Iowa bound

Some of you know the story, this is one of the Bridges of Madison Co., Iowa

In my previous blog post, I somewhat hastily summed up the first 6 months of 2015 for us, which had us pretty much on the go between our new permanent home, Tempe, and the Colorado enclave of Sara and Drew and our (now) two Grandsons.  We had two big family events in those first 6 months, Emily and Trevor’s wedding in Arizona at the end of February, and Isaac’s birth in Colorado on April 22^nd.  Big Family event #3 was soon to unfold as June came to an end; namely Sara and Drew’s (and Jonah’s and Isaac’s) relocation to Des Moines, Iowa. 

 

This didn’t just happen overnight.  There was packing starting in May and continuing through most of June.  And there was everyday life continuing on.  Jonah and I took several long wagon/stroller rides down the streets of the charming little town of Louisville, CO, where Sara and Drew had lived for nearly 5 years. And we all went out for a nice family breakfast on Father’s Day weekend.  

 

3 Generations on Father's Day, in Boulder, CO

But mostly the month of June was about saying goodbye to Colorado and preparing to say hello to Iowa.  Being grandparents of Jonah and Isaac, and willingly helping out with their care during this busy time, we were only too happy to go right along with Family Blass to their new home in Iowa.  Besides, by doing so, we could put off for a little longer our return to our regular Day Jobs….. oh wait, almost forgot;  we’re RETIRED, and loving the freedom that gives us to do whatever the He__ we want whenever we want.

Family Blass takes a short break from packing up the household

Jonah supervising the moving crew

So off we went in a little Family Caravan on the morning of Saturday, the 27^th of June.  The household goods, packed into a huge Moving Truck, as well as Drew’s car, had been sent off in the previous week.  What was left was the Blass family of four, plus their two dogs, Gramma and Grampa, Sara’s Subaru Outback, Bertha (our Chevy Diesel), the 5^th, and Briscoe, our travel kitty, who had been on the road with us since April.  As it turns out, Jonah, who LOVES TRUCKS of all kinds, was only too happy to ride with G&G for much of the two day trip to Iowa.   He was a great traveling buddy, jabbering at us in “toddler speak”, when he wasn’t napping, and snacking on various goodies, all washed down with milk, or “wawa”… Jonah Speak for water.

Hey Kid, you sure you have a commercial driver's license?

"Dang, this little hitchhiker is cute!"

We had a pretty long haul the first day, over 400 miles to Grand Island, Nebraska, a trip with frequent stops primarily for 1) Isaac, aka “Tank”, needing to  fill his tank (nurse); and 2) Bertha’s insatiable thirst for diesel while lugging a 10,000 pound “gorilla” (the 5^th), across the plains.  But everything went smoothly, and we checked into one of the nicest KOA’s in the country in Grand Island before dark.   We had overnighted here before, the previous June, while enroute then from NW  Illinois to Colorado for Jonah’s first birthday celebration on July 4^th of 2014. 

Jonah informing Isaac that the Big Bro gets the Big Truck, that's just the way it is!

The KOA hosts had endeared themselves to us back then by 1) informing us they had Pizza cooked on site, and would deliver to our door; and 2) calmly explaining their “tornado warning” system (we were under a tornado watch at the time on that 2014 trip), which was basically something like this, “if there is a real, imminent threat, … (tornado warnings being a dime a dozen in these parts of the country)…  someone from the office will drive through the park honking their horn; that’s when you should head to the tornado shelter located under the office.”… Reassuring words they were for sure.  Note, thankfully we never heard any horns during that night back in June 2014.

Nebraska cornfields near Grand Island KOA

Anyhow, it was good to have a nice, friendly KOA campground to stay overnight in because basically there wasn’t much else there in Grand Island save cornfields stretching as far as the eye could see.  We’ve found that appears to be a recurring theme in the Great Midwest. So, after a routine night in one of the nicest KOA’s on the planet, the family caravan headed further East the next morning, a shorter trip this day, to Des Moines, straight down I80 from Grand Island.  Sara and Drew had just closed (that very week) on a brand new house in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale; and we headed there first before setting up the 5^th at a nice, shady RV Park in nearby Waukee.  

