Crawford Chronicles

Cousin's Reunion - Texas

2010-04-26T17:36:00.000-07:00

Iconic Texas Scenes: Indian Blanket and Bluebonnet, windmill, longhorn, and cow skull.

A year ago when Lee and I were on our way to the Everglades we stopped near Cherokee Texas to see my cousin Doris. She and her husband Steve (aka “Speedy”) live there where they raise Texas longhorn cattle and trap a feral hog once in awhile. It’s a great place situated in what we call the Hill Country of Texas. Somehow, (the details are no longer clear,) the idea emerged that we should have a Crawford family reunion of all the cousins I grew up with (paternal side). In addition, we thought we should have it at their place.

Below Our hostess Doris and our host Speedy

The turnout was great. All the cousins attended as well as the two surviving aunts in the family. Some of us had not been together since we were in high school.

In addition it turned out to be a special year for the visit, since the grandest display of wildflowers in central Texas was at the peak of bloom. The area had been receiving steady rains since September, at the right times and the right amounts.

Flower shots:

Below: Texas bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas

Our branch of the family (Myself, Lee, my sister Kathy, my Mom, my brother Dennis and his wife Barbara) stayed at a ranch near Llano Texas that rented cabins and small houses to visitors. Our cabin was about 4 miles down a gravel road and we had to drive through a creek to get to the house. It is some distance from the owner’s house and the other rental cabin so we had a lot of privacy. This turned out to be a very good thing since the women stayed up late the first night while my brother and I went to bed. We won’t get into the details here, but if we had been in town I think the police would have shown up.

Right: Creek crossing to get to the cabin

Our cabin

Right: Unwelcome visitor

My Mom and Lee reading gravestones from the 1800's.

It was a great visit with the cousins, etc. with lots of laughs. My cousin Doris took care of all the food including things she cooked as well as takeout from a famous Texas Barbeque joint, Coopers in nearby Llano, Texas. We made several trips up the hill to their upper pasture to look at the longhorns, burros, and wildflowers. Most of the rest of the group saw a feral hog run by, but I missed it.

My cousin Doris and family (including 2nd and 3rd cousins)

Below: The Burros, Checking the cattle.

Below; Dennis helping cousin Sharon dig rocks for her garden, longhorn, cousin Kenneth and a longhorn.

Below: Herd ,cousins and aunts photo

The re-union broke up Sunday night but our immediate family stayed for a few more days to sit on the porch and take some side trips. Monday we went to Fredericksburg Texas, ate German food, and took a locally famous drive on nearby side roads to see more wildflowers.

On Tuesday we and headed for Lampasas Texas to see the area our maternal
Grand-parents had lived. We were traveling in two cars and I turned off to stop at a small cemetery to photograph flowers. I thought my brother’s car was behind me but he had fallen behind. We saw him shoot by so we hurriedly loaded up and drove back to the road and gave chase, since it was obvious he thought we were still in front of him. I knew he would speed up at some point to try and catch us making him hard to catch in turn.

Finally after about 15 miles we saw him ahead but when we came up he didn’t see us. Our rental was a light colored minivan but he was following a different light colored minivan with smoked glass so he couldn’t tell who the occupants were. We honked off and on but couldn’t get his attention. Finally the car he was following pulled off to see what was going on with all the honking and my brother followed suit. I went past a ways to park and Lee asked me why I didn’t stop. I said “that guy may have a gun, so I’m parking over here.” Dennis realized he had been chasing the wrong car, came over where we were parked, and we headed out. I’m sure that guy in the other van is still wondering what was going on, but we had a good laugh over it.

We went on to Lampasas to visit my grandparents’ old home site. We stopped in town to get more Texas Barbeque (We tend to stock up while we can when in Texas) then drove to the little town of Florence. After a bit of searching we found the house that belonged to my great grandmother, where my mother was born, and where she often spent her summers as a child.

Right : My sister Kathy and sister-in-law Barbara.

Cody the dog.

Cody enjoying the bluebonnets

Cousin Kent and his wife Kathleen

My sister Kathy shooting some Indian Paintbrush.

THE END

2010-04-25T21:12:00.000-07:00

In March we traveled to the US Virgin Islands with our grandson Cameron. The primary focus of this trip was snorkeling, a pastime Cameron appears to be inordinately fond of. (Actually Lee and I are pretty fond of it too.) Unlike some of other snorkeling trips we have taken, we have no underwater photos of this one. The small throwaway waterproof cameras have been disappointing in their performance so we decided to skip them this time.

It’s a pretty long air trip from our home in Washington to Saint Thomas. We left early on a March morning from Seattle, and arrived after dark in the town of Charlotte Amalie. Our hotel for the night was the Galleon Inn, which is kind of perched on a steep slope above the town center. We negotiated our luggage up a maze of stairs and ramps to get to our room. There appears to be little order in the layout or design, it was apparently built in a random fashion probably to conform to the variations in the terrain.

In the morning we walked around the area near the hotel. There was a cluster of tents where the locals were selling to the tourists near the waterfront. Lee decided to have her hair braided into “corn-rows” by one of the ladies there while Cameron and I looked around. Lee asked the lady how they learn the art and she told her that little girls there get dolls with hair which they practice on, then graduate to doing their own. Later Lee said that she found the braided hair was perfect for a snorkeling trip since it kept her hair out of her face and was very low maintenance.

We contracted a taxi driver to take us to a grocery store and to the Red Hook ferry landing for the trip over to St. John Island. We stocked up on groceries for the week at what was reportedly one of the better groceries on the island. We focused on easy camping menu items but we did stop to salivate over the huge spiny lobsters in their tank. Alas, we had no way to keep one alive nor a pot big enough to cook in.

At Red Hook Landing we arrived as the ferry was loading so we experienced a bit of stress hurrying with our baggage, getting our tickets, and negotiating the unfamiliar loading process. There were a number of pleasure craft wandering around and about a third of the way over the crossing we saw a sailboat race in progress with all the boats with their spinnakers out.

At the landing in the town of Cruz Bay we contracted a St John taxi to carry us to the campground at Cinnamon Bay. A Saint John Taxi is almost invariably a modified pickup truck with seats in the bed and a canopy top. The roads are twisty, precipitous and narrow. In addition they drive on the left side of the road there , a custom apparently left over from when Denmark possessed the islands. It is debatable whether it is scarier to ride in a speeding taxi with the horn blowing frequently or to drive yourself.

My sister and I camped at the National Park campground at Cinnamon Bay in 1973. About 60 % of the island is US National Park land so it is far better protected from development than the other islands. I found on this trip that there is a lot more development now, more upscale housing, and more touristy stuff like restaurants and shopping. All in all it is better than St Thomas though, at least for us.

We checked in and got our cabin assignment, then moved in. In 1973 we brought a tent, but the prohibitive fees for baggage on airlines makes the cabins a better option these days. OK, they are a little more comfortable than the tent approach, too. The accommodations are basic, two screened walls, two masonry walls, four beds and a cooking/eating area. The propane cooking stove is outside and there is an outside eating area too. It was about 30 yards to the shower/bathroom area. The birds are noisy, and much to Cameron’s delight the place was overrun with lizards and a few iguanas. I immediately noted the absence of mongoose which were prolific here in 1973. We later saw mongoose in the forest at Waterlemon Bay as well as wild donkeys. Below is a cabin, the huge tree by the restaurant on the grounds, and a typical view of palms.

Snorkeling was our main focus most days. Areas we went to included the following:

Cinnamon bay; 50-60 yards from our font door. This was a shock and disappointment to me. In 1973 there was a least an acre, maybe two, of solid staghorn/elkhorn/brain coral around Cinnamon key in this bay. There were also multitudes of fish some in schools so thick you couldn’t see through the school. Now it looks like it was carpet bombed. A few very small clumps of coral remain; the rest is gone along with 90% of the fish we saw. Instead of the fantastic forest of golden brown coral there are the littered remains of gray, lifeless rubble. Later we found out the reef here was a victim of coral bleaching, which is occurring at different places throughout the tropics.

Two views of Cinnamon Bay below. The water is still fantastic!

Francis Bay. This is primarily eel grass habitat as well as a long rocky section flanking the north shore. The big thrill here was sea turtles of which Cameron found three. One had remoras attached to its back. When I dove down to see them better they detached from the turtles back, swam under him and re-attached to his bottom shell to hide from me. There were a lot of small colored fish on the rock margin.

Majo Bay. This bay has a very pretty beach because of the coconut palms. Murky water was in this bay, maybe from all the boats that moor here. Stingrays were the featured find here.

Majo Bay-Right

Levango Cay. We took a guided sailboat tour to this little island north of Cruz Bay. This was probably the best snorkel of the trip. The skipper dropped us in water 20-25 ft deep which reminded me of the Galapagos. After dropping in, we swam up into shallower water where we could see better. We went with two other people. The lady in the other party had only snorkeled once, and had a momentary bad experience here till she got used to it. This place had lot of soft coral, a good amount of hard coral and plentiful fish. Our skipper was quite a character. He has spent a lot of his life diving and sailing. He had a house on Levango.

Waterlemon Cay. You have to walk in on a trail to get to this place then swim a ways. Usually that combo would weed out most of the tourists but this place had a surprising number of people. There was a strong tidal current flowing between St. John and the cay and out into the straits between St. John and the British Virgins, but we got through without much stress. We even saw a turtle give up and swim back. We watched some other people that didn’t compensate for the flow and got swept out a ways. They turned back and eventually landed back on the St John shorebut further out. Cameron liked the trip along the shore better than the coral beds around the cay since he has more of a focus on fish. A new find here was a flounder with iridescent blue spots.

At one point we returned to town and picked up a rental jeep. This got us to the some of the places described above. We also went out to Coral Bay and the East end. The sailboat captain had recommended snorkeling the mangrove bays in the East end but we didn’t have time. Maybe some day.

Above and right: Our ride and East End/Coral Bay scenes. It is drier on the back side and there is more cactus there.

Cruz Bay Scenes Below

Cameron on the beach

A featured scene in Cruz Bay is chickens. There were hens with little chicks everywhere, in the road, in the park, in the shrubs, and once, under our table. I thought I had some pictures of them but couldn't find them

We had about a day in Saint Thomas again before we left the USVI. The taxi driver who picked us up at the Red Hook ferry landing picked some others up a t the same time. He took the scenic tour over the crest of the mountain above Charlotte Amalie which gives one a totally different perspective of the island. We based in the Galleon hotel again, dragging our luggage up and down the confusing stairs. On our last day we checked out the local sights including the 99 steps (see picture) and Blackbeards castle. We sat on our veranda looking at the flowers, tropical foliage and the “resident iguana.” Lee and Cameron spent most of the afternoon in the pool while I explored the older part of town and the waterfront.

2009-11-10T18:21:00.000-08:00

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

2009-09-16T18:25:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-02T21:02:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-02T08:25:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-26T22:00:00.000-07:00

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....

11th week of Roadtrip '09

2009-04-13T19:22:00.000-07:00

First for all our friends and avid blog readers I apologize that we are so late in updating the blog. We have been working on clearing the road on the Crawford 75 acres in Arkansas and as you guessed by now....there is no cell nor internet service there. That said.....

We made our way back up Florida, through Georgia and into Arkansas this week. On the way out of Florida we made two stops:

1) we visited the Coral Castle in Miami. We had seen it on PBS and were both interested in exploring it. It is actually made of limestone. The man who built it was Edward Leedskalnin born in Riga, Latvia on August 10th, 1887. When Ed was 26 years old, he was engaged to be married to his one true Love, Agnes Scuffs. Agnes was ten years younger than Ed; he affectionately referred to Agnes as his “Sweet Sixteen”. Agnes cancelled the wedding just one day before the ceremony saying he was too old for her....I think the truth was he was just too weird! Anyway heartbroken and deeply saddened by this tragic loss, Ed set out on a lifelong quest to create a monument to his lost love that has culminated into one of the world’s most remarkable accomplishments. Ed’s unusual creation is called the Coral Castle, (it was originally called “Rock Gate Park”). Ed without any outside assistance or large machinery single-handedly built the Coral Castle. He carved and sculpted over 1,100 tons of coral rock as a testimony to his lost love, Agnes. I guess it is worth noting that Ed was only 5ft tall and 100lbs. He said he truly understood the laws of weights and leverage as the Egyptians did....nothing supernatural or metaphysical....but he never let anyone see how he moved his rocks doing all his work at night by lantern light. The place was remarkable. There is one rock, 5 tons in weight. He found the single point of balance in this odd shaped rock and hung it from that point as a gate...you could move it with one finger. Scientist have come to Xray it and study it and no one knows yet how he found the balance point and moved it into place by himself. If you're interested check out their web site: http://www.coralcastle.com/ Here are a few of our pics:

2. Our second stop was to swim with manatees in crystal river. It was very kool....we were the first b oat out in the morning...7AM and got to hit the springs before the masses arrived or as Jim says....it became people soup. I got to swim with 4 manatees....a mom and her young calf and a mom and an adolescent.... I really enjoyed seeing these gentle creatures up close and only wish I had an underwater camera to share our experience. I would like to go back in November when the springs host over 200 manatees and not many people like to jump in to swim during the winter months. Check out the video on this web site for some idea of what that experience is like....our guide says you can not get away from the manatees then: http://www.birdsunderwater.com/

As we drove backroads in Ga we took the time to explore some of the older homes in river towns....they speak to a history of affluence long passed.

