Thursday 7/27/17 Mystic

We got an early start this morning - 6:20 to avoid any traffic that may clog the road.  We made good time - arriving home by 1:30 which included a stop for gas, bathroom breaks, and lunch.  We have just unloaded the truck (just in time as it is sprinkling now) and the first load of wash is in.  The girls are gathering all of their treasures and all is well.  The highlight of today's trip was when we first entered New Jersey and the girls spotted an exit for Buttzville - that prompted a chorus of giggles from the back seat!  We had a wonderful trip and, even though the girls are anxious to see their parents and siblings, they had a great time.

Wednesday 7/26/17 DuBois, PA

Not much to report today - more driving and more construction zones - not much fun.  We did pass the Wright Museum (Orville and Wilbur) and Puxatawny (of groundhog fame).  Ella's big news, as a creme soda lover, is that she found a red one (a combination of cherry and strawberry she said) and Zoe, a non-soda drinker, found an apple juice in a storm trooper bottle.  We did hear from Louise and she said she was feeling a little bit better, but she is still taking her drugs.  They will fly to NH tomorrow.  Hopefully, the trip will be okay for her.  We expect to be home sometime tomorrow afternoon barring anymore traffic delays.  We are looking forward to sleeping in our own bed.

Tuesday 7/25/17 Terra Haute, Indiana

We ended up eating at the Rib Crib last night - tasty and the girls were excited as they got free sundaes with their meals and, on the plus side, we could walk from the hotel.  We then walked over to Target to pick up a new book for me as I am out and I always read before going to sleep.

We got on the road again just before 8.  There wasn't too much to remark upon except that I forgot that western and central Kansas had rolling hills.  It did finally flatten out in Topeka.  We waved hello to Lawrence, Kansas as that is where Amy got her doctorate.  A few "Go, Jayhawks!" out the window and we were gone.  Kansas City traffic was a bit of a mess even at 10 in the morning and we ran into construction here and there - only two bad spots that had us sandwiched between tractor trailers as we slowly went by construction sites in one lane of traffic.  Our most important find was in Casey, IL - exit 129 boasts the largest rocking chair, golf tee, and wind chime in the world!  Unfortunately, none of them was visible from the road.  We arrived in Terre Haute to discover that they are on Eastern time so we did dinner first and now the kids are in the pool.  Tomorrow is another travel day, but we are getting closer and closet to home.

July 24 Salina, KS

We were going to take Mike and Louise out to dinner last night, but Louise was still hurting from her fall so we opted for take-out.  We were all set for Chinese, but when Dave and I got there, they were closed (Sunday).  We knew another restaurant around the corner, but they were also closed.  I looked down Main Street and saw that the Brew Pub was open so we brought back burgers for all.  After dinner Louise iced her ribs again, but when she got up, she was in terrible pain.  We thought at first she was having muscle spasms, but the pain just got worse.  Finally, we got her down the stairs and into the car and Mike took her to the emergency room.  Four hours later, she was diagnosed with one and possibly two fractured ribs!  They sent her home with Vicodin and recommended bed rest.

Louise was still in bed this morning when we came up and I hope she will stay there for 2 or 3 days to allow the ribs to begin the healing process.  We had a quick breakfast, stripped the beds, started a load of towels and got on the road.  The first picture is of Zoe saying good-bye to Sugar in the driveway.  We stopped in Eads for a bathroom break (the first one we had seen for miles) and to switch drivers and stopped for lunch in Kit Carson, CO at the Trading Post Cafe.  About a half hour later, we crossed the border into Kansas.  We passed a sign for Mt. Sunflower, the highest point in Kansas - didn't really expect to see a Mt. anything in Kansas as so much of it is flat.  I saw a doe and three beavers at Louise's this morning - the only other wildlife we encountered today were Angus cattle, 3 llamas, and a hawk.  We did pass lots of fields of corn, wheat, soybeans, rape weed, a few small oil wells, and some very large wind farms.  I really like the wind farms - they look peaceful and majestic and I love the fact that they are so "green".  We got onto I-70 and are stopped for the night in Salina, Kansas.  The girls opted for pool before dinner so I am watching them as I type.  They move between the pool and the hot tub and are having a good time doing forward and backwards somersaults and swimming underwater.

