Seiku, Washington .... way up in the northwest of the United States

Well we took a little trip to Seiku, WA.... Jerry wanted me to see the place as it's right next to the Clallum Bay Prison where he will be leading a weekend retreat for prisoners next March. He wants me to be on the "outside" team during the weekend and as such, I would need a place to stay (well, there is the community center, but, he knows my personality... I love ya honey for that!) So we tried to make RSVP at the motels/resorts(resorts????), but they are for the most part closed for winter. There was one available, "The Bay Motel", so that's where we parked ourselves for a night. We're talking MOTEL from the 50's.... The drive there is gorgeous, along Crescent Lake, but once you're there, there's not alot. I did check out the town... they have all these fish statues with clothes on the fish.... whatever floats your boat I guess... some town official had to have signed off on those puppies...

Happy Early Birthday to Jean

Halley, Dan, Jer and I went to a yummy dinner the night before we left and had an early celebration for my birthday. The food was great, dessert was good and the company was entertaining. We were leaving the next morning for T-Town and didn't want to make a late, late night, so, by 9:30 we were in our rooms, comfortably stuffed. It was a nice visit but we were ready to come home.

Beyond, Behind, Near

We (well Halley and Dan) spent better part of 30 minutes in a loud discussion on just those words describing where a place was. On and On and On it went. The karma in the car was very, very tense. You see Halley is always right... and I mean always.... just a sampling of how things go.

A great weekend had to end.... and now the beginning of a new week

Here in Minneapolis. I flew out and met Jerry, Dan and Halley Sunday evening. Our girls weekend ended with a great lunch in Vancouver, and then we parted after one big group hug!

Today we had a great talk with Halley and Dan to help them get back on some level playing field with regards to their friends AND how they deal with them. Everyone seemed pretty happy with how it all turned out. After our talk, Halley and Dan got massages, while I got a manicure.... Then we did a bit of shopping for Halley as she had a Pendleton Gift Card.

Day has been very mild for a November here in this place. The night gets chilly (as in below freezing) but the days are quite nice..... I'm just starting to blab on and on, so I'll stop for now!

Never knew there were so many wineries in Vancouver WA

Talked to Jerry today... he had a board meeting in MSP.... Julie, Cyn, Liz. Christy and I visited a brewpub first.... great, great garlic fries.... We all felt like we reeked of garlic.... Our next visit from there was to the Rusty Grape Winery. We walked in and felt like we had a cloud of garlic following us.... the gentleman there was a kick and enjoyed the entertainment we provided. Next winery, Bethany Winery, was just as much fun... Julie has such an infectious laugh and the spirit in the room is always lifted. There were lots of folks there all having a good time too!.... Poor Jer, he missed all that.....

Shopping, Wining, Dining.... what Fun!

Jerry left for Minneapolis Friday by plane, I took the train to Vancouver WA earlier on Thursday. Sunday, I'll fly out to meet Jerry and Halley and Dan in Minnesota.... Wheeeeeee what fun!

Julie invited some of our friends from Tacoma and we're having a great girls weekend here in Vancouver/Portland. Yesterday we went to a fabulous outlet mall, came home and made great mediterrean chicken pizza (well, with the help of PaPa Murphys) and wined ourselves to a pleasant night sleep!

Today, we're touring wine shops and some crafts stores.... Poor Jerry is attending a board meeting.... I got the better end of the deal!

Off we go.....

Well, I made it home....

Good to be here.

The fall colors in our little burg have changed so much in the week and a half I was gone... red, gold, yellow (and of course the ones that just go straight to brown) and many have dropped. Wish I had my sisters handy dandy riding mower to pick up leaves....

Till the next one, toodle-lou!

SO much fun taking the Bridge Pictures....

Had to include some more....Patti was busy taking pics and I played around. We were so tired afterwards, we had to stop by Wendy's for a 99 cent burger....yummy it was.... Hey, I just noticed, the computer keyboard doesn't have a "cents" symbol .... What's with that?....inflation or what...

Here's the skinny on the Lady Bugs... they're really

Asian Beetles.... not to be confused with our red Lady Bugs.....from the local paper (Griffin they are all over the place!)

