Our Extra Sightseeing

Besides Flight 93 Memorial we visited the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum.  The highlight was the historical Horseshoe Curve and subsequent reservoirs created by not engineers but self taught workmen in late 1800s. The tracks linked an area from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and created a new route of shipping/traveling and provided a million gallons of water for the city of Altoona.

We climbed 194 steps to watch the train enter the curve and it was traveling out of sight while the last car had not yet appeared where it started.

We also visited Lincoln Caves and Whisper Rocks.

We stayed over to Monday and spent Sunday afternoon on a pontoon boat with 8 others most of the day. We packed up Monday morning, broom cleaned the cottage and took off at 8 am, arriving in Troy at Kelly’s at 4 pm.  She had dinner for us and on Tuesday, before Pat and Kelly’s departure for their Alaskan cruise, we all went to dinner.  Bidkar was working.  Little CeCe was at the head of the table and Pops took the photo  

  

12th Bi-Annual Family Reunion

The reunion was great. There was breakfast, lunch and dinner two days, fishing, paddle boarding, boating,  sporting clay shooting, sightseeing, card tournaments, trivia, face painting and crafts, campfires, etc.  Pictures will speak better than prose. PS. My team of Sharon, Lori and I won FIRST prize in Trivia!

On The Road Again

I didn’t realize I had not posted our 4th of July photos!  So whatever happened over the next week must not have been important!

So … we left on the 12th as planned, traveling to Memphis.  The next day was a hard travel day due to a closed bridge in Louisville and a semi across the road in Indiana.  When we arrived in Batesville at The Sherman, we learned there are no first floor rooms, no bellman, no elevator!  Trudging our things up a flight of steep steps, down a winding hallway to the last room just about did us in!

In the morning, rested and showered, we walked to a recommended restaurant for a wonderful breakfast including goetta, usually only found in Cincinnati.  It is a German breakfast meat we both enjoy.  Ted decided to get an oil change because it had hit its mileage so we had to stay in the area enjoying the small town with virtually no traffic.

At 4 o’clock we met Cindy and Tim at the assisted living home where my sister Karen (Cindy’s mother) is being cared for.  Her Alzheimer’s has progressed and she is close to non verbal, mostly mumbling so a conversation is not possible.  But her face lit up in a degree of recognition when she saw us and that was enough for me. I had brought her birthday gift, including 4 packs of her beloved Peeps, along with a “fidget stuffed dog” used to keep patients’ hands busy and occupy the hours of just sitting.  I had given her a fidget square they said she uses a lot, especially when they need to calm or comfort her.  However, I had to open the card, show her the gift and all she wanted was a Peep!  We sat with her through her dinner and then stayed while an Amish choir sang for the residents.  Karen “dances” in her chair and mouths words from lyrics she remembers.  It is the only thing she enjoys.  She cannot understand a TV program so I suggested they put a music channel on of Big Band, Oldies, 50s music she would remember.  They are going to see what they can do with an Alexa they can control from an app.  

Afterwards we met Sherry and John (Karen’s other daughter and her husband), and also Cindy’s daughter Amy and her family.  Freudenfest was going on in neighboring Oldenburg (where the nuns who taught me have their motherhouse).  We had a terrific family style chicken dinner, some polka music and ice cream!  

It was a fun evening, enjoyed by us all. 

The next day we moved to Lawrenceburg which is where we always stayed in our RVs but this time it was a Red Roof Inn, quite nice, actually.  We had breakfast, again with goetta, saw the movie “Sound of Freedom” a must see, attended Mass where Ronnie and Sarah were married years ago and then went to the casino.  We didn’t stay long!  I got 3 different Player’s Card and none worked properly and Ted was losing so we left!  

Sunday dawned pleasantly and we headed to Pennsylvania.  We learned you needed to buy Falling Waters tickets well in advance and none were available so we moved on to Plan B.   We would stop in Bedford for the night and the next day visit the Flight 93 Memorial.  Our motel was a throwback to the 50’s complete with ruffled curtains.  Clean and comfortable but no coffee ready in the morning!

We took a road through the PA mountains to a height of close to 3000 ft to reach the memorial. It is a much larger complex than I expected and crowded.  No pictures were allowed inside so I only have a few descriptive ones.  We had access to the last recorded phone calls from passengers to home.  I could only listen to two before hanging up.  So much sorrow, desperation and fear.  They have programs describing the day and events afterwards. There were lots of scout troops there and I realized this was a history lesson for them, none were even born when this happened. 

A Common Field One Day, A Field of Honor Forever

The western Pennsylvania site where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed after passengers confronted hijacking terrorists during the Sept. 11 attacks over two decades ago is marked by a gigantic boulder.

