Cleaning and Tripping

Hello, On Saturday, Leroy and I planned to water the church flower garden and do some trip to a local park and hike. On the walk home we decided we were too hot and tired so we stayed home and cleaned our side of the back porch as well as washing the kitchen and bathroom floors. Makes sense, right? It was certainly satisfying to get those jobs done. We think it looks good, but not sure that anyone else will ever notice. One of the sad things about cleaning is that seldom is it noticed by others, but dirt and a mess are noticed by many. In the winter I expect to have help from Leroy for some deep cleaning of rooms. It seems he should have some time in retirement to do one room at a time. We did visit Yellowstone National Park on our trip. We have been there before but we did see some different areas. Old Faithful was still regular so we got to see it and it is still breathtaking.

A stop at Geyser Basin was good. While in the bus a herd of bison walked somewhat close giving us a good look at them.

The last time we were in our car in the Tetons they surrounded us and I could hear the noise from their stomachs. This time there was a little more distance. Paula

Another trip cameo

Hello, First, I am not doing the days in order so do not try to make sense of our route. As Leroy said, “We saw a lot of things we did not know we wanted to see.” Leroy and I do not often talk about places we might like to go except in our neighborhood or state. Our friends give us tips about places they would like to go and we go there and do like it. It is nice to have travel suggesters and companions. Besides seeing some sand dunes, we also stopped at Multnomah Falls, Oregon. It was breath taking. Leroy and I walked up to the higher falls, but not to the top of it. We were puffing a little and did not know about the time required for us to get up there. We liked to be on the bus when it pulled away.

The weather was good, that means no rain. I realize that locals in many places might have wanted some rain. We got into a routine going after about two days of staying in a motel and packing up to have bags out before 7:00 am. I had divided my clothes by type. With long pants going in one bag and capris in another saved so much time when searching for things to wear the following day. If I take another bus trip, I will do that again with more clear markings on the plastic bags, like on every side. Paula

What a Trip

Hello, We returned home two days ago from a bus trip to the Pacific Northwest. The first two days, as we spent a lot of time riding to the west, I wondered “Was this a good thing to sign up for?” At that point we were tired and a bit weary from so much bus time. By the time we got home from this 5,000-mile ride we were excited about so many things that we had seen. This is the fourth extended trip we have taken this year. This trip was the longest. We had to add one additional day to get to Minnesota for the starting point and then to get one day to get back home. All told it was 19 days on the road for us. Many people have asked what was the favorite part. It is hard to exclude anything, but I have finally settled on the walks among the red woods as my favorite thing. I like trees and it was astonishing to be about half way up one of these trees and realize there is still so much tree above me.

Paula

Seeing with clarity

Hello, I had laser surgery to clear up my vision which had changed after cataract surgery. I had not realized how my sight had deteriorated. It was wonderful to walk out of the office and see better than I had in months. It came so gradually that I had not noticed. The world looks brighter. The surgery was painless and easy although it lasted quite a while for my right eye. They had talked about 30 seconds and both Leroy and I think it was more like a minute. The left eye took just a few seconds. There were no restrictions on my activity. Liked that feature. I do have a lot of floaters now, but they had told me that would very likely be the case. Most of them are small, but one is rather large. I am hoping it will go away after some time of visiting me. I sometimes think there is a bug near and once I thought a mouse had moved out of my sight, but it was just floaters. It would have been nice to have realized this vision lack before all the trips we took this summer, but as someone said the pictures will look so much better now. Good thing I had that appointment with the eye doctor who knew what was going on and what to do about it. I did have a check up with my personal care provider. I was pleased when she said, “I forget you are over 70 because you are in such good shape.” Paula

The First Two Days

Hello, We did stop and do some touring on the first two days. The corn palace was in this segment of the trip. I did learn something about that. At one time there were many corn palaces and they change the design each year.

On the first day we stopped at the Lewis and Clark rest stop and saw the Dignity Sculpture of Earth & Sky. I found that to be quite amazing to see. There was also a small museum at this rest stop. I think Leroy and I have been at the before.

We also took in the changing landscape as we traveled along. Then there was a stop at Wall Drug which had some features that caught my attention. The next day we stopped at Devil’s Tower and were able to walk around it. They had had a big storm so there were some places that the trees were across the trail and they had been cut so people could still walk around. There were four climbers almost half way up. They looked very tiny and hard to see. Someone figured they had been at it four hours to get that high before noon.

Paula