Vacation and other randoms

1. Taxes
We have to get our taxes done early, due to our vacation. We owe the Feds about $800 and get back about $400 from the State. I thought we'd owe more because I'm an independent contractor.

2. Entertainment
We went to Royce Hall at UCLA for a concert. It's a magnificent, beautiful old building, with a huge pipe organ up high near the ceiling. We saw the Blind Boys of Alabama and Allen Toussaint. Toussaint was a captivating "raconteur." I'm not that smart; I read that word in the program and had to look it up. It was a wonderful evening of performances that I rarely see.

3. The Academy Awards
No surprises here, but I loved the gowns. Each one was more beautiful than the others. I loved the pastel colors and the couple of gowns that were multi-colored. I didn't see a tacky gown all night.

4. My vacation!
We leave in 2 weeks for an 18 day trip. We will go to the Southern tip of South America and to Iguassu falls on the border of Argentina and Brazil. We fly to Buenos Aires, so thankfully, the earthquake in Santiago won't affect our trip.

We start in Buenos Aires, then fly to Calafate, in the gorgeous Patagonia area. We explore Los Glaciares National Park and Torres del Paine National Park. We'll see amazing wildlife when we go to an estancia (ranch). It's like we'll be on the Amazing Race; they were in these areas this season. Next we go to the Chilean Fjords and Tierra del Fuego. We'll go on a 4-day cruise (rugged waters, I'm afraid) into Ainsworth Bay, near the Marinelli Glacier. We go to Tucker Islet (Penguins!), Pia Glacier, Glacier Alley, the Darwin Mountain Range, Beagle Channel, Murray Channel and then to Cape Horn! Weather permitting, we'll go ashore from our zodiac boat! We see Wulaia Bay, go through the strait of Magellan and the Magellanic forest, and end the cruise in Ushuaia, the "City at the End of the World, " which is between the snowcapped Andes and Beagle Channel.

We fly back to Buenos Aires so we can fly up to Iguassu Falls. The falls are twice as wide and much higher than Niagara Falls. There are 275 separate cascades and waterfalls. We'll see the falls from both the Argentinian side and the Brazilian side. We even get to go river rafting in the falls!

However, I can't believe that we'll be back home in one month from tomorrow! It is soooo exciting!!