Iowa, May, 2014

Off we go to Iowa, land of corn and cows.  Our frequent trips are to check on aunt Alice, 83, who gets lonesome for some family.  Just a brief summery of her life.  Born the last child of 7 she married Elwin who took her on an adventure. He joined the Army and they moved several times in their lives.  She was pregnant twice but due to a fatal childhood disease both children died.  There was and still is a hole in her heart the size of the Grand Canyon.  Today all of her siblings, her husband, and everyone she was close to are gone, left are some nieces and nephews.  John is the son of her "favorite" sister and she feels close to him because he is so much like his mother..

More later, this time try to blog as I go.

4 hours into the trip and I'm really happy to have my IPad to keep me busy.  John and I have a deal, he drives the highways, and I drive around town.  It works great for us, and it is such a great day for the drive.  The sun is behind us so no squinting!!!  I have read our local newspaper, finished two crossword puzzles, read all of my e-mail, checked out Facebook to see what my friends were doing and read a chapter of a book that I purchased for my iPad months ago. Then finally, I've begun a new blog.  Who knew you could accomplish so much on I80 headed to Iowa?? 

5 hours into the trip and it is time for a stop at a casino.  One of our little guilty pleasures, and a chance to get out of the car.  John said he had a very itchy hand, and we all know that means you are going to get some money.  $160 will go into the "month in AZ" envelope.  Kathy, thank you for that idea.

Then off to check into our hotel.

Wow, look at that, if we missed our turn to Ames, we end up in Minnesota. We love both places!!

After checking into the hotel we are off to visit Aunt Alice.  Tonight we are meeting John's cousin David and his wife Linda for dinner.  David's father was Alice's older brother.  All those years that we spent in Iowa we didn't even know that David and his brother Dan existed.  All families have secrets, and some  never come to the surface, this was a well kept one.  After Alice's brother and his present wife passed away this cousin found Aunt Alice and began a very nice friendship.  Once when we were in town Alice arranged for a dinner with all of the cousins to get together and meet. The bond was instant, and with Linda and Dave we have made friends for life.  

After dinner we went back to Alice's house for cards with her friends.  There is always a game going on downstairs, and we don't dare admit to being tired.  It's a wonderful community she lives in and we feel good that they all watch out for one another.  

After a card game with 7 of the ladies we headed back to the hotel for the night.  We don't usually get back to the room until 10:30ish.  The ladies are real night owls compared to us.  Most of them claim they don't sleep at night so why rush off to bed? They are awesome gals and I hope to live in a place just like this someday.  Where they all look out for each other and still lead very active lives, but their families aren't left with the job of entertaining you because you are bored.  They NEVER get bored, ever.  Their homes are all 2 bedroom, 2 bath full apartments that they own, with a monthly fee for maintenance and even weekly cleaning service.  There is an attached garage for those with cars, and a dining room for community meals if they choose.  This dining room is then their activity room in the evenings.  

On Friday we plan to pick up flowers for all of the relatives graves.  Lots and lots of graves to visit in two different cemeteries. Alice likes to stand and talk about each family member as we go around so it can take awhile.  Every year she says the same thing, that this is probably the last year.  But every year she reorders all of the flowers again.  After Memorial Day is over one of her friends takes her out to pick up the pots and bring them back to be planted in their yard.  It's quite a ritual.  In this photo you see how the trunk of her car looks like a garden.  Johns brother arrived on Friday to help with the flower ceremony.  

Cryder is the family name, John's mom's side, and they seem to occupy at least 1/3 of the graves.  This was where she was born and raised until she moved to Illinois with his dad.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day for this loving project.  

Supper (their word for dinner) at a sports bar then back for another card game.  We taught Jim how to play "hand and Foot". 

Saturday we join another of John's cousins for a 60th Anniversary party where Aunt Alice and I have a wager, food or no food?  I say a nice buffet, she says cake and coffee!!  We ate a big breakfast just in case we don't get food later.  

Beautiful private club was the site of the 60th anniversary party, in West Des Moines.  It was an all appetizer buffet and cake, so I think I won the bet.  Aunt Alice said it wasn't a meal so she thinks she wins..  There were 40 attendees, but not many were relatives.  The host, John, who is the oldest son of the celebrating couple, said that John and I were their Rock Stars, because we came the farthest.  Two weeks before this event, Betty, (anniversary. Lady) had a very big scare with her heart.  I'm so glad she could attend her own party and we could help them celebrate.

Entrance and sign in book.

Betty on the right of her husband of 60 years, and Aunt Alice on the left.

From left, Johns brother Jim, John, Aunt Alice, and Walt, who is a cousin-in-law.  His wife was the sister of Ed, but she died several years ago.  Sadly the Cryders are slipping away ..

Sunday morning we attended St Thomas Aquinas, located on the Iowa state University campus.  

We also took some time to drive around and reminiss about the late 1980's when Dave was a student there.  It was a trip down memory lane.  

