Plastic Jesus Has Been Laid Off

We made it to Long Island!  And, the driving wasn't nearly as bad as the people we talked to last night made it seem.

Those of you who are of my generation (65-ish) understand what I mean when I refer to plastic Jesus.  For those of you who do not, allow me to explain.

When we were children, all cars that were driven by Catholics, and perhaps other religious affiliations, had a small ivory, red and gold plastic Jesus that stood on the dashboard  attached by a magnet.  Jesus was supposed to guide us safely on our journey.

Now, I am not impugning the plastic Jesus in any way, but like so many others, He has been replaced.  I think it may have been due to the fact that his job was outsourced related  to the use of non-metallic dashboards.

Anyway, we made our trip with the help of St. Google and his disciples, GPS and i-Pad.  Unlike the plastic Jesus, this one talked to us and gave us turn by turn directions.  And, I am fairly certain that if we told a law enforcement officer that the computer told us to go the wrong way they'd believe that way before they'd believe Jesus told us to do it!   We zipped along the New Jersey Turnpike, the George Washington and Throg's Neck bridges and the Long Island Expressway with not so much as a horn honking.

We are now safely and comfortably situated in our hotel in Hauppauge, Long Island.  In a few minutes we are heading for the hotel pool and sauna.  Ahhh!

Tomorrow we are heading off to the cemetery.  Yes, the cemetery.  We're going to look up the grave sites of some of the relatives that Mary has found and maybe even discover some more.

So, more tomorrow.  Tonight it's Words with Friends and Candy Crush Saga!

Not the Lead Dog

Driving Interstate 80 could serve as an excellent example of the saying "If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes."

Our nation's over the road truckers must all travel I-80 at some point in their careers.  In fact, I'm pretty sure they're all driving it this week!  We've never seen so many semi-trucks on a highway before yesterday and today.  At one point, in 20 minutes,. I counted 185 big rigs travelling on the opposite side of the highway.  They're everywhere!!

We mostly travelled across Pennsylvania today.  By noon we were in the western edge of the state and visited Volant, a small Amish community.  We saw a few Amish farms and some of the men harvesting in one field.  Lunch was at a small restaurant, the Neshannock Creek Inn Restaurant.  There were several little shops and we checked out a few of them.

 I never realized that Pennsylvania was so beautiful.  We drove along the edge of a couple of state forests and the southern edge of the Poconos.  The trees are starting to show their fall colors all along the winding hills and valleys.  These photos don't do the scenery justice but it was the best I could do in this effort of Moving Vehicle Photography.

Tonight was are in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.  We are just to the west of New Jersey.  Tomorrow we hope to make it to Long Island.  Emphasis on the HOPE.  Someone at the restaurant tonight told us that the drive through THE city could be brutal.  Cross your fingers and look for another blog entry tomorrow.

Until then, I HOPE!!

Here We Go Again!

We're on the road again, heading for New York and then on to Florida.  John's sister Mary is with us this time.  We are going to visit relatives of their mother in New York,.  Mary has put a lot of time and work into finding relatives of their mother who was adopted after riding the Orphan Train.

Departure was at 7:00am.  We drove 571 miles and ended our day here in Toledo, Ohio.  I think we did a pretty respectable job, traveling through five states, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.  Whew!  Makes my butt hurt just thinking about all those miles in the "saddle!"

On our drive through Indiana we went right past South Bend so we took a small detour and drove onto the Notre Dame campus.  It's really a pretty place.  I have some photos but am having trouble getting them into the blog.  I know, what else is new?  I'll try to have it figured out tomorrow.

In the morning we are on our way to Pennsylvania.  We hope to visit a little bit in an Amish village or two.

More tomorrow, pictures included.

 

Oh-Oh Ogallala

Well, here we are in Ogallala, Nebraska.  We drove across Utah, through Salt Lake City and then all the way across the state of Wyoming.

There were lots of antelope along the rode today and lots if interesting rock formations.  It's always amazing to me the geology we have in our country from state to state.

Of course, we couldn't be in Nebraska without having a Runza.  If you don't know what that is, I'm not going to tell you.  You'll just have to keep guessing.

Tomorrow we'll make our final leg and hope to get home by about 5 or 6 pm.

Once I am home I'll post more photos.  More later.

Over To Wendover

We left Livermore around 9am and have arrived in Wendover, Utah at 6pm.  Most of the way we had  sunny skies with a little bit of rain on and off.

Of course, driving through California was beautiful, especially around Lake Tahoe.  Once we were in Nevada we drove mountains, hills and desert areas.  We saw lots of dust devils, some very tall.  There was even a small herd of antelope walking right alongside the road in one spot.

Tonight we are right outside of the Great Salt Desert and the Bonneville Salt Flats.  Tomorrow we will head for Salt Lake City and then on to Wyoming.

More tomorrow.

Charming and Adorable

Really had fun yesterday.  My psuedo-sister, Jan took me to Charming Charlie and lunch at Red Robin for an early birthday present.  We had so much fun.  I will be looking for Charming Charlie when I get home.

So, today we are heading back home.  I'll be posting as we go.

More tomorrow.

The Hoodoos Dood It

I finally got my computer back!  The hoodoos stole it!

 To be honest it was all my fault.  I forgot it sitting on the nightstand in Banff. Now that I have it I can catch you up on things.

Last Sunday, April 28 we left the Banff Springs Hotel and were driven by bus to Calgary.  On the way we saw more of the Canadian Rockies.

The first thing we did was take a ride in the Banff Gondola.  It goes up the side of a mountain climbing almost 2300 feet to an elevation of about 7500 feet.  It was gorgeous, but cold and windy.  We got a great view of the valley and the Banff Springs Hotel.

From there we went to see the hoodoos.  A hoodoo (also called a tent rock, fairy chimney, and earth pyramid) is a tall, thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. (Thanks Wikipedia)

Then we were on to Kananaskis and a helicopter to the mountains.  It was really fun, never been inn a helicopter before.  

Sunday night we were in Calgary at the Fairmont Palliser Hotel.  On Monday morning we flew back to Vancouver.  There we picked up our car and started our drive back down to Livermore, California with our friends Jan and Linus.  The first night we stayed in McMinnville, Washington.  On Tuesday we went to Pike Place Market in Seattle and had fun walking around looking at all of the produce and wares.  We found some fun things.

After  Seattle we drove down the Oregon coast and saw completely different scenery, beach and coastal views.  

We arrived in Livermore on Thursday afternoon and have been here ever since.  We are having a wonderful time, as always.  We'll head for home again on Thursday, the day after tomorrow.  Hate to leave here, but need to get home. 

More tomorrow.  If the hoodoos don't steal my computer again.