KeysDan’s Neighborhood

Our annual fall vacation with Skip and Yvette this year was to Branson.  After our Sedona trip in January we decided to stay close to home this time!  We had fun exploring the new riverfront area, old downtown, eating out, and doing Skip's favorite thing . . . playing games!

Our niece, Jill, got married on Long Island on August 1 so we decided to make it into a "whole family" event!  We had a great time.  We arrived on Friday and tried to tour around Manhattan since neither of the girls had ever been to New York City.  That turned out to be quite an experience as Ted maneuvered the Ford Expedition through the narrow streets!  We did, however, get in some sightseeing before we headed out to the island.

The rehearsal dinner was so much fun.  It was great to get all the cousins together again (Margo, Jill, Sam, Derek, Justin, Jeff) because they hadn't been all together since I was pregnant with Derek!  Justin and Derek also were glad to see their Aunt Lynn who they hadn't seen in almost 20 years!
All ready for the wedding . . .
The wedding was spectacular.  It was outside in a fabulous setting.  The ceremony took place in a gazebo with waterfalls on either side and Jill was a beautiful bride.
The reception was really different.  There was a delicious appetizer reception followed by a full-course meal.  We spent the evening drinking, eating, dancing, and having a wonderful time!  We also got a Herman family picture . . . again the first one since I was pregnant with Derek!  It was also fun being together again and sharing stories with my "sisters."
Then we got to the airport on Sunday and we had a four-hour delay!  So this is what you do during a delay . . .you talk on the phone, read magazines, do crosswords, and sleep.  Would you guess who did what?

The end of May we flew to Seattle and went on an Alaskan Cruise on NCL.  It was wonderful and so different from any other cruise we have taken.  On the sea days you couldn't lay out by the pool . . . I mean you could if you like rainy weather in the 50's!  So instead we read, played cards, and just had fun.  Going through the Inside Passage was really unique.  All you saw out both sides of the ship were mountains as far as you could see (through the clouds!).  The mountains came right out of the water . . . it was strange not seeing land between the mountains and water!

Our first stop was in Ketchikan which began as both a fishing and mining town.  So much salmon is produced in the canneries that Ketchikan is called "The Salmon Capital of the World."  Since the city is only a few blocks deep and much of it sits on stilts at the water line, we decided to take the Duck Tour!  It gave us the best of both worlds!  On land we got to see Whale Park, the salmon ladder on Ketchikan Creek, the Totem Heritage Center, and Creek Street. Then we drove into Ketchikan’s harbor where we saw the local fishing canneries, seaplane docks and Ketchikan’s waterfront community.  After the tour we walked around the town and discovered that Ketchikan has the world's largest collection of totem poles.  They are everywhere and are beautifully carved.  We spent some time on Creek Street which used to be the red-light district.  Today it's just a wonderful shopping and art community.
Our next stop was Juneau, the capital of Alaska.  It was the largest town we visited (population of 31,000) but still felt like you were on a trip back in time!  We took a tour of the city, a salmon hatchery, and Mendenhall Glacier.  The salmon hatchery was really interesting.  They spawn the salmon and raise them for about two years but then release them into the wild.  In a few years, they will come back to the hatchery to spawn.  They don't harvest the fish, but rather procreate the salmon to make sure that there is always a supply of Alaskan wild salmon.  The glacier is one of the few "drive to" glaciers and it sprawls between mountains for almost 12 miles before you see the ice face across Mendenhall Lake.  It is a beautiful site.  As you walk along the lake towards the glacier, you see icebergs floating in the water.  These are pieces of the glacier that have calved off.
 
