GenFest 2010

This year we had 33 family members at our annual GenFest family picnic - counting infants and children! There were 7 who couldn't come, and that's a lot. We like it better when everybody's here! The weather was overcast and sometimes threatening, but we really lucked out and didn't have big rain, just a few drops for a short time. The sun even came out for a while and we had blue skies. The weather didn't interfere at all with our good times!

Happy Fourth !!

Blue Angels, Blue Angels !!!

How I love to see, hear, and feel the Blue Angels flying over! It was a real thrill watching them today. You can tell from the pictures what a gorgeous day it has been.

Geocaching Saginaw

After the terrific party last night, of course we had to check around Saginaw for some close and easy caches before heading home. We had 3 DNFs, but we also had some fun:

Found it 06/28/2010 You found [Traditional Cache] Rustic Log
We were on our way out of town when this one popped up. Nice hide in a nice little neighborhood park. TFTC

Found it 06/28/2010 You found [Traditional Cache] Be Prepared
We came down to Saginaw to help our brother celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary last night. It was a great party, we told them that the first fifty years are the toughest, after that the whole marriage thing starts to make sense. We've had 35 great years together, with 53 years in the bank, that's batting over .700.
No trip is complete with out a few caches and no trip to Saginaw would be complete with out a Windrose cache. We enjoyed the short walk and the container was found after a short hunt.
We recognize that different folks have different goals when geocaching and we respect those differences. One thing we will never understand is why some folks either are not able or can't be bothered to take care in closing the cache container. In this case, the zip lock was not closed and in addition was left protruding from the lock n lock. thus there was no seal. The contents were wet and soggy. We dried it out as best we could and removed the geo-junk. Traded a bottle of hand sanitizer for the TB. TFTC

Found it 06/28/2010 You found [Traditional Cache] Double Take
We are not great fans of urban micros, especially the ones that tend to be repetitious. This is a perfect example of how the light pole habit can be broken. Thanks for the fun!

Found it 06/28/2010 You found [Traditional Cache] By George I Think You've Got It
We know where George is but we are wondering about Walter Kolbkl, where's he? Both of our GPS's wanted us to pull over on the xway and climb the fence. We decided not to. Thanks for the fun.

Happy Fiftieth, J & E

Kris and Dan hosted a 50th Wedding Anniversary reception today in Saginaw for Jim and Emilie. We had such a good time re-living old memories, and having a chance to visit with Jim's family.

Kris put together a wonderful display of old pictures and mementos - it was a real blast from the past to see some of those things.



Dan, Jace and Drew - the boys were very enjoyable and well behaved! What a pleasure.



Kris and Drew came and sat by us for a while - Drew could identify "Uncle Dick"! What a sharpie.



Kris, Pam and I



Grandpa Jim with Drew. Drew calls him "Poppa".

Father's Day 2010

Frankfort Harbor on this scenic day!

We had a terrific day - the weather was just spot-on perfect, we found everything we were looking for, and we ate at 2 of our favorite places! It was idyllic. A good time was had by both!





We found a total of eighteen caches - hard to believe - I never would have guessed that we went to that many. Here are some of the logs:

06/20/2010 You found Catch a cache at Arcadia Lake
Our first cache find was Father's Day, 2003. We have tried to make an excursion each Father's Day since. Because we are both gimped up this year, we have been pretty much limited to P&G's. This one fit our needs perfectly! We loved the park, especially the sculpture of the kids fishing.



When we pulled in there was a guy parked nearly on top of the cache in his pick up. He had brought his boys fishing. He was taking a stogie break while they were down on the platform. All we had to do was wait him out by enjoying the scenery. Thanks for the fun.

