Bullwinkle's Travels

Fontainebleau State Park

2012-01-13T20:00:00.000-08:00

When we arrived here on New Year's Eve, our plan was to stay just a few days. We liked it so much we stayed two weeks!

Fontainebleau State Park is a gorgeous 2800-acre park in Mandeville, LA. Nestled among magnificent live oaks, the park features two campgrounds, rental cabins, hiking and biking trails and a swimming beach.

Our (almost) daily hikes always treated us with something special to see. The Spanish moss in the late afternoon sun provided the perfect frame for this lovely bride-to-be.

The nature trail along a boardwalk features wildlife viewing stations and a reminder not to feed the "locals".

We didn't see any alligators, but the swamp was beautiful.

The park sits on the north shore of Lake Pontchartain, which has served up some stunning sunset views. On a clear day you can see New Orleans. (And, no, we couldn't hear the New Year's Eve revelers!)

Our Louisiana food fest has continued here on the north shore. We discovered a Café du Monde here in Mandeville. So, we just had to have a few more beignets!

Our favorite eatery in Mandeville is Liz's Where Y'at Diner. What's not to like about a place with a name like that? When you call, they answer the phone, "Where Y'at?"

Inside, they served up a mighty tasty Eggs Sardou and the best cheesy grits we've had anywhere. With dishes like this, we may never leave the South!

Our culinary tour of St. Tammany Parish took us to nearby Abita Springs, an old resort town. In the early 1900s, visitors came to this small town to experience the "healing waters" of the artesian spring for which it was named. Evidence of town's tourist heydays can be found in former hotels and boarding houses like this one.

We didn't come to Abita Springs for the healing waters. We came for the beer! For 25 years, Abita Brewing Company has been turning the pure artesian waters into some colorful and tasty brews. The food at the brewery's restaurant was just "so-so", but the beer was mighty fine.

We didn't just eat during our stay at Fontainebleau. We kept our hobbies fed, too. I found McNeedles, a delightful yarn store just down the road in Lacombe.

Bright Hopes Quilting in Mandeville is a very friendly shop that kept Paul entertained as I hunted for fabric. And, they gave us a great lead on the best po'boys on the north shore. (That would be Ponchartrain Po'Boys.)

Some of my fabric choices from various states are a challenge to distinguish. But, these four are obviously all Louisiana.

Fontainebleau's hiking trails provided a great opportunity to boost our geocaching numbers. A casual walk with Keith and Tricia turned into a fun six-mile hike and seven finds.

We discovered more hiking trails, and a few more geocaches, at the nearby Northlake Nature Center. This particular cache was quite clever.

We had a great time meeting and getting to know Keith and Tricia and their pup Samantha. After their two weeks at Fontainebleau, they headed out for points west. We wish them good luck and safe travels. We're sure we'll catch up with them somewhere!

Tomorrow, we'll head east to Alabama. But, tonight we just had to enjoy one last walk along the lakeshore and enjoy another stunning sunset.

After three weeks in southern Louisiana, this sign from The French Quarter sums it up best. We have so enjoyed our time here. We're already looking forward to our next visit.

Here's hoping we find just as much fun, but far fewer calories, in Alabama.

Honey Island Swamp

2012-01-06T20:00:00.000-08:00

We ventured east to Slidell, Louisiana for today's adventure: a swamp tour!

Fellow travelers and new friends Tricia and Keith hatched the plan for this outing. When they invited us to come along for the 90-minute tour, of course we said, "Yes!"

Tricia and Keith selected this tour for its "geeky" reputation. With Captain Cousins as our very knowledgeable guide, we set off along the Pearl River and into the swamp. Without a doubt, this guy knew his stuff. We learned lots!

In winter, you can see further into the swamp. Try this in the middle of summer, and you can't see a thing.

Our captain pointed out several birds and other wildlife during our journey. His eagle eyes spotted a snake as we were moving along at a pretty good clip. Thankfully, the resident alligators in these parts are hibernating this time of year. (That didn't bother us a bit!)

We floated by several structures perched along the river. There was everything from high dollar homes to abandoned fishing camps destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. This cabin looks like someone's favorite getaway. Even along this rain-swollen river, it reminds us that life is good.

Indeed, it is! Thanks Tricia and Keith (and Captain Cousins) for a great day in the swamp. We look forward to coming back when everything is blooming and the alligators are on the prowl.

(One of us isn't too sure about that last part.)

New Orleans

2011-12-31T12:00:00.000-08:00

We waited for the perfect combination of a weekday with good weather before things got too crazy to visit New Orleans. Yesterday was the day. With the Frommer's one-day itinerary as our guide, we set out on a walking tour of the most famous of districts in the Big Easy: The French Quarter.

We started our tour by picking up café au lait and beignets at Café du Monde. This New Orleans original was packed. There was powdered sugar everywhere!

We enjoyed our breakfast across the street in Jackson Square, which is named after "the hero of New Orleans", Andrew Jackson. Bordered by beautiful St. Louis Cathedral, this common area attracts artists and street performers. Tonight, thousands of revelers will gather here to watch "Baby New Year" drop from its perch atop Jax Brewery as they ring in the New Year.

The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in New Orleans. The entire 78-block district is a National Historic Landmark, where property owners have worked diligently to preserve and maintain the original French and Spanish architecture.

At Bourbon Street and Bienville sits the Old Absinthe House. This corner bar has been serving up libations since 1807. Absinthe, of course, has long since been outlawed. It caused madness and blindness! It was before noon before we strolled by most of the Quarter's famous watering holes, so we didn't stop. But, there were plenty of tourists walking the streets with their hurricanes and daiquiris in "go cups".

Mardi Gras season kicks off around here in a week or so. From the Feast of the Epiphany until Shrove Tuesday, it's party time in the Quarter, when partiers fill the balconies and galleries above Bourbon Street and others.

We spent a couple of hours wandering the streets. And, we weren't alone. In addition to its New Year's Eve celebrations, New Orleans is hosting an NFL playoff game and the Sugar Bowl this week, and the BCS Championship Game next weekend. There are lots of visitors here who are ready to celebrate.

Between the architecture and people watching, there are plenty of sights to appreciate in the Quarter. It's also something to hear. Jazz and Cajun music spills from bars and restaurants into the streets. This quartet was quite fun.

By mid-afternoon, the Quarter was filling up and we were getting hungry, so we made our way toward the mighty Mississippi to have our first taste of another New Orleans original.

Meet the Muffuletta! This monster of a sandwich originated at Central Grocery, which was our intended destination. But, the lines were long and we desperately needed to sit for awhile, so we stopped a few doors down at Frank's. At our quiet table for two by the window, we shared three-quarters of this massive loaf containing sliced meats, cheeses and wonderful Italian olive salad. It may not be the original, but it sure was tasty!

After our fun and food-filled day in the French Quarter, we made our way back to the plantation. After a very light dinner, we had a nice visit with Wendy, Brad and Brady around their portable campfire. This morning, they loaded up their beautiful new motorhome and headed out just a couple of hours ahead of us. We wish our new friends safe travels back to their home in Wisconsin. And, we look forward to meeting up with them again somewhere down the road.

Meanwhile, we're loading up on this last day of 2011 for a short trip to the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain where we'll ring in the New Year. I wonder if we'll be able to hear the partyers in the French Quarter from there.

A Cajun Christmas

2011-12-29T22:00:00.000-08:00

With no plans to spend the holidays with family, we went in search of a place to spend a memorable Christmas. We found just that in southern Louisiana. We made our way to Convent, this tiny town along the Mississippi River that's located about halfway between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Our home for the holiday has been Poché Plantation.

Yes, we're parked on a former plantation! In the mid-1800s, the land upon which we are parked was a 160-acre sugar plantation. In 1867, Judge Felix Poché built this Victorian-style house, where he lived until 1882. In addition to being an accomplished attorney and associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, Judge Poché went on to become one of the 100 lawyers to found the American Bar Association.

The home was purchased by its current owners in 2005. In 2006, the historic home provided shelter to evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. Today the grounds feature guest cottages and 85 RV sites that offer all the comforts of home.

The day before Christmas, we joined owner Mark for a tour of the plantation house. Mark is quite the storyteller! He's the first to admit that at least half of what he says isn't exactly true, but it's all fun. Here it looks like Paul doesn't exactly believe the story Mark was sharing.

Every plantation has at least one ghost, and Poché is no exception. Mark explained how he saw the ghost in this room. We spotted it, too! Can you?

After our tour, we took a drive down the River Road to check out the final preparations that were being made on 20-foot bonfire structures like this one. (The red "ribbons" are firecrackers!)

Here in St. James Parish, it's tradition to get together with your family, friends and neighbors between Thanksgiving and Christmas to build a bonfire structure along the river. Each Christmas Eve, hundreds of bonfires are set along the river. This Cajun tradition has a long and colorful history. As the story goes, long ago on Christmas Eve a dense fog rolled into Southern Louisiana. The fog was so thick that Papa Noel and his pirogue pulled by eight alligators, Gaston, Tiboy, Pierre, Alcee, Ninette, Suzette, Celeste and Renee, couldn't make their way down the river. Papa Noel called on Nicolette, a snowy white alligator with glowing red eyes to lead the way, but it was still too difficult to see. But, the people of the river parishes saved the night by building bonfires along the river to guide Papa Noel along the way.

Most of the bonfires are built in the traditional pyramid shape. Many include individual touches that display everything from patriotism...

...to holiday spirit.

A few structures, like this giant 4-by-4, are unique feats of engineering!

Our Christmas Eve began with a visit to St. Michael the Archangel Church, which is next door to the plantation. This grand church, built in the 1820s, is known for its interior grotto modeled after the famous grotto in Lourdes, France, but constructed of sugar cane. The church is also home to Louisiana's oldest playable organ, which was constructed by Henry Erben in 1857. The church is still active today, serving the needs of some 200 parish families.

This nativity, located on the serene campus of the Manresa House of Retreats, is a popular Christmas Eve stop for visitors along the River Road.

The river town of Paulina lays claim to being the birthplace of "Christmas on the River." Each Christmas eve, residents along a three-mile stretch of River Road between Paulina and Gramercy open their homes to family, friends and strangers to enjoy Cajun food, music and Christmas cheer. It was all very festive.

As the magic hour of 7 p.m. approached, we parked ourselves on the levee between two of the kerosene-soaked pyramids and waited for the fun to begin. The crowds and anticipation grew. We knew we were in for something special. As the clock struck 7, a wave of cheers, fireworks, flame and smoke made its way up the river.

Our "neighbors" went to work setting their creation ablaze. Suddenly we were standing between two flaming towers with firecrackers shooting every which way!

After the initial excitement of the lighting, the bonfires provided a festive glow along the river as we made our way back to our rolling home.

With our snowflake lights and tiny tree, Bullwinkle was looking quite festive.

One of the presents under our tree was a new point-and-shoot camera for me. I had fun practicing with the "pet portrait" setting. Doesn't our girl kitty look angelic?

Here's our boy kitty doing what he does best: relaxing!

Our Christmas Day was quite relaxing. After our celebratory dinner, we enjoyed a Skype call with Paul's brother and his family. It was their first time on Skype, and the group asked if they looked like "The Brady Bunch". We did see some similarities, but most of all it was fun to spend some holiday time with them all.

There are several historic plantations in the area that are open for tours. Yesterday, we visited Houma's House Plantation and Gardens up the road in Darrow. This lovely spot is named after its first owners, the indigenous Houmas Indians. Construction on the mansion was completed in 1828 by Colonel John Preston and his wife Caroline. By the late 1800s, the plantation was producing 20 million pounds of sugar each year. Houmas House fell into disrepair after the Great Depression. Dr. George Crozat purchased the place in 1940, renovated it and opened it tourists. In 1963, the house was the setting for the Bette Davis film Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte. New Orleans businessman Kevin Kelly purchased the house in 2003 and restored it to its 1840 splendor.

This is a special time to visit Houmas House. The spirit of Christmas can be found everywhere.

Our tour was led by Miss Judy, who educated and entertained everyone and invited us to really get to know this special house.

The interior was beautiful, festive and homey. In addition to being a top tourist attraction, Houmas House is actually Mr. Kelly's home.

The front yard of the house is graced with a lovely alley of centuries-old oak trees.

After our tour inside the house, we wandered through the expansive gardens on the property. Even in winter, these outdoor spaces are beautiful. We also enjoyed a nice lunch at Houmas restaurant.

We've managed to sample some mighty fine Cajun cooking during our stay. Frisco Deli is a hole in the wall in nearby La Place serves up a tasty po'boy and yummy gumbo. (Any place that has three state trooper vehicles outside is worth a stop, provided there's no evidence of criminal activity, of course.)

Tonight we wandered up the road to another hole-in-the-wall, Hymel's. Every Thursday night, this 60-plus year-old local spot serves up an endless helping of fresh boiled shrimp and fried catfish. Yummy stuff!

Our tasty seafood was accompanied with a "fishbowl" of ice cold beer and live Cajun music. Life doesn't get much better!

After dinner, our friends Sue and Doug checked in on us from British Columbia. On Skype (our new best friend) we exchanged holiday greetings and caught up on each other's latest news. We even got to say hello to their daughter Carlie. It was great to see everybody!

After a most enjoyable holiday week on a plantation, filled with bonfires, music, tasty food and virtual visits from family and friends, our Cajun Christmas is definitely one to remember.

