Blue Bell !!!!

Almost home. We are in Texarkana tonite..... Charlie went into Walmart to get Subway or McDonalds, and came out with 3 pints of Blue Bell... our dinner !  It tastes as good as we remembered.

Several friends reminded us not to have a dramatic events on the way back to Houston this year. Last year we had, not one, but two blowouts..... and a very sick dog that required stops at four different vets in four different cities.
So we were like, "driving on eggshells".... and doing fine.... until yesterday morning as we were pulling out of our camping space we got stuck!  They had a looooot of rain and I cut the corner a little.  But, it was just one rear corner, so we put some boards down and backed out of it without too much problem.  Always some kind of adventure :-)

So, I wanted to stop by Livingston, TX where they have a 4 corner weighing setup for your motorhome..... to see how my weight distribution is currently.  But the service will not be available because of the holidays.... so we will make it to Pearland by tomorrow (Wednesday) evening.

Later, Marilyn

Merry Christmas !!!!!!

This is wonderful time of the year to tune in to friends, family.... loving and caring for those God has placed in our lives.

We are away from our "homebase" Houston for the first time; and are realizing that, at least for now, Western North Carolina is where our hearts are. Not that we don't miss our Houston friends...a LOT.... but we really love these mountains.
We will be leaving for Houston this coming Sunday; and be there at least two months.. depending on how Charlie does after her surgery.

However, we now know that we don't have to be back here any certain time next spring... because our next years camp host jobs have been "revoked" :-).   Really.  We were signed up to work at Cascade Lake from April 1 to October 1; but they called and said the campground would not be opening next year!  

Actually, its a sad story about a beautiful 1400 acres of forest with two lakes in the middle of it.... which had been willed by a very elderly (rich) gentleman, to be conserved as a park for the public's use... ..... However, after he died in 2010, his heirs contested his sanity (of leaving it to the public), and the lawsuits have been continuing to this very day.  So, we don't know for sure, but it seems likely the heirs may have won and it is destined to be developed into (VERY EXPENSIVE) private homes.  Too bad !

So, we are not sure what we will be doing next spring, but whatever it is we'll come back thru here in March or April on our way to New York upstate to see Vera's sister Donna.
In the meantime we are having steak on the grille tomorrow for dinner, with friends.
Vera has done a bang up job on Christmas decorations (always a challenge in the motorhome)

the dashboard at night

the steering wheel / table

BooBoo has to be in the center of things

Toby stays out of the way in his "mancave" under the dining table

 

So we'll keep you informed....later, Marilyn

Friends visit :-)

Our friends Patsy and Darlene from Houston came to Asheville for the Thanksgiving holiday.  We were soooooooo glad to see them and have them here in our world for a little while.
We asked them what they wanted to see..... and they said show them whatever it is that makes us love this place so much.   So we did our best.... a long day with a lot of country covered: A drive down a portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway, the campground where we will return to work next summer, a waterfall, and of course, a stop in Brevard at Rocky's Ice Cream Shop.

everyone's favorite, the Cracker Barrell

Night time Gatehouse entrance to the Biltmore Estate grounds

 

 

Meanwhile, back at the homestead.....We keep pretty busy with water aerobics 3 days a week, and Vera's stained glass classes..... and I've been doing some "doodle art".

Vera has shopped for a few Christmas decorations, and has our motorhome dashboard all aglow (picture later).

So we plan to leave Dec. 27th for Houston.  Charlie will have surgery on Jan. 11th.

That's it for now.

Marilyn

 

Georgia vacation

We made a weeklong trip down into the mountains of Georgia, then on down to Atlanta for a day.  Didn't realize Atlanta is only 3 hrs from Asheville.

We camped in a "Retreat" facility in the mountains, with a stream running beside our campsite deck.  Just about had the whole place to ourselves.  There were 7 waterfalls on the property.... highest being 400 feet. (You will notice there are no pictures of the 200 or 400 foot falls....for obvious reasons....I did not climb the mountain)

 

 

Interesting, this time of year when all the deciduous trees have lost their leaves... you can really see the forest more clearly, and further through it.

