London - The Invictus Games (aka: hobnobbing with Prince Harry)

Our first week here, we were invited to the Ambassador's residence to attend the Invictus Games for wounded warriors kickoff party.  The Foo Fighters played a concert and Bob Woodruff was the emcee for the evening.  The Invictus Games were created by Prince Harry after seeing the Warrior Games in the United States.  Prince Harry was there, walking among us!  I got about 3 feet away from him, without my camera, and was flabbergasted that he was so close!  Kirk got a few photos of him with his phone camera, which we will try to post later.

From Algiers to London....catching you up to date!

We departed Algiers on July 1st and spent 3 weeks in Washington, DC doing some training and catching up with some old friends and family (the Leonard family, the Bethea family, and John and Renee Somich).  We filled ourselves with great food and wine, visited some great DC museums, went to a Nationals baseball game and shopped until we dropped!  Kirk drove out to see the Redskins training camp and got a couple of autographs.  After being in Algiers for so long with nothing to do, we took full advantage of being back in 'Merica!

 

SUNY Cortland JETS training camp

Kirk and Uncle Walt

From DC, we drove to NY to spend some time with family and friends there.  We filled every moment with activities!  We went to the Jets training camp at SUNY Cortland where we got some autographs and were featured on the Jets blog for the day as the fan of the day!  LOL  




After leaving Cortland, we drove south and stopped to visit Kirk's Uncle Walt for the afternoon.  It was so nice seeing him and catching up.

J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets!!

We took my mom, Sharon Pauquette Bouyea, to her first NFL game at the Met Life Stadium to see the Jets play their pre-season opener.  Kirk bought us all throwback jerseys to wear and mom got a lot of compliments on her Joe Namath jersey!  We had great seats and enjoyed the game.

the Bouyea Girls!

Cocktails on the "Giddy Up" with more of the Bouyea girls!

We spent lots of great time playing cards, out on Lake George on the "Giddy Up", saw a great play that my niece Kileigh was in, and had a great reunion party (thanks Mom) with family and friends we hadn't seen in years.  It was fantastic!

We went to Foxwoods Casino to see a "Legends" show and spent a few dollars in the casinos!  I did ok and stayed pretty close to the penny slots, big spender that I am!

Next stop, North Carolina.  We did some more renovations on the cabin we have there and ended up buying another cabin, a little higher up the mountain, with a great view and a bigger lot.  We  will sell the smaller cabin and have the other cabin for our summer retirement house.  We enjoyed time with Mom & Dad Duryea, playing cards and drinking wine on the screened in porch where we could enjoy the wonderful North Carolina evenings.


We left the states on August 28th, headed for London!

Provence, France May 2014

This weekend was a total surprise and I think Kirk wins the prize for being the most thoughtful and romantic!  I had no idea where we were going.  Kirk told me what to pack in my suitcase and we left for the airport.  At the airport, I learned we were flying into Marseille in the south of France.  Once we landed in Marseille, we took a bus to the train station where we hopped on a train to go further south and west.  On the train, Kirk finally told me where we were headed.....to Arles in Provence.  I am a big fan of the art of Vincent van Gogh and Arles is where he painted "Starry Night" and "Le Café La Nuit" which are two of my favorite paintings. 


We arrived on May 1st, which is Labor Day in most European countries.  There was a festival going on.  We checked into our hotel, which was a historic structure and was like going back in time to a country chateau.  It was so romantic! 


We wandered around the sleepy medieval town, along the meandering cobblestone streets and found a café to have lunch and some wine of course.  There was a medieval arena up the street and we bought tickets to attend the festival.  It was all in French, of course, but we enjoyed it very much.  There is a group called the Guardians, who dress in costume and perform on horseback and they entertained us in the arena for several hours.  We also got to see some bullfighting!  It was a wonderful day!