We were very moved reliving this tragic day in our history, one none of us will ever forget. 

We traveled on to Rays Lake Resort.  Since it was 1:50 and check in was 2:00 we had lunch in the Marina cafe.  Once we moved into our lodge room, we drove 15 miles to the nearest Walmart to pick up paper products and drinks.  We eventually met up with Keith and Steve (our October visitors) and my brother Dan and Sue.  We visited quite late and then headed back to our respective accommodations. 

Let the reunion festivities begin!  

Two More Weeks of Less Than Exciting Events

We did a few more things these past two weeks, some in preparation for leaving.  I worked one more shift at the Thrift Store and that will be it until October.  

I attended our Senior Pals meeting at church over one weekend.  I helped start this group back in 2003 but got involved with Newcomers and Forum, people more my age back then, but now we fit right in!  

Ted made a trip to Dallas to check on their paper supply and how it is running at Dow Jones.  All was good.  

We joined Senior Pals for lunch at Olive Garden and started meeting some new people.  It is very heavy on women, light on men, but we sat with a couple and enjoyed ourselves.  

Our friend Tommy who we have known for a long time from Texas Boomers, had a heart attack and needed a stent put in to clear a 99% blocked “widow maker” artery.  He was very lucky.  They are one other couple who had sold their motorhome last year when he was put on the liver transplant list.  I don’t know if I mentioned their friend we got to know while camping, was diagnosed with brain cancer and died in six weeks.  They too sold their motorhome just before he died. Our friend Tom with bladder cancer, is doing well after chemo, surgery and now radiation.  He and Eileen have been our best friends back to 1996 when we all lived in DeBary, FL.  They were frequent summer camping trip companions, but alas, they too sold their motorhome!  Ira and Lee who we vacationed with at Gulf Shores last year, lost their motorhome in the hurricane right after our trip, decided at age 80 not to replace it. 

We drove an hour to Deer Park to visit Tommy and went to lunch.  We left by 3:00 to avoid rush hour traffic but it still took 70 minutes to drive home.  

Marena invited us over to play Mexican Train one evening.  Her family has all returned back home so she was lonely. We are playing this Friday night too.

One fun thing we did July 3 was to attend the Red White and Blue Houston Symphony performance at the Mitchell Pavilion.  It is a free Performance of the Arts and there was a full house.  We were in the second row aisle seats, stage right.  The best part of that was the occasional roll of AC drifting down from the stage.  It was still 96 at 9:30 when we went home so that bit of occasional relief was most welcome.  The Sweet Adelines performed before the symphony started.

On the 4th I did some laundry, we watched the Astros win, grilled some burgers and then went to the fireworks.  They were being set off in 5 different parks and we chose Town Green and sat around the basin where the duck

boats are kept. A band was playing, families were eating food from vendors and there were bubbles galore from wands that must have been for sale somewhere. We had no trouble with traffic getting home. Ted cut up our watermelon and we settled in for the night. 

Still Very Boring

It has been more than two decades since we spent summer in Texas.  We are leaving mid July but there has certainly been very little going on while we wait to drive off to our first stop, a week at Raystown Lake Resort in Entriken PA for a week for our family reunion (my side).  We have house sitters again for the summer.  Marina and Nancy are holding down the fort!  

Last time I wrote we were going to play cards at the country club and I won!  I only had 11 points and you want to be low.  

I worked two hours at the Thrift Shop.  This time I hung clothes that have been looked over and set aside.  The rest go in recycle bins and are sold by the pound.  This is how you will see a child on TV in the Congo wearing an Astros baseball shirt.  Most get shredded, cooked and fibers used for fine paper.  

I played Canasta and won too!  I believe it is the first time I ever came in first place in this group.

We did get our TSA numbers at Bush airport.  Ted’s passport is scheduled to arrive June 24 (arrived 6/20) according to the website but we will be gone when mine arrives.  I have added the numbers to our August plane tickets so we should be good.  

Our neighborhood birthday luncheon bit the dust after one by one people dropped out.  When it got down to just two of us, we bailed.  It will be November before I will plan another and December is always done by Deb so we will see what 2024 brings.  

Nancy, Ted and I toured the Conservatory just to see what they offer.  It is like a 5 star hotel with individual senior apartments.  There is no health facility associated with it.  Just beautiful apartments of various sizes with amenities for residents that include a dining room, cleaning, utilities, transportation, etc.  It is very nice.  We are not ready to do anything like that just yet, if ever, but it was worth taking a look to have the info.  

Ted had a nice Father’s Day hearing from all the girls.  We did nothing special that day though.

We did get our new gifted TV set up in our bedroom.  We had Jason switch the TVs, I looked and told him to switch them back.  Size wise, it just didn’t work.  But all is good now.

