Nebraska Road Trip August 2017

August took us on a 5 week road trip.  We began by driving to Durango, CO, to visit friends, Tammy and Cory where they were staying to avoid a few days of the Arizona heat.  We then headed to Angostura Lake in South Dakota for a 3 night stay with friends Virginia and Dennis who treated us to daily excursions on the lake on their pontoon.  We then headed to Harrison to meet up with Larry's sister, Linda and brother, Wayne and then the work began for those three.  Their mother is selling her home of 50 plus years and moving to an apartment in eastern Nebraska to be nearer to family. We knew there was a bit of stuff accumulation as a result of those 50 plus years which resulted in a 4 day yard sale.  This August day started off cool.

The guys and Sophi took a day off  to hike Black Elk Peak (formerly known as Harney Peak) where they were treated to seeing Mountain Goats.

The group took an afternoon off to see Chicago at the Post Playhouse at Ft. Robinson during cleaning/packing activities.

After 2 weeks of the three siblings cleaning out closets, the basement and garage, it was time for Wayne and Linda to head back to their respective homes.  Larry, mother-in-law, Dorothy and I headed east towards Minnesota to visit Dorothy's sister, Dee.  We made stops in Rapid City to see Larry's Aunt Co and Uncle Richard and his wife, Marjorie (I did get a picture but it was terrible quality).  We then continued east to Presho and stopped in for a visit with my cousin, Angela who I haven't seen for 20 years.

We stopped to visit the Dignity statue near Chamberlain - very impressive.

We visited the Corn Palace in Mitchell.  Dorothy and I had been there in 2014 when she and I drove to Minnesota to visit her sister.  Larry had never been this far east in South Dakota so was enjoying his tourist experience.  The outside of this building is decorated in 12 different types or color of corn each year.  Truly a unique story as to how it came about and continues to exist today.  Stop by in your travels to South Dakota or Google it to learn more.

Dorothy and I visited the Dimock, SD, cemetery when we drove through in 2014 but we never visited the inside of the Catholic church associated with the cemetery, where my great-great grandparents and great grandparents are buried.  The inside of the church was very European with German influences from those early days.

Google Dimock Cheese when you are there and visit and make a purchase.

We ultimately arrived in eastern Minnesota and enjoyed our visit with Aunt Dee.

We then traveled west and south to the Omaha area to visit niece, Karyl and her family and Dorothy's brother, Ron and wife Lola and cousin Pam and her daughter, Paige - (again, found I just wasn't good about pictures) as well as Ashland to see Linda and Jeff's new home (they've relocated with the Methodist church to Ashland from their time with the church in Wichita). I failed to use my iPhone camera, again.  Larry and I did take a day while in the area to visit my aunt and uncle in Columbus, NE.  Aunt Jackie is the twin sister of my father.  It was a gift to be able to visit them.  Aunt Jackie is in the memory care unit while Uncle Clyde is in the assisted living area.

We then traveled to Kearney to overnight with niece, Crystal and her family.  We began with lunch at niece, Elizabeth and her family's home (where was my iPhone camera?)

And then it was time to return to Harrison - Larry had more work to do while we waited to view the eclipse on the 21st.  In the meantime, we met up with several of my high school friends at Chadron State Park.  What a fun afternoon and thanks to Steve and Virginia for making this gathering happen!
(Back Row l-r: Kenny, Steve, Bill, Benny, Jim and Luanne Front Row l-r: Cherri, Tracy, me, Virginia and Janet)

We also returned to Rapid City to visit friends from Larry's college days.  It is always a pleasure getting to spend time with this group of friends.

The wives: l-r Diane, Ann, me and Miss

The guys l-r: Dan, Brett, Brad and Larry

And then it was the 21st and time for the much talked about, hyped eclipse.  Dan, Brett and Miss, Brad, Virginia and Dennis, Larry's cousin, Sandie (all from or near Rapid City) traveled to Harrison to view the eclipse at 100% with us (Larry, Dorothy and me).  We went to a hay field (recently hayed) with our chairs, food and conversation waiting for the event with no other people and very, very limited traffic on the dirt road by this hay field outside of Harrison. What a unique event!

Larry, cousin Sandie, Dorothy and Wayne.

Virginia and me - loved all the time we were able to spend with Virginia and Dennis.

I like this picture.  Miss brought solar lights in case it got too dark during the eclipse.

Larry and me after the eclipse.

We've been back in Carefree now for nearly two weeks - even with the heat, feels great to be home!  Our next trip will be another road trip so Larry can help with the actual move of his mom to eastern Nebraska  We're not exactly sure when that will happen.  

Years ago, Larry's dad, with the help of his granddaughters husbands, had planted two large pieces of petrified wood on either side of the walkway leading to the home.  With Dorothy's impending move, Larry wanted them for our Arizona yard landscaping.  Friend, John, who has a lumber/hardware store in Harrison and with the help of his able grandson, Pacen, came with a small front-end loader and removed the petrified wood from where it was planted to a wooden pallet.  They tied down the petrified wood to the pallet and then used their fork lift to put it in the back of Larry's pickup. This week, Larry was able to removed the petrified wood pieces from his pickup using a padded moving blanket and his wheelbarrow!?

On the health front, I am doing better than I was a year ago - yay!  On the retirement front, Larry is doing limited consulting work for Freeport and enjoying that.

Oregon and Crater Lake Trip June

Larry's retirement is allowing for a lot of travel. We left late June to fly to Portland with a destination of Crater Lake which we visited way back in the 80s when we drove there when we lived in Battle Mountain. The return trip was great!  But first, we had a stop in Bend, OR, to visit niece Sophi.  She was visiting family there and would still be in Bend when we went to Portland.

Great fireplace in the Lodge.

Still lots of snow.  The Rim Road was closed due to snow removal.

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We then drove to and up the coast to Portland and spent the remainder of the trip with Wayne.  We were able to meet up with Major and Nancy King and son, Logan for a lunch cruise on a boat on the Willamette River.

(l-r) Larry, Major, Wayne, me, Nancy and Major and Nancy's son, Logan

Next trip: a five week road trip to northwest Nebraska (Harrison), Minnesota, eastern Nebraska with family visits in Omaha, Ashland, Kearney and then back to Harrison.

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!