Hiking and Golfing Waterton Lakes

Jul18

WOW!! This place is just sooooo beautiful!! There are so many different ways to describe the area. In many ways it reminds me of an adult Scout camp. As I mentioned in the last entry, the campground is adjacent to the little town (or township as they call it up here in Canada). So – you just walk to everything from the ‘camp’ – the ice cream on the corner, the pie on the corner, the Italian restaurant (VERY GOOD), the local bar for the internet connection (did NOT work this year;-( ), the sports outfitter – everything. Many of the trailheads leave from the town or the campground. The town is on the lake – Lake Waterton. AND – the mountains surround the township. In short – it is location, location, location with beauty, beauty, beauty!!

And, today (Thursday, July 15) was just another day in this paradise. There are free guided walks/hikes almost every day and free ranger talks almost every night. We decided to join one of these hikes today and learn about those who inhabited the area 10,000 years ago and the history of the bison in the area – as well as the ‘uses’ of the bison by the inhabitants. It was interesting that the bison is a ‘curious’ animal and does NOT do well in snow or bogs (depending on the season) due to its relatively small feet for its body. This allowed the ‘plains people’ to create an activity of interest to the bison (such as dressing as wolves) – get it to follow and investigate – then lead it over an edge into a bog or snow bank, both of which would make it difficult for it to move or get away – and kill it! During our 5 mile hike we saw some of the most beautiful wild flowers – something we are not used to on our trips as we travel in the early spring and late fall when flowers are NOT out yet or are long gone.

Just as we get started on our hike this beautiful view appears

Our guide, Karen, talking about the Bison that used to roam the area

Now we are trying to learn the names of the wildflowers. I’m OK with “the purple ones” and “the redish ones”

You can see why we wanted to come back to the area.

Stunning vistas

The fields of flowers and the surrounding mountains provided another of those ‘Sound of Music’ moments –

Is that Julie Andrews in a cowboy hat?

After our morning hike, we were only capable of 2-3 additional miles around the lake and the town in the afternoon. Most of that was spent looking for an internet connection;-( Oh yes – and eating pie and ice cream;-)

After a nice steak dinner in Magic (we did NOT share with the deer who did their share of begging with those big brown eyes!!), we headed over to the evening ranger program – “Mistakes, Madness, Passion and Protection: 125 Years of Canada’s National Parks”. This was a very interesting, informative program on the 44 Canadian NP’s – and gave us a new target to visit all the Canadian NP’s!!

Friday was a golf day at the Waterton GC. We left the British Open during the 1 hour delay due to the wind and moved to the wind on the Waterton course. We felt a great deal of empathy for all the players at the Open – as we could not judge what the 30-50 mph wind gusts might due to our ball – and we did NOT have a million dollars on the line!!!! It was NOT a fun round – BUT, the scenery was wonderful. AND – we saw a bear on the way to the course;-)

The view from the course was great, the 30 mph winds were not!

Too bad my (Gary) ball was in the junk on the right

We were up on a viewing stand to see if the next green was clear.

After golf – we headed to the spa in town – Gary got a massage and Elizabeth her manicure. We also decided we needed to try the local Italian Restaurante, as Elizabeth did not get anything out of the freezer for dinner! Bel Lago (Beautiful Lake) was wonderful – VERY good parpardelli;-) After dinner we took in another ranger talk, which was actually an American in an exchange program to discuss Glacier NP. A fitting end to our stay in Waterton as Saturday was another travel day – to Golden, BC Canada.

More later – Love to All – E & G

On to National Parks – Glacier & Waterton

Jul17

Well – tonight I am sitting here with NO internet connection (so have NO idea when this will actually get posted)(finally have a decent connection in Golden, BC on the 17th – so several days to post!), NO phone connection and listening to the wind, which is gusting at 50-60 miles an hour. We DO love the National Parks and all the beauty they provide – BUT, would love it if they could figure out how to connect to the internet and TURN OFF the wind machine (the wind has followed us since the beginning of our Spring trip in March)!!!!

The VERY good news is that I am looking at the beautiful glacier-filled mountains that make up Glacier NP – an ugly task but someone has to do it;-)

Arriving at Glacier National Park

View from our St. Mary’s East Glacier campground

This has been our ‘home’ for the last couple of days. We pulled into the KOA in St. Mary’s (on the eastern side of Glacier NP) on Sunday, July 11, and immediately headed to the Park Visitor Center to get information and ‘map out’ our hikes for the next couple of days. We also ‘investigated’ the little village of St. Mary’s before returning to Magic, our park ‘walk-about’ and dinner.

We decided that we didn’t have to be on the hiking trail at 7 every morning – so Monday, after a leisurely morning, we loaded the PB&J sandwiches, snacks and water in the backpack and headed up the St. Mary’s/Going To The Sun Road to Logan Pass, which was just opened on July 4th! We had been warned that the trail to Hidden Lake Lookout (our morning destination) still had snow on it – but, had NO idea they meant snow-packed!! It was fun to see the wildflowers at the edge of the snow, though;-)

Heading for the Hidden Lake trail – from flowers to snow in a step!

