How I never saw...

some of the most beautiful places in the world...or how I spent my summer vacation...
Did I mention I'm Acrophobic, I had my eyes shut most of the time.

Walker, my dear 15 yr old son, has been the one in charge of our vacation destinations, he loves mountains ,water, treasures and much adventure, all wonderful things but in small doses, please?

Walker and mine tour guide and Bill


Here's a little of what my vacation was like...

View of the mine entrance


So DH and DS thought it would be great to go into a mine and so did I, what could go wrong? Nothing came to mind until they crammed all 8 of us BIG adults into a tiny little cage and shut the door.

The Tiny cage


Someone started shouting "I can't do this, I gotta get out, Stop!!!Let me out!!!" ...oh yeah, it was me...Apparently I'm Claustrophobic, hellova a way to find that out, who knew ?...SIGH...
Stay with me it gets better...

Pikes Peak or Bust
A view from the train station


Bill and me in front of a vintage train display, aren't I the happy camper?


I got talked into riding the cogtrain up to "Pikes Peak" (silly silly Flora )less than 1/3 of the way up I shut my eyes tight and didn't open them no matter how many oohs and ahhs!!! An image of the train tumbling down the mountainside kept playing over and over in my head! Mercifully we made it to the summit gift shop and I could open my eyes, I really didn't want to though...
I was in a quandry, should I stay or should I go,I don't know I don't know!!!My dh had to pry me and my sweaty hands off the seat to get me out of the train. Coming down wasn't much easier...No I didn't see that ride either.

The Cog Train


Curiousity got the best of me and I took a peek right about here, can you guess where our seats were...?


The gift shop


Proof he was there,


My fearless son


A magnificent view from the top


Some of the bravest souls or the stupidest, you decide...


A hasty exit


Seven Falls
The first falls and the steep stairs


We went to "Seven Falls", my dh says "do you want to take the stairs or the elevator "...uh, let me see, 240 steps up on those steep stairs vs elevator ,decisions, decisions...DUH!!! Once up, I just stayed away from the edge and did pretty good, Thank heaven for gift shops!!!

Us and the elevators


Billy the kid,he LOVES all this


Like father like son...Walker ,also in his element




Garden of the Gods



We also went to see " Garden Of The Gods " which is an area of gigantic rock formations clustered together, simply beautiful.,even though the drive always includes a journey over mountains no matter where we went,it was a good day and I was feeling better.

Driving up


Embarrassing moment for my son ( Mom,do you have to hold my hand?)

Practicing his pose


Bill and me


One more for good measure


Helen Hunt Falls
The visitors center


The next day we climbed up to see "Helen Hunt Falls", no elevators here.



Walker and Bill at the top


Walker and me at the bottom


Ever the thoughtful man, my dh took a "short cut" on the drive out, because
it was supposed to be a less traumatic way down for me,yeah right... Bill didn't you say it was going to take us down,I'm no rocket scientists but aren't we going up? Bill this is an awfully narrow road are you sure it's a one way? Yes I think so...Bill isn't that car headed toward us??!!!!
Now we were in a pickup, at the VERY edge of a VERY, VERY high mountain with NO RAIL and no where to go, so we stopped to let the other driver get around us.
Afterall he was on the mountain side with plenty of room , but it became quite obvious that he was highly offended that he had to be the one to do that, because as he drove by us that SOB flicked us off .... My son was in the front seat with his dad.

A view from our side


one more


No this one wasn't the SOB, but it was the 4th car we had to drive by and the 3rd tunnel,very scary for all of us.


A shot of the last tunnel on our way down.

Just when I thought it was over...

The Royal Gorge Bridge


DH and DS had saved the best for last " The Royal Gorge Bridge" The world's highest Suspension Bridge that hangs 1,053 feet high and spans a quarter mile across the canyon " I know because that's what the brochure said.
And were it not for the fact that our pockets were very light by this time,(Thank you lord) I do believe I would have more to tell...
So they had to pacify themselves with pictures.

Fantastic isn't it


Some people were quite adventurous/insane, this "swing" is on one side of the bridge and the person in it was swinging it so unbelievably high...


Something to remember


I just want to go home...


Despite my fears and mishaps, I can honestly say we did have a wonderful time and it was indeed a great adventure with treasured memories that will last a lifetime, and as always the time went by way too fast( although sometimes it did feel like an eternity )and we headed home.
If you ever get a chance to travel, I say there's no place like America for that and I highly recommend you do it with eyes wide open!!!

Last year we saw the Carolinas, this year it was Colorado, I am starting to see a theme here and it makes me kinda nervous about next year, especially since I overheard Bill and Walker discussing the Grand Canyon!!!?

I guess there's a reason I was born in Texas and if I look on the bright side at least I'll have a whole year to recuperate...


Blessings,Flora

Home again, home again.....

Jiggity jig!!! Well I didn't go to market but I did go on vacation then I had to rest up from my vacation???? Seriously I got a nasty bug and am on antibiotics, today is the only day that I actually felt human again...
I had so enjoyed my trip to the Smokey Mountain area of North Carolina, I hope I got that right? The days were cool and nights glorious!!! I couldn't belive it was August and I was wearing a light sweater!!!

One view of the breathtaking scenery as we drove up a mountainside...yeah I was dizzy the whole time!!!


What is that crude saying I was so scared " You couldn't get a pin up my be....?"
That's exactly how I felt here and my dh Bill ( with his "ZZ TOP" facial hair)
held on to me very tightly, I made sure!!!



We saw this waterfall as we drove on said mountainside and went in for a closer look..



My dh and 14 yr old son who LOVES these kind of trips, we went diamond hunting in Arkansas last year, he planned this trip out with a little help from his dad.
No we didn't find any diamonds...



This waterfall was a tourist attraction and had rails and a trail


Bill and me





I almost didn't want to come home but in the end I was ready to get back home, then I got sick....
One of the things we did was hunt for gems we found several stones from citrine to sapphires to rubies and emeralds.Here is some information about the area we were vacationing in..http://pakasdollmaker.com/gemmining.html.
I'm told that this little gem is a natural ruby, it looks like a rock to me and I
almost threw it away, we found it in "Mason Mines" still not so sure...

Here is the " Ruby " at the " Mason Mines"


Here we are slooching for gems at the " Mason Mines "


This creek is at " Hiddennite " my son saw this on the discovery channel
we found a lot of pretty sapphires and emeralds here and the water was ice cold!!!



More slooching...


On the last leg of our trip, we are at " Myrtle Beach " finally and just too
darn hot for me!!! We saw all sorts of tanned people, some looked like they
had been over baked, possible downright burned and leathery raisins to boot UGH!!!!
Definitely not my kinda vacation, we met the nicest folk there too though.



My son with his metal detector, he is so funny he thought he was going to find treasures for sure!!!


Only 6 cents.....


The last night before heading home we found this quaint little area waaaaaaaayyy down
the road and a wonderful little hole in the wall with great food.


Another shot


Now to recuperate from Bill and Flora's excellent adventure..
Blessings,Flora