Category Archives: travel

Friends, Family and Food Part I

Sue and I recently spent ten days visiting with family and friends on the Maryland Eastern Shore and DC. We had a great time, but after more than a week in that hot and steamy climate, we definitely know that we made the right choice when we decided to settle in Denver more than decade ago; although weather was not the sole or even main reason.

First stop after arriving at BWI airport was a crab feast with Sue’s family, the Roschy Clan (14 of us) at Fisherman’s Crab Deck, Kent Island, MD. Like riding a bike, once you learn to pick crabs, you never forget. After one, though, Sue decided to go for a Maryland Crab Cake—there’s nothing better anywhere, but I stuck with the crabs and managed to clean off more than a half a dozen. Surrounded by what seemed like hundreds of other diners, the atmosphere was incredibly loud, but also convivial. By moving around and switching chairs, we caught up with everyone’s goings on & happenings.

The gathering included Sue’s brother and sister-in-law, John & Bonnie, and other members of the family; Susie & Jerry Kavinski & their daughters, Abby & Evelyn; Dean & Anita Roschy, and Ann & Dusty Eastman & their daughter, Hannah, and finally Sue’s youngest brother, Tim Roschy. Not all of us made it into the post dinner photo below.

Sated and content, we drove back to John and Bonnie’s Eastern Shore Anchor Rest Farm for a restful few days. It’s definitely a place to chill and relax. John & Bonnie were, as always, the consummate hosts. In addition to great in-laws, John & Bonnie are good friends and great traveling companions, as any one familiar with this blog well know. It is always good to be with them, and we much appreciated their warmth and hospitality this time and always.

The Maryland Eastern Shore is made up of mostly small towns and family farms. You drive through miles of flat, but beautiful countryside dotted with green fields of corn, wheat, and soybeans before arriving at their lovely home. Sitting on their front porch on a summer’s eve is a gift of serenity.

One afternoon we decided to visit the nearby Tuckahoe Maryland State Park, which was created more than 60 years ago through the efforts of Bonnie’s father, Robert Dean, who was a Maryland State Senator for many years. He loved this land where he was born and grew up. This summer John & Bonnie’s granddaughter, Hannah Eastman, is working at the camp, and she was delighted to show us around and talk about how meaningful for her this beautiful gift to the people of Maryland is and will be for many generations to come. We were all charmed by her tour and narrative.

Having rested and rejuvenated at the farm for several days, we moved on to Rehobeth Beach, DE, which is a little more than an hour’s drive from John & Bonnie’s farm. Throughout the year, but even moreso in the summer, thousands of city dwellers from Baltimore, Philadelphia and DC, flock to beach towns all along the Atlantic Beach front of the Delmarva Peninsula. Beach traffic often chokes the roads leading from these metropolitan areas to the shore, and wherever you go it is sure to be a topic of conversation.

Rehobeth Beach, with its milelong board walk, lined with restaurants, souvenir shops, and small hotels, is the quintisential Delmarva beach town; caramel corn, saltwater taffy, and ice cream are always necessary purchases you stroll along of an evening. Those who are familiar with famous beaches around the world might find it a little underwhelming–the Atlantic Ocean waters can be chilly even in the summer & the beach with its choppy waves, quickly drops off to deeper water, making it difficult for people of a certain age to venture in and remain upright. But locals love going to beach and having it so close.

The sand is soft, and we enjoyed just lounging near the waterline and people watching–especially the children who alternate jumping in the waves with making sand castles on the shore. We were really impressed with the lifeguards stationed all along the boardwalk; they were ever diligent in monitoring the water and whistling cautions to the swimmers who ventured too far out. On our second day there at about three-thirty, they whistled everyone out of the water, and then a half hour later, we were all told to clear the beach–a thunderstorm was fast approaching, and they wanted to avoid anyone getting struck by lightning.

Another day we found ourselves sitting beside a gregarious and friendly man, Miliam and his family of four. Talking with him, we learned that Miliam had come to the US more than a decade ago, to escape his war ravaged country, Kosovo. He settled in Lancaster, PA and quickly found a job as a mechanic in a factory there. Welcomed by his new friends and neighbors, he decided to return home to marry his childhood sweetheart. They returned to Lancaster where they bought a small home and are raising their two American born children. The entire family loves coming to Rehobeth, which they do every summer.

We all really enjoyed learning Miliam’s story; the story of millions of Americans like him who have added so much to our nation. But this story is now closed off to people around the world. We have let fear and nationalism blind us to the good that immigrants have brought and still could bring to our country. Now we have heavily armed and masked thugs patrolling our streets and intimidating people who don’t look like “Americans.”

