Drives of a Lifetime!
If you have any interest in traveling, please bookmark the National Geographic Traveler Drives of a Lifetime web page, then start saving your pennies and your vacation days and make plans to visit as many of these as possible.

My friend, Linda mentioned the list to me the other day and I couldn't wait to get home and check it out. Terry and I have subscribed to NG Traveler since the very first magazine was published. It's one that we save and refer to over and over again. An absolute wealth of information! Even if you've never seen it, you can imagine the quality, since it comes from the same publisher as its wonderful yellow-trimmed predecessor National Geographic magazine.

So, now that we've established the quality of the resource, let's take a peek at the list of 50 drives that NGT considers "not to be missed". Since you can obviously read the list for yourself, I'll just highlight a few of the drives that we've had the privilege of enjoying to give you my personal perspective.

British Columbia Drive - (pictured above) Terry and I have covered a fair amount of this drive and would definitely rate it in our top 10. Whistler and Victoria were a couple of the highlights of our trip. We would jump at the chance to return again to the beauty of this area.

Hallowed Ground Virginia - Another area where we've experienced portions of the drive described. I would say that Gettysburg was the highlight of our time in that area. Even if you're not a history buff, this is an amazing place to relive a pivotal point in our nation's history.

Hana Highway - We were thrilled to be able to visit this location just last December and the photo in my header was taken on our helicopter ride of that very highway. It's a gorgeous, lush green slice of Maui with amazing Rainbow Eucalyptus trees, wild roosters and so much more. Here's a link to my post about our Hana Highway trip, although in looking at it again, it really doesn't do it justice at all. Maybe I'll go back sometime and post more pics and details.

Mount Hood, Oregon - We've enjoyed bits and pieces of this drive and can confirm that there is some beautiful countryside to be seen. Even if you only have a small slice of your day, Multnomah Falls (shown here) is well worth a visit any time of year. Here's a link to my post about the time we spent in that area.

New Old West Arizona - Of the places we've visited on this drive, I would say that Bisbee is definitely worth the trip. This eclectic little town is a wonderful variety of history, art, and fun. I was going to link to my post about our visit there in December a few years ago, but I can't believe that I didn't post any pics of the town itself and I have some really fun ones. I'm realizing that my best intentions of posting are often thwarted by the reality of life and limits of time.

Personally, I'd pass on Tombstone, since it's quite touristy, but it all depends on what you're looking for. Kartchner Caverns has been high on our list of places to visit since we moved back to AZ, so someday we'll get there, I'm sure.

O.k., so I've listed 5 of the 50 drives. In looking at the list there are at least 5 more that we've been able to travel, so I'll save those for another day. What a blessing to be able to see so much of God's awesome creation! I look forward to checking a few more of these off our list in the coming years as well. Do you want to come along? We're always looking for traveling companions to enjoy the journey with us.

Summer Changes

In Arizona since the transition of the seasons is relatively invisible, I'm always itching to make changes to my own environment to make up for it. I think I've mentioned before that I get bored easily, especially visually (I'm sure I inherited that from my mom). Although she was always on a very limited budget in an extremely crowded & tiny house with 6 kids, she was constantly tweaking things to get a fresh look as much as she could. In fact, we just went out a week ago and bought a new table and chair set for her to squeeze into her little apartment. She's still making changes at 85! I love her for that. My dream is for her to someday have the freedom and the funds to decorate a room exactly as she would like. I'd love to be able to somehow make that happen for her...we'll see.

So with that said, I had some time and motivation this weekend to make a few minor changes at the house. I had some photos that I liked from our trip to Hawaii and since the inside of our house leans toward coastal, I decided to hang some of them up. Coastal in the desert? I know it's strange but it transports me out of the heat and makes me feel like I'm somewhere else. It's a comfortable style and I've always loved blues and greens anyway, so it works well with that theme.

In the family room I framed this photo of the waves from the Hana Highway. I really like the color of the water in this picture. It's not necessarily a relaxing shot, so at some point I may change it when I find something better, but I do like the color. Cool thing is that our new photo printer will print up to 12" wide, so I got some 11 x 14" photo paper to work with. I also bought a 16 x 20" frame and mat on sale at Aaron Bros. I was thinking that it might look way too big on the wall, but turns out that it really doesn't even fill the space as it should, so I'll be looking to add maybe a few 8 x 10's or something to round it out.

