She's nice to know.
 

Alffe, that is. She's nice to know. :cool: That's what it says under her picture in her year book and Mr. Alffe said, yup, she sure IS nice to know. LOL

We had fun. I had a wonderful time. Alffe's home makes you feel so safe and comfortable and she is the hostest with the mostest.

Things got screwed up in Chicago and we didn't have time to connect with Kathy. Hopefully Alffe will be able to meet her sometime in the Chicago area. We ended up getting stalked by Mr. Alffe and he joined us for a luch at Billygoats.

LOLOL! Billygoats, I never knew. Cheeseborger, cheesborger, cheeseborger! CHEEPS! NO FRIES! I told Alffe about how John Belushi and former cast of Saturday Night Live used to to comedy skits about the famous Billygoats. And I TOLD her when you go to this place, they actually do say those things. So what did Alffe do? She did order a cheeseburger and then she told the guy she wanted fries! He immediately said, CHEEPS!!! (chips) NO FRIES!!! I'm still rofl about that one.

I shopped too much and must go out on the street corners now and panhandle, but my treats to myself I just adore. I had my first Crate and Barrel experience, and omg, what a store!!!! I want one of everything.

Walked through a few high end stores and just rolled our eyes at the $485 shoes!!!! Alffe found a lovely pair of black patent leather shoes for their New York trip and I got a very nice 'namebrand' purse at a discount to die for.

And then there's Shipshewana. YUM, the food we got there!!! Oh my.

Well we just had fun.

My visit with Kathy was awesome. She is so pleasant and polite and wonderful to talk to and EVEN invited me into her lovely home and no it didn't fall on my head! LOL Her nice hubby fixed us great fruit plates to brunch on while we chatted. I got to see pictures of her lovely family and even got to meet her neighbors. Just wonderful people.

Thank you (((Kathy))) for the pleasure of your company. It completed my trip.

Glad to be back. Love you all.

I already miss Mr. and Mrs. Alffe. Our last evening together we...well...we had a few drinks and were up laughing our butts off until after midnight!

I got sweet pictures of Mr. Cooper and will post one when I have time.

Thank you Kathy and Alffe for a wonderful time!!! Much too short. :hug:

It sounds as if you've had a wonderful time away visiting with the Alffe family and also with Kathy. Thanks so much for sharing, Doody. Made my day. :)

On our way to Amish country to shop and EAT.

http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...7/100_1531.jpg

Me, IN Lake Michigan. Swear I was meant to be a water baby rather than a bullheaded Taurus.

http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...7/100_1530.jpg

My buddy at Lake Michigan.

http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...7/100_1529.jpg

The purely sandy beach at Lake Michigan is just beautiful! Nothing but really fine sand. The kind you want to wiggle your feet and toes in. I love how you can see the curve of our planet.

http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...7/100_1528.jpg

The Tower sand dune at Lake Michigan. If you look realllllyyyyy close you can see people at the top getting ready to run down the hill. And one person toward the middle on the right. Gives you a perspective of how huge this sand dune is!

http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...7/100_1527.jpg

I know Alffe wouldn't want her picture on the internet so I'm standing with a ghost, LOL! The famous Billy Goat tavern portrayed on Saturday Night Live. Mr. Alffe took our picture. A lady was getting ready to walk by and she stopped while he took the picture. Then she asked if he would like her to take a picture of the 3 of us and his reply was... "I don't know these people." LOLOL!!!!

http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...00_1525cut.jpg

How did I forget the Millenium Park pictures.

This thing is amazing. It shows digitalized pictures of just ordinary people. They blink and smile and blink and smile and then their mouths form an O and that's when you know the water is going to come flying out of their mouth. I wanted to stand under that spout so badly but I would have been walking around like a wet noodle!

It's called the The Crown Fountain.

http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...7/100_1524.jpg

http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...7/100_1523.jpg

This is called the Cloud Gate. It's awesome. I took a picture of myself in it, lol.

http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...7/100_1522.jpg

http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...7/100_1521.jpg

Crikies. Somehow I blocked all the images. But have to run and will try to fix it later, LOL! HALP!

doody, the pictures are there. i can see them

before you log on again. clear your cookies. run disk clean up. i'll pm you.

Hey Doody
 

Thank you for the photos.... what fun :D:D

You got some really good pictures! Thank you from the ghost! :D

Have I got a train ride for you Doody.

http://www.railsnw.com/Tours/royalsc...alscotsman.htm

Oh my lord, I want to go on THOSE trains! LOL! That would be fun.

