We enjoyed the WIN dance rally in Casa Grande, then spent some time in Southeastern Arizona. Tombstone is especially fun.
While Ron flew back to Wisconsin for family business, I hiked to Seven Falls. I guess it's more impressive after a rain.
Crossing east through New Mexico, we stopped at City of Rocks SP
And White Sands NM.
Crossing Texas, I noticed every town had a hook, but my favorite was the cattle drive down the street in Fort Worth with real Texas Longhorns.
It was a memorable trip across because we had a couple close calls with tornadoes, but we made it. We decided to never again hit Texas in the spring.
In Arkansas we looked for diamonds in Crater of the Diamonds SP. For the low price of $6.50 each we could dig all we wanted. Needless to say, we didn't find any.
We were on our way to join up with the WINs who are kayaking NARKSMO.(northern Arkansas, southern Missouri.) We stayed at a couple of lakes on the way and found flooding with camping sites under water. When we joined the WINs, some of the kayaking had to be canceled because of the high water.
We decided to made a small side trip to Branson, Missouri and take in a couple of shows. We really enjoyed both that we picked - Yakov Smirnoff and SIX (six brothers who sing and do beatbox.)
When we rejoined the WINs, the water had receded enough that kayaking was allowed. I thought it was more fun than usual because not much paddling was required.
Of course sometimes the current was a hindrance and pushed you into a rock or tree. As one smart WIN said, "If your boat fills with water, don't panic, just stand up!"
But at least there was a good meal afterward.
After getting our fill of kayaking, we broke off once again. We went up in the famous St. Louis Arch - the Gateway to the West. It was a beautiful day for it. Last time I visited it was raining and I could feel the arch swaying.
We spent some time in Illinois, hitting some of their very reasonable state parks, then made our way north through Wisconsin and into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
.
We visited one of my fathers favorite places - Fayette Historic Townsite. He likes his ghost towns, but this was mostly recreated and pretty interesting.
Ron and I had volunteered to host the stop at St. Ignace, just on the north side of the beautiful Mackinac Bridge.
We organized lots of activities, including a trip over to Mackinac Island, but my favorite was a zipline that Mill Creek Historic SP had just opened. I guess they needed guinea pigs to test it because they were offering it for $5. Here I go!
We stayed with the WINs and crossed over into Canada at Sault Ste. Marie for a trip around the north side of Lake Superior. It was a fantastic trip that we wouldn't have done alone. There was a lot of hiking and kayaking.
And the very interesting Fort William Historical Park, The fort is recreated to how it looked in 1815 with lots of people in period costume demonstrating everything.
After returning to the US and a fun stop in Grand Marais, Minnesota, we reached my favorite stop on the whole trip in Ely. From there we explored the Boundary Waters, both on the water . . .
And from a six-seater float plane! Fantastic! Thanks to Diana who organized it and got everybody's exact weight so we could take off.
Soon we were heading back west across South Dakota which has a lot to offer. First there's the Mitchell Corn Palace which was not the makeshift stalks of corn I expected, but a real work of art.
Personally I think Badlands NP is misnamed, because the hills are lovely. But I guess the early settlers didn't think so.
Then we appreciated the scenic Black Hills of South Dakota with Mt. Rushmore NM which I hadn't seen since I was little.
And the Crazy Horse Memorial which I don't think I ever saw. They take great pride in the fact that they don't get any government funding, but maybe that's why it never seems to progress.
In Wyoming, we appreciated Devils Tower.NM. It really is quite a sight.
But just as remarkable to me were these ruts made by the pioneers traveling the Oregon Trail. These are just outside of Guernsey, WY.
After a visit in Denver area to celebrate Ron's birthday with his daughters, we rejoined the WINs in El Jebal. We had a blast there with biking 25 miles downhill from Aspen, bowling, and visiting beautiful Maroon Bells.
And Phil safely drove Diana, Ron, and me down the scary one-lane rocky track to the very photographed Crystal Mill.
After a fun stop in Grand Junction where we hiked down into Colorado NM, biked, and kayaked (the WIN trifecta), we arrived in Moab. There we did a jeep trip down the Shafer Trail,
A boat trip on the Colorado,
And hiked in Arches NP.
After Moab, Ron and I went to the Needles section of Canyonlands and did some hiking,
Then explored Natural Bridges NM.
After crossing into Arizona, we drove our low-clearance car through Monument Valley. 'They' said we needed high-clearance, but Ron didn't listen.
We met up with the WINs again in Borrego Springs for the annual Thanksgiving gathering.
From there we made a quick trip over to San Diego to see Ron's daughter Kelli and my niece Corrie and her family.
Then we experienced the ambiance of the Slabs outside of Niland, CA, with its unique Salvation Mountain.
To finish the year, we joined the others in Yuma, but flew from there to Denver for Christmas.
I'm writing these old posts to create a book from Blog2print. I don't expect anybody to read something this long.
ReplyDelete