Rocky Mountain and Lake Grandby

Colorado Adventure, Day 2

Friday, September 11, 2015

After our night in Cheyenne, we headed South for Colorado - but not before grabbing our first letterbox in Wyoming! As we drove through the plains, the sky was overcast and it was difficult to see where the Rocky Mountains began. But as soon as we exited I-25 and drove through Loveland, the skies cleared and the views were phenomenal. Both of us had been to Rocky Mountain National Park before with our families, but we were still blown away by the views - everything from the vast canyon walls on the drive in, to the high mountain peaks, and the valleys with the hidden blue lakes.

Our plans for the day simply involved driving through the whole park and then finding a place to camp on the West end. We would have loved to spend lots of time in the park and do some hiking, but the rules for dogs made that impossible for this trip. We understand why there are rules though - to protect the wildlife - and we are okay with that. It's probably for the better anyway, considering that Charlotte was terrified of the bear statue in the visitor's center parking lot. We're talking hair on end, tail between her legs, growling, and refusing to take a single step toward it. You may think "can't you just pull a 30 pound dog toward it to teach her?" No. No I can't. She's a tank. She's the heaviest 30 pound dog ever. You don't ever want to have her run into you. Ouch.

And so, being the loving parents we are, we decided to just drive through and enjoy the scenic pull outs rather than dropping our child off at puppy day care. As much as an inconvenience it can be, we still enjoyed traveling with Charlotte, and seeing how she takes in the views and experiences while on the road. And how could we keep her from great places like this?! Even without a hike, it's safe to say Charlotte thoroughly enjoyed her first time in a national park. :)

With all that said, enjoy our pictures from RMNP, while driving West on highway 34!

We stopped at lots of rest areas, and let Charlotte walk around the parking lots and paved sidewalks. When we didn't let her out, she'd give me looks like this.

Charlotte decided the front row in the Jeep offered better views.

After driving through the park, we stopped at a visitor's center in Grand Lake to get the scoop on dog friendly camping in the area. We chose the campground furthest out, next to Lake Grandby, with some dog-friendly hiking nearby. It was 10 miles off of highway 34 on a dirt road, but the fall colors all around the peaceful lake made the drive worth it. We also enjoyed seeing the dams along the drive. After staking our claim on a campsite, we drove back to Grand Lake for some letterboxing and hiking.

How to keep Charlotte happy on road trips: windows down, sun on her face, ears blowing in the wind!

There are so many good reasons to visit Colorado in the early fall; our favorite thing throughout this whole trip was the golden aspens. Wherever we went, they were there, and they were always our favorite part. Other good reasons are less people, (still lots of people, but less than you'd find in the summer!) and gorgeous weather for hiking. One downside was that some campsites along the way were already closed for the season. It may have been a little chilly some nights, but if I can survive sleeping outside without a sleeping bag on those nights, I'm pretty sure anyone can.

We grabbed several boxes in Grand Lake, then walked around town searching for a local place for dinner. Our only requirement for restaurants was a place with outdoor seating so Charlotte could be with us, but we couldn't find anything that fit the bill there. We gave up and headed South to Grandby to continue the search. There, we found a pizza place called Lina's Pizza and got the biggest Stromboli EVER which the 3 of us happily enjoyed back at the campsite. :)

Curtis set up the tent while I followed Charlotte's nose all over the campground, letting her sniff to her heart's nose's content.

So, our first attempt at camping with a dog kind of turned out to be a fail...Charlotte absolutely refused to get in the tent. She would have none of that nonsense. We ended up cracking the windows in the Jeep and letting her sleep in there. Hey, it was 50 degrees and quickly dropping, so at least heat wouldn't be a problem... 

The cold, however. Yikes. Not sure how I survived that. ;)

2 Days in Iowa / And We're Off!

We made it home on Monday afternoon, September 7. Curtis and Charlotte were reunited, and we were finally together as a family of 3 again! 

We had 2 full days of being in Iowa before we planned to hit the road again. In those 2 days, we really just focused on spending time with our families, because we know it won't always be so easy to get away and come for a visit!

We spent one whole day with Curtis' family, helping prepare the house to sell and saying goodbye to Curtis' childhood home. The next day we spent with my family - my grandparents came for a quick visit, and we met with our dear friends and mentors, Ken and Marsha. Besides all this, we worked on consolidating and packing what "few" things we had brought with us and preparing for our trip.

We left on Thursday morning, September 10. Here we are, trying to get some last pictures, but the puppies would have none of it. ;)

And off we went! The first day was our longest drive - 12 hours to Cheyenne, WY. It probably could have been shorter, but we decided to take highway 30 through Iowa and all the way to Grand Island, NE, for the sake of new roads! No matter how you go about it though, Nebraska is a big state, and it will always take forever to drive across it!

Happy to be traveling together again! Charlotte quickly decided that the front row was the place to be. It didn't matter that she had all the space she could want in the back, because we had my mom's fresh, homemade cookies in the front...

We stopped around Ogden, IA for a letterbox, and were not disappointed - the carve was fantastic! Charlotte also enjoyed wandering freely down the quiet gravel road.

