More Maine Day Trips

We had a surprise today in an e-Mail cancelling a Whale Watching excursion we had planned for Friday. We quickly got busy to see if there was another one we could schedule. We found one leaving from Kennebunkport on Friday and booked it.

We spent most of the rest of the day just staying around the house and relaxing. In the afternoon, Emily and Betty decided to go out for ice cream and to pick up Nancy‘s prescription.

Chad had recommended Fielder’s Ice Cream, and we went there.  Oh my goodness, the cone that Emily got was enormous (she asked for a large)!  I wish I would have taken a picture of it. We were both shocked. The guy at the ice cream place gave her a cup to dump it in and it’s a good thing he did. Because it was about to fall over onto the ground! We had several good laughs about that!!

We then picked up Nancy’s prescription and returned home where white bean chicken chili and corn muffins awaited us for dinner.  Did we mention that we are NOT going hungry??😂😂

Oh; we did see some deer out in the back this evening.  Called it an early night as we have to get an early start in the morning for our Whale Watching excursion.

Day 15 – Friday,9/22/23

We hit the road early this morning in order to reach Kennebunkport by 9:30 A.M. as it turned out, there in plenty of time they have about 48 on our boat. We saw lots of pretty homes and even saw the Bush houses from the water. Turned out, after about four hours at sea, and going about 50 miles total, we did not see one whale! Our captain tried really hard to locate some for us and we appreciated that. We did get a voucher that is good indefinitely for us to use if we ever have the opportunity to come back.

We then drove to Bay Harbor where Emily and Betty enjoyed a lobster (lobsta)dinner…Nancy opted for a salad.  Afterwards we went to Trenton, Maine where we spent the night in a cute, rustic cabin.

Day 16 – Saturday, 9/23/23

With another exciting day ahead of us, we stopped on the way to Bar Harbor and asked a lady where she would recommend us eating breakfast.  Without hesitation, she said “Jordan’s” and gave us directions to get there.  People have been so nice and friendly!  When we arrived at Jordan‘s, there was a very long line, but the wait was about 10 minutes. Were we ever glad we waited! The food was wonderful and very filling.

We then headed to our destinations for the day, which was Acadia national park. At the suggestion of a worker there, we decided to take the bus and go around the park. Emily had decided to go back after the first stop, but Nancy and I continued on.  We were able to get off at several stops and saw many beautiful views.  God’s creation is so magnificent.

Then, we headed back to Lisbon, stopping on the way to…..you guessed it… get a meal, since it would have been too late to start cooking when we arrived home.

Tune in tomorrow for another adventure!

(pix to be added at a later time)

DAY 13-Local Maine visits

We were able to relax and enjoy the morning before heading out, since we decided against going up Mount Washington for various reasons.  Instead we went to the cute town of Freeport, which is about 25 minutes away.  Thank you, Jeremy Price for the recommendation to eat at Tuscany Grill!  The food was delicious and the service was excellent.  

The three of us started out going in and out of some of the stores, but after a few, Nancy decided to go back to the car and rest….she INSISTED that Emily and I continue shopping, so we did!  There was a small outdoor mall we enjoyed (especially the kitchen store 😉.  They also had an LL Bean outlet there to go along with the HUGE LL Bean store that is in the town.  Once we finished, we stopped by and got Nancy to go into a British store we were parked next to, thinking they would offer scones and clotted cream, but they didn’t!  

We needed to fill up with gas for our planned adventure for tomorrow, so we made our way back to Wal-Mart to do that and of course, had to go in and pick up a few more items we needed.  

It was getting close to dinner time, so we went to Sabattus House of Pizza and oh my goodness, we had a feast.  The sampler platter was loaded with chicken strips, mozzarella sticks, fries, onion rings and a delicious marinara sauce….then came the wings, sandwich and salad…and everything was delicious and so plentiful that we had enough left over for at least one more meal.  Thank you, Chad for treating us.  We will be returning for pizza another day.  I mean, HOW can you go to a pizza shop and not have pizza???

Until tomorrow…

(pix added at a later time)

Days 11 & 12- Montreal & back to Lisbon, Maine!

We said good-bye to Canada bright and early, as we had reservations at 11 A.M. at the (Von) Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont, for a history tour.  We went through customs without any problem, and arrived at our destination by 10:45 A.M.

The family’s history was presented by a gentleman who has known the family since he was a young boy, so it was a very personal presentation.  He pointed out the things in the movie, The Sound of Music, and real life that were different. We saw the family cemetery which is on the property, watched a BBC documentary on Maria Von Trapp, and met a grandson, Sam, who answered questions and took pictures with guests.  

On a side note, visiting the Von Trapp Family Lodge has been on my (Betty’s )“bucket list” for a long time.  I can tell you that it was a highlight for me.  I was surprised at how emotional I was…watching the “real” Maria on the documentary and hearing first hand what they went through was very touching.

Afterwards, we had lunch at one of the restaurants at the lodge and then took some pictures before leaving.

It rained the entire way back to Lisbon, but we made it without any problems, for which we were very grateful.

TUESDAY, 9/19/23

We didn’t have any real plans for today, as Nancy went to Urgent Care to have some x-rays from her fall on Sunday.  It turns out she has a fracture in her left elbow, but her hand, ribs and knee are all o.k. Other than being bruised really bad.

After lunch we decided to drive to Portland, Maine, as it is about 40 minutes from where we’re staying.  Once there, we mainly took a nice long walk, looking at the beautiful water, the sail boats, and cruise ships.

Made a Wal-Mart run on the way back and enjoyed Taco Soup for supper.

(pix added at a later date)

Day 10 Montreal Part 3

Once again, since we were going to be doing quite a bit of walking, we began our day with a big breakfast supplied by our hotel.

We had planned to get the Hop-on-Hop off bus, but would have had to wait at least 30 minutes to be picked up, and a kind lady stopped to see if we needed directions, and told us China Town (which was one of the places we wanted to go) was not far away, so we decided to start walking!  

Once there, we enjoyed going into a bakery that had the most delicious looking pastries, breads and sandwiches ever!  Nancy got some cute mini cookies to take to Jacques’ cousin we’re going to visit this Amanda a chocolate banana pastry for us all to share.  We went to a couple of other stores too and then headed to “Old Montreal.”

HAD to get a picture of Nancy in front of “Place Jacques-Cartier Street.” We arrived at the beautiful Basilica at noon, just as the bells were ringing!  We didn’t go inside but enjoyed the architecture of the building. 

After leaving there, we were going to attempt to get the bus, but before we could, Nancy decided she wanted to meet the pavement!  Needless to say, we were all three having very fast palpitations of the heart!  It took a few minutes, but she was able to get up.  So many nice people stopped to help us.  One man even offered her his arm to hold onto to go up the incline, but she had her trekking poles and felt like she would be ok.

We finally saw the bus and even though it wasn’t a normal stop, the driver recognized us from yesterday and noticed that we looked distressed, so he pulled over and picked us up! Another sircie!  Then, when he saw that Nancy had fallen, he took a detour and dropped us off almost directly across the street from our hotel.  What a blessing!

Later we went to visit Jacques’ cousin, her husband and daughter.  They were lovely and it was nice they could “catch up” with each other.  Lise had made a lemon pie and a carrot cake that we all enjoyed.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a grocery store (because Betty HAS to visit a grocery store wherever we go). We made it back without any problems, had some sandwiches and called it a day!

(PS/remember…pix will be added at a later time)

Sorry

for the LONG interruption in our fantastic vacation! Betty was so good to keep her dialog up of our trip, but since I am the “Poster”, I was not up to adding pix and dialog. Here it is, January 19, and I haven’t made it a priority! Life is so busy!!!!!

Sooooo I am going to try to post some dialogs first, and then add pix, so please keep coming back for the updates! Thank you for your interest in our site!

This is why no new posts!

Feel pretty sure some of you may be wondering why there haven’t been any posts lately, so here’s the scoop! 

“The Poster”, Nancy, had a meeting with the sidewalk while we were in Canada 🍁 and hasn’t been feeling quite “up to par.” Rightfully so, as when we returned to Lisbon she went to a Centra Care, had x-rays and learned that she has a fractured elbow. We are very thankful that she hasn’t been in a lot of pain and has been able to keep going for the most part. And yes, she already has an appointment scheduled with an orthopedist when we return to Orlando.

This young lady sprung into action, cleaning the wounds with Q-tips and alcohol!

Sure look “beat up” now!!! The worst pain is the bruised ribs!

I have the BEST caregivers in Emily and Betty…could not ask for anything more!!

Day 9-Montréal part 2

We began our morning with a hearty breakfast at our hotel. Afterwards, we headed out for a Hop on Hop off bus tour of Montreal.
We saw many places of interest, as shown by the pictures our photographer, Nancy took.

Our Hop on Hop off

Top middle is from Mont Royale, you can see the Olympic Stadium, 2nd row middle is the first High Rise, built in middle of 1900s, 3rd row first photo is tunnel and bridge to travel onto or off West Montréal, as it is an island! So much artwork!

We “hopped off” after riding all the way around to do some walking on our own. It was a beautiful day…started off a little cool (around 64), but warmed up quickly.

We found a food-court type place for lunch and enjoyed that. Walked a little more, stopping to go inside a church that was built in the 1800’s. The stained glass was very pretty and the pipe organ was massive.

We were looking for the underground mall without success so decided to return to the hotel, get directions, and go later in the afternoon.

On the way back to the hotel, we kept hearing what sounded like some very loud shouting and it turned out that it was a large group of protesters walking down the street right in front of our hotel. They were protesting the unjust killing of a woman in Iran.

After resting a while, Betty and Nancy set out to find the underground mall. Emily stayed behind to keep her feet up awhile. We DID find it! There were 3 levels underground! We were disappointed that so many stores were already closed, or closing soon, but it was interesting, I cannot imagine the engineering that took!

Down, down,down!

Sculptures and paper trees, and beautiful flowers!

We called it a night, made sandwiches in our little apartment, and enjoyed the sunset from our balcony !

From our balcony

Goodnight!

Day 8……3 States, and 2 countries

We got up and were ready to leave by 8:30 AM. Headed to Montreal Canada. We decided to go earlier than previously planned because of the weather. So far we have been blessed, beautiful weather all along the way. We are very grateful!

Today we went from Maine, to New Hampshire, to Vermont, and then into Canada. We were excited that we got through customs with no problems. I guess we must not suspicious ha ha.

On the way, our first stop was to see some falls which turned out to be a small creek, in Maine: Mother Walker Falls. It was very peaceful with the sounds of rushing water. There was a lady who was traveling alone who saw us get out of the car and decided it was safe for her to get out and walk around, with us there. We were able to take her picture and she took ours! We have enjoyed so many of God’s Sircies (yes, that IS a word) on this trip and try to always say “thank you!”

While driving on in Maine we saw these electric lines, we learned from Betty’s SIL, CHAD, that they keep multiple lines strong.

Then, we entered New Hampshire!

This is ALSO a beautiful state!

We stopped at a small town at twelve o’clock and the town whistle went off!

The Black Bear Restaurant did not disappoint us….the food was delicious and the server was great. We have had such delightful servers on this trip…another sircie!

Emily says this Stew and Grilled Cheese was delicious

And Betty got a version of. French Dip she LOVED it

We entered Vermont and drove only about 10 minutes and were at the Canadian Border!

Nancy and Betty had entered Canada at the Soo Locks in 2008, and it was a BIG deal. Car searched, a zillion questions. This time they asked a couple questions and took our passports, and sent us on our way! Thank you, God! (Sirsie!)

When we arrived at our hotel and tried to check in, we found out that Nancy had been scammed….another sircie…they had a room available and gave it to us for a better price. (Sirsie) The manager was super nice, as was the young lady who was trying to check us in. Our room has a stove, refrigerator with a freezer, table and chairs and even a small balcony overlooking a busy thoroughfare. It really is a small apartment,

Once we settled in, and after Nancy checked in with her Credit Card Co. ( 3 times the charge was attempted, but 3 times it was rejected!), we took off on a walk which was recommended by the young lady at the reception desk. We toured St. Catherine Street and found many familiar stores including McDonald’S, DQ, Best Buy to name a few.

Upon returning to our room we enjoyed making sandwiches with the trimmings and just relaxing. We pretty much called it a day after that.

Day 7-Maine

We had the luxury of sleeping in this morning. Once up and awake, we did a couple of loads of laundry before heading out. First stop was Mac’s Grill where we enjoyed a steak dinner. We had a very sweet waitress, Chrissy who even shared pictures of her three children!

Our ride for the next 12 days!

Great food and wonderful service!

After eating we headed to Wal-Mart and Shaw’s Grocery to pick up some essentials!

Nice grocery store, huge, they have what you need, AND what you didn’t know that you needed!

Boy, did we do some damage….but boy, are we going to eat well!!🤣

HOW long will we be here?

We are not going to be hungry!

Oh, and we finished off the Boston Crème Pie Betty got for us just before boarding the train here!

Yum Yum!

Day 6- Connecticut to Maine

Ok, so some of you have been asking about our safety because of Hurricane Lee. We have watched how God has guided us with decisions every step of the way. I can’t write out all the details, but we have marveled at the way God’s hand has been on us, protecting us, even when for a while we (maybe I, Nancy), would get flustered about something not working out “as we planned”, but then SEEing his grace and mercy in the change of the plan. For instance, we are presently on an AMTRAK a day earlier than expected. We left Boston as the rain began. We are blessed!

We will be picked up at the train location, and driven by Emily’s nephew’s stepmom, and taken to our “home base.” From there, we will do day trips, OR, we MAY be led to go to some sightseeing in Vermont and Montreal, Canada first, so the storm can pass! Stay tuned for the NEXT chapter!!!

Pictures for today:

Handy bottle opener in the bathroom by the sink. Maybe it helps define the clientele this hotel accommodates?

Drove to Boston airport to turn in our rental car, then Ubered to the Amtrak station, and took the train to our destination!

Betty reading, or playing a game, Emily snoozing❤️

GOODNIGHT! So glad you’ve “tuned in” to follow us on our vacay!!

Day 5-From Provincetown, Massachusetts,to Mystic, Connecticut

We woke up refreshed, and went to the “continental breakfast”…homemade muffins, including Emily’s favorite: Chocolate Chip! After checking out, we headed to the “tip” of Cape Cod, Provincetown! The sun was shining and the sky was blue!

We stopped in a town named Truro, just because that is the name of the town where our dear British friends lived, in Truro, Cornwall, England! They traveled a lot in the states, and I wish we could ask them now, if they had ever visited Truro, Massachusetts…🥲

When we arrived to “P-town”, there were lots of tourists of course, and stores to shop in. All of us got a Cape Cod tee shirt.

