Happy 2018!

We were still hanging out in the Oklahoma Panhandle, "enjoying" some unusually cold temperatures at the end of 2017. With high temperatures in the teens, it doesn't seem a good time to be firing up the motor home, even though we would certainly like to be in the deep south right now. Our son and his fiance' came to spend time with us and the relatives here. They also enjoy the horses, that love the extra attention when the city folk come to visit.

Our family has always been good at inventing games and competitions to play. Welcome to the first annual cattle guard balance and agility races. This was a shot of the singles competition, but we also did couples races.

We took a picture of Blake and Claire with Mark's parents. Our timing for this extended stay has been great, as they have needed some extra care this winter.

We got to spend extra time with nieces and nephews that were also visiting for the holidays. We brought in the new year with some of them. We stopped eating and playing games long enough to take pictures sporting some fashionable 2018 eye-wear. 

Yes, our great nephews are ridiculously tall, making their normal-height grandparents look short. It was great to see them again!

Shortly after bringing in the New Year with family, we drove through Beaver on the way back to the ranch. We are flirting with record cold temperatures, as it dipped down to -7 degrees tonight. You don't see that in Oklahoma very often!

The beginning of the new year is a great time to think back on 2017, and reflect on some of our favorite memories. Here are a few of our favorite things from 2017:

Picking (and eating) huckleberries in the mountains of Washington.

Hiking through the snow to stand at the foot of the world's tallest trees in California.

Hunting for glass floats on the coast of Oregon, and walking on a different beach every day for a month.

Hiking among wild animals in their natural environment. It was our first time to see grizzlies and big horn sheep, and we also saw moose and mountain goats while we were in the mountains of the north.

Winning the lottery so we were ten of the lucky hikers to get to enjoy The Wave in Arizona.

Witnessing the desert's super bloom in Southern California.

Paddling our inflatable kayak in the Pacific Ocean among the seals and sea otters in California.

Experiencing the marvels of Yellowstone National Park, including the neon colors of the Grand Prismatic Spring in Wyoming.

Hiking with flashlights through the Lava Tubes in New Mexico.

Hiking on top of twenty-foot snow drifts to see the crystal blue water of Crater Lake in Oregon.

Exploring the tide pools on the rocky beaches of the Pacific Ocean.

Watching the winter vegetable harvest near Yuma, Arizona in February.

Hiking through the snow to stand in front of Mount Rainier in Washington. Because we were alone, it was so quiet that we could hear the creaking and moaning of the glaciers as they moved on the rocky face of the mountain.

We will always look back fondly on 2017, but we are excited about the upcoming events of 2018. With our oldest son and wife expecting a baby in May, and our youngest son getting married in June, it's going to be another great year.  Happy New Year!

The End of a Legendary Streak!

The motor home is parked at Mark's parents' ranch while we are enjoying time with family and friends in Oklahoma. While we have planned weekend trips, we return to spend the weekdays at the ranch in the panhandle. This has allowed us to spend time with Mark's family that lives in that area. Mark got private baking lessons from the best pie crust chef in the country. His first-ever crust got a B+ grade from his Mother. We hope he brings that grade up to an "A" before we leave.

Being in Beaver has allowed us to attend several of our great niece's school events. Haleigh is a senior at Beaver High School. Besides being a beautiful young lady with an effervescent personality, she is multi-talented. We attended basketball games, where she is a starter on the varsity team. We also went to the school Christmas program, to listen to her sing with the choir and play her flute in the band.

We were thrilled to go to some of Haleigh's senior year events. Then we realized that this is the end of a legendary streak at Beaver schools. Sixty years ago, Mark's parents enrolled their first child in the first grade at Beaver. For the last sixty years they have had one of their descendants continually enrolled at Beaver schools. That includes their five children, five of their grandchildren, and now two great grandchildren. Haleigh's graduation this year will be the end of that very long streak. We snapped this picture of Mark's sister, Bonnie (the beginning of that long line of students) and her granddaughter Haleigh (the end of that line of students) at that final Christmas program. Many of those years Bonnie has been employed in the music department at the school as well.

Mark's parents weren't physically able to attend the Christmas program at the auditorium this year. So we brought the program home to them. Mark recorded Haleigh's songs on our phones, and then played them back through the speakers at home. Clarence was on the school board for many of those sixty years, so they have enjoyed most of those concerts in person.

While we are watching Haleigh get exercise, we aren't getting much exercise ourselves while we are staying in Beaver. We have taken a couple hikes through the pastures surrounding the ranch. Denisa prefers pasture hikes on cold days when she knows the resident rattlers won't be out.

We were a couple miles from the nearest road when we discovered this old truck in the middle of the pasture. We found that they used to truck some gravel out of a pit in this pasture. It was determined that this truck wasn't worth a tow to get it fixed, so it rusted its way into a skeleton over the years.

With the onset of cold weather, we are spending too much time indoors. But it is fun to be surrounded by the ranch animals.

Even though they are called wild turkeys, this flock spends so much time around the house that they are very tame.

