Jane Says

Another Goodbye

2012-01-28T00:51:00.005-09:00

I appreciate my Air Force upbringing for lots of reasons but also because it prepared me well for all the comings and goings in my life. I've said before that living here reminds me of being a military kid because Unalaska can be such a transient community. Of course, there are people who have lived here for years and years, but there's also a pretty large group of individuals who stay for a few years and then move on. I can't even keep track of all the people I've met over the past 8 years who are no longer here! Today brought another goodbye when my friend Donna left after about four years on the island. Some of us had a little farewell gathering last night with dinner and fun at Amelia's. Above, Kelly, Becky and Donna.

Donna and Kris-Ann

I first met Donna when she came to town to work as a Behavioral Health Clinician at the IFHS Clinic. I was still working in the same sort of position at the Oonalaska Wellness Center. We coordinated services and shared the on-call responsibilities with the other clinicians in town and got to know each other over lunches and phone calls and meetings. Eventually, she came to work with us at OWC but soon after that, I left for the TV/radio station. Still, we kept in touch, participated in many of the same activities in town, and hung out when we could. We traveled and worked together for the year-long Healthy Native Communities Fellowship, where we bonded further over many funny, irritating, and overwhelming experiences. Thank goodness she was there or I probably would have quit. :)

Here we are at the airport, delayed, of course!

I was complaining about my double chin in the previous photo, which brought on lots of laughing and silly posing.

Donna is heading to Ninilchik, where she will start a new Behavioral Health Program. I know she will do a fabulous job! She'll be living a couple of hours from Anchorage so we will be able to see her if we have more than an overnight there. Our friends Anne and Jeanette have just returned to Anchorage, and our friend Paul is there, too. So it will be like old home week next time we go "to town."
Farewell, Unalaska!
Safe travels, Donna! We'll miss you but will see you again!

Oh, July, where art thou?

2012-01-25T19:40:00.003-09:00

My non-Alaska car was iced and snowed into our parking area last week so Rich was driving me to work and picking me up at the end of the day. We kept noticing this view on the way home between 5:3o and 6. One day after I was back to driving myself, Rich went out to take some photos. What a gorgeous sunset over the water!

The Unangan culture teaches us not to speak ill of the weather so I am trying to keep a smile on my face. Still, it seems very cold this winter. The snow is lovely if I don't have to go out in it so I've been a little bit into hibernation mode and I am not much of an Alaska gal at times like these. Many of my friends are very outdoorsy and don't even mind the cold but I haven't quite made it that far. No, I don't bundle up nearly as much as I used to, I can drive our stick shift truck under just about any conditions, and I'm pretty good at scraping the windshield. But I can't say I am enjoying it! :)

Still, there's lots going on, as always. Besides work, I'm doing my nonviolence studies, I've started practicing piano again after buying a DVD instruction set that I really like, and I just signed up to teach an ESL class starting next week. I'm looking forward to it, though I thought it would be held in the evening and I just found out it's from 7-9 AM on T-Th. You know I am *not* a morning person! I hesitated for a moment and then decided, "I can do this! It will be good for me." Right?!

Winter Doldrums

2012-01-16T23:39:00.005-09:00

We've had cold, wind, rain, sleet, snow and ice for the last couple of weeks. I have hardly left the house except to go to my part-time job in the afternoon, when the sun has already come up and I don't have to negotiate the steep iced-over steps and the icy parking lot in the dark. We did catch a break in the ice and wind one day and took a little drive.

This is a cool old WWII building. It would be perfect for our commune, but I hear it's condemned.

Crab pots, eagles and the Holy Ascension Russian Orthodox Cathedral.

January 11th was my youngest daughter Susan's birthday. Here she is with her husband, Corey, when I saw them last September. I can hardly believe my baby is now 29! Where have the years gone? Happy belated birthday to my girl. We love you and miss you!

Tonight my thoughtful husband surprised me with pot pies for dinner. You might wonder what is so special about pot pies, besides the very important fact that they're homemade. The truth is that I have many food peccadillos, not the best situation for the wife of a chef, or for the chef (maybe especially for the chef). What a treat for me to have a delicious pot pie with lots of veggies that I WILL eat and none of the ones I can't stand. No onions, no rubbery little square carrots, no canned-tasting peas. We were laughing about how I must have had to maneuver those little frozen pot pies as a kid--I'd eat all of the crust, pick out the chicken and potatoes, and whatever juice I could get that was not tainted by those nasty carrots, and leave the rest. I probably got in trouble for not cleaning my plate.

And it's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. This quote is from the '60s but I think it is just as relevant now, maybe more so. "We must rapidly begin the shift from a 'thing' oriented society to a 'person' oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered." This makes me think so much of the income inequality of our country, the rich only becoming richer while the poor continue to struggle for dignity and a living wage and the middle class see their jobs and security slipping away. Corporations are deemed "people" and control every aspect of our society. I wonder what Dr. King would have to say today.

The view from our window

2012-01-10T00:11:00.003-09:00

We've been enjoying these cute grey-crowned rosy finches as they winter in our yard. They are really fat! The cats have been watching and chattering away--they would love a bite.

Photos by Rich

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T22:57:00.005-09:00

Ajax and Kali hope you have a very happy 2012! It's cold and snowy outside so they are snuggling on a throw on the couch. I don't blame them a bit!

While my hubby's been working, I've had a quiet and peaceful three day weekend. Till we went to the grocery store for our Monday Senior Discount shopping tonight, I hadn't left the house since Friday. I didn't have anything major to do, the snow was piled up, covering the outside steps coming up the hill, and the house was nice and warm. Why go out? I took this opportunity to try to get myself organized for the new year. I still have a few things to do but I think I am off to a good start. Of course, it's only January 2.

I'm not really making resolutions but I've come across a couple of things I want to do this year. I've long been an admirer of Colman McCarthy and his Center for Teaching Peace in DC. Years ago, he offered a correspondence course which required an application essay, after which you'd read a series of articles on the history of nonviolence, peacemakers, social justice, etc. and send in papers summarizing your thoughts about the readings. I worked on an application but never got around to submitting it. For some reason, I was thinking about the course the other night and decided to look online to see if it still existed. Yes, it does, and it's actually available on the web as a self study--no more application and no more essays, but the readings are all there, along with some questions for processing the info. There's an 8 week course and a 16 week university course. So one of the things I am going to do this year is take the 16 week course for my own benefit.

The other site I visited, thanks to a mention on the 49 Writers blog, is called 750words. It's a pretty cool writing site, especially for those of us who don't have much discipline. Basically, you sign up and write 750 words (or more) each day. You can get a reminder email each day at a time you specify, and you receive little reward badges for your accomplishments (750 words, writing several days in a row, writing every day for a month, and so on). It also tracks things like how fast you type, how many times you get distracted, what words you use most often, what your mood appears to be, and so on. Some of it you can take with a grain of salt but it's kinda fun. (I've done my two days' worth in January--woohoo!) Instead of a blog, it's private--more like a journal. It's designed to help "get the cobwebs out" by writing about anything you want, supposedly freeing your brain to then work on what you really want to write. I don't fancy myself a real writer but I thought it might be enjoyable to write about "whatever" without editing, thinking about who's going to read it, or trying to make it fit into certain parameters. And, who knows, maybe I will come up with some ideas that will make it onto the blog, which I feel could use a little zip (since we're talking about getting organized and beginning a new year...)

What do you want to do in 2012?

Our Year in Review

2011-12-28T20:29:00.028-09:00

If I had to choose a word for 2011, I think it would be "family," which makes me happy. We spent most of our time off island with various family members and that's just how I like it! January started out with a trip to New Jersey to help my mom after she had surgery. She had a couple of rough weeks but was soon back to her active and busy self and we found plenty to laugh about, despite the circumstances. We all have a warped sense of humor so were able to find the fun in an extended hospital stay, barf buckets, tubes down the nose and a tummy full of staples. It was also the first time I'd been with all of my siblings in quite awhile. My youngest brother Bill and I are shown above with Mom.

My brother Joe came in from Wyoming

My sister Kathi was there from San Antonio and we managed to go sledding with our nieces without breaking a hip. I think we are too old for this

but we gave it our best shot!

My sister in law Patty was a huge help and is always there for Mom. We appreciate her very much. Not to mention the fact that she has four of the sweetest kids around--Becca, Billy, Alex, and Abby. It was lots of fun hanging out with them.

February brought the annual Polar Bear Walk/Run, which I completed (as a walker, not a runner!) with my friends Tammy, Sonia and Melanie. We thought we needed it after a fondue party the night before.

Emperor geese
Part of March and April took us off island for vacation in California. We spent some time in San Francisco, one of our favorite cities, and explored Napa and Sonoma.

We stopped in on Rich's sister Vesta. She and Rich went through a bunch of stuff in the garage and we enjoyed looking at old photos and keepsakes.

Then to Mariposa to visit Rich's stepkids William, Hannah and Sara (and kids)

and met up with Vesta again while seeing Rich's cousins Mary Ethel and Roger.

We also saw my niece Ellie at Santa Clara U., our friend Keils in the Napa Valley, Poindexter-McHan cousins Susan and Kris in Los Altos, and Rich's stepdaughter Heather and her family in Nevada, plus stopovers in Lake Tahoe and Vegas. Whew! Oh, yeah, I was also super happy to chance upon a Graham Nash/David Crosby concert in San Francisco! They were fabulous!

In May, we found the wild horses and watched the hills start turning green. Rich won prizes for these two photos (and one more!) in his company's annual photo contest later in the year.

June brought a little bit of excitement with a city wide tsunami evacuation. Since we live on a hill in UniSea housing, most of UniSea evacuated to our yard and higher. Luckily, nothing happened and everyone soon went home.

In late June and July, we traveled to New Jersey for a week in Ocean City. My mom's 80th birthday was in January but we celebrated with a big bash "down the shore" with lots of family and friends.
The grandkids had a blast on the beach!

Ally and Elle

Aidan
Beck
Emery
Here's Mom with all of her kids, all of our spouses except my sister's husband, all of my mom's grandkids and great-grandkids. Wow! With the additional aunts, uncles, cousins and friends, we filled 6 houses at the shore and had close to 100 people in and out during the week. It was a blast!

After a week at the shore, Rich and I rented a car and took a little road trip to Arlington National Cemetery and through Pennsylvania. We spent a couple of nights at a B&B and took a hike at Bushkill Falls.

After driving back to my mom's, I was thrilled to see one of my all time favorite bands, U2, in Philly before heading home. Another awesome vacation!

In August we enjoyed nice weather, couple of hikes, and making jams and preserves.

September brought me to Anchorage for a work conference, which gave me an excuse to go to Texas and pop in on the kids and grandkids for a couple of weeks.

I got to babysit Emery while her parents were at work and had fun with all of them in Amarillo,

then to Abilene to spend time with Ally and Aidan, their parents and some good friends, Karen, Sherri and Jim

and to Dallas to keep Elle and Beck while their parents went on a 10th anniversary trip to Mexico.

You know I love my Gigi time with all the sweeties!

In October, we organized our own little "Occupy" event to show solidarity with the rest of the world. I miss my activist days!

November was vacation time again--yes, we do travel a lot, don't we? First to Maui for a week of sunshine and relaxation--so nice!

Then to southern California for Jane's first RV adventure--I started out skeptical but ended up having a good time. :) One of the highlights was a stay in Joshua Tree National Park, where we enjoyed hiking, exploring and watching some rock climbers. This was the only trip this year when we did not see any family but we did reconnect with some of Rich's old friends, Dain and Crystal, and had great fun with them.

We got back home in December, just in time for Rich to get super busy with all the holiday parties and banquets at the hotel. Meanwhile, I hanging out with friends for a holiday dinner where Andrea gave all of us "Occupy the Bering Sea" hoodies. Her stepmom had given her one for her bday in June and we were all envious. :)

We've been busy at work and had a quiet Christmas at home. It's a cliche but I do feel that the time just races by and I can hardly believe another year is done. It's amazing to me that I have been in Unalaska for 7 and a half years!

Love this little snow family created by someone in UniSea housing!

Thankfully, 2011 has been much more calm and peaceful than 2010. Emery has had clear scans all year and is doing great. Nothing could be better than that! Baby Beck turned one year old, Emery turned 2, Elle is almost 4, Ally is almost 5 and Aidan is almost 9. They are the sweetest kids in the world and I miss them every day. I think I would have liked living in the time when everyone stayed in the same town with their extended family instead of being scattered to the four winds. :) But we are fortunate to get to visit fairly often and that will have to do till we can retire!

All in all, we've had a very good year and are grateful for our circumstances when we know that many are struggling. I hope that 2012 will bring positive changes to our country and relief to those who are having difficulties. My wish, as always, is for more peace and love in the world.

Finishing out December

2011-12-27T23:17:00.002-09:00

This month has flown by! Rich has been super busy at work with all of the holiday parties and banquets but he did have most of Christmas Eve off and we had a quiet day at home, made a turkey dinner for ourselves, relaxed and watched a couple of movies. I also made pumpkin pies and cut-out cookies, which I am still enjoying. :) I talked with my girls, grandkids, and my mom. It's always a little bit sad for me on Christmas since we have no family here with us and Rich is usually working but I kept myself occupied reading, listening to music, playing Scrabble on Facebook, doing chores, watering and pruning plants, and eating pie and cookies. :) After he got off on Christmas night, we went to the employee dinner and socialized with the rest of the staff for awhile. I was off work yesterday but he was on the job so I just hung out at the house doing more of the above. After he got home, we went to the store for our Monday Senior Discount grocery shopping and decided to take a ride around town to see the decorations and lights. Some people here in UniSea housing did a great job on these snow people, didn't they?! Really cute.

One of the more festive houses in town

The walking bridge across Iliuliuk Creek

Earlier this month, we had a girls' dinner while we were all in town--we've been rotating vacations and travel for months! Andrea's stepmother had given her an "Occupy the Bering Sea" hoodie for her birthday back in the summer and the rest of us were highly envious. Guess what we all got from Andrea for Christmas?! We love our hoodies! Above--Melanie, Tammy, Andrea and Sonia.

It's been snowing like crazy and the cats are not quite sure what to think! They want to go outside and then they don't want to go outside. Ajax, especially, will whine at the door to go out, and then immediately want to come back in. The housing and maintenance guys must have been off for the holidays because no one came to shovel for several days (yes, we are spoiled living in company housing) and we had some accumulation going on! Rich decided to shovel the walkway and the outside steps because it was getting so bad. It was a big job but he was up to the task. Of course, we are happy now that the guys are back and we can be lazy again. We appreciate them!

I hope everyone had a very happy Hanukkah or Christmas and that 2012 will bring us all more peace, love and understanding.

