Alaska--July 2014

Early, early July 4 my friend Renae and I left for a seven-day cruise to SE Alaska. I cannot say enough about how wonderful a trip it was. I would definitely go again in a few years either another cruise or a land tour. We stopped at four ports and the variety of excursions was amazing which means I could go back and have an almost totally different trip. Below are a few pictures from the trip. And my advice if you ever  have the chance definitely do Alaska. It should be on everyone's bucket list.

 

Itinerary: Dallas to Denver to Vancouver. Got on the boat in Vancouver. Sailed the Inside Passage, Ketchikan, Icy Strait Point, Juneau, Skagway, Hubbard Glacier, Seward. We got off the boat in Seward and then took a train to Anchorage. From Anchorage and then flew to Seattle and back to Dallas. It was 24 hours from off the boat to bed in Dallas!

 

As we flew from Denver to Vancouver we saw three mountains. A couple of passengers were saying they were Hood, St. Helens, and Ranier. If they were correct this is Mt. Ranier.

 

 

I have about 100 pictures of water trying to get a decent picture of the whales we saw. You can kind of make out the whale tail in this picture. We were surprised how much it rains in Alaska. In Ketchikan the tour guide kept exclaiming what a nice day we had there while we were thinking that is was cold and overcast. He was just glad it wasn't raining.

 





The picture above is of a pod of orca whales we saw on a whale tour in Juneau. On that excursion we saw a whale swimming alone, a pod of 7 or 8 of which one did a complete breach and at one point the rest did a maneuver called bubble feeding. It ended with this pod of two or three killer whales. The tour guides said they never see so much activity on the tour. I'm just skeptical enough to wonder if that was a comment to get bigger tips!

 

The "big three" to see in AK are whales, bears, and eagles. We did see all three although I missed a picture of the bear as we were in a moving train and my one picture of an eagle in the nest is quite blurry.

 

We know Klopfenstein literally means "pounding stone" and the supposedly the origin of the name comes from a little orphan boy found on a beach pounding stones together so the townspeople called him Klopfenstein. (Dad, you should maybe post the real story as I may be mistaken on some of those details.) At Icy Strait Point the beach was very rocky, and my natural inclination as a Klopfenstein was to pick up two stones and start pounding.



 

 



 



Also at Icy Strait Point we had lesson in cooking salmon. It ended with going outside to grill salmon and halibut. It was very good. You'll notice the jackets. We layered quite a bit of clothing as it was often rather chilly--most days in the 60s. We spent very little time on deck because of the cool temps and rain.

 One of my very favorite parts of the trip was seeing the glaciers. This first picture is of the Mendenhall Glacier outside Juneau. The many colors were just amazing. The ice absorbs all colors except blue and then there is a lot of dirt in the glaciers and floating ice chunks. (Yes, we both decided we needed another jacket so imagine when we realized we both had picked out the same jacket! At least we were easy to find each other!)

 

This is the Hubbard Glacier. We were to be out on deck at 7:00 a.m. to sail up to it. Our first thought was "this is what we got up early for????" Then we were told we were still miles away. When it appeared to be getting pretty big we were still four miles out. We got to within a half mile. This picture doesn't make you realize this is 33 stories tall!!! We saw and heard huge chunks breaking off of it. It was rather weird to be sailing in closer and closer with all these large chunks of ice floating around the boat as well. Not scary, just weird.

 

 

My pictures certainly do not do justice to the scenery. We were on a couple of trains and busses to various excursion destinations. I was just amazed with the scenery all the time. Even sailing the first day up the Inside Passage was just beautiful scenery.

 

 

As I said this trip was just amazing. I know several of you have done Alaska. Let's hear about your memories.

 



Land of the Recliner

Hello extended family - Thought I would give you an update from the land of the recliner.  I've been pretty much off my feet since last Thursday, when a meniscus repair on my right knee landed me here.  It's kinda funny - when you have a lot to do, you'd give anything just to check out for awhile; however, when you are stuck in a recliner, after awhile you feel really guilty for accomplishing next to nothing each day!!  Today was a red-letter day - I did a load of laundry, and walked out to the mailbox and got the mail and newspaper!!  Progress!