Looks and feels almost like winter

Hidden Lake at the base of the mountain

Looking down a valley from the Hidden Lake overlook

Hang on to your hat. Wind gusts of 40-50 mph

Upon our return to the car we were rewarded with a ‘1 PM show’ by the local Big Horn Sheep. They pranced and posed for pictures right at the edge of the parking lot for about 30 minutes. They sure provided a great show and completely tied up the parking lot while doing it.

This longhorn sheep was talking to us

Oh where oh where has our leader gone?

This guy was showing off

When we finally pulled ourselves away, we headed back down the Going To The Sun Road and stopped at the St. Mary’s Falls trailhead. We were off on our afternoon hike – and got two falls for the work. First was St. Mary’s Falls –

St. Mary Falls was loud and full.

Then the Virginia falls –

Virginia Falls (not sure who it was named after)

Virginia Falls from a distance

Both were beautiful as was the hike. Not sure even my ‘crack personal photographer’ could transmit all the beauty in the pictures.

Oh – did I mention that Glacier NP is grizzly bear territory???? Well – it is – and something to be aware of as we hike;-)

Haven’t run into a bear yet this year

After these two hikes, we were exhausted and headed back to Magic to cook something up for dinner. After our beer and vodka tonic AND several Advil we were off to bed only to be awakened by the 50-60 mph wind gusts around midnight. All the slides came in and between us we did get a few hours of sleep.

Our sleepless night did slightly alter our plans for Tuesday – like our 8 mile round-trip hike went by the way side;-( Instead, we headed to the little cafe on the corner for breakfast about 9 – they are known for their pie – and YES I had pie for breakfast;-))!! (The problem is that if you don’t have pie for breakfast, or at least get it then and take it with you, they are out of it!! This is the very good reason you MUST have it for breakfast!)

We then headed a little south to the Two Medicine area – we decided a drive in the car, out of the wind, would be in order. Also, this way we didn’t have to use our legs and feet again! We did do a short mile walk to the Twin Falls when we arrived at Two Medicine – another beauty –

Twin Falls. Not sure why I m sitting. It was our shortest, easiest hike.

Bridge over troubled water? or Trouble on the bridge over the water.

You can see how Twin Falls got its name

Then it was investigate Visitor Centers and just enjoy the beautiful scenery – which there is a lot of. Oh – I forgot – we also disturbed a little herd of cattle on the way. They were laying in a wonderful field of wild flowers and I just couldn’t resist a picture –

Sorry to disturb all y’all

We both were tired of battling the wind today, so we returned to Magic early, which allowed Gary to work on pictures and Elizabeth to do a load of clothes and to write this about the last couple of days.

It is now time for dinner and the All Star Game;-) Gotta go.

Wednesday (July 14th) was another travel day. But, only after breakfast at our little cafe on the corner – AND, another piece of pie;-) This was a very short travel day, though, only about 50 miles to the Canadian side of Glacier NP – Waterton, which will be our home for the next three days. We really loved this place last year – thus the return. AND, it is just as special this time – and is definitely one of our most favorite places anywhere!!

This year we stayed in the Provincial (State) campground, as it is right in the middle of the little township inside the park – and this is our view and the ‘wildlife’ that make it its home –

Great views from our campground

The deer seem at home here

We did our usual routine after getting set up – trip to the Visitor Center to determine all the possible hikes and activities for the next couple of days and a walk about the campground. We also made a stop at the historic Prince of Wales Hotel (I provided a fairly long description of these lodges in the blog last fall as we travelled through this area – so all I will say this year is that these lodges (both in the US and Canada) were built by the RR’s and we can be thankful for them) for an afternoon snack and a drink so we could map out our next couple of days from the info obtained at the Visitor Center. Gary managed to track down an internet connection – but, determined it was not a good one;-( Back at the campground we decided it was too early for dinner – so, the little 3 mile trail at the end of the campground was calling and we were off to Bertha Falls. Many beautiful vistas of Waterton Lake, the many glacier mountains, the Prince of Wales – and the falls.

A view of our campsite from a nearby trail

Prince of Wales Lodge and the town of Waterton below

A view from the trail to Bertha Falls

Along the Bertha Falls trail

Bertha Falls tucked behind the foliage

All I can say is that there is just beautiful, wonderful scenery everywhere!!

So – Much more later (if we ever get an internet connection again) – much love – E & G

We’re Off – North to Alaska;-)

Jul11

So – I am sitting here listening to the thunder from one of those wonderful storms that we grew up on in Arizona – thankful that I am in Magic and not one of those tents at Girl Scout Camp in Prescott, AZ;-( You can get VERY wet in those tents during a good old fashioned summer storm!

We have finished dinner, watched “The Big Chill” and I was going back over the last two days and figured the thoughts may as well get into the blog – so here I am.

Yesterday was a long driving day – about 10 hours – from Park City to Great Falls, MT. 5 discs of “The Girl Who Played With Fire” kept our attention and made the time fly!! We arrived in our camp for these two days and were all set up in time for dinner and our ‘walk about’ the camp. The office was full of brochures on what to do in Great Falls – so we also mapped out the activities for today.

