Day 29 – On the Trail

Today was a 5 hour drive from Salt Lake City to Jackson, WY, via Idaho. We stopped in Idaho Falls to tour their Potato Museum which features the world’s largest potato (not a real potato). It cost $2.50 to get in and they give you a box of home fries when you leave. What a bargain!

We finally caught up with fall as we drove along the Snake River in eastern Idaho. For me, that was the most colorful part of the trip so far. The aspen had turned a bright yellow which complemented the golden wheat fields, brown dirt of the potato fields, and the dark green pine trees on the mountains. Very, very beautiful.

To top the night, we went on the Bar T-5 covered wagon ride in Jackson (see picture). The ride includes lots of cowboys, an attack by Indians, dinner and a cowboy band after dinner. I know it sounds pretty hokey, but it was a lot of fun and the baked beans were unbeatable. Must be cooking them outdoors that makes them so good.

Day 28 – Salt Everywhere

We made the drive from Winnemucca, NV, to Salt Lake City, UT, in about 5.5 hours, crossing back into the Mountain Time Zone. There was a little more to see today as we drove through the Bonneville Salt Flats and also stopped to see the Great Salt Lake up close. The drive through the salt flats looks like a winter drive, with white on both sides of the road for as far as you can see.

Salt Lake City is not a big city with only a population of 180,000, but it is still one of the largest in the southwest. As everyone knows, it is also the center of the Mormon religion and so we took a tour of the Temple (see picture). The 30-minute tour was nicely done and they had toned down the hard sell from when I took it years ago. The acoustic demonstration in the Tabernacle is the highlight and still very impressive. They speak without a microphone and then drop 3 pins, which you can clearly hear halfway across the auditorium.

Day 27 – Wide Open Spaces

Today was a pretty boring 7-hour drive from San Jose to Winnemucca, NV. From Reno on, there was nothing to see except miles and miles of desert (see photo). Probably more of the same tomorrow until we get to Salt Lake.

As there is no sightseeing to talk about, here are some random topics:

Weather. We have been extremely fortunate with weather. With the exception of an overnight rain in Kansas City, we have seen nothing but great weather. It has mostly been around 90 degrees, except for higher elevations where it was a little cooler. We have had many days where there were no clouds to speak of. We are a little concerned about the weather in Yellowstone as there can be snow in October, but even that looks good. All things considered, the weather really couldn’t be any better.

Best Deal. Without a doubt, it is the National Park Service Senior Pass. You can get a lifetime card at 62 and it gives you and three others free admission to the parks. It has saved us over $100 so far and probably will save double that by the time we are done.

Did we really go coast to coast? Our answer is yes, but we include our vacation in Ocean City, MD. We were in the Atlantic in late August and we put our feet in the Pacific near San Francisco on Saturday.

Day 21 – Zion National Park

You can only tour Zion via bus and we signed up the night before for a 2 hour ranger-led tour bus which was pretty cool. They took us to a couple of stops that the normal bus doesn’t go to so we got to see some things that most people don’t. The ranger talk on geology was very interesting. As she explained it, the Colorado plateau, which covers parts of 4 states, is made up of many different types of strata with Bryce Canyon being the highest group, Zion being the middle and the Grand Canyon being the lowest. That kind of explains why each one is so different. Zion is essentially a narrow canyon surrounded completely by huge rocks which reach up to the sky. It is hard to estimate but they seem to go up a half mile or so in places. After the tour we went to the visitor center and then hiked the Lower Emerald Pool Trail where the photo was taken.

Our hotel last night but it was pretty funky. It was the Pioneer Lodge in Springdale and the motif was logs, including the wall, table, coat rack, etc. I think you can get the picture.

We drove 3 hours to Las Vegas and have a very another nice upgraded room at the Las Vegas Hilton. However, because we are required to follow the motto “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” this will be the last report until next Tuesday after we leave Bill and Margaret’s and start the trip back to the east coast.

