Packed a picnic lunch and took a drive over to Vail. We walked through the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens - what a beautiful sight. I’ll let the pictures do the talking! Just chock full of flowering plants that thrive in alpine conditions. Walked around the Bavarian-styled town and stopped at a local park for our picnic lunch. The day was gorgeous with warm sunshine, blue skies, and the occasional puffy clouds - a slice of heaven in the Rocky Mountains. But, the weather is getting cooler day by day. We’ll soon have to turn on the heat at night and unpack [View Full Entry]

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Wound up our visit to Denver with a stop at the Art Museum - if you’re ever in Denver, don’t miss this one. The Native American and Asian exhibit floors were breathtaking! The new wing, which is architecturally stunning, will open next year - sorry we had to miss that. We walked around the LoDo district and enjoyed a gelato in the heat of the afternoon. The weather in summer is great - lots of sunshine, low humidity, and cool evenings. Denver surprised us - it is a wonderful city with lots of cultural amenities. I would definitely come back here [View Full Entry]

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Left Missouri, drove across the plains of Kansas and eastern Colorado, and arrived in Denver on 08/25. Weather’s been beautiful - between 80’s and 90’s during the day and down to 60’s at night. Enjoyed visiting with RV friends Jim and Chris for a few days, now staying in Golden. Explored Boulder one day (what a gorgeous college town), drove up to Estes Park where we spied the Stanley Hotel (remember The Shining?), and drove back on the Peak to Peak road (quite scenic). Didn’t have time to explore Rocky Mountain National Park - must do that another time. Golde [View Full Entry]

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Spent a week in Columbia, MO before heading west. Alan had one more eye doctor visit and he got the OK to travel to higher elevations (yeah!) Columbia is home to the University of Missouri, so it was a typical college town. We drove north a bit to see an Amish farm community where we bought homemade pickles and apple butter (very inexpensive). There was a sign at the end of the unpaved road indicating that the 1st house on the right had apple butter for sale, so we just walked up to the house and went into the open back [View Full Entry]

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Left PA on Aug. 13 and headed west. Blew through Ohio (well, in the interest of fair disclosure, we did stop and make lunch at a rest area, and also experienced a 1-hour traffic tie-up near the Indiana border where we changed drivers). We stopped near Indianapolis for a few days at the Heartland RV Park - aptly named, as corn and soybean farms were everywhere in sight! The weather has been good to the farmers, as the fields were lush and green. We visited the Indiana State Fair - witnessed the watermelon-spitting contest, ate elephant ears and corn dogs, and [View Full Entry]

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We've been catching up with Diane's large extended family and re-visiting her childhood stomping grounds in the Greensburg/Latrobe area of Western PA. Took a day trip to Ligonier yesterday - gateway to the Laurel Mountains. Ligonier dates back to the time of the French and Indian Wars, with Fort Ligonier playing a key role. Lots of cute shops in the area, the picturesque gazebo, even caught a Red Hat Ladies outing, a pretty Victorian house, and of course, we couldn’t drive past the Pie Shoppe without buying something to take home. Also couldn't resist the roadside stand with handmade [View Full Entry]

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We traveled to Frank Lloyd Wright's beautiful Fallingwater home; however just down the road we noticed two lonely old airstreams. Further down the road we dipped our toes in the Youghiogheny River. (There will be a spelling test later). [View Full Entry]

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Finally left Virginia July 27. Had two torrential rainstorms while there, a tornado hit within 8 miles of us, and lightning stripped the bark off a tree within 100 feet of our bus! Thankfully, no problems in the bus. Alan's eye is improving daily, and we were able to leave for Pennsylvania. Attended Diane's D'Angelo family reunion; Alan said he had never seen so much Italian food in one place. Bought chipped ham (a Pgh. tradition) and many Italian favorites at DeLallo's Market. Visited Fallingwater, 1930's Frank Lloyd Wright designed summer home for the Kaufmann family of Pittsburgh, a [View Full Entry]

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Hi folks. We've been here in Eastern VA (Hartfield to be exact) since June 22. We're parked in an empty lot on Wilton Creek Road, just up the road from Alan's brother's house. We were planning to stay just 2 weeks, but Alan had a retina problem which required another eye surgery. He's OK, but we'll have to stay put until he gets the doc's OK to leave (could be another week or so). Good thing we're near Richmond, where we found a retina specialist. Got to see niece Nicole play soccer in Norfolk (her U15 team won the PA state [View Full Entry]

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Drove into NC on a mountainous section of highway, went through our first Interstate tunnel. The last 10 miles to Outdoor Resorts at Lake Toxaway was quite treacherous - winding, two-lane road with practically no shoulder - hairpin curves up and down the mountain. Alan did quite well getting us there. Stayed for 7 days and really enjoyed the area. Lovely resort with paved sites, pool, hot tub, 9-hole golf course, lots of flowers. Took side trips to nearby towns Cashiers and Highlands. Bought sourwood honey, South Carolina peaches, blackberry syrup, and a pair of hiking shoes! Drove [View Full Entry]

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