We spent Easter weekend in Georgia catching up with my niece and nephew, Jess and Chris. They have been married one year and it has been crazy! A week after their wedding a tree hit their house in a tornado. They spent a few months living with Chris' parents while their home was rebuilt. Then jess needed Gall Bladder surgery.....thankfully she is doing fine and we are all hoping their second year is less eventful!!!!!

I also took a day, Easter Sunday, to catch up with my good friend Joan....who fixed us a wonderful and healthy lunch. After hounding her she has agreed to come and visit us this summer....hooray! I can't wait!

The last three days of the week were spent at the Crawford Arkansas property. Last year we brought Cameron there to catch critters and the guys had to hike in as the road was not passable. So Jim brought his chain saw and worked very hard to clear it. I hauled some logs as he cut and wish I could have helped him more....we were hoping his brother could make it but that did not work out. The good news is we got the big stuff handled and Jim found someone to brush hog the rest....so the next time we go we will have a great camping spot by the creek.

Spottings on the property consisted of a wild turkey, running from hunters, a rabbit and frog both running from us as we moved logs. The spring is the time to visit Arkansas....the dogwood and red bud were in bloom (flashes of white and purple everywhere. The wild iris on the property was just starting to blooom and wild flowers in pink, yellow and purple were everywhere. And the bugs....are not out yet! Luckily we found no snakes either. We were both concerned as we were moving so many logs...but saw none. I guess it was still quite cold for them. I will say the best sighting there was the lightning bugs....you forget how they light the sky....they are like stars lighting the night sky. We watched them against the night sky as we fell asleep each night.

Oh, we never sighted the beavers but their house and damn on the creek of our neighbor's property was obvious.

We are now headed into our final week of our roadtrip.....the road home. I hope to make our final entry once we reach Brush Prairie. We will travel in gratitude for all we have seen and enjoyed during our trip. Our friends and family remain safely in our thoughts .....

10th week of Roadtrip '09-The Keys

2009-04-09T16:17:00.000-07:00

The Keys! Beautiful Water, Roosters crowing in the street, 6 toed cats, pics of Hemmingway everywhere, great food....cuban and caribbean. I had the best rum punch I ever had and the same goes for my glass (make that 3 glasses) of Sangria.

We made three stops in exploring the keys. First stop, Key Largo and John Pennicamp coral reef park. We did not go out to the coral reef as it is a hike but played around snorkeling at their beach. They dumped some canons and some colorful fish and a few coral buds have found them. We did a little hiking but mostly road our bikes around exploring. This was the first night we camped that was really hot, no breeze and the mosquitos were out. The next morning Jim took to his comfy chair....I think he was a little too still, the vultures started hangin around him looking a little hungry!

We spent a day on the beach at Bahia Honda. Jim did a little snorkeling, not much to see just a few fish. I enjoyed playing in the sand....yes I did two castles. I read a little...enjoyed my own version of rum punch We got their early enough to get a picnic shelter and we shared it with a mexican family. The shared their BBQ with us....yummmmmmm.

We left the beach just at the right time to spot the key deer. They are an endangered specis of white tail deer. They are home on two of the keys and are much smaller due to the limited food and range. We went out to the resrve and found quite a few. Someone has been feeding them because when I rubbed my fingers together they just came right over.

Our last stop was 4 days at an apartment in Key West, a funky little town. We had the best Cuban food....El Sabino, you must call ahead for the paella. We visited the Audubon house, the ship wreck museum and saw the treasure Mel Fisher pulled up in the '80's....it was amazing. Rubbies and emeralds hold their shine afer 200 years in salt water!

We took a day and went out to the Dry Tortugas for snorkeling. We saw some big fish, 3 baracuda....lots of color. It was windy and the water stirred quite a bit... I wished the clarity would have been better.

We also went through the aquarium and became familiar with the local fish (tarpon) and turtles. Do you know 10 times as many people die from a coconut falling on them as do from a shark bite? It really made me careful walking around these palms....ha ha

Well we enjoyed our week in the keys ....still have a few things we would have liked to do so we will have to come back. We are now heading out of Florida.

9th week of Roadtrip '09

2009-03-30T10:27:00.000-07:00

For our last week in Everglade City we asked ourselves, " what is it we really want to make sure we do before leaving?" For Jim it was an easy 2 part answer....fishing and kayaking. For me it was a little more...I wanted to Kayak and did not mind getting a little more fishing in but I wanted to go back to Corkscrew and walk the whole 2.5 mile boardwalk (we did not get to do that when we went before), I wanted to do some more back roads and/or a little more hiking to explore the area a little deeper and I wanted to eat at the only other restaurant there was in town that we had missed.

Then I could say my good-byes! I'm happy to report that, we did it all!

We went for one more charter fish the day after our guests left. The wind was still kicking and it was exhausting trying to keep balance and pull my fish in. I caught a Bonner Shark, 3 small trout, 3 Lady fish, 3 fish in jack family, and 3 cat fish...13 fish in all. I had a blast. Unfortunately none of them were keepers which does not bother me....I like the catching. Jim caught one fish that day....the only keeper we got a large trout. So we had dinner.

Jim made it out on a longer kayak...he did a 6 hour trip in 4.5 hours. The wind was really blowing! He went through mangrove tunnels in halfway creek. Right after I helped him launch he barely got down the waterway when he spoked a large Eagle out of a tree. Jim said it was the closest he has ever been to those magnificent birds in the wild.

He and I started off on a kayak together....just 3 hours down the Barron River. But I got spooked...not feeling so comfortable in my kayak and hearing an airboat guide say, "there's a nice size gator right over there." Right over there was about 50 ft from me in my kayak. So I opted out of the kayak run ...not being as brave as my niece, Christine!!!! and let Jim do it himself. The good news is I still fit in my kayak after eatting my way through New Orleans and Everglade fried seafood! Healthy eatting here I come.

We had a cold front come through with a little rain and decided it was a good day to go out looking for snakes as they would be out trying to get warm. We found two and a racoon. We hiked a little and enjoyed the sights, smells and sounds....ths sounds in the Everglades are unbelievably rich when the birds and bugs are out!

We took a day and went over to Corkscrew....there was no feeding frenzie going on with the birds....I think we were lucky to catch that with our guests last week. But there were still birds eatting and trying to protect their territory. There were gators....I think I have taken enough pics of Gators for a life time. There were the usual greeters a family of racoons feeding on birdseed that the birds dropped from feeders. Wild Iris' was in bloom....was it in bloom just last week and we missed it? Oh, and we saw 5 snakes....one so small I could not believe someone spotted it. Here are our pics:

Then we said our goodbyes to Everglade City. To all the wildlife we enjoyed seeing, to the stone crabs and fish we enjoyed eatting, even to the big and little ones that got away, we say goodbye to the little town and all the friendly people we met while staying there. Oh....and the beautiful sunsets too!

8th week of Roadtrip '09

2009-03-27T10:11:00.000-07:00

TO MAKE ANY PICTURE BIGGER JUST CLICK ON IT

Guests, we had guests! We love having guests. This week Ben came in on Wend. He was joined by Josh, Christine and Simone on Friday.

We had our first rain of our visit to the Everglades Wend. when Ben arrived and it continued through Thursday. But that did not stop our Manatees from visiting early Thursday morning, a Mom and a baby.

They are not very active creatures, just hang around forever but I did not want Ben to miss them so I woke him up. It wasn't really necessary because they hung around for over an hour! Their behavior was quite different with the rain. Instead of floating their entire bodies at the top of the water they remained deeper in the water and just poked their noses up for air. A couple of times we got to see their whole face.

Since it was raining, fishing wasn't such a good idea, but in the Everglades there is always time to take a drive and see some Gators. With the rain their behavior was different also, a lot fewer on the shore sunning themselves. We stopped at the visitor center and a ranger explained it to me. They are always seeking warmth. When the sun is out it is warmer to be out of the water. When it is raining, it is warmer to be in it. Makes sense even for the Manatees.

We have only seen deer here a few times but caught these two in the grass during our drive.

We had time in the afternoon for Jim and Ben to take the kayaks out. It was Ben's first time trying the kayaks...he decided they are not as comfortable as one might think. Thursday is seafood buffet night here in Everglade City. We had heard about it but decided to try it on Ben's night in town. All you can eat shrimp, fried and boiled, Oysters , on the half shell and fried, fried fish, scallops, crab and stone crab!!!!! Ben really got into the stone crab claws....double digits! I have to admit they are my favorite Ev erglade speciality. YUMMMMMM!

Friday the guys, Ben and Jim, went on a charter fish....happy birthday Ben! Ben caught 4 trout, a black tip shark and some Lady fish. Jim cleaned up on the Lady fish....he enjoys catching them as they jump and fight hard. Since they did so well fishing we decided to have seafood dinner....fried trout (thanks to Ben!) and we picked up some shrimp (boiled excellently by Jim!) and some stone crab claws. The Jacksons (Josh, Christine & Simone) arrived just in time for dinner.

Saturday was about hangin' out and getting Christine and Josh out for a little fishing. Jim can only take one other person out in his little boat so Josh had the morning shift and Christine the afternoon. Unfortunately the wind did not cooperate for our tag team fisher-people, one Lady fish represented the total catch.

March is a windy month here. In these shallow bays it can be rough to get around and the wind changes fish behavior. But the wind did not stop Ben from learning how to cast net....thanks to Christine's coaching. Nor did it stop Ben from taking Christine out for a hour Kayak trip around the local island looking for manatees.

Here's our little bathing beauty in her pool! I got to hang out with her and learned she is none too keen about sharing her pool with bugs! She's our little bathing beauty!

Saturday night was fajita night with my famous Margarita's. Ben thinks they were too sweet however Christine and I had no trouble sucking them down. Lots of laughs and good company marked the evening.

Sunday Josh was not feeling too well so we decided to chill. Jim and Christine went out in the kayaks for a manatee hunt in the morning, while Josh and Ben took naps. I have noticed that margarita night is often followed by frequent naps the next day! ha ha

Here are some pics of our kayakers & nappers. TO MAKE ANY PIC BIGGER JUST CLICK ON IT:

Here's our future kayaker:

That afternoon we went to Corkscrew Audubon Sanctuary. It was about a 1.25 hour drive but well worth it. It is is a bird sanctuary, wood storks nest her with other wading birds (herons, ibis, rosetta spoon bills, etc). When we arrived they were experiencing a feeding frenzie at the lake so we headed over there. Here is what we saw:

Monday we rented a pontoon boat to take everyone out together fishing and enjoying the sun....happy birthday Josh and Christine! We enjoyed some dolphin play. Josh and Christine each caught a snapper, Ben a jack fish....then the fishing seemed to dry up. We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch on an island off the gulf and did some fishing by wading in off the shore.

It took a little effort to get us off the island as we had let the tide go out a little much....and then the fun started. First Jim had trouble starting the boat but once he got it started he found we had lost our forward gear. Yes that's right the boat only went in reverse. Jim drove us in reverse out of the gulf and into Indian Key Channel.

We called into the boat rental office and they came out to see what the problem was....an hour later....got us into forward and we continued our trip home. We were almost to the dock...about 1/2 mile...and the rental manager decided he wanted to drive it in because the tide was so low. When Jim shifted the speed down to let him on the motor killed and could not be started again. They ferried our stuff and us in on 3 boats. We were suppost to be back by 3;30 but it was 6:30....a day of some fun, lots of laughs, and some stress ended well. We all agreed it could have been a lot worse...luckily we had beer right till the last hour.

