North Carolina

It was so nice to see the mountains of North Carolina--How beautiful they are!  There is no place like home.  The western states are beautiful in their own stark way--  pine trees, granite, sandstone, and rocks--- but there is nothing like the green hardwoods and pines.  We have seen a multitude of sights since we left the middle of May.  The Grand Canyon, Mojave Dessert, Yosemite, Crater Lake, the Oregon Coast, Seattle, British Columbia, Fort St. James, the Yukon, Alaska, the Icefield Parkway, the flooding of Calgary, Arches National Park, Bryce National Park, Zion National Park,  Antelope Slot Canyon, Monument Valley, the Ozark Folk Center, and much more.  What an experience!!!!  We have crossed off our Bucket List quite a few places of interest-- experienced floods, heat, and mechanical failures, BUT there is no place like HOME.  The house is still standing--the kids took good care of it---but a little overgrown with wonderful mountain greenery-which we expected!  We unload today and take the coach to Camping World tomorrow to hopefully get the air conditioner fixed. I will be back in the swing of things next Wednesday---can't wait to see what projects you ladies have completed and what you are going to tackle next.  Kids--Labor Day is fast approaching.. can't wait to see ya'll........ 

Ozarks Folk Center

This State Park provides docent education for everyone in hopes of passing along the Ozark skills and way of life to younger generation.  In the Spring they do have classes you can take, but the docents also explain their craft to those who visit this State Park.  There were blacksmiths, candle makers, coopers, knife makers, broom  makers, those who made jewelry, potters, printers and spinners, weavers and dyers.  Of course, you know where my interest is--- spinning, weaving, dying and broom making.  The spinner was using this neat picker to get the wool ready to card.  The broom makers were making brooms the same way I did when we were growing our own broom corn.  All in all, it was a great day.  The weather cooperated in giving us a cool day to tour the park.  We saw an old soap forming machine and copper jewelery being changed into colors just from the amount of heat applied to it.  This was right up our alley.  Tonight we will go to some old fashined mountain music festivals.  

Love ya'll.......... 

Mountain View, Arkansas

After we stopped at the Arkansas Visitor Center we decided to go north to the Ozarks.  Our GPS took us on a surprising journey to Mountain View.  I think it took us on the worst route that we could have driven.  The owner of the RV park congratulated us for making it through the route we took.  

Would you believe that this morning we actually saw dew on the grass?  It is so nice to see green grass, green trees, instead of rocks, rocks, and pine trees.

Tomorrow we will go to the Ozarks Folk Center, which is dedicated to the preservation of traditional Ozarks crafts and music.  Hoping we will not be disappointed in what we see.  

See ya'll soon.......

Oklahoma City

We àre just East of Oklahoma City.  I was going to post a picture of our limo from last night,but my computer won't recognize my hot spot.  The limo was a Cadillac with long horn cow horns mounted on the front of the hood.  The funniest part was the horn sounded like a cow!  Pretty cool and it was a great way of PR and advertising by the restaurant.  The food was great and so was the ambiance. 

Tomorrow we are off to Fort Smith and more history of how the West was populated.

See ya'll soon............

Las Vegas and Amarillo

We got our RVI breake system exchanged for the new version and took off for Las Vegas, New Mexico-not Nevada.  The picture is of Pikes Peak (the tallest one) and bless their hearts - they are to have more flash floods.  Traveling down I-25 we traveled over the Raton Pass.  This pass and I-25 was part of the SantaFe trail.  It takes you back to think about the pilgrims that were so brave to leave everything they owned and move out west in a conestoga wagon and miles and miles of no comforts of home. 

Today we traveled to Amarillo, Texas back to a familar KOA park.  We will be transported to the Big Texan Steak house by limo!  Can't wait to see if these steaks are as good as advertized.  It's high time to have a good meal, especially a steak.  Tomorrow we will travel to Oklahoma City.  I will say that traveling on I-40 is really boring--dreaming of the two lane roads through Oregon, Washington, Arizona and New Mexico.  

