Tuesday February 28, 2017

March 1, 2017 / Sue and Frank D'Elia / Leave a comment

Happy Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Happy Carnevale!!!

Welcome to day one in Disney World. As I write this, it is 12:24 in the AM of March 1st. We just finished up in the Scat Cat Jazz Club in Port Orleans, French Quarter (our resort) and are ready to crash. This evening, we traveled the world by drinking and eating our way through Epcot before returning to our resort for the night. Not going to write much tonight, but will share our day in pictures!!

Shortly after entering Florida, what do we enter but Nassau County! Hey, we drove this far to be back in Nassau County????

Welcome to Walt Disney World and to Port Orleans, The French Quarter! The funny thing is that when we leave here, we travel to the real French Quarter and New Orleans!

This evening it was off to EPCOT we go! We walked a total of 3.8 miles, so I know we saw a lot of stuff. I know we drank and ate around the world. Did we have fun? Yes we did!!

Fat Tuesday was called Carnevale in my house, and it was the day to eat everything in sight before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. That always meant a fabulous Italian dinner, and we found ourselves in Italy and Tutto Italia, and that served nicely!!

Of course, why stop there, so we found ourselves in the Rose and Crown in England, for some nice cold beers and a taste of Fish and Chips!

After hoofing it back to the car, and driving back to our resort, a night cap was in order!

Two rounds of Long Island Ice Teas (come on…we had to) and a few muchies at the Scat Cat Club completed day one at WDW!

Sorry, but it’s past my bed time! See you tomorrow when we head to Animal Kingdom and then meet up with my cousins Jeanne and Walt!!

See you tomorrow!!!

Monday, February 27, 2017

February 28, 2017 / Sue and Frank D'Elia / Leave a comment

Monday afternoon finds us ensconced in a Hampton Inn in Darien, Georgia. This is the second year in a row that we have stopped in Darien, and the reason has to do with food and little else! Last year when we went to Florida, I noted on Facebook that we’d stopped for the night in Darien, Georgia, and within a couple of minutes, I received a text from my friend, and fellow WABC Radio Alumni, Abe Goren, who said that if we were looking for someplace to have dinner, he recommended the fried shrimp at B&J’s Steaks and Seafood in Darien. Long story short, we took Abe’s advice, we loved it, and we’re back!! Thank you Mr. Goren!! Look for an update later in this post!

Another day on Interstate 95 today, traveling 393 miles from our start in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, to our end in Darien. During the day, we drove across the North/South Carolina, and the South Carolina/Georgia borders. Of course, the North Carolina/South Carolina border is the site of the infamous Pedro and South of the Border. Not the tourist draw it once was, but you still see signs advertising it for over 100 miles, and who could miss the sombrero observation tower! I fear that like everything, it’s time is almost over, and one of these days, the border will no longer be Perdo’s residence! Sad, but reality.

Traffic was very good today, except for construction on a bridge on I-95. We lost about 20 minutes in traffic, as we had to drop to one lane to cross the Great Pee Dee River! I don’t know exactly what was going on, but as usual, we didn’t see a lot of action!

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When we got up this morning, it was 39 degrees in North Carolina, and when we stopped tonight in Georgia it was 74 degrees, so we are definitely feeling the southern weather effect. In fact, at a rest area on the side of I-95, we saw our first Palm Trees!

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Like many people on road trips, we keep track of the license plates we see along the way. It’s a carryover from our childhood, and from when we’d take car trips with our 3 kids, and is just a fun way to see where our fellow travelers are from. Well, today we had a milestone License Plate Spotting moment. This is something that never happened in 9 weeks of travel last fall, and something I don’t think we’ve ever spotted before! Shortly after we crossed into Georgia, an orange Jeep came up next to us. Susie was driving, and I looked over and glanced at the license plate and had to take a second look. In a sea of Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, and even New York license plates, I never expected to see a plate from our 49th state, Alaska! As there are many military bases in this area, we thought that perhaps he was a service member, who had his car shipped to his duty station, but whatever the case, it was something we’d never seen before during our travels in the 48 states!

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So, right now, Susie and I are relaxing with a Sailor Jerry and Coke Zero, as is our usual travel afternoon habit. In a little bit, we’ll get our acts together and head out for our shrimp dinner and later tonight, I’ll update this blog and post it. Till then, talk among yourselves

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We’re ,back and we have to tell you that B&J’s did not disappoint! As Susie says, “The shrimp are outrageous!!!” Here are two pictures as evidence and you decide!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

We can not recommend enough, that if you are traveling through Darien, Georgia and you like shrimp, you make a stop at B&J’s and enjoy some of the freshest, best tasting, perfectly cooked shrimp you will ever be lucky enough to enjoy!! Thanks again Abe Goren for a wonderful food tip!!

See you tomorrow in Walt Disney World, as the “Kenny and Chris Move to LA” saga continues!

Oh God…I ate too much!!!

http://www.bandjssteaksandseafood.com/

Sunday February 26, 2017

February 27, 2017 / Sue and Frank D'Elia / Leave a comment

As I write this first blog of our February trip, Susie and I are drinking our first Sailor Jerry and Coke Zero of the trip in a Comfort Inn in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. We left Ocean City at 9:45 this morning, and arrived at the hotel at 5:30 this evening having driven 422 miles in day one of our trip, traveling from New Jersey, through Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and into North Carolina. Not much to talk about but the Interstate Highway system, so I thought I might give a quick recap of what the past week was like in the “Kenny and Chris to LA Tour”!

Last Sunday night we picked Kenny and Chris up at JFK’s Jet Blue terminal at 10:30 PM and drove home to Mineola where twin sister Krissi and her boyfriend Mike were waiting for them. We’d earlier in the day (per Kenny’s instructions) bought a selection of pizza slices from Angelo’s in Carle Place, and after Christmas #5, it was time for a Twins (and significant others) “Night in the Basement.” If you read my last blog post, you realize this might be the last time this will happen for Kenny and Krissi in Mineola, so there was indeed some added meaning for the two of them!

