DFW

We've had a busy few weeks, while the RV was being repaired in Howe, Indiana, we spent the week in the Detroit area visiting two of John's sisters. They are all mourning the loss of their brother, Will, on November 12.

The weather was turning cold, so as soon as we picked up the RV we headed south to the DFW area to see the kids, our doctors and dentists. We've also been spending time with our many wonderful friends.

We are camped beside Lake Lewisville, where we see the rising sun from our bedroom window and enjoy beautiful sunsets out the huge back window.

Library of Congress

I've been reading Dan Brown's "Lost Symbol", some of which takes place in the Library of Congress, so while we were in DC for the Rally To Restore Sanity, we toured the Library of Congress, which is totally gorgeous! They don't permit photos of the reading room but the architecture and decor of the inside is beautiful!

Chrysler Museum of Art

One of my favorite museums is the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, VA. Described on their website:
Housed in an Italianate-style structure facing the picturesque Hague Inlet of the Elizabeth River, the Chrysler Museum of Art is home to an encyclopedic collection of nearly 40,000 objects spanning nearly 5,000 years of history. Highlights include an impressive and comprehensive survey of European and American painting and sculpture, a world-renowned glass collection, a rich photography program, Art Nouveau furniture, as well as African, Asian, Egyptian, Pre-Columbian and Islamic art. In the words of New York Times art critic John Russell, the Chrysler boasts objects "...any museum in the world would kill for."
I especially enjoy art glass and this museum is the third largest collection in America. This museum should be on any art or glass enthusiasts' Bucket List.

Rally To Restore Sanity

We attended Jon Stewart's Rally To Restore Sanity in Washington, DC, last weekend. Our campground was a dozen miles from the western most Metro station in Maryland, so we were about an hour from the Mall. The Rally was an interesting experience, here are a few of the sights and signs in attendance.

Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia

Today we drove a portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway, delighting in the beautiful autumnal colors. It was a bit chilly for our salad picnic, so we enjoyed a tasty lunch at the Skyland Resort.

Jonesborough TN

We are making our way towards DC and stopped near Bristol, TN for two nights. Today we enjoyed the sunny autumn day touring historic Jonesborough, the oldest town in TN. Three blocks of Main Street encompass many original buildings which now house B&B's, art galleries and antique shops, three churches and the courthouse. Jonesborough is the seat of Washington County, the first county to be named after George Washington. The fall colors are bright and beautiful here.

Berea, KY

We've been in Berea, KY, for a week now, visiting with John's brother, Will (Joseph Antares), who was diagnosed with terminal cancer recently. He was in hospice when we arrived, to get his meds back on track, but has since returned home. He is a spiritualist who believes his soul will live on in the 5th dimension. This visit has given us the opportunity to meet his ex-wife, Kyrai, and daughter, Angina (Rose).

Rawlins, Wyoming

Tonight we are in the tiny town of Rawlins, Wyoming, which has some interesting sights. Thought I'd share them with you.

Oregon to Idaho

It has been an "interesting" trip so far. We spent our first night at a great little campground in Troutdale, where I lost my wedding ring. The managers searched grass clippings, bathrooms and laundry for it after we left. No luck.

Our drive west, along the Columbia River Gorge was eye opening, since I had no idea how dry the western portion of Oregon is. The rolling hills along the river are covered in dried up vegetation. Not easy to photograph from a moving vehicle, though.

The second day our air compressor quit and the third day we had a flat before leaving the campground. Had the spare installed, fixed the flat and had it reinstalled, so got a late start.

We made it to Idaho today, where it was 97 degrees and sunny. Camped in a little park in the tiny town of Glenns Ferry tonight. Heading for Utah tomorrow.

Beverly Beach & Yaquina Head Lighthouse

As it turns out, we are heading back to Berea, KY, for a family emergency.

Our last day on the Oregon coast was a trip via the scenic drives south to Beverly Beach, where we strolled in the sunshine and wind. Sadly, a dead seal had washed ashore on the beach.

Our next stop was Yaquina Head to see the lighthouse and picnic overlooking the ocean. We watched the fog roll over the surrounding hill, down onto the waves, obscuring the sunset.

We've seen a myriad of classic cars out here, there have been shows around the area each weekend. Even the everyday cars seem older than in Dallas, TX.

