Well today I think we tried to see how much stuff we could pack into one day. It all began by me sleeping late this morning. I did not wake up until 6 am...can you believe it??? Once we got up, it was off to Wind Cave for the "Fairground Tour". This was supposed to be the longest tour they offered other than the candlelite tour and it was fully booked. We spent almost an hour and a half in 49 degree temperatures in the cave. I bumped my shoulder and head a couple of times on the top of the [View Full Entry]

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Sunday and Monday was travel time. We went from New Albany, MS to Keystone, SD which was a total of over 1500 miles. So needless to say, I am a little tired. On Sunday we traveled through Arkansas and Missouri to spend the night in St. Joseph, MO. Monday we went through MO, KS, IO, NE and SD to end up spending the night at the base of Mt. Rushmore. As we traveled we did squeeze in a little sightseeing time. On Sunday we stopped at Mamouth Springs in MO as well as taking a Cave trip at Fantastic Caverens in [View Full Entry]

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After a week of not having an Internet Connection, we are finally back on line; so now I have to do some catching up. We arrived in Texas on Friday, July 11 at almost midnight. It was a very long trip from Farmington, NM to Mineral Wells, TX. And the temperature was about the same. I think it has been over 100 degrees every day since we left Washington. On the way to Texas, we stopped in Alburquerque, NM. Last Sunday we went to Marie's mother's church which was very small. Many of her family ate with us that afternoon. During [View Full Entry]

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We finally made it to Mississippi on Wednesday night. It was really nice to be able to rest after driving over 600 miles. On Thursday we went to Oxford and drove around the campus of the University of Mississippi. That afternoon we went to where my grandparents used to live and visited a couple of cemetaries. Marie Bailey took us out to dinner on Thursday night and we had Catfish (YUM!!!) On Friday we spent the day in Memphis and had dinner on Beale Street with some friends from Olive Branch, MS. On Saturday, some of my relativies came over and [View Full Entry]

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When I was growing up, watching Western movies were a part of life. And because of that I always wanted to go to Monument Valley where many of the Westerns were filmed. Today our journey took us to the heart of the valley and as usual around here; it was VERY hot. Before getting there, we first visited the Navajo National Monument. The elevation there was over 7300 feet above sea level. Of course it took a little while to get used to the lighter air. Leaving there we went to Monument Valley and the rocks there were just as huge [View Full Entry]

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We stayed in Vegas on Monday and Tuesday at Treasure Island. Wow... is Vegas a busy place!!!! Too many people for me. On the first day we walked down the Strip and it got up to 114 degrees F. There were lots of things to do there other than play the slots. In fact, I think most everyone were on the streets intead of inside the Casinos. Tuesday night we went to two shows. One was a variety show with circus type acts and the other was a Pirate show at Treasure Island. We also went to the fountains down the [View Full Entry]

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Today (Wednesday) we traveled from Vegas, across the Hoover Dam, to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, through the Painted Desert and ended our days journey at Page, Arizona. We were very dissapointed at the Hoover Dam. It was not near as large as we had visioned it to be. The Grand Canyon was HUGE!!! I kept worring the Nicole or Marie was going to slide off one of the rocks and fall into the Canyon. The senery was spectactular driving from the Grand Canyon to Page, Arizona. Tomorrow, we travel to Monument Valley and stay in Farmington, New Mexico. [View Full Entry]

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Today we left from Reno, NV and went to Death Valley. There is definitely a reason they call it "Death" Valley. It was SO Hot!!!! The last time we looked, it was 119 F and rising. The trip was really fun but the heat drained the energy out of us. We arrived in Death Valley aroun Noon and spent most of the afternoon there. Before leaving, we had to fill up with gas. You can look at one of the pictures below and appreciate the price of gas in Olympia. After we left there, we headed to Los Vegas. We have [View Full Entry]

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Well we finally made it to Reno. The trip was really fun. We took the back roads and saw a lot of really pretty senery. The entire trip was about 650 miles and took us eleven hours. We got to our hotel and almost passed out; we were really tired. The fires in CA caused a lot of smoke about 50 mile outside of Reno. Tomorrow we are getting up very early and heading to Death Valley. The temperature is supposed to be a little above 120 F. Tonight in Reno it is a very pleasant 74 F. [View Full Entry]

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Wow....we are counting down the hours instead of the days now until we leave. It's the Fourth of July and we are having a BBQ. Ribs, corn on the cob and BBQ Beans are on the menu today. We are still packing some things and getting everything ready for our trip tomorrow. I pick up the rental car in the morning and then we load it up. [View Full Entry]

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