The Maui community is amazing and strong. Within hours, grassroots efforts brought food and water to the people on Lahaina side who were in desperate need. When they couldn’t go by road, they took it by boat, sometimes from the next island over. We love Maui and feel it is a sacred place. We will do all we can to help the communities and the families rebuild on their family land.

As I mentioned, we were on the mainland visiting with our family. I had a busy spring working in hospitality as a travel director and Neil started working activities and dinner events as well. We were ready for some visiting time. Mid-July we flew to Missoula Montana for 2 weeks playing with our grandsons Patrick, 7 years, and Connor, 4 years, and their mom and dad, Ariann and Eric Schultz. We loved having in-person time with them! Some of the best highlights of our time there are also the most mundane sounding. Sitting on the floor playing with cars, trains, and games. Going bowling or to the trampoline park. Driving to the lake for a swim. Dining at some of our favorite brewpubs. And helping Patrick ride his bike without training wheels for the first time.

Next we flew to Minnesota spending 2 weeks with Neil’s sister Cindy and her son and daughters. Cindy has done a beautiful renovation of her home and we thought we would have some down time. But noooo, she had a minion list for us (at our request). On top of that, we encouraged her to have a garage sale to reduce the basement and garage clutter so Neil could install heavy duty shelves all around the walls of the basement. Finally, Cindy was able to get everything off the basement cement floor and her clutter became highly organized. She is so happy. In fact, she told us multiple times a day for several days how happy she is.

A road trip to Iowa came next. Neil and Cindy got to visit their niece Stephanie, attend a family reunion on their father’s side, and have a great time visiting with some of Neil’s high school friends. We had such a warm welcome and great food at John and Cathy’s home, we want to go every year.

Neil and I then flew to Ohio to visit Dad and my family. Mom flew out from California and we had a family reunion on her dad’s side.  Mom has a sister and brother living in Ohio who she gets to spend time with when she visits Ohio. Dad and Jane are still in their home on an acre of land. Dad enjoys his workshop and caring for the yard. Neil sharpens his tools every time we visit. My brother Warren and sister Pamela live in Van Wert near dad, and Melanie and Will just bought a place neighboring Pamela! I am grateful they are there to help dad and Jane. Mom and Bill are still in Ridgecrest and I am grateful Bill’s daughter is there to help them.

Neil flew home to Maui the last week of August while I went on a road trip with my mom and Melanie. Our goal was to visit seven of the states Mom hadn’t been to yet, working towards her bucket list goal of being in all 50 states. We traveled through 13 states in all from Ohio and ending in Virgina. I thought the New England states and Delaware were all she had left but she said there are three more: Mississippi, Alabama, and North Dakota. Maybe next year, Mom. We concluded the trip staying a few days with Mom’s grandson Will, his wife Meghan, and their children Jackson and Violet. Violet is Mom’s newest great-granddaughter and she a sweetheart.

Mom and I flew together to LA where I had a long layover. She took a shuttle to Palmdale, drove from there and arrived home in Ridgecrest by the time I was boarding my flight to Maui! It was great to finally be home and sleep in my own bed. Neil had been volunteering in the community several times already and I have been able to help some myself. There will be much to help with on Maui for many months.

Our travels are soon to continue. We will be leaving next week for a month in Southeast Asia. Our first stop will be in Cambodia for 5 days in Siam Reap and the Angor Wat temple area. Then on to Phuket, Thailand for 2 weeks where we will have dental work. Afterwards, we will stop in Singapore for 3 days to visit our friends Vanessa and George Spencer. Then on to Bali to celebrate my birthday. On the way home we have a long layover in the Philippines where we plan to visit Manila’s Old Town.

I will aim to do another update after we return! Love to you all.

The year also had deep sorrow in the passing of Neil’s brother-in-law Dan Knak in July in Hastings Minnesota. We had planned our summer trip to the mainland for August but we moved it ahead a few weeks to rush to Minnesota to help Cindy, Neil’s sister, when Dan took a critical downturn in his long fight against leukemia. As such things go, Dan’s passing was a beautiful bittersweet thing because there was so much love and wonderful laughter along with the sorrow.