John has taken a liking to buoys and we found this house with an astounding collection of used buoys hanging in the front shrubs.

Taft, Fogarty Creek, Boiler Bay

South, down Hwy 101, from the campground, we saw kites, including the "Grandkids", at D River Park in Lincoln City. Every year the city hosts two major kite festivals and with the prevailing beach winds, flying kites is the perfect year 'round hobby.

Taft was our next stop, to listen to blues music on the beach and soak up the sun behind the "World Famous" Mo's restaurant, known for its tasty clam chowder. Folks were catching crabs in Siletz Bay, flying kites, strolling the beach with their dogs, and enjoying the second summer warm sunshine.

Continuing south, we stopped at Boiler Bay State Park for a salad and clam chowder picnic overlooking the surf. Crows and a seagull kept watch for errant trets!

Strolling the beach at Fogarty Creek around low tide is a good opportunity to find agates. We checked out the tidepools and pocketed tiny surf tumbled agates as the sun set.

Three Capes, Oregon

We are now on the Oregon coast, where the weather has turned sunny and warm, perfect for a drive along the coast, stopping to enjoy views of the beach, craggy cliffs, and lighthouses.

Our campground is on Devil's Lake, north of Lincoln City. We drove north on Hwy 101 to Wimena Beach, where we strolled a bit in the sun and had a great chat with a woman who lives in Newport, Oregon.

In Pacific City we saw huge kites flying, one carried the pictures and names of the owner's grankids. We had a snack at the Mexican restaurant in town then returned to Road's End, on the north side of Lincoln City, to watch the sunset.

The next day we drove north to Cape Meares Lighthouse and saw the huge ancient Sitka Spruce named the Octopus Tree.

Dinner was a picnic bathed in warm sunshine, overlooking the beach at Cape Lookout, on Three Capes Byway. Three parasailers stepped off the cliff beside us and rode the updrafts in lazy circles, eventually landing on the beach in front of us. We talked with them as they packed up their parasails and they told us it is difficult to wipe the smiles off their faces after such a terrific flight!

We met a fellow Progressive, from Portland, and had a long talk about politics before we hurried south to watch the sunset at Wemina Viewpoint.

Oregon State Fair

The Oregon State Fair was interesting, we especially enjoyed the artisans. The chainsaw wood carver, missing parts of two fingers, wore ear protection with an ipod attached to the top and cell phone shoved into one ear. Memorable music was played by a band from Equador.

Air and Art

Albany, Oregon, hosted Air and Art Festival this weekend. We drove over to see what it was all about and discovered that along with airplanes, hot air balloons, art, music, and food, there was also a car show, sponsored by the local Studebaker Club.

Oregon

Oregon is our home for as long as we can deal with the weather. We found a terrific campground near Silverton that allows us to stay at the Passport America rate indefinitely, so will be here for a month while I try to see a GI doc.

As many of you know, we own a small lot near the coast and drove out to check it on it. As we were tramping around through the trees and dense underbrush on the lot, our neighbors came over to insist, yet again, that we cut down trees on our lot. This time they don't like the yellow pollen that blows on to their driveway from our three small coastal pines. Previously they wanted us to top several trees because they sway in the winter storm winds.

Gleneden Beach has a great beach access park, where we enjoyed the sunshine, roaring surf, and friendly visitors as we ate our picnic lunch.

Seattle, WA

Our travels have taken us to the beautiful Northwest and we are now "near" Seattle. We met up with Ellen and John Thomas recently and enjoyed several days sightseeing with them. In Seattle we ate delicious seafood and chowder, strolled around Public Market and rode the ferry to Bremerton. We saw some of the world's largest trees in the rain forest of Olympic National Park. The weather was cool and overcast the day we visited the beach at Westport. They have headed back to Mesa and we will soon move south to Oregon to schedule work on the RV.

Glacier National Park

As promised, here are a few of the hundreds of photos we took of the beautiful Glacier National Park.

Glacier National Park

Last week we stayed near Marias Pass, halfway between East and West Glacier. We drove to St Mary’s Visitor Center to see the Native American displays. Since the sun was out intermittently, we drove a few miles farther into the park to take pictures. As we were leaving, the battery in John’s 35mm camera ran out of juice. 

