Welcome to Wisconsin

I like Wisconsin. It seems very green somehow. Lots of trees, lots
of meadows for cows, lots of farms, etc. etc. I spent quite a bit of time
here as a kid, on vacations and traveling through to other places and
it holds a special place for me, so it's always fun to drive through.


We spent the night in Madison. If I had to live back in the Midwest,
Madison would be a place we would consider to be. It's the home of
the University of Wisconsin, has lots of culture and...A TRADER JOE'S!
We LOVE Trader Joes and this one did not disappoint. Maybe a bit
smaller than others, but we stocked up on all of our favorites, including
my favorite coffee and other items that are hard to get anywhere else.


I think the next time we come through this way, we'll spend a couple
of days instead of just a night. It's a place we'd like to see more of.

Headed Home

Two days in Vegas is fun, but anything more than that is a
bit much for the senses. Add to the fact that it would get to
be 107 degrees, we were ready to head to the relatively
cooler Grand Junction. Our stay at Excalibur was nice as
we expected but we basically just slept there so we didn't
use much of the facilities.


A place we drove by while we were driving around town was
The Cleveland Clinic's Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. I'm
not sure if I like the architectural style or not, but it's
certainly different.


Before stopping for lunch at In-N-Out Burger (which is basically a
mandatory stop!) we went to a Trader Joe's grocery. We stop at one
any time we're in an area there is one and sadly, this is the closest
(or Albuquerque) one to our house. There aren't any in Colorado and
I've heard that the reason is because Colorado won't serve beer or
wine in groceries on Sundays and besides all of the other groceries,
beer and wine are big sellers at Trader Joe's. However, I was able
to find my favorite New Mexico Pinion Coffee and stocked up on it.
Lynn also bought some yummy hummus.


Just north of Las Vegas, on the way home, we passed through a tiny
part of Arizona. This section is totally cut off from the rest of the state
by the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. Interstate 15 cuts
through this section, called the Arizona Strip and also climbs onto
the Colorado Plateau here at the Virgin River Canyon. All very
pretty and interesting to know that the Colorado Plateau stretches
all the way from here to just east of Grand Junction...500 miles
away!