Our Adventure

Katie and I went on a fantastic Alaska adventure and fishing trip from July 30 to August 10, 2010.  We joined Katie’s sister, Sara and her husband, John Textoris in Columbus, OH, and traveled to Phoenix AZ, from there to Seattle, WA, and then on to Sitka, Alaska, and the final stop in Juneau.  This started a wonderful experience in Juneau, with whale watching, a float plane flight to the Taku Glacier and a salmon dinner at Taku Lodge and a hike out to the very impressive Mendenhall Glacier just a few miles outside Juneau.  We rode the tram up the 1,800 ft. Mt Roberts, and the next day John and I climbed to the top on the Mt Roberts Trail, and rode the tram down.  A beautiful view, and a great workout!

A few days later we were joined in Juneau by Katie’s sister, Lolly and her husband Pete Gray, who is a talk show host on a fishing talk show in San Diego, “Let’s Talk Hookup”,  and friends Peggy and Rich Topp, and Denise Werner.  Pete had arranged a wonderful fishing trip for us to Dove Island Lodge in Sitka, but first we had a few days to explore Wrangell and it surrounds.  We flew to Wrangell in two small airplanes operated by Sunrise Aviation out of Wrangell, leaving the beautiful views of Douglas Island and the Juneau mountains behind.

The first day in Wrangell we explored the Anan Wildlife and Bear Observatory.  We left Wrangell by boat and spent an amazing day with Jim Leslie of Alaska Waters, his son James, and Ivan Simonek, a wonderful, published photographer and master of all trades on the boat.

The following is an excerpt from Pete Gray’s journal on his website: Jim and Ivan took us up the Stikine River on his 35- foot jet boat to get up close and personal with brown and black bears.  We watched the bears feeding on salmon, fighting for territory, mothers and cubs running about and bald eagles flying.  It was a great Alaskan experience.  The next day it was time to accomplish the glacier part of our quest, and Jim chose to take us to the southernmost tidewater glacier in Alaska- the Leconte Glacier.  I have visited Glacier Bay, which is fantastic, but I can tell you this glacier and Jim’s method of getting up close to this massive glacier beat that tenfold.  I would venture to say this day was one of my most enjoyable ever.  Of course the 75 degree bright sunshine did help! Jim navigated the boat through 7 miles of giant icebergs and through tons of ice on our journey up the fjord to the face of the glacier, which towers 200 feet high and 800 feet below the water.  The glacier moves several feet a day and we watched the “calving” of the front of the glacier from a safe distance of a couple hundred yards.  These chunks of ice breaking off the front of the glacier made huge cracking sounds as they fell into the sea, then a huge chunk would rise up from the depths and both together would make a 3-foot wave that rocked our boat.  All this surrounded by incredible views -and we were the only ones there. This is an experience that should not be missed!

The following day we had a cultural tour of Wrangell conducted by Brooke Leslie, Jim’s daughter, and in the afternoon flew to Sitka for our next adventure, Dove Island Lodge.  Please read Pete’s article on the Let’s Talk Hookup website for more on this lovely experience.

Alaska Photo Galleries

Album 1: Juneau:  Photos by Katie and Willie.  I will add more photo galleries, including photos by others as time permits.

Alaska Videos

Wrangell Sunset: After a wonderful day visiting the Leconte Glacier, we enjoyed a sundowner.  We were treated to a spectacular show.

Dove Island Lodge: Day 1: Our first day fishing was very successful.  I caught the largest King Salmon of the trip: 30 pounds!  Here are a few funny clips.

Last Day at Dove Island Lodge: After Duane Lambert dropped us off at Salmon Creek, our excellent guide, Vic, took us for an amazing day hiking upstream and fishing down Salmon creek. Here are a few humorous clips of the “expert fishermen” and their bloopers, followed by Duane picking us up in his float plane and “Let’s Talk Hookup” radio show host and trip organizer Pete Gray doing a tight-rope cable walk between the pontoons of the Otter…

On February 13, 2010 we celebrated the marriage of our daughter, Jessica Grové to Dan Cooney.  Giving away your only daughter in marriage is a momentous experience.  I tried to prepare myself for this event, but I could not possibly have anticipated how special this would be.  We had almost 100 guests – friends – many who spent the best part of a week or longer with us in our favorite place, Belize, at our condo there on Ambergris Caye.  We are honored to have gained Dan as a member of our family, and to have joined his family with ours.

Thank you to everyone who made such a special effort to come to Belize to share in this special time in our family’s life.

To see photographs of the Belize Wedding, please click on the MobileMe Gallery link to the right or on the picture above.  Here you will find Photo Galleries as well as Video Galleries

Jessica and Dan’s Professional Wedding Photo Album

You can also see Jessica and Dan’s professional photographer’s photographs by clicking on this link.

