Author Archives: Glenda

Day 21: Friday, October 5 – Reno, NV to South Lake Tahoe, CA

  • First things first. Last night we tried to see Glenda’s elbow on the CBS show “Elementary” but, sadly, we tuned in too late.
  • Casino breakfast with all of the crazy gamblers so we had to drop a couple of ten spots in the slots after breakfast. We were regretting our missing the Red Light Museum yesterday so we decided to head to Virginia City. And we were not disappointed. This is an old mining town kind of left as it was. Somewhat Disneyesque but the lower, rougher version for sure. So glad we came here! We wandered down the old-fashioned main street to the Mandarin Garden Inn – home, downstairs, of the Red Light Museum. Here was a treasure trove of information and exhibits from the swinging late 1800’s in Virginia City’s boom mining days – prostitution in full swing.

post-breakfast gambling

Virginia City

Bucket of Blood Saloon

museum entrance

Sue with the Old Keystone Head Frame

  • The trip to Virginia City was 7,000 feet up a windy, scary road. Now, back down on the other side, through Silver City, Carson City and, ultimately, to South Lake Tahoe, CA. A new land full of pine trees and the big, beautiful lake.

Lake Tahoe

  • Based on a friend’s recommendation, we headed to Pichetti’s wine tasting on the main drag of South Lake Tahoe. Good wine and our hostess, a former flight attendant, was friendly and chatty, another new BFF.

Pichetti’s

  • Back to our “green” hotel and off to dinner at the local golf course (our flight attendant/wine hostess’ recommendation). Nice outdoor tables with a view of the golf course and the lake. Here is our picture taken by a tipsy, former, 1970’s, casino photographer’s helper (so she said). We think she thought we were a couple (look at the hand pose).
Jersey Junction
Today we bring you three (say it again), three, junctions. First, at the Red Light Museum, did you know that 3 out of the 6 brands of condoms exhibited from the late 1800’s-early 1900’s were made in Jersey? Yes! Circle Rubber of Newark, NJ, Gems of Haskell, NJ and Smithies of East Newark, NJ. Plus, we think more of the brands may have been Jersey based as well. We’ll research and revert.

antique condoms

Second, our happy flight attendant/wine hostess has flown out of Newark many, many times. First thing out of her mouth was, “I like New Jersey! I’ve been to the shore. I love it!” Plus, she was generally cool, we discussed politics and she referred to us as Thelma and Louise, unprompted, and gave us a hug goodbye.
Third, our hotel clerk? From Piscataway, New Jersey. Things are ok here in South Lake Tahoe, CA but he is already looking to move out. The California schools, according to him, not so good compared to … Jersey.

Theme of the Day: Red Light, Green Light

Next Up: Yosemite National Park and a stamp 🙂

 

Day 23: Sunday, October 7 – Yosemite

  • So, who knew Obama’s visit to Bakersfield would affect us? After breakfast, we took the shuttle bus from our hotel to the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. We were the only passengers. About half way up, the bus broke down. Apparently all the good Yosemite buses were sent to Bakersfield for the Obama people and Yosemite was left with the dregs. No problem – go Obama! The driver somehow resolved the hybrid’s computer problem and we were back on our way.

on the bus…

  • We arrived at the Mariposa Grove and had a view of a few of the huge sequoias from the bus. We hiked through the grove and saw even more spectacular trees. Glenda’s personal favorite was the California Tunnel Tree and Sue’s was the Grizzly Giant Tree.

California Tunnel Tree

Sue and the Grizzly Giant

Glenda with the roots of the Fallen Monarch

Big tree

More big trees

  • Here are some tree stats:
       – some of the trees are close to 2,000 years old
       – they can grow as high as 300 feet – taller than the Statue of Liberty
       – the biggest (e.g., the Grizzly) can be 96 feet in circumference; the diameter of a branch of the Grizzly is 7 feet – bigger than all of the non-sequoias in the grove
       – the California Tunnel was cut in 1895 as a tourist attraction and it’s still a draw here today. There won’t be any more tunnel trees cut because of current conservation philosophy.
  • We are now pseudo-experts in pine tree bark and cones. Here is a pine cone still life – enjoy!

Pine cone still life

Do you recognize this body part from the TV show “Person of Interest”?

