http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Shirley-K/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Shirley K en-us Sat, 26 Dec 2009 13:27:33 +0000 Sat, 26 Dec 2009 13:27:33 +0000 Day 17 July 20Casper to Colorado SpringsWe continued on our journey to Fort Laramie Wyoming. Having seen a lot of westerns growing up I expected to see a large walled fort. As we were walking up to the fort a German tourist was asking one of the guides dressed in a blue wool military uniform they wore back in the day where were the walls. The guide said that this fort was very peaceful and had http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Colorado/Colorado-Springs/blog-306767.html Day 18 July 21Colorado Springs to RuidosoWe drove to Ruidoso. Very uneventful except for a stop at a roadside park where I found a cell phone. I called the listing for Mom and mailed it to her so she could send it back to her son who was on his way to take his wife to a doctor in Mexico. It felt so good to get back to Ruidoso. They had a lot of rain so everything was very wet. For several day http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-Mexico/Ruidoso/blog-306770.html Day 16 July 19Bozeman to CasperBozeman with 38000 people is the largest city in Montana. Imagine that. Since we entered the US there have been lots of motorcycles everywhere. Wonder if it has something to do with Sturgis and the big motorcycle event they have. I loved driving through Big Sky Country. Everything was so wide open and you could see for miles. Everything looked very green so I http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Colorado/Colorado-Springs/blog-304497.html Day 15 July18Windermere to BozemanWhen we turned on the car it was great to see we were back in the range navigation system. We had to rely just on MAPS for the last couple of day. The first stop back in the States was perfect. A duty free joint in Roosville Montana no relation to Hannah girls named The First and Last Chance Bar. It was about 1000 in the morning and both patrons were alr http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Bozeman/blog-304494.html Day 14 July 17Jasper to WindermereJasper National Park just north of Banff National Park contains northern part of the Rocky Mountains. There are numerous glaciers. Our day started out with a trip to the grocery store to buy picnic items. We always like to visit grocery stores to see what different regions carry and itrsquos always interesting. This store didnrsquot disappoint. Many loca http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Banff-National-Park/blog-302271.html July 17Harrison Hot Springs to JasperFirst off there is no ice in Canada. Its frustrating for people like us who like iced drinks that we can't pull into a gas station and get an icy diet coke. Most of them just have pepsi. UghThe day started with a breakfast to the Lakeview Restaurant. The view of the lake was vey scenic. The town was built by tourism. There are hot springs accessible by w http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Kamloops/blog-301670.html July 16Victoria to Harrison Hot SpringsFrom Victoria we drove to Butchart Gardens at Brentwood Bay. But first we had breakfast at a quaint little caf called the Seadrifter with the locals. Butchart is divided into several gardens including the Rose Gardens the Formal Gardens the Japanese Gardens the Sunken Gardens and the Totem Gardens. Jennie Butchart developed the gardens on a played ou http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Vancouver-Island/Victoria/blog-301666.html We got to the ferry at 10 in order to insure a spot on the 1245 ferry to Victoria. We walked around the town and had lunch at Rick's American Cafe. The ferry ride was about an hour and half and was very scenic. Arriving at Victoria we found our hotel The Delta another Priceline find and very very nice. We walked over the draw bridge to the main part of the city. First stop was the Parliam http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Vancouver-Island/Victoria/blog-301259.html Arousing early we arrived at the Space Needle at opening. The view was fantastic. The guide said you can see Mt. Baker 50 days out of the year and this was one of them. Very day of this trip we have had great weather. We walked by the Museum of Science Fiction and The Museum of Music. Most unusual building but they weren't open yet so we went to the zoo and saw a Komono Dragon. The zoo is or http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Port-Angeles/blog-299855.html First stop was to the Pike. It was so crowded. There is very little in this world that will get me to push my way through heavy crowds so we proceeded to Pioneer Square. The firefighters we having some kind of competition. We had interesting sandwiches at a deli and proceeded to the aquarium where the line was so long we went to the Seattle Museum of Art to