Each year Canyon Lake travelers are featured in “Near and Far with The Friday Flyer” as they display the community newspaper at their special destinations. And each January for the past five years, photos revealing the most unusual destination of the year and most interesting backdrop of the year are printed, along with other categories that may be included, based on the types of pictures received that year. Examples of such categories are Most Humorous, Most Enthusiastic and Sign Search – that is, finding a sign or landmark that bears the photographer's name.

Here's a brief recap of every place someone took a picture “Near and Far” in 2011.

• Bert and Kathy Barbay carried The Friday Flyer to New York City in December 2010, displaying it in Times Square, with New York firefighters and on the set of "Good Morning America."

• During her trip to New York City over the Christmas holiday, Nivea Messerschmidt was delayed four days from returning home due to a blizzard that closed airports.

• Dianne and Gordon Skidmore took a trip in their RV to the Thousand Trails RV Park in Palm Desert, arranging for Gordon to take his “chemo-cocktail” at a hospital in Palm Desert.

• A couple dozen Canyon Lake kids got to enjoy a group Christmas gift when their parents pitched in to rent them the Super Game Bus and parked it at Gault Field for a couple of hours on a rainy day in late December.

• Scott Covey took a business trip to the East Coast and made time for visits to Atlantic City and Philadelphia, stopping to pose with The Friday Flyer at the Korean War Memorial.

• Danielle Stillion took her son, Andrew Nevarez, on a hike in Mt. San Jacinto State Park Wilderness prior to his leaving for Army boot camp.

• Pat Engelhardt organized a day trip to visit the Dr. Phil show for 40 of her friends and neighbors.

• Charlie and Evelyn Jenkins enjoyed a day of sightseeing in Joshua Tree National Park, with visits to Skull Rock, Cracked Rock, the Oasis of Mara and more.

• Wayne and Sandy Sands and Ezra and Anita Craycraft took a 16-day cruise to South America on Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas cruise ship.

• John Zaitz traveled to Washington D. C. to meet with Congressman Daryl Issa’s chief of staff to lobby, with other representatives, for a cut in what are known in the business and banking world as “swipe fees.”

• Carol Carnahan and Guy Rainwater were in Cozumel, Mexico for Guy's birthday and remembered to bring The Friday Flyer on a deep-sea dive by tucking it into a Ziploc bag.

• Mary and Michael Petty, along with Maxine Whalen and Donna Nunes, joined a small tour group going to Andean Ecuador, Galapagos and the Costa Rican rainforest area.

• Suzi and Pete Delia joined former residents, Donna and Rett Vincent, on a cruise through the Panama Canal.

• Canyon Lake Travel Club members visited the Oasis Camel Dairy, located on 34 acres of rolling green pastureland near Julian.

• Randy and Sue Gibson, Beverly Miller and Dennis Romano, along with neighboring friend Lisa Evans and 15 other riders, camped and spent a week out at Pioneer Town in Yucca Valley  “riding the trails” and down “Mane Street.”

• The Macias family gave Disneyland “the buzz” on Canyon Lake when they visited the theme park and had their picture taken with the “Toy Story” character Buzz Lightyear.

• Seven families from Canyon Lake made the journey to the Grand Canyon, stopping at the Grand Canyon Caverns on the way and staying at the Mathers Campground on the South Rim.

• Dorothy and Ken Cable, Carolyn and Vick Knight and Leigh and Ron Martel stayed at the Cables' waterfront condo in Maui and took a ferry ride to Lanai.

• Dorothy and Marv Griswold enjoy playing up their name in family vacations, based on the humorous “Family Vacation” series. Included in the series is "European Vacation," which is what the real life Canyon Lake Griswold family members took via planes, trains, autos and boats.

• Charlie and Evelyn Jenkins spent six days hiking and enjoying the roaring white water of the Merced River and gushing waterfalls of Yosemite Valley.

• Several Canyon Lake friends got together for a week in Cancun and a second week in Cozumel. They included Bob and Joanie Sundstrom, Judy and Randy Helton, Rosi and Richard DelNostro, Gail and Jack Ruzicka and Terry and Bob Cassietto. This is the third time many of these friends have traveled to Mexico together, celebrating 50th, 60th and 70th birthdays, along with 30th, 40th and 50th wedding anniversaries.

• Ginny Furnish, the storyteller for Friday Story Times at the Canyon Lake Library, visited her daughter and family in Illinois and was treated to a day trip to the “Swiss village” of New Glarus, Wisconsin.

• Marissa Burke displayed her community newspaper on a rooftop in Barcelona, Spain, while enjoying a graduation trip to Europe.

• The Friday Flyer showed up at Milepost “0” in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, as Robb and Pat Smith began their RV trip through the Yukon Territory and into Alaska.

• Continuing their trip by RV to Alaska, Pat and Robb Smith arrived in Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, Canada, world famous for its “Sign Post Forest” and more than 71,000 signs from around the world. The Smiths added a “City of Canyon Lake” sign.

