When my dad was my age, he was retired, as was my mom. My parents traveled to see us where we lived in the upper Midwest at the time. Those were the best years for my mom. She loved to travel, which must be where I get my love of traveling and adventure!
Numerous events happened the year my mom was my age. It was 2001. It was the one-year anniversary of my paternal grandfather’s passing. My husband was diagnosed with MS. 9/11 happened. My husband took early medical retirement in October. I quit my job in early November. We sold our house and moved back to the western side of the Rockies where my parents still lived. That was the last long trip my parents took, when they drove out to help us move back home.
My parents seemed so young and active when they were my age. I feel so aged with the stress of working full-time and my health issues. In fact, I am waiting for the results of an MRI I had done just yesterday. It seems I may be having an MS exacerbation. (Yes, my husband and I both have MS, diagnosed 10 years apart.) I have new and worsening symptoms of numbness in my feet and hands, muscle cramping and tightness, heaviness in my legs with walking, and exhaustion in the afternoons. I don’t know for sure. It may not be MS, it could just be stress. I will know for sure in a couple of days.
Anyway, I am grateful for the time and money my parents spent in traveling out to see us when we lived in Minnesota. We have many fun memories of time spent with them there. We took many walks around the parks along the Mississippi River and even took a boat ride in my husband’s boat on the Mississippi River a time or two. We have fun memories fishing, spending time at the cabin, shopping thrift stores and pottery shops, and sharing our day-to-day activities when they came and stayed with us.
I remember the first time they came out to visit us. They were not used to the humid summers in the upper Midwest. My mom mentioned more than once how strange it was to take a shower in the mornings and put on fresh clothes from the closet that felt like they were almost still “wet.” They were used to the dry desert heat back home. That was when we figured out we needed a dehumidifier. Dehumidifiers were not a necessity in the west, but they sure keep a house dry during the dog days of summer in those quaint little river towns along the Mississippi River.
Thank you for letting me share a walk down memory lane prompted by this question.
Bird’s Eye View of the Salt Lake Valley (Copyright 2024 by Chatterlei)
What I love about where I live is that it is my home town. All three of our children, their spouses, and our six grandchildren live in the same town. For as much as we get together because everyone’s lives are so busy, we might a well live in Timbuktu! Our little (growing) conservative town/city is a great place to raise a family.
We are only 3 hours away from a University hospital where my husband can have surgery on his leg, then lie in a hospital room to heal for a few days and enjoy bird’s eye views, as captured in the image above, taken through the window from his 6th-floor room.
From our home, within a couple of hours’ drive on a Saturday afternoon, we can be on a bench in Yellowstone National Park with other tourists watching in awe as Old Faithful reliably spews it’s steamy water up to 180 feet into the air. We can pick up a souvenir from the nearby shops and eat our packed lunch either in the car or at a picnic table in the area. Then enjoy a drive though the park on our way home, hoping to see buffalo, elk, deer, and maybe even a bear or two in their habitat.
In about the same amount of time, we can drive a different direction and sit at the still glasslike water’s edge of Jenny Lake which is tucked away at the base of the Teton Mountain Range. This is one of the area’s most beautiful and most visited sites. We are fortunate to have Yellowstone and the Tetons in our back yard, so to speak.
Taking a long day’s drive we can be at the Oregon Coast enjoying a cool walk along the beach listening to the waves crash along the shoreline. In the same amount of time, heading in a different direction, our drive could take us to San Diego where we can enjoy the warmth of sunshine and see the beautiful sunsets fade below the horizon of the ocean as it meets the sky in the distance.
I absolutely love the outdoors and I love to travel! Living near the Rockies to the East and not far from the Pacific Ocean to the West we can enjoy a variety of God’s most beautiful creations. These are some of the things I love about where we live.
Leaving San Diego yesterday was not easy. It was the most beautiful day of the entire week. I wanted one more day. It was not to be. We need the extra day for traveling to the UofU on Monday where my husband has a follow-up appointment with the surgeon to check the progress on his knee since surgery.
My husband and I were not in a huge hurry to leave San Diego since our next destination was only six hours away. We awakened early, yawned and stretched, and decided to go on one last morning walk. He was ready before I was. Sitting in his wheelchair with a hoodie on and shorts, which were easier to fit over the leg brace he has had to wear since his knee surgery eight weeks ago, and his Fighting Irish lap blanket over his bare legs. He was ready to go! I hurriedly threw on my black yoga pants, layered on my gray tank top, pink stretchy tee, and black vest. I slipped my Brooks tennis shoes on, tied them, and we were ready to roll.
The morning sun had already crested. We missed the pre-dawn beauty and the feeling of anticipation waiting for the sun’s first sparkling beam to make its brilliant appearance. The full sun was visible and bright against the cloudless blue sky.
Our walk was peaceful. We talked about the possibility of buying a sailboat to habitate off the shoreline of Shelter Island. We met a woman the day before who was doing that very thing, living in one of the catamaran sailboats along the shoreline with several of her sailboat neighbors. She said that she and her husband have been living on their boat for the last eight years. She emphasized that it is a lot of work, but they have enjoyed it. She then carried her few bags of groceries through the misty rain across the sandy beach out to the dinghy that her husband had just rowed from their sailboat. He helped her in, then he rowed through the mist toward the sailboat they call home.
Maybe the sailboat life is not for us, after all.
We finished our walk along the bay, soaking in all the warmth from the sun and smells from the ocean that we could before leaving. On our way back to the hotel, we decided to walk behind the hotel along the marina. It was a cool walk in the morning shade.
