"One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching."
Unknown - saw this on a sign in Leavenworth, Washington
"People do not quit playing because they grow old...
They grow old because they quit playing."
Unknown - on a sign in Estes Park, Colorado
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| Driving across the Columbia River to Astoria in the fog |
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| our back seat |
On July 14th we took off on our annual road trip
to Washington state, but with a slight detour through Colorado and Mt. Rushmore
area. A bit out of our way, but our goal
is to see some new areas of our country.
We have the dogs with us, and they are being good little travelers most
of the time. Sadie tends to be a bit
paranoid sometimes, and it is difficult to get her to eat when she is
nervous. That can be a bit frustrating
sometimes, but on the whole they do pretty good on our road trips.
So, our first day was going through Arizona, which we have
been through quite a few times, so we were not doing much sightseeing here, our
goal was just to get through it and into new territory. We were stopped and asked if we were US
citizens, part of their new immigration policy.
I’m sure a bit of racial profiling was going on, since we are white,
they waived us through. If we had been
Hispanic we would have had to produce paperwork. The schnauzers barked at the officer, but
thankfully they did not have to produce paperwork either, they would have hated
being deported.
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Monument Valley - I thought this looked like the Parthenon in Greece
before it became ruins, use your imagination. |
Our second day on the road we were still in Arizona, but it
was new territory, we were in Monument Valley.
I have to say that was a really pretty area, and certainly worth the
short detour we took to drive through the area.
We also stopped at a roadside area where we saw a sign that said “See
the Dinosaur Footprints”.
An Indian
guide gave us a quick tour of the area.
There were indeed footprints in the rocky areas, left from dinosaurs in
the mud, which later became hardened when a volcano erupted.
There were also bones and skulls.
Very interesting, and we were glad we
stopped.
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| Dinasour footprints |
I had worried about the heat that was in all the news before
we left home, with fires all over Colorado, but so far we’ve had lots of rain,
would like a little heat and sunshine.
Can’t imagine the fires are still going because Colorado has been very
wet. But the scenery has been mostly
beautiful, and very green. We have
traveled on some very narrow roads, high up with no railing, a few white
knuckle moments. The area around Durango
and Silverton were particularly stunning.
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| Inside the True Grit Cafe |
We made a point of stopping in Ridgeway, Colorado.
That is where the original movie “True Grit”
was filmed – the one with John Wayne.
We
got into town late afternoon on the second day, so we opted to spend the night
there.
We had dinner in the True Grit
Café, which had a lot of memorabilia and pictures on the wall.
George has a good friend who is a John Wayne
fan, and he wanted us to take some pictures of the area, so we did, the next
day before heading out.
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| Along the road to Aspen |
Our third day we headed north toward Grand Junction. I was a little disappointed in the scenery
from Ridgeway to Grand Junction, not the prettiest of areas. But once we turned east the scenery got
better. We took a detour off of the 70
and went down to Aspen and across the Independence pass. Talk about narrow roads, with no railing, and
up high. We were at 12,095 feet
elevation. Road was very curvy and in
places it was so narrow that when you met an oncoming car, both cars had to
slow and carefully pass each other. And
of course it started raining again when we were up there. It really poured down and we had thunder and
lightning, so quite dramatic. Sadie has
always been scared of rain, and especially thunder. She was shaking pretty hard, so I ended up
holding her in my lap through that part of the trip. She calmed a bit. We had planned to stop and walk around
Leadville, but it was raining pretty hard then, so headed on to Frisco, where
we found a hotel and spent the night. We
had a good dinner in a nice steakhouse restaurant in town.
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| Taken from porch of Grand Lake Lodge |
The next day we headed toward Rocky Mountain National Park.
We entered the park from the southwest
entrance by Grand Lake. But before actually entering, we turned off and went to
the Grand Lake Lodge.
That is a
beautiful lodge with views of the lake.
They have cabins for rent there also, and they are pet friendly.
