Arizona and Nevada

We left Texas and continued west through New Mexico until we came to Petrified Forest National Park. We drove south through the park to the Rainbow Museum, then turned west again.

Thursday night we stayed in Flagstaff, then visited Walnut Canyon National Monument Friday morning.

We drove north to Las Vegas, stopping at the visitor center for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area on our way. 

We also stopped at the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument north of Vegas, but currently there isn't much there. We continued north towards Reno, and stopped in Tonopah. We arrived back in Bend Saturday evening.

Texas

Once we entered Texas, we swung down to Waco. Wednesday morning we drove around the downtown and visited the Magnolia Market.

We then visited Waco Mammoth National Monument. This is located west of town near the Bosque River. The fossils of a large number of Mammoth were discovered there.

Wednesday night we had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Dallas. This was the 14th HRC I have visited. We then continued driving west to Amarillo, where we stopped for the night.

Westward

Monday morning, we stopped at Ocmulgee National Monument near Macon, Georgia. This site preserves Native American mounds. We then drove across Alabama and Mississippi and stopped in Vicksburg for the night.

Tuesday morning we visited Vicksburg National Military Park. Vicksburg was important in the Civil War because it could be used to control traffic on the Mississippi river.

In the afternoon we visited Poverty Point National Monument in northern Louisiana, which is also about the Native American mound-builders.

South Carolina

On Saturday we left Disney World and headed up to Hilton Head, South Carolina, for the night. We enjoyed staying at Disney's resort there, and walked along the beach near the Beach House the next morning.

Leaving Hilton Head, we headed northwest to near Columbia and picked up Lily, our new Sheltie, then headed west on our sixth trip across the U.S.

And Disney World Yet Again

Last Friday, we flew out to Disney World again. We spent a week in the parks, including Epcot while Jennifer enjoyed Dapper Day. 

As we did in January, we stayed in a Wilderness Lodge DVC villa, where they were making progress building the new DVC cabins along the lakeshore.  

Sunday night we attended a Christmas party at the Magic Kingdom.  

At Animal Kingdom, work continued on the new Pandora area.