Day 3 

Never go to Syracuse

Today it is warm and sunny again

We decided to go to Syracuse to explore the town ……what a dump!

So after looking at the map we went to the nearby lake … again a bad idea

Then we thought to go to lake Ontario it was 31 miles to Fort Ontario at Oswego and that’s where we arrived in half an hour. It is amazing, the fort was built by the English in the 1770 s to guard the lakes and protect British interests. After the Boston tea party it was almost 30 years before the American flag was hoisted here. The English held out until after Independence Day thinking it would not last 

I took photos of the blurb about the history to save me writing it!

there was a cemetery with unknown soldiers buried there from the 1700s. The hearth is a memorial to all the women and children who suffered at that time in the civil war and french/ English wars

There were many birds to photo and the beauty of the calm lake scenery. We saw American robins yellow and blue birds and an osprey, many water fowl and the lighthouse and jetty’s in the distance. 

We drove through the town over the river and along the lake to the town regional park and stayed there ages in the sunshine we had such a lovely  and relaxed day there with amazing views over Lake Ontario. We drove back via the country avoiding motorways. It was fresh and green with small holdings and forests. 

Day 2 Sunday 11th May

We woke up to blue skies and sunshine with a chilly wind but not a cloud in sight 

After breakfast we set off for our long drive (half way to Niagara) to Syracuse. There is little to see here but we are using it as a stop over and to see some lakes.

We enjoyed crossing the Appalachian Hills they were covered in deciduous trees with black bark and we passed many small lakes and streams

Not much wild life a couple of deer and a few eagles soaring.

We crossed the mighty Hudson River and had a break there to view the naval ship docked for people to visit. 

On reaching Syracuse we found our hotel and then went into the town to have a dinner.

This is the Dinosaur Grill and we had a rib eye steak. Many people were there celebrating Mother’s Day in USA

Here’s just a few photos taken on route on my mobile phone 

Back in Boston Massachusetts

Day 1 Saturday 10th May

Yesterday was a very long day! But after battling the rain and wind (at Boston ) as the plane descended and circled a while. Then we had to wait on the tarmac until it was safe for the plane to proceed to the terminal. 

To accommodate the bad mist and rain they had changed the departure runways and so we had a little wait there.

This time our luggage was safely in the baggage area!

Again it took about an hour to sort out the paper work for the hire car…. 

Then sat nav was slow picking up the satellites…. It was dark and we did not know which road to go on … but eventually we got on track and 35 minutes to this hotel… 

Now it’s 5am and I’m wide awake and it’s still raining. More later as we explore Boston. We are shattered🥰🥰🥰

Today as it was raining we drove into Boston much easier in the daylight!

We got on the hop on hop off bus and had a tour of the city. 

We visited the navy museum  and went on a navy ship with cannons and sails 

We visited the scene of the Boston tea party. Only 5 people died in that “massacre”

We ended up on the waterfront and wandered round the quays. I had a fish food ice cream! Chocolate marshmallow and white chocolate bits mmmm 

At last just as we were leaving the sun shone for the first time and everything looked so different.

The carparks are very expensive but at the weekend it’s $25 each day that saved us a lot.

Day 2 in Georgetown Colorado guanella pass and the Georgetown loop railway 

It was temps in the 40*f s outside the hotel this morning… not used to that 

We had to buy another suitcase so we headed to walmarts along the high way.

The sun shone no clouds and it was soon into the 70*f 

We planned to do the guanella pass from Georgetown to Grant  up to 11669feet

(Georgetown is 8470 feet) well what’s a few more hairpin bends!

Do you know we had a lovely day amongst the aspen trees and flowing streams and a waterfall, lakes and autumn colours 

We drove up to the summit at 11,000+ ft

We also travelled down the other side to the junction with the main road. 24 miles in all. 

Back eventually in Georgetown we

Had a sandwich and a proper cup of tea at a cafe called Lilyannies. There are lots of craft and unique stores in Georgetown 

We went in the sweet store where they make all the sweets and they make ice cream …. So we had to sample😎

We went up to the station and lucky us again we watched the steam train set off and go over the iron bridge and up the valley and then saw the other train on its return. We timed it just right.

