Arf-V-ing Around the Country

2008-04-22T21:23:00.001-07:00

April 15, 2008, part 2

2008-04-17T21:05:00.000-07:00

There are no pictures from December 30th at all,
not one....

We started the day early, 6 am. Rise and shine!
Naomi and Ross! Your cab is downstairs!

And off they went to Oahu and a vist with Ross'
family. I heard later mostly about Daisy, his
grandma, who is in her mid to late 80's, about
4'8", Japanese, and who kept offering them ham
sandwiches! Wish I could have met her!

Courtney, Zach and I walked across the street at
about 9am - we were getting some breakfast stuff,
and also picked up some champagne and orange
juice for mimosas.....

At about 10, we were getting the breakfast ready,
I was looking online in the dining room, and all
of a sudden there was a huge pop and an even
bigger scream from the kitchen... aaaaaahhhhh!
Zach is going aaahhhh and Courtney is going oh my
god and I ran in there and apparently Zach turned
the wire on the champagne bottle one twist and
the cork popped out right into his eyeball...get
ice....I'm bleeding....get a towel....call the
cab back....wheres the hospital.....wheres the
emergency room......always point the bottle away
from yourself!!!....aaahhhhhh!

The front of my shirt became a wet mass with
Zach's head pressed against it, as the ice
melted......Sarah said I looked like I was
lactating (gee thanks!) Courtney was on the
phone with her Dad, a doctor, and her Mom, a
nurse, as we sped away in the taxi to the
emergency room, about 20 minutes away...

After many hours in the emergency room, it was
determined that Zach did not lose his eyeball,
that his sight had improved immensely, and that
he should have further testing when he got
home...please pay $200 as you pass the door, even
though you have insurance...

What a crazy, scary day!!

And we had luau tickets for 4:45 pm.... needless
to say we did not have time to change our
clothes! The "official" luau picture had Sarah
and I with stains all over ourselves and Zach
looked a bit like a zombie....

We were all so relieved that we did enjoy the
show yet again...although Zach had a huge
headache, and kept saying he would never drink
champagne again!

So here are some luau pictures from the first
luau you havent seen yet - and some more photos
of Allie in her luau outfit!

More tomorrow! A better day in Hawaii for sure!

Love, Mindy

April 15, 2008

2008-04-17T21:04:00.000-07:00

The 28th of December arrived, warm and sunny.
While we did not have the "perfect" weather in
Hawaii, meaning it was often really windy and
cloudy - we did not get poured on, and we were
warm enough to wear shorts and t-shirts....

We hung out on the beach in front of our condo
for a while, watched the surfers, read some books
and magazines, and decided that after dinner that
night would be the only time we could exchange
our gifts, because it would be one of the few
times we would all be together.

After a few phone calls to Zach and Courtney,
still en-route, we decided that on the 29th we
would split up into the guys and the gals....the
guys wanted to get in a round of golf at the Kona
Country Club, ocean side course. And the gals,
well we decided that since we were going on the
sunset/dinner cruise that (next)night, a day at
the "spa" would be about perfect (-:

Oh, and since we had already returned the first
rental car, and were relying on taxis, we had to
arrange transportation for Courtney and Zach from
the airport to the condo. We thought it might be
appropriate for them to get a lei greeting upon
their exit from the plane.....used to be in the
old days the lei greeting was a standard
event...not any longer - you have to call and
reserve lei's and a greeter. You have to agonize
over the choice of flowers in the lei, and then
they want your credit card number.

Once the critical flower decision had been made,
Naomi, Sarah and I went to the spa to look at
their "menu", and after several more phone calls
to Courtney, were able to reserve our time-slots
and choices for the next day. Conveniently, there
was a nail salon right across the way - so while
two of us were getting a massage, two of us could
have a pedicure....

I can hear you all groaning now.....I know this
was a very bourgeois outing we had planned - but
how many of you thought that about the guys
playing golf, hmmm? Ocean-side course? Kona
Country Club? I rest my case. We were all going
to have one of those days that you have great
memories of, but kind of wonder if you had lost
your mind (especially after the bill comes).

Zach and Courtney finally arrived, and we had an
awesome dinner together. After a few Mai-Tai's we
all opened presents, and then hung out, played
some games and watched movies.

Tee-time for the guys was somewhere close to 9am,
so we were all up relatively early, and had
reserved a couple of taxi's the night before to
come and get us. Ross had never been golfing
before, so he was a wee bit nervous about going
with Ken and Zach, who both (formerly) had
handicaps of 7-10......He offered to take the
requisite family photos at the golf course with
his disposable camera, but he ended up taking
Naomi's point and shoot digital. See ya later
guys!

We gals met our cab and decided that a)we needed
some real coffee and b)we should look for some
appropriate attire for the dinner cruise, and
what better place than Hilo Hattie's - a virtual
Hawaiian treasure trove of apparel

Here are some photos of our little shopping
excursion for dresses and hats...I should tell
you that all the guys got an Hawaiian shirt as a
present!

We went to our spa/nail appts (Naomi and Courtney
both said that if you ever have the chance you
should get a hot stone massage). The nail salon
owner was a very sweet young woman from Vietnam,
she let us change in her waxing room once we were
all salon-ed-up!

Then we set out on the street in our new finery,
walking to the pier to meet the guys before the
sunset cruise.

As we were walking, and being stared at (-; (it
was the hats)....a cab drove by us headed the
same way we were going - it started honking and
the people in it were waving....turns out it was
our guys. They told us later that someone in the
cab (no one admitted who) said "hey look at those
girls, all dressed up with the funny hats!" Then
another one of them said, "hey those are our
dates!" The driver was having a lot of fun; it
was the same driver who had dropped the gals off
at Hilo Hatties! And then the salon!

The sunset cruise was fun - there was no real sun
to speak of - but we had dinner, drinks, a show,
and laughing and dancing....

So there are pics here of that too...please note
that Ross was the only one of us who did not wear
his Aloha outfit...

And, there are no pictures of the golf outing,
because somehow the point and shoot camera turned
up missing.....

More later! Hope I am not boring you....

Love, Mindy

April 14, 2008, part 2

2008-04-17T21:03:00.000-07:00

While we waited for Ken to arrive on the 26th, we
checked out the local Farmers Market for produce,
and looked for a fresh fish market! Dining was a
great experience on this trip for me, because all
of my (egads, grown) kids, and their respective
friends, can now all make something wonderful to
eat and drink! And we had a beautiful kitchen to
work in...all we needed were the ingredients!

Mai Tai's were also on the agenda, and there was
a small convenience store across the street with
everything necessary for those. We also
discovered that our end unit condo was right next
to the locals surfer beach...it was very nice to
see people other than tourists...and the surfers
were fun to watch at sunrise from the balcony.

With 11 of the 14 known climate zones in the
world - from desert lavascapes to tropical rain
forests to beaches to snow on the peaks of 13,000
foot volcanoes, the Big Island of Hawaii has
something for everyone..

Before the actual trip, I was forced to promise
that I was not going to make any agendas for
anyone other than myself - hehe - so I didnt.
That was very difficult! I like having some idea
of what I am going to do! What I did do though,
was find different activities that were available
and send out a list so everyone could think about
what they might want to do...but reservations? Oh
no....and look how well I did, I forgot to get a
car!

So the list looked a little like this:

-lie on beach
-eat good food
-Volcanoes National Park - drive, hike,
helicopter
-Mauna Kea - drive up to observatories, or take a
tour, see the sunset there
-lie on beach
-go horsebackriding in Waipi"o Valley
-go to a luau
-lie on beach
-eat good food
-parasailing
-Black Sand Beach - also known as Turtle Beach
-find good coffee
-find macadamia nuts
-lie on beach
-rent scooters
-go golfing
-go to a spa
-dinner/sunset cruise
-lie on beach

Interestingly enough Courtney, Zach and Naomi Munichiello and
Ross had all indicated that they wanted to go to
a luau - I say interesting because Ross grew up
there and I didnt think he would want to do
anything that touristy; and they all wanted to go
to either Mauna Kea or to Volcanoes National
Park, but not both. Sarah was interested in
hiking and getting to the top of Mauna Kea. Once
we were unpacked, Sarah found us a luau that was
close enough to get a cab to, and we made
reservations for the 27th, the night Courtney and
Zach were to arrive.

On the morning of the 27th, we got a call from
Zach. They had gotten totally delayed on the
roads, due to snow and ice, and missed their
plane. So - they were not going to get in to Kona
until the 28th....we couldnt find another luau to
go to on a night when all 7 of us would be there
(only the 28th and 29th) so the 5 of us kept our
tickets for the luau on the 27th, and then Sarah,
Ken and I went to the exact same luau again on
the 30th with Courtney and Zach!

So much for making plans!

We did have a lot of fun. The day of the 1st luau
we drove to Black Sands beach and hung out with
the turtles there.

Located off of Highway 11 near the 56 mile
marker, about 20 minutes driving time from Hawaii
Volcanoes National Park, you'll come to a turnoff
for Punalu'u Black Sand Beach.

This is the most easily accessible black sand
beach on the island. It is also a home to many
(hundreds! it seems) endangered green sea
turtles. There is an excellent chance that you
will find one lying in the sun on the beach.

There is great swimming and snorkeling, although
not on the days we were there! It was really
windy and the sea was rough. In fact, Ross was
the only one of us who actually jumped all the
way in! The black sand is really interesting - it
is volcanic rock, all ground up, and when the sun
is beating down on it, it is so hot you cant walk
barefoot!

So here are some fun pictures of the turtles and
us on the beach!

Then we went to the luau! Hosted on the
historical grounds of King Kamehameha's Kona
Beach Hotel, this was billed as a 'feast fit for
a king'. In times past, it was restricted to the
indigenous Hawaiian population as it was the
actual grounds for the king's residence, thus
sacred ground.

With an open bar as the backdrop, you watch as
the "Royal Court of King Kamehameha I" arrives by
canoe, his arrival greeted by a Court Conch
Herald and a Court Chanter. The kalua pig, which
has been roasting under the banana leaves all day
now comes out to join the buffet feast.

Table after table of tourists go up to the well
stocked buffet which in addition to the pig has
poke, mahi-mahi, banana bread, coconut and guava
cake, chicken adobo, chicken long rice, haupia,
kulolo, lau lau, and the required poi, among many
other things.

While you are eating, the show goes on. There are
traditional costumes and dances from all of the
islands, singing, drumming, fire throwers and
fire dances.

Yes, it is touristy, and a bit hokey (at one
point the Hawaiian guy sitting next to me said
'they're trying to get everyone to yell out the
word for chair" when they told us we were
greeting some Hawaiian spirit!") - but it was
still fun! Naomi Munichiello even had fun!!

So here are also some of the luau photos! There
will be more, because we went twice!

