Friends and Family v.20

We anticipated that one of the great pleasures of this trip was to see friends and family. I'm happy to report that this is so true!  I must say though, I am dreadful about taking photos when we meet up with folks.  I just get so involved with catching up and gabbing that I forget about the camera until it is too late.  So while it was wonderful seeing and talking with Mike and Donna White, I have no photo of them to share.  I thought about including their cadet yearbook photo.....no.

 We stayed with Sonya and Don Carter in Denver.  Sonya is a West Point classmate.  She took the reins for this leg of our trip and really helped us get more out of Colorado than we could have by ourselves.  She is an experienced hiker (Inca trail among others) and world traveler.  We are amateurs willing to be led...  The first thing she organized was a gathering of classmates in the Denver/Colorado Springs area.  Like I said, no photo, so the lame diagram below will have to do :). I tried to draw stick figures, but they were pretty awful! The Boston Cream Pie has special significance as it was one of the frequent desserts at West Point when we were there.  We explained what a template is to Becca, and she did a pretty good job at cutting it!

I am always proud and humbled when I get together with classmates.  They are awesome people, and what a gathering for Becca to experience!  Kathy Ann is an engineer, Ellie is a Geologist, Amy is a Middle School media and broadcasting teacher, Denise is a teacher and entrepreneur, Don is a print broker, and Karen is the PTA President for the entire State of Colorado.  Sonya is the only person I know personally whose realistic goal is to hike the Himalayas in the next year or so. 

We were so happy to see Mark and Marcelle Gershien( and their daughter Liza and grandkids), our neighbors from Palatine who now live in Evergreen, CO.  Becca caught this deer crossing from their yard, and we saw a female elk crossing the street in front of us on the way there- huge body, little head!

  We even got to see their other daughter, Leslie, when we traveled to St. Louis, and Marcelle was there helping her move.  Leslie recounted her memory as a 5 year old, that I chopped off Maria's hair and made her sleep in the garage when she picked up lice in Kindergarten.  Hmmm, I don't remember it that way!!  I DO hate lice, though.

So friends- I'm hoping to do a better job of communicating ahead of time so we can get together.  Amy can attest though, that I haven't been very good at it, since I completely missed her in Colorado Springs.  Don't be afraid to badger me about getting together!   If we can, we want to!