From the top of the Empire....to Rats!

Here we are recording the adventures of our last day in NYC. :(
We got up and got ready this morning and Ryan caught up with business and walked out to get a little fresh fruit for us in a grocery. We left about noon and walked to the subway station to take the train to the Empire State Building. The first thing we did there was to take a virtual ride, kinda like Disney Land, where we were flying over and around New York. Then we caught an elevator to the 88th floor and walked out on the observation deck. The view from the top was all it was cracked up to be, except that today was cold, cold and windy, cold-windy and rainy! I can't believe the difference in the temperature between yesterday, (balmy-in the 70's). Last night when we got home I didn't even have my coat on. And today was about twenty degrees cooler. Ryan and I had to eventually buy new scarves because we were cold.

We took plenty of pictures out on the observation deck. There is just no way my dinky camera will do justice to that kind of picture. But there will hopefully be a couple that give an idea of the perspective. After the Empire State building we walked through Bryant Park where they are setting up booths for art and craft sellers to use for the holidays. After the park we walked to the NYC Library. It is a beautiful building. It has two marble lions in front on the steps and is very roman greco looking. I know you have probably seen it in movies.

After the library we walked back to the Times Square area and found someplace for lunch. The Brooklyn Diner was our choice. Ryan had a Lamb Burger with tomato salad. Dan had a pizza (I know that may surprise none of you...it was the 5th he ordered on this trip). And I ordered the Brooklyn 15 Bite Hot Dog. You will have to see the pictures on facebook. It was great.

After lunch we walked to get tickets for a show tonight. Well, Dan stood in line and Ryan and I hid in the lobby of the Marriot that is right there cause we were frozen. We found a little place to have a little sweet bite and a drink and wait someplace warm until it was time to go to the show.
We saw Mary Poppins tonight. It was quite good, but not my favorite. Promises,Promises was way better.

I can't believe we were able to see four shows while we were here. So many more shows to see. Ryan better be here for awhile so we can come back.

We took our last train back to China Town and while walking out of the station we saw our first rat running in the gutter. We had been talking about how many rats you could see and hadn't seen any of them before that. So, we kicked at the garbage cans and garbage bags on the way home to count the rats we could chase out. We laughed like crazy and it was the cheapest amusing thing we found to do this whole trip.

We had a great time with Luke.
Ryan spent the whole time making sure we were well taken care of.
We have very fond memories of this trip.
We are really sad to leave.:( That makes it a good trip. :)
We love you all.

I don't get why!

Just a quick P.S. to let you know that the internet connection won't let me upload pictures to the blog. But Ryan showed me how to make a facebook album of the photos and the connection is fine with that. So pictures are on facebook. I hope you enjoy them.

LYL!

Coney Island Hot Dogs

Today will be a simple little blog. Because of tiredness (mine) we had a late morning. Ryan and Dan took a little walk about noon. Actually Dan put on his running gear and they went across the Manhattan Bridge and back. Ryan took his scooter and zipped along side. Dan took several pictures of the view, and of Ryans Apt. If you look hard enough in the picture you can see my arm in the window. Six floors up and the second building from the right.

We left for a late lunch in one of Ryans favorite places to eat, "Tasty Hand Pulled Noodle". Yum!

A little walk to the subway and we took the train out to Coney Island. We were a little later than we thought we would be today and the ride is more than half an hour long. Just before our stop a guy on the train started to talk to Dan and Ryan and said he wouldn't be out there after dark. We didn't think it looked bad, but we didn't hang around much either.

We had dinner at "Nathans'", THE place for hotdogs on the Boardwalk and took the train home.

This is the earliest evening we have had this whole trip. Ryan says we are wearing him out, but he can rest next week when we are home. That is what we are planning to do.

Love you all!!!!!!!

Wednesday Post Disclaimer

OK... so the disclaimer is this. After a long, long day I came back and worked a long time on the blog, because that was my goal-to blog daily, and there were some technical problems.

OK....so I don't always know what I am doing so much that is maybe wasn't the computer lacking technical skills....but me. Either way it was, I lost last nights blog and said too bad at 1:15 in the morning and went to bed. So this blog is going to be written as if it were last night. Sooooo.....



Today we got up and said goodbye to Luke who is going to Myrtle Beach to visit with his cute little wife. Whom he misses. I am glad he gets a break. He has been so generous and gracious letting us stay with him in his one bedroom apartment and house in the country. We feel like family after this great visit.



After getting ready to go and having a bite to eat we hit the road and took a train (subway, both terms are interchanged and mean the same thing here)to Grand Central Station. It is a magnificent building. There is a domed roof and beautiful white marble arches and stairways. Everything you have seen in the movies and then some. It began operating in 1871, and today half a million (yep...500,000) commuters a day, still use these trains to commute in and out of NYC.



We stopped in the Oyster Bar and Restaurant for a bite because it is mentioned in so many books and movies. It is the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the station. Ryan had Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon instead of ham. Dan had New England Clam Chowder with fresh rolls and biscuit. And I had Oysters (of course in an oyster bar) Rockefeller. We argued about who had the best lunch (I won even though they still won't admit it).



We headed out along 42nd. street and walked to the Guggenheim Museum. It is so interesting looking. Built with a big spiral on one side that is the balconies on the inside that go from floor to floor. What is there on display you may ask??? Why I will tell you, "Art in France, Italy, and Germany 1918-1936". As exciting as that sounded we did not go into the museum but spent a few minutes in the lobby and looking around the museum store..



Ryan had gone ahead, while we were exploring, to work out a little with weights (two 8 lb. dumbells--which he carried with him in his backpack all day long) and a brisk walk around the Lake in Central Park. We met up and wandered along the paths south ward past the Turtle Pond till we reached the Museum of Natural History (think of "Night in the Museum").



It was fabulous! We stoked up with a quick dessert in the cafe and headed into the tiny bit of it we could cover in 2 hours before closing. If we make it back I would definitely plan to spend most of a day there at least.The museum covers 4 square city blocks and there are 4 floors to it, so you see that many hours could be spent wandering around. We saw maybe 5% of what was there.



