North East

Our wonderful hosts - from left - Emily, Dustin, Heidi, Diane, & Stan (my bro) on a hike in one of their many beautiful areas around Buffalo

We were with them a few weeks before Diane started radiation. It was a good time to be together before the next step of treatment. It was fun to meet Dustin's girlfriend, Emily, spend time catching up in their newly remodeled home (by Stan), see the sights, and hike in their beautiful corner of the U.S.!

Nightly jam session - amazing pianists/musicians in this family!

They graciously allowed Gerald to play the drum :)

Went to the most interactive zoo I've been to - here's Katrina feeding the giraffe

Watkin's Glen - a fairytale-like canyon of streams, waterfalls, pools, and lush green

Letchworth Canyon - one of the many wonders in the area - would love to see this in the fall!

Summertime - concerts in the park!

Carousel museum with some admirers

Uncle Stan gave rides

Then up to St. Catherines (near the Canada side of Niagra) for a high school class reunion. Well, it was actually mostly the class below me, but they invited all from our 'era' and we were close by so it worked well. We gradutated in Pakistan, but you may have noticed that Pakistan is no longer a hot tourist spot and it is rather far away.

As you can see, I was in the minority! But it was a lot of fun. Gerald deserves a spouse award for staying up until 2 AM every night being entertained by all the stories that started with, "Remember when..." which usually led to something about boarding school that involved the boys raiding the girls, the girls raiding the boys, dangerous outings, school events canceled because of elections or rockets hitting the stage, 1/2 bucket bath a week, monkey attacks, walking for entertainment, the day the students tried to take over the school, train rides in the heat and dust of the desert...well, you get the idea. It seems the story that came up the most was the time the guys left goat heads on the girls beds. Sure glad I had graduated by that time! I know we had our share of guardian angels assigned to us during those years!

The whole crew with Marcella (in yellow) & Ron (red) at the back who made having ten people crash at their house look easy! The girls were the only kids that came, but they had a POOL so it was OK! Here we are at Niagra-on-the-Lake.

Of course a goal of the weekend was to eat as much curry and rice as humanly possible. Here we are in Little India, Toronto at an Indian restaurant that served authentic un-spiced-down food to its clients. In front they had a real rickshaw (left) and what we always called a 'suicide buggy' (right). I think you can guess why! It was neat to show the girls around that part of town as it is the closest they'll get to where I grew up for a while!

Home!

I know I said I’d wait a week to write, but three of our four are still sleeping at 1:30 PM, and I don’t want to wake anyone up with unpacking, so…what better to do than write?

Fortunately Dennis drove us to the airport in their wonderful car that has served us all summer.
Unfortunately my temper was sorely tested as the lady who checked us in didn’t even allow .5 lbs extra so all 8 bags had to have at least something taken out and added to our carry-ons (ask Gerald’s back how it feels about this).
Fortunately the plane was not too small (I hate small planes where you bounce along on every current and hear every sound).
Unfortunately Katrina spilled Sprite all over herself.
Fortunately I had packed an extra set of clothes in her carry-on.
Unfortunately Katrina locked herself into the plane bathroom.
Fortunately the stewardess knew how to open the door from the outside and she went back in later with me to learn how to do it and ‘face her fears’
Unfortunately Madrid has a satellite airport which takes forever to transfer to.
Fortunately we got to our plane.
Unfortunately half our luggage did not.
Fortunately we did not know this yet and landed happily in Casablanca where faithful “Mohammad the taxi guy” was waiting for us.
Unfortunately Mohammad’s taxi had no AC.
Fortunately I lost several of my US-gained pounds sweating it off (I know, I know - that's a bad way to lose weight - but I had to find something positive about excessive sweating!).
Unfortunately it’s Ramadan - so no drinking water for the adults out of respect for the driver.
Fortunately we learned on the trip that Ron’s crew made all connections, got all their luggage, and were let back into the country where a US diplomat was waiting for them to make sure all went well - praise!
Unfortunately the girls slept all day making us wonder what all night would look like.
Fortunately we crested the hill into refreshingly cool Ifrane and rejoiced at the sight of our beautiful town and home!