Located in western Wisconsin or as some say, just off the coast of Minnesota, this Mississippi river town is where I spent most of early years. I try to return once a year, typically during the summer as I lost all my Wisconsinite stoicness years ago. And, this year was no different; I arrived to a hot, humid week but happily greeted by familiar faces, sights, smells, and tastes as of years past.

One difference this year was an enticing offer from a buddy or PIC (Partner In Crime) to do a 25 mile bike race during the annual festival, Catfish Days. Not packing my light, current hybrid bike that I use in South Florida, I was put to the test to find a suitable bike. I stumbled upon a family friend that loaned me a retro, red Spirit bike, which was a little heavier than my daily ride. And so, my PIC and I nicknamed my bike, Bertha.

Fueled by a night before feeding of every bicyclist’s favorite meal, cheese curds and a few Spotted Cows or Leinies, my PIC and I headed out early (8 a.m.) from the Trempealeau Hotel through Perrot State Park. We cruised alongside fields of corn, soybeans, and the like just in time to get misted by the irrigation systems, which was needed to compensate for the mid-summer heat, cut with a knife humidity, and bugs. The Tour de Trempealeau certainly was a jog down memory lane as I passed former employers, friends’ homes, familiar country roads, places where I got stuck in the ditch during one of the umpteen winter snowstorms survived, and my favorite hiking trail, Brady’s Bluff.

Were two wheels better than four? Absolutely! I think that a 25 mile bike ride followed by walnut balls, good company, and a sunset gab session certainly met the criteria for the beer slogan, “It just doesn’t get any better than this.” If you doubt it, check out the finale of my Tour de Trempealeau:

Here’s to more good times and good stories!

It had been over 5 years since my last move, so, I had forgotten what an experience moving is.  The word experience is a very diplomatic way to express the unpleasantries involved in moving. If you have ever needed to move a 5 piece bedroom set from the 2nd story of a home or perhaps moved into or out of an apartment without an elevator, you know exactly what I mean.  No matter how close you are to your family, friends, or lovers, moving is one of those occurrences in life that tests the bonds, especially when trying to get that refrigerator through the front door or securing the mattress to the top of the car.  Coincidentally, a wise friend of mine, Carolyn, told me earlier this year that the three worse things in life are:

1) Death (of a loved one)

2) Divorce

3) Moving

At the time, I thought it was being rather general and simplistic, but now having experienced some of the above, I would have to agree. Since spending my holiday break amongst cardboard boxes, newspapers, tape, twine, and movers with questionable personal hygiene, I have to say moving is not a joy, but in general a MESS.

Now, do not read into this post that I’m not happy to have sold my first house and to move out, but I have realized that the longer that I stay in one place the more stuff I accumulate. Although I have many nicknames, I have to say that Pack Rat must be close to the top of the list. There was a time when I could move across country or to another country with 2 duffel bags and perhaps a large backpack. Now, it is certainly NOT the case.

Pictured to the left is the size of truck that is now needed to move me. Over the course of a decade since my last 2 duffel bag and backpack move, I have now progressed to needing professional help (NO, not psychological help, but physical assistance). Ironically, the team I hired to do the heavy lifting was called El Cheapo Movers.

During the packing process, I downsized by becoming a Craigslist expert. Over the course of 5 business days, my cellphone exploded with calls followed by numerous couples, families, and individuals parading through my home beautifully decorated with crates, boxes, suitcases, and bubblewrap. However peddling my possessions online proved to be a success, as I sold many, including a bedroom set, 2 sofas, gas grill, patio set, lawnmower, generator, and more.

What I could not sell before the arrival of the El Cheapo Team, I called and donated to Salvation Army (see Salvation Army truck below).

Despite my reduction in items through selling and donating, this pack rat still had numerous essentials (over 80 boxes plus remaining furniture), which were all moved to a 10 by 15 storage facility shown at the beginning of this post.

