Harrison David Young -- Class of 2025

Round four of our graduation tour took us to Peoria, Arizona, to celebrate with Harry and his family. We arrived a day early to commemorate Finn's twenty-first birthday, and we stayed an extra day so we could visit with Chip and Sandy in Mesa.

The birthday boy

He prefers brownies to cake

Harry's posse on the morning of their graduation

Harry David -- Liberty High School

Class of 2025

Traditional gift of luggage for HS graduates

Family in the house

And what a HUGE house it is: Cardinal Stadium

Thank goodness for the Jumbotron

Good lad!

Outside the Stadium

Celebratory dinner with the family and Josh, Harry's best buddy

Parents and grandparents

Ocean Prime in Scottsdale: Chilean bass:

it was all delicious if pricey

The Youngs with the grandparents

Beckham, photographer

Chip and Sandy in Mesa

Mussels at Alessia's

A delightful trip. The Youngs are wonderful hosts and it is always good to be with them. The next leg of the graduation trip will take us to Santa Fe for Clars's graduation. So there is more to come.

OXO

D.

Anders Taylor Hasting -- Class of 2025

The third round of graduation celebrations was for Anders in Fort Collins, CO. It was great to be with the Hastings family for a couple of days to honor Anders' Cum Laude degree in Restoration Ecology. Fort Collins is a wonderful and vibrant college town with tons of great old, well-cared-for homes, and a surprising number of good restaurants. Who could ask for more?

Breakfast at the Urban Egg

Unusual (and delicious) tamales Benedict

Young's Café Vietnamese Cuisine

CSU Trial Garden

Peonies are a treat

The Farmhouse at Jessop Farm for lunch

The Hastings at CSU

The old folks with Anders

The man can fly

Gold robes for Cum Laude graduates

Lucy, just arrived from Paris, and her papa

The old folks parked on a wall

He still makes her laugh

The Hasting brothers 

Japango for fine Japanese dining

Delicious poke

Bonus Graduation:

Meanwhile in San Diego, Meagan was graduating from her Doctorate Program in Educational Administration. We were sorry we couldn't be in two places at once.

Doctor Taylor, newly hooded

Ollie, Meagan, Meg, and Phillip

Next up is Phoenix.

OXO

D.

Kathryn Taylor Colver -- Class of 2025

Katy Kathryn completed her Masters in Clincial Mental Health Counseling at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. We flew off from the Provo airport to Roanoke with her to celebrate her accomplishment. It was a very fun trip despite involving six flights. That part of Virginia is very beautiful, and we were early enough to be spared the humidity. Liberty is an Evangelical (Southern Baptist) school and is everthing that BYU wants to be: beautiful, shiny, and perfect, all there to create "Soldiers of Christ." The drive from Roanoke to Lynchburg is breathtaking, and Roanoke, where we stayed, is delightful. It was fun to have Katy all to ourselves, and the trip was a banger!

Grand Canyon from 35,000 feet on our first leg from PVU to PHX

This is as close as we got to Charlotte, NC - BTW the airport is grim

The beautiful drive from Roanoke to Lynchburg

There is never, ever a time when this isn't my place

Liberty University

The girlies

This smaller Arena was the wrong venue,

 but, happily, it is physically connected to the right venue

The correct venue: Vines Center

Kathryn Taylor "Clover" on the Jumbotron

Pure joy!

Objects in motion overtook gravity

Oh my forking goodness! Shrimp and fried catfish with grits

 at a little Roanoke eatery that does "Southern Cooking Right"

Basilica of Saint Andrew, 1902 

Roanoke from St. Andrew's

Old fogies in the hotel

Next up is Fort Collins for Anders' graduation from Colorado State.

OXO

D.