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Well, OK, LIBERTY, Missouri, actually (although we did go into Kansas City during our visit), which is located about 15 miles just northeast of Kansas City, MO. The home of our friends, Mark and Kristine Bridgeman is located in Liberty.

A short history of this enduring friendship: Mark and Lorraine met first, only ONLINE, introduced by Rhonda (and Rick), and quickly became AOL instant messenger friends, who somehow found time to “chat” on a regular basis. This chatting continued for a few years (!!). Lorraine finally decided that it was high time for an in-person Bridgeman/DeMan summit, and planned one of her first Big Road Trips, where the final destination was Liberty, MO. In August of 2001, I took the kids (at the time, Mary was 14, and John was 9), and we traveled to Missouri, stopping in Hershey, PA, West Virginia, Indianapolis, IN, Columbus, OH, and Six Flags Over St. Louis before finally landing in Liberty. This trip was followed, over the next several years, by the Bridgemans visiting us in NJ (and NYC) with a few different exchange students they’d hosted, and a few visits by Lorraine to Missouri.

But … it’s been (literally) a dog’s age since the last face-t0-face, so that was how we came to plan this trip to begin and end in Kansas City. Could we have flown directly to Colorado, booked a one way car rental, and flown home from Nebraska? Sure, sure …. but then we would have missed the laughter and camaraderie of being reunited with our friends. And we had a great time!

The drive from Omaha to Liberty was a mere three hours, and we arrived first at St. James church, where we decided to attend 5 PM Saturday mass. A beautiful and clearly newly landscaped property, our Sunday obligation was fulfilled in high fashion.

As you can see, we got to 5:00 Mass just a _TAD_ early. LOL The place DID fill up before Mass actually began.

From church we went directly to the Bridgman home, only a few minutes away. Yay!!!! Hi, everybody! Our friends treated us to some take out from one of Gerry’s favorite places:

We spent the evening catching up, telling stories of the previous 5 days, and enjoying their new past time … watching live streams of safaris on the Wildearth TV channel. Certainly mesmerizing, if not downright fascinating!

As we were relaxing that evening, Mr. Baseball (aka Gerry), always looking for the next possible game and/or visit to a ballpark, found a great deal on tickets to the Kansas City Royals, the next afternoon. And, even though the idea of a baseball game wasn’t in our original plan, it worked out well.

We began our Sunday morning at:

… where we had an abundant BRUNCH, that held us all day. Mark & Kristine finally agreed and got to pose with Lulu …

Well … more accurately, Kristine agreed; Mark feigned complete disdain for Lulu.

But eventually he came around. Lulu has that effect on everyone. 🙂

A little while later, we hopped into the car, and made our way down to Kansas City and Royals Stadium.

What a beautiful park!

As you can see, our seats were in the very first row of the upper deck. Sweet!

Except that, Kristine and I are just about the Whitest Gals in America.

Sunscreen is an absolutely necessity … but SHADE is even more preferred! We spent the entire game, moving back, and moving back, and moving back — probably about 10 times — to chase the shade. I think we all wound up with a touch of color before the afternoon was over, but we did manage to avoid sitting in direct sunlight for any length of time. The only one who never needs to worry about the sun, of course, is:

Hey, Lulu!! Watch that CODE OF CONDUCT, Toots!! Naturally, she made some new friends at the ballpark … and did maintain decorum at all times. LOL

The Royals mascot is a lion called “Sluggerrr” and made several appearances during the game:

There was also a RACE in the middle of the game — between the Hot Dog, the Mustard, and the Ketchup. Whatever poor soul was in the Ketchup suit tripped over his feet or the costume, and fell flat on his squirt nozzle in the first 10 feet of the race (from the right field bullpen to the first base side dugout), and needed assistance returning …

And the WINNER (by a mile, FYI) was …

THE MUSTARD!!!! An entertaining moment, for sure.

The game went on & on, as we white folks chased the shade in the upper deck. I snapped a photo of the scoreboard, when the Royals were ahead by 5 runs, and score was actually the same as my birthday — 6-11 — hoping that might be the final score.

In the end — of an over 4 hour long game (!) — the score was KC Royals – 15, and San Diego Padres – 7. A victory for the home team:

All in all, a fun afternoon … not too hot … and great company. Thanks again for the tickets, Gerry!

It was then back to Liberty for a relaxing evening of packing, more laughing, a little more:

… and then we watched a movie I’d not yet seen, that we enjoyed:

It was soon after off to sleep, as both Mark and Kristine were off to work in the morning. Hugs & promises to see each other soon on Monday morning, and Gerry and I were then off to the airport to drop off our cute little Nissan Versa that carried us over 2,260 miles in 7 days. As we finished loading up the car, we turned back to snap one final photo of the Bridgeman’s home:

Thanks again, Mark & Kristine! Until next time!

And … until my next post in a few weeks, which will happen after my trip to New Mexico– my 50th State! — I bid you, my dear reader, adieu! Thanks for joining Lulu, Gerry & I on our journey!

You not only can’t make ME up, you’d be hard pressed to make up half the stuff I write, but yes, for sure, Bowling for Soup _IS_ a musical group, and “(Ready or not) Omaha, Nebraska” really _IS_ the name of a song they’ve recorded. Look it up. If you want. 🙂

When we left Fargo, ND on Friday morning, the really great news is that we were not on any deadline, for the first time in the trip. No rushing to make a train to the top of a mountain, or a baseball game. We could simply breathe and take our time.

