Well, it’s about time to get down to my real job as a cub reporter of high school sports. Here’s my first Cardinal girl home basketball game. It was decidedly not a cliffhanger. The Cardinals, now 7-2, played the St. Cloud Apollo Eagles, now 0-9, and the result went as anticipated . . .
[The school honored veterans of all the military branches . . . ]
[Coach Kohler wore her dad’s old Navy uniform . . . ]
[As so often happens, it wasn’t a clean hit and the ball ended up in the hands of the Apollo center . . . ]
[Mia on the free throw line gets a start on a major scoring game . . . ]
[The Eagle is the symbol of America. Unfortunately for Apollo our Cardinals harassed Eagles the entire game. Trying to get the ball over half court against the likes of Alyna, Emma, and Jaya is a major undertaking . . . ]
[And she who hesitates is immediately surrounded by a double-team . . . ]
[And when the Eagles made it into their offensive zone, the Cardinal defensive pressure was still stifling . . . ]
[And any time the Cardinals got the ball – from a rebound or turnover – all five players would sprint down court for a lay up or get fouled. Her senior Summer Gerhardt (35) goes to the line . . . ]
[Junior Cate Bloom (21) brings defense off the bench. She and Summer would likely get even more playing time but are still dealing with the shackle of an ACL . . . ]
[More Cardina depth here with the addition of junior Myah Kremer (15) . . . ]
[Emma pounds to the left . . . ]
[The Alayna circle drives to the right . . . ]
[The shot came off . . . ]
[But Emma put in the rebound . . . ]
[This was the halftime score. Mia already had 22 points (playing little in the 2nd half she finished with 24). The Cards would continually swoop down court for layups . . . ]
[Mia, with the ball, and Alayna break out in the second half . . . ]
[The starters played no more after a couple of minutes in the 2nd half . . . ]
[Alayna in for a layup . . . ]
[Captured by the magic lens of the amazing Mr. Ripley . . . ]
[Alayna moves in a tie-up . . . ]
[But was shed by the Eagles No. 15 – a sophomore who will be a good player . . . ]
[Likely the last series by the starters, here Emma and Lilly . . . ]
[Emma in heavy traffic . . . ]
[Emma, Lilly, and Mia . . . ]
[With a side order of Alayna . . . ]
[The game went to running time. The Cardinals suited 20 players. All played significant minutes. Here’s Summer on the line again with junior Mataya Hoelscher (23) ready to rebound . . . ]
[The end. The Cardinals weren’t even looking to shoot over the last several minutes. It’s a team that can make some noise as the season rolls along . . . ]
The breakfast of champions is not cereal, it’s the opposition. ~ Nick Seitz
This is your Christmas card. This has been our policy for several years now, sing hallelujah. It differs from most Christmas cards in that it cannot subsequently be used to carpet the bottom of a parakeet cage. You would not want to do that anyway because it is 100% recyclable. To the best of my knowledge, no animals were injured in the creation of this card. Accordingly, it has been endorsed by PETA, Mother Jones, Whistler’s Mother, Moms Mabley, and The Mothers of Invention. With the usual apologies to Dave Barry (the originator of the Year in Review format) and other sentient beings, we bring you 2019, a year that will reportedly never pass this way again . . .
Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice. ~ Dave Barry
[This is Elsa Lee. I shot this video at Carlos Creek Winery on December 9th. I made her an offer she couldn’t refuse. I told her if I could take a video of her singing her favorite Christmas song, she would have the lead in my Christmas blog. As they say, the rest is history . . . ]
[So, the least we could do is to promote her Christmas CD . . . ]
[Elsa is originally from Duluth. She decided a few years ago that the winters in Duluth were too harsh. So she moved south – to Minneapolis . . . ]
January
Sending Christmas cards is a good way to let your friends and family know that you think they’re worth the price of a stamp. ~ Melanie White
[The new year began, as each new year does, with the Super’s birthday. For holiday excitement we took a drive around Alexandria, enjoying Siriusly Sinatra on the radio and the seasonable 7 degrees below zero temperature . . . ]
[And then home for the opening of birthday presents . . . ]
The Super joined her sister Rita (jointly known as The Biddies) in La Jolla, CA and La Verkin, UT, for three weeks beginning at the end of January. I stayed home to keep the home fires burning. We both went to La Verkin for Thanksgiving (see November, the month in which that holiday occurs).
February
Aren’t we forgetting the true meaning of Christmas. You know, the birth of Santa? ~ Matt Groening
[By staying home, I was able to pick up my old high school classmate, Brad Anderson, for coverage of our various sporting events. Here girls’ basketball on February 5th . . . ]
[But occasionally one must take in an opera . . . ]
[With a little audience Q&A with members of the Minnesota Opera Company . . . ]
[And the orchestra plays in a hole in the stage . . . ]
[Back with Brad. The Class of ’65 tries to lunch on a monthly basis. Interspersed among those class lunches, fellow classmate Greg Johnson drives up from Burnsville and the three of us (a 4th, Tom Kiehne, lives in Austin, Texas) who hung out together go to lunch at various small towns in the area. This was February 13th, I believe the last time Brad was healthy enough to join us.]
March
Santa Claus wears a Red Suit, he must be a communist. And a beard and long hair, must be a pacifist. What’s in that pipe that he’s smoking? ~ Arlo Guthrie
It’s not like nothing happened in March. I thought all four of our followed winter sports teams had a good shot of making their respective state tournaments. None did. Stuff happens. In lieu of timeline appropriate photos . . .