We had been told we should eat at the “Lobster Pot”, so of course, we did! It did not disappoint. Betty and I had our first Lobster Rolls. YUMMMM! Emily is holding out for the place that her nephew recommended in Maine. 😊

As we walked towards the car parking lot Emily pointed out “we don’t see a sign like THAT very often at a take out window!”…”Clams, Scallops, Shrimp, Hot Dogs, Burgers!” So true.

Looking back towards town, we noticed a tall tower. We were told it was a “Watch Tower”. There also was a monument to the brave men who made it to establish this land, through sacrifice!

Monument with tower in the background.

Better idea how tall this is!

We walked out on the Pier as far as we could, so we could say we’d been to the very tip! We learned that THIS wa the place that the Pilgrims actually landed first.It was too stormy and dangerous that November, to approach land, so they had to go down the coast to THIS point of land. Although they landed there, it was not where they had contracted to live. A month later they were able to safely set sail again.and arrive at Plymouth. We experienced the sun peaking in and out all day, and we felt the favor of the Lord while were there.!

Lots of boats!

On one of the other piers

At the tippiest tip of Cape Cod!

As we drove away, there were scattered showers, but it did not hamper the driving. When we made one stop to “potty” and walk awhile, Betty and I returned to find Emily leaning into the heat of the car. She was enjoying the heat treatment!

Ahhhh so nice and warm!

We had not decided how far south to drive until our meeting the ladies at the beach a day or two before. They all agreed that Mystic, Connecticut was worthy of a visit. We all remember a movie called Mystic Pizza, that was partially filmed there.

Note of interest: it was 6pm and the whole town seemed dead. No stores open, no people on the street, and houses looked empty! Until we punched in “Mystic Pizza.” THEN, we saw the boats in the harbor, and people walking to the quaint part of town with places to eat, get ice cream and souvenirs! And, we found our choice for dinner! It was YUMMY…

So pretty

We saw the drawbridge going up as we approached where we had “dessert first”, farther down on the left

Nice art to look at while we “licked!”

So, after dinner it was after 8…..I loved the sign at night!

A little history:

We drove to the edge of the city of Providence RI, and got a room for the night. When we went inside, and told him we wanted a room with 2 queen beds on the first floor, he said there were none, but then said he wasn’t supposed to give away the handicapped room until all others were booked, but he said he COULD give it to us if we weren’t offended by it! Betty and I said “No, we are old and sometimes can’t get up the steps! LOL!”

We were blessed again by a wonderful day of sightseeing!

Don’t Worry

We will be posting tonight for the last two days of travel. We are fine and staying out of the way of the storm. Last night we ended up near Providence, Rhode Island and found a hotel. This morning we are less than two hours to Boston, where we will return our rental car and get on the train to go up to Maine. Hope you have a BLESSED DAY!!!

Day 4-Plymouth and Cape Cod

We were up, bright and early and ready to leave the hotel for 9 AM. We checked out of room 911 on 9/11/23! We had such a great experience at the Godfrey Hotel…Christian and Amy were 2 of the reasons. So eager to serve…giving directions, suggestions, just very helpful.

We took an Uber to the airport and picked up our rental car. The first one we got had a like that came on and said “maintenance required” so they swapped it out for a different car. We’re driving a pretty blue Buick Envision.

Nancy did a great job driving out of Boston and getting us to all our points of adventure. We started in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where we saw the Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower, too. We learned some interesting facts about the Mayflower.

So sad that they had to protect the rock this way…people had chipped off pieces, and mutilated it!

We find such kind people who offer to take our picture together, of course we return the favor!

We stopped in a little town, called Sandwich, Massachusetts and ate at Café Chew in honor of our very own Chip Chew! Would you believe there were sandwiches in Sandwich, Massachusetts?

A perfect place for a sandwich, in Sandwich, Massachusetts!

The founder of the Chew Cafe. (we think our Chip Chew is much better looking)

We liked the decor!

AND the sandwiches!

From there, we headed to Cape Cod, and stopped in a little town, called Orleans where we rented a room for the night at a small “Mom and Pop” place, The Skaket Beach Motel. Once we checked in, we hit the road again and proceeded to the Cape Cod National Park. These photos are from the first “pull over”:

It was really foggy at the pond, we could barely see the water!

We did see evidence of fall!

We saw this turkey family….maybe by thanksgiving they will have fattened up?

We saw an operating lighthouse from a distance. We weren’t able to visit it because it was after hours.

Then we walked a little bit and listened to the waves of the ocean and saw some people surfing, and paddle boarding. There was a warning sign that Great White Sharks feed on seals in the shallow water on that coast!

We chatted with some ladies who gave us some suggestions for places to visit and OF COURSE to eat!

We stopped at a Coast Guard Seashore also.

Coast Guard Seashore

Beautiful view here,

After stopping and getting some fruit and a few other items we returned to our room and called it a day. We checked with the GPS for directions back, then realized we were almost there, so I said “Nevermind”, to which it replied “Directions to Nevermind!” We may go there tomorrow!

We are so grateful for God’s Grace and his beautiful creation. Goodnight,

Day Three-Boston

We were all up and ready to leave our hotel before nine this morning! The streets we walked to the meeting place were almost empty! Such a contrast to later hours in the day! Of course it IS a Sunday!

On our way to the tour we stopped to take a pic, and a nice man took one of ALL of us! This was Emily’s favorite artwork that appeared throughout the city on these “boxes”.

This was where “customs” on incoming goods was collected. It was the tallest building in Boston’ s skyline for many years.

This is it today

Yes, I like to take pictures of flowers!

This is where we met “Molly,” our tour guide for a “North End Boston food tour. “

Up the street we found ourselves at Caffe Vittoria (the oldest Italian caffe in the North End) we tried some classic cannoli’s sourced from Modern Pastry and tried Vittoria’s traditionally crafted cappuccinos. ( except for Emily, who had tea with her’s)

Yes, we will start the day like this!

We then made our way to a bakery where we had wonderful fresh bread.

Leaving there, Molly told us lots of historical facts as we were walking along. For example, Paul Revere was married twice and had sixteen children. His first wife died after their eighth child was born. He outlived both wives and eleven of his children.

This wooden house is where Paul Revere lived for many years with his large family

This is where we stopped to pick up sandwiches and then went to a courtyard in “Paul Revere’s Mall” to enjoy them.

A few of the grocery items inside!

More “must have”
Italian grocery items

This is where we ate our sandwiches. The mall starts at St Stephen’s Church, where a bell that was crafted by Paul Revere hangs. After we ate, we walked to the other end, where the Old North Church, the place where the signal lanterns from the Midnight Ride were hung.

This statue of Paul Revere was in the middle of the mall, it was a foggy day, but you can barely make out the Old North Church’s steeple and bell tower.

The first 17 years there was no steeple on the Old North Church. They had to collect the funds first…

The inside was very beautiful.

Looking up to the altar

Emily hand I trying out the “box like” family pews

A quick walk (it was raining a lot by then), landed us at Regina’s Pizzeria, the first pizzeria to open in Boston. Pizza’s in hand, we headed down Salem St, a tribute to the Jewish families who built the community up before the Italians, and landed in the Boston Public Market to eat our pizza and say our farewells.

After this, we left our walking tour, and took a Hop on Hop off bus tour. Well, we had decided to ride the hop on hop off bus all the way around which is what we did. It was about a two hour ride. After that we got onto another bus and hopped off close to our hotel.

(This picture looks weirdly distorted… it was a regularly shaped bus)

We had not had Boston cream pie while we were here and thought that would be a good idea for this evening however, we couldn’t find any close by! So we settle for a light meal and return to the hotel. 

We will be saying goodbye to Boston in the morning. We feel like we really saw a lot of the city in two days. We are looking forward to what we will see tomorrow!

Day Two-Boston

This morning we started out on a walking tour. Our guide, Brian was fantastic! We did the freedom trail and learned so much information from him.

This is Brian….our animated guide

Interesting…

We started at the Commons

You can see here how animated he is. At first it was used as a cattle grazing area

There are several of these statues in the Commons

“Birthplace of Boston Cream Pie and Parker House Roll”

Our plan to take the hop on hop off bus today was squelched, because we would have to wait 40 minutes for a bus. So instead, we took off walking towards our hotel. We went through the biggest Walgreens in the US and shopped around a little bit, picking up a sandwich, peanut butter, and crackers, chips, and drinks that we will enjoy this evening.

This plaque (and others), and another statue, told the story of the the Irish Immigrants after a famine there. It is outside Walgreens

Look what Emily found! A REAL “phone booth!”

Just as we returned to the hotel, it started to rain. God has been so awesome and wonderful to us.

This is the view we have across the street from us. At least it isn’t raining.!

Day One -BOSTON!

Emily, Betty and I were up bright and early, and ready for day one! Our Airport shuttle AKA “Chris”, was on time and reluctantly agreed to snap a photo!

Here we go!!!

This says it all!!!

Sooo we get to the airport, and on the self check in scales, 2 out of 3 bags are over the weight limit! We also noticed that although we booked all 3 of us at the same time, only of us are TSA approved. A kind Spirit agent showed us where to go to see what could be done. No waiting, and Jocelyn weighed all three bags together, and since Betty’s suitcase was under, the fees were waived!! Woo Hoo! She COULD NOT approve Emily for TSA pre check, so she and I (Nancy) went through the “normal” TSA screening. Of course we were all chit chatting the whole time, and as we left, she called us “Charley’s Angels!”

Jocelyn was OUR Angel!!❤️❤️

The regular TSA was VERY efficient, lots of lines were open. As Emily and I were waiting for our Starbucks drinks, she commented You know, we are waiting a LOT longer to get a drink here, than it took to go through TSA!!!

Tried the PINK DRINK… very refreshing! It was first introduced to Emily by granddaughter, Ella.

While we were waiting at our gate, the lady announced that there was a seat up front that was larger and had more leg room for a $45 fee if anyone wanted it, to come to the counter. Since we were sitting right by her, Betty said “if you don’t have any takers and you want to give it to me for free I‘ll take it.” She said you mean you would leave your friends and I said “yes!” Just before boarding began she asked my name and seat assignment and the next thing I knew she was handing me a new boarding pass for Row 2/C!! Well, Betty gifted the seat to Emily, and Nancy had the aisle seat in Row 28, so both ladies with long legs had plenty of leg room!These things are like little kisses from God!!!❤️❤️❤️

We made it!!!

Once we arrived at the hotel and settled in a bit, we took off walking to find Quincy Market.
After a couple of wrong turns and asking a few people for directions, we found it. We all three managed to get something to eat for dinner and picked up some scones and a muffin for tomorrow’s breakfast.
Unfortunately most of the kiosks were closed by the time we finished eating so we headed back to the hotel.  After walking in the wrong direction for a few blocks, we asked directions and found our way back and pretty much crashed!

Looking forward to another day of exploring Boston tomorrow.

New England and Beyond 2023

After trips to Ireland, Scotland and England, and the Holy Land were cancelled in 2020 due to COVID restrictions …. we are finally “gearing up” for our NEXT Adventure!!! This time, our dear friend Emily is joining us. First, we will fly into Boston. After a few days there, we will rent a car to visit some other sites in Massachusetts, RI, and Connecticut. Then, we will take a train, and head to Maine. A very generous friend offered to let us stay at their home and use a vehicle! We expect to do a few day trips from there. We also want to do a trip to Montreal after visiting the Von Trapp Lodge in Vermont. So, check back and take a look at what we are up to! 3 more “wake-ups” and we are off!!!!

2020 Road Trip Monday, November 2-Returning home! OR…”That’s all, folks!” (for now!)

After a delicious breakfast of spinach quiche, fresh fruit, and yogurt, we were on the road again.  This time going home!  
We have had a wonderful 32 day adventure.  We have enjoyed being with so many family members, visiting new places, seeing so many interesting things and even relaxing some!  We have witnessed and been in awe of God’s beautiful creation and have been blessed over and over by His love and care for us.  We are thankful!  It is good to be home!
Thank you for sharing our trip!

2020 Road Trip Sunday, November 1- Jordyn’s day❤

Today was a beautiful, very special day!  Jordyn gave her testimony and was Baptized.  Afterward, we all went back to their house, joined by Jim and Ann (Steve’s parents), for lunch and family time.

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Sydney had her last volleyball game of the season, so we were able to go cheer her on, too.  Fun fact: we were there for her first and last games!

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Later we all went out to dinner and celebrated Jordyn a little more!  

Then, after we got home we played some speed scrabble.  We always laugh a lot when we are playing games!

2020 Road Trip- October 31-Back to NC!

We were up and on the road again this morning around 8:30.  We had such a great time exploring Helen, Georgia and the surrounding area.
We stopped by “Mark of the Potter” in Clarksville, Georgia and although the shop was closed, we got out to look at the rushing creek.  It looks like a beautiful place to sit on the porch and rest!

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Next we continued on to Charlotte, North Carolina to see Betty’s daughter and her family.  Meghann had called to see if we would be able to change our itinerary and return there before going home, as Jordyn was going to be Baptized on Sunday.  Of course, we were very excited to alter our plans!
We arrived at the Roberts’ about one o’clock.  Sydney and Jordyn were waiting for us, made us some lunch, and then the four of us went to Sam’s to pick up a couple of things for Meghann, since she, Steve and Reagan  were busy elsewhere.

Then, Betty and Jordyn made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, Sydney finished up the yummy “loaded potato soup”, made the salad, and Betty mixed up some sausage biscuits for morning!

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After the rest of the family got home, we ate dinner, and then enjoyed playing some games!

2020 Road Trip Friday, October 30-Brasstown Bald and Helen

We had planned to go to Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia, at an elevation of 4,784 feet this morning and the weather could not have been more perfect for the drive up!  Blue skies and sunshine!  
When we had driven as far as possible, we took a shuttle to the top. There was some cloud cover and the temperature was about 15-20 degrees cooler.  However, once again God blessed us by pushing the clouds away so we could see the beautiful view that stretched for miles!  

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(Swipe left for slide show)

Afterward we walked around the museum, which was very interesting.
We had brought a picnic lunch and opted to eat in the car.  On the way down the mountain we took the scenic route to Helen, stopping at the bakery for some yummy treats, which we enjoyed while sitting on a swing in the park.  Of course after all that goodness, we had to take a nice long walk before returning “home.”

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  Don’t these mushrooms look like turkeys?

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  God’s unique creations

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Bodensee German Restaurant was a must (especially since it is our last night here), so we had an early dinner – potato pancakes with sour cream and applesauce and goulash for Nancy and a sausage sampler with German Potato Salad and Sauerkraut for me.  We also enjoyed some live music while there.

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Our Dinner music

Time to start packing, as we leave in the morning…BUT, we are taking a detour back to North Carolina, as Jordyn will be baptized on Sunday and we certainly do not want to miss such a wonderful occasion!  We will be 2 days later than first planned…isn’t retirement and flexibility great??

