Banff National Park

Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885 in the Rocky Mountains.  Over the past few million years, glaciers have at times covered most of the park but today are found only on the mountain slopes though they include the Columbia Icefield, the largest uninterrupted glacial mass in the Rockies.

Our first three nights were spent at the Chateau Lake Louise.  The hotel was originally built in the late 1800s by the Canadian Pacific Railway.  We arrived in the dark but woke to this view the next morning and hustled out to the lake for a picture and to enjoy this location before all the tourists and tour busses arrived.

We were able to take walks and drives in this scenic area and saw so many critters along the
road:  big horn sheep, mountain goat, black bears, grizzlies, a moose, elk, deer and a bald eagle along with, did I already mention the beautiful majestic views?!

The color of the water in these glacial lakes is breathtaking.

This was the pathway on the right side of the lake where we found many wooden benches where I could rest and just enjoy the view while walking to the end of the lake.

The picture below is of the Victoria Glacier.

There were all sorts of nice people walking the trail allowing for us to take pictures of them and asking them to do the same for us.

This was us at the end of our 1.2 mile walk to the end of Lake Louise and then the return walk to the hotel - great to be able to do.

This picture was taken at Moraine Lake and Valley of the Ten Peaks.

I was in the car for this picture with the window rolled down.  You'll see the grizzly in the middle of the picture.  It was munching away on new leaf growth.  There is another grizzly back and left of the one in the middle.  I was just getting ready to roll my window up and the bear turned around.

This is a picture of the Columbia Icefield.  They take snow cat tours out on the glacier which you can see in the middle and a little left in the picture.

Maligne Lake

We saw quite a bit of snow one morning.  

The below picture is of Bow Lake - lots of ice still on the lake.

Our final night, we found really nice cabins along this river and there was a vacancy!  Went for a stroll along the river path, had a great dinner but it was too cool to sit our here and enjoy an end of the day glass of wine - so pretty though!

We returned home to warm temperatures.  We sure enjoyed our Banff weather: sun, rain and snow!  I have some doctor appointment next week and then we'll decide what our next trip is going to be.  I have a feeling it involves northwest Nebraska?

Spring in Telluride

Well, it's official - Larry has retired as of May 31, 2017!  I think he is enjoying it so far since our first trip the day after the 31st was to go to Telluride for a two night stay.  Usually we head that direction in the fall and what a treat it was to go in the spring and see snow covered mountains, trees leafing out, cool weather, a hot air balloon event, elk and lilacs blooming.

We sure enjoyed this little trip - great way to start this retirement adventure!  We returned home on Saturday.  We had Sunday at home to prepare for our next trip.  We left Monday, June 5, to fly to Calgary where we rented a car and then drove north to Banff National Park for a weeks stay.

Miscellaneous Spring 2017 and Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim May Hike

Sister-in-law, Linda came for a short visit in February while Larry's mom, Dorothy was still here .  Linda headed home and Dorothy followed a week later.  We had a nice visit but I failed to get a photo of us.

I began meeting with a palliative care doctor through Mayo.  Interesting first appointment - he just asked a lot of question but came away with that I was tired and fatigued a lot and didn't have much energy (I hadn't cooked since July 2016 nor participated in grocery shopping - Larry is a very good care giver).  Anyway, he sent me home with a prescription for low dose steroids.  I felt better immediately.  It is Dexamethason and I've been on it for two months and find it is keeping me awake at night which isn't a problem since I don't have a job. The beauty of the drug is the energy to do social activities and an appetite and I'm helping out with meals!

Friend, Michelle organized a gathering in May at which time I was able to see many people I hadn't seen for awhile.  Not these ladies, of course.  I see each of them on a regular basis.  (l-r: Sue, Allison and sister-in-law, Liz.

The following weekend, we traveled to Jim and Liz's for a birthday celebration for friend, Lisa.  Good food, good cupcakes thanks to Karen, and just an all around nice evening.  It was nice catching up on of the lives of Lisa, Patty and Karen.  Yes, Larry is at these events.  (l-r: front row, Birthday Girl, Lisa, Liz and back row: Patty and Karen.

Our North Rim of the Grand Canyon trip was a bit of a roller coaster.  We've had our reservation for three Western cabins for a year to be able to get a cabin for the first week the North Rim is open.  We were notified in late April of a landslide that took out fresh water to the North Rim which delayed the opening week by a week and a half but we were told our reservations were cancelled and our deposit would be refunded - no wait list for any cancellations once the North Rim opened.  Then, we receive a phone call a week before the trip was to happen and were notified the crews had repaired the water line and cleared the trail and our reservations were reinstated.  We were all thrilled.  Larry had been training for this 23 mile hike for some time and was going to get to see if he trained enough or not - determined by how bad he felt when he got out! 

One of my favorite parts is the traditions we have heading to the North Rim.  We drive to Flagstaff (2 hours) and stop at a Starbucks.  Next stop, Cliff Dwellers for lunch (maybe 1 1/2 hrs.) It sits at the base of Vermillion Cliffs - great setting and usually very, very good food.  They lost their chef though.  Still a tradition I'm not ready to give up.  Next stop, Jacob's Lake (1 hr.) where we buy...cookies.  Lots and lots of homemade, delicious cookies!  Next stop, North Rim (45 min.).  We stay for two nights and the third morning, at 4:30, we shuttle them to the head of the North Kaibab Trail where 10 1/2 hrs. later, Larry came out.  The rest of the hiking crew made it out 2 1/2 hrs. later. Jim and Liz drove our vehicle to get us from the North Rim to the South Rim (5 hrs.) and then it was home, another three hours.  Long day, especially for Larry.