There was a subway stop right in the museum that we used to get to Times Square where we stopped at TKTS for tickets to another show and bought tickets for Promises, Promises.



We stopped for another quick bite in a Europa Deli before the show. Ryan ordered a Pasta Alfredo. I had Penne with Putenesca, (I was afraid when I saw how many anchovies they added to it--and yet I ate it all!). And Dan had a Turkey sandwich with chips.



We saw the theatre on the next street where David Letterman tapes the Late Show and next time (you see how I am already thinking-eh?) we will try to get tickets to a taping there.



The show was a musical adaptation of the movie "The Apartment" (which was adapted from the play by Neil Simon) with Jack Lemon, Shirley McLain, and Fred McMurray. This one had Sean Hayes (Just Jack from Will and Grace) and Kristin Chenoweth as the leads with Tony Goldwyn (the bad friend from Ghost) and Molly Shannon in a great part in the second act. The play was funny, well done, and I would totally recommend it to anyone getting a chance to see it. After the play we bought a poster with everyones signature on it as a souvinir.



Another craZy NYC cab ride and we were back in the apartment. Did any of you wonder about the weights Ryan carried around all day in his backpack? We went in and out of a couple of bag searches during the day and no-one even said anything about his having them in there. He says his neck feels way better after the workout, but his shoulders are pretty tired.



I hope you are enjoying this update, even though pictures won't upload through this connection.



We love you all!

The Bronx is up and the Battery's down.

And today I think we walked most of it.
Not really, the Bronx is north of Manhattan and you cross water to get to it. But the Battery is South Manhattan and close to Chinatown.
When we left this morning we walked along the East River to Southport. It is the place where the ferries to Staten Island is and a lot of shopping and boardwalk activities are.
We took the Staten Island Ferry ....to, of course.....Staten Island. It was fun going past the Statue of Liberty and taking pictures. It was a beautiful day and we had some incredible views of Manhattan, Jersey City, and Staten Island.
After the Ferry Ride we walked along the water through Battery Park. We saw a statue commemorating the Merchant Marines, a World War 2 Memorial, and the Castle Clinton Museum is where immigrants used to come into New York and before that it was a battery where over 100 cannon used to protect the harbor.
We walked up to the financial district and saw the bronze bull. Saw the stock exchange, and Ground Zero. And we went through St. Paul's Church where George Washington worshipped. It was also the major place of support for the people that worked in the 9-11 collapse of the Twin Towers. There were pictures of the event there. A touching place to visit.
We walked to the Bridge Cafe to have a late lunch. It is the oldest restaurant still serving food. Built in the 1760's it has a long history and has had many different businesses there, including a brothel, a boarding house and the restaurant. It it also supposed to be haunted. Many people have been involved in paranormal events and tell about it. It is a location Luke and Ryan are working on for the Haunted New York Tours.
We took a short break at the apartment to rest and I was exhausted! I had a faceplant on the bed and didn't move for an hour. Having fun is hard, hard, work!
We picked up tickets to a play, off Broadway, called The Fantastics. It was interesting. It was in the Jerry Orbach theatre that is very small, the seats were in a u shape so the stage area was between the side audience. And the actors would come out into the audience in the aisles and perform or talk to us. It was not something I envision coming to the 5th, but it was interesting and fun to see.
A quick cab ride home, a little sandwich for dinner, a blog and I am going to get ready for bed. We will have another fun filled day tomorrow.
Love you and miss you all.

Travel Day: CT to NY

Another easy morning in the countryside. We slept in until about 8:30. Luke didn't get up until after 11:00. We showered, had breakfast (meat loaf and potatoes) and packed to travel back to New York City. It took us awhile to clean and get ready to go, but we were able to leave by about 1:30. Ryan had ordered us tickets online to the NBC Studios Tour, and we needed to be there by 5:00. It normally takes 2 to 2 1/2 hours to drive back to the city, but we made a couple of stops along the way.

We arrived back at Luke's apartment at 4:35...only 25 minutes to unpack the car, go to the bathroom, walk several blocks to the subway, take the train to the Rockefeller Center, and walk to the NBC Studios from the subway station. We almost made it on time...only 15 minutes late, but the tour hadn't started yet. We were last in line, but we got on the tour.

It was an interesting tour. We sat through a brief film history of NBC. We saw clips of several shows that had been filmed there. Then we had to go through security, similar to airport security. We had to give up all food and drink and "all weapons". At the end of the tour, they returned all weapons...but not the food and drink...only in New York. We visited several studio sets; including The Today Show, Dr. Oz, Sunday Night Football, Saturday Night Live, etc. A lot of NBC shows are now being taped in Los Angeles.

After the tour, we headed back to Luke's apartment for meat loaf sandwiches. Ryan and Luke headed back out to scout for shooting locations for a new tour centered around "haunted areas of NYC". They are excited about offering this as an option to people visiting NYC. It will be a night tour of city places with a haunted history, with Ryan showing video images on buildings, in ally ways, etc. If they are not back in five hours, we are to go looking for them...fat chance!

Nicolle and I just read, did email and went to bed early. We have a whole list of things to do, places to see, and food to eat, to be done in the next four days. We will be busy and need our rest.

Love you all and wish you could all be with us.

Lazy Country Sunday

Today is an easy blog.
We got up late, had a little eggs marinara for lunch took a nap, ran into town to see "Hereafter" with Matt Damon, had a little leftover dinner, get ready for bed.
That is pretty much all there is to today.
Luke kept the fire going, it is so nice to lay on the couch and watch the fire burn. He also did a couple of little projects around the cabin. Ryan helped a bit, but mostly we enjoyed watching him work things out and finish on his own.
For those of you that would like me to have an opinion on the show--I won't say much so you can make up your own minds. It wasn't what I expected to see from the commercials.
Dan and Ryan did a couple of loads of wash so we have clean clothes for next week.
Luke is doing his wash now.
Pretty much that is it. A great, lazy country Sunday.
Love you all!

