July 18, 2009
Dear, beloved Holy Trinity Family,
Greetings from one of the most beautiful places on Earth! We arrived here safely on Wednesday, exactly
18 minutes after our Estimated Time of Arrival of 4.00 pm local time, after having traveled through the
heartland of America into Yellowstone and down to Jackson.
We have seen glorious sights and been blessed with zero trouble on our way here. Topping our list of
stops was the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota, and Wall Drugs in Wall, SD--and let's just say, Wall
Drugstore raises "kitsch" to an art form. We have a photo of Steph sitting astride a large jackalope
[report at eleven].
Last night we "opened" Beethoven's Ninth to tumultuous applause, and I was reminded yet again of the
power of music in the world. This was Stephanie's first opportunity to experience performance at this
professional level, and we could not but be overwhelmed by the emotion of the evening.
On Thursday we rafted down the Snake River, and apart from nearly going overboard at a particularly
"fun" set of rapids called "Lunchcounter," we had a tremendously fun time. I remain grateful for the
stirrup into which I had jammed my left foot, and the rope attached to the side of the raft . . . both of
which kept me on board. Again the scenery was fully breathtaking--we saw three bald eagles, one an
adolescent who had not yet acquired his white crown, an osprey having his lunch and other spectacular sights.
Today we plan to go horseback riding [Stephanie has never ridden], sit at the cowboy bar in Jackson Hole,
and who-knows-what-all . . . we leave tomorrow for home. Our travel itinerary will include a slower transit,
taking time to visit Old Faithful, and some tourist places we discovered on our way out here.
We miss you all . . . We love you, and we hope you all will actually remember who this note is coming
from. And of course, we both thank you all for giving us the time for this journey . . .
Blessings,
Jim+ and Steph
