First Half of September 2011

 Our cross country adventure continues ……….

Niagara Falls was so awesome ….so much power, so much water.  Our guide told us that only 50% of the water in the river goes over the falls.  The other 50% is diverted to the power plants in the US and Canada.  This picture is from the Canadian side of the falls.

Niagara Falls is made up of three falls.  Horseshoe Falls (on the Canadian side) is the biggest of the three.  The American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls are on the American side of the river.  These are the American and Bridal Veil Falls.

We took a boat ride right into the storm part of the falls.  It was amazing!

Horseshoe falls straight ahead with American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls on the left.  Check out the boat driving into the mist.

After a few days driving, we arrived in Bar Harbor Maine. 
A beautiful little touristy seaport.

I caught this sailing ship heading into port.

This picture was taken at Thunder Hole in Acadia National Park
located on the same island as Bar Harbor.

Next stop – Cape Cod Massachusetts.  This was a typical working lighthouse
located in the National Seashore near Eastham.

We spent our time on Cape Cod with our Indio friends, Dick and Jeanne Morello.

We had a great time touring thru Provincetown, Chatham, Eastham and Hyannis.

Great weather, friends and outstanding food!! 

Dick and Jeanne live on the water and we enjoyed marvelous sunsets every night.

Yes – this is a sunset over Cape Cod Bay.

I snuck up the driveway and took this picture of John Kennedy’s Hyannis home.  

Moving on – New York City!!  Cars, cars, and more cars.

This is the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River. 

Times Square in the Big Apple!  People everywhere.  It was amazing! 
I had to pinch myself to believe I was really there!

This is the New Freedom Tower.  The Freedom Tower will replace the two World Trade Centers lost on 9/11.  The Freedom Tower will be 1776 feet tall and will be the tallest building in the United States when finished. 
In this picture, the tower is about ¾ finished. (80 stories completed)

Ten years has passed but no one will ever forget.
This was the Firemen’s Memorial.  343 Firemen were lost that day.

We drove through the Holland Tunnel over to New Jersey.  This is the New Jersey memorial to 9/11.  In the front is some rubble and the two walls behind them point directly to the World Trade Center buildings site.  On the center of the walls are the names of the over 700 New Jersey residents that lost their lives that day.

We took a ferry to Ellis Island.  A huge island devoted solely to processing the over 12 million immigrants that passed through on their way to a new life in America.  We then caught another ferry to Liberty Island where the Statue of Liberty is located.  The people in the front of the picture let you know the size of the statue.  The base and statue are three hundred feet tall.  The New York skyline is in the back of the picture.  The statue of Liberty took my breath away.

The New York City skyline was awesome. 
The Freedom tower is on the far left.

The next day, we toured Westpoint. 
The Army’s United States Military Academy.  

Awesome campus.  Did you know that George Washington fought in
the Revolutionary War right on this spot?

Beautiful chapel.  (one of 7 chapels on campus)

The view looking out at the Hudson River was so beautiful. 
So much rich history at the Academy.

Stay tuned ……..we’re still on the road

August 2011 - Part 2

Our adventure continues ……….

We spent some time with our friends Jerry and Linda Lockwood in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin.  The weather was fantastic and we spent quite a bit of time on the water in their boat.  We had a wonderful visit.

While visiting with the Lockwoods, we went to a water ski show near their home.  It was fantastic.  Those kids are so talented!

We drove up to Bayfield, Wisconsin on Lake Superior where we took a ferry over to Madeline Island (One of the Apostle Islands)  So much history in this area.

Next stop was Petoskey, Michigan, a cute little town on the shore of Lake Michigan.  A tall masted ship was in port.  This ship was a replica.

We drove to Sault St. Marie, MI where we took a tour of the locks.  There are natural rapids between Lake Huron and Lake Superior.  In days of old, ships would take 3 months to portage their goods around the rapids.  Today, they move through the 21 foot rise of the lake levels in just 15 minutes. The bridge in the background is the International Bridge between
Michigan and Canada.

Out of Mackinaw City, we took our bicycles on a ferry over to Mackinac Island.  This island was packed with people…..shops all over and gorgeous, huge “cottages” that must be over 6,000 square feet in size.  On the island, there are no cars allowed.  Bicycles …yes and Horses and wagons ….yes.  Even the UPS man was delivering his goods by horse and wagon.

