April 12, Ely or bust

My flight out of Portland was on time at 6:50 am. I had a small snafu with my netbook but we managed to figure out a solution.  I have my new netbook with me instead of my old smaller one.  I arrived in Minneapolis Jay met my flight.  We ran a few errands and then went to the Mall of America to have lunch and then to scope out the movies.  

Then we drove to where Jeanne's conference was.  She sure was surprised to see me.  Jay and I had cooked up this plan.  The purpose of my visit is to be here for Jeanne's 65th birthday on Wednesday.  That was fun. 

We then went back to the Mall of America to see Divergent.  Interesting movie.  Olive Garden for dinner and then the long 4 hour drive to Ely. We got in at 1am.  So I am tired and am off to bed. 

Home again. Monday, March 10

We left Deer Creek a little after 10 am.  We saw a few deer as we were leaving but I did not get any pictures.

We met "the gang" for lunch at Melt Land.  A very interesting grilled cheese sandwich place.  I have never seen so many possibilities for grilled cheese.  Nathan almost ordered the peanut butter and banana one.

I just had the half sandwich soup and salad combo.  It was very good.  It was so much food that I saved my sandwich for the flight home.  Unfortunately it was not nearly so good then.

Lisa ordered the fried twinkies.

We went back to Rob's place.  Nathan got some computer work done.  George had gotten word from Southwest saying our flight was delayed.  And then it was delayed some more so we would no longer be able to make our connection to Chicago.  When we called Southwest they said that either we could re-book for Tuesday morning or we could go to the airport and see if there were any other options.  That is what we decided to do.  It is a good thing.  They had already booked us on a different route home.  They apologized for the inconvenience.  They sent us to Nashville, then Denver then Portland.  We got to Portland about an hour later than we had scheduled before.  We had a chance to have some ice cream while we waited at the airport.  Rebecca's was the first flight to leave.  Nathan left about the same time we did but from a different gate.

Columbus airport art.  We got home about midnight.  Rebecca got back to Albuquerque safely and on time.  Nathan is still traveling to Chile.  He should get to his home stay some time Tuesday afternoon. 

All in all we had a great visit with family and reconnecting we people.  Some of the relatives I had never met.  So it was very good for me.  

yesterday's walk

Pretty sunrise this morning

This is the coastline we walked along yesterday.  It was very rocky and patches of ice.  Not my favorite walking conditions.  Nathan, Madeline and Guinness enjoyed it though.

We will all be heading out after breakfast.  Load up the vehicles and drive back to Columbus.  We will meet Rob and Lisa for lunch.  Then the Singers will continue on home and we will hang around until it is time to go to the airport.  Luckily Nathan, Rebecca and George and I all fly out at similar times so it is only one trip to the airport for Rob.

OOPS - Addendum

I think I neglected to mention that Saturday night after dinner we all drove to Deer Creek Resort, which is about 45 minutes south of Columbus.  The Hershey gang joined the Singers and Walkers.  The Scranton clan were heading back home so they did not join us.  We had rented one cabin and several rooms at the lodge.  George and I stayed in the lodge.  Nathan and Rebecca stayed with their cousins in the cabin. Martin had to leave early Sunday morning so he stayed with his parents in the lodge.  I think they all had a good time.

One of the reasons for going to one of the state parks is that is this what we used to do every summer with Jane so it seemed appropriate to do it now.  We had stayed at Deer Creek once before.  Though when we would do this before we used to all stay in the cabins.

I am glad that the weather cooperated.  I was expecting it to be a lot colder.

Sunday, March 9

A relaxing day at Deer Creek Resort.  

A feral cat

The view from our patio

Metal Sculptures

We all took a short walk to the lake. The Hersheys, Singers and Walkers

Nathan going out on the lake.  Not totally frozen.

A lot of ice around

Madeline on a sheet of ice.