The next day was President’s Day, so all the working stiffs were off, and the plan was for a Siblings and Significant Others afternoon and evening in Astoria. At one time, a couple of years ago, all three of our kids lived in Astoria (as well as many of their friends, and Billy’s future bride Lori) and now just Krissi and her boyfriend Mike live there. They started doing this Siblings Day Out a couple of years ago, rather than buy each other Christmas presents, and with Kenny on the cruise, this was the perfect opportunity for the six of them to get together. It was also another “last” for them, as Kenny moves to LA, and Billy and Lori move to North Carolina. Susie asked them to take a picture of the three D’Elia siblings so she can get it printed for her Mom, and here is the result.

Kenny and Chris crashed at Krissi’s apartment Monday night, and then Tuesday headed into Manhattan for a day and night of getting together with friends. The boys spent that night in a Manhattan hotel, and had a great time…even though the sun was up before they were in bed!! Ah, to be young again!!

Wednesday was Nail Night, and even though the boys were a wee bit under the weather (not as easy to bounce back as you get into your thirties), it was a great night for all six of us at St. James for drinks and dinner. Because of President’s Week school vacation, the place was a zoo, but that didn’t stop the D’Elias from having a great Super Nail Night!!

On Thursday, Susie and I headed down to Ocean City, followed shortly by Kenny and Chris, for a last goodbye to the shore till next summer for the boys. Thursday night they were honestly still recovering a bit (kids!), but we enjoyed sushi at Tokyo Mandarin, and then an early night!

Friday’s plan was an afternoon and evening at Harrahs in Atlantic City, with Krissi and Mike heading down from NYC via bus in the afternoon, and all six of us having a drink with our good friend, and excellent AC Bartender, Ralph and then dinner and some gambling. We had 3 rooms that night at Harrahs, so there was no issue with drinking and driving, or having to stop before we were ready to stop! In preparation, the boys slept till 10 AM, and then Susie and I headed off with them to Ready’s Coffee Shop on 8th Street in Ocean City, for a hearty breakfast…a base for that evening’s goings on (people have been known to have issues with Ralph’s martinis if you don’t have a substantial base in your body prior to entering Harrah’s Eden Lounge). After a good breakfast, it was back to the house for showers and then we were off to Harrahs!

We lucked out by being called from the Diamond Line to the VIP Check-In area by a very nice lady who put Susie and I and the boys right across the hall from each other, and reserved and pretty much checked Krissi in several hours before she got there! After we dropped off our bags, it was down to the Exhibition Bar so Susie could get an excellent Bloody Mary, and the rest of us more ordinary drinks and start the gambling process! Susie managed to hit Four Deuces and an Ace on a Video Poker machine at the bar for $320 and then we hit a couple of other things, and left with a voucher for $400! Not a bad way to start!! After playing a few more machines, Frank got lucky and hit a machine for $500!!! We headed up to the room and played cards while we waited for Krissi and Mike to arrive.

Once they got all checked in, it was time to go visit Ralph at the bar, and he was thrilled to see Kenny and Krissi, as he always asks about them, because he hasn’t seen them recently! He loved hearing their plans and what was going on in their lives, and took Mike aside before we left the bar and told him what a good girl he had in Krissi! I guess Mike passed the Ralph muster! Here’s some photographic evidence of our time there!

Then it was dinner at the new AC Burger restaurant at Harrahs (good..everybody enjoyed the food), some more gambling, and a lot of family fun, till Mom and Dad decided it was time to leave the night to the young, and head up to bed with more money, I must add, than we came with!

Saturday dawned earlier for Susie and I than the younger D’Elias, and since it was Bagel Saturday, we headed over to Hot Bagels and More in Somers Point armed with orders from all the kids. While they slept in, we followed our usual Saturday morning routine and had bagels as we headed to Hawaii via Hawaii Five-O on the TV!

Saturday night, there was an impromptu gathering of some of our Ocean City Family, as they met Chris and Mike, and said goodbye to Kenny and Chris! As always, a fun time, and the boys enjoyed being with these folks and being able to say Hello and Good-Bye at the same time!

This morning the boys headed out at 9 AM, headed down to Cape May to take the Cape May/Lewes Ferry to start their trip, while Susie and I did the more normal Atlantic City Expressway to Interstate 95. Tonight the boys are in another hotel in Rocky Mount, NC and their plan is to grab Subway or something, and settle in to watch the Oscars. Susie and I are probably going to head across the parking lot of the hotel to the Texas Steakhouse and Saloon, and there you have Day One of our February/March 2017 trip!!

See you tomorrow!!

PS – In the months since we ended our 9 week trip across the country last fall, I have forgotten how much most hotel’s “free Wifi” sucks! IT SUCKS!!

Big Changes On The Horizon

February 22, 2017February 22, 2017 / Sue and Frank D'Elia / 4 Comments

In my last post Holiday Road, I alluded to some of the big changes happening in our family’s life, but Susie and I just wanted to spell out the big change that we will soon experience, so everyone understands.

After a lifetime of wishing for it, on January 28th, 2005 we were able to live out our dream and buy our beach house in Ocean City, NJ. Just 500 feet from the beach, with an incredible summer front porch, we knew at the time it was the perfect beach house…what we didn’t know, however, was that we had landed in the perfect spot, on the perfect street, and were surrounded by great people who would soon become friends, and ultimately become our family! The plan in the beginning was that we’d use it and rent out this house for a couple of years, then flip it to something else, and continue on that progression till we had the ultimate house! Well, within the first couple of years, the bottom dropped out of the housing bubble, and houses in OC stopped appreciating at 20% a year, and from a financial point of view, that plan would no longer work. From an emotional point of view, that plan would also not work, because Susie and I are convinced that fate landed us exactly where we were meant to spend the rest of our life, so the plan changed.

Although we hated doing it, we continued to rent out the house for a portion of the summer, but spent as much time possible the rest of the year on Pennlyn Place. Over the years, our summertime spent in Ocean City grew, we looked forward to the day we would no longer rent the house out, and it would become ours, and ours alone. Since we happen to live on a great street with lots of full time residents, eventually we hatched a plan that the house on Pennlyn Place would become our full-time home, once we both retired. Well we are both retired, our time is our own, and last summer was the last time we will rent out our house in Ocean City!

