Yes, our friends Marla and Steve Lundgren, who were supposed to come back last year are still in working and living in Laie Hawaii. So yep, we had to go visit them again! We had a great time walking on the beach, eating yummy seafood and playing games. We’ll see if they come home next year like they are promising! Otherwise, another trip?
The fact is, Mt. Rushmore is not actually on the way to anywhere. So, since I’ve always wanted to see it, we decided we would just drive there and see it. It was way cooler than I even thought it was going to be! So worth the drive! Did you know there is a Woolly Mammoth Dig Site close to Rushmore? Then, on “the way home” we stayed north and visited Yellowstone National Park. Did you know they have their own Grand Canyon — with two amazing waterfalls? Oh, and “Old Faithful” was cool too. 😉
After a crazy busy summer, Alan and I were able to get away for a few days to Monterey, California. We rented the greatest studio apartment complete with private patio, Jacuzzi, bikes, and passes to the aquarium. It was so great to relax, walk on the beach, sit in the Jacuzzi, take the 17 Mile Drive along Pebble Beach, enjoy the jellyfish exhibit, eat seafood, ride bikes and tour the Point Pino lighthouse. You should try it…you’ll like it!
We love it!
Lucky us, during spring break, we met our New Hampshire friends in Florida and spent a fun week right on a beautiful beach near St. Petersburg. Our condo was spacious with an ocean view and every day except for one was sunny. We took lots of walks on the beach, sat by the pool, soaked in the hot tub, ate too much and too often, and played a few rounds of Canasta. One of the days we decided to take a day trip into Orlando to check out Universal Studios and the new Harry Potter World. Expensive…but fun! We even tried butter beer 🙂
That’s right, I graduated from BYU 30 years ago! My, how the time flies. I actually hadn’t realized it was 30 years until my friend and roommate Melora from oh so long ago called and said, “Let’s go!” So she and her husband Thomas flew in from NH for Homecoming weekend. We had a good time visiting with Robbie Bosco and Lee Johnson and Jim Hermann. If you don’t remember, it was 30 years ago that BYU was undefeated in football and went on to win the National Championship. Go Cougars!!!
We celebrated with an overnight get-a-way at the Marriott downtown. We enjoyed a scrumptious steak dinner and then got to go see the Broadway play, Wicked. It totally was as good as everyone said it would be! By total coincidence, we ended up sitting next to neighbors and family. So much for getting away “just the two of us!”
Very spontaneously, we decided to drive up to Jackson Hole for the 4th of July weekend with four of my siblings and their families. We all got rooms close to each other and had a great time running the river, watching the parade, enjoying (BBQ program), and watching fireworks! In the picture below, I’m in the corner wearing the brown hat and Alan is in directly in front of me. Our family filled up 2 boats! My dad would be so proud of all of us…he loved river running!
Madeleine and Alan have the April birthdays. This family is pretty steeped in tradition, so of course we had Halusky for dinner and poppyseed cake for dessert. So fun to have the family together!
Thanks to Pat & Wally, we got to spend a delightful week at the Marriott Resort in Newport Beach. We invited our good friends, the Lundgrens to go with us and we had a wonderful time, relaxing, sight-seeing, eating good food, attending the temple, playing games, and oh, getting sunburned doing water aerobics. Don’t ever, ever, ever think that you don’t need sunscreen! 😉
