Back in Nebraska!

What a whoosh! We got through our errands in Colorado Springs this morning and headed back to Nebraska this afternoon.

We are glad we got a chance to get together with the Hammitt family in Monument last night, what a treat!

Before leaving Colorada Springs, we enjoyed one last look at Pikes Peak all covered in snow, what a special memory to take with us!!!

We decided to take a scenic route back to Nebraska and by-passed Denver and all that traffic. Along the way we saw a herd of pronghorns who seemed to be watching us as intently as we watched them.

After meandering through the Colorado and Nebraska countryside, we ended up in Scottsbluff (in western Nebraska) where we'll be through Wednesday.

We hope to have news to report this coming week, check back often to learn the latest news!!!

Today in Colorado Springs

Much like yesterday, we ran errands in prepara-tion for our return to Nebraska on Saturday. Belinda was thrilled to be able to find some very nice outfits and was really happy to find some terrific bargins in the process!

This evening was spent enjoying the great cooking and fine company of Belinda's brother, Rob and his family. We spent several hours getting caught up on our travels and their family events.

Charles unveiled his new golf clubs that Belinda gave him for his successful time in the Navy. He is one happy fellow! (Check out that bright lime green color on his golf bag. It is so him, right?!) And Rob and Carrie and Kyle helped him unwrap each club and put it in its proper place in the bag. Thanks for all your help Hammitt Family!

Tomorrow, we head back to Nebraska for some meetings and then, well, who knows where we'll go next!!!

A Snowy Day in Colorado Springs, CO

We were absolutely amazed to wake up to a snowy scene outside this morning! (Yesterday the weather had been 30 degrees warmer.) We spent the day doing errands in Colorado Springs. First stop was the Styling Salon at the local mall's J.C. Penney's so we get some personalized attention. Afterwards we went clothes shopping to get ready for the next chapter in our journey! We found some good buys. It was a very pleasant and relaxing day.

Tonight we had a few laughs watching the movie, "Happy Feet" which Charles (who love animation and comedies) picked up when Belinda wasn't looking. (www2.warnerbros.com/happyfeet).

Tomorrow we do more of the same.

And tomorrow night, we are joining Belinda's brother's family for dinner in their home in the nearby town of Monument.

p.s. No pictures today, nothing at the mall stood out!

A "Golden" day in Colorado

This morning was pretty much given over to visiting some of Golden's sites.

First up was the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum & Grave which can be reached after driving up the five miles of twists and turns of Lariate Road to reach the top of Lookout Mountain. The museum (www.buffalobill.org) is a great collection of items from the famous showman, his life, and the impact he had on the image of the "wild west."

After that, we drove back into town and went to the Coors Brewery(www.coors.com) for the tour of the production facilities. It was interesting to see the process and evolution of beer making. Coors is the largest employer in the town and the plant dominates the eastern side of town.

Deciding we needed a break from the road, we headed south where we had reservations in Colorado Springs. We'll be here for a few days before heading back to Nebraska to take care of some church-related business.

See you later!

Elk on the loose in Colorado!

Our brief foray into Wyoming ended this morning, and we headed back into Colorado to see a few more sights in the Rocky Mountain State!

First up was the Rocky Mountain National Park (www.nps.gov/romo) which is located northwest of Denver. This unique ecosystem is really great. Though a good portion of the road was closed due to snow in the upper elevations, we were still in for a real treat.

As we started to drive along the portion of the road that was open, we encountered an awesome sight: a herd of elk was crossing the road right in front of us!!! There must have been 20-30 of them! Then when they were gone, we drove about a mile or so along the road and came to a spot on the road that overlooked a valley below where the herd of elk, now numbering over 50, was so amazing to see that we were simply spell-bound.

Then, when we were almost out of the park, we saw more elk, which really made our day. We had read that wildlife were easily seen in this park, but we had no idea just how easily!!!!

After that, well, we headed south towards the city of Golden. We are going to see some of the sights in this historic city before heading towards Colorado Springs for a few days.

Hope your day was as amazing as ours was!!!

Wyoming, Ho!

It was farewell to Utah this morning but before we left, it was a quick trip into the big city, Salt Lake City!

We wanted to see the famous Morman Tabernacle but unfortunately it was being renovated. We got a nice tour of the Temple Square and really enjoyed the spring weather and the setting (www.go-utah.com/Temple-Square). We also got to visit the famous Family Life Center (www.familysearch.org) which was really fascinating and worth going back to again and again.

After that, well, it was a long drive across Wyoming. This is a really isolated area and we were so glad to finish the day when we saw the lights of Laramie!

Tomorrow is another day and who knows where we'll end up?!?

Happy Sunday in Utah!

Ah, to wake up here in Layton, UT, in the shadow of the mountains!

