She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain

Driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway certainly gives new meaning to the folk song about "comin round the mountain". The twists and turns are enough to give motion sickness to the hardest sailor. Springtime in the Blue Ridge is beautiful with the wildflowers and trees in bloom. The dogwoods are just now blooming and the fields are loaded with yellow, pink and purple asters, mustard, azaleas and huge rhododendrons. We have seen hillsides of trilliums - usually you only see one or two plants. On the south side of the hills on the parkway, we have seen hundreds. Before we hit the parkway we were in Virginia Beach for the Challenger Baseball tournament. We visited Norfolk Botanical Gardens where the rose garden was in full bloom. Luckily the Clays were visiting with us and Carmen had brought her camera - so i may be able to post photos later. We, of course, forgot our camera and our binoculars. On Mother's Day was toured Monticello and were once again amazed by all the interests of Thomas Jefferson. Driving through the Blue Ridge is like being in a foreign country. Once we hit Peaks of Otter, we entered a whole new world. The windy roads rival those in Italy around Lake Como and when the local people talk, it is like listening to a foreign language. We have to really concentrate and listen carefully to make out what they are saying. And the local people do love to talk. They so friendly. For example, we left at 5 a.m. for a typical travel day and we were too early for most places to be open. So we stopped at Meadows of Dan at Becky's Fried Pie Restaurant. Becky was very friendly and told us all about her family and husband of 29 years who had died of a massive heart attack. It turns out Becky's Fried Pies are big circles of biscuit dough that she fills with eggs and bacon, folds in half and then fries to a golden brown. They are delicious but too many of those would definitely induce a heart attack. We also stopped at some little mining place to sort through rocks with a strainer and try to find gemstones. We found some amythist and citrine and tourmaline, and adventurine, but the most interesting thing was meeting the owner of the store whose family had been featured in a National Geographic article 50 years ago. It was about how the mountain people are hanging onto their traditions. He had the article and even showed us the huge topaz and jeweler's loop that was pictured in the article. He told us his whole family history. Bob remarked later that these people don't realize that we are from the city and don't want to talk to anyone! Anyway, the people have been wonderful and we have seen many, many wild turkeys, deer and even a mother bear and 2 cubs. With rain due for the next few days, we have decided to skip Tennessee and head home tomorrow.

Road Trip Wrap-up

Top pic : giant sugar cookie Bottom pic: Texas sunrise

I (Paula) arrived safely home last night. The rest of the fam is in Disneyworld - and they sound positively giddy to be rid of me! But more about me..... As a fearful flyer, I never enjoy flying ......but ...... when the United State Army Drill Team is onboard and taking up half of the plane - what girl wouldn't enjoy the flight? No crying babies or misbehaving teens, no sloppy drunks harassing the attendants on this trip! Just handsome, strapping young men who could take out any terrorists that were foolish enough to try anything on our flight. It was so reassuring to know that even if there was not an air marshal on board, a whole team of Army guys could take care of anything. Anyway, before my "safest, most relaxing, flight ever" I spent 3 days with my friend Rosemarie in San Antonio and had a wonderful time. The picture of the big Texas cookie is from a fabulous old-time, diet busting, Alsatian bakery in the little old, old town of Castroville, TX. It was settled by Alsatians and has retained a lot of the old French charm (without the French attitude and WITH the Texas hospitality). It's just a small quaint town outside of San Antonio but we managed to spend the day there and had a wonderful time. Before the family left S.A. we took Rosemarie out to celebrate her Feb birthday a little early at Benihana. Our authentic Japanese chef, Vince Martinez, from the southside of Austin (but with a Brooklyn-like accent), entertained us with flying shrimp, an onion volcano, an onion locomotive that chugged across the grill, and assorted shenanigans at the table/grill. Bob and Kelly left San Antonio at 1:30 a.m.! Unshackled by my good sense and reasonable demands, they drove across country without stopping overnight. They arrived in Disneyworld about 18 hours later and sounded tired but ebullent to be back in their most magical place on earth. All resulting phonecalls have had Bob excitedly telling me about the nonstop Disney touring they are doing and Kelly giggling from the fun she is having. You wouldn't hear THAT frivolity in their voices if I were there to be making my demands for afternoon naps and regular tea time breaks and, God fordid, taking time to sit still! Anyway, I'm closing out this roadtrip with the thought that it truly is "America the Beautiful."