No need to stop for a photo op at the South Dakota state line … we already have one from a few years ago. But, I guess Gerry is so conditioned, he took one anyway, as we tooled along the interstate. going 80 mph. LOL (Trust me that it DOES say “Welcome to South Dakota.” LOL)

And … we stopped for lunch at what I like to call, America’s Mother Ship: Cracker Barrel. lol

There is something very soothing about Cracker Barrel restaurants — the way they ALL have the EXACT SAME LAY OUT, the same olde style latticed walls. same 1950’s candy for sale in the gift shop (probably left over from the 50’s), same rocking chairs on the porch, same mediocre comfort food on the menu. They’ve capitalized on old fashioned SAMENESS! It was the perfect stop over!

Due to some summer construction (which I have specifically avoided mentioning, despite the numerous sites we dealt with along the way), we were slightly re-routed on our way into Omaha, and subsequently (and MUCH to our disappointment) NEVER ACTUALLY SAW the (or ANY, for that matter) “Welcome to Nebraska” sign (!!!)

If you look at the map, the Interstate moves straight down, just west of the South Dakoka / Minnesota line, and then hangs a left into Iowa. As we counted down the exits on the drive south through South Dakota (and not realizing that fact), we both said aloud, “Welcome to _IOWA_???” LOL

It’s all good. Here’s what the actual “Welcome to Nebraska” sign looks like:

And here was the reasonable facsimile that Gerry snapped (while we were at a stop light, having already arrived in Omaha proper) shortly before arriving at our downtown Omaha hotel:

Yes, we’d made it to our 49th State!

Arriving at our hotel, we found ourselves in The Future … or at least 180 degrees from the C’Mon Inn back in Fargo. lol

Call me an old-fashioned gal, but I found myself longing for the rustic affectations of the C’Mon Inn! LOL

Nevertheless, we settled in, and shortly thereafter embarked on a city adventure: I found a place for dinner, where they also had ::drumroll;: KARAOKE!!! (My son remarked on an accompanying Facebook post … “Of course you found karaoke in Omaha.” Uhhh, well, YA! ) We drove over & found parking a few blocks away from our destination:

Yes, the place is called, “Moe and Curly’s”. Upon going inside, we saw …

And … despite inexplicably not being included in the title …

I honestly don’t care enough to try and find out WHY, but … what could the reason be they decided NOT to call the place “Moe, Larry & Curly’s”?? Weird ….

The food was gross, to be honest, and good thing the Cracker Barrel fare was still stickin’ to our ribs, but the singing was fun.

(Ohhhh, honey …. the trouble is DEFINITELY NOT with my line, my dears! LOL) I’m sure my sister is horrified that I still haven’t given up singing Reba McIntyre, but so be it. Sang two songs, and they got me up almost right away, and we were on our way back to the EVEN hotel within an hour. Good fun!

On the way back to the hotel, since the fancy-schmancy EVEN Hotel didn’t _even_ have a complimentary breakfast, but rather a foufy (is that a word? if not, it should be) breakfast menu, that required pre-ordering and a QR code (forget it!), we decided to grab some breakfast items from:

(is it only me, or is the name of this shop a tad inappropriate? What-evs …)

Thanks to the recommendation of a friend (and former Omaha resident) we decided to take in the Old Market area in the morning. The Old Market is a sort of South Street Seaport (NYC) meets Faneuil Hall (Boston) meets a farmer’s market. A fun visit! Here are some highlights:

BEST laugh of the morning! And one BRILLIANT marketing campaign! lol

It was then time to check out of the EVEN, and make our way to another highlight … the OMAHA ZOO!! What a fantastic place!! (Well … if you like zoos …. it’s one of the best!)

I will again simply include photos, with a comment here & there:

We left the zoo, and headed out of town, on our way to our final vacation spot: Liberty, Missouri, and the home of our friends, the Bridgemans. That visit will be the next and final post of this series.

As we drove out of Omaha, the last sight we saw before hitting the Interstate, was a restaurant that seems like it USED TO BE a Burger King, but has now been transformed into:

Yep. “King Kong Burger.” I guess seeing this makes up for the fact that we didn’t get to see the gorillas & apes in the zoo. LOL

And that wraps up our stop in my _49th_ state!!

Yes! This is REALLY A SONG (by someone named Brennen Leigh). There are a few North Dakota songs, and frankly most of them stink. But, this one is catchy. And … most likely TRUE, ya? Have many of my readers been to North Dakota?? Anyone? Bueller??

We must begin this post with my exceedingly contrite confession, and apology. Planning these trips has been fun, and GOING ON THEM even more fun, but I completely dropped the ball this time. I could have used this book:

Or, more succinctly: Time ZONES for Dummies.

You see, my friends, for the BIG BASEBALL FAN in our group (Hint: Not Lulu, nor I) I planned Thursday as “Baseball Day” in our last stop for the day, which was Fargo, ND. We had tickets to a minor league baseball game, the Fargo-Moorehead Red Hawks vs. the Gary (IN) Railcats (FYI, part of the American Assn. of Professional Baseball League), followed by a visit to the Roger Maris Museum. The plan worked out ::SORT OF:: OK … but here’s where I was the complete dummy: The game began at 12:30 PM in the afternoon. The travel time from Miles City, MT to Fargo, ND is 6.5 hours. We _did_ get an early start …. but I neglected to realize that we were driving from Mountain Time to Central TIme, thus traveling from an earlier time zone to a later time zone. For those who need the Dummies book as much as I did, this translated to our arriving an hour LATER than planned.

Oy.

So, we left Miles City at about 6:15 AM, and I figured the BEST we’d do would be to arrive by around 1:30 PM, Fargo (Central) time — _IF_ we didn’t stop for bathroom (but, of course we did) and _IF_ we didn’t stop for gas (but, we almost ran out and HAD TO).

