Sweet Home Alabama

Sept 15, 2009

Almost 7 months exactly since we left home. What a truly amazing experience!

My Home's in Indiana....

More in Nashville (Indiana that is)


Granny, Judy, dad, and I in Nashville, IN

The bricks at the track.

The press room at the track.

Part of the fam at Ronda's house.

Sept 11-Sept 15

My Home's in Indiana? Well, not really, but it used to be...and my family is still there. This was Aaron's first trip to see where they live and learn a little about Indy. Also, Dad, Angie, Ashley, Barrett, and Gabriel made the trip up from Alabama to join us during our visit. We did a lot of family visiting, toured downtown Indianapolis, toured the Indy 500 Racetrack, and spent an afternoon in Nashville, IN.

Muskegan, Michigan

Uncle Owen, Joan, and Aaron

Aaron and Joan at the helm

A ship similar to the one Aaron's grandfather was the captain of.

Joan and I at the bow of the ship

Sept 10-11

It worked out great that we were able to run into Joan on our trip again! Her and her brother Owen happened to be attending a reunion of the LST 1093 crew that their father was a part of during World War II. This year the reunion was in Muskegan, MI where one of the actual ship's is located. It has been remodeled and is set up for touring.

Michigan with Skip & Bev

Peace & Quiet on the water


Skip & Bev took us out to spend a night on the boat at a favorite anchorage of theirs, Government Bay.


The farewell pic in St. Ignace


A fond memory of Aaron's from visiting St. Ignace...pasties, kind of like an empanada, but not really.

Bev, Skip, and I-bridge walking...

A few of the 80,000 people that joined us on the bridge walk.

Fayette, Michigan-Once one of the Upper Peninsula's most productive iron-smelting operations. This is a picture of the blast furnaces.

Sept 6-Sept 10

A visit through Fayette, Michigan, a historic townsite and state park, the 52nd Annual Mackinac Bridge Walk, and rest and relaxation with Skip & Bev in St. Ignace. At this point we have seen a lot of sites and done a lot of driving! It was great to have a nice place to stay for a few days in a row and enjoy the peace and quite on land and water! Thanks Skip & Bev!

Madison, Wisconsin

Beggars can't be choosers...


Frank Lloyd Wright also designed the Convention Center here in Madison. Notice how the light post looks like the moon on the water. We are pretty sure that was not coincidental!


Downtown Madison and the Capitol

Sept 5

After visiting Talieson, on our way to find a camping spot for the night, we checked out Madison for dinner and a walk around town. It was gameday Saturday and a Memorial Day Weekend Festival so lots to see and do!

Talieson-near Spring Green, Wisconsin

Sept 5

Not only did we get to see Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home in Arizona, we also made it to Talieson, the summer home. Again, it's hard to capture in just a few pictures, but he couldn't have picked a more amazing piece of land.

Minneapolis, MN

The World's Most Dangerous Polka Band....enough said.


Lay in bed, watch tv, keep an eye on the car in the garage.
There is even a place to cook. Something we have learned from our experience on this entire trip is how little you need actually get by.

Sept 4-5

Next stop...visiting Jeremy Womack! Thanks Jeremy for giving us a place to stay! Somehow amidst all the fun, we didn't even take time for a photo op to post on the blog! We did make time for photos of one of the most interesting places we stayed through out the trip as well as one of the most interesting bands! Minneapolis-one of the top few bike friendly cities (if not the 1st). It seemed to be a neat town, wish we could have stayed longer.

The Badlands, South Dakota

Sept 3-4

The Badlands. We arrived in the dark, set up camp, and left while the sun was still setting. This is why one day we will definitely be coming back for another visit so we can spend more time. There are amazing rock formations to admire and photograph, as well as hiking, camping, and more.

Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota

September 3

A trip through South Dakota means a visit to Mt. Rushmore. Another amazing site.

Devil's Tower- Wyoming

Don't feed the prairie dogs. These signs were everywhere. However, something told us these little guys were definitley being food. Not sure if it was the size of their bellies are how close they would come to the car??