I had a cardiologist appointment and all looks good.  Dr. D was going to contact Dr. C to check on my cholesterol results which he had failed to send to her.  She upped my Simvastatin to 20 mg. last time to stay ahead of the expected cholesterol rise from my hormone therapy.  She needs to see how it has            worked.  That’s about it but maybe the two weeks before we leave will be a bit more interesting.                                                            

   

Past Two Weeks

 In all honesty, in the past two weeks, nothing much happened.  Now into another week, still not much is going on.  

We had our AC yearly serviced and made sure they cleaned the outside compressor.  Lots of things end up in there in a year’s time.  

I worked a day at the thrift shop and two hours lifting heavy bags and sorting clothes is tough on the old back.  I came home and took a two hour nap!  I am working again this week so I need to “toughen up.”

I got a hair cut, we’ve gone to church and out to eat.  I am still fine tuning all my computer work.  One liability policy did not get cancelled, though I have an email saying it was, along with all the others.  They keep billing me so that necessitated two phone calls.  

We received our new car license plates so I was able to remove the paper plate number from our 3 EZ toll passes (TX, FL, PA) and put in the new number.  I received a print out of our 9 days in FL.  There were two pages of the tolls equaling around $100.  Every road in the Orlando area seems to be a toll!  

Delta changed our Orlando back to Detroit departure in September so I used that opportunity to check how to put our TSA number in when we get it.  Then I printed the new schedule out and put our Delta cards in my travel file.  That file is filling up! 

We have an appointment next Monday to get TSA pre-check clearance.  Silly me, forgetting both of our passports were sent off for renewal, had to scramble for other ID.  Apparently our driver’s licenses and birth certificates will suffice.  Just in case, I have old expired passports and a photo of the current ones as back up.  Apparently my Student ID with my photo on it from Lone Star College will work too!  

Our neighbor’s husband bought two new TVs and gave us this 43” one from their bedroom that has been turned on twice!  We will move this to our family room and the family room to here once I get a TV stand to hold the 36”.  The picture on the new one is so much better.  When I asked his wife why they got new she said she had no idea!  Ted’s butler rack will have to be relocated!  

We are playing cards at the country club tonight!  Looking forward to that.  We play 3 hands, then have dinner, and finish up the last three hands.  We start at 5 so by 8 we are usually on our way home.  We come home now at the time we used to leave to go out!

Lots in the calendar for next week!  Hope this one didn’t bore you too much.

Pretty Much Caught Up

The week after Mother's Day was pretty quiet.  It allowed me to get the credit card situation in hand, the photos from the cruise loaded on to my computer, the time change on our plane tickets in August updated, the paperwork, deposits, and info on the cottage rental all printed, moved money here, there and everywhere it seemed.  The check to pay for the motorhome is still two days away from being totally cleared.  Both Chase and Capital One acknowledge it is processing but I guess it will be ok by May 25 as stated!  The Oceania cruise is cancelled, all funds returned and deposit and insurance for the Thanksgiving week Princess cruise taken care of.  So much for travels!

The 2011 Expedition is gone and the state of TX notified, insurance cancelled.  The motorhome is gone and the state notified, insurance cancelled and refund received, the 2022 Expedition is awaiting the assignment of our plates to replace the paper plate and all the insurance is in place!  What a lot of computer work, phone calls, etc. to get all that done.

I had the windows washed inside and out plus left the screens out to be placed in the attic.  I have never opened a window in 20 years!  With the screens gone I can wash the windows inside and out when needed.  In the fall, the way the sun hits the deck windows, they need attention a lot.  This will help.  I had the young man move the screens to the attic.  He stopped and fastened a bolt on the ladder that he found loose.  Nice guy!  

Finally … on Thursday … something fun!  CWJF Installation of New Officers Luncheon was held in Old Town Spring.  A gal in my class of 2010 was being inducted as President.  I surely wouldn’t miss this affair.  They always take a photographer professional picture from the balcony.  I found a snapshot of us all milling about, looking up, waiting for the word to get in position.  I stood next to Lisa in pink to be able to find myself!  

Our historian made the rounds getting candid shots of most everybody.  While searching the FB website for these photos, I found one I am in at the Christmas party. 

 

Paperwork and More!

There was a lot on my plate when we arrived home.  We put our bags in our bedroom, keeping the rest of the house tidy.  But the subjects on my desk had me preoccupied with getting my ducks in a row,

First was the credit card scenario.  I was unable to fix our cable account because I did not have the info to get into my account.  A payment was denied so I had to request a rebate of a late fee while entering the new credit card.  I entered new info to my WW account and even though they said my subscription was cancelled, when I went Friday they said the new card was in there and I was good.   AND, I had gained nothing while gone!  I think we are ok on all the changes.  There are a few charities I have not been able to fix so I will wait until they contact me and get it set up again.  St. Jude’s hospital is one.  Tunnels to Towers was easy to do!  What a pain with the efforts to cancel and change, and I have no idea how my number was out there, but it was supposedly being used in PA at a WaWa and the card was present.  We both had our cards!