We spent the next couple of days relaxing, drinking wine and exploring the spots where van Gogh painted his paintings.  We took naps, had great pastries and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  Our last night there, we stumbled upon this little café, tucked into one of the winding side streets.  We ate outside and had what was arguably the best meal we have ever had (well, maybe tied with the Italian meal we had at Il Paradiso in Mallorca Spain).  We had foie gras, duck and the best desserts ever!!!  We enjoyed a very leisurely meal with wine and one of the little girls from the neighborhood became my new friend.  She was probably about 3 and her family was at the café next door so she was singing and dancing up and down the street.  She stopped at our table and started talking to us.  She was so cute!  Luckily, I could understand her 3 year old French enough to have a conversation with her! LOL


I am truly thankful that I have such a wonderful, thoughtful, romantic husband...even after 22 years, he still surprises me and we still have so much fun together. I am fortunate to have a job that allows us to travel and experience these adventures together.

Caribbean Cruise! March 2014

After staying put for a couple of months, we were ready to explore again!  This time, we took R&R to Miami and cruised the Caribbean.


We landed in Miami, rented a car and drove across Alligator Alley to visit our family in Naples, FL.  I got my hair done (thanks Denise Zimm), did some shopping and we had a great family dinner at Chops that evening.  It was so great to see family.


We drove back across and headed for Fort Lauderdale where we met my mom, who flew down from NY to spend some time with us.  We spent a couple of days in the Lauderdale area, drove to Vero Beach to have lunch with my mom's friend Larry and then we drove back to Miami to board the first cruise to Key West and Grand Cayman.  My mom joined us for this 5 day cruise.  We discovered, as we were registering, that it was spring break week and our cruise was about 2,000 spring break college students.  Oh boy....note to self....check on spring break dates before booking a cruise in March!!!  It was wild to say the least.  We had a fun time, as we usually do, but could have done without the shenanigans going on.  I have never seen the ship's police before but they were out in full force during this cruise.  The hot tubs were jammed packed full of college kids with red solo cups.  There were kids passed out in hallways and lots of running up and down hallways.  At least the piano bar wasn't packed, which was a lot of fun each evening and the specialty dining rooms weren't crowded since most of the spring breakers were eating at the buffet all day and night.


The three of us had a great time in Key West, where we did our very own pub crawl.  We did the "tourist" thing and took a tour around the island, getting off at the southernmost point of the continental US and then we walked back up the main street.  Our first stop was at the original Margaritaville, which was awesome since I am a Parrot Head (Jimmy Buffett fan).  I ordered, what else, a margarita and we shared some chicken wings.  We then headed over to the Hard Rock café to buy a glass to add to our collection.  Then it was off to Coyote Ugly to check it out.  Kirk enjoyed the lunchtime dance on the bar by our waitress!  After that, we headed to Sloppy Joe's, Ernest Hemingway's old hangout, where we enjoyed conch fritters along with an electric lemonade, which was quite tasty!  After that, we ended our pub tour at Kelly's (which is owned by Kelly McGinnis, of Top Gun fame).  We somehow made it back to the ship, cleaned up and enjoyed a great dinner and evening of shows and beverages!


Grand Cayman beach was beautiful.  We rented an umbrella and chairs and parked ourselves at the beach for the majority of the day.


Before we knew it, we were back in Miami.  My mom flew back to NY and Kirk and I spent the night in Miami.  We boarded another ship the following day, just Kirk and I, setting sail for the southern Caribbean.  This cruise had no spring breakers and was very relaxing.  We spent a lot of time on the ship on the upper decks in the sun reading and resting.  We did visit the gym on board, to work off all the wonderful food and drink were consuming! 


Our first stop was St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.  We walked from the ship to the downtown area and walked up the 99 steps to Blackbeard's Castle, which really isn't a castle, more of a tower at the top of the hill.  There was really not even proof that Blackbeard had been on the island but it was a huge tourist draw so there you go!  After we walked around, we caught a cab to Magen's Bay, which was voted one of the world's most beautiful beaches by National Geographic.  It was beautiful and  we enjoyed a lazy afternoon on the white sands. 


