tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58882406722517433652024-03-13T11:33:19.160-07:00See the Songersedithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.comBlogger219125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-51164890713026100232017-11-27T13:01:00.002-08:002018-11-27T07:58:38.809-08:00Italy--Day 3: RomeRome--May 31<br />
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This morning we ate breakfast--mostly leftovers from food we'd brought and bought last night--and then met up with the rest of our group out on the street. Casey tried to get some cash but was rejected by the corner ATM. Luckily Rex's card worked, so he bought bus tickets for everyone at the news stand across the street. We wandered through a market on the way to the bus stop and tried another ATM, but it rejected our card, too.<br />
We got to the Colosseum pretty early--the ticket office was just opening. Casey had bought us tickets online but we had to exchange the printed reservation for actual tickets.<br />
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Right away we were approached by several people offering guided tours. (Because we hadn't bought our tickets early enough, we'd missed being able to buy the ones that included guided tours already.) We ended up paying separately for a guided tour, and it was okay. But we probably would have gotten as much or more out of Casey's downloaded audio tour. Our group ended up being large enough (our 10 plus 4-6 more) that it was hard to hear our guide sometimes. Plus she (Patricia) had a strong Italian accent. (Yes, I know--English speakers are spoiled and expect to be catered to around the world. Still, the people who approached us were native English speakers, so we had certain expectations before we were handed off to our Italian guide.)<br />
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The Colosseum is awesome. If I remember right, it used to be faced with marble, especially the inside entrance gallery, but all the marble was later pillaged for other buildings. It was never used as an auditorium--the acoustics weren't that good. It was used as a sports/battle arena. They could even flood the arena and enact water battles with scaled down, flat-bottomed boats. And while that sounds cool, the reality is that lots of people died for the entertainment of the upper classes. So we enjoyed this architectural wonder with some modern compunctions.</div>
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It was already baking hot by the time we left. We were supposed to meet up with our tour group again at noon to be guided through the Forum but we had an hour or so to kill so we walked around looking for water and souvenirs. We also tried another ATM and then, because we were getting nervous about having cash, we exchanged some at a money changer in a Metro Station. DON'T DO THAT!! If we'd known how badly we would come off after the unlisted fees, we would happily have let the others in our group keep sharing their cash with us until we got it straightened out with our bank.</div>
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So we walked to a little grocery store, where some of us bought snacks. Throughout our time in Italy we used the nasoni (street fountains, sometimes shaped like noses--literally means big noses) to fill our water bottles and never had any trouble. </div>
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At the appointed time we went back to the Colosseum for the second part of our tour, which failed to show. Somehow, we weren't all that surprised. We stood in line to get into the Forum and while we waited we chatted with some people from England who had also been in our tour group for the Colosseum. </div>
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Casey gave us highlights of Forum as we walked around it. There is a ton of history in this mall-sized area. I'm not going to share any of it. Okay, except for one thing: Vestal virgins could retire after 30 years in the service of the Goddess Vesta. They would be between 36 and 40 years old if they made it that long and then they were allowed to retire with a pension and marry. Who knew?</div>
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We left the forum around 2 p.m. then walked past Trajan's column. </div>
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More places that we walked to this day:</div>
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The Church of Sant'Ignazio di Loyola</div>
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The Pantheon. (Photo bomb cred.: Rex Harris)</div>
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Outside the Pantheon. On the left side of this square is a shop where several of us bought sandwiches priced by the pound. They were delicious. We only ate lunch so that we could then eat gelato.</div>
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The gelato shop. First of many. I ordered mango and chocolate mousse and was surprised when it was actual chocolate mousse, not chocolate mousse flavored gelato. (Later on, one of us ordered nutella, thinking it was going to be nutella flavored gelato, but nope.) Luckily, I love chocolate mousse! And mango is my all time favorite flavor of gelato.</div>
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We also walked to and through the church of San Luigi dei Francesi. Then to a TIM shop to set up phone service on Casey's phone, which enabled us to call our bank and ask them to clear our ATM card for use in Italy (we'd pre-authorized our credit card, but not our debit--bleh). </div>
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Then the Spanish steps. </div>
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Not really sure why this place is so popular. It <i>is</i> a lot of steps. That's something.<br />
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If you climb to the top, you can get to the Villa Borghese gardens. There's a nice view of Rome from there. But first we had to shake off the rose seller who had attached himself to Lissa. The rose is "free" but then he tried to guilt Rex into paying something for it, as the nearest man who might feel responsible. Lissa eventually got him to take it back. There were a lot of different people who tried to sell us things on the street. Roses, splat toys, water bottles, elastic flingy helicopterish LED toys, etc. </div>
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We were tired by then, so we found a couple of benches on either side of a shady road through the gardens and sat down for a while. People jogged by. People ran by. People rode segways by. Probably tourist people. We just sat there and rested our feet while the time went by. </div>
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Then we pulled ourselves together and set out for the Trevi Fountain. On the way we bought groceries. Should have bought those after, probably.</div>
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It was very crowded there. We threw some coins in, of course. The last ones worked, after all. (You know, the legend says that if you throw in a coin, you'll return to Rome someday. Plus, they remove the coins each day and use them to fund a grocery store for the poor.) </div>
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Then we had our second round of gelato for the day. If we hadn't walked around 10 miles a day, we probably would have gotten really fat in Italy.</div>
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On our way back to our flats, we went through the Piazza Navona and watched the vendors fling their tiny LED whirlycopters (I don't really know what to call them) as high as the obelisk in the middle of the square. We bought a couple to take to the kids at home. </div>
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Back at the flat we ate fresh fettuccine with two kinds of sauce. Star made one sauce with sausage, zucchini, onions, and marinara that was to die for. I made a sauce with Asiago and cream and butter that was also to die for, because of the artery clogging richness of it. We tried to recreate this food experience at home, but it just wasn't the same.</div>
edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-54880692759148625802017-06-25T11:40:00.000-07:002017-06-28T10:47:50.140-07:00Italy-Day 1-2--Getting thereEpic Italy Trip--2017<br />
How did this epic trip come about? Well, you may recall that we essentially promised each of our kids a Senior trip. Lissa really wanted to go to Italy, despite me dangling Japan in front of her, and when our friend Star bought herself and Sophie tickets to Italy during an awesome Black Friday sale, we all piled on. Our group consisted of: Casey, Lissa, and me (Songers), Rex, Jenny, and Megan (Harrises), Star and Sophie (Primms), and Jan and Hannah (Hubbards).<br />
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I will skip over the meetings and the hours of pre-planning and planning. In the end Casey basically had to cut through our mob-think to do the organizing and he bought all the tickets for venues, etc. When you travel it's nice to have someone like Casey along.<br />
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We left Utah Monday morning and got to Rome Tuesday night. Why does it take so long to get from here to Italy? Well it's 5,748 miles away. And we had to go to Los Angeles first, which is in the wrong direction. And we stopped in Dusseldorf on the way. So yeah, getting there is not half the fun. It's a pain.<br />
But did these girls have fun anyway? Yes they did.<br />
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And Star bought them Kinder Eggs. The kind that are illegal in the U.S. (Because children in the U.S. cannot be trusted not to choke on the toy inside the egg, apparently.)<br />
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We left the morning of May 29, after giving Rosalie her traditional birthday breakfast in bed.<br />
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Yes, we left on her birthday. Did we hear about it from her, despite taking her on a birthday date on Saturday and giving her all her presents plus cake and ice cream and grandparents on Sunday? Yes we did.<br />
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I don't sleep well on planes. Except that one time we were in business class seats that turned into beds. Those would have cost around a $1000 dollars more and were just not worth it. Especially considering that we'd be getting to Rome around 10 pm Tuesday and going to bed again.<br />
I did try a new thing that worked better than anything else I've tried: I tied my head to the headrest with a scarf. Yeah, it looked awesome. But no head falling forward to snap me awake every few minutes. Those travel neck pillows never worked so well for me.<br />
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We had arranged for a company to pick us up at the airport so that we wouldn't have to hassle with inflated taxi fares. It took a few minutes to connect with them but then we divided into two vans and drove through the city to our two flats. The driver pointed out sights to us as we passed (the lit-up dome of St. Peter's, the Castello San Marco) but it honestly meant little to me at that point. The vans had to let us off a few hundred feet away from our doors because they were in a pedestrian zone. It was dark and disorienting for me that night, but by day we realized what a cool little corner we were in.<br />
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Our rental manager led us through the smaller flat first. We went through a street door and then down a hallway toward an open courtyard with (am I remembering this right?) statuary(!). But before we reached that we turned (and ducked) left through another door, down a couple of steps, and then up more steps and through a final door. Hubbards and Primms stayed there. Above is a view of their window from the street.<br />
Our flat was around the corner to the left of this through an outside door, then a hallway and stairs and then the flat door which opened by turning the key around 5 full rotations, with a heavy click on each turn.<br />
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This is a view of our other flat, by daylight.<br />
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Beginning a theme for us in Italy, the air conditioning didn't work. When we tried to turn it higher, the fuse would blow. But the windows cooled us pretty well for the three nights we were there. (I think Casey would disagree with me on this.) Casey wore ear plugs after the seagull mewling in the air shaft woke us up several times that first night. I relied on my old trick of sleeping on one ear while an audio book played in the other. It was a non-fiction account of the men who worked to save the art of Italy during World War 2. Put me right out.edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-37905036455025835002016-11-26T17:24:00.002-08:002016-11-26T17:29:57.234-08:00Way down south where the missionaries grow . . . .<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On Monday, the 21st of November we took Anika to the airport so she could fly to the MTC in Sao Paulo Brazil.<br />
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Even though it was hard to say goodbye, we did it at least three times each and also several times all together. Lots and lots of goodbye hugs. Lots.<br />
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And then we watched Sister Songer enter the security line and we left. (The way you do that is the same way you jump off a cliff into cold water--just do it quickly before you can really think about it. Otherwise it gets too hard.)<br />
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We knew she wouldn't be taking off for a couple of hours after we left her and that it would be the middle of the night our time before she got to Brazil. Throughout the day we thought about her and where she was in her journey. Casey pulled up the flight map so we could see <i>exactly</i> where she was at that moment. It doesn't make you feel better when your daughter's airplane is suspended over the vast expanse of the ocean. Nor is the ground much better.<br />
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When I woke up around 5 a.m. (as I do) I wrote her a quick email from my phone to welcome her to Brazil. (They are 5 hours ahead of us there. (Only in our modern world can you welcome someone to someplace you aren't.))<br />
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Happily, they let her send an email the day she arrived so that we'd know she was safely there and when we would be able to hear from her next. Here is her letter:<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Ola familia, Estou aqui! I´m here, I´m safe, I´m taking forever to write this email because the keyboards are different. </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">First news: Other than this letter, you won´t hear from me until next Wednesday (not this Wednesday but NEXT Wednesday!!) </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">The unexpected: (They always tell you to expect the unexpected, and my only question is--how?!) </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">...dun</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">...dun</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">...dun</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">...dun</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">...okay, the news is: I am flying solo. No other sisters came down with me, so I´ll be companionless. There are other solo sisters, but they are farther ahead than I am, so I can´t join them. </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">This last sentence I will keep the errorsÇ /today I saw my first cockroach/1 and they are even bigger than i thought don~t underestimate Brazil!</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">I love you lots and next Wednesday (not this Wednesday but next!!) I will send pictures. ]</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Just me and the elders</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Sister Songer</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">(sorry if I come across oddly, I´m tired. Thanks for your letter!)</span></div>
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We are so excited for her! We miss her! We can't wait to hear more! </div>
edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-70016158920403127942016-11-26T17:23:00.001-08:002016-11-26T17:23:53.191-08:00Queen of the BeeHale-lujah, Rosie got First Runner-Up (i.e. 2nd Place) in the Valley Elementary annual Thanksgiving Spelling Bee!<br />
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We are pretty proud of our 4th grader for beating out all the sixth graders.<br />
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The first place winner was a boy from 5th grade and third place went to another 4th grade girl.</div>
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We watched Rosie go from pretty subdued during the whiteboard portion, to more and more excited with every successful round.</div>
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She had to stretch her neck up to speak into the microphone. </div>
