Tuesday, December 29, 2020

My Vermont Journal ~~ Pambling Roads

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Pambling Roads Heads to Beautiful Vermont

A quick stop in Vermont where we stayed at the Best Western in Waterbury. The hotel was comfortable and very relaxing. The employees all seemed quite happy at their respective jobs. The pool was great and their hot tub was even better, helping to relax and unwind our sore muscles.

They had a restaurant on site and we couldn't have been more pleased. Good food, good service, and a server with a smile. Later that evening we went back to the bar for a few drinks.

http://www.bestwesternwaterburystowe.com/

www.bestwesternwaterburystowe.com/hotel-restaurant

If you can, try and stop by the Killington area, check out some of the local parks. There is more than enough to see and do, museums, covered bridges, hiking, etc.

A bit of a warning about Vermont drivers we encountered, perhaps they weren't having a good few days, but unfortunately; most of our drive through Vermont was dealing with rude drivers, pushy tailgaters, and very impatient people behind the wheel. Almost as bad as the Boston area...or Utah.






Thank you for taking the time to continue to read Pambling Roads. I appreciate the emails and comments. I love to hear from readers.

Visit Pam’s website www.pamelaackerson.com

Facebook Pam - www.facebook.com/pam.ackerson.7

Twitter with Pam - https://twitter.com/pamackerson

 Have you been to any of the places I have mentioned? Do you have stories to tell as well? We want to hear them. Do you live in any of the areas I have written about? There is a comment section below and on all the Pambling Roads article pages for you to tell us all about it.Thank you for taking the time to read about our adventures traveling the United States. Our goal? The 48 states! I tried, really I did, I tried really hard to get my husband to agree to drive to Alaska. I didn't win that one. Maybe the next time.

It has been a great adventure, meeting the Americans, and meeting people from all over the world. Share with us, we want to hear all about it! Take advantage of comment section below and tell us your stories

Friend/Follow Pam on Facebook - www.facebook.com/pam.ackerson.7

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Thursday, December 17, 2020

My Utah Journal ~~ Pambling Roads

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Utah was soooooo beautiful. It's a great place to visit...

Wendover Will welcomes you and the Bonneville Salt Flats

 This is well known in the racing world where they have races on the salt flats. For as far as we could see it was white salt sparkling in the sun. Wow, it is something we will probably never see again. It amazes me that the earth has places like this. The Bonneville Salt Flats is part of the Great Salt Lake Desert.

http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/the_land/bonnevillesaltflats.html

The World Famous Hat Tree!! Tribute to the Pony Express.

Navaho Lake, Utah

The park is just outside of Cedar City, Utah. 

Mt. Carmel, Utah

Wow, Utah drivers are really dangerous drivers, pushy, and rude. It wasn’t just one incident, it was almost every driver. We noticed how they drove practically from the moment we crossed the state line. Speeding, passing multiple vehicles on double lines into our oncoming lane, talking on the cell phones, swerving back and forth. I even saw one man texting while he was passing us! Another truck was in front of us tailgating another car so badly that they pulled over, onto the side of the cliffs with no guard rail, to let them pass.

However, the worst story of our Utah adventure that is still very prominent in our minds. (I don’t think I want to ever go back to Utah and I would not recommend people to vacation here unless they do not plan to do a lot of driving.)

The Royally Obnoxious Ford Lady: we were going through the curves and cliffs of Zion National Park and this one lady in a Ford escort type car kept tailgating us and beeping her horn, waving her hand at us to hurry. It’s not like we could pull over - there were very high cliffs and very winding roads. She was so close to us we could not even see the grill on the front of her car. We were doing the speed limit and my husband is not going to take a chance and drive faster than recommended. We don’t care how many times you blow your horn and flail your hands around.  It’s not like we were going two miles an hour. The speed limit said 20 mph on the curves and that’s what we did. When she finally passed us when we turned off to go into the visitor’s center…there was no license plate and just some piece of paper stuck on the window. We reported her dangerous driving to one of the rangers at the visitor’s centers desk but he said there really wasn’t much that could be done about it.