Day 20 – Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon was amazing and in its own way, very comparable to the Grand Canyon. It has unique features such as “hoodoos” (seen in the picture taken at Inspiration Point). Hoodoos are the tall, thin spires of rock that are sort of in the shape of a totem pole. There are thousands of them in the canyon. They were formed when Bryce Canyon was once part of an inland sea.

We went to all the lookouts in the park and did quite a bit of hiking. We scrapped our planned hike of the Queen’s Garden trail and replaced it with a flatter hike on the Bristlecone trail. Too much up and down at the other parks so we gave our knees a break.

We then drove 2 hours to Springdale, UT, which took us through part of Zion National Park. We will see the rest tomorrow.

Saw a herd of prong-horn deer in Bryce Canyon. Also saw our first elk (in my burger tonight). Washed it down with Bumbleberry pie. Yummy.

Day 19.5 – HALFWAY REPORT

As hard as it is to believe, we are 4,000 miles down the road and exactly halfway through the trip. So far, almost everything has gone according to plan. We have had some nice surprises such as upgraded hotel rooms and unexpected great meals. We have visited with family and seen some of the amazing sights in America along the way. We enjoy the big sights and also the small ones such as seeing sorghum crops and the sky at night. We have enjoyed the flavors of America – barbecue in Kansas City, green chilies and frybread in Albuquerque. We both are amazed about how great and beautiful this country is and we are looking forward to seeing more in the next half.

Day 19 – Arches National Park

Arches National Park was a real surprise. It was the most visually beautiful of the parks we have seen so far. Each time you turned a corner, there was always something else spectacular to see. It wasn’t just arches, but also other formations such as fins or rocks with names such Sheep Rock, Organ Rock and Balance Rock. We did some hiking to see some of the arch formations up close and it was well worth the trip.

After Arches, we made a quick stop at an almost unmarked site of dinosaur footprints, probably a camasauros and a three-toed allosarous. Very cool.

We had a long drive – 5.5 hours – to reach our next stop at Bryce Canyon. Along the way we saw something that is all too common in the West these days and that is a wildfire. This one was started by lightning and had been burning for two months already. It had closed I-70 the day before, but today we just saw heavy smoke covering about 30 or 40 miles of the road.

Day 18 – Mesa Verde National Park

Today was the first of 4 straight days of National Park visits for us. We started our visit to Mesa Verde with a ranger led tour of Cliff Palace (see picture). Cliff Palace is one of about 4 or 5 major cliff dwellings in the park and is the largest site in North America with about 150 rooms. The cliff dwellings were built around 1200 but only used for about 75 years and then abandoned. No one knows why it was abandoned or where the people went.

Cliff Palace wasn’t all that easy to get to, but it is an amazing experience. You have to climb down 100 steps to get there and then back up using a mixture of steps and ladders. I know that doesn’t sound all that hard, but try it at 7,000 feet. You get very winded by the time you hit the top.

We then drove the park loop, toured the visitor center, had lunch and drove 2 hours to Moab, UT. By the way, we are listening to a Nevada Barr book on tape that is centered on a murder in Mesa Verde, so we are getting a detailed look at the park even as we drive.

Day 17 – Cornered

The drive from Albuquerque, NM, to Cortez, CO, took us about six and a half hours. Cortez is close to Mesa Verde, which we will see tomorrow. We followed the path of Old Route 66 to Gallup, NM. Route 66 is pretty much gone now, replaced by Interstate highways, but at one time it was the main route across the U.S. From what we saw today, it was just a two lane highway in many places so you can imagine how long that trip would have taken.

From Gallup we swung north through Navaho country to Shiprock, NM. The land around Shiprock is interesting, with huge rock structures that are visible for many miles. Shiprock, in case you don’t know, is named after a rock that resembles a sailing ship. We stopped to have lunch at a KFC in Shiprock and ordered mutton stew and Navaho frybread. Try getting that at any other KFC in the world!

From Shiprock it is a short drive to Four Corners, where as you can see in the picture, you can stand with an appendage in each of four states – New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah.

Day 16 – Are You Green or Red?

