We're Here Now

Tahoe Ho!

2011-09-21T17:16:00.000-07:00

The first vacation of my life was at Lake Tahoe. I was born in Sacramento, CA. Practically my whole family has a love affair with Tahoe. During my high school years we had a cabin a few miles from the lake and my mom would spend the entire summer there with various family members visiting off and on (I am the youngest of seven siblings and there were always numerous nieces and nephews coming along).

Since Mary had not really experienced Lake Tahoe, I was anxious to share it with her. We stayed on the Nevada side at Zephyr Cove campground. The campground is very nice and fairly large. Our site, however, was right along the highway and quite noisy. It was okay though, since we didn’t hang around the campsite much.

The weather was clear and cool, but actually felt quite warm in the sunshine. Mary and I enjoyed hiking the Pacific Crest trail both north and south from Hwy 50. Hiking among the huge granite slabs with blue sky and blue water is breathtaking (especially at 8,000 ft elevation). I actually took the first hike of my life at Tahoe. The hike is a steep one-mile up granite slabs from Emerald Bay to Eagle Lake. At the age of sixteen my high school girlfriend and I started out with our picnic lunch and “Mickey Mouse” thermos. We never made it to Eagle Lake. Somehow, we lost the trail and got stuck on some very large boulders that are much easier to climb up than down. We turned back after “Mickey” fell off a boulder and got shattered to pieces. I finally made it to Eagle Lake almost 40 years later with Mary.

I always remember the Tahoe area as smelling especially “piney”. I finally found out why. I had always assumed that most of the pines were Ponderosas, but Mary discovered that the vast majority are Jeffrey pines. These pines are especially aromatic and if you stick your nose near the bark you can smell the aroma of butterscotch or vanilla. Neither of us had heard of Jeffrey pines before. As it turns out, Jeffreys are only prevalent in the High Sierras and are dominant over Ponderosas at higher elevations.

Tahoe is an interesting combination of exceptional natural beauty, tacky development, smoky noisy casinos, the clearest water I have ever seen in a large lake, broad open spaces, beautiful houses and bad traffic. The different communities around the lake each have their own character. Some are boating oriented, others snow skiing, the Stateline areas have the casinos, and there are a whole lot of small national forest campgrounds and beaches all around the lake. Except for the few large casinos most of the lodging options are small family owned motels and resorts with a few of the larger chain motels scattered about. Unfortunately the water is quite cold even in the height of summer, but boating, water skiing, sailing and beach going is very popular, and because the lake is so large (22 miles by 12 miles) it is never crowded on the water.

My sisters Margie, Cheryl and Tammy, and my brother Tim joined us for a few days. It was great to see them, and to relive some of the old Tahoe memories and stories. Margie’s daughter Christie and grandkids also joined us for an afternoon.

Mary and I bade farewell to Tahoe on September 20^th which also happens to be our anniversary. We weren’t sure how far we could drive, but our goal was to be in a place with some good restaurants for our anniversary dinner. Luckily, we were able to make it all the way to Bend, OR. Jack and Nancy had recommended the Pines Tavern Restaurant and we were finally able to eat there. The food was really good and they even gave us free Crème Brule!

This trip made us realize the wonderful natural and manmade diversity that California has to offer, and on a large scale too. Mary and I have both lived in California before and we don’t really want to live there again, but we do think it would be great to spend the better part of a year exploring the full-range of California, enjoying summer in the mountains, winter in the desert and spring or fall on the coast or in the vineyards. No other state has every climate and habitat like California does.

We got home on September 21^st and now it is time to prepare for fall and winter. We are scheduling an open house for the weekend of October 22-23 as a last-ditch effort to sell the house before winter sets in. We are having a contest to see if I can win the lottery before we sell the house. Right now it looks neck and neck.

The road to Yosemite

2011-09-15T21:45:00.000-07:00

Bob and I left our campsite at Mt. Lassen, uncharacteristically early so that we might have time to investigate Mono Lake after we arrived at our next campsite in the small town of Lee Vining, outside of Yosemite. It was a lovely day and the traffic was light that early, but between Reno and Carson City we had a blowout on the freeway. Fortunately it was a tire on the RV and we had a decent shoulder to pull off on. It took two hours for the tow truck to arrive and change the tire. We were unable to find a new one in Carson City on a Sunday, so we got a spot in a local RV park and had to wait until the tire stores opened on Monday morning.

On the way through Reno, before the tire POP, we had commented on a billboard that said that Kenny Loggins was in concert for that night ONLY. What a great way to spend the evening instead of being distressed about the tire and our delay. So we got tickets and went to the show, which was FANTASTIC!! Kenny, now 63, still has a perfect voice and tons of energy. He moved around the stage and the audience and did many old favorites. I once had tickets to see Kenny in San Francisco in 1986, but instead of going to the concert, I went to Yosemite with a friend from England. Now here I was on my way to Yosemite, and instead I went to see Kenny Loggins. Weird? Yes, but so exciting and serendipitous.

On Monday we got a new tire and landed at the RV park with enough time to visit Mono Lake. It’s quite an interesting place! Very salty water filled with brine shrimp and alkali flies. I did not enjoy the flies, but did see some interesting birds. Many migratory birds stop here to feed on the shrimp and flies during their long trip between the arctic and South America, and many California gulls from the coast nest here. The lake also has fantastic formations called tufas that build underwater where fresh water springs enter the salt water

Yosemite is truly spectacular. Tioga Pass is 9,945 feet and many of the upper park roads are above 8,000. We did some steep hikes at elevations up to and over10,000 feet and it is really tough for us sea-level folks. The Tuolumne meadows area is spectacular and filled with granite domes and steep cliffs. Bob and I loved the hike up Lembert Dome and we spent a few hours on the joint John Muir and Pacific Crest Trail where we came upon two deer who were eating mushrooms and were reluctant to leave their feast because two humans had entered the area.

Bob and I spent one day in upper Yosemite and one day in the valley. I have to admit that we didn’t like the valley as much. We hiked to Bridalveil Falls, Yosemite Falls and Vernal Falls, all of which were flowing like crazy. This is unusual in the fall, but we did have thunder and lightening storms yesterday. On our way into the park this morning we actually encountered snow on the road. There were lots of people in the valley and it was interesting to see that many were from Europe. We ran into a large group from the Czech Republic and several from the UK.

Next time we come to Yosemite, I think we’ll skip the valley and spend all of our time in Tuolumne Meadows and the upper park. We barely scratched the surface there.

Mt. Lassen - 10,457 feet

2011-09-10T23:17:00.000-07:00

I had visited Mt. Lassen Volcanic National Park in 1990 and had always wanted to return here. This was Bob’s first visit to this amazing and diverse park. We love it here!

Hiking is high on the agenda for this entire trip and there are so many wonderful and varied hikes. We started with the Lassen Peak trail, but after 1.3 miles the trail was closed for repairs. The views were superb but we were at about 9,500 feet and a strong cold wind was threatening to blow us off our feet. A nice ranger guarding the gate took our photo. We’ll have to come back and do the whole trip to the top another time.

We also ventured into Bumpass Hell, an area of bubbling mud pots, steam vents, fumaroles and boiling ponds, replete with the smell of sulphur. The hiss and thunder of the steam vents was quite erie. These thermal features are constantly changing and a reminder of how active this whole area still is. Mt. Lassen had major eruptions in 1914 and 1915, but it has been quiet since 1921.

At the higher elevations we encountered snowfields along the road and trails. Often we had to slog over these patches of snow even though it was hot and most of the trail was very dry and dusty. We did find several lush green meadows and fields of prolific wild flowers. Yes, “spring” has finally arrived here at Lassen in mid-September.

Lassen National Park is one of the few places on earth that has four types of volcanoes: composite, plug dome, cinder and shield. Around these various volcanic mountains are lakes, streams and forests of pine, fir and manzanita. We didn’t see much in the way of wildlife.

The most challenging and interesting hike at Lassen was Cinder Cone. The trail went almost straight up and was comprised of soft sand and cinder pebbles. But it was worth the climb! We had spectacular views of Mt. Lassen and were able to walk down into the cone. All around we could see the lava that flowed out from the bottom and also the painted sands that formed when hot cinders landed on them.

A ranger suggested we go into Redding and see the Sundial bridge, so one evening we did just that. They had a rib cook-off and free concert in the park nearby and we enjoyed wandering around. After dark we walked the pedestrian only bridge which spans the Sacramento river. My how it has grown since that gusher coming out of the park in Mt. Shasta! The bridge has a frosted glass deck that is lit from beneath and it is quite beautiful at night.

There are so many trails still unexplored here that I’m sure we will come back again. And we need to make the trek all the way to the top on that trail that was closed for repairs.

Mt. Shasta - 14,165 feet

2011-09-07T22:57:00.000-07:00

Bob and I decided to take one last road trip this summer before the cold weather sets in. We missed the California mountains on our big journey since it was winter on our way south in January 2010 and also on way home in April 2011, so this is our chance to visit those sites.

Our first stop was Mt. Shasta in northern California. We have both visited this area in the past, but this was our first time here together. Shasta is a mystical, magical mountain and draws spiritual seekers from all over the globe. We heard many foreign languages on the trails and even saw a group of monks and nuns at the highest parking lot.

This was such a late spring/summer in the west that we hadn’t been able to do any hiking in Washington until a few weeks ago when we did get to Mt. St. Helens and also to Mt. Rainier. Now we are at another volcano in the long chain that runs down the west. It was fabulous to get out on the trail to South Gate Meadow, which is high up on Mt. Shasta at about 9,000 feet. From the trail we could see Mt. Lassen in the distance and the coast range. We also visited Panther Meadow a little lower on the mountain. We are trying to adjust to the altitude, the heat and the dryness – all new concepts for us.

Right in the town of Mt. Shasta, is a city park where you will find water pouring out of the side of the hill. Locals come and fill their containers here with this precious clear water that has taken 50 years to filter through the mountain before gushing into a stream. This is the headwaters of the Sacramento river and we filled every empty container we had with this delicious water.

We also visited with Catherine who was on our dolphin trip this year. She owns a fantastic store in town called Soul Connections. If you find yourself in Mt. Shasta, don’t miss this amazing collection of books, gifts, musical instruments, clothes, etc. It’s right on the main street.

Bob and I also drove out to McCloud falls and hiked from the lower to the middle falls. It was lovely along the water and we enjoyed the respite from the high elevation of the mountain. Later that day we hiked at Castle Lake where Bob got to do a little swimming. This area reminded us very much of the Sierras.

We spent three nights here in Shasta and found the energy of the mountain to be very grounding and calming. I actually felt sleepy a lot. I was also drawn to look for Sasquatch on every trail and twist and turn in the mountain roads, but no luck – this time.

Central Oregon & Washington

2011-08-21T22:44:00.000-07:00

We really didn’t get to explore or experience central Oregon or Washington on our epic journey, but we were able to hit some of the highlights this August.

Estacada, Oregon

Mary’s brother Tom lives about an hour outside Portland in the cascade foothills near the small hamlet of Estacada. Tom and his wife Janice have a large spread with lots of animals and wonderful views of the surrounding mountains.

We had a nice visit with Tom and Janice, their great dogs, the horses, the pig, the turkeys, the peacocks, the emu, the chickens, the llamas, the zebu, and of course the cats. We just stayed one night and had a great breakfast of fresh eggs in the morning. Thanks, Tom and Janice!

Detroit Lake and Breitenbush Hot Springs, Oregon

Next stop was Detroit Lake State Park, a pretty large lake and a nice campground with full hook-up sites. We spent an afternoon at the lake and I got to add Detroit Lake to my list of swimming holes. But, the big attraction here is to go to Breitenbush Hot Springs. Our 5^th wheel is a bit too big for the Breitenbush campground. Breitenbush is a Hot Springs Retreat Center run by residents of the adjoining intentional community. They host countless retreats and seminars throughout the year, but you can also just visit on your own, or even just for the day.

Mary and I got a day pass and lunch. They serve three vegetarian meals per day and the food is great. The real draw is the hot springs. There are three stone pools set along a hillside path with the farthest one being the hottest and also a place of silence. At the bottom of the hill is a series of smaller round concrete hot tubs that also vary in temperature. In addition there is a cold dunk tub that can be quite exhilarating! The water is extremely clear and pure and has no sulfur odor. They also have a steam hut. All the hot springs facilities are clothing optional and most people (but not all) partake of the pools in the nude. The clientele ranges from young families to old geezers and everything in-between. It is a fun and interesting place.

Bend, Oregon

We thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality of Jack and Nancy Smith (my aunt and uncle on Deb’s side). They have a very nice house on 13 beautifully manicured acres just north of Bend. We parked our 5^th wheel there as a base for exploring Bend, and we got to spend some time with Jack and Nancy. We connected with Mary’s friends Candace and Ed and Harry and Anne. We hiked Todd Lake and Smith Rocks State Park, and toured the High Desert Museum and surrounding area. Bend really has grown (85,000 pop.) into a great little city. The setting on the eastern edge of the Cascade Mountains seems almost perfect. It has excellent access to lakes and mountain hiking and skiing but with the sun and warmth of the high desert. Neither Mary nor I had been to Bend for over fifteen years and both of us were very impressed. The area is definitely a must see if you love summer or winter.

Leavenworth and Cashmere, Washington

My niece Laura (on Deb’s side) was getting married in Cashmere on August 21, 2011. Laura had asked me to officiate the ceremony, making this my second wedding service in two years. The occasion brought most all of the Hall side of the family together for the first time since Deb’s memorial service. We staged a surprise 60^th wedding anniversary celebration for Bill and Audry and we shared some fun times in the “Bavarian” town of Leavenworth Washington. The wedding ceremony went well, Laura was a beautiful bride, and the weather was very warm and sunny.

Road Trip Recap

2011-06-16T15:30:00.000-07:00

Mary and I left Olympia on January 2, 2010 and returned home on April 15, 2011. It was quite a trip. We covered 44 states and put almost 50,000 miles on the truck (we estimate about 25,000 on the 5^th wheel).

Here are some observations:

The infrastructure stimulus money has vastly improved many thousands of miles of local, state and federal highways. We ran into road projects everywhere.
Northeast & New England roads are in the worst shape. The highways and surface streets were bumpy, rutted and full of potholes.
Asphalt is usually a smoother ride than concrete.
Turkey vultures and blue herons are everywhere (much to our surprise).
Raccoons are the most prolific road kill in all areas of the country. We did see many species though including a bear and a cougar.
Florida has the most specialized license plates – about 100.
There is a lot of empty land everywhere!
Bob likes wandering more than Mary.
There is a lot of potential in this country for wind energy.
Highest speed limit – 80 mph – west Texas I-10.
Canadian customs will take away your 22 rifle.
US Customs will take away your grapefruit.
There are wild bears in Florida.
Cougar warning signs are in most wilderness areas throughout the country, but the only one we saw was dead on I-10 in the California desert.
Best Burger chain – Five Guys.
Bridgeport CA (Hwy 395) had the country’s highest priced fuel ($5.39 diesel in April 2011).
Safeway is our favorite large grocery chain.
All “City Limit” signs should include population and elevation.
All deserts and most mountains used to be sea floors.
The desert really does feel like the ocean when you consider the wide open spaces and immensity of the landscape.
The large monolithic rock formations of the desert are like the whales of the ocean.
It is less scary going up than coming down.
A lot of trees seem to be having trouble and are dying.
The air, water bodies and landscapes are generally cleaner now than 30 years ago.
American architecture is better now than 40 or 50 years ago.
Old towns are usually more interesting than new towns.
Some places haven’t changed in 40-50 years.
The recent economic strife is visually evident almost everywhere.
Waffle House is fun to say, but is not a good place to eat.
There are still ashtrays at every table in some Kentucky restaurants.
Retail workers in western states seem happier and have a better customer service attitude than most other places.
It can be very difficult to nearly impossible to find a good latte in the vast majority of North America.
The quality of your RV park and space matters at least as much as where it is.
No matter where you are, or what you have, there is always something better, and there is always something crappier.
There is no place in the USA that is dark enough to see all the stars.
People are usually less scary than they look (they’d have to be).
Outdoor tiki bars are a lot less fun when the temperature is below 50 degrees.
Sailing really is more interesting than motoring.
With a decent guide book and the internet it is often quite easy to know more than the locals.
We missed our hairdresser and chiropractors more than we could have imagined.
The more time you spend in one place, the less you remember what you did.
Almost everyplace has an “historic downtown”.
The eastern mountains may not be tall, but they are certainly steep and rocky!
Boats and horses appear to be the most under utilized but well taken care of assets in America.
Monthly expenses to travel the country in an RV are about the same as living in a house in one place.
RV parks range in price from $25-$125 per night, but average around $40.
The size of our rig made it comfortable for us to live in it for over a year, but limited the places we could stay, especially in state or federal parks.
Many people told us it was their dream too, to travel the country for a year.
Political campaign ads on TV are nasty in all states.
There are very few places with good weather in the winter.