The day ended with a nice seafood dinner, laundry and packing over cold beer. Eight o'clock the next morning we all said our good byes, hugged, kissed, wished each other a safe trip and headed to the airports. Ben went out of Ft Myers and the Jacksons headed to Miami.

Thanks for coming....we enjoyed your visit!

To all our friends and family...take a moment to enjoy a sunset and know we are thinking of you!

Week 7 on Roadtrip '09

2009-03-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

This week was about gettin' in the fishin'.

We went out with the only female fishing guide in Everglade City, Captain Becky and let me tell you....she knows what her business is. Jim and I have been with some fishing guides that love fishing and then became guides....so they can fish! They totally miss their job is to support their clients in achieving a fun fishing adventure. I've had fishing guides actually get upset because I tangled the line or missed a fish....doing nothing to increase my enjoyment of the fishing experience. But Captain Becky gets it! Jim said her fishing skills were right up there with the best he has been with and her customer skills were excellent....we had a great time.

Oh....and we caught fish. Together we caught 5 sharks, 5 snook, red snapper, pompano, 4 lady fish, and two cat fish. All in 4 hours...not bad for a half a day! Here's Jim with the biggest snook we caught and a couple of the small sharks he got.

We learned a lot with Captain Becky and went out on our own the next day. My casting was off and I caught 3 trees. Jim got a trout and another pompano.

Crabbing wasn't so bad this week. The good news is in one day we caught 4 blue crabs and 2 cat fish....in the crab traps. The bad news....cat fish eat crabs...so we lost 3 crabs to cat fish. Only our largest crab survived and he added nicely to our shrimp gumbo making it excellent!!!!

The next day I caught one crab and a grouper....only the most excellent of fish here in Everglade City!

While out fishing together we did catch some dolphins foolin' around. Here are a few pics:

Jim and I went out on a canoe trip in some mangrove together. We did not see much wildlife but the day was beautiful and the reflections off the water were unbelievable. Here are just a few:

Later in the week Jim went out on a Kayak up to the bird rockery. Pelicans, comorants and herons nesting together for safety and protection. It really is cool to see them all getting along so well....maybe we humans can learn a thing or two from them. Here are a few of the birds we've seen. Unfortunately pics of the rockery are hard to get because Jim did not want to get so close as to disturbe them while nesting.

We were quite surprised this week several times to see Manatees right off our porch in the channel that goes behind our rental house. When they just float in the water they are just recognizable "bumps". I call them Manatee Bumps....they don't move quickly.

I went out on the parks Mangrove boat tour. We saw some neat birds a couple manatees but the stealer of the show were the dolphins. This guy was anxious to play and put on quite the show:

We had our only two days of rain this week and that did not stop us as we were searching out trails and sights for our guests next week. We came across a Rat Snake....some call it a Corn Snake...it was beautiful and gave Jim a chance to use his equipment and practise moving a snake:

We also came across the best place for viewing Gators. We saw over 30 gators in a 1/4 mile. I actually started getting concerned about getting out of the car there were so many. But when I saw this big guy I asked Jim to get out of the van to scare him so I could show you some movement and you could get an idea of how big he was!!!! HUGE!!!

CLICK ON THIS LITTLE PIC...to see how big these guys are!!!!

That's all for now....got guests coming and I have to go make my Mrs. Biddle's Key Lime Pie! Stay warm and eat something sweet!

Week 6 - Settling in at Everglade City

2009-03-09T09:48:00.000-07:00

During this week we became acquainted with the Everglades' 5 eco systems. There are grass prairies that stretch out across the flat land, Saw grass that grows and creates the filtering for flat land waterways, salt water, fresh water (from the rivers) and the brackish water ways. There is no wonder there is such an abundance of wildlife here.

We have see numerous water birds, vultures, king fishers, cardinals, ring neck doves, black birds, wood peckers, 2 eagles and sparrows. I am surprised there are no humming birds though they have flowering plants. Here are a few of the birds we have seen:

We have seen no living (not road kill) land mammals . There are crossing signs for Black Bear and Panther. However they only have 30 Panthers left in such a wide area it is no wonder we have not seen them. They say they are doing all they can to help them survive but we pass so much development one would have to come to the conclusion that they do not understand why they are in short supply.

Alligators however have made a remarkable come back. They line the canals along the road in the morning sunning themselves to gain the warmth stolen from their bodies during the night. There are quite a few babies out as I guess this it the time of year for hatching. But they have a number of quite large ones also. And they camoflage themselves quite well so you must be careful when walking near ponds and water holes. Here are a few of the Gators (and turtles) we've seen:

We have found several areas where the manatees frequent. They are such unusual creatures very docile. It is hard to see how many of them have been injured from propellar blades. They move so slowly and have even seen them swimming near Gators....neither bothering the other. It is hard to get a picture of them as the glare on the water has to be just right. They only lift their snouts up for air but here are a few pics of what we have seen:

We have put the crab traps out and in 4 days only hauled in 3 nice size blues. Jim is planning to save them for a pot of gumbo if we don't get some more. I made jambalaya this week with Gator, fresh everglade shrimp... Everglade Jambalaya........quite good.

Jenn and Court, Jim's girls, came in for the weekend. He took them out to 10,000 islands (last count they had 15,000). They saw some birds but that was about all. Explored a sandy island near the gulf.

They also did some kayaking in some mangrove. Court turned her kayak....or Jim turned it for her...not quite sure how it went down but she sank to her knees in mud. I am sure it will all be remembered in the years to come as a wonderful family story.

We have tried some of the local fare aside from Gator the stone crabs are famous here. The Everglades supplies like 90% of the stone crabs in the worldwide market. They just harvest one claw per crab and the crab is released to grow it back within a year. So you just eat the claws. They are steamed when harvested and the meat is quite firm and very good. The locals eat it with a mustard sauce, like honey mustard. I am going to try some with just lemon and butter though.

The shrimp and oysters are very fresh as they are harvested here in 10,000 islands. We have enjoyed both fried and grilled. The best fish is the grouper....which is excellent cooked anyway you can imagine.

Next week we will be checking into some guided fishing trips, doing some paddling ourselves and checking out the fishing off our peer (our neighbor caught a cat fish here). So will keep you posted on how we do.

Have a great week! Take the time to look up and enjoy a sunset wherever you are!

Week 5 of the Great Roadtrip '09

2009-03-01T13:30:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone, we're in Everglade City. Home of Mother Gators!

This was a quiet and relaxing week. We rolled out of New Orleans and had a week to take our time getting to Everglade City.

We stopped in Pensacola and had an afternoon at the naval Aircraft Museum. This is a passion of Jim's but I have to admit I found it quite interesting. There was an exhibit about Vietnam Prisoners of War....a replica of their cells and an explanation about why Vietnam felt justified in torture (I guess anyone can justify anything even the US when we were torturing). For Vietnam it was because we never actually declared war on them so they thought they should not be held to the Genevia Conventions. As I said people can justify their behavior in all circumstances.

They also had a film and exhibit about how pilots were trained for WW2 ...that was extremely interesting. I had no idea about the use of Lake Michigan or that most of the planes in the museum were retrieved from the lake. There was one young pilot (now a very old man) who was on the film. He talked about his plane going down in the cold lake during training. He could not breath. He lost the feeling in his legs and he thought ' "I'm going to die here trying to swim to the rescue boat." Then he remembered that his fiancee, now his wife, had just mailed out their wedding invitations and as he said, "she's going to kill me if I give up." He made it to the boat and is still married to her today. It is amazing what strength we find to do for others we love that we do not have for ourselves.

After pensacola we drove to Mt Dora. Spent a day with Jim's daughter, Jen. She had just moved into a new rental home with her boy friend Paul. It is a lovely home on a lake in Mt Dora, north of Orlando. Paul took an early lunch so we had a visit with him also. His business providing computer services to small and large businesses is doing well in this economy. Jen is working at the local hospital establishing enough time with them that they will pay for her nurse training this fall. That has been her goal for some time.

The next day we moved on to Orlando. We did some summer clothes shopping. The northwest has a limited variety of summer clothes so we both take advantage of coming south for summer shopping. That evening, we took Court out for her 33rd birthday. She wanted to go for Mediteriannian food at a new restaurant, Alli Babba. She brought along a friend, as we recommended, to celebrate. We had a lovely dinner and a fun time.

We had 3 days left to get to Everglade City and took one to explore the Ft Myer area, an overly developed area.

Fortunately for us, we had some trouble with the van in Naples, brakes sticking. We were only 4 blocks to a Goodyear store. We pulled in, they diagnosed our trouble, ordered the part and had us back on the road the next day. Lucky to have it handled before we made it all the way to Everglade City.

Our house was ready a day early as the last renter left early. Our Landlady offered it to us "no fee" for that one night and we jumped on it. It gave us a chance to get in and get settled ahead of schedule.

These last two days have been spent getting our groceries, crab traps and fishing supplies so we can focus on enjoying the area and our visit. We had a cold front with some thunder storms come in but that also was good news as it came while we were getting organized and not ready to take the boats out.

Next week will feature pics of Everglade city and the wildlife we find in the area. Have a great week!

Week 3 & 4 of the Great Roadtrip of '09

2009-02-21T15:09:00.000-08:00

Three F's.....Family, Food and Friends!

We rolled into New Orleans during our third week and spent our first few days with Jim's sister Kathy, her family and Jim's Mom. It was a hectic time as our nephew, Nick, Kathy's son was opening his bar. It is on the lake front of the North shore.

We made a few trips over there, had to, taste the beers (he has over 50) and the wines (didn't count the selection) and taste the food (sausage and cheese plates). It is a hard life but someone had to help him.

I think he has a real chance to be successful at this.

Good Luck, Nick, thanks for the beer, food, fun, and a good memory.

Then we headed into New Orleans. Jamie, Ben and I rented a house on Constance in Uptown. Just 6 blocks from St Charles and 1 from Magazine St. Ben had a little trouble getting in and made it a day late due to flight troubles, his friend, Flo arrived the next day.

Our house had an outdoor shower of which I was the only one to partake of the unusual experience of taking an outdoor shower in middle of a city. Luckily the New Orleans weather accomodated me with some warmer weather.

Jamie, Steve, Cam, Jim and I walked down to St Charles to see the first parade of the season. It was also the first parade ever for Steve and Cameron....and we got to see it fresh through their eyes....what a treat!

Cameron left New Orleans an experienced seasoned parade goer.....I couldn't be prouder of my little screamer!

We were also lucky to have some of my closest (and oldest) friends join us. Yvonne & Wayne came along as did Steve and Jan Schluter.

No trip is ever exactly as you wanted it or hoped it could be. I wished I had more time to just hang out on Magazine Street or sit and visit. But when I look at these pics I know how lucky I was to share this time with my family and friends....what a memory!

During our visit Jim and I made time to take Cam to Snug Harbor for his first live Jazz and Blues show. He enjoyed it and even received some recognition from the audience for being a young musician himself...he plays the guitar and small horn. Here we are at the club and there is a video clip of the music:

Of course no trip to the south is complete without Cameron catching a lizard or two. But this time he went on a swamp tour with his parents, Ben and Flo. They were looking for Gators and I think they found them.

We had plenty of good meals but my favorites were a ride on the Street car to Camelia Grill for a fantastic breakfast. A cooking demonstration we went to at Savvy Gourmet with my brother and sister-in-law where we shared fried boudin balls & duck & sausage gumbo.

Oh and my absolute favorite was our family group meal at Commander's Palace that was to die for. Good food, and lots of laughs! NOTE: Picture to be added later

After we left Constance Jim and I went to spend a few days with my sister Peach and her family. It gave us some quiet time to catch up with them. We twisted their arms and are hopeful that they will come and visit us in the Everglades....come on David!!! Unfortunately I did not have my camera so I got no pics of them....just trust me they are beautiful people!

It also gave us time for another short visit with our friends Steve and Jan and their boys. And wonderful afternoon with Sara and Gerald our friends in Harvey that share their wonderful grand daughter, Simone with us.....Sara is a wonderful cook and made a muffalata which we washed down with two bottles of wine while looking at pictures and sharing stories of our children. It was a lovely afternoon and we are trying to twist their arms to come and visit us in the Northwest....you promised Gerald! Thanks for the cookies Sara!

