Hello everyone

I hope you find time to take a look at the pictures at least, look for those links to the photo albums too! :0) If you take the time to actually read the blogs, please excuse the millions of typos. You can get to the rest of the entries by going to "archives" on the right of the screen and clicking on the month you would like to see. Have fun.

By the way, I learned that posting a comment is more of a process than I thought it would be, I guess you have to set up an account. Well, it is free to set one up and oh-so-fun to create a blog and add pictures of your adventures! So maybe some of you will want to anyway!!

Hope everyone is well.

we collected these magnets on our travels and stuck them on Miles (the car) - 22 states in 55 days!

12,079 miles!!

End mileage. We did 12,079 miles!!! Yahoo!

Olympic National Park

We decided to go to Olympic as our truely last hurrah. So we went to Dosewallips, but it was closed. We ended up camping at Fallsview campground, and had an interesting night. There were some younger folks drinking, heavily, and we spent the majority of the night listening to their swearing and yelling. Yuck. But aside from that - it was nice to be at least Near Olympic National Park. The next day we decided to go to Staricase and went for a little 2 mile hike, crossing the crystal clear water of the river. Drove home in about 2 and a half hours (about the same ifyou take the ferry I think, only $20 cheaper!)

Mt. Rainier National Park

Not a could in the sky today! We are so glad we decided to stay one more day. The mountain really is amazing! We basically did the same drive we did yesterday, only this time we actually SAW the mountain in all those "view" points.


Mt. Rainier

We didn't have the energy to do any hiking today, though, so we just did a nice drive and headed to our next destination... HOME!

As we got closer and closer to Seattle, we both felt excited and sad at the same time. Glad to be done, as this has truely been exhausting, but sad to be done, as this has been truely exhilerating!

We both said the same thing when we saw the city, "Has Seattle gotten bigger in the last twon months?" Suddenly Seattle seems huge to us. We just spend two months traveling on side roads in small towns throughout the country. We only hit cities and traffic here and there. Am I ready for the hustle and bustle again?

We got home only about 2 and a half hours after leaving Rainier and engaged in a much-too-long search for the house key while our kitties meowed in the window. It was awesome, once we got in they greated at the door us like we hoped, and sniffed us all over for about 10 minutes. Oh how we missed our guys!

After hanging out with the boys, I just couldn't take it and had to clean up and unwrap all the souvenirs. It is great fun opening up stuff from a month or two ago! I have 30 new shotglasses!!

And now we are home, and fighting off reality for as long as we can. What an amazing two months... thanks for coming along the journey with us through this blog.

Hope you enjoyed our stories and pictures.

Click here for more pictures of Mt. Rainier National Park:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=9gc0q893.4sqckssr&Uy=2u84zq&Ux=1

Mount Rainier National Park (Happy Birthday Grandpa)

FOGGY morning in Mount Rainier National Park. We spent the morning driving ever so slowly through the park, unable to see 10 feet in front of ourselves and thought we would just head home today. We had lunch and decided to go on the "Trail of the Shadows" walk through an old growth forest, some meadows, and natural springs. Aparently Longmire had found these springs and turned into "Medicine Springs". Now there are signs everywhere -"Do not drink water. Could make you very sick!".

Well, once we got in the forest, we knew we couldn't leave today. It is awesome there. It smells so good, too. So, we decided to camp overnight and hoped that there would be Some clearing.

As the afternoon progressed we started to see our surroundings a bit more, though things were still in a thick fog. We debated on where to camp and ended up going to White River CG, hoping for the clouds to burn away (we even created on our little sun cheer, telling it to burn off those clouds :) ). Well, it worked, because by the time we got to sunrise point, 5:30 PM!,we could see the mountain!!! Hooray! It is awesome. It is HUGE. It is white and gray, just like the kitty we named after it. :) We went for a short walk and got some pics. (It was super cold!!)

Happy, we went to get a campsite and spent the night in the FREEZING 4000 foot high campground. We did have a nice fire, however, and I got to use my Gila marshmallow stick one last time. We tried not to think too much of the fact this would be our last night of our trip.

