December 2015

November 2015

Mission Beach adventure!

October 2015

Wheeeee!  Ballooning with Otto!

September 2015

August 2015

July 2015

June 2015

Just a Walk in the (red)Woods

Amazing and profound.  We walked among the Giants today.  Joe is sort of small looking!

The Agazziz tree was the biggest and last.

Inside a 2000 year old tree.

Loved the dogwoods.  Finished the morning with lunch on the North Fork of Stanislaus River.  With about 2 million lady bugs!

Mardi Gras in Charleston,WVA

This was our first casino resort stop after Cincinnati.

It was really nice. Clean, etc.  The problem was thin walls.  We think they forgot to install soundproofing.  Stomping on the ceiling, telephone calls to China and loud hallway chats.  Oh well. Everything else was nice.

We Hit The Jackpot!

Traveling through West Virginia.  Casino hopping as usual.  Happened upon Rocky Gap, MD.

This place is beautiful.  We're sitting by the fire pit looking over the lake.  Highly recommend!

George Washington slept here....

Really!

This is the officers quarters and this was his bed.  Fort Ligonier, Pennsylvania.

And we found out he also started the French and Indian War!!

These were his guns.  He shot an officer which got the war going.

Terrifying stockade walls.

 

They even created a moat around the inner fort!

Flight 93 Memorial

Wall of names

These people were certainly heroes.

Judy's in Bedford😍

We stopped in Bedford PA for the night.

49 dollars a night sounded pretty good!

After that we took the architectural walking tour around town.  Lovely way to spend the morning.

Loved the roof of this 12 century style church.

It was all so interesting.  Little did we know that we weren't far from F L Wright's Falling Water.  It needed reservations however and was just a bit too far off our path.

 

Courthouse entrance.

And have you ever noticed the cross and open Bible in the 6 frame door?

The log church at the bottom is the oldest one standing.  Now surrounded by tombstones.

Visit to Gettysburg

 The most interesting part of the Gettysburg experience was the 300+ foot mural created in the late 19th century by a Frenchman who came and painted this detailed description of Pickets Charge.
The mural hung in Boston for a long time until it was cut up and placed in crates, then forgotten.
It took years to reconstruct but this is the result.
It is more than 30 feet tall and the artists created the landscape to meet the painting so well that it is difficult to tell where the "real" ends and the painting begins.  Everything in the immediate foreground is "real" then the painting blends into it.

26 Miles Across the Sea.....and 42 years ago.....

Santa Catalina was awaiting for me...
Ken and I visited Catalina for the second time in our lives.  The first one being our honeymoon.
It was so beautiful.  Our San Diego hiking group scheduled a week on the island.
Thanks to organizers everyone had a wonderful time.

 This is our wonderful Banning bungalow at Two Harbors.  The Banning family owned the island before selling it to Wrigley.  Highly recommend staying here for the peace and quiet.

 Amazing interior of the Casino.  They show movies every night.  Artwork is classic deco.

 

Back stage putting on makeup just like the stars...

                                                  Ballroom for thousands.

 

Saying goodbye in the morning.  So pretty.

Easter evening in Old Town

Gold Country for the day!

Left Turlock at 9:00 and drove up to Ironstone Winery by 10:30.

Walked around the beautiful grounds, ate a delicious lunch then took a guided tour at 1:30.

Welcomed by a 49er

Took a look at the museum with the 40+
pound gold nugget first - discovered in 1992.

  There's still "gold in them thar hills!"

Beginning the tour

Original bar that came around the horn

Beautiful

Loved spending time with friends in an amazing place.