Skiing with Grandkids

Snow Skiing

Dale and I met at Cal State LA when I was talking to friends about a ski trip. Dale joined the conversation and we left the building together. We have never figured out what happened to our friends after that.

We went snow skiing for our honeymoon and started our kids skiing at a young age. The ski trips were good family times, exploring new trails, picnics on the snow, and lots of teasing mostly from the boys who would yell from the chair lifts “mom what took you so long”.

Dale and I had to stop skiing after the downturn we experienced with the farm and then the boys got rid of our skis when the new design of shorter skis proved to be the new wave. They even got rid of my beloved Lange racing boots.

About two years ago, when we had started going to the gym, I decided that I really wanted to get back into skiing. I also thought that it would be good to take our grandkids, especially Elias. Elias has a visual problem and I thought that skiing might give him some extra confidence and possibly help with depth perception. Dale and I were a little apprehensive but decided that if skiing wasn’t fun for the grandkids then we would just not worry about it but go by ourselves.

We initially took the 4 grandkids to a local ski area, Shirley Meadows. This is an area we would ski at with our boys on occasions. We belonged to the Bakersfield Ski Club and would work at Shirley Meadows on occasion in exchange for tickets. We had our boys take early lessons from Andy an instructor who also belonged to the club.

We were so surprised when we went in to sign the grandkids up for an initial lesson and there was Andy. So Andy, who taught our boys, now 30 years later, gave our grandkids a lesson. That first day the grandkids were slow but really had fun. By the 2nd and 3rd day they were all over the mountain. Last year we even had a ski weekend at Yosemite with Clayton and Jen.

Yesterday we went up to Shirley Meadows for our 1st ski outing for the year. The kids were a little apprehensive that they wouldn’t remember how to ski. I assured them that even after not skiing for about 15 years I was able to get right back on skis and take off down the hills. Even on rental skis.

Kids started off a little slow but after one run they were right back in form; all over the hills, moguls and steep slopes. Even Christabel came in at one point so proud that she had skied on the hardest slope and didn’t have a problem.

Kids slept all the way home, and after a movie were back to sleep. What a way to enjoy the great outdoors.

Being with Christabel

Missing the grandkids is a downside to being away.

Elias 11, Christabel 9, and now little Zaya MeiJin live in Santa Barbara, 3 hours away. I try to see them at least once a month sometimes we see them once a week. I have a close relationship with both Elias and Christabel as I’ve been involved with their lives since birth.

This past weekend Nate and family were in the area with Bekki’s family but we’d arraigned for each Christabel and Elias to visit. I didn’t think that they would really want to come because they have fun with all of Bekki’s sisters so I was surprised when Christabel wanted to come on Sunday.

Christabel is quite a character. She is the one who didn’t want for me to go to Nola to work even though her family would be going to Canada for 6 weeks or so. When we all returned from being gone and finally were together Christabel told me that she had barely survived being apart. Funny, when we talked via Skype she looked like she was laughing and having a great time.

This is the girl who would spend the day with me. I thought that I’d maybe take her out to dinner, just the two of us as Dale had to work that night. I was also thinking about other things we could just do the two of us.

Christabel first sat and talked, telling me everything that was going on in her life. She reminded me of her dad, Nate, when he was young and would follow me around talking.

Christabel then looked at the stack of video tapes bought by her Great Grandma Jean who finds and buys video tapes at the library for $1/each. Christabel chose 9 movies to watch. Dale and I laughed as she had more hours of movies than there were in the day. She did watch movies and then the TV shows that she misses out on at home since they don’t have a TV.

I set up the little lap tray and Christabel only got up to go to the bathroom otherwise she did not leave the living room. Finally, just after midnight I told her that after the show she was watching was over we would turn off the TV. I was tired having run a catering service.

