TaylorHaps

Alaska Cruise

17-26 October 2022

Steve and I went to celebrate our 30th anniversary (in March) and my 50th state for my 50th birthday (in May). We spent a day in Seattle, first at Pike Place Market and then at the Space Needle.

Clear enough to see Mt Rainier. What a day!

Freaky glass floor

Huge evergreen in the middle of the city. We rented scooters to get around. So fun!

We stayed with Jim in Poulsbo that night… played games and went to see Corwin in a show. The next day Jim took us to a ferry, we took a taxi to the dock and boarded the ship.

Love boat chocolate dessert. The food was really delicious!

The comedian wasn’t that funny so we had to make our own fun 😀

Our first full day at sea started out nice but turned windy

Stormy seas the first day caused queasiness and crazy waves in the pool

Time-lapse

Crazy rock standing tall just on an island. Igneous intrusion.

Saw a few little waterfalls along the way

It was a nice day on the water and they fed us good chowder but we were ultimately disappointed. We were promised wildlife that we didn’t see and the guide on the boat was condescending.

After the tour, we went into the town to look around. The local wildlife was pretty intimidating. 🙂

And the creek attached to it. There were a ton of dead fish all along it so it was really smelly!

We went to Alaska fish house for lunch and had great fish and chips and drank the spruce tip soda (so yummy!) I bought earlier

After dinner back on the ship, they wished us a happy anniversary and brought a delicious death by chocolate dessert

We watched the sunset and hoped for whales

The ship sailed the Endicott Arm that morning so we woke up early. The first iceberg was hyped even though later I we saw lots

Bonus waterfall. Check out the color of the water!

And then turned around at the Dawes Glacier

Time-lapse of the trip out. I sure used my flexible tripod arm thingy a bunch on this trip. Attached it to a chair on the balcony

Saw another glacier as we rounded the corner toward Juneau

First thing in Juneau was the tram ride to the top of Mount Roberts

Our excursion started with a lovely hike through the rainforest

from which we could see the glacier but not walk on it 😦

Beach camping

And Disneyland. With Alex and the Freelands. 29 Jul – 3 Aug

We got in really late and set up our tent. First thing the next morning was a whale watching boat trip. Anne didn’t come because she gets sick so she stayed behind to work.

I loved just being in the wind and spray! I stayed the whole time right on the front and went way out whenever it was open.

We didn’t see whales but we did spend sine time with these little beauties!

The seals on the buoy were a nice finishing touch.

Here is the beach we camped on. Unfortunately the nights were hard. People talking so loud right outside our tent and then such a horrible smell from the beach! I very nearly bailed and got a hotel room!

Brunch at lamplight lounge. Yummiest brunch impossible burger and French toast

I had just seen the matching clock and the inspiration in Marceline MO so that was fun!

It was fun to have a day with just Alex!

Breakfast at the carnation cafe was delicious and fun. Best hot chocolate on the planet! We decorated our noses in its honor 😃

Splash was a blast! We got into the line right as it opened up after a closure. We did that with rise of the resistance too! watched the app carefully for that very thing since the lines were really long

Lunch at Blue Bayou was so delicious. Alex raved about his pasta for days 😊

By the evening, everyone was getting a bit tired.

But we made it all the way to the end of the night with Space Mountain…Jonah was worried about going but he loved it!

Love me some tea cups 💚

Chicago NSTA

19-23 July 2022

Flew in Tuesday night. Stayed at the Hyatt loved staying in the hotel attached to the conference center! Went to a short course on Wednesday morning, had lunch here in front of the fountains and then headed to the Museum of Science and Industry

Such an amazing place! Unfortunately I had a hard time getting into anything. My science was broken!! Very disconcerting.

The only things I super enjoyed were the adorable baby chicks…

The artwork looks like real pelicans until you get close up

For some reason I keep repeating this terrifying activity.

Trying to get rid of my fears…not working yet

I went in the late evening so I could also see it all lit up

I got to do this twice without editing in the incredibly long “general public” line. Buy the city pass…so worth it!

Went out to navy pier after the tower but missed the fireworks 🙁

Glad I didn’t buy advanced tickets for Pixar Pitt..,absolutely nothing special

Spent the day seeing the sights instead of at the conference. Now that I’m not teaching it’s just not that interesting.