I think it's impossible for us to drive through Nebraska without a severe thunderstorm going on. I won't complain, at least the clouds gave us something interesting to look at. ;)

We enjoyed watching the sun set just before we made it to Wyoming. Usually, when we do our Iowa to Arizona/Arizona to Iowa drive, our goal is to get it over with as fast as possible - which typically means either drive straight through, or maybe pull over to get a couple hours of rest before continuing on. However, we had some extra time for this trip, so we decided to take advantage of it and take our time getting back. 

Last May, we set a record time of driving straight to Iowa in 27 hours, stopping only for gas and letterboxes. This time, we now have a record for the longest time to make the journey: 10 days. 10 wonderfully peaceful, relaxing, adventurous days making our way across Colorado and the gorgeous Rocky Mountains.

The only reservations we made were for the first night in Cheyenne. After that, we wanted the trip to be as flexible as possible, just doing whatever we felt like each day and going between camping or hotels every night. We hadn't ever done a trip like this, so we tried to keep an open mind. Of course we also had Charlotte with us, which limited what we could do wherever we went. But between advice from friends, letterboxes, and Pinterest finds, we thought we could find enough to do to take up a week. It was a new adventure, and we were more than ready!

But first, a good night's sleep in a hotel. They gave us a room with 2 beds. Charlotte approved.

Family Vacation, Day 4

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Devil's Tower and Spearfish Canyon

For our 3rd full day of vacationing, we decided to take a little road trip to visit Devil's Tower National Monument. It's a 2 hour drive from where we were staying - in Hill City, SD - but we had heard from multiple people that it was worth the drive and we didn't want to miss it! And so we headed a little West for another adventure!

We had only been in Wyoming once, very briefly while driving on I-80 before heading South to Rocky Mountain National Park. I couldn't believe how beautiful this state is from I-90! From the rolling hills covered in pines to the red rocks popping out, contrasting against the yellow grass, I couldn't take my eyes off the beauty of this land. It sure makes the drive interesting after having driven 10 hours past nothing but cornfields and grasslands. ;)

Some red rocks peaking through the hills!

I was shocked when I first saw Devil's Tower - I knew it was a tall prominent feature, I just had no idea how much taller it would be compared to its surroundings!! Standing on a hill at 5,112 feet, it's pretty hard to miss while driving on this highway. Because of the haze brought on by the Canadian wildfires, the tower had an eerie, mysterious look from afar.

But just because you can see it from driving past doesn't mean you shouldn't stop! We decided to take the mile long loop trail that circles the tower. Once again, the parking lot, visitor's center, and initial lookout happened to be the busiest parts of the park, and we were able to enjoy the tower from all sides without the crowds. (Though I'm not sure if being around other tourists is something my family is as bothered by as I am...I just like enjoying God's creation in peace!) :)

Close up of my sign for today - always thinking of my husband. :)

Looking out over the Wyoming countryside.

My lovely parents!

Sister sister!

We enjoyed watching some itty bitty climbers slowly making their way up the tower. Some of us expressed interest in trying this someday, but others (me) prefer to stick with hiking around them. ;)

On our way out, we stopped to say hi to some very friendly prairie dogs! They were so adorable...yet signs warned us of them having fleas carrying the plague, so it wasn't too tempting to try to take one home as a souvenir for Charlotte. ;)

They were rather fond of dad!

Goodbye, Devil's Tower!

After spending an hour or two here, we headed back to South Dakota, via a different highway than the one we came. All for the sake of being able to highlight new roads on the atlas! Sorry Curtis! (And yes, I'll get my own Atlas, and keep ours strictly for us.) ;)

Thank goodness we left the state, I wasn't able to get my Welcome-to-SD picture last time!

Missing him, and would rather be kissing my husband under these falls!

When we got to Spearfish, we exited the interstate and took the long, scenic way back, through Spearfish Canyon. We were thrilled by the tall, towering canyon walls that made us feel so small. It reminded me just a bit of the feeling I got in Zion National Park...I just love looking up at those sheer canyon walls. And to top it all off, we were able to see multiple waterfalls as we drove along!

Bridal Veil Falls, right off of Spearfish Canyon highway!

For our last hike of the day, we walked on the 1 mile trail to Roughlock Falls. We figured out at the end that you can actually drive to the end just to see the falls, but who wants to miss hiking in this gorgeous canyon? (on a completely flat and very easy trail, I might add!) While lots of people were gathered at the falls, the trail was quiet and we soaked in the scenery of this magnificent canyon.

We also ran into a great big Newfoundland dog. This may have been Sarah's highlight of the hike. ;) The Trail took us along the creek that comes from the falls, and offers great views of the canyon walls lined with pines opposite us.

Roughlock Falls!

The end was gorgeous, and we enjoyed viewing the Roughlock falls from all around. This area (along with the rest of the Midwest, I think!) has gotten plenty of rain this year, and while other days we may have been suffering due to the mosquitos that come because of that, today we were thoroughly enjoying it because it made the falls so great to see!

After our little hike, we made our way back to Hill City, where we had dinner in our cabin, then went for a walk in "downtown" Hill City that ended with ice cream. A wonderful end to the perfect vacation day!

Day 4 wrap up: drove 250 miles, hiked 3 miles, saw Devil's Tower National Monument and Spearfish Canyon.