2020 Road Trip Thursday, October 29- Dahlonega

There was supposed to be a storm last night and the winds were to be really strong between 4 AM and 8 AM. However, if that really happened neither Nancy nor I heard anything!

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We had decided if the weather was good enough, we would venture out and go to the little town of Dahlonega, Ga, since it was a “must see” place, so we did.  Along the way, we saw many downed trees and power lines and were re-routed a few times.  Also, when we arrived many of the businesses were closed due to power outages.  We thoroughly enjoyed lunch at The Smith House, strolled through the General Store and sauntered in and out of the shops.

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On the way back to Helen we were once again re-routed due to an accident and were able to stop at The Tomato House (thank you for the recommendation, Shirley!).  It was quite an experience.
We stopped at the German Bakery to pick up dessert and then headed home.  The hot tub was calling and it was so relaxing, watching the sunset.

It has been another beautiful day and we are so grateful for how the Lord has blessed us.  
Thank you for joining us!

2020 Road Trip Wednesday, October 28-Helen and Anna Ruby!

Today started with rain, but it didn’t dampen our spirits!  Since it was not raining hard, we decided to go into Helen and walk around, do some shopping and have some lunch.  We enjoyed going in and out of the shops and of course buying a few items!

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After a couple of hours, Anna Ruby Falls was beckoning.  The almost half mile hike was amazing and getting to the see the beautiful falls was worth every step.  Thankful for our “trekking poles” since the rain made the path a little slick!

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We were wondering how the falls got their name, and found out that A Confederate soldier named them after his daughter, Anna Ruby.  If you are interested, see the picture posted that tells the story.

Since we are supposed to have lots of rain tonight and tomorrow, we stopped at “Betty’s Grocery Store” to pick up some vittles in case we can’t get out tomorrow.
Let’s see what tomorrow brings and what fun we get to have!

2020 Road Trip Tuesday, October 27-From Tennessee to Georgia!

We left Pleasant View, Tennessee around 940 this morning. We were so happy to see blue Sky! We were on our way to Helen, Georgia!

We saw so many beautiful leaves and lakes along the way. And of course the mountains are beautiful as well.

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Betty even found a place SHE wants to come back to in the summer months to go white water rafting!

One time when we stopped to get gas, Betty came out of the store and tried to open the car door thinking Nancy was in the car, but it was locked. Looking inside the car, she saw that it was NOT Nancy….it was NOT our car! We had a really good laugh about that.

As we neared our destination, we stopped at “Hogpen Gap.” And guess what? Another photo op with a motorcycle presented itself! It was a very nice “local”, who was born and raised here. He said he loves to come up and enjoy the beautiful, peaceful view!

We arrived at our destination around five o’clock, unpacked and then headed out for dinner.
We are enjoying ourselves and reveling in God’s goodness.

2020 Road Trip Monday, October 26-Illinois to Tennessee

We planned to leave at ten this morning and were pretty much on time!  Hunter asked for a “Quick Dutch Blitz game”, so I obliged.

To our surprise, it began snowing around nine, but at least it was not accumulating!

Surprise snow fall!

This morning, most of our driving time was in the rain, and we were glad it stopped around two o’clock.
When it was time to stop for lunch, for the first time since traveling, we could not find a restaurant with inside seating.  Not even at Cracker Barrel! (We were in Illinois.)
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(Paducah), there was an Outback at exit 4, so that’s where we had a meal.  We then went to Walmart to pick up a few things and were back on the road again.
We drove as far as Pleasant View, Tennessee and arrived around 7 PM. Found a nice Hampton Inn to relax in for the for the night.
We hope that you are enjoying our adventures. We surely are! Thankful that our dear Lord and Savior is with us every mile of the way.

2020 Road Trip Sunday, October 25 -Day of Rest!

We attended church with the Amborski’s this morning, then returned home to enjoy a meal of tacos.
We had a leisurely afternoon today. We took a walk and enjoyed the fall colors again.

Later, we played some card games and watched some You Tube!  Nancy and Cherilyn were able to spend some time working on a puzzle and entertaining Hunter with a Robin Hood movie.
Since the girls have been having long days of ballet, they were ready to go to bed fairly early.  And, we followed suit!

2020 Road Trip Saturday, October 24-Back to Illinois

It is hard to believe that we have been on our trip for three weeks already!
When we awoke this morning, the temperature was in the 20s!  

We left Minneapolis a little before nine this morning, and gradually saw the temperature rise as we moved farther south.
The weather was good for driving and we saw many trees with beautiful colored leaves, and some very interesting clouds as well. We are glad that there is still some fall to enjoy!!

We made a couple of stops along the way to the Amborski‘s house in Illinois, arriving around 5:15pm.
When we first arrived, the four girls were at dance but made it home in time for a delicious chicken pot pie and salad dinner.

After dinner, Hunter played Dutch Blitz with us.

Soon, the drivers and the dancers were ready for bed! We look forward to celebrating Lord’s Day together tomorrow! Thankful we can go to a building and gather together to fellowship, worship, praise and hear the Word of God!

2020 Road Trip Friday, October 23- City Cousins ❤❤❤

We were sad to tell Brenda, Danny, Collin and Lexi goodbye this morning but also excited about the day ahead, knowing we would be visiting with some more of Nancy’s family.

Since the snow stopped sometime during the night, we were able to leave around 10:30.  The snow covered trees along the highway were beautiful!  It looked like a “Winter Wonderland!”

Our first stop was to have lunch with Nancy’s cousin, Marilyn and her daughters, Becky and Christy.  We had a delightful lunch and a visit full of catching up with one another.  We are looking forward to seeing them in Florida in January! (Christy ducked out before we got the camera out!)

Our next stop was to visit….yep, you guessed it, MORE cousins!  We met Keith and Karen at their daughter, Tina’s house, so we saw her husband, Angel and their four year old daughter, Lettie. Keith had made the most delicious caramel pecan buns and Tina provided fresh ground coffee!

We checked into our hotel and then met Mike (another cousin) and his wife, Susan for dinner.
There was lots of talking going on!

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Our sweet waitress, who snapped the pictures shouted, “OKAY, NOW goofy picture!” Note to self: my cousin Mike has a goofy face in BOTH pictures!(hehe…says Nancy)

Once again we are so grateful for God’s grace, His protection, safety and this great adventure.

2020 Road Trip Thursday, Oct.22- Snow and more snow!!!

Sleeping in is the thing to do on vacation! Brenda made us some delicious waffles with fresh strawberries this morning.

Since it snowed most of the night and most of the day today, (another thing I get to check off my bucket list…to see “real” snow) we stayed at home and enjoyed time visiting.

We were able to help Brenda put a few things away, and cooked jambalaya for dinner.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Brenda and Betty had fun attempting to go down a slight hill on cardboard…we laughed a lot.

 Nancy was our videographer and photographer. Then Betty made a “snow angel.”

Collin has been able to come home every night.  Tonight we were able to hear the sermon he gave this evening at Trout Creek Camp.  It was on “work” and he did an excellent job.
Afterward we watched the Presidential debate and then retired for the night.
We plan to be on the road again tomorrow, but will see how the weather is doing!

2020 Road Trip Wednesday, October 21-Exploring

What??  Another wonderful day!  
After breakfast, Brenda took us out (thankfully the roads had been plowed after a record snowfall) to see some of the beautiful countryside.  Along the way we were happy to get to talk to Brenda’s Dad, David on the phone.
We visited a neat place called Cones and Crafts where they offer 36 flavors of ice cream, and where they display lots of unique crafts, many which are made by locals.

Next we took a drive-by tour of Trout Creek Camp, where Collin works and where family members have attended camp, been camp counselors and teachers for decades. Their website states: “Trout Lake Camps features camping experiences for kids of all ages. Most camps are one week long from Sunday through Saturday. Youth camps are designed to encourage growth in all areas of a child’s life. We believe that a good camp experience will foster a love for God, personal confidence, life long skills and friendships that last for years to come, all in a caring and safe environment.”

Afterward, Brenda took us for a delicious lunch at Grandview Lodge. She is still acquainting herself with the area, and someone recommended it. It did NOT disappoint! We felt God’s presence while we were there while talking with our server.

The grocery store beckoned us so we could get jambalaya ingredients…among other items, of course!
Now that should be enough for one day, right? But NO!  Danny had set up the theater/media  room for us so we watched a movie (Facing the Giants), and ate popcorn!
We are looking forward to tomorrow!

2020 Road Trip Tuesday, Oct. 20-Snow Day

After a good night’s sleep, we awakened and had a nice breakfast prepared for us by Brenda. We were excited to see five deer walking across the property. It started snowing around 11a.m. and snowed all day!  It was beautiful.  We learned that it broke a100 year record for the number of inches.  Brenda and Danny learned how to use their snow plow on their quarter mile driveway!

Since they just recently moved in, we wanted to help in anyway we could. Nancy was able to assist Brenda in looking through photos and for a specific video, while I put away some dishes and arranged a linen closet.  Nancy also prepared a nice dinner.  So pleased to be able to help a little.
Turned in pretty early (for us), knowing that weather permitting we will be going out to see some sights tomorrow.
Once again, we feel God’s blessings.  We have seen so much beauty and enjoyed His creation beyond anything we could image or hope for.

2020 Road Trip- Oct 19-Mora to Pine River

This morning we got up and enjoyed  breakfast with Diane. Bob had already gone to work. 

When we left Diane‘s, we drove over to see another of Nancy‘s cousins, Denise. She welcomed us with hot brownies and coffee! Her granddaughter and her new baby were there as well.

This is her grandaughter, Rhiannon and her baby, Charley. The 2nd photo we call: “Dede get your gun!” She is taking a shot at some pesty varmints!

Afterwards, we went to visit with Denise’s dad, Howard. We were able to say hello to Denise‘s daughter, Jenny and her little girl and adorable two-year-old named Ava

We then drove to visit another of Nancy’s cousins, Brenda, her husband Dan and her college aged children, Collin and Lexi.  We did have a little snow along the way. Upon arrival, we had a nice visit and then had a yummy dinner. Their house is amazing. They actually just moved in a week or two ago.  It is so nice of them to let us come visit so soon!

After dinner we visited some more and turned in around 9:30 or 10.
We are truly blessed and thank God for such an awesome trip.

2020 Road Trip Oct. 17-18 in Mora, MN

Today we had the luxury of sleeping in.  We awakened to the aroma and sound of sizzling sausage, egg bake, coffee, orange juice and toast!  We have the best hosts!

  After enjoying breakfast and visiting awhile, Anabele, one of Bob and Diane’s grandaughters came over and we went to a farm called Sap Suckers Farms to have apple cider, not realizing that it was “spiced” cider! We all laughed when her (2nd) cousin got “carded”…guess being short makes you look young!!! 🙂

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We enjoyed tasting the various flavors along with having lunch of gyros.  We then took a nice walk.  Today was cloudy and chilly, but it didn’t stop us from having fun!

For dinner, Diane had cooked a delicious pot roast with all the trimmings and Andy, (one of their sons) and his family joined us.

Bob and Anabele had made a blueberry delight dessert that was enjoyed by all.

We turned in fairly early and expect to have another busy day tomorrow.

Sunday, October 18, 2020

It is so wonderful to wake up without an alarm clock!  It has gotten colder and the sun hasn’t been out as much, but we are still blessed and enjoying “seasons.”

Betty was asked to make jambalaya today, to which she readily agreed and also cooked red beans and rice! 

Andy, Robyn and their family came for dinner.  Diane shared with her neighbor, too. IT WAS YUMMY!

After dinner a couple of games of UNO were played.  There was a lot of loud competition going on!

We hit the road again tomorrow…good night and God bless you all.

2020 Road Trip- All Day drive to Minnesota!

Today was a REAL road trip day. We left our hotel about 8:10am, and arrived at Nancy’s cousin’s in Mora, Minnesota about 8:30pm.

We were blessed with another day of beautiful weather to travel, and we were pleasantly surprised when we made this leg of our trip in one day…probably having an 80 mph speed limit in South Dakota helped a little! 🙂

We have loved the wide open landscapes and “big sky” in these states! God’s huge canvases awaiting!

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(will add more photos when better internet is available)

2020 Road Trip-Oct 15..Off to Wyoming…Why NOT Montana?

This morning we had no alarm set, but woke up between 7:30 and eight.  We enjoyed a breakfast of sausage, pancakes and orange juice provided by our hotel.
Today was very adventurous! We had planned to go to Devils Tower which was the first national monument in the United States and is located in Wyoming. We stopped at the Wyoming welcome center and found out that the route we were taking back to Keystone was only about 30 miles from Montana.  Well, as you have probably already guessed, Betty has never been to Montana so we decided to take a detour and head there from Devil’s Tower.
Our weather today was very different. We had sunshine, clouds, and snow! When we arrived at the welcome center in Wyoming, it was snowing.

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  Snowing when we pulled in.

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  15 minutes later, blue sky, no snow!

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By the time we left, the skies were blue and the sunshine was out! This pattern of weather followed us most of the day! We took pictures of the Devil’s Tower where it was shaded by cloudiness and others where the sun was shining on it. What an amazing sculptor our creator is! The Native Americans have a sacred connection with this formation. They still bring prayer cloths to this site.

We decided to have lunch in the small town where we crossed into Montana. Now, that was quite an experience! We should have known by the outside of the building and the sign, that it was not a very good place to eat! But as far as we could tell, it was the only choice. It was not a WISE choice, but we laughed off and on all afternoon about it and are still laughing tonight!

We stopped in a small town, Aladdin, Wyoming to visit a very old General Store that we had heard about.  It was interesting, but we didn’t find anything to purchase except for a few snacks!

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Upon returning to Keystone, we decided on dinner at a Mexican restaurant.  Thankfully it was a much better experience than lunch!
It appears that the timing of our trip could not be more perfect (thank you, God), as the weather is definitely changing to cold and snow AND the businesses are almost all closing this weekend for the season!!
We will be on the road in the morning heading for Minnesota…see you there!!

Is it snow?

Yes, Betty it IS snow!

2020 Roadtrip-Mt.Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Needles Highway Oct. 14

What? Another 6:30 AM wake up call? Well, yes because we had miles to cover today!
We were on the road by 8 AM headed towards Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. We saw more bison and lots of cattle along the way.
There was evidence that it had rained during the night, but once again, we had beautiful weather to travel.  We did, however, have to pull out our heavier jackets as it was quite chilly especially when the wind was blowing.
When we arrived at mount Rushmore, we first viewed a film about Gutzon Borglum, who was the sculptor.  Of course, we could see Mount Rushmore before going inside.  It is an amazing work of art, and I am so glad to be able to mark another item off my “bucket list” (says Betty).  We took LOTS of pictures.

