Back to the Heat

Did you wonder if we had fallen of the ends of the earth? Actually, we fell into a beautiful park of trees and chipmunks at Chama, NM. The one drawback to the park was that the Internet was very intermittent. Thus, the reason the blog has not been updated since the wedding. Leaving Olympia, we traveled to Baker City, OR where we visited the Oregon Trail museum which was great. Then we proceeded to Brigham City, UT and Grand Junction, CO on our way to Ouray, CO. There we met Mike and Beth for about 4 days of jeeping and enjoying the mountains. We left for a week in Durango where we rode the train and rested a week. Following that, we moved on to Chama, NM where Chuck trained to be a docent on the Cumbres and Toltec scenic railroad. We stayed there for the rest of the summer and Chuck rode the train 25 times...happy man! I enjoyed the cool, walked the dogs and crafted at a local quilt shop. We were sad to leave when Labor Day came around but it was time to come back to reality. I'm back at work ...busy, busy, busy and wishing summer was here again.

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Mike Dixon

Hood River

We moved north to the Hood River Valley and found a beautiful county operated campground on the Hood River. It was nestled among vineyards and orchards of all kinds. We rode the Mt. Hood Railroad and rocked along on top of the train in an old dome car. Instead of the clickety-clack we gently swayed and weaved back and forth like a drunken sailor. The view was beautiful. The train stopped at a small park in the town of Parkdale for a dinner of BBQ which was good.

The dogs really enjoyed this park. There were miles and miles of roads (just ask my feet) to walk and plenty of bushes to hide squirrels, rabbits and even a bobcat. Our next stop is Olympia. We should arrive the Sunday before the wedding on Saturday. We will stay in the same park from last year. Hope the sun shines on Saturday.

"Come out, little rabbit"

Yreka, CA to Crater Lake Oregon

Yreka was just a short stop before entering Oregon. Many of California's museums are closed because of their budget crunch. We definitely found that here. The only museum we found open was one at Ft. Jones. It was a nice community museum in a very interesting rock building. The campground was mainly a parking lot but it was new and clean. Best of all there were new shiny washers and dryers for a reasonable cost. This is important when dirty clothes pile up in one small trailer.

We have now moved on to Crater Lake Resort in Oregon. It is a beautiful campground. We have visited a logging museum which was fantastic. It had a number of very interesting old log cabins. We also drove up to Crater Lake National Park. As we climbed to the top of the mountain it was snowing. The lake in the crater of an extinct volcano was shrouded with fog and we did not get many good pictures of it. The snow was still very deep and I guess it will be July before it is gone.

Gorgeous Graeagle, CA

We traveled through some more lovely country and arrived at Graeagle. CA. The campground was nestled in among tall pines and spotlessly clean. The temperature was in the 70’s and the sun shone in a beautiful blue sky. We added two days there because we were meeting some friends from Lincoln, CA, Mike and Joanne and of course, the boys’s friend, Zoe. We met them in La Junta, CO last summer and discovered we were both bound for the same places and had the same interests. Being able to visit again with them made the stay at Graeagle so much fun. We traveled to Lake Tahoe about 60 miles from the campground. What a gorgeous sapphire jewel nestled among the mountains! We also saw the Donner Party museumWe visited a train museum at Portalo at which Chuck put his camera through a workout. Another historical highlight of the trip was the Kentucky Mine Tour. This mine and mill was wonderfully preserved. It was run by a father-son team for many years. We got to walk into the mine and watch some preserved machinery power up. It is amazing the inventiveness of people in the 1890s. This waterwheel powered a generator to deliver air to hydraulic drills. Then we entered the ore crushing stamp mill from the top and worked out way down to the stamps with an enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide. It was in remarkable condition and could still be run again. Graeagle was such a nice place I would have been glad to spend the summer there. The dogs had a great time sniffing around a large pasture area that was the dog walk. Ulysses spotted some cows just as Chuck slipped off the leash to let him in the trailer and was away like a flash. He dashed under the barbed wire fence and caused quite a stir among the cows. He had them running but when they stopped and turned around to glare at him, he hightailed it back to the fence. He really is quite a “chicken”. It was comical after the initial heart attack suffered by his owner. This is a lovely place and we hated to leave it.

