the beach at Christmas, 2007

what a nice trip to the beach! we left here after jean came in and checked into bolsa chica state beach, just north of huntington beach, about 15 miles from the house.

check the flickr site for pictures. check sarah's site; http://www.soupsake.com/ for updates and a picture of her new car!

we had blue skies, gorgeous sunsets, cool weather and occasional high winds for our stay. didn't dampen our enthusiasm tho. jean was out of the motor home before we crawled out of bed in the mornings. then there was the after breakfast walk, followed by the just before lunch walk which was just before the after lunch walk which was prior to the just before dinner walk...... usually it meant calling her cell phone and asking where we should pick her up so we could go eat! i did manage Christmas dinner and 2 major breakfasts, a major feat for me.

there were 2 days of huge surf and we do mean huge. the day after Christmas we went to ruby's on the pier at huntington for breakfast and got lots of incredible pictures. we still made all the Church services and yes, santa was notified of our location in time.

it's raining!

well, we won't have to water the lawn for awhile which will make the city happy since we are on water rationing. at 10:00pm it's pouring once again!

we have started putting stuff together for our big trip down the coast (10 miles or so). jean will hopefully get out of boston sunday morning between snow storms. just about got food planned, no it does not include me cooking everyday. one day will be finger foods, you know the good ones: chips and dip, fritos and dips, tortilla chips and salsa, little wienies with bbq sauce, etc. etc.
one day has to be wonderfully guilt free blow the diet extravaganza!

we are wishing all of our family and friends the most wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

ok, i'm trying to upload a picture so bear with me. my computer has digressed to aol.8 and that's like living in the dark ages. i'm not messing with it cause it's better than what it was doing.

we had rain over the weekend and on our way to vespers service sunday night we went down by alamitos bay. the view of our local mountains was spectacular, what we call a rose parade view. this is the one that most people see during the rose parade and make them think of moving here. word is, don't do it, it doesn't happen often and is best viewed on tv!

we're still here!

we are still hanging around long beach but we are talking about next years trip. next trip coming up is for Christmas and we will be at bolsa chica state beach. we've rented a motor home, jean is coming out for warmer weather. we're pretty sure santa will find us also.

yesterday was a real treat. when we were on the june-july road trip we were waiting for the word that a certain special baby was finally born. the call came while we were in indiana, she was a girl, eventually named claire elizabeth. well, she's 5 months old now and she came to visit yesterday. her mom left her with us for almost 2 hours. of course i had snuck out before she was due to buy her the cutest red corduroy holiday dress. she is the happiest little girl, laughs, smiles and just wraps us around her little finger.

next years big trip will be in august. we will drive north, heading to british columbia. we will visit with some friends we've made thru the orca lab web site then head up to pt. mcneil for the orca reunion. 8 days of whale watching, eating wonderful food, and meeting awesome people in person. we hope to catch up with my cousin rod in vancouver and meet his martine. more on this at another time.

i'm still procrastinating on working with all the pictures from this summer. new camera means lots more pictures, thousands in fact.

i promise to try to update more often. we'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

home again!

ok, short overnight trip to san diego for a dallas diamonds football game. they lost by 3 points! it was great being at a football game again. we still miss the aftershock but still love our time back.

while we were down there yesterday we went to the birch aquarium in la jolla. it's part of scripps institute of oceanography (they have probably renamed it tho). if you are ever in that area please don't miss it. they were doing a 'kids paint with wyland' day. it was wonderful seeing him work on a mural with groups of kids. we also had a chance to talk to his mom and found out that hopefully after 2008 he will be touching up several murals including the arena here in long beach.

i promise to post more pics on flickr. hard to believe that a week ago saturday we left england.

the girls are home from abroad!

ok now, we need faster airplanes! it was a rather uneventful flight, just a little turbulance when we got near the rockies then the cascades and such. it had rained in los angeles for a couple days so it was one of those days when the clouds were perfect, the air was clean and just gorgeous.

will get back to this very soon and try to get pictures where they belong. next trip you say? christmas at the beach! last year we stayed in our trailer at lake casitas over the holiday. this year no trailer so we've rented a 36' motor home and will be at bolsa chica state beach with jean. got a great deal and managed to get reservations. come on by if you don't have anything to do. give us a call for details. it would be fun to have a bring your own appetizer to share. no alcohol but i'm betting we can figure out something. i can take the blender for non alky margaritas. we'll have a fire in campsite so there isn't any trudging thru the sand.

i'm going back to bed now,....

time to come back to earth now?

hard to believe tomorrow is the day we come back to the states. this trip has been so wonderful in so many ways.
the trip to york was quite an experience. 2 different trains each way. went up into the hills to get there. york is so old and once in awhile you find very modern buildings hidden. medieval is old, very old. we will post some pictures tonight. these will be the last ones till after we get home.
carls mom and dad are bringing fish and chips for dinner tonight. yum! we are so glad for the chance to visit with them again.
while i am still on here, congratulations to darleen on her new grandson! we hope to see pictures wed. night!

hi all

carl's parents came to dinner today, wonderful couple. we are hoping that they will visit when they are over our way next time.
what can i say about buckingham garden centre? i want everything! don't know what half of the plants were but we don't get them at home. sarah finally got bit by the gardening bug and makes the most of a small garden area. we hope someday they will have a bigger house with a bigger garden. until then though she is a marvel at using the space she has.
tomorrow is our train trip to york. we make one train change then will take a taxi to where we are staying. i'm sure there will be many pictures to post. we won't have computer access till we get back so you will all have to wait!
we've decided that we have to travel more and not worry about leaving the states. we just always thought the usa would be enough until we came over here. it is really different, fun, and educational and the people are so nice. we really need to look up some english history now that we've been here.
well, going to relax a little then pack for tomorrow, it will be easy tho. until we get back to maids moreton......

