Bryce Canyon
Targhee, Idaho
Glacier National Park
Many Glacier
Calgary
Waterton
Jackson, Wyoming
South Dakota
Colorado
Badlands, South Dakota
Leadville, Colorado
Chama, New Mexico
It's been a couple years since we've had a real vacation. We have had family stuff to deal with and a house in Florida that we had to sell so our last real vacation was when we went to Colorado and Montana in 2015. That trip was 3 weeks long, in a Camry with 2 kids, and camping gear. After playing tetris every day to load the car and trying to find the kids under our gear we decided we need a trailer for these trips. In February we bought our trailer and we took it on 3 trips before the big one to break it in and learn how everything works.
This year vacation started on July 4th and we got home on the 29th. For the most part it was a lot easier traveling with a trailer however the driving is harder and quite a bit slower. Part of the problem is the guys at Ford don't know how to sell a truck. They convinced me I'll be fine with a F-150 when in reality I should have got a F-250. Needless to say, an upgrade will be coming in a couple years. I'm able to pull the trailer but I'm maxed out and I definitely feel it on the steep inclines at high elevation. A 10% buffer is just not enough when towing, it should be closer to 40% to account for elevation, water, and everything else that gets put in the trailer.
On July 4th we woke up at 3:30. I was trying to get out the door by 4:30 but this happened to be the one day I was having trouble hooking up the trailer. I just couldn't get the hitch to drop on the ball and lock. We had some delays but made it on the road just as the sun was coming up, shortly before 5. One thing I didn't want is driving through the valley of hell in the heat. We stopped for lunch close to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, ate in the trailer in a parking lot then continued a couple hours to Bryce Canyon, Utah, which isn't even really a canyon.
When we got to Bryce we setup and did a couple short hikes. Adri was being a pain that day and didn't want to hike. Every 30 seconds she wanted to turn around. By the end of the hike she started enjoying it and later was saying it was one of the best parts of the trip. After some hiking we drove around looking for deer and watched fireworks in a parking lot.
The next morning we did a couple short hikes and took the rainbow tour tram to the far end of the park. Right before we left for the tram I discovered a screw in one of the trailer tires. I called roadside assistance but they only replace tires and won't patch them because Geico doesn't want the liability. So they changed my tire out for the ugly spare which really only caused me more headache. The next morning before leaving for Idaho I had to stop at the one mechanic in town for a patch and they didn't open until 8. Turns out the screw never penetrated so they just charged me $24 to put the tire back on. It also set us back an hour or so heading out of Utah on a 547 mile drive up to Idaho. More to come after the pictures below....
July 4th stopping for lunch at North Rim.
Bryce Canyon
July 4th at Bryce Canyon.
After firewalks we were walking back to our trailer and Adri started walking like a meth head. She decided her shadow looked like a monster so they both started walking all crazy making shadow monsters.
Targhee, Idaho
July 6th we headed up to Targhee, Idaho. This was a day of long driving through hell. We stopped in Beaver and had lunch again in a parking lot. We had to stop at a Walmart in Salt Lake and it was 105, traffic sucked, and there was construction. It absolutely sucked. Things got better once we got towards the Idaho border and the temperature dropped. We got to Ashton around 8:30 that night. The plan was to eat at Big Judds. They make 2 pound hamburgers and I ate at the one in Rexburg while visiting my sister in college back in 2000. The one in Rexburg was good, the one in Ashton was dirty and joined to a gas station. The service sucked. We had to wait 5 minutes to be seated because the hostess was talking to her friend, had to seat ourselves, had to clean our own table, the fries sucks (how do you mess up fries?), the burgers were awesome, but again the service sucked. The waitress left our food on the counter while she was talking to friends, took our sodas for refills and forgot to bring them back, it was just horrible. Needless to say Natalie left her a $2 tip, which I think was generous.
When we got to camp, it was close to 11. This campground is closed in winter when I booked it and the phone number doesn't work. I thought I got full hookups but turns out I got nothing. The good thing is the plan was to not even disconnect the trailer that night. Just sleep, take a short hike, and leave early. The bad thing is my trailer battery has been dead since I bought the thing so we had to conserve energy and had to run the truck the next morning just to close the slide outs. It was fairly cool when we got to camp and I had to run with a jug 5 or six times 100 yards to get water so we could have enough to at least flush the toilets and wash our hands.
The funny coincidence here is that we got the same exact campsite we got last time we were at this campground, 3 years earlier on the same day.
Our stop in Beaver, Utah.