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She was so excited toward the end that she was high-fiving the girl next to her and talking to her. I caught her eye from the audience and gave her the "shhh" sign, but I couldn't blame her, really. I would have done the same thing at her age--I remember that fizzy nervous feeling of being on the spot in front of an audience! Makes me feel a little sick remembering . . . .</div>
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(Look how flushed she is!)</div>
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She told me she was going to win a turkey for us and she did. Me of little faith, I'd already bought one (but only because they take so long to thaw in the fridge.) We'll be eating hers come Christmas.</div>
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edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-45379358081762029152016-06-24T14:44:00.004-07:002016-06-24T14:44:52.940-07:00Cruise Day 6 and 7--The EndThe last at sea day was just a chance to revisit the stuff we'd already done before--swimming/waterslides, ropes course, climbing wall, exercising, eating....<br />
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Anderson slept in till 11:00. Later he and Lissa did some stuff with the teen group. I walked around the "Waterfront" deck for the first time and saw a rainbow over the ocean while the rain spat sideways into my eyes. I also saw the library for the first time. Everyone else saw these that first day while Rosie was napping.<br />
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We did try to get our stuff partly packed because we knew we had to be off the ship pretty early the next morning.<br />
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Anderson was invited to the goodbye party on deck by that girl, Reagan. We only let him stay out until 11:00 p.m. and the deal was he couldn't wake up his sisters when he got back.<br />
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It was a struggle to get out the door the next morning. All the passengers were having breakfast in the Buffet at the same time and it was so crowded. Then we hadn't heard which floor the exit was on (it changed according to the kind of dock) and got stuck in the elevator for a while as it went all the way up to 15 and then back down again.<br />
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Eventually, we got off with all our stuff. Then we went to church. We hung out in the ward building for a couple of hours before the English speaking branch started. Church was just like at home--the air conditioning was too high. The Relief Society President handed out blankets before her lesson.<br />
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Our trip home wasn't quite as murderous as the one out, but we were considerably more sunburned and not nearly as exited. We got to Salt Lake about midnight, waited forever for our one checked bag, drove home in a daze, and went straight to bed. Hooray, home sweet home!edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-9082204557767862452016-06-24T12:49:00.001-07:002016-06-24T14:00:12.443-07:00Cruise Day 6--Cozumel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Today when we got off the ship we had to walk through both levels of an outdoor mall in order to exit the terminal. Then we got a taxi van to take us to a resort Casey had researched where they had a whole bunch of inflatables to climb around on. The taxi driver tried to sell us on some other place but we decided to stick with our plan.</div>
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We thought the kids would have had enough snorkeling so we only brought three of our sets. They used them a lot and had to keep trading off. They saw a few new things today--a tulip shell, tiny crabs on the posts of the dock, and some kind of puffer fish squirting water at the sand to uncover food.<br />
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I made Rosalie wear her capris swimming today to cover her burn and I didn't feel like being in the sun today so I stayed in the shade under the trees. And reapplied 3 or 4 times, along with making everyone else do the same. And I got a light burn where my tee-shirt scooped down because I forgot I wasn't wearing my rashguard. This despite the cloud cover, and even rain, that we had about half of the day.<br />
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When we got back to the terminal/mall we went into a tourists' dream megastore and Rosalie bought two sailboat replicas, because everything was buy one get one free. Casey got a couple of tee shirts, and Anika got a couple of braided headbands because she admired the one I got in Belize, though they weren't quite the same style. </div>
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As we approached the ship it finally rained for real. It took one minute to get totally soaked. It only rained for two or three minutes but it took the rest of our cruise to dry out all our stuff in our rooms. </div>
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I wish I'd taken a picture of our cruise ship from the land. Those things are so enormous. Ours just loomed over the pier and you could see it from miles away along the flat coastline, especially in Costa Maya. The Norwegian Getaway is three times as large as the Titanic by weight. And 300 feet longer. And it still feels small in the middle of the ocean.</div>
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We finally ate at the Shanghai Noodle Bar after waiting for 45 minutes. The food was good but Rosalie wouldn't eat it. Meredith took her up to the Buffet for her daily cheeseburger and fries. Then we went to the comedy club. It was <i>mostly</i> clean but not that funny. The little girls and I left early. </div>
edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-57833167319664511362016-06-23T15:06:00.002-07:002016-06-23T20:44:14.226-07:00Cruise Day 5--Costa Maya<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
This morning we had breakfast at the Flamingo, another buffet style restaurant that is very small and all Latin America themed. Meredith left her room card there, but we didn't know that until later. This morning Meri didn't want to go on shore. We tried to get her to come but she just really didn't want to and even reminded us that she had never wanted to go on a cruise in the first place, but we had made her. In the end, after a frantic search for her room card and getting a new one issued from guest services just as Lissa found her old one, we left her on board with instructions to stay in her room or the library or the buffet for lunch. </div>
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The pier is so long at Costa Maya that they have shuttles to take you from the ship to the shore. </div>
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We didn't want to wait for one going or coming, so we walked. Then we had to get a taxi/open bus out to the beaches. We had planned on going to one that was closest to the good snorkeling, but a salesman for a different resort offered us access to kayaks, paddleboards, shade, etc. at such a good price that we went there instead. </div>
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It was a fair swim to get out to the good snorkeling, but there was an old dock along the way where a log of big fish were hanging out.</div>
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I followed Rosalie out to the dock and we snorkeled for a little before heading back. The rocks were really close to the surface if you headed for the beach too soon and at one point I scolded Rosie for not paying attention to where she was swimming. She headed for shore so quickly that before I could stop her, she beached herself on shell encrusted pokey rocks. I couldn't swim to her and with flippers on I couldn't walk to her. She squatted on some rocks and glared at me while I stood forty feet away in eight inches of water and glared at her. For ten minutes. Then I calmed down enough to walk to her backwards. She showed me the urchins hiding in holes in the rock above the water line--the waves refilled them every few seconds. And I showed her there were hermit crabs everywhere. We carefully picked our way out to deeper water and went back to the beach.</div>
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And this is where my brain let us down big time. Rosalie wanted to go try out the kayaks, so I said we should reapply sunscreen first, but I only did our faces. What? And Rosalie had brought her short sleeve rashguard instead of her long sleeve one. </div>
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So first we tried a paddle board, but it was taking on water, so we got a kayak and headed out. Ani paddled out with another Kayak and we tied them to the old dock. When we reached the others they excitedly showed us what we thought was a skate, but later learned was a yellow stingray. We also saw barracuda.</div>
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And Lissa saw a porcupine fish hiding under a rock and swam away yelling into her snorkel because she remembered that we'd said puffer fish were dangerous. ( They are, if you eat them.)</div>
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We had a great time. I really love snorkeling. I could do it all day. </div>
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Casey and Anderson took the kayaks back and then Rosie and I headed back snorkeling. After reeling her in from heading out to sea for the fourth or fifth time I linked arms with her. We noticed little hollows in the sea grasses where there were collections of conch shells, mostly long dead. And we saw a sand dollar, also dead. I'd have taken it as a souvenir but for the sign in Roatan saying "Preserve our National Parks. Don't take our shells."</div>
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Relaxing in the shade. One problem with underwater cameras is you forget they might have water droplets on the lens afterwards.</div>
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It took us a while to rinse off all our gear in the low pressure shower. Rosalie headed down the row of vendors and bought a tiny stone toucan. Anderson bought a bracelet like he had at the two previous ports. We considered buying woven name bracelets simply because it's so rare to see "Anika" and "Clarissa" in personalized items. And then as we were finally ready to head back and the cooling effects of the water had evaporated, I realized I was burned. Badly. And so were Rosalie and Clarissa. Regret! Especially for Rosie, who had leg burns like Clarissa and me, but also arm burns. And I was going to be so careful! Bah.</div>
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When we got to the long pier Rosalie was discouraged, so Anderson offered her a piggy-back ride and ran her halfway down the pier before it got too jouncy for her. Then he held up a towel to shade her legs while she walked the rest of the way.</div>
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I had to take a cold shower this time. We used a lot of aloe vera gel but it was from last year and over the next few days it didn't seem to help me any. </div>
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We went to another sit-down restaurant for dinner but left without dessert to go see "Million Dollar Quartet." It was awesome! But I was squirming the whole time from my super heated legs. We all enjoyed the show except for Rosalie, who opted to stay in the room and watch movies. </div>
edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-53777661022658116912016-06-22T21:37:00.002-07:002016-06-23T13:37:36.281-07:00Cruise Day 4--BelizeBelize was "un-Belize-able." I didn't come up with that, that's the slogan of the tourism industry in Belize.<br />
Small boats tendered us from the cruise ship to the shore in Belize City. Then we took a bus inland for about an hour while our tour guide told us interesting things about the landscape we drove through.<br />
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Gearing up for the zipline. Casey and I hadn't done zipline in Belize before, just Roatan. It turned out to be a really good course--jungly but with some long stretches.<br />
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Nesting hummingbird we saw on the way up to the first platform.</div>
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There were a lot of people to get through and the guys at each platform were chucking us down the line almost faster than the receiver could unhook the last one.</div>
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This was a really long rope bridge that leaned to one side as you walked across it. The zipline just after we crossed over was my favorite. It was the longest (and highest) stretch of all and crossed over a river and then passed by an enormous tree that you could just touch the farthest branches of as you zipped by.</div>
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Then the bus took us a few miles down the road to the cave tubing site where we geared up for the water. Only after looking at this picture did we realize Lissa and Rosie should have traded life vests.</div>
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We had to walk for a couple of miles to get to the caves. On the way our guide told us about the local plants. </div>
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Pineapple</div>
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Cave tubing here has increased in popularity since the time we came 12 years ago.</div>
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Our river guide, Barry, basically had to swim us through the caves by the strength of his arms. The current is gentle and there were so many other groups there that we were all bunched up inside. </div>
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It kind of felt like an amusement park ride with how closely packed we were.</div>
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The view of "the sphinx" as daylight disappears behind you.</div>
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A break in the darkness about halfway through the cave. We all had headlamps, so we could see the features on the low ceiling. </div>
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Meri was the only one with a hole through the bottom of her tube.</div>
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Meri and Rosie got out and swam behind once we were out of the cave. Eventually everyone else took a swim, too. Except me--I felt so relaxed, I just wanted to stay where I was.</div>
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Normally they would have fed us lunch at tour headquarters, but half the bus (not our half) had to leave port an hour earlier than usual so they fed us on the bus. Yummy chicken and rice and beans. Even our picky eaters liked it.</div>
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(not one of our picky eaters)</div>
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And, of course, Rosalie bought something at the little flea market outside the cruise terminal--a conch shell. When we went through security the man checked it very carefully to make sure it was really dead. </div>
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Back on board we tried to go to the Shanghai Noodle Bar, but it was so tiny that the wait was an hour. So we had dinner in the Buffet. Rosalie was thrilled to not have to wait for her burger and fries.</div>
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edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-43582444037014564602016-06-20T21:03:00.002-07:002016-06-23T13:37:19.628-07:00Cruise Day 3--RoatanRoatan, Honduras<br />
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Our first port was the little island of Roatan. Casey arranged for us to have a driver through a tour group and the first place he took us was a petting zoo.<br />
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Because Monkeys.<br />
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And Parrots.<br />
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And pretty flowers.</div>
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And little deer, toucans, bush rabbits (capybaras?), lemurs (non-native, and comatose in the daytime), and this funny guy--coatimundi. He likes having his back scratched.</div>
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After a bit of shopping in the gift shop (Rosalie's goal was to buy something with her birthday money in every port) we asked Kenny, our driver, to take us to Tabyana beach. This was our favorite place to snorkel the first time we went on a cruise and it still is. Things have changed, though. The coral you can get to from Tabyana beach has died back a little, and the waterfront development on the beach has boomed. Last time we just walked through the alley between resorts (which it looked like you might still be able to do?) but this time our driver insisted we had to go through a resort and pay $10 per person to have access to the beach chairs, bathrooms, shower, pool, and restaurant. In the end we were glad we did--you really want a shower after being in the ocean for a few hours. And the pool at Paradise Beach was so shady and uncrowded, our kids loved hanging out there after being in the full sun.<br />
