Travelwright

OUR LOCAL STEAM ENGINE TRAIN

2010-08-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

This steam engine runs between Garibaldi and Rockaway on the weekends. It's so cute and it has a sweet whistle that it blows at all the intersections, including the one right outside our RV Park. We love it!

LOCAL LIBRARY & LDS BRANCH HOUSE

2010-08-25T12:52:00.000-07:00

ROCKAWAY BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT

2010-08-25T12:48:00.000-07:00

Little to no crime here, so not much space needed to house the Police Department. We never even lock our door when we go shopping, etc. Never lock the car or our stuff outside.

MARKET IN TOWN WE REFUSE TO SHOP IN

2010-08-25T12:47:00.001-07:00

Not the cleanest, and most of the produce is old!

TYPICAL OREGON HOMES

2010-08-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

Of course we didn't take pics of the houses that are not kept up, but this is the typical style.

ROCKAWAY BEACH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

2010-08-25T12:33:00.000-07:00

I've never seen a Chamber of Commerce in a Caboose!

DOWNTOWN ROCKAWAY BEACH

2010-08-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

This is the entire town, looking North and South.

NOW HE HAS FLOWERS!

2010-08-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

Cool fishnet too! Just wait until I get the sea shells in it.

TIME TO VOTE!

2010-08-23T21:00:00.000-07:00

OK we need your opinion. Do you like the walk with or without the fence? We would paint the fence to match the picnic table and the stairs. Let's vote!

2010-08-23T20:57:00.000-07:00

OK Wendy, the following post is how we walk out of the trailer and walk to the beach. The rocks you see at the end of the road are the breaker rocks, so it's just right there. You walk up the sandy steps and then down the other side is all beach where you see our chairs. Love ya.

"A Walk To The Beach"

2010-08-23T20:47:00.001-07:00

2010-08-17T11:41:00.000-07:00

August 16, 2010 Monday

Well we had a nice quite weekend. Today the "Project Man" is truly back at it! It's going to be so nice to have that walkway! The other day I bought the cutiest flower planter I have ever seen. Let me know what you think.

2010-08-13T21:12:00.001-07:00

August 13, 2010, Friday (Don’t tell anybody, it’s Friday the 13^th!) ROCKAWAY BEACH

I went over to Oceanside today and my friend Mary and I went to lunch. I guess she thinks I would be more fun than her husband’s family! Ha ha. We had a real good visit and then I went home to visit “our” beach. Today is the first day that it has been sunny all day. By the time I got ready this morning the fog was already burned off and it was spectacular! Eight o’clock p.m. now and still no fog. Wow! They grow very pretty flowers here. The hydranga are beautiful and they come in so many different colors. These are just a couple of colors.

2010-08-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

August 12, 2010, Thursday ROCKAWAY BEACH, YEAH!

Can’t believe it! I knew my friend Mary was coming to the Oregon Coast for her husband’s family reunion sometime this month, but I didn’t know exactly when or where, just that they would be on the coast. She called today and they are going to be about 20 miles south in Oceanside. Tomorrow is the first day of the reunion. Mary lives in Idaho and I don’t get to see her very often. This picture is a where's Waldo type. Can you find her?

2010-08-13T21:03:00.000-07:00

August 11, 2010, Wednesday ROCKAWAY BEACH!

Today I took off with the truck and went shopping along the main street here in Rockaway. Can you imagine Mike didn’t want to go and do that????? Go figure???? They have a few fun and cute shops to wander around it. I didn’t buy anything, but it was fun. This is a picture of the play area before you go down onto the beach. It's neat for children, especially if you don't want them to get in the wet in the water for some reason. It has chairs for the adults and sand toys for the kids.

2010-08-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

August 10, 2010, Tuesday ROCKAWAY BEACH

Mike is doing a great job staining the deck. It will take a couple coats. He also painted our picnic table and he even picked out the color. It’s called “Sea Gray.” I think it looks great! These are before and after pictures. Neat huh?

2010-08-13T20:52:00.000-07:00

August 9, 2010, Monday R O C K A W A Y B E A C H

OK, this is boring. We went shopping for stuff to stain the deck out back. No kidding, that’s the highlight of the day!

2010-08-08T20:39:00.000-07:00

August 8, 2010, Sunday ROCKAWAY BEACH, OR

Spent the morning time with the small Branch of Mormons here in Rockaway. The local missionaries spoke. It was a good meeting. Such a beautiful day today. The clouds all blew away and the sun was shinning! We spent several hours reading on the beach, had a nice roast for dinner and chilled. Hey Wendy. We walked down and took this picture just for you!

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

August 7, 2010, Saturday ROCKAWAY BEACH, OR

Well we had a "rainy" day today. We went to Astoria and walked around Home Depot and Costco trying to figure out what we need for the deck. We did get paint/stain for the picnic table in a "Sea Gray." And we got some stain for the existing back deck in the cedar color. We need to find a "de-humidifier" for the winter months. (Now there's a word you don't here in Utah, de-humidifier.) Nobody has any right now 'cause it's not winter. Still loving it here, even in the rain!

2010-08-06T19:51:00.000-07:00

August 6, 2010, Friday ROCKAWAY BEACH, OR

OK now that we know we are going to be here for a year (off and on) Mike’s head just fills with… you guessed it PROJECTS! He torn down our fire pit and re-built it today on top of hauling a lot of gravel. All the supplies were supplied to us by the park! They figure if you make improvements, then when you move out, it will be that much better so they help a lot. They’re really nice here. The two couples who manage the place are very nice also. The guys have been by several times helping out and making sure Mike has everything he needs. We have a little deck at the back and Mike is going to add to it so we have decking out front as we walk from the truck into the house and out of the house to the deck. (He so loves projects!) In the meantime we using gravel.

2010-08-06T19:41:00.000-07:00

August 5, 2010, Thursday ROCKAWAY BEACH, OR

OK, the most exciting thing we did today was deciding to lease our RV space here for a year! We so love it here we want to just leave the trailer here and drive back and forth to Utah whenever we want to visit the beach! We are very excited. We’ve always wanted a “place at the beach.” Oh, also today, we did the Laundry. Yes even on vacation you have to do your laundry! Here's a picture of our unit in between two other's. You can see the truck parked out front.

2010-08-06T19:32:00.000-07:00

August 4, 2010, Wednesday ROCKAWAY BEACH, OR

We actually looked at a unit for sale here. People have permanent units here that they use as vacation homes. And they just lease the land. What we looked at is a park model, bedroom, kitchen, living room. It’s got some problems though. The stairs you see here is how we get down to the beach.

2010-08-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

August 3, 2010, Tuesday ROCKAWAY BEACH, OR

Went back to Tillamook to do some grocery shopping. So nice they have a Fred Meyer and that is about as close as I’m going to get to a “Health Food Store!” And, of course, did some walking on the beach. We absolutely love this place! We are a short block from the beach and walk there often. That little black dot in the middle is Daisy running on the beach. She likes it too.

2010-08-06T18:59:00.000-07:00

August 2, 2010, Monday ROCKAWAY BEACH, OR

Today we moved over to that really pretty beach front RV Park in Rockaway Beach called Shorewood. Had a devil of a time getting our trailer into the little spot they assigned us, but a really nice neighbor helped and it all worked out. Seems this park was built back in the 30’s and of course they very tiny trailers back then. The spots are quite small and they have tried to keep as many trees as they can. We got all settled in and then headed for the beach. We took books and Mike took a chair. I sat in the sand and loved every minute of it. I was reading my book, enjoying the beach and got really sleepy. I had brought a towel with me and I simply fell over sideways, put a towel under my head and fell asleep! Come to find out, when I woke up, Mike was also asleep in his chair! What a blessing! So nice!

2010-08-06T18:42:00.000-07:00

August 1, 2010, Sunday TILLAMOOK, OR

Today was not a good health day. Spent a lot of time resting and we did take a drive. On our drive we found (by accident) a lovely RV park right on the beach! We’re moving there tomorrow. And… this scout picture is for Dave and Michael Ray Wright II. Thought you would appreciate it.

2010-08-06T18:17:00.000-07:00

July 31, 2010, Saturday TILLAMOOK, OR

We went to the Air Museum today. It was lucky for us because they were also having a car show! After the museum we drove south to take pictures of a church that we passed on the way up the coast, but we had the trailer on so we couldn’t stop. We were so lucky, again, because a man who was restoring this beautiful Catholic church was there when we walked up to take pictures. He invited us in and told us all about it. It is just the cutest church and he is doing a beautiful job with the repairs. Hope the pics do it justice. They had the stain glass appraised and just four of the windows were valued at $40,000.

