Jen and Rebecca Are Almost as Excited to go to Croatia as Shaun

According to the internets, the necktie originated in Croatia.  Once source says: Hrvat means Croat=Cravat.  And as we all know, the cravat is an early form of the modern necktie.  (We all knew that, right?  It’s possible that Jen and Rebecca have read far too many historical romances…er, too many high-brow historical novels.)  Therefore, to accessorize on this trip to Croatia , Rebecca has made Shawn a few neckties that he is super excited to show off.  Here he is modeling one:

  

 

As every good traveler like Shaun knows, Rick Steves is the guidebook to bring.

Jen and Rebecca Can’t Wait to Blow this Popsicle Stand!

We depart for Croatia tomorrow, but it still seems like forever because we still have to get through another day of work!  During the past few weeks we’ve been emailing like crazy discussing what to pack, how much to pack, last minute shopping trips to buy things we want to pack, how many books to pack, what knitting projects to pack, and what snacks to pack (Jen is always in charge of the candy.  Rebecca tries to pretend we’ll eat something slightly healthier by bringing a few granola bars and trail mix, but both of these “healthy options” include chocolate.)  We decided not to get as crazy with the driving in Croatia as we did in Scotland (in other words, we decided not to drive EVERY DAY of the trip, but to spend multiple nights in any given location, seeing less of the country and having more time to relax and explore each place.)  But as a precaution, Jen has finally taken some lessons on driving a manual transmission in the hopes that Rebecca won’t have to do all of the driving yet again if we end up stuck with a stick for the days we will have a car.  (A big giant shout out to Janelle for providing the lessons, and to Paul for sacrificing his car’s transmission!)  Now I suppose Rebecca will be expected to take scuba lessons since Jen has been taking them and will soon suggest a travel destination where we can scuba dive…

 

To give you a sense of our Croatia plans, we will be based in Dubrovnik for the first 5 nights, taking some day trips from there.  Then we spend a day in the car to get to Plitvice National Park where we will spend two nights and hike in pretty scenery (to clarify my poorly worded sentence, the hiking will take place during the day, not the night).  Our last two nights will be spent in Zagreb.  Below is a map of Croatia with our general route, and a few possible day trip locations marked.  For those who are geography challenged, note that Croatia is located across the Adriatic Sea from Italy.  (You can Google a full European map on your own if you still can't figure out where Croatia is!)

Jen and Rebecca Go to Visit Each Other

As some of you loyal Jen and Rebecca See the World blog enthusiasts already know, Jen and Rebecca do not live in the same state.  So each year, we usually find the time to go visit each other in our respective locations.  In December 2010/January 2011, Jen nearly got swallowed up by the snow piles of Minneapolis.

 

Jen with said piles of snow outside Rebecca's house.

 

We also got dressed up for New Year's Eve and had a few drinks.

 

In July 2011, Rebecca ventured out to Denver, though she took a plane and not the Wells Fargo wagon.

 

4th of July at Four Mile Historic Park.

 

Rebecca got a little fresh with a pirate.  He seemed a little stand-offish.

Jen and Rebecca Got to Travel with Janelle Again

More catching up...in August 2011, we got to take a trip with Janelle after a long trip-with-Janelle-hiatus.  And we got to drink lots of wine because we went to Napa!  I think I must have forgotten Shaun again as I have no photos of him in Napa.  That's too bad, because I hear he likes to pound grape with the best of us.

 

The Russian River Valley has both delicious wine and beautiful scenery.

 

Jen scores some liquid grape goodness.

 

Rebecca loves wine THIS MUCH.

Jen and Rebecca Play More Travel-Catch-Up

In February 2011, Jen and Rebecca left the country, but instead of seeing much of the world, they pretty much sat on the beach or poolside reading, napping and sunning themselves.  There was also a fair amount of swimming up to the bar.  At least I remembered Shaun this time.  He even got a new sombrero for the occasion!

 

Shaun likes to read on the beach just like Jen and Rebecca. 

 

We started having fun immediately upon arriving.

 

Oh, I guess we did one thing besides lounging, etc.  We tried shooting, 

but as you can see, we missed the targets entirely.

Jen and Rebecca were even joined on this trip by Anna, an occasional travel companion whom they hope will become a more regular travel companion, assuming she can put up with all the Jen/Rebecca bad travel habits (and not be too annoyed by all their travel blogging.)

 

Anna made friends with the ABBA-themed entertainment one night after a few Manhattans.  

Just don't put her in the corner.

 

Jen and Rebecca Admit to Blog Negligence

…and perhaps Jen and Rebecca just haven’t seen as much of the world as they would prefer in recent months/the past two years.  Due to some unfortunate work timing conflicts between Jen and Rebecca’s respective very important jobs, we have not travelled as far and wide as we would have preferred, and therefore we didn’t bother to blog about it.  But don’t you worry, devoted Jen and Rebecca See the World blog devotees (all 6 of you)!  We are soon to be heading to the exotic locale of Croatia !  And we plan to keep you up to date on all of our goings-on while there.

To catch you up on places we have seen in the past two years, here are a few photos from our spring 2012 trip to New York City .  Sadly, I forgot to bring Shawn.  But a sheep in NYC would have been a bit awkward anyway, don’t you think?

 

The obligatory Statue of Liberty photo.

 

So it's possible that the real reason we went to NYC was to see The Book of Mormon.  And it's also possible that we paid way over ticket face-value to do so.  But it's a certainty that we didn't regret it a bit.

 

Self-portrait in Central Park!

 

We're only a little bit embarrassed that we bought matching NYC touristy flannel jammy pants. But they are totally comfy!