Guests

I love having guests come visit. Michel and Angenita will arrive this evening and stay here enjoying California, seaworld, the zoo, the beach and some day outings while we travel to Hoorn in the Netherlands and stay in their home.

The photo is a shot of the Chihuly ceiling at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas which they may visit during their stay. The sign will grace the door of the guestroom upstairs.

I started the sign tradition the first time my grandaugter came to stay, deeming it Sam's room. Since then it's been Annie's room, Nan C's room, Jean's room, Kyle's room, Dustin's room, Kate's room, Susan's room, Janice's room, Gabriella's room and probably more. Guests take their room signs as a memento of their stay. I really should put a journal in the room as well, but to date I haven't quite gotten to that errand. There will however be assorted goodies in the mini-bar, perhaps some Droste chocolate would make sense.

Angenita was a colleague when I worked in Holland in 2004 and we've kept in touch through facebook where we arranged this plan to house trade. This is the third house trade we have done, always with folks we know and it works out brilliantly.

With the Euro exchange rate and expensive accommodations Europe has become a less affordable destination for us, but with frequent flyer mile travel and a place to stay it is doable. We're excited to go back to Europe, our last trip was the winter of 2008 so it's been awhile.

So as to include some playtime in the week, and ready ourselves for our German visit we will practice drinking German beer today at our local Oktoberfest.