That brings us to the second half of the D’Elia Housing Equation…the house in Mineola! Susie, Billy, and I moved into this house in August of 1986. At that time, Susie was pregnant with Krissi and Kenny, and Billy was a 3 year old. The Mineola house was built in 1928, and over the years we have discovered evidence of it’s original DC electric wiring, of the original coal fired boiler that kept it warm, and of a history of close to 90 years of one resident after another patching things together. We’ve replaced roofs, windows, furnaces, porches, fences, flooring, appliances, radiators, central air conditioning, a bathroom, and too many other things over the years to even enumerate. Frankly, every time we turn around, something is breaking or signaling it’s eminent doom to us. The house is old and it shows it, and since our life here is nothing like our life in Ocean City, this is really not where our hearts are.

Now we factor in the third part of the equation, the financial aspects of our retirement. Between Susie and my pensions, and our Social Security, and our 401Ks, we have the well being to live a nice life in retirement. What we don’t have is the ability to pay for two houses on our retirement income, without going to the bank too many times in the process. Susie added up everything it costs for us to keep the Mineola house, and the number was right around $40,000 a year, and that doesn’t factor in having to fix things.

I’m sure you see where this is going, and it’s as evident to you as it was to us, that making Ocean City our only house was both emotionally and financially the smart thing to do. But, that means cleaning out a house that we have lived in for almost 31 years. A house full of not only our “stuff”, but the “stuff” of raising 3 children. That was indeed a daunting task, but once we got into it, it’s amazing how easy it is to divorce yourself from items you thought were important, when you realize what’s really important! Susie has always loved the OC house, because unlike Mineola it’s not cluttered and full of “stuff”. We realize that we want to keep it that way, so our mission has been to eliminate and to transport only the most important things to the shore. For months we have been replacing “just good enough” things at the shore, with “the good stuff” we’ve had at home, and that’s great. Having two houses for 12 years, we have had duplicates of lots of things, so now it’s our time to save only the best. It’s also time to get rid of things that you may have had for years, but when you ask yourself, “will I miss this?”, the answer is “no!” (I mean, how often have I ever looked at my high school year books?). So the process goes on, and we are really getting to the point where we see the end in sight. Kenny went a long way in making his decisions when he was packing last week for his move to California, and Billy came over Monday and spent 3 hours going through his “history”. Amazing how unimportant those things seem now, that seemed so important when there was a convenient place to stash them….in Mom and Dad’s attic!

So we hope that before summer hits, we will be at a place where we can put this house up for sale. It’s old, and frankly needs things done to it, and since the mode on our street the last couple of years has been to knock down old houses and build new, we think we will probably investigate that direction. Our friend has names of multiple builders that do that kind of thing in Mineola, and if we can get the number we have in our head for the house, not having to deal with a real estate agent, and a buyer who needs this and that fixed, sounds like a good thing. Of course, first we have to empty the house out!

It’s kind of a sad thing to leave a house you’ve lived in for 30+ years, and frankly a state Susie and I have lived in all our lives, but it’s not the end of us and Long Island. While Kenny will be in LA, and Billy and his family will be in North Carolina, Krissi will still be in Astoria and Susie’s Mom will still be in a nursing home in Great Neck, not to mention her sister and brother who will still be Long Islanders. And let’s face it, could we survive without Nail Night every 2 weeks, and our visits to the St. James? Or how about a burger or Rough Rider Wrap at TR’s in Williston Park, or Chicken Zingarella at our favorite, Piccolos. No, we are not done with Long Island, but without the Mineola housing costs, we have lots of freedom to come and go as we choose. Hell, even if we came back every 2 weeks for a whole year, and paid to stay at the Homewood Suites on Westbury Avenue, it would only cost us about $7000 a year! That’s $33,000 less that keeping a house we really don’t want to call home anymore!

Over the next couple of months, the garbage piles in front of 40 Fairfield Avenue will be big every trash day, and there will be lots of trips with loaded cars down to OC as we enter the home stretch of our Big Change. There will be decisions to make, and items to be packed, and somewhere along the way, even New Jersey license plates to get for the cars. Change is never easy, even if it’s a good change!

Holiday Road

February 17, 2017 / Sue and Frank D'Elia / 1 Comment

So, those of you who followed this blog during our big 9 week trek across the United States last fall, will recall that two of those weeks were spent aboard Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas, where our youngest son Kenny was one of the lead entertainers. Sailing out of Galveston, Texas, we had a great two weeks with Kenny, his boy friend Chris, and his Liberty Family, exploring the ship, attending the shows, and visiting ports. Well, after being on the ship since June, on January 29th their contract ended (one year to the day after his father retired) and Royal shipped him home via Delta Airlines. If you remember back a couple of weeks, January 29th was the Sunday night when Delta’s computers shut down, and it caused Kenny to spend 3+ hours on the tarmac at the Atlanta Airport, and for Mom and Dad to venture to JFK Airport at 4 AM! A little sleepily, we collected our youngest child, and made it to bed just a bit before the sun made a return engagement for the day. We were tired, but happy to have him home, a place he hadn’t been since last April!

The following week was a mix of eating at local places he’d missed in the time he’d been away and preparing for two moves. The first move is a big one for Kenny and Chris, and one of the main reasons they signed on for another contract on the ship…they are going to try their hands in Los Angeles! When they signed on the Liberty, they rightly figured that if they watched their spending, they’d be able to sign off with a nice nest egg, which would give them a healthy bank account as a basis for the move. Well, so far their plan has worked out, so Kenny was preparing for that move. The second move Kenny was preparing for is also a big one…it sees Susie and I moving out of the house in Mineola we have lived in for almost 31 years, selling said house, and making our New Jersey residence permanent, as we officially become residents of Ocean City! Unlike years past, Kenny would no longer have a Long Island storage spot, so he was packing or getting rid of clothes, memorabilia, and frankly a lot of junk! Susie and I know about getting rid of a lot of junk, as we have been doing the same for months now!