06/20/2010 You found ODE TO JOYfield
We had concluded our Father's Day excursion, the afternoon was drawing to a close and we were getting hungry and a little tired but then the Nuvi dinged and we had to pull off to check it out. "Look, RHG has put out another one for us!" We found the cache, signed the log and left a NMC pin. Now lets think about Moomer's for dinner. TFTC

06/20/2010 You found Bear Lake Needs More Caches!
We've had a fun day and it's time to make the turn and head for home. Just a few more. Thanks to Red Hat Grandma, we've found more caches that met our needs than we expected. We replaced the baggie on this one. TFTC

06/20/2010 You found Spirit Series # 1
We've done the other two Spirit Series caches and we enjoy them. We are out on another Father's Day Geocaching expedition. Father's Day is special for us because we found our first cache on Father's Day seven years ago. The last few years has featured brunch at Dinghys and then caching either north in Leelanau or south toward Manistee. This year we had a couple of disappointments, first, Dinghys doesn't do brunch any more and foot problems, a broken toe and gout, has limited us to park and grabs. We weren't sure how many of those we'd find. Not to worry, we found plenty and they were fun! This is just what the Dr. ordered. Thanks for the history and thanks for the hunt.

06/20/2010 You found This is a Road?
Well, come on now! This IS definitely a road! It's even in our Nuvi. Not the challenge of the other two we did today but we'll take it. Thanks for the hunt.

06/20/2010 You found 35mm Signature Cache by Nozzleman671 Visit Log
Another Father's Day Geocaching expedition. This was the most strenuous one of the day but we knew what we were getting into, we've found one up there before. The problem came at the top when we had another 90 feet to go. What will all those muggles say when that old guy climbs over the railing? Well, who cares? It's Father's Day and we can do as we darn well please! Over the top and on to the cache! I did get some strange looks when I came back though. Thanks for the adventure!

06/20/2010 You found This is a road? 3
Yip! Yip! Yahoo! Another fun one of the "Is this a road?" series. Fold in the mirrors, we're coming through! Had to hunt a bit for the container and then find a place to turn around, (Maybe we should do that first.) Thanks for the adventure!

06/20/2010 You found 35mm View of Boo Hoo
Not sure what the "Boo Hoo" is. Could it be the dune across the lake? This was a real challenge because of the muggles camped out on the beach. The camera came in handy as a decoy. Thanks for the fun!

06/20/2010 You found Blaine Twp. Needs More Caches!
Another fun stop on today's caching excursion. We took a picture of the near by grave site. We will upload it when we can. Thanks for the fun!




(This has to be the most unique epitaph we have ever run across in real life! Somebody has a terrific sense of humor!)

06/20/2010 You found This is a road? 2
We love these kinds of cache placements! This was another of our Father's Day Geocaching expeditions. Not to worry, we found plenty and they were fun! None were more fun than the ones we found in this series. We love two tracks! No need for the 4x4 today but our darn Nuvi was acting up. She sent us all over the place, wanted us to go through closed gates a number of times. Luckily the 60csx came through and led us to the cache. We signed the log and traded a hand sanitizer and a lanyard for the TB and the snakes head. Thanks for the adventure!!

06/20/2010 You found Elberta Needs More Caches!
After another fabulous meal at Dinghy's, our favorite area restaurant, we cruised the beach and the town in Frankfort. Then we came over here for the view and the cache. We beat you to it, Ruth, changed out the log book and waited out the muggles until we could replace it. Thanks for the fun!

06/20/2010 You posted a note for Another Crystal Clear View
Buzz mumble grump grump! We pulled a DNF on this one last year and hoped to erase it today. Unfortunately, a pair of muggles in love were parked nearly on top of the cache. We tried to wait them out but they won. Oh well, remember what Scarlet said.

06/20/2010 You found Crystal Gazer
Lovely spot, we weren't aware of it. Unlike the previous park we visited we had this spot to ourselves. As previously noted, the log book was wet. We replaced it and the baggie. TFTC

06/20/2010 You found Crystal Facets
Boy was this little park busy today! Beach lovers, boaters and picnickers galore. Near the cache is the neatest fungi!



