Vacation 2016 day 6

Edited to add: This is part of a series. The Vacation 2016 story begins here.

There wasn't a printout for today, as we had arrived at a destination. 

The reason for driving around Yellowstone and into Montana was that my favorite cousin and best friend for life lives there. (To be fair, I have a couple of "favorite" cousins.) She's 20 days older than me, in spite of it being her mother who is my first cousin, and about a foot shorter; blond, pretty, and sweet. But we do have a few things amazingly in common. Both married an older man (mine by 10 years; hers by 20), both have 9 children, both homeschooled and homeschooling, committed to modesty, live rurally. And so on. I have seen her twice since she got married 22 years ago, and we have written to each other only a few more times than that. 

After 5 minutes in her home, we were all "at home" and perfectly comfortable and friendly. Not just she and I, but all the children as well. She had a baby 1 week prior to our arrival, and so was off her feet. We stayed inside and visited while the men went outside and looked after the children and visited. Our hearts are knit! I don't know what else to say.

William drives. Smoke in the mountains.

The girls played games and talked and made lunch; the boys worked leather, walked on stilts, threw hatchets, and drove the lawnmower. The little ones played trucks and chased goats. After lunch a neighbor came over with horses! The children took turns riding, and were just thrilled. Bob got plans for a composting toilet. I learned about moving water and weed-free hay.

After dinner we sang a couple of songs together, but not too much as we were horse from talking all day (and the smoke from the wildfires). We said our goodbyes about 8:30, and went back to our hotel.

 

Vacation 2016 day 5

Edited to add: This is part of a series. The Vacation 2016 story begins here.

My plan said:

Friday drive 5 hours to stevensville and Stay 8-26 and 8-27 nights TownHouse Inn of Hamilton (Saturday visit with Lani)

(Directions and optional stops that we didn't take)

This day was mostly driving... We stopped at the Idaho Potato Museum in Blackfoot, and had lunch in a city park there. The museum was fun, and we bought a few more souvenirs.  

 

Driving west from the Interstate to Hamilton, Montana was very interesting as we crossed mountain passes and drove across deep valleys. We stopped at a little country gas station where some people wanted a pack of gum as a "souvenir."

 

We pretty much filled up once per day, and got between 15 and 20 MPG throughout the trip. Which is pretty impressive for a gasoline-powered 12 passenger van. Other perks of the new van include comfortable seats, increased visibility, working heat and a/c, rain-sensing wipers, a cabin quiet enough to talk in, responsive driving, MUCH easier parking... Bob had spent hours looking up and downloading audio books, so we had some fun and educational listening times.

The town just south of Hamilton was having a community event of some sort, and there were a lot of people about, but we still made it to our hotel before dinner time. For the first (and only) time of the trip, Bob went in to check in alone. He was in the office a good 30 minutes. Turns out our reservation had been made so far in advance that it had cleared out of the system, and they were completely booked on account of hordes of firefighters that were working in the National Forest nearby and were coming into town to rest. BUT, as we had the email print out, and Bob was persuasive, they did honor our reservation and then discounted the price a bit. 

 

We ate dinner at a nearby Taco Bell, where the manager was very friendly. The next morning the same man was working in the hotel. This hotel looked kinda dumpy on the outside - it was adjacent to a gas station - but was pretty nice inside. Very plush, if not posh. I did laundry here, too; not sure which night, but I was up till midnight getting it done.

Vacation 2016 day 4

Edited to add: This is part of a series. The Vacation 2016 story begins here.

Today's plan read:

Thursday see Dinosaur and Stay 8-25 in Motel 6 Pocatello, ID (3 rooms); 

Directions to Dinosaur:

NorthEast on 191/40 for 14 miles, then Left on 149, (later turns toward right and is co-named Quarry Entrance Road) then left into park.

Tour of the Tilted Rocks is an 10 mile (one-way) auto tour route along Cub Creek Road, starting at the Quarry Visitor Center north of Jensen, Utah. Guidebooks are available for a small fee at either visitor center, or at a self-service post near the monument's entrance station. Features along the route include petroglyph and pictograph panels, Josie Bassett's cabin built in 1913, and fantastic views of geologic layers. A short spur road takes you to the Split Mountain Boat Launch where you can see the Green River leaving Split Mountain Canyon or watch river rafters arriving after a several day journey through the monument. Wildlife may occasionally be seen, including mule deer, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, prairie dogs, and many bird species.The last two miles of the route are unpaved but well maintained

Leave Dinosaur,

(Directions)

Optional: Exit 332; go west on 1700 S/127/Antelope Island Rd. to antelope Island.

(directions) to Motel 6.

 Memory serves as follows:

After a decent breakfast we went to the grocery store next door for water (we drank a case every day, besides what we could get free), then backtracked a little to get to Dinosaur National Monument. 

It was free admission for all, being the centennial of the National Park system. More crowded than it might otherwise have been, but tolerable. There were also Rangers about to answer questions, and a demo of a bird of prey, and a sun-spotting telescope (but was too cloudy to use). The quarry was about how I remembered it from 25 years ago. The children were impressed, but not terribly interested. We stayed long enough for some of them to fill out junior ranger activity books so they could get a prize when we left. Then we started on the self-driving tour, but pretty much only stopped at the petroglyphs before heading for a picnic site.