more from maids moreton

my undying thanks to my daughter sarah! i am totally lost on a mac, I WANT MY RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON!
instead of oxford today, we stayed home and helped clean house, take a nap then go for a walk. you will see a theme interspersed thru pictures, doors, windows, gates, front gardens and flowers. this place is loaded with all of these.
we are going into buckingham in the morning for farmers market and the flea market. watch out, here i come! sunday carl's folks are coming for a bar b q. then the big adventure, going to york on our own.
we are having such a good time, we love it here and want to come back. sometimes when we go outside it's a shock, we forget we are in england. the fields here just seem more picturesque than at home.

oxford

oxford
Originally uploaded by cnjfrogs

not many of these booths left but we found one in oxford

we know where the dining hall is!

for those who can't figure the title out, it's the dining hall at christ church in oxford better known as the dining hall in harry potter! carole and i will take the bus back to oxford friday and go into the church and see it and many other sites to see. we used the park and ride, i wouldn't want to try to find parking in that town! we walked and walked then walked some more. we had lunch at a place in the covered market, yum! then we walked some more then took a double deck bus tour around oxford. you can get on and off all day long. there is so much to see and 2 trips won't do it credit.
i have utmost respect for mac users, you have far more patience than i do. i miss my right mouse button!!!!!! for some reason i can't get into today's pictures so keep your fingers crossed for tomorrow.
please tell me that we can get emmendale in the states, please, please, please!

pictures abound

i've uploaded some pics to the flickr site. sure glad we have 2gb memory cards! everywhere you turn are great pictures. don't know what todays adventure is but it might have something to do with going to a salvage type yard looking for 2 beams for the house. the tv room is newer and they want to add a couple beams to make it look more like the rest of the house. we're up for it no matter what, this is the fun way to travel, really get into the local life!

here starts the fun stuff!

we just uploaded some pics on flickr. think you'll like them. today i went in the morning with sarah, she had a job interview so i went shopping. it's an outlet mall and yes, she got thejob.
we then went back home, the plasterers were still working so i laid down on hte couch with a blanket and went to sleep.
then we took a ride, saw all kinds of things. a medieval bridge, burial mounds, more of buckingham. later sarah and i went back to buckingham and bought fish and chips and took them home. wow huge pices of cod freshly battered and very good chips.
after some tv, have to watch the nightly episode of 'emmendale'. even carl watches that one. american men blast ours, love the english men who get right into this one. please, someone tell me that we have it at home.
the days get more fun as we go. enjoy the pictures, more to come. london for sure on tuesday as sarah has to go interview for a higher wage level since she's very well qualified.
got my feet wet and bought something today, gettingin practice for london!

we're going we're going

we leave friday afternoon at 6:05pm, arrive london saturday at 12:25pm coming home is more interesting, we leave london around noon and arrive lax a few hours later! sounds good anyway.

watch sarah's site www.soupsake.com for more info. we are not able to take our cell phones as verizon is the only one that doesn't use simm cards. our roommate will have sarah's phone number. if it's something real important, call her, if not email us. sarah has a mac and carl has pc's.

a few last minute stuff to do tomorrow and we can start packing for real. we are beyond excited believe me.

we will be going to york, london, milton keynes, buckingham and a few other spots.

keep watching, we're on a roll!

whee yipppeeeeee

ok, the girls are going! this time next week we will be in jolly old england or better known as the united kingdom.
my passport came yesterday morning via fedex, then we went to the auto club. we are set, we can start packing, we are going!!!!!

YEAH!!!

carole has her passport, mine shouldn't be far behind. now the real packing begins. we should be good at it by now, just take out half of what we think we will need!!!!

i goofed, sorry nico

nico is a siberian husky. maybe i need new glasses so i can read? no guess i need to retain information better? senior moments? no, not me!!!!!!

ok, now that i have her permission, please check out sarah's journal! www.soupsake.com

click on the postcard for her journal or use the links underneath for flickr and you tube. i love their you tube, carl is playing with nico, their alaskan husky. flickr has lots of pictures of their home, anipals, mushrooms by the 'eleventy squillion', local flooding and historical comparison shots. oh, and food glorious food! she's done a slow cooked pork roast complete with instructional photos and banana bread to die for! can't leave out 'noodle' the cat either!

enjoy!

ready to pack, ready to go!

started out the day finally knowing the date for a memorial service for a great lady. she fought a valiant fight against cancer but she was released to go home a few days ago. she will truly be missed.

ok, we have mentally packed, repacked, and gotten haircuts, and are still patiently waiting for our passports. we will be here sept. 2nd tho, we will go to the memorial.

for those who are curious about where we are going, i will ask my daughter if i can post her flickr address here. we will be getting a big dose of rural english countryside and history! we hope that the mushrooms she found will be active still, as she said, there were eleventy squillion of them! they are tiny individuals but in a mass around the base of a bush it's an awesome sight.

weather there in the high 60's, here hot in the afternoon after the returning marine layer burns off. you'd think it was late spring, early summer. cool at night tho, makes for great sleeping.

a beautiful day in dana point, ca

we took a day off and went down to doheny state beach at dana point, ca. about an hour from here if you don't hit too much traffic through huntington beach, newport beach then LAGUNA BEACH!!!! laguna is a fun town or should say used to be a fun town until i grew up and got tired of dealing with tourists and traffic and pedestrians, all of whom do not know common sense let alone rules of the road. ok, enough dumping!

doheny was wonderful, light breeze, strong waves hitting the shore and we all came back a little pinker than we should be considering we had sun block in the car! good relaxing day tho. had fish and chips for dinner before we headed home. pebble collecting was awesome as always. someday our beach jar will fill up and we'll have to get another one. guess i should take a picture of it. this last trip we collected some sand and shell fragments from crane beach, ma. made a wonderful addition to the jar.

