The Majesty of the Grand Canyon

On our way to visit the Grand Canyon this morning, we overshot our turn off by about half an hour. We did catch some nice scenery before we realized our error - among which were 6 double trailer UPS trucks parked side by side - resting? I intended to take a picture, but my driver went by much too fast - slowing down or stopping would have been nice, but oh well!

Once we made it back to where we should have turned, we decided to have lunch at the Cameron Trading Post. Since my maiden name is Cameron, I naturally had to stop. I ordered a Navajo Taco - it's an open face taco with Indian frybread instead of a tortilla. Fortunately I ordered a "mini" - I couldn't even eat all of that! I checked out the gift shop, which contained the usual overpriced trinkets - the most expensive items were the native made items, and I couldn't quite bring myself to buy "native" trinkets made in China or other foreign countries!

It took us about an hour to get to the east entrance of the Grand Canyon National Park (South Rim), and once again I was glad that I had the National Parks Senior Pass - the entrance fee was $25, but with the pass, it cost us nothing. Very nice. My first glimpse of the Grand Canyon literally brought tears to my eyes! Its grandeur is truly amazing! We walked to the Desert View Watchtower. I was assured by a nice lady that I could handle the climb to the top floor - she assured me that I could rest between flights. So we made our ascent - all 86 steps. Piece of cake after the 87 steps at the Houston Control Center. The only difference here, though, is the altitude is much higher which does, of course, make a difference! The views were really something - I was even able to get close enough to the windows to take pictures. We returned to ground level and walked out almost to the railing - it's a good thing you don't have to walk all the way to the edge to get a good look at the beauty of the Grand Canyon.

We drove through the park, stopping again for another view of this glorious wonder! We also saw these beautiful black ravens - they were enormous! Our last stop was at the Visitor Center and then we headed back to Flagstaff. There has been so much great scenery on this trip - I will never tire of seeing the beauty of nature.

The Land of Enchantment

Saturday (Oct 23) after locating the giant roadrunner in Fort Stockton, Texas, we made our way north to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. It was a two lane highway most of the way - we were glad it was the weekend, and there was very little truck traffic. 

Due to our "skill" level (read age and physical capability), we opted to tour The Big Room. This is the large cave - 6000 sq ft - that has paths with railings all the way around it. The walk is about one mile and very well lit. I had much expected this to be very similar to the other two caves we had visited, but it proved to be very different. The paths in the other caves were dark and narrow, and we had a guide to lead us through and explain everything. The Big Room is a self-guided tour, very well lit, high ceilings and very wide open. The formations are different in that they don't seem "polished" like in the other caves. A lot of the formations are very similar in shape, but appear to have a much rougher surface. As with any cave formations, you are not to touch them as it does wear them down and changes them. While the temperature is only 50ish, you stay pretty comfortable because you're constantly moving. It was an excellent experience, and I'm so glad we visited. 

We stayed overnight in the town of Roswell - did not see a single alien, although our waiter at dinner was questionable! His name was Jon Jon and was just a little on the weird side - we definitely questioned his sobriety! All of the wait staff at this particular eatery was pretty unique, but this guy certainly took it a few steps farther. Good food, though - I had a most awesome Green Chili Stew - incredible!

Went to church on Sunday where I discovered the retired pastor there used to be a pastor in Lakewood, WA - he even knew my pastor. Mike waited patiently for me - washed the car, bought cigarettes, visited a local park. He took me by the park to show me a piece of the Berlin Wall the German Air Force sent to the city of Roswell. Another tidbit of history is the fact that German POWs were held in Roswell during World War II - they were used as labor for paving the banks of the North Spring River. They also built an Iron Cross into the wall, which was later covered up with a layer of concrete until the 1980's.

Sunday night we stayed in Albuquerque, but left this morning (Oct 25) without visiting anything in the area. We traveled west on Highway 40, and I was glad that Mike was driving. The crosswinds were pretty rough - I'm not sure I could have held onto the steering wheel at times. We arrived in Flagstaff in late afternoon - tomorrow we'll explore some of the area surrounding this city. The temperature is quite a bit lower than we've been enjoying - low to mid 50's during the day and below freezing at night. Mikey's cold, but maybe the home temps won't be such a shock to his system when we get there!

Going around in circles in San Antonio

Thursday morning, Oct 21, found us heading north to San Antonio. The motel we chose was right alongside the freeway - should be easy, wouldn't you think? Not in San Antonio - we took the exit that Miss Aggie told us to, and then while we continued to try to follow her confusing directions, we managed to get right back on the freeway. While we gnashed our teeth complaining about our inept GPS system (certainly not our fault!), we determined that it was the crazy snarl of a freeway system that was mostly the problem. We finally made our way to our motel and wisely ordered our dinner to be delivered rather than try to navigate to a restaurant. The next morning on our way to the Alamo it wasn't a whole lot better - neither was our exit from San Antonio after our visit to the Alamo.

We did enjoy our visit to the Alamo - it wasn't quite what I had expected. I certainly was surprised that it was in the middle of a lot of very large buildings, hotels, etc. I thought it was really kind of a shame that time and progress overtook this bit of history. I am glad that the Daughters of the Republic of Texas took responsibility for saving this for future generations to visit and learn from. The grounds were beautiful, and as usual, I was fascinated by all of the flowers and trees. Such beauty - in late October! Just not what I'm used to!

We left San Antonio and drove to Fort Stockton, Texas. This was just a one night stop on our way to Carlsbad Caverns, but we did search out the 20 ft X 11 ft roadrunner in town before we left. By far, this was also the best Days Inn we had yet visited - even better than Houston.

And then we were in Houston . . . .

As we drove into Houston, I was in awe of the many, many oil refineries - and they were huge! Wow - way bigger than any I had seen before, like for example, Anacortes. We settled into our motel - the nicest Days Inn yet. I chose this one because it was so close to the Space Center, but also because it had great customer reviews. Definitely a good choice, and a big improvement over the not so super, Super 8 from the night before.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the NASA's Johnson Space Center the next morning. We got there just in time to board the Tram Tour, which I think ended up being the last one for the day. The tram wound its way through the complex, past some longhorn steers at the Western Heritage Pavilion, past the warehouse that houses a Saturn V rocket and stopped at the Mission Control Center. We climbed 87 stairs to the Control Center - I only had to stop once, and then realized I was almost there. We sat in a balcony area behind a window looking down into the room where the words "Houston, we've had a problem" (the actual statement) was heard for real - not a movie. There have been many events in that room that are beyond incredible - what teamwork it must take on both the ground and in space. Our next stop was the Space Vehicle Mock-up Facility. This building contained  numerous different vehicles that astronauts need to train in. The third stop was the Saturn V rocket - this was one of 3 rockets built for Apollo 18, 19 and 20, but those missions were cancelled. Our final stop before returning was the grove of trees planted in honor of astronauts who have died. It was very interesting, and would be an absolutely wonderful experience for children.

After the Space Center, we drove down to Galveston. The area is still recovering somewhat from Hurricane Ike in September, 2008. We didn't spend too much time there, but we did drive around a bit. We stopped and took some pictures of big ships in the Gulf, found some shells - one with a little hermit crab in it (we left it alone in its little home), and the beach "parking lots" are really something - it cost $8 just to park on the beach and walk a long way to the water. We arrived in the area too late to visit any museums, since they all close at 4 pm. It's probably just as well as I think we're running out of steam - we're just not as young as we used to be!

Tabasco anyone?

We drove to Days Inn in Lafayette, LA on Monday but decided that there really wasn't anywhere nearby for dinner. So - we drove back to Super 8, which was right near the freeway we would be getting back on to go to Houston. No problem - they had a room and there was a Shoney's right next door. I started to wonder if we had made the right choice when a police car slowly cruised through the parking lot of the Super 8, both motels next door and the Shoney's lot. We walked out to our car to bring our bags in, and a young woman was picked up at the back door of the motel by 2 men in a big black car - she got in the back and they drove away. We were sitting in our room when another woman in a bathrobe came and sat down on the curb outside our window (ground floor), had a cigarette and then went back inside. Dinnertime came and we walked next door for a bite to eat - excellent by the way. I had a chicken stir-fry skillet - closest thing I've found to teriyaki since we've been on the road. As we walked into the lobby of the motel, there was another young lady using the guest phone - no big deal. We got to our room and realized that there were a couple of things that we left in our car. As we walked outside to get them, this same young lady went up to this very rough looking fella that was walking in the parking lot. All things considered, I was thinking this Super 8 had not been the best choice - not too super! Neither of us slept well, between the very uncomfortable bed and people getting ice (2 doors down from our room) at all hours of the night! In addition to that, it was very warm and every time I turned the A/C on I started sneezing and coughing from the overpowering air "freshener". 

