September 24 , 2014
A fun day shopping downtown Estes Park in the morning and finding the perfect lamp for the camper. Later we headed to the 12,000 foot pass in the park. Before we left for dinner, Xochitl called and we Face Timed and I showed her the elk in the park. What a phenomenon this technology is. She was able to show me the place where her tooth used to be. After that, we had a fun dinner with our good friends, Ev and Kathleen at the Estes Park Brewery. It was so fun to just catch up and enjoy a long dinner of burgers. We are so lucky to have met these special people!
Today, we said goodbye to them as they head to Tulsa and then we headed up to the park again. Yesterday we went to the peak and today we headed down the other side across the Continental Divide and to Grand Lake, CO. There is a beautiful old lodge that sits on the hill and after shopping the charming little town, we headed to the Lodge for some lunch and amazing views. What a charming place this is on the back side of the park. No crowds, beautiful fall colors, amazing scenery and majestic mountains. We are so very lucky to be able to do this and see this amazing country.
When we got home, Willie finally got a bath...wow was he a dusty mess! A little trim, and a bath and he's a new dog! He is be the best camper! Tomorrow we head for 'the springs' to camp for a couple of nights.
September 22nd, 2015
We were here many years ago when the kids were little, so it's fun to have lots of time to explore. Of course, first we had some repairs...the lamp over the dining table tumbled down when we were on the road yesterday, Willie's leash broke and we needed to raise the towel ring in the bathroom. With all that done, we headed out to the Park, watched the movie on the history, explored the visitor center and then took more pictures of grazing elk than imaginable. We are acting like total tourists and enjoying the majesty and humbling experience of this beautiful park.
It's rutting season, so lots of bull deer keeping a close eye on their girls. We had a fun walk around Bear Lake at 9450 feet elevation and enjoyed a scenic day in the park. No moose yet, but lots and lots of elk.
September 21, 2015
Up early and on the road by 7:00 as we thought we had about an 8 hour pull from Jackson, WY to Estes Park, CO. We were so wrong about that! It took us about 10 hours and the last leg was the steep canyon to Estes Park along the Big Thomspson river. The exciting thing today was I got to drive the rig! The BIG RIG and granted, it was straight along I-80 but I did it for the first time! It was a long pull, but we made it safely to the Elk Meadow RV campground where we met up with Ev and Kathleen again!
September 20, 2015
Wow! What a great birthday! After blueberry pancakes, we headed out to downtown Jackson in search of the perfect birthday gift for the person who needs/wants nothing. We are in love with this area that's surrounded by rugged mountains on every side.
Lots of birthday messaging and greetings and a Tango call from the Seattle kiddos was so fun. Even my 92 year old mom sang 'happy birthday' to me and Xochitl and Kim sang too! We found a great Pandora charm representing the antler arches in Jackson Hole. We shared a latte and shopped the fun shops with a stop at the famous Cowboy Bar.
We had a fun tailgate picnic at the 10,000 ft. pass to Idaho and took a short walk. Then we headed to Moose, in hopes of seeing a moose. The back road was worse than any Minnesota potholes --- yikes what is wrong with fixing these dang things? The only moose we've seen so far is on this sign!
We headed back to the rig to pack up so we can get an early start to Colorado tomorrow morning. I had seen a place on Diners, Dives and Drive-In's called Nora's Fish Creek Inn, so we headed there for a nummy birthday dinner. Gil had smoked trout linguine and I had their famous prime rib. What a wonderful and beautiful day to celebrate my birthday! The sign that says, The Mountains are Calling,I Must Go" by John Muir is my new mantra!
September 16, 17, 18 and 19, 2015
This is the most beautiful country ever! We have decided the Tetons are our favorite park! We spent one night in Cody, WY at the KOA, had goofy problems with the leveling system in the morning, but finally got it working. We pulled to town and stocked up on groceries and headed to Yellowstone. We were met by snow flakes, rain and a big buffalo blocking the road...these big guys really cause a traffic/gawker slow down! These things are big animals, dangerous and not too bright. Already 5 people have been gored this year because their behavior is unpredictable...people and buffalo!
We pulled into our spot at Colter Bay Campground in the Teton National Park. This is about an hour North of Jackson, WY. No TV, no cell and no internet....it was so beautiful we didn't even miss the techie amenities. I must admit, I felt a little like I was going through withdrawal. We were parked 2 sites over from our friends, Ev and Kathleen from Gulf Waters. It was so great to see them! We had dinner with them at the local restaurant and caught up on the 6 months. These are very special people to us.
