tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19349931595993733892024-03-05T09:10:18.093-08:00Adventures with Dian ThomasDian Thomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15946871452005968067noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1934993159599373389.post-47787190142427752932019-05-12T21:03:00.000-07:002019-05-12T21:11:46.762-07:00Visiting Ann of Green Gables <div style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">
<em>Anne of Green Gables</em> has made Prince Edward Island, Canada, famous. I wanted<br />
to go there for that reason alone.</div>
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I also heard that there were great bike trails, so that was my other draw. After an amazing ride along the shores of the beautiful St. Lawrence Sea and through the<br />
deep green forests, I traveled to the North Shore to see where this famous redhead came from.</div>
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I found Cavendish, the home of author Lucy Maud Montgomery, to be a charming place that was more fascinating than I ever dreamed. I came together with travelers from all over the world.</div>
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The first person that I met was a Chinese surgeon from Taiwan. He told me<br />
that he<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> had not read the books but knows of Anne and wanted to come and</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> experience the</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> place Lucy came from before reading the books. He told me</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> he loved to travel to a </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">place, experience the feelings he gets and then go </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">home and learn more about the </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">author and their works.</span></div>
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Many of the places that Lucy put into the book were places where she grew up,<br />
making it extra special to visit those sights.</div>
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Sit back and enjoy these photos of the significant places that Lucy Maud<br />
Montgomery <span style="font-size: 13pt;">wrote about.</span></div>
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<img alt="AnneHome" class=" size-full wp-image-71068 aligncenter" height="257" sizes="(max-width: 623px) 100vw, 623px" src="https://meridianmag.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/AnneHome.png" srcset="https://latterdaysaintmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/AnneHome.png 623w, https://latterdaysaintmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/AnneHome-300x193.png 300w" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 5px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="400" /></div>
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This is the home where Lucy Maud Montgomery was born. She was the first<br />
child. <span style="font-size: 13pt;">When she was 23 months old her mother died, leaving her to be raised</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> by her </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">maternal grandparents. At 16 she went to live with her father who had</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">moved west to Ontario, </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Canada. Her father had remarried and they had four</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">children. She was not happy t</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">here and returned to her beloved Prince </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Edward Island.</span></div>
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<img alt="AnneRoom" class=" size-full wp-image-71070 aligncenter" height="291" sizes="(max-width: 634px) 100vw, 634px" src="https://meridianmag.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/AnneRoom.png" srcset="https://latterdaysaintmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/AnneRoom.png 634w, https://latterdaysaintmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/AnneRoom-274x200.png 274w" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 5px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="400" /></div>
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This was the room where she was born, November 30, 1874.</div>
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<img alt="AnnePortrait" class=" wp-image-71072 aligncenter" height="562" sizes="(max-width: 448px) 100vw, 448px" src="https://meridianmag.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/AnnePortrait.png" srcset="https://latterdaysaintmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/AnnePortrait.png 475w, https://latterdaysaintmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/AnnePortrait-159x200.png 159w" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 5px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="448" /></div>
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This is a photo of Lucy Maud when she was 16. Her passion all her life was<br />
writing.<span style="font-size: 13pt;">In her career she wrote 20 novels and more than 1,000 articles and</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> poems.</span></div>
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<img alt="AnneGables" class=" size-full wp-image-71074 aligncenter" height="300" sizes="(max-width: 638px) 100vw, 638px" src="https://meridianmag.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/AnneGables.png" srcset="https://latterdaysaintmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/AnneGables.png 638w, https://latterdaysaintmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/AnneGables-266x200.png 266w" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 5px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="400" /></div>
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This is Green Gables, the house of the story. Even though Anne of Green Gables<br />
is fiction, it still lives true in the hearts of all who read and love it. Even to Lucy<br />
it seemed real. To me, many of the experiences and events in the book seemed<br />
as if they were Lucy’s real life stories.</div>
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<img alt="AnneBarn" class=" wp-image-71075 aligncenter" height="255" sizes="(max-width: 593px) 100vw, 593px" src="https://meridianmag.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/AnneBarn.png" srcset="https://latterdaysaintmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/AnneBarn.png 637w, https://latterdaysaintmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/AnneBarn-300x192.png 300w" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 5px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="400" /></div>
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This is the barn that is right next to Green Gables. I am sure that it was not there<br />
when Anne would visit some of her relatives that lived in Green Gables, but it is<br />
something that is true to the area and that could have been part of Anne’s<br />
landscape and life.</div>
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<img alt="Seaside" class=" wp-image-70989 aligncenter" height="309" sizes="(max-width: 515px) 100vw, 515px" src="https://meridianmag.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Seaside.png" srcset="https://latterdaysaintmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Seaside.png 637w, https://latterdaysaintmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Seaside-259x200.png 259w" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 5px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="400" /></div>
<div style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">
Lucy Maud wrote about the beautiful beaches that she so enjoyed. The rolling<br />
hills <span style="font-size: 13pt;">on the island and the red soil that is everywhere, mixed with the many</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">varieties of </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">green trees, makes this island a place to visit and fall in love with.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">It is the place that </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Lucy loved and that place that gave her the backdrop to </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">write one of the most b</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">eloved books of all time. Anne has been translated int</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">more than 69 languages</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">and distributed throughout the world.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">
<strong>Dian Thomas is the author of several great idea books that are filled</strong><br />
<strong> with creative ideas to do with you friends and family. For more </strong><br />
<strong>information about Dian and her books go to </strong><br />
<strong><a href="https://www.dianthomas.com/" style="color: #b62025; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">https://www.dianthomas.com</a>.</strong></div>
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Dian Thomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15946871452005968067noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1934993159599373389.post-8712886550210058652019-05-12T20:45:00.003-07:002019-05-12T20:57:29.070-07:00Celebrating Lunar New Year<div style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">For anyone who has traveled through Asia during the lunar New Year, they will be aware of this huge holiday. My first experience of it was when I was in Hawaii years ago. I was staying with some friends who ask me if I wanted to go to China Town in Honolulu to celebrate the New Year. I could hardly wait for the big event. When we got there the fireworks began to go off and before it was over I was holding my ears for dear life and wishing that I could get out of the noise as it was so loud.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">Last year I was in China for this holiday. Millions and millions of people traveled by plane and train to be with their families. I went to the Western part of China to Chengdu. While I was there I went to the Tibetan area and stayed at the Sheraton. I was at the computer area and met a man who was working in China for his company out of Chicago. He told me that the factory that he worked at totally closed for two weeks. He said, the people in America just don’t understand how a country can close for two weeks. But once you have been there and experienced it you will get a sense of how important families are and why they all go home for this special holiday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">I just talked to an American Chinese friend that told me even here in America she</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"> will </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">celebrate the new year by having four parties at her home. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">I met with a family in Chengdu for part of my New Year last year. One day we went</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"> to my </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">friend’s mother’s family and had a big dinner. Another day it was to her </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">father’s </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">family </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">and </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">yet another day we stayed at her home and her father cooked</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">the most </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">incredible </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">meal for </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">everyone. