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....................!