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The shock-proof underwater camera we bought turned out to be a good investment.<br />
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Rosalie is an enthusiastic snorkeler. She never pays attention to which direction she's going and every time I was with her I had to keep her from heading straight out to sea. She saw the most creatures because she spent the most time snorkeling of all of us.<br />
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Meredith had decided before we left for the cruise that she would NOT be snorkeling. We didn't even bring gear for her. Luckily she changed her mind and Anika was willing to lend her her gear.<br />
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One memorable thing: Clarissa was approached by a very aggressive mother and daughter team who had heard from Ani that her sister wanted her hair cornrowed. Ani barely escaped being cornrowed herself, even though she didn't want it. These ladies were tough bargainers and while Lissa was being braided, the other one steamrolled Anderson into being massaged. He thought they were just being nice, and was trying to be nice himself, even though he thought it was pretty weird. In the end they each had to pay $15 dollars. At least Lissa had something to show for it for a few days. </div>
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On the way home we asked Kenny to take us to a store where we could buy children's shoes. We found a nice pair of sneakers for $9. Then Anderson saw a pair of swim shorts at a second hand store and he got those for $3.</div>
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We hadn't bothered with lunch so we were really hungry when we got back to the ship. We coaxed Rosalie into going to the Irish Pub themed restaurant, O'Sheehan's (get it? <i>Oceans</i>). It was a little hard to wait, but they did have hamburgers and chips, so she was okay. We all enjoyed our food, especially the appetizers and desserts. The best thing about the sit down restaurants on the cruise was the desserts. The desserts at the buffet all tasted like they were made of gelatin.</div>
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And then, at last, Rosalie and Casey and I got to go on the ropes course. That was a lot of fun! It was nighttime and dark but the course was lit up with spot lights. It was nice because it was cooler than it would have been in the day, but we also didn't get any pictures.</div>
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edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-46948866761260077152016-06-18T20:45:00.000-07:002016-06-23T13:36:58.897-07:00Cruise Day 2--at seaThis was an at sea day, meaning we would spend the whole day on the boat trying out the water slides, the ropes course, the climbing wall, the trampoline, etc. And we would have access to as much food as we wanted. So of course we started the day in the gym. (On our first cruise Casey and I each gained seven pounds (I was pregnant, though) and on our second we each gained four.)<br />
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Anika, Clarissa, and Anderson came to exercise with us. I really enjoyed all the machines in the weight room. Rosalie came along, too, to make sure we knew how much she wanted to go to breakfast NOW.</div>
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Breakfast--at the buffet. In the end, I liked the buffet best because it was the only place you could be sure to get fresh fruit and something with vegetables in it. </div>
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Some pictures of our rooms. Four people in the smaller room. Three in the larger room with the balcony.</div>
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Then the ropes course. That's when we learned that you can only do the ropes course in shoes with closed toes and heels. And I had made Rosalie bring sandals for church in Miami instead of the flag print canvas shoes she wanted to bring. Her other shoes were sport sandals and none of the stores on the ship carried any kid-sized shoes! Oh, the pouting! But she agreed to go on the water slide so I took her while Casey took pictures of the other kids on the ropes course. (He had nowhere to leave the camera, so he didn't end up going, either.)</div>
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Note Anderson's scrape free legs--shortly afterwards he tried something daredevil-y and was bleeding noticeably the next time I saw him.<br />
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I didn't go on the water slides with Rosie, I just watched her. When she was tired of that I suggested that she go on the bungee trampoline. The sign on the trampoline fence said you had to wear socks, with no shoes. So I put her in a deck chair, told her to wait there, and hurried down to get her socks. When I got back with her socks, the trampoline had just closed until 6 that night! It was just noon, so I took her to the buffet for what became her standard meal for lunch and dinner--a cheeseburger and fries. I think there were three kinds of fries--waffle, thick cut, and thin cut. You could also get hash brown patties. She liked this burger a lot better--well done.</div>
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She and I went back to the room while the others went on the water slides for a while. We watched most of Hotel Transylvania 2 on the room TV. The others got back just as it was ending and then we ended up watching all of Minions together. We were still a little tired, I think. It felt good just to veg.</div>
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Next we all went to the rock climbing wall, which opened at 3:00. </div>
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This girl, Reagan, met Anderson in line for the water slides and when she saw him rock climbing she asked him to come hang out with her for a while. Casey told him to be back in a couple of hours. Anderson heard, "be back before 7." </div>
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They make you wear their special climbing shoes, and Rosie was hoping they would let her borrow a pair for the ropes course. When they said no, she was sad all over again. So we went to check out the kid's club. Closed from 5-7. More pouting ensued. So I took her back to the room so I could shower. She watched Ella Enchanted while she waited for me. When we got back together with everyone else, except Anderson, we waited for him for a while and then we went to the bungee trampoline.</div>
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I went down to the room to check for Anderson and just caught him. So he joined us.</div>
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Then we made the kids dress up in their church clothes to go to a nicer restaurant. Rosalie and Meredith were especially not pleased about that. We <strike>forced</strike> pressured them into it anyway. The Tropicana was nice, but super loud with the live band for the dance floor in the center. We could feel the boat rocking with the waves, but the food was really good. Meredith didn't think there'd be anything she'd like to eat, but she really liked what I ordered, so I shared it with her. Rosalie ordered a cheeseburger and fries from the kids' menu.</div>
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Everyone liked their food and everyone besides Anderson ordered dessert.</div>
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Rosalie also got a special birthday cake so she ended the day on a high note.<br />
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edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-3553179906461881132016-06-16T14:17:00.001-07:002016-06-16T15:47:45.646-07:00Our Caribbean Cruise--Day 1Casey had this cruise planned to within an inch of its life. He spent months on the cruise boards researching the best stuff to do. There was really only one thing we wish we'd done differently--the flight there.<br />
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Earlier in the year Casey went to Florida with the Bros for a disc golf trip. They got a pretty good deal on airfare, and that made it hard to pay the increasingly costly fares we saw as we approached the cruise. In the end we settled for a flight that would get us to Miami early on the morning of our departure day. There just weren't very many options left at that point, and we assumed we'd recover any lost sleep during the cruise. And we did, but if we had to do it over, we would definitely try to get there the day before and sleep in a hotel that night. Sleeping on an airplane is rotten.<br />
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Here we are, driving to the airport.</div>
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Our first flight was a short one to Phoenix. Then we had a four hour layover. Sleeping in airports is not much better, but all our kids gave it a good try.<br />
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We got to the airport in Miami early enough that we just had to wait around some more while we ate our apples, oranges, granola bars, and trail mix for breakfast--no special breakfast for Rosalie's birthday. (I heard about that again just a couple of days ago.) I'm pretty sure we were all grumpy at that point. I know I was. </div>
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Next we needed to get a couple of rides to the port. We had installed the Uber app on our phones before we left and the most people they would allow you to select per ride was 6. Casey sent in a request for 4 but the app on my phone wasn't working for some reason. Luckily, when his driver got there he had room for all 7 of us and our luggage. We ended up just paying him cash. Not technically allowed or something. But appreciated.</div>
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So then there was more waiting in the cruise terminal. They process you through security just like at the airport. I didn't remember these things from before. Long waits are always more memorable when your children are with you. </div>
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Once we were on board, we had to wait before we could go to our staterooms. To pass the time, and because we were hungry, we went to lunch at one of the sit down restaurants. The food was good, though Rosalie was put off by the pinkness of her cheeseburger. I should say everybody else's food was good--I had plenty of time to try everyone else's food while I waited an extra 15 minutes for mine to come. That doesn't sound like as long as it felt. They never did say why that happened. </div>
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Rosalie was so tired by this point that I took her out to the lobby and put her down for a nap on the sofa. I stayed with her while Casey took the other kids on a tour of the ship. I think they let us into our rooms about 3:00 in the afternoon. Then Rosie and I took another nap. I couldn't quite fall asleep until I turned the air conditioning waaay down. </div>
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I don't even remember what else we did that evening aside from getting all of us into the larger room for a family devotional that evening, since it was Sunday and all.<br />
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Goodbye, Miami.</div>
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<br />edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-45840128113110654812016-06-12T20:28:00.000-07:002016-06-13T18:06:17.767-07:00Update on ClarissaThis is long overdue--<br />
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Clarissa is a Junior in high school this year. Last year she was an extra in the school musical--<i>Oklahoma!</i> She was also on the softball team (that deserves a post all its own) and took photography. One of her photos took 1st place in the District Art Show.<br />
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This year she was again in the school musical--<i>Singin' in the Rain. </i>And now she is on the track team learning to do pole vault and throw the javelin. She just participated in the City-County meet and Region in pole vault and javelin which means she was in the top four for both. She likes to be involved--that is, "use up all her free time--who needs sleep?"<br />
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Most recently Clarissa went to Prom. I was highly involved this time. (I missed out on Anika's Prom when we were in India last year.)<br />
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Anatomy of a Prom Outfit:<br />
Dress--We did a lot of looking at dresses and in the end we rented one because it was the prettiest (and most modest) one we saw. (Note to self: before renting a dress at a rental place, ask if they will sell it. This shop has dresses that are on loan from individual owners. We learned afterward that we could have bought it for just a little more than the cost of the rental and cleaning fee. Sigh.)<br />
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Shoes--To match the gold dress, she bought gold sandals with 4 1/2 inch heels. They made her taller than her dad and we kept looking for something a little shorter. Then when we picked up the dress we realized it was so long she would need those heels just to keep the hem off the floor! It helped that her date is 6'2" and had on dress shoes. Another thing we learned when she tried on the dress with the shoes: the glitter on the shoes kept catching the fabric of the skirt and we worried it would damage the dress, plus make it hard to walk. So I spent the morning of Prom giving the shoes a couple of coats of Mod Podge with light sanding in between. It worked!<br />
(Side Note: I helped a neighbor girl with her dress. The skirt was so long we cut several inches off and used the fabric to fill in the back. I guess it makes sense that manufacturers make them long because you can always make a dress shorter, but not longer.)<br />
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Jewelry--earrings and bracelets from Walmart--matched perfectly but the bracelet did snag the skirt at one point. Should have Mod Podged it.<br />
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Makeup--I took Clarissa to consult with the beautiful redhead Heather Holliday (long time friend of my sister and sister-in-law, and so mine, too)--because I don't really do makeup. She helped a ton. Thanks, Heather!<br />
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Hair--Also, I don't really do hair. But the internet saved the day. Clarissa curled her hair and I did a headband braid using this<a href="http://missysue.com/2015/10/headband-braid-style-like-a-pro/" target="_blank"> tutorial</a>.<br />
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Boutonniere--Because we forgot about it until it was too late to order, I used this <a href="http://www.save-on-crafts.com/how-to-make-a-boutonniere.html" target="_blank">tutorial</a> to make one. It was easier than I hoped and looked great.<br />
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Off they go. He's carrying her coat. So cute.</div>
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My dad used to say you could tell if a boy had class if he was willing to drive to the Valley to pick up a girl for a date. That's about an hour round trip. Ethan did it four times that day. Very Classy.</div>
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She is probably the very most excited of all our kids for the cruise we have planned after school is finally out. (On the other hand is Meredith, who can't believe we are making her go.) This girl knows how to keep busy and have fun.</div>
edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-54209151256416430172015-10-09T20:08:00.001-07:002015-10-09T20:08:06.050-07:00Update on Anika In our rush to leave for our epic family road trip, we never posted about Anika's graduation!<br />
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with cousin Brigham</div>
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I thought we'd send out announcements when we got back, but we rushed
from one thing to the next all summer long. After we got home from our
family vacation we had two Hale reunions--both in southern Utah--a
Songer reunion, a Songer Bear Lake trip, Trek for Anika and Clarissa,
Girls' Camp, Laurel High Adventure, Scout Camp, Casey and Anderson's 50
miler, and a trip to Ireland. And then Anika moved to BYU.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2tgQIrM2y65zOfGyk1-NmdaPB3vhtbIRNLGbGLtW2aJuCceD-JjoTGgPn-789_N-_Nesdwjf5tg79MdIO1fTbKEoH9oit3ubQVP5SnzvBwrEH-4P5At6zCW3WVPcaoR7dniHv5b_DkQI/s1600/anikadorm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" shrinktofit="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2tgQIrM2y65zOfGyk1-NmdaPB3vhtbIRNLGbGLtW2aJuCceD-JjoTGgPn-789_N-_Nesdwjf5tg79MdIO1fTbKEoH9oit3ubQVP5SnzvBwrEH-4P5At6zCW3WVPcaoR7dniHv5b_DkQI/s400/anikadorm.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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It's been an adjustment for all of us. We miss her. She turned 18 just
days before she left. When we dropped her off her phone wasn't working
very well, so that added stress to the situation. I was really worried
for the first couple of weeks. (Nothing new, I'm a worrier.)</div>
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But she's doing well now. She's got a better phone and so she can call
