June 16, 2010 Day 56 Cloudland Canyon State Park and the Canyon Grill

Posted on by June 30, 2016
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Well, almost 60 days and we are all still here and blessed to have had a great family experience traveling around the country. Today was a day to enjoy the Cloudland Canyon State Park in north-west Georgia. We visited this park back in September 2007, during one of the worst droughts in modern times. Of course what is Cloudland Canyon known for? Its waterfalls. And what do waterfalls need to survive? Rain.

We started the day with a visit to both the falls, which are creatively named Waterfall #1 and Waterfall #2 on the hiking map. The waterfalls are at the end of about a half-mile trail, straight down. I’m not sure why they post a distance on the trail, the distance is not important. What is key to surviving the trail is the fact that there are more than 400 stairs on the trail. They are both very pretty sights, and worth the stair climbing. One nice thing about this trip is that both waterfalls were active. On our last trip they were little more than drips. Once we get the pictures posted, I’ll post some comparisons in the blog.

Following the waterfall hike, we headed back to the RV for lunch and a nap (at least CurbCrusher napped, Lady and Little CurbCrusher played on the computer and sat outside and read.). The nap was important as we needed to be rested for our trip to the Canyon Grill located a couple of miles from the park. Truth be known, this is the real reason for our stop in Cloudland Canyon. On our last trip we discovered the Canyon Grill, and had such a great meal, we knew we wanted to come back some day.

The Canyon Grill opens at five in the afternoon Wednesday through Sunday, so we showed up at the door around five-fifteen so that we wouldn’t look too eager. Once again we had a great meal, Little CurbCrusher enjoyed the chicken strip appetizer and a sweet potato, Lady CurbCrusher ordered the ground fillet, and I had the pork tenderloin. As with our first trip, I can’t say enough good about the food, the portions, the value and the service that you get at the Canyon Grill. We sampled the deserts, Lady CurbCrusher had the short cake with strawberries and pecans, while I had the amaretto brownie sundae and Little CurbCrusher went for the vanilla bean ice cream. Everything is homemade, and Little CurbCrusher said the ice cream was better than Blue Bell (our gold standard (actually homemade ice cream of the kind cranked out on Aunt Pansy’s porch at family holidays is the gold standard, but sadly that doesn’t happen anymore and I’ve replaced that with Blue Bell)). I was not thrilled with the amaretto brownie, but that’s because I really don’t like the taste of amaretto, however it was the only chocolate option on the desert list. But if you put enough ice cream on the brownie before eating it, it kills the amaretto taste, and you just get the two best taste: homemade vanilla ice cream and chocolate.

Back at the campsite, we sat around fat and happy. We started a small fire in the ring to complete our last night of “real” camping. If we stop tomorrow night, it will be more of a place to sleep, not camp. This is the second time we’ve been to Cloudland Canyon, and I hope it’s not our last. This is a great park and a great place to be. I took one last walk around the camping loop after dusk, and the fireflies light the sides of the road like beacons, and it is just a peaceful, easy feeling (hmmm. That sounds familiar for some reason :-)). The only negative thing about this park is that it is so far from home, and that you pretty much have to drive through Atlanta on I-75 to get here. I think we may try running down US-27 and then over to Tifton tomorrow to see if that drive is any better.

June 15, 2010 Day 55 Jellystone to the Canyon in the Clouds

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Well Lady CurbCrusher tired of writing every day, and we’re only a couple of days from home. So it looks like I’ll have to take over the day to day blog for the last couple of days of the trip. We’re still on a limited bandwidth wi-fi, so no pictures until we get back home.