Next stop was Dominica.  Kirk planned a grand surprise for me.  All I knew was that I needed water shoes.  Kirk planned  a whole day of adventure for us.  We started the day with a snorkeling trip to Champagne Bay.  I was a little nervous about the snorkeling....I am a bit claustrophobic and was worried about getting water in my snorkel but I worried for nothing.  It was fun and we saw wonderful things in the bay.  Our guide showed us many species of fish, coral and the "champagne" spring where we swam through millions of tiny bubbles coming up from the ocean floor.  We then hopped back in the van and drove to a natural spring where we swam (in FREEZING cold water) into a gorge to a waterfall (they filmed part of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies here).  We climbed up the waterfall and behind it, then we jumped off into a pool of water about 10 feet below.  It was exhilarating!  Our guide had some local rum punch for us to try after we returned to the van.  It was rather tasty.  We also enjoyed a local beer.  Then we were off to the double waterfalls, where we took photos and hiked down into the rain forest.  We found natural hot springs, where we stripped down to our bathing suits and enjoyed a soak.  All in all, it was a FABULOUS day and a great surprise.


Next stop was Bridgetown, Barbados where our friends Gary & Sandra Bennett are stationed with the State Department.  They picked us up at the port and we spent a great day touring the island with them.  We had a wonderful picnic near the Atlantic side of the island, where the surf is very rough. There are no hotels on this side of the island because you can't swim because of the rough waters.  We ended the day at a beach club, enjoying the sun & sand and our friends. 


Next stop was St. Lucia.  We walked to a beach which was right near the airport.  It was not crowded and we found a lighthouse at the top of the hill near the beach.  Yes, we hiked to the top of the hill to explore and enjoyed a terrific view of the island and the bay where the ship was docked.


Our last stop was St. Maarten (the Dutch side).  It was a fun beach.  We rented an umbrella, two chairs and a bucket of cold beer and spent the day being beach bums. 


This cruise was relaxing, fun, and a chance to reconnect.  This was definitely the cruise I enjoyed the most so far!  We also enjoyed the time in the states.  I couldn't wait to get a cheeseburger!! :)

Photo issues

For some reason, I am having difficulties uploading photos.  I will keep trying.  Check back in and I will keep trying to get them loaded.  :)

Christmas 2013

We had planned to stay in Algiers for Christmas but as the time grew closer, we were feeling the itch to get out!  We hadn't been out of the country since October and we needed some "normal" life.


We booked a trip to Barcelona to spend the long Christmas weekend and we escaped the land the of "no Christmas"!  We stayed in a great hotel down by the Port.  We spent Christmas Eve walking around, shopping a little (in a store comparable to Macy's), listened to some Christmas carols and ate ham!! 


We even went ice skating at an outdoor rink.  I used to be a great ice skater, even had my own hockey stick.  When you grow up in upstate NY, there isn't much to do in winter but ice skate, sled and ride snowmobiles!  Well, that was 30 years ago and ice skating, apparently, is not like riding a bike!  LOL  I rented these blue plastic molded skates, which hurt my feet even before I got on the ice.  I made it two times around the rink (very slowly and close to the side) before calling it quits!  It was fun and nice to remember how fun it used to be.  Kirk had fun laughing at me and still doesn't believe that once upon a time I was a very good skater! 


All in all, we had a wonderful Christmas, complete with carols, lights and festivities. 

Update on the intruders

Well, if you have been following the blog, you know that earlier we had unwanted intruders in our backyard and then a burglary in our house.  Since then, the Embassy hired contractors and they built a gigantic wall all the way around the house with anti-climb fencing on top of the wall.  They also installed metal grates on all of our doors and windows and installed slide bolts on all doors and windows.  We feel much safer now but don't see anything but white wall.  No more view of the park, the sky or anything!   My sun time is now limited to a few specific hours in the afternoon when the sun hits a certain angle in the sky.  We now call our building "Supermax" since it is like living in a prison.  But, I am not complaining.....I will deal with the wall and not worry about anymore intruders! 

Thanksgiving 2013

Since we had traveled in September and October, we spent Thanksgiving in Algiers.  We ordered a small turkey breast from our butcher and ended up with a humongous turkey breast that still had feathers and quills in it!  Oh Butterball we missed you! 


My dear friend, Nicole, joined us for a quiet Thanksgiving dinner.  We laughed like crazy about the turkey feathers and how I didn't really know how to clean it!  I should have waited and let Nicole do it since she is a good Southern girl and I had no clue!  LOL   I  made pies, gluten free rolls, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes.  Nicole made a wonderful gluten free dressing and we naturally enjoyed some decent wine (decent after we poured it through the aerators)!!