We then drove to the Many Glacier entrance to Glacier and waited through road work to get there. We entered and drove to the end and decided to take a short walk before our picnic.

I’m still nauseated from the two heavy duty anti-biotics, so I’m not taking Tylenol, so can’t take much walking. None of the trails were short, so we decided to walk a little ways on the Grinnel Glacier trail. We went across a nice bridge over the river and continued to the tiny lake, then turned around to return to the car. As we walked to the lake, we met many other hikers going both directions. I asked all the ones coming back from the lake if they’d seen any bears, none had. As we were returning to the river, we stopped to take a picture with the movie camera of an interesting tree stump that resembled an elephant with the trunk truncated or a dolphin head. Another photographer was going the same direction, so I asked what he thought it resembled, he said an elephant with the trunk cut short. He started walking toward the river, I followed with John behind me. Since I walk so slowly, John had been stopping to whittle the bark off his walking stick.  I glanced back at him and saw a large cinnamon black bear following him down the path, gaining on him. I calmly and loudly told him to walk quickly, without rushing, because a bear is behind him. John rarely believes anything I say without checking for himself, but he said the look on my face convinced him that a bear was indeed behind him. As we approached the bridge, I noticed the other photographer on the bridge taking pictures, so I called out to tell him the bear was behind us. John and I passed him and started across the bridge, he went back to face/photograph the bear briefly before joining us across the bridge. We hurried around the turn in the path beyond the bridge. John didn’t think the bear would cross the bridge because it is manmade, but I thought he would because it, like the path, is the route of least resistance. The bear started across the bridge. I’m the slowest person walking, so John was concerned about my safety and luckily had the peace of mind to yell at the bear, who rushed across the bridge toward us then went straight on into the woods. When the bear was gone, we stopped to see the pictures taken by the photographer, who had a huge long lens to photograph birds. He had taken some great shots of the bear. Then we all continued to our cars.

Glacier

We spent three weeks enjoying Yellowstone National Park then moved on to near Glacier National Park. Unfortunately, I came down with diverticulitis so have been experiencing the talents of the medical community in Kalispell, MT. Will post pictures of Glacier when I am feeling better.

Still near Yellowstone

Yellowstone is HUGE! We've spent six days traveling the winding roads, seeing steaming geysers, beautiful lakes, colorful hot bubbling ponds, lovely sounding cascades, stunning waterfalls, snow capped mountains, green Lodgepole pines, yellowstone sloped canyons, and cold rapid rivers teeming with fly fishermen. Each time we visit, the traffic suddenly stops for herds of elk, buffalo mothers with their young, a grizzly bear, a cinnamon brown bear or an eagle family. We are still hoping to see moose and bighorn sheep.

Yellowstone National Park

We are spending three weeks near Yellowstone National Park. For the first two days, the weather truly exceeded the adage "If you don't like the weather now, wait a moment" with waves of snow, rain, sunshine, wind, in repetition. It then was gorgeous for most of two days, sunny, blue skies, warmer. We await the next iteration.

Our first day was spent checking site possibilities in the Targhee National Forest campgrounds and reserved a lovely pull-through for 10 days. Then we made our first visit to Yellowstone, where we saw a herd of buffalo walking down the road. The babies stayed "off road" for safety while their parents challenged the cars for right-of-way. We also saw a female elk grazing on our way to Old Faithful.

We walked through the geyser rich Porcelain Basin on the second day, then watched the setting sun bring out beautiful yellows, golds, and cream colors of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, for which the park was named. The Lower Falls is the focus of Artist Point, where we had our picture taken. Each day we take a picnic to enjoy amongst the lodgepole pines and raven beggars.

As we were leaving the park, we saw a grizzly bear on the side of a hill. The Ranger told us the bear is 17 years old and named Scarface, due to scars from a scrap with a fellow grizzly last year.

Delta Rock Hounding

Delta, Utah, is a small prairie town surrounded by hills full of geodes, fossils, topaz, sunstone and many other rock hounding favorites. We drove the Prius hundreds of miles over gravel roads, in search of "rocks", and finding antelopes, tiny owls, the historic Simpson Springs Pony Express Station, and odd "gypsy wagons" along the way.

