But first we had a great breakfast at the Falcon.

There’s a good-looking man standing by the restaurant.

I picked him up and we headed to the Petrified Forest National Park.

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Our first stop was the Visitor Center.

Theodore Roosevelt created Petrified Forest National Monument on December 8, 1906. Petrified Forest was designated as a national park on December 9, 1962. The park boundary encloses 221,390 acres, with legislation in 2004 more than doubling the authorized size of the park. It has hundreds of species of plants and animals in the park and over 13,000 years of human history can be found in the park, including over 800 archeological and historic sites.

Petrified Forest National Forest is best known for its ancient trees that have crystallized over 225 million years into rainbow colors. The park also features fossils from huge 18-foot unusual creations known as Phytosaurs, as well as remnants from 13,000 years of human history, including the remains of villages, tools, and grinding stones. A 28-mile road runs through the park, offering a number of short hiking trails into the diverse landscape of wild grasslands and Painted Desert vistas and colorful badlands.

Petrified Forest is one of the most continuous sections of Triassic-aged rocks anywhere in the world.

Our first sop in the park was Giant Logs.

When the trees died, they washed into an ancient river system and formed log jams, buried sediment. Minerals, including silica dissolved from volcanic ash, absorbed into the porous wood over hundreds and thousands of years crystallized within the cellular structure, replacing the organic material as it broke down over time. If there were larger spaces such as a hollow or crack in the logs, crystals of clear quartz, purple amethyst, yellow citrine, and smoky quartz formed.

Dave is showing the petrified area.

Giant Logs area features some of the largest and most colorful logs in the park.

The tree’s look like they fell recently, someone used a chainsaw to cut them up. But they fell down and just cracked, but they are hard as stone. The colors were remarkable, the pictures don’t do them justice.

Driving over to the Crystal Forest

Crystal Forest area is named for the presence of beautiful crystals that can be found in the petrified logs.

Dave knocking on the wood to show how hard it was.

We headed over to Agate Bridge

We’re now at Agate Bridge.

Agate Bridge, original called Natural Bridge, is a partially exposed petrified log spanning a gully at Agate Mesa, forming a “bridge”. This landmark has long been one of the most popular attractions in Petrified Forest since the beginning and in the early history of the park many visitors had their picture taken while standing on the “bridge”. Fear of the collapse of this landmark by the railroad—it was a major attraction—led to masonry pillars being constructed underneath is April of 1903, later followed by concrete in 1911. These were replaced by concrete beam in 1917 at the cost of $1700, paid for by the government and installed by the railroad. The log is about 100’ in length and 4’ in diameter at its base. It spans 40’ across the chasm and is 16’ above the canyon floor. In the late 1800s the paleobotanist Lester Ward proclaimed Agate Bridge to be the “most noted single petrified log in the world.”

Neat rock formations in the park.

A vibrant badlands region is also located inside the park. So we not only got to see Petrified wood but a Painted Desert too! The Blue Mesa hills display banded layers of blue, purple, gray, white, and peach mudstone. The clay and sandstone layers belong to the Late Triassic Chinle Formation. They formed roughly 220 to 225 million years ago. Colorful logs and fragments are scattered across the valley floor.

These hills are awesome, when you look at them they look blue sometimes . . .but with the sun hitting them and clouds sometimes they look more purple and pink.

Dave is pointing to some petrified logs.

Yet another park we’ve been to that the CCC did an incredible job.

We’re heading to Newspaper Rock and now the dessert hills looks more orange.

The archeological site known as Newspaper Rock is neither a newspaper nor a single rock. The site boasts over 650 petroglyphs covering a group of rockfaces within a small area. High concentrations of petroglyphs like this mark a place as hugely significant. Many generations of people saw these markings and contributed their own. The petroglyphs were created by ancestral Puebloan people living, farming, and hunting along the Puerco River between 650 and 2,000 years ago.

Look what we came upon a Kiva!

You can also get to the park by route 66. The Petrified Forest National park is the only national park on route 66, as the road crosses the northern part of the park. You can see the historic trace, a line of old telephone poles, and a rusted 1932 Studebaker placed on site to mark the path.

A fun stop on route 66

Our next stop would have been the Painted Desert Visitor Center but it was closed for remodeling.

We came upon “The Desert Inn” sitting inside the painted desert.

You can see the petrified wood above the door.

The original building was built around 1924 by Herbert David Lore as the “Stone Tree House,” it served as an isolated Route 66 retreat and trading post. Visitors could eat meals in the lunchroom, purchase American Indian arts and crafts, and enjoy a cool drink in the downstairs taproom. It also had six small rooms that were actually cubicles. They were available for two to four dollars per night. They also gave two-hour motor car tours through the Black Forest in the Painted Desert below the inn.

It was acquired by the National Park Service in 1936 and rebuilt from 1937 to 1940 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) into its current Pueblo Revival design.

It closed in 1963 due to shifting bentonite clay foundations, and it was going to be torn down in the 1970s, but the public saved it, and in 1987 it became a National Historic Landmark.

It is a historic Pueblo Revival–style landmark perched on Kachina Point and operates as a museum featuring it’s incredible panoramic desert views, and a seasonal ice cream parlor and ice cream paarlor.

It was an amazing to walk around and check out the Inn.

It was great looking about outside and seeing the nifty building and all the beautiful scenery you see from every angel.

The ice cream parlor is in the basement. We were in this charming Ice Cream Parlor and I didn’t even get an ice cream. I was to busy checking the place over.

Besides ice cream it serves coffee and snacks alongside some museum exhibits.

We’ll have to check out this movie.

There is a gift shop in the Desert Inn, It features a stain glass panel with Navajo patterns all made by the CCC guys. It’s really nice.

Off the gift shop was a wonderful sitting area. I’m sure this is were the guests sat watching the world go by and were being take care of by the staff.

The Building is no longer open as an inn for overnight guests or as a restaurant, but it was great going in and checking it all out.

There is a restored lunch room and dining area, now that is part of the museum. This was the lunch area where they originally served ice cream.

The dinning room area.

The CCC build the furniture as well.

The work of the CCC gave the Painted Desert Inn a new life. The inn reopened for business of July 4, 1940, under the management of Edward McGrath for Standard Concessions. The Painted Desert Inn supplied Route 66 travelers with meals, souvenirs, and lodging. It was popular with local residents as a place for meetings and special events.

Fred Harvey is back with his Harvey girls and Mary Colter. They redesigned the inn in 1947 with some murals and such.

The kitchen area

We’re checking out the bedroom area.

I had to find out a little bit more about “The Harvey Girls.” The Harvey Girls were a signature component of Harvey’s success and one of his most enduring legacies. Placing ads in Midwestern and Eastern publications, he solicited women between the ages of 18 and 30 to travel west and work as waitresses in his restaurants. Other qualifications included being unmarried and “of good character.” The “girls” signed yearlong contracts and lived next to or in the Harvey Houses, under the close supervision of a Harvey Girl with the longest tenure. If they left before the year was up—the most common reason for doing so was marriage—they forfeited a portion of their base pay.

It was a great way for women at that time to travel and be independent. Not only did these waitresses provide pleasant, efficient service, but in the early years of Harvey’s enterprise, at least, they were often the only single young women for miles around. That in itself would have been a draw, even if the food hadn’t been up to snuff.

It was time to leave the park and take along some more incredible pictures of the Painted Desert. We had a grand day at this beautiful park.

If you get a chance to visit the Petrified Woods National Park/Painted Desert National Park, it’s has to be extra beautiful at sunrise and sunset.

We left Thunderbird Lodge and were on our way to Ganado, AZ.

We went to check out a Trading Post there. I knew they existed long ago but I didn’t think there were any still standing and even open. A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory in European and colonial contexts, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded.

The Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site and is the oldest continuously operating trading post in the Navajo Nation. It’s been operating since 1878, and it has been northeastern Arizona’s center of commerce and cultural exchange. You can still walk through the original trading post, browse authentic Navajo rugs and crafts.

We went to the visitor center to find out more about it.

In the 1860s when the U.S. government’s forced the relocation of about 9,000 Navajos, and when they returned to Arizona in 1868, they no longer had their crops and livestock, so trading for goods, already a key component of the Navajo economy, became even more vital.

John Lorenzo Hubbell opened the Hubbell Trading Post in 1878. As a link between the Navajo Nation and the rest of the U.S., Hubbell supplied Navajos with many of the items to which they were introduced during their time in New Mexico, such as flour, sugar, canned goods and tobacco. Hubbell was 23 when he bought the property. He later married a Spanish woman named Lina Rubi, and they raised four children in the house they built at the site. Hubbell eventually created 30 trading posts in Arizona, New Mexico and California, and his descendants operated the original post until it was sold to the National Park Service in 1967. It’s now part of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site. The site includes nearby Hubbell Hill, where most of the original Hubbell family is buried.

Everyone came from far and near to this incredible place. The Hubbell family was accepted and loved by everyone. They even learned to speak the Indian’s language.

We left the visitor and headed to the Trading Post.

Check out the ceiling with all the baskets on it.

The Hubbell Trading Post had unbelievable items, both common and uncommon. It was another great stop, but unfortunately, we didn’t get to see and explore the historic homestead and barn, etc. because it was still raining, and the grounds of the Trading Post were all drenched from the continuous rain. If were ever this way again I know we’ll stop back.

After we left there we traveled to Winslow Arizona.

We were cruising on down Route 66 and came upon the famous landmark at East 2nd Street and North Kinsley Avenue in downtown Winslow, Arizona.

And the next thing we knew, were 🎶 “Standin on the Corner in Winslow, AZ.”🎤

This cool hippy dude is a huge Eagles fan, he never leaves this corner.

The pictures above are not on just one corner in Winslow, they were taken on all four corners in Winslow. We had good timing as we were just finished taking our pictures a whole load of people just got off a bus to get theirs taken. After that people riding motorcycles, etc. were here. Definitely a busy corner all hours of the day and night. One of the stores on the corner play Eagles music constantly. Another fun place to stop. If your ever passing through Winslow, you know what ya gotta do!