Farmer's Market

As much as I dislike Bakersfield I do love our farmer’s market. We live in a valley has moderate temperatures and a large agricultural industry. Here we have farms that produce fruits and vegetables 360 days per year, from an hour north of us to the south end of the valley ½ hour away.

Because our local farms produce vegetables all year long our farmer’s market also runs all year long. Having just returned from a month in Seattle I was so glad to go to our farmer’s market today. It seems that everywhere I work in the country I hear people say that their farmer’s market only runs during the summer months.

Our market is held each Saturday morning from 8am to 12noon in the parking lot of the old Montgomery Ward’s parking lot, now a Hispanic store.

On the south end of the farmer’s market we have a large stall run by the person who oversees the market. I don’t shop at that stall because he sells produce that is sold in any grocery store. Now this guy makes the rules and every other seller must produce all that they sell and be certified by the county that they actually produce the goods.

Today I bought navel oranges from the producer, Flossie Faye Farms (flo@flossiefaye.com) just an hour north of us. The man and his wife also grow olives from which they make their own olive oil some infused with the oranges that they grow. We buy their olive oil for our salads.

I then went by the Hong farm booth and purchased Chinese vegetables and lots of yams to bake for Christabel and Elias. Then across the walk to an older couple who grow all types of cauliflowers; I bought the star cauliflower from them. Later in the year I’ll buy their squash. They also sell eggs from their hens. Today I bought the brown eggs but they sell multi-colors from their various hens.

I also bought apples from the apple farmer from Tehachapi. We’ve had an agreement with him for several years, he sells us apples for $1.00/lb and we buy 10# or more. I make pots and pots of fresh applesauce. It is a great snack and kids and grandkids love it too.

My last stop is at the north end, visible in the photo, Tesch Farms. They are growing various types of lettuce, oranges, grapefruit, incredibly sweet tangerines, huge broccoli and cauliflowers right now. I rounded out my produce purchases here.

Our philosophy is we mostly only eat what is fresh from the farmer’s market. So I was glad to stock up on food and fill our poor empty fridge. We can eat.

Back to the Gym

About 2 ½ years ago I found that I was gaining weight; pants were really tight, pleats were stretched out over the gut. I started walking around the development but soon that walk wasn’t enough. I did an on-line test and found that I was borderline obese. I immediately signed us up for a gym that was being built near us.

We arranged for a personal trainer for a few introductory sessions. At that time I could only go 10 minutes on the treadmill and one set of each weight exercises. Gosh was I ever out of shape.

For about the first year I did not lose a single pound but finally after several months I actually started losing inches. I did work up to 45 minutes of cardio training by the end of the year.

About a year ago I’d met the head of the trainers; he saw that I was feeling sick having not eaten before working out and he advised me on changing our diets. Then in Feb 08 I decided that I’d like to be in shape to hike the Ancient Inca Trail this past Jan so we met with the trainer. He changed our diet, and especially the times we eat. He also started us on an endurance and strength training regimen.

Unfortunately we did not make the Peru hike this January but we have increased our times and training over the past year. Additionally, I’ve lost more inches and pounds. Dale has gained weight as he was not eating enough.

While in Seattle I tried to run Twinkle to the trash bins and sometimes around the RV park. Usually I was just too busy to do anything more than a very quick walk which meant that I went for a whole month without working out.

Yesterday I finally caught up enough with the work I’d brought home and went to the gym. Dale and I thought that we should do our strength exercises as I was not ready for the running, biking and step machine. I did the entire workout at the same level as when I left but that was because I didn’t want for the head trainer, who was walking around, or Dale to think that I had fallen behind. I thought that I was going to die on the pull up machine and doing my sit-ups on the incline bench. But I did my 3 sets of 20 of each exercise in my routine.

Today I feel the pain. My niece, Laura Jean, was making me laugh on Facebook and that triggered a cough I’d developed in Seattle, which hurt my middle from the sit-ups. I guess I’m going to have to get to the gym so that I can get back to where I was before Seattle. I can’t let a laugh hurt!

