Nancy Smith:  

ls for a Hell's Canyon Ride!! On to Durango, CO for 4 days, where we drove to Silverton and Mesa Verde and took the tour. We will be back in TX for our grandson's Christening on Oct. 11, 09. Then we'll stay in Austin area through April to be with grandson and spend winter and spring. The first of December we made a trip to Baytown to attend a Sunday School Christmas luncheon at Cullen's Restaurant. We really enjoyed visting with friends we had not seen in a while as well as seeing other friends and family in Baytown for a few days. We had a great Christmas with the kids and our first grandchild--Marcus (7 mo. old). ************************************************ 2010 We celebrated New Year's Eve at Austin's First Night downtown. We are still in RV park in Southeast Austin, but we left for a week towards end of Jan. for Stonewall, TX. for our camping club rally. We were the Wagon Masters in charge of the rally. In March we went to Durant, OK. for a week to the camping rally--toured Ft. Washita and spent a little money in Choctow Casino. April--we went on 20 day cruise to Virgin Islands, ABC Isands and Grand Turks and Cacos and D.R.---wonderful!!!!! Snorkeling, hiking, 14 zip lines through top of rain forest in St. Lucia and relaxing were part of the cruise as well as an airboat ride through the Everglades. Also a boat tour of the area of Ft. Lauderdale's multimillion dollar homes and yachts was definitely an experience. At the end of 2o days with 4 days at sea, we really didn't want to get off the ship. We were ready to keep going!!! This was our 12th cruise. We have another one already planned with friends to go on the newest out in Dec.--the Allure of the Seas. We sail in March of 2011. Lately, we have enjoyed our grandson by celebrating his first birthday, and taking him on some day trips. I love my family very much and want to be around them. Michael and I have met some of our classmates for lunch, dinner and really enjoyed our visits with them. Next we are off to WA., OR., CA., and CO. to explore the national parks and other scenic places soon for several months. We enjoyed seeing Mt. Rainier and hiking up the trail behind Paradise Lodge to get closer to view the glaciers on it. We stayed in Packwood, WA near Mt. Rainier National Park and rafted the Tieton River on a 20 mile (4 hr.) trip. It sure was wet and cold and exciting. I was the only female on the 2 raft trip. Six were on each raft. The second raft had a group of 5 guys from Microsoft in WA. As we headed to Seattle area, we passed beautiful scenery. Taking the ferry from Gig Harbor to Seattle was an interesting way to travel. We went to the Public Market, and met classmate Donna Riddick there to take the Underground Tour. She was job hunting there. Next we were on our way to Portland, OR. and to the Columbia River Gorge area where we saw many waterfalls and Mt. Hood. As we traveled down the OR. coast, we enjoyed the coastal scenery. Crater Lake Nat'l Park was really a gorgeous park with such a deep blue lake way up high in the mountains. Then we went into CA. and travelled along the coast a little ways until I had an accident as we climbed a hill to see a lighthouse. On the way down we stopped at an overlook and I stepped up on a bench to look over the cliff and take a photo of the waves and our motorhome parked way below. I lost my balance and tumbled lover the back of the bench--not the cliff! That broke my left arm up near the shoulder. Luckily we had cell service there and the ambulance coming from a town about 12 miles away could get up the small service road to me. No cast, just a sling and pain pills held me for a week to see the orthopedic doctor there. I was released to finish the trip and see a doctor in Texas a few weeks later. So we went on to Yosemite National Park for a few days, Sequoia NP and Kings Canyon NP. In Sequoia, we really enjoyed the giant trees and I did walk the steps up 3/4 way up Morro Rock until I got dizzy. We drove on to AZ and saw some of Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. When we got to TX. we camped in Palo Duro Canyon and hiked a few days. Then we headed for Canton to meet our camping club there for a few days to visit and shop. It was great getting back to Austin to see our grandson after 2 1/2 months on the road.I have started therapy on my arm. *******************************************2011******************************** We will spend the winter here, but we will not be still. We leave on a week cruise out of New Orleans in Jan. 2011 to Belize, Roatan and Cozumel for the Vince Vance Birthday Bash Cruise with friends from Baytown In March we leave out of Ft. Lauderdale for a week cruise to Bahamas, St. Maarten and St. Thomas. We had a great time with friends in our camping club on this cruise. After thinking about it, we decided to go to Disney World for a week first and then the cruise. We were on the largest ship out--Royal Caribbean's "Allure of the Seas". Wow, that was some ship! About that time we were also house hunting and found a house we liked in Canyon Lake area. We bought it and started moving into it in June (2011). We haven't stopped traveling, just buying furniture and working on the house for now. We have 5 acres and are on a hillside with a beautiful view.