UVU - Utah Valley University
(click on the photos to enlarge)
And so it began... We live in Anchorage Alaska.
UVU is in Orem Utah.
Kevin and Brad. We drive...
As I begin this writing about our drive from Anchorage to Utah I want to state firstly how much I enjoyed this trip with Kevin. This is the second time Kevin and I have driven the highway- 3000+ miles to Utah. It DOES seem like it will go on forever without end. The days are 12 to 16 or more hours of driving and that is making it an easy four day trip. This trip took an extra day making it five.
I have driven the highway many times, thrice by myself. The first time was in May 1979 from Boise through Vancouver Washington after my mission. I suppose technically I wasn't by myself. There was another living creature in the car with me- Chico, the little half-moon parrot I brought home from El Salvador. I'll have to find a picture of him.
Here he is with Ryan! Hi Chico! Oops! There's some white gooey stuff on the carpet Ryan! Happened ALL the time.
The second time alone was in 1992 driving a newly purchased 1990 Dodge Caravan. We picked up the van in Seattle and drove as a family down the coast to the Sequoias in Northern California and then to Utah across northern Nevada for a family reunion. The third time was in 2002 after we purchased a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee in Bountiful. The Alaska Highway, often called the "Alcan" highway meaning the Alaskan/Canadian Highway, was built in the early 1940's during the war. The road was dirt and mud when wet but was gradually upgraded. My family first drove the highway in 1963 when we moved to Anchorage. I was six. The Alaska part of the road was paved for as long as I can remember and so was the Canadian side up to Dawson Creek, which is "Mile 0", the official beginning of the Alaska Highway. Dawson Creek to the Alaskan boarder is about 1200 miles and that was gravel until sometime after my drive in 1979. It is paved the entire way now though there are stretches of rough road, particularly about 5o miles in Canada just across the Alaskan border.
This year Kevin and I left the morning of Thursday, August 20th. The night before we said so-long to Julie's parents Don and Georgia, and Michael and Lindsay who for the first time are not making the drive back to BYU. They both have graduated and Michael has a job in Anchorage. They have moved here. To live! Yay! See Grandpa? That is an antique flare gun he just obtained. He likes it.
The Ford Ranger was loaded and we drove off Thursday morning after Julie went to work.
Thursday - Day One
Anchorage, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada
9:30am to 11:15pm.
This is a photo of the Matanuska Glacier which about 2 hours north of Anchorage.
The first day of driving took us to the international border and beyond to the city of Whitehorse.
Thursday we took turns listening to our music through the stereo, Kevin's from his iPod and mine from my Sansa MP3 player. His and my type of music differs and not how you might think, so the following days we listened to our own music through phones or buds. Neither one of us slept much while the other was driving and we didn't drive a lot at night. I did catch a couple of photos of Kev sleeping though.
Here are a few examples of the rough road we traveled at times.
The only time it rained on us was in Canada before we got to Dawson Creek.
Friday - Day Two.
Whitehorse to Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada.
7:10am to 10:55pm.
This sign yard is at Watson Lake. The practice of posting license plates and then other signage was started decades ago. It is quite the sight.
We didn't see a lot of animals. Some bison, a few caribou, moose, a fox and a wolf I believe.
The scenery was just magnificent. I didn't get many photos but it is a very beautiful drive. Long but beautiful!
Saturday - Day 3.
Dawson Creek to Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
9:35am to 6:45pm (Calgary)
We took a couple of photos at the Mile 0 marker in Dawson Creek and then left for Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. We didn't make it...
I had the camera on a tripod and ran after setting the timer. Kevin didn't quite make it to the marker before the shot was taken that first time. (Like his pants?) He was ready the second time because I was the only one that ran that time!
As Saturday progressed I was noticing that the voltage meter on the dash was slowly moving to "empty". That was odd but didn't think much of it because the battery/alternator alarm light on the dash was not lit. By Calgary the gauge needle had dropped to outside the safe range and I knew there was something wrong. Well, we were in Calgary, Alberta at 7pm. We wanted to get dinner and then still had two or three hours to go to Lethbridge before we wanted to stop for the day. Calgary was the last city of any size until well into Montana so since there were no garages open I decided we needed to stay the night there and have the car checked out in the morning... Sunday. Would any garages be open? I was beginning to feel a little stressed- "things were starting to unravel" and I was in the position of not knowing what was going to happen and I didn't have a plan yet. I don't like that feeling. Dinner didn't sit very well with my tummy.
