The Morman Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. I got to hear an organ concert.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Some pictures I didn't get a chance to post...
These are some photos that I couldn't post earlier from Yellowstone.
The Morman Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. I got to hear an organ concert.
The Morman Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. I got to hear an organ concert.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Yellowstone
These are just a few of the pictures from Yellowstone. Around every corner is a world totally different from the next. From beautiful mountains, to steaming pools of mud, to ugly landscapes of burned forrests, to snow!
And then there was snow...
Yellowstone Traffic Jam!!!!
And then there was snow...
Yellowstone Traffic Jam!!!!
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Hail and Fog!!!!
We went through fog in Montana. It was so thick that we could hardly see anything in front of us. We were finally able to pull into this town. Named Sundance. Sound familiar? Yep. The Sundance Kid took his name from the town. How cool. We are really out west!!!!
And then came the hail.
I have never EVER seen or heard hail that big. (Not that I'm an expert.) Charlie and I thought someone was hitting the tip of the rv with a stick! We found out later that the hail totally busted both the vent for the refrigerator and the vent for the air conditioner. Both of them were on the roof. Bob and Terri were able to find shelter under an overpass, along with a bunch of guys on motorcycles!
And then came the hail.
I have never EVER seen or heard hail that big. (Not that I'm an expert.) Charlie and I thought someone was hitting the tip of the rv with a stick! We found out later that the hail totally busted both the vent for the refrigerator and the vent for the air conditioner. Both of them were on the roof. Bob and Terri were able to find shelter under an overpass, along with a bunch of guys on motorcycles!
Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore is one of those things that you see in movies, magazines, or learn about in school. No big deal. But it was. It was remarkable.
Spearfish Canyon, SD
I was finally able to upload some photos to the blog! These photographs are from South Dakota. We went for a beautiful drive into the mountains with Dian and David.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Sucky Internet Access
Well, I guess the blog entry title says it all. The internet access that we have had has been really sketchy. Those of you that are on Facebook may have seen that I've been able to post a few pictures on line, but lots of time it cuts out right in the middle.
It's hard to believe that we've been gone for six weeks. Amazing. Of course we miss our family and friends, but we're having a wonderful time.
The scenery has been remarkeable. Yellowstone goes from being breathtakingly beautiful,to earily ugly. I have heard people say that it is not the prettiest of national parks, but, by far, the most unusual. And I agree. One minute you're looking at beautiful snow covered forests, and the next miles and miles of dead trees. Miles of areas where steam comes from the ground and nothing grows. And mud bubbles up from the ground.
And it keeps snowing! It's the end of May, for goodness sakes! It's time to head further south. We're cold!!!!
I hope to talk to you again soon.
Love, Susan
It's hard to believe that we've been gone for six weeks. Amazing. Of course we miss our family and friends, but we're having a wonderful time.
The scenery has been remarkeable. Yellowstone goes from being breathtakingly beautiful,to earily ugly. I have heard people say that it is not the prettiest of national parks, but, by far, the most unusual. And I agree. One minute you're looking at beautiful snow covered forests, and the next miles and miles of dead trees. Miles of areas where steam comes from the ground and nothing grows. And mud bubbles up from the ground.
And it keeps snowing! It's the end of May, for goodness sakes! It's time to head further south. We're cold!!!!
I hope to talk to you again soon.
Love, Susan
Monday, May 24, 2010
Custer State Park, South Dakota
We were able to see deer and buffalo grazing in the field as we drove the wildlife loop through Custer State Park.
The "Eye of the Needle". An RV wouldn't fit through!
The "Eye of the Needle". An RV wouldn't fit through!
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Ooops...
Johnny Hardrick, Charlie's brother, has pointed out that we are not two hours earlier than those of you on the east coast, but two hours later. I think. Thanks, Johnny. Does that mean I can sleep later or do I have to get up earlier????
Anyway, today we went to The Badlands of South Dakota. The landscape is very extreme. I am having difficulty with my photo program, but will try to put up some pictures tomorrow.
We talked to Mark and Tammy today and they asked if we were ready to kill each other. Nope. Kind of weird, but nope. Not at all. Now, that being said, I hope we don't decide to tomorrow.
The only person who is in danger at all is that woman in the GPS box! We have met some couples who are also traveling and they ALL say that the majority of disagreements they have are over the GPS.
