You will notice that my last blog was on April 23 as I was sitting in the Sydney airport waiting for our flight to Auckland, New Zealand. Now I am sitting in the Sydney airport again waiting for our flight to Melbourne, Australia. Why no blog since then? One word – rain. Rain, rain, rain. We arrived on Saturday, the 23rd and had rain every day we were in New Zealand! Except, of course, today when we were leaving. And that caused us to change plans on what we were going to do.
We did get out of the car one day to walk the bush in a small reserve, but as you can tell we had to walk with an umbrella. That doesn’t work real well while walking amongst the trees. (Wow, that sounded so --- English!) Every morning we would get up, turn on the TV to see what the weather was going to be like and plan accordingly. Most of the time we drove to different areas of the upper North Island just to see the area. As we got farther out into the country and away from Auckland Karl and I both exclaimed that it reminded both of us of the highlands of Scotland. Rolling hills, sheep and cattle galore. The only thing missing were the rock fences.
One day we did take a Greyline bus tour of Auckland just to see what was there. During one of the stops we were able to go into the Auckland Museum for an hour and look at Maori items. The Maori’s are the native people that were in New Zealand long before the white settlers ever got there. The country keeps a lot of the Polynesian influence.
Auckland is called the city of sails and it’s a good moniker for it since 1 in 4 people of the 4 million that live there has a boat. Sailboat, motorboat, fishing boat – you name it and it’s there. The landmark that overlooks the city is called, surprise, the Auckland Tower. And like most towers it has a revolving restaurant on the top with observation decks below. It’s a bustling city, but has rather poor mass transit. We finished our tour at 5pm on Thursday and it took over an hour to drive 3 miles to the Harbor Bridge to get out of town. Trains only go just outside the city so if you live farther out, like we did; you either drove or took a bus. And the bus would still take about 90 minutes to cross to the other side of the harbor.
And to give you an update on Karl driving on the left – he is doing very well! But you need to ask him about his love affair with rumble strips. I am getting used to seeing cars coming at me on my right and the fast lane on the freeway is on the far right, but I still have a problem seeing into the back of the car in front of us and not seeing a head on the left – just on the right. That can cause a bit of a start. We were watching a TV show last night and it was filmed in the US show that meant people were driving on the right. It took us a moment to readjust seeing that. And no one should grumble about the price of gasoline. Since we rented a car we had to fill it up with gas a couple of times. The car was a Toyota Corolla. We put in 12 gallons and the total cost? $100 nzd!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is over $6 US currency per gallon!!!!!! So don’t complain when you have to pay ONLY $3.50 a gallon.
Hopefully we will have better weather in Melbourne.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
On To Auckland
On Wednesday we took a ferry ride to Manly Beach on the northern part of Sydney Harbor. It is an old beach town that remnds me of Santa Cruz in Ca or the old Atlantic Beach. We got off of the ferry and walked about 10 minutes to the main thoroughfare that is a large shopping and restaurant area before you get to the beach. There would have been surfers there, but the surf was almost non-existant that day. It is a great place for families to be at the beach on a hot day ( or on holiday).
Coming back to Syndey Harbor we took in THE Opera House. It is a marvel of architecture and artistry. Here is where all things cultural meet. They have operas, but they also have childrens plays, dramas, comedies, ballet, musicals, new-age performances, anything that has to do with the arts are held there. The one thing I really loved (and I wish all attractions had these) everyone, had individual headsets! That way nobody was left out because they couldn’t hear the tour guide. When you first look at the sturcture at a distance you think that the roof is just plain concrete. But as you get closer you notice that the roof is covered in individual tiles that are cream and tan colored. The concert halls are pre-built and placed inside the “shells”. They are made of wood and the acoutisc are awesome. But there is about two stories worth of space between the top of the halls and the “shell” walls. Think about when was the last time you were in anyplace as large as a concert hall made of wood? Even the seats were wood! They were designed by a micro-surgeon and they are the most comfortable seats I have even sat in. The construction itself was unbelievable. The “shells” were constructed as individual concrete ribs and were put together on-site.
On Thursday we took in a lot of things around the city of Sydney itself. We started off going to the Justice and Police Museum (of course). They had a special exhibit about the corruption that made up Sydney during the 40’s until the 90’s. And we though Chicago was bad in the 30’s!. They had criminals, politicians, juddges and police all involved. Talk about massive abuse of power! We then walked to an area called The Rocks. This is a great place to get around the locals. There are small shops, great little resttaurants and lots of people. We had lunch at a small outdoor restaurant and just sat and watched. Our last stop was on another ferry (surprise!) that took us up the Parramatta River. It was an express, but it still took over an hour. The scenery was wonderful and, as our hosts said, a lot of real estate up on that river. Meaning expensive placces – and there was! That night we had a great dinner with some Aussie Blue Knights. We had a wonderful dinner and the conversations (sometimes a little hard to understand) was fun and full of laughs, both on our part and theirs.
On Friday we took off for a long train ride just to experience the railway away from the city. We first stopped in a small town called Brooklyn on the Hawkesbury River. Since this weekend is Easter weekend and they have attached Anzac Day (which is like our Veterans Day) on the end they locals have a 5 day holiday and it seemed like about half of them were in Brooklyn. It is a small riverfront village that everyone goes to for boating, fishing, picnicing, sunbathing, etc. After we walked around the village we boarded the train and rode for about another hour to the south of the city and saw the changing of the houses which went from condos to houses.
Today we are sitting in the airport waiting for our flight to Auckland, New Zealand. We will be there for a week. Now the fun (?) begins. We are renting a car and Karl is driving!!!!!!! Remember they drive on the “wrong” side of the road. Oh, boy!
Coming back to Syndey Harbor we took in THE Opera House. It is a marvel of architecture and artistry. Here is where all things cultural meet. They have operas, but they also have childrens plays, dramas, comedies, ballet, musicals, new-age performances, anything that has to do with the arts are held there. The one thing I really loved (and I wish all attractions had these) everyone, had individual headsets! That way nobody was left out because they couldn’t hear the tour guide. When you first look at the sturcture at a distance you think that the roof is just plain concrete. But as you get closer you notice that the roof is covered in individual tiles that are cream and tan colored. The concert halls are pre-built and placed inside the “shells”. They are made of wood and the acoutisc are awesome. But there is about two stories worth of space between the top of the halls and the “shell” walls. Think about when was the last time you were in anyplace as large as a concert hall made of wood? Even the seats were wood! They were designed by a micro-surgeon and they are the most comfortable seats I have even sat in. The construction itself was unbelievable. The “shells” were constructed as individual concrete ribs and were put together on-site.
On Thursday we took in a lot of things around the city of Sydney itself. We started off going to the Justice and Police Museum (of course). They had a special exhibit about the corruption that made up Sydney during the 40’s until the 90’s. And we though Chicago was bad in the 30’s!. They had criminals, politicians, juddges and police all involved. Talk about massive abuse of power! We then walked to an area called The Rocks. This is a great place to get around the locals. There are small shops, great little resttaurants and lots of people. We had lunch at a small outdoor restaurant and just sat and watched. Our last stop was on another ferry (surprise!) that took us up the Parramatta River. It was an express, but it still took over an hour. The scenery was wonderful and, as our hosts said, a lot of real estate up on that river. Meaning expensive placces – and there was! That night we had a great dinner with some Aussie Blue Knights. We had a wonderful dinner and the conversations (sometimes a little hard to understand) was fun and full of laughs, both on our part and theirs.
On Friday we took off for a long train ride just to experience the railway away from the city. We first stopped in a small town called Brooklyn on the Hawkesbury River. Since this weekend is Easter weekend and they have attached Anzac Day (which is like our Veterans Day) on the end they locals have a 5 day holiday and it seemed like about half of them were in Brooklyn. It is a small riverfront village that everyone goes to for boating, fishing, picnicing, sunbathing, etc. After we walked around the village we boarded the train and rode for about another hour to the south of the city and saw the changing of the houses which went from condos to houses.
Today we are sitting in the airport waiting for our flight to Auckland, New Zealand. We will be there for a week. Now the fun (?) begins. We are renting a car and Karl is driving!!!!!!! Remember they drive on the “wrong” side of the road. Oh, boy!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
The Land of Oz
Oh my goodness, where do I begin this blog? I guess I will start at the time we left Hawaii. We left Debbie at the condo sleeping while Tom was a sweetheart and took us to the airport at 5am. We had to catch a plane to Honolulu at 6:30am so that we could catch our plane to Syndey at 9:15am. It's funny, but I was so into the two weeks in Hawaii that I didn't really think about our next stop. Then we were about half way to Syndey that I suddenly realized - we really were going to Austrailia!!!!!
The flight was 10 hours long, but it worked out great that we left at 9:15am Hawaii time and arrived in Syndey at 4pm (Sunday) which was 7:30pm Hawaii time and I didn't feel any jet lag. We were able to ease into the next day by going to bed at our regular time. So on to the fun stuff.
