November 1999 Volume 3 Issue
8
November 1999 Volume 3 Issue
8
Birthdays & Wedding Anniversaries
Dies und Das
Through the Western States by Jim Schwenk
A Word from Uncle Don - on AOL 5
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20. Olinda Haehlen Corin near Olympia WA celebrates her 66th.
Want to see how these and other Kids are related to you? Click here for those who descended from John Schwenk and his immigrant siblings. Click here for all others. Want to see a gallery of pictures of most of these 59 Kids? (212 KB).
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Through the Western States by Jim Schwenk
(This is reprint of an email written by Jim Schwenk to his brother
Richard in Manila dated 28 October, 1999)
Got your terrific letter today reviewing the activities
of Mom and Pa Schwenk and your visiting children, from the USA.
What a great time you are having there! Congratulations
Ric and Caring in winding up your careers of teaching these
past 42 years,and encouraging the youth you have made
part of your lives. I'm sure you wrap things up with a flood of
mixed emotions and the wonder of where all the years
have gone. Believe me, you both deserve to take a long break
to look back. Though it will be hard at first to apply
the brakes, you will soon get into the swing of things that go along
with retirement. Can imagine there are many things to
finish before you leave for the states. Our thoughts are with you
at this time.
Hope to give you somewhat of a report on the activities
of the Wausau Schwenks and our trip to California and back
during the period from September 30th to October 18th
From the very beginning, it was our intent to fly to Kathryn and
Dave Axtell and purchase a car from them and then in
turn drive it back. We were fortunate to fly one way on an early
morning flight out of Minneapolis. JoAnn was kind
enough to drive us to the airport. We arrived in SF two hours
before Dennis and Lynn Jisa ( Mary's sister and husband
from Green Bay) arrived to join us on our trip. Our daughter
Kathryn was there to greet us. The next day we
traveled down to Monterey and visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium
during the afternoon. On Saturday, David and Karen
Schwenk joined the group for a drive down the Big Sur area, a
most enjoyable time with sunshine, watching the surf
roll in.
The next morning (Sunday) We parted company with
the Schwenks and Axtells and piled into Kathy's van with Dennis
and Lynn to start our California trip. This was
Dennis and Lynn's first visit to Northern California, so we decided to
show them the very sights that Kathy took us to when she was a tour guide
some 10 years ago. We spent the afternoon in Carmel and took the
17 Mile Drive along the Pacific and let Dennis see Pebble Beach Golf Course.
Later in the day we drove across California to Mariposa (a town, just south
of Yosemite). Next day, we were off to visit the Mariposa Grove of
Sequoias and the Valley of Yosemite. Again, we had beautiful day weatherwise.
In fact, we spent the next 2 weeks on the road with nothing but sunny days!
The next day we again traversed California and drove up
into the wine country and visited the Beringer Winery for a
tour through their storage caves carved into the hillside.
We finished the day north of the wine country near Clear Lake. Wednesday
afternoon found us in the small seaside town of Mendicino with it's offerings
of art galleries, shops, and even more views of the Pacific Ocean's rocks
and surf.
On Thursday, we drove down Highway 1 a road of many sights
and tricky curves, which left us all with a good case of
dizzying acrophobia, but we did manage to get down to
San Francisco by evening. In San Francisco we toured the sights that we
knew and rested up from our exciting, jam-packed tour.
On Saturday, we said farewell to Dennis and Lynn at the
airport and traveled back to Kathryn's house in Sunnyvale. At
noon, the next day, we were off in the 93 Honda Accord
to drive homeward. It seemed unusual to travel East and actually
see the country that we had always only flown over when we went out west
to visit the kids. I had been to S. Dakota as a kid and also to New
Mexico as a Philmont Scout visitor, but Mary had never even been West of
Minneapolis. It was great to explore what was coming up and I enjoyed
watching Mary's eyes grow large at the wonder of the scenery we were to
see.
Our first night out we stayed east of Reno Nevada. We
arrived to see the glowing glitz of the city and managed to
avoid it. I remember when I was a kid seeing a
post card from Uncle Vernon showing Renos with only one main street.
It is far from that now with it's attempt to compete with Las Vegas.
All of Monday, we spent crossing the northwestern corner
of Nevada that would get us lined up with the northerly
journey to Don Schwenk's cabin in Muldoon Canyon ( Bellevue,
just South of Sun Valley, Idaho) He was there to
welcome us with a late supper. Mary couldn't get
over the great workmanship that Don put into building his own log
cabin and the furniture and trimmings that he had made
to put into it.
