Archive
Traveling the MidWest
For the past month and a half, we’ve been traveling in the MidWest (with stops in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana) with our friends of the Traveling Supremes Travel Club. Since I am webmaster for the club, i posted a series of blogs of these travels. The web site can be found by clicking here.
Because of the posts on that web site, I have not posted anything here for quite a while. However, we are traveling on our own again, and have quite an ambitious schedule until we get back to Dallas in September. This is to include Michigan, the UP, over to Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Mt. Rushmore. So expect my posts to reappear here soon.
Carlsbad Caverns, NM
30 years ago we visited the Carlsbad Caverns with our kids. We finally decided for a revisit, and although the cave hasn’t changed much, the path system has been greatly improved. We walked the entire open area and were awed by the size and scenic impact of the caverns.
Early explorers had a hard time, using only torches and rather rickety ropes and wire ladders to visit the various rooms and chambers. And the ground was rough and rock strewn making for difficult explorations.
Until 1932, visitors to the cavern had to walk down a switchback ramp that took them 750 feet (230 m) below the surface. The walk back up was tiring for some. In 1932 the national park opened up a large visitor center building that contained two elevators that would take visitors in and out of the caverns below. The new center included a cafeteria, waiting room, museum and first aid area.
The park contains over 119 caves. Three caves are open to public tours. Carlsbad Caverns is the most famous and is fully developed with electric lights, paved trails, and elevators. Slaughter Canyon Cave and Spider Cave are undeveloped, excepted for designated paths for the guided “adventure” caving tours.
Cruise to Ireland
We had been planning a cruise to Ireland since last fall. We were going with our friends the Shireys, but they had to cancel for medical reasons. Hopefully they will recover but we missed having them with us on our cruise.
Shipboard: As is usual with Celebrity, this was a well run cruise. Probably the most on board activities we’ve ever had on a trans Atlantic cruise, we were so busy we only got to the hot tubs twice! And of course we ate too much.
The Azores: Our first landfall after leaving Miami 8 days before. We had an overnight stay, so we had lots of time to visit the many scenic locations, including Ponta Delgado, the capital city.
Cobh: Our first Irish port, formally known as Queenstown. Last port for the Titanic, and final destination for the Lusitania, which was torpedoed in 1915 just off the coast. We had much better luck, and visited Blarney, where I kissed the Blarney Store.
Dublin: As always, lots to do and see in Dublin. we visited Trinity College and the downtown area on foot.
Galway: We rented a car and drove to Galway, where we stayed at the most excellent Glenlo Abbey. We drove to the east coast and visited Kylemore Abbey, a beautiful castle surrounded by trees and lovely gardens. It would have been better without the strong winds and rain, but it was a nice visit.
Kilkenny: We then drove to Kilkenny where we had a short visit to a very scenic and historic city. The castle was fantastic.
I’m keeping the descriptions short, there are some summary images are below. Our full photo album is at laninga.com, click on 2018, then cruises then the place name.
Dallas Arboretum
We always like to visit the Dallas Arboretum, and today was a nice spring day. A bit overcast, but that helps bring out the colors. I know we’ve posted many arboretum photos before, but here’s a few more.
Change of plans
Well that didn’t last long…. after we decided on the Tiffin motor home we went back to Dallas to re-organize our storage to get ready for the big move. It quickly became obvious that if we wanted to move our “stuff” into the new Tiffin we’d have to throw a lot of stuff away. So we did the obvious…. we bought a larger motor home.
This one — a 2015 Entegra Aspire — took us back to our roots as the forerunner was the Travel Supreme we owned a decade ago. This one was low mileage, only 17,000 miles, and appeared in good shape. We had a chance to talk to the owners and decided this was the one. It has been a somewhat rocky beginning with some unexpected problems but its getting whipped into shape and we like it!
We’ve also started a blog about our experiences with this coach. It can be found here
New home (motor coach)
We have been living in a large tag axle motor home for some 9 years, and have been looking at getting a new one for several years. Recently we saw a sale at Dixie RV in Hammond, LA on several tag axle units that we wanted to consider. So we took the long drive and checked the tag axle coaches.
They were really nice, but we happened to look in a 40ft., single axle Tiffin and were immediately impressed. Then we took it for a test ride and decided this would be the one. Especially since this one had the larger engine, so no problems towing our car in the Colorado mountains. Except, we wanted theater seat, and this coach had a couch. The dealer offered to have them built by Tiffin and exchange the seats for cost and that sealed the deal.
Now we have to get our old coach and get ready to exchange it for the new one, which will happen next week. So exited! I am attaching the stock photos from Dixie RV, as we get further along we’ll update it with new pics. Yeah!
Tent Rocks National Monument
Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, located 40 miles southwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico is a (BLM) managed site that was established as a U.S. National Monument by President Bill Clinton in January 2001. Kasha-Katuwe means “white cliffs” in the Pueblo language Keresan.
The area owes its remarkable geology to layers of volcanic rock and ash deposited by a volcanic explosion within the Jemez Volcanic Field that occurred 6 to 7 million years ago. Over time, weathering and erosion of these layers has created canyons and tent rocks. The tent rocks themselves are cones of soft pumice and tuff beneath harder caprocks, and vary in height from a few feet to 90 feet.
We hiked both trails, the one around the base and the much more difficult climb to the top. The latter included both working our way through a slot canyon and scrambling over rock formations. But the view from the was worth the effort.
