Coast to Coast

On Thursday, July 13, Arne and I drove up to Atlanta, left the car at our hotel and on Friday morning, we flew to San Diego. Taylor and friend, Nikkole, had flown in from Portland. The four of us drove to the wine country of Temecula, CA, where we would be joined by Erik, Kadin, Gracie, Jeffrey, Nick, Sarah, Aaron, Moondog and Sonja. I had rented a 5000 sq. ft. house outside town which turned out to be only four minutes from the Lake Oak Meadows Winery where my nephew would be getting married on Sunday night.

Friday evening, I invited Marla’s family to join us, bringing our group to 22. A beautiful evening with kids splashing in the pool.

Saturday, Arne and I were invited to the rehearsal brunch at Wilson Creek Winery. It was a very warm day and we were seated outside in a large gazebo. Here I got my first taste of almond champagne and doubt it’ll be my last. Delicious! That evening, Marla’s family joined us again as our “view  is so beautiful.” With our house being so large, the extra people made no difference. Still plenty of open spaces.

Sunday was spent with pool activities and dressing for the wedding. Nephew Ron and his family dropped in around 3 for a visit before the festivities which were scheduled to start at 5.

The wedding was beautiful.

My family waiting for the bride and groom.

Matt with his nephew, Drew, and Nick, my grandson.

Parents of the groom, my sister Marla

Matt and Janelle

We had to be out of our house by 10 AM on Monday. In spite of being up late, the younger folks were all out on time. We headed back to San Diego, as did Nick, Sarah and Aaron. We met up for lunch and walked to the beach. About 3, we checked into our hotel which was not very nice. It was a Comfort Inn near the Gaslamp district so was walking distance to many bars and restaurants. After a sushi dinner, the young people went on their own. Arne and I walked a short time before heading back to that hotel.

Tuesday morning, we flew back to Atlanta. Picked up our car and Wednesday morning drove about 30 minutes to a new Hampton Inn within walking distance of the new Atlanta Braves stadium. We watched the Cubs beat the Braves. Very nice day!

Thursday morning, we took a city tour of Atlanta which was pretty much a waste of time. We did return to the King Center where MLK and Loretta are entombed. Then a 4 hour drive to Asheville, NC where we toured the Biltmore House and Gardens on Friday. The house was built in late 1890’s by George Vanderbilt with his inherited money. While he didn’t live in it long, he and his wife left a legacy of another time which has been enjoyed by millions. There were 4400 people scheduled the day we went.

Biltmore House, Asheville, NC

Saturday we drove to Augusta, GA. Got a glimpse of a fairway on Augusta National, home of the Master’s golf tournament. This is what we were able to see, outside the gates!

If you look thru the opening, you can see part of a fairway of August National!

Pacific - Mission Beach in San Diego, CA

Atlantic - Fernandina Beach , FL

Had planned to spend two nights in Augusta but since there wasn’t anything to view on Sunday, we drove to Amelia Island, FL. Outdoor dinner near the beach meant we had completed a coast to coast trip with lunch by the Pacific Ocean and dinner by the Atlantic!

June Adventure

June brought along two big events in the life of Sharon Swensen. The first was the National Senior Games in Birmingham, AL, and the second was my 75th birthday.

On June 5th, I rode with an 79-year-old friend, Madline “Tiny” Cazel to Birmingham. I shared the driving and most of my 3+ hours were in soupy, rainy weather. I turned it back over to Tiny and we hit more heavy weather less than 20 miles from our hotel. After driving through a microburst, we witnessed at least half a dozen disabled cars, most in the median. None serious as we couldn’t travel fast. Needless to say, we were very happy to finally get to our hotel.

Tuesday was our practice day so pretty relaxing. Wednesday began Pool Play with games at 1 and 3. The first game was against the Mississippi Magnolias. You’d think they’d be gentle…NOT! The refs were really bad and were reported to the head ref after our game, which we lost by 1 point. We didn’t go to the free throw line once and I came out of that game with a badly jammed finger from a push and our captain was rammed in the chest, finding out after she got home that she has a fractured sternum.

We won the next three pool games, beating Chicago, Tennessee and Texas quite handily but, because of that one point loss, we were the second seed in our pool, meaning we had to play a third game at 4 PM on Thursday against Louisiana, which we won by 12 points.

On Friday, we had to play Mississippi again, and again, lost by 1 point. I had four fouls so was taken out with four minutes left in the game. Went back in with 1 minute. I think I should have been left in until I fouled out but that’s a problem with not having a coach. We won our next game meaning we’d be playing for bronze at our first game on Saturday, 8 AM.

We had lots of fun and many laughs in our off time. Here we are having lunch at a BBQ house.