It is amazing to watch them transform from sleek birds capable of flying to the top of the tall cottonwood trees to roost at night . . .

to a puffed up Tom turkey with his tail feathers fanned behind him. They don't even look like the same bird. This morning the guys were so busy impressing the hens that they didn't mind Denisa taking their pictures.

We got here two weeks before Thanksgiving, and we stayed until a week after Christmas this year. That's seven weeks. Not as impressive as sixty years, but another legendary streak in Beaver, Oklahoma!

We're Going to be Grandparents!

We are excited to announce that we're going to be grandparents this spring! Our oldest son, Luke, and his wife Jordan are going to bless us with a granddaughter around May 5, and we couldn't be happier!

Jordan is a PA, and Luke is in his final year of pediatric residency at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. We were quarantined during our planned trip to see them at their home. Denisa was a very sad Mom at the thought of missing them, so we managed to make the trip to see them a little later.

We played games and cards, and got to see more of the details of their lives. This rescheduled visit meant we would be there when they had purchased tickets to see "The Nutcracker" at the Kauffman Performing Arts Center.

The Kauffman Center is an iconic clam-shell theater that looks a little like Sydney, Australia's Opera House. We couldn't get far enough away to take a picture of its double shell silhouette, but it is an impressive performing arts center.

It is equally impressive from the inside. Even though Luke and Jordan have lived in Kansas City for over two years, this was their first trip inside the Kauffman Center. They have been enduring the hectic schedule and long hours of a hospital resident, with little time for formal nights out.

We were blessed to be there during a rare time for Luke to be away from the hospital. We were also blessed to snag the last two seats available in the lower orchestra section of this mammoth theater. Our seats were discounted two days before the performance, because they were single seats on opposite sides of the theater. But we had great views of the stage.

At intermission, we switched seats with Luke and Jordan. Their side-by-side seats in the balcony gave a different view of the stage.

Our rescheduled visit also put us there during Luke's lasik eye surgery. He has worn glasses or contacts since middle school. We took this last be-spectacled picture right before we left for the ophthalmologist office for the laser procedure that would give him 20/20 vision. Amazing!

Even though it was delayed, we certainly enjoyed our trip to spend time with Luke and Jordan! Luke will graduate in June, and has already accepted a position with a pediatric clinic in the Kansas City area. With the birth of our first grandchild in May, it looks like we will have many more trips to Kansas City in our future travel plans.

Quarantined!!

We don't always get a flu shot. But this year we got it more to protect others rather than ourselves. We knew we were going to be spending a lot of time with our aging parents, and we certainly wouldn't want to get the flu and expose them to it. So we got the shot, but it didn't protect from the strain of flu that pounced on us. We read later that this year's flu shot is only 10% effective, and we got a good dose of the other 90%. As soon as she felt the symptoms coming on, Denisa quarantined herself upstairs away from Mark's parents. Mark was still feeling fine, so he was cooking and cleaning downstairs, then running food upstairs to Denisa. She had to take a picture, because that's some great room service!

Denisa kept shoo-ing Mark out of her sick room, hoping that he wouldn't catch this flu bug too. But within 24 hours, he started the same symptoms. The good news is that Denisa had some company in this quarantine. The bad news is that we have certainly messed up a lot of plans and inconvenienced a lot of people.

We were supposed to be making our fifth trip (in as many weeks) to Oklahoma City that weekend. We were supposed to pick up our son, Blake, to ride with us to Kansas City to spend several days with our other son and his wife. They had all kinds of fun meals and activities planned for us, and we were all so looking forward to it! Then this flu bug hit, and our plans soon evaporated as our fevers soared. To make matters worse, Blake had booked a flight onward from Kansas City to another destination. So we totally screwed up his travel plans! That made us feel even worse!

Fast forward three days, and we were still hanging out upstairs. It was a strange feeling to be trapped inside, looking at another sunset through an upstairs window. 

We decided this was one of the worst flu bugs we've ever had--headaches, coughing, fever, and all-over aches--even our hair hurt. Mark's temperature soared up to 104 degrees on more than one occasion. His theory is to sleep until he gets well, but it didn't work too well on this flu. On the other hand, Denisa's theory is to stay busy and ignore the fact that she's sick. She put together two intricate puzzles during this quarantine. She must have been craving sweets, because this puzzle was themed in cupcakes, while the other was candy.

She also read a book, did some sewing, and played the piano every day. Mark--not so much. He is much better at staying still and being sick. But the days were certainly long! After three full days upstairs, Denisa finally made her escape when her temperature returned to normal. Then it was her turn to carry meals upstairs to Mark, who remained in quarantine for two more days.

There's never a good time to get sick, but this flu bug seemed to have especially bad timing. But the worst part is worrying this quarantined bug will sneak downstairs and infect an 89- and 91-year-old that we love.

Merry Christmas!

For the last 36 years we have mailed a Christmas letter through snail mail. For the last 29 years it has included pictures of our children. They still humor their Mother, and agreed to take a family picture while we were together for Thanksgiving. Our numbers are growing, and we are excited to have two beautiful young ladies to off-set all the grubby beards in this year's picture.