After all that excitement we went back to our motel room. We stayed at a remodeled motel from the 1960’s. We had The Arizona room. We stayed here till October 1st.

Dave is making a phone call from the telephone booth, I wonder if he has enough quarters?!

Can you remember the last time you used a phone booth? I do, it was in New York City during the end our honeymoon. Good thing I had lots and lots of quarters. 😄

When we got up the next morning it was still sprinkling so off we went off to the visitor center here in Winslow.

The historic brick structure located in Winslow, was built in 1917 and purchased by Lorenzo Hubbell Jr. in 1924 to serve as a wholesale warehouse and distribution point for the Hubbell company’s trading post network in Arizona. It came another trading post, owned by the son of whom we were just at yesterday.

It has been acquired and restored, and now the historic trading post building was repurposed to house the Winslow Visitor Center & Hubbell Trading Post, offering local tourism information alongside preserved architectural features, artifacts, and exhibits from the past. The building also houses the chamber of commerce.

An old original sign in the first photo and the second is of a neat wall marked with names and dates left by trading post employees decades ago. Staff once used coal and ash from heating stoves to sign and date their work areas, leaving behind inscriptions from February 1920 through 1967. More markings were found later in the basement. The graffiti was never allowed in public spaces, making these behind-the-scenes signatures a quiet record of those who worked there.

We were glad we to stopped in to see the place, especially since it was a great spot to visit in the rain. A gentleman there told us to check out La Posada down the street, mentioning it opened in 1927 with “Fred Harvey Standards.” Dave and I were curious about what those standards meant. We learned that Fred Harvey’s hotel and restaurant standards greatly improved travel in the American West by offering clean and classy hospitality instead of rough frontier stops. He mentioned that all high quality establishments still use his standards today.

Fred Harvey’s food and kitchen standards offered fresh ingredients for the food, fine tableware, a Teletype Pre-Ordering, a train brakemen telegraphed passenger menu selections ahead to the kitchen so meals were prepared and ready the moment travelers stepped off the train. A staff member struck a brass gong outside the entrance upon train arrival to guide passengers straight to their seats.

La Posada features 54 rooms, mostly named after famous guests and notable figures, including Albert Einstein, Amelia Earhart, John Wayne, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Howard Hughes. Recently, celebrities like Diane Keaton, Jackson Browne, Emilio Estevez, and James Turrell have visited, although some say it’s due to a lack of publicity they want their staying there to be private.

It features an outdoor heated pool, a hot tub and a 5 star restaurant to boot.

Fed Harvey replaced all the male waiters at the hotel because he found them unruly and misbehaving. He replaced them with the Harvey Girls. They wore matching black shirtwaist dresses, starched white aprons, and white caps with hair neatly pinned. Employees lived in supervised dormitories with strict curfews enforced by a head matron; rules prohibited heavy makeup, bad language, and breaking a year-long employment contract.

.Architecture and Cleanliness Standards

It was known for being extremely clean with high standards of sanitation in kitchens, dining rooms, and guest rooms—something rare on the 19th-century frontier. The architecture featured prominent architects like Mary Colter, who designed famous trackside hotels (like El Tovar and La Posada) that combined luxury with Southwestern and Native American styles. Additionally, authentic Native American art, crafts, and culture were showcased throughout the hotels.

La Posada was conceived as the finest hotel in the Southwest, the crown jewel of the Fred Harvey Company’s hospitality empire along the Santa Fe Railway. Designed by the famed Mary Jane Colter, she considered it her personal masterpiece. It opened in 1930, the hotel operated for just 27 years before closing. The original historic property closed in 1957 because of a severe decline in rail travel. It thrived during the golden age of train travel. However, the rise of the personal automobile and interstate highway travel caused it to close. Its museum-quality contents were auctioned, and its interior was gutted for offices, and it narrowly escaped demolition multiple times over the next 40 years.

Facing its final threat, the hotel was placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s endangered list, where it captured the attention of Allan Affeldt. After three years of complex negotiations, Affeldt and his partners purchased the property in 1997 and began the monumental task of restoration. They have since transformed La Posada from a ruin into a vibrant “living museum” that showcases history, architecture, and the art of Allan’s wife, renowned painter Tina Mion.

It’s an incredible hotel, and I love Tina Mion’s oil paintings. Next time I’m in Winslow I’ll be staying in their corner.

Being is was still sprinkling and dreary we headed back to the Arizona room and watched TV.

Cause 🎤🎼 “life is a Highway” 🎶, Do you remember that Song?

[Chorus]
Life is a highway
I want to ride it all night long
If you’re going my way
I want to drive it all night long

Do you remember it now?

Hey you know I can actually see for miles and miles, it looks awesome, 🎶 I can see for miles and miles, I can see for miles and miles.🎼

On our way to Chinle, Arizona.

We stopped atThe Four Corners Monument. The monument marks the spot in the Southwestern United States where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet. It is the only point where these four states connect.

Everyone enjoys standing, sitting, laying, or whatever in the center cause your in 4 states at the time.

When government surveyors found out where the states of Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico had come together, they installed a simple cement pad marking the spot in 1912. Over time, the monument evolved, with a granite marker bearing a copper disc established in 1992. Further improvements came in 2010 when the site added two intersecting lines through the center disc, marking the boundaries alongside the seal of each of the four states.

The Navajo Nation and Ute Tribe both own the property. They run the monument and sell their crafts and food here too. A fun stop for sure!

Our destination was the Thunderbird Lodge.

The Thunderbird Lodge is a historic lodge in Chinle Arizona. It is the only lodging facility in Canyon de Chelly National Monument, which was established in 1931. The lodge comes from an old trading post built in 1896.

The Lodge sits on the site of an 1896 trading post. It has pink adobe construction that is from the ancient pueblos. Dining is located in the original trading post and offers both continental and Navajo-style dishes. The dining room walls are adorned with Navajo rugs and artwork. A vault-like room in the center of the dining area once served as a jail for the trading post. The gift shop has some of the Native American jewelry, crafts and Navajo rugs.

The Trading Post had some really nice things.

The part of the lodge that the rooms were in was nice too. Our room # 62.

The canyon It is one of the longest continuously inhabited landscapes in North America, preserving the ruins of the Ancestral Navajo. The name “Chelly” comes from the Navajo word Tséyiʼ, meaning “canyon.” The area spans almost 84,000 acres. For nearly 5,000 years, people have used the towering sandstone walls of Canyon de Chelly.

It has 700-foot-tall sandstone walls, which was made by the Defiance Plateau (elongated uplift) into which the Chinle Wash has made its mark, creating homes for Paleo-Indians, Ancestral Puebloans, Hopi, and Navajo. Ancestral Puebloans. They built stone villages, campsites, shelters, and permanent homes, the remains of which are here today. They also survived harsh weather conditions and wars.

Now, the reason we headed out to the Lodge was to venture out on their Jeep Tours.

So on the morning of September 27th, we did just that . . .

Our jeep tour took us thru Canyon de Chelly – Ancient Home of the Navajo.

Ancient Navajo Dwellings on the cliffs.

While travelling in the jeep, Mike, our Navajo guide explained the significance of man-made structures and symbols like petroglyphs and pictographs.

These petroglyphs have horses and a person riding a horse.

Our guide told us that they call this cliff, Margareta, cause it always a hang over.

This is Cat overlook, cause the cat was looking over us as we passed through.

Another jeep behind us.

Dave is asking our guide Mike a question about the ancient Navajo Dwellings.

Mike grew up on this reservation and told us stores of being little and climbing and playing in the ancient dwellings.

Mike said the jeeps they use are, 6-wheel-drive, open-air German made Pinzgauer an all-terrain utility vehicle. They got them from the Australia sheep herders. They carry up to 10 passengers and are designed to handle the canyon’s deep sand, water crossings, and bumpy, unpaved terrain

And we did go through rough stuff, as you can see from the above pictures, Mike, us and the jeep are a rockin and a rollin.

That’s me holding on …

They call this rock formation Sleeping Duck, I agree maybe?

More petroglyphs

Here you can see the oldest petroglyphs in the canyon.

We got stuck a couple of times, Mike changed gears, used the rocking method, gave it gas and let the clutch out, all the fun things you do when driving a standard. It worked the other times, but this time he stalled it.

We were stranded, for about 5 minutes and another vehicle came and picked us all up. We were only a mile from the lodge so we could have walked back.

We were back at the lodge after our 4 hour Jeep Tour. We felt a little banged up but it was definitely worth it. We learned stories of all the Navajo Ancestors from different generations, saw amazing petroglyphs, pictographs and ruins. The area is sacred to the Navajo, with still-active residents living in the canyon and dry farming where once the ran deep. And the scenery of the canyon was amazing.

It was interesting to travel in a jeep because you could quickly see how far apart everything was. You might wonder how often people in the other dwelling saw each other, especially when most of their travel was by foot or horse. They got around pretty dang good, using trails called “hand-and-toe” trails, which are also known as Moki Steps or Moqui Steps. These are old vertical paths carved into the rock walls by the Ancestral Puebloans. These steep trails were like the highways for their communities, helping them move through difficult areas like Mesa Verde National Park, Canyon De Chelly and Chaco Canyon

These are two “Toe and Heal Paths we saw in our travels. I guess it’s a thing now to try “finger and toe paths as they say it ” helps the energetic and structural pathways connecting the hands and feet through the body’s nervous system, fascia, or practices like Jin Shin Jyutsu energy flows.

I went back into the Trading post and had to take a picture of this sticker!

Neat pictures and such they had in the post.

It looks just like the one in the picture.

Dogs resting in the outside shade.

It was for sure a great place to stay and be in a National Monument. If your ever in the area, at least take a jeep ride. We left on September 28th in the rain to Winslow, Arizona.