I dragged out the Christmas decorations and tried to get in the holiday spirit, which isn't easy to do in the land of no Christmas.  It took me a week to get motivated to decorate but I finally did.

Greek Island Cruise October 2013

After our exhilarating but exhausting trip to Kilimanjaro, Kirk booked a cruise to the Greek Islands for some rest and relaxation. 


Venice (Italy); Corfu (Greece); Santorini (Greece); Mykonos (Greece); Olympia (Katakolon) (Greece); Venice (Italy);


We spent an extra day in Venice before we boarded the ship.  It was great.  We watched the gondoliers from atop the bridges and had a wonderful day wandering around the city.  We had a wonderful Italian dinner in a small local restaurant on one of the canals.  Our hotel room was actually in a an apartment building.  We registered, had to walk back outside to the building next door, schlep our suitcases up 3 flights of narrow stairs to our room.  It was a nice little room, not as nice as Rome, but nice.



We went to 4 Greek Islands.  Mykonos was nice with the old windmills.  We climbed up some rocks to enjoy the sun near the beach.  It was a beautiful spot to relax.  Olympia and Corfu were interesting with lots of history but by far, our favorite was Santorini.  The ship docked  out in the bay and we tendered to the edge of the island.  The town is perched on the top of a very steep hill.   The islands are actually the remaining portions of a collapsed volcano, called a caldera. There are two ways to get from the dock to the town: cable car or up the hundreds of  stairs.  We, of course, chose the stairs.  There are two ways to take the stairs: by foot or on a donkey!  We walked up to the top, zig zagging up the stairs, avoiding donkeys and donkey poop!  It was quite an experience.  The donkeys were in small groups, owned by old Greek men who were guiding them up and down the hills.  Once we got to the top, we rented a 4 wheeler.  Kirk drove us from one end of the island to the other.  We stopped at a deserted beach to explore the area. We found a wonderful winery on top of a hill with a stunning view.  We sat and tasted some local wines and enjoyed each other's company.


We returned the 4 wheeler and wandered the streets, enjoying the whitewashed stone buildings with the bright blue roofs and the quaint churches with the bells high above in the steeples.  We saw a young couple getting wedding photos taken.  As the sun started to set, we found a hotel on the edge of the hill and went up to their rooftop bar and had a local beer and watched the sun set behind the cruise ship in the bay.  We hiked back down the stairs and back to the ship after what I think was one of the most fun and romantic days we have ever spent together.


All in all, this was a wonderful way to relax and enjoy my birthday!   Gold star for the hubby!

Safari - Tanzania September 2013

We had one day of rest in Moshi, Tanzania before we headed out for a 3 day safari.  We were in search of the "Big 5" - lions, cheetahs, elephants, rhinos, and water buffalo.  We had a private vehicle and tour guide. 


Our first day was to Tarangire game preserve  This was about a 4 hour drive and it was hot and dusty. We had to register before going into the park and while we waited for our guide to get our permit, the baboons were coming right up to the cars.  They were not afraid of all the people and cars outside waiting.  The guide had told us to keep the windows up and the doors shut because the monkeys would get in the vehicle and steal our food! 


We ate our box lunch at a picnic area before heading into the game park.  Within 500 feet, we encountered two rather large elephants right next to the road.  The driver stopped and we were right next to the elephants.  The smaller one didn't like us being so close and started snorting, dragging his foot in the dirt and throwing dirt up with his trunk!  We had the roof of the Land Rover open and were standing up, watching through the roof.  I think in a battle of Land Rover vs. elephant, the elephant would  definitely be the winner so we moved on. :)


We saw lots of zebras, wildebeests, warthogs,  and a couple of giraffes far off in the distance.  There were also lots of birds.
We stayed in the Highview Hotel which is owned by the same company that did our tour of Kilimanjaro.  It was definitely no frills!  Twin beds with mosquito nets.  They did have a group of local youths performing native dances and music after dinner. 


