Here we are waiting with all these people for something that happens every 90 minutes. Know where we are?

Having a beer at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson, Wyoming after the day in Grand Teton National Park. Notice the barstools are saddles!

After spending the day at Grand Teton National Park, we headed to Jackson for some fun. These are the elk antlers shed by the elk on the refuge, used to create arches in the center of town.

A stop at Shoshone Falls was quite worthwhile. In addition to the falls, we learned about yellow belly marmot, a type of small woodchuck causing you to have to watch where you step all over the park. This is close to where Evil Knieval crossed the Snake River.

Lava, lava everywhere in the Newberry National Volcanic Monument near Bend, Oregon. What differences from the rain forests we left further south, After Bend, we begin to head eastward. Next stop Boise.

It Could Have Been Worse

So we weren't able to see Crater Lake - we later saw another crater
lake near Bend. And our tent leaked and we feel mildewed - it didn't
drop below 40 degrees where we camped. And the noise of the
interstate was a distraction all night - but with only one other tent
site in use we had our privacy. All in all we loved the Rogue River
region of Oregon. Now we begin our return trip east.

Here we are in the old Florida Buick in our Florida clothes in Crater Lake National Park on our way to the scenic overlook.

Here is the view of Crater Lake from the lodge. We drove through a blinding snowstorm to see this so hope you enjoy the view!

How funny to say that the trail has limited use as a conflict resolution strategy!

Water everwhere! So many beautiful waterfalls, gorges and white water. We are learning about how the water flows through volcanic tubes. Every minute the water roaring by can fill an Olympic swimming pool. It's about 40 degrees so no swimming!

Boy, these fish are big!

Salmon and steelhead are running and looked to us like lots of guys were playing hookie from work to fish all over the Rogue River.

Weather Challenge Ahead!

We are in southwest Oregon in the Rogue River valley. We got the tent
up before the rain began but looks like we are in for some wet
camping. We loved the drive from northern California into Oregon.
The scenery changed dramatically and quickly. Shasta Lake was
beautiful and the various views of Mt Shasta spectacular. Looking
forward to the next adventures in Oregon!

My sister Robin and me at Marshall Gold Discovery State Park in the foothills

Fun in the Foothills

The Sierra Nevadas are still white capped but the foothills are
bursting with spring'. Wildflowers are everywhere and much of the
grasses are still green. The vineyards and farms are active and
bursting with the promise of a plentiful future harvest.

We had great fun with my sister Robin and Rod, tasting numerous wines,
enjoying lunch in a little town, driving down charming backroads.

We've been so comfortable and have so enjoyed cooking, eating and
playing games together, it is hard to leave and go back to the tent
tonight. But we have some great red wines packed to keep us warm on
the cold nights ahead!

We hiked around the park and learned about how the discovery of gold shaped the whole country as well as California

My new favorite winery!

Looking out to the vineyards of Lava Cap

Loved every red wine I was introduced to at Lava Cap

Unlike the other wildlife we observed along the American River, these geese allowed me to get close enough for an I-Phone photo. This afternoon we also saw a Jack rabbit, deer, ducks and a large cat of some sort.

Enjoying the peace along the American River outside Sacramento,CA

Tom and Nugget at play

Nugget is our playmate while Robin and Rod are at work

Nice Break!

It's good to be taking a break from camping while visiting my sister
and Rod in California. I enjoyed cooking tonght on a real stove with
an oven. Robin and Rod like having dinner ready after work!

Good-bye Les & Alan

Out to dinner with Les and Alan

Pals in Pasadena

Les and I became friends in college. We both lived in Chicago for a
time until I moved to Florida and Les moved to California. Our visits
have been few but we have kept up with each other largely through
lengthy annual letters sent at Christmas.
But Les and husband Alan are the kind of friends that make you easily
forget how much time has passed between visits. We quickly fell into
comfortable conversation as if we were returning for an annual visit.
In fact, this was our first visit to Pasadena. Our previous get-
togethers have been meetings in other cities. We had a great time as
well as a happy reunion. Pasadena felt more like our Midwestern roots
than typical California I had experienced. We toured beautiful
neighborhoods, visited the Gamble house and learned about Green &
Green and arts & crafts architecture. We saw the Rose Bowl and
visited the rose garden at the Tournament of Roses headquarters. We
ate in Old Pasadena and mingled with lots of others enjoying the
evening in cafes, dining rooms and late open shops. Although we
learned the museums were all closed on Tuesdays, it was clear that
Tuesday was still a good night for socializing.
I had followed the life of McCloud for many years and was honored to
finally meet him. Our visit to the stable was in a fascinating
equestrian community that was on its way to being converted to mega-
mansion lanes.
We hope to visit again sooner with our good friends, maybe a trip
together to Catalina will be planned in the next couple of years. In
the meantime, I'll continue to look forward to those letters at
Christmas and the special joy they always give me in knowing we are
still good friends who care so much about each other.