This morning we worshipped at the Ogden United Methodist Church which is just up the road in, of course, Ogden, Utah (www.ogdenmumc.org). It was a wonderful service. Their exciting news is that they break ground for their brand-new church in about a week's time. They expect to move into it at the beginning of Dec 07!

Then we drove north Golden Spike National Historical Site. This is THE place where they drove the last spikes into the railroad which then spanned the entire width of the good 'ole U.S. of A.... back in 1879!
(www.utah.com/nationalsites/golden_spike.htm).

Then we drove to Idaho. Yes, Idaho... because it is there, and we wanted to be able to say that we had been there! Yee-haw!

Afterwards we headed south, stopping at the GREAT Salt Lake and Antelope Island State Park. What an amazingly beautiful site it is!!!
(www.utah.com/stateparks/antelope_island.htm). While we were there we actually saw some of the Bison which make the Park their home!

God is SO awesome! What an amazing world God has created for us!! Yea, God!!! Tomorrow we visit Salt Lake City! Stay tuned....

On the Shore of the Great Salt Lake

Having left Nevada behind us yesterday, we woke this morning in Cedar City, Utah and proceeded to have a wonderful day!

First up was a nice drive through the Cedar Breaks National Monument on the way to Bryce Canyon National Park (www.nps.gov/brca). This is a wonderful place containing stunning vistas and Red Rock formations that rivaled anything we've seen along our journey.

We enjoyed the scenery on our drive north, it seemed that after the past few weeks in the desert southwest, we were suddenly in the land of trees and mountains.

We made it to Layton, UT which is just north of Salt Lake City this evening and are settled into our hotel. We can see the mountains that come down to the edge of the great lake and the tops are still covered with snow! We are thinking of seeing the Lake tomorrow afternoon and then perhaps seeing the sights associated with Salt Lake City on Monday.

Come back and see what we managed to see!!!

Las Vegas, Nevada... and BEYOND!

Wednesday night, we checked into the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel (www.lvhilton.com). It is a huge hotel (about 3,000 rooms)! Something is always going on ... there AND in all the other places in the city! This really is a city that doesn't sleep

We ate that night in the hotel's buffet restaurant as none of the other choices caught our eye, this is one of MANY restaurants in the hotel. We walked all around in the hotel, and we were amazed at how many people were sitting in front of the slot machines, throwing their money away. And nobody smiled; they all seemed to be droning through the experience. It was very strange to see this! The rest of the casino scene was a blur of sights & sounds, everything was happening all at once, it was exhausting just walking around in that environment!

After a good night's sleep, we woke up Thursday morning. We hopped on the monorail, which is adjacent to the hotel. It was fun to ride it all around the main road. Each stop accessed so many famous hotels. We got off at the Flamingo Hotel stop where there is a Margaritaville Restaurant (www.margaritavillelasvegas.com), one of Jimmy Buffet's restaurants. We stopped there for lunch and to shop in their gift shop. All of Buffet's fans are called parrot heads. Since Charles is a parrot head, of course, we had to stop by and see what they had in the shop! The restaurant was cool; we ate lunch on the rooftop. It was fun to look down on all the activity in front of Casesar's Palace Hotel and all around it! Of course, we had a cheese burger! (Famous in the song "Cheeseburger in Paradise"). If you go, don't get the onion rings!

In the afternoon, we were back to our hotel, where they feature "The Star Trek Experience" (www.startrekexp.com). Charles is a huge fan, so he went through "it." "It" consisted of a lot of interesting things to see in their museum of artifacts from the Trek TV shows and movies. They had two simulator rides, as well. And the really fun thing is that it included him having his picture taken, sitting in the captain's chair of the Starship Enterprise. Before we left Friday morning, Charles got the chance to have his picture taken with a real-live Klingon!

It was a lot of fun, strolling around, window shopping and people watching! If a high-energy setting is your sort of thing, then visiting Las Vegas is the thing for you to do!

This morning (Friday), we set out for Death Valley National Park. We dipped into California for just a bit. Belinda had a bit much of the desert experience and so we reversed our steps and headed for Utah. Yes, Utah! We are headed for Salt Lake City.

Praise be to God, for all these amazing experiences that we are so blessed to be having at this time in our lives!

Stay tuned to see what happens in Salt Lake City!

Viva, Las Vegas!

We said goodbye to Arizona this afternoon after an interesting morning seeing a few extra sights.

First up was a drive to Lake Havasu City, AZ (www.golakehavasu.com) (to see the London Bridge. For those unfamiliar with this item, it is the actual bridge brought from London in 1961 to this bleak outpost on the Colorado River. If you have a choice between seeing the real London Bridge and the one in Arizona, see the real-deal in the UK and don't waste your time coming here!

