New Orleans and Western Caribbean Cruise (Nov. 29-Dec. 10)

Our most recent adventure took us to New Orleans, where we spent three days before departing on a seven-day western Caribbean cruise.  Of course, any trip to New Orleans is going to include some time in the French Quarter.  This photo is of Jackson Square, which is in the heart of the French Quarter. 

One of the main streets that borders the French Quarter is Canal Street.  It is so-named because it was orginally going to be a canal. 

Also in the French Quarter is the French Market.  Think Seattle's Pike Place Market without the flying fish.

We took a New Orleans city tour that took us to, among other places, one of the city's above ground cemeteries.  I believe this one is St. Louis Cemetery Number 3. 

Our tour also included the Ninth Ward, with was particularly hard hit by Hurricane Katrina.  While some of the damage from Katrina is still apparent, there's been a lot of progress in re-building those hard-hit neighborhoods.  We drove through the New Orleans Habitat Musicians' Village, a Habitat for Humanity project conceived by musicians Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick, Jr., both New Orleans natives.

Actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie also have a project called Make It Right.  I believe this is one of houses that is a part of their project. 

One of the highlights of our New Orleans visit was The National WWII Museum.  The reason it's located in New Orleans has a lot to do with the boat in this photo.  Its proper name is Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP), but it's generally known as a Higgins Boat.  It was designed by Andrew Jackson Higgins and built by Higgins Industries in New Orleans.  The importance of this boat to the war effort was summarized by President Eisenhower, who said "Andrew Jackson Higgins is the man who won the war for us.  Without Higgins designed boats that could land over open beaches, the whole strategy of the war would have to be re-thought."

I can't leave the New Orleans portion of the trip without mentioning the confusing pedestrian crosswalk lights.  I think this pictures demonsrates that quite well.  But it really wasn't much of a problem as everyone ignores the signals.

After our stay in New Orleans, we boarded Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas for a seven-day cruise.  It was our fourth cruise since the summer of 2010, and the Voyager was easily the largest of the ships we've been on.  It holds more than 3,000 passengers, not counting the crew. 

Our first stop was in Falmouth, Jamaica.  Royal Caribbean is building a new port facility at Falmouth, with the first phase opening several months ago.  You can see some of the shops here, with our ship behind them.

We also did a trolley tour that took us outside of the port area.  This is a meat market on one of the commercial streets in Falmouth.

From there, we sailed to Georgetown, Grand Cayman, where there was clearly a lot more wealth than in Jamaica.  And more westernized.  While waiting to leave on a tour bus, we noticed a Dairy Queen across the street.  One of the stops on our tour was at the Cayman Turtle Farm.  Lots of big sea turtles like this one.

Our final port was Cozumel, Mexico.  We mostly stayed on the ship that day.  The excursions didn't interest us.  We could have done some more shopping, but that would have resulted in not buying stuff at the same chain stores where we didn't buy stuff in the other ports. 

I'll finish with some photos of the ship.  The larger Royal Caribbean ships have a Royal Prominade that runs down the middle of the ship.  It's kind of like a little Main Street. It has a variety of shops and places to eat and drink.  Note the windows on either side looking down on the Prominade.  Those are staterooms.  More on that later.

There is a lot of music to listen to on the ship.  This reggae band, which was quite good, normally performs up on the pool deck.  On this day, however, I think it was a little too windy to perform outside, so they moved to the Royal Prominade. 

This the La Scala Theater, which was the most beautiful of the cruise ship theaters we've been in.  All the shows we saw were very good.

We had assigned seating for dinner each evening, and we were fortunate to have dinnermates who made our cruise even more enjoyable.  To the left of us are Bill and Rose from New Mexico, and to the right of us are Randee and Kevin from California. 

Remember those staterooms that looked over the Royal Prominade?  Well, one of those was ours.  What they didn't tell us is that the music below us was loud and lasted until 1:00 AM or so.  That wasn't going to work for us. 

Fortunately, there was an oceanveiw stateroom that was open due to a last-minute cancellation, so they moved us there.  It was MUCH more quiet. 

This is the view from the window in our stateroom.  It's the first time we've ever had an outside stateroom, so that was a bit of a treat.

Lastly, there is this from the sports deck.  Here, I am demonstrating my ability to use the power of my mind to balance a basketball on the rim.  I'm sure you're every bit as impressed as #3 over on the right.

We're Homeowners Again!

After being renters for the past year, we bought a condo and moved in a few days ago.  Our new home is on the north end of Tacoma, about a mile from where our daughter Sabrina, son-in-law Bryan and granddaughter Chloe live.  It's in a 15-unit complex called Crestview Condominiums.  It's a wonderful part of Tacoma, and we're not far from the Proctor District, the Stadium District, Old Town and the Ruston Way waterfront.  The condo is on the small side (1,024 square feet), but the combination of being close to our family, a lovely neighborhood and a view of Puget Sound was too much to pass up.

