Travel 2019 – Another Go-Go Year!

I wrote last year how my first full year of retirement in 2018 was definitely a travel “go-go” year. Well turns out 2019 was an even bigger one!  In fact, mid-year, I was starting to think I was travelling too much.  I’ll let you be the judge of that.

My travel year again started out early in January with a trip to visit my daughter in Seattle to help her with her two young sons while our son-in-law was out of the country.  It was a great trip chronicled previously here.

Then at the end of February, I was off to visit our son in San Francisco to help with our other two west coast grandchildren while our daughter-in-law’s parents were out of the country (who provide childcare during the week).  It was another great trip to spend with our grandchildren.  At the end of 9 days, I learned that their childcare for the following week had fallen through so after flying home on Thursday, I was back on a plane to San Francisco the following Monday for another five days.  More fun was had by all!

Mid-March, just eight days after I returned, I was off to New Jersey to teach my two professional level courses.  I taught them back-to-back so unfortunately there was no time to get in some sight-seeing in New York city.

And then less than a week later at the beginning of April, I was off to Orlando for our annual Sibling Sabbatical (SibSab), this time at Disney World.  It was only my second visit to Disney and the first ever for all four of us together.  Naturally I documented that fun trip last year.

May turned out to be a crazy travel month with six separate trips; it was at this point that my wife commented that now she knew what it would be like if I had been a travelling salesman.  First up was a trip with just my oldest sister on what I began to call a SisGo, the sister version of our BroGo brother trips.  It was a fun filled six days previously chronicled here.

Then, just four days later, I was off to Amsterdam to teach one of my courses.  Ticket prices in May, often the peak tulip season, were quite expensive and so sadly, my wife once again did not travel with me.  But I did manage to do something I had not done before, detailed here.

Five days later I was off to Washington, DC for the first of three trips in one week.  This trip, I travelled up to give a talk at a national conference.  It was a busy two days with my only sight-seeing being this one shot of the Washington and Lincoln Memorials from the Metro on my way back to the airport.

Then Friday morning, I drove down to Oxford, MS to give a talk at Ole Miss.  After hustling back to town that same morning, my wife and I headed off to Winston-Salem, NC for a party for our nephew who was joining the Army.

The last week of May, while our granddaughter was between pre-school and summer camp, my wife suggested we take a day-trip to Como, MS to visit a Wild Animal Safari park.  It was a lot of fun watching our granddaughter with sheer delight feeding lots of animals, including a giraffe…

…and getting to ride a camel.

June was a much less busy travel month with only a single trip; my wife and I traveled out to San Francisco (my third trip there in 2019) to watch our two grandchildren while their parents took a delayed and much needed anniversary celebration trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.   We arrived on Thursday and kept them until Monday night.  We had both grandchildren over the weekend but on Friday, we only had our grandson and then on Monday, we only had our granddaughter so each could have a special time with us.  It was a busy but fun time, especially when we got to take our granddaughter to their local airplane museum where there were fun activities for all aged kids.

July turned out to be my short trip month with four trips, three trips all within the first week.  On July the 1^st, I drove my daughter and her family to Cape Girardeau, MO to meet her in-laws who had driven down from their farm.  After staying with us a fun-filled week, they were going to spend the week of Fourth of July on their farm and I had agreed to meet them half way so they wouldn’t have to drive the whole way to Memphis and back in one day.  After a quick lunch, I headed back home enjoying the extra time I had had with them but knowing they were going to have even more fun at the farm.

Then that following weekend, we went to our friend’s lake house.  After my busy travel schedule, it was nice to sit back and relax and enjoy some adult beverages.

We also got to ride their jet skis, which was my first time in probably 20 years.  After my getting used to it, my wife climbed on the back and in no time, I had dumped us both in the water while making a turn.  My wife said she had had enough at that point, but I continued to gather some more “experience.”

Then the following Monday, I was flying off to Dallas to teach a one-day GMP training session to a local company.  I was there less than 36 hours so no time for sight-seeing, but I did get a chance to enjoy some authentic Texas barbeque one night.

Two weeks later, I was heading back over to our friend’s lake house, this time to help with a project.  My friend had bought a gazebo to provide shade on his dock and asked if I would help him to assemble it.  Over two days and about 19 hours work, we turned this…

…into this…

…, a shaded paradise.  I wrote an entire post about our trials and tribulations building this “made in the shade” gazebo if you are interested in more details.

To be continued…