Oh and we had time for a lunch at the Galley....only my favorite restaurant in New Orleans for casual New Orleans boiled seafood and onion rings! We took a drive out to the lake front and the ninth ward to review the damage from Katrina....and though the city is recovering there still is much damage.

Jim wanted some pics of the graveyards there so we spent a half day walking through three of them. They are interesting and it made for some quiet relaxed time after so many scheduled family and friend visits.

We ended our New Orleans trip with an hour visit with my parents, unfortunately my Mom was running errands during most of that time, and a day with Jim's family.

I leave with mixed feelings....the intent of going to New Orleans was to celebrate my parents 80th birthday. It was my Mom's idea....I suggested a cruise for the family or a party with their friends but Mom wanted a family dinner where everyone would come in. This is why we were all there.

But Mom took ill....nothing serious, but it kept her from going to dinner, so we canceled. Visiting everyone became more hectic with our group even canceled. We're flexible and got all the visits in though many of them were rushed.

I leave feeling like I missed the time I wanted with my parents and a little sad knowing that it will be sometime before we all are together again...as it is when families grow and children (no longer children) have careers and responsibilities of their own. And though I know it could not be prevented I am sad that my parents did not get to enjoy the rare event of having their entire family together.

I want to thank my kids for altering their vacation time and schedules to come in, my Mom for the delicious chili and roast beef she made (prior to getting ill) it was enjoyed by all. Thanks to my Dad for the oranges, lemons and mint from his garden, everyone was used none wasted! And the 'cello' was delicious! A special thanks to my sister Peach for her red beans and to Flo for the chocolates, wine and cheese from France both added nicely to our family gathering. And of course to my friends the Schluters & Leslies for the king cakes. We enjoyed all three of them!

As Jim and I go safely down the road we take your love with us and leave ours with all of you till the next time .

Second Week or '09 Roadtrip

2009-02-12T08:17:00.000-08:00

Second week started off with a visit with my sister Marie, living in a care facility outside of Killeen TX. Marie and her extended family were relocated to Texas after Katrina. Her care giver, Ms Henry is our hero having given up her own life and time with her family to care for these 20 handicapped individuals. She has two helpers that we are also very grateful to.

This is the first time we have had an opportunity to visit her in her new location. Her 3 bedroom apartment is shared with 6 people and they are all still sleeping on army cots 3.5 years after the storm. But their spirits are strong and due to the care they receive from Mrs Henry their bodies are also. She is quite the cook!

She gives each individual personalized care and has been so successful with Marie that her diabetes is well under control with diet and medication. Of course they all miss New Orleans....such a special place it is hard to re-create that feeling of home anywhere else. Jim and I agreed to do some research into how they might get back there. And to pass by Mrs. Henry's property to check it out while we are in New Orleans.

We spent the day shopping getting Marie what she needed. The evening was spent sharing a pizza dinner and lots of laughs.

After we left Killeen we headed to Houston for family visits. First stop was Jim’s cousin Barb. Of course we arrived just as her daughter Candin, grandson Jacob moved in. Additionally Barb, who has a heart of gold was giving her x-husb Donnny Rae a temporary home. I guess the last thing she needed was a first cousin and his wife flopping there also. However she made us feel comfortable and at home in her new castle.

Jim helped by fixing a fense to keep neighborhood dogs out and making her back yard safer for her grandchildren.

She invited some friends and more 2nd cousins for dinner and if it wasn’t for the killer Margaritas everything would have been perfect. Unfortunately or fortunately depending upon how you look at it I had a hankering for a Margarita about 2PM...no lunch and lots of drinking....you can figure the rest out on your own.

Barb is a lot of fun (and my personal favorite in Jim’s family!) Thanks, Barb!

After a couple of days with Barb we headed over to Kent and Kathleen Crawford’s for an afternoon appreciating their cactus garden and sharing some hot cookies. Jim enjoyed catching up with Kent, another 1st cousin, and I got to meet he and his new bride. We talked a little about having a possible family reunion at Doris’……are you listening Doris? He also helped us catch up on news from the rest of the family.

When they sent us on our way we headed on over to one of Jim’s college room mates for a day. Frank, who’s better half had left us for a trip to Hawaii….I have no idea what Ledha was thinking….ha ha. We had a nice visit and a great steak dinner. Don’t forget to keep us informed about your Italy trip plans Frank!

Guess we did not have enough of a visit with Barb so headed back there for another night…lots of laughs a a huge piece of cheese cake. Then after saying good bye to her family, room mates and friends we were headed to New Orleans for a couple of days with Jim’s Mom before visiting with my family. Those pics will be in next weeks update.

So far no accidents, only one night of over indulgence, lots of laughs, no tears and all in all we’re having a wonderful trip.

1st week of the great Crawford '09 Roadtrip!

2009-02-04T20:27:00.000-08:00

Well we got off two days later than expected, this Northwest winter has been one for the books. We have had more snow than either Jim or I can remember in the last 20 years.

But here we are in our rig....all loaded and ready to hit the road to warmer weather. We look like we are headed to have some fun!

The first two days were long driving days to help us catch up on our schedule. Neither of us like having a schedule but this year we have relatives and frineds we want to visit and for that to work out we need to move along. Sleeping in the Van the first night was a little cold. We decided to bring our sleeping bags that are good for -35o and that was a good decision because they kept us warmer than any blankets we would have brought. After the first night the weather was milder and sleeping in the van was comfortable.

We had a few technical difficulties with our new GPS, Sirius Radio and CD/Radio receiver. We blew several fuses and it took a day or two to work through those issues. But now we love our GPS....Jim calls her the lady in the box...."what does the lady in the box say about where a drug store is?"

It is funny because he did not really like the idea of having a GPS originally. But she has helped us find auto parts stores, walmarts (though I hate them), drug stores, restaurants, hotels and get around a traffic jam so far. The only thing is I have to be careful in repeating her directions because the last thing Jim wants is two women telling him where to go....if I am not careful I may end up in a box!

We are working on naming her now.

In Nevada we went around a couple little mining towns and found the historical J.C. Crawford stone house. Jim thought it looked like a house that would carry his name....a little worn around the edges is being kind.

Actually I like these old western towns you can feel the history here. The streets and building carry their own energy.

We stopped at Cathedral State Park in Nevada, climbed on some rocks and checked out some caves. Here are a few pics:

We drove across Utah through Canyon country and ran into some snow. Neither of us felt like chaining up so we turned around and headed south into Arizona, Cliff country....the whites, echos and vermillion cliffs. This is a land of beautiful landscapes!

Then the Indian Reservations, Hoppi and Navajo. We drove to Window Rock headquarters of the Navajo Nation. We took a wrong turn trying to get to the trial to the window and ended up in the Navajo council headquarters....neither of us felt very welcomed there. In the stores and craft booths the ladies are friendly other than there we definately had a feeling of not being totally welcome here. We could have been wrong but you would have a hard time convincing me of it.

New Mexico was our next stop....we just missed driving through the Apachee Nation Reservation. I asked Jim, " they don't like us either?" He assured me, "they don't like anyone."

We had a nice night in Albuqerque and a good seafood dinner. We then followed the Rio Grande south through the bad country lava flows and made a stop in White Sands National Monument. White Sand for as far as you can see. The reminants of dried lakes. Here are some pics:

We have not seen too many animals so far....a few deer and a couple hawks but that is about it.

We drove to Hueco Tanks State Park. This was a kool historical site, lots of petroglyphs. More mask glyphs than any other place found so far. The granite rocks here catch rain water in the weathered holes in the rocks. The rocks hold this rain water long after the desert dries. There are 200 spieces of birds here. We enjoyed our hike around the rocks.

This state park has more rules than I have ever experienced before ....you had to watch a movie before entering, had to sign in each day in the office, had to carry a reg. card with you on all trails, could only walk on a trail you had reg. to walk on, , had to sign out at office when through so someone else could be allowed to go on it. It was a lot of rules but I have never been to a state park that was a historical site before either. And this was our only site so far where we had close encounters with the wild life. Coyotees got into our ice chest and cleaned us out of all protein. Here are some pics of the site:

Then we were headed into Texas past Guadalupe Mountains National Park. We went into Sonora but did not have time to visit the Caverns. We wanted to spend the afternoon with Jim's cousin Doris and her husband Speedy. They have recently settled in Cherokee TX, a small and friendly community. They are raising long horns a dream of Speedy's for some time.

I had my best dinner so far on our trip here. Doris made chicken fried venison and feral pig, homemade mashed potatoes and salad....it was to die for. Here are some pics of our hosts and their "pets" ha ha

Our last stop was a state park in Texas, Colorado Bend....full of wild goats and armadillos.

All it has been a good week....

Holidays 2008

2008-12-20T16:00:00.000-08:00

Holiday Season started with a Thanksgiving at Jamie and Steve's. We were hoping to have it at our house but at the last minute Jamie could not get off from work....both the day before and after Thanksgiving.
Ben had to work Thanksgiving Day, a draw back to being a fireman. So we headed north for the holiday with family.

Jamie always sets a lovely table for friends and family. They finally have real neighbor friends right across the street....

(Note to Josh and Christine....that house finally sold!)

The turkey came out perfect....very juicy! Rightfully so she was quite proud of it. The only complaint was there was too much food....I don't think that is a legitimate complaint on Thanksgiving.

October was filled with working on costumes for the grandkids and December filled with quilting for my nephew David. He is an active sports player and has been saving his team "tee" shirts since he started team play. My sister, Peach, David's Mom, sent me 12 of them. I used them to make him a quilt. It was fun working on it for him. I hope he enjoys it.

In the northwest we love polar fleece!!!! It keeps you warm and sheds water, two important factors in clothing especially with our wet winters. Polar fleece jackets, pants, hats, gloves, and shirts....if they made it in underwear we would want it. ha ha Anyway for some reason it is hard to find polar fleece shirts for children....you can get a jacket but the shirts are hard to find. So....I made two for Cameron with matching reversible hat....the shirts were a perfect fit but the hat was at least 2 sizes to small.

Here is how our Christmas went:

The week before Christmas we had our winter storm blast....a week of snow (13 inches for us) topped off with a day of freezing rain....to just keep it interesting! Everything sure was beautiful.

For Christmas dinner the guys did not want to have turkey so they did a pork crown roast....it sure made a great presentation! Our tradition is everyone pitches in and makes a dish for the dinner...so like most families our spends the holiday in the kitchen cooking and socializing. This year Cameron stepped up and made a coconut cream pie. These are some of my best memories of a holiday.

Cameron came home with us for the week between Christmas and New Year....he is growing so quickly (11 now!) we need to take advantage of the time he wants to be with us....knowing that the dreaded teen years are right around the corner....he and Jim did fireworks, we went to movies and enjoyed a lobster dinner together for New Year's Eve. And yes he had his first taste of champagne....french champagne that Ben brought back from one of his trips.

He also tagged along for my Christmas Lunch with my friend Karen...

so we got him to take our picture....thanks Cam!

We hopped on the train on New Year's day headed to Tacoma for New Year's Day dinner of Crab & Steak with the traditional dish of 7 greens and black eyed peas, with Jamie, Steve and friends. Jim and I came home the next day to an additional 3.5 inches of snow...glad we had taken the train!

2008 has been filled with blessings as we enjoyed good health and shared fun times with family and friends. We continue to be amazed with how busy we are now that we are in retirement. We are grateful for all we have and that includes having you in our lives. Our best for 2009 to you and yours.

October 2008

2008-11-04T17:14:00.000-08:00

Halloween! A year of planning, a month of work and one night of fun.

As usual Jim and I enjoyed making the kids (Cameron & Simone's ) costumes.

Jim does all of the creative design and I pick up the sewing tasks, which are usually quite small.

This year I found a "pixie", not a "fairy", (fairies are mean) dress!!!! Pixies are actually garden or woodland faires ...they live in the garden and/or woods and have a fun playful nature. So I found this "pixie" dress while in Mexico and grabbed it for Simone's costume. So the only thing left for her was, wings!

Jim researched different wing designs and developed the wire frame. Jim, as designer- in- chief, picked out

all the material to be used in the costumes and got a great fabric for her wings. I sewed the fabric to the frame he designed....and here is the result that made it all worth while:

For Cameron his costume design is always a partnership between what Cam wants and what Jim can do.

This year they settled on "alien warrior". Which was great for me because the only sewing task was to

make a cape. Other than that, shopping for shoes, tights, and padding for armor was it for me.