I asked the server for a phone book and began looking for garages to call. While looking at the yellow pages, it didn't take me long to realize that not only did I not know where any of these garages where located in the city, I didn't know where WE were in the city! The server was new to Calgary and though was willing, he wasn't any help. While waiting for our meals to arrive I took a short walk to clear my head and try to get a grip on the situation.
What I'm going to tell now I haven't told anyone but Julie. I think I told Julie. Well, I wasn't going to tell Kevin but I think it is important that he know just how fortunate we were, and how I feel the Lord helped us avoid a more major inconvenience, and the part he, Kevin, played however unwittingly.
As our kids grow to be adults does anyone know the difficulty parents have transitioning from being parents to being more like peers? It is hard to let up on telling them (in this case Kevin) what and how to do all of the time. I felt that a bit of strain had crept into our relationship on this trip and that I was being too much "the dad". Was Kevin feeling that I was "directing" too much while he was driving and other times?
I'm afraid this story will be too long to tell and you will drop off to sleep in the telling. I'll just have to risk it and ask for your forbearance.
Kevin was driving and we were coming up to Calgary. We were low on gas and that was going to have to be our first priority as we looked for a place to eat. Calgary is a very large city. I did not want to get off of the highway and into the city itself. Calgary has freeways going through it and a beltway of sorts encircling it. We were driving east and would have to eventually drive south from Calgary toward the Montana border. As navigator, I told Kevin the exit we needed to take in order to drive the beltway around the city to the south. Because of the "tension" that I felt had built between us I didn't want to have to remind Kevin of the exit so I gave him the information and left him to notice the exit and make the turn.
Well, a while later I was looking again at the map figuring another way to get to south Calgary. The easiest way was to continue on the freeway through Calgary (another 20 minutes) to the beltway on the other side and exit there. Then, as we drove south there weren't any exits with gas/food close by. We were well south of Calgary before facing up to the fact that we weren't going to find gas on the highway and that we had to turn around and head back to Calgary. We couldn't risk finding a station in the farmlands. We were too close to empty. This was getting to become desperate. I didn't want to coast to the side of the highway because WE DIDN'T HAVE GAS! IN THE CITY! I was not happy and was upset that we were in this situation. Maybe I haven't explained it very well but I felt that it was because of Kevin's inattention that we had come to be in this situation. I think I was being successful in keeping it to myself but I was not happy and hoped we would find a station before we had to walk.
We did find a commercial area just off of a different highway going north into Calgary. As we pulled up to a gas station the tachometer stopped working. You might remember that I replaced the instrument panel in this truck because the tach, speedometer and odometer did not work. Well this development upset me because I thought that maybe this panel was going bad. Even though it might be just a bad panel, again; it was there that I decided it would be foolish to drive onto Lethbridge without resolving the voltage meter problem. After gassing up we drove to a place to eat and this is where we pick up the story at dinner. I will continue what I consider the the important part Kevin played a little later.
As I took my walk outside the restaurant I noticed a Canadian Tire store through some trees across a large parking lot. I hoped they did more than just tires. After we ate we drove over to the store and saw that they looked to have a full service garage and did open at 9am on Sunday. It was time to find a place to spend the night. We saw a Super 8 that looked to be across the highway. The truck started to run rough as we pulled up to the light. The speedometer stopped working and soon all of the gauges stopped working and dropped to zero. Well, at the light we noticed the Super 8 was on the near side of the highway after all but we were committed to crossing and then try to find a place to turn around. By the time we got back to the highway the blinkers didn't work and the truck ran so rough it felt it was going to die at any time leaving us stranded at an intersection. I began hoping that a police officer wasn't around to notice that we didn't signal our turns and didn't have brake lights!
We limped to the Super 8. Literally, we were limping. I didn't know if the truck would make it. I backed into a space thinking the battery might need to be jumped in the morning, and the engine died three quarters of the way into the space. It would not restart. Close enough.
Looking back at the events of that evening I was even more amazed. The Super 8 had only two available rooms remaining that night, both were smoking and only one had two beds. I took it. A couple more small things happened that night that were amazing to me but worked to our good nevertheless. In the morning, the battery was dead. I had cables and a nice man gave the truck a jump.
The Canadian Tire wasn't far away, just across the road and parking lot, which is another blessing because I wasn't sure the truck would drive far. As things turned out, the alternator had failed and needed to be replaced and though they were busy, the truck was ready at about 12:30pm.