After our walk we had lunch at the lodge.  Then the Hersheys left.  We spent the afternoon chatting and relaxing.  Walked back and forth between the cabin and lodge several times.  The weather co-operated very nicely.  Luckily I did not need all the layers I packed.  

Guinness is happy

Guinness thinks that he is one of the gang.

The cabin.  The cousins all stayed in the cabin and the "old" folks stayed at the lodge.  

We had left overs for dinner Sunday night.  We had lots of them.  We also bought some Ohio Pinot Noir. Not bad.  

Hard to believe that we will all be leaving tomorrow.  Rebecca back to New Mexico. Nathan is starting his vacation to Chile and we will head home.  It has been a great time of connecting, getting acquainted and re-acquainted.  

Saturday, mar 8

What a full day it was today.  We met up the some of the relatives for breakfast at the hotel.  We relaxed a bit and then had lunch at La Chatelaine.  Very cute French bistro.  Bonjour.  I had a very delicious spinach quiche, French onion soup and a mimosa and 1/2 of a blueberry tart.  Yummy.  

Naturally the desserts are in the front of the line so you see them while you are waiting to order.  sneaky.

Some people did not get enough to eat so they went for ice cream.  Graeter's is famous around here.

After lunch we headed over to the church.  This is the church that George grew up going to.

Nathan and Rebecca with 3 of the Singer cousins.

3 Hershey sisters: Susan, Jane and Liz.  They are kids of George's Dad's sister.

The Scrantons (Sarah, Nancy & Jim) (Nancy, Sarah & Jim - George's Mom's brother's kids) I had not met them before.

The Singers (Lisa, Ted's wife, Ted, Ed and Margaret) Ed is Dorothy's (George's sister) husband.

Rebecca and Madeline

Table decorations at the restaurant.  The Worthington Inn was very nice

The whole gang.  Actually a few people had already left.  There were a total of 29 people at the service and at dinner.  We had free flowing wine/beer with appetizers first and then a buffet of chicken or salmon, roasted potatoes and green bean and carrots.  Several good choices of desserts.  They were a little slow getting the desserts out so the people who left early missed the desserts.  I felt like all I did today was eat.  

Dorothy and Ed

The Singers and Walkers

Not the best picture of Rob and Lisa

Ohio, Friday Mar7

Friday morning at O dark 30 we left the house to fly to Ohio for George's mom's memorial service. When we were in Chicago we heard about terrible storms in the east coast and flights would be messed up.  We were in a panic because both Rebecca and Nathan were flying via the east coast.  You may wonder about that since Rebecca was coming from New Mexico and Nathan from Alaska but it is a long story.  But we called them both and suggested that they get to the airport early enough to give time for rerouting.  Come to find out neither one of them had any problems. We arrived in Columbus at 3:30 pm.  George's brother, Rob met us.  We went to his place to hang out until Rebecca and Nathan were due to arrive.  There is still snow on the ground but it is not as cold as I was expecting.

This is the front of Rob and Lisa's home. Rebecca arrived about 6 pm and then Nathan at 7 pm.  We hung out at the cell phone waiting are between the two flights (there is a McDonalds at the cell phone waiting area).  Once we had Nathan we drove to dinner.  It was a nice restaurant with a range of meals.  I had a very good steak.  Nathan ordered some blue cheese potato chips as a starter which were very hard to resist.  

We ordered drinks at the bar until our table was read.  Cute place with a lot of Andy Warhol pictures around.

No one we know but the gum ball machine was pretty impressive.  Rob and Lisa then went home in Lisa's car and Rob let us borrow his.  We drove to the Homewood Suites - it is in the Hilton Family.  Very nice rooms with a little kitchen.

It may have only been 8 pm Oregon time but at 11 pm Ohio time I was ready to crash.  They are having a heat wave this week - it hit 56 degrees yesterday and it is supposed to be in the 40s for the next few days.  I am thrilled because I was expecting it to be in the 20s with snow.  so we are lucky.