2021/07/05 - Monday - Vacation - Day 18 - Off Road Trail

 We left the campground at 9 and headed into town to get some stuff for the adventure. 

We stopped at Smoothy's Juice Bar and had breakfast.

We stopped at the Great Sand Dunes Visitor Center again.

Before heading up the Medano Pass Primitive Road, we stopped at the base of the big sand dunes.  The sandy part was deep and the 4runner had no issues. We crossed the creek and it was not very deep.  There was a section that had deep nogales.  We stopped along the route to eat lunch, bugs were out also. There was one steep muddy climb and again the 4Runner did great.  Once at the top the down hill side was just a easy dirt road.

Back to the RV to check in on the animals

Went to dinner at St Ives A Pub & Eatery

2020/06/24 - Wednesday - Vacation - Day 13 - Animals, Fort, & Fall

We finally got moving around 10.

Our first stop was at Starbucks to get our drinks and food items.

Next stop was at the Olympic Game Farm.  We got a loaf of bread and started the driving around the park.  I went through all the bread just with the yaks and bears, so we stopped at the entrance and got two more loafs. The Roosevelt elk, Sika deer and American bison got another loaf and then returned to the bears to feed them the last loaf of bread.

We got lunch in Sequim.

We explored Fort Flagler Historical State Park, brought back a lot of memories from about 40 years ago when I was there on a week long school trip.

Next stop was the Ludlow Falls.

Back at the RV to relax and have leftovers for dinner.

2017/07/02 - Sunday - Vacation - Day 18 - Next National Park

We got moving a little late - around 9:45.  I took the route with the least amount of gravel roads for our travels.  I did not go straight to the 95, I waiting for awhile until heading north.

Around lunch time the rest area I was going to use was closed so I had to wait another hour before stopping and having lunch.  For some reason I was more tired today driving then I have been on this trip.

We stopped for gas, thinking it was a Flying J's but it is a Shell for gas (Flying J's for the truckers).

We are stopped for the night in Dickinson for two night, so we can go see the three National Parks in area.

Unloaded the van from the tow-dolly and we headed out.  I drove through part of town in search of a hardware store, but nothing on that route.

We stopped at "Theodore Roosevelt National Park - Painted Canyon Visitor Center"  and then continued on to "Theodore Roosevelt National Park - South Unit".  Amanda got the paper work so she can start working on the Jr Ranger Badge.

We did the Scenic Loop Drive - 36 miles and saw several animals, also during the loop a thunder storm moved over and we got to see the lighting show with lots of rain for about an hour.

Back out of the park, we stopped for dinner.

On the way back to the RV, the wind and rain was really bad for part of the drive.

2016/07/01 - Friday - Vacation - Day 15 - Rain

I forgot set my alarm, so I got up late.  We finally left about 10:00. 

First stop was for more cash...

Next stop was to get the tire light to stop being on.  The back driver tire was low.

On our way to the next stop, the van needed more go go juice - we stopped at Pilot.

Because it was not raining hard, I decided we go ahead and stop at the "Black Bear Country" and did the driving tour.  We also did the walking part, even though it was raining slightly.  And of course went in and spent some money at the gift shop.

Next stop for lunch was at Ruby House Restaurant in downtown Keystone...

Now onto our driving part of the day.

We drove Iron Mountain Rd, and in Custer State Park, we paid our fee and went to the new visitor center.  The center is really nice and the movie screen is HUGE.

Next part of the drive was the Wildlife Loop Rd.  Part way through I made a detour and turned onto CSP Rd 3 (dirt road).  At the next intersection I turned onto Lame Johnny Rd and discovered a prairie dog city.  Amanda took several hundred pictures.

Finally back on pavement (87) we headed towards home.  The fog was very low.  I stopped at 87 and 16A to determine where dinner will be at.  After some research on the phones, we headed in the appropriate direction.

As we were passing through Custer, the fogs was thick!  And as we passed Crazy Horse we could NOT see it so we opted not to stop there.

We stopped at Slate Creek Grill in Hill City for dinner.

Before getting back to the RV we stopped at Safeway and got a few things.

Back at the RV, the dogs were walked, the pictures where unloaded and next thing we knew it was time for bed...