Tuesday morning we drove to Avery Island, which was a little bit of back tracking from yesterday to tour the Tabasco factory. We got out of the car and were met with the very pungent aroma of Tabasco - quite different from the lovely cinnamon aroma from Pacific/Kerry. We had a very informative although brief tour of the factory - it was mostly information about the product, but it was fascinating. Every single bottle of Tabasco sauce, including the new ones (such as green/jalapeno, habanero, chipotle, garlic pepper) are bottled at this facility. It is produced by the McIlhenny Co, a fifth generation family business that was started in 1868. The peppers are mixed with a little salt (that is actually mined from Avery Island), ground up into a mash and stored in oak barrels to ferment for 3 years. The liquid is then separated from the skin and seeds, mixed with vinegar and stirred intermittently for 28 days. Once this process is completed, it can be bottled - over 700,000 bottles (of assorted sizes) are produced every day - they have a 4 day (2 shifts of 12 hours) work week 52 weeks/year. All components of the peppers are used either by McIlhenny or other companies. I sampled "sweet and spicy" and "jalapeno" flavored ice cream - it was really quite tasty - I could get used to it! Mike didn't participate in the taste test - he prefers much more traditional ice cream. I'm glad we visited the Tabasco plant, but I wish we had more time so we could explore Avery Island and its Jungle Gardens and Bird City.

Homeward bound . . . .

When we left St Augustine on Friday, we fully intended to spend the night in Tallahassee. Just before reaching Tallahassee, I decided to check with motels in the area. The first one I called gave me an emphatic NO when I asked if they had any rooms available. My next call was to a Super 8 and was advised that they had one room left - and it was only $189! For Super 8?! When I asked if he really had said $189, he assured me that yes, that was the rate. Apparently, our timing was impeccable as always - the Seminoles were playing in town that weekend. Yikes! So we decided to continue on - we stopped in a small town named Marianna and were able to get a reasonable room for the night. Judging from the parking lot later on, we got there just in time. We were about 65 miles from Tallahassee, but not too far for die-hard Seminole fans!

Dinnertime rolled around, and we were right next door to PoFolks! We couldn't wait to try this place - with a name like that, how could it be bad? Well, I won't say it was delightful, but it was interesting. The food was a little different, but filled us up. It definitely satisfied our curiosity - I haven't seen another (and there are more of them), but we see no need to visit again.


We traveled through Niceville, which appeared to be a very touristy town - stopped at the fanciest McDonalds I've ever been in. Food and service was good, but the decor was like a nice restaurant. From Niceville, we traveled south to the Emerald Coast and drove to Navarre, a small town about 25 miles from Pensacola and checked into the local Days Inn for 2 nights. On Sunday, we drove to Navarre Beach - beautiful white sand along the Gulf of Mexico, and it truly is emerald in color. I know the sand is not as pure white as it was before the oil spill. It is really hard to walk in, because you sink so far in it! I had taken my sandals off, and my feet were killing me from the effort of trying to walk in it. 

We got back to the car, and I told Mike that I didn't think my camera would hold out for the rest of the trip - it wasn't working right and making funny noises. Sure enough, within the next 10 minutes it just flat out died. So off we went to buy another camera. I bought the same camera as my poor dead one - just a newer, working version. It wasn't an expense that I had planned, but a necessary one. I can't imagine not having a camera for the next 2 weeks on the road. We headed back to the beach, but this time we just drove all the way down this little strip of land on the water, with dunes and water on both sides, to Pensacola Beach. I took some pictures of some pretty far-out homes - must be nice to have these little beach cottages!

Last night, as I was pondering the next leg of our trip, I realized that we had a minimum of 8 days of driving at about 6 hours a day. That does kind of limit what we have time to see if we want to be home by the end of the month. So, we rethunk it, and decided to bypass New Orleans and most of Louisiana. We will still be going to Houston and the Space Center, most likely the Alamo and on to Carlsbad Caverns. Other than that, I'm not sure just what lies ahead between Carlsbad and Los Angeles where we will visit son Tony for a couple of days before heading home. Tonight we are in Lafayette, Louisiana (we're not sure just what all goes on here in this motel) - we may go visit the Tabasco plant before heading to Houston. It's amazing that we've traveled less than 350 miles today, and have been in a total of 4 states (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana).

St Augustine and the Fountain of Youth

So - there we were on Thursday morning, Oct 14 (Happy Birthday, Whitney), trying to decide where to go first. Our decision led us to the St Augustine Visitor Center where a very nice volunteer pointed out different things to see on foot. Our first stop was the Castillo de San Marcos. Construction on this fort was started in 1672 by the Spanish. During British occupation (1763 to 1784) it was named Fort St Mark; it was renamed Fort Marion in 1821 after Florida became a US Territory. In 1942 Congress restored the name to Castillo de San Marcos. This is the oldest masonry fort in the US. It is made of a stone called coquina which is similar to limestone and made up mostly of little shells. When first quarried, it is too soft to use for building, so it needs to dry for one to three years before using. The good thing, though, it is soft enough that cannon balls would sink into it rather than shatter or puncture. The fort is very interesting - it had a moat and drawbridge, look-out towers, bronze cannons. The design of the fort made it difficult to penetrate by the enemy, and it endured many battles in many wars. 

We left the fort and walked to the entrance of Old St Augustine. As one would expect, there are many tourist traps (souvenir shops, eateries, expensive shops) along the way. We saw the Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse, built before 1763. Stopped for a hot dog at TP's Crazy Dogs - we ate outside in a lovely courtyard surrounded by some of the most incredible flowering vines - one was a bleeding heart vine, but I have no idea what the other was - Rocky? After our bellies were filled, it was time to continue our walk through the old streets. We walked to the Gonzalez-Alvarez House - the oldest surviving house in Florida - where we were just in time for the guided tour. It is estimated that the house was built around 1723 and was resided in by the Gonzalez family for 40 years until the British took control of Florida. A wealthy Englishman lived there from 1775 until he died in 1784. Two years later his widow married a young Irishman about half her age - gee, there were cougars way back then. This young man liked to gamble and incurred so much debt that his wife had to auction her home in 1790 - he was also banished from St Augustine, so they moved to her country home. The winning bid for the house was a Spaniard named Alvarez, and his family lived in the house for almost 100 years. There is so much more history of this house - check it out on the internet if you're interested.

By the time we were done with the "oldest house", we were ready to head to our car. Unfortunately, our car was several blocks away. There was still a lot to see, but it seemed like the return was much farther than getting there. We did see a lovely cottage for sale for a mere $699,000. This little cottage was only 5800 sq ft, had 7 bedrooms and 5+ bathrooms. Nice little vacation home, don't you think? We finally made it back to the parking garage and returned to our motel.


Friday morning we visited the Fountain of Youth before heading to Tallahassee. We probably should have done that the day before - maybe we would have been energized by the "special" water. We both had a little drink of this youth potion - alas, we felt just as old as we did before drinking it! We walked the grounds, saw a Native American exhibit (Timucua), watched the peacocks and squirrels - and definitely did not feel any younger!





 

Tybee Island and Oatland Island Wildlife Center

As I noted yesterday, we arrived in Savannah a little late in the day. We checked into our hotel - stayed in a Wingate by Wyndham. Very nice hotel - down comforters, fluffy towels, hot breakfast - really nice. Tuesday morning we headed out to Tybee Island where we hoped to take a boat ride to see dolphins. After the adorable (not) Miss Aggie led us in a most roundabout way, we finally reached Capt Mike's Dolphin Tours. We arrived at 12:50 PM - the next tour was to leave at 1 PM. Great timing in spite of our GPS! We walked down to the dock to board as the tour guide was counting heads - oops! It seems that the 4H tour neglected to include the bus driver and counselor in their head count when they made their reservations. So sorry, they said, but you'll have to wait for the next trip at 3:30. 

Off we go to visit the lighthouse and its museum - oops! It's Tuesday, so both are closed! Fine! We'll go to the Marine Science Center - which could have easily fit in anyone's family room (with the exception of one nasty snake that my husband hid from me - thank you, Mike). I really have a most unreasonable fear and dislike of such things - cannot even discuss them. We walked up to the pier to take a look see - people fish off the pier, and you can also walk down the stairs to the beach. There are concessions that aren't open during the week this time of year, but they did have pretty cool restroom doors. Unfortunately, it was very embarrassing when I was caught taking a picture as a gentleman exited - I did explain that I was really only trying to take a picture of the door.