Early morning hike at Targhee.
And that is how we slept. Trailer connected to truck. Made it easy to leave in the morning. I think we were back on the road by 9.
Glacier National Park
July 7th we took off for Glacier National Park, another 406 miles of driving . Our entire trip was built around Glacier. Bryce was just a stop on the way as was Targhee. Other stuff that came later in the trip was just because we were in the area, but everything revolved around Glacier.
I had heard a lot of good things about Glacier and this park was all I expected it to be. I have to say this is the best national park I have been to. The last couple hours of the trip were amazing going through thick forest with lots of lakes and deer. Once we got to Glacier the mountains changed. They are unlike any mountains I have seen in person. They look a lot like I imagine the Swiss Alps would look like and that was the selling point they made for tourist in the 1800's. Unlike mountains in the lower latitudes these mountains were carved from the glaciers so they have u-shaped valleys, very dramatic cliffs, and nearly perfectly straight slopes. The sun beads off the snow and glaciers and the reflection is something you just can't see in a picture. It's something you just have to experience for yourself.
We didn't actually make it to the park that night. We stayed at a KOA a couple miles from the entrance in West Glacier. The KOA didn't have all the amenities that others may have like bumper cars and mini golf but the views there were amazing. The first night there we had to get used to the sun going down at 9:29 PM, a lot later than the 7:40 sunsets we are accustomed to in Arizona and it was still light after 10 PM. West Glacier was nearly 90 in the day and dropped into the 40's at night. The weather was perfect.
July 8th we had a rough start to the day. We left later than I wanted to and I missed the entrance to the park. Instead of turning into the park I stayed on highway 2. I realized it half an hour later and had to turn around. When we got to the park we were driving along Lake McDonald and everyone was stopped. It took a minute to realize why. From the side of the road the lake had a perfect mirror reflection of the mountains. We stopped for some pictures then headed over to Trail Of The Cedars where we spent a couple hours hiking and had lunch. After lunch we decided to just keep driving up Going To The Sun Road. This is when I realized that even with all the research and planning I did some gotchas would come up. Turns out that trailers and RVs are not allowed on Going To The Sun Road. No I didn't have my trailer but in a couple days we would head to St. Mary, East Glacier. That means we had to take highway 2 which is twice as long in distance, almost the same amount of time. I saw a quick note about that when researching the St. Mary KOA but they didn't explain that trailers are prohibited on Going To The Sun Road.
We ended up driving all the way to the Continental Divide that day and we stopped at the visitor's center at Logan's Summit. We wanted to hike to Hidden Lake, a couple miles from the visitor's center, however the trail was icy, we had Dean, and not enough time.
July 9th we drove Going To The Sun Road again and took it all the way to Many Glacier hoping to get the boat ride to see Grinnell Glacier. The boat was sold out so we got reservations for the next day. This is the one thing I didn't get a reservation for and we paid the price for it. We ended up just having lunch at the lodge there which looked like a Swiss hotel and then we drove back to West Glacier. When we left the lodge we saw a three bears on the side of the road forging for food. One girl got dumb and got out of her car to take pictures. I warned her that is a bad idea and she told me the bear can't get her that fast. I would have loved to see natural selection in action that day. At 30 yards there is no way in hell she would have made it inside her car before the bear could get her.
If I had to do things different I would have just stayed the entire time at West Glacier. I thought it would be cool to spend a couple days on both sides of the park however we ended up driving the entire road most days anyways. West Glacier has the nicer KOA, a small town close by, and warmer weather. The glaciers are all on the east side but I'd still stay on the west. St. Mary gets a lot windier than West Glacier and it's out in the open a couple thousand feet higher up.
I'll be going back to Glacier someday. Due to the kids we didn't get to do the longer hikes and see the glacier lakes which are way better than the lakes we did see. With 800 miles of trails I could spend a decade hiking Glacier and not be bored.
East Glacier below, after the pics....
At West Glacier KOA. This picture was taken at 9:06 PM. 
Trail Of The Cedars. This is a mile or so loop. Something I found interesting is the different weather patterns around the park. I thought it would all be drier. Eastern Washington is dry because of the mountains but apparently the moisture makes it around the mountains and regroups around Glacier which is why they have the cedars and ferns. After crossing the continental divide the east side of Glacier is much drier.
This is where the trail splits for Avalanche Lake.
We found this mountain goat.
That is Jackson Glacier behind us.
On the day trip drive to East Glacier.
This is why they don't allow trailers and RVs on Going To The Sun Road.
