Prairie Dog (aka Bear Bait) Stands in 4 States at One Time

Prairie Dog standing in 4 States
Four Corners is a tourist attraction that is in the Navajo Nation which claims to be where the corners of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona meet. There is a floor plaque where you can stand in all four states at one time. Beware: There is a $3 per person fee to enter this very undeveloped fenced in area (kids under 12 are free) where there is the 4 Corners floor plaque and a bunch of primative wooden structures where some Native Americans sell trinkets for tourists along with some food and drink. I am glad we went though because the picture we took is priceless!!

Monument Valley and Taylor River Canyon, Colorado

We left the Grand Canyon and did the scenic drive through Monument Valley where numerous western movies have filmed on location there. Monument Valley resides in the Navajo Nation in Arizona and the winding road through this valley was spectacular to see. We are presently camping in Taylor River Canyon for three nights near Gunnison, Colorado. There is fly fishing in the Taylor River which is a short walk from our campsite and a nice coffee shop named The Bean which has free Wifi! Can you guess where we decided to have lunch today? This is a very nice and relaxing spot here in Colorado where there is lots of outdoor things to do or absolutely nothing to do but enjoy the scenary.

Navajo Twins, Monument Valley

Monument Valley Vista

Link to the Monument Valley Gallery Photos

Grand Canyon: North and South Rim

View of Grand Canyon from the North Rim

We explored the North Rim of the Grand Canyon which has a higher elevation than the South Rim before driving 4-5 hours around the Grand Canyon to reach the South Rim. We are presently camping in the Grand Canyon Village camping grounds which makes exploring the Grand Canyon's vistas easy to get to. We will spend 4 nights here. Today we drove south to Flagstaff, Arizona to get supplies from Wally World and we are enjoying a Starbucks coffee and using their Wifi. We got video and pictures of the sunset yesterday at the South Rim. The Grand Canyon is so big the pictures do not do it justice. The magnitude is so large, it sometimes doesn't look real when you are standing there looking at it! Click here for the : Grand Canyon Photo Gallery

Zion National Park - Utah

Here we are at the entrance of Zion National Park. It was a clear and sunny day that day. Monty got some great photos!

Southern Utah - Canyon Mecca!!

We have made our way down to Zion National Park and this will finish our tour of southern Utah; home of a variety of national parks, forests and canyons famous for their diversity of geological rock formations and scenic vistas. We started with the Arches National Park and headed southwest winding down through Glen Canyon, the Canyonlands National Park, Capital Reef National Park, Dixie National Forest and then through the Red Canyon into Bryce National Park and Zion National Park. We have spent a wonderful week here in Utah. Tomorrow we head down to Arizona towards the north rim of the Grand Canyon! Below are some photos with a link to see all the photos posted as of now. We have Wifi at this campsite so Monty will be uploading more pictures through this evening!

Rainbow Point in Bryce Canyon

Herd of Prong Horn Deer in Dixie National Forest

Prong Horn Deer with twins!

Humming Bird at Campsite

Kodachrome Basin

Rainbow Point in Bryce Canyon

Link to the Photo Gallories: All Photo Gallories

Our Off Road Campsite, Red Canyon and Bryce Canyon

Our last camping experience was off road camping. Here is a picture of where we set up our camp in Lockhart Basin! It is literally in the middle of nowhere! Click on the link to see the rest of the pictures for Lockhart Basin. (Lockhart Basin Pictures)

Off Road Campsite in Lockhart Basin

On our way to Bryce Canyon National Park we went through Red Canyon... it was beautiful!

Red Canyon Stone Tunnel

Formations in Red Canyon

Changes in scenary in Bryce Canyon

Glen Canyon and Capital Reef Park

Here are some of the wonderful scenaries we saw on our way to Bryce Canyon via Glen Canyon and the the Captial Reef Park. We are presently camped just outside of Bryce Canyon National Park and we have WIFI but surprisingly no phone service! We are off to a very slow start today but we have two more days to explore the park!

Indian Creek - Off Road Camping

We camped two nights off road near Indian Creek in the canyonlands of Utah. It was great to explore and see the fantastic views out in the middle of no where. The trucks 4 wheel drive came in very handy. The Tear Drop trailer was equally fine on the rough roads. This morning we traveled via a scenic byway through Glen Canyon which was breath taking! We hope the pictures do it justice. We are presently in the Bryce Canyon area and our cell phones have service and we have Internet access now. Monty is uploading his pictures and we will post them soon! Tomorrow we are off to explore Bryce National Park.

Arches National Park

Here are some of the great pictures Monty got yesterday at Arches National Park!

The Organ

Delicate Arch

Elephant Butt!

Balanced Rock

To see the rest of the awsome photos from Arches, click on this link! (Arches Photos)

Today we will finish the Arches National Park by doing the last hike called the Devils Garden!

3 Morning Rules to Live by on a 7 week Road Trip

Rule 1:

If you are cranky in the morning, wait till the mood passess before talking.

Rule 2:

If you are cheery in the morning, wait till the mood passess before talking.

Rule 3:

No talking until you have drank at least one cup of coffee and have used the restroom.