We walked around the block a bit - afterall, we did have over 2 hours to kill. There were just the usual tourist gift shops - mostly junk, a couple of restaurants, and ice cream store - so we got Mike an ice cream and me an iced coffee. It was very warm - in the mid-80's, so we got back into our air-conditioned car and drove around the island. Wow! There are some really fantastic homes - many of them are available for vacation rentals. Most of them are so big - I can't imagine needing that much space!

We finally drove back to Capt Mike's with just a short time to wait. We piled onto the boat with about 3 dozen kids and 10 adults, plus the captain and the guide. The boat left the dock, and we were on our way to see dolphins - everyone was looking really hard to see them splashing in the water. We saw a few here and there, and the farther out we went the more we saw. I tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to get some pictures, but they are really fast. The zoom on my camera also decided to stop working earlier in the day, so what few pictures I did get, you can barely see anything. After about an hour, the boat returned to the dock. It was interesting and informative - well worth the cost.

Wednesday morning (the 13th) it was time to head South again. On the way out of town, we visited the Oatland Island Wildlife Center with natural habitat exhibits of wildlife indigenous to the area. The setting is very natural, with paths winding through a forested area. There are not a lot of different animals, but their "homes" are well designed. There are also some very old buildings from the 1800's that were taken apart and rebuilt on the grounds by volunteers. My photos are not what I had hoped for, not having the zoom available, but some of the animals were close enough for decent pictures. All in all, it was an enjoyable walk through an interesting environment.


Next stop - the oldest and continually occupied European established city in the continental US

Charleston in our rear view mirror . . . .

Monday, October 11, it's time to leave Charleston. Since Savannah is only about 2 hours away, we decided to make a couple more island hops. Our first stop was Folly Beach on (oddly enough) Folly Island. As usual, you have to pay for parking at beach access, but I did find out that money collected from this is what keeps the beaches so nice and clean. There was a sign telling us that a short 1/2 mile walk gave us a great view of the Morris Island Lighthouse. Even Mike agreed that was a very long half mile - but well worth it in the end. As we had discovered farther north, the water was comfortably warm. There are also warnings along the beach that there are dangerous currents, and they advise very strongly not to swim in the water. There was also a bit of a breakwater along part of the beach where it was a safer walk in the surf. 

The story about the Morris Island Lighthouse is very interesting - the internet goes into quite a bit of detail on the history of this. At one time, there were plans to destroy the lighthouse. It is now privately owned and plans are in place to restore and preserve it.

After our little walk to the beach, we drove to the Charleston Tea Plantation. This is the only tea plantation in America, it is located on Wadmalaw Island in South Carolina's Lowcountry. As we drove onto the plantation, we noticed row upon row of well-trimmed hedges - these were actually the tea plants.The machinery that cuts the tea is the only one like it in America! While the plantation was purchased by the Bigelow Co in 2003, the integrity of the product created by the original owners has been maintained. I can't wait to brew some of the tea I purchased when I get home - I may even share some with my family - maybe!

Due to our little side trips, we arrived in Savannah a little late in the day. Tomorrow I'll try to catch up with today's events - we were on a boat to see bottle-nosed dolphins - awesome! 

Charleston - the city, not the dance!

Okay, I'm either getting lazy or tired - I vote for tired! We arrived in Charleston on Friday, the 8th. As we were coming into town down Hwy 17, our GPS took us over this very high, very long bridge - we took the first exit off the bridge, then it directed us back onto the bridge to our destination at the first exit on the other side. Hwy 17 has frontage roads on both sides with traffic lights at multiple intersections, including one that is exactly where our motel was. Why the GPS had us cross the bridge and then reverse and cross again makes no sense to me - I think Miss Aggie was just being mean because she knows I don't like high bridges! By the way, this bridge is the longest cable-stayed bridge in the Western Hemisphere - it is 250 feet high and 2.7 miles long. We seem to be hitting these different cities on the eve of weekend celebrations. This time, it was the Taste of Charleston. We somehow managed to avoid the crowds, but of course the motel rates were higher for Friday and Saturday nights. I still find that rather irritating - they have a full house, so they're guaranteed good revenue, but they still feel justified in charged $20 more per night. It's just wrong! 


On Saturday we visited Patriot's Point the home of the aircraft carrier, USS Yorktown, World War II's "The Fighting Lady". The submarine USS Clamagore is right along side the Yorktown, and we toured that first. Oh my goodness! Steep stairs down into the sub, narrow passageways, not to mention the little doorways you have to climb through - you definitely could not afford to be claustrophobic! I only know one former submariner, and I can't imagine how he fit in one of those short beds, let alone walked through those corridors (if that's what it's called). By the way - the Clamagore is the last remaining Guppy class submarine in existence.


After the sub, we climbed many stairs up to the hangar deck of the Yorktown. A very nice, retired Navy volunteer gave us information about the different areas of the ship to tour, and I proudly informed him that my granddaughter served on the USS John C Stennis - he was sufficiently impressed! (Were you also on the USS Carl Vinson, Rachel? My memory does have a few holes in it!) There are many different planes on the hangar deck and the flight deck. I was rather mystified as to how the "elevator" worked for bringing the planes up to the flight deck - I think I figured it out, but I really would need to see it in action to understand. I'm a visual learner! We went down many very steep stairs, and up many steep stairs - it was hot and exhausting. It was also really interesting and awe inspiring - this ship and its men fought in World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam. The Yorktown also recovered the Apollo 8 space capsule and the astronauts when they splashed down in the Pacific. The space capsule is also on the hangar deck of the Yorktown, and the Friendship 7 is there as well. 

Another attraction in Charleston is the H L Hunley, a Confederate submarine that was the first submarine to sink an enemy warship. It mysteriously disappeared in 1864 soon after completing its mission and was recovered in the year 2000 about 3-1/2 miles off the coast of Sullivan's Island. The sub only held 8 men - 7 men to turn the crank to propel it and the captain.


Sunday morning was time for church and I visited a lovely church named Coastal Light Baptist Church. Excellent sermon and wonderful people. I had to cross that nasty bridge to get there, but it was well worth it! 


I returned to the motel and Mike and I decided to do a little "island hopping", only here you can drive from one to another. We started with Sullivan's Island where Fort Moultrie is located. I think most of us have visited these coastal forts with all the big artillery, but on the Pacific Coasts the forts don't go back to the Revolutionary War. The fort was not even complete when the first battle was fought and won with the British fleet. This fort was used for the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I and World War II. It is fascinating to follow the fort through all of these periods. I really disliked history class when I was in school - I enjoy it so much more now when I can actually see and touch bits of history. After leaving the fort we drove to the Sullivan's Island Lighthouse - perhaps the ugliest lighthouse I have ever seen. It is 140 ft high, square with straight sides and is thought to be the only US lighthouse with an elevator. Also of note about Sullivan's Island - Fort Sumter was also located here, and Edgar Allen Poe was stationed at Fort Moultrie from 1827 to 1828. Poe used Sullivan's Island as a setting for his novel "The Gold Bug", and the town library bears his name. From there we proceeded to Isle of Palms, but chose not to stop along the way. Unless you live on the island, you have to pay to park just to walk to the beach. That seems to be the case in most areas along the coast where the access to the beach is easiest.

"From sea to shining sea"

We finally made it to the Atlantic Ocean yesterday. This isn't the first time we've seen it, but it is definitely different from our Pacific Coast. Today I actually walked in the surf a little bit and was amazed at how warm it is - that would not be the case along our coast!

We settled into our room on the 4th floor, facing the ocean. What a great view - it was a pretty nice room and looked very clean - 2 "bedrooms" and a kitchenette (not that I had any intention of cooking!). Only one big problem - the room smelled like a very big kitty's litter box. We thought that it would dissipate a little - even bought an air freshener. That was not to be the case - it was so bad that it woke me up after just a couple of hours sleep and I couldn't go back to sleep. I finally went and laid down in the other bedroom where it wasn't quite as overpowering. This morning we reported our misfortune to the front desk and moved to a ground floor unit - the view isn't as spectacular, but it sure does smell better!

