February 26 & 27, Arizona 2024

Another stellar day in the American Southwest. Monday was a leisurely day of reading, writing, and grazing through the breakfast buffet that Kevin set out for us. In the afternoon we loaded into the Avalon sedan and headed out for a late lunch with Tom’s cousin, Jan Buckingham and her husband Lauren Ronald at Vivace Restaurant. Jan and Lauren are transplanted Omahans who live in Tucson year-round. Jan is a retired Interior designer and Lauren is a retired attorney, formerly with Kutak Rock in Omaha. The lunch was well presented Italian fare and most delicious. The setting provides a view of the entire valley and downtown Tucson. We then drove to Chicos and Costco to replenish some supplies and find a blouse and slackers to complete a wardrobe for Deb.

We returned in the early evening and enjoyed cocktails and wine around the pool. We dined on leftovers and then settled in for a movie that Tom had recommended: “Leave the World Behind.” The stars were Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, Myha’la, and Kevin Bacon. This was a thriller and a very thought provoking movie that we can recommend to anyone over the age of 13. Lots of foul language and some violence. The ending leaves you wondering. It is available on Netflix.

Tuesday we were up at the crack of dawn (7:00) and again grazed the breakfast bar. After cleaning up and chatting for a while, we left for a late lunch at Harvest Restaurant. We enjoyed a glass of wine, some burgers, a salad and a turkey sandwich. All the food was delicious. Next we traveled to the DeGrazia Art Gallery and toured the art. Ted DeGrazia was a native Tucson artist (1909 - 1982) born to Italian immigrant parents in Morenci, Arizona Territory. He eventually attended University of Arizona earning a Master’s Degree in Art and established the Gallery for living and painting in the 1950’s.

We made a grocery stop and then returned to Oro Valley for martinis and wine around the pool. Tom fired up the jacuzzi spa and when the temperature hit 94ºF, we slipped into our suits, transferred our drinks to plastic glasses, and dipped into the spa for an hours soak and chatter.  Some of us watched “Barbie” while the other two dozed while pretending to watch.  I will let you figure out who the dozers were.

We finally crawled into bed at 10:30, having enjoyed a hospitable day of relaxation, witty repartee, friendship and food.

2024 Arizona Spring Fling

Saturday, February 24, 2024 and our “Uber” driver, Abigail picks us up promptly at 10:00 AM to transport us to Eppley Airfield for the beginning of our spring trek to the great Southwest. Our Southwest Airlines flight to Denver departed and arrived on time. We lunched on a Caesar Salad and a Ham and Swiss sandwich plus a pair of cans of Pinot Noir for the princely sum of $68.00, this from a stand-up sandwich purveyor. We found our way to our gate and sat at a computer hook-up station / desk to eat our meal. Surprisingly good food, with one of the best ham and Swiss sandwiches ever encountered. (Topped off with a huge Rice Krispy & marshmallow treat for dessert.) 

The flight to Tucson was delayed due to late arrival of the equipment, but we landed safely in Tucson at 5:45, met by our host Tom. Our bags arrived on time and intact and we spent the next 45 minute drive catching up enjoying the sights as we headed for home in the suburb of Oro Valley. Kevin and Liam the Scotty Terrier met us at their home and we rested on the patio, looking at the Catalina mountain range, enjoying a dirty martini and dined on a taco bowl dish Kevin had been preparing in his Ninja pot. We notified Abby that we had arrived safely. Darcy was on a flight returning from Denver after a drive out from Omaha with her friend Erin and her son Sam. Ed & Meg were also in Arizona, Scottsdale, and were busy touring the Biltmore Hotel and enjoying a cocktail in this Frank Lloyd Wright designed structure. We will meet them in Burbank next weekend. 

Sunday morning we awoke fairly refreshed and enjoyed a breakfast buffet of pastry, chopped fruit, cereal, juice, toast and jam and the all important coffee. The morning was beautiful, the mountains gleamed and we sat on the deck admiring the day. There is a huge bicycle road race occurring here in Oro Valley today.

