Globe-trotting with The Friday Flyer in 2014

BY

Each year, as they travel to locations near and far, Canyon Lakers are invited to have their picture taken with a copy of The Friday Flyer and send it to their hometown paper for publication (news@goldingpublications.com).

Each January, the editorial staff chooses the photographs that represent Most Unusual Destination, Most Interesting Backdrop, and, depending on what’s sent in that year, such designations as Most Humorous or Most Romantic. Here are this year’s categories:

Most Unusual Destination

The Friday Flyer has never received a picture from the equator before, so Robert and Renee Freire’s photos, taken on the equator in Quito, Ecuador, won the designation of Most Unusual Destination. Another unusual destination was the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, where Bob Riley visited on a business trip last spring.

Most Interesting Backdrop

Most people are careful to take their pictures in front of interesting backdrops, so this is always a tough call. Jim and Linda Hamilton’s picture, taken at the top of Burnaby Mountain in British Columbia, Canada, shows them in front of totem poles created by Japanese sculptors whose works of art were given as a gift to commemorate the goodwill between Burnaby, BC and its sister city, Kushiro, Japan.

Most Romantic Moment

Spending New Year’s Eve in Times Square is always a special moment, but a wedding proposal in Times Square is romantic indeed. Madison Garcia and Cooper Bailey shared these special moments with The Friday Flyer readers, earning the distinction of being the first Canyon Lakers of the new year to take a picture with The Friday Flyer.

Most Humorous Pose

What some people will do to get their picture in the paper! In the most ordinary of cities, Phoenix, Hans Weg had to have raised some eyebrows while his wife, Linda, took this picture of him hugging a cactus. Hans and Linda also were named Most Enthusiastic Travelers for all the trips they sent pictures of last year.

Most Enthusiastic Club

The Roadrunners Club did the best job of taking pictures last year on their travels to various destinations in the Southwest. Members even included their dogs in this picture, taken by Leann Kluck at the Oasis RV Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The following is the complete list of “Near and Far with The Friday Flyer” travelers from last year:

• Beverly Miller with Randy and Sue Gibson went camping with their horses in Morro Bay and Henry Cowell State Park in Santa Cruz.

• Madison Garcia and her boyfriend Cooper Bailey traveled to New York City, where Cooper got down on one knee and proposed to Madison in Time Square.

• Robert and Kristi Ortiz, their two children, a niece and Kristi’s parents enjoyed several excursions during their all-inclusive stay at Mata Palo Beach in Costa Rica.

• Hans and Linda Weg spent a beautiful day whale-watching on a boat cruise out of Newport Beach.

• Stephanie and Erik Calcott took their 9-year-old son on a spur-of-the-moment, two-week trip to Colombia.

• Randy and Mavis Schutz celebrated their 45th anniversary by spending more than two weeks on the Big Island and Oahu in Hawaii.

• Paul and Shirley Beuttas celebrated their 25th anniversary with friends and fellow Canyon Lakers by taking a 15-day round-trip cruise to the Hawaiian Islands and Ensanada, Mexico.

• Michelle and Ken Olzewski and their daughter, Savannah, went on the Holy Land Tour in Israel, where they met fellow Canyon Lakers Dick and Barbara Siems, and Robin Manton with her sons, Trevor and Jordan.

• Twenty-seven 7th and 8th grade students and their chaperones from Canyon Lake Middle School toured Washington D.C. and nearby sites.

• Hans and Linda Weg spent seven days in Las Vegas to celebrate their anniversary. They ate at well-known diners and went on several side trips.

• Members of the Canyon Lake Roadrunners braved the heat on a 9-day “Desert-A-Go-Go trip to Death Valley, Pahrump and Las Vegas. The trip’s highlight was a tour of Scotty’s Castle.

• Diana Castillo and Pat Zimmerman enjoyed a three-week vacation that began with a week at Epcot Center, Florida before boarding a cruise ship for the trip home. Along the way they stopped at Aruba, the Panama Canal, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Cabo San Lucas.

