The Day After the Day After

We managed to avoid stores the day after Christmas but not so today. We were on a quest to find a large bag that covers a Christmas tree so that it can be stored intact - without the hassle of taking it apart and putting it back next year. But alas, we were unsuccessful in our quest. However, Ramsey did find some new stickers for her scrapbooks and VacationGirl found some new crochet string that was calling out to her. It said "buy me, buy me, buy me" so what's a girl to do? I also found a new book of crocheted doilies - the best ones I've ever seen so I know what I'll be doing on the way home Saturday ~ making the 'purtiest' mint green doily you've ever seen!

The men of the family went hunting today. Quail hunting. Now, help me understand - they bought the quail (12 of them) and went out to some huge field and released them - only to hunt them down again. They found and shot 4 of them and are out cleaning them now. The quail are winning 8 to 4, ha ha. I would have just kept the 12 and called it a day. I suppose it's one of those things I'll never understand - kinda like they'll never understand scrapbooking. Guess we'll be having some quail tomorrow. Whoo hoo.

Game plan for tomorrow is to go out to the meadow where the rest of the horses are kept and see them and the land as I'm the only one that hasn't seen it yet. And after that, we're heading to a movie to see Will Smith in "I Am Legend" - looks good.

Did manage to get a few pictures of the horses here today - was too lazy to walk to the big pasture so I only got the ones up near the house. Haven't played with Photoshop yet on them - need to figure it out first. But here's some of the untouched ones...

Christmas, Carmel, and Pecans

Christmas has come and gone and it was a good one. Dear Husband and VactionGirl left the homestead at 5:45 a.m. to head south to North Carolina for the week. It's usually an 8-9 hour trip but we pulled in at 1:00 p.m. - it's amazing what having no traffic (and no police around) can do for one's travel. Once out of Ohio, I was able to keep it around 80 mph except for the mountains and even that was still 65-70 mph. As we neared the treaturous turns on I40 that I have come to hate so very much over the years, I turned to Dear Husband and said "I have a problem." He immediately perked up and was very concerned - "what's wrong", he asked. I laughed and said "I don't know how to drive in these mountains in the daylight." Whenever I drive, we always hit the mountains at night - I have never driven them in the daylight. What a nice surprise. They're not so scary after all. I may have to rethink my stance and not hate them so much.

Christmas was good. Everyone got everything they wanted - plus more. I think everyone was quite happy. Here's a few pictures of the gift opening in N.C......

I made a pie! Nowanyone who knows me knows that I don't make pies. I make cookies, I make cakes, I make breakfast, I make dinner. I make lots of things, but pie is not one of those things. However, The Pioneer Woman (at thepioneerwoman.com) had the recipe for a pie that looked too good to pass up. So I tried it. As you can see from the picture, it turned out really good. Really good until we cut it. Then it decided to have to be scooped out with a spoon - guess I had a little too much carmel on the top. But even with having to scoop it out - it was still SOOO very good. Try it - you'll love it.

Tonight we're heading to a little german restaurant - I've been checking out the menu and can't decide what to pick. I know I want spatzle but there are a few really good choices. I'll let you know later.

Until then....

'Twas the Day Before Christmas

'Twas the day before Christmas
And all through the house,
The only thing stirring was
My wireless mouse.

The 18 year old's gone
Dear Husband's asleep
The dog's in the kennel
There's nary a peep.

That's taxed my rhyming skills so I'll quite while I'm ahead. We hopefully will be heading out around 5:00 in the morning. There should be little or no traffic so we should be able to breeze down to North Carolina. Then I can start taking pictures and post them here so you can see the "ranch".

So for now, I'm going to play games and wait till it's time to fix Dear Husband something to eat before he heads to work. I've got a nice sirloin just waiting in the frig.

So have a wonderful Christmas Eve - see ya later.

Pre-Christmas Travel

VacationGirl's holiday travel started early. The now-18 year old managed to get some time off of work and didn't want to wait till later in the week to head south to N.C. So, we jumped (well, maybe crawled) into the Tahoe at 5:30 a.m. today (Sunday) to drive to Lexington. Why Lexington, you ask? According to most maps of the United States, Lexington is not part of North Carolina. Did something change? Did N.C. purchase some land recently?

Nope - that's where we met Grandpa. He had been in southern Illinois visiting the old homestead and Great-Grandma (his mom). He had to come through Lexington to get home to the horses and Ramsey so he picked up an 18-year-old wingman on the way.

The weather was yuchy! High, high winds - Dear husband was driving and it felt like the car was going to blow off the highway. Lots of rain too. VacationGirl had the time of her life, though. Until we reached Kentucky, she had her own personal light show. Even though there was rain and clouds, every now and then, there was a small break in the clouds and the bright, FULL moon would peak out. But what made it really cool was how it would light up the clouds from behind - just before it would peek out. What a happy, beautiful surprise for VactionGirl. Anyone who knows her, knows she is fascinated by the moon - particually when it's full, like this morning.

