9.26.2012
USA Road Trip Day 24
After a yummy breakfast at a local place, we drove around and got a tour of the area. Colorado is beautiful and we are having a great time with Ben! Spent the afternoon watching John Wayne movies and taking a nap. Then we had dinner in the town over, Salida, at a place called the Boathouse. Tomorrow morning we will be on our way home! There's no place like home...there's no place like home...there's no place like home...
WYOMING TO COLORADO
Departure: Rock Springs, WY
Arrival: Buena Vista, CO
Hours: 6 1/2
Miles: 375.4
Gallons: 10.7
We spent the day driving through Wyoming and Colorado and finally made it to Ben's place! It was so great to see our Cowboy! We went out for burgers and got a Redbox movie to watch together, since we just arrived and we are wiped out. Ben and Nick spent the entire night passing gas...I threatened to include it in the blog if they didn't stop, but they both said that they didn't care...so here it is.
Nick and I slept on a mattress on the floor. I think that the last time I was at a "sleepover" with Ben was when the Temples stayed at our house during hurricane Hugo...or actually it is when they came to visit us in Bolivia in 1999. Those were the years when I was bigger than Ben and Mark and I would get in trouble for picking on him and Mary Ashley! Time flies and we all grow up!!!
Arrival: Buena Vista, CO
Hours: 6 1/2
Miles: 375.4
Gallons: 10.7
We spent the day driving through Wyoming and Colorado and finally made it to Ben's place! It was so great to see our Cowboy! We went out for burgers and got a Redbox movie to watch together, since we just arrived and we are wiped out. Ben and Nick spent the entire night passing gas...I threatened to include it in the blog if they didn't stop, but they both said that they didn't care...so here it is.
Nick and I slept on a mattress on the floor. I think that the last time I was at a "sleepover" with Ben was when the Temples stayed at our house during hurricane Hugo...or actually it is when they came to visit us in Bolivia in 1999. Those were the years when I was bigger than Ben and Mark and I would get in trouble for picking on him and Mary Ashley! Time flies and we all grow up!!!
Can't wait to see what Colorado has in store for us!
9.25.2012
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK
USA Road Trip Day 22
Departure: Idaho Falls, ID
Arrival: Rock Springs, WY
Hours: 8
Miles: 435.7
Gallons: 18.6
We had a two hour drive to Yellowstone this morning from our hotel (I didn't want to camp with the Grizzlies), so we arrived at the park before 10am. On the way we passed the state line into Montana, so we were able to get a photo in front of Idaho also, on the other side of the road (since it was too dark to get the photo on the way into Idaho).
Somewhere along the way Montana turned into Wyoming, but we dont know where...
Yellowstone was a LOT bigger than the Grand Canyon park. The general store was enormous and there were several other stores and restaurants and park exhibits. And, as always, the Asians outnumbered the Americans! The park was beautiful! We entered through the west entrance and drove through only a forth of the park, stopping to see many of the small hot springs and geysers.
Isn't this the most beautiful shade of blue you've ever seen? It reminds me so much of the water in the Caribbean!
It was pretty cold outside, but the closer we got to the hot springs, the more the air warmed up. We even started sweating and couldn't understand how some people could stand to be decked out in winter clothes, including snow pants and coats! Look at Ironman...t-shirts, shorts and sandals, like a hot summer's day!
We went to see Old Faithful, but had just missed it shooting up the water. So, we went to have lunch and walk around and then came back an hour and a half later, just in time for the next appearance! It shot up about 200 feet in the air and all of the hundreds of tourists were going CrAzY with photos.
We didn't see any wildlife, except for some horses, but I am happy to not have made friends with a grizzly! We drove through more of the park and exited through the south entrance. So, now we are on our way to visit Ben Temple in Colorado!!! We drove 6 more hours towards Colorado and are staying in a hotel for the last time tonight. It seems that we have landed in Rednecksville...this place reminds us a little of Florence (sorry to our fellow Florence friends)!!!
Departure: Idaho Falls, ID
Arrival: Rock Springs, WY
Hours: 8
Miles: 435.7
Gallons: 18.6
Yellowstone was a LOT bigger than the Grand Canyon park. The general store was enormous and there were several other stores and restaurants and park exhibits. And, as always, the Asians outnumbered the Americans! The park was beautiful! We entered through the west entrance and drove through only a forth of the park, stopping to see many of the small hot springs and geysers.
Isn't this the most beautiful shade of blue you've ever seen? It reminds me so much of the water in the Caribbean!
It was pretty cold outside, but the closer we got to the hot springs, the more the air warmed up. We even started sweating and couldn't understand how some people could stand to be decked out in winter clothes, including snow pants and coats! Look at Ironman...t-shirts, shorts and sandals, like a hot summer's day!
We went to see Old Faithful, but had just missed it shooting up the water. So, we went to have lunch and walk around and then came back an hour and a half later, just in time for the next appearance! It shot up about 200 feet in the air and all of the hundreds of tourists were going CrAzY with photos.
We didn't see any wildlife, except for some horses, but I am happy to not have made friends with a grizzly! We drove through more of the park and exited through the south entrance. So, now we are on our way to visit Ben Temple in Colorado!!! We drove 6 more hours towards Colorado and are staying in a hotel for the last time tonight. It seems that we have landed in Rednecksville...this place reminds us a little of Florence (sorry to our fellow Florence friends)!!!
Have you been to Yellowstone or another National Park that you loved? Tell us about it in the comments below...we might just have to make another road trip!