While in Traverse City, Michigan, we drove to Sleeping Bear Dunes …. But unfortunately, it was socked in with fog.  Ugh!  By the afternoon, the fog had lifted and I got a pic of Mike in Lake Michigan.

We drove around Old Mission peninsula where there are many wineries.  The day was wonderful!

Next stop – Shipshewana, Indiana … Amish country.  I was fascinated by these people and their lifestyle.  This picture is of a number of horses and buggies parked at the local grocery store.  There were buggies all over the roads.  The Amish people were warm, friendly and always ready to answer the hundreds of questions I had.  We went on two different buggy rides, visited an Amish milking farm and ate an authentic Amish dinner. 

Moving on to Monroe, Michigan (just outside of Detroit)  We went to the Henry Ford.  First stop was the Ford F-150 Pickup Assembly plant.  Wow!  Unbelieveable!  I was so impressed by this plant!  Next we spent an entire afternoon at the Henry Ford Museum.  What an amazing man – This museum was humungous.  This picture is of a gigantic locomotive.  It was called the “Allegheny” 

This is the actual chair Lincoln was sitting in when he was shot by John Wilkes Booth.

The next day, we went back to the Henry Ford.  We spent the entire day at Greenfield Village.  So much history!  This picture is of the actual building that Orville and Wilbur Wright had their bicycle shop in (before they went into the
airplane invention business)  Henry Ford assembled this entire village in the 1920’s and 30’s.  The houses are not replicas …… they are actual houses from olden times that have been moved to this Dearborn location and reassembled.

Tomorrow we leave for Niagara Falls, New York – The adventure continues …..

August 2011 - Part 1

We’re on our way!  We have started our Great Fox Adventure –

our trip across America.

First stop – Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho.  We spent time visiting with my sister – in – law Cathie and her new husband Wayne.  We had a great time with Wayne’s family.  We toured the Kroc Center, walked the boardwalk and drove through the town.
Beautiful weather.

Next stop – Missoula, Montana.  We stayed at Zane and Marilyn Sullivan’s fantastic home.  Zane and Marilyn are some of our “Indio” friends.  We had a great meal and a fantastic visit …… and their home … WOW!  I could move in tomorrow.

We then moved north to Bud and Patti Evans new home in Bigfork Montana.  (More “Indio” friends)  Their house is huge and beautiful with a killer view of the Swan mountain range.

While in Bigfork, Mike, Bud and Jay Youngman played golf 3 times. 
Mike LOVED the golf!

Heading east we caught a beautiful view of the mountain range that is
part of Glacier National Park.

North Dakota was so much more beautiful that I imagined.  I snapped this picture of
the fields of sunflowers that were everywhere.

On to the east!  The Mall of America in Minneapolis was beyond huge!  Three stories of shopping with a giant amusement park in the center – Wow!

We visited Kim and Alice Hanson (still more “Indio” friends) in Albert Lea, Minnesota.  Kim and Alice have a huge home that is over 100 years old located on the lake.  Inside the house – totally modern!  There are many big old homes in Albert Lea.  We had a great time with Kim and Alice.  Went on two boat trips around Fountain Lake and
had our first try at Walleye (great tasting white fish)

Mike and Kim had so much fun with Kim’s car collection.  This is Kim’s “Rat Rod”

They drove all over town I imagine pretending they were kids again.

The first half of August ends with us crossing the Mississippi River entering into Wisconsin.  A major river with oddles of history.  Impressive.

Stay tuned – our trip continues!

July 2011

What a great July.  We are in Central Oregon enjoying the fantastic weather and
all of the great things there are to do in this area.

We had a visit from John and Bonnie Kearsing (friends of ours from Indio)  John and Bonnie have taken up kayaking and Mike just couldn’t pass the opportunity to try his hand at some river kayaking.  He loved it! 

The Sisters Quilt show was outstanding – I love my annual trek to the nations
largest outdoor quilt show.  It was really inspiring for me.

We were lucky to have 5 wonderful days with two of our grandkids.  We kept really busy while the kids were here.  

We went to the Lava River Cave, the High Desert Museum, two trips to the Bouncy House, miniature golf, a day of fishing, Mike and Colby went to the driving range while
Camryn and I made greeting cards.

