We've been in Millersburg Ohio a week today. We arrived last Monday and will be leaving tomorrow morning for Pennsylvania for a little more time in Amish country. We came to this area of Ohio to go to Canton Ohio to check out the NFL Hall of Fame. We didn't realize that this area in Ohio is also Amish country and we were pleasantly surprised as we really enjoy Amish country.
Several days the last week we've shopped around at all the little shops and flea markets in the area. And the Amish food is just terrific. We ate at Der Dutchman, Mrs. Yoder's Kitchen and the Duthman Restaurant. All were delicious homemade goodness and just excellent. Yum!
Friday we headed an hour east to Canton Ohio to see the NFL Hall of Fame. We were so close and Mark wanted to make a point of checking it out...and we had a really good time. We got to see the NFL from it's inception in the early 1900's up through today, including players, owners, coaches...you name it, it was there. After the 3 hour tour we made a pitt stop in the gift shop and Mark bought a 2010 NFL Hall of Fame Hat.
We've set outside most every night this week and enjoyed time around a campfire. It's just so relaxing and enjoyable. We've had a wonderful and relaxing week here in Ohio and we're looking forward to moving on to Pennsylvania Dutch country. We have a week planned near Lancaster Pennsylvania to enjoy the beautiful Amish farms, hills and mountains. Not much on the agenda other than enjoying the area and just relaxing...without a "To Do" list of things we'd like to see.
We've spent the last couple of weeks finalizing our last few weeks on the road before heading back home in late August. We're tentatively considering continuing east from Pennsylvania to Washington DC for a Christians United for Israel christian conference. We're not sure if we can make it or not...but it's on the radar. The only other place we're planning on spending a week this time out is Savannah, Georgia. There's so much history and things to see and do in the Savannah area that we're really looking forward to our visit there.
From Savannah, we'll head southwest towards Lafayette Louisiana to make a stop where we purchased our RV to get some miscellaneous warranty work completed. From there, a brief stop in Livingston, Texas for a visit with Chris & Love, get our mail from our mail forwarding service, etc., then...finally home. Some 4 1/2 months and 7,000 miles later!
Well that's a wrap for this update. We've had a wonderful time so far and can't wait to see what's in store for us next week! Until later~
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Ford Museum/Dearborn Michigan
We arrived in Dearborn Michigan this last Tuesday. We decided to head south to Dearborn so we could check out the Henry Ford Museum. There are actually two very large museums...one inside and the other outside. The museums are so large we had to break them up into two separate trips.
So this last Thursday we headed to the Ford museum and spent the day checking out the Ford Museum located inside a large building, several acres in size. Wow, we were not disappointed! There were so many things to see it's difficult to know where to begin. These museums housed unique and exotic cars as well as the Model T and many old antiques. But, cars are only a miniscule part of the Ford Museum.
There were large exhibits of everything from the 1930's and 1960's hotels and what they typically looked like; to an enormous exhibit of airplanes, representing Lindberg (who was very good friends with Ford), to Amelia Earhardt, etc. etc. There were wagon exhibits from 1700 through the latest wagons created; Railroad exhibits; A unique 'Home of the Future' built in the early 1960's, a house built with airplane metal material that could be dismantled to be moved. Obviously that idea never took off.
There was an exceptionally fascinating exhibit of Presidential limousines. The one that enthralled us was Kennedy's...the one he was actually riding in when he was assasinated in 1963. There were 4 other presidential limousines on display as well, including Eisehower's; Nixon's; Johnson's and FDR's. Whew, our first day at the Ford Museum items located inside was just awesome! We couldn't wait to check out the outside museum.
We didn't manage to make it back to the Ford museum until today, Sunday July 4th. The external exhibit is comprised of 88 acres of amazing items and actual homes that had literally been dismantled, brick by brick...board by board, and relocated to Dearborn Michigan, in the Henry Ford Museum.
Actual homes from the 1800/1900's taken apart and put back together in the Ford Museum included Ford's childhood home...and Ford made sure that literally everything was identical. It took him 13 years to find the correct heater to place in the parlor. Same wallpaper, flooring, furtniture--everything. Ford was very good friends with Thomas Edison and Edison's boyhood home; Edison's actual labratories. Ford was also good friends with the Wright Brothers. Ford purchased the Wright Brother's childhood home and had it reassembled at the Ford Museum. The Wright Brother's Bike shop was also moved.
In addition to these homes and workshops, there were so many other homes, from 1800 school houses, to a shack of an hourly worker from the early 1920's, to Ford's favorite teacher, and on and on...so many it's impossibly to list them all. But my goodness, what a sight!
We entered a tavern that was built in the 1800's and cooled off a bit. While there, we checked out their menu, as also served food. The menu was full of items directly from cookbooks from the 1850's. We took one of the menus--items on the menu that you could sit down and order included: Beef Pie; "Dressed" Tomatoes; and even "Vinegar Pie"! The items were a tad too expensive, so we decided not to stop for a meal...but boy was Mark ready to give it a try! He's certainly the adventurous one when it comes to eating new and different things, that's for sure.
Whew! So that's a "brief" summary of what we've been up to during our 5 days in the Dearborn Michigan area. Where are we headed next? Well, we're only a couple of hours away from the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, so Mark wants to head that way so we can tour the Hall of Fame. So we leave early tomorrow morning for Canton, Ohio. We're planning on spending a few days there before continuing on to the Lancaster, Pennsylvanio area to spend a few days in Amish country.
That's a wrap for this update. Happy 4th everyone. Until later~
So this last Thursday we headed to the Ford museum and spent the day checking out the Ford Museum located inside a large building, several acres in size. Wow, we were not disappointed! There were so many things to see it's difficult to know where to begin. These museums housed unique and exotic cars as well as the Model T and many old antiques. But, cars are only a miniscule part of the Ford Museum.
There were large exhibits of everything from the 1930's and 1960's hotels and what they typically looked like; to an enormous exhibit of airplanes, representing Lindberg (who was very good friends with Ford), to Amelia Earhardt, etc. etc. There were wagon exhibits from 1700 through the latest wagons created; Railroad exhibits; A unique 'Home of the Future' built in the early 1960's, a house built with airplane metal material that could be dismantled to be moved. Obviously that idea never took off.
There was an exceptionally fascinating exhibit of Presidential limousines. The one that enthralled us was Kennedy's...the one he was actually riding in when he was assasinated in 1963. There were 4 other presidential limousines on display as well, including Eisehower's; Nixon's; Johnson's and FDR's. Whew, our first day at the Ford Museum items located inside was just awesome! We couldn't wait to check out the outside museum.
We didn't manage to make it back to the Ford museum until today, Sunday July 4th. The external exhibit is comprised of 88 acres of amazing items and actual homes that had literally been dismantled, brick by brick...board by board, and relocated to Dearborn Michigan, in the Henry Ford Museum.
Actual homes from the 1800/1900's taken apart and put back together in the Ford Museum included Ford's childhood home...and Ford made sure that literally everything was identical. It took him 13 years to find the correct heater to place in the parlor. Same wallpaper, flooring, furtniture--everything. Ford was very good friends with Thomas Edison and Edison's boyhood home; Edison's actual labratories. Ford was also good friends with the Wright Brothers. Ford purchased the Wright Brother's childhood home and had it reassembled at the Ford Museum. The Wright Brother's Bike shop was also moved.
In addition to these homes and workshops, there were so many other homes, from 1800 school houses, to a shack of an hourly worker from the early 1920's, to Ford's favorite teacher, and on and on...so many it's impossibly to list them all. But my goodness, what a sight!
We entered a tavern that was built in the 1800's and cooled off a bit. While there, we checked out their menu, as also served food. The menu was full of items directly from cookbooks from the 1850's. We took one of the menus--items on the menu that you could sit down and order included: Beef Pie; "Dressed" Tomatoes; and even "Vinegar Pie"! The items were a tad too expensive, so we decided not to stop for a meal...but boy was Mark ready to give it a try! He's certainly the adventurous one when it comes to eating new and different things, that's for sure.
Whew! So that's a "brief" summary of what we've been up to during our 5 days in the Dearborn Michigan area. Where are we headed next? Well, we're only a couple of hours away from the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, so Mark wants to head that way so we can tour the Hall of Fame. So we leave early tomorrow morning for Canton, Ohio. We're planning on spending a few days there before continuing on to the Lancaster, Pennsylvanio area to spend a few days in Amish country.
That's a wrap for this update. Happy 4th everyone. Until later~
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Shipwreck Museum
Initially this morning we had decided not to go anywhere today, but around noon we changed our mind and headed north 75 miles to Whitefish Point, Michigan to see the Shipwreck Museum. It turned out to be a perfect half day trip.
There were several buildings on the complex in addition to the shipwreck museum itself. We started by taking a tour of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, which listed many of the ships that have sunk around the Great Lakes area in the last 150 years. There were lot's of relics from the various shipwrecks as well, which I found most fasinating. That's what I love most about thinks like this--it's the history, the people that were impacted, there lives and artifacts. Mark got lot's of pictures too.
We then moved on to the Whitefish Point Lighthouse. I enjoyed touring the lighthouse and the attached Lighthouse Keeper's home the most. The home is in the same shape and condition that it was when used up through 1932 when the lighthouse was shut down. Each room included information about how each was used, including pictures and personal items from the last keeper, and each member of his family. It even included manequins of each of the lighthouse keepers family, during their 30 years in the house.
We checked out the other buildings and walked down past the lighthouse to the beach, which is located on Lake Superior. We've now seen 3 of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. After spending a few minutes on the beach, we decided to head back. We made a stop in St. Ignace for lunch/dinner and got back home around 5:00. It was such a lovely day with high temps in the upper 60's that we headed down to the beach here in the RV Park with the lawnchairs and the dogs and chilled a bit watching the sun set.
We had a great day today. We still haven't made it to Mackinac Island, it rained pretty hard all day the day we had planned on going. We're hoping to make it tomorrow, but will have to see if the weather holds up. So, that's a wrap for this update. We had a wonderful day today and hope you did as well. Until later~
There were several buildings on the complex in addition to the shipwreck museum itself. We started by taking a tour of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, which listed many of the ships that have sunk around the Great Lakes area in the last 150 years. There were lot's of relics from the various shipwrecks as well, which I found most fasinating. That's what I love most about thinks like this--it's the history, the people that were impacted, there lives and artifacts. Mark got lot's of pictures too.
We then moved on to the Whitefish Point Lighthouse. I enjoyed touring the lighthouse and the attached Lighthouse Keeper's home the most. The home is in the same shape and condition that it was when used up through 1932 when the lighthouse was shut down. Each room included information about how each was used, including pictures and personal items from the last keeper, and each member of his family. It even included manequins of each of the lighthouse keepers family, during their 30 years in the house.
We checked out the other buildings and walked down past the lighthouse to the beach, which is located on Lake Superior. We've now seen 3 of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. After spending a few minutes on the beach, we decided to head back. We made a stop in St. Ignace for lunch/dinner and got back home around 5:00. It was such a lovely day with high temps in the upper 60's that we headed down to the beach here in the RV Park with the lawnchairs and the dogs and chilled a bit watching the sun set.
We had a great day today. We still haven't made it to Mackinac Island, it rained pretty hard all day the day we had planned on going. We're hoping to make it tomorrow, but will have to see if the weather holds up. So, that's a wrap for this update. We had a wonderful day today and hope you did as well. Until later~
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Touring Mackinaw City
We actually slept in this morning and didn't leave until around noon today, heading to the downtown Mackinaw City area. The first place we went was to the Old Mackinaw Lighthouse. We'd never toured a lighthouse before and I really enjoyed it. We toured the old lighthouse keeper's rooms, which included a living area, kitchen, bedroom and small dining area, including period pieces of how the lighthouse was furnished. We walked up to the top of the lighthouse, it was something like 72 steps, and obviously no overweight or larger folks must have ever lived in the lighthouse! I suspect anyone over 200 pounds would have a difficult time climbing the circular stairs and once to the top, the actual stairs to the lighthouse. Whew! But the view was worth it. Awesome.
