OCTOBER

I have to tell you about our recent trip to the mid-West. Dickie and I spent two weeks visiting with our relatives and friends in Illinois and Missouri. We had never taken the California Zephyr (Amtrak train) prior to this trip. It was an interesting ride on the way out through the Sierras and the Rockies, some desert and lots of corn fields before we arrived in Chicago. We stopped in Ottumwa, Iowa, long enough for me to get these shots of the engine and Dickie in our sleeper car.





We saw all kinds of beautiful sights, rugged mountains and swiftly flowing rivers as we approached the Rockies, not to mention a beautiful sunset as we came down into Denver.







The trip by train took 55 hours from Oakland to Chicago, a little longer than the return trip on Southwest Airlines, even though the plane stopped in Phoenix, Arizona, and the Ontario Airport in the LA area before our woman pilot finally set it down in Oakland eight hours later.

Our visit in Chicago enabled us to attend the 70th birthday celebration for my brother, Joel. His wife, Mary, secretly went about planning a huge bash with 65 guests and an oompah band. Other than that the secrecy almost caused a divorce and the party noise resulted in a visit from the local gendarmes, it was a huge success. Here's the shocked and bewildered birthday boy (in the feathered hat) as he arrived home from a round of golf to find a cheering crowd of well-wishers:



Since Joel and Mary were headed for China and a visit with their son, Paul, and his wife, YingYing, shortly after the birthday bash, Dickie and I spent most of our time in the Chicago area with my brother, Ralph, and his wife, Ilse, who live in Arlington Heights. Here's Ralph, who picked us up from the train station, unloading our suitcases from his van:



After some debate, Dickie and I decided to take the bus from Chicago to St. Louis (not the best decision we ever made, but we did survive). Dickie's sister, Mary, and her husband, Richard, picked us up from the Greyhound bus station in St. Louis and we spent the next four days with them in Belleville. Richard was also celebrating a birthday, his 81st, so we got in on another family birthday-gathering at his son, Rick's. Here are Richard and Mary in their own backyard:



We spent the last day of our visit to the mid-West in St. Louis, enjoying the hospitality of our friends, Milton and Carol Stohs, who took us to visit the Missouri Botanical Garden. That's where I took these shots with my little Olympus C750:





We're back in Windsor now, enjoying our morning walks and watching the baseball playoffs. I'm still carrying a camera most of the time. Caught this flicker trying to hide from us the other morning:



Thanks for looking. See you next time.