Coming to an End

So, we were in Russellville, AR and had completely unreliable internet! One moment I would be logged into the network, the next I wouldn't be. Yesterday we began our day in Oklahoma City. What a neat little town. It is really nice downtown. We stopped in to see the OKC Memorial for the bombing that happened in 1995. How very moving. Everything is placed in a certain position for a reason. You get the feeling that the memorial was painstakingly planned out. We know it is painstakingly maintained for we witnessed garderners clipping grass by hand. The groundskeepers are very respectful of visitors, stopping their work as you approach the area they are in and waiting for you to pass.

This tree stood on that day in April, in a parking lot across the street from the Murrah building. As you can see it survived and is now called The Survivor's Tree.

We were surprised to learn that the memorial receives no federal dollars for maintenance. It seems for all the money our government throws away that it could contribute to this very important memorial.

From OKC, we traveled east across Oklahoma to Fort Smith, Arkansas.

This was, at one time a fort set up by the US to help bring the law to the western most state in the union. It sat on the border of Arkansas and not Oklahoma, but Indian Territory.

After Fort Smith, we spent the night in Russellville, AR as previously mentioned.

Today, we went to Fox, AR to see where my dad was born, raised, and now lies forever. Sorry folks, no pictures. It was nice to be able to show the boys where part of their family comes from.

Even though we won't be home for another couple of days, our trip to unfamiliar places is over. Hubby no longer has to research hotel prices and availability in places where we think we may be. We will be with family, in a place we know, in a town we know. I've said this before, but while this trip has been fun and we have seen some great things, it will be a relief to be somewhere familiar!

I will be taking a few days off. But once home, will get back to posting again. Thanks for "coming along" on this fantastic journey with us. Check back to see what other adventures our family undertakes!

A bit out of order.

If you are looking for what we have been up to, you'll have to scroll down. Sorry. That comes from me trying to post, but having such awful internet, well you know the story! :)

Today is the first day I haven't taken any pictures in 29 days. But that doesn't mean today was any less special.

We left New Mexico and are now in Oklahoma City. While driving, we took a slight detour to see a very blessed young woman. One of my neighbor's daughter's was in a bad car accident a bit over two weeks ago. We took some time to visit her, her husband, and my friend. Thank you to them for letting us stop by and say hello. We will continue to pray for your recovery. :)

Tomorrow it is on to Fort Smith, Arkansas. No more big cities for the next couple of days. So posting may be a bit spotty. We'll just have to play it by ear.

The traveling is winding down. By this time next week we will have been home for a day. Home. We can already tell we are getting closer. When we had been in Oklahoma for about an hour, I woke up(yes, I took a cat nap in the car, at least I wasn't driving!), and noticed I SAW GREEN! There were green, tall, deciduos trees along the road side. There was grass, green grass that had been cut, along the road side and in the median. Grass - short, roughly manicured, grass! Green grass! I cannot express the joy, the sense of calm, the relaxation that I felt. Wow. I knew everything was brown. I knew everything was dry. I had noticed, even admired the rock that made up the landscape. I also knew I missed the green. In talking with hubby a few days ago, we had wondered when things were going to change. We knew we were in a dry dessert climate. But we know that in central Arkansas, where we will be Tuesday, it is green and forrested. Where would the change occur? We began to see the change happening today. What a relief. I think I have my color for Oklahoma(Every state has a color that represents it. More on that later.)!

Home is getting closer each day. The boys and I have been gone a month and by this time next week we will be getting back in a groove. Hopefully not too much of a groove. The sense of adventure that comes with every day is exciting. I think the four of us will agree though, it will be nice to know where we will be sleeping each night. It will also be nice to go to a closet to get our clothes and not a suitcase!

Slight Delay

Well, last night our hotel had too weak a signal and I couldn't get internet. Tonight, our hotel has a very slow internet. I tried to upload pictures, but it is just taking way too long! So, please bear with me. I will try again tomorrow, when we will be in a bigger city.

Suffice it to say, my experience in New Mexico has not yielded the greatest internet service. Glad I don't have to work from home here - probably wouldn't work.

On the other hand, we did have some awesome Mexican Food this afternoon!

