Homeward bound

Happy 4th of July everyone! We must be ready to come home ... this was the first morning that I didn't have to wake either of the other two. We'll head down to get some breakfast and then hit the road.

Our Saturday was pretty busy. St Louis really does the 4th. They have concerts along the river under the Arch and a big parade. (John Legend played last night and the B52s were playing tonight.) All of this made it interesting for us to try to get where we wanted to go. We eventually made it downtown and parked at the ball park. Walked around Busch Stadium and took some photos on our way to the Arch. (That's Audrey and I with a statue of Ozzie Smith, one of my favorite shortstops) The Arch is actually the Jefferson National Expansion Monument and it's amazing. We got in line to go through security then got in line to get our tickets to go up the Arch. We watched a documentary about how they built the monument. As with most feats of engineering, those guys were crazy! Then we took the little pod cars to the top. Five people fit in these little cars and it takes 4 minutes to go up and 3 minutes to go back down. There were lots of people already up at the top so it was kind of hard to get around. There was an air show going on on the river side so we could see the planes fly by. Then we could look down and see how tiny the people look. There's a great museum that you could spend alot of time in. But with all the people and the fact that we hadn't had lunch yet, we'll have to come back to do it justice.

We went back outside and had funnel cake and curly fries for lunch. Along with sweet tea and frozen lemonade. Found a place in the shade to eat and people watch. We wandered around for a little bit but it was pretty hot.

About 4:30 we headed over for the baseball game. We had great seats along the first base line a couple of sections up. It was 91 degrees at game time but our seats were in the shade and stayed in the shade as the sun went down. It's a beautiful view of the city and the Arch from the Stadium. The Cardinals were beat by the Brewers 12-5. For a while it was 11-0 and the lady in front of us apologized to us that we had to witness the thumping but at least they came back.

We were able to stay in the stadium to see the fireworks. However, the view was obstructed and Audrey complained bitterly. They were ok fireworks, they didn't last very long and I'm pretty sure even Westerville has a better finale. It was pretty late when we got back to the hotel.

It's been a fabulous trip. We've had amazing weather and have seen beautiful sites. Thanks for reading our blog and we'll see you soon!

Almost over

We're in St Louis tonight (and Audrey and Brian have gone to the pool.) We stopped at Grant's Farm on the way in this afternoon. It's owned by Anheuser-Busch. It's the farm where the Clydesdales are bred and raised. We saw a couple of foals. It's also sort of a zoo with a Deer Park with all sorts of animals. Audrey bottled fed some goats and had her first snow cone (wild cherry.) She also enjoyed another carousel ride. Also on the grounds is a log cabin built and lived in by Ulysses S Grant. His in-laws were the original owners of the property and when he married into the family, they gave him 80 acres. (thus Grant's Farm)

We're staying in a Hampton Inn ... I checked us in this afternoon and they gave me room keys. We unloaded the Pilot onto one of those baggage carts and came up to the room. Tried to get in and the keys didn't work. Went back to the desk and they redid the keys. This time when I tried to use them, I could hear people in the room. I knocked on the door and spoke to the man. Then went back downstairs to the front desk. They don't exactly know what happened (ha!) but they gave us another room and these keys worked and there was no one already in the room. So, we're leaving to go next door for dinner and Audrey had forgotten her headband. I said I would go back and get it. As I'm coming back down the hallway, I see a couple messing with their room keys and sure enough, it's the people we almost walked in on and I have to ride down the elevator with them. They were talking about having their keys redone and I admitted that I was the one who tried their door. We were able to laugh about it because it had happened to the man before except he was the one who had walked in on someone else. (yoy!)

We're going to a St Louis Cardinals baseball game tomorrow. It was supposed to start at 3pm but it's been moved to 5:35 to accommodate tv scheduling. There's also some sort of street fair downtown around the St Louis Arch. We hope to be at the Arch pretty early before it gets too busy.

