Greetings from WY

Greetings, all!


 I apologize that its taken us a while to update the blog. The places (re: campgrounds and rest stops) we've been staying at don't have wifi. Right now we're in Casper, Wyoming! But before I tell you about Casper, let me backtrack and catch you all up on the happenings of the past few days.

The three of us before we took off

We left Plano, TX on Thursday the 19th sometime in the afternoon. Our only goal for that day was to get out of Texas. We had decided a few weeks before that we wanted to go North to get out of the heat. So we drove all day and into the night, and finally, just before 2AM, we arrived on the very Northwestern tip of New Mexico. We pulled over at a rest stop and were positively giddy when we got out of the car—it was chilly! The air was so crisp and clean and when we looked up the sky was so clear we could see the Milky Way. We slept for a few hours in our car seats and then were on the road the next morning before 7:30.

Olive soaks in the lovely sunrise before departing

Friday was filled with even more driving. We made it to Colorado before noon and by 4 o' clock or so, we were heading to Estes Park, a breathtaking city Northwest of Denver. Estes Park connects to Rocky Mountain National Park, our first camping destination. At the entrance gate to RMNP, the Ranger told us that 4 of the 5 campsites were filled up and that Timber Creek, the only remaining campground with vacancies, was 35 miles up the road. The drive we took to our campground was probably the most beautiful drive I've ever been on. We drove through mountains that still had snow on their peeks and were covered with thick evergreens. We climbed as high as 12,000 feet and stopped on a mountain peek from which we could see Wyoming.

Beginning our accent through the mountains 

The view from one of the scenic overlooks

One of the dozens of adorable chipmunks scampering around

That's snow up there!

 We were slightly disappointed by the campground when we arrived—it was a large clearing and all of the campsites were very close together. Later I was grateful for the close quarters when a ranger told us that we needed to report to her immediately if we saw any bears and that we should expect to see Elk wandering through the campsites and that we shouldn't try to approach them. We did end up seeing quite a few Elk, but thankfully no bears. The best part of seeing the Elk was Olive's reaction to them. She was noticeably curious. She sat and stared at them and gave a slight wag of the tail when they moved closer. 

The first elk sighting at our campsite

Olive contemplates the elk

 That evening we made dinner in a hurry. We could hear thunder in the distance and knew that a storm was rolling in. We made it in our tent just before the rain started. It was extremely cold that night—Jef guesses it was 50 degrees or less. None of us got much sleep that night—especially Olive, who seemed genuinely spooked by the movement of the tent walls in the wind. We tried to comfort her but it didn't seem to help much.  (Thankfully, she seems to have gotten used to the tent now)

Jef on I on the only short walk we were able to take Olive on while on the mountain.  A park ranger told us that there are lots of moose around and that they can't tell the difference between dogs and wolves, so if they see a dog they'll attack. Yikes!

A man and his dog.  Getting one last look before we headed down from the mountain.

 The next afternoon we got really excited about traveling again so we decided to head up to Wyoming, since it was so close.  We slept at a rest stop again that night , but this time we took everything out of the back of the suburban and wrapped it in a tarp next to the car so that we could lay down in the back. I actually slept better that night than I had any of the previous nights, perhaps because I was so exhausted.  
  
We set out bright and early the next morning and went to see the Oregon Trail ruts.  This  was an area of soft sandstone that thousands of wagons traveled over --the wagons had made a trail, a rut, about 3 feet deep in the rock. We also visited Register Hill, which was an area a couple of miles over where the pioneers had carved their names and the year (and sometimes messages to future travelers) into the sandstone.  Visitors often scratch their own names into the rock and even those were neat to look at--there were names from the 50s through today. 

The ruts created by thousands of wagons.   Climbing over this rocky terrain was safer and quicker than attempting to ford the nearby Platte River.

Jef rode Olive down the ruts --and look at how happy  she was to accommodate!

John Baugher 1789--the oldest name on the wall. According to the plaque,  scientific testing has proved it to be authentic

P. Tak 1861

The next two nights we camped at Glendo State Park.  There's not much to tell about these days because we just stayed at the campsite all day and did work taking pictures of clothing.

We did encounter some friendly cows on our way to the campsite 

Anywho, now we're in Casper, which is a gorgeous town.  The Southeastern part of Wyoming was desert like--very vast and brown with mountains in the far distance.  Now that we're moving West, the land is getting more colorful and lush.  Casper is similar to Boulder or Denver in that you can constantly see mountains in the distance and there are tons of tall fir trees--but you can also look to the East and see the flatlands, its kind of cool. We'll probably sleep at a rest stop tonight and then we're thinking of staying at a "fancy" campground that has wifi and showers.   Our next major destination is Yellowstone, but we want to get a good amount  of work done before we go there.

Anywho, sorry for the perhaps overly-detailed update.  I know ya'll have been wanting to hear from us, and I've been wanting to tell people about our adventure! I will try to update you all again as soon as I'm able.

Oh yes, and one other thing.  There were some skeptics (I won't name any names) who thought I was perhaps too prissy to handle a rugged excursion like this.  To them I say, "Ha!"  Just because there aren't showers at the campgrounds doesn't mean I'm not keeping clean!  Behold, the glory of the bucket o' water shower. 

Keeping clean in the country

 --A little aside:  I've contemplated the idea of doing a series of YouTube videos devoted to beauty tips and tricks when you're roughing it.  If I ever do make the videos, I shall call myself Canyon Diva...  

YEEHAW!