We also — let’s face it — had to stop for the obligatory photo of the “Welcome to North Dakota” state line sign. As we arrived at the sign, two car/van loads of about 15 folks, all clearly related and/or connected, were taking photos. They had been driving since Seattle, WA, as it turns out, and one of them offered to take our photo. Can you say, “I wasn’t ready??” LOL

You’re going to have to trust me that — aside from my slightly exceeding the 80 MPH speed limit, and our bathroom, gas & state line stops — the 465 mile drive across the entire state of North Dakota was more of the same as previous days (farmland, rocks, cattle, etc.), with one notable exception:

As Gerry slept, I saw this very odd thing across the highway (FYI, I-94), facing west. As I approached, I couldn’t begin to imagine what it was, but I was able to glance over, and was stunned and impressed by the sculpture:

Wow!

So, doing my post-trip research, turns out this was pretty darned special: It’s 110 feet tall, and 156 feet wide, and according to the Guinness Book for World Records, it’s the largest scrap metal sculpture … IN THE WORLD (!!!), and is the gateway to North Dakota’s Enchanted Highway. Sorry you missed this, DeMan … it was pretty kewl to see! (and … if my Dad were still with us, he’d want to be assured that I didn’t take this photo while driving. Nope, Dad … Google image wins again! 🙂 )

We finally dragged our sorry behinds on to the campus

… parked the car, and approached the field ….

Slogged our way around the entire exterior, and got to will call for our tickets, just in time for ::drumroll:: the _SEVENTH_ _INNING_. (FYI, baseball games have a total of nine innings, unless a tie-breaker is needed.)

Before you boo-hoo for us (remember what Tom Hanks said, “There’s NO CRYING in BASEBALL!!” lol), although we arrived when the game was 2/3 over, who should be at the entrance gate at the VERY MOMENT we arrived??

The RED HAWK!!! I doubt we’d have had this great photo op, had we arrived at the beginning of the game. 😉

As it turns out, the game went on another 2 hours! lol Unfortunately, our home team lost, with a final score of 6 – 3, but a good time was had by all.

After the game, we were off to the West Acres Mall …

(Wait … what? The MALL??? … Yes, yes … as it was the home of …)

Yes, Fargo, ND is the hometown of Roger Maris, once upon a time a player for the NY Yankees, and broke the home run record of Babe Ruth, by hitting 61 home runs in 1961. (Oh, OK, there’s some controversy, based on number of games played, etc., but he did it. And Gerry’s a big fan!)

The museum itself is exceedingly well done, and although it is mostly a set of display windows along an out-of-the-way hallway in this mall, the whole thing is impressive. It also includes small room where you can sit, and enjoy a movie about Roger’s career, which was in several parts, and was on a continuous loop. (… ummm … are you REALLY asking if we watched the whole thing? Does a bear go in the woods??? Yes, we did. 🙂 )

Once again, I shall let the photos speak for themselves:

All in all, a FINE time! (And, I had the tastiest soup (Wisconsin cheese) in the Food Court at the mall!)

It was time to check into our hotel for the night. My favorite online travel site directed me towards this Fargo gem:

Yes. It was ACTUALLY CALLED the …

Oh … COME ON. Nope! It’s true!! LOL Furthermore … it’s a hotel CHAIN! There are a few other C’Mon Inns in midwest locations. It was big and clean, and just in time for Thursday: VERY “Throw Back.” In fact, when we stepped into the room, I almost jumped back. Gerry took a moment, as he was handling the luggage, but … what the ….??????

A 2-PERSON JACUZZI IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LIVING ROOM!!! Honestly, I was dumb founded! And the answer is, NO, NO, we did NOT use the jacuzzi. I thought about it for a second … but the room temperature was around 60, and I thought I’d surely catch something. But … talk about the elephant in the room!! lol

A sweet place, however, and I would certainly recommend. Here are a few more shots taken in the quite large and “old school” lobby ….

This part of the lobby is larger … probably close to 50 yards long. And here — if you’re feeling exhibitionist — are (count ’em) FOUR hot tub / jacuzzis. Hey, kids, C’MON INN!!

And Thursday … and North Dakota … and our 48th state was IN THE BOOKS!!!

Next up: Omigosh, it’s Omaha! 🙂

So…. this song is a sort of PG-13 country song, that talks a LOT about knee-high snow drifts, etc. AND, we were barely in Montana (State #47, people!) for 12 hours, so I don’t know how much actual rest my soul received, but it’s a nice thought. 🙂

We departed Manitou Springs Wednesday, around 8 AM. We planned to stop in Cheyenne, WY for lunch. Gerry drove the first leg, about 3 hours. As previously stated, I select locations based on their proximity to Interstate highways, etc., so Cheyenne was perfect. Our lunch stop, with the kitschy name, “Two Doors Down” was fine. Gerry stumped the waiter with a question about some artwork on the wall …

Who or what actually _IS_Maccheroni Pianigiani? I just Googled it … _STILL_ no idea. It may or may not have to do with some sort of pasta. No matter. Food was fine, and back to the car. We parked near another business with a very kitschy title:

I laughed over this for a solid minute. Gerry hadn’t heard of the expression “Bitch, please!” (hence the joke), but that’s OK. A moment later on the way, and lo & behold, it was the Wyoming state capital building!

Very much like every other capital building I’ve seen, but happy, nonetheless to happen into a bonus landmark.

Gassed up at a brand not seen in NJ for decades …

Aaaaaaaand, we were off.

A word now, about the fine state of Wyoming. I am aware of many parts of Wyoming that must be very pretty — Yellowstone National Park comes immediately to mind. But, my friends … now that I’ve driven from east to west ACROSS Wyoming a few years ago, and this trip drove the entire length from south to north, if I never set foot in the lovely last-alphabetically state again, I really won’t be sad. With no offense meant to residents and/or Wyoming lovers, it just AIN’T my cuppa tea. The distance (south to north) driven was a little more than 425 miles. And there’s NOTHING BUT ROCK to see. Enough sedimentary specimens to replace the Great Wall of China. And NO ONE ELSE on the road!! No, not even kidding! We drove literally hundreds of miles, and ours was the ONLY CAR IN BOTH DIRECTIONS!! I asked Gerry to take a picture from the passenger seat:

That’s it, kids.