Toto, we're still in Kansas

We left Colorado about 8am this morning and arrived in Topeka about 7pm. (don't forget, there was a time change in there) We got on 70 east about 10am. I commented to Brian that, other than our stay in St Louis, we'd be on 70 east for the next 4 days. No photos today, not that we didn't see beautiful country, just didn't take any pictures. We saw a man this afternoon with spurs on his cowboy boots. I told Audrey that he was a real cowboy. She said, "why is he eating in McDonalds?" Good question. Audrey and Brian have gone for a swim. I think they've been in the pool every night the past two weeks.

Wednesday

And yet, another beautiful day in CO. We headed up Pikes Peak this morning on the Cog Railway. We started out at about 6,000 feet in elevation and go up to above 14,000 feet. It was a beautiful trip up (and down). Lots of scenery, rocks, trees and waterfalls. Even some wildflowers. Audrey had a little issue with the altitude but was ok. It was chilly when we got to the top but you could see for miles. There were 275 people on our train plus folks can drive up so there were lots of people on the top. We sat with folks from Texas who were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. They had gone to the top on their honeymoon on July 5th and had gotten snowed in at the top. There's still a little snow at the top but not much.

When we got back down the mountain it was pretty warm. We headed off to the Garden of the Gods. It's a large park with some amazing rock features.

We had dinner in Manitou Springs along a main street. We sat on the porch of a Bistro and watched people then we had promised Audrey ice cream. We checked out the little shops but only purchased two Christmas ornaments.

Tomorrow is a long day of traveling ...

Tuesday

Another lovely day in Colorado. It was warm but breezy, sometimes almost windy. We drove about 90 minutes from Denver to Colorado Springs to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It boasts that it's the only mountain zoo. It's a very nice zoo with some animals that we don't get to see in Columbus. The first animals you see as you enter are giraffes and you can buy giraffe crackers to feed them. We saw just about everything and rode the skyway and the merry-go-round. Audrey also rode her first pony. It was a really good day. I think we're all tired although Brian and Audrey are in the pool. Tomorrow we head up Pikes Peak on the Cog Railway.

Monday

Hi Friends - it's definitely warmer in Denver! I'll start out with a note about our hotel room. We're staying in a Holiday Inn Express just off the freeway. Yesterday Brian noticed that the fluorescent bulb(s) in the light above the bathroom sink was flickering. I didn't think it was a big deal. OK, I was wrong. (better make sure Brian reads this) This morning it was like taking a shower with a strobe light. Unfortunately, it's the only light in the bathroom and the only mirror in the room. Made putting in my contacts real interesting and it's a good thing we're not epileptic. We talked to them when we went down for breakfast and they've fixed it. Now about breakfast - they were out of orange juice, they didn't have any cold water and the room was really hot. So we packed up and went to McDonald's.

Our first stop was the Denver Downtown Aquarium. It was nice (Cincinnati is better and what aquarium has tigers, no not the sharks, the cats) but we had a good time. Audrey was pretty brave and touched a star fish and petted the sting rays.

Next we went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. A very cool museum. We saw a movie in the planetarium about stars and Audrey even liked it. The BodyWorks exhibit is here so we saw that. This exhibit was in Columbus but we never went. It has real bodies that have been "plasticized" and posed. It also shows healthy organs and unhealthy organs. Audrey now knows what the stent looks like that Grandma has in her heart and what a cat's heart looks like. It was really very interesting. Then we visited some of the natural exhibits mostly about North American animals.

As we were leaving the museum I asked a lady at the information desk if she could recommend a restaurant. She recommended Annie's Cafe & Bar. We had a really good, relaxing meal. The decor is vintage/old movie posters and stuff from tv shows so they show whatever's playing on TCM. You'll notice in the photo of Audrey and I that we are genetically linked as we watched some movie from 1944. :)

Tomorrow is a short travel day, Denver to Colorado Springs/Manitou Springs.