• On a business trip to a huge import/export fair in China, Bob Riley and a business partner took the opportunity to visit ancient cities and historical sites.

• Ron Martel brought his wife, Leigh, with him on a business trip to New Orleans, where they toured the city and surrounding areas including some that had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

• Hilary Delamater and Nathan Reid tied the knot in Temecula, celebrating with neighbors and friends.

• Hans and Linda Weg enjoyed a relaxing vacation in Carlsbad, and visited another eatery (in San Diego) featured on television.

• Cathy Buell, Bonnie Wade, Sally and Don Wedehase and Jeannette Williams went on a travel club adventure to watch the Kentucky Derby. They made stops to visit well-known locations before spending a few days in Tennessee to visit Graceland and take in a performance at the Grand Ole Opry.

• Cub Scout Pack 346 and Susan Gamble went on a trip to Lake Hemet.

• Members of the Canyon Lake Chair Volleyball Club took the Catalina Flyer and spent a day of adventure on Catalina Island.

• Christy Bruce and Leann Kluck traveled to New Orleans and Lafayette, Louisiana, as well as Natchez, Mississippi, where they visited historic locations, swamps and some of the disaster left from Hurricane Katrina.

• Dave and Barbara Spraul went on a “Southern Charm” tour to Charleston, North Carolina; Savannah and islands along the coast of Georgia; and finally to Augustine, Florida.

• Joyce and Ken Dettling spent 11 days exploring the beauty of Alaska by bus, train and cruise ship. They spent time in national parks, on glaciers and in Alaskan cities, as well as the cruise to Vancouver, Canada.

• Rich and Sue Hoover enjoyed a memorable three-week vacation that began in Italy, continued through the Greek Islands and ended in Russia before flying back to the U.S.

• The Canyon Lake Roadrunners made a trip to Puddingstone Reservoir in San Dimas with 25 RVs.

• Kai and Ruby Frakes spent two weeks in Maui with their parents, Rick and Julie, and grandparents Fred and Nickey.

• Dorian, Dominic, and Jack Maslach accompanied their parents, Reanea and Patrick, to Legoland.

• Greg Cunnington took a picture while on a business trip at a solar farm in Chile.

• Rori Sebach vacationed with her grandmother on historic Mackinac Island.

• Scott Enochs and Gaye Mortimer enjoyed an Alaskan cruise.

• During a taping of the Ellen DeGeneres Show, Julie Neckar and her mother, Cheryl Rainwater, along with friends Debbie Jones and Andrea Hillenbrand, each won a four-night trip and over $700 worth of prizes to Cancun.

• Jim and Linda Hamilton embarked on a cruise to Vancouver, British Columbia.

• Michelle McDonald spent 10 days sightseeing and fishing on Pushaw Lake in Old Town, Maine at a lake cottage owned by her parents, who are also Canyon Lake residents.

• The Canyon Lake Roadrunners took to the road again with a trip to Golden Shore RV Resort in Long Beach.

• Hans and Linda Weg received three free nights at the Tropicana Express Hotel and Casino in Laughlin, Nevada. They came home via Route 66.

• Scott Enochs and Gaye Mortimer spent 30 days camping their way through the Rocky Mountains and any national parks they could find in the vicinity. They visited Zion and Bryce in Utah, Monument Valley and Colorado National Monument, Capital Reef and Ouray, Colorado.

• Hans and Linda Weg put over 400 miles on their rental car while staying a week in Maui.

• Greg and Tarrie Sullivan took a seven-day Disney cruise around the western Caribbean Sea in celebration of their 60th birthdays and 40th anniversary. • Mother/daughter duo, Shawna and Karina Bowen participated in the Miss Heart of the USA Pageant in Orlando, Florida. After winning several major titles each, they took two days for some fun in Disney World.