That's a Wrap!

Goodbye 2017, Hello 2018!  When you camp in an area that doesn't have any WiFi service (or cable) the two pretty much merge together!  ;-)  So this "end of year blog" is a little late getting out...

Looking over our "goals" for 2017, which was pretty much to "complete our US map" and to take things a bit slower, spending more time during our travels, exploring...I think we were successful.  We checked off our last state, which was Ohio! by thoroughly enjoying that state.  We visited 6 cities/towns in Ohio, sampling their food (chili!), their attractions, and their beauty.  We never guessed Ohio could be so much fun!  We ended up spending 19 days there.

After 5 years on the road, and always visiting Texas (because it's there, and because it's where one of my son's lives) it's always a fun challenge to find a new place and/or a new route to take.  This year we managed to do both.  We also checked off another National Park to boot!  Visiting Big Bend in Texas was quite an experience, and like all of Texas, you can only get a taste of it because it's so very large!  Then later, after visiting my son, going through the Piney Woods area of Texas was such a lovely surprise.

Another state we were able to enjoy and spend some time exploring this year was Colorado.  In the past, it has only been for a few days, and only to visit our friends around the Denver area.  This time they met us in Colorado Springs for a week, but we camped several weeks before and after throughout the state as well and really got a great sense of what a beautiful state it is.  Having the opportunity to visit it in August was ideal for us, since their mountains are so high, most of the time one takes a chance of getting hit with snow or ice or road closures...but not so in August!  Yea!

I was also able to knock off a long time item off my "bucket list" this year, and that was to walk into and photograph a slot canyon in Utah.  What a wonderful experience that was!  Oftentimes something you've wished for, for years, doesn't always live up to your expectations, but this time, it exceeded it.  We ended up with a private tour because no one else had signed up for it that day, and the guide knowing my feelings, stayed longer, and took extra time showing me photo shots to take.  It was the highlight of our summer and one I will never forget!

With all that, we still managed to be at the birth of my last grandson, to get in (very) quick trips back east with family, and then the fast trip back to the west for a friend's wedding (phew!).  So no "vacation" out of the RV this year.  A longer than usual family visit in Washington...then to Arizona to "dry out".

Looking over our stats, they aren't to much different than last year actually...

We stayed at 62 campgrounds, for a total of 295 nights
Total campground fees: $10,758.63
(That averages about $36.47 a night, which is a little less than last year...maybe because we didn't stay in California very long this time)

Mileage for the RV: 12,945
Mileage for the toad: 11,823
Gasoline for the RV: $4,800
Gasoline for the toad: $1,130
Propane: $143
Maintenance & Repairs RV: 5,800(4 tires on toad, 6 tires on RV, generator exhaust, etc)

When you have a 10 year old RV, she needs a little TLC once a decade, then she's "good to go" again for awhile.  Now that that is done, we can relax a bit and see what 2018 brings us!

...kicking back in sunny Arizona,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Back on the road again!

Did you miss us?  We've been on a kind of a hiatus.  At least it seems that way...  We certainly hadn't been traveling!

I had to have some surgery done to my right shoulder...so flew off to our "home base" of Tacoma Washington where most of my family lives.  My days were filled with lots of Dr. appointments, labs, squeezed in family visits, then the surgery, more appointments until I was finally able to fly back to San Diego where Jack had been staying for the three weeks.  While I was "keeping busy" in Washington, he was helping a friend in Valley Center California build a second story deck onto his home.  Two old codgers tearing down a nearly falling down 35+ year old wood deck, about 8' wide by 40' long, replacing it with a new one to be made with steel and cement!  Phew!  Quite a job, but they got it about 90% done (all but the re bar put in and cement poured) by the time Jack had to pick me up at the airport.

Between the pain of the surgery and the pain of the building project...we both needed some R&R, so we spent a week at our favorite spot in San Diego, Mission Bay RV, to visit with some friends and family before heading out to meet up with friends in Utah.  A week is never enough time to catch up with our friends and family in San Diego, but we had long ago set up the date to meet up with friends in Utah and show them Bryce Canyon.  Before I found out I had to have surgery, we had planned on spending the entire month in San Diego together.  Jack working on the deck while I tootled around visiting.  You know what they say about "best laid plans...".

Anyway, all that was to explain why it's been so long since I've written!  Now...we are back on the road again...and glad of it!  Yea!  First stop, Bryce Canyon Utah!  Now, this is not the first time we've been there, but this time it was different...this time it had snow!  Well, only a little...but it looks different when it's sprinkled with it!  And this time, it was with friends...friends who had never been to Utah, who had never seen Utah's beautiful colors, or incredible forms.  Until you've seen them for yourself, in person, you just can't imagine the majesty.  It's almost overwhelming.  It's really fun to watch one's face light up when they see it for the first time.  I never get tired of looking at the beauty of the canyons myself.

