It’s February 2018 – that means RootsTech is coming up, and Lisa and I are off to Salt Lake City for a week of genealogy fun, friends fun, and some sightseeing. We arrived on Saturday, 24 February and as usual picked up a rental car so that we could head off on Sunday for “Bloody Tourist…
Another “must visit” on this trip to Wellington was the Mount Bruce Wildlife Centre. They are very well known for their captive breeding efforts of rare and endangered birds, and my particular interest was the Campbell Island Teal – a small flightless duck that had become extinct on Campbell Island, but which survived on an…
We arrived in Wellington mid-Friday morning, having left Michigan late Wednesday afternoon – about 24 hours of travel in 3 flights from Grand Rapids – Houston – Auckland – Wellington. Once the rental car was picked up (it took a while as apparently the Dixie Chicks were playing Napier tonight and so the rental car outfit…
In the USA the Monarch butterfly populations are very mobile – wintering in Mexico, but traveling the length of the continent almost to breed in Canada and the northern tier of US states before flying back to Mexico. In Christchurch, New Zealand, the Monarchs remain in the city it seems, wintering over in a few…
A visit to Christchurch, New Zealand by Roger and his siblings for a family get together with Dad. Roger flew out from the USA, Alistair came over from Melbourne, Australia, Ruth down from Auckland, New Zealand and we all met at Rachel’s house for lunch. [Not a valid template]
A visit to Christchurch for a week to see my Dad in August 2016 coincided with the first daffodil blooms in Hagley Park, so after a visit to see Dad on a Saturday afternoon, brother Alistair and I set out in the wee rental car to see if we could find some. Mission Accomplished.[Not a…
Thanks to TripAdvisor, I got a coupon for a free book from Shutterfly – who could turn that down!! Here it is here: Click here to view this photo book larger Photo books are the perfect gift for any occasion. and posting this “should” get me $10 off the next one 🙂
Alerted by a post on facebook from Todd Dopkowski that there were northern lights devloping over his place, Lisa and I looked outside around 8 pm, but didn’t see much. Foolishly we didn’t then get all the camera gear setup. By 9pm it was showing, and 30 minutes later it was on. Then the scramble…
From 1-2 February 2011 we had quite a blizzard – not quite an outright record for snowfall – but the official recording at the Grand Rapids airport a few miles from us is 16 inches – second biggest snowfall in a 24 hour period. We did break the records for 1 and 2 February for…
ArtPrize hit Grand Rapids last year (2009) as a new idea from Rick Devos. Artists were invited to display their artwork at various venues in downtown Grand Rapids. Some were indoors, hosted in various businesses and others were outdoors. It was a huge success, although Lisa and I didn’t quite realise what it was about…