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.

The drive to Zion

This is the day (July 25) that we start our serpentining trip east through some National Parks and the southwestern US.  We spent the morning packing and making one final stop at the tackiest shop I've ever been in to buy some awesome souvenirs for family and friends.  By noontime, we were in the car headed for two nights in Hurricane, Utah with the intention of going to the visitor center at Zion NP once we got checked in this day, spending the next morning touring Zion and then driving to Bryce Canyon NP for the remainder of the day.  The drive from Vegas to Hurricane, was pretty, but uneventful (which actually is a good thing) until we got about a hour away from our destination.  We stopped in St. George, which is about a half hour from Hurricane and that's when the beauty began.  For the next three days we saw the actual beauty the only God could have created.  When we got to our hotel, we only had an hour to get to Zion, so we decided to go for a swim instead.  We got a pizza for dinner, and prepared for the next days journeys to Zion and Bryce.

July 24 - Norm's point of view

Lynn has shared with you her perspective of our time in Las Vegas and now you'll get mine.  I've not read her's yet so this is just the plain "as I see them" call.  First of all the room we had was great. Big, huge windows with a 21st floor view of the strip.  Nice bathroom, comfortable bed, and a fully stocked mini-bar.  It also had free wi-if, which seemed standard in all of the hotels we stayed in, so better than others, but none the less it got us through what we needed most days. The wi-if appeared to  have a charge connected to it when I went to sign up.  So I went to the front desk to find out what the status of it was, a good move on my part.  After waiting in line for about fifteen minutes while some brainless people addressed some very inane issues, I finally got to the person I was to see about my question.  Her first comment to me was an apology for my wait time.  She explained that the Internet was part of the daily $28.00 resort fee that was imposed on every room, and so for waiting so long in line she comped my resort fee, saving us $56.00 plus tax.  Also with respect to our room we were charged three $4.00 charges for use of the mini bar, which we didn't use except to keep a few of our personal things cold.  When I asked about it at check out, I told them that we didn't take anything from the mini bar so they said they would inventory it, and they removed the charges from the bill. I was very impressed with the overall hotel experience, with the exception of the cost of the restaurant food.  We ate twice at the food court, and once at the brunch buffet (only because we were comped a 2 for 1 deal).   Perhaps had we been just spending a weekend or even a week there we would have tried a restaurant or two as there were some great ones available,  but with the cost of our trip to this point being what it is and having a week to go, forget the food at the hotel.  We went for a walk on the strip and it was about 106 degrees out.  It was crowded and full of people trying to make a quick buck, so all of that combined left Lynn with a not so good first impression.  I'd like to go back for longer than one day when it's a bit more comfortable out.  I know that it's crowded most of the time, so that, and the panhandlers and people trying make as living on the street you just have to deal with. In some respects it's a lot like NYC, mainly the Times Square area.  We wanted to go to see a show while there and stood in line at the "tickets4tonight" booth and got tickets to see Penn & Teller.  That was probably the best thing we did, besides losing about twenty bucks playing the penny slot machines.  All in all, I think that we need to try Vegas again under different circumstances, not towards the end of lifetime tour but as a single selective vacation.  After Penn & Teller we went back to the hotel where we were staying,played the slots for a brief time, had a snack, and went to bed for in the morning we head to Utah and the National Parks.

July 24, 2013

Lynn's impression of Vegas.
I have decided that each of us should write our own description of Vegas. I must say that I always wanted to go to Vegas. I have heard people talk about and always wondered what it was like- well now I know what I have not been missing. Unfortunately, I have more bad thoughts than good ones.
First it was very hot-about 107 degrees with no breeze. There are people everywhere on the streets trying to hand you stuff. Calling you- hey lady want to ... There are people on every corner looking for money, some wearing crazy outfits,some that look homeless, some holding signs and sleeping kids that need money. There are also people selling water on the streets but they can't say they are selling it- they ask for a donation. The food is very expensive! There was a fridge in our room fully stocked . We put in our meds to keep cold and we must have moved a pop off a sensor and got charged $6.00. Norm took care of that at check out. There was some kind of basketball thing going on so there were young boys on the streets. People on the streets were handing out coupons to girl shows- they even tried to hand them to Norm while we were walking together then I saw them gathering around the young boys! That was totally frustrating!!! I lost $21.00 but there were people who had lost hundreds(I'm sure thousands). What a waste!!
The best thing was we went to the Penn & Teller show. Outstanding!!! We had a great time!!
  Ps- Vegas has the tackiest souvenirs I have ever seen!!