Into the past--Carson City and Virginia City, Nevada

After leaving Bridgeport, CA, we traveled to Carson City the capitol of Nevada. This city of about 45,000 has buildings from the 1800s . We visited the train museum which has many old engines and cars. Nearby is the town of Virginia City of Bonanza fame. It was an mining town and now is a tourist mecca and biker haven. There is one main street perched on the side of the mountain that is full of saloons and shops. "The Bucket of Blood" being one of the most famous. We wandered through the shops and museums for 2 days. A couple streets down is a large and lovely church called St. Mary of the Mountains. It's steeple is a beacon from every part of town. I guess with all the saloons it needed to be highly visible. As we were wandering through shops I saw a group of ladies sewing and two dress forms with Civil War dresses. Talking with the women, I found they were a group of reenactors that were holding a sewing bee. We talked for a good while and one of the ladies showed us the hotel upstairs which was very nicely done in victorian taste. The next day we rode the Virginia and Truckee railroad from Carson City to Virginia City. We had another 3 hours there before riding back to Carson City. The weather has been particularly nice. We will be leaving for Gaeagle, CA and will met some friends we made on last years trip.

Bodie, CA -- Suspended in Time

California has a state park which encompasses the mining ghost town of Bodie. Bodie seems to be stuck in time. There are amazing buildings that still have furniture and other items left in the building. We spent close to five hours wandering around looking at the buildings and taking a tour through the stamp mill which is still intact. The mines around the town produced massive amounts of gold and silver until the 1900s. Only about 5 % of the town is left in this mountain valley. It was an interesting adventure.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=509

http://www.bodie.com/

California .. the way it should be

Imagine California...place of horrendous traffic, too many people, many with strange colored hair and wierd ideas. We did and even left Prescott AZ at 5 am to get there. It's been about 35 years since we traveled to California to visit Chuck's Los Angeles cousins. Because we had decided to bypass Las Vega because of the heat, we had a very long day ahead of us before we reached Bridgeport, CA. On the way, we crossed the Hoover Dam Bridge which was amazing. Coming across the Nevada line into California we were pleasantly surprised when we reached the Entry station and were greeted by a nice man with a smile and welcoming courtesy.

Then we began a drive across some desert foothills and came to an astounding view of snow capped mountains...the Sierra Nevadas. I don't think I seen mountains quite as beautiful from a distance.

We continued to our campground and found it was right on a mountain lake as beautiful as they come. The evenings were cool and breezy but not uncomfortable. We took the dogs out along the lake and they got to run to their heart's content. This is such a lovely place it was worth the nearly 12 hours it took to get here. Tommorrow we plan to go to the ghost town of Bodie. We understand it is amazing. Yes, we like this part of California!

Point of Rocks and Prescott

After the heat and city size of Tucson we traveled to Prescott, AZ expecting more heat. We were pleasantly surprised at both the climate and the campground in Prescott. Prescott is a higher elevation and the campground was in the hills. The dogs were excited at the walking trails among the rocks. We visited Ft. Verde, a state park which we thought had been closed because of budget cuts. However, the 1880's restored fort had been given a reprieve when the community stepped up with some funding. We also visited Montezuma's Castle National Monument, an Indian dwelling similar to Mesa Verde. Then we drove to Jerome which was a Victorian mining town perched on the side of a mountain. It was very interesting but there was no parking so we just inched our way through the streets and headed back to the campground. We also visited the Sharlot Hall museum which was established by the first state historian (woman) in AZ. It was a lovely campus full of restored and furnished buildings.
At the campground we walked and walked and walked the dogs. There was a wonderful trail through the rocks and the dogs found climbing to be their new sport. We will be moving on to Bridgeport, California. We have decided to bypass Las Vegas since it will be so hot and our air conditioner is not working well in extreme heat.