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-25T18:31:00.003-09:00

To our family and friends near and far, we send warmest greetings and many wishes for a merry Christmas and a happy Hanukkah. May you be surrounded by love, peace and joy during this season and may all your dreams come true in 2012.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

2011-12-11T22:14:00.004-09:00

The holiday season is upon us! Rich hit the ground running as soon as we got back; it's time for all the local parties and banquets so he's been working very long hours. I'm back at work and trying to tie up a bunch of odds and ends before the end of the year. My friend Melanie and I were talking about how much we love Christmas music and comparing our very long list of tunes on our ipods. We then decided we should do a Christmas show on the radio. We kicked it off last Friday with an hour of classics, oldies, rock, country, Texas swing, new artists, and Bob Dylan singing "It Must Be Santa," which we considered to be part of the "funny" genre. Above you can see our very cool newly remodeled radio studio. We love it!

I'm not very festive but Melanie is wearing her sequined Santa hat.

We had a blast playing some of our favorites and taking a few requests. We'll be on the air every Wed. and Fri. at 1 PM till Christmas. You can live stream at www.kucb.org if you want to join the fun. :)

The hotel held its annual "Moonlight Madness" arts and crafts fair on Saturday night. Rich had to work a banquet so I took care of his booth till he was able to come and join me. It's always fun to see lots of people and catch up, especially after being gone for a month! We had a good night, selling quite a few of Rich's photos and some of our homemade jams (local salmonberries with pomegranate, salmonberry/ginger/lime jam, or salmonberry/meyer lemon marmalade).

It's a great place to buy Christmas gifts from local artists and vendors. Sonia and Melanie stopped by while they were shopping. I got so busy chatting with people that I failed to take any more photos. :)

I ordered Christmas cards so I'm anxiously waiting for them to arrive. We've received a few cards from friends but I fear that sending holiday greetings by snail mail is becoming a lost art. I get the whole thing about not using resources like paper and fuel but there's still something about opening the mail and finding greetings from family and friends near and far that makes me happy. :) If you're debating whether to send us a card or not, please do! :)

Our Train, Bus and Car Adventure (and the kindness of strangers), Back to Anchorage and Colonoscopy fun

2011-12-03T18:04:00.012-09:00

So we got up very early, cleaned up the RV, repacked our stuff, and returned the vehicle. Our sale tickets on Alaska Air had us leaving LAX the day after Thanksgiving, so back in Unalaska, we'd checked on flights from San Diego to LAX and they were pretty expensive. We then looked into taking Amtrak and that was much more reasonable, plus we like riding trains. However, the train station in LA looked like it was a long way from LAX so we searched some more and saw that we could take the train to Van Nuys and then switch to an Amtrak bus to El Segundo, which was not far from the airport. Anyway, we had to catch the train in San Diego at noon.

The guy at the RV place called a cab for us, which took forever to get there but eventually arrived. The driver was chatty and tried to explain the ins and outs of cab leases to us as we made our way to the train station. We passed right by the hotel where we'd stayed at the beginning of our journey and surprisingly, our fare was $13 more for almost the exact opposite trip. Oh well, we figured the cabbie must have needed it more than we did and it was the day before Thanksgiving, after all. He dropped us at the train station, where we were happy that we'd made reservations because it was deemed "the busiest day of the year on Amtrak and you must have an advance reservation." We went to check our bags, not realizing that Amtrak has a 50 pound rule just like the airlines. So, yes, on the busiest day of the year, we were those people holding up the line while we tried to rearrange our suitcases to get them all under 50 pounds. Whew! Eventually we waited in a very long line to get on the train and embarked. We were told the train would be overflowing with people, but thankfully we got on at the first stop so we had seats and not only that, but seats together. We enjoyed a very pleasant train ride and here are some of the sights I saw out the window as we cruised along in the Surfliner.

Beaches
Colorful buildings
A lighthouse
Hmmm, what's this? Looks suspicious!

Surfers
Swampy stuff
Patriotic volleyball players

More beaches
Palm trees and piers
Beach walkers
Bright boats
Lots of birds
People catching the train
The Hummingbird House Cafe
Close up
"Character counts" in San Clemente (Didn't Richard Nixon have a house in San Clemente?)

Van Nuys, where we got off the train and switched to the bus. We began having a feeling of foreboding when the driver acted like he couldn't care less and made us all load up our own suitcases under the bus. Didn't they used to do that for you?

The bus ride was fine but the second clue of trouble came when we stopped near fraternity or sorority row at UCLA and let some people off. I mean, we literally stopped at the curb like a city bus would do. But we convinced ourselves that it was probably just a convenient stop for college students and we would soon be at "the Amtrak terminal" in El Segundo. Did I mention it was dark by now?

We wound our way through LA and eventually came to a huge deserted parking lot that said "Transit Center." No terminal, no building, no information, no people working, no one even loitering in the parking lot. A young guy and an older woman got off with us. Luckily (we thought), Rich had written down the numbers of two cab companies since our plan was to call a taxi to take us to our hotel near LAX. While Rich unloaded our luggage from the bowels of the bus, I called the first cab company. The dispatcher wanted to know where we were so I explained we were at the Amtrak "transit center" in El Segundo. He said he needed a street address so I looked up and gave him the names of the two intersecting streets. He said he needed a street number. I asked the other people if they knew the address and they did not. I gave the dispatcher all the info I could come up with and he said the only transit center he knew was in Longview. I said we were not in Longview. He said if we couldn't give him a street address, he couldn't come.

We conferred with our fellow passengers and the guy said there was a Starbucks a few blocks away (not within our sight) so maybe we could walk over there. Rich first called the second cab company and was told "we don't come out there." The dispatcher asked Rich if he wanted the number of a company who did come our way, Rich took the number, but when he called it, it seemed like a sex line. LOL

So we are getting more and more concerned about what we are going to do. We are still searching for some sort of address and there are no other buildings or businesses within eyesight for us to use to call in. Should we start walking? How safe is this area? We had no clue. By now, the young man has been picked up and I start chatting with the woman, who tells me her daughter's boyfriend is picking her up. She volunteers, "Maybe he will give you a ride." I tell her I was not asking her arrangements to try to bum a ride but she says, "He's the nicest guy in the world and he will probably take you to your hotel." We tell her we would greatly appreciate a ride but perhaps he can just drop us at the Starbucks or another business with an address. She calls him up and tells him about us and I can just imagine what he is telling her or asking her as she tries to explain that we really are very nice and we're from Alaska and stranded. I am sure he thought we were con artists or worse.

Shortly, he and his girlfriend drive up, jump out, introduce themselves as Tom and Kathy and say they will take us to our hotel. They load up their mom's luggage and two of our suitcases in the back of their small SUV and ask if Rich can hold the other suitcase on his lap. Lou Ann, the mom, gets in the back seat, with me in the middle and Rich on the other side with a huge 50 pound suitcase on his lap. We were laughing and talking the whole way to the hotel, with them making fun of Rich because his voice was muffled behind the giant suitcase.
Our rescuers, Tom and Kathy

Lou Ann, the big hearted woman who took pity on us and got her family to give us a ride. They were SO nice. It reminds me that most people do want to help each other and treat each other kindly. Thank you, Tom, Kathy and Lou Ann. You gave us even more to be thankful for at Thanksgiving time.

So we had pricelined the LAX Hilton and it was great. We didn't want to rent a car for just a day and a half so basically hung out at the hotel and relaxed. They had a Thanksgiving buffet which was okay, though the Grand Aleutian Hotel in Unalaska puts on a better spread. :)

Our flight left at 6 AM on the day after Thanksgiving so we were up at 3:30 and off to the airport at 4. Ugh. Not my favorite thing to do. We flew from LAX to Seattle and Seattle on to Anchorage, arriving early afternoon. The rest of our vacation was spent in Anchorage as we had scheduled "his and hers" colonoscopies on November 28. We went to a couple of movies, did some shopping and eating and more laundry.

The doctor's staff said they'd call in our "prep" to a local pharmacy so we could pick it up when we got to ANC. Of course, it was not there. It was now the holiday weekend and the doctor's office was closed. I talked with a woman at the answering service who called the on-call doctor, who said he could not call us in a prescription since we were not his patients. The good news was that our doctor would be on call the next day so we should call back then. We were beginning to think this procedure would once again fall through (we have had scheduling difficulties a couple of times already). But I talked with our doc the next day and he called in our stuff. Hurray (I guess!)

Sunday was prep day and lots of fun with two of us sharing a hotel room, as you can imagine. Actually it was not bad and we did fine. The stuff is really nasty and I wasn't sure if I could handle it but managed to choke it down. We had to drink one liter that night and then get up and drink another liter the next morning before the colonoscopies. Ugh. That meant we were up at 5 AM drinking horrible stuff.

Usually you have to have an escort or a driver after the procedure but, in numerous phone calls over months, I'd explained we'd be on our own, out of towners staying in a hotel with a rental car. I was told that they would "hold" us for two hours and then we could go on our own. So we get to the clinic and fill out our paperwork and they tell us, "No, you cannot drive yourselves! You'd be under the influence! If you got stopped, you'd get charged! We have had people drive off before and we've had to call the police!" I was kind of annoyed but Rich jumped in and said it was okay, we'd take a cab.

Other than that, the folks were really nice and I was happy to be covered in warm blankets and told I could keep my socks on. I had halfway decided I might want to watch the procedure but once they gave me the anesthetic, I said, "Oh, I can feel that!" The nurse said, "You can?" and that's the last thing I remember. LOL

So all went well with our little procedure, we were put into a cab and taken back to the hotel, where we promptly crawled back into bed and went right back to sleep. Good thing we didn't try to drive because we were both pretty woozy. Took a cab back the next day and picked up our car, did lots of shopping and finished out our stay in Anchorage.

We were supposed to come home on November 30, went to the airport, heard from our local friends that the weather was great, and our flight was cancelled for mechanical reasons. :) It's always something! But we made it home on December 1 and are both back to work and busy as ever. It's one of Rich's busiest times of the year with all of the holiday parties and banquets for various organizations in town. He went to work at 6 this morning and just walked in the door at almost 8 tonight. Bless his heart. When his vacation ends, it really ends.

Laughlin, Vegas and back to San Diego

2011-12-03T16:43:00.010-09:00

From Joshua Tree, we drove to Laughlin, NV, where Rich briefly lived and worked once upon a time. We spent one night there, gambled a little, and moved on to Las Vegas. The first night we spent at the RV park at Circus, Circus. It was one huge parking lot but the staff were really nice and friendly and they had internet. :) I finally made good on my promise to dump the "black" and "grey" water from the RV.

Months earlier, Rich had found a great deal on a site called SniqueAway for a 1200 square foot suite at the Palms Place. You know we are always looking for deals. This one was about half price and included a couple of meals. So we left the RV for two nights and enjoyed this view from the 32nd floor.
The first day we walked miles and miles in Vegas and have very few photos to show for it but here are a few from the shops at Caesar's Palace. We literally got lost inside, there were so many floors, hallways and confusing intersections. We are convinced that these casinos do not want anyone to leave so they make it as difficult as possible to find an exit! But this gelato looks pretty, no?
I thought this was a funny name. :)

Two women were sound asleep on a bench and these kids kept posing behind them and taking photos. It really was pretty funny and they were having so much fun that we had to laugh along with them. Rich decided to get a photo as well, and you can see that the woman on the right is beginning to wake up and figure out what's happening.

We walked 5 or 6 miles to the Mandalay Bay so we could use a half price coupon at the famous chef Hubert Keller's place, Fleur. :) Rich managed to get discounts for several establishments at restaurants.com before we left home (he did really well on bargains this trip!) I'm not that crazy about Las Vegas but I have to admit that it is a great food city. To us, it's not really about the gambling or the shows or the shopping or anything but THE FOOD. :) We had a bunch of small plates so we could try all kinds of dishes and they were all pretty darned tasty.

Here's part of our fancy suite. It was really more like a condo and had everything you can imagine. We were definitely spoiled for a couple of days and I was happy for the respite from the RV. The condo had a washer and dryer so I could catch up on laundry, and a bathroom big enough to turn around in, not to mention the biggest shower we've seen. Rich said he went from the smallest shower in the world to the biggest in one day.

Just relaxing!
Yes, that's a tub in the bedroom.

We had Sunday brunch at The Border Grill, chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Fenniger's place. They have a small plates menu and you can choose as many items as you want for your brunch. Oh my gosh! Everything was delicious and we stuffed ourselves because we wanted to try everything. On our last night, we had a super dinner at Charlie Palmer's restaurant Aureole. It's really cool looking with a huge glassed-in wine tower in the center. The tower covers several levels so they have "wine angels" who wear a harness like a rock climber and rappel along the wall to grab bottles of wine that have been ordered. Suzassippi would have loved this place! Dinner was amazing, of course.
After our eating extravaganza and winning a little bit of money, we bid farewell to Vegas and had our first really long day of driving because we had to get all the way back to San Diego to turn in the RV the next morning. We finally pulled into the last RV park after dark, had some fast food supper and got to bed since we had to get up early, clean up the RV, and repack our belongings. After my initial grumpiness, I ended up enjoying our little excursion and was glad we did it. I don't think I want to be one of those full time RV-ers but I would be willing to take another little trip someday. :)

Back to Vacation: Joshua Tree National Park

2011-11-26T14:47:00.011-09:00

From Prado we set out for Joshua Tree National Park. Again, we had to stop at a Target along the way to pick up a few more food items and some water, had lunch and free internet at Chik Fil A and then off. The roads were much less congested and the ride more pleasant. I talked with my daughter Sarah on the phone and was telling her about my initial reaction to RV-ing. Mind you, not too many people who know me thought that this was something I would really LOVE. Sarah reminded me, “Remember when we were kids and you always told us we needed to have a pleasant attitude? Where is your pleasant attitude, Mom?” LOL Our other catchphrase was always, “Look at it as another little adventure!” which she also reminded me to think about. :) She was right, of course, and my attitude had definitely improved since Days One and Two.

We ordered an RV park book before we left home so we’d mostly been choosing our stopping points from the book. There are lots of campsites in Joshua Tree so we’d decided to stay at one called Ryan because it was near a recommended hike up Ryan Mountain. However, by the time we got to Joshua Tree it was almost dark and the Ryan site was about 20 miles in. We stopped at the Visitor’s Center and the ranger advised us to go to the Jumbo Rocks site, which was not as far and had lots of campsites so we should be sure to get a spot. We took his advice and made it to Jumbo Rocks just as it was getting dark. Wow, talk about JUMBO ROCKS. These things are huge! Very cool!

According to the park’s literature, “these rocks were formed over 100 million years ago as molten liquid, heated by the continuous movement of the Earth’s crust, oozed upward and cooled while still below the surface of the overlying rock. These plutonic intrusions are a granitic rock called monzogranite. After the arrival of the arid climate of recent times, flash floods began washing away the protective ground surface. As they were exposed, the huge eroded boulders settled one on top of the other, creating the impressive rock piles we see today.”

