Life, Love, Loss

We had originally planned to visit friends in the Pacific Northwest in late August or early September. It’s been way too long since we’ve been up north, and we miss all of you!! However, Kirk was due for a pacemaker battery replacement, so of course, that had to take precedence.

Some of our best PNW Peeps at our going-away party in August of 2015, can’t believe we’ve been gone 10 years already! Time flies when you’re having fun…

Thankfully, Kirk had a few good options for replacing his pacemaker battery. It’s usually a “routine, quick outpatient surgery”, and we were hoping that would be the case for him!

Option A: He could have the surgery done in Puerto Vallarta by his original cardiologist for a certain fee

Option B: We could go to Guadalajara (five hours away) for a much lower fee, or…

Option C: As a former US Air Force officer, he could have the surgery done at the VA Hospital in Salt Lake City as one of his benefits, for “almost free”, as they say in Mexico (excluding our airfare). We chose option C, and were so glad we did. 

Tikka was NOT happy that we were leaving her behind. But we left her in the good hands of our friend Lupita, who stopped by twice a day to feed Tikka and Toopy. ¡Muchas gracias, Lupita!!

5 Stars for the SLC VA

The staff were super friendly, efficient, and professional—and Kirk’s outpatient surgery went off without a hitch. Plus, having the surgery at the VA let us visit family and friends in Salt Lake City and Jackson Hole during the two weeks between his surgery and the post-op follow-up appointment. 

We arrived in Salt Lake a few days before his appointment, and Heidi’s brother David picked us up at the airport. We spent the first week in Salt Lake, staying in an Airbnb, then with cousins Erik & Nan, who are more like siblings to Heidi; their cozy, laidback home is always a “home away from home”. And Nan volunteered to be our awesome “Lyft driver” in her electric LEAF. We all shared several delicious meals with David and his wife Sharon (and we’d see them again in Jackson the following week as well), and we had great visits with a few other SLC friends that week, too. 

The Captain, doing some QiGong to lower his “white coat syndrome” blood pressure, before his surgery…and just like that, he was ready to go home a few hours later. Very impressed with the SLC VA.

A few days after Kirk’s surgery, he was as good as new, so we set off with Erik & Nan on a five-hour road trip through canyons and mountains. Don’t forget the Pringles and a stop for Huckleberry Milkshakes at Bear Lake—whoa! Whose car are we in?! We traversed in and out of three states (UT, ID, WY) and past a raging wildland fire near Smoot, Wyoming, on the way to Jackson Hole.

The fire was no joke! We came through a canyon and saw it in the distance, but the highway wound ever closer, and suddenly it was only a ridge or two away. Erik pulled over for a photo-op. But it was moving so quickly towards us, so we didn’t linger long! When we arrived in Jackson a couple of hours later, we learned that they had closed the highway near the fire, just after we had passed! 

Playing Tourist in Jackson Hole

Once in Jackson, we stayed with Heidi’s brother Arne and his wife Teresa in town, and had the lovely opportunity to dog-sit our fur-nephew Agate and cat-sit our pur-niece Nyx for a few days while Arne & Teresa headed off to Yellowstone for their annual wolf watching expedition. 

Heidi and Mayor Arne, hanging out with Agate, and what a clever idea, a picture frame to look through the fence along the National Elk Refuge!

It was so much fun to be back in Heidi’s hometown and just get to play “tourist” for a few days! In addition to following Agate wherever he wanted to go… we cruised the town square, got touristy “antler arch photos” (something Heidi would have NEVER been caught dead doing in her youth, LOL!), and enjoyed Moos Homemade Ice Cream & Sorbet (owned by Heidi’s high school classmate Rick).

Big thanks to Barkers for our wonderful BarkerEwing.com family float trip on the Sanke River. Travis was a great guide, and we saw several bald eagles, mergansers, osprey, and a beaver.

