Home at last!

Home at last! Safe and sound with a whole lot of new memories and stories to share with all our friends and family.

The Rices in Milford

The last stop on our cross country summer vacation is right in our home state of Connecticut. We stopped in Milford to see my brother Mike, his family and his lovely new home.

While we were there, the kids had a quick swim in the pool

And interacted with the wildlife

A Visit to Delaware

Shooting up I-95, we stopped in Hockessin Delaware, our old hometown, to visit with our friends the Bottas.

The kids got a chance to run around and play some soccer with Philip and Matteo

A visit to John Procope was also in the agenda

While shopping, we ran into our friends Lou McLaughlin and her daughter Malena

We had a great Italian dinner at the Botta's restaurant

And then a few minutes later Lisa and Evan Harris

Vannessa Botta was able to stop by and spend the night with us.

And the men played a little pool after dinner

The Lowell's

We had dinner and spent the night with Chip and Sally Lowell in Richmond Virginia. Sally�s son Jay joined us for a great barb-bq dinner and we sat around catching up until late in the night.

Our next stop was for dinner with friends in Virginia and we decided to check out the 101 mile long Blue Ridge Parkway on our way. While the scenery was beautiful and would be spectacular in the Fall, it was a single lane windy road and added a lot of driving time. After about 30 minutes, we took one of the few exits and got back on the real highway!

Nashville

After leaving Graceland, it was a quick 200+ mile drive to the capital of country music – Nashville. Our first night had us park the RV down town and go the Wild Horse Saloon for dinner. The Wild Horse had a band – 32 degrees – and a huge dance floor for line dancing. Keegan, Sara and Michelle kicked up their heels and Keegan even got to go back stage and get autographs from the band between sets. On the way back to the RV, Keegan found a guy and a monkey willing to pose for photos and he got to hold the monkey while the picture was taken (his camera, not mine).

The next morning began with some time at the pool and an oil change for the RV.

That night we had tickets for the Grand Ole Opry to watch a live taping of their weekly radio show that has been going on for 80 years. It featured many forms of country music, including bluegrass, Cajun, gospel, cowboy songs and more traditional country music. Everyone had a good time.

We saw a lot of new artists, like Catherine Britt, who has a hit single right now (but we don’t listen to country radio so we never heard it before).

And many old timers, like the Riders in the Sky who use to play backup for Gene Autry.

Graceland

One of the highlights of the trip was a stop at the home of Elvis Presley. All morning we listened to his music and discussed his amazing impact on Rock and Roll. Elvis died in 1977 and his house has not been changed since and is very �70s� on the inside. We saw his car collection and his jets.

We also saw many of the costumes he wore on stage when performing. They reminded me of my old boss (and I do mean old) Porter Morgan, my favorite Elvis impersonator.

Memphis, TN

Our first stop in Memphis was at the visitor center where we parked while downtown. After breakfast we stopped by the Peabody Hotel to watch their trained ducks walk from their home on the roof, down the elevator and into the fountain in the middle of the lobby. A minute later, we stopped at a small mall and then were off to Graceland.

The Long Drive

Thursday was a long day of driving. We started out in Santa Fe, NM at 7:00 am and ended just outside of Memphis, TN just after midnight – just under 1,000 miles. The kids did great. They listened to Harry Potter the whole way.

Our drive through Northwest Texas was brief and the only interesting thing we saw was the Largest Cross in the Northern Hemisphere.

We stopped in Oklahoma for dinner at the Cattleman�s Caf�, a restaurant in the middle of the cattleyards. Before dinner we even managed to get a little shopping in. And then it was on to Memphis.

Heading East

Our visit to the southwest has come to a close. We are getting an early start and driving from New Mexico to Oklahoma in time for a dinner spot Michelle heard about. More later. We have several fun stops on the way, but I don’t know when I will get the Internet connection to tell you about them, but I’ll do what I can.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe is a lovely place to shop and dine. We spent a day and a half doing just that. There were great shops for Michelle and outside Indian vendors selling their wares.

Conor took a liking to a new coat, but it was out of his price range.

El Santuaro

On our way to Santa Fe, we stopped at Chimayo, NM to visit El Santuaro, a church and shrine built in 1813. Many miracles are attributed to this place and it was a nice visit. The priest of this church has been there for 51 of his 61 years as a priest.

Las Alamos, New Mexico

After taking a wrong turn to get to Taos, we decided to change plans and go to Las Alamos, birthplace of atomic power and one of the leading centers for science today. We stopped at the Bradbury Science Museum and leaned all about what is going on in the national laboratories in the area.

Bandelier National Monument

We stayed at the Campground at Bandelier National Monument and were surprised that only a few other people were camping there. In the morning, we hiked to another set of ancient Native American ruins.

Which had us climbing more ladders

And climbing down into more kivas

Four Corners

At the intersection of Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico is Four Corners - the only place in the USA where four states meet. It is also located on a Navaho reservation. It's not often you can have your kids spread out in four states.

There are many Native American craftsmen and artists making and selling their work at Four Corners. Robert Charlie is hand making a bow and arrows for Keegan.

Mesa Verde National Park

Leaving Utah and entering Colorado our next national park was Mesa Verde. This park is different in that it is dedicated to the ancient people of the area, not the geology. There are many ancient ruins that we had a chance to walk around in the cliffs of Mesa Verde - most being at least 700 years old.

Since the ruins were in the side of cliffs, we needed to climb tall ladders to enter.

One, Balcony House, had a small tunnel as an exit. And when I say small, it was small!

Most of the ruins were guided tours where we were given clues of how these people lived.

Others were self guided and you got to go down into the Kivas, or common rooms, to see what it was like to be an ancient Native American.

Much of the stonework still remains because of the fine craftsmanship.

The campground was also full of deer. This one was just behind our RV as we set up camp.

Arches National Park

Arches was named for the more than 2,000 natural stone arches that can be found in the park. This one is called Landscape Arch and it is one of the longest in the world.