No more Big Fork (Happy Birthday Adam!)

We left Big Fork today, sadly. After going to Corner Kitchen for some greasy breakfast with the Tranels, we said our goodbyes. We left the wonderful state of Montana and entered our own again, Washington. We were pretty excited to be in Washington again!! What an achievment! We drove almost all the way to Mount Rainier National Park, but stopped jsut short due to need for dinner. We camped at Willow Creek campground by the river. We talked a lot today about what we have learned rom this trip and how we want things to be different. We are excited to simply spend more time in the outdoors! We created a long list of things we hope to do and to learn more about. This trip has given me insight into so many things and I am excited to continue my learning. :)

And even more Big Fork!

Today was yet another relaxing day at the Ranch. We slept in and then went to float on the Swan River with Hannah, Micah and Peter. This river was much higher than the Yampa in Steamboat Springs. Bryan was in the back steering this time, while I got to sit in the front with my feet in the water. There were some rapids that tossed me back into the boat. It was awesome. Then I got to hang out at the ranch and read, look at scrapbooks, eat leftovers. Ahhh. Later that night we watched "Guess Who". Not a bad day if you ask me :)

For some pictures of the house, the view, the people, etc. click here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=9gc0q893.8pdcjymz&Uy=bfydaj&Ux=1

More Big Fork

Bryan's parent's last day at the Ranch :( They took us out to Kalispell again to show us Norm's News. We had shakes, malts, floats, phosphates, and french fries. And next door Bryan found a new wool cowboy hat, the search has finally ended (yes, this was a two-month search). Later that day Micah, Peter, and Bryan showed me Peterson Lake, which is just a hop, skip and a jump from the ranch, and we went for a quick swim. Gunner, the dog, showed off his fetching skills and retreived some hefty logs from the lake. What a good dog. He made Bryan and I want to get a dog of our own even more! He was a sweetie.

Tonight we had another awesome dinner of steak, pasta, and salad and then a birthday celebration for Grandpa, Grandma, and Peter. Later on we all sat in the dark and watched the full moon rise above the Swan Moutains from the living room. We are having such a great time hanging out with everyone, we decided not to go to Glacier and instead stay here another day! Yay.

Kalispel Fair (Happy Birthday JT)

Today we went to the Kalispell Fair and saw lots of farm animals and a quick little horse race. This one was much smaller than the ones I have been to on the East Coast, however. Always neat to go to the fair, though! Especially when there are llamas. :)


Kalispel Llama

Then Bryan’s parents took us out to dinner at the Montana Bistro in Big Fork village –which was delicious. And then we got to go see Adam, Sarah, and Seth Milligan. Seth is 14 months old and just learned how to walk a week ago. He was showing off his new skills all night and anticipating cheering every time he did. So cute. It was great to visit with the parents as well. They got a new house that they have big plans for - renovations and remolding. Adam has already made a beautiful deck in the back – good job Adam!

To the Ranch

Today we drove to Burger King and McDonald’s for some breakfast. I Love those Egg McMuffins. Then we kept on driving North and here we are now – in Big Fork, Montana at the Tranel family ranch, hanging out in the new house. It is gorgeous here, the new house has HUGE windows in the community room that look out to the mountains. Amazing.


The new house on the Montana Ranch

We got to wipe down and vacuum Miles – which I was very excited to do – he was getting pretty nasty. And we got showers of our own – after 5 days – my hair was pretty sad, but those wet wipes sure help on the road otherwise! Tonight we had some more of Bryan’s mom’s amazing food – pork roast, pesto pasta, garden veggies from Aunt Cindy. It was all so very good. I often get the question if I feel intimidated by Lucia’s cooking, as she is so good.