Out in the country, Oct. 23

Another great day in the country.
We are having such a great time hanging around in Connecticut. After a slow morning we got to meet the next door neighbors, Artie and Joan. Joans' brother used to live in this house and she always asks "What are you doing to Franks house now?" A few days ago she said to Luke, "I went to the cemetery and told Frank everything you been doing to his house." They were fun to meet and fun to hear about.
After we went into Falls Village for the Autumn Festival. They close the block or two of mainstreet and have a scarecrow contest. It was great to see some of the imagination of the contestants. Dans favorite was a post with a scarecrow hanging on sticking out sideways and it was titled "Gone With the Wind"
Ryans favorite was a scarecrow that was kind of a wood skeleton dressed in leather pants and vest, it had a cowskull head and the arms had these great peacock and pheasant feathers hanging from it.
My favorite was a spider made out of pvc piping that was so big you could walk under the bend in its legs and there was something in it that when you touched it's head it would vibrate. It was great!
There was a booksale, an antique store/general store and a band playing bluegrass music outside.
After that we took a scenic drive looking at different properties and scenic areas and drove to Millerton . It is a very cute little village that had some very interesting stores in it. A florist shop that had some great orchids and really different things for sale. A couple art stores, and antique stores. It was pretty walking up and down the street.
We stopped at a little lake that Luke and his family used to go swimming at called Lake Wononscopomuc. Honestly!!!! I took a picture of the sign to make sure I got that one right. But the pictures of the trees and the lake are beautiful. I hope I can upload them when I get home.
A quick stop at the grocery store and home to fix dinner. Friends of Ryan and Lukes' came over for dinner with their two children.
Carl is the dad and is a mason and did the stone work for the house. He is helping redo some of the foundation, and last winter put in an enormous rock fireplace to keep this place toasty.
Carls wife is Laura and she was so nice and very fun to visit with. And the kids were Lusanna, girl-9 years old and Kneeland , boy-7 years old. It was an entertaining evening and we talked till about 10:30.
Now we are wrapping things up and getting ready for bed.
We are having a great time and miss you all.

New York State, Oct. 22

Today we had a quiet morning in the apartment in Chinatown. About noon Luke and Dan were doing a quick Financial District tour and I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with them. Sooooo Ryan and I did a little more walking around Chinatown. We walked around a few new blocks, went down the street that sells jewelry, always fun to browse around, had a recommendation for a new place to eat lunch (which we had and it was good), and we picked up some fruits and vegetables to bring up to Lukes place in the country.
We left the city about 2:30 and drove about 2 1/2 hours (not including the rest stop we took for hamburgers in a little delicious place Luke has been coming to with his family since he was little) northeast to Connecticut to spend the weekend in Luke and Ambers weekend home here in Falls Village. They found a little building that was built in 1760 and was originally a barn or stable during the revolutionary war, then later, a one room schoolhouse. It had been changed and changed hands many times until the remodeling done recently. Ryan flew out last year to help with it and it has turned out so cute. There are still a few plans yet in the works, but for now it is a cozy place with lots of grass around it and place to play.
We made sure the fire was going inside and headed out for a few more groceries for the weekend. We had a little dinner of tuna sandwiches and chips, sliced dragonfruit and asian pears we picked up in Chinatown this morning.

Dan and Luke are very involved in the 6th game of the Major League Playoffs between the Yankees and Texas Rangers. So far it is not looking good for the Yankees but the game is only half over, so there is still hope (for Luke).
I am going to go get ready for bed and have an earlier evening. I'll let the boys finish watching the game on their own.
Love and miss you all!
Good night my darlings.
Nic and Dan
P.S. Just a little mention about driving through the countryside on the way out here. Once we were out of the city and you could see the gorgeous countryside it dawned on us there was so much more to New York State than the City of New York. There are great roaming landscaped homes. Beautiful farms, horses and fields. Almost every property is so neatly kept and maintained.
And the colors!!!! The beautiful changing colors of the trees made it seem like we were driving into a frozen sunset. And the light in the evening only made it even more intense. Bright flashes of color as we drove by and the golden light of evening made it a moment to remember.

NYC Day Three,

Another great day for us here in the land of many contrasts.
Besides all of the different areas (Little Italy, China Town, SoHo, and the many others) There is also a great difference in the way the city looks, the way the people act, and the things you can do. It is interesting just sitting around and looking at the people. People hanging around, busy people, street venders, food venders, shop keepers, police people, and so many others that are out and about in this moving city.
Ryan went into the office about 11 and he had a lunch meeting so Dan and I had planned to go to the Temple today. We started out late, (mostly because I couldn't get out of bed this morning) and once we were ready we called the cab company Ry said to and it pulled up just as we hit the street. The cab took us around the upper East Side and through Central Park to the upper West Side and onto Columbus street where the temple is.
Yup....just in the middle of a very nice business area, with offices on the other side of two of the walls. Very interesting. Very beautiful. Very small. What a nice time we had. Even though there were only 5 people in our session. Really? Millions of people on this little island and only 5 in a session in the middle of the day? And I don't think either of the other two ladies had been there before either because they each asked me questions about it.
After our Temple session, we walked into Nick and Tony's Cafe for a little bite. We had a little bite and two diet drinks and the tab was 48 dollars. Again I have to say REALLY???? I can't believe how expensive everything is. I may have to cut back on the eating. But what fun is that? We talked about a $5 sandwich and Ryan doesn't think we could even find that price on the whole island.
After our snack we walked down Columbus and met Ryan in Columbus Circle. A short subway ride and we were back in the Times Square area to get tickets to a show for tonight.
We got great seats to the Adams Family. It was very funny, and we had a great time. The stars were Nathan Lane as Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth(the woman that played Lillith on Frazier) as Morticia. What fun to see something with great Stars in it. We are talking about a couple of other possabilities for next week.
A subway ride home with a transfer, and Ryan ran to the deli for sandwiches for dinner before bed. And it is late again tonight for us. Ryan says we are wearing him out. But this is too good an opportunity to see the city and we want to see as much as possible.
We love and miss you.
Happy Birthday again Josh.
Dan and Nic

NYC Day Two, Oct. 21, '10

We had another great, fun-filled day in the Big Apple today.

