So Where Are They Now?

More than one person has had to stop and ask themselves where we are before trying to contact us. For most of this year, we have been gone more than we have been home in Colorado. We spent a total of 201 days sleeping in beds other than our own. Some of our trips were for business, some for pleasure, and some to see family. Please enjoy our travels below.

We worked at various B&B assignments – two in Cripple Creek, CO at the Carr Manor for two days each, two in Pioneertown, CA at the Pioneertown Motel Lodge & Stables for a week each (yes, we took care of one horse), one long assignment in Asheville, NC at Oakland Cottage for two months during the summer, and two in Santa Barbara, CA at the Secret Garden Inn one for 15 days and the one we will finish this year with for 17 days.

Some of the longer assignment provided us the opportunity to see a bit more of each area. This year in and around Asheville, we explored Grandfather Mountain - which has the highest swinging bridge in the United States. That's Lynda standing out on the point - no guard rails.

Lake Lure - where along the shore, in a quiet inlet, the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed. They also had some really expensive homes along the lake.

The Asheville Botanical Gardens - where they had a floral quilt and a wonderful Bonsai Garden Exhibit.

We even made the short drive to Waynesville, NC and met a former B&B owner Terry Thompson who now owns Vin a wine and tapas bar in this quaint little town. Way to go Terry.

In Santa Barbara, we went into the hills and visited wineries (of course), Global Gardens - an olive tasting bar (great olive oil) and a lavender farm.

During one of our visits to Pioneertown, we took some time to visit Joshua Tree National Monument. In all of the time we lived in CA we had never gotten to this park. We really enjoyed looking at the trees and unusual rock formations.


Before our stay in Asheville, we visited our niece Jill and her family – Steve, Alex & Emily in Vienna, VA over Father’s Day weekend. It was fun spending time with them. Howard played card games and the Wii with Alex. Lynda helping Emily with stitchery, and shortening new pants (just like my mother used to do for Laurie). We investigated a place to stay next year for Alex’s Bar Mitzvah. Finally, we took the Light Rail Metro to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum with Emily and walked our feet off.

Towards the end of August, we traveled to Portland, OR for the Glickman Celebration Weekend. It was a gathering of family and friends to celebrate the upcoming wedding of Michael & Stephanie and birthdays for Al, Sharon, and Papa Chuck. We had a great time and even went on a group outing to the Portland International Rose Test Gardens and the Japanese Gardens.

We will have made five trips to San Jose to see Laurie & her family. We celebrated Laurie’s birthday in February and Elijah’s birthday in April.

Two trips (May & October) were to be of assistance after Laurie had some surgical procedures. The trip in May ended up being longer than we had planned as we ended up in a hit and run car accident on our way up to see her. We were fine (sort of), but our car wasn’t. Car repairs delayed our trip back home by at least 10 days. Thank goodness for auto insurance and Chiropractors.

Our trip in October ended up bringing back memories of times past. We were able to be with the kids over Halloween. We really enjoyed seeing them dressed up and going trick or treating. Howard also enjoyed carving the pumpkin with them.

Howard even introduced Nic to the proper way to Trick or Treat – they had their wine glasses and a bottle of wine in a back pack as they took the kids around the neighborhood. They enjoyed the wine as the kids knocked on doors for their candy. Our last trip will be this month to celebrate an early Chanukkah.

We visited with friends Sharon & Al Glickman in Henderson, NV three times. Two were nice long visits, one was a “quickie” overnight as we passed through on our way to an assignment. It was nice to be able to enjoy sitting on the porch in the early mornings reading a book, having a cup of Coffee (tea for Lynda) and basking in the gentle dessert sun. At least it was gentle each of the times we visited.

Los Angeles, CA area visits to Marsha occurred four times. Once for Marsha’s Milestone Birthday celebration in February. Then we visited her in April, October, and upcoming in December. Seems there are always projects there to keep both Lynda & Howard busy. Howard usually has some honey do jobs lined up and Lynda has computer stuff to help out with. We also took some time to visit the Reagan Library in Simi Valley.