Really thick glass makes for some funny effects

Jellies!!

Giordanos…I like it a little better than Gino’s

Art Institute was my next stop…the Chagall windows are incredible!

Nature watercolors by Cezanne. My new favorites!

Friday morning is when my presentations were. The MS Evol one went so well! About 25 teachers came. We had a great time and they LOVED the curriculum. Then I did my poster sessions. I’m #2…

…and #33. There were so many teachers! It was crazy!

They gave us table space and then I also had the video of my science songs running. I had spent lots of time on premiere pro getting it ready. I really need to get a YouTube channel and post them. But I would need to make them first and it’s a lot of trouble

That evening I went downtown to see the public art and to get delicious food.

Chicago pizza and oven grinder. Incredible Mediterranean bread that I ate over several days…

…and this beauty – a pizza pot pie. Dang!

Chicago river is so beautiful at this time

Ran through the fountain at millenium park!

Cloud Gate reflecting the skyline. Nice.

Spent Saturday morning at the conference

Took the train out to the airport, picked my up rental car, got some delicious fried catfish and peach cobbler at Chucks southern comfort cafe, and set off for St Louis!

I drove north and stopped at a rest stop for the night in Washington. I had planned to go to mount rainier and then on down through Idaho and back home but the pull of the ocean is strong so instead I drove back out to the coast 😊

I wore a dress so that I could go to a sacrament meeting, but I couldn’t make it work. But a dress is wonderful for summer anyway. So cool.

But my favorite part was the view of the river 🙂

I went Paddleboarding in the ocean. It was so hard! I never got all the way up because the waves were quite big. And I didn’t want to go so far out that I would struggle to get back in. But it was lovely.

Drove right out on to the beach. Wonderful not to have to drag my board very far.

My dress had already gotten pretty soaked in the ocean so I just sat down in the fresh water of the river to cool off and to wash salt water out 😊

…but the tuna fish and chips were well worth the wait!

Drove out to Cape Disappointment in Washington

Hiked on Beard’s Hollow trail to the ocean

The hike up to the lighthouse overlooked Deadman’s cove just don’t make a wrong step…

Slept at a rest area on the way to Rainier. On Monday morning stopped at an overview of Riffe Lake

The view from the highest point I could drive to

A beautiful waterfall that I can’t track down the name of…

The Manhattan project Hanford site was closed 😕

Went to Hagerman Fossil Beds Natl Monument. Most of it was closed but I did find a nice spot to stick my feet in the Snake River

Shoshone Falls…a pathetic trickle. Stupid drought

Oregon Coast Part 3

Whale sightings right from our window

On Monday, I drove Jul to Newport so that she could hang out with Nick. I stayed home to work. I ended up driving her bank and forth quite a lot so I didn’t really get much done

On Tuesday, Alex and I drove to Sea Lion Caves which was so cool

We collected some more charms in Florence and then brought home the greatest desert -Marionberry crisp from Georgie’s

The balcony was a lovely place for doing a time lapse of the sunset

On Wednesday afternoon, I had a great time climbing along the rocky outcrop in front of the condo.

On Thursday Alex and I took a day trip to Tillamook. On the way we hiked up to Munson Creek Falls

No one actually knows how it grew that way.

I went out to the coolest place, Short Beach

There was a waterfall right onto the beach

That night, Jul and I went to a beach in Lincoln city.

It was CRAZY windy so kites on the beach were a natural occurrence.

This ramp made it possible for Jul to get down to the beach 🙂

On Thursday we went to Beverly beach where we got this awesome beach wheelchair for Jul

The coolest thing EVER!

Got a little bit of sun but had to bail before we got literally blown away.

That evening, Alex, Tasha, Spencer, and I went looking for tide pools at fogarty creek beach.

exploring our little cave (4 butts cave)…

Playing in the sand and water coming from the cool waterfall…

Oregon Coast Part 2

Drove to Lincoln city to pick up jul’s fam. Jul had hurt her foot the night before so we took her to the ER in Newport (after exploring other clinic options) where they X-rayed (it was broken) and put her in a boot with strict instructions not to put any weight on it. She already has a wheelchair so it just meant exchanging her cane for some crutches. Unfortunately it meant that lots of activities were not doable any more. Luckily she was able to make her way slowly down to the ocean and get in on previous days.