and tell us what's up with her. We love to hear it. She's pushing
herself to do fun and hard things. Just yesterday she saw some of her
favorite comedy performers. She wanted to get a picture with them, but
she worried that they would be sick of being asked. In the end she
decided it would make a dumb story to talk about the time she <i>almost </i>asked if she could get a picture with these guys, so she was brave and did it.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8zByGoVfbgq13uIuGN6v48v_4unmuQ2jo3uL16My7oWwttOvanC87WmUVcz_RJpFCye3A3HcNW4zEGOe41FX3nuNlh97SUpOjFVYNhJuH9hPRZioGe5N2_7As1fu3jFSbyvGVvn1HYak/s1600/fangirl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" shrinktofit="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8zByGoVfbgq13uIuGN6v48v_4unmuQ2jo3uL16My7oWwttOvanC87WmUVcz_RJpFCye3A3HcNW4zEGOe41FX3nuNlh97SUpOjFVYNhJuH9hPRZioGe5N2_7As1fu3jFSbyvGVvn1HYak/s400/fangirl.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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fan girl</div>
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edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-86566837559892150442015-09-10T10:42:00.000-07:002015-09-10T16:20:45.306-07:00Ireland--Day 7 and home againSaturday--August 22--This morning we returned our car rental. (The Dublin Airport had us confused for a bit, but eventually we found Car Hire and returned our car.)<br />
Then we took a shuttle bus in to Dublin. Here is a cool bridge we saw from the window of our bus.<br />
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It's called the Samuel Beckett Bridge. It looks like a harp! Another thing the Irish love, aside from their design and their music, is their authors--Yeats, Joyce, Beckett, and many more--we heard about them all the time.</div>
As we walked toward St. Stephen's Green, we saw that they were having an art show all around the iron railings of the park. Just a few Saturdays a year there is an open air art show/sale and we were lucky enough to be there for one of them. So we walked around the outside of the park looking at a very eclectic assortment of art from local artists. I even considered buying some, because that is something that I do--consider buying art. Yeah.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYw98Nj0JXeumAAu7YDllfpArP2gmr1lbI-Th_2IqY0dTStYRuOx5ztEiHRSoAeyF5ITmF2jp78SqGqtykndYAoYayFFLcrrw87r_qe-Mnh-oKzCYn-baRceFaJwYlWvdt1p3uGG-Elx0/s1600/PeoplesArtShowJune2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYw98Nj0JXeumAAu7YDllfpArP2gmr1lbI-Th_2IqY0dTStYRuOx5ztEiHRSoAeyF5ITmF2jp78SqGqtykndYAoYayFFLcrrw87r_qe-Mnh-oKzCYn-baRceFaJwYlWvdt1p3uGG-Elx0/s640/PeoplesArtShowJune2013.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I borrowed this picture from an Ireland tourist page. Apparently I was getting tired of taking pictures by this point in our trip.</div>
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The hotel had no breakfast so we bought some pastries. Anika had an enormous crepe full of Nutella and pecans. She was nice enough to share. </div>
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Next we went to the Museum of Ireland, Archeology. I remembered this place from my first visit to Dublin, primarily for the huge quantity of gold collars and dress fasteners on display, and also for the staggeringly intricate decorative work on the brooches, chalices, shrines, crosses, etc. This style of interwoven metal work is central to my image of Ireland. It is style and art and mythology at the pinnacle of a culture that now seems almost like a fairy tale. And my pictures of it are rubbish. So here's a detail of the Cross of Cong from the Wikipedia page.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxSnY2OJC35TFBs4TgYb_eUfLfBVQ7kIsHpQZ58LMR3DZrO9J-7YlWLmDWTWUynOeQ_v7JzXZmGPxawn-o6-w8jzlO9IjzGo2Iar9gUMaE7LHwNflJ33MIVgHLLxcIVppL8jps4HydFls/s1600/330px-Notes_on_the_Cross_of_Cong%252C_detail.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxSnY2OJC35TFBs4TgYb_eUfLfBVQ7kIsHpQZ58LMR3DZrO9J-7YlWLmDWTWUynOeQ_v7JzXZmGPxawn-o6-w8jzlO9IjzGo2Iar9gUMaE7LHwNflJ33MIVgHLLxcIVppL8jps4HydFls/s1600/330px-Notes_on_the_Cross_of_Cong%252C_detail.png" /></a></div>
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When we at last reached our tolerance for antiquities, we went and had lunch at another shop. Sandwich for Anika, kebabs for Casey and me. I really miss kebabs. </div>
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And then we just did some touristy things--shopping for souvenirs, looking around at the architecture, hanging out in the playground to take advantage of Dublin Free Wifi. It rained a little and was chilly. Do you know that Ireland averages in the 70's even in summer? </div>
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Our last activity in Dublin was an evening of dinner and storytelling at "Ireland's Oldest Pub"--The Brazen Head. It claims to have been in operation on this site, though not this current building, since 1198. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzCUa9trgy4HswMHZDt2wvZrtHJETML3Zm9eqYkp2OltMNCwgHkdF0WKiBr1fO2iAqdWco13chtnAfEuk1_44XyM24E7W6n723TYWrCBspXErPFadLYF6l7QesPTO91X5jDF6jdGwmbLg/s1600/P8220296.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzCUa9trgy4HswMHZDt2wvZrtHJETML3Zm9eqYkp2OltMNCwgHkdF0WKiBr1fO2iAqdWco13chtnAfEuk1_44XyM24E7W6n723TYWrCBspXErPFadLYF6l7QesPTO91X5jDF6jdGwmbLg/s640/P8220296.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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The courtyard and downstairs was very crowded and smoky. Our venue was on the third floor. We sat by the window at a round table with a teacher from Italy, a teacher and her friends from the east coast states (going by accent), and a teacher and his wife and two kids from Canada. </div>
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Our host, a man named Ollie, told us stories and sang us songs in between courses of a traditional Irish dinner. (Anika had cabbage and bacon, Casey and I had Irish stew. They also had Beef and Guinness stew, which we'd seen before, but didn't try. Guinness is a major personality in Ireland.) </div>
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It was the Italian teacher's birthday, so we sang happy birthday to her and another guest in the room. She shared her piece of birthday cream pie with the whole table. But I think she'd have preferred as her present that Ollie stop opening the window behind her. I kept my sweater on the whole time.</div>
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It was a really fun evening. A nice end to a very nice trip. </div>
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The next day, Sunday, was Anika's 18th birthday. We gave her a granola bar to eat in the hotel bed just before we left.</div>
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I won't go into the details of coming home except to say two things--1. Nutella counts as a liquid, so don't try to take it home in your carry-on to eat as lunch during your six hour layover in Philadelphia. It will be confiscated. 2.--(should have know this one) apples and any other produce are not allowed over international borders. And once you've declared it on your customs form, you might as well eat them as you are waiting in line because they can't give you time to eat them once you reach the end of the line. (I had this idea that we had to produce them as evidence, once we'd declared them.) We had to throw them away. </div>
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Hooray for being home! And hooray for Casey's dad, Steve, who drove us both to and from the airport. And hooray for our kids at home who hid in our darkened house and then jumped out to surprise Anika for her birthday. And they made cupcakes, too.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTbUhiDHdrWWlXGexvruQKE3PwOM8ASvy0pXE6tLJQ9AJJe_D93ajgHmv6krnw8k4kUqXfNYWapd50ICa2cEs9TOTKdO09-MBOOB2ioaJSMvw8LJ2uemHulX1v2DNK-xg9Fmik0rohy9A/s1600/P8230308.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTbUhiDHdrWWlXGexvruQKE3PwOM8ASvy0pXE6tLJQ9AJJe_D93ajgHmv6krnw8k4kUqXfNYWapd50ICa2cEs9TOTKdO09-MBOOB2ioaJSMvw8LJ2uemHulX1v2DNK-xg9Fmik0rohy9A/s400/P8230308.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-75339167157394001052015-09-09T09:42:00.000-07:002015-09-10T10:00:00.085-07:00Ireland--Day 6Friday, August 21-- We woke up feeling that we had slept rough. But at least the breakfast was good. There were two young women at the next table who spoke with strong Irish accents to our hosts ("Tanks a lot.") but spoke Irish to each other. (At least, we think that's what it was.) At one point children in Ireland were forbidden to speak anything but English in schools. Very few people learn Irish as their native tongue these days. It was nice to hear it.<br />
After breakfast, we drove to Ennistymon for the ATM--this B and B also took cash, but not cards.<br />
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Then we went to the Cliffs of Moher. This, aside from Dublin, is the only place I visited all three times I've been in Ireland. It's always impressive, but since Casey and I were here 19 years ago, they have installed a mile of retaining walls to keep people back from the edge. There is also a modern visitors' center cleverly dug into the hillside to minimize the impact on the scenery. It has an enormous gift shop, where we bought a book of leprechaun stories and several Irish penny whistles.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiugCwsahwczp_qs1E93CqglpkyJj6bEuSSFpdcyVpIwIRZhLTSt8X475rKefsK_9jKIIvPQagApAEpHMv7n6x4vekpHvb2jeQWWtmQlg3UqbKltBUfoP8Mcq0LOC2w1C4ovT-E6p7QuM8/s1600/P8210241.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiugCwsahwczp_qs1E93CqglpkyJj6bEuSSFpdcyVpIwIRZhLTSt8X475rKefsK_9jKIIvPQagApAEpHMv7n6x4vekpHvb2jeQWWtmQlg3UqbKltBUfoP8Mcq0LOC2w1C4ovT-E6p7QuM8/s400/P8210241.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The first time I came here with my friends, Ruth and Mary Alice, Ruth and I went right out onto that flat stone ledge and lay on our stomachs to look over the edge. (MA preferred to keep her distance.) You can't get within 100 feet of that ledge now. I remember looking down on hovering gulls.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7FswmKpKvTNg3QhC3TCab3MM0paBYj_3QyAhIGpr_Z039Y8rQQpqgPw9eNdHyLhIAnQ9BSpanOeqJrsZTzA8VtDaAVnuWRad8FWCR-GRy-Uuw4jY6OMfFFSrt7HlYXsk_KMZzDzL9rII/s1600/P8210246.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7FswmKpKvTNg3QhC3TCab3MM0paBYj_3QyAhIGpr_Z039Y8rQQpqgPw9eNdHyLhIAnQ9BSpanOeqJrsZTzA8VtDaAVnuWRad8FWCR-GRy-Uuw4jY6OMfFFSrt7HlYXsk_KMZzDzL9rII/s400/P8210246.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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They now have an app you can download onto your phone that will take you on an audio tour of the cliffs. There's even free wifi there. </div>
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A number of movies have had the Cliffs of Moher in them--notably The Princess Bride (the cliffs of Insanity) and Harry Potter (the cave where Harry and Dumbledore found a horcrux.) There are higher sea cliffs to the north (Slieve League) but they are not as sheer nor as accessible. They come with warnings about treacherous footing, and be careful in the rain, etc. We felt fine with our "Disney-like" safety walls. (That's how one blogger referred to them.)</div>
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Next we drove to Bunratty Castle and folk park--because everyone should get a chance to walk up one of those tiny spiral staircases they have in old castles. It was a first for Anika. </div>
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Traffic was heavy in both directions on these stairs. I felt like I was getting to know some people quite well just from squeezing past them multiple times as we all went up and down. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVFOV0hHPTLK0V2rH4syMLk6cCoXVqUm1yiBgG5CwNOSK-fOqTTdhY7NUqpOfeTfc8SY8nn9LEMzRKRRS1LBlhvhkB_YsrlqrLkQv9YT04ttM1mHTUcjSS9mp6uNm6vUOzc_tki7fS_CE/s1600/P8210258.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVFOV0hHPTLK0V2rH4syMLk6cCoXVqUm1yiBgG5CwNOSK-fOqTTdhY7NUqpOfeTfc8SY8nn9LEMzRKRRS1LBlhvhkB_YsrlqrLkQv9YT04ttM1mHTUcjSS9mp6uNm6vUOzc_tki7fS_CE/s400/P8210258.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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This castle had fallen into ruin before a couple came along who loved all things medieval, and restored it. The original family had moved to the more comfortable manor house across the park in the 18th century. The rest of the park today consists of buildings moved from many different areas of Ireland to be examples of lifestyles typical for laborers, fisherman, blacksmiths, millers, farmers, etc. from Ireland's past. One house was moved here when they wanted to build an airport where it stood. There is even a church--moved stone by stone and reassembled--that originally came from County Tipperary. As we went into the upstairs attic room of a prosperous farmhouse from the 1800's I had such a strong physical memory of having been there before--with Ruth and Mary Alice, while suffering from a bad head cold--that I almost felt sick. At least this time the weather was cooler. It gets hot in attic rooms.</div>
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It rained off and on all day.</div>
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Anika was enchanted by the donkeys. She thinks they are so pretty.</div>
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It was getting to be late afternoon by the time we started driving toward Dublin. We went through one million roundabouts before we finally got to the M--equivalent to our freeways. Now and then we'd pass a ruined stone tower in a field, or a modern wind-farm full of white tri-bladed turbines. Anika fell asleep. We got off the M for gas in a little town called Borris-in-Ossory. The gas attendant recommended we go on to Port Laoise (pronounced port leesh) for dinner. On the way, we saw a rainbow. (We also bypassed a toll zone on the M, so that was our tiny pot of gold.)</div>
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It was tricky to find parking in Port Laoise, and we were realizing time was getting on. We felt grumpy. Luckily, we found a nice shop where we got Anika a chicken sandwich and us a barbecue chicken pizza (which was <i>really</i> good). They both came with chips. We felt better.</div>
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Tonight was the only night we hadn't made arrangements for where to sleep. We stopped in one little town and asked at a B and B for a vacancy. She didn't have any and neither did any of the friends she called for us. (This method would work for the off season in Ireland, but not in summer.) So we went to a nearby hotel, considered staying there, but in the end we used their wifi to book the same hotel near the Dublin Airport that we had booked for our last night. That way we'd be close when we went to return our car in the morning. And we got to leave our luggage there while we went around Dublin our last day. </div>
edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-73799529209493518112015-09-07T09:54:00.002-07:002016-04-01T09:08:48.004-07:00Ireland--Day 5Thursday, August 20th--<br />
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This morning we talked with the couple who ran our B and B about things to do in the area. They suggested that we drive toward the west coast above Galway to see the scenery--a narrow valley between mountains where the road runs right beside a lake . . . sounded just like home to us. In fact, though Ireland is fantastically green and lovely, I think some of the impact may have been lessened for us because we also come from a "region of outstanding natural beauty" (sign post label for the north coast of Northern Ireland. Equivalent to our "Scenic Byway").<br />
Instead we went to The Museum of Country Life. It was harder to find than it needed to be--it had signs saying it was 5 miles ahead, but no sign at the actual turn, and we missed it the first time, and had to guess on the way back. But it was well worth it. We learned all sorts of interesting things about daily life in Ireland from just before the Industrial Revolution and leading up to modern life. We ended up spending 2 1/2 hours there. That included the gift shop--Casey couldn't believe how much time Anika and I could spend in gift shops--often without even buying anything.<br />
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The cone shaped hat is actually a mask worn by "strawboys", who are uninvited but expected guests at a traditional Irish wedding. (Be generous with them or they will let everyone in the community know how cheap you are.) The Irish common folk used to make a lot of things out of straw--ropes, roofs, horse collars, hen baskets. Speaking of hens, I got a kick out of this old Irish myth--apparently all the chickens in Ireland are believed to have come originally from Denmark. At night when they cluck and mutter to each other on settling down, they are really discussing whether or not it's time to go back. </div>
