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Giff went downstairs to get a coffee and just missed a scary incident. A family (mom, dad and baby) were standing right outside the Marriott waiting for the airport shuttle when a car pulled up quickly with three masked people…they got out grabbed their purse and wallet and left. Unfortunately their passports were also taken. Some people saw it and said it happened so quickly. This was a nice hotel, within a mile of the airport and it was broad daylight!
Giff and I decided to move our passports from the purse and to always wait for shuttles inside the lobby if possible. We took the shuttle back to the airport where we rented our car. We loaded all of our stuff in the car (we have this rental for a month) And headed to Sancerre…
The drive was about 2 1/2 hours mainly on the highway but once we got into the Loire Valley it quickly became beautiful countryside. This valley is also known as the garden of France…it has rolling green hills, vineyards as far as the eye can see and fields of wheat, and flowers. The château’s are sprinkled throughout the area…many of which are full of history and deep wine cellars.
We had a hard time finding this B&B…we drove right past small villages and finally found a place open to ask for directions. The problem was…the women although extremely friendly…spoke no English. Through hand signals and partial laughing at each other because neither of us understood what the other was saying, we figured out which direction to go in and entered a driveway which said chambres de Hotel. It did not have the name of the B&B (Domaine de la Reculee- http://www.domainedelareculee.fr) but this had to be it.
A women came out to greet us…Elisabeth. She spoke a little English and explained to us we were at the right place. The huge farm style house was covered with green vines and red shutters. After putting our things down and freshening up, we joined Elisabeth, her daughter and son-in-law for dinner in her dining room.
She had offered to cook dinner for us at a set price including wine and we thought it would be really special to join. Dinner started with individual goat cheese puff pastries and a white wine from Sancerre. It was perfectly paired and was our first exposure to Sancerre white wine…we were becoming fans already. For the main course paired with a red wine from Carcassonne, we had sliced magret (a type of duck) with sautéed cherries (straight from her cherry tree) glazed with Cassis, fennel and a bit of white rice. Everyone cleaned their plates before having the next course which was a selection of three different cheeses. For dessert…of course creme brûlée.
After much conversation and a great home cooked dinner we went back to our room for the night.
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Published by Giff Kabat
I grew up in Ohio as a kid, so of course I went to college at “THE” Ohio State University. I graduated in 2001 with a major in business finance. A month after graduation, I moved out to California with my college girlfriend (whom I married in 2005)…and started my career in sales (industrial sales for 5 years…then moved into medical laser sales for 4 years).
In 2009 I was 31 years old. I had a great job, a new house, and a beautiful wife. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better…my wife and I found out we were going to have a baby. Everything was going according to plan…and I couldn’t have scripted a better life for myself.
Then in the same year…everything changed. My wife, Brandey, called me when I was on my way to work and told me over the phone, something I never thought could be possible in a million years. My beautiful 30-year old pregnant wife was just told that she had breast cancer. At that moment, everything stopped all at once. I immediately went to her…and learned of our new plan…which began with her needing surgery immediately…and the rest we would find out later.
The day we returned from the hospital after Brandey’s surgery…my father died. He had been battling an aggressive cancer of his own…and although he was the one person I wanted to speak with about Brandey having cancer…I never told him. My sister, Brooke, had just gotten married a few months ago, and although he was weak, he was able to walk his little girl down the aisle of her wedding. On the night before my sister’s wedding, Brandey and I told him that we were pregnant and about to make him a grandfather. It made no sense to tell him that everything had changed for us…so he died in peace knowing everything was “the way it should be” for his only 2 children.
2010 was the worst year of my life. We had lost our baby…and for 12 months I watched my wife fight cancer with multiple surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation treatments, and drug therapy. It was a difficult year for us…but we made it. When you go through something like this in life, you learn a lot about yourself and the people around you. I was amazed at the strength and courage of my wife…and how many good people there are in this world. I will be forever grateful for the ones who never ceased to amaze me with their kindness during this hard time. Family, friends, and sometimes complete strangers…helped us make it through this. I am, and will always be especially grateful to my mother, who was with my dad at the very end, when I couldn’t be there, and when things were at their worst. She has been so supportive throughout all of this, and without her everything would have been so much harder for me.
It’s 2011 now…and the plan we have for our life this year…is to make it the best year of our lives. Brandey is officially in remission from breast cancer and she has a 95% chance the cancer will never come back. Besides the love that I have for my wife and family, the loves of my life are food, wine, and adventure travel. My wife and I love traveling to new places, seeing natural wonders, and meeting new people from different parts of the world. So for the next 400 days…we’ve decided to travel the world…and celebrate our lives. There are so many things I took for granted in life that I will never take for granted again. My father worked for over 30 years at the same job with the same company…rarely took time off…and died at 64 years old right after his retirement. For me, this trip is a combination of a tribute to him, along with wanting to spend the time of my life with the “love of my life.”
* The only thing I will miss while we are gone is our family and friends (who we hope will meet us somewhere throughout our trip) and especially our 3 little kitties we left with my mom in Ohio to catsit for the next 400 days. I will also miss watching “American Football” over the weekend…but I’ll do my best to check the scores in the middle of the night.
GIFF
View all posts by Giff Kabat
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