What’s Next?

Our trip made us realize that what we had missed spending the last 21-36 years in the Pacific Northwest was sunshine, hot weather and warm, clear water. We really appreciate Puget Sound, the forests, lush vegetation, and of course, our beautiful mountains.

Our journey allowed us to discover the wonderful beauty and clarity in the desolation of the desert, and to savor the freedom and pleasure of leaving for the day and not having to make sure you have a coat nearby. We thoroughly enjoyed the day-after-day sensuality of feeling the sun and warm breezes, and realizing that it can be warm even after the sun goes down.

Upon arriving home we spruced up the house and it is now for sale: http://www.nwwf.com/search/detail.cfm?cou=Thurston&ln=233896

We are not absolutely sure where we will end up, but we are thinking Southwest Florida, somewhere between Clearwater and Ft Meyers, most likely the Sarasota area and maybe even Longboat Key. The specific attraction of Southwest Florida is the accessibility of the salt water and the boating and sailing possibilities. Florida also provides easy access to the Caribbean. What Florida does not have is topography. There are NO mountains (or hills) and the hiking is mostly limited to nature trails in parks and wildlife refuges (at least in southern Florida). Beachcombing will have to replace hiking, biking will also be a good option, and we will have to make it a priority to get on (and into) the ocean often.

The fifth wheel will still be in the picture to help us escape from Hurricanes or possibly the humid heat of late summer. The road trip showed us that there are a thousand places in North America to explore warmly in summer, but there are only a few nice and warm winter escapes.

We love Puget Sound, but we are ready for a new chapter, and we are confident that friends and family will visit often, and that we will be able to help them explore new areas of the country.

The photos are Mary at a NW beach and Bob in SW Florida. Where do you want to be?

Home again

2011-04-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

The drive from Reno through the east side of the Sierras was wonderful. We found ourselves in Ponderosa Pine forests and broad meadows with gorgeous views of snowy peaks. Bob and I even got to see Mt. Lassen for a brief time. At higher elevations, the snow was still along the side of the road, but the road surface stayed clear and dry the whole way. Mt. Shasta was also out in all her glory.

As we crossed over the Siskiyou Summit into Oregon, it started to rain. Ah, the Pacific Northwest – looking and feeling just as it did 16 months ago. Everything was green, cold and very soggy. We spent a night at an RV park along I-5 in Oakland, OR, and headed for home in the morning. It was cold and still raining with very low cloud cover when we left, so the mountains were all hidden from us. No glimpses of Hood, St. Helens or Rainier. Boo Hoo.

When we arrived home, we found that our house sitter had been able to move out and there were clean sheets on the bed, so we didn’t have to stay out in Harriet as we had expected. It was chilly in the house, but so good to see Franny and Lester, my cats.

Poor Lester is in kidney failure and down to 7 pounds from his previous 16. We are glad to be here and spend some time with him before he goes.

Right now we are busy doing yard work, cleaning up the house and trying to settle back into the old homestead. There is so much to do! And the weather is so cold! It’s like February here instead of April.

We’ll sit down and do a recap blog in the next few weeks. Many blessings to you and we hope that you are having a wonderful spring.

Eastern Sierras and Reno

2011-04-13T13:39:00.000-07:00

If you ever have the chance to drive Hwy 395 from Reno to LA take it.

The road is good, and the scenery is great anytime of year. The Sierras from the east is a beautiful dramatic steep wall of granite. The high desert runs right to the base of forest topped granite walls. The area has also remained largely undeveloped and looks just like it did on the opening credits of “Then Came Bronson”.

We made a quick overnight stop at Keough Hot Springs before attempting the higher passes between Bishop and Reno. They have a few camping spots and the water in the large pools was very warm, but it could have been a little hotter for Mary. They did have a neat hot water spray over the main pool that was like a warm heavy rain.

In Bishop we stopped at the famous Schatt’s Bakery and loaded up on fresh bread and other goodies. After Bishop the road rises up to over 8000 feet and the snowy peaks were fantastic. We also drove through areas were the snow came right down to the road. The visitor center at Mono Lake was closed, but we spent a little time looking at the lake and enjoying the view.

It was a lot of fun visiting with my sister Margie and her family in Reno. My brother Tim from Auburn, CA even made a trip over the pass to visit with everyone for a couple of days. We stayed in the RV park at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino and we were delighted to see that they were hosting a dog show this week. The RV next to us had five giant mastiffs and two boston terriers, and there were dogs walking around everywhere.

We had planned to leave Reno today, but due to snow and high winds in the passes, we stayed for one more day. The front brought the temps down and it is pretty cold, in the low 40s mid-day. The weather should be better tomorrow for our drive through the Sierras to Oregon.

Family in Camarillo, CA

2011-04-10T13:34:00.000-07:00

Once we got through Banning Pass with all the windmills, it was kind of nostalgic for me (Bob) to drive through the LA basin. I grew up in Thousand Oaks, which is about 50 miles north of downtown LA, and about 15 miles northwest of the edge of the LA basin. From San Bernardino to Woodland Hills it’s just one huge metropolis with nearly identical municipalities following one after the other. The same stores, the same restaurants, the same bland architecture, and the same bumpy concrete freeways. Yet, there were some highlights. Pasadena at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains is a green, well-treed Victorian oasis amid the urban sprawl, and it IS fun to see the famous vestiges of Hollywood wiz by as you drive down the freeway.

Once out of the San Fernando Valley, and into the Conejo Valley where Thousand Oaks is, it was amazing to still be able see the same undeveloped hills and trails where I rode motorcycles as a teenager. Spring is the best time in Southern California, especially, if they have had some rain and wind. The hills are green and the sky is clear. Southern California mountains are really beautiful when they aren’t all brown and obscured by the summertime haze and pollution.

North of Thousand Oaks, Hwy 101 drops down onto the coastal plain in Camarillo. This area was almost 100% agriculture in the 1960’s. It has seen a lot of development, but there is still a surprisingly large amount of agriculture still in operation. In the few days we were here, they were harvesting, celery, cabbage, broccoli and strawberries. And, everyone seems to have orange, lemon and avocado trees in their backyards.

We were here to visit my sister and nephew. My nephew’s fiancé recently passed away, and we wanted to spend some quiet time with them. It was good to just be with them for a while and offer some support. We all went out to Lake Casitas near Ojai for a picnic on the boat, but it was too cold and windy to go out on the water.

We’ll be heading home via Reno to visit my oldest sister and her two daughters that live in the area. We missed them last winter because of bad weather. We were going to take our time and stop in Bend, Oregon and visit Breitenbush Hot Springs, but Mary’s 18 year-old cat Lester is experiencing kidney failure and we will head right home after a couple of days in Reno.

Borrego Springs - again

2011-04-06T13:29:00.000-07:00

This is the third time Bob and I visited Borrego Springs on this trip, and it is the only place with that distinction. There is something so sweet and funny about this little town in the desert that we keep coming back. The weather was warm and sunny and although the wild flowers were past their peak, we still saw lots of things in bloom. We even managed to find an early agave bloom that stood about 12 feet tall.

We hiked up Palm Canyon like we did on our first trip here and once again found the beehive in the rock wall. There were way more bees now than last year. We also saw 5 Peninsular Big Horn Sheep hanging out on top of the ridge for the few hours we were in the canyon.

We had some interesting neighbors at the Palm Canyon Resort. A group from Oshkosh Industries (not the overalls) was here to test the prototype vehicles that will be replacing the HumVee for the Army. These four door units seemed very stout with high ground clearance, heavy armor and small strong windows. We managed to get few pictures while they were parked.

A new treat for us was the trip over the hill, through Anza Borrego State Park to the mountain town of Julian. The hills in the mountains were covered in yellow flowers, blooming yuccas and blue flowering shrubs. We spent a few hours walking around town and had lunch at the famous Julian Pie Company. It WAS the best fruit pie of our whole adventure. (I’d still give the chocolate pecan pie in Dorr County, Wisconsin the blue ribbon for all pies.) It was quite cool up in Julian, around 58 compared to 82 down in the valley where we were camped.

We planned to bike around Borrego on our last day to enjoy the cactus blooms and nice flat roads, however a big storm was predicted with high winds and gusts to 75 mph, with zero visibility. That caused us to get up early, buy a few bags of delicious grapefruit at the local stand and head for the hills. We made it through the pass north of Palm Springs with only moderate wind as we hit the road for Camarillo, CA to visit Bob’s sister and his nephew.

Sedona

2011-04-02T23:19:00.000-07:00

Sedona is a very unique and wonderful place that Bob and I just adore! Driving in you are greeted by red and white rock walls and spires, and with each mile the vistas change and expand. It is a dynamic and ever changing view.

We were anxious to see how we felt about Sedona after our winter in Florida. We still love it! So this makes our decision about where to relocate even harder. I had hoped that we would not be as enthralled as we have been in the past, but no such luck.

The thing we love the most about Sedona is the hiking trails. They are everywhere and this time we experienced a host of new ones. We were very surprised by the West Fork Trail that runs through a thick pine forest along a branch of Oak Creek. As we climbed to over 5,000 feet we ran into pockets of snow along the path, which was quite odd when the temps in town were in the low 80s. We had many water crossings on this hike that were really challenging, but we made it back with dry feet.

Bob is not a big fan of snakes and is always on alert in areas where snakes live. In our year on the road, we had only seen two snakes and neither of them were poisonous, but this week we encountered a three-foot long rattlesnake on the trail. So Bob finally got to experience a wild and deadly snake, that didn’t even rattle at us. He just slowly moved to the side of the trail. I got a few pictures before we turned around and let him have that path.

The weather here was perfect, sunny with blue skies and daytime highs in the upper 70s and low 80s. We saw the hottest days of 2011 so far.

Besides enjoying the many restaurants here, we made some new friends. We were able to meet and spend some time with Linda, from Dolphin Heart World. We also reconnected with a lovely couple we met at Lake Powell last year. They said they lived in Sedona and might be interested in moving to the northwest. We said we live in the northwest and might be interested in moving to Sedona. They have a fantastic estate here in Sedona, and have put heir home on the market. It’s definitely out of our price range, so no swap in the making.

Bob and I did spend an afternoon looking at homes with a realtor. The prices have really come down in the last two years, but we didn’t find one that we couldn’t live without. We still have some thinking to do about the Sarasota versus Sedona decision. It’s funny how we can be so attracted to such different places.

Jerry

2011-03-31T10:40:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, Bob and I bought a little beavertail cactus in Borrego Springs, that we named Jerry. We had fallen in love with this species and their gorgeous fuchsia blossoms. Jerry has traveled with us for the past year, enduring cold and rainy times, days locked up in the 5^th wheel, and even a week in the truck bed while we were on our sailing adventure. At times we wondered if the little guy would survive all the climates and change that we put him through.

Not only did Jerry survive, but about a month ago, he started sprouting a new arm! Then another little bud started near his base. These two buds were growing daily.

When we drove down to So Padre Island, we left Jer on our picnic table in the sun. We felt he would be safe there, but when we returned, we found that someone had been nibbling on his new appendages. I was heartsick. Poor Jerry! All of his growth energy is now being directed to healing, so the buds have stopped growing.

Bob and I felt very bad for the little guy, but he seems to be OK. Next week we’ll be in his hometown of Borrego for a few days and we hope that gives him renewed strength. And we hope to again see some large stands of blooming beavertail cactus.

The Road to Sedona

2011-03-26T10:33:00.000-07:00

Mary and I made two one-night stops on our way to Sedona.

The first was at a destination restaurant outside El Paso called Cattleman’s Steakhouse at Indian Cliffs Ranch. We were able to stay overnight in the parking lot. This place is 20+ minutes southeast of El Paso and includes a zoo area where diners wander around while you are waiting for your table. We saw goats, buffalo, longhorn cattle (of course), llamas, donkeys, rattlesnakes, rabbits, peacocks, fallow deer and mouflon sheep.

I first saw this place on the travel channel and thought we would give it a try since it was a nice day’s drive from Austin. The steaks were excellent but the menu was a little odd. There were no salads of any kind available. All meals came with choice of potato, rice or corn then beans, rolls and coleslaw. No other vegetables, no green salad. I guess that’s the way they do it in west Texas.

Our next stop was at Kartchner Caverns State Park in Arizona. We stayed here last year and toured the living cavern. This time we were just making an overnight stop and it happened to be the night they were having an astronomy Star Party. Several amateur astronomers from across the state were there with telescopes to show visitors what could be seen in a clear dark sky away from the light pollution of large cities.

We had a very good time seeing the rings and moons of Saturn, the core stars and clouds of gas in the Orion Nebula, and the disk shaped star clusters of galaxies M51 and M82. We also looked at Sirius and the Pleiades star cluster. It was glorious!

In the afternoon, we also saw the Sun through a specially filtered telescope and you could see several dark areas of sun spots.

We usually try to avoid one-night stopovers because you really don’t get a chance to do anything, but these two stops kept us from having a 12+ hour drive, and we actually got do something worthwhile and have a little fun.

Big Bend National Park

2011-03-25T06:33:00.000-07:00

Several times on this trip, Bob and I have been told to visit Big Bend National Park. It really wasn’t on our radar screen since it’s in the bottom SW corner of Texas, very far from anywhere, but we thought after all the comments, we should come.

Big Bend is over 800,000 acres of diversity. It includes 118 miles of the Rio Grande and a shared border with Mexico. We took a trail down to the river and were surprised to see that it was so low that we could easily walk across to Mexico. The rest of the park is Chihuahuan desert and the Chisos Mountains, ranging from 2000 – 8000 feet in elevation. Even though it is a huge park, not a lot of people visit and it remains a true wilderness.

Last year, Bob and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about and identifying desert plants. As we headed into this area, we were excited to see many old friends – cactus, ocotillo, yucca, sotol, agave, creosote bush and honey mesquite, but things are very dry this year and the desert bloom has yet to happen. Even some cacti are starting to dry up and a ranger told us that the fire danger right now is extreme. Everywhere we went, we wished we had water to offer to the plants. On one little hike, we spotted a lizard on a rock. We stopped to say HI and on our way back, noticed he was still there. I quietly explained that I was going to leave him some water, and slowly poured some into a depression in the rock he was sunning on. As soon as we stepped back, he entered the newly formed pool and drank. Finally we were able to help a little guy in need.

Big Bend is a remote wilderness and while it is dry and hot, there are still some big predators here. Black bears and cougars had been seen several times this week, but we weren’t one of the lucky observers. We didn’t see any fox or javelinas either, but got several coyote serenades during the night. This area is also home to hundreds of bird species throughout the year and we spotted three roadrunners.

After our winter in Florida with beach walks at sea level, I was anxious to get out and hike in the mountains. I knew it would be a challenge, but we made an 1100-foot climb ending with a fantastic view at over 6500 feet on the Lost Mine Trail. It was a little cooler at that elevation and there were also pinion pines along the trail for shade.

It has been very hot during our two days in Big Bend with temps near 100 during the day and dropping only to 65 at night. We actually ran our air conditioner in the RV for about 6 hours one day, something we rarely do. It has also been very dry and dusty. Hard to believe when we watch the weather channel and hear about snowstorms still hitting the NE and West Coast mountains.

There are so few visitors in the park that we kept running into the same people. We chatted with one nice couple from Napa on the mountain trail and had seen another couple from WA in the same parking lot. The next day we ran into both groups again!

Last year we were so happy to get to the desert after enduring the cold wet winter in Washington and Northern California. This year, coming from wintering over in Florida the desert seems a little too dry. After a couple more stops we will be in Sedona again. It will be interesting to see how Sedona feels this time around.

Alpine – Ft Davis Texas

2011-03-22T06:27:00.000-07:00

Mary and I stopped in Alpine, Texas for a couple of days to visit Ft. Davis and the Davis Mountains. This area is known to me as the home of the McDonald Observatory of the University of Texas. I know this because the NPR Star Date programs originate from there. If you listen to National Public Radio I know you would recognize the voice of Sandy Wood. Her daily program is just a few minutes of astronomy facts usually centered on what’s currently happening in the night sky.

McDonald Observatory was created in the 1930’s. The site is very remote and therefore has very dark skies. The main telescope was instrumental in preparing for the moon landings. As part of the moon missions a small reflector was left on the moon. Scientists can shoot a laser beam to the reflector to get a precise measurement of distance and have been able to conclude that the moon is moving further away from earth.

The newest telescope uses a series of mirrors that are shaped like mosaic tiles and put together to form the light gathering surface, rather than a single optic mirror like most traditional telescopes. The old days of looking through eyepieces are gone. The information is now fed directly to computer screens.

It is still unbelievable to me how they can determine mass, distance and composition of distant celestial objects just from analyzing light.