The next morning, we got up and went on a 1 mile nature walk along the Skull Rock trail. It was neat to see all of the huge rock formations, the Joshua, yucca and juniper trees, a few cacti and various other plants. We were talking about the fact that it is probably so much more colorful and vibrant in the spring time and maybe we will come back again at that time of year someday. We kept seeing references to “wood rats” on the signs along the trail and I really wanted to see one but, alas, we did not. Rich wondered why there were virtually no lizards anywhere when he can remember seeing dozens sunning themselves on rocks when he was a kid. We did come across a cute little Gambel’s Quail family.

A colony of little rock people. We had to laugh, remembering something we'd read in Hawaii. "There are often rocks stacked on other rocks which people take to have some meaning. They do not."

After our nature walk, we had some lunch and packed up to move to the Ryan site. On the way, we went to the Keys View at 5185 feet, which looks out on the valleys, mountains and desert. You can see the San Andreas Fault from there. We also drove past a rock formation called Hall of Horrors but we could not see what was so horrific about it! Funny. And another one called Oyster Bar. We think they had some creative employees coming up with names for these sights. Another sign called the yucca an “adventurous” tree.

The Joshua Tree, yucca brevifolia, is a member of the Agave family. Park literature states: "Until recently, it was considered a giant member of the Lily family, but DNA studies led to the division of that family into 40 distinct plant families. The Joshua Tree is a monocot, in the subgroup of flowering plants that also includes grasses and orchids. It's usually found in the Mojave Desert but it is also found in the Sonoran Desert in western Arizona and mixed with pines in the San Bernadino Mountains. Years ago, the Joshua Tree was used by Native Americans for its useful properties: tough leaves were worked into baskets and sandals, flower buds and raw or roasted seeds were eaten. The local Cahuilla have long referred to the tree as “hunavat chiy’a” or “humwichawa.”"

By the mid-19th Century, Mormon immigrants made their way across the Colorado River. Legend has it that these pioneers named the tree after the Biblical figure Joshua, seeing the limbs of the tree as outstretched in supplication, guiding the travelers westward.

Ryan only has 31 campsites and looked full as we approached. Luckily, there were two spots left, but not for long. We grabbed one and some people behind us grabbed the other. Most people in this area are in tents, not RVs. It’s a popular spot for rock climbers and we got to see a few later in the day.

We thought our site would give us access to the Ryan Mountain trail but we actually had to drive a good little ways back down the road to a parking lot to get started. The trail is described as a 3 mile round trip, moderately strenuous trail leading to the summit of Ryan Mountain at 5458 feet. We figured no big deal, we can do this! We did do it and it was not that big a deal but it was pretty darned steep and strenuous. By the time we got to the top, I was wondering what I had been thinking. Haha Then came the trek back down, which was almost as difficult in a different way since it’s hard on the old knees and back and ankles to walk down a steep incline.

At the top

Ravens floating on the breeze

We did it!

Sunset at our campsite

Rock climbers!

Sunrise

We made a fire in our firepit on our last night and watched from a distance as climbers ascended the rocks in the dark. How crazy is that? They had strong lamps with them which allowed us to make out what they were doing but I can’t imagine trying such a thing. Unlike the yucca, guess I am just not that adventurous!

Happy Birthday, Emery and Beck!

2011-11-23T22:07:00.006-09:00

Taking a moment out from blogging about our trip, I wanted to say happy birthday to two of our five little sweeties! Emery Jane Williams was born 2 years ago today and her cousin Robert Beck Durham arrived 1 year ago on her first birthday. Last year we were in Dallas to happily celebrate Beck's arrival and and then were also able to have a little party for Emery's birthday when she and her mommy came to visit. It's hard to believe a whole year has gone by. Beck has a happy and laid back personality; he's walking and suddenly looking like a little boy instead of a baby. Emery is a busy girl who's talking more and more in her sweet little voice and keeping us laughing with her cute personality. (And she's had clear scans all year--hurray!) What fun for these cousins to share a birthday--I hope it will always be a bond between them. They are both very precious to us and we couldn't love them more! Happy birthday, Emery and Beck!

Malibu, Traveling, and Visiting Friends

2011-11-20T07:22:00.008-09:00

After spending most of the day at Venice Beach and Santa Monica, we headed for Malibu for the night. Until now, we’d stayed in state run RV parks but we’d read about a privately owned park in Malibu that sounded really nice, with a laundry room and WIFI and a cheaper fee than the state run parks. Some of the previous parks advertised WIFI but it was either hard to find or there was an extra fee so we’d been stopping in Starbucks when we wanted to check emails, etc. We pulled into the Malibu Beach RV Park and it was lovely. The people were super friendly; the sites were nice; there was a beautiful view. We ended up not being able to get WIFI from our site (which they told us might be a problem) but they had a TV room/library/general purpose room near the office and we were able to access internet with no trouble there. The first night we caught up on laundry and emails and Facebook and paid some bills, etc. We liked it so much that we decided to stay a second night.

Rich taking care of the important task of "waste dumping." I told him I would do it at least once to show that I could. :)

The view from our campsite in Malibu

The next day, we drove way out of our way searching for a Ralph’s grocery store in Malibu—very frustrating because there is virtually nowhere to turn around in an RV on the Pacific Coast Highway and we had to go almost all the way back to Santa Monica before we could pull over and turn. The streets are so narrow! I would not want to live there! Residents have to pull their cars into driveways up on hills and then back out into all the traffic on the highway when they leave. I would be a nervous wreck! Oh yeah, get this—we saw houses for rent for $21,000 a month. YES, that is 21 THOUSAND, not 21 HUNDRED. Who are these people??!! We finally found Ralph’s hidden away in a shopping center that we’d already passed going the other direction. I was wearing capri pants and sandals—it IS warm here, even though it is November, right? I was so surprised to see all of these Malibu people wearing coats and boots. Seriously! Not light jackets, winter coats! And boots! They would never make it in Unalaska, would they? So we finished our shopping and I made a stop at the Post Office and we drove back to our RV park. We had planned to take a hike but it gets dark so early that we didn’t have time any more! Rich cooked us some fabulous “Malibu Beach RV burgers” (shown above) and we did some more laundry. We are wild and crazy, are we not?

The famous Sunset Blvd.

We tried to meet up with Rich’s nephew Jeffrey while we were there but he had some things going on and we never worked it out. Would have loved to have seen him but maybe another time! While using the internet in the group room, we chatted with a retired "entertainment lawyer" who had lots of advice for us about retirement, etc. I think he probably wanted us to ask him "OH WOW, who did you represent?!" but we did not bite. At one point, he mentioned meeting Roger Ailes of Fox News Corp. and said he was a "brilliant" man. Later, we were asked about Sarah Palin and the guy was hugely relieved to find out we are not fans. He hesitantly asked our politics and when I came right out and said "left wing," he was so excited. He's decidedly liberal and was so happy to find "liberals from Alaska." He said we'd changed his whole outlook about Alaska. haha

Rich has some friends, Dain and Crystal, in Chino Hills, so we planned to see them on Tuesday. We got up fairly early and set off for Prado Regional Park near Chino Hills. Malibu kinda started changing my mind about the RV thing and I guess I was getting a little more relaxed about the driving and parking and other complications. We had to drive through part of LA and I thought I would be worried sick but Rich was doing a great job and I was not nearly as paranoid as I thought I would be. Those huge highways with 14 lanes across and lots of big trucks whizzing by do add up to a bit of worry but I guess all you can do is be careful and alert, right?!

Prado Regional Park was another really pretty place. We got settled and then Dain came to pick us up. He and Rich knew each other and worked together many years ago—he was also good friends with Rich’s brother George. Rich and Dain had seen each other a couple of years ago when they both stayed with George for some time before he passed away, but Rich had not seen Crystal in many, many years. She was at work so the other three of us hung out at their house for a couple of hours while the guys reminisced. When Crystal got home, we all went out for a great Mexican dinner, more chatting and reminiscing, and then Dain took us back to the RV for the night. It was great to meet them and hopefully it will not be too many years before we see them again
Crystal and I have lots in common. We are both short and wear the same size shoes. haha We friended each other on Facebook after our visit and found out that our birthdays are one day apart (different years). And our kids are about the same ages.

The next day, we set out for Joshua Tree National Park. Rich is doing a great job driving. He has really alleviated some of my anxiety by being super careful. :)

Guess what! RVing IS fun after all!

Venice Beach and Santa Monica

2011-11-19T09:39:00.008-09:00

Day Three: As noted, we were up early and decided to spend the day in the sunshine in Venice Beach. It was warm and beautiful and we had a great time walking all along the promenade taking in the sights. Lots of interesting street vendors lined the way and we browsed the shops and booths as we walked along the beach. I was cracking up about the availability of medical marijuana in various “clinics” announcing “the doctor is in!”

Rich and I walked into one “clinic” just to look around and were immediately asked if we were there to make a purchase. I said no, we were just looking and besides we didn’t have a prescription. Well, apparently, that is no problem whatsoever. For $40, you can see a doctor and walk right out with whatever you need. As you can see by the sign, just about any malady qualifies you. Hmmmm, I do believe I am suffering from CRAMPS. :) The “clinics” also had cute young women standing outside in medical coats, though you could be pretty sure they were not actually medical personnel of any kind. It was all very interesting to me and made me wonder how many people in California are driving around stoned at any given time of day.

A very cool tumbling team performed. Perhaps ironically, part of their message was anti-drug.

There are still lots of old hippie sentiments around.

These cute gals were advertising Cirque d'Soleil coming to town in January

and passing out funky eyewear.

Interesting people

Skulls for sale

Metal art

Lots of volleyball players on the beach

We ended up walking all the way to the Santa Monica Pier and back again, about 6 miles, we figured. Nice to get some exercise and lots of sun!

Parking lot hockey

Funny bouncy shoes

On this day, my RV attitude began to change, maybe because we were not cooped up in the vehicle in traffic for hours, I don't know. But suddenly I did not mind it so much and began to relax about the whizzing cars and trucks and narrow roads and lack of parking. Oh yeah, we did have a bit of a funny story in Venice Beach. We parked in a large city lot (where they charged us double for an RV--not fair!) When we returned after our long afternoon of walking, we climbed into the RV and made ourselves a sandwich. Rich looked up to see a guy PEEING on the side of the RV. I'm sure he did not think anyone was inside. Rich banged on the door and the dude finished up and moved away. Ugh!

Next stop, Malibu!

A few more photos from Cardiff and on to Dockweiler

2011-11-19T08:06:00.005-09:00

Day Two: We were still driving in lots of traffic and I was not feeling the love for the RV adventure. I mean, really, we had just gotten started and I was already grumpy. I told Rich “I just don’t see the appeal.” Poor Rich. I know he was worried that I would not like this idea and, two days in, I was confirming it. He noted that it was probably not the best plan to have our first RV trip in southern California with all of the traffic and not much scenery. He assured me it would get better as we made our way past LA. I really was trying to be nice but seriously wondering why anyone would want to do this. It’s hard to maneuver on the streets and hard to find parking and even if there was somewhere I wanted to stop or something I wanted to see, it seemed like it was such a huge hassle to work it out that it was not even worth it. And hours and hours sitting in the RV at night, I hate to say, was not exactly big fun.

We decided to spend the night at Dockweiler RV Park near LA. It’s close to the water and right in the landing pattern for LAX. Not exactly an idyllic countryside RV park! We checked in early because it’s even more complicated to try to park and set up in the dark. Because I was being whiny about having to be stuck in the RV all night, Rich suggested we go somewhere for dinner. I had mixed feelings—yes, I would LOVE to get out but I was nervous about trying to drive around in the dark and potentially getting lost or stuck on a side street where we couldn’t get the damned vehicle maneuvered. In the end, off we went in search for a restaurant. Of course, we headed in one direction where there was nothing whatsoever—well, we saw a few places but there was no parking large enough for us to fit (which confirmed my negative feelings about the vehicle!) Then we turned off the main road to try to turn around and ended up driving some narrow residential streets, which luckily took us back to the main road without having to back up or turn around. Off in the other direction we went and finally came upon a couple of restaurants with large enough off street parking. We picked an Italian place where we seemed a bit under dressed but the waiter was super nice and we had a delicious meal. I did have to say “Now, this seems more like vacation!” haha

So we had killed a good portion of the night by driving around and having dinner, thankfully. :) After more reading and chatting, we turned in early, only to be awakened at 4:27 AM by some sort of alarm beeping. We checked the smoke detector, the carbon monoxide detector, and the propane detector but none of them seemed to be having a problem. The beeping continued so we changed the battery in the smoke detector, which did no good. We re-set the other detectors a couple of times and the beeping continued. We were pretty frustrated and were sure our neighbors were getting annoyed by then. The RV rental company provided us with a manual so we went through all the steps involved in checking everything…and the beeping continued. They have a 24 hour call-in line so we finally broke down and called. The guy answering the phone walked Rich through everything again and it was eventually noted that the propane alarm needed to be re-set (which we’d done more than once already). Whew, finally the damned beeping stopped and we crawled up into our bed but could not go back to sleep. It was after 5 AM by then so we got up at 6 and got ready to hit the road again. As you can imagine, my “RV-ing is fun!” attitude was nowhere to be found. :)

Let the RV adventure begin!

2011-11-18T16:35:00.004-09:00

We flew out of Maui on November 10 and landed in San Diego close to 10 PM. We’d rented an RV for the next day so pricelined a hotel for the night. We usually try to get the highest star level for the cheapest price but we kept getting denied. So we reduced our bid to a 3-star hotel and got the Holiday Inn On the Bay for $70. Upon arriving at the airport, Rich called for a shuttle and was told that it would be leaving the hotel in 8 minutes. Thirty minutes later, we had seen a bunch of car rental shuttles and a few hotel shuttles but no Holiday Inn. Rich called back and was told the shuttle would be leaving in 10 minutes. LOL He said he’d called at least 30 minutes ago and was told it was leaving then. The woman insinuated that we must have missed it, though we’re not sure how we could have not seen it since we were sitting right there watching expectantly. At this point, tired and frustrated, we decided to take a cab. We walked over to the taxi stand and were assigned the next taxi in line. WELL, this cabbie was apparently having a very bad night. When we told him where we were going, he almost shouted “They have a SHUTTLE!” We agreed and briefly told him our issue. He seemed angry to even have to deal with us. Rich told him we were going to the Holiday Inn by the bay. He wanted to know the address. Rich asked, “You don’t know where it is?” He said there were lots of Holiday Inns. We said “by the bay” and he still wanted the address so Rich looked it up and told him. The driver then shouted “ON the bay, not BY the bay!” I asked “There’s one called ‘on’ the bay and another one called ‘by’ the bay?” which I totally had my doubts about. He said yes so I asked him where ‘by the bay’ was and he said “behind us.” So we are completely off on the wrong foot with this guy and he seems to hate us for some reason. J We figured it was partly because he was hoping for a good fare and this hotel was not really very far away. No big money for him for this ride. I usually try to make small talk with our cab drivers but I was actually a little scared of him. He drove like a maniac to the hotel and then just stood there while we unloaded our luggage from his trunk. At one point, Rich was getting one suitcase and I was struggling to
pull one out of the trunk with one hand because my other hand was full. The dude literally stood right next to me with a semi-sneer on his face and watched me battle with the suitcase.