i will add pictures later tonight to flickr, meanwhile if you are at least curious check out sarah's blog site, there is a link to her flickr site. she's posted lots of pictures of their home when they were looking at it and lots since they moved in. also look at the awesome pork roast she's done. we're hoping while we are there.......

damn boat noise!

oh, i guess i should explain. i'm a regular at orca lab's community page and they finally, after a lot of work and good sponsors have sound up and running. busy boat days up there, go away boats, come back orcas and sing!

ok, could be any day now for carole's passport, mine is a week behind hers. sarah and i have been doing the food dislikes/likes discussion. i've offered to pay for another pork roast if she will fix it for us. it roasts for 23 hours! yum!!

to all our friends in places with humidity, you can have it back now. we didn't want it, still don't want it. to esther and the dallas diamonds, YOU GO GIRLS!

we are already beginning a discussion on another road trip, much shorter tho. we'd really like to visit places that have hands on workshops on things like blacksmithing, and the like. this comes from a show we like to watch on rfdtv called heartland highways. we're also seriously talking about the alaska cruise/rail trip for next year. yes, we have been bit by the travel bug!

ok, i'm tired of boats now, sound goes off. gotta do something useful today other than turn the a/c on. summer can go now, it's been nice.......

waiting waiting waiting!

waiting for passports is a challenge. can't book flight until we have them either.

new photos are on flickr now. we bought a new camera, a nikon d-40! wow, what a difference and a lot to learn too.

a few statistics on the road trip; 8200 miles, a little over 1,000 for gas! not bad was it? if you are thinking of traveling by car, don't let the price of gas stop you. for everything we saw and everywhere we went we think it was a bargain!

stay tuned.....

it's not over yet folks!!!!!!!!

well, we've been home almost 3 weeks, we are unpacked and back into our normal routine. let me explain what our normal routine is like. we started talking about a major trip next year, maybe alaska? then my daughter emailed me and i called her back. she and i have had a huge healing that feels so good. well, carole and i are awaiting our expedited passports so we can book our trip to england! passports should be here in 2-3 weeks, then we get tickets and we're out of here again!!!!!!!!
now the planning for yet another type of trip starts. we are so excited, so are sarah and carl. we will see lots, walk a lot, play with nico (husky) and noodle (cat) and probably every hedgehog i can find!
stay tuned friends and family, the adventure continues!

mostly unpacked!

i have a huge bag full of free stuff from all the rest stops to go thru and figure out what to get rid of and what to keep. i'm kidding myself, get rid of after looking thru them again. they make good reading on the road tho. once in awhile you find a treasure to visit.

it's so darn quiet here on the street during the day. the kids are all still in the house and don't come out until it's cooler. we are starting on the 'honey we need to do this' list now. it's hard to go back to your former life after a trip like ours. for one thing, on the road it seems cheaper. well, at home that feeling is blown out of the water! carole is slowly figuring out the costs of the trip now, gas was not as expensive as i thought it would, a little over $1,000. considering the cost of gas right now, we consider that a pretty low price to pay for over 8,000 miles.

well, gotta get busy, more later......

it was inevitable!

ok, trip is past tense now. after a night in vegas in a motel 6, we headed home. anyway, carole unpacked the car and we lost the living room again, just like before we left! it's looking better, the car is back being shiny and clean again, no bugs!!!!!
i will put pictures in flickr tomorrow for sure, and start on filling in the blog with more detailed info. by the way, the bead i made at corning glass museum was waiting for me and it's gorgeous! i will take a picture of it to show.
would we love to do this trip again????? you bet, different time of the year, different route and pack much less! will we, maybe but not for a couple years. we came home relaxed, a few pounds lighter! we had such a great time, met so many wonderful people, saw so many incredible places.
more to come.......

aaarrrrggggghhhhh!

ok, couldn't get on in the room so i came to the lobby. only way i could get on was thru internet explorer then aol which doesn't give me full access to everything i normally get. as far as downloading pics to flickr? not tonight for sure.
we are in page, az. we will get up early tomorrow morning and head to north rim grand canyon for a quick trip then onto zion nat. park and spend the night in springdale, just west of the park entrance.
we came thru monument valley today, absolutely gorgeous. had a navajo taco at gouldings trading post, yum! when it comes into view it brings back memories of most of the cowboy movies you've seen. john wayne is still king here.
if we talked to you earlier tonight, sorry but both our phones needed recharging bad. for some reason we forget that we can charge while we drive. we have gotten very laid back on this trip so imagine it will take us awhile to readjust once we get home.
right now i'm looking out the window towards the dam, clouds, very gorgeous sky, rock is so red. wish you could all see this.
not sure about internet access tomorrow night, we'll see.....

104 today, time to get out of dodge!

tomorrow we leave this incredible part of the world much humbled and awestruck! we head south of here, will drive on the highway that goes through monument valley on the way to page, az.

today we drove out to dead horse state park overlook, and on to 'island in the sky' lookout of canyonlands nat. park. you do drive into the nat. park so we did make it. you are way up high looking down on the immense scenery below. this is the area where thelma and louise drove off the edge, no we didn't do that.

we would love to come back here later in the year, after it cools off which would probably put that around march???

i'm going to try to insert more than one picture here, not always easy i've learned..... ok, there are 3 more pics i wanted to include here but it doesn't want to do that. right now a shower sounds better than fighting this. i will update flickr tomorrow night, too tired right now...

goofed

all right, i didn't get pictures posted tonight on flickr, will do it tomorrow. if you find mistakes in what i write, you can figure out what we meant!

another day in paradise!