We will try to upload a picture. We found the cache in good shape, traded sigs and left a hand sanitizer. Thanks for the fun!

06/20/2010 You found Just Around the Corner
We love spirit quest caches and the hide on this one is unique and special. Took nothing, left a compass rose tag. Thanks for the hunt!!

$um $um $ummertime

It's good to find out on the first hot summer day that your air conditioner no longer works! Wonder of wonders, the man from Bob's has already been here and we'll be getting a new unit on Wednesday. Hooray!

Also, Old Mission Windows is going to replace our living room picture window - its seal is broken. It may have happened last winter when a very large bird blasted into it - but then again, the window is 20 yers old, so who knows.

Today Dick has been washing windows. What a difference clean windows make!

Seattle to T.C. by way of ...Dallas?

Dick's Report:

6/01/10
Seattle – Dallas – Chicago – Home

For a 6:05 a.m. flight, we had a 4:30 shuttle and thus a 3:45 wake up call. We didn’t need it. We were both ready to head for home. From getting up, to getting to the airport to going through security, almost everything went smoothly. Nancy did get rechecked because of the Nyquil and I screwed up by not taking the lap top out of the bag, but compared to our TC experience two weeks ago, it went smoothly.

Boarding also went smoothly, we were called for pre-boarding and settled into row 14. Three and a half hours later we deplaned at DFW and the fun began. We had an hour between planes and Nancy was met with a chair so it should have been a piece of cake. We get off at A 14 and board at E 23. According to the American Way map, there is a train that circles the terminal with stops near both of our gates.
All we have to do is roll up the gangway, get on the train, go around from A to E and arrive at our gate. Not at DFW. We roll up the gangway and - - - wait - - - for a courtesy car. There goes the first 20 minutes. I jokingly suggest that I should have found my own way to the gate and we could see who got there first. We get on the car and cruise through the terminal following and dodging travelers looking for their gates. “Excuse the car please.” “Car behind you.” At least in Chicago they have beepers. While still in A terminal, we stop while the driver escorts a passenger to the top of the escalator. When he returns, we continue. When he next stops, he takes us to an elevator, the largest we’ve seen and we go up a level. Here he directs us to some seats where we are to wait for a different car. Car number two arrives and the woman driver goes across an enclosed bridge alongside moving walk ways to another elevator. She escorts us to the lower level where there are seats for us to wait for a different car. At least this time we didn’t leave other passengers waiting in the car, we had it to ourselves.
The car arrives with a passenger. The driver must escort her to the upper level car the driver of which waits until we are in the lower level car. We must wait until the driver of this car returns, we have now burned up 45 minutes.

Here we go again through the terminal filled with travelers. This driver is a very soft spoken man of obvious Indian descent. His constant refrain “Excuse the car” in a sing song voice could barely be heard by us let alone the people in front of him.

We arrive at our gate in time to join the mob boarding the 777. We made it! It took an hour but we made it. No food or potty stop but we made it. On our way to Chicago, but we made it. What could go wrong? The plane is full and our seats are in the back, we slowly make our way to find that the seat is occupied! With the help of the flight attendant she finds her seat and we claim ours.

Chicago is different, our gate is in terminal I, and we’ve never been there before. It’s a long way from G. This time we get a regular chair and the transfer is a piece of cake. During our two hour wait we observe the drama of a plane with a mechanical returned to the gate. The passengers were upset after sitting on the tarmac for an hour. The worse was yet to come. After another half hour wait the flight was canceled and they had to reschedule. The eavesdropping and the people watching was great.
We were on time and back home by 9PM. We should be exhausted but the adrenalin from being in our own space was such we both stayed up ‘till after 12.

Seattle

Dick's Report:

Seattle Redux

We both are getting a cough so we are taking Dayquil/Nyquil. It along with trip fatigue zaps us and so we sleep in (for us).