It was the Marine Corps’ birthday and a bunch of young Marines and their wives/girlfriends/dates were hanging out in the hotel parking lot looking for a ride. One of them came up to our cab and asked if it was available. The guy didn’t really even respond to them. I told them, “Good luck, he’s not very friendly!” As we were walking away, they told me that he refused to take them! Wow, not sure what his problem was but he was determined to pass his bad mood along to the rest of us.

The bad karma of the night continued as we entered the hotel. There was a little bit of a line to check in and just one very slow, methodical guy working the desk. Some poor man had reserved a room online for a certain price and was quoted a different price at check in. They were going round and round with the clerk saying “it’s an estimated price online” and the guy wondering why he had to pay more, plus leave a $100 deposit because he was paying in cash, and so on. Really, the price difference was not that much and you would think that good customer service would dictate that you just allow the guy the price he had quoted on his online reservation form, but no. Finally, another clerk came to the desk and helped us check in. We had a HUGE room at the Holiday Inn, awkwardly so. There was a bunch of empty space which made me think it used to be a conference room or something. We quickly left our belongings and went back downstairs to see if we could grab something to eat at the restaurant/bar. As we approached, the waiter told us that he had just submitted the last food order for the night. We then walked over to the gift shop, hoping to buy a snack there instead. As we walked in, the young woman at the counter told us we had three minutes before she closed so we’d better hurry. “And no more room charges!” she added. As we rushed to the shelves, she revised her timeline to say, “Actually, you have a minute and a half!” None of this was said with a smile or in a joking manner. Anyway, our dinner for the night was an ice cream bar—yippee!

Before checking out, we had breakfast at the hotel (where the day shift employees were all in pleasant moods!) and saw this sailing ship across the street. We then called for a cab to come get us and take us out to Spring Valley to pick up our RV. We thought by calling in advance, we could make sure that the cab was willing to take us out that way and that it would be there on time without us having to flag one down. Well, you would think! Sitting outside the hotel waiting, Rich received a call from the cabbie asking where we were. He was “there” and didn’t see us. We were “there” and didn’t see him. Yes, of course, he had gone to a different Holiday Inn, even though Rich had given the dispatcher the address. Rich asked him if he was coming to the correct place and he started to say something like “well, by the time I get there….” at which point Rich hung up on him and we asked the doorman to flag down a cab. So much for planning ahead! This cabbie was nice and didn’t mind going out to Spring Valley. Whew.

We picked up our vehicle, had a little orientation, and hit the road. First stop, Target, to stock up on necessities. The RV folks don’t provide anything unless you want to rent stuff, which we did not. We had packed a set of sheets and pillowcases and I always carry a little blanket with me on the plane, but we needed pillows, a heavier blanket, towels (didn’t think to pack those!) and a few kitchen items. Rich brought a couple of knives and kitchen tools with him but we needed a pan. And we had to get food, of course. We spent a good while wandering the aisles of Target, which we like to do anyway, since we don’t have any such thing where we live. So by now, the day was whipping past us and we needed to get going. Okay, let me just say that I am pretty nervous riding along in the passenger seat of an RV when we take up a full lane with not much margin of error and the roads are crowded with cars flying by at top speed. The mirror next to my seat makes everything look like it’s coming straight at me. I don’t even like to look! Thankfully, Rich is on his hyper-alert mode and is managing well, even if I am a nervous nelly. We don’t go very far the first day since we didn’t even start till afternoon and it gets dark in California at 5 PM. What’s up with that?!

The first night was spent at an RV park at Cardiff by the Sea. It is right off the water and we were amazed at the large number of people surfing in November. Most had on wetsuits, but still! They are serious about their surfing! We parked our vehicle and walked several blocks across town to a restaurant for a nice dinner, stopping by Starbucks on the way back so I could get some tea. With no internet to keep me amused into the night, we read for awhile and turned in early. It made me realize how much time we waste with TV and internet at home!

The next morning we went down to the beach to watch the surfers and take some photos before taking our leave. We had to stop at Starbucks for more tea and free internet so I could check in and see what I was missing in the world of cyberspace. I really am trying to fight my internet addiction but I have to admit that I hate not knowing what's going on. :)

Lahaina

2011-11-15T08:52:00.005-09:00

On one of our last days in Maui, we drove over to Lahaina to wander around. This is where we stayed a few years ago when we came with my mom, her friend Barbara, and Rich’s brother and sister in law, George and Nadine. Along the way, we stopped at a bird preserve area but there was literally one little bird standing in the marshy water and that was it. Guess it must not be the right time of year. We continued to Lahaina, had some lunch and walked the streets for awhile. It was another warm and sunny day and I was happy just to be outside in it!

We decided to take the long way back to Kahalui, which ended up being quite the adventure. The very long, steep, winding road took us through the mountains, around blind curves (“no sight distance” say the signs in Hawaii), dangerously close to sheer cliffs with no guard rails, onto one-lane stretches of road and one-lane bridges where we had to hope for a pull out so we could avoid oncoming vehicles. This went on and on for about two and a half hours. We laughingly agreed that we were happy we were not driving it at night. Can you imagine? We later read a comment in a guidebook stating that car rental companies discouraged their customers from using the road. As Rick Perry would say, “Ooops!"

This does not even give you a true representation of how scary the road was. :)

Haleakala

2011-11-08T22:49:00.006-09:00

We took a drive to Haleakala National Park the other day. The name Haleakala is Hawaiian for "house of the sun." According to a local legend, the demigod Maui imprisoned the sun here in order to lengthen the day. The park features the dormant Haleakala (East Maui) Volcano, which last erupted at around 1490. Above, we took a short hike out to one of the overlooks on the way up. It was a little windy!

Nene bird

Here's the famous Haleakala Crater. It is huge: 6.99 miles (11.25 km) across, 2.0 mi (3.2 km) wide, and about 2,600 ft (790 m) deep. The interior of the crater is dotted by numerous volcanic features, including large cinder cones. Gorgeous!

We saw lots of bicyclists on the road. Many people ride bikes all the way up and all the way back down the steep, winding road. I have to say I would never want to do it--I'd be scared out of my mind. It has to be unbearably hard work biking up, not to mention trying to stay out of the way of cars. On the way down, I can just imagine losing control and falling in front of a vehicle. Yes, I usually think of the worst possible scenario. I was scared just riding a bike to the Golden Gate Bridge and going across in the bike lane. :)

It's also common practice for people to arrive before sunrise to watch the sun come up, or to come out in the evening to see the sunset. We did neither and were there in the middle of the day, but the crater was still hugely impressive.

Pretty high, huh? My ears were popping and I think I had a slight bit of altitude sickness because my head was killing me for about an hour. But, hey, big fun!

Ali'i Kula Lavender Farm

2011-11-05T12:05:00.015-08:00

We visited a lavender farm on Friday and our guide, Christina, took us on an interesting tour of the grounds. The farm grows many varieties of lavender but only a few are still blooming in November.

English lavender

Many other plants and flowers grow on the farm as well and I couldn't even keep up with the various names. :) Quite a few Protea were represented. The genus Protea was named in 1735 by Carl Linnaeus after the Greek god Proteus who could change his form at will, because proteas contain such a wide variety.

The feathery looking plant is called a White Mink Protea. The large one to the right is a King Protea, which has the largest flower of all proteas.

King Protea

Pink Protea

Lavender fields

Enjoying lavender tea and lavender scones on the lanai

Ugh, I am so annoyed with blogger. I can't get it to take out all these big spaces. I don't know how many times I have gone back in and deleted space after space, saved the post and republished, to no avail. Bear with me. :)

A few more photos from the Heritage Garden

2011-11-05T10:46:00.006-08:00

and some kids body surfing at sunset

Hello from Maui!

2011-11-03T18:52:00.004-08:00

We've had some crazy weather at home so I was pretty worried about getting out on Tuesday, but guess what! We left very close to on-time, had a few bumps along the way but nothing major, and landed in Anchorage without a hitch. Relief! It was very cold and blowing snow in Anchorage so we didn't even venture out on Tuesday except to walk across the street from the hotel for some tacos for lunch. Had dinner at the hotel bar while a lone musician sang Neil Young and Eric Clapton, watched a movie in the room ("Midnight in Paris"--a Woody Allen film with Owen Wilson playing the typical Woody part) and that was our exciting night in the big city.

Our friend Tammy came to town later the same day so she picked us up on Wednesday and we went downtown to have a scrumptious brunch at the Snow City Cafe before she dropped us at the airport. She'll be tending to School Board business in Anchorage for a few days.

The flight to Honolulu was uneventful, if a bit long (5 hours, 18 minutes). I was in the middle seat but we scored the exit row so it was not bad. Our seatmate was from Kodiak and knew some Unalaska people so of course there was lots of conversation about commonalities and life in Alaska. The sun was going down as we descended into Honolulu and Rich caught several photos out the window.

Once in HNL, we had to pick up our bags and go back through security to take an interisland flight to Maui. It's really quick--there's barely time to get settled in before the plane starts back down. My kind of flight! Then to the car rental place, where we got hooked up with some pimp looking full sized jeep thing--I believe that we always end up with the most embarrassing cars for some reason. We usually like Enterprise but got a better deal from Thrifty this time, though I was annoyed that they wanted to charge us extra for two drivers (Enterprise does not!) so Rich is going to have to chauffeur me everywhere. When we were finished with the car transaction, another woman stated that it was now "her turn" and offered us money off the car rental as well as discounts on other activities if we would attend a condo sales pitch. I immediatel told her that we'd done this before and what we thought would be a quick meeting turned into several hours requiring us to say "no" to numbers of people before we were allowed to escape. So, no, we were not interested. Sorry. I know she is just trying to make a living and I felt bad for her that she probably does not get too many takers (maybe I'm wrong?) but I just couldn't sit through one of those again!

We had about a 30 minute drive to Kihei, where we are staying in a condo owned by one of my coworkers. It was dark when we got here and we had trouble getting into the lockbox to get the key. I finally had to call him and it was pretty late in AK (kinda weird to me that HI is two hours even earlier!), bless his heart. While he was on the line, we finally figured it out and got in. Yes, there was some kind of code thing ON the door, but we were supposed to use the lockbox on the doorknob, which we had trouble seeing in the dark. I am sure he told me this at some point before we left, but we were tired and confused and have old people's eyes.

This was the view from our balcony late last night. Nice!

A note on the door last night advised us that the exterminators would be visiting our condos beginning at 8:30 this morning so we left early and headed out. First stop, a farmer's market down the road. It didn't look like much from the street but we pulled in anyway and were pleasantly surprised with all the fresh produce. We came away with a pineapple, apples, tangerines, avocados, lemons, bananas, peppers, homemade bread and banana bread, and I can't remember what else.

We were looking for a Whole Foods to add more to the pantry but must have passed it by and decided to keep going to the Iao Valley. According to history, Iao Valley is the site of one of the most famous battles that occurred in 1790 and changed Hawaii history forever when King Kamehameha I destroyed the Maui army in an effort to unite the Hawaiian Islands. We just drove through today but might go back and do some hiking or further looking around. On the way back, we stopped at the Kepaniwai Heritage Gardens. The website states, "Once a bloody battle site where Maui warrior corpses, victims of Kamehameha I, blocked the 'Iao Stream, the name means "damning of the waters". Now the realization of architect Richard Tongg's dream, this lovely garden features a variety of structures, including a New England Salt Box, Japanese Tea House, Hawaiian grass shack, Chinese Moon Gate, Portuguese outdoor oven, and beautiful landscaping." Of course, I loved this pole proclaiming "Let there be peace on Earth."

Part of the Portugese Garden

Temple

Rich took a bunch more photos which I will post later. After our stop at the Heritage Gardens, we found Whole Foods and stocked up on provisions for the condo. We've been lazy the rest of the day but it's only 5:35 PM here so the night is young!

It's beautiful, sunny and warm. I told Rich I think I am destined to live in a warm environment. I love Unalaska for many reasons but the weather is not one of them. And I was thinking about the fact that many say they like having four seasons, but frankly I would not care if I got to live where the temp is warm all the time. Who needs winter? Not me!

The Latest...

2011-10-26T23:45:00.002-08:00

We've had a little bit of snow. Today was windy, rainy and cold. I think I will have to admit that winter is on its way and that makes me glad that Rich and I are leaving on vacation next Tuesday. I know I just got back from Texas but that is what I like to call a "bonus trip" and next week we embark on our "scheduled vacation." I am fortunate that my husband has great benefits at his job and has been there so long that he has months of time off each year. And also fortunate that I only work part time and my boss is willing to let me take off to join my husband for his months of time off. Lucky, lucky us.

It's been crazy busy since I got back from Texas. Rich and I were sitting around talking about the Occupy Wall Street and Occupy (name any other city) and wishing we could join in. Yes, we are radical lefties at heart (and we do not apologize for it!) As an old community organizer (before "community" and "organizer" became two dirty words when placed side by side), I was itching to do something. We decided to invite our friends to occupy the Bering Sea with us in a symbolic show of solidarity for the 99%. We figured "Occupy the Bering Sea" was unique, as well as appropriate, because of where we live and how this place is best known. We went to the store and bought poster board and markers and sticky letters and got to work. In the shower on the morning of the action, I came up with "Corporate Greed = The Real Deadliest Catch" since you know what show is made out here on the Bering Sea, right? :)

We drove out to the beach on the spit, met our co-conspirators and hoisted our signs. Although it was only symbolic, somehow it made me feel better to connect with the rest of the people who are taking a stand. Later, we posted our pictures on Facebook and were amazed to see how quickly they spread, re-post by re-post. I uploaded a photo on CNN's i-Report and we heard back from a producer the next day, wanting us to answer some questions so we could be "vetted" for authenticity. We were later upgraded to "vetted by CNN" status with a producer's note added to our entry. :) The photo was picked up by some blogs and other media outlets so we enjoyed our few moments of fame, especially if it helped bring attention to the Occupy movement by showing that even a few people out on a remote island in the Aleutians get it. So that's what the photos in the previous post are all about!

Otherwise, we've just been swamped with work and trying to finish everything up before vacation. We fly to Anchorage on Tuesday and Honolulu on Wednesday, then straight over to Maui Wednesday night, where we're renting a condo from one of my coworkers. I can't wait for some sunshine and warm weather! We'll be in Maui for a week, then we're flying to San Diego, where Rich has convinced me to rent an RV and drive around southern California and vicinity for a couple of weeks. I've never pictured myself as an RV-er so we will see how this goes! I'm sure it will be (mostly) lots of fun and we will enjoy seeing lots of sights along the way. It may make for some interesting/amusing posts as well (if I can actually get enough of an internet fix at stops on the road) so stay tuned.

Occupy the Bering Sea!

