"V" is for Valley of the Gods

My husband, Jim, and I traveled this great country of ours for SEVEN years in our RV. We saw many wonderful sights, visited famous and not so famous cities, and wandered through many a National Park. I have blogged through all our travels. I've stumbled upon the "Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2013". I decided to jump on board this crazy train and share with all of you places I have seen in my travels.

Day 22 "Blogging from A-Z Challenge"!

is for Valley of the Gods, Utah







We stumbled upon the "Valley of the Gods" on our way to Natural Bridges National Monument. On the side of the road we saw this innocuous sign 

photo credit

and decided to follow the road. What we found is that Valley of the Gods is a smaller version of Monument Valley.  It's a 17-mile dirt road that winds through various rock formations. It was like we landed on another planet - the only other person we passed was a guy by the side of the road who's motorcycle was stuck in the sand. Jim got out and helped him push it to the road. Other than that - it was desolate. The wind howled over the sand and through the rocks. Here's a short clip.





This is the road leading into the area.

That black vertical line on the right side is the antenna from our truck.

Sitting Hen Butte

I named this Monkey Face Rock

I'm thinking this is Seven Sailors

I call this "peek-a-boo" because the sun is peeking through the hole in the rock.

Sun "kissing" the mountain

Another mysterious and beautiful area in this wonderful world we live in!

"U" is for Utica

My husband, Jim, and I traveled this great country of ours for SEVEN years in our RV. We saw many wonderful sights, visited famous and not so famous cities, and wandered through many a National Park. I have blogged through all our travels. I've stumbled upon the "Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2013". I decided to jump on board this crazy train and share with all of you places I have seen in my travels.

Day 21 "Blogging from A-Z Challenge"!

is for Utica, IL







This small town of approximately 1,000 was put on the map when a tornado hit on April 20, 2004, killing 9 people.

Main Street has lots of touristy shops and restaurants. The large restaurant on the corner is Duffy's. (This shot is only one side of the street. Stores and restaurants line the other side, too.)

What would bring tourists to a little town like Utica? Well, Starved Rock State Park is just a few miles down the road from here. And many people pass through the town of Utica to get there.

We visited Starved Rock many times because we spent a lot of time camping during the summer in Utica over the years while we were on the road. Utica is not too far from where my daughter and her family live.

I love going to Starved Rock because the scenery always changes. We have been there in the dead of winter, in the coolness of spring, and the heat of the summer.

There are several paths to walk.

One may look like this

You will probably cross a bridge or two along the way.

You may see some of these kind of wildflowers:

or these

or even these.

And plenty others. Depending on which path you wander down, you will stumble across a waterfall,

or two,

or three!

The scenery calms one's nerves......

This is the actual Starved Rock, where legend has it that the Potawatomi Indians chased the Illini tribe to the top of the rock and forced them to stay until they starved to death.

Thanks for stopping by!

"T" is for Tombstone

My husband, Jim, and I traveled this great country of ours for SEVEN years in our RV. We saw many wonderful sights, visited famous and not so famous cities, and wandered through many a National Park. I have blogged through all our travels. I've stumbled upon the "Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2013". I decided to jump on board this crazy train and share with all of you places I have seen in my travels.

Day 20 "Blogging from A-Z Challenge"!

is for Tombstone, AZ







If you want to get a feel for a real old West town, you should visit Tombstone. 

This is the place of the infamous shoot out at the O.K.Corral where Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Virgil and Morgan Earp fought the Clantons and McLaurys on October 26, 1881.

Now it is a touristy town with most of the activity happening on Allen Street, which is about three blocks long. You are immediately thrown back into time with the stagecoaches, and covered wagons (all for sight-seeing) that traverse the dirt roads.

 No automobiles are allowed on the road. Employees of the local establishments are dressed up in character and can be seen both in the stores and walking the streets. It was not uncommon to see cowboys wearing chaps, holsters with guns, hats, or vests. There are many gift shops, saloons, and restaurants lining both sides of the street. 

I wanted to go to Big Nose Kate's Saloon but we couldn't get in unless we wanted to wait for over a half hour. Big Nose Kate is believed to have been the first prostitute in Tombstone. But her biggest claim to fame was in the company she kept - she was Doc Holiday's girlfriend. It seems ole Kate helped break Doc out of jail in Ft. Griffin, Texas before he was about to be hung. Together they traveled West earning money, Doc by gambling, Kate by doing tricks, and I don't mean by playing "fetch".

Big Nose Kate's Saloon was formally known as the Grand Hotel in 1880.

It is said to be haunted by "Swamper", the janitor who lived in the basement of the hotel. The basement, deep below the surface of Tombstone's streets, was not too far from the many mine shafts which ran beneath the town. Swamper spent many a nights tunneling an entrance from his bedroom to the nearby mine shafts. When his tunnel was finished, he hit the mother lode, accessing a thick vein of silver. What he did after hoarding his silver is unknown, but many believe it may still be hidden somewhere beneath Big Kate’s Saloon. Swamper has appeared in photos and has been seen roaming the halls, stairways and especially the basement. Some believe that he hid his silver in the building and returns to protect it.