Today, one of our other traveling companions, who shall remain nameless, took the lead as we headed out to The Badlands. As we passed the turn off that I thought we were supposed to take, I called the other car on the two way radio. "Are we going a different way?" I asked. "Don't worry. We have it programmed." was the reply.
Charlie reminded me that the other car had it under control. Well... after going through some very weird turns and down some side streets, we ended up following the GPS directions as it led us right onto a dead end street.
As the lead car backed up and came along side of us, I started to laugh uncontrollably. Again.
Anyway, today we went to The Badlands of South Dakota. The landscape is very extreme. I am having difficulty with my photo program, but will try to put up some pictures tomorrow.
We talked to Mark and Tammy today and they asked if we were ready to kill each other. Nope. Kind of weird, but nope. Not at all. Now, that being said, I hope we don't decide to tomorrow.
The only person who is in danger at all is that woman in the GPS box! We have met some couples who are also traveling and they ALL say that the majority of disagreements they have are over the GPS.
Today, one of our other traveling companions, who shall remain nameless, took the lead as we headed out to The Badlands. As we passed the turn off that I thought we were supposed to take, I called the other car on the two way radio. "Are we going a different way?" I asked. "Don't worry. We have it programmed." was the reply.
Charlie reminded me that the other car had it under control. Well... after going through some very weird turns and down some side streets, we ended up following the GPS directions as it led us right onto a dead end street.
As the lead car backed up and came along side of us, I started to laugh uncontrollably. Again.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Good Morning from South Dakota
Good Morning, Everybody.
We are two hours earlier than Jacksonville, so getting in touch by phone is a little more difficult. Plus, cell service is in and out.
Last night we took a ride through Custer State Park. Wild turkeys, deer, buffalo...just out walking around. It was amazing. Off to Mount Rushmore this morning.
We are at an rv park in Hermosa, SD. (Heartland RV Park). We are planning on staying here until Monday.
The amount of land out here is unbelieveable. It looks so wide open and you wonder why there are not more people living here. I asked yesterday and found out that a lot of the land is privately owned. A couple of families own thousands and thousands of acres.
Anyway. We are about to set out this morning, so I'll try to write more tonight.
Love,
Susan
We are two hours earlier than Jacksonville, so getting in touch by phone is a little more difficult. Plus, cell service is in and out.
Last night we took a ride through Custer State Park. Wild turkeys, deer, buffalo...just out walking around. It was amazing. Off to Mount Rushmore this morning.
We are at an rv park in Hermosa, SD. (Heartland RV Park). We are planning on staying here until Monday.
The amount of land out here is unbelieveable. It looks so wide open and you wonder why there are not more people living here. I asked yesterday and found out that a lot of the land is privately owned. A couple of families own thousands and thousands of acres.
Anyway. We are about to set out this morning, so I'll try to write more tonight.
Love,
Susan
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Tuesday Night. South Dakota
Well, hello, everyone. It’s been really hard to get on the internet the last few days so I’m going to post this in sections, in case I get kicked off.
We are now in South Dakota. Last night we spent the night in Iowa, and the night before in Illinois. In Illinois we stayed in a state park. As we were riding through miles and miles of crops we suddenly realized that we were looking at hundreds and hundreds of wind mills in the distance. GIANT!!! Like Jon and I saw in Germany. They looked like something out of a science fiction movie. I took a picture, but it doesn’t do it justice. The park ranger told us that at last count, there were 240, and every bit of the electricity goes straight to Chicago. They don’t get any of it locally.
When we were talking about it the ranger told us that the windmills have disrupted the flight patterns of many of the birds that used to come to the area. That has to affect the whole ecosystem. You know, I would have thought that windmills wouldn’t impact the environment negatively. But this trip has made me think more and more about how everything we do impacts others, whether it's people or animals. It makes you stop and think.
The park was very rustic but lovely, and certainly all we needed for the night. Sally and Bill, a flock of geese flew over, honking, and we thought of you. Dad, the ranger rattled off a list of fish that were in the lake, and I didn’t even recognize a lot of the names. One of them was called “blue ear”???? Charlie took down his bike, went for a ride, Bob lit a fire, and Terri and I got stuff together for dinner. We were all tired, since we had put in a long day traveling, so we called it an early night. Oh..we also went through a time zone change, so it wasn’t as early as I thought. No wonder I was sleepy. It started to pour during the night, but we were all snug inside by that time.