We continued down the path to the Old Mackinaw Fort, which consists of 10 or so buildings. The primary purpose of this fort was for the fur trade. The French and Indians exchanged goods for furs beginning in the early 1700's. There were also several reenactments while we were there, including firing of one of the canons and the weekly trade and barter that occurred between the indians and french. All of the buildings in this fort were actually recreated as it was torn down by the British during the American Revolution and moved to Mackinac 'Island', where they felt much safer from Americans.
Afterwards, we headed to a local restaurant and Mark had the walleye fish platter and I had shrimp. We topped it off by sharing a piece of homemade bannana cream pie. Yum!! We got back home around 5:00 and called it a day. Our plans are to head to Mackinac Island tomorrow morning. We'll catch a ferry for a 30 minute boat ride across Lake Huron to Mackinac Island.
I've wanted to see Mackinac Island and the Grand Hotel ever since I first saw the movie 'Somewhere in Time', starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. I still have that movie. There's lot's of things to see on the island and we're thinking about renting bicycles to check it out, as no cars are allowed on the island...only horses, horse drawn carriages and bicycles. So, we're really looking forward to our journey tomorrow.
We had a terrific day today and hope you did as well. Until later~
We continued down the path to the Old Mackinaw Fort, which consists of 10 or so buildings. The primary purpose of this fort was for the fur trade. The French and Indians exchanged goods for furs beginning in the early 1700's. There were also several reenactments while we were there, including firing of one of the canons and the weekly trade and barter that occurred between the indians and french. All of the buildings in this fort were actually recreated as it was torn down by the British during the American Revolution and moved to Mackinac 'Island', where they felt much safer from Americans.
Afterwards, we headed to a local restaurant and Mark had the walleye fish platter and I had shrimp. We topped it off by sharing a piece of homemade bannana cream pie. Yum!! We got back home around 5:00 and called it a day. Our plans are to head to Mackinac Island tomorrow morning. We'll catch a ferry for a 30 minute boat ride across Lake Huron to Mackinac Island.
I've wanted to see Mackinac Island and the Grand Hotel ever since I first saw the movie 'Somewhere in Time', starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. I still have that movie. There's lot's of things to see on the island and we're thinking about renting bicycles to check it out, as no cars are allowed on the island...only horses, horse drawn carriages and bicycles. So, we're really looking forward to our journey tomorrow.
We had a terrific day today and hope you did as well. Until later~
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
We're in Michigan
We left Minneapolis early Tuesday morning headed to the Mackinaw City, Michigan area to spend some time in the Great Lakes area. There's so much to see and check out and we're really looking forward to our time here. We arrived at a small town near Ecanaba Michigan yesterday as a half-way point and spent the night at a little RV park next to a casino.
With only a couple hundred miles to go today, we got a late start and since we moved into the Eastern time zone today, we really got a later start. But fortunately we still arrived at Mill Creek campground around 4:00 this afternoon and as soon as we got the RV set up we headed into town to try a Mackinaw pastie. They're kind of like meat pies. We'd heard about them and wanted to try them. They were ok...not sure I'd have another one, but I'm glad we tried them.
There's lot's of things we'd like to see while we're in the area. Initially we're only planning on staying at this particular campground until Monday morning. One of the first things I'd like to do is go to Mackinaw Island. You catch a ferry down the road from where we're at and they drive you over to the island. It's actually become some what 'famous'...Mackinaw Island is where the romantic/classic movie "Somewhere in Time" was filmed, a move with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymoure.
There are lot's of state parks, a lighthouse and lot's of other cool stuff we're looking forward to doing while in the upper peninsula of Michigan. We're excited and looking forward to our time here on the Great Lakes. We had a wonderful day today and hope you did as well. Until later~
With only a couple hundred miles to go today, we got a late start and since we moved into the Eastern time zone today, we really got a later start. But fortunately we still arrived at Mill Creek campground around 4:00 this afternoon and as soon as we got the RV set up we headed into town to try a Mackinaw pastie. They're kind of like meat pies. We'd heard about them and wanted to try them. They were ok...not sure I'd have another one, but I'm glad we tried them.
There's lot's of things we'd like to see while we're in the area. Initially we're only planning on staying at this particular campground until Monday morning. One of the first things I'd like to do is go to Mackinaw Island. You catch a ferry down the road from where we're at and they drive you over to the island. It's actually become some what 'famous'...Mackinaw Island is where the romantic/classic movie "Somewhere in Time" was filmed, a move with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymoure.
There are lot's of state parks, a lighthouse and lot's of other cool stuff we're looking forward to doing while in the upper peninsula of Michigan. We're excited and looking forward to our time here on the Great Lakes. We had a wonderful day today and hope you did as well. Until later~
Catching Up - Minnesota/Tornadoes
Wow, I've gotten behind again. We arrived in Minneapolis last Thursday for a 4-night stay. We decided to go thru the area on our way to the Great Lakes area to spend a few weeks in Michigan. But, first things first.
Wow, were we in for a big surprise the day we arrived! Having spent our entire lives living in "tornado alley", we're not easily spooked or freaked out by thunderstorms...and even tornado activity. So when we received a knock on our door the afternoon we arrived in an RV Park in Minneapolis informing us of severe storms in the area, and informing us where the storm shelter was located, we were not originally overally concerned.....
With menacing clouds rapidly approaching our area and with no access to the local tv channels, I grabbed my laptop and went to the national weather service for reports. Then logged on to local weather stations and whew!!! We were surrounded by tons of tornadoes!!! Really.
Then, I started getting a little Freaked Out. There were confirmed F3 tornadoes (more than one) within 50 miles of our current location. Unfortunately, with all the news I received about the tornadoes, we didn't know the areas or towns where these tornadoes were hitting. Two of the towns we had driven through earlier in the day, both within 50 miles of our current location, had confirmed tornadoes from storm chasers.
The dogs were freaking out far worse than I had ever seen them...and they have meds for storms--so they were definitely picking up on something, as it hadn't even started raining yet and they were turning in circles, barking, panting and just basically freaking out. I thought we should probably go to the storm shelter but didn't appear anyone else was heading that way, and well, I wasn't really sure what to do--other than drug the dogs with their RX for storms that knocks 'em out for a few hours.
Whew! Boy did we dodge a bullet last Thursday!!! Turns out there were "37" Confirmed tornadoes in Minnesota that evening--the LARGEST NUMBER OF TORNADOES IN MINNESOTA HISTORY!!!!!! Sheesh!!! Murphy's Law huh? Can you believe here we were in Minnesota for only a couple of hours and we end up in the worst storm in their history.
What was really freaky for me, was the fact that Minnesota is a relatively SMALL state--compared to what we're used to in Texas, and to have 37 Tornadoes in such a tiny little state, you get a good idea of how close together each of these tornadoes were. Turns out the closest tornado was about 35 miles away, so we only had intense winds of 40-50 and heavy thunderstorms, but at least no tornadoes.
After surviving the worst storm in Minnesota history, the next day we just chilled and hung out around the park. The next day we took off for the Mall of America and spent the day checking out the largest mall in america. We had an awesome time. We spend 4-5 hours and I actually picked up a few blouses and a watch for myself. Mark needed a new wallet and we found one in a western store in the mall as well.
We just chilled our last couple of days in Minnesota, planning our next move and where we would be going and doing. That's a wrap for our Minnesota update. We'll never forget our time in Minnesota. Who'd 'thunk' that we'd have to leave tornado alley at home and travel to Minnesota to encounter the worst tornadic activity in our lives?
Until later~
Wow, were we in for a big surprise the day we arrived! Having spent our entire lives living in "tornado alley", we're not easily spooked or freaked out by thunderstorms...and even tornado activity. So when we received a knock on our door the afternoon we arrived in an RV Park in Minneapolis informing us of severe storms in the area, and informing us where the storm shelter was located, we were not originally overally concerned.....
With menacing clouds rapidly approaching our area and with no access to the local tv channels, I grabbed my laptop and went to the national weather service for reports. Then logged on to local weather stations and whew!!! We were surrounded by tons of tornadoes!!! Really.
Then, I started getting a little Freaked Out. There were confirmed F3 tornadoes (more than one) within 50 miles of our current location. Unfortunately, with all the news I received about the tornadoes, we didn't know the areas or towns where these tornadoes were hitting. Two of the towns we had driven through earlier in the day, both within 50 miles of our current location, had confirmed tornadoes from storm chasers.
The dogs were freaking out far worse than I had ever seen them...and they have meds for storms--so they were definitely picking up on something, as it hadn't even started raining yet and they were turning in circles, barking, panting and just basically freaking out. I thought we should probably go to the storm shelter but didn't appear anyone else was heading that way, and well, I wasn't really sure what to do--other than drug the dogs with their RX for storms that knocks 'em out for a few hours.
Whew! Boy did we dodge a bullet last Thursday!!! Turns out there were "37" Confirmed tornadoes in Minnesota that evening--the LARGEST NUMBER OF TORNADOES IN MINNESOTA HISTORY!!!!!! Sheesh!!! Murphy's Law huh? Can you believe here we were in Minnesota for only a couple of hours and we end up in the worst storm in their history.
What was really freaky for me, was the fact that Minnesota is a relatively SMALL state--compared to what we're used to in Texas, and to have 37 Tornadoes in such a tiny little state, you get a good idea of how close together each of these tornadoes were. Turns out the closest tornado was about 35 miles away, so we only had intense winds of 40-50 and heavy thunderstorms, but at least no tornadoes.
After surviving the worst storm in Minnesota history, the next day we just chilled and hung out around the park. The next day we took off for the Mall of America and spent the day checking out the largest mall in america. We had an awesome time. We spend 4-5 hours and I actually picked up a few blouses and a watch for myself. Mark needed a new wallet and we found one in a western store in the mall as well.
We just chilled our last couple of days in Minnesota, planning our next move and where we would be going and doing. That's a wrap for our Minnesota update. We'll never forget our time in Minnesota. Who'd 'thunk' that we'd have to leave tornado alley at home and travel to Minnesota to encounter the worst tornadic activity in our lives?
Until later~
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Leaving South Dakota/Heading East
We wrapped up our time in the Rapid City, South Dakota area yesterday. We had previously went to see Mount Rushmore, Custer, Black Hills Forrest and several other attractions, which I previously blogged about. A couple of days ago we took a trip to Deadwood to check it out. It's primarily known as the place where Wild Bill Hickock was gunned down during a card game.
We spent the afternoon walking around the town of Deadwood. It's quite the 'tourist' attaction for sure, which lot's of casinos and souvenir shops. We were going to check out the cemetery where Wild Bill and Calamity Jane were buried...but didn't feel the need to "pay" $10.00 each to get in! That's just a bit much.
It's time to move on. We left Rapid City early this morning and decided to stop over in Mitchell, South Dakota, which is the halfway point of our next stop...Minneapolis, Minnesota. Huh? Yep, that's right...Minneapolis. Why? We're headed towards the Great Lakes for some travel and decided to cut through the Twin Cities area for a couple of days. There's a nice RV Park/Huge Casino complex near there and also only a few miles down the road from "Mall of America".
I'm hardly a big shopper, but since we were essentially driving through the area, I thought why not? So that's where we're headed tomorrow. Actually, I think it will be kind of interesting to see the largest mall in America. I doubt we'll see too much of it, as we'll probably only last 2-3 hours of walking. But sounds like fun.