Had to take these turns really slow.
Lake McDonald from Apgar Village.
Dean did this on his own.
Many Glacier
July 10th we woke up early and I believe we were on the road by 7. We had to take Highway 2 to St. Mary and drop off the trailer early so we could make a 1 PM reservation for the boat at Many Glacier. We got to St. Mary around 10:15, got everything hooked up, and still made it to Many Glacier hotel early. We didn't get to do what I originally wanted to which was hike up to Grinnell Glacier, because there was still too much snow, however it was still a pretty epic day. We could have hiked all the way from Many Glacier to hotel to Grinnell Lake but by taking the boat we knocked off 2 miles each way. We took a boat across Swiftcurrent Lake, hiked 1/4 mile trail to another boat dock at Lake Josephine, and crossed Lake Josephine to a trail that is 1 mile from Grinnell Lake and 2 miles from Grinnell Glacier.
We got a little rain on our 2 hour hike and the mosquitoes were absolutely horrible. I had a lot of bug spray in the trailer but forgot to pack it for this day hike and I was regretting it. We started getting a little hail just as we got to Grinnell Glacier but it didn't last too long. One the way back we saw a couple deer and another group of people on the boat were showing us pictures of a sow bear and some cubs they ran into. It was a pretty awesome trip.
That night we went back to St. Mary KOA. We stayed the night there then left the next morning for Calgary. We left the trailer at the KOA and would spend the night in a hotel in Calgary. More on that below....
Dean getting ready for his boat ride
This is where we got off the boat and hiked 1/4 mile between Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine.
Lake Josephine.
Grinnell Lake.
Going back to Many Glacier.
Winter's Gate.
Driving out of Many Glacier back to St. Mary.
Calgary
July 11th we made our trip up to Calgary. Why? Because it's only 3 hours away and I wanted to see what a Canadian city looks like. I have to say for the most part I was impressed. Calgary has to be the cleanest most well manicured big city I have seen. It's green, they have nice parks, and most of the people were nice, most. We did have one encounter with a probably drunk bum throwing a fit about the kids walking towards the geese. It was almost like being in America only everything is in kilometers and the street lights are more high tech. They incorporated signals for bikes into their street lights.Our first stop was Prince's Park. This is one of the best spots to see downtown. The kids got to run around and we got to see some good views of the sky scrapers. After letting them play for a while we ate at the River Cafe. I originally wanted to eat there for dinner so I can get a game meat meal but we had lunch there instead which did not include game meat. They did however have some good food and some excellent local draft beer.
After lunch we thought we would check out the Fort Calgary Museum. I have to say this was horribly lame. It's a museum built on the grounds of the old fort. There is no fort, no cannons like in the pictures, nothing like that at all. Instead it was old phones, old sewing machines, rooms set up like old pharmacies, and a bunch of posters setup like Facebook feeds showing the arguments between the Canadians and the local Native Americans. It was odd and over priced.
Trying to get to our hotel was hell. Construction everywhere and this happened to be the weekend of Stampede, one of the biggest rodeo events in the world which was bringing in tourist from everywhere. The guy at the hotel told me it's free to get in and you just have to pay for food and certain events. So we decided to check it out just to find out it's not free to get in the fair and the rodeo was already done for the day. We ended up walking away to have some Japanese food downtown by the observation tower. We were going to go up the tower but the waitress convinced us it's not worth the money so we went back to the hotel to catch up on some sleep. As if days weren't long enough in Montana they were even longer in Calgary. I don't think the sun actually went down until almost 10 and it was still a little light at almost at 11. At 11:15 I got woken up by the fireworks from Stampede and got to view them from our hotel room. The next morning we had breakfast and headed to Waterton.
Zach loves mustard for some reason. So of course we had to stop and take a picture of him next to a field of mustard. There were lots of these fields in Southern Alberta.
At Prince's Park next to the River Cafe.
Downtown Calgary from Prince's Park.
The only thing nasty about Calgary was the geese poo everywhere! Loved the park, just not the poo.
At the so called Fort Calgary Museum.