Saturday, July 10 – First stop was the Charlie Russell Museum Complex, which included a museum of his works, his home and his workshop. Russell began painting ‘his vision of the West’ when he was only 13 – living in St. Louis and painting from what he read or conjured up in his head! He followed his dream and moved west from St. Louis when he was about 22 – he never returned to his home there. We are all very lucky he didn’t – as his works of art wonderfully capture the ‘Old West’.

The C. W. Russell Home in Great Falls, Mt.

Russell’s studio

Our next stop was the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. When Lewis & Clark were attempting to complete their Presidential ‘charge‘ of navigating/charting the Missouri River and all its tributaries in order to figure out how much territory had been acquired by the Louisiana Purchase – and to map a route to the Pacific – they ran into a great deal of difficulty when they hit the Great Falls which reside in what is now the state of Montana. Even though they had been warned by the Indians (who were a GREAT help to them despite some history teachings) that they would encounter these falls – they were surprised when they came upon them. AND when they found four more falls (Crooked Falls, Rainbow Falls, Colter Falls and Black Eagle Falls) – they began to plan the best route for a portage, as it was impossible to ‘drag’ their boats upstream (as they had been doing) over these falls! This was the hardest and worst part of their historic venture. Lewis did have a wonderful/pleasing sighting of the Giant Springs during this ordeal – a bubbling springs of unknown origin that create the shortest river feeding into the mighty Missouri! After our stop at the Interpretive Center we were off to see the Springs and all the falls for ourselves – and here they are –

Giant Springs. Yep, that is the whole 201 foot river there.

Giant Springs up close

The Great Falls

Rainbow Falls

Black Eagle Falls

While at the Great Falls, we were watching this magnificent storm move in and decided it was best to head back to Magic for dinner, a movie and a quiet night. Tomorrow we head on north to Glacier NP and the many beauties and wonders that await us there.

HOME AGAIN!!

May16

What a wonderful trip. We finished up with a couple of days in Moab, where we did get in a round of golf, a nice last dinner in Magic and little wind!!

Thursday we turned into the neighborhood!! We had begged all the neighbors to eliminate the snow before we got home – they did a good job at the house, but still lots of the white stuff up on the mountains!! After emptying Magic and moving back into the condo – Magic needed a good cleaning from stem to stern. With all the wind and blowing dust we encountered on our entire trip, the dust in every nook and cranny of the bus was about an inch thick even though we were cleaning and dusting continuously. (A BIG THANK YOU to all our ‘part time’ neighbors for NOT being in town, as we used every driveway around to wash and dry all the ‘basement’ items!) Once done, Magic was taken to a new home (new storage facility) in Salt Lake for a couple of weeks rest. We will retrieve her and be on our way for a short trip to Las Vegas and CA at the end of May!

We can’t stop thinking and reliving our trip just finished. We travelled approximately 7600 miles and covered 16 states. BUT – It is definitely the many visits with family and friends that make these trips soooooo much fun:-) From the many rounds of golf with friends – the goat farm in Houston – visits with lots of family (Mothers, daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousins, cousins and more cousins) – lunches with old friends – shuttle launches – Red Bay, AL – to those adorable, wonderful, miracle triplets – we have had a FABULOUS trip. A VERY BIG THANK YOU to all who took the time to visit and entertain us – we love you all!!!!

XOXOXOXO

Elizabeth & Gary

The Road Home

May13

WOW – it has been a week since we left you! Don’t have any idea where the time goes – but, the days just seem to melt off of the calendar.

Fort Smith was not a big city and we both said it didn’t have a lot to see or do. Having said that – we both came away pondering how much we had learned! And, I might say, things we learned that did not necessarily make us proud:-(

We visited the Fort Smith National Historic Site, which has a most interesting past. The first of the two Fort Smiths was founded in 1817. The Fort was moved slightly and built a bit ‘stronger’ around the mid-1800’s. The Fort was the point of departure for pioneers, peacekeepers and outlaws.

Fort Smith Arkansas

Sadly, around the mid-1800’s (due to orders from President Jackson) all the southeastern American Indian Tribes, with their ‘nations’ in the areas looking to be settled by the whites (Florida, the Carolinas, Georgia, etc.), were herded to lands established for them by treaty in what is now basically the state of Oklahoma. Moving these Tribes into lands much smaller than they inhabited previously, with many diverse customs and cultures – they began fighting each other. Thus, the military was sent to Fort Smith (which they used as their base) to keep the peace amongst the Indian Tribes in their relocated Indian Territory. (NOTE – it was not to keep peace between the Indians and the pioneers.) As the west continued to be opened to ‘settlers’, the Indians continued to be moved/squeezed into different territory – ignoring the original Treaties signed with them. We have NEVER been kind to the American Indian:-(

Fort Smith was also used by the pioneers as they set off for ‘the west’. The surrounding area also became ripe with ‘outlaws’. So – Judge Parker (who you might recognize as “The Hangin’ Judge”) was sent to Fort Smith to establish frontier justice – and the Fort became the Court House. One of the outlaws that was jailed at the Fort was Wyatt Earp – a character that we met and told you about in our very first stop in Tombstone! He jumped bail, went west and never returned for his sentence. Instead he rose to prominence as a Marshall in the West. Go figure – sounds like our politicians today!!!!