I wanted to leave right there and then. I had no desire to go driving around high cliffs and mountains with rude inconsiderate and pushy drivers from Utah but my husband talked me into going on the tour shuttle bus.









Zion National Park

We took the tour bus and then left immediately after we were finished with the tour on the shuttle bus. Zion was absolutely gorgeous, however, it was not worth the terrifying ride to the visitor center. There are more than enough parks like Zion that are friendlier and just as pretty.

This time I was behind the wheel driving and it wasn’t much better, just not as bad as Royally Obnoxious Ford Lady. It isn’t like we aren’t used to driving in mountainous areas. We have quite a bit of driving experience in all sorts of terrain. We do not recommend visiting Zion National Park if you are driving.

I repeat, I would not recommend driving through Zion National Park. Even the beauty of the park was ruined for us by the rude drivers and the obnoxious lady. Leaving the park wasn’t any better, it just wasn’t worth the white knuckling fear of someone back-ending us on high cliffs and pushing us over the edge.

This part of Utah was not a very good stay for us. The hotel that we stayed in was very disorganized. It was our first bad experience with a Best Western Hotel. The room was dirty, the beds unmade, bathroom wasn’t cleaned, so we went back to the front desk and they gave us another room.

Then the next day, they didn’t change the sheets. Yeup, you read that correctly. They made the bed without changing the sheets when it was requested to change them. I called the front desk and made them bring me new sheets. The young girl who was obviously not from housekeeping, brought me new sheets -- wrong size so we had to call the front desk again. Then she brought me another set of new sheets, apologizing because she was not familiar with the rooms. I thanked her and made the bed myself.

The restaurant attached to hotel had slooooooowwww service. The food was good, but it was flagrantly obvious that none of the restaurant staff were happy working there. Everyone frowning… ugh.

The gift shop attendant - frowning - hotel front desk clerk - frowning - maintenance worker – frowning. We now call it the town of the perpetual frowns. We could not wait to get away from all their negativity.

Beautiful Beautiful Utah

Traveling down Hwy. 89, we saw a really cool-looking house that was built into the mountain. As we were traveling through Utah to Arizona we experienced the typical Utah drivers – pushy and rude.  

 










***What we highly recommend in Utah:

Coral Pink Sands Park and the Moqui Cave.

There are two major exceptions in the very southern portion of the state! You can go in from Arizona and not have to bother with the rest of the rude Utah residents.

Coral Pink Sands State Park

This desert is gorgeous. We scared something underneath the stand, not sure what it was, but we heard it hit the rails when it ran. We did trek out onto the dunes, walked about a half mile and then turned back.

Awesome people working there, very friendly and courteous. It is a great park with camping spots for those who want campsites and RV spots as well. There are picnic tables, outdoor grills, and ATV rentals and tours. Inside the visitor center/gift shop they have a display of different sands from all around the world. We chatted with the employees and they were very receptive to our desire to learn about the park and the history of the area.

They let us take a small cup of the coral pink sand for a souvenir.

We met a couple near the stands who were also on vacation and enjoying the park. They were from Arizona, taking a fun run-away weekend mini-vacation.

http://stateparks.utah.gov/park/coral-pink-sand-dunes-state-park

Moqui Cave

Wow!!! Family owned and operated, Moqui Cave is a decent sized sandstone grotto cave with a museum filled with antiques, early pioneer and Native American artifacts, dinosaur fossils, and footprints in rocks. There is a magnificent, breathtaking display of fluorescent rocks. Visitors can learn about history of the area and the Chamberlain family.

 

 

Their gift shop is wonderful. I wish their website was current because there were a lot of things I would like to purchase and have them mail to us. This was a great place to go for kids and adults.

We chatted with Mr. Chamberlain and just absorbed all the wonderful stories and history he was willing to share with us.

 

http://www.visitsouthernutah.com/Moqui-Cave

 

 I must admit that Utah is breathtakingly gorgeous. The beauty of the state is overwhelming.