The three "amigos" Marie, Deloris, & Judy

Bryce Canyon Utah

We spent a wonderful week in Utah with our friends, eating, drinking, laughing, catching up, making plans for future camping trips together.  When we left there, we took the Markagunt High Plateau Scenic Byway, towards Lake Powell.  What a beautiful route!  It had snowed while we were in Parowin the week before, but a few days of sunshine had cleared the road, so we were in luck.

Cedar Breaks

Navajo Lake

We were able to stop at a scenic pull-over to see Lake Powell from up above.  A beautiful spot to really see the lake and it's surroundings.  It really showed how much the drought has lowered it, like all the areas in the west.  That hasn't seem to stop people from camping here though, as we were only able to get a site for one night, so couldn't spend any time getting close to the lake like we had wanted to.  Guess we will just have to come back!

Traveling on towards New Mexico (our destination) through Arizona,  sure offered more beautiful sights along the way...

Shipwreck Rock, Utah

And, of course, one has to stop at the "Four Corners Monument"!

...On the road in New Mexico,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/ 

Utah, Arches at last!

We have visited Utah a number of times, zig zagging back and forth across the state, catching it's various parks as we go, but had always missed one of the most famous, most photogenic, the one everyone says "did you go see?" - Arches National Park.  Well, we finally made it this time!  Yea!

We left Reno and headed straight towards Arches, barely stopping (had to, of course, but only long enough to rest and get on our way again!).  No dilly-dallying, no additional sight-seeing, as we wanted to spend as much time as we could in Moab.  We knew the days would be in the high 90's so it would probably take us a couple of days to see the park, then another day to extend the drive out to see the other areas around it.  Additionally, we were on "baby watch" as my newest grandson was due any time, so time could be cut short, so none to waste.

We arrived at our campground in Moab and lucked out under a great shade tree, for as I suspected, those were rare in that part of Utah!  I had "done my homework" and it had paid off, as most the campgrounds around there didn't have many shade trees to offer, and they were a blessing in the heat of the day!

We set our alarm for early the next morning so we could make use of the cool hours before it got to hot, and set out first thing.  The map they gave us at the Visitor Center told us the loop would take about an hour and a half.  Jack said the way we stop (with me taking pictures) that means about three hours, plus!  ;-)  He was right...

Skyline Arch

Windows Arches

I don't think it was so much my picture taking as it was their "misrepresentation" of the descriptions on the path guides.  For instance, one of the "walks" said it was "a short .25 ml walk to the viewpoint".  What they didn't tell you was that it was almost straight up a steep hill with very steep steps!  Of course this was also at the end of the day, so it was also about 95 degrees heat, and also of course, I didn't bring any water with me, because I thought it was "just a short walk, no big deal!"  Yeah, right, for a 20 year old, not a 70 year old!  Phew!  But, I made it, a few huffs and puffs, but I made it!!

Delicate Arch

This is the part of the pathway! See, you can't even see the cars from here!

The following day we decided to do something we haven't done in years...go rafting!  The Colorado River in Moab is deep and flowing fast, not like in California!  We only did a half day, deciding to "take it easy" on ourselves and just enjoy the trip rather than "work for it".  In the past, I've done the 3-day white-water full-on  rafting trips and really loved them.  I will admit, I've missed doing that, and really thought about doing it again, but this wasn't the time, and when Jack suggested that why don't we just "sit back and relax and enjoy a fun rafting trip this time, I agreed.  It was fun, and I'm glad we did.  But, being me, I had to take the helm, I couldn't resist that much!  I did hand it over half way in tho, I didn't want to be a hog the whole time, after all!  ;-)   We did have a few nice little rapids that got us good and wet, and brought lots of laughter to everyone in the boat.  It was an interesting group of people from all over the world, only four of us from the US!  I didn't want to take my good camera, and my spare "back up" one died on me, so hardly any photos, but I've got the memories!

The following day we were planning on taking a plane ride around the whole area when we got the phone call from my son that the little guy was "on his way!"  The doctor decided that the baby was big and mommy is small, so if he didn't come on his own in the next couple of days, he was going to induce him by the following Wednesday.  So, that meant that if I wanted to be there for the birth, we needed to pull up stakes and head to Texas right now!  So that's what we did.

We arrived in plenty of time to be here for the birth of little Dublin Kash...

...kicking back in Texas,  Marie

Utah Rocks!

We have visited Utah a number of times in our life together, but we never really got around to visiting any of the National Parks, and Utah has some really great ones!  So, true to my promise to myself to see as many National & State Parks as we can this year, we decided to see as many as we have time to, in Utah.

Coming down from Washington and Idaho, we started at the top of the state and (finely) visited the Great Salt Lake!  We'd been to Salt Lake City before and visited the area around it, but had never gone over to the Salt Lake.  We weren't sure what we would find, as all I had ever heard about it was that it "had a lot of salt".  Big deal.  I was a bit hesitant to actually see it, as many years ago, Jack and I took a drive out to see the Salton Sea in California...and it was awful.  The "lake" was barely one, low, smelly, very windy and all the signs of an idea to build, gone bad.  We could see why; not any place I would ever want to live, no matter how cheap!