 

 

The Atlanta Aquarium is really an experience. We spent the whole day there. The most interesting was the whale sharks (seen below). they were 25' long, and will grow to 37' when mature.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile back in Fletcher (Asheville suburb), the cold weather has finally caught us. We wrapped our water pipes this afternoon..... planning on being here till just after Christmas.  Vera is in a funk because all her Christmas decorations are back in Houston.

We are excited that our friends Darlene and Patsy from Houston are coming to visit Asheville during Thanksgiving week; and we have them at our mercy for at least one whole day.  Our list of things to show them is getting longer.... they better rest up before they get here! 

 

More later, Marilyn



 

Asheville, NC snowbirds

We have been here in Rutledge Lake RV Park, in Fletcher (south Asheville) for almost a month now.  The park is a little crowded, but we have a nice spot on the end of a row, across from a little park (in which lives a white squirrel-more later).

Sorry, this is a really rainy day photo.

But the best thing is we are just two "doors" away from our good friends Kat & Cathy, who are our co-adventurers in all kinds of outdoor activities. They were the assistant managers where we "Work-camped" two years ago, but both now have full time "real" jobs in Asheville.
By the way, Charlie and I have signed up to return to work at Cascade Lake next season April - Oct. We will each work 3 days a week for 5 hour shifts... me in the general store, Charlie in the gatehouse.  We looked at three other campgrounds in this area to work; but decided it would be a plus to return to something familiar. Of course that depends on our health.....Charlie will be having surgery in Houston in January to remove a benign tumor..... which doesn't sound like such a big deal.... except that it's in the brain! It's small and just under the scull... so we are optimistic about the outcome.

The white squirrels really exist. There are a lot of them. You may remember I told the story when we first encountered them two years ago:  Some time a looonnng time ago, a couple of white squirrels escaped from a traveling circus. They had originally been brought from Europe somewhere.  Anyway, now there are many white squirrels in this region.  We saw them in Brevard, which is 25 miles to the west; and in Hendersonville, which is 8 miles to the south.  The little critters get around!


We just loooooovvve these Blue Ridge Mountains.... have I said that before?

 These shots are from the Blue Ridge Parkway. You can literally get up on the parkway and travel from one side of Asheville across to the other, and never see anything but this (except for 2 or 3 places where you cross over a freeway). How fun is that? Sometimes when I'm going to the store I get up on the parkway and take the long way around just because it's so relaxing.  A friend of ours actually saw a black bear cross the road one morning (inside the city limits of Asheville).

 

Vera has started her stained glass classes again at the Comm. College in Brevard... 2 mornings a week; and Charlie and I go to water aerobics 3 mornings a week.

So, as you can tell, we have just settled in here and are "happy campers"...literally.
Which I to say.... I guess we have become true snowbirds now. 
We'll head back to Houston after Christmas.... for a few months.

More later, Marilyn

a loooooonnnnng way

We are back in the States; just spent about 10 days in New York State with Vera's family. On our way south to Asheville, NC.
Let me tell you..... it is a long way across Canada!   We wanted to see all the provinces we could, and we did. Been there, done that.
Everyone is fine. Just yesterday we got our "Autonet" unit back from being refurbished; so now we have internet on the road again.  Almost got used to not having it.
More later, Marilyn

rock washing machine

Charlie and I took a day trip in the Jasper National Park, and found yet another beautiful example of God's handiwork: Maligne Canyon.
The story starts with some of the glaciers in the Columbia Icefields melting into Maligne Lake:

 



Spirit Island on Maligne Lake

Then the lake drains out and starts Maligne River..... which runs some 15 miles or so into Medicine Lake:

Medicine Lake is actually only a "lake" (about 30 feet deep) in the spring/summer season when the icemelt is active. Other times in "drains out its bottom, thru sinkholes and fissures, into an underground river. (This is all we saw)
This underground (inaccessible) cave and tunnel system runs about another 10 or 15 miles and the water emerges aboveground into the Maligne Canyon:

 

 

This "Canyon" is not very wide, like maybe 30 feet at its widest...... but it is very deep.

As it rushes thru the fissured rock, bouncing back and forth, it forms whirlpools.
You can see in the pics below how the rocks and small boulders (over enons of time) erode the limestone in circular patterns.

