CHRISTMAS

We are blessed this year, not only did we have David and Kelly for Christmas Day, we get to have Christmas again when we get to Trice's house. They got to the park about 1:30 and got caught up on all their travels and our travels. THEN we opened gifts. I gave 3 options for Christmas dinner and steak was chosen. That was a good choice as it was cooked outside. I hate to say that it was about 80 degrees to our friends that are not in Florida.

This is our friend Dave who came over to take our family photo. He and his wife Audrey shared some 4 layer delight dessert w/us AFTER he took our picture.
Hope everyone has a SAFE new year and even safer travels. We will leave here the 31st and head further south.
We have gotten in the swing of pickle ball and will miss it when we leave. Hopefully we will find a tennis court close by still get to play.

Florida By Way of GA.

I know you are probably wondering what in the world are they doing in Georgia. That would be a legitimate question. This is Alabama's capitol by the way. Anyway, we were in Abita Spgs,La. and John decided we needed to have the front end aligned. He had read about a guy that was really good in Ga, so called him and made an appt. Looking at the map, we went right by Montgomery,Al I suggested we stop and take a look.

It is really pretty and big! But the house and senate do not meet in it. There are some offices in it, but is mostly for show. The columns in this picture are solid marble! They weigh about 8000 lbs each. (Did I mention I love rocks?)

This is the dome and the pictures around it are murals of their history. (one of the guards said loosely based history).

This is the cheapest diesel we saw on this trip, which was great. But it didn't look that cheap compared to my friend Barb's post. Hers showed 2.19. We are now in Florida! Will move into TT Orlando on the 10th.
Meantime we have an appointment in Hudson,Fl to get 4 windows that have lost their seal fixed.

I'll have to tell you about the guard in the capitol. We were on the 3rd floor wandering around (actually we were looking for the rest rooms). So walked down one of the halls and we were talking and looking into the offices as we walked by. Came to the end and was looking out the windows, trying to identify the buildings.
Then discovered the rest rooms. I went first, then held the camera and coats while John went. Then when we looked down the hall towards from whense we came, there stood THE guard with his arms crossed.
So we went walking towards him as if he was the welcoming committee. He was very nice, but did stay with us until we went back down stairs. I told John I'm sure one of ladies called and said there are 2 strange people wandering around up here.

This is John and his sister, Betty. We were invited to EAT at her daughters house. Yes food again.

This is Bettys grandson Zack and he has twin boys born in January. Honestly she does not look like a great grandmother. But she has 5 great grandchildren! The Livelys have great genes for not aging.

This is Bill, Betty's husband and one of the greats.
That is our family. My family is below, so keep going and see our plans for the winter.

Family Pictures

I can't believe it has taken so long to get pictures of all of us. This is my aunt Faye, her granddaughter standing by me, my sister Linda on my right and my sister Margaret. We have been eating shrimp and catfish at the Catfish Hole. They have the THE best hush puppies and slaw.

Here we are eating again! This is an early (2 weeks) Thanksgiving dinner, Margaret makes the dressing and gravy, Linda makes the mashed potatoes and cheese/broccoli (however you spell it) and my talent is eating.
I told John we need to leave before I weigh 200 lbs and he weighs 150 lbs.

This is Linda's husband and their home where we gathered.
We have had a great time. Survived the doctors visits, dentists (John lost a crown - was replaced w/o any trouble and eye doctor. John did have a little accident. He was going to the dentist to have the crown replaced and whacked the top of his head on the slide as he was turning the water off. He came to the door w/blood streaming down his face, we got it stopped mostly, and he rushed off. The dentist looked at it and said you should put a couple of stitches in that and he offered to do it. John declined and came home.
That was mostly our excitement. That and eating ....
We are leaving Friday and going to Ok City for a couple of days to visit friends. Then I guess we will head southeast to Florida. We have reservations at Orlando for the 10 of Dec for 3 weeks, then move to Miami for the month of Jan. On our way to Florida will stop at Abita Springs (ROD), then move to Bioloxi to a CC resort Martin Lake. We were going to our sons, before we went into Orlando, but he and his wife are going to Hawaii. Darn shouldn't told him when we were coming! JUST kidding ....

Going to the Doctor

This is what happens when you go to the doctor ..... you get sick. We had our check-ups on Wednesday of last week and the girl that took Johns blood was really bad. We didn't not realize that until John went to the allergist. The girl that took his blood there commented on how bad it looked.
So the next day his arm started swelling and back he went to the doctor. The doctor said the only thing he was concerned about was infection, so gave him a script. John talked to him about a pneumonia shot and the doc said he should get one, also the flu shot was talked about. That was given to him also and this is why he is in his chair asleep, feeling bad.
That shot about killed him. His arm really ached and he felt as if he had the flu. He said "Remind me next year NOT to get a flu shot". And he wonders why I never want one.
Today he is feeling better. That is about all our excitment for the week. We were disappointed in his allergy findings. They didn't show (on the tests that were given) that he was allergic to anything. So back to the drawing board. He does have another appt. in 2 weeks, I might discuss giving him some more test.
The weather is nice here (not shorts weather) suppose to get down to freezing tonight. Hopefully I will have some pictues of our families next time.

Saying Good-Bye

I can't believe it is time to say goodbye. Bill and Marilyn are turning the corner in the rv park here in Siloam Springs.