Another highlight was visiting the brand new History Jackson Hole museum. They have state-of-the-art curated displays and kiosks to explain the objects, like Dr. McCloud’s old doctor’s bag, complete with medicine vials. He was the town doctor and delivered over 2,500 kids in the early to mid-1900s, including one of Heidi’s brothers. They also have a variety of historical movies about the Shoshone Tribes who summered in Jackson Hole, the fur trappers who worked the valley (like Davey Jackson, a.k.a. “Jackson’s Hole”), and some of the original homesteaders. They even had two log cabins, one from a local homestead (above), and the other from the set of the movie Shane (filmed in Jackson Hole). The museum frequently offers live demos, and the day we visited, a blacksmith was demonstrating how to make horseshoes and other tools. This museum was WELL worth the price of admission

JH Friends & Foodies

Sharing meals, stories, and plenty of laughter, we soaked up good times with Susie, Don, and Jared & Karen. We also got to meet up with brother David’s cousin-in-law, Debbie, who happened to be visiting Jackson with her sister Amy. We had a great lunch getting to know them, and only wished timing would have allowed David to see them as well, but they left the day before David & Sharon arrived.

Heidi with David’s cousins Amy and Debbie; Mexican Dinner with some of our 2005 Grand Canyon crew, brother Paul, and friend Don Cush; and Dinner with long-time Seattle and JH friends Jared & Karen at another Mexican restaurant

Heidi loved visiting with some of her oldest childhood friends, Janet and her mom, Gail, and Nancy and her mom, Martha

Serendipity struck when we learned that Heidi’s longtime girlfriend, Janet, was in town visiting her mom, Gail. We enjoyed a sweet visit with both of them, plus a few more fun meals with Janet. Heidi’s high school BFF Nancy was also in town to see her mom, Martha, turning our visit into old home week. We’d just seen Nancy in SLC the week before, so it felt like an added bonus to see her in Jackson, too! Heidi and Nancy were next-door neighbors in high school, and Heidi probably spent as much time at Nancy’s house as her own, LOL.

One of our Jackson traditions is eating at old family favorites, like The Calico (the original JH pizza joint, now very much upscaled), and Dornan’s Cowboy Chuckwagon, in Moose, with all-you-can-eat sourdough cakes, eggs, and bacon, outdoors under the Grand Tetons. (Heidi had to bring her own breakfast, but everyone else loved it!) They also have fantastic gluten-free pizza in their pasta/pizza bar across the parking lot, so Heidi was happy about that. 

The view from Dornan’s Chuckwagon is spectacular! Janet joined us for breakfast with Erik & Nan under the Tetons. Photo credit goes to David for the Dornan’s teepee with full moon…as for Heidi’s gluten-free pizzas, Dornan’s was better than Calico’s in taste and value.

Another fav eatery is The Snake River Brew Pub (great food, drink, and good prices—which is a rare find in JH these days). And we hit up Nora’s Fish Creek Inn in Wilson for breakfast more than a few times in our ten-day visit. Plus, we found a few new-to-us favs, like Picnic for breakfast, Genevive’s for breakfast and lunch, and The Healthy Bean for healthy snacks. 

A Family Reunion

But the best meal we had in Jackson Hole was in Arne & Teresa’s kitchen! After David & Sharon arrived from SLC, and Paul & Darcy arrived from Bozeman, we all pitched in to grill steelhead salmon, asparagus, black rice, and fingerling potatoes, accompanied by Kirk’s famous green salad, and roasted marshmallows for dessert. The fire danger was extreme (as previously noted!)—no fires allowed outside—so we had to roast marshmallows over the BBQ grill. But they still tasted great! The only ones missing were Heidi’s sister, Kari, and parents, Jean & Pete. 

Yes, this was August…the weather in Jackson was unseasonably cool, fall was in the air, so sitting on Nancy’s heated daybed was a treat!

Short but sweet—our visit with extended family Andy and Nancy included the comfort of their cozy home, great conversations, and Nancy’s amazing gluten-free scones. We’re already dreaming of seeing them again in Argentina soon.