July 23,2013

This morning we  packed for our trip to Vegas. One last trip to Trader Joes and we are on our way.  The temperature was around 107 degrees!! We started with the roof down but it wasn't long before we stopped to put it up. Everything in the car got so hot we couldn't touch anything! We stopped in Primm to check out the outlet mall. Primm is located on the border of California and Nevada. We decided to drive to Hoover Dam before we drove to our hotel.  As we approached the dam we can see Lake Mead in the distance, beautiful! First we drove over the dam(parking was expensive). We found a free lot that was a little hike. Normally this would not be difficult but it was about 107 degrees and we had walked a lot yesterday. We then walked acrossed the top of the dam. The views were breathtaking !! We visited the gift shop took some more pictures and we were done there. Norm was good enough to go and get the car so I didn't have to walk the whole way back. We arrived shortly at our hotel, MGM Grand. Norm went in to check-in and left me behind the wheel. There is no registration parking spaces. The taxis have a lane,the valet parking has a lane and everyone else needs to move. I thought I could drive around the block once and pick Norm back up but that was not the case. Once I made the turn onto the strip the traffic was bumper to bumper with people crossing at every light. But I managed to return to the front and pick up Norm. We parked in the parking garage and made our way to the room on the 21st floor. We explored our hotel and unpacked.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Today is our last day in the LA area and we are going to "The Happiest Place on Earth".  If you don't know what I mean then I'll let you in on a little secret, it's called the "Disneyland Resort" in Anaheim, CA.  Most of you know how much we like The Wonderful World of Disney and how many times we have been to Disney World in Florida, so no trip to SoCal would be complete without a trip to the original park that was designed by Walt Disney.  The day began with a drive on the freeway, Norm's favorite place to be in LA.  But much to our surprise, the traffic wasn't too bad which made it an easy trip, making the start of the day a "Happy" one.  We parked in the Toy Story, Woody Lot and took the shuttle bus to the main gate area.  After standing in line for some time to purchase our tickets, I'm not too sure what the problem was (you don't have that many choices for tickets), we stood in line to go into the park.  Standing in line seemed to be the theme of the day.  For those of you that haven't been to Disneyland Resort, it's actually two different parks and a shopping/eating district called Downtown Disney.  We began our visit by going to the park called "California Adventure". There are sections that are themed after the movie "Cars", the movie "The Little Mermaid",  a Boardwalk/Pier with rides and games, and areas in California, such as the Redwood Forests.  We rode several rides, but our favorites in this park seemed to be the Whitewater Rafting Ride (even though it didn't compare with our rafting experience in Colorado) and a simulator ride called "Soaring", which simulates a hang glider ride through the most famous places in California.  We then took a break  from the parks and walked to the Downtown Disney area and did some shopping.  We finally made it to Disneyland, and much to our surprise it was very much like the Magic Kingdom at WDW in Florida.  The exceptions were somewhat disappointing, yet still having that Disney Magic that just makes the parks so very special.  The main things that were different were the size of Cinderella's Castle and the fact that things were so crammed together that the walkways were much narrower making it seem very, very crowded.  We rode the Matterhorn, The Nemo Ride, and spent lots of time walking throughout the park taking pictures and seeing the ins and outs of the Disneyland resort.  We retuned to the California Adventure park for our final ride there based on the movie "Cars".  It has some similarity to "Test Track" in EPCOT at WDW, but it has more story line to it.  It was one of the more memorable things we did while there.  Our final ride was back in Disneyland. Many of the rides are the same as the ones in Florida, but one, the Matterhorn is a totally different ride than any thing in Florida.  It was really neat, and we were glad that rode it.  We then had dinner, did some shopping , and then headed back to our LA home.  Norm was a little worried about the traffic after the experience of the return trip from San Diego. But it was pretty smooth sailing home.  We then packed our bags for the trip to Las Vegas the next day.  So ends our first trip to the California Disneyland Resort, truly, at least for the most part, "The Happiest Place on Earth".  Each time Norm heard a   crying, streaming, and just being ornery child he would say " no crying, this is Disneyland, the happiest place on earth".  We just don't know if people understood, but it was a great time in spite of those screaming kids,  a great way to end our first trip to the Los Angeles area.

July 21, 2013

Still playing catch-up!
This morning we have brunch planned at a local restaurant. Norm saw this place advertised on the travel channel as having one of the top views. It was located in Burbank, a suburb of LA. The view was amazing!!!! We could look out over the view of the city. It was a champagne brunch with DELICIOUS food. We spent a long time there,just enjoying the view and food. We headed back to our house to change our clothes and then off to our next activity. We scheduled a tour of Paramount Pictures. They are the only studio actually still located in Hollywood. It was fun seeing the different areas of the studio. We toured the lot in a group of 6 with a tour guide. We traveled in a large golf-type cart getting out frequently to walk around. We saw a small park. It is where they film some of the outside scenes from the show Community. Also they have shot scenes from Glee there. We got to go inside the main office building which houses the oscars in the lobby. If the movie wins picture of the year the Oscar we see on TV is given to the producer but the studio can buy a duplicate for $1.00 from the academy. We saw the oscars for Forest Gump, Wings(1st ever Oscar), The Godfather. Glee is filmed there. The sets were on trailers that were outside its sound studio. Sadly, there was a memorial area outside the main gate for Cory Monteith, the actor from the show who recently died. We went in the sound stage for the show, Run Dad Run. We have to watch the show sometime to see the set on TV. They have a huge section that looks like New York. All just fronts-very cool. The studio restaurant turns into "Breadsticks" from Glee for shooting. They have a parking lot that they can fill with water that has a huge blue sky background. The parting of the Red Sea by Moses was filmed there from the movie "The 10 Commandments". It was a very fun tour!!
We then headed off to mail another package home and do laundry.
Norm mentioned the traffic in yesterday's blog. I have to say it is worse then I ever imagined!!! I had heard that LA traffic was terrible but I never imagined this. There are two speeds on the freeways-90 and stop! The motorcycles apparently do not have to stay in the same lanes as the cars as we can be stopped in traffic and one will speed by between two cars. The freeways can be up to 7 lanes wide and even just trying to stay in the right doesn't always work. I tried to hold on and not yell at Norm too many times!!
Early to bed tonight as we are going to Disneyland tomorrow.