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We have had such a good time traveling the country together. We started in St.Clair, MI about the middle of July and have traveled, MI. Wisconsin, Minn., N.Dakota, S.Dakota, Colorado, N.Mexico, Texas (passed thru), OK. and AR. It is now Oct. 13 and they are heading on to Florida. Will probably be there about the first of NOV. We have seen and done a lot of interesting things. Played cards about everynight. Tuesday night was the last night and the men won. That made us even and we (the women) decided that was a great place to stop.

These are my favorite pictures of us, so thought I would share them.
Looking forward to our next trip together, whenever and where ever that will be.

Ok. City Memorial

The bombing of the federal building happened April 19, 1995. They have a wonderful memorial in place and we went there today. First is the reflection pool, it is very shallow and gently flows with no ripple. The gate at the end says 9:01. That represents the innocence of the city before the attack.

There are 168 chairs that symbolize the lives lost. Notice the small chairs. Each has a name on them and are arranged in 9 rows(representing the 9 floors).

The tree is called The Survivor Tree, a 90 year old elm. Where the chairs are is where the federal building was and the truck was in front. So the tree took quite a blast. The curved wall around the chair says: "To the courageous and caring who responded from near and far, we offer our eternal gratitude."

At the other end of the reflection pool the time says 9:03. That is when the blast occured. The memorial is very sad, but very comforting also. We went thru the museum and it has a time line from when it first occured. All the tv coverage, radio etc. It has a lot of recordings from the survivors telling their stories, also from the rescuers telling their stories. Very moving .... it feels as if you are reliving it again.
If you are near at all it is well worth the time to go by and see it.

NIGHT GLOWDEO

This is the last of the fireworks, that was a lucky break for me to catch. I thought it turned out great.

This is Thursday night and all the balloons inflate, then sit there and when prompted light up their burners. It is quite impressive

I got these out of order as you can guess. But caught Tweety Bird just as they fired the burner

This has been just the best fun. Today, Saturday ,it was too windy for them to inflate. The decision was made about 6:30 not to fly. As you may have heard, one pilot was killed and his co-pilot injured yesterday. The wind drove them into some power lines and the basket caught fire. Very tragic.
Now this afternoon the rain has come, so our balloon fest is probably over. It has been worth every penny to come and witness this whole thing. We leave tomorrow morning for AR. , so won't post for awhile, unless something exciting happens.

CHAINSAW CARVINGS

I have never been much impressed when I've heard chain saw carvings. Probably because of some of the work I've seen along the road. John and I walked down thru the venders and came to the end of the row and here were the artists. I use artist because they were very good. It started at 4 pm on Friday and ended Saturday at 6. You can see they started with a big stump of Ca.redwood. (It was a tree that had been blown down)

It is absolutely fasinating what they do with that piece of wood. You can see one bear, but on the opposite side of him is another, w/a balloon on top of him. What they are clinging to is a cactis.

This one is a old sad Indian with a peace pipe in his hand and a horses head curved around his shoulder and an eagle sitting at his feet.

Can you imagine, Ghandi? I wish you could see the glasses. I could not figure out what he was carving and when I went back the next day, there it was. GREAT FUN!

MY FAVORITE BALLOONS

How can you not smile when you see this

The Wells Fargo is pretty awsome

Orient Express took quite awhile to fill, was one of the last ones to lift off

This one really stood out, loved it
If another picture comes with this bunch, it is regular ballons doing a mass asscension to fly over the field and try to drop markers closest to poles

ALBQ BALLOON FIESTA

Here is the day we came in and walked down and looked on the field where the balloons would take off. Couldn't believe how empty it was. Even the venders are closed from 11 until 4 or 5.

This is about 6:30, imagine all the people standing there watching the filling of the balloons. There are places around town to catch a shuttle bus. We were sitting w/our coffee about 6 watching all the activity. I guess people get up around 4 or so to go to the mall or where ever and catch the bus to get here so early.

As you can see the inflating is coming along and is just beautiful.

In the next section I will show you my favorites. See the Wells Fargo balloon coming up in the left hand side of the picture? This is the only balloon show where the public can go and be near the balloons as they are being aired up. We will do that in the morning I think. ENJOY!

SANDIA PEAK TRAM RIDE

Now is it my fault that the ticket line (to purchase tickets for the tram ride) was 30 minutes from where they are standing. In my figuring out our time line, I allowed at least an hour and half for the tram. Then we would go by where the balloon park is (we move in the 8th), and then John wanted to stop by the Cummins place, THEN we go eat. Now how simple is that? Except everyone and their dog decided to go the the tram THIS day. So John, Marilyn, and Bill are cheerfulee standing in line to get our tickets. (I'm on my way to the gift shop)

Truthfully I was disappointed in the ride and scenery. But I'll show you the best. Albq is about 52oo feet and the start of the tram is 6559 feet. This was taken about 8000 feet.

The face of the mountain was really pretty, the picture is a little dim because of the tinted windows.

This is Albq from the top, which is 10,378 feet. Unless you were lucky and got by a window there was no way you could see anything except sky. The cars carry 50 people and it was like cattle cars the way they herded you in and out. Anyway it is a total of 2.7 miles long and takes 15 minutes.
It was a little hazy this day, probably tomorrow it will be beautiful as a storm has and is moving thru and sunshine tomorrow .... cleaner air!
Did I mention when we got here there was a Super Wal-Mart and Sams about 20 miles from us? We thought we had died and gone to heaven. Cheyenne, Wy was the last ones we went to, however long that has been (seems like a year)