As for my current situation:

I’m  limited to my computer and clothing, which has been strategically piled into every suitcase I own. I guess I have to say I’m in a state of “glorified camping.” I started at the old place and packed everything away. By the end, I was eating off of paper plates and drinking wine out of plastic cups.  Now, I’m in my new place where I cannot find where my underwear or socks are AND I’m still eating off of paper plates and drinking wine out of plastic cups. Needless to say, I have not yet had enough time to get settled into my temporary home, but it is a good thing that I am a well traveled individual and able to live out of suitcases for months going on years.

So, as I always say, every occasion in life can either be a good time or a good story. I feel that this move has been certainly a good story with subsequent chapters to follow featuring my vagabond, living out of suitcases lifestyle.

In closing, I would like to THANK those that have helped along the way.

Salud from me to you!!! (Of course still out of a plastic cup….as my glassware is somewhere behind the couches and snuggled between the college books and the old CD music collection)

Adventure…..whether skydiving, SCUBA diving, or exploring some of the places I used to call home (Wisconsin, Massachusetts, or Spain) in a new, out of the box way.

Some may say that I am an adrenaline junky, fearless, or more, but I would have to say that I’m not quite any of those classifiers. Certainly, I live life by trying almost anything once, sometimes twice or three times to make sure.  However, I might add that I always continue doing the things that make me happy or best said that float my boat (or kayak).

Speaking of kayaks, I have to admit that one of my good ole standards is kayaking.  I first learned how to kayak through the Wisconsin rivers with my father and childhood friends. Sometimes the rivers winded through pastures (yes, sometimes with bathing cattle), but there would always be a portage to be done or a rapids to encounter. Now having nearly 20+ years of kayaking experience with trips on the Great Lakes, in particular Lake Superior, through the bioluminscent bays in Puerto Rico, along Punta Cana’s pristine beaches, and now in my current playground, which is South Florida, I have taken the plunge.

With a recent gift and a bit of good luck, I am now a proud owner of a set of two, yellow Hobie kayaks to allow me to explore the ocean, intercoastal, and Everglades. As a serial kayak renter, I am now one of those crazy ones loading 16 feet of kayak on a compact car.  However, who said that adventure was easy?

Pictured above is my most recent exploration out of Oleta River State Park in North Miami, Florida pre-purchase. Expect to see me paddling circles around you with the peddle/paddle combo kayak that I have. It will allow for trips to the sandbar using my legs and keeping my hands free for photos or even a better idea exercising my “elbow wrist” with can cooler in hand.  If you have great South Florida kayak spots to share, please comment.

As I always say, “it’s either a good time, good story, or both.” These kayaks will be all of the above.

I recently made a couple of mix CDs from my iPod playlists for very good friends (from Boston to Tucson to Minneapolis). I wanted to share with them what has been fueling my adventures, travels, workouts, beach time, and keeping me company in my car, which by the way is constantly keeping the roads HOT. With this idea in mind, I wanted to create a list of songs that highlight either certain travels in my life or places that I that I have lived for longer than just a tourist visit.

Here goes…..Ms Traveling Pants’ Soundtrack of travels

**(Click each link for video or sound bite of each song)

1. Turkish Holiday travels 1997 – Simarik – Tarkan

2. Cancun/Cozumel Spring Break 1995 – La Morena – Los Ilegales

3. London 2008 – American Boy – Estelle and Kanye West

4. Brazilian Holiday travel 2000 – Nobre Vagabundo – Daniela Mercury

5. Trempealeau, Wi 1995-1999 – I’ve Got Friends in Low Places – Garth Brooks

6. U-Haul Move from Boston to Fort Lauderdale 2004 – Smooth – Santana & Rob Thomas

7. Madrid, Spain 1997-1999 – Corazon partio – Alejandro Sanz

8. Puerto Rico & Milestone Birthday 2006 – Valio la pena – Marc Anthony

9. Many a Red Sox game at Fenway 1980’s to present – Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond

10. Florida Summer of 2010 – Use Somebody – Kings of Leon & Good People – Jack Johnson

The rest of list is TBD as my future songs will be in part dictated by where I go, with whom I go, and of course what comes down the musical pipeline.

