Author Archives: marcmcga

We spent the last two days on free walking tours (right, nothing is free) in Delft and Amsterdam. Both of our guides were perfect for the job and made the tours very enjoyable. In Delft our guide was a painter, a graphic designer and on top of that a stand up comedian…he was a trifectaContinue reading “Walking Tours”

Things I’ve learned from locals and my own family about The Netherlands… Coffee bars in Amsterdam are not actually for “coffee”…we learned this after getting a second hand high. Biking is strictly for transportation, not pleasure. FEBO, it’s just like you McDonalds…is it? You can only make so many comments about the nice girls inContinue reading “Slow Day in Amsterdam”

Today was officially Arts Day, or as I like to call it “Joanie’s day to look at every spec of paint while Marco speed views then does crosswords and surfs for later activities.” I was, however, a little slower with my viewing because these two impressive dudes really know how to throw brush to canvas.Continue reading “Arts Day”

We spent today in Cascais, billed as “Portugal’s most chic resort,” just a short train ride from Lisbon. I don’t know what that means but I do know we visited some great shops, the best fresh Italian pasta restaurant and some great gelato. And just as importantly Brett had the chance to practice her Italian,Continue reading “A Day in Cascais”

Our plane left DC at 10pm and after a short 6.5 hour flight we arrived in Lisboa (Lisbon in Yankee speak) and spent our first day in that dreaded “sleep deprived” fog just trying to get to the end of the day. “No, I’m really fine…I feel great…No, I actually slept” comments were followed closelyContinue reading “First day on the continent – Lisboa”

After a heated and tearful conversation with Little Al explaining why he couldn’t come with us, we decided to take our beautiful daughter instead on our European Vacation. He still doesn’t get the thing about crossing a “bunch of water”, and plenty of “I guess your stupid daughter means more to you than me” punctuatedContinue reading “European Vacation +1”

After spending a few nights in Taos we made our final drive towards Texas. It seemed like an easy route, just drive southeast until we arrive in DFW and park Little Al next to his much bigger girlfriend Lucy. Au contraire. We spent the last night looking at the red colored clouds of a ragingContinue reading “Circle Complete”

We spent the last 4 days in Pagosa Springs and compared to most of our trips there, this was an actual slow action paced experience. Not that we didn’t do a lot and exercise to our hearts content but without our leaders Brenda and Dick we just had to fly by the seat of ourContinue reading “Pagosa Down Time”

We enjoyed our stay at Ridgway State Park so much last year that we decided to return on our trip back towards Tejas. Using Joanie’s valuable notes from last year we were able to find a site close to recent bear activity but more importantly close to the bano. Any view at this park isContinue reading “Ridgway State Park – Repeat Performance”

My Joanie reminded me that since I’ve retired that my number one job now is exercising and taking care of myself. I thought that it was a very touching way of saying she wanted me to be around a lot longer. Then she took me to Canyonlands National Park and tried to kill me byContinue reading “Canyonlands National Park”