Christmas 2016

Hi Everybody,
First of all let me express how amazing retirement continues to be for Bill. He
enjoys everyday of it (for the most part). Somehow he finds things to do
constantly except when he is reading or napping or just being lazy. I think he
breaks stuff just so he can putter and tinker with it!
Liz likes to be active but with two major back surgeries, one in 2015 and the big
one this last August, it has been a struggle to say the least. She is finally on the
road to recovery and her must do spirit is an inspiration, perspiration, and
sometimes a frusteration (sic) for Bill. As Liz has recovered the last few months she
has again begun her volunteerism, making bags for the people of Haiti and
putting together small gift bags for underprivileged kids this holiday.
As much as Bill would like to say that we did absolutely nothing in 2016, that
would simply be untrue.
Here is a chronology of our adventures:
December 2015 January 2016
California /Hawaii 25th Wedding Anniversary We left for California on the 22 of
December to LAX rented a car and drove to China Lake (Ridgecrest) to spend
Christmas with our son Tony who is a Petty Officer in the Navy stationed at the
Weapons Testing Base (more on Tony latter).

After an awesome Christmas we drove up the Pacific Coast Hwy to Monterey

and had a great day adventuring the area. We then drove over to
Mountainview and stayed at the only remaining Navy Lodge at the old Moffett
Field which is now the NASA Ames Research Center (best kept secret retired
Military guys). We were able to drive up to Wine Country in Sonoma and have

lunch with our friends Katherine and David at the Glen Ellen Inn We drove back
down on the Oakland side and enjoyed the San Francisco evening skyline.

The next day we drove over to Half Moon Bay and had lunch at the Distillery
restaurant which sits right on the Pacific Ocean, it was perfect. We drove back
over the pass through Hondo which is a magnificent ride through the Redwoods.
We then drove down to Downey where we stayed at the Embassy Suites and
Tony rejoined us there. Lizzy had never been to the Tournament of Roses Parade
so we did that. They even parked the City of Downey float in front of our hotel! It
was so cool, Ken Burns and Cinderella waved to us. The next day on a whim, we
went to the Santa Anita Race Track to watch the ponys run, we even saw Mel
Brooks (BEHIND THE GLASS) it was an amazing day.

With our time in California complete, it was time to jump on a plane and head to
Hawaii. Id like to say our trip to Honolulu was smooth but NOT THE FRIGGIN
CASE UNITED AIRLINES SUCKS with a capital S.
After an hour and fifteen minute traffic jam on the 101, we still were pretty early to
the airport. As we were pulling up in the rental car bus I got a text from United
letting me know that our flight was going to be delayed 3 hours. This was bad
because we had a connecting flight with Hawaiian Airlines (great airline BTW) to
get us over to our condo in Kauai. So we started to deal with the United Agent
when we got inside and to her credit, she tried. We could have gone on an
earlier flight, but like the Seinfeld episode, I would have to give up my First Class
seat so she wanted to keep us on the latter flight. So like a dummy we kept our
seats on the delayed flight. Oh it gets worse the three hour delay turns into a five
hour delay and we find out it was because the pilots phoned in sick (turns out
HUNG OVER). So we leave LAX at 6pm and dont land in Honolulu until 1030pm
Honolulu time. The plane hit headwinds and we were an additional 2 hours late.
Of course for our $4000.00 first class seat we got dog food and all the alcohol we
could drink (Liz doesnt drink). They didnt even have the ice cream sundaes we
were looking forward to. You know, the one where they put the chocolate fudge
at the bottom so you can ratio your ice cream to fudge distribution. BUT IT GETS
WORSE, WAY WORSE.
So we land in Honolulu and the ground crew must be on big time drugs. They
stop the plane short of the gate and run away It takes another 30 minutes to
get the plane to the jet way. Then when we get off the plane they go out of their
way to be as callous and unhelpful as possible. We finally get our luggage and
ask how to get to our next terminal and they point to a school bus. The driver was
helpful and we got to the Hawaiian airlines terminal to find out the last flight had
left for the day but we could get the first flight in the morning. They took us back
over to United just so they could rudely tell us that they had fulfilled their
CONTRACT with us and there would be no compensation. SOOOO we were
able to go to the USO until midnight and then we had to stay in the HOMELESS
area of the Airport until our check-in time at 0330AM for our flight to Kauai.
Hawaiian Airlines could not have been nicer. Their Coach seats were better than
our first class seats on United and the service was superior.
We arrived in Kauai at 630AM and it was night and day from Honolulu. Everyone
from our porter to the rental car to our condo to our Capt. Joe on the Sunset
Napoli Coast Dinner Cruise to the Blue Hawaiian Helicopter Tour, to the Park

Ranger at the Kilauea Light House, to our servers at the Gaylords Brunch and
plantation train ride. Everything in KAUAI exceeded our expectations.