Sad to say: Our last stop in Utah was at a fast food restaurant. Even the customers there were unhappy and frowning. One lady was looking at people as if they were the devil’s spawns. I just didn’t see the majority of Utah residents as being happy. We decided that we don't like all the negativity we saw in Utah, do not want to return, and do not recommend people to vacation there. (Except for Moqui Cave and Pink Sands Park, they were awesome.)

Thank you for taking the time to read about our adventures traveling the United States. It has been a great adventure, meeting the Americans, and meeting people from all over the world.

 Have you been to any of the places I have mentioned? Do you have stories to tell as well? Share with us, we want to hear all about it! Take advantage of comment section below and tell us your stories.

It has been a great adventure, meeting the Americans, and meeting people from all over the world. Share with us, we want to hear all about it! Take advantage of comment section below and tell us your stories

 
Friend/Follow Pam on Facebook - www.facebook.com/pam.ackerson.7

Twitter with Pam - https://twitter.com/pamackerson

These journals are for you!



Pages for you to fill in the blanks.
A personal journal with tidbits and trivia about North Dakota.
Lined and Unlined for your convenience.
Journaling and diary writing improves and encourages positive attitudes, provides a creative outlet, and is a perfect place to record life's precious events.

All the journals: (Journals do not have images in them.)

Alabama    Arizona    Arkansas    California    Canada    Colorado    Florida    Georgia    Idaho     Illinois     Indiana     Iowa    Kansas    Kentucky    Louisiana     Maine    Maryland    Massachusetts    Michigan    Minnesota    Mississippi    Missouri    Montana    Nebraska    Nevada    New Hampshire    New Mexico    New York    North Dakota    Oregon    Rhode Island    South Carolina    South Dakota    Ohio    Oklahoma    Tennessee    Texas    Utah    Vermont    Virginia    Washington    Wisconsin    Washington, D.C.    Wyoming

and Fortune Cookie Wisdom

author.to/PamelaAckerson

Thank you,

Have a good moments day,

Pam

 

Sunday, December 13, 2020

My South Dakota~~Pambling Roads

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 Pambling Roads ~~ South Dakota

Pambling Roads, Meeting the Americans brings us to South Dakota. Excitement has slowly been building for us. South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana are the settings used in my Wilderness Series. The time travel historical fiction tells the story of a young doctor who finds herself in the middle of Sioux country. I’ve dreamed of the area, felt as if I was standing on the very soil that Sitting Bull, Gall, and Crazy Horse tread. Seeing everything, feeling the earth underneath my feet, walking the trails was inspiring for me. To be on the very soil that I wrote about, only imagined in my head, and now being there, was thrilling.

 





Pactola Dam and Reservoir      

http://www.hmdb.org

On our way to Deadwood, we passed a home that had their trees painted and decorated with different designs. It looked awesome! I wish I had gotten a picture of it.

Deadwood, South Dakota  

We stayed at the Best Western Hickok. We had a wonderful room and great, attentive employees. They were, in our mid-west tour, the best crew all around that we have met.

At the Hickok House restaurant, Gary was our waiter the first night, excellent all around, great food great service. Our last night we stayed at the hotel we had Alexa. She too was top-notch along with the food. We definitely recommend eating at this restaurant.

Later that night went played around at the Gambling Emporium and decided to sit for a few drinks. They serve beer and wine which was just fine with us. We chatted with the bartender, Sue, met her husband, Dan, when he came for a cup of coffee before he went off to work. We met another gentleman who was in town working for Boeing, a couple from Illinois. It was a very relaxing atmosphere. All the employees were happy and you could see it by the atmosphere they created. They are a perfect example of how someone can be professional, proficient, and friendly. Conversations started with recommendations on what to see, Bridal Veil Falls, Buffalo Jump, Devil’s Tower, Harney Peak were several places mentioned. Devil’s Tower was in the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”      

We stopped at Deadwood’s historic Boot Hill where we were able to visit the grave sites of Calamity Jane (Martha Canary) and Wild Bill Hickok (James Butler Hickok). We learned about Potato Creek Johnny, a colorful character and prospector who was very well known and loved among the community. Another name you may be familiar with if you have some knowledge of western lore, Seth Bullock is buried there. He was a sheriff in Deadwood, a Rough Rider, and was also friends with Theodore Roosevelt.

