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You are here: Home / Photo Blogging / On The Road / On The Road – Elma – In memory of Geri

On The Road – Elma – In memory of Geri

by WaterGirl|  June 23, 20205:00 am| 39 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging

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On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.

From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.

Submit Your Photos

First Timers Week

It’s Day 2  – let’s give a warm welcome to Elma!  We’re still at 6 first timers, so it’s not too late for you to send your photos in and be published next week.  Today’s On the Road is as much about the beauty of friendship as it is about the beauty of the world around us.  ~WaterGirl

Elma

2019 was a bad year for death. One who was lost was my treasured traveling companion Geri. We met on a trip to Rome sponsored by the University of Wisconsin Alumni Association. My husband did not like to travel and hers was done with long plane flights. So Geri and I ran away together to explore the world. And we saw a lot of it, Russia, China, South Africa, South America, Greece. Our last trip was on the Danube in Eastern Europe. We always booked our next trip while on the current one. When there was no discussion of a next trip while on the Danube, I knew we were done traveling. She was dead in less that 6 month. Here are a few pics from our trips as a little memorial to a very plucky lady.

On The Road - Elma - In memory of Geri 6
St. Petersburg RussiaJune 21, 2012

We were in St. Petersburg for the White Nights. Taken at about 11pm

On The Road - Elma - In memory of Geri 5
Forbidden City Beijing ChinaApril 8, 2014

Protecting the Forbidden City.

On The Road - Elma - In memory of Geri 4
Chobe BotswanaApril 18, 2013

Bathing elephants at the Chobe Reserve in Botswana Africa

On The Road - Elma - In memory of Geri 3
Urubamba PeruJune 25, 2015

Looking down into the Sacred Valley from the road to Machu Picchu.

On The Road - Elma - In memory of Geri 2
Budapest HungaryJuly 22, 2018

The Freedom Bridge in Budapest, from the evening cruise on the Danube.

On The Road - Elma - In memory of Geri 1
One of the Greek IslandsJune 15, 2017

Cats everywhere in Greece

On The Road - Elma - In memory of Geri
RhodesJune 13, 2017

A plucky lady, sorely missed.

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Previous Post: « COVID-19 Coronavirus Update: Monday/Tuesday, June 22-23
Next Post: Tuesday Morning Open Thread: ‘Rallying’ in Phoenix »

Reader Interactions

39Comments

  1. 1.

    Mary G

    June 23, 2020 at 5:26 am

    Those are beautifully composed, Elma. You and Geri made some wonderful memories together. Thank you for sharing them with us.

  2. 2.

    p.a.

    June 23, 2020 at 5:29 am

    Wonderful memorial. Thanks, and condolences. I always try to remember what psychologists point out; happiness rests more with experiences, memories, than with material things, ‘stuff’.

  3. 3.

    MagdaInBlack

    June 23, 2020 at 5:44 am

    How wonderful to have had a friend like that. Thank you for sharing your travels together.

  4. 4.

    Baud

    June 23, 2020 at 6:45 am

    Cool travels.  Glad you had someone to share it with.

  5. 5.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 23, 2020 at 6:58 am

    Wonderful pictures

    Wonderful places 

    Wonderful friend

    Wonderful memories

  6. 6.

    JPL

    June 23, 2020 at 7:19 am

    Thank you for sharing your journeys with us.

  7. 7.

    debbie

    June 23, 2020 at 7:22 am

    I am so sorry for your loss, but what a rich and wonderful friendship!

  8. 8.

    satby

    June 23, 2020 at 7:22 am

    Condolences Elma! What great travels and memories.

  9. 9.

    Doug

    June 23, 2020 at 7:24 am

    Nice pictures from amazing trips!

    (That’s the Freedom Bridge in Budapest; the Chain Bridge is just a little bit upstream and has white-ish stone towers.)

  10. 10.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    June 23, 2020 at 7:26 am

    Great pictures and a great story. You two had some real adventures together.

  11. 11.

    Gin & Tonic

    June 23, 2020 at 7:30 am

    Nice photos, thanks. I am lucky in that my favorite traveling companion is the same person who sleeps next to me every night. Several times since the Covid-19 outbreak we’ve commented on how fortunate we have been to have visited many places in the last decade or so – because who knows how international travel will look in the future. Those memories sustain us.

  12. 12.

    Wag

    June 23, 2020 at 7:33 am

    Beautiful friendship, and beautiful photos. Thanks.

  13. 13.

    MazeDancer

    June 23, 2020 at 7:49 am

    Delightful photos. And lady, Thanks for all.

  14. 14.

    Eric NNY

    June 23, 2020 at 8:01 am

    Thanks Elma.  I’m so glad you found a wonderful traveling companion.  I’m sure she treasured your travels together.

  15. 15.

