WE......ARE......HOME!!!  Had an absolutely AMAZING time, but we are extremely happy to be home.  Thank you all for following us, it's been fun having you along!

sad moments

MB and I can't help but think about the recent tragedies in Orlando, and events in Letchworth.  Of course you can't compare the two only in that innocent lives were lost.   I continue to hope that the lives lost in Orlando was not in vain.   It is so sad that someone on the terrorist watch list has access to assult weapons, actually it is sad that ANYONE has access to these weapons.  Listening to Trump is like watching lighter fluid being put on a fire.  This man is dangerous!!

Hi all, we are in the windy city of Chicago and have been here for a few days.  We are staying in a Hostel because there were no campgrounds anywhere within an hours drive, and we've got enough miles under our belt we don't need to add any more! Yesterday we ventured out, took the train red line, and then a bus to the Navy Pier.  We spent the day there walking around and taking in the beauty of Chicago.  What a wonderful city!  Full of life and people out and about enjoying everything it has to offer.  Later on in the evening, we walked from our place to the beach and spent the evening sitting on the water watching the boats and people. The color of Lake Michigan is stunning, you'd think you were in the tropics.  Today we are meeting up with an old friend of mine from my army days.  I haven't seen her in years, so I can't wait.  We will be taking the Architecture boat tour of Chicago, all the locals say it's awesome. We are getting closer and closer to home and we are ready!  Can't wait to see everyone and our doggies!
Love, MB & Liz

 

 Our Hostel. (Chicago Getaway Hostel)

 

 Liz resting on the pier last night.

 

A little fella we saw in the river trying to grab some leaves off a tree. He was so cute!

 

Hi all, we are in for the night in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Yesterday and today we spent just traveling a few hundred miles each day.  The temperatures in the upper 90's is not conducive to hiking and sight seeing, it's exhausting just traveling in it!  We are in a state park and it's beautiful, a REAL campground, go figure!  Knowing we are heading eastbound is a welcome, we are on our way home!
Love to all!

Our campground for the last few days.... Heated Pool it said, Mini Golf it said, playground it said, free cable TV it said, and free Wi-Fi.  Take a look at the pictures, false advertising at its best!  Notice there are no swings on the swing set, lol. Now mind you, this is one of those lemonade moments, we made the best of it, laughed and had a great time despite the conditions! (we had made reservations the day before, so when we pulled in we just looked at each other and laughed!)  Oh ya, and notice the slam to President Obama on the door!  Liz wrote the proprietor a nice letter about that, I'm not being sarcastic, it was very well written.
Love to all our peeps!

Good Morning all!  Today is Friday, we are in Cheyenne, Wyoming for a few days.  Liz's sister and brother in law from Denver are coming here to meet us and we are going to spend some time with them!
The last few days we've been traveling through Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.  Now, I've always heard about the mid-west but until you see it for yourself, it's just unimaginable.  The most desolate countryside ever. That being said, it is also the most beautiful countryside I've ever seen. It does make it tough to drive all day though, and you had better be sure you have a full tank of gas because the exits are few and far between.  We've seen herds of cows running free, elk, antelope, but no bears, darn it!
We were stopped on part of the highway in Nevada for 45 minutes while the Army detonated expired explosives! I've got some pictures of that experience!  I'm thinking it was near that top secret "Area 51" military compound.  Kind of exciting! One night we stayed right on Great Salt Lake in Salt Lake City Utah, OMG....beautiful! I've got so many stories to tell other than the great places we've seen, but the great experiences along the way with the people we've met and the little unexpected things that happen along the way, they are priceless and humbling.
For now, here are a few pictures.  Love to all......(btw, we are homesick and miss everyone and our dogs tons!)

 Milly on the shoreline of Great Salt Lake in Utah. She wanted to go swimming, we had to talk her out of it because of the high salt content. 

Sunrise over Great Salt Lake.

 Bombs being detonated in Nevada, there were 10 that they set off.

Here is part of the desert we drove through in Nevada and Utah for hundreds of miles.

WE ARE GOING TO STARBUCKS FOR COFFEE THIS AM  YIPPEE

precious moments

 Hop on a plane, train, or your car and you can get to the Grand Canyon, San Francisco, Yosemite but there are some things that there are
no tickets for, no travel agency to arrange.  There are some experiences that all you really need is to be present.  I have had the good fortune to have had several on this trip.  Best of all you can't plan them, they just happen.
While spending a night in a non functioning "camp ground"  we were making our dinner of mac and cheese, peas and other left overs when two antelope ran across a road and stood about 10 feet from us just looking at us.  They were beautiful!  We kind of all were in the wild.  The field was just several feet from the car the grass was a couple of feet high and the trees branches hung just above the grass.
Any way I was glad that we were in the right place at the right time.  I am so glad that neither MB or myself feel we always have to be in the safe confines of what is expected.