Exactly 'where' are we headed when we leave the Twin Cities area? After all, the Great Lakes area consists of several states! Well....hmmmmmm, we're not really sure yet. I've been doing lot's of research and think we'll probably spend at least a couple of weeks in the Michigan area, or, at least that's the current plan as of tonight.
Whew! I'm embarassed to admit I'm tired this evening. We drove 300 miles today and went and grabbed a bite to eat after setting up, so when we got back home I just crashed on the bed. Wasn't sure I had the energy to type this update! I know, I know...pretty whiney excuse huh? I don't expect any sympathy!
Well, that's a wrap for this update. Hope you had a wonderful day today. Until later~
We spent the afternoon walking around the town of Deadwood. It's quite the 'tourist' attaction for sure, which lot's of casinos and souvenir shops. We were going to check out the cemetery where Wild Bill and Calamity Jane were buried...but didn't feel the need to "pay" $10.00 each to get in! That's just a bit much.
It's time to move on. We left Rapid City early this morning and decided to stop over in Mitchell, South Dakota, which is the halfway point of our next stop...Minneapolis, Minnesota. Huh? Yep, that's right...Minneapolis. Why? We're headed towards the Great Lakes for some travel and decided to cut through the Twin Cities area for a couple of days. There's a nice RV Park/Huge Casino complex near there and also only a few miles down the road from "Mall of America".
I'm hardly a big shopper, but since we were essentially driving through the area, I thought why not? So that's where we're headed tomorrow. Actually, I think it will be kind of interesting to see the largest mall in America. I doubt we'll see too much of it, as we'll probably only last 2-3 hours of walking. But sounds like fun.
Exactly 'where' are we headed when we leave the Twin Cities area? After all, the Great Lakes area consists of several states! Well....hmmmmmm, we're not really sure yet. I've been doing lot's of research and think we'll probably spend at least a couple of weeks in the Michigan area, or, at least that's the current plan as of tonight.
Whew! I'm embarassed to admit I'm tired this evening. We drove 300 miles today and went and grabbed a bite to eat after setting up, so when we got back home I just crashed on the bed. Wasn't sure I had the energy to type this update! I know, I know...pretty whiney excuse huh? I don't expect any sympathy!
Well, that's a wrap for this update. Hope you had a wonderful day today. Until later~
Friday, June 11, 2010
Little Bighorn/Mount Rushmore
I've gotten behind again. We finally left Yellowstone early Wednesday morning, and drove 300 miles to Garryowen, Montana to spend the night. We stopped at Garryowen because it's the location of the battle of Little Big Horn, where Custer and 270 of his men were killed by Crazy Horse and thousands of Lakota and Cheyenne indians.
We got to Garryowen by 1:00 and were set up and out the door by 1:30. We headed directly to the Little Big Horn National Park and were quite surprised how detailed it was. The battle actually occurred voer a 5 mile area, which is quite substantial when on horseback. The Park Service did an excellent job laying out the trails and outling the details. Small tombstones were erected where each US soldier and Cheyenne/Lakota indian were found. In addition, there were several monuments as well.
The tour took a couple of hours and afterwards, we headed to a neat little restaurant next to the Park and had Indian Tacos. Yum! It's like a sopapilla (mexican bread) with taco meat/beans, along with avocado, tomatoes, cheese. It was just delicious. I'm glad I ventured out (well, for me anyway)...and it was terrific!
We left Garryowen, Montana early yesterday morning heading to Rapid City, South Dakota to spend a few days at Mount Rushmore and the surrounding areas. By the time we arrived yesterday a huge thunderstorm was upon us and we weren't able to get the satellite dishes up before it hit. The dogs freaked out, I even had to pull out the old sedative and dose them up. Knocked Clyde out for hours, but not Duffy. He was still terrified. So we didn't get to check anything out yesterday.
We got a late start this morning and headed through Custer State Park and the Black Hills National Forest on our way to Mount Rushmore. You can actually see the monument of the Presidents as you drive through these tunnels dug out through the granite. We were really surprised with the Mount Rushmore monument. It has been continually built up for decades and now includes a large museum, couple of theatres, a large gift shop and lot's of other stuff. As you approach the monument, the first thing you see are all of the state flags as well. It was quite interesting.
When we left Mount Rushmore, we drove through Keystone, South Dakota, which is some what like Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Lot's of old fashioned stores, even an old saloon. We grabbed a bite to eat, walked around a bit and headed back home. We really had a great time today. Tomorrow we're planning on driving to Deadwood to check out the big gunfight Wild Bill Hickock had as well as the other 'touristy' type attractions. We also plan on seeing Crazy Horse too...we were going to today but just didn't have time.
We're not sure how long we'll be here. We're supposed to leave Monday, but really need to get the oil changed on the car, so the earliest we'll probably head out of here will be next Tuesday. Or...who knows, maybe we'll stay longer!
Until later~
We got to Garryowen by 1:00 and were set up and out the door by 1:30. We headed directly to the Little Big Horn National Park and were quite surprised how detailed it was. The battle actually occurred voer a 5 mile area, which is quite substantial when on horseback. The Park Service did an excellent job laying out the trails and outling the details. Small tombstones were erected where each US soldier and Cheyenne/Lakota indian were found. In addition, there were several monuments as well.
The tour took a couple of hours and afterwards, we headed to a neat little restaurant next to the Park and had Indian Tacos. Yum! It's like a sopapilla (mexican bread) with taco meat/beans, along with avocado, tomatoes, cheese. It was just delicious. I'm glad I ventured out (well, for me anyway)...and it was terrific!
We left Garryowen, Montana early yesterday morning heading to Rapid City, South Dakota to spend a few days at Mount Rushmore and the surrounding areas. By the time we arrived yesterday a huge thunderstorm was upon us and we weren't able to get the satellite dishes up before it hit. The dogs freaked out, I even had to pull out the old sedative and dose them up. Knocked Clyde out for hours, but not Duffy. He was still terrified. So we didn't get to check anything out yesterday.
We got a late start this morning and headed through Custer State Park and the Black Hills National Forest on our way to Mount Rushmore. You can actually see the monument of the Presidents as you drive through these tunnels dug out through the granite. We were really surprised with the Mount Rushmore monument. It has been continually built up for decades and now includes a large museum, couple of theatres, a large gift shop and lot's of other stuff. As you approach the monument, the first thing you see are all of the state flags as well. It was quite interesting.
When we left Mount Rushmore, we drove through Keystone, South Dakota, which is some what like Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Lot's of old fashioned stores, even an old saloon. We grabbed a bite to eat, walked around a bit and headed back home. We really had a great time today. Tomorrow we're planning on driving to Deadwood to check out the big gunfight Wild Bill Hickock had as well as the other 'touristy' type attractions. We also plan on seeing Crazy Horse too...we were going to today but just didn't have time.
We're not sure how long we'll be here. We're supposed to leave Monday, but really need to get the oil changed on the car, so the earliest we'll probably head out of here will be next Tuesday. Or...who knows, maybe we'll stay longer!
Until later~
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Yellowstone & More Thoughts
We've spent multiple days here in West Yellowstone locked up in the RV because of continued downpours. It was very cold and rained pretty much continuously for 3 consecutive days...until today! Whew! We felt like a caged animal by this morning. We've thought back and seriously can never remember being in this much rain, for so many consecutive days, until our visit to Yellowstone last week.
We actually had a little bit of sunshine between the clouds today and felt blessed to just see that. Ok, enough complaining about the weather! We didn't get a very early start today but decided come what may, we were going back to Yellowstone today. We had not yet even gotten to see Old Faithful blow, and we've been here for 10 days. We finally got to see Old Faithful blow today and also pretty much drove the entire park today, doing both the lower and upper loops today.
We saw lot's of wildlife again. Tons of bison, lot's of elk, numerous birds, a few ducks and swans, a beaver and most importantly, we had an opportunity to see a momma bear with her '3' little cubs just pouncing around and playing near her. They were soooo sweet. We weren't close enough to get good pictures of the bears, but the little cubs were so cute tumbling on and over moma. All in all, we had a nice day at Yellowstone today and feel like we've pretty much covered it all, or at least what we wanted to see.
After so much cold and rainy weather we've elected to skip Glacier National Park and head southeast to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Custer State Park. We're not sure how long we'll be in the South Dakota area, but probably not too long as there really isn't really much more that we're interested in seeing other than the Mount Rushmore area.
On a very sad note, I received word this evening of the death of a childhood friend. We grew up together and he was a grade behind me in school. He lived his entire life in the same house, next door to me. Even though I had moved away from home by the age of 20, I still saw Phillip regularly through all these years, when I'd stop by the house to visit my parents, or during the time we moved into the house to help care for my mom in the early 2000's. He had been quite ill for a long time, but nothing that should have resulted in his surprising and untimely death at the young age of 52.
Most of the friends I grew up with in the neighborhood are all gone now as well, as well as my brother. It kind of makes my comments on the last blog update even more appropriate. It's just a really sad day today...the thought of touring anything seems a bit pointless right now.
Well, I hope you have a good evening. And don't forget how precious and short life really is. Ever since my cancer several years ago, the first thing I think every morning before crawling out of bed, is "Thank you heavenly Father for allowing me to have this day." Just seems to mean a bit more right now.
We actually had a little bit of sunshine between the clouds today and felt blessed to just see that. Ok, enough complaining about the weather! We didn't get a very early start today but decided come what may, we were going back to Yellowstone today. We had not yet even gotten to see Old Faithful blow, and we've been here for 10 days. We finally got to see Old Faithful blow today and also pretty much drove the entire park today, doing both the lower and upper loops today.
We saw lot's of wildlife again. Tons of bison, lot's of elk, numerous birds, a few ducks and swans, a beaver and most importantly, we had an opportunity to see a momma bear with her '3' little cubs just pouncing around and playing near her. They were soooo sweet. We weren't close enough to get good pictures of the bears, but the little cubs were so cute tumbling on and over moma. All in all, we had a nice day at Yellowstone today and feel like we've pretty much covered it all, or at least what we wanted to see.
After so much cold and rainy weather we've elected to skip Glacier National Park and head southeast to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Custer State Park. We're not sure how long we'll be in the South Dakota area, but probably not too long as there really isn't really much more that we're interested in seeing other than the Mount Rushmore area.
On a very sad note, I received word this evening of the death of a childhood friend. We grew up together and he was a grade behind me in school. He lived his entire life in the same house, next door to me. Even though I had moved away from home by the age of 20, I still saw Phillip regularly through all these years, when I'd stop by the house to visit my parents, or during the time we moved into the house to help care for my mom in the early 2000's. He had been quite ill for a long time, but nothing that should have resulted in his surprising and untimely death at the young age of 52.
Most of the friends I grew up with in the neighborhood are all gone now as well, as well as my brother. It kind of makes my comments on the last blog update even more appropriate. It's just a really sad day today...the thought of touring anything seems a bit pointless right now.
Well, I hope you have a good evening. And don't forget how precious and short life really is. Ever since my cancer several years ago, the first thing I think every morning before crawling out of bed, is "Thank you heavenly Father for allowing me to have this day." Just seems to mean a bit more right now.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Reflections
While in St. George, Utah a few weeks ago I mentioned that we discovered the roof of our RV had a tear in it. Most fifth wheel RV roofs are made of rubber and you have to be careful to avoid hitting any trees or anything else that may tear the roof. We think out awning blew backwards in high winds and caused the tear...but regardless, we had a tear large enough to require 1/3 of the roof to be re-roofed in it's entirety resulting in more $$$ than we had hoped.