We then drove to the Crazy Horse Memorial.  The statue has been in process since 1948.  It will be beautiful once it is completed.  It was designed by    Korczak Ziolkowski. In 1939, Chief  Henry Standing Bear wrote him a letter asking him for assistance insculpting a monument for Native Americans. He accepted the invitation in 1947, and moved to the the location chosen. He dedicated the rest of his    life to the project. To this day, they continue his work, using the plans drawn up by Korczak and his wife, Ruth. His descendants make up some of the current crew. They have a large Museum with many Indian Artifacts, and interesting photographs to view. We watched a film about how the idea was conceived and how the work began.

Once we left there, we headed to the Needles Highway.  There, the formations are very tall and resemble needles, although to us, some looked like animals, or heads, or different things….you know how when you see “things” in the clouds.

 It even snowed while we were there!!  At first I thought it was sleet, but realized it was snow!  We had to stop the car and get out to be sure!!  The funny thing is, Nancy had said maybe it’ll snow and I had said oh it’s not cold enough!  It didn’t last too long and I was glad because I was driving!

 Sylvan Lake was very pretty, too.
We arrived at our destination in Keystone, South Dakota about 4:30 PM.  We were upgraded to the executive suite which is very nice.
We ate at Ruby’s in honor of our sweet friend, Precious Ruby!  The Buffalo stew in a bread bowl was excellent.

Once back at the hotel, we went to the indoor pool and hot tub.  Now THIS was the frosting on the cake!!
Our God is good…yes, our God is good ALL the time and we are so blessed by Him.

2020 Road Trip- Day 2 at the Badlands National Park Tues. Oct. 13

We started the day by having some quiet time and having breakfast in our cabin. 
There were some Lookout areas and some trails that we wanted to see today that we did not see yesterday. Some of it was backtracking, but then we took side roads where we saw lots of bison, some mule deer, lots of prairie dogs, chipmunks, and rabbits.

Then we ventured over to Wall, SD, Where the famous Wall Drugs is located.  There is every store you can imagine in that space. We did have lunch there and it consisted of a nice buffalo burger and a donut for dessert with a five cent cup of coffee! And free ice water!

There is a story about the free ice water. A man by the name of Ted Hustead Bought the store in 1931. He was a pharmacist. Business was not good for a while and he was about to give up when his wife suggested that he offer free ice water to the tourists who were coming to see the new Mount Rushmore. Once he did this, people flocked to his place to get free Ice water and the first thing you know, people were buying ice cream and other items and his business flourished. He drew up to 20,000 people on a good summer day!  He was known to say that “wherever you are you can reach out to other people with some thing that they need. There is no place on God’s earth that is Godforsaken.”  We took some fun pictures there as you can see!

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  Nancy on the jackalope

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  Betty and her bucking bronco!

We then drove back to Cedar Lodge and our cabin.

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We went and did a couple of short hikes and Betty managed to climb partially up a couple of the formations.

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 We enjoyed having a dinner of Chicken Cesar salad outside of our cabin on a picnic table…it was amazing that as soon as we got to eating it, several bunnies hopped over to see if anything hit the ground!
Once again, we were blessed with a beautiful day. It was a little chilly when we first started out but warmed up quickly. Tomorrow we will head to Mount Rushmore. So, until then…

2020 Road Trip Monday, October 12-Iowa, Nebraska & South Dakota

This is the first day of our trip that we have set the alarm to get up at 6:30 AM! By 8:15, we had been in three states! Started off in Iowa, went into Nebraska and stopped at McDonald’s for coffee and biscuits then went into South Dakota!
The bridge we crossed was half in South Dakota and half in Iowa!

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Nancy’s Mother had visited the Corn Palace, in Mitchell, SD in the 1940’s, had taken an 8mm movie of it. It really made an impression on her, so, we decided to make that one of our stops!  It is a very large building that has murals made of ears of corn!  They use five different colors (varieties) of corn to make the murals, all provided by one farmer!  It could be made up of 675,000 Ears of corn!  

We then headed for the Badlands…guess what the speed limit in S.D. is?

Next stop was to see a beautiful 50’ high metal sculpture of a Native American Woman with a star quilt on her back, at Chamberlain, SD rest stop.  Three different women were used as models for making the sculpture.

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While there, we enjoyed a picnic lunch and a nice walk!
On to the Badlands!  Along the way we stopped to see some Prairie Dogs!

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 We arrived and checked into our cabin which is located inside the park. It is perfect!

 Once we unpacked, we took a scenic drive and saw  several Bighorn Sheep and even watched them do some climbing!  

We stopped at a lookout to watch a breathtakingly beautiful sunset.  It was so peaceful, even though there were quite a few people there. 

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Along the drive to Wall, SD where we were going to Wall Drugs, a roadside attraction and tourist stop,  and to have dinner, we saw Bison right next to the road!  Since it was almost completely dark, we were unable to get pictures…maybe tomorrow!
We were in such awe of all of God’s creation today… the Badlands are beautiful with so many colors and styles and the sunset was amazing.  We are truly blessed to be on this journey!

2020 Road Trip-Illinois to Iowa, Sunday, October 11

This is the day that the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it. We attended church with Steve, Cherilyn and the children today.  Don’t they look nice all dressed up?  Hunter had to wear his bow tie for his MiMi!

Before we left their house, we packed our car, as we were leaving from church to drive the next leg of our trip, to Sioux City, Iowa.
We had another beautiful day for driving. We stopped at a couple of roadside parks and managed to get out and do a little walking. Then we stopped for a bite of dinner before reaching our destination. 
We ran into some rain after dinner, but we’re thankful that it only lasted for about 10 minutes. God blessed us by letting us have a beautiful light display of the northern lights. We are hoping that when we are in the badlands we will be able to see even more. It was an unexpected gift and we were very grateful.
Good night!

Road Trip 2020-Illinois and family

Knowing that we had a fairly long drive in front of us, we set our alarms to get up and get going early! We enjoyed breakfast at the hotel then packed our car and headed for Illinois!

Thankfully we had an uneventful trip and beautiful weather one more time. We did notice that the landscape had changed….cornfield after cornfield!

We arrived around 6:30 PM and enjoyed visiting with Steve and Cherilyn, and eating dinner.  Jaci, Lainey, Emilyn, Krisanna and Hunter were at dance lessons when we arrived, so we enjoyed their company when they got home.
We (or I should probably say Nancy) did a couple of loads of laundry before retiring for the night.

SATURDAY 
Big plans for today to visit the “Pumpkin Patch,” which was a LOT more…there were lots of fun activities, including a bounce house, tether ball,  pedal yourself tractor, and a corn maze, to name a few.  Also, apple cider donuts 🍩 and fresh Apple cider!

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It is tradition for “MiMi” to take the family to the Pancake House when she visits, so when we left the Pumpkin 🎃 Patch, that is where we went.  

What a treat….there were chocolate chip pancakes, crepes, scrambles, pumpkin pancakes, omelets and lots of bacon 🥓 to enjoy.

Returning home, some of us took a short walk and then everyone took a little rest.  Not sure, but I have a feeling some cards and games will be enjoyed later.

Update...we took another (longer) walk and returned home to have grilled burgers. Then, true to the above statement, we played numerous card games.

We are blessed to have family to visit and to have beautiful weather, too.

2020 Road Trip Nashville day 2

We really did sleep 💤 in today! Even missed breakfast!  Guess this is what vacations are supposed to be like!!
Before heading in to the City, we stopped for lunch at Cheddars (neither of us had been to one previously), where we enjoyed a nice salad with grilled chicken!
Our first stop was to tour the Country Music Hall of Fame.  We spent over three hours there and learned quite a bit about the music and the artists.

 
We saw Elvis’ 1960 gold plated (in parts) Cadillac that was equipped with a telephone AND a television!!  Of course there were many, many instruments to view.
Then we walked to the Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar in Printer’s Alley that a friend had recommended, to hear some jazz music and eat dinner.

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Back at the hotel we began packing so that we will be ready to head out in the morning.  We will be visiting Nancy’s daughter (Cherilyn) and her family in Central Illinois for a couple of days.  Looking forward to seeing the five grands there!

Oh and by the way, you guessed it…God blessed us with another beautiful day!

2020 Road trip- Betty’s motorcycle photo

If you know us, Betty always likes to get a picture with a motorcycle on each of our trips…with or without it’s rider!!! So I spotted this today. What a COVID/motorcycle photo op, right?

October 7, 2020 First day in Nashville

Well, we didn’t really “sleep in” this morning, since we were up at 7:15 and 7:30,  and we’d gained an hour by entering a new time zone!  We did just take our time getting ready to go down for breakfast…thank you, Nancy for making coffee in the room first!
We headed to downtown Nashville to do some exploring.  This is an unusual experience for us, as we don’t have a daily itinerary to follow!  Thinking we would do a bus tour first was wrong!  We arrived a little before ten, only to be advised that there would be a tour at noon and at two.  We decided we would just find a place to park, look around, and decide what to do.  Someone had said we should visit the Johnny Cash Museum, and since it was in close proximity of where we parked, that was our first stop!  

We refueled by eating some down home Southern cooking for lunch and headed for a tour of the Ryman Auditorium.  This is the venue where the “Grand Ole Opry” began.  There is definitely lots of history in that building!  We even got to go on stage to have our picture taken.

OUR STAGE DEBUT!

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Afterward we just walked around and saw the Country Music Hall of fame that we plan to visit tomorrow.

I did forget to mention that it is another gorgeous day…the weather is perfect with beautiful blue skies and bright sunshine!
And…once again we are grateful for another day of new experiences. 

2020 Road trip- October 6 Cumberland Gap to Nashville…

We awakened in Cumberland Gap to a cool 41 degrees!  The sun was shining brightly and the skies were a beautiful blue! 
We were served a delicious breakfast and then headed out to hike the Tri State Peak which has a stone at the top, where the three states of Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia meet.  You can look out and see all three states!  It was an elevation of 1990 feet, and was quite steep and rocky in places…but we made it!!  I was glad that Nancy had given me some trekking poles for my birthday!

Daniel Boone hiked this trail!  We are always amazed to think how the early settlers traipsed across the country where there were not even good trails.  One of the bits of history we read was that the animals migrated first, making trails, then the Indians, and then the settlers, many of them walking with only the clothes they were wearing…some in bare feet! They traveled in Winter, so they could plant when they arrived at their new land. We have it so easy!!
We then drove to the Pinnacle Overlook, which is on top of the Cumberland Mountain looking over the Famous Cumberland Gap.  The elevation there was 2440 feet.

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Then it was time to head for Nashville! We stopped and had a combination lunch/dinner in Knoxville, where we also took a short walk…by then it felt good to stretch our legs!
After calling multiple hotels, we decided to stay outside of Nashville in Hendersonville.  We have a nice, big suite!
Think we will try to “sleep in” in the morning and then go explore Nashville!
Thanking God for the beautiful weather and the  wonderful adventures!

Monday October 5, 2020

This morning began with Betty making chocolate chip pancakes for everyone. They seemed to be a hit!

Grannie making Chocolate Chip pancakes

We enjoyed playing another game of speed  scrabble with Meghann  and the girls before heading out for our next destination.  
Our first stop of the day was in Spruce Pine, North Carolina where we met Nancy’s cousin, Ann and her husband David, for lunch. We met them at a restaurant and then took our lunch and went and sat in a park and visited and ate. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we really enjoyed ourselves.

We then drove through a very scenic route to Cumberland Gap, Tennessee.  The colors are not “peak”, but it is more colorful than Florida!!!

The Blue Ridge Mountains

Here is a little color!

While Nancy was driving, Betty looked for a place to stay for the night in Cumberland Gap.  We decided on the Olde Mill Inn Bed and Breakfast.  We arrived to find a delightful hostess, the owner, Kimberly, and a quaint B&B on the outside, but the rooms were nicely updated with lots of ambiance and even a jacuzzi!

Kimberly recommended a couple of restaurants within walking distance so we headed out to see what we wanted to eat.  We decided on Angelo’s And were not disappointed.  As I’m sure you can tell by the name of the restaurant, it was Italian fare.
Breakfast will be delivered to our room at 9 A.M. feeling very blessed and spoiled!!
We plan to explore the Gap some in the morning before heading out for the next leg of our adventure, so stay tuned for updates!
We are so grateful to God for His kindness and provision for this trip! 
Until tomorrow…

3rd day, October 4, 2020

We awakened to another beautiful day! God is so so good!

Looking out to the Robert’s backyard

Since Steve, Meghann and the girls had to be at church early, because of Steve serving in the worship team and Meghann leading (and the girl’s attending) a Bible study, Nancy and I met them there.  We thoroughly enjoyed the service….the first we have physically attended in many months.

Steve on far right

We had lunch on the deck, and afterwards Steve left to go work on their rental house and we went shopping for a few hours.  We did manage to make a few purchases, and we DID get a Starbucks break along the way!

Upon returning home, Meghann  and Sydney started preparing dinner and the rest of us played speed scrabble.  Steve arrived home just in time to grill some hamburgers. You may know, this is Betty‘s favorite meal! Sydney made fried cheese curd with caramel dip which was delicious!
Once we finished dinner and the dishes were done, we played some more speed scrabble.
We have had a great couple of days here in North Carolina and have enjoyed our visit. Tomorrow we will head out for more adventures! We are so grateful to God for this opportunity to travel.

Our 2nd day 2020 Road Trip

This beautiful Saturday started off with us going to watch Sydney play a volleyball game. She played excellently, and it was fun cheering her on!

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We had a lovely lunch out on the deck. Then, we took off to go browse around the little town of Davidson. We enjoyed going in and out of stores and then had an ice cream and coffee treat.

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 After that we went to another shopping area called Birkdale.
Then we came home and the girls prepared a delicious dinner of chicken Alfredo, green beans, Greek salad, and olive cheese bread.

After dinner, we enjoyed playing a game of Rummicube.  We lost, but had fun!

Road Trip 2020

Nancy and I started our 2020 road trip off by stopping at Chick-fil-A for free chicken mini biscuits for breakfast on the road!  It was so good, after being basically homebound due to COVID since March, to “venture” off once again!

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  I HAVE NO IDEA WHY THIS PHOTO IS SO HUGE!!!

We had a beautiful day for driving, and arrived at our first stop, which was at Meghann  and Steve’s, Betty‘s daughter and son-in-law, at about 5:30 in the afternoon.
Steve grilled delicious pork tenderloins for dinner and Meghann and the girls prepared wonderful sides to go with them. We enjoyed eating outside in their lovely deck.  Afterwards everyone sang happy birthday to Betty and we enjoyed chocolate cake and ice cream.

All of us got together and played Scattergories and laughed at a lot of the answers!
We thank God for this opportunity to once again, travel, and for time spent with family!

Stay tuned for more adventures!
    Betty

Michigan July 29, Day 3

This morning we went to a Bible Study with Susan.  They are in Isaiah 62.  We were welcomed warmly and enjoyed seeing a couple of ladies who we met last year.

