In Dallas

We are here in Dallas with Alexis and family because we want to end our vacation on a really crazy and wild note.  Since arriving on Sunday, it has been both crazy and wild!  

We left Bartlesville, OK before 7:00 AM, anxious to get here and spend Father's Day with the troops. A nice day, and relaxing, other than the driving.  Since then it has been Karate, Dance, surprise party for one of Shelby's friends, Alexandra getting poison oak, cleaning, reorganizing, and so on, and so on!  Alexandra will be returning to Kerrville with us, followed by more family visits.  I might have scheduled some down time in August!  LOL  At any rate, it has been fun (except for the poison oak part!), and I do have a few photos to post.

Sunrise view from our room at the Price Tower Inn

Bartlesville does painted bulls

John and Alexis before the party

Surprise party - small but LOUD!

Bartlesville, OK and Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Skyscraper

John and I read about The Price Tower in the San Antonio newspaper a few months ago.  We checked the WEB site and decided that it would be great fun to book a room here on the way home.  I have to admit that I was so tired this morning, that I checked my sheet to see if I could cancel the reservation and just drive straight to Dallas.  Non-refundable at this point, so we drove through fields, farms. small quaint towns . . . and arrived here this afternoon.  What a wonderful treat!  The Price Tower dominates the landscape and is just impressive.  Our room is huge and totally FLW!  There is a gallery on the first two floors and a great restaurant on the 15th floor, where we had dinner this evening.  Wish you could all be here to experience this piece of history!

The Price Tower, Bartlesville, OK

Lobby

Our room 

view from Copper, the restaurant on the 15th floor

Walking in the gallery

For Sarah and Alexis, Dad insisted that we take this photo.
Part of the Gallery exhibit was Peanuts & the world around us.

Friday in Bellevue with Jerry & Marilyn

Marilyn and Jerry planned a wonderful day for us, starting with a tour of Bellevue, NE.   We started at the Sarpy County Museum.  Next, Marilyn's friend, June (who happens to be from NJ!) is  a docent and gave us a tour of the first Presbyterian church in Nebraska,  which was built in 1856.  Then we toured a pioneer cabin built in 1835.  Next was the Fontenelle Bank , which was built in 1856 and failed in 1857.  In 1861 Sarpy County acquired the building and it was used as a courthouse until 1875, and a Town Hall until 1960's.  In the afternoon we also visited the Joslyn Art Museum, which is really a treasure and free (except for special exhibits)   The day ended with dinner at the Nebraska Brewing Company, where we were joined by Matthew, who is Jerry and Marilyn's son.  

Enjoy the photos and a special thank you to Jerry and Marilyn.  Everything was super!

Margaret -day lilies  everywhere!

The first Presbyterian Church

Stained glass windows added in the 1920's

Pioneer Cabin

I loved the living room in the cabin.

Fontenelle Bank/Court House/Town Hall

No service!

Chihully at the Joslyn: note the marble exterior

Matthew, Marilyn, John and Jerry

More flowers Felicity!

Omaha, NE & Family Time

We drove from Cheyenne, WY to Omaha, NE yesterday.  What a shock to go from the lush green mountains and curvy roads, to the beautiful rolling hills, to the flat straight "thousands of miles" of Nebraska.  Also, from the 40's to 98 degrees!  Anyway we are here visiting my cousins - Jerry, Marilyn, Christina and Matthew; who we have not seen in over 25 years.  Last night we were treated to a lovely dinner at Harrah's Casino in Council Bluffs, IA.  The restaurant overlooked the river and city of Omaha and, yes, we had wonderful Omaha steaks.  Then we took a tour of downtown Omaha, with the wonderful - larger than life - statures celebrating the pioneers who came through here to settle and to move on further west.  Today we have more adventures planned :-)

Ask me anything you would like to know about the building of this road.
I read all about it as we crossed Nebraska!

Dinner at Harrah's

downtown Omaha with Jerry, Marilyn and Christina
Alexis and Sarah - do you remember this little baby girl who came to visit us?

Christina running away with a friend.

John and I getting into the pioneer spirit.

downtown Omaha at sunset

Monday and attempt #2 to drive along the gorge and see the sights.

While we saw a few sights on Monday, in the rain, we still had lots of tourists to fight, and could not get near Multanomah Falls.  John got to see it as he drove over the bridge at 6 cm/hour!  While this was the case for most of the other falls, we did get to see Horsetail Falls.  Then we decided to leave everyone else to fight over parking spots, and headed east to the Dalles.  Actually, it was a great move with limited traffic, great river views, and a very interesting Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center to enjoy while it rained.  Then we sloshed back to the B&B where there was iffy wifi, but a nice cup of hot tea to enjoy while we read our books.

View from Vista House

Horse Tail Falls

View from Rowena Crest looking towards the Dalles

Interpreting us at the Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center

Another flower for Felicity

Leaving in the rain, driving in the rain to Twin Falls, ID,
and staying at a hotel with iffy wifi

Today we drove all day and are now in Cheyenne, WY

no iffy wifi

Tomorrow we will drive to Omaha to visit my cousins, Jerry and Marilyn, and to celebrate our 46th wedding anniversary.  The photo was taken at Mt  Hood and I saved it to post.  Happy Anniversary, John!  I love you beyond words!

Catching up after 4 days of limited or no internet!

How did I ever survive before the internet, iPhone, iPad, laptop, digital camera . . . ?  All I can say, is that the past few days have been a challenge.  

On Sunday we left the peace of Arch Cape and took an extra long and stressful drive to the Columbia River Gorge.  It took the map program on the iPhone, the GPS in the car and two maps to land us in the middle of the worlds most awful traffic tie up.  Evidently the entire state of Oregon, as well as masses of tourists and bicyclers, wanted to visit the Gorge on the same day that we did.  We spent hours going nowhere, not being able to stop or park at any of the view spots, and fighting idiots on bicycles riding 4 deep across the lanes going up hill.  Not to mention illegal parking and people walking in front of the car, along side the car, behind the car, and so on.  Finally, we made it through the mess and took a ride to Mt Hood to see the snow.  Next a winery, and then on to Husum and our B&B.  More narrow windy roads and the last 3 miles on a very primitive dirt road.  The B&B was very relaxing with a great view of Mt Hood.

At the end of our stay we made it all the way around the base,
 and up to the Timberline Lodge

For Tim:  This is where the Shining was filmed:  the Timberline Lodge

And here is the fireplace in the lobby

Our view of Mt Hood, which disappeared the next day due to rain and clouds

Husum House B&B: Our room was the second floor, right.

Saturday and our last day at Arch Cape

Another painting of Castle Rock

Garabaldi  port

Flower for Margaret

A few cute guys to take home with me.

Dinner in Manzanita - miss you guys!

These flowers are for Alexis