Job Hunting

We did laundry this morning and then headed north to check out some workamping job possibilities for next summer. Of the six parks we stopped at, three looked like they would be nice to work at. We'll be following up with at least two of them in the next few days. John also was encouraged by the local Safeway store manager to contact her when we return next summer. Sounds like they are usually looking for bakery help...

On the way home through Ridgway, we saw this old railroad truck. The museum looks interesting - maybe we'll be in the area next summer and can go see it!

Eric & Kari had picked up some steaks for dinner which we enjoyed after Kari returned from her job interview. She got the job and will be working Sundays. It is nice to have adult time once-in-awhile when you have a little one! Oh, yeah - just thought I'd mention that I had the highest total score for the three Yahtzee games we played tonight...

Tour Day in Ouray

This morning John, Eric & Kari toured the Bachelor-Syracuse Mine just outside of town, while Jacob & I had fun together. They said the mine tour was pretty interesting.

In the afternoon, John wanted a nap, so the rest of us went to see the local museum. It's in the old hospital and was very nice. I was amazed at the sheer number of artifacts from this area.

Afterwards, we stopped by the courthouse which is on the historical walking tour. I was quite impressed with the courtroom which still has the original 1888 chairs for spectators. And, it's still in use one day each week by the District Court Judge!

We all enjoyed dinner together and then spent some time outside around the firepit making smores with the downstairs neighbor, Kay, and her son, Zach. Wonderful neighbors - too bad they're moving across town soon, but I'm sure they'll become good friends for Eric & Kari.

Million Dollar Highway, Silverton & Animas Forks

Well, we got to drive the infamous Million Dollar Highway today. It's really gorgeous...if you're not driving! The driver better not be taking his/her eyes off the road 'cause this one's pretty hairy! We stopped at an overlook just south of Ouray and this is the bird's eye view of the town. Can you see why they call it the "Switzerland of America"?
This is a view of the highway from the pull-off near the Yankee Girl Mine - one of the richest concentrations of silver ore in the U.S.
When we arrived in Silverton, we left our car and hopped in with Eric & Kari (after moving the dogs to the back). Then we headed for Animas Forks, an old ghost mining town. We can hardly believe that this "road" actually appears in our road atlas, although it is marked as "Unpaved - check conditions locally". They aren't kidding - this is 4-wheel drive territory and is mostly one-lane with frequent small pull-outs. I found it more relaxing to focus on baby Jacob's smiles rather than looking at the narrow, rocky road winding along the mountainside. Eric & Kari are much braver than we are!

That said, the ghost town and surrounding scenery was awesome! It was chilly & windy when we arrived so we ate our picnic lunch inside the manager's house. Here's John checking out the views from there.
A couple of the houses had a "bathroom"! It was an attached outhouse. What do you think, Mom & Dad - would you have liked that up at the lodge????
Here's a view of the manager's house from the outside.

When we got back to Silverton, we stopped for ice cream at the hotel, did a little window-shopping and headed back home for tacos, movie and play time with the baby. Great day - thanks, Eric & Kari!

Colorado, here we come!

Up and out of Wal-mart by 8:00 a.m. For the first time on this trip, we had a little headwind but it was only through the first canyon on Utah Hwy. 6. Throughout the 23-mile deer "area" we saw 0 deer. Not much wildlife on this trip yet... Hwy. 6 winds through the gorgeous Price Canyon area and we did notice some signs of fall colors.

After passing through the communities of Price and Wellington, the country opens up again. It was so easy to eliminate the roads and fences in our minds and picture, instead, a group of Indians on their ponies picking their way through the sagebrush, while a wagon train was creeping along in the distance with a tell-tale plume of dust.

...finally some wildlife! John spotted several elk laying down near a rest area where we had stopped to switch drivers. We crossed into Colorado just after noon and stopped for a picnic lunch in the sunshine at the Colorado Welcome Center in Fruitas. At Grand Junction, we headed south on Highway 50 and then Hwy. 550 from Montrose on to Ouray. As we got closer to Ridgeway, this was our view. It was a little disconcerting to realize that we would be driving the RV in those mountains ahead! They sure are beautiful, though, and I read that the San Juans are the newest of the entire Rocky Mountain chain.