Today was a light touring day. In the morning we took the Sandia Peak Tramway to the top of the Sandia mountain overlooking Albuquerque. They claim to be the world’s longest aerial tramway and it is 15 minute ride, but we think there must surely be some longer ones in Europe. In Spanish, sandía means watermelon and the Spanish named the mountain that as it has a pink glow at dusk. We looked tonight and it really did.

The peak is 10,348 feet and it rises to a great height over Albuquerque. The views of the city were spectacular. You can see more than 100 miles in the distance.

After that we went to the Old Town which dates back to 1706 and we had lunch in a building that dates back to that period. Of course the big question here is which is better – red or green chilies. It is almost a religious debate. We had tried green a couple of times earlier and today we tried red. In the picture you see sopapillas in the foreground and a Navaho frybread taco with red sauce. My vote is for the green and Jeanne liked them too, but they were just a little too hot for her. By the way, the sopapillas were excellent with honey. You just can’t seem to get good ones outside of Texas or New Mexico.

Day 15 – State Fair Update

We arrived at the state fair around 6 and it was still hot but there was enough shade that it wasn’t a problem. The Frito pie looked a little heavy, so we opted for some Navaho fry bread instead. It is flat deep fried bread that you put powdered sugar, cinnamon or honey on top. Quite good.

The fair has acres of amusement rides and booths selling items of all sorts. Looked at a new cowboy hat, but it was $45 so I bought a t-shirt instead. The rodeo was much better than we expected and it was definitely a cowboy crowd. We had seen a rodeo before in NJ, but this was real professionals. Kind of like the difference between a high school game and a pro game. They had all the events – bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping (that was amazing), bull riding (see picture), etc. The rodeo clown was hysterical. Two jokes that I remember - he said he expected Dallas would go 11 and 5; 11 arrests with 5 convictions. He also said one steer wrestler was so big that they had to feed him hay. That killed with the ranchers. The Mark Chesnutt concert afterwards was rockin’, but his new music isn’t as good as his older stuff. Not that I’m that familiar with his older stuff, but I did make a CD which we listened to on the trip.

Day 15 – State Fair Tonight!!!

We left our Hilton (pictured, best room so far) and made the short drive down from Santa Fe to Albuquerque in about an hour and a half. First stop today was at the Albuquerque Balloon Museum. ABQ is home to a gigantic hot air balloon festival in about 2 weeks and we couldn’t work it in to our schedule so the museum was the next best opportunity. The museum was a hit with interesting exhibits including a simulator of balloon flying. I was decent, only missing my target slightly both times. It was tricky as you have to steer using air currents at different altitudes.

We are both big fans of “In Plain Sight”, so we then drove by their headquarters as seen on TV. In person, it isn’t very impressive.

I’m publishing this early as we are headed out to the New Mexico State Fair. The temperature in ABQ is 91 so we are going to wait until around 5 pm to go. We are looking forward to the foods at the fair. Jeanne wants to try the Frito Pie if they have it. We also have tickets for the rodeo tonight and the Mark Chesnutt concert following. Mark Chesnutt is a country singer probably best known for “Bubba Shot The Jukebox,” so that will give you some idea of what type of night it will be.

Day 14 – Georgia was a No-Show

We started the day with a breakfast in a hippie (or maybe artist?) coffee shop in Taos, followed by a quick look at Kit Carson’s home and the San Francisco de Asis church made famous in Georgia O’Keeffe paintings. Speaking of Georgia, she was our first major disappointment on the trip as her museum in Santa Fe was closed for remodeling without any advance notice that we saw.

The drive to Santa Fe was about an hour and a half going through typical New Mexico scenery – flat, covered with scrub brush, many small mesas and the Sangre de Cristo mountains as a background. All in all it was a very scenic drive. After the Georgia no-show, we went into the center of Santa Fe to see the cathedral (see photo) and their town plaza. Santa Fe is small with only 75,000 people and old, being founded in 1606. The buildings all seem to be designed in Pueblo style, as is our Hilton hotel. The Hilton is a little outside of town but has a casino and we have a suite that is very spacious.