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So then we headed for Cong. Our host, Jimmy, had told us it was a nice place to visit--it's where <i>The Quiet Man</i> was filmed. Later we saw an amazingly ornate cross that was found in Cong and is now in the Museum of Archaeology in Dublin. Cong is a very tiny town on an island between rivers. The streets are only one way. They have a museum devoted to <i>The Quiet Man</i> movie. They have a woolen mills and, of course, a Spar. We bought some more groceries, (Cranberry Wensleydale, Grommit!) and also some fries at the Quiet Man Cafe.<br />
After Cong, we drove through the grounds of the nearby Ashford Castle that has been turned into a very posh hotel. We just took pictures from the outside because we didn't want to spend the time or the money to see the inside of a hotel.<br />
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In fact, our main goal for the day was simply to spend the evening in a pub in Doolin listening to some traditional music. Once again, it took a fair amount of time to drive there. The roads just got narrower the closer we got. It's pretty nerve wracking to pass a tour bus, and pretty frequent. We wondered what happens when two busses pass. . . . Our B and B was actually in Lisdoonvarna, and took a bit of finding. Unlike our other B and Bs, this one was uncomfortably small, and also smelled. But at least we spent most of our evening in Doolin.<br />
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This is the view from the parking lot of the pub where we had our dinner and evening of Trad.</div>
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We told the waitress who seated us that we intended to stay for the music, and she asked another tourist couple if we could share their table right in front of the place where the musicians set up. They were from upstate New York and we enjoyed talking to them about their favorite things to do in Ireland--this was their sixth or seventh trip.</div>
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Anika had fish and chips again. Casey had a spicy lamb burger with spicy fries. I had cabbage with bacon--it turned out to be more bacon (really, ham steaks) than cabbage. And it was so yummy. But I felt like I ate way too much meat while I was in Ireland. Every B and B served the "full Irish" breakfast of bacon, sausage, black pudding, white pudding, toast, brown bread, and eggs. We started asking them to serve us less after a couple of days. </div>
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The musicians started up about 9:30--a young lady on fiddle, accordian, and Irish bagpipes (not all at once) backed up by her dad on flute and a young man on guitar. She also sang. We bought one of her CDs.</div>
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Every once in a while the man on flute would let out a whoop, with hardly a break in the music. I never caught him at it.</div>
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It was standing room only by 10:00. We felt pretty lucky to be so close and have seats. Truly a fun night. We left about 11. It was then that we noticed this artwork on the outside of the pub.</div>
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The Irish do love their music.</div>
edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-32845463155050544572015-09-03T13:07:00.003-07:002015-09-04T09:07:27.231-07:00Ireland--Day 4Wednesday, August 19th--Today we planned to take the ferry to Rathlin Island to see the puffins. Anika has loved puffins ever since she wrote a report on them in 4th grade. Unfortunately, we found out that the puffins leave Rathlin in late July. We decided to go over anyway. The ferry ride was nice, as it wasn't raining yet. We noticed the pilot steering with only one knee.<br />
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Rathlin is small and picturesque--but fairly modern in architecture. </div>
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A reminder that Northern Ireland is indeed part of the United Kingdom.</div>
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We decided not to take the Puffin Bus out to the bird sanctuary (gannets and kittiwakes notwithstanding) and instead walked along the harbor to try and see some seals. It started to rain, sideways.</div>
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We did see some seals. They were planking.</div>
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pretty place, Ireland</div>
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It seems hardly possible that this is the first time I can remember being rained on in my three trips to Ireland. They have a saying "If you can see the mountains, it's going to rain. If you can't see the mountains, it's raining."</div>
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After the seals, we were pretty much done, but our return ferry was scheduled for noon. As we walked back to the harbor, we saw that the slow ferry was loading up, so we took that one instead. We sat inside and read the paper. Ani did the crossword. (The Daily Mail is a mix of regular news and tabloids. Kind of trashy.)</div>
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We had to go back to our B and B (Teach an Cheoil, it means House of Music) because we didn't have cash this morning to pay Michael with. He had thought he'd be home, but wasn't, so we left the money in a baggie under a rock on his doorstep. We bought some groceries at the Spar to eat for lunch.</div>
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Next we went to the Dark Hedges. It was a little tricky to find, down several winding roads and past confusing car park signs. I'd never actually heard of it, but Anika had and wanted to go there. The internet says it's "one of the most photographed natural phenomena in Northern Ireland." Considering its next door neighbor is the Giant's Causeway, you might think that doesn't mean much. But it really is pretty cool. It was still raining, and that only added to the spooky vibe of this two hundred year-old tree tunnel.</div>
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I didn't manage to get a very good picture but just to prove we were there . . . .<br />
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There were quite a few people and their cars here, so it was tricky to get a shot without them.<br />
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The individual beech trees are massive and beautiful. For better pictures of the whole, try <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=dark+hedges&espv=2&biw=1745&bih=874&site=webhp&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CDIQsARqFQoTCJaurO-828cCFUYYkgod8sUCZg" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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It took a while to drive to our next site--Here's how Anika spent the drive:<br />
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We teased her for missing the countryside as we drove. She never fully got over jet lag and this happened just about every time we drove for more than half an hour.</div>
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Casey found a nice spot to pull over so we could eat our lunch. We had bread and cheese and fruit and <a href="http://www.griffins.co.nz/by-name/toffeepops" target="_blank">Toffee Pops</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jammie_Dodgers" target="_blank">Jammie Dodgers.</a> Just across the road was this amazing stone tower? silo? Apparently, just part of the farm. (!)</div>
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We drove west along narrow, winding roads to visit a stone circle. Wikipedia says there are 343 stone circles in Ireland. Rick Steves' guidebook says more than 400. We picked one because it was on our way southwest. It's called Beltany stone circle. This <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/in-beltany-s-inner-circle-1.514554" target="_blank">article</a> explains some of its history. It's in the middle of a field on a hill, at the end of a tree tunnel that I would have been impressed with yesterday. </div>
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At the top of the lane leading up to the hilltop, there was another spooky tree tunnel. Only, it's actually just looking between the rows of a tree farm. </div>
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Did you know that Ireland was almost completely deforested during the 17th and 18th centuries? Much of the lumber was sent to England to fuel industry and building when their own supply grew short. </div>
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Beltany stone circle</div>
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There was a <a href="http://www.geograph.ie/photo/1925576" target="_blank">stone head</a> found here, which eventually was given to the Irish Museum. We went there and saw <i>a lot </i>of artifacts, but this one is "not currently on display." I'm concerned. By their own admission the museum has lost a number of artifacts over the years. I can understand that in a country as rich in artifacts as Ireland is--they dig new treasures out of the bog all the time. But stone heads are not so common as, say, gold collars and dress fasteners. Those are practically a dime a dozen. Why is the head not currently on display? Did it get lost? Did someone <i>drop it</i>?<br />
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Anyway, we walked around the circle widdershins--maybe because that's the way roundabouts go in the States. We found ourselves going around museum displays that way, too, against the flow of traffic. And then we'd realize we were reading the placards out of order, and have to start over going clockwise.<br />
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Leaving Beltany circle after eating wild raspberries from the bushes.</div>
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It was late afternoon when we left. We still had to drive for a couple of hours to get to our next B and B in Swinford. We had arranged this one through email but hadn't gotten confirmation. Luckily they were expecting us. We were tired of driving when we got there, so we ate the rest of our groceries for dinner, and then watched Netflix before bed--a vacation from our vacation.<br />
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Our B and B--Deerpark Manor</div>
edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-75344340027608899512015-09-01T20:40:00.001-07:002015-09-04T09:07:04.824-07:00Ireland--Day 3Day 3, Tuesday-- August 18th<br />
When we dragged ourselves out of bed this morning, we decided just to eat our leftover pizza for breakfast so we could be on our way. We took a taxi to the airport. Owen, our driver, was unlike our first cabby in that he talked a lot. He told us all sorts of things we could do when we got back to Dublin. "Worst you could do is, you take the Dart out to Malahide Castle and folk park . . ." It took me a few beats to realize he was recommending that we do that.<br />
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So we rented a car. It was really the best way to get around--but still nerve wracking to drive on the left side of the road--and I wasn't the one driving. Several times that first day I involuntarily reached for a steering wheel. Casey was an excellent driver, especially as we didn't trade off any, so he never got a break. (It is cheaper to rent a car with only one driver.)<br />
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It only took half an hour to drive out of Dublin and arrive at our first stop: <a href="http://www.worldheritageireland.ie/bru-na-boinne/built-heritage/newgrange/" target="_blank">Newgrange</a>.<br />
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This portal tomb is one of the oldest buildings on the planet. It dates to 3200 B.C. The outer wall of white quartz stone with black river stone polka dots was rebuilt according to their best guess in the 1960-70s, but the inner chamber is exactly as originally built. The roof is made with overlapping slabs of stone much like the logs in a kiva--it has been watertight for five thousand years.<br />
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picture borrowed from the historic site linked above</div>
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They called it a portal tomb, because some human remains were found inside, but later they thought it was more likely a place of religious ritual. They are keeping an open mind about it these days, as they've proved themselves wrong in the past. I heard a man ask our tour guide, "What is this standing stone for?" Her reply, "You tell me. We don't really know."<br />
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The passageway is oriented so that the sunlight only comes in through a "window" above the door at dawn on the winter solstice. And only for 15 minutes or so. (and a little bit for the three days before and after.) Without the electric lighting they installed, it's pitch black inside for the rest of the year.<br />
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Picture from the past, courtesy of <a href="http://irisharchaeology.ie/2012/12/images-of-newgrange-through-the-ages/old-photo-newgrange/" target="_blank">Irish Archeology</a> </div>
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At some point in the past the walls fell down, the dirt covered them, and the mound was overrun with plants. In 1699 the landowner sent his workers to quarry the mound for stone. Luckily, they started excavation exactly over the doorway and reported back to the owner. More luckily still, he was the kind of guy who preserves old ruins. And so it's still here today. The triple spiral (or triskele) on the door kerbstone shows up in a number of ancient cultures. </div>
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There are other sites you can visit near Newgrange (Nowth and Dowth). You can also see a few small mounds lower in the valley that they have left to be excavated when they have more advanced techniques of archeology.<br />
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We returned to the visitors center and ate our lunch from the cafe there--twice baked potato, vegetable soup, and brown bread. Irish brown bread tastes just like a bran muffin with no sugar added. And it's one of the things I remember most from my previous visits to Ireland.<br />
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After lunch, we headed north. It took about 3 1/2 hours for us to drive all the way to the north coast of Northern Ireland. That included the detour we took when I, as navigator, told Casey the wrong way to go. In my defense, the maps we had were very spare of details, and the road system is very different from our own. We stopped at a Spar (very common grocery/convenience store chain) and asked for directions. The clerk told us he wasn't local and directed us to Jade, who told us the best way to get back on track. When she learned we were headed for the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, she emphatically declared, several times, that she "would <u>never</u> walk the bridge!" as she is afraid of heights. We decided to press on anyway. We bought some pears and crisps to snack on.</div>
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We expected to have to pass a border when we got to Northern Ireland, but no. There may have been a sign. Some people we met in Ireland disregard the actual political separation and assert that "It's all Ireland." But no one has gotten too violent about it for a while now. </div>
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As we neared the coast, the roads got narrower and windier. At one point as we came over a rise, the ground dropped away so suddenly that Anika and I both gasped--it looked like we were about to drive off the mountain into the ocean. But no, and just ahead of us was the Carrick-a-Rede bridge.</div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">The original bridge was built so fisherman could hang down nets and catch the salmon running through the channel. </span></div>
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There is a long path from where we parked to the bridge. We did a lot of walking while we were in Ireland.</div>
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It was about 5:30 by the time we finished here, but we thought we'd drive to the Giant's Causeway anyway. It was just past 6:30 by the time we got to the visitors' center and they stop admitting visitors then. But we realized we could still go to the Causeway, just not through the center. We had to walk, instead of being shuttled, but it was free. </div>
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Giant's Causeway is the number one thing Anika wanted to see in Ireland. </div>
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This is the view as we walked toward the causeway showing the spires up on the mountain that are also hexagonal basalt columns and are nicknamed "the chimneys." And the saying is, "if the chimneys are smoking, Finn's at home." Finn is a giant from Irish folklore and is supposed to be the builder of Giant's Causeway. The <a href="http://myths.e2bn.org/mythsandlegends/textonly5639-finn-maccool-and-the-giants-causeway.html" target="_blank">story</a> is pretty amusing.</div>
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So we climbed all over and took a bunch of pictures. Anika walked out to the end of the causeway and stuck her hand in the ocean. </div>