2010-07-31T16:23:00.000-07:00

July 30, 2010, Friday TILLAMOOK, OR

Well today we pulled up stakes in Newport and headed for Tillamook. It’s funny, it’s really foggy here (as you can see) but it’s actually quite a bit warmer. Yeah, back into short pants and flip flops! (That won’t last.) Highway 101 goes a little inland during the trip from Newport to Tillamook and the country side is so beautiful. Tons of livestock grazing in knee high grass and green everywhere. We’re staying at an RV campsite about 4 miles north of the city. After setting up and cleaning, etc, we headed for the Mears Lighthouse and the octopus tree. We think there were good views from the lighthouse, but it was too foggy to tell! The forest you walk through to and from the lighthouse is so pretty and so quiet! Then we went to this town that reminded us so much of Maine, it is called Oceanside. Foggy beach, quaint town it was like we were on the east coast. So pretty. Would like to stay here some summer for a month or so.

2010-07-31T16:17:00.000-07:00

July 29, 2010, Thursday NEWPORT CITY, OR

Just to get this out of the way, Mike played golf this a.m. Yeah! He’s been wanting to for so long, but it hasn’t worked out, but it did today and he really enjoyed it! OK now this is funny. We had an appointment for the dog to be groomed today. We’ve been trying to get it done for weeks now and we actually found a groomer that had an opening. The appointment was for 1 p.m. So we figure we can make it up to Lincoln City about 25 miles up the coast. We thought we would look around and then head back down and that’s one less town to stop in on our way up the coast. That way when we move tomorrow, we can drive an exhausting 60 miles instead of 25. So we drive up the coast, we’re all talking and so forth, not paying much attention, and we come to the town (we have no map with us) and we pull over. Lots of beautiful views, cute shops, art, etc. We take pics and browse in some of the stores and have a great time. The picture here is across the street from the shops looking at the cliffs to the north. I look up at this one store front and notice that it says Depot Bay. It suddenly hits me that we are not in Lincoln City, but in some small town before you get to Lincoln City. Oh brother! We were cracking up, because we never even paid attention to where we were, we just assumed it was Lincoln City. We're such digbats! Actually, we’re really glad we weren’t paying attention ‘cause we loved this little town! Tomorrow when we pass by this way there will be no place big enough to pull over with the trailer and we would have missed this cute town.

2010-07-31T16:07:00.000-07:00

July 28, 2010, Wednesday NEWPORT, OR

Don't know what happened there, be we are still on July 28. Anyway, we saw some plein air painters, so we stopped to see the art work. Plein air means that they were painting from a live view outside. It was a beautiful area, no wonder they picked it.

2010-07-31T16:06:00.000-07:00

July 28, 2010, Wednesday NEWPORT CITY, OR

Today we backtracked south a little to see a few things we missed because we were pulling the trailer. We stopped at a Wood Carving place, Antique store and a bakery that sold Gluten Free Lemon Bars. Yeah and delicious! Betty would have loved the Wood Carving ‘cause there were lots and lots of Bears. There were also these really cute life sized old cowboys carved out of wood. So cute. We went to a coastal site called Devil's Punch Bowl. That's the pic you see here.

2010-07-31T15:43:00.000-07:00

July 27, 2010, Tuesday NEWPORT CITY, OR

Today we went shopping along the bay. It’s a cute area right along the docks. There were several Sea Lions barking and resting below the docks. We visited the Yaquina Lighthouse. It’s a beautiful setting. We got there too late to go inside, so we will probably go back tomorrow. There’s this beach here called Nye Beach. It also has a cute little shopping area as well as the port, but what is so neat are the odd looking dunes on the beach. Hopefully you can see it in the pictures.

2010-07-31T15:36:00.000-07:00

July 26, 2010, Monday NEWPORT CITY, OR

Today we packed up and drove an exhausting 50 miles! Ended up in Newport. This is the biggest city we have stayed in yet. It’s got the only Wal-Mart on the Oregon Coast and it’s not even a Super Wal-Mart! My favorite thing in this town is that there’s this artist named Rick Chambers who has painted murals on the walls of a lot of the buildings in town. He is so good and the paintings are so beautiful.

2010-07-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

July 25, 2010, Sunday FLORENCE, OR

Spent this a.m. with the Mormon’s in Florence. It was a really great meeting. After church we took a little drive to the beach by us and took some pics. Then we went to the Dunes south of town. We hiked up and down dunes and you can’t believe how steep they are (hope you can tell by the pics). Finally I started crawling up the dunes on hands and knees and found it much easier than trying to walk upright. Maybe it was a mistake to start walking upright, I don’t know. Finally we got to the beach we were heading for, and watched the surfers and parasurfers. Of course they are wearing wet suits because the water here is freezing. All kinds of crazy people in this world! We headed back towards Hwy 101 and stopped to watch the Dune Buggies. It looked fun. Maybe when we come back down this way we’ll rent one and try it out, not on the big hill though. Also posting a pic from today that shows ocean waves coming up the river. You don't see that every day!

2010-07-30T19:03:00.000-07:00

July 24, 2010, Saturday FLORENCE, OR

Enjoying a day of relaxation!

2010-07-23T18:04:00.000-07:00

July 23, 2010, Friday FLORENCE, OR

Today was a down time day for me and Mike puttered around cleaning the truck and trailer. It was relaxing!

2010-07-23T18:02:00.000-07:00

July 22, 2010, Thursday FLORENCE, OR

Today we went to the “Largest Sea Cave in all of the U.S.!” It is also a Sea Lion breeding, birthing and all around hang out. We went out on this walk way and you could look down and see all the Sea Lions on the rocks below. It was really interesting seeing them try to get out of the water and onto the rocks. After this viewing area, we got on an elevator and headed down to the actual cave. It was actually about 21 stories! It smelled like fish (what a surprise). You were only allowed to take pics with no flash so as not to disturb the Sea Lions.

After coming home and having some lunch, we went to the “Old Town” in Florence. Not as cute as the one in Bandon, but bigger. Mike found a nice baseball cap and I bought a cute little tin Mermaid which has a quote on it and it says “Home is Where the Waves Are.” How true! After that we had new brakes put on the truck. That was a lot of fun…! At least I had my computer so I could catch up on the blogging.

2010-07-23T18:00:00.000-07:00

July 21, 2010, Wednesday FLORENCE, OR

We got to Florence pretty early in the afternoon and after setting up we wanted to see the beach. I change out of my Levis into my shorts and flip flops and we take off on our bikes with Daisy on her leash. OK Daisy on her leash usually walks really well between the bikes as we ride along. However, the streets here are very narrow, and we had to keep stopping and moving over for cars, so taking Daisy was a mistake. We wanted to take her because she really likes the beach. When we were in Texas she ran on the beach every day and loved it. Anyway, you can’t imagine how cold the beach is here. Mike was smart enough to wear a hoodie and long pants and good shoes. It is a beautiful beach, but the wind was so cold and blowing so hard we didn’t last long there.

2010-07-23T17:59:00.000-07:00

July 20, 2010, Tuesday BANDON, OR

OK, we went to Coos Bay to get a part put on the truck and we’re using the Garmin to find the dealer and she says, “Turn left on Hemlock.” Mike goes, “Turn left on Headlock?” Now only a man would mistake the street name Hemlock for Headlock. Put him in a headlock! I start laughing so hard I can’t speak very well and I say, “No Hemlock.” But he can’t understand me ‘cause I’m laughing, and he says, “Yeah Headlock, where is it?” OK now I can no longer speak and he’s starting to laugh, but he doesn’t know why yet. One of those moments that you probably had to be there, but it really was funny to us since we were there.