July 20 - San Diego

The destination for this Saturday was San Diego and it's world famous zoo.  We also want to try and go to the beach today.  The San Diego Zoo is a massive facility that attempts to create the closest thing to the animal's natural environment. We took tons of pictures of animals that are favorites of our friends children Ani and Fiona Klein and also animals that will be in the nursery for Baby Roberts. We spent almost five hours at the zoo and I'm sure there were things we didn't see.  While at the zoo we observed, now wait for it, a local brewery.  We did mange to find theirTasting Room on the soft opening day.  We met Adam our host, had some tastes of the Karl Strauss beer, and of course bought a glass. We then ended our trip to San Diego with a beach stop at LaJolle Beach.  While there we had a little picnic dinner and walked in the Pacific Ocean.  The drive back to our house was awful.  Lots of traffic going very fast, but we made it back unscathed.

July 19, 2013

Our first day in LA.
We are staying in a guest house in West Hollywood. Norm made the arrangements through a company recommended by our friend,  Drew. We park on a residential street and enter through a gate in the driveway. This little house sits in their backyard. We have our own key and total privacy. It's really cute and much cheaper than a hotel in the LA area. We did meet Frances the owner and her 2 dogs one afternoon during our visit.
This morning we took a bus tour of the LA area. It had numerous stops. I will share some of our favorites.

• Hollywood Bowl- Pink Martini was rehearsing. This is an awesome concert venue!
• Dolby Theatre-home of the Oscars.
• Farmers Market- had lunch there
• Rodeo Drive- walked around,didn't go in any shops.
• Famous movie spots- UM church where they filmed Sister Act. Hotel where Richard Gere lived in Pretty Woman & hotel where Julia Roberts  lived  at the end of the movie.
• Gromans Chinese Theatre
• Downtown LA
• Walt Disney Concert Hall
• Hollywood sign

The afternoon gave us time to unpack and get settled. We headed back to the Farmers Market for dinner and walked around The Grove for the evening. (I looked for someone famous- but no luck). Early to bed as we are tired from travel yesterday.

San Fran to LA and the 17mile drive

This day we left "our hearts and a lot of great memories" in San Francisco.  We headed for Los Angeles, via the coastal highway to the Monterey Peninsula.  This area is home to beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean, but most famous for the 17-mile drive around the peninsula ending with a visit to the famed Pebble Beach Golf Links.  Throughout this self-guided tour you see breath-taking views of the pacific and Monterey Bay. There are several stops that include Spanish Bay GC, the famous Spyglass Hill GC,  Cypress Point GC (which happened to be under renovation), and the grand-daddy of them all, Pebble Beach Golf Links.  It was great to see to see the harbor seals and sea lions, but for me the main reason to go on this tour was to get to Pebble Beach. I had the opportunity to stand on the first tee and take a picture at Spyglass Hill and most incredibly, stand next to the 18th green at Pebble Beach. I can see the many pictures, in my old mind, of all those champions walking up to the roar of applause.  What a lifetime moment it was for me.  I have now placed this place on my "bucket list" and will start saving for this investment.  The tour and time spent at the pro shop, took longer than we figured so with about 5 hours to go we didn't get to our LA home until well after 10 PM.  We were also delayed a bit by the fact that as we got off the freeway going into Hollywood, we got stuck in the mobs leaving the LA Philharmonic's concert at the Hollywood Bowl. So the crowds and being unfamiliar with the area, lead to the unanticipated stress, not really needed, at the end of a long day.  We finally found our home for the next five days and crashed.  We have some awesome things planned for the next five days in and around LA.

July 23,2013

This entry is for our last day in SanFrancisco. We found our way to the nearest FedEx shipping office to mail a box home. Our skills at this task are getting better each time. The first time we mailed home we had to buy a bag of popcorn filler to fill up the box. Since the bag was so expensive Norm had to cram the left-overs behind his seat! On our way back to the hotel we drove down Lombard Street-the famous curvy street that is seen on postcards. It was quite an experience. The flowers were beautiful but tourists were everywhere, running in the street. We parked at our hotel and walked down to the water. Our transportation this morning was a famous cable car! It was a fun adventure. Part of the cable was down so we only got partway to Union Station. They made everyone get off the cable car and told us to walk 2 blocks and get on the #30 shuttle bus to Union Station. Well, we went the wrong way and had a short walk through China town during the shopping time. The walks were very crowded-no one spoke English- and it smelled like raw fish!!! Eventually we found the right bus and ended up downtown.Union Station is filled with stores. We did some shopping(found an adorable kids store). The cable car took us back to the waterfront were we did more poking around in the shops and ate at the Boudin bakery. We walked back to the hotel.  Took a stroll down Union Street, had dinner and headed back to our hotel.

