Well, we finally just bit the bullet and planned ourselves a couple of vacations for the summer. To kick things off Christine and I will be treating ourselves to a week away in mid-June, spending 3 nights in Napa Valley and then another 3 nights in San Francisco. It's not the Rome trip we'd hoped for, but with the dollar sucking so badly internationally that's just going to have to wait a little while. Anyway, I've never been to California, and my wife and I have a something of a love affair with food and wine so wine country is a natural fit.
We're starting things off by staying at the Silverado Resort in Napa, planning an entire day at a mud baths/mineral springs/massage spa in Calistoga the first day, winery tours with a private driver for 4-5 hours on the second day, general bouncing about on the last day before heading back into San Francisco.
Once in SF we'll stay at the Hotel Nikko, where we'll have one of the hoity-toity top floor rooms, with the restricted access elevator and all the looking down our noses at the lower classes that entails: View of the city or bay from our hotel room, wine/cheese reception each night, breakfast each morning, pool and spa access gratis, etc. As for what we'll be doing there, I've got my eye on a walking "Ghosts of Chinatown" tour our first night after which it'll be general foodie tourism -- Christine is doing the majority of the planning on that leg of the trip. My obsession with All Things Eastern means I really want to spend some time lurking around Chinatown in general (it's only 5-6 blocks from our hotel -- an Asian themed hotel, of course... -- so this shouldn't be too difficult). A number of amazing restaurants, some notable lounges, and Alcatraz are on the short list, but otherwise it's all in her hands. 3 nights in San Francisco, returning home that Monday.
Not long after that Christine and Trevor have their 3rd gup test, and then it's July 4th, followed by our family vacation. We're planning a 7-8 day visit to New York/Rhode Island -- New York City for a couple of days, followed by a long weekend with my aunt and uncle up in Rhode Island. My sister-in-law has decided that she is going to bring my kids to a Mets game while we are there, so Christine and I (who are pretty much completely uninterested in baseball) will get an afternoon and evening to ourselves, during which we'll probably head down to catch a show on or off Broadway. Then it's my aunt and uncles condo in Rhode Island -- pool, beach, lobster, wine.... mmmmmmm.
After that it's Nationals in Dallas, and then my 1st gup test just a couple of weeks later, the morning after my 16th wedding anniversary. The kids aren't even out of school yet and already summer is looking packed.
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Training the past week or so was a bit hit-and-miss. My instructor and his wife treated themselves to a trip to Ireland for their 10th wedding anniversary, so we've been on a non-standard class schedule since Memorial Day weekend. The dojang was closed for the holiday after which we had guest instructors, with highly varying teaching styles, and pretty spotty student attendance as would be expected.
When Sa Bom Nim is away many students take the opportunity to take a training break, so class makeup was pretty uneven as a result -- adults classes composed of 8-10 students, but ranging from white belt all the way up to ee dan was pretty much the norm. We've tried to stick with our usual training regimen -- with the upcoming tests, missing training opportunities is just not a great idea -- but the alternate schedule has made it much harder to get all of the classes in that we would normally attend. I'll be picking Sa Bom Nim and Mrs. Nunan up at the airport tonight, and normal classes resume tomorrow, so that'll be a good thing. Definitely looking forward to getting things back to normal!
Mood: Ready to go home....
Now Playing: B-52s, "Funplex"
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