Off to Europe

It’s been a bit, but we’re back on the road. This time we are headed to Germany for the Christmas Markets.

I was sitting at the computer about three weeks ago. My wife had forwarded me an article about the German Christmas Markets she had seen online.

As I read the article, I thought, “why not.”

I went online and booked flights, hotels and a car.

There is a bit of insanity, booking a trip to a country you’ve only dreamed of going to, hoping that between Utube and one semester of high school German you can navigate a trip to a foreign country.

We’ll see how that works out.

We left home on Saturday and headed to Los Angeles International Airport.

On the way we stopped at Clearman’s North Woods Inn for a meal before the flight.

Clearman’s holds a special place in my memories. I remember going there as a child with my father.

My parents separated when I was very young, so I didn’t see my father much. One of the things I remember most about the time we spent together was eating out. He didn’t cook much and at home with mom, we didn’t have much money, so we rarely went out.

I love Clearman’s from the start. From the fake snow

covered roof, to the dimly lit interior illuminating the Canadian North Woods décor. And as a kid, anyplace that let you throw peanut shells on the floor was a rare treat.

Not much has changed since I first walked thru their doors over 50 years ago. On this visit, I had the “Steak Chunks on skewer” served with two salads, rice pilaf, baked potato and garlic cheese bread.

The salads are a pretty plain salad and a red cabbage salad. I would go to Clearman’s just to have the cabbage salad and the garlic cheese bread.

It’s not cheap, but for a special treat it’s well worth the cost.