Please leave your comments as to what is on your Travel Soundtrack. I would love to see if I can add some of yours into my present and future soundtrack.

Remember, every occasion in life can be categorized either as a good time or a good story. AND, many of these good times and good stories have music in the background.

First impressions of cruising:

1) Wow this is easy! The arrival was seamless.  The porters, parking, efficient check in, and quick customs were a great “Welcome Aboard!”  The airlines need to start learning from the cruise lines.

2) How many other people are on this ship?

(See the Majesty of the Seas left with a total of  2700 cruisers plus 800 crew)

3) Who is driving this monstrosity?

(I found him. Believe it or not this Captain lives in my neighborhood. I went all the way to the Caribbean and could have bumped into him in the supermarket!)

4) Uh, why haven’t I cruised before?

(Still baffles me that I have lived in one of the cruising capitols of the world for over 6 years without cruising until this summer.)

Tips for first time cruisers:

1) Get to the port early to enjoy and check out the ship before departure. There is always a restaurant and bar open. Getting the “lay of the land” is crucial to enjoying the rest of the time aboard.

2) Plan your land excursions early. Most of the popular activities sell out. For Caribbean cruises make sure to get your snorkel, SCUBA, and kayaking reserved prior to the departure week or as soon as you board.

3) Get your deck chairs for departure early.

4) Don’t miss the opportunity to walk the deck to see the stars and moon. For those of us living in the city or around too many lights, this is an epic display of what we miss nightly for the other conveniences of metropolitan life.

5) Even if you aren’t an early bird, do get up one morning for sunrise. Not much beats a sunrise at sea. You can always take a nap in your cabin or on a deck chair later.

You don’t have to be in Mexico to take a siesta.

What I will do next time:

1) Explore a longer cruise 3 days was not nearly long enough. You crave more.

2) Going with a larger group to celebrate a birthday, success, life, etc. It was amazing the amounts of bachelorette, milestone birthdays, and reunions that were going on. It appears to be the best way to make a group gathering easy, fun, and a crowd pleaser from the adventureros, spa goers, barflies, and shoppers.

3) Pack less.  You don’t have the restrictions like the airplanes, but if you want to walk in and out of your cabin, closet, bathroom, etc. I would suggest you pack lightly to assist in getting used to the not quite full size bed, not quite full size stand up shower, and the like.

If you have tips from your cruising experiences, please comment on this post. I’m looking forward to sharing more good times and good stories with you of my summer of being a mermaid.

With the vast majority of Wisconsinites either of German or Norwegian decent, there is seldom a special occasion, festival, or holiday that doesn’t honor delicacies from those mother cultures. Thus, my family took me on an adventure to the basement of a community church in our neighboring town, where the local Norwegian women were in charge of cooking and serving a lutefisk (looooooot-a-fisk) and lefse (lef-sa) dinner. (My accent comes back quickly.)

Lutefisk is a traditional Nordic fish dish made of dried stockfish then soaked in lye.  Yes, you read that correctly, fish soaked in lye, the same stuff that you use to make soap.  I can only rationalize that the process has been passed along since the time before modern day refrigerators or ice boxes existed. However, the traditional taste, texture (jelly-like), and smell of the dish have continued; be forewarned, lutefisk is somewhat notorious for its intense offensive odor. Uffda!

Lutefisk is usually served with, but not limited to potatoes, gravy, melted butter, meatballs, and of course lefse. Unlike lutefisk, lefse is really easy to understand. Basically, it is the Norwegian version of a flour or corn tortilla; however, it is made from potatoes.  It is most commonly served with butter, but many prefer lefse with a sprinkle of sugar. As an addition, lefse is easy to eat and has been a staple in special shipments from Wisconsin for years to wherever I hang my hat.

Now, little did I know that this adventure would be my first appearance in the press. Yes, the local newspaper caught me in the act. Young with a skeptical palate and the overly fishy smell wafting through the hall, I was caught with an ear to ear grin of enjoyment of my lumberjack’s plateful of mashed potatoes and gravy. (Even to this day, I cannot pass up a plate of good mashed potatoes.)