Monday morning we were greeted by our breakfast guests (that show up every morning) and they wanted their food! There are three of these Lorikeets that will show up every morning waiting to be fed. And will show up whenever we sit on the deck. They are very tame and will sit on your hand and wait to be fed. We also have cockatoos flying around the trees in the backyard. Boy do they make a noise! That is one thing that I have to get used to is the bird noises - there are no familar sounds at all. The apartment we rented is surrounded by trees and so there are tons of birds calling in the trees from sun-up to sundown.
That afternoonn our host dropped us off at the Koala Park Sanctuary. It is a small zoo that has a lot of native Austrailian animals including about 25
Koalas. They aren't caged in and are allowed to be anywhere in the park. There were some in a small area that were shown to people and we were able to pet them and get out picutre taken. I didn't realize how lazy and lathargic they are. There was also an area that you were able to get up close and personal to kangaroos.
Today we took a ferry ride to the Watson's Bay and walked around The Gap. Syndey runs on trains, ferries and buses. We bought a 7 day pass that covers every public transportation, unlimited, for 7 days which is a great way to get around the city. Our apartment is about 1 hour outside of Syndey and we took a train into the city then boarded
a ferry and off we went! Watson's Bay is a cute little harbor that was once a fishing village and a place where ships would come in to offload their cargo. The Gap is called that because it is a false harbor that is just before the real harbor and a ship, in 1857, was destroyed and sunk because it crashed against the rocks after mistaking it as the real harbor. 122 crew were lost and the only survivor ended up staying in Austrailia and running the lighthouse.
And lastly, no blog would be complete without a picture of the famous Opera House and the Syndey Harbor Bridge. Tomorrow we are taking another ferry ride to another part of the harbor and then we are taking a tour of the opera house.
Now to explain my title - everyone calls Austrailia Oz. And why is that? Well, it is colloquially pronounced Oztralia. Hence the Land of Oz.
The flight was 10 hours long, but it worked out great that we left at 9:15am Hawaii time and arrived in Syndey at 4pm (Sunday) which was 7:30pm Hawaii time and I didn't feel any jet lag. We were able to ease into the next day by going to bed at our regular time. So on to the fun stuff.
That afternoonn our host dropped us off at the Koala Park Sanctuary. It is a small zoo that has a lot of native Austrailian animals including about 25
Koalas. They aren't caged in and are allowed to be anywhere in the park. There were some in a small area that were shown to people and we were able to pet them and get out picutre taken. I didn't realize how lazy and lathargic they are. There was also an area that you were able to get up close and personal to kangaroos.
Today we took a ferry ride to the Watson's Bay and walked around The Gap. Syndey runs on trains, ferries and buses. We bought a 7 day pass that covers every public transportation, unlimited, for 7 days which is a great way to get around the city. Our apartment is about 1 hour outside of Syndey and we took a train into the city then boarded
And lastly, no blog would be complete without a picture of the famous Opera House and the Syndey Harbor Bridge. Tomorrow we are taking another ferry ride to another part of the harbor and then we are taking a tour of the opera house.
Now to explain my title - everyone calls Austrailia Oz. And why is that? Well, it is colloquially pronounced Oztralia. Hence the Land of Oz.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Grand Canyon? When Did We Go Back To Arizona?
Now that the sightseeing is over we will be at the resort just relaxing and letting the three of them snorkel to their hearts content in our little cove while I stay on the lanai and read. Tomorrow we are off to lunch at Puka Dog (Google it). Aloha, y'all.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
What a Birthday Present
Well, today is my birthday and what better way to spend it than on my favorite island at my favorite home resort? When I first started coming to Hawaii ( about 17 years ago) I was working as a travel agent and would come over on fact-finding trips (yeah, right). But it did help me serve my clients better when they wanted to see Hawaii, but had never been before. Judging what they wanted and how active they wanted to be helped me decide which island to suggest to them. Oahu (a mini San Francisco), Maui (party central), big island (explorers). When I got to Kauai I knew that I had found "my" island. It's laid back, very relaxing and reminds me of the old Hawaii more than the others. While on Kauai my husband and I took a timeshare presentation of the property we were staying in - oceanfront, big condos, very friendly staff. While we were standing in the "presentation" condo and trying to decide if we really wanted to buy, out on the ocean we saw a sailboat sailing under a full double rainbow. That sealed it. I have been an owner since 1998 and try to come back every 2-3 years.
So anyway - we are having a great time and since Tom and Debbie haven't been back to this island for 18 years we get to show them all over again! And as I sit on the lanai overlooking the ocean, hearing the crashing surf and feeling the cool trade winds I keep reminding myself how blessed I really am.
Friday, April 8, 2011
I Double Dog Dare You!
In English it's called "The City of Refuge". Many centuries ago, on the islands many things were kapu or forbidden. If you broke a kapu you could lose your life so you ran or sailed as fast as you could to this small place on the shores of the big island. Once you set foot on the beach you were safe from harm and persecution as long as you didn't leave. Only when you were forgiven by a priest or holy man or pardoned by the king could you leave safely. I have been here every time I have come back to the island, but this time I was shocked because I had totally forgotten about the tsunami and didn't realize that it may have hit the island. Well it did hit and they had to actually close half of the area because, not only did it damage some areas but it also exposed more undiscovered areas. So we didn't get to see everything, but we had a good time anyway. Oh, and for those that weren't successful in pronouncing it I will try and do it phonetically.
Poo (like dog doo-doo) u (long u) hoe new a (short a) o (long o) hoe now now. Congratulations! You now speak Hawaiian. Aloha.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Volcanoes
Next we took them down the Crater road which went through a lot of lava fields dating from the mid 1800's. You will notice in this picture a black line that runs right to left. That is a line of lava that ran from Kilauea to the ocean. Sometimes you have to take a close look because it can look like a shadow, but this line is lava.
At the bottom of the Crater road there is a road block that you can't cross with a car because this is what you will encounter. In the 1970's an eruption caused the lava flow to come across the road the block this area forever. It runs about 2 miles wide, but if you want to take a long walk you can actually get up close and personal to the lava flow. We didn't take the walk this time but about 8 years ago I did walk it, at night, and took some great up close pictures of molten rock. If you notice the lava formation you will see that the lave looks smooth and polished - that is called a'a lava. The picture above is pahoehoe lava and it looks like small air filled rocks. The difference of the two is that a'a is like dark chocolate that is melting and moves very slowly and the pahoehoe is the stuff that is thrown out of the volcano and lands with a splat. When you see a video of a volcano and you see stuff being thrown up in the air, that is pahoehoe lava. Notice the sign for the uninformed. Will that area be opened? Probably not in my lifetime because the volcano is still active.
After our trip to the volcano we continued on to the town of Hilo on the east side of the island. Hilo is a rather small town that is almost always in a rain state. Each time I have been there it rained. Now here is the part that will tickle your funny bone. It was getting close to 2:30 and we hadn't eaten since breakfast and were getting hungry. Normally we like to eat things that are unique to the area we are in - in other words we don't like to eat at chain restaurants, but as we were talking we all agreed that Taco Bell sounded really good this time. So Tom, who was driving, put Taco Bell in his GPS and found that it was about 8 miles from our present position. Sounded good- off we go. After circling around a residential area for about 10 minutes the GPS announced that we had arrived. We were in an intersection in the residential area with only houses all around! Okay, so we started again thinking that the GPS took our previous position in Kona. Put in Taco Bell again and it announces that we are now about 1 mile from our destination. Off we go. Nope - still residential. Debbie and I are in the back laughing out heads off. Then we remember that both of us has a GPS on our phones. We whip out the phones and input Taco Bell - Debbie gets a hit about 2 miles away and I get one that is permanently closed! Tom's GPS finds another one about 2 miles away, but is taking us right back to where we were first sent. Following Debbie's phone we FINALLY get to the Taco Bell. Where was it? About 5 blocks from where we got off the main road to follow the first direction! Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and men.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Deja vu all over again
As Yogi Berra said, "It's like deja vu all over again." Why do I say that? Well, we started our trip and, of course, troubles began. It's gotten to a point for me that I expect SOMETHING to happen and if it doesn't i get really nervous. So what happened?