While in Provo, Utah last week I mentioned that we had packed up early one morning and were ready to hop in the cars and head to Yellowstone. But, when we brought the slides in and stepped out to lock up the RV, the stairs literally 'fell' off. We had noticed they had been getting lower and lower to the ground over the last several months but just hadn't but 2 and 2 together so to speak, and unfortunately didn't address the problem before it became a big problem. You don't think of steps as being a big issue until you realize you can't get in or out of your 'home' without a 3-4 foot drop, making even trying to take the dogs out for a walk difficult. So we stayed in Provo and Mark went to an RV supply store found our 4-step stairs and installed them. Then, on to Yellowstone.
Which brings me to today. I was fixing a bit of lunch when there was a knock on our door. It was the man next door who asked if we were aware we had a flat tire on our trailer. Uh.....nope, didn't know that either. So, rather than run a few errands and buy some much needed groceries, Mark raised the trailer, removed the tire and took it to a tire store near Yellowstone to get it plugged and then brought the tire back and put it back on the trailer. We've put quite a few miles on this trailer in a short period and will have to replace them within the next year for sure, meaning quite a bit more $$$.
I mentioned last week that I had heard that things always seem to happen in "3's". Well, let's hope it stops at three anyway! In the last month we've had to have a 1) New Roof; 2) New Stairs and 3) Tire Repair. Actually, I realize that we are very blessed that this did not happen while driving 60 mph down the freeway...which could have caused serious damage to the trailer, and possibly injuring or killing us or someone else and that's the only thing that really matters isn't it? And what's more important than our health?
All in all, this journey we're on has indeed been life changing. We're getting to do and see things that we never thought we'd be able to do, certainly not until much later in life. Which brings me to one of the primary reasons we elected to take this journey now, rather than wait until we were 'officially' old enough to retire and it was age appropriate, say--maybe 62 - 65.
Had we waited until when we were "supposed" to retire, would we have been healthy enough to even do it at that time? If not, we would have had such regrets and disappointment, wondering what could've, would've been had we not waited. We've seen this happen to so many people. It's the Journey...not the Destination that counts. Our motto is Seize the Day! Carpe Diem!
We are by no means in a position where we'll be able to actually retire permanently at this point in our lives and we've known that from the beginning. Based on our life experiences, from the death of my immediately family within 5 years (father, mother and brother), to my cancer battle many years ago, we've discovered one thing for sure...Life is Short. Enjoy it. Embrace it. And most importantly Thank God for it. And never, ever take a single day of this precious life for granted.
And we're not.
While in Provo, Utah last week I mentioned that we had packed up early one morning and were ready to hop in the cars and head to Yellowstone. But, when we brought the slides in and stepped out to lock up the RV, the stairs literally 'fell' off. We had noticed they had been getting lower and lower to the ground over the last several months but just hadn't but 2 and 2 together so to speak, and unfortunately didn't address the problem before it became a big problem. You don't think of steps as being a big issue until you realize you can't get in or out of your 'home' without a 3-4 foot drop, making even trying to take the dogs out for a walk difficult. So we stayed in Provo and Mark went to an RV supply store found our 4-step stairs and installed them. Then, on to Yellowstone.
Which brings me to today. I was fixing a bit of lunch when there was a knock on our door. It was the man next door who asked if we were aware we had a flat tire on our trailer. Uh.....nope, didn't know that either. So, rather than run a few errands and buy some much needed groceries, Mark raised the trailer, removed the tire and took it to a tire store near Yellowstone to get it plugged and then brought the tire back and put it back on the trailer. We've put quite a few miles on this trailer in a short period and will have to replace them within the next year for sure, meaning quite a bit more $$$.
I mentioned last week that I had heard that things always seem to happen in "3's". Well, let's hope it stops at three anyway! In the last month we've had to have a 1) New Roof; 2) New Stairs and 3) Tire Repair. Actually, I realize that we are very blessed that this did not happen while driving 60 mph down the freeway...which could have caused serious damage to the trailer, and possibly injuring or killing us or someone else and that's the only thing that really matters isn't it? And what's more important than our health?
All in all, this journey we're on has indeed been life changing. We're getting to do and see things that we never thought we'd be able to do, certainly not until much later in life. Which brings me to one of the primary reasons we elected to take this journey now, rather than wait until we were 'officially' old enough to retire and it was age appropriate, say--maybe 62 - 65.
Had we waited until when we were "supposed" to retire, would we have been healthy enough to even do it at that time? If not, we would have had such regrets and disappointment, wondering what could've, would've been had we not waited. We've seen this happen to so many people. It's the Journey...not the Destination that counts. Our motto is Seize the Day! Carpe Diem!
We are by no means in a position where we'll be able to actually retire permanently at this point in our lives and we've known that from the beginning. Based on our life experiences, from the death of my immediately family within 5 years (father, mother and brother), to my cancer battle many years ago, we've discovered one thing for sure...Life is Short. Enjoy it. Embrace it. And most importantly Thank God for it. And never, ever take a single day of this precious life for granted.
And we're not.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
New Pictures
I've gotten so far behind on loading our pictures since we were in LA/Hollywood through our first few days here in Yellowstone. But I spent most of the afternoon and night working on them and I've finally completed and downloaded our pictures into new slideshows. I've loaded new slideshows for:
1) Teton Nat'l Park/Jackson Hole
2) Yellowstone Nat'l Park - #1
3) Reagan Library (When we were in LA)
4) Warner Brothers Studio (Took a Tour while we were in LA)
I've added the 4 new slideshows and they can be found on the right hand side of the blog. Whew! What a chore. I'll never let our pictures get that far behind again, that's for sure! (I know, I know...pretty 'whiny' excuse for work huh?)
Enjoy!
1) Teton Nat'l Park/Jackson Hole
2) Yellowstone Nat'l Park - #1
3) Reagan Library (When we were in LA)
4) Warner Brothers Studio (Took a Tour while we were in LA)
I've added the 4 new slideshows and they can be found on the right hand side of the blog. Whew! What a chore. I'll never let our pictures get that far behind again, that's for sure! (I know, I know...pretty 'whiny' excuse for work huh?)
Enjoy!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Tetons National Park
What an unbelievable day. I know I say that too much, but I simply can't think of a better way to put it! We got a really early start today because we were going to take a long day trip from our location here in West Yellowstone, to Teton National Park. The only way to go is through a portion of Yellowstone, as the Tetons are actually an extension of Yellowstone that begins at the southern exit of Yellowstone.
We drove 275 miles today and though it was a busy day, we had such fun. We began our journey at 7:00 this morning by entering the West Yellowstone entrance and driving 70 miles from West Yellowstone to the Southern Yellowstone exit, then entering the Grand Tetons. Suffice to say the views of the Tetons did not disappoint.
In addition to the many glaciers that still exist within the park, there were also a couple of old homesteads from 125+ years ago that included original cabins and various other extended buildings including barns, wagons, etc. We got to walk through all the various areas and it really brings you back in time. Just standing in these areas I kept thinking that the people pictured lived and worked...in this very space, some 125 - 140 years ago. It kind of brings you back to that moment in time...it's one of the things I enjoy most about this lifestyle. I enjoy the wonderful views, scenery, and 'things to do' so to speak, but it's the actual history of each place that captivates me.
After driving through from the north to southern exit of the Tetons, we were in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We parked the car and walked around for a couple of hours. It's a quaint, old town with the majority of buildings being National Historic Landmarks, filled will all kinds of quaint, wonderful little shops. Of course we had to get a picture of the elk horn terrace that are located in a few places within Jackson Hole. It's an actual arch of elk horns that Jackson Hole is known for.
We had to make a stop in Cadillac Bar, which I had seen on the Travel channel. The bar stools are actually saddles. Guess you just belly up to the bar and rather than plop down on a bar stool...just climb up on one of the saddles. Of course Mark had to get my picture doing just that. We shopped through the Jackson Hole local museum and saw lot's of memorabilia from the past. There were a couple of beautiful parks in the center of town, along with a stagecoach that would drive you around town for a mere $6.00 each, (but we passed on that).
By then it was close to 1:00 and we were starving. We had packed us a picnic lunch and drove back towards the Tetons at the entrance to Jackson Hole where there was a beautiful picnic area and stopped there for our picnic. After getting our bellies full, it was time to head back as we had a good 140 mile return and lot's of stuff to see heading south back through another section of the Tetons. We did see a coyote that had apparently snared a squirrel and he was snacking on him...we weren't able to get pictures in time though, darn it.
We had thought about possibly stopping by Old Faithful to see if we were close to the next anticipated geyser, but it was approaching 4:00 in the afternoon and we had left the dogs at home for such a long time that we decided to defer checking out Old Faithful as well as all the other Yellowstone geysers until Wednesday.
We've had Lot's of snow, sleet and freezing rain since we've been here. That's why we basically didn't do anything Saturday & Sunday...if it wasn't snowing, it was freezing sleet or freezing rain. The temperatures have been quite cold (well to us anyway)...the temps during the day have been in the low to mid 40's and in the upper 20's or low 30's at night. Brrrrrr!!
Based on tomorrow's forecast, we'll probably make a visit in town of the Grizzly Bear/Wolf sanctuary. Other than that, we'll probably just chill tomorrow. We've yet to really check out any of the Yellowstone geyers, springs and waterfalls. We hope to head to Yellowstone Wednesday for our first full day of tourism.
Well folks, that's a wrap for this update. We had a wonderfully blessed day today. We are very blessed to be able to take the time to see all the wonders God has created. Until next time~
We drove 275 miles today and though it was a busy day, we had such fun. We began our journey at 7:00 this morning by entering the West Yellowstone entrance and driving 70 miles from West Yellowstone to the Southern Yellowstone exit, then entering the Grand Tetons. Suffice to say the views of the Tetons did not disappoint.
In addition to the many glaciers that still exist within the park, there were also a couple of old homesteads from 125+ years ago that included original cabins and various other extended buildings including barns, wagons, etc. We got to walk through all the various areas and it really brings you back in time. Just standing in these areas I kept thinking that the people pictured lived and worked...in this very space, some 125 - 140 years ago. It kind of brings you back to that moment in time...it's one of the things I enjoy most about this lifestyle. I enjoy the wonderful views, scenery, and 'things to do' so to speak, but it's the actual history of each place that captivates me.
After driving through from the north to southern exit of the Tetons, we were in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We parked the car and walked around for a couple of hours. It's a quaint, old town with the majority of buildings being National Historic Landmarks, filled will all kinds of quaint, wonderful little shops. Of course we had to get a picture of the elk horn terrace that are located in a few places within Jackson Hole. It's an actual arch of elk horns that Jackson Hole is known for.
We had to make a stop in Cadillac Bar, which I had seen on the Travel channel. The bar stools are actually saddles. Guess you just belly up to the bar and rather than plop down on a bar stool...just climb up on one of the saddles. Of course Mark had to get my picture doing just that. We shopped through the Jackson Hole local museum and saw lot's of memorabilia from the past. There were a couple of beautiful parks in the center of town, along with a stagecoach that would drive you around town for a mere $6.00 each, (but we passed on that).
By then it was close to 1:00 and we were starving. We had packed us a picnic lunch and drove back towards the Tetons at the entrance to Jackson Hole where there was a beautiful picnic area and stopped there for our picnic. After getting our bellies full, it was time to head back as we had a good 140 mile return and lot's of stuff to see heading south back through another section of the Tetons. We did see a coyote that had apparently snared a squirrel and he was snacking on him...we weren't able to get pictures in time though, darn it.