We left Kauai and spent our second week at the Hale Koa Military Resort on
OAHU. We did the traditional LUAU, drove to the North Shore, had shaved Ice
(YUM), drove our yellow convertible Camaro across the pineapple valley, cried at
the Arizona Memorial, drove up the other coast, and had a romantic sunset
dinner at the Hale Koa. Our day at the Dole Pineapple Plantation was so funny.
We shopped for a little bit and then decided to get tickets for the Pineapple
Express train ride tour. When we went to buy the tickets, the seller did everything
he could to talk us out of the train ride, you know you are going to have to wait
in line 25 minutes, you know they picked all the pineapples this morning and all

you will see is the planters with their butts in the air, you know that the train is hot
and crowded.you know you know you know.. After this we decided no train
ride and had pineapple ice cream instead.

After an amazing week in OAHU we boarded the Norwegian Cruise Ship Pride of
America to circle and visit the rest of the Islands and back to Kauai for two more
days. We first stopped at Maui and rented a Nissan Pathfinder (great decision).
We drove the ROAD TO HANA, the first half was challenging and beautiful. We
stopped for lunch at Hana and it was very fun, we then set out on the second
half of the ROAD PAST HANA NEVER FRIGGIN AGAIN. Scariest thing I ever did,
Scarier than vertigo Helo night dipping Scarier than an Engine Failure. JUST
PLAIN SCARY. But on the other side one of the most spectacular scenery views on
Earth.Breathtaking.. Good news is I know what to do next time and it will be
awesome . We turned in our car and went back to the ship, ate dinner and
went to the hot tub where we met some amazing people from St Louis, Bruce

and Renee. We stayed on the ship the next morning and then we were off to
HILO on the big island. We took a bus tour to Kilauea volcano, which looking
back we should have rented a car or gone on the tour with the other friends we
met Kevin and Sunny from New Jersey. It was ok as volcanos go. But where are
you going to go when the volcano blows? After the tour, it was back to the ship
to head over to KONA on the other side of the Big Island. Absolutely loved Kona!
We are going back there. We went on a Coffee and Chocolate tour with a
bunch of fun loving crazy old people like us.. We laughed so hard I spit up my
chocolate. The caffeine rush wore us out and we went back to the ship for lunch.
The crew of the ship took such amazing care of us, it was just a great experience
at every turn. Leaving Kona, Bill went to the Hot tub on the stern of the ship and
met a family from Australia who had made their first visit to a Walmart that day.
They just couldnt believe they could get 1.75 liters of Jack Daniels for 35 US as
they say.. We laughed so hard as they described the Wally World experience
from an Australian perspective. It was amazing to sail away and watch the
sunset. We stayed on the ship for the last two days in Kauai since we had already
been there for a week. It was awesome to have an entire cruise ship and the
staff to ourselves. Liz did a spa day and Bill did fantail Breakfast, Hot tub and the
Pub. Then we did lunch and dinner together We docked back at Honolulu and
took a cab back to the Hilton Hawaiian Village for two more days of rest before
we had to tackle the dreaded United Airlines for the trip home.

Ground folks were even ruder than the trip over. We had lots of time before our
flight so Bill decided to jump into one of those airport massage chairs, after thirty
minutes he bought one online right in the airport to have it delivered when we

