Andrew's Graduation Party

On June 1, we had an impromptu party for Andrew. The day could not have been better weather wise, 80 degrees under sunny skies. Besides those in the pictures, Steve and Jim came for a few hours in the afternoon. A good time was had by all. Camille and Andrew fixed a great luncheon of brats, beer, potatoe salad, Connie brought a good jello salad, and Michelle brought a good tasting watermelon. We ended the evening with root beer floats!

Andrew will be here until June 12, then back to Boulder, CO.

Jeeping in Colorado

Camille and I visited Jerry and Sandra Baumann for several days prior to heading home to Wisconsin. Jerry and Sandra live in Durango, CO. Jerry lived next door to me when I was growing up and worked at IBM prior to retiring several years ago. Jerry and Sandra love to go jeeping in the mountains, snow skiing, white water rafting, hiking, etc. Colorado is a good place for their hobbies. As you can see from the picture there is lots of snow in the upper elevations. This road is north of Silverton, CO and we were going to see an old mining town at the start of Anamis River. There are many deserted mines that 100 years ago were going strong. The temperature at 11000 feet was about 45 degrees. The snow is melting and the streams are really flowing. Spring should hit the area by mid-June!!

Andrew's Graduation

It's great fun to have all of us together. Andrew looked very handsome in his cap and gown. Colorado has two graduation ceremonies for their graduates. The Engineering Dept. has a smaller ceremony where each of the graduates is named as they walk across the stage and a large ceremony for the entire school with the keynote speaker. We attended both and went out and celebrated each one. It was great fun and the fun isn't over yet!!

Hello Colorado

After too short time at home and a nice visit with Dad and Connie, we headed off to Colorado. We were picked up Michelle, Justin and Milly and headed to Nederland. Good thing we got used to driving on windy roads in North Carolina, the road to Nederland is very windy and scenic.

Goodbye, North Carolina

It was a sad day, the day we left and a happy day. One day closer to home and family and friends. We have spent the last few days enjoying having Leo and Dottie with us. Leo and Ralph finally got a day of golf in at Champion Hills. They ended up soaked, but happy. Dottie and I toured the waterfalls I knew the location of and spent a quiet afternoon reading.

BlueRidge Parkway

On Monday, April 21 we went to see several waterfalls. It was our objective this trip to see various waterfalls in the area. The waterfalls in the lower picture is a very small and we saw it from the road.

We hiked up a road, along side a stream to look at a waterfall noted on the literature we received from the Ranger station located in the Pisgah National Forest. If we would have hiked another 0.5 miles up the road we would have saw the waterfalls we were looking for. The rustic road was washed out at a bridge and we were concerned that the van would have planed out on the rocks.

We drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway and had excellent views of the area from various turnoffs. In a few days, with warmer weather, the trees will be fully leaved out and the area will be ready for a pre-summer period.

The Dogwood are Blooming

Spring is officially here in North Carolina. There are many flowering shrubs at their peak and this week the dogwood opened up.

We spent the entire week meeting with building contractors. Although this area has not been hit as hard as the rest of the nation, the builders are looking for work. Some progress made, but things progress at a much slower pace than back home. The individuals we have met coined the term "Carolina time" to reflect the laid back approach most contractors take.

Leo and Dottie will be visiting this week and we are looking forward to showing them around. This is our last full week here and we are amazed at how fast these two months have past.

One highlight from last week was a dinner party held for us by our potential new neighbors. Three couples hosted the party and made us feel right at home. Everyone has come from various parts of the US. California, New Jersey and Minnesota. The couple from Minnesota lived in Plymouth and he worked for Pillsbury for many years.

Camille is really enjoying retirement. For someone who was not sure about the whole process, she cannot imagine ever going back to work! Even her golf game has improved to the point that she is making more progress than I am. The ladies call and she's off for another round.

We are looking forward to coming home and seeing everyone. Then it's off to Colorado to see Andrew graduate from the U of Colorado.

Ralph & Camille