don't ask me why but i love this crazy town and carole gave me 3 days here. it's very hot so it works out great. we've also run into a problem with the weekend here. a third day puts us in to page, az where they had a room then to north rim grand canyon where there wasn't. when we leave grand canyon we go thru zion nat. park and spend the night at springdale. we stayed at this place last year when we went to kanosh in june.
this morning we got up early, well for us anyway. we had breakfast, carole went to the bank then we headed a few miles north to arches nat. park.
arches is an incredible experience to say the least. carole was very quiet, lost in her thoughts just like i was. pictures are coming but not tonight.
i think, no i'm sure i downloaded the camera memory cards onto a dvd this time. i've put the dvd in and taken it out so many times just to make sure. it was easy with the last version of windows. for some reason they are all mixed up in sequence but we will get them separated after we get home.
i keep saying we are going to canyon lands, we aren't, we're going to dead horse point nat. monument where we can look down on part of canyonlands. we will do the morning thing again. there is a loop drive off 128 that we heard about being worth the trip so we might do that. yes, carole now has bonine, it helps!

we are in moab, ut for 2 nights. got laundry done too! it's hot here but gorgeous around here. we left colorado on I-70 and took the 128 highway to moab.

128 is one of utah's scenic drive and scenic doesn't adequately describe it. it's like driving into grand canyon with the colorado river on the right side and the rock formations on the left. mom introduced me to the road in 2000 when she and i drove back from baltimore. i had forgotten that it is yet another winding road but even i got a little car sick and i was driving! we now have bonine for the rest of the trip if needed for carole. this is one of those roads that if you are in the area you need to take. it will take your breath away.

moab is still a crazy small town, full of local color and craziness. it's an all year area, river rafting, mountain biking, dirt biking, kayaking and canoeing. oh, i forgot, climbing, skydiving, hiking and who knows what else. they do get some snow in the winter and it does get cold. it's hippies that didn't know the movement died, bikers, and everyone who likes anything to do for a thrill outdoors.

this area is also canyonlands and arches national parks. we will go up to arches in the morning after breakfast and do canyonlands tomorrow night. probably need to reverse it but we'll see.

when we leave here we go through monument valley then onto north rim grand canyon. guess that means we will really be heading home after that. we still aren't sure which way we will come in but we'll let you know.

tomorrow i will put more pictures on the flickr site. it's frustrating taking pictures, when you see a great shot there isn't a pull-off and when there is one there isn't anything to see.

we saw 1 antelope today and got in the way of a prairie dog, yes, he lived but he changed his mind real fast and went the other way. would love to see more antelope, they are just beautiful.

we have left a little of mom in lots of places, memories old and new dictate where. it's a very emotional part of this trip. she made us promise to take this trip and feel her everywhere we go.

here are a few pictures, from both of us. old buildings are at leadville, co., highway pics are on I-70 coming downhill through one of the many gorges you pass. we don't like the 75mph speed limit anymore so we try to keep it at 65-70 and let everyone pass us.

we miss all of you and will see you soon....

God's country for sure!

somehow yesterdays entry got lost, sorry about that.
we spent the night in sterling, co and headed towards denver in the morning. an uneventful trip across denver was a pleasant surprise. we were only going as far as eagle or glenwood springs so had time to do a side trip to leadville. this is an old, but nicely kept up town in the lower rockies. fun time walking around town and having lunch. we heard about a train trip on tires and found it down the street. we did it, the guy knows a lot about the area and that made it very interesting. up and down and across most of the streets, lots of historical gossip! it's quite an infamous town with lots of big names.
i think this area (which is quite big) might be the general area that mom lived in as a young girl. i have more information than i did before so will start looking again after we get home, unpacked and rested.
we took a different road back to the interstate, wow! the rivers, the mountains are awesome. we would very much like to come back for a few days. need to soak up a lot of oxygen tho, it's over 10,000 ft.!
we head to moab, ut tomorrow. might stay a couple days and nights. need to do laundry and just kick back. plenty to do around there anyway, canyonlands, arches and town! carole has tried to get me to buy some souvenirs, i keep telling her we aren't out of moab yet!
mom has been left in some wonderful places, today by a beautiful stream, i could just see her working her way upstream with her fly rod. lots of memories come back in places like this.
still won't say when we'll be home, we'll be home when we get home. we are heading west so it might be a sign!

long but gorgeous day

we are in council bluffs, ia tonight and we cross over the missouri river into nebraska in the morning. nebraska is a state that seems neverending especially when you go east to west.

it was hot today and somewhat humid so we used the a/c most of the time. this countryside is just unbelievable. the rain stayed south east of us although we would've enjoyed some. it might've cleaned the car off. carole still wants to wash it, i still want to leave it till we get home. it's not really that dirty, well not that you can see.

we took a side trip to one of the amana communities, a place mom and i visited years ago. their style of building is quite interesting. typical midwest farm styles but they put trellises on the outsides of the houses and outbuildings for vines. i will try to find a web site that shows it.

we are going into utah but on the eastern side, so far so good.

are we tired of the trip yet??? no, it's still great. just know we are heading west......

on the road again

this is short tonight, sorry. we are altering our route, we will go to yellowstone and surrounding area another time. there are too many fires for one thing and we will stay away from them. we will be heading across nebraska and colorado into utah for moab area then monument valley and north rim grand canyon.

we had an awesome stay with jim mcconnell and his wonderful family. hated leaving the lake too. sure had fun.

we've reviewed all the pictures and we sure have had a great time and seen so much. it's not over yet by any means.

all of you who have called with that perennial question 'are we home yet' or are you coming home', no we aren't home and the other question is still going to be maybe, maybe not! of course we are coming home, do we know when or will we tell all of you? NO!

we are spending the night in moline, illinois. crossed and recrossed the mississipi river when we went to dinner! it will be the last time for this one, but there are a couple more big rivers between here and home.

we will go to the local jeep dealer in the morning for the car's 9,000 mile oil change!!!!

to be continued...

