VACATIONS FROM HOME: July 2022

Friday, July 29, 2022

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH

LIGHTWEIGHT DRINKER
This morning I have heard it’s an urban myth that you get drunker while at higher altitudes. One drink in Denver is like having two at sea level says the myth. We are in Denver visiting family and the “Mile High City” is at 5,279 feet. I had three beers last night and I got drunk. Strong beers yes, but I also ate a lot of BBQ. It may be a myth, but I am the living proof that the combination of alcohol and altitude will get you drunker and quicker.

I know I’m a lightweight, but this was ridiculous.

It turns out that at higher altitudes alcohol doesn’t affect the body any differently than at sea level but breathing less oxygen at higher altitudes does affect a person, especially if they haven’t acclimated to the elevation.

JUST BREATHE

It really is about oxygen. At higher altitudes and thinner air, it’s easy to feel tipsy before you start to drink. So, my three beers affected me normally, but as I had not yet fully acclimated to the altitude, I was a goner. The rule is to pace yourself and make every other drink water!

Thanks for reading and no drinking and mountain climbing!

Love Janet and greg

Saturday, July 16, 2022

JULY DOLDRUMS

THE CALM BEFORE THE TRAVEL MADNESS
Social media can help you connect with friends, but it can be debilitating for the psyche. Over the years of traveling together Janet and I had to squeeze all our holidays in the month of July. It was then that the television shows I worked on went into their summer hiatus and as a school marm, Janet’s travel was limited to the summer breaks.

We have managed to squeeze a lot of travel then in the month of July and on Facebook the memories of our adventures keep popping up. Eating our way through Cajun country in southwest Louisiana, or lounging on the sands of Hilton Head, or exploring the islands of Croatia, or getting much Aloha time in Hawaii, to name just a few of our adventures, July has brimmed with travel and FB memories keeps reminding us of all the fun we “used” to have in July.

in Dubrovnik

Now that we’re retired there are no requisite times to travel and we’re able to go when we want. This is good; we all know traveling in the off-peak seasons is cheaper, but as we sit here in Collegeville, waiting for the next planned trip I open my FB page to countless memories of where we were in the past.

To this I say “ugh”, and this in a year we've already traveled to Tenerife in April and Grenada in May, with much more in the very near future.

YAMMERING , WHINING, GROUSING

As I peruse past promontories and ponder our peregrination progress both planned and prospective, I apparently profess a persistent pining to propel pell-mell, panting, perspiring profusely, to our next point or purpose.

To this I say, "Fuggedaboutit."

in Breaux Bridge, LA

It’s going to get busy around here soon. The British Invasion 2022 of the family starts any day now and soon and there will be a month-long tumult of activity here at our middle-class garret in stately Collegeville Pennsylvania, 10 miles west of Valley Forge. Included in this will be a trip to Breckinridge, Colorado to see MORE family members. Talk about promontories at 9,600 feet in elevation! It will be an effort to catch our breath! So, it’s best to sit here and look at all the pretty pictures where we’ve been before the cacophony erupts.... besides some people just like to complain.