Jamaica Adventures

On November 9th 2009 we got up at 1:30a.m., picked up Steven and Marianne at 3:30 a.m. and drove to the Salt Lake airport. Our flight took off for Jamaica at 6:05 a.m. making a brief stop in Dallas to change planes we arrived in Montego Bay at 5:00p.m.


From the airport we rode the Sandal's shuttle to the Resort. It took about an hour and they played a Bob Morley tape for the whole way. We were feeling the rhythm by arrival. The tape definitely added Jamaican flavor to the ride.

Joe and Gillian were already at the resort to greet us. They went down several days before us.
Something special happened here but you will have to ask them...no you'll find out if you keep reading.



Entrance to Dunn's River Sandal's Resort.


Our first night we had supper and went for a swim in the ocean. It was eighty seven degrees and the water was as warm as bathtub water. Delicious!

Our rooms were gorgeous, clean and comfortable.

This was the view out of our balcony door.

Mary, Todd, Sarah and Jeff will arrive sometime tomorrow afternoon.

November 10th

Early the next morning we went to Marco Polo Restaurant for breakfast.
This was our waitress at Marco Polo.
There were six very nice restaurants to choose from at the resort plus a buffet that was open all the time.

After breakfast we hurried to the beach. It was absolutely perfect. Water warm, sun shining and a breeze blowing to make it perfectly comfortable. I felt like I could stay there forever.

We rented a HOBIE catamaran and went sailing with Steve and Marianne. It was lots of fun and brought back many happy memories.

The kids arrived this afternoon and they all took turns on the Cats.

Lunch was available at many outdoor places as well as all of the restaurants. Good food all the way.


Some of us ate a lot ...but he is the only one I got a picture of. :) I'm sure the other plate was for me, right?


That night we had dinner all together at a Japanese restaurant called Kimono.

He's safe. He was our chef for the night. Food was good and he was definitely entertaining.
The chef decided to give Steven some more shrimp if he could catch it. Of course he could! :)


After dinner the kids started arm wrestling.

Steven's almost winning.I thought you would like to see the whole thing. I wish I had pictures of the girls.

Marianne wrote on her blog the following about our trip. "I think one of my favorite memories will be all the 'friendly' competitions that took place over the course of our stay. There were hand stands in the ocean, chess, arm wrestling, chicken fighting, kayak racing brotherly dunking of the sisters, tennis...am I forgetting any!? Anyway...what a crack up. I don't think I've had quite so much fun for a long time."

Nov. 11th 2009
Marv, Mary, Todd and Steven went golfing this morning. No picture because I lost Marv's memory card with half of our pictures. :(

Marianne and I had breakfast together and then went to the Spa for an Orange Scrub and a massage. No picture here either but for a different reason. :)

Golfers got back about 1:00p.m. about the same time as the Spa ladies got through. They were exhausted and we were deliciously rested.

Joe and Gillian took a tour this morning to see Bob Morley's house, and to do some shopping -a lot of shopping :).


The rest of the day we played on the beach, went sailing, hot tubing, suntanning, kayaking and napping. It was a rough day.


That night we all went to dinner at the El Capitano an Italian restaurant. They didn't want to give us a table that would seat all ten of us but Gillian and Joe twisted some arms and they seated us together.




I can't tell you how good the food was. It was consistently delicious in all of the restaurants and presented beautifully.

The kids decided that it was my birthday and presented me with a beautiful ring that has the birth stone of each of my children and a special book that Sarah and the kids put together. I will enjoy their letters and pictures many times. Thank you. Thank you. It means a great deal to me.

Joe indicated that he had one more gift for me. He said he wanted to give me a new daughter-in- law. Gillian has accepted his proposal.


We were all thrilled.

We love Gillian and feel she fits in our family beautifully.

After dinner we went to see a program done by a really good group playing on steel drums. They also had a group of dancers performing while they played.

A very special day for me.

Nov. 12th 2009
This morning all of the kids went Scuba Diving

Notice Gillian's ring!
and Marv and I had breakfast and then went down to the beach to read and sleep.