Back from the Lost

In 1979 we saw an ad in the Bakersfield Californian for families interested in taking exchange students. We thought that it might give our family a little more diverse life by taking an exchange student and so we started a long friendship with Nellie Ballew and the students she brought into our lives.

Our first student was on a summer program, Pascaline Henrard. The summer programs ran for a month or two and the program actually took the kids to places like Disneyland. We were to give the kids a home stay experience. We enlisted many of our friends to become involved with each student, thus expanding the experiences of our student and friends as well.

We were part of this program for several years and in about 1981 a girl, Sylvia, stayed with us. Sylvia was from Switzerland and a wonderful person to have, the boys loved her. She was late high school I think, very pretty, incredibly smart and easy to like. Dolly and Pete Hei took Sylvia to a country square dance and several other places but I’m not sure which other friends may have taken her out.

Sylvia came to visit another time or two. She had landed a job as a stewardess for Lufthansa and once I went to pick her up at LAX. (She said 1983). She had gotten lucky and had obtained a seat in 1st class that trip. She exited the plane with a rose that she was given on her flight. We were so proud of her and her accomplishments.

Then after that visit we lost track of Sylvia. We sent some letters but they came back and Dale and I had always wondered thru the years what had happened to her.

Today I got a message on my Face book site from a Sylvia looking for a Christine Siemens who lived in Shafter during 1983, who had 3 boys and so forth. It was our Sylvia returned from the lost.

It turns out that she was working in Frankfurt at the airport when I passed thru on a couple of occasions and then Dale and I had passed thru together. What a shock, we may have walked right by her but never knew she was right there all along.

I let Dale and then Dolly know right away. I think that Dolly has packed her bags already and is ready for us to leave.

So the computer has brought us together again. This is truly amazing and so exciting.

On the Road Home, Day 2

We left Idaho after dinner with Sunshine because we were concerned about the very low temps freezing our RV pipes and because Dale had to be at a work related meeting early Monday. So Sunday night I drove from Idaho to Provo, Utah where we found a place at a Flying J to park for the night.

We woke up early, picked up fuel, coffee and drove away. The landscape was rolling hills mostly with a layer of snow.

Somewhere two hours or so south of Provo snow started falling so heavy that it looked like snowballs the size of nickels were being thrown. The snow was thick and coated our RV front. I wanted to take a photo but the snow started falling off when we slowed down. We passed two snowplows that were just getting started, but we had no problems driving down the road.

We did enjoy driving through the Virgin River area again, a stretch of Arizona between Utah and Nevada. The drive passes through the Virgin River area and it is a beautiful drive. The 1st time we went through back, in the 80’s, the drive took our breath away. It reminds us of hiking in the bottom of the Grand Canyon with buttes high around us. The canyon is narrow, the road is 4-lane with nowhere to stop, the buttes steep in areas.

We decided to eat breakfast in Mesquite instead of waiting until we got to Las Vegas. We’ve never stopped for food in Mesquite before so this would be a new experience for us. We found a casino, Casablanca, which was not new but very classic, something out of a movie with pink stucco and lots of palm trees. Brunch was fine, probably much the same as what we would have had at Excalibur. We gambled $5.00 each, the casino wouldn’t get rich off of us but we did win a few dollars only to lose them again on the slot machines.

We drove on after brunch, Dale drove and I worked on claims from Seattle that I hadn’t closed yet. We passed thru Las Vegas and wondered which casino that we should try a meal at next time.

We were just driving along coming up on the border of California when traffic stopped completely. At the border, on the Nevada side there are 2 casinos to the south (left) and 1 on the right. We stopped with traffic and looked over to the left, then noticed for the first time a roller coaster car on a track. We looked at each other and said “let’s go”. We pulled over to the exit lane as soon as we could, got off the highway and drove over to the Buffalo Bill Casino. We went into the casino, found the ticket booth for the roller coaster, The Desperado, and bought a ticket for each of us, and went to the entrance. The roller coaster operator waited for us to get on and off we went. This roller coaster was the largest in the 90’s and was really fun, one of the best we’ve been on. The facts say that there are 3 areas where you experience near-zero gravity, and experience G-forces close to 4.0.