2011-10-15T22:47:00.006-08:00

Making the Rounds, Part Ten and Final Installment: Finishing in Dallas

2011-10-14T19:35:00.005-08:00

Bonnie and Emery left early Sunday morning and Sarah and Miles arrived home on Sunday afternoon. Elle and Beck went down for naps and Beck was already up but Elle was still asleep when Mommy and Daddy arrived. There were two very happy little ones when they saw who was home! What a sweet homecoming. I know the kids really missed their parents and Sarah and Miles were so happy to see their babies, though they had a wonderful trip and came home relaxed and refreshed.

Miles and Sarah bought an old house right behind their current house and are tearing it down to build a new one for themselves. They've been renting for a couple of years while they develop their business and build or remodel homes for others to buy. This was a great deal, basically a tear-down because it was in such bad shape, but they will be able to build something they really want in a neighborhood they love. We took a walk over to see what was happening on the demolition.

Back to the yard to visit and play till I had to go to the airport. Elle was funny; at one point she told me she didn't want me to leave and her parents could go on another trip because she liked it when I stayed with her; the next moment she told me I could drive myself to the airport in their car. I asked, "How would you get your car back?" She said someone would bring it. Then she said she was ready for me to leave: "You can go now!" I think she was a little afraid that, as long as I was there, it was possible that her parents WOULD leave again!

Two of my sweeties!

Elle took this photo of Sarah and me. And off to the airport we went...another fun trip comes to an end. I had a fabulous time with all three of the girls, their guys and the grandkids and I couldn't ask for a sweeter group. I love them like crazy! Till next time.....

Making the Rounds, Part Nine: Soccer and other fun

2011-10-11T10:48:00.005-08:00

Elle had a soccer game on Saturday morning. Thank goodness Bonnie was there to help me since we had to get the kids up, fed, dressed, snacks and water packed, and find the field. I made Bonnie drive again, also. :) We were extremely proud of ourselves that we left the house early. Woohoo! We found the soccer park pretty easily, but finding field 9A was a bit more difficult. We could not see any field numbers as we drove through the busy parking lot, we could not see any kids wearing jerseys similar to Elle's, and we could not see any little bitty kids close by. We hollered out the car window to a few parents, who seemed just as confused as we were. Eventually one suggested, "just park and walk around." Which we did. We finally came upon the field and we were the first ones there. Good job, Gigi and Aunt Bonnie!

Some of Elle's teammates showed up right away and we settled in to wait for her game to start while her coach did practice drills with the girls. They were all really cute and had some good skills for only being 3 and 4 year olds!

Sarah said Elle had not wanted to play in the last game, but she was a trooper in this one. The girl ran her heart out, did not want to come out for a sub till I finally made her take a water break because her face was getting so red, and even made a goal! Yippee, Elle! She played really hard and we were so proud of her! She seemed to have a blast and really got into it, though she didn't seem to want to try to take the ball away from anyone else. I heard the coach before the game trying to explain to the girls, "It's great to share when you are playing with your friends, and it's a really nice thing to do, but in soccer, you are supposed to try to take the ball away from the other team!" Not sure how many of them get that yet! They are also learning not to use their hands. His other quote was, "Hands are for high-fives!"

In the "small world" department, Sarah had figured out that Elle's coach is the cousin of Bonnie's college roommate, track teammate and good friend, Katie. How weird is that? So Katie and her cute little guy Carter came out to watch the game and visit with Bonnie and Emery, as well as her cousin.

Emery and Carter had fun running around and playing. Emery was posing and saying "cheeeeese" here.
Beck was all chilled out in his stroller through the whole game. We brought a blanket to sit on but he was content to hang out so it made my life easier than chasing him around while trying to watch Elle! Sweet boy!

Emery loved Katie!

Back home for lunch and naps

After another busy and fun day, they settled down for reading and playing in bed before calling it a night.

This was a great bonding visit for these two little cousins. Bonnie said it was the most fun they've ever had together and it was so cute to see.

Unfortunately, by this time we all had the sniffles and Beck was not feeling the best, waking up during the night and having trouble getting back to sleep. At first I thought it was just teething bothering him, or that he was getting a little scared about why his parents were not there. But soon he was coughing and everyone had snotty noses so we figured Elle's "allergies" were being passed around.

Bonnie and Emery had to leave very early on Sunday morning and I was going to make them take a cab again but decided I would be brave and drive them to Love Field. Actually, I made Bonnie drive us there and our directions took us a little off track but we made it in the nick of time. Poor Bonnie had a suitcase, Emery's car seat, a carry-on, and a little girl who wanted to be carried. But, of course, she pooh-poohed my idea of asking for help from a man walking up at the same time. Off she went, with everything and Emery in tow. Then came Gigi's turn to finally drive in Dallas traffic with the grandkids. Luckily, the trip back to the house was easy and everyone in the car was happy and nothing went wrong. WHEW.

Making the Rounds, Part Eight: Bonnie and Emery Come to Visit

2011-10-10T22:13:00.005-08:00

Bonnie and Emery flew in on Friday morning to spend a couple of days with us. Beck was just getting up from a nap when they arrived so I made them take a taxi. Mean, huh?! It was a good thing, though, because he had a big blowout in his diaper right about the time we would have been driving to the airport. haha

Elle got back home in the evening. After Emery got up from her nap, we all went outside to play. Emery was very interested in Elle's swing but it was hard for her to hang onto.

It was better to take a turn in Beck's!

Then we took a walk around the neighborhood, looking for the peacocks that roam free in the area.
Here's another one of my misadventures--I couldn't figure out how to get the brake off the stroller so we hadn't been able to use it. Why are these newfangled pieces of equipment so complicated??!! LOL Sarah emailed me directions but Bonnie got it working anyway.

We only saw a few of the peacocks this time. Another night, Bonnie came into the house to tell us that two of the white birds were in our front yard. We took the girls out to see them and they were so excited, especially when one flew up onto the neighbor's roof and then into a tree!

After our walk, we decided to take the kids to Chik Fil A for supper and playing. I made Bonnie drive. :) We had directions to one near Sarah's house but missed a street and instead of turning around, ended up on a highway in 5 PM traffic. What were we thinking? Luckily, we saw another Chik Fil A right off the road so pulled in there. Elle said "This is a different Chik Fil A!" but was happy that they had a jungle-themed play area. Bonnie and I were making good use of all the sterilizing wipes, having just read an article about how fast food playgrounds contain a high level of germs of all nasty sorts. *The article did note that Chik Fil A's were the cleanest of the dirty, though.*
Toothbrushing time
Elle and Emery were so cute reading books together in bed. This one had objects to find in the pictures and Elle was like a little mom. She would ask Emery "Where's the teapot?" Emery would find the teapot, point to it, and say "Right there!" Elle would exclaim "You're RIGHT! Good job!"

Bonnie made a list of all the words Emery was saying. We were amazed at how many there were, and how many new ones she said in those couple of days, including yelling "Catch!" at Bonnie as she threw a toy at her. We were cracking up. She also learned "Woohoo!" from Elle, along with a fist pump. :)

To be continued....

Making the Rounds, Part Seven: Fun with Elle and Beck

2011-10-10T21:52:00.004-08:00

Elle started missing her parents and was sad when they were not there to tuck her into bed at night so we decided to write them a note and post it to Facebook so they could see it. She loved decorating the paper and then greatly cheered up when they called to talk with her. Once she was reassured that they were coming back in a few days, she was really fine the rest of the week. At one point, she said, "I hope my mommy and daddy are having LOTS of fun." Sweet girl!

More swinging outside! The front yard was a lifesaver since I was reluctant to drive anywhere! As the days went by, Beck started looking at me a little curiously when I would get him up from a nap or in the morning, as if to say, "Hey, I am not sure you are really the one I was expecting!" Even though he couldn't talk about it, I would tell him every day that his Mommy and Daddy would be home soon and that they loved and missed him and that everything was okay. I just didn't want him to be worried about what was happening!

As you can see, he was a happy little guy!

Here we are just hanging out in the living room. We read books, worked puzzles, played with Elle's many dolls, and played kids' games on my laptop. Elle loves Sleeping Beauty right now so we had many rounds of acting out the Sleeping Beauty story. :)

Elle was coughing when I got there and Sarah took her to the pediatrician before they left on their trip, only to be told it was just allergies. A few days later, she seemed to be getting worse so she didn't go to preschool on Thursday. Miles' mom picked her up that day so she could spend the night at her other grandparents' house and then brought her back on Friday. I wasn't sure what to do with myself with just Beck for the night!

To be continued....

Making the Rounds, Part Six: Back to Dallas and Gigi Duty

2011-10-10T21:12:00.005-08:00

We had a nice ride back to Dallas on a Sunday afternoon and then I had a couple of days with the whole family before Sarah and Miles left on their trip. There's a little park near their house so we took the kids to play after the car ride so they could stretch and work off some energy after being cooped up in the car. Beck enjoyed the swing!

Elle had fun climbing.

Here I am!

Beck wanted to put the straw in his mouth and did not even mind getting his knees all scraped up while he crawled around searching for more stuff to pick up. He's such a little boy!

Elle making things with play-doh with her mom and goofing around. She is a girl of a thousand faces!

Sarah and Miles left early on Tuesday morning for a well-deserved anniversary trip to a resort in Mexico. Elle knew they were going and didn't seem overly concerned the day before but she was a little upset that they did not tell her goodbye again that morning. She got over that pretty quickly after we talked about how early it had been and that they didn't want to disturb her sleep. Beck is too little to understand so we were hoping he would not feel abandoned or scared but he was perfectly happy when he got up. Sarah's friend Candace picked Elle up for preschool so I would not have to drive with both kids in Dallas traffic. I know, I am a wimp! But it worries me!

All ready for school! Okay, I will admit that I forgot how long it takes to get kids fed breakfast, dressed, teeth and hair brushed, lunch packed, backpack located, shoes on, and out the door! Note brother playing in the background!

Baby Beck was happy to play and we had a nice day by ourselves while Elle was at school. He is a sweet and happy boy and really no trouble whatsoever. You have to keep an eye on him because he loves to put everything in his mouth and he will crawl all over the house. But we had no mishaps. :)

They love their swings in the front yard and we went outside every morning when it was still on the cooler side and let them swing. I realized how long it has been since I had babies because I had a hard time working several of their pieces of equipment. For example, I popped the straps into the front of Beck's swing without any trouble but then I could not figure out how to get them undone. I tried everything and nearly went into a panic because I could not get him out! I was beginning to wonder if I should call someone or go to a neighbor's house when I just sort of accidentally got them open. Whew!

This was our routine just about every day!

Beck loves, loves, loves his sister and she can make him laugh so easily! They were so cute to watch.

It's funny how full the day can be when taking care of little ones. I told Sarah I was a little bit rusty but we had such a great time every day. Between meals and naps and playing and baths and bedtime routines, the time really flew by.

To be continued....

Making the Rounds, Part Five: Last Day in Abilene

2011-10-08T09:08:00.007-08:00

Mickey D's for breakfast pancakes...oh, the things a grandmother will do for her grandkids. I never step foot in McDonald's except when I am with them. :) But they like the play area so we usually have at least one stop there.

At least pancakes and juice can't be too terribly unhealthy, right? Then back to the hotel to finish packing up.

These kids are just way too much fun and I enjoy every minute with them! Making goofy faces--"happy,"

"sleepy,"
"scared,"
Not sure what we were doing here! haha

Just us--Aidan and Ally and Gigi

Then off to Starbucks to meet Sarah and Miles, who had been in Buffalo Gap for Miles' family reunion. We had a drink and visited for awhile before pulling out of town and heading back to Dallas. Ally and Elle are the best of friends and love seeing each other.

Susan and Miles
Elle being silly, Sarah and Beck

Sarah, Ally, Beck, Susan, Elle, Miles and Aidan

We packed a lot into a few days in Abilene and I was sad to leave Susan's family behind. I always say we have to think of these little trips as bonuses because we didn't necessarily plan on them or know they were going to happen. So it's all good! Can't wait till next time!

Making the Rounds, Part Four: Abilene, continued

2011-10-06T19:40:00.007-08:00

I am sadly behind but have been having way too much fun to post. :) I am back at home now, as of yesterday afternoon, and will try to catch up. So when I left you, I was in Abilene, which is where we will begin. It's always a juggling act to try to see everyone so we planned a little breakfast gathering with a few of my friends.

Here's Connie, part of my longstanding "girls' night out" group. Unfortunately, our other good friend Kelly was out of town and couldn't be with us.

Here's Shona and her sweet baby Sophie. Shona's mom was my good friend Rudene who passed away from cancer a couple of years ago. We miss her and our group is incomplete without her. But we were happy to see Shona and Sophie!

And Karen with all the kids--Sophie, Aidan and Ally

Aidan was very proud of himself for finishing his Lego characters on his own. Yay, Aidan!

Later in the day, we went over to Chuck E. Cheese and played for awhile. Big fun!

And that night, we checked out the Balloon Fest.

Susan and Corey
We had a little bit of a scary experience at the festival. The kids were inside one of those big inflated bouncy houses when the generator went off and the whole thing collapsed with about 8 little ones inside! Luckily, I was standing right at the opening and, along with one of the workers, managed to hold it open so the kids could scurry out. Meanwhile, Corey ran to the back and lifted it so it wouldn't crush anyone. Those things are heavy! All was well, but we moved on after that! Enough of the bouncy houses!

On the way out, Corey and the kids used up the rest of the tickets on a remote controlled car game.

My boy at the Balloon Fest
We packed a lot into this day and went back to the hotel to crash!

To be continued....

Making the Rounds, Part Three: Abilene

2011-09-30T05:23:00.009-08:00

Here's Aidan getting off the bus in Clyde. Yes, he is getting to be such a big boy--all of 8 years old now. Very hard to believe! He was a little miffed that he had to go to school while Ally got to stay with me. Wanted his mama to call him in sick. :) He's enjoying 2nd grade and says MATH is his favorite subject. In fact, he says he LOVES math. I'm sure Aunt Bonnie will be happy to hear this! He does not have a girlfriend right now. But he does have lots of friends. And his favorite thing is riding his dirt bike. Scares me to death.

I almost always end up getting the Courtyard Marriott by the mall in Abilene when I priceline a room. The kids love going there because they get to swim! The pool's heater was out and the hotel was waiting for a part but it didn't slow anyone down. The hot tub was still warm so they alternated between the "big pool"and the "little pool." Another girl came in with her dad and they were soon all playing together. Nice how kids just do that! Ally walked right up to her and asked, "Do you want to be my friend? Do you want to play with me?"

Aidan and I made a trip to Target so he could get a toy (after seeing Ally's paper doll book and wondering when I might buy HIM a present!) and so I could buy a few snacks and drinks for the room. We were gone so long that Susan was calling to see what happened to us. haha Aidan loves Lego stuff and you might recall the huge project he and Grandpa Rich undertook last time. At Target, Aidan gravitated right toward that same aisle again. I convinced him to get several smaller items instead of a big one and cautioned him that it was unlikely that Gigi would be any help. He assured me that he could put them together himself.