We had thought about possibly stopping by Old Faithful to see if we were close to the next anticipated geyser, but it was approaching 4:00 in the afternoon and we had left the dogs at home for such a long time that we decided to defer checking out Old Faithful as well as all the other Yellowstone geysers until Wednesday.
We've had Lot's of snow, sleet and freezing rain since we've been here. That's why we basically didn't do anything Saturday & Sunday...if it wasn't snowing, it was freezing sleet or freezing rain. The temperatures have been quite cold (well to us anyway)...the temps during the day have been in the low to mid 40's and in the upper 20's or low 30's at night. Brrrrrr!!
Based on tomorrow's forecast, we'll probably make a visit in town of the Grizzly Bear/Wolf sanctuary. Other than that, we'll probably just chill tomorrow. We've yet to really check out any of the Yellowstone geyers, springs and waterfalls. We hope to head to Yellowstone Wednesday for our first full day of tourism.
Well folks, that's a wrap for this update. We had a wonderfully blessed day today. We are very blessed to be able to take the time to see all the wonders God has created. Until next time~
Friday, May 28, 2010
Wildlife Galore
Yellowstone is proving to be as terrific and wonderful as I had hoped it would. Suffice to say it has not disappointed to date, and we have barely scratched the surface.
After taking a drive to Old Faithful for a quick look around the afternoon we arrived, we stayed home yesterday due to extensive rains and it's quite cold here. Well, I should say it's quite cold for 'Texans'. We stopped by the market this afternoon and were told temps drop to (-20) - (-40)...and that's not wind chill, but actually temperatures. They said that Yellowstone 'only' had about 5 Feet of snow this winter. Wow, I was freezing today with temps in the low 40's, rain and wind of 20+, the wind chills were off the chart for us.
But on to the important stuff--wildlife! To sum up today's wildlife in one word-- Awesome!! We decided to hold off checking out all the thermal activity and geyers today and take our babies (Clyde & Duffy) through the park and just look for wildlife. And we were certainly not disappointed.
Shortly after entering the West Entrance to Yellowstone we came across a couple of large Bull Moose. Their antlers were still covered in velvet and they were just beautiful to watch. On down a bit further we came across the first of many many Bison. One of the sweetest things I've ever witnessed was watching the new Bison calves being nursed, right next to us...within 10 foot of the car. Yellowstone is currently saturated with baby Bison calves right now.
On a couple of occassions, the Bison were within 2 feet of the car, so on one occassion I rolled down my window and lifted up Clyde so he could get "up close and personal" with them. It was hilarious!! Clyde acted like he Didn't See Anything!! What a hoot! This little chihuahua isn't dumb, that's for sure. Not a peep out of him...just acted like he was staring at the sky as the bison walked right by the car door and window, within 3 feet. Soooo cute.
We drove thru a part of the park called Norris, and on up to Mammoth Springs. It was there that we saw our first Bear. He was probably a juvenile and had silver hair. He was just taking a slow stroll from one side of the road, across to the other. There must have been 30 cars around along with a Park Ranger. So we pulled up behind a car parked on the road and Mark jumped out with the camera as the bear reached the middle of the street and just starts snapping pictures. Mark was probably within 10 - 12 feet from him and the bear wasn't the least bit fazed by the 40+ cameras snapping pictures of him. We watched him amble on up the hill on the other side until he was out of sight.
At the far northern end of Mammoth Springs as we began our drive south back towards West Yellowstone, we passed some of the most breath taking scenery we've ever seen. There's still lot's of snow at 8,000 feet and the views of the pristine snow with large pine trees look so tranquil and peaceful, like a picture on a Christmas card. The varied scenery during today's 120 mile drive in the park was just spectacular.
As we approached the end of our journey today we passed another blocked section of road with countless people off too one side. Mark made a quick u-turn and parked and we saw a rather large Grizzly bear on the other side of a stream. He slowly mingled and meandered his way along the river beds next to the water for a long time. We both got out and watched him for several minutes but the rain and cold weather finally forced us back to the warmth of the car.
We also saw Elk, Deer and numerous birds today and along with our Grizzly Bear, Black Bear and Bull Moose proved to be quite the wildlife outing. We were quite fortunate today as many visitors come to the Park and never see a bear. The only wildlife we've not yet seen are the wolves. But we still have 11 days here in Yellowstone, so you never know!
Tomorrow's forecast predicts highs in the 30's and low's in the lower 20's with 60% chance of precipitation, so we're planning on making some homemade soup and cornbread, and bundling up inside tomorrow and just watch tv and veg out. We stopped by the grocery store this afternoon and picked up a few groceries including stuff for a picnic on Monday.
Looks like Monday is a perfect weather day to head back and we plan on getting an early start and spending the entire day checking out many of the geyers and Yellowstone Lake as well as some of the Falls and who knows, maybe lot's more wildlife opportunities. We took very few pictures today, primarly just of the bears we saw. We'll kick our picture taking into high gear when we head back on Monday and we're really looking forward to finding a nice quiet location with spectacular scenery (easy to find in Yellowstone) for a picnic.
Well, that's a wrap for now. We had a wonderful day today and can't wait for our next trip into Yellowstone. So, until later~
After taking a drive to Old Faithful for a quick look around the afternoon we arrived, we stayed home yesterday due to extensive rains and it's quite cold here. Well, I should say it's quite cold for 'Texans'. We stopped by the market this afternoon and were told temps drop to (-20) - (-40)...and that's not wind chill, but actually temperatures. They said that Yellowstone 'only' had about 5 Feet of snow this winter. Wow, I was freezing today with temps in the low 40's, rain and wind of 20+, the wind chills were off the chart for us.
But on to the important stuff--wildlife! To sum up today's wildlife in one word-- Awesome!! We decided to hold off checking out all the thermal activity and geyers today and take our babies (Clyde & Duffy) through the park and just look for wildlife. And we were certainly not disappointed.
Shortly after entering the West Entrance to Yellowstone we came across a couple of large Bull Moose. Their antlers were still covered in velvet and they were just beautiful to watch. On down a bit further we came across the first of many many Bison. One of the sweetest things I've ever witnessed was watching the new Bison calves being nursed, right next to us...within 10 foot of the car. Yellowstone is currently saturated with baby Bison calves right now.
On a couple of occassions, the Bison were within 2 feet of the car, so on one occassion I rolled down my window and lifted up Clyde so he could get "up close and personal" with them. It was hilarious!! Clyde acted like he Didn't See Anything!! What a hoot! This little chihuahua isn't dumb, that's for sure. Not a peep out of him...just acted like he was staring at the sky as the bison walked right by the car door and window, within 3 feet. Soooo cute.
We drove thru a part of the park called Norris, and on up to Mammoth Springs. It was there that we saw our first Bear. He was probably a juvenile and had silver hair. He was just taking a slow stroll from one side of the road, across to the other. There must have been 30 cars around along with a Park Ranger. So we pulled up behind a car parked on the road and Mark jumped out with the camera as the bear reached the middle of the street and just starts snapping pictures. Mark was probably within 10 - 12 feet from him and the bear wasn't the least bit fazed by the 40+ cameras snapping pictures of him. We watched him amble on up the hill on the other side until he was out of sight.
At the far northern end of Mammoth Springs as we began our drive south back towards West Yellowstone, we passed some of the most breath taking scenery we've ever seen. There's still lot's of snow at 8,000 feet and the views of the pristine snow with large pine trees look so tranquil and peaceful, like a picture on a Christmas card. The varied scenery during today's 120 mile drive in the park was just spectacular.
As we approached the end of our journey today we passed another blocked section of road with countless people off too one side. Mark made a quick u-turn and parked and we saw a rather large Grizzly bear on the other side of a stream. He slowly mingled and meandered his way along the river beds next to the water for a long time. We both got out and watched him for several minutes but the rain and cold weather finally forced us back to the warmth of the car.
We also saw Elk, Deer and numerous birds today and along with our Grizzly Bear, Black Bear and Bull Moose proved to be quite the wildlife outing. We were quite fortunate today as many visitors come to the Park and never see a bear. The only wildlife we've not yet seen are the wolves. But we still have 11 days here in Yellowstone, so you never know!
Tomorrow's forecast predicts highs in the 30's and low's in the lower 20's with 60% chance of precipitation, so we're planning on making some homemade soup and cornbread, and bundling up inside tomorrow and just watch tv and veg out. We stopped by the grocery store this afternoon and picked up a few groceries including stuff for a picnic on Monday.
Looks like Monday is a perfect weather day to head back and we plan on getting an early start and spending the entire day checking out many of the geyers and Yellowstone Lake as well as some of the Falls and who knows, maybe lot's more wildlife opportunities. We took very few pictures today, primarly just of the bears we saw. We'll kick our picture taking into high gear when we head back on Monday and we're really looking forward to finding a nice quiet location with spectacular scenery (easy to find in Yellowstone) for a picnic.
Well, that's a wrap for now. We had a wonderful day today and can't wait for our next trip into Yellowstone. So, until later~
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Provo to Yellowstone
We left Vegas early Monday morning and arrived in Provo Utah Monday afternoon. We went from 90 degree days in Vegas to 40 and heavy snow showers as we approached Provo, wow what a change in weather. We were up early the next morning, had the RV packed up, the cars packed and ready to go...but when we went to lock the RV door and push in the steps, the steps broke off--completely! Ugh! And we just had the roof repaired the previous week. When it rains it poors I guess--(not that you should feel 'sorry' for us under the circumstances!)
Well, it didn't take long before we realized that we pretty much had to stay in Provo and get the stair repaired, as it's a 4-5 foot drop off from the front door to the ground. So we set back up, unpacked everything and Mark started checking around RV supply stores and finds the correct stairs and by later afternoon, he had the new stairs in and we were ready to leave this morning.
We were packed up and heading out of Provo by 7:00 this morning. We made great time and arrived in Yellowstone National Park by 2:00 this afternoon. After getting settled in at Grizzly RV Park we headed to downtown West Yellowstone, which is a quaint little town that we're really looking forward to exploring over the next 2 weeks. But first things first--we were starving having missed lunch. We found a nice little restaurant in town and had a terrific meal.
After filling our bellies, we decided to locate an information center to get information on Yellowstone. We're only a few blocks from the entry to Yellowstone and before we knew it, we were inside the park on our way for a quick visit of Old Faithful--totally unplanned. We didn't even have a camera. But wow, we sure weren't disappointed. The drive to Old Faithful did not disappoint for sure. We saw so many bison and on a couple of occasions, there were actually herds of bison on the roads bringing all traffic to a stand still as they strolled down the middle of the road. This time of year there are lot's of baby calves as well and they were sooooo cute. The bison were only a couple of feet from our car on several occasions. Just amazing!
Ok, enough about today. We're so glad to finally be in Yellowstone, I've wanted to see this park for many years. We've decided to slow down the pace a bit and as I mentioned earlier, we'll be here for 2 whole weeks. We hope to see all areas of the park...but it is huge so more about that later. Well that's a wrap for now, I'll try to update more regularly while we're here. In the meantime, we had a wonderful day and hope you did as well. Until later~
Well, it didn't take long before we realized that we pretty much had to stay in Provo and get the stair repaired, as it's a 4-5 foot drop off from the front door to the ground. So we set back up, unpacked everything and Mark started checking around RV supply stores and finds the correct stairs and by later afternoon, he had the new stairs in and we were ready to leave this morning.
We were packed up and heading out of Provo by 7:00 this morning. We made great time and arrived in Yellowstone National Park by 2:00 this afternoon. After getting settled in at Grizzly RV Park we headed to downtown West Yellowstone, which is a quaint little town that we're really looking forward to exploring over the next 2 weeks. But first things first--we were starving having missed lunch. We found a nice little restaurant in town and had a terrific meal.