More soon, Love, Mindy

April 14, 2008

2008-04-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

I am back again! Annoying all of you with my
travel tales....(-:

We parked the RV for the weeks leading up to the
25th of December in a parking lot/RV park that
was attached to an Econo Lodge in Ashland. It was
convenient, right next to the Interstate exit. A
very useful thing if you are doing any Holiday
shopping at the last minute...

Our plans were to find a place to store/park the
RV, and both dogs (Allie and Frankie, Naomi's
dog) while we all met up in Hawaii. Sarah was in
San Francisco for her conference and then had
some vacation time, so she was going to fly to
Kona on the Big Island on the 24th. I was going
to fly from Medford, OR, and meet her that same
day.

Naomi and then boyfriend Ross were going to work
on the 24th til 9 pm, then drive 5 hours north to
Portland, OR to catch an early morning flight to
Kona on the 25th. I dont know why, when they
could have flown from Medford, only 10 miles
away, but...I have stopped asking these
questions! They were going to spend Dec 25-30
with us then go to Oahu, where Ross' family
lives, until Jan 5.

Zach and girlfriend Courtney were going to drive
from Tempe, AZ to Denver, meet up with Courtney's
sister, drive to Cheyenne, WY, have xmas with her
family, drive back to Denver, get on a plane to
Kona on the 27th, and stay with us until Jan 3rd,
then go back to Wyoming for several more days,
before driving back to AZ. Zach has a little
Honda with no snow tires. Again, I stopped asking
questions.

Ken was going to spend xmas eve and day with his
daughters, then get on a plane on the 26th to
meet us in Kona. He and I were staying in Kona
til the 3rd of January - and after putting Sarah,
Zach and Courtney on planes, going ourselves to
Kauai and then Molokai.

The weather was getting progressively colder and
wetter as it got closer to the time to leave. We
found a storage place close by that would let us
park the RV for three weeks for $65.00, which was
a whole lot cheaper than paying for it to stay in
the RV park! But, we had to winterize it, meaning
drain out all the water, the holding tanks, the
pipes, and put in a special RV/people friendly
antifreeze. Which meant that we had to move out
of the RV before we put it in storage, which was
before we went away. So we lived for several days
in a La Quinta Inn, because they are dog friendly
- and they had a pool and a continental
breakfast.

Then Naomi and I found the North Pole Kennel a
couple of miles outside of Ashland. It sounded
like a great place to leave your dogs, yes bring
their beds and special treats and food - yes they
get to go out several times a day, yes we will
let them go out together if it makes them both
happy.

We brought the dogs over there on the 23rd, in
the morning. Allie has never been to a kennel
before (in 14 years), and she knew something was
up. Frankie is still a (very large) puppy, and he
could have cared less about staying in the
kennel, but he managed to look pretty pathetic
when we were trying to leave. Allie was trembling
nonstop, and literally moaning; Frankie was
yipping and trying to escape the wire cage, Naomi
was crying, and I was thinking that my dog would
be dead before my vacation was over...

Get in the car and run away as fast as you can,
and don't think about it much....Naomi's in the
front seat saying "I have to go back and get my
dog, its a horrible place, I cant leave him
there, do you want Allie to die?" It was not fun.

On the morning of the 24th, Ken got me up at 4:30
am (he's so good about that stuff!) so we could
drive to the tiny Medford airport and I could
catch my 6:05 am flight to Los Angeles. It was
probably the first time I have ever gotten to the
airport for an early morning flight with lots of
time to spare.

And, they wouldnt let me on the plane...But dont
you understand, I'm EARLY for once!!!

Why? Because I didnt have the paper ticket with
me.......what paper ticket? Oh crap! The paper
ticket is locked in the RV, which I havent seen
for days, which is locked inside a storage unit,
which doesnt open until 7 am, which is after my
flight leaves!

They would, however, book me on a later flight -
without having the paper ticket. Which would get
me to San Francisco late afternoon......."By the
way? ALL the flights from San Francisco or
Oakland or LA to Hawaii on the 24th have been
completely oversold (by about 60 seats apiece) -
so you will be stuck in San Francisco til
tomorrow anyway."

So, as stupid as I felt for completely forgetting
I even had a paper ticket (who gets paper tickets
anymore?) I did feel a little better knowing that
I would have been stuck in LA anyway...now at
least I would be stuck in San Francisco! And hey
- I could call Sarah, who was waiting for her
flight in Oakland, to see if she could be one of
the "bumped" people from her oversold flight -
and then we could spend the night in San
Francisco together! And fly together to Hawaii on
Christmas day, even if on different airlines.

Which is what happened...

Sarah brought some excellent wine and cheese with
her when she met me at the airport, which was a
great thing, as all the restaurants in the
neighborhood were closed by the time we got
there.

As it turned out, Naomi and Ross were actually
the first ones to arrive in Hawaii.....they got
there about half and hour before Sarah and
several hours before me. So they all took a cab
to the condo we had rented (4th floor,
oceanfront, 3 bedroom, 2 bath - really
lovely,which was amazing because it had terrible
reviews), and left me a message to pick up the
rental car and meet them there.

What rental car? Was I supposed to rent a car? I
didn't....and then I couldn't...In case anyone
has not heard, the weeks from Dec 21 to Jan 6 or
so are the absolute busiest in Hawaii for
tourists. There were no rental cars available for
the time frame we needed. With both Sarah and I
calling every rental agent on the entire island,
we managed to get one car for three days, and
then a truck for 24 hours a few days later, and
then another car for the last 2 days.

So here are some pictures of the sunset over
Kona, on my way from the airport to the condo on
the 25th....from the window of the rental car...

and Naomi, Ross and Sarah

and Allie in her hula outfit

more Hawaiiana to come....

April 7, 2008

2008-04-17T20:59:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I am almost to the Holidays, I am sooo excited,
because there is so much to tell after the
holidays.

We drove up Rt 101 from Agate beach up to
Brookings, OR on Dec 13th. It is a beautiful
coastal road, very windy (long I, not short!)

Brookings is a harbor town in Oregon, about 13
miles north of the CA town of Crescent City. It
is called the Banana Belt of Oregon, because in
general the temperature is 10-15 degrees warmer
than say here in Ashland. It is also one of those
places in Oregon that you cant get to very
easily...from Ashland you have to drive 45
minutes north to Grants Pass, then go south into
California, then north from Crescent City to
Brookings, a two hour trip if you are not a crow.
Its that darn Coastal mountain range -dont ask me
if its the Siskiyou's, or the Cascade's...because
I dont remember!! They are big and they are in
the way! But oh so pretty.

And the redwoods are spectacular much of the
drive. There is a place on the way called "Trees
of Mystery". Which has all these "build-up" type
of billboards along the way..."Come to the trees
of mystery, you'll be glad you did, you'll be
sorry if you don't"....."The trees of mystery,
where you will discover the answer for
yourself"..

The billboards had pictures on them of cable car
like contraptions going up into the Redwood
forests, with question marks...spooky!

So we had to stop. I realized when we did stop
that Naomi and I had stopped there years ago when
we were driving from Acadia, CA up to northern Or
looking at colleges. I remembered this quite
clearly once we stopped because the place has one
of those giant statues of Paul Bunyon in the
front with his blue ox, whatshername, Belle?
Bluebell? Ollyollyoxenfree?

Well, I have to tell you that I leaped out of the
RV with my camera (the sun was all wrong of
course) to take a picture, because I am sure that
on the last trip Naomi refused to let me take a
picture of something so silly - and I snapped one
of Paul and then turned to take one of
Bluebell(?) and did a double-take, because her
head had turned into one of those Beetlejuice
heads, toy sized. So wrong! What the heck?
Where's her head?

I was so put off by her shrunken head that I
didnt want to take the cable cars into the
redwoods - I mean if that could happen to
Bluebell, what could happen to us? So we bought
some fudge, and a book about Paul Bunyan for "my"
first graders, and discovered that Bluebell's
head was "in the shop", and continued on our way
to Brookings.

We had a mission in Brookings, to discover how
much it might cost to live there in an RV. We
thought that a 2 hour drive to Ashland might be
the perfect thing. At that moment 3 of our
combined 6 kids lived in Ashland; Ken's daughters
Dylan, 10, and Morgan, 15, and my daughter,
Naomi, 20.

So we poked around, and discovered that we could
rent a monthly spot one block off the ocean for
$365/ month plus electricity and propane or on
the water for anywhere from $126 to $156 a week
including electricity.

We stayed on the water that night, at the Port of
Brookings Harbor RV Park. It was soooo windy we
thought Allie was going to blow away when we let
her out!

The next day we drove a couple of miles north to
Harris Beach State Park - which has to be one of
the nicest oceanfront parks ever. It was/is
$18/night and you can stay for 2 weeks at a time.
Unless you are a Park volunteer, and then you can
stay all summer or all winter!

During our travels we have discovered many of
these "workamper" possibilities....at National
Parks or State Parks or even privately owned
parks, if you are "acceptable" and your RV is
"acceptable" you can get a free site and hook-ups
if you commit to staying a certain amount of
time, ranging from 2 months to 6 months, and
perform anywhere from 10 hours a week per person
to 25 hours a week per person in labor.

Some of the positions sound like a lot of fun -
dress up as an 1800's lighthouse keeper and give
tours of a lighthouse....work in the giftshop at
Yellowstone....landscaping work....checking
people in to the parks...

anyway - it is something we had talked about a
lot. So we were keeping our eyes open for a good
place to apply....

Then we drove south to Crescent City to drive
north and west to Grants Pass then Ashland...we
arrived at dusk, and having made no prior
arrangements ended up at a place called Glenyans
RV Park. There was snow on the ground and it was
the coldest we had yet seen, 35 overnight! BRRRR!

We were parked next to this very strange, but
cool, looking truck/camper. There was no-one in
the office on our way in. We met the dog from the
truck/camper, but not ever the humans who lived
there! We stayed for a couple of nights, and then
moved to another location in Ashland!

We spent the next 10 days getting ready for the
holidays and our trip to Hawaii, where we were to
mmet up with Sarah, Zach and Courtney and Naomi
and Ross.

More soon! Love, Mindy

March 31, 2008

2008-04-17T20:57:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

I am sooo behind - perhaps I should stop going on
vacation so I can write to you...

we left Oakland at 11 am - with a dead scooter
attached, and I have to say that I was very
excited about the day to come. We were headed for
wine country - which way to turn, Napa or
Sonoma????

Years ago I joined the Benziger Winery wine
club...this was during a trip in a limo, on my
birthday, with Sarah (oldest daughter) and her
roommates and co-geologists Carrie and Elowyn.
How we ended up in a limo doing a tour of wine
country is still beyond me, but we had a blast!
And after we toured the no longer memorable first
vineyard (something about the moon - had a nice
label) the limo driver said why not go to
Benzigers, its right around the corner? So we
did. He also told us that if we were lucky we
would get to go to 3 vineyards and tasting rooms
in that afternoon....

