Category: travel

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Getting ready for visitantes

We’ve spent the last week slowly making progress toward getting ready for the arrival of Yoli’s parents.

A few things we’ve accomplished:

  • cleaned the sun room
  • made curtain rods and hung curtains in sun room
  • made a tentative deal to buy a minivan

Of course we’ve been doing other stuff, too. Today we hit the farmer’s market and bought some peaches (and soy candles). Later I took Jadzia to the library for a presentation by the Butterfly House about ladybugs, which was very good.

Yoli also wrote up a 4-page step-by-step guide for her parents on how to traverse the airports and airplanes from Santa Cruz to Miami to St. Louis. We hope they make it with no problems. Thankfully speaking Spanish is not an obstacle in Miami, and in St. Louis all they have to do is follow the crowd to the baggage carousel.

Tuesday night will be here before we know it. Now all we have to do is clean the rest of the house.

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Coming to America

Today was the culmination of a lot of work Yoli and I and her family have been doing in recent months: Yoli’s parents received tourist visas so that they can come to America!

This is not a particularly easy process for Bolivians. It requires paperwork, making an appointment online with the embassy, and traveling to La Paz. That trip is no trifle: it is an extremely long bus ride, and it is high in the altiplano. Since Yoli’s parents are older and because they live in Santa Cruz in the lowlands, we were very worried about altitude sickness.

They left Monday from Santa Cruz, and traveled first by bus to Cochabamba. Cochabamba is higher than Santa Cruz, but not so high as La Paz. They spent a day there sightseeing, in order to help their bodies acclimatize before continuing on.

They had to wake up early this morning (Thursday) in order to make sure they were at the embassy before the 8 a.m. appointment. I understand that Yoli’s dad was on his knees praying much of the night! We all had a very real fear that they would be denied the visa. After all, when it comes to the embassy, you are guilty of wanting to become an illegal immigrant unless you can prove otherwise. We have heard many horror stories.

When they got to the embassy at 7 a.m., there were already 10 people in front of them in line. Ah, the benefits of age: the embassy folks moved Yoli’s parents to the front of the line. Apparently they were treated well and not asked very many questions during the interview.

Anyway, this is exciting news. We aren’t 100% sure when the visas will take effect, but we should know in a few days. Our assumption is that we will be able to have Yoli’s parents visit beginning some time in June.

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Piedmont and Clearwater

The outlook for our “weekend” (Tuesday-Thursday) trip was not good. It had been raining and the forecast called for more of the same.

But this was our last, best chance to take advantage of my four-day work week and the three days off it afforded us.

Continue reading “Piedmont and Clearwater”

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Photos: River Road and Elsah, Illinois

On Saturday we drove up the River Road to Grafton. We spent most of our time walking around Elsah. The fall foliage wasn’t totally changed over, which was a bit of a bummer. Maybe it will be more spectacular later this week.

Hope you enjoy these photos.

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Comings and goings

On the way out: We begin our day-long journey to Bolivia at 6:10 a.m. this morning. We should arrive there at 10 p.m. (Bolivia time). That could make for a long day, so please keep us in your prayers. While we are in Bolivia, we will be posting updates and photos to our Bolivia weblog NOT here, so please check there frequently!

On the way in: The Renaud Empire continues its expansion. We are pleased to announce that we are expecting our third child, who will arrive in January!

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Killing time in Miami

In two weeks, we’re flying to Bolivia. As usual, we connect to our international flight in Miami. Unlike past years, this time we have a five-hour layover. So basically we will spend an entire day (from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m.) in airports or airplanes.

The girls might go stir-crazy. Heck, I might go stir-crazy. So we’ve been considering our options for the layover.

One thing we’ve been wondering is: would it be worth it to leave the airport and do something in Miami with the girls? Is there anything fun to do that’s relatively close (reachable by bus)?

Any experienced travelers out there? Let us know, we’re counting on you!

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Airport-y poopers

I have fond memories of driving to the old plane-watching lot at Missouri Bottom Road and Lindbergh Boulevard. We would sit up on the roof of the car with lots of other families and marvel as the planes roared right over our heads. In fact, this is one of the fun things Yoli and I did together during her first trip to the U.S.

But then came the billion-dollar boondoggle, as I like to call it; or Bridgeton’s Bane, to put a Tolkien-esque spin on it. I am referring to W-1W, the runway expansion plan.

The old plane-watching lot was torn up, major roads were rerouted, and an unnecessary runway and tunnel were constructed.

Which brings us to today.

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Springfield, ho!

My friend Casey got married Saturday out in Waverly, Illinois. Since it was okay for us to take the girls to the reception, Yoli and I thought we might as well make a whole day trip out of it.

We packed up the girls and set out around 8:40 a.m. Saturday for the distant city of Springfield.

Continue reading “Springfield, ho!”