A trip to the beach in Colorado

Nestled against the Sangre de Christo mountains of southeastern Colorado are the tallest sand dunes in the USA! The dunes are in the foreground, and the mountain peaks are behind them. We camped in this park, way up close to the dunes and the mountains, for four happy and peaceful nights! This area is descriptively called the beach. The water is coming from the snowmelt of the mountains, and will soon dry up until next summer. Meanwhile, kids bring their buckets and shovels and have the time of their lives!

I couldn't resist capturing this image of childhood joy:

Lots of visitors climb to the top of the dunes (not us!!). It takes an average of an hour to get there. The park host told Bill that a world class runner had visited the dunes and got to the top in 20 minutes! (Pant, pant!)

Vanna gets high!

Leaving Arches NM in Utah, we turned back east to begin our return trip. We drove through Colorado National Monument without stopping for long. Vanna was such a good traveler! Here you can see the high mountains she climbed to take us up to the view of Grand Junction, Colorado, in the distant valley. The tall formation you can see is called Independence Monument, resembling the tower of Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

Yep, more red rocks. We never seemed to tire of the beautiful views. Photos don't do them justice--you've just gotta be there!

Arches National Monument, Utah

Arches National Monument, Utah, is a wonderland of huge red rocks!

Balanced Rock is one of the most photographed formations, and you can see why!
We took a short hike through Devil's Gardens.

This is the arch we saw on that hike. Most of the larger arches required more strenuous hiking than we were able (willing) to do!

A beautiful western sky at night!

Camping at Flaming Gorge, Wyoming

This is the view from our campground in southwestern Wyoming, after we drove through the Teton Mountains. Flaming Gorge Reservoir is one of many manmade lakes in the western states.

The Grand Tetons--Western Wyoming

Love those mountain wildlowers! This is the view across Jenny Lake.

The drama of the Tetons is that they have no foohills. They simply rise abruptly up from the valley floor.

Yellowstone Images of Beauty

Yellowstone Falls and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River:

One of the many boiling springs:

Kepler Cascades:

Mountain flowers :

Yellowstone Elk

Bill loved seeing the elk at Mammoth Hot Springs. The cows and calves love to come right into town and graze on the lawns of the administrative buildings. The calves are lying up close to the buildings.













A much rarer sight is an elk bull with a rack. We enjoyed spotting this one along the highway. His antlers apear to still have velvet on them.

Monday, June 30: Yellowstone Wildlife--Bison

American bison are easily seen in Yellowstone, but not always up close. This one was close to the road, and very cooperative for this photo op. The buffaloes have shed nearly all of their heavy winter coats now. It will soon be time for them to begin growing them again for next winter.

Sunday, June 29: Yellowstone at last!

When we arrived at Yellowstone National Park we were pleased to get a campsite for three nights at Norris Campground. We took our first drive around the northern loop and had a close encounter with a Grizzly Bear! He was calmly munching greens on the right shoulder of our road! Jan was driving, and was excited to begin our very own "bear jam". Since I am the designated photographer and was driving at the time, we failed to get a photo of this beautiful blonde bear. He looked about half grown, and was not the least concerned with our presence!

One of the small waterfalls. There was still a small amount of snow on the mountains, so these falls are from the snowmelt runoff. Later in the summer they will be gone.

We entered from the east side, so one of our first views was of beautiful Lake Yellowstone, with the snowy mountains reflected in the water. This is the largest freshwater lake in the world.

June 28: Wyoming--and snowy mountains!

An exciting moment--our first distant view of the Rocky Mountains, with snow on them. The standard conversation is,

"Is it snow or clouds?

It's snow!

No, it's clouds!

No, it's SNOW!"

Some of the pretty Wyoming wildflowers.

A closer view, and no doubt--it IS snow!

Mt. Rushmore

Here is a sight we've dreamed of seeing for a long time. Awesome!

Camping in the Badlands

We followed a shower into the Badlands Park, and when we got to our campsite, this was the view toward the east--a beautiful rainbow over the fragrant field of clover. During the night, the cool breeze came from this direction, and we had a very enjoyable sleep!

The Badlands of South Dakota

Our first real mountains on this trip, and we thought they were beautiful! Lots of peaks and spires.

Bill had his eye on this little jewel because he thought we'd have more room than we do in Vanna Purple. But it didn't have a top, and we were afraid we might have some rain, so we had to pass it up.

