Dog-Days of Winter

Spring is here and flowers are everywhere.

Beverly Hills

Mendocino

Eugene

Portland

 New York 

Glendalough, Ireland

Bray, Ireland

Mainz, Germany

Saarbrucken, Germany

We spent most of the winter hibernating in the U.S..  We left Europe to escape the cold only to fall into a foot and a half of snow in Eugene with the worst storm in 100 yrs, snowing us in for 4 days.  

We spent 60 non-Schengen days in the US, driving over three thousand miles (from Portland to Pasadena and back amongst other parts of CA), doing our taxes-no tax break for us either, and shopping for shoes.  Driving, taxes and shopping-the classic American vacation.  Along the way we saw friends, family, a roaming herd of elk (near Eureka),

and millions of migrating painted lady butterflies (in LA) https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/photos-swarm-of-painted-lady-butterflies-fill-the-sky-in-california-during-migration/70007734, plus millions of shoe stores (but only got one pair),
and many Trader Joe’s but only TJ disappointed, which was somewhat unsettling.  After 6 months on the road, speaking to maybe only 10 other people, 4 of which were German supermarket checkers who did not understand us...it was wonderful to see and share stories with family and friends. Added bonus was much needed pet therapy.

The weather in California agreed with us.  Oh, Golden State!  But our stops in NYC and Ireland (like Eugene) suffered from lingering winter chill which continued on with our return to Saarbrucken.

Despite the wind, rain and cold we still enjoyed Ireland.  We started with hiking in Glendalough in the southeast Wicklow mountains to regain our walking legs and then went on to Bray to regain our affinity for the freezing North Sea and Irish sea beach boardwalks.  

Glendalough was a place of iconic Irish beauty; ruins, lakes, forests, sheep, horses, goats and green fields.

Dublin-adjacent Bray also delivered a solid, Irish experience with their own urban charm-a gorgeous McDonald's (no we did not eat there),

and seaside walks with  more ridiculously perfect landscape.

We were somewhat preoccupied during the Ireland trip as our main focus was transporting luggage, then getting our luggage under the Ryanair weight limits. This  required us, in 3 days, to eat over a kilo and a half (3 lbs) of the 6 kilos (13 lbs) of peanut butter we had "muled" over from the U.S. to bring to Germany for our Canadian-made-organic-peanut-butter loving ex-pat daughter.  Tired of peanut butter, Patricia really just wanted a jacket potato, but we never found one.  Apparently, Ireland was in the midst of the Jacket Potato Famine of 2019. 

The view from our 4-star McDonald's booth

After frantically shedding items in our bags at the Dublin airport,  we just barely passed the weight requirements (actually to the exact allowable 20.6 kg) by wearing multiple layers of clothes, but the layers came in handy as the extra clothing kept us warm as we slept at the cold airport (in a food court McDonalds restaurant booth) to catch our 6 am flight.  

The remaining 10 pounds of organic peanut butter, as well as clothes, "heirloom" toys, books, and dolls for the almost 24 month old and a tortilla press (seriously) were greatly appreciated.

Making tortillas

After two weeks in Saarbrucken to catch up with the granddaughter, neighborhood dog walkers, grocery clerks and again get denied visa extension by the German government  (had they heard about our peanut butter smuggling?), we hit the road for the Iberian peninsula.

This week's picture of topless old man's best friend looking out the window contemplating his life.