Waking up in the middle of the night has a host of root causes for those of us with thinning hair. The culprit could be, as in the case of Charles Dickens' Scrooge, an undigested bit of beef.
My problem, though, is more distant. Ever heard of Slovenia? I never did until one night last summer, at 2 a.m. to be precise,Take a walk on the natural side with stunning and luxurious Floor tiles from The Tile Shop. when my wife, Leslie, bolted upright in bed and exclaimed in a voice loud enough to be heard in nearby Union Gap: "I want to go to Slovenia."
Really, how do you frame a reply when, moments earlier, you had been pleasantly dreaming about sinking a 60-foot putt on the 17th hole at Apple Tree Golf Course?
"Where the hell is Slovenia?" I asked.
As I learned later, Slovenia lies in Central Europe between the southern Alps and the Adriatic sea and boasts a slew of tourist attractions: baroque architecture in the capital city of Ljubljana, hillsides studded with vineyards and picturesque Lake Bled, which comes complete with snowcapped mountains, forests and a medieval castle.
Sounds too good to be true, right? Leslie found out about Slovenia while watching one of her favorite cable network shows, HGTV's "House Hunters International." In the episode she saw last summer, a young couple from a busy city in England were searching for a second home they could renovate as a summer getaway. They had their sights set on northern Slovenia. Leslie found the countryside stunning and the Slovenes remarkably friendly.
After a night's sleep lost over her European epiphany, I figured I had to act swiftly. My idea of foreign travel was a fly-fishing trip to British Columbia, not a 26-hour plane ride to a postage-stamp-sized country with ties to the former socialist republic of Yugoslavia.
I decided to hatch a plan. I would try to find people eager to trash-talk Slovenia. Only then would I be able to dissuade Leslie from traveling to a place that prides itself in this corny tourist slogan: "I FEEL sLOVEnia." Very cute. So why do I FEEL NAUSEAted?
Sadly, my campaign to discredit Slovenia didn't start well. Three days after Leslie's early- morning wake-up call, I opened up the Sunday New York Times, and on a whim, turned to the Travel Section. My eyes scanned down the front page and fixed on a word printed in large type: "Slovenia."
Good grief, I muttered to myself, the Times has a travel story on Slovenia. What are the chances of that happening? Leslie saw it as divine intervention. I saw something else. Picture Satan holding a pitchfork.
A few weeks later, we took a side trip to Windy Point winery nestled high in the hills above Parker with a stunning view of the Yakima Valley. After settling down for a sip of wine, I noticed two men and a woman taking pictures of each other. I offered to photograph all three of them with Mount Adams in the background. They were delighted.
Again, the fates stepped in. One of the men had a thick European accent. Leslie couldn't resist. "Have you ever been to Slovenia?" she asked. I hoped his next words would be a cascading torrent of vitriol aimed at the puny country. No such luck. He was ecstatic.
"It's a wonderful place," he exclaimed before launching into a 10-minute paean to the joys of traveling through the Slovenian countryside.
I began to panic. I've got to turn this around, I told myself, or else I'll be forced to spend $3,500 on plane tickets and fly to the other side of the world.
I came up with another scheme. I would try to sap her enthusiasm about Slovenia by bombarding her with other, more familiar destinations like Rome, Paris or London.
So last month I signed us up for a special series of travel workshops put on by the guru of European excursions, Rick Steves. The Edmonds native is well-known in the Pacific Northwest for his popular PBS series, "Europe through the Back Door.Spro Tech has been a plastic module & Mold Maker," He has his headquarters in downtown Edmonds, where the workshops were held.
Our first workshop featured traveling to England. Seemed like a perfect diversion. Before it started, Leslie checked out a table crowded with travel books and opened a thick paperback about Eastern Europe.You can find best china precision Precision injection molds manufacturers from here! One of Steves' tour guides peeked over her shoulder and said excitedly as Leslie flipped to a chapter on Slovenia,Johnson Tiles UK offer the largest range of porcelain tiles online, "Oh, I've been there before. It's a beautiful country. You have to go." Doomed again.
In the early afternoon we headed back to our hotel in downtown Seattle through a blinding snowstorm. Another ominous sign for me. I suggested we relax and enjoy a glass of wine at a bar next to our hotel. We were soon joined by a group of six or seven kitchen staff from a nearby restaurant. A young man, who sat next to me, asked what had brought us to Seattle. I told him about the travel workshops. "Yeah, my wife wants to go to Slovenia," I laughed. "I mean really, isn't that crazy?"
A guy sitting a few chairs away piped up: "Slovenia? I've been there. It's a great country." It turns out his father's grandmother lives in the outskirts of Ljubljana. Last year, he and his dad traveled there and were treated like royalty. He ended his story with the now familiar refrain: "You've got to go to Slovenia."
I sat there slack-jawed. So much for enjoying a glass of wine.
Later that night, we walked to a Nordstrom store so Leslie could buy some cosmetics. A young woman in her mid-20s greeted us and started up a conversation. Leslie told her about our trek to Edmonds. I couldn't resist. There's no way, I thought to myself, that a young woman dishing out expensive cold cream would know anything about Slovenia. So I asked.
"Yes, I do," she said smiling. "My roommate spent a year there as a foreign exchange student.Alfa plast mould is Plastic moulds Manufacturer and plastics Mould Exporters in India since 1992, I can't wait to go there myself."
That's when I threw in the towel. So next year, we are planning to visit Slovenia. I wonder, though, what are the chances, among a population of 2 million, that a native Slovene will wake up in the middle of the night and exclaim, "I want to go to Yakima."