Corey got off work and met up with us and some friends for a nice dinner at the Beehive. He and Susan had so much fun in Jersey and NYC this past summer that they are already talking about what they want to do "next time." Maybe a stopover in DC to see some sights!

One of the hard parts about visiting Abilene is that I have several good friends there that I want to spend time with, but I also don't want to cut into family time when I won't be around very long! Our usual solution is to try to get people together for a meal and hang out for awhile. Luckily, Susan and Corey know most of my friends and like to see them too. Here's Jimmy, friend, former landlord, walking partner and all-round helper and supporter when Aidan was a baby. The grandkids were so excited to see him and ran down the sidewalk to give him a big hug!

And Sherri, who's the best at meeting us on the shortest notice, friend, travel partner and fellow adventurer. She's even been to Unalaska to see us!

I love these kids!

And Karen, one of my BFFs--we've been through more "stuff" together than anyone could imagine. Aidan loves her and I always say that Gigi takes second spot when Karen is around. :) She's another one who has been there since his birth and has always been very special to him.

We had a great time visting with everyone and then headed back to the hotel for the night. Susan decided to stay over with the kids and me since it was Friday night and no work the next day. Poor Corey is on a rotating schedule so had to work all weekend while we played. After talking, working on the Lego project (by himself!), watching a little TV and planning the next day, we all drifted off to dreamland.

To be continued....

Making the Rounds, Part Two: Gigi and Ally Time

2011-09-29T16:21:00.007-08:00

Off to Abilene, where Susan, Aidan and Ally met me at the airport. I was so happy to see them! We checked into my hotel and met Corey for dinner before they headed back to Clyde (Clyde, Texas, that is...for the uninitiated!) Since Mom and Dad had to work the next morning and Aidan had school, my adorable 4-year-old Ally got to spend the night with me all by herself for the first time. She is precious and such a sweet girl! She's also a chatterbox and kept me amused as we discussed anything and everything. Our first stop was the hotel pool, where she had a great time but I failed to take any photos.

I haven't really mastered the "hold the camera at a distance and take a picture of yourselves" thing but here's our attempt.

I had a huge king-sized bed in the room but she wanted to sleep on the couch. Go figure! We read books and she drew some pictures before bedtime.

After a good night's sleep, we went to Starbucks for a little breakfast treat of "happy birthday mini donuts" (and some iced tea for Gigi). We then went to Books a Million in the mall where we browsed for the longest time and finally settled on an awesome princess paper doll book with all kinds of clothes and accessories. :) From there, we were glad to meet our friend Karen for lunch, played with the paper dolls and talked and talked.

After lunch, back to the mall to check out the indoor play area and run off some energy.

And we ran into some old friends! Linda Connally and I were "dance moms" together for umpteen years when our kids were growing up. Her daughter Holly and my Susan are close to the same age, were in the same classes and on the same dance team. Now Linda and I are grandmothers and our girls are mommies--how did that happen? Here are two of Holly's three kids--Sadie and Beckett. She also has an older daughter, Kaylee. Of course, I remember her when she was Sadie's age.

Then it was time for Susan to get off work so we picked her up and the three of us went for pedicures. Susan had never had a pedicure before, since she doesn't like anyone touching her feet and she's very ticklish. But she decided to go for it. I thought Ally might like to get one, too, rather than just sit there patiently and wait for us. I know, it's probably a little indulgent to get a 4 year old a pedicure, but what the heck.

We were all enjoying ourselves and Ally was doing great till she squirmed a little bit and the nail technician called her a "bad girl." She had already kinda huffed and puffed and made a bit of an angry face a couple of times but honestly, Ally was not misbehaving at all and I've seen adults more squirmy than she was. Susan and I raised our eyebrows at each other and widened our eyes while we sat there in our chairs. Before I could stop myself (and why should I?), I said, "NOOOO, do NOT call her a bad girl. She is only 4 and she's never had a pedicure before and she's doing fine." (And lest you think that they felt put-upon having to give a child a pedicure, I had called in advance to ask about it and was told "SURE!") Besides, I firmly believe that no one should call names or say that anyone is BAD. Can't you think of 10 other ways she could have handled this?!

Oh, it was actually here, when she was painting Ally's nails, that she called her a BAD GIRL. I think she was surprised that I confronted her and she sorta backpedaled..."oh, it's her first time, oh, she's only four..." but did not really apologize.

But she did offer to paint flowers on the big toes and gave us a discount for the 4 year old, so I suppose she was appropriately contrite. Ally loved her nails, Susan is now a converted fan of the pedi. (*And she was not called a bad girl, even though her feet were ticklish and she squirmed a little. This just reminds me of the fact that there are many things we are willing to say to children that we would never say to an adult. Why is that?)

It was lovely getting to spend time with Ally for the day and I hope we get to do it again another time! She is so much fun! Even though Gigi and Ally time was done, we still had more going on, starting with a drive out to Clyde with Susan to pick Aidan up from the school bus.

To be continued....

Making the Rounds, Part One: Amarillo and Gigi Time with Emery

2011-09-28T10:48:00.008-08:00

I'm having a whirlwind of a time and little energy to post but thought I would try to get caught up! After my conference in Anchorage ended, I spent a great deal of my last day hanging out in the Anchorage airport waiting for my 1 AM flight to Seattle. Not much fun, especially since I did not realize (or maybe I didn't remember, because I think it's happened once before) that no one is allowed to check bags more than four hours before departure. Ugh. So I had to sit out by the ticket counters for 7 hours. Yes, SEVEN hours. Finally, I was allowed to check my luggage, went through security, and purchased a day pass to the Alaska Air Board Room for my last four hours. I figured I might as well be comfortable in a quiet room with food after my earlier ordeal. :) Off to Seattle at 1 AM and, of course, the flight was full so I did not sleep much, if at all. Had a quick turnaround in Seattle and left for DFW at 7 AM, arriving at 1 PM Texas time. I am not crazy about that flight but it seems to be the only one AK Air flies. I am always really tired and jet lagged but definitely happy to see Sarah, Miles, Elle and Beck!

Because I am ending my trip with them, I only spent one night and flew to Amarillo early the next morning to spend a couple of days with Bonnie, David and Emery. David's mom Rosanne and Emery picked me up at the airport since the kids were working. We had a nice visit and Rosanne dropped us off at Bonnie and David's so I could keep Emery for the rest of the day. She has grown and changed a lot even since we saw her in NJ in July! She's doing great and we had SO much fun.

Here's a little bit of our time together:

Looking at books

Fun at the park--she is fearless and wants to go down the big slide by herself!

We walked all the way from her house to the park and back and she was very interested in everything along the way, from rocks to sticks to leaves and trees, airplanes in the sky and motorcycles whizzing by. She's saying more and more words and will repeat just about anything you say to her. "Tortellini" was a good one!

She's a good climber, too.

Precious!

One night we were playing in Emery's room and she decided to put all of her little crocheted hats and headbands on her stuffed animals. They looked pretty darned funny.

Another day we were taking a walk and the neighbor's sprinkler was on. What else to do but run through it?? It's such a joy to see her running and playing and getting into everything after sitting helplessly with her in the hospital when she was a baby. Soon she will be 2!

We found some sidewalk chalk and wrote Mommy and Daddy a hello message. :) Emery was so good for me all three days and we had the best time together. She can say "Gigi" now and it's so sweet to hear her little voice. When she woke up from her naps, she would call "Gigi" till I came to get her out of her crib. So cute! She was a little upset about Mommy and Daddy not being there but quickly got over it and got back to having fun. Although I did not get to see Bonnie and David till after school every day, we had a good time over dinner and movies ("Win-Win" and "Bridesmaids"--I recommend both, for different reasons!), shopping, and staying up too late. They are still working on their kitchen but it's looking really nice and I know they will be happy to have it all done. Bless their hearts, I know it is not enjoyable living in a construction zone but it will be worth it when it's finished.

My flight from Amarillo back to Dallas was scheduled for 8:30 PM, but after I'd already checked in at the airport and gone through security (where I was the ONLY person!), I was told that there was a mechanical problem and they were bringing a plane in from Denver to depart Amarillo at 11. Ugh. I ALWAYS wear socks and shoes (if not boots!) on planes but it was so nice and warm in Amarillo and it's only a short flight to Dallas so I left on my sandals. Of course, now I was stuck with a long wait in an airport that felt like you could freeze icecubes. I even wandered over to the little gift shop to see if I could buy some socks! But no. We finally left after 11 and poor Sarah had to pick me up in Dallas after midnight.

David, Emery and Bonnie

Gigi, Emery and Bonnie

Back to Dallas for just one night and part of a day and then a quick flight to Abilene to see Susan, Corey, Aidan and Ally and a few of my friends. There's no direct flight from Amarillo to Abilene. As one of my friends reminded me, "If you're going to hell, you have to go through Dallas to get there."

To be continued....

Catching up from the Land of the Fast Internet

2011-09-16T21:53:00.004-08:00

I've been MIA for a little while--lots going on! On the 3rd, it was my turn to host Bunco and, as always, a big night of fun. These gals are a blast!

Lou Anne and Andrea

Erin, Lori and Sonia

Alyssa, Juliette, Tammy and DJ

Lovely shortcake trios by Rich

Hilary and Melanie

I can't even remember everything that's been occupying our time. We did make some more jam--this time salmonberry-pomegranate and salmonberry-citrus-rose. So good! Remember those scones I made a few weeks ago? Well...there were some in the freezer, so guess what we've been doing? I think we've both gained a few pounds back. But it may be worth it. :)

We've both been really busy at work. I know I keep saying that lately! I worked feverishly all day on Wednesday and then flew out on the 7:30 PM plane to Anchorage. It was a little windy and I was very nervous about flying. I sure have had my flying issues lately. I started to think we would not go at all but we left about 8 PM with no problems whatsoever--guess I need to relax about the whole thing. I'm in Anchorage for a development conference with people from many of the other public radio stations in Alaska. It's been very informative, especially for someone who does not come from a sales and marketing background. I've enjoyed meeting my colleagues from around the state and networking with them. The conference ends tomorrow at noon and then I will be hanging around waiting for my 1 AM (Sunday) flight to Seattle and on to Dallas. Can't wait to see the kids and grandkids!

We top off the night with a tsunami evacuation

2011-09-02T10:44:00.005-08:00

I'm not sure where my "Little House on the Prairie" attitude is coming from but I had a major urge to make scones last night. This is funny since I pretty much never cook or bake. If Rich is not home, I usually make a sandwich or warm up leftovers. Maybe scrambled eggs. He can probably count on one hand the number of times I have made anything on my own, so I think he was surprised when I said I wanted scones and YES, I would make them. :) I don't think this activity even occurred to me, nor did I get started, till after 9 PM. They were very plain, fairly quick and easy, and tasted great! At 10 PM, we were eating hot scones with peach preserves and salmonberry jam (from a previous year...we haven't made this year's yet). Yum, yum. And I did have some Earl Grey tea with mine.

Fast forward to 3:00 AM, when the "on call" phone from work began to ring. Many times, it's a wrong number or just someone with a question, and I almost never get a call at that time of night. This time it was a guy from a news outlet in Anchorage, wanting to get an update on what was happening out here. What? I was asleep and confused. He told me that we'd had an earthquake nearby (which, as usual, I slept through) and were under a tsunami warning. Uh-oh! Here we go again! I called my boss and the emergency notification system was put into place. Soon I could hear sirens and voices over loudspeakers saying "tsunami warning--evacuate! tsunami warning--evacuate!" as people from UniSea began climbing the road up to our house. We got dressed and ready to move, but we live on fairly high ground so were not going to leave home unless advised to do so. Still, it was a little freaky in the middle of the night. Fairly soon, the all clear was called and we went back to bed. Just another little Aleutian adventure! Click here for the story.

Lord Grey's Peach Preserves

2011-08-31T23:58:00.005-08:00

We've been getting some really tasty peaches at the grocery store lately. I was browsing Rich's Bon Appetit magazine while having lunch by myself earlier this week, and came across a recipe for peach preserves with Earl Grey tea. As a tea lover and a peach lover, this seemed like the perfect combination to me! We bought five pounds of peaches and got to work after dinner tonight.

First, blanch and peel the peaches.

Cut into slices.

Mix with four cups of sugar (uh-oh, not on the diet!) and two tbsp fresh lemon juice, let sit for 30 minutes. Then bring to a boil with four full tea bags and one extra teabag opened up and sprinkled into peaches. Cook for 15-20 minutes.

Remove teabags, skim foam off the top and put into sterilized jars.

Process in water bath for 10 minutes and voila!

The recipe calls for TWO 1 pint jars. We had enough for a whole lot more than that. Don't know if it was a typo or what. We bought a bunch of little jars recently, with intentions of making salmonberry jam (soon) so we sterilized a couple of those, too. And we have two small storage bowls full that we are going to eat right away. In fact, I already tried some tonight and it is super delicious. I have to admit that I really don't get much of the Earl Grey taste, but that's okay, too. Peachy peachy is just fine with me.

This Monday's One Fun Thing

2011-08-29T21:24:00.002-08:00

Pinterest. That's all I have to say. Check it out. www.pinterest.com.

August winds down

2011-08-28T22:32:00.002-08:00

Lots going on, as always! Both of us are busy at work, for one thing. Wednesday night, I went back in to host Flash! Unalaska, our weekly news/community events show, with Alyssa from the CVB. We had a lot of fun and she is just so cute and enthusiastic! I told her she is definitely in the right job! Thursday night, I went out for sushi with Andrea, Sonia, Tammy and Melanie to celebrate Melanie's birthday a little late. We have not all been in town at the same time for MONTHS so it was fun to catch up. Tammy and I were lamenting our lack of exercise so joined Mel at the gym on Friday morning. Melanie is pretty dedicated--I am not! I don't always sleep in but even if I am up early, I like to putter around the house in my pj's for hours on end. I might be working, mind you, but I am not showered and dressed. So it was a chore to make myself throw on some workout clothes, stick my hair in a ponytail and drive across town to the community center at--horrors!--9 AM! But we got in a good workout and I was glad I did it. I took the weekend off, but am planning to go in again tomorrow morning. I think I've done all I can do on the weight loss thing by just adjusting my diet so need to get serious about exercising.

Friday night we met some other friends, Kelly and Elaine, at the second-to-last deck bbq of the season. It was fun to hang out with them! Blogger Steve was supposed to come but got tied up at the eye doctor's office. Or so he says. :) I can't believe the bbq is about done for this year. That makes me think that fall and winter are fast approaching.

Rich had to work Saturday but managed to take most of today off. We had a quiet day and got a few things accomplished around the house but that's about it. Checked in with my mom, who got a bit of Hurricane Irene in NJ but nothing major, thankfully. You can tell we're a little jaded out here when all the locals say that it would be "just another day in Unalaska." :)

This Monday's One Fun Thing

2011-08-22T23:45:00.004-08:00

Money management is not my idea of fun. Who wants to budget or pay bills or examine where all the money goes? Wouldn't you rather be out picking berries in the sunshine? Yes, I would.

