Honorary Members of the Mormon Battalion

Mormon Battalion Historic Site Tour

Sunday Maria and I toured the newly remodeled Mormon Battalion Historic Site.  It was a year and a half in the making but it was well worth the wait. 

This is a very enjoyable tour describing one of the longest military marches in American History.  When the soldiers arrived in San Diego they introduced the art of brick making and helped build wells with bricks.

  They also used their skills at building log homes and stayed to help build San Diego.  Whether you know anything about the Mormons or not it is a very high tech captivating tour. 

Joanne and Bill Bush and family from 7th Ward were also touring the Site.

We have been friends since we were young marrieds in the 7th Ward in the 60's.  It was so fun to see them again.

Mormon Battallion Historic Site, San Diego Old Town

Colorful Jacket purchased at Old Town while we were there. Kelsi calls it my Rainbow Jacket.

Happy Birthday Weekend in Sacramento

Here is Michael in front of his apartment. I enjoyed Mike's Birthday weekend in Sacramento.

I noticed when we were at Olive Garden we had very good service and then I realized we had a girl waitress.

Same thing happened last fall at the Outback and other restaurants. Mike ignores it all and doesn't appear to notice.

Anyway I had a lovely weekend and hope he did, too.

He chose a Strawberry Cheesecake for his birthday cake...

While doing our Art Studio walk we

came across this interesting store

window with a huge cat sleeping in

it. Mike let me take his picture in

front of it. Turned out kind of interesting. Gorgeous flowers.

I had a hard time walking because I couldn't breathe very well cuz of my allergies so we didn't get to see many art studios but it was interesting talking to the artists we saw. Mike patiently walked slow with me.

Mike enjoyed his favorite Chicken

Fajitas at Chevys Fresh Mex on the

bank of the American River. I had my favorite Flautas. Love them.

I love the way the river winds through Sacramento. Mike says the

young people have inexpensive and

noisy parties just by parking 2 or 3 boats together.

A visit to the State Capital is always

worthwhile just to see the trees and

flowers. There is usually some

wedding party there taking pictures.

There is supposedly a tree planted

there for every kind in Sacramento

and supposedly Sacramento has more

variety of trees than any other city.

That is why it is called "The City of

Trees."

Regardless of the allergies from the trees and things, it was a great weekend. Thanks, Mike, for spending time with your Grandma.

Visit Sisters in Utah

At a restaurant in Midway.

Since I didn't get to use my plane ticket to Utah for the BYU Homecoming in October I flew in on July 15th and we gathered at my sister Jeanne's in Orem for a week of chatting, eating and celebrating Jeanne's 80th birthday. She looks more like 50! Beautiful skin with hardly any wrinkles. She didn't spend her time in the sun like I did.

I had never been to Thanksgiving Point so we did a quick trip there and shopped in this wonderful vintage shop.

Sister Carole, she is the only one still in Montana.

 

We went to Julie's (Jeanne's granddaughter) to pick her up for lunch and her son Nixon entertained us royally.

Julie has decorated her house so beautifully.

Julie, Carole and Jeanne at a French boutique for lunch.

 

Marilyn, Janet and David's wife Tammy also at lunch. David is Jeanne's son.

 

Jeanne's granddaughter Ginger, the world traveler and adventurer. She is the daughter of Carole and Mick.

Stockholm July 2009

We traveled by train from Copenhagen to Stockholm and visited with a Political Science professor who gave us very interesting details about Sweden. For instance that only 1% of the Swedish population is religious at this time. Many have domestic partnerships and those that do marry in the many beautiful Lutheran churches do it more for tradition than religious reasons.

To encourage couples to have children the government provides 18 months of paid marital leave which can be used anytime between birth and 8 years of age of the child and the husband can use 6 months of it!!! You see fathers wheeling prams and entertaining children at the parks all over Sweden.

We stayed at the Hilton Slussen near Gamla Stan so we were able to walk to many interesting attractions and were close to the railway and bus. Stockholm is a beautiful city on many islands. I loved it again as I did the first time I saw it in 2000. We were provided lavish breakfasts and suppers and snacks at the hotel but still enjoyed the many delicious pastries and treats available in Sweden. One dish that was surprisingly delicious was the mashed potatoes with deer meat on top of a round soft flat bread as seen in the movie.

My great grandparents on my father's side and my grandparents on my mother's side all emigrated to America in the late 1800s as new members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their stories are both heroic and inspiring as they embraced a new religion and a new country.