After a week in New York, on Super Bowl Sunday, Kenny flew to Reno to re-join Chris, and a couple of days later, they drove from Reno to LA, to begin the search for an apartment. Happy to tell you that in the last couple of days, the boys have found a great apartment, and now that they’ve been successful, it’s time to kick back and enjoy some time with LA friends before they fly back to the East Coast. Chris’ car is there, and now it’s time for them to get Kenny’s car to it’s new home! They fly in late Sunday, spend a couple of days in the area seeing family and touching base with friends, and then on Thursday, we begin the trip to the West Coast. I say we, because during the course of their adventure, they interact with others of us in the family several times!

Our first stop on Thursday is the house in Ocean City. A quick overnight there, before spending Friday night at Harrahs in Atlantic City. While Susie and I will have the Sonata, and Kenny and Chris will have his Santa Fe, twin sister Krissi and boyfriend Mike will take the bus down from NYC, and we will have a family gathering! Saturday, it’s back to OC for some family fun, and then on Sunday morning we hit the road. Krissi and Mike head back to NYC via the bus, ending their part of the weekend. Meanwhile Kenny and Chris head off one way, and Susie and I head another way, with our ultimate destination Walt Disney World. The four of us have 3 nights there, so that the boys can take advantage of my Disney Retiree Benefits, staying at a discount, entering the parks for free, and buying discounted Disney “stuff”. On the morning of day 4, we end our stay in The Happiest Place on Earth…..but wait, we’re not done yet! Next destination is New Orleans!

Kenny and Chris will do the drive in one day, and that afternoon will once again be joined by twin sister Krissi and boyfriend Mike, who are flying down for a twins weekend in NOLA. The drive looks to be about 9 hours, so Susie and I will take a more relaxed journey to the Big Easy, and show up early Saturday! The six of us will be together Saturday and Sunday, with Krissi and Mike winging their way back to NYC late Sunday! Are we done yet?

Well, we were going to be, but then an email offer showed up, and we’re joining the boys for one more leg! Kenny had gotten a reduced rate in the Horseshoe Casino in Bossier City, Louisiana for one night, when what should arrive, but an email for both Susie and myself, offering free rooms at the Horseshoe and two free pillows each. Well, how could we say no! We stayed there last fall on the way back from Texas, and have been raving about the meal we had at their Binions Steakhouse ever since, so not only are the boys staying there for nothing, we’re also having our last dinner with the boys there on the night of Monday, March 6th!

On Tuesday March 7th, we will officially say goodbye to Kenny and Chris, as they continue on to the west coast, and their new adventure. Susie and I will stay one more night at the Horseshoe, and then we are not sure what we’re going to do. We know we have to be home to have our taxes done on March 16th, but we’re unsure exactly where our travels will take us. Might we head to the west, back into Texas, and visit Mineola, Texas, just so we can say we’ve been there? Yes, we might do that. Might we explore more of Louisiana, or might we venture to Memphis or Nashville? Also a possibility. Or might we find a National Park, and use my National Park Senior Pass one more time!

Honestly, not sure. Thanks to our trip last fall, we know we like being on the road. Even after 9 weeks, we were not tired of hotels, or different restaurants, or just exploring our surroundings. As long as the two of us are together, every day in every place is an experience.

As I think they say, “Sometimes it’s about the journey, not the destination.”

On The Road Again

October 31, 2016 / Sue and Frank D'Elia / 2 Comments

Well, we are on the road again!! No, not in any shape or form like the way we were a couple of weeks ago, but none the less, we were on the road again today..on our way to Ocean City! We left Ocean City on Saturday, August 6th, and haven’t been back since! It’s the longest time we’ve been away from Ocean City since we bought the house in 2005, and as you can imagine, we were very desirous to get back, but first there were things to do!

As you recall, we got home last Saturday, after being on the road for 9 weeks. As you can imagine, there were lots of tasks that had to be done before we could get back to Ocean City, and that’s what we did the last week.

First, there was laundry! Although she did do laundry on the road a couple of times, nothing had been done since the day we got on the Liberty of the Seas! Susie had 5 loads, which she originally figured would run into the early part of the week. Surprise, surprise…she got it ALL done by cocktail hour on Sunday! Job #1 out of the way!

Then there were food desires. Twice on the trip, we’d had Chinese..once at PF Changs in El Paso with our friends Mike and Nancy, and a second time in Moab, Utah, at a converted Mexican Restaurant. We were due, so after getting home Saturday, it was Chinese take-out for dinner, along with a bottle of Prosecco! We’d had a lot of pizza on the trip, but not New York Pizza. So Sunday it was time for a Meatball and Mushroom Pizza, Fried Zucchini Sticks, and an Encaldo Salad from Mineola Pizza! Food desires quenched!

Monday it was off to the cleaners. Most of this stuff was summer clothes which we wore on the cruise, but they needed to be cleaned before being put away, so off we went with arm loads! $86 later, and we were ready for the summer of 2017!

Monday, we also stopped by the Mineola Post Office and picked up our mail, that they’d held for us for 9 weeks. They had it very organized in a mail bin, which we dumped into two reusable grocery bags. In addition to bills that I’d already paid, there were a lot of magazines, regular mail, and more election flyers than you’d believe! To be honest, piles were made on Monday, but it took me most of the week to go through it all, pay the bills, and file the rest! This also necessitated that we do some banking too! A couple of trips to various banks, and we were up to date! Every bill was paid on the road, except the landscapers. Although we thought we’d arranged to have them email us the bills, we found two when we got home. Paid that bill, and we were current!

Oh, and did I mention that when I flushed the downstairs toilet the day we got home, water rushed out of the bottom of the tank? Thanks to Susie’s brother Don, it got fixed in a couple of days! Turned out we lucked out and it was the gasket between the tank and the bowl, and thanks to Donnie, it was $8 in parts from Home Depot, rather than a $300+ bill from the plumber! It’s always handy to have a handy brother-in-law! Thanks Donnie!!!