On Friday we drove to Karl cousin's house in So. San Francisco to spend the night so that we could catch our very early flight the next morning to Hawaii. We were scheduled to fly on Qantas because after we are through in Hawaii we are continuing to Australia and it was cheaper (less expensive?) to fly them and do Hawaii as a layover. The problem first started when his cousin dropped us off at Qantas and there was no body there! No agents, no clients, no lines, no nothing. In fact the counters weren't even opened. Oh boy, what now? On the itinerary that I got from Qantas there was a small legend that noted that the section from SFO to HNL was by "One world carrier". OK, fine. Who would that be? No name was noted and trying to call Qantas was a joke. Luckily we happened upon a flight maintenance man and he looked at the itinerary and he said that we were probably on American because that was about the time a flight takes off to HNL. So off we walk to terminal 3 from the International terminal (about a 30 minute walk). We passed the United counter first and after checking the departure board didn't see any flight at that time. Off we go to the next counter. Do you know how many ticket agent areas are in SFO for United? A lot! But we finally made it to the American counter and did see our flight. Getting up to the counter we are talking to an agent that didn't really seem to know what she was doing, but I explained to her that our flight was to HNL on them, but we then transferred to Hawaiian Air to Kona. I gave her the itinerary that showed the departure time and the flight number. She checks her computer and doesn't see any flights at that time - are we sure of the time? Well, yeah! I had the itinerary right there! Finally she says that she does see the flight, but it was flight #148. I looked at my itinerary and sure enough I had the same flight number! So I'm not sure what she was looking at. But we were able to have out luggage transferred to Hawaiian Airlines and it would follow us to Kona. Now if you haven't flown for a while the airlines have started to charge for just about everything. I wanted to have a few more inches of leg room so I did pay extra for exit seats. Our "wonderful" agent goes and gives us our boarding passes and we go off to the gate. Just as we were boarding we noticed that our seats were now 36E/F. Do you know where that is? Try the LAST row in the frigging plane!!! Needless to say we are going to have a talk with Qantas soon.
Now we are finally on the plane and are in HNL waiting for our connecting flight to Kona. We are to meet our friends, Tom and Debbie Struthers, in Kona and then fly together to Kona to enjoy a great week together. Karl turns on his phone and gets a message from Tom stating that because the flight crew got in late the night before the FAA wouldn't let them fly until they had their "required" rest time. So instead of them taking off at 8:50am they left at 10:45. Our connecting flight was at 1:00 (Hawaiian time). We checked the arrival board and saw that their new arrival time was going to be 12:35pm. Would they make it? If not what is going to be our plan of attack because Tom had booked the car. We boarded our flight and just before the doors closed here comes the Struthers walking down the aisle towards us. They made the flight so all our plans were for naught. By the time we got settled in the resort, found a bar for a much needed drink and a great dinner, we got back to the resort and fell into bed at about 9pm totally exhausted.
Tomorrow we are off the the volcano and the City of Refuge. I will post pictures for those that want to travel vicariously through us.
On Friday we drove to Karl cousin's house in So. San Francisco to spend the night so that we could catch our very early flight the next morning to Hawaii. We were scheduled to fly on Qantas because after we are through in Hawaii we are continuing to Australia and it was cheaper (less expensive?) to fly them and do Hawaii as a layover. The problem first started when his cousin dropped us off at Qantas and there was no body there! No agents, no clients, no lines, no nothing. In fact the counters weren't even opened. Oh boy, what now? On the itinerary that I got from Qantas there was a small legend that noted that the section from SFO to HNL was by "One world carrier". OK, fine. Who would that be? No name was noted and trying to call Qantas was a joke. Luckily we happened upon a flight maintenance man and he looked at the itinerary and he said that we were probably on American because that was about the time a flight takes off to HNL. So off we walk to terminal 3 from the International terminal (about a 30 minute walk). We passed the United counter first and after checking the departure board didn't see any flight at that time. Off we go to the next counter. Do you know how many ticket agent areas are in SFO for United? A lot! But we finally made it to the American counter and did see our flight. Getting up to the counter we are talking to an agent that didn't really seem to know what she was doing, but I explained to her that our flight was to HNL on them, but we then transferred to Hawaiian Air to Kona. I gave her the itinerary that showed the departure time and the flight number. She checks her computer and doesn't see any flights at that time - are we sure of the time? Well, yeah! I had the itinerary right there! Finally she says that she does see the flight, but it was flight #148. I looked at my itinerary and sure enough I had the same flight number! So I'm not sure what she was looking at. But we were able to have out luggage transferred to Hawaiian Airlines and it would follow us to Kona. Now if you haven't flown for a while the airlines have started to charge for just about everything. I wanted to have a few more inches of leg room so I did pay extra for exit seats. Our "wonderful" agent goes and gives us our boarding passes and we go off to the gate. Just as we were boarding we noticed that our seats were now 36E/F. Do you know where that is? Try the LAST row in the frigging plane!!! Needless to say we are going to have a talk with Qantas soon.
Now we are finally on the plane and are in HNL waiting for our connecting flight to Kona. We are to meet our friends, Tom and Debbie Struthers, in Kona and then fly together to Kona to enjoy a great week together. Karl turns on his phone and gets a message from Tom stating that because the flight crew got in late the night before the FAA wouldn't let them fly until they had their "required" rest time. So instead of them taking off at 8:50am they left at 10:45. Our connecting flight was at 1:00 (Hawaiian time). We checked the arrival board and saw that their new arrival time was going to be 12:35pm. Would they make it? If not what is going to be our plan of attack because Tom had booked the car. We boarded our flight and just before the doors closed here comes the Struthers walking down the aisle towards us. They made the flight so all our plans were for naught. By the time we got settled in the resort, found a bar for a much needed drink and a great dinner, we got back to the resort and fell into bed at about 9pm totally exhausted.
Tomorrow we are off the the volcano and the City of Refuge. I will post pictures for those that want to travel vicariously through us.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Perspectives
Usually I use this blog for travel posts since our families start phone conversations with, "Where are you?" Today I am straying from that format because my heart is heavy and I just need to jot my thoughts down to get them out of my head.
What started this was my granddaughter Sadie's first birthday in January. Nothing really bothered me about it (except that I had a bad cold and couldn't go to her party) until I read another post from a very special family that also had a child only two and a half weeks later. I've known the mother all of her life. She was 6 months old when our very good friends adopted her from Korea and we were with them when they met their new daughter at the airport. So you could say that she is my surrogate daughter. My son and she grew up together so it was rather fitting that they also have children almost at the same time.
But what really hurts is seeing how well (and normal) her son is at 1 year and how normal my son's daughter is not. He was sitting up at 6 months, standing at 10 months and now almost walking. My granddaughter? Is still unable to sit, stand or even laugh. She does smile (a lot) but not a sound of laughter comes from her. At this time I should be able to play with her and tickle her and, in general, enjoy this new person. But I can't. Being over sensitive in so many areas it's hard to be relaxed around her.
I am so grateful to God that He did let her live when all the doctors expected her not to, but it's hard to see other children around her age that are on the normal scale and she's still way behind. I read posts on FB that talk of how this child is doing that or that child is doing this and I have to sit back and be quiet, not saying anything because I don't belong in that group.
At one time in my life I asked a lot of "why" questions: why did this happen, why did I do what I did, why didn't I walk away, why didn't I say no, why didn't I talk to someone. It got to the point that I would say, "If I had a nickle for every why I asked I would be a millionaire many times over." Now I am asking why again. And I still haven't gotten any answer. Do I expect one? Not really. But I guess the one that I would really, really like an answer to is, "Why has God kept Sadie on Earth?"
In the meantime I will try and enjoy reading the posts on FB and blogs about other people's children and grandchildren and how they are progressing and try to be happy when they are happy talking about them. And I will celebrate any milestone that Sadie makes, when she makes them. She is my son's daughter and I will love her as any grandma would and more because she is my special angel.
What started this was my granddaughter Sadie's first birthday in January. Nothing really bothered me about it (except that I had a bad cold and couldn't go to her party) until I read another post from a very special family that also had a child only two and a half weeks later. I've known the mother all of her life. She was 6 months old when our very good friends adopted her from Korea and we were with them when they met their new daughter at the airport. So you could say that she is my surrogate daughter. My son and she grew up together so it was rather fitting that they also have children almost at the same time.
But what really hurts is seeing how well (and normal) her son is at 1 year and how normal my son's daughter is not. He was sitting up at 6 months, standing at 10 months and now almost walking. My granddaughter? Is still unable to sit, stand or even laugh. She does smile (a lot) but not a sound of laughter comes from her. At this time I should be able to play with her and tickle her and, in general, enjoy this new person. But I can't. Being over sensitive in so many areas it's hard to be relaxed around her.
I am so grateful to God that He did let her live when all the doctors expected her not to, but it's hard to see other children around her age that are on the normal scale and she's still way behind. I read posts on FB that talk of how this child is doing that or that child is doing this and I have to sit back and be quiet, not saying anything because I don't belong in that group.
At one time in my life I asked a lot of "why" questions: why did this happen, why did I do what I did, why didn't I walk away, why didn't I say no, why didn't I talk to someone. It got to the point that I would say, "If I had a nickle for every why I asked I would be a millionaire many times over." Now I am asking why again. And I still haven't gotten any answer. Do I expect one? Not really. But I guess the one that I would really, really like an answer to is, "Why has God kept Sadie on Earth?"
