We are off to Europe in a couple of days...yes/no?? ---- Troubles in Ecuador

Dear Family and Friends,

We returned home from our USA whirlwind tour one week ago today.  We are scheduled to leave on our next trip in only 2 days. 

We are packed light (backpack and carryon luggage) and are flying to Amsterdam and then taking the train to Heidelberg, Germany.  Chuck is going to get his fingers straightened one more time.  After spending 4 or 5 days in Germany we will train back to Amsterdam.

Then we fly to Dublin, Ireland. We have a Gate 1 tour in Ireland and most important we have a granddaughter living in Dublin.  We will spend a couple of days with her and her husband before returning to Amsterdam.

We will take a train to Leiden, Netherlands for a few days before returning to Amsterdam to fly back to Ecuador.

I guess you could say this is another whirlwind trip.  We will be gone a total of 23 days.  

Now the reason I said scheduled regarding the upcoming trip is because there are protests taking place all over the country of Ecuador.  Cuenca seems to be one of the areas that is most effected.  When we returned from the U.S. last week the only reason we were able to make it to Cuenca from Quito was because we were flying.  All incoming roads to Cuenca are blocked by protesters.  This has left the people of Cuenca short of food, propane gas for cooking and heating water, gasoline for cars, etc.  Restaurants have had to close because they cannot get food to cook.  The most tragic thing I have heard is that hospitals were not able to receive oxygen tanks and were running low.

I choose not to get into the politics of this protest.  I am only reporting the effects of it on us.

When we arrived home last week our house was empty of fresh food.  We had heard about the protests before we left Tucson, but had no idea how much it was effecting the people.  Chuck suggested we go ahead and do some grocery shopping so that we would have some food to eat this week before we leave again.  When we got to the supermarket I remember commenting about how empty the parking lot was.

When we went inside there were no eggs to be had, very little meat and no fresh chickens.  There was no fresh produce at all.  We were shocked!  We were able to get some smoked pork chops, some packaged pulled pork and some boxed milk.  We brought it home knowing we would not starve in just one week.

What I learned from my neighbor is it is best to shop the little mom and pop stores.  These stores are plentiful, at least one small store per block.  It is hit or miss so you have to go everyday, but some days one will have eggs, another may have a bit of fresh produce, etc.  My neighbor goes out every morning to buy fresh food.  She kindly gave me enough eggs to have one egg a day until we leave.  I found a cabbage and am making coleslaw to go with our meat.  It is not too bad, it reminds me of being a pioneer.

Our building has a tank of propane on the roof.  The admin. put a sign up in the elevator reminding us that there is no propane to refill this tank.  When it is gone, we have no gas for cooking, hot water for hot showers, or even drying clothes if our dryers are gas.  

Chuck and I made a pact to conserve as much as possible.  Luckily I did all our laundry before we left Tucson. We have not washed clothes since we have returned.  Anyway it is winter here and we are traveling to warmer weather.  The laundry can wait.  I wash dishes in a small pan and heat the water with our electric tea pot and rinse them in cold water.  We have used very little gas and are very proud of ourselves.  

Just yesterday the building started rationing the propane to just a few hours a day.  The tanks are obviously getting low.  Also, there is no resolution in sight that will bring the protests to an end.

On some days, without warning to us, the buses stop running, even the tram has stopped some days.  Also, one day this week the taxi drivers showed solidarity with the protesters by blocking round abouts and intersections within the city.  This does not happen every day thank goodness but we never know when it will.

William has offered to take us to the airport in Cuenca on Saturday morning.  Now we can only think positive that he will be able to have gasoline in his car and that the roads will not be blocked to the airport and that either of our flights to Quito or Amsterdam are not cancelled.

We are all packed, believing that all the above will go in our favor.  I don't even want to think about if it doesn't.

It seems like I say this every trip, but I am taking my new light weight laptop and hope that I can post about our travels while we are on the trip instead of having to wait until we return.  Fingers crossed.

Love,

Nancy

June Trip to USA - Part 5

Dear Family and Friends,

The morning after Cannon's graduation, Chuck and I were up bright and early. This time our destination was Pottsboro, Texas to visit with Norman and Nancy, my brother and sister-in-law.  We had a 6:00am flight out of the Tri Cities to Oklahoma City, OK.  Why OK City?  Well, Pottsboro is located in northern Texas, very near the Oklahoma/Texas border.  Our choices were (1) Fly to Dallas and drive the freeways in Dallas traffic or (2) Fly to OK City and drive the scenic back roads to northern Texas.  We chose option (2) mainly because living in Ecuador, we are not used to driving on interstate highways.

We had a very nice visit with Norman and Nancy.  When we arrived on Saturday afternoon Nancy and I went to get catfish to go for our dinner.  Yum, yum what a treat.  

