This mural, on the side of a roadside service station in Saskatchewan, Canada – although weathered, depicts some history of the pioneers and farming in our province.
Tag: Road Trip
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2016 – Gal Pal Road Trip
Carrying on with the incredible travel year that was 2016:
After hubs and I returned from the all-expenses paid vacay to the Mayan Riviera, things calmed down for a couple of months, and then I headed out on a road trip to Salt Lake City with two long time friends who had joined my MLM team.
The purpose of the trip was to attend the annual conference of the MLM company I had signed up with.
In addition to being a learning and team-building experience in SLC, the road trip itself both to and from the conference was fun and interesting.
Even though none of us belonged to the Mormon faith, Temple Square in Salt Lake City provides a great history lesson about the settlement of the state of Utah.
Lenna and I just “had” to pose with this fun sign 
The parent company to our MLM company Sherry, Lenna, and Me 
I tasted French Macarons for the first time 
Temple Square is always an interesting visit 
The famous Mormon Tabernacle 
The amazing pipe organ inside the Tabernacle 
How the Mormon Temple was constructed is a fascinating history lesson 
I spied these “on the way by” and commented about the skinny horses 
An unusual way to make a topiary 
Idaho Falls was a great stop on the way home 
My pals, Lenna and Sherry, hamming it up – “posing” like models 
The falls are in the middle of the city My dear friend, Lenna passed suddenly and unexpectedly just four years after this trip.
I’m so happy I have this trip in photos and in memories.
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Ho-Ho-Ho
We’re enjoying a new route south this year.
Our bucket list hit yesterday was the town of Blue Earth, Minnesota – the home of Green Giant Vegetables.
We enjoyed visiting the giant statue of the Jolly Green Giant, as well as a visit to the museum on the same property, which told the history of this well known brand of canned and frozen vegetables.
That’s me standing between Jolly’s size 78 feet! 
Great info about the statue 
Hubs and Sprout 
Lots of old processing equipment was on display in the museum 
Green Giant Merch from the past was endless! 
I was surprised to see the Pillsbury doughboy there 
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2016 – A Scenic Detour
After touring my cousin around the Las Vegas area for a week, we took her to the plane and then made our way home via a different route than usual.
My feature photo is of a portion of Arches National Park near Moab, UT. We didn’t take any side roads to see the actual arches, but even without that, the scenery “on the way by” was spectacular.
We’d hoped to drive from there to Denver, Co.
At Grand Junction, Co, where we spent the night, we were advised the next morning by the hotel clerk, that there had been a rockslide ahead, so the road we planned to take was closed. We were also informed that roads out of Denver (from our direction) were closed for the winter.
Enter Plan B:
We drove on as far as Aspen, Co, toured the place and watched some skiing. Neither of us had been there before, so it was a fun little “been there done that” trip.
One of the many Aspen ski runs After Aspen, we turned around and headed back to Grand Junction.
From there, we headed north to and through Wyoming and more incredible scenery.
Hoodoos in South Wyoming After Wyoming, it was South Dakota and then North Dakota (which I’ll cover in a future post) and then home.
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2016 – A Cacti Forest
The Saguaro National Park just out of Tucson is an incredible place to see.
During our visit, we learned that it can take a Saguaro Cactus up to 100 years to grow the “arms” that we’ve come to recognize from old western movies. Those arms are needed to store extra water for the cactus, which can reach heights of 50 feet and weigh 6 or more tons.
One truly has to experience it to get the full and awe-inspiring effect of a forest of these giant old fellas, extending as far as the eye can see.
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2016 – The OK was … OK
Tombstone, AZ is steeped in history (and more than a bit of kitsch)
I’m sure we’d have enjoyed our stay a lot more if it hadn’t been so blasted cold outside!
Typical street folk 
Hubs pretending he’s not cold 
All aboard the stage coach 
Is a gun fight brewing? 
I felt safe with this guy 
Definitely a gun fight in the works 
Dead man’s hand 
Big Nose Kate’s 
Lots of fab neon at the local establishments 
Me and the regulars 
Hubs looks surprised 
At last – the much-anticipated gun fight! Despite the weather, we made the best of it and finally found a place to warm up with some Irish Coffee.
A perfect beverage
on a cold day! -
2016 – Cactus and Copper
As a part of our 2016 mission to explore Arizona more fully than on previous trips there, we visited Bisbee – once a thriving mining town, and now a tourist destination with a fascinating history.
Info at the entrance to the mine 
The Lavender Pit Mine 
In the museum 
The old equipment was intriguing 
An excellent tour 
Interesting rule for the restrooms 
Our car with a stunning backdrop 
Before I lost 40 lbs 
Hubs shows the size of the chain 
Downtown Bisbee. Two of these buildings were lost in a fire in early 2024 -
🎶Gee It’s Good to be Back Home Again🎶
This past week, we were away for a few days, visiting friends and family in the place we called home for over 20 years.
Whenever we round the curve in my feature photo, I breathe a big sigh of relief and have the same sense of “home” that I had when we first moved to the area.
Even though I was raised on the southern prairies, I’m sure it was the proximity to the northern tree line that welcomed and comforted me.
Radically Retired 