So ,Norm spent about two hours tonight catching up on the blog. He had several issues with the page freezing and then he went to edit and lost the whole thing. Needless to say he is frustrated! I will try to catch you up one day at a time so everything doesn't get lost at once again. The last day we entered into the blog we were in San Francisco. We began day two there with a bus tour and harbor tour. We walked our 10 (or so) blocks to the waterfront to catch the bus. One of our first stops was the Golden Gate Bridge. We had a spectacular view of the bridge as we drove over the bridge then a stop on the other side for picture-taking and a chance to walk out onto the bridge. The further you walk out the more it sways!! We visited the site of the Sutro Baths. A huge bath house where thousands of people could go in the water at once(enormous Memorial Pool)! They stopped using them when the polio outbreak began. The actual bath house was demolished during an earthquake. Twin Peaks gave us a spectular view of the city. Following the bus tour we took a Harbour cruise. This gave us another viewpoint of the bridge as we traveled underneath it. More views of the city (and the Ghiradelli sign) gave us plenty of picture opportunities. We then cruised around Alactraz, learning a little about its history. We then headed back to our hotel for a short rest. Dinner was on Union Street, a quaint little shopping and dining district. It was a long day- so these old legs turned in early.

We're back and still going strong!!!!!

 

San Francisco

Monday, July 15th - left Napa, CA after two days of fun and frolic through the wineries of the area.  We had a great time there and I think I'd like to return.  We did however had to send home a package again, one of the downs of having the Miata, but it surely has had it's upsides as we drive down the road, especially in places like the redwood forests.  We arrived at our hotel in San Francisco around one, checked in and went for a nice walk to Fisherman's Wharf where we had lunch and a hot fudge sundae at Ghiradelli's  Chocolates.  What would a trip to San Fran be without one.  Had a little nap, then went to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant two blocks from our hotel.  Tuesday, we are taking a tour of San Francisco, including a harbor cruise.

Catching up for the second time

This is the second time that we have to play catchup since we started.  This post will encompass July 12-14.  That will take us from our time going to Eureka, CA through our time in Napa, CA.

Friday, July 12 - this morning we left Medford, OR and headed for California.  This is our first adventure to California, except for our experience 31 years ago flying through the LA airport on our way to Hawaii.   Our foray into the golden state started as we crossed the border into the amazing redwood forest of the J.Smith Redwood Forest State Park.  We stopped in the midst of these giant trees and did a two mile hike into Stump Grove, a grove of some of the biggest trees in that area.  We then took a scenic drive through more Redwoods.  The road twisted and turned until we finally ended up in Eureka. We checked into our hotel, got the car washed, the oil changed, and Lynn found the Lost Coast Brewery for our evening meal. After dinner we took a walk through old town Eureka and the boardwalk by the harbor, which was filled with fishing boats.   As we drove through this part of California we kept saying how beautiful it was and that we could see why our friends, Amy and Jeff, really enjoyed their time there.  The magnificence of the nature is truly indescribable.
Saturday, July 13- today was our first day of driving on the Coastal Highway, US1.  We did manage to drive on the "Avenue of the Giants", as part of our journey to the coast from Eureka, again a trip of twisting and turning and single lane roads.  It seemed like hours till we saw the ocean for the first time, and it was definitely worth the wait.  When people say the coastal highway is beautiful and dangerous they are truly understating the obvious.  We drove a stretch of the coast highway for about 3-4 hours, had a great lunch at a restaurant overlooking the ocean, and many more "white knuckle" experiences.  We then made our turn east toward our destination of Napa, CA. The road was the most twisty, turny, up and down road I've ever been on.  In the first 40-50 miles we passed by three cars and a motorcycle.   It was probably the best Miata experience I've ever had (Terry B. and Tom H. would know what I mean) and probably the worst one for Lynn.   We finally made it back to 101 and headed for Napa.  We stopped in Santa Rosa for some wine country info and ended up, where else, at the local microbrewery, Russian River Brewery, for a beer and a glass.  Finally we ended up at our hotel in Napa, unpacked, had some dinner, and settled in for the night,
Sunday, July 14 - this was our day to explore the Napa Valley wineries.  We ended up going to the Andretti winery, the Mumm Napa winery, the V.Satturi winery and the Sutter Home winery.  Each had it's own specialties.  We had a great bottle of Reiseling with fire-oven baked pizza at the V.Satturi winery.  But really enjoyed the wine at Mumm and Sutter Home, which is probably why we bought wine there.  After we finished our tasting time,  Lynn did some laundry, I went for a scenic drive through the downtown part of Napa, and then we went for dinner at "In & Out Burger" as recommended by Katie.  It was pretty good.  Lots better than Mikey D's.  Tomorrow we head for San Francisco.