Then at one oclock we went snorkeling. The water was very calm and clear so we saw a lot of new sea creatures. We had a really good guide that pointed out many I would have missed. Unfortunately I don't know what they were all called, but it was very interesting.

Afterwards we visited with the kids who had a really good time scuba diving. Gillian and Mary completed their certification, Marianne conquered major fear and had a wonderful time.




Tonight dinner was served on the patio. It was delicious. Our table was next to the pool and the water fall.

We took a famly picture,

played some cards and watched the program from the balcony of our room. Had a good visit with the kids as we sat on and around the bed in our room. Joe and Gillian were packing because they fly out tomorrow morning. We won't mention how much stuff they had .


Nov. 13th 2009
After breakfast Steven, Marianne, Sarah and Jeff played tennis;


Marv went to the beach and I took a Nature Walk to find out about all the plants around the resort. The gardener did it and he was delightful. Unfortunately I've lost the paper on which I wrote the names of all the plants so the pictures will have to do on most of them.

Sea Grapes
Banyan Tree
Bread Fruit
Flower named after Bob Morley. I'm sure you can see why.



At 1:00 we went with Sarah and Jeff to Mystic Mountain for the experience of my life.

It began with a ride up the mountain on a sky tram. Beautiful.

Jamaica is still very big on bob sledding and they have constructed a bob sled run down the mountain. It cuts through the forest with lickety split curves and circles.



You're the driver, well at least you can control the speed. Second time I tried to be as fast as Sarah.


Lots of fun. Especially when we found out we weren't going to leave the track, even if we went as fast as Sarah.
Now it was time to get suited up for a series of five zip lines. Belts, helmuts, work gloves etc. etc.


This was one of the platforms that you take off of. Yes it goes right through the forest.


I don't know of any time in my life when I have been more scared but having done all five and survived.....dang is it fun.


Nov. 14th 2009
This morning Steven and Marianne left to go to another resort for two days. Part of his work;)
Jeff and Sarah, Todd and Mary flew back this morning.

The Johns were surprised to find themselves in first class when they got on the plane.

Left alone Marv and I decided to take the Blue Mountain Bicycle tour. It was a full day tour. They bussed us up to the top of Blue Mountain; fed us a brunch and later dinner on the mountain. We rode bicycles up and down the mountain for most of the day. Beautiful scenery and several large waterfalls.
My Handsome Hunk

This was our guide. He gave us an interesting demo on how they harvest and prepare the coffee beans that are so every where here. All along the bicycle ride he would stop and point out an interesting plant or point of interest.Absolutely breath taking. So very beautiful. How many times have I used that word in this blog?

We saw many waterfalls.



At the end of the bike ride they took us to a natural pool for a swim. Look closely can you see the divers in this first picture?

There they are!
There one of them goes. There were actually quite a few of them and they did it over and over again.

We then got on the bus to go back to the resort arriving just in time for a delicious dinner.

Nov. 15th 2009

Lazy day on the beach, in the pool and soaking in the hot tub.
Had dinner with Tim and Trudy from England. They were on the bicycle tour with us yesterday. Two very interesting people. We learned a lot about the UK


Nov. 16th 2009
One last wonderful breakfast, packed our bags and headed out for the airport at 11:30a.m.

New Hobbies

This past summer has been an especially good one for me. One of the main reasons has been the gardening I have done. I have planted a lot of perennials in the east flower garden and mixed in tomato plants, cucumber plants, lettuce and strawberry plants. It has been beautiful and the tomatoes and cucumbers have been wonderful




Pictures aren't great but they are a little better when you click on them for full screen.

We've also started biking together. With the beautiful fall weather we've been having it has really been fun. I'll try and send the pictures later.

Five wonderful days in Jackson Hole and Yellowstone

My memory is getting shorter and shorter and so I have resolved to be more punctual about my blog. This is probably more than you will want but remember it is serving as my substitute memory. :)

Tuesday Sept. 29th 2009
We left Logan at 7:00a.m. We drove via Soda Springs arriving at the beautiful Snake River in the Targee National Forest at about10:30. After exploring the river bed and surrounding area we took a wonderful nap. (Temp.72 blue, blue sky)

We intended to take a ride on the tram at Teton Village but found they were closed for the summer. Most everything closes on the 29th of September. We then decided to take a raft ride on the Snake. They talked us into taking the White Water run. I was scared but we donned wet suits and off we went. For two and a half hours we had the time of our lives. I'd like to do it again when the water is even higher and there is more white water.