Speaking of unbelievable things, Alpine is just up the road from Marfa, Texas, home to the famous “Marfa Lights”. The Marfa Lights are UFO’s that occur quite regularly (several times per year), and at the same location. The highway department has even erected a very nice concrete and stone viewing platform complete with restrooms and red lights to preserve your night vision. We did see some of the Marfa lights…off to the southwest a winding highway runs through the hills and car lights seem to move mysteriously and go on and off as the cars go around curves. But the real Marfa Lights are oddly moving balls of lights to the south and east. While we were there, a researcher and author was set up with his recording cameras and he said the real lights are not cars or anything else easily explained or faked. People have observed them since the 1930s. Even though we didn’t see them, we still believe, and look for UFO’s every chance we get. Because of the exceptionally clear skies here, we were able to catch great views of the recent super moon, and some very starry skies in the days following before moonrise.

Ft Davis National Historical Site is a very well preserved frontier fort along the Butterfield Overland route between San Antonio and El Paso. The fort was active during the Civil War, and after protected the locals and travelers from Indian Raids from out of the North. Following the Civil War, regiments of black cavalrymen, known as Buffalo Soldiers were stationed here from 1867 to 1885. The first black graduate of West Point, Henry O. Flipper, was one of the soldiers. In other places on the trip we have seen references to the Buffalo Soldiers, but not a lot details. Here, they had many photos, artifacts and explanations of the black soldiers’ way of life. They often endured racism from white officers and townspeople, but they served with distinction.

The Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Garden is just outside Ft Davis. It was very windy the day we visited, so that limited our enthusiasm for hiking, but we had a great walk along their nature trail to the cactus greenhouse. The nature trail was fantastic because almost every bush and tree was labeled. I can’t tell you how many “botanical gardens” we have been to that don’t even label most of the plants! The cactus green house was a particular delight with several cacti in bloom. They had over 200 varieties of cacti in the greenhouse. As you know by now, Mary and I have grown quite fond of cacti and other desert plants.

The weather is warming up we are getting a lot of sun with temperatures in the mid 80’s+. We are liking the heat, but the wind and dust is not a lot of fun.

South Padre Island & San Antonio

2011-03-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

My mom’s sister spends her winters in Port Isabel, just across the bridge from South Padre Island on the southernmost Texas gulf coast. I had visited her many years ago and wanted to take Bob down there while we were in the area, so we left the 5^th wheel in Austin and drove the six hours south. We were happy to see wild flowers blooming along the freeway and the yuccas are in bloom! We fell in love with these gigantic flowers in the desert last year.

Bob and I had a great time relaxing, eating pie, fabulous fish and shrimp and touring the area. We visited the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge where we saw several new birds, but were unable to spot an ocelot or jaguarundi. This is one of the few places these endangered cats still survive in the USA. We also loved a little local church with a seaside motif.

South Padre is a barrier island in the Padre Island National Seashore that runs from Corpus Christi to Port Isabel. Only the southern 5 miles has a road and beyond that are pristine dunes and sandy beaches. Spring break was in full swing on South Padre Island when we spent an afternoon at the beach and had lunch in a local waterfront pub. There were thousands of college kids everywhere. Bob enjoyed the bikini scenery and aunt Terry and I sampled some exotic drinks.

On our way back to Austin, we stopped in San Antonio. Bob had visited there once in the 1980’s and thought it would be a good place for lunch. The “river walk” area is a great winding maze of restaurants and shops. It is a little like Disneyland with boat tours running down the river, but when you consider its age, it is a fine testament to its designer. A local architect had the vision of lining the San Antonio river with stone walls, trees and walkways in the 1930’s. The River Walk was completed in 1941. The river channeling system also serves some flood control purposes. San Antonio is home to a lot of Texas History including the Alamo and some very well preserved churches and cathedrals from the 1700’s. We only spent a couple of hours there and barely scratched the surface, but it seemed like a very livable city.

Austin, TX

2011-03-20T08:34:00.000-07:00

Austin is the capital of Texas. It is a great mix of major college town (University of Texas 50,000 students), political city, high tech metropolis and old time western honky tonk town. Music venues seem to be everywhere, even more so than Nashville, and encompassing a broader array of styles. Our stop here just happened to coincide with South by Southwest, Austin’s annual music and film festival, so the town was hopping!

Downtown is an eclectic mix of new high rises, expansive parks along the river, bars and barbeque joints and funky college oriented shops. Restaurants run from upscale hip, to funky new wave to food trailers scattered throughout the city including Hey Cupcake Airstream Trailers. Austin is definitely a good town for foodies, with almost anything you could ask for.

People seem very friendly for the most part, and Austin has a pretty comfortable atmosphere for a large city (800,000 population). The residential neighborhoods right near downtown still have single-family homes. You can find older bungalows right next door to trendy remodels and architecturally dramatic new homes. The suburbs are more typical of what you may find anywhere, but the heart of the city seems truly unique.

Mary’s close friend Shoshana moved to Austin last year. She is still settling in, but seems to really enjoy the variety and unique aspects of the city. She showed us around and gave us a good feel for the place. Mary and Shoshana taught an animal communication workshop one weekend.

We went to a live show called Esther’s Follies - a very fast-paced collection of skits, songs and magic acts. The material changes regularly, but the show has been running continuously since 1984. The stage backdrop is a window that opens right onto the street and passers by are often caught up in the action. Some of the cast even goes out on to the sidewalk with props and signs as part of the show. The show was very funny, intelligent and clever and the magic stunts were fantastic. We had a great time.

Congress Street Bridge is a rather long span across the Colorado River that winds through downtown, but it is not THE Colorado River. In a renovation project in the 1980’s, several inch or so wide slits were cut longitudinally into the underside of the bridge decking. These small crevices turned out to be great roosting spaces for bats. Hundreds of thousands of bats now roost and raise their young from mid-March until fall. The nightly spectacle of up to 1.5 million bats flying out from under the bridge draws quite a crowd of locals and tourists. Mary and I watched them the night before the full moon.

We also made a couple of excursions into the Texas Hill Country, west of Austin. Lake Travis is a suburban area of new commercial and residential development. The lake is also a center for recreational boating, but the water level is currently pretty low. We visited a couple of very nice small towns. Wimberley is a small artist community, and Fredericksburg is a German heritage town. Both were very nice with some good restaurants and interesting architecture. This area is also where Lyndon B Johnson grew up and had his ranch.

The geography and vegetation reminded me of the area of Southern California where I grew up, Thousand Oaks. Oak trees, dry grasses and brush dominate, only in Southern California the brush is Chaparral, and in the Hill Country it is Juniper Bushes/Trees or Cedars as they call them here. The topography is rolling hills as you might expect, but there is one magnificent feature that is quite unexpected. Enchanted Rock State Park encompasses a couple of very large monolithic pink granite boulders that rise up 425 feet from the surrounding landscape, almost like Ayers Rock in the outback of Australia. To Mary and I, the rocks seem to be the remains of a magma core from a very large caldera. When on the rock you can see a surrounding rim on the horizon that would make the caldera tens of miles wide. It is quite easy to hike the ¾ mile trail to the summit…you just walk right up the side. The rock surface is so grippy that you can literally walk up (and down) vast areas of the rock. It is also easy to experience the profound energy of the place as you lie on your back and close your eyes or gaze into the sky. While the rock is mostly bare, erosion pockets in the surface catch water and dirt and support a surprising variety of plant life. If you are in the area, Enchanted Rock is definitely a must see.

The weather has been fantastic during our two weeks here, mid 80’s during the day and low 60’s at night. Next we’ll be heading toward Big Bend and west Texas.

Starting to Head Home

2011-03-06T19:42:00.000-08:00

We left south Florida on March 1^st along with a lot of other RV’ers The regular snowbirds are heading back to Ohio, Indiana, etc, but this year I bet it feels a little early given the national weather scene. The south Florida weather was just getting the way Mary likes it - warm both day and night. We really liked the west coast of Florida from Clearwater to Naples, especially the Sarasota area. The downtown is very nice and the beaches on the islands of Longboat Key, Lido Key, Siesta Key and Anna Maria Island are fantastic.

Our first stop northwestward was at Carrabelle Beach at the beginning of the Florida panhandle. The weather was definitely cooler. We figured out that Spring Break seems to be the beginning of the high season for north Florida, and the end of the high season for south Florida. The sand was still nice (top photo), and the water in this area was clear, but ‘tea’ colored. We took a nice long walk along the beach that was just across the street from our RV park and encountered several dolphins in the shallow waters right along the shoreline. They were chasing fish, and sometimes made quite a splash just few feet from the beach. Every time we see them they warm our hearts, and bring smiles to our faces.

Next day, we drove along the shore from Carrabelle to Pensacola. The bay and Gulf waters around Destin Beach were beautiful, very clear and blue/green similar to south Florida. We also drove through Biloxi Mississippi to our overnight stop at the Hollywood Casino RV Park in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi. This area was hard hit by the Hurricanes of 2005. The result is a lot of vacant properties and a few remnants of damage, but there are also some very nice new buildings and infrastructure. There has really been an effort to rebuild the downtowns and many of the areas have some great new schools and public buildings to go with the new commercial buildings. The residential areas are an odd mix of vacant lots, fantastic new homes, some old “survivors” and only a very few derelict houses.

We visited New Orleans for a day to check-out the Mardi Gras action. Getting around New Orleans during Mardi Gras week is tough, but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. We drove through a very crowded French Quarter, ate lunch in the Garden District, and then made it back to the French Quarter where we even managed to get a decent parking spot. Walking around the French Quarter was very interesting with lots of people and stores made up in Mardi Gras regalia. People were friendly and having fun. The city actually reminded me a bit of Seattle. There is a public market down by the waterfront (Mississippi River), some of the architecture is reminiscent of Pioneer Square, but the beautiful iron work and balcony’s of the French Quarter are truly unique. As you drive into the city on I-10 from the east you can really see large areas of Katrina damage. A lot of large vacant lots, a few new commercial buildings and a lot of damaged residential areas. The French Quarter was not hit hard by Katrina.

Driving west through Louisiana, Mary and I ran into a strong cold front and waited out a few tornado warnings in a truck stop. We later found out that tornados struck about 50 miles west of us. We made it through fine, but have certainly gained a healthy respect for severe weather especially considering we are towing a 35ft long, 13ft tall trailer behind us.

After adding three more states to our map (Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana) we crossed over into Texas. We are now stopping over in Beaumont. This area is where oil was first discovered in Texas. The greater Beaumont, TX/Lake Charles, LA area has a very large concentration of oil refineries and related industries. We made a short day-trip down to a wildlife area along the Gulf near Port Arthur. It was a bit odd to drive through heavy industrial areas and refineries on our way to a wildlife refuge. The Gulf shoreline in this area is miles and miles of marsh with brown sand (bottom photo) and very shallow near shore areas with off-shore oil drilling platforms on the horizon. We did see some shorebirds, but all in all the area has a very industrial feel to it.

We are looking forward to exploring Austin for a couple of weeks. We’ll be visiting with Shoshana, one of Mary’s closest friends. We were sad to say goodbye to the ‘summer’ weather of south Florida, but we are hopeful for a good spring in the southwest.

Fort Myers & Sarasota

2011-02-28T19:26:00.000-08:00

Bob and I moved up to Fort Myers for a few days. The downtown is modern and new, thanks to Hurricane Charlie in 2004. Fort Myers is called the Palm City, and the streets are all lined with gorgeous royal palms. It has a wonderful tropical look.

We especially enjoyed exploring the three barrier islands in the Gulf off Fort Myers. The island of Fort Myers Beach is a typical beach town much like you would find in the northeast with ice cream and t-shirt shops everywhere. It is now the start of college spring breaks, and also winter breaks for other schools, so the crowds are increasing and the traffic here was intense.

Sanibel and Captiva Islands are the jewels of this area. They both have limited development with no high rises. This is a relief after the waterfront developments on Marco Island near Naples. Captiva’s beaches are white with delicate pink shells everywhere and long stretches of natural areas. Sanibel had more homes and businesses but the beaches were the same. Bob and I watched three dolphins fishing in the shallows along the shore on Sanibel for more than an hour. We were tempted to walk out into the water, but didn’t want to disturb them or scare the fish away. It was quite a show.

We had a wonderful time at the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island. This world famous refuge is home to a wide variety of water birds. We got close to Roseate Spoonbills and many egrets. It is a birders paradise.

After Fort Myers we headed up to Sarasota for a few days. This area also has beautiful barrier islands and we checked out all the beaches on Siesta Key, Lido Key, Longboat Island and Anna Maria Island. The county has done a great job of providing many public beaches with ample parking. It’s really interesting how the sand varies just a little on each beach. Some are powdery, others more coarse, some have shells, but they are all white and pristine. There is no visual evidence of the Gulf oil spill in southern Florida. I am so glad to see this.

Downtown Sarasota is really nice with lots of great restaurants. The people are friendly and the attitude is mellow. I would also love to get involved and volunteer at the nearby Mote Marine Lab with dolphin and turtle rehab.

The weather has been fabulous for the past three weeks – highs in the mid 80s and lows in the mid 60s. This is exactly what I am looking for in a new home. Bob also appreciates the great warm clear water for swimming and boating. Could this be the place?

Naples, FL

2011-02-23T19:44:00.000-08:00

Bob and I spent the last 11 days in Naples, FL and it is finally WARM!!! I love it – low 80s during the day and 60s at night. I know a lot of you have been struggling and suffering with snow and below freezing temperatures, but here on the Suncoast of Florida it is glorious.

Naples is a very beautiful town, with no high rises, a very chic and upscale downtown area, and gigantic homes along the canals. We tried several outstanding restaurants and celebrated Valentines Day and Bob’s birthday in style. We also sampled the powdery white beaches of Naples and Marco Island. I loved the delicate shells, long flat stretches to walk and all the wonderful seabirds. I finally got to see a few flocks of black skimmers hanging out with royal terns. I have been looking for these birds for two months.

Inland from Naples are many wonderful wildlife areas that we explored. In Big Cypress National Preserve we saw more alligators than we could count, manatees and tons of birds. I really enjoy seeing all the egrets, storks, herons, ibis, and woodland birds, but I am getting tired of the thousands of osprey. They nest on every available pole, tree or fence. Bob and I took a short hike in the Florida Panther Wildlife Refuge and saw a black racer snake, a deer that didn’t want to step off the trail, and a pile of black bear scat, but no panthers. This is the last habitat for these highly endangered cats and the nearby freeway has very tall fences to keep them from getting hit by cars.

Bob has been waiting all year to attend the Miami Boat Show, so we drove across the state (2 hours) and spent the day at the show. We saw lots of sailing catamarans and a few power cats too, but we didn’t buy anything. Bob is still hoping that we will do that some day. While we were in Miami, we had a fun dinner with my friend Shoshana who was there with family.

My friends Cheshta and Sudas were sick of the snowy cold weather in Cape Cod and drove down to spend five days with us in sunny Naples. We had a great time together walking on the beaches and birding. We spent a lovely day at the Audubon Corkscrew Sanctuary, a popular birding spot. Chesh picked up quite a few new birds for his lifetime list and so did I. We also rented a boat one afternoon and cruised around the mangrove lined waterways, had a picnic on a lovely sandy beach, followed some dolphins around and toured the mansion lined canals. Bob and I saw quite a few houses we wouldn’t mind living in.

Dunedin

2011-02-12T17:27:00.000-08:00

Bob and I moved across the state this week to a small Scottish town on the Gulf Coast, west of Tampa, called Dunedin. It has a charming downtown, expansive views of the gulf and we were lucky to get the only site available for a week in a very nice RV park. The gulf coast is extremely popular in the winter months and we found it hard to get a spot in any RV park that was close to the water. We also picked this park because it had a really great pool area and was a block from the Pinellas Trail, a paved walking and biking trail that is over 40 miles long.

Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to use the pool at all, and only biked once, due to the cold weather. We also got 1.5 inches of rain the first two days we were here, so we are back to winter weather in Florida. We are SO thankful that we got that great warm week when we were sailing.

One rainy blustery day, we drove down to Sarasota, about 90 minutes south, to explore that area and have lunch with an old friend of mine. Larry and I worked together in Minneapolis in the early 1970s and he married a close friend. We hadn’t seen each other in almost 30 years and it was great to reconnect.

Bob and I are really impressed with the white sand beaches of this coast. Clearwater beach is sparkly and clean, the Siesta Key beaches near Sarasota were soft and like powdered sugar and the islands off Dunedin have spectacular natural beaches. They are flat and perfect for long walks.

While in this area, we have been driving around looking at houses that are currently on the market. We haven’t settled yet on a place we would like to live, but it’s always interesting to see what our dollar will buy in each area. Prices are a little higher over here than on the north and central east coast, but there are still many foreclosures and some good bargains.