We got up at a reasonable hour and had breakfast, visited, got ready, and Luke and Ryan did a little business. Then we hit the streets and started a tour of the West Side by walking through this great Chinatown area to get to the office. We met a couple of the other tour guides, they all seemed very nice, and had an informal tour from Luke as we strolled along the streets. And of course we stopped and had a little lunch in a great place in Chinatown. We ordered a dish called Soup-filled Dumplings. I don't know how they did it but they came in a bamboo steamer and were not in liquid. The soup was in the inside of them with pieces of pork. Delicious!

It seems that almost every nook and corner of this island has some sort of history to it and Luke knows them all.

From China town we walked into Little Italy. Where we Luke bought us a couple of the best pastries I've had and we sampled as we walked along. We went into a bar that many scenes of the Soprano's was shot. Where there was real Mafia history. And there were so many stories as we walked we would never remember them.

From Little Italy we wandered into SoHo, and from there into Greenwich Village. Walking, walking and walking mixed in with the talking. We took the subway to the Bronx where we got to go to game 5 of the MLB play-offs with the Yankees and the Texas Rangers. We were so squished into the subway that I have a couple of new best friends we were so close. And when it rolled and rocked, it didn't matter because we were so packed in that there was no room to fall.

Yankee Stadium was so much fun! Enormous! And it was interesting to be there and get some of the flavor of intense fans being there to cheer on their team. (Also we had a little flavor of sausage dogs in the stadium.)

Ryan said that on Monday night when he and Luke left the game after a very downheartening loss it was a very subdued crowd to be in. Tonight with a win everyone was so excited and happy. I am so glad we went.

After the game we met a coupld of their friends in a little place on the west side by Central Park and visited and had a little dinner.

I love to be on vacation. I don't need to make a plan to go from where to where. I just want to know where we are going from food to food!

Ahhhhh, this is the good life!

I just want to let you all know I love taking the subway. There is something about the smell of the hot engines, dust, metal, and the train rushing along that makes me feel like life is a great adventure. Maybe it is because the only times I have taken them, we have been on great adventures. I am glad I have a few more opportunities to use them before we have to leave this amazing, busy city.

I love you and miss you all!

New York City Sept, 20 2010

Hello our friends and family.
We made it to New York safe and sound. We have had our first trip to Manhattan in a cab, met Ryan on a street corner, gone to a concert a friend from Celines show put together, took the train to Times Square, had dinner at the HardRock Cafe, walked the streets looking around like tourists, and finally had a subway ride back to Chinatown to the apartment Luke and Ryan are so kindly sharing with us.
We have had a crazy couple of weeks getting ready to get here, and are so happy to have arrived and been able to enjoy as much as we have in one day.
Pictures will follow, but I wanted to get something posted before we went to bed tonight.
We love you and wish you could be here with us.
Goodnight my dears.....
Dan and Nic

The End of the Trip

Hello my dears,

Today was a quiet end to a marvelous trip.

We got up in Spokane and visited the Temple there. It is one of the small ones and is beautiful. They all have such a peaceful feeling and individual beauty. Even though it was much like other small temples we have been to, it had little differences also. One of the most gorgeous chandeliers I have ever seen. I loved it.

We changed clothes in the Stake Center and hit the road.

The road between here and Spokane is a nice drive. We stopped for lunch in Ritzville, stopped at the Thorpe fruit stand, stopped to see the Franklin family on the ridge, and drove into the driveway just as our odometer turned 2,290 miles.

This was a chance for a wonderful road trip, and I am glad Dan and I took advantage of the opportunity. I will post some of the pictures tomorrow.

We are going to gear up now and be ready for everyone to gather together and celebrate on the 4th.

Goodby, goodnight, we love you all!

Dan and Nic

ALAS AND ALACK, WE ARE ON OUR WAY BACK!

Hello my darlings,

We are on our way home!
It is so surprising how quickly two weeks fly by. Each day full of adventure. At the beginning of the trip two weeks seemed to stretch out so far. Nope! Here we are on the way home again and time has zipped by.

We got up this morning and ordered yummy room service while we packed. Dan took a few more pictures, some of them of the area where they filmed River of No Return with Marilyn Monroe and Robert Mitchum. We will need to rent it to watch. There is still some foundation of a little cabin left that was supposed to be her dressing room.

Afte breakfast we called the bellman, payed the bill, loaded the car, and bing, bang, boom--we are on the road again. We meandered around by Lake Louise and cut through the forest going west through a few little tiny towns. There are a couple of beautiful lakes on this side of the divide.

At the border crossing it only took 12 minutes to drive through and voila, my navigator worked again. And instead of moose, elk or bear signs on the road, we saw beware of cow signs. Sigh!

We drove through to Bonners Ferry in Idaho and stopped for dinner. We ate in a little local diner, splurged on fattening food one more time, because technically we are still on vacation. After dinner we continued on to Spokane and my navigator went on the fritz and didn't work anymore. Wouldn't you know it would happen.

It was odd reading miles on the spedometer instead of kilometers, but I am sure I will get used to it again by the time we get home.

We got to our hotel and had driven just over 8 hours. Since we were still a little sore from the horseback ride we went for a walk around the neighborhood to warm our aching selves up and get the blood flowing. At one stop when it took me a long time to get out of the car Dan asked what was wrong? I could only answer that my get-a-long must be broke.

It must have been in the eighties here today, because at 8 pm. it was still quite warm. I think the warmest the weather had been on the whole trip.

We are going to get to bed early tonight, tomorrow is our last leg of the trip.
We love you all and can't wait to see you.
Dan and Nic

I'm So Sad to Leave This Place Blues

OK, loved ones all.
Today was our last day in Banff. This hotel is amazing! A Castle on the mountain, and people taking care of us, feeding us, planning our activities, handling all the help, room maids, magicly apearing clean linens. We loved being here!