The Big Thicket

2011-12-22T22:00:00.000-08:00

The Big Thicket is the name of a heavily forested area in Southeast Texas. And, we're sitting in the thick of it. Village Creek State Park is located in the town of Lumberton, which is about 10 miles north of Beaumont. Other than that, there's not much to say about this area, except that we like it!

This quote from "Big Thicket Legacy" sums it up best:

"One's fondness for the area is hard to explain. It has no commanding peak or awesome gorge, no topographical feature of distinction. Its appeal is more subtle."

The park has a small campground with 25 sites. With just a camper or two in the neighborhood, we practically have the place to ourselves. We were planning to spend a couple of nights here. But, we like it so much we extended our stay to five quiet and peaceful nights.

Our boy kitty likes this spot, too. He has spent much of his time sunning himself on our south-facing dash, collecting compliments from passersby.

Here in The Big Thicket, the forest is thick with more than 100 species of trees and shrubs, which has earned it the title of "the biological crossroads of North America". The area is also home to numerous streams. And, as we learned during our stay, there is a slew of non-moving bodies of water like this one, which is known as a "slough". (Or, would that be a slough of sloughs?)

Village Creek State Park features several hiking trails. After our recent "food fests", we've enjoyed some long walks during our stay. Along the way, we've found a geocache or two.

This was one of the most creative geocaches we've ever found. This tiny capsule was on string between two trees here in the thicket. Yes, it was a bit like searching for a needle in a haystack!

Paul spotted this creative cache near the park's nature center. It made us wonder how many birds have been turned away because there's no room in this "inn."

After a couple of fun-filled weeks in our adopted home state, we're heading east tomorrow to spend the holidays in Louisiana.

Let the good times roll!

Return to Austin

2011-12-17T22:00:00.000-08:00

It's been great to be back in one of our favorite places in Texas, the capital city of Austin. We decided to put our soon-to-expire Texas State Parks Pass to work and made our home for the last five nights at McKinney Falls State Park.

This spacious campground offers the comfort of a state park with the convenience of the city. Downtown Austin is just 20 minutes away from our peaceful and quiet spot.

We're certain this park is packed much of the year, but things have been pretty quiet during this December week. Deer have definitely outnumbered the campers in our neighborhood.

Hey! We know those folks behind the empty margarita glasses! We're tailing friends Cathy and Steve through Texas. It was great to see them again before they head for points south.

Cathy and Steve are staying at the same park as our special friends Francile and Gary. We just love it when our friends meet our friends! We all got together for tasty food and drink at a wonderful hole-in-the-wall Francile and Gary introduced us to on our previous visit to Austin.

We met Francile and Gary at this Austin park in April 2010. Our paths have crossed several times since, but it was great to see them again where it all started. We hope they enjoy a warm and wonderful winter stay here in Austin. We look forward to seeing them in Iowa next Spring.

We made a quick road trip down I-35 to San Marcos where we met friends Rod and Deb for lunch. Over tasty German food, we caught up with each other's adventures over the last year. They are hanging out near family in San Antonio for the holidays and then some. We hope they have a great visit, and we look forward to seeing them down the road.

Tonight, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner downtown with Paul's cousin Cynthia, husband Tim and son Ben. Between the good food and fun conversation, we didn't manage to take any pictures. Well, then, we'll just have to come back!

Tomorrow, we're heading east to another Texas State Park. We love 'em!

Argyle

2011-12-11T22:00:00.000-08:00

When we told friends and family we were heading to Argyle, many brought this image to mind.

No, we weren't off to the land of diamond-like knits! Argyle is a lovely suburb in the northwest corner of the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex!

Our home for the last four nights has been Paradise RV Park. It's just behind the liquor store and gas station and a football pass off of busy I-35W. Paradise it isn't. But, the reason we're here is we are just five minutes away from the folks we came to see.

Tracy and Mary are dear friends and long ago neighbors who we hadn't seen in way too many years. It was been a real treat to catch up. They've kept us well fed and (too) well watered. We've had a whole lot of fun!

We also caught up with our traveling friends Cathy and Steve, whom we last saw in Kansas City. They are staying in a "fancy" park in nearby Grapevine, but they came our way to get together for lunch and some fun house hunting. (No big purchases...yet!)

We also had the good luck of catching friends Mike and Penny while they were stopped at home for a bit. We met this fun couple in Port Aransas a couple of winters ago, and visited with them last year as we were passing through. These days, Mike and Penny are shopping for a motorhome. We compared notes over a tasty chicken at Babe's in Roanoke. (No big purchases...yet!)

This morning we had the great pleasure of a face-to-face meeting with two "virtual" friends. Mike and Sandy recently made their home in Hurst. They picked us up for a wonderful brunch in Grapevine where we filled in the gaps between our respective blogs and Facebook posts. After sharing good food and lots of laughs, Mike and Sandy took us to their new 'hood and showed us their beautiful "stick and brick" house and "Phannie", their lovely Tiffin motorhome. We look forward to catching up with these two down the road soon.

When we head to Austin tomorrow, we'll leave here with wonderful memories of times with these friends. As much as we'd love to stay and hang with Mary and Tracy for awhile (We've threatened to buy the property next door!), it's time to go. You see, we've had way too much fun. Here it looks like Paul and Tracy has a great time hunting. No, wait! They were just out back sipping scotch and smoking cigars!

While hanging at Mary and Tracy's, we shared stories (Some of them were true!), laughs, memories and many adult beverages. Here's Mary offering up some Bailey's while Tracy searches for something in their seemingly endless bar. And, according to the ol' clock on the wall, this was all happening not long before midnight!

Thanks Mary, Tracy, Ellie and Anna for your warm and wonderful hospitality. It was fantastic to be with y'all. We miss you already, and look forward to our next visit.

Meanwhile, we have more to see in Texas. Plus, it's cold here. We're going to keep heading south until we find a place that's warm!

Two Stops In Oklahoma City

2011-12-06T22:00:00.000-08:00

After making a two-night stop in Monett, Missouri, we made our way to Oklahoma. For the second consecutive year, Oklahoma City is a stop on our December migration to Texas. We never got around to posting our first stop on the blog. So, in this installment of Bullwinkle's Travels, we're serving up two stops in one! Once again, we're parked at Twin Fountains RV Park, which is a lovely place to call home for a few days.

This year it's been considerably cooler. Temperatures have hovered around freezing the last two nights. Tonight, the thermometer is expected to drop into the teens. It's definitely time for us to head further south!

The highlight of our return visit to OKC was having friends Linda and Denny over for dinner. They have had an unscheduled stop for repairs here as they make there way west. So, we made the most of the situation. It was great to see them. I swear we took pictures, but I can't seem to find any! (Yes, we had that much fun!) We hope their repairs are swift and they are on their way soon.

We also made a return trip to our favorite on-the-road Japanese restaurant. This town is about the last place we'd expect to find exceptional sushi, but Tokyo Restaurant rivals our favorite Bay Area sushi spots. Today's lunch was just a good as we remembered.

The unseasonably cold weather made it a perfect time to visit something we missed during our previous stay. After enjoying our Miso soup and Bento boxes, we made our way to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, which is just a stone's throw from our park. With more than 28,000 Western and American Indian art works and artifacts displayed in its more than 200,000-square-foot display space, there are plenty of things to enjoy on a blustery Winter afternoon.

The museum also houses "Prosperity Junction", a 14,000-square-foot authentic turn-of-the-century Western prairie town. While roaming the streets of town, we poked our head in the one-room school house, which was decked out for the holidays.

Now that we've taken you all the way back to the days of Buffalo Bill, we'll fast forward to just about a year ago for a quick recap of our first stop in Oklahoma City.

As native Kansas Citians, we had driven through Oklahoma City countless times. Last December 1st, we decided to finally stop.

The primary purpose for this stop was to pay our respects at the Oklahoma City National Memorial. The Outdoor Symbolic Memorial is a most poignant reminder of the events of April 19, 1995. The design, by Hans and Torrey Butzer, is simply exquisite. The Gates of Time on each end of a shallow reflecting pool on what was 5th Street frame the moment of destruction.

The Field of Empty Chairs is on the former site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The chairs represent the empty chairs at the dinner tables of the victims' families. The 168 hand-crafted glass, bronze and stone chairs are placed in rows (to represent the floor where each victim worked or was located) and grouped according to the blast pattern. Each chair is inscribed with a victim's name. The smaller chairs represent the 19 children killed in the bombing.

The Memorial brilliantly serves as a tribute to the victims, the responders, the survivors and the community as a whole. The Survivor's Tree is an American Elm that survived the blast and has become an emblem of the Memorial. The inscription on the deck surrounding the tree reads: The spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated; our deeply rooted faith sustains us.

The Memorial Fence is a section of the chain-link fence that surrounded the site for more than four years after the explosion. During that time, visitors left flowers, flags, stuffed animals and other items as a makeshift memorial. A 210-foot section of the fence now sits on the west side of the Memorial, just outside the 9:03 gate on the "healing side". Visitors continue to leave mementos, which are periodically collected and stored. During our visit, we were touched by the photo of one victim and a letter written by a person who had come to know her simply by passing on the street.

The Children's Area features more than 5,000 tiles hand-painted by children from across the United States and Canada.

Kids say the darndest things!

We were very glad we made the time to stop and visit the Memorial and witness for ourselves how Oklahoma City is not just surviving, but thriving some 15 years after that brutal attack.

I made time during our quick stop to make a trip to what is reported to be the best quilt shop in Oklahoma to pick up four fabrics for our "someday" quilt.

Now, fast forward to December 2011. I'm so pleased to report those four pieces of fabric have made their way into two quilt squares in the last year. That's progress!

And, one year later, our visit to that touching Memorial remains in our hearts and memory.

Onward to Texas!

Two Months in Kansas City

2011-11-30T21:00:00.000-08:00

The last two months have simply flown! Our two-month stay in Kansas City comes to an end tomorrow. We've been very busy and had tons of fun. Unfortunately, we just didn't take many pictures. Here's our best effort at a recap.

Our first stop in Kansas City was Worlds of Fun. Every body and thing at our house was due for an annual check up during our stay, and Bullwinkle was first up with his annual visit at Kansas City Freightliner, just around the corner from our site o' fun. The extra special treat of this two-night stay was meeting up with friends Anne and Craig, who were making their way home to the southern California desert. (We didn't get a picture of these two, but that's their beautiful Ellipse back behind Bullwinkle in the photo above.)

This was our third stop at Worlds of Fun. But, it was the first time we'd been there while the roller coasters were running. It was fun to watch (and hear) park goers enjoying the rides.

From Worlds of Fun, we made our way to our "home" park in Merriam on October 1st. Moments after we got parked in our most familiar surroundings, we were off and running. It seems there's always plenty for us to do in Kansas City, and never enough time. Between doctor, dentist and vet visits, and catching up with family and friends, we were always on the go.

We enjoyed an evening at Shawnee Mission East High School, where our niece and a hundred or so of her friends performed at the school's fall choir concert.

One afternoon, Paul and I visited the campus of crosstown rival Shawnee Mission West High School for a parade celebrating Paul's alma mater's 50th anniversary. The Junior ROTC group got things started.

The school invited its alums to participate in the parade. The handful of folks in this photo represented the tens of thousands of graduates from the '70s, '80s and '90s. Needless to say, most of the alums from these decades were working on this weekday afternoon!

The students, however, were celebrating in full force. Dressed in everything from togas to tie dye, they had a great time saluting the past. One of our favorites was the strings section of the school's orchestra. As these musical kids strolled along, they played the opening riff of The Beatles' hit "Birthday", then shouted the lyrics. They were definitely having a good time.

One of our annual Kansas City pre-holiday traditions is the baking of what seems like a zillion crescent rolls (from scratch, of course) for our family holiday meals. With the help of my happy baking nieces, we actually rolled up 14 dozen of the tasty delights. This year, we experimented and tried a couple batches of sweet versions. The chocolate chip and peanut butter crescents were a unanimous favorite.

We enjoyed time with many friends during our stay. We caught up with former co-workers, neighbors and folks we hadn't seen in a very long while. Like we said, though, there just wasn't enough time to see everybody. So, we're looking forward to catching up with more friends when we return next May. We were also fortunate to catch up with far away friends, like Cindy and Rick, who joined us for a virtual happy hour. (We just love Skype!)

We were also blessed to meet virtual friends for the first time during our stay. When we learned that fellow travelers Bridget and John were staying an hour or so south of Kansas City, we made a date to meet them over some tasty home cookin' at Miss B's Cafe in Louisburg. It was great to meet them both. We look forward to seeing them again down the road.

We met a few new faces during our stay, too. "Barlow" is niece Kate's special friend. Lucky for him, Uncle Paul approves! (It was great to see you both!)

As our stay drew to a close, we especially enjoyed celebrating Thanksgiving with our family. Here's Paul's half our clan at its celebration. We also enjoyed a wonderful dinner at my parents, but I didn't take any pictures. (Curses!) It was fantastic to spend this special holiday with everyone.

During our "downtime", limited though it was, we tackled a few special projects. Paul took care of a bunch of odds and ends for the moose and squirrel. I wrote a 50,000-word novel (and I use that term so loosely) as part of National Novel Writing Month, and knitted two scarves for the Special Olympics Scarf Project. (I encourage all you knitters and crocheters who pass this way to click on that link. It's a wonderful project in need of a lot of scarves! You'll find all the info you need to make your contribution. Then, stitch away! You'll be so glad you did!)

After these two very busy months, it's time for us to head south. We'll miss our family and friends, of course. But, truth be told, we really have to go. After all this activity, we need some rest!

More soon from the road.

