Judy and I are at it again, leaving tomorrow on our longest and most complex trip yet. But, hey, it’s our fiftieth anniversary and so here we go. We’re actually doing three trips in one:

 Carter’s Trip August 10 – 21

 Our goal is to take each of our four grandkids on a trip somewhere – anywhere – they’d like to go. In 2015 Reagan, then 12, picked France. This time, Carter had no strong country preference but did lay down two criteria: “No Cathedrals. No Museums.” So, we found a Tauck Alpine Adventure tour designed for teenagers and their parents or grandparents. https://www.tauck.com/tours/switzerland-family-vacation?tcd=yj2022&filters=q:Switzerland;single:0;double:1;triple:0;quad:0;year:2022

Twelve is our target age for this program but Covid delayed our departure from 2020 to 2022; he’s now 14. The trip meets Carter’s requirements, but I’ll bet by the time we’ve done the rope course, mountain biking and Aqua Dome we’ll be ready for a really boring museum and an afternoon nap in a cathedral nave somewhere.

Holy Land Classic – September 9 – 19

Another Covid-delayed trip, this one to Israel and organized by our United Methodist Church in Sun City Center. This one, hosted by Senior Pastor Charlie Rentz, will boast 75 fellow travelers in two busses. We’re going with Jeanne and Chip from Melrose and their friends Cathy and Doug from Sun City Center.  We’ll hit a ton of biblical sites with special emphasis on the travels of Jesus.

 Switzerland on Our Own – August 21 – September 9

Notice the gap between the two group trips? Twenty days. Should we fly home and then back again? Of course not. We’ll stay in Europe and after sending Carter on his way (his dad is flying over to escort him home) we’ll take off from Munich, Germany in a rental car and hit Salzburg, Austria, Lichtenstein (the country), Zurich and then a small town near Interlachen where we’ll spend a solid week.

 The one-week stay is a timeout mandated by our children, Rebecca and Jeff: “Stay in one spot and do nothing for one solid week. Read books. No blogging. No touring.” We’re probably going to obey their rules about as well as they observed our rules back in the day.

 From Interlachen we’ll spend two nights at Le Mirador, the hotel on the north shore of Lake Geneva where we spent two honeymoon nights fifty years ago. Fitting, no? The price has escalated slightly from 1972 but at least it’s still there and going strong.

 Then on to Geneva where we will spend three days before flying to Tel Aviv. We’ll spend a day in the city on our own before joining the group in the evening.

 And yes, I plan on doing the blog thing until I drop or the kids make me stop. This is the only notice of the blog postings you will receive unless you tell me you’d like an automatic notification whenever I make a new post. Reply to this email and I’ll add you to the list. If not, no worries, you can find the postings at jonandjudy.com whenever the spirit so moves you. If you’ve been receiving daily emails for past trips, you’ll stay on the list until you tell me to remove your name. I don’t want to clutter up folk’s inboxes unnecessarily!

 Away we go!

 Jon and Judy Rick