The Newport Blog: Kapalkas Visit

Ginger's parents Ron & Nancy came for another visit in July.

The Moon Gate at Chateau-sur-mer:

We drove to Lowell, Massachusetts, to Lowell National Historical Park to see the old mills of this industry center. A room full of mechanical looms is still active, and several run to show visitors. see the video. The noise of just a few looms was overpowering, so it was hard to image working here in 12-hour shifts in the sound and heat. 

Then we visited our friends John and Holly in Rye, New Hampshire. They took us to Fort McClary. During the Civil War, Lincoln's Vice President Hannibal Hamlin took some time off to serve here- as a private

We noticed that 25+ years of marriage leads people to dress alike without planning it.

 We also saw the Bush compound in Maine. Ginger played paparazzi. (That's George Bush Sr. in blue!)

We drove by the Wedding Cake House, a carpenter gothic style home. While we were admiring, the owner came out, invited us inside, and gave us a tour! (He is wearing blue and holding a dog in the distorted mirror image.)

Ron & Nancy drove from Montana to North Carolina, then Rhode Island, and back to Montana during July. 

Ron just retired as Pastor at Evangelical United Methodist Church in Billings, MT, and will be taking a church part time as an interim pastor in Cascade, MT, starting in August. 

The Newport Blog: Quechee VT

Camping at Quechee State Park, Vermont
For the Fourth of July, we wanted to go camping and chose a state park in Vermont (because it was one of the last six states Ginger needs to visit!) We forget our cameras. The images below are from a disposable camera, an interesting experience to force us to limit the photos and try to focus on people-shots.

Quechee State Park surrounds a gorge with a deep slow-moving river. All weekend, the swimming hole was crowded with people escaping the 90 degree heat. We also went on a hike, got completely lost, came out in a trailor court, and had to walk back along the highway.

Our dog Winnie came along this trip. She has a new collapsable kennel for the car and was well behaved on the 3-hour trip. At camp, we hooked a 30 foot leash to the picnic table to keep her close, which also worked for swimming. She also wasn't afraid of the fireworks show.

The Newport Blog: Billings MT + Powell WY

Ginger flew to Billings May 5th - 18th. Her sister Mandy graduated from Rocky Mountain College with a Bachelor of Geology. She'll start working for Sunburst Consulting this summer. Below, Mandy with family and with friend Danyon from Powell.

 

 Mandy bought a slightly-used Jeep Compass, ready to use the four-wheel drive on her mud-logging worksites. She and her boyfriend Nick flew to Denver, CO to pick it up and drive it home all in one day. Ginger made a Jeep graduation cake driving up a mountain with sugar crystal rocks and chocolate rocks.

 

Also cousin Zach and Aunt Bid flew from Dallas for graduation. We drove up in the Rocky Mountains to visit Natural Bridge and Camp on the Boulder.

Zach and Ginger had an adventure climbing down the mountain to see where the river comes out of the mountain. (For scale, Zach is the small figure wearing black in the photo on the left.)


 

Ginger, Nancy and Aunt Bid on the hiking trail

Our cabin at camp, after it started snowing!

Then Ginger drove to hometown Powell, WY. A 40's style photography shoot ensued with friend Kristian. 

 

She also reunited with friends Shannon (wearing scarf in left photo) and Dori (red hair). 

Kristian and Ginger also drove to the natural hot springs in Thermopolis, and spent the day swimming, climbing rocks, and playing at the kids park.

Danyon (Kristian's younger sister and Mandy's good friend) took a pottery class this spring and produced many beautiful pieces. You can see her other artwork at her etsy website. 

Also below, Ginger and Sunday school teacher Anna.

In other artwork, Mandy made this silver cross/heart necklace with garnets, and Nick created this box in another pottery class.

 

The other main event for May was cousin Mike's wedding. He and Paula had a lovely ceremony. Ron officiated and Nancy did the flowers. Nick's family did the catering.

We got to see lots of family again, including our cousin Kelsey. 

Also, Nick and Mandy got to slow dance. 

The Newport Blog: Anniversary in Boston

May 22 was our one-year anniversary. Stephen booked a cute bed-and-breakfast outside Boston.

 

Then we finally saw Boston. We walked around, following the Freedom Trail of historical buildings, including Paul Revere's House. 

 

Boston also had some fantastic modern architecture. The glass sculpture series is a holocaust memorial with a tower for each death camp, and names written on the glass. 

The Newport Blog: Montalvos Visit

Stephen's parents, Rene and Diana, came to visit us April 20-28.

Above, on the Cliff Walk in Newport. 

We spent two days in New York City. We were in the studio audience for this episode of The Daily Show. Sadly, we couldn't bring recording devices inside, but we did get to see Jon Stewart dance. 

We visited Times Square, negotiated the subway, walked all over Manhattan, and ate ice cream. 

Back in Newport, they visited our church, and we took a Mansion tour of Rosecliff. 

Next, we drove to Cape Cod and rented a house for a few days (we highly recommend homeaway.com- you can find similar prices to hotels.) So we enjoyed the extra space, plus the backyard and grill.

We drove to Otis Air Force Base. Diana was born at the base hospital, two days after Patrick Bouvier Kennedy was born there. (He was immediately flown to Boston and died the day Diana was born.) The hospital was torn down in the 70s, and so was the base housing her family lived on. We found the spot where her house probably stood. The base is now a Coast Guard training facility, with a population of 2,000, rather than the 30,000 it once had.

Our rental house was a 10 minute walk from the beach. We were the only people to visit the beach that day. (It was chilly.)

We also visited Hyannis, MA, the ferry point to Nantucket. (We decided not to ride the ferry, based on price, yikes.) We visited the tourist sites, and noticed that every single person walking by was eating ice cream, despite the chill. The local Ben & Jerry's was giving free scoops! 

Thanks for visiting! We love having family and friends. Please come visit us, everyone!