Stephen Macklin:  

Friends and Family: Well I decided it was time to add more recent activity. On May 16, 2010 Linda and I will be going back to Alaska again. We're using Holland America (Zuiderdam) again but not on the Inside Passage which we did on the Ryndam about 10 years ago. This time we will be doing what is called a land/sea tour with 9 days on land and 4 at sea. We fly to Ancourage arriving there around noon AK time and having the rest of the day to see some of that city. With 19 hours of sunshine everything stays open late, even on a Sunday. The next day we take the McKindley Explorer (train) to Denali National Park. Next day all day long by bus deep into the park. Next day we are on the train again to Fairbanks. We have little time there as we arrive late and leave early. Bus to Tok, AK stopping at El Dorado gold mine on the way. From this point we will be following the Yukon gold trail in Canada. One-half of a day by bus and then a boat (5 hours) on the Yukon River ending up in Dawson, Yukon, Can. Finally a whole day to rest. This scheduled trip sounds like the old joke: "It Thursday, it must be Belgium". Next we bus to Whitehorse the capital of Yukon Territory. Next day we go by bus to Carhill, YK via Lake Bennett. At Carhill we board the narrow guage railroad that goes down through the White Mountain pass (4 hours) to Skagway, AK. This is the city which was the jumping off point for the miners of 1898-9. I would much rather do this by train then consider the hardship those miners did climbing this route with 100+ pounds of supplies. Many never even left Skagway due the the 'Soapy' Smith robbery and murder gang that ran Skagway. After this we join the Zuiderdam the next day and see two places we have been before, Hubbard Glacier and Ketchikan, AK. Two more days and we end up in Vancouver, BC. We have a full day there and then fly back Sunday, May 30. Whew! Along the why we will be making stops to do other activities but I have more than used up my welcome for your time. My eldest son LCMD Ken is now retiring from the Navy (June, 2010) after 25 years. He is now living in the Boiae area up on a ridge overlooking the valley with a fantastic view of the snow covered mountains. That now brings the last of my children and families home to our area. Even though Linda and I never put any pressure on them to return. I guess they consider Idaho to be their home even though none of them were born here except for three spouses and some of the grandkids. We had two days of July 4th (2009) activities with all children(5) and spouses(4) and 9 of our 10 grandchildren. A good time was had by all in suburbs of Boise, ID. Tori is going to attend Boise State University in August and in one more year the entire family will be here as well. Ken is completeing the newly built house each time he takes Navy leave. I guess his new career will be as a BSU professor or a licensed Electrical Engineer or both (At 43) Check below, if you wish. I have updated all categories. We loved our week in Florida and our cruise. Our last trip was a condo (exchange club) for a week in South Lake Tahoe,CA with 2 grandsons and then over to Monterey,CA for the high school graduation of my grandaughter Tori on Friday, June 5. As you probably have already guessed, our favorite thing is to travel and to pay for this I am still substitute teaching in both Oregon and Idaho. It's vacation time again. Beginning March 9 we will fly to Miami for three weeks. First we have a "vacation" package ((had to listen to a sales pitch in West Palm Beach at a LUXURY resort (BUY-no way but it was fun looking)) that will have the first two nights at Ramada Resorts (Quality Inn, Sawgrass Conference Center) in Ft. Lauderdale, two nights on a Bermuda cruise (Nassau), drive (car included-Chevy Cobalt) to Orlando (Ramada 1000) for two nights (One day at Epcot cost us $160 with tax - Disney must be getting rich)and back to Ft. Lauderdale for one night via Sarasota, FL on the Gulf of Mexico to see the Ringling Bros. Circus Museum. Don't believe them when they say this is a free or even reduced price vacation; it ain't. Finally the vacation will begin. On Monday March 16 we will board the Celebrity Constellation for an 11-night cruise. We purposefully chose a cruise with only five ports-of-call so we would have the rest of the time at sea RELAXING; we have finally learned (it only took 8 cruises to do that). Our ports are in this date/order: 3/18 Georgetown, Grand Cayman; 21 Cartagena, Colombia; 22 Colon, Panama; 23 Puerto Limon, Costa Rica; and 25 Cozumel, Mexico. All ports are new to us accept Cartagena which we toured during our Panama Canal transit (Spring, 2007). We will celebrate St. Patricks Day (17) and our 43rd wedding anniversity (19) at sea. A good time will be had by all :). Well, I lost the election for Payette County Commissioner - Position 1 (4-year). This is a picture from the local NBC affiliate showing Idaho Senator-elect Jim Risch (replacing veteran Senator Larry Craig). At the bottom of the screen are the final results of my race. You will have to click on the picture to see it well. Anyone running as a Democrat in Idaho has a rough go-of-it, especially in my county. I did receive 34% of the vote and even President Obama only received 37% of the statewide Idaho vote and only 27% of Payette County. Now that I have tasted politics I may be running again for something in 2010. I live in the county so I can't run for the city council. My commissioner position doesn't come up again until 2012 and I don't want full time work as the County Clerk, Treasurer, or Assessor which are all open in 2010. To run for the legislature, which I would like, involves three counties Payette, Washington, and Adams (Legislative District 9) and will cost a minimum of $5000 to campaign. I had a hard enough time raising the $1200 I paid for the last race (I still have a $200 loan to myself); I question running is even possible. Position A is controlled by the Republican leader of the House so that is a secure position for him. Position B is held by a Republican newby so she might be a target. The Republican Senator is very popular, not because he does anything, but because he tells everyone what they want to hear. This is not my style; I guess I am not a politician and suited for this line of work. But who knows? I (64) retired 2-23-07 from Idaho Corrections (both Prisons and Probation & Parole) in Boise as a Financial Technician after 19 years. I am now working at home some with the stock market and substitute teaching in middle and high schools in both Idaho/Oregon. Politics - I was always a social/fiscal conservative Republican but like many have become very unhappy with what has happened (...Expand for more