75th birthday and ....

no, it was not my birthday.  It is our third annual birthday trip with Gary's mom (she is the birthday girl) and Gary's three sisters.  We started this tradition after Gary's dad passed away 2 1/2 years ago.  For the first two years, we went to Park City and stayed in a condo at Deer Valley.  Park City is a major ski town and the site of many of the 2002 Olympic event but it is quiet in the summer and we enjoyed two nice stays there. 

Our original plan was to do something a bit more exciting this time (although the Alpine slide-73rd and the Balloon ride -74th were pretty exciting :) ).  We decided a trip to the Orgon coast would be great and I developed a tentative plan for it.  Then it was discovered that Gary's mom breast cancer had returned and we weren't sure what that would mean for her (medication is currently reducing the size of the tumor slowly).  Then Scott got engaged and we weren't sure of the date for awhile.  I was still thinking that a trip would be good, but in the end we decided to stay close to home and we went to Snowbird (another Salt Lake area ski resort).  We missed one of Gary's sisters who got the stomach flu and couldn't join us, but it was a nice but quick trip.  We rode a tram,

This isn't the one we rode--it was the one going down while we went up.

hiked a small hike on the mountain,

Looking down on the switchbacks on the trail we were traveling.

Gary's mom decided that she was proud that she climb down 1/2 mile on a rock trail at the age of almost 75.

rode a ski lift down,

It was beautiful and very quiet on the ski lift.  The mountain side was green with patches of wildflowers all over.  I know it shows brown in this picture...that is where the paths are for hiking and biking in the summer and skiing in the winter.




went to "Pirates of Panzance",

Not my favorite play--but the staging, costumes, and singing were great.  It was just a bit hard to follow the plot and very little reason that you would want to.  Some people love it.

 and ate some great meals.

Forklift Eatery or something like that.

I had yummy french toast made from whole wheat/walnut bread with strawberries on top.

We were only gone just over 24 hours, but it was nice.  The only downside is that the hotel we stayed at had a couple of family reunions going on so the pool and hot tub were filled with people---mostly under the age of 10.  It was fun to watch them interact with each other, however a quieter pool is always nice.

Next year---plans are in the air...or at least in my mind...so many places to see or options to explore.

Quote from Wood-Badge:

"The most worth-while thing is to try to put happiness into the lives of others."  Baden-Powell

Have an awesome day...whever you happen to read this post.

One more item of note:  For only the second time in the 37 years that I have known Gary and we have gone bowling, I beat him...by only 2 points but a win is a win.  Of course, it was one of my top scoring games ever--150 and around his average--148, but certain things are worth writing about.  And of course, I will never be writing a post about a Scrabble game victory...mostly because we never play Scrabble because Gary ALWAYS beats me.  Gary, Jena, and I enjoyed our family night bowling game.

I talked to Scott and Chantel.  They are on dry land now after their cruise in the Western Carribean.  They had a great time.  Now they are spending a few days in Florida with Chantel's grandparents.  They will be in Utah on Thursday.  I can't believe that they are already married for almost 2 weeks.  Time is flying....

The END...really  :)