Below is our crew.  There were 12 of us and six hikers out of the 12.

Those of us who made it to the North Rim headed for the porch to enjoy snow flurries and cold weather.  Mike and Sue and their van load were delayed by a roll over accident they witnessed and provided assistance to the driver and EMS crews once they arrived.  They were delayed a couple hours.

So, the third morning, we delivered the hikers to their trail head and off they went.  You always assume all will go well.  One of the group had a bit of a problem with a knee going down North Kaibab but no problems coming out uphill on Bright Angel Trail and one of the fellows decided to wait for shade on the trail before hiking out although, all in all they had great weather for that hike.

Larry had a great hike and hopes to do it again - in fact, five more times.  This 2017 trip was #20.  The core group of Larry, Mike and Mike's brother, Steve have been doing this since 2003?

(l-r): Larry, Mike, Steve, Ryan (Oregon), David (Oregon), and Mike and Sue's son, Kyle (Florida).

4:30 a.m. and cold but worth it to be there to send the hikers on their way.

Larry coming out after 10 1/2 hrs.

What a guy!!!

The news is, Larry is retiring the end of May.  Our first trip, the next day.  We're heading for two nights to Telluride, one of our favorite Colorado cities (about 8 hrs.)  We'll return Sat.  The trip following that trip, we fly to Calgary and visit Banff National Park, Jasper, Edmonton and back Calgary and home.  Then, doctor appointments, scans, drug therapy and time to plan our next adventure!

Shenandoah National Park.Washington D.C. July 2016

July did not bring good news regarding my health.  Scans are done, generally, every three months and this time, we were shown that there was significant "disease progression" that showed up.  I'd been on the drug, Temodar for a few years. Three weeks of radiation was strongly recommended so, while the radiation oncologist and his team came up with my radiation plan, we headed for an already organized trip to Washington, D.C., where we rented a car and headed 75 miles east to Shenandoah National Park.  There are lots of hiking trails, but we went for the 105 mile Skyline Drive along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  There are 75 overlooks with views of the Shenandoah Valley to the west or the rolling Piedmont to the east.  There are deer, black bear, and wild turkey in this area. We saw them all.  We were just driving into the park and spotted this black bear wandering through the forest!!

The below picture was one of the many viewpoints we stopped at.

There was a young lady at one of the viewpoints waiting for the perfect sunset picture so we asked her to take our photo.

And here was the bear we spotted as we were leaving the park.

We then drove through Virginia to visit some historical Civil War sites and then headed to D.C. so Larry could participate in a meeting that brought us to D.C. in the first place.  We visited D.C. for our first time in June of 2016 and very much enjoyed the trip.  We found that a little over one year later, for whatever reason, we weren't able to get as close to the White House as we had before.  And this was before Trump moved in...

 Larry had only one meeting while there so we had a bit of free time allowing us to visit the Holocaust museum and to book a tour of the Capital the next day before we flew home.  We dealt with scaffolding, etc., as they were still refurbishing in preparation of the 2017 inauguration.  It was still a great experience. 

We returned home and the following day, I began the three weeks of radiation treatment (with weekends off).  September allowed for a road trip through Colorado fall colors - beautiful!

Larry's November birthday brought friends to Carefree to help us celebrate (l-r) Mike, Michelle, Larry, Sue, Allison and Brian.

Nephew, Jim, returned home for his first time from his first semester at West Point.  He is doing well by the way.  We're all extremely proud of him.  I lost my hair as a result of the radiation treatment in July.  My hair didn't start coming back until late December!  I was prepared for it to not return at all so am thrilled with the fact that it is returning at all so will take the slow progress.

December began a new cancer treatment at Mayo.  The doctors had determined  a new cancer had creeped into the picture (along side the previously diagnosed type of cancer I'd been treated for with a variety of oral chemo drugs since November 2011) and the chosen treatment was to stop the oral chemotherapy drug I had been taking (essentially not treating that cancer) and begin immunotherapy.  One hears about the cost of drugs, well, this treatment, before an insurance adjustment, cost $36,000 per treatment!!!!!!!!.  The treatment plan was to receive the infusion every three weeks!!  I began in December.

Christmas allowed for Jim to return home for a three week break after a successful first semester.  Our sister, Jackie, came to Phoenix to celebrate Christmas with us. 

February brought Larry's mom to Carefree for a four week stay.  We were able to travel to Carlsbad, CA, where she has a time share on the coast for a one week stay.  Very relaxing!

Larry's brother, Wayne and his daughter Sophi from Portland, OR, came over President's holiday and I failed to get one single picture!!

Virginia and Dennis have been down from Lake Havasu a couple of times for a quick visit.  We always love seeing her smiling face!

Wyoming friend, John, was passing through and stopped by for a visit  in February.  I have to give him credit for the super cool Javalina picture he took.

Niece, Crystal and husband Doug, came for a visit in March.  Their visit allowed for our first time this year to be able to sit by the fire pit.  Mike and Sue came up to see Crystal and Doug - thanks for the fire pit picture Sue!

Friends, Barb and Pat Doyle, their son, Mike and friend, Buster, from Rapid City, SD, came for a visit in late March.

Next out of town visitor is Larry's sister, Linda.  Glad to be feeling like I do so I can return to blogging!