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Published: October 21st 2007
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Colorado
We arrived at Joyce and Russell’s house after a long 4 days on the road. We travelled from Disney in Orlando to Dawson in Georgia, then to Brinkley in Arkansas (after visiting Graceland and Helen Keller’s house in Tennessee). We drove down a section of the old route 66 and had a coffee, peach cobbler and coke floats at the Rock Café in Stroud. This café has been operating since late 1920’s and it had a real American feel to it. We drove a bit further along and saw the old historic Red Barn. We had dinner in Oklahoma City in a lovely restaurant called the Elephant Safari Bar and it was the first non-fried food we had in days. We drove a little further and spent that night in Watonga. As we were parking our car by the room we saw a skunk being chased by a cat. We got up early and headed off to Dodge City in Kansas. We checked out the museum there which was well worth it. We learned about the history of the area from gun slinging days to the slaughter of the buffalo herds and conflict with the Indians. They had a
THE pump at Helen Keller's house
The actual water pump where Helen first made the connection between water and the spoken word street scene set up from the 1800’s which shops and saloon bars in which Rachel played the piano. It was pretty well done and we all enjoyed it. There was a small zoo in town where we saw buffalo, racoon, porcupine, wolves, cougar, and bald headed eagle, monkeys. It even had an emu. We then headed to Denver and arrived at Russell and Joyce’s at 9.30pm. A huge trip but well worth it.
Our girls were off to high school the next morning with the Dann girls. Sarah played clarinet in the band and they enjoyed their morning. The main differences were no uniforms; everyone had a laptop, a half day of school (which is only on Fridays I believe), start at 8.00 and finish at 3.15 and changing classrooms. I guess some of the above are characteristics of high school rather than primary school. They thoroughly enjoyed their morning. The afternoon was great fun, as Joyce had organised pumpkin carving. This activity kept them going for at least a couple of hours and the results were amazing. We also all went to Wal Mart to check out the Halloween stuff. We had heaps of fun in there with
the masks and costumes and of course our camera. Joyce prepared us a fabulous traditional Thanksgiving dinner. It was really really yum. Turkey, cranberry sauce, gravy, mash potatoes, sweet potatoes (three varieties), spaghetti squash, peas, corn etc etc finishing with apple and traditional pumpkin pie. I have taken the pumpkin pie recipe home so I will try to make it at home. It was so good.
The Rocky Mountains is about an hour away from Russell and Joyce’s house. We went in two cars as we couldn’t all fit in one. It was pretty cold and very exciting when we first spotted snow. Rachel was so excited. We also saw mountain goats and some deer along the way. We stopped at a stream and went for a walk which involved a bit of a climb and also jumping over the stream. It was a bit scary. Parts of the stream were frozen over and you could see the water running underneath. It snowed too which was really fun. We then went to Bear Lake which is 30 min away and a bit higher. It snowed there and the snow was about 30cm deep. We saw a snow plough clearing
the car park. We had our lunch and then went for a walk around the lake. It was soooo beautiful and sooo cold. It was a real winter wonderland. The kids had snow fights, made a snowman, dipped their faces in the snow (which they regretted) and I, of course, took about 500 photos in 30 minutes. It was really great. After that we were all frozen, well us four anyway, and we went to a gorgeous little village called Estes Park. It reminded me of Maleny/Montville. We went to Starbucks for hot chocolates, hot apple cider and coffee. After walk around town for a quick shop and we also saw a woodpecker outside Starbucks. Then home for delicious homemade Buffalo burgers. We were really spoilt the whole time we were there. The next day we went to see the Titanic exhibition at the Denver Museum. The girls were all really interested in the Titanic. The exhibition was great. We were issued boarding passes with passenger details on them. At the end of the exhibition you discover whether you lived or died. The exhibition emphasised the human side of the tragedy. It displayed real artefacts recovered from the wreck. We
also saw the IMAX movie titled ‘Ghosts of the Abyss’. The whole exhibition was really worthwhile. We had a brief look at the dinosaur display and also the extinct mammals which included a woolly mammoth. We managed to squeeze in a lunch meal at the Spaghetti Factory which was a restaurant in an old tram station. Great atmosphere and great pasta. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to the Danns’ and head south west.
Thank you Russell and Joyce for a wonderful stay and for turning on the beautiful weather.
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non-member comment
This looked like a beautiful trip and great foto's. Have not too much fun otherwise you don't want to come back home.