Loma, Colorado - Interesting Street Names

We are presently in the canyon lands of Utah home of the Arches National Park and the Canyonlands National Park. On our way south from Wyoming we crossed into Colorado and drove through a small town named Loma. It had the most strange street names! M 1/4 Road, L 7/10 Road. Imagine the fun a math teacher could have with those street names! I surfed the net to try to find out the reasons behind such unique street names but was not able to find any explainations. Click on this link to Google Maps and see the street names for yourself! Loma, Colorado Map

Flaming Gorge Scenic Drive

Tomorrow, we will be driving the Flaming Gorge Scenic drive on our way to the Arches National Park in Utah. We are still in Wyoming this evening and surprisingly got an Internet connection here at the campsite. The terrain has changed from rugged mountain views to high desert plains as we travel southward. For the moment, there is no rain! It has been replaced with winds of 40 mph and temperatures are still 40F in the evening. It is still an improvement over the last week's weather!

Tear Drop Set Up Kept Us Dry - Bear Bait's New Coat

Canopy's kept us dry, Tear Drop kept us very warm, propane stove enables us to have bisquits with breakfast and coffee in the mornings. Electric hook up powers our laptops/gadgets and charges our batteries. Home away from home!

Tori (aka Bear Bait) was shivering with her sweater on so we bought her a fleece coat with faux fur leg and neck cuffs! She doesn't look happy in the picture but she is warm!

Oldies On The Road and Bear Bait (aka Tori)

Yellowstone National Park Pictures

Yellowstone Geysers

Old Faithful Geyser

Yellowstone Bison

Yellowstone Big Horn Sheep

Yellowstone Elk

Monty is still uploading his pictures through tonight. Click on the link to see the photos that are already uploaded: Yellowstone Pictures

Grand Teton Mountains - Jackson Hole, Wyoming - Day 12

Yellowstone Park was fantastic! The variety of wildlife you get to observe living in the park can not be easily matched by another location. The vistas were also just as breathtaking and the exploration of the park requires a few days minimum. However, shorter visits enable visitors to see the highlights of the park with some planning. Monty got some fantastic shots and we hope to get them up in this blog and smugmug over the next 2 days while we have access to the Internet. Some of the wildlife that Monty and I got to see were: coyote, big horn sheep, bison, elk, white tail deer, bald eagle, prong horn deer, mother moose with her calve, and ospry! Add to that the natural wonders like the Old Faithful geyser and numerous other geysers, rapid moving rivers and Yellowstone Lake. It truly is a park that everyone should visit at least once!

We left Yellowston this morning and traveled a short way to the Grand Teton Mountains. We are presently staying in another KOA campsite south of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Jackson Hole is quite a developed tourist town which has visiters year round for skiing, white water rafting, camping, and visiting Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.

The only unfortunate event is it is still RAINING! We get periods of sunshine but thunderstorms always follow and this afternoon, we actually got hail!

Rain, Rain Go Away - Wet and cold in Montana - Day 9

Rain and then more rain. We looked ahead to see what the weather will be like in Yellowstone Park and yes, rain! Click on the link for a webcam that shows what we are experiencing here in Montana and Yellowstone for the next few days! Weather WEB CAM

Monty is uploading his pictures! Click on the link: Monty's Pictures

We leave today and head down to Yellowstone Park which is only about an hour south of Red Lodge Montana!

PIctures of the BIG things, Wildlife and Scenary in South Dakota

"Needles" on Needles Highway

Custard State Park , South Dakota

Bison in Custard State Park

South Dakota

Crazy Horse Memorial in progress of being sculpted.

http://www.crazyhorsememorial.org/ has a picture of what the

completed sculpture will look like. South Dakota

Mount Rushmore South Dakota

Wild Mustang Colt

http://www.wildmustangs.com/ South Dakota

http://www.cornpalace.org/ South Dakota

http://www.walldrug.com/ South Dakota

Albert the Bull Picture - More to come soon!

Albert the Bull is the first "BIG" thing we will see on this trip. Other BIG things we have seen already are more well known like Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Wall Drug Store, The Corn Palace. I will try to get photos of these up today while we have the Internet!

Red Lodge, Montana -- Day 8

We arrived at our campsite at Red Lodge KOA late in the evening. We decided to take some scenic routes on our way to see Mount Rushmore which were worth the added time to our travels that day. We got to drive through stone tunnels carved out from the mountains and see herds of bison, wild burros and mules, and white tail deer on the Needles Highway and the wild life loop in Custer State Park. We hope the pictures and video come out!

Mount Rushmore was as it is depicted on all the tourist brochures. We didn't spend that much time there. Monty took a few camera shots and I some short video and we were on our way.

The drive across part of Montana was long, but the wide open fields with not much on them but cows and deer was very isolated. The temperatures in Red Lodge took a dive last night and we have changed from wearing shorts to our long pants and sweatshirts. We hope that the wind dies down by the afternoon. We will use the next two days to relax, get laundry done, charge up the batteries and enjoy the free WiFi! I am acquiring a new respect for these simple KOA camping facilities that have all the basic needs covered. We will try to get more pictures up!