Spring & Summer 2013 (Home)
September 23
It was cool and quite rainy our last week in
Colorado, although the Colorado Springs area fared better than the Boulder area.
Driving towards Colorado Springs from the RV
Park, portions of the highway were closed for mudslides and flash floods.
We toured the
US Olympic Training Center in Colorado
Springs.
Former
home of ENT Air Force Base and the headquarters of the North American Defense
Command,
it is a beautiful campus, with only the dorms remaining from its military days.
Our tour began with a brief video, then we
were able to go inside several facilities and see a few athletes include female
bobsledder,
Bree Schaaf.
After our tour, we headed downtown where we
had dinner at Gasoline Alley, a great little hamburger joint.
We also enjoyed the movie “The Family”
with Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee
Jones; quite entertaining!
Due to the torrential rains, flooding and road closures in northern Colorado, we were unable to visit Rocky Mountain National Park. Our hearts go out to those who’ve lost so much in these storms. We decided to head south to Roswell, New Mexico where we spent an enjoyable day visiting the International UFO Museum, browsing a few “extraterrestrial” shops, then driving west to Lincoln.
Lincoln
was at the center of the
Lincoln County War, 1876-1879, and is the historical
home of Billy the Kid. The town is very well preserved and we were able to tour
several of the original buildings, including the Tunstall store.
One of the volunteers recommended we visit
Fort Stanton, home of Kit Carson and the Buffalo soldiers, a short distance
northwest of Lincoln.
From Roswell, we headed west toward the
Karl G.
Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), one of the world's premier astronomical radio
observatories.
It is located on the Plains of San Agustin at
an elevation of 7000 feet.
Along the way, we were stopped on US Highway
380 for a missile launch at the White Sands Missile Range.
We were unable to see the missile, but it was
interesting to talk to people who were also waiting, including Nathan, who
showed Bob his “elk shed”, antlers he found while 4-wheeling in the area.
Once we arrived at the VLA, we enjoyed a brief movie
then a self-guided walking tour of the area.
As you can see by the pictures of Bob with one
of the radio antenna, they are quite large.
It was a very interesting stop; we learned a
lot and also saw and heard a storm coming!
The drive northeast to
Albuquerque
was lovely; every
area we’ve visited has distinctly different yet beautiful landscape.
We are now parked at
El Rancho RV Park in
Albuquerque where we will spend the next month.
We didn’t realize until looking for an RV Park
that the balloon fiesta will be while we’re here.
Should be quite interesting!
September 12
We
spent a pretty Saturday riding the
Cog Railway from Manitou Springs, Colorado to
the top of
Pikes Peak,
14,115 feet above sea level.
We saw beautiful scenery along the way, and
can understand why in July 1893,
Katharine Lee Bates
wrote the song "America
the Beautiful",
after having admired the view from the top.
It truly is breath-taking!
Near the summit we saw a herd of mule deer and
several
yellow-bellied marmots.
Sunday, we enjoyed cheering our Indianapolis Colts to
victory over the Oakland Raiders at the
Crystola Road House, not far from our RV
Park.
We had the dining room (and the big screen TV) to
ourselves, while receiving excellent service.
The food was delicious and really reasonable.
When we returned to the campground, the field
next to our camper had about a dozen mule deer grazing and we enjoyed watching
them for several minutes.
Monday, we visited the US Air Force Academy on the northwest edge of Colorado Springs. The grounds are pretty and we arrived in time to watch the noon cadet formation. A cadet stopped to provide information and answer questions which was a nice bonus. Afterwards we toured the chapel, an aluminum, glass and steel structure which soars more than 150 feet into the Colorado sky. It is absolutely beautiful and houses Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Buddhist chapels. It is the most popular man-made attraction in Colorado. The Barry Goldwater Visitor Center houses a Subway sandwich shop, gift shop, and information on the academy’s history and cadet life, which we enjoyed browsing. We also walked through the Honor Court, Arnold Hall and viewed the athletic complex.
Wednesday we spent in Denver.
Due to heavy rains, US 24 to the interstate
was closed because of flooding so we wandered on beautiful but very winding and
hilly county road 67.
The highlight of the drive was seeing a female
elk run across the road in front of us and jumping the fence; our first elk of
the trip!
Once in Denver, we toured the US Mint which
manufactures all denominations of circulating coins,
coin dies, the Denver "D" portion of the annual uncirculated coin sets,
commemorative coins authorized by the U. S. Congress and stores gold and silver
bullion.