They we’re white made of things like, mufflers and other car parts as well as machine parts, shovel blades, and pails to create a “community” of figures engaged in humorous scenes.

We found about these “Muffler People” and had to pay them a visit! It’s an unusual little neighborhood. It’s residents are composed entirely of spare metal parts, painted completely white, and performing a variety of little tasks. Their riding a bike, taking a bath, or in a wheel chair, their doing all sorts of things. This is “Creations from Mufflers,” a great a roadside art project.

The “Muffler People” were all over the place! What a great neighborhood it was. Thank you very much Floyd Johnson for your incredible masterpiece. We loved it!

We had a great stay at Cortez, Colorado as tomorrow the 26th we head out for another Adventure!

On September 24, we visited Mesa Verde National Park in Montezuma County, Colorado. The Ancestral Puebloans thrived on the mesas and in the sandstone alcoves of the park roughly between 600 and 1300 AD, transitioning from mesa-top pit houses to massive multi-room cliff dwellings. The Park was established as a national park in 1906, it remains the largest archaeological preserve in the United States and honors the continuing heritage of 27 affiliated Pueblos and Tribes.

Mesa Verde in Spanish means “green table”, with mesa meaning table and verde meaning green. It describes a flat-topped, tree-covered plateau.

We went to check out the visitor center.

Jewelry has been created and worn in the Southwest since prehistoric times. For hundreds of years, Native Southwestern people have crafted mosaic inlay and beads from turquoise, shell, bone, and stone.

The prehistoric Indigenous people of the Southwest created hand-coiled pottery and passed their skills down through generations (around AD 500 to 1300). Everyday pots had rough textures, while finer pottery showcased detailed black-on-white, black-on-red, or multicolored designs.

Ancient Pueblo villages used wooden ladders to reach their multi-story adobe homes, access underground ceremonial chambers called kivas, and to climb to cliff dwellings.

We left the visitor center and headed out in the park.

We drove to our first The Step House which was amazing.

On route to the Step House.

Dave looking at the Long House across the way, it was closed for remodeling.

The path we took to the Step House.

The picture on the right is an old access way of the alcove reveals the steps that gave this site its name.

Two of the 3 kivas.

Covered Kiva Area

In 1891, Gustaf Nordenskiöld inscribed “No 21” into the rock here,
his site number for Step House. Also look for deep grooves worn
into the same rockface. The grooves were made by residents who repeatedly
sharpened and shaped their stone tools. These people were experts at mak
ing tools of all kinds from local stone: axes, knives, spear points and arrow
points, choppers, hammers, scrapers, grinders, and more.

Fun climbing the ladder.

More Petroglyphs in the 1st picture.

Dave walking up another level.

Step House is a unique archeological site because it shows evidence of two earlier times in their civilization’s history when the Ancestral Pubeloans constructed homes in the shelter of cliffs. The first development, built in the early 600s, consists of six pit houses built partially underground. In the same alcove is an above-ground masonry pueblo constructed in the 1200s. The pueblo has 27 rooms and three kivas, or ceremonial rooms.

It was an amazing place. It was neat to be in a Cliff Dwelling and see the different levels and all the rooms. You realize how high they were up and how they went down and all around the valley below.

We took the 2.5 mile around trip trail from the Step House to The Badger house Community.

The Badger House Community has displays of 600 years of Ancestral Puebloan building styles from A.D. 650 to the late 1200s.The Community consists of four sites along a paved and graveled walking trail, a Modified Basketmaker Pithouse, A Developmental Pueblo village, Badger House, and Two Raven House.

Mesa Verde’s First Homes. Pit houses are the first permanent buildings created by the Ancestral Puebloans during the Basketmaker III period (about 500–750) The Basketmaker people lived in these semi-buried homes to benefit from the earth’s natural insulation. The homes were dug roughly 3 feet deep into the ground. This design kept the interior warm during freezing winters and cool during hot summers

Heading to the Pueblo Village.

The Pueblo Village is a group showing the shift from underground pithouses to above-ground masonry rooms and early kivas.

Yes, they even had ancient Pueblo Dog Houses. Archaeologists frequently uncover careful, intentional burials of dogs within or near ancient Pueblo sites (such as kivas and living areas), indicating they were kept as cherished companions and pets rather than just working animals. Dogs served as versatile trackers, hunters, guardians, and general camp helpers across the Southwest.

The Badger Room is a multi-room mesa-top pueblo inhabited during the later periods of the mesa’s ccupation.

Towers and Tunnels:

Badger House includes the foundations of an ancient stone tower. A 41-foot long tunnel connects a hatchway in the floor of the tower to an opening in the wall of a ceremonial kiva (pit structure). This underground passage is recognized as the longest tunnel discovered in the American Southwest.

The hatch on the bottom to get into the tunnel,

The tunnel leads to this tower.

This Dwelling was also their Kiva.

Two Raven House

A single-story pueblo with lower-profile rooms and a noticeably small kiva.

Small kiva and rectangular rooms are in the Two Raven House.

We believe that their Pubeloan Ancestors we’re incredible people. Especially since we learned about their history and lifestyle. It’s really something to see how they built their homes and see the intricate stone masonry used and the primitive tools that were used to build it. They even dug tunnels!

There was a sense of closeness, as the how tight and narrow the spaces feel, making it hard to imagine daily family life right next to the stone walls. But we learned that was because doorways and rooms were built small to keep out the cold winter winds and hold in body heat. It also made it cooler in the summer.

Their storage and sleeping rooms were mainly used for sleeping and storing corn and squash, while most daily cooking and socializing happened outside in the plazas.

We got our questions answered about how did they survive? What did they eat? For one, they engineered check dams, reservoirs, and terraced fields to capture and retain scarce seasonal rainfall and snowmelt. They successfully cultivated corn, beans, and squash (known as the “Three Sisters”) on mesas and near canyon floors.

Of course they hunted deer and elk but when large game like deer and elk became scarce due to hunting pressure and changing climate, they supplemented their diets by hunting rabbits, rodents, and birds.

I liked learning about the Kiva’s, the circular underground rooms that were used for spiritual and ceremonial purposes by the Ancestral Pueblo people.

I always think if and how, I would have made it back then? But like people say, I wouldn’t have known any different.

We then got into the truck and drove to the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum

The Mesa Verde Museum is one of the oldest in the National Park Service. Constructed between 1922-25, it replaced a log cabin that had exhibited cultural items since 1917. Today, the Museum is part of the Mesa Verde Administrative District National Historic Landmark.

This is the third-largest cliff dwelling in the park was built by the Ancestral Pueblo people between 1211 and 1278.

Ranchers Richard Wetherill and Charles Mason discovered the site in December 1888 while searching for cattle. Legend says they accessed it by climbing down a large Douglas spruce tree, which inspired its name

It is made by a massive natural sandstone alcove that protects the site, about 90% of the visible walls, wood, and plaster remain original, We’re they good or what? It is a crescent-shaped complex that features multi-story structures tucked tightly into the stone recess, including upper storage granaries accessible via hand-and-toe holds.

The site contains roughly 130 rooms and 8 ceremonial kivas, and it once housed 60 to 80 residents.

Truly an incredible ancient Cliff Dwelling.

It was to bad that the direct-access trail to it remains closed indefinitely due to ongoing rockfall safety concerns and geotechnical assessments. In other words, there is a big, big crack in it somewhere. But it was still great seeing it from a far.

Square Tower House

With its four-story, 27-foot-tall tower, Square Tower House contains Mesa Verde National Park’s tallest standing structure. It’s one of the best-preserved cliff dwellings in the park, with an intact kiva roof and numerous examples of rock art. An impressive 90% of this village is original, including its roof beams and plaster walls.

Check out the stairs they used.

This dwelling has elaborate decorations which suggests that the builders were not only concerned with meeting their basic needs, but also recognized the importance of art and beauty as essential components of a thriving community.

Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America. Built between 1190 and 1280 CE, Cliff Palace was home to about 100 people. Today, it stands as a testament to the engineering and artistic achievements of the Ancestral Pueblo people. 

Sandstone, mortar and wooden beams were the three primary construction materials for the cliff dwellings. The Ancestral Pueblo people shaped each sandstone block using harder stones collected from nearby river beds. The mortar between the blocks is a mixture of local soil, water and ash. Fitted in the mortar are tiny pieces of stone called “chinking.” Chinking stones filled the gaps within the mortar and added structural stability to the walls. Over the surface of many walls, the people decorated with earthen plasters of pink, brown, red, yellow, or white — the first things to erode with time.

These multi-room sandstone complexes included living quarters with hearths and corn-grinding mealing bins, narrow granaries for food storage, and underground kivas reserved for ceremonies and communal gatherings.

They had elevated alcoves, sheer rock faces, and narrow access points that required removable ladders or specialized handholds that provided strategic protection against raids and allowed for easy surveillance.

House of Many Windows is a small cliff dwelling perched on a ten-foot-wide ledge in Cliff Canyon. Its many windows are actually doorways into rooms made of hand-shaped sandstone rock. House of Many Windows is comprised of 15 rooms, and there is evidence of a kiva. This cliff dwelling might have been home to an Ancestral Pueblo family in the 1200s.

People compare their dwellings to forts or castles, I can see why with the many rooms, etc. that they have. Plus the physical challenge of navigating the steep ladders and rock trails they were all in good shape. We definitely learned a lot about these great people.

“I have learned that the point of life’s walk is not where or how far I move my feet but how I am moved in my heart.”
― Anasazi Foundation, The Seven Paths: Changing One’s Way of Walking in the World

We left from Cortez and drove the San Juan Skyway, part of the Million Dollar Highway, acclaimed as one of “America’s Best Road Trips” by Travel and Leisure Magazine. And one of the most beautiful drives in America, and has been described in an Alamo Car Rental advertisement as a place “where the road touches the sky.”