Well, we were all very impressed at the time with
Benzigers - they had an offer to join their club,
get wine delivered 4 times a year, have free
tastings that day (all 4 of us) and get invited
to their wine-club-member-only once a year gala.
Well, I didnt think too long about it, since you
could cancel at any time, and the first shipment
of wine cost about the same as the tastings would
have for 4 people....so we bacame members. Our
third vineyard that day was Imagery, which is a
sister vineyard to Benzigers - really nice wine,
known for the original works of art on the labels
- hence the name...we only drank 3 bottles of
wine in the limo between and after the
tastings...

And I have been reluctant to cancel ever since -
its really nice wine, far too expensive - but a
couple of years later, Sarah and I went to their
annual gala. Let me compliment them on their
sales strategy here - crab legs, eggplant and
garlic, gelato, shrimp and scallops, beef, all
with a taste of the wine to go with it..music by
local musicians - all at no cost to members - the
only thing they didnt provide was a place to
sleep!

So - when the choice was in front of me, I
decided to go back to Benzigers in Sonoma. In an
RV with potentially no place to park, a partner
who could care less about wine, an old dog, a
dead scooter, all at about 4:30 pm. Please,
please let them be open til 5 I kept saying!

And they were. And "we" bought a case of wine
after "we" tasted in the tasting room. This
company has decided to add an entire biodynamic
line.....its not good enough to produce organic
anymore, now you have to plant lavender around
the vines so they become infused, etc. Well I am
holding off on my opinion about all that - but
the wine is still delicious!

We were headed towards Healdsburg after, and a
possible visit with a friend.....and when we got
to Healdsburg, we discovered that the RV park in
the RV park book was closed for renovations
....it was now about 9 pm

So, we drove all the way back to Sonoma, and
stayed at the Windsorland RV Park - right next to
the highway on both sides! But it had a grassy
area for Allie, and when the lights were out it
didnt seem quite so noisy.

The next morning, which by the way was December
11, we drove back up to Healdsburg, and after a
poll of my best wine buddies, decided to stop at
the Simi winery for their tasting. Ken decided to
stay in the RV with Allie - ok, a lone tasting.
Turned out it was way fun - some 95 year old guy
doing the pouring, lots of stories about
grapes....bought another case to bring along,
sent some to the book club.....

ok enough about the wine tour....we drove north
to Eureka, CA that day - we took the Avenue of
Giants detour through the Redwoods - was very
impressive, those trees are massive! And tall! We
went as far north as Trinidad, CA - and decided
to park for a couple of days at the "Sounds of
the Sea RV Park" - we assumed it would be on the
ocean. It was not. It was across the street and
down the road a piece, which we didnt know until
the next day because it was dark when we arrived!
But really a very nice park, and you could hear,
but not see, the sea lions and harbor seals. It
was across the street from the Patricks Point
State Park and down and across from Agate Beach.

We walked about 10 miles over the next few
days..with Allie, because dogs were allowed and
encouraged!!! Hurray! There were several trails
and big rocks overlooking the water, or in the
water, depending on the time of day. And Agate
Beach? Well that was a really great place. You
had to walk down a trail, descending about 500
feet in a minute and a half, onto a pebble beach
that was really amazing- yes there were
agates....but every rock you looked at could have
been jade, or agate, or tigers eye or
whatever....when they are wet they all look so
special...we ended up with literally 30 pounds of
rocks...after they dried they didnt look the
same! and I have no idea what they are, but they
were pretty.

We also found incredible driftwood there, and
collected enough small pieces to send to Mrs
Meehans class! And enough leftover for any craft
project I could ever come up with for the next 20
years!

Allie had lots of fun on the beach, although she
is NOT a wave chaser at all. But she pretended
pretty well, and definitely got sand and pebbles
beneath her toes.

It was a fun place. It was sad to leave, even
though the Holidays were coming quickly and we
had all our kids to visit!

More soon!

Love, Mindy

March 3, 2008

2008-04-17T20:53:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody!

Just so you know, I am in the process of setting
up a blog site....whoopppeeee! You wont have to
get a 17 page email from me unless you choose to
go look! Unless you are in Mrs Meehans First
Grade! But not until this one and maybe a couple
more are done...

Those seals were so darn cute we didnt want to
leave, as I mentioned. Which is why I sent a few
more photos of them earlier...

We spent the night at the Big Sur State Park
Campground, which is a really beautiful place -
especially in the daylight. After a walk around
the park, we decided that the 29 or so miles of
Big Sur Coast that we had driven in the dark the
previous night were worth driving backwards for.

There are several turnouts along Rt 1. I think we
stopped at at least 10 of them on our way back
south. They are all spectacular - the views, the
cliff-like drop-offs, the plants still blooming
in December, the color of the water below, the
tourists stopping to take pictures....

So here are some shots from Big Sur - I included
the one of the gorgeous, private beach, with its
private property sign. I didnt even notice the
sign until after the photos were in the computer!

We then drove north again, and got as far as the
Marina Dunes RV Park, just north of Monterey, CA.
I am only telling you this because if you ever
want a seaside RV park, this is a great one! It
is located right next to the huge sand dunes,
oceanfront. Of course the highway is on the other
side of the park, but it's relatively easy to
ignore, if you get a good site, which we lucked
into!

This was the first RV park where we were told we
had to empty the RV of all living things ( ie
Allie and us) while the propane was being pumped
in....in case we exploded during the filling of
the tank. Hmmmm - I guess in all the other states
it's OK to explode?

Next day, Dec 9, we were on our way to the San
Francisco Bay Area to meet up with Sarah, who was
in town for a geologists National Science
Foundation (?) Conference. We hadn't really done
any research into where we were going to
stay....but Sarah and her friend, former
roommate, and co-geologist, Carrie, went online
while we were driving...and they found a state
park in the middle of Oakland with RV sites!

Anthony Chabott State Park is at the top of one
of the highest "peaks" in Oakland. We used
Cynthia, the GPS, to help us get there. It was a
wee bit hairy going on all those major highways.
Then we took a turn, and began going uphill. And
uphill, and uphill. Soon we were on a dirt road,
looking at one another and questioning how we
were ever going to get out of there if we were,
perchance, in the wrong place.

We were in the right place! The State Park had 4
RV sites with hook-ups, and many beautiful
camping sites. If you walked to the edge of the
site you had an overlook of the city that was
spectacular! There are a couple of photos of the
campsite here. We arrived mid-afternoon. Our
mission, if you will, was to meet up with Sarah
and her friends in Berkeley, at Cesar's, a great
tapas-style restaurant, for dinner.

Several phone calls later, Sarah was stuck in
traffic in San Francisco with her friend, Bunny,
in a rental car. In the meantime we discovered
that the Park had a "curfew" - meaning that you
could not drive in the entrance after 10 pm. Now
that would be ok, except that the entrance was
fully 2.5 miles from the campsites, and there
were those spikey things sticking up in the
driveway, so that if you tried to come in after
10 pm you would ruin your tires!

We were going to take the scooter from the
campsite to the entrance of the park, then get a
cab to the BART (train) station in Oakland, then
ride the train to Berkeley - then it wouldnt
really matter what time it was when we got back
because the scooter could get around those nasty
spikes.

Well - glitch #1 - the scooter didnt start. Not
even a chance of flooding it, it was dead.

Ok - plan #2. We called the cab back (this was
the fifth cab company we called, most of them
only did city driving, and had never heard of the
State Park!) and asked if they could pick us up
as we walked towards the entrance. They said
yes....so we walked and witnessed a gorgeous
sunset - no photos, dang - and the cab brought us
to the BART station, where there are some very
cool photos that Ken took of people on the
escalator zooming the lens!

We got off the BART at the downtown Berkeley
exit, which is when we found out that Sarah was
stuck in traffic on the other side of the Bay. We
were supposed to meet up with Carrie outside the
station and then go to the resaturant... which
did happen!

All I can say is YUM...what a great place to go
eat! A changing menu of small plates with
signature cocktails - tables that are either
shared with other people or the right size for
your party....always packed, always terrific,
always a bit loud (if you are old, (-:-)

We got a ride back to the RV with Sarah and Bunny
in the rental car - before 10, no slashed tires!
The adventure will continue the next day!

Love, Mindy

February 1, 2008

2008-04-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

Hello!

San Lois Obispo is on the California coast. We
decided to drive up the California coast in order
to avoid the snow falling in all the National
Parks we intended to visit! We had planned on
going to Bryce, Zion, Yosemite.....guess we have
to do this again next year!

The coastal route was still relatively safe to
drive an RV on! After breakfast at our fine hotel
we got into our very chilly RV and headed north.

First stop - the Hearst Castle. I dont know why I
got intersted in visiting all these American
versions of gluttony, but I simply had to see how
the Hearst Castle compared to the Biltmore.

We were able to drive right in to the huge RV
parking lot, Allie was in heaven. It was the
biggest and best parking lot she has ever seen!
We took a walk for 1/2 an hour and she didnt see
the same thing twice.

Then, into the big dog house she went, so that
the humans could tour the castle. It was very
different than the Biltmore. For one thing, you
had to go on a guided tour, and you had to choose
which guided tour you wanted to go on....lets
see, do we want to go on the tour where we can
see the swimming pools, or the one we can check
out the pantry and kitchen areas, or the one that
has the guest houses and gardens...it became an
easy choice once they told us that tour number 1
had a free IMAX movie with it, on the building of
the Castle, that you could view immediately after
the tour.

I got in trouble first thing on the tour....the
guide was very knowledgable and precise. You must
stay with the group, never leave the group, there
is another guide bringing up the rear. So we made
a stop at the first swimming pool, and while he
was talking about the construction of the pool
and how none of the fruit grown on the estate was
ever to be eaten (it is there for the smell only
- can you imagine me not being apoplectic over
that little statement, after The Community
Kitchen experience?) I went back 15 feet to take
a picture of a statue I thought was pretty - and
all of a sudden I hear, " You must stay with the
group!"

Well, really I didnt know he was talking to me,
after all the bringing up the rear guide was
standing right next to me....and then he said,
"You, with the camera, you must come back to the
group!"...

Well, there I was, contemplating my statue,
fuming about the smelly fruit, thinking about how
I was going to pick as much of it as I could and
bring it to the local Food Bank, when I realized
that he was talking to me! Fortunately, the
bringing up the rear guide was a fiesty little
woman, who snapped back at him, " What, do you
think Im not doing my job? I am bringing up the
rear here! I've got it!" She was very nice to me,
we had a good conversation about the state of the
fruit, I got my picture (which isnt great) and on
we went.

