Delaware, Day 3

This would be another long day for us as we headed south to explore two well known beaches: Cape Henlopen and Rehoboth Beach.  Flat Don was brought out of Lisa's purse, and I'm sure he was enjoying the fresh ocean air as I stopped on the pier.  Heidi and Lisa stopped and let me take their photo at the same spot.

We drove to another part of the state park, and of course, Don was wanting to have his picture taken again.  Heidi and Lisa obliged.

Even though the day was partly cloudy, it was still in the low 70's, perfect for dipping our toes into the Atlantic Ocean.  The last time we were together swimming in the Atlantic, it was in Florida when Heidi and the girls were in their teens!  It has been awhile.  This view is looking north toward the lighthouse.

One of the best things about going this time of the year is that 99% of the tourists are at home, and there were only a few other people on the beach.

 The water wasn't as cold as we expected it to be, even though the first step caught our attention!  We made sure we got pictures, just in case we were questioned.

Next to us were a group of birds, running all along the water's edge, each time missing the waves that broke by them.  I took several photos, and was lucky that one turned out.

What do you do when you have to get back in the car and your feet are wet and sandy?  This, and afterwards, we dried them off with the hot air driers in the bathroom.  It worked out pretty well.

In another part of Cape Henlopen state park we discovered an additional place to take Don's picture.  Of all the different dwarfs, this is the one Lisa chose.  Maybe he was just "hangry" at this point in time and wanted the shenanigans to stop so we could go look for a place to eat.

Next stop: Rehoboth Beach, which is a very popular place during summer. In October, not so much, and many of the shops and little restaurants along the boardwalk were closed.  Not a problem for us.

After walking along for a bit, our stomachs were calling to us:  it was definitely lunch time.  We wound up at the Greene Turtle.  Service was abysmal, but the crabby melt sandwiches and the view from our table made up for it.  It seems we were fixated on seafood this weekend, for some unknown reason.  Definitely not here for the Mexican food.

 The view from our table:

 Another walk after lunch brought us right by Laurel Street.  By this point, the wind had picked up, as you can tell from the bangs that were swept away from my forehead.

 Time for another impromptu picture.  The shirt never made it home, but there was more laughing involved.  Flat Don/ Dad was quiet, and never made a comment.

The East Coast people must love their candy.  There were two Candy Kitchens about a block apart and one in Lewes, a nearby town.  Heidi and Lisa said that we needed to support the local economy, so both of them left with bags of candy to take home.

Afterwards we opted to go back to UDairy Creamery one last time, just to be sure the awesome ice cream wasn't a fluke...... Lisa wound up with butterscotch soda ice cream with caramel swirls and Heidi decided on chocolate brownie ice cream with caramel turtles.

On a sad note, Flat Don didn't finish his dinner, so there was no ice cream for him.  Don't worry, he survived even though he was a bit cranky.

Even though the trip was a short one, it was packed with lots of laughter and memories to last a lifetime.  Thanks again, to my precious daughters, for making it possible to visit Delaware.  Love you both a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.

Arizona is colder than Denmark!

Maybe this isn't true all of the year, but yesterday it was for my Danish cousin, Sarah, her boyfriend, Lasse, and us!

It all started when we were thinking of somewhere to go while Sarah and Lasse were here.  We decided to take them up to Flagstaff and to the ski lift on Snowbowl.  After all, it has been unseasonably hot here this last week, and it would be a cooler place to visit.

Don looked it up on the internet, bought tickets and found out the expected temperatures:

Okay, I thought, I can handle 60 degrees.  No problem.  I ended up bring a light sweater, and a heavier one.  Don and Lasse both wore shorts.  After all, neither of them will wear long pants unless it is below 40 degrees.  Sarah also brought a sweater and long pants. We found out as we got out of the truck we were WAY under-dressed!  The wind was blowing and it was chilly when we got out of the truck.....and we weren't even at the bottom of the lift yet!  Yikes!

It's a 2000 feet climb in altitude.  As we were riding on the lift, we see people coming down, all bundled up in winter jackets and wool hats.  Some had heavy blankets over their legs and one person looked like a mummy they were so covered up!  Oh my gosh, I hate to be cold and knew right away it would NOT be warmer at the top! Sarah was cuddled up to Lasse, trying to keep warm.  No wonder some people were looking at Don and Lasse with their bare legs!

It was very windy at the top.  We hurried to find a more sheltered place behind a wall before we made the return trip down.

 At least Sarah and Lasse managed to smile.  By that time, my hands were so cold I could hardly take the cap off the lens and take pictures.

As we got on the lift at the top, the forest service guy said it was 30 degrees....and only 18 degrees with the wind chill!  He had on a very heavy jacket, hat and mittens and he was complaining how cold he was. 

The views were fantastic, but not many pictures were taken since I had to either sit on my hands or have them in my pocket.  My fingers were still cold and tingling 30 minutes after we got back to the truck. 

Lesson learned:  don't believe everything that you see on the internet!  It was not even close to being 50-60 degrees like the website advertises. Just because it was 98 degrees and hot in Phoenix doesn't mean you can't be shivering and cold a few short hours later!