  • The giant sequoia produces the smallest pine cone – who knew?
  • For an afternoon hike, we decided to explore the Wawona Meadow. What poor signage Yosemite people! We were launched up a steep road incline for miles – only to turn around and go back to square one and find the Meadow road, soft and flat, was on our left. We managed to go half way on this path for some wildlife sightings: blue birds, mule deer, yellow-bellied marmots – but no bears or bob cats.

Beautiful blue bird

Buck Mule Deer

Yellow-bellied marmot (okay, his belly isn’t very visible but it was very yellow)

Jersey Junction
So much of this Yosemite reminds us of Jersey (ha ha). From the granite mountains (think “the Rock”), great big lakes (think Hopatcong), to the giant pines (think Pine Barrens). You get it. But especially those giant Sequoias — we have them on the GSP — we call them cell towers.

Jersey cell tower?

Day 24: Monday, October 8 – Yosemite, CA to Death Valley, CA

  • It’s a long way to Tipperary (Death Valley) so we were determined to get up and on the road early. Problem is it takes 2 and 1/2 hours just to exit the Park. Ok. So, we made it out and headed to Death Valley, another national park. Yes – another stamp! Forgot to mention that, of course, we got a stamp at Yosemite, too. Glenda is so happy.
  • Beautiful landscapes along the way – more little towns with nothing in between.

from the road…

not sure what all the black lumps are…

Yikes! Gas is pricey here.

  • As we descended from the 9,000′ height of Yosemite’s mountains to the sea level (and, in some places, below sea level) of Death Valley, the temperature rose as high as 103 degrees and the landscape changed dramatically again. We arrived in the Mojave Desert and all the fantastic colors and all the sand dunes that go with it. Again, it’s a long drive through Death Valley to get to our hotel (which is also in the Park).

Dunes and mountains

Temperature at 4:30 pm (it went up later to a high of 103!)

  • Now we are deep into the Valley of Death and we stopped at the visitor center for the movie and to get advice on where to go next. Our ranger recommended the “artist’s loop” and a view of the landscape at sunset. So, there we went.

Colored mountains

 

Blue mixed into the mountains too

on the ridge at sunset

 

  • The desert is a magical place.  No animal sightings here but we did see a monarch butterfly.  At the visitor center we met a young woman with a William Smith hat on.  She graduated a few years ago and was here with her mother.  They traveled here after attendng a wedding in Vega.  Go Herons!!
  • We are staying at an in-the-park hotel, one of two in the whole 3.4 million acre park.  There are 2 restaurants and 1 bar here so we headed to the bar.  Here we met Joe and Charlie who are on a boys’ dirt bike/motorcycle adventure from the Grand Canyon west to Yosemite and Southern Cal where Charlie lives.  Joe is from Boston, complete with the accent!.  We are heading where they have been and they are heading where we have been so we exchanged travel info.  Here are Joe and Charlie with their dirt bikes loaded on the truck.  Charlie also introduced us to reader glasses with LED lights on the side..perfect for map reading in the dark.  A must have!!!!

Joe, bikes, Charlie

Charlie, Glenda, Joe

Sue looking otherworldy (to match the landscape)

Jersey Junction 

We checked into our Furnace Creek Ranch hotel to be greeted by Cam from Kentucky who, upon seeing Glenda’s Jersey license, said “oh Joizee” with a bit of a Kentucky accent.  He  seemed to know this pronunciation as well as how Jersey people dress from TV.  When pressed, he revealed he had never actually been to Joizee but had once stayed in Phillie overlooking the river to Camden probably.  What is it with everyone knowing Jersey from TV?  We need a new Jersey role model…please!!!!

Theme of the Day: Dirt, dust, sand, pebbles, rocks…oh my!!

Up next: Vegas

 

 

 

Day 25: Tuesday, October 9 – Death Valley, CA to Las Vegas, NV

  • We were looking at only a 3-hour trip today. So we spent the morning at Death Valley – which is surprisingly alive with busloads of tourists, a pool, golf course, a couple of restaurants and the ever colorful and changing scenery.

Swedish biker “chicks”

  • Hiked the Golden Canyon trail – beautiful colors – and then back for a dip in the silky smooth, warm pool. Temps today got up to 103 degrees.

  • Before leaving the Valley of Death, we had to venture to the lowest point in North America – Badwater – 282 feet below sea level. Since we have been living at 3,000 feet above sea level, Sue was very concerned about the bends. Needless to say, we were very careful coming back from our plunge – bends free!