That afternoon we drove out to Jackson Lake Lodge where we had reservation. We had dinner in their beautiful dinning room while watching a gorgeous sun set behind the Teton Mount Moran.
Perfect day -weather has been very pleasant. Lodge accommodation very good.


Wednesday Sept. 30th
Weather took an abrupt change. It was 19 degrees last night. It is stormy and cold this morning but still beautiful. After breakfast we drove up to Jenny's Lake & Signal Mountain Lodge. Most of today was spent at the National Museum of Wildlife Art. Oh how I enjoyed my time there. I saw a video of Robert Bateman's life and his approach to his art work. They had just opened a new display of Thomas D.Mangelsen's photographic work- really inspiring. We had a delicious lunch at the museum.

There is a large group of Wildlife photographers at the Lodge. They have come from all over the world and include big companies such as Disney and Discovery. They have made our stay more interesting. We have seen some of their work and attended one of their critique sessions where they were evaluating photos. It was really interesting and I learned a lot. We also saw one of their films about Meerkats.
Very few people get to see a moose at this time of year. I felt really lucky to get this shot.
Tonight we again had dinner at the Lodge and were lucky enough again to have a window seat. We saw a herd of about fifteen cow elk running across a part of the meadow and behind them protecting them a big bull.

Thursday Oct. 1st
We are on our way to Yellowstone. We will be staying at Old Faithful Inn instead of Yellowstone Lake Hotel because a forest fire has made it impossible to get to the Hotel.
Three stops on the way to Old Faithful; Lewis Falls, West Thumb Geyser Basin (no pictures) and Keplar Cascades. Temp at this point was 28 with bitter cold wind.



The river filled with lily pads and frozen. Everything was frozen.


Arrived at Old Faithful.

As we pulled into the Inn property we saw two beautiful elk with two little ones. The little ones are cuddled in the grass and photo didn’t pick them up.


Old Faithful Inn is a fantastic old building. You can't describe it and pictures don't come close to reality but this is a picture of the inside. Built at the turn of the century it is enormous and beautiful in a very unique way.

After dinner we took a ride to see if we could see some of the wildlife we are not suppose to feed :) We did see one big bison, he was right on the side of the rode so it was easy to get a picture.
Another Bison the same trip
.
Right now we are sitting in the lounge, reading, listening to someone playing the piano and enjoying the big crackling fire. It is snowing.

Friday Oct. 2nd
This morning we took the Firehole Basin Adventure tour. It was three hours of exploring and explaining the''underground plumbing'' in Yellowstone. Our guide was fun and very well informed. He showed us good examples of the four types of thermal events and explained them; hot springs, geysers, mud pots and fumaroles. We rode in a refurbished 1936 White tour bus. It was surprisingly comfortable.

Today we have seen fourteen of fifteen buffaloes (bison) and four more elk. No bears, they are high on the mountains feeding on pine nuts and the Moose have gone south for the winter to Jackson.

We took another ride along the Firehole River it is beautiful. We saw the Firehole Fall and Cascades.

What a wonderful four days we have had. Tomorrow we head home. We will go out the west gate and go through Island Park, Idaho Falls and home.

Saturday Oct. 3rd
On our way out of the park we encountered an Alpha 1 bull elk

and his harem of about fifteen females. Most of them are hidden behind the bushes.



Across the road was a young bull with four or five females.



The big bull was most definitely aware of the younger one and was actively keeping his group well collected in a group away from road.

If you ever are passing through West Yellowstone and need some breakfast we strongly recommend Running Bear Restaurant.

We made two stops in Island Park, first at Big Springs& Jake's Shack, and second at Mesa Falls. Both places have the most beautiful water I have ever seen.

We also stopped to see the temple at Rexburg and the B.Y.U Idaho campus.

Well that is it for today. Thanks for your patience.