(#1) Summer Vacation

A well deserved break from our daily routines has finally come. Sunday afternoon we embarked on our longest road trip ever.

Sunday evening we saw the rocky mountains in Colorado as we drove North out of Denver toward Cheyenne, Wyoming. The scenery got better as we drove through Wyoming on I-80 toward Utah. The rock formations, canyon walls and curvy roads reminded us of the movie "Cars". Idaho, now known to us as the land of the sprinklers, was hilly and green with crops.

We stopped at Twin Falls, Idaho to give Stella, the Accord, a well deserved drink break. Gas milage has varied between 32 and 36.4 miles to the gallon. We are very thankful, especially because prices also vary between $2.43 and $2.98 a gallon. To enter Twin Falls you cross the impressive Snake River Gorge. At the bottom of the gorge is a beautiful golf course. It was advertised at the local visitor center that Evel Knievel launched a failed attempt to jump the gorge in his "rocket cycle" less than a mile from town.

Picture to the left was taken at the Space Needle.

more to come..(Pictures to be added soon )

JuneJuly-what a blur

Where has this summer gone? We have been so busy. At the end of June, we went back to PA to say goodbye to Betty. It was a hard thing to do but definitely worthwhile. Dan helped Dad work on her coffin. I spend time making some meals and hanging out with Betty. On the way home, we got bumped (poor us) and recieved 2 free plane tickets-which we will use once we are ready to fly again. I started taking graduate classes this summer and my first one, Internet in the Classroom started the second week of June. I really like it and have learned a lot, but it has made life busy.

My brother Daryl came for a few days in June, he played at TJ's coffee shop and we enjoyed that. He made a fantastic vegetarian meal -I will post pictures later, i probably promised that earlier... oh well. :) My friend Elaine from Va came for a visit and we had a good time. Betty died on July 4th and had her own independence day. :( It was an evening of mixed emotions. We celebrated America's birthday in the evening on the new bike path in Newton.

We left for our second trip to Pa in two weeks on July 9th, which happened to be Dan's 36th birthday. We took 2 planes, a subway from the airport to the train station, the amtrak train to Lancaster and Daryl picked us up. Dan said that all we needed to do yet by way of transportation was to have a boat ride! I guess we didn't ride a bike or a bus, but we were good.

Betty's viewing was on Thursday and she had a beautiful funeral service on Friday. It was very meaningful. There were many wonderful friends and family there which really made it special. I thought it was neat that many of Betty's former students and some parents of students were there. Wow. She had such a positive influence on people.

My second grad. class started the week that Betty died. It is one hard class, but I have learned some new ideas. We are leaving for a trip to the west coast on Sunday- we are driving! So I am trying to wrap up my class assignments a week early. Anyhoo, we will end the summer somewhere in a car. Stopping at a beach, seeing the Spruce Goose in Oregon, spending time in Seattle and having no time schedule.

Oh wait, school starts for me on August 7th. AGGGGGGHHHHHHH