Val & Terrell's adventure

2006-09-04T07:51:00.000-07:00

Well...that's all folks! We made it back to Louisville on Thursday, Aug. 31. We have loved every mile of our journeys this summer but also glad to be home. Until next time....happy trails to all!
Val, Terrell & Robin

2006-09-04T07:34:00.000-07:00

Along the road home we had to visit Terrell's favorite store, Cabela's. Have to go check out that Bargain Cave, dove season is here!

2006-09-04T07:28:00.000-07:00

Views of upstate New York and Lake Chautauqua.

Chautauqua, NY

2006-09-04T07:19:00.000-07:00

We left Niagara Falls and headed west along the north west portion of New York. We stopped in Dunkirk on the coast of Lake Erie for a night. Next day we wandered around Chautauqua County famous for the Chautauqua Art Institute.
We loved this sign as we were passing by.

2006-08-30T17:51:00.000-07:00

Robin helps Terrell navigate from her perch in the back.

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A lone Golden Rod grows along the bridge to Goat Island at Niagara.

Seneca Casino on the US side, a pretty building that rises from the somewhat nasty city on the NY side. Canada side is much nicer.

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NIAGARA!

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Niagara Falls, NY & Canada.

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Funky purple flowers.

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Lake Placid, easy to see how it got its' name.

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The pool at the Hilton overlooks Lake Placid, what a beautiful town! Lake Placid really has its' tourism act together; very beautiful, walkable, nice shops and dining, beautiful views abound. Everything looks so colorful and well kept. Crowded but a good flow through the town made it easy to navigate.

2006-08-30T14:47:00.000-07:00

We left the New Hampshire mountains and made our way to St. Albans, Vermont and holed up there for 2 nights recovering from our long hike and waiting for a rainstorm to pass through.

We drove through the Adirondack Mountains which are most beautiful and green with ribbons of water running along everywhere. Here Robin watches waterfowl in the distance while checking out this river.

2006-08-27T12:01:00.000-07:00

Along the enchanting trail.

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Robin enjoys the view at one of the lookout points.

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Over the top and on the way down.

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View of the White Mountians from Mt. Dickey.

2006-08-27T07:45:00.000-07:00

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Welcome to New Hampshire, the Granite State where it is a lot warmer than upland Maine! Here we are hiking up a trail we found called the Welch-Dickey Trail which climbs Dickey Mountain. Naturally, we had to take the challenge. A moderte 3-4 hour hike on one of the most beautiful days this region has to offer. Dickey Mountian is named after John Sloan Dickey, 1907-1991, American diplomat, scholar & intellectual who was President of Dartmouth College 1945-1970.

2006-08-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

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Here come some flower shots, mostly from the Acadia area.

2006-08-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

Our front yard view of Moosehead Lake where we are residing in a cute little cabin for a few days. Skies are wonderfully dramatic in these parts. Weather is pretty nippy; warm when the sun is shining, nice when a cloud passes by but spine chilling reminders of colder seasons when the wind blows up here. The wind is rather gusty much of the time.

2006-08-23T13:41:00.000-07:00

Sunset on Moosehead Lake in Moosehead, Maine.

2006-08-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

Fishing on the Penobscot River outside of Bangor in Milford, Maine.

2006-08-23T13:22:00.000-07:00

I just had to go back and find this photo from several days ago of Robin covered in dirt because we think it is so funny. She had been playing with the dogs at Dara's place all morning having a grand time. Naturally she got a bath later.

2006-08-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

While touring Bangor, we had to sneak a peak at Steven King,s mansion, and then the following day we in Milford, Maine, which is across the river from Old Town, home of the old canoe manufacturer known far and wide.

2006-08-23T12:34:00.000-07:00

Scenes from Acadia National Park.

2006-08-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

A stop along the hiking trail in Acadia.

2006-08-23T12:17:00.000-07:00

Here we are at our campsite in Acadia National Park in Maine. Beautiful area and crowded this time of year, we got the last available campsite when we made the reservation several days before.

We are way behind on posting photos as we have been having tech problems and we have spent the last couple of days upland in Maine with no internet access. We'll try to catch up when we can.

2006-08-21T07:41:00.000-07:00

42nd Street NYC

2006-08-21T06:54:00.000-07:00

We made it to New York City on Saturday Aug 12 to visit with friends Sheila and Steve, Robin is behind us in the back of the truck. This is actually Tuesday, the day we left for Vermont. Robin had a big time learning dog city life with Shelby, her host dog pal plus how to live closed in with cats and not get a nose full of scratches. We had a blast riding and walking all around the city. Managed a little shopping too of course! Hope to upload some fun photos but still having tech problems so we are only able to get one or two up on occasion. We have so many fun photos and more flowers to share so we'll keep working on it.

2006-08-21T05:56:00.000-07:00

Here's the Birthday girl, Kelsey who turns 17 this month. What a great party we had on Friday night!

