Daytona Beach, Florida

I thought there was alot of people in Orlando last night, but you should have seen the traffic this morning as we went by Disney World. Crazy. Now we are in Daytona Beach, in a hotel right on the beach, with a view of the beach from our room.

We spent some time on the beach, and the water was great!

We need a few more days down here to get the right look....Jesse??

There was also a heated pool that Sarah enjoyed more.

And now downstairs for cocktail hour!

Loisianna, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida

Yes, that was a long day. And our first day of really HOT weather. And you just don't understand how much more fuel the air conditioning uses. I thought I had a leak in my gas tank, as my "kilometers to empty" was dropping twice as fast as my "kilometers to destination". We were pretty impressed with the raised interstates over the bayous and ocean. Never saw any alligators though.

This is the Gulf of Mexico.

We stayed Monday night in Crestview, Florida. Tuesday morning we tried driving without the air conditioning for a bit, but that wasn't the plan either. A nice drive down route 19, stopped at a Kmart for shorts, and then found Donnie and Elsie in Tarpon Springs and had supper. We went into Clearwater for the night. The first room they gave us had faulty air conditioning, so he gave me keys to a suite. Upon entering that room, I noticed some luggage, and then looked over to the open bathroom door and realized someone was in the shower! I quickly backed out of there, and got keys to an even nicer suite. No, it wasn't a girl in the shower. Our next room had a "Sleep Number" bed, so I had fun inflating and deflating it for awhile.

Then back to spend the day with Donnie and Elsie. We had a great tour of Tarpon Springs, an enjoyable afternoon on the beach, and a great chance to catch up with our neighbours, which never seems to happen when you are at home.

Wednesday night found us just outside of Orlando. This place is a zoo! People, people and more people...

Meteor Crater, New Mexico and Texas

We stayed the night in Flagstaff, Arizona and were up bright and early Saturday morning. Just east of Flagstaff is a meteor crater that was made about 50,000 years ago. Huge.

To get an idea of how big it was, they have a cut out of a 6 ft. astronaut holding a flag on the bottom. It was really hard to see,and you missed it if you didn,t know it was there.

It brought back memories when you read the names of the early astronauts that we remembered from years ago.

Then on into New Mexico, and lots to look at there.

We took side trips on old Route 66 in both Arizona and New Mexico.

Saw this sign, but not sure...

And then into Texas, with cows, open highways and Montgomery County.

We spent the night in Buffalo, Texas, pretty much had the motel to ourselves.

The Grand Canyon

Pictures just can't do justice to how impressive the Grand Canyon is. We visited Grand Canyon West, on the South Rim.

I think seeing how small the helicopters looked below us, put perspective into how deep and large the canyon was.

I climbed up on some rocks and a fellow from Brazil took my picture. Sarah and I posed here with the Colorado River behind us. Directly behind the rock we are sitting on is a sheer 4000 ft. drop. It was amazing and frightening to walk on the rim and look straight down. Sarah wouldn't get too close.

We walked out on the skywalk and looked through the glass floor.

Even the drive out to the canyon was interesting, as we meandered through the desert and cactus. There were even cattle roaming on the roads.

Sarah was worried a rattlesnake would get her, so we had to rush this picture.

This was one of the Texas gates that kept the cattle in their proper places. It took quite a bit to convince Jesse that they were allowed to use a Texas gate in Arizona.

We thought of the boys when we saw this sign.

Breaking news at Home...

She was due on my birthday, but I guess that didn't impress her, so Arla Rose waited a few more days. Congratulations Dan and Katelyn. Do I get to call myself a Grand God Father?

And in the breaking records news is that while we are away, Jesse shipped over 4000 litres of milk for the first time ever. And he says there are 3 more cows going in the tank tonight, so he expects to set more records.

Grandma would also like to thank Jesse for taking her out for Easter dinner. Dolan Rd. Irving. Nice.

Arizona, Nevada, Hoover Dam, and then Arizona again

Thursday morning we left Sprinville, and were excited to find the speed limit was raised again. 80 mph or 127 kph.

We ran into a bit of snow again, but after we started to decend into Arizona, the temperature went from -3 C to +13 C in about 20 minutes. It was a spectacular drive downhill, driving with one hand and taking pictures with the other.

We took a side trip into Las Vegas, to look at the casinos.

On to see the massive Hoover dam, and a tour of that. It was crazy busy, and as you can see in the last picture, they are building an impressive bypass. We got stuck in traffic for 5 or 10 minutes, but the line up we passed as we left was at a standstill right up to the 7 mile marker in Arizona, so at least 12 km.

We spent the night in Kingman, Arizona.