The tour was interesting and informative but
no free samples were given at the end.
Afterwards we had lunch at Dozens Restaurant,
a couple of blocks from the mint.
Nearly every item on the menu contains eggs,
and we each had delicious omelets.
The restaurant is in an old home and has a
quaint interior.
September 6, 2013
After Labor Day we planned to drive northeast to Denver, Colorado. We got up Tuesday morning and decided to go southeast instead; great to be flexible! We drove south on US 191, then southeast on US 491 into southwestern Colorado, our 49th state! We arrived at the A&A Mesa Verde Campground a couple of hours later, unhooked, and drove to Four Corners Monument, the only place in the US where four states meet at one point. Around the sides of the monument were booths of Native American wares which we enjoyed browsing. Since it was Kathy's birthday we went out to a great dinner at Tequila's Mexican Restaurant and dinner was capped off with Fried Ice Cream!
We spent a day at Mesa Verde
National Park, which
offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made
it their home for over 700 years.
Kathy took the Cliff Palace tour, a
ranger-guided tour into
Mesa Verde's largest cliff dwelling.
It involved walking down 300 steps and
climbing a total of four, 10-foot ladders but was very interesting and well
worth the effort.
We also saw the Spruce Tree cliff dwelling and
enjoyed the beautiful scenery.
We spent Thursday driving east on US 160 across Wolf Creek Pass (summit 10, 856
feet). It was a long, winding uphill climb and equally long, winding descent but
with beautiful scenery.
We had another long climb west of Colorado
Springs to reach Diamond RV Park in Woodland Park.
It is a pretty park shaded by Ponderosa pines,
not far from Pike’s Peak and the Air Force Academy.
September 2, 2013
We camped a few days at Ruby’s Campground
just outside Bryce Canyon National Park, a nice campground with spacious sites and a national park shuttle stop out front. We took the shuttle into Bryce Canyon our first day and discovered our new favorite place! Bryce Canyon is definitely a must see; these pictures simply can’t do it justice. The park has a great shuttle system, which can transport you around the entire park in just under an hour. We spent time at Bryce Point to see our first breathtaking views of the Bryce Amphitheater.
After lunch we took the Rainbow Point shuttle, a three-hour round trip tour to the south end of the park. Our guide, Jay, was very informative, pointing out the north rim of the Grand Canyon, approximately 90 miles to the south, as well as various plant life and hoodoo formations.
The next day we watched the sun rise at Inspiration
Point; again beautiful!
The lighting changes and effects on the
scenery as the sun comes up are amazing.
Afterwards, we enjoyed breakfast at the Canyon
Lodge, then took the shuttle to the stops we hadn’t yet visited.
Bryce Canyon may be our new favorite place!
Leaving the Bryce Canyon area, we drove slowly through the Red Canyon, where we saw herds of Pronghorn antelope and a few deer. The canyon itself is beautiful.
We had an interesting drive along I-70,
through the
San Rafael Swell, where we had 6-7 percent ascents and descents with
gorgeous and ever-changing scenery.
We are spending the Labor Day weekend at the
Spanish Trail RV Park in Moab, UT, just south of
Arches National Park.
We enjoyed dinner at the
Moab Brewery, where
they make their own root beer and ginger ale as well as various beers.
The campground staff recommended an ATV tour of the area, so we spent a morning with Richard Mick of Dan Mick’s Guided Jeep Tours. Richard, Dan’s son, took us on the Hell’s Revenge Trail, going places we’d never have believed a vehicle could go. We took none of the bypasses. After going up a ridge, Richard pulled up to a rock wall, since it looked like it was straight up I thougth he was going to tell us something about it, but he colmly locked the front end and drove up the wall! OH MY! After that the trail got even more exciting! Richard was very informative and we stopped several times for beautiful views and photos. On one of the stops we were able to see dinosaur tracks and Richard showed us one area where it looked like we could see the tracks of an Allosaurus attacking another dinosaur. A most impressive and highly recommended tour.
We spent a warm, breezy, beautiful day at Arches National Park. We hiked the Park Avenue Trail, which descends into a spectacular canyon with 360 degree gorgeous turns. Per the park ranger’s suggestion, Bob dropped Kathy at one end, parked at the other end and we met on the trail. A great way to begin our visit! We drove to Double Arch and hiked the short trail to the base, then drove around the remainder of the park, stopping frequently for gorgeous views and pictures.
