Montana

We do Love it here... now that I have been to Colorado it would be a tough choice if I had to pick one place to move to... I am hoping to visit both a lot more and then possibly decide.. Durango was pretty awesome... but parts of Montana are wonderful too.

This morning we left Bozeman and headed towards Idaho... headed down I-90 the rest of the way home home. Headed towards St Regis, which is not too far from the Idaho border and a place we know we can make it home from on Sunday. Had done some searching online for camp grounds and they had one there that looked nice, Nugget RV Park. Thought it would be nice to get in a little early tonight and have a good night on the last night. A swim and a fire and some games. This was a nice camp ground... and cheap.

They had a smaller pool and it was outside so it was abit chilly.. but once you got swimming it was fun.. and again we had the place to ourselves... the showers were nice because they were their own little rooms. We had a small fire and got out the games... we played a few.. but the problem we have with camp grounds.. we are night people.. and everyone there had gone in their trailers and shut off all their lights by 9:30 hard to have too much fun when you have to be so quiet. Kids were tired anyway.. they were so tired of vacation by this time and just wanted to be home... so they went off to bed and Dave and I layed out and looked at the stars for a bit.. until I was asleep and cold.. then off to bed.

In the morning we packed up and headed out... homeward bound :) We decided that the kids were pretty much just going to be grumpy anyway.. so we were going to get some caching in. We had noticed the night before that there was a cache in a cemetery that was pretty close, Dearly Beloved .. had thought about walking to it in the dark.. but.. not knowing the area and of the 4 gps's we had going we could not get all of them to line up together... thought we would wait until the am. Good thing we did.. it was a bit further and across a river.. than we would have been able to walk to... and it was one of those caches that you look and look until you swear it must have been muggled.. then go back and there it is in plain site...lol

Grand Tetons and Yellow Stone

We woke up slow this morning... thinking this will be our last day of camping and sad to leave the campsite and the town. We are planning on just driving through the Tetons and Yellow Stone and not spending too much time. Hoping to see some animals but we have been here before and can come back again easily enough.

That is not how it happened... we did just drive through the Tetons.. and we will be back again... we only hit the top part of it and really would like to spend a bit more time there. We then started through Yellow Stone.. every intention when we started of just doing a quick drive through on the corner of it... and .. we ended up driving all the way around the outside circle.. and leaving in the complete dark. We were able to take some roads that we had not been on before and saw some places we look forward to going back to explore :)

We saw so many animals and it was a nice drive.. it was cool and a little damp... rained on us a bit.. thing is... that was awesome... so many people melt in the rain.. that it was like having the park to ourselves. The only place we really saw a bunch of people was at one spot.. where there also happened to be a few bears. Would have loved to have been able to pull over somewhere and spend some time getting some really good photos.. but.. with the motor home there was no way that was happening.

When we came out of Yellow Stone at the west enterance it was 10 pm and we were way past hungry and tired... thought we would stop at the MacDonalds and grab some quick, cheap and easy food...so was not happening... first off.. it took three of them to take our orders.. possibly one of them spoke some english... and then...when they got the order all correct.. they asked for 3 times what we have ever payed for the same order. I thought at first it was a language issue... nope! If you know us.. you know from looking at us that we are not strangers to MacDonalds...and with five kids the things I love about it is that it is ALWAYS the same.. and it is always cheap.. this is a kid friendly place.. not a five star restraunt. I looked at the lady like she had spouted a few extra heads... then my jaw dropped... I was not even sure what to say... I asked how much for the mcchicken ( it is like a dollar here) and she said $3.78 .... I ripped my debt card out of her hand so quick I thought for sure part of her hand was coming with me... no way was I supporting that. We headed back to the motor home.. after using the bathrooms and looking at the other people in there like they were nuts... and had some soup and crackers. Last time we went to the west enterance we were there for the most awesome doughnuts we had ever had... and we were so disspointed then too.. the shop had been taken over by someone who served up doughnuts or egg rolls.. both having been cooked in the same grease :( * yes I know some of this post is not very nice .. but... my problem is people who can speak english just fine when they want something.. and then can not speak it at all when something is expected of them...and as for egg rolls and doughnuts.. I love them both... but do not think they should be cooked in the same grease at the same time just to save a buck*

Anyway... sort of was a sour night... but we drove on to Bozeman and slept in a Walmart parking lot again. We love Walmarts.. you can just pull in and park and sleep... in the morning there is a bathroom and a MacDonalds with fair prices.. and anything else you could possibly need. I do have to mention.. this Walmart had more Rv's and people in cars sleeping... than any other I have ever seen. Very clean and friendly and gas right there on our way out :)

Wyoming

Woke up in Rawlins and had a look at the map.. called some places near the Tetons and YellowStone and decided to head towards Dubois and a KOA campground there. It was one of the only places that did not charge an arm and a leg to camp that had showers and laundry services... so we reserved a night and started on our way.

