I FEEL sLOVEnia

Before our Adriatic yacht adventure, we spent a few days in Slovenia, the northernmost former Yugoslav state that borders Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Croatia. We flew into the capital, Ljubljana, where English was common everywhere, including the airport baggage claim 

Our base was Lake Bled, and specifically the Garden Village Bled, which offered these "glamping tents", complete with A/C, full bathroom, and a soak tank

The property was beautiful, with a spring-fed swimming pool

Jon & Heather and their family joined us for a few days in Slovenia

One of our outings was, not surprisingly, riding horses

It was gorgeous country in the foothills of the Julian Alps. Most of the land was devoted to hay for cows currently grazing in Alpine meadows. Those buildings are hay storage huts

Lake Bled was a deep copper sulfate blue and perfect for recreation. While the rest of us swam, Erin aquajogged, aka running in place underwater, as rehab from her femoral stress fracture. Unlike treading water, where circular motions keep you afloat, with aquajogging your arms and legs only move vertically. After about 2 minutes of it, I sank, but Erin could go for 45 minutes

At a restaurant they served trail runner beer, with 5.0% alcohol?

The next day we hiked in the mountains above Lake Bohinj. In Europe nobody walks all the way up the mountains like us suckers in the US. All over the Alps there are mountain cable cars to whisk you from a parking lot to a chalet. We took advantage of the Vogel lift to gain 3,000 feet in about 5 minutes

Tessie and Heather hiked around the area near the cable car and chalet

while the rest of us hiked along the ridges up to Mt. Vogel

Somewhere back there is Mt. Triglav, the highest mountain in Slovenia 

The trails ran over crushed limestone that was far easier to traverse than the cobblestone-filled trails in the White Mountains back home

Photo credit to Heather H for the panoramic views

On our travel day from Slovenia to Croatia, we stopped in lovely Ljubljana (Lube-lee-ahn-ah), and used a Rick Steve's guidebook for a tour

Ljubljana calls itself the city of dragons, whose origin dates back to the story of Jason and the Argonauts battling a Slovenian swamp dragon

We took lunch at a restaurant that served struklji, traditional Slovenian dumplings that were, um, memorable

We stayed overnight in the Croatian town of Trogir, just up the coast from Split, our yacht departure port

Everyone gathered in the town square for the World Cup semifinal between Spain and France

On departure day, we briefly toured Split, Croatia's 2nd biggest city. Split is famous for the palace of emperor Diocletian, a local boy who rose through the ranks of the Roman Empire in the late 200s AD, and established a retirement palace near his hometown.

These basement cellars were built as an escape route for Diocletian during those murder-happy Roman times, and also served as the filming site of the dragon dungeons in Game of Thrones

and then as the noon hour approached on Wednesday July 15, it was time to meet our boat and crew.

Oops wrong boat

There she is, M/V Anthea, a 170-foot luxury yacht and home for the next week

Semi- and Semiquin- Centennials

 

Bicentennial baby Heather achieved her semicentennial birthday a few weeks before our nation's semiquincentennial

As requested I prepared our roasted chicken and mushrooms recipe originally conceived by a Top Chef winner and introduced to us by Blue Apron

On a different night, we ate out at our favorite restaurant Mooncusser

Over Juneteenth we visited one of the East Coast's hidden gems - Virginia Beach. With a wide expanse of sand, a long non-seedy boardwalk, great waves, no jelly fish, and easy public access, Virginia Beach is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as having the longest "Pleasure Beach"

While we were down there, a parade of tall ships arrived for an event in Norfolk. This looks like a painting, but it's actually a photo of ships on the horizon as we entered the tunnel that connects Norfolk to the Williamsburg peninsula

One purpose of the trip was for Erin to see William and Mary

Sabrina was on campus doing summer research and gave us the insider's tour

Another reason to travel was to take Erin's mind off of track. Until her stress fracture, she was hoping to run the 4 x mile relay at Outdoor Nationals. Her friends ran an amazing 20:21, finishing #4 in the country, achieving All-American honors, and setting a new Massachusetts state record.

We couldn't visit Williamsburg without stopping by Yorktown, where the world turned upside down. And we acquired a Junior Ranger badge. 

Another destination was Cape Charles, Virginia, just across the 17-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel that connects Hampton Roads with the lovely geographic portmanteau, Delmarva peninsula. In Cape Charles my cousin Steve and his wife Mary retired and then un-retired to run a French bakery

The bakery was buzzing when we visited and the items that we bought were amazing

but as they say, bakers can't be chatterers, and Steve could only briefly say hi before heading back to make the baguettes

Tessie's Father's Day card, with the correct 11 pieces of hair on my officially sanctioned NIL

Since 1983 I've received GAMES Magazine, in which every issue offers a contest or two to solve and enter a prize-winning draw. Over the last 43 years I have entered countless contests and sent in hundreds of entries and finally, in July 2026 I won a coveted T-shirt 

Like the Ford Model T, you can get whatever color you want so long as it is black

For our 4th of July family gathering, I drove my parents from NY to Virginia

The colonial craft of the month for Claire was beeswax candle making

I convinced Claire and co to accompany me and Tessie to tour the Great American State Fair on the National Mall

It was not your typical state fair. In the main tents was a mash-up of booths dedicated to corporate American sponsors, 

branches of the government that inspire patriotism,

and conservative causes linked to the current administration

Due to poor planning, some of the exhibits seemed underbuilt

and then there were supposed to be 56 booths representing the states and territories of the US. Yep for this one Washington DC got its representation

But the sad part was that the partisan organizers didn't have the talent or desire to convince all the states to come to the party

and so some states had completely empty booths

and others had fun and informative displays, like Nebraska

Wyoming

New Jersey

Utah

New York

Maryland

Massachusetts was one of the no-shows, but in its place somebody set up a tally of attendees who visited all 50 states (in real life). 

All-in-all the Great American State Fair was a good idea and could have been a great experience but to me was ultimately sad. The US used to do great things as the United States, but now as the Divided States we do things and tell everyone they're great, just don't look too closely. Next up in the cavalcade of things that are going to be great is The Patriot Games, where after careful selection by the organizers, a boy and a girl from each of the 50 states will compete in athletic competitions for $250,000. Wanna take a bet that the white kids win?

We celebrated the 4th at Katy's

Katy and Claire wanted us to dress in bicentennial garb, and my rendition borrowed from Caroline's Elvis costume

Happy 250th Birthday America!

By far the most elaborate State Fair booth was West Virginia, who have adopted New Mexico-born John Denver's "Country Roads" as their anthem. They had a driving simulator that was synced to karaoke of Country Roads. Not offered was the misty taste of moonshine Check it out!