There isn't any need to explain obviously, but I am no where near being a mechanic. I didn't know the signs of a bad alternator. I feel a large sense of consternation when it comes to repairing a vehicle.
The blessing? First, we drove a whole day through the wilds of Canada on a battery that was not being charged. That was possible because it was a new battery. It was replaced just a month before. Second, what would mostly likely have happened if Kevin had made that first exit to south Calgary? We would have found gas and dinner easily and then been an hour or more down the highway before the battery would've given out completely leaving us stranded- searching for a tow back to Calgary. As it turned out, we were stranded at a place where there was gas, food, a garage open on Sunday and a motel all within walking distance of each other. Some may think that is a coincidence or just plain lucky. I choose to believe differently. I know everyone has challenges in life and not always will we be given, though inconvenient, all we need to resolve a problem as easily. Nevertheless, I know the Lord blessed us that day, that trip. I don't know why, but he did. I am grateful to Him. Perhaps it is because it was that Sunday morning while waiting in Calgary that I learned of my fathers death. I am grateful to Kevin for his unknowing yet wise actions that blessed our lives that day.
Another "coincidence"? We had left Anchorage a day earlier than planned giving us an extra day to get Kevin to school on time.
Another interesting side note: We had driven only a few miles toward Montana with our brand spanking new alternator when the battery warning light DID come on and the voltage meter needle began to slip once again. We turned around and went right back to Canadian Tire. They found that alternator to be defective and put in another. That was quite a day. Oh, and the instrument panel I put in is working again like a charm.... =)
Sunday - Day 4
Calgary to Great Falls, Montana
2:55pm to 9:05pm
We decided to stop by Cardston Alberta to see the temple there. It wasn't much of a detour and I had never even thought about visiting it before in all of my previous travels. At the turn off we got more gas and visited with this little guy. He is a Cocker Spaniel-Pomeranian mix. Six months old, long soft hair and doesn't shed. He was so cute.
I think he looks like the Luck Dragon! (Never Ending Story)
The Cardston Alberta Temple
After we crossed the border, Kevin said it felt good to be back in the United States. As nice as it is, it was just different in Canada. Yeah, I felt that way too.
Montana is big sky country!
We drove onto Great Falls Montana and spent the night instead of driving the night through. Kevin liked taking advantage of the free WiFi in some of the motels we stayed at.
Monday - Day 5
Great Falls to Bountiful, Utah
7:46am to 5:06pm
We stopped for lunch at Idaho Falls where Kevin met up with a former companion Doug Kelly and his fiancee.
We finally arrived at JaNel's house in Bountiful. The kids were very excited to see their cousin Kevin!
We arrived in time for a wonderful dinner and family get-together. It was so nice for everyone to meet to say hi to Kevin and me. Among other things, we talked about Dad and the memorial that would be held later in the week.
These four feet couldn't reach the floor from the couch. Do you know who's they are?
VoNique's on the left - Ashley's on the right! :)
Kevin with his cousins Sarah and Jessica
Ashley and Ryan came on their scooters. Here we're saying goodbye to them as they leave.
Jackson and Elise
The next day, Tuesday, Jackson told me all about his neat tree-house. Kevin and I drove to Provo where he moved into King Henry apartments and met up with his good friends Handro and Lance.
That night we went to dinner at Famous Dave's. Great food, even better company.
JaNel gets into her story telling.
I didn't know what "Bones" were. I don't think I have the name right even. But Leo was very cute saying cheese and giving "bones".
Wednesday was my flying home to Anchorage day. I spent the day in downtown Salt Lake City, did a little shopping and walked around Temple Square. I am very impressed with the "natural" creek downtown on the street in front of the Conference Center and the Church Office Building. It is beautiful and a delightful surprise in the center of a busy city.
JaNel and the kids picked me up and off to the airport we went.
This trip was a busy and eventful seven days. It was wonderful to be with family even if it was for just a short time. I enjoyed the time spent on the road with Kevin more than he'll ever know. I am grateful for the experiences I have in life. And even more grateful to come home to my best and most dear friend. I love you Julie...
(click on the photos to enlarge)
And so it began... We live in Anchorage Alaska.
UVU is in Orem Utah.
Kevin and Brad. We drive...
As I begin this writing about our drive from Anchorage to Utah I want to state firstly how much I enjoyed this trip with Kevin. This is the second time Kevin and I have driven the highway- 3000+ miles to Utah. It DOES seem like it will go on forever without end. The days are 12 to 16 or more hours of driving and that is making it an easy four day trip. This trip took an extra day making it five.
