Old Tucson Stagecoach

Okay, we really have been remiss in posting about all of our travels over the past couple of months, but we have an excuse . . . . our ISP is acting up, making it difficult to download pictures and especially videos, which we try to make because we have so many pictures. Anyway, here are some pictures of our recent trip to Arizona. the last day we were there we all loaded up and went to the Old Tucson Studios. What a great adventure! TVH was in his element, loving pretty much everything about the place - particularly the trains. I have broken up the day into smaller blogs in an attempt to bribe myself to get it done by breaking it up into smaller pieces.

Obviously the greatest thing for the MT grandparents & us was to see the delight in our grandson's face as we did various things. He loved everything, but really got excited when we went on the stagecoach ride: "bumpy bumpy bumpy". Here's the evidence of our joy.

Petting the horses.
Pre-boarding photo op.

All aboard!

The gang's all here.
Another stagecoach, not attached to horses. Who is that man in the straw hat?

Inside. Don't be fooled by those padded seats, it wasn't all that comfortable. But surely better than buckboards, as you can see by the smiles on the passenger's faces.

Here is a video of TVH on the stagecoach ride. I don't think it downloaded correctly, so I may have to redo it later. But better to have 1/2 a blog than nothing . . . since I have been working on this for days already.

Blessing ME

This past week we made the journey to the Sonoran Desert to witness the blessing of our 3rd grand-daughter, and to hang out with some really fun folks. Here is the beautiful ME, showing off her stunning dress, with a really cute matching bracelet from her aunt. It went beautifully with the outfit.

Before things got started that morning, she took the opportunity to relax with her Montana Papa.

Did I mention that her mom made her some special slippers for the occasion? To show them off, she pointed her toes right on cue.

And here are the stars of the day - the pretty little ME and her gorgeous mother.

And one with the dad, of course. With all of the paparazzi hanging out that day, ME appeared to get a bit bored with the whole thing.

Three generations of smiles.

The Crew.

The softer side of the Crew.

And TVH held still a couple of times and was caught on film; here with the CA grandparents.

I had to include this one to prove that she is already learning the fine art of rolling her eyes (particularly when listening to CA papa tell his stories).

At the end of the day, when it was time to change into her nighty, she howled like a banshee. I think she really got used to being all dressed up and liked it pretty good. She did look great. But the next day as we prepared to go to the Old Tucson Studios she was stylin' again with the blue hat.

We are in Iowaaaaaa.

Yes, just over the border from MO, where we stayed yesterday, and just over the border from NE, where we will be going - but not staying - tomorrow. But today we began early once again and off to Adam Ondi Ahmen. Unfortunately they were working on the road and we couldn't get to Tower Hill, but here is the view of Grand River Valley from the observation point.
Next stop was Independence, where we stopped in at the Church's Visitor Center (seen here in the background), and walked around the Temple Lot (seen here in the foreground). The little marker in the lower left corner of this photo reads, "Spot where stone was found." As we did not go into the Community Church of Christ Visitor Center (not shown here, but just off camera to the left), I don't know what stone was found here, but assume it had something to do with the temple lot.

I also took some photos of the CCOC buildings - this was one of my fairly lame attempts at artistic photography, showing some of the interesting aspects of what I believe they refer to as their temple, with their Auditorium reflected in the windows making up the glass front.

The final stop, where I got the most photos, was the Truman Museum & House. Here I am with Independence's Favorite Son.

Waking in one state - sleeping in another

Day No. 2 of keeping my promise to keep you all up on our travels home - kind of a death bed repentance sort of thing. I know we didn't do well during the first two halves of this game, but maybe we can make up for it in the 3rd 1/2. Today we collected over 300 photographs (hmmmm, maybe that is why I haven't blogged - I am intimidated by the need to go through all of my indescriminate shutterbugging and throw out all the junk). Anyway, here is just a taste of where we were today. We began where we left off last night, in Macomb, IL. First stop was Carthage, early in the morning.
Then on to Nauvoo for most of the day - how do you like this unique view? Did you know there was a clock on the temple?

And I'm sure all of those who accompanied us on our frantic trip 6 years ago (this one is no less so, by the way) will recognize this great house - of HC Kimball.

This is 70's Hall - the original Mission Home/MTC.

This is my sweetheart gazing across the Mississippi from the end of Parley Street.

And this is my mom just up from the river on the same street showing off her "white top".

This is the Patty Sessions cabin. The blue sign you see next to the door said that it is not open for viewing, but the little sign on the door said "open", so we went right on in. It is very small, but representative of what most of the Saints lived in during the Nauvoo period. Including HC Kimball, who only lived in the house shown above for 4 months in 1845. The rest of the time he lived in cabins and a lean-to.

After Nauvoo we headed on down to Hannibal, MO. It's not that far away, and was fun to visit. this is Sam Clemens' boyhood home.

And this is the author with a view of the Mississippi in the background. Note the island on the right side of the photo. I just finished reading Huck Finn, which begins on such an island.

After seeing all of those sights, we took off due west on Hwy. 36 and ended the day in Cameron, MO - where we will begin tomorrow.

Riding Off Into the Sunset

Today we wrapped up our delightful visit to Indiana. We were expertly cared for by Jeremy & Andrea, for which we are very grateful. We had a great time with them, and with Laney & Brooke. (more on that later) Tonight we drove to Macomb, IL on the first leg of our journey home. This was the sight of the sun going down. I hope to post a little each day, even though I haven't been so good about it so far on this trip. Tomorrow is Nauvoo & Hannibal.