More Highlights and Observations...

We have now crossed the continent from Prince Edward Island to Vancouver in 56 days!

What restaurant is most pervasive in this country - the one that is sometimes the only restaurant in blink of an eye towns?  Any guesses?

Vancouver is situated in the most perfect spot - you view the mountains and the coast.  It's also just a neat city.

We know the answer to how many homes we have - zero.

Glacier National Park was stunning but for the glaciers will dissappear by 2030 due to climate changes.  I blame this on the Republicans but by now you know I blame everything on them.

We had two of our best meals in Billings MT and Spearfish SD-both upscale Italian- and very reasonably priced.  Restaurants were packed.  Who would have thought.

Driving thru beautiful scenery never bores us.  We want to come back to Banff.  In fact, we drove parallel, at times, to the railroad and I want to take the train that travels thru the Canadian Rockies.

We have used 1/2 the clothes we brought.  I have not missed one thing I didn't bring.  You really can live with very little.  The key is to bring things you like and feel comfortable in.  It also helps that no one is seeing you wear the same thing day after day.

We have learned that finding the Sunday NY Times has its challenges.  We never found one in Billings - good food but no Times.  So today in Vancouver Russell called down to the desk to ask where we might find one.  10 minutes later they called and announced they were sending one up!!!  Now that is service!

Tomorrow we are off to Seattle to meet our good friends the Eisenbergs for 4 days.  We will then drive with them to Portland to another good friend's son's wedding where we will see more of our friends.  In fact, we are all having dinner together Friday night.  A piece of home will come to us.  We like that.  And my wonderful friend Linda Lipson will be in San Diego visiting her sun as we drive thru and we'll get to see her.  What a treat!  

Russell has really taken a deep breath.  He is so much more relaxed and not letting the little things get to him.  And I know this for a fact because when his specially made eye drops that we have fedexed to us every Friday from a pharmacy in San Jose were help up in Canadian customs and everyone was blaming everyone else, HE NEVER ONCE SCREAMED AT ANYONE!  We did get them thanks to Abdullah from the customs brokerage firm the Marriott employs.  

We have loved the first 2 months of our adventure but I am looking forward to the Pacific Coast, dipping my toes in the ocean and having some beach time.  

OH - Joe Biden for VP.  Kind of boring for the man whose all about the change.  Russell and I disagree on this.

Toodles!  Trisha

Glacier National Park Montana (notice the swimmer)

Devil's Monument

Wall Drug Wall South Dakota

The Badlands South Dakota

Coors Beer Tour Golden Colorado

From Russ

 This is Russ. We're in Billings Montana. We have been here three days to rest-no sightseeing. I played golf twice here, and we had two really great meals. Only 125,000 people her, but some very nice restaurants. We leave in the morning for Glacier National Park, then Banff/Lake Louise/Calgary. 

    We've been on the road 7 weeks today. Still terrific. If there's a fly in the ointment it's getting treated for my eye, but that's a minor inconvenience compared to having this incredibly relaxed trip. It's simply wonderful to have none of the day to day concerns we all experience daily even in the best of times. We still don't miss having a home base, but I suspect that that will come at some point, and when it does we'll stop and settle in Florida as planned. But it probably will be on December 1st, as we originally anticipated.

 Trisha got stopped in Wyoming by the state police. We thought she was speeding, but they gave her a warning for not moving to the passing lane on the interstate when there was a car with flashers on on the right shoulder. That's the law in Wyoming. But as I said, just a warning.

   We had a mini-crisis(really mini) when I lost my car keys in our friends' home where we stayed in Denver. Joe and Sharon Wetzel from Mpower were extremely hospitable, and we thank them again. But after Sharon and I returned from the car with some luggage, my keys disappeared. I remained calm(well,not inside). After fifteen minutes of searching by the four of us, I was still reluctant to suggest that Joe or Sharon must have done something with them, but they thought on their own to check their key drawer, and sure enough, they had put them in there. Mystery solved. As I said, a mini crisis, but that's about it for anything negative happening so far.

   We are looking forward to seeing many of our friends in Seattle and Portland at the end of the month. And we'll be back in Rochester in October, and NYC in November.

    Sorry if this is a plain vanilla post, but we're coasting perfectly. There will be some more photos when Trisha gets to post them, and we'll write again after Glacier and Banff.