After moving all of our stuff to the new room, we headed down the road to Brookgreen Gardens. The gardens are made up from four former plantations established during the antebellum years. Part of our visit to the gardens included a 45 minute tour through historic rice fields on a 48 ft pontoon boat. The boat travels down a creek that empties into the Waccamaw River - the gardens have been given permission to block off the creek to any other boat traffic since it is also a wildlife preserve. We were fortunate enough to see 3 alligators, a few turtles, a heron and an osprey while on our journey. We also received a brief education on the rice fields - much of which my brain did not absorb - it really was interesting at the time! Also in the gardens were many beautiful sculptures, trees, shrubs, flowers and a zoo with local wildlife and plantation animals. We were unable to see the butterfly exhibit - they only allow 25 people in at a time spaced 30 minutes apart. By the time we got to the exhibit, they were no more tickets for today. I was disappointed, but it's not as though I haven't visited many other butterfly exhibits. (By the way, there is a wonderful Butterfly House just outside of Coombs, BC on Vancouver Island.)

Tomorrow we'll be heading south to Charleston - see you there! 

"A Man Named Pearl"

Several months ago I saw a documentary called "A Man Named Pearl". This is about an amazing man that started working on his garden in the early 1980's, hoping to win "Yard of the Month". He did win that award, and has continued to work on and enlarge his garden of topiary. Many of his plants were "throwaway" plants - the ones you find on clearance that just need a little TLC. His topiary education was a mere 3 minute lesson - the rest he has learned on his own. In 2007, the Garden Conservancy agreed to help preserve the garden. This is an amazing place to visit, provided by a special man. If you ever have the opportunity to see the documentary, by all means, do. 

There is also a garden, though not topiary, in our own state that is also supported by the Garden Conservancy - Chase Garden in Orting, WA. This garden was created and maintained by Emmott and Ione Chase. Ione died in 2006, and Emmott died earlier this year just shy of his 100th birthday. They were married 74 years - it's a lovely story. You should check it out! 

Driving back to Columbia, we drove through the town of Sumter. This town has roughly 43,000 people in it - and 4 funeral homes. Doesn't that seem like an awful lot? Hmmm

Tomorrow we will be heading to Myrtle Beach to dip our toes in the Atlantic - I've heard that it's warmer than the Pacific. I'll let you know!




 

Did you miss me?

Took a few days off while visiting grandchildren. We landed in Easley, SC just in time for the Clemson Homecoming weekend - which meant, of course, that our motel room was $20 more per day than normal. As far as we're concerned, that's just pure greed, plain and simple. The motel was full - it's not as though they needed to make up for less business! But then again, they didn't ask us for our opinion.

Saturday we drove over to our grandson Brian's house where we visited with him, his sister Jennifer and 4 of their 5 children, Javen, Carson, Bryson and Colton. Our great-granddaughter Hayley was with her dad, so we didn't get to see her. After visiting for a couple of hours, we made plans to meet for dinner that night. Mike and I went back to our motel and just kicked back until time to meet. We had a lovely dinner with Jennifer, her boyfriend Toby and their son Colton. Brian wasn't able to make it with his family, and Jennifer's son Carson decided to hang out with Brian and his boys instead of dinner out. We were very disappointed that Brian wasn't able to be there. 

Sunday Jennifer and Colton went to church with me in Pickens. I had heard about this church when I attended church in Millington, TN - turned out to be good preaching at a very nice church. I took Jennifer and Colton home and then spent some time with them looking at old photos and getting to know each other. All in all, it was a great visit and a real blessing to be able to spend time with granddaughter.

I saw my very first real live cardinals yesterday!  I love birds, and the only cardinals I had seen before were in photos - very exciting to see them for real!

We left this morning and headed to Columbia, SC, hoping to meet up with my niece Brandi who is stationed at Ft Jackson. We haven't heard from her on Facebook (that's my only means of contact with her) - hope we can get together for dinner before we leave the area. After settling into our motel, we decided to drive into the downtown area to go for a walk in this lovely park they have here. This park is called Finley Park - it has lovely waterfalls and water feature, is fairly clean and well-maintained - but seems to be visited more by homeless folks than anyone else. We decided that maybe we didn't want to walk around the park after all. 

Tomorrow we will drive to Bishopville to see Pearl Fryar's Topiary - should be really neat!

The lows and the highs

Today we visited Ruby Falls on Lookout Mountain. We rode an elevator down into the mountain and were guided through the cave system by a most entertaining guide. I do believe that working underground makes these guys just a little bit goofy - our guide at the Mark Twain Cave in Hannibal, MO was just as crazy. One of our fellow tourists was 6'10" - he had to do a lot of ducking as we meandered through the cave. We saw many stalactites (they hang tight from the ceiling of the cave) and stalagmites (they might reach all the way to the stalactites) - if the two do meet, they become columns. 1120 feet below the surface, we reached the beautiful Ruby Falls. You can actually walk all the way around it. It was definitely a worthwhile trek.

We left the Ruby Falls attraction to visit Rock City which was also on Lookout Mountain - although it is actually in Georgia, while Ruby Falls is in Tennessee. Rock City is just exactly what it says - a lot of really big rocks and crevasses - some of the crevasses you even have to sidle through. There are rock bridges and interesting formations. At one point, on Lovers Leap, you can see 7 different states from that vantage point - over 2000 feet altitude. We walked through Fairyland, where there were assorted scenes with gnomes, as well as dioramas depicting assorted fairy tales. Once we completed our walk through Rock City, we stopped at a very impressive Starbucks and headed towards South Carolina.

On our way to South Carolina, we were in Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina - some of them more than once. Pretty weird route that our GPS took us on, but it was more scenic than the freeway, which would have taken us down to Atlanta and then up to South Carolina. Both routes took about the same amount of time. I'm looking forward to seeing my grandkids, Brian and Jennifer and their children, this weekend. 

Chattanooga - haven't found the choo-choo yet

Since the weather report said that there was a 10% chance of rain today, we decided to visit the Tennessee Aquarium. Wow! What a great aquarium - I think it's probably the best one I've ever been to. Actually it is advertised as the highest rated aquarium in the US. There are 2 buildings - the River Journey and the Ocean Journey. Each building is 4 stories tall, and we started with the River Journey. At the beginning of our exploration, we had the pleasure of meeting a pygmy hedgehog - very cute. The first exhibit was seahorses, sea dragons, pipe fish and a whole lot of other fishies. There are many different varieties of seahorses - some no bigger than your pinkie nail - maybe even smaller. 

We headed up the longest escalator I've even been on - it went up at least 3 stories. As you visit each of the exhibits, you gradually wind your way down to the ground floor. There are some snakes in the Canyon Exhibit, the Delta Exhibit and there was one other exhibit, but I don't remember what it was called. Anyone that knows me will know that I avoided those yucky things like the plague - did not even look their way. An open brochure makes a great "blinder". There was an incredible variety of turtles - even a Green Turtle - very, very big. I took a picture of a really gigantic shell but forgot to get the info about it - sorry. The river otters were fun - very busy. Saw some young alligators, too - did you know that they chirp?

We saw fresh-water sturgeon, trout, bass, you name it. There were some fish that I'm not sure were river and lake fish, but there were some big ones. We finished up with the River Journey - it took roughly an hour, then decided to get some lunch before we embarked on our Ocean Journey. While we were eating, we noticed several groups of kids on field trips entering the Ocean Exhibits - uh-oh - maybe we shouldn't have eaten first. We let the kids get a good head start, and then entered the Ocean building.

This time each escalator was only 2 stories, but they were consecutive. The first thing we encountered were fresh-water stingrays. Very different from the ocean variety. Their underbelly looks kind of like the face of a duck. We were greeted with a hearty hello from a pair of Hyacinth Parrots - then they laughed at us. There were a lot of beautiful orchids - one tiny one that actually smelled like chocolate - don't know if it tasted like chocolate, though. There was a touch pool with rays, small sharks and pretty fishies, but we chose not to do the touchy-feely thing. Of course we had to visit the butterfly exhibit - the flowers were gorgeous - and the flying "flowers" were awesome. After checking to make sure we didn't have any hitchhikers, we moved on. 

On to the penguins! There are 17 different varieties of penguins. I had no idea! The Ocean Journey has both Macaroni and Gentoo Penguins - I had never heard of either one. Very cute, though. They all have colored tags that correspond to their individual names. 

As we moved through the rest of the Ocean Journey, we saw lots more fish, several varieties of jellyfish, starfish, octopi, coral - a large variety of sea life. All in all, it was a most enjoyable visit to an aquarium.


We decided to walk to the museums at the top of the hill - fortunately there was an uphill "elevator" for old folks like us. Then, unfortunately, there was a skybridge over the highway that we needed to cross to the museum. With Mike holding my hand, and me not looking down, we made it across - if I had any doubt of my fear of heights/bridges, they were reaffirmed today. This is something I should definitely avoid! We continued uphill a little farther to the Houston Museum of Decorative Arts. This museum contains the collection of a woman known in the area as "Antique Annie" - when she died, she left a collection of 15,000 antique pitchers as well as many other antiques, valued at $6 million. She was also known to be married as many as 9 times - very possibly more. After the exhausting hike up the hill, Mike chose not to go into the museum - I was very disappointed. Anyway - check this lady out - www.thehoustonmuseum.com/antiqueannie.html - quite an interesting story.