Wherever we might move, it’s important that I have a wildlife group I can plug into. Mote Marine Lab in Sarasota has volunteer opportunities in their marine mammal rehab department, and so does the Clearwater Aquarium near Tampa. Both coasts have manatees, dolphins, and turtle nesting seasons.

Bob and I visited the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary just a few miles from our RV park. They care for more than 70 animals, and over half of them are 65+ years of age, including Cheetah the chimp from the original Tarzan movies. This little facility struggles to make ends meet and could use a total makeover. While it was nice to visit with chimps, orangutans, baboons and over 10 species of monkeys, I found this place depressing. It was clear the animals were cared for, and the organization is dedicated and doing their best, but I couldn’t watch these lovely animals in their small chain link prisons. If I win the lottery…..

Catamaran Sailing

2011-02-06T09:16:00.000-08:00

For quite some time now, I have been very interested in large sailing catamarans. I love the thought of exploring shallow areas, sleeping and eating onboard in comfortable accommodations, and I like the idea of being powered quietly by the wind.

I think that for a lot of us, the notion of self-sufficiency is very comforting and attractive. Sometimes it’s the concept of a few acres, off the grid, growing and raising your own food (Mary’s concept). Lately, for me, it’s the idea of being in a wind powered craft with the ability to travel the world and presumably catch your own food, moving from one idyllic spot to another as suits your fancy.

I did some “crewing” on sailboats in college, but have never captained a sailboat. I am pretty experienced with small power boats including water skiing and cruising Puget Sound with overnights at mooring buoys and marinas on our 22ft cabin cruiser.

I have been looking forward to chartering a catamaran in the tropics. To do that you must know how to sail, and it helps to have a certificate. So, I found a week-long live-aboard catamaran sailing course out of Ft Lauderdale. After some cajoling, Mary graciously agreed to not only accompany me, but also to get certified as well. This was a big step for Mary. She hasn’t had much hands-on boating or sailing experience, and wasn’t too keen on having to be tested on things she wasn’t all that excited about.

The week before our trip, south Florida was cold and rainy with strong winds. We were a little concerned, but the weather turned out great - sunny and warm with mostly light winds, and one day of moderate wind. Our instructor was perfect, a very experienced and knowledgeable guy in his mid-forties with a professional but laid-back approach.

The three of us had a 41ft Lagoon Catamaran all to ourselves for six days. We sailed from Ft Lauderdale to Key Largo stopping at Boca Chica, and Little Card Sound on the way down. Then we overnighted at Gilbert’s in Key Largo where we even got to dance and sing Karaoke. On the way back we anchored just off Key Biscayne and then sailed out into the ocean to catch the northbound current of the Gulf Stream back up to Ft Lauderdale.

We saw several large schools of man-o-war jellyfish, pods of bottlenose dolphins almost every day, some wonderfully clear blue water and a couple of great sunsets.

We did very well on our four written tests and we both got 99’s on the last one. Mary and I sailed the boat on the two-day return trip from Key Largo (that’s the practical test). The instructor spent most of the return trip below deck reading Mary’s book. He would come up every once in a while to make sure we were doing ok, and to ask Mary questions about Granny, orcas and telepathic communication.

We are now certified to bareboat charter a sailing catamaran. It was great to spend some time on the boat to explore all the nooks and crannies, and to determine the important things to look for in a boat that we might charter, like large “heads” (toilets) and ample storage and passageways. British Virgin Islands - here we come.

Mary and I also met up with one of my nephews that I hadn’t seen in probably 30+ years. We had lunch with Tim in Ft Lauderdale on our way to our sailing class. It was great to see him and find him doing so well. After the sailing course he made us some absolutely wonderful oatmeal cookies with white chocolate, dark chocolate and some great spices. He should market the things. They are better than any cookie we have ever had. Mary is still wishing we had more.

Key West/Everglades

2011-01-29T09:08:00.000-08:00

We left Harriett, our 5^th wheel, in Sebastian and headed to Key West where Mary taught a workshop as a fundraiser with the local ASPCA. The class was very successful with twenty terrific students, two dogs, a rabbit, an anole lizard and a sugar glider in class on the second day.

We stayed with a very nice and hospitable friend and client of Mary’s who has a sweet little guest cottage right in the heart of Key West which is great town. It is touristy, but the unique mix of scenery, architecture, tropical plants, and the historical (fishing/shrimping) and modern culture (margaritaville/gay scene) are fascinating.

It was definitely warmer in south Florida and especially Key West than in northern or central Florida. The water on both sides of the Keys are protected from ocean swells and heavy surf by reefs on the Atlantic side and an extensive shallow shelf on the Gulf side. The weather was a bit rainy while we were there so it limited our ability to enjoy the water, but we had fun exploring the town and eating some great shrimp.

On the way back up we went to the Everglades National Park. We stopped at a small lake where Roseate Spoonbills were nesting. At the Flamingo Visitor Center we spotted three manatees and two very large crocodiles (yes crocodiles). On our first hike, we trekked out to a bay hoping to see a huge flock of shorebirds, but the tide was out and the birds were way off in the distance. It was great to hike 3.2 miles in the Everglades and not see any snakes. We also crossed their highest pass.

On our last hike on the Anhinga Trail we saw nesting Anhinga birds, vultures, wood storks and many other wonderful and exotic birds, but the highlight was several alligators of all shapes and sizes. Some were in the water, others along the pond shoreline and a few even up on the dry grass. The ¾ mile path and boardwalk through the area offered some fantastic views of these wild creatures.

We also stopped to visit one of Mary’s favorite roadside attractions. Coral Castle is a garden of sculptures and structures made entirely out of very large chunks of coral rock. What is truly amazing is that all of the pieces were quarried, carved and placed by a single person using only hand tools and pulleys (no motorized equipment). Edward Leedskalnin was Latvian and only 5’0” and 100lbs. He built the structures during the 1930’s and 40’s as a monument to the love of his life. The irony is that the woman actually rejected him and never lived with him. How did he do it? If you are near Homestead, Florida it is definitely worth a visit.

Sebastian, FL

2011-01-20T06:53:00.000-08:00

January in Florida has been very interesting. The weather has been mostly cooler than normal, but nothing like the severe weather the rest of the country has been experiencing. It warmed up into the low 70s the last few days. We were even sunning at the beach today.

We are staying in the Sebastian/Vero Beach area, which is about halfway between St Augustine and Miami on the east coast of Florida, in Indian River County. This is where those wonderful ruby red grapefruits come from, and there are groves and fruit stands that have a wide variety of fruits and vegetables at great prices. The area is pretty nice and about ten degrees warmer than St Augustine, but St Augustine has more things to do and is a bit more fun and interesting. The campground in St Augustine was fantastic and the one we are in now is just ok. Even though Sebastian is not ideal, staying a long-time in one place has its advantages. Mary has been able to find a great local fitness club where she is able to participate in strength and fitness classes. She is even doing Zumba!

We have been able to ride our bikes a bit, and explore some of the parks, beaches and natural features of the area. The Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge was actually the first in the country (established in 1903). The pelicans, herons, egrets, sandhill cranes, ibis, vultures, wood stork and shorebirds have been very plentiful and fun to watch. Florida is also home to a huge population of osprey. We have seen them every day in each part of the state we’ve visited. We’ve also seen dolphins along the beach, but haven’t yet gotten to see any manatees in the wild.

We spent a day at Lake Okeechobee (the second largest lake in the US). It was very surreal. The surrounding area is totally flat, like all of Florida. When you get to the lake all you can see is a very large dike. The entire lake is surrounded by a 112-mile dike with a paved walking/bike path on the top. The elevation of the lake surface fluctuates with rainfall and the lake is connected to the in-flowing and out-flowing rivers by locks. In fact, you can boat from Ft Myers on the west coast to Stuart on the east coast via rivers, canals and Lake Okeechobee. Yes, the lake is over 100 miles in circumference, and you cannot see across it from one side to the other, yet it only averages 9 feet of depth.

We got a chance to see a friend of Mary’s from England who was visiting the Tampa area, and we met up with a couple in Winter Park, Fl that Mary knows from Australia.

Housing prices are very low here right now but property taxes and insurance are pretty high. We have been scanning the housing markets on both the east and west coasts, and it seems very possible to get a nice house with pool for around $200k. It’s something to consider.

Right now we are getting ready for a trip to Key West. Mary is teaching an animal communication workshop there in cooperation with the local SPCA, and then we will spend a few days relaxing and playing in Key West.

Happy New Year - 2011

2011-01-01T07:06:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Sebastian, Florida

We have now been on the road for a whole year. We spent some time tonight (New Year’s Eve) to reflect on the year, and to review our list of intentions and goals for our 2010 odyssey. We thought a year would certainly be enough time to see and do all the thing we wanted, and for us to evolve into the enlightened beings that we aspire to be.

Well…as it turns out…a year isn’t quite long enough to make it all the way around this wonderful country, and we are still working on incorporating vigorous physical and deep spiritual activity into each day’s routine.

We have generally moved every 3-5 days with only a few one-nighters, and a few stops longer than a week. We’ve made over 100 stops in 41 states. When you are only in each place for a short time you really notice what an impact weather and the beauty and amenities of your immediate surroundings have. We have discovered that almost every state has very wonderful and beautiful places. We’ve also found it isn’t always easy to meaningfully connect with our fellow campers or travelers, especially if the weather is keeping everyone sealed up in their own RV. This has been the coldest December on record in Florida, and we were here for all of it.

We have fallen in love with the deserts and rocks of the Southwest, the mountains east and west, the Great Lakes, the villages and coastal towns of New England, the cities of Asheville, NC, and Charleston, SC, and the lush tropical foliage, beaches, waterways and balmy nights of Florida.

In just a little over 30,000 miles we have hunkered down in rain and windstorms last winter in Oregon and California. Hiked through desert wildflowers to a natural Palm Oasis in Borrego Springs, CA. Biked and hiked in Redwoods NP, Joshua Tree NP, Death Valley NP, Sedona, Zion NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Capital Reef NP, Devils Tower, the Black Hills, the Rockies, Great Smoky Mountain NP, Shenandoah NP, Yellowstone NP, Grand Teton NP, the Appalachian Trial, Guadalupe Mountains NP, Saguaro NP, Mesa Verde NP, and Acadia NP. Hiked down into Grand Canyon NP and Carlsbad Caverns NP. Marveled at Monument Valley. Rafted in the Colorado River. Swam in Lake Powell, Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Walden Pond and the Atlantic Ocean. We watched pilot whales in Nova Scotia, and Humpback Whales in Cape Cod. Swam with Wild Dolphins in Bimini. Visited many historical sites and architectural wonders. We had the good fortune to be able to visit many, many friends and family on the way. And, last but not least, participated in Matt and Tiffany’s wedding.

We are not getting tired of being on the road. Our set up is maneuverable and roomy enough to feel at home while driving or parked. We have grown quite fond of our traveling abode. We affectionately refer to the pick-up and trailer as Ozzie and Harriet.

We are very appreciative of this opportunity for extended travel throughout the country and we are looking forward to a warmer rest of winter in Florida, before we start heading back to Washington.

Many blessings to you and yours for a fantastic 2011!!

St. Augustine final

2010-12-18T17:07:00.000-08:00

We are moving south to Vero Beach tomorrow and ending our one-month stay in St Augustine. Mary and I really like the campground we are at (North Beach), and we really like the St. Augustine area, in spite of the record cold snap.

During the past week we spent a few days hunkered down because of the cold, but went into town for the Christmas Boat parade. The biting cold wind made it feel just like watching the Christmas Boat Parade back home on Puget Sound.

The weather finally turned and we rented a boat and motored 25 miles up and down the Intra-Coastal Waterway. We had a great time and were pleasantly surprised by the amount of wilderness we encountered. A lot of the marsh areas are either protected or still undeveloped and the bird watching is fantastic.

Just north of St Augustine we spotted a large pod of dolphins feeding and playing along the banks of the channel. We were able to spend quite a bit of time with them as we stopped our engines and floated along with the incoming tide. They were very active and appeared to be females and juveniles.

We also managed to get in a few more beach walks along the ocean. We were trying to spot Right whales in the calm water and ideal conditions, but didn’t see any. We did see a very large number of dolphins just beyond the surf line, and of course, numerous shore birds, pelicans and some very large Northern Gannets that were making very impressive deep dives into the ocean. At first we thought we were seeing whale blows when we would see the spray from a Gannet dive. The cold snap even cooled down the ocean temperatures in northern Florida. Some of the casualties included small purple and orange starfish that washed-up on the beach. We gathered several to give them an honored final resting place adorning our modest Christmas tree.

We’ll miss this place, and plan to come back. Merry Christmas, you old St Augustine!

St. Augustine

2010-12-11T12:03:00.000-08:00

Our first blog from St. Augustine had glowing reports about the perfect weather, but I’m sorry to say all that changed soon after. It’s been pretty cold and windy for most of the last two weeks. Daytime highs have been in the 50-60 degree range and nights at 25-40. That is TOO cold for my sunny winter in Florida. This has curtailed the daily walks on the beach and cut back on biking and hiking. Bob and I got up at 6am one morning, bundled up and sat in the truck to watch the sun rise over the Atlantic. It was glorious.

On the few sunny and warm days we have had, we visited several state parks up on the Florida/Georgia border that are on or near Amelia Island. We rode our bikes on the beach and encountered a dead sea turtle. On our ride through the park, we enjoyed the armadillos that were rooting around in the leaves. They are such funny little critters, and don’t seem to know you are there until you get right next to them.

We also spent a day at the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve, which is only about 5 miles up the beach from us. They have a great visitor center focused on local wildlife and has good recreational areas. We rode our bikes on sand trails through the woods, where we observed armadillos, many species of birds, and 5 or 6 dolphins in the Intracoastal waterway.

Northern Florida is a birders paradise. I have seen many types here for the first time including wood storks. Since this is a migratory route, there are new birds coming through all the time. Several species of sea turtles nest here in the spring and summer, and in the winter the greatly endangered North Atlantic Right whales calve offshore. Bob and I went to a training this week for whale spotters, but we’ll be out of the calving area when the whales arrive in January. If we decide to make a home in this area, I know that I will get involved with many wildlife projects.

Bob and I both hoped that we could see a space shuttle take off from Cape Canaveral while we were in Florida. They had one scheduled for this week, but as if often the case, it was put off until February at the earliest. But, they had a rocket scheduled to launch on Dec 7^th, so we went down the day before and toured the Kennedy Space Center. At the last minute, that rocket got rescheduled too, so we didn’t get to see a launch, but we really enjoyed our time at the Space Center. We even got to ride in a shuttle launch simulator. What a rush!

We have one more week here in St. Augustine before we head south. I am certainly glad that we’re not in Minnesota with my family digging out from the great blizzard of 2010!

Thanksgiving in Miami

2010-11-30T18:10:00.000-08:00

We had the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving in Miami with Shoshana, Mary’s best friend, and the woman who married us. She recently moved from Orcas Island to Austin, Texas, and was visiting her family in Miami for Thanksgiving. We drove down from St Augustine to Shoshana’s mom’s condo in North Miami Beach. The 7^th floor condo is like an art museum, and overlooks the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Shoshana’s cousin’s house and also got to spend a wonderful evening at her brother’s house on the Intracoastal. He took us out for a very nice sunset boat ride complete with a few dolphins frolicking nearby. We had a great time, and very much enjoyed the warm weather and balmy nights. (Mary is on a diet now to get rid of those holiday pounds.)

Shoshana went with us to the Miami Seaquarium to visit Lolita, the last living orca in captivity from the Pacific Northwest. She was captured in 1970 at the age of 4 and has been performing at the Miami Seaquarium ever since. Lolita is believed to be the oldest orca in captivity. She is in a notoriously small tank with no other orcas, and only a few pacific white-sided dolphins for company. There has been a campaign to try to secure her release for many years, but with no result. We weren’t sure what to expect. Thankfully, she looked in surprisingly good shape (skin, teeth and mouth all excellent). She did a very good job of splashing the audience, and interacted well with the trainers. Mary checked in with her, and she seemed to be resigned to her lot.

On the way back up to St Augustine, we checked out campgrounds for our next stop near Vero Beach. It’s unseasonably cold right now in north Florida (overnight freezing temps), but still nothing like the rest of the country, so we are not complaining.

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-23T16:50:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We hope you are being spared by the tough weather across the country, and that you have a wonderful holiday filled with light, love, fun and fabulous food. We are driving down to Miami to spend the holiday with my best friend Shoshana who is there visiting family.

Bob and I arrived in St. Augustine last Friday and are loving it. We are grateful for perfect weather in the 70s during the day and low 60s at night. It’s been mostly sunny with only a light breeze. Generally we spend 4 days in a town running around and visiting all the sights, but so far we haven’t even been into downtown St. Augustine. We are finally relaxing and chilling around the campground.

We LOVE this RV resort. It is situated between the Atlantic ocean and the Intracoastal waterway. Each site is private and surrounded with vegetation. We have a nice pool and two restaurants within a block. What more could we ask for?

