A Year of Change

We’re up early again as we try to get back on our mountain time zone sleep schedule. We feel good though and we’re both getting back to normal. Our ankles were still swollen yesterday but are better this morning. We’ve also both lost about half the weight we gained on our 9-day foodie tour of France. Robi was happy to hear we ate our way through the Country and didn’t adhere to our normal eating habits. Hard to do that in France. Considering all I ate, bread, pastries, ice cream, butter, wine, etc., I should have been up 20 pounds! It seemed every few feet in France there was a bakery or an ice cream shop. It was fun.

Yesterday we hit the gym hard. We’ll be back there again this morning and then have lunch with Ben and Eleni at noon. Ty works today as he’s switching up his schedule to have Sundays and Mondays off for football season. He’s a thinker!

Lots going on at work and I have a lot of balls I’m juggling right now. For instance, I’m getting back all the equity (stock) from the guy we let go at end of June and then am turning around and selling his stock for six times what I gave him to a new Partner. Then I have all the estates in Europe I’m reorganizing and making plans with for 2026 and also doing the same with all the distributors here in the U.S.

Lori and I are planning to send a film crew over to Southwest France to do a short film or documentary on our Partner who has found and resurrected dozens of long-lost grape varietals, thought to be forever gone from the World. Think something similar to Mom’s or Dixie’s short film depicting their lives at their memorial services, only more like 8 to 12 minutes. Then we’ll release it on social media as part of a campaign to tell the World about this amazing place and their discoveries. It’s a story worth telling, even if you’re not a wine drinker. It just needs to be framed and explained in the right way. Who knows, maybe we’ll win an Academy Award for Best Short Film or Documentary! Ya never know!

It’s really smokey outside right now and the moon is bright orange. You can smell it in the house as we had the windows open while sleeping until I smelled it around 2am, woke up and closed the window. We think the smoke is from the fire up by Craig in the northwest part of the State but there’s also a few in the southwest part of Colorado. It was windy yesterday which didn’t help. We’ll be keeping the windows closed all day.

Glad it’s Saturday as we have two more days to recoup. 5:05am now. Have a great Saturday, make sure to watch the Broncos tonight, and God Bless.

We took off from Paris 15 minutes late or so and then landed in Frankfurt with 45 minutes until boarding. The walk between the gates is less than 10 minutes, but you do have to go through Passport Control to get to the international gates. This is a pain as it takes at least 15 minutes as the line is always long. We then stopped at Duty Free for some chocolate and Cuban cigars and walked up to our gate right as it was getting ready to board.

Frankfurt is a busy airport where sometimes you have to take a bus to your plane out on the tarmac, especially some of the larger planes. We made the first bus (never fly economy in Europe or for that matter, anywhere, anymore!) and made it to our seats. For some reason, probably due to being on 8 planes in 9 days, I thought we were in 8D and 8G, so that’s where we went. The flight attendants were so nice, way better than the United ones we had coming out. Right before takeoff the Purser came up to us and asked our names as we were booked in 5D and 5 G. Looking at my boarding passes, they were right. They said whatever we prefer is fine and we could stay there if we liked. Coincidentally, right before takeoff, the woman next to us took off her shoes and boy did her feet stink! The Purser (head flight attendant) again said of course we could move if we wanted to. So, right after takeoff, I moved us in less than a minute!

The flight was nonstop which is a huge plus as you don’t have to change planes and lug your stuff and walk through another airport when you’re already tired. It was a 10-hour flight, but I binged Landman again to catch up before season 2. At one point, I walked into the galley and startled this young flight attendant, and we joked the rest of the flight as we seemed to keep bumping into each other often.

Upon landing in Denver we zoomed through customs as we’re Global Entry. While most people have to go through a long que and wait in line and present their passports and have their luggage screened, we simply go to another line, stand in front of kiosk with a camera that uses facial recognition, (welcome to the future) and then when a green check mark appears, an officer calls your name, hands you a placard with a letter on it, (Lori and I were both E for entry) and we proceeded to walk right out the door. We hand an officer our placards and that’s it; we’re through U.S. Customs. No bag check, no passport check, nothing. We do any and everything we can to make traveling as painless as possible these days, no matter the cost.