2014/06/25 – Wednesday – Vacation - Day 05 - Goats, Mine, and Museums

Today was going to be a easy going day.  We had two things planned.

We finally found the correct location of a goat cheese making location.  The owner took us on the tour of the location and he makes several flavors of cheeses that go all over area.  They even have other animals on the ranch - dogs, horses, cow, sheep, ducks, chickens, burrow, potbelly pig, and of course goats - Lots of goats.

Next we stopped at the gas station to top off the van. 

We were getting hungry so we went past the next location and proceeded onto Kramer Junction for lunch.

We stopped at the Rio Tinto Borax Mine.  The visitor center was interesting and we got lucky and had a very informative instructor from the company.

We then found out about two museum in town of Boron.  We visited the Col. Vernon P. Saxon Jr. Aerospace Museum and the 20 Mule Team Museum.

We stopped at a store to get something to drink.

If you look, you can find interesting things that our out there!

2013/07/10 – Wednesday – Vacation - Day 20 - Grand Staircase, Tire

Today was a lazy start, we did not get moving until a little after 10.

My plan for the day was to explore part of The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. 

We stopped to get gas in the van and then headed to the first visitor center, Cannonville.  We got some information and Amanda got her JR Ranger booklet to fill out, then headed on out.  We finally made it to an arch, down a long dusty road.  We took several shots of the arch and then headed back.

Next stop was at Kodachrome Basin State Park and toured around that area for a short time.

Now it was time for a late lunch, so we stopped at place that had food, but not a restaurant in Cannonville.

We then headed further East along 12 to the next town.  We briefly stopped at Escalante Petrified Forest State Park but we did not do any of the walks because it was over 98 degrees.  We proceeded to Escalante where we found another visitor center and that is where Amanda was able to turn in her JR Ranger program for the Monument.

We headed further East again towards Boulder (no not Boulder CO but Boulder UT).  The views were great. 

On our way back I took a different route.  I turned off the main road and headed over a Forest Service road.  The lady at the Escalante visitor center said it was a good road.  The road was in good shape for a FS road.  Almost near the top of the pass a deer jumped out in front of us and I barely missed her!!!  As we went over the pass I noticed the low tire light was on so I stopped and checked the tires, sure enough the passenger rear tire had a leak in it.  I back the van back to the top and found a relatively flat spot so I could change the tire.

Once back into Bryce City, I stopped at the auto repair place and had to buy two new tires.  The leak was in a non-repairable location and the tire did not have enough meat on them anyways, so replacement was the only option.  I needed to replace all four, but I was planning on doing that once we were done with vacation, so I will get the other two replaced once back home.

Everybody else walked to the RV while I waited for the new tires.  Once done, I picked them back up and headed out for dinner.

Back at the RV, we loaded the van onto the tow-dolly and got ready for tomorrows drive to our next two night stay.

2013/07/09 – Tuesday – Vacation - Day 19 - Hikes and Exploring

After getting up, we needed a few items from the store, so a shopping we went.

Once we got everything gathered up, we headed out for our first hike of the day.  Once we determined which one to do, we headed that way to Mossy Cave Trail hike.  This canyon had some water running in it.  Once at the location of the two items, we explored around the waterfall and then over to the “Cave”, which was an overhang with water trickling under through the moss.  That hike was about 1 mile round trip and we spent about 30 minutes there.

Next hike was at the far Southern tip of the park, called Bristlecone Loop Trail.  We finally got there and started our hike.  It is on the rim of the area.  The hike was about 1.1 miles round trip and we spent about 45 minutes exploring the area.

We returned to the RV for lunch and we wanted to make sure Turquoise was ok, and he was.

The last hike of the day for us was going to be moderate.  We headed back into the park and started the Navajo Loop Trail.  This trail starts at the top of the rim and head downhill. The view going down and going up are really cool with high cliff walls and very tall trees growing between very tight canyons.  The climb up was steep with a lot of switchbacks and we had to go through a small “tunnel” more like an arch along the route.  The hike was about 2.2 miles and it took us about 1.5 hours.

Now that everybody was tired, we still haven’t done all the viewing areas on long the route, so we returned to the southern end and proceeded to stop at all the viewing areas all the way back to the main entrance. 

We stopped at the visitor center so Amanda could get her JR Ranger booklet reviewed and she can get her badge this makes it her 55^th completed.

