20 days and 4675 miles in 3 parts. Part 2:

West to Twentynine Palms, CA
Twentynine Palms, CA is about 1200 miles straight west from Oklahoma City.  Since we started a little late after having breakfast with my cousin Vicki, we chose to take our time and make this trip with two stops so our arrival into Twentynine Palms on the third day would be fairly early.  We stopped first in Albuquerque and then the second night in Flagstaff.  This gave us an easy 4.5 hour drive on our last day.  The further west we went the hotter it got.  When we crossed the Colorado River into California, our car thermometer read 109.  But the drive across the Mojave was uneventful, mostly because there really isn't anything to speak of once you leave Kingman, AZ.  We arrived at the gate for the base where Marianne met us and got us our pass so we could drive onto the base.  From there it was just a couple miles to their new base housing.

With the arrival of Weiler, the Kappels were now worthy of a four bedroom house on the base.  The place is really very nice with a fenced back yard, patio area, garage, and a good air conditioner (the best part).  The first action was to unload the piano from the back of the van.  Michael had helped me load it in Cincinnati, but even better help showed up to lug it out of the car and into the house.  The Marines landed!!  Clint and three of his friends showed up to do the heavy work, allowing me to only look like I was helping. Don't let Don kid you- he couldn't resist "helping" so with all these strapping Marines to help, Don was still in the middle "pulling his weight!" These Marines by the way are the Lieutenants that served under Clint in Afghanistan. What a fine looking group!  Gotta admit, it made me proud just to be holding onto the piano with those four Marines.

And it wasn't too long before Reeder was playing "Grandma", her recital song. 

Our arrival was only a couple of days after the movers had arrived with all of their stuff.  Consequently, our visit provided not only the main object of this trip (to see Clint), but also provided Marianne with some help in  moving in, unpacking, putting away, putting together, fixing, painting, and taking care of kids (the last part almost entirely done by Max). I don't think I saw Don "resting" for even a moment.  In addition to painting four rooms, putting together two bikes, a barbq grill (the toughest of his assisngments- but he finished in time for us to cook steaks for supper!), shelving, cabinets....  (I bet it isn't hard for you to decide which color Reeder picked and which color Hayes picked...)

After a nights sleep our first assignment was something more official.  The Colonel in charge of Clint's Battalion was transferring and a change of command was needed.  Now the Marines take these things very seriously and include a lot of pomp and circumstance.   They brought out their vehicles (below is a Light Armored Vehicle (LAV) that they use in their job. The change of command was really impressive- makes you so proud- proud of my son, proud of the Marines and proud of my country!

Next came the men under the Colonel's command (although since it was really hot, they only marched out 30 from each of the five Companies instead of all 120 men that make up a company).  Below is Clint leading his Company in the parade and the Company "at ease" while the outgoing and incoming Colonels said a "few words". 

And they even marched a few horses around the parade grounds.

Best of all we got our first family picture that included Weiler!

But everything wasn't just work and parades.  We did take a little time for some  fun.  Marianne and I blew up the inflatable pool so the kids could cool off.  Unfortunately the pump to inflate the pools was still packed in one of those boxes piled in the house.

And Clint's "coming home" present to Hayes was.... Drum roll please....

And Reeder and Hayes both got new bicycles to ride.

Hayes and I were out "riding" a couple of times and he would always slow when he passed this BIG BIKE!

I asked Hayes if he might want to take a closer look.  He was excited.

Then he told me, "Grama, when I get big I will ride in the middle seat and you'll ride on the back seat."  I do think I might have to decline that- even from this charmer!

And Weiler simply enjoyed being there with everybody and smiling.

And Clint got a brand new grill although the picture below was pre-new grill.  Nonetheless grilling out in the back yard was an almost daily event.

One real downside of the trip was that Clint didn't have a lot of free time.  One would think that after spending several  months working 20 hour days getting ready to go to Afghanistan and then spending 7 months over there working essentially 24 hours a day, the Marines could give a guy a little time off.  Two unfortunate things happened to prevent this:  1) Clint got a new assignment and a new Colonel when he returned and 2) his replacement for his old assignment wasn't due to show up for another month or so. Consequently, Clint was working two jobs while we were there in preparation of a much needed vacation with his family.  But I might mention that Clint started this "vacation" by climbing Mt. Rainer!  How's that for taking a break!

He did get some time to catch up on sleep and holding his new son.

And Clint and I even squeezed a trip in to the park!

So Max and I focused on helping put the house in order and spending some time with Marianne and the Kids.  One morning before temperatures got too high we even ventured out to Joshua Tree National Park for a little hiking and rock climbing.  Reeder and Hayes love to climb on the rocks and they are getting really good at it for kids that are 3 and 5 years old.

OK, so Hayes isn't climbing in this picture, but I couldn't resist this smile. Not sure anyone can resist this smile!

Weiler wasn't quite ready to try out his climbing shoes, but he enjoyed the show and got to climb with Mom.

Weiler even got a good bit of cuddling from Grandma Max.