The 236-mile journey took us through Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Telluride, Rico and Dolores we saw awesome scenery including, peaks and valleys, historical towns, and dense forests that made the drive definitely worthwhile.

Our fist stop was in Durango, CO.

It was founded in September 1880 by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad.

A very historic town that the late 1880s brought rapid growth, electric lights, and iconic landmarks like the historic Strater Hotel.

The historic Strater Hotel (Historic Hotel of America Founding Member) is one of the West’s iconic hotels and a prominent downtown Durango, Colorado landmark. The hotel is in the heart of the San Juan Mountains and the San Juan Scenic Skyway. The Strater Hotel has beautiful handcrafted woodwork, period wallpaper, and the largest collection of American Victorian walnut antiques which are used to decorate the hotel and guestrooms.

The hotel was originally built by the Strater family, who moved to Durango from Cleveland between 1880 and 1881. The hotel was the project of Henry Strater, a pharmacist who rallied his brothers and father to help construct the hotel in 1887 at the cost of $70,000. Strater kept his pharmacy in the corner of the hotel, while delegating the management to H. L. Rice, who elevated the social scene at the hotel. Strater eventually opened up a rival Columbian Hotel after he became furious at the high rents that Rice was charging him for the pharmacy located in the corner of the Strater hotel.

The hotel went bankrupt in 1895 and During the roaring twenties a group of Durango businessmen, led by Earl A. Barker Sr., purchased the aging hotel in 1926. In 1981, Roderick Earl Barker returned to his home town to renovate and operate the hotel under the ownership of his family. Under his direction and later his ownership, the Strater Hotel was developed into one of the finest small hotels in the United States. It is now owned by Ross Garrett and family.

The hotel lobby has some hidden passageways and secret hiding places.

I love all this stain glass!

Of course they would have public telephones and mail service.

I love their cabinets with all the iconic items in them. Can you imagine typing on that typewriter or wearing those shoes?!

Among its notable guests throughout its history are President JF Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Will Rogers, the Grateful Dead and the astronauts from the Apollo Mission.

The following movies were filmed in Durango: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, City Slickers, Cliffhanger, National Lampoon’s Vacation, Night Passage, Around the World in Eighty Days, Ticket to Tomahawk, How the West Was Won, and Tracker. Plenty of older movies were also shot here.

There are three restaurants in the hotel, The Diamond Belle, Office Spiritorium and Mahogany Grille.

One is the Diamond Belle Saloon above. The hotel’s saloon girls and staff dress strictly in authenic, period-correct Victorian costumes (such as corseted lace-up dresses, bustles, and feathered headpieces) to maintain the authentic Old West atmosphere.

The ones below are from that period. The second picture is one that was worn by Jane Russell when she was here filming a western movie.

The Office Spiritorium Restaurant. Neat feature is they had phones at the tables, which are necessary to run an office.

The last restaurants is the Mahogany Grille.

The bedrooms are very nice and they have hot tubs. In the era before indoor plumbing, the rooms’ washstands also housed the chamber pots, which were emptied each morning by the maids. The hotel also boasted a strategically designed three-story privy. I wouldn’t have wanted that job!

Durango and the Strater were just amazing, next time I’m in Durango, Colorado I’m going to stay at the Strater Hotel and eat at all three restaurants, we weren’t hungry this time around. And maybe go skiing.

Once again we’re on the San Juan Skyway.

The San Juans are the largest and most rugged collection of mountain peaks in Colorado with thirteen of the peaks above 14,000 feet. The San Juan Skyway travels over four mountain passes and through two National Forests, San Juan, provides a view of many different climate zones. During the trip, the temperature will vary up to fifteen degrees between valleys and mountain tops will have changes in plants and animals at different elevations too.

The West Needle Mountains are in southwestern Colorado, south of Silverton and about 40 miles north of Durango, within the San Juan Mountains and National Forest.

You can bet we took a few deep breaths.

The Molas Pass is just before Silverton.

Silverton Mountain is the highest ski area in North America, with an elevation of 13,487 feet.  Some of the runs include a 3,000 foot vertical drop, yikes!

Great idea a fence with skis and tools!

Silverton was founded by mining entrepreneurs William Kearnes, Dempsey Reese, and Thomas Blair in 1874.

A neat winter outfit. And a very small church that looked charming.

We’re back on The Million Dollar Highway is a 25-mile section of U.S. Route 550 in southwestern Colorado that links the towns of Ouray and Silverton.

Highway 550, the “The Million Dollar Highway” they say is one treacherous road. Start with no guard rails and go from there. The highway was nicknamed due to the cost overruns in getting it built. Or another reason for the name they say is “that there is gold in them there hills.”

It features narrow 23-foot widths, sheer drop-offs exceeding 300 to 400 feet, tight hairpin curves, an absence of guardrails in key areas, and over 70 avalanche chutes. There are a lot of fatalities and accidents on the highway. Besides all that, you gotta see it!

The history of the Red Mountain Mining District mirrors the story told in countless boom-and-bust mining areas throughout the West. As prospectors, miners, cooks, freighters, prostitutes, gamblers, saloon keepers, boarding house operators, and families flooded into the area six towns sprang up on the San Juan Skyway and the population increased to more than 3,000 people.

In 1882, prospector John Robinson discovered a massive “pipe” of silver ore and staked the Yankee Girl claim. He developed an exploratory shaft and found that the nearly vertical ore body contained an enormously valuable vein of silver.

1890 pictures of the mine.

Unlike most local mines, the Yankee Girl shaft went nearly straight down – 1200 vertical feet. Eventually, twelve levels were developed below ground. In places, silver ore assayed as high as $10,000 per ton making the Yankee Girl one of the richest concentrations of silver ore in the United States. Ore from the mine was of such a high grade that it bypassed the concentration mill and went directly to the smelter for processing.

What’s left of Yankee Girl.

Red Mountain Pass is an 11,018-foot mountain pass on U.S. Highway 550 between Ouray and Silverton, forming the high point of the Million Dollar Highway through the San Juan Mountains. Named for the iron-oxide stained Red Mountain.

Switzerland of America Lookout Point is a popular stop with great views of the San Juan mountains, valleys, and the historic town of Ouray below.

Old mining Company sign.

Quary has the name of a Tabeguache Ute Indian chief who wanted peace and friendship with the white settlers in the mid-1800s. It’s promoted as the Switzerland of America.

Founded in 1890, it was a key center for the Rio Grande Southern Railroad and named after railroad superintendent Robert M. Ridgway. It has about 2,000 residents. Known as the “Gateway to the San Juans,” it is located at the base of the San Juan Mountains.

Ridgway and its surrounding area have been featured in films like True Grit, How the West Was Won, and Tribute to a Bad Man.

Telluride was our next stop.

The town of Telluride is just eight blocks wide and twelve blocks long. Because of its significant role in the history of the American West, Telluride was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964. In has preserved Victorian architecture, boutiques, gourmet dining, and a strict absence of chain storefronts or traffic lights.

Telluride, Colorado, was established in 1878 as a mining camp for silver and gold.

Rico is a historic town in eastern Dolores County, Colorado, located along the Dolores River and Highway 145. Population is around 200 to 350 residents

Founded in 1879 as a silver mining center in the Pioneer Mining District. Its name comes from the Spanish word for “rich,” commemorating early Spanish explorers and the area’s mineral wealth.

Dolores, Colorado, is a small town in a canyon bordered by rock cliffs. the Town of Dolores was incorporated on July 19, 1900.

The area was originally inhabited by ancestral Puebloans until around A.D. 1300; artifacts and remnants of their villages can still be found today as in all the surrounding areas.

J. J. Harris & Son Building then and now.

Our 236 mile on the San Juan Skyway was incredible, with the twisty roads and super high drop-offs. Because it takes about 6 hours to drive the whole skyway, we couldn’t get out at all the towns but we drove around in the truck so I could take pictures. We didn’t want to drive on the Skyway in the dark.

All the towns began as mining towns and now attract visitors all year. Skiing is a major tourist draw here. If you’re ever in Colorado and have seen the Rockies, take a trip here y’all we love it!

“The landscape of the American West has to be seen to believed and has to be believed to be seen.”

N. Scott Momaday

Follow us on our Trails West: We left NY on on September 17th and drove to our first stop.

Which was in Richmond, Indiana. Dave planned this stop ahead of time cause it was in the right place on the map and going in the right direction.

Our 2nd stop on September 18th was just for the night too, we stayed in SpringField, MO

On Saturday the 19th we were once again in Shamrock, TX. If you read our blog you know that we have been here a few times before. It’s a cool location on Route 66.

Only, we got here to late on Saturday to eat at the U Drop Inn!! They were closed and the food there is so yummy. Oh well McDonald’s it was.

On Sunday the 20th, we stayed overnight at Moriarty, NM.

September 21, we were at our 1st place to check out the sights and sounds in Cortez, Colorado.

Cortez is a really neat area located in the southwestern corner of Colorado. It’s known as the heart of the Four Corners region and Cortez is also known for Native American history and is considered one of America’s top archaeological centers.

Here we stayed at an awesome Airbnb right in the city from the 21st – the 25th

Our first night there we had dinner at a really fun spot in Cortez, it was Burger Boy! It’s a blast from the past. You drive up, park, sit back, read the menu. Waitress comes out, takes your order. Brings your food on a tray she then hooks to your partially rolled-up window. What a throwback to yesterday! I believe that at Sonic you order from a screen, a waitress doesn’t take your order but someone brings it to you. We have never been to a place like this so it was a real treat. I even had to go back for a delicious root beer shake, it was yummy!

On the 22nd, Our first stop was at

This neat wooden rv was in the parking lot.

At the Canyons we started at the Visitor Center and then headed to our 1st stop at Lowry Pueblo.

Dave signing in.

Taking the pathway to Lowry Pueblo.

We were excited to visit an ancient dwelling, a 1,000-year-old Puebloan village site.

This site was first excavated in 1931 and became a National Historic Landmark in 1967.

