Our cruise out to the Reef took about an hour, I thought the reef was closer to shore because I’m accustomed to Hawaii where you wade out in the surf to your knees and put your face in the water, and voila, fish, reef and lava. So this was a revelation, but that’s why we travel. Mom paid extra for a bell jar kind of extension. The staff brings people down to a platform just under the water, Mom wore a bell jar that resembled an old fashion dive helmet, but allowed her to keep her hair dry and wear her glasses. There was one staff person per tourists on this project so I could leave her to the professionals and go back out snorkeling on the reef. The staff fed the fish right in front of the guests, brought sea creatures (like that nice tour guide when we took that kayak tour way back when in Hawaii). And the like. Mom had a great time and bought the video of herself having a great time, so she could prove it. It’s always good to take those pictures and buy those videos to prove to others that you are, indeed, having a wonderful time. The Reef is huge, vast and looks like the pictures. We were snorkeling in the Coral Sea; I mention that because I swallowed so much of it. The tour is anchored at the Agincourt Reed. The tour is set up so there are a number of things people can do, and some apparently just liked to eat lunch and nap on the air-conditioned boat. The restrooms were located on the boat, and the staff gathered up everything with them – food scraps and the like so there is little trace of man – it’s an excellent attempt at any rate. You are asked not to pee in the water. Unlike Costa Rica where that was the only place a person could pee, was in the ocean. Younger country, younger ocean. When the staff on a large tour boat says, “there may still be box jelly fish this far out, you may want to rent these Lycra suits” and you say “really?” “and they nod seriously and say “really” and then you notice that the staff members who need to get into the water for whatever reason, are also wearing lycra suits – albeit nicer than the rentals- you say, okay we’re renting the suits. And Michael says it was the best five dollars we ever spent because he was comfortable knowing that at least on this trip he wouldn’t be lacerated with jellyfish stingers. Not only that, I didn’t worry about extra sun block and excessive sun exposure. I also think that this is a way of covering your tourists so that anything on their skin or in their swimsuits (like detergent, sun block, perfumes, lotions) are kept to a minimum, and the way to GET the tourist to wear such an unattractive item is to frighten them with the jelly fish story. No matter. There is only one photo, I look terrible. Michael looks like a blue Popsicle because on him, a completely blue stretch suit is quite slimming.

Port Douglas is marvelous and perfect and of course, expensive. We walked down town from the beach and while mom rested in the nice new apartment. We fed the boys pizza at a down town restaurant bar. The pizza was “different” and we ordered a Caesar salad that sported a very creamy dressing and poached egg on top and big heavy bits of bacon. The pizza had a walnuts and pumpkins topping. The pizzas we order are small and thin crust. And the people here are thinner crust so to speak; there may be a correlation. Then again, we aren’t traveling in the K-mart section of the cities or the country. Port Douglas is clearly for the wealthy; there are many families here on the off-season, so this must be the time when they can afford to come here. There are no fat people in Australia. There are nothing but bars and restaurants downtown. My kind of place! I found a great shop with Aboriginal art. In fact, tomorrow I will take mom to this shop and it will be raining so hard it pulls you to the doorways to see the pouring sheets of water. And it will pound on the tin roofs in this town, just like the pouring rain on the tin roof of Toad Hollow in Costa Rica. And the shop is filled with interesting things, and the rain is interesting. Andrew buys cookies at the local grocery store and shares them with us under the overhang. Anyway we found the shop we liked and Andrew liked this small vase but I said, my it’s $145 and Andrew said, well I just spent $90 on lunch, so really. . .” And we purchased it and I’m not sorry now that it’s on the mantel at home. The owner of the Aboriginal gift shop, Bilby said that she was delighted to see American’s in Pt. Douglas again. Ever since 9/11 the tourists had fallen off severely I didn’t mention that our economy tanked as well, if she wants to attribute our absence to that single event, then that’s fine. But the point was – no Americans for the last 3 years equals terrible business for their own town. She said she loved Americans, we spend of course, we are a high consumer society and we bring that sensibility wherever we go, but she also said that she loved our enthusiasm and curiosity. The US customers ask questions and are interested in what’s going on. So she was happy to see us, happy to see our Visa. All her artists received money from their work, either commission or royalties. Hers is one of the few stores (there are a handful in the country) that carries an accreditation from a program bent on rewarding the artists directly for their efforts. Like the store in San Jose we found. It’s good to shop at such places, and frankly, it had the nicest things I ever saw. I ended up not shopping much in Adelaide and that was the end of that. So it was good to do shopping here.