A pretty, but scary day!!!

Good morning, everyone.  It's Friday, July 12th.  The day we had yesterday went from a long drive through some absolutely gorgeous woods to a drive on one of the most scenic, yet scary, I've ever been on.  We left Seattle and headed toward Medford, Oregon, via Crater Lake National Park.  On the way we stopped at an outlet mall, so I could go in the Tommy Bahamas store, just to reminisce.  It was a really nice mall.  We then moved on to Crater Lake.  OMG, it seemed like we would never get there, as it was about 100 miles off the beaten path, but absolutely gorgeous. The rim road around Crater Lake is very narrow, and there are very few guard rails.  So if you're on the inside you're just fine, but on the outside lane it's no shoulder and several thousand feet down.  Needless to say there were some very "white knuckle moments" on the drive around the rim of the lake.  Crater Lake is literally a "diamond in the ruff".  I only wish that we would of had more time to explore the areas surrounding this gem of a National Park.  Maybe more time the next time around.  We then drove to our hotel in Medford, about 80 miles through a different forest, but non-the-less beautiful. Went to Hardee's for some food before we unloaded and got a free meal.  The manager said it was because we had to wait so long.  So ends day 14 of our trip.  Today we're on to California, Eureka is our next stop.

Finally, we're caught up!!! Yeah!!!

Wednesday, July 10 - our second and final full day in Seattle.  Our quest for the day, a harbor tour and visits to a couple of, now don' t laugh, micro-breweries.  We first, just in time for departure, took the 11 am Harbor tour on the Argosy. Our tour guide/narrator was great and we learned a great deal that we didn't learn on our DUCK tour yesterday.  We had a chance to view the entire city from Elliot Bay and Puget Sound.  As with every other view we've had, Seattle is an absolutely beautiful city.  When we returned from the tour we walked around the waterfront, as there were several really cool places to check out.  We then went to the first of two breweries, Pyramid Brewhouse.  It's right across the street from Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners and about two blocks away from the home of the Seattle Seahawks.  We had a nice lunch, some great beer, and the purchasing of another glass.  We then decided to finish our time in Seattle at the place we began Pike's Place Market.  We did a little shopping and lots of looking.  We got a beverage from the original Starbucks, and finished our visit by a trip to the Pike Brewery, where we had a beer (a great IPA) and finally decided I thought I should buy a glass, so it goes.  We drove back to the hotel, did a little laundry, had something to eat, packed up to get ready to head out in the morning.  Next stop, Medford, Oregon.  See you then!  And thanks with your patience in getting caught back up.

Catching up - Part three - up to date, I hope!

Hopefully this post will bring you all up to date on what's been happening and where we are  in our journey.
Monday, July 8th - This was primarily a day of driving from Missoula to Seattle, WA, so it was basically a day on the road.  We found that the eastern part of Washington was a lot like Kansas, flat and uneventful.  However, when we got into the middle of it, and finally to the western part of the state, the mountains are truly beautiful Once we checked into our hotel, we did manage to find this really cool, upscale area in the northern part of Seattle, called University Village (mainly because it's in the center of the University of Washington).  The main reason to go there was to keep an appointment at the Apple Computer store to see if they could help us with our dilemma of not being able to get pictures into our blog.  The person from the genius bar didn't seem to have any solid ideas so the sage continues.  Our friend Stella Hastings told us she seems to think that we need a computer to be able to insert the pictures so we'll keep on trying and if we  can't get them in before we get home , we'll make our final post one of a bunch of pics of the highlights of our trip.  We also had a really nice meal at a Micro-brewery (figure that one out) and then back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.  BTW today we turned over 4000 miles so far(that's more than the car had on it when I bought it).
Tuesday, July 9th - Happy Birthday, Nathan!!!! We did manage to sleep in a bit today as we didn't have anything set to do .  So we first headed to Pike's Place Market.  And what was the first thing we saw when we arrived "fish, they were flying everywhere".  The guys at the market were hurling fish as people picked out what they wanted from the  displays.  We spent most of the morning walking the market which was several blocks long and had some very interesting stuff.  The thing that really blew us away were the flowers.  Huge bouquets of flowers for anywhere from $5.00 to $15.00 per bunch.  There was jewelry, food, clothing, and just about anything you can think of.  We had a great lunch at a place called Etta's fish house, the food was awesome. Of course we had seafood.  Lynn had a shrimp roll and I the famous Grilled Salmon of the Pacific Northwest.   We then visited the first Starbucks coffee shop. Really small but very cool. We decided that we would take the DUCK tour of Seattle (we did this in Pittsburgh once and had a great time) so we thought lets give it a try.  It was great.  Our driver/guide was hysterical and we saw a lot of the city and had a chance to see it from Lake Union as well.  While on the tour we saw he houseboat from the movie "Sleepless in Seattle"(Lynn made me put that part in).  After the tour we walked around in a park called City Center, where you find the Space Needle, the Chihuly Glass Art Exhibition, and some other really cool stuff.  We then decided to go back to the University Village and look around some more, as the night before the stores were closing as we finished dinner.  We had dinner at a little diner in front of our hotel and it was great.  All in all, a great full day in Seattle.