After nearly 4 hours of walking (& hiking uphill) in much warmer weather than we expected, we headed back to our motel and rested our weary bones. Went to the Cracker Barrel for  dinner - busy place, okay food. Time to download some pics - see y'all tomorrow.

Leaving Nashville . . . .

Before hittin' the road again, we drove into the city to see the Ryman Auditorium. Interestingly enough, this building was originally built by Thomas Ryman as a permanent place for a traveling evangelist, Sam Jones, to preach. It was completed in 1892 and was known as the Union Gospel Tabernacle. When Ryman died, Jones had it renamed as Ryman Auditorium. The building was used for religious revivals, music recitals, operas, ballets, political debates and even boxing matches. In 1943 a radio show, the Grand Ole Opry, started broadcasting from there on Saturday nights. After the Grand Ole Opry left for its new building in 1974, there was talk of tearing the Ryman down. It was renovated and reopened in 1994, and in 2001 was named a National Historic Landmark.

Our next visit was to the Grand Ole Opry House. As many of you may know, there was a devastating flood in that area last May. The Opry just reopened this week - the Opryland Mall has not reopened yet - they are still trying to clean everything up from the flooding. We took a couple of pictures, but chose not to pay the price for the tour of the auditorium. I did pick up a special fly swatter (shaped like a guitar) for Mike in case that pesky fly from Salina, KS keeps following us. 

One last stop before we go - I wanted to see the Hermitage - the home of Andrew Jackson. One of my favorite movies is "The President's Lady" (with Charleton Heston and Susan Hayward), and I just wanted to see the house. I was very disappointed to find that the house was not even a tiny bit visible unless you paid the entrance fees. What makes me saddest, though, is all of the people that can't afford to pay for this, cannot even get a glimpse of this piece of history. Unfortunately, that is the case with all too many national treasures. 

We drove to Chattanooga and another time zone - we are now 3 hours ahead of Seattle. Checked into our motel, and wouldn't you know it - that fly checked in with us. He looks a little tired from his long flight - for some reason, I'm tired too. Tomorrow . . . . 

Visiting Nashville - not the normal tourists

Tuesday morning, Sept 28, Mike slept in. We didn't really have an agenda, so the first thing we checked out was the Parthenon. This is a full size replica of the original Parthenon in Athens, Greece - it was built for Tennessee's Centennial Exposition in 1897 as a temporary building made of plaster, wood and brick. It was a very popular attraction, and in 1920 they replaced the plaster, wood and brick building using permanent materials. The museum is very interesting with many facts and photos of the original building and other exposition buildings, as well as photos and information regarding the refurbishing. There is an impressive art collection donated by James M Cowan who had participated in the Centennial Exposition and was impressed with the people of Nashville. There is also a collection of work by Lisa Rivas. Her work is very different, and I was quite taken with it - check her out online. We made our way to the top floor; the only floor where we were allowed to take pictures. There is a 42 foot gilt statue of Athena - oh my goodness! There are also heavy brass doors at each end of that floor - they weigh 7-1/2 tons each! After leaving the Parthenon, we walked around the park for a bit, took a few pictures and then on to the next attraction.

Our next destination was the Belle Meade mansion and grounds. I suggested we stop for a bite to eat at a little place called the Calypso Cafe' - we both had Island Burgers - Mike is not much for anything but good old American food, so we kept it simple. I did take advantage of his Caribbean sauce as well as my own - it had just the slightest kick to it, and was quite tasty. After eating, we drove around the area a bit and saw some of the most beautiful homes I've ever seen. We got to the mansion, paid our fee and gathered with several others on the mansion porch. Our guide was a young woman in period dress - thank goodness the mansion is kept fairly cool for preservation purposes, or she might have fainted in that outfit. The original house was built in 1820 and added on several times; the last time in 1892. The bloodlines of many famous racehorses can be traced back to the Belle Meade plantation - Seabiscuit, Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Smarty Jones! After touring the grounds and other buildings, we decided we had better get back to our motel before rush hour - too late! Got caught in the back-up anyway!

We've seen several Waffle Houses over the last couple of weeks, but had not stopped at one yet. It was very near our motel, so we decided it would work for dinner. A very nice young waiter named Adam came to our table - I ordered coffee, Mike ordered Coke. Oops! They were out of Coke, so he ordered Sprite - what kind of dressing did Mike want on his salad? Bleu Cheese - no,out of that. Thousand Island - no, out of that. This poor kid kept trying, but everything Mike asked for, they were out of. So instead of salad, he asked Mike what he would like - no charge. Mike asked for a cup of chili, but got a whole bowl. I was glad I only ordered the chili, although it was supposed to come with cheese, onions and jalapenos - I had to send it back for those things to be added. It was all really very comical, and the kid was trying so hard - we gave him a good tip in spite of it all. 

Tomorrow we'll probably visit the Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry - then head to Chattanooga - see if we can find that shoe shine boy or the choo choo. 

"Walking in Memphis"

We decided to stay about 20 miles outside of Memphis on Saturday, the 25th - nice motel with no problems. I expected to see a lot of Navy personnel, since there is Naval Air Station there in Millington, but didn't. We arrived in late afternoon and just decided to hang out in our room until dinnertime. We drove to a nearby Perkins for dinner, then back to our room to lay around again.


Sunday morning I went to a very nice church, Anchor Baptist Church, in Millington - good service, small church, very nice people. Afterward, I went back to the motel to pick Mike up, and we were off to Mud Island River Park. This is a great park that has an exact scale model of the Mississippi River from Cairo, Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico, complete with all its twists and turns. There is a sky bridge you can walk across into downtown Memphis - or you can take the monorail across. I think most of you can guess that this was definitely not a walk I would take. I could probably have handled the monorail, but we chose not to take it. We did go up to the top floor of the museum building, although not too close to the edge. After leaving the park, we drove by the Pyramid Arena - the 6th largest pyramid in the world. While it is an impressive building, it could not be nearly as awe-inspiring as the original pyramids, built solely by man-power, would be to see. 


I have wanted to see the Peabody Ducks since I first heard about them, so off we went to find the Peabody Hotel. We were fortunate enough to find a parking spot only 2 blocks away and walked over to the hotel. There were a carriages parked in front of the hotel - I kind of wish we had taken a ride. The horses and carriages were really nice, but I was on a mission - had to see the ducks. There are 5 mallard ducks that live on the rooftop of the hotel in their very own "palace". Every day at 11 AM they ride down in the elevator and march to the fountain with the Duckmaster - at 5 PM they reverse their route and return to the rooftop. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the duck march, but we saw them in the fountain. Made my day!


We didn't make it to Graceland - drove by, but the area was so congested that we just decided it wasn't that important to us. Instead, we decided we'd do our laundry before dinner. I cannot begin to tell you how much I have not missed laundromats! Other than going to IHOP for dinner, we were pretty much done for the day.


This morning, Sept 27, we decided to visit the Memphis Zoo on our way to Nashville. We both really enjoyed this zoo - unlike some of the zoos we visited in California, it only cost us $14 each to get in. The first exhibits we visited were the big kitties - there was a gorgeous white tiger. I don't believe I've ever seen one before. We saw meerkats, assorted primates, otters, elephants, a rhino, a hippo and best of all, 2 giant pandas! They were really cute, but were having naps. I almost forgot - we also saw red pandas,which look entirely different from the big black and white pandas. The polar bear was pretty boring - if you really want to see some cool polar bears, go to the Pt Defiance Zoo - they're amazing! All in all, we were glad that we stopped here.


On the way to Nashville, we stopped for a bite to eat. The place was supposed to be a gas station/truck stop/restaurant/deli/trading post - what a strange place this was. We ordered cheeseburgers and then waited nearly half an hour. We also each had a soda, but when she hadn't written them on our check, she told us to just tell them at the front what we had. Weird! This place was huge and had so much "stuff" - it would be impossible to every inventory it all. It was like a giant storeroom - the way it was all spread out, I would imagine that they have a lot of pilferage, but they probably wouldn't be able to tell.

We arrived in Nashville, tired from the drive, but anxious to explore the area tomorrow. We even had dinner delivered to our motel room - had some pretty decent spaghetti and meatballs. Don't know what we'll see tomorrow, but I will keep you posted!