got home. The IDEAL chair company was so surprised by the order that they
called Bill in the airport to confirm the purchase. We tried to board the flight but
the gate agent with the ponytail misread our tickets and made us go to the end
of the line. When we pointed out his mistake he rudely told us that it was our fault
for not letting him know. The first class seats on this flight were atrocious! Very
narrow and uncomfortable. The plane had been in Honolulu all day but it was
filthy, no cleaning crew at all. So it was airline dog food and liquor with hand
held tablet entertainment for the trip back. It was miserable. You can put a
fancy name on dogfood but it is still ALPO. We got to Houston at 6AM with no one
to help us to our next gate which was about a mile away. We inquired about a
possible earlier flight but we were told by the awful United customer service
that we had to travel with our luggage, it was policy. Well that was a lie
because our luggage had gone ahead of us to Pensacola the day before.
So we sat and we sat and we sat until our flight to Pensacola left in the afternoon.
We hit severe turbulence and the girl in front of us asked the Flight Attendant for
some Dramamine for which he vulgarly said, We dont do that and then threw an
air sickness bag at her.. She used it and the smell of vomit was lovely for the
remainder of the flight. When we landed at Pensacola, our luggage was
nowhere to be seen so we asked the United Representative to check the cage to
see if our luggage was there. She crudely said, Are you sure your luggage was
checked to Pensacola? Then she reluctantly opened the office and lo and
behold our luggage had arrived on an earlier flight. No apology, just a demand
to see two forms of picture ID from each of us and then ushered us impolitely out
the door. Well it was great to be home until.
February
So Bill had gotten tickets to see the Bruce Springsteen concert in Atlanta. We
were going to have a mini vacation staying at the OMNI hotel in Atlanta and stop
at the Tuskegee Airmen Museum. We were too far from the Museum so we
decided to go to FDRs retreat in Warm Springs. That was very interesting. The
Springsteen concert was awesome and we had amazing seats. It turned out to
be too long for Liz so we left after THREE HOURSLOL and went back to our
room.. He played for 4.5 hours that night WOW what energy for a 65 year old
guy.

The following week on February 23th an F3 Tornado came within 400 yards from
our front door Scary Scary. Our up the street neighbors had their houses torn
apart like they were made of paper.. It looked like a war zone the next morning.
Many houses needed to be demolished and others are still in shambles. The
damage was just under 25 million so no FEMA help for the neighborhood. Gotha
love bureaucracy boy At the GE plant it just picked up wind generators and
threw them about a mile.
The day before the storm Bill had picked up his Lexus SC430 sports car that he
bought when we returned from Hawaii. We had so much fun with the Camaro
that Bill thought it might be fun to have a sports car convertible. We have
enjoyed it very much this last Spring and Summer.
March
We are huge baseball fans, and we were able to go to the Cox Diamond
Baseball Tournament at our Maritime Park. We got to see four of the best college
teams in the country. Michigan St, Auburn, Southern Miss, and Troy.
We went to the Fairhope Arts and Craft festival and Bills Dad came for Easter.
April
Blue Wahoos Baseball Season begins (big part of our life here in Pcola) so back
to the Park we went.

We did three big concerts in one week James Taylor, Beatles Tribute show Let
It Be, and then Comedian Brian Reagan. All three were amazing shows.
May
Bill and his friends Randy and Mike went to the Presidents Cup Hockey
Championship game where are Pensacola Ice Flyers won with .7 seconds on the
clock.
At the end of the month our friends Joe and Lisa arranged for us all to go in a limo
to the Jimmie Buffet Concert. Amazing fun (Thanks Lisa).

June
After three years, Lizs auto accident was finally settled. Her lawyer made sure
she was taken care of for any future medical issues. Liz had a major back surgery
in 2015 to implant a spinal stimulator, however that only gave her minor relief. She
and her surgeon decided to do another test to see what was happening and
why she was in so much pain. After the myelogram, he saw an area of four bone
spurs pushing on her sciatic nerve. He recommended Liz have a laminectomy on
four vertebrae of her spine. This would relieve the pressure and reduce the pain.
We pushed the surgery back to August since Tony was coming home in July for
his birthday.
July/August
Tony came home for the first time in two years. We were very selfish with him
home and tried to do as much as we could. However he is a man now and he
had things he wanted to do with his friends. The time went very fast but we sure
enjoyed him being home. He has decided to reenlist and has just gotten orders to
the USS Lincoln as a Non Destructive Inspector. He will be here in Pensacola next
summer to attend the school to learn Dye penetrant and parts x-ray along with
ultrasonic inspection.
After Tonys visit life became a blur. Liz had her workup for her surgery and all the
tests that go with that.
The surgery was August 9th and it was a big deal. Liz had a rough time with the
anesthesia and she had to get a catheter. She stayed in the hospital three days
and was total care when she came home. After a week the catheter was
removed but what we didnt know was that she had a hidden infection. Another

