Oklahoma City Visit - October 19 - 24

Cousins Josh, Nick & Tammy

Front row: Helene Anderson and Miranda Camp Back row: Fred and Brian Anderson (Nephew)

Brian and Miranda

Bricktown, OKC

Bricktown River

Old area of OKC now known as Bricktown

Bricktown Ballpark - Mickey Mantle Plaza

Nicholas McDaniel

McDaniel Family. Brian, Tammy and Nick

On the road between Vermont and Oklahoma 10/9 - 10/19

Glenna in front of Peterboro Basket Factory

Pictures of Vermont - Sept 25th - Oct 9th

Posting pictures first of Vermont. We really enjoyed driving the country sides and seeing all the beauty this state offers.

Vermont to Oklahoma Sept/October

Another catch up time, sorry, just have not been getting on here as Frank posts his daily blog and just got comfortable in my world of Facebook, of course haven't posted any trip pictures there yet, but I will one of these days when the spirit moves me...lol.

After Hershey, Pa we went to Vermont for two weeks and most of the time we had rain and/or cloudy days. We tried to pick some indoor places we could visit out of the rain and made it to a few cheese shops, a candy factory, apple cider store, and maple syrup shop, etc. Of course, there are lots of covered bridges and we drove a couple of routes mentioned on one of our tourist info sheets we had. We made a repeat visit to the Von Trapp Hotel and Restaurant to give Glenna a chance to see this place and had lunch. We also drove by the capitol building in Montpelier and took some pictures, very pretty. Vermont is so beautiful and there are mountains (they were already getting snow) in most of the state, but not where we stayed. Next time we will return to the Stowe area as it is a prettier area, higher elevation and the trees are amazing in colors!

When we left Vermont we 'flew low' through the New England states making only one tourist stop in New Hampshire to visit the Peterboro Basket factory. More and more hand making skills are quickly disappearing in America and I wanted to make sure to go there once before this place vanishes and the Chinese take over their craft. Their baskets are offered on QVC and this is where I first got interested in collecting some of them. I did find it difficult trying to make up my mind what I wanted as there were thousands to select from all they had displayed in their store. Too much fun!

Traveling back to Indiana through New York and Pennsylvania gave us some beautiful scenic areas of fall foliage, but once again we had rain and lots of fog, but wait, there was one window of opportunity to take a couple of pictures through the front window of our motor home when the sun poked through and surprise, no clouds, but only for a few minutes. There was absolutely no place to pull over in the m/h, so hope you like what you see here. I have the visions in my mind! lol The most beautiful area was the highest point on I-80 in Pennsylvania east of the Mississippi....we had the valleys to look down on and the beautiful red, orange and purple trees all around us.

Crossing back over the Mississippi River we had the sun to our east and I got a great shot of the arch in St. Louis. I think we take pictures every time we cross that river and we never get tired of seeing this fantastic structure.

Oklahoma City we spent several days visiting with cousins, my nephew and friends. We caught up with my cousin Tammy and her husband Brian and their son Nicholas and had dinner at their house plus another night we went out for Mexican food where another cousin joined us, Joshua King. Nice seeing them as we don't get together too often. Josh graduated from Pepperdine a few years ago, moved back to Dallas and then to OKC where he received a fantastic job.

Found my nephew Brian (Tyne's 2nd son) and his girlfriend Miranda at his grandma's house, Helene Anderson and with Brian's dad, Fred who was also there. Had a great time playing Chicago where Helene kept the coffee coming and then we had dinner down in Bricktown along the riverwalk at an Italian restaurant. OKC is really developing the old downtown area and is competing with San Antonio with their own 'riverwalk'. Really nice area to visit now.

I'm going to stop here, post some pictures and my next writing will be our visit to Texas where we are now in Lake Conroe after spending almost a week in Garrison, TX.

Hershey, PA

We spent a week at the Thousand Trails RV park in Lebanon, PA near Hershey and we didn't waste anytime getting to Chocolate World. Frank and I were there 5 years ago and had made several tours of the Hershey area. This time, with Glenna and knowing how much of an addict she is to chocolate, we kept our trips short and 'sweet'. I love coconut, love Almond Joy's and had been told there were Hershey Kiss Coconut candies....much to my sorrow, I will have to wait until next Spring as that is a seasonal candy. I did find a sale at Chocolate World on Almond Joys and bought 5 KING SIZE bars for $5.00....mmmmm mmmmmm good! Glenna loaded up on a variety including different varieties of fudge.

This time of the year we saw lots of signs "Last of the Sweet Corn" so you know we took advantage of that. Frank is now an expert at grilling corn after it has been soaked in water with the husks still on and then rotating it on the grill until all the husks are dark brown....delicious! Lots of cutting down the corn stalks and tilling of ground and we saw the start of leaves changing their colors. Weather was still fairly warm and even humid on some days, but the nights were cool.

We drove to West Chester where the QVC Studios are located. I stocked up on some of my make up products and bought a few pair of pearl drop earrings I saw and liked. Glenna bought some stretchable bracelets that are easy for her to put on over her hands and I bought Frank a new little notebook for him to keep his geocache logs.

So much for the shopping, we were hungry and went out and scouted a place which advertised Shoofly Pie, an area favorite, and had never tried before. I wasn't sure what ingredients were in it and found out it is lots of sugar and molasses. Tried it and found it wasn't as sweet as I thought it would be, very good!

Now we are in South Hero, Vermont waiting on the leaves to change.........

Charleston, West Virginia

Frank, Eddie, Gerri & Lottie at 50th Class Reunion, Charleston High School, Class of '59
Sept. 11-13, 2009

Charleston Capitol

Glenna by her parents gravesite, Carl and Florence Barker

Frank and his mom, Glenna









Little chapel on the Swan lake at Rippling Waters RV Campground

I'm behind again....can't believe a week in Charleston, WV came and went and we're now in Hershey, PA. OK then, here is a short synopsis and a few pics to show you our week in Charleston. The main reason for the trip was to attend Frank's 50th Class reunion. We stayed at Rippling Waters RV Park in Romance, WV (yes, there really is a place with this name there) and Glenna stayed in town with Eddie and Lottie, Frank's cousin (Glenna's nephew) and we drove back and forth daily, 20 miles each way. The rv park is beautiful, I really didn't want to leave the place with the little lake, a small chapel and geese and swans to watch. Most mornings we woke up to fog and then the rest of the day was beautiful. No rain...

We took Glenna to the Barker cemetery one day so she could visit her parents gravesite. The land was given by Glenna's great grandma established 1858 and is now is operated by a board of volunteer trustees who keep the place in great shape. Lots of Barkers buried there. Frank doesn't want to be buried there because it is too cold in the winters! lol

I'm going to keep this short. Posting a few pictures of the RV park, the capitol building, Reunion pictures and cemetery. Still learning to maneuver around here.