October 2009

Disturbances in the night, searchlights, gunfire, and armed patrols driving the streets. No, we are not in a war zone, we are in Churchill, Manitoba for the annual Fall gathering of Polar Bears where they wait for Hudson Bay to freeze over. With around 1500 bears on the coast some will inevitably enter populated areas. When they do they are either driven off, trapped, or “darted.” Trapped and darted bears are held in captivity till the freeze-up occurs and then they are released.

Our lodgings and the tours to see the bears were made through the Lazy Bear Lodge company. Their hotel is built almost entirely of logs that were salvage logged off of nearby area that had suffered a forest fire. Otherwise all building material and other goods arrive by train or air since there are no roads to Churchill.

Lee had arranged that we would visit a sled dog kennel the first afternoon. The driver that picked us up told us that he had just seen the patrol crew drive a bear out of town by firing “cracker shells” at him. Cracker shells are fired from a shotgun and make noise and fireworks that, hopefully, scare the bears into leaving.

The sled dog operation we visited was owned by a man whose passion is dog racing. Conducting paid tours of his facility and giving sled rides is his means of supporting his habit and feeding the dogs. He also breeds dogs to sell to other ‘mushers.’ After some time spent meeting dogs and hearing about their care and training we were given a couple of rides. Because there was no snow we rode in a summer dog training vehicle with wheels instead of runners. The first run was made with a seasoned team, but then they put in some newbies to see how they might work out. When the dogs are being hooked up to the traces all the dogs in the kennel go wild because they all want to go.

Early the next morning we were loaded onto a converted school bus for the first day of bear watching. Everybody got pretty excited at our first bears, even though they were “binocular bears” and we didn’t get very close. That soon changed and we got right on top of some males that were hanging around another sled dog kennel. The bears essentially ignored the dogs although some dogs were pretty excited regarding the bears. Amazing interactions between the bears and these dogs can be found on You-tube. Just enter “bear” and “dog” in the search.

The bears at the dog compound were males, some fairly large, with scars from past fights. Some move around but others just hang out or nap to conserve energy. There is little for them to eat until the ocean freezes and they can pursue seals. They are basically living on their fat while on land.

We saw several females with cubs but only at a distance with binoculars. We got out of the bus only once to look at an “old style: bear trap used to catch bears for research. The guide took his shotgun and told us not to wander off.

The following day we went into the Wapusk National park and transferred to Tundra buggies. The “roads” in the park are much rougher and it takes a different vehicle design to negotiate the terrain there. We even drove across some shallow lakes.

Great White Bear Tours has a mobile lodge they pull into the park during the season. Visitors to these facilities are quartered here several days right amongst the bears on a 24 hour basis. While at this location a driver of a “honey wagon” came to empty the lodge holding tanks. One bear was attracted to the truck and the driver came out on the landing. His judgment was questioned by both our fellow passengers as well as our guide.

Our tour group had about 25 or 30 people in it. About half were Canadian, the rest had come from the U.S. A., Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. It is definitely an international destination.

Our fourth and last day was spent touring the town and surrounding area. On this trip we were introduced to history (both old and recent), Hudson Bay Company sites (fortifications), how people live here, etc.

Though we came prepared for sub-zero cold, it hovered around freezing through most of our visit. The last day while waiting to go to the airport the wind came up and raised some concern about the airline canceling our flight. Fortunately we were able to leave especially since our room was already occupied by the next shift. Luckily that didn't happen.

August & Sept

The end of summer 2009....

August found us enjoying our last camping trip with Cameron. Unfortunately we forgot his sleeping bag so he and I (Lee) had to share the bed in our van....he loved it! We had a close encounter with a bat...in the daytime...he was feeding among the tall trees. Cam and I watched him for 30 minutes and the little bat came within a foot of both of us eatting the bugs we were attracting. It was kool!

The fruit did really well on our property this year. We took a large tree down last year to get more sun in the orchard and fertilized all the trees...so it paid off. We had figs, cherries, plums, pears, and even some apples. We ate our fill of fresh blue and black berries...and canned some jam. Jim wanted Washington strawberry preserves so I got a flat from this organic farm about a mile away...put away a dozen jars. My neighbor invited us to share in the picking of her peaches....I preserved them for the neighbors. But I think my best product is my fig preserves....I put lots of ginger in them and they are hot!

