Catch UP

July 27, 2029

Tilly's RV Park
Rochester, MN

It's been so long since I wrote a new post but I will try to do a quick update on our travels.

Houston, Texas was our next stop after the Corpus Christie area.  What we remember most about Houston was the awful traffic jams and the near constant rain.  We did manage to make it to the Space Center Houston for our science quota for the week.









Troy in his space get up.


















This is a moon SUV.














We are waiting for lift off.





After leaving Houston we drove north to visit my youngest sister just south of Ft. Worth.  






We did the tourist thing and watched the "Cattle Drive" at the Ft. Worth Stock Yards.  The cattle looked almost as bored as the audience.  I think they have been around this block before.





Since it was half price day, Troy and I tried to navigate our way through Cowtown Cattle Pen Maze.

We tied for the best time of the day.  Of course, it was very early in the day.  









Our biggest adventure occurred during our tour of the Rangers baseball stadium. 

Building was well under way on the new stadium across the street. 












As our tour progressed I was wondering why they were building a new stadium. 





My questions were answered when we got stuck in an elevator with 10 people, no air conditioning or fans, high humidity and temps about 100.  It was a very uncomfortable half hour that felt more like an eternity when we realized we would have to wait for help from the outside.  Rescue finally arrived when two security guards on bicycles were able to get the elevator working again.

From Texas we made an unremarkable trip to Minnesota.

We have been in Rochester except for last Thursday and Friday when we took Troy and Thoran to Duluth for a ride on the Thomas the Steam Engine train.






Troy wasn't interested in Thomas but went along to help keep his 4 year old brother in line.

Percy, one of the many friends of Thomas, was also there.

Turtles and Too Many Ladders

June 25, 2019
Southern Oaks
Aransas Pass, Texas






This morning we were up at 4 am to make the hour and a half drive to Padre Island to see the sea turtle hatchlings release. 










Unlike the bat flight this one was really worth it.

Baby turtles are so much cuter than the bats. 

The rangers and some volunteers held netting over the turtles so they had a better chance of making it to the sea.  The people in the surf with the orange flags were chasing the birds away.  Everyone cheered when the last turtle made it into the water.












On our way back to the camper we stopped to tour the USS Lexington.












Dave wanted to show Troy how large an aircraft carrier was.  I think the thing that Troy was the most impressed about was all the ladders between the floors.  He said he would never join the Navy because his legs would wear out.  

If a 9 year old was tired can you imagine how worn out two people in their 70s were?

While we were standing in front of the Blue Angel plane on the flight deck, I was mentally trying to figure out how many more ladders I had to climb to reach the bridge.





We survived the USS Lexington and tomorrow we will head to Houston.

Turtles, Fish and Sand Castles

June 23, 2019
South Padre Island KOA
South Padre Island, Texas

We have spent the last four days here and leave tomorrow for Corpus Christie.


High on our list of things to do was to visit the turtle hospital.  There were quite a few patients but they seemed completely unimpressed with all the visitors.  We missed one of the turtle hatchings by one day but then our timing has never been good.






There are several sand castles around town. 

We got a chance to dip our feet in the Gulf of Mexico.













Troy and Dave had a contest on our fishing trip to see who could catch the most fish.












Troy caught the fist one, but eventually Dave caught up.














We have done all the touristy things - even shopped in a shark!

Bats and Caverns

June 19, 2019
Mathis RV Park
Mathis, Texas

A few nights ago we drove an hour, waited another hour to see the bat flight and then drove another hour back to the camper.  The bats emerged from the cave entrance and circled over us before flying away. Dave was a little concerned about this so he wore a hat to prevent bat poop from hitting his head. We were so exhausted that we had to stop at Sonic for 1/2 price milk shakes on the way back.

The next day we spent time in Carlsbad Caverns exploring this beautiful natural wonder. 

Troy was impressed that it was made by nature and no one carved it.  We went down about 800 feet but then had to go back up the 800 feet.  I wish we could have gone downhill both ways.

We have spent the last two days driving across Texas.  Finally tomorrow we will arrive at South Padre Island for a stay of several days. Hope it cools off some.  It was about 100 today.

Aliens Everywhere!

June 15, 2019
Trailer Village RV Park
Roswell, New Mexico





This afternoon we spent roaming around Roswell.  Aliens were present not only in the UFO Museum but also at many businesses.

I especially liked the Roswell street lights.  At least they have a sense of humor here.