2010-07-19T20:18:00.000-07:00

July 19, 2010 Monday BANDON, OR
Today we pulled up roots in Brookings and drove up the coast to Bandon. We'll be here a couple of days. They have such beautiful Hydrangas here on the Oregon Coast. All kinds of colors from white to blue to purple. Really pretty. Here in Bandon they have a place on the water, boardwalk style area with wood sidewalks, etc. They call it “Old Town.” There are lots of shops with tons of cute stuff and crab shacks everywhere. We enjoyed walking from one end to the other and in and out of all the shops. They have a fudge shop with the best fudge you’ve ever tasted! They even have sugar free. Mike got a real nice lookin’ zip up sweatshirt in black with a gold “Port of Bandon” seal on it. There was this one shop that had those wooden wind chimes all along their awning out front. There were so many and it was so loud, but really neat sounding. It was an interesting shop. It was so full of stuff that you could only walk sideways through the aisles. They had signs that book bags were not allowed. The owner lady was a real trip. She had long wavy dyed red hair parted in the middle. She had a tie dye tank top on and a hangy wool sweater over it. She had a tattoo on her left boob, right arm, left leg and probably a lot of other places that I couldn’t see. She had a ring through her nose and her eye make-up was bazaar to say the least! She had an actual stripe of bright blue under her lower eye lashes and a bright green stripe somewhere below her eyebrow. It was scary. I’m not sure Mike even made it all the way in this store! So I went up to pay for a greeting card I wanted to buy and she started complaining to me that there was a young girl in the store that kept staring at her. Right at that time the girl stepped into the aisle and we both saw her take a peek at the woman. She says, “See, she did it again.” I don’t know why I can’t just say “Oh really?” and let it go at that. Sometimes I have no control. I start speaking (and then it’s too late) and I said “Maybe she‘s never seen a woman quite so…and then I’m committed to this sentence and I can’t find the word. Finally I come up with, “exotic as you are!” She laughingly says, “You mean messed up?” (Except she didn’t say messed up.) I said, “No, exotic!” She chuckled and gave me my change. When we are out on the street again in front of the store I notice a car parked there. The dashboard is covered with tons of odd stuff, statues and stuffed animals. The car had all kinds of stuff crammed in it. Had to be her car. We got a laugh out of that, too.

2010-07-18T18:52:00.000-07:00

July 18, 2010 Sunday BROOKINGS, OR

After a lovely meeting with the very friendly "Mormons" in Brooking this a.m. we took a drive up the coast. We went as far as Gold Beach. It's a rugged coast line and some beautiful, but very windy, beaches. We talked to a guy there who says that as soon as they start having a heat wave over the mountain to the East, the winds start blowing in Gold Beach. The wind was blowing so hard you could hardly walk upright! We had a lady in Brookiings tell us a similar story. She said when it heats up to the East it pulls the fog from the ocean into Brookings. Of course we love the coolness and the fog. We've seen a lot of it here in the mornings and it's just beautiful and so cool. It's been 60's and 70's at the highest. The evenings are cool and we leave all the windows open and it feels wonderful under the down blanket in the a.m.! Tomorrow we head North.

2010-07-18T17:54:00.000-07:00

July 17, 2010 Saturday BROOKINGS, OR

This a.m. we went to the Kite Festival. It’s amazing how they can fly these kites! They flew sequenced to music and it was so pretty. They had one group that had 6 people flying 6 kites and it sync’d to really fast music and they wowed the crowd with all types of formations. These guys can even land the kite on one of the pointed sticks and then take off immediately so high into the sky. One guy even walked his kite across the ground in part of his performance. It was fun to watch! My personal favorite was the guy who flew two kites, each having four lines each, at one time and he did it to the music Bolero. You'll see the kites in the picture, the black and yellow ones. After we cooled off and had some lunch, we went into town and looked through a couple of stores and a couple of art galleries. Saw some beautiful artwork and even met one of the artists. She was an older lady named Sandy Bonner and her pastels were beautiful. We were going to go to see Eclipse, the movie, but we’re old and we were a little too tired.

2010-07-16T20:11:00.001-07:00

July 16, 2010 Friday BROOKINGS, OR

We’re going to stay here a few days because this weekend in Brookings is the annual Kite Flying Competition. Sounds fun. Today we did stuff that had to be done, but at least the weather is wonderful!

2010-07-16T20:04:00.000-07:00

July 15, 2010 Thursday BROOKINGS, OR

Yes, we are finally in Oregon. Yeah! Staying at an RV Park called Driftwood. It’s about 2 blocks from the beach. It’s really pretty here. They have a Marina also. Brookings is the first town across the border into Oregon and the weather is so gorgeous. It’s foggy in the a.m. and then it burns off and it’s sunny but still cool, constant little ocean breeze. Fabulous!

2010-07-16T19:39:00.000-07:00

July 14, 2010 KALMATH, CA

We went sight-seeing today in the California Redwood Nation Parks. Man are those redwoods big! As you can see. We went to the “Trees of Mystery.” You’ve probably see pictures of the big carving of Paul Bunyon with his Blue Ox. We saw it up close and personal! They had a Bigfoot in the gift store, so I took a picture. Then we drove up to a large redwood that you can drive through, but we didn’t try with our big truck. Lots of beautiful beaches to the West and beautiful forest to the East. Best of both worlds. Mike’s so cute he climbed up on top of a fallen Redwood so I could take a pic and you can get an idea of how big they are.

2010-07-16T19:38:00.000-07:00

July 13, 2010 KLAMATH, CA

Now we are at a park called Camping Corral. It’s a pretty park with lots of grass and huge pine trees. Here in Klamath there have been two sightings of Bigfoot over the years and we tried our best to see one, but no luck. Earlier today on a walk with Daisy down to the Klamath River, in a particularly dense area, we thought we heard something. They have a lot of bear here (the state animal for California is the brown bear) and seeing a bear would really scare me. Seeing a Bigfoot? Now that would be way fun!

2010-07-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

July 12, 2010 WILLITS, CA

Man, this California is one long state! Seems like we’ve been driving forever and we’re still not in Oregon! Daddy Mike wins a special California super driver award today. He had a little bit of everything. Let’s see, on our way to San Francisco, we had a lot of freeway driving (five very busy lanes). He drove down 19^th Street (San Francisco downtown residential) all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge and over the bridge. Oh, maybe I should have said across the bridge. Then we had a real live California traffic jam, all 5 lanes stop and go because of an accident. He went through all of this like a champ, but he did seem to go to bed a little earlier than usual. What a guy! We stopped in a small town called Willits and we’re camping at a little (I mean really little) campground. It has about 7 pull-thrus. That’s it! It’s really pretty, up in the mountains, trees all around and a little duck pond with six ducks. Daisy was quite in love with this feature of the park. She wanted to sniff the ducks nose to nose, but didn’t want to swim to do it, so she was out of luck. The place is called “Sleepy Hollow” so we spent quite a bit of time watching for the headless horseman, but he was a no show.

2010-07-11T17:26:00.000-07:00

July 11, 2010 Sunday MORGAN HILL, CA

We don’t really like to travel on Sunday, but today we did. Lots of reasons I won’t go into at this time. Drove to Morgan Hill, stayed at the Maple Leaf RV. We set up camp and called Diana, but alas she must be out of town. We needed a few items from the store, so we headed off towards some housing developments on the foothills 'cause we figured that's where you would find a grocery store. We drove and drove and couldn't find anything. Finally we stopped and asked some guy walking down the street and he said turn left at the next stop sign and drive until you find the Safeway. We found it and realized it was on the same street as the RV Park, but we had driven in the opposite direction and the store was actualy just down the street from us. It probably would be smarter to check out the phone booknext time! Ya think? We’ll continue our travels tomorrow.

2010-07-11T16:55:00.000-07:00

July 10, 2010 Saturday AVILA BEACH, CA

Today we went down to the pier and walked around. Saw seals in the water, but no otters at this time. We had tacos from a stand on the pier that Marilyn said was really good. It was really good! We went into town where I proceeded to parallel park our massive truck, which was no easy feat. I have to say I was proud of myself. Squeezed in right in front of a Beemer! We walked around the beach front (this is the big beach in town not the one where we are camped). We looked in the little shops and Mike bought a cool Old Men Rule T-shirt. I bought a toe ring since I lost mine on the 4^th of July at Mike and Linda’s. We went to get some gas in the truck when we noticed parachutes. We turned toward the coast, went down a street, parked and got out at a little park where these guys were running off a cliff with their parachutes on their backs and flying around the cliff side. It was so fun to watch. One of the guys was a real show off and went running down the hill towards the cliff and still was off the ground so he ran right over a picnic table, bounced off the top of a trash can and jumped off the cliff. It was quite a show.

2010-07-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

July 9, 2010 Friday AVILA BEACH, CA

Funny, Doug and Marilyn both told us we needed to go to Avila Beach, so we did. We’re dry camping today on a bluff that overlooks the bay. It’s really pretty here. What a view we have from our windows! We walked on the beach and just took it easy.

