Saturday, June 18, 2022

I'm Back!

William and I had a great time visiting. To have both grands in the same place is a special thing...and just a couple months from now, there will be another to add to the mix. My grandma heart is very full right now. 

My granddaughter really loved spending time with her cousin, and she is a hand holder. It was sweet to see them walking together hand in hand. During our action packed week, we went to the pool. We went bowling. We went to the park twice. We went to Ringing Rocks Park. William scampered out a lot farther than I dared to go with a 3 year old. It seemed like the best rocks were in the middle of the field, but my granddaughter enjoyed her hammer time and we did find some 'ringers'. 

Another great thing?  My son got to come home. It was unexpected, but so wonderful to get an evening with him as well before we headed out. 
 
We stopped at Crystal Cave on the way home. It was William's first time doing a cave tour and he felt like quite the adventurer. At one point, the guide asked for volunteers. His hand shot up and he was chosen. His job was to turn off the light switch so that we could see how dark it was for the first people that explored the caves. The room went black, and there were audible gasps. I knew that William would not like it, and lo, he did not. His cell phone was out of his pocket immediately and his little light shone in the darkness. 

One strange thing? He picked out his souvenirs with agonizing care. He got a fossilized shark's tooth, a piece of meteorite, and a post card. When I paid the money, I received my change, with three silver quarters (as opposed to the 'sandwich'  quarters ~ so named for the layer of copper between the two nickel-copper layers~ which have been in use since 1965)   I was shocked not only because I recognized right away what I had, but also that I had received three of them. I said to the cashier, "Um. You're aware that you are handing out silver quarters, which are worth a lot more than 25 cents?" She said, "Oh well...lucky you."

I did feel very lucky. On the way home, William studied the quarters, and I told him how I remembered reading about the 'new' quarters back when I was just a child, in our Weekly Reader news paper at school. One quarter was minted in 1950. His great-grandma and grandpa were about his age when that coin was made. The other two were dated 1959 and 1961, when I was just two and four. He was a little surprised to read that just for the silver alone, they were worth about $3.50 each. 

The trip excitement was seeing a very large dead bear at the side of the road. You don't often see them and it was a bit of a shock. To top it all off, we saw another on the way home, about 20 miles from where we saw the first. He was a much smaller one. 

William also caught sight of a fox coming home with dinner. 

We got home about 5:30. I'm beat, but it was a wonderful break. 

Our new tenant posted pictures of his new home, and his river view from his newly finished back deck. He seems very happy with things.  

That makes all the work worthwhile. 




29 comments:

  1. Sounds like fun grandma time. (Hope the bears weren't shot or something evil.) Linda in Kansas

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    1. No. They were roadkill, hit by vehicles, I'm reasonably certain.

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    2. In my wide, flat prairie existence, I didn't know bears got hit by cars. We have deer in the way. I thought bears were smarter. Linda in Kansas

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  2. I’m so glad you had such a wonderful time. Your mentioning Crystal Cave brought back memories. We were at another Crystal Cave in Wisconsin.

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  3. Oops! I forgot to say this is Kay of Musings.

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    1. Ed commented that there was a Crystal Cave in Missouri, too.

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  4. What a marvellous week. You are a lucky lady, Debby.

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    1. I felt pretty lucky, even before I got three silver quarters.

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  5. Sounded like a pretty grand adventure Debby, geez I haven't been on a cave tour since I was a kid! Loved the quarters story! 🙂👍

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    1. He was so excited about it that we'll probably do the Penn Cave tour sometime this summer as well.

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  6. Glad it was such a good week in which a good time was had by all. Being a grandparent is the best. That is interesting about the silver quarters. I'm sure I would not have even noticed.

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    1. I am pretty surprised too. I can be pretty oblivious, but when she handed me my change, I noticed that they were different immediately. It took a few seconds to figure out why, exactly. And you are right. Being a grandparent is the very best.

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  7. What a great trip! Happy memories for all of you! Thanks for sharing!

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    1. It was just fun to relax and to unwind. My very pregnant daughter in law got a much needed break as well.

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  8. That's weird, about the quarters. Someone must have saved them up and then decided to spend them, and took them to the gift shop! Otherwise, what are the odds that you'd get three in a single handful of change?

    I'm not sure I'd like that dark cave either.

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    1. I guess that like any store, they buy change from the bank when they make a deposit. They receive the change in those 'sleeves'. So, I'm guessing that those quarters were in the same sleeve. My first thought was that someone was robbed of a coin collection, and that the thieves just wrapped the coins and spent them as cash.

      William points out that I have no way of proving this. He's right.

      True absolute pitch dark is shocking.

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  9. It sounds like a good time was hard by all. We saw four bears, including one juvenile grizzly when we were in Jasper last week. Amazing.

    That cafe tour looks amazing as well. I'm glad you all got to spend time together. It's good for William.

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    1. It is very good for everyone. A juvenile grizzly? Now that would scare me.

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    2. A good friend of ours is a retired warden in Jasper. He told us that the bears are much better behaved than the humans. That poor young grizzly looked terrifed of everyone looking at him, or her, and took off up the hill.

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  10. Welcome back and congratulations on the upcoming new arrival!

    I never check the dates on my change anymore but I used to as a kid. I’m surprised those quarters were still in circulation.

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    1. Me too. It wasn't the dates. I'm not sure whether it was the color. I don't know. I never really thought of myself as a observant person, but I noticed these quarters immediately.

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  11. Lots of fun surprises, finds, and sights! (well, maybe not "fun" for those bears) Glad you're home and that the trip was a success. -Kelly

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    1. It was wonderful. I really needed the break.

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  12. What a lovely break you had. Did Tim get a lot done while you were away? I am so happy for your new tenant. The ringing rocks are fascinating. We get a lot of road kill but nothing like a bear. Kangaroos and wombats mainly.

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    1. He finished a back deck. He could not have handled a week away with a pregnant woman and two kids and his wife. The man would have been bored out of his mind. The funny thing is that they had just finished a renovation. If my son had had the foresight to leave some work undone, Tim would have gone down there in a heart beat and happily spent the week working.

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  13. They must do that on all cave tours.I remember that blackness and am glad that it didn’t last long.

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    1. It is shocking isn't it? I'm not afraid of the dark, but that is a darker dark than the dark I'm not afraid of.

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I'm glad you're here!

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