The traffic is diverted and there are hundreds of bikers racing around a 4 mile stretch of the town. We walked about a block up to the highway area of the race and watched the pelotons racing by and then, later in the afternoon, watched the professional racers as they tore around the route at a torrid pace. This event began at 8:00 this morning and went to 4:00 in the afternoon. Exciting to watch although it was quite a disruption to traffic and caused us a bit of circumnavigation when we returned later in the afternoon.

Shortly after the noon hour, we hopped in the car and headed out for our day’s adventure. We drove to the nearby town of Oracle to Biosphere 2. This 3.14 acre facility was originally a ranch, then a hotel conference center and  in 1984 construction began for the Biosphere as a simulation for exploring human living possibilities in space.

The original 8  Biospherians were locked into the facility for a two year period, raising their own food, cooking and living together to test the possibility and life activities away from Earth.  After the initial two year period, a second set of 7 Biosherians entered the facility for and additional period. The facility is now owned by the University of Arizona and continues into research of life science. There are five Biomes under glass at the facilit. These biomes, ocean, mangrove wetlands, tropical rainforest, savannah grasslands and fog desert, are all huge structures under glass similar to enormous greenhouses.The walking tour takes approximately 90 minutes and is truly amazing.

Biosphere 2 is meant to replicate Biosphere 1 (Earth) and is undertaking all kinds of research that is fascinating and basic to life. As an example, There are three huge, under glass “hillsides” that are constructed on steel frameworks under glass. These are each approximately 33 feet wide and 100 feet long, at a 10º slope and will be planted with a variety of plants and grasslands. The object is to find how water is purified as it percolates through various layers of growth and soil. There are nearly 1,000 sensors in each area of soil, and, as it is all under glass, the temperature, humidity, and sunlight can be controlled and measured.

The object is to find the effect of each input on the plants and the resulting water that percolates through the soils. To me, as a building guy, two of the most interesting structures were the Lung buildings. Since all the structures are sealed under glass, the temperature and humidity combine to continually change the pressure inside the structures. If not properly vented the structures could explode or crush under the atmospheric changes. These huge lungs are designed to breathe via huge floating aluminium floors that rise and lower as to maintain an even pressure with in the building structures. The facility is open from 9:00 to 4:00 every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas. Tickets are $27.00 for adults, $25,00 for seniors and $15.00 for those 17 and under. There are a limited number of tickets available for each day and hour so are best purchased in advance from Biosphere 2.org.  Anyone planning a visit to Tucson should add this to their agenda - it is not to be missed.

We returned to the house for the rest of the afternoon for cocktails and visiting. We snaked on cheese, crackers, and some cookies and ice cream. As we were still in travelling mode and under the influence of toile changes, we retired at 10:00 having enjoyed our first day of learning about our world and resting by the pool with cocktails and good friends and hosts.

2023 Adventure Wrap Up, Tuesday, November 7, 2023

As noted previously, we dined Monday evening at The Shack.We enjoyed a glass of Shiraz and each a bowl of Irish Lamb Stew that was suitably delicious. Deb wrapped it all up with a “Trinity Mess” dessert of meringue, whipped cream and strawberry jam. Mark was allowed a taste. We then wandered back to our hotel for final packing in preparation for our flights home tomorrow.

We were awake shortly after 5:00 AM on Tuesday and down to the lobby with our bags by 6:00. We checked out and our transfer arrived a bit early. Off to the Dublin International Airport for our 9:00 flight home. We  had already been notified that the flight was delayed about an hour so we had plenty of time. We received our boarding passes for the three upcoming flights and then headed for security. Dublin has a wonderful set up for returning U.S. passengers. After security, one proceeds to U.S. Customs and Immigration and then to the U.S. restricted gates. The whole process eliminates having to pick up your bags upon arrival on home soil, hauling them through immigration and customs and then loading them back onto another trolley for re-tagging for your next flight within the States. Very civilised and smooth.

We had plenty of time and so “enjoyed” the worst waffle with fried turkey bacon that exists on the planet. We could not finish it, but did enjoy the coffee. When we checked our bags, we were assured that although our two hour Newark connection time was now shortened to an hour, it should be no problem. Right!

