BBB Day 2

Thursday, July 19:

Today we drove from Rifle to Colorado Springs. 

Here is the beginning of our drive - and it just gets better!

This was an interesting gas stop:

Then we began to climb. We drove across the Vail Pass and then an even higher pass, Hoosier Pass. 

Kent loves taking pictures!

Our road:

Climbing:

Climbing - in traffic - some things don't change from state to state!

And Still climbing!

Not there yet, but isn't it beautiful!?

Things are getting serious now.

And we made it!

On our way down the other side, Kent talked to a ranger who told us about a National Monument that protects a vast area where millions of animals were buried under volcanic ash millions of years ago. We couldn't face the traffic and heat of Colorado Springs quite yet, so we took a break and went to this monument. It was very interesting.

These are petrified trees

We also saw many fossils of plants and insects, which apparently neither of us took pictures of! Sorry. We still weren't ready for town so we found this lovely little hidden picnic area and spent a few hours there.

Our eventual trip into Colorado Springs, was not very welcoming. Our hotel was sketchy looking until we got to our room. The room was great - thank goodness.

We drove into town looking for a place for dinner and stumbled upon this charming little place called the European Cafe. We enjoyed it very much.

These paintings were done by one of the servers at the restaurant. We thought some of them were really good!

This was our favorite:

This was a very lovely day! See you tomorrow. 

A trip to see our Baby, Bears (hah!), and a Battlefield: Day 1

Kent and I left on another road trip, Wednesday morning, July 18. We drove to Rifle, Colorado. Colorado looks a lot like Utah - at least this part.

The best part of our stay in Rifle was going to Rifle Falls State Park: 

It was so cool and had the wonderful smell of pines and fresh water. The perfect way to end the day!!!

Arkansas and don't fly FRONTIER

We drove to Little Rock Arkansas this morning and went to the visitors center near Little Rock Central High School. 

 I thought this study was very revealing:

Little Rock Central was the high school where, in 1957, 9 black students wanted to enroll in an all-white high school. Their first day they were met by the state police, who were not there to help them but to keep them out. They returned the next day and the next. Finally, federal troops were called in and escorted them into school. The bravery of these 9 is so unbelievable to me. And the hatred and abuse that they received from the mobs of whites outside the school was frightening to watch in the videos!!

This is the restored gas station which served as the press center during the conflict at the high school.

I did actually see some armadillos while on this trip. They were road kill - but still I'd never seen one before!!

After our visit to the high school we drove to the Bill and Hilary Clinton airport for our flight home. When we checked in at the Frontier desk we were told that our flight was about 3 hours behind schedule, which meant we would miss our connecting flight in Denver, to Salt Lake. -- did I mention, don't fly Frontier? The 2 poor women at the desk spent the next couple of hours trying to find everyone new connecting flights. Much of that time they couldn't get the computers to work. We eventually were given a flight for the following morning. They told us that when we arrived in Denver we would be given vouchers for a hotel and food. 

Finally, at about 5:00 pm we were on our way to Denver. You know how at take-off and landing, they tell you to put your seats in the upright position? Well, Frontiers seats don't move. But, they still tell you to put them back in the upright position! Yea, don't fly Frontier. When we showed up at the Frontier desk in Denver, for our vouchers, they didn't know what we were talking about. So, we spent another 30-40 minutes waiting for them to figure it out and print us out some vouchers. We grabbed some dinner, called for the hotel shuttle and went out to the curb to wait. When the shuttle arrived, there was one passenger who was wheelchair bound and the shuttle didn't have a lift. Frontier was supposed to have given her a voucher for a taxi, with a lift, to take her to the hotel. So, she had to go back to the desk and try again. I don't know WHEN she finally got to the hotel. Oh, and the desk clerk at the hotel told us that Frontier kept sending people to the hotel after the hotel told them they were full. We arrived at around 8:30 pm and left again the following morning at 6:00 am. Did I mention - don't fly Frontier?

Fortunately, our flight to Salt Lake was on time and uneventful! We called our good neighbors, the Howards, and asked them if they could pick us up at the Orem Trax station to bring us home. Thank you to them! Other than the flights to and from this adventure, a great time was had by all! Thanks to those of you who have been faithful readers - I hope you enjoyed it.

P.S. Don't fly Frontier :)

Kermit, Emmett and Martin

Today was a Sunday so we went to church in Greenville, Mississippi. The bishop there told us that driving 65 mph, it would take him 2 hours to drive across his ward boundaries. We in Utah are SO spoiled!!!
Our next stop was in Leland, Mississippi. "What's in Leland?", you say.

 A VERY important place:

Our next stops were not so cheery! We went to Money, Mississippi, which is where the Emmett Till story takes place. If you know the story, you can scroll on. Emmett Till was from Chicago and went to Money to visit cousins. He and his cousin went into town one day to the local Bryant's Grocery Store:

This is what it looks like now:

Here is the rest of the story:

We also went to the river site, where his body was found. The first sign, giving directions, was full of bullet holes:

The sign indicating the spot where his body was found was gone:

Remember that the 2 men were tried and acquitted, but later sold their story to Look magazine so everyone knew the truth.

Here is the court house where that

so-called trial took place: 

Sorry - this day is a rough one. We drove on to Memphis from here and went to the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel. The Lorraine Motel is where Martin Luther King was murdered.

The balcony where he was shot:

Inside the museum -- me sitting in front of Rosa Parks:

Sitting at a "whites only" lunch counter:

Following the tour from room to room you end up here--

The motel room where Martin Luther King was staying:

This is the window where the sniper was. You can see it from the window of MLK's motel room:

Then we walked across the street to the other part of the museum that includes the room where the sniper was. 

Rather a sobering day today.