Where is Uncle Sam?

July 4 was tomorrow and preparations where underway - the Martin baseball diamond was mowed in a precise diamond pattern - Max's Trail in the Woods was complete with the new bridge in place and bunting, flags and 4th July decorations adorned the houses.  All seemed well . . .  but we could not find Uncle Sam.  Forever he had lead the parade at Lake de Neveu.  He was there last year but something terrible had happened to him.  He was missing!  Yikes . . . possible reasons were discussed - he was sent for repair;  Luke had him;  the neighbors borrowed him - no was the answer to all of these situations.

One final and terrifying thought - had the Antique guy who cleared Steph's barn taken him by terrible mistake?  One hasty phone call with a nervous, quivering voice asking the question - is it possible you have Uncle Sam?  

I think he is still in the basement - the antique guy said he had him - he was having his antique sale today but ran out of time to put Uncle Sam out for sale and he was still there.  We fell about with relief and 3 responsible adults were despatched to collect him.  It has a biblical ending almost like Luke and the maker of Uncle Sam, Chris's grandfather, were directing his rescue from a fate worse than death.

He lead the parade as he always had and no one was any the wiser, except that the whole Lake community knew what had happened.  We call it the Bush Telegraph.  And it certainly made July 4, 2009 more special if that is possible.

And the wonderment went on as to how lucky we were to have Uncle Sam cause wouldn't you think that if you were an Antique dealer selling July 4 type stuff, this would be the first thing put up for sale?  Thanks Luke, you saved the day.

A million dollar concept for Newcastle?

Fond du Lac, Wisconsin has this institution called "Gilles" - a drive-in restaurant - our first stop doing the rounds of this beautiful city and I think it could be a million dollar idea.

"PUT YOUR LIGHTS ON FOR SERVICE"

The girls come promptly and take your order and you sit back and relax and wait for it to arrive.  Delicious burgers, hot dogs and toasted cheese sandwiches (naturally it is Wisconsin, home of cheese) - but the pieced de resistance is the "frozen custard" or soft serve ice cream.

Choose from the huge menu board - Bruce could not resist the root beer floater and myself, the Turtle Sundae - lashings of vanilla frozen custard with caramel and chocolate sauce topped with a cherry - mmmum,mmmmr!

Can you imagine not having to get out of your jammies to get a good square meal - its not fast food it is so relaxing sitting in the car chatting to your fellow passengers - and it is not slow food cause you finish eating at your own pace and then drive away.  Wow, it was fantastic!  Even the trash containers are designed to just drive by and drop in - no mess left in the car.  The benefits and attractions are endless.

Watch this space and I will keep you posted.

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The Magic of a Steamboat Summer

When you come to a place winter after winter and see everything pure white - mounds of snow and heavily laden stark trees, it takes your breath away to see wild flowers and green, green meadows.

There is so much to do here in summertime.

People are tubing on the Yampa River and riding bicycles beside it.  The Gondola runs every day and there are cyclists and hikers using all the other folds of Mount Werner that are hidden in winter.

Day light runs through to 8:30 at night making oodles of time to get that last golf game or hike or bike ride in before a balmy evening.

We took a Gondola ride one blue bird sunny day - Bruce, Sue and Matilda - and we walk down to the base for 3 hours through the most magic woody glades and across 4 diamond runs, criss-crossing and switching back between them all.  It was a wonderful walk through fields of wild flowers and forest thickets with mushrooms and ferns.  The reward for all this fantastic exercise - a bucket of margarita at Slopeside.  

Straight to the Debrief

At the risk of boring everyone with countless ooohs and aaarhs over what we have seen in each individual National Park I am going to summarise the 6 glorious days first.  For the less-than-dedicated blog readers it will save you from abridged but tedious accounts of each day.

Sonoma was beautiful and a great place to start.  Only an hour from San Francisco and an easy drive to get to know each other again.  There was a Bear Raising Flag festival on and the place was alive.  The El Dorado Hotel was fabulous and in the best location and the restaurant we dined at The Girl and the Fig was first class and just across the street.