Love to all....... Looking forward to Labor Day 

On our way to Pikes Peak

Well,  I declare that bad weather likes to follow us or maybe we follow it.  Yesterday we traveled from Mesa Verde to Buena Vista, Colorado.  We traveled up Wolf Creek Pass traveling from 7000 feet to almost 11,000 feet.  It was a beautiful climb up to the summit.  We then traveled to Buena Vista. 

We got up this morning and called an RV park in Pikes Peak to make reservations and the owner told me that they were closed for a few days due to a flash flood from a storm last night.  We drove from Buenea Vista to Manitou Springs and saw what a flash flood can do to mountain dirt.  The debris and mud on the road was truly amazing and shut the four lanes down to two single lanes .  The RV park we were going to stay at was really flooded.  We stopped at another RV park and the only spot available was on top of a hill and we decided to go on to Colorado Springs and skip Pikes Peak.  Guess What?!  They are expecting flash floods in the same area tonight.  So far the rain has missed up, but the lightening displays are amazing. 

The picture is of Wolf Creek pass.  Our brake control on our tow car has gone crazy and does not work well.  The manufacturer is in Colorado Springs, so we are going to trade it in for one that works. 

Mesa Verde

We toured the other half of Mesa Verde today.  It is amazing that these cliff dwellers lived in Mesa Verde for about 400 years and then left.  No one knows where they went, but think that they integrated into other Indian tribes.  This whole area is dotted by cliff dwellings.  

Tomorrow we head towards Colorado Springs to see Pikes Peak.  We are so close that we did not want to miss it.  Then we are off to the Ozarks.  Gotta spend a little time in the state Where I was born.

Love to ya'll..............

Mesa Verde National Park

Today was a very rainy day.  We went to the Anazazi Cultural Center in the morning.  After lunch we went to Mesa Verde National Park.  We were able to experience the culture of the Ancestral Puebloan people dwellings.  The Cliff Dwellings were amazing.  How in the world they got down to them and then back up to the top of the mesa to tend their crops is a mystery to me.  There are over 5,000 know archaeological sits, including 600 cliff dwellings.  There is  the Mesa Top Loop which documents 700 years of dwelling of the Pueblo people beginning with the pit house and traveling through time to the cliff dwellingss built into the cliffs.  They are in amazing good condition.  The picture shown is a photo of the Spruce Tree House.  The Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in the world.  It is Ranger led and requires you to climb tall ladders.  Well you know this two step ladder girl did not go on that tour. 

Antelope Canyon

What a day we had.  Antelope Canyon was everything we hoped for and more!  We took the Photo tour which was for 2 hours instead of one and a half hours.  Rick, our tour guide, played in these canyons as a kid so he knew every inch.  He was telling us about the rain (flash flood in the canyon) that we had yesterday.  The canyon received 15 inches of rain, causing a flash flood, which caused the canyon floor to drop 10 feet as the water washed that much sand away.  Amazing!  Between Paw Paw and I we took over 100 pictures.  Hope ou enjoy the one that is posted here with this blog.  Over 250 people tour the canyon in one day.  We are so glad that we came back and were able to tour the entire canyon. 

Zion and Bryce Canyons

I have been trying to get this post done for two days, but the Internet services have not been cooperating.  I was hoping to attach pictures of each of these canyons, but I am doing this post on my IPad and all the pictures are on my computer.  

Zion and Bryce canyons were amazing.  There was a mile and one half tunnel in Zion that had windows along the tunnel walls that you could view outside the tunnel.  Since we were too tall to go through the tunnel on our side of the road, we needed a special tunnel pass so that the traffic was stopped on the opposite side of the road so that we could drive down the center of the tunnel.  The Rocky Mountains and arches were very stately.

Bryce Canyon on the other hand was vertical hoodoos.  The Queens Garden was amazing.  

We are back in Page, Arizona hoping to completely your the Slots in Antelope Canyon.  There was again a flash flood warning and rain this afternoon, so we are hoping that at 11:00 am we will be able to get into the canyon.  Will keep you posted tomorrow evening.  Hopefully I will be able to send pictures of the canyons as well as the slot canyon.

Love to all.......