New Orleans

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.

New Orleans is celebrating its 300th anniversary
Jackson Square


Arkansas

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.”

Thorncrown Chapel
Eureka Springs

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

Lake Taneycomo in Branson MO

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.

Natural hot springs
Quapaw Bathhouse,, one of a few still operating as a spa
Beautiful stained glass ceiling in the men’s locker room of the Fordyce Bathhouse
Bathing beauty

 

 

 

Albuquerque

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

Vincent Van Gogh
Smokey the Bear
Mr. Fish

 

Denver / Colorado Springs

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.

Grand Teton National Park

I learned something new while researching the best way to visit Grand Teton National Park, located south of Yellowstone in Wyoming. Jackson Hole is the valley that borders the Teton mountains and encompasses the town of Jackson and Teton Village. I thought that Jackson Hole was a town, so now I know better. We stayed at an RV park in Victor, Idaho, 25 miles west of Jackson, so we had to drive over Teton Pass (climbing from 6,100 to 8,400 feet elevation up and down a 10% grade) to get to it.

In Teton Village we rode an aerial tram that ascended 4,100 feet to the summit of Rendezvous Mountain in 12 minutes.

Jackson is a charming ski town with many shops and galleries. River rafting on the Snake River is popular in the summer.

Elk antler archway leading to Jackson’s town center

The Teton Mountain range is the star in Grand Teton National Park

Our only moose sighting

The Snake River meanders through the park

 

Yellowstone National Park

We had planned on visiting Glacier National Park from Missoula, but two fires in the park caused the closure of the western entrance and a major section of the scenic Going-to-the-Sun highway. The eastern entrance was still open, but it would have taken too much time to get there (we only had one day to see the park), so we decided not to go. Instead, we drove around Missoula and stopped at the Carousel for Missoula, one of a few still remaining with hand-carved horses, and was was built by volunteers in the community.  Other than the carousel and the University of Montana campus, there wasn’t much to see in Missoula, and I can’t believe I’m writing this much about this town.

Carousel for Missoula with hand-carved horses
Scenic Clark Fork river

From Missoula we followed the beautiful Clark Fork river southeast through Montana to our RV park on Lake Hebgen near West Yellowstone. In 1959 and 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit this area which caused a massive landslide that dammed Lake Hebgen and created a new lake called Earthquake Lake.

Lake Hebgen
Earthquake Lake

Yellowstone was America’s first national park established in 1872 and covers almost 3,500 square miles. We only had 2 1/2 days to tour the park, so we had to make the best use of our time in order to see all of the wonders that this park contains within its boundaries.

Yellowstone driving map

The 142-mile road that takes you through the park is in a rough figure eight with five entrance roads leading to it, so we entered the park from West Yellowstone and drove the lower loop on the first 1 1/2 days and the upper loop on the last day.  It takes a long time to tour the park because the speed limit in most of the park is 45 mph, but is 35 and 25 in several areas, and there are numerous turnouts and overlooks that you absolutely must stop at. Also, we encountered several traffic jams where wildlife (buffalo and elk) were within viewing distance and everyone stopped to take photos.

I had been to Yellowstone when I was about 12 or 13 but remembered very little, so it was like seeing it for the first time. I was amazed at the varying topography that we drove through, from grassy plains with a river meandering through it, to geyser basins filled with steaming mineral springs and fumaroles, to canyons carved by rivers and waterfalls to pine-covered plateaus. Yellowstone is also home to elk, grizzly bears, buffalo, wolves, foxes, badgers and river otters.

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

From Seattle we drove east to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The breathtakingly beautiful drive took us over Snoqualmie Pass, through the Cascade mountain range, past several lakes, over the Columbia River at George Gorge and by miles and miles of farmland. I loved that farmers had posted signs indicating what crops were growing in the fields – potatoes, sweet corn, field corn, alfalfa, tater tots, timothy, etc. I wish every farm did this.

Snoqualmie Pass
Columbia River

We spent a day in beautiful Coeur d’Alene on the northern shore of gorgeous Lake Coeur d’Alene. The weather was beautiful and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

Seattle

Donya lived in the Seattle area for many years, so we had dinner with her dear friends Scott & Brenda whom she’d known for 25 years. Their triplets were heading off for their first year of college, so I’m glad that Donya was able to see two of them before they left for school and to spend a fun evening reminiscing with friends.

While we were in Seattle we were also able to get together with my husband’s daughter Joyce, who lives in Gig Harbor part of the year. We met her at the Electric Boat Company and motored around Lake Union for a couple of hours. The weather was gorgeous (for a change) and it was so much fun looking at the myriad of house boats on the lake and catching up with Joyce. Donya brought Monty along as her co-pilot.

Electric boat
Donya with her co-pilot Monty
Sleepless in Seattle house boat

Although I’ve been to Seattle many times, the last time I went up the Space Needle was in 1962 when I was at the Seattle World’s Fair, so Donya and I decided it was high time for me to see it again. The Space Needle had recently undergone a major renovation with glass walls replacing the metal railing and the revolving restaurant was now a revolving glass floor loop. The view from atop the Space Needle was awesome! Really enjoyed the visit.

