Christmas Season 2024

 

Christmas 2024

We hope you had a good year - for us, 2024 was a Year of Travel & Hurricanes 

In March, we flew to Manus, Brazil where the muddy Amazon and the Rio Negro meet. We met a Viking ship there for a cruise down the Amazon with pretty Caribbean islands ending in gorgeous Puerto Rico. 

Later in June, we escaped the summer heat by canoeing the Boundary Waters and toured Minnesota. Afterwards, we joined a Friendship Force Journey to Minneapolis & St Paul continuing onto Northern Colorado. On the way home, we had a wonderful visit with Richard’s brother, Bart, and sister-in-law, Nita and family in Oklahoma City.

Last spring we hosted members of the Western Kentucky and Minnesota Friendship Force clubs in our home here in Punta Gorda. We love Friendship Force, especially the friends we’ve made all over the world!

 In September, before boarding a Viking cruise ship in Bergen, Norway, we flew to Oslo and traveled by ferry through breath-taking fjords. A highlight of the cruise was the passage through Greenland’s Prince Christian Sound.  It is hard to describe the beauty of the blue water against the soaring mountains and fiords in the gorgeous sunshine.  A memory that will be forever stored in our minds and hearts!

In October we joined a World Friendship Force tour in Morocco of 20 members from around the world where we stayed with an Arab family of three women for two nights in Fez and experienced “A Day in the Life of a Berber” in a very poor and remote village in the south of the country. Richard helped them plant crops and Joanne make almond butter.  Richard loved riding a camel and we “glamped” (luxury camping) in the Sahara Desert as well. What a wonderful country Morocco is – the people are so welcoming and friendly and the scenery is diverse from desert to mountain ranges.  Very special and we highly recommend it!

We plan to spend Christmas with Joanne’s sister’s family in California. For the new year of 2025, we’ll continue our adventures.  In January we cruise to Antarctica with Atlas Cruise Lines hoping to spot baby penguins and set foot on our 7^th continent.  When we return, we anticipate welcoming a new member to our family, another little Persian kitten. In March, Joanne will travel to Japan with a Friendship Force pal, Linda since Richard wants to “cool it” and stay home a bit.  Later in the year we hope to take a Viking ship down the Douro River in Portugal with maybe a side trip to the Azores.  We are so grateful that we are still able to travel and have the resources to do so.

What a year of hurricanes for us in southwest Florida – Debbie, passing us by 160 offshore, still managed to push water over our seawall early August. Near the end of our Viking cruise across the Atlantic, Helene's storm surge reached our garage.  That has never happened before.

While in transit from Miami to Casablanca, Milton’s storm surge flooded our garage somewhat but luckily caused little damage. The walls concrete, the power off to the refrigerator, and things electrical stored high on shelves meant little loss for us. Our boat was fine as well because it was raised high on the lift and secured with many dock lines. Others here were not so lucky losing everything. We returned to streets lined with all sorts of debris including ruined furniture, soaked mattresses, sheet rock, and assorted trash. Big boats washed up onto our local Gilchrist Park. One sailboat even crossed the street from the park setting itself under the powerlines. Lots of boats in Fisherman’s Village Marina tangled with each other as they sank.  On the coast, sand piled up to the third story of some condos. The small charming town of Boca Grande at the mouth of Charlotte Harbor suffered greatly.

Good news, now - All the debris in Punta Gorda has been cleaned up including the stranded boats so the town looks beautiful again. A volunteer cleaned the mud off the big Christmas tree and the folks at Disney World provided new ornaments for the tree.

Joanne continues to interview neighbors-in-need at Saint Vincent de Paul.  Richard volunteers in the warehouse and serves as District Treasurer and Diocesan Council Secretary.  Joanne also enjoys her time in the Garden Club. We continue to be members of the PGIslanders boat club and the Isles Yacht Club.

Since there are few marinas and sites available to sail to because of hurricane damage, we decided to sell our boat.  Not surprisingly, current boat sales are slow. Once the boat has a new owner, we may consider selling our home and moving off the water away from the threat of flooding and storm damage.  Although we love Punta Gorda, we are “hurricane fatigued,” and therefore, it may be time to relocate.