 

We had a pretty leisurely afternoon and enjoyed visiting and sitting on the porch.  Saw quite a few people kayaking and tubing down the river.

We attended church with Tom and Sue and then met Amy for dinner.

Came home and enjoyed Betty’s coconut poke cake, while sitting on the porch with the view of the river!

Turned in fairly early…..good night!

MICHIGAN 2019-Days 1&2

Got up bright and early this morning and headed to Michigan. Upon arriving, we drove to Livonia,Michigan (in this snazzy car!

Our BMW X3

We asked for a mid-size car and this is what we got!), where we visited Betty’s 97 year young Aunt Mary.  We were glad to see her as she is declining but still has the sweetest smile and spirit.

Spent The night in Grand Rapids and Friday morning we had breakfast with Nancy’s nephew, Bill and his 2 children.  We enjoyed catching up with them and seeing how much the children have grown since last year.  Unfortunately Bill’s wife Sara could not join us because she had the flu.

Michigan 2018-Day 11

Thursday, July 5, 2018

This morning we had to say good-bye to Susan, Tom and Amy and the beautiful river.  We headed out close to 9:45 and drove to Livonia to visit my sweet Aunt Mary, who is 96 years young.  She is a very sweet lady and we enjoyed having lunch with her.

 

We then dropped by to see Diane and Sylvia, Nancy’s cousins, for a short visit.

Jack & his friend had a sprinkler under the trampoline to stay cool!

From there we drove to Grand Rapids where we had dinner, checked into our hotel, and returned our rental car to the airport.

It was a lovely day, and now we are ready for bed.

Michigan 2018- Day 10

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Oh the hustle and bustle of holidays!  We had such a good time doing the “last minute” things in order to be ready for guests coming at Noon!  Of course, we had to first enjoy coffee on the porch!

Betty and Susan getting things ready

Tom is making the ice cream

Betty made her blonde brownies!

Colorful veggie tray

Susan’s pasta salad

Betty and I are ready to celebrate Independence Day!

There was a wonderful variety of food to choose from and plenty of desserts also.  After lunch, a lot of the group went tubing or kayaking.  The rest of the 32 who were here stayed and visited, and enjoyed catching up with each other.  There was even a drone being flown around!

Once the tubers and kayakers began returning, we started serving homemade ice cream, which was enjoyed by ALL.

There were lots of goodbye hugs going around, some telephone numbers and updated email addresses being shared, and plans to get together again soon…before the next 4th of July reunion.

Nancy and I were able to help Susan, Tom and Amy clean up a little bit….”many hands make light work” has been our motto the last few days.

We have had a wonderful visit, but we will be leaving Hersey in the morning.  So good night for now.

Michigan 2018-Day 9

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Another beautiful day in Paradise!  We went for an “early” (for us) walk this morning, got a picture of Nancy’s favorite spot on the porch, and did a little more prepping for tomorrow’s celebration.

Nancy’s favorite spot on the porch

The view from her spot..

In the afternoon, Nancy and I walked over to see her cousins, Ruth and Howard for a short visit. It is a a beautiful,  shaded walk along the river bank to their house. Guess what Nancy did? Yep, took pictures of flowers!

When we returned home, Susan had a delicious dinner of homemade enchiladas ready for us.  Such a treat!

After dinner we enjoyed the movie, “Hoovey” on Netflix.  Nancy had already seen it and recommended it for Susan, Tom, Amy and I.  When the movie was over, we enjoyed either brownies and ice cream or Root Beer float.  All I can say is it is a good thing we are getting some exercise….AND I am NOT looking forward to getting on the scales!

Michigan 2018-Day 8

Monday, July 2, 2018

We have so much to be thankful for, and enjoying God’s beautiful creation is just one of them!  We are in awe every morning when we go sit on the porch overlooking the river, visit and have coffee. After being in the 90’s, with high humidity the past 3 days, the thunderstorms of last night cooled things off, and we had a nearly “perfect day.” THIS, my friends, is “The Life!!”

Today we began getting ready for the Fourth of July celebration.  We helped assemble the tables and chairs in the garage, made lemonade, got containers ready, and made a chicken casserole and pasta salad.   We also did some laundry, and it was so wonderful to hang some of it on an outdoors clothesline!

Susan and I (Betty) took a ride to the town of Evart to pick up a few groceries…the most important being Root Beer and ice cream so we could enjoy Root Beer Floats for dessert! (Nancy used the time to catch up on a couple of phone calls.) We had a relaxing dinner of leftovers BEFORE those floats, out on the deck overlooking the river…again. This doesn’t get old, and now the sunset I am looking at is beautiful!  Good night.

Random photos of the day:

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Michigan 2018-Day 7

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Sunday!  What a beautiful day.  Before leaving home to attend church this morning, we began preparing for Sunday dinner.  Nancy went to a Lutheran Church with Amy and I went to the Catholic Church with Susan and Tom.

Once we returned home, we finished preparing our meal.  Susan had made lasagna and she made two delicious salads, one spinach and one with red cabbage, and added some fresh French bread.  I made brownies.

Nancy’s nephew, Bill, his wife Sara and their children, Tabitha and Frey, came for dinner and a nice visit.  While they were here, they went tubing  also.

This evening, Amy, Susan, Nancy and I finished watching a movie we started a couple of days ago.  Let me just say that I am hoping that I don’t have nightmares tonight.

Michigan 2018-Day 6

Saturday, June 30, 2018

This morning started off with Nancy and I attending a Bible study with Susan, which we enjoyed.  They are going through the book of Isaiah.  It was also nice to meet some of Susan’s friends.

Once we got home, we had lunch and then Susan, Nancy and I went Kayaking.

This was a fun, first-time experience for us.  Yeah!  Something else marked off our bucket list!!  It was about an hour and a half trip down the Muskegon River.

THEN, Susan, Amy, Nancy and I went into Big Rapids to pick up a few groceries, eat at Panera and attend the play, Steel Magnolias.  It was a wonderful production that we all enjoyed.

Michigan 2018-Day 5

Friday, June 29, 2018

We had a relaxing day today.  Tables and chairs were brought over in preparation for the 4th of July reunion.

After lunch, Tom brought Susan, Nancy and I to the drop off spot in Hersey, so we could have a leisurely 2 ½ hour tube float down the Muskegon River.  It was a beautiful day and we thoroughly ourselves.

Susan prepared another delicious dinner for us, and Amy joined us.  We watched an episode of “And Then There was None” which was interesting and visited a little before retiring for the night.

We are so blessed to enjoy life with family and friends and to enjoy God’s beautiful creation.

Michigan 2018-Day 4

Thursday, June 28, 2018

What we awakened to today was a complete contrast to yesterday!  The skies were a beautiful blue and the sun was shining brightly.  Looking across the river with the sunbeams through the trees is spectacular.

We decided to drive to Traverse City and visit a couple of wineries.  It was a lovely drive…about an hour and a half.  We stopped and had fish tacos at a nice restaurant on the way.

We drove up the Old Mission Peninsula. On one side was the Eastern Grand Traverse Bay, and the other side was the Western Grand Traverse Bay.  The bay reminded us of Lake Tahoe.  The water was absolutely beautiful, with varying shades of blue and turquoise!

We visited a lighthouse as well…Nancy said it was the shortest lighthouse she has ever seen.  The water was beautiful here as well.

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Also stopped at the General Store and had some yummy salted caramel ice cream there.

On the way home, we stopped at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, a shopping plaza that Susan had suggested to us.  The shops, restaurants, a hotel and condos/apartments used to be a State Mental Institution.  It was nice to see theses old buildings being renovated and used.

We saw an absolutely beautiful sunset tonight from Susan and Tom’s bedroom door which looks out over the river.

This place is gorgeous!

Michigan 2018-Day 3

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

We awakened to the sound of a gentle rain, which lasted until around 1 P.M. Nancy was up early enough to get a couple shots of the Mama deer with her twins, & we still enjoyed sitting on the porch and sipping our morning coffee.

Susan and Tom are so gracious and had us invite our friends, Steve and Marlene, who live in Luddington, about an hour away, to come join us for the day.  We enjoyed hearing about what is going on in their lives and sharing our stories, too.  We also did some reminiscing and lots of laughing.  They loved having lunch on the porch overlooking the river.

We walked over to the tree house and actually went up in it.

They were fascinated with the beauty of the river, the land and Susan and Tom’s home.  Tom also took us for a ride in “The Ranger”, and so they were able to see even more beauty.

After they left, Tom, Susan, Amy, Nancy and I went and enjoyed dinner at River Junction, the local Hersey restaurant.

This used to be the ever popular “Mama Mia’s”

Once we returned home, Susan and I took a nice long walk and had some great conversation.

Michigan 2018-Day 2

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Sitting on Susan and Tom’s porch overlooking the river and sipping morning coffee is a great way to begin the day.  Once I had some caffeine and breakfast, I started making phone calls.  After what seemed like fifty calls, (and that IS a big exaggeration), we were finally able to get a mini-van in a nearby town that we can return to the airport when we leave on July 6th!  Since we had rented the car through Costco, we were still able to get a discount and only had to pay a little more….different agency, different car, different drop-off location, different dates….o.k., you get the picture.  Right?

Before going to pick up our vehicle, we were able to take a nice, long walk…it has been a beautiful day with perfect weather.  When we arrived home from our walk, Susan had prepared lunch for us. We ate outside, looking out over the river…it is so peaceful and beautiful here.

Amy, Susan and Tom’s daughter that lives next door came to visit, and “catch up” with us. She joined us for a delicious dinner,  which was outside again. After dinner, Susan, Nancy and I took another walk. This time on Susan and Tom’s property, where she showed us a path that leads to a meadow. We passed a huge strawberry patch that had already been “harvested”, walked along the river bank, and back up the ravine to their home. So many beautiful trees and wild flowers!

Not sure what this is…pretty tho

Can you see this pretty flying insect?

So sad, some of the evergreens are dying….

Black-eyed Susans!

Blue daisies!

This has been a wonderful day and we are thankful to God for the many blessings he has given us, including Nancy’s family, the lovely weather and our “set of wheels!”

Michigan 2018-Day 1

Monday, June 25, 2018

After being home for five nights, we got wanderlust decided to take off for another adventure!  This time, we are going to visit Nancy’s family in Michigan, for their annual 4th of July family reunion.

We made it through Sanford Airport with only a couple of hitches!  Betty’s I-Pad had to be scanned and so did a prescription!  Once we made it through the line and were enjoying lunch a message came over the intercom “would the passenger who forgot to pick up their tablet return to check-in area”…well, Nancy says, “I think that’s me.”  After quickly looking in her bag, she darts off…then, another announcement comes on…”will the passenger who left their bag of liquids return to the check-in area”…. A few minutes later, Nancy returns with her tablet  AND her essential oils!!  We were very happy that they were discovered while we were still in the airport.

Well, this beginning should have been a warning…..next, our flight is delayed thirty minutes, then we board, start off and have to return to the gate because “there is a problem.”  Not only do we return to the gate, but we have to deboard  the plane, go to the opposite side of the airport and wait to board another plane there.

Hoping we will get to leave soon!

Sooooo, we finally arrive in Grand Rapids, only to discover that the car rental agency is CLOSED for the day and NONE of the rental car agencies at the airport have a car for us to rent!

WHAT!!?? NO CARS???

Thankfully, Nancy’s nephew and his daughter came and picked us up and drove us about half way to meet with her cousin and her husband who live in Hersey, MI, and with whom we are staying.

We were truly blessed to have people willing to drive us and meet us and take us to their beautiful home.  It had been a long day, so we went to bed fairly early

England 2018-Day 11

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Had a good night’s sleep, an early breakfast at the hotel, and a quick walk over to check-in for our flight home.  Everything went very smoothly.  Our flight was delayed about 30 minutes, but we still managed to arrive in Orlando on time. Eight hours “flew by”, with the help of in-flight movies, cards, and a few “winks!”

The line at Customs was very long, but much to our surprise, went very quickly.

Thankful for David Coverston picking us up and driving us home!

Now, to rest up and be ready to leave home again in FIVE days!!

England 2018-Day 10

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Up and at it fairly early.  Danny, one of the neighbor’s is taking us to the train station around noon.  We will go to Gatwick Airport, and spend the night at the hotel, as our flight will be leaving around 11:30 A.M. Tomorrow.

Hard to say good-bye, but so grateful that we were able to visit our friends during this difficult time.

Thankfully, we made the train ride without any problems.  We did have to change trains in Reading, and were waiting on our train to “show-up” ….only to realize about two minutes before departure that it had been there for about 30 minutes waiting for us to hop on!  So thankful that Nancy was “nudged” to think this was the train we were supposed to be on…got up and asked a gentleman if this was the train to Gatwick…he said “yes” and we very hurriedly hopped aboard!  Well, we do have to have a little excitement, right??

Once at the hotel, we enjoyed a delightful meal. Nancy finally got her Fish and Chips!

We decided to walk over to the airport in order that we would know where to go in the morning….then….off to bed to be ready for our journey home….

 

England 2018-Day 9

Monday, June 18, 2018

Today found us wandering out for a boat ride and trip to Falmouth.  Although we have been there with Tony and Sandra previously, this was a different excursion for us.  Since there was “low tide” we had to go by a large bus to St. Austell to board the boat.  It was quite an experience as we met an oncoming car on a very narrow road.  Well, needless to say, one of the vehicles had to back up so the other could pass!

We did enjoy the boat ride, walked around Falmouth a little, ate a wonderful lunch at Chain Locker, then decided on taking the train back to Truro.

 

On the walk back to Sandra and Tony’s, we stopped at Sainsbury’s to pick up a few items. We finally grabbed this photo op for Betty to have her picture with a motorcycle!

We arrived home in time to enjoy Sandra’s wonderful cooking AGAIN.

Tony is doing a little better today as he is going to be able to get out of bed and out of the house for a little excursion tomorrow.  It will be nice he has something to look forward to.

We were able to see Sandra’s sisters one last time and bid them a proper good-bye.  They are such a blessing to Sandra.

We will be leaving tomorrow, so we enjoyed our last night with this sweet couple.

England 2018- Day 8

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Took a stroll to Sainsbury’s in the drizzling rain this morning, to get the rest of the ingredients needed to prepare dinner.  On previous visits, I remembered Tony enjoying roast for Sunday, so I set out to cook him an American version of roast, potatoes, and carrots, adding asparagus and a mixed green salad.  It was a hit!

Their girls and their families came over bearing gifts and lot of love for Tony for Father’s Day.  There were several other visitors throughout the day.

Will is the cleaner in the Cafe

Mia is the cappuccino maker

Will also takes the money from the customers

Mia has on Mummy’s shoes

Now, we are hoping for a good night’s rest for Tony and Sandra.  Thankfully, they have someone coming in three times daily and someone to relieve Sandra at night so that she can get some much needed rest.  This is a very difficult time for her.

