Category Archives: Travel

Character, Emotional Health, Family, Goals and Dreams, Health and Long Life, Photos, Travel, Uncategorized

As I approach my birthday

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Cherry Odelberg

A couple of days ago during a spontaneous dinner conversation about familial love and responsibility, my seven year old grandson reassured his parents not to worry, “Grandma Cherry will take care of you when you get old.”  I am Grandma Cherry.  I am glad he feels I am up to the task. His comment also gives insight into my personality strengths and weaknesses and how I am viewed by others. Seeking clarity, I asked him, “What age is a person when they are old?”  “Oh,” pondered he, “about 90.”

“In that case,”  I said, “I will be about 117 when your daddy gets old (in actual fact, I will be 109). Do you think I will be able to take care of him?”

In a few more days, I will turn – – another year older.  I have grandchildren ages 2,4,7 and 9.  I have grown children ages 21, 23, and 29 for the ninth time.  I chase my grandchildren, pick them up, swing the younger ones into the air and walk four miles every day I get the chance. I color my hair with my DIL and jam with my rock band offspring whenever I am welcome – but, I am no spring chicken. So last night it came as a mild surprise once again when the same grandson said, “Grandma Cherry,” you’re not old.

“Why do you think I am not old?”  I asked.  “Because you don’t have wrinkles,” he replied.  This, in the face of the fact that he is often fascinated by my moles and age spots.

Grandchildren with Grandma Cherry. Photo credit, Kevin Decker 2011

Like a true baby-boomer, I don’t always act my age, nor do I want to grow old.  There are still things to do, people to see, places to go. I long to travel, but travel costs money.  To earn money requires time; time that would otherwise be used on those same people to see and places to go. In addition to writing online, I make my daily bread at the delightful task of teaching piano lessons to six students and tutoring three others.  Recently, I added a seasonal job at our local Colorado National Monument – a huge tourist attraction.

While congratulating me on such a inspiring job, my good friend asked, “Aren’t there other National Parks you could visit and support yourself at the same time by working there?”

Yes.  What a great idea.  There are 397 National Parks.  If I chose the best in each of the 50 states and worked a different one each summer season – – I don’t have that many summers left.  Even with my youthfulness, I am getting old.  I have a birthday next week.

Character, Emotional Health, Family, Goals and Dreams, Health and Long Life, Home and Hearth, Travel

Merry Christmas – It’s been a year

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A year ago, I was living 1100 miles away from where I am today, working as a checker at Safeway in north Seattle, Washington. I was also writing on the side, practicing my keyboard in my cousin’s guest bedroom, and walking two blocks to the library six out of seven days a week to check my email, job hunt, and keep up with my friends on facebook.

A lot can change in 365 days.  I am now living in a beautiful little adobe house on the edge of public lands and walking trails, a few miles outside of Grand Junction, Colorado.  I am working full-time as a family focused personal assistant. I am self-employed, ideally suited to be a personal assistant both by education and experience; and my current client is very dear to me.

The people I work with

 But, what about the 365 days in-between?

In January, I went to work for a medical anatomical laboratory as a lab assistant, moved to a charming studio apartment in Edmonds, Washington; fell in love with the sea and decided to stay there forever. I took dance classes with my cousins and some friends I had known since junior high.  Eventually, I stumbled on a senior citizen band and became the piano player by default. It had always been my plan to fly my children up to visit and maybe interest them in collaborating on some sort of music business.  Or, maybe, I would just make enough money to travel to see them all the time. Abruptly, in June, my job came to an end. Not wanting to leave, I began beating the streets for get-by jobs, and interviewing for positions in my area of interest. My son Kevin; hearing that I was going back for a third interview at a preschool in need of a music teacher; communicated that he was in need of a personal assistant whose duties would encompass preschool, childcare, photo/video shoots, and various music business. Once again, I packed all my belongings in my Subaru (and on top) and drove the 1100 miles back to Colorado. Being a family focused personal assistant to a music and media oriented client is a perfect fit. Like any good personal assistant, I simply keep things organized and do all the things Kevin would be called on to do around the home and office if he were not out serving clients and making money. When he has a shoot out-of-town, and decides to take his wife Sarah as assistant; I stay round the clock instead of going home at night. If Sarah is doing books, I entertain the kids. If Sarah is engaged with the kids, I go assist with the video shoots or take care of office filing.

The most memorable highlight of the year was our family working vacation to Southern California. Andrea managed a week off college.  Philip flew from Ft Collins to Las Vegas to join us.  We spent five days together at a beach house in Dana Pointe.  And we…took a lot of pictures, of course! What a grand vacation with all three of my children and all my grandchildren.