Some of our favorite views around Jackson Hole: a Rainbow looking across Brown’s Ranch, and the Sleeping Indian from the top of East Gros Ventre Butte.

Since most of Heidi’s family has since moved away from the valley, we hadn’t been back in six years, and boy, had things changed. But there are still a lot of “old timers”—family friends who arrived in the Valley in the 1950s-60s, when it was still mostly cowboys, ski bums, and hippies, not movie stars and CEOs. 

Some of our most memorable moments were visits with family friends in their late 80s and 90s, whose stories carry the spirit of old Jackson Hole. With Heidi’s brother Paul adding his own deep knowledge of the valley’s history, each visit felt like stepping back in time. Many of them were early pioneer river guides—or their spouses—who worked alongside Heidi’s dad, Verne. Thanks so much, Leith, Barb, Patty, Heather, Annie & Rod, for your time and hospitality. It was lovely to see all of you! 

Top left: Heidi, Patty, and Paul; Top Right: Annie & Rod; Above: Barker’s with Barb, Paul, David, Darcy, Heidi, Leith, and Kirk.

One part of our family gathering was to scatter Heidi’s stepmom, Willa’s ashes, in the Tetons, where we’d scattered our Dad, Verne’s, a few years ago. We took a recon hike the day before to check out the trail conditions before everyone else arrived. The day of our recon hike was rainy and cool, but thankfully, once everyone else arrived, the weather cleared, and we had a beautiful hike celebrating Willa. 

We nearly missed seeing the moose at the Sawmill Pond…do you see it in the photo at left?! The moose at right frequently hung out on Heidi’s back deck when she was growing up.

Driving to the trailhead, we even caught a glimpse of a moose in the Sawmill Pond! Moose are Heidi’s favorite local animal, and they are in such decline now (sadly, most due to collisions with motor vehicles) that it’s a rare treat to see one. When Heidi was growing up, they would often camp out on their back deck in winter.

Every time we looked at the Tetons, something was just OFF. We finally realized there was no SNOW! Usually, even in summer, there’s lots of snow on the mountain tops. This is the first year with so little snow…and with climate change, it will likely keep getting worse. They don’t look right being all gray, they. need white on top!

Another part of the family gathering was to do a bit of work and bid a final farewell to Verne’s property. Dad built this cabin in 1968, and though we didn’t live in it long, we had some fun times there. It’s sad to let it go, but none of us are currently in a position to hang on to it. Huge thanks to Paul for doing so much work to get our old family cabin ready to sell. The place looks great, and we hope new owners will soon cherish it as much as we all did. Frogs included (but not the wood pile)!

So happy Darcy was able to get time off work and join Paul and the rest of us for the family festivities! She’s the director of marketing at Good Karmal, and ramping up for the holidays, it’s not easy to get away. If you’ve never tried a Good Karmal, they’re the BEST, and make great holiday gifts too!

Recreating old family photos from the cabin was fun… “Look Ma, we grew!”

We also made a pilgrimage to “Stearnies” Hungry Jack’s (top photo of post), the original General Store in Wilson, which carries everything from canoes and Levi’s to organic produce and candy bars. As kids, Heidi and her siblings loved walking the 1.5 miles from the cabin to “Stearnies” (owned by the Stearns family) for popsicles. When the Stearns family decided to retire, the community rallied to purchase the store and keep it thriving.

On all of our hikes, we were VERY BEAR AWARE. We always carried bear spray, talked, and made a lot of noise. This is the time of year when bears are eating berries and getting ready to hibernate, and we didn’t want to surprise one! The town of Jackson is also very Bear Aware, with great bear-proof garbage cans all over town. We didn’t see any bears this trip. However, this cute little cub and its mama ran across our driveway, the day we put Dad’s cabin on the market (our realtor snapped the shot). We took it as a good omen from Dad and Willa that they were ok with us selling the property.

This was definitely one of the most fun-filled Jackson visits we can recall in a long time, and the time flew by much too quickly! Grateful to Mayor Arne & Teresa for opening up their home for all of us to stay. We’re happy to return and pet sit and get our Agate and Nyx fix, any day.