When we walked thru these buildings we were in awe and a bit surprised at the closeness of these ancient rooms. They seemed rather small for families. Especially since 65 to 100 people lived here at one time.

Great Kivas are sacred underground rooms that were used for community activities, including important ceremonies. Tree-ring dates and pottery indicate that this Great Kiva in Lowry Pueblo was a relatively early building at Lowry. It was remodeled many times and used continuously by every succeeding generation.

The Kiva

Other things that we’re going thru our minds walking thru the village was how did they survive?

They put a roof on part of the village to save it from the elements. All the walls were higher and the ground/floor in all the buildings got filled in from thousands of years of weather.

Dave in the first picture is telling us that the walls were higher.

We found out that Lowry Pueblo was named after George Lowry an early 20th century homesteader. It was built on top of the houses of an earlier community around 1060 AD, and inhabited for about 165 years. It began as a small village with a few rooms and a kiva. Several more rooms, the Great Kiva was added between 1085 AD and 1170. By the time the last families left and migrated south and east, the pueblo had 40 rooms, eight kivas and the Great Kiva.

Our next stop was Painted Hand Pueblo. From the parking area it’s about a mile trail that meanders out to the cliff edge and views of what remains of the pueblo. The small village was built around 1200 AD. It had 20 rooms some structures, including a multi-story tower, kivas, and living quarters. It still has rock paintings and petroglyphs. The designs of the ancient images have special meanings to their descendants today and the Painted Hand Pueblo was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

There’s Dave walking so close to the edge! He always does it!

Dave is looking at the Stone Tower Building. A round masonry tower that sits directly on top of a large projecting sandstone boulder, with multi-level dwelling rooms and a structure built underneath it. The stonework features well-crafted sandstone blocks, and faint finger impressions still remain visible in the original adobe mortar.

A view of the tower from another angle.

From this view you can see the ruins of another tower.

Additional ruins at Painted Hand Pueblo.

Our 3rd stop was at Hovenweep National Monument. Hovenweep a Ute Indian word meaning “deserted valley.”

Hovenweep was home to many Ancestral Puebloan people from 600 to 1300 AD, long before Europeans arrived. Together with the nearby, Canyon of the Ancients National Monument, is an area that has largely remained unchanged for centuries.

This area protects six ancient stone towers and villages built in 1200 by the Ancestral Puebloans along canyon rims on the Utah-Colorado border.

We took The Square Tower Trail by the visitor center. This starts as a sidewalk down to the overlook, then veers off in either direction (and loops back around) to circle the canyon. For a portion of this trail you hike down the canyon and then you gotta hike up again to get to the other side. The primitive trail is lined with rocks and passes within 5-10 feet of most of the structures, allowing us to see a lot of the goings on.

The Square Tower Group is Hovenweep’s largest and most convenient collection of standing structures. Ten buildings perch on the rim of Little Ruin Canyon; the remains of several more are crumbled down the canyon walls. Some of the most popular and unique structures in the Four Corners region are in this canyon: Hovenweep Castle, Twin Towers, and Square Tower, for which the group is named.

What inspired the ancestral Pueblo people to build these mulistory towers, perched on canyon rims and balanced on boulders? Modern tribal consultants from some descendant communities suggest that Hovenweep was a place to pray for rain during a great drought.

President Warren G. Harding established the national monument on March 2, 1923.

We aren’t use to hiking down and up canyons so we took a couple of breaks.

Sites like Hovenweep Castle act as solar calendars that track sun angles to mark the summer solstice and seasonal events.

With a variety of structures include multistory towers perched on canyon rims and balanced on boulders. Unique square, oval, circular, and D-shaped towers display incredible attention to detail and will leave you marveling at the skill and motivation of the builders.

We did a great job for not hiking for being somewhat out of shape.

Sand Canyon Pueblo is the site of an ancient 13th century Pueblo Indian village. The desolate site has been excavated and overgrown rubble mounds remain.

We decided to pass by Sand Canyon Pueblo as we were a bit fatigued. And we knew we were going to visit other ancient dwellings.

We were truly amazed at the masonry work they did with the buildings with what little they had. Especially since they were on cliffs and boulders. How they went from buildings to buildings that were on different levels and cliffs, we wondered how many would have fallen. All these questions going thru our heads. They were truly amazing people!

Just outside the canyon area was this library with really nothing around it. You never know what your gonna see.

We’re in Niagara County where I grew up. Dave grew up in Erie county not to far from here.

This summer we decided to give Dave a break towing the RV across country, instead we’re staying at my cousin Kathy’s house.

“Going back to the areas where we grew up isn’t a location ………..it’s a feeling.”

In the beginning of June,

Dave’s brother Jeff and Donna had us over for a welcome back gathering.

It was great to see Jeff, Donna, Karen and Kevin at Jeff’s place on his new patio.

Surounded by beautiful plants and accessories.

They made a dinner that was delicious! on a sunny perfect Spring day.

Thanks for a great time Jeff and Donna! 😄♥️

Do you know what the Big Boy is? ? ?

On June 11th, My cousin Kathy and I got to see the Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014, as it passed thru Cemetery Road in Lancaster, NY. The Big Boy is the world’s largest and only operating steam locomotive. Built in 1941, this 1.2-million-pound, 133-foot-long giant is on its historic Coast-to-Coast Tour to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary

CELEBRATING AMERICA’S 250 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

It stopped in the Buffalo area for a brief stay as you could go inside etc. and check it out. We couldn’t go to this event.

But we were able to see the train go by in Lancaster, NY. Crowd gathering to see the Big Boy roll on by.

This guy was putting coins on the tracks.

Picture I found, The Big Boy sure flattened the coins.

You heard the chug, chug, chug in the distance and suddenly is appeared in like a cloud of smoke with the thunderous horn blowing as it roared past us.

A few pictures that I took as it went roaring by. It was really neat feeling the thunder and the ground shake as it steamed on through!

The Union Pacific “Big Boy” is a colossal 4-8-8-4 articulated steam locomotive, and the world’s largest operating steam locomotive. Weighing 1.2 million pounds and measuring 133 feet long, these historic trains were built in the 1940s to haul heavy freight over steep mountain grades.

How this massive train works, Close your eyes and pick one. 😄

The Locomotive,

The mighty Locomotive,
Was the muscle of its day.
Moving freight and passengers,
Down a steel highway.

It’s beauty and it’s romance,
Made headlines near and far.
Train robberies and train wrecks,
It had become a star.

The mighty Locomotive,
May not be the star these days.
But it will be a long-time coming,
Before it fades away.

 Ricky Sholar

Hope you got to see The Big Boy!

Jennifer & Doug had their first campfire of the season on June 16th with Kathy, Dave, Lee, Randy and myself.

My mom was a grand baker, she made all kinds of delicious cookies, pastries and such, but she was known for her yummy pies.

One of the pies she made was grape, it was always a crowd pleaser.

My sister Jennifer, takes after my mother and grandmother as she is a great baker too, she makes my mom’s grape pie and she invited me over to make it with her.

One of the steps is too peal the grapes, to separate them from the skin. That’s what we’re doing above.

The finished product, two awesome grape pies one with a crumb crust. delicious!

Pie Poem

The taste of a pie,
So deliciously tasty!
The taste of a pie,
So light and crumbly the pastry.

So come have a pie,
I garantee you’ll enjoy it.
So come have a pie.
You’ll become addicted.

The look of a pie,
So tender and juicy.
The look of a pie,
Just makes me go loopy!

So come have a pie,
I garantee you’ll enjoy it.
So come have a pie.
You’ll become addicted.

The smell of a pie,
So delectably nice.
The smell of a pie,
Much better than rice.

by Joshua Allen

 Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Wendellville has a Lobster fest every year. My friend Judy belongs to the Ladies Auxiliary and asked me if I would help shuck corn for the event.

There we about 6 of us ladies there having a shucking good time. After awhile the Firemen joined in the fun.

Now that was a lot dedication and work. . . . shucking away.

We Hope Everyone Had A

Weekend

Friday, July 3rd, Dave & me went to our friend’s Mike & Mary’s house for a Delicious dinner! Kind of a pre 4th of July party!

It’s always great seeing them!!

Thanks again, Mike & Mary for everything and always being such great hosts!

On Saturday the

We had another wonderful dinner at Jennifer’s & Doug’s house and after dinner, like a lot of you did, we watched fireworks from all sides of us. Some were from towns, cities, etc. as well as individuals. They were all great! We have spent many, many Fourth of July’s with Jennifer and Doug, lots of good memories. Especially when the DEC ripped of our fireworks!

Snap, Crackle and then Boom . . . . . .

A Summer Humorous Limerick


Pretty summer days are really hot,
am I being cooked like crabs in a pot.
Fireworks made me pee my pants,
all wet but I will still dance. 
Looks like I hit the big summer jackpot.                                 Paula Goldsmith

Fireworks

 Bombs bursting in air
 red, white, blue America
 its celebration.  Karen Croft                                                                                                                                                

On Sunday the 5th of July we went to my cousin Katie’s house for some good eats, good company and fun games!

We took turns standing backwards throwing a ball into the basket behind us. Dave started off with Andrew catching with the basket.

I’m tossing the ball and Andrew is catching.

Doug tossing the ball with Philip catching.

We played this game too, everyone gets in a circle hand you have to pass the water balloon to the person next to you without using your hands. I’m already out, I dropped the balloon, so I took these pictures.

Honoring those who serve, and those who serve potato salad.

May your flag fly high and your ice cream not melt.

Bold stripes, bright stars, brave hearts.

After we ate all the delicious food, we relaxed a bit before dessert.

The dessert was definitely worth waiting for, it was yummy!

Hope ya’ll had a Wonderful weekend celebrating our 250 year anniversary! We did cause we know we won’t be around for the tricentennial, how about you?

The Church I belong to in the summer is having their annual sale so a bunch of us helped out setting up about two weeks before the event.