Next up was a Place Holder for a future Disney cruise in the next two years.  Lots of paperwork to get that settled and copies made.  It gives you $250 (initial deposit) plus a 10% discount off the whole price. If we take the kids for our 60th, 10% would be a bundle.

We rented a cottage on Lake Michigan for 10 days mid August.  So once again, deposits, downloads, copies, etc. to finalize the reservation.  

The biggest thing was cancelling our Barcelona to Dubai cruise.  The circulation in my legs acted up while on the cruise.  It felt like I was wearing socks and bugs were crawling inside my legs.  To say I was freaked out is an under statement.  I have to see the cardiologist but she nixed the 16 hour flight home from Dubai as too dangerous.

So to recoup some of the money we had paid, I booked Thanksgiving week out of Galveston on the Regal Princess.  We have a mini suite and got all the refunds and transfers taken care of.  Whew!  I went ahead and sent my passport renewal in because I don’t know if going to Mexico requires your passport to be good for six months after you return.  Ted’s is in the pipeline and mine was already to go.  So I shouldn’t need it anytime soon so off it went.  

Time to take a deep breath and get back to normal activities.  We went to church Saturday night, then to Joe’s in Conroe.  Sunday we went to Honor Cafe where Ted attends Bible Study on Monday.  My Mother’s Day gift is the Labor Day weekend at the Grand Floridian with Kara, Bill and Kristin in a 2 bedroom suite.  We are taking CeCe too.  Kelly sent two Chico items she said I tried on over Christmas when she and I went shopping!  

Minnie in her 25th cruise anniversary outfit.  

Our beach day on Castaway Cay.

My Mother’s Day and Anniversary cards.

When You Wish Upon a Star …

We went to church Saturday night and left about 8 am Sunday heading to Orlando.  We stopped in Crisply, FL for the night after dinner at Waffle House because it was the only restaurant open after 5!  They must roll up the sidewalks!  

Just as I was settling in at the motel I got a notice on my phone from Capital One that someone was trying to get $1 approved at WaWa, a gas station in PA.  They claimed the card was present but we both had our cards and had not used either for two days.  They cancelled it and mailed a new one to our house.  Luckily Ted’s card is a different number and we both have a Bank of America card too.

The fun began the next day while I tried to change our many accounts that are paid automatically using that credit card number!  We were traveling down the turnpike in FL when I was notified by SunPass that our card was denied.  I changed TX EZ Pass and PA transponder but forgot to change the very pass I was using!!  We are home and I still have some to contact because I was missing pieces of info.  

Kristin is renovating her house so we pitched in breaking down boxes and taking them to Recycle, worked in the garage so Bill could find what he needed when he arrived to do some electrical work, went to the bank, the paint store, the trustee’s office, picked up new cocktail and side table, and met her husband for lunch.  She has been working on scoring student tests and couldn’t go.  

For dinner we went to a German restaurant in downtown Sanford, a gentrified area along Lake Monroe.

Hot German potato salad, red cabbage, and a wurst mit senf (bratwurst with mustard).  Yum!  

The MI folks flew in Wednesday night with Kelly coming to Kristin’s while Bill and Kara went to Disney’s Key West to be there in the morning to meet up with Morgan who had been there for four days with her father and stepmother.  She chose to stay in FL even though she had to spend Friday to Monday with just the fellows.

Ted drove us to Port Canaveral on Friday. We timed it perfectly, walked right on the ship and had several hours before sailing. 

Kristin had hats made for the four of us and they were a huge hit. 

This trip was to celebrate Kristin’s 50th birthday celebration so Kara decorated her door, something most people do.  They did our door for our 50th anniversary in 2015. 

We had a delightful, but short time, cruising from Friday morning to Monday morning.  Sunday was spent all day at Castaway Cay, Disney’s private Island.

On Monday evening we had a group of 14 at Giovanni’s for a dinner to celebrate Kristin’s 50th birthday!

1970 Cincinnati neighbors, now living in The Villages,  and Florida late ‘90s neighbors, now living in Palm Coast joined family and friends for dinner and birthday cake from The Glass Knife, Kristin’s favorite. 

Tuesday morning we hit the road and drove to Mobile for the night. We made it home about 3 pm Wednesday afternoon.

It was good to be home to continue untangling the compromised credit card mess, get the laundry done after unpacking and sleep in my own bed.