Dabs' VirtualTourist Home Page

Ukraine may seem to be an odd destination for a vacation but an even odder location to go not only for a honeymoon but also a 2nd honeymoon. But I guess we are just odd people! Our 1st visit to Ukraine was in 1989 when it was still part of the Soviet Union, my husband to be thought he was being oh so clever by picking a spot for a honeymoon that seemed inaccessible but even then you could easily travel there although that trip we traveled with a guide and a bunch of AARP card carrying seniors. He's probably still cursing at Gorbachev!

Most recent pages and when they were completed:
Bakhchysaray, Ukraine (July 2009),London update (July 2009), Sevastopol, Ukraine (June 2009), Shipshewana update(June 2009), Montego Bay, Jamaica update (March 2009), Amsterdam (Jan 2009), Paris update (Jan 2009)

Where have we been in 2009 and where are we off to next?
March 19-23, 2009-Montego Bay, Jamaica, our annual get out of the nasty Chicago weather trip

May 20-31, 2009-we headed to Ukraine for our 20th wedding anniversary, we spent our honeymoon in the Soviet Union so we went to one of the cities we visited on that trip, Kiev, and spent 5 days traveling in the Crimea plus a 2 night stopover in London where I squeezed in a mini VT meeting with Jenniflower and her hubby

July-there's a swim race in Cork Ireland, which is how I convinced my husband to go-booked! Back to cattle class...

September-San Francisco narrowly beat out La Jolla for the swim race for the hubby, now to figure out how to get a little more time out of that trip

Our most recent trip was a few days in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, a much too brief respite from Chicago's brutal winter, it was back to reality though as we went from a balmy 90 degrees in the afternoon and stepped off the plane into -4 degrees with a -30 degree wind chill, BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! This was our 8th trip down to the Yucatan Peninsula, the 5th time we've stayed in Playa del Carmen. We picked a terrific resort, the Riu Tequila, the food was outstanding, the room was great, for most of the trip we parked ourselves on a lounge chair overlooking the aqua blue waters of the Caribbean. It was a rather unusual trip for me, usually we're running from this place to that place, taking day trips and snorkeling, but my body was tired from fighting a nasty sinus infection and this was a chance to get some much needed R&R.

October 9-15, 2008
My most recent trip to Los Angeles was to celebrate my Grandma's 100th birthday. I'm awed to think of all that she has lived through, two world wars, the Great Depression, Vietnam, not to mention frequent earthquakes. She still lives on her own in an apartment near the airport and can pack away desserts like no one I know! She was tickled pink at all of the attention she got, her church had a nice party for her, we took her out to eat and had them sing happy birthday to her at least 4 times, all accompanied by some of those aforementioned desserts. My whole family was able to go out to celebrate, my dad, brother, sister in law, two nieces and me and my husband, four generations!

I finally made it to the Lone Star state after Mark (ATXtraveler) announced that he was organizing a meeting in Ft. Worth, we decided to add on a few days after the meeting so we could stop by Austin and spend a few days down in San Antonio, seeing the lovely Riverwalk, visiting the Alamo and several of the other missions. And of course, we had to sample some of that famous Texas BBQ!

July 28-August 10, 2008

London, Paris, Warwick and Windsor, my niece and nephew's 1st trip overseas and my 1st time traveling with kids, we all had a blast!!! We sent the kids home and headed to Paris for a few days, on my birthday 8-8-08, I was in my two of my favorite cities, Paris at 8:08:08am hanging out with the gargoyles at the top of Notre Dame and indulging in decadent hot chocolate and pastries at Angelina's and London at 8:08:08 pm eating Indian food. A perfect way to spend the day!

On Saturday August 9th, Jen (jenniflower) organized a lovely dinner at Sugar Reef, it was lovely to meet up again with Sarah (toonsarah) and hubby Chris, Natalie (nhcram) and hubby Chris, Jo (jo104) and Jen's hubby Lance. Thanks Jen!!!

May 23-June 1, 2008

A rather ambitious schedule even for me, we hit four countries in 10 days! We had already been to Prague, Vienna and Amsterdam, Bratislava and several cities in southern Bohemia were new territory. We didn't do a lot in terms of palaces, museums or castles after the 1st couple of days in Southern Bohemia, instead spending our days walking through town just marveling at the beauty of these cities. And an occasional stop for a beer, gelato, pastry or a heaping plate of something that went straight to my hips!

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.

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. If you didn't come in 2007 or 2008, you missed out on the limited edition Babushka Ladies calendar, Christmas cards,refrigerator magnets and even a rootbeer label. But who knows what we'll have in store for you in 2009!!! 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 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.

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.