England 2018- Day 7

Saturday, June 16, 2018

Had a leisure morning.  We decided to walk to the train station to find out what the schedule would be for when we leave on Tuesday, and to see if we could reserve a seat even though we already have our tickets.  We were able to do both!

Truro Train Station

We then walked to Victoria Gardens where we saw some old buildings and some very pretty flowers.

After that, we decided to go to the Royal Cornwall Museum.  We saw many interesting artifacts and read more history about the area.

On the way back to the Kent’s, we stopped at the popular Sainsbury’s to get a few grocery items, since Betty will be cooking Sunday dinner.

Tony had quite a few visitors again today.  Two of Sandra’s sisters were here as well to help care for Tony.  Thank you all for your prayers.

England 2018- Day 6

Friday, June 15, 2018

Happy Birthday, to Nancy!  The day began with a festive cake, cards, a gigantic balloon and lots of good wishes.

ALL THE CARDS!

HUGE birthday balloon from Crazy Julie!

Precious Betty got up EARLY to go get this cake!

We walked to town and did a little shopping.  It takes 10-15 minutes to walk into town, but a little longer coming back, as then it is almost all uphill!  We are enjoying these walks.

On our way down to the movie…

More downhill to town

Now it is all uphill!

Love the peaks on top of these homes..

Tony had lots of visitors again today.  Also, we got to see Tracey’s children, Mia and Will, who visited Orlando a few months back.  It is always amazing how fast children grow in such a short time.

Mia and William

Nancy and I went to see a movie for her birthday and returned home to yet another one of Sandra’s delicious meals.  Afterwards we had cake and ice cream to celebrate Nancy’s birthday….again!

Shepherd’s pie for dinner-YUM!

Birthday cake and ice cream!

England 2018-Day 5

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Even though this is a difficult visit, we are enjoying being with our friends.  It is fun to talk about all the places we have been with them and I think it helps Tony to remember those times.

As usual, Tracey was here this morning and ran an errand for Sandra.  Carol and Michelle came today, too.  We are enjoying getting to know them.

Carol and Michelle

Nancy and I walked to Aldi and Sainsbury’s …and took the “right” path home!

We enjoyed comparing England’s Aldi to ours.  We were able to pick up a rotisserie chicken, and some potatoes for dinner tonight so Sandra could have the night off….and although it wasn’t her gourmet cooking, we all enjoyed it.

Made a couple batches of pralines today for Sandra (as she loves them), but she shared with everyone who stopped by to either visit or give care to Tony.

Please pray for our sweet friends during this difficult time.

England 2018- Day 4

Wednesday, June 13, 218

Today Tony had a visit from the Vicar, Diane. She is a lovely lady and he was pleased to see her.

Nancy and I took a walk to Sainsbury’s, the local Grocery store this afternoon.  We took the long way home and had a large hill to climb…great exercise!

On the way to Sainsbury’s

Carol and Michelle were here again today. Carol’s husband had the largest bouquet of flowers I have ever seen delivered to Tony and Sandra.  He said that he knows how much Tony loves the garden and the summer flowers and since he can’t go out and enjoy them, he was sending the garden to him!  How sweet is that?? Nancy arranged them into four large vases!

England 2018- Day 3

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Started the morning with daughters, Julie and Tracey dropping by.  They are such a blessing for our friends, as they live near-by and visit daily.  They are also a big help to Sandra in caring for Tony and doing shopping, cooking, etc.

View on the way to town

Typical road leading into town

Palm tree seems out of place..

Colorful doorstep

Nancy and I took a walk into downtown, did some money exchange, a little shopping and had lunch at the beautiful Cathedral, where we have eaten with Tony and Sandra on previous visits.

 

Sandra’s three sisters, Kay, Carol and Michelle, came today.  They, too, are a big help for Sandra. We were glad to finally meet them, as we have heard so much about them.  They are sweet, just like Sandra.

ENGLAND 2018- DAY 2

Monday, June 11, 2018

Our flight went very well.  We arrived at Gatwick Airport and boarded a train to Truro via Reading Station.

Our route

 Sandra was there to greet us when we arrived….she almost had to make two trips to get us, as she drives a really spiffy Mini-Cooper and we had two fairly good sized suitcases plus ourselves to squeeze in…BUT we did it!!

Once we arrived, we were able to visit with Tony and reminisce about our times together.  Also, their daughter, Julie came by for a short visit.

Of course, Sandra fed us a wonderful dinner.  A lovely salad with chicken.

Yummy Chicken

And Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert.

ENGLAND 2018- Day 1

Sunday, June 10, 2018

Today began as an ordinary Sunday, waking up and going to Metrolife Church.  However, as soon as the service was over, we rushed home to be ready for David Coverston, who was driving us to the airport at two o’clock.

We are leaving to go to Truro, England to visit our friends, Tony and Sandra. This is a bittersweet trip, as our Tony is suffering with brain cancer and nearing the end of his life.

🎶 Leaving on a jet plane..🎶

From L.A.->>>HOME!!!!!

 Had another lazy day!  Slept late, enjoyed a leisure breakfast and packed our suitcases for the last plane ride of this trip!

Took the shuttle to the airport, boarded our plane and headed home.  After about a five hour plane ride and a 30 minute Uber ride, we made it HOME about 11:30 p.m.

We had such a fabulous trip and thank God for His goodness, His provision and protection every step of the way.  We are blessed.

Hope that you have enjoyed following us, as it has been a joy to share our travels with you.  It is good to be home.

Good night and God bless!

Tueday, November 21, 2017 TWICE!

This will be a confusing day…as it is Tuesday, November 21st, we will fly all night to LA and when we arrive there, it will still be Tuesday!

Well, we managed to get up and be ready to go by 5:45!  Once we arrived at the airport, we received God’s favor once again!  When we couldn’t check-in at the kiosk, we went to the Qantas desk for “elite” customers by accident and the kind lady said that’s o.k.  Not only did she check us in, when she saw we only had an hour and twenty minutes to catch our plane in Sydney, she put us on an earlier flight so we would not have to rush to make the connection!  She explained that we will have to catch a shuttle bus once we arrive in Sydney to get to the American Airlines gate.  Although our plane left Sydney 30 minutes late, we still managed to go through Customs and make it to our gate with a little time to spare.

We had an uneventful, good flight to LA, arriving around 5:30 a.m.. (See what I mean, left at 5:45 a.m and arrived almost 24 hours later at 5:30 a.m. all on the same day!). Made it through Customs AGAIN, and just as we arrived at the hotel shuttle stop, it was there!  Well, due to the incident previously, when we arrived at the hotel, our “upgrade” was a suite.  It wasn’t ready, so we went to the 16th floor where we had a Continental breakfast.  Our suite on the 16th floor was then ready.  We have a nice big “living room” with a bathroom and a bedroom with a bathroom as well and breakfast in the morning is included, too.  Quite nice!

Needless to say we were tired, so we napped for a few hours, had some lunch, played cards, went to the hot tub, had dinner and crashed!

Will sleep in tomorrow as our plane doesn’t leave until 2:50 p.m.  Good night and God bless!

Wellington to Melbourne

Slept in this morning as we have nothing planned except packing up to leave!  Nancy was able to do a little catch-up on blog posting, so that was nice.  We decided to take a walk and found a nice little cafe to have lunch.

Taxi arrived at 2 p.m. and dropped us at the airport where we flew to Melbourne, Australia for the night.  Once we arrived, it was pretty much wind down and go to bed.  Have to be ready at 5:45 a.m. to catch our flight!

Last full New Zealand day!

 Today is our last full day in New Zealand, so we did our best to venture out and see and do allmoo we could!  (That’s nothing new, though!  Right?)Susanna was kind enough to take us and drop us off at the Weta Studio Tours where we were able to explore the models and miniatures made by Weta Workshop for the television show, Thunderbirds Are Go.  It is amazing to see how the imaginary worlds are brought to life on the screen! ( we were not allowed to take pictures in the various places we toured here)

We also took the Weta Cave Workshop tour where we had a behind-the-scenes tour of movie magic.  We saw many actual pieces that were used in Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and other movies.  Our guide was quite enthusiastic and actually works on the sets.  He has worked on Lord of the Rings, The Thunderbirds, and many others.

Today, Sir Richard Taylor, winner of four Academy Awards for his work on Lord of the Rings, happened to be in the studio for a signing….if you purchased an item (I am not sure what), he would sign it for you.  I happened to get a picture of him chatting with a young man.  He and his wife are at the studios daily working and according to the employees, he is very kind and down to earth.  He certainly appeared to be that way.

We then caught a bus to go to the Great War Exhibition, created by Sir Peter Jackson, commemorating the role played by New Zealand in the First World War.  It showed the hardship and bravery of those individuals in the war.  There were many photographs from the era, and an array of movie-like sets that depicted the war.

We then decided to find Cuba Street, which is known for its restaurants and have dinner before returning to our Airbnb.  We asked for recommendations and decided on “Mexico” where we enjoyed chicken quesadillas.

Then, we found the bus that returned us to Susanna’s!  We were actually feeling pretty good about the fact that we were able to navigate around the City getting on and off several busses and finding our way around.  Of course, we did ask a few people to be sure we were in the right place and getting on the correct bus.

Goodnight until tomorrow.  God bless.

Wellington!

 This morning we had to say goodbye to our sweet friends, Diane and Bill Dore..  We had such a wonderful time with them and appreciate all they did to welcome us and show us around New Zealand.  We especially enjoyed meeting their family.  Now, they just need to visit Florida so we can show them around some, too!

We had an hour plane ride from Dunedin to Wellington and although the weather was somewhat cloudy when we landed, the sun DID come out.

Air New Zealand flight..even when a flight was 50 minutes, everywhere we flew, they served us SOMETHING!

Hello Wellington!

We were met at the airport by our Airbnb Hostess, Susanna, who brought us to her home and then delivered us downtown where we visited the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.  There was a very moving exhibition entitled “Gallipoli: The Scale of our War.”  It was all about New Zealand’s plight in World War I.  Sir Peter Jackson, the famous film maker (Lord of the Rings) was instrumental in providing the bigger than life figures which were very detailed.  It took almost two hours to go through and we both felt somewhat drained by the end.

The museum

One of the wax figures..larger than real life

So much detail! (I spared you the gory ones)

So interesting to see a World War through the eyes of another nation.

We decided to take the Wellington Cable Car to the top for a gorgeous view of the harbor and Wellington.  We were once again thankful for blue skies and sunshine that allowed us the best view.

Cool cable car

It was FAST

…and had unusual…and spectcular..light in the tunnel!

Look at this view from where the cable car took us!

We also quickly visited the Cable Car Museum, as it closed shortly after our arrival.  Next we walked back to the City through the Botanic Gardens, enjoying the trees, flowers and scenery.  On the way down, we also passed by a very old cemetery.

We hopped on a bus and made our way back to Susanna’s via a very scenic route.  We stopped at

a Thai Restaurant in the neighborhood and had a very delicious dinner.

 

It was YUMMY!

This is our lovely Airbnb…

Very comfy beds

Well stocked shelves with everything we need for snacks and breakfast!

The pretty view from the window

Whew!  Another full day.  Not sure what we will be doing tomorrow, so stay tuned and find out with us!  Good night and God Bless.

Lazy Friday

We slept in this morning and when we got up, it was raining so, we decided to do our laundry!  Some things have to be done even when you are on vacation..

We had a delightful lunch of homemade soup, cheese rolls and miniature steak and mushroom pies…..Diane is a very good cook!

After lunch, our very special, personal guide took us to see a couple more spectacular sites.  On the way, we stopped by her son, Malcolm’s business, Magoo Auto to say hello.

He gives these gummy plane candies out to customers

Then, off to Signal Hill that has a spectacular view of the harbor and the Pacific Ocean as well as Dunedin.

On top of Signal Hill

View from from Signal Hill

It was quite windy which made it a little chilly as well.

Next we drove up the world’s steepest street, Baldwin Street.  From the top, you couldn’t see the bottom!  There were some people walking up, but we were happy to ride.

We went to the Otago Settlers Museum, which was quite interesting.  There were many old artifacts to view and much history to read about.

Once we returned home, Diane was busy in the kitchen AGAIN, serving us appetizers, preparing pork roast, a medley of veggies which included sweet potatoes, pumpkin, potatoes and parsnips cooked on her “Weber”and also green beans with English peas….it surely is going to be hard for me to get back into cooking when we get home!

That is it for today, so until tomorrow, goodnight and God bless.

Dunedin

 We have been having such a wonderful visit with Diane and Bill!  This morning we dropped Bill off in town for a haircut (he is recuperating from hip surgery and not able to drive yet), and then Diane took us to visit a beautiful historic house in Dunedin, Olveston, which we enjoyed touring.  Mr. David Theomin built the house between 1904 and 1907 with all the latest conveniences: central heating, an internal telephone system, a service lift, a food mixer, and an electric toaster. Furnishings are from around the world.

He was in the import business and his fortune came substantially from importing pianos which he distributed through a New Zealand-wide chain of shops, called The Dresden, and later the Bristol Piano Company.  He and his daughter Dorothy were patrons especially of music and the visual arts.

He and his wife had a son and daughter who enjoyed hiking and mountain climbing.  After her parents died, Dorothy continued living in the home until she died.  She bequeathed the home and all its contents to the City of Dunedin.  Everything in the home is as it was when the family lived there.  There is even a 1921 automobile that has been restored and a Rolls Royce as well. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, so Nancy took pictures of the outside….especially the flowers, surprise, surprise!

Olveston Historic Home

The Limo

Betty and Diane in the garden

Flowers in the garden

So many beautiful flowers

Striking!

A rose is a rose…

Happy blue flower!

The back of Olveston

Afterwards we picked Bill up and went to the beautiful Dunedin Train Station and enjoyed lunch at the Cobb and Co., a restaurant inside the station.

Diane, Nancy and I then drove to Larnach Castle, where we enjoyed a leisure tour through the castle.  In 1870, William Larnach, an Australian banker was lured to Dunedin by the tide of wealth which followed the gold rush, and chose the site to build the castle.  After his death, his children sold the property, which changed owners several times and was abandoned twice.  In 1967 the Barker family purchased the castle and have been restoring it as well as the beautiful gardens.

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On our way back home, it was such a beautiful ride.

This is the OTHER side of Saddle Hill

Looking down at Dunedin Harbour

Look at the view that these homes have of the harbour

These teeth are the “Molars” at the mouth of the Dunedin Harbour!

 

We had the pleasure of meeting the Dore’s middle son, Malcolm, his wife Paula and their girls, Sarah and Kristin.  They joined us for dinner and Sarah made a delicious dessert for us to enjoy.  We had lots of laughs and exchanged many stories.

Now it is time to say goodnight again, so until tomorrow…..

