Closer to home and back in the same time zone

Thursday, August 1 -  the ride today was much more comfortable, as the temps were a bit less boiling than yesterday.  The top was down all day and there was much less sweating.  The traffic getting out of Memphis was pretty heavy but it moved right along and we headed northeast and finally got back into the Eastern Time Zone.  We were in Nashville, TN for lunch and went to Blackstone restaurant and brewery. We had a great lunch, good service and a new beer glass, really I think this is the last one.  We then drove through the hills of Tennessee and Kentucky, reaching our destination of the Days Inn and Suites in Cincinnati, Ohio around dinner time.  We went through the same routine that we've come to know, checkin, unpack, and dinner.  I'm not really sure how that's going to work when we get home tomorrow, I guess we'll see what happens.  That's all for this next to last post.  Our last post will be once we get home, unpacked, and have dinner.  I hope it will reflect the wonderful vastness of the experiences that we had over these last five weeks.  I hope that you will be able to share someday soon our pictures and how much we learned, experienced, and enjoyed over the last 36 days.  So long from Cincinnati, see you all soon, we've really missed you all.  N&L

We begin the trip home.

Wednesday, July 31st -  as we left Dallas, the realization that we were heading east and north started to sink in.  The journey of five weeks was coming to a close.  It hardly seems like we've been gone that long but it seems forever ago that we went rafting, watched the fish flying at Pikes Place Market, and walked the trails along the rim of the Grand Canyon.  The trip to Memphis from Dallas was a hot one.  The top was down almost the entire time and it was in the upper 90's. When we got to our hotel we checked in, unpacked the car and went to dinner.  We went to a restaurant in a nice little neighborhood, that reminded us of the Elmwood strip in Buffalo.  The food was good but the service wasn't very good, probably the worst we've had for the whole trip.  Not really sure why, but it just didn't seem up to par.  We then took a ride around downtown Memphis, including the area around Beale Street,  but it was extremely crowded and we had no idea of where to park.  Back to the hotel for a dip in the pool to cool off and a good nights sleep before the very long drive to Cincinnati.

Our day in Dallas

We headed in to downtown Dallas for a little sight-seeing. We stopped at the Grassy Knoll, the site of the assination of JFK. There were many people around this area. There were plaques to describe the different aspects of what happened that day. We went to the museum bookstore. It was an interesting review of American history.  Our next stop was supposed to be a microbrewery. Once we found the address we discovered it must have been the corporate office. No beer in this building.
We then headed to John & Paula Lind's house for a day of relaxation. Paula grew up in NT. Lynn and Paula have been friends since grade school. We started with a tour of their beautiful home. John made delicious stuffed jalapeños that we all enjoyed! Bathing suits, drinks and snacks and we headed to the pool. They have a beautiful in -ground pool. We hung out in the pool on a very hot afternoon!  We had a great time catching up on our kids, families and jobs(well Paula and I talked nursing). A delicious dinner followed, more conversation and Norm and I then headed back to our hotel(without incident).
Our thanks to John & Paula for providing us a day of relaxation and fun!!!!

Carlsbad, wasn't too 'bad' but the traffic in Dallas is another issue.

Monday, July 29th - The hotel we stayed at in Carlsbad, NM, didn't have a complimentary breakfast, so as we drove out of town it was a Sonic breakfast.  That not being sufficient for Norm we spent the first hour of our trip to Dallas looking for someplace to get a doughnut.  It seems that Dunkin' Donuts or Timmy Ho's isn't interested in coming to the Southwest.  Finally, a local little donut shop appears on the horizon and the morning improves greatly.  The rest of the morning and afternoon were spent on the road.  We stopped a few times to get gas and at some Native American shops, but it was fairly uneventful until we got to the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  We were in traffic that rivaled that of LA and carefully following our Triptik.  Unfortunately, without us knowing, the Triptik was taking us to a different hotel than the one where we were staying.  We finally were so confused that we stopped and put on the GPS  with the address and found the hotel. It took us about an hour and a half to go the distance that should have taken us about twenty minutes.  It made the day end with a great deal of frustration.  We did find, with the suggestion of the hotel registration person, a good Mexican Restaurant, where the food was good and the price was cheap.  The day finally came to an end with some ice cream and a very nice hotel room with a fireplace, even though it was 101 outside.

