Munday's the Arizona Roadrunners

This town has done a very unique thing in taking this bridge and planting flowers on either edge and calling it the "Bridge of Flowers"! Talk about lovely... Wow!!  The setting is pretty by itself but then to plant the bridge - it is quite a draw and tour buses are a regular.. Our day had not been planned to stop here but after cemetery shopping and our camera died so had to get to nearest town for a new "chip"... fortunately Dave knew of this town and suggested we stop there... so glad - we are back in business!! Can you imagine seeing all this wonderful country and not being able to get a picture of it all... oh my too terrible to comprehend!! ha!

Putney, Vermont may be a small town; but they have this wonderful place called Basketville.  Who knows how long we spent browsing in this wonderful store.  They have anything you can imagine when it comes to baskets; even characters like Mickey Mouse and a large shark.  Goodness but they do have a lot of other fun things as well.  fun place and because it was so late in the day missed stopping at some of the other places in town.  Very cute town as are most of these places.  Enjoying it very much.

Vermont is known for it's beautiful green mountains, it's cheese and the colors in the fall!  Had to stop in Grafton at the cheese factory and see them making the delicious cheese.  Sampled quite a variety of cheeses and yes, we did indulge in getting a few small types of cheese you won't find anywhere else.  They towns are so cute and clean!  Stopped at several towns and found the town of Ludlow to be a resort town for skiers!  fun traveling around......Yes, did see a few of the lovely covered bridges too! What a prize they are and although a few states have them; it is not something you see in the western states. 

Welcome to "The Green Mountain" State!  It is certainly green - everywhere you look!  A small beautiful state and one of the rare states where you will find "Made in Vermont" on a lot of products!  This state seems to boo hoo the large chain stores and thus small business abound. Not a large population however because this state is "unique" they  are a resort get away place and have a large population from surrounding states to draw from.  I am thrilled to be here and love seeing all these small places...

The capital mall across the street from the Capital bldg has "The Egg" along with the tallest buiding in Albany (The Corning Bldg) and their museum along with all the legislative buildings and court bldg.  Huge complex.  The Egg is actually two large theathers and the Corning building is in dedicated to Erastus Corning who was the longest Mayor in Albany (42 years!)  Can you imagine?  Good grief... anyway, it has an observation deck on top but we were too late in day and it was closed when we were there.  Fun too see the town a little.

The Capital building in Albany is truly unique.  We chose one of the worst days to be there; amongst a battle for same sex marriage so the place was a mess with advocates for both sides of the fence.  Not only that; no tours and both the House and Senate were in session.  So lots of activity, lots of police and I hate to say it but slobs as well.  Such a glorious building (under renovation) and so beautiful and yet people were so slovenly in there - the restroom I used was a mess!  People really need to get a grip and figure out no one wants to clean up after them - perhaps they should be put on clean up duty and see how they like cleaning up after others? Novel idea..  Other than that, we enjoyed the building very much. Sat in on the Legislators and watched one play with her I-phone.  She had a stack of paperwork about 3 feet tall but no, she was playing... too much these guys. Love to see how your tax dollars are at work for you. This building was really something. Since no tours or

Where it all began... Beautiful baseball field and fun to see.  This is located directly behind the Baseball Hall of fame so an easy walk.

And we had fun!!!  A trip to Cooperstown was so great!  We wanted to go here because Earl has a 2nd cousin who was inducted into the Hall of Fame back in 1955!  "Dazzy" Vance was big in his day (1925).  What a ball... even though we are not big baseball fans we all enjoyed the town very much.  It is a small town with baseball clearly the whole thing... the cafe's all serve hot dogs and chips amongst other things and yes, we did visit the Triple Play cafe.  What a kick... We actually stopped into many of the cute little shops including Where it all began bat company.  Over 100 pictures but here are a few... The day was foggy and wet so this inside activity was perfect.  We are now in Schnectady and in amongst the many hills and our phone/internet service not the best but we'll try to keep up! Looking forward to visiting Albany and the Capital.  They are very busy there right now so could be fun.

There is no way this picture can really give you the "Feel" of this beautiful state!  We have been up and down over hills and dales from all over the western part of state.  This is farm country in Oneida county.  Just love it.  Interesting thing about driving here... the "state" speed limit is 55.  Unless otherwise posted (sometimes through towns) the speed limit is 55.  Everyone seems to know this and some like to go a lot faster but it is interesting.  towns are usually either 30 mph or 40mph rarely 45 - otherwise 55! That's it.  Great thing about the towns is they always post when the lower speed limit ends... No guessing here...

