Traveling with Amy & Steve

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2010-07-24T21:46:00.002-05:00

Steve and I made a safe trip to Colorado and back this July. We saw some beautiful country and it just made me realize what a beautiful country we live in. There is so much to see and do right here in the U.S. I can't wait to go back. I would love to spend an entire summer at Williams Lake someday. We are back home now and soaking up the good ole' southeast Oklahoma humid weather. When we get a chance to post more travels we will here. Keep in touch.

Ft. Sumner: Billy The Kid

2010-07-24T21:33:00.005-05:00

We visited Ft. Sumner, N.M., where Billy The Kid is buried. We visited the Billy The Kid Museum that has been established by the Sweet family. This museum is a labor of love. This family has sustained the museum for two generations. It not only has Billy The Kid artifacts but many items from yesteryear. It is an educational experience. We also visited the site of Ft. Sumner and Billy's grave. We wished we would've stayed in Ft. Sumner at the Sweet family's RV Park within a few blocks of the museum. They were such nice people and the park looked very clean and affordable.

Route 66 Museum

2010-07-24T21:28:00.003-05:00

On the way home we stopped at a vintage car museum on Route 66 in Santa Rosa, N.M. The owners were very nice people and so willing to share their collections. We should've stayed at the RV park at the museum - but we didn't. We stayed at another RV park in Santa Rosa... rude owners/managers. The next day we ventured south and found even more unique treasures...

Home Away From Home

2010-07-24T21:09:00.003-05:00

During our time in the Weminuche Wilderness and San Juan Mountains we stayed at the Sportsman's Supply and Campground. This is a great spot to stay with wonderful people. We made lots of friends and can't wait to go return to the area.

Catching Fish at Williams Lake

2010-07-24T20:45:00.003-05:00

Steve and I rented a boat from the Sportsman's and went fishing on Williams Lake. We had a great time and caught fish. I caught the most fish!!!!!! We mostly caught Kokanee Salmon and I caught the only brown trout. We also got to watch a mama duck protect her young by chasing off an eagle. I can't get over how relaxing and beautiful this area is - I can't wait to return

2010 Vacation Wildlife

2010-07-16T15:51:00.004-05:00

We haven't seen as much wildlife as we did on last year's vacation. Here are a few pictures of the animals we have seen.

Camels: Around Wichita Falls, TX (They also have giraffe - but I didn't see any). Notice the trees.

Mule Deer: Weminuche Wilderness

Chipmunks: Everywhere

Fishing in Colorado

2010-07-16T15:38:00.003-05:00

Pink fishing pole for Amy: $20.00

Colorado Fishing License: $30.00

Lake view: Priceless

Steve and I spent an afternoon fishing at Williams Lake. We weren't very successful but that didn't matter - it was a great day with great views.

Destination: Williams Lake Colorado

2010-07-16T15:16:00.006-05:00

Pictures of Williams Lake. It is a beautiful alpine lake nestled in a valley below the towering San Juan mountains.

Weminuche Wilderness 7/15

2010-07-16T14:50:00.005-05:00

Pictures of the streams, mountains and valleys that make up this beautiful area of Colorado. We both love the skies in this part of the country. They are breathtaking.

July 14, 2010 Sportsman's

2010-07-16T14:12:00.003-05:00

Here is our destination and home away from home. The Sportsman's supply and RV is 18 miles north of Pagosa and the only thing between civilization and wilderness. That said... I loved it. It was the perfect combination of laid back and convenience. Steve had cable - that is always a plus! I had all the amenities I wanted - including wifi!!!!

Pagosa Springs, CO 7/13/10

2010-07-16T14:02:00.005-05:00

We stayed at a really nice RV park in Pagosa before we headed north to the Weminuche Wilderness area. Here are pics of the park and we highly recommend the Wolf Creek RV Park to anyone. Nice view of the river from the clubhouse deck.

Tuesday, July 13 on the way to New Mexico/Colorado State Line

2010-07-13T22:52:00.003-05:00

Views from our lunch stop today. We were on our way to Pagosa Springs, Colorado. These pictures were taken between Tres Piedres and Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico. This was the pretty part of the trip. This was a beautiful and scenic route through Carson Ntl. Forest. The drive from Eagle Nest, through Angel Fire and on to Taos was also very pretty. However, the drive from Taos to Tres Piedres was not very attractive. Immediately after leaving Taos, N.M. we went through a very sparsely populated and not very pretty stretch of New Mexico. Get diesel before you leave Taos! We did drive over a gorge (I looked.) and we drove past a commune. I thought it was a group of people waiting on the "mother ship" to return but apparently it is a sustainable environmental resources community - who knew!

