June 10, early morning:  we had started driving cross-country, and our first night was spent in Las Vegas at a hotel the size of a small city.  New York is celebrated in song as the city that never sleeps.  But Vegas could just as easily be described that way.  Passing through...

Last week I began the story of how we found ourselves with a bonus vacation in Windsor at the end of a harrowing travel day.  And I mentioned The Long Walk, which is a straight paved path that stretches from the doors of Windsor Castle for over two and a half miles.  No bicycles or cars...

Our trip was almost over.  We rose early and had a taxi take us to Amsterdam’s airport, which rivals any airport I’ve ever seen for size and confusion.  It isn’t the Dutch language of the signage that is a problem…English is almost a first language for most of...

One of my “bucket list” items for our stay in Amsterdam was to visit the Anne Frank Museum, but I missed the window of opportunity to get my tickets.  Every Tuesday tickets go on sale for six weeks hence, and you can only buy them on line.  You mustn’t dally if you...

As the sun rose on our last full day aboard our cruise ship, I peeked out of the window to find that we had crossed into the Netherlands during the night.  Here the landscape was once again flat, but it didn’t feel like the river of the first few days.  The scenery along this...

When I booked our Rhine River cruise, I think I expected scenic vistas of snow-topped mountains and Sleeping Beauty Castles.  What we got for the first few days was flat countryside resembling the American Midwest, and industrial ports-of-call surrounded by warehouses and factories. ...

When I was planning our wedding in 1974, I dreamed of carrying a bouquet of lilacs and lilies-of-the-valley.  However, I was assured that it would be too costly, and since our wedding was tiny, I opted for a corsage instead.

Strasbourg, France is a city full of romance.  On the Saturday...

It isn’t the most beautiful of towns in Germany, and I’m sure it isn’t the most impressive church.  The little town of Breisach isn’t even one of the tour options on our Rhine River cruise.  But in the interest of easing into our cruising experience, Dave and I...

We seem to have become a regular stop on the journey of a black bear as he/she comes out of hibernation each spring.  For the last few Aprils, this lovely creature has shambled through our yards, lolled in our swimming pool, and climbed up our eucalyptus tree for an afternoon snooze. ...

My husband and I are not experienced or comfortable foreign travelers.  It should therefore come as no surprise that our dream vacation to celebrate our fiftieth wedding anniversary with a Rhine River cruise should have started as a bit of a nightmare. 

It began when the car that took...