I’m including photos of the beach we walk on every morning, the entrance to our campground, our site, and myself walking with a high school friend of mine who has a home near here. I think we’re going to have a great time in this area, one of these days we’ll go out and explore it.

Have a wonderful Holiday!!

100th Blog

2010-11-18T18:13:00.000-08:00

Wow, is it possible that this is our 100^th blog? That’s what Blogspot says. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been on the road for 11 months and we’re only on the east coast. There is still so much more of this wonderful country to see and explore. It looks like it’s going to take us another six months to get back to Washington.

Bob and I watched the air temperature rise by 20 degrees on the drive from Asheville, NC to Charleston, SC. It’s great to be in a warmer climate. We had a wonderful campsite just 100 feet from a large pond ringed by palms and trees covered in Spanish moss. Just looking out the window made me feel warm.

Downtown Charleston is a lovely old city with many historic buildings. We spent an afternoon walking the streets and along the waterfront where we found many cobblestone and brick roads. The large old homes on Battery Street are gorgeous and the restaurants offer shrimp, shrimp and more shrimp!

We are staying in the Mount Pleasant area and there is a wonderful beach town called Isle of Palms out on the Atlantic coast. Most of the spectacular beach houses must have been built after Hurricane Hugo (1989). The beach is broad and flat and not developed with the tacky boardwalks and businesses that we have seen in other beach areas.

Cypress Gardens is about 50 miles north of Charleston and a great place to spend a day. We chatted with their parrots and cockatoos, visited the butterfly house, toured the Swamparium and hung with their three large alligators. We also hiked one of the nature trails and paddled a flat-bottomed boat through the Cypress swamp. It was great to be on the water and encounter turtles, vultures and even a few wild alligators.

We also visited Mepkin Abbey, a Trappist monastery that was not too far from Cypress Gardens. Bob and I enjoyed the beautiful gardens and quiet, but were too late to get a tour. The monks have been on this 3,000 acre, 18^th century rice plantation since 1949 and in addition to fruit cake, they produce jellies, jams, candies and creamed honeys.

Asheville, NC

2010-11-15T17:19:00.000-08:00

The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina are gorgeous. I visited here twice before, once in 1981, and then again in 2000 but Bob had never been to this area. Even though the peak of the fall colors is gone, there are still red and yellow trees scattered throughout the hills. There is something I really like about seeing layer after layer of hills in the distance.

We stayed just outside Asheville and spent time in the quaint town of Black Mountain. We also went hiking with a former dolphin trip participant who lives here. The hike she took us on was on the property of a place where I had attended a silent retreat at in 2000. What are the chances of that? It was a lovely warm day with incredible views.

Asheville is a wonderful town with a vibrant and busy downtown scene. It is known for its Art Deco and Gothic architecture. Bob and I were amazed at the number and variety of restaurants in this reasonably small city. We enjoyed the Friday night community drumming circle in a park downtown and found this to be a very livable city.

Asheville is also known for the enormous Grove Park Inn that was built in 1913 out of huge boulders. It was designed to look rustic, but still afford its guests a high scale of luxury. The walls are lined with photos of famous guests such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry Ford, actors and actresses, not to mention many presidents and their wives.

By far the most impressive landmark in Asheville is the Biltmore Estate. The 250 room French Renaissance style home was finished in 1895 by George W. Vanderbilt. It is the largest private home in the country and is still owned and managed by the family. The 8,000 acres of the estate (down from the original 125,000 acres) are filled with gardens, trails, a farm, a winery, large inn, restaurants and shops. Bob and I spent an entire day here, touring the house, the grounds, the winery and of course the tasting room. We also visited the house in the evening when its dozens of Christmas trees were lit and the fireplaces burning. The elaborate decorations were really something to see. They said that there was more than a mile of fresh garland in the house, in addition to all the poinsettias, trees, swags, and ornaments. In the grand dining room, the tree was 40 feet tall!

Next stop is Charleston, SC for a few days and then we will be in St Augustine, FL for a MONTH! Looking forward to winding down and relaxing a bit in one place for a while.

Snowin In the Smokies

2010-11-10T17:47:00.000-08:00

Mary and I stopped in Pigeon Forge, TN (yes, Dollywood) to visit Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We arrived with a cold wave, so in order to get a chance to hike in the mountains we had to stay a few extra days. That provided time for us to explore the tourist venues of Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee. These towns are very touristy, and from the large off-season crowds it was hard to tell that the economy is not doing well. By the way… in a 12 mile stretch of highway there must be 20 pancake houses and 10 “As Seen on TV” stores (this is not an exaggeration)

Our first day was rain and some snow even in the lower elevations of the park. We stayed in the truck, but took a very nice five-mile “nature drive” outside of Gatlinburg and saw a very large Black Bear right along the side of the road. We also saw a wild turkey fly across the road and up very high in a tree. Neither of us thought they could fly that high.

We went to see Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede dinner show. This is usually Dolly’s version of the medieval knights arena show were it’s North versus South in an array of horsemanship events, while the audience dines (with their hands only) on a whole chicken, a slab of pork, potatoes, corn on the cob, soup and an apple turnover for desert. Mary and I saved up all day for this caloric and carb binge. We actually caught the Christmas version of the show, and it was really very nice. We still had the North Pole competing against the South Pole, but the festivities included a flying fairy Nutcracker scene and a Nativity scene with real donkeys, sheep, goats and camels. The horsemanship was excellent and included a woman doing “Roman” horse tricks, which involves standing on top of two horses and moving back and forth from horse to horse. She also straddled a line of torches and jumped through a ring of fire while standing on the horses. This was quite impressive.

The weather did clear up and warm up, and we went over the top of the Smokies into Cherokee, North Carolina. They had gotten about 6-8 inches of snow at the top, and the skies were absolutely clear which is rare here. Most of the fall colors were gone, but it was still absolutely gorgeous. After most of the snow melted off we were able to get onto the Appalachian Trail. The AT here runs along the ridge line of the Smokies, and is also the separation between Tennessee and North Carolina. We hiked along the AT both north and south from Newfound Gap until we ran into too much lingering snow. We also drove and then hiked the ½ mile to Clingmans Dome (6,643 feet), the highest point along the entire Appalachian Trail and the highest point in the Smokies. Another day we hiked to Grotto Falls and encountered a line of 8 pack llamas coming down from the mountain. That was a real treat and a big surprise

We did succumb to pancakes one morning, and we had some killer beer-cheese fries at a pub while watching the Breeders Cup Race on TV (very fun since we had just seen the movie Secretariat and had been at Churchill Downs last week). There have also been some dinners and lunches out at this stop. Our diets are like our hikes….we keep looking for a beautiful level path, but we keep choosing trails with lots of ups and downs.

Next stop is Asheville, North Carolina, then on to Charleston, South Carolina.

Music City

2010-11-03T19:04:00.000-07:00

Bob and I rolled into Nashville, TN and set up at Yogi Bear’s Jelly Stone Park. I have been resisting staying at one of these because of the high percentage of children, but this time of the year it’s mainly adults. The big plus at this place is that they do a Christmas light show extravaganza and this week they are testing and putting the finishing touches on it. We have been treated to an exciting light show that is synchronized to music each evening. I do love those Christmas lights, so it’s been a lot of fun.

My Dad loves airplanes, still flies a lot and has even built a few. One of the planes he built is a French plane called a Flying Flea. A few years ago the Flea was purchased by a collector and moved to the Lane Motor Museum here in Nashville. Bob and I made a visit to see the Flea and really enjoyed the whole museum. It was filled with mostly European, unusual cars and motorcycles – and one little airplane hanging from the ceiling.

Nashville has an amazing network of freeways that makes getting around quick and easy. We never saw any rush hour backups like we get in Seattle. We even went into downtown around 4:30 in the afternoon and easily found a place to park in The District. This area is filled with restaurants and saloons where live country music is played more than 12 hours a day. Bob and I were planning to go into a Honky Tonk to feel the local vibe, but here in Tennessee (and also Kentucky) they still smoke in public buildings. It was early on election day and there wasn’t much of a “happening scene”, so we just listened outside.

We also visited the Grand Old Opry that just opened after the flood that filled Nashville six months ago. Many buildings in the flood zone are still closed. Bob and I cruised up and down Music Row and stopped by the Ryman Auditorium where country stars have played for decades

Before this stop we were unaware that Nashville is called the Athens of the South due to its love of Greek architecture. We went to the Parthenon in Centennial Park, which is the only full size replica of the original in the world. We also got in a pretty good 2.5 mile hike at a wilderness park that is located very close to town.

Our final day in Nashville was rainy, but we spent it with good company, a friend and client of Mary’s down in Franklin, TN. It’s supposed to get cold in the next few days, so we’re loading up on propane for our furnace before we head to the mountains.

Unbridled Spirit(s)

2010-10-31T17:42:00.000-07:00

Bob and I were excited to go to Blue Grass country this week, but when we got here, the grass was all brown. We were told it has been a very dry year in Kentucky. There wasn’t much green anywhere. We were also surprised to find that most of the barns and fences in this area are painted black. The barns are historically black to aid in warming and drying tobacco. Many of the fences are treated with creosote to discourage horses from rubbing and biting the fences. That look is very different from the rest of the country.

We spent our time in the Lexington, Frankfort and Louisville areas that are known as bourbon and horse country. Frankfort is the state capital and we enjoyed visiting Daniel Boone’s grave. We also went to a unique Vietnam Memorial with a giant sundial that points to the names of those who were killed on the anniversary date of their death.

I don’t like bourbon and neither does Bob, but we were interested in seeing how it was made, so we toured Woodford Reserve, a small batch bourbon distillery. They produce high quality bourbon and we did our tasting at 11am. What a way to start the day. Then we did a tasting at the Wild Turkey distillery where we discovered a bourbon liqueur named American Honey. Maybe bourbon isn’t so bad after all. One interesting thing we learned is that the USA is the only place in the world that is allowed to produce bourbon and 90% is made right in this area. Whiskey is made in lots of places, but there are strict regulations on bourbon. Bourbon has to be 51% corn based. Other ingredients include rye and malted barley.

After the bourbon stops, we went to the Abbey of Gesthemany, an old Trappist monastery. The famous Catholic mystic and writer Thomas Merton lived here for 27 years. The monks have seven prayer sessions each day starting at 3:15am! We spent some time in the chapel, but the monks were not at their prayer stations. I guess they were off making cheese and fruitcakes at that time.

This part of Kentucky is known for their horse farms and they are everywhere and very beautiful. We spent a day at the Kentucky Horse Park which houses the International Horse Museum and the American Saddlebred Museum. It was also the site of the 2010 World Equestrian Games. Bob had actually watched some of it on TV. We met some champion horses and saw a wonderful breed performance. A high point for us in horse country was watching five races at Churchill Downs in Louisville. It was great to sit in the stands and see the horses thunder by. One jockey was having a very good day and won 3 of the races we saw.

Kentucky also has some unusual foods that we had to try. Bourbon candy was not as good as I expected. You really couldn’t taste the bourbon. We also had burgoo stew which is a thick mutton vegetable soup. I really liked Kentucky Old Brown, which is a baked open faced sandwich with turkey, ham and tomato, smothered in cheese sauce and topped with bacon. Bob tried the barbequed mutton and I had the Kentucky ribs – both were delicious. It’s a good thing we didn’t try all the pies or I would be having even more trouble zipping my jeans.

Next we’re heading south to Tennessee and then on to North Carolina.

Happy Howloween

2010-10-31T17:35:00.000-07:00

Bob and I donned our costumes and joined in the Halloween fun at the Dragon Pub in downtown Frankfort on Saturday night. Mary was a leopard and Bob was a kilt wearing Robin Hood. Many people were decked out in costumes and they had a great DJ who played very danceable songs. We drank and ate too much, but it was a fantastic time and my legs only hurt for a few hours this morning. Let’s do the time warp again……………

Virginia Mountains

2010-10-25T15:46:00.000-07:00

I’m not much for big cities, but Washington DC was much nicer than I expected. After three days in the city though, I was ready for the country. Bob and I set up camp at the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Staunton, VA. We visited the Frontier Culture Museum which was wonderful. They purchased existing homes in Ireland, England and Germany that were built around 1700 and then brought them here to reflect the people who settled in this area. The museum also included an African homestead representative of Nigeria and several early American homes. We were able to go inside these homes and talk with people dressed in period clothing who were well versed on daily life. I especially enjoyed visiting with the livestock - cows, sheep, pigs, chickens and a cat.

We spent a full day in Shenandoah National Park which is gorgeous. It was also very crowded on this Saturday with people taking in the fall colors. We drove 70 of the 105 miles of Skyline Drive, which runs the crest of the mountains and were lucky to see a black bear cub crossing the road. This park has 500 miles of hiking trails and Bob and I found one that wasn’t too busy – a nice loop that included 1.5 miles of the Appalachian trail. The AT runs near Skyline Drive through the entire park. We hiked on it a bit in Maine and will try to catch several more sections as we work our way south.

We took advantage of a sunny day in the low 70s to tour Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home. This beautiful estate sits high on a hill overlooking Charlottesville, VA. It was great to hear about his life and accomplishments. Jefferson and I would have really gotten along well since we both love wine, skylights, great views and travel.

After many hours at Monticello, Bob and I had a lovely dinner on the pedestrian mall in downtown Charlottesville. This is a very livable city with many fine restaurants, shops and entertainment. It is also home to the University of Virginia, which Jefferson founded in the early 1800s. Hampton Roads, the publisher of my book, is also here.

The Blue Ridge Parkway connects Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. This 469-mile road, runs the ridges of the Appalachian mountains. We drove the first 30 miles of it, but it started raining and thick fog settled in, so we had to come back to our campground. We’ll pick it up again later.

I think we’re almost at the end of the fall colors especially with the wind and rain we’ve had recently. We’ll see how things look as we cross West Virginia and stay a few days in Kentucky.

Washington DC

2010-10-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

Neither Mary nor I are real history buffs, and it isn’t always easy to be proud of some of the things our country does, but when DC reminds you of the ideas and ideals that created this country, it is very easy to be patriotic and feel grateful. The monuments, buildings and museums represent a powerful mix of concepts, ideas, ideals, irony, deeds, achievements, beauty, hypocrisy, eloquence, wisdom, sacrifice and bureaucracy.

The layout of the National Mall is fantastic. The Capitol, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and JFK Tomb are all in view of each other. We also noticed that the White House is in direct line-of-sight with the statue of Jefferson in the Jefferson Memorial. Presidents can look over to Jefferson for inspiration in times of crisis. It was important for Mary to visit the Viet Nam Memorial (2 of the photos).

Museums highlight accomplishments in space and our evolving knowledge of the natural world. They also recount man’s inhumanity to man (Holocaust), and seek to acknowledge once overlooked events, achievements or significance (African American, American Indian, Women in the Armed Services).

The Hubble 3D Imax film was outstanding, and the café at the new American Indian Museum had selections representing cultures from South America to the Arctic.

Washington DC actually seemed pretty nice and the Georgetown and Alexandria, VA areas are really great. We met up with a friend of Mary’s from her flight attendant days that she hadn’t seen in over 30 years, and we even happened to come across one of the people from this year’s Dolphin Trip just walking along the street in front of the White House.

I am not a big believer in fate, but when you look back on the history of the US it seems strange how some of the very large evolutions were spurred by some very unlikely events. Given how difficult it is to shoot firearms with accuracy, how strange it is that 4 non-professional assassins on their first try brought down Abraham, John, Martin and Bobby. And, how absurd that the ideas and eloquence of our leaders is enhanced by untimely deaths and war-time struggles.

Sacrifice and death seem to be an ever-present theme in our history. As I look upon the monuments, memorials and graves of the famous and ordinary, it is easy to feel a certain sense of guilt. But, I am learning to turn feelings of guilt into feelings of gratitude. So instead of sorrow and sadness, I try to cultivate emotions of thanks and love as I consider their sacrifice.

We were also reminded that personal sacrifices are not limited to death and the battlefield. In this land of personal freedom and liberty, there are countless instances of individuals having to forego their rights for the sake of others, such as people removed from their land to make way for a national park or highway, and, of course, slavery.

One of the current teachings Mary and I are learning is to accept what “is”. That doesn’t mean you can’t still strive to improve or change things. But once “it is, what it is” it is best to accept it and move on. It is odd, but accepting or even embracing those things we don’t like, and even forgiving the unforgivable can have transformative powers of healing and well-being.

It is easy to be disgusted when watching the News and listening to the current political ads, but sharing the foundations of liberty with the other visitors in DC, and seeing the awe on the multi-colored faces and hearing the wide range of languages reminds us that we have a unique and distinguished system of government and laws. It’s not perfect, but let’s embrace it, forgive it and do something to make it better.

