Pat and Ken's Great Adventure: April 2010

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

38 More States to Go!

This is the map on our Roadtrek window that shows the 11 states that we visited on this trip.

We came home on Saturday but I got busy with unpacking, doing laundry and all the other things associated with taking time off to write in the blog. Jerry and Jewel our dogs are happy to be home and have a bath. We both went back to work on Monday so we are back into our normal routine.

We had a great adventure visiting 11 states, numerous museums, and many national parks and monuments. We traveled over 6000 miles throughout our amazing nation.My two favorite museums were the Heard Museum in Arizona and the Route 66 Museum in Clinton, Oklahoma. We plan to do a more extensive Route 66 trip in the future. It is hard to pick my favorite National Park, but I loved Gulf Island National Park in Florida. We had such fun riding our bikes throughout that park. Andrews State Park near Panama City was my favorite state park. We really got a sense of how large and dangerous the Mississippi River can be from our steamboat ride on the Natchez. We also enjoyed learning more about an American icon Elvis Presley.

I also think is it important to learn about all the unique Indian tribes, so I felt fortunate to be able to visit the Cherokee Cultural Center and learn about the Oklahoma Cherokee. I also thought the exhibit at the Heard Museum about the Indian Schools was moving and hope we will learn some lessons from this exhibit on how to correctly interact with other cultural groups in the future.

Another fun part of traveling is eating all the local foods in the various states we visited. We had great barbecue meals in San Antonio and Memphis, Tenn. I loved the beignets in New Orleans and the bagels at the Bagelhead in Panama City. We also had many home cooked meals in the Roadtrek like tacos and spaghetti.

Thanks to everyone who helped take of animals or our house while we were gone. Mom- Thanks for watering the inside plants. Wes - thanks for taking care of the mail and the outside watering. R'Lene and Hector we appreciate your taking care of the fish while we were gone. And, of course, thanks to Jill and Allan for taking such great care of Jacque our chameleon. They taught him to eat nastursiums and mealy worms from their fingers.

The best part of the trip was spending one month with Ken my husband and my best friend. I feel blessed to have been able to share these amazing places with him and that we share common interests.

I hope everyone enjoyed our Pat and Ken's Great Adventure blog. It was my friend Kathy's idea and I enjoyed taking photos and sharing with our friends and family our trip. The oldest person reading my blog was my 84 year old Uncle Howard from British Columbia.We will let you know when we start our next great adventure!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Problems downloading the rest of the Petrified Forest photos

I will have to download the rest of the photos from home. We saw lots of amazing petroglyphs with interesting patterns. Then we stopped in the Visitor Center and looked through the displays. We had remembered that the last time we were here with the boys that there was a display filled with letters and samples of returned petrified rocks from people claiming that since they took the rocks they have had bad luck or felt guilty. They had a new display on the wall and had four letters from people. I think this is an effective display as that was the one thing we had remembered from our previous visit. The other deterent is they give you a piece of paper that lists the amount of the fine if you are caught with a piece of petrified rock from the park and there is a sign as you exit that you might be subject to a search. As you leave the park, there is store that sells large pieces of petrified rock and smaller pieces. So if someone wants to have one of these beautiful rocks they can legally purchase one.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Painted Desert

I love the colors of the painted desert!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Restored Route 66 Art Deco gas station in Shamrock, Texas

Ken posing with the wild vw bus

This was a fun display and Ken's white shirt and socks glowed.

Union 76 Gas Sign

Uncle Howard- I posted this for you since you worked at Union Oil all your career.

Sequoia Salt and Pepper Shakers

Period dinner

Oklahoma Route 66

Oklahoma Route 66 Museum

In the afternoon, we visited the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum. The displays were excellent and I liked how they had period music for each time period. I will include photos of some of the rooms.

Trail of Tears

The "Trail of Tears" is a sad chapter in our US history. We forced the removal of thousands of Cherokee from their native lands in North Carolina because white settlers wanted their land. Soldiers forceably removed families and made them march from North Carolina to Oklahoma and thousands died on the way. The Cherokee Cultural Center had an excellent exhibit telling this sad story. But the Cherokee people are resilient and they thrive now in Oklahoma. There are also still Cherokee in North Carolina who hid from the soldiers and with the help of sympathetic white people were able to buy back some of their native lands. They also have a museum telling the story of the "Trail of Tears" that I was able to first learn this story. Now that I have gone to where the Cherokee were moved to in Oklahoma and have seen them thriving I have hope for their future.