Waterton
July 12th we left Calgary for Waterton. Wateron Lakes National Park and Glacier National Park make up the International Peace Park. I think it was in the late 1800's or early 1900s Canadians made their park, we followed up with ours, then to show that we can solve our problems without war and be good neighbors they turned them into the International Peace Park. That is why in Glacier, they fly Canadians flags and even have a Canada Welcome Center in West Glacier. The border crosses not even a mile from where we hiked that day and there is no wall, just a small pillar on both sides of the lake. Normally if you cross the US border without going through a customs checkpoint it's a crime however I believe that is not enforced within the park as long as you come out on the side you came in on (don't take my word for it, check with customs if you go) . I believe there are customs checkpoints however for those who hike between the parks but as far as crossing a couple hundred yards over either side I don't believe there is any enforcement.The plan for Waterton Lakes was to hike Bear's Hump. This is a short hike that overlooks Waterton Lakes. However when we got to the park entrance they informed us that Bear's Hump was closed due to a massive fire in 2017 and asked if we still wanted to go into the park. Of course we did. We went to the visitor's center and found out 80% of trails were closed while being inspected due to safety concerns. We were told we could hike up to Bertha Falls which ended up being a pretty awesome hike even with the forest destroyed all around.
Before doing our hike we stopped for some Canadian lunch. I got an authentic Canadian burger, fries, and a really good beer. These were some of the best fries I had in a long time. You would think it's hard to mess up fries but as I mentioned early Big Judd's had horrible fries. After our hike we did a little shopping, bought some candy and ice cream at an old fashioned candy store, then had pizza before going back to America. The drive back to St. Mary was about 45 minutes. Along the way cows were all over the highway and we came up on a fox that was running on the highway. The fox finally ran off into the grass where it had a few pups.
Hiking up the Bertha falls trail. I think it was 2 miles each way.
The US / Canadian Border is only a few hundred yards behind Adri in that valley.
At the falls. I imagine this is what most of the area looked like before the 2017 fire.
No hike to this waterfall. Right there off the road. It's a lot bigger area than it looks.
Jackson, Wyoming
After a night back in St. Mary we had another long drive down to Jackson, Wyoming on July 13th. A lot of this drive was boring but the last hour or so had us on edge. We were maxed out towing and had been handling the 6%-7% grades with no issue. However I had no idea that when you come out of Idaho into Wyoming they have a 10% grade with hairpin turns. Going up the mountain I tried to be polite and use the turnout. I came out of the turnout thinking I was going to roll backwards. I got the truck up to a whoppin 9 mph and couldn't go any faster until the road leveled out. Once I got to the summit I decided to stop to let my transmission cool down. I think it was at 237 which should be fine but I wanted to let it cool anyways. We got not even two miles down the mountain before I had to stop again because I was burning up my front brakes on the truck. After letting the brakes cool for ten minutes we made our way back down the mountain. They have runaway truck ramps at every turn going down this mountain and even have some with wrap around cables. I have never seen those. Needless to say this pass was pretty intense. I don't know that there is another as steep and windy in the the lower 48. I looked up the steepest passes in Colorado and Utah and they don't even come close.
We got to Jackson pretty late so the only thing we did that night was go shopping. The next morning after doing all the laundry we rode the mountain coaster at Snow King. It was fun and a lot faster than I was expecting but it was expensive. It was close to $70 for the four of us to get a single ride. After riding the coaster we did some driving looking for moose that we never did find. We did eat some game meat at The Gun Barrel that night. I got some elk, venison blood sausage, and bison. It was alright, but just alright. I think it was a little bland because they didn't season it. After dinner we finally took the kids to their first rodeo. We walked from the RV resort to dinner where I destroyed a pint of beer with a little help from Natalie, then to the rodeo, and walked home in the dark.
The next day we went up the Jackson Hole Aerial Tram. It was cool, the pictures say it all. We walked around the village where everything is over priced. The kids wanted to do this trampoline with bungee cords but it was $15 for 3 minutes. Do the math, that's $300 an hour. No friggin way are they going to rape me that bad.
After the tram we just drove around looking at the mountains. We went up signal fire road, a road that is clearly marked "No trailers or RVs" and saw some moron trying to drive a huge RV. There were some pretty awesome views up there. Afterwards we went downtown, had another good burger, then went to look for moose at a spot they are commonly seen. We didn't see any moose but we did see quite a bit of elk. On the way back to the trailer we came up on probably 40 or 50 elk and everyone was stopped. I started calling at them and they would lift their heads up every time and call right back. The kids had a lot of fun watching me call them.
Something I found odd about Wyoming is that you can't buy alcohol in a grocery store you have to go to a liquor store, many are right next to grocery stores. However minors can drink with their parents, even in restaurants, and they have drive-thru liquor stores. The night before we left I stopped at the liquor store and bought some Canadian beer, Molsen. Natalie and I agree, one of the best beers we have had.