It’s Wednesday the 15th, It looks really Erry outside as we’re setting up for the sale. It’s almost noon and the sun is high up in the sky. Looking at us in an orange color with a tan sky. This is because of all the Canadian wildfires going on just across the border.

Dick, Pete, Butch, Nancy and myself set up the tent.

Now to move all of this and more in the tent.

Did you notice the sky is a weird tan color? That is because of the wild fires from Canada crossing over to the usa. It definitely gave you a eerie feeling.

Sue and Barb working away sorting thru all the stuff and finding a place to put it on the tables. You go Girls!

These wonderful people setting up outside, in the garage and setting up the tents. Barb, Karen and the back of Julie are in the first picture. Maureen is busy setting up a table in the second picture.

Everything is coming Together !!

Nancy straightening the clothes out on the racks. Way to go Nancy!

It’s the first day of the Sale!

People going in the garage and the two tents.

Then checking out the church hall.

Everything in the church hall is a Quarter, besides a few select items. When the church first started these garage sales, awhile back, they sold the clothes to the migrant workers in the area for a quarter, the tradition continues.

Lynn and Marcia checking out the customers.

Dick and Pete, the sale couldn’t happen without them. That goes for Gladys and Maureen too!

Three awesome ladies Julie, Gladys and Sue, with them the sale runs smoothly!

Barb, the lady in the middle is in charge of the sale always does an awesome job! So do the other ladies in the picture, Marcia, Barb and me.

There is another lady in this picture, Debra she also did an incredible job! All Awesome people belong to the church for sure!

“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:20

Fifty years later, still the Class of ’76.

Join your classmates for an unforgettable weekend celebrating 50 years together.

July 17–19, 2026 · Buffalo, NY

Dave’s senior picture.

Dave was in track & field in high school. He’s jumping hurdles. Go Dave, go!!

Dave played Football in 8th grade and in high school. Can you guess what number he is? Of course you can.

On Friday July 17th, Dave went with friends to the 50th reunion at Santora’s bar and restaurant.

On Saturday the 18th he and his friends went to tour the high school.

When they got to the auditorium Dave knew the exact seat he should take. For homeroom in high school his class had 700 students so they used the auditorium for a huge homeroom for the his class. He remembered exactly where the G’s were and were he sat during high school. Row 2 Seat 3. I wonder if he carved his initials in it somewhere.

Dave had a good time at his reunion, a sure blast from the past, seeing people you saw everyday and haven’t seen for years.

Grateful I can’t believe after four years of high school, I’m done, I’ve graduated! A whole world out there waiting for me to explore Norms waiting to be broken Expectations waiting for me to exceed My whole life, staring right at me, waiting to be lived. tolani-agoro

High school feels like the most important thing ever while we’re in it, like being trapped in a Turkish bath. It’s only at our second or third class reunion that we see how ridiculous it all was. Stephen King

Memories of a Class Reunion Those were the days of innocence and grace, When the world was ours to conquer and explore, Through the ups and downs, we found our place, And now we gather once again, as we did before. Let’s raise a glass to the memories we hold dear, To the friendships that have stood the test of time, As we gather at this 50th reunion, Our hearts are filled with love and rhyme. We were once young and carefree, But now we’re older, wiser, and bold, Unknown

My Cousin Kathy and I made HungarianKiffles, If you don’t know what they are and never had one, I feel sorry for you, especially if you like walnuts. Our grandmother made keflies and so did my aunt, Kathy’s mom. Kathy is also a really good baker.

Kathy made the dough ahead of time, then we rolled out the dough and she cut it into sections.

We put walnut mixture on the individual pieces and then rolled them up.

They turned out perfect.

Kifflies are Traditional Hungarian crescent-shaped pastries made with flaky dough, filled with sweet fruit or nuts, and topped with powdered sugar. They are dangerously delicious!

St. Mary’s 177th Parish Picnic Sun, 19 Jul, 2026 at 11:00 am to 04:30 pm 6919 Transit Road, Swormville, NY,

The church where the picnic is located is kitty corner from Dodge Road were they grew up. Below is some of the Dodge Road Gang.

Diane, Jim part of the gang, Danny, part of the gang, Diane, Marie part of the gang.

Mike honorary gang member he spent lots of time there. Don, Ed, Dave, Rick, and Diane were all gang members.

Ben and Fred both gang members were there but I didn’t get their pictures. Of course a lot of members we’re there.

On Saturday July 25, we went to Tasha’s Summerween Party.

If your wondering what Summerween is, …… no it’s not a summer hot dog party but it is …… a fun made-up holiday where people celebrate Halloween in the summer. The idea comes from a 2012 episode of the cartoon Gravity Falls. Nowadays, people share their spooky summer parties, pastel pumpkins, and skeletons on pool floats on social media.

Tasha always has lots of good food at her parties. The picture above are cupcakes that you pull apart, they were yummy!

Thanks Tasha, we had a fun time!

Hope it gave you a chuckle. 😄

Kathy planted this Althea morning star grey tree in her front yard but that wasn’t as simple as it sounds. Where she lives deer roam all over, especially thru the neighborhood houses. Eating everyone’s flowers and the bark on trees. Her house sometimes seems to be their special spot.

I helped her to first put a fence around the tree and then put netting around it.

You can see the fence and netting in these pictures. The deer don’t stand a chance. 🙏

The tree will grow into a multi-stemmed shrub or trained tree that is 8 to 12 feet tall and 6 to 8 feet wide, featuring double white flowers with dark red centers.

Dave hanging out with Andrew and Philip, my cousin Kathy’s grandsons.

“Life, like being on a swing, is so much better when you have someone to give you a little push.”

Give me a swing and all maturity goes out the window.”

We visited our friend Cindy who has lake front property in the wny southern tier area. We were once again excited about seeing her her amazing and stunning flower gardens.

Thank you Cindy, for a wonderful day!

LOTUS AND LILY BY THE LAKE

I wandered under the blue sky

Floating freely like avians fluttering fly

When I beheld the bright golden sun

Reflecting in the lake like fires burn

Flowers blooming danced in the breeze

We enjoyed house sitting from August 14th – 17th!

That’s me watching the lake do it’s thing.

Dave is enjoying his morning coffee watching the lake.

It was fun just watching the humming birds at the feeder.

The sunsets were great. A sail boat a the right side of the photo is taking it all in too.

The inside of the house on the lake is as great as the outside!

“It is life, I think, to watch the water. A man can learn so many things.”

“A lake so vibrant in color that it looks like a fine art painting.”
– Stefanie Payne

“On a quiet night at the lake, you can almost hear the fish laughing.”

Thank you Mike and Ann Marie for sharing your awesome home with us!
– Unknown

Hope it gave you a grin! 😄

It’s almost time to leave this tiny corner of the world . . . . .

We’ve been doing oodles of undertaking in our stay but my phone wasn’t near at the time to take a picture or the even just wasn’t worth a picture.

Weekend

On Sunday Jeff and Donna had their annual Labor Day Picnic

With lots of food and drinks for everyone!

Our niece Kelsey new mom to be, chatting with her dad Kevin.

Once again, it’s time for the Annual Football Game!

Dave is without fail the Pitcher! That style, that grace, what a great follow thru!

It was a good game and as close as you can get 23 to 24!

Uncle Joe and his awesome daughter Mary

Dave, his brother Jeff, sister Karen and brother Steve.

On Labor Day Monday we went to a party at Katie,’s and John’s house for a party!

Kathy made these yummy pencils.

We played yet another fun game that Kathy brought to the party!

So if your ever board and have shower caps, cheese balls and either a cool whip spray can or shaving cream, you don’t have to be board any longer! Just start tossing . . . . . and Good Luck!

And the winners are . . . Dave and Andrew!! It was close 30 to 25. Good job everyone!

And then it was Katie’s and Kathy’s turn to get tossed at. another close game, Philip and Kathy were the winners by 7 to 5.

Thank you Katie, John and Kathy for all the fun times!!

Kathy and her grandson’s Andrew and Philip

Yesterday we went to Dave’s sister Karen’s ‘ house to say our goodbyes.

Jeff his brother was there too!

I like this person, it looks their waving goodbye and giving hugs too!

So long as the memory of certain beloved friends lives in my heart, I shall say that life is good, filled with moments of joy and laughter that we shared together. Hellen Keller

“The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduce yourself to, had life not done it for you.” —Kendall Hailey

“Family, like branches on a tree we all grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one“ Unknown

“You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.” —Frederick Buechner

OK now who remembers the song below?

🎶So long, farewell
Auf Wiederseh’n, goodnight

[MARTA]
I hate to go
And leave this pretty sight

[REMAINING CHILDREN]
So long, farewell
Auf Wiederseh’n, adieu

[FRIEDRICH]
Adieu, adieu
To yieu and yieu and yieu

[REMAINING CHILDREN]
So long, farewell
Au revoir, auf Wiedеrseh’n

[REMAINING CHILDREN]
So long, farewell
Auf Wiederseh’n, goodbye

[KURT]
I leave, and heave
A sigh and say goodbye
Goodbye

The sun has gone
To bed and so must I

[ALL CHILDREN]
So long, farewell
Auf Wiederseh’n, goodbye

Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye🎶

We left Tucson on April 20th to head back to New York.

We took good old route 40 East and made pitstops along the way.

Driving along Interstate Route 40 East in Arizona as it runs parallel along both sides of Route 66.

Did you know that route 66 is 100 this year? I know because we have traveled on it muchly. Do you know where it starts and stops? you will now, . . . . .From Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California, Route 66. , also known as the “Mother Road” and the “Main Street of America,”

We passed once again through Hatch, New Mexico: Which is the Chile Capital of the World.

The Alien, KFC Bucket, The Robot, Yogi the Bear, The Pink Pig and Robin Hood, Their all there in Hatch too!

We stayed over night at The Desert Inn in East Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Once again on route 40 our destination was Shamrock, New Mexico.