Finally, in April & October, we visited Novato, CA where cousins Rusty and Kathie live. In April we drove to Freestone, CA with Russ, Kathie, Allison & Jordon and went to this wonderful bread shop - Wild Flour Bread. We also drove down to the Jelly Belly factory with Russ, Kathie, Jason, May, Elizabeth & Becca. Yummy on both accounts!

During our October visit, we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco to see the renovated CA Academy of Sciences – the only place on the planet with an aquarium, a planetarium, a natural history museum, and a four story rainforest all under one roof. The city has done a wonderful job and should be proud.

We also visited with our nephew Steven and his wife Janet. Steven had celebrated a milestone birthday himself and Janet had created a special video/audio project that she wanted to show us.

As to other things we have done this year: We taught 6 classes to Aspiring Innkeepers and Aspiring Interim Innkeepers – three in Colorado and two while we were in Asheville. We love to

teach others about our profession.

Speaking of our profession, we attended the PAII conference at the Disneyland Hotel this year. We were vendors with the Interim Innkeepers Network. Had a great time and met some wonderful people. Maybe even some future clients.

We also attended a Wealth Seminar in Las Vegas (no, we weren’t there for the gambling). Lynda did some pet sitting and mystery shopping while we were home in Colorado. We also drove to Denver to see the Titanic Exhibition at the Denver Museum of History.

On our trip out to CA in October, we stopped off at a B&B in Marysville, Utah. Do you remember the Burl Ives song about the Big Rock Candy Mountain. Well here is a picture that inspired that song.

We still sponsor three students – Ben our Air Force Cadet who is now a Sophomore, Liz a Colorado College student who is a Junior, and Lynsey a Fountain Valley High School student who is a sophomore. We see Ben & Liz, however, Lynsey is missing in action. We know she is here, just never hear from her. I guess it is a good thing that she doesn’t need us and has much to keep herself busy and out of trouble.

Lynda has still been doing work for the State B&B organization which keeps her busy whether we are at home or on the road. Thank heavens for computers and the Internet. However, after four years, she has given her notice. Hopefully, they will in the next month find her replacement. We finished up the BBIC year with the Conference held in Estes Park. The moose were grazing right outside our hotel.

Since we have been on the road so much of the time, Howard turned in his resignation as a Manitou Springs Planning Commissioner. He didn’t feel it was fair to the city to miss as many meetings as he has. He loved his 13 years of service, but felt it was time for someone else to step into that role.

We haven’t been home often enough for friends and family to visit us. Yulan (one of our former CC students) stayed with us for a few days and Lee Rosen (AF Col.) came for a “B&B” breakfast feast.

Health wise, we have been recovering from our hit and run accident. We have Chiropractors and massage therapists in all of the cities we regularly visit – San Jose, San Fernando Valley area, Santa Barbara, and Asheville as well as here in Colorado Springs. Howard is doing better than Lynda. She was driving when the "blankity blankity" person made an illegal left hand turn right in front of her and kept on trucking. Howard had been sleeping. Things are getting better, it just takes time.

This has been the year of the eyes: Howard had cataract surgery on both eyes and now sees 20/20 for distance. Of course, he still needs reading glasses for up close work (like reading or seeing the food he eats) plus computer glasses. Then there was the case of Pink Eye which Elijah joyfully shared with him. He loved having it so much he got it three times – twice on the left and once on the right (Lynda thinks it never went away). As for Lynda’s eyes – her’s are fine. It was getting her new glasses that caused problems. Her sun glasses followed her around the country as they tried to get it correct.

Each year we seen to find a couple of pictures that tickle our funny bones. Here are this years. A commentary on our current gas situation (Arm Leg Eye) and special kid tables at Mc Donalds in Wyoming.

And so the year ends. Our wish for you is a healthy, happy, and prosperous new year. May all your dreams and wishes come true. You can always reach us by cell phone or e-mail. So don't let us not being home stop you from getting hold of us.

By the way, thanks for taking the time to get to the very end of this long blog. I promise that next year I will do shorter segments - at least I'll try.

Love, Toot & Teaser (aka Lynda & Howard)