We were home by 10 a.m. and continued to veg until around 4 when we ate at Outback. Then tomorrow, Christmas Eve, we pack and wait till Christmas day to head out for the farm ourselves. Dear Husband has to work Christmas Eve so we'll leave sometime Christmas morning. But VacationGirl is driving on that morning so no private light shows then - must watch the road.

Until then, Merry Christmas and safe traveling!

Too Much Fun

Too much fun - yep, that's what we're having - too much fun.

Today was the day for the carpet layers and tile guys to start. Things looked bright - we had the master bedroom and living room cleared out for them. They arrived a little before 9:00 and we were rolling. They tore up old carpet and pad in those rooms and the tile guy ripped up the tile in the entry way. Things are going way to good here!

Yep - too much fun!

The carpet guys left to go back to the shop to cut the carpet and get the file and materials for the tile guy. Apparently he thought they were gone a little too long so he cleaned up the old tile and left. We all assumed he would be back, but we were all wrong.

So one of the carpet guys is laying all the padding - at 100 lbs a roll. He was making good progress. So finally the other two carpet guys come back and unload all the materials but left the carpet in the truck.

The main guy apologized profusely, but they had to go finish another job. They had planned to go after ours today but apparently the lady had to leave town unexpectedly for a death in the family so they had to scoot. This was around 11:00. We're still making progress, though.

Finally around 2:30, the one lone carpet layer (with no carpet to lay) had finished all the pad he could lay so he called to find out where they were. They were finally on their way but by the time they got back, it was 3:15. Hmmmm, so much for progress.

Well - they were good - they stayed and laid the carpet in the two rooms promised so that we could move furniture again so they could finish the remaining rooms on Tuesday. Still don't now where the tile guy is - this could get fun!

So now, we have nicely padded stairs with little tack strips on each stair that you have to be ever so careful not to step on - or it will hurt! Trust me, I know - I stepped on one. OUCH! It will be interesting to see how the dog gets up/down since she just has to sleep near us.

Off to a good night's sleep and another fun carpet/tile day. We were hoping everything would be done Tuesday but the tile won't get done until Wednesday now. Better late than never though.

see ya,

Not...On The Move

Wow! The first time in over 10 years that Vacation Girl and family haven't traveled on vacation. It's killing me! I mean, it is really killing me. Instead of traveling, we're painting. And painting, and painting. And oh, did I mention that we're painting?

We (ok, me, only me, Vacation Girl) decided that we desperately need new carpet. The carpet in the living room and 2 of the bedrooms is over 20 years old and it's nasty! Then the wonderful white carpet in our bedroom is so not white that it's embarrassing. So, new carpet is on the way. That doesn't sound so bad, does it?

But NOooooooo. If you get new carpet, you HAVE to paint - particularly if you're as messy a painter as Vacation Girl and Dear Husband. The guy at the paint store suggested that we wait until after we carpet to paint since the carpet will scratch the walls. I laughed so hard - when I paint I get as much on me as on the walls. So I could just imagine what fresh new carpet would look like if I painted after it was down. No Way.

So we've been painting almost every weekend for the past month. OK - I'VE been painting. Yep, me, myself, I. And I have discovered a very important fact about myself - I hate to paint. I especially hate doing the trim around the ceiling. However, in the guest room, I have to say that the trim job I did is worthy of an award - it was perfect. Of course, Dear Husband had to rub in great gobs of Icy Hot on my neck afterwards.

So, to be fair, even though Dear Husband isn't helping Vacation Girl paint, he IS working his butt off. He has almost single handedly moved most of our upstairs out to the garage. So that way, when the movers come and we have to quickly move 3 rooms into the 4th, it won't be a big hassle - we'll have very little move. And let me tell you - we've filled up over half of the garage with stuff.

So check out the colors:
Kitchen - cream with 1 DARK hunter green wall. (that was from about 2 years ago so not repainted this time)
Family Room - paneled - not painted this time.
Living room - Tan with white crown moulding and white baseboards.
Stairs and Hallway - Tan
Master Bedroom - Artichoke (dark green - kinda sage color)
Library - Dark Red Wine on one wall with beige on others (from 2 years ago so not repainted)
Guest Room - Butter on top (beautiful light yellow) and Rust - very dark rust color. With white chair rail and while baseboards.
Almost 18 year old's room - Navy blue suede on 1 wall and Camel (light brown) Suede on the others.

Yep - we LOVE color!

Pictures to follow after carpet is in.

See ya!

A Much Needed Break

Well, it's spring in Ohio and that means one thing - SPRING BREAK!

This year spring break couldn't have come at a better (and worse) time. First, the worst - work is unbelievably busy with our big Parts project and we're in the middle of system test which is NOT a time to be taking vacation. But when the schools dictate vacation times, you go!

From the best standpoint - it is much needed for mental health reasons. Time to get away from work and reflect on all the changes and plan a future course. Of course from the 17-year old's standpoint - it's just a week away from school! YEA!

We started off great - got on the road by 2:45 which is early for us by about 30 minutes. And believe me, during spring break week, 30 minutes is huge! Of course, that got us smack in the middle of the GE plant Friday afternoon, get out of work traffic but we still made great time. The weather was beautiful - until Corbin KY - then we got blasted with heavy rain ~ but only for about 20-30 minutes. Then back to blue skies and open roads (ok, the open roads part is wishful thinking on my part).