PETE’S NEW BOAT

You can also see some photos at

San Diego Christmas Photos

Brushstrokes Villa

Featuring paintings and sculptures by Belizean artists, Brushstrokes has a casual island flair. This light and airy condominium home is furnished with a mix of comfortable imported and locally designed furniture, using Belizean Mahogany and other indigenous hardwoods. The beautiful kitchen is large and well equipped and has an adjoining dining area that accommodates 8. The comfortable living room features an entertainment system with a 42 inch high definition TV, and a Bose surround sound system, as well as an iPod docking station. You can enjoy a spectacular beachfront sunrise breakfast on the marble decked veranda adjoining the beautiful pool patio.

The master bedroom, with king bed and luxurious bathroom with shower and whirlpool tub, has a magnificent ocean view. The second bedroom, with queen bed, is decorated in whimsical island colors and a darling third bedroom, with two twin beds, features a Mayan theme in its décor. Each bedroom has a door to the outside, many windows and a full bathroom in Mexican Macedonia marble. This beautiful condominium home is named Brushstrokes Villa to reflect the owners’ love and appreciation for the art and people of Belize.

I drink when I’m happy and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink when I’m alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I’m not hungry and I drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it unless I’m thirsty.

Best wishes from all of us and hopes and prayers for many more good years to come.

Bruce & Di Stewart & Family

My favorite author of all time and any genre is Wilbur Smith, born in Zambia in 1933 and now living in Cape Town.  I own and have read every one of his 31 books published over the past 45 years except “Assegai” which was just published this summer.   Bruce Stewart shared this story by Wilbur Smith with me today on the occasion of my 60th celebration of my birthday:

And here’s a lovely story from Africa by Wilbur Smith :

Okay, I KNOW this is a WHITE rhino!

The plight of the Black Rhinoceros is, of course, due mostly to the value of its horn and the ferocious poaching that this engenders. However, a contributory factor to the declining rhino population is the animal’s disorganized mating habits. It seems that the female rhino only becomes receptive to the male’s attentions every three years or so, while the male only becomes interested in her at the same intervals. This is a condition which is known quite appropriately as ‘Must’. The problem is one of synchronization, for their amorous inclinations do not always coincide.

In the early Sixties, I was invited, along with a host of journalists and other luminaries, to be present at an attempt by the Rhodesian Game and Tsetse Department to solve this problem of poor timing. The idea was to capture a male rhino and induce him to deliver up that which could be stored until that day in the distant future when his mate’s fancy turned lightly to thoughts of love.

We departed from the Zambezi Valley in an impressive convoy of trucks and landrovers, counting in our midst none-other than the Director of the game department in person, together with his minions, a veterinary surgeon, an electrician and sundry other technicians, all deemed necessary to make the harvest. The local game scouts had been sent out to search the bush for the largest, most virile rhino they could find. They had done their job to perfection and led us to a beast at least the size of a small granite kopje with a horn on his nose considerably longer than my arm. The trick was to get this monster into a robust mobile pen which had been constructed to accommodate him.

With the Director of the Game Department shouting frantic orders from the safety of the largest truck, the pursuit was on. The tumult and the shouting were apocalyptic. Clouds of dust flew in all directions, trees, and vegetation were destroyed, game scouts scattered like chaff, but finally the Rhino had about a litre of narcotics shot into his rump and his mood became dreamy and benign. With forty game guards heaving and shoving, and the Director still shouting orders from the truck, the rhino was wedged into his cage, and stood there with a happy grin on his face. At this stage, the Director deemed it safe to emerge from the cab of his truck, and he came amongst us resplendent in starched and immaculately ironed bush jacket with a colourful silk scarf at this throat. With an imperial gesture, he ordered the portable electric generator to be brought forward and positioned behind the captured animal. This was a machine which was capable of lighting up a small city, and it was equipped with two wheels that made it resemble a roman chariot.

The Director climbed up on the generator to better address us. We gathered around attentively while he explained what was to happen next. It seemed that the only way to get what we had come for, was to introduce an electrode into the rhinos rear end, and to deliver a mild electric shock, no more than a few volts, which would be enough to pull his trigger for him. The Director gave another order and the veterinary surgeon greased something that looked like an acoustic torpedo and which was attached to the generator with sturdy insulated wires. He then went up behind the somnolent beast and thrust it up him to a full arms length, at which the Rhino opened his eyes very wide indeed.

The veterinary surgeon and his two assistants now moved into position with a large bucket and assumed expectant expressions. We, the audience, crowded closer so as not to miss a single detail of the drama. The Director still mounted on the generator trailer, nodded to the electrician who threw the switch.

Chaos reigned. In the subsequent departmental enquiry the blame was placed squarely on the shoulders of the electrician. It seems that in the heat of the moment his wits had deserted him and instead of connecting up his apparatus to deliver a gentle 5 volts, he had crossed his wires and the Rhino received a full 500 volts up his rear end.

His reaction was spectacular. Four tons of Rhodesian Rhinoceros shot six feet straight up in the air.

The cage, made of great timber baulks, exploded into its separate pieces and the Rhinoceros, now very much awake, took off at a gallop.

