1966 the song “Winchester Cathedral” that included those meaningless lyrics shot to number 1 on the popular music charts.  That means more people were buying that song on a 45 rpm piece of vinyl and playing it on their VPMs, the most advanced retail audio technology of the time, than any other piece of music.  As a teen, I thought it was a stupid song then and in hindsight, it really was stupid.  On Thursday we hopped a train to the lovely city of Winchester to find that Winchester Cathedral was being bastardized once again.

One of our guide books states that “Though Winchester is a busy country town, crowds are never a problem and you can enjoy a visit any time of year.”  That should have been footnoted to say “Except on September 23, 2010.”  You can imagine our chagrin to get to the Cathedral only to find thousands of people lined up to the “it takes 3 hours from here” sign.  Turns out some television show called the “Antique Roadshow” was there taping an episode.  Cathedral closed!  No big deal.  The place only dates to 1079 and has the longest nave of any church in Europe and we just paid for an hour train ride to get here.

Konnie, somehow noticing that I was a bit annoyed by this first negative surprise of the trip, jumped in to find other lovely sights.  And Winchester is lovely.  As with any city here that played an important role in British history, the buildings and architecture are beautiful.  There is a tiny bit of Roman ruin remaining.  The River Itchen is perfectly clear, home to beautiful birds and is showcased with a lovely walkway along its side and, to no one’s surprise at this point, beautiful flowers.  King Alfred the Great who made Winchester the capital is featured.  And there are twelfth century gatehouses and Winchester College.

Then came Wolvesey Castle (Old Bishop’s Palace).  These are the ruins (and I love ruins) of a 12th century Anglo-Saxon Palace. Wolvesey has been an important residence of the wealthy and powerful
Bishops of Winchester since Anglo-Saxon times.  The extensive surviving ruins of the palace date
largely from the 12th-century work of Bishop Henry of Blois. The last great occasion here was in 1554, when Queen Mary and Philip of Spain held their wedding breakfast in the East Hall, a mere 222 years before our Declaration of Independence.  Okay, so this place made the trip worthwhile.

After completing our tour which included passing the house where Jane Austen died (“This is a private residence.  Do not knock on the door.”  Then perhaps you should remove that giant sign from the side of your home?) and a stop at a charming bookstore, we found ourselves returning to the City Centre past, yes, the back door of the Cathedral.  Now here is this nice lady in a Cathedral uniform asking people if they would just like to see the Cathedral.  With the admonition to Konnie that “you just can’t have anything old valued in there,” Konnie offered to leave me outside but the lady said that she would trust Konnie and that I could go in also.  We didn’t have full access but did manage a few shots while avoiding (also a prohibition) including any pictures of the thousands of people who had wasted their day there with the crap from their attics to see what it isn’t worth.

A return train ride to London and off to Zayna, the Pakistani/Northern Indian restaurant we found on Monday.  It too is outstanding.  With three days remaining we are starting to bemoan how much we are going to miss the excellent ethnic food we have enjoyed here.

Oh yes, and many thanks again to the little old lady at the back door.