Badwater

  • Back on the road for the 2 1/2 hour jaunt to viva Las Vegas. Our GPS freaked out in the middle of State Line Road, just beyond Death Valley Junction. She (our GPS) would have us take a sharp right into the middle of the desert – no road in sight. Fortunately, Glenda’s (the navigator’s) brain decided not to direct us into a desert field and we pulled over instead to regroup. A minute later a great big tour bus came by. Ok. We followed the bus through Pahrump, NV. Say what?

empty road…

And they make fun of Weehawken???

Pahrump’s greeter

wildlife crossing

  • Viva Las Vegas! Staying at Ceasar’s Palace. Hard to believe earlier this afternoon we were in the desert and now we are in tacky Sin City, just a couple of hours away. People watching here is as good (maybe better?) than taking in the dramatic desert or mountain sites – just harder to take pics. Here are some people/things we saw:

Sue’s shoulder with fake Bono

Busloads of Chinese tourists

Bellagio fountains doing their thing

  • So far, gambling not so successful but we have manana.
Jersey Junction
After 3 weeks eating meat and tater tots, we chose to eat at the sushi bar.  Here we met Rohan from Bridgewater, NJ, originally from Calcutta.  Rohan told us his father got one daughter married off, put one daughter and Rohan through college in the States all on his gambling winnings (mostly lottery).  So although Rohan is not a gambler himself, he sent us his father, Bala’s, good luck.
Sadly, not effective yet, but we have manana.

Glenda, Sue and Rohan

Day 28: Friday, Oct 12 – Bryce Canyon National Park

  • Let’s explore Bryce Canyon! We chose 2 hikes to try today to see the famous hoodoos (those fanciful red and orange spires you see in a lot of commercials). The first hike was 2.5 miles, down into the canyon and back. It was raining when we started, cleared a bit on the down path into the canyon, and snowed as we came back up. Still, pretty cold through it all. The hoodoos look like Magic Crystals; fantasy villages made of red-orange-pink sand drip castles.

Snow!

Cairn-land

Whose body part with our cairn???

  • The afternoon hike was along the rim of the canyon, way up to Inspiration Point, about 2 miles. The weather for this hike was clear and cold. All told, we took 177 pictures. Here they are, scroll away 🙂

Bryce Ampitheatre

We named this the Bryce Acropolis

Sue and the hoodoos

Sue with 2 bridges

Jersey Junction
Sue went to get coffee at the little breakfast shop and chatted up the girl behind the counter. Originally from Ohio, she spent 3 years at Northeastern U for nursing and left to become an organic farm worker (WOOFER). She is now working at Bryce – soon to go to Yellowstone –
and then she hopes to go to culinary school. But guess where her father’s parents are from? Toms River, NJ – a place she loves. She even said, “People should not judge New Jersey from TV”. We agree!
Theme of the Day
Fantasyland
Up Next
Grand Canyon

Day 31: Monday, October 15 – Monument Valley, UT to Moab, UT

  • We woke up to catch the sunrise over Monument Valley from our hotel room and balcony. Exquisite!
  • At breakfast we were approached by a Navajo tour guide who encouraged us to take his tour. And after thinking about it, we agreed. So we signed up for a 2.5 hour jeep tour along the bumpy, dirt roads in the Navajo Nation to view the various monuments. Here’s what we learned from our guide Brian:
  1. The Navajo people refer to themselves as Dineh, meaning human.
  2. The round houses are, indeed, called hogans and Brian himself (now age 38) grew up in one. The round hogans are female, the cone-shaped ones are male. But families can live in either style.
  3. Navajos believe in the duality of life and everything has a male and female aspect.
  4. Brian, as a child, was sent away to school from Kindergarten through 4th grade as the reservation did not have its own school. After his 4th grade year a public school opened on his reservation.
  5. The Navajo Nation has its own president and elected officials like our Congress, Senate, etc. They also vote in the U.S. elections. If they work on the reservation the don’t pay federal or state taxes; if they work off the reservation they pay federal taxes. In either case, the Navajo Nation has recently imposed some taxes of its own.
  6. Here in Monument Valley, many of the Navajo live in traditional hogans without running water. They have to travel to town to get their water. 

