It was the longest day yesterday and the sunset here at 8.20pm ! Much earlier than in Thornbury.

Today we visited 3 Maine lighthouses. All completely different and in different environments.

The first one was Pemaquid. It was built on top of long lines of rocks that were good fun to clamber over. There was lots of ops for photography and we had a seafood omelette here. Crab,lobster and prawn in a 2 egg omelette mmmmmm!

Grandad asked for a 2 scoop ice cream. We each got enough to feed a family! We learnt our lesson, only ask for kiddie size in future.

Next we went to owls head lighthouse. It was high above the path and had wooden steps up to it. From the viewing platform we were so lucky to see a cutter sailing ship with all sails full with the wind.

6 miles away was another lighthouse.Rockland Breakwater lighthouse We had a miles walk along a causeway across the harbour to reach it. It was good fun walking all the way right into the sea. When we reached the lighthouse it was too scary to walk up the steps as it was high tide and we didn’t risk falling into the water. Again we saw sailing ships and chatted to people who loved the way we speak! They guessed we were Australian.

A tiring day but delightful, we’ll sleep well with the exercise and sea air.

A market day tomorrow and another lighthouse or 2 xxxx

We weren’t sure about going to this botanical garden but it was well worth the money and journey. We spent 5 hours there surrounded by beautiful landscaped gardens with different themes. The children’s garden was sheer delight for all ages. We went for a long walk through the woods down to the estuary, all part of the gardens. There was a bus back up the hill but we walked back too. We are doing so much exercise!

On the way back we followed a track through woodland with our car to a little lighthouse. It was a mystery tour to find it.

Again we have warm sunny windy weather. The views are amazing over the rivers and inlets. We visited Brunswick too, the nearest town to our hotel . Photos as and when?!

Today we left the Boston area and took the coastal road north through Massachusetts, New Hampshire and then into Maine. We are now at Bath in Maine. All along the coast there are little and long beaches and inlets full of boats. Lots to see and take in. We are staying in the Days Inn Bath for 4 nights now.

I am writing this up this up but having probs uploading photos. So I’ll persevere and update as I work out what is wrong. I’ll keep writing my blog so wish me luck.

Another warm sunny day with a warm breeze again.

Love to you all xxxx

We set off at 8.30 for Boston and pleased we did for the traffic bothin and then later as we left was horrendous. BUT we were really pleased to visit the city, it was so lovely.

We went on the trolley bus for a tour of the city and all the major buildings and sites were pointed out to us.

Its been a sunny and very windy day; very hot but not humid like it was yesterday.

we had a lovely light lunch on the harbour front. I had a delicious chowder and grandad had mussels. Then we both had a salad. Im trying very hard to eat  healthy food.

We hope you like the photos weve uploaded. When we return to boston at the end of July we hope to visit cape Cod.

lots of love from us both xxxxx

This is my last blog post for this Manns tours event 😢 It’s 5.30 pm here.

We are now at the airport and because we were able to use our air miles, we are in the executives lounge. Free drinks and lovely snacks!

We visited a place called Loveland (yes really) and a place called Greeley on our way to the airport. This stretched out the time as our flight leaves at 19.40.

Our bags were not over weight as we feared and so we are relieved. 

We have both had such a brilliant time and now we have our memories and photos to see to take us back here.

What was our very best experience? Mmmm Alaska 

Mishaps? Yes I arrived in Phoenix and tripped over my bag and hurt my foot so I’ve been hobbling for 11 weeks. Much better now but still doesn’t feel right.

Best hotel? Cody

Best wildlife? Sequim Washington and Yellowstone

Best food? Last night in Fort Collins

Best thing to look forward to now? Seeing our lovely family missed you all so much!

Lots and lots of love

From both of us xxxx

Today after breakfast it was already in the high 80*f ‘s! We decided to go in the mountains where it is cooler and found a delightful road that followed a white water river and its gorge.

There was really only room in the gorge for the river and the road, and at times it was a tight fit in places. The views were wonderful but there were not many stopping places along the route.

There were many boats white water rafting and we stopped to watch some go by.

The river was fierce and fast flowing with white bubbly waves flowing over big boulders here and there. The gorge sides were all twisted with strata going up vertically at times.

A few anglers were in the water with welly boots up to their thighs and the water well above their knees.

We stopped at 2 picnic areas to take photos and spot the wildlife i.e. birds and butterflies.

I’m not sure if the blue bird was a type of jay. There were loads of butterflies around too and huge dandelion clocks.

So here are the pictures

 

 

Hi we arrived here early afternoon. The traffic around Denver was terrible. The drivers were so aggressive and we nearly had 2 accidents so we were relieved to get north of Denver and out of the traffic.