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">Gifts to the children are part of the experience. If you have a job and are making </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">money </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">you are expected to put some money in a small red envelope and give it</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> to the children. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">My friends’ daughter who is three took all the money that was </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">given to her and her parents </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">put it away for her schooling. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">Toward the end of the two weeks they have a festival call the Lantern Festival. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">They turn </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">parks into amusement parks with food, lanterns, and fun events for </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">families to go to. Then </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">on Feb 15 will be the last day and that night the fireworks</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> begin toward evening and go </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">until Midnight and then it is over. If you live near</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">a China Town and want a fun experience </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">check out the activities and join them </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">for the biggest holiday of the year.</span></div>
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Dian Thomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15946871452005968067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1934993159599373389.post-20971013120014878642019-04-30T20:47:00.001-07:002019-04-30T21:01:02.006-07:00 Fear Bound in Amsterdam<div style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><img alt="Amsterdam" height="379" src="https://latterdaysaintmag.com/wp-content/uploads/images/stories/image/2014/Mar/03_06_14/Amsterdam.jpg" style="display: block; float: left; height: auto; margin: 10px; max-width: 100%;" width="270" />We landed in Amsterdam that morning (Feb. 26, 2014) on our way to South Africa. This was a return to the city that I traveled to when I took my first flight in an airplane. I had just finished teaching my first year at Orem Jr. High in Orem, Utah where I was a Home Economics and Art teacher. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">Every summer for the previous seven summers, I had worked at the Brighton Girls Camp, which I dearly loved. I knew that I would have to find something very exciting to replace my experience there and my choice was a trip to Europe. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">While I was teaching, I shared my desire to go to Europe with my friends and fellow </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">teachers. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">One day Mr. Zimmerman my assistant principal came down to my room</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> and </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">put a piece of </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">paper on my desk and said go apply for this scholarship to study </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">abroad. Corning Glass had </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">a sister plant in Orem and was giving the Scholarship</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> away to a teacher. I soon learned that </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">there were two of us that applied for it. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> I suggested that they give half to each one of us but </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">they said they could not do that. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">At the flip of a coin I got the Scholarship to go abroad and </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">study. I found a program</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> in Europe, which started about 3 weeks after school let out for the </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">summer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">A friend of mine suggested that I go early to Amsterdam where the study abroad </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">would start. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">She had been there on a mission and thought that perhaps I could </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">pay a member family to </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">stay with them for a few days. She wrote a letter to the </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Branch President and I ordered my </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">ticket to go early. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">Weeks went by and no word from the branch president. About 3 days before I </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">was ready </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">to leave I got word from my friend that he said that they did not do that</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> kind of thing in </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">their country.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">I was very nervous to go without a place to stay but the ticket was already ordered.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"> I was so </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">excited to go on such and adventure but scared to death to not have a hotel</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> room lined up </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">(this was before computers). When I arrived in Amsterdam I found</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> a desk in the airport </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">that could book a hotel room for me. I walked up to the desk</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> and ask them to give a top rated</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> hotel but there was a run on hotels room and</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> they did not have one. Pretty soon the clerk</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> found a place for me to go to that</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> was on the third floor of a typical building in Amsterdam. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">Now my job was to get a cab. It was my first time getting a cab and I was so</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"> scared that the </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">cab driver would kidnap me rather than delivering me to my hotel. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">I sat in the back seat filled with FEAR. I was so pleased when he took me straight to</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"> my hotel </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">and helped me get my luggage to the third floor. I checked in and found </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">out that my room </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">did not have a bathroom that that I would have to go to the end</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">of the hall for one. Now </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">my fear began to build that something bad would happen</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> to me on the way to the bathroom. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">I arrived to my room exhausted and scared about going down the hall to the </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">bathroom. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When I was ready to go to bed, I pushed the big dresser up against</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> the door so no one could</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> come in the room while I was asleep. I laid on the bed</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> with my clothes still on and cried </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">until I was sound to sleep. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">The next morning I was still so afraid that I wanted to stay in my room for the </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">next three </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">days until my friends came but I pushed myself to have breakfast</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> and then go to the famous</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Rakes Museum which houses the Night Watch by</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Rembrandt. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">I found my way to the museum and waited in line for it to open. Then I noticed</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"> two young</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> men with white shirts and dark pants with a small black badge on </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">their left pocket. I was </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">so excited as I knew they were missionaries. I went up</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> and introduced myself and asked </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">them where they were from. One of the</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> missionaries lived in my stake. It made me feel </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">much more at easy to have met</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> someone from home. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">I later learned that 92% of the things that we worry about never happen. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">Experience, time,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> and education help to take away our fears. I am so glad I </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">continued to travel and experience</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> the wonderful world that we live in.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">ved in Amsterdam I found a desk in the airport that could book a hotel room for me. I walked up to the desk and ask them to give a top rated hotel but there was a run on hotels room and they did not have one. Pretty soon the </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">clerk found a place for me to go to that was on the third floor of a typical building in Amsterdam.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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<div style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">Now my job was to get a cab. It was my first time getting a cab and I was so</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"> scared that the </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">cab driver would kidnap me rather than delivering me to my hotel. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">I sat in the back seat filled with FEAR. I was so pleased when he took me straight </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">to my hotel</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> and helped me get my luggage to the third floor. I checked in and </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">found out that my room </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">did not have a bathroom that that I would have to go</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> would happen to me on the way to the bathroom. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">I arrived to my room exhausted and scared about going down the hall to the </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">bathroom. When </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I was ready to go to bed, I pushed the big dresser up against </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">the door so no one could come</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> in the room while I was asleep. I laid on the bed</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> with my clothes still on and cried until I was </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">sound to sleep. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">The next morning I was still so afraid that I wanted to stay in my room for the</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"> next three </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">days</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> until my friends came but I pushed myself to have breakfast</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> and then go to the famous </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Rakes Museum which houses the Night Watch by</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Rembrandt. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">I found my way to the museum and waited in line for it to open. Then I noticed </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">two young </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">men with white shirts and dark pants with a small black badge on</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> their left pocket. I was</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> so excited as I knew they were missionaries. I went</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> up and introduced myself and asked </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">them where they were from. One of the</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> missionaries lived in my stake. It made me feel </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">much more at easy to have met</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> someone from home. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">I later learned that 92% of the things that we worry about never happen. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">Experience, time, </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">and education help to take away our fears. I am so glad</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> I </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">continued to travel and experience</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> the wonderful world that we live in.</span></div>
</div>
Dian Thomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15946871452005968067noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1934993159599373389.post-73845663027645333862019-04-29T19:55:00.000-07:002019-04-29T19:55:39.321-07:00Peru: The Capital of an Amazing Ancient Culture<div style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">High in the valleys of the Andes visitors from around the world are able to explore the remains of the Inca civilization created in only 150 years. These amazing people worked between 1400 and 1535 when they were conquered by a few hundred Spanish conquistadors and their allies. Their extensive economic network became a civilization of over 9 million people in 150 communities stretching from Columbia to Chile. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">Visitors fly into the capital of the Inca at Cusco, which sits in a high mountain valley, at an ear-popping 11,000 feet above sea level. If you have been to the top of the tram in Snow Bird in the mountains just east of Salt Lake you will have been that high.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">monumental structures that they did. Today over a million people a year from all over the</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> globe visit Peru to see the ruins of this ancient civilization.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Inca nation, “the Children </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">of the Sun,” started as a small culture based in the central </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">highlands. In the early 1400’s under the reign of Pachacutec, the Incas began one of the </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">most explosive expansions of culture ever recorded. The genius of the Inca was their ability to annex regions that could add knowledge or agricultural products that could expand their understanding of how to best use the resources and people they controlled. As a result, they quickly accumulated massive amounts of information more advanced than their own. They became outstanding teachers, astronomers, weavers, builders, architects, farmers, and gold artisans. The magnificent buildings erected during Pachacutec’s 95 year reign were the high point of Inca construction. Less than a hundred years after his death, the Inca civilization collapsed due to an on-going civil war and the arrival of the Spanish conquerors. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHzE9idTcdGSp0fuNVHe26JlRDPgnAQ7HW_YLe4_VnhJFj2X-GmFEssUbCzzSyywGbA9tZzIJP3B4HNhKvQn-pOnPAzwvOP6cpDRxUavdKZ4TKsGeT1OYiZ5ELRGHXYKGJf6VAJ_pDhyphenhyphenem/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-29+at+8.50.16+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="492" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHzE9idTcdGSp0fuNVHe26JlRDPgnAQ7HW_YLe4_VnhJFj2X-GmFEssUbCzzSyywGbA9tZzIJP3B4HNhKvQn-pOnPAzwvOP6cpDRxUavdKZ4TKsGeT1OYiZ5ELRGHXYKGJf6VAJ_pDhyphenhyphenem/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-04-29+at+8.50.16+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f4f4f4; caret-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); color: #231f20; font-size: 13pt;">High on the plateau above Cusco lies the complex ruins of Saqsaywaman, one of the most famous Inca sites visitors see. The most amazing aspect of the ruins are the massive stones used to build the walls fitted so perfectly together that even a piece of paper won’t slip between them. The large stone in the photo weighs over three hundred tons and has eleven angles where adjacent stones have been smoothed to fit into the angles. Saqsaywaman was a complex of structures that served as protection for the main trail from the south to the Inca capital. Even today each solstice is marked with celebrations on the great plaza there. Our Qechua guide explained that it was also a place where knowledge such as astronomy could be taught.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigqtNst3l8HQHHxAE2bh_EtorLpHN11jjNgBqj36ZzLBBN6tvjNq8_V6lhFzT19spRP3ocpG1MtqyCCNCyAtk1AbtjO-qY16Mqz9ftw0NE2pMz5TOkKfYE0ZDSALvwUM_KnBuZ2Ib1VG8c/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-29+at+8.50.25+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="374" data-original-width="490" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigqtNst3l8HQHHxAE2bh_EtorLpHN11jjNgBqj36ZzLBBN6tvjNq8_V6lhFzT19spRP3ocpG1MtqyCCNCyAtk1AbtjO-qY16Mqz9ftw0NE2pMz5TOkKfYE0ZDSALvwUM_KnBuZ2Ib1VG8c/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-04-29+at+8.50.25+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f4f4f4; caret-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); color: #231f20; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Most people have heard of Machu Picchu, but without a written language at the time, its Inca name was lost. Machu Picchu is actually the name of the mountain that can bee seen above the ruins. If you look closely, there are buildings at the top of the mountain as well. According to our guide, it was one of Pachacutec’s unfinished projects set high above the jungles along the Urubamba River. When Hiram Bingham found it in 1911, the ruins were so overgrown that it could hardly be seen. Visitors now can wander along the agricultural terraces and the roofless buildings that housed the four hundred people who lived there. Sadly, the nobles and the Inca royal family for whom it was built never resided there; it was never completed due to the civil war after Pachacutec’s death. Machu Picchu’s most important function appears to have been as an astronomy complex for observing the motions of the sun, moon, and stars. Sitting more than a thousand feet above the valley floor, visitors arrive by minibus, which climb the hair-raising switchbacks and single-lane track to the visitor center. This astonishing view awaits visitors from all over the world each year.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f4f4f4; caret-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); color: #231f20; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">For and amazing video on Peru go to:</span></div>
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<span style="caret-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); color: #231f20; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk9J5xnTVMA </span></div>
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Dian Thomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15946871452005968067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1934993159599373389.post-67520661474341146962019-04-28T11:09:00.004-07:002019-04-28T11:22:50.767-07:00Exploring South Africa 2014<div style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">It was eighteen years ago that I first ventured to Africa. I went on several safaris and fell in love with seeing the wild animals in their own environment. When you’re in Africa, it is the people who are in the cages of their vehicles, and the animals are running wild. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">As I write this it is March 11, and I am on my way home from another incredible trip to Africa.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">A great place to start is in Cape Town, one of the three capital cities of South Africa. (For you trivia buffs, the capitals are Cape Town, Bloemfontein, and Pretoria.) </span></div>
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<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">Cape Town is near the tip of Africa. A quick trip to the top of Table Mountain will </span><br />
