Okay, think I've calmed down enough to give you the highlights of Niagara Falls. These pics are from the Canadian side.
No. 1 is American Falls and the small fall on the right is Bridal Veil. There's a Maid of the Mist at the base of the falls and the other people on our bus were probably on that boat. Since we took the cruise yesterday on the American side, we didn't get to do it from the Canadian side.
No. 2 is Horseshoe Falls, you can see both falls so much better in Canada.
No.3 is the Skylon Tower and we took a glass elevator to the top, really neat. The tower is 520 feet high from street level and is the highest structure in Niagara Falls, Ontario. I took the above pictures from the observation deck of the tower.
The biggest disappointment, Dave and I agreed, was the view from behind the Falls. Guess my expectation
wasn't realistic, expected to be behind the spray, to look up and see the Falls from the top. What we got was a tunnel
and narrow at that, crowded with lots of people. The view behind the Falls was water so powerful and thick
that's all you got, kinda a gray blur. Canada is so beautiful, fully landscaped, manicured and color everywhere.
There was four "mates" on our tour bus from Australia, nice young men on vacation. They are in the States for two months and having a blast. They were very outgoing and answered all our dumb questions. They knew who Marcos Ambrose is, too. Six weeks vacation in Australia is normal according to them. We leave the Falls and New York tomorrow, heading to Ohio and hopefully will see Paul and Connie Anderson, in or near Salem. Had a knock on our door here in N. Tonawanda and it was Donna & Keith Green. Our world is getting smaller. Til next time................love and hugs from us to YOU!

Niagara Falls & Cave of the Winds

What an absolutely AWESOME day we had! Our tour guide picked us up at the RV Park and we put our life in his hands when we got in the van, he drove like the New York cabdrivers you see on tv! We took an elevator down (something like 171 feet) to board the Maid of the Mist. From the boat we cruised to the base of the American Falls and then the basin of Horseshoe Falls. We knew we'd get wet so I didn't even shampoo this morning and it was good I didn't, got soaked because I couldn't keep the hood of the poncho up. I loved every minute of being in the mist or pelted with water, it was wonderful. At Cave of the Winds they provided "keepsake" waterproof sandals as well as another poncho and both were definitely needed. At Cave of the Winds we walked up many steps with water running over them, it was a tad cold and if you were there, you were going to get wet. At a couple of points you needed to hang on to the railing because the water was pretty powerful coming across. We had a grand time and can't wait to tour the Canadian side tomorrow. So wish all of you could be here with us. We didn't plan to be in New York but when we discovered we were less than 200 miles from the Falls, we felt we just had to take this detour, probably once in a lifetime! Sending you hugs................... Oh, couldn't get Dave to take a "barrel ride."

Lake Erie
In the background, Lake Erie. Caught several good looks, feel so Blessed to see these sights. Just can't believe we're in New York and going to see Niagara Falls tomorrow, American side. Wednesday we'll do the Canadian side and glad we could split it up. Our campground is nice, owner very accommodating, pricey but look where we are!



Grapes and more grapes, miles and miles of grapes, we should never run out of wine!


Almost there...................more tomorrow.

July 30, 31 Aug 1 ...Dry Fork, West Viginia from Thunderstruck Mountain (named by Eleanor Roosevelt.) Believe me, I rode to the top of this mountain on the back of an ATV. The second picture shows a "sod", something new I learned about from Dave's cousin Jack. The sod is the clearing in the picture. After several hours on the mountaintop, we went back to Jack's house to a wonderful lunch prepared by Dorlos, Jack's wife. The afternoon was spent touring cemeteries and placing flowers on family graves. Then back to the house for an amazing dinner that included RAMPS! Ramps are an onion like vegetable, strong flavor and they pass the smell to your body...... they grow in West Virginia and no where else as far as I know. They are good! As if we hadn't been across enough mountains, we'll move on and cross many more....... Reunion with the sisters coming up.