Les poses with McCloud. It was good to finally meet him after hearing about him for so many years!

Alan brings McCloud out if his pen for a visit.

Friends Les and Alan welcome us to their home (under renovation) in Pasadena.

Remembering why I don't like Vegas

It seemed like a good idea, to celebrate Tom's birthday with a night
in Vegas. We got a great rate on a room through Priceline and went
out to get half price tickets to a show - "V" the variety show.

So we arrived at Planet Hollywood just as the Miss USA pagent ended.
Beautiful young ladies, photographers and doting families and friends
everywhere. Of course at first we didn't know what was happening. The
sashes, crowns and roses pointed to a beauty pagent. It was later we
discovered it was a bigger deal than we realized.

There isn't enough time to tell about all the observations (like the
disabled man who got photographed with as many girls as possible, the
discussions about the politics behind the judging, etc). But I'm
proud of carrying on a civil conversation about beauty pagents with
the aunt of a contestant (N or S Dakota, I forget) while in line for
the show.

The huge crowds of self-absorbed and often intoxicated people all
talking too loudly reminded me of why I dislike this city. But all in
all, it was a nice break from camping. And I LOVED the comfy bed!

On to California!

Staying at the Stratosphere in Vegas. Thanks, Priceline!

On our way to Vegas to celebrate Tom's birthday! Here we are leaving Utah.

Many views of Zion

We really enjoyed our two days in and around Zion National Park. We
stayed at the Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort (in our tent), about 5 miles
above the park on the less commercial side of the park. It was an
interesting place with all kinds of recreation. We opted for playing
pool, pong pong and foosball at night instead of ATV rentals,
horseback riding or zipline. And we ate dinners at the lodge buffet
so I didn't have to cook after tiring days.

We loved the hikes through the cliffs and canyon, especially the
diversity within the park -- from swamps, waterfalls, gottos and of
course rocks and cliffs.

My knees are sore but still holding out. And I'm becoming more
comfortable with dirt -- on my shoes, clothes, toothbrush, pillow. As
Tom keeps saying, it's all just part of camping.

Loved Zion! Here is Checkerboard Mesa along the east entrance drive into the canyon

Neither rain nor snow not sleet nor hail...

Yes, we had the opportunity to experience all of these weather
phenomena camping in Bryce Canyon. The first night temperature
dropped to 24 degrees. Selected for camping in Florida, our tent held
up to the frost. As for me, Tom says I shook like a vibrator all night.

Next day warmed up a bit; our low was more like 34. But what a treat,
we got to experience both a snow storm and then sleet (looked like
raining those ice cream dots!)

But the sky was clear both nights and we've never seen so many stars
(as we trudged to the heated bathroom in the middle of the night).

My bathroom trip would make a funny movie scene. All night they pipe
in easy listening satellite music. I'm shivering alone in the
bathroom on the john listening to "Feelings," theme song from Romeo
and Juliet and "Precious and Few" -- felt more like a hotel lounge bar
than a campground.

Off to warmer spots!

Bryce Canyon in better weather

Fairyland at Bryce Canyon

Cruel Mosquitos

These cruel Utah mosquitos apparently love women's hair products. I
have bites all around my hairline and even on my scalp. Youch! Tom
has none. How fair is that?!

Many different kinds of rocks

I've spent much of the last week looking at, learning about and
overcoming many different types of rocks out here in the Southwest
U.S. I've included some photos below to give you a sense of the
places I've been.

But I want to tell you about my 5.8 mile hike down Neck Spring trail
into a canyon in Canyonlands National Park. You know I'm not what you
might call a rugged outdoorswoman. So you may be surprised to learn
that I was the one who selected this hike. NOTE TO SELF: In future
read ALL info given about the hike, not just distance.

It would have been helpful to read that on average the hike takes 3-4
hours, a different pace than walking a treadmill at the fitness
center. And gee it would have been interesting to know in advance
that the elevation would change more than 300 feet. Still, nothing in
the trail description would have prepared me for the near vertical
ascent at about Mile 4.

We had been following the trailmarkers well, only missed them a couple
of times. So when the trail seemed to deadend at a huge wall of rock,
we looked at each other puzzled. "Surely..." was all we could say to
each other before spotting the next cairn (a pile if rocks, pictured
below) about 15 feet above our heads with the series progressing
straight up.

My first thought was to insist I couldn't do it. But then, what were
my choices? It would take almost 3 hours to backtrack and I didn't
have enough water for that. So I took a deep breath and went up,
literally one inch at a time for about 150 feet.

