Thursday, July 16, 2009

Because I love travelling vicariously almost as much as I love actually travelling.

I feel compelled to share what an awesome trip Mom is about to take. I have been doing some European exploring, and helped Mom devise a wonderful trip that I am extremely jealous of.

On August 24th, I will drive Mom and a friend to the Seattle airport. She will be in Seattle for a dragonboat race, then leave from here to go to Prague for the 2009 World Championships of Dragon Boat Racing. Very exciting. She gets to Prague Tuesday morning, then has practices that afternoon, and the real racing starts Wednesday. Racing continues through Sunday. Paddle hard, Grammbon!!

Once she finishes racing on Sunday, the 30th of August, the real fun starts...
On Monday morning, she will board a train to Austria. Exact destination is not yet determined. The town of Graz is one option, as is Vienna. A ~5 hour train ride through the beautiful countryside, ending in the early afternoon. They will debark the train, head for a hotel for the night, then have the rest of Monday and all day Tuesday to explore the city.
Wednesday morning, they head to Zagreb, Croatia. Only a 2-3 hour train ride away. They spend the rest of Wednesday exploring Zagreb, spend a night in a hotel, then fly out of Zagreb Thursday afternoon, heading for the coastal town of Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is where the real action is happening. Only a 50 minute flight away, this is where Mom and her friend will be met by a company called Adria Adventures (Dubrovnik is on the Adriatic Sea), who will whisk them away for a few days of adventure http://www.adriaadventure.hr/ Mom is doing the Elaphite islands kayaking weekend tour. Three days of sea kayaking, snorkelling, and seeing beautiful sights and amazing turquoise waters. Lots of fun.

On Sunday, their trip ends. They will take that short flight back to Zagreb and spend the night there. They have Monday morning to relax and see some sights, then it is off to Frankfurt, Germany on an early afternoon flight. They will head to a local hotel, then enjoy the evening in Germany. Their flight home to Portland leaves midmorning on Tuesday.

Sound like fun?? I know *I* want to go!!

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

WARNING: Bring tissues

This is one of the things that is good about small town america--they look after their own.