After filling our bellies, we decided to locate an information center to get information on Yellowstone. We're only a few blocks from the entry to Yellowstone and before we knew it, we were inside the park on our way for a quick visit of Old Faithful--totally unplanned. We didn't even have a camera. But wow, we sure weren't disappointed. The drive to Old Faithful did not disappoint for sure. We saw so many bison and on a couple of occasions, there were actually herds of bison on the roads bringing all traffic to a stand still as they strolled down the middle of the road. This time of year there are lot's of baby calves as well and they were sooooo cute. The bison were only a couple of feet from our car on several occasions. Just amazing!
Ok, enough about today. We're so glad to finally be in Yellowstone, I've wanted to see this park for many years. We've decided to slow down the pace a bit and as I mentioned earlier, we'll be here for 2 whole weeks. We hope to see all areas of the park...but it is huge so more about that later. Well that's a wrap for now, I'll try to update more regularly while we're here. In the meantime, we had a wonderful day and hope you did as well. Until later~
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Back in Vegas
We decided to leave LA a couple days earlier than originally planned. I had forgot to previously mention that the RV Park we were staying in, is without a doubt the worst park we've ever stayed in. Good grief it was just hideous...but there weren't really any other options within 40 miles of the park and we didn't realize how run down this park was until we arrived. Suffice to say the pictures and feedback we had read didn't do this park justice so to speak--it was far worse than anticipated.
So last night we discussed heading out a couple days earlier than we had originally planned, especially since we disliked the park we were in and the electric had went out our second day and Mark walked down to notify the office and they never came. Fortunately Mark found the reset switch on the electric company box but we just didn't feel comfortable leaving the dogs in the RV and going out, so we decided to go ahead and leave early this morning.
We got an early start hoping to miss the majority of the LA traffic and with it being early Saturday morning, we didn't run into any problems. We made great time and arrived back in Vegas, at the same RV Park and we were even able to get our same spot from last week. We're going to stay tomorrow as well and head north towards Salt Lake City early Monday morning.
We have a reservation in Yellowstone National Park beginning Wednesday, so we'll be traveling for 3 consecutive days this week...which I'm not really looking forward to, but hey--I've always said "It's the Destination--Not the Journey"!!! Well that's a wrap for now, we had a wonderful day and hope you did as well. Until later~
So last night we discussed heading out a couple days earlier than we had originally planned, especially since we disliked the park we were in and the electric had went out our second day and Mark walked down to notify the office and they never came. Fortunately Mark found the reset switch on the electric company box but we just didn't feel comfortable leaving the dogs in the RV and going out, so we decided to go ahead and leave early this morning.
We got an early start hoping to miss the majority of the LA traffic and with it being early Saturday morning, we didn't run into any problems. We made great time and arrived back in Vegas, at the same RV Park and we were even able to get our same spot from last week. We're going to stay tomorrow as well and head north towards Salt Lake City early Monday morning.
We have a reservation in Yellowstone National Park beginning Wednesday, so we'll be traveling for 3 consecutive days this week...which I'm not really looking forward to, but hey--I've always said "It's the Destination--Not the Journey"!!! Well that's a wrap for now, we had a wonderful day and hope you did as well. Until later~
Friday, May 21, 2010
Busy Busy in LA
Wow, where has the time gone? We've been in Oxnard, a suburb of Los Angeles, since Monday. We've had a great time while we've been here, but quite honestly, we really couldn't handle living in LA on a long term basis. I'm not sure how these folks do it really. I thought Dallas traffic could be difficult...having driven to and from downtown Dallas for 30+ years I thought I was 'comfortable' in traffic--Not!!! But, let me back up a bit and fill you in on what we've been up to.
We got up early Tuesday morning and headed to Simi Valley to see the Reagan Library. Awesome!!! Without a doubt the best Presidential Library we've ever seen, hands down. It's very organized with multiple levels and things to see. The most amazing things were 1) Presidential plane used by Reagan; 2) His limousine, and motorcade of vehicles; 3) Reagan's burial site overlooking the unbelievable gorgeous mountains and 4) A miniature size identical model of the White House.
We were simply awestruck by the Presidential plane. It was a 707 and we were able to see everything from the actual cockpit seating, to the kitchenette, the Presidential Office, the First Lady's Office, Press Area, Key Staff member area, etc. They had some of Reagan's key trip detail laying out showing how the trips are detailed. It was just amazing.
I can't say enough about the miniature size White House. It is made to scale, exactly...one inch to one foot. It's been kept updated for 45 years by the same artisans. It's a literal working home. For example, identical chandeliers actually light up--the light bulbs are the size of a grain of rice! It's that detailed. You can look through the windows and see the private quarters and the tiny miniatures of the Obama's family portraits. It takes 1,000 hours to redo a single room when updated. It's constantly being updated. We were able to see the Blue Room; Red Room; Lincoln's Bedroom, etc. We were just amazed at the detail.
There were so many other things we enjoyed about this Library. An exact replica of the Oval Office when Reagan was in office was there as well. The views from the Library looking over Simi Valley leave you speechless. And of course, lastly we stopped by his gravesite, which overlooks the valley. It was just an all around wonderful day topped off by a stop at Jersey Mike's. It's a famous Deli we had seen on a Food Network show about top deli's around the country. Yum!! Mark had a Philly sandwich and said it was better than the original we had while in Philly last year. I had a ham/cheese with Mike's famous 'sauce' and loved it too.
Whew! We decided to "take off" yesterday and just chill with the dogs. But we were up very early today and headed off to Warner Brother's studio for a backlot tour of the studio. Oh my gosh...where to begin. This tour was the most highly recommended tour in Hollywood for several reasons--the tours are very small and detailed, only 8 at a time and you ride around the miles and miles of the studio in a large golf cart type vehicle.
We were first taken to the set of Two and A Half Men. We found out the shooting 'season' for television is from August thru April...so we just missed it. But we were given a behind the scene look at the set, how the live audience works and how the cameras are angled, etc. We were really surprised just how "small" the sets really are. They explained how the camera angles are designed to make the streets look larger. After a detailed tour of Two and A Half Men we moved on to the Props area. Wow!
There are literally acres and acres of buildings just to build the various sets and associated decoration. They took us through the saw mills; plaster mills; art department...you name it and we saw it. We were really impressed with the demonstration of "how someone is shot" and how they hook up the device to make it appear as real blood oozing down the shirt. They use miniature, tiny explosions that are attached to a plastic bag. When the miniature device is pressed it explodes, causing a hole in the clothing and with the bag above the explosion, it slowly oozes out. Just amazing.
We went on to the Hollywood backlots and saw countless sets that have been around for literally decades. Shows from Casablanca, to John Wayne moves, all of the Harry Potter movies, the Batman movies, and on and on. Then we were taken into the Warner Brothers museum...no cameras allowed and saw two floors of costumes and various movie props from Harry Potter, Batman, my goodness--so many movies from the last 50 years I can't begin to remember them all. Whew! What a tour! It was a very 'touristy' type thing to do and not something we would normally do--but well worth the time and money for sure.
Lastly, we were headed to a cemetery just a few miles down the road to check out the many famous actors who were buried there. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a Nightmare! It was apparently in downtown LA and we didn't realize it...not a good place to be during the week. I have never, ever seen traffic remotely that bad--even during huge traffic accidents over the years driving to/from downtown Dallas. There was no parking at the cemetary once we got there and it took us an hour just to get out of the downtown area. And the drive to get back to the Oxnard area was almost as bad. I cannot begin to describe the way people drive here. And there is NO need for blinkers in LA--they should just have the blinkers removed from ALL vehicles in LA because No One Ever Uses them!
I think we'd have been safer trying to scoot around the Daytona 500 during a race! Seriously. But, all in all--it was a terrific day. We've had a great time here in the LA area. Tomorrow we're driving up highway 1, which is right on the coast, up to Malibu and taking the dogs with us. We're hoping to get them out on the beach, they've never been on the beach and it'll be a hoot if we can.
We're tentatively leaving here Sunday morning for Yellowstone National Park. It's a 4 day drive, and now that I follow Mark in our Ford Escape, I'm not looking forward to that much driving, but I'm glad we went ahead and came back to California to see the Library and a little bit of Hollywood as well.
Our plans are to spend two weeks in Yellowstone. From there, we're not sure where we're headed as we're still undecided about the summer. So, stay tuned. Whew! Sorry for the long update--but we've been busy! I hope you had a wonderful day today...we sure did! Until later~
We got up early Tuesday morning and headed to Simi Valley to see the Reagan Library. Awesome!!! Without a doubt the best Presidential Library we've ever seen, hands down. It's very organized with multiple levels and things to see. The most amazing things were 1) Presidential plane used by Reagan; 2) His limousine, and motorcade of vehicles; 3) Reagan's burial site overlooking the unbelievable gorgeous mountains and 4) A miniature size identical model of the White House.
We were simply awestruck by the Presidential plane. It was a 707 and we were able to see everything from the actual cockpit seating, to the kitchenette, the Presidential Office, the First Lady's Office, Press Area, Key Staff member area, etc. They had some of Reagan's key trip detail laying out showing how the trips are detailed. It was just amazing.
I can't say enough about the miniature size White House. It is made to scale, exactly...one inch to one foot. It's been kept updated for 45 years by the same artisans. It's a literal working home. For example, identical chandeliers actually light up--the light bulbs are the size of a grain of rice! It's that detailed. You can look through the windows and see the private quarters and the tiny miniatures of the Obama's family portraits. It takes 1,000 hours to redo a single room when updated. It's constantly being updated. We were able to see the Blue Room; Red Room; Lincoln's Bedroom, etc. We were just amazed at the detail.
There were so many other things we enjoyed about this Library. An exact replica of the Oval Office when Reagan was in office was there as well. The views from the Library looking over Simi Valley leave you speechless. And of course, lastly we stopped by his gravesite, which overlooks the valley. It was just an all around wonderful day topped off by a stop at Jersey Mike's. It's a famous Deli we had seen on a Food Network show about top deli's around the country. Yum!! Mark had a Philly sandwich and said it was better than the original we had while in Philly last year. I had a ham/cheese with Mike's famous 'sauce' and loved it too.
Whew! We decided to "take off" yesterday and just chill with the dogs. But we were up very early today and headed off to Warner Brother's studio for a backlot tour of the studio. Oh my gosh...where to begin. This tour was the most highly recommended tour in Hollywood for several reasons--the tours are very small and detailed, only 8 at a time and you ride around the miles and miles of the studio in a large golf cart type vehicle.
We were first taken to the set of Two and A Half Men. We found out the shooting 'season' for television is from August thru April...so we just missed it. But we were given a behind the scene look at the set, how the live audience works and how the cameras are angled, etc. We were really surprised just how "small" the sets really are. They explained how the camera angles are designed to make the streets look larger. After a detailed tour of Two and A Half Men we moved on to the Props area. Wow!
There are literally acres and acres of buildings just to build the various sets and associated decoration. They took us through the saw mills; plaster mills; art department...you name it and we saw it. We were really impressed with the demonstration of "how someone is shot" and how they hook up the device to make it appear as real blood oozing down the shirt. They use miniature, tiny explosions that are attached to a plastic bag. When the miniature device is pressed it explodes, causing a hole in the clothing and with the bag above the explosion, it slowly oozes out. Just amazing.
We went on to the Hollywood backlots and saw countless sets that have been around for literally decades. Shows from Casablanca, to John Wayne moves, all of the Harry Potter movies, the Batman movies, and on and on. Then we were taken into the Warner Brothers museum...no cameras allowed and saw two floors of costumes and various movie props from Harry Potter, Batman, my goodness--so many movies from the last 50 years I can't begin to remember them all. Whew! What a tour! It was a very 'touristy' type thing to do and not something we would normally do--but well worth the time and money for sure.
