Back in the USSR.... uh, the USA!

 Heeeyyyyyyy.... from the Wandering Berkmans!

Greetings from our latest location in Tucson, Arizona!  We're staying in the house we've stayed in for two prior winters and most of lockdown 2020-- it's about as much of our "home base" as we've had in years.  So much so we were happy to be reunited with  the items we socked away in the garage when we left in March 2020-- Hello, yoga mat!  Greetings, Xmas decorations!  For all we say we don't need a home base, it's nice to have this little piece of familiarity every once in a while.  Doesn't have to be our home, just a home we're very familiar with.  

We wasted no time in making our bird friends comfortable as well with food and water in the patio. And then the hawk shows up and they all scatter.  Welcome to the desert!


Our return to US shores started the end of October with a 2 week stay in NYC in Chelsea.  Always a great time there and we had a chance to meet up with a couple of friends.


Stevie Colbert was thrilled we're back. Being a member of a studio audience is tough work!  





Tapioca, it's like 30 years haven't passed at all!





Vaz and Sam (and kids) indulged us in our need for Georgian food and we believe they're now fans!  





We think we're due for another wedding crash with these Sibs!



Murray, how we've missed you!




Eva and Richard also made the trek in to share in a bit of Malaysian food and make plans for a Tucson visit!




David and Kevin represented for the fam over delish Mexican food in Long Island City.  We love their new location!



It was great to catch up with Cousin Dan. We missed you, Marcos!


Speaking of family, our trek across the country was filled with more great visits!




Thanksgiving #1 with our Ohio fam and internationally famous futbol pups!



Thanksgiving #2 in Wisconsin!  Either I'm shrinking or everyone is getting much taller. 




And #3 in New Mexico! Zach and Jules orchestrated and executed an amazing meal, talented chefs they are!


And not to be forgotten, Jesse makes an appearance.  Budd, you're on!




We're lucky to have Jules spend the month of December with us in Tucson as they finish up their contract assignment, find a new job and find an apartment in Seattle  (which they did! December 29 move in date on a beautiful place!)   In the meantime, we're showing them some of our favorite Tucson sites, like Agua Caliente Park and enjoying some really great conversations together.  

For those of you getting the travel itch and don't have a Don like I do to plan everything, here's a resource we came across the other day that could be helpful in your planning-- intothebold.com.  Annie is an enthusiastic traveler with some great tips on where, how and when to hit the travel road.  

Speaking of planning, Don is busy getting us ready for (hopefully) Mexico City in February to see Zach (and his new place!) and a family trip to Argentina in March (the 2 year delayed graduation trip for Julia) .  The "plan" is to then spend April in Chile.  We don't dare plan too much farther out than that but we're excited to hit locations down south and flex our Spanish wings! "Donde estan mis maletas??"

In our latest blog post feature we'll call "Inquiring Minds Want to Know" (IMWK), we'll address questions people have asked us along the way.  

This one comes from "bloggerreader"--  

If you had to pick one town as your favorite from those mentioned (in Italy), which would it be?

As we made our way around Italy, we took note of some towns we would consider coming back to and making a home base.  On the list-- Foligno, Lucca, Pisa.  All beautiful cities large enough to have all the amenities needed, central enough to visit other cities, all flat to ride bikes around and Pisa has a university, which usually provides a diverse population and interesting events.  Not to say that these were our only favorite cities but these hit many points on the "wants" list.  

This question comes from our ever-subtle, dear friend Page:

"How do you not kill each other after spending 24/7 with each other all the time?"

hahahaha nice!  So while we do admittedly spend a lot of time together we make sure to branch out and get some time alone.  The beauty of staying in a place for a long time is that you have the time to explore slowly without feeling you have to hit all the sights together before you leave.  So one of us will often take a walk/bike ride off on our own for a spell, be it a place we've already seen together or to explore a new place for us to share later.  It works pretty well!


This post's SOL (Slice of Life)-- we met this little one the other day as we were working on our computers on the U of A campus.  When it stopped by us and we told it we hadn't ordered any food, it slunk away in search of the right diner.  The poor thing.   




Time to wrap this up!  We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving-- we're thankful for all of you in our lives!

And thanks as always for your comments and questions-- keep them coming and your question may be featured in the next installment of IMWK!  

Be well, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!  May 2022 be a good one for all!

Don and Monica

new york, new jersey, wisconsin, ohio, new mexico


Comments

  1. Okay, now I have to think of some questions.

    Which country has the best toilet paper? The best coffee?

    If you’ve seen one historic church, have you seen them all?

    Have you found any delicious food that you never knew existed? Which countries have the best desserts?

    Is there a place where the people are particularly happy? Is that annoying?

    Do you ever cheat on the one large bag / one small bag rule? Would I fit in an additional large bag?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment