Wakerly Family Photos
Our travelers spent four nights in Lugano and Como followed by three nights in Porto, bookended by a night on the plane on the way out, and a night in a Lisbon airport hotel on the return.
With planning started almost a year before as a Switzerland trip with Edwin, this trip evolved into a round-the-world trip including China, and after a few more changes it became a quick trip by John and Gina that started in Zurich and featured several days in Innsbruck visiting Gina’s “host family” from her sophomore year in college there.
John and Edwin rendezvoused with Gina, Kevin, Julia, and Lily for part of their summer vacation in Switzerland.
Our travelers spent four nights in Mallorca followed by four nights in Lisbon, bookended by a night on the plane on the way out, and a night in an airport hotel on the return.
John found a great single seat stage-right for the Justin Hayward concert at Chicago’s City Winery, similar to what he and Joanne enjoyed in 2021. Justin sounded great, as usual.
John and Joanne visited Quebec, Canada, staying in Montreal for the first two nights and then spending the next four days in Quebec City.
John rendezvoused with Gina, Kevin, Julia, and Lily for four days in Vienna at the start of their longer European vacation.
John visited Gina’s family in the Milwaukee area and attended two concerts at the Riverside Theater downtown.
Edwin and John took their first post-pandemic trip to Switzerland, probably their favorite country for sightseeing.
John,
Joanne, and Edwin went to Spain, visiting some new places around Barcelona.
John and Edwin went to New York, both the city and the Hudson Valley, for sightseeing and eating. As of 2024, John was still trying to take off the five pounds he gained.
Defying the pandemic, Joanne and John made a quick trip to New York, to visit Mike and Soph in Brooklyn, and Allison at her recently acquired home in Hyde park, in the Hudson Valley.
At the invitation of our mutual friend Danielle B., John, Joanne and her sister Peggy, and Edwin joined her on a visit to her sister's place near Cape Town. John, Joanne, and Edwin also used the opportunity to go on a 3-night "safari" at the Kruger National Park.
John and Edwin visit Barcelona and environs.
John and Joanne joined the Riches for sightseeing in Gina's old stomping ground prior to a short course hosted by the University of Marburg for Kevin's Marquette accounting students between semesters. We started in Munich and continued in Salzburg, Innsbruck, Ulm, Marburg, and the Rhine (Cologne) before leaving from Frankfurt.
An excellent family party at the LaGrange Park District Recreation Center, with food catered by Maggiano’s, a professional Santa, and lots of fun for all the kids, young and old.
John and Joanne join Gina, Kevin, Julia, and Lily for sightseeing in Edinburgh and London.
John and Joanne flew to Paris, visited for a couple days, and then took a TGV train south to Bordeaux and the Dordogne, and worked their way north by car to the Loire Valley and Chartres, finishing up in Paris again.
John and Edwin southern Spain, hitting most of the spots that John and Joanne visited in 2014. John likes to revisit known-good destinations :) .
John,
Joanne, and Edwin visited Buenos Aires and Santiago, with a
4-night cruise through Patagonia and Cape Horn in between.
John and Joanne went to a Justin Hayward solo concert at a relatively small venue in Milwaukee. He sounded great!
John
and Joanne visited the very reliable destination of Barcelona, branching out to
a couple of other interesting towns in the Catalonia region, and then flew to
Geneva and finished the trip in Switzerland.
John and Edwin took a short junket to Switzerland and Italy,
flying to Zurich and then Naples and on to Sorrento and the Amalfi coast, and
then doubling back to Zurich via Florence and Lugano.
John and Edwin visited the north island, in and around
Auckland, and Queenstown on the south island.
Joanne decided we should see some interesting
"killing" sites, based on some favorite TV series, including Oxford
(Morse, Lewis and Endeavor), Shrewsbury (Br. Cadfael), and York (Vikings). We
also visited Liverpool and saw some Beatles and other stuff, and visited a few
other spots along the way.
John and Edwin took a short winter junket to Switzerland and
Italy, spending a few days each in the three cities, and flying between them
using really cheap European fares. Dublin was nice, Berlin had awful weather,
and Zurich was glorious.
John and Joanne went to a Moody Blues concert at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Given the almost once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Justin, Graeme, and John to have their pictures taken with John and Joanne, we let them do it.
John was inspired to visit the mountains in winter, while Joanne wanted to avoid the "cold" weather. So, John and Edwin had a nice guys-only trip to NYC, Zurich, Kitzbuhel, Vienna, Slovakia, and Munich.
John and Joanne went to Brazil, spending two nights at Iguassu Falls. four nights in Rio de Janiero, and short visits with Allison in NYC on the way there and back.
John, Joanne, sister Peggy, and old friend Danny took a Stanford Travel tour of New Zealand, preceded by a few days in Sydney on the way there.
Guess who played Santa!
We had a happy memorial luncheon for Glenn at the Wildfire Restaurant in Glenview. It was a happy occasion, just as Glenn would have liked it, after making it to the age of 96.
John and Joanne finally got to St. Petersburg, after being thwarted by the complicated and intimidating Russian visa process a few years before. Russia was still a dump, but Helsinki and Tallinn were nice.
John and Joanne were lucky to have the perfect timing for seeing cherry blossoms in Japan, working their way north to south from Tokyo to Osaka.
John and Edwin decided to visit someplace warm in Europe
this winter. But it was 5-10 degrees cooler than expected -- 35-50 F most of
the time.
John and Edwin took a guys-only trip to Switzerland. Actually, Joanne was invited but wimped out because of the "cold" weather. It was actually never colder than about 20 degrees (at 12,000 ft.), and more typically 45-55 during the day.
Another year, another party at Maggiano's! This year's DeMonte Family Christmas Party featured a special Santa, on his way from California to Switzerland.
John and Joanne visited the city of Quito, the rain forest in Mashpi, and several islands of Galapagos.
John and Joanne visit Malaga, Gibraltar, Ronda, Cordoba, Sevilla, and Granada.
Joanne, John, Edwin, Jan, and Ken went to Iceland for five days, to see the Northern Lights and other sights. Well, Joanne and John got there a day late, but that's another story.
Fantastic performance for this 79-year-old legend. Hunky Seasons, too bad Joanne missed it. Great seats in the "pit".
Cruising with the Moodies and 10 other bands. John and Joanne and Jan and Ken went on a
5-night Caribbean cruise with live shows by the Moody Blues and about 10 other
bands. As one band member described it, it was an entertainment orgy.
John and Joanne took a sightseeing trip in Norway, including Oslo, Bergen, fjords, and mountains.
John, Joanne, and Edwin went to Taiwan for 9 days. The original motivation for the trip was to try flying first class on Cathay Pacific, but they did a ton of sightseeing too.
We visited Dick and Bonnie at their house on the Big Island in January. We also visited John’s work friend Joe Vitorino and his wife Kelly at their horse ranch.
John flew to Baltimore on Christmas Eve, and spent a few days with Gina, Kevin, Julia, and Lily.
This year's party was at The Grotto in Oak Brook.
John and Joanne spend Thanksgiving in Baltimore with Gina and Kevin and the girls.
John went to Ft. Myers to visit Uncle Glenn and Aunt Mary.
Lauren and Steve's wedding in Chicago.
Opening event for Marquette University's new Engineering Hall.
John and Joanne flew to Boston and visited Maine and New
Hampshire. They flew to Boston, picked
up Susie and Seth, and visited Seth's parents in northernmost Maine. After
that, they visited Jan and Ken in Middleton, MA, and Auntie Danny on her farm
in Candia, New Hampshire.
John goes back to Mars.
Visiting the Riches in Baltimore.
John and Joanne went to Italy. They visited Naples, Sorrento, Capri, Positano, Florence, San Gimignano, Siena, Cinque Terre, Venice, Como, and drove through Switzerland to Zurich for their flight home.
Lily was born on March 30, 2011.
John took a whirlwind 1-week trip with Fran, Edwin, with 6 nights in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. They visited 11 cities and towns and rode 18 trains, 4 cable cars, 2 gondolas, and various buses and trams.
Joanne, John, Karen, & Ron went to Oahu and Maui. The four travelers spent two days in Honolulu and five at Kaanapali Beach in west Maui. Now we know why this is the "off" season -- it rained and rained in Maui, hence few pictures.
Another annual family Christmas party in Chicago. This year the party was held at Maggiano's.
John and Joanne took a short trip to Bermuda. It was pleasant but expensive.
John & Joanne do Budapest, Vienna, & Prague. They spent about three days in each of
Budapest, Vienna, and Prague. Locals say it was the coldest, rainiest, windiest
May in decades.
John and Joanne visited Sydney, the Hunter Valley, Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef, and Melbourne.
John and Joanne took a 10-day trip to Switzerland, with
stops in Zermatt, St. Moritz, and Zurich, and day trips to Bern and
Schaffhausen.
Zurich,
Bern, and Schaffhausen
John & Joanne visit Mary & Glenn in Ft. Myers.
John & Joanne visit Mary & Glenn in Ft. Myers.
John and Joanne visited the Normandy region for three days
and Turkey for nine.
Grampa John and Gramma Joanne visit the Riches in Eugene, OR.
Susie completed her Master’s degree at Tufts and
graduated. John and Joanne were unable
to attend the ceremony, but her brother Mikey did.
All Pics (to be located)
John and Joanne went to Belgium (Brussels, Brugge, and a
brief stop in Antwerp), Netherlands (Amsterdam), Denmark (Copenhagen), and
Sweden (Stockholm).
Mom's back from CA and joins Dad at Karen's.
Lauren and her Physical Therapy roommates visit CA.
We visited with various relatives.
John and Joanne, and Jo and John (Darwin) go on a 12-day
trip, including 6 days in Croatia and a few days before and after around London.
John, the kids, and Joanne go to Hawaii.
John and Joanne visited for about 10 days in the southern
part of Ireland, from Dublin to the Cliffs of Moher.
John and Joanne visit Shasta Caverns.
John and Joanne go to Lake Tahoe, NV.
A Kwik-E-Mart opens in Mountain View!
John and Joanne go to NYC and the Hamptons.
We got together at Karen and John's place to celebrate
Gramma's birthday. No, we're not saying which one!
Susie's new apartment in Brookline, MA.
Santa Fe, all the way.
John goes to Mars.
John's quickie trip to Japan.
John and Joanne went to Spain and visited Madrid,
Toledo, and Barcelona.
Last updated June 30, 2025