Day 81 (8-20-12 - Spent the day exploring Zion NP)

Mother Nature changed our mind about hiking The Narrows today.  There were floods in the area yesterday evening, we had rain off and on last night, and the forecast for today was a flood watch by noon.   We decided  this might not be a good day to be hiking in the bottom of a slot canyon.


We went to St. George, Utah so I could get my monthly weigh in with Weight Watchers.  I love being a loser!  The receptionist at WW had hiked The Narrows from the top down.  She confirmed that we had made a wise decision not to hike at the bottom of the canyon with the weather forecast. 

While we waited for our truck tires to get rotated, we ate breakfast at IHOP.  Lauren told me that I probably gained the two pounds that I lost last month after seeing me eat so much.  He is probably right.  Hopefully, we will hike The Narrows tomorrow to burn off some of these calories.

We decided to see the parts of Zion National Park that we have never visited.  We took a 20 mile ride north on I 15 to Kolob Canyon Drive. It was a very pretty 5 mile drive.

We went to Virgin, Utah and drove 20 miles on the Kolob Terrace Drive.  Another pretty ride.  We went in and out of Zion National Park numerous times.  We had pretty red roads, (that are the trademark of Zion NP), cattle guards, rough paved roads,  and rough gravel roads.  The Kolob Reservoir was very pretty.  We thought we would ride the road around the reservoir.  After many bumps and mudholes, we turned around.  Lauren was having a ball and I could tell he was wanting to put the truck in 4 wheel drive.  He turned around when he found out that the road was flooded in two different places. The elevation changed the temperature from 94 to 70 degrees.

When we got back, Fernie had had enough of being an indoors cat.  She insisted that she was coming outside.  She enjoyed the little bit of grass  in our campsite and is quite a bird watcher..   

We had some more of that Alaska Halibut again tonight.  Dang!! that fish is GOOD.

Pictures    https://goo.gl/photos/rjkSh8n5muj5aacbA

Day 80 (8-19-12 - Resting Up at Hurricane, Utah)

Looks like my 1997 Firebird Covertible

We had a laze around kind of day.  We rode about a half mile from the campground to Quail Creek State Park.  There were plenty of people enjoying the day boating and swimming on the beautiful blue lake surronded by red rock hills.

We drove to Zion National Park Visitor's Center to get information on the hike to The Narrows. We walked the Riverside Walk last year but did not go into The Narrows. We plan to  continue at the end of the Riverside Walk, wade through water, and hike in the gorgeous canyon tomorrow. 

Unfortunately, Zion National Park has a thunderstorm sitting over it right now and this  causes flooding in the canyon.  Hopefully, the flooding will clear by morning and we will be able to hike in the narrows.

Our Camp Yard Art

Pictures   https://goo.gl/photos/9Fu9JsoKGRe87Hby8

Day79 (8-18-12 - Hurricane, Utah)

Too Hot

We traveled 335 miles south on I 15 to Hurricane, Utah.  It took about an hour and 15 minutes to get through Salt Lake City and it's suburbs.  It was a good thing it was a weekend on the busy 4-5 lane interstate.

After getting out of the Salt Lake City area, the scenery got a lot better.  Lauren drove for 7 hours to St. George RV Resort.  We saw our first triple digit temperatures this year.

This is the first time in a long time that we stayed a campground with a swimming pool and a hot tub.  I don't think we will want the hot tub, but the swimming pool has already been put to good use. 

We plan to stay in this area for 3 days and visit Zion National Parks, one of our favorite national parks.

Let's go back to Alaska

Pictures https://goo.gl/photos/YzFkxmXj73tF9FS26

Day 78 (8-17-12 - Brigham City, Utah)

1 last glimpse of Yellowstone

It took us an hour and 20 minutes to travel 48 miles this morning to West Yellowstone.  There was one car after another heading into Yellowstone NP at 10 a.m. this morning.  I can't imagine how busy it will be this weekend.

We had a really nice drive today traveling through 4 states: Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Utah. 

We are at Brigham City, Utah after traveling 309 miles.  We are staying at Golden Spike RV Park.  We have all the amenities of home except a big yard.  We will only be here one night, so it is not a problem.

We plan to travel toward Zion National Park tomorrow.

Smoky Mts

Pics  https://goo.gl/photos/qKHDnVmcForKvxkq8

Day 77 (8-16-12 - Another day of Tourism at Yellowstone)

There was nothing hot about Mammoth Hot Springs last night.  We all huddled together to stay warm.  Fernie got under the covers and layed on Lauren trying to stay warm.

The sun was shining and it warmed up quickly.  We had a beautiful day with the temperatures in the 70's.  We are going to miss this wonderful weather when we head further South starting tomorrow.