In the meantime I will try and enjoy reading the posts on FB and blogs about other people's children and grandchildren and how they are progressing and try to be happy when they are happy talking about them. And I will celebrate any milestone that Sadie makes, when she makes them. She is my son's daughter and I will love her as any grandma would and more because she is my special angel.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Why did I expect anything different this time?
As usual, my thought process was hoping for an uneventful trip to Bangor this weekend. But, like always, our first day out had it's problems.
Have you noticed that whenever we go on a trip or excursion or some place that we have to travel too something always goes wrong the first day? If not, check out the earlier posts of this blog and you will see what I mean.
Anyway, it happened again. We left Phoenix on Thursday to fly to Bangor, Maine via Detroit. We left PHX airport about 20 minutes late (no problem) and the pilot made up good time and got us into Detroit only 3 minutes later than the original arrival time. But instead of the original 45 minute lay-over we had 25 minutes and we had to go from gate A78 to gate C31. So hot-footing we go. I walk faster than Karl because of his hip so I moved out in front of him and got to the gate 1 minute before the gate closed. Made it! Karl caught up a few minutes later. We get into the aircraft, stow our luggage, get settled in our seats and wait for the push off from the gate. We wait and we wait and we wait and we wait some more. Finally the pilot comes over the PA system, "Ladies and gentlemen - we have a slight problem that the mechanics are going to look at - it should be only a few minutes. We will let you know about our departure time in a few minutes." So we wait and we wait and we wait some more. 15 minutes later the pilot is on the PA again, "Ladies and gentlemen - the mechanics has found a slight problem with our braking system, but they are working on it now and it should only be a couple of minutes more." So we wait and we wait and we wait some more. 15 minutes later, the pilot again, "Ladies and gentlemen - uh, it looks like they found the problem and have fixed it but we are checking the lines to see if they will hold pressure. It should only be a few more minutes." So we wait and we wait and we wait some more. By this time we are 30 minutes late in departure. 30 minutes later, the pilot again, "Ladies and gentlemen - the mechanics need to contact the supervisor to see what we are going to do with this aircraft. It doesn't look like the fix held. We will let you know if we are able to transfer you to another plane or wait until we find another fix." So we wait and we wait and we wait some more. 15 minutes later, the pilot, "Ladies and gentlemen - this aircraft is grounded. You need to return to the terminal and we will try and find another aircraft to load you on so that we can continue to Bangor. We are sorry for the inconvenience." So after 75 minutes of sitting at the gate, we grab all our stuff and trudge back into the terminal hoping that another aircraft can be found. By this time it is 11pm in Detroit so all of the shops are closed. We hadn't had anything to eat since lunch and the only things that we could find were vending machines. The machine ended up taking my money but not giving anything back.
Now during all this time of waiting, we had a car waiting for us in Bangor. We had made a special arrangement with Avis to have some one at the counter when we got there so we could pick up a car to go to the hotel. Doesn't sound bad right? Well, they normally closed the counter at 11pm. We had made an arrangement with them to have some one there when we got in at midnight (our original time). Now we are still in Detroit at 11pm and we still had a 1 hour and 40 minute flight to go. So Karl called the counter and told them what was going on and the clerk told us not to worry - he would stay there until we got there!!! We finally boarded another plane at 11:15pm and headed out to the runway. But another delay appeared. They had to de-ice us! So that took another 20 minutes. We finally showed up in Bangor at 2am today and the car counter clerk was still there!!!!! I will say that Avis is Bangor goes the extra mile for their customers.
Hopefully now that our trip has started, no other problems will show their ugly heads.
Have you noticed that whenever we go on a trip or excursion or some place that we have to travel too something always goes wrong the first day? If not, check out the earlier posts of this blog and you will see what I mean.
Anyway, it happened again. We left Phoenix on Thursday to fly to Bangor, Maine via Detroit. We left PHX airport about 20 minutes late (no problem) and the pilot made up good time and got us into Detroit only 3 minutes later than the original arrival time. But instead of the original 45 minute lay-over we had 25 minutes and we had to go from gate A78 to gate C31. So hot-footing we go. I walk faster than Karl because of his hip so I moved out in front of him and got to the gate 1 minute before the gate closed. Made it! Karl caught up a few minutes later. We get into the aircraft, stow our luggage, get settled in our seats and wait for the push off from the gate. We wait and we wait and we wait and we wait some more. Finally the pilot comes over the PA system, "Ladies and gentlemen - we have a slight problem that the mechanics are going to look at - it should be only a few minutes. We will let you know about our departure time in a few minutes." So we wait and we wait and we wait some more. 15 minutes later the pilot is on the PA again, "Ladies and gentlemen - the mechanics has found a slight problem with our braking system, but they are working on it now and it should only be a couple of minutes more." So we wait and we wait and we wait some more. 15 minutes later, the pilot again, "Ladies and gentlemen - uh, it looks like they found the problem and have fixed it but we are checking the lines to see if they will hold pressure. It should only be a few more minutes." So we wait and we wait and we wait some more. By this time we are 30 minutes late in departure. 30 minutes later, the pilot again, "Ladies and gentlemen - the mechanics need to contact the supervisor to see what we are going to do with this aircraft. It doesn't look like the fix held. We will let you know if we are able to transfer you to another plane or wait until we find another fix." So we wait and we wait and we wait some more. 15 minutes later, the pilot, "Ladies and gentlemen - this aircraft is grounded. You need to return to the terminal and we will try and find another aircraft to load you on so that we can continue to Bangor. We are sorry for the inconvenience." So after 75 minutes of sitting at the gate, we grab all our stuff and trudge back into the terminal hoping that another aircraft can be found. By this time it is 11pm in Detroit so all of the shops are closed. We hadn't had anything to eat since lunch and the only things that we could find were vending machines. The machine ended up taking my money but not giving anything back.
Now during all this time of waiting, we had a car waiting for us in Bangor. We had made a special arrangement with Avis to have some one at the counter when we got there so we could pick up a car to go to the hotel. Doesn't sound bad right? Well, they normally closed the counter at 11pm. We had made an arrangement with them to have some one there when we got in at midnight (our original time). Now we are still in Detroit at 11pm and we still had a 1 hour and 40 minute flight to go. So Karl called the counter and told them what was going on and the clerk told us not to worry - he would stay there until we got there!!! We finally boarded another plane at 11:15pm and headed out to the runway. But another delay appeared. They had to de-ice us! So that took another 20 minutes. We finally showed up in Bangor at 2am today and the car counter clerk was still there!!!!! I will say that Avis is Bangor goes the extra mile for their customers.
Hopefully now that our trip has started, no other problems will show their ugly heads.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Christmas Letter 2010
I really did not expect to get a Holiday letter out this year. There is no way to describe the year we have experienced this year. At the very least it has had some real high points and some really low points; basically we are glad this one is over.
When I wrote last year we had just arrived in CA from an exciting Fall with company joining us in New Mexico for the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta and attending the College graduation of son in law Dan Jacobi. Pam had been experiencing some medical issues for a number of years regarding stomach pain. This had become a more frequent issue and more intense. As soon as we arrived in CA we were again at Kaiser Hospital but this time it was with a surgeon. She had surgery Christmas week and missed out on the holiday activities last year. Pam has made a full recovery after losing about a foot of her colon. No more diverticulitis.
As I wrote last year, a major event was forthcoming, the birth of a grand daughter to Pam’s son Brian and his wife Christie. That simply didn’t go very well. We have a beautiful little gal named Sadie but she is a disabled child with Cerebral Palsy. The home birth with mid wives ended up at Phoenix Children’s Hospital in Phoenix , AZ where we faced Sadie dying everyday for eight days. In the end she defied all the doctors and went home. Many battles remain to be fought and some of you have followed Sadie’s’ progress on their blog, www.beckfamilyblessings.blogspot.com.
During the past two summers and over several trips to Washington within that time frame we have been involved in selling our Aunt Myrnes’ farm. She found herself being very happy in the Assisted Living home she selected and decided it was time to sell the 20 acre farm. It took the help of some wonderful Bailey relatives, our friend Mary Eden, and others to help empty the farm. After a lengthy battle with County agents over changes they demanded in a drainage ditch they now called a fish bearing stream, the second couple who looked at the farm met our sale requirements. We turned the farm over to them in early Sept. I have to say that it was difficult to let go. My family has many great memories of the farm but in the end Aunt Mryne was ready to sell and we moved ahead. We are now relieved to have this project completed.
As far as family goes, you can deduce from the above that Aunt Myrne is doing very well. She turned 98 on 9/11 and most of you could only hope for the blood pressure, and health that she possesses at that age. She has reduced the things in life that brought her pressure, i.e. the farm, no car, no driving, and has house care, served meals, etc, so I expect we shall enjoy her company for some years to come.