Ahhhh, now I can see them curious doody. Don't know what I did. But then, I am checking from my son-in-law's computer. Hopefully I'll be able to see them there.

And you're all welcome.

I emailed my cooper picture to myself from my phone! yay

Here's sweet Cooper.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...007/cooper.jpg

Wow, how neat!
 

Wow, how neat is that fountain in the Millenium Park and the Cloud Gate. I'll look up that Cloud Gate one. LOL @ the ghost. Lake Michigan is really big hey! I remember on a couple of my surfing dvds that showed people actually surfing waves in that lake. Not going to run out of water too soon in that area.

So amazing to see your photos, Doody. You know how much I love it. I can travel the world with my fingertips this way. ;)

thanks!

Forgot to mention that Cooper is just so adorable!
:)

((Lara)) YUP~! They do surf that lake. Last time I went to see Alffe we went up to a different place at Lake Michigan and there was a group of men sailfurfing? Surfboarding? Anyway, it was really fun to watch.

And yes, those things at Millenium Park are really neat!

Doody

Awesome pics!!!!!! I am so jealous. I used to live in Chicago and I so miss the Billygoat and crate and Barrel and Michigan Avenue. Chicago rocks. Looks like an awesome time.

Alffe can I come visit too? :p

Of course you can....but there's nothing shabby about Santa Monica and I bet it never snows there! :D

Snow :eek: Actually it snowed last year up the road in maibu. :p That was crazy!

But then I am originally from Buffalo so I am good in the snow. I do miss the seasons though and fall and football season were always great in the midwest.

If I am out that way I will let ya know!

Hey Doody we have a Crate and Barrel out here, wanna visit?

:hug:

that is one cool lookin' ghost you hang out with Doody :D


what a treat to read and see your visit to Alffeland, and so glad you got to hug Kathy in person:p

Well I'm glad you all enjoyed. And hey Shelley, I'd LOVE to go to Santa Monica. When I was in high school, my dream was to move to Santa Monica and go to school out there. LOL! Um, never made it. Was too busy being a hippie up in Berkley. :cool:

I thought I was in shopping heaven in Crate and Barrell. Wow!

Yes, my ghostly friend was just so nice to know. She must be on her way now to NY city with Mr. Ghost. :D

bad monkey

i only posted about doody not seeing the pictures and didn't leave a comment ABOUT the pictures. :o

they are wonderful! love the ghost. :D

it warms my heart to read about your trip doody. i know how healing such a deep friendship is.

so...if anyone is coming to texas......:D

Doody

I'm so glad you enjoyed my playground - the city and the lake. You're a natural on the beach. I'm assuming you didn't attempt to run down Tower Hill. :p

When I was a senior in high school, my friend and I had the bright idea to skip school and spend the day at the dunes. We had it timed just right, and even had our excuses ready for why we were late coming home from school (in case traffic was heavy).

The excuses didn't work though. There was no way to explain why the two of us came home from school completely sunburned. :D

Alffe, you look really good - for a ghost! :D Cooper is adorable. :)

Heh. NO there was NO WAY I was climbing that dune! I bet you can't even make out the people up there on the top amidst the trees but they are there! That's how huge it is! Uh uh, no way.

Yes I loved the lake and it would have been nice to swim in it but we didn't make the time. I would have loved some of that.

((Kathy)) Getting out of your place and heading east was a ... well, it had me all freaking out trying to turn this way and that. And just when I was watching for my exit in the Tri 294 or whatever, my daughter picked that moment to call me on my cell. I'm not sure if I yelled, but I loudly said, "I CAN'T TALK RIGHT NOW!" LOL. My son in law called about 10 minutes later because my daughter was so worried something was wrong so he was going to try and help with a map on the computer. Oi. I said I made it out and was on my way.

Now the Alffe's are in NYC. What a travelling pair. :hug:

I'd just like to comment that I've met them both in person...and the ghost is the one on the LEFT!

:p

glad you all had fun!!

there is something really cool about meeting people on line (after you get to know them for awhile, otherwise, anyone could meet a Charles Manson or Jeffery Dahmer type??)

I think one of the reason is because the small chit-chat of "getting to know" is out of the way and we can all just let our hair down and extensions out and have some fun...shoot, I'll even take out my dentures...ROFL...

:grouphug: