The wind began to switch, the house to pitch And suddenly the hinges started to unhitch Just then the witch, to satisfy an itch Went flying on her broomstick, thumbing for a hitch. — Wizard of Oz
First the outdoor sirens wailed and then our phones began to scream. Dueling storm alarms. Checking my weather radar app, yep, we were dead center in the middle of a red box, a tornado box. Turned the TV on and tuned in Scott and Lance, the dancing KSDK weathermen. Both standing in front of their matching green screens, ready to gesticulate wildly at the approaching storm. Long story short. There was a tornado. It wasn’t much and it didn’t last long. Those of us in the path of this phantom tornado were not even advised to go to the basement. For this event, our safe space extended to the couch in front of the television.
Never mind that this storm’s track was following the same path as last year’s real and devastating tornado of less than a year ago. The evening news time arrived, and the anchor and his trusty sports boy were chaffing to begin. So, Scott and Lance packed in their green screens and slunk back into their regular time slot. Don’t worry folks, it is still only April. There is still time left for more.
On this Tax Day, I cannot think of a better time to rail against the government. So, let’s go. “Nothing is certain in this world, except death and taxes.” This quote is attributed to Benjamin Franklin. I frequently find that it’s accrual world, where a fine is a tax for doing wrong, while a tax is a fine for doing well. I have often been asked, what’s the best way to teach your children about taxes? Eating a third of their ice cream ought to do it. And in conclusion, people who cheat on their taxes disgust me. This is not the world I want to raise my 27 dependents in.
Last night, Bruce and Kim (Maren’s parents) called us to pick our brains about Croatia. They are headed there this summer. We spoke for a while and afterwards, I wrote up what we had seen and done there back in 2024. Never one to throw out some of my writing, here is a synopsis of our Croatian itinerary.
We flew into Split and took a taxi to the hotel. We stayed at Hotel Baletna Skola (Ballet School) in Kaštel Kambelovac, about 5 miles north of Split. Nice. Later, after Cousin Amee joined us, we walked another 5 miles north, along the coast and picked a place to swim in the Adriatic. Upscale neighborhood. Very picturesque, plus pomegranates. We visited a walled villa. Walled to keep the pirates out. They didn’t hold back the tourists though. We also took a bus to Trogir, a mini-Dubrovnik, a small walled city about 20 miles north of Split.
Split
The next day, we took the van into Split and got on our bikes. Long downhill, along the coast, through a park, followed by a steep uphill to a lookout point. Then another downhill to the port. The bikes then got loaded for ferry embarkation, leaving us plenty of time to tour the palace of the Roman emperor Diocletian. He knew how to retire. Boat ride to Hvar, followed by a bike ride to the hotel. Hvar is the most expensive of the islands, which is probably why we stayed at the farthest end of the island from the city of Hvar, at Hotel Fontana.
Hvar Fortress Cannon
The next day, we rode across the island. Uphill through the lavender fields. Rally point at the summit and then downhill into Hvar. Anne crashed at the bottom, just outside of Hvar, but she was able to limp into town. We took the van back to the hotel and then the next day it carted us back to Hvar, where there was a snafu with the next ferry, so we had time to kill. Some people waited around at the dock, while others climbed the hill to the fort guarding the town. I made it back to the ferry with plenty of time.
Korcula was our second island. We stayed at Hotel Borik. I liked this island best, plenty of good food and good wine. Our longest ride occurred on the second day. We rode across the island to a fish house and then got chased back again by an approaching storm. We beat it and then got schadenfreude points when we saw the rival hoity-toity bike tour getting dumped on. Afterwards, we enjoyed wine tasting at a local vineyard. Our next ferry brought us to Dubrovnik, where we had one more day of biking, before the tour ended.
After the tour, we moved in Dubrovnik from the north side of town to just outside the old town’s walls, where we stayed at Eddie’s Sea View rooms. We got the pass and stayed four nights. We toured the walls and museums, then ate. We went to a show, just south of the walled city that featured traditional Croatian dancing, with different costumes for a dozen localities. We had no trouble getting tickets, but during high season this might be harder.
Old town is on the south end and the ferries are on the north. Taking a cab might have been the wiser thing to do over taking the bus. A six-hour high speed ferry got us back to Split after dark. The following morning, we caught the Gray Line tour down at the docks. Our first leg brought us to the waterfalls at Plitvice National Park. After the park, our second leg got us into downtown Zagreb, where after wandering around lost for a while, with our wheelie bags in tow, we finally found Hotel Jägerhorn, which had a nice breakfast.
Be Your Masterpiece
With three nights in Zagreb, we did a few boutique museums: chocolate, broken relationships, and naïve art. On Sunday, we went to the botanical gardens. There were also plenty of shops to checkout, like this ad for a shoe store. In the morning, the hotel called us an Uber. In Croatia you settle the bill at checkout, not check-in, as we seem to do here.
