Life in The Slow Lane: January 2025

2024. We had some great adventures and saw some amazing things... also some not so fun things.

It is 2025 and I have not written a blog post for 2024. There is a good reason for that. It is because at the center of my 2024 story is the scam and I can’t write about it. It happened on February 11, and I have written it down and it won’t get into my blog, but it messes with all of my other memories. In the midst of it I erased all of my Hawaii pictures, and I can’t tell the story without revealing my total failure as a human bean. I will always say to myself the same thing that I said when I first realized what I had done. “How could I have been so stupid?” HOW? And that is as much as I need to write about that because I have written about it elsewhere.

We had our normal Palmdale experience which included all of the things that go on around here. I jointed the quilters on Monday afternoons where we assemble quilts out of 6-inch squares and then add some batting and knot some embroidery floss in the center of each square to hold the quilt together. We give the quilts to the Crises Center and the Veterans’ Center where they are given out to people who can use them. I am one of the knotters. While we work on quilts, the musicians in the park put on a jam session so we also listen to music and occasionally applaud. We continue to host “porch parties” with our Palmdale friends. Our days are filled with the usual stuff, line dancing, golf, exercise class, yoga, entertainment and gossip. We leave the park to go to the Island where we walk the beach and eat at a restaurant or go over to Boca Chica to look at the rocket. Too bad the person who is responsible for that amazing development is such an (bad word). We’re normally here at Palmdale every year from November to April.

Then we go to Minnesota from May through October. There we have a different set of activities. We visit family, hang out with Greg, Peggy and Edie, go fishing on the lakes. Head up north.

The highlights of our year include the following things.

February trip to Hawaii with dear friends, Max and Kay Klinkenborg.

Lunch by the Volcano

We took a cruise on Norwegian Cruise Lines around the Hawaiian Islands. We flew to Honolulu where we met Max and Kay at a hotel the day before the cruise was due to set sail. We went a day early so that we could go see Pearl Harbor. Then we boarded the ship which was supposed to set sail in the evening but didn’t because of high seas. Our itinerary was rearranged to avoid bad weather. We did have some rough seas but for the most part the trip was just fine. We rented cars and drove ourselves around for most of our excursions. In Kona we visited a salt producer where we tasted a variety of salts, and I purchased some for gifts along with some coffee. In Kauai we took a helicopter ride that was thrilling and saw beautiful view of canyons and the ocean. In Hilo we visited the volcano and had lunch overlooking the volcano at the visitor’s center. In Maui we drove around the island and saw the devastation from the fire at Lanai. Don and I had an extra day in Honolulu as our flight home didn’t leave until 9:30 PM so we rented another car and drove north to the Dole Plantation and then to the beach where the surfers do a lot of surfing. Thanks to Kay I have some pictures of this trip.

Greg and Edie came to visit us in February.

Harlington International Airport

About a week after we came back to Texas, Greg and Edie came to visit us. While they were here, we did some local sightseeing at the Birding Center on the Island and at SpaceX. And we went to the Los Fresnos Rodeo. The weather wasn’t very conducive for a beach visit.

At the Los Fresnos Rodeo

Bob came to visit in February.

We took Bob to see the highlights of the Rio Grande Valley and he got to participate in a porch party as well. He was here when Dick came home from rehab. He had been hospitalized and recovered from broken ribs. So Bob was here for that as well. Here is a picture of Bob at the mouth of the Rio Grande River.

Lunch at Louie's Back Yard South Padre Island

Kelly, Jett and Andalusia came for Spring break to Texas.

At the park in Los Fresnos

Kelly was here for about a week. We hit the high points of a Valley vacation: The Turtle Rescue Center, the Birding Center where they have allegators the kids can hold, the playground in Los Fresnos, The Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville and the beach. They were here for Easter dinner at the Rec Center with 100 of our Palmdale friends.

Easter at the Rec Hall

At the zoo

Edie and I took a Road Scholar trip to Costa Rica in June

On June 18, Edie and I flew out of Minneapolis and after a short layover in DFW,

we landed in San Jose, Costa Rica where we were met by our Road Scholar guides and taken to a very nice hotel. There we met our fellow travelers for the week and got ourselves oriented. After the orientation, we were picked up by my Costa Rica friend, Magali and her 3 children.