I just read that over again and it kinda sounds like a good retirement home. Maybe it won't be too bad moving in somewhere after all.

We had a full day of activities. Some of the people went home today so the few that qualified to stay one more day had some special treats. After breakfast we got on a bus and went to the ski lift at Lake Louise. It is a glacer melt lake high in the mountains and to say it is a gem does not cover how beautiful it is. From the top of the ski lift you could see this beautiful little aqua colored lake. And the next stop was to go to Lake Louise. There is a majestic hotel there also, and we were able to go canoeing on the lake for 40 minutes. Then on to lunch, catered in the hotel for about 40 or so of us. We were in a small dining room that had views out on the lawns and across the lake.

After lunch you will never guess what we did next----wait for it----Dan and I went horse back riding. For 90 minutes we were at the mercy of the horse in front, the line wranglers, and the horse under us. Horses are big, and contrary to what some people told us, they had opinions about what is going on around them. You could see it in their faces when we got there. They must have been thinking, "Oh Crap--There goes my peaceful afternoon". Also there was some--"What noisy humans we have to deal with!"

I got to ride Spot. Who was an old horse who didn't like to be crowded, didn't like going down hill, and wanted to eat and drink several times on the trail. Both which are no no's. If someone got to close behind him he would lay back his ears, start to complain, and if they didn't get back away-he would start to kick. Did I say before horses are big?

I managed to have Dan ride behind me. He seemed to have had no trouble with his horse, he can't even remember his name. Every time my horse got grumpy I would say "are you too close?" Sometimes the answer was yes. At one point the trail wrangler in the middle told Dan to keep his horse closer and I said absolutely not!

It was a gorgeous ride, and we went clear around to the other end of the lake, by the mountain with a glacier on it before we turned around. I am really glad we went. Even though there are a couple of tender places on me that may give me a little trouble tomorrow.

We saw a Grizzly bear on the side of the road leaving Lake Louise. The guide on our bus said that in all of his 15 years of living in Banff this sighting was definately one of the top three best sights. They are beautiful creatures.

We also saw 3 moose for the first time. Several people said they would rather come face to face with a bear than a moose. I guess some people had gotten out of their cars to take pictures of the moose and a part ranger came pretty quickly and had them move along.

Dinner was great. They do things so fancy when we are out. And the after dinner entertainment today was Jodee Messina. She was so much fun. She said we could make requests and people kept asking her to do these really old songs. She just laughed and did them. I am talking Patsy Cline vintage. What a good sport. After we were able to meet her and have out picture taken with her. She will be in Tacoma at the end of October. We will have to see if we can get there to hear her again.

What a fun few days, what a great time catching up with old friends, and meeting new friends. It will be hard to hit the road again and leave this place, even though I am so looking forward to seeing everyone in a few days!

We love you all and can't wait!
Dan and Nic

Saturday News

Hello my friends and family,

Just like yesterday, Dan got up and went to his meetings. I guess they were even more fun this morning. A group that did about 45 minutes of Frankie Valley numbers, awards, and a wonderful speaker that does nature photography. Still I missed it because I slept in. Oh Well!

At noon Dan and three friends from ING went golfing. Now, the course here is an incredibly beautiful one. No-one has said a single thing is wrong with it that I have heard. One of the interesting rules in the official golf literature here is that when you hit the ball, if you hit an Elk, you may play another ball and take no penalty. The Elk are so plentiful here that at certain times of the year it is hard to get through a whole game without hitting at least one.

I went on the scenic tour of Banff. It was on a short bus and the tour director, Hannah, was german and very funny. She has lived here for 30 years and she was originally on her way to South America, she just never moved on from here. She said that when her kids were going to school she made a deal with them. If the temperature outside was less than 20 below, she would give them a ride to school and they wouldn't have to go and wait for the bus. Only she would get up early and put her hands on the thermometer so it wouldn't ever read less than 20. It took a few years for the kids to figure out what she was doing. She didn't want to raise her kids to be wussies. There was one point last winter that with the wind chill factor the temperature reached 50 below. That is COLD. It takes less than 1 minute for skin to freeze at that temperature.

We had many photo ops today, several little walking stops, a great continuing nature lesson, and an incredible ride on a gondola to the top of a mountain. We were at a view point at Lake Minetonka and a little group of Big Horn sheep just meandered on by. Not even concerned that people and cars were so close. They wander on the road and cars just stop. At the end of the trip we had a chance to go into town for a whole hour. It was so much like the down town of Jackson Hole. Little shope and galleries, lots of junk, and a few treasures.

Dinner was a dress affair tonight and the first group that performed for us after dinner was "Little River Band" I didn't recognise them, but when they played I knew a couple of their songs. After the first group they bring in more of a dance type band and this group was so cute and perky. From England, they were "The Tzars".
Too bad the group was a pretty big dud by that time. Dan and I left after 4 or 5 songs and are getting ready for tomorrow.

We love you and miss you all.
Goodnight all,
Dan and Nic

Western Theme Day--June 25th

This morning Dan got up early to go to the business part of the meetings and he reports that it was a very good meeting. The keynote speaker was a guy that climbed Mt. Everest and was a great speaker and had a good message. I am sad I missed him. But not sad enough to get up in time to go to the meetings.

This morning I slept in, listened to the rest of an audio book while I did a little organizing in the room, took a long shower, and got ready for the day.

We went to the buffet lunch (food as always is very good at these events and it is hard to turn anything down). And after lunch Dan and I went fly fishing. We were supposed to be on a river but they said it was too full and so we went to a private lake about half hour away. It was gorgeous (of course) and we piled into the pickup trucks of the guides and headed out. No One Caught Anything! I heard someone got a nibble, but I think that they got caught on a weed.

We had an interesting lesson and it was fun to learn how to cast the line out so far. You can feel the line slide out as you whip it back and forth. Usually, if it is going right that is, if the wind is blowing and you lose control---you hook yourself in the butt, like I did. Or you hook the owner of the company in the butt, like one of the ladies in our group did. Either way they were the only two catches we had all day.

