Hogwarts - Harry Potter

As our last hooray, we visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resorts. First of all we could not take advantage of the Florida Resident prices because that has to be done on line, so we paid $90 a ticket for one theme park. (To visit both Theme Parks, Universal Studios and Universal's Islands of Adventure, on the same day the ticket price was $140 per person.) It is interesting to note that on all the billboards, and advertising commercials no where does it tell you which theme park Harry Potter is in. We stood in a long line at Universal Studios waiting to buy tickets to find out we wanted to be  Islands of Adventure.  Thank Heavens we could buy our ticket at either place.

The architecture was outstanding for both the castle and town. I did the ride inside the castle (Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey) and the castle walk through tour. I must say it left me wanting much more than what was given. Mostly film on the ride with some surprises. The walking tour could have been better. What was there was good, just not enough. It is still very crowded so getting in the little shops was next to impossible and the prices were outrageous.

Jurassic Park had very little to offer. Great potential missed. I guess I am just spoiled with Disney.

We arrived home and all is well. No problems! And is sure feels good to be back in our home. Next year you will be hearing from me on several occasions as we are planning numerous shorter trips. Thanks for following our adventures............so long for now. Judy, Chris, Misty (dog) and Skid (cat)

Last Stop Disney Ft. Wilderness

Here we are at Disney's Fort Wilderness, the last stop before home. I guess you can say we have started a tradition with ending out trip here. Kind of a winding down before we get back into the routine of home. You can see we have all our animals in the window, some from Disney, others from our travels. (That is all the stuffed animals, even though Skid likes to get in the window too.)

Tomorrow we plan on going over to Universal Studios to check out Harry Potter as well as the rest of the Park. It has been years since either of us has been to Universal. Normally this would be my last entry but I am sure I will want to give you a report on Potter. Hum, Butterscotch Beer, we'll see.

I must say home and my own bed sound good. I am really missing all of you.

Cock of the Walk Arkansas

OK no jokes! We are in Little Rock, AR home of the Clinton Library and yes we ate at this restaurant named Cock of the Walk. It specializes in fried cat fish and skillet corn bread, fried dill pickles and the best coleslaw I have ever eaten. Great food!

We are traveling cross country headed for home. Middle America has a lot of farm land and rolling hills. As we entered Arkansas, the west side has some beautiful mountains. The Ozarks are lush and green, quite a contrast to the arid southwest.

We visited the Clinton Library and the building was beautiful but I was disappointed in the contents. I guess I was spoiled by visiting Reagan's Library in Calif. and it had so much more.
Tomorrow we leave for Memphis then on to Mississippi. This has been a wonderful trip, but as always we are ready to get home. We miss all of you!

More to come as we head home. Pets are fine, spoiled as always.

Sante Fe and New Mexico Golf

Sante Fe is a wonderful city to visit. A lot of Southwestern Art and Jewelery. It was fun visiting the 131 year old Loretto Chapel with its "miraculous staircase," a spiral stairway built by a mysterious carpenter, with two 360 degree turns and no nails or screws (wooden pegs only) for support.
We, also, visited The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assi.
After a leisure stroll around the plaza, visiting shops, we had lunch at a French Cafe with wonderful home baked goods. Chris had a chocolate eclair for dessert..............surprise surprise. It is so nice to be towing a car this year. We have been able to do so many more things.

We golfed at the Santa Ana Gulf Club this morning. I am not sure of this golf pose, but had a wonderful time playing on this course and not to bad a score. It was in perfect condition. The Santa Ana Open is held there each year. During the  round my pitching wedge came up missing. I try and be so careful and couldn't figure what had happened. Chris tells me he always puts his club on the flag stick so he won't forget it. We notified the ranger and he started looking for my club. Well several holes later Chris found my club......He put it in his bag. See it wasn't my fault! After golf we had a great lunch there. Do you get the feeling we are golfing and eating our way across America? (I am not sure the golfing is compensating for my eating.........oops Gym where are you

Tomorrow we are off to Amarillo, TX.

Durango Narrow Guage Railroad & Mesa Verde

What a trip, following the Animas River on an 1881 historic, coal fired, steam powered train. We traveled through the back country wilderness of the San Juan Mountains to Cascade Canyon. As we wound around the river bed and climbed the cliff edges we had spectacular views with up to 400 ft. drops. The train ride usually travels between Durango and Silverton but due to a Mud Slide less than a week ago the train was only going half way to Cascade Canyon. They hope to have it cleared by next week.