We flew to Ohio for Harter and Kreischer family time. My Mom was visiting from California and my sister Melanie drove from her new home in South Carolina. We had all the siblings (and parents) together since Pamela and Warren now live in Ohio near Dad. We had a great time visiting, working together, family reunions, a trip to Ohio Caverns, and a tour of the Airstream factory. It all ended too soon and we flew back to Minnesota for a few more days with Cindy’s family. Mailea flew in from Washington while we were there so she could reconnect with her aunt and cousins. One highlight with her was an early-morning kayak exploration down the Kinnickinnic River lead by Keegan.

The last part of our trip was spending two weeks in Missoula, Montana, with Ariann, Eric, Patrick and Connor. It was an active time playing with a 3 ½ year old and an 8 month old. We had a lot of adventures together, including a road trip together to Skalkaho Falls, Georgetown Lake, and Phillipsburg. They are lucky boys to have such wonderful parents.

We got back home after being gone seven weeks and started on house projects! A major reorganizing of the kitchen took place to make room for the new flat bottom wok. We decided to cook with more vegetables and are developing wonderful recipes. We put up new outdoor blinds that keep the house much cooler from the tropical afternoon sun. We added a motion detection porch light and more flowers and herbs to our hanging planters. We upgraded some electronics and ordered a new dehydrator. Right now we are making black garlic (3-4 weeks of dehydrating!) and are very excited to make some mango fruit leather next.

Our Maui adventures included a tour of the last remaining Pineapple Plantation in Hawaii and the Haili’maile Distillery which uses those pineapples in their Vodka and other spirits they produce. For my birthday, we went rappelling down waterfalls and parasailing over Lahaina.

I continue my work as a Travel Director. My “season” is January to June but there were also a few Fall events which I worked in September and October. I am booked into 2020. Neil worked for Hilo Hattie’s through July. He is now working for a local organization on a project planning an eco-village that will incorporate permaculture, aquaculture, and education, with eco-tourism.

Right before Thanksgiving, Neil’s mom Jean took a fall and went in the hospital for a week. She was home a week and continued to get weaker rather than gain back strength. While trying to help her to the car to go to a routine doctor visit, she collapsed and 911 was called again. She was in ICU for 4 days and is now in the Telemetry Unit. Neil and I have been taking her husband Morley to visit her daily. The doctors are planning to eventually move Jean to a Rehab facility where they hope she will get her strength back. Right now, she can stand for only a few minutes with a walker, and not take any steps at all. She has a positive attitude and still has her sights set on returning home.

Quentin decided not to return to the cold and rainy University of Portland. He is currently working on both a photography career and working as a small business sales consultant on Maui.

Sending much love and wishes for a wonderful new year to all of you!

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I continue to work as a freelance Travel Director. The freelance part means I work for several DMC (Destination Management Companies) and also means I am not full-time with any. The busy “season” for Travel Directors is January to May when many companies schedule their employee incentive trips to Hawaii . I do a wide variety of things: I work at the airport for arrivals and departure greetings, work at activity locations (e.g. zipline or snorkel boats), dispatch transportation, oversee evening dine-arounds, and work at the hospitality desk. Sometimes I am scheduled out a year in advance when a company knows they will be hosting a large group and other times I get contacted just a week before as the group is finalizing their activity plans. I might be scheduled a full week with one group or a day or two at a time. That’s why it’s good to work for several companies to keep a full schedule during the season. This past year, I worked on Kauai, the Big Island, and on Maui (the companies cover all expenses for me on other islands.)

Neil continues to work at Hilo Hattie’s shipping and receiving as his “day job.” He commutes to Lahaina and prefers working four 10 hour days a week saving a commute day but making the other days very long. He enjoys driving our new Kia plugin hybrid allowing him to be on electric power when stuck in Lahaina traffic. Not only that, they like him so much they let him put in a power outlet at work so he can charge up the car while he works. That means we hardly ever use gas in that car and sometimes get over 300 mpg on a tank. Yessss!

We enjoyed time with Neil’s daughter Mailea this spring when she spent several months on Maui. She was traveling the world since completing her PhD last summer. Most recently, she taught some courses at Washington St. this summer and fall. She is headed for Australia for a few months on her next adventure.  Neil and Mailea just submitted a second scientific paper on Maui water quality which they have been working on this year. Their previous submission was so dense with information that the reviewers recommended dividing it in to more than one paper. They have more data and research to continue their work and another paper is being discussed.  