The next time I speak the words, “I got nuthin'”, this is the image I will have in my head.

OK, I think you get it. 🙂

We arrived at the Montana state line well before sundown, and had another 100+ miles to go. But, we did our obligatory “Lulu at the State Line” photo op, of course!

We arrived at the clean, spacious, well-appointed Miles City Hotel & Suites a short while later, and were met by a delightful and soft spoken desk clerk named Joe, who was very welcoming! He gave a hearty thumbs-up to the restaurant I’d found online, The Black Iron Grill, where we had a marvelous meal.

Upon our return to the hotel, Joe happily agreed to pose for a Lulu photo!

Thanks, Joe!!!

For my friends traveling to or through Miles City, MT … we HIGHLY recommend BOTH the Black Iron Grill AND Miles City Hotel & Suites. Great choices!!

We had another early start the next AM, so it was off to slumberland!

Next up: State #48 … North Dakota!

Little known fact … in 1893, poet & songwriter Katherine Lee Bates hired a carriage to take her to the top of Pikes Peak in Colorado, and while there was inspired to write the poem (and later hymn) “America, the Beautiful”. One of the fun pearls of wisdom we learned on our visit to Pikes Peak, via the newly refurbished Cog Railway!

I’d officially like to SKIP the story of the DRAMA prior to our train ride, over the malfunction of QR code intended to facilitate payment for parking. Let’s just say that we figured it out, and did NOT miss the train! (And … I retained the hard copy of my receipt, in anticipation of finding 5 extra charges on my next Amex statement!)

The train is shiny red & yellow, and absolutely beautiful! Lulu took turns posing at the station with both Mom AND Dad!

The train has assigned seats, and ours faced down the mountain (meaning we rode up backwards, but [thankfully!!] rode back down facing FORWARD!). We were also knee to knee with the people seated across from us. On the way up, we rode opposite a dad & his 10 year old son, Owen. Nice people! (but, if I’m being honest, on the silent side.) All was well, and it was a GORGEOUS ride to the top, with views of fabulous vista after fabulous vista. I will allow said vistas to speak for themselves. 🙂

Simply lovely, all the way! No apologies for similar photos … it’s ALL GREAT! 🙂

This photo was taken just past the “Tree Line”, and we were headed toward some seriously high elevations. Another story told by our conductor was that of Mr. Man, a pack donkey, who was on the railroad construction crew, and was named so because he was “just one of the guys.” I was on the wrong side of the train to snap a photo, but Mr. Man’s gravesite is a revered sight to see on the way up.

And then we got to the top of Pikes Peak.

Where it was 40 degrees colder than it was at the bottom

And it was snowing.

The trip down, certainly once we were once more below the Tree Line, was MUCH more pleasant. I began feeling better within 10 or 20 minutes. Of course, this sight was the first one on the way down, & it was a li’l scary: This is the road on which cars DRIVE to the top:

Young Owen had swapped seats on the descent, to go & sit with older brother, Jack. We made the VERY DELIGHTFUL acquaintance of his mom, Holly and little sister, Willa. Six-year-old Willa has a personality as cute as she is, and she regaled us with tales of going into first grade, and dance recitals, and Brownie scouts, and catching fish, and raising chickens. What a sweetie!! Willa’s eyes went WIDE when I asked if she would please take a photo with Lulu. Look at that sweet face!!! 🙂

Just about at the station again, our 12-year-old conductor (Oh, OK, maybe he was 18) was happy to pose with Lulu, also.

Upon returning to “Earth”, so to speak, we explored the fabulous & adorable town of Manitou Springs:

As seen on the sidewalk in Manitou Springs …

Oh, and for all of our Arcade gaming efforts, we amassed about 150 tickets, which won us:

And we ended our day in Manitou Springs with a really delicious dinner at

A “Highly Recommend” rating from us!

It was back to our hotel before another early start the next day … where I was a little amused by the “very serious” posted letter by our hotel staff:

And ONE FINAL THOUGHT. Gerry’s been ALL IN with these trips, including the ones he’s not even on with me. He mentioned to me at some point between leaving the Cog Railway and our hotel down time, early in the afternoon, that he’d come up with a GREAT IDEA: He’d discovered that the New Mexico state line (that I’ve yet to visit) was a mere 2.5 hours drive away, and if I wanted to go, he was willing to do the driving.

I weighed the options. 9 hours of driving ahead of us the next day. 9.5 hours of driving the previous day & that morning. Forgoing ANYTHING ELSE in Manitou Springs, aside from the Cog Railway, given the 5 hour minimum round trip drive. I’m already booked for a trip to Albuquerque in October. New Mexico will, in the end, be my 50th state to visit. His intentions, as always, were in the right place, but I had to give that idea a Hard “No.” Thanks for being so supportive of “Travels with Lolo & Lulu”, Gerry. Hope you weren’t too disappointed to miss New Mexico yourself!

Next up … State #47: MONTANA!

Well, no … NOT. QUITE. YET … but we’re very, very close!

I have now visited FORTY NINE of our fifty nifty US states, and in the next few posts, I will recount the highlights, low lights, and in between dim lights. I’ve decided to dedicate a post to each “stop” we experienced in our 8 days of travel, beginning on the evening of August 21.