Clinton Lake

2011-09-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

We're settling in for the sixth of six fabulous nights here at Clinton Lake. It's been a wonderful visit. The weather has been stellar, and our campground just can't be beat. This is a look at our first site, a 50 amp full-hookup pull-through in the Cedar Creek Campground.

Clinton Lake is yet another Corps of Engineers lake close to our old home town. The Corps operates five campgrounds around the lake. Two other campgrounds are located in the state park on the north side. With so many choices, you really can't go wrong finding a place to camp here. But, the Corps campgrounds are our favorite. We liked them so much we tried out two during our stay.

Long before this beautiful lake existed, the Wakarusa Valley was home to the towns of Sigil, Belvoir and Bloomington. A small piece of Bloomington history remains in this historic smokehouse that stands between the Hickory and Walnut Campgrounds in the aptly named Bloomington Park area of Clinton Lake. Over time, Bloomington changed its name to Clinton, which is now a place some 500 people call home in this small town adjacent to the lake.

In the 1850s, the people of Bloomington helped slaves escape through the Underground Railroad. Evidence of this important piece of history exists in the Clinton Cemetery, which is one of the oldest burial grounds in Douglas County. While searching for a geocache in the area, we spotted this headstone of a former slave.

We split our stay here between sites in two campgrounds. After spending three nights with all the "luxuries" Cedar Creek had to offer, we decided to "rough it" with a 30 amp and water back-in at nearby Walnut Campground. This campground closes September 30th, so we practically had the place to ourselves. We loved it!

Our site faces a treed area that houses all kinds of Kansas wildlife. The other night I followed the hoot of an owl and went looking for him. If you look ever so closely on this picture (click on it to enlarge), you'll see the well-camouflaged but very cute little guy.

Well, it's just about cocktail hour around here, so we'll close. We'll check in again soon from Kansas City. But, right now all we can say from here in these peaceful environs of eastern Kansas is....Cheers!

Lawrence

2011-09-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons we've stopped at Clinton Lake for a few days is to explore one of our absolutely favorite towns: nearby Lawrence. Our first stop, shortly after our arrival, was the local Walmart for provisions. We chuckled when we wheeled our cart down this aisle. If you don't know what Lawrence is home to, this is a big hint.

On this absolutely glorious Sunday afternoon, we enjoyed a leisurely stroll across our favorite university campus, which just so happens to be in this favorite town of ours. The University of Kansas Campanile and Carillon is the most familiar landmark on campus. Since its construction in 1950, new graduates have started their commencement by walking through the campanile and down Mt. Oread to the football stadium. Although it's been decades since we made our graduation walk, it's always a treat to visit this stately tower.

The Chi Omega fountain is another university landmark, which is located at one entrance to the main campus. For more than 50 years, it's been KU tradition for students to take a dip in the fountain. (Maybe we did. Maybe we didn't.)

Our stroll down Jayhawk Boulevard, which runs through the middle of the main campus, brought back many collegiate memories for us both. Things were pretty quiet around here today. But, it was all beautiful.

Fraser Hall stands far above the center of campus with its twin flags flying. This landmark can be seen for miles outside Lawrence. Even though it was a zillion years ago, I can still remember spotting Fraser on the drive when my family brought me to KU to start my Freshman year.

The University of Kansas is home to the Jayhawk, a mythical bird with an interesting history. There are several of these icons along the campus road that bears its name. This statuesque Jayhawk stands in front of Strong Hall.

This colorful Jayhawk welcoming visitors to the Union looks more like the Jayhawk we know and love.

As graduates of the William Allen White School of Journalism, we've both spent many hours in this building. Many years ago, within these native limestone walls, I honed my blogging skills!

This gothic style building is Watson, the largest library on campus. One of us spent lots of time in this building during our years at KU. The other stepped inside just a handful of times. (You be the judge.)

One of my favorite buildings on campus is Spooner Hall, which is also one of the oldest. The inscription over the portico provides inspiring words for students (and long ago graduates).

Danforth Chapel is a beautiful and peaceful spot on campus. Many students, including the one of us who didn't spend much time in the library (and is the principal author of this blog), have been known to stop inside for a moment on the way to a final exam.

We continued our long walk down memory lane with a quick trip to downtown Lawrence. As we traveled the center of downtown along Massachusetts Street, we recalled the location of restaurants and nightspots we frequented when we were students. Surprisingly, a couple of places are still thriving today.

We're so enjoying this visit to our old college town. It's nice to be back. We're biased, of course. But, if you're passing through Kansas, Lawrence is a "must stop".

You'll be glad you did.

Paola

2011-09-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

This is State Highway 68, which runs east and west just north of Paola, Kansas. We're sharing this picture because we've spent more time on this road over the last couple weeks than any other. We've traveled this route to make three (count 'em, three) stops in Paola during that time.

Paola is home to approximately 5,000 Kansans and our favorite and most trusted RV repair folks, A-Z Mobile RV Repair. We stopped by A-Z two weeks ago to take care of the problem with our air conditioner. They made super quick work of that job, so we filled our new-found free days with a quick trip to Lake Melvern. While we were in Monett, another problem raised its ugly head. So, we stopped back in Paola on Monday after the birthday party and made our home in this spacious site at nearby Hillsdale Lake State Park.

On Tuesday, the good folks at A-Z installed the least expensive of two potentially failing parts. After the installation, we spent the night at a city campground at Paola's Lake Miola. This 200-acre lake was constructed in the 1950s and served as the city's primary source of water.

Today the campground has definitely seen better days. But, on this sunny afternoon we had the place to ourselves and enjoyed the view. We used our time here to test out the newly installed part and discovered it had not solved our problem. So, it was back to A-Z on Wednesday to order the big, bad (expensive) part that would finish the job. While we waited for that part to arrive, we made our return trip to Lake Melvern to meet up with friends Sandy and John.

Today we returned to A-Z and waited for an inspector from our extended warranty company to approve the replacement of this big ol' bad boy: the cooling unit on our refrigerator. This is the defective unit after it was removed from the back of the fridge. It took about four hours for A-Z to work their magic. They returned Bullwinkle to us with just enough daylight left for us to get out of town. We'd already spent plenty of time in this friendly little town!

Tonight, we're resting comfortably in a beautiful site at another Corps of Engineers park on beautiful Clinton Lake. We're oh so happy to report that our rehabilitated refrigerator is cooling just fine.

Here's hoping it'll be awhile before we find ourselves back in Paola. A long while!!!

Lake Melvern

2011-09-22T18:00:00.000-07:00

As Kansas natives, we grew up being well aware that the Sunflower State is dotted with several lakes developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. That said, we had never gone "camping" at any of these scenic parks. These days, we're doing our best to make up for lost time. Twice in the last few weeks we've made a stop at Lake Melvern. Here's our "lake place" we called home two weeks ago.

Lake Melvern is located about halfway between Emporia and Ottawa, just a few miles north of I-35. The 7,000-acre lake is surrounded by 18,000-acres of land that features swimming beaches, hiking and biking trails and six campgrounds. Outlet Park Campground offers 150 campsites that surround the 90-acre River Pond.

Outlet Park is reportedly a great place to catch a few fish. We thought it was a pretty and peaceful place to hang out for a few days. (We liked it so much we came back yesterday to spend a couple more nights.)

A "can't miss" stop for visitors to Melvern is Guy and Mae's Tavern in nearby Williamsburg. As we learned during our recent visit to Abilene, this infamous barbeque joint is one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas Cuisine. Amazingly, these two Kansas natives had never made it to this unassuming but noteworthy spot. Now, we can say we've been there twice!

Guy and Mae opened this hometown bar in 1973. While Guy developed his mastery of barbeque ribs, Mae invented her trademark sauce. They put the two together and the family has been serving up slabs of ribs wrapped in foil since.

During our first visit, we enjoyed a couple of cold beers on a warm day while we waited for our slab and sides. I meant to take a picture of the tasty ribs, but they were gone before we knew it! Trust us when we tell you: Guy and Mae's is definitely worth a stop.

When we returned to Lake Melvern yesterday, guess who pulled in behind us? The Moose is there on the right, and that's the Mothership on the left.

Here's the real reason we came back to Melvern. Our dear friends Sandy and John are piloting the Mothership to their new home in Arizona. They've stopped here for a couple of nights to rest and meet up. It was great to see them both, and their cute little dog Koko, too! We wish them safe travels and good times in their new home.

Tomorrow, we'll say "so long" to our friends and our new favorite Kansas lake and make our third trip to Paola in two weeks. (And, if you're wondering why anyone would make three trips to Paola, we'll let you know in our next post!)

Big Birthday in Monett

2011-09-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

Today we are in Monett, Missouri to attend a really big birthday party.

Paul's Aunt Martha (or Marty, as she's known in these parts) turned 90 years young this week. This afternoon, her children held a wonderful reception to celebrate this very special occasion. Doesn't the Birthday Girl look lovely?

If you're a member of Paul's clan, you know what's wrong with this photo. We'll go ahead and let the rest of you in on this joke. When Aunt Martha's six children gathered for a pre-party family photo, Cousin Scott was missing. So, Paul stepped in as a smiling substitute. Actually, Paul does bear more than a passing resemblance to his temporarily missing cousin. In fact, several party attendees called him Scott!

We've had great fun hanging in Monett all week. So, we were fortunate enough to participate in several pre-party festivities. In our spare time this week, we put together a presentation for the party that contained a collection of pictures and music that celebrated Martha's (er, I mean, Marty's) wonderful life.

It seemed like the entire town turned out for this afternoon's party. Martha enjoyed visiting with each and every guest, including Paul's brother and his family. A few people called Paul's brother by their cousins' names, too!

It was a wonderful party. A good time was had by all. And, by the looks of that cute little face, the birthday cake was especially tasty!

Emporia

2011-09-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

After a short stop in Kansas City over the Labor Day weekend, we made our way south to Paola for our much-anticipated air conditioner repair. The good folks at A-Z Mobile RV Repair made quick work of the job, so we found ourselves with a couple of extra days to spare. We decided to spend them at Melvern Lake, which is located just north of I-35, between Ottawa and Emporia. Today we decided to take a short day trip to nearby Emporia to locate an important piece of Paul's family history. Along the way on this gorgeous day, we stopped in don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it Olivet to pick up a geocache and take what we think is a mighty fine shot of the state flower: the sunflower. Now, that's Kansas!

We checked the Emporia State University football schedule before we left. On this September Saturday, the Hornets are playing an away game. So, the campus and the football field were very quiet during our visit.

Paul's great grandfather was a professor of Geology at ESU for more than 40 years. You can find his name in several spots around campus.

Wooster Lake and Wooster Bridge, also named after Great Grandpa, provide a beautiful and peaceful setting near the center of campus.

Wooster Rock is embedded in concrete at the base of a monument just up a hill from the lake. Great Grandpa discovered this boulder with five planed sides and glacial markings in the 1880s near Eureka, Kansas, which was significantly farther south than any previously known penetration of glaciers in Kansas. The boulder sat in his classroom for years, and Great Grandpa was known to challenge ESU's biggest, strongest athletes to pick up the little thing. It weighs more than 400 pounds!

On the east side of the lake, we made a very special geocache find. The little "micro" cache in Paul's right hand is named Wooster Lake. The cache description offers a bit of history about Great Grandpa.

Emporia is also home to one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas People: William Allen White. Born in Emporia, William Allen White became an editorial writer for The Kansas City Star in 1892. Three years later he bought his old hometown newspaper, the Emporia Gazette and became its editor. Throughout his career as a newspaper editor, author and politician, White gained a reputation as a spokesman for middle America. Today, the School of Library and Information Management at ESU bears his name. As graduates of the William Allen White School of Journalism, we were eager to check out another local site that commemorates the life and times of this famous Kansan.

The William Allen White Home is a State Historic Site. Built in 1888, the house was known as Red Rocks. The red sandstone covering the first floor is believed to have been quarried in Red Rock Canyon in Colorado Springs. White purchased the home in 1901. In 1915, White wrote his friend Frank Lloyd Wright and asked him to "do over" the house. Six years later, the former Queen Anne was transformed to a Tudor Revival. White lived in this beautiful home until his death in 1944. During that time, the White family hosted several U.S. Presidents and many prominent Americans. If those walls could talk!

While visiting the White house, we checked to see if there were any geocaches nearby. It turns out there was one sitting on the North porch. Can you spot the cache?

Paul made quick work of this historic find at this very stately home.

We found a total of five geocaches on our day trip. The last was at the base of this picturesque trinity of crosses where the road to Lake Melvern meets the interstate.

Five caches + Exploring bits of family and state history in our native Kansas = One fun day!

Abilene

2011-09-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

Our drive across eastern Colorado and western Kansas was uneventful. Our overnight in Ellis, Kansas was as peaceful as could be. (We simply love that campground!) From Ellis we made our way along very familiar I-70 to Salina to rest up for a couple of days. Paul's sister and brother-in-law took a break from work today and, despite the scorching 100-plus degree heat, the four of us made a trip to nearby Abilene, which is the boyhood home of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Before Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected the 34th President of the United States, he was a five-star general in the U.S. Army. He resigned his commission as General of the Army before his inauguration, but it was reinstated after he left office. Between the two prestigious positions, Eisenhower said he always thought of himself as a general. So, it seems fitting that this commanding sculpture of the general stands guard over the museum campus.

Like Abilene, the Eisenhower campus is quiet and peaceful. Eisenhower and his wife Mamie are buried in the Place of Meditation on the campus, behind the Visitors Center. All of the modern buildings on the campus are constructive of native Kansas limestone.