Our theme song for this route was Truckin’ by The Grateful Dead. I know you know the song, it’s an old classic for sure.

🎤🎤🎤🎤

🎶Arrows of neon and flashing signs along Main Street in cities like Chicago, New York, and Detroit. It’s a typical city in a daydream; wait and see what tomorrow brings.🎶

Chorus: Truckin’, I’ve cashed in my chips and keep moving like the do-dah man, staying in line and just keep truckin’ on.🎶

🎶 Truckin’ up to Buffalo, Relax, you need to mellow out, finding the right place takes time. Just keep on truckin’ on.🎶

When your driving on route 40 you see billboards advertising a “Free 72oz. steak at the world famous Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo Texas!’  Just in case your interested, the details are below:

72-ounce Steak Challenge Rules: Entire meal must be completed in one hour. If any of the meal is not consumed (swallowed)… YOU LOSE!                                                                                                                                                     Once you have started you are not allowed to stand up, leave your table, or have anyone else TOUCH the meal.                                                                                                                                                Should you become ill, the contest is over… YOU LOSE! (Please use the container provided as necessary.)                                                                                                                                                 You are required to pay the full amount up front; if you win we will refund 100%.                                   If you fail to complete the challenge, you must pay the full $72 dollars.

Did I forget to mention that you have to eat the whole meal which includes: 4 & 1/2 pounds of steak, (which is 72 oz’s) baked potato, shrimp cocktail, salad & a bread roll !!

I don’t care for steak and Dave could never eat that much, but if your ever near Amarillo Texas, if your really, really hungry and are hankering for a steak, Why not try it out?

You also see billboards advertising the 100th anniversary of Route 66.

The route was one of the country’s major thoroughfares for nearly half a century.
Route 66 became one of the most famous roads in America, having been popularized in American culture through books, songs, music, magazines, movies, and television shows.

It’s May 21st and we were in Shamrock, TX.

If you have an old vintage truck that you don’t know what to do with, like this one in Shamrock, how about using it to show off your plants?

We ate once again at the Conoco U Drop Inn Cafe, cause their food is really good.  Elvis was there with a different shirt on this time.

There is also a information center in the Conoco building, I asked the volunteers how the 100 year celebration was going, they said it wasn’t even summer yet and they were constantly re-stocking their shelves of the 100th year anniversary items. Glad the celebration is off to a roaring start.

The Shamrock County Inn is the former 31 unit Ranger Motel.. The motel opened in September of 1959. They refurbished the inn and it’d very nice and clean. When it was the Ranger motel there were about 5,000 cars driving through Shamrock on Route 66 every day.

We’ll have to get our picture taken by this big boot when we pass thru on our way back to Arizona.

On route 40 we stopped overnight in Russellville Arkansas.

When we were driving thru Memphis, I saw Elvis hitch hiking . . . and suddenly with a blink of an eye he vanished. We went to Memphis years ago with friends, if you haven’t been, Elvis is waiting . . . . .

We’re now on route 81 to Nashville, Tennessee. Where we stayed overnight.

We’re on route 65 on our way to Tennessee to spend time with our friends. They live in a town in Tennessee that is part of the Johnson City metropolitan area.

We arrived at our friends new beautiful home on May 24th.

Last year when we visited our friends they took us to the site above because: Dave’s 6th great grandfather and 5th great uncle, Col. John Tipton came to eastern Tn, from Maryland. Then it was pure wilderness, they built a cabin, and as time went on his 5th great uncle was very influencial in founding the state of Tn, which then people were trying to call it the state of Franklin. In fact a 3 day skirmish happened right at the Tipton cabin.

This time they took us the Tipton-Haynes Cemetery Located between the houses of 303 and 305 Arroyo Drive, Johnson City, Tennessee.

It contains the remains of Revolutionary War soldier and legislator John Tipton (1730-1813) and his second wife, Martha Denton Moore. 

Also buried here are newspaper publisher Lawson Gifford (1810-1879) his wife, Mary Taylor Haynes (1818-1904), and some of their descendants. The cemetery is part of Tipton-Haynes Historic Site.

It’s was nice seeing the historic cemetery. It’s definitely well-kept as it sets between two houses in a Tennessee neighborhood.

Thank you Beth & Fran for opening your lovely home to us and sharing your time with us. Dave loves Beth’s popcorn and she even made a bucket full to take on the road.

We thank dear Beth and Fran for their monstrous kindheartedness.

We left Wednesday morning the 27th, to get on 81 North to Spotsylvania, Va.

We arrived at our destination in Spotsylvania Va, a really neat Bed & Breakfast, etc. called Stevenson’s Ridge.

Looking at Stevenson’s Ridge from the road. Stevenson’s Ridge looking at the road.

Stevenson Ridge is an 87 acre historical property in Spotsylvania County. It offers lodging with 11 private cottages and a Lodge event facility. It also has a lodge to accommodate large special events. Amenities include wood-burning fireplaces, onsite fishing, kayak rentals and tours. You definitely go back in time at Stevenson’s Ridge.

The reason we came here is because of a Confederate Civil war bayonet that my third great uncle Corporal Abner Polk Adams, who fought in the 4th New York Heavy Artillery, retrieved from the ground on which the fighting occurred. Stevenson’s Ridge was in the middle of central Virginia’s Civil War landscape. The Ridge sits directly on the actual Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield. There are groups of earthworks and fortifications on the property that have been called the best-preserved earthworks in private hands.

A Sketch of Stevenson Ridge, 1864

The owners of the property have been re-homing antique structures to the property, restoring them, and transforming them into guest cabins and cottages. Such buildings include a post office, tobacco hanging barn, and a corn crib. Most of the structures pre-date the Civil War—the oldest dating back to 1732.  We stayed in the Tobacco Barn.

It has a high-peaked ceiling and exposed-log crossbeams that reveal the Tobacco Barn’s past life as a place for hanging tobacco leaves to dry. Now converted to a one-room guest house make it a special place to stay.

On our second day here we had the renown Chris Mackowski, Historian-in-Residence, give us a tour around the entire battlefield which ended at the Harris Farm. This is where the 4th NY heavy artillery and other heavy artillery units were posted. On May 18th, 1864 my great uncle and all the other men of the heavy artillery unit, were attacked by Confederate Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early “Old Jube.” and his division of 6,000 men. The battle went back and forth for 5 hours after which the confederates retreated.

Our guide took us to Harris Hill Farm where Corporal Adams fought and retervived the bayonet.

After the Wilderness battle, Both Grant’s and Meade’s armies met at the Spotsylvania Court House on May 8. This two-week battle was a series of combats along the Spotsylvania front. The Union attack against the Bloody Angle at dawn, May 12-13, captured nearly a division of Lee’s army and came near to cutting the Confederate army in half. Confederate counterattacks plugged the gap, and fighting continued unabated for nearly 20 hours in what may well have been the most ferociously sustained combat of the Civil War. On May 19, a Confederate attempt to turn the Union right flank at Harris Farm was beaten back with severe casualties. . On May 21, Grant disengaged and continued his advance on to Richmond. Estimated Casualties:27000 total (US 18000; CS 9000;)

Corporal Abner Polk Adams was immersed in this bloody 2 week battle and continued to fight until we was wounded in the Battle of Petersburg on June 18th, 1864.

The “Bloody Angle” was a notorious 22-hour stretch of hand-to-hand combat during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Fought in a pouring rainstorm, it featured such intense point-blank musket fire that a 22-inch oak tree was completely severed by bullets It resulted in 17,000 casualties and some of the most horrific carnage of the American Civil War.

Dave and I walking by some of the trenches that were dug on Stevenson’s Ridge.

Diggin and building trenches was hard work. A commander often laid out the line they wanted to entrench and then the soldiers would dig along that position using bayonets, picks, shovels, or even drinking cups.

They often focused initially on a relatively simple rifle pit or earthworks and then (especially later in the war) gradually improved their position with covered approach trenches and headboards,

Both The Union North Corps, on the first week of the battle, and the Union fifth corps during the second week dug the eathworks on Stevensonson’s Ridge. Then the Sixth followed duggin the trenches. The soldiers left extensive earthworks. Most of them were build by new troops following the army manual, so they look different than the works built by veterans on other parts of the battlefield.

They also dug an extensive system of trenches known as “covered ways.” These ditches let them bring supplies close to the front why still remaining protected by the topography as much as possible. That let them stay “under cover” (thus the name).

We checked out a few other of the cabins at Stevenson’ Ridge.

The Spy Hill House has a interesting history. Formerly known as Round Hill, It was purchased in 1655 by John Washington, the grandfather of President George Washington. Upon John Washington’s death, his son, Lawrence Washington, had inherited Round Hill and acquired the land adjoining the estate. The property remained in the Washington family until it was sold in 1828 to Thomas Baber.

Front

Not far from the main house on what had been formerly known as the Round Hill Estate was a hill that provided a panoramic view of the Potomac River from Colonial Beach to Mathias Point. The hill had been used as an observation post to spy out British troops sailing up and down river during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. For this reason, Thomas Baber changed the name of the estate to the Spy Hill Plantation. It was disassembled and now is at Stevenson’s Ridge.

Back

Front of the Lodge Back of the Lodge

This building is the Lodge, the primary event facility. It’s built around the post-and-beam framework of an old chapel.

Pond in back of Lodge

The Lodge has a neat artifact in it, pair of doors once own by U. S. Grant and William T. Sherman now hang here.

At night at the Ridge.

We checked out other cabins and they all have a unique quality about them. If you like history and are ever in this area come check out Stevenson’s Ridge.

We left Stevenson’s Ridge in the morning of May 30th and got to my Cousin Kathy’s in North Tonawanda NY that evening.

Family and Friends have been sending some pictures of the weather they have back home, here are a few. . . . Boy we’re glad were not there!

We’ve been swimming and a hiking in the above normal Tucson Az temperatures.