Brian, our guide, performing a drum solo

Modern hogan on the reservation

Glenda and Brian chatting

  • We toured the Valley and saw and photographed many of the natural stone monuments here. Brian had a lot of insight into setting up our photos. All of the monuments had a name based on what they looked like or figures that could be seen in the stones.

Framed monument

Glenda and Sue

Indian Chief or (we thought) George Washington. You decide.

Indian petroglyphs

Eye of the Sun

Eagle head

Brian, entertaining us with a traditional song

G & S

S & G

  • What a great tour! We definitely recommend it – specifically Monument Valley Safari. Next, on our way to Moab for more of the Utah National Parks.

On the road…

  • Dinner at a local brewery in Moab – Monday night football on the TVs. The patrons at the bar are mostly sporty mountain men and a few mountain women mixed in. We notice a certain facial hairstyle on some of the lads – kind of like an extra soul patch or extra long and thin Van Dyke. Does anyone know what this is? Do we have this in Jersey?
Jersey Junction
Nothing today. Too busy learning about Navajo life. Brian has never been to NJ but he has been to upstate NY.
Theme of the Day: Navajo Nation
Up Next: Moab and Arches National Park

Day 32: Tuesday, October 16 – Arches National Park and Moab, UT

  • Arches National Park and another stamp!!  Two stamps here for some reason–we don’t ask, just stamp away!!  We take in the movie at the visitors’ center to add to all our extensive knowledge regarding these rock formations here in Utah.  It has something to do with salt and the colors have something to do with iron.
  • The arches are all naturally formed from the rain, wind, heat and cold and water in general and they are so cool to look at.  They are rust/orange confections, sometimes swirling, sometimes jagged, sometimes smooth.

Landscape Arch

Delicate Arch

Hi Glenda!

Delicate Arch in the background

  • As with the other areas, many of the rock formations are named after their shape or what they look like.  Here are some pictures of rock formations with their names:

The Three Gossips

Balanced Rock

Courthouse

Windows

And here are some that we have named:

Mr. and Mrs. Gnome

Weebils

?

  • Another great landscape, another great day, another day of laughs!!
Jersey Junction
None again today…We ran home to watch the debate and holed up in our lovely Ramada.

The debate

watching the debate

Theme of the Day: Landscapes – Political and Natural

Up Next: Hotchkiss, CO

 

 

 

Day 35: Friday, October 19 – Hotchkiss, CO to Manitou Springs, CO

  • Happy birthday, Frank!!!
  • We said goodbye to the gang at Dan’s house. They had just finished harvesting the potato crop.

Goin’ fishing!

Potatoes

Potatoes and trout for dinner sound good to us!

  • On the road, we thought, to Pueblo. We drove on Route 50 through the Monarch Pass (elevation 11,300+). We think this is the highest we’ve been. It was dicey.

Sue at the pass

Naked Aspens

Mountain view from the road

Roadside attraction – world’s biggest rocker

  • Drove through Canon City, home to 4 maximum security prisons, housing a couple of notorious criminals including: Ted Kaczynski, Oklahoma bomber Terry Nichols, the shoe-bomber and more.

Unabomber home

  • Driving along, Glenda found a different possible destination in our book – Manitou Springs, CO. So here we are. Our motel/cabin is vintage quirky 1950’s. A couple of sketchy motel-mates are a cabin or two away from us.

Reception

  • Manitou Springs has several springs, like Saratoga, and it turns out the town is a cute, western, friendly, funky town with a good vibe. We like it.

Sue at the well

Jersey Junction

A new couple checked into the B&B last night and we talked to them at breakfast. Sue was surrounded by Bell Heads! Our couple both worked for the Bell System in the past and spent a few of those Bell years in Homdel, Matawan, and Freehold. They are from Nebraska and the land of wide open spaces. They thought NJ was a little too crowded for them.

Theme of the Day: Leaving the mountains behind…

Next Up: Dodge City, KS

 

Day 37: Sunday, October 21 – Dodge City, KS to Flying W Ranch in Clements, KS

  • We are on our photo game today – lots of photo opps. Enjoy! En route from Dodge to the Flying W we followed the Santa Fe Trail and arrived at THE MIDDLE. Kinsley, KS – halfway between San Francisco and New York City. 

The Middle

Santa Fe Trail marker

On the trail

  • We stopped at a National Historic Site (yes, another stamportunity) – Fort Larned in Larned, KS. This was a military fort, protecting the frontier and trade routes. Glenda and Sue were really into the whole history here during the mid-1800’s. Shout out to cousin Bob Allison – U.S. History Professor – we have questions!