Timberline Campground, Waukee, IA

Our Home away from Home in Iowa

The household goods and “Djabuti”, Drew’s car, had arrived in the previous week; and all of us settled into life in Iowa, just in time for Jonah’s 2^nd birthday the following Saturday (July 4^th). The other grandparents, Drew’s folks, Jeff and Cam, arrived just in time for Jonah’s birthday, and Drew’s brother, Dwight, also flew in a few days later to help with Sara and Drew’s relocation to Iowa.

one of our birthday presents for Jonah,  a "First Bike"

And another, a backyard pool... Jonah loves anything to do with "Wawa"

We’ve been busy much of this month, helping in the move transition, which help has also included a lot of quality time with our two grandsons.  But we have managed to get out to tour nearby Madison County (of book and movie fame) and it’s bridges, a trek which involved driving down a lot of gravel roads to 19^th century covered bridges that, in my humble opinion, were okay, but not as nice (sexy?) as the numerous quaint covered bridges in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.  We discovered also that Iowa has a growing wine economy, marked by numerous small wineries dotting the rolling baby hills in this part of the country.  

 

Grampa and Isaac discussing World Affairs

And sharing a laugh!

Blass Family Backyard is "Clothing Optional" for two year olds and under

Also during this time of the year one of the largest Farmer’s Markets we’ve ever seen takes place every Saturday in Des Moines, sprawling over 9 or 10 blocks of downtown… very  nice!  We went there last Saturday, and plan to do so again this coming Saturday before hitching up and heading West on Monday, the 27^th.

Des Moines Farmer's Market

One last thing before I sign off on this blog post, and our month-long stay in Iowa, namely this:  Iowa, actually the whole Midwest, is not exactly our “cup of tea”; part of that being, in my view, the whole “tornado” thing; though I’m told that Des Moines is not as “tornado prone” as, say Okie City, Wichita or Grand island.   The thing about Iowa (and, by translation, perhaps most of the Midwest) is that what they call “hills” here are really just mild up and down dips in the countryside… In other words, when you’re driving around, there are few if any visual landmarks (corn fields all look the same) to get your directional bearings.  Many times we’ve been out and around the area and thinking we were going North, say, when Bertha’s compass said we were heading West.  The lesson here is, when visiting Iowa, bring a compass and believe in it; we have.  But, despite our misgivings about the whole Midwest in general, it’s where part of our extended Family is now, and we’ll be returning on a regular basis as long as Sara, Drew, Jonah and Isaac are here.

Two Big Reasons for staying attached to Iowa:

Next Monday (July27th), we are leaving Family Blass (for now) and heading West, due to arrive in our Hometown of Eugene, OR in early August. 

A Life of "Leisure" in Retirement.... Uh, Yeah!

Proud Parents of the Bride!

So, okay, I haven’t updated my Blog since January of this year… some of you may be saying, “Thank Gawd!”,  others, possibly, “what the He…..?  Well here’s some explanations, as obtuse (possibly lame) as they can be (choose any or all numbers):  1)  What’s a Blog anyhow?; 2) Hey, I’ve been busy, retirement keeps you hopping, ya know!; 3)  A daughter’s wedding, a grandson’s birth, a family move, can you blame me for not prioritizing a silly Blog like this?... and 4)  who gives a rip?... and who are you anyhow?

Well even if you don’t give a rip, here’s what we’ve been up to..   After spending Christmas and New Years with Sara, Drew and Jonah, we flew back to our new home headquarters, Tempe, in early January.  Coming up soon was the first Big Family event of the New Year, Emily and Trevor’s wedding at the end of February.  We had a number of family and friends come down from Oregon for the occasion, and it was great to see them all.  Things seemed to speed along right up to the big day, Feb. 28^th. 

Jonah was a Ringbearer!

Sara and Emily, bridesmaid and bride

  Emily and Trevor had a nice ceremony in North Phoenix and afterward we hosted a barbeque at our house in Tempe for family and close friends while Emily and Trevor were getting ready to start their honeymoon on the Southern California Coast and Disneyland at Anaheim.

Newlyweds Emily and Trevor

Brother-in-law, Bret, and his wife, Mickey stayed over several days after the wedding, enough time for all four of us to go to a couple spring training games. 

Dodger rookie, Joc Pederson, gets ready to bat - spring training 2015

Mid-March, right on her birthday actually, Lanie and I flew to Colorado for a few days to provide emergency Jonah-sitting help for Sara.  Then, later in March, my best buddy, Lyn, came down from the Seattle area; and, lo and behold, he and I were back at the spring training ballparks and then, right at the end of March, attending a fantasy baseball draft for a league in which we jointly mis-manage a fantasy team.  For those of you who have never participated in, or even heard, of fantasy baseball, my advice is to keep it that way.  It’s an ADDICTION, one that I’ve participated in for more than 20 years.  Thankfully, Lanie has a lot of patience and forgiveness in her, and we’ve stayed married through my long, admittedly half-hearted battle, with this seemingly incurable addiction.