As soon as my last Travel Director program ended in mid-May and we had attended Quentin’s high school graduation, Neil and I headed to the mainland for a month-long trip. We had a 12 hour layover in Portland where we spent a fun day touring the beautiful city with Quentin’s sister Sophie, her father Peter, and her grandparents Dianne and Mike. Our next stop was Missoula, Montana, to spend two weeks with our grandson Patrick and his parents Ariann and Eric Schultz ;-). Patrick was 2 ½ at that time and was so full of energy. We had adventures hiking and exploring. One of his favorite things was throwing rocks, especially into water. He has a strong throw and good aim, and appears ambidextrous like his granddad. We worked on a few house projects and left a few that they completed when we left (downstairs bathroom remodel). We also got exciting news that Ari and Eric are expecting a baby due February 1 right after Patrick turns 3 on January 9. Ari is wonderful staying in touch making weekly video calls with Patrick so we can be part of his life and watch him growing up. It touches my heart every time he enthusiastically says “Grandma” with a big smile. Such a precious boy.

Our next stop was Hastings, Minnesota, visiting Neil’s sister, Cindy, new husband Dan, and nephew Keegan, and nieces Gillian and Kalli. They showed us a fabulous time. We were going non-stop for the 3 nights and 2 days including boating, fishing, kayaking, sunny cocktails, cooking, eating, touring, and lots of gabbing to catch up with their lives. Minnesota is beautiful in the summer but glad not be there in the winter. On to Ohio and visits with Dad, Warren, and cousins, aunts, uncles on my Mom’s side. Neil hadn’t been to Ohio since our 2007 two month trip in a camper van! We were there on Father’s Day and Dad had all four of his kids there to celebrate! (We hardly misbehaved at all.) Pamela spent a week in Ohio overlapping our trip, and Melanie drove up from her new home in South Carolina where she and Will were still settling in. It was fantastic to all be together with all my siblings!

Back home on Maui, Neil went back to unpacking boxes at Hilo Hattie’s and I had a few occasional working days working with DMCs through the summer and fall. My Mom came over for a week in July to visit and spend time with her Great Grandson Quentin before he headed off to University of Portland mid-August. She helped him pack and sort boxes for his “move.” I helped him finish up packing and emptying his room the week before he left. Family and friends saw him off at the airport for his new life adventure.  

Jean, Neil’s mom, and her husband Morley are still great neighbors living right next to us. We usually check in with each other every day. Morley spent a week in the hospital in August with an infection but is back to taking care of all the shopping and other chores. Jean took a fall in October and fortunately no broken bones but just a knock on the head with a few stitches. She said it knocked some sense into her. Neil said he is waiting for her to prove it.

I realized I had a month between work in Sept/Oct and was missing Quentin already. I really wanted to see Quentin in his new “home” (read that as dorm room on campus). Dianne and Mike graciously offered me to stay in their home for my visit and Mailea offered me her second car for the 4 days. I arrived in Portland Friday morning and Quentin gave me a quick tour of his dorm and the campus between his classes on Friday afternoon. He said classes were hard and took some adjusting but he is loving campus life. He is clearly well liked from all the friends he introduced me to in the dorm. He had a weekend dorm house retreat scheduled Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon but I had plenty to fill my days. I enjoyed evening meals and breakfasts with my hosts Dianne and Mike as we traded cooking. Saturday I drove to The Dalles, Oregon, to visit my niece Hailey (Warren’s daughter). She is now 32 and has two beautiful children: Jesse 3 years old and Jemma 1 month old at time of my visit! I hadn’t seen her since she was 16 but with Facebook photos we have been able to keep up with her news. Sunday afternoon I picked up Quentin from University of Portland and Sophie came to grandma and grandpas. We visited while I cooked Indian food for a fun family dinner with Mailea driving down to meet Quentin’s extended Portland family for the evening. Monday morning I visited my good friends Sara and George in North Plains and then connected with Mailea in the afternoon to visit her tiny house home. We picked up Quentin for dinner at Le Bistro Montage before she dropped me at the airport for my flight to Ohio.

It was hard not stopping in Missoula to see Patrick, Ari and Eric but I still had Ohio and California on my schedule. I spent 10 days staying with Dad and Jane. We had lots of projects to do including cutting firewood and cleaning the Lion’s Club sausage trailer. Warren is working full time but was still there with his chainsaw early morning when we went to cut wood! I am glad I got to see a lot of my brother! And I also enjoyed lots of visits with Mom’s side of the family.

