Jul 11, 2013

We got up to a nice view of the tall trees above the tent and got on the road heading west again. It was a long drive day so we got to it. The weather was beautiful so we looked for a course along the way.

We went to Corbin Park in Idaho as we crossed the narrow part of it between Montana and Washington. The course is situated on the Spokane River in a beautiful, rocky, scenic park where people were tubing, swimming, and doing photo shoots. The course was fun. It was rocky, hilly, wooded, and diverse.

The rocks made it tricky for a few shots. Between walking over the boulders in some places to walking uphill on small rocks that slide out from underneath your feet, it was a challenge. There were some great shots from a drop off near the water that required some accuracy and confidence. I launched two shots, one landing just where I wanted and the other skipping down near the water.

We pulled up to a picnic table after our game and made up some bean salad with chili powder. It was great. We sat and ate watching people float down the river on tubes, wishing we lived here. As we crossed into Washington we stopped in Spokane to go to Boots Vegan Cafe & Bakery. I didn't plan on getting anything, but it looked so amazing that I got food for later. Everything was amazing, especially the polenta, which I'd never really gotten before.

We got into Tacoma pretty late at night and went to Dorky's Arcade and Pizzeria, where we got an awesome Thai veggie pizza. We ate it in the car while we looked for a place to stay for the night. We ended up finding a Wal*Mart outside of town.

Jul 7, 2011

We went back to Arches in the morning to just find a place to climb. We went back to where we climbed last year, this time with more experience. There were some basic fun things to climb in the beginning and I took some video.

Some things were more difficult or we chose the more difficult route just to challenge ourselves. There wasn't much we weren't able to do so that felt good.

We went in as far as we could and got to a part where we both tried a different route to get down and both decided they were much to treacherous to try without ropes. We came back and wandered around climbing other things. Joanna climbed under this rock and up a crack in the rock that was pretty small. She made it up and down without incident though.

Once we walked around for a while and weren't finding any other good spots we decided to head out. We had a good morning of climbing. I could do that all day.

We went to Moab Brewery one last time before leaving town. No beer this time, just fish tacos and jalapeno corn bread (mmmmm). I wanted a small-ish lunch and I got all this food. Joanna had a loaded veggie baked potato. Also good. Too much food. Too good.

On the drive out of town we stopped at a little place off the road where there are "preserved" dinosaur tracks. The little depressions in the ground are tracks of ancient lizards, if you believe in that kind of thing.. They were not quite as easy to recognize as I thought they would be. Still cool to think about.

Then began the long drive north. We entered Idaho, which isn't quite as scenic as their license plates suggest. At least not where we were driving. There were some really nice rolling hills though.

We kept on the road driving straight into Montana. I really like this road sign.

Once it was time to stop for the night we had a hard time finding campgrounds since Montana is filled with nothing. Eventually, after trying a few places, we found a place that gave us a place to set up for a reasonable fee. Damn KOAs.

Jun 5, 2010

It was a glorious morning as far as camping mornings go. I woke up and was actually able to get a shower to wash the past four days off of me and then for a nominal fee I was served a pancake breakfast by the proprietors of the campground. Not a bad deal. They were scrumptious.

We got back on the road and started the relatively short journey toward Yellowstone, entering Wyoming. They really play up the whole "Wild West" thing out here.

We entered Grand Teton (that means "large breast") National Park on our way. They are connected, which I was unaware of.

The Tetons were picturesquely amazing. We stopped at a picnic area that had a wonderful view of the snow-capped mountains and the lake.

We soon came upon Yellowstone National Park, where we were welcomed in for their "free weekend" (which is good for people who don't already have a NP pass) and then I promptly pulled into another picnic area to enjoy some frosted mini wheats.

We consulted our map and found our way to Old Faithful, which I'm pretty sure is more famous than Yellowstone itself.

Since the eruption of the geyser is fairly regular, hence the name, they had the next time up on the board, prompting a large crowd along the walkway surrounding it. People waited anxiously, cameras in hand with impatient eyes checking their watches every few minutes to make sure they hadn't missed it.

After a short wait the geyser began to bubble over and eventually it spewed water high into the air for a minute or so. I've gotten into the habit of putting my camera down after I get a few shots because I want to experience things for real and not just through my viewfinder. The eruption was pretty awesome though as I thought about all the thermal dynamics involved and the underground volcano that is the reason Yellowstone exists.

After the big show, everyone dispersed and we took the boardwalk trail that leads visitors to many more amazing sights. The bubbling, running water was all over and all different colors. It made some great patterns that looked like nothing I had ever seen elsewhere.

Some of the bubbling pots of water seemed like they belonged on another planet. This peculiar formation was created like other mounds that are even larger as the minerals in the bubbling water collect and grow over long periods of time. Nature is amazing.

Speaking of amazing, the Morning Glory Pool is just awesome. The rings of colors are actually microorganisms that live in the extreme temperatures of the pools. It's beautiful but ominous how deep the dark hole in the center goes.. though I realize it doesn't actually go down that far, it seems like any sort of creature from the Legend of Zelda could be living down there.

On the walk back I was intrigued and pretty frightened by the buffalo that were roaming across the walking path. A lot of fearless people were just a few feet away from them taking pictures. No, thanks. Not after reading about the visitors who were gored by them. This looks like I'm close, but that's what zoom is for, ladies and gentlement.

From a safe distance I enjoyed looking at the large herd (or whatever a pack of buffalo is called) with their babies. They're pretty spry for such large animals.

We got a campsite in the park and, for the first time on this trip, we started a fire. We had to gather and cut some wood first but a camping neighbor graciously offered us some of his wood. Firewood.

After the fire was roaring we put a pot of water on to boil with some rice. We took this chance to roast some marshmallows as well. I need to take my time and carefully toast mine. No burns.

Once the rice was finished, we mixed in corn and peas and stirred it up to form a tasty hot meal. It wasn't the best thing ever but it always tastes better when you cook it yourself over a fire. It was filling, for sure.

We finally secured the rain guard on the tent correctly and when it started raining for real we added an extra, ghetto layer of protection. Whatever works. We packed up the stuff and ducked into the tent pretty early. I should note that it was still light when it was after 9 though.

We spent some time playing cards while it rained outside and then I did some reading before bed. A nearby camper had brought his dog, which apparently only growls and doesn't bark. With all the bear warning signs around it was pretty creepy.

I don't know if it was the rain on the tent or the exhaustion from picking all the firewood but I felt no trouble getting to sleep.

Today's distance: 219.7 miles. Being from Jersey, you really have no idea how many miles of roads exist inside the borders of National Parks.

Jun 4, 2010

We drove through more of the forest in the morning after we broke down the campsite and then began to drive through winding mountains with steep grades. There was also snow everywhere.

To give myself and my brakes a rest, we stopped and made some breakfast. Peanut butter and jelly is a favorite on this trip.

The snow and mountain passes continued for quite a while until we hit our peak at almost 10,000 feet. Once we began to descend, which was harder on the car than the uphills, it didn't take long to get out of the snow.

Most of the rest of the day through Nevada consisted of flat, open roads. We drove by some lakes and went through some hills but for the most part it looked like this.

We got into Idaho at night and kept driving. Certain states seem much bigger when you're just trying to get through them.

We located a nice little campsite with a confusing late check-in policy but decided to set up our tent anyway. We were later assured by some other campers that we'd be fine.

I took advantage of the free wi-fi (at a campground!) and did some updating. Not enough, it turned out.

Total distance: 739 miles. Nevada is long.