[Yes, you must begin harvesting lefse in March to have stock on hand for the holiday seasons . . . ]
April
I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store, and he asked for my autograph. ~ Shirley Temple
[Happy Earth Day! The Super is holding the “We have no planet B” sign on the left, in Big Ole park hard by the shores of Lake Agnes on April 22nd . . . ]
[The Super is holding a pizza slice in the middle of the photo. This was at The Depot, at some point after the Earth Day march. Pizza is a known planet saver . . . ]
May
That’s the true spirit of Christmas; people being helped by people other than me. ~ Jerry Seinfeld
[With Elsa Lee at the winery on May 4th . . . ]
[Indicative of where we were going next . . . ]
[Next door to the winery’s events center for the Run for the Roses fundraiser for Theatre L’Homme Dieu. Here the Salty Dogs amused and inspired the attendees . . . ]
[Voted most likely to get lost on the way home . . . ]
[So, how about quilting?]
[On May 10th, the Prince Quilt Touring Exhibition alit in Ashby. This was a nationwide tour . . . ]
[Native Ashbyans (Ashbyites?) Helen and John Etnier joined us there . . . ]
[And on that same day, we purchased a Traveling Ole at the Runestone Museum in preparation for our upcoming trip to Norway . . . ]
[On May 17th, Sam Miltich (guitar) and Friends presented “The Improvised Life: Exploring Intersections of Mental Health & Creativity through Jazz” in Evansville under a state grant program . . . ]
[The very next day we were at the winery, again, to watch Sam’s uncle, Anthony Miltich, perform during wine pick up day . . . ]
[And then that night we hustled down to Glenwood to see Patchouli. They have three top 5 internationally charting albums including Of Sea & Stars just won ZMR Award “Best Instrumental Album of the Year 2017” (from their website) . . . ]
[On May 19th, the Central Lakes Symphony Orchestra’s 10 Years of Music concert. Brad Landbrecht delivered his maestro’s notes to those who arrive a half hour early . . . ]
[Which would include us and that well-known couple from Ashby . . . ]
[And lots of other people in the high school’s Performing Arts Center . . . ]
[It was an accomplishment of significance . . . ]
[As was Lake H2Obert at twilight on May 25th . . . ]
June
The best Christmas present I got from my husband was a week to do whatever I wanted. ~ Olivia Haigh Williams
[June 2nd, the Super demonstrated the proper way to enjoy summer at the winery in Vacationland USA, while soaking in the musical stylings of . . . ]
[Again, the Salty Dogs, with fine chapeau’s sported by Greg and Erik . . . ]
[On June 7th, the Killer Vees (the Velline family) were at the winery’s events center . . . ]
[With Anthony on June 9th at Lure Lakebar, with Lake Le Homme Dieu at my back . . . ]
[Old home week, with the Boyz of ’65 at lunch at Interlachen on Fathers’ Day . . . ]
[The management and staff from Theatre L’Homme Dieu stopped by the winery on June 15th. The TLHD season 2019 began the following week . . . ]
[And the next day Patchouli was at the winery . . . ]
[Skol! June 18th, Oslo, Norway, go figure . . . ]
[The first day of a 20-day adventure, most of it cruising Norway, Scotland, and England. Here with traveling partners, Anne and Bill Gross, in front of the Storting building, the parliament of Norway . . . ]
[Tiger sculpture (Norwegians don’t waste words) outside Oslo’s central train station (behind, upper left) . . . ]
[We stayed at Thon Opera Hotel in Oslo. Here’s the Super visiting with Olav Thon. She reported he was very shy . . . ]
[On June 19th (as are the following 10 photos), the lobby of our hotel. I don’t know if Olav was responsible for the sculpture . . . ]
[Our guide Helen in Vigeland Park. She did a great job herding American tourists . . . ]
[Smooth as a baby’s bottom . . . ]
[Apparently a place for hugging. Who said Norwegians aren’t huggers?]
[Photobombed by Helen. Whatta hoot!]
[You’d be grumpy too if everyone kept rubbing your . . . ]
[The Royal Palace. I wonder if they’ve thought about downsizing?]
[Ahhh, art!]
[“The Scream” by Edvard Munch is probably in the top ten of all-time famous paintings. I just don’t know why?]
[I could understand why this would be in the top ten (an actual sign in Oslo) . . . ]
[On June 20th, Ole took a ride on the Flam Railway . . . ]
[Oh, Ole, you’re such a hoot!]
[A stop at the magical Kjosfossen Waterfall. Huldra, a forest siren, hops out to sing to you here . . . ]
[On June 21st, Ole pointed to Flam on the globe. No matter where you go, there you are.]
[And then we cruised Nærøyfjord on an all-electric boat . . . ]
[Ah, this is the life . . . ]
One can never have enough socks. Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn’t get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books. ~ Professor Dumbledore
[Ole, the Norwegian flag, the fjord, and the Super . . . ]
[On June 22nd, the Super and Ole logged aboard our Viking cruise ship in Bergen . . . ]
[Ole in the Atrium of the Viking Sun, the same ship we took through the Panama Canal a year ago . . . ]
[Waiting for the piano man . . . ]
[On June 23rd, our usual hang out for most of the cruise. A choice of seeing where you’re going rather than where you’ve been . . . ]
[Continuing on June 23rd, atop Mt. Floyen, achieved by funicular . . . ]
[From which you have this beautiful view of Bergen . . . ]
[The Super posed with trolls throughout Norway . . . ]
[This is my heritage laid out before you . . . ]
[June 23rd, fine dining aboard our boat . . . ]
[June 24th, why one could understand that living on a cruise ship might not be too bad.]
[The almost 400 steps up Fossevandring waterfall in Geiranger. Be very careful!]