So, on this trip back to my roots, will I be diving into a lutefisk and lefse dinner? Uffda!

**Photo from Official Lutefisk Chef Site

1) Gather as much information as possible to make the best decision. Without information, you can’t make a good decision.

2)You know a lot about a man by his relationship with his mother. (I can hear her saying, “Meet the family sooner rather than later.”)

3) Trust your instincts. (I can hear her saying, “Trust your gut!”)

As a typical child, I have followed and not followed my mother’s advice. When I have strayed, so did my decision making abilities AND thus the consequences of said decisions.

The three points above are only a portion of what I have learned and will continue to learn from my mother. Thank you Mom! And, Happy Mother’s Day!

To all of my readers, please share some of the wisdom that you have learned from your Mom by commenting on this post.

I experienced my first tortilla española over ten years ago in the Plaza Mayor in Madrid. A tortilla española or Spanish omelet is the most commonly served dish in Spain.  It is a peasant, comfort food that is simply potatoes, eggs, onions, olive oil, and salt.  It can be eaten as a mid-afternoon snack, light dinner, or even a sandwich, called a bocadillo.

Although you would think that an omelet would be something that you could just improvise, I actually knew that in order to prepare an authentic tortilla española, I would need some insider tips.  After eating numerous tortillas and reading recipes on how to do it, I took a long bus ride from Madrid to Murcia in Southern Spain to have one of my friend’s family members show me step by step how to make a tortilla española.  My friend’s grandmother’s technique has served me for over a decade. In fact, it was part of this week’s menu at Chez Ms Traveling Pants. See the recipe below, try it, and insert it into your culinary repertoire.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6 medium potatoes, peeled
• 1 yellow onion
• 6 large eggs
• olive oil for pan frying
• salt to taste

How to in 25 minutes:

• Heat frying pain to medium heat and add olive oil to liberally cover the pan
• Peel and dice potatoes (make them all similar in size for equal cooking time)
• Dice onion
• Add all veggies and cook until soft
• For best results, stir often, reduce the heat to below medium, and mash the ingredients a little bit to get a good binding capacity
• Take the pan off of the stove and cool for 5-10 minutes
• In a medium bowl, crack all eggs and stir
• Add all veggies to the eggs
• Reheat the pan and cover with a small amount of olive oil
• Add the egg and veggie mixture
• Scrape the sides of the frying pan and the underside of the omelet to prevent sticking
• When the omelet turns yellow in color, it is time to flip (a challenge!)
• Put a large plate over the open pan, remove pan from stove top, and flip (can be messy)
• Slide that half cooked tortilla back into the pan until both sides are fully cooked
• Always present the best looking side to your guests

Buen provecho!

p.s. There is an actual tortilla española pan to make the flip work, but I dare you to try the flip and master it. The challenge is part of the fun!

Always being a lover of the ocean from a very young age, in my first year of college at the University of Wisconsin at Madison (Go Badgers!), I took an elective course for Open Water Certification to be able to SCUBA during Spring Break in Cozumel, Mexico.  It was a five week long course with classroom work explaining of the severity of decompression sickness, the importance of signing, and the names and functions of the components of the SCUBA gear (regulator, BCDs, fins, masks, tank, etc.)  We then advanced into a couple of classes in the pools, indoors luckily, because it was mid-Fall.

The last step for completion of the course, each learning diver was to do an open water dive with a master diver.  The check out dive was scheduled towards the end of October. Despite the typical Midwest weather, there wasn’t a trip planned to the Caribbean or the Great Barrier Reef, but a trip to a local freshwater lake in Watertown called Clyde Quarry.  Yes, as you can guess from the name, it was once a quarry and not a lake.  There are many of these quarries transformed to deep lakes in Wisconsin that are very clear, allow for dive training, and even have wildlife.  On that October morning, it just turns out that I saw flurries. At that moment, I had to question my reasoning behind my desire to go through with it. Was getting this cold worth it?

