Last night we stayed in Lexington, Kentucky. This morning (April 9th) we heard on the news that storms were hitting the north with alot of snow and that some southern states were going to get hit with high winds and tornados. So we have decided to go further south then head west and go up to Lake Tahoe. In the south, we have seen alot of religious messages on the billboards and pro-life signs. I loved seeing the truck with the pro-life message.
Today we had our picture taken by Santa Claus in Santa Claus, Indiana. The town has a large amusement park called Holiday World, a campground called Lake Rudolph and a Santa`s Lodge with Frosty`s Fun Center. The main road through town is Christmas Blvd. We also visited President Lincoln`s boyhood home in Lincoln City, Indiana. His family left Kentucky when he was five years old and headed to Indiana. He lived here until he was 21 years old. When he was 7 years old, his mother, Nancy, died of "milk sickness". After visiting the memorial center, Papa and I walked to the pioneer cemetery where Lincoln`s mother is buried. From the cemetery, we walked on Lincoln`s trail to his boyhood home and farm. I thought it was great to be able to walk the same path as Lincoln had walked so many years ago. The walk was not to long but it was very hot outside...in the high 80s. At the farm, we got to see what the size of the home was like (a replica of the home and outer buildings), the fields, and the spring where the family had to walk to get water (it was a long walk from the home).
After leaving Lincoln`s home, we headed to St. Louis, Missouri to ride on the arches. The last time we visited the arches, we chickened out and didn`t ride up them. Our plan was to go up them this time but when we got there they were closed. We arrived there and paid for parking around 6:15pm headed over to the building when we found out that it closed at 6pm. So we paid $6 for parking and an opportunity to take this cute picture of Papa & Nana by a blooming pear tree. We stayed the night in St. Robert, Missouri.
On April 10th, we left Missouri which had temperatures in the 80s to Oklahoma which had temperatures in the low 40s. We are freezing here but the flowering trees are beautiful. In Tulsa, we stopped by to visit a Hard Rock Hotel. We were hoping that they had a Hard Rock Cafe to have lunch but they didn`t so we ate at Subway instead. I ate my first ever Subway veggie pizza. It was yummy!! We drove through Kickapoo Nation (too funny) and we saw ice on the trees in Oklahoma City. In Texas, we stopped to use the bathroom at a rest area and it was also a tornado shelter and it had a wind mill in the center of it. We drove late into the night and stayed in Amarillo, Texas.
On April 11th, we drove through New Mexico and Arizona. In New Mexico, we stopped at a small gas station to use the bathroom and buy some ice. It had a small post office and Nana mailed a letter. We also met and petted the cute dog that was laying down by the front of the station`s store. In Arizona, we stopped at a rest area that had huge rocks all around it. They were gigantic and I got Papa to climb on one to get his picture taken. Today we saw antelope in New Mexico and elk & deer in Arizona. We spent the night in Kingman, Arizona.
On April 12th, we headed north on Highway 93 towards Las Vegas, Nevada. We saw alot of flowering cactus while driving through Nevada. On our way, we stopped by Hoover Dam and Lake Mead Visitor Center. At the visitor center, they had alot of different cactus to see. Teddy Bear cactus was my favorite (it looked very furry). One cactus was much taller than Papa. They had warnings by the cactus that there could be rattlesnakes. Nana did not look at the cactus. She went inside to the visitor center instead. We stayed the night at one of my favorite places, Lake Tahoe. The Montbleu Resort is our favorite hotel in Tahoe and Nana had made reservations for us the night before. I was so happy to stay here. Nana ordered room service for us and we enjoyed a little night of luxury.
This was the view from our room. We were on the top floor (17th floor).
Another reason that I love this hotel is that they have a Starbucks in the lobby (yes...in the hotel...so wonderful!!). I got a mocha before we said goodbye to the Montbleu (April 13th).
We stopped by the lake at Zephyr Cove on our way out of town.
We drove alot of hours today (April 13th) from Lake Tahoe to Eugene/Springfield, Oregon. From Lake Tahoe to Redding, California, we drove through a very scenic highway. We stopped at a little rustic gas station near Shingletown to use the bathrooms. They had alot of different birdhouses and wooden art sculptures for sale. I liked the bears. We were also met by another cute dog that Nana shared her peanut butter crackers with. Also notice that today Papa did his part to keep Oregon clean (he is dumping our trash in a Oregon trash can). We stayed the night at Springfield, Oregon.
Today (April 14th) we woke up around 5:30am and were excited to head for home. On way home, we only made a few stops for rest areas and grocery stores. On this trip we drove a total of 6,473 miles. Wow!!! We are so grateful to God for giving us this opportunity to travel. We thank Him for keeping us safe and all of the wonderful memories that we made on this trip.