Rolling back a moment, to the hatching of the idea for this particular trip … as of last summer, there were a total of six states I had left to visit. Four of them held no special reason for my visiting, and rather than leaving random trips to chance, happening … whenever (!), I decided to try and include them all into one big road trip. The four states, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, and Nebraska aren’t necessarily close (although MT & ND _do_ border each other), but I planned to streamline as much as possible. I chose many stop-overs at cities / locations that were right off the interstates, etc.

Also … it’d been a really long time since my last visit to some friends who live just northeast of Kansas City, MO, in Liberty, and I arranged to begin and end the trip out of Kansas City International, so as to end the trip visiting our Liberty friends.

AND SO!! Booked the plane tickets in October of 2021, and although our airline changed the flight times a few times since then, frequent checks on our flight status for the last MONTH proved unchanged. UNTIL … 2 days before flying. An email warned of upcoming bad weather, and the possibility of delays or cancellation, and we were offered a chance to rebook at no additional cost, and subsequently rebooked from Monday AM to Sunday PM. I will spare you the blow-by-blow of the series of texts received all day on Sunday, but we finally arrived in Kansas City at about 12:15 AM (Sunday night.)

We chose a hotel with shuttle service to & from the airport, and arranged for the shuttle. The airport hotel was about a 10 minute ride …. and we caught some much needed winks before embarking on our 400+ mile journey the following day. Two ironic moments in the 8 hours we were there:

First, inquiring about hotel breakfast, the desk clerk actually said, “Well … what we got usually ain’t no good, so most people walk over to the Waffle House.”

And that’s ::urp!!:: where we went. First & last time fer me, JUST SAYIN’!

Irony #2, the hotel elevator was decorated as shown:

A short ride to the Airport Car Rental Center, a quick check in, and we were in our WHEELS, and ready to hit the road!!

Our first OFFICIAL photo op was just a few miles away, as we entered the state of Kansas. Although I’ve already been, Lulu certainly hasn’t, and the Welcome to Kansas sign was a MUST!

We made pretty good time, and arrived in Goodland, Kansas by mid-afternoon, Mountain time. (who knew that you could be in Kansas, and be in Mountain time?).

A simple dinner, the car was gassed up, and we were ready for our early start on Tuesday. We had a 10:40 AM train ticket to ride to the top of Pikes Peak, so we were on the road a little after 7 AM.

Less than 20 miles later, we were at our NEXT photo-op:

Or this …. LOL

As we drove along, the scenery is a whole lot of FARMLAND … ranches … lots & lots of corn fields. Every so often, we’d see herds of cattle such as

Another common sight on the long, long road into the Heartland of America was this:

Now, in fairness to the guy from jersey City, most of these were light brownish, and they were much further off in the distance. But after we passed a few fields full of these, Gerry said, “What ARE those??” I replied, “I’m pretty sure they’re harvested hay … I think they’re called ton bales.”

“Hay???!!??” exclaimed Gerry. “I thought they were SHEEP!!” And folks, he wasn’t kidding.

Me: LOLOLOL “No! Definitely not sheep!”

Or …. are they???

We arrived in Manitou Springs, CO in time for our Pikes Peak railway train, where we will pick up our story in the next post!

Although we are DEEP into the Summer of 2022, I have only JUST returned from my first significant trip: A (very brief!) visit to “my” 45th state: KENTUCKY!! It is my FERVENT HOPE to finish my self-imposed 50 States QUEST before the end of this year, so on we go!

I have friends who retired a few years ago to the sweet Kentucky hamlet of London, and purchased this lovely home …

As Kentucky is geographically located where I’ve just never had reason to go … I’ve actually been to every other state east of the Mississippi River EXCEPT Kentucky (!!) … the idea of visiting my Kentucky transplanted friends, Candace and Jason, has been rolling around in my head for a LONG time, and I finally made it work!

Our mutual friend Skylar was 100% on board with joining me on a visit; not only on board, but offered to DRIVE! Not only that, but offered his guest room in his place (just outside of Philadelphia) as my Air BnB the night before we left, and the night we returned … AND he acted as my valet / baggage handler all weekend long. I mean …. THANKS, SKY!

Lulu & I began the first leg of the trip on an Amtrak train to Philadelphia, where Skylar the chauffeur / valet / Air BnB host / travel buddy met us. “Where we goin’, Mom??” Lulu asked. Oh, that Lulu … she kills me! 🙂

Driving from Landsdowne, PA to London, KY is one LONG ASSED DRIVE, so we got a very early start … we were officially on the road a short time after 6 AM on Thursday, Aug. 11. Waze & Google Maps brought us through PA, MD, WV, OH, and then into good ol’ KY.

After only one nasty traffic jam, we arrived at our destination roughly 12 hours after we began. Our hosts could not have been more hospitable! A delicious dinner was waiting for us, followed by their nightly activity: we adjourned to the side porch, and were each given a jar of unshelled peanuts. We then fed the Kentucky wildlife said peanuts … mostly squirrels, blue jays and cardinals.

Such a sweet tradition … and, as I often repeated all weekend, “When in Rome …”!! I was happy to participate in Candace and Jason’s nightly nature routine. Before we retired for the evening, Jason said, “Can you smell the honey buns?” A local bakery bakes these each evening, and the heavenly scent wafts over from the bakery as far as their yard.

We began the next day at a local breakfast spot, Weavers. If you look carefully at the photo of Weavers, you’ll see a campaign poster in the window. Yup. Same Weaver. Gotta love ‘Merica!

And after the breakfast, and the tease of the bakery scents from the night before, our next stop HAD TO BE Flowers Bakery!