July 12, 2010 - Eagle Nest, N.M.

2010-07-13T22:38:00.004-05:00

We arrived in Eagle Nest New Mexico around 3:00 p.m. today. We had a beautiful drive up the Cimmarron Canyon and then you crest on a hill and see the Eagle Nest Lake before you. We had lunch on the banks of the beautiful river/creek flowing in the canyon. The bottom two pictures are of the area where we had lunch. The top two pictures are our view from our camper at Eagle Nest S.P. When we got to Eagle Nest we looked around for places to stay. They were all over-crowded and way to close together. We found a brand new state park that wasn't listed in any of the reference books or on the state reservation system. We were fortunate because we had the best views and had plenty of space around us. Pictures are from the Eagle Nest Lake State Park in New Mexico.

July 11, 2010

2010-07-13T22:27:00.004-05:00

Steve and I set off for another cool weather vacation. This year we will only be gone two weeks and will stay in the northern New Mexico and southern Colorado area. Our destination for our first night was Dalhart, TX. Which we achieved. We stayed at a great little one night stop called the Corral RV Park. All was well and we headed off the next morning for cooler weather and mountains. Pictures: The picture of the tree with the stakes is for Steve. Those are cattle prods and they use so many of them at the feed yards the RV Park gets them for stakes to surround their new trees. The other picture is of 'Ole Red and the trailer at the Dalhart RV Park. Nice cool weather and no feed yard smell!

Yellowstone: For The People

2009-06-27T23:45:00.000-05:00

Next on our tour of U.S. National Parks was Yellowstone. This was the first National Park and it was really created for the people to enjoy and it is a very ecologically diverse park. Personally, I think Yellowstone is going to erupt. That place is a hot bed of bubbling, gurgling, inter-earth stuff! Then you turn the bend and you have beautiful mountains with fresh water and wildlife. Very diverse. I can't imagine what the first explorers or native Americans thought when the smoldering bubbling ground came into view... or why they didn't run the other way.

Yellowstone symbols

2009-06-27T23:44:00.003-05:00

Steve and I took the Yellow Bus tour around the lower loop of Yellowstone. We also saw Old Faithful erupt a few times. I was very impressed by the huge lodgepole pine trees we picnicked under for lunch.

More Yellowstone pictures...

Not one but TWO Grizzlies

2009-06-27T23:40:00.000-05:00

The pictures speak for themselves...

More Yellowstone Pictures

2009-06-27T23:34:00.007-05:00

Love the Aspens in the elevation. Waterfall pictures are in the "Grand Canyon" of the Yellowstone.

Wildlife in Yellowstone

2009-06-27T23:30:00.000-05:00

These are two different bull elks -the close up is beautiful. The velvet on his antlers is so vivid. The big horn sheep was a nice find - I didn't think we would see one until Glacier NP. The three chipmunks peeping out of the hole were too cute to pass up. People get way excited about Bison in YNP - I don't know why. But I watched this one for several minutes while Steve and I were having lunch. The birds kept landing on it and eating insects off of it's back - it had been laying in the dirt. The buffalo got very irritated at the little birds and kept shaking them off and trying to get them. Very funny for the little guys to get the best of the big buffalo.

While in Yellowstone we saw Grizzlies; Big Horn Sheep; Mountain Goats; Elk - Bull, Cow, Calf; Bison; Eagles; Prairie Dog - Chipmunk things; and much more that I'm sure I forgot.

More Grand Tetons

2009-06-27T23:10:00.004-05:00

More pictures of the majestic Grand Tetons

Tetons

2009-06-27T23:02:00.005-05:00

The Teton National Park is gorgeous. This was probably one of my favorite places. One, because you are so close to the mountains (without driving on them) and two, there is a lot of wildlife. The only MOOSE we saw was at the Tetons. We actually saw more Glaciers in the Tetons than we did in Glacier - go figure. We also took a tour of Jackson Lake and got an up close view of the Grand Tetons.