The next day we drove to Ngorongoro Crater which is remains of a collapsed volcano.  It was incredible.  We drove through thousands of zebras and wildebeests and saw lots of water buffalo.  Some of the animals were so close we could have reached out and touched them.  There was a family of elephants, marching in a line with the largest elephant in front, in descending order with the smallest one in the back.  It was so cute.    There was a lake that had so many flamingoes in it that it looked like shimmering pink silk instead of a lake (it was beautiful but the smell was terrible!!).   We ate our box lunch parked by a lake full of hippos.  It was fun to watch them playing and sunning while we ate.  We had to eat inside the Land Rover because the birds were swooping in trying to steal our food.  It was very windy and we had a little bit of rain but we still had  a great day.  The only downside to the day (other than our guide talking on his cell phone most of the time) was that it was too windy to see the black rhinos.  This is one of the few places to see them in the wild.   I guess we will have to go back again someday!


The next day, on the way to Lake Manyara, we saw elephants on the side of the road.  It was really cool.  This was our last game preserve.  It was okay but we didn't see too many animals, lots of birds but not a lot of animals.  There were giraffes but you had to use the binoculars to see them.


All in all, our trip to Tanzania was wonderful.  The climb up Kilimanjaro, the safari and the experience of walking through the local markets in Moshi was an adventure for sure.

Kilamanjaro Sept 2013

We trained for months and finally September arrived and Kilimanjaro loomed large!!







We traveled from Algiers to Cairo to Nairobi to Kilimanjaro (total travel time of about 20 hours). This was right after the airport in Nairobi had burned so the transfer through there was interesting to say the least.  There were huge tents set up outside to handle waiting passengers.  Since we transferred through in the middle of the night, we were inside.  Talk about high tech & high security...the connecting flights were written on a dry erase board and they had chains on the doors but the glass in the doors was broken out so you could just climb through the doors!







We stayed one night in a hotel in Moshi, Tanzania where we met the rest of our group (total of 11 of us) and prepared for our hike the next day.  The hotel is probably what we would rate a one star in the states but it was considered one of the nicer ones there.  We had to switch on the hot water heater 15 minutes before we wanted hot water and when we did take showers it was a drip!  The hotel offered laundry service which consisted of the maids washing your clothes in a bucket and hanging them outside on bushes to dry in the sun.







We had a big buffet breakfast and then the porters piled our duffle bags onto the top of our bus, we piled into the bus with our backpacks and set off to the trail head.  It was an interesting ride to say the least!  I am amazed that the bus made it up those narrow, rutted, dirt roads to the trailhead! That was an adventure in itself!







We went through 5 different climate zones as we ascended.  We chose an 8 day climb up the Lemosho route.  This route allows you to acclimatize more gradually and have less chance of getting altitude sickness.







The first night at camp, the tents were very close and  it was noisy.  We listened to the monkeys chattering back & forth all night!  We had Diamox to minimize the effects of altitude sickness but I unfortunately felt the effects that first night and they were not pleasant!  Thank goodness we brought a first aid kit.  Neither of us slept well the first night.  We had to leave the tent several times to use the bathroom, which by the way, was a small tent with a 5 gallon bucket in it.  At least there was a lid attached to the bucket!  You can imagine how pleasant that tent was by morning after 11 people used 
it all night.







Because of the symptoms of altitude sickness symptoms, breakfast was out of the question for me. Kirk was awesome & carried both backpacks for the morning hike ( his on his back and mine on his front)!  After lunch &  water, I was able to carry my pack for the rest of the day.







We had a guide named Chambo, 2 assistant guides, & about 40 porters with our team of 11.  In the 
morning, when we broke camp, we would take our backpacks loaded with all the gear we needed for the day and the porters would take our duffle bags and tents and dining equipment.  The porters hiked the same trails we did and they passed us by quickly, loaded with equipment on their heads & backs, many of them wearing sneakers or sandals!







Each day, we were woken by one of the guides bringing hot tea and a bowl of hot water to wash up 
with.  We got dressed in the tents, packed up our gear for the porters and went to the dining tent
where we were served more hot tea, porridge, some form of eggs, some form of bread, and fruit.  Our
 water canteens were filled with boiled water before we headed out.  We added water purification tablets just in case!  It gave the water a metallic taste but when you are thirsty, you will drink it!  We also brought Gatorade tablets and lemonade powder to give it some flavor.  We had to drink about 4 
liters a day.