It became soon apparent that life in London, Kentucky revolves largely around the planning of the next meal / snack / restaurant. LOL RELAXING was our top priority, but seeing the sights and tasting the local fare was a close second! After coffee cup #3, we were off to Corbin, KY, and a possible visit to …

Nibroc, in case you didn’t catch it, is Corbin spelled backward. As it turned out, stopping at the festival wasn’t possible due to crowds & lack of parking. HOWEVER, if Jason & Candace reported correctly, the crowds in attendance at Nibroc sounded like a cross between “Deliverance” and a bad Fellini flick, so I wasn’t too sad about missing it! LOL

Instead, we made our way to ::drumroll:: the ORIGINAL location of Kentucky Fried Chicken!

It was a lovely and well done restaurant and museum, and I was happy to visit. My only regret was not getting a photo of the dining room employee, a mild mannered elderly man, taking out the trash & cleaning the dining room, who (in ALL of our opinions!) was the SPITTING IMAGE of Colonel Sanders, down the to the white hair and goatee!!

On the way back to London, we happened to see an abandoned business, that must have been some sort of repair shop … or … maybe not?

Back to the homestead, for more R & R, and before we knew it, it was time for DINNER! (LOL) We had a MARVELOUS dinner at C & J’s favorite London spot, Local Honey.

Saturday morning started off at the BP Gas Station.

Did we need to fill up, you might think?? Nope.

This wasn’t for gasoline … this was our BREAKFAST STOP!! LOL Get a load of this menu … Semi-Load, Full Load, Tank Topper, etc. You can’t make it up!!

But, speaking of gasoline … we were VERY PLEASED at the price of magical fuel, there in Kentucky. As I’ve been paying around $4.50/gallon here in NJ, imagine my delight to see this:

From there, we traveled to Berea, Kentucky, near the Berea College campus, to several local artisan type shops.

We were then off to our next stop. Skylar called it, “The Taj Mahal of Convenience Stores”. I’m not sure that I would quite characterize it that way, but a visit to Buc-ees was sure something!

And … although the statue of Buc-ee Beaver sits out in front of the main building, who do you suppose appeared, JUST as we walked up?? You betcha … it was Buc-ee Beaver HIMSELF!!

Soooooooooooooooo …..

Everywhere I go, I try to find two things: A representative magnet, and a postcard or two of the location. My cousin Mae told me many years ago that she LOVES getting postcards, and I make it a point to send her one from everywhere I visit. Although I found the magnet at Buc-ees, they did not carry postcards. Neither did the Artisan shops in Berea. Neither did the BP gas station (“Oh, we USED TO HAVE them!” said the cashier. D’oh!) No dice at every turn … nothing at the CVS, or the Wal-greens, or the Wal-Mart,etc. etc. Finally, Skylar called a shop called “DogPatch, and … BINGO!! They were getting ready to close, but off we raced! We walked in, and the proprietor warned, “OK, y’all, we’re closin’ in EIGHT MINUTES!!” “Where are your postcards??!?” I chirped, and finally struck gold at Dog Patch!

Here are two extras that I bought:

Ya done good, DogPatch!

And, as we walked out — FYI _3_ minutes later!! LOL —we were sent on our way by some original Dog Patch residents:

All in all, it was a wonderful trip. The weather was great — cool and comfortable, the company was gold, and I got to check off my 45th State!

Thanks again, Sky … it was a LOAD of fun!

(Well … it was either that, or “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” LOL)

Wrapping up this trip (WEEKS now since we’re home!), I am reminded of so many wonderful sights, sounds & experiences that we had!

We stayed at the famous Harrah’s:

Dined at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant:

Sang (or watched 😉 ) karaoke at the best place for it in town:

Had breakfast in THE most “Classic Las Vegas” location:

We strolled through “Venice” :):

We rode on the fabulous Las Vegas Monorail:

We attended Donny Osmond’s FIRST EVER LAS VEGAS SOLO SHOW on Opening Night!:

We rode the “High Roller” ferris wheel:

And we visited the Grand Canyon:

… All in only THREE DAYS! lol I have truly become the Queen of Hit the Ground Running on these quick vacations!

On our way back from the day-long Grand Canyon tour, I saw (for the first time) the face of Harrah’s, as seen from the “Strip” (the Main Entrance, which we perpetually used, was at the rear of the building.) At that moment, I recalled a photo that Donny Osmond posted to his Instagram account on the day of his opening night. Naturally, I had to take a photo in the same spot:

Although the juxtaposition of myself and Mr. and Mrs. Osmond seems like I’m with them at the same moment, the photos were taken 2 days apart. LOL Still fun. 🙂

The last question SOME asked, was “Las Vegas, huh? Didja win any money??” Funny thing: The result of the $10 we each got in Caesar’s Rewards Cash was the giant payout of 17 cents. However … when we were on the drive back from Arizona, I was playing the Casino game on my phone, and when we were back at the hotel, I said to Gerry, “Hey, ya know what? I’m feeling a little lucky. I hit on the Casino game for $223 million.” Gerry’s eyes went wide. “Not REAL money,” I added.

However, I decided to shove some real, hard cash into a slot machine — exactly one $20 bill. Here was my cash-out ticket:

Not bad! Additionally, 50 cents in a slot at the airport the next day yielded another bit:

In the end, you just can’t made me up. Net gains: 17 cents plus $165.59 plus $44.25 = a whopping net gain of $210.01. I’ll never get rich gambling, but it was fun to come out ahead.

And … as our plane was coming in for a landing in beautiful Newark, NJ, it was the sunset on a lovely vacation, and summer. See you next time! 😀

So … once again … I was familiar with neither the song (entitled “Grand Canyon”), nor the “artist”: Puscifer (whose name, I’d begrudgingly guess, rhymes with Lucifer) is described as a “super rock group.” WHATevs … if the lyric fits, blog with it!

In case you’ve not yet guessed … this entry is the story of our trip to the Grand Canyon!! Geographically close enough to Las Vegas to allow for a day trip, the Grand Canyon trip was the major event during this vacation to which Gerry was most looking forward; I would imagine almost as much as I looked forward to seeing Donny Osmond’s concert!