But I am liking this site called Bundle, which actually makes all of the above a lot easier. Well, not the berry picking part but the money part. After signing up, you link all of your accounts, which allows you to log on to Bundle and see what's happening with your bank, your credit cards, and your retirement funds. It's so much easier than logging onto each one separately. You can't make payments or transfer money on Bundle and it's *supposedly* safe and secure. In addition to checking your balances, it shows you all of your expenditures (which you can categorize) and gives you a tool for setting up a budget. It's been pretty interesting to see everything in one place. There are also price and spending comparisons for different parts of the country, which I have really not delved into since we live in a rather unique place and I'm not sure what good it would do me to know that bread costs a lot less somewhere else.

Check it out here.

Beautiful Unalaska Summer Days

2011-08-21T11:25:00.006-08:00

We're having lots of sunshine and warm-ish weather. I am in heaven! We were both off yesterday and took advantage. First we went to the annual Heart of the Aleutians Festival, had lunch, browsed the booths, chatted with friends and bought some of Sharon's decadently delicious chocolates. Man, I am addicted! Her sea salt caramels are the best! So much for the diet--I also had a hot dog and a Coke. Ran into my friend Andrea on the way out and she lectured me about the Coke. :) But, hey, it's not a "festival" without some junk food, right?!

We came back home and climbed into the salmonberry bushes around our house, snagging several pints of ripe berries. We are going to make salmonberry jam....okay, well, Rich is, and maybe I will be his assistant. Then we drove out to Pyramid Valley and walked up past the dam to look for more berries and photo opportunities. Here are two of Rich's photos--Aleutian cotton here and fireweed above. Gorgeous!

Our son in law Miles celebrated his birthday on the 19th. Happy birthday, Miles!

And happy anniversary to Susan and Corey today!

I'm gearing up for a visit to Texas in less than a month! Can't wait to see everyone again. My job is sending me to Anchorage for a development conference in mid September so I am flying from there to DFW, then on to Amarillo for a few days, to Abilene/Clyde for a few days, and back to Dallas to stay with Elle and Beck while Sarah and Miles take a little trip for their tenth anniversary. I am thankful for a flexible job that allows me to squeeze in as much family time as possible!

AND we have finalized plans for our month-long November vacation...yes, I know, we are always traveling! We had no real idea about what we wanted to do till I saw an Alaska Air sale on tickets to Hawaii. We've been there a couple of times already and were thinking about doing something different, but the price was more than right so we are going to Maui for 8 days, then flying to San Diego with another couple of weeks to fill on the west coast or environs. Leaving from LAX the day after Thanksgiving and stopping over in Anchorage for the highlight of the trip...his and hers colonoscopies on the way home. Woohoo! What a way to finish off vacation, right?

This Monday's One Fun Thing

2011-08-15T19:02:00.008-08:00

Tundra Golf! Each August, Unalaska Community Broadcasting hosts a crazy golf tournament fundraiser in the hills of Pyramid Valley. As most of you know, there is no *real* golf course here, so we lay one out on the tundra and everyone has a blast trying to play golf as never intended. The weather is unpredictable--the last two years were mostly chilly and rainy and I was semi-miserable working the event for two full days.

This year we were blessed with fabulous sunshine and warm temps on Friday night and all day Saturday. Some of our local firefighters sunbathed during lulls in grilling food for the crowd. You don't see this sight very often in Unalaska!

I was very happy to be out in the sunshine all day!

Fireweed blooming
Sunday was a bit of a different story. The fog was so thick in the morning that no one could see where their golf balls landed. The first team tried to play and decided to come back later. Several more teams came in and made the same decision.

We had our own little "weather hold" for a few hours--it was just as enjoyable sitting and chatting with everyone-- and then the sun came out. The rest of Sunday was gorgeous and we were back on track!

Rich was working but stopped by to say hi after he got off, and brought me some iced tea. Our friend Tammy and her girls also popped in and soaked up some sunshine with us for awhile.

In the "it's a small world" department, some guys came by off a boat and asked if they could play even though they had not registered. I said, "sure!" and found them a tee time. They came back later to play and I was doing my usual promoting of Unalaska by telling them all the things that are going on in town. One guy looked at me and laughingly asked me something about whether I'd been in NJ recently. I was confused, like, how would this person have any idea that I'd been in NJ? I said, "Yeah, actually, I was just in Ocean City in July." He starts laughing and says, "I think you were sitting next to my wife on the plane!" Sure enough, I'd been sitting next to a woman who'd lived out here years ago so we'd been chatting about all things Unalaska and how there's so much going on all the time. She told me that her husband brought his boat out here fishing on a regular basis and maybe she'd come out sometime while he was here. I think I even gave her my card and told her to call me if she did. He was on the same plane but sitting further back and after they got off, she was telling him about our conversation. So he took my picture waving and saying "Hi Robin!" What are the odds?!

It was a very busy, hectic weekend but it went extremely well and I did not even mind all the hours of work because the weather was so fabulous! There are a ton of photos on KUCB's Facebook page (KUCB) if you want to check them out. Or go to KUCB's blog by clicking here.

Nature Walk

2011-08-09T22:54:00.006-08:00

The Convention and Visitors Bureau sponsored a nature walk tonight. It was fun to get out with a different group of people and explore a little bit of Unalaska. This is right in "the valley" near our small lake--we didn't even have to hike or climb to find all of these beautiful flowers.

Some of our fun walk-mates

My attempt to catch a bee on a flower....

What a big field of Aleutian cotton!

Thanks, Alyssa! We had a great time!

This Monday's One Fun Thing

2011-08-08T19:42:00.004-08:00

I wasn't sure what I was going to post this Monday but we do not have to look any further than right here in Unalaska. The sun is shining, I read online that it's 58 degrees, though it feels warmer to me, I am wearing a short sleeved shirt (U2 concert--woohoo!), and, yes, Rich made us some fabulous fresh peach mojitos. No, they are not on our diet. Life is grand, and fun....

An August Saturday

2011-08-06T18:00:00.012-08:00

There's been lots going on! Rich has been super busy and shorthanded at work so putting in lots of hours. I've also been filling in at my job and going in earlier than usual. Like 11 AM. Sometimes even 10! Feel sorry for me! We've been going to the Friday night deck bbq at the hotel, which is one of my favorite summer things. Last night we met up with some friends for the bbq and I had to eat fast because my monthly bunco game got switched from Saturday to Friday. After dinner, I rushed on over to Juliette's house, where they'd already started without me (LATE!!) It's always a lot of fun, even if I didn't win a prize. haha Today Rich had to work so I went by myself to the library to hear Andre Brugiroux speak. He was on the ferry that arrived in town for a few hours and the local Baha'i group made arrangements for him to show part of a film about his life and to discuss his adventures as a world traveler.

Andre left his home in France at age 17 with 10 francs in his pocket and has been traveling ever since. He spent many years hitchhiking around the globe and has visited every country in the world. He says he averaged a dollar a day, traveling over 400,000 km! The map behind him shows his routes and all of the places he's been. Because he only had a couple of hours off the ferry, we watched just a portion of the documentary about his travels and then enjoyed hearing some stories first hand. He was such an interesting guy, funny and self-deprecating, and full of love and appreciation for the many people and cultures that populate the world. He's 73 now and says he believes that peace is not only possible, but inevitable. I like that way of thinking! I bought his book One People, One Planet--The Adventures of a World Citizen, and am excited about reading more. Here's some info from Wikipedia.

Buttercups

From there, I stopped by the Post Office, where all of these gorgeous flowers are blooming. It's summer!

Dwarf fireweed

Either petruski or western hemlock parsley :)

Dwarf fireweed again

I'm not sure what these are!

Burnet
Prunella

It's been a bit overcast and foggy today. This is one of the scenes I get to see on my way home every day. Lucky me!

It's midnight and I am wondering

2011-08-03T23:25:00.005-08:00

when the salmonberries will be ripe

when my how-to-run-your-own-bed-and-breakfast books will arrive (since they are used and certainly shipped on the slow boat)

why Dr. Drew suddenly has more TV shows than he can handle

and also why Dr. Drew has given up his psychiatrist ethics and feels free to speculate, theorize and judge everyone in the news, complete with rolling his eyes and discussing his urges to vomit

whether we will ever have enough money to retire

how Warren Jeffs can believe that child sexual abuse is covered under "freedom of religion"

if President Obama is sorry he ever wanted this stinkin' job

why the summer goes by so quickly

what our cats do all day when we're not home

why a corn tortilla tastes as good as dessert when you're on a diet

where we should go for our next vacation (November...somewhere warm!)

This Monday's One Fun Thing

2011-08-01T14:42:00.009-08:00

I was always a George girl. Well, till I got to be a radical teenager and discovered John Lennon...but even then, George was still in my heart. When I was 10, the Beatles took on the world via the Ed Sullivan Show and my fate as a rock 'n roller was sealed. Ever the one to root for the underdog, I did not choose the "cute" Paul McCartney with his baby face and sweet smile, nor the "funny" Ringo Starr shaking his mop-top in time to his drumbeats, nor even the intellectual and sarcastic John Lennon (I think, partly, because these words flashed across the TV screen: "Sorry, girls, he's married.") I picked George Harrison because he was quiet and shy and not too many other girls seemed to pick him. I didn't want him to be left out. Once I took him on as my fave, the deal was done and I was a George girl through thick and thin. He turned out to be smart and funny and spiritual and probably the least caught up in all of the fame and hype, a private guy who eventually lived his life as he thought life should be lived.

Today is the 40th anniversary of the Concert for Bangladesh, largely seen as the first celebrity fundraiser for a cause. George's friend, the fabulous Bengali sitar player Ravi Shankar, asked for help in supporting the people of Bangladesh who had been greatly affected by a civil war and a cyclone in the early 1970's. Within five weeks, the concert was organized and presented at Madison Square Garden, featuring Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Leon Russell, Ringo Starr, and a variety of other musicians and backup singers. It was a spectacle, an extravaganza, an amazing coming together of talent and energy like nothing we'd seen before.

At the time, I was a 17 year old high school student living at Dyess AFB in Abilene, Texas. On occasion, I babysat for some family friends who lived around the corner and at Christmas time, they presented me with the double album from the concert. I had wished hard for it but didn't think I could afford to buy it myself. What a wonderful gift! I loved that album and played it constantly! And I loved George for this:

The opening of the film features footage from a press conference in which Harrison and Shankar announce the concert. Harrison is asked by a reporter: "With all the enormous problems in the world, how did you happen to choose this one to do something about?"

"Because I was asked by a friend if I would help, you know, that's all," was Harrison's reply. -- from Wikipedia

Even as a young married woman, I had a huge poster of the long-haired and bearded George on my wall. :) And I was thrilled to see him (and some of his friends) in concert later in the 1970's, my consolation for never seeing the Beatles when they were together. I bought all of his albums, good and bad, out of true George-girl loyalty over the years. He had a few hits and lots of obscure tunes that never made the radio, but those George songs are still a part of the soundtrack of my life.

40 years later, I hadn't thought about the Concert for Bangladesh in many moons. George has been dead for a number of years, another one gone sooner than he should have been. It's funny but I was listening to his album "Brainwashed" recently and remembering how much I liked it. Last week I saw mention of the 40th anniversary, went to Itunes, and added the songs to my collection again. It's good to have them back.

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

2011-07-28T23:15:00.004-08:00

Today was my beautiful daughter Sarah's birthday. She is gorgeous inside and out. I love these photos of her with her sweet family--hubby Miles, daughter Elle and baby son Beck. I am very proud of the woman that Sarah has become and know that she makes her little corner of the world a little bit brighter just by her presence. Happy birthday, Sarah! We love you and miss you!

This Monday's One Fun Thing

2011-07-25T22:45:00.004-08:00

I just re-discovered stumbleupon.com. I used to love it, lost interest somewhere along the way, and now I am back into the fun of finding lots of new and interesting websites. So I was browsing along tonight and found Out of Print--a site with shirts that "feature iconic and often out of print book covers." I had to order this Animal Farm shirt! Check out the site--you might find something you can't live without. And the additionally cool thing is that they send a book to a community in need (through Books for Africa) for every shirt sold.

So every Monday, I am going to post one fun thing I've come across (not necessarily through stumbleupon, but wherever!) and maybe more if I can't decide on just one. :) Two other fun things this week are the new blogs I've added to my blogroll on the sidebar, written by two fabulous young women. Saving November is by Audra, daughter of one of my best friends ever, and someone I've known since she was born. She's documenting the lead-up to her wedding next year, and life along the way. And she's just the cutest and sweetest! :) The other is Alyssa in Alaska, by Alyssa who runs our Convention and Visitors Bureau. She is another sweetheart who overflows with friendliness, enthusiasm and talent. Take a look at both of their blogs!

Philly and Jersey and U2 and Back Home

2011-07-20T21:42:00.005-08:00

We took the scenic route back to my mom's instead of fighting our way through Allentown again (we got lost the first time). Although most of the drive was spent in the countryside, we ended up in Philadelphia before crossing over to Jersey.

Philly sights

Crossing the Walt Whitman Bridge to the Jersey side (please sing "Jersey Girl" here)

Back at Mom's, we picked up the laptop from the repair shop, had a bite to eat, hung out for awhile, and then headed back to Philly for the U2 concert that night. What a great way to end our vacation!

Tailgaters in the stadium parking lot

So you can tell I live in remote Alaska and have not been to a concert in a long time. In my experience, no cameras were ever allowed in concerts. In fact, I have a distinct memory of Randy Allen and I having to walk what seemed like MILES back to his car to put my camera away when a group of us went to an outdoor music fest in Memphis one time. A long, frustrating walk! So I decided to leave my camera in the car, along with my phone. At the gate, sure enough, my bag was searched. We got inside and found our seats and the young couple in front of us asked if we'd take their photo. I said, "You got your camera in?" The woman replied that she'd had it in her pocket and they didn't look there. I said, "Good thinking." As time went by, I realized that everyone and their dog had a camera and/or a smart phone with them. As the concert began, the people in front of us were taking photos left and right and posting them on Facebook. It finally dawned on me that it's a new day and no one cares any more if you bring in a camera...or at least they've decided it's not worth fighting. I was so bummed! Rich was laughing that if I'd had a fancy phone, he knew I'd be live blogging or something.

Despite having no photos to document my joy at seeing one of my favorite bands again, let me just say that Bono and Company were in fine form and put on another fabulous show. We even had Rep. Gabby Giffords' husband Mark sending us a hello from the space shuttle (and reciting a verse of "Beautiful Day") and we all got to sing "Happy Birthday" to Nelson Mandela at the end of the concert. It was so much fun. I will always be a rock and roll gal at heart.

Later I looked on U2's website and everyone was encouraged to "post your photos and reviews of the show." LOL Next time I will be better informed and prepared.

