Iwo Jima Statue

Jamie, with Fisher, left and Hunter, right. It was COLD that day when we explored the Iwo Jima Statue.

Hunter and Fisher were fascinated by the Iwo Jima statue. They were proud of the soldiers raising our flag.

The Netherlands Carillion

The carillion was built using funds raised by residents of The Netherlands to express their gratitude for aid received from America before, during and after World War II. We were there when the bells rang. It was beautiful.

View of some of the gravestones in Arlington National Cemetary.

My first trip to Washington, DC

We drove from the home of my Virginia Family to DC to stay a couple of days. Certainly not long enough to see the city, but at least a start. The photo below is my first sighting of the Washington Memorial. Had to take that picture through the windshield to record my excitement. What a thrill to see the first of the tributes to heros of our country.

The Iwo Jima Statue was really beautiful and thrilling.

The Jefferson Memorial from near the Iwo Jima statue. Construction all over town.....

Colorado Trip October 2008

Mountains in the White River National Forest on the road to Maroon Bells Scenic Area. Absolutely beautiful day - even when it was snowing. I want to go back to Aspen and Maroon Bells one day, but have so much to see first.

















Snow falling on the mountains.















When the clouds clear....

Jamie and Tracy! Lets go back there!

Super-dooper Mechanics

Dottie is going to have to help me remember their names!































This young fella was the one who crawled under the RV to try to figure out what was wrong. What a really nice guy!

RVing and racing - great lifestyles where you meet wonderful people!

Some photos from Infineon Raceway, June 2008

Dale, Jr.'s 88 car
















Brian Vickers' car
















Jimmie Johnson's car
















Jeff Gordon's car.

I dragged my friend Dottie to the races at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma County, CA, last summer. The generator in my RV decided to pick that weekend to go south on me - turned out it was a hole in the fuel hose - so her dog got sick while we were trying to figure out what was wrong. Met some really nice guys who checked it out and decided they couldn't fix it so Dottie drove back to Sacramento to take Mitzi to the vet and to pick up her motorhome. We moved my motorhome to a friend's house and moved Dottie's RV to our campsite. It was HOT! 100+ while we were sitting in the stands for qualifying.

Dottie's generator worked when we needed it. But, during the race, she told me she was going to the restroom. Little did I know that SHE got sick, too! She was discovered not feeling well in the restroom and a track employee gave her a ride back to the RV. Thank goodness it wasn't anything serious!

Wonder if I can convince her to try it again this summer. Whaddya think, Dot??

Sharon's Back Yard

Lovely Iris!
















Better pick off the dead flowers.

















Kumquats. They look like oranges, but they are only as large as my thumb.
















Fantastic lemons! Great for cooking or lemonade.

Winery Trip with my Sisters and a Friend

This is the view from one of the wineries...William Hill? I think so. Sharon will tell me. ;-)



















It is so beautiful in the Napa Valley wine country in the spring.













Sharon and Mary at the entrance to Mario Andretti's winery. Nice setting, but I'm not that impressed by his wines yet.
















Spring was busting out all over on this beautiful day!

Catching up on Blogging

Dogwood blooms. I love dogwood and try to be in areas where the trees are blooming as often as I can. This was up the mountain from Lake of the Springs; Barb and I found it when we took a drive from the campground into the mountains.

The geese were living on a lake - don't remember the name of it right now - that my friend Barb and I visited last Spring from Lake of the Springs. We had a couple of nice drives when I stayed up there.

This is camping on top of a hill at Lake of the Springs in California. From this perch, we watched a forest fire burning and the California Department of Forestry fighting the fire from the air. I'm sure there were some ground crews there, too, but we couldn't see them from three ridges away. I'll post pictures from that experience in the next blog.

Minnesota is still lovely

I love Lake Superior! This was taken on a rather stormy day on the North Shore. Wouldn't it be nice to have a home on the shore? Guess I need to win the lottery!


Had to post a picture of the moon from Friday, December 12! It was absolutely beautiful and at the perigee, closer to the earth than it will be again for many years. Thanks to my sister, Sharon, for the email about the BIG moon! We took a couple of pictures and hurried inside because it was about 20F and windy! The warmth of the house was calling to us.

It HAS been more than a month since I updated the blog! Blame my sister, Dianne, for keeping me so busy while I was in Minnesota and my son, daughter-in-law and grandgirls for keeping me busy in Indiana?! I did get my driver's license renewed while passing through South Dakota - oh, and picked up my mail to save on the postage once in five years. Drove within a few miles of one of my Jeff Gordon Network friends and didn't know it until I was already in South Dakota and too far from Nebraska to turn back. Next time, Tanya!

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my sister Dianne, her husband Bob and tons of his brothers, sisters-in-law, grandkids, nieces and nephews. Thanks to Dianne for the showers and the use of her laundry facilities while I was in MN. It got VERY cold while I was there but now it is VERY VERY cold there and VERY cold here in Indiana. Had propane delivered one time and had to drive to the neighborhood Holiday station to fill it up another time. I'm learning how to keep the pipes from freezing in the RV while using less propane and more electric heat. Need to get some propane here this week. Too bad I can't have it delivered, but no such luck.

One last visit to Maroon Bells

We went back to Aspen and Maroon Bells for one more time. Of course, we had to have lunch at Little Annie's Eatery again. More good food and great company. The picture below....More mountains I can't name, but aren't they beautiful?



Maroon Bells at sunset. The third picture is Jamie Lee taking pictures. The fourth picture is Jamie Lee and her mom having a good laugh.

Lunch at Little Annie's in Aspen

While we were shopping in Aspen, we decided we were hungry and asked a nice man who was working in one of the shops where he would go to eat. He suggested Little Annie's Eating House. Wonderful suggestion! I had some great Split Pea Soup and Jamie and Tracey had the Beef Stew. The bread served with the meal was teriffic!

I am trying to use Picassa to post pictures in the blog, but it isn't behaving! I can't put captions on some of the photos below for some reason. It must be operator error. LOL Below the picture of the entrance to Little Annie's is one of the menu and then a photo of Tracey.

Below the picture of Jamie and Tracey with snow in their hair, is a photo I took of an article that was on the wall in the restaurant. The article has a lot of nice things to say about Little Annie's and I agree. Great restaurant, good wait staff and good food. A couple more pictures of downtown Aspen and a photo of the mountains I took as we left town complete today's posts.

We will be going back to Aspen tomorrow and I hope to get some pictures with blue sky above the mountains.
























I had to play with my new toy....a macro lens!




















Some of the decor in Little Annie's

Out on the street in Aspen - it was snowing when we got done with lunch!