 

Paducah? Why Paducah?

My sister, Ann, is a quilter; and she has been known to order fabric from Hancock's of Paducah. Looking at the map earlier in the week, I spied Paducah, Kentucky. Well shoot! I think we need to go there - who knows what wonderful things we shall see?!

We arrived in Paducah, which is right on the Ohio River, the afternoon of Thursday, Sept 23. We had to cross the river on another very high bridge, one lane each way and totally blue from top to bottom. It was very hard to see the division between the very narrow lanes. Mike didn't even like this bridge! As we took a short drive through the town, we noticed that several streets were blocked off for some sort of function. When we checked into our motel, we were told that we were just in time for the annual BBQ on the River! Not only is this event a competition, it is also a fundraiser for local charities. 

The next morning, Friday, the 24th, our toilet oveflowed. Rats! I was able to get all of the towels down on the floor and the water turned off - Mike was still asleep. Once I woke him up, we headed to the front desk. Maintenance promptly started working on the problem, and while he was finishing up with the cleaning and bleaching, we decided to drive into town to walk around the BBQ event. We pulled into a parking lot that supported local softball and asked if it was $4 for the whole day. We had quite a laugh when the fellow collecting the money told us that he thought we asked if he had frog legs! We assured him that the misunderstanding was because we have an accent - being from Washington and all. Even though it was only about 9:30, it was already getting really warm. We wandered down the rows - I have never seen or smelled so much BBQ in my life! We then discovered a wall of murals - these are on the flood wall alongside the river and are a few blocks long. I had hoped to buy a book of these murals that depicted the history behind the town and area, but was too cheap to pay the price. I wish now that I had taken pictures of them all. We stopped at one of the BBQ tents, and had lunch. To be honest, I wasn't overly impressed - my personal favorite will always be Pecos Pit BBQ!

I couldn't leave Paducah without visiting the Museum of the American Quilter's Society. It was most likely a stop that Mike would not have made on his own, but I think even he was amazed at the beautiful handiwork displayed there. There was every imaginable quilt pattern, but they were all still "one of a kind". Many of them were hand quilted and appliqued - I would never have the patience to produce such exquisite designs. No pictures of the quilts allowed - guess you'll just have to go there yourselves! We were allowed to take pictures of the beautiful stained glass windows looked like quilts.

Saturday morning, Sept 25, we were off to Memphis.

Back to St Louis, Louie!

Since our previous 2 days in St Louis were mainly spent with my great-niece's wedding events, we decided to return for a little tourist activity. After visiting Lincoln's Tomb on the 22nd, we continued southward to St Louis. Rather than stay right in the city, we stayed in Collinsville, Illinois, just 12 miles from the big city. Before checking into our motel, we drove to the Cahokia Mounds, the site of a prehistoric, native civilization. It is estimated that the city of Cahokia was inhabited from about 700-1400 AD - at its peak, it covered nearly 6 square miles and 10,000 to 20,000 people lived there. There were 120 mounds - some were for temples, some for the rich, some for burials. By 1400 AD, the site had been abandoned.


We checked into our motel, then headed to the Gateway Arch - definitely an impressive sight! Once again, we had to cross a very high bridge - not my favorite thing to do. Our GPS led us to the riverfront and the Arch - parking was right on the river! In fact, as you will see in the pictures I post on FB, the parking area ran right into the river - certainly the strangest parking "lot" I have ever used! We walked to the Arch where we encountered a great many stairs. Oh boy, I thought, I'm in trouble. But, I'm proud to say that both of us made it to the top and the base of the Arch and were not even winded. Someone sure knew what they were doing when they built those stairs - they are spaced just right as to not make it too strenuous. You cannot imagine just how big that Arch is until you stand at the base of it. Surprisingly, it is only 25 feet higher than our Space Needle.  The Museum of Westward Expansion is located under the Arch. Security is extreme as you enter - purses, belts and everything electronic, including watches has to go in the bin that passes through the scanner - the only thing different from an airport is that you get to leave your shoes on! The museum is very interesting. They have a few exhibits that are life-size "people" that actually move their heads and hands while they relate information - very cool. All of us that grew up in the Pacific Northwest learned all about the Lewis & Clark Expedition in school and how it applied to our area. The Expedition actually began in the St Louis area - I'm sure that residents of St Louis and nearby know as much about the beginning as we do about the end. After visiting the museum, we walked back down those many stairs to the Arch View Cafe' for a bite to eat, then headed back to the motel. Our trusty GPS (Miss Mouth) took us back to the freeway in a rather confusing way - at one time we were going up a narrow, cobblestone road - very, very bumpy ride!


Since our motel was right next door to Denny's, we went there for dinner. I have been eating at Denny's most of my adult life - this was by far the best dinner I've had there, as well as some other more expensive joints! I had ground sirloin covered with melted jack cheese (I think) and sauteed mushrooms and onions, red potatoes, and sauteed spinach with bacon and pico de gallo. Oh my, what a tasty treat! Mike's dinner was "okay" he said, but then again, he doesn't ever get excited about food!


Time to hit the road again on Thursday, Sept 23, but we decided to see just a couple more things in St Louis first. We found our way to Grant's Farm - Ulysses S Grant founded and farmed a portion of this 281 acres and it is now owned by the Busch family. There are over 900 animals there including Clydesdale horses (of Budweiser fame), a tram and a petting zoo. I think it is normally geared more towards children and families, but we are after-all, just big kids! We got to the parking lot, and there was only one other car in sight - no one in the ticket booth, either. We saw 2 couples walking across the parking lot; and when we stopped to ask what they knew, we were told that the park is only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday this time of year. That's not what my AAA book told me - I'm going to have to have a talk with them! So - I took a picture of the sign just so you'd know we were really there!


Since Grant's Farm was a bust, we made our way to the Missouri Botanical Garden - I can't tell you how excited Mike was to get to wander through gardens. Okay - maybe he wasn't. We bought our tickets and were told that they had a dinosaur exhibit in the Climatron. We boarded a tram that would take us on a guided tour through the garden, and afterward we could walk through on a self-guided tour. The guide did not have a very smooth delivery - stuttered and stammered quite a bit, and the tram stuttered and stammered as well (pretty sure it was "operator error"). If we hadn't actually learned several interesting tidbits of information, I would have resented the $4 each that it cost. There are many beautiful statues and sculptures, and there are also glass sculptures by our very own Dale Chihuly. There is an enormous chandelier just inside the doors of the Visitor Center, "Walla-Walla onions" in the central reflecting pools, glass herons in the Climatron, and trellises in the rose garden. 


Our first destination after leaving the tram was the Climatron. If we thought the heat and humidity was bad before (it's been incredibly warm and humid ever since we first hit Missouri - and everywhere else), we were about to get a lot warmer. But, oh my goodness, what gorgeous plants and flowers. Tucked among all of this were life-size dinosaurs and other "prehistoric" reptiles. My grandson, Bostin, would have been sooooo excited - hopefully he will enjoy the pictures and map as well. 


We left the tropical climate of the Climatron and headed toward Henry Shaw's home and mausoleum. Henry Shaw was an English immigrant who made his fortune selling cutlery and general goods in St Louis - he retired when he was 39 years old. The garden was his vision and is often referred to as "Shaw's Garden" locally. He travelled for many years after his retirement, returning in 1851. He opened the garden to the public in 1859. He died in 1889 (89 years old) and is buried in the mausoleum opposite his home. 


We visited the reflecting ponds filled with incredible water lilies and Chihuly's onions; then walked through the rose garden to see his trellises. Of course, I had to visit the gift shop before we left; and then we were off down the road again.


Next stop: Paducah . . . . where?!!

Crossing the Mississippi

Tuesday morning, Sept 21, it's time to hit the road again. We had a quick hot breakfast at the motel - scrambled eggs, sausage patties, sausage and gravy over biscuits - and some healthy stuff, too! Good thing we ate - little did I know that we wouldn't stop to eat again until dinnertime. We didn't have a clue as to what was on the Illinois side of the river - we saw signs for Quincy, so we decided that was as good a town as any for our first stop. I wasn't too crazy about the bridge we went across - way too high for my liking, but we did make it safely to the other side. We stopped at a nice little riverfront park where they had the biggest hibiscus blossoms I've ever seen. (I'm sure they're at least that big in Hawaii, but we have not made it there yet.) We figured we'd wander through the town where there were at least four historical areas of note - drove and drove until we ended up on the south side of town. We stopped to buy some water, and I asked the clerk where the visitor's center was - he had no idea. As it turned out, it wasn't far from where we were, but we found that later after a lot more driving through town. When we got to the visitor's center, at first glance it appeared to be just restrooms with some brochures outside. Off to the left was this "castle" called the Villa Kathrine. It was built a little over 100 years ago by a man named George Metz - he lived there when he wasn't traveling around the world. He later sold it to the railroad - the house and grounds are now owned by the Quincy Park District.

We were ready to move on to more history, so we headed to Springfield, Illinois. This trip and the one from Hannibal were some of our shorter driving trips - I think Mike really liked that. As we were coming into town, we spotted a Travelodge with restaurant attached, so decide that would be where we stayed that night. We drove around downtown for a little bit scoping out the sights, and decided to go back to our motel and get checked in. After not having internet for 2 days, I specifically asked if it was working and was assured that it was. It was early yet, so back to town we went so we could visit Abraham Lincoln's home. This was a guided tour through the only house that Lincoln had ever owned. It has been beautifully restored - even the paint colors and wallpaper were matched as closely as possible to the original. There were several pieces of furniture that had actually belonged to Lincoln and his family. It is a most awesome feeling to walk the floors, climb the stairs, put your hand on the banisters that such a great man as Lincoln had done many, many times. After we left his house, we walked through his neighborhood. The house across the street (the Arnold house) had been added onto and the entire exterior had been changed. In the mid 1990's all of the changes were removed and the house brought back as closely as possible to its original condition. Many of the homes are used for offices - one Illinois senator rents office space in the Shutt house. We left Lincoln's neighborhood and walked to the Old State Capitol and the building where Lincoln's law offices were. Unfortunately, by the time we walked through the neighborhood, it was nearly 4 pm - most of the tourist sights closed at 4, so we didn't really get to see much else. 

We returned to the motel, where I decided to check out the internet. Guess what?! No internet - again! I called the front desk, and was told that it should be working. She would reboot and told me I should try again after a few minutes. Should be and working did not go hand in hand - no internet still! So - I stamped my foot, grumbled and told Mike it was time for dinner. We walked up to the attached restaurant where a very friendly waitress took our order. Too bad she was the only waitress in the whole place. I asked for a cup of soup before my dinner. After a very long wait, we finally got our dinners - and a few minutes after that, my soup. Oh well - tomorrow's another day!

We left fairly early the next morning, Sept 22, so we could visit Lincoln's Tomb. Wow - what a huge memorial! In front of the memorial is a bronze reproduction of Gutzon Borglum's marble head of Lincoln - the nose is touched by so many that the tarnish has been rubbed off. We walked through the interior rooms of the tomb - the walls are all polished marble trimmed with bronze. The whole thing is beautifully done - honoring a great president. Lincoln, his wife and children, with the exception of his oldest son are all buried at this site. We walked around the area some and saw other significant sites related to Lincoln's burial.

On the Road to St Louis (not starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour)

Thursday morning, Sept 16, it's time to leave Sandy's home. Got everything packed up and loaded, but since I hadn't needed my car keys since we got there, I decided I had better locate them since I was driving the first half. Could not find my keys! I started back-tracking in my head - I knew I had them when we left Evanston, WY, because I was driving. We had stopped for a bite to eat and to fill the gas tank - did I leave them at the diner? Mike handed me his keys, and I continued to stew and worry while driving. There was nothing identifying me on the key ring, and I knew it would be pricey to replace the remote - rats! This would be stupid expense #2, since earlier in the week I had broken my sunglasses (came with my glasses) by putting them in my pocket. It only costs $80 to replace them - why they're so expensive is beyond me - you can buy a pair of clip-ons that are almost identical for $5.99 at the drug store. Time to stop worrying - just keep drivin' . . . 


We drove south through Colorado, avoiding Denver (nasty traffic) and on into Kansas. Scenery? Lots of rolling hills and crops that look sort of like corn - no tassles on top, but some sort of brown cluster at the top. I found out later that this was sorghum, which becomes molasses for our cookies! Yum! We stopped at a Motel 6 in Salina for the night - we had been driving a little over 7 hours. The desk clerk was a little bit goofy, but helpful and gave us a room in the back of the motel. We drove back there, and it's dark, dark, dark - not an outside light to be seen! Motel 6 rooms are pretty minimal with only the absolute necessities - ours did come with a few houseflies, which was definitely not a bonus! We were just about to feel our way back to the front of the motel to ask about lights when they all came on. We felt a little safer after that. I made sure the internet was functioning and found my keys! For some reason I had put them in my netbook case when we were at Sandy's. Then I convinced Mike it was time for dinner at the next-door IHOP. We had a tolerable meal, but the young men in the booth on the other side of the wall from us were a bit of a distraction. Two of them were in and out more than a swinging door the whole time we were there - there was another one that was sleeping and snoring all the while, except when one of his buddies woke him up from time to time. They were still there when we left - maybe they couldn't afford a room.


Friday, Sept 17, we're on the road again - this time for a little over 6 hours. We needed to get to our motel in St Louis in time to shower and change for my great-niece's rehearsal dinner at 7 pm. We found our way to our Days Inn in Hazelwood, MO with plenty of time to get ready. I had made the reservations on-line before we left - it looked good and the reviews were fine. I have to say that we were hesitant when we first saw the place (it looked pretty run down) and went in to register, but the clerk seemed okay, although she complained the whole time about her family and family functions. We drove around to the back of the nearly empty parking lot and headed to our room. There was a very large common lawn between the buildings, personal BBQs, kids playing, adults hanging out (sample conversation "no - you can't smoke in prison!") - this was obviously a low-income, short-term residence for some "interesting" people. The room was okay - but as we talked about it, we decided that this was definitely not within our comfort zone. We went back to the front desk and informed her that we decided not to stay - we found out later that instead of a credit, she mistakenly (I think) charged us a second time for the room. Now I get to fight that one out! Off we went down the road to find another place to stay. We settled on a Super 8 that while not 100% better, was at least better. Unfortunately, we were on the first floor which was actually like the basement level - our window looked out onto the sidewalk where people walking by could look down into our room.


After we finally were able to get ready for the rehearsal dinner, we programmed Miss Aggie to lead us to the address. She did quite well, actually, and we were some of the first to arrive at this beautiful home. I think the hosts are the groom's aunt & uncle, and their house and grounds are fantastic. The groom, Doug, is from St Louis, and he has quite a lot of family and friends there. We were made to feel very welcome, and soon the wedding party arrived from the rehearsal. The bride, Kailie; her daughter, Faith; my niece Kerri and her husband Maury; the bride's father Jeff; my niece Lonni; Kerri's daughter-in-law Jen and granddaughter Melora Belle; Kailie's aunt and maid of honor, Tonya;  and us were the extent of the bride's family. My sister, the bride's grandmother, was in an accident about 6 months ago, and is still unable to travel - we really missed her. The get-together was very nice - food was great.

The next day we went in search of a beauty salon or beauty supply to replace the hair gel I left at my sister Sandy's. There is only one brand that works for me, and I absolutely can't do anything with my hair without it - this is something only women will understand! This product allows me to have wash and wear hair - the less work the better. (Now back to our program.)

Kailie and Doug's wedding was at 6 pm at a country club - very nice venue! We boarded 6-passenger golf carts and were taken to the area where the wedding would take place. The ceremony was short, but very nice - we bombarded the newlyweds with lots and lots of bubbles as they walked back down the aisle as husband and wife. The reception was a sit-down dinner -the food and cake were outstanding! As we were leaving the reception, there was a huge electrical storm happening. Wow - I don't think I've ever seen that much lightning at one time. The thunder was really loud, too! We woke the next morning to rain - definitely not a great day for walking around, so we hit the road again, this time to Hannibal - Mark Twain's boyhood home.

Hannibal is only about 2 hours from St Louis, and the drive was rainy but uneventful. The sky started to clear as we got closer to our destination - just a few light sprinkles when we got there. We stopped at a Days Inn to book a room, but the clerk said we had to come back at 3 pm. We drove down to the riverfront - our first sighting of the mighty Mississippi! At first glance I thought - "gee, this doesn't look so muddy", but then after looking closer had to admit that the water is, indeed, brown. We wandered around the riverfront for a liitle bit, drove up a very narrow road to the lighthouse (did not climb those many, many steps) then made our way back to our motel. We had a new desk clerk by this time (shift change) who wasn't any more pleasant than the first one. Hmmmmmmm. We settled into our room - I was anxious to start adding to my new endeavor, this blog. Phooey! No internet! I tried and tried, thinking that maybe I was just inept, but I finally had to give up and call Susie Sunshine at the front desk. Apparently lightning had taken out the internet at least a week prior to this, and was still not fixed. I was bummed!