The drive home wasn’t too bad. We made it from landing at 4 to making it home at 7. This included customs, stopping for groceries and driving through Denver traffic at rush hour. Not bad. I started laundry right away and took a shower. Both Lori’s and my ankles were swollen from flying over the North Pole for 10 hours but we’re much better this morning at 4:15am which is when we woke up. That’s 12:15 in the afternoon in Paris!

Great trip! We had fun and really enjoyed ourselves and the break. Italy is next in October and then Portugal perhaps later in the Fall. Good to be home. We’ll head to the gym at 6:30 to start working off the extra pounds we enjoyed putting on over the past 10 days or so. Glad we came back on a Thursday as we essentially have three days to recoup before work. Have a great day, we’ll add more pictures in the coming days, God Bless.

Thursday August 7, 2025, 12:30am Colorado time, 8:30am Paris. We had an epic day yesterday. We started off with a private tour of Notre Dame. Once inside though, there were thousands of people. Still, an amazing thing to see. On the way back to our hotel, we stopped for breakfast and then texted Mousse, our driver. He met us at the hotel with our stretch BMW and we then drove around the city stopping at different landmarks and unknown places only locals know about. Of course, we hit the Eiffel Tower and did a bit of shopping. The benefit of having a driver, especially ours, who is our new best friend, is he got us into everything. One stop was Goyard, the exclusive French bag and luggage maker. There was a line an hour long waiting to get in, but with a quick conversation between Mousse and the doorman, we were waived right in pass the 40 or so people waiting in line.

We spent 3 hours touring the city and hitting all the best of the best places that mostly only locals know about. One was this cheese shop that was out of the way and nondescript, but fantastic. Mousse said it’s the best in Paris. We bought $40 euro worth of cheese that would have cost $250 in the U.S. The cheese man even vacuum packed it for us and it’s in Lori’s carry on right now.

Around 4 we made it back to our boutique hotel that treated us like royalty. We dropped off some things and headed out to shop for the boys. We found a great shirt shop, reasonably priced and bought them each a couple shirts. We found Lori a really cool scarf and spent the next few hours walking around.

You can easily spot tourists in Paris. We though looked like locals. There are lots of people in town and in places like Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower, you can see it. There’s no shortage of money here as like I said, the line at Goyard was an hour long to get to see an advisor. I’ll bet the average purchase was $5000! Lori gets buyer’s remorse before she even buys anything these days. She never asks for anything, but I can tell when she likes something. Its usually a challenge though as I almost have to force her to buy things. Years ago she was a better buyer but always frugal. She found a great bag and later we joked that this will probably be the last purse she ever buys. She’s done well though as all her Louis Vuitton’s have tripled in price! If she ever has to, she can sell them easily for a nice sum.

We had dinner in the hotel and then headed upstairs to purge our bags with things we didn’t need, to be able to pack all of our purchases. We made it to the airport in record time, (about 30 minutes) and Mousse came in and showed us where to get our VAT tax refund, which was like $700 Euros, and then headed to the gate. We’re in the lounge right now waiting for our 10:30am flight to Frankfurt, where we’ll connect to a nonstop to Denver. We’ll arrive around 3:30 and should, knock on wood, sail through customs as we both have Global Entry, meaning we’ve been prescreened for entry to the Country.

It’ s been a great trip and went pretty fast. We saw and did a lot of things but it’s always great to get home. We did pretty well on spending too as I had everything lined up ahead of time. We were on 8 planes in 9 days and in four different hotels, all fantastic. Pics to come tomorrow, have a great Thursday and we’ll post tomorrow. GB

Up early and an uneventful drive to Bordeaux and flight to Paris. I ended up sitting next to a 74-year-old woman from Arvada who now lives in Broomfield. She remembers taking her dad to the bank often and he banked at North Valley! Small World.

Our driver, Moustapha, picked us up in a I7 BMW Executive car which has a ton of leg room and is basically a limo. On the way into Paris, we had some serious road rage right in front of us. One guy cut off a truck and then the truck tried to merge in front of him to get to an exit and then the little car, cut him off again, stopped his car, both got out and the fight was on! Our driver was like Jason Stratham in the movies and threw the BMW into reverse and finally went around. I’m trying to post the video as Lori caught the whole thing, but don’t think I can. I’ll text it to everyone to see, welcome to Paris!

After checking into our hotel, we walked around and went to the Musee Picasso or Picasso Museum. It was stunning. The best thing about Paris is seeing all the artwork. Paris has to have the greatest collection of the World’s art that there is. Here are a few of my favorites.