I was a little late on this one but in Wyoming I decided to play Private Idaho by the B52s for the kids. Adri loves that song, for some reason it's funny to her, and she recorded it with her phone and kept trying to play it. I had to ban that. I played Zach's favorite road trip song, You Spin Me Round Like a Record by Dead or Alive. I played that song coming back from California last year and caught him dancing to it. Same thing on this trip. He gets excited every time I play it and calls it his truck song. Yesterday I put it on in my office and he was too shy to come in so he stood outside my door hiding while trying to listen. This morning I put it on and when I went out to the kitchen I caught him shaking it while eating breakfast. Of course he got all shy and stopped when I caught him. Needless to say the rest of the trip the kids kept asking me to play these two songs for them.
At Snow King.
Driving around Grand Teton.
Dean is obsessed with trees lately. He gets very excited when we take him to look at the trees and cries when we pull him away.
At the Gun Barrel. We sat right under a moose.
At the rodeo.
Grand Teton.
At Jenny Lake.
Top of the mountain after riding the Jackson Hole Tram.
This guy was there for a while looking like he was never gonna go. I turned my back for a second, a gust of wind came in, and next thing I knew they were gone.
Raising his horns.
This is at Moose Junction. We didn't find any moose.
Our drive up Signal Mountain.
Downtown Jackson.
They have a couple of these arches made from Elk antlers collected at the local elk refuge where they have 7,500 elk.
South Dakota
On July 16th we left Jackson for Rapid City, South Dakota, a 541 mile drive. The drive sucked! Dean had a killer diaper blowout around lunch time so we had to stop and give him a shower in the trailer. A few hours before dark we made it to a town in the eastern side of Wyoming called Lusk. Now for at least an hour before we had been tracking a storm to our north that was headed the same way as us. A couple weeks prior a 5 ton tractor was picked up by a tornado not far from here and they never did find it. We decided to have pizza and take a quick break before continuing a couple more hours to Rapid City thinking the storm would just pass. Lucky for us the streets had lots of room to park so parking the trailer was easy. Unlucky for us the storm finally hit the city just as we were leaving. I had to do a couple turns to get back to the only gas station around and when I turned into the lot I thought I could get to the pump closest to the building. The one in the middle was taken by another trailer. Well I couldn't swing the trailer wide enough and had to try and back out to try again. Problem is while backing out I nearly jack knifed and couldn't move the trailer. This is the first and last time I had a real problem driving the trailer. Lucky for me the guy that had been in the middle pump came out in the pouring rain in his army windbreaker and helped me back up, drive into an alley, back out into the street, and take his prior spot. It took a good 5+ minutes and a lot of turning to make it happen but he helped us get out of a jam. After filling up we realized we were now right in the back end of the storm and it was going the same direction as us. We couldn't wait it out because it was going to Rapid City and it wasn't weakening so we had to punch through it. For the next hour we drove 20-35 mph through a hellish storm before breaking through. Once we did get through it it was now dark in a part of the country where they don't believe in street lights.
The fun didn't end there. We got to camp around 11 that night and there was someone in my spot, a Canadian family. Lucky for me the guy was outside and he had an RV not a trailer. Apparently he got confused when he came back to camp and parked in the wrong spot and didn't realize until I said something. He told me that explains why it wasn't level like it had been the day before. He was able to move in 15 minutes and I could finally get ready for bed.
South Dakota was a lot better than expected. I thought the Black Hills would be like any other mountains but they are unique and the area has a lot of beauty. That is, until you go east of Rapid City. Not a whole lot going on to the east except hay fields until you get to Badlands National Park.
July 17th after a late start to the day we went to Bear World and did an hour long drive through an open zoo. Each area is separated by cattle guards so the animals stay put. The last and best part of the drive was the bear exhibit where they had probably close to 100 bears in a feeding frenzy. After driving through all the exhibits we got to walk around a small zoo.
After a couple hours at Bear World we headed over to Mt. Rushmore. I was told, and read some incorrect information that they moved the platform back and you can hardly see the mountain. I actually though Mt. Rushmore would be lame but planned this part of the trip for Natalie. It actually was a lot better than I was expecting. The platform was not moved, they only closed a trail underneath the mountain however other trails are still open that get pretty close. When we got to the end of the trail the rain started. A few minutes later they were telling everyone to take cover over the loud speakers because a severe thunderstorm is coming. Everyone went running for the gift shop. Before we could get to the gift shop the hail started and continued for a good half hour. Afterwards there was a couple inches of hail on the ground and kids were making snow angels.