We hitched a ride with David & Sharon back to Salt Lake City. (Erik and Nan had continued north to Yellowstone and then California.) As we passed the fire scar near the highway from the fire we’d seen on the way north, we were grateful we had made it through OK. That would have been quite a detour if the road had been closed. 

Back in Salt Lake, we stayed at Nan & Erik’s again for a few days, and dog-sat their dog, Pluto, until they returned from a wedding in CA. We took advantage of the big city, stocking up on boat parts, food items, and other items we can’t easily get in Mexico, and we got some routine blood lab work done. Nancy had returned to SLC from Jackson by then, and she and Heidi had a nice hike near Red Butte Gardens, so fun to see her three times in one trip! And we shared a few more fun meals with David & Sharon and Erik & Nan.

A Farewell in Florida

At the last minute, we changed our return trip to Mexico and headed to Florida to visit Kirk’s brother, Galen, who had recently been declining more rapidly from ALS and FTD. Galen and Ann were very glad to see us, and we are SO glad we made the quick decision to go visit. 

Galen was still able to talk, but it was definitely getting more difficult for him; he spoke much more slowly, and it was sometimes harder to understand him. His short-term memory from the FTD (frontal temporal dementia) was much more acute. However, long-term memory was better. He still knew who we were in the present moment. Kirk spent hours talking to him and showing him photos of their childhood, life, and past fun times. And Galen was able to chime in and talk about the pictures. And in one lucid moment when it was pouring rain out, Galen, who was rarely speaking, piped up and said, “You’d hate to have just poured a bunch of concrete before this rain!” Wow! That took us all by surprise, and we laughed!

Although he was no longer able to do much of anything—only be an observer of what was going on around him—amazingly, Galen was still able to drive his motorized wheelchair out of the house, and up the ramp into their wheelchair accessable van (no doubt, using his years of airline piloting experience.) We took him out to visit with a few of their friends. Big thanks to Tammy for your delicious homemade sourdough bread! And what a fun evening with our great-nephews, Mav and Ky, getting pizza and ice cream together. 

Another highlight of our Naples visit was reconnecting with our Cuban tour guide, Bel, who had recently moved near Naples after immigrating to Miami a few years ago. Be sure to check out our Cuba adventure blog posts from 2019, if you haven’t already. Having had Bel as our tour guide made our whole Cuban experience SO AMAZING—and a lot less complicated! And seeing her again after six years seemed just like yesterday. She’s an ESL teacher, and her students are lucky to have her. Looking forward to seeing Bel again on future trips to Naples.

Over the weekend, Galen continued to decline noticeably and, sadly, passed away the day after we left. We all felt like he was waiting to see Kirk—his big brother—one more time. We’re glad that he’s no longer suffering from those insidious diseases. And so grateful to Ann for her amazing caregiving of Galen over the past few years. Kirk is working on a tribute celebrating Galen’s life that will be posted soon. Many thanks to all of you who have sent condolences. Our hearts go out to Ann and Mike, and the boys as they navigate life without their Captain. We’ll be back to visit all of you in Naples very soon. 

Home again…

We flew back to Salt Lake City for one last night with Erik and Nan, picked up all our luggage (since we’d only taken overnight bags to Florida), and celebrated Kirk’s birthday with dinner at Vessel Kitchen followed by dessert at the kitchy and delicious Dolcetti Gelato. Not the best birthday gift Kirk has ever gotten—losing a brother the day before—but life has a way of weaving joy and grief together.

Tikka was thrilled to see us after almost a month away, and we’re so grateful to Lupita for taking such great care of her and Toopy, too. As soon as we got home, Tikka snuggled into our dirty laundry, LOL!

What’s on tap next? We’re hauling Due West out next week for a bottom job! It’s way overdue, and we’re excited for her. Also, keeping fingers crossed that we don’t have further hurricanes this season, as there are still 2 months to go!