We started looking for a place for dinner and we finally decided on a place about 3 miles out of town.  The food was good, but it is not that cheap.

Before heading back to the RV, I decided to head out for a little adventure down a dirt road to a reservoir.  On the way there I had to hit the brakes hard because a doe ran across the road.  Once at the reservoir we made our way around the lake, we were able to see deer, a spring, and ducks with ducklings

Back at the RV, Turquoise is still not 100%, so we had to do a little cleaning up.

Offloading all the photos for the day will take a while.

Tonight I was told to make sure my light-stick was turned off because it is after “quite hours”.  I guess my light shines to bright.

2013/06/22 – Saturday – Vacation - Day 02 - Donkeys and Canyon

We had a great breakfast with family.

We got moving a little later then I wanted to but with good conversations and not seeing them that often, I would think that is a good excuse.

Our first stop was at Oatman.  Well the town is a tourist trap and of course the donkeys help captivate the people.  Of course we did help the economy of the place and spread some money around in three different locations. We did leave town before the gun fight could start.

The road heading east of town is very steep and has some very tight and sharp curves.  The switch backs going east was not really any problems, but heading west you can see on one switch back where a lot of scrapes in the road.  The tranny temp did get high climbing that section of the road before the top of the pass.  On the east side of the pass, I was able to go down in first gear and only had to hit the breaks once.

At Flying J's in Kingman, the RV got it's necessary juice and we had a quick lunch stop.

As we where pulling through the park entrance to the Grand Canyon National Park, we noticed that all the camping locations where full,  but I missed the turn to turn around.  Finally got turned around (by going through part of the parks residents) we headed back to the first RV park outside of the park.  We got a spot with only water and electric.  We unloaded the van from the tow dolly and got the RV setup.

We headed back into the park (using the van) and we got the normal park sign picture.  When we got to the visitor center they have already been closed for 20 minutes.  So over to the store to get a few things, Amanda was able to get her JR Ranger booklet to fill out.  We then went over to one of the canyon overlooks.  I would say the pictures just does not give you the correct perspectives, you got to see it in person!!!

We had dinner at one of the cafes in the park so we could attend of the of the evening ranger programs.

2011/05/21 - Saturday - Get Away

We did not get an early start as I expected.  We made it to J&L place without any issues.  We of course did our stopping at the meadow to take some pictures of the horses.

Eric and I got on their quad and we ran Turquoise up and down the road.

This time we went out for dinner so they did not have to be cooking...  Thanks L&J for dinner!

On the way back to their house, we did a little exploring with the van.

On the way out to head home, we almost got to the gate (before the water tank), a foal and three others were on the road.  The foal was extremely young.

Before getting to Lancaster, two foxes were playing on the side of the road, but they did run back into the field before I passed them.

It was a really nice get away from home and relaxing Saturday!

2009/07/11 – Saturday – Valley and Mountains

Well this morning the RV was getting warm, when I looked at the time, it was 9:30 – hmmm lat for us – o-well we slept in.

We finally left to head into the park – Yosemite.  It took us about 1 hour to get into the park.  I made the turn to head up to go to the tunnel view and drove the tunnel (both directions) and then stopped to take the necessary photos of the valley.

House Keeping store was our next stop – Mom M got her pennies pressed.

Our next stop was at the parking spot for the visitor center.  Now it was lunch time.  We found both penny press and eat lunch at the Grill (Burgers and Dogs).

Back to the van – we got ready for our hike .  We did the lower Yosemite Falls.  Eric, Amanda, and I also scrambled up to the base of the falls.  Amanda wanted to cross the water, so we started to cross, Eric made the last leap across, then I made it over, but Amanda slipped and fell into the water. She also hit her knee and stomach, but she was ok.  We climbed up to near the base, but the spray was a lot more on this side (west side.)

Our next stop was the visitor center.  Amanda had completed her junior ranger paper, so she was sworn in as a junior ranger.

We then stopped at the Samuel Adams gallery and Amanda got a few items.

The drive out was a little hectic, but we got back to the RV in reasonable amount of time.   We went out to eat at one of the local dinners. 

Back to the RV to load the van on the trailer, relax, and I through the ball for the dogs a few time.