[Almost to the top, with views up and down . . . ]
[Huffing and puffing . . . ]
I haven’t taken my Christmas lights down. They look so nice on the pumpkin. ~ Winston Spear
[The Super looking down and back at Geiranger. One can appreciate why this village of about 200 people attracts a million visitors a year . . . ]
[Lake Djupvatnet near Geiranger – not big but over 600 feet deep . . . ]
[On June 25th, the Super hit the spa – her favorite spot on the ship . . . ]
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas. But if the white runs out I’ll drink the red. ~ Anonymous
[On June 25th, a shipboard celebration of crossing the Arctic Circle . . . ]
[The Super and Ole successfully crossed the pool’s “Arctic Circle” . . . ]
[And celebrated accordingly . . . ]
[Aquavit, ’nuff said!]
[And the real crossing of the real imaginary line that is the Arctic Circle . . . ]
[And we have this fact witness of the event . . . ]
[June 26th, the Super met another troll . . . ]
[On June 26th, cod appeared to be in critical need of cod liver oil . . . ]
[On June 27th, Norwegians displayed their abnormal fitness desires in Tromso . . . ]
[And on this same day, Anne was able to find the house where her grandmother once lived. She only had a picture, not an address . . . ]
[The Super and friend in Tromso . . . ]
[I recently read an article about “Larks,” people who naturally awake abnormally early. I’m one of those. But being such, on June 28th I had the shipboard “living room” all to myself . . . ]
[Later that day, the Super with a Sami, the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia, who are close personal friends with reindeer . . . ]
[North Kapp, the northern most accessible point on the European continent . . . ]
[And the windiest?]
[OK, this spit is a little more northern but there’s no road to it . . . ]
[The Super and Ole and friends in the information building at North Kapp . . . ]
[The North Kapp monuments . . . ]
[June 29th, cruising south to our next destination, the British Isles. The Super and Bill took advantage of a beautiful photo op along the way . . . ]
Happiness, not in another place but this place, not for another hour but this hour. ~ Walt Whitman
[I really like this photo of Anne and Bill, the view they had from their vantage near the top of the world. So there . . . ]
[Rainbows this far north must require a passport?]
[This is Greta Thunberg. We did not meet Greta in Norway. Greta is from Sweden, not Norway. I have never been to Sweden, but if I should someday I would like to meet Greta. Greta is trying to save the world which seems a most worthy cause . . . ]
[On July 30th, enroute to the British Isles. I have to believe Norway feels conflicted about becoming the greenest country through its oil wealth?]
July
Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit people only once a year. ~ Victor Borge
[On July 1st, Yan Yan remembered us from the Panama Canal cruise. How did I not remember her?]
[Later that day, the Super met a Shetland pony on . . . Shetland Island . . . ]
[And then playing tourist in Shetland’s only burgh, Lerwick . . . ]
[Ole leaves Shetland . . . ]
[July 2nd, enroute to the Orkney Islands . . . ]
[Ole met Orkney . . . ]
[At the Orkney Ring of Brodgar, possibly older than Stonehenge . . . ]
[I still haven’t finished blogging Scotland and England, so no further photos from the cruise (I heard that!). We were then home for a while before we went off to Camp Brosius on July 28th. We made our usual first stop at the Tiki Bar on Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, with Katie and Rita . . . ]
[A wild lepidoptera enjoying the goodlife in Elkhart Lake . . . ]
[July 31st, year-to-year, my forever memory photo of camp . . . ]
[Has anyone seen my chauffeur?]
[These were my roommates in camp. I have nothing further to add to that . . . ]
August
A Christmas tree, the perfect gift for a guy. The plant is already dead. ~ Jay Leno
[It’s not just any Christmas card that can display photos of art worthy urinals. These, of course, are from the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, on August 1 . . . ]
[So why not a selfie here?]
[The Biddies create a wake along the Elkhart Lake shoreline . . . ]
[And lived to tell the tale on August 2nd . . . ]
[Party animals later that day . . . ]
[August 22nd at the Theatre L’Homme Dieu fundraising soiree on the TLHD campus . . . ]
September
When I was a kid, my parents told me I didn’t exist. ~ Santa Claus
[September 3rd, the day before my birthday, standing on the Endless Bridge at the Tyrone Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis overlooking the Stone Arch Bridge and the Mississippi River . . . ]
[That night we watched nephew Michael Obert (cello) perform at Ambi in Anoka . . . ]
[Birthday booty is displayed . . . ]
[September 20th, at the opening fundraising concert for the Central Lakes Symphony Orchestra at Broadway Ballroom . . . ]
[September 28th with the usual music suspects, Karin and Dave Berg, at Carlos Creek Winery, our home away from home . . . ]
October
Dear Santa, define good! ~ Unknown
[Rita came for a visit on October 13th for a reformation of The Biddies . . . ]
[Sitting at the dock of Lake H2Obert . . . ]
[October 14th, Reetz got the full Runestone indoctrination. Her life will never be the same . . . ]
[October 15th, we made statewide news. Our senior college class made Minnesota Public Radio, for quality and quantity (we pack the room) of the program. Can you find the Super and me?]
[October 19th, The Biddies at the winery’s Applefest. I think they’ve already been in the applesauce . . . ]
November
This holiday season, no matter what your religion is, please take a moment to reflect on why it’s better than all the other ones. ~ Guy Endore Kaiser
[November 2nd, the Theatre L’Homme Dieu board and staff were invited. Minnetonka Theatre lead off the TLHD summer season with Bright Star, which drew rave reviews from all who saw it . . . ]
[A TLHD selfie at “Chaplin” . . . ]
[November 9th, the Super and I (along with Jeanne and Ken Howell from Alex) were in D.C. to lobby Congress on behalf of the Citizens Climate Lobby. We were back in our old stomping grounds – in fact, here’s where we lived from 1987 to 2001, the Astoria condominium in Arlington, Virginia . . . ]
[We visited brother Chris in Stafford, VA, at his house on the Potomac River; with sister Gretchen and brother-in-law Mohamed, who live in D.C. . . . ]
[November 10th, the Super visited Albert Bierstadt’s “Among the Sierra Nevada, California” at the National Portrait Gallery . . . ]
[Also at the portrait gallery, the Super with a recent president . . . ]
[October 12th, to actually do the work we were there for, we had to walk by the Capitol daily . . . ]
[And there was a crowd at the Supreme Court for the DACA hearing . . . ]
[A reporter?]