Easter is the time of year for miracles and I got one - I made it about 1/2 way through the mountains before it got totally dark - and there was NO rain! That rarely happens to me! It always rains in the mountains when I'm driving. But good karma was with me on this trip.

We made it in about 10:45 p.m. - tired but happy to be out of the car! Today (Saturday) was a day of errands for me and Ramsey (and a good lunch at Fatz) and playing with the horses and dogs. Monday is going to be devoted to restoring an old-fashioned sewing machine that belonged to my Grandmother. So we should have fun doing that - I'm looking forward to it.

Well, I've procrasted enough - time to get rolling on my homework!

Dallas Football

Got to see some Dallas Football on Saturday!

OK - not THE Dallas football - but still ~ football. VacationGirl and Dear Family watched the Frisco Eagles play the Frisco Vikings - 5th graders! Unfortunately, the Eagles lost but at least they lost to the best team in the league. Kyle Barden did good ~ we got to hear his name over the loud speakers a lot - he made some really good tackles.

OK - back to the beginning. As you know, we ended up driving all the way in to Frisco on Friday night. We thought we'd have to switch rooms but sanity prevailed with the day shift and we didn't have to. So we went to the mall! Nice mall - very big! It has a Dave & Busters and a Cheesecake Factory. Guess where we had lunch!!!!!

The mall was very good but just like every other mall. VacationGirl can remember when she first started traveling for work and she used to get a kick out of going shopping in other cities because she got to see stores that she had never seen before. Now, everything is a clone - go to one mall, you've been to them all. Oh well, that's progress, I guess.

After the mall, we hooked up with the Barden's ~ Steven's friend's family. That's who we went to see the game with. and Boy! was it hot. 100 degrees - as soon as you stepped outside, it hit you. But there was a breeze so it made sitting at the game bearable. and it was fun to watch the boys play. After the game, we went to their house and grilled out. Of course, we didn't grill until about 10:00 but it was good. We enjoyed visiting with them - they were one of the few families that we hung out with when they were in Springboro.

Today, as soon as the almost 18-year old gets here from staying with his friend, we'll head out for Memphis. Don't plan on doing/seeing anything but just a stop on the way home. However, VacationGirl might get out the handy, dandy AAA books and see if there are cool things to see on the way. Ya just never know what you might find.

See ya in Memphis.....

No Place to Stay

Drive, drive, drive ~ that was the word of the day yesterday. We left Santa Fe and headed back north to Chimayo, NM. It's only about 20 miles north of Santa Fe and it's the site of "El Santuario de Chimayo: The Lourdes of America". As legend has it, back around 1810, a friar was performing penance when he saw a light bursting from the ground. He dug in the ground at the site and found a crucifix - and called it "the crucifix of Our Lord of Esquipulas." So the friar takes the crucifix back to Santa Cruz but it kept disappearing - 3 times. Each time, it was found back in Chimayo. So he gets the hint and leaves it there and they build a chapel. Then, accordinng to legend, the healings began. Apparently, the 'sacred sand pit' has healing powers and people will tell you of the healings that they've witnessed. From what we were told, people make long pilgrimages over 100 miles (walking) just to visit the site and touch the dirt.

There was a service going on when we got there so we stayed for part of it. We didn't get to 'touch the dirt' but we're figuring our close proximity will heal Dear Husband's aching back and VacationGirl's sore knee.

From Chimao, we drove back south through Santa Fe and on to Amarillo. The original plan was to stay in Amarillo and then drive to Frisco on Saturday morning - about 6 hours. But when after we took our pictures of the Cadillac Ranch (and added our graffiti to the cars), it was only about 5:00 and none of us were tired so we decided to drive. Got to the next town large enough to have hotels and it was only 5:45 so we kept driving. Figured we'd stay in Childress TX. Got there and still weren't tired and it was still light out so we figured we'd go to Wichita Falls, TX and stay the night.

Oops! Bad decision!

Apparently Nickleback was performing in Wichita Falls and there was 'the largest sanctioned century bike ride in the U.S.' in Wichita Falls on Friday. There was not ONE room. Well, there was one room - the first hotel I called had one room - a king bed with no sleeper couch. I said no, figuring I'd find a room somewhere else. VacationGirl called every hotel listed in Wichita Falls and no one had a room.

Oops! Bad decision!

So she called the first place back, thinking we'd go ahead and get the king bed room - Oh no! It was gone.

Hmmmm, now what? Well, she called the Hampton in Frisco where she and dear family had reservations for Saturday. They had a room but not the room that we reserved (like we care). So we decided to drive on into Frisco - only about 3 more hours on 2 lane roads. Whoo hoo. That was some fun. But hey, we made it. Now're we're hanging out until it's time to hook up with Steven's friend.

And by the way, did we mention that when we left the Cadillac Ranch that the fuse blew in the radio so we drove from about 5:00 to 12:30 with no radio. VacationGirl was fortunate to have here IPod and stuck the earphones on and listened (and sang ~ much to dear families dismay). Of course, it's illegal to drive with headphones on but VacationGirl was beyond caring at that point.

