Dabs' VirtualTourist Home Page

I'm always on the lookout for crazy swin races and triathlons for my husband to do so I can incorporate it into a vacation for me, this time we narrowed it down to La Jolla and San Francisco and San Francisco and the Escape from Alcatraz swim won the competition and off to San Francisco we went! This was my 3rd trip out to the City by the Bay, I had a great time catching up with VT friends Isa (Jefie) who was visiting with her husband at the same time, Katherine (Callavetta) who joined us for dinner with her daughter and JoAnn (Jag17) who braved the drive to come meet us for dinner.

Most recent pages and when they were completed:
Killarney, Waterford, Caher, Ireland, San Francisco, CA, Naperville, IL (Oct 2009), Kilkenny (Sept 2009), County Clare, Lismore, Kenmare, Cork, Wexford, Howth, Ireland (Aug 2009),Blarney (July 2009), Bakhchysaray, Ukraine (July 2009),London update (July 2009), Sevastopol, Ukraine (June 2009)

Where have we been in 2009 and where are we off to next?
March 19-23, 2009-Montego Bay, Jamaica

May 20-31, 2009-Kiev, Sevastopol, Bakhchysaray, Yalta, Ukraine, a short stop in London on the way home

July 13-23, 2009-Dublin, Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny, Killarney, Blarney, Ireland

September 9-14, 2009-San Francisco with a side trip to Muir Woods and Point Reyes

December-our annual December trip to Playa del Carmen-booked!

January 2010, maybe that Caribbean cruise we've been talking about?

It took me a long time to get to Ireland, 56 countries, many of them fairly obscure, made the list before the Emerald Isle. The primary reason was that my husband had been there before we met and didn't much care for Ireland so it wasn't exactly at the top of his list. But I found a wacky athletic challenge for him, a swim race in the River Lee in Cork, knowing that my husband can never pass up a wacky athletic event!

After some debate we decided to rent a car, the Irish roads and drivers are just as bad as people say! But it was worth it for all that we got to see in the southern part of Ireland, lots of castles, sheep, scenic coastal drives, thatched roofs and 40 shades of green. I added 4 days in Dublin to the end of my trip and squeezed in a daytrip to see the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, Bunratty Castle and a brief glimpse of Galway.

May 20-31, 2009

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!

Kiev was the only city we visited on both trips, the 1st time we visited Odessa and Kharkov, this time we headed to Crimea and visited Sevastopol, Yalta and Bahkchysaray. A lot of changes in 20 years and yet still not overly visited or westernized.

By the time February hits in Chicago, I am itching to go somewhere warm, by March I'm positively stir crazy. We opted to go back to Jamaica in March 2009 thinking it was going to be a cheap and easy vacation but the economy didn't drive prices down, it just made it harder to get there. After a grueling day of unanticipated travel, we finally arrived at 7pm, 7 hours after our scheduled arrival. But once we hit the resort, all was forgotten as we recharged our batteries laying on the beach, kayaking on mountain rivers and enjoying a few of those cocktails the islands are famous for.

Our December getaway 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.

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.