Tuesday, June 20, 2017
35. Home sweet home
Weeee did it!!! After traveling 21000km we are home sweet home 🏡 thank you all for joining us on this EPIC adventure ❤️we enjoyed having you along 🇺🇸🇨🇦❤️🏡
Thursday, June 8, 2017
31. 32. 33. St. Louis, Muncie, Syracuse
It was unfortunate we would not be able to stay very long it seemed like a very interesting city...next time i guess!!! So we found parking near the Gateway Arch and proceeded to the visitor's center. I had no idea this was a National Monument....so I quickly reached for my National Parks Passport book and went to stamp the appropriate page at visitor's center. As per usual we went to watch the movie explaining the 5 w's of the arch.
this is the video we saw... part 1
part 2
where the Cardinals play. I would recommend the $10 fee to go to the top... well worth it.
We enjoyed a delicious salmon supper and then chatted in the living room as the men were reminiscing about their childhood....we were enjoying ourselves immensely and left around 1:30 in the morning...needless to say we stayed in a hotel that night!!!
The following day we decided to make it all the way to Syracuse New York.....we could see the finish line so we didn't mind putting in longer driving days. It took us about a 10 hour drive but so worth it because we would only be 5 hours from home!!! We stayed at Green Lake State Park. It was very nice as well. I was getting very excited to go home!!!
love always
Mary and Peter
Monday, June 5, 2017
29. & 30. Denver, Colorado and Wilson Lake State Park, Kansas
Denver Colorado and Lake Wilson, Kansas Photos
Today we headed towards Denver Colorado. This was the end of our fabulous canyon experience which was by far the highlight of our trip. We headed east on the highway 70 .....we noticed the landscape change before our eyes .... it went from Canyon views to Rocky Mountains views.....and from red Cliffs to lush green hills. The drive was going smoothly until I decided I needed the rest stop in the town of Eagle Colorado. As we pulled in off the highway a young lady was directing traffic, she asked us "are you here just for the rest stop or will you be going to do the free white water raft thing?" I thought to myself wow free rafting .... so I quickly responded "white water rafting" of course. Was it possible that we were going to go rafting for free,? So we parked the car and went towards the table to sign up. I as to why they were offering free rafting? The town of Eagle wanted to promote rafting in the area. Bonusssss !!!!
Wow.... how lucky were we that we were going to have a free lunch and some rafting to boot.... in addition, we were lucky enough to sign up for the last time slot available. So we picked out of life jacket and her helmet and proceeded towards the river. Originally I thought this was the Colorado River but in fact it was the Eagle River which is a tributary of the Colorado River. The rafting guy told us of these were class III rapids. this was gonna funnnnn!!!! As we were hanging around the lunch area we are heard one of the
The next morning we drove east again.....this time towards Lake Wilson in Kansas. At this point, our main focus is to drive 5-7 hours a day and camp . Peter found a very pretty campsite right on Lake Wilson. We ate then went by the went by the water to watch the sunset!!! We started to reminisce about our journey and concluded how lucky and grateful we are to have seen such beauty. Tomorrow we head over to St. Louis!!!
love ya and miss ya.
Mary and Peter..
Saturday, June 3, 2017
28. Arches National Park, Utah
Park. The steady pace of sightseeing, hiking and driving has taken its toll lately and we've been feeling a little worn out. It's hard to slow down when there's so much to see! A good shower before bed and a good night's sleep had us feeling more positive and ready for a good day.
On the way to Arches we saw Canyonlands National Park. so we thought we'd finish our first afternoon in Moab at Canyonlands and the next day would be reserved for Arches.
Delicate Arch |
windows arch |
So now we can say that we are finished our canyon visits and heading eastward towards our beautiful home....i'm startng to get excited ...I miss my family and friends...and DJANGOOOOOO
This park offered some extraordinary views of rock
love always
Mary and Peter
Friday, June 2, 2017
27. Bryce Canyon National Park
We left early from our campsite hoping to get to Bryce Canyon early because campsites are first come first served. On the way in we passed through Red Canyon and once again started to get excited about what we were about to see. We arrived at Bryce Canyon, found a campsite and had breakfast. Then it was off to the visitors center to watch the introduction movie, (this has become our routine as it explains what you're about to see from a geological and historical perspective.) We took the shuttle out to Bryce point and were blown away by the beauty of the amphitheater. Each shuttle stop had a different perspective and something new to see, it's amazing that the destructive forces of erosion and rust can create such beauty. When we got to Sunset Point we participated in a ranger walk as he explained about the geology and the native legends that are associated with the rock formations
amphitheater at sunset |
amphitheater during the day |
I called this one Bart Simpson |
: |
hikin the hoodoos |
This park experience ranks up there with grand canyon, sequoia and yosemite......we are sooo lukcy and blessed!!!