2010-07-11T16:50:00.000-07:00

July 8, 2010 Thursday VALENCIA, CA

Picked up the truck. Wow, that hurt! Went over to pick up some stuff at Marilyn’s and then went to visit Doug and Liz. We went out for Mexican and it was really good, even without cheese. We had a good visit. Doug gave us lots of Avocadoes and apricots off his trees. He’s such a sweetie. It’s always fun to see Doug and Liz. It’s funny but Doug reminds me of me and of Dale. He likes all the same foods and other things I like. He’s way conservative like me and he’s really smart like Dale. Must be genetic.

2010-07-07T18:49:00.000-07:00

July 2, 2010 Friday SALINA, UT
OK, we're "ON THE ROAD AGAIN." The plan is to trailer down to just north of LA and visit friends and family. Then we will head up the Pacific Coast on Highway 101. Today we packed everything and drove down to Centerfield where Ralph and Betty live. Tomorrow is Ralph's Birthday party. Ralph is turning 70 and since it's the big 70...they're throwing him a party tomorrow. Should be fun. Mike made a potato salad (he makes the best) so we droped it off to put it in Betty's fridge. Then on we drove to Salina, Utah, about 15 minutes past Ralph's where we are staying in the Butch Casidy RV Park. They have wild bunnies all over the place. So cute. They come in all colors!

July 3, 2010 Saturday SALINA, UT
Slept in...yeah! Went to Ralph's B-Day Party. Lots of people love Ralph. His kids, grandkids, siblings and Betty's siblings were there. It was a big gang. Mike cooked hambergers and there were lots of yummy salads. The really best thing was that Ralph's daughter Annette surprised him and flew in from Wisconsin and just showed up at the party. It was so fun to watch. Betty cried and cried. Made me remember the Christmas I did that to my Mom when I lived in Utah and she lived in California. It was really fun.

July 4, 2010 Sunday FAIRVIEW, UT
Went to Mike and Linda's house for BBQ. Melissa came down and ended up taking a kitten home! Wendy, John and Taylor came down yesterday with their trailer and stayed over. Candace, Mike, Rachael, Emily and Brady came over from Koosherim where they were visiting for Mike Hatch's family reunion. Brady is going to stay in Utah and try it again. We ate and enjoyed Mike and Linda's hospitality and had a long visit. Forgot to take the camera, so Wendy said she would email some pics. I hope so 'cause I want to put them in here!

July 5, 2010 Monday LAS VEGAS, NV
We are on our way to California. Today we made it to Las Vegas and spent the night. It's so hot here, about 105. You literally can fry an egg on the sidewalk. We pulled into our campsite at the Hitching Post RV Park, pulled out the slides, turned on the air conditioning and ran for the swimming pool. When you walked out of the shadded patio area to cross the cement to reach the pool, it burned your feet like crazy. It was such a relief to hit that nice cool water. Glad we don't have to live here or stay here any longer than one night!

July 6, 2010 Tuesday VALENCIA, CA
We drove from Las Vegas to Valencia, California and had truck problems on the Baker Grade. The Baker Grade is this well known piece of highway that causes a lot of car problems because it rises about 2000 feet on a very long uphill grade. It seems to go on forever. We finally made it over the top, but the truck was hot and going very slowly. We came down into Valencia and found our RV park. (Love that GPS!). We got all settled in and I called Marilyn. I'm going to see her tomorrow, should be fun, she's always fun! I called my cousin Doug and we'll see him on Thursday.

July 7, 2010 Wednesday VALENCIA, CA
Today Mike took me over to Marilyn's house and dropped me off to visit while he took the truck in to be diagnosed. I gave Marilyn the painting I did for her and she was thrilled, hung it up right then and even cried. Wow, I wasn't expecting that! She is a good friend and I love her. She dropped me back at the RV Park and Mike says the truck won't be fixed until tomorrow. Bummer. OK but here's the funny thing. Mike took the truck in to be fixed and naturally left the keys with them, and they drove him back to the trailer and dropped him off. He starts to go into the trailer and realizes it's locked and he left the keys with the dealer! Now picture this, he had to climb in through the compartment under the trailer and up through the laundry drop! I asked him if anyone saw him?? He says the dog certainly gave him an odd look when he came up through the floor! Then, he was doing laundry and when he came back to the trailer the door was locked again and he had to go through the same rigamorole. Wish I could have been there!

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August 15, 2009, Saturday HOME

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August 14, 2009, Friday MESA VERDE
Wow, how to explain Mesa Verde National Park .. .lt's at about 7000 feet with a lot of cedar trees. It's pretty with wonderful vistas where you can pull over and look down and see for miles and miles. But the really fabulous part is the ruins. These American Indians (Lamanites to all you Mormon folks) had this fabulous society where they built homes right into the cliffs. We toured one of them called the Cliff Palace. It was some kind of central gathering place for the people with some small (emphasis on small) housing areas on the outside. We had to climb down over 80 stairs (some places very narrow passages between rocks) to get underneath the rock overhang to climb all over the ruins. We also had to climb three or four wooden ladders off the edges of rocks. OK, it was difficult, but the hard part was that I didn't realize it would be at 7000 feet and I didn't think to bring my inhaler and I was having a lot of trouble breathing. But, I'm so glad I went. It was a wonderful and fabulous experience. Took me a long time to get back up the mountain, but it was so worth it. Went back to the campground for a rest. The weather here is so much cooler than I thought it would
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be, but we braved it and went for a dip in the pool, and then went in the hot tub. Tough life huh? We watched a movie, and went to bed early 'cause we want to take off early tomorrow and drive straight through to home. It's a little less than 400 miles.

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August 13, 2009, Thursday TO MANCOS, COLORADO
Not much to report today. Drove to Mancos, set up camp and then went to town to the Wal-Mart to get some supplies. We had some trouble with the truck on the way over, so Mike changed the fuel filter and it's good now. Yeah! To get here we had to drive through the Durango pass and it's really pretty there, but Durango is an oddly laid out town. It's very long and narrow with the freeway raised above and going right through the center. Kind of hard to explain, but it just looks weird. We're over here in Mancos 'cause we want to go see Mesa Verde, the old ruins that are built right into the cliffs on the sides of the canyons. We really like the park here even tho' they have some flies, but that's because the people with ranches on each side of us have horses. It was so fun to be out in the country like this. There is a black, mare, mule next door that is beautiful. I've never seen a mule that had such beautiful confirmation. Wow, she's really pretty. She came over to the fence and we had a good visit. Mike took Daisy for a walk on the other side of the park by some horses. Daisy wanted to get nose to nose and just then the horse, who was eating, snorted. Mike said she jumped straight up in the air and it was really funny.

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August 12, 2009, Wednesday SANTA FE
Today we went into Santa Fe again to see some of the sites. Neither of us felt very well but we managed to find two remarkable galleries in which we spent a good deal of time. Looked at some jewelry and clothing and then went home to relax. Santa Fe is a really old town and the streets are very narrow and there are a lot of tourists, but it is a really cute town. They probably have some sort of ordinance about signage and architecture because the whole town looks southwest; all the buildings are that Mexican type with flat roofs and even the malls look like that. Again, it's really cute.

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August 11, 2009, Tuesday TO SANTA FE, NEW MEXICOToday started off very sad because our good 'ole travel buddies Ralph and Betty took off for home. It's nice to have such good friends that are relatives too! They are heading home and it's a different direction from the way we're going. We had our final prayer meeting and there were tears. We wish them well and hope they travel safe. We drove on to Santa Fe. Always wanted to go there 'cause it's an artsy town. We got there safe and sound. We set up camp and it was still early so we drove into town to see the church with the mysterious staircase. There is this Catholic Church, it's called the Chapel of Lorreto, and they had a ladder that the priests would climb to get to the choir loft. When the sisters came to this area they were afraid to climb the ladder (rightly so), so they wanted to put in stairs, but it would take up a lot of space and they would have to remove pews, which of course they didn't want to do. So the sisters prayed that they could somehow find an answer to this problem. Low and behold, a man showed up who offered to build a spiral staircase. It's beautiful! He built it and then disappeared, so they call it the mysterious staircase. When the man finished the staircase it didn't have a railing, so that was added years later. It's a very pretty chapel and staircase.