We’d been given a recommendation for a tour company … there are hundreds of choices in and near Las Vegas … and this company seemed very good at the outset. I received many update emails prior to August. The first several explained that the tour would leave Vegas at APPROXIMATELY 7 AM, and would depart from our hotel. A few weeks out, however, in my “IMPORTANT REMINDER” email, the time frame changed slightly to … “sometime between 6:30 and 8 AM, from a NEARBY hotel.” Ugh … this was getting a little more complicated. Every email they sent ended the same way: “We will contact you by 8 PM the evening before, with the exact pick-up details.” Fair enough.

Those details were provided during Donny’s concert, after which, when I read the text, I was less than pleased. “Please meet the tour bus at Treasure Island Hotel (about an 8 minute Uber ride from our own hotel) at 6:10 AM. If at all possible, please be 10 minutes early. The driver will make every effort to contact you if you are not at the pickup point, but may be forced to leave without you, if you are not on time.”

AWESOME!! 🙁

Therefore …. imagine my own displeasure, after we hoisted ourselves outta bed, and got to Treasure Island Hotel by 5:45 AM, when the driver of our van was LATE, and arrived at about 6:30. (For real, fella??) I said to him, when he finally arrived, “Traffic, huh?” to which he replied, “I couldn’t find MY PHONE!” (Those kids and their phones!!)

Despite such an inauspicious beginning, the tour did turn out quite well. We traveled in a 15-passenger luxury Mercedes Strider Van (a photo to a similar model below:)

It was comfortable and spacious. The drive to the Grand Canyon’s West rim is a little under 4 hours, so certainly comfort is key. Sufficient rest stops, and food provided made for a very nice day. Less than an hour after we got on the road, we reached another of my own personal milestones:

Arizona! My 44th state! (Of course, our driver whizzed past this sign going about 85 mph, so this is a Google stock photo of the location.)

It was actually an overcast day, with sporadic rain showers on our way to GC. The “glass half full” of that (aside from NOT having to drive!) was the appearance of a gorgeous double rainbow, seen at our first rest stop.

Our fellow traveler, Brent, actually noticed the rainbow first. Lovely!

Inside the rest stop, I was not really surprised to see where our 45th President has retired:

When we arrived at our first location at the Grand Canyon’s West rim, it was the Skywalk area. Initially, as we approached, our driver gave us disappointing news: the Skywalk was temporarily closed due to the rain. We parked, and honestly, I will always remember the first moment I saw the view:

I find it impossible to “poo-poo” the majesty of the Grand Canyon. Call it a hole in the ground, if you wish … but it’s the most amazing hole in the ground on Earth, in my humble opinion! We’d just barely taken our first few photos, and our driver hollered over to our group … “The Skywalk just re-opened!!!!”

Yay!! I was truly looking forward to experiencing the Skywalk. We’d watched a video all about the Skywalk on the trip out, and any concerns I had about weight limits on the thing were securely put to rest, and learning about the design and construction was absolutely fascinating! In a sentence, Skywalk is a horseshoe shaped walk way with a glass floor, that juts out from side of the Canyon. Certainly — with that glass bottom and 4,000 foot view straight down — not for anyone with acrophobia!

We generally enjoyed the Skywalk — me, more than Gerry, I think. He’s not afraid of heights, per se, but let’s just say he stuck to the side runners whenever possible.

OF COURSE, they have the prerequisite photographers, at the ready to snap plenty of photos, particularly as we were not allowed to tote our cellphones. (And … from a teacher / person of authority p.o.v. …. GOOD MOVE on the part of Skywalk. Not sure if that’s been a rule from the beginning, but there are dozens of gaps in the barrier for things to slip through.)

Our assigned photographer was a gangly hipster type, who seemed pretty much “over it”, and it was only 10 AM. He followed his script … “Put your hands up like you’re on a roller coaster” … “Put your arms around each other” , etc. And then Gangly Hipster said, “OK, sir, … now, pretend you’re pushing her off.” Gerry absolutely, flatly refused. Twice. Even after I said, “Aw, come on! It’ll be funny!” Nope. LOL Despite having the wind taken from his sails, Gangly Hipster came through with some nice shots. Here are the best ones:

We fell directly into the tourist trap of “Buy one for $20, or …” But, actually I feel it was a pretty good deal, because we could buy all of the photos, plus 20 bonus Skywalk professionally done photos, for $50 something. Might as well share the others, too … Enjoy!

(I know … you didn’t count 20 photos, did you? Some were so similar, I decided to give my readers a break. LOL)

Before leaving the area of Skywalk, we needed to take the obligatory “Lulu On Location” photo:

It was around now that we were socializing more with our fellow traveler, Brent. Brent was traveling by himself, and was a perfectly personable young man. I found that he not only looked a little bit like Jim Parsons (who plays “Sheldon” on “Big Bang Theory”) but sounded EXACTLY like Sheldon, and said things like, “I think I see a big whole in the ground” and “Imagine, all this time in the desert, and I haven’t seen one coyote chasing a road runner!”

Our second, and last, stop was another location on the West Rim. I’ve included a few more (of the best) shots, but before that, a few random observations:

1. The Grand Canyon is a stunning sight.
2. So stunning, it _ALMOST_ seems fake, even though I know it’s not.
3. I am _SO GLAD_ I was able to visit.
4. A two hour stop, to admire the scenery in the one spot, is way too long for me.

Here’s a very brief video of our view, from the outdoor eating area of the Guano Cafe. Brent (aka Sheldon) had just told me that he saw a lizard on the rocks. In retrospect, I wish I’d gotten more of his voice on record. Hilarious.

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/608400880

Many times some of these tours include brief stops for a look-see of Hoover Dam. Not us. We stopped to see grazing sheep.