week went by and Liz had her post op but two days later the infection kicked in
and she was very sick. By Saturday she was so weak she couldnt stand and she
had a high fever so Bill took her to the ER. She was admitted immediately with
Pneumonia and a severe UTI (sepsis). The next few days were very scary as she
was not getting better. The Doctors and Nurses did everything they could, IV
fluid, antibiotic, breathing treatments. By Monday morning Liz looked like she was
on deaths door.
That afternoon the Doctor determined from Lizs labs that she had too much fluid
around her heart and ordered Lasix. Within 30 minutes Liz eliminated about
gallon of urine. By Tuesday morning it was amazing she had her color back, her
fever was gone, and her appetite was back. She was released from the hospital
that afternoon and has been on a steady road to recovery since.
September
The month of September was devoted to Liz getting Home health physical
therapy. It really helped.
By the end of September our friends Janice and Rick came to visit and also Lizs
sister Nancy and her friend Joe.
October
We started to get back on the fun wagon in October. We had front row seats to
the Russian Grand Ballet for Swan Lake which was absolutely amazing. We went
to New Orleans to see Lizs Sister Lori and Scotts new house and to attend our
niece Sydneys marriage party. Bill finally got to meet Mario, Sydneys husband.
For Bills birthday we went to the Dockside Caf in Niceville, and then to the Frank
Sinatra Tribute (Brian Dupree) show at the Mattie Kelly Center. FABULOUS!
At the end of the month Bill was invited to sit on an Old Warriors panel at the
NHA Fly in at Whiting Field. It was great to see old friend and meet new ones. It
was a special day since the panel was held in the room where we met 28 years
ago.

November
It turned out that we traveled most of the month of November and although we
had a blast, it wore us both out. We headed over to St Augustine the first
weekend and took Dad and my Cousin Tom Valentin to the Navy- Notre Dame
Game.
Navy WON!
We then came home for a quick repack and headed over to Texas A&M the
next weekend for a combine class K-2 reunion. It was really neat to see Corps of
Cadet Brothers that I havent seen in forty years and hear their stories. It was so
special since we went to Tom and Patti Felts house Friday night for a short party
with Knox and Jackie, Brandon Gaines, Tom Elgin and Mann Kavakar. Then Liz
and I went to the Aggie Basketball game. The next day Curt (Bills roommate)
and Colette came by and we did UBER for the first time.. It was a blast. John our
UBER guy took us right to the tailgate spot.
We tailgated, had a BBQ with the K-2 unit and toured the new quad area.. Just a
perfect time. Tonys bestie from High School, Tyler Bryant joined us and was our
escort to see the Bush School of Government, where he is a Grad Student.
The Bus ride over to the Bush school was an Aggie Joke! We had to change
buses since the one we were on was going out of service while 100K people were
trying to make it to the stadium for the football game. Of course they had been
drinking since 9AM and were loading while we were trying to unload. All they
wanted to do was get to the game. Ringling Bros. should add this to their Circus
How many Aggies can you get on a bus?
After we MOSHed off the bus.. We all got back together and had an amazing
tour of the Bush School. The Bushes were in town that weekend and they were
staying at their Apartment at the School.
After our tour we ordered an UBER and Ian our driver was there in about 6
minutes. It was only a 10 minute drive back to our hotel, we got some snacks and
beer and watched the game on our big screen in our suite. Really a great time
with Curt and Collette
We took two days to get home and rest before we headed back over to New
Orleans to see the whole family at Scott and Loris house for Thanksgiving.
Everyone was there but Tony, so all his cousins made him a sign and sent him a
picture.

This last Saturday was our dear friend Debbie Joslyns birthday. She was 60 years
young and it is hard to believe that 27 years have gone by since Liz met her for
the first time. We hope we have 27 more great years ahead.
On Monday, Liz and I went over to Orange Beach, AL to see our Niece Matte
play in the Womens Soccer National Championship Finals. She plays for
Cumberland University in Nashville on defense. Her boyfriend Harry was at the
game to and it has been great to get to know him better. He is a really great guy.
Well they lost in the opening round but it was a trill to see her play at that level.
December
It is time to take it easy for the month of December.
A few doctor, dentist and Colonoscopy appointments OH BOY!!!!!
We take a bowl of medicine in the morning and a bowl and a shot before we go
to bed.
Our Doctors keep telling us we are very healthy as we pay on the way out..
GETTING OLD GETS GREATER AND GREATER!!!!!! Or OLDER AND OLDER
We love you all and may God Bless you as he has us this Christmas and for the
New Year!

All Our Love,

Bill & Liz Dickup (Still, Proud Navy Parents)