Day 21 Salt Lake City, Utah to Helena, Montana The weather was not promising for our all day drive to Helena...snow and rain predicted. We woke up to a fresh four inches of snow, but the roads were clear, and while we hit several snow flurries as we drove north, there was never any snow on the roads. Most of the drive was through flat pastures and sage brush, with snowy mountains in the background. We stopped off in Butte to look at the old buildings, the mines (copper) and to get a coffee. We sat in a sports bar that was once a bank, and the old vault was still there. We arrived at John and Linda's before dark....They are in the middle of remodeling and are doing beautiful things to their home, which is ... read more

Day Thirteen Phoenix to Flagstaff We reluctantly left the warmth of Phoenix where we could pick up lemons and oranges on our walks, and headed north, through Sun City, and on to Prescott and the mining town of Jerome. Then into Sedona, and finally to Flagstaff for the night. Some of the day's highlights: A pair of older well dressed men with maps and computer printouts, rolling a measuring wheel along the road. Looking for a mine? Fake snake on the sidewalk in Wickenburg which startled me for about 5 seconds...more startling was a call later that night from Seattle friend Karl who was in Wickenburg, unbeknownst to us! The town of Prescott, which was much more interesting than we expected....lots of beautiful Victorian homes, and the "Smoki Museum", which holds Native American artifacts and some ... read more

Day Seven Palm Springs We slept in a bit...the previous occupant had cleverly and maliciously set the alarm for 3:30 AM....so we needed a bit of extra sleep. We had a good breakfast (inlcuded in our incredible price of $57/night in this hotel where the list price is $133...thank you, Hotwire!) and headed out to check out the local thrift stores on the way to the Palm Spring Tramway....one of the wonders of the world...(kind of). After buying a sweater (Lynn) and nothing else (Bill), we drove to the foot of the mountains where the road to the tram climbs up a few thousand feet. The tram goes from 2400 feet to 8400 feet in less than fifteen minutes! (Thus the title of this blog.) I had taken it several years ago when I was in ... read more

(I have decided to write a blog for this trip after all...I thought the photos would be interesting for those of you who haven't been to the American West...As always, just ignore the messages about this trip if you're not interested....) We are driving from our home to California, Arizona, Utah, Montana, and home again. Day One LaConner, Washington to Lincoln City, Oregon We left home on a cool, cloudy morning, with daffodils blooming everywhere and the famous tulips beginning to show color (LaConner has a Tulip Festival in April every year.) We had a quick stop to see my son Luke at work on the way down interstate 5 to Olympia, where we turned off for the coast. On the way, we passed through cities, towns, forests, clear cuts, and farms, arriving at the ... read more

Saturday: It seems that Acapulco is a magnet of sorts for mistakes in our Mexico travels. Some of you may remember that we ended up in Aca last time after having made the mistake of skipping it on our way between Zihuateneo and Taxco. (We decided that Taxco was too noisy and turned around the next day and came back to Aca.) Well, this time we have now decided that we should have stayed in Pie de la Cuesta and made a a day trip or two into Aca. So, here we are, at the Acamar for just one night, and planning to return to Pie tomorrow! We just couldn’t find the charm we’d seen the first time here….especially compared to the Villa Nirvana and Pie itself. It didn’t help that we arrived on Saturday afternoon, ... read more