Character, Emotional Health, Goals and Dreams, Music and Theatre, Spiritual Well Being, Travel, Uncategorized

Want Ad

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After much reflection on who I am and who I am meant to be, I have decided that I love to travel and see and learn and laugh.   I want to spend my mornings writing, my afternoons reading, and my whole life making music. I love fine food, long walks, and conversations with witty intelligent people. I long to know and be known; love and be loved, know that my life is making a difference for others.   I want to find my ambience and excel. I need plenty of time alone and plenty of time with friends and family.  I want to discover, design and analyze. Please forward all salaried situations matching this description!  I want to move on with my dreams.

Emotional Health, Goals and Dreams, Travel, Uncategorized

In My Own Backyard

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In the last 8 months I have made at least five trips to Gunnison and back; to visit, travel with, or provide transportation for Andrea. Each time I tell myself, “I really must take the Black Canyon North Route to Hotchkiss and around next time.” So, today, on the way home from a quiet 21st birthday celebration with Andrea, I did just that.  I was alone and the car has been making funny noises, but, it was well worth the extra travel time.  The colors are starting to change in the mountains. I turned onto highway 92 about four P.M. when the sun was poised languidly on the last toehold of afternoon, a beautiful time to observe scenery.  I stopped at the “Hermit’s Rest” scenic overlook, parked my car and stood at the rail. Below me the Gunnison River backed up from Morrow Point, broad and green. I was able to do a bit of traveling this summer.  Always the sights that caused me to linger, be inspired and refreshed were mountains, oceans, bodies of water. “And to think,” said I to myself as I drank in the mountain grandeur and fall foliage rising steeply on the other side of the canyon, “It’s right here in my own backyard.”

Character, Emotional Health, Family, Goals and Dreams, Health and Long Life, Home and Hearth, Spiritual Well Being, Travel

Alone without a camera

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I traveled without a camera.  I had no companion along to snap pictures.  No excess baggage. Instead, I bought lots of postcards-particularly in San Francisco. In Seattle, my gracious cousins accommodated me with housing, sightseeing plans…and a camera. Here are some shots ot the most beautiful day one could desire.

A couple Scandinavians on tour
A couple of Scandinavians on tour
Enjoying my favorite things: sea breeze, mountain views, favorite people
Enjoying my favorite things: sea breeze, mountain views, favorite people
"Do as I say, walk those planks, pick up a hat, pose, I will make pirates out of you."
"Do as I say, walk those planks, pick up a hat, pose, I will make pirates out of you."
The Petty Pace, Travel, Uncategorized

Weirdness In Seattle

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If you are going to Seattle, you simply must have your own private tour guide.  How else will you know when and where all the quirky  sights and events are to be found? Take the summer solstice parade in Fremont, for instance.  Billed as a non-motorized parade with over 200 bare bodied bicycle entrants; these celebratory solstice folks got away with nudity by painting on all their clothes and costumes.  Some were more effective than others.

Emotional Health, Goals and Dreams, Music and Theatre, Travel, Wealth and Fame

Crescent Moon and the Tequila Patron

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June 19, 2009

It was dark when I boarded the train in Emeryville at 10:00 P.M. last night.  The train was crowded, the steward brusque, and I did not have a window seat.  I did, however; see a large, orange, crescent moon glowing in the east.  That was my last vision until opening my eyes this morning to an entire snow clad range – and Mount Shasta.  The scenery in Utah was very like that of Western Colorado.  The mountains and trees on entering both California and Oregon, much the same as the mountains of Colorado.  The difference lies in the altitude, the attitude, the humidity – and the cities.  Each city has its own personality and inherent flair.

Speaking of inherent flair; I am in the last coach car and tugged along behind us is a vintage private car.  Owned by the founder of Paul Mitchell hair products and currently on excursion with owner and guests aboard; they are bound, I am told (by the employee who came out on the palm decorated platform) for a ranch in Montana.

When we detrained in Seattle, the announcer bid us well and then commented that those passengers in the final car might look out and get a quick peek at Dan Aykroyd who had been traveling with us (at the estimated fee of $10,000 just to tag along).

Wondering which tale was correct, I googled Tequila Patron this morning and here is what I found:  Legend has it that Dan Aykroyd, DeJoria (owner of Paul Mitchell) and chums hatched the idea for House of Blues in this train car.

