Baseball Cities Tour

August 2 & 3rd - Having a few days between ballgames, we decided to spend them in Gettysburg, PA. We had one day to enjoy the battlefields so we started at the Gettysburg Battlefield National Military Park Visitor Center and attended the Electric Map presentation. This provides a great overview of the July 1 – 3rd battles at Gettysburg that were the turning point in the Civil War. Then we drove the Auto Tour Route through the battlefields. We made only a few stops along the way. Next time, we will definitely take a guided tour. Before returning the rental car the next day, we stopped at Land of the Little Horses. It was a great stop. Although the little horses are the attraction, they also have several other animals there – emu, llamas, goats, peacocks, dogs to name a few. We watched the Show and saw the “Horse with the Human Brain” – this little horse does math & it was amazing.

July 30th – Having a day between games, we decided to drive to Mount Vernon. George Washington’s home has been beautifully maintained and restored. This is not a National Park. It is has been owned by the Mount Vernon Ladies Association since 1858. We spent most of the day there walking the grounds after we toured the Mansion.

July 12th - On our way from Cincinnati, Ohio to Mercer, PA, we drove through Akron, Ohio and happened to go right by the Soapbox Derby Headquarters so we had to make a stop. There was some press event going on at the finish line so we didn’t spend too much time but we were able to get some pictures without interfering with whatever was going on. Just so happens that in the same area is the Lockheed-Martin Airship Air dock, so we got a picture of that as well.

June 29 - July 5 - We stayed in a campground right in the city so we were close enough to walk downtown and enjoy the sights. We walked to Union Station, then to the Arch, took a ride on the Riverboat – Tom Sawyer and visited the Old Courthouse. We also went to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery and took their tour. On both the 3rd and 4th, we were able to enjoy the fireworks from our campsite. There was so much more to see & do in this area but there just wasn’t time.

June 9th – We visited Mt Rushmore National Memorial and Crazy Horse Memorial. We had dinner at Flying T Chuck wagon where we enjoyed a “cowboy dinner and show”.
June 10th – We drove through the Badlands National Park and had lunch in Wall before walking through Wall Drug. We had dinner at the Ruby House in Keystone before returning to Mt. Rushmore for the nightly lighting ceremony. This was a very impressive presentation. A Park Ranger read “The Ragged Flag”, a film presentation describing each president’s contribution to our Nation that resulted in their inclusion in the memorial was shown and as the film was concluding the faces of Mt Rushmore were illuminated. At this point all Veterans in the audience were invited onto the stage to assist with the retiring of the American Flag. After the flag was folded, each veteran did a self-introduction stating their name, branch of service and any conflicts they served in. The stage was full and the crowd showed their thanks and support loudly.
June 11th – Just a relaxing day in the campground, saw a movie and did grocery shopping.
June 12th – Visited the National Museum of Woodcarving.

June 7th & 8th - Our original plan was to drive through Yellowstone NP on our way to Sheridan, WY but snow had been predicted for the higher elevations and we decided not to take any chances so we drove back to I-90. We still went through some snow flurries on our way to I-90. This revision to our plan resulted in our being able to stop at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. When we arrived at the campground in Sheridan, WY, we found out that the road we had originally planned to take had been closed due to the snow and flooding. Good thing we are flexible! From Sheridan, WY we continued on I-90 until we decided to get off the highway and visit Devils Tower National Monument. What a site! We had lunch in the towers shadow and then continued on the back road into South Dakota.

Wednesday, June 6 -Having only one day to visit this park and the weather being cold and rainy, we decided to take tour. We chose the Lower Loop Tour so that we would see Old Faithful. This proved to be an excellent choice – we visited Firehole Canyon, Fountain Paint Pots, Old Faithful Geyser, Old Faithful Inn, Hayden Valley & Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone where we saw the Upper and Lower Yellowstone Falls. Despite the rain and occasional snowflakes, we had a great day!

Sunday, June 3 - We had only one day in our schedule to visit this park. Our plan had been to drive the Going to the Sun Road through the park however the road was not open. We drove the 14 miles that were open on the west side of the park. This was along the shore of McDonald Lake. The views were beautiful. From there we drove the Camas Creek road hoping to see some wildlife. On the way back we did see a mule deer out in a meadow but it was too far to capture on film. When we left the park, we drove along Rte 2 to Goat Lick Overlook where we did see a mountain goat.

May 24 - we spent most of the day in Yosemite National Park. The views are breathtaking and one could spend a lot more time here. We took a two hour tram tour of the Valley Floor which was guided by a Ranger. This allowed us to see most of the most famous views and the highlights but really covers only about 1% of the parks area. Well worth a visit.

We drove through farm country that lead right up to the mountains! We stopped at the Painted Rocks Petroglyphs Site. We arrived in Yuma to find the temperature a toasty 100 degrees. Mornings and evenings were comfortable but midday we stayed inside with the air conditioner running. Hard to believe only a few days before we were running the furnace hoping the water would not freeze.