On Sunday Nancy's step mom, Amelia came to have lunch with us.  Nancy made seafood gumbo.  Amelia brought key lime pie.  

While we were there we decided to have a family vacation this coming January.  We got our sister, Mary Anne, on the phone and schemed up a cruise of the western Caribbean.  This has been something we have wanted to do as a family and now is the time.

We had all day Sunday together. Our original plans were to stay over Monday night and leave Tuesday morning to drive back to OK City for our flight to Tucson.  Again, Delta had other plans.  They canceled our Tuesday afternoon flight and rescheduled us on a early Tuesday morning flight.  This cut our trip short, we had to leave on Monday in order to get back to OK City and stay in a hotel near the airport so we could return our rental car and make our 8:00am flight.  

It was hot in Texas and knowing we were flying to Tucson, AZ, Chuck thought he would be more comfortable dressed for the hotter weather ahead.

For some reason I had a desire to sit across from him while waiting to board at the gate in OK City instead of beside him.  

When we arrived in Tucson, Audrey and Jim picked us up at the airport.  We stopped at our favorite Mexican restaurant on the way home.

We had one week in Tucson before returning to Ecuador.  Chuck spent time at local nurseries deciding on what plants to plant at our AZ house.  Audrey and I spent time shopping.  The best thing about our trip was getting together with our Ecuador expat friends, Bruce and Charlie as well as Clarke and Brenda.  

Here are more pictures so you can see how well they are doing.

Bruce and Chuck checking out their menus.

Here is Brenda with Audrey, Jim is checking out his menu behind Audrey.

Sitting across from me is Charlie.

and good looking Clarke.

We enjoyed a nice dinner together in historic Tucson.  

It was so nice to see these folks.  Charlie and Bruce came from Phoenix and Clarke and Brenda drove up from Green Valley.  When we get back to Tucson, whenever that is, if you want to join us in a Expat reunion email me.  This way everyone can have months ahead to make plans.  In my opinion it would be better to get together in the fall/winter so we can have good weather.

Our week in Tucson went by extremally fast.  Audrey and Jim drove us back to the airport for us to return to Ecuador.  Of course, on the way, we had to go to the Sushi Garden Restaurant.

We stayed at a hotel near the airport.  Our 6 am flight got us to Atlanta in plenty of time for our flight to Quito.  This time we were happy that there was not a flight cancellation.  

We arrived in Quito on Wednesday evening and spent the night in the Wyndham across from the airport. On Thursday morning we flew from Quito, back home to Cuenca.   I took this photo just before we reached Cuenca.  

It feels so good to be back home again.  We had a wonderful trip and are so thankful we were able to do as much as we did in such a short span of time.  

We had to do it this way because we have tickets to fly out of Quito this Saturday to Amsterdam.  We needed this week to prepare for the coming trip.

I will tell you about the tough times we are going through in Cuenca on my next post.

Love,

Nancy

June Trip to USA - Part 4

Dear Family and Friends,

On Sunday, the day after the wedding, Kylie and Bryce flew back to Seattle.  We were supposed to fly to Minnesota about the same time but our flight got canceled.  Delta rescheduled us for a Monday morning flight. This meant we had the excitement of finding a hotel after returning our rental car.  We were very fortunate to get a room at a hotel next to the Boise airport which provided free shuttle service to the airport.

This also meant that we got a little exercise walking to Dennys for dinner.  

I just realized that I have few pictures of Matt.  He loved the wedding and was looking forward to seeing his nieces and nephews in Minnesota.  Here is a photo we made while having dinner at Dennys.

Monday morning our plane left as scheduled.  We arrived in Minneapolis in early afternoon.  Our destination was St. Cloud, Minnesota.  Chuck booked a favorite hotel there that has indoor swimming pools and lots of indoor spaces for parties and games.  Perfect for our large family.

Since we were delayed getting into St. Cloud, we lost a day with the Mickelson tribe. But on Tuesday morning they all came to share the day with us.

Here are some pictures made over our two day visit.

Most of the time we played games and hung out.  When they were all younger and we would visit at this hotel, most of the time was spent in the swimming pool.

Teaching Uncle Matt to play Risk.

Poppi and three granddaughters, Kyla May, Autumn Rose and Joy playing a game.

The girls playing another card game.

There was even some playing in the arcade.

Hanging out was very enjoyable.  These kids are very talented.  Joy entertained us playing her guitar.

Kyla May and Raven Lee enjoyed singing.

Here is Raven Lee sharing her art talent.

Some candid shots:

Bethany Paige

Autumn Rose

Joy

and Gabby

Of course a visit would not be complete without a crazy group photo.

On Thursday Chuck, Matt and I drove to Minneapolis and went the Mall of America before turning in our rental car and checking in for our flight to Richland.  Our next grand event was to attend Cannon's high school graduation.