 

 

And there you have it:  a rock washing machine :-)

 

 

 

so far we've seen 4 bears.... but no moose.

 

By the way, we have traveled almost all the way across Canada (13 days since we left Jasper), without phone service, google navigation, GPS, or reliable internet !!!!!!!
We are definitely survivors..... (also feeling really deprived).
It is tough to withdraw from electronics.

Another thing..... it is a loooonnnnnng way across Canada!
Later, Marilyn

jigsaw lake

As we were driving northward from Banff toward Jasper, we came to a very pretty lake and as I pulled off at the overlook, I thought... this looks familiar.
It was the scene of a jigsaw puzzle I had put together last summer:

This is Bow Lake, on the Icefields Parkway, in Jasper National Park

Overlooking the town of Banff

Three mug shots

BooBoo gets to see Bow Falls

 We are in Saskatchewan now.... heading east.  And the rain finally caught us.
More later,
Marilyn

 

 

hydrological apex

We have found the center of the northern hemisphere's water distribution!
Driving from Banff National Park northward into Jasper National Park we came across The Columbia Icefield.
It is one of the largest masses of glacial ice outside the Arctic Circle, and is surrounded by a multitude of high peaks.
This icefield feeds several large glaciers.... I counted 12 on a map at the interpretive center.
Here's what is so cool about it:  from one of those points, called Snow Dome, melt water from the glaciers flow to three different oceans.  On the north portion it flows to the Arctic Ocean, the southwest to the Pacific and the southeast to the Atlantic. The area is protected in the Jasper National Park area

 

Those tiny little rectangles on the bottom portion of the glacier, just to the right of the flagpole, are special snow busses that will take you out onto the ice.

.

This "Icefields Parkway" was about 150 miles, paralleling the continental divide, the spine of the Canadian Rockies.   We had 150 miles of wow, wow, wow.

The glacial valleys are so pretty with their aqua blue water...... and prime moose habitat, but we haven't seen one yet.

We are not paying for internet or data charges while here in Canada, so we are mostly out of touch except for wi-fi here and there.  This blog connection is being brought to you by Tony Romas restaurant :-)

We have started east as of this morning, heading all the way across Canada toward Buffalo, NY...... with an interim stop at Thunder Bay, ON, on Lake Superior (our favorite of the Great Lakes).
More later, Marilyn

BANFF !!!

I think the earthly heaven must be Banff.  The most beautiful place yet

Moraine Lake

our motorhome, and our front window view

.The towns of Banff and Lake Louise are literally surrounded by magnificent peaks:

  My lungs are going crazy with all this FRESH AIR.

Lake Louise     a little chilly

We are all on sensory overload ! These flatland country girls have our mouths hanging open.
We actually pushed the limit on the season to arrive here. Most travel tips say to be OUT of Canada by the end of Labor Day.  So.... here we are :-)  You'd think we would have learned our lesson when we went to New York for Christmas.
But, the low has only been about 32, 33..... but the great side of it is the kids are all back in school, the crowds have diminished significantly, and the campground prices have fallen back to their off season.

We can't be out and about as much because of the chill..... and one really great (short) hike we were looking forward to is all snowed in.  It is called Sunshine Meadow, a fairly flat meadow at 7100 feet elevation, between 2 peaks..... and they shuttle you up to it so you can walk around and see the views.  But its got a couple feet of snow. Oh well. 

More later, Marilyn

Olympic Peninsula

The Olympic Peninsula is a huge area of mountains and forests in the very northeastern point of Washington state.  From Seattle, which is on Puget Sound, the peninsula extends approx. 90 miles to the west, and is about 70 miles north/south.  We hung out there for about 10 days.


this is Crescent Lake, a freshwater inland lake on the peninsula
(also gives you a motorhome's eye view)

 

 

 

 

from the top of Hurricane Ridge, overlooking The Olympic Mountains National Park

Looking out over Port Angles onto the Strait of Juan de Fuca, separating the peninsula from Vancouver Island

down on the coastal plains, the Olympic Mountains make a beautiful backdrop

 

Point Wilson, Port Townsend, WA

There are really 12 different ferry routes in the area between Seattle and the main Peninsula. I've read there is an unbelievable number of people who live on the islands and peninsulas and commute to the mainland for work every day.