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December 8, 2006 It is December again and time to reflect on the past year. They certainly do seem to whiz by more quickly every time! This year has been bittersweet for us, especially for Dan. We have had a lot of great times, but have also had some rough patches. In late February, we kicked off our travel adventures with a two week trip to Hawai’i’s Big Island. We had never been there and were very excited about going. We were especially anxious to see the volcano. We spent most of the time in Kona at the newly remodeled Sheraton, right on the water. It does not have a beach, but there were plenty of places to snorkel nearby. Actually, this turned out to not be a ‘beachy’ vacation. We never did do any snorkeling except during our planned excursion, although we easily could have. What the Sheraton DID have was an awesome display of manta rays every evening just after dark. They turn underwater lights on and the manta rays are attracted to them and you can see them swimming around from the deck. One night we saw about 5 or 6 of them. We could have even gone swimming with them, but did not do that. We also took a boat excursion one day to the Captain Cook Monument which is not easily reachable from the shore, but has fantastic snorkeling from the boat. We heard that this area is one of the best in the world for snorkeling. We certainly enjoyed it. We also got to see a great area of turtles, although they were not as large or as ‘up close and personal’ as the ones I swim with in Maui. On Sunday, we went to the Christ Church Episcopal in Kealakekua and enjoyed it very much. The regular services are now in a modern building, but their 1867 building is used for some services. In fact, they were having a ‘Mardi Gras’ party the following Tuesday evening, so we decided to put on our ‘island duds’ and join in. They had quite a spread including red beans and rice and bourbon bread pudding. It was lots of fun. We went back the next morning for an Ash Wednesday service, which was held in the 1867 church. We met some really nice people and enjoyed both the services and the festivities. We spent a lot of time driving around since the island is so big. One day we drove up to the Parker Ranch and then to the tip of the island where you can see the Hakeakala volcano on Maui. We drove around the Kailua-Kona area, which has a LOT of traffic; we decided it was worse than the traffic around Lahaina on Maui. We were glad we saw the area, but still prefer Maui. Hawai’i is our second favorite island, though. Our last 3 days we spent on the windward (east) side of the island, where it rains ‘all the time’! We were able to fit in a helicopter ride over the volcano in between raindrops. It was a fantastic experience, something I will not soon forget. I wasn’t sure about riding in a helicopter without doors and almost got cold feet at the last minute, but then remembered it was already charged to my credit card, so I’d better just suck it up and enjoy it. One we were airborne it was great. We had a female pilot and she was very knowledgeable and informative. We spent a day looking around Hilo, including going to the Akaka waterfall in a pouring rainstorm. We were not the only idiots tromping around in the rain, however. It was definitely worth it. When we got back to our condo, we stopped and walked on the black sand beach which was just about ½ mile down the road. Pretty amazing. Our last full day there we went to Volcanoes National Park and saw a great deal of it. We even walked through an ancient lava tube in the rain forest. Everything was so interesting. We had done a lot a research before we went to make it even more informative. One of the things we discovered near our condo was a place with the most incredible malasadas in the universe! They were filled with custard and were ‘to die for’. We managed to hit that place about 4 times in the 3 days we were in the area. All in all, big island is an amazing experience and we are very glad we went, but we still like Maui and will be going there next September for 3 weeks to celebrate my 65th birthday. Yeah, Medicare time! Our last few days in Hawaii were shadowed by news that Dan’s brother Irv in Illinois was quite ill. We were suspecting the worst since his family has a history of cancer. Unfortunately we were right and the day after we returned to Boise Dan flew back to Chicago to spend a week with Irv while he was in the hospital weighing his options, which were not good. Dan came back to Boise and within three days we got a call that Irv had passed away. Dan’s first words were “Thank God”, since Irv had been in a great deal of pain. We both flew to Chicago the next day and spent a week there visiting and helping out and sharing our sorrow with everyone there. He was so beloved in Downers Grove, where he had taught in the high schools for over 25 years, that both high schools lowered their flags to half mast on the day of the funeral. Dan’s Mother was particularly hard hit by Irv’s death. She had been living in a special apartment in his brother Gary’s home for two years. For the past year or so she had had around the clock care. It turned out that Irv’s funeral was the last time she left the house. In the weeks and months after that, she just went down hill very quickly. She was not able to walk, or after a while even get out of bed. In early August it became clear that she was failing very fast and Dan went back there once more to be with her for a week. It was the second time in 6 months that he had had to go through the same situation and it was very hard on him. I know that both times it was incredibly difficult for him to leave and come back to Boise knowing it would be the last time he saw his brother or mother. Dan’s mom passed away peacefully on August 18th. We once again made reservations and flew out the next day to spend a week in Chicago for a funeral. On September 3, we flew to Vancouver, BC, for a 10 day cruise to Alaska on Celebrity’s Infinity cruise ship. This trip had been booked over a year in advance. We were not sure if we were going to be able to take the trip, due to all the issues described above, but as it turned out, it was a good time for us to get away to help with our own recovery. We did really enjoy it. Everyone had said that September is too late to go and we would only have rain everywhere. Well, the only day we had rain was in Juneau. That did cause our seaplane excursion to Taku Glacier Lodge to be cancelled, but it cleared up pretty well later in the morning and we had a nice day walking around Juneau and taking a local tour to