We are getting used to altitude now, so the 3 day estimate was accurate. The hotel in Taos Ski Valley was at 9,500 feet and Santa Fe is above 7,000 feet.

Day 13 – Dinner with Julia?

Today it was a 5 hour drive down to Taos, NM, from Colorado Springs. It was the first time either one of us has been in New Mexico. On the way, we stopped at Philmont Ranch, which is owned by the Boy Scouts. Bill went there when he was in the Scouts about 20 years ago. In Taos, we toured the Taos Pueblo, which is the adobe Indian village pictured here. It is more than 1000 years old, which is amazing to think about. After that we toured the Hacienda de los Martinez, which is the main house of a ranch built in the time that Spain ruled this part of the United States.

Taos is a tourist town with many art galleries but it also has a few famous residents and we tried to meet one of them by dining at The Old Blinking Light restaurant tonight. It is basically a local’s bar/restaurant, but it is supposed to be a favorite of Julia Roberts. No luck tonight, but we asked and they said she was just in last week. Our consolation, however, was a fabulous meal of Chili Rellenos coated with Panko breadcrumbs and a bowl of Green Chili Chicken Stew. Everything was so good we didn’t even miss Julia.

Day 12 – High in Colorado

Being high in Colorado can be a problem. Colorado Springs is in the high plains region and the town is above 6000 feet. Meg’s house is even a little higher than that. At that altitude you get winded just climbing a single flight of stairs as I can attest. I even had trouble sleeping the first night and I would wake up short of breath. From what we hear, it can take up to 3 days to get accustomed to the high altitude and things were better the second night.

Colorado Springs wasn’t high enough for us so this morning we drove to the top of Pikes Peak. The sign at the top lists the altitude at 14,110 feet. That tops the 11,388 feet I was at in the Alps. It is a challenging drive as there are no guard rails and you are looking out into space frequently. Needless to say I was watching the road all the time. The other scary part is coming down and you to use a low gear and conserve your brakes so they don’t fail. They even have a mandatory checkpoint on the way down where they measure your brake temperature and you have to stop if it is too high.

After Pikes Peak, we headed to the USOC training center for a tour. It is one of about 3 centers in the U.S., but the Olympic athletes who rely on endurance all train there. Many sports require mandatory training there after you qualify for the Olympics, such as swimming and men’s gymnastics to name a few.

We both had a great time with Meg and Rick, but especially with their kids.

Day 11 – Rolling into Colorado Springs

The drive today was about 3 hours and through the flattest land we have seen so far. Eastern Colorado is mostly prairie lands with some livestock. We did see antelope and bison on the way. The bison seemed to be on a farm but I'm not sure about the antelope. One cool thing is that you can see Pike’s Peak shortly after you get into Colorado. We started seeing it from at least 80 miles away.

We did some touring in Colorado Springs before we went to Rick and Meg’s. The Garden of the Gods was our first stop. There are some really unusual rock formations, as you can see in the photo. There are also some great walking trails and we walked some, but not too much as it was in the 90’s and at very high altitude. We then drove to the Air Force Academy. The campus is huge and in a very beautiful setting in the foothills of the mountains. We visited the chapel, which is the highlight of the campus with its futuristic design. It reminds me of a spaceship, if it were designed in the 50’s.

Day 10 - The Ball of Twine

We travelled 7.5 hours today and we are still in Kansas and unfortunately, the trip was a little boring in parts. Thank goodness for books on tape. We did see some things you can’t see back east - vast grasslands which extend as far as the eye can see around a perfectly straight highway; huge amber fields of grain which we later identified as sorghum; and of course, the largest ball of twine in the world. We stopped in Cawker City to see the ball and we arrived just before a crew was coming to film a commercial. That was lucky for us because they let us each add a wrap of twine to the ball so now we are part of history. Impressed?