Well – as I said – it seemed like a non-descript stop – BUT, we sure learned a lot.

Thursday we left Fort Smith and headed west – again trying to get as far as we could before dark. It turned out the next overnight was Amarillo. BUT, on the way we ventured through Altus, Oklahoma. WHY??? You might ask. It was Gary’s turn at nostalgia. He was stationed at the Altus Air Force Base, after returning from Okinawa, in 1967-1969 and wanted to see ‘the old place’. Needless to say – it had changed a bit —-

Was it really 42 years ago??

The flight line has changed a lot. New buildings, new planes.

Spent many a night walking security patrol around this type of aircraft. Now it is an exhibit in the City Park.

Friday we arrived in Santa Fe, where we spent quite a bit of time with friends Kathryn and Robert Clemens. We shared dinners, golf, conversation and good times with them.

It is time for us to head out one last time – as we make our final trek toward home. Tomorrow we will pull up stakes and head to Moab for a couple of nights and maybe a round of golf. We have been blown across the country and back – and our only wish is to get someplace with NO wind!!!!

Windblown Elizabeth & Gary

Return to the Mother Ship – The Tiffin Experience

May6

Well, well, well – the last week has been quite an experience!! We have been ‘camped out’ at the Tiffin Allegro ‘Campground’ in Red Bay, AL having a few things done to Magic.

For those who don’t know all the finer details of our Magic Bus here it is – our coach was made by Tiffin Motorhomes, Inc – a family owned business owned and operated by Bob Tiffin and his three sons and based in Red Bay, AL. They now produce 5 ‘models’ – Allegro Bay, Allegro Red, Phaeton (this is our model), Allegro Bus and the Zephyr – and are producing 10 coaches a day out of the plant (this is their total production right now – the max is 20 per day and they went to 3 a day when things were really bad!).

Red Bay is a VERY small town – population of approximately 2500. Their main street is much smaller than our Park City Main Street – and NOT near as vibrant! Their main reason for being is Tiffin! There is one restaurant – Gabe’s Grill (which is very good) – no movie theaters (which means no other activities) – 2 grocery stores, a car wash, an RV wash, a hardware store AND TIFFIN.

We arrived at the ‘campground’ Tuesday evening to a sign posted at the check-in that said “FULL – DRY CAMP ONLY”!!

Notes of explanation. I keep putting ‘campground’ in quotes – this is for a reason. Bob Tiffin bought the Red Bay airport and turned it into his service/campground facility. The runway and taxiway made the camping areas (there were 100 full hook-up spots, about 15 electric and water spots, and about 12 ‘dry’ camp spots (no hook-ups – you are on your own!)) The ‘hangars’ were turned into service bays – 43 in all plus the parts warehouse, shipping, wood working shop and the service office which included a customer lounge.

Tiffin tower, this is 32 BUS, ready for take-off . (Note the major storm

clouds in the distance).

NOW – I go back to our arrival ‘greeting’ – FULL – all 115 spaces!!!!!

Gary and I looked at each other and said “What does that mean”???? We scampered into the office and asked the same question. Only to be told, we could have a place to park – we would probably move to one of the 15 water and electric the next day and one of the 100 full hook-ups the following day. The rest of the ‘good news’ is that our ‘number’ was 401 – we were to have our list of ‘issues’ back to him by 7PM (it was now 6PM) – Norris would review all the lists and start knocking on doors at 7AM tomorrow morning (Wed.) – and we would go from there. Oh by the way – don’t come back to this office because once we handed in our ‘list’ it was up to Norris and they had no more to do with the process until we checked out. Got it.

Off to our ‘dry camp spot’ to print our list (believe me this was already made out and growing day by day on our trip!). After handing it in we made our walk around the lot. What a trip – never seen so many Tiffin’s in one place!

Wednesday morning we were up bright and early just in case we were one of the first doors that Norris knocked on (what incredible wishful thinking!!). Never thought that our number of 401 and the fact that we were parked out on the ‘dry camp’ spots might mean that we were NOT first in line! Anyway – about noon I did make a trip back to that office to say – “I know we aren’t to bug you – and you said Norris starts knocking on doors at 7 – BUT, what time does he stop knocking on doors?!?!?” Response – “OH – with your number of 401 he will not get to you today!” Now – Gary started working the system and I retreated with my head hung low. By the end of the day we had a ‘promise’ that Norris would be knocking on our door at 7:30 the next morning (Thursday). Wednesday night – another trip around the lot – this time talking to people. AND – found that some people had been here for 3 and 4 weeks! NEVER going to happen – I would go MAD after 2 weeks here!

Thursday morning we were up bright and early for Norris’s visit at 7:30. At 9 – Gary went back to the office to say we really wanted to do the factory tour at 10 – BUT, wanted to talk to Norris before we went – any chance of that?!?!? Then – there was Norris! Gary and I went thru our list – Norris said he would let us know when we had a service bay. Probably Friday or Monday:-( Gary and I went to the factory tour.

