Courier travels: Alaska, Arizona and Australia!

April 16, 2008 10:42 am

— The Ottumwa Courier has just been everywhere lately. What fun to see where our newspaper travels. Below are some of the recent visits.

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The Libertyville Travelers took 39 folks to Texas in early March. The nine-day trip included a visit to Oklahoma City, Okla., a rodeo in Fort Worth, Texas, touring Austin, Texas, via The Duck Adventure and a cruise on Riverwalk at San Antonio, Texas. The group also visited the NASA Space Center, toured Galvaston Island and toured Moody Gardens before going to Cherokee Heritage Village and stopping in Branson, Mo., on their way back home. “We had warm weather and a good time,” says Shirley Gingrich-Slonaker.

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During spring break, Norman and Lynelle Diers and their daughter, Jolyn Diers, took the Ottumwa Courier to Fort Richardson, Alaska, where their son, PFC Jarrod Diers, has been stationed for over a year.
Lynelle says the family enjoyed the week touring the scenery of Anchorage. “We also traveled to Hatcher’s Pass north of Anchorage, Wassilla — home of the Iditarod Race — and Portage Glacier.” Their son will be welcomed home in the near future for a visit prior to deployment to Iraq.

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Richard and Ferol Chisman of Ottumwa took a Courier along on their southwestern vacation.
They visited Oskaloosa residents Larry and Carol Wagner who are spending a couple months in Mesa, Ariz.
The two couples took the newspaper with them during a visit to Superstition Mountains and Tortilla Flat. Tortilla Flat is an authentic remnant of an old west town, nestled in the midst of the Tonto National Forest, Superstition Mountain Range.
Tortilla Flat — which lists a population of 6 — started out as a stage stop in 1904 and is now an historic stop along the Historic Apache Trail. According to an Internet site, Superstition Saloon is located along the town’s boardwalk and features real saddles as bar stools. “The unique wallpaper is really dollar bills from visitors world wide,” the advertisement said.

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Elliott Hofts, daughter of Nadina Hofts of Ottumwa, is studying at the University of New Castle in Australia for five months. Enjoying spring break with her in Sydney were Alexandria Kerrigan, who is also there studying, and Rachel McElroy who traveled there in March during spring break to visit. Alex and Elliott will return July 1 to the United States.
The girls did lots of sightseeing. In the photo, they are standing in front of the Opera House in Sydney. It’s fall in Australia, so it is gradually getting cooler, they said. In fact, Elliott noted the other day that it was warmer in Cedar Falls than it was “down under!”
Nadina said that, “We both have web cams and use Skype to stay in touch, which is fabulous!”
All three girls graduated from Ottumwa High School in 2005 and attend the University of Northern Iowa.
Alexandria is the daughter of Tim and Lisa Kerrigan; Rachel is the daughter of Doug and Lisa McElroy. Elliott is the daughter of Nadina Hofts and the late Fred Hofts.
We still have more travels to run, so stay tuned.

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I picked my first hyacinth bloom this week. It is such a beautiful purple. And I have pink ones trying to bloom, too.
Checking the daffodils, many are budded and soon will bloom.
I picked some tiny purple blooms not long ago to have something inside showing that spring was outside. They probably were weeds, but I enjoyed them a couple of days.
The tulips are doing well, too.
Actually, I’m surprised to find out the bulbs made it. I’m not the most careful gardener, as some of you know. I more or less stick things in the ground and see what happens.
This week sounds good, weather-wise, to get the rest of my grasses cut off and more oak leaves from the park to rake. It’s amazing what a bit of raking can do. Soon you find green grass coming up.
Spring! Always a miracle.

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