I was so looking forward to sharing some pictures with you today too! We had a great time at Mesa Verde yesterday. And today.....well for those who have our itinerary, we didn't follow it! We took a turn south and took advantage of a local festival. :) Sungarlandpal - another surprise location! I know you guys love them!!

I will try to post from Oklahoma City tomorrow, new state, bigger city, perhaps some luck!

And the mystery place was:

I'll give you a couple hints. See if you can guess....

We got up early. As proof, we were in the car and had driven 1/2 hour when we were treated with this beautiful sunrise.
So clue number 1: You have to get up early to see this.


Did that help? Well, how about this - Clue number 2: We were in Albuquerque.

Figure it out yet? We went to the 39th Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. At 7:00AM they have what is called "Mass Ascension". What a site! Hundreds of hot air balloons in the air, all shapes, colors, and sizes.

Yes, you do see a soda can in the air!

And, just for the record, if you had asked if I ever thought I would see the Balloon Fiesta I would have answered, "When pigs fly!" Well, what do you know. :)

It really is a site to see. Every balloon is different. Seeing them so close is fantastic.

Some of the balloons are the traditional shape we have all come to know. But some of the balloon makers get quite creative.

Dempsey and Palmer just can't take their eyes off the sky!

Undescribable.

I'll leave you with the knowledge that the balloon in the commercials really exist. Maybe aerial scenes are shot at the Fiesta.

This was totally unplanned. Hubby was reading a New Mexico guide we picked up at the Visitor's Center and learned that the Fiesta was beginning this weekend. We completely lucked out. And as I eluded to before, after the festival we had some really good Mexican food. Yum! So despite the interent deficiencies we experienced, Albuquerque was neat.

Mesa Verde

Whew! We are back to a hotel that has fast router! WooHoo!! Sticking to the cities has it's advantages. Two days ago, Friday, we were here, in south west Colorado.
To get into Mesa Verde, you start at about 5800 feet. Once you enter the park, you climb to 8800 feet, so the view you get is fantastic!

Mesa Verde is a park showcasing the dwellings of the puebloan Indians dating from the 1200's. Although some of what archeologists have found dates back to 575 AD.

Some of the cliff dwellings you can see from the park road. There are ranger led tours given to a few of the dwellings, if you are willing to ascend a ladder like this:

and this:

If you are willing to brave such climbs, you can see kiva's that the Indians built and used like this one.

If you are looking for more of a tame, calm experience, you can elect to wait for those who are daring. It makes it all worth it when you are able to capture the Pinyon Jay, a beautiful bird native to Colorada, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona.

And just to give you a general feel for where these Indians chose to make their home, take a look:

No easy way in, no easy way out. Steep mountain climbs were a part of their daily life. I would either never leave or never go home!

The Indians put this Yucca plant to good use. It is a hard, stiff, unyielding plant. They would use the fibers to make baskets, and weave the fibers together to make rope and blankets. Nothing wasted. The Indians were the first true recyclers! Yucca planta grow out here like weeds! They are among the first plants to come back after a fire. I guess the Indians who lived here were just as hardy as the Yucca.

This morning we got up early to head back out to the Petrified National Forest Park. It gets mighty hot here during the day, although it is in the mid 40's at night. And can I just say, the lack of trees here means NO shade!

Well, fighting the early bird for the worm paid off. We were able to hike a trail and had a nice breeze, and saw some amazing wood rock. This very old petrified wood is hard like rock, but at times has the feel of plastic. When you find shards on the ground, you get the feeling the Indians could have used the pieces as cutting tools.

In some pieces, you can find every color of the rainbow. Pretty awesome!
In some places, the wood rock is strewn about. Everything you think is a rock in this picture is really the petrified wood.

We didn't see too much wildlife, it is the desert. But we did see this cute little guy, and a bunch of his buddies.

And even if we are in the desert, God provides for the need to see beauty in little ways,

and in big ways! Keep in mind, we haven't gotten to the Painted Desert, yet.

In 1250 - 1300, Native Americans lived in this area. They were gracious enough to leave some evidence of their lives. These are petroglyphs in Petrified National Forest.

