CRASH!

Carol had a loss of concentration yesterday and pulled in front of an oncoming car which hit us broadside at 70 MPH The worst injury was a broken ankle on one of the passengers in the other car. Carol is pretty banged up. She hit her right knee on the steering column and it’s close to double normal size. She’s also pretty bruised from her seat belt. Our car wound up on the driver side so we had to climb out the door on my side, top.

We now have a rental car but may need to exchange it as I got it at the airport and as they cost more there our insurance company may object. Today being Sunday I’ve not yet talked to our adjuster.

We were there nearly 30 minutes before the first help arrived. EMTs from a volunteer fire company nearly 20 miles away. We were in an ambulance on our way to Missoula before any law enforcement sowed up. They eventually tracked us down at the Hospital and Carol has an Improper Turn citation.

So ends our little vacation. We may not get home ‘til Wed.

Tom

Rt 2 through Montana

ihe Northern Idaho panhandle is only about 50 miles wide so shortly after leaving Bonners Ferry we found ourselves in Montana where we would be for the rest of the day, and tomorrow as well. The first part of our drive followed the Kootenai River. We stopped at the falls and hiked in. It’s a fairly short hike but a truly spectacular falls. This is only a small segment of the whole.

After crossing the continental divide we stopped briefly at Loon Lake.

This is the middle fork of the Flathead River

Once out of the mountains we were on the plains. When you’re on the plains most of the small towns have an old grain elevator. It’s difficult for me to drive past an old grain elevator without stopping and taking a photo or three. This one is in Cut Bank.

Tonight marks the far point of our little mini trip. Tomorrow we’ll be starting toward home again.

Tom & Carol

Washington’s Grand Coulee country

Leaving Euphrata this morning we followed the Columbia River through the grand coulee country. The geologists tell us that at the end of the last ice age an immense lake was backed up in what is now Northern Washington and Canada. When it broke free hundreds of cubic miles of water flowed to the Pacific Ocean carving this country and the Columbia River gorge. While impressive, his time of year thee is not much color except the blue of the river.

Autumn began today. Some trees are already beginning to turn.

I decided to take a detour up past Grand Coulee Dam. In a park overlooking the dam I found this statue dedicated to the many working men who built it. The dam  itself is in the background.

We thought that we changed time today but the time line isn’t where we thought so we change tomorrow. That cuts tomorrow a bit short.

Tom & Carol

On the Road Again

Well, we’re off again. When we drove to New York way back in June we earned some rewards at Best Western that we needed to use this autumn so we’re taking a little drive into Western Montana. Today we only went as far as Central Washington. Tomorrow we’ll be in Northern Idaho; then two days in Montana. Back to Walla Walla Washington and home. We’ve planned about 5 hour driving days so lots of time to explore the countryside we’re driving through.

Today we stopped at some of the waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge. This is Horsetail Falls

We even went to the Stonehenge replica. This was built by the same engineering genius who designed the Columbia River Highway.

We turned North on Rt 97 leaving the lower Columbia. One hundred and fifty miles later we found it again. This is the Wanapum Dam.

Later we found another viewpoint overlooking the river. There was also an art installation celebrating wild horses.

Tomorrow we’ll be in Bonner’s Ferry Idaho. See you then.

Tom & Carol

Welcome to Utah

Actually we’re in Idaho tonight but I didn’t get a welcome to Idaho sign. This one is at the Echo Welcome Center as you enter Utah Southbound from Wyoming.

I love this welcome center. We’ve driven this road, in this direction several times and I always try to stop here just to drink in the beauty of the location.

This valley is a significant transportation corridor. Besides I-80, the Union Pacific main rail line comes through here. Driving down from Wyoming we met 4 trains on these tracks. Here an engine pulling a string of boxcars climbs the grade up to Evanston.

This is our last night on the road. Tomorrow we’ll be home and we’re both ready.

I hope you’ve enjoyed following our travels.

Tom & Carol

Backcountry Wyoming

Back when we wee in Colorado I mentioned that to really appreciate the high country you need to get off the Intestates and onto secondary roads that up into the mountains. The same is true of Wyoming (and probably all the other mountain states) A few years ago we drove Wyoming Rt 130 which connects at both ends with I-80 and loops through the Medicine Bow Mountains and gets close up and personal with the Snowy Range. It is 96 miles long and the ends are ~72 miles apart on I-80. Today it took us something over 2 hours to drive that 96 miles.

Tom & Carol

North Platte

We had only a 6 hr drive today and as we got our usual start at around 7:15 we were here in North Platte before 3:00. We checked out things to do in this area at an information center and picked two. Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard and an interesting antique mall.

Bailey Yard is the largest rail yard in the world with 312 miles of track and 766 switches. 125 trains and 12,000 rail cars are handled here daily. This is the visitor center tower that overlooks much of the yard.

The other place we went calls itself “The Bin” The owners rounded up several old wooden gran bins and converted them so each one is a little antique shop.

Tom and Carol

Across the Plains

A most interesting day…

It started off when I tried to give our GPS the address for tonight’s motel and it wouldn’t recognize the address.

Then later on this afternoon we drove through a really nasty thunderstorm. Wind and dark and heavy rain. I slowed way down as I could barely make out the lights on the truck ahead of me and I could only see about three of the centerline dashes. I-80 in Iowa is posted 70 MPH. Apparently some folks take that as a minimum rather than a maximum as I was being passed by lots of drivers going every bit of the speed limit. The only saving grace is that I was traveling West and the storm was headed East.