the Mendenhall Glacier. The day we were in Sitka it was sunny and the locals told us it was the first sunny day in 6 weeks! We loved Sitka, especially St. Michael’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral. We walked a lot that day and visited some very interesting museums and libraries in the area. One day we were at Hubbard Glacier and it would have been impossible to have gotten closer to the glacier. We were within two hundred yards of it. We sat on the balcony of our cabin and took pictures of the ice chunks breaking off (calving). It was cold but clear that day. We also stopped at Icy Straight Point (the Tlingit village of Hoonah, population under 900) which is an interesting old salmon fishing area with a cannery. It is a mostly undeveloped native area that has just been opened up to limited tourist exposure. Only four ships a week can visit there, where in other ports there are often more than four ships in port each day. Our last port of call was Ketchikan where we saw salmon and an awesome display of totem poles. We also visited Dolly’s House, the home of a prostitute who worked there in her own house, alone, for over 40 years! We walked around some more, but I was beginning to come down with what turned out to be a stubborn case of bronchitis, so we returned to the ship and spent the afternoon playing bridge. We enjoyed bridge games almost every day and even came in first on the last day we played. We enjoyed the cruise very much, and of course ate WAY too much. But overall we think that Princess Cruises are better and would probably not pick Celebrity as our first choice if Princess had a cruise on the same route. We docked at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, which was a total zoo. There were two cruise ships off loading at the same time, as well as the other ship also reloading, so it was a nightmare. Dan took a shuttle to get a rental car and I schlepped the bags to the curb and waited almost two hours for him to make it back to pick me up because of the traffic. We drove to Fresno to spend the night with my sister and the next day drove on down to San Bernardino, California, where there was a service on Saturday to inter Dan’s Mom’s ashes with his step-dad Ted’s. On the drive down there we went through Bakersfield and over to Mojave which brought back memories for both of us of spending a good part of our young adult years in the area, although we weren’t there at the same time. It was good to be able to share those memories as we drove through the area. Cinda and Dan’s brother Gary came out to California for the service, which was also attended by Dan’s step-brother and step-sisters, as well as many other relatives and friends. On Sunday we flew home to Boise, having been away for 2 weeks. We were ready to stay home for a while. Well, almost! The next weekend we got in the Corvette and drove down to Salt Lake City where our Boise State Bronco Football team demolished the Utah Ute football team. By the fourth quarter only Boise State Fans were still in the stadium! That evening, we went up and went out to dinner with Dan’s sister Sue and her husband. It was a fun weekend, but again, we were glad to be home. Dan had to take one more previously scheduled trip. In late October he went to Monterey, California, to the Internet Librarian Conference. It was again a little hard at times for him, since for several years he had spent a good deal of his time at that conference with Irv and his mom before she sold the house and they each moved back to the Chicago area. The year HAS had its good points. We have both been going to Weight Watchers and are doing pretty well. We are certainly feeling better and it is good going together and sharing the planning and tracking of food. It helps both of us stay on track. Right now my goal is to get through the holidays without gaining any of the 54 pounds back that I have lost since April. Our dog, Angel, continues to bring us much joy and amusement. After resisting having a dog for so long, we really are enjoying her. We have awesome neighbors who keep her fed and watered and entertained when we are traveling. Dan got a new boss in May and has been very busy with new projects. I have been working 14 hours a week at the University Library in addition to the 30 hours at my regular job. We are probably about 3 years away from retirement—or less. We are already starting to plan our big retirement trip to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and maybe Tahiti and Hawaii thrown in for good measure. Dan loves his Corvette and has been in several parades this year. He can pretty much drive it year round, even here in Boise. He is an active member of the Valley Corvette Club and participates in as many of their multitude of activities as he can fit in. We are also, of course, big Boise State Bronco fans. They have had a fantastic year and we will be going to Phoenix for 5 days to see them in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day. Watch the game on your local Fox channel and we’ll wave to you. We have never been in Arizona together, so it should be a fun trip. Dan grew up there, but it is not anywhere near the same town as it was in the 1950s! We don’t get to see our kids and grandkids as often as we would like, but they all seem to be doing fine. Maybe when we retire we will be able to visit with them more. Dan also keeps busy in the yard, mostly tending his 61 rose bushes, with a few more to come next year. He just planted 150 tulip bulbs, so we should also have color before the roses bloom in the spring. Roses were still in bloom this year in early November. We play a lot of bridge. Dan is very active at our church, although he is not leading a Bible Study class this year. We were both saddened a couple of weeks ago when one of our members for the past three years, a retired Episcopal priest, died of cancer. Dan was a pall bearer at the funeral. I have heard that deaths come in threes, so I hope Dan has had his quota for a long time. My sister sold her house and has moved to the Bay area to be near her kids and grandkids. I plan to take a long weekend in February and visit her in her new digs. I think it was time for her to do that and get out of Fresno. We have no ties there any more. Neither one of us felt sad at her selling the house and leaving. I told Dan that I didn’t think this year’s letter would be so long, but obviously I was wrong. We hope everyone has a happy and peaceful New Year spending time with the ones you love. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all, |
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