I have driven the highway many times, thrice by myself. The first time was in May 1979 from Boise through Vancouver Washington after my mission. I suppose technically I wasn't by myself. There was another living creature in the car with me- Chico, the little half-moon parrot I brought home from El Salvador. I'll have to find a picture of him.
Here he is with Ryan! Hi Chico! Oops! There's some white gooey stuff on the carpet Ryan! Happened ALL the time.
The second time alone was in 1992 driving a newly purchased 1990 Dodge Caravan. We picked up the van in Seattle and drove as a family down the coast to the Sequoias in Northern California and then to Utah across northern Nevada for a family reunion. The third time was in 2002 after we purchased a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee in Bountiful. The Alaska Highway, often called the "Alcan" highway meaning the Alaskan/Canadian Highway, was built in the early 1940's during the war. The road was dirt and mud when wet but was gradually upgraded. My family first drove the highway in 1963 when we moved to Anchorage. I was six. The Alaska part of the road was paved for as long as I can remember and so was the Canadian side up to Dawson Creek, which is "Mile 0", the official beginning of the Alaska Highway. Dawson Creek to the Alaskan boarder is about 1200 miles and that was gravel until sometime after my drive in 1979. It is paved the entire way now though there are stretches of rough road, particularly about 5o miles in Canada just across the Alaskan border.
This year Kevin and I left the morning of Thursday, August 20th. The night before we said so-long to Julie's parents Don and Georgia, and Michael and Lindsay who for the first time are not making the drive back to BYU. They both have graduated and Michael has a job in Anchorage. They have moved here. To live! Yay! See Grandpa? That is an antique flare gun he just obtained. He likes it.
The Ford Ranger was loaded and we drove off Thursday morning after Julie went to work.
Thursday - Day One
Anchorage, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada
9:30am to 11:15pm.
This is a photo of the Matanuska Glacier which about 2 hours north of Anchorage.
The first day of driving took us to the international border and beyond to the city of Whitehorse.
Thursday we took turns listening to our music through the stereo, Kevin's from his iPod and mine from my Sansa MP3 player. His and my type of music differs and not how you might think, so the following days we listened to our own music through phones or buds. Neither one of us slept much while the other was driving and we didn't drive a lot at night. I did catch a couple of photos of Kev sleeping though.
Here are a few examples of the rough road we traveled at times.
The only time it rained on us was in Canada before we got to Dawson Creek.
Friday - Day Two.
Whitehorse to Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada.
7:10am to 10:55pm.
This sign yard is at Watson Lake. The practice of posting license plates and then other signage was started decades ago. It is quite the sight.
We didn't see a lot of animals. Some bison, a few caribou, moose, a fox and a wolf I believe.
The scenery was just magnificent. I didn't get many photos but it is a very beautiful drive. Long but beautiful!
Saturday - Day 3.
Dawson Creek to Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
9:35am to 6:45pm (Calgary)
We took a couple of photos at the Mile 0 marker in Dawson Creek and then left for Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. We didn't make it...
I had the camera on a tripod and ran after setting the timer. Kevin didn't quite make it to the marker before the shot was taken that first time. (Like his pants?) He was ready the second time because I was the only one that ran that time!
As Saturday progressed I was noticing that the voltage meter on the dash was slowly moving to "empty". That was odd but didn't think much of it because the battery/alternator alarm light on the dash was not lit. By Calgary the gauge needle had dropped to outside the safe range and I knew there was something wrong. Well, we were in Calgary, Alberta at 7pm. We wanted to get dinner and then still had two or three hours to go to Lethbridge before we wanted to stop for the day. Calgary was the last city of any size until well into Montana so since there were no garages open I decided we needed to stay the night there and have the car checked out in the morning... Sunday. Would any garages be open? I was beginning to feel a little stressed- "things were starting to unravel" and I was in the position of not knowing what was going to happen and I didn't have a plan yet. I don't like that feeling. Dinner didn't sit very well with my tummy.
I asked the server for a phone book and began looking for garages to call. While looking at the yellow pages, it didn't take me long to realize that not only did I not know where any of these garages where located in the city, I didn't know where WE were in the city! The server was new to Calgary and though was willing, he wasn't any help. While waiting for our meals to arrive I took a short walk to clear my head and try to get a grip on the situation.