Sunday, part two

Oh yes, today also included listening to more golf on the radio ... :)

Sunday

A good day for travelling. We left Hill City about 9am and had travelled about an hour when we could start to see the Rocky Mountains to the west. It's just amazing how far one can see ... and just how beautiful it is.

Stopped at a rest area just across the Wyoming state line that looked brand new. As we walked up I read the sign - it was a solar powered recycling rest area - a new fangled pit toilet. It was pretty but yes, it still smelled. And my family knows how much I "love" pit toilets.

Traffic picked up the closer we got to Denver. We're staying on the northeast side. We had dinner at a place called 3 Margaritas with a live Mariachi band. You can imagine what Audrey thought of that. :) They sounded pretty good, for all that I know about Mariachi bands but we weren't there long enough for them to make it around to our side of the restaurant. Brian and Audrey have gone off to the pool. Tomorrow our plans include the Denver Downtown Aquarium.

Saturday

Our last day in the Black Hills ... started out slow. Audrey and Brian slept until almost 9am. We had breakfast and then headed for Rapid City. Visited the Chapel in the Hills, a replica of a Norwegian chapel. Lots of carved wood outside but very plain inside. There was a nice prayer walk with statues along the walk.

Downtown Rapid City has bronze statues of 40 of our Presidents on 40 different corners. You'll see a photo of Brian and Audrey with LBJ. Then we visited a store called Prairie Edge - I could've spent lots of money in there! Our next stop was the Dahl Arts Center. A very nice art museum. We spent almost two hours there - partly because it stormed. We spent several minutes looking out a window watching the quarter sized hail bounce off the Pilot. Luckily, no damage. Audrey made a friend while we were there (a total of 8 people in the museum) and so they walked around and played in the kids room for a while.

We enjoyed a very nice dinner with Jimmy, Rachel and Cooper. Audrey chatted away as if we'd seen them yesterday and even gave Cooper a couple of her silly banz. (silly banz aren't that big in SD yet)

Tomorrow is a travel day ... we're off to Denver.

Friday

It was another lovely day in the Black Hills. We spent the morning at the Crazy Horse Memorial. The is a LARGE sculpture being carved out of the side of a mountain. Crazy Horse was an Indian involved in the Battle of the Little Big Horn. This sculpture was started in 1947 and the work continues. They've finished work on his face and it was dedicated in 1998. The next 20 years will be spent on the horse's head. You can kind of see the outline painted on the rock. They don't have an end date for this project. There's an extensive Indian artifact museum at the site. You also get to walk through the studio and part of the house where the sculptor and his family have resided. The best part for Audrey and I was the kitty sleeping on the couch in the room with the family stuff. We had walked right by her then we noticed other people looking and went back to pet her. :)

We went into Custer for lunch. Ate at a family restaurant that had the slowest service ever!! I'm pretty sure we were there an hour and a half.

Today it's cloudy and there may be rain. We're headed into Rapid City where we'll meet Jimmy, Rachel and Cooper for dinner.

Thursday

Well, I hate to say but it's been another beautiful day in SD. Temps were warmer today, low 80's but with a breeze. We spent the day in Custer State Park. Luckily, Brian has nerves of steel because it's quite a drive. Lots of signs where the arrow looks like an upside down U and has 15 mph on it. Very narrow roads and some one lane tunnels through the rock. First we went to Sylvan Lake and hiked around the lake. It's only a mile but there are some rocks to navigate. It's so pretty though. Then we drove the Wildlife Loop. We saw the burros, a few pronghorns, more deer and the buffalo. We'd been driving for a while and hadn't seen the buffalo so we stopped at a visitor's center and asked. They showed us on the map where they had been this morning. We drove a few more miles and there they were. A smaller herd right along the road in a meadow with a stream. We sat and watched for several minutes. A few miles further and there was a larger herd farther back from the road. We stopped at the State Game Lodge, a nice lodge in the park and had lunch.