In looking objectively at the room, it also reminds me that I'd really like to change the wall colors to some kind of pale sea glass blue or green. We originally painted the walls in the common areas this tan/beige color because I wasn't sure what direction I was going to go with the decor before we moved in and I thought this would coordinate with most anything. Now that we're settled, I'd like to change the family room and kitchen (which has very little wall space, but connects to the fam rm) to more of a coastal color. Most of the furniture and cabinets are white, so I think it will make it feel even more coastal cottage-like. I know it won't cost much money, but will be a big project with moving furniture, bookcases and all, so we'll see when I get the energy to do it.

Moving on to the Guest bathroom...

I've had this multicolored wooden frame for probably a year or more, but didn't have the photos that had the look and feel that wanted to put in it.

While I was looking at the Hawaii pics for the big frame, I decided to pull a few others for this frame. (Click to see larger.) Top one is a sand castle that someone had built on the beach, next is our initials in the Maui sand and third is a hammock hanging in a perfect spot right next to the beach with the waves lapping in the distance. Terry and I had a chance to try it out and it was a peaceful spot.

These all bring back fond memories of our wonderful vacation last year and perk up the bathroom a bit.

Favorite Photos

AZ Republic will print one of my Maui ocean photos in this Sunday's Travel section and it's already posted as #13 in the "Your Travels" area of travel.azcentral.com.

Take a look. Fun stuff!

Maui Reunion -

Last night we got together with the group that went to Maui in December. It's mostly co-workers and spouses and a great group of people.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner, then had the most fun looking at a slideshow of all the photos that everyone took and reminiscing about how much fun we had on the trip.

We also had a chance to present the Uhlmanns (our hosts for the Maui trip) with a photo book as a thank you from all of us. I had the privilege of putting it together for them. It took a long time, but was well worth it when we saw how much they seemed to enjoy looking at it. They were genuinely surprised that we had made a personalized book just for them. I think Steve enjoyed seeing some of his photos in the book since he enjoys photography as well.

And the surprise for me was that the rest of the group gave ME a thank you gift for putting the book together. It was so sweet of them, but TOTALLY unexpected.

I posted a link on the right side of my blog that takes you to the site where you can preview the first 10 pages or so of the book (which is 90+ pages in all). Once you get there, if you click on "full screen" view you'll get a better look at it.

I will say that I enjoyed the process of creating the book and want to do more in the future. It may even replace my scrap booking to some degree. Blurb.com has very easy and intuitive software with dozens of templates available. I think I even read that you can create your own templates if you can't find what you want in their selections. I ended up creating two different books because I thought the first one that I made was too small when it arrived. The second one was easier because I already knew which photos to use and just copied the text and templates generally from the first one.

I did have a little trouble with the file crashing at one point, but Blurb was very helpful and able to repair the file so that I didn't have to start over again, which was a lifesaver. It took a little while to get it fixed, but they upgraded my shipping on the book order so that it still got to me in plenty of time for the presentation party.

Now I need to make a few revisions to the file to make the book specific for Terry and I. I'll add pics from our anniversary and free time excursions and take out some of the "thank you" content from the other. That should be so much easier than starting from scratch though.

Happy New Year!
Yes, the holidays are technically over, although we have a Friend's Get together tonight and one last Christmas Gathering with Terry's family tomorrow night, then my mom's 85th Birthday on Sunday. I'm going to be exhausted when I go back to work on Monday.

Tell me what you think about the new look of the blog. Is it too much? I think the dark color brings out the colors in the photos. What do you think?

I posted a link to a few of my Maui Favorites on the sidebar...click on it to take a look at the slide show.

So I'm starting to research the possibility of printing a book of my blog, just for historical keepsake purposes (ie. grandchildren may someday want to look at it and all the photos I take won't go totally to waste). My research so far indicates that you can't do it easily with Blogger, so I may switch over to TypePad so I can do it. We'll see...let me know if you've heard of a good company for this.

I'm also working on a book of highlights from our Maui trip thru Blurb. I LOVE their software! It's so easy and looks so professional with tons of template and color options. Once I'm done I'll post the link so you can see what it looks like. I'm on page 30 or so and I'm only about half way thru the vacation. It's going to be awesome!

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have an amazing holiday, celebrating the birth of our Lord!

Terry, Shredder and I are just relaxing this morning and will soon be wrapping presents...yes, just getting going on the wrapping. Don't you just love this pic of Terry and Shredder enjoying the Christmas paper together? I think Shredder is a bit put off by the fact that there's a PUPPY on the cover page! I mean really, what were they thinking?