And next a view from our hotel window. Lori is getting ready and just sucked some of her hair into the blow dryer! I went to the Boulangerie (bakery) down the block for fresh croissants and coffee.

Last night after dinner down at the Seine, (the river that runs through Paris) we walked around, and I had to call Jag and tell him something funny. We’re in the Marais district which is the Bohemian and artsy district and one of the gay areas in Paris. As we walked down the street, the bars were packed, and they have ropes like when you’re in line somewhere outside the bar that everyone stands within so they can drink and technically still be “in the bar”. I looked at one bar with probably 100 or more people in the ropes drinking and having a great time, and told Lori, “look, there’s not a single woman there”. She looked at me and said something like, “well, duh, it’s a gay bar”! To be fair, it didn’t even cross my mind as like I said, Paris is artsy, especially the Marais District, and everyone looks kind of gay. Too funny I didn’t pick up on it.

This morning we’re off to our private tour of Notre Dame. Then we’ll hang out in the city and enjoy the day before we fly home tomorrow. Our hotel is great, and the rooms are too. Time to eat some more croissants, and yes Robi, we’re eating everything. I think I’m up 6 pounds or so!

Have a great day, until tomorrow, God Bless.

First full day in the Gascogne region of southwest France. I’ll skip the business and wine part and just jump to the good stuff. My Partners, which manage a group of around 800 growers spread throughout the region, are wonderful people. They managed to get 800 French wine growers to come together as a group 40 years ago and not only make great wines but also get along. No small task.

For lunch we went to a local favorite. We seemed to be the only out of towners there. Duck is a staple in these parts so that means duck breast, duck confit and foie gras. Needless to say, lunch was great. After that, we went to see some more vineyards before heading back to change to go to Marcias for the jazz festival that lasts over 2 weeks and is in its 47th year. Plaimont, my Partners, sponsor it. There are dozens of stages and acts going on at the same time with lots of food, wine and beer and booths selling stuff.

When visiting some fields of vineyards, there were a few broken down chateau’s that the Company ended up with when they bought the vineyards. Fabien, our guy, told us we should buy one! We toured one, for $200K! It needs work but our Partner’s would oversee it and for $400K or so, all finished, we’d have a six bedroom chateau with a new swimming pool. I have 3 guys that want in already, so hold on!

Here’s some pics,

The chateau we’d like! 4 bedrooms but more costly.

Lori in sunflowers

The $200K chateau that needs remodeling

Inside our suite at the monastery. Great room and great place

The front of our hotel built in the 11th century, by monks. WOW!

Hope all’s well, take care and God Bless.

Good morning, we had an early start today as we had to drive from Provence to Marseille and fly from Marseille to Paris and Paris to Bordeaux.

Yesterday, was lovely, we started with cafe au lait, took a walk, went to the gym, took another walk, I had a massage and we both had facials.

Doug will elaborate more tomorrow!

Ok, I’ve been to some pretty spectacular places in my life, but Coquillade is up there. Our hotel is a 5 Star resort in the middle of Provence where we were 22 years ago when Jagger was 1, and Lori was pregnant with Ty. In fact, we have a picture of Jag at a fountain in the town square of Cucuron and we were in the exact same place yesterday, 22 years later!

We left our first hotel around 8:30 and drove a couple hours to our new place. First we went to the cellar as this fantastic property wants me to import their wines, which are great, but expensive. After that it was into Cucuron to Le Petite Maison Cucuron for a 7 course lunch at this Michelin Star restaurant. They only had 7 tables, all outside and the food just kept coming. It was 120 Euro per person without wine. We liked most of the courses but a couple were so so, to us.

Then we went back to check into our room. Sam, our butler, gave us the tour and they had a nice welcome gift, of more food, (ugh) and wine and a nice note in our suite. He reminds us of the butler in the movie Pretty Woman. I was thinking how far we’ve come in life as this is exactly the kind of place mom and dad would have stayed at.

We headed down to the pool, (one of three) and hung out until 7. Then we went to sit outside at one of the bars and I smoked Cuban cigar while Lori had some bitters and soda. By 10, we were in bed.

We woke this morning at 8, (I know, super late for us), and headed to the gym. It was great to get a workout in. Then we walked the vineyards before having breakfast. Now, we’re off to the pool before Lori’s deep tissue massage and facial at 2.