Sure, I'm proud that I made it. But I never could have done it
without Tom's encouragement and help. Like I've said before, he
really is my rock and he proved it again. We might not always live in
complete harmony, but it is good to know that in a challenge or crisis
we work well as a team.

One more note of interest. We have been proud of how clean we have
found our national parks. On our big hike we didn't see a single
sliver of plastic or paper anywhere. At Arches National Park we both
noticed the first cigarette butt on the ground (and declared it must
have been a European - they are the most prevelent tourists, large
numbers of Germans especially.

Winds are very strong, overturned vehicles in Arizona. Couldn't see
much of Monument Valley today due to wind/dust. So we are safe in a
motel tonight. It is good to not have grit between my teeth tonight!

See how naively happy I am before hiking Neck Spring trail in Canyonlands National Park

Cairn - a pile of stones marking a trail. This one marked part of Neck Spring trail in Canyonlands National Park, a hike I'll never forget!

A truly spectacular rock in Moab, NM

Me, with Balanced Rock behind me

Here I am about to descend to a pueblo at Mesa Verde during our stay in Durango. No photos of me climbing those rustic ladders; makes my butt look big!

Fun in Durango

I hadn't expected to like Durango so much! The town has much to offer
tourists but seems quite livable. For one thing, there is at least
one bar per block, I think. We felt bad that we didn't spend an
afternoon bar-hopping!

It is an active outdoors place with mountain biking, rafting among
popular outdoor activities. I loved all the green space along the
river for my preferred sport of walking and watching people.

I highly recommend Durango, especially the Durango Riverside Resort
and RV Park. Such friendly folks! Check them out at www.durangoriversideresort.com

Luxury camping in Durango

So here is how it happened. We started with a tent reservation and
asked for upgrade to off-river cabin when we saw forecast for cold
weather. The owner thought we were so nice, he upgraded us to
Engineer cabin on the river. But then they had forgotten that a group
was coming in and moved ys to another off-river cabin. But because we
were so agreeable, the owner put us in their best on-river cabin.
Check out the photos below!

Our upgrade to a "penthouse" cabin. With 2 flat screen TV's, microwave and king bed, even you non-campers would go for this!

Pizza dinner at Engineer Cabin along Anamis River

Highlights of New Mexico

Our travel through New Mexico allowed us to sample the diverse
culture, food, weather and landscape of this beautiful state. It was
a first time visit for both Tom and me.
We enjoyed visiting the Taos pueblo and the Aztec ruins. We visited
the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center and Albuquerque Museum of Art and
Museum. We did some shopping in Santa Fe and Taos and enjoyed meeting
artists of many different types. Isn't it amazing the large
variations in techniques and perspective that people use to depict the
world around them?
Some of you have already noted that we seem to be eating our way
across the USA. And it is true that we have loved Southwestern food.
When we go out we mostly go for lunch. Rest assured, I am cooking.
It probably isn't what you would call camp food -- panfried tilapia
with grilled veggies, beef stew and spaghetti are some of my recent
offerings.
We have left New Mexico for destination Durango. Once again, we've
traded a tent site for a cabin as the temperatures are expected to
drop into the low 30's or even colder.
Adios for now, amigos!

A beautiful day along the Rio Grande

Delicious lunch of green chile stew, enchillada, hominey, beans and fried bread

Craft market

Happy to be in a warm cabin in Santa Fe!

Forget the May Pole, we spent May Day playing in snow!

"Springtime" in the mountains

Who knew it would still snow in early May in New Mexico? I don't want
to sound like I'm complaining. After all, the cold has virtually
eliminated any bugs - at least the flying kind. And I've noticed we
aren't the only ones walking around town smelling of fire smoke now
that the weather has turned so cold. I'm so grateful we were able to
trade our tent site for a cabin outside Santa Fe. Sure hope things
warm up in the next few days before we head into southern Colorado.

Whoever invented these little heaters was a genius!

Katy sees us off as we depart Tulsa

Best B&B in Tulsa

We took a break from camping to visit Katy. She was so good to us.
The king-size guest bed was covered with welcoming pillows (nicely
arranged I might add). She allowed us to use her laptop to straighten
out the electronic bill challenge we had on our I-phone. She welcomed
us with our beer of choice. And she fed us well.

Dinner was a wonderful salad and Mediterranean pizza with feta,
olives, artichokes and tomatoes. We brought a small cake and berries
for dessert. In the morning she fixed pigs-in-a-blanket with
scrambled eggs.

What luxury to sit around an indoor table reading a paper and
discussing the news with a cup of coffee. How nice to put dishes in a
dishwasher again. We told Katy she should consider opening a B&B as
she really has the gift of hospitality. We departed in a rain
drizzle, so happy we didn't need to take down a tent. Thanks, Katy!