[An expanded view . . . ]
[Here the four of us (plus 2 others) were with Zach Martin (far right) of Congressman Collin Peterson’s staff . . . ]
[With Jeanne and Ken that night at the restaurant on the top floor of our Rosslyn Holiday Inn hotel . . . ]
[And subsequently received this from one of our senators . . . ]
[November 23rd, it may have been the 50th annual turkeyfest at Basketball Dan’s, but there was some debate as to which year could be considered the inaugural . . . ]
[Thanksgiving in La Verkin, UT, with Rita, nephew David, and our hosts, niece Beth and nephew Chris. We were there from November 24th to December 1st during which time we visited places within a two-hour radius . . . ]
December
A lovely thing about Christmas is that it’s compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together. ~ Garrison Keillor
[Members of the Anthony Miltich Fan Club gathered at the winery on December 7th. Anthony is not sure whether or not he would use this as a promotional photo . . . ]
[From home sweet home on December 10th . . . ]
[Lisa came to town on December 13th. She performed but was not feeling well. We thought she sounded fine but she wasn’t up to making a video. In keeping with the traditions of the annual Christmas missive, we again present Lisa from 2012 . . . ]
[Our next vacation? Merry Christmas to all and to all may CBD bring relief.]
Let’s be naughty and save Santa the trip. ~ Gary Allan
Yup, the actual day. The day for which we came. We were going to Beth and Chris’s mountain biking friends – they live in Virgin, along the route between La Verkin and Zion – with other friends making a potential of 15 diners. It turned out that three coming from “the north” decided against it because of snow making us an even dozen . . .
[The view from the La Verkin house that morning . . . ]
[The view down the street from the La Verkin house . . . ]
[The view of the La Verkin house . . . ]
[And down the street again . . . ]
[The view from the Virgin Thanksgiving house, about 15 minutes from La Verkin . . . ]
[The view of some of the people in the Virgin house . . . ]
[There was food aplenty . . . ]
[The view from outside the Virgin house. The owners of the house, our hosts, were orginally from San Diego but moved here in retirement . . . ]
November 29
[The scene in the La Verkin house the morning after Thanksgiving. A scene replicated in millions of households throughout the United States . . . ]
[It was a particularly not nice day (it hardly ever rains here and a local told us it maybe snows twice a winter) – rainy, snowy, sleety – but antsy to get out decided to do a two-car caravan to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in southern Utah, about an hour drive from here. Well, we didn’t know what the conditions were like to get there. Didn’t take long to realize the area had at least 6 inches of snow, no signs of snowplows, and with Rita leading the way decided we couldn’t make it. We turned around about 10 miles before getting there. Ruthie said our car lost its “radar” for detecting when you’re getting too close to something – front of the car clogged with snow – and the cruise control came and went. It was a pretty drive but looked really nasty on the way back . . . ]
[The route took us from Utah, into Arizona, and back into Utah again . . . ]
[It was about here that Rita stopped in the middle of the road. Beth got out and came back to our car to advise that Rita wanted to turn around and go back. Of course, once we both started the necessary maneuvers to turn around, the previously totally empty roadway turned into the equivalent of rush hour in Los Angeles . . . ]
[On the way back, the clouds seemed almost down in the road – we were about a mile high here (without the use of any banned substances) . . . ]
[Whew, made it back to our neighborhood . . . ]
November 30
[Snowy and frosty – who’da thunk?]
[Again, the view from our house . . . ]
[Nevertheless, as our dear old moms used to say, go out and blow the stink off. So we did with a little hike around the neighborhood, to a place they had seen the snowy night before with particularly attractive Christmas decor . . . ]
[And other houses just around the corner . . . ]
[Pyracantha (firethorn) . . . ]
[A hint of the Old West, from cowboy movies . . . ]
[Back on the street where we lived . . . ]
[It looked so cool in daylight, we went back again at night . . . ]
[It even makes me impressed by my own photography?]
[It also made sense to do a video . . . ]
[The neighboring house did fine, but the competition next door was fierce . . . ]
[So, yes, the light show was from a business. Not unusual I guess in the absence of any zoning restrictions – this was in the midst of a residential neighborhood . . . ]
[And finally, making use of the native vegetation a couple houses away . . . ]
Thanksgiving is so called because we are all so thankful that it only comes once a year. ~ P. J. O’Rourke
[Arriving at the Lure ahead of us was an obvious member of the Alexandria Area High School carolers . . . ]
[An overflow crowd led to our booth seating overlooking the kitchen . . . ]
[The view from our booth of the evening’s musical entertainment – Greg Donahue on violin (or fiddle, depending on the song) and Erik Schultz on guitar . . . ]
[TLHD executive director Nicole Mulder addresses the assembled masses. Theatre board president Fred Bursch stands ready on the left to assist Nicole or to bus tables . . . ]
[The aforementioned assembled masses . . . ]
[From multiple angles . . . ]
[Nicole next invited Jessica Chipman, AAHS theatre arts director, and Isabella Greathouse, an AAHS student caroler and actor, to receive . . . ]
[A donation from TLHD . . . ]
[To help fund AAHS participation in the Edinburgh, Scotland, Theatre Festival next year.]