Jim made a wire frame, worked with foam to design the face , molded resin for the eyes and then designed the armor. Jamie and Jim worked on chain mail to add bling to the costume. Since this may be the last year Cam will do a costume we wanted to get this right. Here is what we ended up with:

Halloween night is always fun at Jamie and Steve's. They decorate the house and pull out the fogger and dry ice for their drinks. Steve did the food this time and it was gooly....we had bats wings, ribs, brain (maccaroni & cheese), grave yard 7 layer dip, and drinks to die for. It was quite fun! Thanks for a great time!

Before we left town we had a chance to see Cam play his last season football game. They won and that is always nice to end the season with a win! Cam is in the middle of the picture.

Oh, I don't want to sign off for the month without mentioning how lucky we were to have a visit from Jim's daughter Courtney. She came by for 5 days and that gave she and her Dad lots of quality time. Thanks Court, we both enjoyed your visit.

October is also my girlfriend's, the Ya Ya's trip. This year we went salmon fishing with a Native American guide on the Quinalt River, part of their reservation. It rained most of the day but when the rain cleared and the sun came out for just a moment two of us brought fish in. Mine was about 35 lbs....I ate salmon for a week, sometimes for 2 meals a day....gave some for neighbors and still have a half of the salmon in my freezer!

The only other thing of any importance I did this month was working on the Obama campaign. I helped on the "get the vote out" calling. I dreaded going in to make the calls but felt strongly I needed to help. I was surprised about the response of people....they made me more comfortable. I am glad the election season is over!

August & September 2008

2008-10-06T11:58:00.001-07:00

August and September were about hanging around and getting some things done at home.
Jim and I both love to travel but we love the summer at home just as much.

Jim researched contractors for re-doing our private entry road. It was a big job but no one
could have done it better. He chose a contractor and they will start the work in October.

He has also spent time triming the brush to prepare for the work and the fall rains. He did take 10 days
to go to New Orleans and visit his Mom for her 85th birthday. I was going to go but the hurrican hit
and electricty went out so I canceled my trip. I'll have to wait till Feb to see her.

We live in berry country. As the berries came in, I took to canning. I canned blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, strawberry, and fig preserves. I pickled beans, garlic, and cucmbers. I canned peaches and apples also. It was fun and I am in the process of distributing the goods among my family and friends.

I spent the last nine days visiting family, Josh, Christine and Simone in NY. I hadn't been up there since her birthday in April. We had a nice visit and I delivered her Halloween costume to her (see October's entry for pics). We had great fun at the park, a trip to the book store and Natural History Museum. She is a doll and they always make the visit fun and comfortable.

My best to all my family and friends.

July 2008

2008-08-08T14:57:00.000-07:00

July was all about family & friends.

It started off with a lovely lunch with our friends from Atlanta, Bea and Frank and Steve's parents. Our friends from Atlanta came to vacation with family and found time for lunch with us as the Tall Ship Parade was in Tacoma. Tall ships are of special interest to Steve's Dad, John. He and Sally, his wife, came in to see the ships. Jamie made reservations at the perfect restaurant with a private room and deck for watching the ships. It was great fun!

Jim took took a week to run a river with a friend, Russell. They enjoyed having the time together and being outdoors. I took advantage of the week to have a meditation retreat. Jim and I both enjoy our time together but also enjoy giving each other some space. This was a little easier before we both retired ....it just seemed to happen. However now we have to look for opportunities.

We found time for a family camp out on Hood Canal. We went to the same camp spot we did last year, Seal Rock. The camground has a beach with an exposed oyster bed at low tide. We enjoyed fried oysters for two of the three evening meals!

The guys, Steve and Jim, put out crab nets but we only caught one legal crab....and Jamie caught him while walking in the shallow water. Maybe next time ! But thanks to the guys we did have oysters ...lots of oysters!

The tides are wonderful at Hood Canal....I never saw so many different kinds of star fish:

Cam brought a friend, Jake...

Steve took them out canoeing and playing with the kayak.

We decided this was so much fun it will become a yearly event!

Cam and I ended the month with a 12 day trip to New Orleans and Florida, for a family beach trip.

Before heading to the beach I took David and Cam to the new Insectarium in New Orleans....we had a great time seeing all the insects and learning about them. Cam said this would be his dream job!

My Brother in law, Kevin, and sister, Peach rented a large house and a carriage house in Rosemary Beach....south of Destin. Of course their children, Marc & David were there. And our parents, Dave & Florence made the trip also.

Rosemary Beach is a cool beach town, not too large with biking trails, a fitness center and its own little downtown shopping area. The boys rode bikes everywhere and really enjoyed the freedom. I never knew they liked starbucks so much!!!! The met other kids and enjoyed playing man hunt (hide and seek) with flashlights at night.

I even got into the bike riding and spent an afternoon enjoying a ride with Cam. Now he can say he had a bike ride with his Granny....not all grandkids can say that!

We took turns fixing evening dinner and the boys and I did two theme dinners. We had music and dressed for the occassion. First there was Mexican night....tacos, spanish rice, gucamole and Margaritas!!! Oh and lots of hair on the lip!

Our second night was Jamaican jerk chicken, cole slaw and Jamaican potatoe salad....oh and the Rum-ba-la-yas (thanks, Kevin!):

Of course we enjoyed the sun and sandcastle building...

And evening family game time, though my Father would pout if he did not win....ha ha

Thanks Kevin and Peach for such a lovely trip!

The month ended with a lovely visit with my long time friend Yvonne. She and I got some alone time as Cam got some quality time with his Paw-Paw (Walt). It has been 3 years since we had time for such a nice visit.....I enjoyed catching up with her!

June 2008

2008-07-05T19:00:00.000-07:00

June brought a return of the deer to our property and the end to bear visits and fruit tree growth (deers eat ...no love to eat fruit trees!). The last bear visit we had was Memorial day. One of the cubs walked through our back yard just 15 minutes after I came in from planting wild flowers there. I miss the bears but must admit I am happy they returned to a safer area up the hill.

Our weather has been more normal for this time of year but still we are suffering with late rains.

To get some sun in Jim and I took Cameron camping. He got off school 6/17. We went to his last baseball game . He plays catcher and it was a good game (he got on base all three times he went to the plate - two walks and one hit).

We left for the cascades and camping the next day. Still some snow to play in. Cameron enjoyed a late snow ball fight with Jim. I enjoyed the warmth of the car.

Lots of great views!!

Some lakes to canoe in. Jim got Cameron out in the canoe twice and his rowing skills are coming along!

We had lots of visitors to our camp sites, families of geese and ducks entertained us. Those geese can be quite pushy and demanding when it comes to food! We saw lots of deer as they are quite friendly and walked right through our camp one day.

The camp robbers (grey jays) were the most entertaining wildlife .

They ate from our hands. One even landed on my head, no manners at all!

having no manners at all! We were surrounded by the adults and their rude teenage offspring! I must say the teen age camp robbers were a little scary....Cameron said "I don't like those guys!"

We saw a pine martin, a member of the weasel family. It is a unique sighting as they are quite shy and hard to find. We were walking through a campground to see the river and I think he was as surprised to see us as we were him. Cameron was thrilled as he has been wanting to see one for a long time.

Our last night in the cascades we could not get into a campground so we had to go Off The Grid Camping (OTGC). If there is one thing that Jim can do it is find a camping spot off a forest road....we went to the top of the hill and what a view! Only one problem....wind! There is a reason the campgrounds are not at the top of hills. Before the night was over the three of us were huddled in the Blue Bird...our camping van. She always comes thru for us!

Our second week we went to Arkansas. Jim's family has land there about 50 miles from Hot Springs. So first stop was the Hot Springs for a little history and fun.

Being south gave Jim and Cameron a opportunity to catch lots of different bugs, frogs, snakes, lizards and the like. Jim had hoped to catch a snake or two and bought the tools to do so. Every morning my snake hunters would head out hopeful and excited....

But they only came across poisonous snakes....water moccasins. So no

catching...just appreciating! They'd return tired and hot!

The first one they saw was in the road and as they approached it immediatley sprang into the attack position and opened its mouth wide showing the white cotton insides that gives it the name cotton mouth.

Jim poked him a little to help him get off the road and to safety in the forest. We also ran into one while canoeing it was just sunning itself on a rock.

Cameron did find a box turtle on one of the hikes...actually he stepped right over it. Jim saw it first!

At night the guys went frog hunting....and saw their share of tree frogs and bull frogs. The night insect and critter song was quite loud as you can imagine. When you leave the south and spend most of your time in the Northwest woods, which are quite quiet....you forget how loud the outdoors can be!

We got into our share of chiggers and ticks. And there was no way to avoid the poison ivy which was everywhere! My new nick name is 'scratch' for obvious reasons. I am still applying the poison ivy meds....I forgot how nasty this stuff is to get into!

For our last two days we got a cabin on the river and spent a day canoing. This time Cameron got to ride and Jim and I did the work , a few riffles...It was lots of fun. Every log had turtles sunning themselves, except for one that had a water moccasin.

There was lots of time to swim!

Cameron made the find of the trip....he thought he saw an interesting rock in the river and picked it up...surprise it was a turtle but not any ordinary turtle. He found a Southern Mud Turtle. We thought we had a small snapper but when they looked it up in the book it was a Mud Turtle....they only survive in 2 areas of Arkansas. He was thrilled!

And all had a good time...hope your summer got off to as good a start!

April & May 2008

2008-05-13T17:33:00.000-07:00

Spring has finally sprung in the Northwest! We had a long winter, with a 4 inch snow the second to last weekend in April. While New York was having 80 degree weather....so I packed my bag and headed to NY.

My nephew Josh and his daughter, Simone both have their birthdays the end of April. I felt honored to spend this time with them and always enjoy my visits there. Christine, my niece, Josh's wife, and Simone's Mommy, always opens the doors wide and makes me feel very welcome.

The night I arrived was the night before her birthday. Her big present was a tricycle from her parents. A glass of wine (or two) and a late night toy assembly made for some fun.

Simone is growing so, this was her 2nd birthday. We went to the park for 3 days. She loves sliding and meeting new friends. In this picture she is having fun with a little spanish girl. She did not (and neither did her Grandmother) speak English and with my limited Spanish we found out her nick name was Brama (Bull...like in a china shop). Her Grandmother laughed.

Simone was very patient as I insisted on a 30 minute walk each day....so she got a nice ride in her stroller. Usually this would start her nap time.

We had two parties for her, a family party on her actual birthday and a party on Saturday with her friends from day care. Both were quite fun....as you can see I have a new hobby for my retirement....balloon art. I made the party hats for her family party. Some of us had more fun than others with the hats!!!

She loves her cake...and yours too if you'll share it with her.

We gave her a doll bed. I shopped for one that was sturdy thinking she might try to stand on it....and am I glad I went for strength because as you can see she actually laid in it with her babies!!! Too cute!!!!

She got an easel from good family friend Tina (we turn those good family friends into family!).

She loved her easel and we spent time each day drawing on it. Good job Tina!

Saturday after Simone went to bed the adults arrived and the real food came out....and wine...for Josh's party. I had the chance to meet many of their neighbors and friends and enjoyed the event thouroughly.

Christine's cousin and Simone's Nanny came to town for her birthday. Victoria is open, sharing and has a great sense of humor...we shared the guest room. I loved my room mate!

Ben met me in NY the Sunday before I left....he's become quite the world traveler. He met a friend in Belize while on a trip to dive the reef. She lives in Paris so he re-arranged his schedule to get April off and spent a week with Josh and Christine (before I got there) visiting NY. Then he went to Paris for a week and then on to Barcelona for a week. He was headed home, he now lives in Portland, and as chance would have it, we were on the same plane going home.

I had not seen Ben or spent any real time with him since December so the plane ride and the delay in Denver allowed us to catch up and have a dinner together. I enjoy seeing him so happy and enjoying his life so much.

May in the Northwest meant a return to 50 degree cold wet weather and bear country.

We have a Mother Black Bear and two cubs coming on the property. There is so much snow in the hills that they are hungry and looking for food. Originally they were just hitting the bird feeders for the sun flower seeds....I have had every feeder ( I had 7 of them) broken. We are now not putting feeders out....and....have moved the garbage to the garage hoping they will go back up the hill if they have no food.