July 18th the plan was to go to Badlands. Natalie didn't know if she wanted to go because it is like Petrified National Forest. I told her we drove all that way, it's not the same, lets at least check it out. So we went to Badlands. It was similar to Petrified Forest, however Petrified Forest is a lot better, in my opinion. One thing that I did think was cool at Badlands was that it had the yellow layer in the hills that doesn't exist in Petrified Forest. The yellow layer was in a shallow sea long ago, turned to black mud when it dried up, then eventually weathered into a yellow soil. Interesting explanation of the levels of soil here. I also found the soil explanation at Petrified Forest fascinating.
We were able to drive the park in a couple hours and do one trail. It was in the upper 80's that afternoon and one trail was all the kids could handle. On the way back we could see another nasty storm over Rapid City which spawned a tornado. We got back just as the storm had passed and went to see the dinosaur park which was pretty lame except for the fact that there was an amazing view of the city from there.
July 19th was our last full day in South Dakota. We decided to see the Wind Cave. We were actually going to go to Jewel Cave but they said they would likely be sold out so we did Wind Cave instead. I didn't know if I wanted to do another cave. If I was exploring on my own I could explore caves all day but I think it's kind of all the same when you have a tour guide and have to stay on paved trails. Well we decided to do this cave anyways and it was interesting. Yes it would be 1,000 times better if I got to go off trail all the way to the lake at the bottom (an 8 hour hike each way) but that wasn't an option. The one thing that was really cool about this cave is that it has box work. 90% of the box work from all the caves in the world are found in Wind Cave and Jewel Cave so it's pretty rare.
After Wind Cave we drove through Custer State Park back to Rapid City. The drive was nothing short of amazing. We saw lots of antelope and bison and the hills were insanely green. When we got back to Rapid City we experience a lot of traffic and crowds. The plan was to hit up the Firehouse Brewery however I didn't know if we would be able to park. We were able to find a free parking garage just a few blocks from the brewery and walk over. Turns out on Thursday nights they do music and a free fair downtown. This day they had a band called 80's station. We ate dinner then came back so the kids could enjoy their first concert, a free one at that. The band was actually pretty good and covered a variety of 80's songs. The best ones they did were by the B52s. The singer, I call him lego head because he wore an odd lego looking hat, did a perfect impression of the B52s.
The weather was crazy in South Dakota. It could be 90 one minute and 65 an hour later. Most of our trip was cool weather but this was one of the colder places.
Our trip through Nebraska to Colorado below, after the pics.....
We brought Ozzy up the tram but forgot to take pictures. So to make it up to him I let him drive a little the next day. This is driving through Grand Teton to Rapid City.
Look what I happened to find in the Bear City gift shop. So tempted to buy it but it would have merely been a souvenir. No way I could actually use it.
After our drive through the park. This was in the small zoo.
Bear cubs at play.
I think we all agreed we like the Cinnamon colored black bears the best.
A line of all the state's flags. Each column in engraved with the state.
It actually looks quite a bit bigger in person.
Ozzy didn't want to be left out. The storms are brewin.
This was near the end of one of the trails. A cave that has this view in the back. Don't know if it's natural or man made.
That night they had free train rides at the KOA. There was no room on the train for adults so I was going to follow. I soon realized I couldn't keep up in my flip flops. I was probably the only nervous parent there about the fact that my kid was on the train and I didn't know where it went. Decided no more train rides after that.
Badlands, South Dakota
Something else unique to Badlands. Petrified Forest does not have all the green in between the hills.
The yellow layer I was talking about. Hard to imagine an ocean in the middle of the country.
Near the end of a short hike we found a doe and two fawns that still had their spots.
This trail may have been pretty cool. The kids were too tired to hike though so I just did a quick trip close to the parking lot.
The dinosaur park they advertise all around.
Nice view of Rapid City.
The kids running around at Wind Cave National Park.
Directly above Wind Cave.
Caving.
More box work.
Checking out a bison on the side of the road around Custer State Park.
Ozzy needed his picture taken as well.
We had to stop to change Dean's poop diaper. So we pulled over at this stream and took in the view while getting rid of the horrible stench.
At Firehouse Brewery. The kids got fried mac n cheese. I got a burger and a mediocre beer, check that, 2 mediocre beers.
At the concert. Someone had too much cotton candy.