Radio is fixed today - Dear husband and almost 18-year old were able to pop the fuse this morning and put it back in and it worked.

It was pretty fascinating to watch the landscape change as we went from NM to TX. The landscape from CO to Santa Fe was beautiful - I'd not seen it before and I loved it. The mountains and fields are dotted with juniper and it gives it a unique look - pretty but primitive at the same time. However, as we turned east to head towards Texas, the ground leveled out and became flat, flat, flat! Dear Husband and I amused ourselves by watching the patterns that the clouds made on the flat land. You could see forever and the ground was dotted with sun patches and shade patches - pretty cool.

We did hit some rain ~ since it was so flat, we could see forever and saw the rain up ahead - way in the distance. You could literally see the patches that got rain and those that didn't. As we came in and out of the rain, we saw a beautiful rainbow - tried to get a picture but not sure if it turned out or not.

Oh well - time to switch rooms!

see ya later!

(will upload pictures later)

I Left My Heart in Santa Fe

Ok, so the real words are "I left my heart in San Francisco" but hey - VacationGirl is in Santa Fe, not San Francisco.

Actually, it would be easy to fall in love with this place - really cool city. You can walk just about everywhere. And if you're into the artsy stuff, this is the place for you. We're not but there's still some neat stuff to see. Lots of old history.

On the way out of Colorado, we stopped and saw the oldest church in Colorado. Would have gone in but there was a funeral going on and we didn't think it would be too appropriate to barge in to take pictures. Did get a good outside picture though!



















Churches were the theme of the day - that's about all we saw. San Miguel - the oldest church in the U.S. - and we rang the bell at San Miguel (apparently, there's some custom about that). We also saw Loretto Mission and St. Francis Cathedral. We also saw the oldest government building in use - the Palace of the Governers. The people that work/volunteer at the chapels are extremely knowledgeable and friendly - they really can tell you a lot about things.

We're staying at a really nice hotel - the Inn and Spa at Loretto - the room is done up in Southwestern decor - really pretty. Too bad I can't afford the $200 massage in the spa - oh well - I'll have to be happy just to have a room here, I guess.

Tomorrow, we're heading back north just about 20 miles to see some church that has healing dirt - apparently people make pilgrimages back here for its healing powers. Dear husband said he wants to try it on his back - we'll let you know if it heals!

After that, we're going to see a bunch of cars stuck nose first in the ground - yep - the Cadillac Ranch. Don't know why - just want to. From there, on to Frisco (near Dallas) to see a friend of the almost 18-year old's. Should be fun!

See ya later!

Say Good-Bye to Colorado Springs

We were supposed to stay in Colorado Springs until Thursday but when we woke up this morning, we decided to head to Alamosa to see the Great Sand Dunes National Park. It's about a 3 hour drive so we checked out of our great hotel and headed down the road.

The drive took us down I25 along the Sangre de Cristo mountains. In the distance, I could see two really large ones looming ~ now this is what mountains should look like! If they only had snow capped tops like those in Washington, I'd be thrilled.

We made it to the Sand Dunes - pretty impressive. Pretty tall - some are 750 feet tall! I took one look and decided to let dear husband and almost 18-year old trudge up the sand. I walked out just a little ways with them so I could take pictures of their trek and almost had 3rd degree burns on my feet. I had sandals on and as the sand came up into them, it burned horribly. Just before they started, the almost 18-year old decided to go bare foot. It took one shoe off for about 3 seconds to change his mind. That sand is HOT, HOT, HOT!

After the dunes, we headed to our Best Western Movie Manor hotel - it is situated on a drive in theater and they pipe the movie into the rooms. We drove about 20 minutes past Alamosa, took one look at it, and drove back to Alamosa and booked a room at the Holiday Inn Express (tomorrow we do surgery because we stayed at a Holiday Inn Express). I'm sure the Best Western rooms were nice but it looked like it was about 100 years old - rickety and run down.

We did make a stop at the Monte Vista Wildlife Refuge Center but for some reason, changed our minds and chose not to take the 1 hour drive around. It was mostly wetlands - so lots of birds. No lions, tigers, or bears (oh my).

Tomorrow we head to Santa Fe. I'm hoping it's as beautiful as I've heard. I need some good pictures!

See ya tomorrow!

Pike's Peak (gasp) or Bust

Today was Pike's Peak day. And in true VacationGirl fashion, she got dear husband and almost 18-year old up early as we had to be at the Cog Railroad 30 minutes before our 9:20 reservation. Got them up real early - in fact, we arrived at the railroad at 7:55. But at least we weren't the only ones there!

When we walked outside to start our journey to the railroad, VacationGirl was sure the vacation curse would appear and all she would have to show for the trip would be beautiful fog pictures. Pike's Peak wasn't even visable. Yesterday was SO clear ~ but not today.

Curse you vacation Gods!

But being the troupers we are (and figuring fog pictures are better than no pictures), we continued onward to the railroad. Good thing! By the time we got there (at our ridiculously early time), you could see the mountains again. Sun prevailed.

Ha! Take that vacation curse!