Deadwood’s historical section is an historical or western lover’s dream. It doesn’t have the same feel as Tombstone, Arizona but has its own western feel and it was wonderful walking and driving around the old western town full of history. If you like to play at the casinos, they have some great places to go.

Deadwood has a trolley bus. The trolley bus runs all day and late into the evening, cost is $1 per ride. The trolley bus stops at the hotels to pick up guests, and circles the area stopping at many locations in town.

We were planning to do laundry but there was a sign on the door that it was closed due to repairs. Disappointed we started back to our room. I believe it was the manager/owner who approached us apologizing and letting us know that a repairman would be there that day. We chatted for a bit and then he went on his way. As promised, the dryer was taken care of a few hours later, our laundry was done, and we were good-to-go.

 

http://www.deadwood.org

http://www.bestwesternhickokhouse.com

 







Custer, South Dakota

 

We stayed at the Best Western where it was clean and comfy. The pool was huge and it has a great hot tub. The continental breakfast was definitely a good meal.

 

http://visitcuster.com

http://visitcuster.com/lodging/hotels/bestwesternbuffaloridgeinn

 

Crazy Horse Monument

 

The world’s largest mountain carving, the Crazy Horse Monument was absolutely mind blowing. After all the research, I have done for my historical fiction, reading about the Sioux, studying about their culture, I was still fascinating watching it all happen before my eyes. I have seen Native dancers, but watching it with Crazy Horse in the background, it wasn’t quite the same. There was a specialness about the whole encounter.      

The scale model of the projected monument that Korczak Ziolkowski created was inspiring. (Ziolkowski also worked on Mount Rushmore)

There is so much to see at this site that it would take days to take it all in and every moment would be filled with wonder. Most of our time was spent in the museums. It amazed us when we learned that fragments from the blast of the Crazy Horse Monument were used to build the Native American Educational and Cultural Center.     

https://www.crazyhorsememorial.org

 

Custer State Park

This park is huge and we spent hours enjoying every square inch we could. We started with Needle Highway Scenic Drive. The cliffs and the twists and turns were a bit white knuckling but boy was it worth it. Everyone was taking their time, enjoying the scenery. No one was in a hurry, no one was being pushy, and it was very exciting. Once done with the mountainous cliffs we turned onto Wildlife Loop Road and off we were to a different world.

We saw deer, prairie dogs, pronghorns, burros, numerous variety of birds, and numerous buffalo! I did drive with the window open calling “Here kitty, kitty… Kitty!” Alas, we saw no kitties.  

http://gfp.sd.gov/state-parks/directory/custer/default.aspx






 

Four Mile Old West Ghost Town/Moss City

Over fifty old original local buildings set up in a town atmosphere, a real boardwalk, furnishings that were original to most of the buildings all in a unique western town that was called Four Mile or Moss City. It is where people came in from Custer to house and water their horses, get water for themselves, purchase necessary wares from the mercantile and then head back to Custer. It is filled with an abundance of western history and some unique antiques that are rare and hard to find.

They found original walls from a stockade or possible small military fort that was built near the fresh water spring and they have reconstructed what they could to make it appear as it was in the late 1800’s. We chatted with Kathy for a while and learned quite a bit about the area.

http://www.fourmileoldwesttown.com

 

Mount Rushmore         

Wow. It just flabbergasts me that these men could envision a huge rock and create such splendor from it. Between the Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore, it was difficult not to stare with my mouth open. From the Avenue of Flags to the Grand View Terrace to the Presidential Trail, every step we took felt ceremonious, an excellent tribute to the great leaders of our country.

We met with Don “Nick” Clifford who worked on Mount Rushmore from 1938 to 1940. He was having a book signing at one of the gift shops. We purchased a copy and he signed it for us. While Mr. Clifford was working on Mount Rushmore, his wife compiled information and the two wrote a Q & A book about Mount Rushmore.

Questions like:

Why are the holes in the honeycomb rock different shapes?

What does baseball have to do with Mount Rushmore?

What was the worst accident?

