Blow That Dough 2025

Sunset said:
Years ago in June we did the Viking Grand European Tour - 15 days Budapest to Amsterdam on Rhine and Danube. I did find the flat lowlands close to Amsterdam less visually exciting than the rest of it. I like castles.
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Lots of happy cows though, ha ha. A wealth of butter and cheese.
 
"Years ago in June we did the Viking Grand European Tour - 15 days Budapest to Amsterdam on Rhine and Danube. I did find the flat lowlands close to Amsterdam less visually exciting than the rest of it. I like castles."

I like castles too. It is actually a Rhine/Mozelle cruise with 4 castle excursions, including Burg Eltz, Rick Steve's favorite European castle. Took me forever to read through all the cruise line itineraries to find it.
 
Ronstar said:
Booked a stay at the Enchantment Resort in Sedona, Az.
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Looks like a beautiful setting! We really enjoyed Sedona even though the downtown area was packed with tourists. You have to get to the popular trails around sunrise if you want to find parking at the trailhead. Well worth it. This was mid April 2024. I see that the Fay Canyon trailhead is not far from your resort. We really enjoyed it - very birdy which we like.

Don’t overlook Slide Rock State Park along Oak Creek! The drive there and back is scenic too, and nearby Indian Gardens Cafe has a great breakfast.

The main roundabout 89A/179 often had a serious traffic jam. Crazy! Probably mostly inexperienced circle drivers.

We stayed in a vacation home in upper Sedona a few blocks away from high people traffic areas. It was nice and peaceful where we stayed yet walking distance to some of the popular restaurants. We also enjoyed a meal at the Mariposa Grill. Very Scenic.
 
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Tried High Tea at the Emirates Palace Madarin Oriental hotel, Abu Dhabi, UAE, including their signature gold coffee. About $67 per person. Highly recommend.
 
audreyh1 said:
Looks like a beautiful setting! We really enjoyed Sedona even though the downtown area was packed with tourists. You have to get to the popular trails around sunrise if you want to find parking at the trailhead. Well worth it. This was mid April 2024. I see that the Fay Canyon trailhead is not far from your resort. We really enjoyed it - very birdy which we like.

Don’t overlook Slide Rock State Park along Oak Creek! The drive there and back is scenic too, and nearby Indian Gardens Cafe has a great breakfast.

The main roundabout 89A/179 often had a serious traffic jam. Crazy! Probably mostly inexperienced circle drivers.

We stayed in a vacation home in upper Sedona a few blocks away from high people traffic areas. It was nice and peaceful where we stayed yet walking distance to some of the popular restaurants. We also enjoyed a meal at the Mariposa Grill. Very Scenic.
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We've been to Sedona about 15-20 times. Our Sedona experiences matches yours - Fay canyon hike, Slide Rock, the roundabouts, touristy downtown, tough getting a parking spot at trailheads. We have never been to Mariposa Grill - went by it several times thinking it looked like a nice place.
 
Ronstar said:
We've been to Sedona about 15-20 times. Our Sedona experiences matches yours - Fay canyon hike, Slide Rock, the roundabouts, touristy downtown, tough getting a parking spot at trailheads. We have never been to Mariposa Grill - went by it several times thinking it looked like a nice place.
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Wow - way more than me! We’ve only been once.
 
Just made my final payment for a Grand Arctic Cruise in July....83 days...New York to Barcelona and 60 ports in between. To keep things interesting, we have booked 89 excursions that have us hiking, biking, kayaking, and even horseback riding. We are mid-70's and will keep DOING things as long as we are able.
 
audreyh1 said:
Have to get to the popular trails around sunrise if you want to find parking at the trailhead. Well worth it.

Don’t overlook Slide Rock State Park along Oak Creek! The drive there and back is scenic too.

The main roundabout 89A/179 often had a serious traffic jam. Crazy! Probably mostly inexperienced circle drivers.

We stayed in a vacation home in upper Sedona a few blocks away from high people traffic areas. It was nice and peaceful where we stayed yet walking distance to some of the popular restaurants.
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We have been 3 times and will be back. We both love the trails and the art shopping. The last two times we rented a VRBO for at least a week.
 
I finally pulled the trigger. I replaced my 50 year old Technics SL-Q2 turntable. I've been looking for years and just couldn't justify it. "What if I can't hear the difference?"
But I bought a new Technics SL-100C in black and it arrived today. Set it up and it looks and sounds fantastic.
I'll be a little sad letting my old reliable Technics go...
 
levindb said:
Just made my final payment for a Grand Arctic Cruise in July....83 days...New York to Barcelona and 60 ports in between. To keep things interesting, we have booked 89 excursions that have us hiking, biking, kayaking, and even horseback riding. We are mid-70's and will keep DOING things as long as we are able.
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Wow!!!

