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