[The high school carolers performed . . . ]
[A second video was overwhelmed by the ambient sounds of the party . . . ]
[And now the presentation of the 2020 season . . . ]
[And with recognition of Phil Eidsvold, who after 9 years on the board will now take on an emeritus status as organizer of the annual fundraising soiree . . . ]
[A. J. Croce performs his father’s songs . . . ]
[The Reminders are a rare and remarkable musical duo seamlessly blending soulful sounds and roots music with insightful messages and thoughtful lyrics. The group consists of Brussels-born emcee Big Samir and Queens-born emcee/ vocalist Aja Black, a collective creative force that’s hard to beat (theremindersmusic.com).]
[Named after a haunting Bob Dylan song, Farewell Angelina is an all-female country group with four powerhouse vocalists, dynamic songwriters and accomplished multi-instrumentalists (farewellangelinamusic.com).]
[“Ruthless! The Musical” is an all female musical that spoofs Broadway musicals. The musical premiered Off-Broadway in 1992 (Wikipedia).]
[Three of America’s funniest stand-up comedians – Keith Alberstadt (replacing Pete Lee), Pat McGann and Pat Hazell – join forces to showcase their original humor, an evening packed with punch lines, clever writing and hair trigger laughs (Facebook).]
[“Glensheen,” the smash musical by composer/librettist Chan Poling and bookwriter Jeffrey Hatcher. The Congdon family tragedy splashed across the headlines of every newspaper in Minnesota. Witness this dark musical that tackles the tale with wicked dialogue and evocative music (historytheatre.com/2018-2019/glensheen).]
[Nicole is either signaling peace, or, indeed, that there are still two more shows to come.]
[President Bursch wraps up the proceedings with a history of TLHD . . . ]
[Greg and Erik say “Merry Christmas” to all before Erik joins other snow birds in flights south . . .]
And now the trip to our ultimate destination for celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday . . .
[The trip from Las Vegas to Utah takes a more than scenic route on Interstate 15 . . . ]
[Unfortunately, this route is under assault by orange construction barrels and will apparently will continue to be so for several more years . . . ]
[La Verkin, population 4,060, is attached at the city limits to Hurricane (pronounced her-eh-cun), population 13,748, and are 18 miles NE of St. George, population 87,178 . . . ]
[Approaching Utah . . . ]
[And St. George . . . ]
[There’s St. George . . . ]
[We’ll stop here for breakfast . . . ]
[At a place where we had eaten on a previous trip . . . ]
[But the Painted Pony is not a breakfast place . . . ]
[So, we went to another place we had also previously darkened for food, George’s . . . ]
[And then we were welcomed to La Verkin . . . ]
[The Super, having been here before, knew to turn left at the car wash airplane . . . ]
[We arrived first at Beth and Chris’s. And when Rita and Dave subequently arrived Rita took the established position of someone who had just completed a long trip . . . ]
November 27
Zion National Park
[La Verkin is a mere 20 miles west of Zion National Park. So, let’s go again – I believe I had been there four times previously . . . ]
[And there is some nice scenery before you get there . . . ]
[Is that Hogwarts ahead?]
[Sure looks like it . . . ]
[Comes with a heliport?]
[The entry way to Zion . . . ]
[We have arrived . . . ]
[And have parked, in the park, impossible in peak season . . . ]
[The scorecard indicates we have, from l – r: Rita, Ruthie, Beth . . . ]
[And a close-up version for easy identification . . . ]
[Beth’s brother Dave joins her on our shuttle bus ride to the end of the park . . . ]
[And The Biddies are excited too . . . ]
[Oh boy, this is fun!!]
[And ungulates too (OK, this one is no longer among the living) . . . ]
[The high red cliffs that define the park . . . ]
[“You are here!” Which is good since here was our destination . . . ]
[And “here” was the end of the line – the Temple of Sinawava . . . ]
[We began walking back from whence we came, just for the hike of it . . . ]
[The absence of greenery is what we find so striking about this part of the country. So we reacted with glee upon discovery of a green cactus . . . ]
[The Super and Dave posed with their find . . . ]
[And, whoa, there’s an evergreen tree . . . ]
[Along the trail we occasional ran across a few obstacles . . . ]
[A tree that at one time, supposedly, was green . . . ]
[Perfect weather for outdoor walking . . . ]
[Occasionally a flash of sunlight would strike a cliff . . . ]
[A rock peak in the background; a green cactus in the foreground . . . ]
[A glimpse of sun . . . ]
[The Virgin River, which eventually flows into the Colorado . . . ]
[An artsy gnarly tree backed by sunny cliffs . . . ]
[I eventually reported this as a violation of the ADD – there should be an escalator for older people to breach the fallen log . . . ]
[A virtual plethora of green cacti . . . ]
[A plethora of red rock . . . ]
[Some times you just have to walk on the road . . . ]
[As the sign says . . . ]
[Followed by a not so big bend . . . ]
[Since only shuttle buses can use this road, we were relatively safe here as we neared a shuttle bus stop where we got on again . . . ]
[These were actually real live ungulates photographed through the bus windows . . . ]
[And here we are at the Angels Landing stop . . . ]
[You may recall that I noted in past blogs that I did climb this one time – OK, it was back in the 80’s when I was still a youngster in my mid-30’s . . . ]
[There it is – we could see people up there but without my telephoto lens I couldn’t get any shots of them . . . ]
[Wow, more cacti . . . ]
[See? Up there? I think it’s an elephant . . . ]
[And now busing back to the visitors center . . . ]
[Where we had lunch . . . ]
[Finally, after a lovely day, good-bye to Zion . . . ]
You know that just before the first Thanksgiving there was one wise old Native American woman saying, Don’t feed them. If you feed them, they’ll never leave. ~ Dylan Brody
Continuing in Death Valley – yes, we went “there” anyway . . .