Arches National Park

Memorial Week at Moab, Utah, we visited Arches National Park. Our first few days here, the weather was hot and windy, with so much dust in the air that it was impossible to see the beautiful scenery. Saturday was cooler and less windy for our trip to Arches.

Bryce Canyon

Last week we enjoyed the Bryce Canyon area of Utah. Our campground was a located between Panguitch and Bryce Canyon and at a high elevation, where plants weren't experiencing spring blooming yet. Daytime weather was beautifully sunny and cool, night temperatures dipped to the low 20s.

Bryce is breath taking and we took hundreds of photos, which made it daunting to select a few "good" ones to share here.

Our friends, Rudy and Linda, who we met in Hurricane, UT, camped near us. We all took the interesting narrated bus tour of the north side of Bryce.

Bryce Canyon is a "Must See" in my book.

Coral Pink Sand Dunes

We are amazed at the variety of colors in the southwestern landscapes. Coral Pink Sand Dunes, near Kanab, UT, were gloriously hued.

Grand Canyon North Rim

Opening day for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon was May 15, which was a delightful day for our visit. The weather was cool and sunny so the snow had melted from the roads but lay in some fields. We saw one small ice covered lake.

Portions of the Kaibab National Forest are recovering from a forest fire.

We enjoyed two Ranger talks: Geology and Condors, had a picnic at the Lodge and walked the short trail to Bright Angel Point.

Zion National Park

The past two weeks have been a delightful stay in Hurricane, UT, and the Watchman Campground in Zion National Park, UT. Zion's beauty is breathtaking: the rapidly flowing Virgin River, vibrant colors of wild flowers, reds/oranges/pinks and white cliffs, cottonwood puffs, lush green leaves, and snow the day we left. We saw mule deer, lizards, wild turkeys and several types of birds. Zion's Park Rangers offer talks and walks several times each day.

Our lack of prior planning meant that we could only reserve each Watchman Campground site for one day, so moved the RV each morning. Each afternoon, we attended a Ranger talk, checked out one of the "easy" trails, then enjoyed another Ranger presentation each evening.

Vegas

Gambling isn't our thing but bright lights and architecture are, so we made a couple of trips to Vegas to photograph the kitch, glitz and faux glamour.

The Living Green Expo was our first destination on the Saturday we spent in Vegas. We each took an experimental ride on a Segway at the Expo.

Hoover Dam

We are camped on the banks of Lake Mead this week, near Vegas and the Hoover Dam.

One of the seven civil engineering wonders of the world, the Hoover Dam is impressive, as is the new bridge under construction down river from it. The day was perfect for a tour; warm, sunny, no wind.

London Bridge

Camping for a few days along the Colorado River at Parker, AZ, with great views of the beautiful turquoise/blue clear water. Enjoyed a Friday night fish fry at the floating Roadrunner bar. Took the scenic drive to Lake Havasu City to see the London Bridge.

Discovered that this is the weekend of the Blue Water Casino sport boat show/competition and cigarette racing boats speed up and down the river beside all manner of powered floating vehicles.

Blooming Desert

As Winter faded into Spring, folks told us that the desert blooms and is beautiful. Each time we walk in the desert, we notice more blossoms. Here are a few that caught our eye.

Prescott AZ

Mesa is a memory now, we have moved northwest to North Ranch near Congress, AZ.

We drove the scenic winding roads to Prescott yesterday, no vehicles over 40ft in length are permitted on the 9 mile stretch of hairpin turns.

Flies have re-entered our life, a feedlot is nearby and the stench is astounding.

Snow still lies at the higher altitudes of the beautiful green mountains. Some artist painted a great frog on the rocks.

Prescott is the Yavapai County seat, detailing its history on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse. We walked to the top of Knob Hill, where Barry Goldwater's uncle had a Victorian home. Barry announced his presidential run in Prescott.

Annalina's, on Whiskey Row, along Montezuma beside the courthouse, served us delicious Mexican delights for dinner.

Sedona

Ellen and John took us to Sedona recently for a beautiful day of Pink Jeep touring the wild red rock hills surrounding the town. Afterwards, we admired creative art at Tlaquepaque then devoured a delicious Mexican dinner before experiencing the rich reds of sunset.

Our Pink Tour guide, Tim, is a western movie buff who shared his knowledge of each and every scene location on our route. He showed us several pieces of petrified coral along side the road.

