My posts

  • Fourth Of July 2021

    The pandemic is gone and the family tradition of gathering for the Fourth at the Chechessee Creek cottage continues. This year we were joined by Joyce’s nephew and family (Brett, Juliana, Briana, and Bruce Shugart). The Shugarts flew in from Las Vegas on Wednesday and the rest of the family converged from South Carolina. Florida…

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  • COPA regional weekend fly-ins are back in business. Rhonda Tomlinson, NE Region Governor, assisted by Bethany Wardropper and their spouses, organized a weekend getaway at the Bedford PA, Omni resort. It was attended by over twenty COPA members, who enjoyed perfect weather for the event. There were all Cirrus models represented including an SF-50, with…

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  • We met at the Chechessee Creek Club on January 2nd for a very nice lunch. The Prados had just returned from the Greenbriar Resort and they shared their fun experiences and their New Years’ celebration. We then went to our cottage for the belated gift exchange. We had lots of fun with Santa getting high…

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  • Holidays 2020

    What a year! The pandemic has changed a lot of things but we have tried to keep our family traditions and still be safe. We gathered for the Fourth of July as usual at Chechessee Creek, with most of the organized activities canceled, however, we had our own including a huge fireworks event on the…

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  • New Zealand 2020

    On  Saturday, February 15 we left Savannah for a two-hour forty-minute flight to Houston, then the fifteen-hour flight to New Zealand on Air New Zeland. The Air New Zealand flight was very good or at least as good as a fifteen-hour flight can be. We arrived in Auckland early in the morning where we were…

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  • We flew to the Bay of Islands airport from Auckland the afternoon of February 18th arriving at the lodge late in the afternoon. Kauri Cliffs is a Robertson Property developed by an American who purchased 6500 acres and in addition to the luxurious lodge, cottages and a championship-level golf course operates a sheep and cattle…

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  • On Friday, February 21 we transferred to the Bay of Islands Airport from Kauri Cliffs Lodge. Oops the flight to Auckland was fine, but the ongoing connection Taupo airport was canceled, so instead, we flew to Rotarua and were driven the one hour trip to Taupo where the car from Huka lodge was waiting. On…

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  • On Monday, February 24 we were driven the two-hour drive to the Hawks Bay Region stopping for lunch at the Clear View Winery. This is one of the wine regions of New Zealand with the largest city in the area Napier. Napier is interesting in that it was destroyed by an earthquake in the 1920s…

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  • On Thursday, February 27 we flew from Hawks Bay on the North Island to Auckland and then to Queenstown on the south end of the South Island. We traveled by car an hour to the south end of Lake Lake Wakatipu to the Blanket Bay Lodge. The lodge is a very impressive stone and wood…

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  • Christmas 2019

    Another great family Christmas, maybe the best ever. The grandchildren are maturing and everyone seems to just enjoy getting together and add Christmas traditions and its special. Jennifer, Mike, and Alexandra drove from Florida on the Saturday before Christmas and we met at the cottage at Chechessee Creek. It was relaxing, with some pre-Christmas things…

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