Flamingo on a Stick

Emily entering the clinic Emily, isn't she beautiful! Headed to Labor and Delivery The whole purpose of coming back to Iowa so early in the spring was to be here for the birth of our granddaughter. She wasn’t due until May 12th but since I had one come 10 days early I wanted to make sure we were back by May 1st. I left plenty of time for error and if you read the last post you know we squeezed in between two spring storms and traveled more quickly than usual to avoid really bad weather. So we arrived in Cedar Rapids on April 19th in record time for us. We had a nice week spending time with my older son Gabe and wife Melissa and then with Mitch and Emily.  At Emily’s appointment the week we came back they found her blood pressure high and there were a couple extra visits right before we arrived to evaluate that and they began treating her with bp meds. She Ready for action had a lot of swelling too and I knew they were concerned with the possibility of ecl...

Spring in Iowa! It’s spring, and we hadn’t seen any snow all winter so I guess we were overdue. When we left Bellingham, Washington, everything looked good through the first couple of passes on I90 east. Easy pulls, light traffic, and great scenery. We were off to a great start but we knew there was some challenging weather ahead of us and it soon became apparent there was weather coming in behind us. Still, it was nice where we were at; some snow on the ground but the road was clear and dry. Our first stop was the Coeur d'Alene RV park in Post Falls, Idaho. The park had their water turned on, but temperatures were dropping so we took on water rather than stay connected. Not a big deal; it’s handy having a self contained fresh water tank. While we were out getting fuel for the next leg of the trip, we stopped to eat at Capone’s. Occasionally, we stumble across restaurants that have appeared on the Food Network’s Drive-ins, Diners and Dives. They’re always good, and this...

Fields of tulips in Washington Lane The week we left Heceta was a busy one. We headed north to visit John’s brother and his family in Bellingham WA. The distance always made getting together difficult. We visited them in 1993 and then saw them along the way at weddings and funerals but not nearly enough. Mike and his wife Theresa have two daughters Mary Ann and Amy.  Amy , her husband Anthony and their son Lane live with Mike and Theresa. Lane was born with Down’s Syndrome; he is such a sweetie. He has been through a lot in his short lifetime, including open heart surgery at about 6 months of age. We enjoyed getting to know this special little boy. Anthony,Lane, Amy, John (& Irma), Janie, and Mike We only did a couple “touristy things” as most of the time was just being together with family. Mike did take us to the Spark Museum of Electrical Invention. John and Mike both being engineers were in nerd heaven. :) It goes through the discovery of electricity and ...

A perfect day to say good bye This morning we left our beautiful spot at Washburn Park and headed north. Tonight we are at a no frills RV Park in Vancouver, WA. Its just an overnight on our way to Bellingham WA to visit family.  Our last two days of volunteering at the lighthouse were near perfect days. In fact Sunday was sunshine and 60s. There were lots of whales on the horizons. One even entertained us with some sky-hopping, where they stick there heads out of the water. he also did a lot of waving his fin. It was fun to watch. They are far enough out you need binoculars but we had those and a spotting scope. What a treat. Jean Harlan We also said goodbye to a couple fellow volunteers this week. They are both local volunteers that were there on about half of our days. Harlan would show up on Sundays and Jean showed up on and off. They both were delightful and we learned so much from them as they shared their knowledge of the lighthouse. Jean is particular...