• Dave and Barbara Spraul took a 12-day vacation to Alaska that included a scenic cruise along the Inside Passage, a narrow gauge rail trip to Whitehorse, travel along the Alaska Highway to Fairbanks, a sled dog camp visit, a sternwheeler trip and taking the train to Denali National Park.

• Twenty of Linda Johnson's friends helped her celebrate a “Big Birthday” in style, cruising and sipping Margaritas on Canyon Lake in two pontoon boats.

• Rhea and Neil Rodden (bride's parents) and Susan and Hale Gammill attended the wedding of Jessica and David Broda at the Marsh Landing Country Club in Ponte Vedra, Florida.

• One-hundred members of the Tuesday Work Group (TWG) took The Friday Flyer along on their outing to the Storm Game in Lake Elsinore.

• The Wades and Cassietos were pictured on top of the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele, also known as the "Wedding Cake," with its 360-degree view of Rome.

• Robert and Bonnie Boniti-Wade and Terry and Bob Cassietto took a two-week vacation on the Mediterranean, spending four days in Barcelona, Spain, then boarding a Windstar cruise ship, the "Windsurf," for a seven-day cruise.  

• David LeClaire took a birthday cruise to Haiti, Jamaica and Cozumel on Allure of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship.

• Chuck and Sandy Smith's cruise tour of Alaska included a helicopter flight to the Meade Glacier, above Skagway, and salmon fishing.

• Masha Mlynarczyk's posed with her “Photo of the Week” in Warsaw, Poland, on her way to visit her parents in Kiev, Ukraine.

• Katie Diaz and Erika Barsby traveled to Paris and London with their Girl Scout Troop, spending eight days in Paris and two days in London. Part of their trip was paid by selling Girl Scout cookies for the last few years. 

• While working on a Guess store in the world's largest outdoor mall in Waikiki, David LeClaire visited the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.

• Carl and Ginny Farris celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary on a Royal Caribbean Alaskan cruise that included glacier tours, whale watching and a vintage train excursion.

• Boogie-boarding buddies Keaton Sesma, Kyle Basham, Willy Rauch, Brandon Sapp, Tyler Diminyatz and Zach Zarbis  took advantage of the early release minimum-day schedule at Canyon Lake Middle School by heading to San Clemente beach for some fun in the ocean. 

• Kerry Keith and family members took a trip to the Virgin Islands and were there for a “crazy parade” on the 4th of July that she compared to the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro.

• Jeannette Williams had a two-week trip to Ireland and Scotland, which included attending the Soleheim Cup at Killeen Castle, Ireland, and playing golf in St. Andrews, Scotland.

• Vi Henderson and Pat Malone traveled to Nipomo, California to visit their special friend and former dancing partner, Ethel Faulds, and to attend one of Ethel's performances in the "Central Coast Follies."

• In celebration of their 30th wedding anniversary, Charlie and Evelyn Jenkins traveled to Hawaii and stayed on the island of Kauai.

• Charlie and Evelyn Jenkins also headed to Fairbanks, Alaska to visit their 91-year-old uncle. While there, they took a one-day excursion to Nome, also known as "Gold Rush City," the final destination of the Iditarod dog sled race.

• Hans and Linda Weg traveled to St. Tomas, St. Maarten and Nassau aboard Royal Caribbean's cruise ship, "Oasis of the Seas."

• Sam and Jill Comras took The Friday Flyer to the “Polar Bear Capitol of the World,” Churchill, Manitoba, Canada – a place they describe as the most desolate and bleak place they’ve ever visited.

• Tim and Kathy Brown spent most of October visiting Italy, Turkey, Cyprus, Israel and Egypt, hoping to better understand how people in this region feel about their governments and the current European financial crisis.

• Master Sgt. Linda Welz, daughter of Bill and Molly Evans of Canyon Lake, took The Friday Flyer to Kabul Afghanistan in October while delivering humanitarian supplies with the 452nd Air Mobility Wing.

• Holding The Friday Flyer, Gary Glibbery showed off the 180-pound Yellowfin Tuna he caught during a deep-sea fishing trip at Hurricane Bank, about 1,000 miles south of San Diego.

• Jaime Wiltgen and Susan Sewell toured Oahu, Hawaii during the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

• Vicky Connick was the lucky participant in a cruise to the Bahamas that her sister won at Harrah's-Rincon Casino in San Diego.

• Each year, James and Ann Bond invite friends to their Canyon Club Dr. home during the Parade of Lights. This year, one of their guests held up The Friday Flyer while Bert Barbay took a picture of the ladies in their fur coats.

Sending pictures for 'Near and Far with The Friday Flyer'

Residents are invited to take The Friday Flyer when they make a special trip abroad or across town. When sending photos to news@goldingpublications.com, include the who, what, when, where of the trip, and highlights that would be especially interesting to readers. It's okay to send more than one picture, though there is no guarantee there will be space to print the extras. Also, Near and Far with The Friday Flyer is always printed on a color page, so anticipate delays when space is tight.