Travels: 34 miles driving around (3557 total miles)
Accommodations: Continued at Jellystone RV Park
We met our friends Sean and Carlie (from back home) at their house this morning and headed off to a yummy breakfast at a golf course in Castle Pines. After a yummy and filling meal (yeah for good food out!) we headed off to a farmer’s market in Aurora getting the tour of the area on the way. Farmer’s Market there was much different than Ventura – much less produce and more “extras”- clothes, soap, salsa, bread, tamales, etc. Then, back to Sean and Carlie’s house for playtime for the kids, nap time for Marin, grocery shopping for the moms, and yard work for the dads. (Sounds like “normal” life, huh?)
Later, we prepared some sandwiches, veggies, and cherries and headed off to Daniel’s Park for a picnic with an amazing view. We rounded out the evening with a beer on their deck while the kids continued to have fun playing.
On our drive back to camp we watched a great lightening show over the mountains. When we parked we could hear the thunder after the diesel had quieted down. So fun to see thunder and lightening! We headed off to the bathrooms and upon exiting we were greeted with POURING rain which drenched us as we ran back to the trailer. Lightening flashed all around us and the thunder BOOMED, and the rain drenched with HUGE rain drops. It was fun! And then about as quickly as the rain came, it left.
Note: Sunset picture used without permission from Carlie. This is the view from their deck just after we left.
After getting “hooked up” at the site we headed into town. Dave worked at Starbucks, and the kids and I walked through Estes Park stores, along the river, played at a cute playground, and just explored the busy little town. Crazy how many people are on vacation in the middle of the week!
We pulled down the dusty road with rain sprinkling our truck and headed towards the Utah/Wyoming border. It rained off an on all day as we drove through Wyoming’s vast and open planes. There was snow against the snow barriers along much of the road and in patches, rivers, cows, few towns, and few cars. As we approached Cheyenne things became strikingly beautiful. I can’t even put into words the picture that lay before us: dark clouds with the sun shining through from underneath, the Wyoming planes sprawling towards the snow covered Rockies in the distance. It was breathtaking!
We pulled into Walmart in Loveland CO around 9:30pm and hear from the back seat the never to be mistaken sound of projectile vomit coming from our sweet two-year old followed by the squeal of our six-eyear old as the puke landed on her and everywhere else in the truck. Marin had been telling us for the past hour that her tummy hurt. She turned out to be fine – who knows too much food, too much car, too much altitude? An hour or so later, we had the puke covered car and carseat cleaned up, the kids in clean pjs tucked into bed, and ourselves situated for the evening.
We all slept in a bit today – nice to catch up on some missing sleep! Then, off to the house for breakfast- eggs, bacon, homemade brown bread, fruit, and coffee. Dave went to work again at a neighbor’s house this time. The kids played inside and outside. Mackenzie learned how to crochet from Oma and Omie – pretty neat. She crocheted some cute bracelets. We again had a “coffee break” of torta and coffee. Then, an early dinner of chicken, potatoes, gravy, green beans, carrots… It was quite tasty. And the kids slurped down bowls of cooked fruit from Oma’s 2009 garden.
We arrived at my Oma and Opa’s house around 5:30pm. Greeted by excited grandparents and, upon opening the door of the trailer, the biggest mess you can imagine. The fridge door must not have been closed all the way (by me). A bottle of Elderberry juice broke and spilled, mixing with a broken bottle of apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, some sourdough bread starter, and over a 1/2 gallon of raw milk (I think I shed a tear). And over the course of our drive it all mixed into a bright purple yogurt like substance that wreaked of sour milk and vinegar. It took me over an hour, a dozen towels, and quite a few washings to remove the sludge from almost every corner of our trailer floor.
We left Ellensburg around 9:30 in the morning heading through Idaho today on our full-bore trek for Utah. It is raining again, although we were told this area gets much less rain than the rest of the state. We drive through dry, rolling hills, sparse trees, and scrub brush. The thick green is gone. We wonder if we will be able to see the beauty in these dry places?
We stopped in Boise at a Sierra Trading Post and for pizza and then pushed on from 10:15pm to 12:15pm into the Twin Falls Walmart parking lot.
June 6, 2010
Travels: 66 miles driving around (3623 total miles)
Accommodations: Continued at Jellystone RV Park
After a nice lunch, we went to their community pool. It was a hot day so perfect for a day at the pool. We all went swimming and played and rested a bit. It is fun, since it is a community pool they know lots of people there, so I met some of their friends and had some much needed mom conversations!! After the pool, we cleaned up, rested for a bit, and then went to dinner in Denver at Pizza Republica. It was great food!!
Then, back to the trailer to hit the hay!