Raku Pottery

John and I took a beginning pottery class at our geezer park recently. We each appliqued a clay figure onto a clay plate, fired, then painted them.

We procrastinated too long to take a pottery wheel class, because the folks here are wrapping up their season to head back to homes in the north.

We did have the opportunity to take a Raku fired pottery class. We purchased pots, painted them with special glazes, they were fired in a propane kiln outside, then placed in specially prepared trash cans to cool. The trash cans have newspaper strips and wood shavings that catch fire when the hot pot is placed inside, which causes the glaze to change. The pots are then placed in water to crackle the glazed finish. The last step is to clean with Bartender's Friend if a change in color is desired.

Montezuma Castle

Temperatures are nearing 90 degrees in Mesa lately and our RV is very efficient at gathering and hoarding all that heat, so we took a drive north into the coolness of the mountains today. About 100 miles north and over 4000 feet in elevation, we encountered lots of snow slowly melting in the 55 degree warmth.

We also visited Montezuma Castle, an interesting cliff dwelling built by the Sinagua people around 1100AD. I've included pictures of the diagrams showing how they constructed the multi-story dwelling on the cliff face in front of a cave. They lived here for about 300 years, sustainably.

Exploring Mesa

Today we took advantage of the fantastic weather to stroll down Main Street in Mesa, photographing the public art sculptures. They have a new larger-than-life "American Gothic" sculpture here until July.

Tres Rios Nature Fest

Last weekend was the Tres Rios Nature Festival, held this year at the Estrella Mountain Regional Park. We enjoyed the wild birds, skunk, reptiles, and the turtle who insisted on climbing the side of his box and falling backwards onto his back.

Spring Green

The Sonoran desert will soon be blooming, so we drive around in it each week to check on the progress. We've had quite a bit of rain this winter and the mountains are covered in green vegetation.

John's Birthday

Today is John's birthday. We celebrated in the beautiful warm sunny weather with a walk and picnic at Usery Mountain Regional Park. Locals tell us the desert blooms about this time of the year and should be unusually beautiful due to the rain this year, so we've been keeping tabs on it, but not much color yet.

John's sister, Ellen, hosted a fun birthday party for him last Sunday, with a meat dish their Mom used to make and his favorite cake and ice cream.

Mardi Gras Parade

Valle Del Oro "Resort" campground (55+ active park) has many things to do, classes to take, meals to eat, markets full of goodies to buy, exercise room and classes, and Laurie, our favorite employee.

Today they held their annual Mardi Gras Parade, which started on time (is that possible?!) and lasted 15 minutes. I took pictures as I caught beads.

Mayo Clinic

John is consulting with the doctors at the Scottsdale campus of the Mayo Clinic in another effort to determine the cause of the tingling/burning/pain in his extremities and upper back pain. We are hoping for a treatment plan once the cause has been determined. We will be in Mesa until April so that he can have all the tests and consultations recommended.

Still in Mesa, AZ

We decided to stay put in Mesa, since it is often the warmest, least rainy place this winter. The weather is still cooler than usual and many days the sky is overcast but no snow, sleet, or freezing temperatures. We've found the inexpensive markets to stock up on fresh veggies and interesting books so will remain here through at least mid-March.

Phoenix Art Museum

The Museum is open for voluntary donations several times each month. We took advantage of this opportunity to admire their collections.

Heard Museum, Phoenix

We pray for the world, that the people of the world will embrace harmony, that they will know respect, tolerance, acceptance for each other and for all living things. This is what my people have taught me, and it is my responsibility to continue living this way of life. In doing so, I am telling my ancestors, “I’m still here, practicing your teaching so that my children and all other generations will continue to practice this way of life-life will go on and on, even after I am gone.
--Rachel Agoyo Cochiti/Santo Domingo

Phoenix has a new light rail system from Mesa, which we rode to the museum.

The Heard Museum houses a terrific stash of Indian artifacts and contemporary art. The lovely young Hopi-Navaho guide provided novel information about the southwestern natives. This museum is so chock full of items that one visit doesn't suffice to appreciate all of the details.

Happy 2010!

Ellen and John taught a new card game on New Year's eve and we celebrated midnight in three time zones!

Hope everyone has a terrific 2010!