Wishing Jackie a speedy recovery.

Your a warrior with unending courage and strength. We love you.

Fossil Butte National Monumnet

We met a family that told us about fish fossiling in Kremmerer WY, about 2 hours from Salt Lake City. You get to go to a quarry and dig for fish fossils. We thought it sounded good but didn't know anything about it. We headed out to Kremmerer to find out how to go fossiling.

We decided to stop at the Fossil Butte National Monument first, where Dean and Morgan became Jr Rangers right away. It was so interesting there is a very large lake bed that has a layer of fish fossil preserved. One of the scientist say it is so unique because they can study the fish, plants, insects, reptiles as a community. Not just one dinosaur here one there. I mean we saw a picture of one fish eating another fossil version. We watched a ranger using a dremmel tool and vacuum cleaning stone away from the bones.

So now we wanted to go fossiling on our own. The place we decided to go was Warfield Fossil Safaris also the one recommend to us. We found their website http://www.fossilsafari.com/ with a map to the quarry. In keeping with our track record we had a really hard time finding the place. But we did and man it was so much fun. We found tons of fossils all fish we kept the best ones. The rock is pretty soft and you just spilt it layer by layer and BAM there are fish.

It will defiantly be one of the highs lights of our trip. We only dug for an hour or so and could have stayed for eight. If your ever in WY or looking for a great out door fossiling trip this is it.

Salt Lake City

We headed out about 6pm for Salt Lake City, it was hot and we wanted to head north. It wasn't much cooler but it was north. We stayed just outside the city. We managed to get a pretty bad crack in the windsheild of the RV and were staying put until it was fixed. We spent a week. We have a little teeny tiny crack in the jeep windsheild too. The camp ground had a pool so the kids were happy, and we were definatly back to civilzation. We got supplies, did a little shopping, worked out at the gym (that was nice, running in 96 degree heat dry or humid is not for me),went out to eat, had a massage, a peticure, and even did some sight seeing.

We went to The Great Salt Lake via Antelope State Park. It was erily beautiful. I know that doesn't make sense. There weren't many people at the beach mabye 10-15 . Once we got by the water the flys swarmed us so we kept walking into the water and out a ways. The just seem to cover the water, erie. They move out of your way as you walk or swim. The water has no movement so the top layer is really warm but when you put your feet down it's cold, erie. I think the only thing that lives in the water are brine shrimp so I thought that was erie too. Beautiful to look at and the fact that it is what is left from a prehistoric lake. Oh and floating its like your on a raft without a raft, that was fun. It has double the salt contect as the ocean. My joke of the day was you don't have to wear a life jacket since you can't sink :)

We also went to the Bingham Canyon Copper mine, largest copper mine. You can see it from space. Who knew? It is very impressive. They have been mining copper since 1906 and going strong. Their by-product is half a billions dollars in gold & silver a year.

Zion National Park

We entered from the east side of the park. We decided to leave the RV in the campground after hearing about the road construction and the mile long tunnel that would require an escort and a $13.00 fee (our RV would only fit if we drove down the center of the tunnel). The jeep was the way to go. Once we got to the visitor center we did the shuttle bus. Way better for sight seeing. We stopped at the museum had a picnic and heard a very informative talk about dessert plants. After we went to the river walk hike. It leads into the narrows of the canyon, if you desire you can hike another 5 miles up the river. It was perfect, we hiked in the water and on the path. It was 106 degrees so it was great to be able to get in the water. Did I mention the kids are great hikers.

I find it incredible that 5 national parks (Canyon reef national park - we drove through with out stopping) in one state, shaped by the same forces are so distinctly different.

Bryce Canyon

We parked outside the park and took a shuttle. I liked the part when myself or Joe didn't have to drive and sight see at the same time. We could both enjoy the scenery together. We got on and off at the different scenic views had a picnic lunch. It was the whirl wind tour.