This problem had been getting worse for a couple of years, and in China I realized that something would have to be done.  Had it not been for a good brace, the trip would have been much harder.  And thanks to a great orthopedist that we know from church, I have been able to get it done before school starts back in a couple of weeks.

Mary Lee gets into her classroom on Monday.  She is teaching 4th grade at a local elementary school - actually, quite close to our house.  (What do you think - will she drop in for supper very often this next school year?)  She is naturally getting excited - a first teaching job is a big deal for a new college graduate.

I will be giving a presentation on China at my church this coming Sunday night.  Wish some of you could come.  I'm just glad for modern technology where we can share things via blogs, etc.

49 and counting

49 years ago today, the old EJK homestead was a busy place!!   We celebrate our 49th wedding anniversary today!  We have had a great life!   We have been blessed with 3 wonderful children each who have spouses that we love dearly.    We also have 9 grandchildren that we love more than words can express.    We both have had tremendous experiences in life and rewarded beyond belief.  I spent more than 40 years in education from teaching, high school principal, superintendent of schools, and finally returning to ISU's lab school, University High as a College Algebra teacher and ending my career as high school principal at U-High.

We have survived breast cancer and five hip surgeries.   Both of us are in excellent health and are enjoying the leisure life of retirement with all the benefits thereof.  

We look to the future with excitement and  anticipation for what the Lord has in store for us!   Hopefully, there are many Klop's who remember that "warm" day on July 24, 1965!!

Wisconsin Dells

Our family enjoyed a vacation at Wisconsin Dells, leaving Saturday and returning yesterday.  Perry and I took Preston and Kyla and 8 of our grandchildren on the duck ride.  (Last year the others got to go.)  The excitement of the grandchildren put a smile on my face.  Monday evening, we had our EJK family "quiz."  It took about 1 1/2 hours.  In the end, Maria knew the most of the adults and Matthew knew the most of the grandchildren.  Points were earned for each name or date that you could recall.  Knowing maiden names and middle names were extra points.  We had six (three adults and three grandchildren) who scored over a hundred points, and they were each awarded $5. All who stuck with it until the "bitter end" were awarded $1.  We had church on Sunday at Maustin, WI, at the home of Nathan and Marilyn Steffen.  They built a chapel room on their house for services whenever any are in the area and let them know.  Before the afternoon service, our grandchildren ages 3 and up stood together up in front and we all sang hymns such as "Whiter than Snow," "Is My Name Written There?" and "Jesus Loves Me."  These were indeed precious moments!  ---happy grandma Carol

Back From China

I've been in the midst of jet lag all week so am later posting this than expected.  Just want to let you all know that I am back safely from a 2 1/2 week trip to visit Andrew in the interior of China.  He is doing well and we had a wonderful time.

Here we are at the entrance to a "dong bei" restaurant where we ate with the members of his English Corner - a "club" where people can come to practice their English.  The display behind us represents how China has come a long way because of their hard work.  And the video below this photo is us eating with the group.  Note the common bowls!

The Great Wall.  We are looking at a copy of the newspaper published locally by Mike's two sisters here at home - They print pictures of people reading the paper at faraway places.  Guess this is about as faraway as you can get.

A dumpling party at the home of a teacher at Andrew's school, who is also in his English class (as are the others pictured).  Chinese love their dumplings!!

This is taken on the street right outside the gate of the school where Andrew lives.  Notice that people wear all kinds of clothes, even on weekdays - everything from shorts to what we would consider formal dresses.  The barricade at right is blocking the gate, because the road is torn up for some kind of repair. There is always construction going on.

Andrew has great connections with the people and can communicate fairly well.  Once a taxi driver asked him, "Are you an American?" and Andrew responded, "Yes, are you Chinese?"  And the man thought that was hilarious.

You can uplift him this next week as he is in charge of a camp that is an outreach to many questioning college-age students.

There are a lot more detailed pictures and commentary at my blog.

