Remembering Grandpa Andy

Last month, my Grandpa Andy passed away. I was lucky enough to be able to fly down to Kansas for the funeral and spend some time with my dad's family.

The afternoon I flew in, a handful of us gathered for dinner near our hotel in Kansas City, MO.

My sister and I

The next day was the visitation, funeral and luncheon in Eudora. It was a nice time with family and friends remember Grandpa Andy.

After the visitation and burial, we walked over the the church hall for a nice luncheon.

Grandma Andy's memorial window in the church hall.

The Andersons

My parents, sister, uncle, and I

Siblings

Cousins

After the luncheon, and a quick tour of the town my dad grew up in, we all headed back to the hotel and spent some time looking through old family pictures. We then headed out to a big family dinner, while everyone was still in town.

Toasting Grandpa Andy

My cousins' kids hugging their Uncle Fireball

The next day we spent the day in nearby Lawrence, and we all headed home the next day. While we miss Grandpa Andy, we are happy he is with Grandma now - and that we were all able to spend some extra time together.

Labor Day Weekend in Juneau

This Labor Day weekend, we took a belated anniversary trip (13 years!) to Juneau, Alaska. We flew in on a very bumpy flight Thursday night and checked into our AirBNB on Douglas. Friday morning, after a filling breakfast at the Sandpiper Cafe downtown, we drove out to the end of the North Douglas Highway and checked out the Rainforest Loop trail and beach.

The view of Juneau across the Gastineau Channel from our AirBNB in Douglas

French toast at the Sandpiper!

After our hike, we headed back to Juneau and visited some friends at my alma mater, the University of Alaska Southeast. Its such a pretty campus! They were prepping for Campus Kickoff in the pouring down rain!

The beautiful Egan Library on campus

After the rain stopped (and a quick nap!), we headed back to the Auke Bay area for the best Thai in the state - Chan's Thai!

After dinner, we went for a drive north and checked out the new Lena Beach Recreation Site.

Views of Tee Beach from a highway pullout

Saturday was a rainy day, so we played tourist and did some shopping downtown.

Delicious fish tacos at Deckhand Dave's

Had to get my Heritage Coffee fix!

Sunday we headed back to Rainforest Trail beach for one last beach walk. The rain had cleared, and it was a gorgeous day!

Then we headed downtown on got on the Mount Robert Tram to go up the mountain and do some hiking.

Tourists are funny

The tram!

Looking down from the tram

A view of Father Brown's Cross from the tram's lodge

We made it!

We kept going another level above the cross!

Sunday night we had dinner with some friends on Douglas. Monday morning we checked out of our AirBNB and drove north of Juneau to the Shine of St. Therese.

After a quick nap in the car, we headed back downtown for a snack and to check out the whale sculpture on the water.

Crepes!

We ended the trip with an anniversary pizza dinner at the Island Pub on Douglas. It was a great weekend getaway!

Denali, Anchorage, and the sunset on the flight home

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