Aside from the bird and his flock, we did manage to see a few cute lizards. Very colorful and very fast! This guy was a bit camera shy.

After seeing the colorful lizard, we gazed upon a colorful landscape. The pictures don't show it, but as with the petrified wood, there is every color of the rainbow in these rocks. It is just gorgeous.

All day today, we have been in the four corner area. Traveling through the North-Western part of New Mexico, we drove through a Navajo Indian Reservation. On the reservation, there are rock formations, standing by themselves. These were very captivating since they looked like some kind of castle that you would see in The Lord of the Ring movies.

While seeing all of this beauty today, there were some special people back home that are on our mind. These dear friends are having some hard times come upon them, either with a loss of a loved one, or having someone dear involved in an accident. We are so blessed to be able to have the experience of this trip, but please know we are praying for you and thinking of you every day. And we will soon be home(a bit over a week) to give hugs, cry, laugh, and chat together.

Have a terrific tomorrow and we hope those in the mid-Atlantic have enough clothes lines to hang everything out to dry!

Eagles

Here is a glimpse of Arizona! What a pretty day we had, not a cloud in the sky. This part of Arizona gets, on average, 9 inches of rain a year. So lots of sunshine, and again, very dry - do you know you don't need coasters out here? Drinks do not condensate!
Today's first stop was Meteor Crater. So many thousands of years ago, a meteorite crashed into the earth and created this crater.

For your reading pleasure, you can read some interesting facts about the crater. It was pretty neat to see. It really is big, but it is hard to get perspective as to just how big when your standing at the side. But knowing the depth is greater than the Washington Monument is tall helps!

While we have been in Arizona, we have been shadowing Route 66. A couple of nights ago, we ate at a restaurant right on Route 66. Today, we passed this:

How adorable! Of course the boys wanted to stay in the wigwams, but our day just wasn't over yet.

We had more to see at:

Wood turned to rock: a little water, a little sand and sediment, a whole lot of time!

Next to the Petrified National Forest is the Painted Desert.

We didn't have time to see much of either park, so we will be going back tomorrow. If what we saw today was any indication, we have more Wow moments ahead.

We are in week four of this terrific trip. While we are having fun and seeing some great things, we do miss home and the people we love. Living out of a suitcase is a bit old, as is changing hotels every night.

The things we are seeing and the experiences we are having, make it worth the packing and unpacking. We now understand the whole "it's a dry heat" thing. And the boys are learning more about the geography of this country than they could sitting at home.

We are also learning that people in Rhode Island must be really happy because they don't leave their state! That is the only state we have left to find for the license plate game. :)

Oh, and are you wondering why in the world this post is titled "Eagles"? Well, we went through Winslow, Arizona today. Hubby kept saying he had a certain song going through his head! On the way to Winslow, there is a billboard inviting you to stand on a corner! How cute!

Today the weather was "grand", and we had a "grand" drive to:
Wow!

Of course pictures, as usual do not do what we saw justice. And while we were enjoying the "grand" vista and the panoramic picture, we also took in the little sites. Like this cactus. We certainly don't see these growing in the wild back home!

What surprised us all was the amount of pine trees(Utah Junipers, Pinyon Pines, Ponderosa Pines) leading up to the grand canyon and on the rim of the grand canyon.

You could stand in one spot and look all over. When you think you have seen everything, you notice something else. What you are looking at is so big, it's pretty neat when you pick out little things to notice also. For instance, this rock balancing on top of another rock. Ok, this isn't exactly a little thing, but it is small compared to it's surroundings.

This is what you see all aroung the rim. Blue sky, sandy soil, and pine trees.

The Grand Caanyon is really something to see. Of course, we only saw a fraction of it. But what we saw was really great!

Here are the boys, watching the sun set over the canyon. Seeing things like this really makes you think, puts life back into perspective.

Last picture for today, here is the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon. The river responsible for the canyon itself(God is never mentioned in the creation of the canyon. Hmmmm). The rive is 300 feet wide if you can believe it. Certainly does not look like 300 feet, but then we are a good ways away! Of course Dempsey and Palmer were all for taking a "quick" walk to the canyon floor. "Dad, it's only a mile down!" We're now in the hotel, so I think you know what the answer was. :)