Then there was the Sonata. She’d faithfully carried us 9,773 miles without a stumble or a whimper, and she deserved to be taken care of. We’d changed the oil in Las Vegas at Terribles about 5,000 miles ago, but she deserved a visit back to see Mike and Mike at C&S Automotive, and a little pampering! Turned out that all she needed was an oil change, and off we went! Oh, and after 9 weeks, she needed a car wash too. I mean a real car wash, not the kind I’d given her on the road! Of course, after I had that done, it rained!

Then there were two visits to Best Nails! On Tuesday, Susie and I went to have pedicures. Yes, I go with Susie and we get pedicures together! It’s nice to be taken care of, and frankly with my knees, it gets hard to bend over and clip my toenails. No nail polish for me, but everything else! Of course, after a visit to Best Nails, we had to go next door to the St. James, and have a drink with our favorite Mineola Bartender, Dennis. A couple of martinis, and a lot of talk, and we were caught up with the last 9 weeks! On Wednesday, we resumed Nail Night, as Krissi took the Long Island Rail Road to Mineola, and Susie had her first manicure in over 9 weeks! Of course, Nail Night also includes a visit to St. James, and this time we were joined by Krissi’s boyfriend Mike! We all had a great time meeting Mike, (he seems like a really nice guy, and makes Krissi happy!!) and it was good to see Mo and our other St. James friends after being away! That would be just the first of many times we’d see Krissi and Mike that week! Oh, and Wednesday morning, Susie also had her first visit to Laura her hairdresser since we’d left. Unlike her manicure, which she handled herself when we were away, Nancy had taken Susie to her hairdresser in El Paso, but it was good to be back to her regular shop!

Thursday afternoon, Susie and her brother Don visited her Mom. Her Mom is 91 years old, has dementia, and has been deteriorating this past year. She’s in a nursing home near North Shore Hospital, and each time they see her, she is a little worse. On Thursday she thought Donnie was me, and although she knew that Susie was her daughter, she had no idea of what her name was. The saddest thing was that she no longer remembers her husband Bob. Susie showed her pictures, mentioned his name, but she had no idea who that was. She’s ready to leave this life, and the truth is, that what she’s going through is really not living. It’s really sad that we are more compassionate with our pets, than with our loved ones.

So after they got home, it was time to return to TR’s in Williston Park for the first time in months! A nice cold beer, a couple of Rough Rider Wraps, and some good talk with friends from our old church made for a great night! We took Donnie to dinner in thanks for fixing our toilet and saving us a lot of money. A good night that I think both Susie and Donnie needed, after spending time with their Mom!

Then it was time for the celebratory time of the week, as our little Grandson Henry celebrated his first birthday! Krissi and Mike took the train to Mineola, and the 4 of us traveled out to Deer Park on Friday for Henry’s actual birthday. Just Billy and Lori, Lori’s Mom Kathy, and Henry’s big sister Layla, and we enjoyed spending some time with our oldest and his family! We’d see Krissi and Mike again on Sunday when we again were at Lori and Billy’s for Henry’s official Birthday Party. Another fun time, celebrating this little bundle of joys first year in this world, with our family and their friends! It was great seeing friends that Billy has had since kindergarten and others that showed up in college! The weather was great, and we had a great barbecue outside, with temperatures in the 70s, and the rain held off till the party was done! A great family weekend all around!

Henry wearing his coonskin cap from the Alamo and enjoying his birthday cake!

Between Henry’s Birthday Weekend, we had a nice quiet night on Saturday with our good friends Pat and Steve. Some vodka, a wonderful home cooked meal by Pat, and the debut of the Sue and Frank D’Elia Our Big Adventure slide show!! A nice relaxing night with good friends!

So that takes us to this morning, Monday, October 31, 2016. We picked up the cleaning we’d dropped off last week, and at 11 AM we were back on the road to Ocean City. A great trip down the Garden State, a stop at Acme on 9th Street for some shopping, and we were home. As I mentioned, it’s been 3 months since we’ve been at the house, and since it was rented for 6 weeks after we left, almost nothing is where it belongs! Today we did the minimum we had to do to get us back into the house, and we’re about to make dinner, and have a martini or two! Tomorrow we will push it, and get the house back in shape, and hopefully Wednesday will be warm enough so that we can take the porch furniture down and power wash it before putting it away! It’s great to be home, and even better to know that when we put the house back together, this will be the last time! That’s because the Summer of 2016 was the last time we will rent this house, so all the stuff that we use when we rent can go, and only our possessions will stay. It will truly be our home, and with any luck, it will be where we officially live by this time next year! A lot of work getting rid of stuff from the Mineola house, but we hope to do a lot of that over the winter.

So that’s what we’ve been up to this week, as we have passed the time between getting home from the road, and heading out again. Ocean City is only 150 miles away from Long Island, so it was a short trip, but when we are at the shore, it’s like we are a million miles away! We’ve already seen our neighbor Doc, met the new dog, Surfer Boy, and are starting to settle in! Time to go, mix the martinis, and help Susie with dinner. I could get use to this!!!

And finally, thanks to all the friends who traveled along with us via our blog. So many have said nice things about the blog, and how much they enjoyed traveling with us. It’s great to know that others were reading along with us, and that I was not just doing this for Susie and me, so we’d remember what we did. I appreciated all the nice things you said about my writing, and I promise you all that I will continue to write, and I hope you will be with me then too! We loved having you all along, and hope you enjoyed the trip as much as we did, because it was wonderful!

See you soon!

Day Sixty Three A – Saturday, October 22, 2016

October 23, 2016 / Sue and Frank D'Elia / 1 Comment

Yesterday I gave you a very brief look at our last day on the road, so I thought I would do an addendum to that post, and give you a better idea of how our last day on the road shaped out.

We awoke on our last morning at the Homewood Suites, just outside of Allentown, Pennsylvania. It was still raining, as it had been all night, just re-enforcing that we’d made the correct decision by not trying to push on home last night. We’ve stayed in 3 other Homewood Suites on our travels, and all others have had good breakfasts, with the one of San Antonio, Texas providing the absolute best “free” breakfast we’d had on the trip! Well, perhaps as another indication that it was time for this trip to end, this was perhaps one of the worst breakfasts we have had! Yucky eggs, rubber potatoes, and sausage that Susie described as , “cadaver flesh! Yes indeed, it was time for us to go home!