En route back to the motel in Tukwila we grabbed about three caches, maybe four, I picked up a TB that was logged into a cache on the route but I don’t remember it so we won’t claim the find. One that popped up was in Olympia, the state capitol. We decided that it might be fun to visit. It turned out that the cache was a virtual at the Washington state Veterans Memorial. We were there on Memorial Day and there was an event just getting started. The first thing we saw were a group of drummers and bag pipers in kilts crossing the street. We didn’t find out who sponsored it but it also involved a lot of Harleys. The guys who appeared to be the organizers were in typical Harley MC regalia with the vests, bandanas and tattoos. They had the Tacoma drill team which was a group of a dozen or so guys wearing red who wove their bikes back and forth, in and out in various patterns. That they did this without colliding apparently was the activity. We had a good view of one end of the activity as the street was blocked off during the procedure and we couldn’t turn around to avoid it. As far as the general public goes, it didn’t seem to be very well attended. Apart from the 50 or so bikers, the pipers, and a few other passers by like us, there didn’t seem to be anyone there.

We checked back into the motel, took a rest and got information on the shuttle to return the rental car. Next we attempted to find a place for dinner. What should have been an easy task turned out to be one of the biggest challenges of the trip. There is a Subway adjacent to the motel but we want sit down food.

Armed with a map from the motel desk and two GPS receivers, we sally forth. We are used to hunting for plastic boxes and light poles, how hard can it be to find a restaurant? First we seek out a Chinese place. It is located in a strip mall, we find it but it is either closed or so poorly regarded that no one is there. OK, how about the steak house advertised in the motel’s information book? We circle around and locate it, we could buy it but not eat there.

Next! We circle the area and determine that most of the restaurants are in the mall proper, nothing on the street. We are almost out of gas so I stop and get $5 worth and ask the attendant to recommend a place to eat. In broken, barely discernable English, he directs us back to the mall.

As our frustration is reaching its peak, Nancy finds a listing for the Golden Nugget under food on the GPS. When we get there it is a casino with a small restaurant attached. At this point we don’t care. The parking lot is packed, it must be good. What we don’t notice until after we seat ourselves in a booth is that no one else is eating. They are all at the tables in the casino playing cards. We order fish, prawns and chips. The shrimp are way over cooked; I think they deep fried some pre-cooked frozen ones. The fish were to me greasy and tasteless. On the way out I notice that of the 50–75 patrons, other than the staff, Nancy is one of 4 females. We should have gotten Subway.

After dropping Nancy at the motel to use their computer/printer to get our boarding passes, I talk to the shuttle driver about pick up procedure and then run the car back to Avis at Sea-Tac. Based upon her explanation and directions, I had planned on a 1 – 2 hour excursion. Check in went smoothly, I found the elevator and after limited confusion arrived at the proper level. Following the crowd I found the courtesy phones, called the motel desk and told them where I was. I then began to wait. After less than ten minutes I looked up and saw that my driver was just going past with a group of passengers to drop off. The front seat was empty so I ran out into traffic and hopped on board. I was back at the motel in 20 min round trip.

First Cache in the World !!

Once again, Dick writes my blog :)

Clackamas Oregon

Leaving the motel, we head south on I-5, it’s a nice drive in spotty rain. Washington is sure green! No snow on these mountains, just low hanging clouds. En route we stop to purchase some cold meds and skivvies. While we’re in WalMart, I look at cameras. I can buy a Kodak for less than last nights room and I want a camera.

We are in Clackamas too early to check in so we went geocaching. Our first goal is the Original Stash Plaque. This is at the site of Dave Ulmer's first cache. In May of 2000, President Clinton authorized the increasing of the accuracy of civilian GPS units. Ulmer acted almost immediately. He put a plastic bucket with some junk in it at this spot and posted the coordinates on USENET newsgroup sci.geo.satellite.nav. Thus the whole activity was born. Others soon followed suit and today there are over a million caches around the world. A guy from Michigan, Matt Strum, coined the term Geocach to get away from the negative connotations of the term “stash”. Then a guy named Jeremy Irish grabbed the term in the fall of 2000 and registered the domain name. He has effectively taken control of organized geocaching.