Wild Horses

2010-10-17T18:15:00.001-07:00

Bob and I made the big drive from the Catskills to the middle of Delaware on a very windy day without any issues. We were surprised to see all the agriculture in Delaware. We found fields of soybeans and chicken farms, and sometimes corn in this sparsely populated state.

I am very happy to have warm weather again – about 73 degrees today. We drove south into Maryland to Assateague Island and spent the day riding bikes and walking on the beach. Assateague is a barrier island off the Maryland and Virginia shore that is home to hundreds of wild horses. We ran into quite a few while we were biking. They have lived on the island for about 300 years and are domesticated horses than have become feral. For the most part, they are small and stocky, with quite furry manes. We watched two wild horses giving some corralled riding horses a bad time. They were pissed that these guys were in their territory! We also saw two wild horses “grooming” each other by nibbling each other’s back simultaneously.

After Assateague, we drove the coast north to Ocean City, MD, which is a lot like Atlantic City, NJ - large hotels, condos and a boardwalk full of shops and food (just no casinos). We did find some outrageous carmel corn with peanuts. At the north end of the coast road, we stopped at a lovely beach in Delaware where we saw a dolphin offshore and lots of monarch butterflies. The butterflies stop here for a shot of nectar on their way south. Rehoboth Beach, DE was a lovely little city with a much smaller and more tasteful boardwalk.

Delaware seems like a quiet place to live. Not much going on and unfortunately we’re going to miss the big Punkin Chunkin on Nov. 5^th - the world championship of gourd hurling.

Woodstock

2010-10-15T18:17:00.000-07:00

Bob and I think the fall colors here in New York State are redder and more vibrant than we saw in Vermont or New Hampshire. Hopefully we will continue to enjoy these displays as we travel south this month.

I really like the Adirondacks and Catskills. They are much larger and wilder than we expected, and there is so much park land to enjoy. Bob and I did a great hike in the Catskills to a spectacular rock ledge overlook, and like many of our east coast hikes, it was pretty steep. It was a gorgeous sunny day though with no wind and temps in the high 50s.

On the way to the hike, we came upon Emerson Resort and Spa, so we stopped for a chocolate and looked around. This is the second Emerson Inn we’ve discovered in New England. After the hike, we drove into the lovely town of Woodstock, NY and shopped at the farmers market. Many of the townsfolk looked like they came in the 60s and never left. We even saw a classic old hippie couple that had to be in their 70s on a bicycle covered in Love posters.

I have always been sorry that I missed Woodstock – THE Woodstock in 1969. If I were able to go back in time, to any time, and experience an event, I’d pick Woodstock. So of course, I wanted to see Yasgur’s farm, but in checking things out I was surprised to find that it was in Bethel, NY, about 90 minutes from the town of Woodstock (the original plan was for it to be in Woodstock but the site changed three times). The farmland was purchased several years ago by a foundation and it is now the site of the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts and the Museum of the 60s and Woodstock. They preserved the stage area and hillside where the main action took place (green grass photo) and next to it is an amazing array of event venues including an outdoor concert pavilion. It was done very elegantly and harmoniously with the land.

We spent three hours in the Museum, which is fantastic. The beginning section is dedicated to the 1960s with timelines of important events and multimedia presentations on fashion, culture, the suburbs, TV, music and movements. I am always deeply touched by documentaries on that decade. It was an amazing time. The second half of the museum is dedicated to the musical event itself – history about who put it together and how the venue kept changing. They expected 150,000 people to show up but there were three times that. There were several large screen video and movie presentations that we enjoyed. By the time we left, Bob and I both felt like we’d been in a Woodstock IMAX movie for the afternoon. Don’t miss this place if you are anywhere near here. It is awesome!

It has gotten cool, even downright cold some nights, and we are expecting snow above 2000 feet tonight. We start our trek south in the morning – first to Delaware, then DC and on to Virginia. I hope we can still visit the mountains before the snow really flies.

From Lake Champlain to Lake Placid

2010-10-11T18:18:00.000-07:00

Mary and I left Vermont via a ferry across Lake Champlain from Grand Isle, VT to Plattsburgh, NY. The ferry was small and the 5^th wheel looked pretty large. It was the trailer’s first ride on a boat.

We stayed in a campground just across the street from Whiteface Mountain, which was the site of many alpine skiing events for the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics. We also drove to the top of the mountain via a toll road on the backside. This trip also included a great hike to the summit observation area along a rocky exposed ridge. We then returned to the car via a 260’ vertical elevator ride and 400’ long horizontal tunnel - quite a neat arrangement. As a side note: unlike the west, a lot of the scenic features and wonders of the Northeast are privately owned. Therefore, you often have to pay private tolls or fees for roads and hikes into the scenic wonders. For the most part they seem to be well run and not too exorbitant…kind of like paying fees to enter a state park. This actually makes sense since the northeast was settled and privately owned for the most part, long before the state and federal forest and park systems began.

At the top of Whiteface Mountain they have an observatory that is tracking the acidity of the air and moisture. Acid rain is due historically from the heavy smoke stack industries of the Ohio Valley, and is still now an issue primarily from coal fired power plants. The high acidity affects the general health of trees and lakes and also serves to modify the mix of flora and fauna. We heard that the infamous biting black flies are doing especially well in the acidic environment. We were also told, and did notice, that some of the higher elevation deciduous trees were impacted and dying.

The town of Lake Placid and the surrounding area are very beautiful and US Winter Olympic training facilities are in evidence everywhere - an outdoor speed skating oval, huge ski jumping towers and large arenas. There are also several lakes in the area for swimming and boating. Lake Placid’s small downtown area has a similar feel to Whistler or Park City.

We only stayed one night since the cold weather is starting to settle in but Mary and I both agreed that this would be a nice place to spend a few weeks some summer.

More Cheese Please

2010-10-10T18:32:00.000-07:00

Bob and I camped outside of Burlington, VT for the last five nights. It’s a great RV park with lots of seasonal people who are here shutting things down and putting their rigs into storage. The park closes on the 15^th which is pretty common around here. Time to move south.

We expected the fall colors to be about the same here as New Hampshire, but it’s past peak in northern Vermont. This is beautiful country with rolling hills and small mountains, rivers and Lake Champlain. We didn’t find the towns as nice as New Hampshire, and Burlington was sort of hard to get around and didn’t seem to take advantage of its shoreline on Lake Champlain, but we’ve still had a good time here.

Vermont is loaded with factory and farm tours and we took full advantage. Ben and Jerry’s was a wonderful and tasty tour. They even have a flavor graveyard with headstones for the retired flavors. We gained several pounds from our time at Dakin Farms, Cabot Creamery and Shelburne Farms. Shelburne Farms is a beautiful working farm originally built by a Vanderbuilt in the late 1800’s as a ‘model farm’. It is now run by a non-profit and is open for day visits, classes and the main house is now an Inn. The grounds and architecture are absolutely stunning. The animals are well cared for and actually seemed to enjoy interacting with the visitors, even during the milking demonstrations. Bob and I tasted many cheeses, maple syrup, smoked meats, honey and more. We also brought home pounds of lovely and unusual cheese, like hot habanero – Yowza!

Bob took me on a tour of the Rock of Ages granite quarry. It was quite impressive and fun to see how they cut and move tons of rock at a time. We drove around the Hope Cemetery that has some impressive, unusual and often whimsical headstones. The area is a center of granite carving and stone works, and has a great granite statue of the Scotsman Robert Burns, Bob’s favorite poet.

Bob also discovered an obscure state park that had some great hiking trails. We wandered in hardwood forests to viewpoints over Lake Champlain and down to the shoreline as well. Most of the other hikes we checked out were very steep. The mountains around here are not that high but the trails usually go straight up with elevation gains of 1000’ per mile very common.

It’s gotten cold in this part of the country with frost in areas. I want to head south ASAP, but we really want to see Lake Placid and the Catskills in upstate New York, so we’ll brave the forecasted nighttime temps in the high 20s for a couple more days.

New Hampshire

2010-10-05T16:42:00.001-07:00

Bob and I managed to avoid the giant rainstorm that flooded much of the east coast this week. We did spend three hours driving in it, and got soaked setting up at our campsite in Ashland, NH, but it was short lived. The humid warm weather has gone away and now we have much cooler weather. It was 38 degrees one morning!

New Hampshire is a lovely state. It has lots of mountains, rivers, waterfalls, hiking, camping, lakes, forests, charming little towns, covered bridges, inns and restaurants, and the people seem very nice. Even the drivers are polite. Too bad about that winter weather because this state has many of the things I’m looking for in a new home.

Bob and I visited some of the top NH attractions this week. We did a tough but worthwhile hike in Franconia Notch State Park that brought us to a granite mountaintop overlooking a colorful forest and valley. We also did the harrowing drive to the top of Mt. Washington, the highest peak on the east coast. It was a sunny day, with only a light breeze so we lucked out. The highest wind ever recorded in the world was at this peak in 1932 – 231 mph. The private road is very steep, has no guardrails and is barely wide enough for two vehicles to pass, but the view from the top is spectacular. I don’t know why they don’t spend some of the admission fees on guardrails. It certainly would be worth it.

We drove the Kancamagus Highway through the White Mountain National Forest. This road is famous for fall colors and the “leaf peepers” are definitely out and about. The leaves are starting to change here and the hillsides have an orange and pink cast to them, especially at the higher elevations. I hope we will get to see some flaming red hills before we leave the northeast.

Moulton Farm in Meredith, NH, was a really fun stop on our tour around Lake Winnipesakee (gorgeous lake). We went through their corn maze, bought pastry and veggies and admired the many types of pumpkins and gourds they grow. We also spent several hours at the Canterbury Shaker Village. This settlement began in the late 1700s and lasted until the last elder died in 1993. Now there are only 3 Shakers left and they live in Maine. I visited the Maine village a few years and was really happy that I could now introduce Bob to this fascinating group. They were great inventors and craftspeople.

Tomorrow we are off to explore Vermont, and will be spending five days near Burlington.

No. Massachusetts and New Hampshire Coasts

2010-09-30T16:23:00.000-07:00

Mary and I stayed at Salisbury Beach State Park in Massachusetts for few days of very warm, humid, windy, and sometimes rainy weather. We got to take long walks on miles of open beaches, something we haven’t done for a very long time.

Mary’s friend Jasmine came down from Maine for a day and we all visited “America’s Stonehenge” in southern New Hampshire. This hilltop area of ‘smallish’ stone structures and features that are thought to date back 4,000 years are attributed to Vikings or Celts, yet most of the structures have been modified through the centuries. The site was still interesting and worth a stop if you find yourself close by.

The northern Massachusetts towns of Newburyport and Rockport are two of my favorite places. They have maritime history, great coastal settings and wonderful New England architecture. Jasmine joined us on our whirlwind driving tour of this area too.

We also drove up the New Hampshire coast. The area around Rye Beach and up into Portsmouth has some very impressive homes and shoreline areas. Portsmouth, NH also seems like one of the nicer cities we have run across.

We huddled in during our last night as the hot humid weather gave way to strong winds and left in the morning heading to Central New Hampshire for the fall colors.

Bob's Not So Silent Retreat

2010-09-26T17:51:00.000-07:00

On the way back from dropping Mary off at the silent retreat I was listening to 50’s and 60’s Rock-n-Roll in the car, something Mary rarely likes to do. I spent a lot of time in the car listening to all sorts of music and checking out the central Connecticut coast areas. I visited the Submarine Museum and got to explore the Nautilus - the first nuclear powered sub and the first vessel to transit the Arctic Ocean under the North Pole in 1958.

Mystic Connecticut is a beautiful nautical city, and the residential areas surrounding the harbor and adjacent inlets are absolutely gorgeous. I went for a very nice sunset sail on “Argia”, an 81’ wooden schooner.

I also spent some quiet time reflecting on travel, homes, work, communicating and love.

Mary and I re-united on a beautiful warm Indian-summer day and headed to Mystic for a great belated anniversary dinner at S&P Oysters where we had a wonderful meal on the patio over looking the Mystic River draw-bridge.

We toured southern Rhode Island including the Newport mansions, Watch Hill and a Catholic retreat center on Enders Island. Rhode Island is the quintessential marine playground for the rich and envious. The summer “cottages” here dwarf the typical large McMansion. Not just large but beautifully classic sail and power boats meander around the open bays, sounds and protected inlets. The historic towns here have architectural character to match their stunning natural settings. Too bad winter can be so harsh in this area.

Mary and I also had the pleasure of meeting my cousin Bill for the first time. Although our dads were brothers, we had never met. It was nice to make that connection after all these years.

Mary's Silent Retreat

2010-09-24T17:42:00.000-07:00

I left Bob in Connecticut and went off to a 5-day silent retreat in Garrison, NY. It was held at the Garrison Institute and was led by the American female spiritual teacher Gangaji. I have spent time with Gangaji at retreats and workshops over the past 17 years. She just gets better and better. If you are interested, check her out at www.gangaji.org

There were about 115 people in the retreat from all over the world and the US. I was the only person from WA state (there were 3 from Ireland!). It was a deep, rich and lovely time with these people and with Gangaji and I am so glad that I took this space away from “reality”. I feel so relaxed and renewed and ready to drop my old patterns. The food was great and the bed was wonderful.

Garrison is on the Hudson River right across from West Point. Bob’s dad went to West Point. It was warm and sunny most days – a definite Indian summer. I got to walk in the woods and down by the river and meditate for hours on end.

I’m happy now to be back home with Bob and we are off on other adventures.

Acadia National Park

2010-09-17T16:57:00.000-07:00

We left the Canadian Maritimes a few days early because it was cold and wet – typical Pacific NW weather. The friendly US customs people searched our RV and took away all our citrus and tomatoes. Who knew how dangerous they could be?

I love Acadia National Park in Maine, and the first time I was here was only for about 4 hours. I knew I had to come back and I was anxious to spend some time here with Bob.

Acadia is on Mt. Desert Island, off the coast of Maine. It is horseshoe shaped, just like my beloved Orcas Island and the similarities don’t end there. You’ll find lots of rocky shoreline, long bays and inlets, a mountain that you can drive to the top of, and 120 miles of hiking trails. When I was leading whale watch trips, people always commented that the San Juans reminded them of Maine, and I would have to agree. From the top of Cadillac Mountain, at 1530 feet, you can see dozens of small islands stretching in three directions and they also have whale watching.

Bob and I “hiked” to the top of Dorr Mountain. It was more like rock climbing with a 1,000 ft elevation gain in less than a mile. We thought that was tough, but coming back down the Gorge Path was even worse. This was no path. We had to climb down a rock covered stream to get out.

Biking was a real joy in the park. There are 45 miles of carriage roads that were built in the 1920s and no cars are allowed on them. They run through very beautiful forests and along ponds and lakes. We rode the lakes loop and stopped for lunch at the Jordan Pond House for their famous popovers. Yummy.

The town of Bar Harbor is also on the island. What a wonderful place filled with great restaurants and inns. We were surprised to see two huge cruise ships in the harbor almost every day. No wonder the park was filled with visitors this late in the season.

The one thing that I found odd here was the lack of wildlife. Hiking or biking we never saw scat, barely a sparrow and no road kill on the highways. There were plenty of sea birds, but the land critters seemed to be missing. Anyone know the reason for this?

Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick

2010-09-14T16:47:00.000-07:00

I had heard of the Bay of Fundy as a kid and have always wanted to see it in person. Mary was also interested in seeing the tides up close. We camped one night at Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick, to be able to view some of the most dramatic tide changes in the world.

The Bay of Fundy is very large and rather shallow with mostly a red mud bottom. At Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park, however, there is a steep rock cliff face with hoodoos right off shore that dramatically show the effects and height of the tides. Here you can “walk on the ocean bottom” (as they say in their brochure) at low tide.

Mary and I live on a tidal inlet where we have over one-half mile of mud flats at low tide and almost 10 feet of water at a good high tide. We know tidal variations and weren’t sure we would be impressed. Because of our tide flats we have a sign on our driveway in Olympia that reads “Acres of Mud”.

The Bay of Fundy at Hopewell Rocks is certainly impressive. The huge bay almost seems to empty at low tide, and it is very fun to walk on the “ocean bottom” along the cliff face and hoodoos. The rocks and mud are very red and the water is also very red and muddy. In fact there were several businesses using the phrase “chocolate river” in their titles.

We saw the shoreline a couple of hours after high tide the evening of our arrival, and the next morning we got to see the striking difference in the shoreline and the whole bay. The tidal variation is almost fifty feet. We decided if Olympia is ‘Acres of Mud’ then Fundy is ‘Miles of Mud’.

We noticed a curious thing in Canada. If you go into a liquor store, the prices are about twice what we pay in WA state, which is high for the US. But, if you order a glass of wine or beer in a bar or restaurant, it was usually much less than in the US. Odd………We also got to sample new fare at McDonalds. When we saw the sign on the road, we couldn’t resist – McLobster. It was actually good!