The Presidential Library houses an archive of documents and audio-visual materials spanning the Eisenhower's life. This has been a record-breaking year at the library, which has been visited by more than 800 scholars who have come here to conduct research.

The Library's second floor houses temporary exhibits. The current installation highlights the Wonders of Kansas. (It just so happens that the Eisenhower Library and Museum is one of the top eight wonders!) As native Kansans, we found this exhibit fun and informative.

The 8 Wonders of Kansas project was designed "to help the world get to know Kansas" by selecting eight of the state's best art, architecture, commerce, cuisine, customs, geography, history and people from 218 finalists. One of the top eight Kansas customs is Chanting a School Fight Song in (You guessed it.) Lawrence. Rock Chalk!

Speaking of Jayhawks, one of the eight Wonders of People in Kansas is James Naismith, who started the basketball program at our beloved alma mater right after he invented the game.

We picked up a map that plots the locations of all 218 finalists in this stately competition. This could keep us roaming around Kansas for awhile! (Click here to create your own map. Then, come to Kansas!)

Across from the Eisenhower Presidential Library sits the Eisenhower Museum. We've been to several Presidential Libraries in our travels, and we've yet to see one in the shadow of a grain elevator!

The museum houses several permanent galleries, including a military gallery, which chronicles the history of World War II. This area of the gallery featured personal accounts of the war as written in letters and diaries of soldiers and family members.

This display featured the living room of a typical home in the booming suburbs of 1950's America. Televisions, telephones and home decor have come a long way in the last 50 years!

Eisenhower enacted the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, which paved the way (pardon the pun) for the Interstate Highway System. As frequent travelers on this nationwide span of more than 46,000 miles of highway, we appreciate President Eisenhower's efforts.

One of the things we enjoy when we visit museums like this is seeing replicas of Presidential offices. While other museums feature replicas of a President's Oval Office, the Eisenhower Museum displays a replica of the retired general's office in the first couple's first permanent home in Gettysburg, PA.

The library and museum are built around Eisenhower's childhood home, a white clapboard with a cedar shingle roof that is typical for a 19th century Midwestern home. The Eisenhower family resided here from 1898 until 1946.

Today the house is furnished to reflect the decades the Eisenhower's lived here. This room is the back parlor, which was used by the family on a daily basis. These days, it would probably be referred to as a family room.

After our tour, we enjoyed lunch at Kirby House, a lovely restaurant in a restored 1885 mansion near the center of Abilene. And, of course, we made time for a bit of shopping, too.

Despite the heat, we enjoyed our day in Ike's hometown. Many thanks to Susan and Doug for making it a great day!

Colorado Springs

2011-08-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

Our five days in Colorado Springs have flown! A highlight of our stay was a visit to the Unites States Air Force Academy. What an impressive place! The centerpiece of the campus is the Cadet Chapel, which is the most popular man-made attraction in Colorado. You can't miss it.

The chapel was designed to house several worship areas under its pinnacled roof. The Protestant Chapel, on the main floor, is the largest. The 46-foot polished aluminum cross suspended above the altar is quite elegant.

Stained glass windows form colorful ribbons of light across the ceiling.

One pew near the front is "reserved" for a very special group of service men and women. A solitary candle burns in the center of the pew as a constant reminder...

...to keep POWs and MIAs in our hearts, minds and prayers.

These bibles were neatly stacked in a rack on the back wall of the chapel. We had never before seen camouflaged bibles.

The Catholic Chapel is located on the lower floor. A glass mosaic of shades of blue, turquoise, rose and gray provides a calm and peaceful backdrop to the altar.

The Jewish Chapel is also on the lower level. This circular room was designed to suggest a tent-like structure.

The Buddist Chapel is the newest and smallest worship area. This quiet space welcomes visitors to spend some peaceful time in meditation.

Outside the Chapel, visitors can watch cadets moving from class to class across the Terrazzo. Freshman cadets are required to "run the strips" of granite between the blocks as they move from building to building. The Chapel Wall is the only spot where family and friends can see their cadets during basic training. This view provides an interesting perspective on cadet life.

On Saturday, we decided to take a drive up the mountains to Cripple Creek. We fueled up with a late breakfast at the Hungry Bear in Woodland Park. We were pleasantly surprised to see fellow travelers Ed and Marilyn sitting at the next table. What a small world! We hadn't seen these two since our visit to the Rio Grande Valley nearly two years ago. It was great to catch up with them.

Cripple Creek, Colorado is an "interesting" place. Visitors are welcomed with the booming whistle of this historic narrow gauge railroad that runs to neighboring Victor.

On the surface, Cripple Creek looks like a quaint, old gold mining town in the mountains.

But inside nearly every door of these historic buildings are rows and rows of slot machines! In 1991, Colorado voters allowed Cripple Creek to establish legalized gambling. As a result, this ghost town has been transformed into a gambling destination. We're not really gamblers, but we enjoyed our stroll around town on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. And, the scenic drive up and back couldn't be beat!

Yesterday, we met my brother and his family for lunch in Monument, just north of Colorado Springs. It was great to get together. Every time we do we're amazed at how these two boys just keep growing!

Our home here in Colorado Springs has been the Garden of the Gods Campground, which is just down the mountain from Manitou Springs. It has served as a great home base for our brief time here in "The Springs".

Tomorrow, we're headed for our native Kansas and the coolest campground ever!

Gunnison

2011-08-24T18:00:00.000-07:00

"Where's your favorite place?" is the question we are asked most frequently. Our answer has always been vague. ("It's tough to say.") Now, we know. Gunnison, Colorado, is our favorite! Over the last six weeks we have fallen in love with the place. And, what's not to love? Though it's surrounded by beautiful mountains, Gunnison is flat, making it an extremely bike-friendly town. At an elevation of 7,700 feet the Summer air is cool and clear. With a population between 5,000 and 11,000 (depending on who's counting and what time of year it is), it has a great small town feeling. Main Street offers up just about everything you need.

Gunnison boasts some mighty fine eating establishments, and we've sampled just about every one. The Gunnisack is a great place to grab a burger and a beer and meet up with friends Fred and Jo Wishnie who were camped between here and Crested Butte.

We've followed the travels of Fred, Jo and Boo Boo for years. It was a real treat to finally get to meet these good folks live and in person.

We introduced Fred and Jo to friends Darren and Joyce over dinner at The Twisted Fork, one of Gunnison's fine dining establishments. Darren and Joyce detoured their travel plans to meet up with us here. It was so great to spend time with these friends in our new favorite town. We wish them all safe travels and look forward to seeing them down the road.

One of the things that makes Gunnison great, in our humble opinion, is it's a college town. Western State College brings about 2500 students and staff to town each fall. As they started arriving this week, we watched Gunnison greet them with a warm welcome.

There's always something going on in Gunnison. Shortly after our arrival, Gunnison celebrated "Cattlemen's Days", which included a classic small town parade.

This parade float celebrated the many outdoor activities you can enjoy in and around Gunnison, including golf, zip lining, mountain biking and (our recently acquired sport) disc golf. This is one more thing we love about Gunnison!

Cattlemen's Days also features a rodeo and junior livestock show. This parade float included the winning 4-H members and their animals. Any town that celebrates 4-H is our kind of place!

The Boy Scouts showed up at the parade in full force and distributed candy. Like every small town parade, there were also pretty girls on horses, politicians in classic cars and clowns in tiny ones. But, this post already has plenty of pictures. So, we'll move along.

Legion Park has been the site of a couple of art fairs during our stay. This expansive green space is the perfect spot to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon. While wandering amongst the vendors, several woodcarvings caught our eye.

This was one of the amazing works of art on permanent display. Each year, Gunnison hosts "Carvin' Up Colorado", a chainsaw carving competition that attracts artists from several states to transform tree stumps into works of art. The creations from each competition become the property of the city and are placed on permanent display around town.

This year's competition was held last weekend, so we made a trip back to Legion Park to watch this artistry in action. The tree stumps are collected by the city throughout the year from trees felled for safety reasons. The sculptures are created solely using chainsaws. Paint, burns and stain add character and dimension. The results are gorgeous!

Works of art of a different nature were on display across the street from the chainsaw competition. The Gunnison Car Club sponsored its 24th annual Gunnison Car Show in beautiful Jorgensen Park. We took advantage of a comfortable and sunny Saturday afternoon and spent some time wandering around the 300 or so classic cars. This 1950 Willys Jeepster convertible is a distant relative of our Rocky. Sixty-some years later we can see a resemblance!

This '70s era VW convertible reminded us of one of our favorite possessions we parted with before we left California.

Cars just don't have "faces" like this anymore!

Long before crash-tested car seats, this is how kids stayed safe in the car. Paul has fond memories of standing in the back of the family sedan and holding on to this safety strap across the back of the front seat.

How's this for another flashback? This relic was part of a display for a classic Mustang. You know you're old if you know what this is! (And, yes. We do!)

Our new favorite town enjoyed international attention yesterday as the USA Pro Cycling Challenge came to town. This first-year race brought 135 elite professional cyclists from around the world to Colorado for seven consecutive days of racing around the Rockies. For Stage One, Gunnison had a front-row seat along the route from Salida to Crested Butte. We weren't sure what to expect, but we quickly discovered that when the top finishers from the Tour de' France come to town with TV viewers from 161 countries, Gunnison knows how to throw a party.

We joined the festive crowds lining Main Street and waited patiently at the turn. Following a flurry of support vehicles, we got a great view of the day's two leaders fly through the turn toward Crested Butte. Then, we waited about five minutes for the pentolon to arrive.

Whooooosh! This picture doesn't really capture the energy and excitement of seeing 133 professional cyclists fly by in a couple of seconds. It was awesome!

After our up close and personal race experience, we were hooked. We rushed home to watch the rest of Stage 1 on TV.

This morning, Gunnison was up bright and early to host the start of Stage 2. Main Street was lined with cheering crowds ready to give the riders a proper send off.

Stage 2 is known as The Queen Stage, the crown jewel of the seven stages. Lots of today's spectators donned most appropriate crowns for the occasion.

To a chorus of cheers, clapping, bells and whistles, the riders headed out of Gunnison for their day with the Queen. Today's route from here to Aspen covers 131.1 miles and covers two (count 'em, two) mountain passes for a total climb of 9,746 feet. That kind of riding will definitely take your breath away!

Our accommodations here in Gunnison have been quite comfortable. We spent our first month in this scenic and green site at the Gunnison KOA. If you click on the photo and take a closer look you'll see the end of a rainbow!

The KOA is adjacent to the Gunnison-Crested Butte Airport. There are just a few flights in and out of here every day, so the place was pretty quiet. But, one day we caught a view of the tail end of a plane doing touch-and-goes on the peaceful airstrip. Now, that's a unique tail! Neighbors Karen and Arvin hopped in their Jeep as we jumped in ours to get a closer look.

We arrived at the airport just in time to see the plane land once again. Click on the photo to identify this very special aircraft. We checked the White House website to see if the President or Vice President had Gunnison on their agenda, but they didn't. Perhaps someone was here on unofficial business.

The best thing about the Gunnison KOA is the people who run the place. Owner Dave goes out of his way to take care of his guests, especially the kids. Karen and Arvin's grandsons Sammy and Grady looked forward to Dave's "Friday Night Fights", which gave Sammy a chance to practice his newly acquired boxing skills. (Grady provided back up.) Dave was "knocked out" every time!

When he's not busy boxing, Sammy likes to work on his ropin' skills. One afternoon he brought his "dummy" over and showed us his stuff. This kid is good! We look forward to seeing him perform at the Cattlemen's Day Rodeo some day.

When Karen and Arvin hit the road a couple of weeks ago, we decided to check out a park across town. Palisades RV Park is a "senior" park that is owned and operated by the City of Gunnison. Our friends Darren and Joyce enjoyed their stay here and so did we. Sadly, tomorrow we'll be pulling up stakes and heading east over Monarch Pass to Colorado Springs. But, we will be back!

There you have it. We've covered six weeks in one post! We look forward to sharing more in our future visits to our new favorite town. This is one place that we will definitely make a regular stop on our travels.

In case you couldn't tell, we really like it here!

Crested Butte

2011-08-06T23:00:00.000-07:00

Crested Butte is one of those places you can't see just once. In the last three weeks we made two road trips to this gorgeous area about 30 miles north of Gunnison. Our first trek was a two Jeep tour with (from left) locals Nic and Nicki, and friends Joyce and Darren.

Today we enjoyed a return trip with Paul's sister Susan and her husband Doug who are came to Colorado to cool off a bit. (It's been scorching hot at their house.)

Our route took us north through the town of Crested Butte and its picturesque neighbor to the north, Mt. Crested Butte.

Just beyond Mt. Crested Butte, Gothic Road turned to dirt, which made the Jeeps very happy.

The mission for both journeys was the same: to capture the beauty of Colorado wildflowers in the Rockies. I was in search of the "perfect wildflower shot". This one was close, but there was simply no convincing these yellow beauties to face the camera.

With backdrops like this, we just had to pose for a picture or two.

With some of my attempts at the perfect wildflower shot, it was tough to find the wildflowers!

Rocky and Rubi (Joyce and Darren's Jeep) enjoyed the ride as much as we did.

Here's another wildflower shot without flowers. But, in a couple of weeks, these late bloomers should be stunning. (Timing is everything!)

Nic and Nicki posed in a spot that was so picturesque I had to move in for a closer look...

...and this was the result. No wildflowers here, but I love the shot.

And, somehow I knew Paul would capture me in the act. That water was cold!

