Merry Christmas!
Family, football games, a rocket launch, the musical Hamilton on Broadway, a trip to DC, and a little jaunt to Montana and one to Park City, Utah, have been some of our exciting adventures this year. It seems like we covered almost as much distance as Santa does on Christmas Eve. Our 22-day Porsche road trip took us to no fewer than seven national parks and 16 states, with jaunts to Carhenge in Nebraska. We tugged on Superman’s cape in Metropolis, Illinois, and went up the arch in St. Louis. We saw 96-degree temperatures and we saw snow in Yellowstone. We went from 500 feet elevation to 12,000 feet. This trip was a lifelong dream.
This was the year of cousins and I had the opportunity to see the University of Georgia play football for the first time after living in Georgia for 41 years. We saw the Vanderbilt game in Athens, then we went to Jacksonville for the Georgia-Florida game with one of Suzanne’s cousins and his wife. Another of her cousins and his girlfriend provided us a home base for a visit to Cape Canaveral with one of our grandsons, Sloan. We awoke at 0300 and drove over to the Cape to watch a right on time launch of a Space X Falcon 9 rocket. The sky was clear, and we were able to watch the rocket climb into the sky, slowly nose over, and then disappear over the horizon.
We spent Suzanne’s birthday in New York City and saw Hamilton. We made it into the Guinness Book of World Records on National Sikh Day, where Sikhs from all over gathered in Time Square to educate people about their faith and to tie turbans on 10,000 people. It was a spiritual experience that we will never forget.
Our goal is to take each of our nine grandchildren on an exciting trip, at least once every three-years. Sloan chose a rocket launch and Jacob chose Washington, D.C. Jodi had testified before the State House and Senate for the Hands-Free Georgia Bill that was signed in July, and Jacob had accompanied her to the Capitol numerous times and was present when Governor Nathan Deal signed the bill into law in July. Suzanne worked some wonderful magic and arranged meetings with Senator Johnny Isaacson, Senator David Purdue, and Representative Austin Scott. Representative Scott’s office arranged a private tour of the Capitol for us, which was even more special since the intern was one of the Mercer University football players. We participate in “Feed the Bears” each fall as Mercer football season begins, and our intern was one of the eight football players who came to dinner. He’s always happy to see us at the games!
Our last trip of the year was to Park City, Utah, where we enjoyed spending time with dear friends from Charlotte and one of our young friends in Salt Lake City. Sometimes family has nothing to do with blood. We explored the area and hit the highlights we missed on our three-week road trip, including the Winter Olympics Training Facility, Wendover Air Field, and the salt flats. It snowed while we were there, and we think we’ve already seen enough snow for 2018.
Suzanne has cut back on work and now teaches part time at two schools, which allows us to do more traveling and to spend more time with family. Her book, Lessons From My Father, will be released in August, so she’s busy enough working with her publisher. With choir, church, family, and friends, there are plenty of activities to keep us busy. It has been an excellent year, and we look forward to the coming year to see what adventures await us!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Suzanne and Bob Minarcine
Dr. Suzanne Minarcine 