Part 3 coming next:  Bryce Canyon, Boulder, Utah and Anne Peair's wedding, then home.

20 days and 4675 miles in 3 parts. Part 1:

On June 9 Max and I left Cincinnati on a car trip originally planned with a specific intent of seeing Clint, who just returned from 7 months in Afghanistan and is based in Twentynine Palms, CA.  Planning began back in the winter months as Max tried to get as much out of this trip as possible.  After much rescheduling and replanning we decided to include seeing family and friends in Arkansas and Oklahoma, visit Clint, Marianne and the grandkids in Twentynine Palms, spend two days at Bryce Canyon (reasons provided later), attend a wedding of our friends Don and Mary Joe Peairs' daughter in Boulder Utah, have dinner with Elaine's (ex-sister-in-law sister Boopie in Denver and then drive home.

Part 1 of this blog will focus on the first 5 days in Arkansas and Oklahoma. 

Our first stop was in Springdale, AR at our niece Tracy's house.  That first night Tracy fixed us a wonderful dinner of beef stroganoff (My Mom's recipe) and a great evening of conversation with her and her two beautiful daughters, Jess and Katie.  We had just returned from Philly when we started this trip so having a wonderful home cooked meal was a real treat- and of course an evening with Tracy and her girls is always a welcome evening.

This was followed up the next morning with the absolute best breakfast of the whole trip.  Tracy made sausage gravy, biscuits, and sausage that must be described as the best I have ever had.  I had intended to take a picture of this wonderful breakfast, but it seems the priority was in actually eating it instead of photographing it- so didn't get the picture until most of it was gone. Well I managed to photograph it before Don "cleaned" the platter!  I understand now why he makes me promise I will never start cooking him sausage gravy- he can't stop himself!

We left Springdale the next day and drove to Tulsa for time with Max's family.  It still feels just a bit off center to visit Tulsa- and not see Don's Mom- or his brother.  I always feel their loss more acutely while we visit there.
We stayed in Downtown Tulsa at the Hyatt - my stepbrother Steve had made his "reservation" to stay at Dad and Fay's before we were making any real plans- but it worked out just as well.  Now I have to tell you- I'm a big fan of Priceline- THANK YOU SHARON- it saves us mucho money! and spent a little time that first day walking around the downtown area.  Tulsa has a number of beautiful art deco buildings so Max snapped a few while we took a walk on the streets in the near 100 degree weather.

And I sure didn't remember the Casa Laredo Latin Grill and Tequila Bar, serving Tulsa for three generations. Actually we spent most of our "dining" experiences at Ken's Pizza or El Charrito's....

We also spent some time walking along the Arkansas River.  Tulsa has done a wonderful job developing Riverside into a 7 mile long park with walking/biking paths, artwork and even converted an old train tressel into a pedesterian bridge just above a low water dam that transforms the river into something that looks like water instead of random sandbars.  When we last lived in Tulsa in the late 60's it was just a wild overgrown area that smelled of the refineries located across the river.  The picture below is down stream from the dam and it is difficult to see, but the shallow areas were populated by numerous herons and egrets.

But this trip wasn't about seeing the sights of Tulsa- even as enjoyable as this is- but this visit was seeing family- and see family we did!

Me and my Dad! 

Add in my brother, Bub and Fay, my step Mom!

Now add in my sister-in-law Nancy!

And finally Dad and Fay with my stepbrother Steve!  We're looking forward to adding in my sister Mary at Amber's wedding this fall!

But this was a "quick trip" so we were off on Sunday for Oklahoma City to see first Clare...

We missed Oliver because he wasn't back from Ireland yet- and he was missed- but we had seen him when they recently visited here in Cincinnati.  An added treat always is to stay in Clare and Oliver's beautiful home!

We spent the next day with our dear friends Kathy and TH.  Kathy actually hired me into my first teaching position when Clint was 2 years old!

Kathy and I left the "boys" behind and we joined another dear friend Sharon Parker for lunch at my very favorite restaurant in Norman called Victoria's!

We stopped the next morning for breakfast with Don's cousin Vicki on our way out of town...

And then we were off for the drive that would eventually land us in 29 Palms- and CLINT!

(If you're feeling just a bit breathless imagine how we were feeling and the trip was barely at it's beginning!)

Harper's Ferry and Philly

In early June Max and I took one of our road trips, this time to visit with Matthew and Sharon in Philly.  We've gone to Philadelphia every spring since Matthew and Sharon moved, and it is one of my favorite trips.  Not only are Matthew and Sharon perfect host and hostess, Philadelphia has great restaurants (we're working our way through them) and even more interesting- there are some incredibly beautiful gardens.  I'm not sure we've made our way through the list yet- but it will be fun to start again!
Since we have a plan of trying to spend at least one night in every state, this year we focused on West Virginia.  Now I'm not sure we'll make every state before our "wings are clipped"- and for now we have only remote plans for Hawaii (I spent three years there and would love to go back to visit my old haunts) or Alaska- but we have at least preliminary plans for the others.  But for this year it was WEST VIRGINIA!  We have driven through West Virginia any number of times on trips to Philly, or Virginia, or North Carolina, or New York (you get the picture), but we had never really stopped there.  Since we wanted to be close to Philly so we could drive in easily on a Friday, we chose Harpers Ferry, a town of a somewhat reputation concerning the Civil War, but also about as close to Philly as you can get and still be in West Virginia.