THE FACTORY TOUR – this would NEVER happen in California (or many other parts of this country)!! We were issued a pair of protective glasses and a headset so we could hear our tour guide in the factory – then headed to the assembly line in the factory. We saw the whole process from the bare chassis coming in the back door to the final product (short of the exterior paint) out the front. We walked right up to the chassis – examined it – asked questions of the workers who were nailing, glueing, soldering, etc – looked at the various components lined up ready to be installed, etc. – FULL ACCESS!! It was most interesting to see our Phaeton from the bare bones up. Now we know what all is under/over/through the floor/walls/ceiling to be able to understand how things work or what might be wrong when they don’t. Incredibly interesting and informative –

82 year old Red is leading the factory tour

They start with a Freightliner chassis

Then they fabricate the floor

The side walls are lined up for mounting

Now they are ready for the slide-outs to be added

Boy there are sure a lot of wires in this thing!

Everyone (our dealer, factory rep we saw in FL and various other owners we have talked to – as well as the campground office and our tour guide) said that Bob Tiffin is very ‘available’ and after the tour we should go over to his office and talk to him. SO – our next stop was his office. Gary had a few ‘suggestions’ for him.

Bob Tiffin WAS very assessable! He spent about 30 minutes with us discussing everything from Park City (which he had visited and loved) to the factory tour and the campground. Then Gary gave his suggestions after asking if he was open to such a conversation. This led to our problems – blah, blah, blah.

It is very interesting that by the time we got back to the campground – we had an appointment for 7AM Friday morning. Don’t know if Bob made a call – but we were VERY happy:-)!!

SO – this is how it works. You are assigned your time and bay number. At the given time you line up and wait for the bay to open – when it opens you pull in and disappear. Then the work begins. In most of the bays you are able to watch and even be in the coach while the work is done! And, you move your coach from bay to bay for the different types of work to be done. Again – a very interesting experience –

7 am. Jockeying for position at your assigned service bay.

Ahhhh. Happiness is being in your service bay.

OK Billy Bob let’s see if we can get these leveler

hydraulics working correctly.

These guys are amazingly well organized.

By the end of the day we had all the work done except the body and paint work – which we determined could be done Monday ‘off campus’ (by a local paint and body shop that does contract work for Tiffin – all ex-employees that worked for Tiffin for 10-20 years then left and started their own businesses assisting Tiffin with their excess work).

This meant we had the weekend to play and investigate the area. We packed our bags – left Magic at the campground – and visited the largest town in the area, Florence with our Marriott points! There are 36 holes of the Robert Trent Jones Trail in Florence that we thought we would take advantage of. Silly us! We spent the weekend ‘dodging’ tornado warnings, which means in and out of ‘safe places’ in the hotel. On a very serious note – we were very fortunate as someone was watching out for us. With all the deaths and flooding in nearby areas, each wave of storms and tornados seemed to move just north of us and more importantly north of Magic! We really did escape a couple of bullets!!

We had Magic at the body shop early Monday morning to get the rear back panels that tried to mate with a yellow pipe looking like they did originally. This meant we had another day to ‘investigate’. So – we were off to Tupelo, Mississippi (just had to spell that out as Deme has just learned that spelling and thought it would be fun!) and the birthplace of Elvis Presley. We travelled a portion of the Natchez Trace Parkway from Red Bay to Tupelo – which is a beautiful road that closely follows ‘trails’ that were originally used by Indians and wild animals as much as 8,000 years ago to get from the gulf coast to the Tennessee valley.

As we entered Tupelo, we made a stop at the Tupelo National Battlefield (another stamp in our National Parks passport!), the site of the last major engagement of the Civil War in Mississippi.

Battle of Tupelo, War Memorial

Then – on to Elvis. We stopped at the Tupelo Hardware store, which is where Elvis’ mother bought him his first guitar. At the age of 10 he wanted a 22 cal. rifle for his birthday – but that is NOT what his mother wanted him to have. So – the salesman showed him a guitar and let him play it for a while (he didn’t really know how to play – he had just seen his minister at his church play one). I guess the rest is history! Gary and I both stood on the very place where Elvis stood while pleading for the rifle – no divine experiences while there:-( You may be asking – how does one know all of this really?!?! The hardware store is a family owned business and the daughter came down to talk to us and give us the story. Also, the salesman has documented the story for all to read. By the way – his name is Forrest L. Bobo – really.

Next stop – his birthplace. Elvis was born in a very small two-room house built by his father, grandfather and uncle. I always forget that Elvis was one of identical twin brothers. His brother, Jessie Garon, was stillborn and is buried with him and his parents at Graceland. The church where Elvis spent his early years – and where the pastor was who played the guitar and taught Elvis to play preached – was acquired from down the street and moved to the birthplace grounds. The area is very small – but, very moving.

Elvis slept here (actually he was born in this house)

Life size statue of the 13 year old Elvis (That’s him on the left)

Hmmmm. The Presley loo.