Shortly after “eating” breakfast, we packed the car, in the rain, for the last time, and headed out on Interstate 78. It wasn’t long till we’d passed into yet another state, our neighbor, and future home state, New Jersey. Fall colors were much more obvious here, than they’d been just a day before in Virginia, as we were just hours away from home, and very soon, we were joining the New Jersey Turnpike. Our GPS friend wanted us to head towards the Holland Tunnel, but we like the Lincoln better, so we overruled her.

Luckily, we switched to NYC Traffic on Sirius and then went to our source for traffic on the 8s, WCBS, and realized that this was one of those stupid weekends, when one side of the Midtown Tunnel is closed, due to continuing Sandy repairs. Having been trapped in Manhattan twice on weekends when this was happening, we decided that the George Washington Bridge was going to be our new target. Almost as soon as we made this decision, we got to the toll booths on the NJ Turnpike at exit 16W, which is the Lincoln Tunnel exit. I was fortunate enough to be far enough left that I was able to shoot up north to the GWB, because the 495 Viaduct into the Lincoln Tunnel was backed up almost to the toll booths! We’ve done that, and know for a fact that’s a 45 minute trip to the NJ side of the tunnel! Luck was still with us!!!

The rain was still falling, the nutty drivers were still running amok, but our trip over the GWB and across the Cross Bronx Expressway was as good as it can be, and soon we were crossing the Throgs Neck Bridge, and we were back on Long Island. A short trip down the LIE, and we were getting off at Willis Avenue and almost home! At precisely 1:37 in the afternoon, we pulled into the driveway of 40 Fairfield Avenue, exactly 9 weeks since we left on Our Big Adventure, having traveled a grand total of 9,773.0 miles!

Everything looked great at the house, and the lawn guys were obviously still cutting the grass, even though they haven’t been paid for the past 9 weeks, because they’ve never emailed me a bill, as they agreed they would. The mail is still being held at the Post Office, so a huge pile hadn’t come through the door slot, and getting the front door open was an easy task. The humidifier was still working in the basement, so all was dry, and the rest of the inside of the house looked fine – good job Susie, leaving with a nice clean house. The only issue we found was in flushing the toilet in the downstairs bathroom, water runs out of the bottom of the tank. Oh well, a call to the plumber Monday, and that will be taken care of!

img_6679-2 As the rain seemed to be letting up, we decided that rather than make ourselves comfortable, we’d best unpack the car. We really had no idea what was in some of the dark recesses of the trunk, but we launched into it and in less than 10 minutes had the trunk and the inside pretty empty. After spending 7 weeks in the car (taking out the 14 days on the Liberty), the interior had seen some living, so it will take a little more effort and a professional car wash to erase all traces of our travels!

Now, the dining room became our staging area, as Susie began to go through the suitcases, canvas bags, and paper bags we’d brought in. One big pile for the cleaners (we will be floating a loan before picking up the completed order), half the room for washing (which will take several days to complete), and the table full of items that were not part of our original packing, but we now own! All in all, not too bad, considering that we’d just returned from 9 weeks on the road!

Then, we decided to check out the DVR and found that it was at 99%! Lots of new shows we’d wanted to take a look at, and returning shows, as we are fully 3 weeks into the new TV season! So we decided that for the rest of the weekend, our primary task, between going up and down for the wash, and other trip ending tasks, will be to watch some TV and garner some couch time!

img_6680-2 Of course, what would our first Saturday back at home be without our first real martinis since we left the Liberty of the Seas. There are little or no supplies in the house, and certainly nothing that could help us make a Melvin and R Bar Martini, so it was just Grey Goose with a twist! I did however serve them in well chilled Royal Caribbean glasses, and used the “professional shaker” method, as befitting a graduate of not one, but two, Martini Mixology classes on the Liberty of the Seas! Thanks Melvin!!

Then to wrap up the day, Chinese take-out! I have to say that the take-out from Mr. Chen’s in Carle Place was much better than the Chinese food we had at a converted Mexican restaurant in Moab, Utah, but then having it delivered, and eating it while sitting on our living room couch, drinking Prosecco, and watching TV shows from our DVR might have had something to do with that feeling!

So that’s it…the trip is over and we are home. As sad as the thought was that the trip was ending, we both have to admit, that it is very good to be home! Nine weeks is a long time to be gone, and after a couple of days of R&R, we will collect our thoughts about the trip, and we will put together a couple of wrap-up blogs to tie the whole thing up.

Before I end today, just a word about this blog. I started out writing this, as much for us, as for those of you who may have been riding along. In nine weeks on the road, we saw some incredible things, had some great food, met some very nice people, had lots of fun times, went to places we’d love to return to, went to some places we never want to return to, and in so many ways, had the trip of a lifetime. But 9 weeks is a long time, and even now, we have trouble remembering exactly where and when some things happened. So for us, this blog is now a permanent record that we can look back on and refresh our memory in coming days. But the blog was something else to me. One thing I have always wanted to be was a writer. I’ve dabbled here and there over the years, and many have told me that I am good at it, but what a writer needs to do is to write! For the past 9 weeks, this blog forced me to sit down in front of the computer every night and write something. If you’ve been with us for the whole ride, you know that some nights it was the last thing I wanted to do, but I did it. For 9 weeks (even on the cruise) grabbing the Macbook Air, and punching away on the keys for a half hour or more every day, has been a way of life for me. It’s become part of my routine, which was very good for me, and it’s something I hope to continue. I may not post every day, but I hope to write something every day. I know that I will be updating this blog on a pretty regular basis, because heck, now that we are both retired, Our New Adventures are just starting out! We already have a road trip to Disney World in the planning stage for early 2017 with Krissi, Kenny, and Chris, and you know that there are several road trip ideas that we’ve come up with, based on this trip, so by no means are we done traveling. Then there’s our life in Ocean City, and you know with our group of friends there, there will be lots of stories to tell! So, I hope that you’ll continue to ride along with us in the future. We’re not 100% sure where the journey will take us, but we can promise it will be interesting, and we hope we can count on your continued presence in our blog life!