Trying to catch up - Part deux

Second installment of the catchup.
Saturday, July 6th - we said a fond farewell to the Denver area and started a six hour trek to see Mt. Rushmore. The trip to the National Park was pretty uneventful and we got to Mt. Rushmore in good time.  It's really hard to believe that men carved the faces into the mountain.  The exhibition of how it was done was really amazing .  I'm so glad that we went and know that we can check it off our "bucket list".  Lynn took the wheel for the first stretch of the drive to Riverton, WY our stay for the night.  While driving you could see a huge, yet beautiful lightening storm in the distance.  Guess what? She got stuck driving through this storm that rivaled the tropical storm we once experienced in Florida.  At one point the car was shaking so badly that I thought I saw Dorothy and Toto blow by.  We finally drove, very slowly and deliberately out of the storm and made our way to Riverton, by midnight.
Sunday, July 7th - We left Riverton early, following meeting a fellow Miata owner at the local Mickey D's.  Tody we would experience one of the most breathtaking scenes we've ever seen, the Grand Tetons.  The drive through the Grand Tetons was one of those real "WOW" moments of your life.  Pictures are nice but don't do it justice.  Our plan to just drive through them was brought to a halt once we got there.  This is definitely a place we could go back to.  But we needed to move forward, continuing north to Yellowstone National Park.  We finally found a parking space near the area where Old Faithful is located.  It erupts ever 92 minutes, and again, the luck of Tom Herrold prevailed. We were at the site for less than ten minutes and "there she blows". It was quite a sight to see and the hundreds of people from every around the world there to see this event was truly amazing.  We then moved on through the western exit from Yellowstone and saw three female mooses, quite rare from what we hear.  We drove westward to Missoula, Montana.  There we met up with Lynn's cousin, Amy Serfass, who lives in Missoula.  We had dinner at a wonderful brew pub and met Amy's friend, Paul, and her son Ian's girlfriend.  We had a great evening with them catching up about family.  Thanks to Amy for setting up this wonderful time.   Tomorrow on to Seattle.

Finally catching up!!!

Well, I guess it's finally time to get you caught up on the trials and tribulations of the Alexander's Adventures 2013.
Thursday, July 4th - we'll start with the review of the show at the Civic Center Park the night before with an outstanding musical performance by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.  Their performance was awesome, Denver has much of which to be proud. The light show on the city hall and the fireworks were excellent.  We had gotten a perfect parking space (the luck of Tom Herrold) earlier in the day so we got out of the traffic jam before it got started.  We were back to the hotel in less than 20  minutes.  Now to the 4th, the day began very early with a two hour drive to Cañon City, CO where we took the plunge and went on a Whitewater River Rafting trip.  We were the only persons in our raft so we got a personal tour of a nine mile stretch of the Arkansas River called Big Horn Sheep Canyon.  Our river guide, Claus, was great and the trip was incredible.  the river changed character at almost every turn.  We would highly recommend this activity to anyone.  On the trip back to Denver we passed by Colorado Springs and stopped for a tour at the USA Olympic training center,and then to the Air Force Academy where we spent time looking at the beautiful chapel and
watching a class of new cadets going through their marching paces.  The day ended by doing laundry...
Friday, July 5th -  another early day as we left the hotel around 6 a to go to Manitou Springs to ride the Cog Rail Train to the top of Pikes Peak (14110 feet above sea level). What an awesome sight it was to see the world from that perspective.  It literally took my breath away, I think because of the lack of oxygen at that altitude.  But never the less, it was a once in a lifetime experience.  The entire trip took about four hours, which went by too quickly.  We were going to look around in Manitou Springs but the place was jammed no place to park so onward we went.  We decided that we were going to go back to Boulder for the afternoon, Lynn had a couple of shops she wanted to check out and, of course, there was a micro-brewery for me.  We did some shopping, some drinking of beer, some more driving.  We packed up a box of stuff to sent home via UPS (I think we get a kickback because we mentioned them in our blog - lol) that we found we either didn't need, had no room for, or bought.   We then had dinner and packed to leave Denver.  It was a great place to visit. Thanks to Lauren, Tom, and Sharon for the recommendations about stuff to do there.  More to come later today!

More to come, I'm extending our promise!!!

Well here we are in beautiful Missoula, MT. Getting ready to leave for Seattle, Washington.  We have an appointment tonight to go to the Apple store in Seattle to see if they can help us to put pics into our blog.  We're hopeful they will be able to do that so we will update fully upon returning from our appointment. Please be with us as we travel today so we can get to retouch with you tonight.  Norm & Lynn

Update in the morning - I promise!!!!!!

