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Published: October 9th 2023
Christmas 2022
Logan, Rosanna, Connor and Evan baking and decorating Christmas cookiesI have just been inspired by a fellow travelblogger to write my own Intermezzo of what we have been up to since my last blog about my trip to Scotland and Sweden in search of ancestors. This year my plans to visit Eastern Europe and complete my travels to 100 countries was postponed to address health issues and to be with family rather than ancestors. Right after I returned from Scotland and Sweden, Linda had operations for Stage 1 breast cancer. She finished her radiation treatments by Christmas. She has follow up appointments to make sure nothing returns. Her prognosis is excellent. In December 2022 Linda and I celebrated our 50th Anniversary with Rosanna, Evan, Connor and Logan, who also were with us through Christmas. Then we were visited by a Momma Bear and her cub who had just come out of hibernation and were looking for food. Fortunately, they stayed on our porch! At Easter our beloved dog Bonnie passed away at the age of 16 years 3 months and 3 days...every day of which was full of love. I sobbed...
In January Linda had an ambulatory surgery on her left foot that took her until May to recover.
Christmas 2022
Bob reading "The Night Before Christmas" to Connor and Logan In May she celebrated her Mother's 94 birthday and her brother's 60th birthday in New Castle PA. She had a great time with all her brothers and sister, but a less than perfect flight experience. The flight from Colorado Springs to Denver was delayed resulting in a change from a direct flight to Pittsburgh to a flight to San Antonio and Orlando before arriving in Pittsburgh at 2:30 AM...10 hours late.
In mid-June we flew to Burbank, California via Las Vegas...avoiding a Denver transfer and its connection problems...to celebrate our grand daughter Olivia's first birthday. We had only seen her via Skype to this point. We did not do any touring during the week we were there...traffic was too bad to even visit the Pacific Ocean beaches. We just spent time with Will, Mercy, and Olivia and ate out at a different ethnic restaurant each evening, which was good. Olivia took some time to warm up to me, but eventually gave me big smiles every time she saw me. She even called me Pop Pop.
A week after returning from California, we drove back East for three weeks starting with the week before the 4th of July. Given
Christmas 2022
Presents under the tree the poor performance of the airline industry we decided to drive the 4000 miles round trip. Linda agreed as this was also an opportunity to take a car load of our grandchildren's toys which had cluttered our house and storage area for years. We had planned to leave on Wednesday, but decided to get an early start to reduce the daily mileage. We departed Woodland Park at 2 PM after I finished volunteering as an interpretive ranger at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. It was pretty much smooth sailing to our first night stay in Junction City KS. Wednesday we continued east on I-70, encountering the smoke from the Canadian forest fires midway through Missouri. In addition to thick smoke which severely reduced visibility, we encountered congested traffic upon entering Illinois. Construction had reduced traffic to one lane which after a couple of miles opened up to two lanes, only to be constricted a couple miles later. We spent hours stuck behind tractor trailers which were about 90% of the vehicles on the road. Crossing Indiana was much better as their construction still had two lanes open in each direction. Instead of arriving at our hotel in Springfield OH at
Christmas 2022
Rosanna, Evan, Logan and Connor opening presents 6 pm we got there at 10 PM. Thursday we encountered more smoke and construction delays. A few miles before the border with West Virginia, the interstate shut down. A tractor trailer had crossed the median, hitting a car and killing two little girls and severely injuring their father who was taken by helicopter to a hospital. Traffic limped along at 2 mph until we could get off at the ext exit. After navigating the back roads we eventually returned to I-70 and continued across Pennsylvania without incident to Haddonfield NJ, arriving at our daughter Tamara's home four hours late.
All my plans for touring, including celebrating the 4th of July at Independence Hall in Philadelphia PA where the Declaration of Independence was signed, and visiting the replica of the Kalmar Nyckel ship in Wilmington DE were nixed due to severe thunderstorms. The original Kalmar Nyckel brought my Swedish ancestors to New Sweden at the mouth of the Delaware River in 1638...see my blog at
In Search of Colonial Ancestors in Delaware and Pennsylvania). We had good weather for touring around the historical town of Haddonfield, but most of the time we spent with Tamara, Ryan, and grandchildren Liam, Cecily, and Austen at their home. Sunday we
Christmas 2022
Linda observing presents being opened went to the historic First Baptist Church built in 1818, where Ryan is the pastor. We also visited with Linda Jacobson and daughter Dakota who we knew from our time living in Belgium. For the 4th of July we decided the best viewpoint for seeing the fireworks was at the Baptist cemetery as large trees would not block the view. We waited until 9 PM for the fireworks, and just as they started a thunderstorm hit, so we fled back to the car.
