OCTOBER 2016

 October began by joining three of my basketball teammates for our flight to Las Vegas, where we were joined by the fifth member of our team, who’d flown in from Connecticut. Upon arriving in St. George, Utah, we went to the Dixie Center to register and pick up our “goodies” bag. Dinner and then rest before starting our trek to a Gold Medal.

We practiced Monday morning, with our first game coming at 3 PM. And who did we play?? Our nemesis from Detroit, “Big Edna”. We double-teamed her and beat them by 6 points. I managed 14 points. That evening, we attended the complimentary dinner and entertainment provided by the sponsor of the women’s basketball competition. Near the end of the program, the magician asked for the toughest player to come up. Quite a few of us spoke Edna’s name. When I talked to her about it the next day, she told me “that was mean.” I told her I thought it was a compliment and she said “Do you think so?” I told her I’d like to be known as the toughest player.

Tuesday we beat a 70’s team from New Mexico. I again had 14 points. We then played a 65’s team from Texas and beat them by one point. I couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn but played very good defense. Tuesday night we attended the Opening Ceremonies at the football stadium. It was a beautiful night and St. George always puts on a good show. However, this was our third time and the ceremonies are so similar, we said we wouldn’t go a fourth time.

Wednesday morning we were scheduled to play a 65’s team from Latvia. Because this game didn’t count, both teams voted not to play and take a chance on someone getting hurt before the medal games in the afternoon. We met Edna’s team in the gold medal match. This time we beat them soundly, 58-28. I only scored 4 points but was able to keep Edna away from the basket as my teammate scored 28 points. I blocked two of Edna’s shots and tipped a third. She only scored 9 points, 5 from free throws. This year a 20-second shot clock was added and that made a big difference in our game, forcing Detroit to shoot from outside since we had Edna double-teamed. After the game, I asked Edna if her team was moving up to 75’s next year. She said she’d had enough of our team. We’ll see what happens next summer in Birmingham.

Wednesday night, we attended a production of Peter Pan which was presented in a beautiful canyon, north of St. George. Stunning vistas!

While we ladies were in Utah, our husbands were dealing with Hurricane Matthew. Fortunately, it wasn't nearly as bad as predicted. My roommate's flight on Thursday and then on Friday were both canceled. She finally got back to The Villages late on Saturday. I would have been stranded also if I hadn't planned to go to New Mexico. Lucky me!

October 6, I flew to Albuquerque, took the train to Santa Fe and was met by Erik and the kids. As my train pulled into the station, I noticed Kadin and Gracie running outside my window. There was no school Friday, so I got the kids, along with Gracie’s boyfriend, Luis, to set up a trampoline I had ordered in May, which Erik never got around to setting up. Luis got the job done. When Jeffrey had asked me if I brought him a birthday present (Oct. 5), I told him the trampoline was his present and he was thrilled.

Gracie had a volleyball game on Saturday, which they won handily.  Saturday night was Red-Box movie night for the girls and their friends, now boy friends rather than girls. I went to my room early. Erik came in to chat and Nick called my phone so we had a nice family conversation, while staying out of the way of the teenagers.

Sunday was rainy so Jeffrey brought out some games, including chess. He claimed to have played it before and he actually was pretty good, especially for a 6-year-old. My own chess game is about the level of an eight year old.

Monday was a beautiful, sunny day so a family hike was in order. We walked almost 3.5 miles and Erik didn’t have to carry Jeffrey even once. That night Erik treated us to dinner at their favorite Mexican restaurant, Gabriel's.

Tuesday, Oct. 11, Erik drove me to the airport for my 11 AM flight. Change of planes in Denver and I landed in Orlando at 6:40. Arne was there to greet me and together we waited for Nick and Sarah to arrive from Pittsburg.  They had gone to the Steelers game on Sunday as Sarah is a big Steelers fan. Nick wore black and yellow for his honey but his teams are Broncos and Cardinals.

Wednesday we played golf on one of our executive courses.

Thursday, Nick and Sarah spent the day at Universal. Friday we all headed to Clearwater, where we spent the night.

Nick with his dolphin namesake at Clearwater Aquarium.

 Nick treated us to a sunset cruise on a pirate ship. Fun!

Saturday was spent at Busch Gardens. I went on four coasters and two water rides. Guess I’m not too old, yet!

Sunday was a casual day. I arranged for Nick to play golf with a friend of ours, Joe, who is always fun.

Monday afternoon we drove to Homasassa for a visit to the Wildlife Park.

 Tuesday Nick and Sarah returned to Phoenix. We certainly enjoyed their visit. The rest of October we were back to our usual activities...

Two National Parks Checked Off My Bucket List

On June 13, I flew to Denver where Erik and kids picked me up. We stopped in Fort Collins where my cousin Barbara and my Aunt Ellie joined us for lunch. I hadn’t seen them since 2009. Behind her oxygen cannula, she looked as I had remembered her and she’ll be 92 on the Fourth of July! My grandparents and their 5 children, one of which was my mother, had recently moved to Iowa from Denmark. The doctor coaxed Grandma to push extra hard so she could have the baby on their first Independence Day.

After spending the night in Rock Springs, Wyoming, we drove to Jackson, where we picked up the 31’ Class C RV I had reserved. We didn’t get it until late afternoon and drove to a nearby campground, Gros Ventre, near Grand Tetons National Park.

