July 15, 2024

Back in my Happy Place!

I'm back! No trip home would be complete without a visit to my happy place Ocean City, New Jersey! I took NJ transit from 30th street station to Absecon ( stop before Atlantic City)  and my good friend Bonnie picked me up. Easy Peasy! Bonnie and Steve are the friends that hooked me up with my fabulous stay in Mexico for the month of January and offered me a stay in their lovely OCNJ home, this weekend. Bonnie is a beach and bike lover like myself and Steve is all about the fishing! I got in many bike rides courteous of my friend Laureen's beach cruiser, that Bonnie and Steve are currently housing for Laureen and Joe, since we have all sold our OCNJ homes.

On Thursday night after dinner, Bonnie and I went for a walk down to my old neighborhood. As we came up to the block, a huge rainbow lit up the sky and when we walked to my old house lot - I saw pansy flowers randomly popping up all among the plowed lot!

I took this as a special Hi and so happy to see you here, from Mom and Dad! So many great memories here!

Got to have some great beach time and circle conversations with my brother Michael and wife Joyce and friends Aida & Joe DeColli & Bonnie - also got to catch up with old neighborhood friends Kyle and Brian & Rose.

EFATE ISLAND, SOLOMON ISLANDS - Continued

By Patricia Patrick • November 27, 2025
Next we were at Eden on the River , for a little nature walk and a swim in the cool refreshing water. This place was great with giant rocks to slide down, inter-tubes for floating and rope bridges to climb. All set in this gorgeous park with tons of flowers & fauna.

PORT VILA, EFATE ISLAND, SOLOMON ISLANDS

By Patricia Patrick • November 27, 2025
We crammed a lot of touring into this day! We did a giant loop around whole island and though it is not a large, the roads are not great. Our driver and guide were very informative and friendly and we had lots of laughs and lively conversation in the van. Would recommend Yumi tours, especially Phillip! We started in Port Vila and went counter clockwise around the coastal area.

LUGANVILLE, ESPIRITU SANTO, VANUATU

By Patricia Patrick • November 26, 2025
Champagne Beach , on the island of Santo, Solomon Islands has to be on the list of top 10 beaches in the World! Oddly, we had it all to ourselves on Monday, November 24th! Below are drone shots by another resident that show the spectacular blue water and powdery white sand!