William Randolf Hearst was an interesting guy.
His father was way more interesting - he was a
rough and tumble miner, who lucked into a whole
bunch of silver, carried it on 50 or so mules
over the snow filled mountain passes, married a
young school marm from back home and bought up
every single acre of gorgeous California coast he
could for something like $0.39 an acre.

His only son William grew up wealthy, spent a
bunch of time in Europe with his mother checking
out castles and famous architecture, became a
wealthy businessman in his own right, and then
inherited a fortune, as well as a whole lot of
coastline.

Now here is where I actually liked the story line
progression. William decided to build the castle
of his dreamy youth...and to accomplish that feat
he hired the FIRST woman graduate of engineering
school in the US, who also got a degree in
architecture in Europe. It took them 29 years of
working together to finish the entire project -
which included an exotic animal zoo/preserve with
zebras, bears, elk, tigers, lions, giraffes, and
more; swimming pools with mosaic 1" tile work
that had to have a shallow end added on to it
years after it was done because none of the
famous movie stars liked it, come to find out,
most of them didnt know how to swim!; farm
animals like dairy and beef cattle and pigs to
keep the place as self-sufficient as possible;
and an entire movie theater to see the first
showings of movies he had produced, complete with
movie stars and their entourages invited for the
weekend, with very precise seating arrangements
at dinner.

Pencils in the gift shop cost $1.00 each, but the
farm, which is now a non profit, sells organic
hormone free beef for about $6.00 a pound! After
William died, the family decided to donate the
castle and grounds to the state of California
(excellent tax write off there!) and the Hearst
Corporation, family owned, still controls a lot
of coastline.

Anyway, when we left the Castle grounds, complete
with 4 lbs of steak and 4 lbs of burgers, we saw
some of the wild zebras, decendants of the ones
who were part of the zoo -they were all free
roaming then, and the workers couldnt catch them
all when the zoo animals were donated to local
zoos, so there are several dozen zebras running
around loose on the California coast! I was so
amazed that they were there, I didnt even think
of taking a picture!

We headed north to Elephant Seal Beach. Several
of the people on the tour told us that the seals
and sea otters hang out there at this time of
year, and it was well worth the short walk for
the viewing.

On our drive north to the beach a small herd of
elk leaped across the major highway in front of
the RV, scaring me half to death, but not getting
hit by any cars, trucks or other traffic!

Well, the elephant seals and sea otters took up
about 2 hours of our time - so interesting, so
noisy, so much fun to watch! Allie thought the
sea elephants were beautiful, perhaps because
their girth is actually bigger than hers!

The plan was to get to Big Sur before dark - and
no, that didnt happen....it almost happened! The
campground we were headed for was closed for no
known reason and we had to drive another 29 miles
to the next one....smile! So, yes, it was dark
and we had to back in to the rv space!

More soon!

Love from Mindy, Ken and Allie

January 25, 2008

2008-04-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

Hello there!

We left Vegas around noontime - after a quick zip
through Circus Circus one last time (gotta admit,
those buffet breakfasts are quite something!)

Westward Ho! That would be different than Get
Back Hoe, the womens excavation company idea I
still want to pursue....

We drove for about 3 and a half hours, into
California. And we saw a sign for Calico Ghost
Town. A very small sign, with a picture of a
stage coach on it. I said, why dont we stop at
the Ghost Town for a break?

Our "plan" for all this RV driving is to stick to
the general idea that you drive during the day,
and then you stop by 4 pm so you can hook up your
utilities and get dinner cooked and relax! We
have not been very good at sticking to this plan
- we poke around in the morning and then drive
and then its dark and we are always trying to
park in the dark! We've gotten very good at it!
Well, my backing up skills are still not so good
in the dark....I am a big supporter of
"pull-through" sites..

However, on this day (Dec 5th), we took a break
at 3:30 pm, and ended up loving the little
campground at Calico Ghost Town, so we parked for
the night! It was awesome - the campground and
surrounding ghost town are in the middle of rock
hound heaven. There had just been a raging,
flooding storm a few days earlier, and the ground
was covered with beautiful little rocks - do I
know what they are? No. But when I went walking
the dog around the campground I ended up with
about 40 pounds of the stuff in my pockets!

Then Allie and I wandered closer to the Ghost
Town from the campground, and discovered a
cemetary from the late 1800's - literally mounds
of stones with wooden crosses on top. Well, I was
hooked, there was no way that I was leaving in
the morning without seeing the town itself (which
had already closed for the day).

More than a century ago, the town of Calico was
bustling with prospectors. Founded in March 1881,
it grew to a population of 1,200 with 22 saloons
and more than 500 mines. Silver was king, and the
Calico Mining District became one of the richest
in California, producing $86 million in silver,
$45 million in borax and, of course, gold. After
1907, when silver prices dropped and borax mining
moved to Death Valley, Calico became a ghost
town.

Today, Calico is one of the few remaining
original mining towns of the western United
States. It was preserved by Walter Knott (founder
of Knott's Berry Farm and a relative of the owner
of Calico's Silver King mine). Mr. Knott donated
Calico Ghost Town to the County of San Bernardino
in 1966, and it remains alive and well as a
480-acre County Regional Park. Today, you can
visit Calico, located at the side of towering
King Mountain, where silver was king and the
hills are "as purty as a gal's calico skirt."

One third of the town is original; the remaining
was carefully reconstructed to recreate the
spirit of Calico's Old West past. The Town of
Calico is State Historic Landmark #782, and
survived into the early 1900's because of borax
mining within the District. This was the last
place in California that the Borax "20-mule
teams" were used.

There is a 3 mile trip available on a cute narrow
gauge railroad, which operates within town limits
and a hardrock silver mine offers up underground
exploration.

And, there is an "authentic" ,hmhmmm, gunfight
every day they are open, with the sheriff and his
deputies doing their job, getting rid of the bad
guys.

OK, so it was a bit silly - but what a fun 1 day
stop after the glitter of Vegas!!

So , here are some photos from the Ghost Town...

We left the campground and Ghost Town mid
afternoon (see what I mean about that plan?) And
drove to Bakersfield, CA - where we made the
decision to go another 90 miles on Rt 58 to Santa
Margerita for the night. If you get to that
junction and need to decide about going another
90 miles (mere 90) - trust me, just say no.....it
took us almost 3.5 hours to drive those 90 miles.
After we passed the sign that said, " No services
Next 70 Miles", I started having my
doubts.....after we passed the sign that said,
"No Truck Turn Around", I was simply glad it was
dark!! I did not want to see what cliffs I was
almost driving off as we went around the hairpin
turns! And, it was gusting wind by then. And then
as we approached Santa Margerita it also started
to rain. Was there an RV park anywhere in Santa
Margerita??? No. Not a restaurant either that we
saw. So we drove to San Lois Obispo.....and were
so tired, hungry and dirty that we parked in a
Holiday Inn Express parking lot and got a hotel
room, and were the last customers of the day at
the Mexican restaurant across the street!!!

Best to all!

Love Mindy, Ken and Allie

January 23, 2008

2008-04-17T20:47:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I am going to be catching up on our trip now,
the Holidays set me back a bit!

After that crazy drive through Jerome, AZ we
were hungry! So we stopped to eat at the Road
Kill Cafe in Seligman, AZ. It is on Historic Rte
66, which used to be the main road going
east/west in the US, and has sooo much history.
The Road Kill Cafe has a very strange menu....I
had Run Down Cow, which was a hamburger. There is
a picture here of the outside of the Cafe,
complete with tumbleweeds under the truck? It was
sooo windy, the tumbleweeds were blowing all over
the road! A couple of times they blew right in
front of the windshield, completely blocking my
view of the road.

We tried to drive to Hoover Dam, because it is
a great thing to see, but the road was closed to
trucks and RV's because of construction! So we
had to go to Kingman, AZ and then to Boulder
City, Nevada, where we spent the night.

On Sunday, Dec 2, we drove into Las Vegas,
Nevada. We got stuck in a traffic jam on the
way - I think there was a big accident. It took
us 2 hours to go 2.5 miles....then we got off the
Interstate and went right onto "the Strip". The
strip is 6 lanes wide in some places and usually
full of traffic! Eeeeek! How come I keep driving
in the cities?

Anyway, we were there (on the strip) because
there are several campgrounds in Vegas, but only
one on the strip, and it is a KOA at the
hotel Circus Circus.

At the hotel Circus Circus there are live
circus acts that you can watch all day long. You
can see clowns, acrobats, trapeze artists,
tightrope walkers and lots more for free! Of
course you have to sit and wait for each act to
appear - and it often takes an hour between acts,
so mostly people watch one or two acts and then
go on to something else.

While we were in Las Vegas we went to some
shows that were in town - we went to the NY NY
Hotel and saw a Cirque de Soleil show, Zumanity.
It is advertised as being the ultimate Cirque
show....emphasizing human behavior, sensuality,
etc. Well, I have to tell you that I was a bit
disappointed. Cirque de Soleil is known for
showcasing some of the best circus type acts in
the world - and they have several wonderful shows
in Vegas, 5 I think. Zumanity was superb circus
acts, done in the nude, or the women topless -
and, frankly, I could really care less about the
clothing, but the in-between banter was banal at
best - and it could have been so well
done.....the funny thing is that it is a show
sold out for weeks in advance, probably because
of the "sensual" nature of the show....and we
lucked into tickets, but the reviewers are now
saying it is over the top. Live and learn, I
recommend KA if you go to Vegas and want to see
the Cirque!

The NY NY hotel has a roller coaster that goes
all the way through the hotel, and outside to
make a loop, then back into the lobby!
That is very cool!

The next night we went to the Wynn Hotel and
saw a show called Spamalot, which was a spoof of
Monty Python's Holy Grail, it was a good time,
well done. We didnt have dinner that night until
10 pm - but in Las Vegas all the buffets are open
late!

We went the next day to a Japanese restaurant
called Hyankumi at Caesars Palace Hotel. They
serve in the teppanyaki style. The chef(s) at
your table cutting the shrimp, vegetables and
steak in front of you. If the table is big enough
there are two chefs, and they cook right at your
table. When a piece of steak or brocolli is done
they take their knife and flip the food right
through the air and onto your plate! Sometimes
they ask you if you can catch it in your mouth! I
couldnt catch any food flipped through the air,
but I bet Allie could!

Anyway, Vegas is full of things to see and do -
there were water fountains that play with
classical music, moving statues that tell the
story of Ancient Rome, and then there were the
"extreme rides" at the Stratosphere Hotel.

We went to the Stratosphere late at night. The
Stratosphere is a building like the Needle in
Seattle, Washington - really tall with a
needle-like top that you can ride elevators up
into. So, we were about 50 stories up in the
air and then we found out that there were 3
amusemant park-type rides at the very top! Well,
since we both like roller coasters we were
curious!