We pulled into Ouray a little after 4 and, shortly after getting set up at an RV park just a block from Eric & Kari's, they showed up with baby Jacob! So good to see all three of them again! And, Jacob seems so much more grown up than when we last saw them in Hawaii in May! After dinner we took a walk through town. This is a view of main street Ouray.
This is an historic livery stable that is currently housing a horse-drawn carriage company. Very cool town! It reminds us a bit of Girdwood, AK and the mountains surrounding it are really gorgeous!
Good travel day, but it'll be fun to stay around here, spend lots of time with the kids and grandson, and explore the area!

Idaho to Utah

Beautiful weather today! We left Boise around 9 a.m. and cruised across the wide-open expanses of southern Idaho. We remembered seeing more animals when we were in this area two years ago with the car, but this time all we saw were huge herds of dairy cows. We crossed the border into Utah at 2:15 p.m. and stopped for fuel at the Flying J in Ogden. Unfortunately that put us creeping through Salt Lake City at the beginning of their rush hour. Pretty slow going sometimes - especially where two on-ramps of two lanes each in about 50 yards merging onto a three-lane freeway with no metering stop lights...

We were hoping to get as far as Price, UT tonight, but a phone call from Eric reminding us of a high deer crossing area before that, plus the SLC delays, helped convince us to stop earlier. At 6:30 we checked out the Cracker Barrel parking lot near Springville, but it didn't look very large-rig friendly so we went across the freeway to the Wal-mart. We picked up chicken, shrimp and salads inside for dinner in the rig.

Just before retiring at 9:00 p.m. we took a little walk to scout out coffee possibilities in the morning and then picked up some trash and put some carts away in the Wal-mart parking lot. Just our way of saying thanks for letting us stay for free! This was our sunset view from our first "stay" at a Wal-mart. Not bad, huh?

Exploring Idaho

We took a break from our traveling today and did a little road trip in the car. What a beautiful area! We headed north out of Boise on Hwy. 55, also known as the Payette River National Scenic Byway. The byway is 111 miles long and follows the Payette River which is calm in several places but mostly pretty serious whitewater.

We made one stop at a mercantile on the way (other than pull-outs). On the right side of the store were guns, knives, military gear, etc. I think I can safely assume that these people were not Democrats if the signs, posters, and hat logos were any indication! On the left side were many beautiful Amish quilts for sale with proceeds going to assist handicapped kids. Interesting combination...

We pulled into McCall early in the afternoon and stopped by the Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center where a nice lady gave us several ideas for a place to eat our picnic lunch. We ended up at Legacy Park on the shores of Payette Lake. Lovely park to enjoy on a gorgeous day!

Later we wandered through some of the shops. After I enjoyed some ice cream at the marina, we headed out of town and over to Hwy. 95 which we took back south. This highway wasn't quite as scenic but still interesting. The first part was a pretty winding road through the national forest. Then the scenery opened up as we entered the farming valleys.

We didn't get home till about 6:30, enjoyed some left-overs for dinner and then soaked in the hot tub for a few minutes before showering and calling it a day! Tomorrow we'll hit the road again. We're looking forward to seeing Eric, Kari and baby Jacob again!

Labor Day weekend fun!

On the road again!!!!!

We left Everett Friday morning and headed east on I-90. The Snowqualmie Pass area is beautiful and fortunately we missed the worst traffic - not bad at all!

One of our first excursions with our friends Curt & Diane after we arrived was the Country Mercantile just north of Tri-Cities on Hwy. 395. If any of you travelers reading this blog go through this area, be sure and stop! They have wonderful local fruits and vegetables and the most amazing assortment of jams, sauces, dressings, salsas, candies, etc., etc. that you'll likely find anywhere! And, as an added bonus, their parking lot is very RV friendly.

On Saturday afternoon, we headed for the local county fair. If my memory is not too faulty, I think this is a little osprey.

The kids' tractor pull was a big hit and our little friend, Jesse, did an awesome job!

On our way home we stopped at one of the local wineries - aren't these grapes beautiful?

The rest of the weekend was spent shopping, watching movies and just hanging out. Thanks for everything, Curt & Diane!