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I think she liked Giant's Causeway</div>
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And I liked this emergency phone so bizarrely protruding from this rock. Another example of Irish style.</div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">By now it was past eight and we needed to get to our B and B to check in. We drove around the town of Ballycastle, asked at a chip shop, and then a Spar. They came through for us again--</span><span style="text-align: left;">Adam googled it for us in the back, printed us a map, and then explained how to get there 7 or 8 times. Then he followed us out to our car to return Casey's pen and explained it to us again. After that we drove straight there. </span></div>
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We still hadn't eaten dinner, so we asked our host, Michael, to recommend a place to us. He told us we should hurry back into town and eat at The Cellar before they stopped serving for the night. It was a good recommendation. </div>
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We ate well, went back to our B and B and slept well.</div>
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edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-86950353880929100702015-08-31T12:19:00.004-07:002015-09-04T09:06:48.188-07:00Ireland--The Emerald Isle--EireA couple of years ago, Casey and Anika were having a discussion about when, if ever, she'd get the chance to visit Ireland, a place she'd been fascinated with ever since a childhood exposure to the Irish accent in a PBS show called <i>Jakers! The Adventures of Pigglywinks. </i>I was surprised to hear him say to her that when she graduated from high school, we'd take her to Ireland. The surprise came from the realization that if we took Anika on a graduation trip of that magnitude, we'd pretty much have to take the other four kids as well.<br />
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I love being in other places aside from two things--getting there, and getting home again.<br />
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Day 1--We left Salt Lake City Sunday morning. We arrived in Ireland Monday morning after eighteen hours of traveling, including layovers, and an eight hour time difference. We were supposed to travel to Texas, then Chicago, then Dublin, but when our flight from Texas got delayed, we were rerouted to London, and then to Dublin. So Anika got an extra country thrown in free. Of course, all she saw of London was what we could see from the airplane on our descent--Tower Bridge, the London Eye, the Thames . . . . Also, we got to queue in proper British fashion through immigration, customs, security, etc. . . .<br />
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Dublin: Ireland's largest city and capitol. Settlement goes back more than a thousand years! For a long time it was a Viking stronghold, and was built on an even earlier Christian settlement. We began and ended our stay in Ireland here.<br />
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Day 2, Monday--It was about 11:30 when we got out of the airport and into a cab. Our cabby was completely silent and had the radio playing. As we rode towards our hotel, I kept falling asleep. They allowed us to check in early, and it was with great difficulty that we didn't immediately lie down and go to sleep.<br />
Instead we got out and started walking toward city center.<br />
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First stop: A fish and chips shop--We just ordered one to share, in case Anika didn't like it. It arrived SO hot, we couldn't actually taste it. When it cooled down, Anika tried it, and liked it. She ended up eating fish and chips several other times in Ireland, and we all ate a lot of chips. Of course, chips in Ireland mean thick cut fries. And they are delicious. And they are served with brown vinegar. And they throw them in as a side with everything, including pizza. I went back to the counter and asked for extra napkins. "What, now?" "Serviettes?" "Oh, sure." --This is not my first trip to Ireland.<br />
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On our way to the city center, we passed through St. Stephen's Green, a large park complete with bridges, duck pond, fountains, lawns, people sleeping on lawns, etc. Then we walked down a posh pedestrian shopping zone, listened briefly to a busker from Australia (of Irish descent) and then to the River Liffey to walk over the Ha'penny and O'Connell bridges.<br />
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Then we went to Trinity College to have a brief tour of the campus given by a just-graduated student named Gavin. He gave us all sorts of juicy details, such as how the college commissioned an architect to design one of the buildings on the central court, but never paid him. Then they built the identical building across the court--"Two for the price of none." Also, there are are two Oregon Maple trees in the courtyard that have grown much larger than such trees usually do, perhaps because they were planted in the old monastery graveyard, whose inhabitants were never removed--"consecrated fertilizer." Some of the buildings are really lovely, and some of them, especially the modern cement ones, "have been hurtin' our eyes since 19--." He left us at the entrance to the Book of Kells display. </div>
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looking toward center of college green</div>
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Gavin is just over Anika's left shoulder. </div>
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typical</div>
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The lighting in the room where they keep The Book of Kells is so dim, it wasn't worth taking pictures. But here is a <a href="http://digitalcollections.tcd.ie/home/#folder_id=14&pidtopage=MS58_032v&entry_point=64" target="_blank">link</a> to Trinity College's website, where you can view digital images. In person you only get a couple of pages, so feast your eyes.</div>
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The old library where we sat down on a bench for way too long. So tired.</div>
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We realized we'd missed our chance for the day to have a walking tour of Dublin but we ended up walking a lot all by ourselves. Here are a few more sites we saw today. Several of them closed around 5, but we made ourselves stay out so we could adjust to jetlag as quickly as possible.</div>
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The statue of Molly Malone. Anika is strategically placed in this picture.</div>
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The place where we ate the second half of our lunch--a different kind of shwarma or kebab than we'd had before--Ani didn't go for it.</div>
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Dublin Castle--we didn't go inside. It's a government complex these days.</div>
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Behind the castle is a lawn/helipad where people catch the sun when they can. Across the way is a design college. We went inside and looked at a student exhibition. We heard a lot about Irish designers while we were in Ireland. They've had style since before the pyramids. (see tomorrow's post.)</div>
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Christchurch Cathedral</div>
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Finally, we decided to have dinner. We knew we'd be having a fair amount of traditional Irish food over the next week, so we thought Anika would appreciate pizza for dinner. We got it from a shop that also sold every kind of kebab, as well as burgers and salads. While we waited, Casey got this picture.</div>
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I hadn't even realized I was asleep until I heard him taking the photo.</div>
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We went right back to the hotel after that and were in bed by 8:00 pm.</div>
edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-69950057472687482752015-08-15T14:14:00.001-07:002015-09-04T10:43:42.664-07:0050 miler<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Last year Anderson went on a 50-mile hike with his scout troop. There were a lot of boys and a few of them couldn't really make it so the troop ended up only going 37 miles. This year one of Anderson's friends decided that he really wanted to make it a full 50-mile hike and invited Anderson to go with him and his dad. Anderson didn't want to go without me so he eventually talked me into going, even though I had used up most of my vacation days for this year with all the other stuff we had done. It was going to be just me, Anderson, his friend Hunter Harris, and Hunter's dad Randy. So we borrowed a bunch of great from the Harrises, and we ended up buying a bunch of gear and food the day before we left for the Hale reunion, and packing up late into the night we got back from that reunion and leaving at 4 AM the next day. Not a lot of preparation time but things went pretty well. We left at 4 AM on Monday, Jul 27 and got back around 9 PM on Saturday Aug 1.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Day 1:</b></span><br />
<b>Miles hiked: 10.47</b><br />
<b>Time hiked: 6:35:20</b><br />
<b>Climb: 1968</b><br />
<b>Lowest elevation: 9104</b><br />
<b>Highest elevation: 9931</b><br />
We had to drive for over 5 hours before we got there so we got started hiking around 9:30 from the Big Sandy trail head. Anderson and I weighed our packs before we left and mine was 40 lbs and his was 37 lbs. It was heavy but wasn't a big deal for the first several miles. About halfway into the first day Randy started getting blisters and started packing moleskin on them. He basically had huge blisters the whole trip but just used a lot of moleskin and aspirin and kept hiking. We stopped for lunch next to Boulter Lake. Basically all our lunches were crackers, jerky, dried fruit, and trail mix. In the afternoon the trail kept disappearing so we wandered a little bit and had to use the map and compass to get back on track. Towards the end of the day we had a huge windstorm that nearly blew us all away. It looked like it was going to rain so we all pulled out our ponchos. Anderson's got ripped on a branch and the rest were flapping in the wind. We eventually made it to a lake that we were considering stopping at for the night. Turns out it was really shallow and didn't have any fish but we were all tired and had already unloaded our packs so we stayed there for the night. We basically went to bed as soon as it got dark around 8:30 or so since none of us had gotten much sleep the night before. It was cold and windy and there was ice on the tents in the morning. I didn't sleep well because I had a little bit of a cold.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting from the parking lot</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anderson and Hunter during a rest stop</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Day 2:</b></span><br />
<b>Miles hiked: 9.77</b><br />
<b>Time hiked: 6:25:26</b><br />
<b>Climb: 1855</b><br />
<b>Lowest Elevation: 9872</b><br />
<b>Highest Elevation: 10560</b><br />
Woke up and hiked north to Silver Lake. It was windy and cold in the morning and we ended up wearing our jackets even though we were hiking. Silver Lake was way down from it's normal height so we hiked through a bunch of boulders to get to the shore. I lay down on Anderson's pad behind a boulder out of the wind and it was nice there in the sun. I didn't quite fall asleep but at least I got warm. Anderson fished and ended up catching a brook trout. He tried to let it go but it was snagged with all 3 hooks and died before we could get it off the hooks. Anderson hooked it back in and put it in a ziploc bag to eat later at dinner. Anderson really didn't want to gut it so Randy ended up doing it for him. After Silver Lake we hiked up a few really steep hills that really took it out of us (but at least we weren't cold!) We stopped by a cold stream for lunch and to pump water. The two families got separated for a while but found a map somebody had dropped in the meantime. The last bit of the hike was up a steep valley with a river running down it. We had to cross the river at one point and Anderson, Hunter and I all slipped on mossy rocks and fell in. Randy was the only one to make it across unscathed. Luckily we were almost there but still had to hike another mile or so in wet boots and wet socks. We made it up to the lake we wanted to camp at (Maes Lake) and were very tired but still had to hike around it and find a good spot to camp. The best spot was taken by some other hikers that we saw several other times during the week. We finally found a spot and I built a fire while the rest fished. Anderson caught 2 more fish that he released but also lost 3 spinners that day. We had dinner of fish and Mountain House lasagna and went to bed. Pretty much all of our dinners were Mountain House. Slept a little better but not much.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was the view most of the first and second day. Grassy hills with a few rocks and trees.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anderson's first fish. It was cold!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anderson during our lunch stop</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Day 3:</b></span><br />
<b>Miles hiked: 4.52</b><br />
<b>Time hiked: 3:35:19</b><br />
<b>Climb: 1124</b><br />
<b>Lowest Elevation: 9992</b><br />
<b>Highest Elevation: 11172</b><br />
Anderson lost his 4th and final spinner fishing in the morning, though we didn't fish very log because we had to get on the road before it got too hot. As were leaving to go Randy got a fishhook in his finger and we had to perform some surgery to get it out. Decided to have a shorter hiking day since we were going over the continental divide. Even though we were going over the continental divide, it wasn't the highest elevation we got to. But it was pretty steep going up and even steeper going down. We had a mini snowball fight at a glacier on the way up and saw plenty of other glaciers and really cold looking lakes and waterfalls near the top of the pass. It was very beautiful though. Coming down the pass was really sleep (more than 45 degree slope) and the switchbacks were scary because they were full of really lose rock and you slipped a bit with almost every step. It took half an hour just to get down the 500 feel to the bottom. We decided not to stop for lunch but just keep going until we made it to the campsite. It took much longer than we thought because we had to cross rivers and clamber over huge boulders to get where we were going. But we finally made it to the northern side of Grave Lake where there was a really nice campsite. We were all glad to get out of our boots and kick back and eat lunch in the shade. We just hung at the campsite and fished in the lake. At dusk, Randy caught a few fish fly fishing. Anderson tried fly fishing since he was out of spinners but he got really frustrated and didn't have much luck.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our camp the second night. Notice the socks trying to dry out near the fire</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lots of rocks and snow</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snowball fight in the glacier </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View near the top of the pass. If you look close you can see Randy coming up the trail</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEithSQ6IQnPCv3dtuyYexqixGf-9FsF8TOo3LpaykXpvIntqQe2mQN5WZeUMk54EgbiVbQlY5KpyPVQsBAb9-We_c4HUxXUS0bufIZqozMBeUVS1GznEMu845Irb0k4B5wqpsOcCfFjC2A/s1600/20150729_descent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span id="goog_405788594"></span><span id="goog_405788595"></span><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEithSQ6IQnPCv3dtuyYexqixGf-9FsF8TOo3LpaykXpvIntqQe2mQN5WZeUMk54EgbiVbQlY5KpyPVQsBAb9-We_c4HUxXUS0bufIZqozMBeUVS1GznEMu845Irb0k4B5wqpsOcCfFjC2A/s400/20150729_descent.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was the descent from the top of the pass. If you look closely you
can some other hikers at the bottom of the pass that look really tiny
since it is far down. Hard to get perspective from this picture.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cool waterfall that we hiked past on our way down to Grave Lake</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Camp at Grave Lake</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doing some fly fishing at dusk at Grave Lake</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Day 4:</b></span><br />
<b>Miles hiked: 5.48</b><br />
<b>Time hiked: 3:25:22</b><br />
<b>Climb: 1264</b><br />
<b>Lowest Elevation: 9936</b><br />
<b>Highest Elevation: 10457</b><br />