Tomorrow is the drive home.

2009/07/10 – Friday – Park Fun

The camp power was cut off at about 6:00 – I had to turn off the satellite equipment because of low battery.

We finally left camp at about 9:00 and headed for Tioga pass. 

Tioga pass is a very hard pass to climb – I was down to 20 mph for quite a few miles.

Finally we made it to Yosemite.  The roads are tight.  The driver mirror almost got hit a few times, so I would hit the branches on the passenger side a few times so I would not get hit by the passing vehicle.

We did not drive the RV into the village, we headed outside the park to find a camp.  The first place was all booked up, so we went into Mariposa and found the fair grounds – they found a location for me so I don’t have to disconnect the trailer.

We got everything squared away and unloaded the van – so we went back into the park.

We had dinner at Curry Village and then we found a program to watch about Ansell Adams.  While we were waiting for the program, we watch a mule deer walk by.

The drive back to the RV was ok – now we get to drive back into the park again tomorrow.

2008/06/24 – Tuesday – We are in Wichita

We left camp on time – 9:00 am. On the way out, we almost ran over a tortuous.

Our first stop was a gas and lunch in a little town called Minneola Kansas.

Next was at the ‘Big Well’ in Greensburg Kansas where a tornado (EF5) hit in May 2007. Wow the town is still building. The “Big Well” is still there, but the gift shop is a very small temporary building. They still do not do tours down into the well since the disaster.

We did get to see a crop fire.

I almost missed the turn off for the campground. We got checked ok and they are happy to receive a package I had to order to get the trailer tires sensor replacements delivered to us.

Amanda went with Chris and his Mom to a Barn Dance (Square Dance)

The rest of us went to Wally World for a few items.

When Chris returned Amanda, we chatted for little while.

2008/01/27 – Sunday – Relaxing Day

I fix Eric’s back tire – needed a new entertub.

We watched the last of the Netflix movies that we had, now we need to send all four back.

The rain did come a go; we had a few times when we had sunlight!
Otherwise the day has been one of those relaxing type of day.

2007/07/08 – Sunday – Boat Ride

We got up and ready for our trip at 9:00. We bought our trip from the RV park headquarters.

We walked over to the boat and got on, we left at 10:00 for our 9 to 10 hour tour.

The captain was very informative and gave us a lot of information. We saw a lot of animals and some small pieces of ice from a glacier calving.

When we got back to the RV, I had to do some minor cleaning up after the dogs, and off to dinner we went. We also walked around the town after dinner with the dogs.

Camp Location:
Same as yesterday - N 61 07.647, W 146 21.016 – Bear Paw RV Park – Valdez, Alaska

Big Animal Report:
Birds of Prince Williams Sound:
Marbled Murrelet
Horned Puffin
Bald Eagles
Tufted Puffin
Mammals of Prince Williams Sound:
Steller Sea Lion
Humpback Whale
Sea Otter
Dall’s Porpoise
Harbor Seal

Attractions:
Stan Stephens Glacier & Wildlife Cruises - Prince Williams Sound – Columbia and Meares Glacier Excursion

2007/06/29 – Friday – Animals and Signs

We left at 9:00 – another good start…

About 10:30 we stopped at Liard Hot Springs – It was really nice and hot. None of us made it to the hottest part of the springs. We stayed in the water for about 45 minutes. After returning to the RV, we ate lunch.

Next stop is at Watson Lake. First thing to do was get gas. We then stopped at Northern Lights Centre and we stopped just in time to watch the hour show. We then went over to the sign post forest and did a quick walk around.

It was still to early for me to stop for the night so, we continued on for another two hours.

We stopped on Rancheria, Yukon for the night, also got gas, and we went into the little restaurant for dinner.

It took a little longer trying to get the satellite but finally I was successful on getting aimed.

Eric and Amanda did some schoolwork.

Camp Location:
N 58 50.776, W 125 13.863 – Rancheria, Yukon, Canada

Big Animal Report:
2-mule deer
10-stone sheep all together where standing beside the road
2-stone sheep off to the side of the road one had a good pair of horns
5-buffalo
10 buffalo and 3 calf-all herding together in a pack right off the side of the road
30+ buffalo with several babies including two that walked in front of us

Attractions:
Liard Hot Springs
Northern Lights Centre
Watson Lake Sign Forest

2007/06/28 – Thursday – Drive, Gas, & Lake

We left early today – 8:35, so we went into Dawson to go find the other mile zero post. I was able to park really close to it and get pictures of it. A friendly couple took Eric and my picture standing in front of it.