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">give</span><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"> you a </span><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;">wonderful lookout over the city. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUBsXGRivAVJCY_WQCvIZxxcH80LCYqVnxtQMzvqxTPd5-ATJ_te6nis17hi960rR94MBxbzcd4I3Wwoj1wgr-Ha0VQv5jHqEgLavxXVrki7igF2NkN00WDBGadWpQmp573yNeDkRfVPev/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.59.02+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="311" data-original-width="491" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUBsXGRivAVJCY_WQCvIZxxcH80LCYqVnxtQMzvqxTPd5-ATJ_te6nis17hi960rR94MBxbzcd4I3Wwoj1wgr-Ha0VQv5jHqEgLavxXVrki7igF2NkN00WDBGadWpQmp573yNeDkRfVPev/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.59.02+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div style="caret-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); color: #231f20; font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 17.33333396911621px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><b><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px;"><span class="wf_caption" style="font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="clear: both; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 26px; width: 500px;">The view from Table Mountain a flat mountain that overlooks Cape</span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><b><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px;"><span class="wf_caption" style="font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="clear: both; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 26px; width: 500px;"> Town. </span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><b><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px;"><span class="wf_caption" style="font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="clear: both; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 26px; width: 500px;">In the far </span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><b><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px;"><span class="wf_caption" style="font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="clear: both; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 26px; width: 500px;">distance </span></span></span></b></span><b style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px;"><span class="wf_caption" style="font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="clear: both; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 26px; width: 500px;">Robben Island is visible.</span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">Just a few miles from Cape Town is Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent</span><br />
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"> 27 years </span><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;">in prison before being released in the early 1990s. In 1994, he became </span><br />
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;">the President of </span><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;">South Africa. Under his great leadership he led this struggling </span><br />
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;">country to a democratic </span><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;">government. With the death of Mandela this year, the</span><br />
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;"> world lost a great leader. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-WwwEj0Lg31PwliPnE8x8kra99LcWozBG7q75u5BZbRhfeGnhh_N2dZBztvb4maYmcY8mOgX2WFsDX0skc3FipFW2Lp0_EkT7DrBV89FRuRrH15QgbcVcbYpQ-9JdX2E7w9ha8ayT3R1L/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.59.24+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="488" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-WwwEj0Lg31PwliPnE8x8kra99LcWozBG7q75u5BZbRhfeGnhh_N2dZBztvb4maYmcY8mOgX2WFsDX0skc3FipFW2Lp0_EkT7DrBV89FRuRrH15QgbcVcbYpQ-9JdX2E7w9ha8ayT3R1L/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.59.24+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><b><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px;"><span class="wf_caption" style="font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="clear: both; font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; width: 500px;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 26px;">Boulders Beach in Cape Town affords plenty of opportunities to interact with and </span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><b><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px;"><span class="wf_caption" style="font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="clear: both; font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; width: 500px;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 26px;">photograph </span></span></span></span></b></span><b style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px;"><span class="wf_caption" style="font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="clear: both; font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; width: 500px;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 26px;">penguins in the wild.</span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">After spending a day visiting the highlights of Cape Town we flew to Johannesburg, </span><br />
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">which is the largest city in South Africa. Johannesburg claims to be the lightning s</span><br />
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">capital of the world, but we only saw blue skies while we were there.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><b><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px;"> </span></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFGpfJTEDOSZYgzj3iUCaL5_tx2muKPZubeLSf8vYrQdTZK2e2GMWUaEsodACm5V2VGPwkrGGUX7KLqT9L6fb5EZi7FFEi0wGTZrmXwDfYrJuKP38jDI5aIEW4JhnFao6UFH7yhhkF7jB9/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.59.33+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="490" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFGpfJTEDOSZYgzj3iUCaL5_tx2muKPZubeLSf8vYrQdTZK2e2GMWUaEsodACm5V2VGPwkrGGUX7KLqT9L6fb5EZi7FFEi0wGTZrmXwDfYrJuKP38jDI5aIEW4JhnFao6UFH7yhhkF7jB9/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.59.33+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><b><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px;"><span class="wf_caption" style="font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="clear: both; font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; width: 500px;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 26px;">Southern ground hornbill</span></span></span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">It was then a day’s journey to Kruger Park to go on three days of safaris. On our way</span><br />
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"> we visited a beautiful waterfall and enjoyed some of the beautiful flowers that</span><br />
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"> bloom </span><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">in </span><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;">the wild. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx4-QjKUiCAm97TTfBM0dgw_b1Y7cEDzT0IY5eRcGyNDSYM1cpJGQMqTPcZVMNnE-ZaQNUrc9j8Hz9BScqfhRjIkE3CcLUAqAlZ6ep87AUkYm0yaL42eKRjO-d9z-8Fic-bAMRQXm5w3Ys/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.59.42+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="493" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx4-QjKUiCAm97TTfBM0dgw_b1Y7cEDzT0IY5eRcGyNDSYM1cpJGQMqTPcZVMNnE-ZaQNUrc9j8Hz9BScqfhRjIkE3CcLUAqAlZ6ep87AUkYm0yaL42eKRjO-d9z-8Fic-bAMRQXm5w3Ys/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.59.42+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b style="caret-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); color: #231f20; font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 17.33333396911621px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px;"><span class="wf_caption" style="font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="clear: both; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 26px; width: 500px;">Lisbon Falls, the highest waterfall in Mpumalanga, South Africa.</span></span></span></b></div>
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<b style="caret-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); color: #231f20; font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 17.33333396911621px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px;"><span class="wf_caption" style="font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="clear: both; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 26px; width: 500px;"><br /></span></span></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQ44C22Be3F8opE-EG4aejF_xFLfQBru5MJcvKqWBprDV_dJJc3X09M_Wz9lay5hp8raHGw_iayIJlWA5iTHiRih1HzY2a23MEz32cmEuOabBQenlj9URt7QaCGj8D8_ZKRyIe9LWkdbx/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.59.51+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="486" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQ44C22Be3F8opE-EG4aejF_xFLfQBru5MJcvKqWBprDV_dJJc3X09M_Wz9lay5hp8raHGw_iayIJlWA5iTHiRih1HzY2a23MEz32cmEuOabBQenlj9URt7QaCGj8D8_ZKRyIe9LWkdbx/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.59.51+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div style="caret-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); color: #231f20; font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 17.33333396911621px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><b><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px;"><span class="wf_caption" style="font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;"><span style="clear: both; font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; width: 500px;">These lilies grow wild in Africa.</span></span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">One of the sights we saw on safari was a lioness that had been severely wounded in </span><br />
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">an </span><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;">encounter with a warthog. A warthog’s tusks can maim or even kill a predator</span><br />
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;"> that we </span><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;">would consider much more dangerous. These wounds may yet prove fatal</span><br />
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;"> to this lioness.</span><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;"> Worse, she has three cubs who are not yet self-sufficient and who </span><br />
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;">will die if she does. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6eNsPMa_yFr7OHc9-fhlGToK8h7DHe72xYJ3kAIH8TfSqN43Fv41r4PS6dTCN9FHQJy8LkNQNyCIN7Q5XZgHLrhd5eQVZbuXOf6B1FYbUHAYlSAs8jCrTZEbSTWYm9gANTgSjNhlPsmwf/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.59.59+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="486" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6eNsPMa_yFr7OHc9-fhlGToK8h7DHe72xYJ3kAIH8TfSqN43Fv41r4PS6dTCN9FHQJy8LkNQNyCIN7Q5XZgHLrhd5eQVZbuXOf6B1FYbUHAYlSAs8jCrTZEbSTWYm9gANTgSjNhlPsmwf/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.59.59+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b style="caret-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); color: #231f20; font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 17.33333396911621px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px;"><span class="wf_caption" style="font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; margin: 10px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="clear: both; font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; width: 500px;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 26px;"> Here I am, taking a picture of a lioness.</span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b style="caret-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); color: #231f20; font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;"><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px;"><span class="wf_caption" style="font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="clear: both; font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; width: 500px;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 26px;">A severely wounded lioness.</span></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b style="caret-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); color: #231f20; font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;"><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px;"><span class="wf_caption" style="font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; margin: 10px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="clear: both; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 26px; width: 500px;">Two of three lion cubs who are in jeopardy if their mother dies of </span></span></span></b></div>