We woke up in Jellystone Mammoth Cave, not only the worst RV parking (yes even worse than the Walmart parking lot back in Winslow) on this trip, but the most over-priced and overrated also. Imagine if you’re going to build an RV park, so you find a nice steep hill. Then when placing the RV sites you have a choice, you could put them parallel to slope of the hill, so that one side would be up and the other low, or you could put them perpendicular to the slope of the hill so that the front would be lower than the back. Or, you do what the Jellystone people did and put them on about a 45 degree angle to the slope of the hill so that there is no way in Hades that anyone will be able to level their RV. Then you have a choice where to put the sewer outlet, you could put it on the downhill side, since stuff flows downhill, or like our site geniuses at Jellystone have done you put it on the uphill side. The site was so unlevel, that even after moving the RV around on the site, we could not dump gray water from the tank, because the site tilted the motorhome away from the dump valve. I guess this is what happens when you let a cartoon bear design an RV park. All in all I was terribly disappointed in Jellystone. I’ve seen Jellystone campgrounds next to the roads I’ve traveled on for a long time, and always thought the concept was a great one, leveraging the most famous cartoon bear and his cartoon National Park with a campground. So I was really happy to be staying in a Jellystone campground, even a the premium price that Jellystone Mammoth Cave charged. As noted the sites were awful, there is no other way to describe it, and the atmosphere and environment were not much better. The campground was dirty, the sites close together. Our advice to you echos what we kept hearing in Yosemite and Yellowstone on this trip: STAY AWAY FROM THE BEARS. Yogi just can’t pull off a campground.

Once we got out of the campground, we headed south on I-65. We recovered some ground, the 35 miles from Bowling Green to Cave City, and then headed out of the state of Kentucky. We looped around Nashville on TN-155 and changed over to I-24 headed toward Chattanooga. Somewhere along the way we stopped to fill up and eat lunch. There are some hills to climb in this area, but I pulled up the elevation on the GPS and it seems that highest we got was about 2000 feet. Of course that’s nothing now that we’ve crossed the Big Horns at 9666 feet and the Continental Divide a couple of times at 8000+ feet. Just outside of Chattanooga, we headed south on I-59 for a few miles. We exited at Trenton and headed up GA-136 to the Cloudland Canyon State Park. We visited this park back in September of 2007, enjoyed our stay here and thought this would be a good last stop for our GART.

So here we are a little over 6000 miles and some 55 days into our Great American Road Trip. We’re about 600 miles from home and haven’t decided if that’s a one or a two day trip. When we leave Thursday morning we may very well get about six hours into the trip and decide that it’s time go ahead and get home, or we may just stretch it out one more night. We are one day ahead of our original schedule.

June 14, 2010 Day 54 Mammoth Cave and More Lincoln

Posted on by June 16, 2010
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If you are reading this blog please add a comment at the end. Let us know how we are doing with it and if there’s something you would like to see us change or add. My writing is usually several weeks ahead of CC’s ability to add the links and pictures. So check back later as well.

CC and I wanted to go on the earliest cave tour Mammoth had so we get there early and buy tickets for the 8:45 am tour of the Frozen Niagara. It lasts 1hour 15 minutes so it’s longer than I wanted but the shortest they are offering today. We end up with Ranger Mike. Actually he turned out to be a pretty good cave tour guide. He let us know lots of info and kept the tour moving along well. It was 53 degrees in the cave so by the time we came out the outside weather was very humid and muggy feeling. Mammoth is in the process of building a new visitor’s center so they have nothing on display right now. There is no movie until the new center opens. Just cave tours and hikes. The bookstore is also very small with not much in it right now. PTCC worked on the Jr Ranger while we waited to go on the tour and then finished it when we got back. We also walked down to the original opening. It was a nice blast of cold air coming out so we stood there for a few moments and enjoyed the natural air conditioning. There is a cave tour that starts from there but it didn’t run today, only on weekends. After leaving the natural opening we walked a short trail down to the cemetery of cave guides and looked around. Since we didn’t want to hike the trails there wasn’t anything else to do so we came back to Jellystone for lunch and then we took off for Hodgenville and Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace.