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August 10, 2009, Monday TO ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico
We drove over to Albuquerque without out a hitch in our get along and we are thankful to arrive safely. We have been so blessed during this trip. Of all the things that could go wrong we have been blessed to be safe with very little difficulty and for that we are grateful. We have a prayer meeting every morning before we take off, and that's been great. On our way over here to Albuquerque we got off the freeway to drive through the main street of Tucumcari just 'cause the name is so neat. It sounds like something out of the Book of Mormon. It's a pretty poor town and it has lots of businesses along the main drag which have gone out of business, empty buildings and closed gas stations. Another reason I wanted to drive through it is 'cause it's part of the old Route 66 road. There aren't many sections of Ole Route 66 left. We drove on one section of it in Needles, California one winter when we were staying in Bullhead City, AZ. That's for you Dale, we did travel on Route 66!

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August 9,2009, Sunday TO AMARILLO, TEXAS OK ... another excit'n day. That's the way they say it here in Texas, excit'n. We drove all of about 250 miles because the wind was blowing and Ralph's truck has trouble bucking the wind ... bucking, hey, that's another Texas word. I'm picking this up real fast! We stayed in an RV park in Amarillo

2009-12-02T11:40:00.004-08:00

August 8, 2009, Saturday TO OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLOAHOMA
Only in Arkansas can you find a community park called "Toad Suck Park ... " Makes you want to have a picnic there huh? Well this was an exciting day ... just kidding! Drove over here and stayed in a Wal-Mart parking lot just like all the poor white trailer trash. No insult intended, just making a joke.

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August 7, 2009, Friday MEMPHIS
Ralph, Betty and Mike went to Tupelo, MS today to see where Elvis was born. I was too tired and wanted to get my blog caught up and do laundry and clean a little house. I worked really hard, got the work part done and then laid on the couch to watch some old movies I've seen a bunch of time, but it was restful. The gang said the house Vernon built himself and it was just a two room. AS you come in the front door you come into a room which was the living/bedroom. Had a rocking chair, lamp, bed. Through that room was the eat in kitchen and then you went out the back door. Very simple. They saw the Chapel where Elvis used to spend time and the bronze statue they have in the town of Elvis when he was a 13 year old kid. Mike brought me postcards so I could see it too.

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garden. When Elvis' Mom died she was buried in a local cemetery, then when Elvis died his Dad had him laid to rest by his Mom. Later Vernon petitioned the city and got permission to have them moved and buried at Graceland. Then
when Vernon died he was buried there too. It's interesting that Vernon's Mom outlived all three of them and is buried next to Elvis at Graceland. After Graceland we went to his Car Museum. Wow! Stutz Bearcat, Rolls Royce, multiple Cadillac, motorcycles, Ferrari, MG and lots of stuff he drove around the yard. We ventured on to the airplanes. The
large jet was named the Lisa Marie. In the plane the seats were like couches, and the wash room had a gold sink and faucets. There was a conference room complete with a bar full of soda pop (Elvis didn't like alcohol) and a huge glass conference table. At the back was his bedroom with a queen size bed and a big bathroom, complete with gold sinks, etc. Guess what ... we're tired and our feet hurt! We had lunch and rested. Then Mike and Ralph had more tire duty, as we bought two more tires since ours were looking uneven and worn.

2009-12-02T11:33:00.002-08:00

August 6,2009, Thursday GRACELAND!!!
OK ... It's true ... WE TOURED GRACELAND TODAY!!!! It was so neat to see where Elvis used to hang out. Tourists are only allowed to see the grounds and the downstairs. No one is allowed upstairs to see the bedrooms or the bathroom where he passed away out of respect for him and his family. When you first come in there is an entry way and to the right is
the Living room with a large white couch and a couple of chairs. You can see through the Living room into the Music room where one of several of the pianos which have been in that room stands. We saw one of the pianos that used to be in that room in the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was a gift that Pricilla gave to Elvis and she had it covered in 24k gold. The one we saw today was just a regular, black, grand piano. There are stained glass windows on each side of the door that goes into the Music room which picture peacocks. Really pretty. Next you go down the hall and see Vernon and Gladys's bedroom. She must have liked purple 'cause her bedspread and accents were purple and the carpet was off white. It was a pretty room and their bathroom was also done in lavender and purple. Next we went to the dining room. So much of the house seems to be done in dark colors. It was a large formal dining room and there was the prettiest picture of Pricilla and Lisa on the wall. Then into the kitchen which was quite large (however, dark wood, dark carpeted floor, etc.). Behind the kitchen was the "Jungle" room. It was like a family room with a jungle motif. Had a waterfall at one end and lots of plants and strangely carved wood furniture. They say sometimes they used this as a recording room and that was why there was carpet on the floor, walls and ceiling. Green carpet. We went downstairs to the basement where there was a TV room. This was my favorite room because it had this huge, bright yellow, leather couch, yellow walls and Navy blue accents. His thunderbolt logo was above the couch and the ceiling was mirrored.
This is where he had his record collection, and after hearing that President Johnson watched three news casts at once, Elvis had three TV's installed and was said to watch all three at once also. Downstairs there was also pool room with a
bar and the ceiling and walls were covered with over 300 yards of fabric in a gathered effect. Then there was the racket ball court, which now has carpet and furniture, lots of leather couches, in it. It also has an upright piano in it and this
was the piano he was playing and singing hymns just before he went upstairs and died. Next we went outside and
across the carport to Vernon's large office, and then the target practice room. We walked outside and through some of the backyard (landscaped beautifully) to the Trophy room. Oh my gosh! I had no idea he had so many. It's a huge room with all kinds of trophies, and then a wide and very long hallway with all the gold and platinum albums, Grammys, and other awards, then you turn a corner and go into the "Movies" room which has actual costumes he wore in each of the (who knows how many) movies he was in. They also had Elvis and Pricilla's wedding clothes and pictures of the wedding. I can't believe how simple her wedding dress was. I guess I was thinking something like Princess Diana or something, but this was just a simple white sheath with beaded sleeves. After that we went by the swimming pool to the Meditation

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August 5, 2009, Wednesday TO MEMPHIS
Oh my gosh, we just passed a sign for a turn off for a town called Bucksnort, TN.! Can you believe that?

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August 9, 2009, Sunday TO AMARILLO, TEXAS

OK…another excit’n day. That’s the way they say it here in Texas, excit’n. We drove all of about 250 miles because the wind was blowing and Ralph’s truck has trouble buck'n the wind…buck'n, hey, that’s another Texas word. I’m picking this up real fast! We stayed in an RV park in Amarillo.

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August 8, 2009, Saturday TO OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA

Only in Arkansas can you find a community park called “Toad Suck Park...” Makes you want to have a picnic there huh? Well this was an exciting day…just kidding! Drove over here just outside Oklahoma City in Yucon (home of Garth Brooks don't ya know) and stayed in a Wal-Mart parking lot.

2009-08-07T11:10:00.000-07:00

August 5, 2009, Wednesday TO MEMPHIS
Oh my gosh, we just passed a sign for a turn off for a town called Bucksnort, TN.! Can you believe that?

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August 4, 2009, Tuesday NASHVILLE
Went to the Country Music Hall of Fame. They have a lot of memorabilia there! They have some films playing that are from clear back in 1928 showing country music when it was just pick’n and dancing with fiddles and such. Mike’s favorite part was the gold Cadillac that was Elivs’ and he liked how they had a lot of the clothes and costumes that the stars had actually worn. They even had a pair of Elvis’ shoes! I liked the dresses the most. They had a dress that Trish Yearwood wore at one of the country Hall of Fame shows. The skirt and train were really puffy and covered an area of about 10 ft in circumference. We were really lucky to be there on the day we were ‘cause they were taping a TV show and we got to go to it. It’s a country music show (no duh, were in Nashville!) called The Crook and Chase Show. They talk about the latest country music and what’s happening in that scene. Today they had guests. They had Jimmy Fortune formally of the Stattler Brothers and a young country star named Joe Nichols. They both sang two songs for the taping and they were really good. I liked Joe more than Jimmy. Joe has one of those really low voices like Jim Reeves. It was neat ‘cause the second song he sang is not released yet but it’s coming out on his next album. It was about giving up alcohol and loving his wife who stuck with him through the bad times. They talked about how hard it was for him to give up drugs and alcohol. I hope he stays sober because he’s a real talent. Jimmy Fortune joined the Stattler Brothers after they had an opening in the band and they were looking for just the right person. One of the Stattler Bros. walked into a club where Jimmy was singing and knew immediately when he heard him that he was the one they wanted and hired him right away. After leaving the Hall of Fame we went over to the Grand Ole Opry and then parked and walk around some, and took some pics. It’s quite expensive to go to a show there and we all opted not to. On the drive home we stopped at Camping World to get Betty a US map so she can fill in all the states they have been to. Tonight we had a wild thunder storm and our trailer leaked, but not from the roof???