A pleasant flight into Newark and we strolled off the jetway, stopped for a quick bathroom break, and walked down the three gate areas to our next flight, Newark to Chicago, arriving just as they were calling for boarding. Beautiful timing. However, United Airlines decided that there was no way we would have ever make the connection considering the delay caused by their late arrival of the original plane. Therefore, somewhere over the Atlantic, they cancelled our seats and rebooked us. (Artificial intelligence?) We placed our issued boarding passes on the reader, it lit up red, and the attendant told us we were not on that flight. I held up the boarding pass that clearly showed my name, the flight number and the proper city codes. She said no we weren’t on the flight. We stepped over to the counter to commence a huge argument with the ticket agent. She said we had never booked the flight. I said how did we get issued the boarding passes in Dublin. She said we had never booked the flight. Our travel agent pointed out to her on her computer that we had! Further discussion ensued. Clearly, UAL had bounced us, sold our seats to some other passengers and were not allowing us on the flight. 

We were “agitated and aggravated;” we were afraid the ticket agent was about to call airport security, so we grudgingly went on to the customer service counter and dealt with another incompetent part-time agent. She claimed there was nothing to be done and there were no seats on that flight. Further, our  Chicago to Omaha bookings had also been cancelled by their “headquarters” scheduling computer.

We finally negotiated two middle seats on a flight from Newark to Denver and then another two seats on the Denver to Omaha flight. Rather than arriving home at 5:30, we flew over Omaha by 500 miles and then returned, landing in Omaha around 8:45. Abigail was there to meet us and, amazingly, our luggage accompanied us on this odyssey. Nothing ended up in Amsterdam! We had been in transit from the time we boarded our airport transfer in Dublin until we arrived home. Multiple time zones and 20 hours sitting or flying. 

We were home and fell into our own bed. At least someone had left the lights on for us!

Thursday, November 2, 2023

Thursday morning we arose ready to hit the tourist trail. Zoë dropped Arthur at the babysitter, and then she and the girls joined us at our hotel for an another second breakfast. Next we loaded into Zoë’s Prius for a stop at the Tubbercurry library to return some books and then day long tour of the area. We traveled northward through Sligo and towards the northern coast. The scenery was beautiful and the weather was cooperative. We ended our travels in the village of Foxford, the birthplace of Zoë’s mom, Bernadette, and also the home of the Foxford Woolen Mills. The mill store is in a building that was once an elementary school, the one Bernadette attended. 

A good two hours were spent shopping for some wool throws and eventually a slice of Victorian Sponge for Deb and a Lemon Meringue Pie for Mark as well as some chips for the girls and a bowl of soup for Zoë. We returned to Tubbercurry, we to our hotel to freshen up, and Zoë, Iris and Esmè to pick up Arthur and head home. Around 6:00 we drove back to the house after picking up some wine, and joined the family for take-out Chinese which was different from that in Omaha but quite tasty! The kids went down around 8:00 and we finished the wine and talked until 9:00 before returning again to our temporary quarters.

Friday, we returned to the house and we, together with the entire Highland clan, including the dog Blue, clambored into their two vehicles for a day’s drive. Garth had completed some work from home and so was free to join us for the day. We drove around, looking at homes they had investigated. Until Garth completes six months in his job, they are unable to apply for a home mortgage, but they are actively looking in order to get a feel for the housing market and the schools. A move to Sligo would remove Zoë’s commute and cut Garth’s to less than an hour. Needless to say, come February, they will be ready for the move from the small attached rental duplex to a home of their own.

We ended the day at one of their favorite beaches where the kids ran over the sand, Garth threw the tennis ball for Blue to chase, Deb and Zoë walked the sand, and Mark stayed seated at the camp chairs they had brought along. The North Atlantic creates some lovely scenes with the roar of the surf, the scent of the salt air, and the miles of sand available at low tide. The beach was cold, windy, but lovely; there were even some surfers in their wet suits playing in the waves.