At the first stop we made we saw Lincoln’s Boyhood home in KY. This was where he lived from age 2-7 years old. They are in the process of updating a tavern that was built on the property after the Lincolns left so there were no inside of buildings to see. They have built a replica cabin on the property to show how small a place his family lived in when he was young. There is a creek called Knob Creek which we walked down to and PTCC cooled her feet off. We could walk all the way across it today. There was a story that Lincoln almost drowned in the creek because he could not swim and had to be rescued by a friend. It was hard for us to believe it since it was so shallow today. We then walked around the farm and property.

After seeing his boyhood home we drove to the Birthplace and watched the movie while PTCC worked on her Jr Ranger here. This will be her last one for our GART. I think she has earned about 25 or so badges on this trip.

They have a small museum here that has the family bible, the boundary oak tree ring, and a replica cabin interior to view. Some of Thomas’ types of tools are also displayed as well. After seeing the inside we walk down to the Memorial Building, which once again is being renovated. It houses the cabin that was believed to be from Lincoln’s property here but has proven to be just another old cabin. But the parks department has kept it as a representative of a pioneer cabin. Then we walked to the spring that the Lincoln’s used when they lived here called Sinking Spring. It is in a hole in the ground much like a cave. It was so hot today that that spring water that was hitting the rocks below was creating steam, since the rocks were in the sun and very hot. That was the extent of us seeing sites today.

CC decided to drive back by 31E and not the Interstate. So we got to see a lot of farms and rural areas on the way back to Cave City. PTCC wants to have Kentucky Fried chicken in KY so we will have that for dinner tonight to make her happy. Maybe we will hit the pool and slide when we get back because it is so hot today.

June 13, 2010 Day 53 We See Three More States IL, IN, KY

Posted on by June 16, 2010
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We leave early, of course so we were able to dump our tanks. We get on the road so we can go through the center of St Louis while everyone else is in bed or at church today. We make it out of Missouri before most people were up. Into Illinois we travel but we cut straight across on I-64 and there were no major cities so we got through IL in about 2 hours. Then into Indiana were we gassed up about 25 miles in and then after another 25 miles we drive to the Lincoln Boyhood Home NHS. This is where Lincoln lived from 8 years old until he was 21 years old. It is also where his mother was buried.

We pull in and the only RV parking they have is back ins. Since we can’t back in with the toad attached we pulled up to the curb. I went inside to get PTCC her Jr Ranger book so she could work on it while we ate lunch. After we ate we went inside and the movie was starting so we watched that and then toured the displays inside. On one side they have a large room with a fireplace and the other there is an auditorium much like a church set up with pews.

Back outside there is a trail to follow to see Lincoln’s mother’s grave and his father’s farm that has been reconstructed. We walked the path and it led to the area that the original log cabin was built, the CCC had reconstructed the fireplace and footings. They had an interpreter inside the cabin who told us a little about the set up of the farm. We walked inside the smokehouse and carpentry shop that Thomas Lincoln had. There was also a small chicken yard, sheep, goats and a kitchen garden. We walked down the path until we came to the well they used for water. And then we walked the other path back to the RV which had 12 stones that played roles in Lincoln’s life. Some of them were the stone from his birthplace, where he worked when he left home, Mary Todd Lincoln’s home, and the place where he stood when he delivered the Gettysburg Address.

After we finished the walk we got back in the RV and headed out. We thought we were going to stay at Singing Hills RV park tonight but I saw a Jellystone park on the same road that it was on so I asked CC if he wanted to camp there. Mostly because they had a waterslide. He said he always wanted to try a Jellystone but they were never where we camped so we decided to stay there. So about 2 hours later and finally in Kentucky we stop for the night at the Cave City Jellystone.

