Lexi & Dover’s Big Adventure

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. This National holiday, observed each year on the fourth Thursday in November, is traditionally set aside for time with family and giving thanks for our wonderful lives in this great land. And more and more, being with family on Thanksgiving inevitably involves some degree of travel. And so following with tradition, I thought it most fitting to publish my first family travel post with a wonderful memory of last year’s Thanksgiving adventure.

Virtually all of our travel in the past twenty-five years has been with our children. Except, I guess for a return trip to London and Paris, a long awaited reunion of sorts, following our last payment on our last student loan that subsidized my studies abroad a dozen years before. So we’ve traveled some, well actually a lot, as a family but we never really traveled much with our two dogs, Lexi and Dover. They’d make the 2-hour trip to Grand Island to spend holidays and other special occasions with their “grandparents”. And periodically they would pack up their beds and bowls for a week or so at “Grandpa Camp” while Denise and I and the girls would be off on vacation. But they were never much for travel and so it never occurred to us to attempt any cross-country driving with these two in tow. Nor had it occurred to us to prepare a good excuse not to. So when K suggested that we load up a couple of last-minute stowaways and deliver a Thanksgiving surprise to her sister in South Bend we thought the ordeal to be simple enough and so in they went and off we were.

I must say that “Lexi and Dover’s Big Adventure” was indeed both big and adventurous.

The adventure began with lunch to go at a sandwich shop only a few blocks from home. As we maneuvered our car from the parking lot Lexi decided, without warning, to leap over the back seat and onto the full soda cups and fresh sandwiches. Upon calming of dog and suppression of words (actually a mixture of equal parts laughter and cursing), we assessed the damage and proceeded directly to the grocery across the street to procure wipes and towels in anticipation of any future adventurous behavior.

We traveled due east from Omaha, Nebraska across the Missouri River, through the state of Iowa, across the Mississippi River and into Illinois. We skirted the edge of Chicago and then proceeded into Indiana.

We spent an adventurous night in a hotel in South Bend where two dogs enjoyed an evening of spender that included several parking lot island sniffs and many simple to chew miniature ice cubes that popped magically from a noisy machine to two waiting mouths thus to satisfy their ever eager canine anticipation in glorious fashion. The evening concluded with wonderous slumber in their very own queen bed.

The next morning began early with a quick sniff and go and we were back on the road. We continued on through Indiana, touched into Ohio and then proceeded northward into Michigan. Our destination was Farmington Hills. This is a wonderful community just northwest of Detroit proper that is home to 84,000 residents including the family of MM, one of M's close friends at ND, and where M had been welcomed as a Thanksgiving guest. At a distance of approximately 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) and accounting for speed and the occasional stop and sniff, we overcame this distance in a matter of 13 hours of road time.

The surprise was incredibly successful. M and friends were overwhelmed with the thrill of four pointy white ears and black eyes eagerly peering out through the windows of the car. There were hugs and licks all around…a special moment indeed. Nice idea K.

Surprise and adventures notwithstanding, this cross country journey went remarkably well considering long travel with two anxious hairy dogs, contained within a small vehicle and propelled in a cloud of white hair through five states and two time zones…and back. I recall suggesting that perhaps next time we would throw in three or four live chickens to liven up the trip!

Gazing thought the car windows Lexi and Dover witnessed much new countryside, many fueling travelers, a small fire, two cats, four deer, some construction workers and toll booth attendants, three traveling Thanksgiving floats and a horse and buggy! They traversed several river bridges, endured a bumpy gravel road, ate fast food like real travelers, enjoyed their own bed in our hotel, went outside for their midnight “business” (with their “dad” who wasn’t too happy about it), delivered the Thanksgiving surprise of their presence, met a young man from Maryland and a family from Michigan. They toured the Notre Dame campus and received much attention from many young collage students who missed the touch of their own dogs. They smelled lots and lots of new stuff and “marked their territory” in five new states.

And when it was through, they returned home knowing they had just experienced the adventure of their lives.

October in Roma

I’d expanded beyond my small carry on case but my burden remained plenty light. My return without the goods that I’m toting to leave with M should offer plenty of space for four or five bottles of Italian wine and a pound or two of coffee beans. Packing some empty space is always good practice when traveling.