Best Wishes for the New Year,

Richard & Joanne

Let's Go to Morocco! October 11-25, 2024

Group Photo in Volubilis, the Archaeological Site of the Romans

We were so fortunate to be accepted to a Friendship Force Global Journey with 20 others from the US, Canada and the UK.  The coordinator was a seasoned organizer, Vicki Vance, along with husband, Doug, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  It was quite an experience even leaving our area because 2 days prior Hurricane Milton was barreling towards our coastline of Florida.  What to do?  Should be "hunker down" in Punta Gorda or should we evacuate to the Miami area where our flight was to take off?

Since the predictions were grim, we boarded up our house, stacked furniture upon furniture, rolled up area carpets, put "things" up high, moved our cars and finally decided to go early to our hotel about 20 miles outside of the airport.  We spent our time glued to the tv trying to ascertain if we would even have a place to come home to from all the flooding and destruction predicted.  

We received email instructions to come to the airport 4 hours before flight time.  However, the flight was not to be - not because of the hurricane remnant hitting Miami, but because of "technical difficulties" and flight crew regulations.  This was our first experience with Royal Moroccan Airways and it was not a favorable one. 

They delayed, delayed, delayed, finally boarding us past midnight onto a very hot warm airplane.  After sitting there for well over an hour, they announced our flight was cancelled and we should reclaim our luggage.  Finally obtaining our luggage at 1:30 am, their flight crew was deplaned and sent to sleep at a nice local hotel.  

Unfortunately, for us passengers there were no hotels available at that late hour - and no help from Royal Air Morocco.  No Royal Treatment for us!  We spread our raincoats and flight pillows on the hard dirty floor and tried to rest.  Finally, the airline told us that the flight was not cancelled, only RESCHEDULED to noon the next day.  After more than a 15 hour delay, we were boarded, took off and finally landed at Casablanca in the early hours, pitch dark around 2 am, where our driver found us and took us on a long journey to our hotel.  

Postscript - I wrote letters to Royal Moroccan Customer Service asking for at least a partial refund and food allowance to no avail, weeks later.  I also wrote the US Dept of Transportation.  No reply yet.

Casablanca

Today we viewed the African side of the Atlantic and visited Hassan II Mosque built in 1993 at a cost of $500 million.  It accommodates 25,000 worshippers inside and 80,000 more outside.  It took 7 years to complete with round the clock labor!  We have a personable guide, Lahcen, who will be with us for the next few weeks.

Hassan II Mosque

Laheen, Our Guide

Rabat 

Rabat, Morocco's capital, impressed us today.  It is so clean, surrounded by trees and the streets decorated with lovely lamp posts.  It is known for the landmarks of Hassan Tower, King's Palace, and a famous mausoleum of Moroccan kings guarded by sleek Arabian horses.  We also enjoyed French designed gardens and great scenic overlooks of the Atlantic Ocean.  

Unfinished Mosque 12th Century  

 Rabat - Modern Times 

Guards at Mausoleum of Mohammed V 

Mausoleum of Mohammed V 

Richard, Atlantic Ocean Below

Fishing for Sardines 

Photos Shared on What's App by Members of Our FFI Tour Group

We continued our journey to blue city of Chefchaquen in the Rif Mountains known for its striking blue buildings.

Chefchaquen

Today we are in the mountainside city of Chefchaquen.  This is a must to see!  Gorgeous day in the 70's  with blue skies to match the city.  We enjoyed viewing a 600-yr old olive tree and enjoyed our hotel Dar Baibou and our amazing suite with an antique bed fit for kings!  We were given an extensive walking tour of the city with fascinating details of life in this Moroccan hideaway.

Chefchaouen in Rif Mountains

Wedding Procession Passing Through the Plaza

View from Hotel Roof

Hotel Room

Hotel

Gate to Medina, Our Entrance

Arabic and Berber Languages

Local Guide

Oranges

Mosque

Cats Everywhere

Public Bath, 1927

Blue Everywhere

Looking Down

 

Plaza Hamman in the Medina

Linda, Maureen, Joanne & Carol in Blue Cty

Lock

 

                                    Sunset over Chefchaquen

                                 

Volubilis, the Archaeological Site of the Romans

The ruins of the Roman city of Volubilis was an interesting stop on our way to Fez.  It is the best archaeological site in Morocco.  Here we found a Japanese photo shoot among amazing preserved mosaics and remains of arches, pools, etc.  Those Romans really got around Europe and Asia!

