Joe's Retirement Travels

It's only fitting to take a break from this trip's physical and stunning landscapes and watching a physical sport, that we enjoy a more relaxing and 'refined' activity such as a traditional English Afternoon Tea.    Today we traveled to Denver.  Jessie reserved a table at The Denver Tea Room & Coffee Salon .. Ruth Ann- these pic's are for you . When Ruth Ann and David and Mary and I traveled to Sweden and England several years ago, we really enjoyed Afternoon Tea in London and at Betty's Tea Room in York.  You should too! Here we are .. ready for tea and goodies : Jessie had creamy Earl Grey (black) tea, Marty had peach tea, and I had 'Night of the Iguana' tea (black) .. it had a chocolate flavor.   We had a creamy butternut squash soup to start. On the three layers of the tower :  herb cucumber sandwich, roast beef & horseradish cheddar on a freshly baked roll, spinach tomato crustless quiche, cream scone, protiferole with s...

Whoa, sleeping in after two long driving days .. feels soooo good!   Colorado air is nice and fresh this morning.    Before I leave the historical lesson plan, I want to encourage you, before you head out on your next long drive, to pick up some resource materials so you can follow our pioneers, such as .. Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guides, like this one for Wyoming : Sunset on the Oregon Trail          -         image by Bart Smith I'll definitely be picking one up for Texas, since I'll be travelling smaller roads to San Antonio! I met Marty for lunch at the .. Back Porch Cafe,   biscuits & gravy  -  yummmmmy! We talked about his new promotion/re-assignment and projects he's working on,  our busy 2019 potential travel plans,  growing up in Decatur,  his parents potentially coming out next week, etc. The Colorado EAGLES hockey team won the ECHL league ch...

I made it to Ft.Collins!    What a day!    601 miles through very interesting landscapes.   What a joy to be writing this post, sitting in Marty & Jessie's dining room listening to Jessie play piano.    Marty is reading a brochure I brought back from Okinawa.   Dinner was delicious! A Buddha bowl consisting of quinoa, chicken, beets, chard, purple rice, and Tahini sauce. The morning started out in the dark in Idaho.   A benefit for me in starting out this early, is the searching for radio stations on the AM dial.   This morning I 'pulled-in' stations from Calgary, Prince Albert, Great Falls, and San Francisco.    What a treat!   This enjoyment only lasted a little while.    A not-so-great treat of early dark driving, especially out in the country, is the possibility of wild game crossing the road.     White-knuckle driving ensued as myself...

Hi!  Thanks for coming back to read about my travels.   This one is a doozy!   Estimated to take 41-days, the red line is the trip OUT, the green , the trip BACK.   approx. 8,000 miles It's been a very bittersweet preparation.    This is Mary's time of year.   Her birthday was two days ago.   My(our) beloved Mary would've been 66.   She would've been there with Jeanette and Matt to celebrate Cameron's first day of kindergarten.   She would've been in the middle of helping plan Moms' weekend with the Go Away Girls.    My hope .. is that this monster road trip will help me grieve and reconcile my ever present sadness and loneliness by visiting relatives and friends and places.  Ft.Collins, Albuquerque, San Antonio, New Orleans, and beach time at Captiva, FL. There may be a few hockey games to watch!  The trip back will have stops to visit and fellowship. What a way...