2006-08-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

We're back online for uploading! For the moment at least! Here we are with Val's old time buddy, Dara, and her main man Walt at the Crab Claw in St. Michael's on the Eastern Shore last Friday evening. Bring on the treasures of the Chesapeake! We toured a wonderful Maritime Museum there full of interesting views of the history and maritime culture of the area before retiring to this delightful wharfside restaruant that offers the freshest of seafood and local bounty.

2006-08-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks, we are still having trouble uploading photos to the blog. Couldn't work on it the last few days as we were camping in Acadia National Park. We are now way behind on postings but we'll keep trying. We have great photos to share! Stay tuned....

2006-08-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

Dara and Walt's cozy home nestled on 6 acres of wooded bliss near Centreville. 3 days of big fun were had here, especially for Robin who had 5 dogs: Lucy, Cinder, Bonnie, Bojangles, Little Lou and a few cats: Fat Bastard aka Studley and that black one with 3 good legs to keep her busy.

2006-08-16T08:15:00.000-07:00

Driving across the Bay Bridge from Annapolis to the Eastern Shore of Maryland heading to Dara's in Centreville.

We brought along a new companion for this leg!

2006-08-16T07:59:00.000-07:00

2006-08-15T13:13:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhhh no! We are experiencing some kind of technical difficulties with the photo uploading system here at our blog. As we settle into our Vermont Inn and rest up from a whirlwind of activity on the Eastern Shore and in NYC, we'll be looking into the matter so please tune in again later and we'll try to get some photos up soon.

2006-08-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

2006-08-14T17:21:00.000-07:00

We started the Eastern/New England part of our journey on Wednesday August 9th and headed to our first stop in Centreville, MD on the Eastern Shore. We are visiting our friends Dara and Walt and Dara's girl's Brooke Anne and Kelsey. In fact, we are fortune enough to be passing through when Kelsey's 17th birthday is being celebrated by one and all.

2006-07-28T07:19:00.000-07:00

Hello All,
If you have checked our blog lately you have noticed that things stopped at the Bonnieville Salt Flats in Utah. We were rolling on back home after that and made a stop in Nebraska where we went to the Henry Warp Pioneer Village, a great place to spend a few hours looking at countless things from the past to the near present. Carraiges, cars, planes, trains, boats, an old school house, chruch, firehouse, household goods and so much more. Fascinating place and we highly reccomend a visit if you are in the area. From there we stopped in Kansas City again and stayed with Teddy and Jack, thanks for putting us up! Then on back home to Louisville we went.
Our blog will start again in a couple of weeks when we head up to the North East part of the country including New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and points in between. We'll send out a mass emailing before we leave to let you know when the blog will be active again. For now we are resting at home in Louisville and solidifying our plans for the next trip.
Thanks to all who came on to view our adventures and make comments.
Until then, happy trails to all!
Love,
Val and Terrell

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The Bonnieville Salt Flats.

2006-07-16T08:19:00.000-07:00

Look what Terrell found. He is always out scouting for waterfowl. The water at the surface is 68 in summer, but go down below 90 feet and it stays 39 year round.

2006-07-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

This is beautiful Lake Tahoe. A rare picture because there are NO PEOPLE in it. Wow was it crowded!

2006-07-14T20:51:00.000-07:00

River along hwy #299 from the Arcata, California on the coast to Hwy #5. A 2-lane highway that runs 157 miles and it took us nearly 3 1/2 hours to get to hwy#5. Some contruction delays but they were minor. The last 8-10 miles were what seemed never ending down hill sharp curves of the mountain and while Terrell was having a blast driving I nearly lost my lunch!

2006-07-14T20:48:00.000-07:00

California sticker shock gas prices. Photo taken July 12 so they may be higher now.

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The California coastline heading south from Redwood towards Eureka.

2006-07-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

Taking a break on the road out of Redwood to take some photos.

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The clovers that grow along the forest floor were giant.

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The tree is most thankful for being saved , and is now protecting Val from the elements.

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Here you see a real tree hugger getting warmed up.

Redwood National Park

2006-07-14T09:28:00.000-07:00

On the trail of the Redwoods...enchanting walk through the forest.

Mores Coastal Views

2006-07-14T09:20:00.000-07:00

A front moving along the coast like a great wall. A quiet beach in Oregon.

2006-07-11T22:49:00.000-07:00

This huge formation is called Whaleshead rock which is located along the southern coast of Oregon. There were rock faces all along this stretch of the coast.

2006-07-11T22:40:00.000-07:00

Here is some of the spectacular coastline we saw on our way to Brookings OR. The road hugs the coastline alot along this stretch of 101.

2006-07-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah....we had to dig out one time but we got it out it about 10 minutes. This exercise was NOT in the check-out (training) video we had to watch before taking it out on the dunes, so we had to wing it!

2006-07-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

On board camera shows the dunes to be conquered.

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The onboard camera captures the excitement.

2006-07-11T20:11:00.000-07:00

On the beach getting the engine warmed up.