Fez and a Homestay in New Town, a close-by suburb

After an interesting tour of the ancient "medina" marketplace of Fez, we went to school!  Yes, we learned some basic Moroccan Arabic words at an educational institute.  Afterwards, we were transported to a 3rd floor walk-up apartment of a local teacher who lives with her sister and niece.  They had a lovely calico cat, too!  This homestay gave us a small idea of how the people live and we got to know our family on a more personal level.  This is what our Friendship Force Club is all about - trying to understand other cultures in pursuit of peace between all peoples of the world.  Salam!

 

Raid Dar Laura

Language Lesson

Homestay

Erfoud and traveling across Middle Atlas Mountains

A variety of landscapes greeted us as we left Fez and began our ascent across the Middle Atlas Mountains.  We saw nomads herding sheep, stopped at a Cedar Forest to view monkeys, glimpsed magnificent snow-capped peaks in the distance, a huge reservoir, interesting jagged cliffs, thermal springs and more until we began our decent into Erfoud, the gateway to the Sahara Desert Region.  Kasbah Xaluca was our hotel, quite a treat with musicians greeting us as we checked in and of course, the ever present hot mint tea.

Lion at Ifrane

Monkey and Horse

Snow Capped Atlas Mountains

Berber Village 

Another Berber Village  

Kasbah Xaluca

By the gorgeous pool in Kasbah Xaluca

Into the Sahara Desert via SUV

Artists Retreat, Tisserdmine 

Weaving Demonstration

Sand

Dry River Bed

Building with "Straw, Mud & Sand"

 

 Gnawa Music

Dunes

Camels Waiting

Richard Rides a Camel

Camels Across the Sahara

Shadow Camels

                                                  Camels in Distance

Camels Resting

Desert Silk

Camels at Sunset

Glamping in the Sahara Desert

"Glamping" near Erfoud in the Sahara Desert, Richard and our group riding camels, listening to melodic drum beats and dancing around the campfire under stunning night sky with full moon has to be a highlight of our trip!  Richard enjoyed the hour camel ride and upon exiting the camel, the group was greeted with tea and cookies.  Later, we all celebrated "It's 5 o'clock Somewhere Happy Hour" with appetizers from home - Pringles! - and local Moroccan wine

Tent

Night Music

Moonlight Over Camp

Morning Light

Across the Desert Back to Pavement

Morabit Fossils, Errachidia Morroco

Todra Gorges

Laheen with his Sister in Quarzate

Stopping at Another Carpet Store

Alt Benhaddou

Ouarzazate, Morocco traveling to Marrakech

As we made our way in the bus to the Imperial City of Marrakech, we viewed the beautiful Toudra Valley and their apple city, Midelt.  We stopped in an area that reminded me of Petra with huge sandstone clay mountain passes.  This is the area of the High Atlas Mountains.  It is also a place of interesting fossils that were buried from eons ago when the Sahara was covered with water.  We traveled past kasbahs and mountain passes probably at an elevation of close to 4,700 feet.

High Atlas Mountains

Marrakech

Marrakech, the imperial "red" city or "Alahambra" is home to one million.  The international vibe is apparent with many FRENCH restaurants and beautiful shops, pretty gardens and of course, traffic!  Here we crammed in many activities, e.g., a fun cooking class given by a woman co-op where we learned how to bake 2 varieties of flat bread and cookies.  We loved touring the beautiful Al Bahia Palace, viewing 11th century mosque, and the Square where we saw snake charmers.  We also enjoyed a lovely dinner at a wonderful French restaurant.

Marrakech

Cooking Class

Berber Village

We stayed overnight at a Berber Village where we experienced their culture and food.  Our host family, Mohammed, his wife, 3 daughters and one son welcomed us.  Richard helped plant peas and I made almond butter.  We learned so much of the kindness and friendliness in the hearts of the people. From the children to the elderly, we experienced the trust, warmth and generosity of the Arab and Berber people who live here.  Morocco is a country of tolerance and respect for all.  It was such a good lesson to learn!

 Casablanca

Casablanca Lunch

Casablanca Fender Bender

Casablanca Dinner

Flying Home

We made our way back to our starting point of Casablanca and rested one night before heading to the airport for our return flight on Royal Air Moroccan.  This time we encountered no delays and good service.  Before we left, we were surprised when our guide related that his tour company has many cancellations because of the Middle East Conflict involving Israel and Palestine.  Morocco is in north Africa, 5,200 miles from them.  We felt very safe here!  It was an 8-1/2 hr non-stop flight to Miami, about the same distance to fly from Spain or France.  We would highly recommend going to Morocco.