The End of Our Journey

Well the last 11 days have flown by so fast. We have travel over 3000 miles, countless tanks of gas, lots of pit stops, 8 state lines, 6 national parks, 1 national monument and many memories made. It has truly been the trip of a lifetime, one which will never be forgotten.

Today we visited Mesa Verde in Colorado. What an impressive sight. We actually climbed down a ladder into a kiva(Native American religious ceremony room) that was about 900 years old. It was so obvious how these Native Americans were ahead of their time. If you ever have a chance to see these cliff dwellings, go for it. Of course I should warn you that the winding roads leading to the different sites made Haley and I a bit car sick. Hal was such a sport and let me drive. Haley jumped in the front seat and we were so much better. I have never had problems with motion sickness, but as I get older it seems to be a little issue. Thank goodness driving helped!

We then headed towards Flagstaff. Of course we had to stop at four corners. The kids thought it was pretty awesome to stand at the exact stop where four states meet. We joked about which state we should sit in for our picnic lunch. On our way from four corners to Flagstaff, we saw many thunderstorms forming. What an incredible sight to see the lightning. Hal and I noticed several places where there had been flash flooding the day before. Again our guardian angel watched out for us because we did not have large downpours until we were going to dinner in Flagstaff. I was so thankful especially when I saw the horrible flash floods in the Grand Canyon yesterday. We are only about an hour away from the Grand Canyon, at a much higher elevation.

So at dinner tonight, I had to do the review of our vacation. Here are the results:

Favorite moments for everyone: seeing bears in Yellowstone
the artist paint pots (spitting mud pools) in Yellowstone

Hal's favorite moment: seeing Mount Rushmore
Haley's favorite moment: spending time with her family and sleeping in the tent cabins in the Grand Tetons
Nick's favorite moment:The Crazy Horse Memorial. Of course my 13 year old said "going home." He then said he was just joking and was sad the trip was over.
Lisa's favorite moment: Old Faithful and Bryce Canyon

Moments that made us laugh:
Just silly things said in the car
Bossy bison who snort and looked very impatient when you take their picture
Hal's funny animal voice overs

Saddest moment(pretty amazing because none of us talked about this)
seeing the caged animals at Bear Country USA. The bears were being feed hot dogs, buns and raw hamburger patties. It looked like left overs from the snack shack.
Hal's least favorite memory was the long drives between stops.
Haley least favorite memory: dropping her camera in Yellowstone and breaking it.
Lisa least favorite memory: Laundry that awaits me.
Nick and Haley: We wish we could have brought Buddy.

Thank you for coming along with us on our adventure. A great part of this trip has been sharing it with you. The kids always would say, "mom put that in the blog!"

Much Love and God Bless-Lisa

Beautiful Colorado

Well we are on our way towards Yorba Linda. Today we had a short driving day and got to Durango, Co around 12:30. The drive was beautiful. Colorado is truly a majestic state. We drove up and up to over 10,000 in elevation. This area is in the San Juan Mountains and received a dusting of snow last night. The kids were pretty excited to see the snow. We had rain off and on during the drive. I felt like we were just keeping ahead of the rain. I heard that today there were flash flood warnings in Pueblo where we slept last night. Also there have been huge thunderstorms in New Mexico and tornado warnings. We are not that far away from there, maybe 5 hour drive. Again God has been watching over us, because the weather has been beautiful in Durango. I guess they had a huge storm last night. We have been blessed.

We stopped on the way in a place called Pagosa Springs. It is located at the base of the San Juan Mountains. What a beautiful place! There are natural springs, so of course a great spa. I sure would have liked my girls with me today for a spa day. The spa is located right on a river. You sit outside in the spa and watch the river float by you. It looked awesome. Glen Ivy in Temecula but kicked up a notch.

Durango is a darling town. I could definitely come back here. We decided just to veg today. The train ride looked fun until we heard that it was a 3.5 hour ride. The kids played in the Animas River which is located right outside our hotel room. Then they went swimming in the hotel pool. We are staying in the Doubletree tonight. It is a very nice hotel and walking distance to town. It has been a very relaxing day.
Much Love-Lisa

A LONG DAY

Well it is 9:51 and we have been in our hotel for only about 20 minutes. That tells you how long we were on the road. We drove from Mount Rushmore, South Dakota to Pueblo, Colorado. Of course we did not leave until 1 pm because there were a few more things we wanted to do. We had quite a bit of rain heading down to Pueblo, but Hal was a star driver and got us here safe and sound.

