Last day of school for Dan

June 22, 2007, was Dan's last day of teaching at Evergreen Elementary School. His boss and co-workers had a program at lunch time honoring Dan and several other teachers who were either retiring or moving on after this year. Some of the ladies presented a special, personalized muscical tribute to each of the teachers. Dan was serenaded by "Danny Boy". Therewere props involved and it was lots of fun. Some of the teachers, plus Dan's sister Kathy and her partner Colleen (a retired teacher herself), spent a few hours celebrating the last day of school on the patio at Taylor Towne later that evening.

Not wasting a minute of retirement, Gail dragged him out of bed at 6 am the next day to head out on our first "post-retirement" trip down to Arizona to say good-bye to both our brothers and their extended families before our six month trip overseas. We stopped in Eugene, OR for lunch with Bruce's McCoy family on our way south. It was great to see Art and Peggy and meet Bruce and Jen's nieces and nephew and their Dad and Mom, Doug and Colleen.

We stopped the first night at Redding, CA. then drove on to spend two nights in Yosemite National Park. Just before Yosemite we stopped in San Andreas and Angels Camp, Calaveras County, CA. These are the little towns made famous by Mark Twain and his story about the jumping frog contests. Lots of history there and a great museum.

In Yosemite we rented a "tent" cabin for two nights at Curry's Landing, deep in the Yosemite Valley. It was an unusual experience due to the imminent threat of bears. We couldn't take anything into the soft sided cabin that might have an odor attactive to bears. Think toothpaste, deodorant, sun screen as well as any type of food. We had to keep all that stuff locked into metal bear proof boxes down by the parking lot. That meant a trek down there anytime we needed food or shampoo. Luckily there was a pizza restaurant and a buffet in the little village near our tent since no outdoor cooking was allowed either. We did eat breakfast standing near the bear box each morning.

Yosemite was really amazingly beautiful. We saw El Capitan and Half Dome and as Dan likes to say - we decided NOT to climb either one on this trip.

This morning (Tuesday, June 26) we left Yosemite as we drove east over the park through Tioga Pass. This is the highest point in the California highway system - 9945'. From there we drove east through Death Valley and about four hours later were at the lowest point in the California highway system - (-242)' below sea level. And boy was it hot there - probably 120 degrees. This was actually more comfortable than the last time we visited when our kids were much younger. It was just as hot, but we didn't have any air conditioning in our old Chevy wagonmaster. Our current vehicle doesn't handle 120 degrees very well either, giving us the constant concern about overheating. But it does work off and on - a big improvement.

That evening we hit Las Vegas and checked into Circus Circus for a couple of nights. Wednesday morning we took the Deuce bus down to the far end of the strip and walked our way back in again the 120 degree weather. Dan was determined to gamble a little in each casino.

After dropping $20 in a number of casinos and wandering through his favorite, New York New York, Gail developed a gigantic blister on her foot that forced her to weather her tennies until a new pair of more comfy sandals was purchased in Surprise, AZ. We did NOT hit it big in Las Vegas.

We left Las Vegas on Thursday AM and drove east to Surprise to stay with Gail's brother and sister-in-law, Dale and Carolyn Downing until Sunday. We got to see Jim Olson's new home on the 18th hole at Festival Sun City. He got to move back home a week after we left once the smoke damage was taken care of. He was hit with a utility room fire only a couple of months after moving into his new home in March. His original plan was for us to stay with him this trip but the fire prevented that.

After visiting with the nieces and nephews (Amy and Scott, Hannah and Allison; and Rob and Michele, Bryce and Brodie) we left the Phoenix area after a yummy (and messy) lunch at Jim's restaurant Shane's Rib Shack. We drove north through Jerome and Sedona, AZ on our way up to Flagstaff for the night. That part of AZ is so beautiful with the dramatic red rock formations all around. We decided to cross the Colorado River near the Navajo Bridge Interprative Center. This was the first bridge across the Colorado long ago and the road took us eventually to Mt. Carmel Junction where we spent the night ready to hit Zion National Park the next morning.
This was Dan's first time in Zion and the best part is - it was free. Gail had purchased the senior pass last trip down here in March so all our entrances to the National Parks were free because we're old.

In Zion we parked at the visitor center and rode the shuttle bus up into the Valley for a couple of hikes. This is another beautiful, unique National Park so different from Yosemite and Death Valley. Zion is the middle part in the Grand Staircase - Bryce Canyon formations are the top step with the bottom layer there being the top layer in Zion. Zion's top formation is the second step with its bottom layer being the top layer of the Grand Canyon formations.

That night was stopped in Lehi, UT and the next day was Dan's most memorable event of the whole trip - his first visit to a gigantic Cabela's. This is the outdoor store to top all outdoor stores. We shopped for some travel clothes on sale and spent a couple of hours just wandering around the store. They had several different displays of "stuffed" animals, including one of African animals such as water bufflos, lions, etc. That sort of display isn't for everyone but it was pretty impressive.

Spent the evening of the 4th of July in Idaho Falls, ID and watched their huge fireworks show at a park on the Snake River (along with many thousand others). Before we took off the next day on our way to Salmon, ID we went into the Museum in Idaho Falls to see the national travelling exhibit "Ink and Blood" that was a history of printing and the bible. Saw pieces of the Dead Sea scrolls and lots of historic items relating to the printing of the bible. We drove through Idaho over to the Salmon River through Challis and on to Salmon for the night. The next day we visited the Sacajawea Interprative Center. This was the birthplace of Sacajawea and the history of it was all exciting. Since we've read a lot about the Lewis and Clark expedition, it was pretty exciting to be at the spot where Sacajawea lead them back to her Shoshoni tribe. But the long term story of our government's treatment of that tribe was sad. They were forced off their land and sent over to a reservation in the eastern part of the state at Ft. Hall Reserveation near Pocatello. Another horrible example of greed by the US Government.

We drove from Salmon, ID the next day over Chief Joseph Pass into SW Montana on our way to Victor to visit Dan's uncle and aunt, Ben and Marie Schultes. Each time we've stayed with them over the years has been fun and a lot like sleeping in the middle of a museum. They are the "Antique Sellers" and their beautiful home is filled with antiques in addition to all those for sale in their antique shop nearby.

The next morning found us on the road on our way to visit Jan and Frank Trummel in Spokane.
We got there about 1:00 PM and had a great chance to visit with them and their daughter Sarah and her husband Bob and Anna and Robin. Those little girls are full of life and really cute. Jan and Frank fixed us a delicious dinner and we spent the evening outside on their new patio put in by Frank. We always enjoy spending time with Jan and Frank and hope they will be able to join us in Paris and Switzerland in a couple of months. We're keeping our fingers crossed this will work.

After leaving them we headed north to Deer Lake to say hi to Sandy Summers and her kids out at the summer cabin. We spent the afternoon down at the lake and taking a boat ride around the lake. It was good to spend a little time with the Summers extended family before heading back to Shelton arriving home about 7:00 pm on the 9th of July.

We were gone about two and a half weeks bu it seemed like a long trip. This was just a small warm up for our six month trip starting on August 10. It will be interesting to experience being gone from home for that length of time.