On Friday, we drove from Haddonfield NJ via Bethlehem PA to our daughter Rosanna's home in Ridgefield CT . As mentioned in the blog linked above, my 6th great grandfather, Rev. Johann Heinrich "Henry" Antes, had founded the Moravian colony in Bethlehem. Our itinerary from that trip did not allow time to visit there so we now made up for that. A secondary purpose was to visit an over-55 retirement community in the area to see if wanted to move back east...we didn't. We will stay in Woodland Park and visit our kids and grandchildren each year, perhaps renting a AirBnB or VRBO on a beach. Meanwhile, Tamara and family left Haddonfield later with all of
Christmas 2022
Bonnie joins in the fun us arriving in Ridgefield at 4 PM. Evan cooked barbecue while Connor and Logan splashed in the pool with their cousins. The pool was the center of activity on Saturday, before Tamara and family returned to Haddonfield, where Ryan had to preach on Sunday. We had a great time swimming and touring the area for the next week. One of our favorite excursions was the drive to Westport CT where we enjoyed our usual lunch at Bar Taco.
On Thursday we drove from Ridgefield CT on I-80 to New Castle PA to once again visit with Linda's Mom, brother and sister, and friends. The traffic was much better, with fewer tractor trailers, so we arrived mid afternoon. We spent some time with her family before driving to our friends, Buz and Kathy, where we had dinner and spent the night. Friday noon we met up with Linda's sister Melody and brother Jon to go to the nursing home to see her Mom for an hour or so. Afterwards we had lunch together before Linda and I returned to Buz and Kathy's home. That evening we attended a performance of Scottish music at nearby Westminster College. We had a great
Christmas 2022
Bob observing presents being opened time talking about old times and making plans for a Caribbean cruise in early 2024.
On Saturday we drove to my sister Carol and husband Steve's home in Carol Stream IL. Surprisingly, the traffic around Chicago flowed nicely and we arrived about 4 PM. We had dinner at their home and then toured around Wheaton stopping for ice cream before returning to their home. We had a great time catching up.
On Sunday we took US20 across northern Illinois to the Mississippi river town of Galena, which was full of tourists...we decided to move on. We crossed northern Iowa on US20 arriving at Sioux City, our destination for the night.
On Monday, we continued west on US20 and south on US385 to Scotts Bluff NE. This spot was a major milestone for the wagon trains traversing the Oregon Trail. We visited the Scotts Bluff National Monument. On Tuesday we drove home.
In early August Linda had surgery for her other foot, which will require careful walking until November. Hence, our planned visit to Poland, Slovakia, Romania, and Hungary was delayed until next Fall. In the meantime, we made reservations for a two week cruise in February
2024 to visit 14 Caribbean island nations which will allow me to meet my goal of visiting 100 countries. Traveling has become so difficult lately, whether by air or by car. Hopefully, we won't have problems at sea...hurricane season doesn't start until June! We will continue to travel, but hopefully by applying lessons learned this year we can mitigate some of the problems
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Steve Sherry
non-member comment
Thanks for sharing
Hi Bob. Love the story and pics. My story has similarities to yours; must be an age thing. Sue had foot surgery with a similar time frame for recovery, and they’re still not perfect. Orthotic inserts and suitable footwear just keep the bulls rolling in. I’m lucky not to suffer from these problems. Bears! I caught 4 problematic possums living in my carport recently, but you’ve smashed me out of the park with your bears. Great pictures. We will have our first granddaughter in about a week so we are off to Luxembourg for a visit in late November and Christmas in Wrocław, Poland with the in-laws. Coldest Christmas I will ever experience. I smiled at Liam’s hair when I saw his picture. My grandson Ezra is a blonde version of his curls, but so was his father and me so we don’t mind a curly head. It’s good to see you well and enjoying life. I’m convinced that one of the biggest benefits of having children is getting grandkids. Stay well and I hope Linda’s feet are not giving her grief. You certainly step up to the plate as a caregiver/ husband when these things occur. Good to hear from you, Steve