What a full last day. 

We’ve been warned to allow for weekend traffic into Denver and to allow time so we are setting off earlier than we anticipated 

But as our family know only too well we always arrive about 4 hours early!

(I’ll load some train pics up later perhaps tomorrow as they need resizing)

Turn in 278 miles to Georgetown from Moab 

We left the hotel at sunrise and enjoyed seeing all the rocks light up in the early sunshine rays, all their colours glowed red

A hot air balloon was ascending .

We passed the cars queuing to go into arches np and joined the highway 70

Turn right in 278 miles!

After 90 mins we stopped at a Starbucks

I’m longing for a Costa!

We have noticed lots of homeless people in populated areas begging for food. We have seen people living in boxes under covers on hillsides all the time we have been in USA

Now we crossed back into Colorado and followed the river Colorado The trees are showing autumnal colours mostly reds and yellows and the reflection in the river water are so pretty.

As the highway climbed higher through the mountains the road became a very scenic route.

Then we reached the aspens. With the sun on them too, they dazzled in golden beauty. We had 10 106miles of road works to negotiate at one stretch but admiring the aspens really kept us interested in our surroundings 

10630 feet  at Vail pass!

We stopped at copper mountain Leadville as the roadworks had  finished. There were pools of turquoise and navy water full of minerals as fishermen were fishing them. It is 62*f

Near to Georgetown we stopped at a rest area to take autumn pics. Well we heard this train and to our luck it was a steam train doing a loop up the mountain side

We raced for our long lenses but I gotst the best pic on my mobile 

Georgetown is Victorian and full of charm. It is set on a lake and has the loop the loop steam train. The autumn colours are stunning and there is a scenic route to drive up the mountain to the next town

We will send photos tomorrow 

Maybe we will see a bear at last?🤞

Day 2 Moab visiting canyonlands

Another hot day with no clouds just blue sky.

Today we find the needles, (fingers crossed).

Sunrise this morning was beautiful but didn’t photograph it sorry. I’ll remember tomorrow.

First stop Wilson’s arch

Excuse the sunglasses mine broke and these are our spare

Next stop the cathedral butte I think it looks more like the yellow submarine

Entering the road to canyonlands we kept stopping to capture the mountains and autumn colours in the valley. 

The valley is privately owned farmland. There was a gate and a small lake. It was padlocked but the barbed wire was down so we very naughtily went in to see the reflections in the lake.

Vince went much further away from me along the lake and he saw an animal in the water. It was a raccoon!

This is one of his photos…

Continued until we reached the visitors centre and found we took the wrong road yesterday 🤪

This time we found the view point to the needles 

There is an 8 miles hike to them but we have that a miss 🤣

We ate our lunch under shade at the visitor centre 

There was one more thing to do to see the wooden shoe arch.

On the return back to Moab the sun was high and it was 89*f there was more of a heat haze. We have really enjoyed the canyonlands. It has huge dimensions and you keep expecting a hoard of Navajo on horses to appear!

So onto our last hotel tomorrow at Georgetown Colorado. 

Moab Utah

On the route to Moab from Bluff we had an easy ride. There were only 3 towns along the route and we saw rock forms and plateaux between deep canyons

Autumn colours on the bushes were so pretty reds oranges and yellows

We saw white and red rocks then yellows grasses and shrubs on barren land.

Nearer Moab we saw many buttes in yellow and red and we passed Wilson’s arch again

We are retracing our journey here as the best next hop towards Colorado Georgetown. Then Denver airport Saturday

We had Italian coffee in a bakery shop in Moab. Whilst we decided what to do before we could check in at our new hotel.

We went to the information centre asked about gravel roads to the needles. He said it was paved all the way so our afternoon was sorted for us!

The rest of the morning we looked round the shops in Moab and bought some presents.

The needles: They are within canyonlands national park. We visited canyonlands a few weeks ago but not this side so it was all new to us

The road was very pretty we saw yellow and purple wildflowers and huge white rock forms. It was similar to Zion np but in our opinion much better. In Zion you are not allowed to drive through and have to take a bus. Here you are close up.