Each day, we met up with the porters at lunch time for a hot lunch.  They would set up the dining tent and the outhouse tent for us.  We ate a hot soup (more like thin broth), bread, some meat, more fruit.  Water bottles would be filled and off we would go for the afternoon hike.  When we stopped to camp for the night, the porters had our tents set up with our sleeping bag mats.  We were given another bowl of hot water to wash up with before eating.  We were given tea and popcorn or cookies each day while dinner was cooked.  Dinner was usually more soup, meat of some sort, bread or pasta (which was usually over cooked), fruit and tea.  It was nothing to write home about but it was filling and very carb heavy to fuel us up for the hiking.







I have never been so DIRTY in all my life!  No showers, no washing hair, dust everywhere.  I gave up trying to stay clean...it was impossible!  We learned to use our wipes at night to get clean before 
getting into our bags & how to get our clothes warm before getting dressed in the morning.  It was rather cold when the sun went down and got colder as we went higher.







Each day was a new adventure with different environments and different challenges.  The first full day was the rain forest and we got just a sprinkling of rain for part of the day, just enough to put on our windbreakers & backpack covers.  My favorite day was called "hugging the wall" at Baranco 
wall.  It was more like rock climbing than hiking.







Day 6 brought summit day.  We had the afternoon to rest because we had to get up just before midnight to start the ascent to the top.  We awoke to our usual hot tea at 1100 pm.  We put on every layer we had and prepared our packs.  We put our headlamps on, grabbed our trekking poles and set out for Uhuru Peak.







We started out at about 15,000 feet.  I got slower & slower as we ascended.  Our group split into 3 smaller groups after a couple of hours.  We were physically prepared but you can't train for altitude! It was just step by step after a few hours, concentrating on just moving my feet.  I have never been so cold in my life.  I had ski gloves on but my hands were frozen before we got to the summit.  Someone
 had the instant hand warmers but they activate using oxygen & since there was not enough oxygen, we couldn't get them to work.  My hands were literally frozen around my poles!
  





Also, as we ascended, my vision started getting blurry in my right eye.  I kept feeling like I had 
something in my eye but no one could see anything.  I started to see with a brown haze through that eye.  Luckily, we had some more experienced climbers in our group who said I was experiencing 
altitude blindness in my right eye!  I could barely see by the time we reached the glacier. 



We reached the peak (finally) at 6:46 am (over 19,000 feet). We missed the sunrise but I was just happy that I made it.  I have never felt that cold or tired!!!    The sun shining off the glacier and the 
tops of the clouds was absolutely breathtaking.  Unfortunately, I was so cold I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked.







The descent was tough on our knees, thank goodness we had the trekking poles.  I also had to hold onto Kirk's arm because I could only see out of my left eye! There was a lot of loose scree and rocks that we had to climb over.  It was an interesting trip down!  We made it, slowly but surely back to base camp but no rest for us.  We had a meal and we had to pack up and continue descending for another 5 hours or so. The good news is that as we descended, my vision started returning to normal and because there was more oxygen, we were feeling much more energized.






We stopped to camp for the night, had a celebration dinner and spent our last night in the tent.  (My vision was back to normal by this time.) We made it back to the bus the next day, checked in at the ranger station and headed back to Moshi to the hotel.  It was so nice to shower even though we had 

no water pressure! After we all got clean, we met in the hotel courtyard with our group to have a Kilamanjaro beer together ( yes the local beer is called Kilamanjaro....the motto is "If you can't climb it, drink it").  We did both!  We received our certificates from our guide and we had the rest of the night to relax and prepare for our safari trip.







The hotel advertised massages & pedicures for those who returned from the climb.  Kirk booked a massage & I booked a pedicure....we should have known better!  The massage was in like a storage area outside and my pedicure consisted of someone putting my feet in a mop bucket and scrubbing with tools that I am sure have never been cleaned properly!  Good thing I was up to date on my shots!







I will continue the safari story another day. :)