What I'm going to tell now I haven't told anyone but Julie. I think I told Julie. Well, I wasn't going to tell Kevin but I think it is important that he know just how fortunate we were, and how I feel the Lord helped us avoid a more major inconvenience, and the part he, Kevin, played however unwittingly.
As our kids grow to be adults does anyone know the difficulty parents have transitioning from being parents to being more like peers? It is hard to let up on telling them (in this case Kevin) what and how to do all of the time. I felt that a bit of strain had crept into our relationship on this trip and that I was being too much "the dad". Was Kevin feeling that I was "directing" too much while he was driving and other times?
I'm afraid this story will be too long to tell and you will drop off to sleep in the telling. I'll just have to risk it and ask for your forbearance.
Kevin was driving and we were coming up to Calgary. We were low on gas and that was going to have to be our first priority as we looked for a place to eat. Calgary is a very large city. I did not want to get off of the highway and into the city itself. Calgary has freeways going through it and a beltway of sorts encircling it. We were driving east and would have to eventually drive south from Calgary toward the Montana border. As navigator, I told Kevin the exit we needed to take in order to drive the beltway around the city to the south. Because of the "tension" that I felt had built between us I didn't want to have to remind Kevin of the exit so I gave him the information and left him to notice the exit and make the turn.
Well, a while later I was looking again at the map figuring another way to get to south Calgary. The easiest way was to continue on the freeway through Calgary (another 20 minutes) to the beltway on the other side and exit there. Then, as we drove south there weren't any exits with gas/food close by. We were well south of Calgary before facing up to the fact that we weren't going to find gas on the highway and that we had to turn around and head back to Calgary. We couldn't risk finding a station in the farmlands. We were too close to empty. This was getting to become desperate. I didn't want to coast to the side of the highway because WE DIDN'T HAVE GAS! IN THE CITY! I was not happy and was upset that we were in this situation. Maybe I haven't explained it very well but I felt that it was because of Kevin's inattention that we had come to be in this situation. I think I was being successful in keeping it to myself but I was not happy and hoped we would find a station before we had to walk.
We did find a commercial area just off of a different highway going north into Calgary. As we pulled up to a gas station the tachometer stopped working. You might remember that I replaced the instrument panel in this truck because the tach, speedometer and odometer did not work. Well this development upset me because I thought that maybe this panel was going bad. Even though it might be just a bad panel, again; it was there that I decided it would be foolish to drive onto Lethbridge without resolving the voltage meter problem. After gassing up we drove to a place to eat and this is where we pick up the story at dinner. I will continue what I consider the the important part Kevin played a little later.
As I took my walk outside the restaurant I noticed a Canadian Tire store through some trees across a large parking lot. I hoped they did more than just tires. After we ate we drove over to the store and saw that they looked to have a full service garage and did open at 9am on Sunday. It was time to find a place to spend the night. We saw a Super 8 that looked to be across the highway. The truck started to run rough as we pulled up to the light. The speedometer stopped working and soon all of the gauges stopped working and dropped to zero. Well, at the light we noticed the Super 8 was on the near side of the highway after all but we were committed to crossing and then try to find a place to turn around. By the time we got back to the highway the blinkers didn't work and the truck ran so rough it felt it was going to die at any time leaving us stranded at an intersection. I began hoping that a police officer wasn't around to notice that we didn't signal our turns and didn't have brake lights!
We limped to the Super 8. Literally, we were limping. I didn't know if the truck would make it. I backed into a space thinking the battery might need to be jumped in the morning, and the engine died three quarters of the way into the space. It would not restart. Close enough.
Looking back at the events of that evening I was even more amazed. The Super 8 had only two available rooms remaining that night, both were smoking and only one had two beds. I took it. A couple more small things happened that night that were amazing to me but worked to our good nevertheless. In the morning, the battery was dead. I had cables and a nice man gave the truck a jump.
The Canadian Tire wasn't far away, just across the road and parking lot, which is another blessing because I wasn't sure the truck would drive far. As things turned out, the alternator had failed and needed to be replaced and though they were busy, the truck was ready at about 12:30pm.
There isn't any need to explain obviously, but I am no where near being a mechanic. I didn't know the signs of a bad alternator. I feel a large sense of consternation when it comes to repairing a vehicle.