Ranch view

This is the view from sitting on the deck at the ranch!! The Swan Mountains. Awesome, huh?!

view at the ranch

Yelowstone

Today we awoke in Yellowstone National Park and went up to Mammoth Hot Springs as I remembered it being my favorite spot last time we were here. It was surprisingly dry this time, with only three active springs. It was still very cool though – so many colors, such a unique place. We also went to Norris Geyser Basin to see some geyser action. We saw some bubbling and spurting water and lots of steam. The whole landscape there has steam emerging from the depths of the earth all about. It is very cool.


Mammoth Hot Springs

For more Yellowstone pictures, click here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=9gc0q893.95qwze7f&Uy=-sb71en&Ux=1

Then we left Yellowstone and went through the Gallatin National Forest and Bryan went to one of his old camping spots from his college days – a bit of a walk down memory lane for him.

We went back to Bozeman as well today – our first Return to Anything so far - and back to our old spots – Bryan hoped to find a cowboy hat he had been thinking about since our first visit here in July. Sadly, the hat just wasn’t as he remembered it and he didn’t get it. We did go back to McKenzie River Pizza Company, so Bryan could get his Other favorite sandwich – and I had the best pizza ever (bacon, mushroom, and three cheeses). We landed in a rest area somewhere between Missoula and Drummond, MT for the night – our first rest area this month! It wasn’t all that bad, either!

Artisit's Point in Yellowstone

Artisits Point in Yellowstone with lower fals

Tetons

This morning we awoke after a night of 30 degree weather – we froze our hoo-hoos off. But we were still refreshed and ready for some hiking. Last time we were here we went to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. This time we ended up doing the same thing but going even further beyond! So, we bought our round-trip boat shuttle tickets ($15.00 for two) and headed to the Cascade Canyon Trail. We ended up doing a nice 9-mile hike this time – going to Canyon Junction. You get all of the elevation out of the way getting up to Inspiration Point. We followed Cascade creek the whole way, which remains pretty level, saw the amazing Tetons from various angles – and even saw a bull mouse chomping away in the river! He had a big rack! We also saw another marmot bathing on the rocks.

Tetons Bull Moose

The Tetons are quite remarkable – they are so pointy, with such definite peaks, and so scraggly with patches of snow/glaciers here and there.

After the hike, we headed north to Yellowstone, another park we visited a few years back. We decided to go via the Eastern route so we could see the waterfalls that we had somehow skipped on our last Yellowstone visit. I am so glad we didn’t skip them again. We saw Yellowstone’s Grand Canyon and Artist’s Point – with Upper and Lower Falls. A huge canyon of yellow, orange, red funky rock formations – it was wild. Lower falls is huge and we got to see Upper Falls at its brink – at the top as it fell down over the edge. Very cool.

On our way to the campground for the night, we got stuck in some traffic – bison traffic! These guys were within 2 feet of the car. It is quite unnerving when a creature nearly as big as a small car looks you in the eye from 2 feet away. It stalled us for at least 10 minutes, as they didn’t have a care in the world as people flashed pictures. The bison would just stand there in front of the car until they felt like moving!

We got a campsite at Indian Creek, as night fell, and set up site in the dark - $12.00.

Jenn in Tetons

For more pictures of the amazing Tetons, click here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=9gc0q893.8ug3dgbv&Uy=qegqux&Ux=1

Flaming Gorge to the Tetons

This morning we woke up to the sound of howling coyotes – and mooing cows. Today we drove through the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area and saw the lake – it was pretty.


Flaming Gorge

We basically drove north all day and arrived in the Grand Tetons National Park. We stopped in Jackson to go to the post office, but that was all. We felt any more shopping at this point would drive us a little bonkers. Some of the campgrounds were already full in the Tetons by the time we got there, so we had to head a bit further North to Colter Bay and found camping there. Totally lame though – the showers were an additional fee! So, we decided we would just have to wait another day, or two... We had another fire, but no marshmallows for me – can you believe it?! I just wasn’t feeling up to it. What has become of me?! We did make some Jiffy Pop though – and that was oh-so good.

