Life on the Vine

Sorry it's been a while since I got on the blog.  It's been a busy couple months, lots of traveling that I hope to blog about in the coming weeks and some big personal news too.  First, the big news.  Tom got offered a job at Fort Huachuca in southern Arizona...about 45 minutes away from our 40 acres!  It was just too good of an opportunity to pass up so Tom got on a plane last Saturday (October 22nd) and moved to Arizona.  I will be staying here in Stuttgart for the time being.  My 3 year assignment is up September 2012 so I'll be working between now and then to find an assignment near where Tom is now working.  So...the clock is ticking for those of you considering coming to Europe for a visit. Prior to Tom's move we did a lot of traveling.  We went to the champagne region of France over my birthday; we had family (my mom, brother and sister-in-law) visit and kept busy visiting the Black Forest, the Mosel River Valley and Garmisch; Tom and I...

It's been two months since I took Tom on his mystery birthday trip.  He was traveling when I was planning the trip so I was sending him hints by e-mail on where we were going.  Hints like: One of the cities we are visiting has been called the Venice of its country.  The country we are visiting is serious about its beer and its not Germany.  We are visiting two cities in a country with two official languages.  He wasn't really into the guessing game though.  I eventually did tell him where we were going.  So, when we were packing for the trip, he already knew we were going to Belgium to visit Bruges and Brussels.   The Bell Tower I did an earlier blog that included photos of our eating and drinking exploits, featuring a lot of photos from our Belgium trip.  I never really shared any photos or information about the other stuff we did while on that trip. Seeing as how I've got to get around to returning the Rick Steves guidebook I borro...