A trip back East and then West

Blog 11/8/15

A trip back East

We were able to visit a few more days with Joanne and Rick and get ready for our trip home! What fun it is to have time with family!

We left Vegas on October 14^th and had a direct flight into Philadelphia! YAY Kristin picked us up in the wee hours of the AM of the 15^th and let us use our car to go back and forth to our hotel and to visit with her Rod, Sharkey and our little Chuck! It was wonderful not having to rent a car and Kris was so generous to give us use of her car! (Although I think it was easier for her so she didn’t have to drive us back and forth all over the place)

Chuck did not seem to know us when we first got to Kristin’s but by late on Thursday he was retrieving his toy for me! It was good to see him! He and Sharkey seem to be getting along fine!

 Kristin and Rod were so much fun. Mostly we just hung out watching TV and talking about so many things! And eating of course!  Pizza and TJ’s . We never made it to the cheesecake factory this trip; we will have to do that in December! Dave, Kris and I took a trip to a pumpkin place and we got pumpkins, apple cider donuts and lots of “crap”! It was a fun place to visit on a fall day. Speaking of fall we had the best two weeks of the entire year in the northeast seeing the leaves, visiting friends and family! We took a nice walk near Kristin’s and saw lots of beautiful trees! Nothing compares to the aroma or the skies of autumn!

The other thing we did at Kristin’s was we did a face time with Gavin and it was then he realized we were taking a vacation and coming to visit him!

Sunday the 18^th we took a train from Philly to Hartford!  We saw a few flurries in CT! It sure beats driving! Korin, Brian and Gavin picked us up in Hartford! Brian has a new truck and it was so good to see them all! Gavin was quite happy! They dropped us at Barbara and Charlie’s who so generously let us borrow their car for the time we were home. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family that takes care of us!

We stayed with Korin and Brian while we were home. We had such a great time! We were able to help them out with the bus and some day care! Dave visited Lucy; we spent lots of time with Gavin and saw some special people while we were in CT/MA! If we didn’t see you this visit we will try again in December!  Dottie, Kathy, Diane, Sandy, Val, Flo, Deb! It was great seeing you all! Mary, Dolores and Kathy! We will do it again in December and hope some more MMH people will come! To my WCMH people I will really make a date with you in December! Carolyn and GB, hope to see you guys again too! Dave left on Friday the 23^rd, and I stayed another week. On Saturday the 24^th I got to see some of my cousins from Florida as we had a memorial for my Aunt Eleanor who passed away in August. It was somber with bagpipes by Aldwin and lots of food and family. Got to see Amy, Shelly, Greg, Ricky Meredith, Cindy, Andrew, Steph, Tate, Cal , Barbara and Charlie, and Karen as well as cousins Doreen, Donna, John and one of my cousin Bills sons Nick! I also got to see my cousin Joe and his wife Sally and my mothers’ only living sibling my Aunt Mabel! ice day! If I forgot anyone, sorry!    

Well the following week flew by and Gavin and I had lots of fun! On my last night he wanted to go out to dinner with “Just Grammy “and though I tried to talk him in to letting mommy go he and I went to the 99 and had a fun dinner together and talked about the party we would have when we got back to the house! It was only 2 days till Halloween so we bobbed for apples, and tried to eat donuts hanging from strings and just had a great time! He also tried talking me into staying for Halloween but I needed to get back to Vegas so Dave and I could continue our trip!  Always hard to say goodbye but we will be back for the month of December!

On my return to Vegas I went to see Ragtime with Joanne, Rick and Dave! Great musical! We spent the weekend near Sam’s Town and had fun with Joanne and Rick! We celebrated Precious birthday! We had an early Thanksgiving ham with them and went to church on Sunday! All in all it was a short but sweet weekend!  Again saying goodbye is hard but hope we get to see them again next June in Minnesota! So long for now Las Vegas!

On Monday the 2^nd of November we headed out and went west into California! We stayed in Mojave then headed to Three Rivers and Sequoia National Park! That was just an awesome site! The trees are so big and beautiful and to make it more spectacular there were several inches of new snow! We had rain overnight with thunder and lightning but at 6000 feet it had snowed! In face we could not go everywhere in the park as we didn’t have chains for our tires! We went to the Giant tree forest and saw General Sherman tree! Awesome! The USA has some beautiful artwork by God and so many people do not realize! There is beauty EVERYWHERE!

In our campground there were some resident bears and they put on a show for us, climbing trees and shaking branches to drop the nuts on the ground! So smart those bears!

Well just as quick as that it is time to leave California and head EAST. We are now in Lake Havasu AZ and having a great time in another beautiful area!

Tomorrow we continue our trip East and a bit North to the Grand Canyon and then to visit some friends and finally to head toward Texas late in the month! More adventures to come!

Sorry the pics are  out of order! Wifi is MEH!