I am so glad the my daughters were able to see some of the beautiful countryside with the many red houses as we took the train from Copenhagen. My ancestors all came from the area east of Stockholm and off the east coast of Sweden below Stockholm. I chatted comfortably with a father and son from Gothenberg on the airplane. They said I must come back and see the west coast where they live as it is truly the most beautiful area of Sweden. I wish...

I am so thankful we were able to take this wonderful trip to Copenhagen and Stockholm with all our accumulated hotel points!!! It will probably be the last such trip for me.

Copenhagen..

Our adventure begins, colorful Copenhagen and then sedate Stockholm.

We went to the palace to see the changing of the guard and walked right into the marching guards--so followed them to the palace!The architecture was beautiful all over Copenhagen and I loved the colorful old buildings along the canals. Hope Maria and Linda have a picture to share of the canals and bridges, spectacular !

Copenhagen was sunny and was packed with tourists and there were jazz concerts all over the city. This activity was all within walking distance of the grand Marriott Linda had us staying at with her points.

Even the lollipops are giant size in Copenhagen! No, I did not buy one. But we surely enjoyed the ice cream, pastry and hot dogs, yum yum. Very good in Copenhagen. Mostly older men run the hot dog kiosks. Can't help but think how happy Richard thought he would be running a hot dog stand.

I couldn't believe how profuse and large the flowers were in Tivoli gardens. And I inspected everything and saw no nibbles from bugs or anything---in Tivoli or in the gardens beside the sidewalks

Lovely Linda next to another lovely garden in Tivoli.

Maria and Linda take a well deserved rest in Tivoli.

See how tall those lillies are! So Cophenhagen will be remembered for the gorgeous gardens with large flowers and no bugs, the most delicious hot dogs, ice cream and pastry, lots of colorful canals and beautiful old buildings and peculiarly the men were better looking than their women partners. Now what is that all about.

Great city to visit...

After the first day I just enjoyed the trip and let Maria and Linda take all the pictures so I will have to wait till they 'publish' to finish my trip.

Tomorrow I am off to a reunion with my siblings in Utah. Bon Voyage!

Our Digs for Two Days in Oceanside

We spent the weekend a Maria's timeshare in Oceanside. Too bad we didn't get here earlier. It was very nice!!

Bedrooms are upstairs with a lovely seabreeze--one oceanside 4 stories up and one streetside one story up.

It is on the 4th floor of the timeshare but the front door opens to street level.

Back door patio is on the 4th story up from beach...jaccuzi is one apt away on the left. The beacis incredibly clean and long, very nice. There are many beautiful rentals all along the oceanside.

Carnival!

What a nice end to a two month hiatus at the Pulsipher home. Jimmy had told us cruises were cheap right now so Meagan and I sailed on the Carnival Elation on March 19th to the 22nd. It was very restful and a great way to catch up after a long year. The last time I saw Meagan she was busy getting married so I especially enjoyed this time together.

The food was plentiful and available 24 hours a day--not quite on par with the Italian luxury liner on the Mediterranean with James, but still good. The first night we were so tired we couldn't stay up for the comedian's chatter at 11:30 pm but we enjoyed meeting our dining partners. A Father and Son bonding from Arizona and California, A Mother and Daughter bonding from Arizona (they were beautiful) and two women from USB In Salt Lake City. All friendly and talkative, especially the guys.

There were a lot of singles on board--Spring Break! So they were fun to watch.

In Ensenada we didn't take a tour but walked the town and bought fruitsicles and churros and I found a great sunhat for gardening in. The highlight of the trip was the 'Las Vegas type' musical and dancing shows the last two nights. Beautiful young girls with great legs and costumes--good singers, choreography and scenery. Very well done.

Since Meagan is getting ready to leave again on Wednesday I especially appreciated her taking the time to be with me. She is very patient with her Grandma. Luckily I didn't embarrass her too much with any falls or other stuff I sometimes do. We paid extra to have an ocean view and were glad we did!!

The beds were very comfy and we were given lots of attention by Elio--but they do not have hair dryers in the room. We had to ask for one...

I didn't take many pictures so will have to wait for Meagan to publish hers. A great trip and I recommend it highly to everyone--it is even cheaper now.

Tijuana

When I came to San Diego to teach in 1956 one of the first places we went was Tijuana to shop. When my parents came that summer we also went across. In fact, all of the tourists that visited us went to Tijuana. It was a fun place to go in those days.

We also had exchanges with the Tijuana ward and ate down there with them and they with us. Each Christmas we would have a ward drive for Toys for Tijuana and this would go to the ward and also to the orphanage there.

