John & Anne Wiley

2010/08/08

Anne Won’t Stop

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,NxNW Adventure,People,Random,Relationships — John @ 18:29

As I finished shaving just now and Anne was still typing feverishly on all her pent up blog posts, she titled this photo for me.

0375 Anne Won't Stop

0375 Anne Won't Stop

When I silently picked up her camera from the table by her right hand, the serious furrowed focus associated with her blizzard of typing instantly transformed into that brilliant giggling girl I love so deeply as she said, “Anne won’t stop.”

In case you’re wondering, I’ve already resolved to buy her a better laptop! I absolutely love that she’s beginning to blog, and she needs a better tool for that. This morning I walked the few steps we were too tired to take last night, and borrowed the cable so she could plug hers in rather than try to use the weak wifi in our room.

All this of course has me thinking about Life, Meaning and Love on this first day of our tenth Official year (we’ve been married by my definition since 1983, but our 18 year “engagement” before 8/7/01 is another and rather long story). One of the things I most enjoy about our time together is Noticing. We’ve helped each other to joyfully notice ourselves, each other, our environment and the relatively small slice of our planet’s billions of people that we’ve had the pleasure to encounter. Not just those like the girl dedicated to her cheerful work cleaning rooms and stocking the free breakfast room here. Nor even just the people we pass once on the street and never see again. Some of the latter leave us with a treasured “snippet” of their conversation, and many a glimpse of an expression that conveys a slice of what was in their consciousness during that few seconds. Beyond those, ever more often we strive to notice everyone and everything, because in that noticing we feel more alive and connected with our world.

So some of this was going on in me when I noticed her typing and tried to capture some essence of Her to preserve for myself, to share with her, and to share with anyone taking the time to read this. May these few words help us to wake up to the incredible beauty within and around us.

MT – our anniversary

Filed under: Aviation,by Anne,Happiness,Has Photos,NxNW Adventure — Anne @ 18:15

Quick photos as we’re about to leave our hotel in Medford, OR.

Here’s our anniversary hotel in Glacier Park, Montana:  The airport folks had already called all the hotels in town for other people and by the time we arrived the Meadow Lake Resort was the only place available.  It just happened that way. Glacier had one room left, pricier than our usual, and it was this one – Lucky it was also our anniversary!

0348 Meadow Lake Resort_J&A

0348 Meadow Lake Resort J&A

0352 Resort Room_A

0352 Resort Room - Anne enjoys

Notice hot tub/jacuzzi in corner!

0355 Resort Room View

And here is a view I have had numerous times on our trip. This is something John does at some point every flying day or eve or both.  I so appreciate seeing him do this.  He pores over charts about weather, turbulence, smoke – and from that accumulation of information, plans our routes, and keeps us safe and happy!  Our luggage next to him, his wide-brimmed hat, my red Paris cap.  In the lobby at the hotel:

0360 John Plans our Tripp trips

0360 John Plans our Tripp trips

by ~Anne

Playing on “Whyte Ave”

Filed under: by Anne,Happiness,Has Photos,NxNW Adventure — Anne @ 17:59

This is the day after Allie & Joshua drove us both directions in their town, Edmonton, BC, to look for our hotel which was on 84th st – turns out there is more than one 84th street and we had no phone number for it, so we got an inadvertent tour of the city. It’s one of those unexpected experiences while traveling that taxes all – me for not getting the phone number (duh) and them for being out later than expected – but shows the spirit of all involved.  Kind of bonding in a way.  We laughed a lot throughout it, and they were incredibly gracious and good spirited, and it is now one of our sweetest memories.

A delightful byproduct of our evening safari was Josh showing us the “Whyte Ave” area and suggesting we take a walk there the next day, since by then we canceled our hotel and got one convenient enough that they could just head home.  Without Josh’s tour we wouldn’t have known about this area which we loved.

We had one hour from hotel and back to hotel to catch our shuttle to the airport. We started in “Old Strathcona” (shortened to Scona) and our hotel was a block or two from this:

0282 J meets Old Strathcona

0282 J meets Scona

It’s a casual place, with varied ethnic foods, an alternative to the chain stores in the outlying areas.  Reminded me of the 60s some, with bead shops and such.  We got some Greek food to take on the plane, as once flying there are not many options.  Here are some good times:

0291 EdmontonTower

0291 J peruses EdmontonTower

0294 Edmonton Bario

0294 Edmonton's Barrio

A woman asked if we’d like a photo of us together.  We ask that so often for others, that it was sweet to have it asked of us.

