So much to do, so little time

-
I'm not going anywhere soon, but my little brother (he's 22, so maybe not 'little' anymore) will be visiting next month. He hasn't been here since he was about 11 or 12 and now that he's older, there's so much more we can do besides go to Camp Snoopy and the Science Museum (nothing wrong with either of those, but I'm just saying). I'm a planner, and I'm trying to plan; he's not a planner and he wants to see how things go. Oh, this will be fun. I'm meeting him and our mom in Rockford, IL for the hand-off on July 4; whether I drive back that night or early the next morning will depend on how we're feeling. Then we'll see what's what. My thought is a day downtown and over to the Sculpture Garden for some good pics and a nice walk; maybe also over to the Stone Arch Bridge. I'd love to take him to Hell's Kitchen for lunch or dinner, I think he'd really like the vibe and the food. Maybe walk through the skyway over to Target Field and over to the new football stadium. The next day drive over to the Mall of America for some reminiscing, although it has changed so much since he was last here, new restaurants, new rides, new stores and no sales tax on clothes. We can probably squeeze in a couple of movies. Oh and we have the Adele concert on the 6th; that was the whole reason for him coming out here, we both really like her music, and I was lucky enough to get tickets through a friend of mine. Then on that Friday we are heading to Chicago for the Sting/Peter Gabriel concert on Saturday. I guess what I'm saying is, stay tuned for some concert reviews and reviews and stories on our visit together. It will be a whirlwind, but we're going to have a blast.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All aboard to Marrakech

-
Image
 I will spare you all the details of the seemingly endless drive from Fes to Marrakech; I don’t mind long drives, I mean the drive from Apple Valley to South Dakota is long and mostly boring, but this was interminable. Nothing to be done about it, however, and we did get a distant glimpse to the High Atlas Mountains and experienced quite a number of service station facilities. We finally arrived in Marrakech in time for dinner and an early night for me. It was another full day of experiencing a centuries old city in less than 24 hours; sensory overload would be the theme of this trip - the pictures don’t do it justice because you don’t get the sounds, the smells and even the feel of the thousand year old stones under your feet, but I’m trying. We met our local guide Abdullah who was like a walking fortune cookie, he had aphorisms for every situation, a great sense of humor and history and the coolest accent. Our first stop was the Koutubia Mosque, built in the 12th century, and it’s th
Read more

Flying Solo

-
Image
I've had a couple of big trips in the last six, seven months, and I'm planning the next one, or two. I don't want to say too much about it until I get some more things finalized. What I will say is I hope it includes China. That's all I'll say. Every time I take a trip or plan one, my friends ask if I'm going by myself. There's an eye roll, and then "Yes, I am.". Even people who know the answer usually still ask the question; those who don't know the answer are usually surprised, some are in awe. "Aren't you scared?" "Don't you get lonely?" and variations on that theme. A few things: you're never really alone unless you are in some totally remote location, which has not been the case for me; if you can't stand your own company for a few days, a solo trip might be just what you need; I do my best to not put myself in scary situations, like not hiking into war zones, or walking in potentially dangerous areas (w
Read more

Barcelona - the first two days

-
Day two of Mr. Magoo Does Europe, and it's been pretty awesome so far. But one of these days, I am going to get where I'm going on the first or second try. Maybe even the third. Honestly though, I'm so used to it, I don't even know what I would do if it happened. I walked around Barcelona yesterday, just trying to get my bearings (insert belly laugh), but I did eat some pretty amazing food, like chocolate filled churro (omg), and seafood paella, which I'm not sure how authentic it was, but I liked it; and I got in over 17,000 steps, not bad for getting here around noon and taking a siesta later in the day. Today was my big day, meaning I got up at 7:00 am to take a three country tour that lasted until 7:30 in the evening. For me the focus was getting to Andorra, a tiny country in the Pyrenees surrounded by Spain and France, and in fact, co-ruled by the two countries. First stop was Baga, in Spain, where I had the most delicious chocolate filled pastry that was was n
Read more