Of course, this blog would have looked a lot different the last 9 weeks, had it not been for my #1 fan, and the best travel companion, soul mate, best friend, and proofreader I could ever have. Had Susie not been the step-in between writing and publishing, only God knows what gross mis-spellings, grammar errors, and just wrong words (thanks i-spell) would have appeared in this blog. Thanks babe for putting up with me for 9 weeks, for reading a map better than I ever could, for reminding me which direction is right and which is left, and for making this blog the readable thing it is. Nothing would have been possible without you!!

One last word, and that’s to those of you who have been along on this adventure with us. Over the course of the past nine weeks, we have heard from you in various ways, and I know that a number of you have been with us every day, since we started back in August. I heard from some of you when I was not in any mood to write the blog, and said so. It was your encouragement, and just knowing that you were reading the words that I was writing, that made it easier for me to sit down every night, and compile a record of what we’d done that day. It would have been very easy for me to have ended this blog in week three or four, and chalk this up as just another one of the many uncompleted writing projects I’ve done in my life, were it not for knowing that there were people waiting to see what our day on the road had been like. So to those of your who reached out to us, and let us know you were in the back seat of the Sonata, whether from start to finish, or just for a day or two here and there, thank you. As happy as I am to have this blog as a record of the trip for us, it never would have gotten completed without you. Knowing that people were reading it, were commenting own Facebook or on the WordPress site, and were enjoying our travels made all the difference.

See you soon….

Day Sixty Three – Saturday, October 22, 2016

October 22, 2016October 22, 2016 / Sue and Frank D'Elia / 1 Comment

We are Home!! The car is unpacked….

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The first Martinis are made (thanks Melvin at the R Bar on the Liberty of the Seas for all the martini knowledge!

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I overestimated a smidge on what we traveled when I said 10,000 miles…the total for our trip was just under 9,800 miles!

Right now we are relaxing, enjoying being home (it is nice), watching shows from our DVR (we really like Kevin Can Wait) and ready for the gentleman to bring us our take out Chinese food order!!

See you tomorrow, because frankly, I’m lucky I wrote this much! All I know is that when we left Long Island on August 21, it was summer. Today, it definitely isn’t summer!

Day Sixty Two – Friday, October 21, 2016

October 22, 2016 / Sue and Frank D'Elia / Leave a comment

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Welcome to our last night on the road, of Our Big Adventure, 2016. Today we covered 343 miles, as we traveled through the states of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and into Pennsylvania, making this a four state day, but as we hit Pennsylvania on the way out, our last 3 new states. For those keeping track, our total for the trip is 25 states, and 4 countries – Mexico, Honduras, Jamaica, and the United States. Those are all the numbers I’m going to give you today, because a “by the numbers” blog will, I’m sure, happen next week. Tonight I want to concentrate on this day on the road, and our last night sleeping not in someplace we own!

So, in 62 days on the road, this was just the 3rd day where rain has been a part of just about the whole day. I don’t know about you, but Susie and I are rather flabbergasted with our weather luck! We think back on all the special places we’ve been, all the wonderful views we’ve had, and how less special those views would have been had the weather been against us! So one day at the beginning of our travels in Pennsylvania, one day in Texas when the hammers of Hell fell on us, and, of course, the day we returned to Pennsylvania, were our only total rain days of the last 62! Amazing and let’s face it, it obviously shows that someone upstairs was looking out for us, and wanted to make this trip as special for us as it was!

As we started today in Cookeville, Virginia, Interstate 81 was very busy, and what with showers, and if not showers, ponding on the roadway, was not the nicest morning we have had on the road. We’d had breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express this morning, so our day really just consisted on driving on the Interstate. The crazy drivers continued, and frankly we are amazed at the numbers of people who seem totally oblivious to the weather conditions, and continue to drive like it’s dry and sunny. One truck driver appeared to have paid the price for this kind of behavior, as traffic on the Interstate came to a halt, and we crawled till we passed this accident on the center divider. As I said yesterday, I fear that the folks driving tractor trailers are not the professionals they once were!

As we got into Pennsylvania, we started seeing names we recognized and towns that we’d visited with the kids when they were small. Every fall, right around Billy’s birthday (November 3rd), we’d take a weekend trip down to Amish Country. We probably did it for 12 or more years in a row, staying in places like the Red Caboose Motel, or the Mill Stream Motor Lodge, and riding the Strasburg Railroad every year, and enjoying the “country”. Well, as we were speeding along Interstate 78 this afternoon, what pops up but a place we took the kids back in those days, Roadside America. It’s probably the worlds biggest Lionel train layout, and when we passed that this afternoon, we knew we were almost home!

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Speaking about being almost home, you may wonder why we are staying in a Homewood Suites in Allentown, PA tonight, a mere 150 miles from our home on Long Island. Well, there are several answers to that question. #1, we’d looked at the weather, and realized it was going to be rainy into the night, and had no desire to do the drive in that kind of weather. #2, had we pushed right through, we would have hit the New York Metro Area right in the middle of a Friday rush hour, meaning that the optimistic GPS ETA of 6:30, would have probably been closer to 9 PM. #3, we really don’t want the trip to end. The truth is really a combination of all those answers.

So, late this afternoon, after checking in, we had our last Sailor Jerry and Cokes of the trip. Soon, we will go out for our last dinner of the trip (no, we will not go to Cracker Barrel again), tonight I will take my last shower of the trip, we will spend our last night in a king size bed on the trip (oh God…how will we return to our queen size beds!!!), Susie will take her last shower of the trip in the morning, we will have our last “free breakfast” of the trip, and tomorrow we will head off in the Sonata for the last 3-4 hours of our Adventure as we motor our way, on the very last day of Our Big Adventure home!