Again, these pictures cannot do the park
justice.
Afterwards, we rewarded our hiking efforts
with ice cream at Crystal’s Cakes and Cones, a nice little cupcake and ice cream
shop.
Tomorrow we continue northeast toward the Denver,
Colorado area.
August 26, 2013
Bob's Mexican Food
Winding up our time in Salt Lake City, we were
fortunate to attend a Real Salt Lake MLS soccer game.
What fun!
The crowd really gets into the game, including
a song they sung for each home goal as the Real beat the Columbus Crew 4:0.
We wanted to see the Great Salt Lake while here, so
we spend a pretty afternoon on Antelope Island State Park in the lake.
As you can see from the pictures, there is
quite a variety of landscape on the island, as well as a variety of wildlife.
We enjoyed a brief wade in the lake although
it wasn't deep enough to see if we would actually float in the salty water.
We’ll be heading to southern Utah early this week.
August 23, 2013 Salt Lake City, Utah
On our drive from Twin Falls, ID to
Salt Lake
City, UT, we decided to take a 30-mile detour to visit the
Golden Spike
National Historic Site in northern Utah.
This is where, on
May 10, 1869, the Union and Central Pacific Railroads
joined their rails at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory and forged the destiny
of a nation.
It was well worth the detour as we arrived in
time to eat our picnic, view a brief film and then enjoy a great steam train
demonstration.
We are staying at
Pony Express RV Resort in North Salt Lake, a nice campground with beautiful
views of the surrounding mountains (will we ever grow tired of the mountain
views?!).
From here it’s a short drive to the places we
plan to visit.
We spent yesterday in Salt Lake City.
We parked downtown and then hiked up the hill
to the Utah State
Capitol, set on forty acres that overlook the city.
We learned the beehive is Utah’s state symbol
so
throughout the grounds, on the building itself, and
within the interior are countless beehive representations, representing the
values of industry and cooperation.
Afterwards we stopped at a nearby visitor
center for a little further information before walking back down the hill to
downtown.
We spent the rest of the afternoon in
Temple Square, a
35-acre site that includes
restaurants, exquisite gardens and interesting
historical sites.
The gardens were beautiful, including a 19th
century garden in front of the
Beehive House, home to
Brigham
Young while he served as
President of
The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints and governor of Utah.
We toured Assembly Hall, the Tabernacle, the
Beehive House and the Conference Center.
All are beautiful andrig unique.
We had a delicious dinner at the Garden
Restaurant on the top floor of the
Joseph Smith Memorial Building, with a stunning view
of Temple Square and Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.
The highlight of our day was being able to
attend rehearsal of the
Mormon
Tabernacle Choir, which was awesome!
August 18, 2013 Twin Falls, Idaho
August 15, 2013 Boise, Idaho
Our week in Boise, Idaho has been very warm and dry.
We were told when we arrived they were
experiencing record high temperatures.
We passed the Elk Complex wildfires on our drive from Arco, and have had smoke
in the Boise area nearly every day we’ve been here.
Sunday we found the East End Market, a great little
farmer’s market downtown.
We made a few purchases, and then enjoyed a
delicious lunch at Lacavore, a little restaurant in the area.
We spent an afternoon visiting the Idaho State
Capitol and the Idaho Museum of History.
The capitol, built in 1905, was completely
refurbished and modernized over a three year period and reopened in 2010.
It is a beautiful building.
The museum of history, located in the
beautiful Julia Davis Park downtown, had a very nice sesquicentennial exhibit as
well as other interesting exhibits.
From there we walked a few blocks to the
Cottonwood Grille, a lovely restaurant on the Boise River.
We enjoyed the meal and the environment then
walked back to the truck along the Boise River Greenbelt.
Another day we visited the World Center for Birds of
Prey.
We arrived just in time for a guided tour to the
falconry archives, with a fabulous Sheikh Zayed Heritage Exhibit.
Afterwards, we attended a demonstration, and
then browsed through the exhibits.
The facility breeds California condors, which
are absolutely huge!
We will spend about another week in Idaho before
continuing south to Utah.
August 9, 2013
On our way south from Glacier National Park, we decided to spend a few days in
Arco, Idaho, the first
city
in the world ever to be lit by electricity generated by
nuclear power.
On the east side of Idaho Falls, we veered off I-15 onto US 20, a nice 2-lane
road with beautiful scenery. We’re staying at
Mountain View RV Park
where we have a lovely, shaded, large site.