For dinner they put us on busses and we drove out to a place that had a converted horse arena. It was roofed over and had about the biggest firepit I have ever seen in the middle of it. We had roasted beef, beans, salad, baked potatoes, grilled veggies and pie and ice cream for dessert.

The entertainment for the evening was two guys that sang country, and there was a break while the Canadian Western Stunt Fighters put on a show and a fight and a gunfight. It was a little graphic, and the bad guys kept trying to hide behind people from our group. And there was more singing. Dan and I have never closed down a function before, but we stayed to the end today, and rode the last bus home.

Tired and still full, we bid you all goodnight!!
Happy Birthday Angie!
Dan and Nic

Thursday June 24,

We finally made it to Banff…8 days after we left home. What a beautiful place!! But I get ahead of myself. We got up this morning, packed, loaded the car, and were on the road by 9:00 am. Rather than take the more direct route; i.e. the boring freeway, we decided to take the scenic route…a system of 2 lane roads called the Cowboy Trail. We had a map, but every time we turned on the navigator, it kept trying to direct us back to the freeway. As we ignored its directions, it kept saying “recalculating” and then it would try to take us back to the main roads again…how boring.

We made our way following the map, and the navigator finally quit trying to redirect us and let us pick our way...first Hyway 5, then Hyway 6, then Hyway 3, then Route 561, then Hyway 40 to Route 1 into Banff. Six hours...and many lakes, farms, small towns, a mountain pass with snow AND big horn sheep on the side of the road...and we arrived. What a gorgeous drive. We stopped and took many pictures, but it is hard to capture the majesty of the mountains and lakes with a small camera.

When we arrived at our hotel in Banff, it was another spectacular sight. It is literally a castle built into the side of a mountain. We have a gorgeous view from our room as we look down on a raging river and up at several snow-capped mountain peaks.

After renewing several friendships with ING people during a welcoming reception we had a wonderful dinner. The before dinner activity was a chance to hold and have your picture taaken with several endangered birds. One was a blind golden eagle. Another that I held was a great horned owl. It was a fun thing to do. The birds were so beautiful. The dinner was set up with stations of different kinds of food and you could wander and have some of whatever you wanted. I had bites of lamb, salmon (which was barbecued and sweet and was called indian candy) Caribou, moose liver pate', and smoked salmon. It was delicious.

After dinner we went for a walk with some friends and hiked down to Bow Falls where we came upon two beautiful elk grazing right next to the trail. Unfortunately our camera had no battery left and we missed getting any pictures of them. We waited until lthey were done eating and moved on because they were there first and their antlers were bigger than ours. When we got back to the hotel the rest of our group went into the bar to finish celebrating the evening, and Dan and I came to our room to settle in for the night. Dan has meetings in the morning and we will have tons of story to add tomorrow night.

Well that is our story for the today, my dears.
Everyone have a good night.
From the ma and pa.

Oh, what a cute town Cardston is!

Here we are in Cardston, Alberta. The weather today was beautiful and we have had a busy day again. I will need to come home to rest, cause so far on this trip we haven't done alot of that.

Driving around Cardston reminded Dan of Preston, Idaho alot. The Stake Center, right across the street from the Temple, is almost exactly the same as the church building in Grace. And the rolling farmland and pastures are just like it was when we were driving home to Idaho for weekends from Utah State Univ.

Cardston is a little Mormon town settled in 1887 by Charles O. Card. He brought 11 mormon families with him from Logan, Utah to form a small community in the hopes that the Canadian government would allow them to continue living as poligamists. The government said no but they stayed anyway and helped develop the region. He brought only his 4th wife with him to Canada, and she was the daughter of Brigham Young. Imagine leaving as a prominent citizen with wealth and luxuries and moving into a little (very little!) cabin in the wilderness with your family of four. Not the life for the faint of heart.

They turned his original house into a museum, which we saw this morning. The whole downtown is only about 6 blocks long and we walked to the Cards home and had breakfast and walked back.

After breakfast we went to the Carriage Museum. Oh, I know what some of you are thinking! Carriages????? But it was very fun and interesting also. Just to give you a couple of highlights:

It is the largest collection of carriages in North America.
They repair or restore carriages for people from all over both countries.
They have some that have quite interesting personal histories. (like the queen rode in two different ones on a couple of occasions)
And we sat in a replica of a stage coach that was used to film Shanghai Noon. (I sat where Jackie Chan sat!)

Fun stuff huh?

After that adventure we stopped at the grocery store and came back to the hotel to get ready for a Temple Session.

The Cardston Temple was incredibly beautiful and very unique. They used wood for the interior from all over the world. And when they redid the front of it to enclose a little pond, someone had stored enough of the original granite so that the whole new edition could be built out of the same stone. The other thing I have to say about it is it has more stairs you need to climb up and down on than any where else we have been. What a workout.

When we went outside to take pictures of the outside, a gentleman in the visitors center told us about owls that have made homes high up in the window ledges of the temople and have raised two sets of babies up there. They are enormous, Horned Owls. The story went that the Temple was having a problem with pidgeons and the people were praying for a solution to the problem and the owls showed up and nested. Owls scare away any other birds and prey on local rodents and small animals in the vicinity. A win, win situation for all (except for the pidgeons and the rodents).

This evening we are organizing our clothes again. Condensing our bags (we brought so many because we were in the car and had the room). And doing laundry. OK Dan did two loads of laundry while I checked blogspots, facebook, e-mail and did this blog. Hopefully we will get to bed at a decent hour(too late...it is almost midnight) and get some good sleep cause tomorrow will be another busy day!

Love and Kisses to all, squishes to the babies, and a big good night!
Dan and Nic

The Trip to Cardston

This morning we got up and got ready to go to the Edmonton, Alberta Temple. We needed to be packed and checked out before we left the hotel so we were busy for a couple of hours.

The temple is the smallest one we have ever been in. The dressing rooms so small we had to wait in the lobby until there was room for us to change. It was very beautiful on the inside though. We really loved it.

