Dalat delights

Today after a loooooong, curvy bus ride we arrived in the French "hill town" of Dalat, Vietnam. It was sort of a French hideway in the 1920s and came out unscathed from the "American War" as it considered such a gem. It's far from Vail, but I wanted to spend Christmas in the mountains. There are very few hagglers here and many more Vietnamese tourists than foreigners. It's kind of refreshing. Our hotel is called, "Dreams," and the hostess is lovely and is hosting a Christmas party tonight for all her guests -- so sweet!

A note on food: Anna misses Pepperjack cheese and milk. I have mentioned tap water. In between meals on the road we survive on Oreos, Ritz and Power Bars. And lots of bottled water. Today we bought some dried strawberries which could have done serious damage to Hal's braces but she sucked on it instead of chewed. The food here is really great (esp. seafood -- picture fish cooked in a banana leaf) and healthy, but today we had some mashed potatoes and oh so divine!

We are all a bit homesick for the holidays, home and family. Been having fun "Christmas" shopping though and I think I've crammed gifts into everyone else's backpacks including mine. Tomorrow we plan to do a lot of nothing and take a walk around the lake. And who knows? Maybe Santa will find the girls in Vietnam!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! We are especially grateful to the Browns for holding down the Schrieve fort and petsitting amidst the snow storm! Stay warm!