 

The school buses were just leaving, so we had a quiet lunch. Then, oh, joy! the boys got to climb a mountain. But we did have to call them back on account of the thunderstorms approaching. Back in the gift shop we collected the Jr badges, and bought a few souvenirs.  

 

Back on the road, through Salt Lake City, which was a nightmare for traffic, and where we stopped for some real food - Cracker Barrel. We hadn't eaten there for several years, and it wasn't bad, but noisy, slow, and expensive (compared to picnics, anyway!). I bought a "yes and know" book in the gift shop - I loved those things as a child! After all the fighting of the road to get across town, we decided to skip Antelope Island and get on with it.

It was late, as usual, when we arrived at Motel 6. Check in was the fastest and friendliest so far, and our 3 rooms were next to each other, on the ground floor, and near the pool. Unexpected bonus: free wi-fi. We didn't expect much out of the rooms, so weren't disappointed. Again, we were too tired to bother about swimming. I think I did some laundry that night... No; they had laundry, but I had done mine the night before. Yep, our rooms at Days Inn weren't on the ground floor, but there was a laundry room next door to my bedroom. Those "commercial" washers they have at hotels hold about a third of a load, and take FOREVER to dry. But I survived.

Vacation 2016 Day 3

Edited to add: This is part of a series. The Vacation 2016 story begins here.

The plan for today read:

Wednesday drive 5.5 hours and Stay 8-24 in Days Inn Vernal, UT (2 rooms);

Google Maps says: Get on i-70 from 40th Ave. Exit 90 in Rifle to Co 13 North.  13 to Meeker, then 64 to US 40 to Vernal.

If you follow I-70 through Grand Junction to Loma and go N on 139 to Rangely, then 64 to 40, it will add an hour, but be a scenic route. Everyone recommends this as more scenic/better.

Optional stops:

Lunch at Beau Jo's Pizza In Idaho Springs (just west of Denver, and probably not 11 yet when we pass).

Idaho Springs, exit for 103/ Mt Evans Road/ Highway 5 scenic byway. hour of hair-raising. US's highest paved road. No guardrails.

rest stops at mile # 254 to see Bison herd, 226 (overlook), 190 (Vail - restrooms, trailhead), 160 (Edwards - restroom), 128.5 (Bair ranch, Glenwood Canyon - restrooms, trailhead), 125.13 (Hanging Lake - restrooms, trailhead), 121 (Grizzly Creek, Glenwood Canyon - restroom, trailhead), 118.64 (No Name, Glenwood Canyon - restroom, trailhead), 90 (Rifle - restroom).

Colorado National Monument: Exit 19 (Fruita). Turn south on Highway 340 to the west entrance, which is approximately three miles from Fruita. The visitor center and campground are four miles up from the west entrance.

139 is 70 miles with no towns or services. Make sure to fill up and potty before turning north.

What happened was:

We went to a Walmart for water and things (cough drops, maybe? more food since the hotel breakfast was unsatisfying?), through a nice-looking modern neighborhood.

It wasn't nearly lunch time when we passed Idaho Springs, so no pizza today. We also decided to pass on the hair-raising road, since Taryn was already threatening car-sickness. As you can see, I did some digging on I-70, which is supposed to be a marvel and a wonder all on its own, besides all the scenic overlooks. While I had been to both Denver and Dinosaur before, it was on a different route, and Bob had never been in Colorado at all. So we were pretty excited to get to see the Rockies. 

Well. Hmm. It started raining about the time we left Denver. So we skipped the bison overlook. The next stop sounded promising, but it was freezing, and really pouring. We did use the restrooms, and Bob chatted with some bikers from Arkansas. One of them had cell phone service and discovered that the rain was clearing out to the west. So we convinced Riah that we would have other opportunities to "climb a mountain" and went on. Perhaps this would be a good place to mention that the children really didn't get the concept of road trip. They each had a single thing that they wanted to get to do, and no matter what we were doing *Now,* they only complained about that one other thing that they wanted. It really wore on my nerves and made me regret the whole thing more than once.

In spite of the long list of trails, overlooks, etc, there weren't quite as many opportunities as I expected. At least 2 of the best stops were only accessible from the East-bound lane. We did get to walk down 2 trails, but both were paved walking/biking trails, and both at the bottom of the canyon/along the Colorado River. Funny thing about the bikers: none of them looked like they were enjoying themselves. Anyway, we got to touch the river, see a raft, see Japanese tourists at the Pearl Harbor memorial, walk in the mountains, and get lost on a roundabout. But it wasn't "climbing," nor as scenic as I had hoped.

 

By the time we got to Rifle we decided to take the shorter route. We filled up with gas, and then went on a detour to Rifle Falls. It was very nice. We climbed, took pictures, ate supper. Then the drive down a labeled "scenic route" through great gobs of nothing. There was a stretch of road construction where the highway turned into gravel. Ruth cried. The others complained. It got dark. Then we turned west, and chased the most amazing sunset for over an hour. More crying and complaining. Finally we stopped on a pullout. Everybody out for some exercises and a lecture.

Then more driving in the dark. Finally got to Vernal, but of course the hotel was on the far side of town. Finally found it. The "indoor pool" was in a sort of greenhouse, between the parking lot and the main road. Since we were exhausted anyway, we skipped it and went to bed. Finally, a comfortable bed! And amazing pillows! Ah, sleep.