Gothic Road leads to the town of Gothic. (Where else?) This former mining town has found new life as the home of the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, one of the world's largest and oldest independent field stations. Every summer, approximately 150 students and scientists come to this remote spot to conduct high-altitude ecosystem research.

These well-researched wildflowers made a nice photo, though still not the shot I had in mind.

About 12 miles out of Mt. Crested Butte, Gothic Road was closed by snow and slides. We parked the Jeeps and hiked a bit up the road to see what there was to see. Joyce and Darren paused to enjoy the sight of snow in summer!

Nicki and the boys trekked across the snow to see what was on the other side.

The road continues on to Emerald Lake. But, there was no way we were going to get the Jeeps over that snow field.

While the snow hikers were busy, Joyce and I enjoyed the views. Three weeks ago there was plenty of snow on the slopes.

Here's how the same spot looked today. The snow melt has really greened things up!

Less snow means more wildflowers. But, this shot turned out to be mostly dandelions!

My quest for the perfect shot continued. Mountains, fields, cabins and a winding stream make a lovely photo, but it's not really about wildflowers. I kept looking...

Adding a few horses makes for another nice photo. That "perfect" wildflower shot remained elusive.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em! It was definitely time to stop and enjoy the flowers.

Those Jeepers sure look like they enjoyed the trek up Gothic Road. So did we. Thanks, guys!

Today's trip with Susan and Doug included a stop in "town" for the Crested Butte Art Fair. It was a perfect day to take in art from all over the region. We can't imagine a more picturesque setting!

Living in 400 square feet, we don't have the space for wonderful works of art. These days, we snap a few photographs to appreciate the pieces we really enjoy.

Crested Butte is a former coal mining town that is now called "the last great Colorado ski town." Several quaint old homes around town are now historic landmarks and serve as summer homes and bed and breakfasts.

Crested Butte is a year-round haven for outdoor enthusiasts. One of its claims to fame is that mountain biking got its start here. Today, Crested Butte is home to the Mountain Biking Hall of Fame.

Skiers, hikers and bikers need refreshment, and Crested Butte offers several spots for a tasty meal or a cool drink. Eldo's seemed like our kind of place.

After perusing what seems like a billion of my Crested Butte wildflower shots, I landed on my favorite. What do you think?

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

2011-08-05T23:00:00.000-07:00

Today we visited one of the nation's 20 least visited National Parks. (Actually, we've stopped by a few of those this year.) Named a National Park in 1999, Black Canyon of the Gunnison is also one of our newest. We planned this day trip for our visit from Paul's sister Susan and her husband Doug. Our exploration of this not-so-popular but oh-so-beautiful spot began 15 miles west of Gunnison at a trailhead in Curecanti National Recreation Area. The first 232 steps of our journey were down steep steps into the upper Black Canyon along the Pine Creek Trail. As we made our descent we kept reminding ourselves that we'd be soon be making this trek in reverse!

The trail led us along an old narrow gauge rail bed to the Pine Creek boat dock where we met Curecata Two, our 42-person tour boat.

Our 90-minute tour was narrated by a National Park Service ranger who obviously enjoys her job. She talked about the history, geology and flora and fauna of the canyon and pointed out many interesting sights along the way.

The leisurely tour of Morrow Point Reservoir at the base of the canyon featured Chipeta Falls at Corral Creek...

...Curecanti Needle...

...and breathtaking views of the Black Canyon and Morrow Point Reservoir. What a wonderful way to spend a morning!

With our exploration of the canyon base behind us, it was time to see things from the top. First, we had to climb those 232 steps!

The park features two scenic drives. Today we opted to cruise the South Rim in hopes of catching this eye-popping canyon in the best light. The route offers 12 spectacular viewpoints, like this one at Gunnison Point.

At Gunnison Point, Doug took a moment to take it all in. The Black Canyon is quite a sight.

From this viewpoint, we got a good look at the Gunnison River. We all agreed that the Black Canyon is far more grand than the Grand Canyon. No other canyon in America combines the narrow openings, sheer walls and startling depths of this spectacular landscape.

The greatest descent of the Gunnison River occurs here at Chasm View, where the river drops 240 feet per mile. This is also the narrowest part of the canyon. Here it's a mere 1100 feet rim to rim.

After exploring this canyon from river to rim, it was unanimous. This not-so-popular National Park is one of our favorites!

Lake City

2011-07-29T23:00:00.000-07:00

The Colorado high country is home to old mining towns. Lots of them. About 50 miles southwest (and nearly 1,000 feet up) from Gunnison is Lake City. This alpine gem covers nearly three times as much ground as Pitkin, and is home to about 350 year-round residents. The Lake City Historical District contains many of the more than 200 buildings that remain from the 19th century mining boom. Today, most of these buildings house cute little shops that attract summer tourists.

This interesting property sits between one shop and a tavern in the historic district. It took just a minute to see that the tavern owns the place, and (look closer)...

...has a sense of humor!

Lake City is quaint and quirky. Its efforts to preserve its history are obvious in places.

The town is loaded with cozy cabins where visitors (most of them Texans) spend a few days or the entire Summer.

One house sported a whimsical weather vane that we were so tempted to take home with us.

Here, members of the community are encouraged to express themselves. (Do you suppose the belly dancers wear clogs?)

But, furry friends are not allowed to play in the park. (And, they soooo wanted to!)

The reason for our visit today was to track down a couple we met last winter in Kerrville. When Hutch and Roxa told us about their gas station/garage/concert venue/barbeque joint, we found it hard to believe that such a place could really exist. Just past the historic district and over the creek, we spotted Sportsmans BBQ & Backyard. Sure enough, there are a couple of gas pumps out front! We stepped inside what once was a Texaco station and caught a whiff of Texas barbeque. We were greeted by Hutch and Roxa and caught up over a couple of tasty sandwiches. After lunch, they took us out back and showed us the garage (complete with a full-time mechanic) and "the backyard", a 300-seat concert/dinner venue. This year's Backyard Concert Series featured Suzy Bogguss and Michael Martin Murphey. Snuggled up to the base of a mountain, this intimate setting makes a great venue for dinner and music under the stars.

It was such a treat to see Hutch and Roxa in their Colorado home. We look forward to seeing them again in Kerrville. And, the next time we hear them talk about their quirky place, we'll believe them!

Before heading back to Gunnison, we went up the road just a bit to visit Lake City's namesake. Lake San Cristobal is the second largest natural lake in Colorado. Created by a landslide some 700 years ago, this sparkling jewel of the San Juan Mountains is picture perfect. Afternoon storms were brewing, so we cut today's visit short. But, we very much look forward to coming back!

Above Blue Mesa

2011-07-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks to our neighbors Bill and Pat, we were treated to an evening of breathtaking entertainment. Bill had been in touch with some local hang gliders who let him know they were planning to fly late this afternoon about 20 minutes out of Gunnison. He invited us to tag along. So, of course, we did!

No, these aren't the hang gliders! Our spectating crew from the KOA surveyed the takeoff area over beautiful Blue Mesa Reservoir, which is the largest lake in Colorado.

Four hang gliders arrived, and three of them went to work setting up their gliders.

With the "wings" extended, they started to look like hang gliders.

This pilot was quick to tie down his glider as soon as the wings were out. This thing could become a big kite in a heartbeat!

Next, it was time to install the "instruments", which helps the pilot monitor altitude, wind speed and direction.

The three gliders were set up, tied down and ready to fly.

The full windsock at the takeoff point offered good and not-so-good news. The good news is there was plenty of breeze to fly, but maybe a bit too much. Plus, it was out of the wrong direction.

"Sometimes we call this 'hang waiting'," explained one pilot as he stood patiently waiting for the wind to calm down and straighten out.

With less than hour of daylight left, one pilot decided it was time to get on the "runway".

Perched on the bluff, he was ready to catch the cool Colorado breeze.

A couple of steps and he was off!

He sure made flying this thing look easy.

Can you spot the hang glider high in the sky?

We really enjoyed this stunning sunset over Blue Mesa, but his view had to be even better.

Soon he made a quick flyover the takeoff site.

He circled around to make his approach.

Now, that was a smooth landing!

And who was this mystery pilot? John Heiney, world champion freestyle hang glider pilot and world record holder of continuous loops in one flight. That's 52! And how old is this super daredevil? 62 years young!

Good to know. We have a few years yet to take up flying, if we we want. For now, hang gliding will remain a spectator sport!

Jeepin' to Pitkin

2011-07-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

We have definitely found relief from the heat here in lovely Gunnison, Colorado. We've been here for a couple of weeks now and are loving sunny days that sometimes top the 80-degree mark and nights that drop off into the 30's. We've been having so much fun here we just haven't found time to blog!

Today was another installment of Rocky's Wonderful Adventures in the Rockies. We joined KOA neighbors Karen and Arvin and their two grandsons to run our Wranglers up the mountain to the town of Pitkin.

We headed about 20 miles east of Gunnison to County Road 887. It's neither the most direct, nor the smoothest route. But, it's definitely scenic. The Jeeps loved it!

And, so did the boys! Sammy and Grady were all smiles as they rode along with grandma and grandpa.

One of the best things about having a Jeep is the chance to enjoy views like this one. If anything is worth 30 minutes on a rough Forest Service road, this certainly is! Even on a hazy day, this is one impressive vista.

These days, we're longing for a four-door squirrel, which would make it much easier to carry a couple of friends. We got a kick out of watching the boys bound out of the Jeep at each stop and then climb back in. When you're four, who needs doors?

After a stop for lunch, we finally made our way to the town of Pitkin: Population 66. At an elevation of 9,216 feet, this one-third square mile alpine town is quiet in the winter. But, the place booms in the summer months, when a couple of hundred people call Pitkin home. On this sunny afternoon, Pitkin City Hall looked like it was the place to be.

Founded in 1879 as a mining camp, Pitkin boasted three churches by 1881. Today, the Pitkin Community Church provides an interdenominational service each week.

Many of the structures in Pitkin have seen better days. They are a powerful reminder that life high in the Rocky Mountains can be rough, to say the least. These days, there's not a lot to see in Pitkin. But, as we discovered, getting there is more than half the fun!

(Sorta) Salt Lake City

2011-07-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

This is the only picture I have from this stop. One quick look at The Great Salt Lake.

I took others. The Mormon Temple. The State Capitol. But, they're gone. They vanished somewhere between my camera and the computer.

Curses!

There's some poetic justice in this mystery. You see, we weren't planning to stop in Salt Lake City. Now, it's like we weren't ever really here.

Our unplanned stop had one purpose: Get our house heat pump checked out. We found a certified service dealer, called and made sure they could do the work and drove 288 miles to the dealer.

Like our pictures, the trip to the dealer was a bust. The only thing we can say is avoid Blaine Jensen RV in Kaysville, Utah, at all costs.

That experience pretty much soured us on Salt Lake City. We sat around in the shade of the KOA for the weekend and tried to cool off. The absolutely best part of the stay was a nice happy hour tonight with Sharon and Fred, our neighbors from Zion River Resort. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of that get together. We were having too much fun.

Tomorrow, SLC will be a vague and distant memory. We're heading someplace cool!

Bryce Canyon

2011-07-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

Over the last five days, we've Jeeped, hiked and shuttled around glorious Bryce Canyon. Along the way, we've taken a zillion photos. It's just that kind of place. This post is a feeble attempt to sum up our visit and illustrate the highlights of our new-favorite National Park.

The best way to see Bryce Canyon is to start at the top, up canyon, and work your way down. We started with a Jeep ride to this farthest and most photogenic spot, Rainbow Point. At an elevation of 9115 feet, this view will definitely take your breath away.

The next viewpoint is Black Birch Canyon. We gave ourselves one tough assignment to pick just one photo from each viewpoint.

Ponderosa Point offers a sweeping view of Ponderosa Canyon. The canyon is aptly named for the towering Ponderosa Pines on its floor.

The next stop down canyon is Agua Canyon. The taller formation on the right is known as "The Hunter". We didn't see the resemblance, but we definitely appreciated the view.

When we reached the Natural Bridge viewpoint, we chimed in unison, "That's not a bridge, it's an arch." Yes, this is one of several arches in Bryce Canyon. And, yes, it's official. We've spent so much time in this beautiful state we're becoming geology geeks.

Farview Point is appropriately named, indeed. On a clear day, you can see for some 160 absolutely stunning miles.

Lest you think we were the only folks visiting Bryce Canyon this holiday weekend, this was pretty much the scene at every viewpoint. There was quite a crowd of shutterbugs at Farview Point.

From Farview Point we left the crowds and took a very short hike over to Piracy Point. There, we got to enjoy the view to ourselves.

We couldn't see anything that resembled a swamp at the Swamp Canyon Viewpoint. The two creeks at the base of this canyon make this the wettest spot in the park.

The castle-like hoodoo at Paria View is the one formation in Bryce Canyon that faces the setting sun. It was hours from sunset when we stopped by and enjoyed this gorgeous afternoon view.

At Bryce Point, there are hoodoos everywhere you look. This is the place to catch a glorious sunrise. The canyon's namesake, Ebenezer Bryce, reportedly described this amazing sight as "a hell of a place to lose a cow."

We broke our own rules for this post with this second look at Bryce Point. The grottos, as they are known, guard the canyon walls in stark contrast to the rugged red hoodoos.

Bryce Point is the farthest viewpoint served by the park shuttle. We donned hiking gear, rode to the end of the shuttle line and hopped on the Rim Trail for a hike down the canyon. Nothing like a scenic morning hike at 8300-feet to get your heart pumping!

