It is raining, of course. It always seems to rain when we travel. I dropped Gracie, our Boston Terrier, off at the doggy day spa for her two week vacation. It was really difficult. She had broken out in hives; not sure if it was allergies, or nerves. She has been very clingy the last couple of days. I think she sensed something was up when we took Kizzi over to Dad's last night.

Dad showed up right on time to give us a ride to the airport. We made it as far as Woodland before turning back for my forgotten coat. We arrived at the airport a couple of hours early hoping to at least get exit row seating for the long leg from Chicago to Germany. No luck there.

Our checked bags weighed 47 pounds, a tribute to some tough packing decisions. We decided to take only our Nikon D100 digital camera, and leave the heavy Hasselblad at home. Our goal with this trip is leisure and recreation; no stressing out, or days so full of sightseeing that we can't remember what we've seen We're looking at a 16 hour travel day and we'll see how long we can stick to our promise.

The flight to Chicago was on time, with plenty of time to find our connection to Munich. We met a man from Trieste, Italy and talked with him for some time before boarding the plane to Munich.

Gracie enjoying a little sunshine. .

Old Kizzi ... looking forward to a break from Gracie!