We, the audience, were no less sprightly. We took to the trees with alacrity. This was the only occasion on which I have ever been passed by two journalists half way up a mopane tree. From the top branches we beheld an amazing sight, for the chariot was still connected to the Rhinoceros, per rectum, and the director of the game department was still mounted upon it, very much like Ben Hur, the charioteer. As they disappeared from view, the Rhinoceros was snorting and blowing like a steam locomotive and the Director was clinging to the front rail of his chariot and howling like the north wind which only encouraged the beast to greater speed.

The story has a happy ending for the following day after the director had returned hurriedly to his office in Salisbury, another male Rhinoceros was captured and caged and this time the electrician got his wiring right. I can still see the Rhinoceros’s expression of surprised gratification as the switch was thrown.

You could almost hear him think to himself, “Oh Boy! I didn’t think this was going to happen to me for at least another three years.”

Read Wilbur Smith’s biography at:

http://www.wilbursmithbooks.com/biography/index.html

Bibliography

When the Lion Feeds 1964 A ‘Courtney’ novel

The Dark of the Sun 1965

The Sound of Thunder 1966 A ‘Courtney’ novel

Shout at the Devil 1968

Gold Mine 1970

The Diamond Hunters 1971

The Sunbird 1972

Eagle in the Sky 1974

The Eye of the Tiger 1975

Cry Wolf 1976

A Sparrow Falls 1977 A ‘Courtney’ novel

Hungry as the Sea 1978

Wild Justice 1979

A Falcon Flies 1980 A ‘Ballantyne’ novel

Men of Men 1981 A ‘Ballantyne’ novel

The Angels Weep 1982 A ‘Ballantyne’ novel

The Leopard Hunts in Darkness 1984 A ‘Ballantyne’ novel

The Burning Shore 1985 A ‘Courtney’ novel

Power of the Sword 1986 A ‘Courtney’ novel

Rage 1987 A ‘Courtney’ novel

A Time to Die 1989 A ‘Courtney’ novel

Golden Fox 1990 A ‘Courtney’ novel

Elephant Song 1991

River God 1993 An ‘Egyptian’ novel

The Seventh Scroll 1995 An ‘Egyptian’ novel

Birds of Prey 1997 A ‘Courtney’ novel

Monsoon 1999 A ‘Courtney’ novel

Warlock 2001 An ‘Egyptian’ novel

Blue Horizon 2003 A ‘Courtney’ novel

The Triumph of the Sun 2005 A ‘Courtney’ and ‘Ballantyne’ novel

The Quest 2007 An ‘Egyptian’ novel

Assegai 2009 A ‘Courtney’ novel

On Friday evening March 20, the first day of Spring, at 5:58 PM, our first grandson was born.

His name is William Ryusei Grové, and he weighed eight pounds two ounces.  He was nineteen-and-a-quarter inch long.  And he is BEAUTIFUL!

We will call him Ryusei. You pronounce it ‘r-you-say, or roo-say.

Tommy and Yuki arrived at the hospital Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 4 PM Pacific time, and soon after that the contractions began.  Starting at 3 AM on Friday March 20, contractions started intensely, and at just after 6PM Friday night we heard the first cry.  I don’t think I will ever forget the expression of awe and joy in my son’s face, as we all wept together.  It is hard to believe that it was 30 years ago on March 16 that Katie and I experienced this joy when Tommy was born.  Yuki was a real trooper through the 23 hours, nineteen of it in hard labor.  She looked so serene with the baby lying on her chest, barely one minute after performing this miracle.

With Yuki being Japanese, they have been struggling with picking a name.  After it was over, Tommy said, “I don’t care, after more than 20 hours of this Yuki can pick any name she wants!”

Because of the nationalities of his parents, it took Tommy and Yuki some time to decide on a name that would work in both Japanese and English.  I am not a traditionalist in the baby-naming department, so I was surprised at how their selecting my first name as the first name of their baby touched me.  The name William has been the first name in my family for several generations.  I supose there is something in each of us that would like to see tradition continue…

The birth was all natural.  You may know that both Tommy and Yuki climbed and summited Mount Kilimanjaro with me in March, 2008, a nine-day extreme hiking trip to the top of Africa at almost 20,000 feet.  Yuki said this experience was MUCH harder!

A new life.  What a miracle. 

Willie and Katie Grové

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W. Ryusei Grové Photo Gallery

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Kilimanjaro!  Selected Photographs: Kilimanjaro_Photo_Gallery

It was a long journey from the time my friend, Richard Wallace, and I decided we would climb Kilimanjaro. Along the way we were joined by eight more, and I was particularly pleased that my son, Thomas, and his wife, Yuki, were able to share in this adventure. These photos are from the coffee table book telling the story of these ten adventurers climbing the world’s largest freestanding mountain, the highest peak in Africa.

Click_on_the_image_above_to preview a copy of my book, Kilimanjaro!

I added some photos under Photo Galleries:  Kilimanjaro_Photo_Gallery