Frank (NIF and ME 2003) and Sigrid Rainer sent greetings from Spain and Portugal. 2008 promises to offer new travel surprises, but none as varied as those in 2007. They have recounted their adventures on some of those trips in past reports, but here is a summary of their travels last year from the North Pole to the South Pole with all seven continents in between. They started off the year by exploring the rock churches of northern Ethiopia and the primitive tribes in the south where the bare-breasted women sport 10-cm clay disks in their lower lips. The Persian Gulf and most of the rest of the Middle East were next with highlights at red carved temples of Petra in Jordan, Beirut, Lebanon before the violence again sprang up, Crusader castles in Syria, and a champagne reception at a pasha's island castle in Albania - almost all of these by cruise ship. That trip ended with romantic stays traveling from Venice, San Marino, Tuscany and Umbia to Rome. Amazingly they had never been to Rome before. June found them driving on their 18th trip across the US to an Indiana wedding and a lake stay with relatives in New Hampshire. Quite spontaneously they had booked a last-minute trip to the North Pole from Boston via Helsinki and Murmansk, Russia. They broke though 2000 km of ice on a nuclear-powered icebreaker and encountered polar bears and two crazy guys who had just skied and kayaked from the pole. The return was a whirlwind drive back across the US and Canada to prepare for a Pacific and Asia trip the next week. The primary focus there was a month visiting and even living with the primitive tribes of Papua New Guinea. They experienced being rained upon with volcanic dust from an active volcano and partook in the independence celebrations featuring nubile young dancers and the wildest women's cricket match in the world. They celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary at a gourmet dinner and fireworks at river's edge in Brisbane, Australia. Having been to the North Pole in an International Polar Year Frank decided to hit the South Pole as well. This involved camping five nights on the Antarctic mainland and a flight to the actual South Pole. Frank returned to South America to visit a former exchange student in Brazil and scuba dive near the equator before returning to Patagonia at the start of the New Year. There he met wife Sigrid for two mini-cruises to the Chilean fjords and Argentinian glaciers. Otherwise, the year was relatively mundane, opening mail and mowing lawns during their brief stays at home.

Ron (Mechanical Engineering 1993) and Donna Carr traveled for two weeks in Slovenia and Croatia.  The best part of the trip was staying for three days at Lake Bled, Slovenia.  After traveling down the Dalmatian coast to Dubrovnik they flew to Athens, Greece.  In their four days in Athens they saw all of the usual sights in great detail. 

Chabot Space & Science Center located in the Oakland Hills, is celebrating their 125th anniversary in 2008 and they are actively recruiting new volunteers! Chabot Space & Science Center inspires and educates students of all ages about our Planet Earth and the universe.  Its observatory, planetarium, exhibits, and natural park setting are a place where a diverse population of students, teachers, and the public can imagine, understand, and learn to shape their future through science. Please visit our website for a complete description of volunteer opportunities and to submit your application at www.chabotspace.org/volunteer or contact Megan Gray, the volunteer manager at (510) 336-7414 or mgray@chabotspace.org.

Employment Opportunity in the Washington DC Area

The DOE is looking for experts experienced in the nuclear weapons, nuclear technology, and/or nuclear materials fields, to work in the Washington DC area reviewing government documents for classification issues.  If you are interested contact Tony Mitchell, Program manager for Excalibur Associates, at 301-903-1320 (800-832-0890, ext. 31320) or E-mail him at tony.mitchell@hq.doe.gov.

The LLNL Retirees Travel Group does not meet again until January, 2009. Enjoy your summer and prepare some trip reports and perhaps a travel group presentation.

The July Retiree luncheon will be held at the Elks Lodge in Livermore at noon on Wednesday, July 16th. The speaker is Susan Mayall. Many of our retirees will know Susan as the former owner of Goodenough Books. She was born in England and will tell us of her harrowing experiences as a young girl dealing with relentless German bombing of London.

Please send any news or input (please include the date and department from which you retired) to Jane or Gus Olson. E-Mail: Jane@LLNLRetirees.org or Gus@LLNLRetirees.org.