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Got up early because I wasn't sleeping. Went down to watch the sun on the lake and saw something sparkling out there that looked like a spinner. Since Anderson had been complaining so much about losing all his spinners I thought I might wade out there and try to get it. It looked like it was maybe only a couple feet deep. Anderson woke up and came down to the lake as I was taking my socks and shoes off. He thought I was crazy but chanted stuff like "You can do it, spinner king!" as I waded out there. Turns out it was up to my waist and I had to go back and take off my shirt and jacket. It was too cold for me to bend down and try to fish it out with my hands but I just dragged it back slowly across the rocks with my feet and then with a stick Anderson threw me. Eventually I got it and he went to fish with it and I went back to change and to hang my shorts out to dry. Anderson caught a big fish with the new spinner and they had fun fishing most of the morning. Then we packed up and hiked out. This was the top of the circle so from here on out we were heading mostly back towards the car. At one point we had to cross a really shallow but wide stream and tried to step on rocks but got a little wet. So the boys decided they wanted to gather really big rocks and make a better path across the stream while Randy changed into dry socks. Then we hiked the rest of the way up to Valentine Lake. We found the best campsite yet which had a huge fire pit and was only 25 feet away from the lake on a giant rock that jutted out into the lake so you could fish from there. It was fun to fish when we got there because with the sun where it was you could see the fish following the bait as it came past. There were some really big fish in there (20+ inches) that swam by but none of those guys were interested in flies or spinners. Anderson caught 2 small fish with his spinner before it came loose on a cast and he casted it into the middle of the lake. He then caught one small fish with Randy's fly rod. I tried Randy's fly rod since I'd never fly fished before and caught one small fish. Harris's made a really good strawberry pie dessert with Nilla wafers, dehydrated whipping cream, and freeze-dried strawberries. I heard something big crashing through the trees (probably an elk or moose or something) but it made me sleep even worse than usual.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyLcOWOL23IeWv0nN4yUk59fSneMcNLmNMX6YTeNX3LAzMZnQcGvGAwZQLurQBjdBo8Iy1ltlIMXdYVgLY8dVVWsaXVQ8tc5Dg-dqfRUzFWv_04dicPqhBnEUok28EhBTvvqy_Wa7JXb0/s1600/20150730_anderson_fish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyLcOWOL23IeWv0nN4yUk59fSneMcNLmNMX6YTeNX3LAzMZnQcGvGAwZQLurQBjdBo8Iy1ltlIMXdYVgLY8dVVWsaXVQ8tc5Dg-dqfRUzFWv_04dicPqhBnEUok28EhBTvvqy_Wa7JXb0/s400/20150730_anderson_fish.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fishing in the morning, caught with the spinner I found</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyDp07lCbaChF_8OBPXf9HMl4u1TtDcZPxbg7xlwbq1YOsi03HXZkjZkhyj0ppnuJglsWGZjVAB5D_a-Ni_F80og15onk_0FyHZie1706T8R0CoviR1eCMrH9TlWBwXT4gZ1xUKiqVWKM/s1600/20150730_river_crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyDp07lCbaChF_8OBPXf9HMl4u1TtDcZPxbg7xlwbq1YOsi03HXZkjZkhyj0ppnuJglsWGZjVAB5D_a-Ni_F80og15onk_0FyHZie1706T8R0CoviR1eCMrH9TlWBwXT4gZ1xUKiqVWKM/s400/20150730_river_crossing.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crossing a stream</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJXzNIFxLz2T8Kba1Mx58H8_Iz5QcbP2b9934YWbcnHoehXETpHpvDPPyvBEJ0aa7c0320DLJPmGCPknSqKTitDvJ0jeN9hBGlsb65QAkrbO61kLfcgmE0rComCaAvhorTd_P2Et_NoZs/s1600/20150730_andersonl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJXzNIFxLz2T8Kba1Mx58H8_Iz5QcbP2b9934YWbcnHoehXETpHpvDPPyvBEJ0aa7c0320DLJPmGCPknSqKTitDvJ0jeN9hBGlsb65QAkrbO61kLfcgmE0rComCaAvhorTd_P2Et_NoZs/s400/20150730_andersonl.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hiking up the valley</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLtb8gGkIYXwlGHTLZzIUTmD0d8gE4BoV_KwAhCPtHAu8oZoTgSo-X4IiOc-QpK2Xwp2Zd_CEiuD-uWVaR6qizHSc6tOi6stmegjfGDoNKSWn8CdCW3AM0tcAmtSHWMGDoFw4ndvo1K50/s1600/20150730_crossroads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLtb8gGkIYXwlGHTLZzIUTmD0d8gE4BoV_KwAhCPtHAu8oZoTgSo-X4IiOc-QpK2Xwp2Zd_CEiuD-uWVaR6qizHSc6tOi6stmegjfGDoNKSWn8CdCW3AM0tcAmtSHWMGDoFw4ndvo1K50/s400/20150730_crossroads.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the crossroads</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk1uP2458IrCWAfkF0bAzGatDWJW37rPEBwNmD-D6EVnTcZIrL2I2_Cod3pTsq7w8TaUICj92iAKqcARexVaSG16yZtoEe6r8epI317in2-XTFGXbYnn2G9pqq133isltIfU8leQV5ei0/s1600/20150730_lunch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk1uP2458IrCWAfkF0bAzGatDWJW37rPEBwNmD-D6EVnTcZIrL2I2_Cod3pTsq7w8TaUICj92iAKqcARexVaSG16yZtoEe6r8epI317in2-XTFGXbYnn2G9pqq133isltIfU8leQV5ei0/s400/20150730_lunch.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finally made it to the campsite for lunch</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhRK7DZg-KZ73crr5ztAIawvYSM4Tro854KBLCPEX4MNqQMxOPSQGXO_L60uN-IOJrlwVpn_wH4kQ7fpazP-Z7CPR6BPLCtrkNOv6fZE6zox8urJi9oOmKvTjwCoc64ML1TY-YiwZesIE/s1600/20150730_great_fishing_spot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhRK7DZg-KZ73crr5ztAIawvYSM4Tro854KBLCPEX4MNqQMxOPSQGXO_L60uN-IOJrlwVpn_wH4kQ7fpazP-Z7CPR6BPLCtrkNOv6fZE6zox8urJi9oOmKvTjwCoc64ML1TY-YiwZesIE/s400/20150730_great_fishing_spot.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Great fishing spot where we could see the fish following the lures</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOuNwkWcbXYGhLgi8GhinOI40PPPRJgb0SAGaocmAVCnuD1qMxSgdAOeyC-8sq84nsFXSaUee0UQ_BQWcAzRRt__AQPZOGGvp7wFLb6B7kdLggajZcn9n4-Uols8B_2JAeND0HNJBCimE/s1600/20150730_anderson_another_fish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOuNwkWcbXYGhLgi8GhinOI40PPPRJgb0SAGaocmAVCnuD1qMxSgdAOeyC-8sq84nsFXSaUee0UQ_BQWcAzRRt__AQPZOGGvp7wFLb6B7kdLggajZcn9n4-Uols8B_2JAeND0HNJBCimE/s400/20150730_anderson_another_fish.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anderson's last fish on his last spinner</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKtDp4Br5_kkdxF86n51F5fzWUKSu7Dv9-QND_CUh72IcUci0u-CKJvd8QSzu3vnRYOPzlUbLDlVkUzqY3N2ZlwTNMqe6MSI9GpITWU2rmurH3K5EIFCroU6ReZJYrg_b7Coy6JOWiUoc/s1600/20150730_anderson_lost_last_spinner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKtDp4Br5_kkdxF86n51F5fzWUKSu7Dv9-QND_CUh72IcUci0u-CKJvd8QSzu3vnRYOPzlUbLDlVkUzqY3N2ZlwTNMqe6MSI9GpITWU2rmurH3K5EIFCroU6ReZJYrg_b7Coy6JOWiUoc/s400/20150730_anderson_lost_last_spinner.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anderson after casting his last spinner into the middle of the lake</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinner at our really cool campsite with "benches" and "table"</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Day 5:</b></span><br />
<b>Miles hiked: 9.06</b><br />
<b>Time hiked: 5:28:15</b><br />
<b>Climb: 2149</b><br />
<b>Lowest Elevation: 10013</b><br />
<b>Highest Elevation: 11862</b><br />
We spent most of this day at really high elevation. Because we knew it was going to be exposed and a long day of hiking, we left fairly early (8 AM) and started hiking up. We basically hiked straight up for the first 2 hours and got up to 11,800 feet. It was really windy up there on the top of the mountains and we could see really far in every direction. My nose was running the whole day with my cold so that was really annoying. We then hiked along the top of the pass for several hours, stopping in the middle for lunch. It was pretty cool to eat lunch on the top of the world, being able to see in all directions and the wind blowing. We finally started going down and that was the hardest part. It was several hours of step declines that were hard on our knees and ankles. We finally made it down into the valley and hiked a mile down to the river where we camped for the night. We were tired and didn't do any fishing but just sat around and told stories. I hardly slept at all that night since my cold was getting worse.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxExH3QAG2b0U8D10Aa7kUuSrVVq4WPqpnxycI1OJCl6VbQNy7SPsTkUwYlssObCFNdHIK3Dlr8xn6_FGu-YlpVC1j6ZHwXRyz8K9tnblaHAUSuj2po4r64yLN9mP0VZdXTzczvbnO3oY/s1600/20150731_top_of_the_world.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxExH3QAG2b0U8D10Aa7kUuSrVVq4WPqpnxycI1OJCl6VbQNy7SPsTkUwYlssObCFNdHIK3Dlr8xn6_FGu-YlpVC1j6ZHwXRyz8K9tnblaHAUSuj2po4r64yLN9mP0VZdXTzczvbnO3oY/s400/20150731_top_of_the_world.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nearly at the top, looking back at where we hiked up</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bMYpm-Pq2YpS3bxP-B81-R29LcwQ7xR9TTXpkPyTXwR3LbBl41BiRpy2NAKynGCm34OU1Yw87B5gjbCZ1mkJSPMeHGC1QdUGbMFAFrja0AQIxMC7C4mB8h7TmZUI30U6beDlEozsTBc/s1600/20150731_crossroads_at_the_top.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bMYpm-Pq2YpS3bxP-B81-R29LcwQ7xR9TTXpkPyTXwR3LbBl41BiRpy2NAKynGCm34OU1Yw87B5gjbCZ1mkJSPMeHGC1QdUGbMFAFrja0AQIxMC7C4mB8h7TmZUI30U6beDlEozsTBc/s400/20150731_crossroads_at_the_top.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crossroads at the top off the pass</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2-996C0-vduHs1El3a5UQaiUvuB7FrfIIUlqpxhGww8T5VdxVWNSQVVleDElPcoR9Y1hbwDv7RdrjKAP_NAatUCy_cj_YUhOfyWOqmVGM_u1vQbtvdD300Rj4Dg0lRxNnpKsSQlAGF9k/s1600/20150731_lunch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2-996C0-vduHs1El3a5UQaiUvuB7FrfIIUlqpxhGww8T5VdxVWNSQVVleDElPcoR9Y1hbwDv7RdrjKAP_NAatUCy_cj_YUhOfyWOqmVGM_u1vQbtvdD300Rj4Dg0lRxNnpKsSQlAGF9k/s400/20150731_lunch.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lunch at the top of the world</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvqwEo4PAcTYmJE7f3whaLRlxuCHUPo1vF6IqtyjJBik_JlCgsRtU3iYYZ-BeHZvGnoc8HMl8aPF9j18cPZPfqJL9Z9XlWNgj0WoWJmckM1eVITd2uxBJXhpSEHkLjOyHncwY9oCZ6j5I/s1600/20150731_cirque.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvqwEo4PAcTYmJE7f3whaLRlxuCHUPo1vF6IqtyjJBik_JlCgsRtU3iYYZ-BeHZvGnoc8HMl8aPF9j18cPZPfqJL9Z9XlWNgj0WoWJmckM1eVITd2uxBJXhpSEHkLjOyHncwY9oCZ6j5I/s400/20150731_cirque.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of the Cirque of Towers from across the valley and up on the Lizard Head pass</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNf3EpyOA3noyQ5U5JfP_7PZAlaiK4v9LIFtCf04w0j9xbiaYsvlQfU-6DcAGq08S4rH799FRyzurzkzsGRM39Ox0TwVbtHXVnG2V8oWfJn57eXYwihxIjKbXvH393X4UJQQKc307Xqmc/s1600/20150731_anderson_epic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNf3EpyOA3noyQ5U5JfP_7PZAlaiK4v9LIFtCf04w0j9xbiaYsvlQfU-6DcAGq08S4rH799FRyzurzkzsGRM39Ox0TwVbtHXVnG2V8oWfJn57eXYwihxIjKbXvH393X4UJQQKc307Xqmc/s400/20150731_anderson_epic.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anderson being epic with Lizard Head in the background</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0pEWI5W0l8tVeR1rL7GWn2r1_YSxCXccqV0i-y6pCQGE1JW-s60FzObwKWezdvfyHJt9-Rs4pXs-rzCyYseenMfUKjTvSAs2nBsjzYAkz9DxLw4EjnLf83HBN7zFdR1HpCSLN2MI_4Uk/s1600/20150731_tentmates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0pEWI5W0l8tVeR1rL7GWn2r1_YSxCXccqV0i-y6pCQGE1JW-s60FzObwKWezdvfyHJt9-Rs4pXs-rzCyYseenMfUKjTvSAs2nBsjzYAkz9DxLw4EjnLf83HBN7zFdR1HpCSLN2MI_4Uk/s400/20150731_tentmates.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We spent a lot of time together in this tiny 2 man tent</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Day 6:</b></span><br />
<b>Miles hiked: 10.65</b><br />
<b>Time hiked: 5:37:15</b><br />
<b>Climb: 1680</b><br />
<b>Lowest Elevation: 9115</b><br />
<b>Highest Elevation: 10774</b><br />
We again got an early start to get up and over the pass and we were anxious to get home. The first two miles were easy and we made good time. Then we had to go up and over the pass near Lonesome Lake. We somehow got off the right path and ended up going around the wrong side of the hill. We met an old guy who was hiking solo (he told us he hadn't been home for 107 days) and he showed us how to get back to the path but we tried to take a shortcut. We ended up on the top of the pass looking down on Arrowhead Lake. We could see the real path to out left but it went up and was really steep. We considered just going down and around the right side of Arrowhead but were later glad we didn't when we saw all the boulders would have had to climb over. The next two miles were a lot of up and down and we had to rest a lot. Randy couldn't go uphill very fast because of his blisters and Anderson couldn't go downhill for very long because his knees would hurt. And all of us were tired. But eventually we reached Big Sandy Lake and everything was a gradual downward slope after that. We stopped at the bottom of Big Sandy Lake to eat lunch and then just talked while we made the last 5 miles back to the parking lot. We downed a few Gatorades that were in the truck and drove off. Stopped for a "Big Cone" in Farson and at dinner at the Wendy's in Evanston. I-84 was closed but luckily we checked Google before we got there and were able to get off in Morgan and get around most of it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhsFqaV-UYabSqM9tzw095oxd43wcbwAv92zH9j0g477RwSYPt8bHkaRdwpT8tguB9QsgSarsyLcU8G3O2RyV-ANP4zFQBreqyMHk4FoRs08tbk399Ag0AwkOB9LUP1DS7lRPbkJIOZAU/s1600/20150801_lonesome_lake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhsFqaV-UYabSqM9tzw095oxd43wcbwAv92zH9j0g477RwSYPt8bHkaRdwpT8tguB9QsgSarsyLcU8G3O2RyV-ANP4zFQBreqyMHk4FoRs08tbk399Ag0AwkOB9LUP1DS7lRPbkJIOZAU/s320/20150801_lonesome_lake.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lonesome Lake in the middle of the Cirque of the Towers</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpFG_KwryyeRvcnj1dGR4-N7Xkvi4XoGwLB4OrMHXiI43g2d0x5VvoHxtT2GJbdyUSCeMjWZFqE_hniHIj8UkRSbXCggtDhKEWryo1TTnn7_svkbLGlJe36NMw1oZvsz-pD-bn_oHemno/s1600/20150801_anderson_cirque.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpFG_KwryyeRvcnj1dGR4-N7Xkvi4XoGwLB4OrMHXiI43g2d0x5VvoHxtT2GJbdyUSCeMjWZFqE_hniHIj8UkRSbXCggtDhKEWryo1TTnn7_svkbLGlJe36NMw1oZvsz-pD-bn_oHemno/s400/20150801_anderson_cirque.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anderson hiking up the final pass with the Cirque peaks in the background</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEU5OuapPGwqYoWO_P-fIkrto6huC7PYmk7wEH3XWDkyQY4_6nTqStAeurlECmPgxZ1u0dF4Z2LgqN7xMVPbCOcf5890EughgXxTOFB8ZNem1qDc6IBv9iS_ors2nKsm-FcQ0BM3b85I4/s1600/20150801_ascent_to_the_cirque.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEU5OuapPGwqYoWO_P-fIkrto6huC7PYmk7wEH3XWDkyQY4_6nTqStAeurlECmPgxZ1u0dF4Z2LgqN7xMVPbCOcf5890EughgXxTOFB8ZNem1qDc6IBv9iS_ors2nKsm-FcQ0BM3b85I4/s400/20150801_ascent_to_the_cirque.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Final big ascent with more Cirque peaks</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivf4A_hK-cCFT9eu8m48anT1wF4fW-IDzsUlhcnEcdnOcR_pHHh6lzciJGw5f6Y10ZWWtU_-ugLU-HOBwrC621VLIqr5iFcvuxxUj8CVLxV-Tkg-rFi9qLRQyjH4EOlZpTPNStKLFdOUs/s1600/20150801_done.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivf4A_hK-cCFT9eu8m48anT1wF4fW-IDzsUlhcnEcdnOcR_pHHh6lzciJGw5f6Y10ZWWtU_-ugLU-HOBwrC621VLIqr5iFcvuxxUj8CVLxV-Tkg-rFi9qLRQyjH4EOlZpTPNStKLFdOUs/s400/20150801_done.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back at the parking lot. No more hiking!!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Summary:</b></span><br />
<b>Miles hiked: 50</b><br />
<b>Time hiked: 31:06:57</b><br />
<b>Climb:10,040</b><br />
<b>Lowest Elevation: 9104</b><br />
<b>Highest Elevation: 11,862</b><br />
It was a good hike. Amazingly beautiful scenery when I had time to break away from watching my step and thinking about my pack. I was really glad that Anderson and I didn't get any blisters and nobody had any major injuries. We saw some bighorn sheep, elk, marmot, and tons of squirrels and chipmunks. Luckily no bears (we were careful to hang our food up each night, but there aren't a ton of bears there). I didn't get any good nights of sleep because of my cold, and the lack of sleep and all the exertion and cold probably made my cold much worse. By the time I got home I was really sick with aches and cough and it took me 4-5 days to get over it. But luckily it didn't prevent me from making the hike. It was great to spend time with Anderson and I think he really enjoyed it a lot. I'm hoping it is something he'll remember for a long time.<br />
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Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04760619244193577067noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-48506467124204635602015-08-08T16:10:00.003-07:002015-08-12T19:48:21.082-07:00Family Road Trip--Days 19-20--The Sprint Home<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Wednesday, June 10, 2015</b><br />
<br />
Miles Traveled: 590 miles (4709 total)<br />
States Visited: South Dakota, Wyoming<br />
Cost of Gas: $2.79 (Chamberlain, SD) and $2.56 (Custer, SD)<br />
Breakfast: Hotel breakfast<br />
Lunch: Subway in Kadoka, SD<br />
Dinner: Little Caesars in Casper, WY<br />
Sites: Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Jewel Caves (sort of)<br />
Lodging: Best Western Plus in Casper, WY<br />
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<b>Thursday, June 11, 2015 </b><br />
<br />
Miles Traveled: 397 miles (5106 total)<br />
States Visited: Wyoming, Utah<br />
Cost of Gas: $2.66 (Rawlins, WY)<br />
Breakfast: Hotel breakfast<br />
Lunch: Leftover pizza and snacks in the van<br />
Dinner: Home!<br />
Sites: Home!<br />
Lodging: Home!<br />
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By now we were getting anxious to get home. We stayed in two different hotels between Des Moines and home. One of them was damp--the more expensive one, where we splurged on two rooms instead of one family room.<br />
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Sights we saw on our way home:<br />
Driving by--various metal statues--bulls head, skeleton man walking skeleton dinosaur, metal cut-out of a stage coach being chased by metal cut-outs of Indians.<br />
