Radiator Springs lives

JoAnn and I are away for a quiet weekend of doing nothing. I'm not telling where. It's just not where anyone would expect us to go. And it seems to be perfect. It's quiet. No telephone. Television when we want it. A mini-suite with really comfortable chair, couch, and beds. It also has a pretty good breakfast.

Now for a bit of a hint. I went out for a walk this morning, just to stretch my legs and make sure they still worked. As I was walking down the road I went by the police station and looked up. Wow, there was the sheriff from Radiator Springs. Not only that, but when we look at the terrain around where we are staying it even looks like Radiator Springs. Naturally, I couldn't pass up a chance to take a photo. So, here's the Sheriff and we are close to Radiator Springs. What a great weekend.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

click on me to make me bigger

Celebrating the 4th of July in Las Vegas

This evening JoAnn and I drove a little over a mile to an open gravel field and watched an arc of fireworks demonstrations covering 270 degrees of the compass. We live about 800 feet above the valley floor so we have a great view of most of the city and the strip. There are probably many cities where you can experience 270 degrees of fireworks, but from our perch we could see all of the Las Vegas strip and the many fireworks, plus those over in Henderson, almost 20 miles away, and many different casino and neighborhood fireworks. It seemed that in every direction we turned there were fireworks. They may not always be the most spectacular fireworks, but they were pretty darn good. There were probably 50 or more cars out in the gravel field with us. We don't worry about driving on the grass in Las Vegas. There isn't any!

And then it was home to catch the last few minutes of the Capitol Fourth PBS show (time delayed of course). What a spectacular fireworks show with the Lincoln, Jefferson, and Washington monuments framed by fireworks, along with the U.S. Capitol. And then, as a bonus, they replayed the whole show and we got to watch it start to finish. What a great way to spend the 4th - Fireworks, good music, the National Mall, great patriotic music - I love John Philip Sousa's marches. We were blown away by Steve Martin and his bluegrass band.

We were a little far away for photos in Las Vegas, but I captured a couple of photos from the National Mall concert and fireworks, in HD!

We hope everyone had a joyous 4th of July and remembered what the day means to us as our day of liberty and that we honor those who served and those who gave their lives to create sustain our liberty for the last 235 years. This is a great country and it is blessed of God.

There's a First Time for Everything

It's no secret that JoAnn and I have a lot of fun together. We enjoy getting out and going places, although over the last 8 months that has been severely curtailed. We used to enjoy a Saturday afternoon drive in the country in Indiana. It was quiet, we could enjoy the beauty of the midwest, and most important we are together and can talk, listen, or just watch. It's more about being together and away from home then anything else. They have become an important part of our life. After the kids left we used to take spring breaks without them and go down into Tennessee and Kentucky and stay in their state parks, explore the countryside, and of course just relax. In recent years we have had fewer of those as we have moved closer to our children. Las Vegas doesn't afford a lot of quiet country driving, although we have a few places we do enjoy, and we seem to spend more time going to see our children or having them come see us. We love having them and visiting them. But we still need our time away from the day to day activities of home.

On Monday we dropped the Iowa McLean's off at the airport (not quite a "drop off" but that's another story) and headed up for a bed and breakfast in St. George. We have driven by St. George so many times, but never really spent any time there. We each took our books along to read, got on the internet and found the quilt stores, and made reservations at a historic and delightful B&B.

It was dark when we arrived on Monday so we went out for dinner, came back, read for a couple of hours and then got a good nights sleep. Tuesday we had a full day of quilt stores, historic sites, the St. George Temple, and a little television in our room. At about 9 pm JoAnn said she was really tired, we turned off the lights and went to bed. You guys know we hardly ever go to bed at the same time. I'm early and she is late. As we laid there I started telling her about the book I was reading and how enjoyable it was. We talked back and forth for a few minutes and then I went into a monolog story. I was quite happy just sharing the story when I realized I might be talking to myself. It was dark so I couldn't look into JoAnn's eyes. I stopped and asked, "JoAnn are you awake?" Not once, but 3 times (I've always been a little slow). Then I listened, and sure enough, there was that unmistakable purr of JoAnn when she is fully asleep.

I've put students, children, and grandchildren to sleep before, but never my wife. I guess there's a first time for everything.

Cruising on the Pier

On last Sunday afternoon JoAnn and I were walking on the Ventura Pier. It's been a long time since we had walked on a pier on the Pacific Ocean. It was a wonderful walk. It's about 200 yards out to the end of the pier and we were enjoying the vista and the people when a bicycle cruised by us ever so slowly. I glanced at it as it went by, then did a double take as I saw a beautiful bicycle. This custom bicycle caught my curiosity and I wanted to take a photo of it. As we continued walking down the pier we caught up with the now parked bicycle. I talked to the owner and asked about the bicycle. He had built it and he was awfully proud of the bicycle and bashful. I couldn't get a photo of him with his bicycle.