After the ride we went back to the truck and finished our drive home. Traffic had let up and was flowing fine so we just went right through, straight on home. Finally Twinks and I were home after a month on the road.

The Road Home, Day 1

As a young girl I’d read stories about pioneers coming across the country and been fascinated with their lives. Then several years ago I became interested in the Lewis and Clark expedition “Corps of Discovery”.

For Christmas a couple of years ago Nate and Bekki bought me a book on the Lewis and Clark expedition focusing on the locations and events, “Traveling the Lewis and Clark Trail”. I carry the book with me and read various portions when I have a question about a specific area. So I carried the book with me to Seattle and had read the portion pertaining to events in Washington and Oregon on several evenings.

As we left Seattle we had the choice of driving over a mountain pass or two or going south to Portland and then east thru the Columbia River Gorge. We decided to take the longer route because we were still having freezing temps and rain off and on in Seattle and were concerned about icy roads late at night over the mountain pass. The plus about going the longer route is that Lewis and Clark had traveled in that area and it is the location of the Oregon Trail. Even though I wanted to get to my Sunny and Tailor I was a happy camper with seeing some of history.

Dale and I have never driven through the Columbia River Gorge and we expected something more like the Royal Gorge in Colorado or the Rio Grande area just out of Taos. Here the gorge was more rolling hills. The Columbia River divides the states of Washington and Oregon and is very wide. It is not the raging river encountered by Lewis and Clark but tamed by dams.

There is a road following the river on each side. We took the Oregon side because it is an interstate and more direct. The road on the Washington side cuts thru towns but has places to stop, a road I’d like to take some time.

Ruts from wagons traveling The Oregon Trail are visible along the way however with snow on the ground one must use their imagination.

When I get home I intend to order a detailed map of the Oregon Trail and of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Leaving the River the highway turns east and runs across Oregon. This area is mountainous and reminded me of I-80 thru Tahoe. The roads were plowed but it was quite cold so I was concerned about ice. On one long decline I was happy for the trailer assist on the truck, remembering the time Dolly Hei and I were coming down the Blue Ridge Mountains in my last truck and on the steep decline I burned up and lost the brakes. Yikes, that’s something I’m not anxious to repeat.

After leaving the mountains in Oregon we hit the prairie; lots of flat, flat land. Most of the landscape is brown but closer to Idaho covered with snow. It was amazing to see flat land covered with snow for miles with snow capped mountains in the background.

Unfortunately I took no photos of this leg of our trip. It was still dark, about 5am when we started out and then later the skies were dark with clouds which is so typical for that area. I’ll go back armed with maps and cameras next time.

Going Home

Twinks and I are about to depart Seattle for home; our Bakersfield home that is.

Dale flies into Seattle in about 1 hour and I’ll pick him up. We will have dinner with his cousin Norm and wife Marty, buy the rest of the wine for our wine tasting, hook up the RV and drive away.

I’d wanted to go to the Pacific Science Center today and see the exhibition on Lucy, the oldest humanoid found but a couple of claims had last minute hitches so here I am at the KOA still. It was more important to get the messy claim finished.

The RV is ready to go now. In about a half hour I’ll pull in the slide-out in, then dump the tanks one last time and then off to pick up Dale.

We will drive as far as possible tonight and find a rest stop to sleep at; just hope that it isn’t freezing cold. Tomorrow we will go on to Idaho and stop for a visit with our dear girls.

We need to be in Bakersfield by Sunday evening so our visit won’t be long. Can’t wait to get home.

Out of Sorts

I’ve finished up with all the inspections and have about 12 claims to write up.