Steamboat Springs is great. This morning we got up and had some Mighty Bites cereal and then drove about 2 miles up stream from the campground, where there was some convenient parking for us to stop and inflate the Raft! Yup, we went on a little white water rafting trip today with our $30 raft – it was awesome! The Yampa River was a bit low, but that didn’t deter us! We went down some fun fun little rapids – and I got to steer which is the most fun thing EVER! We got stuck on one big rock, but it didn’t seem to damage the boat at all. We did however have one casualty on the river – my paddle broke right in half at the end… too much pushing on the rocks I suppose. Boy oh boy, though, it was so much fun. I cannot WAIT to get a canoe and go white water canoeing again. I LOVE IT!



For more pictures of Steamboat Springs, click here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=9gc0q893.8ld3mvhn&Uy=mlqk98&Ux=1

Well, that was just a great way to start the day - then I hopped on the free shuttle bus from the campground where we got out of the river and went to get the car. Next we (sadly) left Steamboat and headed to Dinosaur National Monument – and Utah. Don’t bother going into the East entrance, as it just ends and there is not a visitor center or ranger station. I suppose if you want to go fishing, that would be the place to go – other wise it is a 30-45 minute detour. Well, we did find a visitor’s center and were told to hurry and get to the quarry so we could see some dinosaur bones. We decided not to do any other parts of the park – again, we felt tired and not really energized for much today.

The quarry was neat though. It was hard for me to look at the rock wall with all these bones and fossils and wrap my head around the fact that they Really are bones of Dinosaurs! So neat. Apparently much of the hillside as been taken away and put in other museums, so what is left today is only a small fraction of what they found there.

After looking at femur bones the size of Bryan, we headed North to the Flaming Gorge area and found a nice little campground at Skull Creek. We had a kick butt fire tonight and I had the tastiest toasted marshmallows YET! Yummeee!

Dinosaur Bones

For more dinosaur pics, click here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=9gc0q893.3p42z0h7&Uy=27d057&Ux=1

Dino Tram

Bryan and Jenn on the dinosaur tram

Rocky Mountain National Park. Steamboat Rodeo!

Ahh, the Rocky Mountains – another cold night last night, and wet. So this morning we scooted out pretty quickly and headed out to see the rest of the park. It was super foggy and we couldn’t see anything. We reached the highest point in the park, in the Tundra ,when it started to burn off just a little bit and we started to see the awesome peaks around us. We stopped here for breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, and jelly and waited out the fog. We got to see some awesome views then! And a marmot sun bathing on a rock. Did you know that the road through Rocky Mountain National Park is the highest road in the country?!


Jenn in the Tundra

Well, we carried on and quickly realized when we got out of the car that 12,000 feet elevation doesn’t provide one with much air – we could barely walk up a little hill. So, we drove on through, admiring the sights and went back down to the 7000 foot elevation area. We went on a little hike and saw the "Never Summer Mountains", such a great name for a mountain range!

At this point I decided I needed to do some more hiking for the day, but Bryan didn't feel the same! So I did a quick little mile and half and met Bryan on the other side. The trail was a but smelly, as it is a "heavy horse use" trail.

Then we went to Adams Falls, another quick little hike, which does two 90 degree turns! Neat. I peed over a cliff here too, and almost onto some people that were't supposed to be down there. Oops. Then, we had lunch on Pine Beach where the geese hang out.

CLick here for more pictures of Rocky Mountain National Park:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=9gc0q893.4at5we3v&Uy=55lp2s&Ux=1

We left the park and went through the Routt Mountains, beyond Rabbit Ears Pass and into a beautiful place that I immediately fell in love with - Steamboat Springs!!!!!!!!!

Cowboys abound. Beautiful brown homes, a big ski mountain, shopping, smokehouse BBQ restaurant where you throw peanut shells on the floor, and.... a RODEO!! YAY! My first rodeo ever. It was so much fun. We saw it all, from barrell racing, to bucking bulls, to lassoing calves. SO much fun! Didn't realize riding bulls was the worlds most dangerous sport- but I beleived it when one guy almost got speared in the back after being thrown to the ground! Yikes!

