Salaam

We made it! It was a twelve hour flight from New York to Abu Dhabi which is one of the emirates in the United Arab Emirates. There are seven, actually, the most famous being Dubai. However, Abu Dhabi is working hard to catch up. The others are pretty quiet. Anyway, we spent only one night here but had a bit of a chance to walk around and enjoy the sights. As you can see, it looks like a city built by the water. It's just that in this case it's a city under construction by the Arabian Gulf.

Modern Abu Dhabi is COMPLETELY under construction. Literally. The traffic is horrendous because everything is torn up. Abu Dhabi has oil but its ruler has decided that since the oil will one day be gone they need to make sure their economy is built on more. So they have decided to become more like Dubai and turn to tourism and business. That means that it is a more open society than other muslim countries. Of course, religion still plays a big role. The sheikh who runs the emirate is building a spectacular mosque which which is not yet finished but it is something to behold.

We were told that a million people can fit inside. Remember, each person doesn't get a lot of space, room to kneel to pray, shoulder to shoulder, and there are multiple levels. Apparently the Qibla in Mecca can hold more than twice that amount. Everything inside comes from Italy or as it was stated, "only the very best and that means Italy."

Then it was off to Dubai. The plan was to hire a driver and drive the hour and a half along the Gulf to the neighboring emirate. In my mind I saw this as oh so romantic because I thought it would be a small road through the desert, camels munching on whatever grass they could find. You get the picture. Wrong. The drive was over a ten lane freeway and we couldn't see the water until we got to the new harbor in Dubai which is massive (the harbor). Dan says he saw a camel but I didn't so I think he was making it up.

If Abu Dhabi is a city under construction then Dubai is a city under construction on steroids. Everything is bigger and more oppulent (therefore better to the local way of thinking) than any place else in the world. In one day we:

1. Had breakfast at the world's only 7-star hotel, the Birj al Arab (birj is arabic for tower)

(OK, this picture is from the night before when we had dinner at a lovely restaurant on the beach which had an obviously spectacular view of the Birj. I would like to say that the big white ball is the moon - wouldn't that have been something - but it was a big bubble which was being used for a private event.)

This is looking straight up the tower. Everything inside is white or gold except for the unbelievable mosaics. It is so far over-the-top it's nuts. Not well said but I actually tried to come up with something better and simply couldn't!

I know this proves me wrong, not everything is white or gold but it IS amazing!

2. Visited what was the world's largest mall (until the Japanese beat them a little while ago). To call this place a mall is a bit like calling the Pacific Ocean the "Pond." There is a fountain that is three stories tall and several hundred feet long.

In case you can't tell what those things are, they are life-sized statues of divers. There must be a hundred throughout the fountain. We are not done.



Yes, there is a HUGE aquarium which you can walk through. And yes, there are lots of sharks. But we are still not done.

The mall boasts a full-size hockey rink. Yes, these people are genius. For some reason I can't find a photo so you must simply believe me.

3. Visited the construction site of the Birj Dubai which is the world's tallest building. There is no way to capture the entire building in a single photo at least from the position we were in but I gave it a good try.

I usually don't care for super modern architecture but this building is arresting. I have to say that it is really beautiful.

4. Yes, Gracie, we went to the ski slopes:

At a different mall (I am not kidding, it's at a mall) there is an indoor ski slope. We paid our ticket price, they gave us HUGE parkas, socks and boots and we rode to the top of the lift and back down again.

The fellow I'm sitting beside is a friend who, with his wife, has lived in Dubai for two years. Like Peter, all I could do was laugh the entire way up and the entire way back down. The thing is, it was over 90 degrees outside and COLD in here. It felt sort of like you were outside. OK, no comment from you Utah people. And yes, people were skiing, snow boarding, tubing, luging (how do you spell that?) and throwing snowballs.


5. Rode the water taxis across "the creek" which is the original harbor of old Dubai. This area is predominantly Indian and Indonesian and contains old souqs (markets), buddhist temples and hindu shrines.

The boats look like they are about three hundred years old (they probably are no more than 30 or 40 years), are made of wood, use a rope for steering and cost about 30 cents to ride. Since it was Friday (the Sabbath here) everyone was out so the boats were crowded. I was the only woman riding. We passed cargo boats which do carry goods on the Gulf (think there could be smuggling?) and on which people live. No, they don't look anymore sea worthy up close.

The streets in this area are very narrow and were packed with people, mostly men. There were a few women about, all dressed in their finest saris since they were going to the shrines. We purchased frankincense and myrrh at a little spice shop that also sold almonds which the proprietor was very proud to tell me came from California.

One exceptionally beautiful place here was an old Iranian style mosque.

(I think my favorite part of this picture is the chickens!) The entire facade of this building, it is quite tall, is a beautiful mosaic. A truly lovely place on a small, dusty square, surrounded by dilapidated buildings. A total surprise.

We did all this in one day and still made it the airport to catch the flight to Kuwait.