Monday we headed to west of the entrance to Yosemite National Park - dull peripheral city scapes until we got into the mountains.  We spent the first night at a B & B called The Blackberry Inn in Bucks Meadows California right in the middle of beautiful mountains and forest full of hummingbirds.

Tuesday we drove into Yosemite National Park through Big Oak Flat Park entrance.  It was everything and more I had expected - a huge larger than life vista of monoliths, waterfalls and green green forest.  We visited all the major features and took hundreds of photos and were speechless in awe of a very special place.

From Yosemite Village in the valley floor we headed over the Tioga Pass to around 9,000ft - more amazing monoliths, mountain lakes and huge alpine meadows with lots of people climbing and walking and taking advantage of a beautiful Spring day .  We stayed the night in a weird little town called Lee Vining - comfortable and basic but necessary to continue out route east.

Wednesday was a long drive on long straight roads - what I didn't expect was the continual display of mountain ranges and we stayed basically at an altitude around 8,000ft.

Zion National Park was our destination and the Desert Pearl Inn was fantastic, right in the middle of the canyons.  Zion was totally unexpected and planned purely a stopping place on route to the Grand Canyon, but it was another amazing red red canyon.  All the National Parks are very organised with continual shuttles to the vista points encouraging visitors to abandon their cars and relax and be shuttled around.

The Mount Carmel Highway that runs from Zion towards Grand Canyon North Rim is one of those engineering feats you must experience.  1.8 miles through the mountain along a road winding through the spectacular red cliffs.  Amazing and thankfully my camera takes great moving shots through the car window because it was all around us.

We spent the next afternoon enjoying the Grand Canyon from the North Rim - recommended because it is higher, forested on approach and fewer visitors.  It did not disappoint and once again I was moved by the emotion of the sheer size of the place.  Photos can only attempt to show the grandeur - words will fail.

We stayed the night at the Kaibab Lodge 18 miles from the North Rim and the closest lodging other than the amazing Grand Canyon Lodge which literally hangs over the edge.  What I liked about all these parks is the lack of fences unless it was a sheer drop and sometimes these were missing too. It really made you feel part of the landscape and each place was so quiet except for the wind in the trees and the birds. It is hard to imagine how it was all created, but it is fairly clear to see from the North Rim, because of the height, the part water played in making this amazing sight.

Friday we headed north to Bryce Canyon.  We had to drive through Red Canyon 8 miles short of Bryce and it too was spectacular and the road cut right through it.  We stayed the night at at Bryce View Lodge which was less than ordinary.  The Syrett family has owned this land and the ensuing facilities since the early 1900's until today.  It is all part of the Ruby's Inn complex and the new Best Western opened in May 2009 would be the best place to stay other than camping in a tent under the stars.

Bryce Canyon was incredible and once again am at a loss to describe it - all the parts were different from each other and individually breathtaking.  Bryce was like nothing we had prepared for.  Kate and Chris even did a 2 hour hike right through the middle of this incredible landscape.

  

We are back in Steamboat now and it is as green here as it is usually white.  I will update as the days go by.

The Road Trip - San Francisco to Steamboat Springs

Day One - San Fran to Sonoma

This has been a long time planning - a simple concept for a road trip with Katy and Chris commencing in San Francisco. June 14 is our start date and the first night will be in the beautiful and historic town of Sonoma, California.

Jack London called Sonoma "Valley of the Moon" and it is easy to see why it has attracted such a romantic concept with mountains, rolling vine covered hills and coastal influences from the Pacific Ocean. It is historically significant as well with the last of the 21 Franciscan Missions being built here in 1823 and preserved to present day for us to appreciate. The city envelopes a central leafy park and is one of the prettiest town plans in the world. Surrounding this tranquil place the historic Sebastiani Theatre, boutiques, foodie mecca's and specialist lodging as well as anything and everything to do with wine. Our resting place will be the El Dorado Hotel.

Along the way we will cross The Golden Gate Bridge and take in the spectacular Bay Area of San Francisco as viewed from Maron County, including the city itself and Alcatraz. It will be like driving a familar road but unfolding with new experiences all the way.