After we left Juneau, we went up the Endicott Arm to see the Sawyer Glacier.  We were supposed to go up the Tracy Arm (the largest fjord) but couldn't because it was jammed with icebergs.  As we went up the fjord, the icebergs were beautiful and each so different.  I took a picture of one of our lifeboats in front of one of the icebergs so you could get an idea of their size . . . and only 10% of the iceberg is on top of the water!  The Sawyer Glacier is beautiful.  It's almost one third of a mile across.  The ship turned sideways so we could get wonderful views of the glacier.  After a few hours, the captain turned the ship around and we went back out.  The fjord was really narrow but over 1,000 feet deep!
Our next stop was Skagway (population 862).  It was a very small but unique town that is only 7 blocks long . . . I took pictures in downtown during rush hour and stood in the middle of the street!  Skagway is where supplies were purchased as they left during the 1890's Gold Rush.  We took a tour on the White Pass narrow-gauge railroad that served the mad rush to the Klondike in 1898. We rode in a restored old-fashioned parlor car.  The scenery was breathtaking as we rode through tunnels, sky-high trestles, and remote valley following the trail taken by those early fortune seekers!  As we started the ride, it was beautiful Northwest Rainforest but as we came closer to White Pass Summit, the international boundary between Canada and the U.S, the scenery changed to snow (that hadn't melted in 20 years!).  
Our last stop was Prince Rupert, British Columbia, which has the world's third largest natural ice-free harbors.  Here we traveled by boat to a pristine coastal rainforest island on the traditional lands of the Tsimshian people. On our walk through the Rainforest we learned of traditional uses for plant life and viewed ancient rock carvings called
petroglyphs (which were quite different from the petroglyphs we saw earlier this year in Sedona!). The tour of the island concluded at a traditional style cedar longhouse where we enjoyed a delicious barbecued salmon meal.  One of the most exciting parts was standing on the deck of the longhouse and watching the eagles swoop in over the water. 
If you'd like to see more pictures of Alaska, click here.

We took a Caribbean Cruise in January with 3 other couples on NCL.  We had a wonderful time.  The free-style cruising was really fun . . . not being tied to a particular eating time made shore excursions so much easier!  The sunsets were beautiful and the company of friends wonderful.

Our first port was Roatan, Honduras.  It is a developing country with rough roads and lots of poverty.  Telephone service is difficult or impossible to get in most places, however cable television is available everywhere!  As we drove through the city into the countryside, you could see that development is on the way (an new port is being built for Carnival on the other side of the island) and that will definitely change the island.  We went on a snorkeling excursion on the Jolly Roger Catamaran.  The under-water sites weren't as colorful as some we've seen but they were beautiful none the less.  After snorkeling we went to Gumbalima Park and had so much fun with the monkeys!
Our second port was Belize.  Almost half of the country is national park or reserves, including the world's only Jaguar Preserve.  It is a beautiful country.  The excursion we took here was a tour of the ancient city of Altun Ha.  Altun Ha was first settled somewhere around 250 BC. Some 10,000 Maya lived in and around Altun Ha, which was a significant trading center.  On the way back to the boat we took a tour of Belize City.  The city is divided into north and south by a swing bridge. The old bridge is the only functional manually operated swing bridge left in the world and turns open twice a day to allow high mast boats upriver or out to sea.  The city is beautiful but when you get the the living areas, it is obvious that there is much poverty.
Our third port was Cosumel.  We had spent some time on the island when the boys were small but has it ever changed!  The first time we were here it was a sleepy village but now it is "all grown up!"  We took our shore excersion to the Myan ruins of Tulum.  Tulum is a particularly impressive site, on top of limestone cliffs that spill down to the turquoise waters of the Caribbean below.  The walls on three sides enclosing the city may have been defensive, as they average 18 feet thick and are between nine and 15 feet high. You enter the city through one of the original five tunnels through the wall. When we entered the walled city, it took our breath away.
Our last port was Key West.  Key West is known as the Southern-most city in the Continental US and is only 90 miles from Cuba.  It is a wonderful place to just walk and eat! The streets are filled with sidewalk cafes, open-air bars, legendary pubs, and wonderful restaurants.
When we landed in Miami we spent the day on an Everglades Tour.  It was one of the original tours on the Indian Reservation and was very interesting. Everglades National Park is a place where earth, water, and sky blend in a low green landscape.  As you ride across the water, it is like no other area that I've ever encountered.  It is home to a great number of birds, wildlife, and vegetation.  Over 36 threatened or endangered animal species live in this park including the American alligator, crocodile, wood stork and Florida panther. 
If you'd like to see all the pictures from the cruise, click here.

We took a road trip with Skip and Yvette and the scenery on the way was beautiful . . . even in Kansas!  On this trip we defiantly saw the hand of God.  The condo was wonderful and looked out on the the golf course with the red rocks in the background.  Ted and Skip enjoyed playing golf and, as they were told, took almost as many shots with the camera as they did with the clubs!