Today we started out at Bear Country USA. This is a drive-thru wilderness preserve. It was recommended to us by a boy in Haley's class who did this trip last summer, so we gave it a try. We saw elk, deer, mountain sheep, arctic wolves, gray wolves, mountain lions and many bears. We got there at 7:45 and were the first car in the park. The animals were all very active. As a matter a fact, many were blocking our way. Wolves came right up to our doors. That was a bit creepy. The bears was pretty funny because it was feeding time. Of course we saw so many animals in Yellowstone that we felt a bit spoiled. The best part of the visit was all the bear cubs. There were about 15. Haley wanted to take one home. We feel in love with them

Next we headed back to Mount Rushmore to see its beauty during the day. I think I forgot to say that we looked at the names of all people who helped with carving the monument. To our amazement, Edward Coad appeared on the list. That was pretty cool.

So we start heading towards Colorado and realize that Nick left the camera bag at Mount Rushmore. Thank goodness we were only about 35 minutes away. So that delayed us about an hour or so. Luckily, the bag was turned in to lost and found. We had the camera, but the bag had one lens in it. We were thankful.

OK so we drove and drove and drove. We passed through South Dakota, Wyoming and then Colorado. We listened to books on tape. We played family feud on DS (whole family participation) and we laughed until we cried. Most of the things we laughed at were a time and place thing. It is funny to read some of the signs along the road...eg Shawnee, Wyoming population: 1. The kids (well really Hal and I too) always say the most hysterical things, especially when you have been in the car for over 8 hours. Here are some quotes. (Some will be anonymous to protect the innocent)
Haley-Mom I am running out of underwear. I counted and packed enough for the trip. I packed 8 pairs. Mom responds laughing, "Haley we are gone for 12 days remember?" OH, says Haley.

"Yes we drove in from Yosemite last night," said by (someone in my family) Yellowstone has been replaced by Yosemite at least ten times now.

"Hey guys, how did you like Coyote, Wyoming?"...(I think that would be Cody, Wyoming.) This too has been repeated multiple times.

Mom said, "Hey Nick put this in the fridge, I mean freezer."
Nick- "Mom we have no freezer of fridge in the car. Do you mean the cooler?"

Obviously when you are in the car for that long, everything is funny. We have had a great time with each other. It has truly been an incredible trip. I have truly enjoyed every minute of it!

Tomorrow we will head to Durango. This is only, thank goodness, 5 hours.
Much Love-Lisa
PS- We have been so blessed with weather. It rained the entire day before we got to Mount Rushmore. Denver had very bad weather all day. The rain seemed to be easing up as we drove through this afternoon. Durango had thunder showers all day today. The forecast calls for clear skies tomorrow. God has been good to us.

A Very Full Day

After a very restful, rainy night at the Occidental Hotel in Buffalo, Wy. we were on our way to South Dakota. We were a bit concerned about the weather, so we altered our plans a bit and decided to wait and do Bear Country USA tomorrow morning instead. This enabled us to stop at Devil's Tower Monument in Wyoming. There was a prairie dog preserve in the park and that was fun to watch the prairie dogs scamper around. Devil's Tower is a monolith located in the Black Hills. This area is considered sacred land to many Native Americans. Therefore many Native Americans leave prayer cloths and prayer bundles hanging in the trees. It was very interesting.

Our next detour was Deadwood, South Dakota. What a great little town! Wild Bill Hickhock was shot and killed here. The kids thought that was pretty cool. Deadwood is a cowboy gambling town. Played a few slots, but won nothing. OH well, you can't always be lucky!

Next we went to Crazy Horse Mountain. This is going to be a massive sculptor when it is completed. The four heads at Mount Rushmore will fit easily into a small portion of this sculpture. We enjoyed learning about the sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski. Amazingly 7 of his 10 children and his wife took over the project after his death in 1982.

