Alaska, 8-12--8-29 2011

We flew to Anchorage Alaska for 10 days in mid-August. Temperatures were in the low 60’s during the day and in the 50’s at night. We had a busy and fun time staying with our son, who had a great deal to show us during our stay. We arrived on Saturday at 1 in the morning and during the day we saw a bit of down town, ate lunch and shopped. On Sunday after church, we went to the Blueberry festival in Girdwood, 25 miles south of Anchorage. It was too rainy to pick blue berries, but there were plenty of booths with crafts to shop from.
Monday we took a 4 hour train ride to Seward and went to the sea life museum, had a fine lunch and did more shopping, we returned home via train that night. Tuesday my husband and our son played Disc Golf; I stayed home and cooked fresh halibut for dinner. Wednesday we drove past Girdwood another 15 minutes to the Wildlife preserve—my favorite place. Afterwards, we drove another 10 minutes to Whittier which is on the inlet where all the cruise ships dock for travel into Anchorage and other points. To get into Whittier, traffic goes into town one way on the half-hour through a one lane, 2&1/2 mile long tunnel. Leaving town, the traffic goes at the top of the hour. It was interesting.
On Thursday my husband and I went to the Alaskan Heritage Cultural center and saw how the natives used to live. Then we met a MUSHER who breeds his own sled dogs and runs in the Iditarod. He was offering dog-sled rides for $10 – a way for him to raise money. We did not take a ride but purchased a DVD from him where the Discovery channel filmed the 2011 race as it happened. On Friday went to Earthquake park where they said the earthquake shook for 4 minutes in Anchorage and in the outskirts it shook for 15 minutes, unbelievable. After the park, we went out to a great place for dinner and had fresh Alaskan king crab legs...yum lots of fun. Flew home the next day.

Minnesota

The pictures here are of my 7 and a 1/2 week stay in Owatonna, Minnesota with our daughter, Susie, and the grandchildren, Samantha and Jake. THE PICTURES - 4) Me, Susie and granddaughter, Samantha, 3) Grandson, Jake, 2) friend Pam and me at Sat night reunion, 1) Breakfast in Sock City WI with Sandi and Dave on the way to Sharon & Greg's.
My husband, Ed, and I flew there for Jake’s high-school graduation. Then Ed had to return to Sacramento to work. I remained to spend time with Susie and also to attend my 50th high school reunion in Madison, Wisconsin the last week of July.
Susie had an opportunity to participate in a charity affair for Healthy seniors, Dancing with the Stars, in Owatonna. Her partner was Owatonna’s hospital administrator, Dave, who she knows from Rotary. Neither had ever danced much, but they practiced twice a week for 3 month and they won, as they should have. It was quite clear that they were the best in the show.
I had a good time meeting Susie’s friends, dining with them and even hearing a review of my two books. Susie has a book club that meets every other month and for July they chose to review both of my books, Morningside and Crystal Pines. I was very pleased with what the all the ladies in the group had to say. They seemed to like what they read. FYI – the screen play for Crystal Pines is finally finished and in the producer’s hands. I don’t what happens from here, perhaps nothing.
I have another book that is near being ready to send to a publisher. I sent 300 pages to Susie’s so I would have something to edit while there. Now I am making the corrections on my computer here. I brought a small Acer Notebook to Minnesota but did not feel comfortable putting my book on it.
For the reunion I spent the night with three different girlfriends. On Thursday I took the bus from Rochester MN, where Susie works, to La Cross WI where my friend Sandi picked me up to take me to Onalaska where she and her husband have lived for 35 years (this is about a half hour drive from La Cross. Had a wonderful time with Sandi and Dave, gracious hosts, good food and conversation – also played cribbage.
Sandi and Dave drove me to Waunakee, Wisconsin, where I spent the night with my friend, Pam and her highschool sweetheart, husband, Dick. They have a beautiful home in a senior community. We also had a good visit and went to the Friday night reunion party and then out to dinner.
The night of the reunion, I stayed at the Candlewood Suites in Fitchburg, just outside of Madison. The reunion was held there – in attendance were 50 class mates and a total of 90 people. It was great fun. On Sunday I rode with my friend Sharon, and her husband Greg to Trempealeau, Wisconsin, right across the Mississippi River from Winnona, Minnesota. As with my other two friends, Sharon and Greg were delightful hosts and their home was also beautiful—played cribbage and lost.