The Old West at Old Tucson

Time to be a kid again watching the good ole westerns.

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Tucson -- the terribly hot

Our next stop was Tucson where we stayed 3 days. We went to Old Tucson Studios which was where a good number of westerns were made. Now it is an Old West theme park with shows, an old West street and a few rides. We got there late in the afternoon the first day and came back the next morning to finish our visit. We really enjoyed it.

We also drove through the Saguro NM which was very scenic. I loved the cacti. The local Indians regard them as ancestors and in the sunset shadows I can see how they could imagine that. We also went to the Arizona Desert museum which was a combination zoo and botanical desert garden. It was one of those places I wish we could have come earlier and stayed all day.

The city of Tucson itself was very hot and our AC doesn't seem to be working too well. The trailer did not cool down until after nine pm. We were headed to find a WalMart to get cool when we were rear-ended by a mini-van. Unfortunately for her, she hit the trailer hitch full on and caused quite a bit of damage to her car but for the truck only the bumper was nicked by the mudflaps. It did require about 3 hours waiting for the police and their paperwork. The damage won't slow our trip but it sure was a pain.

Ft. Huchuca AZ

Chuck was stationed in Ft. Huchuca just before he went to Vietnam and wanted to see what it looked like 40 years later. Most of the buildings had been renovated and he didn't recognize any of them except the theatre which is now a museum. We enjoyed the museums on the fort.

Bisbee, A Big Hole in the Ground

From Tombstone we drove to Bisbee which is a copper mining town. We had hoped to take a mine tour but arrived too late. The town itself is perched on a hill and looks like it should be sliding down any minute. We drove out to the Lavender Pit mine that closed in the 1970s. It was amazing how they dug this pit.

Tombstone, Bisbee and Ft. Huchuca --Mining the Tourists

During our stay at Benson we drove down to Tombstone, the ultimate tourist attraction. It was actually very interesting. We toured the Courthouse museum, walked the old West street.

I found a shop that sold reproduction clothing of the 1880s and bought some patterns. I also stumbled on a clothing museum that was wonderful. It was in an original house that belonge to a Tombstone lawyer and the back porach had been converted to display the garments. There were many lovely things and the gentleman running it was very nice and appreciated my enthusiasm. He allowed me to take pictures but unfortunately with the glass cases and overhead lights, the glare did not allow good pictures.


We found that finding a tour such as the trolley we rode makes a good way to see and learn about the history of an area. All in all Tombstone was fun!

Breezy Trail to Benson

We left Midland about 6:30 AM and as soon as we slid onto the Interstate, the wind began to blow. By the time we got to El Paso and beyond it was hurricane strength or so it seemed. There were many places where the sand would blow dangerously across the road and lower visibility to zero. We saw numerous dust devils. We pulled into Benson where we are staying at the Butterfield RV Resort. It is a snow bird resort and is very nice and has lots of nice advantages like a gym, game room pool, library, and computers. WIFI is extra which is why this is slow being posted. Benson is quite small but we plan to travel to Tombstone, Bisbee and Ft. Huchuca while we are here.

Hittin' the Road Again

It is hard to believe that a year has passed since our trip to Olympia, WA and other western destinations.

It was such fun but I would never have thought we would get to do it again and a year later. Our son Mike and his bride to be, Beth, will be getting married in late June, our anniversary date (39 years later) to be exact. What better reason to "have" to make another trip up there! (Mike, your mom thanks you!)

On the way to the wedding, we plan to travel through Arizona, Nevada, California and Oregon. In California, we will get to visit with some friends we made last summer. Of course, we will visit as many history sites as possible. Autie and Ulysses will be back seat co-pilots again.

You are invited to comment and leave messages here for us as we travel. We intend to keep this up for each destination. Oh, and we might just post some pictures of the wedding. So visit often.

White Christmas at Old Fort Concho

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