Sue with metal man on a horse

Fort Larned housing

Carpentry shop

Sue, from Frank’s perspective

  • On the road, we saw field after field of crops we didn’t recognize along with grain elevators we don’t understand. Shout out to Mary and Roger Blanken or anyone with farm/western knowledge – please explain. We also saw unfamiliar equipment and structures.

Storage thingies

What is it?

Help! WTF

Glenda with unidentified crop

  •  We finally turned off Route 50 to Road G, our road to the Flying W Ranch. We are staying in one of two bunkhouses on this 7000 acre working ranch and guest lodge. The other bunkhouse is occupied by 9 Minnesota farmer women who brought their own horses to ride the trails and experience ranch life for a week. They call themselves “Hags on Nags”. Perfect! We will get along fine. (Sheron and Margie H – other than the major differences, the hags remind us of you and your girls. All good.) The ranch is rustic but charming and loaded with amenities and great country views. We took a short hike uphill and got back in time for a horse-drawn carriage ride. The hags joined us. Here are our pictures at the Flying W:

The Flying W!

Goats on the ranch

Glenda on the bunkhouse front porch

Sue hiking the prairie

Glenda lovin’ the prairie

Hag on a nag

Glenda, Possum, Josh and Sue

Some of the hags

Sunset on the prairie

  • Our hosts, Josh and Gwen, couldn’t be nicer. Josh cooked us a great steak and potatoes meal, brought to our bunkhouse.  Shout out to Bob Mallow who set us up at the Flying W and more to come. Yay, Bob!
Jersey Junction

Fort Larned – we checked out the 1870 Census to find 2 NJ-born residents. Alfred Woodhall, post surgeon (we assume a Princeton grad – or UMDNJ?) and Patrick Kelley, a Private with Company K in the army. Long ago Jersey people.

We asked the hags if they’d ever been to New Jersey and 3 of the 7 in our carriage had been!

Theme of the Day: Farmers and cowboys are friends

Up Next: Overland Park, KS

Day 41: Thursday, October 25 – St. Louis, MO to Lexington, KY

  • We can’t believe it’s winding down. What a trip. This morning we go to the Historic Old Courthouse – scene of the Dred Scott trial. This is also part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial which includes the Arch and the Museum of Western Expansion underneath the Arch. The courthouse is beautiful – the Arch is elegant, simple, soaring and beautiful, really. We  enjoyed the museum also. It lays out the Lewis & Clark expedition and a whole timeline organized around the westward exploration and expansion. We find that Lewis & Clark are the original travel bloggers – we read their journal in the museum and find a lot of similarities to this very blog.

The courthouse ceiling

The Gateway Arch

Glinting sun

Sue in the sun by the Arch

  • Time to get on the road, ultimately to Lexington, KY. We first hope to stop at the Abe Lincoln boyhood home near Evansville, Indiana. We arrive there at 4:30 only to find it closed at 4. Bummer. But all is not lost as we find we are 2 miles from Santa Claus, Indiana. So we still get some photo opps.

This is all we saw…

America’s Christmas Hometown?

  • Back on the road, we stop briefly in Louisville, KY – home of Frank’s late father, Malcolm Johnson. Malcolm was also a U. Louisville Law School grad. Louisville is, of course, known as the home of the Louisville Slugger, Churchill Downs – home of the Kentucky Derby – and Muhammad Ali, too.

Glenda and the world’s largest bat

Oooops!

The Muhammad Ali Center

  • All along the way today we decide to listen to Professor Allison’s Teaching Company CDs on Early American History (Professor Allison is Sue’s cousin Bob). Shout out to Bob – we are loving it and have many questions!
  • We arrive in Lexington. Glenda calls her good friend Lee’s daughter Olivia who is a senior at U Kentucky now. At the last minute Olivia is able to join us for dinner. We have a great meal and enjoy hearing some of Olivia’s stories about life in Lexington as a student at U.K. We also share some of our exploits. What a nice evening.

Glenda and Olivia

Jersey Junction

Olivia was born and raised in NJ. So she is a big time Junction. She loves NJ and is also enjoying her time in Kentucky. We may get her back to Jersey at some point.

Theme of the Day: We can’t think of one; can you?

Up Next: Lexington again