New Orleans, Louisisana, Oct. 14 & l5

Here we are in the Bayou having a cajun good time!  We ate Beignets, gumbo, soft shelled crab, crayfish, etc. etc. etc.  I don't think we will ever eat again!  Ha! Ha!  We stayed in Bayou Segnette State Park Campground.  It is a beautiful camp that is just far enough from the city with a New Orleans flair.  We love the city!  We took our bikes and after pigging out on beignets, we biked all over the city.  Bourbon Street was fun.  We watched jazz musicians on the street, while we were biking.  They are all over the place.  We had beautiful weather.  The next day we drove the causeway over Lake Pontchatrain  This bridge is the longest bridge in the world!  30 miles each way.  Lake Pontchartrain is a brackish estuary that is home to soft shells crabs.  It is the second largest inland lake.  We had the best time!
I am a little sad that our trip is coming to an end.  We had beautiful weather and our country is breath-takingly beautiful.  I say beautiful a lot, don't I?  We are so fortunate that we were able to take this once in a lifetime trip!  Our memories will stay with us forever!  Thank you, friends and family, for joining us on our Klines Western Adventure.  We love you, George and Sylvia

French Quarter

San Antonio, TX Oct. 11

Hi everyone,  We drove a long, long time through Texas yesterday and stopped at a rest area to sleep.  We arrived in San Antonio this morning and drove to the River Walk downtown.  What a lovely time we had!  We took a river boat tour and saw the whole river walk area.  Such beautiful  buildings and detailed architecture.  We walked and ate and had a great time.  We toured the Alamo and surrounding area and found it fascinating.  It is a sacred shrine that we should be proud of.
We should be going into Louisiana sometime tomorrow on our way to one of our favorite places, New Orleans.  We plan on eating begniets until we burst!  Love

San Antonio, TX

City of Rocks, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas Oct. 8 & 9

We are finally on our way home!.  Of course we have to make some stops first.  The first stop was a really unique State campground in N.M.  Called the City of Rocks.  It was quite a surprise!.  We were out in the middle of the desert going into the camp, and found clusters of huge rocks.  Every primitive site had a background of rocks.  They were formed by volcanic ash made from lava flow that sculpted these amazing rocks.  We had a beautiful view of the mountains across from our camp site.  Hiking the desert was fun.
The next day we drove into El Paso, Texas and found a campground that was also in the desert with mountains in the background.  We drove into El Paso and found an art festival.  We went into the Art Museum and really enjoyed that.  So much to do and so little time!  See you soon 

City of Rocks, NM

Petrified Forest and Painted Desert, Oct. 7

These 2 parks are the last of the National Parks we will visit on this trip.  So beautiful and so very different!  Everything is about climate here.  This high, dry grassland was once a vast floodplain crossed by many streams.  Tall conifer trees grew along the banks.  The trees, fell, and swollen streams washed them into adjacent floodplains.  A mix of silt, mud, and volcanic ash buried the logs.  This sediment cut off oxygen and slowed the logs decay.  Silica-laden groundwater seeped through the logs and replaced the original wood tissues with silica deposits.  Eventually the silica crystallized into quartz, and the logs were preserved as petrified wood.  Over the 225 million years since the trees lived, the continents moved to their present positions, and this region was uplifted.  As a result the climate changed, and the tropical environment became today's grassland.  Over time, wind and water wore away the rock layers and exposed fossilized ancient plants and animals. We found some wood that looked like jewels.  They were beautiful!
The Painted Desert!  What a picture!  It is an area of badlands that displays a variety of hues.  Covered by a soft layer of earth, the deserts colorful erosion effects were created over the eons by mineralized water flows and mineral deposits.  Every color is a different mineral.  It is almost as if an artist came into the lands and painted these beautiful hills.  A miracle!
We have had a wonderful time in these parks!  Aren't we all blessed that this country has the most beautiful parks in the world?  We are on our way home and will post when we get to some fun places.  Love you all, George and Sylvia

Painted Desert- Petrified Forest National Parks

Joshua Tree National Park, CA Oct. 5

Hi everyone,  We are back on the road again after our stay with son George and significant other, Kathy, whom we love and adore.  We had a nice weekend, ending with a great cookout with their friends.  They were a great group and we had so much food, most of which Kathy prepared and was very delicious!  Georgie did some fancy Mexican meats on the grill which they ate in taco shells. 
Kathy made a wonder blueberry cake we will never forget.  WE LOVE YOU TWO SO MUCH!