 

http://www.nps.gov/moru

 





The Flintstones Theme Park

 

Yabba-dabba-dooooooooo. Flintstones, meet the Flintstones. They’re the modern Stone Age family…

      

Yes, we did! We took the train ride and then walked around the complex. We checked out all the Stone Age homes, statues, vehicles, etc. We stopped at the theatre, bought some popcorn, and enjoyed watching some Flintstone shows.

They even have a Stone Age Drive-In where you can sit down and have a meal: Brontoburgers, fries, Dino Dogs, ice cream treats, etc.

If you like to camp, they have a camping resort, full service park for tents, or full hook-ups, and camping cabins.

www.flintstonesbedrockcity.com

 

1881 Custer County Courthouse Museum

  

Custer is the oldest city in South Dakota. The courthouse was used for 92 years. When the new building was constructed, the historical society took over the old courthouse in 1976 and made it into a museum.

      

It is filled with exhibits from the farming and mining industry, Native American artifacts and history, the courtroom, the original jail, and a few memorabilia from WW1 and WW2. The ladies at the museum who greet you when you walk in were wonderful. They were full of information about the town and happy to answer our questions. We chatted for a while exchanging information about our different towns and lifestyles.

www.1881courthousemuseum.com

 

The Flick Cabin

 

The cabin is the first original home that was built in 1875 and was used as a residence and military headquarters.

 

Miner’s Mercantile

 

A smorgasbord of every rock and mineral you would possibly desire. We walked out of there with a handful of goodies. The employees were friendly and were happy to answer our questions about the different rocks and minerals in the area.

 

Pizza Works

 

Great pizza, great service, friendly employees, it is open in the summer months only. Is it the best pizza in town? We think so. We can honestly say that it was top-rated. It was one of the best pizzas we have ever eaten and we know our pizza!

www.pizzaworkscuster.com

 

Dakota Cowboy Café

 

Good food, good service, we would recommend it to anyone coming to the area.

 

http://www.dakotacowboy.com

 

It was recommended by a few people to see the Grand Magic Show but we ran out of time.

 

http://grandmagicshow.com

 

Thank you for taking the time to continue to read Pambling Roads. I appreciate the emails and comments. I love to hear from readers.

 

Visit Pam’s website www.pamelaackerson.com

Facebook Pam - www.facebook.com/pam.ackerson.7

Twitter with Pam - https://twitter.com/pamackerson

Read more Pambling Roads articles

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 Have you been to any of the places I have mentioned? Do you have stories to tell as well? We want to hear them. Do you live in any of the areas I have written about? There is a comment section below and on all the Pambling Roads article pages for you to tell us all about it.

Thank you for taking the time to read about our adventures traveling the United States. Our goal? The 48 states! I tried, really I did, I tried really hard to get my husband to agree to drive to Alaska. I didn't win that one. Maybe the next time.

It has been a great adventure, meeting the Americans, and meeting people from all over the world. Share with us, we want to hear all about it! Take advantage of comment section below and tell us your stories

 
Friend/Follow Pam on Facebook - www.facebook.com/pam.ackerson.7

Twitter with Pam - https://twitter.com/pamackerson

These journals are for you!





Purchase My South Dakota Journal


Pages for you to fill in the blanks.
A personal journal with tidbits and trivia about North Dakota.
Lined and Unlined for your convenience.
Journaling and diary writing improves and encourages positive attitudes, provides a creative outlet, and is a perfect place to record life's precious events.

All the journals: (Journals do not have images in them.)

Alabama    Arizona    Arkansas    California    Canada    Colorado    Florida    Georgia    Idaho     Illinois     Indiana     Iowa    Kansas    Kentucky    Louisiana     Maine    Maryland    Massachusetts    Michigan    Minnesota    Mississippi    Missouri    Montana    Nebraska    Nevada    New Hampshire    New Mexico    New York    North Dakota    Oregon    Rhode Island    South Carolina    South Dakota    Ohio    Oklahoma    Tennessee    Texas    Utah    Vermont    Virginia    Washington    Wisconsin    Washington, D.C.    Wyoming

and Fortune Cookie Wisdom

author.to/PamelaAckerson