0297 A&J on White Ave, Edmunton

0297 A&J on Whyte Ave, Edmonton

Then back to our hotel to catch the shuttle…

by ~Anne

BC & AK

Filed under: by Anne,Has Photos,NxNW Adventure,Random — Anne @ 17:08

Finally can send some things from my computer.  I’m some days behind here, but here are some photos that intrigue me:

Small Canadian cities seem to honor bears by having them stuffed in airports.

Smithers, BC (where John lived for 3 years) has a brown bear and it is huge:

0273 Brown Bear in Smithers air terminal

0273 Brown Bear in Smithers air terminal

Terrace, BC has a white brown bear.  That’s right… it’s a Brown bear, that is white.  Spiritual entity, considered to function between worlds, very soft looking.

0234 WHITE Brown Bear in Terrace air terminal

0234 WHITE Brown Bear in Terrace air terminal

We have slept some nights in our tent by our airplane, this one in Terrace, B.C.

0232 Wake up - tilted tent by Tripp

0232 Wake up - tilted tent by Tripp

After Terrace, we flew to Alaska, to Ketchican specifically.  We did it to “tag” Alaska, so were just there for a couple of hours.  It was exciting to fly into AK!

The airstrip is obvious in this photo, but off to the right is also the seaplane landing area.  They actually land in the water along the harbor, but tie up here, as we do.  Seaplanes make a lot of sense in AK and much of BC, because in case of a forced landing, although the land is full of trees and bogs, water is available most everywhere.

0255 AK, Ketchikan airstrip & seastrip

0255 AK, Ketchikan airstrip & seastrip

We had customs people come to the plane since we were officially landing in the U.S. having come from a foreign land – Canada.  We had to stay at the plane until they arrived so I caught a pic of our Tripp near the big Alaska Airline plane, at the Ketchikan Alaska Terminal.

0259 Alaska Airlines shares ramp with Tripp

0259 Alaska Airlines shares ramp with Tripp

This is actually my third visit to Ketchikan. Once long ago, and more recently with John’s family on an Alaskan cruise.  It was fun to see the cruise ships and know that we were one of them about this time five years ago.

0249 Ketchikan, AK harbor

0249 Ketchikan, AK harbor

In the upper middle of the photo is the row of houses of ill repute from the gold rush days.  Now it’s used for ‘retail therapy’ and is where Rhonda bought a pink cap with Alaska written on it – so cute that I went and bought one too.  Though it looks best on her, I really enjoy mine and wear it a lot while flying.

by ~Anne

Club Medford

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,NxNW Adventure,People,Random,Relationships,Tripp — John @ 06:14

Our ninth anniversary began in a foo foo Montana resort that most guests apparently flew to in their private jets where rental cars and limos waited at the airport, and is winding down with us snuggled into a moderately priced (but amazingly well-appointed) room in Medford. While it was a great room and a scenic setting, I was secretly glad to be away from the sometimes  snobby elite who all but ignored us dragging our travelpro along the paved trails as they cruised by in SUVs and golf carts. We did meet some warm and wonderful people there of course, and had a great time. Guess I’m just not cut out to be rich, which I guess is fortunate since I’m not. 🙂

What memories this day has brought us! Our first stop was for fuel in Coeur d’Alene, where we also found one of those truly patient and helpful aircraft mechanics (aka A&P) who will chat as you use their expensive tools to install an inexpensive part – and then give you a discount on the part (a landing light in this case). Tripp happily fueled and vastly more visible to other planes in the sometimes thick smoke (it’s everywhere!), we cruised over town admiring the aquatic setting.

0726 Water World

0726 Water World

Somewhere along the line from there to Bend I saw what is easily the most bizarre looking farm of the trip. It looks very much like a giant landing instruction sign for extra-terrestrials.

0731 Martian Message

0731 Martian Message

Not far away is what I call the Clump Farm, where another enterprising farmer has managed to make use of every last inch of usable land.

0733 Clump Farm

0733 Clump Farm

We were fascinated by the area where the Snake meets the Columbia, as you can see below.

0743 Bewteen States

0743 Between States

0744 Water Worker

0744 Water Worker

0750 River Art

0750 River Art

Just be glad I spared you a few. 🙂

We caught Crater Lake just at sunset, and to our surprise there were quite a few cars driving around the rim. The light was so golden!

0773 Crater Lake Sunset

0773 Crater Lake Sunset

We glided down into Medford just as dusk was settling into the valley, and maybe Anne will share some tales about our adventures on the ground before getting to the hotel. She’s been frustrated by her computer’s weaker wifi, so sometime soon you might see a bunch of “new” posts from her that she’s been saving up. I love the photos she takes and the stories she tells, because her perspective expands my enjoyment of our fun together.

So we celebrate the culmination of another year, and begin anew tomorrow. A woman once asked me what Anne and I do for fun and without pausing to think about it I simply replied truthfully, “Everything.”

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