"Asian lady beetles - Harmonia axyridis - aren't native to Illinois but were introduced to the United States to deal with aphids on pecan trees and soybeans, according to the Web site.
Because Illinois has a lot of soybeans, the beetles flourished and multiplied, said Jeffrey Davidson, plant health safeguarding specialist for the USDA plant protection and quarantine department.
"And, once they're brought in, they're here - they're here," Davidson joked, adding that his department of the USDA isn't responsible for the Asian beetle infestation, and the part of the USDA that dealt with the initial importation did so "many, many years ago."

It's another warm day.... another day with Lady Bugs everywhere....

I cannot tell you how weird all that is.... Fall is here, colors are even prettier than they are in the Pacific Northwest at this time of year..... Patti's yard (and all the rest of the yards) are the collector points for piles of leaves.... Wish Jillian was still a little girl and we could play in them like we did at Wrights Park. Patti wass out mowing today cuz it also vacumed up the leaves.... She was a mad demon on that riding mower.
Buddy, Patti's little puggle, is just darling.... A bundle of energy to say for sure. He's a fun little boy to have around the house. Well, if you were looking for exciting goings on here in Galesburg, this is it.... But, I do enjoy it!

Another Day in the Midwest.... Do I hear raindrops on the windshield.... NO... It's

Bugs.... They sounded just like a heavy rain sprinkle.... And a lot of them are LadyBugs...  : (   My sister told me that especially when they are harvesting the soy beans & feed corn, the bugs really come out.  It is so weird!)  The one pic is of the windsheild with the bugs.... I know, get a life Jean....
We took Marycatherine to the Moline airport this morning, so now it's just Patti and I.  That's when, on the way home, the bugs hit....  Also, for all you hunters, found this poor deer on the side of road.  We had to get a picture for my Jon... he was going hunting in Kapowsin today.... just in case he didn't get anything... I know, we're cruel.
As soon as we got back to Galesburg, our first stop was to get the car with the bug guts cleaned....  So, here I am writing watching Oprah and uploading pics....  later to all of you!

And we're off.....

Nephew Greg and fiance, Jeni, are gettin' married this weekend....Sooooo, off we go for a new explore.... to some new little towns, well, new to us, in Illinois....  Utica and Peru....  It'll be a quick trip for Jerry and Jillian, but, I get to stay a bit longer with my sister, Patti.... what's neat, is sister Marycatherine will be staying a bit longer too.... I'll keep in touch on our goings on!

A wonderful time in paradise.....

Now, we're back home.  This trip was very relaxing.... I know, we travel alot, but they are not always "relaxing".  This was just Jerry and Jean and books and free time and....  We praise the Lord;  we are truly blessed!

Snorkeling with the turtles....

There is a bay right out in front of our hotel that we can walk right into and snorkel.  We were in the ocean at 8 am this morning... the water was so calm and there were even more fish this time.  Better yet, we saw and swam with a couple turtles.  I'm talking BIG turtles.  One was just hanging on the bottom and appeared to be stuck under some coral.  I mean, he was flapping his flippers and appeared to be struggling.  We watched this guy for about 4 minutes...  We didn't think we should touch him.... but.... So, Jerry made the decision to go down and try to help him.  As soon as he started the dive, the turtle broke free.  We swam with him for a while.  You can't imagine how cool it was.  He came up to the surface for air when he broke free and hung out there a bit, so we hung out there with him.  He was about 4 feet in front of me.  I just stayed still and marveled at the whole thing.  I didn't want to stress him out.  We got out, rinsed off, had some  breakky and then just spent the afternoon hanging around the pool thinking how blessed we are.

Can you say HOT LAVA....

Yesterday we drove to Hilo for a trip in a helicopter over the active volcano.  Getting to Hilo took about two hours and we stopped at many places on the way for gorgeous ocean and beach views.  We drove down to Point Laupahoehoe which took us right down to the ocean.  It was so beautiful, the water was so blue.... but at the same time it holds some really sad memories... in 1946 there was a HUGE tsunami that came in.  There was a school in the valley and many of the children and their teachers were killed.   