We didn’t spend the night there, but if I was
going to go again, I would seriously consider staying there, the prices are
reasonable, and it is a great location. We stopped at the visitor’s center then
headed into the park.
We had not gone
far when we saw cars parked along the road and people pointing at 2 moose – a
mother and a baby – that were in the field.
We stopped and took their picture.
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| The baby moose in the park |
The Rocky Mountain National Park has some spectacular
views.
There are hiking paths if that is
your thing, but remember that you are at a very high altitude, quite a few
people in the park said they were feeling tired and having problems breathing,
so hiking will be harder at that altitude.
Quite a bit of the road we were driving on was over 10,000 ft.
When we reached the Alpine Visitors Center we
stopped to buy lunch, it is the only place along the way that had food for
sale.
I have to say that they didn’t
have a lot of choices for food, and it was a bit high in price.
We had 2 hot dogs, 1 bag of chips and shared
a small apple juice and it was almost $15.
I would suggest buying some good sandwiches before entering the park,
and putting them in a cooler.
There are
picnic tables where you can stop and eat.
Also, be aware of the weather in the park.
We started with sunny skies, but we hit heavy
rains and hail by the time we got to the higher elevations, so be prepared for
anything.
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| Elk in the Rocky Mtn NP |
While in the park we also saw elk, in several different
places along the way, and we saw some mule deer.
Of course, there were chipmunks and birds, as
well.
We were told that there was a
possibility of seeing bears, as there are some in the park, but they are not
spotted often.
If you are not planning
on hiking, it is possible to see this park in one day.
The scenery is visible while driving, with
lots of places to pull over and take pictures, and the animals are there, if
you are lucky you will see some.
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| Estes Park, Colorado |
Just outside the main entrance is the town of Estes Park,
and I thought it was a delightful place, with cute shops, lots of good looking
restaurants, and the Falls River runs through the downtown area, with a park
area along the river.
It is quite a
picturesque town.
We went on to Fort Collins for the night, we had
reservations there at the Best Western.
We had dinner in their downtown area, at a pizza restaurant called Beau
Jo’s. They have restaurants all over
Colorado, and are now opening places in South Dakota. If you ever run across one of their places, I
highly recommend them. I have had pizzas
all over this country, as well as others, including Italy. The pizza I had at Beau Jo’s has to rate as
the best pizza I have ever had.
Day 5 had us leaving Ft. Collins and heading north briefly
and then east. We decided to drive over
to Nebraska to see a small part of that state, since we have never been
there. I have to say that Nebraska – at
least the part we saw – looks just as I imagined it would. It is flat.
Of course there are other states that have lots of flat land, such as
Arizona, but what I have to say about Nebraska is – they put their land to
use. In Arizona there is vast areas of
un-irrigated land – desert. But
Nebraska’s land is all cultivated. It is
farmland. We particularly saw lots of
cornfields. There were vast stretches of
road where we were the only car out there.
But alongside the road we saw tractors in the field – our farmers hard
at work, producing the food America needs.
I have been reminded the past few days that the states we
are traveling through are all red states.
The signs alongside the highway and on the farmlands have all been very
convervative in their views, and the hotel we stayed at in Colorado had on Fox
“news”. That was a shudder from me. It has made me appreciate the fact that I
live in a nice blue state, with more progressive views – on the whole. And I appreciate all our mountains and our
ocean, I would have a hard time living in Nebraska, or several other states
we’ve traveled through. But I have enjoyed
seeing them.
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| George in Lusk |
We did head back into Wyoming and stopped for a visit in Lusk,
where we had lunch.
We were in Lusk, Ireland
in June, and now in July we found
ourselves in Lusk, Wyoming.
We took a
quick excursion over to Keeline, only to find it was a ghost town.
Our daughter married a Keeline, so we had to
get a picture of the town and the sign for them.
Then we headed into South Dakota.
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| Crazy Horse Memorial |
We stopped at the Crazy Horse Memorial, which was quite
fascinating.
I was impressed with what
is still a work in progress, but which, when finished, will be
spectacular.