We bought tickets to all three rides without
looking. The first one was like a rocket ship -
you were strapped into seats, and then you shot
up in the air to the top of the needle! Down
again, then up again! I knew what kind of ride
it was so I was pretty OK with it all. Ken had
never been on a ride like that before, so he was
screaming out loud when we shot up in the air
the first time, and he said he kept his eyes
closed!

The second ride was like a roller coaster - you
got into 2-person seats that were set up like a
train, one car behind another, and on a track.
What I didnt know was that the train track went
out over the edge of the building 15 feet - and
50+ stories in the air!!!! I screamed on that
ride and Ken was just joyfully yelling
"whoooooppppiiiieeee" !!!!

So then we had to decide if we were really
brave enough to get on the third ride.....and we
decided yes! We still did not know what it
looked like! Well we got on, it was a series of 2
person seats in a circle - and it fit 16 people,
but there were only 4 of us on the ride. So, it
sort of looked like a spider. I knew after
sitting down in the seat that it was a ride that
opens out - the seats are on the end of arms that
spread out open wide and then spin around. I
love that ride on the ground! The problem was
that we were not on the ground!

And, yes, the ride opened up into the spinning
spider over the edge of the building! Ken kept
his eyes open the whole time! He said it was
really cool to watch all the lights from Las
Vegas! I had to close my eyes. It was a bit much
thinking about being that far up... (-:

When we were done, we both thought it was
really fun, but wished we had seen what it was
before we went!

So here are some pictures of Allie and me at
the campground. Allie had to get a new feathered
boa and sunglasses to wear. If you look at the
tall, tall building behind us, you will see the
Stratosphere, which is the one with the rides
on the top!

We got sunglasses for all the kids for the
Holidays at Circus Circus! You will see those
pictures soon!

Love from,

Mindy, Ken and Allie!!!!

December 8, 2007

2008-04-17T20:45:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, Nov 27th, we left Tempe, AZ. We
needed to go to Camping World in Mesa, AZ as
our first stop on the way out of town, The RV
really needed an oil change! Our appointment was
at 10am, and we finally got on the road again at
about 3:30.....almost dark!

Dont get me started about Camping World - they
are usually very useful stops, say for
biodegradable toilet paper - but if you want
service done on your vehicle?? questionable at
best. I would like to say that I am not trying to
dis them, they are still one of the few places
you can go - but they called me the night before
to make sure I knew that I had a 10 am appt, and
then they left us sitting in the parking lot til
almost 2:30...

We drove to Sedona, AZ, arriving after sunset,
so we couldnt see how pretty it was until the
next day! We drove all over Main Street looking
for a place to park, and couldnt find one. So we
had to drive around and around the block...and we
finally had to park in a parking lot that said
"NO RV'S" It was relatively quiet so we figured
it was ok - it was a lot for a convenience store
and drug store that was closed!

After we had dinner in town (Allie loved the
leftovers from a piece of steak!)we drove about
a mile to our campground, Rancho Sedona, which is
where one of the pictures is from - it is of
the bark on a tree next to the RV - it was so
pretty! Green and brown and shiny!

On Wednesday we got the scooter off the back of
the RV and Ken and I went for a ride around Red
Rock Country. We liked it there so much that
we decided to stay for several days, until
Saturday, December 1st.

You will see in the pictures and postcard why
they call it Red Rock Country! The rocks are
rusty! The red color in the rocks is hematite,
which is iron oxide, and it gets rusty with the
passage of time, water and air. Some of
the names of the giant rock formations are Snoopy
Rock, Slide Rock, Coffee Pot Rock and
Cathedral Rock. There was a picnic area called
Banjo Bill's with a giant rock that looked like
a banjo!

We looked all over the place for a javelina,
....they are animals that look sort of
like pigs. Well, I guess they are a kind of
wild pig, with really big teeth. They live in the
desert and eat prickly pear cactus! The other
common wildlife in the area are coyotes, spiny
lizards, tarantulas and tree frogs! We didnt see
anything but people shopping for the holidays!

There were also some national monuments there:
1) Montezuma's Castle - is the site of cliff
dwellings that archeologists say were the home of
the Sinagua people from the years 600 to
1400 AD.
2) Montezuma's Well - is a limestone sinkhole,
and a very green spot in the desert, an "oasis"
3) Tuzigoot - is a partially restored Indian
Pueblo with a museum.

It started to rain on Friday morning, Nov 30, a
nice, steady rain, it seemed to us. Of course
we were still riding the scooter around, and got
soaking wet. Not Allie! She was nice and dry
and warm inside the RV. But did she cook dinner?
NO! By Friday afternoon there were warnings on
the radio of flash floods and mud slides! The dry
creek bed behind our campsite started filling up,
and by Saturday morning it
was so full of water that it was roaring! Good
time to leave, dont you think?

We were going to take Rt 89A out of town and go
through Flagstaff, but were told there was a
mudslide up ahead, so we had to go a different
way! Through Jerome, AZ. Wow! What a drive that
was. Jerome is a town that is about 5500 feet
up a mountain. The road is one of those twisty,
turny, narrow, two laners that I think should
say no rv's..... Ken was driving and I was such a
bad passenger that I had to go sit in the back of
the rv where he couldnt hear me going "oh f%@k"
the whole time! There was no way we could visit
Jerome, because the houses and other buildings
were built right into the cliffs, and there was
just NO place for an RV to park. We climbed up to
7000 feet, before heading down the other side
into Prescott! I tried to take a picture from the
window, but it didnt come out very well, but
you can get the idea! Then theres a picture
looking back at the mountains we drove through
from the window.

More soon!

Love, Mindy, Ken and Allie

December 8, 2007

2008-04-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

Hello there!

The drive from Show Low, AZ to Globe, AZ is
listed as one of the most scenic drives in
America. Now I know why!

The drive is 87 miles long and it goes from the
forested mountains of the Colorado Plateau -
where there is the largest contiguous stand of
Ponderosa Pines in the US - to the arid desert
lands. You descend almost 3000 feet on a very
twisty and curvy road, going through the Salt
River Canyon and up the Mogollan Rim at the edge
of the White Mountains. Much of the road goes
through or runs next to the San Carlos Apache
Reservation, once home to Geronimo. I was
surprised at just how gorgeous it was!

We arrived in Tempe at about noontime on
Thanksgiving - good thing because Dinner was at
1pm!

Tempe AZ is where my son Zach goes to Arizona
State College. Zach is a senior and he will
graduate in May, with a degree in Finance (go
figure)And, he just accepted an offer from JP
Morgan Chase for a job starting in July! Naomi is
in college in Ashland, Oregon, and she flew to
Tempe so we could all have Thanksgiving together.

Dinner was at Zach's girlfriend, Courtney's,
house. Courtneys roommate, Crystal, is a cook, so
she made the turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans
and gravy, for which I was very grateful
(-: Naomi made the squash and trays of
cheese and crackers and pickles and olives.
Courtney made her very first pumpkin and apple
pies! It was really yummy!

Allie got to meet Zach and Courtneys puppy,
Sienna. She is a golden retriever. She was
leaping in the air and jumping over the top of
Allie, trying to play. Allie wanted nothing to
do with that, so she went and laid down
with Naomi..

Here are some pictures of Naomi, Zach, Courtney,
Allie and Sienna.

Later that day we walked from the apartment to
Arizona State's football stadium. It took about
an hour to walk there, but there was no way to
drive there, because there is soo little parking!
There was a big football game between ASU and
University of Southern California. Zach got us
all tickets! It was a pretty good game, even if I
dont understand football! We were sitting in
front of USC fans which ,of course, caused Zach
and Naomi both to get irritated...years ago we
all went to a Cornell hockey game. I swore then I
would never go to another college game. I forgot.
I forgot how the air is thick with anger, and
pointing fingers and hurling insults! USC won the
game, 44 to 24. Then we all went home to bed!
Here are some pictures of the game.

We stayed in Tempe fron Thursday until Tuesday,
Nov 27th. We were parked at the Apache Palms RV
Park. We were parked right next to this big
saguaro cactus that was covered in Christmas
lights. But they were never lit up. Finally on
the last night we were there, Ken walked over
to the cactus and found the outlet and plugged it
in! Dont you think it looks cute?

More soon!

Love from Mindy, Ken and Allie

December 6, 2007

2008-04-17T20:40:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Here I am still trying to catch up to
Thanksgiving, and its already Dec 5th...where
does the time go? We are camped tonite in Calico,
CA...a Ghost Town...more about that later!

We left Montgomery, TX, and Uncle Hank and Aunt
Barbara on Monday, Nov 19. We were headed west
on Rt 105 going towards Austin then Interstate 10
to Fredericksburg, TX and beyond. Our plan was to
be in Tempe, Arizona by Thanksgiving, after
changing our plan to be in Oregon for
Thanksgiving!

Well, I have to say that Texas is a very LARGE
state. I mean, I look at a map and say, Texas is
big, but I had no idea....and some of it was
extremely boring, but as we headed for the
western side it was quite lovely. I wished we had
time to go to Big Bend..We drove all day to get
from Montgomery to Fort Stockton, where we spent
the night at a KOA campground. We didnt get there
until after 9 pm. The campground was eerie..dark,
quiet, gusty, tumbleweeds blowing around. And
Fort Stockton seemed to be in the middle of
absolutely nowhere.

when we left the next morning (Tues Nov 20) we
decided to veer off the main highway, Rt 10, and
continue our journey to Tempe by going on Rt 285
north, which goes through Carlsbad Caverns
National Park, in New Mexico. We got to the
caverns at about 1:45 pm...good thing because you
cant get in after 2 pm! We parked the RV, and
there were signs everywhere that said,"do not
leave dogs in RV's, they must go in our kennels"

So Allie had to go into a kennel in an air
conditioned room while we toured the caverns.
She didnt like it very much because she was all
alone in the kennel. She started barking
furiously as soon as I left the room. I dont know
if any of you remember our one Allie/kennel
experience, but it was right after we got her as
a one yr old dog, we went to look at puppies and
ended up with the mother dog. People suggested
kenneling her, because she hadnt spent much time
in the house, so we borrowed a kennel. The kids
and I left for school and work with her safely in
the kennel, and 7 hours later when we got home we
found a dog with shreds for paws, a bloody nose (
which still carries the scar) and a kennel that
had been escaped from, but not through the door.
We never used it again. So I was a little
worried...There were some little dogs who were in
the kennels in the next building, but Allie was
the only big dog there that day.

So, here are a couple pictures from inside the
caverns, it was a little dark to get really good
photos. Its an amazing place - very beautiful. I
will say that I was more awed by the Snow Jade
Caverns in China, which were much bigger and
consisted of climbing up inside the mountain
several stories....