And after getting in the stake center next door to change into driving clothes, we had a little snack of apples and cheese and off we went. We had a little rocky start because we headed off in the wrong direction. But once we got the navigator up and running we did fine.

The drive took us about 6 hours and we stopped once to eat and a couple of rest stops. The weather looked frightening for most of the afternoon. The eastern sky was so black and stormy looking. We only drove through rain a couple of short times. I was worried about driving all day long in the rain because that was the forecast, but what do they know?

When we got to Cardston about 8 p.m. it was a gorgeous evening. Sunny and beautiful. Cardston is a very small town. About the same size as Preston, Idaho. And we have tomorrow to do our sight seeing, visit a couple of historic sights, organize our clothes and do laundry, and visit the Temple here.

Going to be a busy day!

Love you all,

Dan And Nic (Mom and Dad)

Our Day at "The" Mall

I didn't think that we would spend the whole day at the mall in Edmonton. Honestly, how long do I usually hang around at the mall at home? Not much! Well today we went to the mall and walked for the first 50 minutes for exercise. What a fool I was for suggesting that dumb idea. After that I wanted to pick up a couple of things and by the time I had found a couple of stores and had done a little shopping I was about ready to drop. If you walk all the way around factoria mall, all the little hallways included, it is half a mile long. This mall has to be at least 20 times that, or more. Dan and I came back to the hotel to rest for a couple of hours before we went back for dinner.

It was pretty fun though. Today we had lunch in one of the two food courts, I had Indian food and Dan had Taco Time. And for dinner we ate at Jungle Jims. Not as good as the food we ate yesterday, but it was okay.

Here is some West Emonton Mall Trivia:

It is the world's largest shopping and amusement complex, encompassing 483,000 square meters (5.3 million square feet)--that's equivalent to 115 football fields.

West Edmonton Mall has:

Over 800 stores--including a large Lululemon store with a fantastic new manager
Over 100 resturants and places to eat
58 entrances
21 movie screens, including an imax theatre
325,000 light bulbs
Five postal codes
The world's largest parking lot (parking for 20,000 vehicles)
the world's largest indoor amusement park
the world's largest water park, covering five acres and containing 2.7 million gallons of water
The world's largest indoor lake (400 feet long)
The world's tallest indoor bungee jump

West Edmonton Mall Includes:

A 400 room hotel and conference center
A Medical Center
A Dental Center
A Post Office
An 18-hole miniture golf course
A Sealand attraction with live performing seals
Theme Streets; i.e. Bourbon Street with 12 major resturants, Chinatown including a Far East market, Europa Boulevard resembling an old European city, and two Main Streets
An NHL-sized ice rink, where the Edmonton Oilers (a professional hockey team) practice
A Casino
A bowling alley
Scooter Rentals for those who don't want to walk

West Edmonton Mall:

Cost over $1 billion to construct
Employs 23,500 people
Uses the same amont of electric power as a city of 50,000
Attracts 22 million people a year (over 60,000 per day)

All of the above is under one roof. Wow!
Now maybe the need for a nap halfway through the day makes more sense.

The weather was interesting today. In the morning it was very sunny and warm, later on in the day a storm system blew in and brought a couple of funnel clouds on the other side of Edmonton. Yikes! Tornadoes in Canada, Who Knew?

Tomorrow, after going to the Edmonton Temple, we will be driving into the south of Alberta where there has been a ton of rain and problems with flooding. I don't know how close we will be to the flooding. I think it is in the next town over, but the weather is supposed to be rain for the next few days. We will see how it goes.

Not alot of action to report for today(except for alot of walking, but we will be on the road again tomorrow and will let you all know how it goes.

Miss you all,
Dan and Nic

Sunday Flies By

We have had a very hectic Sunday. Because I wouldn't let Dan set an alarm for this morning---we overslept. Yes, for all you doubters out there, Dan slept until 8:45 this morning and woke in a panic and a rush. We had to be checked out, packed, dressed and ready for church by 9:30. Even though I said it would be a piece of cake, there was continued rushing and panicing mode. We made it in plenty of time, we were at least 9 minutes early for the meeting and beat everyone but the missionaries and the Branch Presidents family there.

The meeting was fun, there were only 36 people there in total, including 5 visitors,2 missionaries, and the babies. The branch had only one young man who was absent, 3 young women, and about 8 in the primary. In RS. there were 3 visitors and only 4 other ladies there, including the teacher and president. It was quite an experience to paarticipate in such a small group.

The missionaries were fun also, one was from Kaysville, Utah, and the other one was from Ogden. The one from Ogden is going home on Wednesday and was one of the speakers in Sacrament meeting. He did a good job. Dan said this same missionary gave both the opening and the closing prayer in priesthood meeting (because he was going home). Very funny to visit with them.

After church we changed clothes in the church bathroom and hit the road again. We headed towards Edmonton, Alberta. We thought it would take about 4 hours, but we made it in just over 2 1/2. We found our hotel and walked across the street to the big mall for dinner. All the shops were closed, (I wasn't going to go shopping on Sunday!) but we were starved so we had dinner in a place called Moxie's.

After dinner we walked the mall briskly to find lulu and check out the lay of the land for tomorrow, and after about 50 minutes we had only covered about 2/3 of it. There is alot to see. And we will have the whole day tomorrow to check it out.

After the mall we took a practice drive to the Alberta Temple. I am glad we did cause it isn't very far away, but it could be a little tricky with regular business traffic on the streets. We stopped and took pictures because the weather was beautiful and you can't take for granted that Tues. will be nice.

Since we got back we have just relaxed and watched a little TV. Dan is reading one of the several books he needs to read for business. But as a treat for Fathers Day I bought him a copy of "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest". He is very excited to start reading it when he has more business reading done. I don't know if I mentioned the fact that I downloaded the book to my I pod on Wed. evening after we got to Langley, and had finished the book Fri. morning before we left the hotel. It was very good! I loved the characters, and the suspense.

Well that is it for today.
Love you, miss you!
Nic and Dan

Saturday News

This morning we got up in our beautiful B&B at the base of Mt. Robson and bid farewell to the sight of the great mountain. The information booklet said that the mountain is clear of clouds only 11 or 12 days a year. We were fortunate enough to have two of them.