Thank you's, fireworks, fish and friendship and family

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!!!!!

carole and i went out on the dock, it was my turn to fish today. legal that is! ok, official count is: carole 5 fish, i caught a total of 9. i admit i had more time than carole but we both enjoy each others excitement. we are happy to say, all the fish went back into the lake to be caught another day. most fun fishing we've both had in many years.
you had to be here, next lake over's fireworks were just out of view but at one of the homes here at crooked lake they put on a show that lasted over half an hour. we're talking big fireworks!
also, they have stars out here and are they ever beautiful. something we forget when we live in cities.
jim's wife's folks came in with 2 grandsons and a grandaughter this afternoon. we went out on the lake pulling the kids one at a time in a big inner tube thing. then we went out to the middle of the lake and went swimming. yep, i went in, had a great time too. yes carole took a picture.
we went back to the house, goofed off, ate dinner, and fished some more then went out on the boat at about 9:45pm to see fireworks. the lake was calm, no bugs out there. it was a perfect end to a perfect visit.
our undying gratitude to jim's mom jo ellen for opening up her home to us, it's been a joy. to jim and september and max and miranda thank you for talking time to share yourselves with us. we hope you will be able to come out our way and let us host you. it would be our pleasure.
we never knew much about indiana, just what we've seen in books and on tv. it is very beautiful here along with very nice people.
thank you all for the most memorable 4th of july week ever. you will be in our hearts forever!

fishies and more!

ok, more fish today and jim is thawing out some walleye for dinner! i won't tell you what else has been caught, carole would probably make me walk home. let's just say that some cousins have the same genes!

a little warmer and just a little more humidity today but still not bad at all. next lake over is having fireworks tonight and we will be out on the lake. today september's folks will be here so the house will be full of kids.

this has been such fun but we will be leaving tomorrow. looked at the weather once we get to south dakota and beyond and it looks pretty good. we've handled the heat and humidity we've had quite well so far. the air conditioner at home will probably look and feel very good when we get home tho.

till later.....

fiishie, fishie, fishie, fishie and another fish!

carole caught 5 blue gills tonight from the boat dock!!!! one of them was at least 8"! she let them all go tho, back to their homes. last night (around 9pm) the minnows were jumping out of the water trying to get away from the bass. typical fishing luck, that was last night. tomorrow we will go out on the lake, i'm going to jump in and enjoy it. jim found a bottle-nosed turtle, 2 more snapping turtles and a bull frog. there was a soft shell turtle too but i don't remember what kind it is. it was a fun night...

we will leave here sunday morning and start the hard stretch heading to south dakota. once we get to the rapid city area the rest of the trip will go faster than we want it to. this has been the most incredible trip in so many ways. it's been worth the wait.

thank you all for your continued prayers and good thoughts, carole and julie

sorry i didn't update yesterday

carole and i have been busy, we are here at the lake house on crooked lake. it belongs to my cousins mom and she has nicely lent it to us for our visit! it's gorgous here, peaceful and wonderful. they all come in around 6pm and leave around 11pm. we are doing our part by watching out for enemy subs and the loch ness monster. so far so good, everything is intact.

jim and i have had fun talking about growing up years, so many similarities, including the eastern sierra. i had the missing link name to connect some family for him. it's just awesome.

last night we had come in from the nightly boat ride and the bass were jumping right off the dock so it was fishing time. their daughter miranda is a joy, loves to fish. this morning carole went to walmart and bought us some fishing gear and a 1 day license for today for her and i will get one later for me for tomorrow.

i'm posting some pictures, enjoy......

wow wow wow!

ok, on the flckr thing, i've played with the privacy issue and i hope i've gotten it right. if not, hang in, it will get corrected soon. i'm getting lessons via email from a special friend in canada.
yesterday we went to the corning museum of glass, in corning, ny. mom and i went there in the 80's and it's been rebuilt and it's truly awesome. right now there is a large gallery of contemporary glass artists. it's hard to fathom what can be done with glass. they have several 'hands on' classes for a really low price. i did the lampwork bead class! the bead will beat us home by a couple of weeks tho. last time i saw it it was just showing some color. when you are done with it and it's cooled off a thousand degrees or something you put the mandrel with the bead on it in a bucket of vermiculite to cool off. since we couldn't go back today they will mail it to us. carole doesn't even know what it looks like, it will be a surprise. we will share it of course. we want to go back, maybe fly and visit jean for another week or so and the 3 of us drive to corning. the whole area is worth a return trip.
today, we took a back road carole found on the map, hwy. 417, just out of corning and ended up on I-90 heading to ohio. what a joy this road was, farm after farm, amish carriages and wagons sharing the road too. sorry, we didn't take pictures, sometimes you just have to store them in your minds. the route was just a glorious by-way getting us from one place to another.
we are at the most wonderful best-western in the whole world. we are overnighting in mentor, ohio. we wish we could clone this for the rest of the nights on the trip!
tomorrow we have an approximate 5 hour or less drive to columbia city, in. we meet my new cousin and his family. i think, if i'm correct we share a grandmother on my dad's side. i have a hard time keeping this family thing straight.
we miss you all and we are having a wonderful time. this is truly the trip of a lifetime for us.
love to all!

oh what a beautiful day!

we left jeans at 11am, ate an early lunch and got back on the road. the trip to johnson city, ny was incredible. we had blue skies, puffy white clouds, cool and low humidity! a couple stretches of toll roads but it's not bad considering how well maintained and clean they are.

the trip up here goes through the most beautiful mountain and farm areas imaginable. it's also green up here, we can only imagine what it must look like in the fall.

we are having a wonderful time, it's a great trip and we are so glad we are doing it. a few frustrations but they have a way of working out.

tomorrow we will go to the corning museum of glass in corning, ny. i've been there, actually took mom back in the 80's. it will be fun taking carole there this time. i'm sure it's changed since then. we decided that we'd forgo niagra falls. it's amazing how fast time flies when you get on the road. we probably average 300 miles a day but it goes fast.

