Suzanne 
Cloud watcher – Do you love that term? Are you a cloud lover? Do you marvel like I do at the formation of clouds? I was looking through my photos and found so many with clouds as the subject matter. I giggled and thought, I cannot be the only one who admires the beauty of …
Our recent experience at the Park Hyatt New York was so dreamy that it felt like we had stepped into a design magazine cover shoot. The hotel was sleek and exquisite, with cool, polished marble floors and soaring ceilings. Supreme accommodations that included all of the amenities a discerning traveler expects. As our personalized iPad suggests, “luxury is personal” at the Park Hyatt New York.
It was September and still very warm in New York City. The day prior, we spent a memorable 10 hours at the US Open and endured some heavy rainfall and high humidity. We woke up Sunday morning to powder blue skies and lush green trees and everyone was headed to Central Park. It still felt like summer and the leaves had not started to turn quite yet.
Central Park is beautiful any day, any season in my opinion. Blooming spring flower gardens, hot humid summers, fall trees, profuse with color and even charcoal grey days in November make me happy. In November in The Park, I have witnessed spooky trees with gnarly branches and no leaves, but I still think it is one of the prettiest parks ever.
The morning after our dream adventure at the US Open Tennis Championships, we awoke to an email inviting us to the roof of the Grand Hyatt Hotel which is very close to the iconic Chrysler Building. Being the adventurers that we are, we knew we wanted to go, there was no time for a shower, so …
Oh my goodness this Empty Nest downsize and house renovation have been quite a ride. Just last summer we put our house in Laguna Niguel, CA (Orange County) on the market and this adventure began. We sold the house for the first time in late September, it fell out of escrow and then we sold it for the second time in December. We moved in to our fixer upper in Pasadena on January 5th, 2015. I have written several detailed posts that will help fill in the gaps for you:
We were only able to cram just about one third of our belongings into our little house in Pasadena. The balance of which is in storage and we know perfectly well that most of the rest of this “stuff” will never make it into the house. There is just not enough room and it will be time to purge when we move back in…which is actually a very good plan.
There are restrictions by the city as to how many square feet we may add based upon the size of the lot and the possibility of encroaching on our neighbors. We settled on adding a small master bath and walk-in master closet. The current closet was so small that we were forced to place a chrome hanging bar at the foot of our bed to hang the balance of our clothes. Very chic.
You do not need to be a fan of the game to be aware of the tremendous upset in the world of tennis. In the biggest surprise of the tournament, Roberta Vinci, an unseeded Italian veteran playing in her first Grand Slam semifinal, defeated Serena Williams, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Williams’ dream of tying Steffi Graf’s Grand Slam record of 22 wins and to be the first person since Graf did it in 1988, to win four Grand Slam tournaments in one calendar year was shattered on September 11, 2015. However, my dream of attending this historic Amercian tennis tradition came true.
We never tire of the spectacular views of the Seattle skyline and have been coming to Seattle for the past 9 years. Our daughter attended the University of Washington and never came home.(We have adjusted to this fact over time) Craig and I have discovered over the last few years that we prefer to stay at the …
Photo Friday is a great way to share additional favorite photos of the week. We have just arrived in Seattle, one of the most picturesque cities in the United States from a road trip we took from Pasadena, CA to Seattle, WA. Our route took us up the breathtaking Oregon Coast and there is no question of it’s photo worthiness!
Rocky coastlines, emerald water, towering sand dunes and grazing elk were just a few of the postcard views that we enjoyed. You can click here to read up on the adventure specifics of the trip. For now, I offer more of this Kodak moment that lasted for a thousand miles.
Fall has arrived and a new class of empty nester parents are drying their eyes and lamenting the fact that their last baby has left the nest. What will they do now that Johnny and Sally are at school? Where did all of the time go? What shall we do next?
My husband and I are four years into enjoying life as empty nesters. I do not wish to make light of this emotional, transitional, monumental time in our midlife years. However, what I have learned through these past four adventurous years is that there are many ways to be happy in the empty nest.
Make lists, take a class, dream big, explore the world, perfect a skill! However, what I truly believe will get you out of that slump and put a smile on your face is to go out and find adventure. Get out and make experiences happen and you will thrive. Pick up this motivating bestseller called Thrive by Arianna Huffington. It is an inspirational book to help you “remake the world in your own image, according to your own definition of success”
I am giving you fair warning that this post contains a great number of tedious details. Think of it as a road trip diary of sorts. I understand completely if you do not wish to continue, but thank you to the rest of you who are still reading. It feels good to for me to vent a little about our recent road trip to Seattle.
Did you take driving trips with your family as a kid? Did your grandparents land on the East Coast and make their way west by car?
Did you take your kids on family road trips?
My husband Craig traveled by car with his family every summer. He has fond, vivid memories of these vacations, discovering majestic national parks and visiting different parts of the United States. My family traveled by car only once to Missouri to visit family when I was 8. I hated it (for a multitude of reasons I won’t go into) then and the memory stayed with me.
With our young family of four, we drove as far as San Diego or Palm Desert and once we drove to Danville (Northern California) for a Thanksgiving Holiday with friends from our home in Southern California.
So other than an occasional short driving trip from point A to B, the Staverts always took a plane for vacation. Now as empty nesters, our focus has been on using airline miles and hotels points for parts unknown and usually far away.
When we decided to move to Seattle for 6 months (learn why here) we were moving with our dog Rocco (we did not want to ship him by air) and needed our car while in Seattle… We had to take a road trip. Yikes. That is not my idea of fun. I do not like sitting for hours at a time and Rocco had never been in a car for more than an hour. Craig’s job is very demanding and can’t be away for very long. This road trip presented some major personal challenges, but hopefully no disasters.
For reasons of comfort and tolerance (mine), we decided to break up the nearly 1200 mile trip into 3 1/2 days of driving and three overnight stays. We packed our SUV with as much of our belongings as possible which was mostly clothes, computers, dog stuff and flat screen TV. The only room left in the car was a small space in the back seat for Rocco’s bed and Rocco. Otherwise, every bit of air space was taken. This was truly a hillbilly-like situation.
Our first potty/food stop was a truck stop in Bakersfield at Burger King. Oh my favorite! It was a blistering 95 degrees and we found a small, dry stretch of grass for Rocco and we stood on this patch of grass while eating our “delicious” lunch. Rocco did his business and we were off. After easily 4 ½ hours of more driving, we traveled through San Francisco and tremendous traffic to stop in Santa Rosa for the night.
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