SPARKS

This is us celebrating Duane's birthday one week early. The theme was Flag Day, June 14th. The meal was red, white and blue, as was the dessert. (it seems whipped cream is the kids favorite food) Fun was had by all.

Babysitting is hard work !!!!!

Sunday started much the same way that Saturday did, with Bubby and Zeyda being awaken by an avalanche of red-headed granddaughters. Another walk to the park after a breakfast per the request of the grandkids, trips to the supermarket guide by the grandkids, not only in getting to the store and around town (no easy feat as Duane would discover later) but also around the store and in the purchases made. It was only after their parents returned did we learn how much we had been conned into buying things that weren’t normally allowed in the house. “Yes we always have apple juice in the house,” sounded good to us. Bubby wasn’t all that innocent either. Leaving Duane to work on the computer, all 3 females retired to the upstairs bedroom for a little female conspiracy and another trip to the store. It was decided that Zeyda’s birthday should be celebrated a week earlier than its actual date since we would be leaving before the real date. So gifts and cards were made. A red, white, and blue theme decided on in keeping with a Flag Day birthday and all the trimmings, cake, ice cream and whipped cream purchased. Again the kids showed their ability to keep a secret, as Duane had no idea what was going on until they sprung the surprise party on him. He got a beautiful picture of the flag waving on a summer day and a seashell pendant necklace for gifts along with two wonderful home made cards.

They put a lot of thought and energy into the day, because when it was suggested that they go to bed before Mom and Dad got home late that evening, there was no argument. So they went to bed and Zeyda headed out to the airport to pick up Heather and David. All went well until Duane got lost in Downtown Reno and spent half an hour driving around in circles. Finally David called and talked him back to the freeway. From there it was only a short trip to pick them up and let them drive home.

6 3 to SPARKS, NEVADA

We left Redding and had a long drive over Bonner Pass to Nevada. We decided to get ready for our babysitting, here in Sparks. We stayed in Verdi for 2 nites. We need to stop driving every once in a while. Then on to Sparks and our son and daughter-in-law's house.

We got a wonderful greeting from our kids and our grandkids. We came to watch the kids so our son, David, could surprise his wife, Heather, for their 15th anniversary. He had told her he had planned a weekend holiday for her at Lake Tahoe, but would give her no details. So of course she was very excited, but confused. It turns out his plans were really to take her to Chicago for the weekend. She had no idea. Autumn and Amber, almost 9 and almost 6, both knew of the plans and never let on. Heather was totally surprised when she was awakened at 3am on Friday and when Duane got into the car with them. That was her first idea that she was not going to Lake Tahoe. (Duane went to the airport with them to bring back their car)

We are enjoying ourselves very much being grandchildren toys. The kids seem to enjoy having us to play with, too. Tomorrow, Sunday, is when the "parents" are coming home. Our plan is to find the house before they get back.

So to bed.

5 31 WILDLIFE SAFARI, WINSTON, OREGON

We had heard about this park on the way up to Seattle from Tucson but didn't have the time to see it, so we stopped today. It is a drive thru park like they used to have in southern California years ago. Debbie, Arleen's sister, and Arleen went thru the old Lion Country Safari, but Duane never had. So this was great fun for both of us.

I always thought bison were very dangerous. Whenever we had seen them before they we behind strong fences. Here they roam free and come very close to the cars, even with their new babies.


They had other wild animals, too. Like lions, and leopards, and bears, oh my!

He doesn't look very fierce does he? It was rather hot that day and the bears were resting. There was one bear laying in the pond who would occasionally blow bubbles in the water thru his nose. Very fierce looking :)

Camels walked around us (see the car mirror in the picture)

Giraffes

Rhinos

and Elephants, again walking right by the car

They used the elephants to wash cars. Another sign said, "car wash, guaranteed NOT to get your car clean"

A Rhea thought about joining us in the car

We heard about a wedding about to be performed. We were amazed to learn that an elephant was to be the ringbearer. Arleen could not resist the temptation to get pictures. And this one came out great. You can see the elephant handing the best man a basket with the ring in it. That was a highlight.

After leaving the park, we came upon this view. It turns out to be Mt. Shasta, which is over 14,000 feet tall. Beautiful.

We spent that night in Redding.

5 30 SILVER FALLS STATE PARK

It was too bad we arrived at the park late in the afternoon. There are 10 falls there. This is the longest. If you look closely, you can see people walking behind the falls. We became some of the people. We were hoping we could find a lodge that had rooms so we could spend more time at the park, but there were only camping facilities. Too bad, we had no camping gear.

The view from behind the falls

View from the bottom of the falls

SUNSETS AGAIN

Don't ask, but you get to see these beautiful pictures again because of a glitch in blogspot. So enjoy.

5 30 MT ST HELENS OREGON

After leaving Fife, we headed south. We went to the Mt St. Helens and on to Silver Falls State Park. We stopped at the visitor's center for the mountain and saw some pictures and took this picture. Since most of what you can do here is on the mountain, ie camping and hiking, and we didn't have enough time for that, we continued on.

5 27 VICTORIA BC thru 5 30

AMAZING SUNSETS

After leaving Juneau, we set sail across the open sea toward Vancouver Island and Victoria. Open Sea. Not my favorite thing. Actually in all of our sailing, we have not had many bad days. We had 2 this trip, and 4 days on our round the world cruise of 102 days. Not too bad a record. But the 26th wasn't the best nor was it the worst. So, glad it is over.

We arrived in Victoria at about 5pm and were scheduled to leave at midnight. That didn't leave much daylight. So, since we had been there twice before, we just walked around and found an Internet spot to do the Juneau post. Then we were off to Seattle, to disembark the next morning. We had to get up at 5 am so we could be out of the cabin by 7. Then we had some breakfast, done by 8 and then sat around until almost 11am before we could get off the ship. Luckily we did not have a plane to catch. We had our car at the home of our new friends in Seattle. THANK YOU GISELA AND WOLFIE. They were away in Germany but we had no trouble retrieving our car. Then off to a place to rest. We spent 2 nites in Fife (of course, close to a casino) for some RnR. (imagine needing RnR after a cruise, but we did)