His dorm.  One of the hardest things I had to do was Drop him off and drive away.  That was 28 years ago!!!  

We had a very rainy drive home, but traffic was light and we are safe and sound in Orland Park.  Lots of things coming up with the grandchildren, so we are excited.  

Arizona 2014

After years of winter vacations in Florida our friends Darlene and Sonny convinced us to come for a visit to Arizona.  Sonny retired from Com Ed several years ago, they sold their house and moved to Sun City.  Why stay here struggling with the winter months, when you can bask in the sun year round.  From the beginning they told us there was a room in their house reserved for John and I.  So two years ago we decided to take them up on their offer and fly out for a visit.  Great decision!!!!



Our first year in AZ we hiked, ate, hiked, shopped, hiked and took our first Segway tour .  White tank mountain was the first hike experience, but was just an ant hill compared to the hiking trails in beautiful Sedona.  Standing at the top of Eagles Nest is like standing in heaven.  From day one we knew we loved it.  First year we stayed 7 days, second year 12 days and right now we are making
arrangements to rent a house for a month our next visit.

I tried to climb all the way to the top..  

There is something magical in Sedona, a fact that you have to experience to understand how true that statement is.  Our visit there in February was proof of that.  I am very fortunate to travel with friends who are planners and adventurers.  Ed and Helga found a 3hour Vortex jeep experience.  Our guide took us to the top of a mountain where we felt a powerful energy field.  Did I believe in this vortex field, I sure did.  Tingling in the ends of my fingers and hair standing  up on the back of my neck.  It was very powerful and something I look forward to going back to experiencing.

The hiking gang!!

We spent one day hiking completely around the base of this beautiful place!! 

Since Helga and I went to our first psychic reading last year, we were determined to go again this year.  Our first choice was a young man (about 12, not really, just looked young) who had absolutely no power, but I give him credit for being a great actor. We were believers that such a spiritual place like this must certainly draw some of the best physics in the country, so we vow to try again this year.  It turns out that Kathy and I find the talent this year, sorry Helga you missed out.  Kathy and I had great and very convincing readings, and the psysic said things that blew my mind as far as accutacy, and predictions for the future.  WOW...  

march 2014 Vacation

Starting to try to remember details so maybe I should take notes in the future.

On March 7th we left Orland Park heading south to Florida.  Atlanta, Ga was going to be our problem weather spot so my IPad with weather information was very helpful.  We could tell just how far to travel each day and where the area's to avoid were.  We made it to our destination in Florida by Monday night the 10th, with plans to meet Donna, Cindi, Joe, and Blaine for Dinner at Duffy's.  (Donna, sister: Cindi, her daughter, my niece, Joe, Cindi's husband, and Blaine their Son) They also have a son Joey who goes to Miami State University but he wasn't home for his spring break yet.
Here are some photo's of them:

Donna, John and I left for Key Largo on Tues. morning arriving there a little after noon.  Here is our hotel pictures, it was a gorgous place and we had our own beach:

We were within walking distance of "The Fish House" which was rated very high on the Places to Eat so we hiked across a 4 lane highway and there it was.  This was a drinks and appatizer visit because we were going to drive further south for dinner.  We settled in and began our journey south for a dinner at sunset.  The first place we stopped at was right on the water, but I didn't write down the name.  After I tell you about it you will see why it wasn't something I cared to remember.  We ordered some sort of a Tuna appatizer that no one told us was RAW Tuna.  When it arrived we all looked at each other in disbelief. As for myself I would have loved eating it because I have eaten it before and enjoyed it.  However Donna said "No Way", and John couldn't even think about eating it because it was sprinkled with sesame Seeds.  It was a huge serving that I couldn't possibly eat alone so we told her to take it back.  She was not happy, but we really didn't care since we were not going to eat it and it cost $17.50.  She was sort of smiling when she took it back and did not charge us, however she was ignoring us and not taking our dinner order.  Oh, well, give us our check and we are out of here hunting for another place to eat.  So down the road at the island called Islamorada we found the Lor-e-lei.  What a great place for dinner.  On the beach and Sunset was a comin...   Pictures here:  

Lots of fun stuff in the Key's including Igwana's roaming the Pool area, EWWWWW...  Beautiful Tiki bar with a friendly bird to take photo's of.  

Warm night for just sitting and staring and relaxing.  Weather to die for all day and evening.  What more could we ask for?  Then back to Port St. Lucie to spend 2 more days visiting with Relatives and then head home.

All in all it was an excellent trip and the weather everywhere down south was supurb.  Heading back north was a little bit of a different story but we made it home safe and sound.  Thanks Donna and Family for another good visit and we will see you next year.

Florida 2014

Since I am just learning how to create a blog and add pictures I will keep this one very short just for a practice round.  I think one of the secrets is to save, save, save, because I have already typed and lost several times.

Right here I'm going to add a photo, hopefully, because I have already tried to do this about 4 times and it has not worked yet.  Good luck to me..