The ride up to the summit takes about 1.5 hours and then another 1.5 down with about 30-40 minutes on the summit. We boarded the train at 9:10 with about 3,000 other people. OK, maybe not 3,000 but it sure seemed like it. Every seat was full - actually close to 200 people. We had assigned seats so we got to experience the trip up backwards! It was ok though - we could still see good.

VacationGirl really wanted to see some black bears, mountain lions, and big horn sheep on the way up (or down). But no big, black bears popped out wanting handouts and no mountain lions made an appearance. However, we did see some of the 350 big horn sheep that make their home above the tree line. They weren't clip-clopping over the rocks, but hey, we saw them! The conductor said that we were pretty lucky as they don't usually make an appearance as close as they were. COOL!

After we reached the 14,100+ summit, VacationGirl could understand why Mr. Denver spoke of a "Rocky Mountain High" - she was a little loopy up on top! (yes, a little loopier than normal). The air up there is about 50% of what it is in Kettering so some people experience light-headiness, nausea, and some even pass out. I just felt really winded - so I drank lots of water as they suggested.

Once we reached the bottom, back in Manitou Springs, we headed to the Air Force Academy to see the Chapel and then the visitor center to buy some Air Force stuff. The chapel is really beautiful. We were up on a bridge like structure looking down at the main part of the campus and housing for the Academy. The "road" below us was about as wide as a runway - mostly concrete but edged in marble-like material. Periodically there were marble-like strips crossing the road horizonally so you ended up with lots of BIG rectangles of concrete outlined with a marble-like substance. This is important - trust me!

As we stood and watched, there were many cadets that appeared to be coming from classes (or something). Sometimes, one at a time, others in small groups - never more than 3 - 4 at a time. As the came around from wherever they were coming from they had to turn left to get on this concrete/marble "road". (I say "road" because it's what it looked like but there were no vehicles on it.) As each cadet made that left turn, each started jogging. It was kinda comical to watch because some of them would pause for just a second, take a deep breath, and then start jogging.

Well, of course VacationGirl wants to know why! There was no one there telling them they had to jog. And they each stayed on the marble part - no one jogged on the concrete. If they went from one side of the 'road' to the other, they waited until they reached one of the horizontal marble strips and then jogged on it. So why do they do this, she wonders? So she stopped a very nice looking young man in full camo and asked him. He very politely replied that he didn't know - he was a visitor himself. Then I glanced at the HUGE patch on the front of his camo's that read U.S. Army! Guess an army guy wouldn't know why the cadets jogged. Guess it will remain a mystery to VacationGirl.

We snapped a bunch of pictures of the outside of the chapel and started to leave but then decided to walk (ok, trudge - she's tired) to the far side of the chapel and actually go inside. Wow! Glad we did that! The inside is absolutely beautiful - worth the trip up to the Academy! The pictures do NOT do it justice - it is much prettier than the pictures show.

Don't know what's on the agenda for tomorrow. We decided that it was too far to head to the Sand Dunes for the day. Maybe Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame, maybe US Olympic Training Center, maybe the cliff dwelling houses, maybe nothing! Who knows! Decisions will be made in the morning!

See ya then!













View from the top





A.F.A. Chapel

Ding Dong the Witch is Dead

Ding, Dong, the witch is dead!

Well, at least there are no more red lights on the Tahoe! And the passenger side has air conditioning once again! Of course VacationGirl and Dear Husband had to sit in the local Al Serra Chevrolet dealership for 3 hours this morning - but it was worth it!

Today was Royal Gorge Bridge day. As soon as the Tahoe was functioning as expected (around 10:30), we dropped by the hotel and picked up the "almost 18-year old" and headed south to the Royal Gorge Bridge. It was about 1.5 hour drive. Very pretty. The bride is huge! First we rode across on a little train and but you couldn't see down over the sides so we got off on the other side and walked back. Sure is a LONG way down to the Arkansas river. Not sure how we got the Arkansas river in Colorado but it is!

The bridge is the world's highest suspension bridge - at 1,053 feet above the Arkansas. It was pretty windy out on the bridge too.

When we left the bridge, we decided to take this 35 miles road that should take us to Cripple Creek (notice should not would). The road is called the Phantom Canyon Road. Thirty five miles isn't much, right! HA! It is when you're only able to go 15-20 miles an hour. The books do warn you to not drive the road if you are not experienced driving on mountain roads. But do we listen???

NO!

And although VERY tiring, VacationGirl is glad we didn't listen. Dear Husband really loves the dirt roads and this was pure dirt road - nothing paved. It started out at about 5,000 ft and rose to 10,000 by the time we hit the thriving metropolis of Victor, CO. About half way through, the 'almost 18-year old' decided he wanted to drive. Ya know, off-roading, Mom!

YEH, Mom knows.

But he did good! Most of the time, only one car could drive so you really had to watch for people coming the other direction and plan ahead. You couldn't get too close to the edge because it was muddy and you'd easily get stuck or too close on the other side and you're off the side of the mountain. We could see the storm clouds as we began to start climbing upward and sure enough we got pelted - small hail and everything. Pretty wild. But once we got out of the mountains, the rain stopped.