One last comment about Dubai. The citizens of the Emirate are called emiratis. We were told that they account for about 15% of the population and they are rarely, if ever, in areas where us regular folk are found. Seriously, they remain in closed neighborhoods. Even my Kuwaiti friends say this is true. That's us, the rabble.

New York, New York!

OK, it isn't a great photo but you get the idea. This is from our hotel room on the 48th floor, overlooking Times Square. The thing is, our room had windows on three sides so in the morning this is what we could see:

The same view south
The view north (you can see Central Park)

And the view west. If you make the picture larger you can see the USS New York which arrived in the City that morning. It's the Navy ship which contains 7.5 tons of steel from the World Trade Center towers. It doesn't look like any ship you've ever seen. The com towers mast, whatever are encased in sheets of steel so it looks very strange. There were sailors and marines all over and the entire City was excited to have them there. It was very, very cool.

Tomorrow it's off on the big trek.

Heaven, I'm In Heaven . . .

. . . and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak. Yeah, I know it's a bit lame but that is pretty much how I feel!

Friday night this is where we were:

Yes, that is in fact the F Street Entrance to the Verizon Center and obviously we are headed to a Caps game. That is Andrew H. on the left. He and Josh have been best friends since preschool. Spence came to town specifically to go to hockey games. So it was to be a great night. HOWEVER . . .


This is my ticket to the game. If you look closely, you will see that is for Section 190, Row A, seat 5. Dan and I were given tickets by friends who have season tickets through UBS. Yes, were were SITTING ON THE GLASS ! ! That made it a spectacular night! This is the view from my seat (sorry for the crummy quality, I had to use my cell phone for the picture):

The player with his back to us is Mike Knuble, new acquisition from the Flyers. The player facing is none other than the Great 8, Alex Ovechkin, the best player in the NHL. Yes, his head was slammed into the glass right in front of me! And, yes, I pounded on the glass. How can anyone not love this game? Dan and I had a ball. The boys had tickets up in the nose bleed seats so we spent a fair amount of time looking for them and waving like lunatics.

I AM NOT DONE YET ! !

Twenty-four hours later (that would be tonight) Dan and I were at:

For those unfamiliar with the fountain, it is on the river terrace at The Kennedy Center where we went to see the opera Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss. I know that I look in distress but I am actually trying to appear sophisticated which is remarkably painful for me. I bought tickets at the last minute thinking that I was buying seats on the far side. We ended up second row center. I know those aren't supposed to be great seats but we loved them. Three very good sopranos, one of whom was actually excellent and one amazing. Unfortunate tenor. It happens. Poor guy wasn't even the understudy but got thrown into the role tonight for some reason and just couldn't handle it. But the rest were quite good and the production was great. I still struggle with German opera but I'm trying to learn.

So, that's the perfect weekend for me, front row seats at hockey and nearly front row seats at the opera. It doesn't get much better than that.

Escape From Alcatraz? No, Just From Florida

OK, maybe that's overstating it just a little bit but I REALLY do not like Florida. I never have. We spent two days in West Palm Beach visiting a close friend and I must admit that every time I am in southern Florida it is reconfirmed to me just how much I dislike it. In fact, I played a little game with myself while flying out of Ft. Lauderdale: "What Horrible Place Would I Rather Live In BEFORE Willingly Moving To Florida?" My answers:

1. St. George, Utah (sorry Lori)

2. Phoenix, Arizona

3. Flint, Michigan (I probably would put Detroit lower than Florida but since I've never been there I don't really know)

4. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

5. Buffalo, New York (Upstate New York is gorgeous, it's just colder than the dark side of the moon)

Anyway, we made it out alive and are now enjoying Washington, D.C. in my favorite time of year, autumn.

This is looking over the Potomac River from a foot bridge that crosses to Roosevelt Island. That's Georgetown in the distance, the spires of the University on the left and the towers of the National Cathedral on the right.

All I can say is that it is just a little cool and it smells the way autumn should!

First Stop

GREETINGS FROM . . .
No, Paris is one place we are NOT going. Hello from Las Vegas, first stop of a long trip. It has been a successful start to our adventure. Meetings for Do The Write Thing went very well and it was so fun to see old friends from all over the country. Especially fun is that my good, good friend Lisa is now starting work with the Program which means that she will be at all the meetings!

And a chance to see my friend Pat who is the DA of Houston and the toughest woman I have even known (and the biggest sweetheart).

So, tomorrow it's an early flight to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. See you in West Palm.

Aloha!

It may not look like the Hawaii you think of, but Hawaii it is - Kapalua Bay on the northwest side of Maui. We took a luxury vacation on the cheap, an absolutely beautiful condo at the new Ritz Carleton Golf club which Dan received for playing in a golf tournament earlier this year and free tickets using points on United. What could be better?