Kansas isn’t as quite as flat as we had heard, at least in the eastern half. However in Colby, where we are tonight, it is perfectly flat and very, very rural. We are surrounded by fields of corn, sorghum and sunflower but not much else. We got to see a range of Kansas weather from a powerful lightning storm last night to a completely clear night tonight. The air is extremely clear out here, hence we had an amazing sunset. Tomorrow we head into Colorado to visit Meg and family.

Day 9 - KC Barbeque

We made the four hour drive from St. Louis to Independence, MO, and stopped to take a tour of the Harry Truman house. That turned out to be a pretty interesting stop. As it turns out, the house was really Bess Truman’s family home and Harry just married into the family. His mother-in-law lived with them for many years and she never approved of Harry, even after he became president. Bess’s family had money, she was their only daughter and Harry came from a poor background and he was never very successful in business. He was the only president in the 20th century not to attend college, but never the less he was successful at politics and was president for almost 8 years. The house was built in the late 19th century and had some great woodwork detail inside. You will have to take my word as photos are not permitted.

After Independence, we did a driving tour of Kansas City – Arrowhead Stadium, Kauffman Field (home of the Royals), the downtown area and even Tom and Sara’s old house. The highlight of the tour, however, was dinner at Oklahoma Joe’s Barbeque. We have heard about this place for years. It is a simple restaurant inside a gas station and we waited in line for almost an hour, but it was well worth it. That was the best barbeque I have ever had. The meat was tender with a great smoky flavor and just the right amount of sweetness and tartness in the sauce. The beans were absolutely great also - mixed types of beans with pork and a smoky/spicy flavor. Simply amazing food!

Day 8 – Oh Black Water, Keep on Rolling…

We started the day by locating the world’s largest catsup bottle, which was near our hotel in Collinsville, IL. Believe it or not, our hotel room is decorated with paintings and photos related to the catsup bottle and the associated plant.

Today was our big touring day and the weather was overcast, but we did not get the monsoon rains predicted. In fact, we didn’t get any rain to speak of. We drove into town and parked on the levee, right below the arch. Literally on the levee. The levee was built in the mid-1800’s by workers who were paid one penny for each cobblestone block they placed in the embankment. They earned about $2 per week, after meals were deducted.

We took the ride to the top of the arch first. It is a bit cramped and claustrophobic and takes about 4 minutes to get to the top, but you get a great view. We were the only ones in our car so no one could see the fear in my eyes or hear me whimper. I’m not big on heights.

We then toured the Gateway to Western Expansion museum which is run by the Park Service. It features the story of Lewis and Clark’s expedition west. St. Louis was the starting point for many such excursions west and hence St. Louis is nicknamed the Gateway City. I believe that if you took the Santa Fe, Mormon or Oregon trails you probably passed through St. Louis to get on the trail.

After the arch, we took a one-hour paddlewheel ride on the Mississippi River. Our boat was the Becky Thatcher, in deference to Mark Twain. I know the Doobie Brothers call the Mississippi “black water” but I have to tell you it is much more of a dirty brown. I suppose that doesn’t rhyme as well.

After the boat ride, we had a concrete at Ted Drewes, which was a famous stop on Route 66 back in the day. A concrete is frozen custard that is so thick that you can turn it upside down, which they demonstrated for me. I tried the Terramizzou (chocolate and pistachio nuts) because I like the play on the name. It was very good but we both agreed that next time we are getting the small size.

To finish the day, we toured the St. Louis Art Museum. It is a very nice museum and best of all it is free. They have an unusually large collection of German works but also some good Impressionist and modern paintings, which we like. Our main impression of the museum was that all their art was very well displayed.

Day 7 - The Spirit of St. Louis

We made the six hour drive to St. Louis this morning, arriving around 3 in the afternoon. Of course the first thing you see coming into town is the Gateway Arch. It is visible from at least 10 miles out and is the dominating feature of the city skyline. As we learned later, the land was commissioned by FDR as a National Park and the arch was finally completed in 1965.