Corcovado National Park From the Temptress (small cruise ship off the Pacific side) hand out: Our exploration today will include two areas of Corcovado National Park: San Pedrillo and Caletas. Sue to its remoteness, Corcavado National Park is one of the least visited areas in Costa Rica’s vast National Park System. Located just 75 miles north of the Panamanian border, this region is known for its old growth forest and outstanding biodiversity. In the afternoon we visit Corcovado Conservation Area (Caletas beach). For the most part, according to the Frommers book we brought, you simply can’t get to Corcovado from anywhere, so we are very privileged to be here at all. I feel like this is the first morning that we’re “on vacation” the last two days have been more traveling. The sun is rising over the Rain forest, or the jungle to be more poetic. The classic view off a coast, the beach, the waves smashing against rough lava rocks the palms lining the beach. The wind here at 6:00 is warm, the season is green although we were told that there isn’t really a rainy and dry season, there is a rainy season and a less rainy season. So now I don’t feel so silly for taking the family down here for the wet season. For his first day of vacation, Thomas is going deep-sea fishing. It cost $200 but I know it cost more at other resorts. So we’re sending him to fish with another gentleman who lives in the East bay and has a fishing boat in Sausalito. When I said to Tom (the older gentleman, that my son wanted to go fishing, he looked a little concerned. When Thomas appeared, Tom broke into a big smile and said, “Oh, I thought your son was 8 and I’d have to bait his hook, this kid is great!” For fishing, Thomas wakes up early and on time. Andrew took a picture of the boat, but we didn’t get any pictures of the fish. Thomas had a wonderful morning on the water. He caught two Wahoos and two Dorados. He had a wonderful time fishing and went on the second hike with us, that by comparison, was pretty boring, but he was patient. We took a zodiac to the coast and landed barefoot, then hopped over the green “grass” and carefully wiped our feet with a blue towel mom was clever enough to bring with her. After wiping our feet, we donned clean socks and hiking boots. Then we proceeded to spend the whole hike stepping into creeks, wading across the river, step into the river and finished the hike with socks squishing, squishing down the rugged trail. Squish, squish, squish. It’s not a happy sound. The first hike did, however, feature swimming into the warm river we had been following, (about 75 degrees) and we sat under the waterfalls. Andrew said “hey honey, weren’t standing under a waterfall in the tropics in Costa Rica” and we’re doing all right. The energy of the forest – healing, milk from the Bano tree that will cure ulcers, needles from the palm tress that natives used. They treaded the needles with cobwebs to suture injuries. Margaret said that some natives hug trees to absorb the tree energy because the tree is so high, the highest thing in the rain forest, it’s closer to heaven. On the hike we saw: Monkey ladder vine – all twisted like ribbon candy up trees or from tree to tree, Michael liked it the best. Garlic tree because the flowers smell like garlic Jesus Christ lizard, but I missed seeing it walk on water. Strangler Fig; Spider monkeys, mom and baby, in the trees Leaf cutting ants; heard a toucan calling. The blue feather of a Motmot, the bird grooms the tail feathers so they look like little pendulums. A cream filled anole (lizards, small ones are now called anoles, which to us, sounds like a dessert) Black vulture hopping on the ground; Balsa trees The sure footed silver headed Duck Doo (my mother) Yellow spotted ants that will sting so don’t put your hand on just any old tree. Fish tail palm The back of a coati Mundi which is a raccoon and the back of a little rabbit creature with no tail. During lunch we saw Howler monkeys. I wanted to see marshmallow bats but I never did.

After the main event - the Blue Mountains, we traveled a bit down the hill to lunch For lunch the guide let us out in Leura Garden Village. We walked a bit, but it was pretty warm, so we found a little café, the Wayzgoose café. I ordered their specialty, flowerpot scones. My they were good – I just ordered one, so worth it because it was fun and different. The tiny café has a web site so we’re not all that isolated: www.wayzgoose.com.au. The weather began to break as we ate our lunch – Michael had spaghetti, which he slurped down with alacrity. The thunder started to rumble overhead as we ate. But we didn’t think much of it. Oh, the scone came with whipped butter, marvelous! As we drove from Leura the thunder increased, breaking the heat and expanding into a full-blown storm – pouring, torrential rain. From here we were scheduled to visit a wildlife park – pet the koala and all that. Did a little rain stop us? Did a whole lot of torrential – fire hose spraying you down kind of rain stop us? It did not. The guide loaned us umbrellas and we marched right into a petting zoo of sorts, with wallabies and Kangaroos and emus jumping around free and easy. The wombats weren’t out, and the Tasmanian devil was behind bars. We petted the kangaroos and I saw a mother and baby in her pouch close up, I was thrilled! And I admit that petting the patient koala was very fun. We have a picture. I don’t look good. I never looked good on this trip – not once, but what the hell, I didn’t know anyone, so it didn’t matter. We then, in the pouring torrential rain, toured the Olympic park; we didn’t even get out of the bus it was raining so hard. I discovered the boy’s electronic yahtzee game and glanced up at the facilities while playing my threes. I lost a lot of games. The challenge with this huge stadium at the park is that it’s so big, what do you put into it? The money lost on a daily basis is staggering. So that’s a lesson for all us event planners. Although I don’t know what the lesson is.