I call it an "art bicycle" because like all good sculpture it is a masterpiece. There might be those who would argue with me, but take time to look at the craftsmanship, the care and love that was taken in sculpting this bicycle. There was obvious pride in workmanship. It is a classic and was made to be ridden and admired.



Our walk down the pier turned into an adventure because it was enhanced by the beauty of a craftsman and artist.

A California Weekend

On Friday JoAnn and I headed to southern California for a homecoming, of sorts. We lived in Ventura, CA from 1969 to 1972 and in many ways it was our first real home. We were out of school, in our first job, had our first child (and second), joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All of these were life changing events. This weekend was what JoAnn described as her dream vacation. I didn't initially see it like that, but as we got into the weekend I came to the same conclusion. We spent Friday and Sunday in Ventura and Saturday a short jaunt to Solvang and Santa Barbara. We didn't do justice to either of those cities/communities so we have a reason to go back.

We kept family up to date on our adventure with postcards emailed from my iPhone. This resulted in a few jealous kids.

Ventura was a voyage of rediscovery, and no we didn't take lots of boring photos of places we remembered - mostly because they weren't worth taking photos of. However, there were lots of things we did take photos of and too many for one blog. For example last evening we went down to the beach and watched the sunset (2nd night in a row) and understand how it could be addictive. It was great to see so many people (older folks like us) who were doing the same thing. There were also younger folks down there too. More on this in a later blog.

In the short time we lived in Ventura we lived in 4 different apartments. They are all still there and we found all of them. Two of them have not changed a whit, except they are 40 years older and show it. The other two were homes or partial homes and have been remodeled. Our beach house we had to guess at. We had the right street and knew how far from the beach we lived, but it had changed considerably. They had moved the entrance to the garage 90 degrees so they could have a front yard. Good idea! The 2nd home had a back entrance and sat on a main street, but I loved it. Now it has a front entrance, stairs and a beautiful front patio. When we went by on Sunday morning there were 4 men sitting out on the patio eating breakfast.

We kept asking ourselves, why did we ever leave Ventura? We loved it and still do. But we left because we needed to grow. Some folks do this without ever leaving home, but JoAnn and I were never very good about that. We took home with us. We have the wanderlust and I think we always will. I can blame it on my parents and the military and I guess JoAnn can blame it on me. Regardless, we have loved all of the places we have lived and done so because of family and good friends. It was wonderful to go back to Ventura. We still love it. It has a great charm. It was a wonderful place to visit and when we went to Church on Sunday morning there were tears in both of our eyes as we realized that for us, this is where so much began that has made our family what it is. We are thankful for these experiences in our lives and for the joy that we have in our family.

Now we are back "home" in Las Vegas. It is our home for now and we have family close at hand (6 driving hours is close compared to 1,500 miles in the past) and many good friends. Not to mention, we also love the winters, the back patio (where I am now), and the springs and falls. The memories were good and we are refreshed, ready to go on with the rest of our daily living.

Did I fail to mention that an official holiday involves finding at least one quilt show and done or more quilt shops. I found the quilt show and a closed quilt shop and JoAnn found an open Quilt Shop, so we had and official holiday. The above art quilt is titled "Men in Ties" and is on display in the Ventura Art Museum. It is a classic piece of work and we knew Mike would like it. He has requested a full quilt for their bed (thank goodness he was kidding).

Valentine's Day

We have had 42 Valentine's days together and for the very first time we left home to spend time together. We should have done it when we had 7 kids at home, but who could afford it then? After Church yesterday, yes we are good Mormons and made ALL of our meetings yesterday, we headed off for Laughlin, NV, about 85 miles from Las Vegas. We got a room on the 17th floor with a, and I quote, "Panorama Room" which means we had floor to ceiling windows and a view of the parking garage, roofs of other casinos, and the Colorado River.

We went for a walk on the river walk, unlike any other river walk I have ever been on. It goes along the casinos for a little less than a mile. There are water taxis, jet skis, dinner boats, and it's all on the Nevada side of the river. The east side of the river is Arizona and a timezone away.

We did the riverwalk and got all excited about the Dairy Queen sign. You all know I'm a sucker for Dairy Queen. Well, as it turns out, it was just that - a sign. We walked all over the casino it was next to and no Dairy Queen anywhere.