Dune buggy rides

2006-07-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

Here we are starting off on "Mr. Dickey's Wild Ride". E ticket required.

2006-07-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

These little guys are very tiny but must be hardy to grow in this climate and short growing season. Not to mention that the soil is mostly rock and pumus from the ancient volcanic activity that created this lake 7,700 years ago.

2006-07-11T09:50:00.000-07:00

Mountain flowers along the rim of Crater Lake.

2006-07-11T09:39:00.000-07:00

Val getting ready to pitch a summer snowball at TD.

2006-07-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

TD in front of as yet unmelted snow above Crater Lake on the trail up to the Lodge.

2006-07-11T09:23:00.000-07:00

I don't know why this photo of the butterfly (or moth?) won't publish turned the way it should be....anyway...DeeDee get your butterfly book out and see if you can identify this one.

2006-07-11T09:06:00.000-07:00

Terrell pointing out one of the many amazing wild flowers that grow along the crater's rim. This one is a mountain astor I think. Anyone know for certain?

2006-07-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

You just can't take a bad picture of Crater Lake which is up to 1900 feet deep.

Crater Lake

2006-07-11T08:50:00.000-07:00

Terrell warming up for a swan dive off the cliff...Yeah, right.

2006-07-11T01:25:00.000-07:00

You know, we should at least have one shot together in a national park! Here we are at Glacier smiling for the camera. We never could find a way down to the water's edge. Valerie wanted to swim across it until I told her about the Crator Lake monster.....actually we decided it would most likely be way to cold for swimming. The brilliant blue color of the water is breathtaking.

Crater Lake National Park, Oregon (Wow!)

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View from the window of our tent. Ahhhh....good morning...crank up the coleman stove and fire up some coffee it's going to be a good day!

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Sunset at the campsite at Diamond Lake.

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Photo from our campsite at Diamond Lake just outside Crater Lake National Park.

The road to Crater Lake

2006-07-10T23:53:00.000-07:00

Oregon is just exquisite in its' beauty. This is Umpqua River on hwy 138 on the way to Crater Lake.

2006-07-10T23:45:00.000-07:00

OK, OK...enough with the roses, but believe me, we have a lot more photos of them if anyone is interested in seeing more when we get back.

2006-07-10T23:42:00.000-07:00

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2006-07-10T23:34:00.000-07:00

Sister Melanie, bro-in-law Joe, and my buddy Leo rose lovers all...these posts are for you and all who love the rose...by any other name would smell as sweet.

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This is a very small section of the rose garden.

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Portland has many beautiful parks and gardens, we didn't take time to visit them all but we did go explore the famous Rose Garden. WOW! I am only going to post a few photos but we took lots of them here! If you are a rose fan this is your destination paradise!

2006-07-10T23:05:00.000-07:00

Lobby of the Deluxe. Thanks to Zach and Annie at the front desk and John, our dinner captain who was fantastic and most hilarious. You have one fine hotel here and when we return to Portland again sometime we will certainly stay at the Deluxe.

Portland, Oregon

2006-07-10T22:53:00.000-07:00

Portland was a delightful surprise all the way around. We found this hotel, the Deluxe Hotel (formerly the Mallory) that just completed a 11 million $ renovation. The theme is Golden Age Hollywood with wonderful vintage photos throughout and the best beds either of us have ever enjoyed in any hotel anywhere. King size beds, lots of down pillows and down comforters, triple sheets. Best sleep you'll ever have outside of home. The restaurant offers delicious fare, the lounge is a local favorite and our favorite hotel so far. If anyone is going to Portland anytime soon-make a reservation here!

2006-07-10T22:50:00.000-07:00

The Space Needle.

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Terrell just had to get a photo of this space age Port O Potty that had electric sliding doors....beam me up Scotty!

2006-07-10T22:41:00.000-07:00

Seattle harbor

2006-07-10T22:32:00.000-07:00

Downtown Seattle has a freeway between its' harbor and vibrant downtown...much like Louisville's I-64. Perhaps there is something to be learned here. It does provide a lot of shaded parking....and greening it up is nice too. Hmmmm....

2006-07-10T22:28:00.000-07:00

Seattle

2006-07-10T22:21:00.000-07:00

Pike Place Market in Seattle....you need it...they have it. How wonderful to have all this fresh seafood available everyday. Dinner parties in Seattle must be awesome.

Over the Fence in Sequim

2006-07-08T08:29:00.000-07:00

We found this adorable store in Sequim, lots of really neat stuff. Hey Noel, how do you like this chair?

2006-07-08T07:58:00.000-07:00

More beautiful flowers at Purple Haze...a shout out to Leo aka "Paco"...wish you could have been with us! Mike Reichner, the owner, says to tell you hello.

Sequim Washington & Purple Haze

2006-07-08T07:45:00.000-07:00

Enjoyed a very relaxing, warm, sunny afternoon at Purple Haze lavender farm. A wonderful change from the cooler, wetter climes up in Canada.

2006-07-08T07:35:00.000-07:00

On the ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles, Washington.