Then it was back to Kingman, AZ to see the Route 66 Museum. It was really fascinating and a great place to see this slice of Americana up-close. (www.kingmantourism.org/route66museum). Route 66 is now a road we'll always have a special place for!

After that, well, it was time to say goodbye to Arizona and on to Nevada we headed. Just as we approached the border, we came upon Hoover Dam, one of the engineering marvels of the world (www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam). After seeing the Grand Canyon and see in person the awesome handiwork of God, it was exciting to see what humans can accomplish!

A short drive later we arrived in Las Vegas (www.vegas.com)! We checked into a hotel at one end of "The Strip" and have been overwhelmed by the glitz, sounds, and the variety of people here during the "low season." We are hoping to see a show tomorrow night. Come back and hear all about it!

The Grand Canyon is SO grand!

Before we begin this blog, we want to issue a very special "thank you" to our nephew Kyle Hammitt! He has been such a devoted reader of this blog, and we have REALLY enjoyed his comments to it. Hey, Kyle, you are one super-star fellow in our book! Thanks so much for all your encouraging comments!!!

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Hello from Kingman, Arizona. We have had an amazing time since we last "blogged!" Monday morning, we checked out of our lovely hotel in Sedona, and we headed north towards Flagstaff. We stopped by the Coconino National Forest (www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino), where a friendly lady offered to take a picture of us. (It is the first one above.)

In Flagstaff, we took the car in for an oil change and a general all-around "trip check." While they were doing that at the garage, we wandered all around the historic downtown area of Flagstaff. It is such a lovely place. We wandered around, visiting the beautiful downtown Catholic church, St. Francis of Assisi, shopping in the local stores, art galleries, enjoying a great lunch at downtown diner. (The diner has a way-cool counter; it has old license plates all over it!)

Then we drove to the G-R-A-N-D C-A-N-Y-O-N !!! We even stayed at one of the lodges inside the national park... something we had never done before. We saw the sunset at the southern rim. Later that night, we gazed at ALL the stars in the sky. We could see so many more stars from the canyon than we normally can see from within a city or town. They were like diamonds in the sky, all twinkling so very brightly!
(www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/index.htm)

Today we took one of the shuttle buses all around the Hermit's Rest route, hopping on and off at the many stops... to gaze into the canyon from different points, taking lots of pictures! It was beautiful weather... much cooler than the previous week in southern Arizona.

We stopped by their visitors center, and we got our national park passport stamped with their special stamp and today's date. Then we drove out of the park and stopped by the IMAX movie center and saw an AMAZING BIG-SCREEN MOVIE all about the Grand Canyon. It was spectacular! (Hey, Kyle, you would love this movie! (www.explorethecanyon.com/Theater/index.cfm?action=Movie).

Afterward we drove on I-40, heading west, headed for Kingman, where we have stopped for the night.

Tomorrow we are headed south to Lake Havasu City. We want to see the London Bridge that was transplanted from London, England, to ... Yes!.... a place here in Arizona! (For info about the London Bridge being moved there, (www.havasuchamber.com/lbridge.htm).

More to follow....

Stay tuned.....

Hey, you KNOW that God is SO good! There really are wondrous things to see and do each and every day we are blessed to be in this world!

Sunday, Sunday

What a relaxing day, this post-St. Patrick's Day here in Sedona, Arizona! The weather was perfect, the views spectacular, and the food, ahhhhhh! We had a relatively easy day without much of note to report.

We began the morning with attendance at a really cool looking church, the Sedona UMC (www.sedonaumc.org). We had visited the church on Friday on our way into town and liked what we saw. The church has a really attractive sanctuary and a very active congregation. We talked with several folks afterwards and it turns out that this congregation has seven retired clergy, we immediately felt sorry for the pastor!

Afterwards, we enjoyed a tasty meal at Maria's, a local family-run, Senoran-style restaurant. We did some window shopping in the afternoon before getting some rest in the late afternoon. Tonight, we enjoyed a meal at the famous Cowboy Club (www.cowboyclub.com) which lived up to its reputation.

We leave Sedona in the morning and are bound for the Grand Canyon. Stay tuned for the views and news from the road!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Another sunny day in Sedona, AZ. We enjoyed the "uptown" Sedona's St. Patrick's Day Parade this morning! Everyone was sporting something green, and the mood was very festive, indeed! (www.gatewaytosedona.com/article/id/1194/page/1).

Then we were off to the local brewing company/restaurant for a delicious lunch. We heard someone recommending it, so off we went. And we were very glad we did! It is situated in a lovely shopping area called Tlaquepaque, we enjoyed looking at lots of beautiful shops, galleries. The Oak Creek Brewing Company (www.oakcreekbrew.com/oakcreek/home.html) has some great brews and the view looking out at the sculpture in the courtyard below and at the mountains surrounding the town are awesome!!