Colorado
July 20th we drove to Colorado to have some family time. The original plan was to stop in Nebraska but we were moving slow due to some horrible roads so we passed on that. The funny thing is one of the highways was horribly bumpy but got smooth right at the county line. One cool thing we saw driving through Nebraska though were some rock piles coming out of the middle of the forest towering 100-200 feet high with pine trees growing on them. We also saw this in New Mexico.By mid afternoon we got to Fort Collins. We spent a few hours at my aunt's house then went to Boyd Lake to park the trailer. We ended up going back to my aunt's house that night for game night. The following day we hung out at the lake then went back for another round of game night. The day after we saw downtown Fort Collins, had a picnic at the park, and another round of games. The following day we did a hike, had some lunch at a local burger joint then had our last family get together. Always good times seeing these cousins. After a few days with the cousins though we had to leave to spent a couple days up in the mountains to recover from all the traveling the last few days.
At Aunt Suzi's house.
Natalie couldn't pass up getting her donut on.
Hiking in Loveland.
Zach decided he was done hiking so Jeremy carried him.
And when Jeremy got tired I took over.
The end of the trail.
Dean loves hiking.
My cousin Amanda decided to take Zach for a ride.
The last night in Loveland I caught Zach talking to these girls. I tried to ask him what they talked about but he wouldn't tell me.
Leadville, Colorado
July 24th we had breakfast with my niece and my cousins before leaving Fort Collins. I had a killer breakfast burrito however it didn't go over so well later in the day. Due to the last minute late breakfast plans we didn't get on the road until nearly noon. We drove through the Roosevelt tunnel and down an 8% grade which was mild in comparison to what we experienced in Wyoming. We drove to Turquoise Lake, just outside of Leadville. The lake is at 10,000 feet but we drove above 11,000 feet right before getting to the lake. This would be the part of the trip where we did some dry camping. I have been wanting to do some camping in Colorado since our trip in 2015 when we drove through the San Juan Forest. San Juan was a little out of the way for this trip so we did San Isabel instead. We filled up the tank in Leadville and the only power we had the next couple days came from my small generator which was enough for the lights, pump, charging the batteries, and watching tv but not enough for AC (which we didn't need anyways) or microwave.The parking here was pretty tight. It took me a good 15 minutes to get the trailer backed in the way I wanted it. That night when Natalie made dinner I took the kids for a walk to the lake. The next day we went into town and had lunch, saw the Tabor Opera House, then went to the fish hatchery. The kids loved feeding the fish. Dean was kicking and getting very excited when the fish jumped. The following day we tried to go fishing. Shore fishing with kids is not the best idea. I was constantly undoing tangles and the kids wouldn't just sit still and hold their poles. No one around us was catching anything and they all packed up and left. However after 5 minutes I got a bite but I was Facebooking at the same time so I failed to hook it. I re-wormed the hook and a couple minutes later I hooked me a nice trout. We drove back to the trailer, gutted the trout, and 20 minutes later had a delicious fresh meal. After lunch Natalie and Adri didn't want to do anything so Zach and I went off hiking on our own. I had wanted to see a really nice lake however it was a 4 mile round trip hike and I knew Zach wouldn't make it. We hiked as far as we could before turning back when the t-storms moved in.
Note: Colorado at 10,000 feet is cold, even in summer. Nice 72 degree afternoons but upper 30's at night. It wasn't unexpected. I had a solid itinerary that even had daily weather averages for each location so Natalie would know what clothes to pack.
Father Dyer Campground by Leadville.
Downtown Leadville.
The Tabor Opera House.
At the end of Lake Turquoise.
Adri was being a grump butt again.
Taking the tour of the Tabor Opera House. Houdini performed on that stage. The piano was shipped from New York City back in the 1800's.
Leadville National Fish Hatchery.
Almost halfway into this video Dean got all excited and started shaking. It's amusing watching this kid.
Showing the kids what a perfectly roasted marshmellow looks like.
I bought some packets that we threw in the fire that made the fire green and blue. Not the best picture as the camera couldn't really get the color but it was pretty cool and lasted about 10 minutes.
Trout I caught at Turquoise Lake.
Hiking with Zachy Zach.
Our last night at Turquoise Lake we all hiked from camp to the lake.
Chama, New Mexico
July 27th we drove to our last location, Chama, New Mexico, about 4 hours south of Leadville right on the border with Colorado. The drive got very interesting in the last 90 minutes. It went from almost desert to really thick forest within a mile or so. We drove into a part of the mountain that was like a funnel and this is one of the quickest transitions to forest I have ever seen. It happened to be raining at the time and I believe it got down to 56 degrees at one part of the drive. Part of the drive we drove on the road we would see the next day from our train ride.