Then it was off to Mount Rushmore for the evening program. This was well worth the evening stay out here. The lighting of Mount Rushmore is beautiful. At the end of the program everyone stands up to sing the National Anthem. Also they pay tribute to all those who have served in the military. Anyone who served in the military was asked to come onto the stage. How awesome that everyone stood and clapped as each and everyone of them came to the stage. Then in complete silence they folded the flag. It was a "proud to be and American moment." We will return to Mount Rushmore tomorrow before we leave to see the monument in daylight and walk around a bit more.

Much Love-Lisa

Cody and Buffalo Wyoming

We were sad to leave majestic Yellowstone. It is truly God's country. We left at 6...yes AM. After this trip I am sleeping in for sure. This is though, a great time to see wildlife. We spotted Pronghorns again an elk and mule deer. Then we stopped along the road because there were loads of cars and people. So we weren't the only crazy people up and out the door by 6. Off in the distance there was a dead bison. A bear and two wolves were fighting over it. We only saw the dead bison and coyotes. Then up the road there was a dead elk. This time, with binoculars, we saw three wolves circling, as a huge black bear sat on top of the elk having a feast. This bear was a giant compared to the two we saw yesterday. I guess it is true, survival of the fittest. I was glad that we were not close enough to see everything, if you know what I mean.

We stopped in Cody, Wyoming. This was a must in honor of the Coad family. Hal's dad is a distant relative to Buffalo Bill Cody. The story goes that there were two brothers in one town that had business. One of the brothers dropped the y in Cody and thus came the name Coad. We decided to visit the Buffalo Bill Cody Historical Center. It was very interesting. We saw a huge resemblance to Hal's dad. Haley kept saying that Buffalo Bill Cody looks a lot like poppers. We all agreed. There were letters written by Buffalo Bill to his family. The letters were very touching. Buffalo Bill was one of the most famous Americans of that time. After his death, his body laid in state in the capital in Colorado. We all loved the museum. Next per my dad's recommendation, we went to Irma's hotel. This hotel was opened by Buffalo Bill and was named for his daughter. There is a bar in the restaurant that was given to Buffalo Bill by Queen Victoria. What a work of art. Of course we took pictures. At least we weren't as bad as a group of Asian tourists that came in with a video camera and were filming everything. We had lunch in the restaurant. Against my recommendation, Hal did not order the Rocky Mountain Oysters...I don't know why. Of course Nick and Haley wanted to know what that was and lucky I was able to change the subject. Can you imagine the reaction? I enjoyed listening to the locals. This is definitely a cowboy town.

Next we headed up to Buffalo, Wy. where we would hunker down for the night. We decided to stay in the Occidental Hotel. This is a historic hotel. It is so cute. The kids are loving it. We hit some rain and just heard a bit of thunder. There is a Mexican restaurant next door. I think we will just slip over there for a quite bite to eat and then go off to sleep. The weather is not great for strolling into town. It is fine because we want to leave pretty early tomorrow to get into South Dakota.
Much Love-Lisa

A Great Day in Yellowstone

Yellowstone is definitely everything that it is cracked up to be and more. The beauty that surrounds you is every changing. The park is divided into 6 areas. With much amazement we saw it all in two days. This is a place that we all would like to come back and visit again. We would not change anything about this place. Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel is so quaint. They have 8 elk who come down from the mountains every night to feed on the grass in the village. Again we were privileged to watch them tonight. They were majestic.

Now as for our adventure today. Well let's just say that we encountered more animals than you can imagine. We saw about 250-300 bison. These giants are not as gentle as we thought. Nick enjoyed videotaping them. They were so close to the car that I could have touched them if I opened my door. We could hear them grunt. It was too funny to watch them stop traffic. These creatures are not afraid of cars. Bison will stare down the car. One bison even laid down in the middle of the road. Traffic was at a complete stop. The kids eyes were as big as saucers as they watch these creatures meander across the road. It was too fun!

We also saw two male deer and a female deer on a back road that we took. It was a dirt road. As the car bumped around we laughed and said we were on a true animal trek. Next we saw 4 prong horned animals. They look like mountain goats, but a bit more elegant.

