A Little R&R

The kids requested a slow down to our hectic pace, so Wednesday we hung around Durango to let everyone rest a little. We did do a short whitewater rafting tour, but I didn't take the camera. Last night we took in the camp movie, The Incredibles. We leave this morning to go up to Silverton and Ouray and will likely see a gold mine and some other stuff. We only have a few days left...

Four States In Just a Second

Tuesday we drove from Moab to Four Corners. I didn't realize it was run by the Navajo Indians. This meant we couldn't use our National Park Pass and had to pay $15 to enter. The area is surrounded by "flea market" booths selling the Indian's wares. Missy and Katelyn bought a few things and the boys had snow cones.

We continued on to Mesa Verde National Park, driving to the top of the Mesa which was again a lot of fun in the RV. I never thought about the desert having so many mountains. We got our ticket for a ranger guided tour of some ruins that was to start in an hour. As we were leaving we noted a park ranger watching a small fire to the south of the visitor center and we all thought that was pretty cool since we never see fires that much. We drove on towards the start point of the tour. (About 8 miles or so) We we took the turn to go to the tour and immediately noticed a lot of vehicles coming toward us. We were about to make the final turn when we saw a park ranger directing traffic. He stopped us and apologized, but told us that part of the park was closed for the remainder of the day due to the fire. So we improvised and saw some smaller ruins that were still open.

We drove on to Durango, Colorado, to stay for the night. We ate at a Mexican restaurant called Tequila's, but it was not like our people.

Arches National Park

Monday we visited Arches National Park. We had hoped to take one of the ranger guided tours of the Fiery Furnace, but none were available until Tuesday afternoon. Not wanting to spend another day, we decided to guide ourselves. We spent the most time at the Windows area and looked at Twin Arch. I was amazed at the sheer size of the arches and how hard they were to climb and then get down once we got up.

In the heat of the afternoon, we hiked to Landscape Arch in the Devil's Garden area. We all think it should be called delicate arch instead of the one that is called Delicate Arch. Landon and I continued on another 1.2 miles to Double O Arch. It was a very difficult hike that was uphill all the way and crossed over some scary ledges. We were all worn out when we got back to the RV.

We finished our evening by eating dinner at the Moab Cafe. It was excellent and I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting the surprisingly pleasant Moab, Utah.

Driving and Driving

We have now driven around 2,500 miles. Today we did more of that as we drove from Wyoming to Moab Utah. Tomorrow we see Arches National Park. Trying not to kill each other...

You Gonna See Those Teton's Man

Saturday we pulled out of the resort and moved toward the Tetons. We decided to do 2 things in depth and skip the rest. We first drove to the top of Signal Mountain. It was a little tight with the RV, especially right at the top, but we made it safely. From there you can see the entire valley and the beautiful mountains just behind them. We went further south to Jenny lake. Being a Saturday it was a bit crowded, but we took the boat across the lake to make our hike up to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point a little shorter. The falls were amazing and overall was the prettiest thing we have seen on vacation to this point. It was uphill both ways and worth the effort. On the way back to the boat dock we were greeted with an hour's long wait, so we hiked around the lake back to the RV. It was about 5 miles or so. Still no moose...

We stayed next to the snake river after passing through Jackson Hole (much nicer that I had imagined it) and ate at a Pizza Hut. It was sort of like being at home. The wifi at the campground was out. Lincoln still having withdrawal.

The Circle Wilderness

Yellowstone is made to to be a drive through park. I wonder if the designers planned it that way so the not-so-interested would just drive through and leave the wilderness for them. Friday, we did just that. We made the driving loop that took around 9 hours and saw all the major sites Yellowstone is known for. In hind site, it wasn't unlike any other long driving day coming out here.

We started first at the only place open on the north side of the Yellowstone canyon. It was by far the best place of all the ones we walked to see on Wednesday. We continued on to see Tower falls and make the 1.5 mile hike to the base. Guess what, it was closed. Arghh! Shortly thereafter, we saw a large elk, 13 points, and moved on to the northern end to see mamoth spring and the huge calcite city it has made. It was very interesting, but it was one of the few places that made it difficult for RV's to park. We visited several other thermal sites including Glory Pond (see the picture) and of course Old Faithful. My excellent planning skills were evident with OF as we parked, walked up, sat on front row seats, and OF did its thing 1 minute later.

We left Yellowstone and went to the Flagg Ranch Resort to park our RV. It is just two miles south of the Yellowstone border. It had no wifi. Lincoln asked how it could be a "resort" and have no internet. I have to agree.

We saw most of the wildlife we wanted but were a little sad because no moose came our way.

The Rock is Yellow

On Thursday we drove from Cody, Wyoming, to Yellowstone National Park. We stopped at a small lake on the way, then continued on to the Yellowstone Canyon area. Unfortunately, the trails along the canyon on the north side were all closed except for one. We proceeded to the south side and started with the south rim trail and walked for about a mile and a half. The views were great along the trail and also just up the road at Inspiration Point where you can see in both directions along the canyon. As you can see, the canyon walls are really yellow. I wonder if that is where Yellowstone got its name? Wanting to feel the mist off the upper falls, we took Uncle Tom's trail down about 3,000 steps to what we thought would be an up close view. Reality was a distant view with a lot of steps back up.

We also saw our first bison and stopped off at the boiling mud pots. They smell awful and I could hardly stand it. Lincoln was sick most of the day with connectivity withdrawal as we went through the first day with no internet or phone connection.

That night at the campground, we had to wash a few clothes so Lincoln and I volunteered. Little did we know that two women would nearly go at it over the one big drier. I guess using two small ones just isn't as fun. Then we got locked in because they closed and we had to wait, and wait, and wait, till the laundry was finished or we wouldn't be able to get back in. It got pretty chilly in the RV that night.