I mean … I kinda got nothin’ for this, but the driver seemed pleased with his knowledge that the sheep regularly graze at this random park, and that they were not to be spooked or scared off by us. Hence, photographs. LOL

It was a really great day and excursion!

A wrap up to the vacation will close out the Summer 2021 blog in my next post!! Stay tuned!

OK, listen.

If you’re in ANY way, shape or form a Donny Osmond hater, BEAT IT! I’m not even kidding; this post isn’t for you. As you must know by now, I am a HUGE (literally) Donny Osmond ADMIRER, and some of my recent Facebook posts have been littered with some nay saying and nastiness. If you’re in the mood to make fun of Donny, or me for being a fan, gimme a break. Seriously, Bro, enough already!

🙂 Now that we’ve established our boundaries, lemme just say that attending Donny Osmond’s OPENING NIGHT for his solo show at Harrah’s in Las Vegas was PURE. MAGIC!!

As we waited in line to get into the showroom, a blonde woman suddenly crossed in front of us, followed by several suspiciously Osmond-looking young adults and children! It was Donny’s wife, Debbie! (Looking quite gorgeous as always) I actually said, “Hi, Debbie!”, which caused her to look back, and give me a double take … (“Do I know you? Nah!” LOL) Once inside the venue, I looked around to see where the family was sitting, and spotted some of them in a private box in the balcony:

Donny and Debbie have 5 sons, all married, and 12 grandchildren. They were ALL THERE, babies included! Donny posted a very sweet & amazing photo on Instagram after the Opening Night show, including the (as my Uncle Jackie would say) Whole Fam Damnly! (lol) Here it is:

The pre-show vibe was SO electric! I mean … the room was filled with die hard fans like me, all THRILLED to be in attendance at this very special opening night! We were seated at a table for 6, about half way back in the audience. Gerry turned to the one other guy at our table, and asked, “So … are you here to support, too?” His female companion declared, “No! He’s a FAN!” (I later watched a video of the personal Meet & Greet that Donny did before the show … and there was the same couple.) Don’t ask, BTW, why we didn’t do the Meet & Greet … it’s ALL GOOD!

Ohhh … the BUZZ was definitely happening! I was absolutely beyond excited! Although, due to Covid restrictions, you can only tell from my eyes:

In short order, the house lights came down, and the man of the hour made his entrance! I took a few videos, and found more online, and hope you enjoy!

Donny’s first entrance on Opening Night!

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/603414556

Very exciting!!! (Yup, that’s my “Whoo Hoo!” lol)

There were so many highlights!! One of the first things he did was perform a RAP SONG (What?? I know!) that included his entire 6-decades long career! I recorded some of it … the whole thing is almost 10 minutes long, but (natch) was already posted on YouTube! Both videos are below.

Mine (only the first portion of the song): https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/603410232

YouTube (entire rap):

Absolutely delightful! Donny sang, what he termed his “signature song.” I know for a fact that Donny went through a long period of time when he resented / hated? being associated with “Puppy Love”, but he’s come to point, I feel, that he fully owns it.

Here are a few more stills for you to enjoy:

Donny did an amazing thing in this concert. I’ve since seen an interview, in which he describes what happened next. Behind him, all 65 of his albums covers are projected. He invites the audience to call out an album, and then offers to sing any track from that album. In the interview, Donny says that when he presented the idea to his producer, it seemed like an impossible feat to accomplish, and Donny said to him, “Don’t tell me No! We can do this!” Aside from the fact that he says his band is mad at him for having to learn all those songs (and, to be fair, he does a verse or 30 seconds of the requested tunes), it comes off without a hitch.

I mean, REALLY!, what an undertaking! Of course, it was pretty hilarious when the very first request that someone hollered out was for the album, “Disco Train.” LOL

During the request portion, one woman who was perhaps(?) Special Needs stood up, and requested a song. She asked Donny if he remembered her, and he couldn’t have been sweeter to this woman, and replied, “Yes, of course!”. She also said it was her birthday, and he soon thereafter launched into his famous birthday song from American Greetings, inserting her name as the recipient. Here’s the photo I took of the exchange:

And here’s a much longer video of a few requests, which lead into this moment. His manner with her is one of the things I love most about Donny.

He came out to the audience for one of his costume changes, before singing another Osmond oldie, “One Bad Apple.”

Another of my videos here:

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/603417016

He did a “Mulan” segment:

He did a WONDERFUL tribute to Andy Williams. I didn’t get photos or videos … but that seems readily available on YouTube as well. I was sobbing by the end of it … good thing those tears dried up sooner, because he then launched into a tribute to his sister, Marie. Sweet, for sure, but we all know how I feel about Marie.

Near the end of one of most fabulous concerts I’ve ever attended, Donny rolled out on a platform, playing the piano. A wonderful ending!

Noooo! Please don’t bring down the curtain yet!!

We floated out of the Showroom (well, OK, _I_ floated, Gerry walked LOL), and I’d hoped to take a selfie with the cardboard Donny on the way out. (We were in the wrong line before the concert.) Unfortunately, the cut-out was put away by then.

We tried the following night … we’d spent a long day in the Grand Canyon, but arrived back at the hotel to mosey on up to the Showroom, right after the show began, hoping to meet up with cardboard Donny for a selfie, but once again, all put away. ::sad trombone::

A few days later, I’d been attending a writing workshop all day, and got home around 10 PM. Gerry said to me, “Ummmmmm … you have a visitor in the living room.” I was honestly feeling a cross between panicked and annoyed that anyone would have been visiting me at 10 o’clock on a Sunday night.

Until I saw my visitor:

Yup. Gerry got a cardboard Donny, just for me. LOL Oh, what a treat, indeed!