The next day we left early, in the pouring rain. We hadn’t any hook-up except power so Charlie didn’t have to get too wet and we left. As we were driving out of the park and down the road back to the highway we heard a clunk, but didn’t think too much about it. Charlie has been working on a “clunk” under the RV, and it sounded just like our familiar clunk. BUT… when we stopped about 30 minutes later we realized that the front right storage door had opened up and the sliding door that Charlie had made to hold our extra refrigerator/freezer had slid open and we had lost the refrig/freezer. Oh, well. And, to add insult to injury it was full of beer!!!!
We are now in South Dakota. Last night we spent the night in Iowa, and the night before in Illinois. In Illinois we stayed in a state park. As we were riding through miles and miles of crops we suddenly realized that we were looking at hundreds and hundreds of wind mills in the distance. GIANT!!! Like Jon and I saw in Germany. They looked like something out of a science fiction movie. I took a picture, but it doesn’t do it justice. The park ranger told us that at last count, there were 240, and every bit of the electricity goes straight to Chicago. They don’t get any of it locally.
When we were talking about it the ranger told us that the windmills have disrupted the flight patterns of many of the birds that used to come to the area. That has to affect the whole ecosystem. You know, I would have thought that windmills wouldn’t impact the environment negatively. But this trip has made me think more and more about how everything we do impacts others, whether it's people or animals. It makes you stop and think.
The park was very rustic but lovely, and certainly all we needed for the night. Sally and Bill, a flock of geese flew over, honking, and we thought of you. Dad, the ranger rattled off a list of fish that were in the lake, and I didn’t even recognize a lot of the names. One of them was called “blue ear”???? Charlie took down his bike, went for a ride, Bob lit a fire, and Terri and I got stuff together for dinner. We were all tired, since we had put in a long day traveling, so we called it an early night. Oh..we also went through a time zone change, so it wasn’t as early as I thought. No wonder I was sleepy. It started to pour during the night, but we were all snug inside by that time.
The next day we left early, in the pouring rain. We hadn’t any hook-up except power so Charlie didn’t have to get too wet and we left. As we were driving out of the park and down the road back to the highway we heard a clunk, but didn’t think too much about it. Charlie has been working on a “clunk” under the RV, and it sounded just like our familiar clunk. BUT… when we stopped about 30 minutes later we realized that the front right storage door had opened up and the sliding door that Charlie had made to hold our extra refrigerator/freezer had slid open and we had lost the refrig/freezer. Oh, well. And, to add insult to injury it was full of beer!!!!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Illinois, Iowa Sunday and Monday Nights (Written on Tuesday night)
Part 2 Iowa
What a day of driving. Long. Sad a little about the lost beer (and I really mean the lost fridge).
I was in charge of finding a spot for the night and I set about it. I found a place in the Passport America book that was only $15!!. So I programmed it into the gps.
Well, I didn’t put it into the computer that Charlie was using to drive from, just the little gps. So as we got closer to the destination the two systems were giving us different directions. And I got nervous. And so I closed Charlie’s computer. Uhhhhh. NOT the thing to do.
We totally missed our turn and Charlie almost yelled. And I started to laugh. Really laugh. And the worse it got, the more I laughed. I was laughing so hard that I’m laughing now, just thinking about it. Charlie wasn’t really happy about this. And there was NOWHERE we could turn around. We were on a long two-lane road in between two farms. And I was trying to stop laughing.
After a few miles (and remember we get about 7 miles to the gallon) we were able to turn around. Charlie advised me in a calm voice that I should probably not ever close the computer on him again. I tried to say ok, but I was, by now, laughing uncontrollably, to the point that I was crying. We finally caught up to Bob and Terri and by now we were all laughing (well, most of us) and we continued on our search for the lost rv park.
I plugged the address into the gps again, and off we went. We finally found it. By this time I had been able to calm down. But as we got closer I could see that it was closed. Not just closed-closed., but boarded up, run down, long gone closed.
Forget it. I lost it. I started laughing again and this time even Charlie started to laugh. We decided that we would continue on down the road to find another place to stop for the night. And I was no longer in control of the gps.
Love, Susan
What a day of driving. Long. Sad a little about the lost beer (and I really mean the lost fridge).
I was in charge of finding a spot for the night and I set about it. I found a place in the Passport America book that was only $15!!. So I programmed it into the gps.