Magali and family

She treated us to dinner at an Italian restaurant. Don and I met Magali and her family in 2010 when our friend Kay was spending the winter in Costa Rica. Magali has 3 children, Josea who is 17, Manuel 15 and a daughter 10. Edie said that this dinner was the best part of our trip. She and Josea hit it off and found out that they shared a lot of interest in anime. As we walked out of the restaurant in the pouring rain, Edie and Josea were talking excitedly about their shared interest. We left San Jose the next day and traveled to Monteverde where we visited a Bat Jungle and learned about bats.

At the dairy farm

A highlight for me was a visit to a dairy farm where I learned about “regenerative agriculture” and saw how they are putting it into practice. We then walked on a sky walk through the cloud forest. The next day we took a rafting trip downs the Rio Corobici where we saw white faced and howler monkeys. Iguanas and lots of birds. We saw bats roosting on the bottoms of branches.

Edie planting a tree

After the rafting trip, we loaded back on the bus and headed to Rincon de la Vieja at the Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin. The next day we hiked in the Rincon del la Vieja Volcano National Park. That was a long and hot hike. Probably Edie’s least favorite day of the trip.

We had a chance for a cool off in a pool and then went to some mud baths and hot springs where we were restored and renewed. We had a morning hike to Poza Roja (Red Pond) for a swim before we transferred to our final stop.

Our last stop was finally at the Pacific Ocean which I had been looking forward to from the beginning. I am always up for seeing a new beach. But that day, Edie had different plans. She was so tired that when we checked into the hotel she laid down on the bed and took a good nap, so I had some time to just hang out.

On day six, we took a boat ride in a wildlife refuge and got to see monkeys, bats and lots of iguana. After the boat ride we went to a Santa Barbara where we toured a museum and cultural center. The kids got to grind up corn for tortillas and we were treated to a very good lunch and were entertained by some folk dancers and were invited to join in the dance.

The crown of our trip was the last day when we went zip-lining out by the Pacific Ocean.

Soaring over the land

That was a treat. Then, we finally went to the beach. Edith joined the other kids playing in the water while I hung out with the grandparents and buried our feet in the sand.

A lovely way to end our trip. We had our farewell dinner, exchanged emails with the other participants and were given a gift of a really cool slide show of the trip by one of our leaders.

Our group consisted of a dozen kids aged 12-15 and about 15 grandparents. And by the time our trip ended, this group of kids had formed some friendships. It was a good bunch of kids that included everyone in their play. They had a lot of fun.

Our family went for a week to Camp Deer in August.

We went up to Camp Deer in August with Greg, Peggy, Edith, her friend Oscar, Kelly, Jett and Andalusia. We did a lot of fishing from our little John boat and took boat rides on Frankenstein, the big pontoon boat that is tied up on the dock by the big cabin. Greg brought his paddle board and all of the children, big and little enjoyed riding on it.

The children spent hours playing in the sand and water. We didn’t catch many fish, but Oscar caught some and we cleaned some for him to take home to share with his dad. It was a regular Camp Deer Vacation enjoyed by all. There was plenty of book reading and walking up the hill. Unfortunately, Verizon has cell service up there now, and the older kids were able to be on their devices as much as they wanted.

The Jug Band Boogie and a camping trip to the North Shore.

In September, Don and I went on our regular trip up North. This year we took our camper and added a night with our Palmdale friends, Rick and Karen Campion,

With Rick and Karen

who have a cabin on Little Split Hand Lake by Grand Rapids. We enjoyed a night with them and then headed up to Camp Deer for the Annual Edge of the Wilderness Jugband Boogie and Battle. After that, we went to Duluth for a couple of nights where we had lunch with my sister Jean and her daughter Pam and toured the Glensheen Mansion. Then we went up the North Shore to Grand Marais for a couple of nights.

The Jug Band Boogie

Grandpa

We went to Pennsylvania for 10 days in October to help Kelly get moved into a new house with the girls. We found a trundle bed at an estate sale by Minneapolis, loaded it in a U-Haul trailer and drove to Media, PA. When we arrived Kelly and the girls had just gone to the house she is renting. They had food, dishes, some clothes, blankets, pillows and toys but not a lot else. So, we all went to work putting the house together. By that first night, everyone had a bed to sleep in and we had a table and chairs in the dining room. By the time we left 10 days later, Kelly had a fully furnished house and was ready to begin rebuilding her life.

Then we came here at the end of October.

I just now remembered the other disaster of 2024. The election. But I have nothing else to write about that.

Some of our other highlights.