After dinner we changed and got to try out the huge waterslide. Unfortunately by now the sun is setting so it was not as hot as it was earlier and the bugs were out and biting while we waited to go down. CC videoed his ride and then took pictures of me and PTCC as we went down since he received his Olympus water camera back from the fix it place. This was a good opportunity for him to use it to see if it still works. After the slide ride we went to the pool but it was very crowded and no one seemed to follow the rules posted on the walls of no jumping, running, diving or horseplay. I had always seen the reviews of Jellystones so I kind of knew what to expect but it is very crowded and golf carts are whizzing by pretty quick without looking around them. Kids and adults walk in the center of roads so it is hard to maneuver large vehicles here. Most of the sites are very unlevel as well since it is built near a mountain. We are about 20 foot away from the sewer hookup and it is uphill from the RV. But we won’t be here most of the day tomorrow as will we be touring Mammoth Cave and Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace.

June 12, 2010 Day 52 We See the Arch and Grant’s Home

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We get up early and start downtown to see the Westward Expansion Arch. We hope we don’t run into too much traffic because there is a Susan Koman Run for the Cure going on today downtown at 9 am. They predict 70, 000 people at the event and have closed several exits on the interstate down there.

We make it OK and park in the garage. Our tickets we have bought are for 9:20 am but when we get there and through security we ask about going earlier and are told we can go now on the south tram. So we walk down there and have our pictures taken like on a cruise. Then we wait for the tram to come back. It runs every 10 minutes. The cars are tiny with 5 hard plastic seats in them but they let more than 5 people in them. Our car had 7 people. There was a family of 4 with kids as old as 5 that had to sit on their parents laps while we went up. It was a tight fit since the walls are curved. But it only lasted about 3 minutes to get to the viewing level. We got out and were able to look out the windows over St Louis and the Mississippi River. We took video and lots of pictures. The Old Courthouse was easy to see. After 10 minutes we caught the next car going down the north leg. This time we rode by ourselves. Then we looked around the Westward Expansion museum and PTCC worked on her Jr Ranger badge. They have several movies and a riverboat cruise as well as the tram tour. We finished up in the museum and PTCC received her badge then we walked across the street to the Old Courthouse where Dred Scott started his case about slavery here and went all the way to the Supreme Court with it. We took a ranger led tour here and then walked around the bottom and 2nd, and 3rd floors. You could not get to the cupola level though. PTCC worked on another Jr Ranger but received the same badge as across the street.

After finishing here we drive a few miles and go to the home of Ulysses S Grant called White Haven. This was his home after marrying Julia Dent, whose family owned the property, until they lived in the White House. We took another ranger led tour here. They let you wander around the house because nothing here is from the Grants. They had put their furniture in storage while in the White House and where they had it stored had a fire and everything was lost.

The part of the story that is interesting is that Grant was a staunch anti slavery person but he married into a very pro slavery family. He even owned at least one slave which he set free. His own father would not visit him at White Haven because of the slavery issue.

PTCC worked on another Jr Ranger and we watched the movie and toured the house as well as the museum that was set up in the horse barn that Grant built to start a horse breeding business after the Presidency. Unfortunately none of that happened and they ended up moving to New York and living there.

Next door is the Busch Wildlife area that has the house that Grant built called Hardscrabble that they only lived in for 3 months. The park is free to visit but you must pay a steep parking fee ($11 car). It looked interesting with different animals as well as the Clydesdale that Budweiser uses. We didn’t visit since it was getting late.

We drive back to Babler and check out the Visitor Center in the park. They have a great center with several displays of the animals that are native to the area. They also have a snake video but I declined to see that. When we got there a volunteer was teaching some kids about the animals in the area, I think they were working on their naturalist badge. PTCC doesn’t have enough time to work on this since we were gone so long today. We took a drive around the park and saw the area that the Olympic pool is in. The pool has been closed permanently since they could not afford to do the maintenance and upkeep on it.

We went back to the site and all of us took naps. It is very humid here and we were tired from the sun and getting up early. After we get up CC replaces our bath fan that PTCC and I bought the other day at Camping World. I am working on catching up our on blog and photos. Don’t know what PTCC is doing.