[When last we left you (OK, “yesterday”), we were at the Furnace Creek Information Center in Death Valley National Park . . . ]
[It was lunch time, so we went in search of a dining facility. We initially found a golf course but no food . . . ]
[If we had food we could have used the picnic tables in the shade of the palm trees . . . ]
[And thank goodness these palm trees provide ample shade for the hottest place on the continent . . . ]
[This looked nice . . . ]
[We found food but not to our satisfaction – not their fault, we caught them in a changeover between breakfast and lunch. Then back the visitor center . . . ]
[We’re 190 feet below sea level – almost as deep as Lake Carlos! When you leave the valley, you have to drive very slowly so you don’t get the bends . . . ]
[I know I’ll never find another ewe . . . ]
[The rocks had wandered out of our sight lines when we were there . . . ]
[Now time for a movie on Death Valley. Who’da thunk?]
[We’ve risen 90 feet since Furnace Creek . . . ]
[Not on the first pass, but we’ll be back . . . ]
[The traffic, such as it was, had come to an unknown standstill. Then we saw the source – Wiley Coyote . . . ]
[Yet another golf course?]
[We passed on this – it looked like a dirt road . . . ]
[Our destination, before retreating back . . . ]
[Millions of tourists, in late November?]
[No parking available in the parking lot . . . ]
[So we drove on till we found parking on the road miles and miles past the entrance . . . ]
[We’re looking for a way to get to the “walking area” (where the distant people are) without going all the way back to the entrance . . . ]
[One can almost walk out of sight . . . ]
[Again looking back at the entrance parking lot . . . ]
[Now we found the going tricky because one foot was always above the other . . . ]
[We made it!]
[Several hundred yards back to the true entrance . . . ]
[And a long way out to the salt flats . . . ]
[The sign well up on the cliff marks sea level . . . ]
[A constant parade in both directions . . . ]
[In my Minnesota garments, I was getting quite uncomfortable. It was 75 degrees down here, for Pete’s sake! I already had Minnesota cold weather antifreeze flowing through my veins. I was just too hot to wander any further out into the valley . . . ]
[So I walked back toward the entrance for photo ops; the Super took the route back through the moonscape to get the car and pick me up . . . ]
[All alone . . . ]
[More all aloner . . . ]
[Look up to see sea level . . . ]
[Briny water where there actually are living things . . . ]
[Out on the road hitchhiking and hoping the Super would pick me up . . . ]
[And now back to Artist Drive . . . ]
[A little background. We (Ruthie, Rita, and me) were first in Death Valley several years ago. The day we were going to “tour” Artist Drive, my camera battery died. So Rita let me use her camera to take pictures on that day. And then the next day Rita’s camera “went missing”? So, all the good pictures I had taken on the day were gone. We knew we had to go back some day – so we did . . . ]
[An uphill walk to an overlook . . . ]
[We went up this far. Walking out to the end seemed a trip too far . . . ]
[But we could see the “palette” from where we were . . . ]
[The arrays of color in the rock seem to indicate a differentiation of wave lengths in the light reflected back . . . ]
[Makes it pretty . . . ]
[And so I blessed them . . . ]
[And tried to act fast before my troublesome pants fell down . . . ]
[Wow?]
[Back on the one-way road through Artist Drive. It’s really, I think the scientific term is, nifty . . . ]
[Sometimes you wonder how some of those boulders hanging over the roadway manage to stay in their place . . . ]
[And here’s a real palette . . . ]
[Some people just have to go up and experience it all first hand . . . ]
[Just going for a ride . . . ]
[That was a special drive . . . ]
[Now we’re back on the Valley’s main thoroughfare . . . ]
[And here’s our turnoff to leave the national park . . . ]
[A mini-natural Stonehenge . . . ]
[On the drive back to Las Vegas there were occasional radio cut-ins warning of dust storms in the area. And here’s one of them . . . ]
[And even a permanent sign in that regard . . . ]
[At one time we were attacked by a tumbling tumbleweed, one much larger than the one that just crossed in front of us on the right side of this picture . . . ]
[More dust . . . ]
[We’re back at Creech Air Force Base . . . ]
[I had no idea I was closer than I appeared . . . ]
[Likely good advice . . . ]
[And there it is . . . ]
[If you’re going to escape from that prison, you probably need one of these . . . ]
[Back in our hotel room . . . ]
[I, with my booty from the day . . . ]
[Good night from Las Vegas. Off to La Verkin on the morrow . . . ]
Most turkeys taste better the day after; my mother’s tasted better the day before. ~ Rita Rudner
Well, we hadn’t been away from home for at least several days so it was time for another road trip. This time our niece and nephew, Beth and Chris, from San Diego, invited us to their getaway place in La Verkin, Utah, for Thanksgiving. We would be joined by Beth’s mom, Rita, and her brother, Dave, both coming from Indiana . . .
[Our flight to Las Vegas was generally uneventful. Well, except for the usual standing in line at the airport for two hours before being crammed like sardines into the plane for a 2 1/2 hour flight. I was at least entertained during the flight by Gorbachev, the movie – I’m a fan . . . ]
[Ahhh, Las Vegas. What can I say other than it’s a good place to fly into to go to other places . . . ]
[We immediately raced to the far reaches of the city for our two-night hotel stay . . . ]
[There appears to be a decent chance that the Oakland Raiders will be playing here next year . . . ]
[Home to the NHL’s Golden Knights (I had to look it up – forgot they had a team) . . . ]
[On my first trip to Vegas in the early 70’s, the original Caesar’s Palace marked the end of The Strip . . . ]
[Sorry, couldn’t help myself . . . ]
[Our destination at the edge of the city . . . ]
[The view from our hotel room . . . ]
November 25
Death Valley
[We arrived a day earlier than Rita and Dave because we wanted to pay another visit to Death Valley . . . ]
[So the next morning we drove off on the 2-hour trip NW to get there . . . ]
[It’s stark and brown and interesting to see as a tourist, but I could never be a desert person . . . ]
[Joshua trees in the foreground . . . ]
[Somebody’s tracking us?]