Our unit is on the first floor of the building. In the photo on the left, it's on the right side of the hallway that's straight ahead beyond the security gate. We like that it's a one-level unit. Steps aren't a challenge now but they could be if we live here a long time.  If you come in from the opposite side, it's possible to avoid steps completely by using the elevator.

The living room, dining room and kitchen are basically all in one area.  This photo is taken from the living room area looking toward the kitchen and dining room.

And this photo's perspective is from the opposite direction, showing our living room (and Roger's office).

This is our kitchen.  It's very nice, though a little short on space.  But it should be manageable.  Behind the doors on the far wall is the laundry room/pantry.

We've made a few improvements since we purchased our condo.  The most significant was extending the breakfast far.  The pencil on the counter shows how deep it used to be.  In addition to not being very practical, it looked...well...odd.  So, we had it extended, and we really like the results.

We have two bedrooms (and two bathrooms).  This is the master bedroom.  Not huge but sufficient for our king-size bed and three dressers.

This is our second bedroom, and it's quite small.  There's a queen-size bed for Chloe and for guests who would like to visit (hint!).  Steph has her desk in this room, as well, and will do her stamping there.

Our deck has already become one of our favorite things about our condo.  It is fairly large, though the chair we bought for Chloe doesn't take up all that much space.  That's a small storage room at the end of the deck.  We have a much larger storage room in the basement level of the building.

Living in a condo doesn't afford much in the way of gardening opportunities.  But Steph is using one end of the deck for flowers and basil.

As I mentioned, we do have a nice view.  OK, not as nice as the one our neighbors on the third floor have, but still quite nice.  We enjoy watching the ships on the way to and from the Port of Tacoma.

We hope you've enjoyed this virtual tour of our new home.  But an in-person tour would be much better!



Gladys Carrie Madeline Johnson (1913-2011)

While this falls under the "better late than never" heading, I decided to add this to our blog.  As some of you know, my (Roger's) Mom passed away earlier this year. She was just a few months away from her 98th birthday. 

Mom's funeral was held at the Evangelical Free Church in Newfolden, which is in the area of northwestern Minnesota where she spent nearly all of her life.  It provided us with an opportunity to meet old friends, many of whom had Mom for a teacher, either in public school or Sunday school.

This four-generation photo was taken in the summer of 2008 when we took our daughter Sabrina, son-in-law Bryan and grandaughter Chloe to Minnesota so our families could see Chloe for the first time.  The photo was taken at the nursing home where Mom spent her final years.

I was given the honor of writing Mom's eulogy, which was delivered at the funeral by Pastor Gary Barrett of the Evangelical Free Church.  We've received a lot of comments about it, so I decided that it would be appropriate to add it here.


EUOLOGY

Gladys Carrie Madeline Andeen was born in Foldahl Township near Argyle on May 21, 1913, to Emanuel and Hannah Andeen.  She was the third oldest of seven children.  When she was an infant, the family moved to a nearby farm, which is where Gladys spent her childhood. 

Times were hard, though they probably didn’t realize that.  It’s just the way life was back then.  Everyone had to pitch in.  Among other things, that meant Gladys milked the cows, carried water from the nearby well, helped with the haying and cleaned the house.  And this was before the days of modern conveniences like vacuum cleaners.  To get the floors clean, she would tear water-soaked newspapers into strips and spread them out on the carpet to absorb the dust and dirt.  After it dried, she would sweep it all up.

Gladys attended a country school for her first eight years of education.  The school was a mile and a half from their home, which meant Gladys got a three-mile walk every day.  For high school, she and a friend rented an apartment in Warren, and Gladys graduated from Warren High School in 1930.  Upon graduation, she enrolled in the Warren Teacher Training Department.  Her first job was in a rural school near Stephen.  Gladys’ teaching career lasted 12 years and included several rural schools.  It was while teaching at Sunnyside School near Strandquist that she would meet her future husband, Carl Johnson.  They were married on June 10, 1939.

Gladys retired from teaching to spend more time raising her two children, Judy and Roger.  In 1951, she and Carl moved from the farm into Strandquist, where Carl started a service station business.  After the kids were both in school, Gladys began to think about getting a part-time job.  That led, initially, to a clerk position at the Strandquist Post Office. 

Five years later, the Postmaster retired and recommended Gladys as her successor.  The Postal Service did some checking around town to learn what people thought of her.  The reports were glowing, and Gladys got the job…right in the middle of the Christmas holiday rush.  In March of 1966, Strandquist experienced one of the worst snowstorms ever to hit this part of the state.  For three days, it pounded the region and dropped more than two feet of snow.  Nothing was moving.  But Gladys still trudged through the snow to the post office just in case one of her constituents somehow couldn’t wait to buy a five-cent stamp. 

Gladys remained in the position until she retired February 28, 1977.