We continued on our journey and again stopped at so many little awesome places.  Then we made it to our Helicopter and our trip.  Lava is not very colorful so the pictures look not near as awesome.  We could see the red of the lava, lots of steam vents on the mountain, and steam as the lava hit the ocean.  The picture with green in it is where the lava is eating up the trees...A housing development was obliverated.  It's been two years since it started and it's still moving... and no trace of the homes.  Except for one.... Jack Thompson's... it's still there, he lives in it... can't drive there but you can hike or heli in... His home is a bed and breakfast not that there are a lot of takers.  The whole trip was about 50 minutes.  Our pilot was great.  It was truly a once in a lifetime experience. 

Yesterday volcano, today snorkeling and saw a....

You'll have to come back... I want to go back out in the sun and water now... will write later...

Oh, I forget to show you

When we were snorkeling, there were this one type of cute colorful fish that seem to come right up to us.  At one point I put my hands together, like in prayer, thinking that they might hang around if I wasn't using them to swim.  Well, guess what, one sure enough came up AND... he tried to take a little bite.... My fingernail was all he got, but you can see his little teeth marks....It didn't hurt or anything, just startled me for sure.... Now I know mosquitoes love me AND this little bugger of a fish likes me.

A snorkle burn on my back... lots of great scenery....

This is the view from our room... just had to tease you with that.  We spent yesterday driving around the north Kohola.... So much different in topography:  we went from rolling pasture type fields that had that flat leaf cactus all over, then to greener fields with cattle and horses, then to tropical plants.  We went to the road end.... There was a hike down to the beach.... very precarious and as I had wedge flipflops and a dress on, we opted out.  Got a picture of the beach at the bottom...    Also, I got a better picture of the lava by the road. 

What you are looking at is actually about 6 feet tall... and there are fields and fields of it.  Then, as we drove into one of the resort areas.... look what we found.... a hairy, horned GOAT....

Go Figure, I think they use them to chomp on the brush near the resort.  Later on the road we found a herd of them.

Today, we went snorkling out in front of the resort.  Really was fun. My back is not burned bad, just a little more redder than I'd like.  Later we laid around the pool and had lunch and read.  I had to put my book down to write this... it was a hard decision..... Tomorrow we hope to take a helicopter tour of the active volcano.  I'll let you know if we did....

The Big Island is like no other!

We are settled in and just starting to explore this island.  It's so different that the rest of Hawaii.  Where we are there is NO volcanic activity.... but, you can tell there was a long time ago.  In some areas as we drove on the highway, there was nothing but old black lava.  It then changes to arid fields.  Course, the resorts and small towns are 'green'....  We drove to a town about 20 miles north last night and had the best dinner.  Little place off the beaten track.... The food was really upscale...that means, expensive.... but it was good and we got 20% off cuz we go there before six.... gee does that mean we're getting old.... no, we were just sill on Tacoma time.... (9:00pm)

Hey Griffin, on one of our "explores"  we saw this gecko.  Look, he has little spots he put on to make himself look like the spores on the ferns... You should have seem him in person... it was cool.

Well, I'm settling into Island mode.... I will write more later, but I'm feeling the need to veg out for a bit....

Yup... today's the day....

We're going on a mini-vaca to Kona.  Have never been and would like to experience the "Big Island".  Busy morning and lunch at PLU then off to the airport. 

School is starting.... Let's go to Kona... Just u and me Jer...

On our way home on the 21st..... Wine Tasting...

We went to the Chelan Estates.... tasted four different wines.... bought to bottles. Pinot Noir is usually my favorite.... but alas, their rendition of it was way too "smokey" for me.... For the first time, I really could smell the bouquet.... I'm getting educated. The wineries around here are not like the large ones I've been in before. Much more intimate. We drove through the vineyards to get to the tasting room. Way cool.

Oh yeah, had to include a picture of our room. Just recently remodeled and they've gone for the retro look. Was fun...

Sunrise and Sunset at Chelan...

They sure know how to do scenic pictures in this part of the state. It doesn't happen every day, but when it does, they are so pretty.... These were fun to capture....