The staff is friendly and helpful and a free camper’s breakfast is
included with our stay; it’s quite yummy and filling!
We have a great view of the surrounding mountains including one that each
high school graduating class paints their school year number on.
Apparently when alumni have their reunions, they pay younger people
(young & dumb as we were told!) to repaint their number; quite interesting.
We spent a warm day at Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. Although definitely of volcanic origin, the vast volumes of lava here apparently issued from a series of deep fissures that cross the Snake River Plain, known as the Great Rift instead of a classic volcano. It was very interesting as we hiked short trails along the North Crater flow and to the top of spatter cones.
We enjoyed dinner at
Pickle’s Place,
“Home of the Atomic Burger.” We
each had an atomic burger and it was delicious; definitely a great mom & pop
place to visit if you’re in the area. We spent an afternoon at the EBR-I Atomic
Museum on the east side of Arco. On
December 20, 1951, EBR-I became the first power plant in the world to produce
usable electricity using atomic energy.
We enjoyed our tour, presented by Corrine, which was very interesting and
informative. Definitely worth the
visit.
Tomorrow we are continuing west on US 20 to Boise, the state capital.
August - week 1
The drive through Wyoming and Montana was beautiful. Grazing north of I-90 in Wyoming we saw several herds of pronghorn. In Montana we encountered a five-mile six percent climb over Homestake Pass just east of Butte, MT where we crossed the Continental Divide for the first time this trip at 6300 feet, as well as multiple osprey sightings and a young moose in a stream along the interstate. These pictures just can’t do the scenery justice! After dinner at the Montana Ale Works
in
Bozeman,
MT
,
we strolled Main Street, noticing the variety of shops.
Only later did we realize Bozeman is a college
town, home of Montana State University.
The following night we stayed in Missoula, MT,
home of MSU arch rival University of Montana!
Thursday we took The International Peace Park day tour on a red touring bus, operated by Glacier Park Inc. The touring buses are “convertible” in that the top can be folded away for better scenery and wildlife viewing; our “seat mates” were a lovely couple from Holland. The tour started at Glacier Park Lodge, so we drove along scenic US 2 from our campsite to the Lodge, approximately sixty miles. Our tour driver, Pat, a retired Florida law enforcement officer, was very informative and personable. The tour follows MT 49 and US 89 on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, with beautiful mountain and valley views. The reservation is open range for cattle and horses, so we would see them in or along the roadway. The roads were narrow, winding with a few cliffs in the beginning. We stopped at St. Mary Lodge and Many Glacier Lodge to pick up passengers; all three lodges were built by the Great Northern Railroad in the early 1900s for their passengers. Along the way we saw a black bear (notice he’s brown in color) an osprey nest with 2 chicks , a deer in the town of Waterton, Alberta, Canada and numerous Columbia ground squirrels. They are adorable little creatures that look like fat prairie dogs that dig tunnel homes and are really rather destructive to the grounds. Our final destination was Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton, built as an extension to the chain of hotels and chalets built and operated by the Great Northern Railway in Glacier National Park. After lunch at Prince of Wales, we saw a black bear a distance in front of the lodge. The bears are foraging for berries as they will soon begin their winter hibernation. Driving back from Glacier Park Lodge to the campground, we stopped in Essex at Izzak Walton Inn, built by the Great Northern Railway in 1939 for lodging railway workers. We enjoyed a delicious meal in the Dining Car restaurant. Here are a few other pictures of our time in Glacier:
And a few more pictures:
July:
We
broadened our racing horizons by spending a pleasant Friday evening at the Black
Hills Speedway where we enjoyed open wheel, modified and real stock car racing
on a half mile dirt track. The
stands were quite full and we received helpful information from some locals who
attend regularly. We met a woman
whose 19 year old son won the B Modified main event, so it made that race more
interesting for us as we could cheer for him.
This was his first main event win.
She had several other family members racing as well.
We spent
an enjoyable, sunny day riding the 1880 vintage steam train from Keystone, SD,
to Hill City and back. We enjoyed
lunch at the Alpine Inn in Hill City.
Built in 1886, this historic landmark, with its reputation for fine dining,
became the showplace of Hill City and has been family owned & operated for over
3 decades. The food and atmosphere
were great. We strolled along Hill
City’s Main St, stopping in some of the shops including Hill City Mercantile,
recently renovated and utilizing some unique and interesting storage and display
methods for their quilt supplies and other merchandize.
