America the Beautiful...2

Next stop on our cross country adventure:

Fort Lancaster, Texas

Fort Lancaster is "half way to everywhere" (in the middle of nowhere!!) The Fort was established in 1855 to protect the El Paso-San Antonio road. It was abandoned in 1861 by the Frederal troops when Texas seceeded from the union. The museum about the Fort was well done. The kids learned about early travel, weapons, life on the Fort, punishments given to misbehaving soldiers, etc, etc(I told the kids I was getting great ideas..wearing a barrel? that will adjust a bad attitude in a jiffy!)

Here are the kids on a stage coach. We learned that it would cost about $200 for a person and their luggage to get passage from California to the East. They would travel by protected stagecoach all the way to New Orleans, then from there they were given different options. A series of Stage Coaches, or the more preffered way, by boat. Either way, the same company would provide safe passage for you and your luggage throughout the entire trip. (Even promising to protect you through Indian territory)

Next Stop:

Balmorhea State Park, Texas

Dale has told me about the trips he took with his family as a kid. He had mentioned a place in the middle of nowhere that was a swimming pool with natural spring water. So we put Balmorhea State Park on our list of places to go for our Western trip.

It is in West Texas, in a remote spot about 10 minutes off of the Highway. You can see that the lanscape around the park is very dry and with little vegetation.

The natural spring is literally an oasis in the desert. The water is crystal blue and clear. There are fish and even some very large turtles swimming around with you.

The pool at its deepest is 26 feet. The kids were going off the high dive, over and over again. It was an unseasonbly chilly day, so I managed to jump off the dive 2 times before I huddled under my towel.

The spring empties from the pool into a very fast moving canal. Dale and and his sister Karen remember swimming in the canal when they were kids. Here are our kids debating whether they can swim in it, the verdict was no.

On our trip we saw lots of neat sunset colors, I loved this purple color. I could not quite capture the beauty of the sunset colors, so you will have to take my word. For added effect, try to imagine the coyotes howling as well!

Next Stop:

Ropper Lake State Park, Arizona

At this point in the trip I kept forgetting to take pictures, so I appologize for the lack of pictures. Ropper Lake was a place that Dale remembered going as a kid, so we added this to our stops as well. It was 100+ degrees, and the lake water was warm, but suprisingly refreshing to swim in. I loved it. The kids swam and swam and swam. After dinner the boys wanted to go to the hot springs, so we did.

Despite being in Arizona, the park had trees and very soft, green grass. If I had to pick a low light of our trip, I would say the night in Ropper Lake would be it. The cold front followed us from Texas (Yes, it moved west!) and was producing high winds, and thunder storms in the distance. The tents were not standing up against the wind, so in the middle of the night we took the tents down and got situated in the van. Despite the wind, it was very very hot in the van. All night long we tossed and turned in the opressive heat. I opened the windows to try and get air circulating until we realized that an army of mosquitos were organized and ready as soon as we opened the windows. We quickly had to shut the windows and just deal with the heat. I stayed awake, turning the car on for ac, and off again. When we could see light, Dale, David and I walked over to watch the sunrise over the lake. It was amazing to me how quickly I forgot the misery of the night as the beauty of the sun appeared. We got an early start and were excited to head to Dale's sister Karen's house.

Next Stop:

Strong's house, Phoenix, AZ

Despite Karen living in Phoenix for over 15 years, I am ashamed to say that I have never been there! I love the heat and hotness, so I was happy to be in Arizona. I am so sad to say that I still was not good at remembering to take photos at this point in the trip, so I have NONE of the kids that day. What I posted below are ones I took from Karen's post about us being there.!

Shayne had already started school, so Karen took him out for a half -day to spend with us. We got there around noon. Karen and Rick got pizza for lunch and The kids played and played. Maya was so excited to see us on her turf for once. After the terrible night we had the night before, and running on no sleep, being able to stay in Karen's house was such a luxury! (Thanks Karen!) After the kids played for a while, and grown ups talked, we went to see Monsters vs Aliens. After that we went swimming. I must admit, 113 degrees is not bad at all after 4 pm. It was really nice. The other thing we noticed, is that without humidity, 113 in the shade is also quite comfortable. Rick grilled some burgers for us and after dinner the kids all played on the playground together. Despite being together all day, I don't think the kids got wnough of each other. Dale and I were exhausted and really looking forward to sleeping in an air conditioned room without mosquitos! The younger kids had a sleepover with Shayne and Maya.