View from Canada side of American Falls and Bridal veil falls.  This seagull was enjoying the view too. ha!  What a kick.  We love the Canada side as much as the US side.

Traveling thru western New York we had to revisit the beautiful Niagara Falls.  It's not as though we haven't been here before but you know, it was just as nice the 2nd time around!  We chose a picture perfect day and walked from one end to the other including taking a trip to the river floor and back up!  Afterwards walked across the Rainbow bridge to Ontario, Canada to get a better view of the Horseshoe Falls.  Canada really knows how how to make you feel welcome.  Their landscaping is lovely and always a treat to the eye!  Love it over there and even found a coastal redwood in their park.  Just spent the day but what a day!!

  Home of Lucille Ball and a few others... What a great little town and how fun to drive in and see banners of Lucy and Ricky!  Thought they might really make the most of Lucy here but not like in Indiana with Jimmy Stewart.  Still we did go to the Lucy museum and cemetery to pay our respects.  Afterall Lucy is like a 9th cousin 1 time removed.. ha!  Unfortunately we were here on the weekend so the town closed up pretty much but you know, that was refreshing too.  How many towns ever close anything anymore.  They still do here in rural New York and this is one of the prettiest places in the country.  Lots of rolling hills with farming being the main theme and the old little towns!  Just love them!  Clean and neat and houses that have been around for a long time and the newer ones trying to look like the older ones. what a refreshing sight!  Too bad they have such harsh winters and expensive gas! Fuel is much higher here than PA and for that matter in the country but was fortunate to fi

Drove right through this town heading North from PA to New York.  Thought they would make the most of this cute little critter known as the "Ground Hog" but his real name is woodchuck!  We have seen so many (unfortunately) dead along side the roads but we have seen a few poking their little faces out at us.  So fun.. they are not small like a prairie dog.  Would love to catch a picture of one but they are quicker to hide than I am at getting the camera out!

I was excited and looking forward to the city of the 3 rivers.  Our timing was a bit off though with temps over 90's and the waves of heat that hit us were really something!  Ok, to top off our visit we could not find any parking!!!  The garages were full and meters were next to impossible to get.. so we drove around and around and over bridges (there are over 400 of them) in this city!  Did get over to waterfront in front of what used to be 3 rivers stadium but is now Heinz Stadium (sad).. Did see memorial to Mr. Rodgers!! Guess if we could have timed it better we could have enjoyed the downtown a little more! 

Part of the fun of this crazy lifestyle is seeing places like the Daniel Boone Homestead.  It was not open for showing inside the day we dropped in, however we did drive through the grounds (lovely) and stopped at the visitor center.  Daniel Boone was born in Pennsylvania, however he was did not stay.  He moved on to NC. His family was quite prominent at one time in PA (he was a Quaker) but he wanted to marry outside the faith and that was the end of that... they ended up moving away.  It's pretty cool they have kept the home though and the grounds because they are lovely and picnicing is allowed.  One other note, on the way here we passed through the town of Reading (like the railroad in Monopoly) - funny and to ride on the Ben Franklin Hwy was a kick too. How fun to have history in your backyard.  Too bad peopel in the west don't see it that way.  They seem to tear things down before anything can become historic or so it would seem.

  Years ago I read about the terrible Johnstown flood of 1889 and we finally made it to the memorial built by the National Parks system.  My goodness was this ever a worthwhile stop; or at least we thought so.  Back in the early 1800's when the country's transporation was run by the canal system (before railroads even) they built this dam; years too late really and only finished it one year before calling it quits and building the railroad for transportation purposes.  This was a period in our country's history where things were run very differently (or we like to think so); anyway, the dam had problems and was no longer used EXCEPT by the very wealthy and their little club for fishing and boating and other recreation.  Although it did start to leak and have problems, they (The club) never really took any of it seriously and just did superficial patch jobs on the dam until one terrible week in May 1889 when the rain started and wouldn't let up!  That is when the dam fin

Jimmy Stewart was one of our favorite actors of all time and it was such a kick to go to his home town of Indiana, PA and see his museum and visit with Harvey here!  We loved it!  The lady in the store was so friendly and informative too.  Gave us a map to his boyhood home.  The funniest thing was to walk down Main Street (Pennsylvania Ave) and when you get to the crosswalk and push the button to wait for the walk signal his voice speaks and says it's ok to cross and what intersection you are at.  Earl and I looked at each other and cracked up laughing! What a great idea! Loved it!  He was a pretty amazing person and his home town looks just the setting in the movie It's a Wonderful Life.  Goodness.. Highlight for sure... What a great idea to capitalize on the old movies stars for tourist business.