Papa Bear Gives Gives the Signal.....

"Hooray, Hooray We're on Our Way;
Our Summer Vacation Starts Today!"

The Berenstein Bears

After an endlessly extensive and physically draining late-night packing session we both are ready to begin our little excursion through Europe. The goal weight of our bags was under 30 pound each (including purses and smaller bags) and I'm happy to say that after a night of purging all excess we have reached our intended goal. Weighing in at the middleweight division, the no-nonsense bag 'Eagle Creek' owned by Galavanting Gordon Pace weighs a mere shade over 28 pounds. In the lower division, the more pocketed and more compartmentalized bag with the moniker 'Gregory', owned by the Lovingly Loquacious Lisa weighed into the flyweight division at a miniscule 26 pounds.

At 6:30pm EST we depart from Washington D.C. and will arrive in Belfast Thursday afternoon GMT. How excited I am to visit all my old friends from Belfast. I've been removed from that troubled, yet lovable city for just about two years, and more and more I have been wanting to see how things have been going there. All the kids I worked with are now two years older, which is quite significant considering the rapid weedlike growth among kids aged 4-16. I'm not sure whether I'll recognized them or not. I've even found out recently that the old youth director at the VINE Center in Belfast has had two kids since I've been gone. I'm pretty excited to meet the progeny of Stevie.

We'll be in Belfast for the first five or six days of our journey before catching a David Gray/Ray LaMontagne concert in Birmingham next week. You will surely be getting some updates this next week as I reminisce with old friends and try to share how meaningful Belfast was to me with Lisa. If she gets bored with all my storytelling and exclusive conversations with old friends, then there's always the fresh Guinness and live World Cup games at every bar on every corner.
If we have a wish it's for relatively decent weather, as the U.K. can be as unpredictable as a grandparent's bladder.

Well off we go......

gordon and lisa