It was time to return to Red Bay and retrieve Magic – which looked as good as new (except for all the dirt from the various storms!). One more night at the campground and we would be on our way to begin our trip home. It was an evening of saying good bye and good luck to our companion campers – especially those that might be there a little longer:-(

Tuesday we planned to drive until dusk and see where we ended up. Noticing that I-40 ‘brushed’ by Cotton Plant, Arkansas – we thought a slight detour might be in order. So – here it is —–

Biaett roots

We made it to the Fort Smith, Arkansas/Sallisaw, Oklahoma area and are now off to investigate Fort Smith and all it has to offer.

All in all – we have to say that Bob Tiffin has a wonderful, organized, efficient organization and we are happy to be a part of it via Magic;-)

Happy Campers – Elizabeth & Gary

Family, Friends & Worn Out!!

Apr28

Well – it has been 5 days since we left the Byrne family of five – AND we are still exhausted!! We had a GREAT deal of admiration for Bethany and David before – but it grows every day as we realize how worn out we were/are after being there a week. Taking care of triplets IS A LOT OF WORK!!!! Definitely need to be younger than we are to do it – and again – GO BETHANY & DAVID!!!

We left Beaufort and headed to Atlanta to ‘park’ at the Stone Mountain Park and to see cousins Dodge and Jeanie. What a FUN couple of days. We LOVED Stone Mountain Park. The fact that we had a beautiful camping spot did not hurt – the campground was fabulous (one we definitely want to return to). We were in the trees with a lake view – BEAUTIFUL —

The view from our living room window

Of course, the highlight of Stone Mountain is the mountain itself and the ‘carving’ in the granite – a Confederate Mount Rushmore, which consists of the twenty-times-larger-than-life figures of Robert E. Lee, “Stonewall” Jackson and Jefferson Davis carved into an 800 foot high hump of granite. In the evening this carving ‘comes to life’ via a laser show and fireworks:-))

The Stone Mountain Sculpture

Also on the grounds of the Park is the Antebellum Plantation, which is a collection of original buildings from around the state of Georgia, built between 1783 and 1875. They were chosen for their authenticity and historical value and represent the diverse lifestyles of 18th and 19th century Georgia residents. Each building was moved from its original site and carefully restored at Stone Mountain Park. Of course, the highlight for us was the Dickey House (circa 1840).

The Old Dickey Antebellum House

Touring the Antebellum Relics with Dodge and Jeannie.

We did make our way out of the Park and into Atlanta to see the Atlanta Cyclorama & Civil War Museum and the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site.

The Cyclorama is the world’s largest oil painting – the “Battle of Atlanta” – and is presented ‘in the round’ and comes to life with music and the story of the battle as you sit and rotate very slowly around to see the entire circle of the painting. Incredibly interesting to see! The museum also displays the “Texas”, one of the steam locomotives used in the Great Locomotive Chase in April, 1862.

The MLK, Jr. NHS includes a four-block area that holds many important landmarks in the life of Dr. King, including his birthplace, the Ebenezer Baptist Church where he, his father and grandfather all served as pastor, and his tomb engraved with the words “Free at Last, Free at Last”. There is also a visitor center with information, exhibits and films on his life and this sad period in our history.

All of our investigation and touring was done with our cousins – Dodge and Jeanie – who were wonderful tour guides! We also spent lots of hours visiting, eating, drinking and much more visiting for the three days we were in Atlanta. A BIG thank you to Dodge and Jeanie:-))

Tuesday (April 27) it was time for us to hit the road again – and we were off to Red Bay, AL to Tiffin, the manufacturer of our Bus. On the way, we made a stop to see a childhood friend of Elizabeth’s – Art Molter (and Wendy Fletcher). Art & Wendy recently relocated from NM (we saw them there on our Spring trip last year), so we got to see their new home, have a yummy lunch and a VERY nice visit.

With all this activity – you can understand why we have not had time to recover from the triplets. I think we plan to spend the next couple of days ‘vegging’ on the Tiffin lot. LOTS more about what that means in the next post. So – stay tuned –

Worn out – Elizabeth & Gary

The Byrne Family of 5

Apr25

WOW!!! What a week we had in Beaufort with the Byrne Family of Five!!

After leaving the Everglades, we made one quick stop in Titusville (near Cape Canaveral), played a round of golf and rested up for the triplets – so we thought.

We arrived in Beaufort on Friday, April 16, just in time for the March of Dimes 5K on Saturday. Gary and I thought it would be a lot of fun to join Bethany, David, Olivia and George (YEAH – Samuel is home but this walk would have been a little much for him) on this fine Saturday morning to support a good cause. Little did we know we were walking with ‘royalty’. The morning started with Bethany taking the award for ‘top individual money raiser’. AND – Everyone in Beaufort knows the Byrne family – so it took us a little time to get going, as everyone had to come up and talk. While we are experienced at these walks – we have never pushed a TRIPLE stroller in one before. That in itself is a novelty – then you put these cute little ones in it – and you have quite a show stopper!

The March of Dimes walkers getting organized

George the preppie one

The Byrne family team hits the road

David, Bethany, Olivia and George at the halfway mark.