Pam and I are beginning our 6th year together and remain active travelers via motorcycle, motor home or auto’s. Pam has become our travel coordinator with some interesting plans in the future. Karl remains active with the Blue Knights, starting a second term as the Chairman of the West Coast Conference and serving on the International Board of Directors. This position does require travel to Bangor , ME every other January and at least two conventions each year. This year we were in Billings , MT and Grand Junction , CO and then visited a number of Chapters in CA, BC, and AB during the summer.
Daughter Holly remains in Temecula , CA with husband Dan and two children. Holly is still in pharmaceutical sales while Dan continues at Home Depot while looking for positions for which he can use his new college degree. We try to get over into that area of CA every winter to enjoy the grandkids. Emily has started school and remains quite the shy one while Luke is a bit more outgoing. We have started seeing all the grandkids a bit more by using Skype cameras on our computers.
Daughter Stephanie still lives in Orangevale , CA and works from home for HP Computers. Her husband John has his own business providing warranty and other work in the swimming pool field. CD (Cody) is in Middle school taking advanced classes for his college prep goals. Jessica is now playing clarinet and of course playing with her friends.
Son Brian is still working for Starbucks out of Phoenix . His commercial account territory takes him to AZ, TX and NM where he tries to see us when we are there. His wife Christie is back teaching but does it via computer from her home. With all the work baby Sadie involves, that was a good position for her.
I usually tell those up to date on our travels to stop here, you have had enough. This year I will not detail all of our travels but here is our blog address, www.sojouners-1.blogspot.com, for those interested. The blog has Pam’s story of our travels and pictures as well. Basically we spent Jan-March at our RV Resort Happy Trails in Surprise, AZ. April was split between WA and New Mexico while May found us at our home in CA but we took a motorcycle trip to Boise , ID over Memorial Day. June-Aug found us at work in WA on the farm with a motorcycle trip to Billings, MT, Grand Junction, CO and a short stay at our home in NM. Sept-Nov found us on a major motor home trip across the entire country of Canada , down the East Coast of the USA , then back across the middle of the USA to NM, AZ and CA. The motor home logged over 11,000 miles and our tow car an additional 4,000 miles. Late Nov we arrived in CA and will return to AZ after Christmas. You will not believe where Pam has us going in 2011. Of course you can stay up to date on our travels via the blog address listed above.
Happy New Year,
Karl and Pam
When I wrote last year we had just arrived in CA from an exciting Fall with company joining us in New Mexico for the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta and attending the College graduation of son in law Dan Jacobi. Pam had been experiencing some medical issues for a number of years regarding stomach pain. This had become a more frequent issue and more intense. As soon as we arrived in CA we were again at Kaiser Hospital but this time it was with a surgeon. She had surgery Christmas week and missed out on the holiday activities last year. Pam has made a full recovery after losing about a foot of her colon. No more diverticulitis.
As I wrote last year, a major event was forthcoming, the birth of a grand daughter to Pam’s son Brian and his wife Christie. That simply didn’t go very well. We have a beautiful little gal named Sadie but she is a disabled child with Cerebral Palsy. The home birth with mid wives ended up at Phoenix Children’s Hospital in Phoenix , AZ where we faced Sadie dying everyday for eight days. In the end she defied all the doctors and went home. Many battles remain to be fought and some of you have followed Sadie’s’ progress on their blog, www.beckfamilyblessings.blogspot.com.
During the past two summers and over several trips to Washington within that time frame we have been involved in selling our Aunt Myrnes’ farm. She found herself being very happy in the Assisted Living home she selected and decided it was time to sell the 20 acre farm. It took the help of some wonderful Bailey relatives, our friend Mary Eden, and others to help empty the farm. After a lengthy battle with County agents over changes they demanded in a drainage ditch they now called a fish bearing stream, the second couple who looked at the farm met our sale requirements. We turned the farm over to them in early Sept. I have to say that it was difficult to let go. My family has many great memories of the farm but in the end Aunt Mryne was ready to sell and we moved ahead. We are now relieved to have this project completed.
As far as family goes, you can deduce from the above that Aunt Myrne is doing very well. She turned 98 on 9/11 and most of you could only hope for the blood pressure, and health that she possesses at that age. She has reduced the things in life that brought her pressure, i.e. the farm, no car, no driving, and has house care, served meals, etc, so I expect we shall enjoy her company for some years to come.
Pam and I are beginning our 6th year together and remain active travelers via motorcycle, motor home or auto’s. Pam has become our travel coordinator with some interesting plans in the future. Karl remains active with the Blue Knights, starting a second term as the Chairman of the West Coast Conference and serving on the International Board of Directors. This position does require travel to Bangor , ME every other January and at least two conventions each year. This year we were in Billings , MT and Grand Junction , CO and then visited a number of Chapters in CA, BC, and AB during the summer.
Daughter Holly remains in Temecula , CA with husband Dan and two children. Holly is still in pharmaceutical sales while Dan continues at Home Depot while looking for positions for which he can use his new college degree. We try to get over into that area of CA every winter to enjoy the grandkids. Emily has started school and remains quite the shy one while Luke is a bit more outgoing. We have started seeing all the grandkids a bit more by using Skype cameras on our computers.
Daughter Stephanie still lives in Orangevale , CA and works from home for HP Computers. Her husband John has his own business providing warranty and other work in the swimming pool field. CD (Cody) is in Middle school taking advanced classes for his college prep goals. Jessica is now playing clarinet and of course playing with her friends.
Son Brian is still working for Starbucks out of Phoenix . His commercial account territory takes him to AZ, TX and NM where he tries to see us when we are there. His wife Christie is back teaching but does it via computer from her home. With all the work baby Sadie involves, that was a good position for her.
I usually tell those up to date on our travels to stop here, you have had enough. This year I will not detail all of our travels but here is our blog address, www.sojouners-1.blogspot.com, for those interested. The blog has Pam’s story of our travels and pictures as well. Basically we spent Jan-March at our RV Resort Happy Trails in Surprise, AZ. April was split between WA and New Mexico while May found us at our home in CA but we took a motorcycle trip to Boise , ID over Memorial Day. June-Aug found us at work in WA on the farm with a motorcycle trip to Billings, MT, Grand Junction, CO and a short stay at our home in NM. Sept-Nov found us on a major motor home trip across the entire country of Canada , down the East Coast of the USA , then back across the middle of the USA to NM, AZ and CA. The motor home logged over 11,000 miles and our tow car an additional 4,000 miles. Late Nov we arrived in CA and will return to AZ after Christmas. You will not believe where Pam has us going in 2011. Of course you can stay up to date on our travels via the blog address listed above.
Happy New Year,
Karl and Pam
Sunday, October 31, 2010
My home on the range
We arrived back in New Mexico the day before Halloween and started the process of unloading the motorhome and getting it ready for it's next journey to AZ for the winter. But with this cross-country trip I was able to cross off one item on my bucket list. I've always wanted to see Canada and go as far as I could. Making it to the Maritimes and being in Atlantic time was quite a kick. I've lived on Eastern timr for the first 18 years of my life then switched to Pacific for the remainer, but never have I ever been an extra hour away from Eastern. Would I do it again? Not the whole trip, but definitely go to the two provinces we missed which was Newfoundland and Labrador. If Nova Scotia was any indication of what those two looked like that is a wonderful place to see. We did have a friend that lived "on the rock" as he called Labrador, but he has since moved back to British Columbia. Next on my bucket list is to visit Austrailia which we will be doing next April.
When Karl and I first got together I never realized how much I would be traveling, but after a while I realzed that if I didn't do it now while I was able, I would never do it as I got older. The older you get the slower you get and I didn't want to miss things that I wouldn't be able to do as I got older.
So here is a little advice that I have gleaned from my life so far: redo your priorities - housework can wait but kids and spouses can't - you may never know when they will be gone from you, when you retire don't retire to the couch and languish - get out and find a hobby to do - it will keep you young, don't wait until you have "time" - time will leave before you know it and you can't get it back.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Throwed rolls
Today was the last "official" cross-country trip stop before going on to New Mexico. We stopped in Springfield, Missouri for a couple of days to see a friend of Karl's and to visit Branson again. We had been here in '09 after my son got married and did a lot of shows in Branson - 16 in 7 days! We weren't really excited to see anything this time, but his friends had to take us to see one show. It was a variety show featuring six brothers that sing accapella including all the instruments. They are from a family of 10 - count 'em - 10 boys! No girls. What was so inspiring is that their mom was told by the doctor that she would never bear children. Unfortunately she passed away in 1992 from cancer. It was a very good show and one you should see if you ever get to Missouri. The show is called "Six". Check it out.
While we were parked in Springfield we had to stop for dinner at our favorite restaurant called Lambert's - home of the throwed rolls. What does that mean? Well, as you sit eating the wait staff roams the place doling out fried okra (yuck!), mac and tomatoes, fried potatoes, sorghum and rolls. Sounds tame, right? Well, when the rolls are removed from the oven and nice and warm the staff comes out and THROWS the rolls at you!. And I don't mean toss, but thrown! They are nice, big yeasty rolls that are fantastic! Unfortunately they have restaurants only in Missouri.
