Things I Missed about California!

October 2017

We spent a few days at one of our Colorado River Adventure home parks on the

California side of the Colorado River.

It made me think of some of the things I miss most about California!

MOUNTAINS!

I really missed mountains! 

You can see mountains from our old house. I loved those mountains!

When I was a kid my Grandmother used to visit us.

I remember her commenting on how beautiful the mountains were.

She said to me,"I don't think someone who sees these every day can truly appreciate how beautiful they are."

I smiled and said, "Nope! I see them everyday and I LOVE them!"

 Clear beautiful rivers and lakes! The rivers in the midwest look like flowing mud!

I missed seeing the bottom of rivers! I missed seeing the reflections of things in the water!

 Palm Trees! I really missed Palm Trees!

Going into a store and seeing DOGER BLUE instead of Husker Red!

But most of all...

    These guys!

 And these guys!

And these two!

I really miss these guys!

Can't wait to hug them all!

On The Road Again!

October 2017

On Sunday, October 1st we left the cornfields of Nebraska and headed south to the wheat fields of Kansas!

We didn’t stay very long in any one place because we’re trying to head west to Bakersfield, CA so Larry could resume his Physical Therapy.

We did make time along the way to visit with family...

Larry with Aunt Connie and Uncle Gary
We met them for lunch and had a great time eating and chatting!

Cousin Phil & his wife Sharon treated us to make your own pizza. 

Never cooked Pizza on the grill before. It was yummy

I haven't seen Phillip since he was 17

and I finally got to meet his awesome wife, Sharon and son, Max.

Daughter Maggie was busy at college.

Phil, Max, Sharon & Sherry

We also got a chance to take in a few sites.

Beautiful sky in Kansas

We were in Albuquerque, NM for the opening day of their annual Balloon Fiesta!

But I had to borrow this awesome picture from someone in cyberspace

because we were too far outside Albuquerque to see anything!











We did see these awesome classic cars and trailers in the RV Park though!

We stayed again at one of my favorite places, Williams, AZ: the gateway to the Grand Canyon!

Of course we got in late and had to leave early
so this photo is from the last time we were here in April!

Interesting things we saw along the way.

A water tower about to fall over

Lots and lots and lots of wind turbines

After 3 months in a cornfield seeing a mountain again, even a small one, made my heart happy!

And the beautiful colors of the rocks in Arizona took my breath away!

(The colors were brighter than this depicts) 

Our travels also took us through Winslow, AZ! After Glenn Frey passed away they added a bronze statue of him to the Standin’ On The Corner Park! Of course we had to go back!

It’s been an adventure and we loved spending time with family in Nebraska but

I’m happy to be heading home!

Homestead National Monument

September 2017

I’ve been trying to get Larry to take me to Homestead National Monument in Beatrice, NE for 10 years. It’s kind of out of the way from our usual stop in NE but we finally went.
It was our 103^rd National Park Service Site!

They had a big to-do there for the eclipse. It’s not one of the more visited NPS sites but on August 21, 2017 there were thousands there! We stayed away from that. But it was a really awesome place. We were wondering why they choose Beatrice for the site. It’s in the southeast part of the state, almost to the Kansas border. It’s one of those places you really have to want to see to get there because there’s not much else around and it’s not really on a major route.

We found out the first person to file a homestead claim under the new homestead act of 1862 was Daniel Freeman and this was his claim. They have Daniel’s home, the original schoolhouse, a visitor center and an educational center. I thought it was worth the trip.
Plus it’s harvest time in NE so I got to see some of those awesome machines that harvest the crops in action along the way.

Pictures of the eclipse

Really awesome quilts of the eclipse

An embroidered quilt in progress

Old farming tools

Making candles

I love these dolls

This was the last guy to file a homestead claim!

This was Daniel's house

Combine harvesting beans (we think it was beans anyway)