We stopped in Keystone and I bought Audrey and I Black Hills gold necklaces. She was asleep in the backseat so she and Brian stayed in the car in a nice shady spot while I shopped. We also stopped at the Powderhouse Lodge where we stayed in 1974, and took some photos. I think we'll spend a quiet evening in the hotel.

Wednesday

Sorry I didn't post yesterday - we were having connectivity problems ...

It was another beautiful, almost cool day in South Dakota yesterday. We had breakfast and drove down the street a few blocks to catch the 1880's train. It's a steam engine that pulls 7 passenger cars from Hill City to Keystone and back. It's a 10 mile trip through the Black Hills. We only had a 15 minute layover in Keystone. Brian and Audrey got off the train and I saved our seats. Thanks to our vacations as kids, I've ridden several trains like this, including this one. So people always look at me with interest when I get on and flip the seat back so that we can sit facing each other. We wandered around Hill City after lunch.

We had some spare time in the afternoon so Brian and Audrey had fun in the pool.

Last night we went to the Circle B Ranch for the Cowboy Supper. All day Audrey had been trying to talk us out of going but in the end, she enjoyed it. They had goats and donkeys to pet, a playground and she tried her hand at roping. Then everyone gathers along the "Main Street" and there's shootout between the Sheriff and the Biscuit Bandit. You get your supper on a tin plate and your lemonade in a tin cup. Baked potato, beans, a peach, a biscuit and a piece of spice cake. You had your choice of meat - chicken, beef or buffalo. Brian had some buffalo and it was ok. After supper, there's a show. The owner and two of his sons, and sometimes the wife, sing cowboy songs. It was a really nice evening.

A few more photos ...

Beautiful day

Hi Everyone! First let me say, it really has been a beautiful day. Temp in the low 70's with a breeze. The kind of blue blue sky that you only see in the west and the smell of a pine forest.

Audrey was happy - we started out a Bear Country USA. It's a drive through park with elk, big horn sheep, mountain goats, buffalo and bears. Lots of bears - bears sleeping along the road, bears crossing the road, bears in water holes, bears on top of logs and bears chasing each other. Then once you've driven through, you stop at what they call Baby Land and you see baby/young animals. We saw a baby skunk, porcupines, badgers, lynx and bobcats. They're all very cute but nothing is cuter than 28 six month old bear cubs. Normally they have about 14 per year but this year they got 28. The cubs stay with their mothers there in the park until they are 3 months old. These little things had been born in late January and they were just too cute! We could have watched them for hours.

Next stop was Mt. Rushmore. Not much to say other than you really should see this at some time in your life. It's amazing and beautiful.

Audrey's done really well. We were about half way through a .6 mile walk around Mt. Rushmore when she started to get tired. We're off to get some dinner soon.

We had another storm last night. Audrey and I looked out the window and saw both a rainbow and a lightning strike. Would've made a great photo.

Tomorrow it's the 1880's train ride to Keystone and a cowboy supper.

Busy Monday

Well, the rain had slowed by the time we left the hotel. Drove about an hour to Mitchell, SD to visit the Corn Palace. They call it a piece of "folk art" as it's a building decorated with corn.

Later, we stopped somewhere along the way at a "1880's town" to use the bathroom. We were walking around and a man dressed as a wild west character called out to Audrey, "Hey girl! I haven't seen you in 10 or 15 years. Not since that time in Sante Fe!" Well, you can imagine what she thought of that. The more he talked, the more she tried to hide behind me. :)

Next we got off the freeway and followed the Badlands loop to Wall. It took us through part of Badlands National Park which is pretty amazing. We got out several times to look around and take photos. They're repaving the road so there were some delays. We pulled over once to watch the prairie dogs.

Next stop - Wall Drug. Lots of stuff and lots of people. We had some dinner and ice cream. Bought Audrey a prairie dog stuffed animal which made her very happy.

Drove about an hour and a half to Hill City which will be our home base for the next week. We're in the Black Hills now and it's beautiful. Need to check the weather forecast and decide what we'll do tomorrow. Audrey's really pushing for Bear Country ...