The very sad news this year is the death of my brother-in-law Christian Beamer, Pamela’s husband. He was in pain since April but the doctors didn’t diagnosis the 4^th stage pancreatic cancer until mid-July. Chris chose palliative care and I am so grateful Pamela and he had quality time preparing for his passing. The grief is for those missing his presence with us on earth even as we can celebrate he is free of pain with his Lord and Savior. Pamela and Chris’ sister Cynthia were with him as he transitioned on September 30, 2018. I had scheduled 10 days in California even before his passing knowing I could help or be there to support my sister Pamela.

I arrived in California about a week after Chris’ death and Pamela and Cynthia already had things well in hand. Pamela had decided to move to Ohio near Dad, Jane, Warren, and extended family rather than move to the California desert near Mom and Bill who are still in good health. Pamela started the house hunting process while I was still in Ohio. Dad, Warren and I looked at 3 places and we thought a certain clean and well managed duplex was the nicest. I took lots of photos and Pamela agreed with us. She got confirmation within 3 days that she would have a place to move to when she arrived in Ohio at the end of October! (Update: She is really enjoying her new home and furnishing it. The cold however is another story after living in California for most of her life.)

By the time I arrived, Pamela was ready to get out of LA for a while and so we drove to Ridgecrest to spend a week with Mom and Bill. The day before we left LA, Neil’s niece Stephanie, nephew Dustin, and great-nephew Jonathan were wonderful to drive over from San Jaquinto, California, to spend the morning with me. We walked the beach and had lunch on the pier at Redondo Beach. It was a great time catching up with them. Stephanie has just retired from the Army after 20+ years and she and Jonathan have a new home in California. Dustin moved from Iowa to help them with their home remodel and upgrades.

Overlapping our time in Ridgecrest, my sister Melanie and her husband Will came to town for their 40^th class reunion. Pamela, Melanie, and I were all in Ridgecrest to celebrate Mom’s 83^rd birthday! What a special time for all of us.

Back on Maui, we continue to love our little cottage in warm Hawaii while we think of all of you in the cold and snow! Mele Kalikimaka and Hau`oli Makahiki Hou!

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“Tucked away in the southern portion of the Flathead Valley in Northwest Montana, the National Bison Range is a wonderful place to see beautiful scenery, large herds of grazing buffalo, elk, antelope and other prairie wildlife.

The National Bison Range was established in 1908 and is one of the oldest wildlife refuges in the United States. It was created to serve as a refuge for the Bison, also known as a Buffalo. The refuge is relatively large, standing at 18,500 acres.

The Bison Range consists of a wide variety of habitats. The primary habitat in the range consists of rolling prairie. Large hills and small mountains form the heart of the range, with prairie being the dominant feature, even on the taller hills. But, in some areas of the refuge, pine forests are tucked away on more moist slopes. Additionally, along the lower boundaries of the range, several streams create areas of small wetlands.” Quoting from BigSkyFishing.com

Beyond the visitor’s center at the entrance there are two one-way gravel loop roads and a short two-lane road for wildlife viewing throughout the reserve. The longer 19-mile loop, called Red Sleep Mountain Drive, traverses the reserve’s variety of habitats climbing 2000 feet before descending back along Mission Creek. It took us a couple of hours to complete the drive allowing for photo stops and walking the two short trails that are the only designated walking trails accessible from the roads. From the car we had impressive vistas of the bison herd and we also safely viewed some up-close individuals. It was wonderful to see them living freely in a large protected reserve.

