Thursday, November 21, 2013

November 21st

Drove all the way from Gallup to Sedona, AZ yesterday because it was going to rain.  We discovered the tour of a pueblo we were going to do was 1 l/2 hours, outside - not so fun in the rain.  Day early with hookups in a fairly decent park not so bad either.  Sedona is beautiful and we haven't been here since the kids were little guys.  Unfortunately it was cloudy all day, but still wonderful geography to enjoy.


God's handiwork

Green arches? We suspect tough codes in Sedona!

Oak Creek Canyon - pretty 
  


Storm is acomin...

Just thought this was a funny name for a business

Hairalina - really!



Montezuma Castle



On to Phoenix - where we will deal with a huge rain storm - huh, Arizona and we get our biggest rainstorm - who woulda thunk?

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Oklahoma City....

Interesting freeway art.....

beautiful sunrise.......

RV park tornado shelter - glad I didn't have to see how many people can be stuffed in there!!!
Hoses thawing

Brrrrrrrr

Callie and Maizy beat the cold temps!

One thing that was great in Kansas City was some BBQ - the ranger back in St. Louis at Grant's Farm told us to be sure and go to Oklahoma Joe's.  At first I thought we had the wrong address - it was in a gas station!  And it was the best BBQ ever.  The line never got shorter from the time we got there until we left.  


The ribs we devoured!

Best gas station food I ever had.
November 20

Well I am a happy girl - we got a myfi on this trip and I'm on it right now because the internet at this particular RV park stinks!!!  My cousin in Arkansas uses one so we started talkin, Paul started researchin and now I have a new device to learn to use!  Yay!

We moved today because of rain and predictions of snow.  Sittin in a rest stop in Gallup if it snowed did not sound appetizing so we moved on - we had planned to visit the Acoma Pueblo outside of Albuquerque but again, rain did not appeal as the tour was 1 and l/2 hours outside.

Weather has actually been ok for the majority of our trip EXCEPT in Kansas City MO.  It was supposed to get cold, 32, but it got COLD.  In the teens.
this is my cup from the truck, frozen almost solid.  We had to bring in our hoses from outside the rig so they would thaw.  Paul was up at 2 a.m. worrying that all the hoses under the 5th wheel would freeze and burst.  Poor guy.  Luckily, they did not freeze and we were fine.  Kansas City didn't have a lot to offer so moving on was no problem.  We did miss the money museum at the Federal Bank!  Oh well, maybe next time.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

November 19  Albuquerque

Saw petroglyph national park, greeted by a road runner at the visitor center, never know when you'll see a hot air balloon - always art in the neighborhoods - took a tram up Sandia Mountain.






trail to petroglyphs - Sandia Mountain and Abq in background


cranes in open space park in Abq


Tuesday, November 19

Today went to see the whooping (or sand) cranes at the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge which is about 60 miles from Albuquerque.  Apparently people come from all over the world to see it.  The cranes have just arrived for their winter stay - the fly out is early in the morning and I didn't want to get up that early so we went to the fly in - they feed out in fields around the area but come back into the refuge for the night.

birders at flight deck

snow geese

snow geese flyin in
cranes
cranes feeding

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Sunrise on Lake of the Ozarks.  I stood right behind our  rig.

Paul read about two swinging bridges you could drive on so we had to go find them.



Paul has been a great tour guide on this trip.  He found Lake of the Ozarks and said we would be camping at a state park - it was great - because it's fall, very few people were there.  It was still and quiet.  Lovely.  Wish we had more time to explore this lake, but now we're on somewhat of a schedule to get back by .  we  Boat picture below shows what we saw - no small ski boats, just cruisers!
narrow lake, largest in Arkansas, 129 miles long

 First a rich man's mansion, then a hotel, now called  "The Castle"

Great day at the farm.
more on St. Louis....

our favorite thing we did was a behind the scenes tour at Grant's Farm.  What did we get a tour of?  The Clydesdales.  They are beautiful creatures and are treated with very special care.

 I do not have the skill nor software to alter the picture in any way.  He's huge and leaning toward Paul - I think he liked the brushing!!

There are five Clydesdale ranches - east, west, and midwest hitches as they are called.  Then there is a ranch where they are bred and here at Grant's farm they are trained  how to pull the famous Anneheiser-Busch wagon and how to get into the giant trailers that carry them around the country.  It was a fascinating glimpse into a life style I knew nothing about.

Saint Louis, Missouri

Great city to visit - lots to see...and eat!

Of course we visited the Arch!  What a monument to one man's dream and the possibilities of engineering.

There's a ride mistakenly called a "tram" in the arch - I did not know that.  Since it was called a "tram" it sounded fun.  Ahhhh, so innocent.  It was a pod of death - you are squeezed in a pod with 4 other people, elbow to elbow, knee to knee, racheting your way up 680 feet in the air.  Those of us with claustrophobic tendencies don't like pods without windows!!  We visualize...wide open vistas, and breathe slowly to survive the 4 minutes of torture!  But then, there is a reward:

Looking down at the park from the top


walking the curve at the top of the arch