 "In mid August, Carol and I met
Dick & Bonnie Kampa and Dick's son Richard
for lunch in St. Paul. Dick's family at one time in the late 40's early 50's lived in Omaha, so we had met as children
and we spent a little time together when I first moved back to Minnesota in 1958. We enjoyed meeting Bonnie and Richard and
had a good time talking about the "old times" and genealogy (of course).
"In Sept. we made a trip to Washington and Oregon States with a side trip to Burnaby,
BC, a suburb of Vancouver. There we met and spent two days with Joyce Hall Andersen and her husband Ron. Joyce is
a Hall cousin originally from Lanark Co. Ontario, with whom I have been working on the Hall generalogy for the past two years.
We had a great time and were shown around Vancouver and suburbs, which is a pretty area!
"The major purpose of the trip was to investigate real estate opportunities,
with the idea in mind of leaving this winter 'wonderland' (every winter you 'wonder' why in the hell you're here) to live in a
moderate climate year round. We looked for vacant land with the idea of building but so far we have found nothing. I continue to
look by means of the internet and two realtors we met while out there.
"Carol had never seen that part of the U.S. before and was inpressed by its beauty,
as am I every time I see it. We also did some tourist things visiting Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helen's Columbia
River Gorge, etc. All of it was spectacular! We included a visit with Carol's niece and her husband and grandson in
Olympia while we were in Washington.
"We also drove along the Oregon coast and were graciously hosted by
Helen Stimler Lundblad who manages a 70 unit 'top drawer' condo complex in
Cannon Beach, Or. Her grandson Kane is living with her. Helen and I had a great time
getting better acquainted and comparing notes on family dynamics the first night we were there. The next morning we were
greeted by the WTC Sept. 11 disaster and spent much of the day glued to the TV.
"We managed to get onto the second flight out of Seattle the afternoon of 9/13
and were the first flight to arrive into the Humphrey Terminal after the 11th."
-- from the Stimler/Kampa Independent Newsletter, 8th Edition, Winter 2001
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