My problem, though, is more distant. Ever heard of Slovenia? I never did until one night last summer, at 2 a.m. to be precise,Take a walk on the natural side with stunning and luxurious Floor tiles from The Tile Shop. when my wife, Leslie, bolted upright in bed and exclaimed in a voice loud enough to be heard in nearby Union Gap: "I want to go to Slovenia."
Really, how do you frame a reply when, moments earlier, you had been pleasantly dreaming about sinking a 60-foot putt on the 17th hole at Apple Tree Golf Course?
"Where the hell is Slovenia?" I asked.
As I learned later, Slovenia lies in Central Europe between the southern Alps and the Adriatic sea and boasts a slew of tourist attractions: baroque architecture in the capital city of Ljubljana, hillsides studded with vineyards and picturesque Lake Bled, which comes complete with snowcapped mountains, forests and a medieval castle.
Sounds too good to be true, right? Leslie found out about Slovenia while watching one of her favorite cable network shows, HGTV's "House Hunters International." In the episode she saw last summer, a young couple from a busy city in England were searching for a second home they could renovate as a summer getaway. They had their sights set on northern Slovenia. Leslie found the countryside stunning and the Slovenes remarkably friendly.
After a night's sleep lost over her European epiphany, I figured I had to act swiftly. My idea of foreign travel was a fly-fishing trip to British Columbia, not a 26-hour plane ride to a postage-stamp-sized country with ties to the former socialist republic of Yugoslavia.
I decided to hatch a plan. I would try to find people eager to trash-talk Slovenia. Only then would I be able to dissuade Leslie from traveling to a place that prides itself in this corny tourist slogan: "I FEEL sLOVEnia." Very cute. So why do I FEEL NAUSEAted?
Sadly, my campaign to discredit Slovenia didn't start well. Three days after Leslie's early- morning wake-up call, I opened up the Sunday New York Times, and on a whim, turned to the Travel Section. My eyes scanned down the front page and fixed on a word printed in large type: "Slovenia."
Good grief, I muttered to myself, the Times has a travel story on Slovenia. What are the chances of that happening? Leslie saw it as divine intervention. I saw something else. Picture Satan holding a pitchfork.
A few weeks later, we took a side trip to Windy Point winery nestled high in the hills above Parker with a stunning view of the Yakima Valley. After settling down for a sip of wine, I noticed two men and a woman taking pictures of each other. I offered to photograph all three of them with Mount Adams in the background. They were delighted.
Again, the fates stepped in. One of the men had a thick European accent. Leslie couldn't resist. "Have you ever been to Slovenia?" she asked. I hoped his next words would be a cascading torrent of vitriol aimed at the puny country. No such luck. He was ecstatic.
"It's a wonderful place," he exclaimed before launching into a 10-minute paean to the joys of traveling through the Slovenian countryside.
I began to panic. I've got to turn this around, I told myself, or else I'll be forced to spend $3,500 on plane tickets and fly to the other side of the world.
I came up with another scheme. I would try to sap her enthusiasm about Slovenia by bombarding her with other, more familiar destinations like Rome, Paris or London.
So last month I signed us up for a special series of travel workshops put on by the guru of European excursions, Rick Steves. The Edmonds native is well-known in the Pacific Northwest for his popular PBS series, "Europe through the Back Door.Spro Tech has been a plastic module & Mold Maker," He has his headquarters in downtown Edmonds, where the workshops were held.
Our first workshop featured traveling to England. Seemed like a perfect diversion. Before it started, Leslie checked out a table crowded with travel books and opened a thick paperback about Eastern Europe.You can find best china precision Precision injection molds manufacturers from here! One of Steves' tour guides peeked over her shoulder and said excitedly as Leslie flipped to a chapter on Slovenia,Johnson Tiles UK offer the largest range of porcelain tiles online, "Oh, I've been there before. It's a beautiful country. You have to go." Doomed again.
In the early afternoon we headed back to our hotel in downtown Seattle through a blinding snowstorm. Another ominous sign for me. I suggested we relax and enjoy a glass of wine at a bar next to our hotel. We were soon joined by a group of six or seven kitchen staff from a nearby restaurant. A young man, who sat next to me, asked what had brought us to Seattle. I told him about the travel workshops. "Yeah, my wife wants to go to Slovenia," I laughed. "I mean really, isn't that crazy?"
A guy sitting a few chairs away piped up: "Slovenia? I've been there. It's a great country." It turns out his father's grandmother lives in the outskirts of Ljubljana. Last year, he and his dad traveled there and were treated like royalty. He ended his story with the now familiar refrain: "You've got to go to Slovenia."
I sat there slack-jawed. So much for enjoying a glass of wine.
Later that night, we walked to a Nordstrom store so Leslie could buy some cosmetics. A young woman in her mid-20s greeted us and started up a conversation. Leslie told her about our trek to Edmonds. I couldn't resist. There's no way, I thought to myself, that a young woman dishing out expensive cold cream would know anything about Slovenia. So I asked.
"Yes, I do," she said smiling. "My roommate spent a year there as a foreign exchange student.Alfa plast mould is Plastic moulds Manufacturer and plastics Mould Exporters in India since 1992, I can't wait to go there myself."
That's when I threw in the towel. So next year, we are planning to visit Slovenia. I wonder, though, what are the chances, among a population of 2 million, that a native Slovene will wake up in the middle of the night and exclaim, "I want to go to Yakima."
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