Tonight we camped at Steamboat Campground, conveniently located just two miles from the Rodeo. Hooray. I love Steamboat Springs!

Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park

Yay! We got to the Rockies today!! This is an awesome park too!!! We went on a 6 mile hike and saw lakes, rivers, waterfalls, glaciers... it was awesome. It felt so good to be in the brisk fresh air, the smell of the wilderness! Ahhhh. Tonight we camped at Aspenglen Campground ($20.00) in the Park. Turned out to be a cold night. Brrr. But boy, it felt good to be in this forest!

We both agrees that the Rockies felt so good - like home almost, like a place we belonged. I guess I always feel like I am at my most content when I am hiking, but especially in a place so crisp and with so much water.

Garden of the Gods and Boulder

We discovered a neat place today, Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, CO. Very cool red rocks jutting out of the green lands. Looked like some neat rock climbing. Made Colorado Springs feel like a neat place to live.


Jenn in Garden of the Gods

For more pictures of the Garden of the Gods, click here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=9gc0q893.bwxb4h4b&Uy=5j7ucr&Ux=1

Then we drove north into Boulder and found ourselves a motel to spend the night. Had some trouble with this at first, as everyone was full - but we lucked out and found the cheapest place... and it turned out to have a kitchenette! How cool - we got to cook on a Real stove! So much fun! (funny how it us fun to me when I am on a road trip, but not when I am home).

Later tonight we walked on Pearl Street in Boulder. On our way there we saw a huge mass of bicyclists. Every Thursday night people get together and follow the leader for a few hours, riding their bikes around town. Some people had very unique bikes, and some were even in costume! How fun is that?!

Pearl street was cool, reminded us of a very small Third Street Promenade, as it had a juggler, some music, lots of shops and restaraunts. It had a good vibe to it. There were also people playing very large digeridoos onto someone, called it "brain massage". Curious. Boulder seems to be a very neat, small place. Had a good feeling to it for sure.

Great Sand Dunes National Park

The newest National Park is wicked cool!

We had debated on wether or not we would go here, and we are so glad we did. What a unique hiking experience this was! We felt like we were in the Sahara or something. You Have to check out these pictures!! It was exhausting though because every step you take you slide down a little bit. Luckily it was cloudy when we were there, otherwise I don't think I would have made it. There are no trails to follow (as they would just get blown away) so you just look up and decide which way you want to go. It is really fun. But the funnest part of it all is coming down! You can totally get into it and run and crash - good times!

Great Sand Dunes National Park

For more awesome Sand Dunes pictures, click here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=9gc0q893.7hbz7egb&Uy=-xlwj1i&Ux=1

Tonight we camped at KOA outside Colorado Springs - not quite as fancy as the one in the Keys, nor as expensive!

Mesa Verde to Durango

I finally made it to Mesa Verde!! I have been wanting to go here forever. Of course, now that I have seen oh-so- many cliff dwelling salready, it kinda lost its uniqueness... but it was still awesome! Today started of with a guided tour of Cliff Palace, the largest dwelling in the park. It was very neat. We learned about the Pueblo Indians and their beliefs - and about the Sipapu, a hole they believe they entered this world through.


Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde

Then we went to Spruce Tree House, a self-guided dwelling. We got to go down into a restored kiva, which was very neat. There was an awesome museum here too. After all this touring of ancient dwellings, and learning about the Indians who dwelled there, I want to learn more. It is all so fascinating.

After Mesa Verde, we drove on and stopped in historic Durango, where we got some dinner and Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream (I was soooo excited when I saw Cold Stone's wonderful sign!). We spent the night at Lower Piedra Campground by a river - it is so great to fall asleep to the sound of the water! We are now in the woods again too! No more desert for now. It is great to be here.

