"Now, Wait A Minute!"

My travel friend Mimi is just about game for anything as long as it’s after 11 o’clock in the morning. Unlike me, Mimi likes to sleep in. This is mainly because she can stay up well past midnight meditating or consoling her friends back in New York who often rely on her for emotional support.

Mimi lives in Levittown, New York. She enjoys her frequent summer escapes to the mountain cabins of Rondout Resort in Accord, New York. She is a traveler who loved riding aboard our old coach “Patty’s Charm”. When she saw our new Prevost “Dolly’s Pride,” she responded with a loud “Wow! I love it!”

This past summer, Mimi shared some of my travel experiences. I had her floating over the 1000 Islands in a hot air balloon, walking a glacier in the Columbia Icefields, hiking on trails where bears lurk, and on a rural road where a herd of mountain sheep surrounded my car. I pushed her to climb to the hoodoos in Banff National Park. She pushed me to bicycle some trails. When I didn’t feel like biking, Mimi would strap on her fanny pack full of snacks and go riding off for hours alone.

Mimi is big on snacks, though you would not guess this from her petite size. Mimi never misses a meal. In fact, meal time is not a grab-it & run affair for her. She thoughtfully prepares a nutritious meal for herself or will eat a hearty plateful of whatever I might have prepared. She loves making deviled eggs, a specialty she shares with her companions. Mimi frequently dines in restaurants. She treated me to dinner at Cabernets in Parksville, British Columbia one evening and insisted I have dessert. The baklava was truly delicious.

Mimi has a special interest in the Native American Indians, or as Canadians refer to these people, the First Nations. I am grateful to her for arranging a private tour of the Wahkpa Chu’gn Archaeological Site while I sought out the mall. I know we both appreciated the Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump too.

Mimi is the kind of traveler who doesn’t ask “Are we there yet?” because she’s eager to stop along the way to see unexpected destinations. She is ever ready to grab a camera and pop out the door to take a look at whatever may be out there.

Whenever, Mimi went missing at the Cave & Basin Historic Site, I found her engaged in a warm conversation with an elderly couple in the snack bar. She liked visiting with fellow campers. And, she delighted in talking to a golf cart full of college age boys who ran the parks boat concession. She loves to talk and make new friends. When she goes quite, she’d meditating – time to leave her alone.

If you are around Mimi enough, you’ll notice she has a few distinct choice phrases. She’ll give a loud “Oh, wow!” when something strikes her as awesome. And, when she wants to question your comment she’ll say, “Now, wait a minute!” If she happens to lose something, she can have a potty mouth. If you help her find whatever it is that’s gone missing, she’s always ready with a pleasant “Thank you.”

Mimi is always eager to help, especially if it involves using LOC. She swears by this multi-purpose cleaner. She used it to remove bugs from the coach windshield, launder her washables, and wipe down picnic tables. She even admits to having washed her hair with the stuff in a pinch. She’s left me the last of her bottle of LOC and it will not go to waste.

That’s our dear Mimi.