Well, I didn’t put it into the computer that Charlie was using to drive from, just the little gps. So as we got closer to the destination the two systems were giving us different directions. And I got nervous. And so I closed Charlie’s computer. Uhhhhh. NOT the thing to do.
We totally missed our turn and Charlie almost yelled. And I started to laugh. Really laugh. And the worse it got, the more I laughed. I was laughing so hard that I’m laughing now, just thinking about it. Charlie wasn’t really happy about this. And there was NOWHERE we could turn around. We were on a long two-lane road in between two farms. And I was trying to stop laughing.
After a few miles (and remember we get about 7 miles to the gallon) we were able to turn around. Charlie advised me in a calm voice that I should probably not ever close the computer on him again. I tried to say ok, but I was, by now, laughing uncontrollably, to the point that I was crying. We finally caught up to Bob and Terri and by now we were all laughing (well, most of us) and we continued on our search for the lost rv park.
I plugged the address into the gps again, and off we went. We finally found it. By this time I had been able to calm down. But as we got closer I could see that it was closed. Not just closed-closed., but boarded up, run down, long gone closed.
Forget it. I lost it. I started laughing again and this time even Charlie started to laugh. We decided that we would continue on down the road to find another place to stop for the night. And I was no longer in control of the gps.
Love, Susan
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Harrisburg, Pa
Beautiful statue in the capital building in Harrisburg
And continuing to eat our way across the U.S....
Ya gotta love it.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
A few words from Charlie...
Susan didn't say anything about the day we bar-be-qued. The wind was only gusting up to 45 mph. The reason I was bar-be-queing on the the sidewalk was because Susan was afraid we were going to burn the house down. While we were cooking, the smoke came billowing up. All of a sudden we heard a fire siren. We all heard it coming and it stopped to turn on to Kim's street. I looked around and everyone had dissapeared. I was the only person on the sidewalk at the grill. Everyone had left me! The truck turned and headed my way. Luckly for me, they didn't stop, they were going to a real fire down the street.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Jersey City, NJ
I got to spend Mother's Day Weekend with Kim. YAY! Kim had been asking me what we'd like to do when we came to Jersey City. Shows? Restaurants? Museums? Nope, we replied. We just want to have a regular weekend visiting our daughter as if she didn't live one subway stop from Manhattan.Soooooo......Friday night we got to watch Kim play softball for her bar team "Lucky 7".(Bar League) This reminded me of t-ball days, except this time beer was included!
Saturday we got to clean her apartment, put together a bar-bue, and change light bulbs. (She warned us this might happen if we told her we wanted to just spend a regular weekend!) Then she had a cook out at her apartment, "Jersey Style"! Charlie couldn't quite get over bar-b-que ing on the front sidewalk!
After dinner
Firday chillin' on the steps
Kim, Charlie, and Me
Spring Grove, Pa.
Wednesday: We arrived at Terri and Bob's home in Spring Grove. The country side was beautiful...rolling hills and farmland. I didn't really expect to see llamas, however, on the road going to their house.
Seriously. Llamas. Grazing.
And goats.
But the goats weren't quite so unexpected.
Charlie and I had a little bit of an issue trying to find the house. That woman on the GPS system kept telling Charlie to go one way. I was trying to tell him to go another way. Now who would YOU listen to? That's right, me. Uhhh...that is Charlie had to listen to me AFTER I turned off the GPS because she wouldn't stop yelling at me. Charlie wasn't very happy with me and suggested that I NOT do that again. Strongly.
Bob finally flagged us down and we arrived safely. Even that woman in the GPS was probably glad.
Thursday:. Terri showed me around Hanover while the guys worked on the RV's. "Hot Weiner" Restaurants seem to be the thing up here. Yep. You heard me. Oh my goodness...
Seriously. Llamas. Grazing.
And goats.
But the goats weren't quite so unexpected.
Charlie and I had a little bit of an issue trying to find the house. That woman on the GPS system kept telling Charlie to go one way. I was trying to tell him to go another way. Now who would YOU listen to? That's right, me. Uhhh...that is Charlie had to listen to me AFTER I turned off the GPS because she wouldn't stop yelling at me. Charlie wasn't very happy with me and suggested that I NOT do that again. Strongly.
Bob finally flagged us down and we arrived safely. Even that woman in the GPS was probably glad.
Thursday:. Terri showed me around Hanover while the guys worked on the RV's. "Hot Weiner" Restaurants seem to be the thing up here. Yep. You heard me. Oh my goodness...
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