I’m very impressed you have committed to this at mid 70s. 1+ excursions a day - amazing!
 
DrRoy said:
We have been 3 times and will be back. We both love the trails and the art shopping. The last two times we rented a VRBO for at least a week.
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Yeah that’s what we did, 6 nights. Worked out great.
 
Ronstar said:
We've been to Sedona about 15-20 times. Our Sedona experiences matches yours - Fay canyon hike, Slide Rock, the roundabouts, touristy downtown, tough getting a parking spot at trailheads. We have never been to Mariposa Grill - went by it several times thinking it looked like a nice place.
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So have you stayed at Enchantment Resort before?
 
audreyh1 said:
So have you stayed at Enchantment Resort before?
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Yes once - just one night a long time ago. Great place - a bunch of casitas for accommodations. DW had a spa day. And we spent the night. I don't think that we ate dinner there. I remember the bar in the spa not having a TV. Kind of a zen thing I guess.

Another good place is L'auberge. Right downtown down by Oak Creek. We stayed for a week there a few years ago. Very nice. Best Luxury Sedona Hotel & Resort | L'Auberge de Sedona | Official Site

But this time I wanted to stay away from downtown. And some of the best Sedona hiking is there - Doe Mtn, Devil's Bridge, etc

Screenshot 2025-01-24 at 9.55.17 AM.png
 
I see that the Enchantment Resort is in Boynton canyon which is very famous for hiking plus the power vortex or whatever they call it. Let us know how your trip goes!

We noticed L’Auberge when we were there. Looks great! We might try that next time for a shorter stay. I love staying along a creek.
 
Update on the $300+ sweaters- they are FANTASTIC. Warm, comfortable, non-scratchy. My spending on clothing the last few years has been minimal- mostly T-shirts and hand-made items (peasant blouse, baby alpaca sweater) from my travels. Now I want a couple more of these sweaters. Will wait till they dangle a discount code in front of me, which I'm sure will happen.

Oh, yeah- a Stuff Happens BTD. Was visiting family in Des Moines and got a notice that the Moen smart water valve had shut off water to the house due to unusual activity, (I'd had that installed in July after a leak in my sprinkler system when I was out of town for 4 days increased my water bill by $1,000.) Got home 24 hours later, found that water had leaked from the ceiling of the downstairs office in the 20 minutes before it was shut off. Called the plumber and he arrived the next morning. I used the phone app to turn the water supply on when I actually needed it and then turn it off again. He's expensive but well worth it- took over an hour to determine the source of the leak, which first appeared to come from a bathroom I'd renovated only a year ago. Thank heaven it wasn't that one- it was another bathroom and he just had to knock out a few tiles around the bathtub faucet. So, I'm into it for $2,000 so far but the ceiling and the tiles need to be repaired. My deductible is $2,300 so probably not worth filing a claim. The irony is that I didn't save myself money- I saved the insurance company a significantly larger claim thanks to the shutoff valve.

And the "Good Neighbor" insurance agency still hasn't responded to my voicemail that I made Thursday morning (it is now Saturday), wanting to ask about coverage. Guess they've been "busy serving other customers" for 2 days.
 
You saved both of you. Thank goodness you had a system to turn the water off.

We always turn off the water and gas when we go out of town.
 
Today was a double cha-ching. Paid the final balance $$$$ on our beachside rental Belize in February and then paid the balance due on our Costa Rica trip in March.
 
Replacing my wife’s 2015 Mercedes Benz GLK with a new convertible Mini Cooper. She’s wanted one for many years, and this is the year we bite the bullet. (As for me, I’ll continue to drive the 2005 Honda Accord).
 
ABQ2015 said:
"Years ago in June we did the Viking Grand European Tour - 15 days Budapest to Amsterdam on Rhine and Danube. I did find the flat lowlands close to Amsterdam less visually exciting than the rest of it. I like castles."

I like castles too. It is actually a Rhine/Mozelle cruise with 4 castle excursions, including Burg Eltz, Rick Steve's favorite European castle. Took me forever to read through all the cruise line itineraries to find it.
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It's worth seeing. We hiked over to it, when we did a bike trip down the Mosel a couple years before COVID.
 
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