tomorrow Moab!!
love always
Mary and Peter
view from below |
splendor everywhere.. |
25. Las Vegas and Hoover Dam, Nevada
Las Vegas and Hoover Dam, Nevada
The first thing that struck me was that there was ablsoutley NO secutriy checks anywhere...this made me slightly nervous to say the least....I also noticed the heavy smell of cigarettes smoke from the patrons at the casino and the loud casino bells ringing at the slot machines. Our room was on the 20th floor room 102..... so the we decided to check out the pool on the rooftop. It was very impressive and interesting to say the least ....it felt like a rave party with a lot of young adults Chilling by the swimming pool... we felt a little out of place. we met some nice ladies from France,,, so we spoke to them for a while then went to the famous strip. We decided to take the monorail.... so we bought a ticket took it to the MGM Grand Hotel.
WOWWWWW this was Las Vegas.....so We wanted to catch a show....but all the shows i wanted to watch were sold out so we kept walking down the strip. I found to be very commercial and it was jam packed with people ...afterall this was Vegas.... ... so we proceeded to walk down the strip and of course we saw the fountains at the Bellagio.... we did the New York ,New York .....we saw Caesars Palace Casino Hotel....the Venetian...etc.
Well we walked and walked and walked all the way back to our hotel...my feet were killing me cuz i had sandals on....anyway our hotel was still buzzing with action...so we went to our room and called it night!!
The next day we took a tour to the Hoover Dam....after doing all our homework we decided a tour was just as expensive than if we went by car. So we got picked up at our hotel and off we went to the dam. Please watch the video below to get a history of the dam...it's very very very impressive. The video explains everything...
History of Hoover Dam Video
So we got dropped off and had 2 hours to take a tour of the power plant below in the dam and to check out the dam up top ....we were blown away with the engineering marvel which stood before us....it was majestic to say the least.... a must see as some consider it to be the 8th wonder of the world!!
On our way back the dam we got off at Fremont Street.....which kinda reminded me of a poor man's Vegas strip. This place was also hopping...there were a lot of punk rockers walking around and the usual debauchery stuff.....so we watched a band play for a while then took an uber to the hotel....wow what a day!!!! We enjoed our stay in vegas though next time we'll catch a show or tow for sure....tomorrow ....Zion!!!
Love always
Mary and Peter.
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
26. Zion National Park, Utah
Zion Means a place for sanctuary by early Mormon Pioneers
Video on History of Zion little history lesson on Zion....it's very impressive.
Zion Photo Album
Hello everyone
well it's official....we are officially heading east....only 2 weeks left of this epic trip and we were super excited to visit Zion National Park in Utah! So we got an early start and left our hotel in vegas around 8 am. We drove for 4 hours and arrived at the park on the busiest day of the year since it was Memorial Day ( 55,000 visitors that day record number for the park).... during the peak time of day.....Once again there was absolutely no parking so we had to park in the town before the park called Springdale. So we grabbed a free shuttle bus straight to the visitor's center. Zion Park is super well organized....absolutely no cars are allowed to go to the trail heads and lookouts. So the line up for he shuttle was extremely long.
Upon arrival to this place it immediately reminded us of the grand canyon and sedona landscapes. So our plan was to go to he museum and watch the orientation video. This is imperative because it give you a heads up about the history of the park. The pan for the rest of the day was to do short hikes and to go to a few lookouts. But I can tell you that some of the most spectacular scenery was past the village eastward towards our campsite. As you can see in the photo album we couldn't stop taking photos. There was a section of rock formation that reminds me of the pastry Lobster tail ( my Italian friends will know what i'm referring to) ...so i climbed up the rocks and stood in awe again at the scenery before me. Yes Annaick...i did it again.!!! This place is sooo special I can see why the Mormons called this a place for sanctuary.
We had heard about the Narrows Hike so we thought we'd go as far as we wanted and then turn back ....we picked up some walking sticks left behind by other hikers and set off. ..good thing we did because the currents is soooo fast at some crossings that you need to anchor yourself with the stick or else you'd lose your balance and off you went.....the stick were also useful to check ahead of your
next step because the river bed is fulled with rumbling ..tumbling rocks and uneven terrain...so it was challenging in that respect ..but there were no elevation changes....cuz we were on the canyon floor....how cool is that!!!....now the beauty of a canyon is that there's always another bend.....so that was our motto...let's see what's around the next bend etc......until we made it to the narrows....it was by far the coolest....most humbling...most beautiful hike hike i have ever done....the pictures say it all....a must do !!!
love always
mary and peter
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