I couldn’t help but wonder if it would be less work to park a sailboat in a slip at the marina and call that home. No dinghy needed!
Naaahhh. I like having a home to go to, I suppose. I guess we will take the snowy winters, sipping on hot chocolate by the fireplace after a couple hours of shoveling snow off of the driveway and sidewalks. It is hard work.
We all have to choose our hard in life. It’s all hard. Choose your hard. Then smile and make the best of it!
St George – A Favorite Stop
We stopped for the night at the Hampton in St George, Utah. The hotel and a gas station sit off the freeway a couple of miles from the border. It feels like it is in the middle of nowhere. Our view is of miles and miles of open sky. It is one of our favorite places to stay.
The view from our hotel room
After settling into the room following a delicious simple meal at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant, we decided to enjoy a soak in the hot tub. It was a welcome covering from the 40-degree temperature outside. Unlike my husband, who could spend hours in the hot water, 30 minutes was long enough for me. I exited the pool to dry off and warm up by the outdoor ring of fire. Despite the chill in the air, the fire was inviting and mesmerizing.
My mind was flooded with feelings of gratitude for this trip with my husband and the many blessings in my life.
We spent Tuesday afternoon walking/hiking around Point Loma area. It was low tide, so we could explore areas of the tide pools that are inaccessible at high tide. Our exploration along the paved and unpaved pathways took us past Bergerocactus plants on our way down to play in and around the tide pools. We saw lichen, little hermit crabs, incredible rock formations and, of course, the ocean. These are beautiful creations that we cannot see in the mountainous region where we live. For us, the beauty of this part of the nation is fascinating and impactful to the creative side of our existence.
At one point we decided to hike up to the old lighthouse at Cabrillo. My sister and I were walking along the path leading directly toward the lighthouse, when to the right and up several steps is a building with a recorded looped presentation about the guns that the military used to have in this place years ago. My sister’s husband came out of that building and said he was going to walk up the next set of stairs up to the lookout at the top of the hill. My sister and I decided to walk up behind him instead of continuing down the path we were on. I made it easily up the first set of stairs and nearly to the top of the next set of stairs, when suddenly I felt out of control and the ground was coming up fast. My husband’s phone went flying, as did my readers. I heard a loud “Ouch!” escape my mouth. Then all I could do, after I realized I could still move my right ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, and wrist, was laugh uncontrollably. My sister, who just stood there and watched motionless as my teeth nearly became part of the cement step in front of me, was now bent over laughing with her legs crossed. She said she thought I was joking at first, so she didn’t move to help me.
Joking?! About falling UPSTAIRS, near a cliff?!
Breathless, but not from the hike. Rather, it is from laughing so hard while getting up after falling!
Nope! The pain was proof that I was not kidding around. My knee was becoming the size of a watermelon as we stood there laughing. The remainder of the trek was uneventful, although I did walk with a bit of a limp.
We were able to enjoy the presence of the sun beating down, pouring warmth around us, embracing our feet, and the breeze blowing through our hair while we looked out over San Diego Bay. It was breathtaking, a postcard-worthy moment.
I wish I could have captured the feeling, the warmth of the sun, the coolness of the breeze, and the feeling of smallness and largeness, simultaneously, I experienced as I stood there at the edge of Point Loma taking in the map-like view of the Bay, Shelter Island, North Island, and Coronado. From my perspective the area was overall easier to understand. Just like looking at a map, I could see from above, the size and shape of Shelter Island and it’s proximity to North Island, San Diego proper, and Coronado. It was a fun experience to share with my husband, sister, and brother-in-law.
Old Town
This afternoon, we decided to head to Old Town to do some shopping. None of us had ever been there. Old Town is the oldest city in California. It was fun to see all the old buildings, now converted to commercial shops. It was interesting, yet sad, in a way, to see how commercialized it has obviously become.
While we were wandering from shop to shop, my husband spotted a quaint outdoor Mexican Restaurant called Casa de Reyes. He said he wanted to eat lunch there. That was unusual because he usually does not offer opinions about where or what to eat, unless he is asked specifically what he would like to eat. My sister, her husband, and I were not hungry, yet, but we shared an appetizer and of course downed way too many chips with the delicious salsa that came with the chips. We were happy to have stopped there to eat authentic Mexican Food in Old Town because my husband’s chili relleno and our appetizers were very tasty. I recommend stopping there if you are ever in Old Town in San Diego.
After shopping until we dropped, our brother-in-law brought my husband and me back to the hotel while he and my sister drove over to Seaport Village to do more shopping to find the perfect sweatshirt for my niece.
The Hotel Balcony: My Place of Peaceful Reflection (or not so peaceful with all of the helicopter movement)
I am currently sitting on the balcony outside of our hotel room before sundown, watching and listening to the noise of the military helicopters land on North Island. The sky is gray with cloud cover, the November air, cool and crisp. Most of the people that are walking along the Bay are warmly dressed in long pants and sweatshirts or jackets. I am typing on my laptop in my short sleeves, long pants and flip flops. The speed of my typing is slowing down with the reduction in temperature of my fingers, however. It is getting darker outside. The streetlamps have turned on, the skyscraper buildings across the Bay are beginning to light up and the passing cars on the road in front of our hotel have their headlights on. I can feel the temperature dropping.
Before I head into my hotel room for the night, I will share a few photos from the day… Wait… There goes the Disney Magic Cruise Ship heading out of the Bay toward the ocean. I can’t help but wonder what unique experiences they will have on the ship and at each of their destination stops. We can only guess.
ChatterLei 