Another day trip was to Mesa Verde National Park. The 600 year old cliff dwellings were unbelievable. There are several cliff dwellings that can be visited and we chose one that did not require a ranger guide. We visited the Spruce Tree House which is Mesa Verde's best preserved and third largest cliff dwelling. It was a .5 mile round trip, 100  ft. descent and ascent, on a winding path. Who needs a gym anyway?

I must tell you that Chris does not like heights! What a trouper, I think you call this true unconditional love! I just hope he doesn't throw me over one of them! I promised him No More! (For this trip.)

We are off to Albuquerque and Sante Fe for our next leg of the trip. Back into heat. The temperature here has been high 80's days and low 50's night. Great weather!

Arches Nat'l Park & Wild Life in Camp

Arches National Park is amazing! God forsaken but amazing. There are times in my life I should have my head examined and this is one of them. I guess I think I am 20 years younger. You see, no one told me to get a great shot of the Delicate Arch I would need to hike. I could get a picture from the lower view, easy trail, but there were boulders in the middle. So I decided to hike the Upper Delicate Arch Viewpoint Trail. It was mid morning, no water and I didn't know how long the trail was. It turns out it was .5 miles (moderately strenuous) uphill climb ending at the rim of a steep canyon that separates the viewpoint from the arch. I was huffing and puffing by the time I got back down.........But I got my picture! Like I said, Head Examined!

What do you think of our in camp wild life? Needless to say I used my telephoto lens for this shot! He sure was beautiful. This week tent campers left their door unzipped when they went to bed. It was hot so they wanted more air circulation, when they were awakened, with something getting into their chip bag. They thought it was a raccoon but discovered it was a skunk. They stayed very still until it left then zipped up. Luckily they did not startle him. How much tomato juice does it take to get rid of the smell?

Tomorrow we head out to Durango, CO. where we plan to ride the Historic Narrow Gauge Railroad. I'll try not to hang out the window over a gorge to get a great shot. Maybe....................!



Salt Lake City

As we arrived in Salt Lake we headed for Camping World to have an Oil Change in our RV. Can you believe we have traveled over 3500 miles already on this trip.

The Mormon Temple is beautiful. I toured the surrounding buildings and they were very interesting, with one of the largest organs I have seen.

Today we were able to go golfing. I love this low humidity and high altitude. Chris and I both had good scores with me getting the lowest ever. A 58 on the front and 50 on the back! I might have to stay out here just to golf!

Tomorrow we are heading down to Moab and the Green River Country. This will starts our eastward journey home.  

Yellowstone National Park

Yes, we did see Old Faithful, but Yellowstone has so much more to offer. Here is a picture of Tower Falls taken from the North Loop Drive. We also got up close to this Black Bear and Buffalo. (Up close as we stayed in the car!) The days were in the 70's and nights in the 30-40's. Good snuggling weather! Misty, our dog and Skid, our cat are doing great and also enjoying the weather.

We stayed in a camp grounds just outside the West Entrance to the Park. I am amazed at the vast diversity of our Country. Each stop brings more beauty than the last. This will be hard deciding what I like best.

You will not believe but Chris bought some fudge made of mango and chocolate. Of course he bought his favorite too, Chocolate Walnut.

Chris was sitting outside our RV when dirt came flying out of a small hole. He kept watching and a small rodent came out pushed the dirt out of the way and went back to tunneling. It was the size of a rat with no tail. We asked the campground and found out it was a mole. You never know what Wild Life you will see when camping!
We were able to stay 5 days at Yellowstone. Our next stop is Salt Lake City.

Mt. Rushmore

Yeah, I am back in civilization with good Internet connections! I will do several short entries to bring you up to date. The Bad Lands are very close to the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore and what a contrast. We visited the night lighting of Mt. Rushmore and what a sight! This is something every American should see.

The Black Hills are beautiful and we visited the town of Deadwood where Wild Bill Hickok was shot at Saloon #10 over the "Dead Mans Hand" of Aces and Eights. Guess I'll give up gambling............nah!

We, also, visited Crazy Horse but was disappointed. From here we go to Yellowstone. More from there.

Badlands South Dakota

Heading north west from Sioux City, South Dakota we stopped over night in the middle of the South Dakota Prairie Lands, where we have continued to experience temperatures over 100.

After one night we continued on toward Mt. Rushmore. We took a side scenic drive through the Badlands. I can't image what early pioneers thought as they traveled west through the beautiful grassy prairies to then come upon what looks like another planet. I was so taken by the stark beauty that I took over 85 pictures of the area.