We had to stop in one of the road construction place for about 15 minutes waiting for a pilot car.

Our next stop was for gas at and lunch stop at Pink Mountain.

I had to hit the breaks hard to avoid a dear running across the road.

The next stop was at Fort Nelson for Gas.

According to Street Atlas, it was time to stop for the day, but it was only 3:00 so we continued on to drive.

We made it to Toad for gas and our night stop as well as dinner.

Our back window looks upon a beaver lake. Between doing laundry and walking the dogs, we say several animals.

Both kids worked on the schoolwork.

Camp Location:
N 58 50.776, W 125 13.863 – Toad, British Columbia, Canada

Big Animal Report:
6 – Dear
1 – Elk
1 – Stone Sheep
2 – Beavers
1 – Otter
5 - Moose

Attractions:
None (unless you want to look at all the hats in the store/restaurant/office at Toad)

2007/06/27 – Wednesday – Animals and Rain.

We left camp at 9:02 – right on time.

As you can see in the animal report (below) we say several animals along our drive out of Jasper National Park.

We got gas at Jasper.

We got lunch at Subway and gas at Grande Cache – A small town up on the side of a hill. The road climbs high to get into town, and then when you leave you go down a steep hill.

It was a hilly drive to get to Dawson.

When we got into Dawson, it was thundering and lightening.

We got some pictures at mile marker 0 of the Alaska Highway (in the rain)

Once we found a campground that could take us, we went into town to get gas and dinner. This allowed enough time for the rain storm to pass, so we could setup camp not in the rain.

Very nice sunset tonight

Camp Location:
N 55 45.923, W 120.15.667 – Dawson, British Columbia, Canada

Big Animal Report:
- elk cow wanted to cross the road, changed her mind as several cars and two motorcycles came by
- another cow cross road a little in front of us
- driver’side 2 doe’s grazing
- black bear going into Jasper
- 4 cow right hand side in trees. 4 more about 10 yards further up
- 1 goat right beside the road
- 4 bulls
- 6 goats on left side, 2 on right – 1 was a baby
- 2 deer – 1 doe, 1 buck

Attractions:
Mile Marker Zero of the Alaska Highway

2007/06/26 – Tuesday – High, Cold, and Remote

The day started when the alarm went off at 7:30. While I was getting things ready, I also checked the tire pressure on all tires, so all will be good on the tires.

We left at 9:00 and we headed towards Banff

We turned off the highway into Banff, while driving through town (with all of its construction). I found a sign for a Gondola Ride, so I made the drive up the hill and finally found a parking place for the RV and trailer (on the upper lot).

We went to the top and looked around, we also ate lunch at the top.

The next stop was at the Columbia Icefield to explore the Athabasca Glacier. What a drive to the top of the pass, at one point I was down to 25 mph climbing the hill.

We did the “Brewster Columbia Icefield Glacier Experience”. We got one of the last trips to the ice. When we got the chance to get out of the BIG buss, we where standing on about 1000 feet of ice.

After returning to the RV, it was late, so I found the next campground. I tired to get into a spot but it was way to small and I tagged the RV on a tree (no damage – just a little sap was left on the RV). Then I found another site where I could fit, so I was able to back into it. I had to use two 4x4 on the passenger front, one on the driver side, and one on the rear passenger side to get the RV leveled off (of course also using the leveler jacks).

But we did not have Internet because of the trees all around us; But a very nice camp location with the Jonas Creek running next to it – even with all the mosquitoes.

We did watch one of the many movies we brought along – so far the batteries are doing good!

Camp Location:
N 52 25.033, W 117 23.706 – Jasper National Park – Jonas Creek

Big Animal Sightings:
1 – Brown Bear (In Banff National Park)
2 – Black Bear (In Banff National Park)
1 - Deer (In Jasper National Park)
several big horn sheet on the excursion (in Jasper)

Attractions:
Gondola Ride (In Banff)
Glacier Experience (In Jasper National Park)