Friday, Oct 4

We had to be at Menaul at 7am for our balloon ride.  We helped with set up.

After helping they decided it was too windy.  If the wind is stronger than 10 miles/hour the balloons can't take off.  So they cancelled our ride.  They will try again tomorrow morning.

We then went to the school chapel service to hear the kids jazz band.  They did a nice job.

Interesting electric cello.  

After lunch the hikers were leaving to hike up to the top of the Sandia crest. It is about an 8 mile hike.

We went to Target and Trader Joe's for a few odds and ends, essentials - like wine.

George, Pam and I did a leisurely stroll through a nature park.  Looked at the Rio Grande. 

Then back to the hotel.  We are now waiting at the hotel at the free wine and food bar.  We don't know what we will be doing for dinner until we hear from the hikers.  

Albuquerque October 3, 2013

Joyce got George and me to the MAX in the morning in plenty of time to catch our 10am flight to Albuquerque.  The flight was uneventful.  Rebecca met us at the airport to give us a ride to the car rental place.  Now that was an exercise in futility.  It was great to see Rebecca while she drove us around in a big circle.  She finally let us off back where we started so we could get the shuttle to the car rental place.  Apparently the only way to get into the car rental place is through the car return and we did not want to do that.  Oh well.  She went back to work while we got the car and met up with Nathan, Jim and Pam and Steve.  They watched us eat lunch (it was 2pm so they had already eaten).  Then we all went for ice cream.  After that, Nathan joined us as we went to Menaul School to meet up with Rebecca.

Rebecca's office

Rebecca's room.  Her little suite is 2 rooms and bathroom in a huge house.

Teacher's Hall where Rebecca's suite is.

We went to check in at the Embassy Suites.  Got there just in time for their afternoon free wine and snacks.  I had a nice Pinot Gris.  We sat in the lobby and visited with Jim and Pam.

Jim and Pam. After a relaxing glass of wine we went to Trombino's Italian restaurant for dinner.  It was celebrating Jim's birthday.  

Debbie and Joe, just got in from the airport in time to join us at dinner.

Steve and Jennifer

Nathan and Rebecca

George and me.  We had a nice bottle of Sangeovese (sp?)

Jim's free ice cream - he shared.

Very nice meal.  

My chicken marsala was superb. Everyone seemed to enjoy their meals.

After dinner we dropped Nathan and Rebecca off at Rebecca's place and we went back to the hotel.  Visited a little longer with Debbie, Jim and Pam.  I hope Jim had a nice birthday.  It was fun to be all together for it.  11:30pm time for ZZZZZs.  

Wed, Sept 4

Jeanne and I left her place about 7am to drive to Duluth.  We got there in plenty of time so we just hung out for a little while.  The flight to Minneapolis St Paul was uneventful and quick.  I had 3 hours to kill in MSP so I stopped at TGIF for lunch.  My skinny margarita was especially delicious.  

Then I had a long walk to my next gate.  Then they changed it to another gate.  1.67 miles later I got to the correct gate.  That is quite some airport. The flight home was about 3 and 1/2 hours.  George met me at the airport and I pretty much went directly to hand bell rehearsal at the church. That was fun.  The only down side was that my mosquito bites were giving me grief.  I have over 100 bites from our wild blueberry picking day. 

Anyway I am home now until Oct 3 when we go to Albuquerque to visit Rebecca.

Last day Tues, Sept 3

 We did our morning walk and were very lucky to have a gorgeous sunrise.  Unfortunately my pictures do not do it justice.

We got home in time for Jay to make his famous wild blueberry pancakes.  They were delicious.  Then Jay had to leave to go on one of his work dart trips to Atlantic City.

At coffee one of the women brought in a show and tell.  2 very unusually shaped potatoes.

The new subway has a fake fireplace that Jeanne had to show me.  We did not eat lunch here.

Jeanne apologized for not providing a more photogenic day. We did a lot of errand and I tagged along.  We had a full busy day but she was right I did not take a lot of pictures.  After a delicious dinner of ham, sweet potatoes, mixed vegetables and apple sauce we relaxed with an easy 500 piece puzzle.  Got it done lickity split.  Fun.

Tomorrow will be an early start.  We will plan to leave the house around 7 am so I can start my trip home.  

Monday, Sept 2

Today was a full day.  Started the morning with hawk outside of the deck. It was windy - you can see its feathers are blowing.

 We did the usual walk, breakfast and then coffee at the church.  We came home and washed fresh wild blueberries to prepare them for tomorrow's pancakes.  We made granola and did a few other things before lunch.  After lunch Jay carried the canoe down to the lake and Jeanne and I went canoeing.  Gorgeous day.  It had cooled down and the sun was just coming out but it was not hot.

Got pretty close to a turtle

Jeanne carried the canoe back up the hill to the house.  After relaxing a bit Jay, Jeanne and I went exploring with Jay to a place he had heard had a patch of wild blueberries.  Eureka!!  We found them.  We picked like crazy.  I could have pick more but one hand was busy waving the mosquitoes away.  We got 3 quarts of berries.  Wild berries are very tasty but they are tiny.  

We got home in time to make a nice birthday dinner for Jay.  Yummy meal.

We made a real dent in the birthday cake.  I wanted you to see the layers.

Tonight we watch RED.  Fun Bruce Willis movie.  A full day. 

Sunday, Sept 1

Today was a church day.  Their church is one of the earliest churches built in Ely.

We got to church early, because Jeanne sings in the choir.  After coffee hour at church we went up the street to the Ely steak house for lunch with other church members.  After lunch we went back to church to go to Molly's 100th birthday party.  Jeanne and Jay know her.  After the party we went to a nursing home to help fill out their service.

We finally got home about 3:30pm or so.  Jeanne and I finished our second puzzle.  

Then Jeanne made a birthday cake for Jay.  His birthday is next Friday but we are celebrating it tomorrow since he will be out of town on his birthday.

It was a cold day today.  The rain last night cooled things down.  I guess it also helped to put out some of the local fires.

Saturday, Aug 31

We started the day (after our morning walk/shower/breakfast) by making a wild blueberry pie.  Jay had left for the day to go fishing with Dana (the pastor of their church).  

Saturday is trash day.  They do not have trash pick up where Jeanne lives.  They have to take their trash once a week to a trash site.  So we did that on our way into Ely.  In Ely we did the Historic Walking Tour.  It is fun.  They have put up posters in the windows in several of the old buildings around that have an interesting past. So you can walk around and read about the different buildings.  I was surprised about the number of buildings that had been a bar/saloon/tavern some time in their history.

Ely has done some fun posters to get Ely on the map for tourists.

One store has an old cash register in it that still works - they don't use it because it can't handle credit cards.

This building used to be an old bank.  They buffed out the bank name but with the lighting just right you can still see the bank name.  The pillars were shipped in from Italy. 

We stopped for lunch at the TOE (Taste of Ely).  It is a new restaurant.  It was very good.  I had a local root beer, which is famous around here.

After doing the tour and lunch we dinked around in a few shops.

I played with a chipmunk.  This one is very bold.  I thought it would get me.  It started chasing me around on the deck.  Not afraid of me at all.

We relaxed until Jay got home from fishing. They caught over 30 fish but they could only keep 6 a piece.  They mostly just keep the walleyes.

Just when Jay was getting ready grill the burgers for dinner it starting raining.  So he had to cook from inside to try to stay a little dry.

The burgers were delicious and we followed it with the pie.  Yummy.  We watched a fun movie "So This Means War" and then Jeanne and I worked on another puzzle.  

Another fun day.