On March 5, 2010, we left on a 10 day cruise on the Jewel of the Seas to the Caribbean for a restful, relaxing vacation.



Our first stop was at Labadee, Haiti which is a private island owned by several cruise ships. Our ship brought several skids of supplies to earthquake ravaged Haiti though this island was not touched by the quake. The average Haitian earns about $500 per year. Haitians who work for the cruise lines as they arrive each day earn about $600 per month.

In Cartegena, Columbia we toured the fortress overlooking the city. We stopped at shops that served as prisons at the Inquistion and a museum. The day was hot - it was the first day in four months that the sun shone.

In Costa Rica, a little iguana posed as I took a picture of him. His mother was nearby watching over her young one.

This is a banana pod taken from a tree. Each of the yellow hair like extensions eventually becomes a banana. Each plant grows one bunch of bananas and then is cut down. Another plant grows out of the mother plant producing another bunch of bananas. For lunch we were served plantains which is considered to be a poor man's banana. They are always cooked as they do not taste good raw.

Panama City is a thriving metropolis with lots of construction. Donald Trump just built a 100 story building and sold all of the units before construction even started.

Our ship docked in Colon, Panama. We were bused about half way across the isthmus to a docking point where we were loaded onto a ferry that took us through three sets of locks allowing us to disembark in Panama City. We were surprised to learn that the canal goes in a north to south direction rather than east to west.

We were standing on our ferry while it travels down the Panama Canal.

This is a cashew plant. They grow on trees about the size of apple trees. The bottom part is soft, but not good to eat as is. It is used in some jellies.





We took a tour on gondola system over the canopy of the rainforest in Costa Rica. The views are breathtaking with many unusual plants. The day was beautiful. The area has rain 200 days per year.

Trees and plants fight to be the tallest as they reach for the sunlight that helps them grow. Many trees are up to 300 years old. When one falls, it destroys the vegetation around it, but within 5 years everything around it has grown up again.

There are many unusual trees and plants in the rainforest.

We were supposed to stop in Grand Cayman, however the weather was stormy so the ship bypassed the island. We did stop in Key West to make up for the lost day at Grand Cayman.

On February 21, we left to do some business in Kansas, Tennessee and Georgia for Mix-Head Repair. While in Georgia, we decided to head for Florida again spending a few days in Fort Myers. We also drove through the Everglades looking at some of the rare plants and animals found only in this area of the World.

At the Shark Valley State Park, we saw this alligator with her three babies.

Birds and alligators live peacefully together while visitors stroll along the path nearby.

The last three weeks of October, 2009, we served with CRWRC in Cedar Rapids, Iowa helping flood victims restore their homes after the 2008 summer floods from the Cedar River. Denny built several decks that were damaged in the flood while Judy helped restored a home for a local family. The team came from several Canadian provinces, Michigan, Iowa, Washington and Ohio.

In January 2010, we decided to take a trip south with friends, Jim and Magda Kos to the state of Florida. We found the area to be very cold and cloudy so we decided to head south from Florida. Through Priceline, we booked a cruise to Key West, Florida and Grand Cayman on the Celebrity Century. The weather improved nicely once we sailed further south.

Sunrises and sunsets were beauiful each day.

In Grand Cayman, we visited a turtle farm where Green and Hawksbill turtles are bred and raised. Many are sold for food and others are raised to be released back into the sea. Grand Cayman is known for the blue iguana, however, very few are left so one rarely sees this specimum.

We also took a ride on a glass bottom boat that allowed us to see the reef near the island along with shipwrecks and many beautiful fish. We stopped in Hell named for the unusual rock formations in that area. Then we went to the Rum factory where we sampled rum and the delicious rum cakes made at the factory.


While in Florida, we were had dinner on Anna Maria Island where we dined while the sun was setting. It was truly a beautiful vision of God's creation.

Salt Lake, 2002 Olympics, Capitol building

Antelope Island is home to herds of bison, antelope, bighorn sheep and mule deer. The island is in the Great Salt Lake and is accessed by a causeway. Many sea gulls line the causeway.

Great Salt Lake is the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi River and is 75 miles long by 28 miles wide. Four river drainages enter the lake, but Great Salt Lake has no outlet causing it to leave high concentrations of minerals behind. Only brine shrimp, brine flies and algae can survive in the saline laden lake which varies from 15% - 25%.