The RV park that we stayed at was in Everett, so Donya drove me by the Boeing plant located there. I’ve never seen a building so large. The hangar doors were immense! I just wish that I’d had time to take a tour.

Oregon Adventures

Rogue River fun

Our first stop in Oregon was Medford near the Rogue River recreational area. While there we took a jet boat excursion out of Grants Pass. We zoomed up the river 16 miles into Hellgate Canyon where scenes of the movie River Wild were filmed, doing thrilling spins along the way.  We sat in the front row and were somewhat protected by the windshield, but everyone got wet. What a blast!

Crater Lake

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the U.S., and is a vibrant blue. However, smoke from nearby wildfires unfortunately obscured our view of the lake. The scenic drive from Roseburg to Crater Lake along the Umpqua Rogue rivers made up for it though.

Crater Lake as we saw it obscured by smoke from nearby wildfires
Crater Lake on a clear day

Oregon Coast

The Oregon coast has so much to offer – cooler weather, beautiful giant evergreen trees and great beaches. The beach at Cape Lookout was extra special – we let the dogs off the leash and Monty zoomed up and down the beach chasing shore birds and splashing in the surf. Allie tried to keep up with him, but he was just too fast. Lexi did her thing – just sat and watched.

Beach at Cape Lookout

We also went to Cannon Beach, which we really liked. The town is cute and the beach was very wide. The tide was out while we were there, so the dogs romped in the shallow water and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Haystack rock at Cannon Beach
Cannon Beach fun

Tillamook Creamery

Donya and I had discovered and fallen in love with Tillamook ice cream, so we were really excited when we learned that they had a factory that we could tour. We drove to Tillamook and as we approached the factory, we were shocked to see that the huge parking lot was jammed packed with cars. Evidently this is a very popular tourist stop. Upstairs at the visitor’s center we followed signs that explained the cheese making process and watched factory workers below us cutting and packaging blocks of cheese. We tasted several kinds of cheese before going downstairs to the store where we bought packages of smoked and white cheddar. On our way back to the RV park we stopped to buy a carton of salted caramel Tillamook ice cream – delicious!

Tillamook cheese factory
Tillamook Salted Caramel Toffee ice cream – Yum!!!!!!!!

Oregon Wineries

The Willamette Valley near Portland contains hundreds of wineries, producing mainly pinot noirs. We did wine tasting at two vineyards – Erath and Alexana. Alexana is the sister winery of Revana in Napa, which was recommended by Thomas Arvid’s assistant. Although we enjoyed two of the pinots, we didn’t buy any wine.

 

 

Northern California – Bodega Bay, Napa Valley, Oroville

The enormous, devastating Mendocino Complex fire in Northern California caused us to change our plans, so instead of staying in Nice, CA on Clear Lake we went to Vacaville and Oroville near Sacramento. While in Vacaville we visited Bodega Bay and did some wine tasting at a few wineries in Napa Valley.

Bodega Bay is located just north of San Francisco and the tiny town of Bodega is where Alfred Hitchcock filmed some scenes of his scary movie “The Birds”.  While there we went to nearby Dillon Beach where dogs are allowed off the leash.

School house used in the movie “The Birds”

Bodega Bay
Dillon Beach near Bodega Bay

We visited a few wineries in Napa, including Castello di Amorosa where we toured this Medieval castle that took 15 years to build. The owner imported labor and materials from Europe to make it as authentic as possible. We visited the chapel, grand hall and cellars before tasting some of their wines. Donya and I are red wine drinkers, but we so enjoyed the Pinot Blanca that we bought a bottle.

Castello di Amorosa
Grand Hall
Castle entrance
Donya in the torture chamber

We also attended the “Life is a Cabernet” release party at Silver Oak Winery where we met the artist Thomas Arvid.  His amazing paintings look like photographs. Donya owns two of his artist’s proofs, so we were thrilled to be able to meet him in person. Such a nice man!

Donya talking with Thomas Arvid

The release party was to introduce their 2014 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which was quite tasty but didn’t make it home with us.

Fruit of the vine

From Vacaville (Cowtown) we went northeast to Oroville (Goldtown) and stayed at a beautiful, new RV park with the cleanest, nicest showers of any park we’d stayed at, and all sites were concrete pads with grass separating each site. We had grown weary of battling dust and dirt, as most RV parks have gravel or dirt sites, so this was a nice change. The week we spent here was downtime, which gave Donya an opportunity to get lots of work done.

We did drive around Lake Oroville, whose dam made headlines last year when the spillway split open. Water was diverted to the emergency spillway, but it wasn’t designed to handle this much water so the earth around the concrete structure began to erode, threatening to undermine the earthen dam. Fortunately, the rain let up and they were able to lower the lake to a safe level. Both spillways are being repaired and are expected to be ready for the winter rains.

Aerial photo showing the damaged spillway with eroded hillside in Oroville

I guess one cannot visit Oroville without mentioning Mother Orange Tree, the oldest orange tree in California and was the beginnings of the citrus industry.