Arizona - Almost an Architectural Apprenticeship

We've spent most of our time here touring Native American ruins and the "labs" of architects Paolo Soleri and Frank Lloyd Wright. Soleri's town, Arcosanti, in the middle of nowhere looks like the village where Luke Skywalker lived with his aunt and uncle. It's a town that he started building in the 70's and hoped to sustain 5000 people. It didn't really take off and about 100 people live there. Most are doing internships to learn his architectural techniques. Then, his studio, Cosanti, on the outskirts of Scottsdale is a little more colorful. His group sells Soleri bells to finance their work. We were lucky to be there to see a "bronze pouring" at the Arcosanti foundry. Then yesterday we spent 2 hours at Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesen West and had a fabulous tour led by a retired engineer. what an amazing place! The man was a genius - but I don't understand his aversion to clutter - it's not normal. It was a cloudy day today but Bob's friend, Richard, from Havre de Grace knew of a place with "local color." So we ate outside (there is no "inside") at a biker bar on the outskirts of town. (See photo). It's just picnic tables and a stage and fires to keep you warm, mules in a corral. We fit right in. Enjoy tonight's sunset. Tomorrow it's a long day on the road back to Texas.

The Desert - It's No Place for Sissies

Every day in the desert presents new threats. In Sedona gift shops, scorpions in lollipops and huge tarantulas encased in acrylic were being sold as souvenirs. That definitely spooked me. The abundance of these "trinkets" meant to me that they might appear in our hotel room at any time - fully animated and sans the acrylic and the candy coating. Luckily that did not happen. Then, as we travelled, we came upon Black Death/Bubonic Plague squirrel warnings at Montezuma's Castle and rattlesnake habitat alerts at Deer Valley Rock Art Center. No wonder we are drinking so many margaritas. It's a proverbial jungle out there and you've got to calm your nerves somehow.

Volcanoes, cliff dwellings, ruins, snowy mountains - all in a 2 hour drive from Sedona

1. 


2. 
   
3. 
   
   
   
   

Such beautiful sites - it makes you want to burst into song - maybe "America the Beautiful."

1. Volcanic cones at Sunset Crater

2. Lava fields

3. Snowy mountains at >6000 ft. altitude

4. Wukoki Ruins (predecessors of the Hopi and Navajo)

5. Wupatki Ruins

6. Walnut Canyon cliff dwellings (look closely at the bottom half of the pic -Careful, that first step out of the house is a killer. ) We couldn't get any closer becausde there was a major rockslide that closed off the trail. I wanted to rapelle in - but Bob nixed the idea.

Sedona Lesson #1: Do not EVER mock the vortex

Sedona is known as a powerful spiritual center. Where else can you get psychic readings on every street or buy crystals at hundreds of little shops, or shop at a Metaphysical Department store? Drumming circles, sacred chanting, are all available here. Guided sacred vortex tours are also big around here. We didn't know what vortexes were or that Sedona is a center of four powerful vortexes. Here's a desciption from a local website: "Vortexes are areas of high energy concentrations, originating from magnetic, spiritual, or sometimes unknown sources. Additionally they are considered to be gateways or portals to other realms, both spiritual and dimensional. Vortexes typically exist where there are strong concentrations of gravitational anomalies, inturn creating an environment that can defy gravity, bend light, scare animals, twist plant life into contorted shapes, and cause humans to feel strange. Many vortexes have been shown to be associated with Ley Lines and have been found to be extremely strong at node points where the lines cross. " Anyway, Bob and I were yucking it up about vortexes, on a hike this morning . I even took a pic of a twisted tree and no sooner had I sarcastically said "OOOOh, look at what the vortex did to this tree, it's all twisted!" than I lost my footing on the broken red rocks and took a dive face first into the red rocks covering the ground. I am fine - stratched, sore, glasses scratched - and totally fearful of THE POWER OF THE VORTEX! I do believe in vortexes! On another hike we came up lots of rock cairns and medicine wheels that people had constructed at the foot of one of the mountains. Here's another quote for explanation: "Simple cairns and similar assemblages have recently been adopted by the Deep Ecology movement. Stacked or balanced, these offer places and moments for reflection at spiritual-environmental retreats." It's possible that Sedona may be a bit too spiritual for us.

Happy New Year to All! From the Mission Inn to Red Rocks at Sedona

The Mission Inn in Riverside was a beautiful property - they have an annual Festival of Lights and decorate the place to look magnificent. Unfortunately, our experience with customer service was not on par with the hotel's appearance. A prime example of the saying "Beauty's only skin deep." But now we are in the red rocks of Sedona. It's cold here - there is even ice forming in some of the fountains. And we may get to see how red the rocks look when it rains.