With the weather, wetsuits were needed for all students.  I skillfully or with as much skill as necessary crammed my body into something that said it was for a small to medium sized body but was more suited for a small child.  With my body into the wetsuit and feeling like a human sausage, it was time to go two by two with the master divers into the cold water. Let I remind you that it was now up to forty degrees.  Earlier I had seen snowflakes so it was “balmy” by comparison.

Although wetsuits were helpful, the instructors knew better and had to spend all day in the water; thus, they wore drysuits which do not allow any of the cold water to have access to the skin.  These are the suits that divers use in ice diving. However, my only option was to get into the water and warm the wetsuit up with my own, scarce body heat. Fun!

The only way that I can explain the cold of the water was of sheer pain and shock followed by the complete lack there of.  It was amazing how the initial cold was taken away by the numbing effects of the temperature.  I guess it was a survival tactic.  Despite this, both myself and my partner were determined to find fun or at least a PADI certification out of the event.  We kept active until at least our suits had been warmed sufficiently to go down.

The descent and ascent of diving is crucial as you must release pressure from your ears on the way down and slowly ascend on the way up to prevent decompression sickness commonly called the Benz. At the shallow part of the lake, maybe thirty feet down, we went through buoyancy tests, removal and clearing of the mask, and removal of the regulator (air source). Once completed, we were able to surface.

Upon completion, I was no longer cold, I was a comfortable temperature having survived and almost masterfully completed the test. However, there remained one more feat, the removal of the wetsuit.  I can attest that getting into a wetsuit was difficult, but so was removing a wetsuit.  I would suggest the couple approach where one tries to peel oneself independently like a banana from the suit and then when necessary the partner helps the other by pulling the partner’s suit off.

Was the experience worth it?   Yes.

I say so because I was able within months to dive three times in Cozumel.  There I was able to see the impressive coral reef walls at depths around 60+ feet.  The colors were vibrant and so majestic that I don’t remember colors like them or even hues similar that exist outside of the depths of the ocean. Then just one trip later, I did similar diving in Zihautanejo, Mexico, a Pacific Ocean dive, which is much darker, deeper, and pretty chilly. This dive taught me more above the tides and current.  One must gage this and use it to one’s dive advantage to ride the current. Since, I have not dived as much as snorkeled where in Key West I swam amongst huge grouper and a sea of jellyfish. After, I witnessed the underwater beauty of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and swam around an underwater zoo of large hammerheads sharks and sting rays.

If you have any doubts about learning to SCUBA, go ahead, just do it! It has been too long since I have. I miss the adventure.  So, one of my New Year’s resolutions is to get back into it!!

As many of my readers know, I have had a challenging fall, not filled with travels to Tucson, Nashville, Quebec, and London like I had planned, but stalled by an accident and a lengthy road to recovery.  However, with the opportunity to focus, I have spent much time catching up with good friends and family, reading, and remembering my past travels and adventures, many of which are highlighted in my last year of posts.

Matter of fact, on the 25th of this month, the Ms Traveling Pants blog officially has ist 1st Anniversary. To start ramping up for the celebrations, I have created a Top Ten List of Inspiring Travel Quotes.  I used the famous style of David Letterman and Late Night’s Top Ten to rank my favorites (of course saving the best for last).  Drum roll please….

10. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”  - St. Augustine

9. “Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.” – Seneca

8. “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

7. “The journey not the arrival matters.” – T.S. Eliot

6. “Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by.” – Robert Frost

5. “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain

4. “To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a  position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” – Bill Bryson

3. “A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill

2. “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller

1. “Every occasion in life can be categorized as either a good time or a good story.” – Unknown  (As you may know, this is the quote that upon which I  base many of my posts.  I feel that is gives good perspective to travel as well as life’s ups and downs.)

You may agree with my choices and ranking above, but you may also have your differences or others that I have failed to mention here. Please add a comment or other quotes to help me celebrate the up and coming ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY  of MS TRAVELING PANTS’ BLOG on November 25th!

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