The blessing? First, we drove a whole day through the wilds of Canada on a battery that was not being charged. That was possible because it was a new battery. It was replaced just a month before. Second, what would mostly likely have happened if Kevin had made that first exit to south Calgary? We would have found gas and dinner easily and then been an hour or more down the highway before the battery would've given out completely leaving us stranded- searching for a tow back to Calgary. As it turned out, we were stranded at a place where there was gas, food, a garage open on Sunday and a motel all within walking distance of each other. Some may think that is a coincidence or just plain lucky. I choose to believe differently. I know everyone has challenges in life and not always will we be given, though inconvenient, all we need to resolve a problem as easily. Nevertheless, I know the Lord blessed us that day, that trip. I don't know why, but he did. I am grateful to Him. Perhaps it is because it was that Sunday morning while waiting in Calgary that I learned of my fathers death. I am grateful to Kevin for his unknowing yet wise actions that blessed our lives that day.
Another "coincidence"? We had left Anchorage a day earlier than planned giving us an extra day to get Kevin to school on time.
Another interesting side note: We had driven only a few miles toward Montana with our brand spanking new alternator when the battery warning light DID come on and the voltage meter needle began to slip once again. We turned around and went right back to Canadian Tire. They found that alternator to be defective and put in another. That was quite a day. Oh, and the instrument panel I put in is working again like a charm.... =)
Sunday - Day 4
Calgary to Great Falls, Montana
2:55pm to 9:05pm
We decided to stop by Cardston Alberta to see the temple there. It wasn't much of a detour and I had never even thought about visiting it before in all of my previous travels. At the turn off we got more gas and visited with this little guy. He is a Cocker Spaniel-Pomeranian mix. Six months old, long soft hair and doesn't shed. He was so cute.
I think he looks like the Luck Dragon! (Never Ending Story)
The Cardston Alberta Temple
After we crossed the border, Kevin said it felt good to be back in the United States. As nice as it is, it was just different in Canada. Yeah, I felt that way too.
Montana is big sky country!
We drove onto Great Falls Montana and spent the night instead of driving the night through. Kevin liked taking advantage of the free WiFi in some of the motels we stayed at.
Monday - Day 5
Great Falls to Bountiful, Utah
7:46am to 5:06pm
We stopped for lunch at Idaho Falls where Kevin met up with a former companion Doug Kelly and his fiancee.
We finally arrived at JaNel's house in Bountiful. The kids were very excited to see their cousin Kevin!
We arrived in time for a wonderful dinner and family get-together. It was so nice for everyone to meet to say hi to Kevin and me. Among other things, we talked about Dad and the memorial that would be held later in the week.
These four feet couldn't reach the floor from the couch. Do you know who's they are?
VoNique's on the left - Ashley's on the right! :)
Kevin with his cousins Sarah and Jessica
Ashley and Ryan came on their scooters. Here we're saying goodbye to them as they leave.
Jackson and Elise
The next day, Tuesday, Jackson told me all about his neat tree-house. Kevin and I drove to Provo where he moved into King Henry apartments and met up with his good friends Handro and Lance.
That night we went to dinner at Famous Dave's. Great food, even better company.
JaNel gets into her story telling.
I didn't know what "Bones" were. I don't think I have the name right even. But Leo was very cute saying cheese and giving "bones".
Wednesday was my flying home to Anchorage day. I spent the day in downtown Salt Lake City, did a little shopping and walked around Temple Square. I am very impressed with the "natural" creek downtown on the street in front of the Conference Center and the Church Office Building. It is beautiful and a delightful surprise in the center of a busy city.
JaNel and the kids picked me up and off to the airport we went.
This trip was a busy and eventful seven days. It was wonderful to be with family even if it was for just a short time. I enjoyed the time spent on the road with Kevin more than he'll ever know. I am grateful for the experiences I have in life. And even more grateful to come home to my best and most dear friend. I love you Julie...
It was so good to see you! I'm glad you made it safely. You should add one of those cute pictures of you and Aimee to your post! And for the record JaNel's couches are really deep. I love you tons!
ReplyDeleteI need some help remembering what photos. Did I see some other ones? Maybe I did and forgot.
ReplyDeleteThese photos...http://picasaweb.google.com/voniquephoto4/200908Aug?authkey=Gv1sRgCLTun96i8rP6uwE&feat=directlink
ReplyDelete(The ones of you and Aimee)
Thanks VoNique! I really enjoyed looking at the pictures of Dad's memorial.
ReplyDeleteWOW what a post! So long! Great pictures! Awesome commentary! I totally know how you feel about Canada. There is just something so...refreshing about getting to Montana. :) I wish I could have been there for family time- you guys had so much fun! Family is so fun. Glad you guys were safe and that you're back!
ReplyDelete