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August 3, 2009, Monday TO NASHVILLE
Drove all day to get to Nashville. Had a “manufacturer defect” in our brand new tire and it exploded. Poor Mike and Ralph had to change it on the side the freeway. It’s so scary.

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August 2, 2009, Sunday TO WINSTON-SALEM
Today we drove to Winston-Salem, North Carolina and stayed overnight in a Wal-Mart parking lot. It’s so handy to have a Wal-Mart right next door in case you need anything! Tonight we needed ice cream. Don’t tell anyone!

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August 1, 2009, Saturday FREDERICKSBURG, VA
Rest and recuperate. We have a really pretty campsite here. We look out our living room windows and see a beautiful lake. There are trees everywhere and it’s shady. There are 5 geese that live here and they are beautiful to watch. You've probably seen the pics from a couple of days ago. There are all these cute little boys and girls, mostly boys, fishing in the lake. They’ll do this for hours and never catch a thing. This one little boy comes down by himself every day for a few hours. He has his little tackle box and rod and he just fishes. It’s so cute!

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July 31, 2009, Friday FREDERICKSBURG, VA. Today we drove 45 min to the Metro and then took the Metro into the city. This was Ralph and Betty’s first experience on a Metro and it can be a little nerve wracking, but they learned fast and we were off and running (Ha! Like us old people could run!) We were very tired and it was very hot, and we don’t have a lot of time here in Virginia. So we skipped Arlington and Mt. Vernon and just went to DC. While on the Metro, we met a family from Richmond who were going to the Smithsonian. We got to talking and found out they were LDS and we had a really nice visit all the way into town. First we went to see the White house. We took pics and saw the place where they do the press conferences on the lawn. They had photographic light equipment and mic stands, etc. They had part of the sidewalk around the Whitehouse blocked off ‘cause something was going to take place, but we didn’t know what. Then we walked for blocks to get to the National Mall. It is truly a beautiful place. Lots of ponds, a reflection pool (which I wanted to get in, but it is not all that clean with ducks and what not) and of course the Washington Monument. The 2nd World War Monument was beautiful with its pillars and fountains shooting into the air. The most impressive memorial and the one I wanted to see the most was the Lincoln Memorial. When we got there Betty and I had to stand in the shade for quite a while, eat an icy, and rest before we could climb the stairs up to where Lincoln is sitting. It’s so hot! Then we started the long walk to the Metro Station and rode on it 15-20 min and then got in our car and headed out of town on a Friday night in DC traffic and it took us about 3 hrs to get back to the CG which was about 40 miles!

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July 30, 2009, Thursday TO FREDERICKSBURG, VA
Drove all day and got a spot in a CG in Fredericksburg, VA. Such a pretty campground.

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July 29, 2009, Wednesday BOSTON, MA
Mike bought a couple new tires at Wal-Mart after checking the ones we have on the trailer, and after seeing Ralph have that nasty blow out. Did laundry and cleaning, etc.

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July 28, 2009, Tuesday TO BOSTON
Today we took a train into Boston. It was a very hot and very humid today. We took a boat ride around the harbor and it is really beautiful for a working harbor. The water is clean and clear and the views are spectacular. We got off and walked on the USS (something, I can’t remember the guy’s first name) Young. Ralph, having been in the Navy, explained some of the things on the ship. I think it would be so hard to live in such close quarters. The room where the regular guys slept had bunk beds that were three high and very narrow. We got to see the sick bay, the communications room, the captain’s quarters (he had a little bunk all his own), the galley and the guns. It was interesting. We rode a trolley around to some of the sights and stopped off at Faneuil Hall which is called the” cradle of liberty” because many a meeting was had there when the decision was being made to fight the British for our freedom. We watched a street performer who was great! He did juggling with knives and several other things including a toilet plunger while standing on a board that was balanced on a ball! The architecture in Boston, like all of New England, is really beautiful. The USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) had a fire a few years back so it was closed for repair. Did you know that Old Ironsides was actually not made of iron but just had really thick wood sides and the cannon balls would just bounce off. We rode the train back “home”.

2009-08-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

July 27, 2009, Monday TO CAPE COD
Today Mike and Ralph bought some tires and changed things around a bit. It is very humid today, more than in Maine, but luckily without the mosquitoes! Then we took off for Cape Cod. We were a little disappointed because here we are driving down a narrow peninsula with ocean on both sides and you can’t see it because of all the trees! All you can see is trees, very tall trees, on both sides of the road! We took off on a side road for awhile and parked once and walked down the 6 foot wide beach and stuck our toes in for a minute. They have literally thousands of rental cabins along the beach front. It would be fun to rent some for a month and have a family reunion or something there. We drove clear to the end where there is a beautiful warf and pier with lots of sail boats. This town is called Provencetown. Busy touristy spot.

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July 26, 2009, Sunday TO BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
Well we woke up this a.m. to a lot of fog, then it started to rain, but we have a long way to go before we get home, you know? So we skipped church and started on our journey and before too long…we had a flat tire. Maybe someone is trying to tell us something.

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July 25, 2009, Saturday TO BRUNSWICK, AGAIN
Today we start our journey (with a few stops along the way) back home. We did the first 100 miles today, only 2300 to go! We stayed the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot, but we got to have dinner with Mark, Sue, and Aunt and Uncle again. It was very enjoyable. Such nice people. Mark and Sue’s daughter Darcy was there also so we got to met her. She is a Latin teacher at a boarding school. She has lived in Boston before, and since we just happen to be going there next, she gave us some fun ideas of what to do and see and directions on how to get around.

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July 24, 2009, Friday IT’S RAINING IT’S POURING THE OLD MAN IS SNORING!
Can you believe this weather??? We had rain all day long. We watched movies and rested, etc. Happy 24th to all the people in Utah!

2009-07-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

July 22, 2009, Wednesday DEER ISLE AND STONINGTON
Today we took the scenic drive all the way down to Stonington. I’m so glad that the lady here at the RV Park told us to go to this area as well as Bar Harbor. It is so beautiful and the quaint (and some huge but quaint) houses are beautiful. The port is lovely and the boats seem so tranquil. As we came up from this very south point, we went North to Bucksport. Just outside Bucksport they have a very large bridge that has an observation deck on one of the bridge towers. We went up the elevator and looked all around. You can see up and down the river, and we could also see the big 700 foot mountain off to the North! The observatory is called the “Penobscot Narrows Observatory”. It’s on the bridge that spans the Penobscot River. This is the only bridge with an observatory in North or South America and there are only 3 in the entire world. There is enough concrete in the foundation of the bridge to fill a football field to 19 feet high. The observatory is 42 stories above the river. The observatory elevator is the tallest and fastest in the State of Maine. “That’s the facts!” But what is really cool, is how far you can see and how the people look like ants when you look down. Next door to the bridge is Fort Knox. But it’s not the Fort Knox with all the money in it! It’s just an old fort built to keep the British out during the Revolutionary War. We came home tired, and of course…you guessed it…went to bed early. Old poops!

2009-07-23T15:24:00.001-07:00

July 21, 2009, Tuesday ACADIA NATIONAL PARK
Today we drove into the National Park of Acadia which is near Bar Harbor. We drove up the mountains (it’s kind of a laugh ‘cause they call these mountains and to us they would be hills, and the tallest mountain in this area is barely over 700 ft!). At the top of the mountain is a hill called Cadillac Mt. There are wonderful views from this area. We took pics and saw an artist painting the view. Saw lots of pretty stuff, came home, ate and played cards.

2009-07-22T15:43:00.000-07:00

July 19, 2009, Sunday PHIPPSBURG, MAINE
We went to Church in the Topsham ward today. The people were so friendly. Everyone spoke to us. The bishop gave a talk right out of the scriptures which was excellent. Today is the first bright and sunny day we have had. (It rains a lot here and that must account for all the green everywhere you look). We thought, why not check out the beach today. It was so crowded the parking lot was full and the cars were parked about a mile up both sides of the road. We went through the ticket booth and asked if we could just come in for 10 minutes to take pics ‘cause it was foggy the last time we came and we are leaving tomorrow. She said we could and we did. Beautiful day at the beach. We took off and went to LL Bean in Freeport just to look around. The home for LL Bean is Freeport and this is totally a shopping town. It has outlets for everything and was extremely busy today. They manage, however, to keep the town looking quaint with Cape Cod style architecture, etc. It’s cute, but busy.