Later in the evening we went across the river to Bullhead City, AZ to have dinner. We had found a restaurant in the yellow pages (and I use that term loosely down here) with the name of Iguana Mexican Cafe. With a name like that the food has got to be great. As we were driving along looking for the place we passed one, but not the one I had inputted into the GPS. It looked like a greasy spoon, but we decided to keep on going. We finally got off the main drag and started down some dark side streets of trailers with pickups and cars parked out front. As the neighborhood deteriorated I finally caved in and said, let's go somewhere else. We had passed a Mexican restaurant on the way and drove back to it. The food was great even if it too was a little older. On the way in the restaurant I'm following JoAnn and the hostess and as I pass a table I see a colleague from 4 doors down (from the 5th floor at Beam Hall). I could hardly believe we had driven to Southern Nevada and there is a friend. JoAnn thought I had just gotten lost (again), but that wasn't the case.

We are off to see the sites today and then home for an early afternoon. Happy post-Valentine's day everyone.

Happy New Year

About 9 am this morning we are doing the breakfast dishes and the telephone rings. The caller ID reported "Colorado Call." That's the cue for an Allen family call.

I pick up the phone and say "Hello" and hear on the other end "Hey," so I respond with a "Hey." Then I hear a chorus of young voices in somewhat unison, "Happy New Year!" And my daughter saying, "Oh, you ruined it?" I didn't think I did. I thought it was cute.

"Let's do it again for you mother. On 3."

I listen, "1, 2," and a put the phone to JoAnn's ear before the "3."

"Happy New Year" was a little louder. Nothing works better then a little rehearsal.

So, Happy New Year everyone!

Adventures in Traveling: Part 2

It seems like just yesterday we were sitting in the Las Vegas airport waiting for our airplane to be deiced and wondering if the previous day’s snowstorm and airport closure was a premonition of what was to come. It was. We flew into wonderful weather, if you recall, leapfrogging our storm so we could experience it twice. During our stay in Iowa we were not disappointed by winter. We experienced snow, fog, rain, ice storm, sunshine (I’m not sure I remember sunshine), windchill down to a -30 F and a January thaw in December when it got to 51 F. Quite the swing. And of course the ice storm had to wait until the day we left. In terms of an ice storm it wasn’t a big one, but it doesn’t take much of an ices storm to mess things up.

So here we are at an airport once again, this time in Des Moines, Iowa waiting or our airplane. We are hopeful the delay will be short. Delay you say? Yes, not only was their an ice storm in Iowa, but frost on the planes in Las Vegas and we all know how efficient deicing is in Las Vegas.

An ice storm is not my favorite kind of storm, but fortunately the airport is functioning and our airplane is coming in from Las Vegas and won’t be on the ground too long - at least we hope. I just took a photo of a United Airlines aircraft with icicles on its wings. I later found out that one of the deicing trucks was broken and folks were waiting for another plane to be deiced before they were going to have their plane deiced. They had been waiting for over 4 hours. I even saw the pilots get up and leave, shaking their heads. Maybe the keystone cop thing is not reserved just for Las Vegas, but Des Moines has their own keystone cops.


At one point while I was in the restroom I heard from the stall next to me at the “little boy’s urinal” a small boy ask his dad, “Why doesn’t if flush?” (They were auto flush urinals).

Dad responds with, “Let’s not worry about flushing, let’s just get your pants up.” [That sounds awfully familiar. The boy was maybe 4.]

Boy, “Dad, I think you broke the toilet, it won’t flush.”

Dad,with just a touch of frustration, “Let’s go.” As they turn to leave the automatic urinal flushes. No response from either of them, Dad was moving too fast.


Home again, home again and how good it feels. Bright sunshine, beautiful red rock hills, our own home, a cat anxious to spend as much time on our lap as she can. It is always good to be gone, but it is also good to be home. We already miss the kids, but know we left a spoiled grandson behind as a reminder. It was a great trip.

Merry Christmas to All

Merry Christmas to all from a cold and beautifully white Iowa. We send all of our best to all of our loved ones and friends. It is a time for remembering, celebrating family, trusting in the Lord, giving thanks for our blessings, and pondering on the wonder of this special season.

Adventures in Traveling

JoAnn and I sit at the Las Vegas airport encountering a most unusual experience: Flight delays due to snow. Yes, for the 2nd time in 3 days Las Vegas had a major snow storm. Major for Las Vegas. In fact, as we learned later, it was the biggest snow storm in recorded history - a whopping 3.5 inches. Wednesday afternoon the airport had to close because of snow. My thought was that the airport doesn’t have deicing equipment. They don’t have much in the term of deicing equipment as we are finding out this morning. More importantly, however, there are no snowplows at the Las Vegas airport. And even if there were, who would know how to drive them. The last time we had snow that closed the airport was 1979.