Tomorrow if Pike's Peak day - riding the Cog Railway up. Hope it's as clear on Tuesday as it was today (at least in the morning).

Will post pictures tomorrow - too tired tonight!

Pike's Peak or Bust!

Toto, We're Not In Kansas Anymore

Just let me start by saying "Bad things happen in Kansas!"

First, the red lights on the dashboard, then VacationGirl's cute little travel mouse broke (frayed wires) and she is touch-pad impaired - it doesn't do what she wants it to do! Then on top of all of that, when she and Dear Family got in the Tahoe to head to CO, the air conditioning quit working - but only on the passenger side. Everyone else has wonderful, cold air blowing on them but the passenger in the passenger seat (which is typically where VacationGirl sits) is blowing horribly, hot air - not just warm - but HOT! The type of hot air one needs when on top of a snowy mountain - which we're not. She now has roasted toes!

So to recap:
1. Red lights on dashboards
2. Passenger air conditioning broken
3. Travel mouse broken
4. Rain
5. Dorothy & Toto (can't forget about them)

With VacationGirl's deductive reasoning powers, she has concluded that Bad Things Happen in Kansas!

After we filled up and left Junction City, we headed out I-70. She expected the mind-numbing wheat and corn fields for 7 more hours but surprisingly enough, for the first 2 -3 hours, Kansas was quite beautiful. The word that popped into her mind was serene. Of course, it wasn't serene in the strict sense of the word - there were white, fluffy clouds - but the landscape just rolled along - very calming.

When we hit Oakley, Kansas, we decided to get off the highway and take some back roads. So we headed down Rt 40 for several hours and then Rt 94. Definately back roads but pretty. At one point, we thought for sure we'd get our tornado - heavy dark rain clouds right over head but we only got about 5 minutes of rain and then back to blue skies!

Got to our hotel (Residence Inn on the North side of Colorado Springs) arouond 3:00 local time and vegged for about an hour then we headed off to Garden of the Gods. It is even more beautiful than I remember it from the last time I was here. We walked around the park for about a hour or two.

An observation - although beautiful - the Rocky Mountains (at least those in Colorado Springs) are not breath-taking like those in Washington & Oregon. Maybe it's because the altitude in Colorado Springs is higher so they seem less impressive or maybe because they're all bunched together - but they just don't take your breath away like Mt. Rainier and Mt. Hood. Of course, that opinion may change when VacationGirl heads up to the top of Pike's Peak and looks out over the same view that inspired America the Beautiful!

Tomorrow our first trip of the day is to the local Serra Chevrolet dealership to get the Tahoe patched up. I'll take pictures - won't they be great in my scrapbook? Hopefully, it won't take long and then we're heading to Royal Gorge Bridge. That should be pretty cool!

Here's some pictures from Garden of the Gods. Enjoy.

Going to Kansas City, Kansas City Here I Come

Oops, that's a lie - VacationGirl is NOT going to Kansas City. That was her milestone for today and we were able to blow past it - to Junction City. Whoo hoo! Going through Kansas City was much curvier than she remembered - many of the curves on the highway were at 35 mph. MUCH slower than the speeds she's used to traveling at.

As expected - many corn field and wheat fields. VacationGirl and dear family's minds are actually numb - as in mind-numbingly boring. Some would say that that is a regular state for all of us - and we wouldn't argue to strenulously.

VacationGirl was really bummed - we drove right past the Oz musuem - at 5:00 - and guess what time it closed. You've got it - 5:00. Doesn't open until noon on Sunday so I guess the Oz musuem will be something that won't get visited this trip.

Dear family and VacationGirl have determined that bad things happen in Kansas. Yes, it's true. Just ask Dorothy if you don't believe us. She got sucked off to Munchkinland and I'm not sure what could be worse than that. Oh wait - maybe I do know - that would be red lights on the dashboard.

Red lights are NEVER a good thing on vacation. Red lights and rain.

The weather was pretty nice for the whole trip. There was an occasional sprinkle but nothing that lasted more than 2 - 3 minutes and then it cleared up. For the most part, the sky was a beautiful blue with pretty white fluffy clouds. Until we got to Kansas.......

I wish I could claim that the wind began to switch - the house to pitch and suddenly the hinges started to unhitch. Just then the Witch - to satisfy an itch went flying on her broomstick, thumbing for a hitch.

But I can't! It did start raining when we got a little past the state line - heavy but not stormy - thank goodness! But as VacationGirl was driving, she glanced down at the dashboard and saw an ominous message "Service 4WD". Well, that can't be good. So dear husband pulls out the handy, dandy user manual and it gave instructions to stop immediately and turn off the car - then turn it back on to see if the message reappears.

I don't think so - not in the middle I-70. So she pulls off onto an exit in the middle of nowhere, stops, and turns off the car. Turns it back on and the message came back. Hmmmm, this doesn't sound good. VacationGirl doesn't want to Service her 4WD - she doesn't use 4WD - EVER. She just took her Tahoe in for service - why couldn't the Tahoe very nicely have told the mechanic to service it then? but NOOOOOO - let's wait until we're in the middle of nowhere (oops, in the middle of Kansas) and then decide we want service. Gesh!