On Tuesday, Don drove us 7 miles East to the far end of his canyon and showed us the view of the mountain ranges at that height. An astonishing sight! He mentioned that he tries not to take his surroundings for granted and we all agreed that it would be difficult as the mountains around his cabin change by the moment with the varying play of sunshine and shadow. In the afternoon Donald brought us to the Sun Valley area and treated us to a scrumptious lunch at the lodge there. We watched the skaters practicing their skills on the rink outside.
After lunch on Wednesday, we set out for Jackson Hole,
Wyoming, which would be the starting point for our tour
through the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. It was
a most opportune time to travel with kids back to school and family tourists
at home. There were often times when I saw that I was the only car on the
road! Motel rates were at their "Off-season" lowest! A fine
time to travel. A good fact to remember for a future trip anywhere.
The Grand Tetons were as grand as their name and we could
see traces of snow ( actually glaciers on the northern
sides). We took lots of pictures and videos, which of
course could not capture any of the grandeur. Old Faithful was on
time, (she rests 81 minutes in between burps) but she has slowed
down in profusity with old age. She shot steam only 8 to 10 ft. for the
short blow that we saw! There was another geyser far beyond the lodge
that was doing more and longer antics than dear Old Faithful. We
hesitated to stroll down there to see that one, but should have, for it
kept up the steam-shooting for at least a half an hour! We wanted to exit
Yellowstone by the East Gate and then proceed to Cody, Wyoming, but some
of the roads to that gate had already been block off for the end of the
season. As it grew dark we thought it best to take the most well
travelled road, and drove north to Livingston, Montana. Truly a detour,
but one that was worth it!
The next day was spent driving the many miles to Spearfish,
S.D. where we stayed overnight after visiting Devil's
Tower north of there. Waking the next morning we
went south to the Black Hills. Surely the nicest park of our trip!
As opposed to Yellowstone's severely burned-over mountains, the Black Hills
had even more sights and wild animals to behold. Mary never fully
realized that the Black Hills were really so mountainous. After driving
through the area I was reassured that the Black Hills would be a great
place for the Schwenk Reunion of 2001. Lots of things to see in one
small, easily negotiable area.. . . . Mount Rushmore, Sylvan Lake,
game reserves etc. A most splendid place!
We stayed overnight in; of all places' Wall S.D.
No! Not in the drug store, but in a Super 8 motel! Next morning
(Sunday) the long hike across S.Dakota and back to White
Bear Lake, MN. A total of some 2800 miles were added to our Honda, when
we finally arrived home. A most fabulous trip, that was both relaxing and
pleasurable!
Love to all,
Jim and Mary
A Word from Uncle Don on AOL 5
About a month ago, AOL introduced its newest version with, naturally, more bells and whistles. And because one third of you are AOL subscribers, I thought you might be interested in what I learned about this newest version just yesterday, Oct. 31. Here is a copy of an email I sent to Milton Schwenk in Yakima, WA on this subject.
Subj: The "You've got Pictures"
feature of AOL 5
Date: 11/1/99
To: MandJ32@aol.com
Well Milt, what do you think about AOL 5? You read my comments last evening after I had downloaded this new version. As far as I can see, the email part of AOL 5 remains identical except for a signature tool. With that, it will put in your name and address at the bottom of an email, automatically. Like what you see at the bottom. Other than that, not one change. For example, you still cannot use the white color font.
I mentioned the Kodak feature last evening. Take a look at the graphic I sent which shows the opening window of AOL 5. See the "You've got Pictures" button? I checked this out this morning. And this might interest you or anyone without a scanner. I think this may be the best new feature of AOL 5. Here is how this works as I understand this. You take your exposed film to the film processor. You have it developed by Kodak. On the envelope there is a place for you to indicate you are an AOL subscriber. Later you go and pick up your prints as usual. In the meantime, Kodak has sent the images (how, I don't know) to AOL. Like on a CD? You then get online, click on the "You've got Pictures" deal. You can then download those pictures into your computer if you wish. Or send them via email to friends. That part is not clear to me. I saw a cost figure of about $5.95. I assume this is for a standard number of pictures (12 or 24?).
I think this is really a great feature. Not for me, but for the majority of AOL users who either don't own a scanner, or if they do, are unfamiliar with how to scan pictures, then send as attachments.
As I said last evening, there have been no steps taken by AOL to make its email program compatible with the others. Not one iota! It was the hope that indeed they had, which motivated me to download the new version.
I suspect that you might as well download this new version. Sooner or later, the 4 version will be ancient history. This, plus the fact that the Kodak deal may be nice tool for you. There is another new feature called the Calendar. I checked that out too. But for me, the real calendar hanging in my living room works just fine.
Let me know your thoughts. Neffe Don
Don Schwenk
338 Bayhorse Rd.
Bellevue, ID 83313
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