Shawn, David, Shayne and Maya eating ice cream. (Karen's picture)

Maya sleeping with Melissa in the night (Also Karen's pic!) We had a great time and despite all the cool things the kids saw over the three weeks, when you ask them what they remember most, they always answer that seeing family members was the best part. I agree.

Next Stop:

Montezuma's Castle National Monument, AZ

North of Phoenix near Camp Verde sits an ancient structure known as Montezuma's castle. The castle gets it's name from the archelogist who discovered it. He thought it looked like a structure influenced by the Aztec Emporer, Montezuma.

Around 700-1400 AD the sinagua people inhabited this region. They built "apartment" dwellings in the sides of cliffs. Montezumas castle is one of the oldest and best preserved cliff dwellings in the country. One interesting fact, the Cliff dwelling is situated in such a way that it cannot be seen from any of the high points in the surrounding area. , keeping it safe and sound for centuries of inhabitants.

Next Stop:

Sedona, AZ

Again, I wasn't so great at taking photos at this point. But Sedona was amazing! My camera doesn't capture the brilliance of color. The reds, the greens and the black lava contrast each other so strikingly. It was so beautiful! We spent some time strolling around in and out of shops and just enjoying the beauty that is Sedona.




We had a picnic just about everyday of the trip. What was so fun was stopping at a different location each day. We would chose it from the map, or sometimes we would just stumble across a great spot. I didn't usually have my camera at the ready, but this spot outside of Sedona was to much and I had to take a snap shot.

A little hike next to a canyon outside of Sedona.

Next Stop:

South Rim of the Grand Canyon, AZ

I have lots and lots of shots from our time at the Grand Canyon, but I will just pull some of the highlights...

Dale and I When we arrived

After seeing the Canyon for hours, we were treated to the sunset.

As the sun was going down, I saw the moon up in the sky, I snapped this just for fun

You see the Canyon in a whole new light, literally, when the sun rises.

We took turns hiking a little bit into the Canyon, Thats Dale, Shawn and Alex on the tip of Melissa's finger

Toolbelt Tammy

There is one thing wrong in each of the photos below...try and guess what it is , then scroll down for the answer.

Clearly the "wrong" is that I am fixing a pipe while Dale is doing the laundry! Sometimes he and I don't follow along domestic lines.

Ever since we have been married, our homes have provided us plenty of oppurtunity to learn how to repair things. Especially the first home we bought, it was a complete mess, and we had to repair/renovate just about every square inch of it!

Nowadays, if there is a problem, most of the time I can fix it. (calling in the muscle when I need him). I have a tool box, and purchase new tools if I think I need it. I have been known to don a toolbelt on occassion, helping Dale to dub me "Toolbelt Diva" ...

When we bought this home, we inherited a pool. I think my previous experience as a life guard, and being 'the mom' put the pool maintenance responsibilities in my hands.

In the three summers we have been here, I have talked with other pool owners, utilized the experts at the pool store, read everything about my pool that I possibly could. Despite all that I have done to try and keep it up and running, I have had many different issues to tackle, and have been so proud when I successfully fixed each one. One problem kept eluding me. I could not get my #1 skimmer working properly, ever! It was bad when we moved in. I snaked it endlessly, I pulled pipes apart from the pump end to snake it from there, I used an air compressor, I cycled the pump on and off and had two people look at it for me. And then waited a summer and did all that again! I have never failed so miserably on a problem. Out of frustration, unnsurity of the real problem and nervous of the expense of calling someone to fix it (one guy said he would charge 8ooo to fix it because of the concrete and pool siding work involved) , I opted to leave the problem alone. The pool function was about 60 percent, and with a lot of effort, I was able to make that work.

The #2 skimmer clogged right before we left for vacation, rendering the pool unusable. After a wonderful vacation, I finally decided enough was enough and we had to get the #1 skimmer working. I started digging. The soil is packed clay filled with rocks. I struggled big time with digging, so I asked the muscle to step in . He worked very hard, digging, and digging and digging! He called me in once he got the pipe exposed.

if you can't see it clearly, it is a huge boulder sitting on top of the pipe, completely crushing it!