The ceremony was held at the Toyota Center in the Tri-Cities.  Our seats were a long way from the action.  But here is Cannon walking on to the platform to receive his diploma.

It was dark outside when we left the auditorium, so we posed for photos not only in the dark but also in the rain.

Cannon with a proud Mom and Dad.

and Cannon with a proud Mimi and Poppi.

That night we stayed at a hotel near the airport because we had a 6 am plane to catch for Oklahoma City, OK.

Will tell you about that next time.

Love,

Nancy

June trip to USA - Part 3 The Wedding

 Dear Family and Friends,

June 4th was the big day in the life of our Granddaughter, Heidi and Austin Moldenhauer.  They were married in Nampa, Idaho in a sweet wedding.  

To share this experience with them was one of the main reasons we made this trip to the USA.  

I have a collection of photos that were taken by Kylie, myself and others.  I will share some of these photos here in hope of showing the happiness of this day.  We are so proud of these young adults as they begin their journey in life together.

Here is a picture of Heidi and Austin with Mimi and Poppi.  

Before the wedding we took some family pictures.

Kylie and me in the picture above  and below are our son, Michael (father of the bride) and Kylie with their sons (our grandsons) Cannon and Bryce.

Michael and me.

Cannon and Mimi.

Heidi chose to be escorted down the aisle by her Mom and Dad.

Saying their vows.  They were married by Austin's grandfather.

Sealing the deal with a smooch.

This is my favorite photo.  

Austin dancing with his proud mother,  Heidi dancing with her proud dad, and Heidi and Austin sharing their first dance as a married couple.

After much celebration they were off on their honeymoon.  

It was a wonderful day and I am so glad we were able to go to the U.S. to be part of it all.

Next post will be about Minnesota trip and Cannon's high school graduation.

Love,

Nancy

June Trip to USA - Part 2

Dear Family and Friends,

Before we got on the road to drive to Richland, WA in our rented car, we met Kylie and Bryce for breakfast.  It was wonderful spending special time with them.  It is hard to believe that Bryce is as tall as he is.  Here we are checking out each other outside the restaurant.

After breakfast we headed over the Cascade mountains to the sunny and dry side of Washington.

Our next week was a full one.  We went to Richland to pick up Matt. The next day we drove to Baker City, OR to hug Karen and Randy.  The following day we drove to Nampa Idaho for Heidi and Austin's wedding. From there we flew to Minnesota to visit our Mickelson kids before flying back to Richland for Cannon's high school graduation.    Michael and Kathy had their plates full with Heidi getting married in two days and Cannon's graduation the following Friday.  

We spent one day in Richland, Matt and I shopping and getting everything we needed for the wedding and Chuck spent the day riding Michael's new e-bike around the city.

Here is Michael giving instructions on how to operate the bike.

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The next day we drove to Baker City and we had a nice visit and meal with Karen and Randy.  They are doing great.  It was wonderful to see them both so healthy.

The next morning we drove the back roads to Nampa, Idaho.  The scenery was fabulous.  This is rape seed growing with mountains in the background.

We met up with Kylie and Bryce at the airbnb that she secured for us to share before going to the rehearsal dinner.

Heidi and Austin had their rehearsal dinner at Austin's parents house.

The backyard was set up with a country theme.  Barbecue was served and a fun time was had by all.

In the next post I will share all about the wedding.

Love,

Nancy

June trip to USA - Part 1

Dear Family and Friends,

My full intent was to blog as we traveled. It turned out that at the pace we were going, having a new laptop with a new operating system to learn and a new camera to boot, it was too difficult for this old broad.  I decided to wait until we returned to Ecuador to tell you about our trip.  

We arrived in Seattle, WA on Saturday, May 28th.  Chuck's brother, Larry and his wife, Carolyn were hosting a family barbecue for Memorial day on Monday.  

Audrey and Jim, Chuck's sister and husband arrived the same day.  They had just finished up their Alaskan cruise.

On Saturday, Carolyn, Audrey, our daughter Kylie, and me all went on our family favorite past time...thrift shopping.  I did not know that Kylie was coming up from University Place to join us.  It was a nice surprise.  

Here are some photos of the family barbecue.

This is Carolyn and Audrey in the kitchen preparing the feast.

Here are Chuck and Jim doing their part by staying out of the kitchen.  😄

We had the most delicious barbecue.  Larry smoked ribs on his Traeger grill.  Carolyn made the most delicious baked beans. 

Jim, Audrey and Carolyn looking satisfied.

Chuck joined the clean plate club.

Larry and Carolyn's kids and grandkids enjoying the day.

It was so good to be back with family.  The next morning we drove to Richland, WA.

More adventure lies ahead in the next post.

Love,

Nancy