The boys and I went to the Oregon Coast aquarium while Jul was at the hospital.
Love the jellies 😊

I spent a long time with the seals and sea lions. I would put my hand up on the glass and one see lion would glide along where my hand was. Awesome!

We went to the special dock where sea lions go and only got one. It was pretty weird.

The cove below Yaquina head lighthouse. We got our feet wet. Well Spencer and I did. Weston watched. 😊

We got a special accessibility pass that let us drive right up instead of walking up the long road. 😊

We drove down the coast to Florence where we stayed at Park Motel and Cabins. I had horrible abdominal pain. I had planned to sleep in my car so that Jul and the boys could have the room with 2 king beds. That didn’t sound good anymore so I got a cabin just for me so that I could be miserable. Pepto bismol helped in the end.

The next morning we packed up the car and headed to Honeyman State Park where we went Stand-up paddleboarding. Super fun! I didn’t change into my suit because I wasn’t going to fall off my board but that didn’t go as planned. 😊

We then drove to Bandon where we met up with Weston’s family. These are his grandparents and their adopted daughter, Skye.

We spent a long time at this place called Washed Ashore where they make awesome sculptures out of detritus from the ocean.

They had a place where you could make your own creation

Jul and I sat and had incredible fish and chips and watched the ocean after the Days had left with the boys.

Didn’t really get a good view of the “face”

We discovered a fun charm collecting scavenger hunt. Got 2 in Brandon and a few on the drive to our rental in Depoe Bay.

We got there super late and with getting stuff brought in and Jul settled, I didn’t get to sleep until like 2 am. But I loved my cute little loft room 💚

The most incredible view from this room 😊

Jul needed a day to rest after all the exertion of travel days so I went to the Columbia River gorge for most of the day.

Hiked over on the rocks until I was right in the spray. Got fully soaked. It was amazing!

Went back into Portland waiting for Alex’s flight to finally make it (he was delayed for hours). Hit a target for dry clothes and then got poutine at a food truck called potato champion

Poutine with Thai peanut satay sauce. Dang son!

Since I had extra time I went into the visitor center where I shared feelings and testimonies of the savior with the lovely sister missionaries. The spirit was strong and sweet. Left us feeling bestie enough to take a selfie together.

Oregon Coast with Jul and her boys and Alex

June 2022

Jul loves Oregon. Weston’s dad and grandparents live there and they try to visit or have the boys come visit them each year. So we decided to combine this with some time on the coast and make a trip of it!

They flew to Portland, took a shuttle to the coast, and spent a few days in a little place right by the beach in Lincoln City while I drove out. Did the boring drive to Reno after working for most of the day, drove and then stopped to work in a little town in northern CA the next morning, then finished the day visiting a string of beautiful waterfalls.

There was a group of annoying kids who played their music at top volume so it was not exactly the peaceful commune with nature that I would have desired

Upper Falls, McCloud River

Stopped for painfully expensive gas in Weed CA

Sleep at Valley of the Rogue State park rest area

And woke up to these awesome wood sculptures and some cool pioneer stuff

Drove to cave junction and got tickets for the cave tour starting a couple of hours later. Joined a video meeting for work that should have been 30 minutes but ended up longer than an hour! and had to RACE up the mountain to make my tour time.

I’m really claustrophobic so going last really helps me

This formation they think comes from ancient bacteria that secreted the CaCO2 to protect themselves!

I got a pin for being the official caboose 🙂

There was a beautiful waterfall right outside

Almost to the coast! Stopped for a lighthouse on my way to my campsite at Oregon Dunes

I couldn’t find my site (it was out on the dunes somewhere so I wouldn’t have been able to get there anyway without a different vehicle) so I slept in the parking lot. But first went hiking out on the dunes right at sunset. Gorgeous!

Utah State Parks

1 June 2022 I bought an annual pass this year and am getting my money worth. I went on this trek after Steve and Mars got Covid and I felt unsafe at home. I had been planning to stay in St George that night but since I was feeling okay, I decided to continue my drive toward Disneyland. I slept at a rest stop just into California. And woke up with a sore throat. So I sadly turned around and came back home. But at least I had a lovely Utah nature day 🙂