Jamie and Steve took their annual trip to Vegas this past week. So Cameron and I had a week by ourselves. I got to see him play his second ball game....he's playing catcher and doing a good job. He also had a hit and scored a run for the team. He was so excited when passing home he gave us "both thumbs up".

Cameron also joined the ranks of my hypnotic subjects (yes, I am now a hypnotist). And he is no longer a nail biter!

I got tickets to Cirque du Soleil, their Corteo performance. We both enjoyed that. Then Jim came up Friday and we picked him up at the train station. Saturday the three of us toured a destroyer docked in Bremerton port. It was quite interesting as they had volunteers that had been on the ship in Vietnam and they kept us entertained with their stories. They made the ship come alive for us.

Mother's Day was wonderful. Ben came over the Saturday night before and had supper with me. Then Jamie and Steve came home 1:30 Sunday AM.....and we spent a nice relaxing day at home....Steve cooked a wonderful dinner. He really made the day special for both Jamie and I.

Let me close by wishing all my "Mommy" family and friends a wonderful Mother's Day....hoping you enjoyed yours as much as I did mine! That's my birthday girl!

March 2008

2008-04-06T12:29:00.000-07:00

This month my (Lee's) sister, Liz, alias Peaches, turned 50....and yes, she still looks 30! We headed south to New Orleans for her birthday celebration. And then took a turn to the east, towards Atlanta for our niece, Jessica's, wedding.

It was a month filled with family visits and catch-up. In New Orleans we stayed with my dear friends, Steve and Jan Schluter, and their two boys, Jason and Ben. Usually our visits are rushed and over just one meal...but by staying with them we got lots of quality time and several wonderful meals....trout with crawfish sauce, boiled shrimp & crawfish, and dinner at Mandina's on Canal (great gumbo). Jim say's it was the best fried fish he has had in a long time! Hopefully we have talked them into a visit with us next summer! I know we got Jason excited!

Steve....thanks for the bongo and instruments for Simone....she loved them!

Of course we spent lots of time with our parents. The Hatches are doing well and planning to join their grandsons and great grandson at the beach this summer. Yes they mentioned they owed us a visit but we have given up on that happening.

Mrs Crawford was in recovery from a fall where she broke 3 ribs but by the time we left she was feeling much better. Jim got in some quality time with her unfortunately the only day I had available and planned to be with her got cut short as she got stuck out of town.

We were able to sneak in a lunch with the Lawrences, Jimmy and Margaret. This is my uncle and aunt. Uncle Jimmy built a lovely large home on acreage in Covington, Louisiana....two ponds, deer, large porch to sit on and overlook the grounds. He did a really good job building and Aunt Margaret did the plans....they're a great team! We had a nice lunch and caught up with them....and had a chance to meet two of their grandchildren....nice looking and well mannered young men! We pressed them to visit this year but we'll have to wait and see how successful we were.

While in New Orleans we caught the St Pat's parade....right down the block from Liz's. It was fun to see another New Orleans parade and watch the crowds. Peach and I had some time to shop and to eat sushi!

I also had the time to grab a lunch with my new best girlfriend Sara Jambon. We went down to Magazine street and shared some salad and quality catch up time. They, she and her husband Gerald, say they would like to make it up here....but no commitment yet.

Then we headed off to Atlanta.....where we stayed with our friends Bea and Frank. It was so nice for them to share their home with us and it gave us 3 days to catch up with what is going on in their lives!

My favorite part was our visit with Kate and Brandon!!!!

I had not seen their daughter since she was a senior in highschool....now beautiful, grown and married! I got a chance to see their new home and all the kool things they are doing to make it theirs!

I love my beach music CD, Kate....listening to it as I exercise! Thanks to you all for some lovely meals and all your hospitality!

While in Atlanta we managed to meet my good friend, Joan for lunch at 3 dollar cafe...only the best chicken wings in the world! I have not seen Joan for at least 10 years....I forgot how easy it is to talk to her....it was like it was yesterday we last saw each other. I miss you Joan, already!!

On the way to the wedding we were able to fit a lunch in with Dawn Holmes and her 2 children. Dawn, her sister Heather and my good friend Judy Ray have been part of my life for 37 years. I consider them family! We spent many a holiday, vacation, and countless weekends together....they are family! However as life would have it we are now at different corners of the world and this is the first time I have seen Dawn in 12 years.....though we share pics and emails...it is not the same. I loved seeing her so much I had to keep myself from crying. We were sorry we could not meet her husband...however turkey season waits for no man! Her children were wonderful....very polite and well behaved! Dawn, tell your Mom and Heather they have my love!

Then there was the wedding!

Friday I threw a bridal luncheon for the brides maids and women from both families. It was at Pinehurst Tea Room....a lovely old home with a great tea room atmosphere and menu. A good time was had by all!

That night was the rehursal....where we watched the ring bearer followed the flower girl (our little Simone) picking up the flower petals she dropped....ha ha!! They had a nice BBQ following the rehursal which gave us extra time to mingle with our new extended family.

Saturday before Easter was the wedding. It was lovely. We gave the bride and groom a nice send off! There was good eats and fun music with a little dancing, to make merry.

Oh, and we got to hang out with the bride and groom a little at their new home prior to leaving....Jess & Chris it was so nice to spend this time with you! All our best!

And then we were back to New Orleans with just enough time for one more dinner with my family and one more meal at the Galley (only my favorite everyday restaurant in New Orleans) before getting on the plane and heading back to the Northwest and home.

Bye Bye Yucatan 02-24-2008

2008-03-02T10:14:00.000-08:00

Our last week in the Yucatan was filled with good-byes.

Goodbye to new friends! Anne & Tom from Philly! We enjoyed our trip to the monkey reserve with you and our wonderful italian meal! Anne, thanks for the shopping tips!

And Linda and Ken from Alberta Canada! It was really Linda that started getting us together and I thank her for that...you can never have too many friends! Thanks, Linda

We had a great time sharing adventures, meals and drinks with you all! Stay in touch and maybe our trails can cross again!

We had one last snorkel to enjoy the colorful tropical fish, another trip to Coba (Mayan runis surrounded by forest) to walk in the jungle and listen to the early morning birds.

We visited the monkey reserve one more time. We canoed the lake and saw the spider monkeys swing in the trees at the edge of the lake. Good-bye monkeys!

And Good Bye Iguanas! This one was lucky as Ken saved it from what could have been a deadly swim in their well!

We drove down the coast to a more private beach (clothing optional!). Finally I found some good sand for castle building. The sand on our beach was too coarse because of the coral reef. Jim had no problem hanging out (and watching the swimmers) as I enjoyed my chance to build a castle.

We (or was it just I?) spent an afternoon in our hammocks reading and listening to the waves. Good bye Casa Tropical.

We had a final dinner at a gourmet Mexican restaurant, Celti. It was wonderful! The best mole sauce over chicken rolls I have ever had! Jim's chile relleno had pineapple in it....interesting and delicious! Good bye mexican/yucatan food!

On our flight home we missed our connection in Mexico city as the flight leaving Cancun was an hour late. Mexicana did not have another flight to Portland till the next day at 9PM. The put us up in a nice hotel and paid for all our meals....so we enjoyed a day in Mexico City. We had wanted to visit the Anthropology Museum and this was our chance. If ever you are in Mexico City you must go there! We arrived at 10Am and left at 5PM and only got through the first floor....it is huge! We will have to make a trip back to finish the second floor!

Flight home was uneventful with no problems getting through customs. The house was freezing as I had turned the furnace off.....so we slept in sweats and dreamed of the beach!

Monkeys! Monkeys! Monkeys! 2/17/2008

2008-02-17T10:42:00.000-08:00

This week was lots of fun as it started out with a trip to Coba, Mayan Ruins, just west of Tulum. Once agin our mission was to get there early enough to avoid the crowds but with Coba the ruins are set in the jungle. Not much has been restored but if you get there early enough you get to walk the trails through the jungle and there is a good possibility of spotting jungle birds or other wildlife.

Coba is about 30 minutes out of Tulum so we left at 6:30 and got there at 7AM....first visitors through the gate.

The bird song was enchanting and exciting. We saw 3 Tucans fly overhead, parrots, yucatan blue jays, woodpeckers, brown jays, fly catchers and numerous small birds we did not recognize. We startled and were startled by a coatimundi, a red racoon like animal. He climbed out of a tree just 20 ft in front of us and jumped into the bush.

The ruins had little carvings and were quite spread out as it was a hike to see them. The most impressive part was getting a feel for how the jungle reclaimed the land where the ruins were. Trees and vines just grew inbetween the rocks and stone ....the roots then broke the buildings up and the smaller shrubs moved in. In some cases you just see a large hillo of rocks and that is a site not restored yet.

Tuesday we went with our friends from Philly, Anne and Tom, to the Monkey reserve. Again getting there early was important so we left around 6AM. The Monkey reserve is 20 miles north of Coba so it took about 45 minutes to get there. Our guide, Juan, a Mayan, impressed us with his knowledge of each individual monkey. Here we saw spider monkeys.

They were playful, two mothers with babies still on their backs, two older females without children and 3 adolescents. They were pranksters fighting/playing with one another, hangin' around by their tails looking at us as intently as we were at them. They crossed the road 25 ft in front of us....it was quite a treat seeing them.

Wend. we decided to drive south to the BIO-RESERVE DE CALAKMUL. This is the last of the rain forest in Mexico. It is an International park with Guatemala holding the largest piece. This area has all the cats (Jugar, Puma, Ocelot, etc), monkeys, and many other animals you can not see anywhere. We doubted we would see anything but would be happy to just walk thru the forest. It is a 5.5 hr drive out of Tulum so took most of our day.

We checked into a Eco-Lodge, Rio Bec Dreams, owned by a Canadian gentleman and an English woman. We stayed in a simple jungalo apartment which is a simple bedroom. You share a bath building with 4 other jungalos.

They recycle the shower water to flush the toilets. So they explained, " if the toilets don't flush you should encourage someone to take a shower. If that doesn't work, there are buckets of water on the porch."

We spent Valentine's Day here and they really have you over a barrel if you want flowers! But my honey sprang for them anyway!

We met some interesting couples here, a young woman (30 something) from Belgium and her friend Palo, an attractive Italian man. They were most concerned with our upcoming election as they are working in The United Arab Emiretas. Their wage is tied to our dollar which they were quite discouraged about. Jim fearing that we would get stuck in political discussions with them smartly directed the conversation to hear about their other travel adventures and they have had some! I loved hearing of their trips to Asia, as this is not an area Jim and I have considered much. They had some good experiences there, learning to ride elephants.

The second day we met another young couple, a young German man, 28 years old, a mechanical engineer who was traveling with a girl from Israel. They were so funny and entertaining. The German was so friendly and at ease discussing his country. He spoke 5 languages. As I commented on his skill in that area he replied, "Ever since we lost the war it became less fashionable in eastern europe to speak German so you have to learn other languages."

He was by far the most open and friendly German I have ever met. When I told him so he responded, " I hear this compliment all the time. German people are very serious. To their credit when my countrymen say 'yes' they mean 'yes'. And when they say 'no' they mean 'no'. So I like doing business with them. But they take themselves too seriously. I believe we are on this planet for a few short years and it is too short to waste time taking yourself seriously."

I could have stayed and talked to this mature, worldly and yes, also very attractive young man for another day. 28 years old and he had negotiated with a company to work free on a design for a wind turbine. If they bought his design he would get a percent of the project. They bought his design and now he is traveling the world for a year. What self confidence, at 28! I could not have done it!

And I think it speaks of the real hope I have for our race, our ability to change...a German and a Jew...traveling friends, supporting one another...laughing and enjoying each others company! Allowing the past to be just that...past.

While in the reserve we went to visit two ruins, Calakmul, which is the largest of the economic centers in the Yucatan. The city was 50k, so it is quite large with trails through out. It has the largest pyramid which you can see Guatemala from the top. There are two plazas, a large and small. While sitting at the base of the small pyramid, Howler Monkeys came thru the plaza.

The reserve is over run with Wild Turkeys. I now know why the Mayans have so much turkey in their diets....they were everywhere. They domesticated them and ate them. The have beautiful coloring that is iridescent in their feathers.

Jim and I, sat their alone amongst these ancient ruins...where Mayans once were busy living their lives, doing business....here we now sat watching the Howlers. Monkeys would not have been near here during the occupation of the Mayans...because Mayans eat monkeys....they did then and still do now.