There is also a picture of Allie when we picked
her up at the kennel....she got a doggie
t-shirt that says, "I did my time at the Carlsbad
Kennels, # 37489", and the back of the shirt
has jail bars on it! She was very happy to climb
back in the RV into her little cubby!

We drove to Roswell, New Mexico to spend the
night, about an hour and a half away. There is
a very strange museum in Roswell. It is called
the UFO Museum and Research Center. The museum
consists of one room of memorabilia ( often
duplicated wall to wall) from people in town who
believe that there was a spaceship that crashed
in Roswell in 1947, and that there were aliens on
it, which the government did something with. It
was interesting for about an hour.... and it was
great fun to walk around town, the whole Main
Street is decorated with pictures of
aliens, blow up aliens, alien costumes and
t-shirts and a wide assortment of alien toys and
gifts .....some of the pictures here are from
Roswell and the museum!

I will send a picture soon of Allie in her
alien outfit....

After the museum we drove as far as Show Low,
Arizona for the night.

More soon!

Love from Mindy, Ken and Allie!

November 30, 2007

2008-04-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

We are in Sedona, AZ at the moment, trying not to
float away...but am continuing our little saga
here!

On Nov 13 we left Hot Springs Village and drove
to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas.
It is the only place in the world where there are
"real" diamonds that anyone can look for and keep
them if they find them! We saw it on tv, on the
Discovery Channel....

We got there in the afternoon, so we didnt look
for diamonds until the next day. We did walk
all over the diamond mine....and you will all be
happy to know that they let dogs go into the
mining area! Allie was so darn excited she almost
wanted to put on her hat and sunglasses again! I
was sure that Allie could sniff out a diamond far
quicker than I could....
>
So the next morning, Nov 14, Ken, Allie and I
paid our $13 and got our shovels, buckets,
screens and off we went..We spent the day digging
shovels of dirt,filling the bucket, then running
the dirt through the sluice to see if there was a
diamond in there......no luck. Allie's nose didnt
even sniff out a tiny chip!
She did find a squirrel to chase, and we walked
by the river, so Allie had fun regardless - I did
too..

On Nov 15 we drove from Arkansas to Dallas, TX,
which is where Kens mom, Betty, lives. As soon
as we crossed the border into Texas, I found out
that Ken loves Whataburgers....they have burgers
and shakes and french fries. He said they only
sell them in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, and
they are his favorite! So we had lunch there on
our way. I am not even going to tell you how
often we have stopped at Whataburger now....

We stayed at Lake Lavon in an Army Corps of
Engineers campground. It was right on the lake,
and it was really nice. There are some pictures
here of the lake at sunrise and Allie walking
in the lake.... I was really taken by surprise at
how windy and chilly it was in Texas - I guess
Ive always heard about how hot it is, and didnt
even think about how we would have to turn on the
heat!

We visited with Betty until Nov 18....then drove
to Montgomery Texas to visit my Aunt Barbara
and Uncle Hank. We had dinner with them at their
house that night, and slept in a KOA Campground
on the lake and golf course in Montgomery. I have
not spent very much time with them in my life,
because they have lived in Texas since I was
small....it was great to be able to visit, and do
some catching up. I was actually so excited about
it that I forgot to have Ken bring his camera in,
and now we dont have a picture! Maybe they will
read this and send me one of the two of them!

More soon!

Love from Mindy, Ken and Allie

November 28, 2007 part 2

2008-04-17T20:37:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

We left Nashville - even though there are at
least a million things to do there, because we
had to visit lots of people and places before
Thanksgiving!

Nov 8 - we drove as far as West Memphis,
Arkansas, and stayed overnight at the Tom
Sawyer Campground on the Mississippi River. What
a big, wide river that is! All night long
there were huge barges (reminiscent of China)
carrying cargo up and down the river. They were
blowing their horns to get anyone else out of the
way - there were also trains running right by the
campground all night long...have you ever heard
the train whistles blowing as the trains get
close to the roads? The barges and the trains
travel all night long, I wonder if the captains,
crews and engineers get lonely? Does anyone else
remember when Zach was so certain he would be an
engineer? Does anyone remember the trains running
down the middle of Main St Keene? Sarah wanted to
jump on the caboose!

Nov 9 - We drove to Hot Springs Village,
Arkansas, which is where Kens dad, Gordon, and
step-mom, Hazel, live. We stayed there until
Nov 13. Hot Springs National Park is in the next
town. It was a fun place to visit. It was famous
in the 1800's and 1900's for their bubbling hot
mineral waters, and bath houses that were most
specifically for WWI vets, WWII vets and people
with "ailments". Entrepreneurs built these crazy
bathhouses surrounding the waters, complete with
electical shocking devices set in the water, and
many, many people went there to get "better" free
of charge in some cases. They took baths
in the mineral waters, and got massages. The
National Park has restored one of the bath
houses, Forsythe House, and you can take a tour
of it, and see the old giant bathtubs, and the
old medical equipment they used. It was really
interesting!

Ken and his Dad went golfing one day. They had
a lot of fun.

Here are some pictures of Ken, Gordon, Hazel
and me....and one of what Allie did while we were
playing tourist!

More soon!

Love, Mindy, Ken and Allie

November 28, 2007

2008-04-17T20:35:00.000-07:00

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving! We did! And
I also am sending only part 1 here, after being
gently told that I took after my mom in the gab
department!!!! Thanks Uncle Hank!!!

Let's see, last time I wrote we were in
Cherokee, NC....

Nov 6 - we drove through the Great Smoky
Mountain National Park, which is a narrow,
winding road about 35 miles long. It starts in
Cherokee, and ends in Gatlinburg,
Tennessee. I was a little freaked in Gatlinburg,
because we had just spent many days basically in
the middle of nowhere, and we end up on this 6
lane road going through the midle of town. That
part was ok, the part that I had trouble with was
the shops and stores all around me - Eddie Bauer,
EMS, Cabellas, all the other outfitters, a
restaurant for any foodie, all kinds of toy
sellers, everything from a pacifier to a bungee
jump - row after row. people who were walking
around town had a look on their faces, I have to
be in the next store in exactly 2.3 minutes, and
when I am there I will buy $45.19 worth of
product look.

So, of course, I took a wrong turn, I was so busy
staring.....it is not a good idea to take a wrong
turn in a 35ft long vehicle conglomeration
....especially if you have no clue where the road
goes, or when there might next be a place to turn
around. All was well, however, and we found a
very convenient gas station.

From there we kept driving through Pigeon Forge,
TN, where Dolly Parton opened a theme
park, Dollyworld, which I couldnt convince Ken to
visit ( thank goodness!) - and the streets are 8
lanes wide with ALL neon signs, donut shops,
go-kart rentals, helicopter rides,flapjack
houses, and so much more that I guess we are not
supposed to live without. I really just wanted to
back to the middle of nowhere. Ken was saying
that as a teen, he had gone on a family vacation
to the Smokey Mtns/ Gatlinburg area, and it was
so completely changed that he couldnt believe
where he was.

We stopped for the night in Nashville, Tennessee
- the first RV park we went to was full , so we
ended up at a Yogi Bear Campground, which we have
been avoiding all along (-:

The next morning we found out that the Country
Music Awards were that night, Nov 7, in
Nashville, and the managers of the park got us
tickets in the nosebleed section! So we went to
the awards ceremony, mostly because we could, and
because apparently I have raised some kids who
either love country music or have a significant
other who loves country music....
Anyway, it was on television - we waved at
everyone, but dont know who might have watched???

While we were at the Yogi Bear campground Allie
got a pair of sunglasses, and she had her
picture taken with them on!! We got an extra pair
too, that Ken and I put on for fun....

We left Nashville on Nov 8....

More in "flat Allie 2"

Love, Mindy, Ken and Allie

November 14, 2007

2008-04-17T19:52:00.000-07:00

Hello there!

It has taken us a long time to get back in touch
because we keep parking for the night in places
where there is no internet service! It is very
odd, because we could have service all day long
on the highway, then as soon as we pull off into
a campground....

After we left Skyline Drive and Shenandoah
National Park, we spent the night in Natural
Bridge, Virginia. Over 300 years ago the Monacan
Indians lived in this area. George Washington was
one of the first colonizing Americans to see it,
he was surveying the area for Lord Fairfax and
King George, and he carved his initials in a
nearby tree; well thats the story, I couldnt
actually find said tree....

Thomas Jefferson thought it was one of the most
beautiful places he had ever seen, and he bought
the bridge from King George in England in 1774
(who apparently thought it was his to sell), and
built a 2 room log cabin for his guests to stay
in while they visited. The stone bridge is 215
feet high. The whole town, now, is built up
around this little tourist attraction, a hotel
with restaurant, and conference center, a haunted
mansion, a wax museum, an Indian replica village
etc....there is no shortage of things to do! It
was a very nice campground....

When we drove the next day we were on the Blue
Ridge Parkway, which goes more than 450 miles in
Virginia and North Carolina. It is a narrow and
winding simply gorgeous road, that goes through
the mountains. We stopped again at many
beautiful overlooks, and took many pictures! Of
course, most of mine didnt come out, so we will
all have to wait for some of Ken's! Then we
camped in Elizabethton, Tennessee for the night,
at Stoney Creek Campground. It was a tiny
campground, only 14 sites, and it was on the very
top of a hill with only one way in and one way
out! Do not go the wrong way or you might not
make it! It was owned by a very nice old couple,
Helen and Charles. When we got there they were in
their garden transplanting flowers. Charles was
riding around on a 4 wheeler, Helen told me he
had had an accy-dent, dont you know, and he didnt
walk so good....well when he saw me trying to
back into the site he jumped right off his little
4 wheeler to come supervise, so I had a spell of
wonderin bout his accy-dent. However, they were
really sweet. They had two cute little Jack
Russell terrier dogs. Allie really liked those
dogs.

In fact , she liked them so much that she was a
little naughty for the first time on the trip!
She was outside on her leash, and Ken asked her
if she wanted to come inside. She acted like she
wanted to come in, so Ken unhooked her. He came
inside and shut the door. About 20 minutes later
we heard all this barking and yipping…..and we
looked all over the rv, and Allie was no where to
be found…she snuck off....so we had to get our
flashlights and go outside to look for her. Guess
where she was???? She was up at Helen and Charles
house trying to play with the little dogs!

