June 6th: St. Louis - Kaitlyn's graduation and a fun cruise to Long Beach

 

Kaitlyn, Christi, Daisey, John, JP & Will

I was able to attend the high school graduation of my great niece Kaitlyn Torack.  A lot of our family attended and it was great to catch up with everyone. We had a nice dinner the night before.

After a great dinner we went to the local ice cream place. It was a beautiful night.

Kaitlyn in the middle

The graduation went very well. Kaitlyn graduated 3rd in her class and will be attending Washington University.

The Dozzis

The Toracks

Kaitlyn and Mary Fuchs

When I returned to Long Beach I assisted Fran in a sea trial of her boat to test the repairs. All went well so we joined her yacht club on a cruise to Long Beach. The weather was great, the boat performed well and we had a great time.

The Queen Mary, 1,000 feet long

The Queen Mary is docked at Long Beach. We were able to take a dinghy ride right along side.

We met some fun boaters and walked around the harbor. Here are some of the views.

We had a very good dinner right across from the Queen Mary.

Fortunately, one of the couples from the yacht club was staying on the Queen Mary overnight. So we were able to tour the entire ship. It was very interesting. It's history includes transporting 16,000 troops during the war. In part, because it was the fastest ship at the time it was able to evade the German U-boats.

There was a huge Leggo replica of the ship on display.

I also like the model that showed a cross section of the ship.

We toured the engine room. Everything is massive. I took a picture of Fran standing by the drive gear for one of the propellers which are 18 feet in diameter.

Note the man standing at the bottom of the propeller.

We could see the Queen Mary at night while sitting on our aft deck. It was quite the scene.

Our cruise home went very smoothly.

Next on my list was travelling to Cleveland for 3 days, Burlington Vermont with the Scott family for 10 days. Then I'll meet the Rahns for our 10 trip on our 40 foot Maxum boat cruising the North Channel. That will be followed by my visit with the Peterson's in Canada. I'm looking forward to a very fun summer.

June 1st: Having fun at Palm Desert with the Rahns

 The Rahns invited me to their Palm Desert time share. Its a very nice place. It was very hot but we worked around the heat. 

The unit has a full kitchen, spacious living room, dining area and a wonderful view of the mountains. The sunsets are amazing.

There are a lot of water features, including a big pond for the flamingoes. 

We had full use of the resort facilities which are very scenic to walk around at night. 

The highlight of my stay was the Native American Museum and spa.

The spa was quite luxurious. 

Karen talked me into trying the immersion tank. Its a sensory deprivation tank/room I spent 45 minutes in it alone. Lights were optional. It was interesting and I quickly became very relaxed and also disoriented. The salt water kept me afloat so it felt like I was in air. It was quite relaxing and surreal.

The museum was very interesting. Here are some signs that give some of the history.

The oasis walk outside the museum

Craig and Karen at the museum entrance

Museum

A very fun experience was walking to the falls in Taquitz Canyon which was highlighted at the museum. Craig and I had a beautiful hike up to the falls

Taquitz Falls

Taquitz Canyon