There was a Mother with child on her back, a matron watching after 2 younger monkeys. These looked as though they had just come off their Mother's back. She would swing on a tree till she could grab a branch for them, then wait for them to do it just as she showed them. Obviously helping them learn to do it right. Of course there were 3 or 4 adolescents...the show offs of the troop....swinging and not paying much attention to us.

We sat in this magnificent place watching the monkeys eat their fruit, listening to the parrots and jays chirp happily for over 30 minutes. I can not describe the feeling that came over me. I only hope one day you find it in your heart, a glorious connection to the past meeting in the present moment.

The last ruin we visited, that makes 7 we've been to, was Becan. It was a small religious ceremonial city that was moated. The only one that has been found that had a moat dug around it, with four bridges for traffic in and out. Here they have found the best preserved mask and it was beautiful.....jade eyes and over ft tall it still had smooth surfaces and paint on the face and head dress. Unfortunately the reserve had enclosed behind some cloudy glass. We got a pic...but it is not real good....

We were the only visitors at Becan....not another couple came till we were pulling off. Both of these sites had none of the touristy traffic, buses, selling of cheap trinkets, snacks and guides offering services. These were sites that you could go to and enjoy your day alone. I am so glad we made the drive!

Another Week in Paradise Feb 10, 2008

2008-02-10T08:11:00.000-08:00

Just completed our 4th week in the Yucatan and still loving it!

This week we focused on getting enough snorkeling in. We tried two sites on the bay where we are staying. One is closer to the end of the reef and open ocean so we need to Kayak out. There is a float we tie up to while we snorkel. I have taken a lot of pics but unfortunately the underwater camera is not digital so we have no pics to share till we get home and can scan them in.

While walking on the beach the other AM (I try to do this 30 minutes at least each AM.) I found a small live conch ....brought it home and took a pic....their shells are beautiful. Then returned him to the sea.

We also traveled south to Mahahaul closer to Belise border. This is where Huricane Dean came in last August.

The forest and homes down there took the brunt of it....26 ft surge. They are still trying to finish the clean up....very little rebuilding done yet.

We found a little hotel open on a bay with a reef. They use to have 6 cabinas but since the huricane they only have three. The owners were a coupld from Kent, WA....so it was fun meeting them. Originally they had 6 cabinas and now were down to 3 since Dean.

We had our meals in a common room so we got to enjoy the company of the other visitors, a Canadian couple from Victoria. They had been here to visit before and came to check on them since the storm. And there was a group of 8 Americans renting one of the only 4 houses on the beach (quite deserted area....like the old Yucatan or more like Baha north) they worked for our government and were all vacationing together. A fun group to talk ...lots of laughs....but a little too much political talk. They were with an Environmental Dept and were ready for a change in leadership.

The snorkeling was good here...clear and a good variety of fish. We went out twice during our two days here.

The rest of the time was spent on our hammocks reading and sipping our rum drinks. Tough life but someone has to do it!

The day we left we road south to a more deserted area still. Along the road that cut through a Mangrove forest we saw lots of wildlife....probably a combination of the time of day and the area. There were two snakes, one was at least 5 feet long, lots of iguanas (this is lizard country!), and birds of all colors and sizes....it made for a nice ride. We are hoping to visit Mexico's last stretch of rain forest next week. They have jaguar there though I doubt we will see any. Maybe we will spot some other things.

Back at home, Tankah Bay, we have developed friendships with our Canadian neighbors and another American couple living upstairs from us. We have had them over for cocktails one night and last night we all went out to dinner together. We are all fairly laid back, mostly the same age and retired...easy conversation as we seem to have similiar values and interests....so we are lucky to have some other couples to socialize with.

Monday the other two ladies and I are leaving the men and going shopping....I am looking for a white mexican blouse to wear with some of my beach pants.

That's it for this week....take care.

Lee

Tankah Feb 3, 2008

2008-02-03T09:49:00.000-08:00

We have now spent our first week at our rented casita on Tankah Bay. We are a few miles north of the famous Mayan ruins of Tulum. These are the ones that appear in all the travel brochures with the Temple on the cliff over the aquamarine carribean waters. After a week of travel we have been pretty lazy here, and haven't even seen the Tulum site yet. We were assigned our own palapa with 2 hammocks when we arrived. It is a rule you have to get in some hammock time every day while you are here. Really, it's a rule or something.

We are staying at a villa, Casa Tropical on Tankah Bay. The house is nice and situated amongst a lot of properties owned by Americans. We are on a quiet beach....not the crowds that you have in Cancun or Playa de Carmen.

The owners have stocked the house with some great fictional reading material we are enjoying. We brought our own music with our ipods and are enjoying 6 weeks without TV and political news updates!

Our preference is always for something away from the development, tourist and closer to the local Mexican culture. So thought this isn't exactly what we like, being somewhat insulated from the real experience of a visit to Mexico, but it isn't a resort or gated community. The owners do a good job of allowing for our privacy.

Mexican fisherman come in the morning and cast net for bait and there a few Mexican families that live on the fancier properties as caretakers. They can be a little standoffish till you make the first move and then they are more freindly.The picture below on the left is the view from the living/sleeping room. The middle is an exterior view of the building. The image on the right is the sunrise from the front "yard."

There is a kayak to play with, which we are enjoying. And lots of privacy and quiet time here to chill. It is much like being on a retreat....exercise, meditation (Lee has her way and me mine!), reading time and time to reconnect with each other.

The morning sunrises and evening sunsets are to die for. We make it a habit to enjoy these together. The snorkeling off our bay is quite good however as fresh water mixes with salt some days the clarity is a problem.
Let me explain....

Water falling on the Yucatan drains mostly into the pourous limestone and there is little surface water. The underground is riddled with fissures and water filled caverns that drain the clear filtered water to sea. Down the road from us is a collapsed cavern that one can swim in (see below). It is a little creepy at first since the uncollapsed sections are large dark, holes and the tangleof mangrove roots appear ominous at first. The water, however is crystal clear and is full of several small varietuies of fish. The flow from this one must be small, the water is salty and the species are marine, including some big blue crabs.

Down the coast a few hundred yards is an area of fissures where fresh water is boiling up into the sea. Some communities used to go out to such locations by boat to get their fresh water we are told. A side effect is a curious phenomena in which the fresh water floats on the heavier salt water. It can be pain when snorkeling. When undisturbed it creates smooth wavy lines at the interface but when you disturb it it goes all wavy as it mixes and ruins the visibility.

The snorkeling is nice ; between us and the fringing reef there are some patches of coral with tropical fish and other things to see. The big reef is probably better where it drops off into deep water, but is a longer swim and the waves are normally too rough to get ouside. A sea turtle is said to frequent the grass beds just south of us but we have not been able to find him yet.

Below(left) is a view of our beach to the north. To the right is a shot of the beach further down the coast south of the Tulum ruins. There is little fringing reef here so the surf breaks on the shore instead of out on the reef.
Also there are a couple of restaurants along the beach in walking distance and we will try these out in our search for the perfect margarita.

If you want to visit the area and not go to an all inclusive we'd recommend this!

On to Campeche (1-22 &1-23)

2008-01-30T07:43:00.000-08:00

Drove to Campeche from Merida. Although Merida was interesting it was a big relief to get out of the noise and traffic not to mention a certain level of fear whether driving or being a pedestrian.

Campeche was a relief of sorts, being smaller, quieter and less frenetic than Merida'. It is an attractive city fronting to the Gulf of Mexico with a long pedestrian malecon (walkway.) The locals use their malecon extensively, being frequented with families, walkers, and, surprisingly enough by joggers. I don't think I've seen Mexican joggers anywhere else, and tourist joggers usually bring curious stares down here. Campeche appears to have a rising middle class, probably associated with the oil production and shrimp export businesses. Most were young people decked out in excercise clothes, i-pods, etc, and looked like office wotkers.

If the poulation looked somewhat modernized however, much of the rest of the city is very colonial in appearance, not surprising since it was founded in the 1500's. the most antiquated structures appear to be the forts and city walls that were built to deter pirate attacks. Sir Francis Drake, Henry Morgan, and many others attacked and looted the city at one time. Less than half the walls and forts are remaining, but they are still impressive nevertheless. Much of the structure has been demolished for building stone for something else.

The older parts of town around the main plaza, consisting mostly of colonial houses, are being renovated with repair of the broken masonry and new, bright colored paint. It gives the city a much cleaner, brighter look than many other Mexican towns. We were told however, that behind the new facades there are a lot of abandoned structure in bad repair.

We visited one historical house that had been totally renovated that had "before" pictures on the walls. I have to admit it was BAD, with no roof, crumbling broken masonry and strangler figs growing on the structure.

The city is built on a flat but there are hills on each end, about 6-8 miles apart. Forts were also built on these strong points, which now house museums. We went to the western fort and viewed a collection of Mayan artifacts including stauary, poeery, big obsidian blades, and figurines from a nearby island.

There is a solar phenomena, rarely seen, called the "green flash." It happens at the end of sunset just as the last of the sun disaapears under the horizon. It so elusive that some meteorolgists (who have not seen it) have speculated that it is a myth. I have looked for it several times with no success. We were on the malecon to watch the sunset; it was about half gone and I told Lee to watch for the green flash, not really believing we would see it. Just as the last glimmer was disappearing from view there was a brilliant green flash of light! It looked like a tiny flash bulb far away across the water, right where the last orange light of the sun had shown.

The next evening we ate at a seaside restaurant and walked out just at sunset and saw one again! Not as bright, but definitely a green flash.

Our last night in Campeche coincided with the beginning of Canivale. The first parade of the season came down the street right in front of our hotel. It was interesting to contrast their parades with Mardi Gras. The first 5 or 6 'ite,ms" were religious in nature, and not really clear to the uninformed. Two friars were towing a captured pirate in chains down the street, there were robed figures in both black and white carrying torches, robed fogures carrying a casket, and a person dressed up like death with a skull face and a scythe. After that it lightened up with bands, dancing girls, a children's parade, etc. It was interesting that the most common costume was of pirates. I guess they made a deep impression here.

Jim

Merida and area 1/21/2008-1/24/2008

2008-01-29T09:50:00.000-08:00

NOTE TO Cameron: These guys are everywhere! They taste like chicken!

=Moving past Chichen Itza to the west we stopped at Merida a true colonial city. It is very large and very busy. We had plans to stay at a hotel right on the square but could not get to it. We arrived on Sunday evening the last day of their Festival de Cuidad. So we stayed at a nice hotel 4 blocks from the square.

All traffic around the square was diverted. There were large live music stages set up in each corner of the square. After we got situated in our hotel we went out to see what was going on. We picked a corner with a latin jazz band (Josh would have enjoyed this music....as would Ben) We spent some time there listening and being entertained by one of their three drummers. He was beating on those large drums that look like bongos...but much larger....I don't know what they are called. Anyway he would not stop....between songs he just kept beating out a tune....the other members would make faces at him and he would just laugh. Then they would start a song and he would change what he was doing and join them. He was quite entertaining.

So much going on around the square we did not want to miss the action so we picked out a restaurant there. We could eat and listen to the 4 bands playing. Oh, I am still on a search for the perfect Margarita but Yucatan has been quite disappointing. I tried 4 in Merida and one I could not finish! It was that bad. But I do not want any of you to worry that I may give up the effort....I'm committed to this search.

The evening ended with fireworks as it is the end of Festival de Cuidad and beginign of Carnival. On a lighter note for my family and friends in New Orleans I thought you might enjoy this: in the Yucatan for Carnival they do have 3 Kings bread with a baby Jesus inside. Looks just like our king cake. When they have their 3 kings party everyone hopes to not get the baby Jesus as if you do, you must throw a tamale party for the group.

Merida's square is built on a Mayan Plaza. The cathedral is built right on top of a pyramid. They used the stone of the Mayan city to build many of the buildings there. It made me feel sad, but I am sure the Spanish invaders felt strongly that they were in the right. The Govenor's House is right on the square and has a huge carving around the doors of conquistadors standing on Mayan heads. I think you would have to believe you were in the right to adorn your home with such a carving.

Merida's square is the busiest, at all times of the day and days of the week, than any we have seen on this or other trips. The people get the most use of it. And their market is huge....we spend a day fooling around there. They have fruits & vegetables, clothes (lots of the local Mayan dresses) tools, animals, meat and just about anything you should need. It was quite colorful, noisey and fun.