Lastly, we were headed to a cemetery just a few miles down the road to check out the many famous actors who were buried there. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a Nightmare! It was apparently in downtown LA and we didn't realize it...not a good place to be during the week. I have never, ever seen traffic remotely that bad--even during huge traffic accidents over the years driving to/from downtown Dallas. There was no parking at the cemetary once we got there and it took us an hour just to get out of the downtown area. And the drive to get back to the Oxnard area was almost as bad. I cannot begin to describe the way people drive here. And there is NO need for blinkers in LA--they should just have the blinkers removed from ALL vehicles in LA because No One Ever Uses them!
I think we'd have been safer trying to scoot around the Daytona 500 during a race! Seriously. But, all in all--it was a terrific day. We've had a great time here in the LA area. Tomorrow we're driving up highway 1, which is right on the coast, up to Malibu and taking the dogs with us. We're hoping to get them out on the beach, they've never been on the beach and it'll be a hoot if we can.
We're tentatively leaving here Sunday morning for Yellowstone National Park. It's a 4 day drive, and now that I follow Mark in our Ford Escape, I'm not looking forward to that much driving, but I'm glad we went ahead and came back to California to see the Library and a little bit of Hollywood as well.
Our plans are to spend two weeks in Yellowstone. From there, we're not sure where we're headed as we're still undecided about the summer. So, stay tuned. Whew! Sorry for the long update--but we've been busy! I hope you had a wonderful day today...we sure did! Until later~
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Winding Up Our Time in Vegas
Tomorrow is our last day in Vegas, but let's back up a few days. We took a short drive out to Hoover Dam a few days ago. We had seen Hoover Dam 7-8 years ago when we took a short trip to Vegas, but the weather was really soupy, so to speak and we couldn't really tell anything about it. Having spent the previous entire day on the Last Vegas strip we thought it would be a nice change of pace.
Construction of the Hoover Dam began in 1931 and was completed 4 years later in 1935. The dam was constructed because of frequent flooding of the Colorado river in the 1800 and 1900's. The water from the dam had to be equitably divided between seven states, including Mexico. In 1999 it was named the number five construction achievement of the 20th century. President Franklin D Roosevelt dedicated the dam on September 30, 1936.
In order to get a detailed look, we decided to take a tour. We were taken down several floors underground and were shown the various aspects of the building followed by the visitor center and many artifacts. It was also a beautiful drive over there as well. All in all, we really enjoyed our visit to Hoover Dam and learned a lot as well.
We went back to the Vegas strip today and spent several hours. We went into many of the hotel casions and shopped around. Mark took lot's of pictures along the way as well. We gambled a couple of hours and only lost a small amount which was good--we never expect to come out ahead when gambling. We hoped to stay out long enough to get some pictures of the strip at night but 8 hours was about all we could handle...I guess getting 'old' takes a toll on your joints and aching feet after awhile! We're hardly big gamblers, so I doubt we'll do any more for at least a year.
As for our future plans, you may remember that last year we were headed to Simi Valley in California to see the Reagan Library when Clyde ruptured his ACL and we rushed home for his emergency surgery. We've decided that since we're only a day's drive away we'll head back to Simi Valley one more time to check ou the Library. We haven't decided if we'll head north from there, or turn around and head back east through Vegas towards Yellowstone.
We were recently contacted by our tentative workamper location in Glacier National Park and told that we would need to work a minimum of 40 hours weekly plus overtime as required for the park during the summer season of June-August, leaving us little time to enjoy the area...that really caught us offguard and we're not sure what we're going to do. If we wanted to work 40+ hours weekly right now, we'd just get fulltime jobs at home! We told her we'd get back with her and give her an answer later this week. Just wish she would have made that clear last March when we interviewed for the jobs. Oh well, that's life.
Well that's wrap for this update, hope everyone had a terrific week--we certainly did. Until later~
Construction of the Hoover Dam began in 1931 and was completed 4 years later in 1935. The dam was constructed because of frequent flooding of the Colorado river in the 1800 and 1900's. The water from the dam had to be equitably divided between seven states, including Mexico. In 1999 it was named the number five construction achievement of the 20th century. President Franklin D Roosevelt dedicated the dam on September 30, 1936.
In order to get a detailed look, we decided to take a tour. We were taken down several floors underground and were shown the various aspects of the building followed by the visitor center and many artifacts. It was also a beautiful drive over there as well. All in all, we really enjoyed our visit to Hoover Dam and learned a lot as well.
We went back to the Vegas strip today and spent several hours. We went into many of the hotel casions and shopped around. Mark took lot's of pictures along the way as well. We gambled a couple of hours and only lost a small amount which was good--we never expect to come out ahead when gambling. We hoped to stay out long enough to get some pictures of the strip at night but 8 hours was about all we could handle...I guess getting 'old' takes a toll on your joints and aching feet after awhile! We're hardly big gamblers, so I doubt we'll do any more for at least a year.
As for our future plans, you may remember that last year we were headed to Simi Valley in California to see the Reagan Library when Clyde ruptured his ACL and we rushed home for his emergency surgery. We've decided that since we're only a day's drive away we'll head back to Simi Valley one more time to check ou the Library. We haven't decided if we'll head north from there, or turn around and head back east through Vegas towards Yellowstone.
We were recently contacted by our tentative workamper location in Glacier National Park and told that we would need to work a minimum of 40 hours weekly plus overtime as required for the park during the summer season of June-August, leaving us little time to enjoy the area...that really caught us offguard and we're not sure what we're going to do. If we wanted to work 40+ hours weekly right now, we'd just get fulltime jobs at home! We told her we'd get back with her and give her an answer later this week. Just wish she would have made that clear last March when we interviewed for the jobs. Oh well, that's life.
Well that's wrap for this update, hope everyone had a terrific week--we certainly did. Until later~
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Gladys Kravitz
Remember the old 'Bewitched' series from the 1960's? If so, remember the first Mrs. Kravitz on the show? She was Samantha Stevens neighbor and was always spying on them and trying to find out as much as she could about them and what was going on inside their home. Well, guess what? We've got a Gladys Kravitz next to us here in this RV Park in Vegas!
Yep, that's right. Actually, at first it was kind of amusing for Mark and I but later, the more she talked it became quite evident that she's missing a few 'marbles', or something. We got a knock on our door around 9:30 a couple of nights ago and this lady appeared at our door explaining she was in the motorhome next to us. It was quite cool outside with high winds so I invited her in. Big mistake!
She's probably in her mid 60's and was probably trying to be neighborly, in her own way. She had brought over a piece of cake and some type of greeting cards. The first thing she wanted to know was "how to spell our name" Huh? Well, it got stranger from there. She wanted to know the "Year" our kids were born...hmmmmm, ok. We first thought maybe she was trying to sell the cards once she explained she had made them herself and handed them to me. But no, that wasn't the case either.
She went on to say that when she had knocked on our door she "hoped she could get in to get a look at our RV"...Huh? Wow, this was really getting strange. She talked for at least 45 minutes. She would be in the middle of a sentence and then start tapping her head really hard and forget what she was talking about and just changed subjects. She finally was leaving and then insisted that we come over and see a picture of a $16,000 purse she had taken on the Vegas strip?? I explained I couldn't I had to make an important call. Well, that didn't work...she was insistent, so we went next door for a few minutes.
Things continued to get stranger by the minute. She continued forgetting what she was talking about and changing subjects and hitting herself on the head. At one time she went from discussing cookies to telling Mark--"Hey, I have just the thing for you! Check this out and then showed Mark a special hearing aid device for listening to the TV. Huh? I tried really hard not to laugh...of course, Mark doesn't have a hearing problem. We finally got out of there. Whew!
Back home only a few minutes, a knock on the door. She wanted to give us a printed copy of a picture of this $16,000 purse. Ok...thanks I guess. She came back again knocking on the door for something else a couple more times--I can't even remember them all by that time. By 11:00 p.m. she had finally left. I told Mark to remind me not to be so neighborly in the future!
She was back first thing the following morning but Mark explained I wasn't feeling well (just couldn't handle her quite that early). Fortunately, appears she has new friends across the street now. Yipppeee! But seriously, it was quite evident something was wrong with her and we really felt sorry for her. It certainly didn't seem like dementia or Alzheimers, but there was something wrong. She was in a very expensive motor home and drove a nice Mercedes Benz. But bless her heart, she was a sweet lady but she obviously had some kind of problem.
P.S. I can say I now have a new found respect for Samantha Stevens on Bewitched.
Yep, that's right. Actually, at first it was kind of amusing for Mark and I but later, the more she talked it became quite evident that she's missing a few 'marbles', or something. We got a knock on our door around 9:30 a couple of nights ago and this lady appeared at our door explaining she was in the motorhome next to us. It was quite cool outside with high winds so I invited her in. Big mistake!
She's probably in her mid 60's and was probably trying to be neighborly, in her own way. She had brought over a piece of cake and some type of greeting cards. The first thing she wanted to know was "how to spell our name" Huh? Well, it got stranger from there. She wanted to know the "Year" our kids were born...hmmmmm, ok. We first thought maybe she was trying to sell the cards once she explained she had made them herself and handed them to me. But no, that wasn't the case either.
She went on to say that when she had knocked on our door she "hoped she could get in to get a look at our RV"...Huh? Wow, this was really getting strange. She talked for at least 45 minutes. She would be in the middle of a sentence and then start tapping her head really hard and forget what she was talking about and just changed subjects. She finally was leaving and then insisted that we come over and see a picture of a $16,000 purse she had taken on the Vegas strip?? I explained I couldn't I had to make an important call. Well, that didn't work...she was insistent, so we went next door for a few minutes.
Things continued to get stranger by the minute. She continued forgetting what she was talking about and changing subjects and hitting herself on the head. At one time she went from discussing cookies to telling Mark--"Hey, I have just the thing for you! Check this out and then showed Mark a special hearing aid device for listening to the TV. Huh? I tried really hard not to laugh...of course, Mark doesn't have a hearing problem. We finally got out of there. Whew!
Back home only a few minutes, a knock on the door. She wanted to give us a printed copy of a picture of this $16,000 purse. Ok...thanks I guess. She came back again knocking on the door for something else a couple more times--I can't even remember them all by that time. By 11:00 p.m. she had finally left. I told Mark to remind me not to be so neighborly in the future!
She was back first thing the following morning but Mark explained I wasn't feeling well (just couldn't handle her quite that early). Fortunately, appears she has new friends across the street now. Yipppeee! But seriously, it was quite evident something was wrong with her and we really felt sorry for her. It certainly didn't seem like dementia or Alzheimers, but there was something wrong. She was in a very expensive motor home and drove a nice Mercedes Benz. But bless her heart, she was a sweet lady but she obviously had some kind of problem.
P.S. I can say I now have a new found respect for Samantha Stevens on Bewitched.
Viva Las Vegas Baby
What a hectic couple of days we've had since arriving in Las Vegas. It's been exciting, fun, frustrating and a little bit 'scary'...yep, scary. First things first.
Frustrating - As we were pulling out of St. George yesterday we discovered we had a tear in our roof. Mark climbed up and after checking it out discovered that a relatively large piece of our rubber roof cover top had been torn. We're not exactly sure how it happened or how long it had been there. So as soon as we arrived in Las Vegas and got settled in we called for a local RV repairman to come out. The bad news is it's going to run around $600 for repair. Unfortunately, looks like our insurance won't kick in since we elected to have a higher deductible since we rarely seem to need insurance. Murphy's law I guess. They're supposed to be out early tomorrow morning and the front 1/3 of the roof will need to be replaced. It's supposed to take a couple of guys 5 hours for repair...a lot of work I guess. Oh well, 'stuff' happens huh?
