Jan 20th 2009! What a glorious Day!

January 20th, 2009!!!!! What a wonderful day! Wherever you are.....We'll never forget this day!

As we sit here watching the inauguration.....Can't help but feel this is an absolutely beautiful day....even if we are a world away....The Italians feel the same way..and everyone is glued to their TV here!......

Nice speech....great feeling...but my most favorite new feature of the inauguration would have to be..hands down...the moment that the "new" president escorted out the "old" president to the awaiting chopper to take his ass BACK TO TEXAS!!!!! "Happy trails to you......til we meet again........."Look out Susan he is on his way back to your fair country!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!! Sorry Scusi...you know it had to happen!!!! Thank God...the time finally came...didn't think we could survive......

Welp, we drove around today trying to soak up as much as we could of this beautiful place to hold us over until we get back....we are headed back to the "States" (like how I use that term now? heehee) to take care of some beaurucratic paperwork...(that we should have already taken care of before we left...) ...that we must submit in person to the Italian Consulate....so we are headed down to Dallas Texas next week...no, not to follow Gee Dub to make sure he got his ass out of Washington...(for real finally).....although that might not be such a bad idea....we will be sure to keep everyone posted as to what we find out about that...if we spot him, we'll let you know....maybe Scusi can keep an eye out for him.....I'd be just as happy never having to look at that snarky smile ever again......

The Italian Consulate is actually in Houston, but they have a representative in Dallas that we can take our paperwork to for a witness....not so far to drive.....thank goodness!

On our little drive today down a new road we hadn't explored yet, we could see our little house in the distance...we tried to get the best possible pictures..we hadn't taken a picture from the front view yet....and the other picture is just of the rolling hillsides close by that I couldn't help myself from taking....it is just incredible...

When we return, I'll try to refrain from taking so many scenery pictures...I just can't help myself....I am just in awe of this place..and can't wait to return and continue our adventure...this little detour back to the States is just a speed bump along the way in our adventure...or like we like to call it..."taking the scenic route"...or the McLaughlin Way....you know what we are talking about....you all know us... LOL!

But we'll be back at the middle of February...planning on the 15th...should not take more than 3 weeks...they are telling us 2 weeks...but if they work on Italian Time...maybe we should give them another week to be safe.....so stay tuned....and we'll catch you up on our progress....

Love you all....

Ciao Italy...until we meet again.........

Maiden Voyage to Tuscany

Well, we took a trip Saturday up the coast...what we didn't know is that it would be our first trip to Tuscany.....we were headed to the military base to look for a car. The base is located between Livorno and Pisa (which is just west of Florence on the coast).....by the time we got there..it was dark and we did not see the leaning tower of Pisa....of course not......We did see a few hookers outside the military base though....quite interesting we thought...had never seen real hookers I don't think...not in person so up close in personal.. LOL!

Anyway, this picture is of a town we found along the way in the forgotten corner of Tuscany. This little town is called Pitigliano....is it not so cool?...like the rocks just morph into the buildings....very very old...not sure how old...but the local people have excavated caves in the rock below the town to store their wine and olive oil....we kept looking at the small entrances cut into the rock with very old doorways...kind of like an entrance to a cellar except in the side of the stone...no houses anywhere around...we couldn't figure it out....then I found the information about it in one of my tourist books....helps to read a little before you take off...but we never do......but we do plan to go back to check it out in more detail...we were on a mission and didn't hang around long.....

We did however stop at the bottom of this hill (where I took the picture) and bought some local wine from a guy in a cave...it was the coolest thing I have ever seen...and can you believe I didn't get a picture? Even though I had my camera out to take a picture of the town? I'll get better....I'm usually too engrossed in the moment to remember to take pictures.....

Ciao!

We didn't even realize we were in Tuscany until we were on our way home that night and it said..."leaving Tuscany...entering Umbria...we were like "holy hell....we were in Tuscany!"...so we really didn't give it the proper attention and "awe" as it deserved...but we will repeat the trip, see the Leaning Tower of Pisa...and do it right!

Poggiolo with countrside picture

Just wanted to share this picture with you.....I'm going to have to do a video of the panoramic view next time....but you can kind of get the feel for the rolling hillsides and heavenly feel of this place...you just can't be in a bad mood here!!!!!

The Poggiolo is on the far right.....and this is our view every morning at the breakfast table...makes coffee taste so much better!

Ciao!

Proverbial End of the Rainbow

We have found the literal and metaphoric "End of the Rainbow"....well, actually we found both ends of it! And, Yes there is a pot of "Gold"!!!!!!

If you click on the picture, it will enlarge the view and you can literally see the rainbow in front of the mountains and houses! Of course the pictures do not do it justice, but you get some idea of how incredible it was!

Ciao!

Todi

This is a picture of Todi on the hillside......it was established some time I believe in 300AD......will get more pictures of the other side soon!

Piddle and our Wheels

Well, we did get wheels....even if it is a little wind-up car....hoping to find one to buy....renting long-term is quite pricey!

It's a good thing our luggage got lost..(no trunk)..we would never have been able to drag it all with us....sometimes gotta count your blessings!

Most cars in Italy are this size...we have only seen one pickup so far...and we think they were an American from the Navy Base in Naples.....not much room on these roads..and the price of gas is quite pricey as well....so we are happy with our little Fiat Panda and of course it is a standard transmission....automatic transmissions are a bit more expensive and hard to find.