Switchbacks, Grades and Vernal Utah

2009-06-27T22:52:00.005-05:00

Rand McNally is getting a very stern letter from me!!! Nowhere on the map does it show the 8-10 percent grade for 10 switchbacks. The road looked straight from Vernal, UT to Utah/Wyoming border. The truck, "old red," was not happy. The transmission performed but needed a little break. So, we didn't make as much time on that day but we did stay at a beautiful place on the Flaming Gorge.

Telluride - June 15

2009-06-15T16:41:00.003-05:00

Today's excursion was to Telluride. Much debate is given to whether this town got it's name from a mineral or from people saying, "To Hell You Ride" referring to the harsh winters and rugged terrain getting to the town. The scenery getting to Telluride was beautiful; escpecially Mount Sneffles. Telluride is surrounded by great mountains. On the way to town we saw... ELK. They were just content to graze. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

You-Ray

2009-06-15T01:24:00.003-05:00

Ouray is called the Swiss Alps of America because it is surrounded by 14,000 feet mountains. (Luckily you don't have to drive over them to get there.) I didn't get these pictures in the correct order but I will try and explain them. The pic of me in the blue rain gear is half-way up the Box Canyon hiking trail. There is a great view of the historic town of Ouray. The picture of the mountains is from on top of Box Canyon Falls and is a great view of the surrounding mountains. The close up picture of me is in front of the Box Canyon Falls - if you look to the left of me you can barely see them in the background. The sound of the falls crashing is the box canyon is so loud you can't have a conversation. Steve and I hiked to the top of the canyon and took a bridge across the river/falls. On the other side was an old cave that was used in the early years - the trail continues on the other side. Yes... I did go in the cave - it was wet and rainy outside. The last picture was actually taken on the way to Ouray - obviously very windy. Ouray was a great town but the people were even better. Everyone was very friendly and had time to talk to you. We also spent time in the Weisbaden Hot Springs and Vapor Cave - way cool. It's documented that Chief Ouray of the Ute Indians hung out in the underground hot springs and held sacred ceremonies. The spa/boutique hotel still today closes down when the Ute people want to hold sacred ceremonies. Very cool - we definitely want to return to Ouray.

Boat Tour - Black Canyon

2009-06-15T01:10:00.003-05:00

We decided to take a tour of the canyon from the river. The NPS offers a great narrative tour of Morrow Reservoir and Black Canyon. It was about a 1 1/2 hour tour and the views were amazing. The pictures are of ?? waterfall, Chipeta Needle and our view hiking into the canyon. Now, I am not a hiker, especially not in high elevation - but this was so worth it.

Painted Wall Black Canyon

2009-06-15T01:04:00.004-05:00

I thought the painted wall in the Black Canyon was amazing. It was formed by major changes in the earth thousands of years ago... and it is the tallest cliff in Colorado!

Black Canyon Pictures

2009-06-15T00:54:00.003-05:00

What do you see?

2009-06-15T00:48:00.002-05:00

Steve loved Black Canyon. There are several pictures of him peering over the edge into the canyon. The south rim offered great views of the rugged landscape, dramatic cliffs, deep chasm, and historical river.

Black Canyon

2009-06-15T00:46:00.004-05:00

Black Canyon changed from a National Monument to a National Park in 1999.

Monarch Pass

2009-06-15T00:32:00.002-05:00

Can you guess which camper is ours???? This was the view from Monarch Pass. It snowed on us!

Curacanti - Blue Mesa

2009-06-15T00:25:00.008-05:00

Sunset from our campsite at Blue Mesa Lake.

This is living! This was our campsite at the Curacanti National Recreation Area, outside of Gunnison, CO.

Twin Lakes - Leadville

2009-06-14T01:19:00.000-05:00

These pictures were taken on an excursion to Leadville, CO and Twin Lakes. Steve and I really liked the Twin Lakes area. The red school house was one that I took a picture in front of as a 9 year old kid. Like most things in Leadville... it's still there- just more worn.

Travels So Far

2009-06-12T22:49:00.005-05:00

First of all... I am so excited to be online an blogging. Second of all I blame the reason I haven't been online on good ole' BBISD and the IT person. But I'm here now and that is all that counts. Here is what has been happening on the Amy and Steve Summer Vacation 2009.