They also had a "FanCam" which took a huge photo of the whole crowd. Wouldn't you know it, I found us in the photo and we are barely visible because a woman is standing up right in front of us!

We got home after midnight and chatted with my mom for a little while--she was still up. The next morning, we went out for breakfast, repacked our suitcases and said our goodbyes. Another vacation ended, but what a good one it was! We had to drive back to Newark, turn in our car and catch a plane to Seattle. Overnighted at the Hilton ($55 at priceline...yes!) and off to Anchorage and Unalaska the next day. We came home to some sunny, warm weather--nice! And now we're just back to work and the daily routine. :)

Tannersville, PA and Bushkill Falls

2011-07-20T20:57:00.005-08:00

We continued to Tannersville where we checked into Cranberry Manor, a bed and breakfast that my mom recommended. She and her friends have stayed there a couple of times and had nothing but good things to say. One of the owners, Ric, met us, showed us around and took us to our room on the third floor.

Part of the room, which was cute and comfortable. It was getting late so we decided to drive over to the nearby casino for some dinner and a little gambling. The buffet was about the worst we've ever had (yuck) and Rich won 15 bucks. haha

The next morning we had a fabulous breakfast and chatted with our fellow travelers before setting off to hike Bushkill Falls. Here are a couple of buildings along the way.

Bushkill Falls is called "The Niagara of Pennsylvania," with 8 waterfalls along the trail. There are four trails of various difficulty, and being seasoned Unalaska hikers :) we were sure we could do the "red trail," the hardest, which was supposed to be "steep" and would take about 2 1/2 hours. Part of the trail consisted of wooden steps and the rest wound through the forest.

The day started out drizzly so I brought a light jacket, which I never needed. It was almost a perfect day and we were sheltered from the sun by all the tall trees.

We were actually feeling pretty smug, making fun of the description of the trail as "difficult" or "steep." Some parts indicated that they were only for "serious hikers." Honestly, it was super easy. What the heck!

We had a great time and Rich took a lot more (better) photos than these but he has not edited them yet. :) I'll put them up later.

When we finally started climbing back out of the falls and up to the exit, I had to admit that the hike got quite a bit harder. There were SO many steep steps and they seemed never ending. We had to eat our words a little bit by then! Arriving at the end, sweaty and tired, I took back some of my arrogance and bought a Tshirt that says, "I survived the red trail--1267 steps." Whew!

The next morning, we sat out on the porch and visited with our housemates before breakfast.

Sherry and Bill from CT listening to one of Ric's funny stories. Our hosts were extremely personable and made our stay extra nice.

Amanda and Jim were from PA. Jim was telling us about his adventures the day before, when he got to ride along in a race car at the nearby NASCAR track. Pretty exciting!

My half eaten breakfast--one of Sharon's specialties--peach upside down pancakes. Wow!

That's our lovely hostess Sharon (owner with Ric) and Ted, a visitor from Canada. I love B&Bs--really enjoy interacting with people and having a little bit of a personal touch. In fact, Rich and I were talking about how it might be fun to have a B&B ourselves one day. We have had this conversation before--I like chatting with people and I don't even mind cleaning house (haha), and, of course, he'd be the chef. Who knows! Maybe you can all come to see us in our own little B&B one day! I even looked at B&Bs for sale on line when we got home. I am amazed at the disparity in price--you can get some for less than you'd pay for a house (but I wonder what condition they're in and whether we'd ever get any guests!) and others are millions of dollars. Well, you know we will not be buying anything in the million dollar range. It's probably just another one of those ideas that never goes anywhere but it's fun to think about.

Soon after breakfast, we packed up and turned the car toward south Jersey--back to Mom's for one more night. And--oh yeah--a U2 concert in Philly!

York, PA

2011-07-20T00:44:00.009-08:00

After getting lost in DC, we drove through a huge thunderstorm on the highway, could hardly see in front of us and I was scared we were going to get in an accident! We finally drove out of it and stopped for some Chik-Fil-A since there was no chance we'd get to York in time to go out for a nice dinner. Again, we had the address for the Yorktowne Hotel, but no directions but we figured we could find it. Wrong again! After several confusing turns, I called the hotel and got a desk clerk who thought I was an idiot. He did not seem to understand that we had no idea where we were, that the roads became one-way and we couldn't turn onto the street where the hotel was located, and so on. He also told us he had no reservation for us and that "everyone was already checked in for the night." But he told us to come on and we would work something out. His directions were completely inaccurate but we finally figured it out for ourselves and found our way around several one way streets to a parking garage on the side street next to the hotel. Upon checking in, I was trying to be friendly and said, "Here are your wayward travelers!" He was nice enough, checked us in, and then turned to Rich to say in the most condescending manner, "Pay close attention--the elevator is right over there," as if we had no sense at all!

It was late and off we went to sleep. The next morning, we roamed the streets for awhile, finding these flowers growing in the pavement and the First Presbyterian Church of York, with its old cemetery.

There were lots of cool buildings around the hotel.

We wandered back to the Yorktowne, where we had a lovely breakfast out on the patio and watched the people walking by.

We checked out of our room and drove downtown to check out the shops and the public market.

Even the parking meters had peace signs on them! My kind of town!

The market was pretty quiet and not nearly as plentiful as many of those we've visited around the country but we still enjoyed walking around and browsing.

Fresh fruits and beautiful flowers

Wow, anyone up for a pancake bigger than your head?

Another peaceful place!

This was a very cool little shop where I bought some jewelry and some soap.

York seems like a neat little town and we enjoyed our brief stay there, other than our dealings with the rude hotel clerk. :) Next, Tannersville, PA and Bushkill Falls.

We get lost in DC

2011-07-20T00:23:00.007-08:00

So we left Arlington with maps in hand to work our way to Pennsylvania. The whole time we were in NJ, we were surrounded by family members with smart phones and GPS devices at the ready. Of course, we are hicks and have nothing of the sort. My map reading skills are not the best and the road signs were confusing. Yes, we got lost. Perhaps we should have taken the bus!

As we were trying to figure out where we were and where to go, I thought I would take some photos out the car window again.

We were at a dead stop at a traffic light with cars in front of us, also stopped, when a taxi behind us started honking his horn repeatedly. I don't think he liked us taking photos--as if we were slowing him down when no one in front of us was moving at all.

People and dogs

We drove and drove and had no idea where we were. Eventually, we realized we were in the middle of "Embassy Row."

Finally we found a gas station and stopped for directions. Yes, we were way off the path, but soon found our way to the highway and began the drive to York, PA, where we had reservations for the night.

Arlington National Cemetery

2011-07-19T23:49:00.007-08:00

After dropping Bonnie, David and Emery off at the Philly airport, we set off for Arlington National Cemetery. Rich's brother George passed away about two years ago and was recently interred at Arlington. We were unable to make the trip with his wife Nadine and Rich's sister Vesta in May since we had already made plans for this vacation and couldn't take two trips so close together. So we decided to go and visit George's gravesite while on the East coast. We made a few wrong turns and didn't get to the cemetery till evening but it was still sunny and super hot. Rich had printed maps and locations of his family members' graves (his dad and mom are also buried there) so we set off to find George's site first.

On the way, we stopped at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

This large amphitheater is behind the Tomb of the Unknowns.

It's almost overwhelming to see graves everywhere you turn.

Of course, in typical fashion, we had trouble finding George's site so went on to find Rich's parents' first and then back to the Visitor's Center to ask for better directions.

Rich's dad and mom

After getting directions and a parking permit, we were allowed to drive to the site where George is interred. It was sad to see his name there and reminded us of how much we miss him and how much fun we'd had with him on various visits over the years. He was great to me and welcomed me into the family wholeheartedly--we hit it right off and enjoyed joking around with each other (he especially enjoyed telling me the "rules of marriage" and filling me in on my duties as a wife). I'm sorry I didn't know him longer and better but will always have fond memories. Rest in peace, George.

Although Arlington is a beautiful and peaceful place, it was sad to see all of the recent graves and to know that they held young people killed in our current wars. On one, there was a note in a small child's handwriting that said, "I love you, Daddy." It broke my heart to see it. I hope one day we will find a better way to solve our world's conflicts.

This sculpture stands in the Visitor's Center.

It was a somber day but I am glad we were able to make the trip. We had originally talked about spending a couple of days in DC but changed our minds and decided to head to the Poconos for a little relaxation before going home.

Our day with Emery and the last of our kids go home

2011-07-18T21:44:00.009-08:00

Bonnie and David spent a day in Philadelphia so Grandpa, Granny and I got to keep Emery. We were not sure how she would do because she did not want to let any of us hold her or take care of her while we were at the shore. As long as Mama and Daddy were around, she wanted them. But we were sure all would be well and wanted them to go. Emery was still asleep when they left but she woke up happy, asked for them a few times but did not get upset at all, and enjoyed her breakfast.

After getting dressed, we played and did some coloring.

Really, the parents were not missed all that much. :) Bonnie and I texted several times and were both happy that Emery was doing so well.

The child who did not want either of us to hold her all week was now our "best friend" and sweet as can be.

We went outside and she loved letting the water from Mom's fountain run across her hand.

We then decided to take a walk to the nearby school playground but first Emery had to check out the psychedelic DARE car at the police station.

She loved touching and smelling Mom's flowers.

The slide was a little steep so I had to go down with her. I'm sure that was hilarious but thankfully no pictures were taken.

This is fun!

After our busy day, she conked right out for a nap without a peep. Bonnie and David had a great time in Philly and came home around dinner time, while Emery was still sleeping away. I think we wore her out!

The next day, it was their turn to leave. Our huge group had now dwindled to just a few and soon they were on their way as well. Goodbyes are no fun, but we could not really complain after having such a good time with everyone all week.

Bye, bye! They got stranded for weather in Denver again, but not for too terribly long. At least they did not have to spend the night like they did on the way to Jersey!

Winding down at the shore

2011-07-18T20:51:00.010-08:00

More arts and crafts. Elle really enjoyed putting the colored sand into little bottles. She kept saying, "This is SO much fun!"

Beck was busy working on his pulling up and standing skills.

Finishing up our crafts projects

Before we knew it, our week had come to an end. After packing up and cleaning the houses, it's traditional that we all go out to breakfast together before heading to our various destinations. There were so many of us that we were scattered all over Uncle Bill's Pancake House.

Sarah, Miles and Elle
David, Emery and Bonnie

Mom
Ellie, Brooke and Denise

Joe, Nicole and Tyler

Saying goodbye to cousins

Elle took this picture of Rich and me.

Gigi and Beck

We had a brief stop at Granny's before taking Sarah's family to the airport. Rachel and Khalil above.

Oren, Alex and Abram

Sarah, Beck, Becca, Bonnie and Emery

Elle took photos of her parents in the car on the way to the Philly airport.

About to go....
It's always hard to say goodbye...

Poor Miles had a huge amount of stuff to deal with!

Bye, bye, Durhams! We had a wonderful time!

After I got back to Mom's, Bonnie, Alana and I decided to take Emery and Oren on a walk around Laurel Springs. We went past the elementary school that Kathi and I attended briefly, past the house where Sarah and Bonnie lived as babies, and past my grandparents' home. I decided not to take a picture of it because it is in such disrepair. I know they would be so upset--they always kept it so nice, with flower boxes on the porch and a garden out back. It's sad. :(

My bro and family came by later. He'd been working all day at one of his jobs as a flight nurse. I am trying to talk them into transferring to Anchorage. :)

Too soon we have to see Susan's family off....

2011-07-17T20:01:00.006-08:00

Susan and Corey weren't able to stay for the whole week but they packed in lots of fun anyway. When we picked them up at the airport on Friday, we went into Philly so Corey could get a world famous cheese steak at Geno's or Pat's, the local rivals. On Saturday, Susan and Corey went to New York City for the day while we took the kids with us to Ocean City. I think they were a little disappointed that no one else wanted or was able to go to the big city with them but they ended up having a great time and seeing lots of sights. I think maybe it was more fun in the end because they could do whatever they wanted and not worry about what anyone else had in mind. I'm really glad they got to have that little side trip!

Aidan in the car on the way back to Philly

Saying goodbye to my girl, Ally. We had such fun!

There they go! It's always hard to say goodbye but we had a wonderful time and I think they did, too!

Later we met at my sister's house for a big potluck dinner.

Miles and Beck
David

My niece Alex and my cousin Timmy's son Aaron

Nieces Vicki and Kristinn

Sarah and Bonnie keeping the kids amused with bubbles

Cousins Bud, Robert, my brother Joe and cousin Dennis

Family Photos

2011-07-17T13:17:00.016-08:00

One of my requests for this trip was to try to get some family photos since we are rarely all together. I thought it would be nice to have some made for Mom and, of course, wanted some for myself, too! My son in law David agreed to be our official photographer and was kept very busy all week taking lots of pix. We decided to gather the whole clan one evening and take some group shots. Big groups are notoriously hard to do and huge groups like ours are nearly impossible, but David managed to get most of us looking our best. Rich and I also took a few candid shots--above, Ally, Elle and I are waiting for everyone to get ready.

About to head down to the beach--Sarah, Beck, Elle, Ally, Bonnie and Emery

Walking with Tim and Kristinn to the beach

The clan gathers

We tried to get Mom with just the great-grandkids, which was a bit of a fiasco! We had several crying and several eating sand.

Nope, this is not working too well!

Mom with her four kids, most of our spouses, 16 grandkids with most of their spouses, and 12 great grandchildren
We failed to get a family group shot of just my crew so I cropped us out of the big picture. :)

Mom with all of her grandkids and great-grandkids

My brother Bill and his wife Patty, Rich and me, Mom, my sister Kathi (her husband Alan couldn't make it) and my brother Joe and his wife Denise

Bill and Patty with their kids, Abby, Becca, Billy and Alex

Mom and her kids: Bill, Jane, Kathi and Joe

My niece Alex and me. Everyone thinks we look alike!
The night on the beach was super hectic, Beck had a mouth full of sand, it was hot and some were grumpy so we thought we would have time to do our family group another time. I also wanted a photo of Rich and me with all the grandkids. Alas, it was not to be. We just never had a good time to get everyone together again. David did do some individual family groups on other days and got some wonderful photos. Here are a few of Miles, Sarah, Elle and Beck. I had a hard time choosing just three but I love all of these.

Elle
Elle and Beck

Here's Emery hanging out waiting for her Daddy to be finished taking photos of everyone else!

Bonnie and Emery--poor David was too busy taking photos to get in very many himself. We should have been more organized and planned for someone else to take their family photos.

On another morning, David shot some beautiful photos of Susan, Corey, Aidan and Ally. Again, I had a terrible time choosing just a few but I love all of these.

Aidan, Susan, Ally and Corey

Ally and Aidan

If you are on Facebook, go to David Williams Photography and you can see lots more. He also has some gorgeous photos of Kristinn, Tim and kids, Vicki and Asher, and Alana and Oren but I don't have copies to post here.

David can even make the old fogies look good! Thanks, Dave!