This is a blog of Lynn and Teresa’s Camino. I created it as they were going. Most of this was written by me; so we are missing the key voices of our story. As they started to contribute, I quoted their comments. Maybe when they get back, they’ll update it or create a new page in their voice.

This pilgrimage on “The Way of St. James” has been on Lynn’s bucket list for years. St. James was one of Jesus’ apostles. Lynn and Teresa are taking on this amazing adventure together. They’ll be walking 150 miles over the next two weeks; September 9, 2025 thru September 23, 2025.

Wednesday:

The trip from Cincinnati, through Paris, to Porto, Portugal was uneventful. The best kind of trip abroad. The Hotel Jaguar is very cool, kinda of boutique-ish. They’ve already met others on their trip. Thursday is a day to acclimatize to the new timezone and tour the city of Porto. The big trek starts on Friday.

This is their route. They are going north. Each red pin is a stop. The last leg is actually two days.

Thursday:

Today was a “spa” day. They each had a “Send Off” massage at the Grand Bleu Spa in downtown Porto. They’ll go out for lunch and then tour the city more.

They have met 4 people already in the group! All ladies, their age or older! Two from Chicago and two from California/Texas!

Friday:

Today did NOT start the walk. They are touring the city more. But they do get their first stamp today at the Porto Cathedral. The weather is great. They’re having a wonderful trip.

They met more pilgrims from their group. Total of 12 now? All women similar to them. Middle-age, affluent, husbands stayed back.

My theory is men like to walk the Camino the old way; carry everything with you, stay at Hostels. These women are more modern. Get a guy to take your luggage to the next hotel while you walk.

Saturday is a group tour of Porto. At 1:00pm (WEST) they take a bus north to Spain and start with a short walk. They stay at hotel Bahia Baoina.

Saturday:

The Camino has officially started. Today was a short walk. All uphill.

Lynn’s backpack, that she used for training, has been deemed too heavy and she got a new one. The weather is great. Dinner is at 8:00. They start the first 15 miles walk tomorrow at 6:30am.

Notes from Lynn:

There is a photo from the Portugal side looking into Spain. The fortress granite walls was to protect Portugal from Spain during battles. Portugal gained independence from Spain as a result of those wars.

We crossed the “International Bridge” from Portugal to Spain and that beautiful sign that says “Portugal” is shown as you enter the country.

Our feet one is cool… Halfway across the International Bridge is the Portugal/Spain boundary. Teresa is standing in Portugal and I am in Spain. We thought that was cool.

We are standing under the Spain sign when we crossed the bridge.

A cathedral where we got our 2nd stamp on our passport. Interesting fact is that there are “pilgrim makeshift” clinics along the way that are free for minor issues.

Manuel is our guide and leader.

Sunday:

Itinerary: This is the real start of your journey. May every step be a thought on peace and an extension of loving kindness. Leave Baiona behind, and follow the coast across the Rias Baixas through the beach town of Nigrån. Walk along long pristine beaches and admire the magnificent Cies Islands from a distance. Vigo is Galicia’s most important harbor and busiest city

Our pilgrams treked 15.5 miles today. It took them 8 hours including stops for food and meditation along the sea.

Notes from Lynn:

A unique bridge into a small town—it was beautiful and then on the other side was this memorial lit up with shells (the symbol of the Camino), and stones with people’s names on them. We received our shells on the first day and tied them to our backpacks. When you see those with these shells on their backpacks, you know they are our fellow pilgrims.

These stones were all along the beach (see photo), and there was a marker on a huge rock so all pilgrims can place a name on their stone. Teresa chose a special stone for Eleanor, and I chose a little larger one for Jorden. We placed them on the beach in the sand with a special prayer for each of our precious grandchildren. There were hundreds left there by other pilgrims.

The Camino trail is marked with yellow arrows. Along the way, when we stop for a Americano or lunch, we receive a special stamp on our Camino passport. These stamps are important as they are required in order to receive the last stamp of completion in Santiago.

Many water stations and bathrooms along the way for pilgrims.

Monday:

Itinerary: Take in the stunning views of Vigo Bay, the Atlantic Islands, the Morrazo Peninsula, and Rande Bridge. After a pleasant walk on an unpaved path through woodlands, reach Redondela. Our driver will take you to the hotel in the centre of Pontevedra, where you will spend the next two nights. You may wish to visit the stunning Sanctuary of the Virgin Pilgrim.