see Inspiring Impressionists. Heavy http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-299853.html The day started with a visit to the Washington capitol in Olympia. It was a traditional capitol with a Tiffany chandelier in the rotunda. The seal is a large relief of George Washington. From the capitol we went to Karpeles in Tacoma. There are 8 different locations and they specialize in original manuscripts. We just missed Einstein's original EMC. The current exhibit was ancient maps incl http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-299851.html After a restful night at the Best Western at Agate Beach we started the day with a tour the Oregon Coast Aquarium. I touched sea stars and we walked through a 200 foot underwater tunnel with 3 different habitats. The seals were getting fed and the otters quickly became my new favorite animal. They way the lazily swim around on their back made me envious I wasn't in the water with them. Time fo http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Oregon/Cannon-Beach/blog-298798.html After an hour at Acura of Portland Sam and his technician informed us the adaptive cruise control was working fine even though they had no idea why it had not been. None the less they assured us we would be able to tail gate safely across the great Northwest. Seeking serenity we headed for some the oriental calm of the Japanese Garden at Washington Park. And it was serene. Feeling at one wi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Oregon/Portland/blog-298014.html After spending the night in La Grand Oregon we learned that you cannot pump your own gas in Oregon. I was surprised to be as outraged that the attendant insisted on pumping the gas and cleaning the windshield now as I was that he would no longer do just that 30 years ago. With a full tank of gas and fresh big drinks we headed for Portland traveling through Pendleton and down the Columbia Rive http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Oregon/Portland/blog-297297.html Our first stop this morning was to the Idaho State Capitol Building. It is under major renovations so we weren't able to go in it. Its a fairly typical looking capitol building. Guess we'll have to come back in 2010 to see the chambers. Then we headed to Baker City to see the Oregon Trail Interpretation Center. Baker City is a very old gold rush town with lots of historical buildings downtown http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Oregon/blog-297023.html Today we headed out to the Golden Spike National Park where the west and east railroads met. Then we took a gravel road for 15 miles much to Rodney's chagrin to see the Spiral Jetty. Its one of the few works of art visible from space. After walking a long time out the wrong jetty into the Great Salt Lake we finally found the right one and it was very impressive. This took a lot longer than I http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Utah/Salt-Lake-City/blog-296552.html We arrived in Salt Lake City around 11 and went straight to the Tracy Aviary in Liberty Park. The area was very nice and we enjoyed the aviary with lots of different birds. Then we proceded to the Museum of Natural History on the campus of University of Utah. The book we are listening to has a creature called a dire wolf and we saw it's skeleton. Hungry we found The Market Grill. The inside http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Utah/Salt-Lake-City/blog-296543.html We arrived July 4 in Green River in time for dinner. The drive from Ruidoso was beautiful especially after we left Albuquerque. We drove through the Zia Jicarilla and Navajo reservations. There was very little traffic and the total drive of 623 miles took about 10 hours. We spent the day in the native territory of the Roadrunner with lots of mesas bluffs and butts. Our route took us by Monumen http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Utah/Green-River/blog-295625.html We arrived on July 28 bringing in rain with us. The area had been under a drought and had closed the Lincoln National Forest. We were relieved to hear it was opening on July2. Linda Paul Rocky and Tribble joined us on July 2 very early in the morning. Paul's parents Julie and Derek arrived on July 3. Maggie and Rosie are staying with Linda and Paul. It was a big decision for us but its hard to http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-Mexico/Ruidoso/blog-295624.html We are starting of on Rodney's Retirement Trip. But first things first. Rodney had the forth flat tire in the morning we were going to leave on his new run flat tires in 3 months. The people at Sterling Acura were nice enough to put on new tires and rims so we could leave on our trip. We plan to spend a week in Ruidoso and then head up to Canada via Boise Salem and Olympia. In our travels w http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Texas/Austin/blog-295617.html