Did This Impact You?

On our journey home this year, we stopped for the night near Winslow, Arizona.  Five miles down the road from the RV park was the Meteor Crater landmark.  I don't know how many times we have passed this place, coming or going, during our many years of travel.  We never stopped, probably because we were too focused on our end destination.

This trip, the timing was perfect.  We got to Meteor Crater RV park in the afternoon and had enough
time to visit this one-of-a-kind, unique place.   The meteorite that hit here is estimated to be 150 feet across and weighed several hundred thousand pounds.  The explosion created a hole 700 feet deep and over 4000 feet across.  Twenty football fields could be put on the crater floor and 2 million fans could watch from the walls.  Think of how loud that would be with all the screaming going on!

In 1902 an engineer from Philadelphia, Daniel Barringer, bought the 2 square miles of land that encompasses the crater.  He spent the next 26 years digging for the large mass of molten rock, never succeeding since it disintegrated upon impact.  One other interesting fact that we found out during a discussion with a worker:  in 1957 a small plane was flying inside and crashed.  There is one small piece left of the plane on the floor, but the rest was pushed down the mine shaft created by Barringer.  After that, no planes were allowed.

From 1963 through 1970, Apollo astronauts trained here because the surface was so similar to the moon.  So, I guess you could consider this as the only link that Arizona has to NASA.

In the patio area of the visitor center is a large wall detailing the various missions by American Astronauts.

Oh, and don't forget to mind the speed limit.....there are special signs along the way:

It's not the Chattanooga Choo Choo

Nope, it's the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad!

This is a trip that we have wanted to do for many years.  The excursion on the narrow gauge railroad goes between Antonito, Colorado and Chama, New Mexico, passing from state to state 11 times along the way.  The 64 railroad miles is an all day trip on the train,but a short 1.5 hour ride on the bus to the original departure point.  You have a choice of starting in Chama or Antonito.  As we traveled, we referred quite often to the map that was passed out by the docent.

Patty and Ron Schorr, our friends from Boyd Lake, went with us.  As you can tell from the photo above, we were all dressed for cooler temperatures.  The weatherman had predicted 100% chance of rain for both Chama and Antonito that day.  We came prepared with jackets and an umbrella.  Boy, we were lucky that he was wrong!  The day was partly overcast, but it didn't rain until were were almost back at our hotel in Alamosa.

We traversed many types of landscapes during the trip.  The Lava Tank that is no longer used is located on high desert, with mostly sage brush dotting the hillsides.

Many places in the lower elevations had an abundance of blooming plants, including Blue Lupine,Scarlet Skyrockets, Fleabane and an assortment of yellow wildflowers.

As we climbed in elevation, we were surrounded by Pine and groves of Aspen trees.

 Photo opportunities were in abundance!  The open air car was packed but since there were plenty of open windows and space in several train cars, I didn't have to vie for a place there.  Leaning out the windows was no problem, except for an occasional cinder in my eyes.

As the train stopped to refill it's water tank, Don and Patty leaned out the window.

Here is a view of the 600 foot drop going over the Toltec Gorge, along with a sign near the trestle.

We were nearing the town of Osier, where we were served lunch.  The train coming from Chama had already arrived at the station.

No box lunches here!  Everything was homemade, and you could have turkey dinner with all the trimmings, a meatloaf dinner, soup, salad, choice of desserts and drinks.  If you went away hungry, you had to be a very, very picky eater.

The train continued to climb up to the town of Cumbres, which stands at an elevation of 10,015 feet above sea level.

Finally, after 6 hours, we reached our destination of Chama. If you look closely, Santa was waiting for us. Obviously, his full red suit was too warm for the day, so he opted for a red shirt and shorts instead.  Guess he deserves a vacation too!

Playing in the Sand

Since we were so close to the Great Sand Dunes while staying in Alamosa, we decided to veer a bit out of our way to visit this amazing National park.  This is the view as we drove on the country road in southern Colorado.  The dunes are sandwiched between a high desert landscape and the Sangre de Cristo (blood of Christ) Mountains.

The visitor center had a very interesting 20 minute film that the four of us watched before heading out to the humongous pile of sand.

Usually during this time of the year, there is no water.  But lots of summer rain in the past couple of weeks made the Mendano Creek run again.  There were a lot of families heading up the dunes, their children carrying sleds for sliding down the sandy hills.

 Patty and I posed for a picture before heading up the hill.  We were both thankful that the day was cool and the sand was warm, not HOT!  As we reached the top of the dune closest to us, the wind was blowing and we could feel bits of sand hitting our legs.  Our partners were not as "daring".  They stayed behind in the parking lot.  Both Patty and I ran down the hill and thankfully kept our balance.  I sure didn't want sand in my hair or in my clothes.

Ron and Don's view:

And this is what we looked like as Patty and I headed back to meet up with them:

That's okay.  We still enjoyed our time there.  We were thankful that the Lord blessed us with azure blue skies and sun, especially since the weather predictions were quite different!