We’re trying to cookout tonight but the rain keeps coming. We have a 15 minute break before the next group of storms roll through. CC is grilling under the awning right now hopefully we will have cooked food to eat. I guess we’ll see soon.

We eat then take a walk, the rain has mostly stopped though we are still hitting pockets of it. We see a bunny on our walk near the edge of the woods. We come back and try to have a fire. The whole fire ring is wet though. We get a small flame going enough to have a couple of smores and roasted marshmellows then we quit and go inside. We need to be up early tomorrow to make it to Kentucky.

June 11,2010 Day 51…We Visit Truman’s NHS and Babler SP

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I could not sleep because of my back hurting so I got up to write yesterday’s blog. It started raining about 4:30 am and the wind was blowing hard. We haven’t seen hail yet and I hope we don’t. Bad weather is supposed to go on all day today. Hopefully it will stop soon.

We get everything ready and move out for St Louis and our next stop. On our way out we discovered that CC forgot to get the thermometer and so he probably ran over it since it was sitting on the RV tire. He says he has a plan for the next one. I don’t think we’ll really need it for the rest of the trip since it is now hot and humid mostly everyday.

We got to a toll bridge after going through Plattsmoth,That we had to cross in order to go over the Missouri River. This bridge was very low and not too wide and cost $2.25 for us to cross. We waited until the other vehicles had crossed then went down the center of the road as we thought we might scrape the mirrors if we didn’t. Then once again we end up in Iowa. Then about 30 minutes later we cross into Missouri, our 16th state on this trip. We continue on down the road into Independence, MO where President Truman lived.

We make a wrong turn into his Presidential Library (where I wish we could have visited) and finally found his historic site in Fire Station #1. CC was starting to get testy because of the small streets and having to maneuver the RV through them so it was good when we finally came across it. We parked across the street and went inside. PTCC of course did the Jr Ranger and we watched the film. You can get tickets to see the house but we had no time to do this on this trip. The site is very small and has a few displays so it did not take too long. We went back to the RV and had lunch, reset the car and moved on down the road. The rest of Missouri went by slowly, maybe because my back was in such pain. I tried sleeping for awhile but ended back up front talking to CC. I guess that was good because he was getting sleepy and was bored as well.

We finally pull into Babler SP in Wildwood, MO at 5:30 pm. Here you don’t check in, you go right to your site and the host will be around later to check you in. They only sell firewood from 6-6:30 pm every night. Our site is very nice though. It is shady and very wide with concrete and is level. Even the picnic table is on concrete. We have a water hook up next to us but only electric at the site. We’re tired so we watch the movie The Blind Side and hit the beds since tomorrow we have to be up early to go to visit the Arch.

June 10, 2010 Day 50 We Get Ready To Leave NE

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I got up early after the Weather Radio went off at 6:45 am. Thunderstorms are coming. So I got up and had breakfast and my coffee, then got dressed and started putting everything away that was outside. I grabbed our name sign and put it into the bin and stored my chair. Then I had to clean off the outside lights from the mud and store them. The only thing left is the bikes, but I will let CC handle them.

PTCC gets up early since the weather radio was on her side of the bed she was sharing with me and I made her turn it off. I must have sat wrong in my reading chair the other day because my upper back is really sore right now, it feels like I pulled something but I know I didn’t.

Right around 10 am it starts to pour so it looks like an inside day for us for awhile. PTCC wants to watch a movie so I said sure. Only she wants to watch one we’ve seen before but I veto that and suggest a new one. SO we end up watching Because of Winn Dixie. It was the perfect length because when it was finished the rain had stopped and we had lunch. PTCC then took off for the lodge and computer time and I finished cleaning up and getting stuff ready for us to leave tomorrow.

When I was done I took a walk around the 2 campgrounds and noticed that a lot of the sites have standing water (mud) in them. There were only 5 rigs in the reserved section of Little Creek. I tried to talk to the host over there but he brushed me off. So much for Mid western hospitality. The host in our campground has never said boo to us either.