Our sweet kitty is becoming more and more cuddly as she gets older (and the temperatures go down). Terry reluctantly lets her on his lap when my lap isn't available. So today we'll be lounging around most of the day, and also enjoy a special dinner together (just the two of us). We're hoping for a phone call from Kevin either today or Sunday (or both). We miss having all the kids here, but know that it's just another season of life that we're passing thru.

Our "official" Christmas won't be until Sunday when Amy & Andrew are here. We'll wait to open the majority of our gifts then.

Terry and I each opened our Christmas Eve gifts last night (pajamas and an ornament). Our Hann tradition is to get at least one ornament each year that relates to an event or interest. This year we got 3 ornaments.

The wooden one with the fruit tree we bought in New Hampshire in October at an artist's gallery. It reminds us of the gorgeous trees we saw there.

The camera is for me...self explanatory.

The wooden turtle is from Maui. We just bought it there earlier this month and it reminds us of the amazing animals and nature that we saw there.

I thought I'd share an updated photo of my branch as well. I've added the Christmas cards, photos and letters that we've received this year. It's so great looking at all those expressions of love and news from our dear friends and family when we walk in the front door. Thank you to all who took time out of their busy schedules to send them. I know that it gets more and more difficult every year to squeeze in all the holiday tasks. I didn't get a Christmas card or letter out yet this year but I'm seriously hoping to do one via email in the next week or so (since I'm off work).

Have a blessed day, filled with the love of family and friends.

Christmas Tour of Homes:

I'm excited to be a first time participant in the Christmas Tour. I must say that this year the decorations are lighter than usual, due to the fact that we just returned from a 10 day vacation. I love adding and changing decorations each year for a new and different look. I love variety, and I'm sure I've never decorated the same way twice. Here are just a few of my favorites this year.

We've always enjoyed an "eclectic" Christmas tree, filled with ornaments that remind us of special seasons and people in our past. This year the tree focuses on reds and crystal along with all sorts of metals-silver, gold, even rusty tin with a few dashes of other natural treasures sprinkled thru-out. The heart shaped ornament with the photo of Terry and I is from our 25th Anniversary. This year we just celebrated our 31st in Maui!

Our tree topper this year is a rusted metal star. I love the casual feel that it brings to the tree.

This collection of evergreens began with the trees that lived in my Christmas village. I haven't had the space or time to put up the whole village in the last few years, but I enjoy the trees and have even added more to the collection. The one in the center is made of metal with jingle bells hanging from the branches. It reminds me of the tree in Whoville. I found it at Big Lots for a steal. I also received the three tall white trees and another silver one (pictured behind the snacks) last year. I love the retro look of these.

This bare branch hangs in my living room all year long. These previous posts tell a little about the history of the branch, including how I decorated it thru-out last year. This year it's quite simple. Rusted metal and white crocheted snowflakes with a crystal garland. I may be adding my Christmas cards as well.

We've enjoyed this nativity for many years. It took me a long time to find it. I wanted one that was more realistic. Some nativities look too "holy" while others are too cutsie. I also wanted one where the baby Jesus isn't attached to the manger. Normally we don't put the baby out until Christmas morning (since that's his birthday after all).

Thank you so much for stopping by my home. Since we're just back in town, I haven't had a chance to make a homemade treat, but for anyone who knows me, we always have something tasty to share with friends who drop by.

In honor of our Maui vacation, I can offer you either a tasty cup of piping hot chocolate or a glass of wine from Maui's own winery. We also have delicious macadamia nuts as well as extra special Hershey's kisses with macadamia nuts inside, made only in Hawaii.

Enjoy your holiday season and may your days be filled with the love of family and friends.

West Maui Drive & Dinner

Doesn't my sweetie look cute in his convertible? Whenever we drive with the car top down, he just keeps saying..."This is so NOT us." But I think he's enjoying it anyway. The island breezes and the views are so wonderful. It's fun.

Yesterday we took a drive up the West coast of Maui. It's beautiful relatively unspoiled countryside. Here are a few of the sights that we saw.

This stack of rocks was at one of the pulloffs. I don't know if it has any significance. I just thought it looked cool with the gorgeous blue water in the background.

Next is a natural blowhole near the shore. You can get an idea of scale if you look at the person in pink near it.

Sad news is that when we came up from seeing the blowhole, we discovered that 4 cars had been broken into right there by the road while they were down at the beach. There was shattered glass all over the place from the car windows that were broken and one family was still there on the phone reporting that her purse had been stolen. What a sad thing to happen on vacation and pathetic that people would prey on others when they're trying to enjoy themselves out in nature.

