New Year, New Adventures

by Bob Sparrow

Cinque a Terre, Italy

I feel very fortunate that I have the wherewithal, time and health that allows me a good deal of travel. I was just reviewing my travels for the past year and realized that aside from annual trips to our timeshare in Palms Desert and to our Cinco de Mayo golf tournament in Las Vegas, last year, I was able to go crazy in Nashville, visit the crazies in Washington D.C., with a side trip to Gettysburg, feel crazy on wine trips to Paso Robles and Napa/Sonoma, play golf (or a vague facsimile there of) in beautiful Banff, Canada, although it wasn’t so beautiful due to the smoke that filled the sky from multiple forest fire throughout British Columbia and Alberta. We also took a trip in time as we traveled back to the ‘50s on our trip to Minnesota for Linda’s 50th high school class reunion, with the Mabel-Hesper Steam Engine Days parade thrown in as a bonus. On our trip to Laughlin, Nevada, my brother, Jack and I saw the creation, and the subsequent filing for bankruptcy of, ‘The Sparrow Brothers School of Fine Football Forecasting’. The year’s traveling ended with a visit to Seattle to attend our good friends, the Johnson’s son’s wedding. I should also include our trip to the famous restaurant, Dan Tana’s as any trip to L.A. is always an adventure.

And you got to come along on all those adventures, but I can already hear you asking, “What have you done for me lately – where are we going this year?” Well, I think you’ll like the itinerary we have planned for you as I start the year off with a trip to a familiar haunt, Lake Tahoe. We’ll be attending another friend’s son’s wedding at the Inn at Squaw Creek in Squaw Valley . . . in January . . . outside! Hope I can type with mittens on. While there, we’ll take some time to visit Mom & Dad’s final resting place overlooking ‘The Lake’.  In the spring I’ll be heading out to one of my favorite locations, Death Valley with some hiking buddies – hope we keep the death out of Death Valley. At the beginning of summer we have an Adriatic cruise planned that will afford us visits to Italy, Greece, Croatia and some other places missing some vowels that I can’t pronounce much less spell. In September we’re back in Italy, staying in Tuscany and taking day trips to the surrounding environs before heading to Cinque a Terre – those picturesque fishing villages hanging off Italy’s Mediterranean coast, which have been on my bucket list for some time – I hope I remember to come home.

I lay this itinerary out so that if anyone who’s been to any of the aforementioned destinations has some travel tips – I’m all ears.

I’m not sure where Suzanne’s travel will take her this year, but you can count on us to fill your every Monday morning with some travel highlights, some life observations, some tributes as well as some stuff you can just delete as spam.

Thank you for your readership and we hope your 2019 is adventurous . . . in a good way.

11 comments on “New Year, New Adventures

  1. Well BOB SPARROW, looks like I have a fun year ahead traveling along with you and Linda! I wont tell you the story of our trip to Cinque a Terre and Tuscany! It is enough to say it was Murphy’s Law start to finish!!!! Looking forward to a better time with you and Linda!!!!!! Can’t wait…..my bags are packed!!!!!

    • Caro!, sorry to hear about your experience in Italy, hopefully we can make it up to you with our trips. Thanks for being a loyal follower of our blog – we really appreciate it!!!!!!!

  2. Well BOB SPARROW…..looks like I have a lot to look forward to this year! I won’t tell you our story of Cinque a Terre or Tuscany…it’s enough to say it was a Murphy’s Law trip…start to finish! Lookong forward to a fun trip with you and Linda!!!!

  3. Happy New Year, Bob and Suzanne and families. Looks like you have lots of plans for the new year. Have a wonderful time on your adventures. John and I are looking into a train trip through parts of Canada, as Lyrica has done great in easing my spinal nerve pain. Haven’t been able to take any major trips for the past 6 years! Any suggestions for Canadian trip?

    • Thank you Sue. Glad to hear Lyrica is making your life more enjoyable. While I’ve visited British Columbia and Alberta, I’ve not done the train trip through there, but have friends that have and found it to be most enjoyable. The Canadian Rockies are spectacular, so any train trip through them should provide great scenery.

  4. What a year you have had! So enjoyed reading about your wonderful travels – and some that weren’t quite as wonderful! Keep them coming! Happy New Year!

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