Our second day in Merida we went to the Archeological Museo, filled with Mayan artifacts recovered from the cities. Unfortunately they did not allow picture taking as they believe it hurts the aged artifacts. It was quite an education to see the jewelry, pans, dishes, incense burners, musical instruments and figurines they had the technology to make. it is here that I saw the first artifact with blue paint on it.

NOTE TO Jamie: Yes, this is a pigs head in the market....they had a row of them.

We did check out some of the monuments around the city to Mayans and their culture and also took the time to drive to the richer part of town. It reminded me of St Charles in New Orleans with huge homes on it...the traffic was bad so we only got one picture of a home but it will give you an idea of what we saw.

It was the evening of the second night that we met the morning chef at the restaurant we stopped at for dinner. He was Mayan and just started talking Spanish to Jim. We asked if he could sit and he did. We had drinks and he joined us for appetisers. It was a gift having him join us, as he is quite proud of his culture and loves sharing it.

He started out by telling us, " Mayan's are short people. You can always tell them from Mexicans. Mexican's are taller." He shared stories about the people and their gods with us. He told us his parents still live in a Mayan home. We have seen these around towns as we drove. He told us where we could go see the mayans making their wares....not the cheap stuff sold in the square but in a gallery. And lastly he gave us a book that told us of the ruins in the area....there are 5 smaller ruins outside of merida. Some only have a building or two restored but you could be there by yourself and they are in the jungle so you have the chance of seeing jungle birds.

Mayan Hut

Oh, Jim could not resist buying hammocks....he bought two and we have at least two at home from Equador. So now we are the proud owners of 4 hammocks....he is promising they are getting hung up this summer.

Before we said goob-bye he took us to the church that has Mayan carved stones in the wall. He said it was good luck to couples to touch the stones together so many Mayan couples come here to marry. I asked if it worked for older couples and he laughed...but said, "Si!" Jim and I touched the stone.

Day 3 we decided to check out the ruins out of town. Edzna, Uxmal and Labnah. Aside from the pictures of runis I will share we enjoyed green parrots flying by and churping in the trees and we saw a Mot-mot....a strange bird that chews the feathers of its tail into a different shape. It is blue and green.

Oh, at Uxmal (pronounced Osh-mal) we got a guide. He was very good. He explained the Rain god to us.....he has a nose on the mask that curls up when they are asking for rain and down when they are thanking for rain. They often adorn buildings with the rain god as he is important around here!

That ended our trip to Merida....off to Campeche!

This is a rain god nose....they are slid into the mask

to allow for changing the direction. Many masks have the nose broken.

Chichen Itza 1/19/2008-1/20/2008

2008-01-28T07:29:00.000-08:00

Chichen Itza

meaning.....

Itza (is the

name of the

people)

home by clear water. Not to be confused with Chicken Itza a touristy chicken dish served in hotels here.

We drove from Valladolid to Piste a little Mayan town that has no claim to fame except that it is a 20 minute walk to Chichen Itza. We stayed in a large hotel that caters to back packers, campers, and a new age clientel. The hotel had seen better days but it had a great pool, mayan runis on their site (a big pile of rocks that has not been reconstructed yet) and interesting people to chat with around the pool.

I was talking to a Canadian around the pool and he was complaining about the US and their/our treatment of Cuba...the next stop on his vacation. Then a little later in the conversation he asked me where I was from in Canada....I told him I was from Washington state. He laughed and said, "you could have told me you were from the states."

This is an international site...lots of Germans, Canadians, Japanese, Americans and of course Italians, Spanish and a few English....that we noticed.

Our first night in we went to the pyramid laser show....I was thinking it would be hooky but Jim insisted and I am glad he did. There were only about 50 people there and they gave us head sets to hear the show in english. They sat us in middle of the great plaza and talked about each building and what they know about it and what they are not sure of.....as they would talk about the buildings of course they would light them up. They went through a typical day in the town as they believe it would have been. They spoke of the Toltec influence on Chichen Itza. They can tell from the building styles, sacrifices made and remains that Chichen Itza and the Mayan people here either lost a great battle to the Toltecs or due to trade and location (halfway between the Gulf and Ocean) were greatly influenced by the Toltecs.

Toltecs did human sacrifice and decorated their buildings from top to bottom with carvings. Mayans did not do human sacrifice and only decorated the tops of their buildings. Chichen Itza has buildings in both Mayan and Toltec styles and some combined. Also Mayans had 17 gods, more than any other people we know. Toltecs relied on a meer 9 gods to help them....the buildings are adorned with a combination of the gods.

So Chichen Itza is an important site because of the two civilization influence. But we will have to check out other sites to see the pure Mayan influence.

Lastly the laser show ended, and this was the really cool part, showing how the light of the sun shines on the pyramid at the equinox.....in the winter it runs down one side of the pyramid making a curved line and ending at the snake head....so it hi-lights the snake on one side. In the summer it does the same thing on the other side of the pyramid.....it was really cool to see. The light looks like a curving snake.

All the guide books had shared with us the importance of getting up early and getting to the ruins before the hotel buses from Cancun and Merida arrive around noon. So we got up had breakfast and were first in line for the gates to open at 8AM....well since it is Mexico they opened at 8:09. It was practically empty and we were able to get some good pics ....without hoards of people around. But about 11:30 the hoards arrived and I mean hoards....we were so glad we had come early and were able to take our time and see the place.

I will let our pics tell the rest of the story....starting with the ball court. Chichen has the largest ever found and over 100 have been found. The game was played like soccer....without hands and with padding on thie arms and legs they would knock the ball till someone got it through the ring on the wall...I have no idea how they did it!

At first they thought the loser would be sacrificed....a tough game ! But now some evidence has surfaced that they would play for the right to be sacrificed.....the winner would be sacrificed??? It was considered an honor. They did not believe in death but in an afterlife that would make you immortal.

Religious ceremony building:

This is the Cenote that provided water for the Itzas. It is the water that the town is named for. They believed it was a sacred place. They had an altar on one side where they would make offerings to the gods here....and sacrifices. An American bought this land and had it dredged to see what was at the bottom. They found gold and bronze, many carved figurines, human and animal remains, jewelery....most of these are in the museum in Merida. So we will see them later.

The Maya did build a very extensive water collection system also. Each plaza had brick lined ditches and trenches to channel rain water to a holding tank. They put turtles and frogs in the tank to eat algea and insects in the water.

There was a large plaza with buildings with many columns on three sides. It was huge....each collumn is made of many individual stones and it is the individual stones that have the portrait or an individual mayan warrior....so a column can be made up of 8 portraits....each unique. They believe these represented actual individuals.

Individual carvings on buildings ....they used red, yellow, green, blue and orange paint. I have only seen one object with green paint left on it and only 3 with blue. But lots of the carvings and buildings have some red, yellow and a few orange paint on them. These colors were made with plants. The blue and green come from minerals.

Monkeys:

Jaguar & eagle

NOTE TO CAMERON: Iguana, real one not a carving....they are everywhere here. You can get fairly close to them then they run, and they are fast. Mayans eat them so I am sure that is why they run.

Mayan Warrior: Mayans are little people. Very few of them are 5 feet.

Wall of skulls outside the Plaza of Warriors....representing their victims, probably.

Observatory with mask of God close up...decorating the observatory. The Observatory has 2 windows, one in alignment with Venus and one with Mars at a certain time of year...can't remember when, sorry!

Valladolid & Flamingos 1/16/08-1/18/08

2008-01-27T05:55:00.000-08:00

We were going to drive straight thru to Rio Largatos to see flamingos, but after the pot hole incident (we were both a little stressed and running late ....don't drive in the dark in Mexico!) we decided to spend the night in this little Mayan town, Valladolid. (By the way it has taken me 7 days, no kiddin', to learn to say it correctly!)

We were both glad we did! It is a lovely laid back town half way between Rio Largatos and Chichen Itza. It had a few gringos there using it as a base to visit both areas. It is quite easy to get here by bus and there are buses to take you to both of the other locations. For us we just enjoyed the square, a romantic dinner, and each others company.

The square has these courting benches. We got someone to take our picture in one. But unlike the rest of Mexico, it is very common to see young lovers sitting in the square and making out.....what is Mexico coming to? ha ha

The square fills with Grackles...these black birds that make a call that sounds like a high pitched cry....at sunset. They spend the night together and their crys as they come to the tops of the trees are overwhelming. Louder than any traffic you have ever heard and it is not a song....it is a high pitched cry. It is amazing to witness. Because just as the sun sets....they all shut up at once. You would never know that there are hundreds of these noisy birds in the huge trees in the square.

The square had vendors selling mostly these colorful hand embroidered dresses common to the Mayan women. You see them in them everywhere, the maids in the hotel wore them, the women working in restaurants and walking on the streets wore them. I think they are quite cool. Even the fountain in the square had a woman in one.

For dinner Jim checked out the guide book. It recommended a restaurant on the square that had a very romantic setting (tables for two around a court yard with a fountain) and a Mayan menu. We had a lovely dinner here and our first bit of Mayan food. They use a lot of turkey as they domesticated them early. Since we love turkey we should have no problem. Turkey tacos, turkey tamalies (rolled in banana leaves instead of corn husks) turkey, turkey, turkey.

It made for a lovely night and a chance to de-stress.

The next day we stopped to see our first cenote (sink hole filled with fresh water....you can swim in them!)

They have three near Valladolid. We decided to stop at Samula as it sounded the most unusual. You have to go down these steep stairs into a cavern to get to the water. The hole at the top has a tree growing near it that has dropped its roots into the cenote all the way to the water, to get a drink. It made for an awesome experience.

Then it was off to Rio Largatos....a small fishing villiage. Fresh seafood and Flamingos....it sits right on a reserve filled with birds and other wild life.

As you drive into town you are greeted by guides that are waiting to take you out to see the reserve. They have a neat system...they direct you to the office and you pay there for the trip you want and then they call the next captain in line to take you on your tour. Very orderly, you don't get bombarded by every guide trying to get your business. They have formed a co-op that supports all of them and their town....What is coming to Mexico? ha ha

Rather than explain our trip I will just share this pics....they speak for them selves.

We had a super time, as you can see! And after the trip we had the freshest seafood dinner ! I had fish fillet (don't know what kind) stuffed with shrimp.....lots of shrimp! More to come later!

Take Care!

Lee

Welcome to Mexico 1-15-2008

2008-01-24T07:55:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update to let our family and friends know we made it to the Yucatan. Arrived in Cancun around 7:30 Pm on 15th. Got thru customs and immigration without a hitch- though I am carrying more spices and food stuffs than normal. To make our cooking easier at the villa.

By the time we got our rental car it was 8:30PM. The insurance on the rental was as much as the cost of the rental. Luckily that is what I had budgeted.

It was a little hard finding our hotel in the dark....but an adventure. Then we went down to hotel row for dinner and the worst margarita I have ever had. The search is on.....

On Wend we went to bank, and grocery for picnic supplies. Then we left Cancun for Valladolid a small Mayan town. Almost got out of Cancun when Jim hit a huge pot hole....only a couple of feet wide but at least 18 inches deep. We bent all four tire rims and had 3 flat tires.

We did not hit anyone and safely got to the side of the road....even pulled safely off the road. The police pulled next to us immediately, they must have been directly behind us. They asked if we were O.K. and checked if we needed help. At first I felt lucky they were there.

Also on a lucky note....a tire repair man was right there on the other side of the street. He came immediately and started working on the tires and beating on the rims, one by one, to fix them ...something we don´t do in the US.

All the time he was working on the tires Jim was talking to the police that by now had asked for his license...not a good sign.

Then the news, they were writting him a ticket, for having an accident. Now remember we had not hit anyone and hurt no one....Jim reminded me to be calm....and I was. As this was all for MORDIDA - some money. I kept watching the time repair....while Jim talked to the police.

About the time the third tire was repaired....they, the police, offered to let us off the hook....they would help us if we cold help them...with a $100 US (not peso).

We were glad to help them and send them on their way.....I do think since we have 5 more weeks here though that the police should give you a button once you "help" them. Saying somethig like"Amigo de Policia". so other policemen would know you have already "helped". But no....there is always another opportunity to "help" those poor policemen in Mexico.

WELCOME TO MEXICO! By the way the tires are fine.....that repair man fixed all four rims and tires for only $20US....we gave him $40. After all... he did all the work and was only asking for 1/5 of what the policemen were getting....just did not seem right!

We are fine and will have more updates wih pics in a few days.

Lee