I learned a lot about Crazy
Horse while there.
Then we went to Mt.
Rushmore and saw those carvings in the mountain, which were also quite
impressive.
Since we have our dogs with
us, we were limited at Mt. Rushmore, as they don’t allow dogs in the park.
George and I had to take turns staying with
the dogs while the other went up to the plaza to view the mountain.
We hadn’t had the problem at the Crazy Horse
memorial, as it is dog-friendly.
I don’t
really understand why they would have a problem at Mt. Rushmore with dogs on
leashes walking up to the plaza.
Most
dogs are better behaved then most children, and as long as owners are
responsible – which I believe the majority are – there shouldn’t be a problem. This
is a pet peeve of mine – dogs not allowed in places, and also pet owners who
don’t pick up after their animals, and ruin it for the rest of us.
Anyway, we ended the day at our hotel in Sturgis where we
had dinner at the restaurant next door.
We have reservations here for 3 nights, so time to see the Badlands and
Deadwood, and whatever else looks like fun.
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| Ad for Wall Drug Store |
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| Badlands NP |
The Badlands National Park has some very desolate but
interesting scenery.
We drove out to
Wall first.
We had to stop at the
biggest tourist destination in the area – Wall Drug.
It is a famous place, with lots of roadside
signs marking your way to it.
They are
famous for giving free ice water, and we certainly needed ice water, as it was
109 degrees.
Then on to the National
Park.
We drove through the park, first
going out a gravel road to see some prairie dogs, and we also saw 2 buffalo and
some antelope along this gravel road.
Then we went back and drove the main road loop through the park, stopping
at different lookout points to take pictures.
There are some hiking trails – but it was 109 degrees, so we didn’t do
much outside the car.
We have our dogs
with us, and they had no desire to get out of the air-conditioning either.
Baxter was fascinated with the prairie dogs
and the buffalo though.
We made it a
fairly quick trip through the park and headed back to the hotel and the
swimming pool.
For dinner we left the dogs in our hotel room and headed to
the historic town of Deadwood. We saw a
mountain goat alongside the road on our way there, and some deer on our way
back to the hotel. The town itself is
now mostly casinos and tacky tourist shops, but there are some good restaurants
and we had a nice meal, and enjoyed looking around.
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| Mountain goat just outside Deadwood |
The next day we decided to check out of our hotel a day
early and head towards Devils Tower.
It
made sense to get a hotel that direction instead of coming back here and then
heading that way again the next day, since that was the direction we would be
going.
We first headed back to Deadwood and then did a loop through
the Black Hills Forest. It was a really
pretty drive. Then we headed into
Wyoming and to the Devils Tower National Monument. With our National Park pass we were covered
to get into this without paying another fee, so we drove in and stopped at the
information center.
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| Devils Tower Nat. Monument |
Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower a national
monument in 1906, making it the first national monument.
The tower is 5,112 feet tall.
There is a path that you can walk that is 2.8
miles and it goes to the base of the mountain and then all the way around.
Since it was 100 degrees the day we were
there, and we also had the dogs with us, we did not take the walk.
The dogs would have been allowed, as long as
they were on a leash, but the heat would have been too much for them.
So we took some pictures and then headed west
through Montana.
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| Little Bighorn Battlefield |
We ended our day by stopping briefly at Little Bighorn
Battlefield near Hardin, Mt.
This is where
Custer fought a battle against the Lakota, Arapaho and Cheyenne, and where he
lost his life.
It is also a national
monument, so our passes got us in.
It is
a large open area that you can drive through, and there are signs saying what
happened in each area.
There are markers
where the soldiers died and a few where Indians died.
Last Stand Hill has a memorial marker and 210
soldiers are buried around the base.
Custer was originally buried here, but has since been moved.
There is a visitor’s center, which shows an
informative movie.
It is an interesting
place to stop if you are in the area.