September Jim went to New orleans to visit his Mom and help her down size. I volunteered to try to help her sell some of her collectables on ebay....that'll be a project for next month. I spent the time sewing my Grand niece, Simone's halloween costume. She wanted to be a regular princess, not Cinderella or Snow White...just your garden variety princess. Trust me Simone will never be a garden variety anything....she's very special. She and her Mom, Christine are working on her shoes and tiara.....

Our best to all our family and friends!

July 2009

My friend from Atlanta, Joan, came for two weeks. She mostly wanted to get away from her normal routine, rest and think about what's next in her life. I did drag her up to Tacoma and Seattle to visit Jamie and Ben. She had not seen them since they were in high school.

We made two visits to the Farmer's Market for fresh berries....Joan makes the best three berry Sangria and I had to suffer through two batches....ha ha

We did do a little wine tasting at Pheasant Hill Vineyard in the Gorge and hung out with my friend Karen at the Chinese Garden in Portland's china town....after dim sum.

It was a nice visit.

Following Joan's visit Jim's cousins, Barb and Jack, from Houston came in for a week. Barb brought her grandson Jakub. They brough hot weather with them to the northwest....we were in the 100's during their visit. Soooo strange!

To keep cool we tried our hand at camping on Mount St Helen's, great views. We were able to take a chilly dip in a stream and had some beautiful hikes all making it a memorable trip.

We took a day, without Jakub, and rafted the Deschutes....check out photos for a taste of the trip. I am sitting (for awhile) on the back.

It looks worse than it was.....

We finished their visit with a trip to the beach....unfortunately we did not have a low tide. I really wanted Jakub to enjoy the tide pools...but they are going to have to come back to see our tide pools.

The week was filled with lots of family stories, laughs and makin' new memories. I enjoyed getting better acquainted with them and I know Jim enjoyed the visit. I sure wish we lived closer to family....or family to us. Miss you guys!~

All our love to you and yours.

New York, New York...July 4th 2009

We were off to New York for the holiday.

Simone's school closed for the week. We took advantage of this time to try a little cabin camping.....rustic cabin in the Adirondacks ....a step up from tent camping. It was our girl's first real encounter with the outdoors and we wanted her to love it....so she will travel with us more and explore our world.

We had a lovely time, made many stops to check out the view and stretch our legs. Saw 10 deer, chipmunks, cardinals, blue jays, a family of ducks, geese and lots of other birds. We had a deer come fairly close and in Simone's words, "that was cool"

Our only bump in the road/trip was bugs....Simone does not like bugs. She calls

all of them flies and .....we don't like flies. It took a couple of days, talking to her ....Jim explaining that there are more bugs in the world than people so if we are trying to avoid them we will never go anywhere....aside from the fact that we were visiting 'their' home, the woods, and had to be good guests... And we empowered her....to take control and remove a ant from her own foot, or to swat a "fly" on her arm.....but by day 3 it was all worth it....she was a lot more comfortable.

We took some time and visited the visitor center. They had a butterfly house which was cool. Simone was O.K. with butterflies and moths....don't ask me why?

I think Daiseies are the friendliest

of flowers, don't you?

We also went to a wildlife museum and saw otters, snakes, turtles....and lots of the local fish. She loved that.

Oh and we had bubble time.....

Before we left Josh got us VIP passes to the concert in Central Park....good music and fun seeing our nephew do his thing at the concert. We enjoyed a wonderful italian dinner together with our friend Paul.

On the back end of our camping trip we allowed 3 days to enjoy New York with Christine (Josh was at the Montreal Jazz Fest working ....except for our last day.)

.

We fit in some time at the Metropolitan art museum, people watching and running at Central Park and Dim Sum in China town...thanks to the Jackson's for their hospitality ....we miss you all!

The week did not pass without some sadness. One of my favorite people, my Uncle Jimmy, my Mom's brother, passed on the 4th. He was quite the character, he lived life full of laughter and love....and transitioned exactly the way he wanted on a normal day after laughing in bed, with his wife, Margaret, he passed in his sleep. May we all be so blessed.

June 2009- Dolphins, snorkeling & Return to Everglades

Cam completed another fantastic school year and moves on to middle school next year. To celebrate his accomplishment we took him for a small visit to the Everglades....snorkeling in the Keys ....and a little swim with a dolphin named Pax. Jim and I always enjoy our time with Cam and this trip was no different.

Here is Cam starting a splash fight with Pax. He learned you have to take it like a man if you start a splash fight with a dolphin....cause you are going to lose. No doubt about it!