On the positive side, as we sit looking west towards our home, the Spring Mountains, Red Rock, and Mount Charleston are just beautiful. If we were home we would have driven out into Red Rock today - at least I would have - just to take photos. This is a special event that may not occur again for years.

Hopefully in a short while we will board our aircraft and wing our way to Iowa and that bone-chilling cold.

It wasn’t so short and it was like watching the keystone cops as the airport tried to get their deicing equipment to work. The deicer would fit in my garage - this isn’t Denver! It was a small container and it took 15 to 30 minutes for every aircraft. Then it broke and it was the ONLY one! At one point I counted 7 people around the deicer: 3 supervisors (what do they know?), 2 operators who kept pushing the same button, and 2 hangers-on. In the meantime the airline had a baggage conveyor truck (for getting the baggage into the aircraft) with a driver and a person on the conveyor and every time they get to an airplane the person on the conveyor would walk to the top, take his broom, and push snow off the aircraft between the engine and the aircraft body. I’ve got to tell you, my confidence level was not very high.

After some 60 minutes some guy drove up in a pickup, pulled out two tools, one being a wrench, walked over to the deicer, spent 2 minutes, and had the lift working. Of course it still didn’t go very high. As our aircraft pulled out and we went down the row of remaining aircraft at their gates, it didn’t look like any were going anywhere soon. There was snow on the wings, in the engines, and on the tails. The sun was out and slowly things were melting, but not very fast.

JoAnn noted the patrons were particularly relaxed. Many had spent the night at the airport. They were resigned to “someday” getting out of Las Vegas.

And we were finally off for a beautiful flight from Las Vegas to Des Moines. We are in the air looking down on a mixed white region and by all accounts flying into the storm that blew through Las Vegas on Monday. Well, it is Christmas, it is air travel, and yes, it is an adventure.


The payoff is spending time with our family and our new grandson - Joshua! It was a long day, but what a great ending.

Thanksgiving Weekends Present and Past

There is joy when there is food

We had a quiet Thanksgiving weekend at home this year. Last year we visited my family in California and the two years before that our whole family gathered in Boise, ID for what we decided was a great event, but also a little crazy.

I am reminded at this time of the year of recent and past Thanksgivings. When I was a child we would travel to Des Moines, IA, the family home, and gather two families together and have a large Thanksgiving feast - usually at the Merriam home since it was large enough to accommodate all of us. Grandpa would bring in saw horses and 2 large pieces of plywood for all of us to sit around the table - and we filled it. Unfortunately I could not find a Thanksgiving photo, but the Christmas photo from 1954 will have to do. Of course Grandpa Merriam was never in the photo, he was too busy taking pictures.


And some of our Thanksgivings were spent in other areas. Driving from Provo, UT to Port Angeles, WA in 1973 for a Thanksgiving with my younger brother. It brought together all 3 of the then McLean grandchildren of our parents. The ride to and from Thanksgiving is always exciting and this was no exception. Caught in the mountains of Oregon in a heavy snow our car died, we were towed many miles into a La Grande, OR where we had the car repaired. It was a long afternoon in a gas station. We were driving a Toyota and there were no Toyota dealers in town so we had to rely on the local mechanic, and of course he had never worked on a Toyota. Long story for later, but we finally left town and decided Bosie was as far as we could get that day. Little did we know that 23 years later we would be back in Boise for a wedding.

Below are the first 3 McLean grandchildren of our parent's generation, allbeit, not at a Thanksgiving table, but breakfast works.


That may have been the last quiet Thanksgiving we had, but nothing in 1973 could have prepared us for Thanksgiving 2005, back in Boise, ID for a family that included Mom and Dad (that's us), 7 children, 6 in-laws (1 daughter-in-law and 5 son-in-laws), and 10.9 grandchildren. What a roaring time we had at that Thanksgiving as the following photographs attest. Some experiences are so important to a family they should not be forgotten. Many of the photos of that year are found on my flickr page, the ones below, however, are focusing on fun, family, and of course, eating. Look and enjoy.

Yes, it is a little tough finding a table for 25.9

It isn't what everyone else has, it is what I have on my plate that counts!

Mike can always be counted on to bring joy, fun and uniqueness to the table.

And of course, the ".9" factor!

And so, Thanksgiving is truly about being thankful for all we have and especially for family. We give, we receive, we share, we joy, we pain, but in the end we are a family eternal.

My next posts may focus on the idea of listening and watching.