I really must apologize for not having posted the last few days but, alas, the days have been jam packed with really coo things and the late night checking some after midnight haven't given us much time to blog. Tomorrow we have a much shorter drive andso I will catch you up to today in the morning.  Thanks for understanding

A day in Denver

Today was our full day in Denver.  It began by waiting in traffic, which seems to be a regular routine in this city.  We can't wait to get to LA.  Anyway, we finally got into the city and parked near the US Mint.  We tried to get a tour but they were already booked for the day.  Who knew you needed a reservation to see them make money?  Well we did go to the gift shop and watched the video of them making money.  We then headed to the 16th street mall.  I must say I've never seen this many restaurants in such a small stretch as their.  Well we took the bus to the west end of this area and walked to the Breckenridge Brew Pub where we had lunch.  It's right across from Coors Field where the Colorado Rookies play.  It's a pretty impressive sight.  We then headed back toward the mall area but made a brief stop to buy a glass at the Wynkoop Brewery, continuing on our way back to our starting point and then the car.  We repacked our stuff and got our food and beer and headed a couple of blocks to the Civic Center Park were we had a picnic style dinner and prepared to listen to the Colorado Symphony and watch the light show and fireworks with a few thousand other people.  As we write this tonight we await the start of the show.  The review of the show will be in tomorrow's  post.  Hopefully we won't take too long to get back to the hotel as we must be up at the crack of dawn to go whitewater rafting on the Arkansas River.  Hopefully, we will make it to write tomorrow .  That's it for today.  Miss you all,  Norm & Lynn

 PS - We're having issues adding photos to our blog, so if you'd like to see some pics along the way just email me at nfalexander382@gmail.com and I'll send some pics along to you. Sorry about that, but we're having issues trying to add pics to the blog with our iPads.

Is it going to work?

I think I figured out the picture thing!
Terry Butcheri would be so proud!

July 2,2013

First day in Denver.

What a beautiful city! This morning we headed towards Boulder. It was a beautiful drive-the
Rockies in the distance. As we got closer to Boulder the grandeur of the Rockies was even more apparent. Boulder is a cute tourist town. We walked down Pearl Street and saw many street performers.  We had lunch at a restaurant named The Kitchen. The food was outstanding and Norm had a local beer (thanks Lauren)! We then headed towards Golden- home of Coors Brewery. For those of you that knew my Mom-she LOVED her CoorsLight. I raised a glass(really glasses) to her today. The tour was fun and we visited the gift shop when we were done. No gifts for our new grandson here! We saw a little of Golden and then headed back to our hotel. Enjoyed a beautiful,but hot drive along the mountains. Did experience rush hour traffic around Denver . We found a grocery store and bought some snacks for an outside concert we are attending tomorrow night. Norm has been trying to include pictures in our blog but can't get it to work so have patience we'll keep trying.
Norm & Lynn

Day 4, oops, and 3, too

July 1 - wait, lets do June 30 first since we didn't write about the awesome time we had yesterday at the home of Todd, Stella, Aiden, and Daniel Hastings in Pittsburg, Kansas.  It has been way too long since we have had the opportunity to spend time with them and we had a wonderful day.   We had a great time sampling some of the local beers, as well as some awesome smoked sausage and chicken appetizers.  We then got a tour of Pittsburg State university where both Todd and Stella teach .  We ended the day at Chicken Annie's a local fried chicken house the has been featured on the Food Network.  After the two hour drive back to our hotel, we walked into our totally uncleared room, which left a small dent in an otherwise incredible day. We are so appreciative of their hospitality and so very proud of the awesome musicians, parents, and persons they have become.  Big hugs and lots of love to the Hastings Family!!!!
Now to today, our voyage across the state of Kansas to Denver, CO.  We started the day with a visit to the Church of the Resurrection United Methodist Church in Leawood, KS, about a10 minute drive from our hotel. This is the church who's pastor, Adam Hamilton,  is the author of many of the study series our church small group has used.  What a place!  It's almost too much to describe.  We did manage to peek into the sanctuary and browsed he bookstore.  An incredible place and they are getting ready to build another complex with a new state-of-the-arts sanctuary.  Then, around 10 am we left for Denver on a drive that seemed endless.  The drive through Kansas and eastern Colorado was so boring it may the annual "Right to Know" presentations seem like a party.we arrived in Denver at about 9:00 PM mountain time.  So we are now two hours behind those people reading this in the east and one hour behind our Midwest friends.  We have a very nice room that we are settled into for the week. We have some really cool things planned to do while in the Denver area,like......I can't tell you now, it'll spoil the surprise of each day's post.  Well,  Lynn is in bed and I'm getting tired so, so long for now till tomorrow. Norm & Lynn