Fortunately, we had our convertible top down and had removed everything valuable, so they didn't do anything to our car.

Last night we went out to the Sansei Seafood Restaurant.

We've heard they have great sushi. I'm not a raw fish fan, but Terry and some of the others in our group like it. Besides they also have other seafood options too. It was an amazing meal. I only got a few food photo ops because everyone started eating right when the dishes came because they looked so delicious. We had several of their award winning appetizers.

This was Terry's dinner. The crispy nest on top was filled with a tasty seafood cake that we also had as an appetizer. Underneath was a big serving of Ahi and rice. Mmmmm

Take a look at their site thru the link above and see how creative they get with their dishes.

And below are pictures of the moon in the morning (Terry took this one), then the moon last night behind the palm branches.

Maui - Happy Anniversary to us!

31 years as of yesterday! We've been having a blast! God was so good to allow us to come here to celebrate our anniverary and enjoy 10 days with some wonderful folks and new friends.

I still need to post about snorkeling, seeing whales and dolphins, Haleakala crater, the Tedeschi Winery where this picture was taken.

More pics to come.

Tonight we're going to the Feast at LeLe.

Just an FYI, I've been trying to post some comments to a few other blogs, but I keep getting an error message, which is frustrating. I hope they get it fixed soon.

Maui - Saturday

Somehow this post turned into somewhat of a children's theme...not sure how that evolved, but enjoy!

This first picture is a view of the mountains east of our hotel just before sunset.

It was a relatively quiet day today. I spent the morning editing photos from Friday and posting on my blog (below). In the afternoon, Terry and I did some grocery shopping to pick up a few things for the rest of the week. We've got a good stock of food and plan on grilling steaks down near the beach one night this week. We bought a fresh pineapple that smells delicious too!

By early evening we headed a few miles down the road to Lahaina to see the Christmas lighting of the Banyan Tree.

The link above takes you to a little more info about the tree itself. It's really quite amazing how this huge tree sends out roots from it's branches that eventually connect with the soil below, then become like additional trunks to help support the tree.

Photo # 2 is what the Banyan Tree looked like today bustling with people and an arts and crafts fair below it's canopy. Remember, this is just ONE huge tree!

To give some perspective on the size, photo # 3 shows several children sitting on the branches. What an awesome climbing tree this is! Can you imagine the hours you could spend playing there? It's definitely a Swiss Family Robinson Tree.

This photo shows more detail of the aerial prop roots that grow down from the branches. They are a bit creepy looking and could be pretty frightening for a youngster with a vivid imagination, especially in the dark.

The last photo of the tree is after the Christmas lights were lit. The ceremony was somewhat anti-climactic unless you're 5 years old, but the tree itself is very impressive. I'm glad we saw it. It would be fun to go back when it's not so crowded and take a few kids to enjoy it with you.

Oh and Santa and Mrs. Claus made an appearance as well. I guess they dress a little differently when they're in Maui. I almost got a great pic of Santa holding a 6 month old baby in just a diaper who was terrified of him. It was so cute (and a little sad).

After the tree lighting, we decided to do some window shopping along Front Street to see if we could find some Christmas presents.

As in many resort towns, there were large amounts of tourist shops filled with T-shirts and paraphernalia, as well as galleries, restaurants, bars, ice cream shops. etc. My absolute favorite was "Rip Squeak & Friends Gallery".

I don't think I've seen these particular characters before, but the place was filled with children's books, puzzles, original artwork illustrations of the most colorful and imaginative characters I've seen in a long time, created by Leonard Filgate and written by his wife, Susan Yost-Filgate. I just love great illustrations in children's books and these are some of the best I've seen, as you can see from this example, called "Bedtime Stories". If I had a grandchild I would have spent quite a bit of money in that store. His illustrations would make amazing artwork for a nursery.

And speaking of kids, here's one of the big kids that I get to work with (just kidding, friend). Aren't Michael and Ali such a gorgeous couple? And so much fun too! Michael reminds me of my older brother, Rusty who was constantly wreaking havoc, teasing and playing practical jokes. But he's so sweet and fun, you just can't get mad at him. Ali must have quite a job keeping him in line at home along with the other kids. I enjoy having him around the office. It tends to be quiet a lot of the time and he adds more life to the place.

News from Maui
So we're in Maui now. As you can see I had time this morning to change my background. Today and tomorrow are free days for us to do whatever we want. There's so much more to post about, even though we've only been here since Thursday night. I won't be able to catch up on my sister in Kuwait until we get back because her last few emails are on my computer at home and once they're downloaded there, I can't get to them from here.

