Tour de Friends
Just as the Tour de France lasts over an extended period of time, my Tour de Friends lasted a fair amount of time .. but what an awesome time it was.
WASHINGTON DC
After the Women’s Sports Foundation weekend it was off to Washington DC to catch up with my Cousin Molly for a brief evening drink and dinner at … you guessed it … an Irish Pub ? We also went shopping for niece Emma’s birthday presents. The next day I went to Annapolis to catch up with Renee and see my half of our condo. Renee did all of the work of finding and decorating and moving in and I just showed up for the wifi and the dinner ?
MIAMI BEACH FOUND ANNAPOLIS:
The Metropolitan bar is a new level of modern sophistication in Annapolis… definitely a good place to live… the town that is – not the bar ?
JOBSON:
I also spent most of a day with Gary and it is inspiring how well he is doing, how healthy he looks and how much he is truly himself with perhaps even a little more savvy and wisdom.
EMMA TURNS 2 IN DETROIT:
Friday had me back in Michigan for Emma Kate’s second birthday. G-ma (Mom) made an excellent dinner of fondue … I wasn’t sure giving a 2 year old a sharp fondue fork was the best idea but all was well with no medical advice sought.
TISH and DAN:
Speaking of medical advice my really good friends Tish Roeske (a nurse practitioner/midwife …self dubbed ‘a baby catcher’ with requisite fist in catcher’s mitt hand action) and her husband Dan Roeske (America True Board Member sailor and good guy) and I caught up for drinks… and then dinner. We stopped by Bayview Yacht Club and were very happy that Todd’s number was available ? Good friends Ken and Lori Swetka joined us. We had a great… great evening,.
PUT THE BI-FOCALS ON PLEASE:
Well – fun and carefree until the scalpel came out ? I have had an ongoing saga with my big right toe. The same foot that was smashed in the car accident over a year and a half ago. The lack of circulation or the polluted seawater of Valencia or sheer bad luck forced me to have a drink-straw-sized slot of my toe and nail removed almost to the first knuckle and then sewed up two weeks earlier. It seemed to make perfect sense that Tish being the medical professional that she is should take the stitches out at 1am. Well neither the un-quantifiable Gin and Tonics nor the Vicodin seemed to help… and YES I made her put on her bi-focals on BEFORE the procedure.
HALLOWEEN PRACTICE:
Mom and I also got to take Emma and Jacob (Cousin) trick-or-treating the weekend before Halloween. It seems to have progressed to a major holiday in Detroit … for all of you who are thinking about Devil’s night… it is now called Angel’s night and the decorations and events are major and the kids… are CUTE!
The final night in Detroit we celebrated Emma’s birthday again and she got the pressie from Molly… and at first wasn’t so sure about it…
Then figured out it was a purse with a pink flamingo in it….
And then was so excited she almost whacked Tami in the face with it….
ON TO BOSTON AND NEWPORT:
I headed to Boston to hang out with Amy Baltzell and family – she is an amazing woman who is a Sports Psychologist, the youngest professor in the department at BU AND a mother of 2.9 kids (about 2 weeks to go til birth). Not to mention an Olympic team rower and one of the best grinders on the Mighty Mary. We are working on a book together. We caught up, strategized for how to get a publisher for our book and managed to fit in a very quick tour of the "Things I Love: The Many Collections of William I. Koch" at the Museum of Fine Arts’.… and on the front lawn are America 3 and Il Moro from 1992. We walked out and there was Chip Parish checking in on the boats ? I missed catching up with Bill though.
NEWPORT:
Cameron and Nichole Appleton were great hosts and it was nice to see their house that is perfectly decorated and very welcoming. Again – worked the wifi – it is amazing the difference – before we sailors had to tie up someone’s phone line and dial into CompuServe. – Now almost every sailor I visited on my tour has wifi – Great to be able to work, surf and socialize all at the same time… something sailors are very good at ?
The main reason for my trip to Newport was to catch up with Meg and it was so good to see her positive spirit.
Meg, Suzy, Joan & Jim, Johnny Mac, Billy Mac, TJ and Tim:
Somehow Newport even in the middle of October on a Thursday night sill collects the characters… myself included. Seriously we had a great dinner even better conversations and a touch of entertainment ?
HALLOWEEN AT STEVES:
A very brief stop on Seattle to cave a pumpkin.
WEEKEND IN NAPA:
After a week at the office in San Francisco I met up with the Emma Riley’s again ? We stopped at one winery – Artisan – and were able to take these great photos:
