March 2019: February 2014

01 January 2014

A New Year! Yes, another year to celebrate our extended retirement. Each additional year we appreciate our good health and wonderful living in a free country. So much of the world suffers from restricted living caused by poverty and poor leadership.

We began the new year by hosting Jon Slatore and our daughter Holly visiting from Salt Lake City. We began by fishing the Warm River near Ashton, ID. Jon gave me a new fishing pole from Japan called a Tenkara. It had no real and worked well as we trundled through the deep snow together the fishing line in the water. After fishing near the campground we stopped below the bridge and fed the large trout Trail Mix. They loved the offering as we saw them grab the snacks

Then we cross country skied Tautphus Park that evening. On New Year's Day we went bowling at the Bowlero alley. All I all everyone had fun topped off by diner at Garcias.

January each year the 3rd ward has their annual conference. I was able to lead the music for Hazel Cummings, our music director. She is a family I home teach and am willing to fill in when she is absent. We also had a successful pot luck the first of the year and a ward blitz coupled with our stake leaders visiting all those who are in the ward and don't come to our meeting. I went with Bob Bidstrup, who is the new Ex Sec for the stake (he took my place).

This year I have been asked to chair the committee our 50th high school reunion. This is a big task and as a result I resigned from the board at the YMCA. I have served nearly two years and we needed a change, so we are now exercising at the Apple Center.

The Idaho Falls temple is closed two weeks in January for cleaning. This gave us the go ahead to schedule our trip to Bullhead City and be with Woody, Val and Julia. We brought down Enid Hardman (my aunt) to join with us on our cruise to the Western Caribbean starting on the 24th of this month.

While we have been here waiting to leaves for our cruise, we have been busy sight seeing and visiting family. The first day here we traveled to Chloride mining town. Then we were off to Phoenix to visit with the Miners. They are the adult children of Julia and Enid's sister, Neva. She has long since passed away but we have been friends with her children. Dawn and I also had to see the Mariner children. We took them to eat Sushi and stayed in our favorite motel, Quality Inn in Glendale, AZ next to the 24 hour fitness center and Sprouts our favorite shopping place.

We have golfed at several local golf courses. It has been so delightful even though it has been windy but the temperatures is much warmer than Idaho. Dawn and I have been jogging nearly every day. This week we managed to jog to a distant recreation park and back. It was 6.6 miles. So we are able to do the 10K coming up in July in Santa Cruz, Ca.

In addition to golf, we have manage to visit Oatman,AZ a famous mining town near Bullhead City. The town is over run with burrows. We fed them hay cubes and some licorice I did not want. Also, today Woody and I went back out to the same area to the Tri-State shooting range. This is a well developed facility with range master and stands for al to shoot. Woody and I were able to fire our weapons i.e. .380, 45 colt (Taurus Judge), and Woody's 38 Special.

During the evenings we have been playing cards and watching movies (The Butler, Captain Phillips. This is something Dawn and I seldom do because we are so busy with our callings in the church. All in all it has been a restful break. We sleep well at night in this quiet neighborhood. Lastly, I must tells out the resident roadrunner living at the end of Roadrunner Lane. We jog down and try to get lose. He has personality.

Tomorrow we leave for New Orleans, La to stay a couple of days before we board the Carnival cruise liner, the Sunshine. Off on another adventure.

We spent Saturday touring New Orleans. Our first tour was a city tour on a comfortable bus. We visited all the major sites including the notorious grave yards with above burials. Then we spent time at the city park (1300 acres) and dining at a restaurant serving beignets. Lastly, we drove to the famous part of town with mansion style homes. Our bus guide was fantastic.

The next five hours we were traveling out of town to the Oak Lawn Mansion. Our bus guide talked all the way out and quizzed us on local trivia. At the mansion we visited the slave quarters, blacksmith shop and gift shop. Our guide at the mansion took us through the entire house and explained the life and fate of the Roman family who established the mansion in the 1800s.

That evening we ate at the Oceanica restaurant consuming traditional Cajun food. We spent the night at the La Quinta hotel downtown French Quarters. The next morning we headed to the port and processed onto the Sunshine ship. All went well.

For the next two days we were at sea on the Carnival Sunshine. This gave us time to relax and have fine evening meals with Julia, Enid, Dawn, Hazel Cummings (a lady I home teach) and several others joining us for dinner.

Following dinner each night we were entertained by the ship’s cast of performers. The stage shows were spectacular with the addition of a giant LED screen and graphic video images. The level of entertainment was very high. I was even asked to get on stage and help out with a number.

Once we arrived at our first destination, we were ready to get off the ship. Enid and Julia headed out for a day at Mayan Key. Their day was filled with visiting a zoo, sights of birds and plant life on Roatan, Honduras. They were given a meal and treated to a relaxing day at the beach.

Dawn, Hazel and I were transported to Anthony’s Key and boarded the Stingray ship for two tank dives off the local reefs. The first dive was a learning experience for Dawn. She had trouble with her mask filling with water. The second dive was much more exciting since she got a new mask and we swam with giant groupers the entire dive. We were tired from excess nitrogen and spent the evening on the ship resting after another wonderful meal.

The next morning we arrived early at Belize City and were among the first to board the tender vessel taking us to our guides at the bus station. After a 90 minute drive to the Xunantunich Mayan Ruins, we crossed a rive on ferry and walked to the ruins. Our guide took us to the top of the castle ruin from there we could see Guatemala. We had a fine luncheon and then drove back to the port. Julia, Enid, Dawn and I enjoyed this excursion.

The next morning we were in Cozumel for our last excursion. Enid and Julia were headed for a tour of the local park and ruin replicas. Dawn and I had two open water dives with the Sand Dollar dive boat. The first dive we drifted along without difficulty and were rewarded with sights we had never seen. The giant lobster was phenomenal. The second dive was even more spectacular as we drifted along. We saw thousands of fish and hundreds of varieties. We were both exhausted after the dive and were glad to rest up before dinner that night.

After a long wait at the New Orleans airport we finally traveled on to Los Angles then finally to Las Vegas. It was late by the time we arrived at the Marti Grais motel. We had only three hours sleep when we arose to take Enid to the airport to catch a plane to Salt Lake City, Utah. After dropping her off we headed to Bull Head City, AZ.

For the next few days we spent golfing, shooting and visiting the Christmas Tree Valley petroglyphs near Laughlin, NV. Then Dawn and I departed and drove to St. George where we visited with our friends the Spendloves, Adams and stayed over night with the Nebekers.

Early the next day we drove to Ogden, Utah and spent time with the Smiths and the Burtons. They were missionaries we met in Mozambique. After spending the night with Angie Bytheway (Dawn’s cousin) we went to church with Josh and Danielle’s family. Following church we drove home to Idaho.

All in all we were gone nearly one month. We enjoyed our friends and family. We enjoyed the warmer weather and the wonderful outtings. We felt relaxed and rewarded. Life is good.