For more pics of Mesa Verde, click here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=9gc0q893.b125j30r&Uy=9zxb4i&Ux=1

Mese Verde Welcome Sign

Welcome to Mesa Verde

4 Corners - Here I am, in 4 states at once!!!

Canyon de Chelly. 4 Corners. to Mesa Verde

We explored more of Canyon de Chelly today - the South Rim and Spider Rock, lots of ruins on cliffsides. I am continually baffled at how people even GOT to these dwellings, nevermind lived there for hundreds of years. Insane. We did an incredible hike into the canyon to get a close up view of the "White House" dwelling. The hike was just so beautiful, the rock formations are amazing and the colors are just great. These dwellings are actually on the canyon floor, but there is a second level that they must have used ladders to get to, as it was very high up.

There were Navajo people selling some neat stuff, but I don't usually bring money with me when I hike, so I set up a time and place to meet one of them so I could by some juniper seed jewelery. Juniper seeds are made into jewelery and used to prevent nightmares. They get them from the squirrells actually. When the seeds of the juniper tree turn purple, the squirrells pick them to eat the outside, as well as a small morsel inside the seed (they poke a hole to get this out). Then they toss them aside, and the Navajo Indians collect them off the ground and drill a hole on the other side to string them. Neat, huh?!


Spider Rock in Canyon de Chelly

For more pictures of Canyon de Chelly, click here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=9gc0q893.8sycxyq3&Uy=-v9ncwj&Ux=1

We then left Canyon do Chelly, avoiding the West Nile Virus carrying mosquitoes (warnings signs posted in the valleys), and headed through an amazing part of Arizon - seeing Los Gigantos Buttes and onto 4 Corners!

4 Corners is interesting. You pay $3.oo basically to take a picture of yourself standing in four states at once - which is sooo worth it if you ask me! They also sell all kinds of Indian jewelery and souvenirs too of course. By the way, Indian Flat Bread is just another way of saying "fried dough". :)

Then we continued on into Colorado and made it into Mesa Verde National Park and found a campsite before dark.

Welcome to Colorado

Canyon de Chelly hike

White House Dwelling in Canyon de Chelly (where we hiked down to)

Lyman Lake hike

Who knew? Arizona is in Mountain time all the time (although not ALL of Arizona, curious!)- so we gained an hour yesterday and never even knew it. This morning we had pancakes on the stove and then went on a little hike in the state park to see some petroglyphs. Always cool to see rock art from hundreds of years ago. This was unique to other places I have been as there were lots and you just had to keep your eyes peeled to find them. Fun.


petroglyph at Lyman Lake

Then we decided to go to Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Parks. Tim and I had been there before, and I taught Bryan the "We are Petrified if you please, we are petrified if you don't please" song. And have had it in my head since! We did the Crystal Forest trail and saw lots of colorful old wood. :) We also saw colorful hills and some more "badlands". Bryan and I agreed that THESE badlands were much cooler than the Badlands of the National Park. Of course, we may have been a bit jaded by the 114 degree temperate and long drive to Badlands... but this area is at least more colorful. We did get some cool souvenirs here though!

Our next adventure was in Canyon do Chelly (pronounced "shay") National Monument. This place is AWESOME!!!!!!! It is absolutely beautiful and so unique, as Navajo Indians still live on the ridge and in the canyon. And there are lots of insane, how-in-the-world-did-people-live-there cliff dwellings with huge rock art. I am telling you, go here some day. It is so pretty!!! Again, we saw lightning on the horizon and thus a pretty neat rainbow!

This night we spent on the ridge at Spider Rock Campground (privately run by Navajo) where we sat atop red dirt and among cool juniper trees. The fire was strong, the marshmallows were good, and we felt great. And - this was one of the rare nights that we were a tiny bit chilly! Imagine that!

