Julie and Rick's 2011 Travel Adventures: Traversing the Western states

The beautiful world of lower Antelope Canyon

Hiking in Arches National Park

The cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde

Descending into Lower Antelope Canyon

Sunset from our camping spot

Great niece Lisa and kids in Boulder

Sylvan Lake at Custer State Park

After spending hours typing and inputting pictures into this blog, I lost everything as I was adding in more pictures. I don't know where it all went, but after we unsuccessfully checked, I decided to complete an abbreviated form. So, here are lots of pictures with captions and the locations where we have been. These capture some the wonderful places we have been, and gives a taste of what we have done. All have made this trip worthwhile and further impressed us with our National Park System. All the roads, trails, maps and activities have been created to make these beautiful places accessible to people from all around the world. Since our last blog, we have been to Yellowstone, Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park, Thermopolis State Park, and Wind Cave National Park (one of the longest cave systems in the world), Rocky Mtn. National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, Arches National Park, and the Grand Canyon. We also spent time in the Boulder-Denver area with both family and friends. We did some high altitude hiking, golfing, shared meals, contra danced and had many good times. We toured the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory and went to a number of hot springs. We traveled through Eastern Washington, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Colorado, Southern Utah, Arizona, Nevada and are now in California. We will be heading home to Ashland for two days, then leaving for the east coast to see the fall colors and my mother-in law. We have camped most nights and had some short stays with friends and family. We have been immersed with nature and loved every minute of it. We have seen tons of wildlife on this trip, including bison crossing the river in Yellowstone, moose, elk, coyote(hearing them howl and night which I love), pronghorn antelope, prairie dogs sunning themselves, bighorn sheep, whitetail deer, fox and manyl raptors and birds. We met up with our good friends Peter and Yvonne in Colorado, to camp and hike together. We have seen fall colors that would blow your mind, while wearing shorts and t-shirts. We woke up to snow outside Bryce Canyon National Park, which propelled us southward. An incredible highlight for me was hiking through lower Antelope Canyon and seeing the Horseshoe Bend. We have also discovered other slot canyons that we hope to hike in the future.

Praire dogs

Riding bikes downtown Boulder with Lisa, David and family

Roads that seem to go on forever

Our van in the middle of this picture in the Wyoming expanse

Again, we keep realizing that these trips are not so much to see places as to connect with nature and the people we encounter. We have had amazing interactions and seem to be in just the right place at the right time. We have seen pink highways in areas where the dirt is so red it bleeds through the aspalt and big blue skies that seem to go on forever. Fall colors of cottonwoods and aspens that seemed to glow, even after it was dark. Climbing up and down ladders at Mesa Verde to be stand in the cliff dwellings of the Anasazi people. The hot mineral springs we visited bathed our bodies with minerals and made us feel elated and ready for more hiking. We hiked up to 13,000 ft and saw long expanses of country. We have again realized that everything we have in the van and our backpacks is all we really need. We did bring some clothes; shoes, socks, underwear, some food and a couple of folding chairs and a cribbage board. We have read some great books and listened to books on CD in the car to get us through the long stretches of desert and plains The territory we have driven through has entertained us with rock formations that look like castles in the sky, arches that are hard to comprehend, rock needles stretching high into the sky, as well as the red rocks of southern Utah and Arizona, the prairies, deserts, mountains, tundra, and much more. Travelling through some towns so small and remote one wonders why anyone would live there and trying to imagine what it would be like if you did. We have met up with friends who a were diagnosed with cancer and now are naturally finding the power and strength in themselves to trust and heal themselves. We are reminded of the precious gift of life and how it can be taken away from us at any moment in time. How to enjoy each day and go where our instincts lead us. We have flowed from one place to another, sometimes not knowing where we will stop for the night. We are grateful for a car that has carried us over 6,000 miles in the last two months. Everyday, we are aware that just going to one of these places could be a whole year's vacation for some and they would feel like they had an amazing trip. Seeing so much has made us appreciate the pioneers, and the people who had the forethought to protect and preserve parts of this country. We can admire the people who live in the middle of nowhere, without hospitals or stores nearby for miles and miles. We have been less in touch with the daily news, but what we are seeing around the world with people protesting against corporations is refreshing. There has been a part of us that has been saddened by our country being given over to machines and robotic humans who do not think or seem to have lost all sense of love and beauty. Many people have become so out of touch with nature and living simply enough to enjoy the sunrises and the sunsets, or to feel the sun or the wind on their faces. We have come to assume that food comes from a grocery store and that somehow it will always be there. People have forgotten that without the bees we wouldn't have fruits and vegetables and luscious

Pink highways for miles and miles

berries. I will always be grateful for this time in my life when I could feel like an explorer, a pioneer, a farmer, a ranger and adventurer. I am lucky to have all my senses intact to feel and experience nature and all she has to offer. I hope that you can also be in nature, even in your own backyard, without a cell phone or other electronic device, and just listen and experience the wonder of all of God's creatures; the plants, the trees and even the rocks. To imagine all that they have been through to form this moment, how man and nature can work together to preserve and care for the space around us, and to see all that is given to us.