We stopped at newspaper rock and saw Petroglyphs. There was a small bit of graffiti but otherwise they looked very clear.

At the needles visitors centre we picked up maps but although we saw the needles in the distance we missed that road. 

We are returning tomorrow as there is so much to see and we had to check in at our hotel fairly soon.

Some photos I took in this area of canyonlands 

It’s like being on mars?

Also saw some wild turkeys

Goosenecks and other buttes in surrounding area Utah

This morning we revisited the twin towers restaurant and went into their huge shop . 

It sold only Navajo crafts and it was a wonderful display. Very different and although pricey it was good authentic wares.

We bought a few souvenirs 

At Goosenecks SP the sun was behind us and we caught different scenes 

It was 78*f I have to keep recording the temps as this time next week I’ll be in the cold and rainy Thornbury weather!

We are going to have a lazy day viewing the red rocks and the san Juan river one thousand feet below us. The river was originally on a plain but the land rose and the river remains below eroding the rock strata from millions of years ago. Look it up it’s worth reading

We went towards the valley of the gods on a tarmac road. It changed to a gravel road so we turned around. We got some lovely takes of the red rocks

and then decided to revisit The Mexican hat.

It really stands out from all the surrounding hills 

Today we wanted to scoop up all the remaining places we wished to visit one of them was the 4 corners where 4 states meet. BUT we turned around it was such a long road and not pretty. So we are back in Bluff sitting in the shade outside our room. We are going out for dinner to the smoke room down the road later. Xxx

I took some photos of the Navajo crafts to remember them. 

Monument Valley Utah

Last night we sat outside on picnic chairs watching the sunset and then the stars came out in the darkness. It was still warm.

We ate our breakfast outside too.

The town of Bluff says established 650AD

I don’t know how they prove that! 

So now we headed to monument valley.

East mitten, west mitten, each of the buttes has a different name. 

We photographed the iconic view where Forest Gump stopped his long run, a few more views and then went to the park entrance.

There is a visitor centre with lots of lovely gifts and a great viewing platform 

We decided to drive part of the dirt track along by the buttes but stopped by the first viewing park. The road was very very bumpy and dusty 

Hope you like the pics we got here….

We returned to Bluff for lunch by 2.30pm

87*f and very pleasant.

There is a Navajo run community restaurant and craft shop here called two towers. It sells delicious food with Indian corn bread. We stopped there for a sandwich. In true USA style it was 3 layered with meats and salad and fries. I had to take a doggie bag🤣

We went to explore Goosenecks state park. It has huge meanders 4000 feet down from the rim. We couldn’t believe what we were seeing! The sun was fierce in our eyes so the direction was bad for photos. We are going to return there tomorrow morning.

It was so funny a biker from Ohio got talking to us. He said yesterday he met a British guy called Ben (he didn’t know his surname )but he was travelling USA for 6 months and had just flown his wife into Las Vegas for a week to see her sent her home and continued his travels. Next question “ do you know him” 🤣🤣🤣🤪

So once again I’m sitting outside in the warm doing my blog and sorting my photos. Xxxx

Canyon de Chelly Arizona

84*f today and blue skies with fluffy clouds We are making the most of this sun before we go home to rain and frosty mornings😎

This is canyon de Chelly. We are in Navajo Indian country in Arizona.

Here the ancient pueblo peoples lived in the caves high up the cliffs. Also the Hopi Indians 

but before they even came people have lived here for 5000 years, the basket peoples lived high up on the ledges of the canyon. The Spanish conquistadors exterminated as many pueblo people as they found them in the canyon and hiding on the ledges. So merciless…The tall tower is called Spider Rock

So now we are staying in Mokee motel on the 191 near to monument valley. It is basic but clean and the only kind of accommodation available in this area. We are in Utah and so lost an hour again.

We have been worried about these 3 nights all holiday wondering if it was a mistake but to our relief the room is ok

Only one week left now but we will continue enjoying the experiences each day. Hope you are not tired of reading about our adventures xxx