The Merry Marsden Travels

Thursday, November 10/11 Cloudy - 58 degrees Metro to Alexandria, Amtrak to Baltimore airport ($27 today vs. $51 on Sunday night for same trip). Flew at 1 PM with few bumps to Buffalo. Picked up car ($39 for parking). Fueled at Smoking Jo's in Sanborn, NY ($3.41 for $51 fill-up), over Lewiston bridge ($3.25) to visit Ellie Lech in St Catherines and another stop in TO at the Marsdens homestead and home in Lakefield by 9:20 PM. Impressions of Washington: Beautiful city - so much to see. Helped that I had perfect weather and the trees were turning colors - dropped back into fall for these few days. Conservative city - tons of office workers - no wild clothing or hair - young workforce - not many old people around. Lots of runners around city - on The Mall Most workers - security and police. Purse checking and xray machines in almost every building. Need to go back - did not do Supreme Court or the Art Museums Great to visit with Tom and being spoiled with nice accommodations a...

Wed. Nov 9/11 Sunny 66 degrees Metro to L'enfant Plaza and stroll over to the Library of Congress (Jefferson Buildin g) - another beautiful building - tour of The Great Hall, Main Reading Room and Jefferson Library Room. Saw the Giant Bible of Mainz (Germany) - written by hand by monk on parchment in the mid 1450's and the Gutenburg Bible - first book printed with movable metal type (only one of three perfect vellum copies in existence.) Strolled over to Madison Library and got my LOC Library Card - good for 2 years and now I can go into the special reading rooms. Watched some "I Love Lucy" clips from a exhibit that was there. Walked to Air and Space Museum - amazing place but teaming with school kids. Had lunch salad at the McDonalds on site. Over to the White House Visitors Centre and watched film. Walked by historical Willard Ho tel and stopped in fancy Lobby there. The Trolley Tour driver said that presidents would meet with influential citizens in this l...

Tuesday, November 8/11 Sunny 67 degrees Metr o to L"Enfant Plaza and walked over to Capital Building and did 9 AM tour. Beautiful building - incredible tower. Had very knowledgeable tour guide - older woman from Pennsylvannia who treated our group of 20 like she was a sargeant major - but in a nice way. Then back down the street to the National Botanical Garden Greenhouse and Gardens. Blitzed the Museum of the American Indian and enjoyed the temporary exhibit there entitled "A Song of the Horse Nation". It is a beautiful new building on The Mall shaped like a Southwestern Mesa. Walked over to Union Station for lunch in the Food Court ther e. Toured National Postal Museum after lunch and heard about the Pony Express and Owney the Postal Dog- now stuffed there. Interesting place. Then back to Th e Mall and visited the National Archives - to see the original Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Next stop was the Natural History Museum -...

Mary Travels to Washington DC Nov 6/11 Since son Tom works in Washington DC a week a month I thought I would take this opportunity to visit with Tom and share his hotel room to have a home base to explore Washington DC - hadn't been there before. Don decided not to go with me because he had been to Washington on a tour when Tom was in Air Cadets. On Sunday, Nov 6/11 I drove down to Buffalo Airport and flew Southwest to Baltimore Airport ( little over an hour flight) for cost of $159.40 return. I took the Amtrak train to Alexandria VA ( another hour and cost of $51 - one way). Tom picked me up at the King Street stati on and we had a lovely dinner at a "The Wharf" Fish Restaurant in this beautiful historical port town - close to Mount Vernon - home of George Washington. I had delicious She Crab Soup a nd Tom had Crab Cakes - shared dessert of pumpkin creme brulee - yummy. Home to the Marriott Courtyard Hotel - handicapped suite - in Springfield, Virginia. Tom gave me the ...

Travelling home now. We packed up the big truck and headed out of Trophy Gardens, Alamo Texas on Su nday, April 10 at 9:30 AM. Our first night on the road was at the Isle of Capri Casino Hotel, Lake Charles, Louisiana. We arrived about 6 PM and had some supper and signed up for their players card and spent some of their bonus bucks on the slots. We stayed the next morning there until noon so that we could get a few more bonus bucks - senior's monday special. Then we took off for the Paragon Casino in Marksville, L ouisiana - only about 3 hours north. Another nice hotel room - this one had alligators and fish ponds in the hotel lobby. Another feature was their cinema with 4 theatres - so we watched "The Lincoln Lawyer" starring Matthew McConaughay and Marissa Tomai that night. Off early on Tuesday morning for an 8 hour drive up to Tunica, Mississippi - a Harrah Casino hotel for the night. We crossed the Mississippi River and headed north. The Tunica area has 10 large casin...

Yesterday was our hottest day in Texas. We considered putting on our air conditioner in the trailer but we knew a cold front was coming in and by the time we went to bed the temperature had dropped to 70 and was 60 by the morning. Check out the thermometer in our trailer in this picture. Not much difference from inside to outside. I spent most of the day at the pool. Today Don and I went on a Tour of the La Sal Del Rey Wildlife Tract. This is a tour offered by the Valley Nature Centre with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. We had to be at the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge at 7:30 AM. We were loaded in a 12 passenger van and drove with a park naturalist for an hour north to one of 3 natural salt lakes. El Sal Del Rey, Spanish for "Salt for the King" was first located by the Spaniards in 1697 and quickly claimed for the king. They harveste d salt here that was hauled out by ox carts to the Gulf, into Mexico as far away as Mexico City, and to all the Missions in Texas. Sal...

Getting close to the end of this winter lifestyle in Texas. We have said goodbye to many of our neighbours this week as they head back up north. We have set our takeoff date for April 10 and will slowly make it over to see Tom and Diana in Virginia Beach by the 14 and proceed to Ontario on the 17th. So what have we done lately other than golf, swim, bike, eat and play games? On Saturday, March 26th, another neighbour Barb and I went to the Texas Women's Expo at the McAllen Convention Centre. It was the first time an event like this was held in the Rio Grande Valley and it seemed to be well attended by the ladies of the valley. It was the first event I had been to that I saw more local Hispanic people than Winter Texans. We enjoyed visiting the exhibitor booths and listening to speakers on Yoga, Feng Shui decorating, heart health and even a little fashion show. There was a salon doing haircuts, manicures, eyebrow waxing etc but the line-ups for that were long. On March 30 we enjoyed...