Devils Tower-close up


Devils's Tower-from a distance.

Sept. 2-3

We spent one night in Cheyenne, WY after the rafting trip. The next morning we drove to Devil's Tower--America's First National Monument. It is hard to capture in a picture how massive and amazing this monument is. It is 1267 feet high and you can climb it. We actually saw someone summit while we were there.

The Upper Colorado River Trip

Aaron & Sanchez


Van & Shawn


Floating

One of our campsites

Sept. 1- Sept. 2

It was almost like being in Auburn this past week after spending time with Colin, then Van and Shawn. We left Salida and began our trek north stopping not far from Leadville to meet the guys, their friends, and last but not least, Sanchez for a quiet float down the Upper Colorado, an entertaining night of camping, and floating back out. A big thanks to those guys for providing the raft, the food, and the cook! Also, a big thanks to my mom and dad for bringing all of our camping gear on their visit. It has helped finding a place to stay be a little easier on this part of the trip.

Salida, CO

Big Fish.


Fishing on Lake Ptarmigan with Columbia.


Colin and I hiking up to Lake Ptarmigan

Aug 29 - Aug 31

Salida, CO. We couldn't take a trip through the west without visiting a Buskist for sure! We ate some good food, did some hiking, some fishing...good times with good people.
Check out Rocky Mountain Outdoor Center, www.rmoc.com

Great Sand Dunes, CO

Aug 29

Mountains of sand in the middle of Colorado! Amazing. A tidbit of information: these huge dunes are the tallest in North America covering 330 square miles. People were bringing snowboards, skis, cardboard, etc...anything to try and fly down the mountain on. None of it seemed to work very well.

Cruising Colorado

Streets of Crested Butte, CO


"The Painted Wall" at Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Aug 28-Aug 29

Yes, we have made it home by now but I'm determined to complete our blog by posting our pics all the way to Alabama. We left off at Grand Junction. After visiting our good friends John and Cassie, we hit the road to Salida to visit our good friend, Colin. Here are some pics of a few stops along the way. First we went to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (250 miles southwest of Denver) and drove along the rim stopping at lookouts along the way. I don't think there is much hiking here, but there is camping and some pretty amazing boating from what I hear. Moving right along we drove to Crested Butte to check out this cool little Colorado town and found a great place to camp in Gunnison National Forest.

Grand Junction and The Kellers

The Schmidts and The Kellers

Aug 26-Aug 28

Today, 8/26, we spent the morning checking out Durango then on to Grand Junction, one of the prettiest drives we have done in the US. Passing through Ouray, Montrose, and Delta we arrived at the Keller's that afternoon. John and Aaron were roomates in high school. John, Cassie (John's wife), Gareth (their almost 1-yr old son), and Abe and Radar (the dogs) welcomed us into their home for a couple days (thanks guys!). After only moving back from Denver a month ago, they were fantastic hosts and it was fun reminiscing about old times!

The 4 Corners to Durango, CO

A view from above of Cliff Palace Ruins.


One of the guard towers at Cliff Palace Ruin. The t-shaped doorways were common with the Indians of the southwest. We first saw them at the last ruins we visited in Northern Mexico (Casas Grande)

View coming into the kiva from below.

Aaron going down into a kiva.

A view of the ladder into a kiva.

Spruce Tree House at Mesa Verde. One of the best preserved, though not the biggest of the ruins.

A squash blossom necklace. We first saw this in Chinle and have continued to see them along the way. Navajo men and women wore them believing it helped crop fertility.

4 states at one time!

Aug 25- Aug 26

Today, Tues 8/25 August and Joan headed back to Chandler, and Aaron and I headed to Durango, CO, with a few stops along the way. The first stop was at the 4 Corners for our tourist opportunity to take a photo of being in 4 states at the same time (luckily there were no crowds). Aaron was able to get his last meal with Navajo frybread and we moved on. The next stop was Mesa Verde, extremely well preserved and impressive cliff dwellings along with an impressive museum. That night we ate dinner in Durango and camped outside of town.