Dabs' VirtualTourist Home Page

London, Paris, Warwick and Windsor, my niece and nephew's 1st trip overseas and my 1st time traveling with kids, we all had a blast!!! We sent the kids home and headed to Paris for a few days, on my birthday 8-8-08, I was in my two of my favorite cities, Paris at 8:08:08am hanging out with the gargoyles at the top of Notre Dame and indulging in decadent hot chocolate and pastries at Angelina's and London at 8:08:08 pm eating Indian food. A perfect way to spend the day!

On Saturday August 9th, Jen (jenniflower) organized a lovely dinner at Sugar Reef, it was lovely to meet up again with Sarah (toonsarah) and hubby Chris, Natalie (nhcram) and hubby Chris, Jo (jo104) and Jen's hubby Lance. Thanks Jen!!!

May 23-June 1, 2008

A rather ambitious schedule even for me, we hit four countries in 10 days! We had already been to Prague, Vienna and Amsterdam, Bratislava and several cities in southern Bohemia were new territory. We didn't do a lot in terms of palaces, museums or castles after the 1st couple of days in Southern Bohemia, instead spending our days walking through town just marveling at the beauty of these cities. And an occasional stop for a beer, gelato, pastry or a heaping plate of something that went straight to my hips!

Dad and I have been making semi annual trips out to Los Angeles for the last few years to visit my Grandma who will be turning 100 this year, I combine the visit with Grandma with visiting another part of Southern California, on past trips I've been to Hearst Castle, San Juan Capistrano, Pasadena and this time it was San Diego's turn, I think this was the best side trip I've taken although I've enjoyed them all!

This was our 5th trip to the island of Jamaica, the 3rd time staying in Montego Bay. Jamaica is a good winter break for us, we can go for few just a few days, it's a quick 3 1/2 hour flight from Chicago, the weather is sunny and warm, the Caribbean waters are the temperature of bath water. And when you've been having a winter like we've been having this year, it's just what the doctor ordered!!!

January 23-31, 2008
I really need to convince Kat (keida84) that London is better in the summertime, this was our 2nd time she talked me into going to London in the winter but we were fortunate to have sunny weather for the whole trip. We managed to complete Kat's long list of must sees with stops in Windsor, Oxford, Stonehenge/Salisbury and Bath, met up with a few of London's Lovely VT ladies for dinner and celebrated Jen's (Jenniflower) birthday with the help of a cross dressing magician.

Some of the people I've met on VT have become some of my closest friends in "real" life, I've been blessed to find Kat (keida84) who's become one of my best travel buddies, we've tackled Toronto and Chicago in 2005, London, Spain, California, Orlando and Chicago in 2006, Los Angeles twice, Maui, Windsor and Chicago in 2007 and London again in January 2008!

I'm also blessed to have met the dynamic duo from Windsor, Hansi (waalewiener) and Lori (LoriPori), who spread joy and sunshine at every VT meeting I've been to with them, Toronto, London, Marbella, Baltimore, Portsmouth and more personal visits to both of our hometowns.

Pierogi Fest
When I'm not busy trying to persuade people to visit Chicago, I'm trying to persuade people to come to Pierogi Fest in Whiting, IN held the last full weekend in July. If you didn't come in 2007, you missed out on the limited edition Babushka Ladies calendar but never fear there are rumors that the stunningly attractive bushas are making an appearance on a local root beer label and of course making their annual appearance at the Polka parade! Oprah even endorses it, listed as one of the 7 best food festivals in the US, now if I could just use that to get tickets to one of those shows where she gives away free swag....

Since 2003, various VTers have come to the Fest and 2005 I had my first VT parade participant, sambarnett donned a delightful floral housedress and marched with me in the parade as a babushka lady, in 2006, Hansi (Waalewiener) and Ethan (coair19) were the two loveliest babushka ladies in the history of the Fest. But I think Hansi, decked out in a lovely red lace dress, may have been enjoying himself just a little too much! For some more pics, see my travelogue on my Whiting, IN page, Hansi's Whiting page and Lori's Hammond page.

I joined VT to take advantage of local folks giving help with local stuff, who knows a city better than the locals? So I started amassing my now huge Chicago page, which is updated regularly, to share information about this marvelous city that I have lived in and around since I was 8 and found as I was developing it, I was actually learning a few things! And best of all, I've made virtual friends along the way some who have become real friends, many of which have visited me in Chicago! So if you are coming to Chicago, drop me a line, I'm always happy to answer questions about Chicago or play tour guide to folks from out of town.

OK I confess....
I actually live in Hammond, Indiana, just minutes from the Chicago border. But tell people you live in Indiana and they automatically think you live in a cornfield and spend your mornings feeding the chickens and milking the cows (just ask fellow VTer rmdw)! That assumption couldn't be further from the truth, NW Indiana is surrounded by industry and development is pushing further and further south.