Now here is the story for all stories. I have been on a quest to see a bear. We combed this park and still no bear. We took every back road possible....still not a single bear. We asked every person we met, "Have you seen a bear?" Many people said take the Roosevelt Highway to Dunraven Pass. If you are lucky, you might get to see one. Driving through Dunraven Pass we saw all these cars stopped on the road. Well if you guessed bear, you are right. There it was a beautiful black bear digging for grub on the side of the road. You will not believe the pictures. We were only about 10 feet away. I think some people will think that we took the picture while visiting a zoo, but we did see a bear in the wild. Then only about 40 minutes later, after a couple detours and u-turns we saw another bear walking up the road. This one was so fast, we couldn't get the camera ready fast enough. It was an amazing day. Haley and Nick are still so excited about the bear. Haley can't wait to share the pictures with Katelyn, Leah and Nikki. We feel so blessed because we had wanted to go on the Cowboy Cookout dinner but it was sold out this week. If we had been on the cookout, we would never have seen the bear. This is another example of divine intervention. Now we are still on the lookout for a Grizzly and a male moose so we can see the antlers.

Tomorrow we will travel down the Beartooth Highway. It has been dubbed the most beautiful highway in America. Then it will be off to Cody, Wyoming to check out Hal's relative Buffalo Bill Cody...no joke. We will spend the night in Buffalo, Wyoming in a beautiful historic hotel. President Roosevelt, Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane have all stayed here.

Much Love-Lisa
PS-Downloading pictures takes so much time. I am going to try to put them on shutterfly tomorrow. We are leaving tomorrow morning at 6 and I need to get in the shower and go to bed.

Geyers and Bison and Elk oh my!

We have had a glorious day in Yellowstone. If you have never been here, you need to make your reservations for next summer. This place is absolutely amazing. We entered the park at about 9:30 and drove around all day seeing the sights. We were in the park ten minutes when we saw a bunch of cars stopped...animal sighting. It was a male Elk with antlers and all. I was a bit disappointed because he was kind of hidden in the bushes eating. OH well I thought at least I was able to see one...even though the pictures did not turn out that well. It made me remember the time my dad, brother-in-law Stewart and I went trekking through the woods to see a bear and its cubs. I am a bit smarter now and won't get too close!

Next we were off to the see Old Faithful. Wow what an amazing experience! Then we walked around the loop to see all the other geysers and hot pools...so awesome. On the way back to Old Faithful, Nick said BISON! We followed the path and sure enough there was a bison about 100 yards away laying in the grass. We also had a coyote walk about 25 yards from us. It was so incredible. We had lunch and sat to watch Old Faithful again. This time Hal had the video camera. It was again a sight to see.

After Old Faithful we started our drive to Mammoth Springs where we will stay for the next two nights. We made many stops along the way to see waterfalls, more geysers and beautiful hot pools. The colors were indescribable. The smell was look Glen Ivy in Corona in a really bad day....total rotten egg smell. I told Haley that when we walked through the steam we were getting a facial, but believe me, I would not pay money for that smell.

Our favorite stop today was the artist pots. It was quite a hike up there and we were tired, but quite thankful that we made the trek. These "pots" are boiling mud pools that spew hot mud into the air. Some of the mud flies about 20 feet. It was so funny. We were laughing because it looked like mouths spitting our mud. This place is very hard to describe, but definitely something that must be seen. Nick and Haley have become our navigators. They want to know if Hal and I will give them a tip.

We checked into the hotel...only $85 a night. We have a lovely room that overlooks a grassy area. There are no private showers, but the bathroom is located right down and the and the showers are super clean. I would stay here again in a heart beat. It is perfect. Then to top off our glorious day we saw not one, but 6 female elk, two babies (still had their spots) and a male elk antlers and all. We were so close to them, it was breathtaking. Photographer Hal was snapping so many pictures. Haley was freaking out because she was afraid daddy was to close. Hal was smart and kept his distance. People sometimes are not very smart. We witnessed several people try to get to close to the babies. Of course the mother charged. One older woman actually tired to pet the baby and the mother knocked her down...not to smart.

Well, we are off to bed. I am happy to be sleeping inside for the night. We will not be cold and a bed is always better than a cot!
Much Love-Lisa
PS- I will try to post some pictures so you can see our crazy adventures.
HAPPY 78 Birthday Dad! Wish you were here!