Us too

The rest of the week we just had a BLAST!! We played, danced, went to the park, played – in general, we enjoyed Olivia, George and Samuel – and Bethany and David!

The pictures can tell the story.

Finally figured out how to hold Samuel without knocking his trache hose off the connection (which we did 3 times in the first ten minutes:-(().

Olivia finally decided that Gary was not an ogre (this took the whole week!).

Olivia staring Gary down.

George’s “Argh” face

Hmmmmm, I guess the big guys is okay

Olivia’s swinging encounter.

I like this slide thingey

What a great week – Thanks to the Byrne Family of 5 for sharing with us:-)) As always – it was very hard to leave, but all good things must come to an end. We promised to make this an annual event and to return Spring of 2011 – if not before.

Next stop cousins Dodge and Jeanie in Atlanta.

Worn out by the triplets – Elizabeth & Gary

Family, Friends and Jimmy Buffett

Apr14

Well – it has been a few days. Somehow I equate what we have done to how many pictures we have. And, since there are not a lot of pictures of different activities from the past few days, I was thinking there wasn’t much to write about. But, as I sit here thinking about it – there is way too much to tell.

We left the Cape Canaveral area with our heads spinning from the sight of the launch!! Next destination was Sarasota to visit with cousins Julie and Mike AND to celebrate Gary’s x#@-something birthday.

Monday was a settle-in day and getting ready for a ‘celebration’ day for Gary. Tuesday – b-day – was wonderful – we joined the circus for a day:-))!!

Our morning was slow and easy – then off to meet up with the Cuz’s and wander St. Armand’s Circle and enjoy a relaxing lunch. Then, Gary, Julie and I went to the Ringling Brothers Circus Museum where there is a fabulous exhibit of “Howard’s Miniature Circus”. Howard Tibbals spent years traveling and studying the circus to get all the details accurate in this miniature replica of the circus in the early 1900’s when it still traveled by train and was a ‘Main Event’. AND it IS incredible – right down to the little forks and knives! Gary even tried to get into the act.

At the Ringling Brothers Circus Museum with Cousin Julie

The Howard Tibbals Miniature Circus was amazing

Hanging with the crew

We also toured the home of Mabel & John Ringling – and took a quick ‘spin’ around the Ballroom in their house –

Dancing at the Ringling Mansion

Then we toured the Ringling’s private train car that accompanied the Circus train. I guess this was there version of the ‘Magic Bus’.

John and Mabel Ringling’s “RV”

This FUN afternoon was followed by a wonderful Birthday Dinner for Gary. All in all – a VERY NICE DAY!

Wednesday the 4 of us (Julie, Mike and us) headed to Key West with a quick overnight stop in Key Largo. Thursday we settled in to ‘our spot with a view’ which would be our home for the next five days.

A great view from our camp site in Key West

There was much to do in Key West – besides just chillin’ and drinkin’ and eatin’ a cheese burger in paradise. We took the Conch Train to get the overview of this little island, wandered Duval Street, biked into ‘downtown’ and had breakfast with the locals at Harpoon Harry’s, wandered Duval Street, ate and drank.

We did take time for a little history. The Navy has a significant presence here in Key West, although not what it used to be. In 1890, the US Navy built an 8700 square foot home (really a duplex) on the waterfront to house the base commander and paymaster. As time went on, the wall separating the two units was removed and the building was modified to one home. Harry S. Truman had visited and loved it so much that from 1946 to 1952 he used the house 175 days as both a retreat and functioning White House – thus it became known as the Harry S. Truman Little White House. In subsequent years President JFK met here with the British Prime Minister just prior to the Bay of Pigs (1961), US Secretary of State Colin Powell hosted peace talks at the dining room table between Armenia and Azerbaijan (2001) and the Carters (1996) and the Clintons (2005) visited for a little R&R.

President Truman’s Little White House

The Navy is also ‘home’ to the Blue Angels – and they just happened to be here for an air show this week-end (they hadn’t been here for 10 years!). AND, we had front row seats as the air base is just across the water from our little ‘parking spot’:-) Our friends Bill & Louise (you know – the goat ranchers we stayed with in Houston) were now here with us and we all settled in for cheeseburgers in this paradise and the air show. A glorious day!!!

Terrific views of the Blue Angel’s performance from our camp site

Look out!! They are coming for us.

Don’t know how we could ask for anything after this wonderful day – but it just kept getting better. We had dinner at Blue Heaven – the subject of Jimmy Buffett’s song ‘Blue Heaven Rendevouz’. Food was very good and the atmosphere can’t be beat for here in Key West – expecially the little chicks and roosters roaming around between the tables!!

Our Blue Haven Rendezvous….

…with Bill & Louise

After dinner was a short stroll up Duval street – where Gary & Bill were approached by some of the most interesting ‘women’ of the street. Next was dessert at Better Than Sex! No lie – that is the name of this little restaurant that only serves desserts and wine. AND – their desserts are BETTER THAN SEX!!!

