Just a couple of pictures

I actually am able to show you a couple of pictures of our travels...I hope. Here goes!

The beauty is astounding, isn't it. This trip will live in my heart forever. Enjoy and I hope to send more pictures later. Love, Carol

Well I'm home now

I can't believe that I'm home. Sometimes things happen to me and I wonder if it's real because it goes by so fast. Ever have that happen? The trip that Sandi and I took was so incredible in so many ways that it almost seems like a dream. On Friday 6/29/12, we drove from Blue Earth, MN through the northeast corner of Iowa, through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and on up into Canada. Whew! We stopped in Brantford, Ontario for the night, met more wonderful people, and then headed to Niagara Falls on Saturday. I know that I have written about the absolutely beautiful scenery and have (sort of) joked about the horrible humidity and bugs in the mid-west, but we truly have a beautiful country. Most of the time you could hear either Sandi or I say "Wow, would you look at that!" It is really awesome, folks. Anyway, .... Niagara Falls; we drove up on the Canadian side because we had been told that it is actually the prettier side. I'm glad we did because this way we got to see both the American Falls and the Canadian Falls. I took pictures but without professional equipment, there is no way to actually get the incredible green of the water. Let me back up; the traffic was incredibly bad and the backup on the freeway was awful. I, of course, had reached the bladder point of "I've GOT to stop soon!" I was switching lanes, trying to get to an exit (I know, I hate people who do that, too) and was finally able to get off on Stanley Ave. We drove for a few blocks and finally saw a cafe that was unfortunately closed. Rescue in sight, though: eagle eye Sandi saw the place right next door which was open. I pulled in to the parking lot, did the fastest exit of a car in history, got in to the restaurant, asked for the bathroom and narrowly averted disaster! YEA!! We decided to stay and eat so we split a sandwich and salad lunch. Good thing, too. That was one big sandwich! We asked for directions to the falls and found out we just needed to go a couple of blocks then turn left and go down the hill. We did, finally found the parking lot, got a wonderful parking place and walked over to the falls. Incredible. I kept thinking "and the water just keeps coming!" We wandered around, got a couple of gifts for the kids and then decided we needed to go; the traffic had been so bad and slow that we were behind schedule and Sandi had to be in Tamworth, N.H. on Sunday. Well, at one point we were thinking we were going to have to become Canadian citizens. The city refused to let us go. We followed the signs to "Bridge to USA", got to where it was blocked off and then followed the signs for "alternate". The alternate signs just stopped, so I went a little further and finally realized that we were way south of where we needed to be. Like a tantalizing gem, the bridge was visible, but kept getting farther away. We stopped at a gas station and had a very nice young man tell us which way to go, so we did...only to wind up, once again, at the blocked off entrance. After some driving around and around, eagle eye Sandi said "Here's a visitor center!" Thank God. We went in, found out that we were right where we needed to be and found out that they had started taking down the "alternate" signs, but hadn't yet opened up the road, which was why the signs disappeared. A couple of really good things happened though: we saw the Niagara River before the rapids and falls and it was gorgeous. The other thing was that all the driving around had allowed the traffic to diminish, so going over the Rainbow Bridge was a piece of cake. Sandi and I decided that when we screwed up something good always happened. Saturday night, I drove to Albany, N.Y. where we spent the night. The weather, by the way, was beautiful: blue sky, a few puffy clouds and sunshine. With the exception of the electrical storm in Ottawa, IL, the weather was beautiful all the way. On Sunday Sandi took over the driving to Tamworth. She started to feel really sleepy and even went over the center lines at one point when we were in Vermont. That scared us pretty badly, so I took over the driving until we got to Meridith, N.H. Then, Sandi took back the wheel (thank heavens) and got us to Tamworth. It is the prettiest town and the Barnstormers (the group Sandi is doing the costumes for) is actually the major industry in the town. Sandi and I stayed in the cast house on Sunday and Monday nights and then Sandi moved to another place for a couple of weeks. Eventually, she will occupy the carriage house behind the cast house which is like 1/2 block from the stage. I got to meet the young people who are going to be in the first play (there are a total of 8 plays over 8 weeks) and thoroughly enjoyed them all. It's really beautiful to see young people who have a direction and love what they do. Yes, Linda, I met Doug and he is wonderful. He got the biggest kick out of hearing Sandi's voice come out of another woman. It was such a treat for me to watch Sandi in her designer mode and see how she related to all the people in the group. She has known some of them for 8 - 10 years and they were so happy to see her again. This whole trip has been a marvelous journey. I got to travel with my best friend, my sister, I got to see some absolutely awesome sights - both God and man made - and I got away from the life I have here. Ed did just fine while I was gone - he didn't even know that I WAS gone! - and my cat, Kelli-Kitti, wrapped the staff at the vets around her paw. She is happy to be home...doesn't let me out of her sight too much. Now it's on to the mundane things like the sick car and doing laundry. I'm still processing this trip and looking forward to the end of August when I'll rejoin Sandi in New Hampshire and continue our travels...as a RETIRED PERSON!!! Sorry I didn't get any pictures in the blog, but I'll try again later. This blog isn't over by any means!

We're ALMOST THERE!!!!!!!!

I can hardly believe it...we reached Albany, New York last night about 10:45pm. Today we go on to Tamworth, New Hampshire. Day before yesterday we went through Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and into Canada. I had a scare at the motel we stayed in Illinois. There was quite an electrical storm going on and I went down and (with the adviceof the motel personnel) walked out to the car to drive it under the canopy. I opened the car door and started to get in and heard an extremely loud CRACK!!!/BOOM. I closed the car door very carefully. And trembeled for awhile. I could smell that funny Ozone smell. I wondered for a moment if the car had been hit but realized it hadn't. It was quite a sobering moment to realize that one step slower out of the door and I would have been a crispy critter. It was honestly that close. The ladies at the front desk ran to the door to see if I was okay and commisserated with me. I waited to tell Sandi becausse I wanted to be able to make light of it and not scare her...it didn't work. Oh well. Yesterday we went to Niagara Falls. What can I say except that I am so sorry that I'm not able to include pictures with my blog (although the Pictures don't do it justice). It was the most incredible sight we have ever seen. Then the town didn't want to let us go. I have to go now so I will explain later.