Mom and Dad Visit Ely

Josh loves it, but Kaytee is still not so sure Ely, Nevada feels like home. With only about 3700 people in this small town, all the one-liners hold true:

"It's not the end of the earth, but you can see it from here!"

"Third Street is the edge of town"

“I hate small towns because once you've seen the cannon in the park there's nothing else to do"

and . . . "you don't have to use your turn signal because everyone already knows where you're going."

Kaytee and Josh live down the end of a long dirt road in a double wide modular home. It's not too bad, but has not been well cared for so Kaytee rolled up her sleeves and spent two weeks cleaning to make the place livable. Josh brought his two horses, and picked up a third along the way, so is building a barn of sorts in the backyard to give his animals a place to get in out of the Nevada cold winter.

Kaytee has found the park, a tasty Mexican restaurant, and the Family Dollar store. But her new favorite store is Ridley's Market, which she says is the best place in town to shop for everything.

All over town, there are signs of Republican unrest. Although it is uncertain the U. S. Senate Majority Leader will be unseated anytime soon, it is obvious the residents of his state - at least in the small towns around Nevada - do not like Harry Reid's politics.

The Nevada State Prison, where Josh works, is probably the largest employer with about 400 on the payroll and there are some nice new motels and stores, but for the most part Ely is pretty much like it was when my Uncle Reston, Aunt Ione and cousins, Steve, Doug and Kenny Godwin lived there back when I was in high school. I used to enjoy visiting them in the summertime. Some of my fondest memories of being at their home was how much they enjoyed shocking this little girl from the beach of southern California by showing me their "red light district" and the casinos in town. Back then, it seemed a whole lot bigger than it is now.

We miss our baby girl . . . and her baby girl, like crazy! Luckily, Ely is an easy 3 1/2 hour drive from St. George so Kaytee and Adyn can come home anytime they want to . . . and we will always leave the porch light on.

And the Award Goes to . . .

Linda Baker, Jeannine Holt and Linda Sappington were recently recognized as "Women of Excellence" by the local chapter of Business and Professional Women. Linda Baker was honored as the Professional Woman of the Year in her position as Vice President of Workers Compensation Fund. She currently serves on the board of director for the Southern Utah Home Builders Association, the Washington County Economic Development Council and has been involved for many years with the Chamber of Commerce. Jeannine Holt was recognized in the area of Philanthropy for her lifetime of service to the Republican Party. Linda Sappington was named Public Service Woman of the Year for her efforts as the director of the Volunteer Center of Washington County; as the "mother" of the Jubilee of Trees, and for her ongoing support of numerous community organizations. Congratulations to these three Women of Excellence.

A Blast from My Past

Whitney and I were recently IM’ing about walking to school. She was surprised when I told her my dad took me to seminary every morning where I rode to school with some of my friends, but I walked the 5-miles home with my brother Larry and with friends who "dropped off" when we got to their corner. When the weather was bad or we had lots of books, or if we just wanted a change of scenery, we would occasionally take a different route up to Olympic Blvd. (once considered "THE" place to shop in Los Angeles) for a ride home on the "J" car. It turned around a block from our house on Palm Place and Larry believes it was the very last link of the old trolley system in L.A. What a fun memory which came by way of an e-mail invitation to attend the 100th anniversary of Huntington Park High School. Go Spartans!!!

Cruising to Alaska

Amid the chaos at the office caused by the crash of the network server which left the Volunteer Center without computer access for more than two weeks . . . and just before our annual CANstruction project, I abandoned my post to travel to Seattle, then north to Alaska aboard the Golden Princess cruise ship (August 8-15, 2009) with our next door neighbors and traveling companions, Ralph and Pam Bingham. Before we sailed away, we enjoyed a couple of days with Larry, Tucker, Nicki and Molly (who uncharacteristically came out from her hiding place and even allowed me to scratch her ears a couple of times).

The Golden Princess, which set sail in 2001, weighs 109,000 tons and is 951 feet long. Passengers and crew total more than 4000, who combined are capable of consumming more than 11,500 pounds of seafood every week. Every year, this ship makes 19 voyages to Alaska during the summer, then relocates to the Hawaiian islands or the Caribbean for the winter months. Not a bad life!

Alaska is twice the size of Texas but with a total population of only about 600,000 - most who live in about two dozen small cities. Juneau, the state capital with a population of 30,000, is the only US city with no roads in or out and as such can only be accessed by air or sea. Skagway (spelled variously as Skaguay, Schkague, Shkeagway, Skagua, Schkawai or Cquque) is a picturesque little community of about 800 fulltime residents. The entire city is 5 x 20 blocks of charming little shops, but we had the most fun on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad built in less than two years in response to the needs of 1000 men on their way to the goldfields.

The entire vacation was a delight, though it was too cold much of the time (I will never complain about winter in St. George) and I brought all the wrong clothes. Dad took about 1000 pictures and there was an obscene amount of food available 24 hours a day. The best part of a cruise is that it is a forced vacation with no access to e-mail or cell phones so there is plenty of time to rest, relax and enjoy the view.