We returned home while driving through some mountains and enjoying the scenery. We arrived home around sunset and tucked in for their normal Friday night fare of pizza and a movie, sans the movie for the adults.  We polished off another bottle of wine after Arthur was down - the girls curled up in the front room for some television time and the adults reminisced about our seven years of close friendship. The parting was truly “sweet sorrows” for us all, kids and adults, but we had determined that the evening time was best to say our goodbyes, as the next morning we would try for an early start for County Antrim and the Belfast area.

As we sat out front in out car waiting for the windshield to defog, Zoë came running out with Deb’s forgotten scarf, waving it in the air and saying “don’t leave, take me with you, I have a green card!”  A good laugh to end a wonderful visit.

Saturday, we were packed and out after our last Murphy’s Hotel breakfast by 9:00. Our goal today was to reach County Antrim and the village of Ahoghill outside of Belfast.

Deb’s ancestors are from this area, and Abigail had tracked down some information on her genealogy sites about gravestones in the area. We arrived at Ahoghill around 12:30 and started the hunt. In requesting cemetery information from Google, we were non-pulsed to find over 14 cemeteries in the area. Where to begin? We stopped in a small grocery store to pick up some supplies and the helpful manager pointed us to one of the older cemetery sites at an older church. We arrived and started searching out the old tombstones, looking for some that were erected in the 1860’s with the name of Picken. We didn’t find any, but a helpful lady tidying a grave told us of a nearby cemetery that contained a few Picken headstones.

We traveled there, found the Picken gravestones, but they were newer. Deb surmised that the Mary Picken buried there, was her known Great, Great Aunt Mary, whom she had never met, but was aware lived in the area. As it was getting late and we had yet to drive a nearly three hours back to Dublin, we aborted the search and headed South. The traffic going through Belfast was hellish at 5:30 on a Saturday night, there were accidents and diverted traffic. We made it through and hopped on the divided highway towards Dublin and the airport. We arrived near 7:00, returned the car and hopped the rental service shuttle to the airport to catch a cab. Two young women students from France rode in the shuttle with us, and we learned they too were headed to the same area as we, so we shared a cab in from the airport. They were obviously on a budget, so we waved off their offer of sharing the cost of the taxi - there was no up charge for the additional passengers, and we were glad to do it. Deb was reminded of her summer of backpacking through Europe on a very tight budget.

We arrived at our destination, the Morgan Hotel, in the Temple Bar area, and loaded into our room. A nice room until the A/C kicked on; the rattle was so bad that we demanded a room change, which we were granted. We arrived in the new room, found it acceptable, and broke out the chips and wine we had provisioned in Ahoghill, in for the night and our last few days in Ireland.

Sunday morning we arose and had a leisurely breakfast. Mark stayed in the room to read for a few hours and Deb headed out for some minor shopping. She returned, we rested and then headed to Jamie Oliver’s Chequers Lane restaurant nearby for an evening meal.

Mark is a Jamie Oliver groupie, sometimes even cooking from one of the many Jamie Oliver cookbooks he owns. We each had a roast duck leg, over a bed of jammy red onions and accompanied by roast potatoes. For dessert, Deb had a huge chocolate sauce covered Profiterole and Mark enjoyed some Irish cheese and a wee nip of Connemara Whisky.

We thoroughly enjoyed the evening and were home to read and rest for the evening. Monday morning, we again enjoyed our last Irish breakfast in a hotel, and then went for a walk about; at 12:30 we met Zoë’s mother Bernadette for a lunch at a small French bistro, Chez Mac. We visited and dined on Mussels Marnieres for Deb and a pair of Croque Monsieurs for Mark and Bernie. It was great to also catch up with her and visit about her life in Carrick on Suir, her home about 1:30 minutes south of Dublin. a wonderful familial ending to a truly fulfilling trip. we returned to the hotel and rested and read until time for dinner at The Shack, at which we had dined with Howie and Lee last year. we loved it and decided it would be a good place to return.Tomorrow home! Look out king bed, bidet and washer/dryer. You are all in for a workout.

We