On to Dunedin

Today we left Te Anau and headed for Dunedin, NZ, where Diane and Bill live.  We stopped along the way to take pictures of the beautiful scenery, sheep, flowers, trees and other things.

Hillside with sheep

Galloway cattle…looks like they wear a white belt!

These look like fans to me…

One of the deer farms, or should I say….venison?

This is how the cut hay is stored.

Next we visited Gary and Caroline, Diane and Bill’s oldest son in Gore.  First we met Caroline at her house, and saw some of the work she does, and for which she recently received an award as being the woman of the year in the City of Gore for her charitable work as The Nattering Knitter.

Caroline’s card

Caroline in one of her crafty Christmas rooms

She receives knitted squares from all over the world and makes them into quilts to give to hospitals, and people in need.  They recently sent hats to children in Africa, and have pictures of many happy faces as they received them.

From there, Caroline, Diane, Nancy and I met Gary and Jessica, their daughter for a picnic lunch at a local park.  We enjoyed meeting and visiting with them..

We stopped in Balclutha to meet Diane’s sister-in-law, Rosemary.  It was a short visit and a delight to meet her.

Diane and Rosemary

Before taking us home, Diane took a little side trip to show us where they had lived for 22 years. It was located in Taieri Mouth, a beautiful site that overlooked the water.  Our first view of the house was from a high spot from the other side.

Looking across to Dore’s Taieri Mouth home

We drove to the end of a small road, and parked in a driveway, and come to find out, she knew the man working on his equipment. He invited us to come on his property for a better view. He showed us his pet sheep, down a STEEP slope,

Now THAT’s a huge, unsheared sheep~

and Diane pointed out the fishing boats and their former home.

Lone fishing boat and can you see the fisherman in lower rt corner?

From there, we went to visit their former home. She has a good relationship with the woman who now lives there, and is welcome to come on the property any time. It was an amazing house with a magnificent view! Diane said if you could see all the way out there, you would see Chili!

The “Beachcomber”

Beautiful view from Diane’s Previous home at Taieri Mouth

Betty and Diane in front of house

We then traveled a BEAUTIFUL  little scenic drive that included Mosgiel (or”Mollywood”,  as it is affectionately called), on the way into Dunedin, and Saddle Hill.  Saddle Hill was named by Capt. James Cook as he circumnavigated New Zealand in 1769! ( Thank you, Diane for that piece of history….yes, you ARE a “young” country!)

“Mollywood “Sign

Saddle Hill…that we will see often when venturing out from the Dore home

 

 We arrived to a warm welcome from Bill and enjoyed visiting with him.  Diane prepared a delicious dinner of lamb chops, potatoes, peas and carrots.  Afterwards we enjoyed homemade chocolate eclairs!

Off to bed for a good night’s sleep, to be ready for a day of sightseeing tomorrow.  Good night and God bless!

Milford Sound

 Today we had a fun filled day taking a day trip via bus to Milford Sound.

 

  We left from Te Anau, touring features of Fiordland National Park, home to untouched alpine forest, pristine waterways, glaciers and soaring peaks.  We stopped for numerous photo opts and had a classic Kiwi barbecue of marinated lamb kebabs, chicken kebabs and sausages, along with salads, fresh bread and fruit punch at Cascade Creek, prepared on sight by our driver.

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Along the way, we kept looking for a sign to Dore Pass, which Bill, Diane’s husband’s great, great, great grandfather discovered.  Unfortunately it was not on the main road, so we were unable to stop for a picture by the sign.

Leaving Cascade Creek, we headed towards Homer Tunnel, taking in some incredible mountain views while driving along side the crystal clear waters of the Hollyford River.

Next we boarded “The Adventurer” boat (which we thought was quite appropriately named) to take a cruise down Milford Sound.

A Fiord is carved by glaciers and sounds were caused by water.  Therefore, Milford Sound is technically a fiord, in the southwest of New Zealand’s South Island. It’s known for towering Mitre Peak, plus rainforests and waterfalls like Stirling and Bowen falls, which plummet down its sheer sides. The fiord is home to fur seal colonies, penguins and dolphins. We did see some seals and a lone penguin and also went “under” two waterfalls, getting wet and viewing a couple of beautiful rainbows.

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After returning via the long BBQ bus route, we arrived in Te Anau in time to witness a beautiful sunset on Lake Te Anua. It was a truly splendid day

Goodbye Trafalgar friends, Hello Diane!

This morning we said goodbye to our fellow Trafalgar travelling buddies, giving and receiving lots of hugs and “come see us” exchanges. Our sweet friend, Diane picked us up at 10 a.m. For a wonderful day of sightseeing.  We drove to Te Anau and saw many beautiful mountains, lakes and valleys along the way.

We even saw deer farms! (They raise deer for venison)

A deer farm!

At one point, Nancy took photos of two lakes at the same place;  Lake Kingston went one direction and Lake Queenstown the other direction.  The lakes are shaped like lightning bolts and their “arms” have different names.

 

Once we arrived and had lunch, we checked into our hotel, chatted over tea and then headed out for a boat ride and to see the glow worm caves.

Our boat to the Glow worm caves

Here is a map of where we went

There they are….the Southern Alps

There was a walk through the woods on our way to the caves

Thought this was cute…..

The Glow Worm Caves were in Te Wahipounamu “The Place of Greenstone”–  a World Heritage Area. It is located in the South West corner of the South Island of New Zealand. According to what we read there, it covers “10% of New Zealand’s total land area, and includes 4 National Parks. It includes rugged coast lines, and fiords, lowland rainforests, and wetland areas, providing habitats for rare plant and animal species. It is also regarded as one of the World’s best examples of a dynamic mountainous landscape, the “awe inspiring” Southern Alps.”

Since we could not take pictures inside the cave….I found this for you —-Watch this You tube video:

 

We thoroughly enjoyed what we saw, and then had a nice dinner and called it a day.

Good night all and God bless you.

Sunday in Queenstown

 Glorious Sunday!  This morning we visited St.  Andrew’s Wakatipu Community Presbyterian Church.  We thoroughly enjoyed hearing God’s word being preached.  They even sang songs we are familiar with!  We received a very warm welcome and afterwards, they had tea and cookies and people were eager to chat and not in a hurry to leave.  It was very refreshing….we miss all our friends at Metro!!

St. Andrew’s Wakatipu Community Presbyterian Church

Look at the unique steeple with a FISH on it~

We had heard of a neat restaurant right around the corner from the church that had really good Nachos, so decided to try them AND share an order for lunch

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to “relax” (fold laundry, pack, write blog, insert pictures into blog…) and be ready to go to our “farewell Dinner” as we will all be going our separate ways tomorrow.

We visited Arrowtown, an original gold miners’ hub.  It is also the site where the Chinese settled in the late 1800’s.  They had a very hard life and there are still “houses” standing today.  They were no more than huts and many times several men lived together.  They came to New Zealand hoping to get enough money to return home to buy land in their country.  Unfortunately, many of them died before they could ever do so. They  took pride and pleasure in applying their traditional farming skills to produce vegetables, too,  which provided income when the return from gold mining declined.

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We then went for our “Farewell” dinner with our tour Director, Isobel.  We ate at The Boathouse Restaurant which was only open for our group.  We had delicious meals and of course, desserts.

we had the whole place to ourselves!

What a beautiful view!

Our last dinner with our new friends!

 

Good night and God bless.

Paragliding and laundry in Queenstown

The morning began for me when Nancy said, Betty, it’s 9:15, do you want to get up?  Now, breakfast was being served until 10, so up I got!

We didn’t have any specific plans for today other than we thought we would take the gondola skyride to the top of Bob’s Peak.  That is, until Nancy saw some hang gliders out the hotel window and pointed them out to me.

Can you see the gliders?

Need I say more??  Well, we went to the reception area and booked a Paragliding experience for me!  (Let  me, Nancy, just interject here….there are 2 types of people….those when considering such a venture that say “WHY?”,  and those that say “WHY NOT?” Now you know the difference between Betty and I, if you didn’t already know!) Paragliding is like Hang Gliding, except you are in a sitting position…..so…we both went up in the Skyline gondola. Betty met her paragliding partner, and Nancy took some pix and took the gondola back down. It was a beautiful day, barely a cloud in the sky. The lake and mountain range view was incredible!

Paragliding was fantastic, and something I will ALWAYS remember. Gliding between the Remarkables Mountain and over the beautiful Lake Wakatipu (which is the only lake known to have a tide) was breathtaking. Maori legend claims that a local ogre called Matau was punished for abducting a chief’s daughter by being burned to death in his sleep.  The flames and heat of the fire melted the snow on surrounding mountains, which ran into a huge hole where Matau fell.  Despite his ill treatment, Matau’s heart could not be stopped and its eternal pulsing causes the lake to rise and fall.

After returning to the hotel, we decided to go to Ferburger’s, a place that usually has a line wrapped around the corner, but we were able to walk right in and order our delicious burgers.  You would think that we would know by now to always share a meal, as neither of us could eat but half our burgers!

Fergburgers

Yummy burger!

Nice day to stroll by the lake

The hotel we are in does not have a pool, but they have a hot tub that you book a time for, so we booked a 6 o’clock time and enjoyed that immensely.  Then, we had the fun of doing laundry!

I would say that for not having anything to do, we managed to have a pretty full day.  Would you agree?

Thanks to all of you who are taking the time to follow us on this amazing journey.  We feel God’s blessings for us every minute.

SHEEP and on to Queenstown!

Today we visited Agrodome. For a very interesting sheep show.  We saw many different breeds of sheep, saw a sheep be sheared, and a sheep dog in action.  There was some audience participation with milking a cow, and an auction for one of the sheep, which the person received a small stuffed sheep for their bid!  We were also able to cuddle the baby lambs, see ducks, rabbits and baby geese.

So many breeds!

Look at THIS guy’s horns!

The sheepdog with the geese

Before

Look at all the wool!

After

This kid had a chance to feed a lamb

Betty did not want to hold one!

We then flew out for Queenstown with a plane change in Christchurch, where we had about two hours….so I am taking advantage of that and starting today’s write-up!

Our first view of the alps!

Once we arrived in the very beautiful City of Queenstown, we took a drive through town, with our guide, Isobel pointing out areas of interest.

So beautiful…

There is nothing like mountains and water!

The view from our room

After checking in, we headed out to dinner.  One of the ladies in our group, Judy, wasn’t feeling well, so her husband, Blair joined us.  We went to Atlas, a place that was recommended and had a delicious steak dinner.  It was a nice walk there and back, with gorgeous snow-capped mountains on one side and a pristine lake on the other.  God’s glorious creation!

Blaine was a good sport

The steak was SOOOOO good!

Queenstown was so pretty at night!

Now, it is time to call it a day, so until tomorrow…good night from New Zealand!

Day in Rotorua

 This morning we toured Rainbow Springs Nature Park, so named because they have very large rainbow trout and fresh water springs.  We had a tour guide who gave us many interesting facts about the trees, fish and the birds, and other reptiles and amimals unique to New Zealand. (Interestingly, he was originally from MD, not far from where Nancy’s son lives)

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They have a hatching area for the Kiwis, which we, as Trafalgar’s VIPs, were able to go into. (By the way, did you know that New Zealanders are nicknamed “Kiwis?” This is their country’s national bird.)

We were able to view eggs being measured, the incubation ovens, and the feeding area, all the while being given facts about what was happening.

We then had a local Moari guide accompany us around Whakarewarewa Living Thermal Village, where we saw bubbling mud pools and thermal springs.  Our guide told us many historical facts about the village and the people who live there. Here are some interesting facts about some previous tour guides. One performed for King George V of England, and one became a nurse in the village.

This boy jumped from the bridge to dive for coins, if you cared to throw any!

The Moari people are about loving others, doing for others and having fun, too.

Some of the springs here get up to over 200 degrees.  They cook some of their food in the springs and she said on a hot day, you could cook bacon and eggs on the concrete! We were eyeing some ears of corn that were coming out of the Springs, but our tour was going to end shortly and sadly, we did not have time for a sample!

One of the ways they use the steam to cook

She is hauling out the ears of corn (yum yum)

Had the first mention of Christianity here. Missionaries founded this church.

The inside of the church.

It seems that many combined there Christian faith with their traditional explanations for creation.

This afternoon, Nancy and I went on a helicopter ride to the top of Rotorua’s Mount Tarawera. This volcano is responsible for one of New Zealand’s largest historic eruptions. It consists of a series of rhyolitic lava domes that were fissured down the middle by an explosive basaltic eruption in 1886 which killed an estimated 120 people. (More on this here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tarawera)

We were able to get out and walk around and look at the gorges and see the beautiful water in the distance.  We both thought that this must be what it is like to walk on the moon!

There’s the helicopter!

BETTY is ready

Me too!

Our pilot took us up, up, and away!

Beautiful scenery..such rolling, carpeted hills!

See those white dots?? What ARE they, I ask the pilot?

Looking at me like, SERIOUSLY? “They are SHEEP!” ( they REALLY WERE just little white dots on that HUGE, green carpet from WAY up here!)

He left the copter running….it was really a weird sensation for us all to walk away from that….like it might take off and LEAVE us up there!

It did seem like we were on the moon

Some of the rocks we looked at

Almost back down!

After resting a bit, we went walking to the weekly outdoor market, purchased our dinner and dessert from some of the venders and sat by the water to eat..  Back to the hotel to turn in early.

We are feeling so blessed to be on this journey and see so many of God’s creations.  Hope you are well, and thanks for taking the time to follow us on our journey!  Good night and God bless

Auckland to Rotorua

Good morning, New Zealand! This morning we boarded our tour bus and headed out for a fun day on our way to Rotorua. We stopped at the Waitomo Caves to see the incredible Glow Worm Grotto and the Limestone Caves.   We saw literally thousands of tiny glow worms, and had a local guide who gave a lot of history about her culture and the caves.

We enjoyed lunch in a small town, it’s just happened to be where  Isobel’s mother lived . She is a very talented lady and brought some quilting squares for a couple of the ladies to see. One of them bought some as a souvenir and for use in her quilting.

Isobel and her mom

After we ate, we walked around a bit and then had a scenic ride on the way to Rotorua.

Fallen timber. They do harvest timber.

Lots of sheep

Pretty Japanese tea tree in bloom…it IS Spring here, after all!

Lots of HUGE rocks

Lots of cattle

This evening, we had another memorable “Be My Guest” dinner at the Maori village.  We had a wero (challenge) from a Maori warrior during a Powhiri, a ceremonial welcome, at the Tamaki Family Marae. “Terry” was OUR fearless leader that was challenged!

Terry (In gray jacket with black stripe)

The tribe members getting off boat

The Chief challenging them

 

Terry made “peace offerings”, and was led with the others into the village.

It was an interactive journey into the village, where we gained insight into life in New Zealand before European settlement.

Warriors showing us their courage

This warrior shows us his lack of fear!