We arrived at our campground on Monday and Tuesday we visited Joshua Tree Nat'l Park.  That was quite a surprise!  We expected to see lots and lots of trees, (which we did), and saw beautiful rock formations also.  We found out people come from all over the world to climb these rocks.  We did not climb but we did hike.  You will see in 2 of the pictures, views of the valley, mountain and desert.  The Colorado desert and the Mojave desert merge, but we were mainly in the Mojave.  We could see Palm Springs from this view and the San Andreas Fault is there also.  The Joshua tree, which is really a Yucca plant, was named after the prophet Joshua in the bible.  The first settlers were Mormans and  named the tree. Joshua, seeing the limbs of the tree as outstretched in supplication, guiding the travelers westward. Hence, the name Joshua. These trees mainly grow in the Mojave and some grow to be 100 years old.  The Indians recognized this tree to be useful.  Their tough leaves were worked into baskets and sandals, and flower buds and raw or roasted seeds made a healthy addition to their diet.  The rock formations are stacked boulders which began underground eons ago as a result of volcanic activity.  We really enjoyed this park and spent a lot of time here.  The desert and surrounding neighborhoods are facinating.  Desert life is not what I would like but there are a lot of people who love it.  We will leave you and see you at the Petrified Forest.

Joshua Tree National Park, CA

Our days with George jr. and Kathy in Anaheim, Ca.

Hi everyone,  I can't begin to tell you how wonderful our time here has been.  Lots of quiet time, lots of fun and great bonding going on here.  We are sad to be leaving but we all know life has to go on and we will be leaving here in a couple of days.  We have shared good meals, a baseball game, The L.A. Fair, Shushi, long walks, dog shows, delicious deserts every night, long talks, shopping, a beach day, movies etc.  George and George Jr. have fixed every moving part on their R.V's plus more.  They are running out of projects but they will probably come up with one before we leave.  The weather here is extrordinary, a few hot days, but nice.  I am furiously knitting slippers for them before we leave.  Hopefully their little puppy, Lucky, won't find them.  He found my knitting pattern, needles and sunglasses.  No big deal.  They can be replaced but our time with them is precious and a beautiful memory for all of us.  Oh, great news!  We are going to be Grandparents again!  So, the knitting needles will be quite busy for a while.  Love you all

Oct 1, 2010 California

Mojave Desert, Ca. Sept 10 through 12

Hi friends and family and especially our little Vernons.  You will love this!  We met up with George Jr. at the Jawbone Visitors Center.  We drove our rigs to a deserted area in the mountains and parked our campers.  It is a Bureau of Land Management area that is free and was it ever neat!  We were nestled into a mountain right in the desert.  George Jr. has a toy hauler camper with a quad (razor).  The fun started for Dad and Son as soon as we got there.  They took off for a great ride.  The next day Kathy came and what a doll!  We got acquainted and had a great time.  Sat. morning Georgie took me for a ride.  He was very conservative with me.  But, what fun!  When Kathy arrived, we drove our Jeep and and razor to Red Rock Canyon State Park.  I thought I was in the Badlands.  We walked around the rocks and saw a lot of little caves.  Fun!  Kathy fixed the men some Jalapeno poppers and we cooked Salmon on the grill.  And of course, we had a fire and s'mores later.  Great weekend!