we've posted pictures on www.flickr.com/photos/cnjfrogs for your amusement! if you can't open it let us know and we'll send detailed directions.

the car is awesome, the satellite radio is awesome but the best is the navigation system! it's extremely accurate. i like to argue with her (it's a female voice) but she's always right. well, once she was wrong but the nice cop in saugus, ma told me i couldn't turn left on this one street as they'd just brought in a backhoe for some work. i told him i was using a nav. system, and we had a good laugh. he gave me detailed directions to get back on track which i promptly forgot. got just out of sight from him and let the system catch up with me and we were heading the right way once again. if you like to travel, hate to get lost (even in town) you need to check into getting yourself one. we're sure you will all hear more about it from us.

ok, i'm going to post a couple pics here, for more go to flickr. the one of carole and her critter has been labeled " Lobsta at Glosta'!, the scenery shot is at great smokey mountain national park, we loved it so much that we knew mom would too. there is a shot of jean, our friend in stonehan, ma and some pics of caroles grandkids and a great grandson, corbin. he's a cutie and we are glad we don't have to chase after him.

love to you all, carole and julie, the intrepid travelers

on the road again!

well, tomorrow anyway. all good things must come to an end. we've had an awesome time here at jean's.
just short info here, will have more time to write tomorrow night at a hotel. we did go into cambridge to harvard university to see the glass flowers and the mineral exhibit. the glass flowers were made in the 1800's, all handblown and minute detail. the plants are life size but there are also cross sections of all the parts of the plants. most of the model specimens came from the u.s. the flowers and plant sections were done in europe then shipped over here on boats. i will post the web site later this week. the minerals are just awesome but still in antique flat top cases.
yesterday we took a ride up to lowell but were too late to see the textile museum. had a great ride through the city tho. since jean was off today, saturday, we went back to lowell and saw the museum then drove to gloucster and rockport. more later......

yep, brakes work!!!!

we did a day trip to maine instead of p-town yesterday. thanks to a stupid driver in front of us who discovered half way past a driveway that he wanted to turn in there and did, we know how our brakes work!!!!!!! after moving off the road for a few minutes while i learned how to breathe again we continued on.
we went to cape neddick lighthouse, talked to a lot of people about our trip, took a lot of pictures (to be posted tomorrow) and enjoyed the fragrance of the "beach roses". we got as far as kennebunkport, just out of view of the bush summer cottage and turned around. we had passed the 'lighthouse depot' store so stopped there just to say we've been there. ha! we bought a few things, are you crazy???? when in maine....... carole recognized the sign of low blood sugar and suggested we find someplace to get ice cream. wow, how did that happen? right across the street? 'big daddy's' ice cream parlor. yum!!!! her blood sugar came back up to normal, she's happy, i'm happy and our dr. should be happy!
i've known a mineral collector named maurice back here as long as i've known jean so he came over last night and we had pizza out in the back yard until the local militia (mosquitos) came in and chased us inside. jean has tivo so we watched 2 episodes of mythbusters and another episode of deadliest catch.
today is a kick back day, go to the store to get sandwich stuff and jeans church is having a service at the beach tonight. being away from our beloved church this will be a treat!
we'll probably brave going to harvard tomorrow so carole can see the glass flowers. look them up on the internet if you don't know what they are. even mom was blown away when she saw them a few years ago.
we did not go to p-town, too far to drive, too expensive to take the ferry. maybe another time. some things have had to be canceled but it's ok.
to be continued.......

stoneham, ma

being here at jeans is a real treat. it is getting warm tho. we were going to drive out cape cod, but we've changed our minds, almost 3 hours from here. then i got the big idea to take the ferry across (foot mind you) but at $44. a person i think not. shucks it doesn't cost that much to go to west hollywood on our end.
i'm thinking a nice leisurely jaunt up to maine will suffice today. surprisingly it's closer. this is short, i will write later and hopefully have some pics to inclose.

love to all.......

tom's river, nj

wow, we came across the delaware bay on the lewes, de to cape may, nj ferry. gorgeous trip across, water wasn't rough, just a nice slow swell, sunny blue skies and warm enough to stand outside. talked to a delightful young lady from pa.

we finally saw kenny and another of carole's grandaughters, becca. it was a short visit as he doesn't check his phone very often. his lost! it was good seeing becca tho, she's a beautiful young lady now.

we are traveling up the garden state parkway, it's really a great road. it's a toll road and to me it shows the value of a road that costs to take it. it's not a high cost but has wonderful benefits.

our navigation system is a lot of help, we highly recommend using one for trips. we're getting at least 28 mpg which is great.

tomorrow afternoon will be a slow down point for us, jeans house in stoneham, ma. first activity will be laundry then play. hopefully we'll be able to go see the new die hard movie, it's opening wed. for some reason it seems like a good movie to see on a big screen.

well, that's it for now, time to go to sleep now............

wow, what a stop this has been

we are in seaford, delaware until tomorrow afternoon. we got in yesterday afternoon. normally this area is hot and humid but for the 2 days it's been glorious, very low humidity, in the 80's and a nice breeze and gorgeous blue sky.

only 2 people here knew we'd be here and the surprise was wonderful. we got to see and spend time with kimberly, carole's grandaughter. she's 16 and we'll just leave it at she's doing great, her grades are very good and she's very motivated!

later in the day, we saw sarah, another grandaughter and carole got to be with one of her greatgrand kids, a nearly 2 yr. old little guy named corbin. what a delight and a live wire he is.

we have more to tell on the visit but we won't do it here.

we are leaving tomorrow afternoon on the lewes, de to cape may, nj ferry. beats driving hundreds of miles. it will be a fun ride.

we are now both taking claritin d for our allergies. carole is a day or 2 behind me in clearing up. it's getting better tho. it got real good when we got to the atlantic ocean and came across the chesapeake bay on the bridge tunnel. oh glorious ocean air!