Lynn and Teresa experienced Camino pilgrims’ friendships today that strengthened their understanding of blessings in suffering. Today’s 10 mile trek was relatively easy except for the rain. They each brought rain gear but didn’t take it on the hike. Two people from their group shared extra Patagonia jackets.

Notes from them:

This morning on the Camino, they both decided to skip packing their raincoats since the forecast promised nothing but sunshine. Naturally, partway through the wooded stretch, the skies opened up. They figured they would just deal with being soaked, but two pilgrims passing by offered extra ponchos and jackets they had tucked away.

At first, Lynn and Teresa said no—they didn’t want to take these other pilgrim’s gear—but after a few minutes more down the trail, one of the men stopped and insisted, saying it wasn’t right to carry gear that could help someone else and not share it.

He said “after all, the Camino always provides what you need.” So they accepted, and later met them again in the next town to return the borrowed gear.

If they had not experienced the chilly extreme discomfort  of the rain and downpour, they would never have be encountered this act of giving as they did today. Lynn and Teresa wanted to do a nice gesture for these pilgrims who lent them their gear. Due to no access to thank you notes or a small token or appreciation, they promised to pay forward to others along the way.

Tuesday:

Itinerary: After a short transfer back to Redondela, continue your journey; first uphill by the coast with stunnning views over the Vigo Bay and across the infamous Ponte Sampaio bridge, where Napoleon’s Army suffered one of the greatest defeats during the War of Independence. Continue then mostly downhill, through peaceful oak forests and along the river to the center of Pontevedra, the city founded by the Romans and dedicated to the Virgen Peregrina (the Pilgrim Virgin).

They had another good day today. The weather was better but the path was harder. 13 miles with several hills. The food at the hotel wasn’t very impressive so they skipped and had a big Italian lunch. I keep hearing “We’re going to bed early today”. And then I get a phone call at 11:30pm their time.

Notes from them:

Teresa and Lynn keep seeing blessings along the Camino, and everyday is better than the next! Today was a lot of uphill and 13 miles of terrain, but we did it!

You will see photos of they small C as they walked into town. It was a beautiful path with the numerous people, and homes that were always very modest but so beautiful. The towns’ people are so kind and watching them sweep their porches, tend to their flowers, and walk with their small canvas bags full of groceries was so delightful. Simple lives but seem so happy!

You will see the Camino signs that ensure we are on the right path! (yellow and blue decides the way). We love to bump into in fellow pilgrims each day that we met and spoke to the day before. One of our favorites

Wednesday

Itinerary: Leave the inland Portuguese Camino to take the Spiritual Variant, which follows St. James’ final journey. Legend says that a stone vessel carried the Apostle’s remains from Jaffa in Israel to Padrön along the River Ulla some 2000 years ago. Today, you will walk past the Monastery of San Juan de Poio and the beautiful town of Combarro, famous for its many horreos (traditional granaries on pillars). After Combarro, continue another two miles along the coast to reach the hotel.

The post 2025 Camino de Santiago first appeared on LeRoy Family Blog.

The trip started with Mom’s memorial service in Michigan. That was better than we expected. Father Dave was short and pointless, but very relatable. Mary did a very nice job with comments about everyone. The luncheon was great too. I was really impressed that so many people came for Mom.

Lynn and I were home only a couple days before we left again for Colorado to visit Mary and Paul. It was a great visit. They put the mountain house on the market for sale. I hope it doesn’t sell. But, we had lots of fun mountain activities:

• Bike Ride – We took a mountain bike ride from Vail Pass down to Frisco. It was only 12 miles and all downhill. The weather was beautiful and the scenary was spectacular.
• Dinner at Ski tips – One of Paul and Mary’s favorite restaurants is Skip Tip Lodge at Keystone. We loved the format. There is a single menu with two choices of salad, starter, entree, and dessert, you get choose one from each course. Everything was awesome. We ate our dessert on the patio.
• Hanging Lake – This was a major highlight of the trip. We hiked up to Hanging Lake. It’s 1.2 miles long and has a 1,200 feet incline. It was a tough climb but well workth the effort. At 9,000 feet, the altitude is the challenge. It’s hard to breath up there.

After three days in Colorado, we left for Missoula to catchup with Nathan and Matthew. Another great trip. Nathan and Hannah went to Glacier National Park and met us at Matthew’s. Jorden and Mikey were there too. It was fun to hang out together.

