Myrtle Beach: Family Style

I spent last week in Myrtle Beach with some friends and their family, including their nephew (age 6) and their niece (age 3).  It was great!  There was sand and sun and lots of new friends to be made!

We stayed at North Myrtle Beach at the North Beach Towers. 

It was great!  We went to the beach.

While I was there, I even wrote my name in the sand!

We swam at the pool.

And I even got to ride on the lazy river!

There were some great kid-friendly things for us to do while we were there.  The Towers had great daily activities, like tie-dying towels and making shell wind chimes.  We also went to Broadway at the Beach which had a lot of fun rides and bouncy houses to play in and to Barefoot Landing where we got to ride the carousel and other fun carnival rides!

While we didn't have a chance to go, I also hear the Children's Museum of South Carolina and the Family Kingdom Amusement Park are a ball!

Sailing Lake Chautauqua

Happy Monday friends!

For those of you who don't know, home base for me is Cleveland, Ohio.  Being from Cleveland, I know a lot of people who spend a few weekends a year about two hours from Cleveland near Lake Chautauqua in Chautauqua County, New York.  This weekend, I spent the day sailing up at Lake Chautauqua.

Here I am on an O'Day 22.  This means that the boat we sailed was an O'Day model boat that is 22 feet long.  It was pretty nice!

I even got to steer!  For those of you who have never sailed, most smaller sail boats don't have a wheel.  You steer using this long handle, called a tiller!  That's just one of the many new sailing terms I learned this weekend.  I'm feeling very nautical indeed.

Any fans of sailing out there?  If so, let me know where I should try sailing next!

Modena, Italy Part 2

And now for Part 2 of my Modena adventure!

The streets near my house (which is in Cleveland, Ohio) are nice and wide.  And so are the sidewalks.  In Modena, though, the streets are far narrower.  Look!  There's barely room for a car to get by the ones that are parked on the side of the road.  To make sure people are safe on these narrow streets, Modena did a very smart things.  Cars are not allowed in the city!  Only people who live there and have permits can drive and park their cars in the city limits.

Italy, as you may know, has a lot of churches.  This is just one (which is now closed).  The cathedral in Modena is very famous in the area!  Because it was being renovated (getting its bricks cleaned), I could not visit during my trip.  Maybe next time!



This is where I had dinner my last night in town.  The restaurant's special dish is a ball of fettuccine that is very, very lightly breaded and then fried.  It was delicious!

Modena, Italy Part 1

Hello again friends!  As you know, I am always looking for new friends and new places.  At the end of June, a friend of mine went to a town called Modena in Italy for work, and she took me along.  While she was working, I got to explore the town.  Here are some of my pictures and some of the things I learned.

Here I am sitting and looking out at the porch across the street, which is called a veranda.  Isn't it beautiful?

In Modena, there were many, many cafes for me to visit.  There is a type of vinegar, called balsamic vinegar, that is made in Modena.  The region is very famous for it!  While I visited, I got to try many kinds of Modena's famous balsamic vinegar and even brought some home for my friends.

Here I am sitting in the park.  On Sundays, many people in Modena like to relax and visit with their friends and family.  What a lovely way to spend the weekend!

Welcome to my blog!

Hello friends and welcome to my blog about my world travels!  For those of you who have just met me, my name is Ralph.  I am a stuffed dog whose goal is to travel around the world.  Along with my travel companions, of whom I have many, I have been to four continents and 15 different countries.  Of course, I've also been to a lot of places in the United States.

For instance, here I am riding a giant tortoise in the Galapagos Islands!

I hope you will follow me on my travelers as I learn about the world.  Maybe you can even teach me some things!