This stop was planned just for the train ride. Originally we were going to stop in Santa Fe but then I found out about the train so I changed the plans to Chama. Chama is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. They don't have a real grocery store, they have two restaurants, a saloon, and the train which happens to be the highest narrow gauge railroad in the country.
When I booked this reservation I had a bad feeling about it. I called the Rio Chama RV Park and at first she told me they are full. Then she said to let her take a look at something and all of a sudden she had a spot for me. I asked for a reservation number and she told me they don't do that. This was months ago and I told my dad this and he told me I'll probably get screwed. Well we pull in and there is a sign that campground is full except for reservations. No problem, I have a reservation. Or do I? They couldn't find a reservation and I wasn't happy about it. I told her I had a bad feeling that something like this would happen. They don't use computers, they are stuck in the 50's. They had a laminated grid that they were using dry erase marker on to mark off full spots and Rolodex cards for reservation details. It was a joke. The good thing is the three of them working there were nice and tried to make things work out. They kept looking and thought they were full but then they found a spot that somehow was overlooked. It makes me wonder if this spot was my reservation but they lost the card they used in conjunction with their grid chart. The problem now was that it was a parking space for RVs where you park front end instead of back in and it was on the river. It works if you have long enough power cable, sewer, and hose. Why is the river a problem? Apparently they don't allow kids by the river because insurance won't cover them if they do. So they started asking how old my kids are. I told them don't worry about that I'm a helicopter parent and my kids won't be outside alone. They made me promise that my kids won't be out alone then they told me they would give me that spot at a discounted rate. Problem solved and I didn't have to get nasty with them. I did however have to come back for some sewer hose extensions and that was another fun experience as the lady was clueless what I needed and kept trying to argue. I knew what I needed and it worked.
Just as I got parked and started hooking up we got pounded with some hail for a good half hour. It got cold really quick and the hail actually stuck on the ground for a couple hours. The kids were amused. I like the storms but was a little annoyed because I needed to get the trailer hooked up.
That night we had nothing else to do so we went out for dinner. We went to the only real restaurant in town and it sucked. The waiting area was crammed by the door and it was a long wait while tables were empty and people were trying to pile in to get out of the rain. They had Stella on tap and the girl asked if I want a 30 or 40. I thought wow that is a really big drink. I got the 30 thinking it was oz and it came in a normal glass. I asked her what she meant when she said 30 or 40 and she told me oz. I told her sorry but that is not 30 oz. She showed me the 30 on the cup. It was 30 centiliters. This is America, I don't expect someone to know what a centiliter. But when a grown adult doesn't know what a 12 oz cup and a 30 or 40 oz cup look like that's a concern. I then ordered a chili verde burrito and got some nasty pork tacos. It was not a good dinner. If you ever stay in Chama don't plan on eating out.
July 28th was our last adventure, the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad. There was several options for train rides. One of them goes all the way up to Antonio Colorado and crosses the border 11 or 12 times and goes through a couple tunnels. I ended up booking the shorter trip to Osier, Colorado because with the trip to Antonio you have to take the bus one way and the train the other. I wanted to ride the train both ways. The only downside is we didn't get to go through the tunnels.
The train ride was from 10-4 with a stop for lunch in Osier. Along the way there were people that kept showing up at the road crossings dressed in clothes from the 1800's and the woman had a black umbrella. By the time we got to Osier we figured out they were paying these people to show up along the way and wave at us.
I took the kids for a walk around the RV park after dinner. We saw 6 deer within a half mile in that area.
This is the highway we drove down the previous day to get to Chama.
The highway we drove down the previous day.
Got the kids some train whistles at the gift store in Osier.
July 29th we finally went home. We left early in the morning and got home around 7:30 or 8 that night. It was mostly easy driving but the roads on the Navajo reservation suck and they had a Shell that was completely out of gas. The downhill from Flagstaff to the valley is only 6% and it's straight so not all that hard to drive. It did suck when we got close to home and got the Black Canyon traffic. Dean was getting restless, the kids were being annoying, and they are lucky they didn't get a good beating. After 26 days on the road I had all I could take. Love my kids, love taking them on vacation and spending all day with them, but after 3 weeks of them fighting in the car I was done.
So now I'll be taking a few months to recover and forget all the craziness before I plan my next trip. Even with the choas I'm looking forward to the next one. I will be doing things differently. Shorter trip, less stops, more time in each location, etc. And of course, it would be nice next time if my sister and my dad spend some more time with us.
No comments:
Post a Comment