It was the full moon outside, so Ken took a
picture of what it looked like from our campsite
that night. Quite lovely

Next stop: Spruce Pine, NC. Tammy told me that
she watches a tv show about treasure hunting
people who go to mines or antique stores or metal
detecting (etc) and find stuff that is worth some
cash. I poohed her ( I believed her, just thought
it was too much trouble, smile) til I actually
watched one of the shows...This woman went to
Spruce Pine, NC. There are several old mines
there, where people have found all kinds of
pretty gemstones, such as rubies, emeralds,
topaz, aventurine, amazonite and aquamarine. Well
it was on our route south so, why not? The mine
itself was closed for the season, meaning we
couldn’t go in and dig in the dirt for gems,
but
you could go to their storefront, called Gem
Mountain, and buy a big bucket of dirt and
rocks, and then spend as much time as you wanted
to, using their sluice. Well, we had a lot of fun
doing that! I got soaking wet, because I was so
excited every time I found a rock that I would
forget I had all this water running all around
me! We found enough aventurine and amazonite and
rose quartz to send a piece to all of Suzy
Meehans class. We are also having a 2 carat ruby
and 3 one carat emeralds faceted!! One of the
things I learned there was that every single
computer made recently uses silicon chips made
from quartz that has been mined in Spruce Pine,
NC - go figure. It was also the first place where
we both rode on the scooter....I did not tell Ken
til we were back safe and sound that I had never
had a passenger before (I think he might have
guessed, at one point he was laughing at me so
hard for going so slow that he about fell off the
back!)

After we spent a few days in Spruce Pine, we
continued down the Blue Ridge Parkway to
Ashville, NC. On the way we stopped at the Folk
Art Center, where they had beautiful handmade
baskets and tiny wooden bowls made by Jim
McPhail.( said that cuz he's online) We stopped
to look at them because we saw a show on tv about
him…..he glues several layers of different
kinds of wood together and then uses a lathe to
make bowls that are 1 inch big! I was very
impressed! But could not see spending $150 for a
bowl 1 inch in diameter....

We picked a campground in Ashville to stay at for
several nights. Allie really liked the campground
because they had a dog walk area that was a whole
field, so she didn’t need to be on her leash
and
she ran around like a puppy and rolled in the
grass a lot!

The next day I rode the scooter to the local
Farmers Market. I had lots of fun buying
vegetables for dinner. They had purple heirloom
tomatoes, and cheese, bacon and butter made by
local Amish people. And then these two guys
pulled out their guitars and started singing
hillbilly music! Too bad Ken and Allie decided to
stay at home—they missed the homemade
handcranked
ice cream!! Don’t tell.

Ken and I rode the scooter to the Biltmore Estate
the next day. It is still the biggest house in
America. It has 250 rooms, plus barns , gardens,
a winery and now an inn for guests. George
Vanderbilt designed it and had it built when he
was a young man, between 1889 and 1895. His
family still owns the house, but they have opened
it up for the public to be able to go in and look
at all the beautiful antiques and books that he
collected,etc, for a fee of course....they figure
there are 1 million visitors a year, who probably
average spending $100 per person per day, between
eating, drinking, shopping ( you too could have a
souvenir replica of anything at all you saw in
the house!)In the basement there is one of the
first indoor swimming pools with underwater
lights, and a bowling alley! It actually was kind
of interesting....the restaurants and winery are
all using organic methods to grow on site, even
the beef on the menu was homegrown - and
apparently it has always been a self sufficient
property.

Our last stop in North Carolina was in Cherokee,
at the very end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, as you
are about to enter the Great Smokey Mountains
National Park. We spent many hours in The Museum
of The Cherokee, which had wonderful exhibits
about the Trail of Tears and the relocation of
the Cherokee to the reservation. We also went to
the Qualla Crafts Cooperative, and we saw an
historic Cherokee Village, from the outside,
because they closed for the season the day
before, dang. That is where we spent the night.
It was a giant KOA campground in Cherokee, with
signs and fences everywhere, warning us to stay
off of reservation land.....

Another email is coming soon!!! And some more
pictures! Miss you all!

Love, Mindy (and Allie, and Ken!)

November 2, 2007

2008-02-08T16:19:00.000-08:00

Hello!

More adventures from the road!

After Bethel, Maine we drove to Mount Washington. It was our first real indication that the end of the "season" was upon us....many campgrounds had already closed. Some that were still open had no hook-ups, which usually wouldnt bother me at all, but Im travelling with someone from Texas, who was freezing to death in Maine, and NH was not any warmer! So hookups were in order, in order to plug in the adorable electic heater that warms up tootsies in short order (hope it doesnt start a fire!)

The first campground we stopped at (after dark of course because the road was sooo pretty and we had to go look at where the old man used to be, etc) was a little odd - "yes we have a site, yes we have hookups" , then they asked us "do you have a radio?" yes "doyou have a pet?" yes "Well we dont allow either, so you'll have to move along".......well ok then. Come to find out they also dont allow alcohol in the RV, or any noise after 9pm.......probably not a good choice anyway!

We ended up driving for miles in the dark, all the way to Bethlehem, where there was a campground called Apple Hill or Blossom or Run -I should write these things down! No one was in the office, but they were open, so we drove in. It was so dark, and most of the sites were full, but no people or lights anywhere. Spooky. We did find a spot and settled in for the night. The next day we found a human in the office ,paid up and went on our merry way to the Cog Railroad - one of my personal favorites. I just love technology I can understand! No dogs allowed on the railroad; we had to park away from the congestion, so Allie didnt bark every time something moved! Three hours up and back, with a chance to walk around in between.

It had snowed a few days before we arrived, apparently hard enough to produce 4 foot drifts that closed the road for a day. Everything was covered in crystals of snow and ice that looked like feathers. And the wind was blowing like crazy (not 261 miles an hour, as has been recorded there, but ...) It was fun.

Back to Keene for a couple of days, took care of some paperwork, got the scooter and scooterhauler, and back on the road to NY State. It was a stop on the way to visit my cousin and 93 yr young aunt. Not to mention that I got to go see her grandaughter in a cheerleading competition!

Once we left NY State we headed south into PA. The first night we made it as far as Montgomery. Not too far but thats ok. We found this great place to eat - the sign said "Me and Ma's What-Not Shop and Country Kitchen", on Rt 220 between Milan and Ulster NY - 2 huge burgers, smothered with whatever you wanted, 1 enormous plate of fries with tomatoes, onions, blue cheese and hot sauce, 2 drinks (refillable) for $16.32.....I could only eat half, Allie more than enjoyed the rest! Its probably a good thing I could only eat half...."me and ma" both looked like they really liked their own cooking, and I understood why!

Anyway, Riverside Campground in Montgomery was a really pretty site, right on the river.
Allie got to run around with no leash! Apparently they also had a lounge and restaurant open later than anything else in town, but since we right on the riverfront we didnt hear a thing!

Spent the next night in Gettysburg, PA - slow slow day, spent too much time getting groceries and hardware store stuff - we had to figure out how to get the scooter on and off the hauler, for example. We had also hooked up for the first time, a GPS system that Cruise America sent us as a gift...occasionally it is right on accurate! Her name is Cynthia, and I have to admit, it drives me nuts. I want a map. But it was fun to play with on day 1. Cynthia sent us to 3 different campgrounds around Gettysburg - the first two were practically full. It was Friday, Oct 26, and the campgrounds were celebrating Halloween. I mean adults and children running amuck with costumes on, haunted houses, lights everywhere, trick or treating from 5 - 7pm. We went to a third campground, which was called Granite Hill - home of the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival in May each year. Well that would be cool! But it wasnt May, it was Halloween weekend. They actually had one site left, so we took it, because of course, it was about to be dark. The woman at the desk said oh of course all the campgrounds are booked, theyve been booked for the whole month of October - we do Halloween every weekend in October! They were having a DJ'd Monster Mash that night which we were invited to join in on. Who knew? She said everyone from up north thought it was weird...I said it was probably because the campgrounds arent even open! Unfortunately, as soon as we parked and had dinner, it started to pour....which didnt stop the hundreds of costumed revelers from mashing, but it did stop me! And it poured all night long.

Saturday morning the sun came out for our drive to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. Let me tell you right now, I loved Harper's Ferry, and I wish I could have spent 2 days there. I love the old buildings - some restored, some stabilized, some half torn down to show the different architecture over the centuries, people in period costumes. It is also the site of the John Brown raid on the Munitions Factory, which failed miserably and led to his hanging in 1859. There is a museum dedicated to that entire escapade and to the life of John Brown. Very cool. The machines from the old factories were still intact, and are often used to give demonstrations. We spent all afternoon there, I had to get dragged to the last bus back to the parking lot.

But! There was a KOA campground right next door....with one available campsite, because? It was Halloween weekend! We didnt have any candy to give out, so I couldnt hang up our little pumpkin from the KOA office. There were some very cute kids wandering about trick or treating, and some very nice dog outfits as well! More next time of our adventures after Harpers Ferry.

Love you all, Mindy

October 29, 2007

2008-02-08T16:02:00.000-08:00

Hello!!

We are finally camped in a place with reliable cell service and internet! We are in Natural Bridge, VA, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. We spent two days driving along Skyline Drive, with many overlook sightings and trailheads to explore. I never knew it could take 2 days to go 105 miles!

We had a great time in Acadia - we camped near Bass Harbor Light for a few days, where bike riding and walking the dog were at the top of my list...Allie was very joyful!... and then we moved up closer to Bar Harbor for a couple of days; we went on a four masted schooner, without Allie. We found out the carriage rides were closed but the carriage roads were open, and found a small Herkimer diamond, not in matrix, for sale for $75.00. Hang on to those herks , they're gold apparently!

We went to Schoodic Point on the advice of Eric and many others, and are really glad we did. Its not even listed/shown on some of the maps we had as being part of Acadia... But a very lovely drive, and we spent hours with Allie chasing seagulls on the rocks. On our way to the White Mountains, we actually drove through Cherryfield (again, Eric mentioned it- but we took the road cuz it went where we were going!) and it really was flaming red over all the low bush blueberry fields. It was also the first town where we pulled over to let cars go by us slow folk, and then had a cop pull up. He was a statie, who stopped because he thought we were in trouble, and he was really quite helpful...told us which roads to take to get to Bangor and onward.

The next day we were driving through Bethel, Maine, about to re-emerge in NH, when we drove by this incredible looking antique/junk shop. The whole front yard was filled with amazing artifacts. I was driving, and said that I wanted to turn around and go back! So, Ken and I looked for a place to turn around for at least 5 miles. Viola! - theres a place! and back we went. Three hours later...

It was an amazing collection. Signs told us to go into the barn first ("Dont come inside the house til you have gone in the barn!") There was at least half of everything I have ever thrown away in the place, literally. A collection of Bates Hotel keys, anything your 1940-1960 Chevy could need, player piano rolls, all the toys that were the rage in 1960, block and tackle from every era........4 floors of barn. Then the house - I really wanted the gorgeous trunk with the inside shelves intact....ooops, it does not fit into an RV!