June 30 -  day three of our journey, but we didn't tell you yet about day two so there may be two posts today.
So where do we begin, oh yeah, Indianapolis. We left the hotel and drove to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, this ones for you John, where we went under the track to the museum and gift shop.  We took some pictures and enjoyed it very much.  We can't imagine what it's like when the stands are full and the engines are roaring, as it seemed so peaceful while we were there.
We then left for St. Louis and arrived around 2 PM (central time).  We decided the first thing to do was to visit the Budweiser factory for a tour, the largest beer factory in the world .  And it didn't disappoint.  We took a class in "beer school" and graduated, although Norm was the class's beer snob.   We then took a tour of the factory where we saw the Clydesdales, how they make beer and package it.  We also got to taste some beer and visited the drift shop.  We then drove to the Gateway Arch and took some pictures of it and the "Mighty Mississippi River".  Pretty cool stuff,although the line when we got there was really long,just to go through security to get into the space where you can go up to the top, so we didn't get to do that (maybe the next visit).  Then after dinner and gassing up, we were off to Kansas City, KS.
On the very long drive from St. Louis to Kansas City, we had a little visit from the Missouri State Police, who indicated. That I was not speeding but swerving in the lane too much.  I explained that we were trying to find the final directions to our hotel and I was "playing" with the GPS while Lynn was comparing it to the Triptik.  He was very nice, let us go, but any many a loved one has said " don't play with the phone or GPS while you're driving". LESSON LEARNED!!!!!  We arrived sat our hotel in Lenexa, KS around midnight.  So ends day two.  We had a great time in St. Louis and look forward to our time today with the Hastings family.
I've tried to add some pictures today.  We'll see how it works.  The best to you all
Norm & Lynn

First day on the road

Well the day finally came. We're on the road!!!!  We left a bit latter than originally planned, but that's what an Alexander Adventure does.  We had rain most of the way to Indianapolis so we only had the top down for about an hour. But that hour felt really cool. It took us a bit longer than planned to get here, as there was a great deal of construction along the way, as well as an accident that had us backed up for a while.  But then again who's in a hurry?  We're on vacation (yeah"!)!!!!  All in all it was a pretty smooth day for the first one,  but it was one our driving only days, so it was all good as far as that goes.  Not much else to report.  Oh.  Wait.  Lynn actually drove the car (very well, I must say), through the traffic in Columbus at rush hour.   That's the news from Indianapolis, Indiana. Next, on to St. Louis and Kansas City.  We're off and running!!!!!!!   Norm & Lynn

Today is the final day of preparation for our journey.  We had breakfast with Sarah before she left for handbell festival, had a nice chat with Katie, who imparted several bits of travel wisdom, this afternoon before she left for the festival, and my mom just left after a short visit, she went on a day long bus trip today.  At this stage of the game, if we don't have it we don't need it. The bags are ready to pack and all the errands run. The new media center has been installed and the wireless center has been activated, so we can stay in touch in many ways.  As we go through our final prep tonight, keep us in your thoughts and prayers for safe travels, that the AAA triptiks are accurate, and the Miata safely does it's thing and gets us there and home.  Looking forward to tomorrow and the first leg of the journey, Indianapolis, IN.

Final Week Preparation

Well, we're less that a week away from the beginning of the Alexander's 2013 Adventure. and the excitement continues to build.  The car is just about ready to go and packing has now been reduced to what we're not taking as opposed to the usual packing of taking too much.  It's tough be cause of the limited space in the Miata, but were determined to make it work.  I think, and hope, that we will have most of the luggage and stuff packed into the car on Thursday night.  Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare to make this awesome adventure.

Wednesday, June 19th
 Car Preparation

     Well, we did a practice pack tonight to see if we can get everything into the trunk. Success- but no extra baggage! We can only take the pieces we put into the trunk with just enough room to add my purse. So, if you were planning on us bringing you something forget it. NO ROOM. If you see pictures of us where our clothes don't match it's because it's all we had that was clean.
     For those of you that knew my mother I hope that I have her sense of humor writing this blog. People have shared with me that they always enjoyed her letters.  Hopefully I won't embarrass my children with my writing skills!
                                                                                                   Lynn

Getting closer

Hi everyone!   Almost done with the basic planning of our trip.  We are now at the point of making decisions about specific things that we are going to see in some of our stops.  It can be a difficult choice, as some places we'll only be just driving  through and there are so many things to do or see.  We will be in Denver, Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles for extended period of time so we can take our time sightseeing.  Many other places will be more hitting the area's highlights are we drive by.  We are looking forward to see some friends and possibly some relatives as we create this awesome trip. Till the next time, hopefully with an itinerary, thanks for checking out our blog!
Norm & Lynn

Planning almost finished

Well were at less than three weeks away from the departure on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure across the United States.  At this point all of our hotels are done except the final week, which I hope will be done today.  We are still in the planning stage for the side-trips we will make mostly in Denver, Seattle, and in California.  We hope to see as much in each place we stay as we possibly can, given the time restraints we have subjected ourselves to.  When all is completed I will post an itinerary by the day so you will have an idea of what we will be doing and when.  Thanks to you all for your support of this "excellent adventure".  Till the next time.  Norm & Lynn