Dale’s cousin Norm arranged for tickets for us to tour the Boeing facility this morning now that I finally I had the time to take a break. The tour was so interesting; getting to see the planes actually being built. Standing in the observation tower at level 4 and looking down on the wing of a 747 makes one realize how huge the heavy’s are.

As we walked back to the car we saw a plane on its final approach. As it came in we saw that it had not been to paint yet and then saw it make a touch and go. It must have been on its test run.

The photos show "Dream Lifter" the plane which flies the built airplane wings to the Boeing facility and the 1st United plane.

I now need to pack up the RV but it is so difficult to get motivated. After working from 6:30am to 10-11pm every day it is hard to just stop working and start thinking about home. It’s not that I don’t want to go home, just hard to refocus.

It is 11:30pm and I’m sitting on the butt. For the rest of tonight I’ll just try to do nothing then tomorrow get going on getting out of here. I’ll finish up my work when Dale takes his turn driving.

Mt. Rainier

My campsite is located next door to a bird sanctuary which encompasses several acres. My site is along the back of the park next to the sanctuary. The sanctuary has a tower, visible from my RV.

There is nothing like a majestic mountain. Here in Washington there are 5 volcanoes which make up the Cascades with Mt. Rainier being the highest at 14,410’. Mt. Rainier is visible from Tacoma to north of Seattle so I also have a view from my campsite between the trees of the bird sanctuary.

Today was an amazing Mt. Rainier experience. I normally get up before dawn and open the blinds in order to see the sunrise. Nearly every morning during my stay it has been foggy or rainy. This morning the sky was red and Mt. Rainier visible between the trees with a layer of frost on the ground. I quickly went out and shot some photos.

This afternoon I had to go to a claim in Morton, WA a town very near the south side of Mt. Rainier. The afternoon was sunny but with high clouds I wasn’t sure that it would be a good photo day. I did throw in the big camera and tripod in the event that I could shoot some photos.

As I drove 1st along the west side of the mountain and then the south, I had many views of the mountain. I’d passed a couple of good photo areas but was going too fast to stop. I was disappointed that I’d missed a photo time but the sky was too white with high clouds. Then I found a spot that was so beautiful that I slammed on the breaks, backed up, grabbed the tripod and camera and ran.

After completing my claim I picked up a latte at the great little coffee kiosk and headed back the way I'd come to have a few more views of Mt. Rainier. One of the perks of the job.

Coffee, Coffee Everywhere

I wrote earlier about visiting the original Starbucks. As I’ve driven around western Washington I’ve realized that little coffee kiosks are on many corners or in parking lots. It appears that this is the land of coffee and latte’s.

I always prefer to shop or eat at the small, out of the way, place rather than the larger chain. So it is with coffee, try to stop at the small. As I’ve driven around I’ve started to discover that many of these little places are unusual.

One of the best cups of coffee was purchased from one in a lot in a place called Morton. Morton is hours away from any large city, just some little town on the way to Mt. Rainier.

I’ve discovered little kiosks shaped like cowboy boots, country houses, and was told and then saw today one with bikini clad girls.

I’ve decided to make it my mission to photograph as many of these kiosks as possible. Unfortunately many times I’m driving too fast to stop or am in the wrong lane. But I’ll photo as many as I can and see about putting them together.

One kiosk is located on the Whidbey Island with nothing but a small store nearby. The Puget Sound is just to its side. What a view! I had to get some coffee there and enjoy the view on that drive.

One afternoon as Justin and I were driving I told Justin that I really needed a cup of coffee. We passed one on the left and then one on the right that was behind a store. And after I’d passed a couple more kiosks I was lamenting the fact that I’d not found coffee. Justin remarked that I’d passed quite a few kiosks to which I replied that while I had passed many kiosks none where I could just pull in buy my coffee and then pull out. I didn’t want to make extra turns. I’m getting way too lazy looking for coffee.