Vacation Week Four - Part Two

 The last part of my vacation took me to the fifteenth US state on my adventure - Utah! I drove from Holbrook, AZ to Panguitch, UT. Panguitch is a few miles from the Bryce Canyon National Park. Very exciting!

A bonus attraction that I was not aware of was Glenn Canyon Dam. It feeds into Lake Powell.

Up to this point, I liked most of the hotels I stayed in along the way. The hotel in Panguitch -- not so much. Oh well. 

I drove the short distance to the park first thing in the morning. It is recommended to get to these parks early during the busy season. I am glad I did! While you can drive to most of the popular spots in BCNP, parking is not always available. While walking around two of the parking lots, they looked like mall parking lots at Christmas time! I rode the shuttles to the various sites to take pictures and hike a little. 

Here are some of the many beautiful sites at BCNP:

After resting that night, I decided to get up very early so I could visit the Zion National Park on my way to Flagstaff, Arizona, the last leg of my vacation. Like Bryce Canyon, Zion is also on some lists of the 25 most amazing US national parks. While you are mostly looking down from the canyon rim at BCNP, you mostly look up at the rock formations at Zion. Here are some of the pics.

Please understand that there are SOOO many beautiful spots, it is hard to stop taking pictures!

I took pictures of the highlights of the park, then drove to Flagstaff for the night. I wanted to break up the drive home, plus I wanted to have one more adventure. Despite all the rain and flooding in the Arizona "high country" I was able to ride the Arizona SnowBowl gondola ride! The top of the ride is over 11,000 feet high! Here is a pic of the ride:

If you are interested in hearing me narrate my trip up and down on the gondola ride, please see these YouTube videos:

Going up.

Coming down.

I made one last stop on the way home - the Rock Springs Cafe! It is a well known cafe and pie shop north of Phoenix. On a Monday afternoon, I had a 25 minute wait for a table. The place has great food and pies. It also has some interesting decorations. 

The general store has many hard to find homemade jams, jellies and sauces. Here is the link.

I hope you enjoyed my vacation blog entries. I know i enjoyed writing them to share my big adventure!

Vacation Week Four - Part One

The last week of my vacation was very exciting. During my trip, I purchased a Senior Lifetime National Park pass. It costs $80. I think I already got my money's worth! You will see as you continue reading this entry.

After I left Amarillo, I drove through Albuquerque, NM. While driving east at the beginning of my trip, I noticed a nuclear museum of some kind there. I tracked it down and stopped for a visit. It was small, but very informative. I am glad I stopped. They had everything from nuclear weapon information, nuclear medicine and nuclear power. Here are a few pics:

I traveled on to Holbrook, Arizona after leaving the museum. Holbrook is not far from my next adventure -- Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Park. 

There was something fun in Holbrook - the Wigwam Motel!

Interestingly, I had stayed in something like this in Cave City, Kentucky many  years ago! I stayed at a local hotel during my two nights in Holbrook,

The next day I visited the park. Wow! Just Wow! Here are a few pics of the park and the amazing treasures it holds. Artifacts in this park have traced human life back at least 13,000 years. 

I took some short videos about each stop on the trek through this huge park. I will work in editing them in to one video soon.

Vacation Week Four - Part Two is next!

Vacation Week Three

On my way to Tennessee to visit a college roommate, I took a detour to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I lived in Kentucky for over twenty years and never visited the museum. Today was the day! I have loved Corvettes since I was a child. It was one of my favorite Matchbox cars back in the day! Here are a couple of pictures:

This pic is a simulation of the HUGE sinkhole that opened up in the museum several years ago. It is amazing that the museum and cars were restored!

The visit with my college roommate in Nashville was great. We reconnected about a decade ago and have kept in touch regularly ever since! I got to meet is beautiful baby granddaughter. He and his wife are so proud! The little angel seemed to like her great-uncle Duane too!

After that visit, I was off to Huntsville, Alabama to visit the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. It is also the location for Space Camp! I saw a lot of space stuff that I hadn't seen in the many museums I have been fortunate to visit over the years. I am sort of a space geek! I also saw some of the space camp attendees doing their thing. Here are a few pics...

The obligatory selfie..

A picture of Skylab, the predecessor to the ISS (International Space Station)

The obligatory silly picture...

Not only did I learn about space stuff in Huntsville, I also ran across something that my Columbus book club read about earlier this year. One of the Trail of Tears traveled by our indigenous folks went through Huntsville! From what I could tell online, this trail ended in Oklahoma. There were several trails from the East and Midwest that were traveled to the reservations in the Western states. Here is one of the signs:

You can learn more about the Trail of Tears (really the "trails" of tears) and the national trail here.

I ran across this trail a few times driving from Huntsville towards Fort Smith, Arkansas, then on to Amarillo, Texas.

I planned to surprise an old college roommate that lives in Amarillo. Apparently I should have planned better because I didn't get to see him. If I had planned better, I could have seen one of his performances. I missed out because of the hotel reservations I had in place.

Next is Week Four! The adventure continues!

Vacation Week Two

 Week Two took me to Ohio, my home state. I stayed with a buddy that lives in Cincinnati. That was my home base for my Ohio visits! My Cincy buddy visits me in Phoenix periodically, most recently the week before I left on vacation!

On Friday, I took a quick day trip to Columbus to have lunch with some former coworkers. I have known these folks for about twenty years now. It was nice seeing them in person instead of via a conference call or video call. They all seemed a little jealous of my retirement. I have to pinch myself sometimes!