Good thing I have a digital camera! More to follow from Mt. Rushmore.

Gateway To The West

The drive from Memphis was an easy trip. We arrived at our campground and set up in record time. The temperature in St. Louis was just as hot as Memphis, 100. We were here only a short time when I noticed our back A/C was not working. Chris and I checked breakers and could find no problem so we called Tech Support at Lazydays, where we bought our coach, and left a message. As he was calling back, Chris noticed we had no power to the plugs in our kitchen slide-out. This is now a bigger problem.

100 degrees outside, only one A/C, and half the power out, OH NO and only one week into our trip........HELP........After much trouble shooting and no positive results, our tech suggested unplugging from the campground power and starting our generator. This way we could see if we still had the problem. We Didn't! So back to the office to report to them that they had a problem with the electric hook up. They changed out the 50 amp plug and we tried again. So I'm inside waiting for the A/C unit to kick on when David calls and there is a problem with the alarm system at home.........NO POWER.........I Hate Electricity!

Everything settles down and evening is setting in when Chris, while sitting outside, notices this pick up truck circling around the campground. It pulls in across the large lawn facing us and parks. (He is sure they are casing out the joint.) The office was closed and Chris thought we should call the Sheriff if we could not find an after hours number. (He was ready to call 911!) A few minutes later Chris opens the door and says "Don't Do Anything!....... Our big threat was a family tenting with 5 children! OK Chris Chill Out!!!!!!!!

Today we traveled into the city to see the ARCH. What an architectural wonder that is. Afterwords we visited Grants Farm owned by Anheuser-Busch. These beautiful grounds house many wildlife animals as well as the majestic Clydesdale Horses. I drank my first beer a Budweiser Lime. This farm was once plowed and planted by President Ulysses S. Grant. His cabin is still located on the farm. So enough of the adventures!

Tomorrow we are off the Kansas City, MO and hopefully cooler weather.

Good Old Days

Check out those "white walls," they don't make them like that any more!

As you can tell, we visited Elvis's home, Graceland in Memphis, TN. It is a beautiful home. It was fun to see his cars and needless to say hear his songs being played.

We are staying in a campground across the Mississippi River in Arkansas. You can't believe the heat.........over 100 today. We might have to come home to get out of the heat. HA! Tomorrow we are headed to St. Louis.

New Orleans

St Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square in the French Quarter of New Orleans is just as beautiful as ever. The French Quarter was as crowded as Disney and very hot. As we walked around there were musicians playing wonderful New Orleans Jazz.

We had a wonderful lunch at Acme Oyster House which has been featured on the Food Chanel's, Drive-Ins, Dinners and Dives. We started out with the most wonderful appetizers of grilled oysters in garlic butter with Parmesan cheese on top. We then shared a Seafood platter. Yum...... While we were eating, a little girl around Layla's age, walked by Chris, stopped and smacked him on the shoulder. She must have thought he looked like someone because she grinned and kept on walking. The waiters were laughing and you should have seen the look on Chris's face. She must have thought he needed it.

We drove down through the Garden District with homes dating back to the early 1800's. There amongst the beautiful southern homes we drove past Loyola and Tulane Universities.

We have already had a bump in the road. Our rear camera has gone out. You should have seen Chris and I reading a wiring diagram and switching camera cables! The Good Lord help us All. Tomorrow we are off to Memphis for 3 days. Elvis Here I Come...........

Westward Ho

It is that time of the year for us to take off again! As you can tell from the picture we have a new addition to our family. We are towing a car this year. I must tell you I went down kicking and screaming! Now I know they all say the car will follow behind you and you'll never know it is there. Yea Right. I am already in a 35 foot long monster and now you have added 10 more feet. I can see me now passing this poor little smart car and change lanes smaking it into the brim. Guess I will let Chris drive and I'll navigate.

Chris talked me into the towing by hitting my weak spot.......GOLF. By towing we can take along our clubs and expierence mountain golfing. Another reason was saftey. We will be in areas where there will not be towers for cell phones. In an emergency we can unhook and use our car.
Our German Sheppard, Misty, in Jan. had a stroke. She has recovered nicely, but at 13 1/2 years old we know we may need to see a vet while on the road. That is much easier in a car.

We are pulling out on the 4th of July with a wonderful 2 month agenda including New Orleans, Memphis, Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone and much more.

Stay tuned for updates on our travels.