Tomorrow we go to another friend of Karl's (notice a pattern here?) and will stay at their place for the night. Nothing is scheduled for visitation and we hope to take it easy for the rest of the trip. It's been a fun journey and we have had a great time, but I am ready to get back to my "stick" house for a while, just to stay in one place longer that two days. We plan on being home for a week then move the MH to Arizona before moving on to the CA house for the holidays.
While we were parked in Springfield we had to stop for dinner at our favorite restaurant called Lambert's - home of the throwed rolls. What does that mean? Well, as you sit eating the wait staff roams the place doling out fried okra (yuck!), mac and tomatoes, fried potatoes, sorghum and rolls. Sounds tame, right? Well, when the rolls are removed from the oven and nice and warm the staff comes out and THROWS the rolls at you!. And I don't mean toss, but thrown! They are nice, big yeasty rolls that are fantastic! Unfortunately they have restaurants only in Missouri.
Tomorrow we go to another friend of Karl's (notice a pattern here?) and will stay at their place for the night. Nothing is scheduled for visitation and we hope to take it easy for the rest of the trip. It's been a fun journey and we have had a great time, but I am ready to get back to my "stick" house for a while, just to stay in one place longer that two days. We plan on being home for a week then move the MH to Arizona before moving on to the CA house for the holidays.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
I Saw My Boys!
We visited Nashville this time since I've already seen Memphis (thankyou - thankyouverramuch). I've always wanted to see Nashville, but was always on the wrong side when we came through Tennessee. This time I put it in our travel plans.
As usual we took a Greyline bus tour and got a lay of the land, so to speak. We were taken through the city of Nashville and you really couldn't tell that they had a devastating flood six months ago. There is a huge shopping mall that will probably never be open again because they had $50 million in insurance, but the damages are running around $150 million. The Opryland Resort is still closed, but plans to have a grand re-opening on November 15. We've been told that if you saw it before, it will be 10x better and more glorious. The waters were about 6 feet deep and pretty much devastated the ground floors of the resort so there has been a lot of rebuilding and refurbishing going on. The Grand Ole Opry House reopened in mid-September and we went to a show there on Saturday night. But more on that later.
During the tour we were able to have a short visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame. We were there for an hour, but again we could have spent 3+ hours there. Would we have paid the $30 for admittance? Probably not. That is a little steep. But they have a very extensive collection of show costumes, guitars, gold and platinum records, pictures, artifacts, videos and recordings throughout the museum.
Our next stop was at the "Mother Church of Country Music" or the Ryman Auditorium. This was the original home of the Grand Ole Opry until 1974 when they moved to the new venue. It started out as the Union Gospel Tabernacle and held church services from the 1880's until 1904. It was renamed Ryman after Captain Thomas Ryman who built the church. In 1904 until 1943 the Ryman became a venue for a wide variety of events; revivals, jazz recitals, operas, ballet, debates and boxing matches. In 1943 it became known as "Carnegie Hall of the South" due to the upgrade of the performing arts that started there; Rudolph Valentino, Katharine Hepburn, Mae West and Bob Hope to name a few. The owner of the Ryman also rented out the hall for a live Saturday night radio show that had outgrown it's current hall. So began a long (1943-1974) love affair between the Grand Ole Opry and the Ryman Auditorium. In 2001 it was named a National Historic Landmark. It's still used for performances and has tours for your to go backstage to see where Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Dolly Parton and Bill Anderson got ready for their turn on the stage. The Ryman is so precious to the Opry that when they built the new Opry House they cut out a circle from the Ryman stage in front of the microphone and installed in it the new stage. This auditorium has character. The floors creak, the pews are scarred and nicked and the paint it a little worse for wear, but that's what makes it the Ryman.
Then, like I said, we went to a show at the Opry House and I SAW MY BOYS!!! If your are into country music you will recognize these two:
Trace Atkins
As usual we took a Greyline bus tour and got a lay of the land, so to speak. We were taken through the city of Nashville and you really couldn't tell that they had a devastating flood six months ago. There is a huge shopping mall that will probably never be open again because they had $50 million in insurance, but the damages are running around $150 million. The Opryland Resort is still closed, but plans to have a grand re-opening on November 15. We've been told that if you saw it before, it will be 10x better and more glorious. The waters were about 6 feet deep and pretty much devastated the ground floors of the resort so there has been a lot of rebuilding and refurbishing going on. The Grand Ole Opry House reopened in mid-September and we went to a show there on Saturday night. But more on that later.
During the tour we were able to have a short visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame. We were there for an hour, but again we could have spent 3+ hours there. Would we have paid the $30 for admittance? Probably not. That is a little steep. But they have a very extensive collection of show costumes, guitars, gold and platinum records, pictures, artifacts, videos and recordings throughout the museum.
Our next stop was at the "Mother Church of Country Music" or the Ryman Auditorium. This was the original home of the Grand Ole Opry until 1974 when they moved to the new venue. It started out as the Union Gospel Tabernacle and held church services from the 1880's until 1904. It was renamed Ryman after Captain Thomas Ryman who built the church. In 1904 until 1943 the Ryman became a venue for a wide variety of events; revivals, jazz recitals, operas, ballet, debates and boxing matches. In 1943 it became known as "Carnegie Hall of the South" due to the upgrade of the performing arts that started there; Rudolph Valentino, Katharine Hepburn, Mae West and Bob Hope to name a few. The owner of the Ryman also rented out the hall for a live Saturday night radio show that had outgrown it's current hall. So began a long (1943-1974) love affair between the Grand Ole Opry and the Ryman Auditorium. In 2001 it was named a National Historic Landmark. It's still used for performances and has tours for your to go backstage to see where Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Dolly Parton and Bill Anderson got ready for their turn on the stage. The Ryman is so precious to the Opry that when they built the new Opry House they cut out a circle from the Ryman stage in front of the microphone and installed in it the new stage. This auditorium has character. The floors creak, the pews are scarred and nicked and the paint it a little worse for wear, but that's what makes it the Ryman.
Then, like I said, we went to a show at the Opry House and I SAW MY BOYS!!! If your are into country music you will recognize these two:
Trace Atkins
Blake Shelton
We were seated about 125 feet from them and I was able to use my camera with the digital zoom and got real close without rushing up to the stage. That night Blake was inducted as the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry family. I think that was one of the highlights of this whole trip for me. Karl? Not so much. He's not into new country.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Hatred
As I research my family roots for my genealogy I've discovered that 98% of my ancestors came from England and Ireland with a tiny bit of French thrown in. Now think about yourself. How many have, even a small amount, some Polish, Spanish, African, red Indian, Russian, Korean, east Indian or Romanian blood in the family? How many of you, or someone you know personally, are handicapped, gay or deformed? According to Hitler all of you, even though you may not be Jewish, but all of you are inferior to me. Why? Because I am of European descent - the superior race and you all need to be wiped out.
As you can guess our last stop was at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - one of the hardest museums I've ever walked through. Again no photography allowed. On one hand I'm glad there wasn't - much too hard to see. On the other hand I wish there was - so I could remember what hatred can do. But even pictures can't re-tell the full horror of the holocaust. Videos? They can seal images in your mind. Exhibits? They seal the reality of it when, on either side of a 60' hall, 6'wide and 1' deep are only a portion of shoes worn by the massacred. Then you will walk into a tower and there on the walls, two stories high, are snapshots of people and families who lived in a town that was completely wiped out - wiped off the face of the earth. Toys, toothbrushes, prayer shawls, hair brushes, scissors, pipes, things that people cherished, all stripped from them and tossed in a pile.
It hurts the heart. And yet we still go on destroying lives because we think we are superior to everyone else - Sudan, Darfur, young gay students. On the bottom floor is a wall covered by thousands of 4x4 tiles drawn on by children who went through the museum. One little girl drew two people holding hands, side by side. One was dark-haired with dark eyes and the other was a blue-eyed blond. She wrote, "Why do we hate? We are all the same."
www.ushmm.org
First they came for the socialists,
and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a trade unionists.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me --
and there was no one left to speak for me.
-attributed to Martin Niemiller (1892-1984),
anti-Nazi German pastor.
As you can guess our last stop was at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - one of the hardest museums I've ever walked through. Again no photography allowed. On one hand I'm glad there wasn't - much too hard to see. On the other hand I wish there was - so I could remember what hatred can do. But even pictures can't re-tell the full horror of the holocaust. Videos? They can seal images in your mind. Exhibits? They seal the reality of it when, on either side of a 60' hall, 6'wide and 1' deep are only a portion of shoes worn by the massacred. Then you will walk into a tower and there on the walls, two stories high, are snapshots of people and families who lived in a town that was completely wiped out - wiped off the face of the earth. Toys, toothbrushes, prayer shawls, hair brushes, scissors, pipes, things that people cherished, all stripped from them and tossed in a pile.