 

 

Wednesday morning, we drove through GTNP and Yellowstone NP, making one stop by some geysers.

 I had reserved three nights at a campground 9 miles outside West Yellowstone, MT, near the west entrance to the park. I began to get a little concerned as we had to drive 5 miles on a forest service road, a graded dirt road. On both sides we had nothing but fallen tree trunks from the 1988 fires. However, when we got to the campground, it was like an oasis. We ended up with a site which had a deck and Erik backed the camper right up to it so that we stepped out onto it. Also had nice fenced in area which made it feel like a yard. Best part of all…full hook-up. Water, sewer and electric. Sweet!

Thursday was cold and windy so we decided to go into town. We spent couple hours at the Wolf and Grizzly Discovery Center. Here they have bears, wolves and raptors unable to be in the wild for various reasons. It was especially fun to watch the grizzlies try to get food out of a bear proof garbage can. Companies send products to be tested to see how hard it is for the bears to get into them. Jeffrey was happy to see bears behind a fence. He didn’t even want to come on the trip because he was afraid of bears.

From the Discovery Center, we walked over to iMax to see “Yellowstone.” While it was interesting, I was disappointed it didn’t show more of the park in spring and summer. It was mainly a history lesson and most shots were taken in winter. Disappointing.

Friday was our geyser day. Back into Yellowstone Park, we headed directly to Old Faithful. After seeing OF perform, we hiked up to the Observation Point, a 200’ elevation change which doesn’t sound like much except when you’re already over 7000’ and live at sea level! I was breathing hard by the time I got to the top. We then followed a dirt trail through the woods, which Jeffrey wasn’t happy about, but wasn’t long before we came upon Solitary Geyser.

We got back to the boardwalk which goes around many other geysers surrounding OF. It was very windy and I lost my hat onto a geyser bed. You can’t walk out there so my hat is now in Yellowstone. We saw OF erupt one more time before leaving what is called Upper Geyser Basin. We then made stops at Midway Geyser Basin and Lower Geyser Basin. Pictures are worth a thousand words…

Solitary Geyser - my favorite

Solitary Geyser so called because it was by itself, surrounded by forest. We could sit quite close and Erik noticed the bubbling water. He pointed to it and about that time the geyser shot 4-5 feet in the air. In 20 minutes, we saw it go off three times. Pretty exciting!








 

We were to check out of our campground on Saturday morning and head to Gros Ventre again. However, we decided we wanted to go to Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone on Saturday. I called to see if we could get another night in our same spot and we could. So the next day, we drove back into the park to go to the northwest section. We were only a few miles into the park when traffic slowed to a crawl. We wondered what animals were crossing the road. After almost an hour, we got to the “trouble spot.” It was 4 elk on the other side of the river. We couldn’t believe so many people had to slow down for that. Once past that point, we had no further trouble with traffic and enjoyed the waterfalls on the Yellowstone River running through the Grand Canyon.

On way back to campground, saw this buffalo herd. Erik counted 25 adults and 12 babies.

Sunday we drove back down through Yellowstone and Grand Tetons to Gros Ventre. We made some stops along the way, one of which was Jackson Lake Lodge, a 5-star resort where presidents stay. We went inside the lobby which has large windows looking at the Tetons. They are so beautiful!!




After setting up camp, we went with Ron and Jane to Dornan’s, an iconic “village” on the plains with a great view of the Grand Tetons. Ron and Jane are friends who lived around the corner from us in Terravita. After coming to the Tetons for 11 years, they found a 4-bedroom condo, sold their Terravita home and are now residents of Wyoming. They have a lovely home in an idyllic setting, very peaceful.

Monday, June 20, we toured GTNP. We took a ferry across Jenny Lake and did a 3-mile hike, Took the ferry back and drove to Signal Mountain Lodge where Erik rented a speed boat and took the three kids for an hour-long ride. It was hot and I needed some peace so stayed at the lodge where I enjoyed a cold beer, Wyoming wings, and USA Today.

 

We had some problems with our RV Monday night, our last night. Erik had filled the water tank. I took a shower as did Gracie. Kadin was halfway through her shower when there was no more water. I had to give her bottles of drinking water to rinse her hair. There was a big puddle outside which was obviously the water tank. I told them about it when we returned the RV. Been nice if they’d offered a refund as we also had some trouble with the generator. Otherwise, it was a very nice RV.

Tuesday, after stopping by Ron and Jane’s, we drove to Salt Lake City. I took a shuttle to the airport on Wednesday, our 53rd anniversary. I saw that my flight was delayed 40 minutes. As I was concerned about missing my connection in Denver, I was able to get the last seat on an earlier flight. I preferred waiting in Denver for two hours than being stressed about my connection. Arne met me in Orlando. By this time, it was almost 8:30. So we did nothing special for this anniversary. We’ll make it up next week-end when we spend 3 nights at The Inn at Cocoa Beach.


Thursday, June 23, a month after my fall, my arm was no better. I stopped by my chiropractor who had me do some arm movements to see when I got pain. He said I should get an MRI to find out what’s going on or we could do more damage. I went to my primary care doctor Friday as she had to see me before calling in an order for the MRI. Now I’m waiting for Lake Imaging to call to set up an appointment. I really miss my sports and hope it’s not a tear. That could take months to heal and I’m scheduled to play basketball at the Huntsman Senior Games in Utah October 3!