I just read an article in the Washington Post about the severe Aids epidemic in Tijuana--one in every 125 people has aids from prostitution and drug use. But it says Aids is a hitchhiker into the United States with the many that go back and forth across the border. Just another "signs of the times" and very sad. Richard loved the Mexican people and enjoyed helping them whenever he could. We always had them as day workers in our home and often as yard workers. It is sad to read this.

Lake Tahoe, contd.

Marjorie on the lake shore.

We were trying to catch the different colors of Lake Tahoe. They go from an aqua, to a deep turquoise to a deep blue but this picture did not get the right colors. Anyway the lake and sky are beautiful no matter what or when at Lake Tahoe.

The water at Lake Tahoe is over 99% pure. It is so clear it is unbelievable. We did not go in it as it is too late in the year but it is very fun to swim in and you can walk a long way out, but it is extremely deep in the middle, 1645 feet with an average of 989 feet throughout. Lake Tahoe is one of the "must see" destinations and did you know it has enough water to cover the entire state of California to a depth of 14 inches--122 million acres of water. We also took the Dixie II dinner cruise for $10 each ( a deal from the timeshare people). The filet mignon dinner was unexpectedly fabulous!

This is one of the stately redwood trees that are found around the lake--not as big as on the coast but they have really lovely markings and color. This picture did not do the tree justice.

The Canadian Geese are very much at home all around the lake, as we found out when we came up in the summer of 95. You have to watch where you step!

Emerald Bay of Lake Tahoe

We are starting our trek one mile down (and up, yikes) to see the Vilkhommen Castle built in 1928 by a wealthy lady who bought the 238 acres for $250,000 and spent $125,000 building the home. The island out there has her Tea House on the top left corner. It was sold in the 60's back to the state for $250,000.

The main part of the "castle" as seen from the lake side is made of rock and is two story. The top right bedroom belonged to the owner but she usually slept in the porch above that with a full view of Emerald Bay. Her money came from a wealthy husband who had passed away. The home was built and the furniture also to replicate Scandinavian castles.

The servants quarters and the garages and workhouses had sod on the roofs and wild flowers grew there during the summer. The State does not go to that much trouble. The home is in a U shape so has a huge courtyard with a iron gate at one end. The mountain in the background is very majestic also. She had 15 servants there in the summer when she was there and the lady who works for the State and showed us the property used to come there as a teenager from Santa Barbara. She has shown the property for 38 years.

This is the entrance from the courtyard into the living/dining area of the home. All the bedrooms except for servants are on the second floor with gorgeous views of the lake.

The Cabin

Carole, Jeanne, and Marilyn ready to eat Angel Lush.

My home teacher Ron requested a picture of the cabin and this is the best one that was taken this year. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the view we look at. It is called Amphitheater and is a huge snow-covered mountain. Oh well, another time. As you can see there was lots of green this year. The cabin is two story with three beds in the loft area and two bedrooms downstairs and a side porch besides a nice size great room with kitchen and full bath. It was warm this year, we didn't have to put the stove on once but had a few morning fires in the fireplace. Here I am with Carole from Montana (little sister) and Marilyn from Colorado (big sister). Dad finished the cabin in 1961 in time for a family reunion. My folks were seldom at the cabin alone and kept us all eating delicious rainbow trout all summer long. My dad taught everyone to fish and several of the grandchildren are really expert fisherman. John had a fishing pole put in his hand when he was two and was "hooked" you might say from then on.

Four Sisters on the Fourth of July

Jeanne from Utah Carole from Montana Marilyn from Colorado Janet from California

The Fourth of July fireworks in Silvergate, Montana were really something. Before it was completely dark there were many shooting off all kinds of booms and rockets right in front of us on the road. As it became completely dark the fireman took over and put on a first class show. Because the display is right in front of this high curved mountain the sounds are really loud. Some show!! Somehow we missed getting pictures of the cabin but you can see we were all dressed for the occasion.

The mountains are so high, the Utah mountains looked very small when I drove back. Montana really has majestic scenery and it was especially green this year and big bison were hanging around our homes which was a little unsettling but we didn't see any bear this year.

More Beautiful Flowers

I made these pix big so you could get an idea of these lush flowers all over--lots of pink to red, blue to lavender hues, like large jewels all around.

The flowers in back of Linda are all very tall--all the flowers are growing in this Utahlite mixture--high mounded growing areas--I put my fingers in the mixture and it is very, very light--

We attended some excellent classes today on computer filing, putting your history in books, PAF and merging files and learned lots more new tips. Everyone is so very helpful, printing is only 5 cents a copy, the desks and computers first class and very comfy chairs. Enjoying the whole experience.