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| Oops- ski trip (detailed later) almost derailed by collision with road debris in Albuquerque seven minutes into the rental. |
Before we begin, a bit of housekeeping. This post is dedicated to my niece, Felicity. That's not her real name (she's named after a different virtue), but she reads our blog regularly and pings us when it's been too long between updates. Point taken, Felicity. The Blogger platform, in their infinite wisdom, no longer supports the subscription service you may have signed up for. We are using a new subscription service called follow.it to send out the new blog post notifications and to sign up subscribers - thank you for your patience if this process is less than smooth. If you subscribed in the past there is no need to subscribe again. If you would like to direct friends to our blog there is now a new link called Keep in Touch on the top of the home page where anyone may subscribe. We have been doing this blog for ten years(!) now and appreciate you traveling with us. Thanks!
It had been a full year since we had been on the mainland of the USA.....not by our own choosing, of course. Across 2021, travel between French Polynesia and the USA ground to a virtual halt, with ever changing Covid test rules, cancelled flights, and uncertain return restrictions the norm. But as the holidays approached, the brave crew of L'ORIENT made plans for a moon-shot of a visit spanning Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thoughts of money, hassle, and boat safety took a back seat to our visions of joyful reunions with loved ones across the country........and of course a five day ski and spa trip to Taos, New Mexico.
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| Hope the artist is seeking professional help - mural in Raiatea |
But we'll cover the past months sequentially. After the Princess concluded her royal inspection of Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora we did some sight-seeing in Tahaa and Raiatea (both beautiful and on our list to return to).
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| Wonder how many people set out on a hike and don't come back..... |
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| Tahaa, on a perfect day to do nothing at all but gaze out at the scenery |
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| We have our Google Maps always set to "beach bar" |
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| Wonder how FP's ministers hold anyone's attention with the views afforded parishioners |
Before leaving Bora Bora we picked up a new crew member. Stowaway or not, we love him.
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| Chaz's action station is the mizzen halyard; he's creeped out more than one guest |
During an afternoon paddle board excursion, Kirstin looked down into the water and saw what appeared to be an infant floating face down. Our horror was followed by visions of being featured (negatively) on every news channel on the planet. After a second of panic we realized that it was someone's discarded baby-doll and we rescued it from the water. He is now known as Chaz and has become a rather creepy member of the family.....he's one of those horror film dolls whose eyelids open and close randomly. Chaz was quite slimy and moldy, but an evening spent in a bucket of bleach made him good as new! A friend cautioned us on how to describe Chaz's bath, as "baby soaked in bleach to make him whiter" probably isn't the message we wanted out there. The reaction of people coming on the boat to Chaz - masked or not - has given us a chuckle.
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| Papeete City Marina- Black Friday shopping skills are required to find and hold a slip |
But we needed to get the boat back to Tahiti as a point of departure for our big trip.
Our first logistical problem was a big one; where to leave our yacht for a long period of time. There are only two viable marinas in Tahiti and both are always full and don't take reservations (nor crass bribes......ask me how I know). The city marina operates like a YMCA homeless shelter......you see an empty bed (or slip in this case) and it's yours. We quickly learned how to play this game and when one morning a large ketch left we were all over that slip like a cheap suit.
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| Nice scenery on our walk. You almost forget it's 90 degrees and humid.....almost |
The marina has a rule though- if you leave your boat unattended, you must hire a boat watcher. The list included six names and I asked the manager who the smartest boat watcher was. After an agonizing pause......like I had asked him who the nicest war criminal was or something.....he gave us Pierre's name. OK- Pierre, you're hired. But with 20+ boats to watch concurrently and an alarming lack of follow-up questions during my orientation, we worried about L'ORIENT's care. As it turns out Pierre did OK, despite sending us pictures of other people's boats (vs. ours) in an attempt to show us that L'ORIENT was still floating.
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| Papeete City Marina grounds; pedestrians, skaters, and cyclists enjoy an uneasy coexistence |
So the fun began.....first, Tahiti to San Francisco, where we stayed for 4 days to acclimate and do some shopping. Shopping? Well, I have only one pair of mold-impregnated blue jeans on the boat and Kirstin is not much better off. Visiting in Winter wearing shorts and sleeveless shirts wasn't a recipe for good health so we bought the bare essentials. Enough clothes to get us to our cold weather clothing storage depot in Wisconsin (Kirstin's Dad's house). San Francisco had changed a lot (and not for the better). There had been a rash of smash and grab robberies in the retail district so we observed most (if not all) high end stores completely boarded up......a weird site just weeks before Christmas. Need some body wash? It's now locked behind a cabinet in the Target and you need a clerk with the keys to access it. Despite this, we had a great time and enjoyed ethnic cuisine there that we hadn't experienced in a year. Yum.