   Hope everyone is having a great summer. Please send us emails. We really enjoy hearing about things back home, mundane or otherwise. Walter still sends me a Monday email about the weekend golf, and I look forward to that. We might be out of telephone and email contact while in Canada, but that shouldn't be until Wednesday. We can't turn the phone or computer on in Canada(except for hotel wifi), since AT&T charges about $1000 an hour in Canada( well not quite, but pretty outrageous), and tell you about it after the fact, as we learned when in Nova Scotia. It took serious negotiations to get the charges down to something reasonable, and we can't have that happen again.

     Again, hope all is well with everyone.  Russ

Highlights and Observations

I loved the Rockies.  I can't imagine anything on this trip being more memorable, beautiful or more take your breath away.

We toured 2 factories this week which will make me take on my husband's personna and walk down memory lane.  When we did this trip in 1972 we toured Ford and Kellogg's.  You could actually go inside these 2 factories and watch that famous car assembly line and see the corn flakes toasting in the ovens.  We were dissapointed when Ford no longer allowed you in - sabotage, lawsuits, terrorists, etc...  But Coors beer in Golden, CO semi lets you in - and we did go on this tour even though the Coors family are to the extreme right of every political issue ever.  But to counter that, the next day we went to the Celestial Seasoning Tea factory which was founded by hippie types in the "summer of love" their quote not mine.  Russell swore they began this business to hide the marijuana plants.

Our life has been taken over by the Olympics.  And wasn't that 4/100 men's relay,  in my brother in law Jeff's words, the best race ever in the history of races.  And the US Men's gymnastic team's performance is why gymnastics is the most nerve wracking sport to watch.

Thank you to Joe and Sharon Wetzel for their hospitality Sunday night in Denver.  Great wine, food, company and accomodations.  Wonderful to have a home cooked meal.    Joe worked with Russell at MPower. And we won't even mention how Sharon stole Russell's car keys.  And to all of you who really know Russell, the control he used when he couldn't find his keys was worthy of an Oscar, Emmy and Tony combined.  

We began our drive thru Wyoming.  I remember this vividly from our trip here 36 years ago. The landscape has not changed.  Cattle grazing, craggy, rolling hills and little signs of life. There are fewer people in Wyoming than in Rochester.  This precipitated a heated argument between Russell and I about the fairness of every state having 2 Senators.  I'll leave it to you to guess who was on what side.  Putting that discussion aside, Wyoming is so American.  Truly the wild west.

 We saw the cornea specialist again today in Denver.  Much to our surprise, he pronounced Russell's eye much better and was not so sure he should rush into the suggested procedure. Russell and I were flabbergasted as  the new drops he takes every 2 hours and that we have fedexed to us once a week from CA should contribute to the eye not mending.  But since no one really has a clue what to do with his eye - except not remove it as my sister in law Terry and I thought a strong possibility - Russell has still not forgiven us this lapse of judgement - we ran to our car and continued our trip before he could change his mind.  We promised we'd see another cornea specialist as soon as possible - probably vancouver or seattle.  

So the roaming Zuckermans are on the road again after 8 days in Colorado which is one amazing state.  Hello Wyoming and Montana.

Golfing in the Rockies

Scenes from the Rockies

scenes from Prince Edward Island

Nova Scotia McDonald's summer special

Remember me?

In reference to Russell's comment that I bitched about him writing so much and that jealousy is a terrible thing, he is correct.  It is a terrible thing, but I had not anticipated this blog would captivate his interest and thus become his personal trip down memory lane.  Retirement gives you the gift of time and if wants to reminisce then so be it.  I guess we'll each make it what we want it to be.  So...

More highlights and observations...

Working backwards..

Yesterday we had a do nothing day.  We need one of those since retirement keeps us very busy.  This doing nothing can exhaust a person.  So we sat at the pool after taking a long walk.  

I remember driving thru the Rockies in the early 70's and literally hanging out the window singing Rocky Mt high because I was so mesmerized by the incredible scenery.  It's even better this time around.  The beauty of these mountains is astounding.  We went to Aspen today and took the scenic route there and the fast route back.  The fast route's scenery was breathtaking.

Vail is charming. Wherever you look you see mountains.  You feel like you're in Swiss Family Robinson and that Heidi will be walking down the street momentarily.  It is basically car free so you walk everywhere.  Wonderful paths for walks and bikes.