We enjoyed our walk at the Norris Geyser Basin.  We stopped at Gibbon River and had lunch.

We went to Old Faithful three years ago and decided that we wanted to go back.  There was so much traffic today, that we never found a parking spot.  We decided we had already been there and done that and left.  We are spoiled and easily tire around a bunch of tourist.

We took a ride through Firehole Canyon.  It was beautiful, but again there was too much traffic and people for us.

We enjoyed the views of Gibbon Falls on the way back to camp. 

After we got back, we hiked to the Gardiner River across from the campground.  The trail was strenously up the hill and harzardous down the slippery rocky trail.  We are relieved that we  made it to the river and back without injury.

We have enjoyed our 2nd visit to Yellowstone.  The views, the geysers, the waterfalls, and the wildlife are what makes this place special to us.

The fitbit count for today is 5 miles and 49 flights of stairs.

We grilled sausage on the fire pit tonight.  This will probably be our last campfire this summer.

We hear the Lawn Fairy has struck again.  Thanks again, Lawn Fairy!!

Pictures   https://goo.gl/photos/Xd8cxMoJSBjwtaL97

Day 76 (8-15-12 - Another Day at Yellowstone)

We woke up to the sound of elk this morning.  We looked outside and a herd of elk were walking around at our campsite.  It was a good thing they came by and woke us up at 8:00 a.m.

We cooked a nice breakfast and went to Mammoth Hot Springs and walked on the boardwalk around the springs. Walking on the board walk over the hot springs on this cool morning was nice.

We took a ride to the  Northeast Entrance of Yellowstone NP to Cooke City.  We saw herds of buffalo in Lamar Valley.  They were everywhere. We stopped several times to wait for buffalo to get out of the road.

We ate a picnic lunch at Soda Butte Creek on the way back to Mammoth Hot Springs.  We stopped at Wraith Falls and Undine Falls.  Undine Falls was much more impressive than Wraith Falls.  

The weather was nice today with the temperatures in the 70's.  It was a gorgeous day to see the pretty sights of Yellowstone, then the temperatures dropped.

We came back and waited for the wind to die down before we built a fire.  It finally died down, but was still blowing cold wind when we built a fire.  We cooked potatoes and steaks on the fire pit.  it was so cold that we pulled out our heavy, rain proof, wind proof, hooded jackets.

Tonight, Lauren finally told me how glad he is that he has his heavy jacket.  When we were packing to leave on this trip in May, I insisted that we bring our windproof, waterpoof, camouflage jackets. Lauren assured me that they would not be needed.

By the way, we were cold with the campfire and the jackets.  We were glad when the food was done and we could go inside.

When we were in Alaska, we wore these jackets almost every day.  Every time we turned around, a man was holllering, "I can't see you. "  It went right over my head. After a few times of hearing this, I asked Lauren, "Why is he always hollering this at us?"  Lauren explained that it was because we were in camouflage.  I think he needs to get a life.

We have traveled every entrance of Yellowstone NP and love each and every one.  We consider our time in Yellowstone NP as being on a different planet.

Pictures  https://goo.gl/photos/v6qg6YadDR6VrRFP6

Day 75 (8-14-12 - Yellowstone National Park)

We traveled 60 miles to Yellowstone National Park.  Yellowstone NP is one of our favorite places.  We had a nice, pretty ride into Mammoth Hot Springs Campground.


We rode the motorcycle through here three years ago. We loved the area and wanted to come back. This is the first time this trip that we really miss our motorcycle.

It is a gorgeous day, but a little warmer than we are used to.  The wind is howling.  The howling wind, we are used to.

We took a short ride looking around today.  We took several walks in and around the campground. We have spent most of the day relaxing.  We have been traveling pretty hard for the last two days and it is time to take a break.

We are watching herds of elk from our campsite.  On one of our walks in the campground today, we had to go a different route so we would not cross between a momma and baby elk.  We, (or rather me),  did not want to upset momma.


We built a fire and cooked pork chops and Olathe Sweet Corn.  Our nice neighbors in Seattle gave us a couple of ears of OlatheSweet  Corn as we were leaving Seattle.  We ate this corn for the first time last year in New Mexico.  This is our favorite corn.

After stepping on Ferny's paw and making her holler and me jump.  I had to bribe her with her favorite treat to get her to come out from under the couch.  She had her comfort food and came outside while we cooked.  She was as carefree as a cat could be. I hope she don't get fat from all this comfort food. I need to be more careful.

We are without hookups and are utilizing the battery power to have lights. Guess it is time to call it a night.

Pics:  https://goo.gl/photos/ee84AXXmyp6hAwhQ7