We each took advantage of Sedona's reputation as a happening place to get a stellar massage at the local massage school (just a few blocks from where we are staying). We had graduate students "do" us. They really were expertly skilled! (www.namti.com).

We rounded out the day with a visit the local movie theater and saw "Wild Hogs" (www.wildhogs.movies.go.com). It was such a fun film!

We are looking forward to church tomorrow at the UMC here in Sedona, who knows what will happen after that!

A HOT time in Sedona, AZ

It was time for us to get back on the road today but we didn't go very far. After hearing so much about this area, we decided to visit the resort town of Sedona. This is about one hour north of Prescott and just south of Flagstaff.

Along the way we stopped by Montezuma's Well National Mounment, which turned out to be a lesser-known site than the nearby Montezuma's Castle which we had visited earlier in the week. This place is really cool as it is off the beaten path and has some terrific views associated with it.

Then it was over a dusty road (thanks to a fellow tourist for the short-cut!) on the way to Sedona. The views here in "Red Rock Country" are nothing short of stunning (www.visitsedona.com). We checked into a hotel on the west side of town, had lunch at a nearby cafe' and then drove through the town to see what was happening.

What is happening is the HEAT! It was over 95 F today and the traffic, made worse by the spring-break tourists, was dreadful. We take a chance to visit the Chapel of the Rocks (www.chapeloftheholycross.com/default.asp). This has to be one of the most amazing chapels anywhere. A ministry setting of the Roman Catholic church in Sedona, it is simply stunning in its simplicity and in the setting. We peaked into the Sedona UMC (www.sedonaumc.org) which has a wonderful looking sanctuary and is where we'd likely go if we stay through Sunday morning. After that, we drove into the "up town" area, got tired of the heat and traffic and so we scurried back to the hotel to let the heat and the traffic disapate a tad.

Tomorrow looks to be cooler in the morning so Charles is hoping to play a round of golf. Belinda just might take advantage of the special spas here. Look at the blog tomorrow to see!

Prescott Musings

Today we enjoyed a relaxing day in Prescott. The weather was perfect, a real contrast to yesterday's blistering day in Peoria/Phoenix!

We began the day with a tour of the Arizona Softball Hall of Fame. We really enjoyed the way the museum treated the women's teams of the 30's and 40's.

Next door was the Smoki Museum (www.smokimuseum.org), a very interesting collection of artifacts and other southwestern items. There was an exhibit of paintings by Leonard Peltier (involved in the shootout at Wonded Knee in the 70's). Then we toured the Sharlot Hall Museum (www.sharlot.org) which preserves the Territorial Governor’s Mansion and various other old buildings from the time of Arizona’s creation.

We rounded out the morninig with a great lunch at the Dinner Bell Restaurant (www.thedinnerbell.net) which is a favorite of local people and we can attest to the great food and service!!!

Charles enjoyed an afternoon of retreat. Belinda ran some errands around the town, i.e., bank, post office, Walmart runs. Later in the day Charles took a 2-hour walk/hike around the area! He took an amazing picture of nearby Thumb Butte, the iconic mountain of Prescott.

We had a nice evening at the Vicar’s Cottage, our last evening here. It has been wonderful to enjoy the environs of this lovely Chapel Rock Episcopalian retreat center.

Tomorrow we head back up north. The plan is to visit Sedona and Flagstaff, after that, stay tuned!

Praise be to God!

Hello from SUNNY Arizona!

Back when we lived in Cornwall we thought about what it would be like to be in warm weather again. Today, we got our wish!!!

We had record highs today! The radio said that the high temperature in Peoria (just outside of Phoenix) today
was 16 degrees higher than usual at this time of year; it was 91 degrees Fahrenheit! Whew!

We had decided to go to Peoria to see a baseball game (before knowing about the heat!) and had brunch at a Cracker Barrel just outside Phoenix. Outside was a HUGE cactus...the tallest one we ever saw (up close and personal)!

Yes, on this hottest day of the year here...we were at a baseball game in the afternoon. After the third inning we moved seats from out in the full sunlight to ones in the shade with the overhang above our heads... and the breezes started, then we were MUCH better! The outcome: The Texas Rangers beat the San Diego Padres, 9-5 in 10 innings. It was a really fun game!

Afterward, we had an early supper at the Cheesecake Factory nearby. It was DELICIOUS, as usual! We had hoped that by eating early we could avoid some of the evening rush-hour traffic. It didn't worth though and we encountered quite a bit of traffic on the way back up to Prescott. However, once we cleared the city of Phoenix, driving was a lot easier. The difference in temperature between Prescott and Phoenix is amazing... at least 10 degrees difference!

We are so glad to be back home in cooler Prescott! A very nice day, indeed! Praise be to God!!!