So what is the true spirit of St. Louis? That should be obvious. It is Budweiser, of course, and that was our first stop. We took the tour of the Anheuser-Busch brewing plant in St. Louis. It was their first plant and remains a major brewery with 15 different kind of beer brewed there today. It is also home to the Clydesdales stable, which is the first stop on the tour. After the tour, we visited the hospitality room to sample some of the products. We only tried specialty beers and the Wild Blue (based on blueberries) and the Pumpkin Spice beers were really not very good, but we liked the Shock Top Belgian White.

We then took a driving tour of the city and saw most the key spots: Busch Stadium, the old Courthouse (famous for the Dred Scott decision), the City Museum, Saint Louis University, the St. Louis Cathedral and Forest Park. Forest Park was home of the 1904 World’s Fair and today a huge city park and home to the zoo, the art museum and the a lot of open space. The only disappointment was the barbeque for dinner. I had found a recommendation from a guide book that turned out to be in a not-so-good neighborhood and the ribs were tough, which is a no-no for me.

Day 4 - The Big Golf Tournament

Steve flew in for the weekend for a visit and he, Rich and I played golf on Sunday. It is a family tradition now and we have had a mini-tournament for four years now. Can you guess who won this year? The picture you see is that of Steve (the self-proclaimed "Champ") kissing the trophy. You can't see Rich and me looking sad just outside the picture. Of course the Champ gets what he wants and I had to load the Champs bag in the car when I took him to the airport.

Days 3 to 6 - Sittin' on the Dock of The Lake?

We spend a few days with Jeanne’s mom in Mt. Juliet, which is just outside Nashville. She lives on Old Hickory Lake right next to Rich, Jeanne's brother, and his family. Rich and I worked on Gran’s dock for a couple of days and finally got it pretty will finished. The old dock needed replacing and this has been an on-going project for us for a couple of years now. We attached the last of the new floats, put it into the water, and put the decking on the walkway. All in all, it looks pretty good now.

Day 2 - Making It Big In Nashville

The second day of travel was pretty much the same as the first. We travelled another 400 or so miles in about seven hours. As we have done the route from Christiansburg, VA, to Nashville, TN, many times we didn’t have any sightseeing planned, but that didn’t stop us from discovering a few interesting things. When we stopped for lunch, we just happened to find a Russell Stover candy outlet right across from where we ate. OK, technically we stopped for the candy outlet and then had lunch after but that makes it sound like we are candy hounds. OK, so technically we are. So what?

We did buy a 3 lb. box of “bloopers” at the outlet for Jeanne’s mom (along with some other items for the trip) and they enticed me to join their frequent purchase rewards club by offering me a free box of candy and a handy tote bag. I can be bought very cheaply.

As you can see from the picture, music is very big in Tennessee. That has to be the World’s Largest Guitar. It is located in Bristol, TN, just as you cross the state line from Virginia. I believe it used to be a music store, but it looks like it is in a little bit of disrepair today.

Day 1 – Hanging with the Hokies

After a year of planning, we were off this morning around 9am for our cross country trip. Today’s segment was from home to Christiansburg, VA. So why Christiansburg? The answer is simple. It is halfway from home to Nashville. We have made this trip a dozen times or more in the past and have stayed in Christiansburg a few times. This time, however, things were totally different. We haven’t driven to Tennessee in about 20 years and everything has changed since then. There is a new Hampton Inn at a different exit. I have to say it is a definite improvement. This is a nice hotel with good workout center and pool, which we took advantage of.

In terms of sightseeing, we didn’t have anything on the list as we have been here so frequently. Driving down I-81, you of course get a great view of the Blue Ridge mountains, which were exceptionally blue today. There was a little bit of haze in the air and on a bright sunny day it makes the mountains even bluer than normal.

For dinner, we found a listing for a Greek restaurant in Blacksburg which was about 10 minutes away. The food was very good and best of all it was right by Virginia Tech’s (nicknamed the Hokies) campus. After dinner we walked around the campus and were amazed by the size (30,000 students) and beauty of the campus. There is a large central open space called Drill Field which is surrounded by stone classroom buildings which seem both old and new at the same time.