Month: October 2018

From Hot Springs, Arkansas we had to go back to Texas in order to get Livy inspected for vehicle registration. The closest point to do that was Texarkana on the Texas-Arkansas border. The inspection only took minutes, but we spent one night at a campground in Texarkana. Our next stop was Lafayette, Louisiana in the heart of Cajun country where we tried boudin and crackling. Boudin – yes, crackling – ok in small amounts.

Then we headed to New Orleans where we met up with my sister Denay who had driven our car out. We are nearing the end the first part of our trip and wanted to have our car, which had been stored in her garage in Austin. It was wonderful seeing Denay again!

We spent a day walking around the French Quarter – I love the iron work on the buildings in this area.

From Albuquerque we drove east to Amarillo for one night and then Oklahoma City for a week, dodging tornadoes and severe thunderstorms along the way. We had been so fortunate with weather until we hit this area!

After Oklahoma City we stayed in Northwest Arkansas for two days so that we could visit Eureka Springs. We attended Sunday services at the beautiful, serene Thorncrown Chapel. This magnificent wooden structure contains 425 windows and over 6,000 square feet of glass. It sits atop over 100 tons of native stone and colored flagstone, making it blend perfectly with its setting. The chapel’s simple design and majestic beauty combine to make it what critics have called “one of the finest religious spaces of modern times.”

Since we were so close to Missouri, we drove to Branson and had lunch at a restaurant situated on Lake Taneycomo.

Our next stop was in Hot Springs, where Donya treated me to a spa day at the Quapaw bathhouse for my birthday. Hot Springs National Park is situated within the city limits, so we drove up to the observation tower, filled water bottles at a public fountain and toured the Fordyce Bathhouse which serves as the Visitor’s Center of the National Park. The bathhouses were used for medicinal purposes and people came from all over to get cures from the healing waters of the hot springs.

 

 

 

In planning our route, we intended to head east after Colorado, but we didn’t want to pass up an opportunity to attend the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, which had been on my bucket list for years, so we changed course and headed south to New Mexico.

Before the two-week Fiesta began, Donya and I went on a hot air balloon ride above the city. Large fans are used to inflate the envelope (balloon) and then propane heaters warm the air, which causes the envelope to rise into an upright position. After the envelope is fully inflated, the gondola (basket) is righted and held to the ground by crew members while passengers climb aboard. The pilot continues to heat the air, and upon his command the ground crew releases the tethers and away we go – up, up and away! The wind dictates which way we go – there is no steering mechanism. The pilot can only control the ascent and descent by releasing heated propane gas into the balloon.

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is held each year during the first two weeks of October and is attended by thousands of people from all over the world. Events include a dawn and evening balloon glow where hundreds of balloons are tethered to the ground while the pilots light up the envelopes by releasing heated propane gas. The main event is a mass ascension of over 500 balloons from the Balloon Fiesta Park. We had to get up very early in order to beat the traffic and get to our parking space before it filled up. We opted to view the balloons from a nearby public park rather than fight the crowds in the Balloon Fiesta Park.

Some of our favorite special shape balloons

 

After leaving Grand Tetons we drove south to Colorado, spent one night in Ft. Collins and then two weeks in Golden, a suburb of Denver. I lived in Denver from 1978 – 1989, so while we were there I visited several friends. Denver has grown so much that I hardly recognized it.

From Denver we continued south to Colorado Springs, home to the Air Force Academy. The Chapel is the most visited man-made structure in Colorado.

Garden of the Gods is a National Natural Landmark in the red rocks area west of Colorado Springs. The sandstone formations are breathtaking.

We spent a relaxing afternoon at the Broadmoor Hotel, known as the Grand Dame of the Rockies and celebrated its 100 birthday this year. A recent hail storm severely damaged the façade and the roofs of the homes surrounding the hotel, thus the reason for the scaffolding. But this didn’t take away from the beauty of this historic hotel.