[As the sign says, and it’s home to Creech Air Force. It must be super top secret or something – The Super worked 31 years for the Air Force but had never heard of it . . . ]
[Onward . . . ]
[Getting further and further away from civilization . . . and water . . . ]
[Like a 4-lane highway on the moon . . . ]
[Death Valley appears on the GPS screen . . . ]
[And another Area 51?]
[Go left here . . . ]
[Strange red hill that seems to be a work site . . . ]
[We didn’t stop. Maybe it wasn’t big enough?]
[The most common photo op example for the whole trip . . . ]
[Death Valley is somewhere down this road . . . ]
[Leaving Nevada, entering California . . . ]
[Yup, the sign says we’re there . . . ]
[And we’re in . . . ]
[The information stop . . . ]
[We were here, entering the park from the East . . . ]
[Fortunately at this time of year we were experiencing temperatures in the 50’s . . . ]
[When you come to the fork in the road, take it. OK, we went left to the East . . . ]
[On a haze free day (I don’t know how often that happens), this would be a spectacular view down the length of the valley . . . ]
[One last check of the map with fellow visitors (we had the silver rental) . . . ]
[A long winding road to the valley floor . . . ]
[We’re at the bottom . . . ]
[This is it – DEATH VALLEY . . . ]
[Furnace Creek Visitors Center (oh, you can read that) . . . ]
[We’ll check in here, take a break from this blog posting, and pick up Part 2 next.]
You can tell you ate too much for Thanksgiving when you have to let your bathrobe out. ~ Jay Leno
The once-defeated Willmar Cardinals came to town to take on our undefeated Cardinals. It turned out to be a tough night in Alexandria for Willmar teams as our girls and boys hockey teams and boys basketball team all won . . .
[It was a hockey fundraiser of pulled pork sandwiches in the Warming House. Never made it there through the throngs . . . ]
[Our Cards are introduced beginning with junior forward Maci Tillesjkor (29) . . . ]
[Then senior forward Micah Summer (8) . . . ]
[Junior forward Ella Johnston (11) . . . ]
[Sophomore defense Riley Nyberg (21) . . . ]
[Sophomore defense Makenna Aure (17) . . . ]
[Sophomore goalie Hailee Bailey (35). Again, I think Coach Arola uses the pre-game introductions as a chance for the all players to get recognition . . . ]
[OK, let’s go out and show them we can be really good hosts . . . ]
[And we’re off and skating. Junior defense Ali Castle (22) with a shot from the point with junior forward Anna Doherty (7) along the boards . . . ]
[Sophomore forward Kaci Trosvig (25) and freshman forward Lauren Maras (27) peel off in opposite directions in the offensive zone . . . ]
[And continue circling . . . ]
[Anna and Kaci cross the blue line with speed . . . ]
[Anna (7) circles with the puck with junior forward Marki Oberg (10) and Ali (22) . . . ]
[Kaci’s in on goal . . . ]
[This line of Anna, Kaci, and Marki would strike terror in the hearts of the Wild. Though still just 2 juniors and a sophomore, all have been regulars since they were in the 8th grade. They are all talented and now with plenty of experience . . . ]
[And here is a member of what would ordinarly be called the “diaper line” for their youth. It consists of freshman Ella Westlund (19), freshman Lauren, and sophomore Hanley Block (28). They are already making their mark . . . ]
[Makenna (17) is an offensive defenseman who will often be in on goal . . . ]
[Our Cards received an early bench penalty (too many players on the ice). Though Willmar didn’t score on the power play, it set the tone of play in the period. The first period was even, though I had no concerns . . . ]
[The diaper line tees off the 2nd period . . . ]
[Maci’s line continues as our Cards established their usual swarming tempo . . . ]
[Makenna chases in to keep the puck in Willmar’s zone . . . ]
[We’re on a power play here as Kaci is back on point . . . ]
[Marki and Anna chase down the draw . . . ]
[Senior defense Mayson Toft (14) fires from the point . . . ]
[The main idea on the power play is to get Mayson the puck, have her shoot, and everybody else scramble for the rebound . . . ]
[Here’s the scramble . . . ]
[Then Makenna steps into one for my favorite photo of the night as the puck whizzes by Willmar’s No. 19 . . . ]
[Riley’s looking for loose change around the net . . . ]
[The puck escapes exit left . . . ]
[But here we come again . . . ]
[Then, GOOOAAAALLLL! Shorthanded by Hanley . . . ]
[Hugs all around . . . ]
[The game was now tied, but our Cards were now fully in control . . . ]
[Anna . . . ]
[Ella on a 1-on-6 situation . . . ]
[And the Cards score again following continuous pressure, Kaci from Marki . . . ]
[The diaper line makes a move . . . ]
[Then Makenna, who is not averse to making end to end rushes . . . ]
[She carried it deep and has a teammate at the goal . . . ]
[The Trosvig line, but the puck has slipped behind Kaci . . . ]
[Oh, there it is . . . ]
[The Ellas (Johnston (11) and Westlund (19)) are in together . . . ]
[And Ella Johnston gets the goal unassisted (she’s hidden behind the two Willmar players on the left) . . . ]
[Ali and Riley on this defensive pairing. Coach tries different combinations . . . ]
[And Ali gets a goal, assisted by Anna and Kaci (the scoring showed assisted by Meg Shercliffe (5), but I don’t think Meg was suited for this game) . . . ]
[The game was well in hand after the 2nd period. Willmar brought a pretty good fan base who were quite excited after the 1st period, but the 2nd left no doubt . . . ]
[The Trosvig line starts period 3 . . . ]
[The diaper dandies here . . . ]
[Riley faces down the Willmar star, junior Bailey Olson (7). She must be good because I remember her from previous years . . . ]
[Lauren and Hanley make annoyances of themselves . . . ]
[Makenna patrol the far reaches . . . ]
[Hanley’s out with Anna and Kaci . . . ]
[And here was the prettiest goal of the game. Hanley circled around out front, beat the defense to the edge, and fired a one-timer, her 2nd goal of the game . . . ]
[If unable to see a number, Lauren is easy to pick out because her helmet sits high on her head, you can see her forehead. I don’t know if that’s by design?]