Dan played golf four days in a row and was happy as the proverbial clam. I joined him once for a drive around a beautiful course that is part of the Ritz. Yes, the wind is blowing so hard that the pin is bending. There were times when it was difficult to stand up straight! We were told that it was very early in the year for such hard winds. I spent my free time doing my favorite thing - reading by the pool.

A real treat was a trip to the center of the island, up in the mountains to visit the Ali'i Kula Lavender Farm. I stood on the slopes there and decided that this is one of the places I could move to in a flash, as long as I could live, literally, on the farm.

Believe it or not, this is an avocado tree that has been pruned to grow like this. I love the old guy who runs the farm. He didn't know a thing about growing lavender or avocados for that matter, but just started experimenting. He grows about 50 different varieties of lavender and has great success. Not so much with the avocados. The severe pruning, which was does in an effort to facilitate harvesting, threw the trees into shock and they haven't produced any fruit. Gotta love an "experimenter" though.

The last day we took the Road to Hana drive which is truly one of the great drives on the planet.

With something like 54 one lane bridges and over 200 switchback curves it is a driving challenge, which we not only completed in the daylight but in the dead of night as well. Actually Dan did all the driving so he gets all the credit.

We went to Hana to see the new place that Dan's nephew, Rob Reynolds, bought there.

Yep, the view off the balcony. They are redoing the house but the grounds are spectacular. I think it's 7.5 acres and includes a 9-hole golf course. The Killers are doing pretty well! (Oh, Rob is the rock band's manager/lawyer.)

All in all, a wonderful six days. Dan has decided though that based on the luau we went to with the food and the dancing that next time he is going to Tahiti. He really liked those costumes!

I'm Still Here - Just Being Quiet

No, we have not kicked the bucket. We just got back to La Quinta at the beginning of September and things really haven't slowed down. How can there be so much to catch up? I mean, I get Dan being busy but, really, what am I doing that is all that challenging?

I do have a couple of things to put in before the next trip so I'll get to it - especially since we are leaving in two days!

A Last Hurrah

We are getting ready to leave D.C. but in keeping with last year's precedent Dan, Josh and I went to Wolftrap before leaving. Last year was Les Miserables. Wonderful but THIS year was the Wolftrap Orchestra, Washington Chorus and and enormous screen showing:

Yes, we watched The Two Towers with LOTS of fans who love the movie, the characters, the music, anything that could induce applause.

These are only a few of the fans (dare I say nuts?) who sat IN THE RAIN FOR THREE HOURS to see this performance. You have to admire this kind of dedication. We, of course, were not crazy enough to sit outside in the rain, we paid extra to sit inside to see a movie we have seen countless times.


DO NOT GET ME WRONG. We (at least Josh and I) loved it! I had no idea that there was so much music in this movie. The orchestra played almost non-stop and it was wonderful. The soloists were great. One was a boy who looked to be about nine years old. He had an unbelievably pure voice. How many kids do you know who can stand up, in front of a full orchestra and 3,000 people and belt out lyrics in elvish?


What a great idea. We (at least Josh and I) would definitely be up for Return of the King!

Beantown Retreat

Following the quick trip to NYC we spent four days in Boston - a place we have not been for twenty years. How is that even possible that someone who lived so long on the east coast never went to such a great city?

We stayed at the Marriott Custom House, a beautiful old building in downtown Boston, right by the harbor. There are actually peregrine falcons that live at the top of the tower which we really wanted to see but since it is not nesting season they were rarely there.


That's the Custom House, the building with the pointy tower right in the middle and the falcons' nest is in the topmost window. The guest rooms are all in the tower and have wonderful views.

One of our favorite places was North Boston which is Little Italy where there are great restaurants, naturally, and bakeries and grocery stores that sell the same stuff you can buy in Italy. We did run into a hard rain storm while there and since Dan had not brought along his cap or raincoat he ran into a store and came out with this:

Yes, I walked around with a man wearing that hat.

Some of our favorite places:



Yep, that's a "Don't Tread On Me" flag on the right!

Mike's Pastry in Little Italy. You have to love a bakery with a picture of the Virgin Mary over the counter. The chocolate chip canolis are supposedly to die for. I wouldn't know because I was traveling with Dan.


The swan lake in Boston Common. That is a little boat in the distance which is propelled by. . .

the guy in the back sitting behind the swan. I have no idea how he is able to do that but since there are several of these boats on the lake apparently it works quite well!

Close by the swan lake is a special statue done in the 80s memorializing "Make Way For Ducklings:"
Boston Public Library is an amazing place:

Look closely and you can just make out Dan getting ready to pull a Mussolini pose. Who would not want to study here?

And, of course, no trip to Boston in the summer would be complete without a visit to the Mecca of all baseball:



Oh, and some of us have better "cap-fashion sense" than others:


What a great place, beauty and seemingly endless history.


The last day we were there I sat on a bench in The Common and enjoyed this view:

I looked down and this little brass plaque was set into the cement the bench was on:

You have to love a city like this!