This woman telling us of traditions

The markings on their faces indicate who their mother and father are. Each individual has his or her unique design.

The meal was cooked for us in a hangi, their traditional way of cooking in the earth.

We had a feast of meats, fish, white sweet potatoes, potatoes, and various vegetables, along with delicious desserts.

The Maoris put on a wonderful song and dance performance too.

The entertainment was great!

Even Terry caught on!

On the way back to the hotel, our driver drove around and around a round about while we sang (after he started singing) “She’ll be coming Around the Mountain!”  We all laughed about that and enjoyed the night.

One thing you notice about Rotorua as soon as you enter is the smell!  They have sulphur springs that have the smelly aroma of sulphur.  Yuk!

More tomorrow!

Goodbye Australia, Hello New Zealand!

We said goodbye to our sweet Tour Director, Nellie at the Sydney Airport this morning, and boarded a  plane to Auckland, New Zealand.  We were met by our New Zealand Tour Director, Isobel.

Isobel!

…and we are off to see New Zealand!

We took a short bus tour of the City before going to our beautiful hotel, The Cordis.  I would describe this hotel as LUXURIOUS!

In the lobby…a HUGE bird of paradise plant!

Beautiful chandelier

As you walked by to go to the room, this is a lounge one can order a drink from. “Hello, I would like that bottle third from the left, on the top shelf, please!”

Our bathroom

Our room

Our view of the city

They even had a mobile phone for us to use for internet or calls at no charge! (It was quite useful, as Nancy ‘misplaced’ her camera and had to make a few calls….but, as they say, “no worries”, it was downstairs at the reception desk the next morning.)

We had appetizers and beverages before going to dinner at the hotel.  Once again, we had an outstanding buffet meal, as our “Welcome Dinner.”  We tasted Ostrich, had steak, salmon, shrimp, flounder, snapper, roasted pork just to name a few of the items that were available, and they cooked it in front of us….nice and FRESH! There was a variety of salads, vegetables, cheeses and last but not least, desserts! We have pictures, it was so beautiful!

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Off to bed….we don’t have to put our suitcases out until 7:15 in the morning!  YaHoo!!

Good night and God bless.

Sydney all day-Opera House, Captain Cook, and Betty’s Bridge Climb!

Well, we didn’t have to be up quite as early as the last two days, but had to be ready to leave the hotel by 7:30 a.m. For another fun-filled day!

We had a drive around Sydney seeing many historical spots as well as plants, birds and trees.  We were met at Mrs. Macquarie’s point for a group picture.

Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair

The icon, Sydney Harbor Bridge

Rita, Trafalgar tour guide, Nellie, and Rita’s husband, John

Barb, Bonnie, Marlys, and Pam

From there, we headed to Bondi Beach where sculptures were being displayed. It is a yearly event, and today was the last day. We saw MANY, but not ALL…here are a few-

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Afterwards, we went to the Sydney Opera House for a guided tour with a local specialist.  He was an excellent guide who was very animated and obviously loves his job.  We learned many interesting facts about the design, construction and cost of building this unique, iconic site.

The design was submitted in a contest by a Danish architect. His father was an architect for the navy. That is where the inspiration came from….the sails he’d grown up looking at. ( but there was NO design on how to build the inner core to support all this!)

The history of putting this opera house together was VERY interesting

Panels were put together on ground, and sections then taken up

Even the toilet paper looked like it was on display

And the “sink” was wavy architecture, too!

The door to the toilets was curved similar to a sail

We then headed to the harbor to get on the Captain Cook’s cruise around Sydney and enjoyed another delicious buffet while cruising.

 

One of the ladies on our tour had purchased a ticket to climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge and had decided she couldn’t do it and asked if anyone wanted to buy it from her for half-price…and guess who did???  Yep, “Bargain Betty!”  It was totally AWESOME!  We climbed over 2200 hundred stairs, to 440 feet high.  Talk about being on a high!  Here is the video, and some pictures.

 

Then back to the hotel, where I learned Nancy had ventured out to do a little shopping….window shopping,  at the Queen Victoria Building. It is another icon in Sydney. It was beautifully decorated for Christmas.

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Neither of us was hungry (also, I was pretty tired), so we opted to stay in and have some peanut butter and crackers for our evening meal.

Until tomorrow, God bless and goodnight

Leisure day in Sydney with Diane and Harold, and Be My Guest with Aunty Beryl

 We were able to sleep in this morning as we were not doing an excursion with our tour group, but, instead were having friends come visit us!

We met Harold and Diane on our European tour two years ago and when we planned our trip to Australia, it included visiting with them.  We were delighted that they were willing and able to meet us at our hotel in Sydney, as other plans we had to get together didn’t work out.

We had such a lovely visit!  Since they know the area, we had a great time walking and seeing many historical places.  We visited St. Mary’s Cathedral, built in the 1800’s.  The stained glass windows were gorgeous.

Then they showed us where two of their grandchildren take swimming lessons.  Diane comes on Wednesdays for their lessons, helping with getting them dressed afterwards and treating them to ice cream or other treats…making special memories with them.

We passed the Mint, the Hospital, the Library and others which they were able to give us the history of.  The buildings are mostly made of sandstone and were built by the prisoners that were sent to Australia in the late 1800’s.

The hospital…built by the convicts when there was a plague outbreak

This was on the entry floor of the library

The library is so pretty, and has so much light!

Look at this ladder/staircase to reach those books at the top!

After a nice lunch at a sidewalk cafe,  we also visited the beautiful Royal Botanical Gardens.  One of their sons has an office in a building across the street from the gardens on the 64th floor.

We got caught in quite a heavy rain, but after about ten minutes of walking in the rain, the sun came out and we finished our walk, stopped for tea and coffee before saying goodbye.

Tonight we had our very special farewell dinner which was prepared for us by “Aunty Beryl” who is an Aboriginal from the Gamillaori people of northwest NSW.  It was her dream to open a school so that she could give young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander hospitality students a chance to hone their knives and develop their culinary skills.  She has trained many, helping them to be able to have a skill in order to support their families.  We were served an authentic dinner of roasted kangaroo, chicken topped with tomatoes and other seasonings, fresh vegetables,lemon myrtle aioli and cheesecake.  The flavors were outstanding!

Aunty Beryl

Flavorful chicken

Tasty, tender kangaroo

Delicious dessert

Whoops, almost ate it before I took a picture!

We presented a song book/CD to Nellie, our singing tour director for Australia! We all loved her!

She is very interesting and was chosen to cater a dinner for Prince Charles and thirty years later, for Prince William!  Our tour director knew the story and asked her to share it with us. We went home with full stomachs, and a full heart!

Urulu to Sydney

 Up and out by 4:30 a.m. to see the spectacular Field of Lights Uluru.  This is a dream come true for artist Bruce Munro, who planned the project for fifteen years.  It is a display of over 50,000 lights which are solar powered.  They turn colors of red, blue, yellow, orange and some green.

We then watched a beautiful sunrise and enjoyed the cool morning air with hot coffee, hot chocolate and snacks, and visiting with others.

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Once the sun rose, we boarded our bus back to the hotel where another magnificent breakfast awaited.  We had the pleasure of enjoying this time with fellow travelers and a special one on one time with Nellie, our Tour Director.

Then, back to the room to take a rest and pack up to leave this beautiful part of Australia.

 Thanks to our awesome tour guide, we got through our luggage check in without a hitch.  After a 2 1/2 hr flight, and a time change, we arrived to Grace Hotel in downtown Sydney about 6pm.

Nancy went to bed by 7pm, exhausted. Betty joined Nellie and Line for some pasta and retired early, too.

Camels and Outback BBQ

 Wakey, Wakey rise and shine!!  (This is what Nellie, our tour guide says). Had to be ready to leave the hotel by 4:30 a.m. to go ride a camel and view the beautiful sunrise at Uluru!  Our camel was named Diesel and he gave us quite a nice ride.

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Returned to the hotel and breakfast and then departed again for a brief base tour of Uluru, including a short walk to see the Mutitjulu waterhole.

We then visited the Uluru Kata Tjuta Cultural Center and art galleries.  There was a brief movie about how the Anangu people regained their land in 1985..  The art work displayed included some of the works of the lady who showed us some of the ancient symbols in our session yesterday.  The proceeds from the sales here go directly to the artists.

Tonight we watched another beautiful sunset at Uluru.  As the sun descends the desert, you can see the rock change colors!  Even though we saw the sunset last night, this was from a different area, so it looked beautifully different.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a real Outback bar-b-que dinner, consisting of steak, chicken, kangaroo, and all the trimmings.  Everything was delicious.

The sun was setting…

..and the moon was rising..

Kangaroo and beef steaks grilling

Silly Nellie, always had us laughing!

This is Toni, our driver for the evening. As Nellie said, she was “fascinating”. Among her previous jobs, is camel rustling, and now she is a “Camelier”. She cares for, and trains the camels to be ready to ride! Camels were introduced to Australia during WWI, from Egypt.

Oh NO!  Up early again in the morning…g’night mate!

Off to ULURU!

Our bags had to be outside our door by 5 a.m., as we were leaving the hotel at 5:30 a.m to fly to Uluru (also called Ayers Rock) for more adventures.  Flying into Uluru, (pronounced oo-loo-roo) you could see the rocks, the desert, and the white sand.

When we arrived, we went to meet an Anangu (pronounced An-An-Nu) lady who told us some of the history of her people through drawing in the red sand.  The Anangu people are of Aboriginal descent.  Afterwards, each of the seventeen people in our tour group created our own canvass telling a story which we shared with one another.  There were some very talented people.

We then went for a walk at Kata Tjuto (The Olgas). There were many photo ops there. You will notice that Nancy and I bought netting to wear over our hats. This was good advice from our travel director, as there were MANY flies.

This strange grass serves many purposes…one is in the making of glue!

Our guide talked about how this is where the men would gather for meetings, so the men decided THEY wanted a picture together!

Betty and most of the group then took another walk at Walpa Gorge.  It was a rocky track that allows one to get right between the rugged walls in the beautiful rock formation. Betty joined most of the group,  Nancy stated behind with Tony and Dionie….it was VERY hot.

Here is our COURAGEOUS Betty, holding the walls of the gorge open, single-handedly!!

We then watched a beautiful sunset while enjoying some “nibbles” and beverages.

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On the way back to the hotel we had quite the sing along!  We had lots of laughs, and are enjoying getting to know the other travelers in our group.

Good night!  Thanking God for another wonderful day.

 

Railway, Skyrail and Koala cuddles!

Wow!  Another busy day.  We left our hotel about 8:30 this morning and headed for a ride on the Kuranda Scenic Railway which was established in 1891.

Boarding

Some of our travel buddies

Old photos up in the train depicting history of laying the railway

Imagine using only the tools available in the 1800s!

It was a beautiful ride, and we were able to hop off at Barron Falls to view the falls from the lookout platform. We could see the Barron Gorge Hydroelectric Station, Australia’s first underground power station.  We also stopped at the Red Bluff, which is the steepest part of the Barron Gorge’s mountainside.  We went through 15 hand carved tunnels.  At one point during construction, 8 tunnels were being worked on simultaneously!

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At one point, we saw a drone flying around the gorge!

We then visited the village of Kuranda, where we strolled along, shopped at the Heritage Markets and enjoyed lunch.  We decided to try the kangaroo pies, which tasted a lot like beef.  But, before we had lunch, we enjoyed home made ice cream, since we had to wait for the pies to be baked.  We also had some delicious salted caramel crepes after lunch!  Thankfully we shared all this food.

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We took the Kuranda Skyrail back down, getting off at Barron Falls Station and Red Peak Station for short walks where we saw some huge trees and pretty plants.  We even saw one of the famous blue butterflies

Kauri Pine

Once we returned to the hotel, we went and had our pictures taken holding a Koala Bear named Nellie.  Then, enjoyed a nice dinner.

 

Packed up tonight…must have suitcases out by 5 a.m. For 5:30 a.m departure!  So, Good night for now and God bless you!

Great Barrier Reef

We had an exciting day today!  After  breakfast, (This is our view at breakfast)

we took a catamaran to the Great Barrier Reefs and once we were there, we transferred to a pontoon that was stationed in the ocean.

Betty, Nellie and Line (pronounced Lynn)

Dionie and Tony

Several others from our group waiting to board

There, we were given our snorkeling gear and hit the water.  We saw many beautiful, colorful fish and lots of coral reefs.  It was quite an experience. We DID not have underwater cameras, but here are some photos that were in an observatory….we also saw much more colorful fish!

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We had a buffet lunch provided and afterwards went on a semi-submersible boat ride where we were able to look out windows and view more fish and reefs.  The colors were amazing.  We just relaxed on the approximately two hour ride back to the hotel.

At sunset, there was an influx of bats!  Our tour guide had told us about them, so we were out waiting for their arrival. Pictures were hard to take as they flew in so quickly and the lighting wasn’t very good.

Turning in early tonight in anticipation of another fun-filled day tomorrow.  Have a good night and God bless!

Hot Air Balloon Ride

 WHO in the world EVER gets up at 3 A.M. While on vacation???  Well, my bestie Nancy and I chose to do that this morning so that we could take a Hot Air Balloon ride in Mareeba, Australia.  It was spectacular seeing the sunrise and floating in the air.  We saw Wallabies hopping, Mango trees, the Lamb Range Mountains and rivers

We saw some strange looking mounds and found out that they are homes of grass termites!

They build these homes from grass and feed off fungi that grows inside.  The ones in Cairns are not very tall and pretty wide, and we were told that in other areas they can be as tall as two people and thin.Upon our return to the hotel, we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast buffet…so, you know that means I ate way too much.  No lunch needed today!  We will meet our tour director and other people in our group this evening and all go to dinner.

 

Watch “Wallabies” on YouTube

This was fun to see as well!

Watch “Hot air balloon ride 2017” on YouTube

Look what WE did!

On to Cairns…(pronounced CANS)

Sharyn and Steve were very kind to get up early and drive for an hour plus to get us to the airport for 7 A.M.  The only hiccup we had was that one of us had a little too much in our suitcase, so we had to add some to the other’s.  We were thankful for a kind check-in person who didn’t even make us go to the end of the line once the swap was made.

The flight to Cairns was a little over three hours and Trafalgar had a driver waiting for us, to take us to the hotel.

 

Even though it was early, our room was ready, so we  checked in and then went out to explore Cairns for a little while and have some lunch, too.  We ended up at an Irish Pub and enjoyed our first hamburger since leaving the U.S.While we were walking around, we saw Hot Air Balloon rides being advertised.  Upon returning to the hotel, we booked one for tomorrow morning!  Yeah!  One more thing checked off my bucket list!

Off for a dip in the pool and maybe the hot tub and then to bed early.  So, goodnight and God bless!

By the way, isn’t Nancy doing a spectacular job with the photographs and videos?