So Dear Husband did want any other red-blooded American would do - we drove off - for another 60 miles to Junction City. And we'll drive another 400 on Sunday to Colorado Springs and take it to a dealership on Monday (provided it still runs on Monday!)

So maybe Pike's Peak or Bust is appropriate after all!

Wish us well.....

By the way, the 17-year old (or as he now says - "the almost 18-year old") drove for about 2 hours - right through St. Louis - with LOTS of traffic. He did really good!

See ya in Colorado!

Calgon...Take Me Away

Usually, VacationGirl doesn't come up with Very Important Discoveries (VID) until she (and wonderful family) are actually on vacation. However, this year, a VID has uncovered itself a little earlier - VacationGirl cannot wait until the 3rd week of August to take her first summer vacation!

Usually, family vacations start the last week of July or the first week of August. But since the almost 17-year old's school doesn't start until Sept 5 (Thank you very much), decisions were made to go after the almost 17-year old's birthday and before the start of school.

Oh NO - never again!

VacationGirl needs a vacation NOW! That much hated state up north's project is making her much older than her years! She does love the project but wow - it can make one crazy (but in a good way). Still vacation time is needed and fortunately, is only 4.5 working days away. By this time next week, she will be hopefully somewhere in the mind-numbing boring world of Kansas on the way to Colorado Springs.

This week will be spent gathering all the goodies that will occupy the Tahoe - things that will most likely never be used, but that VacationGirl and family believe they cannot travel without! Good thing we're driving and not flying.

So, washing, drying, folding, and gathering will be the name of the game this week. Need to try out the new card for the camera too - something has to be downloaded before formatting - hopefully it will be rather self-explanatory! Not in the mood to think!

Pike's Peak or Bust!

44 Days and Counting

Only 44 more days until vacation. Can't wait!

VacationGirl bought a nice, new, big camera to lug around but hopefully, it will take some award winning pictures! She's played with it some but has no clue what she is really doing! But still - with the beautiful scenary in Colorado, it shouldn't be too difficult to get a good picture or two.

Hotel reservations are booked - at least for the main portion of the week. Found a REALLY great hotel in New Mexico. Although VacationGirl and family will only be in NM for 1 night, she still wants to stay in one really great hotel on the trip. Tried to book on-line but no openings. Will try the phone today.

So much to see, so little time. The travel route is fairly set - going straight there by way of I70 - from home to Colorado. Boring road but gets us there the quickest! Coming back, it has been decided that the route will take VacationGirl and dear family through New Mexico (Santa Fe), Texas (Amarillo), Oklahoma (Oklahoma City), Tennessee (Memphis) and finally home. In all, we will have traveled through 12 states in the course of 10 days. Lots of driving - but lots of good picture opportunities.

Reservations have been made for the Pike's Peak Cog Railway. VacationGirl determined that it would stress her out waaaaayyyyy too much to drive up with dear husband. Good driver, but she's a bad passenger when it comes to mountains!

More to come as the time nears.....

Crowder Mountain-Whew

I've been lazy on this vacation - missed Saturday & Sunday. Saturday was a lazy day - didn't do too much (did get a new pair of sandles - leather - so I won't have another allergic reaction!)

Sunday was church day. First time that Dear Husband and VacationGirl visited the Newton Christian Church. It's a little country church but the people are incredibly friendly! It was a good service. Went to eat after church so didn't get home until 2:00 - then had to turn around and leave again for Sunday night service at 4:30 and didn't get home from that until 9:30. Long Day.

The Sunday night service was a showing of the movie "Passion of the Christ" - directed by Mel Gibson. It is an extremely accurate portrayal of the last days of Jesus. However, I couldn't watch the majority of it. He was beat so badly - very violent movie! And I don't do violence well - I'm a chick-flick kinda gal.

Today, Monday, started out lazy. Two of the dogs ran away so we made the men saddle up and go looking for them. The dogs made it home on their own - about an hour before the men! It was kinda scary cuz they are great dogs and we were afraid that something would happen to them. But all is well in dogland.

Someone had the great idea that we should climb this mountain near Charlotte that has 300 stairs to the top. Hmmmm, VacationGirl things this could rank right up there with her famous tips - don't climb mountains that have 300 stairs. Don't climb anything that has 300 stairs. So we drive out to the mountain - VacationGirl is thinking about reading a book. But, foolishly, she heads up the path to the stairs, thinking that she can wait at the bottom and enjoy the beautiful day.

HA!!!

No one mentioned that there is a 1 mile strenuous trail to even get to the bottom of the 300 stairs. And when trail maps say strenuous, they mean strenuous! It took me an hour to trudge up, up, up the rocky trail. Dear husband stayed with me for awhile but I sent him on ahead with the camera. Someone had to take pictures, and it sure as heck wasn't going to be VacationGirl. About half way up, there was a nice bench. She rested there for a few minutes and then foolishly started walking up, up, up the path again - all the while thinking that the stairs HAVE to be close.

HA!!!

