A few years ago when I spent a month in Provence, I looked for blogs about Provence where I could guest contribute. One site was Perfectly Provence. The site owner, Carolyne Kauser-Abbott, was very welcoming and encouraged me to write to my heart’s content.
We stayed in touch. Then I found out that, in addition to her spending part of the year in Provence, she and her husband (both from Canada) also spent part of the year in California near Palm Springs. Hellooo? Neighbors much?
So last year, Debbie and I went to Idyllwild to do a practice hike for Italy. Since it was relatively close to where Carolyne was, she met us there. It was really fun to meet in person after we’d interacted online for so long.
Onto This Year’s Meetup
This spring, I saw a photo Carolyne posted on Facebook.
“Hey, that looks like California. Are you here? Let’s meet up!” I said.
A few weeks later, she and her husband came to San Diego and we had a blast. We toured Coronado’s tiny downtown area as well as the famous Hotel del Coronado. I introduced her to the $7 Starbucks tour, which got us, for the cost of an overpriced latte, front row seats to the magnificent ocean view outside the hotel.
After that, we met up with her husband, who couldn’t stop gushing about the Midway Museum. As a former member of the Canadian military, he had deep appreciation for the aircraft carrier and all it had to offer. We enjoyed local beer at Karl Strauss, and a good time was had by all.