9 July 2018. Valdez AK

9 July 2018. Last day in Valdez AK.

We started our last day here with just a little rain, so we left the KOA and did some touring. The town of Valdez was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1964, and the whole town was rebuilt four miles away. The old town is memorialized with little pictures of many of the buildings that used to be there posted on small signs where the buildings used to be. You leave thinking how nature takes back what is hers…

We also took a short hike on the Dock Point Trail – there were no berries yet, so we weren’t too worried about bears.

View of Harbor Cove from Dock Point Trail

Chuck at West Overlook of Dock Point Trail (not the happiest I’ve seen him)

Cow Parsnip – all over the place here. The sap from this plant can cause burns on you.

We stopped at the harbor and watched some boats going out

The rain was clearing a bit, so we decided to try to drive up the Mineral Creek Trail:

There was a rickety bridge we got to use to cross over Mineral Creek

Mineral Creek Trail was quite narrow in places

Many of the waterfalls were covered in mist

One of the waterfalls that wasn’t covered in mist

As it started to rain again, we picked one of the three museums in town, the Maxine and Jesse Whitney Museum and took a quick tour. Filled with some interesting memorabilia from the Whitney’s collection. Then we picked a campground for the night that backed onto the harbor channel so we could watch the boats come in (through our camper window!) Tomorrow we catch our last Ferry at 6 am!

May 20, 2018 Monument Valley

May 20, 2018 – we started on our way home from the Overland Expo and headed for Monument Valley (Navajo Tribal Park).

This one wasn’t in the park, just along the road. Looks like a lady?

Monument Valley was a very neat place. The rock formations were immense. It was fun to imagine how the first people who came across these “monuments” felt as they named each one.

This one is supposed to look like an Elephant?

NIce shot of the camper at John Ford’s Point

You could go on horseback rides if you wanted to!

This one wasn’t called Spearhead Mesa, but I thought it looked like one

This one, Cly Mesa, looked way more like an elephant to me than the other one!

Tried to take a picture of the camper being held between the West Mitten Butte and the East Mitten Butte. 🙂

This was the sunset view from our campsite

Southern Utah, April 2018 day 9

Day 9, 11 April 2018. We made it to Kodachrome State Park (in Utah). A little windy, but, yes, many photo opportunities!

Chuck at Kodachrome State Park (cute, huh!)

Trying an artistic touch – Sentenial Rock at Kodachrome State Park

Southern Utah April 2018 day 6

Day 6, April 8 2018. There was a bit of rain last night, so we took the “gentler” Cottonwood Canyon Road. (If it hasn’t rained, two wheel drive is ok). The rain had mostly dried, we only had one water crossing and a few mud holes. At the Northern end of this road is Kodachrome State Park. The views around there were spectacular and we made reservations to camp there Wednesday night. Here is a foreshadowing:

We stopped at the Gorgeous Grosvenor Arch:

and on to a short hike in the Cottonwood Narrows:

View of trailhead at Cottonwood Canyon Narrows (north)

Southern Utah – April 2018 Day 5

Chuck topping off the air in a slowly leaking tire. Near Dance Hall Rock

Made a quick trip (two days later) to get it fixed – broken rim, so only swappped for spare

Day 5 – April 7 2018. Still on Hole-in-the-rock Road. Had 10 miles of 4 wheel road and then 50 miles of washboard road to drive on out. Slow going, and we had to baby one of our tires…

Spent the night back in Escalante.

Southern Utah – April 2018

Day 4 – 6 April 2018.

Made it to the end of the Hole In The Rock Road – Got a little rocky towards the end – the Vanagon probably wouldn’t have made it.

Rugged Road – Hole in the wall

Caves along the Hole in the Wall Road

Cool Mountains along Hole in the Wall Road

This one called 50 mile mountain

Yep , big rocks along the road

This one looked like something out of Star Wars!

The hole in the rock is a break in the sand mountains to get to Lake Powell. Sometime in the 1880s, settlers used this passage to move 250 people, 85 full sized wagons and 100 livestock through this drop. It was too rugged for us to walk down (because we were still too sore from yesterday!). I can’t imagine full-sized wagons going down this!

There is the hole in the wall!

Peaking through the hole to Lake Powell

Lake Powell, far below

Can you imagine FULL-SIZE Wagons? With Horses!

Looking down hole in the wall

A nice guy (who was contemplating climbing down to the Lake) took our picture

A little history at the top

The we found a nice spot to camp for the night, a bit windy, but no one around

Southern Utah – April 2018

Day 3 – 5 April 2018.

Today we started on Hole in the Rock Road. Very wash-boardy, and it happens to be Spring Break Week for way too many families – but we are having a great time.

First stop was Devil’s Garden. Lots of Hoodoos here:

Devils Garden

Devils garden

Devils Garden

Devils garden

Devils Garden

Then we went on to two Slot Canyons, Peek-A-Boo and Spooky. (Up one, back the other) .Total hike was a little more than five miles, but there was also rock scrambling and rope work involved. We are getting a little old for this kind of adventure – because our muscles are sure tired afterwards.!

