Last Post of the

Oops. Somehow the thing got away from us prematurely. Anyway......

We're posting this from about six miles from the entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park. We would have posted yesterday from Cameron, AZ but their wireless connection was down. Yesterday we visited the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Between Sylvia and I we took over 150 pictures, below are just some of them. We have to apologize--no matter how you set up the image there is just no way to duplicate what the eye really sees--just consider them a tease and make plans to visit this remarkable place on your own.

Grand Canyon Photos




Today we got up early and headed toward Bryce thinking we were just gonna drive through the desert. Well, the highway just happens to follow the Colorado River upstream of Grand Canyon NP and along the Vermillion Cliffs. Needless to say it took half the day just stopping and gawking at the incredible scenery.

Vermillion Cliffs to the drive to Bryce Canyon.

Sedona

We spent the day in Sedona. First we work up in Flagstaff to -2 degrees F. The drive to Sedona down Oak Creek Canyon was spectacular. Just some of the spectacular scenery.

By the way, who put the "Yuck" in yucca???


The start of our hike.


This is after our hike around Bell Rock.

Greetings from Flagstaff

There is a lot to report on since the last post. First we made our way to Kevin and Jamies house in Baton Rouge by way of Pensacola. We paid a visit to the Naval Air Museum where Sylvia became a Blue Angel.


On to Baton Rouge for a prolonged stay...Cynthia caught up with us for a few days before heading to Chicago. We went to New Orleans twice an enjoyed some of the best food on our trip.


We left Baton Rouge on the 27th and met up with an old Navy buddy in Shreveport then tried to blast through Texas in a day and a half. Abilene on the 27th and then Albuquerque on the 28th. Here it is on the 29 and we paid a visit to the Petrified Forest.




When we were in Baton Rouge the temperature was 88 one day, the next it was 45. Yesterday it was in the 30's and today it averaged 25 with snow--I think it's winter.

Home with the Kids!

So here we are in Baton Rouge with Jamie, Kevin and Sailor! Hip Hip Hooray! Just a quick post for now with pictures to follow. Great news that Kevin is able to have this time off. Couldn't be happier... Cynthia will be flying in tomorrow stopping off here before continuing on to the Chicago Foygels for Thanksgiving where she'll meet up with my favorite Son-in-law.
Love to you all..
Smiling...ear to ear..
Sylvia

Tallahassee and Florida Parks

After leaving Okefenokee Swamp we headed to Florida and thought our best chances for a decent motel was Tallahassee. Unfortunately we did not take some important factors into consideration:
1) Florida State is in Tallahassee 2) College football in the South has even more devoted followers than all organized religions combined and 3) We got into town the night before THE home game.....no vacancy...anywhere. We had to drive an hour to the town of Wakulla Springs. We stayed in a motel then the next morning went to Wakulla Springs State Park. This is the very location where "The Creature From the Black Lagoon" was filmed. Now just the manatees and alligators inhabit the crystal clear waters.



We then drove to a state park on the Gulf and camped.....right next to a swamp. That's how we found out what no-see-ums are all about.....my legs and arms look like I'm on my 20th day of Survivor but the sunset was worth it. Monday morning we had the entire beach to ourselves until about noon.

So, what day is it?.....Where are we?...When did we blog last?

Whatever. So here we are in the Okefenokee Swamp.....who would've guessed??? Got to Valdosta, GA and realized that what we had driven through was really not worth reporting on. Pretty country to be sure...mostly industrial forests and a pulp mill--haven't experienced that smell since we left Eureka, YUK!!
So we were looking at the map after the day and realized that we shoulda, coulda gone to the Okefenokee Swamp. Hey, who goes to the Okefenokee Swamp......Sylvia and Brian do, that's who. Next day detour back to the Okefenokee Swamp, camp for the night and plan the canoe trip for the next day.

Here is a resident of the boat basin where we got the canoe.

Here are some of the reptilian wildlife in the swamp and some of the pix of the vegetation. Some of those aligators are well over 10 feet, but most are in the 7-foot range.

Brian trying to get the canoe back to the boat basin.

Myrtle Beach, SC

We made our way from Blue Ridge Parkway/Mt. Airy, NC to Myrtle Beach, SC. Ate an early dinner at Flo's place...we both had seafood. Found our hotel and made it to the beach to see the sunset. What a treat! As we were watching the sun go down we noticed some dolphins.

The next morning we made coffee and watched the sun come up from our balcony and took another long walk on the beach then off to Hilton Head, SC. On the way we stopped at the little town of Georgetown, SC and found a great seafood place. Sylvia had a scored and fried flounder and I had a bucket of oysters.

Here we were able to get out to the beach to watch another sunset and as luck would have it we were rewarded with more dolphins.
Instead of just passing through, they were feeding and some of them were doing this from only 40 feet away. Sorry no pix....all you would have seen is just water, but it was really a sight to behold. We were able to get up well before dawn, make some coffee and watch the
sunrise on the beach and the dolphins were still there.

On leaving Hilton Head, we stopped at Fort Pulaski National Monument. At the gate the park ranger said that he was going to have to confiscate the Mini, but that he would only use it in the park, you know, for the good of the Park Service and the Nation. We also had our first aligator sighting.