Idaho ... I think

I'm having so much trouble locating accessable WiFi that this might be the last post til we get to VA at my sister's.  I'm in McD's right now (Wed, May 20) and therefore do not have my maps and notes with me.

We arrived at the American Falls view point to find that these falls are now behind the dam which had been built after the 1919 drought.  We were also seeing many windmills across the ridges of the mountains.

We stopped at Register Rock which is in a wayside park and enclosed in a pavilion with a chain link fence around it to protect it from vandals.  Even though we wanted to take the City of Rocks trail around Burley, we had to pass it up because of the heavy rain and the road conditions.

The city of Twin Falls was a mess of streets to try to navigate to find what we had come to see and the GPS was no help because we didn’t have a street address for the viewpoint park and, without internet service, I couldn’t find it.

We finally got directions to the Twin Falls Park and Dam; then a few streets away was the Shoshone Falls Park which was, again, a steep winding road down and back.  We also saw many streamlet falls alongside the main road.

Several times we saw signs for a snow zone and chain up areas along I-84 while travelling through the state.  When we ascended the road to the view of the Hagerman Fossil Beds, we could also see the Oregon Trail wagon ruts along the lower levels.  The park rangers were getting set up to have some school kids ‘dig’ for fossils.  All the real fossils are in the mountains across the valley and in the museums.

 

North Platte and Buffalo Bill State HIstorical Park

Arriving in North Platte, NE, we spent the night in the campground in Buffalo Bill State Historical Park along the Platte River.  We spotted several geese along the river banks.  Before leaving the park the next  day, I toured Buffalo Bill’s retirement home, a beautiful Queen Ann style with a large dining room because he liked to entertain his fellow range hands as well as heads of state.  His younger daughter was the last to live in it and had it upgraded(!) with water and electric.   Rodeos are still held across the street.

 We then went to the Golden Spike Tower to view the Bailey Rail Yard in operation.  We watched as the loaded cars were being pushed  onto a hump and down into a bowl where they are sorted and attached automatically to their next destination train.

We returned to the Interstate and left it for US 26 (the Oregon Trail) at Ogallala.

We took  short side trips to view the Court House and Jail Rocks and Chimney Rock just outside

Bayard.  The dirt roads to these sites are graveled and narrow without any level space to park. But we did see geese along the riverbank and could hear them frequently.

Nebraska's Great River Road Gateway Arch

 The exhibits start at the top of a steep escalator, continues across the interstate, then up a short flight of stairs back across and down another escalator.

There is even a 50's diner exhibit upstairs, bringing it 'up-to-date'

Falling Waters State Park, FL

 The path to the falls begins with a nice downward slope to a fork.  The left is to the other sinkholes, the right takes you up a flight of steps, then down again to the overlook platform.

Then you have to reverse your trek up hill (like at Monticello in Virginia) to the parking lot.  When we were last here, the drought had dried up the falls.

Spring 2014 Trip to Oregon

Add to the long list of repairs made to the RV for this trip a new coach water pump.  We also have had to sit out a huge weather event with severe lightening and possible tornadoes just south of Memphis.   Central Arkansas got hit with at least ten deaths.  Hopefully, we'll not see any more severe weather on this trip.
We decided to stop for the night at a campground (with WiFi but no cable TV) about 100 miles south of St. Louis to dump the holding tank, flush the water tank and refill it and also do some laundry while getting to take a shower without knocking our elbows on the shower stall walls.  The campground is a little too close to the Interstate to have the windows open overnight even though it will probably get down in the 50's.

Spring 2012 Trip

For some reason I never reported on our trip last spring with our two eldest granddaughters, Hannah and Hope. I was sure I had made several entries here but for some reason they aren't here. We began our trip by heading north through Florida and Georgia, stopping at RV parks more than we would normally because we now had four people on board. Our first 'stop' was in Franklin, NC, to take them mining for gems...they found some, not many, and none of any real value, but they did have fun. The next day, we took the girls to Cherokee, NC, for the Native American sites and the village where they were able to participate in several of the activities at a Pow Wow. The next day we spent a day at Santa's Land just outside Cherokee before heading over the mountain into Tennessee then Virginia. We spent hours slowly creeping through the Virginia Safari Park where they were able to hand-feed numerous wild animals. While in Virginia we visited the Green Valley Book Fair where all those great bargains are! We then headed to my nephew's house to spend the night in his driveway (they had no idea we were in the area and had gone to visit her family in New Jersey for the weekend). No matter, we found the electric outlet and none of their neighbors called the cops. My family had a reunion at the local Isaac Walton League Park south of Browntown, VA. and all the kids had a great time fishing in the pond. Cousin Maggie won the prize for the biggest catch of the day. We toured the Skyline Caverns, ate frozen custard, spent days at the local public swimming pool, ate frozen custard, and enjoyed our stay. We camped at Big Meadows on the Skyline Drive, went into Luray to spend the afternoons at Lake Arrowhead, then returned to Big Meadows to sit on the side of the road to spot the deer grazing. The girls were able to get really close to them by crawling through the grass. We also spotted bears; in fact, one cub ran into the side of the rental car as we were headed into town on Browntown Road one afternoon. The car wasn't damaged and he loped off apparently unhurt. The girls entertained their 94-year-old great-grandmother with several songs they learned from the radio. The weather was getting rainy, so we took the girls to Kings Dominion outside Richmond for a couple days....the weather then cleared up and they rode one roller coaster 20 times. On the return home, we stopped at Stone Mountain, GA for a few days. There's more to do there than I expected...

Just a Trip to Visit Family Spring 2011

This was a short trip to visit family members in Northern Virginia area. Going north many cars passed us on I-95 with Canadian tags, then a car hauler passed with all the cars having Canadian tags! Were all the snowbirds going north for the year?
We met my cousins and their spouses at the Meltin' Pot Pizza to have lunch and catch up on family news. Two of my friends from the early days of my life met us there and joined in the noisy reunion. It's a wonder the restaurant doesn't throw us out when we meet every six months!
After two short weeks, we were returning home going south on I-77 and we stopped at the first rest area near the North Carolina border with Virginia. When the traffic stopped then crawled from about 30 miles north of Charlotte (took over three plus hours to traverse the state!!!). The only "problems" we saw were a couple of vehicles in the breakdown lane and one small brush fire on the northbound lanes down in a gully with one fire truck & three firemen working to put it out! Traffic was heavy all 835 miles home, mostly trucks and cars, few RVs.