It was so good to see where he lives and what he is doing.  And it was so good to get home.

Christensen News Toungue in cheek

Christensen News We had an exciting 4th of July! We met Angela and family, they are in Illinois from Florida, at the parade in Towanda. Following that we went to Chenoa's 4th parade. Since I grew up in Chenoa and have not really been back there for 50 years, it is sad to see the Main Street in its run down state. We were there for 3 hours and I saw only one person that I knew from my youth. In the evening we packed a picnic lunch and went to Lake Bloomington and found a picnic table near the spill way and watched the fireworks after dark as the were shot off out over the Lake. Great day! We are excited to have Angela and family here from Florida. They are here for Heidi Kiefer's daughter's wedding next Friday night. They will be staying with a few days later in the week. On Tuesday, Drake has plans for us to go to Vernon Hills to a park. The real purpose of this post is to show Ada that I REALLY so have a log in and pass word on the EJK blog. She can not get on, so I am showing her that I can!! So, bare with us in this exercise of humiliation! Other things of interest: Jason will have three boys in high school next fall, Zac (Sr), Noah (soph), and Miles (Fr). Heather is the manager at the Hardee's in ElPaso, Il if you ever go through there, stop and say hello to her. Kelsie lives in Jax Fl not too far from where Angela lives. Drake's daughter Grace is a soph at Vernon Hills High School and son Owen is in the 8th grade. The littlest of all the grandchildren, Nathan will be in the fourth grade in the fall. Ada and I are "healthy, happy, and blessed". She works hard at maintaining an orderly house and I will defy you to find ONE dandelion in my acre of manicured grass! Ada did not believe that I could post. I promised her that if/when I posted that I would NOT describe the method of "baton passing" that Coach Don Dalauga taught me in high school, which seems to be very much like a universal method taught!! Well, shot that.....no dinner tonight! When you see Ada....say, "I read Jerry's post on the Blog" then duck!

Branson

Dave and I took a few days this past week and traveled to Branson, MO. We had perfect weather and though the trip was short, it was very enjoyable.

We saw my favorite gospel musical, "Smoke on the Mountain." It was good old hymn singing, and just my kind of music. The play is a little silly, but for some reason I never get tired of it.

We also saw the musical "Jonah." We took the backstage tour prior to the performance and it was very interesting and fun. The show itself was a real "WOW" performance. The huge whale that hovered over our heads was truly remarkable.

On the last morning we headed to Dogwood Canyon for a 7 mile hike. The "nature preserve" has  paved trails, manicured lawns, man-built stone bridges, and tram rides. We walked several miles on the guided path.

 



Dave is wearing a bright yellow floppy hat. Back in the day when I cared about things like that, I never would have let him wear it out in public, but now I love it. It's very easy to pick him out, either in the woods, or in a big crowd like Disney.


The last 3 miles we took a detour onto an unpaved trail and some more rugged terrain. We did 3 miles of lots of uphill, challenging hiking. It was a test for us for our hopes to get on the Appalachian Trail next summer. We feel we passed the test. We were pretty impressed with ourselves and said we weren't even very stiff and sore after the long hike, especially after the steep last few miles. But comically, after we stopped for lunch and had sat awhile, we both got up and found we could barely get going again. We had to admit we were feeling it!

Our last stop was the huge Bass Pro Shop in Springfield, MO. We had some gift certificates to spend and we purchased our first AT supplies - a water filter and a tiny camp stove.

Drake...are you getting ready to go??

 



Christmas, 1976

Tonight, I sent this picture via email to our children because, when our family gets together in two weeks in Wisconsin Dells, we are going to have a trivia quiz on the Klopfenstein family relatives (Elmer and Anna's descendants.)  (Next summer, we can do the Miller relatives.)  Thank you, Lynn, for the family genealogy.  I gave a copy to each family so they have time to study.  Today, Maria, (who is 33 today) mentioned that it would be helpful for the grandchildren if they could have a picture to go with the name.  I wish I also had a picture of each of the six children with their offspring to give them.  Unbelievable that this was taken almost 4 decades ago! ---Carol