Date: Thu, Jun 9, 2016 at 11:25 AM
Subject: Hands and Arms
To: Colleen Stout <colleenestout@gmail.com>
Dear Mom, You won't be seeing this for a few days, but I'm praying for you to do well in your surgery and the recovery. You never know how these things will go, as everyone is different. Still, I have faith that you'll be blessed to be healed.
I've been out gathering eggs
and using the weed-eater in the little 13-tree orchard in our backyard. Two of the beagles are snoring next to me. The sun is bright. The hens are carrying around some dead sparrows as usual. The cherries are one day from being perfect for picking, and the sour cherries will be on in another week or so. It's been a practically perfect spring and early summer for plants.
I was thinking the other day about how much I love to travel. I wrote down a few places I've been:
1. The beaches of Oahu. The beach on a military reservation, Bellows Air Force Station, was delightful
2. Going up the Eiffel Tower with a lot of Germans and Turks
3. Seeing the Floriade in The Netherlands
4. Crossing to Manhattan on the Staten Island Ferry and seeing the Statue of Liberty up close.
5. Picking wild flowers in the high Rocky Mountains and Utah's Uintas
6. Swimming in the Black Sea and Med
7. Walking through Nottingham where some of my ancestors came from
8. Singing in the Georgia Dome in an international music competition
9. Standing under the Saint Louis Arch
10. Walking on Daytona Beach Florida
11. Enjoying the beaches of Southern California
12. Driving into Poland from The Czech Republic
13. Enjoying a week in Istanbul, Turkey
14. Gawking at the Parthenon in Athens
15. Hearing a concert of the Great Organ and Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City, Utah
16. Trying to find the mythical hole in the Grand Dike of the Netherlands
17. Visiting the Van Gogh Art Museum in Amsterdam
18. Being in The Garden of Gethsemane and the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem
19. Walking the top of Jerusalem's walls
20. Seeing the entire boot of Italy from the air
21. Eating from a vendor in Tel Aviv
22. Visiting Bethlehem, Jericho, Qumran, The Dead Sea, Western Wall of the Temple, Dome of the Rock
23. Enjoying huge swaths of Germany, Austria, France, and Italy
24. Serving a mission in Alberta and Saskatchewan Canada
25. Riding on the Puget Sound Ferry and seeing Seattle from the Space Needle
26. Visiting Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez, Guadalahara, Mazatlan, Puerto Vayarta, and Cabo San Lucas
27. Visiting the LDS "colonies" and birthplace of my grandmother in Chihuahua, Mexico
28. Seeing the ruins of two castles in Turkey built by the Crusaders
29. Visiting the home of King Midas, Gordion Turkey
30. Visiting the capital of the Hittite Empire in Turkey
31. Taking a bus from Istanbul Turkey to Vienna Austria, renting a car and seeing Czech Republic
32. Seeing Mersin, Adana, Gaziantep, Alanya, Tarsus, and hundreds of other Turkish cities
33. Hiking in Cappadoccia and ilara, where thousands of Christians hid in underground rock homes
34. Taking a ferry from Rotterdam to Kingston-Upon-Hull, England
35. Staying a week in Sheffield, England and seeing castles, churches, cemeteries, & the grave of "Little John"
36. Water skiing in Los Angeles Harbor with Wayne and family
37. Water skiing on Utah Lake and Deer Creek Reservoir with Wayne and family
38. Snorkeled in Hanama Bay, Oahu, Hawai'i and shopped in Honolulu
39. Visited Palmyra New York, Sharon, Vermont, Nauvoo, Carthage IL, Martin's Cove WY, and the Wagon Ruts Guernsey WY
40. Paddled canoes in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Minnesota and Ontario
41. Spent a summer working in my Uncle's laundries, with my brother Kirtland, Thunder Bay, Ontario
42. Visited The Alamo, The Mississippi River, Home of Andrew Jackson, Home of Elvis Presley
43. Visited the geographical center of North America in North Dakota
44. Slept in Winnipeg, Manitoba and took a bus 500 miles to Thunder Bay, Ontario
45. Bought 120 pounds of honey from the Hutterite villages (like Amish) in North Dakota
46. Been in 47 of the 50 states (not Rhode Island, Connecticut, or Alaska)
47. Been in five Canadian provinces
48. Been in Death Valley and The Dead Sea, both hundreds of feet below Sea Level
49. Visited the Redwoods of California,
been on top of the World Trade Center Building 2 and Empire State Building
50. Hiked Timpanogas Peak in Utah County three times
51. Visited the Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida
52. Been in the beginning of a tornado in North Dakota
53. Taken Turkish trains and buses all over Turkey
54. Twice rented cars to see Europe
55. Been to the leaning tower at Pisa, Italy and had pizza twice in that country
56. Walked around Florence, Italy, and saw the statue, Michelangelo's "David"
57. Seen the Rhine, the Rhone, the Danube, the Arno, the Tigres, the Euphrates rivers
58. Swam in the Columbia River twice
59. Dived into Lake Couere d' Alene with family, and picked huckleberries same day
60. Driven on the first 60 miles of the Alaskan-Canadian Highway starting at Dawson, Creek, B.C.
61. Taken military flights from Turkey to Ireland then Nebraska, Hill AFB Utah,to California, Batman Turkey to Ankara, Turkey
62. Taken military flights from California to Hawai'i and return, from Baltimore to Germany, From Germany to San Diego
63. Taken military flights from Adana Turkey to Weisbaden, Germany and return, and from Athens, Greece to Incirlik AB, Turkey
64. Taken military flights from Incirlik AB, Turkey to Tel Aviv, Israel, from Tel Aviv to Incirlik AB, Turkey
65. Taken military flight from Incirlik AB, Turkey to Rhein Main AB, Germany and return
66. Driven almost all of Route 66 in the USA
67. Toured once with BYU bands to Southern Utah, Nevada, and Southern California
68. Toured once with BYU Young Ambassadors to Idaho, Oregon, and Washington
69. Played clarinet in the LDS Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, with the Utah All-State Band
70. Sang at the University of Utah with the Orem High School A'Capella Choir
71. Walked down New Orleans' Bourbon Street one year after Hurricane Katrina with Cindy and our beagle Petunia
72. Basic Air Force Training in San Antonio's Lackland Air Force Base. Spent an afternoon on the famous "Riverwalk"
73. Spent a few months in Biloxi, Mississippi 2 years after Hurricane Camille devastated that city
74. Visited the Cyclorama and Stone Mountain in Atlanta, Georgia
75. Saved a boy's life while swimming at Panama Beach, Florida
76. Marched with Orem High School Band four times in the Days of '47 Parade in Salt Lake City, Utah
77. Marched with Orem High School Band four times in the Provo Freedom Festival Grand Parade, Provo, Utah
78. Played Baritone Saxophone in a high school dance band
79. Played in the State Championship High School Football game, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
80. Was in High School Mile Relay team, won region title
81. Delivered ski lift equipment twice, from Salt Lake City, Utah to Lake Placid, New York
82. Spent an afternoon and overnight swimming at Crystal Beach, Ontario, across the border from Buffalo, New York
83. Traveled on a bus with my family, my LDS branch, and Elder Dallin Oaks from Incirlik AB, Turkey, to Tarsus, Turkey and Return
84. Met Elder Perry and his wife at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany
85. Helped Elder Marvin J. Ashton with his hat at BYU graduation before grand march of candidates
86. Many trips from Utah to California and Arizona with my family as a youth.
Thinking of you.
Love, Lynn D.
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