A Fork in the Road

We woke this morning and said lets get to some place cooler. Our destination Salt Lake City (not really cooler) but north. As we were driving and I was relived to be going to a more populated place we came to a fork in the road. If we continues straight we go to Salt Lake City if we go left we see Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park, which we were going to see on the our way back home. I was warring with myself wanting to see these National Parks or getting to a city. Practicality won and we went left to Bryce Canyon. It was a good decision.

Glen Canyon Recreational Area

aka Lake Powell. So far this is the most remote place we've been. We drove into Halls Crossing. The roads were so quiet I thought for sure we were going the wrong way, again. We were going the right way and found our way to the Ferry. The Ferry took us to Bullfrog, which has camp grounds, visitor center, a marina, a lodge, a restaurant and a gas station. There may be other things but I didn't see them. There are no hook ups at the camp ground but so far it has been the biggest and nicest site. I think they made them extra big since people bring all kinds of water crafts. Oh, did I mention it was over 100 degrees every day.

Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point State Park

We went to Canyonlands National Park. We were comparing it to the Grand Canyon and I heard other people talking in different languages and referring to the Grand Canyon. We were going to camp in the back country but decided against it because only 2 sites were booked (we figured it probably wasn't the best time of year to camp) and it is hotter in the canyon that on the rim.

We also stop at Dead Horse Point State Park it has a very dramatic view of the Colorado River from 2000 feet down sheer cliffs, Defiantly one of the top ten places in my book. The name is a little sad, there are different ledgends to why it got it's name ....

Arches National Park

I don't know how to describe the beauty in these rock.

They are breath taking.

They are fun.

We climbed togehter to this really cool .... I don't know what its called.

Look at balanced rock.

How long do you think before it tumbles down?





Arches National Park is Magical.

Moab UT

We left Telluride for Moab it was supposed to be a 3 hour trip. We took a wrong turn and ventured down a dirt/gravel road. After too long we met up with another truck and asked the old rancher if we were headed in the right direction. "Nope" We then asked where we might turn around and he said (get this) "open the red gate and turn around in the pasture". If we hadn't run into him we would have ended up back in Montorse, CO. The whole time we were on the dirt road we saw 2 cars (one of them gave us help) and a guy on an ATV.

It took us 5 hours to get to Moab.

4th of July

We were in Telluride for the 4th of July. What a spectacular celebration. We had our chairs set up right on Main Street for the parade.

First came the Veterans for whom we can thank for our freedom.

The floats, cool cars, horses and finally the Jet fighters that fly 200 feet about our heads. ZOOM They fly right down Main St and toward the mountains. It seems like they are going to crash into the and pull up last minute.

It's heart stopping and we are just standing on the ground.

Later in the day we enjoyed the festivities at Town Park. The kids played shoe toss (you can use your imagination) and tried to catch trout with their bare hands. Morgan almost got one but she said "it slipped out of my hands".

To end the day we watched a spectacular display of fire works. The echo in the Valley was the icing on the cake.

Are we there yet?

We finally reached Montrose the largest city near Telluride (about 50 miles away). We decided to stay the night and decompress we had driven about 650 miles the past few days. After a relaxing night we drove to Telluride. Since we didn't have phone service aka GPS I was reading a map. Not so well I might add.

This next stretch of road was the thinnest, scariest, most sheer cliff road I have ever seen. Believe me I've seen my share of mountain roads. We drove all the way to San Juan County past Silverton (an old mining town), to Red pass (that's where I think we were). Fortunately we were able to turn around. The way back was better since we were next to the mountain not the cliff. We found the right turn drove back up the mountain on the right side this time. This road was a lot better drive. I don't know how anyone drives these roads in the winter.

We made it to Doug and Katie's house. The picture is the view from Doug's living room. Isn't it awesome?