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<u>And 400 miles of Wall Drug Billboards! </u></div>
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After about 200 miles, I was really curious to see Wall Drug. After 300 miles I decided I just couldn't give in to the relentless propaganda. So we left Wall Drug unseen.</div>
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(Since getting home, I looked up Wall Drug on the internet. The <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=wall+drug+billboards&espv=2&biw=1745&bih=835&site=webhp&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIh7yYpr-axwIVU3ySCh3ppQAc#imgrc=_" target="_blank">advertising</a> is even bigger than I thought. )</div>
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Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse--Looking back, we should have skipped Crazy Horse. You can't get very close yet, as it is far from finished. We could have taken pictures from the road that were nearly as good. If we'd had more time, we could have appreciated the exhibits enough to justify the fee. Still, I like to think our 28 dollars might help them finish the carving that much sooner.</div>
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We then headed just up the road to the Jewel caves. Unfortunately, they were half an hour from closing the visitor center, and no more people were allowed into the caves.</div>
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So we used their restrooms and drinking fountains, and then left. </div>
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Note: The Black Hills of South Dakota really do look black. It's because they are covered in some kind of dark evergreen trees and through the humid air at a distance, they are black.</div>
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We were pretty worried about our van the whole time, but it seemed to run rough mostly when we drove slowly or tried to idle. Pushing it up hills, or driving at freeway speeds it did better. As part of trying to check for problems, I discovered that the air filter was packed FULL of cat food and bird seed. I've since learned that it is not that uncommon to have rodents nesting in your engine. Just one more problem with the van....</div>
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The next day we climbed up to the high elevations of Wyoming--7300+ feet. I had not realized before that we would drop <i>down</i> into Utah on the way home. Wyoming was so empty, it's a good thing our van never got any worse.</div>
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We stopped at Little America, Wyoming for ice cream.</div>
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And then we drove all the way home. Through the worst rainstorm yet, according to me. Casey says it was worse the night he drove in Missouri. Regardless, it was so bad that I had to pull over and I wasn't the only one. It was made a lot worse by the semi trucks rushing past and spraying everyone. It was a relief when that was over and a bigger relief to finally get home! We had a great time. </div>
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A final thank you goes to the kids for being pretty happy travelers. It was a wonderful trip!</div>
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edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-81653957096961005812015-08-08T14:52:00.000-07:002015-08-12T19:30:58.321-07:00Family Road Trip--Day 18<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Tuesday, June 9, 2015</b><br />
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Miles Traveled: 289 miles (4119 total)<br />
States Visited: Iowa, South Dakota<br />
Cost of Gas: $2.59 (Shelby, IA)<br />
Breakfast: Waffles and eggs by Juli at Juli's house (Yum!)<br />
Lunch: Science Center Food Court in Des Moines<br />
Dinner: Dairy Queen in Shelby, IA<br />
Sites: Des Moines Science Center<br />
Lodging: Comfort Suites in Sioux Falls, SD<br />
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We got up early to take our van to a repair place. Juli drove to show us the way and take us home again. Her regular Firestone mechanic was out with poison ivy, so we went across town to another branch and left it there. They called us a couple of hours later to say they thought it was one of two things--the first they could fix in a few hours, and it would be a few hundred. The second would take days and cost thousands. So we said to go ahead with the first one.<br />
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Meanwhile, Juli took us, in two car loads, to the Science Museum. It was lots of fun for the kids, and we adults were fairly entertained, too. Juli got a headache, but luckily I had my stash of ibuprofen handy. We ate lunch in the cafe there, and saw an I-max movie about Lemurs.<br />
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Then Juli shuttled us back to her house. They were finished with our van--the repair didn't fix the whole problem but they thought we might make it back home. So we decided to go for it. </div>
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Thanks for letting us stay with you in your cute little house, Juli!</div>
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P.S. Look at this cute little lending library Juli's friend made for her.</div>
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edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-27733030491786578322015-08-08T14:16:00.003-07:002015-08-08T17:52:15.927-07:00Family Road Trip--Day 17<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Monday, June 8, 2015</b><br />
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Miles Traveled: 207 miles (3830 total)<br />
States Visited: Iowa, Illinois<br />
Cost of Gas: $2.58 (Batavia, IA)<br />
Breakfast: Hotel breakfast<br />
Lunch: Picnic in a park in Nauvoo<br />
Dinner: Papa John's Pizza at Juli's house in Des Moines<br />
Sites: Nauvoo<br />
Lodging: Juli's house<br />
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On our way to Nauvoo, we stopped and saw great-aunt Virginia. She is Casey's dad's father's sister. She lives down a winding forested road in Missouri. It was night, and it was, as usual for our drives on this road trip, raining. The GPS was struggling. So we didn't get there until after 9:00, and we couldn't stay long. (We still had to drive to Keokuk to our hotel.) She called over some of her kids and grand-kids to meet us, which was really nice. We talked for a while, looked through some of her pictures, took a picture or two of the pictures, and of the family, and then left.<br />
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By the time we got to our hotel, the engine light was on. We assumed it was just more of the same problem we'd already had checked out. So we didn't take it too seriously.<br />
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The next day we drove across the Mississippi to Nauvoo. We spent a few hours there learning about life in Pioneer times, including blacksmithing, gunsmithing, brick making, and rope making.<br />
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An old fashioned boy. In shorts and flip-flops.</div>
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Pioneer Ani</div>
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School girls</div>
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This ring toss game is so fun, I'd love to get some for my kids to use at home.</div>
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We got chased into the home of Brigham Young by a sudden thunder storm that was over in 20 minutes. While there, we took a picture of the utensils to show to the Memphians--Hales and Wilsons both have silverware from their weddings that include three pronged forks, which they affectionately call "threeks." Looky here--- </div>
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Two-ks! (Tooks? Touques?)</div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">My kids kind of freaked out at the toe-like orange fungus fronds growing out of a log. Anika felt nauseated just looking at them. We don't get much fungus in our dessert state.</span></div>
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Everyone had fun choosing themselves a free horseshoe ring that they will never wear.</div>
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Back when we were newlyweds in college Casey helped render a 3D computer model of what the Nauvoo Temple looked like before it was destroyed. Since then they have rebuilt it. How cool is that?</div>
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When we left Nauvoo we briefly entertained the idea of getting the car checked out. Then we thought we would just do it in Des Moines while we were visiting my sister Juli. Then the check engine light started blinking. And the engine started running rough. And we tried to call repair shops as we were driving to see if any were still open after 5. We had no luck, so we just prayed and drove. We called Juli to say we would be a little later than we thought, and were very grateful when we managed to make it to her house without the engine failing. We had planned to stay in a hotel in Des Moines while we visited Juli, but we worried that the engine wouldn't make it there and then to a repair shop in the morning. Juli graciously allowed us to camp at her little house, annoying her two shy cats in the process.</div>
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The first thing that happened after we heaved a sigh of relief at making it to Juli's, was that Clarissa found a pile of bunnies living on Juli's lawn. My kids were entranced!</div>
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So then we had take-out pizza for dinner, and then talked with Juli about our trip, and her life in Iowa until bedtime.</div>
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edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-30509488961073389572015-08-08T12:55:00.002-07:002015-08-08T17:48:31.995-07:00Family Road Trip--Day 16 <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Sunday--June 7, 2015<br />
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Miles Traveled: 477 miles (3623 total)<br />
States Visited: Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa<br />
Cost of Gas: $2.49 (Ste Genevieve, MO)<br />
Lunch and Dinner: Bagels, crackers, fruit, etc. in the car<br />Sites: Drive by Saint Louis Arch, Visit with Aunt Virginia<br />
Lodging: Hampton Inn in Keokuk, IA <br />
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Today we went to church in Memphis and then packed up and left. That was sad. We had such a good time with the Hales and Wilsons in Florida and in Memphis. They put up with us for 10 whole days!<br />
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Memphis Memories: Unseasonably cool weather Monday through Thursday--hooray for that. It was perfect to have a hot day on Saturday for the Lake. On Sunday, when we were packing up the van, I finally felt what true Memphis summer heat is like--that's why they always said we should come in the fall or spring. And I'm sure it only gets hotter in July and August. Yikes. We lucked out.<br />
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Memphis People: Family is the best! Here are some pictures of our Memphis peeps. Just the kids.<br />
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So, I'm getting better at this photography thing about as fast as the effort I am putting into it, which equals just slightly greater than zero. On vacations it may equal around 4. Percent. Of my time. But with such good subjects, who can go wrong? </div>
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Goodbye Memphis. Goodbye Memphians. We love you!</div>
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edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888240672251743365.post-2273889083062948942015-08-07T08:47:00.002-07:002015-08-12T19:37:49.672-07:00Family Road Trip--Day 15<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Saturday, June 6--Freddy's birthday<br />
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Miles Traveled: 343 Miles (3146 Total)<br />
States Visited: Mississippi, Tennessee<br />
Cost of Gas: $2.56 (Bartlett, TN) </div>
Sites: Arkabutla Lake<br />
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So Freddy completed his first year today. Whether he would have chosen to spend his birthday this way or not, we all drove to Alabama to Arkabutla Lake to go boating. Joey provided the boat. There were life-jackets hanging on a public sign for communal use. In the spirit of that sharing, people at the beach kept snagging the kids' boogie boards when they weren't looking. One came back snapped in half. That's not a complaint--just a memory. You know, "remember when we went to that lake with the cousins and . . . ."<br />
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The moms stayed on the beach with the littlest kids while the older ones had their turn on the boat. Joey helped Anderson earn his water-skiing merit badge. The ranger, a garrulous older man, came by to chat several times, and even brought out his mega telephoto lens thing for us to try with my camera. I let Kate deal with using that lens a few times, as I am still using the automatic functions.<br />
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with telephoto lens</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimR5IfR62HsVqe2xsozJVA_l3l0j8BDbcwOAgvWojSWF-M_-_Np8s14qfN5a7htIivywG7-Xwsn6xglKnfVlRBbQ8kndjE5X0nawQjCRmgavBkAKRQ0U3_8HlCCcSJUt_u4dIrjL2_oDo/s1600/DSC_0157.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimR5IfR62HsVqe2xsozJVA_l3l0j8BDbcwOAgvWojSWF-M_-_Np8s14qfN5a7htIivywG7-Xwsn6xglKnfVlRBbQ8kndjE5X0nawQjCRmgavBkAKRQ0U3_8HlCCcSJUt_u4dIrjL2_oDo/s400/DSC_0157.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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without telephoto lens</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWwq0E1wfPAbmyoXJ-Qp6ujLfNpxxgHf8NzL1dRbqWKxd02ya9rjxLcOZBv7TRIRpo0EIFFEyMlJcDwWWvowWfq_iDHmeHzbgVOWhEGAjuf_QBdVEwylarlg-3cVRzKaDvXiHo0jwQUqU/s1600/DSC_0146.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWwq0E1wfPAbmyoXJ-Qp6ujLfNpxxgHf8NzL1dRbqWKxd02ya9rjxLcOZBv7TRIRpo0EIFFEyMlJcDwWWvowWfq_iDHmeHzbgVOWhEGAjuf_QBdVEwylarlg-3cVRzKaDvXiHo0jwQUqU/s400/DSC_0146.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
Rosalie was still interested in catching fish. This one must have been a fairly easy catch, as he was dead.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikToiDCziafj1o7gPkwvPPda1sJVDpII7T19Fc4E1Ar6791u6xzWp6QJkSsiY6RsTqO364BSGtbqNd9M9Nb46LRq4Ev1BcDw6hte8ecufKUYE_EwbkFLJgqcP99_JKChDUtBwi4WIC84E/s1600/DSC_0151.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikToiDCziafj1o7gPkwvPPda1sJVDpII7T19Fc4E1Ar6791u6xzWp6QJkSsiY6RsTqO364BSGtbqNd9M9Nb46LRq4Ev1BcDw6hte8ecufKUYE_EwbkFLJgqcP99_JKChDUtBwi4WIC84E/s400/DSC_0151.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Jane helped Rosalie give meaning to his death, by fertilizing the bushes with him.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpJel1rhggRulodRfy2jaEZanQPBc0uahxhLfohCpRjQhuRivj0wgAA1qS6c5IC2Wmn066Xzxw3g0pnqQ_VgIU3Ku0aYWY7R4RspWnlQHVpKM_hyphenhyphengaaizQX4BlqF5EMQk3_I9O6mc7Z3c/s1600/DSC_0172.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpJel1rhggRulodRfy2jaEZanQPBc0uahxhLfohCpRjQhuRivj0wgAA1qS6c5IC2Wmn066Xzxw3g0pnqQ_VgIU3Ku0aYWY7R4RspWnlQHVpKM_hyphenhyphengaaizQX4BlqF5EMQk3_I9O6mc7Z3c/s640/DSC_0172.JPG" width="424" /></a></div>
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This couch-like tube thing is called Stable Mable, super size version. It fits half a dozen kids at a time and is more fun than any other device I've ever ridden behind a speed boat. Joey tried really hard to get it to tip over when Casey, Anika, and I were riding it. It refused to capsize, and instead snapped the tow rope. Luckily, the rope was in replaceable sections so all we had to do was remove that part and it was good to go again.</div>
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The kids were having so much fun, it was hard to make them leave. So we ended up getting home pretty late. Katie had made a really yummy crock-pot chicken thing for dinner (I want the recipe, and Kate's curry recipe, too), and she had also bought a HUGE chocolate cake for Freddy's birthday. We did that thing to him where you give him the cake, and then tell him NOT to eat it while we get pictures, and sing, and do the candle thing, and in the end he's not sure if he's allowed to eat it at all, but whatever, adults are weird that way, so can I be done now, please?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK_PJy-fs6Qlqrj_hcO2iSZ5jmXZZWPa8_wxgQYNGdqc7VpCR8Pp0FJd1eB30054lBVbrWk7B-hvvYQ8gNaDVjv14X0bKdS4wP9tqxPnZjo6gsNUqNAqp7obHv-y0sTpMSET9EJmmdUHM/s1600/fredcake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK_PJy-fs6Qlqrj_hcO2iSZ5jmXZZWPa8_wxgQYNGdqc7VpCR8Pp0FJd1eB30054lBVbrWk7B-hvvYQ8gNaDVjv14X0bKdS4wP9tqxPnZjo6gsNUqNAqp7obHv-y0sTpMSET9EJmmdUHM/s400/fredcake.jpg" width="336" /></a></div>
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Happy birthday, Fredegar, hope you had as much fun on your birthday as we did!</div>
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edithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515255878940862109noreply@blogger.com4