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<b style="caret-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); color: #231f20; font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;"><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px;"><span class="wf_caption" style="font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; margin: 10px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="clear: both; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 26px; width: 500px;">warthog tusk wounds.</span></span></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcJHH_EzoH7uGixKeofMeYwU9sN4Bf6NL8ZcgYcRN540HUhQN8kXcEhHJ5q2aqo5U94wCjibcJvMIZXwJhwKk8zrlWX-OjAwRdkI1fo0WGA-ZXoGExatG09dDlPM8fDw-hjLUNBbWNemH2/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+12.00.29+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="487" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcJHH_EzoH7uGixKeofMeYwU9sN4Bf6NL8ZcgYcRN540HUhQN8kXcEhHJ5q2aqo5U94wCjibcJvMIZXwJhwKk8zrlWX-OjAwRdkI1fo0WGA-ZXoGExatG09dDlPM8fDw-hjLUNBbWNemH2/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+12.00.29+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><b><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px;"><span class="wf_caption" style="font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; margin: 10px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="clear: both; font-size: 13pt !important; line-height: 26px; width: 500px;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 26px;">This beauty afforded us plenty of opportunity for photographs.</span></span></span></span></b><b><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 26px;"></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">Our encounter with a large elephant was an interesting one. The elephant got on the</span><br />
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"> road </span><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;">and would not leave the road and would not let us pass. We finally backed</span><br />
<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;"> up for more </span><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;">than an hour. It was an adventure I will never forget. </span></div>
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<strong style="caret-color: rgb(30, 30, 30); color: #1e1e1e; font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">This peaceful giraffe was so unafraid of us that he seemed to </strong></div>
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<strong style="caret-color: rgb(30, 30, 30); color: #1e1e1e; font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">pose for</strong><strong style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">our cameras as he peeked at us over the tops of the trees.</strong></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd1MaHl_fcQYxVumXn-dyjv_ZyeKJqb6hSu79mGqhS4wQgePikrohZXV9Z0qK0nf8d43xpOQ-GWeBYF_ksLw7cUPCJBnzFQMnG0XxA2XFHf6pAgMJzjjC_IUhLtMB-EyJVbz2xCJOGYNUx/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+12.00.45+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="487" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd1MaHl_fcQYxVumXn-dyjv_ZyeKJqb6hSu79mGqhS4wQgePikrohZXV9Z0qK0nf8d43xpOQ-GWeBYF_ksLw7cUPCJBnzFQMnG0XxA2XFHf6pAgMJzjjC_IUhLtMB-EyJVbz2xCJOGYNUx/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+12.00.45+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<strong style="caret-color: rgb(30, 30, 30); color: #1e1e1e; font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;"><span style="clear: both; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 26px; width: 500px;">The sun sets on one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I can’t wait to go again</span></strong></div>
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Dian Thomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15946871452005968067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1934993159599373389.post-81502794217085695092019-04-28T10:15:00.000-07:002019-04-28T10:19:15.106-07:00 Into the Mystical Highlands of Peru Oct, 2015<div style="caret-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); color: #231f20; font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 17.33333396911621px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">For many years, I have been amazed to travel and learn more about the cultures of the world. Peru is one of the most fascinating places that I have ever traveled. It is a mix of the original people that lived here and the European people who came after Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca nation in 1532. As one of my friends here said, “we are mostly a mixed race now, but my heart will always be Inca.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">The Inca people now still live in the high Andes where the original capital of the Inca civilization was in the 1450 to the 1532. Cusco was the capital of the Inca civilization and it is where you must go if you are going to visit these beautiful people.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">Cusco is a city of about 500,000 people and is 11,000 feet above sea level. It still has many of the narrow original streets and some of the original roads that were built by the Inca people. I would like to share with you some photos that were taken by one of my fellow travelers, Beth Garn this week on my trip to see and visit Machu Picchu a sacred city in the high Andes.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNDeapqW02MYgsMDwxcWlKBa1yKKCV-UzJZ_uEX__R5VkLa5ujlAqwca_GizZPT8x_LAQ_5FFttaCA4PBkLIx-T5UM6mdcSUNsZMMSX54GMll5nU4_DNYYu0SkK_gHNYRqffMJo04rFHzM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.03.56+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="479" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNDeapqW02MYgsMDwxcWlKBa1yKKCV-UzJZ_uEX__R5VkLa5ujlAqwca_GizZPT8x_LAQ_5FFttaCA4PBkLIx-T5UM6mdcSUNsZMMSX54GMll5nU4_DNYYu0SkK_gHNYRqffMJo04rFHzM/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.03.56+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #f4f4f4; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Here is a photo of Cusco. It is very much like Salt Lake City in that it is in a valley surrounded by high mountains.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisgvRftKboEA9CcoNvpkYgzwJWMexhGmvBo_yOd4EbfHOqpJC6xE_m2vhfSX5BlNbb8ps1wl61jg7hO0uMOg7_YfMTr34oWOItfw0JVOy29EPOzANr60q4CkqBlg04b_XFF1fozQytxAj1/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.04.06+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="282" data-original-width="488" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisgvRftKboEA9CcoNvpkYgzwJWMexhGmvBo_yOd4EbfHOqpJC6xE_m2vhfSX5BlNbb8ps1wl61jg7hO0uMOg7_YfMTr34oWOItfw0JVOy29EPOzANr60q4CkqBlg04b_XFF1fozQytxAj1/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.04.06+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #f4f4f4; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">The Inca people are not very tall. In this photo they are dressed in their native costumes wearing hats that are really a part of everyday life for the Inca people.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoQuK4Mcv3kp838JUDsdYFoUFT4FLiJKR_I8E0aAmSaFmaT9l_wtFN1z7uXyC5EWMhyKa0ChfuQ-WeVTF-pjfTaRzWlaZ861GpuD66lLwWXhULZyl8UJe6m24ORipcFMOCjMvU-I5juoYO/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.03.44+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="735" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoQuK4Mcv3kp838JUDsdYFoUFT4FLiJKR_I8E0aAmSaFmaT9l_wtFN1z7uXyC5EWMhyKa0ChfuQ-WeVTF-pjfTaRzWlaZ861GpuD66lLwWXhULZyl8UJe6m24ORipcFMOCjMvU-I5juoYO/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.03.44+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #f4f4f4; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">The Inca ladies are the ones that care for the flocks. We saw this little lady who was out one morning with her sheep.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw7hS_qZLRKUpMUYBCNebmjypb7rkdTV0q35fJ6HUqKEWOucrG03G_whHaJ-fh1IkneRynbH-HZnqjs0d-Y4_eDIQb_jPIiXfVBP6XB5q1-BWP1OA9DFsWRodCmnPewyGPoz34KT9BffzU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.04.21+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="310" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw7hS_qZLRKUpMUYBCNebmjypb7rkdTV0q35fJ6HUqKEWOucrG03G_whHaJ-fh1IkneRynbH-HZnqjs0d-Y4_eDIQb_jPIiXfVBP6XB5q1-BWP1OA9DFsWRodCmnPewyGPoz34KT9BffzU/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.04.21+AM.png" width="305" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f4f4f4;">Just like the American Indians, the Inca ladies boil plants to make the dyes they use to color the llama, alpaca, and sheep wool they use to weave the beautiful clothing they wear. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoJAlsryUiqZE5oHfVt6mC8N3oaInF59assZShNHblblV3TyxmcIxy6NxWlLC895HfETItint2yJUmWoyW1nTQb-gjbWbDmobqrus3KpuXdRPpcAsSYjuhQc5ob3JnZxWdW7vTFfm6e-T_/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.04.41+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="335" data-original-width="466" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoJAlsryUiqZE5oHfVt6mC8N3oaInF59assZShNHblblV3TyxmcIxy6NxWlLC895HfETItint2yJUmWoyW1nTQb-gjbWbDmobqrus3KpuXdRPpcAsSYjuhQc5ob3JnZxWdW7vTFfm6e-T_/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.04.41+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f4f4f4;">We visited the salt mine, where very salty water comes out of the mountain and then is put into pools to evaporate and then the salt is extracted and exported. A different family owns each pool and they come and process the salt from the pond.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjYXO3360d84cjwc4CJ7UgHBvPEegTRcZ7bcKwKrs4PNqAL9Q1hyphenhyphen0wGJPl94qYmFWQaWmyKjoQcykRdsRV9qi_l1qhhnBHZvqo0ftpkiZxCRGHu5O8BSY8Lu16hdGJFxDJmOaiP2ixyxYy/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.04.59+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="498" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjYXO3360d84cjwc4CJ7UgHBvPEegTRcZ7bcKwKrs4PNqAL9Q1hyphenhyphen0wGJPl94qYmFWQaWmyKjoQcykRdsRV9qi_l1qhhnBHZvqo0ftpkiZxCRGHu5O8BSY8Lu16hdGJFxDJmOaiP2ixyxYy/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-04-28+at+11.04.59+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f4f4f4;">The main attraction that people come from all over the world to see is Machu Picchu, the city that the Inca’s built in the Andes. It was never found or touched by the conquering Spaniards. It is believed that this was a sanctuary built in 1450 for the Inca Emperor Pachacuti who was their great leader. Centuries later, it is still loved and admired by the Inca descendants and the 3 million visitors who come here every year. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f4f4f4;">If you would like to see an incredible video of our trip go to:</span></div>
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk9J5xnTVMA </div>
