Monthly Review June

 

Monthly Review June

Places visited:

• Great Sand Dunes National Park Alamosa, CO
• Highlight, Sand sledding down the dunes & hiking in the creek to Zapata Falls
• Lowlight, not much here besides the dunes
• Daily clouds rolled in every afternoon looking like rain was coming but it never amounted to much rain.
• Arroyo Seco, NM
• Highlight, first seeing Margie & Art, second staring at the night sky and spotting falling stars.
• Lowlight, the tour of the Earthship Biotecture was lacking, needed a tour of a house not just the office.
• We visited Taos, a local artist community and saw some history as well as art galleries and a candy shop.
• Trolley Turner Harvest Host Pueblo, CO
• Highlight, a 2-hour demonstration on wood turning with hands on use of a lathe.
• Lowlight, another trailer there ran his generator, which was a little loud.    
• Boris and Jorgette were gracious hosts even invited us to share a campfire with them in the courtyard of their house.
• Rocky Mountain National Park Estes Park, CO
• Highlight, Seeing Jim & Kate was marvelous!  Then the Trail Ridge Road is quite spectacular, it is so easy to be up at the mountaintops and well worth it.
• Lowlight, it is a popular place, but we managed to go into the park before 9 am and got parking spaces, lots of folks on the trails but not overcrowded.
• This is a large park and features are miles apart, but it is worth the journey, each area is wonderful.
•   Sleeping Bear Park Lander, WY
• Highlight, nice one room bathroom with shower    
• Lowlight, not a lot of space off the pad.
• This was just an overnight stop.
• Grand Teton National Park 
• Highlight, Thursday’s hike up Jenny Lake to Hidden Falls, Inspiration Point, Cascade Canyon then a boat ride back.  Drove up Signal Mountain then had a cocktail outside Signal Lodge chatting with exec prod of Deadly Illusions (on Netflix)
• Lowlight campground water & dump in one location line up and wait your turn. Very limited cell service at the campground.  Random service in other park areas.
•  We stayed on the south side of the park but eventually drove to each area of the park further north, each area was beautiful. 
• Wind River RV Park Riverton, WY
• Highlight, the trip here was very scenic.
• Lowlight, nothing to do here just rested for the night.
•  Just an overnight stop, pleasant enough. 
• Yellowstone National Park Cody, WY
• Highlight the Upper and Lower Falls are grand, and you get multiple views of them from far away to right above their mighty flow.
• Lowlight, we stayed in Cody so days were long we would leave at 7:30 am and return around 7:00 pm.  We put 770 miles on the truck while we were here.
• A trip to the Cody Rodeo was a lot of fun, the rodeo clown and announcer made it a fun family event. 
• Osen’s RV Park Livingston, MT
• Highlight, nice campground surrounded by trees, good size sites, friendly staff.
• Lowlight, wonderful mountains blocked by the tall surrounding trees.
• We went to Sacagawea Park to have lunch and read by the Yellowstone River.
• Dick’s RV Park Livingston, MT
• Highlight, Giant Spring State Park, a park only the Missouri River with 5 dams at separate waterfalls and a giant clear spring.
• Lowlight, our overnight RV place is big and less than spectacular but we do have air conditioning which helps in the 95 degree temperature.
• Happy to have a place to rest on our journey.  

Our overall favorite place was Rocky Mountain National Park.  Our campsite was close to an entrance gate so the ticketed entry was not much of an issue.  All the hikes were great especially the one to Emerald Lake, sitting at the lake chatting with other hikers and watching 3 hikers up in the snow across the lake was a true adventure.  

Our favorite trail was the hike in the near frozen creek to see Zapata Falls just outside of Great Sand Dunes.  It was memorable and challenging due to the fast-moving water and its cold temperature.  The falls were full force and a joy to see and as a bonus the mini frozen glacier just next to it emphasize just how cold it all was.

My favorite day in June was the hike along Jenny Lake then to Hidden Falls then onto Inspiration Point and into Cascade Canyon where we saw a moose, to return we took a boat ride across Jenny Lake.  The day continued with a ride up Signal Mountain with great views of Jackson Lake and finished with a cocktail outside Signal Mountain Lodge with fellow hikers and a view of the lake.

Jim’s favorite day was our visit to the Trolley Turner, he and Boris got along well, we turned a mallet and Jim purchased a new bottle opener made by Boris.  The day also included lunch at Cracker Barrel and who doesn't love Cracker Barrel?

Jim’s favorite picture is of a card game at the Grand Teton Visitor Center (some times our sense of humors do not quite meld).

My favorite picture is of us in Cascade Canyon; it shows the Tetons, the trees and the trail as well as the smiles on our faces.  My favorite nature picture is of Grotto Geyser. Years ago before numerous eruptions it looked like a grotto, now it looks like a melting marshmallow man.