Desert at Better Than Sex was orgasmic

Sunday was a peaceful day visiting with friends who live in this paradise – Bruce and Risha – in their beautiful home lovingly built with incredible attention to detail. After watching the completion of the Masters – the six of us (Risha, Bruce, Louise, Bill and us) met up for a wonderful, relaxing dinner at Lattitudes – a boat ride away to an escape island!

Monday we were to head over to the Dry Tortugas to take in another National Park. However, a ‘little’ electrical problem prevented that trip. I am happy to say that the problem turned out to be the RV park’s and not Magic’s – but the discovery of that made us ‘miss the boat’ to the NP. So – we spent the day on Duval St and headed to the Southernmost point in the Continental US and actually drove all the way into Key West on Hwy 1 to be sure we completed the trip to the end – or is it the beginning – of Hwy 1!

Only 90 miles from here to Cuba

The end of the line..

…is just the beginning of the next adventure

Tuesday we were on our way again. This time to the Everglades. Unlike early parks established to protect scenery, Everglades was created to preserve a portion of this vast ecosystem as a wildlife habitat. The park’s unique mix of tropical and temperate plants and animals – including the manatee, alligator, crocodile and Florida panther – has prompted UNESCO to grant it international biosphere reserve status as well as World Heritage site designation. We saw various birds and gators – but, no manatee or panthers:-(

A three colored crane

An Anhinga drying off after a long swim

Oops, sorry, we didn’t mean to disturb you

These birds seemed very calm in the midst of all the gators

It has been a VERY active week – with lots of family and friends! Now we are off to Beaufort, SC with a little stop on the way and maybe a round of golf. More later –

Elizabeth, Gary and Magic

BLAST OFF!!!

Apr5

Friday and Saturday reminded us why we set our new ‘rule’ for travel. After last spring’s trip we decided that our travel days should be NO more than 250 miles or 4 hours. HOWEVER – sometimes there are special events that come up that make all those ‘rules’ go by the wayside.

Back to the beginning – as we were planning our trip this year, we thought it would be really neat if there was a launch at Cape Canaveral at any time that we might be in or around Florida and could work our schedule to be there to see it. After checking a couple of times and seeing nothing on the NASA website during my early planning days – the thought kind of went away. Wednesday there was an article in the USA Today about the ‘NASA Teacher Program’ and the fact that a teacher was going up in the launch Monday, April 5th! Needless to say, I flew to the website AND sure enough there was a shuttle launch scheduled now for the 5th – the last scheduled launch in the dark. Immediately, we began to think how we could make this happen as we were to be in Tallahassee the 3rd and 4th and on to Sarasota on the 5th. We thought – WE CAN DO THIS!

Getting a place to ‘park’ around Cape Canaveral would prove to be the difficult part, I thought, as it was Easter week end – AND it was a shuttle launch. BUT, we did it. A few quick calls to cancel the other arrangements and reservations and we were ready to put the peddle to the metal. Friday – armed with many bags of homemade snacks from Louise – we flew out of Texas across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and into Florida. After a 9 hour day we were ready for a break – and, again, reminded why we set the rule of NO MORE THAN 4 HOURS TRAVEL A DAY!!.

Where’s the light at the end of the tunnel.

Way down yonder on the Chattahoochee.

Saturday was more of the same – all the way across the panhandle of Florida from Pensacola down to Cape Canaveral – another 9 hour day:-( I must say, Saturday was at least a beautiful day to drive because there was little traffic, beautiful scenery and NO WIND!!

Little traffic, beautiful scenery and no wind – what a beautiful morning for a drive.

We now had all of Sunday to check out the area and assess the launch site to see where we wanted to be to see this event.

Sunday – countdown to launch time and are we getting excited! After a nice, slow Easter morning we headed to Highway 1 – the preferred ‘watching’ area for the launch according to the NASA website and everyone we talked to. Boy, Titusville (the town across the river from the island ‘housing’ Cape Canaveral) is DEAD. Like a ghost town! Looked like the whole town was ‘out of business’ – made worse by the fact it was Easter Sunday. We had been told there were two mall parking lots on HWY 1 that they let people park at in the morning (we were told we needed to be in the area by about 3AM!!!) and then you walk to the viewing area of your choice. As we arrived at the now closed Penney’s parking lot, a coach was pulling up to park. Steve (driver of the coach) indicated he had talked to the Chamber of Commerce and been told one could park here overnight for the launch. HMMMMMM. Maybe we should go back, pack up Magic and move over here to the parking lot for the night instead of getting up at 3 and driving over in the car?!?!? OK – LET’S DO IT!! By 5 PM we were back to the parking lot – greeted by Steve – and set up in Magic. We greeted our fellow Tiffin Bus travelers and the rest of the RVers here to see the launch. What a kick – almost like a Jimmy Buffett concert!!

Early arrivers at the JC Penney parking lot.

The launch platform the afternoon before blast off.

What a lovely parking spot.

More sundown arrivals

We tried to get to bed early as we knew it would be a VERY early morning. But – it was opening night for baseball and the Yankees were playing the Red Sox (not a good result):-( Anyway – 4 AM did come early – but we were up and waiting for the countdown – 10 – 9 – 8 – 7 – 6 – 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – BLAST OFF!!!!!