the car is very dirty but she's getting a good cleaning when we get to jeans in a couple days.

that's about it for now, on to the next adventure........

hot, hotter and humid and more allergies!

we are about 2 hours away from norfolk, va and we are missing using our computer. i finally asked to use one of their wireless cards and they don't have one here. sure glad most everyplace has a computer with internet to use.

we will be getting into delaware by tomorrow afternoon. we will see what we will see. first order of business tho is seeing kimberly, carole's 16 yr. old grandaughter. she does not know we are back here, so far no one in delaware knows. kimberly will be the fun visit.

sorry for not posting pictures, we really haven't taken many. first off the digital took a dump. just because it's probably 6 yrs old????? got a new one but we aren't on good terms yet. we should also have bluer skies from here. coming thru from mid-texas on it's been so humid the sky isn't clear.

know that you are all in our thoughts and prayers, we miss you guys but are having a great time!

allergies better!

ok, brief stint in north carolina. great smokey national park is gorgeous. hard part is you have to go thru 2 very overcrowded tourist trap areas. really pretty scenery and much cooler up there. temps in the low 60's and some rain and thunder made for a welcome break.
right now we are in maggie valley for the night. had a nice dinner and are looking forward to our jammies and the rocking chairs outside our room!
we are now officially overdue for the 6,000 mile oil change. don't think it's going to happen real soon either. probably not until we get to jeans in mass. let them yell, we don't care. car is great tho. found out we have 6 gears!!!! it's hard to go 35 downhill in the rain on a 2 lane road while trying to look at scenery and oncoming cars at the same time.
we are heading towards norfolk, va now. decided against the blue ridge parkway, the nat. park was enough for us for now. this area definately needs a trip back but not by car.
hugs and kisses to all....

allergies!!!

wow, tennessee has some killer allergies. we stayed here in cookeville for 2 nights and i took a 4 hour nap! carole, bless her heart did the laundry.
yesterday we went to the country music hall of fame. if ya'll are ever back here you must go. from the roots to contemporary. really a worthwhile stop. sorry elvis, you lost. hall of fame much better.
the country back here is gorgeous, we've gone through rice fields, cotton fields, corn and sugar cane. we forgot that they burn the cane prior to harvest. we're sure that added to the allergy problems.
yes, it's hot and some areas more humid than others but thanks to a/c we are surviving. we are heading north east tomorrow, heading towards norfolk, va.
sorry it's so short, the internet was down until this afternoon. if we do this again i will beg borrow or something a wireless card.
we love you all

we leave texas tomorrow

well, mondy we went to the ft. worth stockyards, last night we had chinese and tonight we went to a 'wing' place. habanera? nope; i had sweet sauce on mine. carole cautiously chose mozarella sticks. oh, yeah, dr. pepper tastes much better here.
yesterday we went to see the horses and today we went to the 6th floor museum in dallas where oswald shot kennedy. really nice exhibit, but very emotional and sobering. ok, i cried. i think everyone should go see it once.
later, we went to esthers and julies practice. boy did that bring back memories.
we will leave here in the morning heading towards tennessee so we can go to the country music hall of fame.
tomorrow starts the next stage of the trip. it's been awesome so far.
for those of you out there that pray, please send prayers to carole radke, a lot of you know her and she needs help.
we love you all, we didn't miss the pride meeting tonight tho! please share this address to those who don't have it.

still in texas!

went and saw an incredible sculpture today in irving, tx. it's mustangs, yes i know they don't have mustangs here but they are gorgeous. i will post a picture but make it smaller since ya'll can enlarge it!

we went to a 'zagat' reviewed place last night, 'babes'. wow!!!! we need one in long beach, but we'd all have to buy a new wardrobe. menu is fried chicken or chicken fried steak, served with salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, creamed corn and biscuits with honey or sorghum. no alcohol served but you can bring your own beer or wine. it's served family style and tables only hold 6. you might have to invite others to your table but everyone is so friendly it doesn't matter. we wanna tell you the chicken is so good! texas size pieces, carole ate 3 pieces! we won't tell you her pump and sensor got a workout. tonight is cold fried chicken night for us!

don't know what we are doing tomorrow, that's a whole day away!

we are still! in texas!

we are at esther and julies in hurst, texas. this is somewhat between dallas and ft. worth.

weather???? hot, humid as usual. this is probably what we will have until we start across the midwest now. still lots of wildflowers, haven't slowed down to id any birds yet.

today we will take a trip to the stock yards to see all the steaks on the hoof. my mom always complained that my dad took her to the most scenic spots anywhere they went. she was referring to the stock yards. guess you could say this will be a sentimental journey?????

we will be here for a few days. they want us to be here for their practice wed. night. wish they had a game tho. oh, should explain. julie is a member of the dallas diamonds, wpfl team. these ladies play hard, work hard and play hard. we can't keep up, just enjoy watching them. while waiting for our friends to get home we went and saw oceans 13. a fun, fun movie.

the picture is us at the alamo in san antonio. really an interesting place to go. i will update again tonight and put in another picture. going to have breakfast now, bacon and wheat toast, yum!

texas is big!

we are in san antonio at cindy and sandra's at the soon to be old house. we've seen the soon to be new house, wow! everything here is big, bigger and biggest and best. chicken fried steak is meant to be shared by a table of people but very very good at the blue cactus cafe. watch out for the sausage gravy tho, it's made with hot sausage! cornbread is not for the weak hearted either, there's little green things in it as in hot peppers. wow is it good tho. barbq ribs? awesome, breakfast tacos? oh yeah, homemade fresh flour tortillas, not like from the store, awesome. ice tea is a challenge, have to remember from here on out, specify unsweetened tea. they have this warped sense of ice tea and put a cup of sugar in a quart of tea. good but deadly. carole goofed once and won't again.