• The “M” – We hiked The M at the University of Montana. It’s about a mile climb and a 600 ft incline.
• Whitewater Rafting – Our trip was down the Alberton Gorge. It is a 10 mile ride. The funny part is Bob was the only one to fall out. Otherwise the trip was great. Just enough rapids to make it interesting and plenty of floating to relax. We stopped at a big rock to jump off. It was only about 10 feet up but it always feels higher when you’re about to jump. Lynn went first!!
• Visiting – The best part was sitting around the AirBnB just talking and telling stories. It was the great.

One other funny story was the awful travel. Sometimes you get no breaks.

• The drive home from Michigan, we got stuck 45 minutes from home in a construction zone for 2.5 hours.
• Driving to Mountain House from the Denver airport, there was an accident on I-70 and it took us six hours to get up the mountain via US-6.
• Our flight from Denver to Missoula as delayed seven hours due to weather.

The post 2025 Colorado and Montana first appeared on LeRoy Family Blog.

Day one was Breckenridge – It was a beautiful day. We skied most of the day with sunny skies. The crowds were minimal so we covered a lot of ground. At lunch, we got a great spot at the Robbie’s Bar right on the mountain. The highlight may have been riding the “Imperial Express”. It’s the highest life in North America, topping out at 12,840 feet.

Day two at Vail – The weather called for snow to start dumping at 6:00am and we weren’t disappointed. By the end of the day we had at least 9 inches of new powder. It made for some great tracks. As soon as we arrived, we headed for the back bowls. Visibilty was awful but the skiing was great.

Day three at Beaver Creek – Our last day was another great one. Very short lines and great snow conditions. We found some fresh powder up in McCoy’s park, did some cool tree runs, and lots of trips down Larkspur Express. I love how big the Colorado mountains are.

The post 2025 Guys Ski Trip first appeared on LeRoy Family Blog.

February 3rd – Golf with Russ Schwartz and John McLaughlin at Old Corkscrew and then dinner at Bevy’s in Naples. We had dinner with Carin and Brian at Oak and Stone.
Feb 8th/9th – Venice beach with the Daventry friends. Lynn went shopping with the girls. Bob played Sarasota National golf course.
Feb 9th – Vanderbuilt Beach with our Swaim Field friends. The Allison’s came to visit and we watched the Super Bowl at the McLaughlin’s condo. Lots of work that week and dinners. Friday we played golf at Peplican Marsh; a beautiul golf course.
Feb 16th – Carin invited us to play her executive golf course at the Villages of Country Creek and then dinner again at O&S. That was a great day. On Tuesday, we had dinner at Meghan’s house. And Lynn’s Mom arrived on Thursday. Friday was golf at Arrowhead.
Feb 23th – We had brunch at the main Grandezza Club dining room. That was special because Mom, Sheila Hague and Gladys Larson all were there. Tuesday Gladys goes home and Wednesday we all leave.

Lynn and I spent a LOT of time with Mom.

• Dinner the day after we arrived at Bone Fish.
• Visits about every other day. The drive is 20 minutes each way.
• I played Bingo with her on Monday’s at 6:00pm
• She lost a hearing-aid so we scheduled an appointment and I took her to get tested for new aids.
• Brunch at Grandezza

The post Florida 2025 first appeared on LeRoy Family Blog.

One afternoon, I hear someone outside the laundry rooom. I found several boys playing in the snow. Two on sleds and one with a real snowboard. I didn’t realize the hill next to our house was a good sledding hill.

Lynn agreed to go sledding. It was a great time!

The post Snowy Cincinnati first appeared on LeRoy Family Blog.

Lynn had a very busy week preparing to be away for eight days. Shortly after we boarded, she started feeling really bad. By the time we got to the hotel, she was down for the count. We got a covid test and, of course, it’s positive. The next two days she locked herself in the hotel room. I moved into Nathan’s room.

Day 1 – Lynn’s doctor ordered up some Paxlovid. While Lynn tried to recover, the guys went hiking in the local hills, got dinner together, and hung out a Matthew’s apartment.

Day 2 – She wasn’t better but rallied a bit as we drove to Yellowstone. That’s a long trip from Missoula. Four hours to get to the park; 90 minutes inside the part to arrive at the Yellowstone Lake Hotel.