The car itself is a celebrity and movie star… She was a beauty.  I would happily have paid admission to see inside – forget the humans.

http://www3.timeoutny.com/chicago/blog/out-and-about/2009/05/choo-choo-patron-tequila-express-and-the-paradiso-girls-pull-into-town/

Emotional Health, Goals and Dreams, Travel

If you are going to San Francisco

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June 18, 2009

If you are going to San Francisco, forget about the flowers in your hair as the sixties song advised.  You probably won’t have time to get over to Height Ashbury anyway – especially if you have to tangle with the traffic.  So, my advice is, If you are going to San Francisco, be sure and leave you car at home – you can’t park it anywhere.  Per day parking is expensive and often charged at hotels too.  If you are fortunate enough to find a parking spot, it will probably be on a hill and you will worry all day about a run away car.  Ditch the car and take some other mode of transportation:  ferry, bus, train.  Then use your legs to walk from attraction to attraction or catch one of the more quaint modes of getting there: cable car, streetcar, sight-seeing bus, city bus.  Arriving in San Francisco sans auto will lead to a lot of delicious peace and a lack of anxious excitement.

One other thing, if you go alone: DO get a room as close as possible to the thing you most want to see.  It may be 20 dollars more per night, but it will save the consternation of walking through the none too nice areas in the not so safe feeling times of day.

Character, Emotional Health, Goals and Dreams, Health and Long Life, Spiritual Well Being, Travel

Worth It For the View

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“Whatever would you want to go to San Francisco for?” I was asked by the older generation.  Many my own age were envious.  I could have enjoyed the company of several travelling companions had schedule and budget allowed.  After yesterday’s wanderings in the city, I now know.  I came for the view.  Chinatown was fun.  The food (butter cake, banana roll, rice and beef, stuffed shrimp at the wharf) a treat.  The cable car a must. The cheesy, top-off double decker tourist bus (though over-priced) provided much needed bearings for the city.  But the crowning moment for me was a stroll to the end of Fisherman’s Wharf and a wander out to the end of the pier.  I had already walked to the end of the Embarcadero, smelled the smells, shopped in the little shops, purchased a cable car music box for my mother (so I could tell her that’s what I came to San Francisco for).  I pressed forward.  Passed a sandy beach where two children built sand castles and a couple of die-hard swimmers trained in the cold water.  I rolled my toes in the sand without taking my walking shoes off and continued on my morning’s journey.  Just before the entrance to a wonderful military park, I veered right and followed an aging cement pier a half mile or so into the harbor.  By this time I had squirted a couple of honey straws and an individual peanut butter package into my mount to give me energy and keep me going.  The pier was wide enough for pedestrians and two-way cars to pass, but, motorized vehicles are no longer allowed.  On the way foot traffic was mild and I found myself mingling from a distance with single photographers and their tripods and a couple of serious fisherman.  There were, perhaps, a total of 12 people on the long, curving pier.  No one paid much notice to anyone else.  In the distance, Alcatraz Island rose out of the fog when the clouds parted and the sun came out.  The view was breath taking and breath giving.

I found myself saying, “This moment, this view, was worth the whole trip.”  At that moment, alone at the end of the pier and looking out toward the water, a sea lion surfaced, not more than twenty feet away.  He (or she) was coming straight for me, nosed up out of the water, blew (a friendly kiss, so it seemed) and then dipped and was gone.  What a moment!  What a view!

Character, Goals and Dreams, Health and Long Life, Travel, Uncategorized

10 Things revisited

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Today I ate Chinese food in San Francisco, something I have been longing to do since about 1995. Over two years ago I wrote a few blogs on the theme of 10 Things I Want to Do Before I Die  http://einefeistyberg.wordpress.com/2007/04/22/the-list-contains-10-ten-things-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/ It seems like an appropriate time to revisit that list and see if my focus has remainded true.

I wanted to return to Colorado before I died.  I returned to Colorado in 1997

I wanted to be a published author.  I have completed a 229 page novel, 40 pages are in progress on another, six pages of still another, 115 page children’s novel independently published; but, the only items I have published for pay are five newspaper articles.

I wanted to be the quintessential Proverbs 31 woman.  I still long for the day I can check all items off on this list

I wanted to mentor younger women and be mentored by older, wiser women. Some, but not enough

I began to say that my “Fantasy Island” would be performing on the stage at Red Rocks. Actually, performing anywhere would be fine

I wanted to find the best public education possible for my kids. K-12 is a wrap

I wanted to spend time around stages, microphones, studios and musicians.  Since all three of my children are musicians, and one owns a studio and lots of microphones, and I teach music and direct performances of children, I guess I can say this goal is thriving

I wanted to invest my life, make a difference in my world, and make a difference in the lives of others. May it continue to be so

I wanted to travel and see places unknown, via plane, and train, and auto, to experience “the good life,” in all its changing forms.  I am in the midst of living this goal.  Today I ate Chinese food in San Francisco. I arrived by train and have experienced the cable car, streetcar, double decker bus and walking tour.  One of my travel goals is to visit all fifty states.