Saturday - June 6: Leave OK and make it to Dalhart, TX. We were exhausted of driving and ready to stop. The entire town smelled like a feed lot... Steve said that was the smellof money. Hmmm, not buying that. By the way saw the most unusual "wildlife" so far... Camels west of Wichita Falls. That was bizarre, but not as weird as the trees that didn't have any lower leaves. I'll let you know if I see anything better - hopefully so.

Sunday - June 7: Check in to our place in Salida, CO. Had the greatest drive from Hwy. 25 up to Westcliffe and on to Salida. Beautiful country with great views.

Monday - June 8 - Went to Leadville, CO and Twin Lakes. Beautiful country - Steve would camp (primitive) on Twin Lakes for the rest of the vacation. I however, am ready to charge on - there is more to see.

Tuesday - June 9 - Went to Buena Vista, CO and the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs. LOVED the hot springs. If you get a chance to go they are huge swimming pools that are heated at 92ish degrees and 102 degrees. They feel great with the 60 degree weather. I highly recommend it to anyone. And the views from the pools aren't bad either. By the way I singed my hair with the hair dryer this night - but that is for another time. I thought hair loss was part of high altitude sickness - oh no, it was burnt hair. Good thing the "cap" look really works in Colorado.

Wednesday June 10 - 11. Stayed at Curacanti National Recreation Area west of Gunnison, Co. Great place and primitive camping. Toured the Black Canyon NP and took a river cruise of the Black Canyon/Gunnison River. Awesome - great pictures. OOh, I saw a golden eagle. Still no bear sightings... or elk... or big horn sheep...

Friday, June 12 -moved to Montrose, CO - great campground and a relaxing evening. Tomorrow we go to Ouray and the hot springs there. Very excited.

So far I've only had to go over two passes: Raton, NM and Monarch, CO. I did great!! Steve will even agree. I've avoided Independence Pass, Tenessee Pass and I'm sure many others. Negotiations are still going on involving Red Mountain Pass...

Talk to you all soon. Love you lots.

Night Before Departure

2009-06-05T23:23:00.003-05:00

I hate feeling rushed all day long. You look at the list and you keep adding more tasks than you've marked off. That was my day but by 7:00 p.m. my car was loaded and I only had one last minute stop at Wal-Mart...

Today I couldn't find the camera's batteries or battery charger. (Wonder where the outlet is that I've left that plugged into.) And I couldn't find the little cord-dilly that connects the camera to the computer. It's around somewhere - I've only used it once. I was very calm when the wm employee told me I could go to my camera company's website and order another one because they didn't carry extras at the store. I pushed my luck a little further and eventually did find one at wm - of course it was in a 20-pack of electronic-connections-gizmos that I will probably never have a use for... and if I do, I won't be able to find them. So, I finally made it out of the store and was on my way again.

By 10:30 p.m. the travel trailer was loaded and ready to go for tomorrow's big pull. I have no idea where we will end up but I know the goal is to get on the other side of Amarillo. I'm ready to get past the not-very-exciting part of the vacation and to the scenery.

Wish us luck! It will probably be a day or two before I'm at a campground with wifi. So, I'll post as soon as I can and hopefully there will be pictures.

Getting Ready for Vacation

2009-06-04T12:39:00.000-05:00

This is my first post on a blog ever! I decided to create a blog for my summer vacation travels and I was inspired by two friends - Jennifer and Emilie. Now if I was really savy I could link their blog to this one... but that is for another day and more time. So thanks to Jen's blog (Journey to Myah) and my cousin, Emilie's blog for getting me out of the box. Also, a big thanks to Stacey for actually emailing me the link to set up the blog. Otherwise I would still just be talking about it.

Steve and I are heading out on a month long vacation... New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah (?), Montana and Canada. I wanted my friends and family to be able to keep up with us on this journey of two OSU Cowboys traveling experiences.

So, today I sit frantically in my office (which is really a classroom) trying to finish up everything so tomorrow can be devoted to all my errands. Of course all the fates and karma are working against me to get everything completed. I'm to the point I really can't wait to get out of this building and on the road to see mountains and rivers and lakes and more trees and Glaciers!!!!

For my first post I don't think this is super exciting but it got me off of the... "I should create a blog..." and on to the... "what will I write about next." So, I say that to say... check back - it will get better. I promise. Maybe by Monday or Tuesday I will have vacation pictures posted and exciting vacation adventures to tell.