I have to say that driving across Montana was not too
exciting. Most of Montana is flat, with
brown fields on both sides of the road, straight road that goes forever. It wasn’t as bad as driving across Texas –
nothing is, but it was boring. Finally
as we got closer to Butte, there were some mountains and trees, so it got
better. But we were just driving, we
didn’t see anything we wanted to stop and see.
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| Lake Chelan, Washington |
We finally arrived in Washington.
Our first stop was the Wenatchee area where
we spent the night.
Then we made the
drive out to Lake Chelan.
As a child I
camped there with my family.
I had fond
memories of the area and wanted to see the lake again.
There is a boat that takes you to the other
end of the lake and as a child we took our own boat up there.
Didn’t go up this time, but it is worth going
there.
The lake is 55 miles long and
there is no road to the other end of the lake, but there is a small village up
there and a nice falls you can hike out to.
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| Leavenworth, Washington |
We then decided to head for Leavenworth, with a short stop
first at the Aplets and Cotlets factory in Cashmere, to pick up some of the
famous candy.
Yum!
Leavenworth is a Bavarian town in the
mountains of Washington.
It is
particularly popular at Christmas time when they decorate the town and have
sleigh rides.
But we won’t be in
Washington at that time of year, so decided to stop and visit now.
It really is a charming town, with good
restaurants, and really nice shops.
Then we headed down the Columbia River, with views of Mt.
Adams and Mt. Hood. We watched the wind
surfers on the river. We were anxious to
get to our cabin where we will stay for 3 weeks. It is our home away from home and the purpose
of the trip was to come here and stay, and relax. This place is my happy place.
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| Dogs are happy to be at our cabin on the river |
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| Bashia and I heading downriver |
We spent the 3 weeks comfortably enjoying our river, and
watching the wildlife from the deck.
We
saw a pair of snow geese and their baby, lots of ducks, a blue heron, an
osprey, and some deer while there.
The
dogs hung out on the deck, took walks with me up the road and even got in the water
with me.
They had a good time too.
We have lots of family and friends to
visit.
Quite a bit of the visiting was
them coming to us and enjoying the river too.
My sister-in-law and I even decided to do a inner-tube trip down the
river.
We floated 3 miles down to a
popular swimming hole, where our husbands picked us up.
I think they were getting worried about us,
it took us 3 ½ hours, longer than we thought it would.
We were tired and bruised when we got
there.
There were many rapid areas where
we hit rocks with our bottoms, and some areas you couldn’t float through
because the water was too low.
I had
never gone that far down river on a tube before, so it was an adventure.
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| Baxter enjoying the beach |
After our stay at the cabin, we took off for the Washington
coast for 5 nights.
George’s family
lives there, so we always stop for a short stay to visit everyone.
We got a cute little cabin there in town and
spent the week visiting family and eating wonderful seafood.
His cousin Dean gave us 5 crabs that he had
caught and he also cooked us dinner one night – fish tacos – my favorite.
The dogs enjoyed out treks to the beach where
they could run free, and smell all the smells of the seashore.
The beach has always been a favorite place
for them.
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| View along the northern stretch of Hwy 1 |
After all our visiting, it was time to head home.
We were already at the beach, so decided to
head down the Oregon coast on 101, and then pick up Hwy 1 in California.
It is a more scenic drive, although certainly
a lot slower.
Especially since I was
always saying “pull over, I need a picture”.
George is a very patient driver and pulls over whenever I see something
worth shooting.
He did say that he would
never again complain about how straight and boring Interstate 5 was, after
driving the VERY curvy Hwy 1.
It did
take us an extra day to get home, but it was worth doing, as the scenery is
spectacular.
We only went as far as
Bodega Bay on the northern stretch of 1, then turned inland and picked up the 5
so that we could get home.
So now we are home again.
When we drove up our street the dogs sat up and got big grins on their
faces. They couldn’t believe we were
home again. It was good to see our
home. Our daughter had been coming over
weekly to take care of the place, so we knew everything was okay. We had a stack of mail to go through, empty
cupboards to restock, and clothes to wash.
So that takes care of another adventure.