There were so many things to see in Sedona.  We went to see Montezuma Castle, a five-level, 20 room cliff dwelling nestled into a limestone recess.  It served as a "high-rise apartment building" for prehistoric Sinagua Indians over 600 years ago. Montezuma Castle is the oldest and best preserved cliff dwelling in the Southwest.  We also went to see V-Bar-V Ranch Petroglyph Site which is the largest known petroglyph site in the Verde Valley, as well as being one of the best-preserved. Rock art is one type of archaeological data that can be used to identify prehistoric cultures and time periods.
We were fortunate that the weather was wonderful the week we were there with temperatures in the 60's.  This allowed us to go the the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.  Just a few weeks earlier it was snowed it!

If you'd like to see more pictures from the Sedona trip, click here.

We were lucky enough to be in Charlotte when the Pompeii exhibit was at the Discovery Place museum.  It traveled to only four cities in the US before returning to Italy.  The exhibit was beyond description.  In August 79 AD Pompeii was a bustling Roman city.  Suddenly, without warning, Mt. Vesuvius erupts.  Ash and pumice rain down and 20,000 people perish.  They lay forgotten for 1,700 years.  When the city was finally uncovered, it was discovered that the ash and pumice preserved the city.  What we saw was exactly as it was almost 2,000 years ago.  Where the bodies had been buried, they filled in the area with plaster so you actually see what they were doing as the eruption occurred.  I've shown you only a few pictures below but for more pictures and detailed information, click here.

The Mint Museum of Craft and Design is one of the best in the country.  It is in the center of downtown Charlotte's cultural district.  It houses many "unique" pieces!  Downtown Charlotte also has sculptures on almost every corner.  It is truly a city that treasurers art.

We spent a week in November at Nashville and had a really great time.  There really is alot to do . . . even for someone like Ted who is not a big fan of country music!  First we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.  It is really something to see!  They have the old Rhinestone costumes, instruments, lyric sheets, cars, gold records, and even Elvis's 14 carat gold piano!

We enjoyed going to Tootsies.  It is a very small bar that is painted purple!  It is the bar that all the Grand Ole Opry stars go to between songs.  The walls show all its history.  The neat thing about Nashville was all the little bars that always had live music playing.  It seemed like everyone you ran into was an aspiring country singer and most played in the bars when they weren't working there "money" job.  The Ernest Tubb Record Shop is another landmark.  The store has a stage for performances and serves as a museum for Tubb's memorabila.  Inside the store is even his tour bus.  It was really interesting to see the conditions underwhich they used to tour.  The seats were quite uncomfortable and crowded!
Opryland Hotel is a beautiful and HUGE place and the Christmas decorations were beautiful.  It is definately the place to stay in Nashville!
Our favorite place was Cheekwood Arts and Gardens.  We were lucky enough to be there when the Faberge Eggs were on exhibit in the gallery.  The Sculpture Park at the back of the grounds was a wonderful 1 mile walk through the woods with wonderful sculpture along the way.  We also visited Belle Meade Plantation which the largest thorough breed ranch in the South during the 1890's.  It was interesting how progressive they were with running water and electricity in the house and an automatic carriage wash.  There was also a cemetary for the horses!
No visit to Nashville would be complete without seeing a show at the Grand Ole Opry.  During the winter, when they aren't as busy, the show is moved back to Rhyman Auditorium where it began.  It was nastalgic to be back to the original venue.  The show was different and most of the performers were quite old but we were lucky enough to see Vince Gill perform.
If you want to see more pictures from Nashville, click here.

Dexter is not one to sit still all day and not help out around the house.  Whether it's opening the mail, or helping Ted install the surround-sound system, or helping the boys open Christmas gifts, he puts in a full day.

Then after a hard day's work, Dexter likes to rest his "elbow" on the table and read the newspaper with Ted!

This is a short but VERY FAST IQ Test; so be prepared; don't dilley-dalley because you only have 8 seconds for each question. The answers are given at the end of the test with your score compared with the average score. Click HERE to take the test.  I got a 23 . . . see now I'm laying it out there! 

Our annual vacation this year took us to Hot Springs.  We stayed at a golf resort that had 8 golf courses.  We wondered why there were so many courses then we found out why . . . there is nothing else to do but play golf!  We had a great time but made our own fun . . . except we went to the old bath area, toured the galleries at a Gallery Walk, and found a botanical garden!  There weren't even any real shopping areas!

To see more pictures of Hot Springs, click here.