I awoke to discover an e-mail from M. She’s anxiously awaiting my arrival in Rome and had explained everything in detail. I now have instructions to assist me through Customs, navigating the airport, exchanging currency, ticketing and boarding the train to Roma Termini, ticketing and boarding the Metro to Colosseo Station, and all the landmarks which identify my turns as I walk the distance between the Colosseum and the Hotel Navona a block away from her studio. Excellent! She reminds me so much of me. I stuffed the information in my bag and an hour later I was hugging Denise and K as they dropped me off at the airport. I’m so excited but the trip seems oddly unreal, perhaps because I am travelling alone.

The flight was brutal, or more accurately my intolerance to the flight was brutal. I was just too impatient I guess. I followed the directions as described by M without difficulty and my first step out into Roman life was exiting the Metro Station at the Colosseum. It was about 10:00 a.m. and the morning was a gorgeous 75-degrees F and slightly overcast. I had been in Rome with Denise for three days nearly twenty-five years ago and had retained fragments of memories but, as I was about to find, with little accurately. And here I was again. Wow…no, WOW! I snapped a picture of my bewildered self in honor of the occasion.

The 55,000 seat Colosseum opened in Rome in 80 AD, eight years after its commissioning by Emperor Vespasian. The 80 arched entrances and internal system of vomitoria and corridors allowed the capacity, and often unruly crowd, to arrive and be seated in ten minutes. Its Valerium was a huge overhead awning that shaded spectators. It was supported by poles above the upper story and was hoisted and anchored in position by a ring of bollards at the ground outside. The colosseum was used for shows with animals performing circus tricks, gladiator fights to the death and mock sea battles.

I traversed the distance to M on foot and with luggage on wheels on cobblestone in about fifteen minutes. I met M in her Studio and following a grand embrace, a brief tour and introductions, I then walked about a block to my Hotel. I sat down on the bed and then awoke an hour later.

We ate La Focaccia at Piazza Santa Maria della Pace. We convinced the staff to serve us at one of their tables outdoors. We were the only ones there and enjoyed the coming and going of a wedding party through the Piazza and into Santa Maria della Pace.

Morning began, as every morning would, with Espresso. On this first morning M introduced me to Sant’ Eustachio il Caffe’ and their Grancaffe’. M preferred the Grancappuccino. Although it is rare to find a “bad” or even “average” espresso in Rome, the espresso prepared in this caffe' is arguably the best liquid fuel in the City. Sant’ Eustachio il Caffe’ has been legendary in Rome since it opened in the 30’s. The water is from an aqueduct built in 19 BC. The barista works behind a screen to maintain the secrecy of their process that produces an espresso with crema, a reddish-brown foam that floats on the surface, so rich and abundant that you must finish it with a spoon! Following a few days of other excellent caffe’, I gravitated back to Sant’ Eustachio il Caffe’ for the rest of my mornings.

Espresso and cappuccino within, M would be off to studio and I was alone with the City. And fortunately I was not without the desire and opportunity to explore every bit of its awesome history and culture. Rome's classical beauty is everywhere but I found it most enjoyable in her details. Each day I would explore in a different part of the City. Each day I’d either return to Studio or we would meet at some predetermined location. We would walk to some place I had just seen or that M had wanted to take me. Each evening we enjoyed wine with dinner and a moonlight walk through part of the City.

No words can adequately describe this but I remember feeling that she seemed so mature and at ease in this urban Italian environment. She would help me navigate and recall long forgotten elements of my architectural history courses in college. She identified and explained many of the places and things that she had enjoyed. For the first time, I felt like the parent of an adult. I guess I have been for some time now but never noticed it before. It felt great.

I've purposly omitted the usual sightseeing summary here. That sort of business is perhaps best absorbed through experience rather than description. But I've assembled a few of my favorate Roman travel images and amazing details for your viewing pleasure if you are so inclined as to click the appropriate links above.

Our last dinner was spent at the Caffe' Ciampini, a wonderful little outdoor ristoranti that I spotted while walking from the top of the Spanish Steps toward the Pincio, the lookout over the Piazza del Popolo, its ancient egyptian obelisk, its twin churches of Santa Maria di Montesanto and Santa Maria dei Miracoli and the Porta del Popolo. The night was cool, the food and wine were excellent, the service was impecable, the nighttime view from the vantagepoint of this overlook and the lighted churches and piazzas and St. Peter's Basilica, and M's bubbling smile was, well, breathtaking. Another "forever moment" logged for eternity.