It was also a lot of fun watching the news in Canada. Mary thought we got better coverage about world issues and good coverage on things in the US. We even saw Hilary Clinton on a late night talk show and the interviewer was asking very important questions about US policy. It was a great show.

Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

2010-09-13T16:42:00.000-07:00

Wow, Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia is gorgeous! A wonderland of green hills and rocky shoreline awaits you. Bob and I drove the Cabot Trail, a 187 mile loop around the northern end of the island. The cliffs and water look very much like Big Sur or Panoramic Highway in Marin County, CA. On one side is the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the other is the Atlantic. It was cool, in the 50s and rather rainy, so we didn’t get to hike in the huge Provincial Park as we had planned. The campground host said that before hurricane Earl came through it had been very warm and muggy, but not so now.

We went whale watching out of a tiny little town called Pleasant Bay. We had our choice of many different types of boats, but settled on an open cruiser called the Double Hookup. The weather was a bit cloudy, but we encountered a total of more than 50 long finned pilot whales. This was my first time being with pilot whales and they were very much like orcas. We saw small pods with males, females and calves. They weren’t at all bothered by the boat and sometimes they surfaced right next to us.

Just up the road from Pleasant Bay, we visited Gampo Abbey, the Buddhist monastery where Pema Chodrun teaches. They were in retreat, but we were able to walk around on the grounds and visit the stupa. We heard that the monks have an annual baseball game with the local volunteer firefighters, with the monks in robes and the firefighters in full gear. As a symbolic gesture to the Buddhist precept of not harming any being, each year the monks buy the last days catch of the lobster season and then hire a boat to go out and release all the lobsters back into the sea. This seems to amuse the locals quite a bit.

We also stopped at St. Peter’s Catholic church in Cheticamp. Built in 1893, it is by far the tallest building in town and the interior is fabulous. Everything was wide open so we able to wander around upstairs and down.

There are several different languages spoken on this island. Cheticamp, where we stayed is in the Acadian area. It’s been fun to listen to people speaking a “kind of French” that you won’t hear anywhere else. In other towns you’ll hear Gaelic. Bob and I love Acadian fiddle music and we saw several groups.

Food is fun in Canada and we usually try out a new flavor of potato chips each day. So far it’s been roasted chicken, fries and gravy, jalapeno and cheddar, dill pickle, ketchup and the good old salt and vinegar. I think I’ll stick to sour cream and onion.

Next stop is Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy to see the enormous tides.

Nova Scotia

2010-09-08T16:45:00.000-07:00

The Nova Scotia shoreline is vast with hundreds of long winding bays and rocky inlets. Bob and I set up in a campground in Glen Margaret, just yards from a lovely quiet bay. Not far down the road is the picturesque fishing town of Peggy’s Cove with its red and white lighthouse on the rocky point. We stopped there twice, and even got to see the sun set over the ocean again thanks to the weird topography.

Bob and I spent a day driving along the southern coast and visiting the towns of Mahone Bay and Lunenburg. These towns were established in the mid 1700s and have many historic buildings. Lunenburg is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and known as “the best surviving example of a planned British colonial settlement in North America.” They also have lots of great little seafood restaurants that we enjoyed. We both love the shrimp, lobster and scallops of this area.

Halifax seems to be a very livable city. We toured the Canadian Maritime Museum with its Titanic exhibits. Did you know that hundreds of the dead from that tragedy are buried here?

I am mourning the end of summer. It was foggy and in the 60s today with a light mist – way too much like Seattle. Where is the sun and the warm breezes of last week? There is mostly rain in the forecast.

The Canadian dollar is almost the same as the US right now. So far most things are more expensive here. We paid $4.10 per gallon for diesel and the groceries are about 10-20% higher. We popped into a liquor store and found prices twice that of Washington State, which is already much higher than many other states. Good thing we’re not drinking much these days.

Maine

2010-09-05T18:01:00.000-07:00

We arrived back in Cape Cod the evening of Aug 31^st and spent another night with my friends. In the morning, Bob and I picked up Harriet and headed north through Massachusetts to Maine. It was good to be back on the road again.

We spent two nights at a campground near Bath, ME, where my old friend Jasmine lives. It was great to get together with her and catch up. It was so hot these two days that they cancelled school – in the mid 90s and lots of humidity. Bob is glad that our air conditioner works so well. We enjoyed lobster one evening outside at a tavern on the river and live music the next at an air conditioned Irish pub.

Maine is a very beautiful state with lots of rocky coastline and forested areas. There are signs everywhere about moose, but we didn’t see any. Bob and I drove up Hwy 1 from Bath to Camden and bought blueberries on the side of the road. Camden is a sweet town with great shops, restaurants and quaint inns. We went to the top of Mt. Battie (800ft) at Camden Hills St Park, which looks over the town and the islands beyond. It reminded me so much of Orcas Island and Mt. Constitution, just on a smaller scale.

We had reservations to stay four nights at Acadia National Park near Bar Harbor, but hurricane Earl sent us inland and north. Instead we stayed in Medway near Mt. Katahdin, the highest point in Maine (5267 ft). It was a good thing since Acadia evacuated all the campers to a parking lot in Bangor. That wouldn’t have been much fun. We didn’t get any wind from Earl, but had 4 inches of rain in about 6 hours.

Hiking in Baxter State Park was glorious. It was a cool and breezy day but we could see all the peaks of Mt Katahdin. Bob and I hiked about 4 miles, most of it on the Appalachian Trail and rested by a wonderful waterfall. The trail and woods reminded me of my favorite hikes in Moran State Park on Orcas, except that there were more deciduous trees here. The park has limited parking, so you can’t always get in, even to hike. They also have cabins to rent on small lakes that looked like a lot of fun. This would be a great place to hang out for a week or more.

Tomorrow we go to Canada and will be spending two weeks in the Maritime Provinces. We won’t be using our cell phones there, but if we have good Internet, we’ll post some blogs.

Olympia, WA wedding

2010-08-31T21:19:00.000-07:00

Matthew, my 29 year-old, got married in Olympia on the weekend of August 28^th, and I got to officiate at the ceremony using my Universal Life Church credentials.

We spent a few days doing chores around the house and yard. Mary got a chance for a quick flight to Orcas Island, and we really appreciated our time with Mary’s cats Franny and Lester and our malamute Nikita.

The wedding went well. Matt and I collected driftwood on the beach below his house, and we erected an arbor in a beautiful field on the 800 acre farm next door to Matt and Tiffany’s house. People walked to the site of the ceremony across a field and through a beautiful ravine and creek area. Tiffany arrived at the ceremony in a classic old pick-up truck. The ceremony was short and sweet, and Matt and Tiffany hosted the reception at their house well into the night. Late the next day they were off to the Mayan Riviera for their Honeymoon. We had a great lunch with family members Tammy, Adele, Bill, Audry, Jack and Nancy the day after the wedding.

It was interesting to take a break from the road trip. It was nice to be home and see family and friends and get caught up on some chores and paperwork, but it was also really nice to get back to our relatively simple and compact world on the road. Everything we need is with us all the time. There is no yard work and when a storm heads our way, we adjust course and take a different path.

Cape Cod

2010-08-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

When Bob’s son Matt told us he was getting married in August, we started looking for a good place on the east coast to store our RV and to fly back to Seattle from. I have some good friends, Kevin and Ginger, that live in Cape Cod and Bob and I were excited to spend some time there. So we booked our flight from Boston and found a great RV shop to store our 5^th wheel while we were away.

As soon as we got to Cape Cod, we put “Harriet” into storage and went to stay with my friends. It felt strange to be out of our little rolling home and we were a bit anxious about what it would be like to be in Olympia. All of that dropped away though, and we had a great time on the Cape.

Cape Cod in August is a very busy place. It took us 3 hours to drive the 60 miles to Provincetown, but it was worth it. We arrived in time to see the Carnival Parade. The theme was Jungle Fantasy and there couldn’t have been any leopard print material left in 100 miles. So many thongs and loincloths!! Provincetown reminded us of Key West and we had a great time.

We also went whale watching at Stellwagen Bank. It was a great afternoon with at least 10 humpbacks and 2 minke whales. I’ve spent a lot of time with humpbacks, but always in the calving areas where they fast. It was wonderful to see them feeding and to observe them blowing bubble nets.

Bob and I had a wonderful time in Cape Cod – great hospitality and time with my friends, bike riding, wonderful dinners out and at home, and fantastic weather. We may have to stop back here later in the fall.

Concord, MA

2010-08-16T17:45:00.000-07:00

After a long drive from Seneca Falls New York, we landed northwest of Boston at Minuteman Campground near Concord, MA. Concord is the small colonial town with great literary and political history. The home of many great authors it is also the site of the first battle between colonists and British forces on June 19, 1775, that began the revolutionary war.

We visited the North Bridge where “the farmer stood and fired the shot heard round the world”. We also had a very nice stroll around the Sleepy Hollow cemetery where Emerson, Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott and Hawthorne are buried in the same section called “Author’s Ridge”. The cemetery is large and rustic and the famous gravestones are not particularly ornate or well cared for. It is absolutely wonderful. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s marker is a large natural un-cut marble stone with a simple plaque.

It is great fun having the name Emerson in the place where it is so known and revered. My father was born and raised in New Hampshire, and I have no idea if there is any distant connection between us and Ralph Waldo. Maybe some day I’ll check that out.

Mary and I walked around Walden Pond. I took a short and welcomed swim and we stopped and reflected at the site of Thoreau’s cabin. Walden Pond is now a State Park and only a very short distance from Concord. Thoreau’s cabin was actually only a mile and one-half from his parents’ house. He was sort of camping in his backyard as he was extolling the virtues of wilderness and living simply with the land.

I love the architecture of New England and the fact that there are so many small towns that have long histories and their own character. However, the surface roads are convoluted and usually not in great shape. Traffic in Massachusetts is also pretty heavy.

We took it pretty easy here and decided not to venture into Boston until later in the trip.

Six one-night stands

2010-08-11T19:30:00.000-07:00

Over the eight months Bob and I have been traveling, one thing we both agree on is that the optimum minimum time in a campsite is 3 nights. We like being able to relax a little and not have to rush from one place to the next. This has not been one of those weeks. That’s not to say we haven’t enjoyed our time, or seen a lot, it’s just not been relaxing. We’ve gone from northern Michigan to Boston.

First we drove from Petoskey, MI, to Northfield, outside of Detroit to visit my friends Jane and Mark. Jane has gone on several trips with me, taken workshops/retreats and also been to the Fairy Congress. Mark has been whale kissing with us in Baja. It was great to spend 20 hours with them, and we truly enjoyed their dogs, chickens and turkeys and hospitality.

Next we had a long 325-mile drive through Ohio to just outside Pittsburgh. It was a tough day with construction on the turnpike and high tolls besides. Found a lovely spot to land, and the next day we met with my friends and students Mary Jane and Clive. The four of us went to Falling Water, the incredible home that Frank Lloyd Wright built just south of Pittsburgh. It’s an absolutely gorgeous place.

On Monday, we drove to Lily Dale, NY, a spiritualist community where they communicate with the dead. I loved this place and it’s calm, peaceful energy. We went to three message services, one where I got a message from my grandmother. We also attended a healing service and saw a great video about the community. Bob met a young couple that was camped near us from Israel, so he invited them over for drinks. It was fun to learn about their trip across the US, and to give them advice and a map to help out.

After a morning meditation at Lily Dale, we headed for Niagara Falls. We walked around the falls on the US side and went on the Maid of the Mist. What an exciting trip that was, motoring into the middle of Horseshoe Falls and feeling the blast of water on our faces. It was hard to believe we could sit there in the boat without being bounced around. That evening we drove north to get a good look (and Bob get his feet wet) in Lake Ontario, the last of our Great lakes.

Up again and heading on the road to a campsite in Waterloo, NY. We came here to visit Seneca Falls, the town that inspired Bedford Falls in It’s a Wonderful Life. The bridge where George Bailey meets Clarence the angel is there, but that’s about it. The historic barge canal that runs through town and much of New York State was interesting and very pretty, but we hoped to have a drink at Martini’s bar, or visit Ma Bailey’s boarding house. They were not there. They could do so much with the It’s A Wonderful Life connection, but the local drug store is not even named Gower’s. There is a ZuZu’s Café and a Hotel Clarence, but they are really missing the boat.

Petoskey & Charlevoix, MI

2010-08-05T16:50:00.000-07:00

It was just a short hour drive from St. Ignace to Petoskey, MI, but it was quite exciting going over the 5 mile long Mackinac bridge while one lane was shut down for repairs. Thank God Bob was driving. We enjoyed looking out at Lake Michigan on the right and Lake Huron on the left.

Petoskey and Charlevoix are both lovely towns on Lake Michigan. This area is wooded, scenic and has wonderful Victorian and stone houses. There are also many unbelievable mansions. Housing prices vary a lot, but you can certainly get a lot for your money here compared to the west coast. We found this area to be quite nice and a great place to be in the summer, but there is an area not too far away that has only 70 frost free days a year. Too cold for us and too much snow here!

We drove a scenic coast road that was only about a lane and half wide with many gorgeous homes overlooking the lake to reach the Legs Inn. This eclectic establishment has a gift shop, gardens and a famous polish restaurant. We enjoyed some polish vodka and a spectacular meal where we sampled many authentic polish dishes. The temperature at our garden table was perfect and we watched the sun set over Lake Michigan. It was a wonderful evening.

Mackinac Island, MI

2010-08-03T18:44:00.000-07:00

Bob and I had a very pleasant 8-hour drive from Bayfield through the U-P – that’s short for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The people in this area are called Youpers. Bob does most of the driving, but since we had a long day, I did a few hours in the middle to give him a break.

We camped at a lovely wooded RV campground in St. Ignace, which is at the north end of the Mackinac Bridge. We had heavy rain both nights.

Our primary reason for this stop was to explore Mackinac Island. It was quite foggy on the ferry ride over and until about 3 pm, but finally the sun came out. Mackinac Island is small, about 3.5 square miles, with only about 400 year round residents, but it is a HUGE tourist attraction. There are no cars on the island, but you can rent bikes and hire a horse drawn carriage. It was lovely to see so many draft horses pulling a wide variety of carts and buggies. There were also several men on the roads with shovels and brooms cleaning up after them.

We brought our bikes on the ferry and rode the 8-mile road around the island. I found it a little scary as there were adults who haven’t been on a bike in 20 years, 5 year old kids, expert road bikers, walkers, horses, and horse and buggies, all jockeying for position. We did see one kid get hit by a bike, but everyone was okay. Bob found a beach where he was able to swim in Lake Huron – his third Great Lake.

The island is also famous for it’s many restaurants, fudge and candy shops. We resisted the fudge, but succumbed to the caramel nut popcorn. We also had a great lunch at an Irish Pub.

The big attraction on the island is the Fort. We passed that up in favor of The Grand Hotel. What a magnificent place!! I spotted it in the fog from the ferry and had no idea that it was THE Grand Hotel from the movie Somewhere in Time. I LOVE that movie, so I had to tour the hotel and the grounds. They had a nice display of photos from the filming and I could almost see Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour walking through the gardens.

The Grand was built in the 1880s and is still very much like it was back then. Its walls are filled with old newspaper and magazine articles about it, many photos and old menus, which I adore. We missed afternoon high tea, but I hope that sometime we can come back and stay here for few days to really experience this grand old hotel.

Apostle Islands, Lake Superior, WI

2010-08-01T17:31:00.000-07:00

The Buffalo Bay Campground on the Red Cliff Indian Reservation was our base for exploring Bayfield and the Apostle Islands. Our campsite had a view of the lake and Basswood Island and we finally had a campfire - our first of the whole trip!

Bayfield is a nice town with the typical cute shops and restaurants. It is also an orchard area, and the home of the ferry service to Madeline Island. Madeline Island is 3 miles wide and 14 miles long and is 2.5 miles from Bayfield. The ferry service is only seasonal. In the winter, once freeze up hits, you can drive to the island across the ice! Less than a thousand people live on the island fulltime, but they can get a few thousand tourists on a summer day.

We spent a long day on Madeline Island, kayaking in Lake Superior and a river estuary. The morning weather was cloudy and breezy, but still warm and muggy. I accomplished my swim in Lake Superior following our kayaking excursion. The sun came out in the afternoon and after a great lunch (with wine) I was able to talk Mary into renting mopeds. We rented both a Honda Ruckus and Yamaha Zuma. Our favorite was the Zuma. I think Mary actually had a little fun on the motorbikes; she was even exceeding 30 mph! Maybe there are motorcycles in our future after all? The island has a very unique bar/café called Tom’s Burned Down Café. It looks like a junk recycling station, but seems to be a pretty popular hangout.