We will spend Christmas Day with our children and special friends, and have been blessed with a full holiday of family time. We send out the warmest Christmas wishes to our blog friends, wishing that you have a blessed day as well!

I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord! 

Hiking Oklahoma Style

We are really missing our daily hikes! So when we visited our good friends, Connie and Steven, we were thrilled that our trip included a stop at Quartz Mountain State Park for some hiking!

Oklahoma State Parks are free and open to the public. Even though we took that for granted all our lives, we now realize that is not the case in most states. We parked their pick-up at the trail head, and took off on the Baldy Mountain trail. We also now realize that most states wouldn't call this quartz hill a "mountain."

We were blessed with beautiful weather, and the blue skies that we love. Our trail got narrower and less defined as we curved around Baldy Mountain. Since we wanted to get to the summit, Mark took off toward the top without a trail. Denisa is used to this, but we're not sure that our hosts appreciate his style so much. No pictures of the hike down, because we were sliding down tiny roll-ders and scrambling across huge boulders. Again, Connie and Steven weren't so impressed with Mark's trail guide skills.

Several years ago we visited this state park's lake, where the drought had shrunk it to a muddy pond. We took another hike on the trail along the water and were glad to see the lake looked healthy and full after a good year of rain.

This is southwestern Oklahoma, where cotton is king. This has been a banner harvest, and it was fun to see all the bales of cotton dotting the horizon. Steven was raised on a cotton farm, so he could answer all our questions about the harvest process that was going on right now. He explained that each one of those bales held enough cotton to make over 6,000 cotton shirts.

He even drove us to the cotton gin in Altus, to explain the process of turning that field cotton into a more purified product that will be transported to the next step to becoming those cotton shirts. It looked like it could be a great factory tour, but Steven pointed out it was a very dusty process.

We enjoyed our time with special friends. We have planned weekend trips to see friends and family while we are in Oklahoma. Besides playing cards, and getting to see their children, we also enjoyed this opportunity to do a little hiking "Oklahoma style" at Quartz Mountain State Park.

2017 Favorite Places to Hike, Bike and Kayak

For the last couple years, we have reviewed our year of travel to determine our favorites. We have tried to limit it to our top five, but this epic year of travel in the west refuses to be limited. Our lists are longer, but we loved every one of the items listed and would do them all again if we were blessed to return.

BEST SHORT HIKES

Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve, CA
Vernal Falls/John Muir Trail - Yosemite National Park, CA
Hurricane Ridge - Olympic National Park, WA
Bull Pasture Hike - Pipe Organ Cactus National Monument, AZ
Congress Trail - Sequoia National Park, CA
North Grove Loop - Kings Canyon National Park, CA
Stout Grove - Jedidiah Smith State Park, CA
Nisqually Vista Trail - Mount Rainier National Park, WA
Avalanche Lake Trail - Glacier National Park, MT
Hidden Lake - Glacier National Park, MT
Many Pools Trail - Zion National Park, UT
Lava Tubes - Malpais National Monument - NM
Hall of Mosses - Hoh Rainforest - Olympic National Park, WA

BEST LONG HIKES

Lake Colchuck and Lake Stuart - Leavenworth, WA
Grinnell Glacier - Glacier National Park, MT
Cascade Canyon - Teton National Park, WY
The Wave - Coyote Buttes North Wilderness, AZ
Trail of Ten Falls - Silver Falls State Park, OR
Trail from the Summit - Chiracahua National Monument, AZ
Balconies Cliff Cave/High Peaks - Pinnacles National Park, CA
Multnomah Falls Loop - Columbia Falls River Gorge, OR
Mount Si - Snoqualmie, WA
Highline Trail - Glacier National Park, MT
Iceberg Lake/Ptarmigan Tunnel - Glacier National Park, MT
Our Lake - Chouteau, MT
Navajo Knobs - Capitol Reef National Park, UT
North Kaibab - North Rim Grand Canyon National Park, AZ
Gooseberry Springs to Mt. Taylor Summit - Grants, NM
Lost Coast Trail - Shelter Cove, CA

BEST KAYAK

Deep Lake - Coulee City, WA
Sea Caves - LaJolla, CA
Willapa River, Raymond, WA
Salish Sea off Fidalgo Island, WA
Icicle River/Wenatchie River - Leavenworth, WA
Gates of the Mountains on Missouri River - Helena, MT
Wade and Cliff Lakes - MT
Madison River - Ennis, MT
Ririe Reservoir - Ririe, ID
Elk Horn Slough - Monterey Bay, CA

BEST BICYCLE

Golden Gate Bridge to Fisherman's Wharf - San Francisco, CA
Valley View Trail - Yosemite National Park, CA
Mission Beach - San Diego, CA
Monterey Bay Coast Trail - Monterey, CA
Newton B. Drury Parkway - Redwood National Park, CA
Discovery Trail - Cape Disappointment State Park, WA
Apple Capitol Recreation Loop - Wenatachee, WA
Lewis and Clark Bike Trail - Great Falls, MT
Centennial Bike Trail - Spokane, WA