Travel Planning

T and I were off to the airport early today, not for a flight, but to visit the Dr… We will be taking a cruise from Rio to Valparaiso in January, and in addition to a Brazilian Visa, we also needed to be vaccinated against Yellow fever… the clinic suggested Typhoid and Hep A for me, and Typhoid, Tetanus and Hep A booster for Tina… They gave us prescriptions in case of Cholera… They determined we were unlikely to be exposed to malaria, polio, and a whole butch of other nasty stuff… Several needle pricks later we had our little yellow international record of immunization cards declaring us sufficiently immune to be allowed to travel… The airport heath clinic is one of the few able to complete the required heath forms…

We have other travel requiring preparations as well…

We are going to Virginia for Thanksgiving… The daughter is there… One Niece and her family, one nephew and family (well, he isn’t, he is in Iraq, our daughter is living with his wife and children, serving as nanny while she attends the local collage…) An additional nephew is there, but not this Thanksgiving… We will see him in December at his wedding… there is a blog about the wedding dress… at Suzy’s Bridezilla blog, http://suzysbridezillablog.blogspot.com. Of course this means another trip… a road trip… and there is the cross country drive over New Years to deliver Steph’s car… more planning, more reservations…. I already have the flight back, on my beloved Virgin America… and a motel in Albuquerque on New Year’s eve…

So back to Thanksgiving… There is a song about Thanksgiving, or maybe its about the draft… I have been assigned responsibility for the wine at dinner… I am taking this seriously… I figure 6 bottles… I am carrying them on the plane, from California… 6 bottles… maybe two champagnes (yes, not from France so not really champagne) a couple of whites, one must be sweet(ish) so probably a Riesling, the other a chardonnay, and a couple of reds… I think I have those nailed… A pinot noir from Bearboat (Piper Sonoma’s still wine lable…) and Couzins by Elyse, a blend of Zinfandel and Rustivo… (I am not sure I consider this a blend… As I understand it, Zinfandel and Rustivo are the same grape, separated for the last 150 years or so, with differences accentuated by differences in wine making between Italy and California…) I have the Elyse, and the Riesling… (Snoqualmie Naked organic Columbia Valley Reisling) So far I haven’t found the Bearboat… so I may need to drive up to Healdsburg next weekend…