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Dian Thomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15946871452005968067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1934993159599373389.post-35045621271926164442019-04-27T17:07:00.000-07:002019-04-27T17:07:01.713-07:00Behind the Scenes in Television Nov. 19, 2014<div style="caret-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); color: #231f20; font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 17.33333396911621px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">I was blessed to have the opportunity to work on TV in the golden age of Television when there were three main stations, NBC, ABC, and CBS. I wrote a book called <em>Roughing it Easy</em> that was released in 1974. It was March 28 when I went to pick up the first book and held it in my hands and said, “ I wonder if this will change my life.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><em>Roughing it Easy</em> took me to places I never dreamed that I could go and the opportunities just kept coming. I have had a career of 30 plus years where I could share the love I have of nature, camping in the outdoors, and family fun ideas with millions and I have loved every minute of it.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2qmjWAia878fc9Z8KlDPCHUlyTzGGm7QLwoAHb1j9N8oqe_hBqDmjFjh5BEyab6zdS6eCtVcAyniMunjPFyBmjrf0xCW5XXIIkiVV6pNaoXLkFw2VfgyHFoLrr52EuhGOBePvYcPjqDmL/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-27+at+6.03.53+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="357" data-original-width="293" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2qmjWAia878fc9Z8KlDPCHUlyTzGGm7QLwoAHb1j9N8oqe_hBqDmjFjh5BEyab6zdS6eCtVcAyniMunjPFyBmjrf0xCW5XXIIkiVV6pNaoXLkFw2VfgyHFoLrr52EuhGOBePvYcPjqDmL/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-04-27+at+6.03.53+PM.png" width="327" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">This weekend I was invited to go to Hollywood to celebrate the 80<sup>th</sup> birthday of Woody Fraser the executive producer who changed my life. I first met Woody when I was invited to appear on the <em>Mike Douglas Show</em>, which was produced in Philadelphia.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">After years of working on the <em>Mike Douglas Show,</em> Woody went on to be the first Executive Producer of Good Morning America. He invited me to do the show many times. I remember how excited I was to ride in a limousine with David Hartman, the host of the show. The whole time we were in the car he asked me questions about Utah and the Mormon Church.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-PP4CUuTvjHsaSar6TtJA8IXL5zwK7iWarjf5cPMMqpve5uYSftHjmDsoyFMW606vZzDheSOaeg5LWDuKm9di02I65tCfPtWAeqvjJ6911SlfUbDVjw3ydc0Rwk2QFkwKICdtCoKEsS8_/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-27+at+6.04.16+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="322" data-original-width="330" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-PP4CUuTvjHsaSar6TtJA8IXL5zwK7iWarjf5cPMMqpve5uYSftHjmDsoyFMW606vZzDheSOaeg5LWDuKm9di02I65tCfPtWAeqvjJ6911SlfUbDVjw3ydc0Rwk2QFkwKICdtCoKEsS8_/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-04-27+at+6.04.16+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 26px;"><strong>Many of the segments that I did showed how to cook outdoors and create fun activities for parents to do with their families such as turning your wagon into a backyard barbecue.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">Later Woody went on to create a daytime show for ABC called the <em>Home Show</em>. It became the flagship show for all the home and family shows that followed. I became a regular family member of that show and appeared weekly doing every creative idea that I could imagine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">One day while Woody was riding in his limousine he was reading the <em>Los Angeles Times</em>. There was an article which featured the Word of Wisdom and how it helps Mormons to live a longer life. I got a call from Woody’s assistant asking me if I would find a Mormon who was over 100 years old and be at the ABC Studio the next morning where they would do an interview on the Home show talking about the Word of Wisdom and share with the audience someone that was over 100 years old and had been blessed by their healthy life style.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">I called the Church PR department and they found Franklin Richards who was over 100 and still went swimming everyday. The next day we were on ABC’s network sharing the Word of Wisdom with millions.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1vlfUYOkeTZrpdfXNGdai5HXouAni4ZGzcTEN2iSqulRXkh7SFiI1SVhlVFZU1YRtxbFiuIatEeJ1t6oVNEm0uzsXFqHyDh7fM1hyB82darC61xWoXEtbBWC6929qHBDxRcUH5UJEhYSw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-27+at+6.04.25+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="417" data-original-width="463" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1vlfUYOkeTZrpdfXNGdai5HXouAni4ZGzcTEN2iSqulRXkh7SFiI1SVhlVFZU1YRtxbFiuIatEeJ1t6oVNEm0uzsXFqHyDh7fM1hyB82darC61xWoXEtbBWC6929qHBDxRcUH5UJEhYSw/s320/Screen+Shot+2019-04-27+at+6.04.25+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">This last Saturday night 200 of us gathered to celebrate a man who changed our lives and influenced millions with his creative ideas and unusual imagination. I often think of that special day I stood at BYU as my book came off the press and think how grateful I am for a man who gave me the opportunity to share my ideas with the world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;">To me Woody was the father of my career. What amazing opportunities have come into my life from the door Woody opened so wide for me. Woody at 80 still produces <em>Home and Family,</em> a show on the Hallmark channel on the west coast as well the <em>Huckabee Show</em>, on the east coast which is on Fox News. Happy Birthday Woody!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 26px;"><strong><em>Go to Dian’s website <a href="https://www.dianthomas.com/" style="color: #b62025; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">https://www.DianThomas.com</a> where you will find her creative ideas. You will have so much fun and build memories that will last forever doing these imaginative ideas with you children and grandchildren.</em></strong></span></div>
Dian Thomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15946871452005968067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1934993159599373389.post-65862349633671434182019-04-25T13:29:00.004-07:002019-04-27T16:57:26.374-07:00New Zealand - An Amazing Journey Feb/Mar 2019<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Epilogue <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/18/new-zealand-epilogue/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/18/new-zealand-epilogue/</a></div>
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Queenstown: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/02/21/queenstown/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/02/21/queenstown/</a></div>
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Arrowtown and Lake Wanaka: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/02/22/arrowtown-and-lake-wanaka/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/02/22/arrowtown-and-lake-wanaka/</a></div>
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Te Anau and Milford Sound: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/02/23/te-anau-and-milford-sound/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/02/23/te-anau-and-milford-sound/</a></div>
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Fiordland – Doubtful Sound: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/02/24/fiordland-doubtful-sound/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/02/24/fiordland-doubtful-sound/</a><br />
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Invercargill: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/02/24/invercargill/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/02/24/invercargill/</a></div>
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Denedin & the Otago Peninsula: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/02/27/dunedin-the-otago-peninsula/">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/02/27/dunedin-the-otago-peninsula/</a><br />
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Denedin to Christchurch: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/02/28/dunedin-to-christchurch/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/02/28/dunedin-to-christchurch/</a> </div>
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Christchurch: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/01/christchurch/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/01/christchurch/</a></div>
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The Sourthern Alps: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/01/the-southern-alps/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/01/the-southern-alps/</a></div>
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On to Nelson: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/03/on-to-nelson/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/03/on-to-nelson/</a></div>
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Abel Tasman National Park: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/04/abel-tasman-national-park/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/04/abel-tasman-national-park/</a></div>
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Shifting Islands: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/05/shifting-islands/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/05/shifting-islands/</a></div>
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Wellington: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/05/wellington/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/05/wellington/</a></div>
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Lifestyle Living: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/07/lifestyle-living/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/07/lifestyle-living/</a></div>
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Napier: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/07/napier/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/07/napier/</a></div>
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Crossing the Northern Mountains: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/09/crossing-the-northern-mountains/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/09/crossing-the-northern-mountains/</a></div>
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Rotorua: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/10/rotorua/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/10/rotorua/</a></div>
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Rotorua Day 2: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/11/rotorua-day-2/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/11/rotorua-day-2/</a></div>
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Waitomo: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/12/waitomo/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/12/waitomo/</a></div>
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Hobbiton: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/13/hobbiton/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/13/hobbiton/</a></div>
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Thames: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/13/thames/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/13/thames/</a></div>
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Coromandel Peninsula: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/15/coromandel-peninsula/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/15/coromandel-peninsula/</a></div>
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Whitianga: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/16/whitianga/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/16/whitianga/</a></div>
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On to Auckland: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/17/on-to-auckland/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/17/on-to-auckland/</a></div>