Welcome to the Petrified Forest

Bryan and Jenn sitting on petrified wood

Gila Wilderness to Lyman Lake

Today I got to drive out of Gila. Yay - I have so much fun driving on that road with all its curves! Then we drove to the West side of the Gila Wilderness (another beautiful drive) and went on a 2 mile hike on th "Catwalk". This was a trail on metal catwalkd through a gorge. Very neat. There was even a suspension bridge near the end! We then continued along this super scenic route and entered Arizona! We camped at Lyman Lake State Park under a nice metal canopy. This was an especially awesome night as we had quite a nature show for an hour or so. On the horizon, over the lkae and the mountains, Bryan and I got to watch an awesome lightning storm. It was so cool. Check out Bryan's picture!:


Lyman Lake, AZ

Eventually the storm got over us and we sat in Miles (afraid to get in the tent that was under a metal roof). It never got to nasty in our area, luckily, though we did hear some insane thunder. After all that, we went to bed.

To see more pictures of the lightning storm and Petrified Forest and Painted Desert, click here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=9gc0q893.a3jdo6a3&Uy=-y0s0v6&Ux=1

Gila Catwalk

Gila Cliff Dwellings

Today we went back in to La Mesilla to shop a little more and check out the Wild Bill museum – which turned out to not be a museum at all – rather a gift shop. We also went to the post office and mailed ourselves some of the souvenirs we have been collecting. It feels good to clean out the car a little bit here and there as we go!

Then we drove into the Gila Wilderness!! Yay!! I had been there with Tim on our first road trip 5 or so years ago, so I was very excited to show it to Bryan as it had been one of my favorite places! It was still awesome :). Bryan got to drive in on my favorite windy road. The Cliff Dwellings are great because you can go right in them and look around. Bryan also got a cool walking stick made out of the stalk of a yucca plant.

Tonight we thought we would also try to find the hotsprings tim and I had bathed in last time. It was easier to find than I remembered, even though it was getting dark. Sadly, the water seemed to have been running pretty high and the pools normally created by a circle of rocks were high - so the water was WICKED hot! We tried for quite some time to get in, but even putting our feet in was painful. We eventually ended up in a section up to our knees. It was a curious sensation there, though, because the water on bottom was cold river water, while the water on top was hot hot springs water - our feet were cold and our knees were burning.

So we trudged back, with another failed hotpsrings attempt (at least this time we didn't have people from another country whistling at us!). We went back to our campsite (for free) at Upper Scorpion (in Gila National Park) and made a fire. Earlier I had found a stick that I used my very special marshmallow stick carving knife on. Turned out to be the Best stick EVER! I decided I would try to use it the erst o the trip and get it home to Seattle - it was THAT good :).

Gila Cliff Dwelings

For more pics of the Dwellings and the Catwalk, click here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=9gc0q893.au2fxnuz&Uy=2a9eu6&Ux=1

Big Bend National Park

We went to Texas and visited Austin, where Bryan used to live, and to the Alamo in San Antonio (nope, no basement). Then we spent a few days in Big Bend National Park - and had quite an adventure trying to find hot springs in the MUD with Mexicans whistling to us from across the RioGrande in the dark. Scarey.

Then we went on a few awesome hikes in Big Bend National Park, which reminded us a bit of a very large Zion National Park. It is very cool!!

Big Bend National Park

Go here for more Texas pictures:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=9gc0q893.45m8qqgb&Uy=-os9gci&Ux=1

Big Bend hike

Big Bend hike

hot springs mud

hotsprings mud. we searched for the hotsprings, but all we foudn was near knee-deep MUD. yuck.

Devils Hall

This was at the end of our hike in Guadalupe National Park.

Terlingua Ghost Town

We stopped at this ghost town and explored its cemetary. It didn't seem to be much of a ghst town, however, as people are actully LIVING there now! They have turned some of the old buildings into gift shops and waht-not.

Carlsbad Caverns

This place is awesome. You go down down down in to the cave. And it is enormous.... neverending. It smells of bat guano as you enter the cave, but that evnetually subsides.

We also stayed to see the bat emergence of 1.2 a million bats. It is a surprisingly quiet happening, but really neat to see. Again came the smell of bat guano.

I decided to adopt a bat. I still need to name him, any suggestions?

Carlsbad bats

Bat emergence