OUR SOLDIER

Okay (Joe,) finally have something worth blogging! Yesterday we attended our grandson's GRADUATION CEREMONY/CELEBRATION from Army Basic Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. We're SO PROUD of this young soldier that means the world to us. See many positive changes already, pride in himself and the Army. He looks so handsome in the Army uniform, will have to fight the girls off. Today Josh left FLW for Fort Sill, OK, his new home for the next twenty weeks and where he'll complete his AIT training in communications.

It's been awhile since we've updated, guess we've been so busy seeing this beautiful state of Colorado! We throughly enjoyed our time in Woodland Park and the mountains in that area are stunning. The drive from Colorado Springs to Woodland Park is one I could do everyday and not tire of. The mountains are HUGE, the colors are wonderful, just so many shades of green! We moved on to Buena Vista last week and spent four nights in a nice little park, Valley RV Park with an Escapee discount. From there we day tripped to Leadville and saw such astounding beauty from the turning of the aspen leaves, followed the Arkansas River as far as we could and got as close to the headwaters as possible off Hwy 91. I would go back to that area in a heartbeat! There's a lot of history in Leadville and the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum is located there. Just outside Leadville off CR 4 is Turquoise Lake. I was standing on the "Matchless" boat ramp when I took the first picture and can't believe how amazing it is.
I must've taken 200 pictures of the aspen, thank goodness for digital cameras! The colors are beyond description and unfortunately the camera cannot capture the boldness of the color and bring you to tears. The real thing left me in tears through my smiles, for pratically the whole drive. The last pic was taken at one of the Twin Lakes, south of Leadville. Talk about Rocky Mountain High, now I understand!

Colorado

This is our current RV site in Woodland Park, CO. This is a nice park, nicest in the area for the space and money. The people are friendly but it rains everyday so being outside doesn't happen very often.

We took a drive Wednesday, stopped for a wonderful BBQ lunch which we ate in the truck to stay dry. The little BBQ place didn't have inside seating and the rain came, of course. What looks like snow ( and 43 degree temp) is actually hail and was a few miles ahead of us on our way to the mining town of Cripple Creek. Cripple Creek now mines tourist wallets when they visit the many casinos, guess the gold in them thar hills is all gone!
(We did see a lot tailings from the mining that still goes on and they do still get gold.)

The third pic is of the South Platte River, about fifteen miles from Woodland Park at the 11 Mile Canyon.
This is a gorgeous area and appears to be a favorite spot with fly fishermen. The road is dirt and narrow, in spots the edge has washed away, a concern when passing another vehicle and the dually's on our truck. Made me nervous anyway. Hopefully we'll get back there in a few days and Dave can try his luck with the fly rod. I enjoy the scenery and getting to the river's edge.

Til next time, be safe and may God Bless!

More from Pikes Peak

You can see the visitor center and our railcar at the top. I feel light headed just looking at the picture, haha. This is one of several waterfalls and I got lucky to get the picture at the last moment. Last photo is of a rock that I think looks like a smiley face but more like the man in the moon.

COG RAILROAD

Yesterday Dave and I crossed another Colorado Springs adventure off our to do list, we took the Cog Railway to the top of Pikes Peak. The round trip was a little over 3 hours and took us 14,115 feet above
sea level. In case you've never done this, let me tell you, the air is THIN up there! We sipped water
all the way up as a friend had advised, that helps with the light headed, nauseous feeling a lot of
people experience. We were both light headed but managed without taking oxygen that's available at the
summit. We didn't see any wildlife but the scenery was interesting, gigantic boulders, tall, tall trees and
fragile tundra, even a waterfall or two. Our rail car had to pull over and allow a train heading down the Peak
to pass at Windy Point, that's only 12,130 feet, we still had a ways to go. We saw vehicles on the road
that's used for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. There's no way I'd want to be in an automobile going up that
narrow dirt road, and people race up that road! (The Hill Climb is scheduled for the week-end of July 18.)
Maybe tomorrow or the next day I'll post some pictures from the top and coming down.