When I got back PTCC was sitting on the picnic table waiting for me. I told her I was going to the lodge to check my email but she wanted to stay and watch TV, so I left without her.

About 4 pm we leave to go to Cabelas to check it out. We have Bass Pro but not a Cabelas at home so I wanted to see the difference. They had a nice animal display in the center but it was much smaller than Bass Pro. Very nice aquariums though. Prices pretty similar too. While there CC texted me that he was sitting on the plane and ready to go.

Then we left to go to Camping World. CC wanted to try a new fan in the RV bath and had found one in Council Bluffs. I had also looked up an awning screen that I wanted and it looked like they had it there.

I was able to find the fan. There was only 1 and the box looked like it was open so I wanted to make sure I could return it in Orlando if everything wasn’t there. I asked about the awning screen but they don’t carry the size Ii want, I will have to order it online. When checking out I asked the cashier where we could eat and she told me near Lake Manawa which is where we need to go next anyway.

So we end up at Cracker Barrel and have the sugar cured ham which is mine and PTCC’s favorite meal. After eating and browsing we drive over to Walmart to do our shopping before we need to pick up CC at the airport.

We finish up our shopping and while checking out CC has texted he made it to STL but they don’t have a gate for them so they are sitting on the tarmac waiting for another plane to push back. We finish paying and load our stuff into the car and head to the airport. We get there about 7:56 pm and CC has texted that he has just left the gate in STL so he will be late. That’s ok the airport is supposed to have wifi so PTCC will be happy.

We get inside the terminal and find out that they roll the sidewalks up at 7:30 pm. Nothing but a bakery shop is still open. Everyone except security and a couple of gate agents have gone home. SO we grab some seats where we can see the arriving passengers and wait. It takes the board about 30 minutes to update with the right time. CC’s plane was supposed to be in at 8:40 pm but now will arrive at 9:10 pm. PTCC entertains herself by playing with her Ipod and listening to music.

Finally about 9:20 pm CC is walking up the hallway. He was first off the flight. We get into the car and head out but he takes a wrong turn somehow and we can’t get on the road we need, so we are driving around downtown Omaha in the dark. Nothing is going on down here at all. No nightlife. After driving around for 15-20 min we finally get on the Interstate going back to Mahoney SP.

It takes us about 30 minutes to get there. We unload CC’s stuff and the groceries and get ready for bed. CC goes out to load the bikes since it is supposed to rain tonight like all the others. So we should be ready to go as soon as we get up in the morning.

June 9, 2010 Day 49 A Lazy Day For Us

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Last night we saw fireflies. They were magical seeing their green bodies lighting up. PTCC tried to video them but I don’t think she got anything that can be seen.

Today was a lazy day, this morning I biked up to the admin building to buy our tickets for the last play. Then we pretty much did nothing until lunchtime when we went to the water park again. Today is supposed to be the nicest weather day so it’s the one we picked to go on. We spent about 3.5 hours there and then went back to the RV took showers and had dinner. Then up to the lodge for computer time and off to the last play. Not much else going on. We’re supposed to get more rain tonight so it will be soggy and muddy again tomorrow I’m sure.

June 8, 2010 Day 48 We Take a Bike Ride

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It would be so nice if anyone who reads this blog would actually post a comment now and then. Even if they just post to dish me. That way I would know if anyone out there is actually reading it.

Well today we sleep a little late. It started storming at 3 am and didn’t finish until 7 am. So our site is once again under water (well, mud really). PTCC didn’t want to do any of the early Jr Naturalist programs so we waited until almost 11 am to go to the slingshot class. This time we decided to ride our bikes there. We aren’t used to riding up and down hills so much so we were really working to get there. But we made it in time. We got a new girl that had never taught one of the classes before. She usually works at the stables. It wasn’t much of a class, she gave us the slingshots and some beans and hung up the targets on a fence and told us to go at it. So we did for about 15 minutes.. I made a bet with PTCC that whoever hit the target first, the other would buy the ice cream. I won after a few minutes but PTCC wouldn’t admit it. She really is a poor sport.