It hurts the heart. And yet we still go on destroying lives because we think we are superior to everyone else - Sudan, Darfur, young gay students. On the bottom floor is a wall covered by thousands of 4x4 tiles drawn on by children who went through the museum. One little girl drew two people holding hands, side by side. One was dark-haired with dark eyes and the other was a blue-eyed blond. She wrote, "Why do we hate? We are all the same."
www.ushmm.org
First they came for the socialists,
and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a trade unionists.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me --
and there was no one left to speak for me.
-attributed to Martin Niemiller (1892-1984),
anti-Nazi German pastor.
Potpourri
This is a conglomeration of things we have seen in about three days in Washington DC. So where do I start?
We arrived in Virginia on October the 15th, Friday. What would have taken us 4 hours to drive ended up being 8 hours! Because of two accidents on I-95 just past Baltimore we crawled and crawled and crawled. Finally, at about 8 miles from our campground we turned off of the interstate and took back roads to the place. Thank goodness I lived here for a while and I knew where some roads went.
After setting up the motorhome we just crashed for the rest of the night and planned our methods of attack for the next three days. On Saturday we met up with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law for lunch before we took off for the city. We arrived late in the day and didn't think we would really have time to see anything, but both of the museums we scouted out stayed open late and we were able to get them done.
Our first museum was the National Spy Museum. Unfortunately no photography allowed. Why I'm not sure since a good majority of the exhibits were about spy "things" that dealt with World War II and the Cold War. But it was still very interesting to see the things that spies used: button compasses, pen recorders, brass knuckle knives, etc. But, did you know that a lot of the stuff that were "invented" for spy movies, such as James Bond's cars, the technology is used in our cars now as standard? How about GPS, halogen lights, re-inflating tires, shatterproof glass? All of those were ideas that came from spy novels and movies. And did you know that George Washington was a spy? Edger Allen Poe was an expert decoder? What was really disturbing was the spies that were Americans spying on Americans. What people will do for money or notoriety.
Then in keeping with the theme we visited the National Museum of Crime and Punishment. This one dealt with a lot of criminals and crime. It was three floors and we were able to see one floor real well, but didn't get to see much of the other two due to time. If you like to see and learn about criminals this is a great place to go and spend about 3+ hours.
On Sunday we went with the in-laws to visit the brand new National Museum of the Marine Corps. They are in the process of raising money to continue expanding the museum. It is impressive right now and I can't imagine how much greater it will be when they finish the whole campus. The outside structure is a very odd looking things until you are told what it represents - it is an artist rendition of the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima. Inside it starts from the beginning of the Corps in 1773 and continues through today with many exhibits and films. There is one thing I can say about the Corps is that they are definitely a different breed of military - in a good way!
Today we went "Memorial visiting". We visited the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, The World War II Memorial and the Korean War Memorial.
The Law Enforcement was rather hard for Karl to see because he knew many of the names on the wall. It's a white granite semi circle in two halves with a lion family at each end of the semi circles. That is to depict the lion defending and protecting the lioness and cub just as the law enforcement community does everyday. Also on this wall, which starts from the early 1800's are names from those lost on 9/11, those killed by Billy the Kid, those protecting the president, the first officer killed, the youngest, first female, first African-American, first killed in the line of duty, oldest, Attica Prison Riot, and J.D. Tippit who was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald. They broke ground for the museum on the 14th which will be across the street from the memorial and three stories underground. The World War II Memorial was a very impressive memorial located at the end of the Reflecting Pool by the Washington Monument. Again it is made with white granite and is divided in two halves depicting the Atlantic and the Pacific campaign. On one side are the states that sent their people to fight and the other half depicts the different campaigns fought. Lastly the Ko
rean War Memorial was the most impressive in the way that it was done. The memorial has soldiers "walking" through the trees surrounding the reflecting pool in their rain ponchos and watching for snipers. It is a very eerie display as you walk up to it because you see these life-size men among the trees. There are different races of human kind in this display that makes you realize that EVERYONE was involved. Many still call this the "forgotten war" because it doesn't get the recognition it deserves. We were near the Vietnam Wall, but I couldn't go there again. I was there quite a few years back and I cried through the whole walk and I couldn't face it again. But if you are ever in the the DC area I do recommend you see all of these memorials, they are well worth the visit.
rean War Memorial was the most impressive in the way that it was done. The memorial has soldiers "walking" through the trees surrounding the reflecting pool in their rain ponchos and watching for snipers. It is a very eerie display as you walk up to it because you see these life-size men among the trees. There are different races of human kind in this display that makes you realize that EVERYONE was involved. Many still call this the "forgotten war" because it doesn't get the recognition it deserves. We were near the Vietnam Wall, but I couldn't go there again. I was there quite a few years back and I cried through the whole walk and I couldn't face it again. But if you are ever in the the DC area I do recommend you see all of these memorials, they are well worth the visit.Please take a moment to look at the pictures I have posted on the right of this page and you will hopefully be intrigued enough to go and visit for yourselves.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
I Don't Get It
We arrived in New Jersey on Tuesday the 12th and are squatting in the Elks Club parking lot. So much better than Wal-Mart. I mean, don't get me wrong...God Bless Wal-Mart...but if you want a quieter spot without a lot of traffic, the Elks Clubs are great.
On Wednesday we met up with some friends who live in Somerset, New Jersey. They came by the motorhome then we go to their house for dinner and some games. After making plans for the following day Karl and I return to our "home away from home".
On Thursday The Hildebrands pick us up and we drive into the city for the day. What city? Why New York City of course. Now to me, a girl who grew up in the country without a lot of people, or cars, or noise, this is a major getting used to. When we were here a couple of years ago we went into the city then also. Now I need to remind you that I grew up in New York State and lived there for 18 years before I ventured out on my own. Not once did I ever go into the city nor did I ever want to. So here I was, 55 years old, and an out-of-towner had to take me into the city for the first time! Now I've been there twice. But I don't get it. How can anybody like a city, any city? Too many cars, too many people, too much noise, too much of everything! The wife, Joy, is from the Seattle area and absolutely LOVES NYC with a passion. Her husband, Gary, is from New Jersey so he's okay with it. In fact they both drive in that madhouse without a second thought! Me? I'll stay out in the country where I can hear and see nature. Sure, it may be a slower pace of life, but I'm in not hurry anyway.
We plan on leaving tomorrow and the weather forecasters have forecast a nor'easter is coming in which means rain and wind (again). Oh, well, at least it was nice while we were parked. We plan on staying in VA for about 4 nights with an option to stay longer depending on how much we want to see. I used to work in Washington D.C., so I would visit lots of places while I lived and worked there. Unfortunately I haven't been a "tourist" there for a very long time (probably over 20 years) and I wanted to see things that have been added to our nation's capital. Plus I have this annoying brother-in-law that keeps wanting me to visit them (LOL - just kidding Dave! Love you.)
On Wednesday we met up with some friends who live in Somerset, New Jersey. They came by the motorhome then we go to their house for dinner and some games. After making plans for the following day Karl and I return to our "home away from home".
On Thursday The Hildebrands pick us up and we drive into the city for the day. What city? Why New York City of course. Now to me, a girl who grew up in the country without a lot of people, or cars, or noise, this is a major getting used to. When we were here a couple of years ago we went into the city then also. Now I need to remind you that I grew up in New York State and lived there for 18 years before I ventured out on my own. Not once did I ever go into the city nor did I ever want to. So here I was, 55 years old, and an out-of-towner had to take me into the city for the first time! Now I've been there twice. But I don't get it. How can anybody like a city, any city? Too many cars, too many people, too much noise, too much of everything! The wife, Joy, is from the Seattle area and absolutely LOVES NYC with a passion. Her husband, Gary, is from New Jersey so he's okay with it. In fact they both drive in that madhouse without a second thought! Me? I'll stay out in the country where I can hear and see nature. Sure, it may be a slower pace of life, but I'm in not hurry anyway.
We plan on leaving tomorrow and the weather forecasters have forecast a nor'easter is coming in which means rain and wind (again). Oh, well, at least it was nice while we were parked. We plan on staying in VA for about 4 nights with an option to stay longer depending on how much we want to see. I used to work in Washington D.C., so I would visit lots of places while I lived and worked there. Unfortunately I haven't been a "tourist" there for a very long time (probably over 20 years) and I wanted to see things that have been added to our nation's capital. Plus I have this annoying brother-in-law that keeps wanting me to visit them (LOL - just kidding Dave! Love you.)
Sunday, October 10, 2010
ME, NH, VT, NY
Well we have finally reached my Mom's house in New York.
We stayed in Bangor, Maine for a couple of nights because we had to visit the Blue Knights International offices for some business (yes, we paid homage to Mother Ship) then took off for our trip south.