This is why they call it the plains.

Tom & Carol

Headin’ Home

We left Bob and Jen’s a bit after 7:00 this morning and headed West. We took I-90 as far as Toledo, OH and then dropped South to US 24 so we bypass the Chicago area tomorrow. Tonight we’re in Peru Indiana.

An observation: Sunday when we were driving South from Rochester on 219 we drove for miles through fully forested hills. No farms, no clearings, no towns, forest. This is not parkland or protected. It’s simply forest. There is a lot of that in Western NY. More than I remember and I was raised thee.

Bob and Jean’s grand daughter, Olivia had her 9th birthday yesterday. Most all of the family was at the party so Carol and I got to reconnect with several relatives that we’ve not seen in years.

This is the birthday girl

We didn’t stop anywhere for photos today. This is a grab shot out the side window. This building is on the Cleveland lakefront and I have no idea what it is. It surely is picturesque.

Tom & Carol

Scenic Drive

This lovely victorian home is one of the prettiest in East Randolph. Bob says that some years back it was for sale and he could have bought it for $9000. It needed major renovation inside as it been subdivided into apartments and had suffered neglect but as you see it has fine bones. Sometimes we’re just not in a position to act on the opportunities that come our way.

Another old barn. I think this has possibilities.

We ate lunch on the terrace of the administration building in Alleghany State Park. Under the umbrellas at the far end.

When the Kinzua Dam was built on the Alleghany River and created Alleghany Lake it inundated two graveyards; one in a local village and one traditional indian burial ground. Both were relocated to this site which overlooks the river valley.

Tom & Carol

Addendum

Ooops…

This is the photo that didn’t make it into today’s blog

Tom

Rochester to Randolph

Today, well yesterday as I’m late getting this up, we concluded the Sasha Festival with the breakfast session and then drove to my relatives in Randolph, NY which is about a 3 hour drive. Randolph is only about 10 miles from the small town where I grew up. Carol and I took a scenic drive through the country that I called home 65 years ago.

On our table at Breakfast these 4 girls had their festival dresses on.

I belong to a photo art group. We have a print competition at each of our meetings and one of our themes for this coming year is old barns. Perhaps I can use this one…

This little town is Cherry Creek which is 5 miles from the little town where I lived. Like many small rural towns this one is about dead. All of these store fronts re empty.

This old mill is just out of East Randolph which is where my relatives live.

Tom & Carol

Dress a Sasha

These images are all from the dress a Sasha contest. There are 6 categories..
Assembled by child (under 12)
Made by child
Assembled by Teen
Made by teen
Assembled by Adult
Made by Adult.
This year there are two themes
Dress up fun
Fun at Grandma nd Grandpa’s
so 12 possible contests.
Some had no entries and we don’t know the winners yet so here are a few that I particularly liked.

This last one was disqualified. It was too large and had too many dolls

Carol & Tom

Studio Dolls

The Sasha dolls that are widely collected are mass produced dolls based on the designs of Sasha Morgenthaler. Sasha herself worked closely with the companies in England (Trendon) and Germany (Goetz) that produced the dolls. The holy grail for a Sasha collector though is one of the dolls produced by Sasha herself in her studio. There were actually many of these produced, some for resale and some by commission as portrait dolls to represent a real young girl. Many of these used hair from the subject to wig the doll. Several of the collectors in the Rochester area have studio dolls in their collection. Tonight they joined in a show and tell presentation showing us their dolls and sharing the history. Here are a few of the dolls.

Tom & Carol

Something new at Festival

At BJD festivals they usually provide a few photo sets so you have some settings in which to photograph your own dolls. They’ve never done that at the Sasha Festivals; until this year.

Carol brought one of her Sasha girls and one of her babies. Here they ae in some of the sets.

I think this setting won the Dress a Sasha contest last year.

When we had taken Carl’s Sashas I took a few more of my BJD kids.

My kids are much lighter colored than the Sashas. One of the attendees saw my girl in this set and thought she looked like a ghost.

Tom & Carol

Boat Ride

Jim and Danicia have a really nice pontoon boat and today we took it out for a short sightseeing trip. We went to a restaurant fronting the water with docks to tie up while you eat. Really nice food.

Aaron, Danicia’s son, drove the boat. He works at a local marina and is a really skilled boater.

The girls all wanted to swim so after lunch Aaron stopped the boat and let the girls do their swimming thing. Danicia and Mikayla jumped right in.

Carol didn’t jump in but she can’t be around water without getting into it.

Lakefront property in the Adirondacks is prime real estate so all of the houses are really well kept up. They range from the relatively modest

to multi million dollar mansions.

A sightseeing cruise based in Old Forge runs through the lake. We met it a couple of times.

Tomorrow we’ll be driving to Rochester to register for the Sasha Festival. The next update will likely be in a couple of days and will cover some of our activities there.

Tom & Carol

A scenic drive

Today we drove through the mountains to Warrensburg. Had lunch there and then came back to the cabin. We didn’t push and stopped for photos several places. These are a few of the highlights.

Raquette Lake

Methodist Church; Warrensburg

Victorian era home; Warrensburg

Vintage lamp, seen in an old home; Warrensburg

River rafting  party; Hudson River.

Tom & Carol