My Cincy buddy and I spent Saturday walking at the mall to "close the rings" on our Apple Watches then watched some movies. We both like the same kind of movies.

On Sunday I had a long day of driving. I first drove to Dublin, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, to St Patricks Episcopal Church. I attended this church and spend three of my four EFM years at this church. I really miss these folks! I still participate in a book club video call each month with them almost six years after moving to Arizona.  I was nice seeing folks that were at church that day. I wanted to surprise folks, but some were not in attendance.

After church, I drove to Litchfield, Ohio to visit my aunt and uncle. That town is about two hours north of Columbus. We had our favorite lunch together, Mr. Hero sub sandwiches, then visited for a while, I needed to drive back to Cincy that evening so off I went. I had to stop by the grocery store to pick up some hometown favorites! The weather wasn't so great. I think I drove through more rain that day than I had seen in Arizona all year! I returned to Cincy safely. 

My last night in Cincinnati was very exciting. I had dinner with a close friend and his partner. I hadn't see them in many years. As expected, we picked up where we left off with our friendship. We keep in touch usually via text, but being in person was very special!

I concluded my visit to Ohio, then drove to Kentucky to visit my sister and her family. Week Three is next!

FYI, I didn't mention the names of my friends and family or post pictures to protect their privacy!

Vacation Week One

 I was fortunate to take a four week vacation during the month of July. Being away from home for that long took a lot of planning, but hey, that is what I do!

The trip encompassed 5600 miles of the West and Midwest United States as I traveled around visiting friends and family and seeing sites that I had only dreamed about.

For Week One, I visited a close friend in Kansas City. It was great spending time with him and his family in their new home. They hadn't been in it a year yet when I visited. I met his family briefly during a previous visit to the area, but didn't get to spend much time with them. I had a lot in common with his uncle. We had a good time talking music stuff! I also got to see my friend play softball. I teased him that I would take him to Chuck E Cheese if he got two hits! ROFL He is visiting Phoenix in September to attend the Kansas City - Cardinals game at State Farm Stadium. Fun stuff!

I spent the rest of Week One in St, Louis visiting my BFF. We always have a good time when we get together. It was the first time I visited St Louis since before the pandemic. It was good seeing some familiar places and eating at some favorite St Louis restaurants. My best friend threw a retirement party at one of our favorite restaurants and invited some of the guys I have hung around for many years. He is so good to me! 

As always, it was hard to say goodbye. We will see each other again in October during our annual time share week in Orlando!

Please check the next article for Week Two!

FYI, I didn't mention the names of my friends and family or post pictures to protect their privacy!

Cha-cha-cha-changes!

 As some of you already know, my life changed this week. I was able to afford a comfortable retirement from my IT (information technology) career at age 62 and 8 months. I call it "mostly retired". I may work a part-time job here and there. It is too soon to tell! Today is my first day of retirement! All I can think about at this point is relaxation and fun. 

I setting up some loose structure to my post-work-every-day-and-many-nights-and-weekends that I have been living for many years in my career. "But you are missing it, Duane" No, not really missing it, Bob! (line from Office Space).

One thing came to mind as I made this decision: change is like water.

I suggest that both change and water are necessary for life! 

We all know that water composes most of our bodies. Too little and we die. Too much and our bodies don't work right. Water has to move, to flow or it becomes stagnant. Too much water falling from the sky or surging from the sea causes untold damage to everything in its path.

Change is like water. Too much change and things just don't work right. Confusion. Inefficiency. An unsure future. Not enough change leaves us stagnant.

We all experience life changes whether we want to or not. Growing older Families, Life. Death. Tragedies Joys. They are all part of the flow of life.

I am thinking about it as I chart my path to my future. God willing and the creek don't rise, I will have an exciting future, much like my life so far!

A Reasonable Relationship

The clergy at Trinity Cathedral has had some wonderful sermons about getting closer to God. The lectionary has had scriptures that has Jesus calling us to leave our world behind and follow him.

The passage where Jesus calls the sons of Zebedee to leave their nets and follow him.

The passage where Jesus tells his potential followers to let the dead bury the dead.

The passage where Jesus tells the people he just healed to take up their beds and follow him.

All of these stories moved me, but also upset me. As I walked out of church one Sunday, I thanked the priest and said "I just need to find a reasonable relationship with God".  A what??? Was I not listening? Am I like the man who wanted to bury his dead father? Am I like so many others in the Bible that want to follow God, but find some reason not to.

Yes, I am being hard on myself. Let's all take a look at our relationship with God. We have options, or at least think we do!  One, we could just do we are doing now and not be concerned about our life in Christ. Other people do that kind of thing. You know who -- priests, deacons, and the folks who help serve the Eucharist. We are too busy to worry about it. Seriously, is this really an option?

Second option: we could ease into a closer relationship with God. Read our Bible more. Attend church more regularly. Get involved with some ministry opportunities to serve others. Pray more often.

Lastly, we go ALL IN. Is that reasonable? Absolutely not! Is that what our God asks of us? Absolutely! By today's standards, I don't think that God requires us to sell everything and live in a commune like the early Christians. I also don't think that upping our game at church is the complete answer either. The ALL IN part is seeking God each and every minute of each and every day for each and every breath. It took me a long time to understand that concept. I am not very good at it. Seeking God in a prayerful mindset through our daily activities at work, dealing with family and friends, at the grocery store, even at the DMV!  Yes, being ALL IN is to constantly seek God and letting God work in our life and work in the lives of others through you.

So the next time you hear a sermon about Jesus asking us "Take up thy..." We know what to say - Here am I, Lord. Send me!