Long day to Carlsbad

Our day started with breakfast at the hotel. We needed to get an early start as we have a long day of travel planned to Carlsbad, New Mexico . Lynn was disappointed that she couldn't shop in Sedona but there will be other times to shop. We headed out through the red mountains of Sedona. It was a beautiful drive. By the way, we are getting pretty good at taking pictures while driving along.
Arizona had many rolling mountains as we drove along into New Mexico-still beautiful scenery. Arizona has large areas of Indian nations. We stopped at a couple of Indian shops to purchase gifts. New Mexico was not as beautiful as Arizona. The countryside was quite flat with not much too look at along the way. We got into Carlsbad about 9 pm. Lights out- its been a long day!

The really "GRAND" canyon

With the day at Zion behind us, it's really hard to believe that anything could be any more spectacular, but again I was totally underestimating what we were about to see.  We left Hurricane, UT and headed southeast toward the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, about a two hour drive, which actually ended up taking about three.  The weather was absolutely perfect for the first part of the day.  When we arrived at the North Rim, we first went to the Visitors Center to find out what the best things were for us to see.  It was recommended that we hike the trail to Angel Point.   It was only .5 miles and fairly flat, so that's where we went.  I don't have words to describe what we experienced.  First, the trail was barely wide enough for two people to pass and it was very crowded.  Second, there were no railings and the trail edges went straight down several hundreds/thousands feet.  So, those of you who know Norm and his dealing with heights, would be surprised that he and Lynn, who also seemed to be a little intimidated by the height of the trail, took the trail to the end and back.  It was magnificent.   We kept saying "look at that, wow look over here........".  God didn't make any mistakes with this one.  We decided on the trip back to the head of the trail to take a break and found an area where we could sit.  There was another couple sitting there already and we had a really wonderful conversation with them.  They were from Wisconsin, and she was a teacher, so the shop talk began. We must have spent close to an hour visiting with them, talking work, retirement, our kids, and grandchildren.  Our part of the latter conversation is only from anticipation.   We spent  several hours there, following a different trail along the canyon's edge to the Lodge.  We spent some time in the bookstore and gift shop, had some lunch, and said our goodbyes to the canyon.  We had a long and at times stressful, rain filled trip to Sedona, AZ.  At points the rain came down so hard we had to try to find a place to pull off the road, but even then the water was rushing so fast that there was concern that the water would move the car.  Along with the wind and lightening, a portion of this trip reminded us of the experience we had in South Dakota several weeks back when we thought we were going to be blown over or struck by lightening.   But, as you can tell, we did manage to make it through the storm, and flooding roads to finally, many,  MANY, hours later arrive in Sedona and to our hotel.  On our way through town we saw a microbrewery and said that we would try it for dinner, so following our checkin we went back to the micro-b. but alas it wasn't open, so we ended up at a BBQ place.  The drive into Sedona was another exciting trip of serpentining and switchbacks down into the base of a deep canyon and then red rock formations in the canyon were more and more beautiful as we drove further and further toward our destination.  Tomorrow we have a very long drive to Carlsbad, NM.

Tuesday, July 30th

We got up early and prepared for our day at Zion and Bryce National Parks. Zion does not allow driving in the park-everyone has to ride a shuttle through the park. So, we packed our backpack in preparation of some hiking. The drive to Zion took about 40 minutes. We twisted our way through the mountains- I cannot describe the beauty around each turn in the road! We parked the car, looked around at the visitor center and headed towards the shuttle. Visitors are given a map of the park with descriptions of the trails. Norm and I decided on which trails we(really I) could handle. The first trail lead us through the woods down a twisting trail to reflecting pools at the base of the canyon. As you look up you can see the steep red walls of the canyon. There were points where the water was running down the cliff walls making waterfalls. At points we would come upon a clearing that opened up a panoramic view of the canyon! We could not stop taking pictures!!! We enjoyed a great lunch at the Zion Lodge and then headed back to the shuttle. Our second hike took us down to the river at the base of the canyon. It was pretty hot so we kept drinking water and winding our way down to the canyon floor. Once we got to the bottom Lynn took off her socks and shoes and waded in the Virgin River. It was very sandy but you have to be very careful because the water rushes quickly.
We then hiked back up the road and took the shuttle back to the visitors center. At this point we made the decision that we were not going to Bryce today. It was getting late and it was a hour and a half drive to get to Bryce.
We drove back towards our hotel and looked for a place where Lynn could get a haircut. It began to rain,well more like pour! We pulled into Walmart,  Norm left me off at the door but I was still soaked by the time I got inside. They has a styling salon (yeah) so I got a quick (short) haircut and we headed for dinner.
We prepared our items for our next box we are mailing home tomorrow.