Traveling to Telluride

We are traveling to Telluride CO via Rocky Mountain National Park. We had stopped in Fort Collins to get supplies and take a driving break. Our brake was almost a whole day. We went food shopping, got some camping supplies and had a pretty good Sushi dinner. Our waitress told me just to follow the main road to Estes Park that would bring us through Rocky Mountain National Park too.

I should have checked her information. After driving for too many hours I discovered we were north of Rocky Mountain National Park on "the other side of the Mountain" only 10 miles away if we could fly, but no roads. There is an upside to the story, we found a fish hatchery. We stopped talked to one of the guys there and he let the kids feed the fish. They have cut throat trout and some rainbow trout. There are about 12 hatcheries in CO and they stock most of the rivers and lakes.

As we continues on our way we saw 3 Bull Moose on the side of the road. Joe got some great video footage and pictures.

All was forgiven for taking the wrong road.

Crazy Horse Monument

WOW....

It is magnificent. They are carving Crazy Horse on a horse into the mountain. It is a work in progress. So far they have done the head. Korczak Ziolkowski was the sculpture that started the project, 7 of his 10 children and his wife are still working on the project. They have a great museum. This monument represents all Native American people.

When we were there they had a dance performance, Dean went on stage to dance with the young children. I loved how they included everyone.

I told Joe we should go back at our 25th anniversary to see how far they have progressed.

This entire project is funded by private investors and donations. I told Joe I want to go back for our 25th anniversary to see how much more they will have completed.

Check it our www.crazyhoursememorial.net

Custer State Park Photos

Custer State Park

After talking to some locals we decided to see Cuter State Park. We drove down this little road call needles parkway with the top down in the jeep. One of the tunnels was 8 feet by 8 feet (tight). With incredible rock formations.

The road lead past Sylvan Lake to open plains. We saw mountain goats, mule deer, mules and toward the end we say a heard of buffalo crossing the road some were only about 20 feet away.

A day in Rapid City

We found the coolest I mean coolest hobby shop ever.

Now just some background. We have a 20 something year old gas remote controlled truck with us that does not work. You may wonder why we are keeping it but Joe is sure we will find the part we will need ..... eventually.

No they did not have the part but we did get one remote controlled truck, a super cub remote controlled plane, a pre-made rocket (remember building them as a kid) and a crystal growing kit.

We had lunch in this cool old fire house as we watched a storm roll in. It started to rain just as we were getting back to the RV. We had to run the last 200 yards. Wait that wasn't rain it was HAIL. Really big quarter size hailstones. We almost got blown away in the Badlands and now hail.
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Things calmed down we made our way to Keystone to get a camp site. To our surprise it's the weekend and everyone is full. It took some maneuvering but Joe found us a nice place outside of Hill City called Horse Thief Campground. After we left we found out we were the biggest rig they ever had in there overflow spot.

We arrived in Rapid City

We hung out till about 7pm and headed up to Mt Rushmore. They have an evening program at 9pm where they talk about the four presidents, about how Gutzon Borglum sculpted the project, then playing America the Beautiful they lit up the mountain. And Finished with the national anthem.

Man it was patriotic.

To top it off they invited all Veterans in the audience to get up on stage while a boy scout troop from Missouri retired the colors.

Whew! I was touched and emotional especially after meeting the Korean War veterans earlier that day.

traveling to Rapid City SD

Today was ware traveling to our next spot. As you know SD is know for its highway signs. We were pulled off the road by the air & space museum sign in Box Elder, SD. As we pulled into the parking lot we saw everything from a B-52 to and Minuteman II rocket.

We had stop at the National Site for the Cold War right outside of Badlands National park, after talking with the ranger we drove over to the missile silo where the minuteman II is still in the ground (disarmed of course). It was to put it lightly, overwhelming to stand next to one at the museum.

Inside they were honoring 60 year veterans for the Korean War. Maybe 6 -8 tables were set us with books, articles, and information about the Veterans. I met one an named Marvin. He showed us around and thing he thought were especially important.

It was an honor to meet them and be part of the day.