Is this really who we are? I hope not.

San Miguel de Allende & Mexico City

Like the swallows to Capistrano, we seem to find ourselves always returning to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. For the past decade and more, it has been a happy place for us–blue skies and mild temperatures; the nicest people you can imagine; and lots to see, do. More often than not, we are joined by Mart & Bob Larson. (The picture above is of a 3D mural of the town in one of our favorite restaurants in SMA: Il Castello. Great pizza and other Italian dishes.)

For the first time longtime friends, Patrick and Lenore, joined us. Sharing San Miguel with them made it all the more fun. We three couples–Mart & Bob; Lenore & Patrick & us–first met in a cooperative preschool in Alexandria, VA, more than 40 years ago. Believe it or not, from our first reunion in SMA, it felt like we were taking up a conversation that we had just had just left off the day before.

Of course, much of what we saw and did involved eating & drinking, and we seemed to end up with a surfeit of photos of us arranged around one table or another–talking, laughing, and eating.

If we are lucky, a visit to San Miguel also means getting to hear and enjoy one of our favorite bands–Media Luna, which we have followed over the last ten years. This video features them performing Volare or Nel blu dipinto di blu.

The band is lead by the Cabrera brothers, Caleb & Jair; usually when we arrive, Caleb welcomes Sue with a smile and hug, calling her his abuelita (grandmother). Of course, being the consumate showman he his, he has a number of abuelitas, but it always lightens Sue’s heart to see and hear him once again, especially when the group plays Tears of Joy.

On one of our last evenings in town, we were invited to dine with our Spanish teacher and now good friend, Mario, and his partner, Carlos, at their apartment just outside of town. While visiting with them this time, it dawned on me that Mario has been doing his best for the last ten years to teach me Spanish.

The best that can be said is that I am now somewhat conversant, an accomplishment, but still far from fluent. The photo below is of all of us at La Jamaica, a restaurant in the neighborhood of Los Frailes, not far from their home. So much of life in SMA happens en aire libre.

This year Sue and I decided to finish up our Mexican sojourn with a week’s stay in Mexico City. If you haven’t been to Mexico City, you owe it to yourself to see and experience this world class city. With over 22 million inhabitants and nightmare inducing traffic, it can be daunting, but it is well worth the time and effort of a prolonged visit.

Of course, we are fortunate in having our friend, Carole Reedy, as our host and guide whenever we do visit the city. Even though she has shown off the city to many, many friends and visitors and hosted us any number of times, she never seems to tire of visitors or of showing off her adopted hometown.

This year she joined us for:

A three hour “turibus” of the city: a good introduction to the history and cultural highlights of Mexico City, although you can get ensnarled in the city’s legendary traffic!

A visit to the newly created “Museo Vivo de Muralismo, featuring Diego Rivera’s Story of the Mexican Revolution in murals:

(Did you notice that the model for the young woman handing out guns to the poor is Frieda Kahlo? I didn’t.)

The National Anthropology Museum:

Just outside of the Museum you can witness an amazing Voladores show by indigenous people from the state of Vera Cruz.

Mexico over the last two millennia has witnessed the florescence and decline of many extraordinary empires and city states including the Maya, the Olmec, the Aztecs, and many, many more.

The museum in its many halls and exhibitions provide a glimpse of the wonders of their arts and cultures. It would take days if not weeks to see them all. This visit we concentrated on the Teotihuacan sala and a traveling exhibition, Amazonia.

On past visits, we have often stayed with Carole, but as we were staying for a week (fish and friends smell after three days), we rented an apartment in the Roma Sur neighborhood on Cibeles Circle. Cibeles was a Roman goddess of fertility who is usually depicted in her chariot pulled by two lions. The Cibeles sculpture in our neighborhood is a replica of one in Madrid, Spain and was a 1980 gift from Spanish citizens living in Mexico.

This time of the year, Cibeles circle, like much of the city, is full of blooming Jacaranda Trees! And what a delightful area in which to stay, with its variety of shops and restaurants, yet blissfully quiet and peaceful. So peaceful, in fact, that every night we were able to sleep with our apartment windows wide open. The panoramic view from our 11th floor studio was ever changing and mesmerizing. We particularly enjoyed watching the steady traffic of planes taking off and landing at the MC International airport.

We are now back home, weary but safe and sound in Denver. How fortunate are we that we have had the time, resources, and health to experience this trip and the many others we have enjoyed over the years, but it will take us a while to rest and recuperate–as they say, “we are not as young as we used to be.”