"Come see the world with me" Dabs's Profile

The Paris meeting that almost wasn't was dreamt up ages ago and just when it looked to be cancelled a couple of brave souls stepped up and took the reins creating a casual yet somehow extremely well organized meeting. I wasn't able to participate in all of the activities that were organized but I did enjoy a lovely picnic at the Champ de Mars near the Eiffel Tower and an evening at the pub.

Prior to arriving in Paris we spent a week driving through Belgium and France, starting in Ostend, Brugges for 2 nights, Lille for the Grand Braderie, Chantilly, Chartres, Fontainebleau, Vaux le Vicomte and several other delightful stops in the Ile de France.

Most recent pages and when they were completed:
Isla de Roatan, Cozumel update, Fort Lauderdale, Belize, Grand Cayman (January 2012), Moret-sur-Loing, Melun, Windsor UK update, Paris update, Versailles update (Nov 2011), Chantilly, Fontainebleau, Amiens (October 2011), Brugge, Le Port-Marly (September 2011), Antigua, Tortola, El Yunque, Puerto Rico (Feb 2011), Arundel, England, Antrim, Northern Ireland(Oct 2010)

Where have we been in 2012 and where are we off to next?

January 6-14, 2012-cruise from Ft. Lauderdale with stops in Roatan, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize City
March 2012-somewhere to celebrate David's birthday
May-June 2012-right now the half baked plan is for David to ride his bicycle between London and Paris and to visit the south of France, stay tuned
August 2012-maybe Seattle's VT meeting

My niece and a guy in a furry hat

I'm always excited to introduce people to my two of my favorite European cities so when I offered to take my niece to Europe for her graduation and she picked London and Paris, I was thrilled. And relieved as I know both cities well enough where I don't have to spend hours pouring over guidebooks and websites. We spent most of the trip in London with daytrips to Windsor and Greenwich, took the Eurostar to Paris for a couple of days and then back home.

Church in Ohrid, Macedonia

At last year's Euromeet, Macedonia was announced for the next year's Euromeet and seeing as Macedonia was one of a handful of European countries I hadn't visited, I thought it sounded like a great idea. It turned out to be a bit difficult for some of the Euromeet regulars to get to, our journey clocked in at about 20 hours! We enjoyed our few days seeing Bitola, Ohrid and a brief stop in Skopje before heading onto Sofia, Bulgaria for a few days and a stop in London and Windsor before heading home

St. James Park

When Courtney (Paris92) originally said she was heading to the Royal Wedding in London between Prince William and Kate Middleton, there was speculation that it would be in early August and I thought how cool, I can go to London for my birthday and see the royal nuptials. They picked April, apparently they figured being royalty that it wouldn't rain on their parade (it didn't) but by then I had convinced myself I was going so off I went for a week in my favorite European city.

Blue Lagoon, Port Antonio, Jamaica

We had such a busy spring at work that I left planning our trip to Jamaica too late, by the time we booked our usual resort was way too high and non stop flights were a fortune but we evenutally found a package going to Runaway Bay, in between Ocho Rios and Montego Bay. I don't think we will head to this part of the island again, it took an extra hour to get to and there was nothing at all around the resort. We took a day trip to Port Antonio but even that was a little dull.

Lori, Hansi and Kat

Some of the people I've met on VT have become some of my closest friends in "real" life, I've been blessed to find Kat (keida84) who's become one of my best travel buddies, we've tackled Toronto and Chicago in 2005, London, Spain, California, Orlando and Chicago in 2006, Los Angeles twice, Maui, Windsor and Chicago in 2007 and London again in January 2008!

I'm also blessed to have met the dynamic duo from Windsor, Hansi (waalewiener) and Lori (LoriPori), who spread joy and sunshine at every VT meeting I've been to with them, Toronto, London, Marbella, Baltimore, Portsmouth and more personal visits to both of our hometowns.

Very attractive Babushka "ladies", Ethan & Hansi

Pierogi Fest
When I'm not busy trying to persuade people to visit Chicago, I'm trying to persuade people to come to Pierogi Fest in Whiting, IN held the last full weekend in July. Every year the Babushka Ladies march in the polka parade on Friday and have some kind of merchandise, whether it be a calendar, Christmas cards, refrigerator magnets and a rootbeer label. Who knows what we'll have in store for you in 2011!!! Oprah even endorses it (and she gets presidents elected!!!), listed as one of the 7 best food festivals in the US, now if I could just use that to get tickets to one of those shows where she gives away free swag....

Since 2003, various VTers have come to the Fest and in 2005 I had my first VT parade participant, sambarnett donned a delightful floral housedress and marched with me in the parade as a babushka lady, in 2006, Hansi (Waalewiener) and Ethan (coair19) were the two loveliest babushka ladies in the history of the Fest. But I think Hansi, decked out in a lovely red lace dress, may have been enjoying himself just a little too much! For some more pics, see my travelogue on my Whiting, IN page, Hansi's Whiting page and Lori's Hammond page.

Smith Museum of Stained Glass-Navy Pier

I joined VT to take advantage of local folks giving help with local stuff, who knows a city better than the locals? So I started amassing my now huge Chicago page, which is updated regularly, to share information about this marvelous city that I have lived in and around since I was 8 and found as I was developing it, I was actually learning a few things! And best of all, I've made virtual friends along the way some who have become real friends, many of which have visited me in Chicago! So if you are coming to Chicago, drop me a line, I'm always happy to answer questions about Chicago or play tour guide to folks from out of town.

OK I confess....
I actually live in Hammond, Indiana, just minutes from the Chicago border. But tell people you live in Indiana and they automatically think you live in a cornfield and spend your mornings feeding the chickens and milking the cows (just ask fellow VTer rmdw)! That assumption couldn't be further from the truth, NW Indiana is surrounded by industry and development is pushing further and further south.