While we were looking at the plaque and taking pictures, a woman and her son pull up. She is a geocacher named Rose Red. She offers to take a picture of both of us at the cache. Very nice and thoughtful!



All in all we find seven nicely placed caches in the area. We back off from looking for a cemetery cache, doesn’t seem like Memorial Day weekend is the best time.

Lunch is in Redland, dinner is Denny’s. Neither is comparable to the cruise.

Clackamas

Clackamas Oregon
Leaving the motel, we head south on I 5, it’s a nice drive in spotty rain. Washington is sure green! No snow on these mountains, just low hanging clouds. En route we stop to purchase some cold meds and skivvies. While we’re in WalMart, I look at cameras. I can buy a Kodak for less than last night's room and I want a camera.

We are in Clackamas too early to check in so we went geocaching. Our first goal is the Original Stash Plaque. This is at the site of Dave Ulmer's first cache. In May of 2000, President Clinton authorized the increasing of the accuracy of civilian GPS units. Ulmer acted almost immediately. He put a plastic bucket with some junk in it at this spot and posted the coordinates on USENET newsgroup sci.geo.satellite.nav. Thus the whole activity was born. Others soon followed suit and today there are over a million caches around the world. A guy from Michigan, Matt Strum, coined the term Geocach to get away from the negative connotations of the term “stash”. Then a guy named Jeremy Irish grabbed the term in the fall of 2000 and registered the domain name. He has effectively taken control of organized geocaching.

While we were looking at the plaque and taking pictures, a woman and her son pull up. She is a geocacher named Rose Red. She offers to take a picture of both of us at the cache. Very nice and thoughtful! All in all we find seven nicely placed caches in the area. We back off from looking for a cemetery cache, doesn’t seem like Memorial Day weekend is the best time.

Lunch is in Redland, dinner is Denny’s. Neither is comparable to the cruise.

Vancouver to Seattle

Dick's notes are so good for today - I can't say it any better! :
Vancouver-disembark. Bus to SeaTac and Hertz

We experience our first day of steady rain.

I have breakfast with B&J, Room service for Nancy, walk down to the Wheelhouse about 7:30 to wait for Gold 1 to be called. (8:30) Leave boat but wait in a corridor for buses to return from airport.(9:30) Load bus, the door is sealed for border security, and begin the drive to Seattle. We are driving through very nice residential neighborhoods, not like main streets at all. The reason? Driver is lost. After two stops for him to read maps, I dig out Nuvi. It has trouble finding satellites.. John from San Francisco beats me to it.

Enter highway 99 to the border -10:30. Passenger in front is chilly, driver turns up heat, now the rest of the bus is an oven and the window is so fogged the driver can’t see out.

We get to the border at 11:05 and get in line behind a bus with WiFi. It takes over an hour to clear customs. We have folks on the bus with 12:15 and 1:45 planes to catch, they ain’t gonna make it. The nice thing about being behind a bus with WiFi is that the folks in front of us could log on and change their tickets for tomorrow.

When I attempt to take a picture of the US flag at the crossing, I discover that the camera is broken again. What is it with cruises with the Sniders and our camera?

The drive from the border to the airport takes over 2 hours. Once there, they drop us off at a special bus parking lot. Luckily, we got a chair for Nancy and a cart for me. All she had to do was ride and talk, all I had to do was follow Andrew. She tipped him $5 for the ride, I gave him $5 for leading the way. [We liked Andrew]

We got our tan Camry, loaded the bags in the trunk, the motel in the Nuvi, and away we go! We remember our last trip to Seattle when we drive past the Doubletree where we stayed and the Denny’s where we ate with Tom and Peter. We pull into the Comfort Inn and Suites–Airport and - - - the girl at the desk says we don’t have reservations!! What the HELL! I CHECKED THEM LAST NIGHT! It turns out that there is another Comfort Suites Inn-Airport that is in Tukwila.