Conservation

The National Bison Range official history outlines that the Range was established in 1908 when President Theodore Roosevelt signed legislation authorizing funds to purchase suitable land for the conservation of bison and that it was the first time Congress appropriated tax dollars to buy land specifically to conserve wildlife. The history page avoids mentioning that bison conservation was required because of previous Federal government actions.“Bison were nearly extinct by 1890, having been part of a Federal government sponsored program of eradication during the Indian Wars, thereby removing a vital food source from the Plains Indians diet, and ensuring easier relocation onto Indian reservations.” Source: Wikipedia.org

Animal Bridges

Happily, wildlife conservation efforts continue in modern day Montana and were evident when Neil and I drove Highway 93 to Columbia Falls. We went underneath an animal bridge built across the highway allowing animals to cross the highway safely! We also noticed several tunnels built under the roadway to provide additional safe crossing points. Paying more attention, we saw unusually high fencing along the sides of the highway to deter the animals from trying to cross at the highway level, instead directing them into the safe tunnels and the bridge. Not only that, but we saw ‘jump outs’ designed to give a safe exit point for any animals that somehow made it onto the roadway. We were impressed and looked for the animal bridge each time we drove through the Flathead Indian Reservation on Highway 93, (the highway is also known as The People’s Way.) Researching it further, we found there are 41 animal crossings in a 56 mile stretch of roadway between Evaro and Polson; 40 of them being underground tunnel crossings! It is an impressive project begun in the 1990’s and completed 6 years ago. Motion detection cameras were installed in the overpass and tunnel crossings to record the animals’ activities. One camera caught images of a doe who laid down in the middle of the tunnel while she let her two fauns play from end to end. Similar behavior has been observed in Banff and elsewhere and there has been some speculation that the adults are teaching the younger generation where the safe crossings are. Researchers noted that when the herd matriarch was unwittingly culled along with other adults from a herd in Canada the remaining herd seemed to forget where the crossings were and usage declined dramatically.
An extensive research project is nearing completion about the wildlife crossings that is studying the use patterns and the statistical analysis of the reductions in auto collisions. The numbers indicate that the net savings in lives and property are much greater than the extra engineering costs. It’s a win-win for people and animals. Just as the Montana Evaro Hill animal bridge designers went to Banff National Park to study their animal bridge, now international researchers are coming to Montana to study the wildlife crossings on The People’s Way. Soon there will be many more safe crossings all around the world.

Geology

We began our ascent on the northwest side of Red Sleep Mountain. The drive offered views of the large herds of bison grazing the grassy hills with the Flathead River at the bottom of the valley and the Flathead Indian Reservation beyond. Constantly on the lookout for wildlife, we wound up and around small watering holes and meadows skirting the forested summit before we reached the highest elevation of the road. After a short walk and a rest stop, we began our descent down the east side of the mountain. Spread out before us was the Mission Valley, backed majestically by the Mission Mountains. Further east (out of view) on the other side of the Mission Mountains is Swan Valley and Holland Lake. (If you read my Holland Lake post you may remember seeing the Mission Mountains on the western horizon as seen from the lake.) It was an impressive sight as the sun was sinking in the western sky to view the expansive valley and town of St. Ignatius below us. At one of our stops, an information sign explained that at one time much of what we were seeing had once been underwater and the old beach lines are still evident on north-facing slopes.

If we had been gazing out from our vantage point on Red Sleep Mountain about 12,000 years ago, we would have been standing on a little island in a huge 2,000 foot deep lake. The Ice Age Floods Institute tells about the catastrophic floods that roared across Idaho, Oregon, and Washington when the ice dam broke. Here’s a bit more about the lake:

The Short Story
About 12,000 years ago, the valleys of western Montana lay beneath a lake nearly 2,000 feet deep. Glacial Lake Missoula formed as the Cordilleran Ice Sheet dammed the Clark Fork River just as it entered Idaho. The rising water behind the glacial dam weakened it until water burst through in a catastrophic flood that raced across Idaho, Oregon, and Washington toward the Pacific Ocean. Thundering waves and chunks of ice tore away soils and mountainsides, deposited giant ripple marks, created the scablands of eastern Washington and carved the Columbia River Gorge. Over the course of centuries, Glacial Lake Missoula filled and emptied in repeated cycles, leaving its story embedded in the land.

Flood Facts:

• The ice dam was over 2000 feet tall.
• Glacial Lake Missoula was as big as Lakes Erie and Ontario combined.
• The flood waters ran with the force equal to 60 Amazon Rivers.
• Car-sized boulders embedded in ice floated some 500 miles; they can still be seen today!

Source: Glacial Lake Missoula

The Prairie and the Road Home

We saw the majority of wildlife as we descended back down to the prairie grasslands near Mission Creek. In the rocky areas we saw bighorn sheep resting and eating. The deer and the antelope were out feeding (okay, okay, they were roaming) in the cool sunset temperatures and solo bison were resting very near the road. There were only a few other cars driving through the reserve along with us so it was very easy to stop on the one lane road to view and take photographs. Being that close to the bison, really gave me a feel the size and power of the animals. I can’t imagine being near a thundering herd!