On the 17th, we headed out to see the sights of the Teton Park and were greeted by blazing sunshine against the beautiful Teton Mountains. It had snowed so the rugged, jagged mountains, were capted by snow again a perfectly blue sky. We acted like tourists and pulled out to snap pictures at nearly every turnout. We had dinner at the Lake Jackson Lodge with Ev and Kathleen. A huge 60 foot glass window faces the Grand Teton and an amazing sunset made for a great evening with our buddies. They celebrated my birthday early and it was a great night with special friends. We had some fun shopping and Kathleen and I ended up buying the same white jacket!
We visited the Jenny Lake Lodge and as we entered the door, two little birds were in the nest, pooping all over everyone who came through the door! We bought a new sign for our rig, Happy Trails. We are sure loving this new camper....it's go t all the comforts of home and we are feeling so blessed.
We couldn't get a reservation for the 19 or 20th at Colter Bay, so this morning, we hiked to the lake, toured the visitor center and were so in love with the beauty, we were 1/2 hour late leaving the park. We meandered down to Jackson, WY where we found lots of crowds and people. This is a small town, nestled and surrounded by magnificent mountains on every side.
We are staying at The Virginian RV park, located just West of town. It's an OK spot for a couple of nights and close to everything. We were going to take the tram at Jackson Hole, but it was $37.50 per person so we decided to take the chair lift at Snow Mountain in town instead. It was closed so we started hiking up the mountain with Willie. Wow, it will be a good thing if we can even get out of bed tomorrow. These are really steep mountains. The bad news was I got stung by a bee ----dang that hurts.
After our hike, we decided to head up to Jackson Hole to check out Teton Village ski area. It's really a beautiful area for the beautiful, spa going, and wealthy crowd. We walked around, and had a fun early supper at the Cowboy Bar.
Today is my last day to be in the 60's. It's the end of a decade as I collect my social security AND turn 70 tomorrow. I feel so lucky and blessed to have such a great life. While I don't really want anything, tomorrow we head to Jackson to walk around and perhaps do a little birthday shopping!
September 15, 2015
We packed the new and headed out from the lake around 8 a.m. We pulled a long day ending up in Miles City, MT...9 hours total. It was great we could get across boring North Dakota and enter into Montana in one day. The great news is the beeping from the truck that we experienced when we took Xochitl to Lake Superior in June, is gone, gone, GONE! After a day in the GMC dealership, they determined it was the camper brakes. So a trip to Warren's Auto fixed the intermittent break system and we were good to go. Everytime the seat belt alert goes off, we dread it may have happened again. Two days into this trip and we are good with no loud bonging! We're pretty sure it's permanently fixed so a big hooray!
We arrived at the KOA in Miles City around 4:00 p.m. and got set up and scarfed down nummy sloppy joes and fresh sweet corn. We went for a walk and discovered we are camped at the junction of the Tongue and Yellowstone Rivers. It's clearly Big Sky country and the campground property was actually where Custer rallied with Lewis and Clark. Custer then headed two hours away after the meeting and that's where he died at 'Custer's Last Stand'. So much history here in this cowboy country.
Gil and I walked to the rivers and were surprised to meet up with some people with a tent, no car, and a lady hovering in the tent...seemed a little spooky so we headed back only to meet up with a guy who had a 78 pound red-nosed pit bull. This pup seemed only interested in chasing Willie. Scared me to death and we hurried home as the guy attempted to hold the strong pitbull at bay...nearly impossible!
This morning brought an issue with the connector on the fresh water tank. We wondered our way to Billings, MT following along side the Yellowstone River. What a great view!
We found the Metra RV Repair and lucky us....they worked on four things and fixed them all! Willie and I walked around the lot and I got my 10,000 steps so it was a great stop!
It's been a little weird organizing this new camper. Everything had it's place in our old rig, and honestly, we can't find s--- in this one! We are trying to get organized but it's going to take a while to find just the right spot for our stuff.
Today, while Gil was filling up the truck, I ran into Sam's to buy pots. I left all my cooking pots at the lake and while we were attempting to not triplicate, we needed to! So now we have 3 new pans for the rig and don't have to ever take them out!
We pulled another couple of hours to the KOA in Cody, WY. Spots are tight, but we're a one-night-stand so it doesn't matter. Tomorrow we head to Jackson Hole to meet up with our friends Ev and Kathleen.
This is my country....it's filled with lots of space, huge skies, mountains and most of all rocks everywhere and all shapes and sizes. I've been on a hunt for heart-shaped rocks. I found two heart-shaped ones today and then added several rocks to the collection to take to the lake for rock painting. The weather has been terrific and we've missed the rain that recently went through this area. A great day on the road!