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Auckland – the final day: <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/17/auckland-the-final-day/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/17/auckland-the-final-day/</a></div>
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Epilogue <a href="https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/18/new-zealand-epilogue/" style="color: purple;">https://redpathatease.blog/2019/03/18/new-zealand-epilogue/</a></div>
Dian Thomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15946871452005968067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1934993159599373389.post-54648318340776373422019-04-25T11:27:00.001-07:002019-04-25T11:42:53.606-07:00Biking the Netherland July 15, 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXd9SGaYyMXqaUF7gyvczKS3Ps6xFqhImAOo9rstYSuDXpVXGkJlk-fhH_u_HHI2RtygwaYK7Esb91P8CwNBO6kAO1ApsAyBHi3P6urKHLuC0W5dCESamAzhHG6hVvLNMn4YDlzAfdBWLu/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-25+at+12.14.39+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="731" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXd9SGaYyMXqaUF7gyvczKS3Ps6xFqhImAOo9rstYSuDXpVXGkJlk-fhH_u_HHI2RtygwaYK7Esb91P8CwNBO6kAO1ApsAyBHi3P6urKHLuC0W5dCESamAzhHG6hVvLNMn4YDlzAfdBWLu/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-04-25+at+12.14.39+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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I just returned from a seven-day bike ride through the Netherlands. My desire to visit there came 10 years ago when I met with Daryl and Hank Hoole. Hank and Daryl both have Dutch ancestry, and they shared with me their love of the Netherlands.</div>
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When Hank was just 17 he left Amsterdam and came to the USA in search of a new life. He married Daryl and they were soon on their way to creating an incredible life in Utah. The two of them were able to return to their native land when Hank served as a mission president, so they were able to spend three years of their adulthood there and remembered it well.</div>
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They shared with me their amazing experience of trips through the tulip fields in the spring. I learned that this small country is one of the flower capitals of the world. I fantasized about going to see the tulips and the windmills, but life intervened as it often does.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">I forgot about my dream of going to see the tulips until I traveled through the Amsterdam Airport a year ago on the way to Africa and saw all of the tulips for sale.</span></div>
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Those tulips jogged my memory. I remembered my dream and decided to<br />
create<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> a </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">trip </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">to see the tulip fields. Hank and Daryl had told me that most </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">of the people </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">who </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">live in </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">the Netherlands travel around on bicycles, and </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">I thought that would </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">be a </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">marvelous way to see the country. I put together</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> a bicycle trip, and that was</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> exactly </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">what we did.</span></div>
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Nine of us hardy souls gathered on May 1 to take the first direct flight from<br />
Salt Lake <span style="font-size: 13pt;">City to Amsterdam. With my eight special friends on our bikes we</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> descended into the </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">magic world of tulips, cheese, windmills and wooden shoes.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">The following photos were taken for our tulip adventure in the Netherlands in</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> May. </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Those tulips jogged my memory. I remembered my dream and decided</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> to create a trip </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">to see the tulip fields. Hank and Daryl had told me that most</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> of the people who live in </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">the Netherlands travel around on bicycles, and I</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> thought that would be a marvelous </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">way to see the country. I put together a </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">bicycle trip, and that was exactly what we did.</span></div>
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Nine of us hardy souls gathered on May 1 to take the first direct flight from<br />
Salt Lake <span style="font-size: 13pt;">City to Amsterdam. With my eight special friends on our bikes we</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> descended into the </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">magic world of tulips, cheese, windmills and wooden shoes.</span></div>
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The following photos were taken for our tulip adventure in the Netherlands<br />
in May.</div>
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<span style="background-color: #f4f4f4; color: #231f20; font-family: "georgia" , "palatino"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px; text-align: center;"> The colors in the tulips were so varied and beautiful.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f4f4f4; color: #231f20; font-family: "georgia" , "palatino"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px; text-align: center;">Keukenhof is the name to the place I call the Disneyland of Tulips. It is a park as big as Central Park with garden after garden of tulips.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f4f4f4; color: #231f20; font-family: "georgia" , "palatino"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Each spring the farmers raise tulips for the bulbs that will be sold all over the world.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f4f4f4; color: #231f20; font-family: "georgia" , "palatino"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">The Netherlands are known for the windmills that pump the water out of the lowlands and into the rivers to free up more land. Windmills are also used to grind wheat.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f4f4f4; color: #231f20; font-family: "georgia" , "palatino"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">The Dutch are known for their delicious cheese.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f4f4f4; color: #231f20; font-family: "georgia" , "palatino"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">These wooden shoes were worn by a plumber. His wife said he wears them everywhere.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f4f4f4; color: #231f20; font-family: "georgia" , "palatino"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">One amazing thing about the Dutch is that almost everyone speaks English. This sweet man came up and wanted to talk to us. He said that he was only five when the Germans occupied the Netherlands. He told us that he was so hungry they would go to the German soldiers and beg for bread to eat.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f4f4f4; color: #231f20; font-family: "georgia" , "palatino"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">There are canals in almost every village we went to. In the evening the reflection from the water is magical.</span><span style="background-color: #f4f4f4; color: #231f20; font-family: "georgia" , "palatino"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px;"><br /></span></div>
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We rode 200 miles in seven days. When you travel near the ground you see much more of a country and its people. I enjoyed learning and experiencing more about this amazing people and country. I am home and wanting to go back.</div>
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<strong>Dian Thomas is an author of many idea books including <em>Roughing It Easy</em>, which was a <em>New York Times</em> bestseller. Go to <a href="https://www.dianthomas.com/" style="color: #b62025; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">www.DianThomas.com</a> to learn more about Dian’s books.</strong></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f4f4f4; color: #231f20; font-family: "georgia" , "palatino"; font-size: 17.33333396911621px; text-align: center;"><br /></span>Dian Thomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15946871452005968067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1934993159599373389.post-32910166959297390762019-04-24T22:46:00.000-07:002019-04-25T11:53:28.898-07:00Fun at Hyland Hotel in Monticello, Utah 1950's<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 15px;">Kathleen Summers, born just two and a half months before me, was my very best friend when I was growing up. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 15px;">She lived at the Hyland Hotel, a small hotel in Monticello that had nine rooms to rent. The foundation and first floor of the two-story craftsman-style house were of local </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandstone" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px;">sandstone</a><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 15px;"> from South Creek near the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abajo_Mountains" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px;">Abajo Mountains</a><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 15px;">. This warm welcoming home and hotel was also a community gathering place. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 15px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Kathleen and her family lived on the main level, and guests at the hotel rented rooms that were on the top floor. In a way it was like the modern Bed & Breakfast, except that breakfast did not come with the room. She lived just two blocks from school an it was an easy walk. Then I would wait for Dad to pick me up as my mother did not learn to drive until much later. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Kathleen’s father was the bishop of my LDS congregation as well as a cattleman who ran herds in Utah and Colorado. He was a short man who was a little bow-legged because he had ridden horses so long. Kathleen’s mother, Beth, was the sweetest woman in the world. Whenever I was at her house she made me feel like I was at my own home. She often would bake us a treat. I just loved going to Kathleen’s because it <i>was</i> my second home. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The old sandstone hotel was built in 1918. It had a three-inch ridge circling it where we kids could hang on and slow-edge our way around it. If you could manage it without falling, you got a great big victory shout from the kids––plus your pride shot up by 100 percent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">There was no hospital at the time in Monticello, so a visiting doctor would come to the hotel to see patients in the front office. I am told that there were tonsillectomies performed in the hotel, but I have no first-hand knowledge of that. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">As you face the house, the right side of the house was the office where guests would check in. The office had beautiful dark beams that went across the ceiling as well as recessed windows with padded seats. Often after school we would remove the pads and play school. When the pads were gone it made it easy for us to use the wooden seats to write and create our school work that was assigned by out friend who was the teacher. We took turns being the teacher and pupil. We always had such fun but would clear out when guests came in to register. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">As we grew older Kathleen and I became the maids. We would have to clean the guest rooms upstairs before we could play. I learned how to make a proper bed and to fold the corners of the sheet to create a “hospital corner.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">We would pile up the dirty sheets by the laundry chute. After the beds were changed, we would run into the hall, open the chute and stuff the dirty sheets down it. Once they were all stuffed down, we would then jump down the chute push open the door, and jump out of the closet into the bedroom. We then puffed the sheets back up to create a soft landing, closed the closet and ran back up stairs to do it again. We never got tired of jumping down the chute. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I was about 10 when I was in Kathleen’s living room one day and she proceeded to tell me there was not a Santa Clause. It was something I did not want to hear or to believe. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I remember one time watching Kathleen’s family make homemade root beer. They sealed it up and put it under Kathleen’s parents bed. I was told that in the middle of the night that some of the bottles began to explode, waking up everyone in the house and spraying the underside of the bed with homemade root beer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Every Sunday after the kids in town had gone homeroom church and had eaten lunch we’d gather on the hotel lawn. There must have been 15 to 20 of us every week there to play red rover red rover, kick the can, and hide-and-seek hour after hour. About an hour before the evening meeting, we all rushed home, changed out of our play clothes, and we would go back to church. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I will never forget the fun that I had at the Hyland Hotel. Kathleen and I have remained friends and call each other on our birthdays––and have continued to do so far nearly 60 years. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwLZNzD6hgjRYN4jYrQozhc4Ryq0GNt2SS1a9-j5XxntNCGvgQo53PS9kvmPqx27OLGZ0H5mhW47tElJaemd-oFbFSfeuCQwfehTVuS8usudwMWSuXOnqZ96cbn5WG_0GrMTzl2uVMgpkS/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-24+at+11.39.15+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="319" data-original-width="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwLZNzD6hgjRYN4jYrQozhc4Ryq0GNt2SS1a9-j5XxntNCGvgQo53PS9kvmPqx27OLGZ0H5mhW47tElJaemd-oFbFSfeuCQwfehTVuS8usudwMWSuXOnqZ96cbn5WG_0GrMTzl2uVMgpkS/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-04-24+at+11.39.15+PM.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beth Summer, mother, owner and manager</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Ken Summers, father and owner</span></div>
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Dian Thomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15946871452005968067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1934993159599373389.post-20524844016011485352019-04-24T22:16:00.001-07:002019-04-25T11:54:52.167-07:00Special Bulls Sale in Paradox, Colorado April 2019<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 10px;">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I never tire of traveling to the land where I was raised which is San Juan County in the south east part of Utah. The Redd family whose ancestors first came to this country through the Hole in the Rock in 1869 invited me to their annual bull sale. Charlie Redd who was the grandson of the original pioneer settled in LaSalle where he became one of the biggest cattle ranchers in the country. He started the bull sale in 1960 after buying bulls in Denver. After he purchased the bulls he would transport them by train to Crescent Junction and then drive them to LaSalle, which is about 70 miles. By the time they arrived in LaSalle they had lost a considerable amount of weight, which was not desirable as when you sale them it is by they weight. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Charlie’s granddaughter now runs the Bull sale. They raise around 100 yearlings and on the second weekend of April they advertise the bull sale to cattle ranchers through out the Intermountain area. This event, which is held in Paradox, Colorado, draws visitors from all over the area and it is now a cultural experience, which is interesting and amusing to all that attend. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12px;">The main event for all that are not attending to buy a bull is the big barbecue held just before the sale. It is free to everyone and enjoyed by all. I was especially interested in the techniques they use to prepare the meat. The food is still prepared by the Redd family who returns home to help prepare the food from all over Utah. Six of the eight children of Charlie Redd returned to prepare the meal along with many of Charlie’s grandchildren.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">They have built a 15 ft long barbecue just to cook the 18 twenty pound roasts that were purchased for the event. The roasts are prepared by rubbing them with a special dry seasoning. The long grill is lined with charcoal and then lit. Once the charcoals are burning well soaked chunks of hickory wood are added the burning hot charcoal to give the meat a delicious smoked flavor. The meat is put on to cook at 5 AM and the lunch is served at 11:30 on. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The menu consist of coleslaw, pork and beans, a special being called prairie fire prepared with cheese beans and a little sour cream, then a roll is cut in half and beautiful slices of beef or placed in the center topped with homemade barbecue sauce and the dessert consists of a nut brownie for all. Once the lunch is over the auction begins. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">This event is held in a large barn where bleachers are on three sides for the audience to sit and then in the front center stage is where they bring the bulls in for people to begin the bidding. In the ring with the bulls is a man with a red plastic square plate on the end of a stick. He waves it at the bulls to keep the ball moving in the little corral so all can view his qualities. All the people who are bidding on the bulls have a program listing the characteristic if each animal. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The sale now begins in the auctioneer begins his chant as he looks to the audience for bids. Most of the bowls were sold between $2000 and $6000. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Many families attend the sale with little Cowboys wearing their boots and cowboy hats. Outside this big shed is a 5’ x 5’ area blocked off filled with corn for the kids to play in. </span></div>
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Dian Thomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15946871452005968067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1934993159599373389.post-3644286132592281542016-09-21T10:52:00.002-07:002019-04-25T10:58:36.602-07:00Johnny Carson with Dian Thomas June, 1975<h2 style="color: #231f20; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
“Hereeeee’s Johnny!”</h2>
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I never dreamed that I would hear those words from back stage on the NBC Tonight Show, but on June 4, 1975, that opportunity came.</div>
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I was in Philadelphia where I had just finished taping The Mike Douglas Show, when I received final word that I was going to appear with Johnny Carson. I called home with the great news! My father answered. I said, “Dad, guess what I am going to do next.” He responded, “Tell me.” “I am going to be on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. There was dead silence on the other end and then I heard him say, “Who is Johnny Carson?” Even though my father did not know who he was, my mother did and was very excited for me.</div>
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I arrived at the studio in Burbank California at 3 P.M. for the 5:30 taping. The staff worked with me to make sure that every detail was covered. The backdrop was a huge canvas with an outdoor scene painted on it. They even had a fire pit with hot coals ready for me to cook on.</div>
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As I stood waiting back stage, I heard Ed McMahon announce, “Hereeee’s Johnny!” The show was off and running. I was the first guest on that night. Right off the top I showed Johnny how to start a fire with two batteries and a fine grade of steel wool. I gave him the batteries and he put them together like they go into a flashlight. Then he placed the fine grade steel wool on the bottom and brushed it across the top of the batteries. The steel wool burst into flames. This ignited the next 17 minutes with idea after idea.<br />
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Starting Fire with steel wool and batteries</div>
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Carson shows the pineapple upside-down cake cooked in a box.</div>
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Onion burn Carson eyes as he makes meatloaf in an onion </div>
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Dian lights a tuna can burner so Johnny can cook on the tin can stove.</div>
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Johnny lines the bottom of a paper sack with bacon and then put an egg on top.</div>
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This picture, signed by carson himself, shows Dian reacting sympathetically after Johnny burns his hand on the paper sack that has cooked eggs and bacon. </div>
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I showed him how to cook eggs and bacon in a paper sack, how to boil water in a paper cup, how to cook meatloaf in an onion, and how to bake a cake in an orange. I also baked a pineapple upside-down cake in a box with a see-though oven bag wrap window over the top.</div>
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As the segment came to an end, Johnny reached down for the paper bag and put his hand on the bottom. He began jumping around on the stage saying words I cannot repeat. He then laughed and said, “Look at this!” He showed the audience the eggs and bacon, now cooked on the bottom of the bag.</div>
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When the segment ended he turned to me and said, “Great Job! I will go back and plug your book.” With an opportunity like this, my book Roughing it Easy took off and climbed quickly to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list, where it stayed all summer, only to be beat out by The Joy of Sex. I have said the only way that I can be number 1 again is to write a book called Sex in the Woods.</div>
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These seventeen minutes changed my life forever.</div>
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Dian Thomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15946871452005968067noreply@blogger.com1