This is the infamous Bird Cage Theatre.

Back in the 1880's this was a combination saloon, gambling hall and a house of ill repute. In 1882, the New York Times referred to the Bird Cage as, "the Roughest, Bawdiest, and most Wicked night spot between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast." It has been said that for nine consecutive years it never closed its doors, operating 24 hours a day. During this time period, 16 gun and knife fights killed 26 people. There are still 140 bullet holes through-out the building, in the ceilings, walls, and floors. Most brawls happened in the barroom, which has many bullet holes. One of the most brutal killings was that of Margarita, a lady of the evening, who was sitting on the lap of a gambler, Billy Milgreen. Billy's regular girl, Gold Dollar, entered the room, flew into a jealous rage and cut Margarita's heart out with a double edged stiletto. She fled out the back door when she heard that the Marshall was coming. No charges were pressed because they couldn't find the murder weapon. Surprisingly, 101 years later, the weapon was found behind the building and is now on display inside. 

You can tour the lobby for free where you can see various bullet holes and the famous stairs leading to the second floor. At that time, it was $10/person for the tour. We did not take the tour, but if we ever went back to Tombstone, I would like to see the tour. I think it would be very interesting.

Two other places of interest: The Tombstone Courthouse

and on the outskirsts of town, Boothill Cemetery, which is definitely worthwhile to visit, 

so see these graves, (shootout at the O.K. Corral)

or this one,

or this one.

You can see, some of the sayings are quite funny. Again, worth a visit.


And thanks for YOUR visit here today on my blog!

"S" is for Shreveport

My husband, Jim, and I traveled this great country of ours for SEVEN years in our RV. We saw many wonderful sights, visited famous and not so famous cities, and wandered through many a National Park. I have blogged through all our travels. I've stumbled upon the "Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2013". I decided to jump on board this crazy train and share with all of you places I have seen in my travels.

Day 19 "Blogging from A-Z Challenge"!

is for Shreveport, LA







We only stayed in the Shreveport area for a couple of days. This day was filled with all free activities except for our lunch. We visited Riverview Park, which is located on the banks of the Red River. What a beautiful park!

It has a couple of dancing water fountains,

and this one; both would be fun to run through on a hot, humid day, right? Or to watch children play in the water.

Speaking of water, this beautiful waterfall is also nearby.

These cool metal tulips overlook a 300-foot floating dock.

We saw many murals around the city, but my two favorite are these:

This one is EIGHT STORIES HIGH, and is entitled, "Once in a Millenium Moon"

This one is entitled, "Live Oak Avenue", 

which is a rendition of the actual place, Oak Alley Plantation, Vacherie, LA

photo credit: 

We found the statue of Elvis on Elvis Presley Avenue in front of the Municipal Auditorium, where the King performed on the “Louisiana Hayride” (radio broadcast) for the first time in October 1954.

When we travel, I like to taste the local flavors and food. First we dined on fried green tomatoes, a Southern delicacy. They were good, although I’ve got to admit, I’d put near eat anything that was deep fried! The tomatoes were deep fried, then a little bit of a cream sauce was dribbled over them, with chunks of crab meat on top. Delish!

The main course …. Why crawfish of course! Never had them before, so I ordered the crawfish special which consisted of deep fried crawfish with fries AND crawfish etouffee over rice. Etoufee is a stew with crawfish, vegetables, and seasonings. The crawfish tasted like shrimp to me. Thankfully they were removed from their hard little red bodies before being deep fried. The etoufee wasn’t bad, had a little bit of a bite to it.

The dessert was decadent – caramel cheesecake with Godiva chocolate – to die for! Mmmmm…..

Thanks for stopping by!

"R" is for Ringing Rocks

My husband, Jim, and I traveled this great country of ours for SEVEN years in our RV. We saw many wonderful sights, visited famous and not so famous cities, and wandered through many a National Park. I have blogged through all our travels. I've stumbled upon the "Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2013". I decided to jump on board this crazy train and share with all of you places I have seen in my travels.

Day 18 "Blogging from A-Z Challenge"!

is for Ringing Rocks






Eighteen miles East of Butte, Montana is a huge pile of rocks that "ring" when you tap them with a hammer. It is believed that the ringing is caused by the composition of the rock and the way the joining patterns have developed as they have eroded. What is funny is that if a rock is removed from the pile - it will no longer ring! (cited)

We stumbled upon this phenomenon thanks to the campground where we stayed outside of Butte. The owners of the campground suggested that we visit Ringing Rocks. 

It is definitely off the beaten path! 

In fact, the road cut across a farmer's land where I fell in love with this cow with a heart on it's head.

The road we traveled....

We had to drive for about 20 minutes and I was just about thinking we were going the wrong way. Then, finally, we saw this sign!

This is Jim hammering away on the rocks.

Now, if you promise me you won't laugh.....pinkie swear? You can view this video of Jim hitting the rocks. Just skip over the first part where there is a little discussion (ahem) about me not knowing how to run the video camera and Jim letting out a big sigh. That's the first 5 seconds. You can go to YouTube for more exciting videos of people hitting the rocks at Ringing Rock.





 As always, thanks for stopping by!