The Rim Trail gave us a chance to enjoy Bryce Amphitheater beyond the crowded viewpoints. Between Bryce Point and Inspiration Point, we shared the trail with just a few hikers.

With all of these scenic vistas, sometimes we had to give our eyes a rest and enjoy the wildflowers along the trail.

We wondered what the story was with this tree stump perched on the rim near Inspiration Point.

Even in less-than-flattering light, Inspiration Point is pretty inspiring!

We continued along the Rim Trail to Sunset Point, which looks good any time of day.

At Sunset Point we left the rim and climbed down into the canyon along the Navajo Loop Trail. It was a long hike down. How do we know?

We kept looking up! And, as every hiker knows, when you take a trail down sooner or later you must hike up.

When we reached the bottom of Navajo Loop we realized the rest of the "loop" to the top of the rim was closed. Not exactly wanting to go back up the way we came down, we opted to hike the Queen's Garden Trail. Seeing the hoodoos from this level gave us a whole new appreciation for them.

Who is that waiting on the other side of this skinny little arch? It's Paul, the worlds most patient hiker! And, I wonder why he calls me "Ansel" on the trail. Yes, I'm always taking pictures!

The climb back up the rim gave us a unique view on our last remaining viewpoint: Sunrise Point.

This hoodoo view as we approached the rim had one purpose. It was a much-needed place for us to sit and catch our breath. After nearly four miles on our feet, we were happy to catch the shuttle at Sunrise Point and return to Ruby's just in time for an afternoon thundershower complete with pea-sized hail.

Our days in Bryce Canyon inspired us to make plans to spend a few days camping in the North Campground. But, Bullwinkle's heat pump is acting up, so we're changing our plans. Instead of settling in to a rustic campsite in the park, we're hitting the road for Salt Lake City for repairs.

Our date with the North Campground will just have to wait.

Highway 12: A (Very) Scenic Byway

2011-07-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

Utah's Highway 12, from south of Panguitch to Torrey, is a very special 124-mile stretch of road. Not only is it one of Utah's State Scenic Byways, it's also one of 31 All-American Roads. According to the Federal Highway Administration, this designation is given to roads that have features that do not exist elsewhere and are scenic enough to be tourist destinations unto themselves.

We're parked just a mile off this very special road, so we spent part of our Independence Day seeing what there is to see. Paul loaded a few geocaches into the GPS, I charged up the camera and we were off.

Our first stop was the Mossy Creek Trail. This one-mile round-trip hike is actually inside the boundaries of Bryce Canyon National Park. The trail runs along Mossy Creek, which is a popular swimming spot on a warm day, and offers some striking scenery.

The payoff for this short hike is Mossy Falls. Gorgeous! At a fork in the trail you get to choose between Mossy Cave and Mossy Falls. One of us isn't exactly a cave person, so we headed up to get a closer look at the falls.

This point at Mossy Falls is a "virtual cache". In the geocaching world, that means there isn't a physical cache to find. Instead, you have to provide a photo and/or answer some questions about the spot. The National Park Service doesn't allow placement of physical caches in its facilities. So, if you want to geocache in a National Park, you have to go virtual. Paul posed with GPS in hand to verify this virtual find.

Our scenic geocaching adventure continued on down the road, where I soon found myself standing in the weeds....

...while Paul made our 700th find at a place called Birth Rock. According to local geocachers, this huge boulder got its name when it descended from the cliff across the road while a local woman was in labor. We didn't have to go to quite that much trouble to make this milestone cache.

Down the road toward Cannonville, Paul fought gnats and barbed wire to spot this cache...

...while I got a shot of the "neighborhood". Cemetery caches aren't exactly our favorites.

I picked up a cache in a cattle guard at this stop and took an extra moment to capture the amazing view along the byway.

Our next cache offered me a closer look at this geologic wonder...

...while Paul was out in the weeds finding another cache. (Are you noticing a trend here?)

Again, Paul is in the weeds signing a log after making a find...

...while Mary enjoys the scenery.

We ventured off-road a bit from Highway 12 in search of another cache. There goes Paul off to find the cache that's supposed to be somewhere in that canyon wall.

Meanwhile, I walked down the trail and found a much bigger crack! This scenic view inspired an idea for a portrait of one of our traveling companions.

Paul made the find. (He's over there somewhere!) Then, he hopped in the Jeep to help create...

...this special shot. Does Rocky look like he's in a Jeep commercial, or what?

It was getting late, and we had a holiday meal to prepare, so we got back on Highway 12 and headed back toward Bryce. We had just a taste of this very scenic byway. We look forward to seeing more of it sometime in the future.

On our return, we made a second attempt to find a virtual cache at the intersection of Highway 12 and the road to Bryce Canyon. The title of this cache was "Endangered Species". The task was to identify an animal that's protected in Utah. Earlier, we arrived at the cache coordinates to find nothing. But, on this trip we broadened our search and found the remains of this sign strewn some 20 feet away.

We're not sure which is more endangered: the Utah Prairie Dog or the signs designed to protect them?

Panguitch

2011-07-04T23:00:00.000-07:00

One of the joys of traveling the country is partaking in community celebrations, especially in the Summer. On this Independence Day, we traveled 22 miles to the northwest to celebrate with the people of Panguitch, Utah. This tiny town of 1,600 serves as an outpost for visitors to Bryce Canyon National Park and points east. Today it was host to a Fourth of July parade we will never forget.

As we found our way to the parade route, we passed by Quilt Walk Park. As local legend has it, during one particularly harsh winter during Panguitch's formative years (in the 1860s) seven brave men left the community in search of provisions in surrounding communities. Heavy snow forced the men to abandoned their wagons. Instead, they traveled on foot, laying one quilt after another on the snow to maintain their footing. The park memorializes their efforts, and includes a bench dedicated to each man. The city hosts a Quilt Walk Festival each June, which we just missed.

The Panguitch parade got underway with an enthusiastic presentation of the colors by family members of our nation's troops.

Especially today, we're so thankful their daddy is protecting our freedom and our nation.

Nothing about this parade was fancy. These ATVs were the closest thing to a float. Though they were simple, they were quite festive.

Every kid in Panguitch was in the parade. Or, so it seemed. These two were having a great time.

Just about the time we were wondering if we'd see any horses in this parade, along came a dog wearing a saddle, riding in an ATV. His chauffeur was throwing candy.

Every parade has to have horses and pretty girls. This one had exactly three girls on two horses. It was their job to bring up the rear of the parade.

But wait. There's more! We noticed that none of the spectators were moving. And, we wondered why. A few minutes later, the parade came through once more. That's right. They got to the end of the route and turned around. We got two parades for the price of one. And, we were sure not to miss a thing.

No Shriners on scooters, but this little girl had a couple of flags flying from her pretty pink scooter.

At some point, we weren't sure which direction to look. The parade participants were going every which way. But, they were all having fun.

Kids. Dogs. Balloons. What else does a parade need?

Here come the ATVs again. Seriously, folks. You have seen just about the entire parade. And, it lasted just about as long as it's taken you to read this post.

This cute little guy was the last participant to pass by. And, with that, the Panguitch parade was in the books.

Back at our rolling home, Paul prepared an All-American dinner of brats and fixins. Later, under comfortably cool starlit skies, we enjoyed Ruby's fantastic fireworks display just steps away from our site.

We hope everyone enjoyed a safe and happy holiday.

Bryce Canyon City

2011-06-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

We escaped the heat of Virgin this morning. Just north of Hurricane we started to climb and we watched the outside temperatures fall for the duration of the trip. We scouted out the 132-mile drive earlier this week in the Jeep on a reconnaissance mission to Bryce Canyon City. We wanted to see for ourselves if it really is 20 degrees cooler than Virgin (It is!) and find ourselves a campground for the holiday weekend (We did!). The one spot along the way that gave us pause was this sign near Red Canyon. Bullwinkle stands about 13' 3", so the two tunnels on this highway made us a bit nervous.

As we approached Red Canyon, the landscape started to take on a look that was quite new to us. We are eager to see much more of this!

Now, what did that sign say, exactly? On our recon mission, we watched many motorhomes and tall tour busses pass through the two dreaded tunnels with ease. Suddenly, as we watched from Bullwinkle's Imax windshield, it looked like it might be a tight fit. But, of course, we sailed through with antennas, vent covers and satellite dome intact!

We are parked at Ruby's Inn and Campground in Bryce Canyon City. Actually, Bryce Canyon City is everything Ruby's. Besides the campground, the "town" consists of two or three motels, several souvenir shops, a restaurant and an auto/truck/RV service station. It's a very busy place, especially near a holiday. In this packed park, we have scored what has to be the very best site. The moose and squirrel are perched on a nice wide and level spot in the park's "overflow" area. There's no shade, but with daytime temperatures in the 70s, we don't mind at all. (We like this site, and this shot, so much that we're putting it in the blog header. What do you think?)

The "overflow" area is actually the Ruby's employee housing area. There's RV parking down to our right where employees with RVs park. Those without rolling homes can stay in these row houses. From Bullwinkle's Imax window, we have a stunning view of Escalante National Monument to the east.

We're parked in one of three full hookup sites on this lovely little bluff. The other two spots are empty, and are expected to remain so for the duration of our stay. It looks like this group in the horse corral to our left is the closest thing to a neighbor we'll have for awhile.

With a nice site, cool temps and a National Park to explore just down the road, we are definitely much happier campers!

Virgin

2011-06-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

The temperatures here in Virgin are soaring over the century mark. So, we're bugging out. Tomorrow we're heading north and up in search of cooler surroundings. Before we make our early departure, we wanted to capture some bits and pieces of our stay. See Paul in the corner of that photo? He's not only shading himself from the hot Southern Utah sun. He's searching for a geocache.

Here's the little thing that was hiding in that sign. Nanos, as they are called, are not our favorite type of cache. We like to look for something bigger than a nut or a bolt. And, that itty bitty paper log is a challenge to sign!

We did quite a bit of geocaching in and around Virgin. This tile, which we found laying in the middle of nowhere off a dirt road, is actually a cache. We logged the find on the back, with the signatures of previous finders.

The cache we found in this spot was aptly named "Shoe Tree". Dozens of pairs of shoes adorn this tree along the road to Zion National Park. We had passed this spot many times without noticing the road side art. But, thanks to geocaching, we didn't miss it.

We found the shoe tree cache on the way to a picnic in the park with friends and fellow travelers Jim and Ellie and Molly and Bob. We enjoyed a tasty lunch in a beautiful setting and caught up on each other's adventures. It was great to spend time together. (Paul was so enamored with Bob's hat, that we stopped and picked one up in Springdale on the way home.)

We also enjoyed the company of Bob and Molly and friends Keith and Donna at a most memorable dinner in nearby Hurricane. The experience at Barista's was unforgettable, but we cannot recommend the place at all. Our group of six consumed over $50 worth of iced tea! Needless to say, the refills weren't free. But, the company was priceless.

The six of us did enjoy a delightful breakfast on the patio of our favorite eatery in Hurricane: Main Street Cafe. We highly recommend this lovely little place. We had so much fun at breakfast we forgot to take any pictures!

We're not ones to photograph our food, but we present this photo as evidence to our friends that we did go back to Main Street Cafe for lunch and try the burgers. They were excellent! Thanks so much to Jim and Ellie, Keith and Donna, and Bob and Molly for making time to connect with us. We wish you safe travels and look forward to seeing you down the road.

While we were in Hurricane, we also enjoyed a visit with friends Gail and Dave, whom we hadn't seen in more years than we care to count. Gail and Dave hosted a wonderful lunch at their home where we had so much fun catching up that I forgot to get a picture. We had hoped to get together again, but our early departure curtailed those plans. Thanks, Gail and Dave for your warm hospitality. We look forward to seeing you again on our next visit.

Rocky had a great time in and around Virgin. There's just so much for him to do here! We especially enjoyed our off-road adventures along Kolob Terrace Road.

The views on that outing were so spectacular. We didn't make it all the way to Kolob Reservoir, or to Kolob Canyons. But, we will...next time!

Our park has provided a great deal of cheap entertainment over the last few weeks. The place is quite busy, and fills up every night with folks staying for a night or two or three. The parade of "newbies" was fun to watch. Our fellow RVing friends will be able to tell that this guy got himself into one really messy situation. (When you're spraying water from a distance toward your sewer connection, that's never good.)

The park has also hosted many European visitors each night. We are so happy these good travelers are enjoying our country and spending their money here. But, with one look at these recent neighbors, we do wish they'd put more clothes on. Of course, it's dreadfully hot here. So, really, who can blame them?

Despite the extreme heat, we have had an enjoyable and memorable stay here along the Virgin River. We've met wonderful people and seen some of Mother Nature's most amazing handiwork. We have lots left to do here, so we will most definitely return. We look forward to that, when it's much, much cooler.

Sunrise at Zion

2011-06-24T15:00:00.000-07:00

When you ride the shuttle up canyon in Zion National Park, a recorded voice points out various highlights and points of interest. One thing that caught our ear on a recent ride was a description of the park's museum being the perfect spot to view sunrise at Zion. With temperatures expected to top the century mark today, we decided to get up before the sun and enjoy the park in its early morning glory. We were up just a bit later than we'd planned, but we arrived at the museum just in time to see West Temple basking in the glow of the morning sun.

Yes, the best way to enjoy the sun rising in the east here is to look to the west. Here's a closer look at West Temple catching the day's first light.

Everywhere we looked, sunlight was dancing around the canyon, casting shadows and creating a marvelous glow.