As we exited the reserve, it was now time to feed ourselves. We couldn’t stomach stopping at the café right outside the reserve that had a big sign advertising bison meat! Yes, we did read that the reserve bison herd is maintained at about 350 to prevent overgrazing. Therefore, each year 50-95 surplus bison are rounded up. The bison are first transferred to other conservation areas, including Native American and public herds, and the rest sold to private individuals — meaning some can become bison burgers. It is part of nature but I didn’t want to eat bison after just seeing the magnificent beasts. We instead drove to St. Ignatius and enjoyed a meal at an authentic Montana bar/café, the 44 Bar & Outwest Grill, right off of Highway 93. We drove back to Missoula on The People’s Way (Hwy 93) over and under the animal bridges. Who knows what other animals than us were moving through the night!

Note from Neil: You may have noticed that this post and the previous one on Holland Lake include some history and background info. What do you think of these posts? Do you like the extra info or would you prefer shorter posts?  Please give Nan your feedback. Thanks!

Photo credits: Eric Shultz and Neil Rhoads, except the Animal Bridge photos from the cited sites.

[See image gallery at nanharter.com]

We decided to hike the lakeside trail back to Holland Falls. It is a three mile round trip easy/moderate trail with a 700-foot elevation gain (mostly at the end) and a scenic reward that draws you onward and upward! At the end of the trail we were on a narrow rocky ridge with incredible views of the roaring falls to our left and on our right was an overlook of picturesque Holland Lake with forest and the snow-capped Mission Mountains in the distance. Here’s a nice description of the hike to the falls: MontanaVacationBlog. Below the falls, we could see Holland Creek feeding into Holland Lake far below. Holland Peak is about 10 miles north and at 9356′ it is the Swan Range’s high point. If we had the time we would have loved to do the multi-day trek to see the view from there! By the way, if you saw my earlier post on Glacier National Park and you remember the picture of Neil’s ‘bedroom’ out on Adele’s deck, the mountains you see from her deck are also in Flathead National Forest. Those mountains are part of the Rockies and are designated the Columbia Range. Going south, the Columbia Range becomes the Swan Range; on a topo map it looks like one continuous range of mountains with different names at the northern and southern ends. The historic Alpine Trail#7 traverses these ranges (here is a fun Swan Crest Virtual Trek.) Thus, Holland Falls is in the same range of mountains as the ones in Adele’s back yard – but it’s about 90 miles further south.

Historically, for centuries the Swan Valley has been traditional hunting grounds for the Salish, Pend d’Oreille and to a lesser degree the Kootenai tribal people. Then on July 16, 1855 at a council held close to present-day Missoula, eighteen leaders of the Flathead, Kootenai and Upper Pend d’Oreilles Indians signed an agreement with the United States government, ceding their title to almost all of the land in Western Montana and establishing the Flathead Indian Reservation. That agreement is known as The 1855 Hell Gate Treaty. The treaty opened the Montana Territory to exploitation by lumber companies, and settlers soon followed. The native people found their presence was unwelcome and they had to get licenses and permits to hunt and fish in these traditional lands.

By the turn of the century many more settlers came to Swan Valley, pushing further and further north. According to A Collection of Stories about the Seeley Lake Area, the Holland name comes from Ben Holland who, around 1893, settled in north Swan County and began ranching near what is now known as Holland Lake and the Gordon Ranch. He sold his ranch to the Gordons in 1905 according to a Forest Service Flathead National Forest history. The Forest Service started selling logging rights in the vicinity and around 1905 lumberjacks began setting up camps in the area. Nowadays, Holland Lake and Holland Falls are a popular destination for hiking, camping, fishing, and boating.

After our hike, we had a little picnic and Lyra got to chase sticks in the lake and squirrels along the lake shore. At the far end of the lake you can see Holland Creek pouring out of the Swan Range and over the falls. With gorgeous forested mountains all around, I can see why Ari and Eric enjoy Holland Lake as a day trip with Lyra!

Photo credits: Eric Schlitz and Neil Rhoads

[See image gallery at nanharter.com]