We made a geocache route and I used the lap top and new gps program ( gsak and street atlas) to find out what was coming up and get the information about them. It worked really well... we were able to get a few caches along the way that day. Most of them not that big of a deal but there was one called High on Rocks that was pretty awesome. Driving along all day and there is really nothing to see... just brown everywhere... mountains far off.. and then you see these huge piles of rocks. We pulled off to grab an easy cache and while we were there decided to check out the earthcache... it was not that difficult.. would have been easier if we had gone the right way the first time... we started off walking around the rock pile... we needed to climb up the rock pile... and I am so glad we did.. it was easy climbing.. and when we got the top the view was amazing... it just felt like we were on top of the world and the only people for thousands of miles. I really want to go back some day and spend a whole day exploring the rocks.

This is a pool we found while looking for the cache... it is on top of the rocks.. and I noticed when looking through photos today.. it is in the shape of a foot print... hmmmm

When we arrived at the camp ground it was only about 5pm... well some where in the last few hours my cell phone had deicided to jump into centeral time zone.. so I was an hour ahead of everyone for a couple of days.. but I think it was about 5 pm at the camp ground... driving into town ( Dubois ) we knew we would want an extra night there so when we were checking in we asked about another night and there was one open so we grabbed it. The camp ground was awesome... lots of space for each site... we were right on the river again.. and had lots of green soft grass in our spot. There is a game room with pool table and ping pong and some other stuff.. and a HUGE indoor swimming pool. As soon as camp was set up we headed for the pool... and we had it to ourselves... it was so much fun.

( would insert photo here but it turns out we had so much fun that we forgot to take any photos, please click *here* to learn about the great town and *here* to check out the campground)

The next morning the kids took off for town... camping right in town was really nice.... it is one of those towns that shut down early... no pizza after 8 pm... and... it is was quiet the whole time we were there. Dave and I headed out too... we had a couple of caches in town we wanted to look for.. and we had noticed a doughnut place on our way into town. First we stopped at Weltys general store... and we loved it.. wonderful selection of moose things for the house... and hats... we both tried on some hats... big mistake... we both love hats... but we did not buy any... decided to think about it for a bit. We then walked to one end of town and peeked in a few more windows. Went after a cache... in a park... but had no luck.. another cacher showed up... not a very friendly one... and he had no luck either.... reading through the logs this cache has not been maintained and keeps ending up missing. The other cache in town was by the same person so we decicided to skip it. We did find the doughnuts... a bit past where we thought so we ended up walking about 2 miles for them..including the walking around for the cache and checking out the town.... makes them guilt free.. which is good because they were not all that special.. good but not Awesome!

On our way out of town we did stop back in at Weltys and we did each buy a hat :) Mine is a straw cowgirl hat.. and I love it... Daves is a black felt, both are Stetsons. Next purchace will be boots to go with them.. I could wear the boots I have... but... any excuse for new boots is good.

Denver, Thrill Rides and Trains

Today we headed to Denver... Missy had found a thrill park she wanted to visit.. with lots of scary rides and a water park attached too. Elitch Gardens, right in the middle of down town Denver... we exited off of one freeway and did a big round the block thing where the kids jumped out and headed on their adventure (it is so nice they are big enough for that) and we got back on another freeway and headed out on our adventure.

picture from the ferris wheel

While they were doing thier thing we headed up into the hills to check out some more trains... it is a good thing we both love the same things :) The Georgetown Loop historic railway train. We drove up to Silver Plume and walked around the depot and the museum and took pictures of the train... the steam was not running that day and since the kids were not with us I did not feel comfortable getting on a 2 hour train ride in case something happened we would not be able to get to them. They may be big enough for some things.. but somethings they may never be big enough for :)


We then wanted to go just a little further... a few miles was all.. to go through the Eisenhower tunnel ... which is totally cool... but I should mention.. that once you make it through the tunnel... it is a bit of a drive straight down hill until you get to an exit... and then you have to turn around and go straight back up hill to get back. Going through the tunnel just to go through the tunnel is not a quick thing. It is cool that we went under the conitental divide... on this trip we have gone over it several times.

We then drove through Georgetown and stopped and got a burger down the road... headed to pick up the kids but the traffic was horrible... rush hour weekday traffic.. easy to forget about when on vacation... so we found a cool lookout and spent some time sitting in the motor home visiting and just enjoying having some time alone together. We did not even take advantage of the lookout to take photos... but it was a great view of all of Denver.

We picked up the kids and were on our way... I have to say that Denver was really pretty... the part of town we were in was very clean.. and the train tracks ran through it.. lots of train stuff.. and the sunset was like purple fire in the sky... very pretty. We drove to Rawlins Wy and spent the night in the flying J truck stop.

Huge Sand Dunes and Colorado Springs

If you look really hard you can see the people (no they are not ants) climbing the dunes.