We left our perch at the museum and headed toward the tunnel. From deep in the canyon, this is a view toward the east.

Just past the tunnel was a trailhead we'd be wanting to visit. The Canyon Overlook trail is a moderate one-mile hike that offered some fantastic views long before we reached the overlook.

Of course, the view at the overlook was magnificent!

What a perfect spot for a photo of Paul sporting his new hat. Doesn't he look dapper?

Here's my self-portrait at the overlook.

A friendly hiker offered to capture this shot of the two of us at the overlook. (We are at the overlook, really!) After all of this early morning activity, we were happy to head back to the moose for a lazy afternoon.

Toquerville Falls

2011-06-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

With afternoon temperatures expected to reach into the 90s today, we decided it was the perfect day for a high-altitude off-road adventure in Southern Utah.

Our neighbors Sharon and Fred are fellow Jeep enthusiasts. When they learned about a 12-mile round-trip off-road trail nearby, they invited us to come along. Of course, we said "Yes!" We headed to the nearby town of Toquerville and found the trail head. Before we knew it we were off the road and heading uphill.

Our destination was Toquerville Falls. Looking around this Southern Utah desert, it was hard to believe we would find anything that resembled a waterfall out here. The trail was a bit rocky and washboard-like in some spots, but it wasn't too bad.

The scenery along the way was gorgeous. In the distance we could see the striking colors of the Kolob Canyons area of Zion National Park.

We climbed some 2,300 feet and were relieved to feel the temperatures cool off nicely. Finally, off in the distance, we caught our first glimpse of Toquerville Falls.

Just after we arrived at the falls, we watched a couple of four-wheelers cross LaVerkin Creek just above the falls from the trail on the other side. We were tempted, but that Jeep is a lot more gnarly than either of ours.

At the top of the falls, the water was deep and fast. And, the drop off was a steep 12-feet or so. With a deep hole or two along the surface, we affirmed our decision not to cross.

Before leaving the falls, Paul and Fred pose for a quick photo with two very dirty Jeeps. Our visit was cut short by a swarm of nasty, biting gnats. Sharon and I made a beeline for the Jeeps and the boys followed.

On the way back down the trail, we stopped to find a geocache. The gnats were awful, but Paul managed to make a quick find.

Sharon and Fred were all smiles at the end of the trail. Despite the nasty gnats, a good time was had by all. From here, our neighbors made a dash to the local car wash. Rocky, on the other hand, is still sporting a pretty solid coating of red Utah dirt.

Thanks, neighbors, for a great ride!

Zion National Park: Emerald Pools

2011-06-17T22:00:00.000-07:00

One of things on our "to do" list is to hike some of the trails we missed on our first visit. The Middle and Upper Emerald Pools Trails are two that we were eager to visit, so we decided to knock those out today. Things are really heating up here in Zion, so we headed to the park early. Not only would beat the heat, we were guaranteed our choice of parking spots at the Visitor's Center.

At the Visitor's Center, we hopped on the park shuttle and road up canyon to the Zion Lodge stop. The beautiful lodge is nestled next to the massive canyon walls and surrounded by green. The bright orange fencing is temporary.

The Emerald Pools trailhead is just across the Virgin River from the lodge. We were disappointed to learn the Middle Pools trail was closed due to a rock slide. So, we adjusted our plans and started the hike on the familiar Lower Pools trail.

Paul stopped to tower over some wildlife for a photo.

You think this little guy has practiced this pose? He stood there patiently until Paul got this shot.

Before long we reached the Lower Emerald Pool. It was as picturesque as we remember.

The Lower Pool is fed by these waterfalls at the - take a guess - Middle Pool.

We detoured just a bit toward the closed section of the trail to snap a few shots of the Middle Pool.

We were on to a new trail (for us) and headed toward Upper Pool. We kept climbing as the canyon walls got closer (and a lot taller).

Upper Emerald Pool was, in our opinion, the least photogenic of the three. But, it was a cool, peaceful spot to enjoy a light lunch and a quick rest before heading back down the trail.

Early Summer brings wildflowers in Zion, and there were many along the trail today. (Believe it or not, this is a rare flower picture by Mary!)

We reached a fork near the end of the trail and decided to take the Kayenta Trail up canyon. We've traveled this trail before, and once again enjoyed the views from high above the Virgin River.

When we passed this way three years ago, this rock slab was covered with cairns. Today, we decided the barren slab needed a fresh crop. This was our contribution.

We just can't get enough of these magnificent views. There is something very special about Zion Canyon.

About 2.5 miles and three hours later, we were off the trail and shuttled back to the Visitors Center. Temperatures were climbing into the 90s, and the once-empty parking lots were packed. After a great morning hike to the pools, we were happy to be off our feet and back to the comfort of our rolling home.

Zion National Park: Tunnel Drive

2011-06-10T22:00:00.000-07:00

We’ve spent the first few days of our stay chilling out at Zion River Resort. It’s a great spot about 15 miles west of Zion National Park in Virgin, UT. This lovely park sits right on the Virgin River.

Lucky site #13 is the place we’re calling home these days. It’s long, level and well-shaded. The staff is friendly and the neighbors are great. If we can stand the heat, we think we’re really going to like it here. And, so far, the heat hasn’t been too bad.

We finally ventured into Zion National Park today. We spent five glorious days here three years ago on our first-ever RVing trip. On that visit, our exploration of Zion was limited to the sights and trailheads that could be reached by Zion’s fantastic shuttle system that takes visitors into the canyon. Since then, we’ve been looking forward to coming back and seeing the parts of the park we missed the first time. With Rocky as our guide, we set out to see the Zion Tunnel and the eastern side of the park. Just after leaving our RV park, we spotted these signs that warn visitors about the tunnel. Large vehicles require an escort and a $15 fee for the privilege to pass through. We stopped and checked the measurements. Looks like our moose is just a bit too tall. But, our nimble little squirrel can make it through just fine!

We broke off from the Shuttle Route and headed up the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway (Utah State Highway 9) toward the tunnel. This was unchartered territory for us, and the view of the Towers of the Virgin and the Altar of Sacrifice were magnificent.

We climbed up several narrow switchbacks, then the road disappeared into the canyon wall. The Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel is not for the squeamish. It’s a just over a mile-long stretch of narrow and very dark road. And, when you head from west to east, it’s a climb. Even if Bullwinkle could fit, we wouldn’t make this drive in the moose. Never, ever!

At last, we saw light at the end of this tunnel! This time of year, daytime traffic is generally restricted to one-lane. With so many vacationers pulling trailers and driving RVs, even small ones, the National Park Service takes extra steps to keep the tunnel safe.

The scenery through the tunnel is distinctly different from the inside the canyon. The lighter, smoother landscape stands in stark contrast to the jagged red canyon walls. The most notable spot on the park’s eastern side is Checkerboard Mesa, a well-weathered sandstone mountain bearing a cross-hatch pattern that gives it its name. Millions of years of erosion have produced this impressive work of art.

Now that we’ve seen the eastern side of this beautiful park, we’re looking forward to exploring more parts unseen (for us, anyway) over the next few weeks.

Torrey

2011-06-06T22:00:00.000-07:00

We've called Torrey, Utah home for the last four nights. With a population of 171, it's definitely a small town. In fact, you're pretty much looking at it. Torrey is basically a wide spot in the road in the middle of nowhere.

There's something to be said for life in the middle of nowhere. Torrey's backdrop is Thousand Lake Mountain and towering sandstone. It's the next best thing to Capitol Reef National Park, which is just a few miles away.

We have enjoyed our stay at Thousand Lakes RV Park very much. The staff and guests are all great people. We especially appreciate the patience of the office staff when we had to jiggle our plans to accommodate our detour to Grand Junction. This was the last spot available for our moose when we arrived. With rigs on each side of us, it was definitely a tight squeeze. But, we were so glad to have a spot, even if it was just water and electric. After everyone left, we had a lot more room.

With the park nearly empty, we opted to move to a spacious and shaded pull-through with full hookups. Here we had room to put out our chairs and enjoy a view of the grassy lawn and refreshing pool.

The nearest Walmart is more than 60 miles from here. But, we were able to pick up everything we needed at the General Store in town.

While we enjoyed some tasty burgers at Slacker's, two couples pulled up on motorcycles pulling nifty trailers. Here's one.

And, here's the other. Looks like a fun way to travel. But, we love our moose and squirrel!

When we weren't visiting Capitol Reef, we did a bit of geocaching in and around town. Even in the middle of nowhere there are caches! Paul was picking up caches way down low, here along a creek north of town.

And, he found another way up high. If you click on this photo you might see Paul standing tall after scrambling up this hill in Fishlake National Forest to make a find.

While Paul was climbing, I was enjoying this peaceful spot that would be perfect for boondocking, if you had a four-wheel-drive RV.

This massive tree along a county road is home to another cache we found.

We found another at this clever historical marker commemorating a local grist mill.

One of our nine cache finds had us treading where we probably weren't supposed to. Of course we spotted this sign on our way back to the Jeep.

We ventured down the road a few miles to Bicknell for a bit more hunting. Here Paul is signing a cache log on the steps of the Relief Society Hall.

The weather in Torrey has been wonderful during our stay. But, like so many of areas of the southwest, it is bone dry here. On the way back from a run to Loa one windy afternoon, we encountered what looked like smoke crossing the road. With no fire in sight, it soon became apparent the source of the obscured road conditions: Dust!

At an elevation of 6800 feet, Torrey has treated us to sunny days near 70 degrees and nights that cool off into the 30s. Those are the perfect conditions to have these local lilacs blooming in June.

We're not sure we'd want to be here in the Winter, but Torrey is a great place to enjoy the start of Summer. Tomorrow we head for much warmer climate in Utah's Dixie and Zion National Park.

Capitol Reef National Park

2011-06-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

If 100 people were asked to name a National Park, chances are no more than one or two would mention Capitol Reef. Prior to planning our Utah adventures, we didn't even know such a place existed. The obscurity of this park is understandable. It's way off the beaten path. The nearest stoplight is reportedly 78 miles away. We believe it. We are definitely out in the middle of nowhere. But, this part of "nowhere" is absolutely gorgeous.

The "reef" is the Waterpocket Fold, which runs for hundreds of miles and is one of the largest in North America. Our visit was spent in the area around the Visitor's Center, along the Fremont River. Every view was a photo waiting to happen!

At Sunset Point, Paul found a lofty perch to get a shot.

I was happy to see him climb down, but the results were lovely. This would be a spectacular place to watch the sunset.

It seems that Capitol Reef is the kind of place that makes it easy for photographers to put themselves in a precarious position. Don't know if you can tell, but we were climbing around in some pretty stiff breezes!

Here's the result of my balancing act high above Sulphur Creek from the Goosenecks Overlook.

For a closer look at the rugged reef, we spent an afternoon along the 25-mile Scenic Drive.

Traveling in our trusty Jeep, we were able to take the dirt road spurs off the main road. The first took us into Grand Wash.

The domes and cliffs of Grand Wash have quite a history. If you click on this picture and look closely at its center you'll see Cassidy Arch. According to local legend, the outlaw Butch Cassidy used this canyon as hideout. Reportedly, he and his gang were chased off by an early pioneer brandishing the Book of Mormon.

Rocky provides some scale to the massive canyons of Grand Wash.

Our walk through the wash was especially scenic.

At the end of the Scenic Drive we came to a 2-mile spur into Capitol Gorge. Rocky just couldn't resist the chance to take on this winding dirt road. And, neither could we!

This is one Scenic Drive that definitely lives up to its name!

Back on the main highway, we enjoyed an easy two-mile hike on one of the park's most popular and picturesque trails.

When you're on a picturesque trail, it's not about the hike. It's about the pictures!

Along the way, we spotted some very interesting - and messy looking - rock formations.

Finally, we reached the formation we came to see. Is that an arch? Nope. It's Hickman Natural Bridge.

Hickman Bridge is one of the largest rock spans in the park. Its opening is 125-feet tall and 133-feet wide.

On our way back to the trailhead, we caught a good look at the park's namesake: Capitol Dome. It is named after the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. Can you see the resemblance?

Take a closer look and use a little imagination. Can you see it now?

The next time someone asks us to name a National Park, Capitol Reef will be at the top of our list. It's definitely worth the drive off the beaten path.

Grand Junction

2011-06-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

Our plans for a leisurely drive from Moab to Torrey were dashed Tuesday morning. When we pulled out of our site, Paul noticed a puddle of dark, oily fluid where our front curbside tire had been. With Bullwinkle leaking vital bodily fluids, we delayed our departure to suss things out. Friends Susan and Mike provided help and moral support while we determined the fluid was the result of a leaky wheel bearing, called Freightliner (Yes, Paul has them on speed dial!) and figured out what to do. Mike took Paul into town to find some oil and filled up the leaking reservoir. Freightliner pointed us to the nearest service facility, about 100 miles away in Grand Junction, Colorado.

When we called to cancel our reservation in Torrey, the lovely woman who answered the phone suggested a park located less than two miles from the Freightliner service center. Junction West RV Park is a simple park run by wonderful folks who were so understanding of our situation. We checked the moose into the "hospital" early yesterday and spent most of the afternoon in the RV park's rec room keeping our cats and ourselves cool while we waited. Summer has definitely arrived in Grand Junction!

The Freightliner folks took care of the leaky wheel bearing in fairly short order. But, another problem that has plagued the moose proved to be more difficult to cure. We've had an intermittent issue with getting a false warning for a low coolant level. The problem had become more frequent. In fact, we got the warning several times before leaving Moab. To make matters worse, Freightliner has designed the moose to shut down the engine about a minute after sounding the alarm. Obviously, that's not good. And, it was time to get it fixed. But, the Freightliner center couldn't replicate the problem. Curses!