So, with that experience in mind, we set out to Antelope Island State Park, where access to the Salt Lake is.  What a wonderful surprise!  The island and the lake were lovely, and big!  The whole island is pretty much the State Park and so, maintained well.  They have a herd of bison along with mule deer, big horn sheep and other various animals that go along with the environment.  All we saw was one bison and a few of the deer.  That was ok since we didn't come for the animals.  The lake was so big you couldn't see the other side, and a beautiful clear blue.  After visiting the Visitor Center and filled with maps and postcards we set out to drive around the lake and walk into the beaches where we could.  The day was lovely and not many visitors, so we had no problems parking.  The beach was made up of fine gravel rocks along with larger rock shards vs sand & shells.  I stuck my toes into the water, just to say that I had, and it was cold, clear and really no (salt) smell.  In the past, there have been efforts to have a fancy hotel along the shore, but repeatedly had problems with fire & flood, so the last attempted building is now only being used as a summer entertainment location.  Beautiful building tho.

Moving down the state, we ventured on to Zion.  We took two full days to see the Park.  They only allow their shuttle bus inside the scenic drive, but one comes about every 5-10 minutes, so it was fine.  The "spots" were great and allowed you to see the general cliffs and canyons, which were beautiful, of course.  But, the images that we've all seen, with the swirling rocks of the slot canyons, well, that you have to hike to.  Not just a little hike, no, hikes that were 10, 15, etc miles.  Sorry, to much for us, so no "cool slot pictures".  Darn, that was disappointing.  Weather was beautiful, clear and not to hot (as long as we brought plenty of water!).  We had been forewarned to bring our own water bottles, as they don't sell them in the park, but have "water stations" to refill yours at almost every stop.  Zion's Mount Carmel Highway route (on your own) was the best, we thought.  This area of the Park offered more water features, bridges, small hikes and even better scenery, we thought.  We took a full day to really enjoy this side of the Park, stopping and enjoying each of the pull-outs, hence my 125 pictures!

From Zion, it was on to Bryce.  We had viewed some of Bryce's Hoodoos from driving past it and doing a short stop at Cedar Breaks, but hadn't made it to the "inside" yet.  As all the pictures out there show, it's full of fun Hoodoos and sculpted cliffs and canyons.  As with Zion, the colors of reds, yellows, oranges never stop to awe you.  As with the others, we started at the Visitor Center and loaded up.  It's a self-driving option, which we chose, and a one way in/one way out 18 mile scenic drive.  The drive is along the edge of the Park, which is all along the east side, so you basically drive through without really stopping, then when you reach the end, you turn around and visit all the pull-outs along the way out!  Even though you don't do much walking through the Park, looking at or down on all the Hoodoos, canyons & cliffs, I think I liked it better than Zion.  It just boggles the mind & imagination how each one is different and fascinating!  Beautiful.

From Bryce we continued to travel south & east to Capitol Reef.  Capitol Reef is less known than the other two, but we found it was well worth the trip!  Like the other two, it has the same colored rocks, cliffs & canyons, but with the addition of purple, green & gray.  This Park is focused on a waterpocket fold, but it's so much more than that.  We saw some of the most unusual shapes & color combinations that we've ever seen.  There is a small scenic drive area that's part of the Park, but we continued on "out the other end" before turning around and coming back, affording us some additional sights.  Additionally, they have some historic houses and barns from the early Mormons, including one that they have added a bakery to that made a great afternoon snack-stop for a small pie or ice cream, yum!  

I had hoped to finish off the NP "tour" with Arches, but it's not going to work out on this trip, which is ok, because that gives us a reason to come back!  Utah has been a wonderful state to explore with lots of great sights that are so very different than any other state's.  We came into the state after Labor Day, so the crowds have been less and the weather has been pretty great over all (somewhat hot at the beginning and brrr cold at the end). 
We will be leaving the state with a short visit with some long-time friends that live in Parowan, which is the best way to end the journey!

Salt Lake, Antelope Island Utah

Marie at Salt Lake, Angelope Island Utah

Looking at Antelope Island, Salt Lake, Utah

Jack & Marie at Weeping Rock, Zion National Park, Utah

Court of the Patriarchs, Zion National Park, Utah

Mount Carmel Highway, Zion National Park, Utah

Bryce Point (Elev 8300), Bryce Canyon NP, Utah

Bryce Point (Elev 8300), Bryce Canyon NP, Utah

Natural Bridge (Elev 8627), Bryce Canyon NP, Utah

Petroglyphs Capitol Gorge, Capitol Reef NP, Utah

Chinle Formation (Monitor Butte, Petrified Forest, & Owl Rock top), Capitol Reef NP, Utah

Wingate Sandstone capping, Capitol Reef NP, Utah

...kicking back in Utah,  Marie