We enjoyed visiting with the shop owner.
We also visited the train museum before our return train ride.
The scenery on the train trip was breathtaking and we saw wild turkeys,
white tail and mule deer along the way.
As we were leaving Keystone to return to our campground, we watched a
chainsaw sculptor at work.
We spent a very pretty afternoon in Custer State Park, a must-see when visiting
the Black Hills area. The drive on
the Iron Mountain Rd passes through three low narrow tunnels, one with a
stunning view of Mt Rushmore. We
drove the Wildlife Loop within the park where we saw Pronghorn, a Prairie Dog, a
huge buffalo herd (check
out our video) and fed the wild burros.
We really enjoyed the changing skies and beautiful views as dusk set in.
Because it was National Ice Cream day, as declared by President Reagan in
1984, we stopped at Dairy Queen for sundaes on our way home!
We left Rapid City July 26 and are now on our way to Glacier National Park in
northwestern Montana. Driving
through Wyoming, we saw several herds of Pronghorn grazing north of the
interstate. We’ve enjoyed the
beautiful scenery as we begin our climb into the majestic mountains.
The weather here in Rapid City has been very good. A couple of Thunder Storms but mostly 80's and sunny. The park has a nice pool and is very quiet. We have explored the city a bit. One interesting part of the city is that each President of the United States has a statue on a corner of downtown.
We spent a day at Ellsworth AFB touring the South Dakota Air & Space Museum. They had several good displays along with some great planes. One highlight of the trip was a walk thru a Minuteman Missile Silo. Ellsworth was the command base for 150 Minutemen Missiles sites in South Dakota during the Cold War. Also on display was a B1B Lancer, and a B52 with several other war planes. Our guide was very good, she was Retired from the Air Force and used her experience to enhance our enjoyment of the tour. Also of interest was the part of the Museum dedicated to Bismarck, the mascot of the base for almost 10 years.
Minuteman Pictures:
B1B Trainer:
Bismarck:
Museum Displays:
We spent a day at the Badlands National Park along with the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands (hmmm, didn't know we had any national grasslands, learn something new every day.) We have seen some of the prettest country in the would but this rates right up with some of the best! The Badlands are at the transitional point between the long grasses to the east and the shorter grasses in the west. I'm just so sorry that we didn't spend more time in this park when we traveled to SD before. Here are a few of the pictures we took.
We have wandered thru the Black Hills several times, but never did we take a bus tour. So, we decided to take the Ft Hays tour. Glad we did. We saw some things that we hadn't seen before and learned more about this area. The tour included a good breakfast of sausage and pancakes as well as a Chuck Wagon dinner and a Western music show! Great fun! One highlight of the trip was taking the bus thru the Needles Highway tunnels. The Bus is 8' wide and 10' tall. The tunnels are both 8'4" wide and 10'6" high. This leaves a clearance of 2 inches on either side of the bus! On the far side of the 2nd tunnel there were people lined up to see the bus come thru. Ken, the driver, thought it would be great fun to pretend to be stuck about 3/4 of the way thru the tunnel! So he stopped the bus, blinked the lights, turned the wheels left and right and revved up the engine! You could see the people taking pictures and pointing at the bus. He then very slowly drove thru the rest of the tunnel, stopped and to the great delight of the crowd asked for directions to Mt Rushmore! Everyone had a good laugh!
We also toured Mt Rushmore, we have been there before but never do we cease to be amazed at the wonder of this work.
The Crazy Horse sculpture was the next stop. Most impressive! Included in this was a demonstration of two Sioux dances by the gentleman pictured below. He did a good job of explaining why he danced at Powwow's and how this helped turn his life around.
We stopped at The State Game lodge and had lunch in the Pheasant Room. The State Game Lodge was host to both Calvin Coolidge and Dwight Eisenhower during their presidency. The Buffalo Stew was very good. We ate with a couple of nice folks from Florida on vacation. We also visited Lake Sylvan, just like the rest of trip the scenery was gorgeous.
Here are a couple of pictures from the evening show before we went back home, tired but happy we had a great day. We even were greeted by a full rainbow from the passing thunderstorm.
June:
We were in Greenfield, IN from mid-April through mid-June and enjoyed spending time with family and friends
as well as getting all our annual maintenance done on our vehicles and ourselves! We also had the interior of the truck refurbished.
