#368 Sailing the world...from Indiana?

If you're looking to pad your travel resume with an off-the-beaten-path sailing experience, try this. Catch a Polish-owned freighter at a Port of Indiana on Lake Michigan.

Climb aboard and you'll gain membership in a most exclusive club. The big ship has room for 35,000 tons of cargo but only 6 paying passengers. In 60 days, the ship makes the round trip from Amsterdam to Burns Harbor, Indiana stopping in exotic ports on the return to the Netherlands.

The cost? The Owner's Cabin is $100 per day including access to the officer’s dining saloon and lounge.

Yours in planning a trip back to Indiana,
Kelly

#367 Bonnie's visit

Right from the start, we knew Bonnie was going to shake up the traditional Johnston Visitor Plan. She arrived carrying a big box of baked goods from our favorite Mexican bakery in Indy. Delicioso!

We kept going with the plan, though, and set off for a tour of Monticello. Right away, Kelly knew something was different. He paused for a moment of sadness at the site of the missing tulip poplar - removed last summer while we were at sea.

To cheer everyone up, we headed straight to the downtown mall for some pizza and shopping. That did the trick.

But even more fun was introducing Bonnie to our neighbors. In the small-world category, Bonnie and our neighbor are connected through their Jacksonville, Florida days. (Rest assured. We didn't offer them any of our Mexican baked goods.)

As we toured UVA on Sunday - perhaps the most beautiful day of the year - we introduced Bonnie to all those out enjoying the day: Andrew and Lauren, Ken, Karin, Rebecca and Melissa, Doug and Barbara. We thank them all for not busting us on our it's-always-70-degrees-in-February lie.

Yours in adapting the JVP,
Mary

#366 Temporal Google Earth

Google is always coming out with something new. This week, it's Google Earth's time slider. Now it's easy to see how places have changed over time by taking a look at date-stamped historic aerial photos. So let's play "Where is this place on Earth with so many changes?" 1991 2002

Yours in being (start hint) so clear you can hear a pin drop (end hint),
Kelly

#365 Drawing US States 101

Can you draw the outline of your home state? Without looking at a map? No? Neither could I. But back in 1900, school kids did that state drawing thing every day in geography class. And with the help of Schutze's Amusing Geography and System of Map-drawing from 1900, we, too, can draw our home state. (Thanks Google Books!) We just need to see the camel in Virginia. Or the vulture in West Virginia. So what animal is your state?

Yours in being amused by geography,
Kelly

#364 An Oversight

Mary may have forgotten an important glasses photo in last week's retrospective.

Here's a photo of Mary's glasses soon after they had been rearranged by a sharply hit volleyball. I'm not sure how she could have missed this photo...

Yours in completeness,
Kelly

#363 My Vision of the World

#362 Bridget cooks!

Only a really good friend flies 1000 miles for a visit then cooks dinner.

On Friday night, our weekend started in Richmond where Bridget's 1000-mile flight from Omaha ended.

Culinary event #1: Our culinary weekend immediately kicked into high gear at Richmond's Comfort Restaurant - recommended by our friend Chris. The chef’s motto: “I don’t want to scare anyone.” We weren't scared. We loved it and we were off to a good start.

Culinary event #2: Bridget's special-recipe ratatouille. You'll all be surprised to learn that we don't keep fresh eggplant in the house. So when it came time to make ratatouille on Saturday night, we made a run to the grocery store and broke the eggplant drought that's gone on way too long. Bridget made magic.

Culinary event #3: And just to keep near the culinary edge, we chose The Shebeen on Sunday night for South African fare - game hen and chicken skewered on sugar cane rods with cardamom, coriander, cumin, and mealie pap. Yum!

Yours in wondering if I can sneak down and finish off that leftover ratatouille before Mary knows what I'm up to,
Kelly