Since Freightliner can't fix a problem it can't find, we decided to hit the road for our return to Utah bright and early this morning. With high winds forecast to arrive in the area midday, we were up and ready to roll by 7:30 a.m. As soon as we fired up the moose, Bullwinkle presented the low coolant warning problem. The "check engine" light came on and the alarms sounded. Thirty seconds later, the "stop engine" light came on and our big ol' Cummins engine shut itself down.

If you're going to have an engine shutdown, we can't think of a better place! From the comfort and safety of our site within shouting distance of the service center, Paul hit the speed dial and reached Freightliner. An hour later a tech was on the scene. He diagnosed the problem and quickly went to work on the solution.

Here's the culprit! This credit card-sized gizmo is a Coolant Level Sensor Module. And, this one went bad. Within minutes, our mobile Freightliner tech mounted a new module on top of Bullwinkle's radiator. We fired up the moose and everything was fine. No alarms. No lights. No shutdown. Halleluiah!

We left Grand Junction more than two hours later than we planned. As expected, we hit some pretty nasty winds along the way. The last 60 miles of today's journey were along Utah's scenic Highway 24, which twists and turns its way through Capital Reef National Park. With sustained winds between 30 and 40 mph and two or three good gusts that topped 50 or 60 mph, this was one adrenaline-pumping drive. I took just one photo to help us remember the scenery along a drive we'll never forget.

Despite a little detour and some serious hair raising, we're happy to be here in Torrey with a healthy moose. We look forward to enjoying our shortened stay. One day, we'll spend a few days actually exploring Grand Junction. We didn't see much, but we understand it's a pretty great place.

Moab

2011-05-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

After two weeks in Moab, we're hitting the road. This is where we stayed. We won't be back.

The park has nice views. But, sitting in a canyon, great views are easy to come by in Moab. We'll be back to town. We just won't stay here again.

Why? There are many reasons, actually. Here's one. Sitting in our site in the "fancy" section, we felt like were parked at a truck stop! We had a big ol' Freightliner pulling a giant cargo trailer on one side and a Peterbilt with a similar set up on the other. Beside their big rigs, both neighbors had numerous ATVs, trailers and other toys.

This park bills itself as a luxury resort, but we beg to differ. This is one of two "casitas" on the property. These view-blocking casas grande tower over everything and everybody. How would you like to park next to this?

Of course, we are in Moab. So, we expected to find Jeeps in this park. And, there are many.

They're all decked out for some heavy-duty four-wheeling.

There's another resident Jeep with the requisite extra large cargo trailer parked next door. Bullwinkle and Rocky felt very plain and simple in this place. They weren't surrounded by a bunch of toys.

Speaking of toys, one of our neighbors had a very noisy one. This is the view out our window as a crowd gathered to check out this old hot rod. Periodically, this neighbor would fire this noisy thing up just to attract some attention. He did!

We did manage to get away from our noisy park and do some exploring in Moab. We found a couple of geocaches close by.

The best part of our stay was spending time with friends. John and Sandy and Mike and Susan stayed at the same park. We all got away from the hubbub one evening and enjoyed some tasty local barbeque. From here, John and Sandy are off to Wisconsin, and Mike and Susan are heading to the Pacific Northwest.

Friends Jim and Sandie (and Scooter and Skittlez) stopped by the park for a few days on their way to Montana. It had been over a year since we'd met up with these two. It was great to see them again.

Jim may be a dog person, but our girl kitty warmed up to him right away!

This plaque rides on the back of Jim and Sandie's rolling home. We love it. Like our friends, we're not "dreamers". We're living!

We wish all our friends safe travels. And, we look forward to meeting up with them all again somewhere down the road. We're happy to be back on the road. But, it looks like the Freightliner gods have other plans.

More soon from our detoured destination.

Anniversary at Arches: Devil's Garden

2011-05-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

Twenty-five years ago today we walked down the aisle. To celebrate this very special anniversary, we decided to take another walk. At 7.2 miles, the Devil's Garden Trail is the longest developed trail at Arches. (It's considerably longer than the first walk we took as husband and wife!) We got to the trailhead bright and early in an effort to avoid holiday crowds and afternoon weather, which promised to be warm and include a thundershower or two. We had researched this trail thoroughly and had a good idea what we were in for. But, the warnings at the trailhead did give us pause.

With plenty of water, sunscreen and a snack, we made our way along the trail. With the promise of eight arch sightings, this was sure to be an especially scenic hike.

The first arch on our tour was Tunnel Arch.

Paul lines up a shot of Pine Tree Arch, our second stop along the way.

Nice shot, Paul! As a ground level arch, Pine Tree gave us a lovely view. These first two arches were lovely appetizers for the main course, which was about 3/4-mile up the trail.

Landscape Arch is the longest of the park's many arches. With a span of 290 feet, it is reported to be the longest national arch in the world. The second longest is in Zion National Park. (We'll definitely check it out while we're there!) Landscape Arch's slender center is just 6 feet thick.

It was tough to capture this lovely arch in one photo. So, we tried a few seconds of video.

Most of the visitors to Devil's Garden turnaround after seeing Landscape Arch. From here on out, we expected the trekking to get a bit tougher. But, we were definitely game. We had more arches to see!

Primitive? Yep. Difficult? Uh-huh. This particularly steep section had the hikers scrambling and the acrophobes turning around. We just kept climbing.

And the view from the top of that climb was so worth it!

On down (and up) the trail, we stopped at Partition Arch, which offered sweeping views of the valley below.

Paul got in for a closer look through Partition Arch.

At Navajo Arch, a German hiker posed for an "arch within the arch" shot. We were impressed with his creativity and flexibility and gave him high marks.

Along the way we looked for the perfect "dead tree shot" to share with our hiking friends Sandy and John. This one is for you two!

The trail to the next arch had us scampering across fins in the wind. The trail was particularly hard to follow here. We looked for cairns that marked the trail, but could find none. With hikers helping hikers, we all found our way.

But, the views were magnificent!

Before reaching Double O Arch, we stepped over to the Black Arch overlook to get a distant look at this interesting arch.

Double O Arch was definitely worth the walk.

Paul bravely stepped through this arch over the very slick rock to the windy side. I opted to stay on the "safer" side.

Paul's journey to the other side of Double O Arch provided some magnificent views, like this one.

Beyond Double O Arch sat Dark Angel. We wandered down the trail to see this big ol' rock, which never did look like an angel to us, or any of our fellow hikers. It was most definitely dark, however.

We followed the trail back to Double O Arch and continued on our loop. When we encountered this sign, we began to wonder. We'd been hiking on a primitive trail for some time. Were things about to get worse? We sat and had a snack while we checked our trail guide. It assured us that if we had made it this far we could make it down this primitive route just fine.

The primitive trail provides views of a few unmarked arches. This could have been Box, Canyon or Crystal. Or, it might have been the backside of Pine Tree. Heck, we couldn't tell. But, whatever its name, it offered us a nice view.

Here's the happy silver anniversary couple at our own private arch. That's Private Arch, and it provided a great opportunity for a shot of two soon-to-be-wornout hikers.

The rest of the hike took us through Fin Canyon. We walked on top of fins....

....between fins....

and next to fins. We definitely got up close and personal with these big boys. It made for some fun and challenging hiking.

But, we did manage to stop along the way and enjoy the flowers. Nice shot, Paul!

This is one of several spots where Paul had to wait for me to negotiate my way along the primitive trail. But, can you blame me? Do you actually see a trail there?

The best spot was a place where rain had filled a large "pothole" along the trail. So many hikers had scrambled along the sandy slickrock to get around the big puddle that it was really slick. One misstep and hikers would tumble into the water. Paul made his way to safety, but I stayed back. It was very slippery! A large group of hikers from several different countries stopped to survey the situation and plan their attack. Many climbed the slippery rock. Finally, someone took off their shoes and waded through the calf-deep water. Guess what I did? That's right. After all that waiting, I waded!

After the water crossing, we made our way back toward the main trail. We took with us lasting memories of some incredible views of Fin Canyon.

Back on the main trail, we were back in the holiday crowds. While we were wandering around the fins, this busy trail really filled up.

This is the reason we got here early. It was all about getting a parking space. By the time we headed back to the Jeep, the parking lot at the trailhead was jam packed and cars were lined up along the road in overflow parking. We're sure glad we got up early and got here when we did.

What a fantastic way to spend this special anniversary! This hike amongst the arches could be our best ever.

Now, we're wondering where we'll hike on our 50th!

Canyonlands National Park

2011-05-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

A visit to Moab puts you between two magnificent National Parks. Today, John and Sandy invited us to join them on a day trip to the park we'd yet to visit: Canyonlands. The road to the park is about 40 miles south of Moab. Once you make the turn, it's another 35 miles to the park. As we passed the entrance gate, Sandy and I pulled out our trusty copies of the National Geographic Guide to the National Parks (A most helpful book that we just picked up after seeing John and Sandy's copy.) and we set out on scenic tour of the Needles area of this nearly 338,000-acre park.

Our first stop was the Roadside Ruin. This short self-guided nature hike provided the perfect spot for us to get out and enjoy a much-needed stretch. The most notable remains are of this granary, which was built by Indians more than 700 years ago. Tucked away in a massive boulder, this well-preserved structure kept grain dry and has withstood centuries of wind, rain and weather.

Along the trail, we took in the scenic vistas. As I was lining up this shot, a woman in a big floppy hat stepped right in front of me. The things people do!

While I was dodging other park visitors, Paul went to work on our flower photo contest.

Nice job, Paul! There's a reason there aren't any of my attempts in this post. But, I digress.

Our next stop was Wooden Shoe Arch Overlook. Floppy Hat Lady followed us there, but I managed to get a clear shot of this well-named little arch.

Our next stop was Pothole Point. Another short hike lead us to gorgeous canyon views as we dodged mostly dried up "potholes".

Though the potholes look still, Sandy and I found signs of life under the surface. We spotted several baby snails and a few fairy shrimp.

The boys got into the act, too!

This was the biggest native creature we spotted on the hike. He paused for a portrait as he dodged from rock to rock in search of cool shade.

Pothole Point gave us a preview of the Needles. These pinnacles tower 400 feet above the valley and can be seen for miles.

We reached the end of the scenic road at Big Spring Canyon Overlook. Our friends Susan and Mike hiked the 11-mile Confluence Overlook Trail from here during their visit. We decided just to stand at the trailhead and enjoy the view.

Sandy found a nifty shady spot in one of the Big Canyon rocks.

We spotted some interesting formations here. This one looks a bit like a pitcher.

And, can you see the face in this boulder?

Big Canyon Overlook provided a great spot for a group photo on a gorgeous day.

As we made our way back toward the park entrance, we took a dirt road down to Elephant Hill. We spent some time climbing the beginning of a trail there and enjoyed views of rocks that resembled elephants...maybe.

Other rocks on Elephant Hill looked more like something a pachyderm might leave behind!

Sandy hiked over and between some mighty big rocks to enjoy the spectacular views.

The Needles looked magnificent.

We especially enjoyed our time on Elephant Hill. We hiked, shot gobs of photos and soaked in the views. Paul caught a moment where it looks like each of us was enjoying a different activity!

As we enjoyed a well-deserved picnic lunch at the base of Elephant Hill, we watched a couple of Jeeps and a bicyclist or two head up the off-road trail. We heard gears grinding and tires squealing, but everybody made it up to the first overlook just fine. Rocky would be so jealous!

Fed and watered, we prepared for the 90-minute drive back to Moab. After a day of enjoying magnificent views, Paul repeated the quote of the day. "Look at all these canyons! They ought to call this place canyonland!"

Indeed, they should.

Corona Arch

2011-05-26T14:29:00.001-07:00

With a big hike planned in the next few days, we decided to get out for a little practice. So, we headed back toward our Jeepin' route and headed up the trail to Corona Arch. The three-mile trail starts out with a quick climb, which provided a clear look back to the Colorado River, the parking area and some awesome BLM camping spots that we'll remember for our next visit to Moab.

Just beyond the trailhead, Paul registered us on the trail. We're not really sure what is the purpose of signing in. But, we definitely wanted to be accounted for.

The trail crossed the Potash railroad spur, which looked particularly striking this morning.

Paul and I are in a contest to see who can get the best flower shots. He's way ahead in the competition. That said, I think this is a strong contender. Don't you?

This hike is listed in the guides as "not difficult". However, we knew it featured some "equipment", which made at least one of us a little nervous. Here Paul tackles the first set of cables. We both agreed, they were a breeze.

Later on, this ladder looked scarier than it really was.

Finally, this second set of cables made a fairly steep climb all the more manageable.

After all that work, we got our first glimpse of Corona Arch.

Along the way to Corona, we caught a colorful glimpse of Bowtie Arch.

Somehow, we managed to get ourselves on the high side on our approach to Corona. It was a steep decent from that point next to the base of the wall.

Corona Arch features an opening that is 140 by 105 feet. Anyway you look at it, it's impressive.

In the morning light, the best view of Corona Arch was found after walking under and past the span. We enjoyed a snack in the shadow of the arch, then headed back toward the Jeep. Along the way, we met up with a gentleman and his grown daughter from California. We enjoyed our chat with them so much that the return route seemed to go twice as fast as the approach. That's one of the unexpected pleasures of hiking in such a beautiful place!