When we go there, the place is in an uproar, everyone had to evacuate their rooms and a fire truck soon pulls into the drive. Some one burned up a bag of popcorn in a microwave. We don’t care, just give us a room and tell us where to eat. We have had nothing except a cereal bar since 6: this morning.

There is a Mall nearby where we order more than we can eat at Red Robin, ship our dirty cloths home by UPS, restock our library, and drive down the street to a Travel Bug Motel and launch our Washington coin. Back at the motel, the room is the best we’ve been in on the trip. Tomorrow is another day.

At Sea

An entire day at sea - a good time to sleep in, finish your book, enjoy conversation over coffee after leisurely dining, and...the casino! Yaaay! I came up with a new system for not losing. Notice I didn't say winning, just not losing. Breaking even is a good thing! Everytime I would hit a bonus (on the slots) I would quit that machine and move to another favorite - because I've noticed that the bonuses don't exactly come one right after another, so you usually lose what you've just won if you stay at the same machine.



These pictures prove that Richard, our photographer, actually was on the cruise!





We really are having a good time - honestly!



The baked Alaska parade for the final dinner in the dining room - very much fun - and yummy, too.





My new system finally pays off! I didn't lose - in fact I came out this much ahead!



Poor Jan had this much left at the end of the evening, Hehehe



Dick's notes:

At sea.
Walk , eat, read, casino, read, walk, eat, read, casino., nap, pack. Nancy is a winner again.

Ketchikan

For our Ketchikan excursion, I booked the "Walk and Roll" tour. This is where some people walk around town with a guide, and others can ride an electric scooter! (Me) For me, it was an enormous amount of fun. I learned how to be a good scooter-dooterer, and I was able to go all around town and see the sights of Ketchikan. I personally loved it. I'm sure it was tiring for my buddies - but they seemed to enjoy it, too.




The rhododendrons were blooming all over Alaska - I was amazed by that, because they sure weren't blooming in Michigan when we left. We've seen huge tree-like rhodos blooming all over Alaska. These are some smaller bushes in Ketchikan's Whale Park. Beautiful.



There are totem poles all over Ketchikan.



The name Ketchikan is derived from a Tlingit Indian word. One source says that the word means "thundering wings of the eagle". A lot of the folks in Ketchikan prefer this meaning, and this carving depeicts it.



Ketchikan Creek - this "creek" is bigger than the Boardman.



A Ketchikan Museum - The Totem Heritage Center



Scootering up one of Ketchikan's many hills. n For me, it was really the way to go !



Another beautiful totem pole. We learned that totems are not supposed to be preserved or restored. They are meant to weather and deteriorate naturally.



What The Heck?? That sign says: Improved Order of Red Men - Tlinglit Tribe #4
It boggles my mind!



Princess cruises are a lot of fun!



Dick's Notes:

Ketchikan.
The ship docks a little late and everyone (but us) wants off NOW!! The line winds around and around forever. We just sit and watch. Nancy has signed up for the Stroll and Roll Tour. She gets a scooter, we walk. Nice tour of the highlights of the downtown. On one path we were headed for a cache. OMG a skirt lifter!! The cache lady from Ky. Beat me again. After the tour we scout for another cache, the hills are very steep. Going up was no problem, coming back down on the scooter was scary.
There was a seafood Barbeque by the pool. Jan and I had seafood, Bill had pizza, Nan will eat later. Tonight’s show is Motown. The folks who put it on didn’t sing enough gospel music as kids. [What he means is that the performers were all very white bread - not a lot of soul in this bunch although they were all good performers.]Nan and Jan visit the casino to end the day. Nancy is the big winner.