Good Morning!  We spent Sunday evening and part of the day Monday at Yosemite.  All I can say is, OMG.....IT.....IS.....BEAUTIFUL!!  Trying to capture the beauty in photo's when you aren't a photographer is tough, but hopefully the pics below will give you some idea.  It was a gorgeous day and there was lots of snow, that's how high in the mountains we were, I believe the elevation was 10,000 feet!  We took a 3 mile hike down Merced Grove to see the giant Redwoods.  The 1.5 mile portion back was all uphill with a bit of rugged terrain, kind of tough for these old birds, but we did it and felt pretty good about it, lol! We left Yosemite Monday and drove for hours landing in Winnemucca, Nevada.  Yes, it looks just about how it sounds. 

This was me throwing my hat in the air as celebration of making it back from the hike!

Spent another beautiful day in San Francisco.  Today we took a tour of the bay on very rough waters and we got soaked, but it was so much fun!!  We went under the Golden Gate bridge and around Alcatraz.  Here are a few pictures.  Tomorrow we are moving on and headed to Yosemite.
Love to all and again....thank you for following us!

Arrived in SF around noon, set up camp then went to Fishermans Wharf and spent the entire rest of the day there.  Had an awesome day sight seeing, shopping and looking around.  People in California are very pleasant, the countryside is beautiful and the weather is very nice.  As far as states go...we like California the best so far.  Here are a few pictures from our day.

This is fresh baked bread, they make it in all sorts of animal shapes!

Here are a few pictures from along the Pacific Coast Highway.  We saw Zebra's grazing in a field and Elephant Seals on the ocean beach! (see previous two posts from today)

Well route 1 between LA and San Francisco is breathtaking.  It was worth enduring the switchbacks and narrow road.  We will be posting pictures of us cooking while at an overlook, I am so grateful to be traveling with such a free spirit.
  I have been in more restrooms than I care to be in, but I am very grateful that they are there.  Going cross country requires that one be creative in how they manage "activities of daily living" for all you medical people."  There has not been one bathroom in which I have not had water running down my arm to my elbows before I could dry my hands.  Why are the blowers and paper towel holders 4 feet above the floor??? I avoid the hand blowers whenever possible as they are so loud that I am afraid of loosing my hearing by the time I hit Rochester.   When I do use them it is usually to dry my wet sleeves.
  I am having such a good time and great experiences which is what it is all about. I love the USA. (except perhaps Oklahoma ,upper Texas, and Arkansas, for hundreds and hundreds of miles we saw nothing but nothing as far as the eye can see,)   However, in California along route 1 I have seen beached elephant seals, zebras, etc, along with the most stunning views possible.

Hi our faithful followers!  Just so you all know, we really enjoy all your comments and the fact that you are following us, it adds to the fun of our trip!
We are currently about 100 miles outside of San Francisco.  We spent 2 days in Los Angeles, we LOVED it there.  We went on a open vehicle tour of Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, the homes of the stars and all over.  It was AWESOME.  After that we strolled the streets of Hollywood, did a little shopping, and for those of you who know Kat Von D, we went into her tattoo parlor hoping to see her, but she wasn't there yet, darn it!!  Picture below of her tattoo place, maybe some of you have seen it on TV.  All very exciting.
We left Hollywood yesterday and traveled along the Pacific Coast Highway (RT 1).  OMG, talk about stunning, beautiful and just breathtaking, it was all of those and then some. Driving on the cliffs and switchbacks was a bit trying with Milly (she was scared), but we are becoming quite experienced at it now! We stopped many times along the way to soak in the beauty.  We put our feet in the Pacific Ocean (well okay, it was our hands because it was too cold, but you get the picture) So, we've touched the Atlantic Ocean and now the Pacific on our adventure. 
So today we are going to land in San Fran.  We plan on spending about 3 days there.
Here are some pictures of Hollywood.  I'll post some of the PCH on the next blog.
Love to all,
MB and Liz

Where the Oscars are held

The Lollypop Trees

 

Gwen Stefani's home

Kat Von D's Tattoo Parlor

Kat Von D's Tattoo Parlor from the TV show LA Ink