Glad you made it back safely! I hope you made your meeting without too much trouble.
Jeanette and I want to thank you again for not only all the considerable work you put in toward making our wedding and reception a success but for also being an island of calm during a stormy stressful period. More than one person approached me to tell me what a terrific person you are. It's my pleasure to let them and everyone else know that I am now - however vaguely - related to you.
great to see you! Hi! It was great to see you this weekend! I wish we'd had more time to talk and catch up. I feel like I hardly got to talk to anybody, even though the picnic was 5 hours!
Do you use Skype at all? We should try to set that up so we can talk. In fact, you should look into doing that with Grandma and others because then you don't have to pay when you call. Anyway, glad you're back safe. I look forward to seeing your pictures! I love the ones of Grandpa playing baseball - boy can he hit!
Some Grand Finale! Well Donavin, the cops should have know it was just some Bloody Yank cutting up on Independence Day. They are probably edgy with all this terrorism thing in the world. We are looking forward to seeing you during your visit to the Great PNW in August. Thanks for sharing with us.
Your friend, Jim.
You Call Those Fireworks You call those fireworks? those are not even good sparklers here, more like smoke bombs, no fizzle.
I once blew up the Bay Center bridge with a large rocket from the Tokeland Indian Tribal fireworks sale. scared the hell out of a family driving across the bridge
another 4th, I had the whole Hazen tribe diving off the beach into Skagit Bay when the morter tube fell over and shot the bomb up the beach thru the crowd at head level
Sober as a Baptist minister on Sunday morning.
don't they let the coppers there carry guns?
Catchy poster! Great theme Donavin. I am sure you have captivated the majority of the office staff. Will there be drawings for prizes there? Lots of times when you win x amount of $/chips in the games winners are given tickets to put in jars that are linked to prizes. At the end of the party, the raffle is done to see who gets each basket. Women love this but so do guys. Anything from a gift card to Starbucks to dinner out for 2, to a nite out for 2 or a basket with goodies in it (wine/cheese/crackers) ect.
Greetings Glad to receive your travel blogs, anytime! Your NZ adventrue is so interesting, and has piqued my interest in seeing the country, over Bloody Old Australia, which had been my focus, down under. Your diving experiences must be absolutely fascinating, as well as the many other outings that you have experienced. My impression of your friends is very positive, and Marcos looks like the face on my 1950 DeSoto hood ornament!!! Really! Be careful on the streets, after an evening of celebrating. You have been confronted with the real world of humanity. When you come back home, I want to see the same great Donavin that I knew when you left Ballard!
Your friend, Jim
Kicking Arse looks like you left one warrior culture, the good ole USA, and moved into another, the boozing Kiwi
lesson from history, the Maori would not have lost to the British Crown if they would have had guns but lots of British brains spilled by those stone tipped braining clubs
booze dulls ones mind in a fight
warriors are never the ones that get to procreate
Your're finally back Donavin,
Looks like you are having a good time.We're all fine back here on the main land.Tried a little spring salmom fishing cold cold!!!!
Taranaki Tours Kia Ora, great to read your blog- sorry about the rain -FYI the trees are called ponga and are amongst some of the oldest plants in the world and the snow is sitting on Fanthams Peak which is off the side of Mt Taranaki. Glad you saw Dawsons Falls with lots of water- quite a spiritual feeling down beneath the falls
Refreshing Summer Sunshine Your trip and photos brought a lot of warmth and appreciation of the beautiful scenery and summer scenes! We could do with some of this warm weather, since snow is just days behind us. Today 60 degrees, but there was 8 inches of snow at my son's place in Mill Creek, just 2 weeks ago. I hope some of your family comes to NZ for a visit with you. This will be a wonderful experience for you all, especially at this time of year. Thanks for sending the blog. Jim
S. Island, Sheep and postcards glad to hear you gave up on the sheep, boy....those 2 in the post card were too young for you anyway, jail bait...
know the attraction of those stink woolies, son....handled a few in my younger days, no desire to now
did the S Island remind you of the Pacific NW and the Cascades?
did you make it to Invercargill at the tip? talk to a guy there on radio all the time
Great Adventure! In spite of the weather and sand flys, you folks will have a great deal of fun times to remember. Beautiful scenery. Thanks for the great travel blogs that you continue to send. I enjoy them immensely.
Jim Lesniak
Oh Boy And I thought I was making my entry too large by splitting it into two parts. How many installments are we expecting?
I eagerly await your next update.
Hawaii Marathon Each December when we're on Oahu it is close or on the day Honolulu holds its Marathon. This year there are 26,000 participants, 23,000 of them Japanese.
Keep at it and we will meet you next September so you can run the marathon and we can cheer you on well rested and without envy from the sidelines.
What a MO!!! How the women must swoon on you son! Hopefully, it does not affect your behavior. Remember the movie with Jim Carrie....The Mask. Just by putting on the mask he changed into a confident womanizing villan. I have to admit you look so different...are you sure you didn't bump off my son and take his place?
Bryant and I contributed $30, a dollar a day, for your efforts to raise awareness and research for men's health. Good job!
I was in snow today! Maybe it is time to make a trip home rather than sending snow your way? Do I sense a little missing home??? Today when we drove home from the beach we had snow for miles through the coastal mountan pass on Hwy 26. It was beautiful.
I wish I had discovered this blog years ago. I did the mass email update for my previous adventures (United States and Europe) and now have no online documentation to share with fellow travelers.
To the chagrin of some friends and family wanderlust has struck again. I managed to stay focused for nearly a year and a half in a job related to my college education, however the desire to travel has grown strong again and can no longer be suppressed.
I have secured a 12 month Visa for New Zealand and hope to document this adventure for posterity, or at least the life of the TravelBlog.
Enj... full info
Bill Bryant
non-member comment
Glad you made it back safely!
I hope you made your meeting without too much trouble. Jeanette and I want to thank you again for not only all the considerable work you put in toward making our wedding and reception a success but for also being an island of calm during a stormy stressful period. More than one person approached me to tell me what a terrific person you are. It's my pleasure to let them and everyone else know that I am now - however vaguely - related to you.