living in the yaco

I have used the international website airbnb.com several times, and it has already given me some great places to stay since I joined The Gazelle Tour. This time, however, I've ended up living in a real gem of a place, sharing with Andrew, our new Zazu. 

We are living in the what is lovingly referred to as The Yaco-Dome, or The Igloo, designed and built by local legend Joseph Yacoboni.

I took this pic the day we arrived

That is a bee hive on the left, from which

we've already enjoyed some honey!

Joseph is a pretty amazing guy. He's still alive, living in Florida with his wife of 58 years.  He grew up right on this same site back when it was a six-acre property belonging to his family. When he got married, he built a home right across the road and lived there for many years. The home is still there.

Joe Yacoboni's original house

viewed from our patio

In 1969, he designed and built his first dome-home, the one we are living in now. It was originally intended as a show home and his office. The place isn't big, three bedrooms in fact, but doesn't feel cramped at all. The high, domed ceiling helps this but also there is actually more usable square footage than there would be in a square-cornered home of the same relative size.

Open kitchen/dining/living area

 My room

 Our patio surrounded by forest

Plenty of peace and quiet

Though I prefer to have a place of my own whenever possible, I am just renting a room in this place and my host, JD, is charming, very easy-going and hardly ever home. 

As it turns out, I'm in a great neighborhood. Grocery store, post office, excellent massage therapist, yoga studio all within walking distance along with the big, gay underwear store, the site of my financial de-pantsing. The store gave me an "Underwear Club" card....every 9th pair is free. I told them they might as well have shoved a crack-pipe in my mouth.

And the food,....omg the food. Across the street from the yoga studio is, FERN, a veg/vegan place that's perfect for a really yummy and healthy post-yoga lunch. Then there's MIDWOOD SMOKEHOUSE, home of some truly fine Eastern-style BBQ. It took my poor mostly-vegan-except-on-Monday digestive system 4 days to recover from the meat-fest I indulged in there. And there's BISTRO La BON where three of us indulgently ordered and shared the cheese plate, the charcuterie plate, every 'small plate' on the menu, three desserts and 3 different bottles of pinot noir. A most excellent evening.

And speaking of food...

Did I mention that this company KNOWS how to travel?

Pumbaa and Zazu man the 'company grill' between Sunday shows.

I'm still figuring out how to stream-line and organize myself for travel days. Travelling with a trunk is nice, but it does take a little thought and advance planning. Trunks are picked up on the last Friday in each city and delivered the following Friday in the next city. So you have to decide what you can live without for a week. Since we usually have an 'opening night' function the first Thursday in every city, this means deciding what you're going to wear a week in advance. And then there's all little, daily things that, when you're at home, you take for granted. What will the weather be like for the coming week? What shoes/clothes etc. will I need to cope with the climate at our destination? 

Though I prefer to have a place of my own whenever possible, I am just renting a room in this place and my host, JD, is charming, very easy-going and hardly ever home. 

As it turns out, I'm in a great neighborhood. Grocery store, post office, excellent massage therapist, yoga studio all within walking distance along with the big, gay underwear store, the site of my financial de-pantsing. The store gave me an "Underwear Club" card....every 9th pair is free. I told them they might as well have shoved a crack-pipe in my mouth.

And the food,....omg the food. Across the street from the yoga studio is, FERN, a veg/vegan place that's perfect for a really yummy and healthy post-yoga lunch. Then there's MIDWOOD SMOKEHOUSE, home of some truly fine Eastern-style BBQ. It took my poor mostly-vegan-except-on-Monday digestive system 4 days to recover from the meat-fest I indulged in there. And there's BISTRO La BON where three of us indulgently ordered and shared the cheese plate, the charcuterie plate, every 'small plate' on the menu, three desserts and 3 different bottles of pinot noir. A most excellent evening.

And speaking of food...

Did I mention that this company KNOWS how to travel?

Pumbaa and Zazu man the 'company grill' between Sunday shows.

I'm still figuring out how to stream-line and organize myself for travel days. Travelling with a trunk is nice, but it does take a little thought and advance planning. Trunks are picked up on the last Friday in each city and delivered the following Friday in the next city. So you have to decide what you can live without for a week. Since we usually have an 'opening night' function the first Thursday in every city, this means deciding what you're going to wear a week in advance. And then there's all little, daily things that, when you're at home, you take for granted. What will the weather be like for the coming week? What shoes/clothes etc. will I need to cope with the climate at our destination?