2009-07-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

July 15, 2009, Wednesday TO WESTFIELD, MASSACHUSETS
OK, we didn’t quite make it to Massachusetts. Ralph had a blow out on a trailer tire. He and Mike changed the tire, but then we had to stop in Albany, NY at the Wal-Mart Parking Lot overnight and get a tire mounted. Ralph had a tire; he just had to have it mounted. Betty and I went into the Wal-Mart. Now you wouldn’t think that would be a big deal, but this was a two story Wal-Mart. The grocery and the pharmacy were downstairs and the rest of the stuff was up the escalator. OK this is where it gets really exciting. There was the regular escalator stairs for people that went up and down. In the middle of the up and down stair type escalator for people that was an escalator for grocery carts! No kidding! You push your cart into this thing and it goes up right next to you while you’re going up on the moving stairs! That way you can shop for stuff on both floors and use just one cart! OK when you’re just travelling around like this, small things can be very exciting on the boring days…

2009-07-18T14:10:00.000-07:00

July 14, 2009 Tuesday PHELPS, NY
We drove to Canandaigua today. It’s a little bigger town and they have a Wal-Mart. We did some grocery shopping there and then went to Main Street. It’s one of Mike and my favorite towns here in upstate New York. We walked up and down Main Street and went in some of the stores (mostly Galleries). We went down to the pier and looked at the lake and the cute tiny houses on the pier. Betty and I wanted to go inside one of them so bad to see how they are laid out. Some must be just two rooms, but some of them are two story. We had lunch at Arby’s. We drove back to the campground and rested for awhile. I stayed home resting and the rest of the gang went to Palmyra to look at the printing office where the Book of Mormon was first printed.

2009-07-18T14:08:00.000-07:00

July 13, 2009 Monday PHELPS, NY
Today Mike and Ralph had to get the oil changed in the trucks. We also shopped for groceries, and then rested. You can’t imagine how exhausting this traveling can be! And, I cannot tell a lie, we went for ice cream again, but this was what was funny. Ralph was the last one to order and we had taken our ice cream and sat down. The lady asked him if he wanted small, medium, or large. Well he likes ice cream quite a bit, so he said large. He watched as she filled his cone with four, count them, four LARGE scoops of ice cream and he could see her back by the freezer and she was laughing as she was building it. When he came around the corner and we saw the cone he was carrying, we all burst out laughing. Boy we wished we had a camera! Mike keeps sing a song he made up that goes, “it was 10 feet tall and 8 feet wide!...”

2009-07-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

July 12, 2009 Sunday PHELPS, NY
After last night, no one got up early enough for church. I was still exhausted, but the rest of the gang went to the Hill Cumorah and hiked up to the top where the golden statue of the Angel Moroni is. I’ve been there before and that’s quite a hike! They went to the Smith farm and the Sacred Grove. After they returned we had dinner that I had put in the crock pot. A little later we thought, wouldn’t ice cream be good tonight? We found a fabulous ice cream shop, and had banana splits! Boy were they goooooooood! Haven’t had one of those in years.

2009-07-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

July 11, 2009 Saturday TO PALMYRA (PHELPS, CHEERFUL VALLEY)
We took off this a.m. and went to a campground in Phelps, NY which is close to Palmyra, the Hill Cumorah, the town of Canandaigua and Lake Canandaigua. After setting up camp, we went to the Hill Cumorah Visitor’s Center. At 9 p.m. we went to the Hill Cumorah pageant. It is amazing what they have done with this stage on the hillside. They had an actual waterfall! They have pyrotechnics like crazy and a cast of over 800! What we didn't expect was for it to start pouring rain about 2/3 of the way through the show. There was a lot of lightning and thunder and they announced that they were shutting down because of danger to the cast, not to mention we were sitting in metal chairs! We took off and ran for the truck. However, by the time we found it we were totally soaked. We were laughing though ‘cause it was funny, all these people running for their cars and wanting to find them quickly they were beeping their electronic key bobs, but everyone was doing it, so it didn’t help much! It was really funny.

2009-07-18T05:13:00.000-07:00

July 10, 2009 Friday NIAGARA FALLS (LOCKPORT)
Now this was interesting...as we left to see Niagara Falls today there were police all over the road outside our campground which is in the middle of a lot of corn fields. There was also a police helicopter circling overhead. They were searching the corn fields for some excaped prisoner or something. We all hoped they found the guy before we came home that night. So, about Niagara Falls, it is so spectacular! We went on the “Maiden of the Mist” boat which takes you right by the American Falls, Bridal-veil Falls, and right up to Horseshoe Falls, as close as is safe. Boy did we get wet! It’s amazing how you can feel the power of the water. After that we rode the trolley over to Goat Island and rode the elevator down to the riverbank. Then we proceeded to climb some stairs that are right alongside the Bridal-veil falls. Once again getting very wet! Fortunately these venues give you plastic ponchos to wear to keep your clothes “mostly” dry. It is a beautiful and powerful view from this spot. Very much fun. We then went back to let the dog out and grab a bite to eat. I was having a bad fibro flare so I went to bed. The three musketeers took off for Canada. They took pictures, shopped at the gift stores and got lost! Eventually they showed up back at the CG and we all went to bed, exhausted.

2009-07-18T05:12:00.000-07:00

July 9, 2009, Thursday TO NIAGARA COUNTY, NEW YORK (LOCKPORT)
OK, I’m going to try and write this so that it sounds funny, however, during the whole thing I thought I would scream! Actually I did yell at the lady in the Campground. We took off for Lockport, NY to see Niagara Falls. We had plenty of time to get there, set up camp and have a nice dinner and rest and relax. We plan on seeing the falls tomorrow. I called the campground where we were going to stay and asked for directions. The Campground lady says; follow 78 east until you see the 104 sign which is after you go through town. I said that that doesn’t sound too hard and we took off. We get to Main Street and go through town. OK now we are on the wrong highway, 35 instead of 78. So we wander around the town’s narrow street for awhile and get turned around and this time we don’t turn on Main Street but go straight ahead. We ended up in the middle of a residential neighborhood and drove around in circles there for several laps trying to get back on the correct route. It’s so scary when you’re driving this big rig and you’re on a narrow street and the worst thing that could happen is that you hit a dead end and can’t turn around. So I called the CG lady back. She says it’s OK you do go through some residential. So we start off again. We come to a really steep hill that we can’t even see the bottom of, and we are scared to go down it, so we turn left and end up in a park. At least we can turn around in the park right? So we go into the parking lot type circular drive and there are several cars parked along the drive, people having lunch, etc. But wait, all the cars are pointed one way and they’re looking at us funny (nothing odd about people looking at us funny I must say!). Oh, guess what, we’re going the wrong way on a one way that isn’t going our way! Oh well, it’s not like there’s a lot of traffic. We get turned around and decide to call the CG lady again. I tell her that we were about to go down this very steep hill and it just didn’t look like it was made for large rigs. She assures me that there is a hill and semi trucks even use this road. I say, OK????…. We went down the hill and ended up in a cemetery! Had to admit it was a really old and a very pretty cemetery, however the road was like a one lane and I think, “this can’t be right.” It’s no easy job to drive this rig and Mike is under a lot of stress. He’s had it by now and he stops dead right in the middle of the street. Now, Mike and I are yelling at each other. Ralph and Betty are about to have a cow and they are stopped half way down the hill! We’re getting a little stressed now (little Ha! Ha!) I call the wicked (by now she is known as wicked) CG lady yet again. She says oh no (all innocent like)…you’re supposed go right when you see the sign that says highway 78 is straight ahead or right. Now you tell me! We get out of the cemetery, fortunately, and go back around…again… and take the right fork. We have passed some of these houses so many times we feel as if we know the people in them! This time it turns out good and we end up at the CG which was not easy to find even once we were on the road practically in front of it. By now I know I can’t go into the CG office and meet this lady because I want to do bodily harm to her. I have never had such bad directions in my life! So all is well now right? Not so fast! She gives us a camp site that already has someone in it! We pull into the one next to it and get stuck in the mud! After several tries we have to drop the trailer and have Ralph drop his trailer and come over and pull us out. (Ralph has 4-wheel drive). We have Ralph pull us up on our blocks because of the mud and the unevenness of the ground, but the blocks slide right out. I’m standing on the sidelines letting the men do their “men work” but I can’t stand it any longer. I pull out my phone and call the “Wicked CG Lady” yet again. I told her in no uncertain terms that we were not going to stay in this swamp field and we were pulling ahead where the ground was hard and dry. We worked it out and Ralph pulled us up a row. Sounds simple, right? All this took about one and a half hours! We went and grabbed a bite to eat and then went to bed! Whew! This was not one of the good days!