Todays aventure is the Great Sand Dunes ... they are pretty amazing.. and huge... there was no way Missy and I were even going to try to tackle them.. it was already hot.. before we got to the sand.. and anyone who has been around sand knows.. it just sucks in the heat and cooks you with it. Now the guys... they could care less... they see those other people at the top who look like ants from here.. and off they go.. to tackle the pile of sand... did I mention you have to cross a few miles ( so it seems ) of desert to get to the hill... oh yes you do.. and the little creek that runs through it has dried up by this time of year... so off the guys go.. I am thinking they will not even make it across the miles and miles of desert to the bottom of the hill but I am armed with camera and ready to take pictures of their adventure... it is nice watching them have one together.. Missy is in the motor home painting her toe and finger nails..and I am running back and forth between the edge of the sand and the motor home for different lenses.. because.. I am sure just to prove me wrong.. the guys have made it across the desert and have started up the hill.. and they just keep going.. they made it at least 3/4 of the way up... then started back down... when they got back I could see why they headed back... the sand had melted their shoes... you could smell the rubber.. on Daves it clear melted the top and bottom layer apart and the strap fell out. I am proud of them.. and I took a million pictures so they can never forget the adventure. Dave and John are out there.. crossing the desert and starting up the hill.

Now we are back on the road to Colorado Springs... hoping if we make it in time we will be able to go to the Seven Falls and see the night show.. which is all lite up at night. The flyers about it look amazing... 224 stairs that you can climb right next to the falls... and/or an elevator... thinking I can ride up and then walk the stairs down... I can't wait.. sounds so great... and we get there in time... it is open until 10:30 and we get there at 8.... the drive up to it is through a canyon and it is all lite up... it is so cool.. hard to see in the motor home though.. we pay... get a dollor off each ticket because the elevator is closed... we park.. almost at the bottom... since we have the motor home.. and then we hike up to the base of the falls... there is crazy lightning and thunder.. so far no rain... so we are good to go. By the time we get to the bottom of the stairs... they have closed them... and won't be opening again tonight... and now the rain starts... and yes it POURS in this part of Colorado too. We did bitch about it and one lady gave us four comp passes to come back again.. and the people at the gate gave us a rain check.. had to be used within 14 days... as if we would be able to hop up here to see it next weekend.... we were NOT happy... and we had never been so soaking wet before in our lives... not even when going swimming. We did end up getting to watch another huge lightning storm.

Looking up the falls and the stairs.. sure I do not want to do this.

We got up early in the morning so we could go take the cogway train to Pikes Peak. We had coupons for the 8 am train... $5 off per person.. wooooohooo... drove through a small little town called Manito Springs, very artsy crafty and fun looking. We parked the motor home and got in line to buy tickets... well... it was full.. next one was at 2:45 so we bought tickets for that.. and headed out ... decided to use our rain check and go check out the falls..... all I can say is that those waterfalls were not impressive... and I can not believe we paid $10 a person to climb the 224 stairs.. oh and the elevator was still down.. which was ok with me because it did not even go to where the falls are... it just went to a place that you could see the falls from... we even went on a half mile hike at the top of the falls to see another falls.. it was blah too.... so I would not suggest this to anyone... unless you like to climb stairs.. that part was pretty amazing :)

We made it all the way up.. this is the landing half way up.. looking down on our way down.

Back to Manitou Springs .. going to walk around here a bit and then head back to Pikes Peak to catch the train. Every thing was going great.... and then... lightning... thunder.. and omg.. yes POURing rain...it was flooding the streets... bouncing off cars like super balls...and we were stuck in the stores ( thankfully they have awesome stores... we found ourselves stuck in a chocolate one.. oh so sad ) A break in the rain and we run for the motor home.. make it without getting too wet... find out we left the vent open and the center console was a bit wet.. including my phone.. but all is well... head up the street to park for the train and have some lunch... we got parked.. in the pouring rain... and I am making lunch and notice that across from is a jeep commander and the sun roof is open... the rain is pouring into the jeep....We feel so bad for them.. trying to think of something we can do but we have nothing to cover it with that would not make the problem worse :(

Headed up the mountain... that is the car in front of us.

We got on the cogway in the pouring down rain... once it started up the hill it started getting really nice... we rode all the way up with our windows down just getting as many photos as we could. At the top we were with limited time and in a cloud bank.. so no real views from the top... kids headed out to get some of the high altitude doughnuts and we headed out to grab a couple of caches :) Trying to do things in a hurry on our limited time and being at an altitude of 14,110 feet... lol the hurry part did not work so well... I was out of breath with just three steps. We did manage to get two caches and a bunch of photos. The doughnuts were ok but as far as I could tell.. nothing special. It was very cold up there... The only part of me that was having problems though was my fingers.. I had worn jeans and boots and my rain coat so I was good to go.. all but my fingers.. they were so cold I thought they would snap off.

John and Missy at the top of Pikes Peak.. getting a shot for a virtual cache.

When we got back to town it was nice out again.. so we headed to the walmart and camped there.. made some nachos for dinner and played games... Missy was not feeling so good so she hit the sack early.