They weren't even close. VacationGirl finally gave up and rested - leaning on a tree. She could have gone on down to the bench but she wanted everyone to see just how far she made it. It may not have been all the way to the top, but it was at least .8 of the trail. You can tell she's not a hiker - she was thinking that coming down would be easier!

HA!!!

Going down the trail was MUCH harder. She thought her toes were going to poke out the front of her gym shoes - because what goes up, up, up must come down, down, down and it was steep.

This vacation seems to have a common thread so far - sore feet! And they are VERY sore! So since VacationGirl can't find an open usb port on this computer, she won't be able to download pictures until Wednesday night - you can see the new baby horse and Crowder's Mountain - the source of my sore feet!

see ya!

Crowder Mountain

Spring Break and Red Feet

Hi Dear Friends and Family,

Well, Spring Break vacation has officially begun. We're in un-sunny NorthCarolina now - for 4 full days - heading home on Wednesday to do un-spring break like things to the house (like clean)!

The trip got off to a good start. VacationGirl and Dear husband picked up the 16-year old from school at 2:10 with the car fully packed and ready to go. Of course, we had to make a last minute swing past the house because the 16-year old forgot his church clothes. No big deal - it's on the way. While he ran to get his clothes, VacationGirl decided to change from sneakers to sandles - a rather benign decision, one would think!

So, the Vacation Family got on the road about 2:30-2:40 along with all of the other happy families traveling to warmer destinations for the week. Traffic was slightly heavy but not horrible. Unfortunately, there were severe thunderstorm warnings out for the whole trip. Could we be lucky? Hey, it's VacationGirl and Family - of course we can't!

We got our first rain - a rather torrential downpour - in Lexington. If it had been night, we would have been treated to a spectacular light show - the lightening was extremely heavy. But as it was, we just got treated to rain so thick and heavy that you could cut it with a knife - all the way from Lexington to the Tennesee/Kentucky border. But then, miraculously, it stopped. Whoo hoo!

We stopped somewhere just after getting on I-40 to get gas and noticed on the TV that they had tornado warnings for the area so we high-tailed it out of Dodge and got on the road. VacationGirl was actually able to get through most of Ashville while it was still dusk - it turned true night just before she made it through - and all with NO rain. This will have to go down in history - VacationGirl ALWAYS gets rain in the mountains on I-40. The Gods must be with her today.

NOT!!!

(As a side note, right about this time, VacationGirl's feet were beginning to bother her a little but she thought nothing of it - figured they were just tired of pushing on the gas pedal!)

We made it to the Triple C Ranch about 10:30 - great timing for us - the earliest we've every gotten in! Almost immediately, we trecked down to the barn to see the new baby horse - 4 days old (pictures to follow in the next post). Lad, Lucy, and Tag were happy to see us. Lad was most happy to see his "boy" (and the boy was MOST happy to see his dog). I think Lucy will be my favorite - she the littlest of the collies and really sweet - we made friends right away.

While we were in the barn, VacationGirl kept feeling like there was something in her shoe - they are sandles, so this was not a totally unexpected feeling. But nothing was there - however, the feeling wouldn't subside. So she and Ramsey niked back up to the house where VacationGirl got out of her shoes, finally. WOW! Everywhere that the sandles touched her feet was bright red and swollen and horribly itchy. Apparently, after three years of wearing the sandles, they decided to create a wonderful allergic reaction. It hurt to walk, it hurt to itch, it hurt to even lay them down on the bed - she had to hang them over the side. But fortunately, Ramsey saved the day with some cortesone cream - VacationGirl woke up in the morning with new feet (actually, just her old ones back to normal).

Don't know what the day holds yet - we slept in - haven't even had a shower yet. It is rainy but at least we're on vacation. Let the fun begin!

Rocky Mountain High

Well, it's looking more and more like Colordao is beckoning VacationGirl & Family to visit. It's reasonably drivable - only 18 hours to Colordao Springs which is where "base camp" will most likely be. Rhode Island is still a possibility in VacationGirl's mind, however, she may be out-voted by her wonderful husband and now 16 year old. Colorado is one of only a few states that is not on the 16 year old's "place I've been" map although many of the states for him were just drive throughs.

From what information VacationGirl can glean, Colorado Springs offers the most for a 3-4 day stay: Pike's Peak, Garden of the Gods, Air Force Academy, Royal Gorge Bridge, and the Great Sand Dunes. (As a matter of substantiated fact, climbing sand dunes is much worse than climbing lighthouses!) Lighthouses are understandably sparce in Colorado so VacationGirl will only have mountains and bridges (and sand dunes) to photograph if Colorado wins.

Someone mentioned Durango and Grand Junction as good places to go - will have to check those out as possibilities - but time will be limited. The 16 year old must manage this vacation and a few weeks in N.C. which could be pushing the limits at his job. We'll see what happens.

Of couse, in a few weeks, we're N.C. bound for the annual trek to see the family! Always a good time - but not one of VacationGirl's favorite drives. I-40 in the mountains is horrible. And since VacationGirl will be driving down, there is guaranteed rain once it gets dark. It wouldn't be spring break without it.

Stay tuned for the spring break adventures.