One last blog before the end of the year. We have been busy traveling and doing projects.
One of the things on my Mom's bucket list was to go to New York City. Mid-October, my mom, her friend Barbara from Colusa, her friend Marilyn from Ellendale, ND and I traveled to NYC for a week of touring. We arrived on Saturday night and settled into our hotel, The New Yorker
www.newyorkerhotel.com. Sunday morning, Jacques, one of Barbara's former students, cooked breakfast for us at his art studio.
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| Jacques, Barbara, Marilyn and Louise at Jacques' art studio |
After breakfast we went on a walking tour of Manhattan with stops at Times Square, the library, and Grand Central Station.
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| Marilyn, Louise and Barbara - Times Square |
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| Barbara and Marilyn - The New York public library |
Sunday night, we joined up with our tour group, Road Scholar. The overview of our trip can be found at their website
https://www.roadscholar.org/n/program/summary.aspx?id=1-1OQXQ
We signed in, picked up our paperwork and then went to supper at the Tick Tock Diner. After supper, we went back to the meeting room, did some introductions and then listened to a lecture about the five boroughs of NYC. After the lecture we walked to the Empire State Building and rode up to the top for a view of the city.
Monday, we all got subway passes and then rode the subway up to St. Patrick's Cathedral and Radio City music hall where we took a guided tour.
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| St. Patrick's Cathedral |
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| Wall Paper at Radio City Music Hall |
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| Radio City Music Hall Staircase Mural |
Supper was at a Chinese restaurant near our hotel. After supper we listened to a lecture about the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Tuesday morning we rode the subway down to the Battery and then caught the ferry to Liberty Island. We spent the morning touring the museum at the base of the statue and walking around the out. After lunch, we rode the ferry to Ellis Island and toured the immigration station there.
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| A replica of the torch |
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| B and Louise at Statue of Liberty |
After Ellis Island, we walked to the 9-11 memorial. Back to the hotel and then supper at a nearby Greek Restaurant. After supper, we rode the subway to the Chelsea District and walked the High Line Park and through Chelsea market. Somebody in the group clocked our miles walked at over 12 so we were ready for our bunks at the end of the day.
Wednesday morning we toured Broadway and the theater district followed by a picnic lunch outside at Bryant Park. Wednesday afternoon was free time so we opted for a guided walk through Harlem. The four of us went to an Italian restaurant near the theater district for supper and then went to see "Beautiful - the Carole King Story". We all enjoyed the show and were able to sing along to most of the music.
Thursday we walked through Central Park and spent the day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After Thursday night supper, we took a walking tour of Greenwich Village. Friday was the last day of the tour. We checked out of the hotel and flew back to California.
After all of that traveling, Dave and I decided we needed a break so we spent a few days in Sonoma County touring wine country and visiting friends.
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| B near a butterfly garden at a winery |
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| Dave enjoying a glass of wine |
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| Touring a vineyard with friends Greg and Chris |
The first two weeks of November B attended a Captain's Course in Alameda as the final step in applying for her 100-ton Captain's license. The course included rules of the road, navigation, charting, weather, knot-tying, boat handling, safety, etc. The last day of class was a series of tests. The first was rules of the road, followed by navigation/charting, then deck general, then navigation general and finally towing. If you are interested in the Captain's Course, here is a link to Maritime Institute, based in San Diego
maritimeinstitute.com I passed all of the tests and spent the weekend preparing my paperwork to submit to the US Coast Guard for my license. Last time I checked, they were in the process of reviewing my application.
We moved the boat from Oakland to Richmond on Friday afternoon November 13th.
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| The Bay Bridge with the San Francisco skyline in the background |
Mary, Scott, Nathan and Sara came to visit us in Richmond on Saturday afternoon. We had lunch and then stopped to visit the Rosie the Riveter monument.
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| Scott, Mary, Sara and B at the Rosie the Riveter Monument |
We spent the rest of the weekend winterizing the boat. On Monday we headed for Colusa. Tuesday we went to the casino for senior day and then did a few chores at my mom's house. Wednesday morning, my brother Kevin drove us to the Sacramento and we flew to Austin.
We decided to buy a fixer-upper in Austin, right across the street from Ben, Cat and the grandkids. A hoarder lived in the house so it is in pretty bad shape. So, our project for the winter is to fix it up. We spent three weeks in Austin doing demolition and getting quotes for the remodel. The pictures here will give you an idea of the scope of the project. Everything in the house needs to be replaced with the exception of the studs and the slab. But... it has good bones and will be a nice place once we finish. We'll post more pictures as we make progress.
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| Derek, Chris and Heather suited up and ready to do demo. |
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Dave and Derek - finished with popcorn and linoleum removal
in the back bedroom. |
Mid-December we decided we had accomplished as much as we could on the project house before the holidays and headed to Sweet Pea Farm in Alabama. Of course, we stopped at the casinos in Coushatta and Biloxi along the way, but no luck. Since we arrived here, we have been doing farm chores, getting ready for hunting and unlaxing.
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| B and Puddy enjoying the fire. |
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| Dave sitting in a tree stand |
That's it for 2015. Happy Holidays to all and see you next year.
