Home Sweet Home

Friday, August 10

We made it home tonight at 7:30 p.m. We stayed Thursday night in College Place, Washington with Sharon's college roommate, Cassie. From The Dalles on we had some car trouble--after over 7000 miles in very remote parts of North America. We felt God was having a sense of humor by clearly showing us he had kept us in one piece all that time. . . I don't think we will ever travel again--OK until late September when our niece gets married. Thanks for being a part of our trip.

I will attach one picture of Lake Louise. We spent two days in Jasper and Banff area on our way home.

Alaska

The picture above was when we were on a bike ride to Valdez. A grizzly bear and two cubs had a salmon dinner while we waatched. The man in the picture got a little close for comfort.


This is a picture of our glacier tour--we saw lots of whales in addition to the glaciers.


A hike through Denali park. We saw the mountain on the way there but then it was cloudy.

Happy Fishermen!!!

We are now at my neice's house in Soldotna, Alaska. We have not had good internet connections so have not been able to load pictures--so I will catch you up on our trip. We had a great 3 day stay in Valdez, Alaska including a glacier tour. We then drove in Anchorage and picked up Fran and John, my sister and brother-in-law who flew in to spend 2 weeks with us. Now remember we are in a 16 foot trailer so we are snug. We had three nice days in Denali park hiking and general sight seeing. We drove down above Anchorage in Wasilla and spent a night because the fish were biting. . .Silver Salmon. They tasted great but the real goal was the Kenai river. We arrived here on Tuesday. Ron and John have had great success with the fishing. We are eating them and enjoying that. Today the women will make a road trip to Homer.

We hope all is well with you.

Valdez, Alaska

This is the fish that Ron caught at Valdez. It was pretty and fun to catch but it didn't taste good so he is going to wait for the Sockeye in Kenai River.
Wednesday--we are now in Palmer, Alaska. We have not been able to add pictures very easy.

Friday, July 13

Hello. We are in Haines Junction, not too far past Whitehorse in the Yukon. About 220 miles from the Alaska border. The views are great. Our bear count is 7, 6 black bear and one brown/grizzly. Others are too many to count. No fish yet.

Canadian travels/animals

Hello all: We had a very nice drive today. We were driving later in the day (we didn't get an early start) and saw lots of animals. The area is Stone Mountain and Toad River. We will post pictures.

North to Alaska

Hello to friends and family: Yes we are on the road again. We left Sunday, 7/8 about 2 p.m. We will officially start the AL-CAN highway today. We are at Dawson Creek, Canada which is about 1000 miles from Salem. So far all is well. The scenery is beautiful.

Homeward Bound

We are back in the USA--Dallas, Texas for Monday night. We will post some final pictures (but you know we have lots more). We will see or talk to you soon. Ron and Sharon

Greece Pictures

Our blog keys are in Greek so bear with us as we try to attach photos.

Greek Islands

Hello: Today we have been on our third Greek Island. It is hot--but interesting. We were in Olympia today--the site of the first Olympics. Athens was fun--we saw sites and shopped. It is a big city--so we won't be moving there. We saw the acropolis and will attach pictures. They are in the process of restoration.

Greece Cruise

Hello Friends and Family: We are in Mykonas Greece. We docked at 3:30 p.m. and will stay until 10:30 p.m. It is a small town--all the houses are white just like you would imagine for Greece. The cruise is going well. We, of course, are eating well--but trying still to balance with activity. We start our day with a 2 mile jog--they have a full size track on the upper deck. Ron played in a pingpong tournament. He came in 4th--don't ask how many were in the competition. We sleep well--we do not have a window so we have no idea when it is time to get up--but oh well. . . Sorry to all of you working folk. Tomorrow is our day in Athens. We are there 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. I expect we will walk alot--lots to see. I will post a few cruise pictures. The top two are pictures of Venice from our ship. Our next posting will have Greece pictures. We hope all is well with you.

Bolzano pictures

The biking in Dolomites, Bolzano, Italy. Very Nice!

Bolzano, Italy

Hello friends and family: We continue to be well. We must admit we are tiring some. We biked over four hours today in addition to alot of walking. The town is amazing for bikers. They rent bikes for 2 euros for two bikes for the whole day. The path we rode on is over 50 miles. We are passed by many serious bikers. We had a perfect weather day. We ended up riding to a small town and had gelato and a veggie sandwich. Very nice. We will spend tomorrow doing laundry since we begin our 7 day Greece cruise on Saturday. We really should have some clean clothes. Big hair Judy, you know who you are, I was sure I ran into your sisters here. But they denied it. We will post a few pictures. We are not sure what the internet facilities will be in Greece so we will see when we can post again.

Dolomites

Hello Friends and Family

We have been in the Italian Alps now for three days. We have had two great hikes and hope for another one today. Once again the food is noteworthy also. We have a great hotel here which includes a private sauna and steam bath. Those feel good after a day of activity.

A Day in Florence

Hello, we spent today wearing our feet out in Florence. We did see David which is an amazing piece of art. We will attach a few pictures. Tomorrow we go to the Dolomites. So we will probably wait a few days to add any pictures. Hope all is well with friends and family. Thanks for the emails.

They do not allow photos of the real David.

More Tuscany

Here are more.

Going to Florence

Hello to all. . . We are leaving tomorrow to go to Florence for one day and then on to the Dolomites. We are not city people but we hope to see the David. We will add a few of our tuscany pictures here.

Tuscany

Hello: We are now in Tuscany at an Agriturismo for one week. We have bikes to use to ride to San Gimignano which is 5 km from our apartment.

Tuscany

Hello: We are having trouble posting because the instructions are not in English. We will try again. We are now in Tuscany.

Wednesday--Vernazza, Itay

Levantra, Italy--we hiked here today.
Vernazza from the footpath. This is where we are staying.

View from our hike today!

LIFE IS A BOWL OF CHERRIES!


We have had a great day. The weather turned sunny. We hiked alot!!! We are going back to eat at the same restaurant as last night--twin brother run it--excellent food and a fun environment.

CINQUE TERRE, ITALY

Hello to all. We have arrived in one of our favorite places! We will give you some pictures. The top picture is our most dangerour trek--GonnerSchlult in Zermatt.
The waves are the view from our balcony room. The same room we had two years ago. The sea has been angry since we have been here. But the hiking conditions are perfect.
The boat picture is Portofino, Italy--we spent a nice morning there.
Cinque Terre is actually five villages connected by hiking trails. We have hiked to all five--but we are here until Saturday so we will do multiple hikes.
The vegie stand is proof that we are not eating just pasta and pastry--although we are enjoying the food. We have a 2.5 euro bottle of red wine for tonight on our balcony.
The animal picture--up close and personal--is for Dr. Stiles. We were delighted to meet him on an early morning Zermatt hike.
We occasionally think about routine things--but in general we are enjoying life!