Homeward Bound

 We said good bye to Mike and Marti Friday evening and headed west, driving all the way through Oklahoma in the dark, sleeping in a rest area near the Texas border.  We woke up to pouring rain which continued through our morning drive through northern Texas.  Entering New Mexico, we took an unimpressive walk in Santa Rosa, then decided to take a detour and enjoy Santa Fe, rather than Albuquerque.  An early check in to the reasonable Sage Hotel gave us time to walk the plaza with its Day of the Dead festival and our favorite Canyon Road stroll.  We also enjoyed a long walk on a city trail.  Dinner was and expensive disappointing Mexican grill.  Saturday found us driving south through New Mexico to Las Cruces and then west towards Tucson.  It was a stormy drive through southeastern Arizona before we arrived in Tucson and Jim and Diana’s condo.  We enjoyed the evening catching up and having pizza.  The next day we took a walk in Sabina Canyon, drove up to Mt Lemon, stalled through Agra Caliente Park.  Dinner at a good Mexican grill topped off a great day with friends. The next morning, we stopped at a Jiffy Lube for yet another oil change, and headed for California on I-8, through Yuma, then north to Indio where we booked a two bedroom condo in a gated country club.  It ended up being a little trashy, but all we needed to enjoy an evening watching election returns. We took a long walk through the gated country club and ate frozen dinners from the grocery store.  On Wednesday we drove to Lindsay, a small town near Fresno as a launching point to the national parks.  We checked into a motel and walked the town which appeared to almost exclusively Hispanic.  We ate at a Chinese restaurant.  In the morning, we headed for Kings Canyon.  The maps app took us through a long drive through remote windy roads (sometimes one lane) through some beautiful country.  Unfortunately, Esther got really car sick and suffered for a couple of hours.  We finally made it to the visitors center and found out that the canyon proper was closed for the season.  We did enjoy a hike on a ridge looking up to the canyon and some short walks to see the giant sequoia trees.  Leaving mid-afternoon, we made a bee line north, driving until 10pm and sleeping at a rest area near Lake Shasta.  In the morning, we crossed the Siskiyou’s and stopped in Ashland to walk at Emigrant Lake before making Corvallis mid-afternoon to start our grandparents adventure for the weekend.

Back to Fayetteville

 Before leaving New Orleans, we decided to experience a little of the city.  Since we were off of the ship by 9 am, we walked to the French Quarter and bought tickets for the Hop on Hop off city tour bus.  The city was overrun by Swiftys, creating long lines everywhere.  We hopped off the bus in the Garden District and enjoyed a quiet walk through the historic mansions.  Back in town, we walked through the French Quarter and Market before retrieving our car from the parkade and heading back to the Motel 6 we had stayed at before the cruise.  In the morning, it was back to the city for a visit to the WWII Museum for five hours.  We really enjoyed the museum and learned a lot.  We ate at a local hot chicken joint for an early dinner and hit the road, sleeping at a rest stop in northwest Louisiana.  The next day, we drove to Hot Springs, Arkansas and checked into a Baymont Hotel on a lake.  The National Park is downtown, and is composed of the old spas and hotels that accommodated the rich and famous in their day.  Dinner was at the old diner, McClard’s BBQ, Bill Clinton’s favorite.  On Wednesday, we drove the windy highway through the Ozark’s, back to Fayetteville.  On Thursday, we got to experience the Spero Clinic and watch as Marti went through some of her therapies.  The staff and patients were very friendly and we got to hear some more stories of amazing healing.  Lunch was at a delicious Khana dish at an Indian restaurant, and dinner at a popular taco bar, topped with frozen custard at Andy’s.  On Friday, we drove to Bentonville with Mike and Marti to check out Mars Mercantile and then a meal at Bentonville Brewery.