Before I go today, I want to try and capture some of what we are feeling tonight. We started talking about this trip probably 5 years ago. We started gathering information close to two years ago. Back in March, when we realized that we needed to make reservations for the National Parks NOW, the trip became real. Between then, and when we left on August 21st, we continued to make plans and reservations. Then suddenly it was the first week in August, and we now had to start packing and making decisions of what to take and what not to take. Then there was our last weekend on Long Island, when Krissi joined us and we partied with our friends Pat and Steve for one last time, had to get the car ready and then pack it. Suddenly, it was the day we’d said we were going to leave, Sunday August 21st, 2016! We left Mineola, dropped Krissi off in Astoria, and before we knew it, we were on Interstate 80 in New Jersey heading west to Our Adventure! That was Day 1, and today is Day 62, and to think back on all we’ve seen, the people we’ve met, the great experiences we’ve had, and the memories we will cherish for a lifetime.

Are we sad as I write this tonight at a hotel in Pennsylvania? You bet we are. We have so loved every day, have gotten such a kick out of driving the Sonata, with our New York license plates (OCNJ4US), in places like Las Vegas, or Yellowstone, or on Route 66, or last weekend in Galveston with Kenny and Chris in the back seat! Have so loved telling people what we have come to call, “Our Trip Story”, when they inquire what we are doing in Moab, Utah, or Corpus Christi, Texas, and now that’s all behind us. We are in Pennsylvania, early tomorrow will be in New Jersey, and shortly after noon, we should return to the state of New York, where there will be nothing special about a red Hyundai Sonata with NY license plates! Sad, but welcome back to real life, from a 2 month fantasy ride through these United States!

See you tomorrow, when we will no longer be singing, On The Road Again. We will be singing, Home, Home on the Range, but there won’t be any deer or antelope playing!

PS – Another first today…take out boxes! Never before have we done that on the trip, but they will spend the night in the Homewood Suites fridge, and next week who knows…they may be lunch or a dinner!

Day Sixty One – Thursday, October 20, 2016

October 21, 2016 / Sue and Frank D'Elia / 2 Comments

The evening of day Sixty One (I really can’t believe it, even though I just typed it) finds us at a Holiday Inn Express in Troutville, Virginia, having traveled 354 miles since we left Cookeville, Tennessee this morning. We had a lazy morning, sleeping in a little and skipping breakfast, and left the hotel a little after 10 AM. We gassed up and hit the Interstate, and although we did change from I-40 to I-81, we spent the entire day on the Interstate Highway System. Lunch consisted of cheese crackers and some packs of cookies from the food bag that’s been on the floor of the back seat since Day 1. Tonight’s blog is going to be a short one, as we really don’t have a lot to share with you.

This Holiday Inn Express is a first for us, having never stayed in one before, even though I did join the club, and have had the app on my phone since we left home. The hotel is nice and the room is large, but really looks like it could use some more furniture! Oh well, it’s got all we need, and that’s what’s important! Oh, another first tonight at check in…my Wells Fargo Visa card didn’t work! Now mind you, I have used this card virtually every day of the last two months we have been on the road. I have charged hotels in 22 states, and have used it in 3 foreign countries on the cruise. In the last 4 days, I have used it in Texas, Louisiana, and Tennessee, but tonight in Virginia, it wasn’t accepted! As soon as the man handed it back to me, I knew why. Even though I have used it all over the United States in the last 2 months, when I filled out the list online of where I was going to use it, I bet I didn’t say “Virginia”. Computers can’t think! Oh well, that’s the good thing about my American Express card…it works everywhere!

Now that we are traveling in more populated areas in the country, there is much more traffic on the Interstates, including more trucks. I remember back when you would always hear that long haul truckers, were the best drivers on the road. Sadly, I think that’s no longer the case. I fear, like with so many other professions (Cab Driver, Waiter/Waitress, Bartender, etc), people are doing it because they need to work, not because they are “professional” truck drivers! We have had huge trucks cut us off, as we were about to pass them in the left lane. We had one truck pull into the left lane just in front of us, attempting to pass another slower truck, and doing this all while heading up a hill. The end result was we too got to take the hill at 45 MPH when the speed limit was 70! Don’t get me wrong, we have also seen plenty of nut jobs in cars, doing some incredible things on the Interstate. Perhaps it’s just the dumbing down of the American driver! Bottom line is, this ain’t no video game…a truck can do some real damage to you at 70 MPH on an Interstate, so your task is to not get too comfortable, and have 3 pairs of eyes!

As in all of our travels, our constant audio companion in the Sonota is Sirius/XM’s Margaritaville Radio. Today they played a song that made us think about our good friends Sue and Jim Waniak in Somers Point! Jim is a huge Phish Fan, and we have heard many concert stories from him over the years! We’ll see you soon, guys!!

We are struck by how similar the countryside we have driven through the last two days, is to that which we know at home. Yesterday in Tennessee, Susie commented, “Looks like we’re approaching the Delaware Water Gap”. Today in Virginia we said, “Looks like upstate New York”. No beach, so we can’t say it looks like Ocean City, but it does have a familiar ring to it! Leaves are starting to change color here, even though it was 85 today, but not as much, I’m sure, as they have at home!

So, here’s a question for you…we came up behind, and then passed, this tanker truck today, and were trying to figure out what Dunkin Donuts might transport in it. If you have any clever ideas (our best was Donut Batter), why not put it in the comment section on Facebook, and we’ll see what everyone thinks!

Tomorrow we already have a reservation in Allentown, Pennsylvania at a Homewood Suites for our final night on the road of Our Big Adventure! We could have made it home in one day from here, but since I’ve got a cold (and Susie sounds like she may be getting it), and we really don’t want to get back to New York on a weekday and fight the rush hour traffic on the LI Expressway, we figured we’d stay one more night! So our last night on the road will be Day 62 and we will return to Mineola mid afternoon Saturday, on day 63 of the trip! Believe me, if we could wiggle our nose and be home, we’d be there already, but based on how we feel, one more night seems about right for us!

Off to dinner shortly at Cracker Barrel.

Have a great night…see you tomorrow!

PS – While sitting on the porch at Cracker Barrel waiting for our table, we started talking to this gentleman. One thing led to another, and we discovered that we were both born in Physicians’ Hospital in Jackson Heights, NY a lifetime ago. Anyone who doesn’t believe we live in a small world, has never been out in it!

R New Adventures

Come with us as we journey through our next chapter