We drove through Jasper National Forest and stopped in the town of Jasper. It was so cute. All a big tourist trap, but beautiful. After Jasper we went to see Lake Maligne. It is so beautiful and a very scenic drive up the canyon. There is a spot you could stop and see where the river was on it's way to making a mini Grand Canyon. It was so deep, and narrow, and curvy. I know the pictures won't do it justice.

At the end of the road was the lake. It took about an hour to get there but it was so worth it. The mountains around the lake
were just gorgeous. And along a couple of ridges they were lined up in a row and looked almost like a serrated knife. They were so pointy and sharp. We stopped along the way and took plenty of pictures, did a little hiking, and had a little something to eat. So we managed to enjoy many different things today. Not necessarily smelling roses, but there was something in the mountains that smelled so good---we just couldn't track down what it was. Maybe next time we smell it.

We did run into a little rain today, and the mountains smelled so good! All fresh and green. The smell of the wet grass and pine and roads is so good. But as it rains and you are walking along, if it is raining hard enough for puddles to start forming and water to be dripping off the trees--that same amount of water is dropping on the top of your head. If the trees are dripping, so is the water running off eyebrows, ears and necks. It was so cold for a few minutes and we were soaked through. Walking fast doesn't help avoid any wetness. And we were having fun any way.

We are spending the night in Hinton, and it is a small little town. I will just put it like this, the travel book recomended a truck stop for dinner, or the diner in the Holiday Inn. That says it all.

The days are about 17 hours long and even though it is 10:30 here it is still light outside. It looks like a late sunset, with the clouds all pink, and light still coming around the mountains. I really like it this light. So sad that in just 2 days the days start to get shorter already.

Well that is it for today. Love you and miss you all.
ma and pa

Friday news

Today was our longest travel day so far, at 420 miles and it will be the longest drive for the trip. We had a great day for traveling. It was beautifully sunny in the morning, we had a little rain going through the mountains. But when we got down to the B&B at the base of Mt. Robsen (13000 feet tall),it was downright balmy at 72•F and we were able to sit on the balcony and on a bench by the river without freezing for quite a while. The scenry has been gorgeous. We are at the base of the highest mtn. In the Canadian Rockies.

While we were driving today I had pulled off the side of the road to let following cars pass me, and Dan said "well I almost had a chance to get out and smell the roses". What cheek he has!

We have been having a great time and will update again tomorrow.

Love you all
nic and dan

Day Two

Today we left Langley and drove into downtown Vancouver so Dan could go to a seminar given by Dan Sullivan, from the Strategic Coach. The drive took almost an hour, twice as long as we thought, because of traffic and construction. The normal things that happen when you decrease three lanes of traffic into one. And on top of that we were driving into the very downtown section of Vancouver that was nuts with traffic and one way roads. And shoppers, tourists, and pedestrians galore. ACK!

The seminar was in a nice hotel and while Dan was there I read, walked around, shopped, and stopped and had lunch at this great Thai place across the street. I had Drunken Spicy Noodles, and it was very good.

After the seminar was over we left the downtown area and drove to Fort Langley. It used to be a real fort and is now a tourist attraction. We stopped in the town area and it was a great little area for tourist walking. Alot of galleries, antique shops, places to eat, bookstores, and even a fabric shop. We did some strolling and shopping,(ok, we both strolled, Dan read a book while I shopped). I found a couple of crocheted lace tablecloths I think will look nice at home when.

We came back to the hotel and Dan watched a game on TV. and worked a little and I kept reading The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest. I am more than halfway done already, it is really good.

Than we had a late dinner next door at a little place called Tim Hortons. They are all over the place and are alot like Starbucks, with sandwiches and doughnuts and soup available also.

Dan is already asleep and snoring, so I am going to say good night for today.
Tomorow will bring another chapter.
Love you all,
Ma and Pa

Canada, oh Canada

Hello my dears and friends,
Today was the first day of our trip and so far we have had a great time. Dan and I managed to leave only an hour later than we planned to and still arrived almost two hours earlier than we needed to. We are going to have to get better at stopping to smell the roses on this trip.

We started out with a little rain, but after a couple of hours it cleared up. Not quite to sunshine, except for about ten minutes, but to decent driving weather.

It was fun watching the navigator as we got closer to the border. Once we made it through, and it only took about 15 minutes, the map simply stopped. No roads, names, or anything. Very weird.

Also we are staying in an area of Langley that is quite commercial. Like a hotel right in the middle of downtown industrial/commercial south Seattle. There are tons of shope and resteraunts to choose from.

We had a 6:30 apt. at the temple and it is only about 10 minutes away from the hotel. It is a beautiful, little Temple and we really enjoyed seeing it. It also has a beautiful font for baptisms. The Asst. Matron was on hand to show us through and was very kind and informative.

After the session was over we stopped at Red Robin to eat dinner. A little different menu than we are used to, but pretty much the same. No tortilla soup though. I had French Onion. Dan had a hamburger.

We are back in our room and planning to leave pretty early tomorrow for your dads seminar in Vancouver.

So, more news tomorrow. We love you and wish every one a Good Night!

A Little Catching Up To Do

I have heard the phrase "it's been a loooooong time since you have updated anything on your blog" so I will start catching up with the current news.
Of course starting at Christmas, where I left off.
Trying to be creative with the picture this year we decided to do an "ugly sweater" picture. The funny story about that is that Dan was so excited and said "Oh I have just the sweater for that picture", and out of his dresser came the sweater he is wearing. Not so funny when he realised I gave him that sweater just a couple of Christmas's ago. I wish I could have captured his expression at that moment.
After the picture we went for the traditional dinner to Red Robin and enjoyed the funny looks and coments we got on the outfits.
Christmas day was Amazing Fun! We had a lazy breakfast and took the morning to open presents. It was fun to have Aaron back home with us. And we are grateful for all the cheer and fun we have together. Wishing more of you were here so we could share the day with everyone.