9.23.2012
USA Road Trip Day 21
Departure: Caldwell, ID
Arrival: Idaho Falls, ID
Hours: 5
Miles: 323.1
Gallons: 10.7
Since hotels near Yellowstone are expensive and I am too terrified to camp with the grizzlies, we are staying in a hotel about 2 hours from the park. In the morning, we will wake up early and drive to spent the day in Yellowstone and then drive about 3 hours to stay in a hotel tomorrow night. I know, confusing...but, it seems to makes sense to us. Today was just a day of driving and, just like yesterday, Idaho seems to be as empty as Oregon. There was nothing to look at and we didn't cross a state line, so there are no additions to our photo collection. Everyone in the state of Idaho is so friendly and the customer service here is great! The hotel we are staying at tonight just had a free soup bar set up for dinner too!
Arrival: Idaho Falls, ID
Hours: 5
Miles: 323.1
Gallons: 10.7
Since hotels near Yellowstone are expensive and I am too terrified to camp with the grizzlies, we are staying in a hotel about 2 hours from the park. In the morning, we will wake up early and drive to spent the day in Yellowstone and then drive about 3 hours to stay in a hotel tomorrow night. I know, confusing...but, it seems to makes sense to us. Today was just a day of driving and, just like yesterday, Idaho seems to be as empty as Oregon. There was nothing to look at and we didn't cross a state line, so there are no additions to our photo collection. Everyone in the state of Idaho is so friendly and the customer service here is great! The hotel we are staying at tonight just had a free soup bar set up for dinner too!
USA Road Trip Day 20
Departure: Redwood National Forest
Arrival: Caldwell, ID
Hours: 13
Miles: 659.5
Gallons: 14.5
We left the Redwoods this morning and are on our way to Yellowstone! It will take us two days to get there, but we are finally on our way back to the east coast! We stopped for gas in Oregon and while Nick was pumping our gas, some lady came over and told Nick that Oregon prohibits pumping your own gas...Nick got in trouble! Not too much...just a reprimand! It reminds me of Bolivia, except the gas pumpers here have been guys instead of Bolivian girls in short skirts and high heels! It is unbelievable how many homeless people and hitch-hikers are around. If I was homeless I think I would go down south towards warmer states...it is way too cold up here to be living outside! Also, there have been hundreds of people riding their bikes, loaded down with camping gear. Apparently they are doing some type of cross country tour like us, but they are getting a lot more exercise! I think that I will stick to seeing the country by car. We made an unplanned stop to Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the US. It was beautiful and all of the edges looked steep, with warnings signs of falling. We then passed a volcano! We didn't even know that we would pass one. All of the air was brown and foggy and it smelled like sweet dirt. Other than that, the entire state seems to be empty...at least where we drove. There were barely any towns or any cars on the highway and the towns that we did pass were like ghost towns. We only saw two rest areas the entire day! Do you remember that game called the Oregon Trail? You could never win the game because all your people would die of thirst, starvation, disease, snake bite, etc. Now we know why no one survived...this is like a desert wasteland! Actually, near the coast was more thick forest, but that didn't last long and the closer we got to Idaho, the more scarce things got. The most "exciting" thing that happened today was our car started to overheat!!! Yikes! But, after much prayer and coolant refill stops we are still going strong! Please pray that we don't have any car trouble on the Today was the freakiest drive yet. Oregon was so deserted, we barely passed one car per thirty minutes. We were driving way out in the boonies with no lights anywhere, no homes, no cars, no people...it freaked me out and I am glad that we made it to Idaho and once again see civilization! I think that I repeated myself a lot in this blog post, but at least you get the picture...it was freaky, like X-Files freaky, like the rapture freaky...it left an impression...I have never driven on roads out in the middle of no where like today. There is no photo of us with the Idaho sign because it was too dark to take one.
Arrival: Caldwell, ID
Hours: 13
Miles: 659.5
Gallons: 14.5
We left the Redwoods this morning and are on our way to Yellowstone! It will take us two days to get there, but we are finally on our way back to the east coast! We stopped for gas in Oregon and while Nick was pumping our gas, some lady came over and told Nick that Oregon prohibits pumping your own gas...Nick got in trouble! Not too much...just a reprimand! It reminds me of Bolivia, except the gas pumpers here have been guys instead of Bolivian girls in short skirts and high heels! It is unbelievable how many homeless people and hitch-hikers are around. If I was homeless I think I would go down south towards warmer states...it is way too cold up here to be living outside! Also, there have been hundreds of people riding their bikes, loaded down with camping gear. Apparently they are doing some type of cross country tour like us, but they are getting a lot more exercise! I think that I will stick to seeing the country by car. We made an unplanned stop to Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the US. It was beautiful and all of the edges looked steep, with warnings signs of falling. We then passed a volcano! We didn't even know that we would pass one. All of the air was brown and foggy and it smelled like sweet dirt. Other than that, the entire state seems to be empty...at least where we drove. There were barely any towns or any cars on the highway and the towns that we did pass were like ghost towns. We only saw two rest areas the entire day! Do you remember that game called the Oregon Trail? You could never win the game because all your people would die of thirst, starvation, disease, snake bite, etc. Now we know why no one survived...this is like a desert wasteland! Actually, near the coast was more thick forest, but that didn't last long and the closer we got to Idaho, the more scarce things got. The most "exciting" thing that happened today was our car started to overheat!!! Yikes! But, after much prayer and coolant refill stops we are still going strong! Please pray that we don't have any car trouble on the Today was the freakiest drive yet. Oregon was so deserted, we barely passed one car per thirty minutes. We were driving way out in the boonies with no lights anywhere, no homes, no cars, no people...it freaked me out and I am glad that we made it to Idaho and once again see civilization! I think that I repeated myself a lot in this blog post, but at least you get the picture...it was freaky, like X-Files freaky, like the rapture freaky...it left an impression...I have never driven on roads out in the middle of no where like today. There is no photo of us with the Idaho sign because it was too dark to take one.
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