Marriott Hotel, San Jose Costa Rica So here is a Miss Behaved travel tip: Spend your first night at the Big-American hotel. Big American Hotels have shuttles from the airport, the staff speaks English and the rooms and amenities are very comfortable. Plan on spending the most you will spend the whole trip on the first meal of the trip because you don’t know any better. Get over it and hand over the charge card. Lush is a very good word to describe my initial impression of Costa Rica. The damp air is welcome after the dryness of the airplane I love this kind of moisture. The Marriott is adjacent to a golf course, as I enjoy the view and the mountain that resemble our own Mayacam Range, I see that a small community of homes are being built within sight of the Marriott. I love the style of course, but I imagine these homes are no different than Fountaingrove at home. We watched three weddings during our stay at the Marriott, the evening wedding was attended by elegant people including a stunning young woman in a strapless orange long dress, form fitting to her perfect form, she had dark eyes and long dark hair, after Andrew recovered and decided not to abandon his family so early in the trip, he commented that he already loved this country. Michael loved the Marriott. I’ve trained Michael to love four star hotels as I do myself. We didn’t really have time to do a project between 11:00, when we finally finished breakfast and 2:00 (about the time the bus was to arrive to take us to the dock where the Temptress was anchored) so we just hung out by the hotel pool and felt the warmth and admired all the tropical plants. Thomas slept on a chaise lounge, we have photos. Michael, Andrew and I lined up chaise lounges and read. The gift shop was quite expensive so we didn’t by anything, which is fine; we’ll purchase coffee and stuff and junk in San Jose when we don’t have to cart it around. It rained at 2:00 pouring straight down like the water pouring out of a showerhead that’s wide open because there aren’t drought warnings yet. No one cared or worried about the rain, or even remarked on it. I like tropical rain because it is straight down, no blowing wind and it’s not cold.

Chrismas, summer. And it’s overcast and somewhat cool – 20 to 21. I’m comfortable at 25. Which is too bad, a day in the surf was something I was looking forward to doing. I was going to surf – I practiced so I would stand up right away. But the water was too chilly! The wide yellow corn meal Bondi beach was fabulous. We were going to take a trip to Manly beach, but Andrew pointed out that I’d been talking about Bondi for months and I thought I’d better do it so I’d be happy. I have a picture of me on Bondi in my sweatshirt. At least I was on a beach in December, even if I was wearing a sweatshirt. We walked a paved trail that led around craggy rocks to Bronte beach, a recommendation in all the tour books and brochures. And it was a good recommendation. The walkway between Bondi and Bronte was a great walk, beautiful sights all along the way, and interesting sandstone rock formations. Mom was a trooper and walked along with us. There were surfers at Bondi and Bronte both. I like Bronte beach, it’s a smaller beach with one street of cafes overlooking the traffic and eventually, the water. There is a deep park attached to the beach, and it is here that the families were playing cricket and playing on children’s equipment. We ate on the sidewalk in Bronte at Brio Café a trendy and marvelous little place. It’s an open-air café right on the street overlooking the ocean. The street is fringed by palms. The girl down at the café down the street is sitting outside and separating basil so the scent floats up to us on the breeze. I bought a sweatshirt at Bondi because it’s not hot on the beach. I ordered octopus and prawns. It was excellent. We also drank a glass of wine. What a great vacation lunch!

This year for vacation we traveled to the top of the world, or at least the most “top” I’ll probably ever get as I realized that dog sledding through the Artic Circle was never going to appear on my top twenty list for must-have experiences. Fairbanks Alaska then, would be the most north we will ever travel. About a hundred miles shy of the official Artic Circle. Still, that was enough to give us summer light well into the night. At midnight, it was indeed, still light, and Thomas, who is our intrepid wake up dude, says that the sky dimmed down to twilight during the hours of 1:30am to 4:00am and then the sun came right up again. When the natives talk about the summer, they always mention the solstice and how much light they were able to enjoy. They make passing comments like “yes, on that day we had 22 hours, 45 minutes and 5 seconds of light.” Or, “we are now losing light at the rate of 9 minutes per day.” I’m sure that just as there are probably many words for snow, there is a corresponding consciousness of how much light is available on an hourly basis. If you are plunged into days of darkness during the winter, I’m not surprise that the light takes on enormous significance. The light was wonderful in volume but not necessary quality. The sunlight is while, thinner than the thick golden light we enjoy in California, or the heavy, moisture filled light of the mid-west. And the light made me restless, I felt I shouldn’t waste perfectly good 11:30 pm light and should go for a walk. But I didn’t I dutifully and regretfully closed the curtains of our hotel room and went to sleep. The new Centennial license plates here in Anchorage (more cars, Anchorage is the biggest city) depict a long line of men, black silhouettes marching up Chilkoot Trail to the Yukon to discover gold. I just saw that very photograph on Wednesday for my class because Jack London traveled up to the Yukon for gold, but Jack only stayed a few months and mostly in the bar at that. Our room at the Anchorage Marriott overlooks the bay and the mud flats that will suck a person down into the mud like quicksand and then the tide, which is the highest in the world, reaching 40 feet back and forth under the moon, comes in at a terrible speed and the mud trapped person will drown. We were fascinated by this, and had we been on a Catharine Bramkamp tour, part of the tour highlights would be to race right down to those mud flats and throw large rocks into this mud to watch what happens. But we spent the first part of our trip on a Holland American tour (three days before we boarded the ship) and we had no control over our lives for that amount of time.