Marty Grumbles Harris recently celebrated a “Golden Birthday”. Her mother (Rose Miranda Grumbles) always told her that if you were lucky, you celebrated two golden birthdays in your lifetime; One when you turn the age of the date you were born and one when you turn the age of the year you born. Marty turned 58 and was born in 1958! Her niece Amber Grumbles also celebrated by turning 30 on the 30th and grandson Braden Minton turned 22 on the 22nd. Marty enjoyed dinner with Tom, Jarrad & Gwen Grumbles and Pam Martinez at Manhattans. Everyone had an enjoyable time, even when Tom attempted to pay for the meal on the Home Depot card! The waiter took it all in stride.
Tom & Marty recently returned from a vacation to Gold Beach, Oregon. Marty spent some school years there and remains in contact with many of her classmates. The Oregon classmates celebrated their 40th reunion and Marty crashed it, as she has since their 20th reunion. They enjoyed the annual “Fireman’s Breakfast” on Saturday morning. An “all you can eat pancake/egg meal” fundraiser held in the local park by the volunteer fireman. Marty has memories of her dad (Leon Grumbles) standing on HWY 101 directing any and all toward the park for the event. Tom got attacked by a blackberry bush when he attempted to pick that ultimate blackberry that he just knew was the best on the vine. The weather was fabulous and the view from the rental home was awesome. A big Thank You goes to Billy Wayne and Liela Ray Smith for house sitting while they were gone. It provided peace of mind for a very relaxing trip.
Lewis and Shirley Ivey recently made a memorable vacation traveling with good friends, Wayne and Cindi Clark. Wayne wrote and graciously shared the following notes about their trip to Wyoming and Montana. I understand that Wayne planned the details of the trip except maybe the idea of spending three nights in a teepee. Here’s his story.
We left Houston, headed to Denver for a connecting flight to Billings, Montana. As we were about to touch down in Denver the plane pulled up, and began climbing again. There was a plane on the run way and we had to avoid being on the same runway. This delayed our landing and reduced the time for the connecting flight. Thanks to Lewis and Cindi they were able to get to the connecting flight to make sure that we all got on that plane. Shirley commented that obviously she and I would be bait for the bears if we encountered one in Yellowstone! We arrived safely in Billings and after calling Uber, and helping the driver find the car rental location, we were off to grab a bite to eat, then on to The Little Big Horn. The Battlefield is a historic location where General Custer and his men of the 7th Calvary died. Several members of various tribes of Indians died trying to protect their style of living. Throughout the hillsides and valleys you will see hundreds of markers depicting the spots where men fell in battle from both sides. It was surreal to be on this sacred ground that helped shaped the future of our country.
The next day we were off to Cody, Wyoming where each couple had reservations to stay at Trout Ranch in Teepees along the Shoshone River. They were nicely furnished, but did not have electricity and at night a flashlight was needed to use the outside facilities. Our first night there we attended a western style chuck wagon dinner, then saw the Cody Rodeo which is a nightly event from June 1st through August 31st. Sleeping by the river that night in the teepee was nice and the next morning we headed out to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful, about 115 miles from Cody. Entering Yellowstone the speed limit is a maximum of 45mph but I would say the average is about 25mph due to tourist and animals in the roadway. It is difficult to describe the beautiful drive from Cody to Old Faithful. We stopped at many sites along the way to take pictures and to simply witness in a personal manner the beauty that God was allowing us to behold. Several geysers are active around Old Faithful and at any time steam billowing from beneath the ground can erupt above the tree tops. Old faithful is the most predictable of the geysers and we were not disappointed. Working with boilers, it was an awesome experience to witness these underground boilers at work! That night in the teepee was an unforgettable experience when a thunderstorm made the walls feel like they were going to blow away. These teepees were well built and withstood the wind although no one explained the Indian technology of how to close the flap at the top. As the rain begin to come inside, Cindy and I could hear Lewis’ frustration in the next teepee. Shirley convinced him to endure the night and by morning most of our stuff was wet. We were glad that Lewis decided to cancel our third night in the teepee. It was an adventure that was over; certainly never forgotten and eventually, funny!
We moved to a hotel in Cody where we visited The Buffalo Bill Center of The West Museum. If you plan to go, allow a couple of days to tour this museum and you may be able to see all of the artifacts, artwork, and history lessons of how people lived and expanded in the Great West. Later, we explored the many stores and shops of downtown Cody and learned more about how Buffalo Bill Cody helped found this town that bears his name. It was said that Buffalo Bill was the most popular and most recognized man in the world during his time. He was a scout, business man, actor, entrepreneur, and great hunter and entertained world leaders with his Broadway style shows.
The next morning we left Cody driving through Yellowstone, on our way to The Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole Wyoming. This drive was spectacular! We encountered wildlife, boiling springs, lakes, waterfalls, crystal clear rivers and streams. One is in constant awe of the surroundings you see in every turn. We stopped at numerous locations, taking pictures as the Parks Service provides many turn arounds to view locations of interest. We begin to see lakes and valleys leading to the Tetons and many photo spots are ones seen on post cards but no way can pictures describe these majestic mountains and valleys. Clear weather allowed us great views of the snow covered peaks. Several fires were raging in the park, yet the wind was pushing most of the smoke away from the mountains.
Arriving in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, we toured downtown, took in a street show depicting a Wild West street fight and had photos taken in the middle of the town park with its four archways that are lined with Elk Horns sheds that are collected from the Elk refuge just outside of town. We found out that two of Cindi’s brothers had been to these very spots years ago so this was a special place for her to see. Jackson is a popular ski resort town and one thing that we found was ski lifts running that take you to the tops of the ski slope in town. From here one can see for miles on end and there are tables you can sit at and enjoy the view. Various posters describe the mountains that are visible, and you are looking down on the town itself. That evening we took a float trip down the Snake River which took us to within two miles of the Grand Tetons. It was a very smooth ride which lasted about two hours, and took us past many exotic plants, wildlife such as beavers, eagles, foxes, and hawks. We saw a cow moose and her two babies as well. Two bears had been reported in the area, but sadly we did not see them. That was a good thing for Shirley and myself.
The last day in Jackson we had a tip of a good place to eat breakfast that John Ralph had recommend called Bubba’s. We were not disappointed as the breakfast was very good and the biscuits were huge. After filling ourselves and the car we began about an eight hour journey back to Billings where once again we travelled through Yellowstone, and had the blessings of seeing many sites that we had not seen. We only toured the Eastern Entrance and the Southern Entrance to this magnificent park and many other geysers, canyons, waterfalls, are in the Northern and Western sections. Hopefully one day we will get to complete the other half of Yellowstone.
While some are traveling around the United States, others are here at home getting ready for the upcoming hunting season to open. Some of those who bought licenses include: Bryan Wilson; Eugene May; Jimmy Trout; Billy Averitt; Robert Ramsey and his son, Cash; Ray Anthony; John and Carolyn Richards; Bob Davis; Mike Davis; Terry Carr; P. E. Shipp; Junior and Letha Grandgeorge; Jay Shands; Bubba Nevills; Kenneth Capps; Joe Loftin; Jason Cook; Raymond Bounds; Melvin Linton and Hunter Linton.
Be sure to check the Diboll Day calendar in the Diboll Free Press for the many “fun” fundraising events that will be going on until the big day, October 1, 2016.
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