The church was always an important part of Gladys’ life.  As a teen-ager, she organized a Sunday School for children who didn’t have a church to attend.  As an adult, she taught Sunday School and sang in the choir.  Occasionally, she would be called to fill in playing the piano during Sunday morning services.  Which she did willingly.  But she had one unusual limitation.  She could only play hymns written with four flats.  Why that was so, she really didn’t have a good answer.  It’s just the way it was.  And while it did limit the pastor’s options somewhat, it always worked out. 

The coffee was always on at the Johnson home, and Gladys was never without treats to offer guests, even unexpected ones.  She loved to cook and bake and being unable to do so in recent years was something she dearly missed.  And her family missed it too.  Her fried chicken, scalloped potatoes and a variety of pies are just a few of the dishes that are legendary within the family.  And when pie was served, you could be sure there would be plenty of whipped cream.  When she lived at the nursing home, Gladys always looked forward to pumpkin pie but that little dollop of whipped cream on the pie was never quite enough for her.

Gladys and Carl loved to travel.  That might involve something as simple as looking at the fall colors or driving to Nelson Swamp to look for moose.  Or it might be a trip that took several days.  But they had an unusual approach to vacation planning.  Basically, it involved driving up to Highway-59 and then deciding whether to turn left or turn right.  Whatever direction that was taken would determine whether they would end up in the Black Hills, Canada or some other location. 

One thing Gladys wouldn’t do is fly.  She was never in an airplane.  But she did surprise her family in the mid-90’s when she joined Iola Rokke on an Amtrak train trip that took her half way across country to Washington state to visit Roger and his family.

Now that she is gone, Gladys’s family and friends will miss her.  But they are comforted knowing that she now has strong legs, a good memory, can play hymns in any key and, right now, is probably eating a big piece of pumpkin pie…smothered in whipped cream.

West Coast Cruise (May 14-22)

We took a cruise up the West Coast from San Diego to Vancouver, BC, recently.  And, no, that's not our cruise ship.  We flew to San Diego a day early and spent the afternoon visiting the USS Midway, a decommissioned aircraft carrier docked just down the street from our hotel.

Now, THIS is our cruise ship.  Less history but much more comfort!  It's the Century.  Built in 1995, it's the oldest ship in the Celebrity cruise line.  It was refurbished a few years ago and still looks great.  Its capacity is 1,814 passengers, making it one of the smaller ships in the Celebrity line.

After a very nice day at sea (with better-than-expected weather), we sailed into under the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco Monday morning for a two-day stay.  San Francisco is known for its foggy weather, but we had very nice weather that morning (though that would change). 

After disembarking, we took one of those "hop-on/hop off" buses that take you around the city. One of our stops was at the Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park.  Our one-hour walk through the arboretum was very enjoyable.  When our bus ride ended a short time later, the rain had started, and it stayed with us for much of the remainder of our two days in San Francisco.

On the second day, we took a ferry boat over to Alcatraz Island.  Alcatraz closed as a prison in 1963 and is now designated as national landmark and is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Here you can see the three levels of prison cells.

This is a typical prison cell.

Alcatraz was considered a prison for the worst-of-the worst.  And if you were the worst of the worst-of-the-worst, you would likely find yourself in solitary confinement in one of these cells.  Not a place for somone who doesn't like small, dark places.

There were many attempts to escape from Alcatraz.  The most famous occurred on June 11, 1962.  This photo shows one of two cells in which holes were carved to escape.  Those holes led to an unguarded utility corridor.  It is still not known whether the two inmates survived their attempt to reach the mainland.

That night, we left San Francisco and had another very nice day at sea.  This photo is taken above the pool deck at the top of the ship.  The pool didn't get much use on the cruise as the temperature was generally in the 50's.

Our next stop was Astoria, Oregon.  We're told it was a very pleasant stop with great weather.  However, because Steph wasn't feeling very well that day, we spent much of the day in our cabin.

But she was better the next day as we headed toward Naniamo, BC.  That's us with our feet up, enjoying the beautiful scenery. 

Naniamo is a very lovely city of about 80,000 on Vancouver Island.  It's the home of the Naniamo bar, a dessert bar that is native to the area.  Naturally, we had to buy one.  You'd think that if you bought a Naniamo bar in Naniamo, it would be really good.  But it wasn't nearly as good as the ones we used to get at Swilly's in Pullman.

One of the aspects of cruising we enjoy is that you get to meet so many wonderful people.  And so it was with this cruise.  Our dinner companions were two couples who made our cruise even more enjoyable than it would otherwise have been.  Don and Mary from Kaufman, Texas, are standing behind us.  On the left are Jon and Debbi from Boulder, Colorado.

Our last stop on the cruise was Victoria, BC, where we took a bus to The Butchart Gardens.  Click here for additional information about the place.  We'll let the remaining photos speak for themselves.  Be sure to click on the photo on the left to see a larger version.  It's quite spectacular.