Hiking to the slot canyons

Chuck

The rope climb to start peek-a-boo. Quite a line up of spring break families!

You need to help each other up the slots

Then we drove on to our camping spot for the night — out in the middle of nowhere!

Camping – hole in the wall road – near mm 32.5

Nice shot of the XP!

Camping – Hole in the Wall Raod mm 32.5

Camping, night 3 – view out the window

West Yellowstone 2018 – Feb 3

Windy roads for our annual trek to West Yellowstone. This year with our friends Jamie, Cheri, Trevor and Todd.

A bit of color on the way out:

A little closer – vapor trail at sunset – Wyoming

and then snowy roads:

Stopped at Palisade Reservoir, Idaho. Very Cold.

Rabbit Ears Jan 26 2018

Snowmobiling

Mike got to join us for a few days of snowmobiling at Rabbit Ears. We had absolutely perfect snow – light, fluffy, and deep!

Here’s Chuck – snow was deep!

Mike enjoying himself

See Mike’s frozen smile!

Mike and Chuck taking a break

Did run into a bit of fresh snowfall (with Roger and Shelley)

This is what Mike will look like when his beard starts to go gray!

Chuck enjoying taking some movies

The group converging before heading in

here are some links to movies Chuck took (I’m the one with yellow sled and pink jacket)

Snowmobiling in January 2018

Rabbit Ears again –

Here is a quick video Chuck took while following Brad up the hill

View out of our window – 3 ft of new snow

Got icicles on the camper! They stayed there until we got home… yes it was cold that weekend!

Rabbit Ears Pass, Colorado

December 2017

It’s been a light snow year so far. This is our first foray snowmobiling this season.

Looking down at the Colorado Mountains. They should all be white this time of year.

Camping at the trailhead, joined by Roger and Shelley on one side, Robert and sons on the other.

Love this shot of Chuck climbing the mountain

Cathedral Gorge State Park

Nevada, November 2017

Our first park camping with the XP was in Nevada (near the eastern edge of Nevada). Got to travel through lots of desert to get there. Place was very neat – almost like a mini Bryce Canyon. We hiked the whole inner loop; saw lots of jack rabbits.

Cathedral Gorge State park – ‘Moon Caves’

East Coast – October 2017

Lake Ogallala State Park – Nebraska

This is the second time this year we have camped at Lake Ogallala. It is such a nice campground! Right alongside the Dam at McConaughy Lake State Recreational Area. And it’s about halfway between us and our son, Mike – so we’ll be staying there again! This time I tried to capture the fall colors:

Looking up at the dam on McConaughy Lake

East Coast – October 2017

Rocky Gap State Park – Maryland

Wow – what a cool park! We got there after the season was over, so it was nice and quiet. But, it appeared like a scene form the ‘Dirty Dancing’ Movie — stages, boats, picnic areas, beaches. Very Cool. Probably crazy in mid summer. But we enjoyed the peaceful quietness of the place in October.

Boat rentals, volleyball, all closed for the season

All set up for lifeguards and crowds of kids

East Coast – October 2017

Shenandoah National Park

We were joined on our adventure by Scott and Miranda (and their dog Wade). Got some great hiking in – saw a bit of wildlife (snakes, bear, that sort of thing). Had a wonderful time!

Hiked to “a geological point of interest”

East Coast – October 2017

Stone Mountain State Park

What a cool place to stay at! (They even had showers!)

A giant rock is the centerpiece of this park – but it also had many trails and waterfalls and some historical homesteading exhibits.

Stone Mountain at Stone Mountain State Park

East Coast – October 2017

Blue Ridge Parkway

After the Overland Expo East in North Carolina, we had a chance to meander up some of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We had run most of this on our motorcycles a few years back – but this time we were camping in our Vanagon and taking it slow.

We spent the night at Crabtree Falls campground. The leaves were just starting to change, and you had to be careful because of all the falling acorns! Very few people camp here in October!

The next day we drove to Linville Falls and did the hikes there:

East Coast – October 2017

Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Our longest adventure to date (four weeks away from the house) was to the east coast and back. The new camper was not quite ready, so we embarked on this 4000+ mile trip with our 1983 Vanagon.

The only firm date we had to meet was to be at Overland Expo East in Asheville, North Carolina starting 29 September. We had several neat touristy stops in mind on our way east, but we were running late and had to boogie across the country. (We do intend to go back a little slower and hit those spots we whizzed through someday…). Our first relaxing stop was at the Tennessee/North Carolina border: Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We camped along side the Little River at a beautiful, relaxing site at Elkmont campgrounds.

We also had a chance to hike the Laurel Falls Trail. I’d rate it as realistically easy, although a bit rocky. The falls were nice, but not spectacular.