July 23 Alamosa

We had a nice dinner last night.  The girls and I helped Louise prepare a pork tenderloin with pineapple and kiwi salsa, roasted corn salad and stuffed mushrooms and peppers.  Mike grilled burgers and dogs and we had a feast!  We took the dogs for a walk and I had to run back to the house for my camera as we saw the tail end of a rainbow as we approached the end of the driveway.  We sat around and chatted for a bit and the girls tried out a game Mike and Louise have downstairs - electronic Burger Time.  We all went to bed on the early side as we knew we were going to get up early.

We got everyone up and out in good time and drove out to Great Sand Dunes National Park.  The highest dune is 755 feet - very impressive.  We took off our shoes to walk across the shallow river and then walked a long way on the sand before getting to our first dune.  Everyone had a grand time, but there were certainly some spills at the bottoms of the hills.  Zoe did a roll over and got sand in mouth, Mike landed on a rock and got a cut on his elbow, Ella hit her hip on the sled as she landed, and Louise fell and hurt her ribs.  Despite the walking wounded, everyone had a great time.  We stopped back at the visitor center so the girls could collect their last jr. ranger badges and got home in time for lunch.  Mike checked his phone when he got in and discovered that his mom had passed away just an hour before.  She had been in a nursing home in NH for a while, but no one was expecting her fast decline.  We changed our plans so that we will be leaving tomorrow morning instead of Tuesday morning - so we will be getting home a day earlier than expected.  We figure that they need some space to make arrangements to fly to NH, get someone to care for the dogs, etc.  The girls have just come in from the pond.  They had a great time paddling the float all over - saw some frogs and fish, but no beaver (they usually don't come out except early in the morning and in the evening).

The weird shadow picture is of Ella's shadow as she carried her sand board across the parking lot.

July 22 Alamosa CO

Last night's dinner was a disaster!  We stopped at Jack and Janelle's Country Kitchen.  Everything we ordered was cooked to death.  The cook must think that super well done is the new culinary standard.  We could barely eat our food - it was done to a crisp.  We took the girls to DQ for a treat and because we felt so bad about dinner.  When we got back to our B&B, we went to the lounge to play cards.  Ella had a phenomenal night - she got a double run, which is almost unheard of in pinochle.  We got ready for bed and read another chapter of our book - almost done.

We got up this morning and had breakfast.  It was better this morning - blueberry pancakes.  We brushed our teeth and then got on the road.  It took about 4 hours to get to Louise and Mike's in Alamosa.  The house looks lovely - lots of new plantings and sitting arrangements outside.  We had lunch and then went back to town to the Habitat ReStore to say hi to Rhonda.  It was nice to catch up on the news since we haven't been there for a year and a half.  We also went over to the Farm Park - they have done a lot of work in the park since last year.  There was a huge community garden surrounded by newly planted trees.  We came back to the house and the girls jumped in the pond.  Louise and Mike bought a float for the pond and they had a great time floating around and then jumping into the water from the end of the dock.  They played around for a while, but then we heard thunder so we called the girls out.  The girls got a kick out of the fact that Louise won't go in the water because the beavers live there and she doesn't want to meet one while she is swimming.  The other pix are of the girls hugging Sugar - a Great Pyrenees.  Tomorrow we will go to Great Sand Dunes National Park.

July 21 pix

Here are some pix from Mesa Verde.  The cactus is a wooly bear cholo and it is ready to bloom.

July 20 pix

Here are a few shots of Zoe and Ella at Four Corners and one of Dave and the girls in front on a pueblo on the B & B property.