Cherokee Nation License Plate

The Cherokee Nation have their own license plate. The tag money goes to the local schools that benefit non-Indian students also. Sadly, their former leader Wilma Mankiller died last week from cancer. She was the first female leader of their nation and lived in the San Francisco area when she was growing up at part of an Indian relocation program. She returned to her native home and become an important leader and role model for young Cherokee woman.

Our Cherokee Village Tour Guide showing baskets

Our Cherokee Tour Guide told us that the Cherokee do not have a percentage of blood to be a member of the Cherokee Nation. You have to be related to a person listed in the Cherokee roll that was taken when they were forced to leave their Native lands.

Neat designs inside the roundhouse

Round House at Cherokee Cultural Center

Wedding outfits of Elvis and Priscilla Presley

Priscilla's wedding gown was simple and

elegant. I had just finished reading her autobiography about her life with Elvis the night before so the clothing and objects displayed had more meaning. I might have her book as a book club selection since I find it a great way to learn about Elvis's life.

Ken and I thought that Graceland would be commercialized, but we found that we enjoyed our visit. There were many foreign tourists there and a well run operation.

More Elvis photos - Wedding photos

Water fountain to drink hot springs water

I was going to fill my jug with the springs water to take home and share, but I forgot after the relaxation of the hot baths. Oh well, now I have an excuse to return.

Fordyce Visitor Center

Stainglass in the Fordyce Visitor Center

"This bathhouse was one of the bathhouses where thousands of visitors and local residents found therapeutic healing and relief from various ailments using the thermal water for bathing while jug fountains provided the odorless and clean tasting thermal water for drinking. The thermal water comes from 47 protected springs located along the lower slopes of Hot Springs Mountains. Maintaining an average 143 degrees at their source, with an average 143 degrees at their source, with an average flow rate of 700,000 gallons per day, the water is cooled and used in the thermal mineral water baths at a maximum temperature of 100 degrees." From Buckstaff Bathhouse brochure

Original bath prices

These are the original bath prices. We paid $24 each for our Mineral Bath. For relief, rejuvenation, and relaxation it was well worth the price!

Bathtub for soaking in the hot springs

Ken and I went early in the morning to the Buckstaff Bathhouse and enjoyed the hot bath, steam chamber, sitz bath, hot towel treatment, and the ending cold shower. It is neat that we were able to experience what the people who came here in the early years experienced.

Hot Springs National Park

Ken inside plane

Elvis's plane - Lisa Marie

Elvis's Grave

Kitchen

Graceland front yard

Graceland Elvis's home in Memphis, TN

elvis's Birth Home

Tupelo Mississippi Birthplace of Elvis

Battle Sign

Monday, April 12, 2010

Tupelo National Battlefield

Friday, April 9, 2010

Leaving Florida and heading north and then east

We need to start heading home so we will not have to rush. I am disappointed that we did not get to go to the Florida Keys or the Everglades, but we have run out of time. We will head north through Alabama and then head east and take Interstate 40 home.

Jellyfish

We had fun snorkeling along the jetty in the morning. We saw lots of small fish and some large fish also that I don't know the names of. It was nice that there was a shower that we were able to rinse the saltwater off after snorkeling.

Lots of birds at the beach

We saw these ruddy turnstones and many other birds at the beach.

Campsite at St. Andrew State Park in Florida

This was a great campsite. We had a view of the water. We did experience heavy winds last night.

Can you spot the fish the osprey has caught for dinner?

We were blessed to see this osprey carrying a fish that he just caught. When I blow the photo up the fish is striped black and white and is quite large. Janet Carle- How is this for a bird photo?

the beaches of Golf Islands NS were amazing

Fort Pickens in Gulfshore Islands NS

This fort has has a long history. The most interesting history tidbit was that Gerinimo was a prisoner here. He was famous and people came to see him and so he learned to write his name in English for autographs. He was freed many years later and settled in Oklahoma.