Next – the annual Fox Family campout.  This year we all gathered in Roseburg, OR.  We all had so much fun – there were 27 of us.  This picture is of Mike & I, our two sons and all of their families. 

While is Roseburg, we all got in rubber rafts and floated the rapids of the
North Umpqua river.  What an experience!

Mike took the Jeep and drove to Lake Tahoe to meet up with his buddies
and off road on the Rubicon Trail.  He said it was an outstanding trip and
an incredibly difficult trail.  

Mike’s sister, Pat finished the month with her new purchase. 
A brand new Jeep Liberty.  She is over the top with her new car.

June 2011

June 1^st we headed north out of Indio up the California coast.  We're on our way to Sunriver, OR for the summer months. Pat had her motorhome transported to Oregon and rode with us north.  It was great having her along with us.

Our first night we spent along the coast near Ventura. We stayed in a unique RV park located along a rock sea wall just feet from the high tide.
The weather was wonderful –  much cooler than the desert.

No hookups just a million dollar view of the sunset along the California coast.

We stayed two nights in Santa Barbara.  What a wonderful town.  We visited the pier, took a bus trip up town, (shopping galore) took a historical walking tour of town, visited the Santa Barbara Brew Pub, toured the Mission Santa Barbara, drove up to the gate to Oprah’s mansion and fell in love with the wonderful people of Santa Barbara.

The mission Santa Barbara was incredibly beautiful.

Heading north we stayed up in San Luis Obispo. We walked up town and checked out the SLO Brewing Company.

Next we spent two nights in Sacramento visiting with Mike’s brother, Chuck, his wife Eva and Pat’s son Rob and his wife Serena – Had a great time catching up with family.  Next we stopped in Chiloquin, OR for a night then on to
Sunriver the next day.

We had a greeting party meet us in Sunriver.  Mama deer and her two little fawns don’t seem to be too scared of us.  The little babies are just precious.

Father’s day weekend we headed up to Portland to see the kids and grandkids.  The boys thought it would be fun for Mike, our two sons and all four grandkids on a backpacking trip.  They hiked 2.7 miles in to a lake then fished …. Spent the night and hiked 2.7 miles back to the cars the next day.  Only problem – Brandon and Colby got mild cases of poison oak ….. Marc got a whopper of a case of poison oak.  (He’s got a terrible sensitivity to poison oak)  Marc ended up in the Urgent Care / at the Dermatologist’s office and also in the ER for an IV.  What a bummer!

The next weekend was a planned camping trip for just the guys (Mike, Marc, Brandon, Colby and Ben)  But unfortunately due to the last weekend’s poison oak episode, Marc and Colby couldn’t make it.  Mike, Brandon and Ben went up to Trillium Lake near Government Camp and tent camped.  The fishing was great – Ben looks pretty proud – don’t you think?

June has been a great month.  We had a great visit with John and Bonnie Kearsing (friends from Outdoor Resorts in Indio)  The nights have been cold but the days have been outstanding – we’re looking forward to the rest of the summer!

May 2011

It’s warming up in the desert.  May has brought us a few 100 degree days
but the evenings have cooled off wonderfully. 
We have had some wind but all in all it has been a wonderful month.

 

Mike’s sister and her husband lost their little dog this month.  Everyday I think about Stoli ... I sure miss the little guy.  Because of this, I know know much John and Sheri are missing Frasier.  I made a quilt with a picture of their pooch for them.

Mother’s day Mike took Pat and I out for a drive around the Salton Sea.  One of our stops was at “Salvation Mountain” …. A very interesting mountain made of sand and hay bales and all of it painted any color that people donate.  Salvation Mountain is located in the middle of nowhere but has become someone’s passion.

Spring has brought beautiful blooms to the desert.  Here in the resort is a cactus with gorgeous color…..the blooms lasted only a few days then they dried up and fell off.

Several of us went to dinner at the Augustine Casino on their “All you can eat Lobster Buffet”  We did our share!  We ate ….and ate ….. and ate some more.  More lobster than you can imagine!  It was wonderful!

We finally got the Burgundy Beauty back from the Jeep dealer.  The car was using a lot of oil and they ended up replacing the engine.  Mike was pleased that they replaced the engine and I was pleased that we had an extended warranty that paid completely! 

It’s time to leave the desert ….. Wednesday we will begin our trek north.