July 21 Mesa Verde

We got up early this morning after a good night's sleep and went to breakfast.  I have to say this was one of the skimpiest breakfasts we have ever had at a B & B.  We brushed teeth and then headed out through Cortez to Mesa Verde for the day.  On the way, nine police cars with sirens passed us going the other way - not sure what the emergency was, but the whole police force was heading for it.  We got to Mesa Verde and I signed us up for the 1 PM Cliff Palace ranger tour.  Since we had plenty of time, we went to the museum to watch the introductory movie and then took the cliff loop and stopped several times to look at pit houses on top of the mesa and views of cliff houses across the canyon.  We drove back to the museum for an early lunch (and to make up for the skimpy breakfast) and then headed down a different road to Cliff Palace.  We had a great tour - climbed four ladders, got up close and personal to the cliff dwellings, peered into kivas and poked our heads into a tower with pictographs overhead.  On the way out, the ranger showed us a series of hand and foot holds that the Anasazi used to climb up to the mesa to tend their crops.  I was happy to have a ladder!  It started to rain as we were coming down and we saw plenty of lightning and heard thunder.  I was glad that we were able to get a relatively early tour time.  I would not like to be on a tour during a thunder storm.  We are now in Cortez, sitting outside of a restaurant, doing the blog and waiting until it is close to dinner time to eat before we go back to the B & B.  Dave is listening to the radio and has his eyes closed and the girls are playing a card game in the back seat while I am writing this blog post.  Since we have a better connection here using the hotspot, I may try to put pix up for yesterday and today.  Happy Birthday, Lolo!!

July 20 Cortez, CO

We woke the girls up early this morning and had breakfast at the Lodge dining room.  So far the food there has been very good, but Ella's blueberry pancakes this morning were without flavor.  I usually don't like to complain, but I did mention it to the waiter.  When I was waitressing, I would have taken the meal off the bill as it was obvious she had only taken a couple of bites, but I guess things are different today.  I offered to get her something else, but she said she wasn't that hungry so we let it go.  We drove toward Four Corners, stopping along the way for drinks and then lunch in northern Arizona.  We took the girl's photos at Four Corners and they walked around looking at the wares available by the Navajo tribe.  One man was making amazing pots, but they were way out of our price range (hundreds of dollars each).  We ran through some showers and saw lots of lightning strikes.  We also saw smoke on a mountain side, which may have been caused by a strike.  We finally got to Cortez about 5 PM in the pouring rain and opted for an early dinner as the B & B we are staying in is 15 miles out of town in the middle of nowhere.  The room we are in is quite nice - a queen bed and a set of bunk beds.  We are here for 2 nights so the girls will take turns on the upper bunk.  They both slept on the upper bunk at the Grand Canyon, but this one does not have a railing.  The place we are staying is on an archaeological site - Anasazi ruins.  We followed the map and found pueblos and kivas.  The girls will see more of them when we go to Mesa Verde tomorrow, but it was cool to walk around and get a preview at this site.  I will put the pix from today on later as the girls are anxious to play cards.  BTW, there is no cell service here, but we do have a slow wifi.

July 19 pix

July 19 Grand Canyon

We went to the ranger program last night.  Fortunately it was in the auditorium at the Lodge as it was during a thunderstorm - lots of rain and lightening.  He talked about fires in the national parks and the question of whether to fight them or let them burn.  There were pluses and minuses for each side of the question - quite interesting.

We went to breakfast at the Lodge this morning and then drove up to the campground to do laundry as everyone was just about out of clean clothes.  Dave and the girls walked to the general store to get granola bars for lunch and then we drove out to Imperial Point (8803 feet) - the highest point on the North Rim and to Cape Royal for more amazing walks along the rim and views of the canyon.  At Cape Royal we got our first glimpse of the Colorado River which had a huge part in carving out the canyon.  It looked very small from our high perch.  We came back and the girls just got their jr. ranger badges and checked out the gift shop.  We are now just relaxing after our drive and hikes.

We decided to go to the buffet tonight instead of the dining room.  The girls certainly enjoyed the options.  They went back 4 or 5 times!  They also enjoyed the apple crisp and blueberry buckle for dessert.  We came back to play cards and I read another chapter of Caddie.  We went to bed on the early side as we want to get an early start tomorrow.  For some reason, the pics aren't loading so will try again in a separate blog.