Looks nice doesn't it!
We spent some of our time in Indianapolis at the various museums and attractions. Here is a pic of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in the middle of Indianapolis.
While “home” were able to attend several post-season basketball games of our beloved Indiana Pacers. We started with the Hawks. We were able to get tickets in the lower level in the 16th row! Had a great time and have several pictures of Bob with the Pacers TV announce team. For the Knicks series we were in the club level and enjoyed another Pacer victory! For the Eastern Conference Championship against the Heat we sat in the upper deck! Still had a great time! We'll get them next year!
We went to an Indianapolis Indians baseball game with Bob’s sister Cynthia and Chuck! It was cold but still had a great time.
We were able to attend the high school graduation of Kathy’s youngest nephew Ross and oldest great niece Kristen.
Bob enjoyed working at the Speedway as well as “hanging out” there on his off days.
This year’s Indy 500 was one of the most exciting we’ve seen in our 32 years of attendance with a record speed and a record number of lead changes. It was especially great seeing Tony Kanaan win his first 500, he had come close sooo many times!
We spent Father’s Day weekend in West Allis, WI, attending the Milwaukee Fest Indy Car race at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds. It was another exciting race, we could watch the action around the entire 1- mile oval, and we were able to watch the Victory Circle celebrations from the sidelines after the race. Congratulations to Ryan Hunter-Reay for winning. On Father’s Day, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Pegasus Restaurant, within walking distance of our campsite. One really nice thing about the race in Milwaukee is that you can visit with the teams and drives more easily than at Indy.
This first Picture is of Bob and friend Joe from Panther Racing right after the race in the garage area.
Pictures of Victory Lane after the Race.
Prerace and Race pictures from our seats.
Guy fixing a TV camera before the race.
Pictures from the infield, garage and pits.
Bob with Ryan Briscoe, Oriol Servia and Justin Wilson
We spent four days in
Rock Island, IL, where we
visited the Rock Island Arsenal Museum, and enjoyed lunch at Mama Compton’s in
the Art District. We enjoyed a
pleasant afternoon in LeClaire, IA, where we visited the Buffalo Bill Cody
Museum, the Pelican & Crane Café, Archeology Antiques (the store from American
Pickers), and Expressions in Threads quilt shop.
We had a hot but fun weekend in Newton, IA at the
Iowa Speedway. We enjoyed visiting
our Panther Racing friends, a great race and a brief conversation with Helio
Castroneves post-race.
Congratulations to winner, James Hinchcliffe.
Misc pictures at the speedway.
We are now at the Lazy J RV Park and Campground in
Rapid City, SD where we will spend the next month.
The park has a beautiful view overlooking the city and we look forward to
exploring some places we haven’t visited in the past.
April
After our time at St Petersburg we traveled to
Destin FL and stayed for
a week at the
Navarre Beach Campground. While in Navarre we spent a day at the
National Naval
Aviation Museum in Pensacola, FL.
The museum is a great, free, hands-on facility.
We enjoyed a guided tour and then a wonderful hour-long “practice” by the
famed Navy's Blue
Angels. The weather was perfect
and we were not disappointed.
Afterwards we had lunch in the
Cubi Bar Café, whose decor and layout duplicates the bar area of the famous
Cubi Point Officers' Club, a major source of enjoyment for Navy and Marine Corps
squadrons, ships and units as they passed into the Western Pacific.
We enjoyed the
Honda Grand Prix of Alabama at
Barber Motor Sports Park the first weekend of
April. We were able to watch from a
hill overlooking the famous “Charlotte’s Web” (Charlottes Web is a turn on the
race course where there is a very large metal sculpture of a spider, you will be
able to see her in some of the pictures) where we
could see quite a bit of the road course and plenty of action.
Congratulations to Ryan Hunter-Reay for winning.
The weather was really nice and we enjoyed spending time with our friends
from Panther Racing.
We spent two weeks at
Campers RV Park in Columbia, TN near son Mike and his family.
We enjoyed attending softball games for granddaughters Grace and Abby and
having family time. We were able to
have “special time” with each of our grandkids and all were able to take in a
Nashville Sounds game, the triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers.
It was a fun time, the team won, we saw lots of action including a
grand-slam and a double play, and fireworks after the game.
We are now in Indiana, where we look forward to seeing friends, family and the
Indy 500 for the 32nd consecutive year. We will then be heading west for
the summer.