You have all heard of the famous raid made by John Brown on the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry  that was one of the factors that sped the country toward the Civil War.  The interesting thing is that Harpers Ferry sits at the confluence of and between the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers and the government used the water power provided by those rivers to make rifles and stored them in the arsenals there.  Now I think that probably the Civil (nothing "civil" about that war) War was inevitable, it did strike me as rather odd that the act of a "crazy" John Brown attacking a United States aresenal was such a catalyst for the tragedy. 

Max found a wonderful Bed and Breakfast there called the Ledge which sits high on a bluff overlooking the confluence of the rivers.  Consequently we had a great view from our deck outside our room.

We ventured out after our arrival to explore the area and were advised by our host to cut through the old cemetery across the road for a trail down to the site of the raid and the river banks.  The cemetery was the original cemetery for the town and had some graves dating to the 1700’s.

Just below the cemetery is the ruins of the first church built  at Harpers Ferry, but all that is left are parts of the stone walls.  It turns out that the trail we were told to find is part of the Appalachian Trail that wanders between Georgia and Maine and we seemed to be right about the middle of it.

There was a railroad bridge that  had one of the tracks  converted into a walking bridge and as we crossed the bridge (well I didn't actually cross the bridge- while Don was crossing the bridge I was talking on the phone- and when I finished Don said he was a bit windy and he thought I could just skip the experience...) it was obvious to see the mixing of the waters of the two rivers.  The Potomac was muddy and brown and the Shenandoah was green.  If you look close at the following picture you can see the line of mixing where they come together.

So we now have marked off West Virginia as a place visited and are ready to add the few states that we still have not been to together. You'll just have to wait and see which states they are- though I might mention that on our most recent trip we spent nights in 8 states and none were "new".

The next morning we drove the short distance to Philly and Matthew’s and Sharon’s condo.  Two of our favorite things to do in Philly are to eat at some of Philly’s interesting restaurants and to visit some of Philly’s wonderful gardens.  So on Saturday we set out to visit Chanticleer Gardens-  http://www.chanticleergarden.org/.  I wish that we had "gardens" in Cincinnati, but we just don't.  Our conservatory is one of the best in the country- and our zoo hosts an amazing botanical garden- and of course we have many parks- but gardens we just don't have.  Traveling to Philly is always such a treat!

This was the estate of Adolph Rosengarten whose pharmaceutical company later became part of Merck Pharmaceuticals.  Not only were the gardens beautiful, but the current grounds keepers were also quite gifted wood workers made chairs and benches that were located around the grounds and and property.  We all took available opportunities to sit and just view nature at its best.

Of course the gardens also had some wonderful plants and water features too, including a large pond where I found this lazy turtle who posed for me.

The Southern Magnolias were in bloom...

And there were a few beautiful lillies here and there....

And streams with little waterfalls...

And reflecting pools...

On Saturday night we ate at the White Dog Cafe (http://whitedog.com/about.html).  Sharon and Matthew took Clare and me to this restaurant last August when we stopped after our piano camp, and I was anxious to return.  It did not disappoint!

On Sunday we headed out to brunch at Terrain which is part of a nursery/gift shop/cute things store.  The place was beautiful, but I have to say that they were very proud of their products and food and consequently demanded high value for them.  I'm not sure I've ever spent more and gotten less food at any other place.  I didn't even know that it was possible to cook a one egg omelette, but it really is.  You're not going to gain weight certainly. On that account they are surely in first place.  By example in the picture below is my helping of potatoes - all of it. I did manage to find a new cookbook (not that Don would think I need a new cookbook) that I ordered- on the spot from my phone from Amazon for half what they were charging! It was waiting for me when I got home!

From Brunch we went to Tyler Arboretum, 650 acres of land that was part of  lease of land from William Penn to Thomas Winshall in 1681 http://www.tylerarboretum.org/ . We weren't sure that the auboretum had quite decided what its future will be.  A good part of the land was decorated with little "fairy villages" complete with gobblins and gnomes and appeared to be ideal for parties for young children.  And because of their focus on fairies I'm now the proud owner of wings and tutu and tiara- all for any visiting fairy that might come to call here in Cincy!

Another part contains some magnificent trees planted in the 1830's by decendents of Winshall.  There is even a Giant Sequoia that although is small compared to the ones in Califronia, is impressive nonetheless.

Sunday evening kept us in Philly in the City Center area at the Farm and Fisherman.  You can check it out if you're interested at http://www.thefarmandfisherman.com/.

It had great food and great wine (which we brought-love those BYOB places- it does save money!) and capped off the evening with some great food.

So as you see- we had a wonderful time!  And I feel certain that Matthew and Sharon will plan another great adventure for our next trip east!