tomorrow we head to just outside dallas, it's been raining up there a lot. while we are there we'll probably get a blast from the past and go to a football practice. won't be there for a game tho.

did you all see the stanley cup game???? GO DUCKS!!!!!!! sorry ed, just had to! we watched the spurs cleveland game. fun seeing a game at least in the town where it's being played. this is definately spurs country.

we went to the alamo yesterday. very interesting how history changes from learning in california and hearing it in texas. great place tho. this afternoon we'll go to a folk festival downtown. we'll suck up the heat and humidity knowing there is a/c in the car and at the house.

our car is just incredible, we're getting 25-26 mpg with gas about same price most places. here in texas it's lower tho, actually paid 3.00 a gallon. they who own the oil companies give themselves a break.

ok, we have pictures but will have to wait until i can get on our computer and attatch pics. i now know how to get on the internet but here in their neighborhood only 1 wireless access and they aren't sharing. i'm learning!

that's it for now, hope all of you are well. all is great on this end. we love you all....
carole and julie

spurs won while we are in san antonio!

hi all,
well san antonio is hot and humid but looks interesting. gorgeous country coming in the area tho. just so hilly and green. today the alamo and out to our friends new house on a lake.
we are doing very well, car doing great, God is being great!
no armadillos yet, still looking. lots of birds, some new some old. jeremy has grown up, cindy and sandra are great and really liking it here.
well, i understand i have to get dressed so we can go get breakfast then go to the alamo. later!

wow!

well, we are in carlsbad, nm, going to the cave in the morning. you all have to go see white sands national monument sometime in your life. we also visited the missle museum at white sands missle base. very interesting and eye opening. this is short, haven't been able to get on but when we get to san antonio, tx. hope to have more time to update and put a couple pictures on.
this trip is everything we hoped for and we're only 3 days into it. the car is awesome too. carole and i are continuing our family joke, we really need to find something we like to do together.
our love to all, later dudes and dudettes (sorry, we've seen lots of horses and cows today!)

yee haw!!!!!

ok, have the date set in our mind, the car is 98% packed, have a few last minute ends to tie up and get some sleep. we are leaving in the morning heading out I-10 towards tucson, az.

hopefully we will get somewhat close as that makes the next day shorter to drive and more time to spend exploring white sands.

first and foremost i'm remembering to clear the pics off my camera so we can take pictures. i'm really not good at doing that. maybe this trip will break me of that habit?

the great adventure begins.....

tick tock tick tock

ok, have i said that computers hate me????? i shut my computer down finally after not being able to get into the update page, now it works. funny how that works.
are we any further along in getting ready to leave? doesn't look like it but if we put it in the car right now it might look better. funny thing is, i've been saying we will leave on the 3rd of june, right? well we are leaving on monday morning which is the 4th of june. close is good enough for me, same month, same week!
weather looking great once we get away from mid arizona, heading into the high 80's in new mexico which sounds much better than triple digits heading across the desert. yes, i know new mexico is desert too, but it's better desert than california desert just cause it's somewhere else!
the car has been serviced, cleaned and ready for the great adventure. after years of questionable condition cars it is a joy to start out in a new car that seems built for adventure.
that's it for now......

will we ever get organized????

ran some errands this morning and got a call from our friend james. we had stopped at polly's for lunch and as i was talking to him on the phone he came up from behind me! he likes to do that, we were just glad to see him.

next two days will be tying up loose ends, finish packing and last minute laundry. sunday we will see if all this stuff will fit in the car and still leave room for us.

we might not be able to update this every day as just as i wouldn't pay for a wireless card, the thing they sold us so we could use the cell phone won't work on vista yet. those who know me will understand that i was not very happy and they did refund the cost and apologize. i will go back to unplugging motel phone and using dial-up or paying for time if they have faster connections. one way or another we will get it done!

well, once again it's late and we're going to get some beauty sleep. 1 day closer to heading out of long beach!!!!!

one day closer!

well, we went to target, verizon, staples, walgreens and hopefully don't need to do anymore shopping. going away for 2 weeks is easier than planning for 4-5 weeks! the car goes in for service on friday for 1st oil change and stuff.
didn't get a wireless card, not paying $60. a month for 6 months minimum. going to try the hook up to the cell phone thing. obviously we won't be doing much web surfing on the road. a quick check of emails, look at weather up ahead and update the blog will suffice. this means no jigzone, no checking the orca site or any of our other favorite sites. will check in when we are visiting friends tho.
big news! out of the blue, we have sold our travel trailer! bigger news is that it will pay for the trip!!!! needless to say we are very happy and relieved.
will check in here in a day or two, have lots of stuff to do, need to get busy.
our love to all, the girls

one more week to get it together!

well, one more week, the living room looks like a luggage warehouse! stacks of clothing here there and everywhere. it's not so much what do we need to take but what do we not need to take! we're guessing warm (hot) weather until we leave boston then maybe some cooler days? probably will backfire and will be hot everywhere we go. we'll get it worked out and in the car and everything will be ok.
right now the plan is, pack the car sunday and leave early monday morning. we will head out
I-I0 heading to phoenix then on to tucson. hopefully we will get that far for our first night of sleeping in strange beds. from tucson it will be on to alamagordo, nm. we hope to get there early enough to see the sand dunes in the late afternoon. we hope to go to the space museum the next morning. next day will be a short day heading to carlsbad to the cave. we will also see the bat flight in the evening.
i'm going to stop here, seems like a good place to stop. we will try to update this at least every two days. right now we are still busy tying up loose ends like planning refills on meds, making sure we know when to order caroles insulin pump supplies so it gets delivered to proper address.
this is the trip of our lifetime and we are truly looking forward to it. yes, mom is going along and will make many stops along the way. we will mark on a map where we leave her. this is what she wanted. this is what we will do to honor her.
right now, i'm going to head to bed, it's late and tomorrow is another busy day. stay posted!