Day 3 – Feeling a bit better, we took the Yellowstone South Loop drive. It’s amazing how big that park is. The South Loop is an easy two hour drive. Our stops included:

• West Thumb with many amazing hot springs. It’s so cool to see the water just boiling in the pools. The water is clear and deep but boiling like crazy. It’s not an illusion, if you touch it, it’s HOT.
• Old Faithful is definitely something to see. But it’s not the only geyser there. They all shoot very high in the air.
• Lots of other stops along the way too. So many geysers, falls and overlooks. We were on the road for most of the day.

Day 4 – Ready to vacation again, we headed for the North Loop and made lots of stops.

• We started at the “Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone”. This really felt like the Grand Canyon. The erosion from the river and falls were stunning.
• Our drive through Lamar Valley was to look for wildlife. We found it in Bison. There are SO many, it’s amazing. They’re HUGE and everywhere. But we didn’t see any bears.
• The valley follows the Lamar River, Lynn wanted to stop at a “Rivery River” stop. Nathan and Matthew were climbing on the big rocks/boulders. Nathan slipped and got to ride home in his “skivies”.
• Our stop at Mammoth Hot Springs was really cool. The Travistine (expelled Limestone) created a massive mountain over the springs.
• Norris Geyser is unique in that most of the other geysers are just hot water. Norris is sulfuric acid. You shouldn’t touch this water and it looks like your on another planet.

Day 5 – We returned to Missoula. Again the drive out of the park took two hours and then another four to get back to Missoula.

Day 6 – Nathan headed for home. Matthew and Lynn toured Missoula. I worked.

Day 7 – We flew home. Our best option was to leave afternoon and arrive home at 1:00am

The post First Visit to Matthew in Montana first appeared on LeRoy Family Blog.

We did some dinners and hung out in her new apartment at Amavida. I was also lucky enough to play golf twice.

1. Carin and I played together at her course in the Villages of Country Creek. We did well together.
2. Meghan and I played against Ricky and Max at Grandezza. Our game of cart scramble ended in a tie.

The post Visit Mom first appeared on LeRoy Family Blog.

It was a great trip. We arrived a few days early so we could explore the area. It’s all desert (warm, sunny, and dry) with some really beautiful mountains. Nathan, Hannah, Lynn and I troured Zion Park on foot. It was a great day of hiking.

The next day we drove the Ironman bike course and it took us almost as much time it would for the athletes. Matthew arrived on Friday and he joined me and Lynn on an electric bikeride through Zion. That was really special too. We did the Narrows hike and then Matthew and I climbed Scout’s Landing. That was a VERY hard climb.

The race itself was impressive. We were up and at the swim course before sunrise. The pro’s started at sun-up. It took Nathan an hour to start after the pro start. He finished the whole race in under seven hours. He averages 10 minute miles on the run. You can see his results on the Ironman Website Results Page.

The winners were hard to believe. Average 28mph for the bike and 5:27 for the run. Insane!!

The post Ironman 70.3 first appeared on LeRoy Family Blog.

This year Jorden joined us. Because Matthew was in Montana, Jorden flew with me. We got upgraded to first class on the flight to Denver. They had a full meal ready for us. Since we already ate in the airport I passed; but, Jorden had a second breakfast.

We picked up Matthew in Denver and drove up the mountain and headed directly for Keystone where we skied half the day. The snow was good and it got us a nice warm-up for the rest of the week. The next day we skied Vail, which is always epic, and then Beavercreek the last day.

The weather was beautiful with cool temps and clear blue skies. Unfortunately, the day we left, they got a foot of snow. Maybe next year.

The worst part of the trip was Matthew fell on “Ripsaw” and dislocated his shoulder. The ski patrol was there quickly and gave him a complimentary sled ride down the mountain. The doctors at the onsite urgent care had him fixed up in less than 90 minutes.

Here’s a video of the trip:

The post Guys Ski Trip 2024 first appeared on LeRoy Family Blog.

The weather was perfect at 78 degress and hardly a cloud in the sky. We drove the Porsche to Melissa Palmer’s. That was a tough drive due to all the traffic. Our usual 60 minute drive became over 90 minutes. But, driving a convertible in perfect weather is hard to complain about.

Some key points that I loved the most:
1. As it got dark, the temp was noticable cooler
2. The animals did NOT get quiet
3. Seeing the corona of the sun was indescribable
4. It seemed like dawn but 360 degrees

We tried to take pictures but none worked very well. Here are some that I though were better:
* Eclipse for Skylink – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ust2eR3nhJc
* Eclipse from James Webb Telescope: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2127373170805852/permalink/2310705759139258/?mibextid=WC7FNe&rdid=Q327YSa0mj5DSOIE

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