    Elma

    June 23, 2020 at 8:08 am

    @Doug: Thank you for the correction.  I did not realize, until I was trying to put this submission together, what a bad record keeper I was with respect to my pictures.  Identifying when, where, and what of some pictures was really a struggle.

  16. 16.

    Laura Too

    June 23, 2020 at 8:18 am

    Such a lovely tribute. Thank you!

  17. 17.

    rikyrah

    June 23, 2020 at 8:30 am

    What a beautiful memorial??

  18. 18.

    MelissaM

    June 23, 2020 at 8:31 am

    Lovely memorial. Having a simpatico travel buddy is special. My mom had her cousin for a bit, they went to Scotland and traveled to family together, but the cousin quickly got unable. And she also had a good friend she went on two trips with, but my mom couldn’t afford the level good friend wanted.

  19. 19.

    arrieve

    June 23, 2020 at 8:34 am

    What a beautiful tribute to your friend. I’m so sorry for your loss, but how wonderful that you were able to have these experiences together.

    I especially love the picture from Botswana — I was lucky enough to visit Chobe many years ago. Being surrounded by elephants who had never been hunted and had no fear of humans was magical.

  20. 20.

    spudgun

    June 23, 2020 at 8:35 am

    Thank you for sharing these – they give me the wanderlust something awful…

    I’m so glad you had such amazing adventures with such a great friend – I am sorry for your loss.

  21. 21.

    HinTN

    June 23, 2020 at 8:42 am

    The photograph from the Forbidden City is stunningly beautiful. I struggle to resolve it into a roof when what I continue to see is a reflection in water.

    I second all other comments, too.

    Thank you for sharing.

  22. 22.

    WaterGirl

    June 23, 2020 at 8:44 am

    @Doug: @Elma:

    I made the correction – changing the Chain Bridge to the Freedom Bridge.

  23. 23.

    scribbler

    June 23, 2020 at 8:47 am

    Wonderful pictures.  But is the date on the Greek cats one correct?

  24. 24.

    SkyBluePink

    June 23, 2020 at 9:40 am

    What wonderful adventures!
    And a lovely tribute to your friend.

  25. 25.

    Auntie Anne

    June 23, 2020 at 9:53 am

    Your pictures are wonderful – I especially like (and am jealous of ?) the one from the Forbidden City!  A travel buddy is a special friendship . . . I am so sorry for your loss.

  26. 26.

    frosty

    June 23, 2020 at 9:59 am

    You and Geri really covered some ground!

  27. 27.

    Kattails

    June 23, 2020 at 10:14 am

    Thank you for sharing these wonderful memories, what a blessing to have such a traveling companion. Now I need a tissue, must be a lot of pollens out today…

  28. 28.

    RoonieRoo

    June 23, 2020 at 10:15 am

    This is such a beautiful memorial and photos to a beautiful friendship. Thank you for sharing this with us.

  29. 29.

    Betty

    June 23, 2020 at 10:21 am

    Beautiful photos and froemdship. Thanks for sharing.

  30. 30.

    Miss Bianca

    June 23, 2020 at 10:40 am

    Wow. That’s all I got. Thank you for sharing your photos and memories of your friend.

  31. 31.

    WaterGirl

    June 23, 2020 at 10:49 am

    @scribbler: The date can’t be right on the cat because she submitted this to On the Road on 6/12!

    Unless someone actually got time travel to work, in which case 2020 turns out to have some redeeming value after all!

  32. 32.

    Elma

    June 23, 2020 at 10:49 am

    @scribbler:  The trip to the Greek Islands was actually 2017. Not sure how the date got messed up. I would love to be there now. Just got a phone call from my sister, another traveling companion, that our transatlantic cruise scheduled for September has been officially canceled. Nothing to look forward to. . .

  33. 33.

    Elma

    June 23, 2020 at 10:51 am

    @WaterGirl: Thank you for making the corrections.

  34. 34.

    WaterGirl

    June 23, 2020 at 11:47 am

    @Elma: You are welcome!  How about the date for the cat picture?

  35. 35.

    Elma

    June 23, 2020 at 11:48 am

    @WaterGirl:  June 2017

  36. 36.

    TEL

    June 23, 2020 at 12:13 pm

    What wonderful adventures you and Geri had together, Elma! It’s a beautiful tribute to your friend and friendship.

  37. 37.

    WaterGirl

    June 23, 2020 at 12:36 pm

    @Elma: updated!  thanks

  38. 38.

    stinger

    June 23, 2020 at 1:33 pm

    Stunning photos of some remarkable places! Thank you for including a picture of Geri. You were a good friend to her, enabling all those adventures in the last several years of her life, as she might not have traveled like that by herself. In her last six months she was sustained by magical memories.

  39. 39.

    Doug

    June 24, 2020 at 2:52 am

    @Elma: Glad to help!

    I lived a year in Budapest, not long after the fall of Communism. Lovely city.

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