Day 4 - 5 Monument Colorado

We left beautiful Santa Fe at 9am on Wednesday morning - heading for Monument, Colorado (just outside Colorado Springs).  Our good friends live there and we spent 2 days with them.  There home is located not far from the Air Force Acadamy (where they held graduation on the day we arrived).  The Thunderbirds (an elite Air Force group) who flew over the area in celebration of the graduation. We just missed this - which is probably a blessing because we ran into virtually no traffic as we drove into town.

We went out to dinner that evening and then came home and talked up a storm for hours on end....reminding us all of the old days when we did the same thing - it's amazing how you can be away from friends like this for so many years and then just pick up where we all left off so many years ago, just like it was yesterday.

On Thursday we slept in, visited somemore, went out to lunch at Golden Coral, and then went to the North Pole.  What fun we had visiting all the cute little shops and feeling like it was Christmas in May.  If your ever in the Colorado Springs area and you haven't been to the North Pole you  should give it a try.  Seniors get FREE admitance...so you can't beat that!

Day 2 - 3 Santa Fe New Mexico

It was so beautiful and so comfortable at our campsite in  Santa Fe that we decied to spend 2 nights.  The cabin was very comfortable and the air so clear and fresh. One afternoon we had heavy rain and thunder for about 2 hours and I right through it.  Other than this the weather was beautiful, about 70 during the day and in the 40's at night.  Our only (small) problem was having to walk to the bathrooms. The cabins did not have those facilities in them - but heck, this is what camping is all about.  We are going to be looking into staying at more KOA's as we travel the country.  We ate at a cute little cafe for lunch on Tuesday.  It was located not far from the KOA we stayed at Highway 25 just east of Santa Fe. It was an organic and vegan restaurant and the food was worth the cost (which was just a little pricey for our budget)

On Wednesday morning we took a 3 hour drive and stayed a couple days with our good friends in Monument, Colorado.   We had fun eating and talking, just like the old days.  More on that tomorrow.

In the meantime please enjoy our the pictures from our stay at the KOA

Day 2 - Santa Fe New Mexico

We left Phoenix on Sunday after Church and traveled via Flagstaff,  We stopped in Winslow Arizona for a quick bite and you could see us 'Standing on the Corner in Windslow AZ' - Winslow is truely a one corner town ;) . From there we went to the Petrifried Forest National Monument which was really another hole in the wall.  They had a nice Visitor Center and little store but that was about it.  The park was open but it was ater 5pm and they were closing at 7pm...all it offered was hiking and seeing the sights.  We left there and drove to Grants NM where we found a Travel Lodge to spend the night....free breakfast, free internet and a bed to flop in for the night was about all they offered.  A Denny's next door filled our growling stomachs.  The next morning after our free breakfast we headed out again on the road by 9am.

The sights in NM are awesome - it's truely God's Country.  We saw a man carrying a cross across the dessert following the I-40.  A friend sent me this link to a man who is doing this currently and we suspect it was him we saw: http://www.wptv.com/news/local-news/water-cooler/terry-pollard-texas-man-carrying-cross-across-all-50-states  We also saw red mountains galore....just beautiful and so clear.

We pulled into Santa Fe exhausted from another day of driving, but we had only driven a couple hours.  We were hungry and just wanted food....low and behold we saw a sign for a KOA (Kampgrounds of America) and we stopped to see if we could get a spot for the night.  We were just going to get a tent site (we sleep in our van) but they had cabins available for $50, so we are here for 2 nights....it's colder than heck at night - it was 42 degrees when I woke up at 4:30AM.  This morning at 10am it's 60 degrees.  We took a nap yesterday afternoon and it rained, thundered and lightening the entire time....I'm not crazy about cold but it was getting so hot in Phoenix this is a nice reprieve.

I've taken pictures but it's taking forever for them to e-mail from my phone to my computer...will post them later today or tomorrow.  I'm going to try and update daily and post pictures for everyone to see.

On the Road Again

Fifty years ago not long after getting married we had dreams of a trip around the United States. My goal was to see all 50 states.  I grew up in southern California and had never been out of the state until we got married.   We've been to 27 states since then and have taken trips by car to see those but never driving further than the mid-west beore coming home.   Life, kids and other trips kept us from seeing all we want to see.  So this summer for our 50th anniversary gift we are traveling many of the states we have never seen.  I don't suppose we will make it to the 23 missing states but we hope to make a BIG dent it.

The 27 states we have seen in the last 50 years are these:

This trip, as I start this blog, has taken us through Arizona (starting from Phoenix and then through New Mexico....we are currently in Santa Fe not too far from the Colorado border.  Below is a picture of our plans for the trip-we figure we will drive a minimum of 10,000 miles (this includes side trips). We are taking 3 months - left May 25 and arriving home sometime in early September.  Pictures and more updates tomorrow of our frist 3 days out.   The map below is our route.

                                                               Howard & Mary Warren, your traveling Senior Citizens