Here’s some pics. Tomorrow morning we drive to the airport in Marseille, catch a plane to Paris, then get on another to Bordeaux, before arriving at our next stop for two nights, enjoy and God Bless.

Our hotel from the vineyards!

View from the balcony of our suite which is fantastic! Our suite, the building, which is outside from the main hotel picture, was built in 1189!

The town square pool in Cucuron where Jagger was as a baby.

Cigar lounge in our hotel! Sweet

My French is coming back surprisingly well. Phrases just come out of my mouth without really thinking. I guess those seven years of French classes when I was younger did some good afterall.

We started the day with great French coffee before heading to the estate. Our Rose producers’ family has owned the estate in one form or another for hundreds of years. In 1589 their Rose was declared as the official Rose of the Court of King Henry the 4th, so lots of history. I keep thinking of Holly as we know she loves all things French. Tom, show her the blog so she can see the pics.

After our meeting and tour of the cellar, we all went to lunch at this great local place. Then it was back to our hotel for a swim and a rest. At 6:30, we headed down to the sea to a restaurant where Caroline knows the owner well. He’s 92 and still selects the fresh fish every day and drinks wine and comes to work. This whole area is known as one of the Blue Zones, where people live a long time. The food is so clean and they don’t use much butter. That’s more in Paris and northern France. They gave us a private tour of the kitchen. Check out the wood grill where they cook most all of the fish. Then there’s the bouillabaisse with little crabs swimming around in it as it cooks down, amazing.

How would you like to have that grill in your house! Then here’s Lori, Caroline and me at lunch and then a picture of the Mediterranean Sea. She and her family are so nice and treat us like royalty. They’re very thankful and impressed that I hopped right on a plane and came over withing two weeks of our call.

It’s beautiful here, you could easily see yourself living here, at least for part of the year. This morning we’re headed to this 5 Star resort owned by a Swiss family that owns a number of high-end hotels and the BMC bicycle brand. They also have a team each year in the Tour de France. We have some giant suite and they want me to try their wines. Then at 1, we have lunch at a Michelin Star restaurant before heading back to the resort until Sunday morning yo just hang out and relax, when we fly back to Paris and then catch another plane down to Bordeaux. More to come but time to go for now.

Have a great day and God Bless.

We made it out of Denver 30 minutes late and then rushed to our gate in DC, only to be delayed there too. The Polaris Business Class on United is nice. We managed to sleep for 3 or 4 hours and landed in Paris at 8am.

After going through a bunch of security and checkpoints, (they don’t mess around in Europe), we found the Air France lounge. Things are so much cleaner here and the people just are not as angry. We grabbed some food at the lounge and then both decided to take a shower as we had two hours before our flight to Marseille. They have little rooms with a toilette, a shower and a sink that are free and really nice. With us being tired, it was a good wake up for us.

We landed in Marseille and Murielle picked us up and drove us to our hotel where we just arrived. The service and food on Air France is much better than United, not even close. We have a nice room, (all paid for), the overlooks the pool, so we’re headed there now. It’s 3:30 in the afternoon now and dinner isn’t until 7 and we need to try to stay up, so we don’t wake up in the middle of the night. Wish us luck. Pics to come, maybe later today but right now, we’re off to the pool!

God Bless.

3:30am now and our app must be working as it seems like 8am and we feel all fresh and ready to go. We’ll take our time this morning and clean up the house a bit before heading for the airport in Denver.

I have everything taken care of best that I can, at work and at home. Ty was here until around 9 last night and then went to Madi’s as she was driving in from visiting her sister in Kansas. Jag is doing well and has an interview at 1 this afternoon.

Weather looks good in Denver, DC and Paris so we should be fine. Trump announced a tariff deal with Europe which is great news as now there’s clarity around the situation. We still might end up with zero tariffs on alcohol which would be even better news. We’ll see what happens next but no matter which side you’re on, the guy is doing great. Most Dems, especially the hard left progressives, will never admit it, but they’ll gladly take the lower taxes, less crime and the better economy that comes with his actions. You do have a few Dems though, and you have to respect them, like Bill Mahr, that yesterday admitted he was wrong, good for him.

That’s about it. One of the benefits of being in Europe is that we get to block out all the noise of politics and division going on here in the U.S. It’s always a nice break. So, take care, be well and see you tomorrow, God Bless.