As I wrote previously, the Swiss Travel Board has put out a series of long ads the past few years that are pretty amusing.  They each star Swiss tennis star Roger Federer, along with another celebrity he’s supposedly got to join him, and I’ll post the best of them. 
 
The first I posted was with Trevor Noah.  Here’s another one with Federer and Anne Hathaway

The Swiss Travel Board has put out a series of long ads the past few years that are pretty amusing.  They each star Swiss tennis star Roger Federer, along with another celebrity he’s supposedly got to join him, and I’ll post the best of them.
 
The most recent is Federer with Trevor Noah.

Well, I made it back.  A bit wiped out at the moment, though I've unpacked, so that's done and out of the way!  (I'm an "unpack right away" kind o' guy.)

Focusing my thoughts rationally enough beyond this isn't going to happen tonight (for starters, I initially wrote, "isn't going to happy" -- and when writing this​ explanation, it was "for srarters" and "initually"), but I figured this short song from Fiorello! should suffice.

Heading out from Chicago this morning, and back to Los Angeles later today.  I may write something this evening -- or I may have too much to catch up.  We'll see. 

The elves taking care of the homestead have been given advance warning, so my assumption is that they'll clean up the place and leave it in the same state they found it.  As we said from my days in the park service, "Leave only footprints, take only memories."  Though I don't expect to see any footprints.  Ahem...

The trip has been excellent.  I got to see some favorite spots -- the Chicago Art Institute and Chicago Botanic Garden (actually in Glencoe, long-walking distance from where I grew up) -- the Disneyland of Botanic Gardens.  And I stuffed myself at my favorite spots:  Charlie Beinlich's Food & Tap, Del Rio's, Walker Bros., and Chicago pizza (this time at Lou Malnati's).  And of course, the Cubs at Wrigley Field.  All a joy to get back to after five years away, because of the pandemic.

I also spent a wonderful Mother's Day with my 96-year-old Aunt Joan (who I'm staying with) and cousin, up at the 96-year-old Deerpath Inn for their excellent buffet.

​Be back soon...

Yes, it's true.  After five years, for the first time since the pandemic, I am actually going out of town on a vacation.  (I did go on a trip that I wrote about four years ago, in the early days of COVID, but that was only spending the night in another room of my home which I set up like a trip away, so it doesn't really count as "out of town.") 

The main reason for the delay is a wariness of traveling during COVID.  And while I know a great many people have been traveling for a long time, I just haven't felt comfortable doing so.  And still don't completely.  But enough that I made the reservations and head off today.

It turns out that traveling is somewhat like a muscle.  You have to use it to keep in shape.  I'm out of shape with traveling, and all the little things you have to do to get ready, but I think I'm all set.  I did have one screw-up, though -- I made a taxi reservation with a mom-and-pop company I like a lot that happily are still around.  A few days later, I was checking my notes about something else entirely...when I saw I'm made a stupid mistake, and ordered my taxi for another time I had considered leaving, later than the flight I settled on.  Oh-so fortunately, I caught this, called the cab company the next morning, and they were able to move up my ride.  So, all's well.

I'll be going to Chicago, which I always love, but all the more since I have always gone there once (or sometimes twice) a year, and five years away is much, much too long.  I'll be visiting some favorite locales, like the Arti Institute and Chicago Botanic Garden, visiting with family and friends I haven't seen in too many years (though have stayed in touch with, of course), a Cubs game needless-to-say, and eating at some of my favorite restaurants that I dearly miss.  I can't wait.

Happily, the elves will be able to come here and take over the place while I'm gone.  (One had been nagging me for a couple years about when in the world I'd be going somewhere, so they could move in.  Temporarily, of course.  Oh, yes, he said, though I think I caught a laugh and knowing wink to his friend.)

I won't likely be writing as much here while I'm away -- and the timing of posts will likely be different, considering the time zones.  But I'll do my best to check in every day.  If you have any problems, take it up with the elves.

Three weeks back, I wrote here about the devastating Lahaina fire on Maui and having traveled there several decades ago with deeply fond memories. The town, I said, "had a sense of the past and world culture that seemed to be living all around you."  I particularly singled out the Pioneer Inn, where I stayed and remembered with great affection, all the more so since it was destroyed in the fire. 

"But most of all, I loved staying at the Pioneer Inn.  It permeated the Old World with simplicity and warmth, and I soaked it all up, reveling in knowing not only how it fit into the whaling past, but that people like Mark Twain had stayed there.  Its wood structure painted white, with wonderful wood slats in the windows, and a Polynesian sensibility crossed with New England sturdiness."

I had such fondness for the Pioneer Inn that I'd kept matchbook keepsake from my time there, and embedded photos of it.  I had wanted to post a photo of the place itself, but didn't think I had access to a photo I'd taken of the Pioneer Inn -- but happily I was able to find it.

I've added it in the originally article.  And as an homage, since I figure most people here aren't going to be going back to read it, I include it below