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| Our Travels |
Over the past year, I’ve been reminded how very lucky I am:
-I’ve shared the past 35 years with the nicest guy I know (and probably
the only one that would put up with me!).
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| Pat discovered a love of lobster in Maine |
-I have two beautiful daughters:
-Sara: a wife, mother, and attorney. I’ve been awed by her magic since the day she
was born; however, when I see her with Jonah, words can’t express my admiration
for her as a mother.
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| Sara and Jonah |
-Emily: devoted to her faith and just finished her
first year as a high school English teacher.
She completed our family with her own wonderful magic, unique to her and
so very special to me. I am amazed that
this little person (she’s not real tall and not real big) can manage classrooms
full of high school students. I could not do what
she does.
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| Emily with Jonah |
-I have a son-in-law, Drew that I respect, enjoy, and love. He added his own special energy and humor to
our family that is more appreciated than he knows. And, he is a wonderful father to Jonah.
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| Drew and Jonah |
-I have a handsome, active, healthy, delightful grandson who has added
wonder back into my life.
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| Jonah will turn 1 on the 4th of July |
-I retired at a (fairly) young age from a job I loved; working with
people I consider friends.
-I’ve spent the last year enjoying a lot of family time as well as
traveling all over the United States.
-Really, I couldn’t ask for anything more!
On June 29, 2013, Pat and I set off for Denver and our 1st
great retirement adventure. On June 30,
2014, almost exactly one year later, we pulled back into Denver once
again. During that time, we gained a
grandson, lost a mother (Pat’s mom, Beth, passed away at the end of March), put
33,752 miles on "Bertha",
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| "Bertha" at -15 degrees in Loveland, Colorado |
stayed in 55 RV parks, ate all kinds of wonderful food,
and saw, drove through, and/or visited a large part of our country (if you
thought I was a numbers person, you’ve never met Pat, he’s the Type-A guy who
tracked the number of miles and RV parks, not me!).
People ask me where my favorite place was and that’s very hard to
answer. There are really very few places
we stayed longer than overnight that I haven’t liked. However, I would say that I have two favorite
places so far. One is man-made and the
other is a miracle of nature. First, I loved New York City.
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| New York City |
It was so busy and vibrant and alive; and I
really enjoyed sharing it with our friends from home Connie and Addison. There was so much to see and do that even
though we saw tons of things, I would love to go back and take the time to go
to the museums, a Broadway show, explore Central Park, etc.
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| Celebrating Connie's Birthday |
The most awe inspiring place I saw was Niagara Falls. It’s breath-taking, really words don’t do it
justice. And the fact that there are
multiple waterfalls that you can view from so many different perspectives
(including from below and within them) is wonderful.
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| Niagara Falls |
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| Upstate New York |
-There are dollar stores EVERYWHERE.
Big cities, large towns, small towns, the middle of nowhere. Family Dollar, The Dollar Store, Dollar
General (and there are others) populate the country!
-When you’re on the road for miles, you really appreciate the states
that have planted flowers along the roadside, in the freeway medians, on the
exit ramps. Their beauty really
brightens up long drives.
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| Roadside wild flowers in Texas |
So, we are settled here in Denver for about a month to relax, visit family,
and celebrate Jonah’s birthday on the 4th of July. From here, we head to Eugene for the month of
August. I hope to see many of you then. At the beginning of September, we start our 2nd great
retirement adventure. I’ll keep you
posted!
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| We still have a few more states to hit! |