Colorado Air Force Academy

We've been "settled" in Colorado Springs since the 19th of this month and we're here til the 19th of July. After
that we must find a new place to park, the rules say we can only stay 30 days at the Air Force Academy in the
summer. It's beautiful here, tall pines, cool days and pull up the covers at night! We've had the AC on maybe twice, AND used heat once, yep, and it felt real good! Took Dave four hours to set up the Dish, he didn't care about the tall pines that day. Our site is on the end of a row and really spacious, lots of wildlife around. There's black bears here so the feeders must be brought inside every night, don't want to intice the critters to come into camp. A Ranger told us he saw a bear on the roadway by the lake where Dave was fishing
yesterday. Made me take notice of my surroundings after that! The birds have me trained to get up and
hang the feeders, they make so much noise there's no more sleeping. There's Black -headed
Grosbeaks, Magpies, Stellar Jays, Pine Siskin, Cowbirds, White-breasted Nuthatches, Pygmy Nuthatches,
Cassin Finches, Western Bluebirds and of course the hummers, Black-chinned and Broad-tailed.
I love this picture of the female Broad-tail, best hummer picture I've ever snapped. These little birds are
consuming a half gallon of sugar water everyday at our four feeders and other people have feeders up
as well. Now we're up to date, I apologize to anyone that's been checking in to find I haven't kept my word.
Until next time, love and hugs to anyone reading this.

Butchart Gardens

Finally I'm going to stick with updating the blog until it's done! Our grandson's graduation cruise was diverted from the Mexican Riviera to Canada because of the Swine Flu so we got to see the world famous Butchart Gardens. The gardens were started over a hundred years ago by Jennie Butchart to beautify a worked out limestone quarry, and they're still family owned today. The gardening became a hobby for Jennie and she worked long hours along side her helpers. The story goes that back in the early days word began to spread about the beautiful gardens and people would come wanting to walk through them. Jennie would graciously
provide "tea" for the visitors. Today there's fountains and a gift shop, even an ice cream shop. The gardens cover 55 acres, if a plant "looks sick" another replaces it immediately, the whole garden is continuously scanned. Canada is beautiful and flowers, flowers everywhere. Victoria, BC, and Vancouver, BC are both beautiful,
clean cities. Vancouver is definitely metropolitan. One thing that caught my attention was that even the
condos had planter boxes on the balconies. It's a gardeners paradise!

Along the way to TUS

We made it to Tucson this afternoon and we're all set at the Air Force Base through our grandson's graduation and the family cruise. It's a relief to know the rig will be secure and our friends will be checking in case anything goes wrong, ya just never know! The Horned Toad posed the morning we were leaving DreamCatcher in Deming, NM and the Quail were at the SKP Park in Benson this morning. We had a great visit with Rick & Terri, so wonderful to see Rick looking so good (even tho he's lost quite a bit of weight) and Terri a bit more relaxed. Hopefully we'll see them again before they leave to head to IL. The ESCAPEES and especially the Class of '07 are so special, we've formed what we hope are lasting friendships. Tomorrow is a hair cut for me and can't wait to get the appointment for a mani/pedi with the girl that sinfully pampers me, I deserve it and she deserves the big tip! I'll try to do better about posting if we don't melt in this Arizona heat. Til next time, safe travels / be happy!

Baby Bell's Vireo

Momma and BABY came Thursday evening to let us know everything was okay. The BABY flew onto the deck railing right in front of me, flew a little bit away and then disappeared, while Momma was in a nearby tree. Made me feel so much better ! Do believe these birds are Bell's Vireo (s.)

We're back in Texarkana at the COE Park, Clear Springs, since Monday. This afternoon we found a baby bird under the RV, poor little thing. The mother was wonderful, she kept coming to feed and encourage the baby. Momma didn't seem to mind that I was so close, got some awesome pictures! Never managed to snap fast enough to catch momma stuffing the worm down Baby's throat, tho. Haven't made an identification yet but won't give up. Will get "THE BOOK" and compare picture to picture. The little guy disappeared while we were having supper, hope momma got him somewhere safe.