We drove up Mt Evans which is the highest paved car road - @14000 ft.  This means you are driving 2 ft from the edge of the road and your death.  I who hate heights was not thrilled but I would do it again.  I thought I would die a second death when as we got closer to the top driving on this narrow 2 lane road that had hairpin turns, a sign announced road narrows.  We were now 1 ft away from tumbling to our demise.

Driving across Kansas - which is not so flat - in the 104` heat and seeing only farm after farm.  You got the feeling these farms are the real thing and they are only playing at it back east.  Saw many sunflower fields and then realized that this is the sunflower state.

Kansas City is a great town.  Went to Crown plaza which is home to Hallmark.  It is still a family owned business and we went to their museum and watched all the hallmark commercials and cried thru almost every one of them.  Pitiful people we are.  They also have a vibrant area called Country Club Plaza filled with shops and restaurants where we ate dinner one night.  And since KC is all about the barbecue we had that one night too.

We finally went to some museums.  The Lincoln and Truman presidential libraries were great and I learned much.  Did you know the Emancipation Proclamation did not free norther slaves? Hmmm.  Also went to the Negro league baseball museum in Kansas City which I knew very little about.  It was a real education.  They were the first league to install lights and play night games.

Loved seeing Nick and Molly in Indianapolis.  They took us for dinner to an elegant steakhouse in an area called Broad Ripple where Molly lives in a charming house.  We walked along the canal which neither of them had any idea of the history of it.  But it reminded me of Schoen Place in Pittsford.

Next it's off to Boulder, the Badlands, Glacier National park, Banff, Vancouver and then Seattle and Portland for a wedding on 8/30.  Russell's eye surgery will then determine where we go. Either we will journey south to Phoenix for a mini family reunion in mid Sept and then head across the southwest to Florida or go directly there since we are thinking we will rent a place in the complex we want to live in and have a doctor who was recommended by his Rochester MD do the procedure.  We have already rented a place there for Dec and Jan.  At this point we will rent until we feel we no longer want to travel because we love what we are doing.

Until next time... Oh - and this fancy schmancy Marriott we're in does not have Bravo for Project Runway or the comedy channel.  Shame on them!

Russ

  We drove up M.t Evans today-over 14,000 feet. We both got a little nauseous from the thin air. Extremely steep, narrow road, but great views were worth it. 

  Now in Vail. Really lovely. Nestled in a valley, with the ski slopes right above us. We're here 4 days, and it's extremely relaxing; and relatively cool after so much hot weather in Kansas City and even Denver. We have a balcony we can sit on looking up the mountain. Really beautiful.

   We'll drive around some, going to Aspen and some other less developed towns. I'll play golf and Trisha will walk and go to the pool. Still adjusting to not having to fill every minute of the day, but we're getting the hang of it.

  On the minus side, my eye bothers me more than ever. Saw a specialist in Denver today, and I will have to have the surgery I postposed a few months ago. I need to clear up an infection first, but once that's taken care of I need to try something more radical like the surgery. Just to risky to continue doing what I've been doing, which isn't working at all. Otherwise, we both feel great. Retirement has done wonders for the minor aches and pains-every ailment other than the eye is markedly better.

     Hope everyone is enjoying the summer. No moaning about it being almost over. There's plenty of great weather left.

    Russ

   

Russ-just travel stuff today

 We're in Kansas City. Great restaurants. Had ribs last night. Excellent. Went to the Jazz and Negro Baseball League museums today. And the Hallmark museum. All very interesting, but that's it for museums for awhile. We head to the rockies in the morning, and will be there and Montana and Canada for the next 3 weeks. Hope to play golf several times in Vail, where we will be for 4 days on a "vacation".

 We still don't miss having a home base, nor do we feel and need to get home and  "sleep in our own bed", as we used to feel after vacationing. Maybe that feeling will come, but hasn't yet at all.

  We are trying to remember that this is"the rest of of life", so we're eating lighter lunches and dinners instead of how we usually eat on vacation, and trying to not feel we always have to do things. After of museums today, I'm watching golf and Trisha's at the pool. I'll join her, but primarily to bring her a French Martini( we brought our own liquor- given how much she drinks we would be broke quickly if we had to buy them). We have plastic martini glasses, of course.

   Long drive tomorrow to Denver. Only the second long drive; the other was from PEI to Boston. But we split the driving;have the computer and XM radio; and gossip about our friends and family(only kidding). Since we know none of you would ever talk about us when we're not around, we extend you the same courtesy. Or at least talk of you fondly; as i know you do of us.

   More next week. Have a great weekend.  Russ