After we finished with the slingshots we biked some more to get to the miniature golf course. They have a really nice course, as well as a driving range for real golfers. We didn’t keep score but PTCC was getting frustrated because I hit 2 holes in one during the game and she was having a hard time getting the ball into the hole. She kept chipping it off the tee pad into the grass. She improved during the game and finally got a hole in 1 on the last hole but her attitude didn’t improve.

We biked back and had lunch and then she went off to the lodge to do Spanish and surf the web while I sat outside and read a book. After an hour she came back and just watched TV until dinner. I think one of her friends is supposed to call her this afternoon, so if that happens she’ll be OK for awhile.

After dinner we take our last showers in the bath house. Tomorrow we will shower in the RV to load grey water. After the shower we sat on the marina dock and had our ice creams. It really is nice this time of day to sit here and watch the geese swim by. After that it’s off to the lodge to post this and let PTCC surf the web. I think I will try to have a fire when I get back to the RV. We won’t be able to have one tomorrow because we will be seeing the last play, and on Thursday CC comes back at night and we have to fetch him home. So I think I will take advantage of the nice weather tonight to have our last fire here.

June 7, 2010 Day 47 Drive Thru Animals and Spacecraft

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The weather forecasters said it would be raining early in the morning. They were wrong, it waited until 9 am to rain. We had a nice fire last night and burned all the wood that had been left by a previous camper. We even sent a picture to CC so he wouldn’t feel left out. PTCC called her grandparents and talked to them for a long time. She says she isn’t homesick anymore and wants to continue traveling. I don’t think I will go with her. It’s almost time to go home. We have a few stops left to make and then we’ll be there.

So the plan for today was to go to the wildlife safari. We waited until about 10:30 am to go and most of the rain had blown over by then. The safari had most of the animals we had already seen except for the wolves. We get there and pull up to the window to pay. For both of us it was $10. We aren’t allowed out of the car until we get to the wolf section and then again at the end, where the visitor center is located.

We start on our trek at 7 mph and the first thing we get to see is the elk. There are a few standing right next to the road but the funny ones were the elk laying in the grass. The grass is so high that you can only see their antlers. It makes it look like branches laying in the grass. They all had large racks with fuzzy antlers.

Our next adventure is with the white tailed deer. We come across a doe with her fawn. Since it had rained the doe was giving the fawn a bath. Another deer was down from them feeding and across the road the rest were congregating around the creek. Then we crossed the grate into the wetland area. This area has pelicans hanging around in a greenish swamp. Then we come to the wolf and bear habitat. We can get out here and walk a trail around their cages. After we cross a bridge we come to some owls on the side of the path. It was too hard to get pictures of them because the camera kept focusing on the wet chain link fence. The camera kept focusing on the drops of water instead of the animals.

Next we came to the American Black Bear. We only saw 1 in the cage and it didn’t want to walk closer to us so we got pictures of it cleaning itself in the corner. The habitat was actually pretty large so there could have been others hiding in the woods. We keep walking and come to the wolf habitat.

At first we didn’t see anything but then a wolf darts out from the treeline and comes closer to us. The first one we see is carrying either bones or sticks in its mouth. Then we see another one following the first, it looks like it has yellowish eyes and grey fur. We are standing on a platform above them so they walk right under us and come out on the other side. We then take a path and find another wolf laying right next to the fence like it’s sleeping but its eyes are blinking. I remember reading about the pecking order of wolves in West Yellowstone so this might be a beta wolf. It looks like the lowest of the pecking order, since it is by itself and not with the pack.

