But first, a bus ride

With our plane, a direct flight from Chicago to Dublin via Aer Lingus, not departing until 8:30 this evening, my wife and I were able to start the day in a relaxed weekend fashion.  Read the paper, she the State Journal, me the New York Times, over coffee.   Walk to Sofra in downtown Middleton for breakfast, a not so typical activity as we enjoy preparing  breakfast ourselves, but with little in the fridge, our menu was limited to granola, fruit, and yogurt, which I routinely have for breakfast on weekday mornings.  Enjoy the green serenity of the Pheasant Branch Nature Preserve trail, as were many others -- runners, bikers, strollers, dog-walkers.  Apparently, the birders had already returned home.  

Rather than drive and pay the exorbitant cost of long-term parking, we're riding the Van Galder bus, which departed from the UW-Madison campus promptly at 1:00.   Our anticipated arrival at the O'Hare's international terminal is 4:15, which should allow us to avoid any panic about moving through long and slow-moving security lines.  I probably didn't need to stumble across this article in the Chicago Tribune a few days ago.  

TSA to add staff, but O'Hare tells passengers to arrive 3 hours before flight

An excerpt.  

Staffing problems are hitting the flying public hard. About 450 American Airlines Customers at O'Hare International Airport missed flights Sunday due to lines of more than two hours, and dozens who couldn't get on a later flight slept on cots at the terminal, American spokeswoman Leslie Scott said.

My wife and I hope you can look forward to nothing but good reports. 

Speaking of atypical breakfast, take a gander at this breakfast burrito as served up by the Short Stack Eatery on State Street in Madison

I wasn't able to finish it in a single session. 

And now for something completely different: A trip to Ireland

When it comes to international travel, beyond North America, I don't have much on my resume.  Two weeks in Paris in late December 2011/early January 2012, two weeks in Italy in June 2014, and now, immediately upcoming, 10 days in Ireland.  Call me a late bloomer as I was 62 when I made my first visit to Europe.

My wife has made all of the arrangements for these trips:  transportation, lodging, sightseeing -- the full itinerary.  It's as though I suffer from a mental block when it comes to the topic of travel planning abroad.

But when it comes to U. S. travel, I'm all in from the start.

As I was last year for our getaway to Asheville (NC), Nashville, and Lexington (KY).  I planned the route, reserved hotel rooms, and created a list of sightseeing options.

As I was in 2013 for a road trip to Boston, which provided an opportunity to reconnect with cousins I hadn't seen in 35 years.

As I was with any number of family trips during spring breaks, before the boys were beholden to school sports.  Gettysburg, Washington DC, Mount Vernon, Williamsburg in 1999 and Memphis, Vicksburg, San Antonio, and Austin in 2000 are two of the most memorable itineraries.

I became a seasoned U.S. traveler very early in my life.  I was born in Auburn, Washington, moved to Great Falls, Montana, when I was 3, and to Warren PA when I was 8.  Dad hails from Rockford, Illinois, and Mom from Springfield, Massachusetts, and summer vacations always involved visits to one or the other side of the family.  The trips were usually made by car, in the days before the Interstate highway system, and at least once (that I can recall) by train.  I remain seriously infected with this travel bug during my 20s.  I hitchhiked cross-country 4 times in 1971 and 1972, drove it twice in 1973, returned to live for a time in Montana after graduate school.  I then spent a few years in Massachusetts before settling down in Wisconsin, which has been home for the past 38 years.

The urge to travel will always remain strong, but I suspect I'll continue to leave the international itineraries to my wife.



Sent from my iPhone

Scott Walker appears to have skipped the CWD 101 briefings

As reported in Patrick Durkin: Scott Walker takes step in right direction on CWD.  (Wisconsin State Journal, 5/21/2016)

The article contains a very qualified pat on the back.

Related posts:
Wisconsin trials Illinois in fighting CWD.  (5/13/2016)
Walker administration fiddles while chronic wasting disease spreads.  (11/17/2015)