I have no underwater pics of our snorkel and the weather did not cooperate so we could not get out to the reef which is a couple of miles off shore. However we found 3 very good beaches and for his first snorkel adventure I think we did quite well. He saw 3 lobsters, 2 huge Angel fish, a huge grooper, a large puffer, a school of colorful neons, parrot fish, grunts, trunk fish....and many small colorful reef fish.

Thanks Cameron....for a wonderful time and some very special memories. Here are some of our pics:

May 2009

It's nice to be home and back in a regular healthy routine....eatting right and getting some regular exercise is easier when not traveling. I also love sleeping in my own bed and walking around our property. Jim is a little worried as he says, "You're too happy about being home. I'm afraid I will not get you back on the road again."

No fears there! But May I just enjoyed being home. Yes there was yard work and clean up from the winter... but we have come to expect that every spring. Actually we had a cold and rainy spring. It was like going from winter to summer on May 25th Memorial Day....when it got into the 80's. Here in the Northwest that is considered beating heat! Ha ha

My only travel this month was a week to Tacoma to stay with Cam. We had a great time as I have missed him dearly while gone. Jamie and Steve were off to Las Vegas with Ben and Flo to celebrate Ben and Steve's birthdays. Yes, Ben is now 30 and Steve a 30+ (I hear it is impolite to give the actual number of years after 30?).

I got a taste of how busy life is with a near teenager for the first 4 days I was with Cam. There was baseball practise, a baseball game, a science project to support, band practise to get him too, a costume to put together for presentation and of course bring and picking up from school. Cam told me, "it doesn't feel like we are on vacation." That's because we weren't!

But then the weekend came and he had two friends come to spend the night, with lots of laughter and playing. Jim caught the train in and we went to the Seattle Mariner's game with popcorn, cracker jacks, pretzels and you really do not need to know the rest. Sunday we took a walk to check out the low tide and the pools for sea life. Then we picked Jamie and Steve up at the airport and headed to Seattle to meet Ben and Flo for birthday dinner celebration......I"M GETTING TOO OLD TO BE THIS KOOL!

May ended on a more serious note. My Dad went to the hospital Friday May 29th, had a small stroke. He is doing fine, no damage, just a little scare. His sense of humor is very much in tack. Upon arrival to the hospital he announced "my stroke didn't kill me but the drive with Florence (my Mother) to the hospital almost did."

I'm very proud of him, he really puts some effort into staying physically and mentally active and because of that he is very healthy....this was his first stay in a hospital in his life! He had a busy day and might have over extended himself. We are hoping he will take better care and pace himself a little better.

Oh, here is a pic of Cameron dressed as young Darwin....this is the costume we put together for his presentation. He did quite well. Look at those mutton chops....we made them out of teddy bear fur.

All our love to you and yours!

Lee

12th & final week of Roadtrip '09

After leaving the Arkansas property we stopped at Eureka Springs, in Arkansas. It is a little town that grew around the springs in the area. People traveled here for the hope of some medical relief to their individual discomforts. We enjoyed walking around the little town...it grew during the Victoria era. And the homes, streets and town itself are like a time capsule of that era.

We traveled back roads from Arkansas through Kansas and Nebraska to reach Casper, WY. We happened along a chain saw artist festival and picked up a new friend. Eddie the Eagle will greet guests at our door from now on. He was made by the only woman artist at the festival.

Going through Dodge City, KS we stopped by Buffalo Bill's home for a pic. We did not go in out of respect for Jim's grandfather. He met Buffalo Bill when he was a kid and did not have a favorable impression of him. He never had anything good to say about him....and that was all I needed because I did not want to honor someone that killed over 4000 buffalo to get his nick name.

We had a little car trouble about 200 miles out of Casper our fuel pump went out. We got the car started but were told that we could not stop it till we got to Casper....a little nerve racking! We made it to Casper and stayed at Barb & Dennis' home while getting the car fixed. Unfortunately Dennis, Jim's brother, was in Texas fishing but our sister- in- law, Barb and her family, made us welcome. We had a great visit. And thanks to her daughter, Angela, I came home with my nails looking beautiful! Thanks Angie!

We packed up as the snow....IN APRIL....came down in Casper....didn't we leave in this? We arrived home Saturday night happy to be here! And greeted warmly by our cat, Barney.

Thanks to everyone that was a part of our adventure and to all the family and friends that opened their homes and hearts to us along the way. We look forward to re-paying your hospitality when you make a visit to the Northwest! Hope to see you soon! You have our gratitude and love....