Reflections on the Summer of 2010

I was recalling as I fell asleep last night how the series of summer adventures began with a scary drive on a dark, curvy road beside Priest Lake in Idaho on July 27 and ended with a scary drive on a dark, curvy road beside the Pacific Ocean on September 11!
On the first occasion, Michael was driving, I was in the passenger seat, Nikolas and Madeleine were in the back seat. On the 2nd occasion, Rhonda was driving, I was in the passenger seat, Bella and Braeley were in the back seat! There the similarity ends except that both were amazing
memories that I feel blessed to have experienced.
Tom Denmark and I have long talked about a trip to Priest Lake in Idaho so that he could relive old memories of his childhood vacationing there with his family who owned a house on the lake. Michael, bless his heart, made in all possible because of his connection with our new friends Barbara and Jim Anderson who own a beautiful lakefront house and offered their hospitality. Because of the SDA circle, it is not surprising that Tom and Jim knew each other from LLU School of Medicine but have not seen each other since! Jim had a heads up about this reunion but I was amazed that Tom recognized Jim in the dark and totally out of context when we arrived! My top memories from Priest are as follows: Locating Tom's family home and experiencing the emotion that he obviously felt as he relived the memories. Sharon and Loren coming to meet us in their motor home. Sharon not appreciating the "Anderson house rules" for the card game!" Tom saying to Barbara Anderson: "I have good news and bad news. The good news is we are having a great time and the bad news is we will be back next year!" Riding in Michael's boat and enjoying the beautiful scenery including the moose. Getting in the lake with the kids so they could take me on a tour of the cave on shore. Homemade vegeburgers and Huckleberry ice cream--Thank you, Barbara! It was so fun to experience Priest and to understand why Michael, Julie and the kids love spending a week there every summer. Thank you, Michael!
BTW, Ron had ridden his m/c up and had to ride it home. Tom, Barbara and I flew to Portland where they spent time with Tom's sister visiting an elderly aunt and I met Rhonda, Bella and Braeley and spent time at Marc's. We had a great time with Elise--she was excited to see us and is talking so much more. "It's okay, guys come on in!" We laughed when she pointed to cows out the window and said "Look at the elephants!"