We then walk the path and since it has rained it is very muddy. This mud is like wet clay, not like mud in FL. This kind tries to suck the shoes off of your feet each time you try to take a step. Also the path is steep so we’re sliding at the same time as slipping in the mud. It is sticking to our shoes and we’re kind of hydroplaning over it. Finally we see the parking lot again and scrap the mud off of our shoes and get into the car to see the back side of the wetlands. This time we see swans, Canadian geese, and the smallest sandhill cranes I’ve ever seen. Ours in FL are sometimes as tall as an adult. These looked like babies and when I asked in the visitor center I was told they are adults. They just seemed SO small. We also saw some kind of small duck with babies swimming in the pond.

Our next path leads to 2 pronghorn antelope. These were the only 2 we saw in the park. If they have more they must have been hiding in the woods because we never saw any more. The last animals to see were the bison. They were all laying down under a grove of trees trying to stay out of the rain. Since we’ve seen so many on this trip we didn’t linger here. We drive back to the visitor center where they have toads, frogs, turtles, and many varieties of snakes inside. Then we walked around outside and saw a bobcat, bald eagles, and a swift fox. It had started to rain again so we headed back to the car and Mahoney park for lunch.

After eating lunch we head out again to the Strategic Air Command center. It is next door to Mahoney State Park. When I asked the cashier why it was here he told me the aircraft used to be about 30 miles away at an Air Force base but they were deteriorating outside and the government said they would remove them and send them elsewhere if they weren’t kept inside. So the locals raised $30 million to house the exhibits, and now most are inside. This wasn’t as exciting for PTCC and myself because we’ve been to Cape Kennedy many times but more than that: CC is from Pensacola so every time we visit he drags us to the PNS Naval air station and their museum which is very nice. As well as we have visited the Smithsonian Museum in DC. So this is not the highlight of our trip but we go and take pictures and video for CC so he can enjoy seeing it too. It is about f1/4 of the size of PNAS so we finish in about an hour. I can’t tell you what the highlights are because to tell the truth, I don’t care. They had some really large aircraft with wingspans that went from one side of the building to the other. But you couldn’t go into any of them and could only see the bomb bay on one of them. Most were too high in the air from the ground level to be able to see the pilot’s areas if they were clear. They also had a restoration area where they were working on 2 aircraft.

After finishing at SAC we go back to the park to take a rest and the sun is finally coming out. We drive through all the campgrounds and see most of the sites are empty. The Little Creek campground looks like they will lose most of their people on Wednesday. We still have the same 5 campers and we will lose 1 today.

Our site is covered in water and mud. We can’t get into the bins unless we step in slimy mud. Every site in this park is unlevel with a lot of water standing in them.

For the rest of the day we have no plans. I think we will go up to the lodge to check emails and play on the computers later but that is probably all we will do for the rest of the day. I asked PTCC if she wanted to do any Jr Naturalist stuff and she told me no.

Well we ended up at the indoor playground around 4 pm. This place smells like dirty shoes. I guess because they do ice skating in the winter so they have all those stinky boots to store the rest of the year. Also in the indoor playground you can’t wear shoes just socks so more smelly feet. This is a huge gerbil tube thing that kids crawl around in with ball pits and slides and rope ladders. We stay an hour and while there CC calls us. He got the campfire pic last night after he was asleep so he looked at it this morning and wished he were here with us. I told him he probably didn’t since I almost bought it this morning when I steeped off the RV stairs into slick mud nearly falling and busting my hip. So he agreed then it was better at home for now.

They also have a conveyor belt rock climbing machine. I’ve never seen one of these before. It looks like a moving sidewalk turned upward with handholds built into it. They charge by the minute to use it. I asked PTCC if she wanted to try it and she looked at me like I was stupid or something. So I guess not.

We go back and eat dinner, then feed the fish our leftover bread and take showers. After that we have ended up at the lodge to work on Spanish and general computer stuff. Tomorrow is supposed to be wet so I don’t know what our plans will be.