Sequoia and King's Canyon, Sept. 8 thru 10

Hi everyone!  We stayed in Fresno Tues. night between Yosemite and Sequoia Parks.  On our way, we drove along the most beautiful mountain range.  So lovely!  As usual, pictures don't capture the beauty.  We stayed at Azalea campground which is in King's Canyon Nat'l Park.  We saw a lot of the Park the first day and saw some beautiful vistas.  Just breathtaking!  Both parks encompass the most rugged portions of the Sierra Nevada.  Ice age glaciers carved some of the country's deepest canyons.  This sawtoothed mountain range is over 400 miles long and 60 to 80 miles wide.  This range exceeds the whole Alps area, French, Swiss and Italian.  There are 6 peaks exceeding 14,000 ft. of elevation.  Impressive?  The next day we visited Sequoia Park.  Sequoia is home to the largest Sequoia tree on earth.  At least one tree species lives longer, one has a greater diameter, three grow taller, but none is larger.  In all the world, sequoias grow naturally only on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, most often between 5,000 and 7,000 ft. of elevation.  The General Sherman tree is an estimated 2,200 years old.  Its largest branch is almost seven ft. in diameter.  Every year the General Sherman grows enough new wood to make a 60 ft. tall tree of usual proportions.  We walked through trees, drove through trees so big, it is hard to believe they grow like that.  We had a wonderful time.
More than anything, I have wanted to see a bear and today we saw three of them!  Was I ever excited!  They are so sweet.  When they appear, the rangers noisily chase them away so as not to incite them.  I loved seeing them.  The parks are wonderful!  We are so lucky and thank God every day for these blessings in our lives.  Tomorrow we are seeing George Jr. at the Mojave Desert.  Can't wait!

Yosemite Nat'l Park, Sept. 6 & 7

Hi everyone,  We left our KOA on Monday morning and headed to Yosemite.  Our trips have been somewhat of a challenge because of the hills and curves, but we are tenacious and arrived at our park in one piece.  Yosemite is a 100 sq. mile park that would take a long time to see everything.  We spent two days touring the park and saw some majestic and beautiful sights.  We were most impressed by the granite cliffs.  The summits are so high when you look up at them close by, you cannot see the tops.  Awesome!  Half Dome and El Captain were the most magnificent to us.  There is a legend of how they came to be that I thought was interesting.  American Indians tell of a woman and her husband who argued and fought.  The displeased spirits changed them into stone, Half Dome and North Dome, forever to face each other across the Valley.  But how these cliffs really formed has challenged geologists for over 100 years.  They think the granite of Yosemite's walls solidified over five miles underground.  As the overlying rock eroded away, the granites rose to their current exposed level.  Nature's dynamic forces continue sculpting this exposed rock.  The waterfalls have mostly dried up because of the dry summer.  But we can only imagine how beautiful they are!  There are giant Sequoias here also.  They need fire so they can reproduce and fires they definitely have!  We are so lucky to have these parks.  They are ours to enjoy, hopefully, forever.  John Muir said "Everyone needs beauty as well as bread, places to play and pray in, where nature may heal, cheer and give strength to the body and soul alike.  Love you and we will see you in Sequoia Nat'l Park.