I forgot to say yesterday we were in the outskirts of Colorado Springs when a large deer decided to cross 6 lanes of traffic right in front of us. Luckily I saw it in the corner of my eye and screamed out. Grandad managed to do an emergency stop and the car behind us was far enough back to stop without hitting us…..so the deer survived for another day. It was in a housing and shopping area and totally unexpected to find a deer there. We put that down to experience. Do you remember we hit a deer last year in California near the redwoods?

We are chilling out for the last few days and not going to do much. No photos today. We have a lovely hotel with a swimming pool and hot tub to relax in.

All for now xxxxxx

It is our last full day at Pueblo today and so we decided to find the River Arkansas and its Gorge. The road from our hotel leads right up to the Gorge and we loved exploring the surrounding countryside. We found this tourist attraction over the Gorge . The Royal Gorge bridge. It had a cable car and ski lift and you could walk over it. ….We didn’t ,it was very hot and quite expensive so we took the photos and off we went.

 

Next stop was the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. It was very interesting. Giant redwood trees once grew in this valley and also it had been under the ocean too. I’m talking of 34 millions of years here. Volcanoes erupted and the area was covered in mud which preserved all the creatures leaves and trees. There were huge petrified tree trunks preserved by the volcanic mud.

For 200 years tourists plundered and took away fossils and pieces of petrified trees. It wasn’t until 1969 that the area was declared a national monument and preserved for the future. Now 50000 museum specimens from fossils have been recorded.

We were very hot and feeling breathless due to the high altitudes so we couldn’t walk far sadly, but we got these photos.

We headed for Colorado Springs and saw a sign for the “garden of the gods”. It was another breathtakingly beautiful place and free to visit. The red sandstone out crops were extraordinary. You could drive up and round the area of the mountain in a one way system. There were loads of parking places to stop and walking routes to view the rocks. We seemed to get another spurt of energy and wandered around. The balanced rock was amazing.

There were rocks looking like men and we saw faces on them in our imagination. All this is directly above Colorado Springs which is in the plain below. The tallest mountain is very important to the Native Ute Americans and is called Pikes Peak.

We are in temperatures around 100*f and at altitudes from 6000 to 11000 feet. We are finding it hard going and exhausting as you can imagine. “Feeling our age”!

We called in at Cracker Barrel for our tea yummy and now we are washing clothes and preparing to travel North again to Fort Collins NW of Denver. This is our last stay for 3 nights and then we will fly from Denver at 7.40 pm Denver time.on Saturday evening.

looking forward to seeing you all soon and sleeping in our own bed xxx

So today we explored locally in Pueblo. We went to see the state park at the reservoir and then headed into Pueblo down town. There was not much there in the way of shops so we had some strong coffee in a coffee house. We did not want to visit museums.

Next we thought we’d try Colorado Springs which is 25 miles away. We followed signs to Cheyenne Creek. It is a stream which comes down from the Pike Peaks of the Rocky Mountains. Pikes Peak is the furthest east of the Rockies Mountains and is special to the Ute Red Indians as here the sun rises first to shine o the Rockies.

The creek is narrow and winds right up the mountain with many footpaths leading from it all the way up . There are lots of sharp bends but no great drops from the road until we got to the top 200 feet. We stopped at the Helen Hunt falls called after  Helen Hunt who became an activist on behalf of improved treatment of native Americans. She wrote novels and poems.

There was an information centre at the falls and it was really  interesting to learn about the Ute tribes and their beliefs. I was also shown a hummingbirds nest again. Like the one I saw in Phoenix you could see the spiders webs it had used to hold it together. It is so tiny.

After our tour of the mountainside we went into Colorado Springs, We drove along the old centre and saw the older buildings. It is a town which developed due to mining.

So here are my photos and see if you can spot Grandma this time. Clue look up higher.

5 more sleeps until we get to airport for home xxxx

 

 

We decided to drive the extra mile to see these sand dunes. They cover 30 square miles and are at elevation 8,200 feet. The dunes are colossal and reach up to 750 feet high.

Many people were there as it was Sunday and Fathers Day so we couldn’t park near them. We parked about a mile from the stream which is at the bottom of them and granddad walked towards them for about half a mile but turned back as it was so hot.

There were people right at the top and some were sand boarding down them. They were quite extraordinary to see and pleased we went. My photos make them seem unreal but they are of different colours. No shadows at midday of course but couldn’t stay in that heat until late afternoon to see the shadows I’m afraid . Can you spot grandad?

 

 

Hope Matthew and Trevor had a good Fathers Day and Vince loved your messages. Thank you for your little video Louis.xxxx

6 more sleeps until we board the plane. xxxxx