I have some pics of Christmas decorating at home and at my sister, Diane's for her birthday celebration with her grandkids and others. There are a few cute ones of the kids...I'll get to those at some point. I'll try to post some of my home decorating on the 15th for the Christmas Tour of Homes (at right). I'm sure mine will be minimal compared to others there, but it will be fun anyway. Linda, you should do it too.

I was also trying to do "Journal your Christmas" posts along with Amy, but we'll see if time allows for that. I have a few started, but it will just depend. It seems kinda crazy to be sitting in the room doing this when it is absolutely gorgeous outside and so far, I haven't found a wireless connection at the beach or the resort. I am a little stuffed up since yesterday and and I haven't figured out yet if it's a cold or allergies. So far not too big a deal. Just pray that it doesn't get worse and that it goes away VERY soon! Fortunately colds don't usually last long with me, but I know there have been some mean ones going around.

In the interest of time, here's a very brief summary of our group activities so far. As we go along this week, I'll also introduce you to the couples that we're traveling with.

When we got off the plane from Phoenix, our hosts, Steve & Barbara (pictured below) greeted us with welcome lei's at the airport. The large flower pictured is actually not real, but looks like it. It's attached to a hair clip, so I can wear it again and again.

Thursday night was just getting settled in.

Friday morning, we left for the heliport at 6:15 am (9:15 AZ time).

Left the heliport in 2 luxury vans for the Tempation Tours 5 hour drive (including stops) down the road to Hana. We drove along amazing coastline, thru rainforests, and beside gorgeous streams and waterfalls.

We saw hundreds of flowers, including 6 foot high poinsettia's growing in someone's yard. I've never seen that before!

Some brave folks from our party went swimming in this freshwater swimming hole at the base of a waterfall. It was pretty cold so we didn't go in.

Our leisurely drive ended at a beach in Hana for a wonderful lunch of chicken, mahi, rice, fresh pineapple, caesar salad and macadamia nut cookies.

After lunch we were taken to another heliport in Hana to catch the helicopter for our 35 minute flight back with a few detours to see some amazing waterfalls, coastline, etc.

We came home, freshened up then joined the group for sushi and an amazing dinner at the Hyatt hotel next door overlooking the beach.

Steve & Barbara treated us to all of this on the first day! They are such a dear and generous couple. What a blessing to be working for them and not only because they are taking us on a trip like this! They are so kind, encouraging and giving of themselves in so many ways. I love that I get to help them and help the non-profit ministries in the office too.

The background on this picture is the view that we saw from our dining spot on the patio. The ocean is right there!

O.k., as I said, I need to get going. We need to go to the store to buy some food for the meals that we'll have at home during the week.

O.k., so I know I need to change my background, but I may be out of touch for a couple days.

We fly to Maui tomorrow and will have a pretty full day. Hopefully I can post by late on Friday. Please come back and visit often for vacation updates.

In Limbo...

This week I feel like I'm in a strange state of limbo. The Christmas season is beginning, but I'm also getting ready to leave for a 10-day vacation on Thursday, right in the center of the holiday season. I tried to do some shopping this weekend, but ended up just wandering around a lot and only got a few things. We're partially finished decorating the house and setting up the tree (which I'm supposed to be doing right now) but just can't bring myself to get in the mood. I think part of it is that the kids aren't in town this year. Kevin won't be home at all and Amy & Andrew won't be here except a couple of days right after Christmas. In my mind I know that they're grown now and this is an inevitable season of life, but I still miss spending time with them.

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about our trip (to Maui-how can I complain!), but it's not at a time that I would have chosen and it's with co-workers that I don't know that well. They're all wonderful people, but to think of spending 10 days with casual friends is a little daunting even for someone like me. Imagine what it's like for Terry, who barely knows any of them and isn't crazy about mingling with new folks in the first place. I'm looking forward to getting to know them better and finding out what they're really like away from the office. We'll also have some good chunks of free time alone intermingled with the group activities. Plus, I'm sure we'll have tons of fun and make some great memories and grow closer as a group. It just feels like a strange time to be away from home when this is the time that we usually enjoy lots of gatherings with friends and family.

I'm sure no one feels sorry for us for "having" to go to Maui, and as I said, I'm really looking forward to a wonderful trip. Just pray for us as we prepare our home for the holidays and prepare our hearts for our time away.