Actually, this is more of "what you'll never see if you don't leave your recliner." Somewhere in South Dakota!

A reunion for Jan's Aunt Eunice; a change in plans

An old Irish song tells of the "Forty Shades of Green" in Ireland. I thought of that often while watching the endless greens of the Iowa countryside pass by yesterday.

In checking out our plans for arrival in Oregon, I called my aunt's place of residence only to hear some astonishing news. After I had a great conversation with her 2 weeks ago, she fell, and although apparently not injured, seemed to be tired and sleepy most of the time. Her daughter came last week and asked for hospice assistance. Without excitement or fanfare, Aunt Eunice quietly slipped into the presence of the Lord she so loved, on Monday evening. She did not see that 95th birthday in August, after all. Bill and I are now reevaluating our travel plans. We will probably not go all the way to Oregon. We are now in southeastern South Dakota, and planning to go on to Mount Rushmore this week.

On the Sea

The cornfields of Iowa resembled a vast green sea, with little islands of trees indicating a farm or a small town. You could identify a farm by the huge grain storage bins. Most towns have an ancient church steeple above the treetops--some have two or three.

Iowa Wind Generators

We never see an old fashioned windmill any more, at least not in working condition, but we happened upon this huge group of generators in western Iowa. I counted about 60 of them in sight at one time. We had just gone through a boisterous thunderstorm, so they were all turning at a pretty good clip. They look so stra-a-ange!

Coming or Going?

This one goes under the category of "Things you'll never see as long as you stay in your recliner." Further explanation unnecessary.

Get your kicks...

on Route 66! Part of our driving has taken us by way of the old Route 66 that Nat "King" Cole sang of so long ago. Most of it is now gone, replaced by (ugh!) freeways, but fragments remain.

The Lilies of the Field

Kansas and Illinois roadsides are brightened by wildflowers, and one of the most common is the orange daylily shown here. I'm not sure if they were a true wildflower first, or if they went wild from early settlers, but they are everywhere! Each flower lasts only one day, hence their name. Did you know that?

Quilt Detail

You can see that the red stripes were created from an assortment of red prints. So were the white stripes and the blue background. The white stars have a small print of stars on them. I love to look at this prize quilt each time we visit Windsor Place in Coffeyville, Kansas.

Incredible Quilt

This beautiful quilt hangs in Windsor Place, where Mom Makemson lives.

Kansas Countryside

Here is a typical southeastern Kansas view, near Coffeyville.

Lots of blue skies and a few rolling hills, with occasional trees. And the ubiquitous red barn!

Oklahoma Mountains

On Tuesday, June 16, we came through the beautiful mountains near Mena, Arkansas. When we crossed the state line, we learned that Oklahoma has real mountains that we never dreamed of. Oklahoma is NOT all flat and arid!
Our plan is to leave Coffeyville, Kansas, this evening after Mom Makemson goes to bed. We need to arrive in Danville, Illinois, by Friday evening, to attend the Makemson family reunion on Saturday. After that, our relaxed schedule begins, consisting of a round trip to Hillsboro, Oregon. I am so ready for that!

Mammy's Cupboard

We passed Mammy's Cupboard on the way to Natchez, and were disappointed that it wasn't open for lunch! :)

Vanna Sees Louisiana

We left a day late (and a dollar short??) and took 4 days instead of 3 to get to Kansas, but we have arrived! Bill's mom is glad to see us, and is in good spirits.
We came via Baton Rouge, Lousiana, and stopped for a quick look at St. Francisville, renowned for having many, many antebellum homes. Some of these historic homes dated back to even the 1700's. A beautiful piece of American history!
In this photo: the flowering trees are crape myrtles.

A Trip Down Memory Lane: Winnsboro, Louisiana

Sunday evening we revisited Winnsboro, Louisiana, where Bill was pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church when the children were small. This was our first return visit, and it has been 42 years since we left!

We had a wonderful visit with Willie and Gladys Pitman, and saw two of our former Sunday School children, who are both now grandmothers. Carnis Gould also came by to see us. What a nice time we had--we stayed up late playing the "whatever happened to..." game.

Becoming a blogger

A short time ago I wondered why anyone would ever write a blog, much less expect other people to read it. And here I am, a gen-u-wine blogger, hoping that our friends who enjoyed "traveling" with us 3 years ago will share our summer adventures again with us, but on our blog. We shall be exploring the bells and whistles of blogging before we make it truly public.