The Great Northwest: Teddy Roosevelt National Park

 

 

Teddy Roosevelt National Park was a wonderful interlude on our long drive west.  The park features the North Dakota Badlands where a young, skinny, bespectacled Roosevelt went hunting buffalo.  He was enthralled with the area and returned many times, buying a ranch refuge where he said he spent his happiest times.  The Badlands were also what fueled his intense desire to preserve America’s wild lands as America’s greatest conservationist President.

Veins of coal sometimes catch fire and burn for years baking the surrounding sand and clay into hard red scoria that resists erosion.   

 

On the 36 mile loop drive we saw three separate bands of wild horses and a herd of buffalo that owned the road.

 

 

I loved hiking around the layers of rock weathered into fantastical shapes.   

 

In the evening we took in the Medora Musical, an entertaining mix of country music, humor and Teddy Roosevelt lore.

 

 

 

Where have we been lately?

 

I have not done any travel blogs for a while, even though we have been getting around some.  Dealing with our son-in-law, Stephen’s cancer fight and passing and then helping Tara and the boys cope with the new reality has been all-consuming.  We thank God that we are retired and able to help her through all of this.  In keeping with the travel blog theme, I would like to share a few highlights of the last year and a half.

Stephen, bald but still strong in spring of 2012

 

Our son Troy put on a Beer Fest in Madison, and I helped.  What fun!  We also attended a couple of Troy's tattoo conventions.  

  I may be spoiling Enigma's image, but he can be really a nice guy.

 

 We stayed at their house with the boys while Stephen and Tara went to Germany six times for 10-14 days each time for cancer treatment.  We have also had the boys at our place in Palm Valley in Oviedo a lot since we bought our little house there. 

 

Basil loved the butterfly encounter at Lukas nursery.  Levi was not so sure.

When my sister Carol visited, we went biking in Mt. Dora, a charming little town near Orlando.

 

 

Stephen was very determined to beat the cancer.  He inspired so many people with his courage and faith.  He decided to run a marathon before the year was up of learning about his stage IV stomach cancer.  Seventeen marathoners from Orlando registered to run that race at Kiawa Island with him in early December 2012.  Stephen finished his race in heaven on October 8^th.    His friends decided to run as a memorial tribute in matching shirts with the words "I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith" around his picture.  They said they could feel Stephen running with them as he had so many times before.  Here is Tara finishing the race.

 

 

 

 

We went along and spent the weekend on Kiawah Island,  It was cold, but the boys played in the ocean anyway.

We had made reservations to camp between Christmas and New Year’s, 2011, with Tara, Stephen and the boys at Fort Desoto Park on an island in Tampa Bay.  That is when Stephen had heart problems that led to removal of the pericardium around his heart and the discovery of the cancer.  We had to cancel the trip, but a year later we did it two months after his death as a memory tribute to him.  His brother Jim and their family came for one day.

 

Sunset on the Gulf takes your breath away.

 

The boys love camping, so we took just them to Kelly Park once last year and once this year.  It is a wonderful county park north of Orlando with a lovely spring, swimming hole and hiking trails.  We learned hiking skills:  checking the trail map often, watching for blazes and trail markers to stay on the right trail, carrying your own snack and drink. 

 

 

Levi loves the water.

 

 We cooked over the fire most meals. 

 

They boys colored camping pillowcases at a ranger led activity.

Troy and his girlfriend Meghan came to Tampa for a tattoo show, so we met them for the Sarasota Aquarium and dinner.

 

 

We discovered an egret rookery in Winter Park.  There had to be 100 egrets in the area, building nests in the live oaks, then squawking and bringing food to the babies.

 

 

We had a lot of guests over the winter, but I seem to have neglected to take very many pictures. 

Fred, Elaine, Me, Don

 

Elaine and I at the Morse Museum in Winter Park with a Tiffany window  

 

Don and his sister Darlene in Lake Eola Park, downtown Orlando

 

We have done a of couple trips that deserve their own stories.  Stay tuned. 

It has been a very difficult year and a half, but we have all managed with God’s love and the support of family and friends.  We have grown very close to Tara and our grandsons which has been a blessing.  We have learned that things and possessions and pursuit of pleasure don’t rank high at all.  Trust in the Lord and love shared with family and friends are what really matter.

Cruise to the South Caribbean

My expectations for this cruise were low-key; I didn’t foresee anything spectacular.  Don loves cruising—the pool, the food, the entertainment, the pampering.  When I travel, I like historic and cultural destinations, amazing nature, and active pursuits.  Endless water with no land horizon is not high on the list for me.

We joined a group of 50 from Palm Valley on Holland America’s Westerdam, so we knew we would meet more neighbors from our Florida home park.

 Half-Moon Cay is Holland America’s private island experience.  It was clean, controlled and crafted for a great beach day.  The water was too cool for much swimming, but the weather was perfect for beach wandering, sunning and Tai Chi on the beach. 

 

We had a Rum Runner drink while listening to a great Trinidad guy playing the steel drum.  The steel bowl has many circles hammered into the metal bowl that forms the inside of the drum.  Each has a different tone when he strikes it with the rubber-tipped drumsticks.  Very cool.

 

I was excited about the prospect of snorkeling, so we saw Aruba from a large sailboat.

 

Don didn’t like the experience, so after a short dip, he just watched and enjoyed the water and view from the sailboat.  We anchored above a WWII wreck, the Antilla, about 50 feet down.

 The side of the ship with cannon and railings was clear enough with striped sergeant major fish and gorgeous iridescent blue tang and other small and long fish swimming around in schools.  Lovely.  After the two snorkeling stops, the crew served rum punch very generously on the way back.  I admit to being a bit woozy.

 

Curacao was our third shore stop.  Willemstad has quaint Dutch architecture with tall, narrow, brightly colored buildings and a swaying pontoon bridge across the shipping canal/St. Ann’s Bay.  The whole town had an old-world, yet tropical charm.

 

I bought a ring and necklace pendant of Tanzanite, a rare, violet blue stone mined only on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.  Then I convinced Don that I really had to have earrings to go with it.  It is a gemstone investment. (Let’s hope.)     

We toured the Kura Hulanda Museum, part of a large collection of restored 1800’s buildings which comprise a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The museum’s main feature is African history and culture culminating in the slave market held on that site.  Testimonies from slaves as well as slavery promoters and the original paraphernalia and buildings make this sobering and poignant.

 

 

Days at sea mean something totally different to Don and to me.  He hits the buffet, suns by the pool, swims, eats, naps in a deck chair, has ice cream, suns by the pool, eats, swims—you get the idea.  I try to cram in so many seminars and travel talks that I sometimes have to grab a bite on the run.  This cruise I pursued computer and photo skills, tai chi, acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, holistic healthy lifestyle.  I am not sure how that fits with the typical cruise over-eating and drinking, but there is always next week to put it all into practice.  I had three acupuncture treatments for my hip bursitis problem that has plagued me for two years since mountainous hiking in the Southwest in 2011.  The doc stuck 17 to 22 thin needles into my hip and leg, which have to stay in for half an hour.  It does not really hurt.  Tattoos hurt more, but don’t tell our son Troy that.  The acupuncture did help long term.

 My expectations were exceeded.  We were pampered.  We went to the main stage show every evening and then the piano bar.  We had a great time and really enjoyed spending time with new friends from our park—a lasting joy.