Final pictures posted~

Scroll down to the bottom and click on the link to view our final pictures. Thanks for tracking with us through this amazing journey!

Full circle~

For anyone who is still following our blog, I just wanted to share that we've arrived back in Fredericksburg, finally. Our official mileage for the trip was 12,208. We're both grateful for all that we were able to see and everyone we were able to spend time with. We are also very thankful for our protection as we traveled and not having any major problems with the car. Bastian plans to fly back to Germany on Monday afternoon, and if all goes well, I plan to go and visit him in November sometime; we will also travel to Bosnia together to visit my friends there. Thanks for tracking with us through our amazing journey!

Wyoming and beyond~

It has been a long time since we last made an entry to the blog-sorry about that! Our pace has been so rapid that it has made it difficult to keep up with this. From Wyoming we traveled on to the Black Hills of South Dakota and to Mt. Rushmore. It was wonderful to see that place, and we both considered it a necessary part of our North American discovery trip. The following day we drove on eastward and then northward into Minnesota. We spent the night in St. Cloud, MN the night before my friend David's wedding, and in the morning we drove on up to Brainerd to see everyone and enjoy the wedding; it was a wonderful celebration of Aani and David's wedding! It was truly one of the most lovely weddings I have ever attended. The reception went till midnight, and we headed then out to Emily, Minnesota to the Carlton household where we stayed for the following week; our time there was excellent in every way. We had relaxing days and fun-filled nights with the friends there; we were able to shoot Aaron's guns, ride on Uncle Steve's boat all over Ruth Lake, have a couple of game nights, and much more. It's always wonderful to see the guys up there, and it's difficult to leave as well. We left there and headed over through Wisconsin, and then into Michigan where we camped for the night in the national forest way up north. The next morning we continued onward and into Canada, arriving in Waterloo in the evening. We picked up my sister Deb and her friend Allison on Sunday, and so began our amazing visit there. The Munce family, all six children, their significant others, and my dad's widow, Joanne, showed us a wonderful time through the 12 days that we stay there; our friend Max Carney opened his home to us, so we enjoyed restful reprieves and good nights of sleep throughout the time there. We traveled north to North Bay, Ontario on the weekend, a five hour drive up, and visited our dear friends Jeremy and Tanya Lott and their four sons. Finally on Wednesday evening we drove Allie and Deb back to the airport, then returned to Waterloo for one more night; yesterday we left Canada, visiting the Niagara Falls on the way to Syracuse, New York, where we are currently. We plan to leave this morning and drive over into Vermont, New Hampshire, perhaps Maine, and into Boston. Finally we will travel down to Breaks Park on the border of Kentucky and Virginia to join my dear friends, Kevin and Pari Paluszak, for a few days before finally returning to Virginia. What an amazing trip this has been; it is nearly impossible to describe how wonderful it has been to have seen all that we have, met and spent time with all the wonderful people we have, and to have had safety and health throughout. I've just posted some pictures to go along with this blog-scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the link if you want to check them out~enjoy!

New Pictures!

New pictures have been posted, so click on the link at the bottom and check them out...

Washington State-British Columbia-Alberta-Montana-Wyoming

We have been moving at such a fast pace since we left California that we hardly have any time to keep up with our blog-sorry about that. We are also seldom able to connect with the internet since most of our days are spent right now in National Parks. Our time at Oak Harbor, Washington was amazing but too brief. We left Monday morning and headed up into British Columbia, Canada; we slept in a cheap motel in Kamloops, BC and then headed onward towards Banff in Alberta; as we neared the place we realized that the weather would probably make camping a very miserable experience so we opted for another night in a hotel; believe it or not there was snow falling from 5000 feet and up in that area, so you can imagine how chilly it was. We finally arrived in Banff, and it was as beautiful as I had imagined it would be. We were a little afraid of being in rural campgrounds in bear country, but we managed just fine. After the amazing time in Banff we headed south across the border into Montana. Bastian was able to renew his tourist visa as we reentered the USA, which was a relief; otherwise he would have had to return to Germany on July 23rd, cutting our roadtrip significantly short. We enjoyed camping in Glacier national park for two nights and then we went to visit my great aunt, Hazel at her home in Great Falls, MT; I hadn't seen her for more than 30 years, so it was a special reunion. We enjoyed every minute of our brief visit and were spoiled rotten by them. On Sunday we drove south and camped at a little campground just outside of the north gate to Yellowstone, waking the next morning to head into the park. We spent the day seeing the sights and looking for camping; alas, there wasn't a single campground with an available spot, so we headed outside the camp for a place in a nearby national forest; this morning we woke up early and got into the park in time to find a nice spot here in Grand Teton, just on the lake with the very Grand Tetons looming in the distance beyond the lake. Again, sorry for such a delayed and rushed blog entry. We won't be able to upload pictures until we leave the park and sleep in a hotel again, so please check back on Friday or Saturday...

From Southern California to Northwest Washington state

The two weeks in California were amazing. We began the time by staying a night with Randy Roy and his family; I had not seen Randy and his wife since we were in our teens, so it was amazing to catch up. They have a great family and home, and we're super grateful for their amazing hospitality. We drove north to Exeter after leaving their place and spent six days in that area; most of our time was spent in the Otis home, which is situated on Rocky Hill. We spent quite a bit of time catching up with my sister Lynda as well, which was incredible. While at the Otis' home we also went to the Sequoia National Park and saw the giant trees. John and Rhoda Otis showered us with kindness through their unsurpassed hospitality; we miss them so much! We drove north then to Robin and Stephen King's home, but first we met them in the lovely Yosemite Park; what a beautiful place that is! We arrived at the King's late in the evening and enjoyed a restful night of sleep; the following days spent in their home were rich in fellowship, fun, and relaxation; Bastian rode their horse, Spencer, swam in their ponds, and a good time was had by all. Our last night was spent in the home of Roy and Anne Ingram; we enjoyed getting to know them better, and our only regret was that we had so short a time to spend together. Our last night spent in California was in the Mt. Shasta area; we drove around the entire mountain, looking for just the right place to camp, and eventually we found a place at around 7000 feet; there was still snow on the ground, imagine that! Our camping spot was not in a campground, so we were quite vulnerable to the wildlife in the area; during the night an animal approached our site and gave us quite a scare; in the end we concluded that it was likely a deer, but we'll never know for sure. The following day we entered into Oregon and headed out to the coast to find a place to camp for the night; as we arrived we were disappointed to find that fog had enshrouded the entire coastline. We found a small gravel road in the national forest there and headed up; we managed to climb to an elevation far above the fog and camped once again in the wild for the night. All that night we could hear the Pacific surf smashing against the base of the mountain far below. The next morning we headed still farther north through Portland, OR and into Washington state; we got a good look at Mt. St. Helen's and then headed for a campground near Mt. Rainier. What a lovely mountain that is, wow! The cascades are an amazing mountain range. Yesterday we headed up interstate 5 and crossed onto Widby Island where we are currently spending the weekend with my old friends, Andrew and Emily Keresey and their beautiful five children. On Monday morning we plan to head to points further north into Canada; we're going to spend a night near Vancouver and then head towards Banf National Park in Alberta. We will be posting more pictures soon, but if you haven't had a chance, check out our newest ones on the link below.

New Pictures!

Sorry we have not had time to update the blog in awhile-we've been staying in friends homes here in California, and there has not been much time for internet activities. Anyway, today we are visiting at the home of Roy and Anne Ingram, having a great time. We'll do a proper entry either tonight or tomorrow, but in the meanwhile, check out the link at the bottom for a lot of new pictures~