2009-07-18T04:39:00.000-07:00

July 8, 2009, Wednesday KIRTLAND, OH
Today we went to the John Johnson Farm in Hiram, OH. All the revelations found in the Doctrine and Covenants Sections 73, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, & 99 were received while Joseph and Emma were living at the Johnson Farm. This is a most sacred place. When the Johnsons owned the farm it was over 200 acres and they had the second largest dairy in the territory. It included 19 cows. When the church purchased the land in recent times they were able to acquire a little over 100 acres. When the Johnson family first moved to Kirtland they had 8 children and lived in a small cabin across the street from where they were building their home. Elsa eventually had 15 children, 10 of which lived to adulthood. The Johnson’s were such generous people. They gave Joseph and Emma a place to live, and they made a room for Joseph as a study. He had many meetings in that room and some of the brethren even watched him while he translated and Sidney Rigdon wrote what he said. They remarked how they would go so slow and would always repeat and make sure it was perfect. As we sat in the room you could feel such a strong, sweet, calming Spirit. It made you feel like you just wanted to stay there. Brother Johnson later became an Apostle. The Johnson home was so different from all the homes we have been seeing, like the ones in Nauvoo. This home is really quite spacious. They had a sitting room off the kitchen and also a parlor. The parlor became Joseph and Emma’s bedroom. This is the room in which Emma had her twins that died. Then later Joseph and Emma were given twins, whose last name I can’t remember right now, but their mother died during childbirth and their father couldn’t raise them alone. One night the twins were very sick with the measles and that was the night that a mob came and pulled Joseph out of bed, drug him across the snow and ice and tarred and feathered him. The extra exposure with the open door as they drug Joseph out resulted in one of the sick twins dying. They also grabbed Sidney Rigdon who was staying in the cabin across the road. They drug him by his feet and his head bounced so hard on the ice that he was delirious for several days besides being tarred and feathered. The mob was quoted as saying something like, “that should keep Joseph from preaching tomorrow.” Nine o’clock the next day Joseph was outside preaching to the Saints as well as the mob. I’m so glad we have freedom of religion today. I have lots of pics of this place, but will only post these two right now.

2009-07-18T04:31:00.000-07:00

After the temple tour, we walked over to the North Cemetery next door to the temple. We took pictures of the memorial to Joseph and Emma’s twins who were born and died on the Johnson Farm. Mike also found the graves of John and Elsa Johnson who owned the Johnson Farm. I found the grave of Parley P. Pratt's wife Thankful. What a cute name. Next we went to the site where of the Isaac & Lucy Morley Farm. In its day the farm was large and productive. The Morley’s offered shelter to anyone who was passing through town or to people who needed a temporary home while they were building their own. Isaac was known around town as “Father Morley” because he tried to take care of everyone, even building a school house for the children and hiring a teacher for them. Thanks to the powerful preaching of Parley P. Pratt and his three missionary companions, the Morleys and many of the families living on their farm joined the church. Today the Church owns only a small piece of what was the Morley farm, a wooded hill on which the school house resided. At one point Joseph preached in that school house during the Priesthood session of the first conference of the church

2009-07-18T04:23:00.001-07:00

We next drove up to the Kirtland Temple. The RLDS church has a Visitor’s Center there. We watched a film they had in a small theater. When the film was finished, the screen went up and the curtains parted and you had this spectacular view of the temple. It was quite moving. Next the tour walked through the temple grounds to the temple. We were able to walk through the first and second floors, which look remarkable the same with the Aaronic Priesthood seats on one end and the Melkezedek Priesthood risers on the other end of the room. It was neat how they did the benches on the second floor. They had writing tables which could swing up with supports underneath. This second floor of the temple was used for study and learning, so they had the writing tables. Many missionaries studied here prior to leaving on their mission. Many wonderful things happened in this temple. At the dedication, many people saw the angles who came to the dedication, and the people who were outside said that the whole building glowed, and even God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ appeared here. OK now the sad thing is that there is no longer that special Spirit there. There is more Spirit in the Sacred Grove than there is in this building. It’s sad. It’s also sad that the RLDS don’t seem to treat it in any way as special. Meetings are held there, anyone can go tromping through and it just doesn’t feel special.

2009-07-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

We got to go inside the Johnson Inn which they have changed to something like a visitor’s center with a film and other info. When John Johnson sold his farm to help finance the building of the Kirtland Temple he was up in years. John and his wife Elsa moved into the town of Kirtland. The Church gave him the Johnson Inn so he and his wife could have an income and a place to live.

2009-07-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

It was really fun going though the Whitney’s store. They had it set up like it was back then. I learned a lot about how smart the women were back in that time. For instance they wore plane white bonnets for day-to-day living, but when they dressed up and wore a fancy bonnet, the bonnets were always lined with peach colored silk. This would give their face a nice peachy glow! Hopefully you can see the bonnets in the picture. They also sold hurricane lamps made of tin. They poked holes in the tin to let out the candlelight. The holes were poked from the inside out so that the wind wouldn’t blow the candle out; even in a… you guessed it a hurricane.

2009-07-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

Next we went to the Newel K. Whitney Home. Newel and Elizabeth Whitney were such kind and giving people. They had heard of the teachings of the Prophet Joseph and had prayed about it together. When the Prophet showed up at their store he walked in, looked at Newel and said, “I am the Prophet Joseph Smith, you have prayed me here, now what do you want of me?” Elizabeth walked in from the bartering room, saw the prophet and began to cry as the Spirit was so strong. They believed and were baptized and gave everything they had to move with the saints to Missouri.

2009-07-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

July 7, 2009, Tuesday KIRTLAND, OH (THOMPSON)
Today we went to a place called “Historic Kirtland.” The Mormon Church has a Visitor’s Center there and offered us a tour, and we said we would love one! We started in a gathering room outside a small theater. When we walked into this room I was immediately captivated by an oil painting that has to be the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. It was by Walter Rane. We also saw some other work of his here; they have a whole Book of Mormon gallery by him, but nothing like this one. It is a painting of the building of the Kirtland Temple with the temple about ¾ of the way done. It's about 4 x 5 feet. The perspective is absolutely perfect. The contrast of the blue sky and the brown building is exquisite. The people around the building are perfect. The folds of their clothes, their faces, are perfect. Oh my but I love this painting almost as much as the statue of David in Florence, Italy! This picture doesn't do it justice! We next went into a little theater and watched a time period film about Kirtland in the 1800’s with a whole group of RLDS members.

2009-07-17T14:07:00.001-07:00

July 6, 2009, Monday TO KIRTLAND, OH
We drove all day to reach Kirtland, Ohio. Got there, set up camp and went to a café for dinner because it’s late and we are all very tired!

2009-07-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

July 5, 2009, Sunday TO PORTAGE, INDIANA
Happy Birthday Ralph!!! 69 years young today. You’re doing great! We were off to Kirtland today, but it’s a long way so we stopped in Portage, IN and stayed in a Wal-Mart parking lot. It was noisy enough to require a sleeping pill but it was OK. We took Ralph out to Applebee’s for his birthday. He had steak and the restaurant gave him a hot fudge sundae for desert! Should have seen the smile on his face.

2009-07-04T10:01:00.000-07:00

In the Family Living Center the missionaries have the most interesting displays. They show you how the pioneers used to make yarn out of wool and flax. I had no idea you could make yarn out of flax. And then they also used the seed for oil. Actually, linen is made from flax. Who knew! They demonstrated how to make bread in the old brick ovens and even gave us a piece of bread to taste. Then we watched as they made rag rugs on the loom. I took a picture for Marilyn. Her looms are the only ones I have ever seen up close until now. Then we went to where they make rope from flax. They had a demo of barrel making, and we learned that a person who makes barrels is called a cooper!

2009-07-04T09:57:00.000-07:00

Outside the Smith Family home they had a Summer Kitchen going. This summer kitchen is what they used to cook in during the summer when it is too hot to cook in their houses. Sometimes they are just open fires outdoors. Sometimes they are small buildings with open doors and windows.

2009-07-04T09:52:00.001-07:00

When we were in the Stoddard Tin Shop some people came in who were also named Stoddard. They were hoping to get some genealogy information, which they did, from the missionary demonstrating the Tin workings. It was neat that they could make that connection!