From San Francisco we flew to Miami for a doctor's visit, then drove to Naples for our first visit.....with Tom's mother. We enjoyed a lovely time and hit all of our favorite Naples restaurants.
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| First Mexican food in a year- Princess Emily joined our visit to my Mother's stomping grounds |
Mom was in great spirits, as her holiday calendar was quite packed- most notably a planned encounter with her first great granddaughter. We rejoiced in some of her unique traditions, included her peculiar penchant for starting happy hour at 3:00 PM.....but we quickly adapted.
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| Kirstin and Mom deploying a platoon of Christmas figures in her apartment |
From Naples, Kirstin and I split up to cover more ground; Kirstin going to NY to see the nieces while I trekked to Nashville to see my son Ryan. In Nashville, sports were the theme. We saw two hockey games and I was subjected to both bowling and air-hockey competitions (narrowly losing both).
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| Ryan doesn't skimp on fun- front row seats (both games) !!! |
Kirstin reconnected with her brother, sister in law, nieces, and college roommate in New York.
We then each flew to Chicago, then drove to Wisconsin to see Kirstin's Dad (and finally be reunited with our winter clothes). We stayed just 2 days because it was on to Taos and skiing. What fun!
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| Driving across New Mexico to Taos |
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| Day 3 of skiing was complicated by a snowstorm with hurricane force winds |
Our last ski trip was eight years ago and when we left Taos in 2013 I could swear that we were both intermediate level skiers. Well, no more. The 2021 versions of Tom and Kirstin struggled with staying upright (especially Tom) and by the end of each day the soreness in our legs and hips was intense.
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| Got a lot of stares due to my rummage sale ski ensemble |
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| When the locals tell you "don't go up there", you listen |
Good thing we were staying at a spa and had access to preposterously priced massages. The food scene in Taos was great as well, especially the 3000 calorie breakfast options that those folks seem to prefer. Fortunately our ski suits had Spandex.
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| Top half of this pic could be French Polynesia; just remove the water and add desert |
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| A full 10% of New Mexico's population is native American, many living on reservations across the state. The US government clearly allotted only the most valuable land for these folks. |
Then back to Wisconsin for our visit with Kirstin's dad. Wisconsin is truly a magical land of plenty. The stores there somehow sell wine from New Zealand at half the cost that Tahiti does despite being twice as far from its place of manufacture. As a well respected business school teacher once explained to me (in a bar), shipping reduces costs. Hmmm.
Restaurants in Wisconsin are amazing as well. The total bill for the three of us was frequently less than Kirstin and I pay for 2 hors d'oeuvres in French Polynesia. I guess that's the dividend for dining out when the temperature is 5 degrees Fahrenheit.
We were treated to a plethora of great restaurants, bars, and very importantly...NFL football in the middle of Green Bay Packer country. What more could you ask for?
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| Finding a bar in Wisconsin is like finding sand on a beach |
To accomodate everyone's crazy holiday logistics, Kirstin's side of the family rendezvoused in Chicago for Christmas. Activities included great dinners, ice skating, and lots of floor time with the nieces (8 and 6).
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| The festive Windy City |
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| It must take an army to set this stuff up..... |
A looming problem came into sharp relief as our 42 day trip neared its end. The 200 lbs ($4,000) of boat parts that were sitting in Kirstin's dad's house. We ended up buying additional luggage just to accomodate it. We kept stuffing more and more parts into our luggage and myopically ignored the fact that there was no way to lift these bags and stumble more than a few feet.
The trip back to Tahiti was the most difficult transit I've ever experienced (I traveled for business for over 25 years). As Omicron broke out, French Polynesia changed testing type and timing policies both five days before our trip and again the day before our trip back to our boat. The stress level amped up as we were unsure if we would be allowed back into Tahiti. We were tested six hours prior to boarding the plane and again in the terminal after we landed. I don't recommend standing in 90 degree temperatures dressed for Winter waiting for a lab test result in Papeete. The silver lining? The customs officials, whose job it is to collect import duty on things like, er, smuggled boat parts, were so intimidated by the angry mob they parted like the Red Sea as we slithered by with our concealed booty. You might recall that the French go on car burning rampages at the slightest perceived social injustice........Kirstin and I were anxious to clear out of the airport area ASAP as the air was electric with the frustration of travelers.
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The angry Anglo-French mob waiting to be COVID tested again...Sacre Bleu !!!
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Now it's back to work on the boat and preparations for our next destination- the Tuamotus. Stay tuned.