Yosemite

Napa Valley, Sept.3 & 4

Hi everyone,  Get ready, this may take awhile.  Yesterday, our friend and Ft. Jefferson buddy, who is the Law Enforcement Ranger at the Golden Gate, met us and we had a wonderful time with her.  (See picture)  We drove to Sausalito and met her there.  We bought lunch at Miss Mollies and took it up to the North tower overlook.  The view was of the Golden Gate and San Francisco.  Beautiful!  We then drove to Fort Mason and Sarah met up with some of her co-workers who were investigating a case of a body that was found on shore.  Sometimes bad things happen in this beautiful place. We had a  wonderful view of the Golden Gate, but very foggy.  We drove to the Nike Missile Site in the Marin Headlands.  That was awesome!  The ranger there took us on a complete tour of the Site.  We never, ever thought we could go down to the magazine where they kept the missiles.  When the Site was closed down, some energetic volunteers started re-furbishing the Site.  And now it is open to visitors to view.  Thank God we never had to fire the missiles.  They had 40 kiloton nuclear warhead in one missile which was more than we dropped on Japan in World War 2. 
We then drove to the Mammal Hospital which was founded in 1975.  The Marine Mammal Center rescues and treats more than 500 ill and injured marine mammals along 600 miles of California coastline each year.  This is a nonprofit veterinary hospital, research and educational center.  We saw 6 sweet sea lions that were recuperating so they could go back to the sea.  When we left Sarah, we drove around Sausalito and found a neat pizza place for dinner.
Today, we drove to Napa Valley and drove the 31 miles of beautiful grape vineyards.  Amazing, that a valley between 2 mountains could be that productive.  Did you know that one barrel of wine makes 20 cases, or 1200 glasses of wine?  A ton of grapes equals 720 bottles of wine or 60 cases.  One vine annually produces between 4 and 6 bottles of wine.  Each bottle contains about 2.8 lbs. of grapes, each 5 oz. glass of wine a little over 1/2 a lb.  Some wine trivia for you wine lovers.  We did visit 2 wineries.  We noticed that roses were planted in front of the orchards and we thought maybe they were for the bees to pollinate, but we were wrong.  They plant them to attract aphids so the bugs don't eat the grapes.  Interesting, huh?  I thought so.

A message to my beautiful daughters who will get together tomorrow for Britt's birthday.  I just want you to know how much I love you and how proud I am of you all.  You are the light of my life and this trip is my legacy to you.  Stay just like you are because you are perfect!  Love Mom

Napa Valley

San Francisco

Alcatraz, Ca. Sept. 2

Hi folks,  I didn't know what to expect and wasn't that excited about going to Alcatraz, but what an experience!  There is so much history there.  The island which is in San Francisco bay was known as the "Rock".  It was a maximum security federal penitentiary l934-63 that once held such notorious criminals as Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly and Robert Stroud, the "Birdman of Alcatraz".  When we got off the boat, we walked up a hill that was like climbing 13 stories.  We then took a self-guided tour of the prison with ear phones and radio.  We went inside the cells, the dining hall and the outside recreation area.  The tour was done by former Alcatraz inmates, correctional officers and residents as they reminisce about life on Alcatraz.  It was like going back in time, it was so real.  It originally was a Fort but was never used for combat.  After the Fort closed, many tribes of Indians came over protesting occupation of their lands by Americans.  They lived there for 18 months.  It ultimately saved their tribes.  Rich is history, this island is a natural habitat for wildlife.  A beautiful view of the city, it is an island that we are so happy we were able to see and explore.  
Our friend, Sarah C. who is a ranger for the National Park Service told Ranger Owen S. that we were coming to the island and he showed us the "dungeon" which is not open to visitors.  That was fun.  By the way, Alcatraz belongs to the NPS. 

Alcatraz

San Francisco, Ca. Aug. 31 & Sept. 1

Hi everyone,  Yesterday was one heck of a driving day.  We drove the coast highway with our motor home and tow car.  And what a ride!  It took us 7 hours to drive 180 miles.  It was slow going with all the switch backs and steep hills.  We unhooked our car for awhile to get up the hills.  But we made it!  We always do.  We rented a spot right outside of San Francisco and are sticking for 6 days.  We wanted to make sure we had a place for the holiday weekend.  We drove into town this morning and had a great day!  We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and that was fun.  The views are spectacular!  We had a good parking spot.  There are lots of them and boy do you pay!  We toured the Fisherman's Wharf District which was fun.  We went to the famous sourdough bread factory and had lunch there.  We went to Ghirardelli Square and you can see I was enjoying a hot fudge sundae with dark fudge topping.  Yummmm!  We took a cable car ride and saw a lot of the city.  That was really fun!  And last but not least, Pier 39.  I was so surprised at the wonderful shops and the sea lions playing on the pier.  Even though we prefer quiet places, we really enjoyed the city for a change.  Tomorrow we will go tour Alcatraz.  See you then

San Francisco