Tomorrow we are heading to Carlsbad, NM.

Finally!

June 14, 2019
Boot Hill RV Resort
Alamogordo, New Mexico

We had a much later start to our summer travels this year.  Danika's family visited Arizona the first week in June and left Troy with us.  He will be traveling with us to Minnesota.  We finally made it on the road June 11.

We took Dani's family to the Grand Canyon while they were here.  It was very hot and crowded but the kids enjoyed the train ride to the Canyon.  The train was robbed on the way back and I don't think Thor has gotten over the fact that cowboys steal your money.  We tried to tell him that they weren't cowboys; they were outlaws but I am not sure he believed us.

Our first stop on our trip was Tombstone, Arizona.  It has changed a lot since we were last there.  I'm not used to it being almost completely deserted.  Many places I remember were no longer there.  Luckily we found a very good ice cream shop.  Troy had a Cotton Candy cone.  He said it was very good but it was such a bright shade of blue that I bet it glowed in the dark.










The next day we traveled to Bisbee to tour the Copper Queen Mine. 

Notice the fashionable attire.  

People ride a "train" that is only one person wide to the lower levels of the mine.  

Due to the close quarters everyone is very well acquainted by the end of the trip.









On the way back to the camper we stopped at Coronado National Memorial.  It sits right next to the Mexican border.  We went through several border checkpoints.








Troy tried on some chain mail armor.  There was a mail shirt also but Dave and I couldn't lift it.  The helmet knocked off Troy's glasses so he couldn't see how he dashing he looked.












Today we visited the New Mexico Space Museum.  It was very nice and they even had trash cans shaped like rockets.  Troy enjoyed the Black Hole movie but it was beyond me.













Troy and I got "transported" on the Star Trek set.









Pistachioland was across the street from the campgroud so we made a quick stop because Dave wanted to get some pistachios.  Troy and I don't like them so we settled for ice cream.  This is supposed to be "The World's Largest Pistachio".

After much time sampling all the different flavors, Dave bought PLAIN
pistachios.





Later in the afternoon we went out to White Sands National Monument.  We borrowed some plastic saucers and climbed the dunes to slide down. 

 It was hard work climbing the dunes so I only went down once.  Troy had more energy so did more sliding.

Behind the Times

Cranes Mill Park
Canyon Lake, Texas

Once we left Kansas and arrived in Colorado, I couldn't think of anything to blog about.  Since we had lived here for about five years, we were familiar with the area.  One day became another and before I knew it a month had passed without any updates.  I'll make a feeble attempt to catch up on our travels since then but don't expect much creativity.

Longmont, Colorado has changed extensively since we lived there.  The city has recovered from the devastating flood of a few years ago and it has grown noticeably in both population and construction.  The most noteworthy change was the removable of the Rocky Mountains. 

The mountains used to be here, but on the day of our arrival they were nowhere to be seen.  We were pleased to find out that the illusion was the result of smoke from the California wildfires and about a week later the peaks reappeared.

We stayed at St Vrain State Park during the week but  changed to the fairgrounds over the weekend.  Colorado is very pro-environment so the fairgrounds had several different collection containers for recyclables.  In addition to the normal plastic and aluminum another container was for kitchen waste that would eventually end up in the compost pile.  Campers were constantly warned by several prominent signs posted throughout the campground to not leave any food outside during the night.  Evidently the pesky raccoons often feasted on anything they could find.  They must have the ability to read because the campground seemed unconcerned by the animals dining on the kitchen waste in the recycle container. This trash can had no lid and was only emptied each morning.

We stayed here until the end of the month taking day trips around the area.





Elk in downtown Estes Park.













There is a nice walk along the river in Estes Park.  Makes a nice change from the souvenir shops.




































I'm still getting used to the "Gas and Grass" gas stations.  Don't think you can get your twinkies there.


After Labor Day, we headed southwest towards Alamosa, Colorado.  We camped at a spot just outside Great Sand Dunes National Park. 

The aspens were starting to turn  so it was a nice time to be in Colorado.





 This is the view from our campsite.

On the last day we were here the weather finally cleared and we went over to the park.

Many people rent "sand boards" to ride at the park.  I was told it's kind of like snowboarding or skateboarding.  Since I can do neither, I thought it best to not embarrass myself and just watch others do this sport.



Those tiny dots in the center of the photo are braver (and much younger) people zooming down the slopes on their boards




We are currently dog sitting in Texas  and will stay here until time to go to Albuquerque.