Then the house - where there were collections of locks and keys and dolls and old film everything, and vintage posters. It was really fun. So, the name of the place was Rusty Cobwebs, and the owner was an interesting fellow. It was the best three hours!..From there we stopped briefly in Keene, and headed to NY State. I will tell you all more about NY state through Natural Bridge, VA next time...Love you all, Mindy and Ken and Allie

October 10, 2007

2008-02-08T15:51:00.000-08:00

Hi there!

It is Wednesday night, and we are in Acadia National Park! Well, actually we are in Bass Harbor, at a campground with hookups, not camped in the park itself, because they have only sites that have no hookups, and we thought plugging in a little heater might be a good idea!

We have been meandering, mostly, on our way here, which has been really nice - no deadlines, no mad rush to get there....so we were able to spend a couple of nights in York Beach, where Nubble Light is. I managed to get up with Allie at sunrise, and that is where the photo with the bird is, just a few yards from our oceanfront campsite....

We drove up to Popham Beach then, and were on the beach at sunset, when this runner went by. Popham Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches that I have seen. Then we spent an hour trying to find a campsite - the one listed in the Woodalls guide closed on October 1, not the 15th, like the book said, so we had to keep looking. We found one in Georgetown, which looked out on a lighthouse.

I have since learned that 57 of the 62 lighthouses in Maine are still operational, which is kind of cool - I would try to visit them all, but dont think thats going to happen this trip! I have never been north of Popham Beach before this trip, and I am so impressed with how beautiful it is...all the way north, hugging the coast. There was one town that was under construction (on its Main Street), which gave us a lot of time to view the 500 pound pumpkins decorated for Halloween...one was carved and dressed to look like a puffer fish, very nice.

So, in Acadia, many things are already closed for the season - sad - since everything I read indicated closure on the 15th, but the ocean and mountains are gorgeous, and the colors here are fabulous. Really wishing we had the scooter with us, since we have to drive around in Princess....but we do now have collapsable (sp?) bikes so are able to park and go biking on the carriage roads built by Rockefeller, which are bike/walk only trails. Allie is having a pretty good time, considering. She does have a little trouble with the steps, but has made herself right at home between the two front seats, with her head underneath one. She has made many friends going for walks at the lighthouses etc. She always looks like she is smiling, and people come up to her and call her"old girl"....We are here until the 16th or so - need to be back in Keene on the 18th. More soon!

Love to all, Mindy

September 2, 2007

2008-02-08T15:44:00.000-08:00

Hi there!

We just rolled out of a campground on the banks of the Mississippi River, in Fairport, Iowa, headed for New England again!

The new transmission seems to be working really well - and the rv now has a name - Princess. Dont ask me why, its just so! After we left Wyoming, we stopped in Lincoln, Nebraska for a night to visit Susan L.....we missed the opening Huskers game because it was sold out! Can you believe it?

Here are some FASCINATING things I learned about Nebraska while we drove (endlessly) through it:
-it is the birthplace of KoolAid (honestly, when I saw the billboard on the side of the road I almost died laughing!!!) IT WAS ALMOST AS GOOD AS THE SPAM MUSEUM!
-there is a carhendge in NE, made entirely of cadillacs
-it is the home of the National Liars Museum
-vice-grips were invented in NE
-The world's most famous tractor testing laboratory is at the University of Nebraska College of Engineering.
-Nebraska is both the largest producer and user of center pivot irrigation.(what????)
-American Legion Post No. 3 in Lincoln is the world's largest American Legion post. (this one was easy to believe)
-America's first rodeo was held by Buffalo Bill at his Scouts Rest Ranch at North Platte to celebrate the Fourth of July in 1882.
- The strobe light was invented by Nebraska native, Dr. Harold Edgerton.

OK, now that we have had our history lesson....you can learn more by going to: http://www.sos.state.ne.us/knwing_ne.html
who knew that the state of nebraska was this much fun! Now I have to find anything at all fun about IOWA!!!

I miss you all! call me! I have cell service again, now that we are east of the Mississippi...
Love ya, Mindy

August 29, 2007

2008-02-08T15:35:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

Well, after 10 whole days here in Jackson Hole Wyoming, we are actually getting our RV back today, and will be on the road sometime this afternoon! Hurray! It has been a strange 10 days of negotiating with various insurance companies - it seems that we have two separate warranties on the transmission of the RV.....one from Cruise America for 30 days or 1,000 miles, and one for 100,000 miles...They cant seem to figure out who is supposed to pay! Me? I dont care who pays, as long as its not us - get it done, get us out of here!

As gorgeous as it is here, between the Tetons and Yellowstone, it is soooo expensive, even renting a room with a kitchen is way more expensive than living in an rv!!! As soon as we are back in the rv and on the road, I have photos of our little adventure here! Bear (mama and 2 cubs), moose (bull and cow with baby), a fawn, lots of buffalo and elk, a coyote, some fox.....

The pelicans have been elusive since Greece....I keep hearing about them, but cant ever seem to find one.....We went rafting down the Snake River, and went horseback
riding in the foothills of the Tetons (Cowboy Ken got on a horse for the first time since he was 11!!!!)

Talk to you all soon! The plan is to head to Lincoln, Neb - say hi to Susan L, possibly attend a Huskers game - then head to NH to visit there, and get some business done.....then we need to be back in OR on Sept 15 so Ken and his kids can catch their plane to visit his mom.......where does the time go???? oh yeah, 10 days in Jackson Hole and a sick mom equals no fall new england/nova scotia tour.......I think, who knows, plans could change again at any time!

Love, Mindy

August 18, 2007

2008-02-08T15:30:00.000-08:00

Hi there!

Here's a quick update for anyone interested! If not, you know where the delete key is!

Ken and I are headed today to spend my 50th birthday at Grand Teton National Park! We are driving in Idaho as I write this. We spent yesterday driving around Crater Lake in Oregon, and then east to Boise, Idaho, where we spent thenight at some random RV park. It was an interesting park - they had three handicapped accessible showers, and an accessible mens bathroom - and NO womens bathroom at all.....can anyone explain that? I would have used the mens bathroom, but there was no lock on the door, and I got creeped out.....hmmmm....good thing we have a bathroom in the rv!

We drove through some very strange countryside yesterday - eastern Oregon is like a moonscape....high desert....no people or habitation for miles and miles of road, just chipmunks, hares and weird shrubs....but really pretty. Oh, wait, there was one great photo op that we both missed....there was a tree at a rest stop completely covered in shoes that people had strung together and thrown over the various branches! In the middle of nowhere. If I had been in a covered wagon and had come across this area on my journey westward, there is NO WAY I would have stopped except for the night! Hoping to get some photos sent out soon. Its a process! We did get the wifi in motion hooked up today - so I can type and drive at the same time (-:

Oh yes, and apparently Zach and Courtney were jealous that Naomi got a puppy, so I now have two grandpuppies....theirs is a six week old golden (who is already driving them crazy!!)

50 is just a number, right?

More soon - Love you all, Mindy

August 5, 2007

2008-02-08T15:25:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!
Hope you dont mind the mass email......I have
had very sketchy wireless internet service across
the country, so was pretty much unable to send
emails for most of our drive across!

Ken and I are now back in Oregon...we picked up
the RV in Seattle - it was many hours of
looking and talking (the salesman was a talker
with a capital T) - so we didnt actually leave
the RV place til almost 5:30 pm.....and it was
RUSH hour traffic on Route 5, which is the major
highway north/south.....It was great fun learning
how to drive a 24 foot rv in rush hour traffic! I
am sure I almost died of a heart attack at least
twice.
of course, I was alone in the RV for the drive,
because Ken was driving the car....Because we
were so late getting started, we didnt actually
stop for the night until about 11 pm. We were on
the Oregon coast, and stopped at Twin Harbors
State Park. Even with the full moon, I could not
see a darn thing behind me in the mirrors.
Knowing that there were picnic tables , and
sleeping campers all around, I chose to pull in
forward instead of attempting my first backing up
an RV experience in the dark.... Go ahead, laugh
if you must! That meant that we were unable to
plug into the electrical power or the water
supply....hmmmm. Kind of like camping....without
being prepared!
The next days driving was much easier, I started
actually driving over 40 miles an hour (-:
I should have driven the Community Kitchen's box
truck more often obviously! And by the time we
parked for the night, I was ready to put it in
reverse...did I mention we were the only campers
at the campground? It was out of the Deliverance
movie, I swear....however, I backed right in to
the (30 ft wide) spot on the first try.
It was really fun actually....not the backing up,
the night in the RV! Who knew? Cooking dinner in
it was fun, sleeping in it was fun, waking up in
it was fun. I think I will like being a sort of
gypsy for a bit....
Anyway - here we are in Ashland, OR, after
dropping off the RV at Camping World to have an
awning put on, and Wifi service through my
Verizon cell phone acct put in...We have to go
back and get it next Friday.
I have been hanging out with my youngest daughter
Naomi here - this is where she lives. And I met
and babysat for my new grandpuppy, Frankie, who
really is (one of)the cutest puppies on the
planet....I took him for a walk in the park and
he bounds around, then all of a sudden puts his
head down and starts rubbing his forehead in the
grass....very cute. Dont know what kind of dog he
is...but he will be big.
So - while we are here we are moving Ken out of
his apt, moving Naomi out of her apt and into
Kens, and I have met Kens daughters, Taylor,
Morgan and Dylan.
The plan right now is to be back in NH by August
24. On August 25 there is a big party at
Catherine Skoves house in Gilsum, NH. It is a
50th birthday party for Catherine, Kary, Kate and
myself - (how did that happen?)...really it is
just a big party, but we who turn 50 are inviting
all of our friends etc....there is a great bluesy
band playing (Mr Nick and the Blues Mafia - by
another name)and overnight camping will be
available for anyone wanting to stay - I will
send out invites shortly, but wanted to give you
a heads up about the date!
So - I know this was long, and some of you havent
heard from me in a while. But I am well and happy
and even figured out how to send a couple
photos...Love to all!

July 28, 2007

2008-02-08T15:20:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to let you all know our whereand what abouts!We are right now in Sundance, Wyoming. It isSaturday night, and although there are manypeople eating out in the restaurant (Aro's) thereis no one else in town!We drove through the Badlands today, and theBlack Hills - and I have to tell you that it wasWAY more fun than Iowa! I havent seen lots ofbikes, so Im guessing its NOT bike week inSturgis....(Dang - miss those chaps)We completely packed up the house, and headed outon Tuesday evening..... and we expect to be inSeattle on Tuesday morning to pick up theRV....then maybe after seeing a few people (Terryand George, will you be home?) we are headed toAshland, OR.....Cant wait to meet Naomi's new puppy, Frankie.....