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.

After lunch we walked through the Civic Center Park to the Colorado State Capitol.  Built in the 1890’s, it is currently undergoing renovation, especially the dome area.  It is a beautiful building and again we marveled at how different each state capitol has been.  Something unique to the Colorado State Capitol are hand painted originals of each of the U.S. presidents, from George Washington to Barack Obama.  A quilt show was underway with over 300 quilts on display throughout the building.  Square dancing was being held on the main floor, primarily to patriotic music which could be heard throughout the building.

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 -- Bryce Canyon and Arches National Parks

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

We enjoyed a day exploring the beautiful scenery around Twin Falls, Idaho.  We started at the Buss Langdon Visitor Center, located on the Canyon Rim Trail, where we obtained a wealth of information about the area.  We watched BASE (Building, Antenna, Span, Earth) jumpers jumping from the Perrine Bridge, a 1500 foot bridge that spans the Snake River Canyon, at a maximum height of 486 feet above the canyon
floor.  Here is a video of a BASE jumper. The canyon and bridge are absolutely beautiful with gorgeous views as we walked a portion of the trail.  We ate our picnic lunch at the Shoshone Falls Park, where the sound of the waterfalls was quite relaxing.  The falls, 212 feet high (45 feet higher than Niagara Falls) are beautiful, even though the drought has affected the water flow somewhat.

                                                 
                                       

Video of Shoshone Falls:
Next we drove a short distance to Dierkes Lake and park, another beautiful area. 

                                                       
We then visited the Twin Falls also affected by the current drought but still quite beautiful. 

                                                       
We finished the day cooling off with ice cream in the city of Twin Falls.

Oh, yes....One more picture of the Beautiful Snake River Canyon!

                                                           

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.

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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! (Their yearly football game is played for the Great Divide Trophy.)

 The day drive from Missoula to Coram was a pleasant surprise along US 93  which borders Flathead Lake.  The highway is a nice, winding two-lane highway and Flathead Lake, the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River, is absolutely beautiful.  We were able to find a place to pull over and spend some time enjoying the view.  Flathead cherries are in season and there were numerous roadside stands along the way; unfortunately none had room for us to park our rig!  We arrived at North American RV Park and Yurt Village approximately five miles from Glacier National Park July 29.  The staff is very friendly, courteous and helpful and as you can see we have a lovely site.

 We spent an afternoon in Glacier National Park, driving the short portion of Going to the Sun Road that allows our truck.  Vehicles over 21 feet long, 8 feet wide or 10 feet high are prohibited on most of the road due to rock overhangs and narrow curves.  We stopped at Lake McDonald, the largest lake in Glacier covering almost ten square miles.  Being a glacial lake, it is a beautiful turquoise color.  We also enjoyed a stop at McDonald Falls.

 

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. We stopped in Bozeman, MT on Satuday night and had Buffalo meatloaf at the Montana Ale Works. Very good.

 

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.

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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. 

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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.

First group of pictures are drives at the Iowa Speedway.

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.

Here is our campsite at the Lazy J Campground in Rapid City.

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 later spent some time in Destin on the waterfront enjoying the great seafood (Ok, Kathy ate seafood, Bob confined his aquatic tastes to shrimp...lol) and views of the Gulf.

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.

 

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