We were now in the loser’s bracket (double elimination) and defeated Louisiana again to guarantee us a bronze medal. I sprained my ankle in that game so put on an ankle brace, which I originally bought for hiking, and finished the game. Our next game was…Mississippi!! Well, third time is a charm and we beat them by 6 points.  However, I fell and twisted my left ankle again. This time I saw stars and couldn’t get up without being helped to first aid where my ankle was heavily taped. I didn’t go back in that game. We now had silver and were quite happy. Rather than forfeit, we decided to avoid injuries in the last game and let everyone play. If we would have won, we would have had to play them again and, as this was our 10th game, we had very little left to give. Our goal was to get 15 points and hold them under 50. Final score 50-24. They were a good team, very good shooters and not rough, just good basketball. Our offense all week was awful. No-one  was shooting good but our defense got us to second place out of 16 teams. I averaged less than 8 points per game but had lots of blocks, interceptions and good defense. All this week I’ve been dealing with a bum ankle and very painful finger. Was it worth it? It certainly was!!

BTW, my friend Tiny earned several medals in track. She broke the NSGA record and World record for 80 year olds in the Javelin. Unfortunately, they wouldn't recognize the world record because she doesn't turn 80 until November. That's a shame.

Pat Boone participating as an athlete and performed that night at Celebration of Athletes

Friend, 91 year old Ryan. He got many medals in swimming and track. That's a problem with basketball...we played 10 games but only got one medal. :-(

June 14 was my 75th birthday. Yes, 75 is the new 65, so life is good! My team captain, Julie, invited me to lunch and a movie. We saw Gifted, a good chick flick. That night, Arne took me to Texas Roadhouse where I had a delicious filet. Phone calls and texts from sons and grandkids rounded out the day. My real celebration will be next month when our whole family gathers in Temecula, CA.

What have I been doing the last six months??

 For Christmas 2016, Arne and I went on an 8-day cruise with stops in Haiti, Jamaica, Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico. We went on the Oasis of the Seas with 6400 passengers and 2000+ crew. Once on the ship, you really don’t feel that there are that many passengers. Fortunately, a friend had told us to make reservations for the shows. We were not able to book two of the shows ahead of time but did get to see them once on the ship.


The highlight of our shore excursions was an all day trip to Chichén Itzå, one of the largest Mayan cities and it was likely to have been one of the mythical great cities.

Stone Ring located 9 m (30 ft) above the floor of the Great Ballcourt. Try putting a ball through that!

El Castillo dominates the center of the archaeological site.

January 13, I flew to Phoenix where I met Kadin at the airport. Her dad went with Gracie to her volleyball tournament in El Paso so Kadin asked me to join her in Phoenix for her volleyball tournament. I was happy to do that. Since she didn’t play until mid-afternoon on Saturday Kadin’s 16th birthday, we went to the mall to spend some of her Christmas money. She saw Build a Bear and I told her whatever she wanted, I would get the same. We came out with two tigers dressed in NBA uniforms, her choice! She named hers Kiki so I named mine Tiki.

With Tiki and Kiki

Team bonding, with cell phone, at breakfast

Erik and Gracie drove from El Paso to Phoenix Saturday night after her tournament. They got to our hotel late Saturday night.

Sunday was all volleyball. Kadin’s team didn’t do well and on Monday had to play early, way out in Queen Creek. I let Erik sleep in and I took Kadin. They lost their first game and were done, which was good since they had to drive back to Los Alamos that day. However, Erik didn’t seem in a big hurry. We met Nick, Sarah and Aaron D for lunch. Erik and the girls finally headed home around 2:30. I returned my rental car to the airport where Marla picked me up. I spent four days with her and Mark. On Friday, I flew to Albuquerque for another volleyball tournament. Erik brought Jeffrey down so I got to see all three grandkids. The girls went home with their mother. Erik, Jeffrey and I spent Monday night in Albuquerque and I flew home on Tuesday.

Family lunch on MLK Day

Lunch with high school friends from Iowa

February 18, I flew back to Albuquerque hoping to see Kadin play on Sunday. She was sick and didn’t play. Erik and I spent the night in ABQ and drove to Los Alamos on Sunday. Jeffrey came over and spent the whole week with us. He had no school on Monday and half day on Wednesday so I got to spend quite a bit of time with him.

Jeffrey entertaining himself during ANOTHER volleyball game

Gracie patiently waiting for her sister so we could head to Amarillo.

Jeffrey's Christmas present

 On Friday, I rode with the girls and Erik to Amarillo, TX, for another volleyball tournament. I flew home from there on Sunday afternoon.

March 6, Arne and I flew to Phoenix. We rented a house in Terravita for two weeks. The first week I hiked four times, three with sister Marla. Arne and I went to a Cubs Spring Training game, spent several hours at the Musical Instrument Museum and another day visited with good friends, the Dille’s. The second week we had visitors. Arne’s cousins from California, Marge and Eileen, were with us Tuesday to Thursday afternoon. Thursday night Erik and Jeffrey flew to Phoenix. Erik stayed with Nick as they were going to my nephew Matt’s bachelor weekend. We had Jeffrey for three days. We took him to the aquarium and butterfly exhibit the first day. The second day was desert walking and swimming. On Sunday, we picked up Erik and were joined at Cubs spring training game by Nick, Sarah and Aaron D. Erik and Jeffrey stayed with us until Tuesday, March 21, when we all flew home. Great two weeks!!

Arne with his California cousins, Eileen and Marge

March 29, I finally went on a Florida hike. It was a 5.5 mile round trip through pine trees. Rather boring after the hikes I had in Arizona.

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...