Armed with brochures about Mark Twain and other interesting sights, we headed back into town the next morning. We visited the home of Mark Twain's boyhood and learned about his friends and neighbors on which he based his characters in his books about Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. We boarded the Mark Twain Riverboat at 1:30 for a narrated cruise on the Mississippi - the boat looked much like the old sternwheelers and was a fun trip. After our "cruise" we decided to explore the Mark Twain Caves. Our guide was a very entertaining young man named Shaun, and the two of us made up his entire group. The caves are beautiful - narrow and winding passages - Shaun would turn lights on and off as we proceeded through the passages. We did not go through all of them - the total distance of all passages combined was over 6 miles long! There were places where it is rumored that Jesse James hid out, and there is a place where Jesse actually signed his name on the wall (verified by handwriting experts). It is definitely a worth-while tour - we enjoyed it very much. On the way back to the motel, we stopped at Lover's Leap, so named for a legend of an Indian princess and an Indian brave from warring tribes. Of course, they were in love - as the story goes, the princess's father was going to shoot her with and arrow rather than let this young brave have her. Before the arrow could strike its target, the princess and her brave held hands and leaped to their death! Ahhhh - young love!


Tomorrow we will ford the river - in our Honda. What pioneers we are - NOT!

Okay - where were we? (I didn't have internet for 3 days - 2 different motels. I was not happy!)

Sunday,Sept 12, I visited Windsor Baptist Church - very good sermon and a church much like my home church. They are hoping to launch a building project in the not too distant future. Boy, do we at Valley Baptist Church know that road well!

After church, I returned to Sandy's where we loaded up some snacks and a change of clothes and headed to Mt Rushmore. Mike was a little apprehensive about the 5-1/2 hour drive, since he has very little padding in the seat area. We did make a few stops so we could all stretch our poor old bones. There is not a lot of differing scenery driving north through Eastern Wyoming - Mike asked Sandy at one point if the scenic route would have been shorter (funny, Mike). A little more than 250 miles into Wyoming, we turned right into South Dakota - only about 85 more miles to go! As we got closer to Mt Rushmore, we drove by the Crazy Horse Monument - still in progress. This was begun in 1948; the face was completed in '98; and the rest is expected to be completed sometime in the mid-21st century. Wow! 

We arrived at our hotel with just barely enough time to have a little dinner (something Sandy and Mike seem to be able to live without - not me!) before the evening program at 8 pm. We were advised that we needed to get to the parking lot at Mt Rushmore by about 7:15 in order to get to the viewing area/amphitheater before the program began promptly at 8. A National Parks guide came out onto the stage and explained about the program. Promptly (as promised) at 8, the faces of the four presidents were lit up. It was a beautiful sight - the night was clear and the temperature not too cool. Our guide told the story of the Pledge of Allegiance that Red Skelton was famous for telling, and then the entire crowd said it together. She then proceeded to tell us the history of the carvings and a little about what each president stood for in the mind of the sculptor, Gutzon Borglum. Near the end of the program, she invited all veterans to come down to the stage - four of them took the flag down and folded it, and she thanked them all for their service to our country. The program ended with the entire audience singing The Star Spangled Banner - it was a very moving experience. 

We headed back to our motel - all 3 of us were pretty tired. And off we went again the next morning. Of course, I had to hit the souvenir shop, and I did find a small book that explained all about the building of the monument (since I frequently can't remember past 5 minutes ago, and sometimes less than that!). We decided to take Iron Mountain Road since this was, after all, an adventure. What a road! The average speed was about 15 mph, uphill and with switchbacks galore. There were 3 tunnels on this road that proved to be absolutely amazing! Through the tunnels you could see Mt Rushmore - it was incredible! Apparently, the man that designed this road was told that it couldn't be done - he proved them wrong, quite well, I might add.

As we headed back to Sandy's home in Colorado, I thought it would be neat to see the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary. There are hundreds of wild horses here roaming free. There is also a bus tour that is a couple of hours long and very pricey - we opted to drive through the area a little on our own. And then we trusted the GPS to head us back to home! Whoops!! Mike and I call our GPS Aggie -short for Aggravating! She is also sometimes known as Miss Mouth. I won't tell you what Sandy calls hers, but she was in rare form this particular day. Miss GPS had us traveling down dusty gravel roads, and she even tried to send us down one road that we would have been stuck on for certain. Sandy's vehicle does have 4-wheel drive, but would have also needed monster tires to get us down that road. There was a deer watching us at this point, and you could tell that she thought we were real nutcases! We finally, with our 3 heads of common-sense, found our way out of there without the help of the errant Miss GPS.

Having found our way to proper highways again, we drove south to Nebraska just to say we were there, and then onward to Sandy's. It was a long drive in 2 short days, but well worth it. The next 2 days, we just stayed around Windsor - Mike was ready for a break. We girls had a couple of small excursions - shopping one day, and a trip to Greeley the next to get the National Parks Senior Pass. What a great deal - $10 one time, and you can get into national parks and monuments free for the rest of your life!

Next episode . . . . meet me in St Louis!

But wait! There's more . . . .

Friday, Sept 10 we headed to The Garden of the Gods and Pike's Peak for the day. The rock formations were incredible - and the color, wow! We took the Cog Railway up to the top of Pike's Peak - 14,115 feet at the top. Beautiful vistas; I was lightheaded and nauseous - not a fun feeling, but it was still so worth it. We had a great guide on the train - very informative. We learned that the owner of the Simmons Mattress Co was instrumental in founding the railway after riding a burro to the top in the late 1880's - apparently he was somewhat sore and saddle-weary; the woman that wrote the lyrics for America the Beautiful did so after getting back from visiting the summit; we learned about the couple that has lived at about 10,000 feet up the mountain as caretakers for the last 5 years - year-round (brrrr); we learned how the cog railway works - it pretty much pulls itself up the hill; and he told us all of this in between getting on and off to switch the tracks for the tourist trains coming down the mountain! He was very entertaining - sometimes pretty funny!

Saturday, Sept 11 we were on our way Cheyenne, WY to visit Terry Buffalo Ranch. This was another day for a train ride, but it was nothing like the ride the day before. The train and the engineer/guide were older than dirt. I'm sure he gave us a lot of very interesting information, but it was hard to hear over the rumble of the train and the wheels screeching on the rails around the very tight curves. We saw some horses, llamas, goats & sheep, and about 30 head of adult buffalo and calves - there was also a beefalo (failed experiment) and a yak! You should have seen the buffalo come running when the train came! There were buckets of feed pellets that the old man and kids tossed to them. I guess they used to have one they called Loverboy that would actually give kisses - eewww! Some of them had snotty noses - don't think I would want to kiss one! Had a nice lunch after our train ride - shared a buffalo burger with my sister; Mike had a buffalo bratwurst. Headed back to Colorado and on to Estes Park to see if the elk were in town - not the fraternal order of elk, but the real thing. We took a short walk in town and then to the golf course when we learned that the elk had been spotted there. What beautiful animals - but I sure wouldn't want to spook one! As we were leaving town, we spotted one just standing in an intersection of a residential area- apparently a common sighting!

Stay tuned . . . . Mt Rushmore up next!

I'm new at this . . . .

Okay, family and friends - here goes my first blog attempt. As most of you know, Mike and I are on an extended road trip. We should have driven over 7,000 miles by the time we get home. I admit that I'm still a little apprehensive about being away from my comfort zone for so long, but this is all pretty exciting.

We left Tuesday, Sept 7 from our home in Auburn, stopping in Pendleton, OR to see my brother, Jim and his son, Wacey. Had a nice dinner with them, and then went to the Tama'stslikt museum to see the Native American canoe that Jim is carving. All in all, a very nice visit. Then we were back on the road to our first overnite lodging in Baker City, OR.


Wednesday, Sept 8, we were back on the road, heading to Evanston, WY for one night. The road from Baker City led us down through Eastern Oregon, through Idaho, the NE corner of Utah and into Wyoming. Long, uneventful drive - interesting scenery. We saw the blades for one of the new-fangled windmills going down the road on 3 trucks - one on each trailer. Those things are enormous! In Idaho, triple trailers on trucks are allowed - I can't imagine trying to back that up!

Thursday, Sept 9, we got back on the road, heading to my sister Sandy's home in Windsor, CO. The highway was windy, but not too bad. So far, Mike and I have been splitting the driving pretty evenly. We arrived at Sandy's around 5 pm - home base for the next 6 days.

To be continued . . . .