[Wrapping up the close-ups with Lauren and Ella . . . ]
[Micah comes in on a solo . . . ]
[But fires just left . . . ]
[Lauren wrapped up the scoring . . . ]
[With assists from Marki and Ella Westlund . . . ]
[Some final shots sans telephoto lens . . . ]
[A very nice win to move to 6 – 0 on the season . . . ]
[But now we’re on the road for the rest of December. Six straight games away from home.]
A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle. ~ Gloria Steinem
The lead-in: By consensus of the aged attendees, Turkeyfest at Basketball Dan’s was either the 49th or 50th annual! It all began, and has continued, as a way for old friends from our kerosene-lighted days at the ‘U’ to celebrate Thanksgiving together a week or two preceding the actual date. For years the idea was to have it to coincide with the Ohio State-Michigan football game, with at least a couple more TVs simultaneously covering other games. While health is now an obvious consideration as to who can or who can’t attend, yesterday’s attendees were once again greeted at the door by almost 100-year old “Sid-on-a-stick.” By pure happenstance, this regularly scheduled event was augmented by the Cardinals girls first basketball game of the season against New Prague at 10:30 in the morning at Hopkins High School. A nice prelude to the day . . .
[Since we are on the road, I have not been able to scan a roster for easy reference. This is Jaya Hatlestad (3), 5’5″ junior guard . . . ]
[I was taken aback in warm ups. Our senior leader and likely leading scorer, Ella Grove (11), 6′ senior forward, was sidelined with a sprained ankle. And a further review seemed to show a large swath of the team in what appear to be ACL braces or other knee supports? And New Prague was a team with good size and shooting abilities. Here at the opening tap, you can see Alayna “measures” up. But you will notice in all other photos that the one on one match ups show decided height advantages for the Trojans . . . ]
[The Trojans were fast out of the blocks and got off to a substantial early lead. The Cards had trouble getting shots off against their height and were not connecting on contested attempts . . . ]
[I think Alayna made these, but we missed free throws that could have kept it competitive . . . ]
[Mia takes her shot at it. Also it’s fair to note this was our first game, and New Prague already had a blow out win under their belts . . . ]
[Cate Bloom (21), 5’7″ junior guard, has made an appearance in the last 3 photos. Cate’s a very good defensive player, but she’s one of our ACL bracers . . . ]
[Coach Kohler rousing her forces, but on the bench with her are, r-l: Emma (in civvies); Summer Gerhardt (35), 5’10” senior forward (arguably our best athlete who also plays soccer and competitively throws the shot and discus in track) with an ACL brace; Mia, our volleyball MVP; and Cate, in ACL brace . . . ]
[Myah Kremer (15), 5’8″ junior guard . . . ]
[This is still the strength of the team and what makes us competitive – the full court in your face pressing defense. New Prague did not have our depth so the goal was to wear them out . . . ]
[So at the half we had closed it to 7. There was a time I wasn’t sure we were going to hit double digits in the half . . . ]
[Myah inbounding in the 2nd half . . . ]
[Lilly makes a center cut (kinda like a preference for prime rib eaters) . . . ]
[Lilly launces a 3 . . . ]
[If it doesn’t drop the Trojans likely have the rebound . . . ]
[When you see 5’8″ Myah trying to sneak in from the right, you’ll notice she’s shorter than all 5 New Prague starters . . . ]
[Mataya on the free throw line. New Prague won 55 – 48, which means we played them even in the 2nd half. They have a good team and deserved the win. A couple times we had an opportunity to close within 2, but when we fouled a lot with our necessary pressure defense, they, particulary their center, made all their free throws down the stretch . . . ]
[Then it was on to Woodbury from Hopkins, a straight shot east from the west side of Minneapolis to the east side of St. Paul for the Turkeyfest. Custom in recent years has been to have Sid Hartman greet us on the door (if you do not know, Sid has been a sports columnist at the Minneapolis StarTribune for something like 75 years, as still is) . . . ]
[Dan always has a ginormous turkey with all the fixun’s, to include such as three different kinds of stuffin’ and four pies. Key on this day was that the Gophers beat Northwestern to go 10 – 1 on the season . . . ]
[Three games were on the tubes . . . ]
[It’s unfortunate now when anybody has to sit on the floor, because three other people have to help him up . . . ]
[It must be time to bring out the pies . . . ]
[Despite the appearance of pie, most seem absorbed in the games . . . ]
[In most years the Super rescues the turkey corpse. But this year we were continuing on to a further destination . . . ]
[OK, guys, time for pie . . . ]
[It’s all here for the taking . . . ]
[Because this will be the FB photo, I believe this was from the summer when the team was relatively healthy . . . ]
The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for. ~ Mark Twain
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