Our best guess...when the company hired to replace the liner a few years ago put the dirt back in, they inadvertenly put a boulder on top of the pipe. I guess the previous owner just dealt with it until he sold the house....to us.

Dale was too big to continue in the hole, so I took over. Digging a little bit more, cutting the pipe and putting the new pipe in place. We tested the line, and the good news is, it works! the bad news is that the #2 skimmer is still clogged, so after all that work, the pool is still at 60% function. Getting a pipe unclogged is easier than digging the hole to replace it...so we should be at 100% pool function for the first time soon enoough!

To be honest, this repair almost sent me over the edge. After all these years, I am finally sick of all the repairs. I am ready to hang up the toolbelt and pick up my knockoff designer purse and go to the mall, wearing makeup with no mud in my hair or grease under my nails!

(I say that, but two minutes after the tree expert gave me his estimate this afternoon I looked at Dale and said, "can't we just do it ourselves, I mean , how hard is it to cut a few trees down?, I can figure out how to do it." based on his response, Dale apparently doesn't believe that I am handy enough to climb a tree and cut it down without causing harm to myself or more importantly, our house.) Time will tell how much I really hate doing repairs, I have a feeling that my dislike for writting the check to someone to fix something will override my dislike of doing the repair myself!

next project: get rid of bats....

America the Beautiful!

Over the past three weeks I have been unable to shake the song "America the Beautiful" from my head. The author who penned the original poem was a fellow New Englander. Kathryn Lee Bates was inspired to write the poem after being awed during her western travels in the late 1800's. Being a native of New England, she felt the pride of pilgrim's journeys along with the vision of early Americans, while simultaneously being overwhelmed by the natural beauty of America. Each region so different, yet so beautiful. The words to her poem, (now a well known Anthem/Hymn) were the only words I could think of each and everyday as my family and I explored our Amazing country.


We first set foot in Smoky Mountain National Park... The rivers and streams were swollen with rushing brown water. The park was experiencing a bad flood while we were there. It was eerily beautiful to us as we witnessed the power of mother nature first hand.

We hiked to a wonderful waterfall, and enjoyed the beauty of the fog surrounding the mountains, seeing exactly why it was named "Smoky Mountains"




We saw a bear on the way out of the park. He was little and heading right towards the campground, I was glad to be leaving and safe in my car. Little did I know that I would soon have the oppurnity to have a bear in my campground as well! (More on that later!)

A woman said a few words to Dale in the parking lot, and the kids got their first introduction to a deep southern accent. asking "what language was that" and once we explained accents, Alex entertained us with impersonations of southern accents. I was really struggling not to let mine out...

Next Stop: mississippi. the kids went swimming in probably the warmest lake they had ever been in. They were swimming with some local kids and again encountered the deep southern accents. Shawn didn't understand them, and they didn't understand Shawn. Very amusing.

Next stop: New Orleans





Driving into New Orleans was interesting..you can still see so many signs of the devastation, but also so many signs that New Orleans is recovering strongly. We saw the beautiful French Quarter and the downtain Market. We walked along the waterfront. The streets were crowded with people eating and shopping. It was overwhelming to think of how much the city has gone through and how far they have come in such a short amount of time.

It is a truely beautiful city!

Next Stop: Nature Hike in a Louisiana swamp.





We looked for Aligators, but never found one...

Next Stop: Gulf of Mexico

Looking at the map, I noticed that we were 20 minutes from the gulf of Mexico...I saw a "picnic" icon right on the beach and thought it would be fun to take the kids swimming in the gulf. When we got to the picnic area, we were a little suprised to see that it was indeed right on the beach, but not exactly a place we would want to picnic.

Every place in America is unique and different in it's own way..we had found complete solitude on a beach that does not often see human visitors...

Next Stop: San Antonio

It was very hot in texas, so I was amazed at how refreshing swimming in the Guadalupe River was! It not only felt nice, it was very stunning, and even the river rocks were an interesting color green!




San Antonio was a great suprise to me! The landscape around San Antonio was dry, and brown. I marveled at the amount of work Texans go through to beautify their surroundings! From maintaining the Alamo, to the downtown Riverwalk, San Antonio was stunning and Beautiful!


Believe it or not, that takes us to day 5! I will post more of "America the beautiful" later!