Scary - As soon we got our roof situation handled after arriving we headed out for a bite to eat. Afterwards we decided to have our mail forwarded to us from our mail forwarding service as we needed to get our new car tags. After locating the Post Office in Vegas that handles 'General Delivery' mail, we headed down there to get the mailing address. Since it was on the far end of the Vegas strip (the side that is much much older and quite run down and well, 'seedy' you might say). There wasn't really any where for Mark to park so I hopped out to go in and get the Post Office mailing address. And...
Within 30 seconds of entering the Post Office all "HELL" broke loose! A young guy in line started screaming and cussing at a female attendant behind the counter. Instead of being afraid she starts screaming back at him and they were 'both' cussing each other out. Then the guy walks to the front of the counter saying "I have a gun in this pocket b#$@ch and I'm gonna kill you"!! He then proceeds to jump over the counter and a security guard comes out of no where and he starts yelling and pulling the guy off the counter and slamming him against the wall!!! The guy screams out "you don't have no f^^$%ng gun but I do to the guard". They're dialing 911 as this happens.
The young guy and security guard start wrestling around and pushing each other and he keeps telling everyone he has a gun and reaches in his pocket. I was so shocked I didn't do anything! Just stood there frozen like an idiot instead of running. Sheesh. Guess I'm not good in emergency situations huh? The security guard pulls the guy out the front door and you could still hear them both screaming at each other. Then I didn't know whether to leave or not and guess what another mail attendant said to me then? Welcome to downtown Vegas! Can you believe that? Even the female attendant didn't look scared and me? I'm thinking I've been in Vegas for 2 hours and I'm gonna get shot if not killed!
After getting the PO address I shot out of there where Mark was waiting in the car. After telling Mark what happened we realized that what happened was a federal offense, entering a Federal Building and saying you have a gun?? I don't know if the dude did or not...but I told Mark that from Now on--HE can go in these places, I'll wait in the car. I honestly haven't been that afraid since I was actually robbed when I was 16 years old working in a Pizza place. Whew, I won't forget this day that's for sure.
Fun & Exciting! Finally. After leaving the Post Office coming back down the strip I recognized the Pawn shop on TV. It's called Pawn Stars and I just had to go in and check it out. Awesome. I recognized several of the items from the TV show and we both enjoyed it. This morning, we were up early and on the strip by 9:30. We spent the entire day on the strip and went through many of the hotels including Paris Paris, New York New York, Monte Carlo, MGM, Caesars Palace, etc. We did a little gambling, not much. Seems like I always end up on the plus side and Mark on the negative. We figure our net loss for the day was around $15.00. Not bad for several hours of gambling huh?
Tomorrow our roof is being repaired and we need to stock up on groceries, etc., so we'll take the 'day off', so to speak. We're planning on taking a short trip to check out the Hoover Dam this week. We saw it many years ago, but it was so foggy we didn't get to see much. We also will go back to the strip for pictures...decided not to bring the camera today. We'll be here a week in order to get our mail delivery so we probably won't be heading out of here until next Monday.
We're considering a possible change in plans once we leave here. Stay tuned and once we make a decision, I'll update the blog. So, until later~
Frustrating - As we were pulling out of St. George yesterday we discovered we had a tear in our roof. Mark climbed up and after checking it out discovered that a relatively large piece of our rubber roof cover top had been torn. We're not exactly sure how it happened or how long it had been there. So as soon as we arrived in Las Vegas and got settled in we called for a local RV repairman to come out. The bad news is it's going to run around $600 for repair. Unfortunately, looks like our insurance won't kick in since we elected to have a higher deductible since we rarely seem to need insurance. Murphy's law I guess. They're supposed to be out early tomorrow morning and the front 1/3 of the roof will need to be replaced. It's supposed to take a couple of guys 5 hours for repair...a lot of work I guess. Oh well, 'stuff' happens huh?
Scary - As soon we got our roof situation handled after arriving we headed out for a bite to eat. Afterwards we decided to have our mail forwarded to us from our mail forwarding service as we needed to get our new car tags. After locating the Post Office in Vegas that handles 'General Delivery' mail, we headed down there to get the mailing address. Since it was on the far end of the Vegas strip (the side that is much much older and quite run down and well, 'seedy' you might say). There wasn't really any where for Mark to park so I hopped out to go in and get the Post Office mailing address. And...
Within 30 seconds of entering the Post Office all "HELL" broke loose! A young guy in line started screaming and cussing at a female attendant behind the counter. Instead of being afraid she starts screaming back at him and they were 'both' cussing each other out. Then the guy walks to the front of the counter saying "I have a gun in this pocket b#$@ch and I'm gonna kill you"!! He then proceeds to jump over the counter and a security guard comes out of no where and he starts yelling and pulling the guy off the counter and slamming him against the wall!!! The guy screams out "you don't have no f^^$%ng gun but I do to the guard". They're dialing 911 as this happens.
The young guy and security guard start wrestling around and pushing each other and he keeps telling everyone he has a gun and reaches in his pocket. I was so shocked I didn't do anything! Just stood there frozen like an idiot instead of running. Sheesh. Guess I'm not good in emergency situations huh? The security guard pulls the guy out the front door and you could still hear them both screaming at each other. Then I didn't know whether to leave or not and guess what another mail attendant said to me then? Welcome to downtown Vegas! Can you believe that? Even the female attendant didn't look scared and me? I'm thinking I've been in Vegas for 2 hours and I'm gonna get shot if not killed!
After getting the PO address I shot out of there where Mark was waiting in the car. After telling Mark what happened we realized that what happened was a federal offense, entering a Federal Building and saying you have a gun?? I don't know if the dude did or not...but I told Mark that from Now on--HE can go in these places, I'll wait in the car. I honestly haven't been that afraid since I was actually robbed when I was 16 years old working in a Pizza place. Whew, I won't forget this day that's for sure.
Fun & Exciting! Finally. After leaving the Post Office coming back down the strip I recognized the Pawn shop on TV. It's called Pawn Stars and I just had to go in and check it out. Awesome. I recognized several of the items from the TV show and we both enjoyed it. This morning, we were up early and on the strip by 9:30. We spent the entire day on the strip and went through many of the hotels including Paris Paris, New York New York, Monte Carlo, MGM, Caesars Palace, etc. We did a little gambling, not much. Seems like I always end up on the plus side and Mark on the negative. We figure our net loss for the day was around $15.00. Not bad for several hours of gambling huh?
Tomorrow our roof is being repaired and we need to stock up on groceries, etc., so we'll take the 'day off', so to speak. We're planning on taking a short trip to check out the Hoover Dam this week. We saw it many years ago, but it was so foggy we didn't get to see much. We also will go back to the strip for pictures...decided not to bring the camera today. We'll be here a week in order to get our mail delivery so we probably won't be heading out of here until next Monday.
We're considering a possible change in plans once we leave here. Stay tuned and once we make a decision, I'll update the blog. So, until later~
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Zion National Park
We've been in St. George, Utah since last Wednesday and we leave tomorrow for Las Vegas. We've been some what surprised how warm it is here. But it is southern Utah and St. George is only a couple of hours from Las Vegas, which reaches 110+ in the summers. We've since discovered that St. George also reaches temps in the 100's in the summer.
Across the street from our current location is a large mobile home area. It's also part of the same park. It's actually quite nice...they're all attached and look much nicer than a typical mobile home type park. We discovered that St. George is a mecca for snow birders--folks who spend their winter in a warmer area. Having said that, we're ready to move on.
We were some what disappointed with Zion National Park. We've become some what spoiled with the natural beauty the last several weeks. Especially after Moab and Cortez. We got a late start yesterday and arrived at Zion National Park. You can only enter the Park via a shuttle bus. They pick you up near where you've parked and there are 7 different locations in the park that you can be dropped off or picked up.
We did hike the lower Emerald Pool. It's a little more than a mile and once again, I found that I have to stop every few minutes just to catch my breath. Gosh I had no idea how out of shape I was. When we do get back to Dallas, I'm joining 24 Hour fitness to try and get back in decent shape again. But I digress. We also took a break at Zion Lodge and grabbed a bite to eat. We spent a half day in the park and we got a few pictures. Certainly no where near as many as we have recently though.
Utah scenery in general is just breathtaking. We discovered that on our drive in to Moab from Cortez, Colorado. We found the views in Zion National Park to be like those on our way into Utah. Maybe we've seen such awesome scenery in places like Arches National Park in Utah, seeing Zion National Park is just a tad disappointing. But all in all, we enjoyed our time here in St. George, Utah.
We're really looking forward to a few days in Las Vegas. Being only a couple of hours away, we thought it would be nice to spend just a few days and check out the new additions to the strip since we were last in Vagas, 6 - 7 years ago. Neither of us are big gamblers for sure--but we really enjoy seeing the recreation of areas like Paris, France and Italy, etc. We'll probably do a tad of gambling, for a couple of hours. That's usually all we do before calling it quits.
Well that's about a wrap for now, we leave tomorrow morning for Vegas. We've not yet decided whether we will stay at an RV Park on the strip, or stay at Lake Mead, which is an hour away and just drive in and enjoy the lake as well. Guess we'll know by tomorrow night, huh? Lastly, Happy Mother's Day to everyone out there. If your fortunate enough to still have your mother around--know that you're blessed. I sure wish mine was still around to wish a Happy Mother's Day to. Until Later~
Across the street from our current location is a large mobile home area. It's also part of the same park. It's actually quite nice...they're all attached and look much nicer than a typical mobile home type park. We discovered that St. George is a mecca for snow birders--folks who spend their winter in a warmer area. Having said that, we're ready to move on.
We were some what disappointed with Zion National Park. We've become some what spoiled with the natural beauty the last several weeks. Especially after Moab and Cortez. We got a late start yesterday and arrived at Zion National Park. You can only enter the Park via a shuttle bus. They pick you up near where you've parked and there are 7 different locations in the park that you can be dropped off or picked up.
We did hike the lower Emerald Pool. It's a little more than a mile and once again, I found that I have to stop every few minutes just to catch my breath. Gosh I had no idea how out of shape I was. When we do get back to Dallas, I'm joining 24 Hour fitness to try and get back in decent shape again. But I digress. We also took a break at Zion Lodge and grabbed a bite to eat. We spent a half day in the park and we got a few pictures. Certainly no where near as many as we have recently though.
Utah scenery in general is just breathtaking. We discovered that on our drive in to Moab from Cortez, Colorado. We found the views in Zion National Park to be like those on our way into Utah. Maybe we've seen such awesome scenery in places like Arches National Park in Utah, seeing Zion National Park is just a tad disappointing. But all in all, we enjoyed our time here in St. George, Utah.
We're really looking forward to a few days in Las Vegas. Being only a couple of hours away, we thought it would be nice to spend just a few days and check out the new additions to the strip since we were last in Vagas, 6 - 7 years ago. Neither of us are big gamblers for sure--but we really enjoy seeing the recreation of areas like Paris, France and Italy, etc. We'll probably do a tad of gambling, for a couple of hours. That's usually all we do before calling it quits.
Well that's about a wrap for now, we leave tomorrow morning for Vegas. We've not yet decided whether we will stay at an RV Park on the strip, or stay at Lake Mead, which is an hour away and just drive in and enjoy the lake as well. Guess we'll know by tomorrow night, huh? Lastly, Happy Mother's Day to everyone out there. If your fortunate enough to still have your mother around--know that you're blessed. I sure wish mine was still around to wish a Happy Mother's Day to. Until Later~
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