17 - HOME!

Paul and I arrived back in my hometown of Danville, IL on October 5, 2010.  One of our all-time favorite campgrounds is the local state park, Kickapoo.  Monkey was enthralled with the IL fall.

Although I'd called my folks almost daily, I had no idea my step-mother suffered some medical problems the week before.  They didn't want to ruin our vacation. 

We stayed a week, but it was filled with doctors appointments and other things requiring attention.  I think she's better now, but their lifestyle will change as time goes along.  Meanwhile, we had some good times such as a weinee roast.  The parents enjoyed it immensely :) 

All good things must come to an end.  After 13,246 miles, we arrived home on the 101st day... to a ton of mail and various chores we're still working on.  Was it worth it?  Does Charlie Daniels play a mean fiddle? * 

Monkey is smiling because he didn't have to deal with the mail.  He is a happy camper. 

Then in the back yard, he met an old buddy who'd been turned into a handsome Tree Frog over the summer.  (Our friends Ruthie and Jason painted him as a surprise.)

So.... it's good-bye from Florida until the next trip worthy of a blog.  Happy trails.  Donna

*GEICO commercial, in case you didn't recognize it.

16 - Colorado and Kansas

In my last blog, I was surprised at the difference one week makes.  Imagine two.  I said I didn't have any big news flashes, but my friend Dawn said it's not about the big ones so here I am.

We finally got rid of most of the red UT dirt (after at least four truck washes).  From Monument Valley, UT, we jumped up to Mesa Verde National Park at Cortez, CO (9/20/10).  This was the home of the cliff-dwelling Pueblo Indians (Anasaszi).  

 

We bought a ticket for Cliff House the first day (pictures below) and next-day tickets for Bacon House.  The Cliff House tour was down very narrow, steep stone steps and up ladders.  The pictures make it look like a playhouse, which is an optical illusion, believe me!

 

The next day, it rained and rained.  Imagine... this is desert!  So much for Bacon House.  We went to the Anasaszi Museum instead (as well as Pipo's in Cortez for Navajo tacos).  Oh dear, I left Monkey back at the camper!

 



Cliff House



Pink house on left top

We left Cortez, CO for Denver (actually, just north of it) to visit Paul's sister and husband, Jane and Larry.  The aspens were already changing color.  They look like a painting, don't they?

While Paul was sure our dog, Kiwi, is so used to being an only dog now he would never get along with Jane and Larry's two Boston terriers.  After much barking and tail-sniffing, they had a great time.  The pictures of the three together are fuzzy, but here's one each.



 Benny the Terrible for a cool down

Boss, the already cool one



Kiwi, the tailed one -- see it wag!





Jane and Larry also have Big Dogs. 

Elvis (L) - Stetson (R)

Pictures of Cowboy Larry didn't turn out, some of Jane did.  I'm not whom/which she loves more...

While in Denver, my co-worker Barbara and bud Nancy had a luncheon for manager Janet, co-worker Chris and me.  (Yikes!  I mean -- all former all that, now that I'm err -- stutter--- "retired.")  Barbara and Nancy have a beautiful downtown Denver historical house that they've restored perfectly.  It seemed perfectly natural to be together again.  What a perfect day.

 

We left Denver on 9/30/10 for Topeka, KS.  Long way across the rest of CO and KS. Miles and miles of nothing.  We're in Topeka for the week-end, visiting good friends from Paul's old Air Force group.  I think I like Topeka!

  L-R:  Paul, Bob, Christel, Donna

Tomorrow, 10/04/10, we're leaving for IL and back to visit my folks.  Should be a good time with autumn leaves in IL.  We'll be there about a week and hope to be home in FL around 10/15/10.

Thanks, everyone for staying with on my three-month journely around the U.S. post-retirement!



15 - Grand Canyon, AZ and Monument Valley, UT

What a difference a week makes.  From the Las Vegas Strip to the loud silence of the Grand Canyon.  It wasn't as busy as other parks, but it's the beginning of the off-season too.  It really was grand!  You've seen hundreds of pictures and maybe taken some of your own.  These are my favorites from our visit.




Monkey does Grand Canyon

Tree points out a raptor

Hello, Sky!

The true point here is two raptors... condors or ravens?

Wouldn't it be wownderful to soar the GC like this?

This is my favorite GC photo.

A Swedish couple and we traded taking photos of each other.  He hunted down Paul to get him in the pic.

A happy juniper.

When we left the Grand Canyon, we drove through Flagstaff to Monument Valley, UT.  I didn't think I'd left anything in UT, but as it turned out, I loved this part of the southwest.  On a tip from friends, we stayed at Goulding's.  The place itself has a history from the 1920's.  It became the site for a number of John Wayne's westerns.  It's also in the heart of the Navajo Nation.  Now, if we could only get rid of all the red dust!

Hello, Utah.

This is a view of the Valley of the Gods from Muley Point.  (To think I wanted to turn back!)

From the whole Monument Valley visit, this is my favorite photo.  If you click to enlarge, you can see his feet or stingers, depending on whatever insect he is.

This is also from Muley Point.  It's like a mini Grand Canyon.  The road you see is the one we drove.

Kissing rocks.

Straight from a John Wayne movie.

                                                         Rock -- how?

Arched rock near campground.

We're by Mesa Verde National Park now, home of the Anasaszi.  After this on to Denver.  Until next week...

14 - Yosemite to Las Vegas

Last Tuesday (9/07/10), we finally made our turn eastward from the Pacific coast to Yosemite National Park, CA.  The day we arrived was sunny with temp's just right.  Wednesday, which was our first day to visit the park, was overcast and misty.  Big bummer.  We spent the day going to Yosemite Valley.  It was beautiful... just too many people for Paul again. 

I believe Yosemite is one of the most splendid national parks in the U.S.  It has some of the largest pieces of granite in the world.   Its sequoia trees (cousins of the Redwoods) live to about 2,000 years; there are three groves of them in the park (last in the world).

Monkey visits Yosemite

In the middle distance - famous Half Dome

A little waterfall

A sequoia's imitation of Medusa

In and around

El Capitain - The biggest chunk of granite in the world

A different view of El Cap

A fledgling with its own mind

We decided to leave Yosemite on Thursday since we had to drive the Tioga pass road anyway to go into Nevada.  Paul's hands were like ice that morning while getting the camper ready to pull.  (We are avoiding Florida's summer heat after all.)

Totally different view of Half Dome

Glacier scrubbing action

Leaving California for Nevada

Just another gorgeous sequoia to admire

VEGAS, baby!  OK, so it wasn't what Paul thought it would be.  The very first day, we got sucked into a time-share promotion.  At least we got two free dinner and show tickets (= about $200 and 3 hours of our time).  We went to dinner together.  Then he did his thing, and I went to see Vegas - The Show.  Great musical about Las Vegas's history from the 1940's to present.  Hot here.  100 today.  Escaping Florida's what???

My personal favorite - the Bellagio with fountains

Sunday we visited Hoover dam.  It is so huge that even when there, it's hard to realize the scale.  The new highway going around the dam is as awesome as the internet pictures.  Security is tight.

Til next week, when we're in the Grand Canyon.....