Park City (elevation 6,911) is in the middle of the Watstch Mountains on the other side of the mountains from Snowbird where we are staying. This town started also as a silver mining town, but transferred to snow sports when the value of silver was devalued. The 2002 Olympics were held in Park City where one can see ski , bobsled and snowboarding runs. Judy tried the bobsled, but because it was in a musuem, she didn't get very far. The park is 389 acres and serves as a training park for athletes year around.




















Salt Lake City serves as the state Capitol for the state of Utah. The Corinthian-style structure was built in 1916 and was recently updated. It was designed after the US Capitol building in Washington DC. It sits on a high hill overlooking the city of Salt Lake.

July 2009 Salt Lake City

From July 11 to 18, we traveled to Utah. We are staying at the Iron Blosam resort near Alta in high altitude territory. Alta was a raucous silver mining town in the 1860's however the devaluation of silver in 1873, put an end to the area's heyday. In 1940, the first ski resort was built revitalizing the area.

We stopped at Fort Bridger State Park in Wyoming on the way into Utah reliving some history between the pioneers and Indians. The Mormons bought the fort in the 1860's and used it for rest and safety as they neared "their Promised Land".

July 13, we visited Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Temple Square is a 35 acre, three block area containing the most prominent buildings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints. The buildings were erected in the mid to later 1800's some taking as many as 40 years to build. The Temple is an impressive structure, but is closed to the public. We toured the Tabernacle and were able to listen to an organ concert on the 11,623 pipe organ.

While at the Mormon Tabernacle we learned that though the Mormon temples are rarely open to the public, the new Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple is open to the public for two months. After a new Temple is built, the LDS members open the temple to the public so everyone can see the inside of a temple. It was impressive - no expense was spared in the three story structure. The baptismal font was most impressive, but we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. The font rests on the back of twelve oxen symbolically representing the twelve tribes of Israel. In this font, baptisms are performed in behalf of deceased forebearers.

Florida in March 2009

In Huntsville, AL, we stopped at the Space Center to see various aspects of space history. We saw a number of rockets, the space shuttle as it was loaded on to a rocket and the blackbird plane which travels 2,000 miles per hour.

To get away from the long cold Michigan winter, we spent a week in Davenpot, Florida near Orlando with Mark, Kerri and the boys. We stayed at the Regal Palms Resort which allowed us to swim in the pool, go down the water slide, float in the lazy river and soak in the hot tub. A few days were very cold for Florida, but we made the best of them. A number of college soft ball teams were at the resort so Burke had a chance to make friends with a girls team entertaining them in the pool with his four year old antics.

On Thursday we drove to Lakeland to watch the Detroit Tigers play against the Washington Nationals. We were pleased that the Tigers won 10-2. After the game, the grandsons were able to get 10 autographs from the team members.

Denny and I drove to Fort Myers for a few more days in the warm south. We spent a few hours at the Edison - Ford estate along the Caloosahatchee River. Thomas purchased his home in 1885 and moved his new bride from New Jerseyonto the property in 1886. Henry Ford visited his friend, decided his liked the area so he purchased a home next door in 1916.

Henry Ford used the home as his summer residence whereas Edison continued to discover products in the laboratory in near his home. The worlds' second largest Banyan tree stands on the property and was used as a natural source of rubber along with Harvey Firestone.

Snow Train, (snow being the key word).

The end of January we traveled to the Upper Peninsula to see the Snow Train. That may sound a bit anticlimatic as we have plenty of snow on the ground in Western Michigan; however this was the final of six birthday celebrations as each of us turned 60. This trip celebrated sister in law Carrie's 60th birthday which actually was in October.

The Snow Train is aptly named because we saw snow everywhere, snow so deep the animals in the area are unable to move; however the vistas were beautiful with fresh white snow as pictured in our photos. We also rode over trestles and saw frozen waterfalls.

Len and Carrie Blauwkamp try to capture the beauty on their camera.

Don and Helen Dieleman enjoy the day long train ride in their comfortable railcar.

Our group made a stop at Tahquamenon Falls to see the beauty of the falls in the winter. The area around the falls has had 155 inches of snow so far. The trip across the Mackinac Bridge was interesting as we dealt with very high winds.