This area would be a great place to spend time on a boat exploring around the islands and shorelines. It is still hard not to think of these bodies of water as oceans. The water is clear and changes color with the depth and bottom types, and when the wind is up there are even waves on the rocky shorelines and sandy beaches.

Superior North Shore

2010-07-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

North of Duluth, MN, along the shore of Lake Superior is a beautiful stretch of clear cool water and rocky wooded shoreline. Looking out onto the lake is just like looking out on the ocean. The weather here is warm, but does not seem to be as humid as Door County or Minneapolis.

There are several nice small towns and lighthouses in this area that was built for shipping iron ore from Minnesota across the Great Lakes. Fishing, boating, sailing and kayaking seem to be excellent, but there appears to be only a few good pleasure boat harbors along this area of rugged shoreline.

Mary and I made our base camp in a town called Two Harbors. There is a great hiking and biking trail that runs between the highway and the shore and through several state parks. We hiked and biked in Gooseberry Falls State Park. The water in the falls and river were oddly warmer than the lake water. We toured the Split Rock Lighthouse and saw one of the “Tall Ships” heading for the Tall Ships festival in Duluth.

The Minnesotans (and Wisconsinites) sure like their pies. We have discovered that there is usually a “world famous” pie shop in most areas of Minnesota and Wisconsin. In Door County it was Sweetie Pies, and at the North Shore it is Betty’s Pies. The Chocolate Pecan at Sweetie Pies was definitely our favorite.

We have also discovered frozen custard. The Culver’s drive in chain has special flavors that change daily. Change is good! We have managed to maintain our weight (Mary has actually lost weight) by long stretches of dieting with small periods of indulgence. It is really kind of fun deciding which treats are “worth splurging for”.

Minnesota is also the land of gigantic statues. Paul Bunyan and Babe the Bull Ox are favorites, but who is this French Trapper without his pants?

So far the Great Lakes area is definitely “superior” to the inland Midwest. We will be continuing in the great lakes along the south shore of Superior in Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan before heading to the Detroit area to visit a friend of Mary’s who has been on several of Mary’s trips and retreats.

The Reunion

2010-07-26T11:31:00.000-07:00

Being back in my hometown of Wayzata, MN, was really a lot of fun. We set up in my parent’s driveway and visited with several of the extended family. My family likes to eat, so we had great homegrown food from the garden and several new restaurant experiences.

I am really impressed with the hiking and biking trails in Minnesota. There are hundreds of miles of options all over the state. The weather was great and Bob and I rode our bikes on the Dakota Trail, a 13 mile long paved path along one edge of Lake Minnetonka. I wish we’d had more time for biking and hiking but there was just too much socializing to do.

We also visited the Hindu Temple of Minnesota with my parents. I wish we had been there at a time when they had a guided tour, but it was still very interesting to watch people visiting the various shrines devoted to the many Hindu deities.

My 40^th High School Reunion was a blast! It actually started on Friday night when a classmate who has a jazz trio was playing in town. Some old friends picked up Bob and me and when we got to the gig, there were about 25 other classmates there. It was a nice intro to what was to come. On Saturday evening we went to the reunion, which was held outside at a private home. I really enjoyed seeing about 100 classmates and was pleasantly surprised to see how good we all look!

Then on Sunday, we attended a brunch at the home of an old friend of mine who I’d lost touch with about 35 years ago. Guess where she has a summer home? In Seattle! I am so looking forward to getting to know her again. I will definitely make a point of getting to the next reunion.

While we were in Minneapolis, we saw this interesting vehicle going down the street. People were sitting at the bar drinking beer and moving the vehicle by peddling. The Peddle Pub! What a crazy idea. Maybe this can be our next business venture.

Door County, WI

2010-07-19T21:08:00.000-07:00

Whenever we mentioned going to Wisconsin, people told us to be sure to get to Door County. We planned on staying here for 4 nights, but after only one, we extended our stay for a week.

Door County is at the end of the peninsula known as the “thumb” of Wisconsin, which protrudes into lake Michigan with Green Bay on the westside. It is quite rural with quaint small towns dotting both shorelines. Although the population is small, there are many good restaurants, shops and lodging options. It is also an area that produces tart and sweet cherries, which happen to be in season right now. You can buy anything cherry in Door County.

Bob and I set up at a nice campground in Egg Harbor, on the Green Bay side of the peninsula. It was a lovely spot in the trees, which kept us cool on the sunny warm days. We also encountered an evening of severe storms and we were prepared to run for the office if the tornado siren went off. It didn’t, but we pulled the slides in for the night anyway.

We couldn’t get Wifi at our campsite, so most days we went to various coffee houses for Bob’s latte and to check our email. Wine tasting is also a pastime here that we didn’t miss, but most of the wines are fruit based and sweet. We did find two nice red blends that we liked. Several days we rode our bikes on a ten-mile loop in Peninsula State Park and spent some time at the many small but scenic beaches on the lake. The water is very clear and fairly warm on the bayside (72+), but only about 62 degrees on the open Lake Michigan side of the peninsula.

One evening we took in a performance at an outdoor theater of “Cheeseheads, the Musical”. Bob and I both loved it! It was a really fun play based loosely on a true story about a group of workers in a cheese factory who won the lotto. We also did a few leisure activities together for the first time – bowling and miniature golf.

Door County has a unique meal called the Fish Boil. It starts with a huge caldron on an open fire outside. A wire basket filled with potatoes and onions goes into it, and on top of that another basket with large hunks of local whitefish. When the food is almost done, they throw kerosene on the fire creating a huge flair up and the water boils over the top. The boil show was fun and the fish dinner was great.

Our final night in Egg Harbor, we were treated to a free concert in the park by Loudon Wainwright III. That was a name from the past that we barely remembered, but he was FANTASTIC. What a funny, talented songwriter and musician. We loved every minute of his performance and will see him again if the opportunity comes up.

This is a very special area of the Wisconsin and definitely worth a trip if you’re in the vicinity. Next stop - Minneapolis, to visit my family and attend my 40^th High School Reunion! – Cheeseheads, the Reunion?

Madison

2010-07-11T19:58:00.000-07:00

I have fond memories of visiting my friend Jane at the University of Wisconsin in Madison back in 1972. It was a radical campus and a very exciting time for us participating in anti-war protests. I may have been there once or twice in the next few years, but I hadn’t been back since. Bob and I spent time driving around campus, and I recognized the dorm where I visited my friend and other landmarks. It’s hard to believe that those memories are still alive after almost 40 years. We spent an hour at the Memorial Union Terrace, watching the kids drink beer and dance to live music on Friday night.

Madison is the state Capital and sits between two lakes. The Capital building is visible from every direction for many miles and it’s lovely to see it rising above the green trees and rolling hills of corn. The city has a dynamic, progressive energy and seems well cared for and much loved.

On Saturday we enjoyed the huge Farmers Market that runs around Capital square and took in two Art Fairs on and off the square. Parking was difficult but it was fun to mingle with the locals. We even went into the Capital building to admire the rotunda.

Spring Green, an hour outside of Madison, is where Frank Lloyd Wright’s home, Taliesin sits. We went on a great tour of Hillside studio, his architectural school. We drove past his residence, but didn’t take the 2 hour $45 per person tour there. It’s an amazing 600 acre estate.

Just five miles down the road is the House on the Rock, built by Alex Jordan. He started with a small cabin built into the rock in 1960, and then added on for more than 25 years. It’s still preserved with the 60s shag carpet on the walls and too many kooky things to mention. Bob thought it was quite imaginative, but I found it downright weird. We only toured a small part of this attraction, including a cantilevered, convex windowed room that extends out 150+ feet above the forest floor

We also drove down to Lake Geneva to visit an old friend of mine. It’s a lovely little town on a large clear lake in southern Wisconsin, as close to Chicago as it is to Madison. We had lunch at a great restaurant and there was a Playboy Bunny reunion happening there. Wow, you should see what the bunnies look like 30 years later. You’d never guess their past. We also enjoyed a nice walk along the lake past gorgeous mansions.

Bob and I were really impressed with this area. If it wasn’t for the 5 long, hard months of winter, we might consider living here.

The Amana Colonies

2010-07-07T20:53:00.000-07:00

On our drive north from Missouri, we made a quick stop in Fairfield, Iowa, to see the Maharishi University of Management. This consciousness-based school was founded in 1974 by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He brought Transcendental Meditation to the west. We didn’t have a lot of time and were unable to find a visitor center, but we did get a few photos.

Then we went on to the Amana Colonies near Iowa City. These seven villages were established in 1855 by a group of Germans who were escaping religious persecution. The Community of True Inspiration lived a communal lifestyle until 1932. They were farmers and craftsmen as well as inventors of the Amana appliances.

Today, the seven villages are still intact with the original charming stone and brick houses. You can visit the Woolen and furniture factories, wineries, gift shops, general stores and museums. Bob and I especially enjoyed our visit to the Church museum where we heard the story of the religion and their practices by a local elder. This is the only place in the world where this religion exists and there are only about 300 members.

Each village was quiet, peaceful and very well taken care of. It seems like a lovely place to live.

Tri-state 4th of July

2010-07-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

Hamilton, Illinois is the hometown of four of my siblings. My sister Diana returned in 1962, when the rest of us were in Virginia, and has lived in the area ever since. Diana and Mike and their kids and grandkids all still live in the same general area. The communities of Keokuk, IA, Hamilton, IL and Canton, MO are only about 30 miles apart, but spread over three states. The area hasn’t seemed to change too much since the 1960’s.

We spent the fourth of July weekend listening to music in the park in Iowa, dancing in the streets to a very good rock and roll band in Illinois, eating with family in Missouri, and visiting Nauvoo, IL.

Nauvoo is the town where the Mormans settled under Joseph Smith in the mid 1800’s (before Salt Lake City). The Mormans actually split into two major factions after the killing of Joseph Smith. One faction, the LDS group under Brigham Young, went to Salt Lake City. The other, lesser known, faction is now headquartered in Independence, MO, and is known as the Community of Christ. Photo is of a temple in Nauvoo.

We also went with Diana to an Amish farm to get new shoes for her horses. It was very interesting to see the children working in the garden, horse drawn plows and domesticated herds of deer.

Mary and I are enjoying learning about different religious and spiritual practices, and, as you can tell, we are trying to visit any spiritual, religious or utopian communities that are close to our path.

Boulder, CO

2010-06-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

On our way to Boulder from Custer, South Dakota, we stopped for a night in Fort Collins, CO. Our only reason for going there was to visit the Shambhala Mountain Center. This Tibetan Buddhist retreat center is located on 600 acres of pine forest and meadows in the mountains near Red Feather Lakes. It was founded in1970 by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

Central to Shambhala is the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya. It contains relics of the Buddha, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and other great teachers, that are sealed into the 108 foot gilded structure. Countless mantras and fragments of sacred objects are held within the massive base and walls. Unlike most stupas, there is a meditation room inside the Stupa, complete with a 17 foot tall Buddha, and we were able to spend time there soaking in this sacred and peaceful energy.

In Boulder we set up camp at St. Vrain State Park. It was a lovely location on a pond but we had no internet access. The weather was fantastic and we spent time walking around downtown Boulder, visiting friends in the city and also in Evergreen, CO.

An old friend of mine took us on a spectacular hike into the mountains behind Boulder. We started at around 9,300 feet and hiked to the tree line at 10,500 feet. The views were astounding and we were amazed at how acclimated Bob and I are to higher elevations. We were hardly huffing and puffing.

Another highlight of this stop was a tour of the Celestial Seasonings tea factory. I have been drinking their tea for decades and it was great fun to see how it’s put together and do a tasting in their shop. If you’re ever in the Boulder area, put this on your must do list.

Black Hills

2010-06-25T20:40:00.000-07:00

I went to the Black Hills when I was a child living in Minnesota, but I don’t remember much about it. Bob had never been here and was excited to see several things in the area, so off we went.

Mount Rushmore was bigger and more impressive than I remembered. They have a great new visitor center and a wonderful trail where you can walk under the sculptures. It was a lot of fun to be there.

We also went to the Mammoth site in Hot Springs, SD. This is a working archeological dig that has been covered by a building. They think that this site was a sinkhole that 55 or more mammoths fell into and couldn’t get out of. There are remains of many other animals in the site as well. This is a very interesting place to visit if you’re ever in the area.

Custer State Park is fabulous. It’s filled with bison, pronghorn, prairie dogs, burros and great trails. We hiked the 7-mile roundtrip Harney Peak Trail and really enjoyed it. This is the highest peak (7,742 feet) between the Rockies and the Alps and gave great 360 degree views. It was little tough for me since I’ve been suffering from a virus with laryngitis and coughing, but I made it to the top.

This is an area we would visit again. We only scratched the surface.

Yellowstone & Tetons photos

2010-06-25T19:48:00.000-07:00

When I was trying to post our Yellowstone and Grand Tetons blogs, the internet access we had was awful, so I was unable to post many photos. Since they are such spectacular areas, I thought I'd post a few more now. Hope you enjoy them.

We may not have internet until around July 6th, so if you don't hear anything, that's why. Have a wonderful 4th of July!!!

Devil's Tower

2010-06-23T05:48:00.000-07:00

Devil’s Tower. the large monolith featured in Close Encounters of the Third Kind in Northeast Wyoming, was a must see for us. The site is sacred and significant to many Plains Tribes, and we were interested to see what spiritual energy we would find there. The tribal legends about the creation of the tower involve seven young girls running from a bear, and the seven girls get lifted onto the tower and then into the sky becoming the Pleiades. Many tribes including the Lakota conduct ceremonies and prayer offerings at the tower. We were honored to spend the summer Solstice here.

We hiked three trails in the park. Two of the trails circled the tower, and the third was on a ridge with some great views. The park and the area surrounding it are absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful green rolling hills and pastures with scattered forests and occasional sandstone and even red rock ridges.

The park also includes a huge “Prairie Dog Town” in the lower pasture. There must have been at least a couple hundred of the critters, and they were very active and fun to watch.

We were able to get a campsite right in the shadow of the tower. The weather was warm and sunny during the morning and midday, with clouds and thunderstorms in the early evening. The campground has a showing of “Close Encounters” every evening, but we experienced thunderstorms and lighting each of the evenings, so we didn’t get to see the movie. The storms were a bit scary, but also fun to watch and we didn’t experience any big hail or real strong winds, so all was OK.

The Tower definitely evokes an energetic feeling. For Mary and I the energy was very grounded, peaceful and calm. Not the high, turbulent energy of the Big Horn Medicine Wheel, but still a powerful, deep and kind presence.

Yellowstone

2010-06-20T07:29:00.000-07:00

Mid-June in Yellowstone - cold rain, wind, snow and beautiful warm sun all in four days.

Yellowstone for us is about the thermal water features and the wildlife. The scenery is not as dramatic as the Tetons, Rainier or Zion, but the geysers, mud pots, hot springs and fumaroles are amazing. The scenery is excellent too, especially up in the Lamar Valley and Dunraven Pass areas.

We found a short trail into some thermal features off the Firehole Lake road near the Great Fountain Geyser, and I managed to put my fingers in some hot springs without burning them off. Mary was not quite so brave (or stupid). Most of the features have a very high sulphur content and can be quite caustic as well as very hot (200+ degrees). Some are very cloudy and smelly while others are clear and pure with no odor. The bubbling mud pots and the clear pastel blue hot springs are my favorites. The Upper Geyser Basin, and the Norris Geyser Basin are great spots.

Bison are almost everywhere in the park, sometimes alone or just a few scattered across a meadow or hillside, or even along the road. In Lamar Valley we saw a large herd of nearly 100 gathered in a meadow. The females have their calves with them and they seem very used to close quarters with cars and humans. Elk are almost as prevalent as Bison, and they are also mostly scattered in small to medium sized groups of 3-15, yet we only noticed a very few elk calves - they are probably just now calving. In the Lamar Valley we saw several small groups of Pronghorn Antelope including a lone mom with two calves wandering along a hillside.

Our first day in Yellowstone we saw Grizzlies from a distance on three separate occasions as we drove around the park. Today we also saw bears three different times - a very large Grizzly mom and two cubs from a distance on a hillside, a Black bear mom (brown) with one cub right on the road and a large Black bear right next to the truck as we drove by. We never got to see any wolves this time around, but we did see a coyote, eagles, osprey, and some very large Sandhill Cranes that almost look like emus from a distance

Yellowstone is very high in altitude with the lowest elevations above 6,000 feet, most of the areas are above 7,000 feet and some road passes are as high as 8,850 feet. This helps explain why it can be so cold one day and warm the next during the summer months.

One day this week the temperatures never got out of the 30s and we had snow on and off all day. We were headed for the Lamar Valley to watch for wolves, but a major road was closed due to snow, so we missed our good window for sightings.

Tomorrow we head east across Wyoming toward Devils Tower. We hope to stop at the Bighorn Medicine Wheel on our way across the state and to be at Devils Tower for the Summer Solstice.