The First Softball Game in February and . . .They Won a Game!!

Dave looking over the field conditions and thinking . . . . where to place the ball when he’s up to bat.

Voice of the Coach

Last Thursday, game day dawned with overcast skies and blustery
conditions featuring gusts in the 30+ mile per hour range as Voyager
and league foe POW faced off in a double header matchup.
In game one, the home team found themselves in an early deficit,
falling behind by a score of 4 to 2. A five run fourth inning put the
home team ahead 7 to 6 but POW rallied for a 4 run sixth inning and
held on to win game one by a final score of 10 to 8.
Determined that game two would not pose a similar fate, Voyager
took an early 2 to 1 lead in inning number one, and never trailed as
they exhibited consistent run production and solid defense, coming
away with a 15 to 7 final score and their first win of the season.
The team would like to thank all of our fans who braved the brisk
conditions to cheer the us on. Our cheer for the fans following
every week’s games is sincere and we love the energy that you bring to
the games. We look forward to seeing you all this Thursday as
Voyger takes on the Fieldhawks with first pitch scheduled for 10 a.m.

HIP, HIP, HOORY FOR THE VOYAGER SOFTBALL TEAM ! ! !

Good eye, good eye, Now hit that ball, Kiss it goodbye

Hit it hard, Hit it fast, Knock that pitcher on the grass

Onesall was The band and they played everything from Steeley Dan, Disco, Van Halen to Santana.

As always a bunch of girls got together and danced the night away ! ! ! Another fun time!

Softball game today, February 12, 2026 . . . . Unfortunately they lost, but they played well.

Dave and his team mates waiting their turn to bat. Tina keeping the score.

Me and Kitty on the top left of the bleachers, cheering on the team.

Cheers at the end of the games

February 19th and Voyager was in the Field once more!

Last Thursday Voyager and league foe Hitmen 65 faced off at
Blanche Field for a Tucson 65+ League showdown. Both teams
were looking to improve on identical one win seasons records.
Voyager found themselves in an early 3 run deficit, entering the
fourth inning trailing 4 to 7. Not to be denied their second win
of the season, Voyager posted back to back 5 run innings to take a 14
to 8 lead into the sixth inning. The Hitmen posted a three run sixth
but it was not enough as the home team came away with a 14 to 11
victory.
Game two found the two teams trading runs as they entered the
fourth inning tied at 6 to 6. Hitmen built a four run lead entering the
seventh inning as Voyager came to bat in the bottom of the frame.

The home team scored three runs to close the gap to one. Unfortu-
nately,the rally fell short as the visitors sealed the victory by a

final score of 16 to 15. This Thursday’s opponent has yet to be final-
ized,but rest assured Blanche Field will be the place to be at 10 am.

Skittle skittle rip it up the middle make the opposing pitcher pee a little

It was a 1960’s theme dance.

Garrett James and the Wanderers Band

They brought the sound of rock & roll throughout Voyager.

We all thought it was neat that they wore suits like the Beatles first did.

The decor was vinyl records, signs, piece signs and flowers. They had yellow submarines on the tables and strung on the ceiling.

A few of us gals got up to dance this song, Alicia is on the left, I’m right in front of her and Roberta is in black in the middle.

I wanted to capture the headband across my forehead look of the 60s

We saw that the new band playing at Voyager was young, they sounded good but a few songs they needed practice and some backup vocals. When they were finished we found out that they were only 17 years old! We hope they continue playing together, then they will ace it with practice.

The band started out as something we’d do for school dances. We started getting little gigs around town. Our first official gig was Little Anthony’s Diner on Broadway. We just started bouncing around, playing anywhere we could. We played in Oro Valley a lot and then downtown Tucson. We played the Gaslight Music Hall a few times and then the Goodyear Music Festival. Things really started taking off after the first year we competed in Proof Is In the Pudding. It’s a great way for musicians to get their name out there.”

The United States has won gold in both men’s and women’s hockey at the same Olympics for the first time ever!!

What’s so great about Team USA winning is that it was on the same day that the 1980 USA “Miracle on Ice Team” won the gold medal 46 years ago. Do you believe it was 46 years ago?

But I remember being on the edge of my seat in 1980 watching the USA men’s team defeating Canada in Lake Placid, NY. It was a thrilling overtime 4-2 victory over Finland. What made that victory so awesome was that it was a team comprised of amateurs playing against glorified professionals. The USA team today is made up of mostly NHL players.

We Can’t forget about the Ladies Hockey Team!!

The Women’s United States and Canada hockey team faced off Thursday for the gold medal. After a thrilling back-and-forth game, the U.S. won 2-1 in overtime on a goal by Megan Keller.

March brings flowers, laughter, and confusing weather forecasts.

“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”
– Margaret Atwood

What we’ve been doing while the world keeps on spinning.

Softball has been continuing here at Voyager.

“I don’t want to play golf. When I hit a ball, I want someone else to go chase it” Rogers Hornsby

‘It’s a round ball and a round bat, and you got to hit it square” Pete Rose

Congratulations to the great ladies on Team Voyager! Denise, Deb, Tina and Lynn!!! Hip Hip Hooray!!! They did a great job!

Team Voyager has one a few and lost a few. They continue to have a great love for the game and have a good time, and that’s what it’s all about . . . They played their last game of the season here and next Thursday the 26th they go away to play in a tournament and then come home to a End of Season Party!!

On March 26th, The Softball Team got to together for a end of season party at Dr. Joe the Treasure’s, and Paula the cookie ladies home.

Everyone brought delicious food to share, Joe and Paula were awesome hosts! Thanks for a great party!

The Softball team will be back together practicing this November for another season of fun.

Susan is a really talented lady in the park who has Rock Painting classes on Tuesday mornings. I have been going to some and having a lot of fun!

People painting away with Susan the instructor, first picture is Susan showing someone how to do a certain stroke.

Some of the great rocks that have been painted, guess which one is mine?

Some of the rocks I’ve painted while being here.

Alicia and I went to see, One of These Nights, an Eagles Tribute Band, here at Voyager. Everyone agreed that if you closed your eyes you would think you were listening to the original Eagle’s Band!

We would for sure go to see One of These Night Band again!

Stain Glass . . . . .

After buying many tickets and not winning the stain glass lamps, the stain glass group raffled off each year, I decided I would make my own. Cleatus, incredibly talented in stain glass, sottered a pull chain to the bottom of the lamp shade which really put the finishing touch on it.

Thank you Cleatus!

After making the lamp shade, my big project of the year. I only made small suncatchers.

Every year stain glass has an open house to show off their beautiful work. They raffle off and sell stain glass art. They also ask people to display items they have made throughout the year. My lamp in the show.

A few of the beautiful stain glass pieces in the open house. It was a success. Cheers to the wonderful volunteers!

Cooper met an Italian Grey hound a bit smaller than him, down the street.

And some ducks on the way to the pond.

Another beautiful Tucson sunset.

Last but not least, another place I’ve been visiting while here is . . . .

A few of the awesome pieces people have made in glass fusion.

Some of the Glass Fusion projects I did this year.

These are book markers that I make for friends. They’re easy and fun to do.

We definitely keep busy, but we have a lot of fun too!

April isn’t about being perfect—just planting possibilities 🌻

“How did it get so late so soon?” — Dr. Seuss . . . . That’s what I’m thinking about April !

This beautiful bush and the roses have been putting out a beautiful aroma throughout March and April.

That describes me, hook line and sinker.

I got to see the Pink Moon, yippee.

Dave, Me and Cooper hoped on over to The Screamery for some delicious homemade ice cream. It was yummy!

Cooper at the dog park with some of his friends.

Our friend Alicia had a couple Drive Way parties . . .

Good Friends, Food and Drinks. It was a fun time!

The root beer floats were yummy! See if you can spot Dave in the pictures.

On Tuesday, Thursday’s and Saturday’s Laura leads a bunch of us in water aerobics.

It’s a fun and energetic class . . .she keeps you movin for sure.

We use both weights and noodles as she gives us a full body workout!

Earth laughs in flowers.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The picturesque flowers and cacti around Voyager.

The first flower and 2nd picture is a Baja Fairy Duster, the others are beautiful flowers and cacti who’s names I know not.

Our dear friends Dawna and Scott had us over to their place in Casa Grande for a Garden Party.

We celebrated with a bottle of Becherovka, it was good and went down smooth. I’ll have to get some.

She has the butterfly glass fusion stake I made in her beautiful plant.

Thank you for having us over, as always it was wonderful to see you both! 💖🌹🌺🌼🌻🌵

Kim, me and Jean driving the 3 of us in a 2 person gulf cart. “Feeling the need for speed.” Good thing Jean is a good driver and can handle tight fast turns.

The sign lady is still here but we don’t go down where she lives to often.

We can’t Speculate, take into account or even phantom that it’s May ?!

Did you get to see the Flower Moon?

I did.

The Indians say that saguaros are our brothers and sisters, I agree.

The Saguaro… is a relative. …the saguaro was a human being and god put the saguaro on the earth in the form of a cactus so that we can begin to look at ourselves.” —Floyd Flore

“I throw my arms up in the air sometimes… Saying ayeoh, I’m a saguaro.” — National Park Servic

Y’all gotta love em, We do.

Today is May 5th and that means it’s Cinco de Mayo!!

Cathy and I went to celebrate at El Coronado’s one our favorite restaurants here in Tucson.

It was Yummy and Fun!!

Cooper and I love our walks thru the Voyager Strrets. We usually walk after 8pm when the streets are usually bare and the temps are perfect with a nice breeze.

“Starry nights, desert delights.”

“There were so many stars! The desert night was full of those sparks pulsing faintly as the wind came and went like a breath.” — J.M.G. Le Clézio

“The Arizona sky’s bigger than a couple of midwestern states combined.” – Rick Riordan

Today is May 19th, We are leaving Arizona tomorrow morning and heading east. Wish us Good Luck and Safe Travels