We traveled from ME to New Hampshire and met up with an ex-Riverside PD that wanted to have his picture taken for the Riverside PD web page that was started because of Karl's travels. Had a great visit and a wondreful meal with Dave and Wendy Barrett. He is now the head of the Marine Division of the Lake Winnepisacke region. What a job - on the water all summer long.
As we travelled south we noticed that the colors are getting a little less now. A lot less red and more golds and yellows. As we travelled from Concord, NH to the I-90 New York Thruway the roads took us through lots of small towns. Did you know that in New England, during the end of the season, they have lots of flea markets, car washes, bake sales and roadside chicken bbq's? Well they do. It would have taken us about 7.5 hours to drive, but with all of the small towns having things on Main street the trip ended up being 9.5 hours. We arrived at the Elks Club for the night around 8pm then ran over to Mom's to pick up our month's worth of mail. Today I took Karl and Mom for a ride to a very nice state park, Letchworth State Park, to see the colors there. As we arrived closer to the park we noticed that the traffic was getting worse and worse. It took us almost an hour to go 2 miles. When we finally got into the park we found out that there was a HUGE crafts sale going on at the same time. So there was Karl, my Mom and me with about 100,000 of our closest friends.
After we finished with the park we moved the MH to the driveway of Mom's house for the next two nights. We do make quite a sight for the neighbors. On Tuesday we take off for our friend's house in Sommerset, NJ for a few nights.
We stayed in Bangor, Maine for a couple of nights because we had to visit the Blue Knights International offices for some business (yes, we paid homage to Mother Ship) then took off for our trip south.
We traveled from ME to New Hampshire and met up with an ex-Riverside PD that wanted to have his picture taken for the Riverside PD web page that was started because of Karl's travels. Had a great visit and a wondreful meal with Dave and Wendy Barrett. He is now the head of the Marine Division of the Lake Winnepisacke region. What a job - on the water all summer long.
As we travelled south we noticed that the colors are getting a little less now. A lot less red and more golds and yellows. As we travelled from Concord, NH to the I-90 New York Thruway the roads took us through lots of small towns. Did you know that in New England, during the end of the season, they have lots of flea markets, car washes, bake sales and roadside chicken bbq's? Well they do. It would have taken us about 7.5 hours to drive, but with all of the small towns having things on Main street the trip ended up being 9.5 hours. We arrived at the Elks Club for the night around 8pm then ran over to Mom's to pick up our month's worth of mail. Today I took Karl and Mom for a ride to a very nice state park, Letchworth State Park, to see the colors there. As we arrived closer to the park we noticed that the traffic was getting worse and worse. It took us almost an hour to go 2 miles. When we finally got into the park we found out that there was a HUGE crafts sale going on at the same time. So there was Karl, my Mom and me with about 100,000 of our closest friends.
After we finished with the park we moved the MH to the driveway of Mom's house for the next two nights. We do make quite a sight for the neighbors. On Tuesday we take off for our friend's house in Sommerset, NJ for a few nights.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
We've Arrived
Bruce Springsteen "Born in the USA...I was born in the USA." Kate Smith "God bless America...Land that I love." George M Cohen "I'm a Yankee doodle dandy...Yankee doodle do or die."
No more meters, kilometers, Celsius, millimeters, funny colored money, 1 and 2 dollar coins.
If you can't tell from this we have arrived in the USA. As of noon today we crossed the US border in Maine and are SO glad we are back on American soil. Canada was great, but like Dorothy said, "There's no place like home." We are still travelling down the East Coast and across the south to our home in New Mexico so there will still be a travel blog, just not daily. But don't stop checking in every few days or so. I will keep you up-to-date as to where we are and what we see.
For the next two nights we are camped in Bangor, Maine and will take off west into New Hampshire still looking for the fall foliage. Stand tune for more pictures.
No more meters, kilometers, Celsius, millimeters, funny colored money, 1 and 2 dollar coins.
If you can't tell from this we have arrived in the USA. As of noon today we crossed the US border in Maine and are SO glad we are back on American soil. Canada was great, but like Dorothy said, "There's no place like home." We are still travelling down the East Coast and across the south to our home in New Mexico so there will still be a travel blog, just not daily. But don't stop checking in every few days or so. I will keep you up-to-date as to where we are and what we see.
For the next two nights we are camped in Bangor, Maine and will take off west into New Hampshire still looking for the fall foliage. Stand tune for more pictures.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Canada 17
What can I say about Nova Scotia or New Scotland? It's a lot bigger than we thought and it's covered with trees. That about covers it.
We drove back into Halifax (typical large capital city) to go to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. This was a very good museum showing how the sea is an intricate part of life on Nova Scotia. On the first floor they showcase the Canadian Navy and different sail boats that have been donated to the museum. That was okay, but to me the second floor was much more interesting. There you had displays of shipwrecks and the artifacts they have recovered. The most exciting display was one on the Titanic. They had stories and artifacts from the doomed ship. It was rather sobering seeing things that were recovered and you knew that people once held those items or wore those items.
The next day we took off from Halifax to drive northeast to see our destinations up there. About 70 miles outside of Halifax we noticed a commonality in street names: MacDonald, MacInnis, MacIntyre, Campbell, Ross and in town names: Inverness, St. Andres, Invernary, Glendale, Glencoe. See similarities here? All of a sudden we are into the heart of New Scotland. Even signs are in Gaelic! The areas opened up more and you could see the countryside. A lot of Scots landed there because it reminded them of home. Our first stop was at a living history area called Highland Village Museum. It was like Fort William was in Thunder Bay, but more people were there at the village. They get a lot of cruise ships docked in Sydney, about an hour north, and tour buses bring them there so they are open until the end of October. They have recreated a Scottish village and moved buildings there that would have been used by the immigrants as the years went by. The only buildings that weren't original were the stone soddy house (the first house they would have built) and the log house which would have been the second house they built. Every one else was moved from a previous location in the area to be preserved to the village to be preserved. Another place I would have loved to have seen during the "season".
Our last stop was at the Alexander Graham Bell Centre. Here they told the story of his life and inventions besides the telephone. They had artifacts, photos and stories about him and his family. Here are some things we found out that we never knew: His father, being interested in speech and audiology, created the first visual speech system; his mother was practically deaf; his wife was completely deaf; his passion was trying to find a way to help deaf people hear; the telephone was created by an accident when he was working on perfecting the telegraph; he helped invent a hydroplane; he invented the first flying airplane in Canada. There was so much stuff that he worked on that I can't remember it all. A very educational place to go.
And that ladies and gentlemen concludes our tour of the great country of Canada. We hope you have enjoyed this tour as much as we have enjoyed your company. Now please check around your area and make sure you have all your personal belongings. Please stay seated until we have come to a complete stop.
Join us next time as we explore the next great country, The United States of America which starts tomorrow. Until then, good-bye.
When I first planned out this trip I got a lot of AAA books to check out things to see in each place that we stopped and I wanted to make sure that I found things that would interest Karl because he's been to most of the provinces except for PEI and Nova Scotia. So I found things that would interest him and me both. Now PEI, if we really wanted to, could have taken us two days to see. Not because of the size but because of the timing and what we wanted to see. Nova Scotia on the other hand is a different story. Neither of us realized how much driving we would have to do to see things on this peninsula. It would take us about 3-4 days to see all we wanted and that's because of all the driving. So we sat down and re-analyzed our desires. After taking a hard look at what we highlighted we were able to take out a few things because we have done things like them at other places. That left us with four places to see - two on the southwestern end and two at the northeastern end. The problem? The "ends" are about 9 hours apart! So we are spending the night in Nova Scotia and cutting the peninsula in half.
Today we took in the southwestern end and visited a beautiful little village called Peggy's Cove. It's a very small (only 35 year round residents) village that the people make a living lobster harvesting. But during the season thousands descend on this place. The cove is a picture postcard with craggy coastline, lobster boats in the cove, small homes and a lighthouse. We had lunch at a great place called the Sou'wester and there I finally had my lobster roll. It was worth the wait. While we were there tour buses showed up to let their passengers off. It's amazing the number of people that come here in this desolate area. But it was well worth the drive.
Our last stop was at the Alexander Graham Bell Centre. Here they told the story of his life and inventions besides the telephone. They had artifacts, photos and stories about him and his family. Here are some things we found out that we never knew: His father, being interested in speech and audiology, created the first visual speech system; his mother was practically deaf; his wife was completely deaf; his passion was trying to find a way to help deaf people hear; the telephone was created by an accident when he was working on perfecting the telegraph; he helped invent a hydroplane; he invented the first flying airplane in Canada. There was so much stuff that he worked on that I can't remember it all. A very educational place to go.
The first "cell phone"
The first "Ipod"
And that ladies and gentlemen concludes our tour of the great country of Canada. We hope you have enjoyed this tour as much as we have enjoyed your company. Now please check around your area and make sure you have all your personal belongings. Please stay seated until we have come to a complete stop.
Join us next time as we explore the next great country, The United States of America which starts tomorrow. Until then, good-bye.
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