Teaching Jonah to climb trees - it's the least Grampa can do for the tyke while he's visiting Tempe!

With both of us back in Tempe, for awhile, April rolled around and it was time to hit the road for Colorado again to await the arrival of 2^nd grandson, Isaac, due later in April. But, in typical Ventura/Jones fashion, it was not a direct flight, or even a direct route.  Towing our “Gypsy Wagon” (the 5^th Wheel), we overnighted at a KOA in LasVegas first day out, then landed in Salt Lake City (SLC) the next day for a several week long stay, during which I attended a 5 day long conference on Azores Island genealogy.  That’s where the Ventura name comes from, my Dad’s ancestors having emigrated from that Island group a thousand miles out in the Atlantic from its Portuguese homeland to another Island chain, Hawaii.  And we both did other genealogical research as well while in town and even managed a little sight-seeing  in Park City, a ski resort straight up in the mountains East of SLC..

Spring in Bloom at Temple Square, SLC

Of course, no two week stay anywhere is devoid of disruptions for us; in this case Lanie had to fly back to Eugene while we were camped in SLC to attend to some matters with her Mom.   And, after she’d returned to SLC, we were soon hitching up and heading out to Colorado, a one+ day drive that soon saw us backing the 5^th into Sara and Drew’s large driveway in Louisville.  That was on a Monday, the 20^th; as we had with Jonah’s arrival nearly two years previous, we’d “Beaten the Stork”… but not by much.  Isaac decided to arrive a few days early, on Wednesday evening, the 22^nd.    

Baby Isaac and his entourage arrives home in Louisville, CO

This was the Second Big Family event of the year.  Isaac has turned out to be a charming, cute little guy (is there any other kind?); and quickly earned the nickname “Tank”… from his Mom… for his propensity to suck down Mom’s milk at any and every opportunity.  Best thing about this all is that Jonah, 21+ months old on Isaac’s arrival, took to his Baby Brother immediately, showing little if any jealousy for all the new attention now going Isaac’s way.  It’s been fun to watch the two of them together; although it must put a strain on Isaac’s eyes just trying to follow Big Bro, since Jonah is a perpetual motion machine from the time he gets up in the morning until he passes out each evening.

Jonah and Isaac "bond"

Okay, so that’s a wrap on the month of April, now on to May and.. what else?…  a snowstorm mid-month putting 4 inches on the ground in Louisville.  The snow arrived just hours after Lanie boarded a jetliner to Eugene, spending Mother’s day weekend with her Mom. 

 

No Patio dining on this day!

 She’d barely returned to Colorado when we were preparing to go on a late May driving trip back to Arizona, sans 5^th Wheel,  to check in on our house there.  With a little more freedom to roam, not having a 10,000 pound Gorilla tailing behind Bertha, we headed out on I70 West over the Colorado Rockies to Eastern Utah, taking a side road just over the Utah border that ran down the Colorado River canyon to Moab, a gorgeous, winding drive that was well worth taking.

Colorado River near Moab, UT

Soaring vistas from Colo. River Canyon, E. Utah

We took care of our business in Tempe in a few days, including getting together with newlyweds, Emily and Trevor; then soon headed back to Colorado.  This time we took a different, equally scenic route, going East out of the Phoenix Valley to the Superstition Mountains and a winding drive down into and out of the Salt River Canyon before heading to Gallup, New Mexico, then up through Durango, Colorado to cross a handful of mountain passes before descending into Denver.  It was an extremely scenic trip both ways.

Passing through Southern Colorado Rockies at 11,000 ft.

Well, that takes care of May; on to June, much of which was spent helping with the 2 grandsons, and helping pack up their parents for their move to DesMoines, IA.  Guess you can call this the 3^rd big family event this year… so far… .  But I’m worn out from all this moving around… whoever said retirement was a cushy life of leisure?  So the Iowa part of the experience, including Jonah’s 2^nd birthday on Independence Day,  will have to wait for another Blog post.  

The "Tank" is Full!

 

Part of the Moving crew in Lousville, CO