Mary Ann & Bill's Excellent Adventure
Travel in Retirement
Last week we were in Grand Teton National Park. What a beautiful place!! The Teton Mountain Range is like nothing I have ever seen before.
We hiked around to the far side of Jenny Lake and took the ferry back. Reminds me a lot of Green Lake in Maine.
We took a 90 minute cruise on Jackson Lake and spotted some eagles (baby on edge of nest, mom watching from nearby dead tree).
And we saw plenty of other sights as well.
We are staying in Rocky Mountain RV Park in Gardiner, MT. By coincidence it is the same camground where our son, Greg, stayed 10 years ago on his cross country trip. We did not plan it and discovered it only when the campground owner noticed that another person with last name of Burt from Plainville, MA had stayed here before. We compared photos and turns out that our site today is almost in the same spot as Greg’s was. I just love coincidences like that.
The reason we are in Gardiner is to visit Yellowstone National Park. Our campground in only a mile or two from the North Entrance. We have been in the park each of the four days since we arrived and are not done yet. Yellowstone is amazing and very large. Below are only some of the sights we’ve seen.
Yellowstone is the oldest National Park. The original entry is a beautiful stone arch. Unfortunately we were not able to get near it due to construction. But I got a picture.
Yesterday we left Coer D’Alene, Idaho where we stayed for a few days. Coeur D’Alene is the location of an incredible lake (Lake Coeur D’Alene).
We walked the boardwalk at the Coeur D’Alene Resort. The marina is surrounded by worlds longest floating boardwalk. The boats go in and out of the marina under an elevated section of the boardwalk between two towers.
Of course there was a kayak trip involved in our visit. We passed the first few days due to windy conditions and choppy water. But on the third day (another choppy day) we decided to go anyway.
We are now in Issaquah, WA near Seattle.
On Wednesday we drove into Seattle to see the sights.
Pike Place Market reminded me a lot of Faneuil Hall and Haymarket Square in Boston.
We walked through the Seattle Sculpture Park.
We, of course, visited the Space Needle.
Near the Space Needle is Chihuly Garden and Glass. This is an art exhibit featuring works of blown glass created by Dale Chihuly. It is really quite amazing.
The piece below is outside. There is a robins nest and Mrs. Robin in the sculpture.
Also near the Space Needle is a great water fountain where many children and a few adults were cooling down.
We walked by a Cisco Building. I don’t think I know anyone who works in the Seattle office.
The following day we took our bikes to Alki Beach and rode a few miles.
We were in Portland last week to attend my daughter, Kathy’s graduation from graduate school at Portland State University (PSU).
The day before graduation we had a picnic at Dabney Park.
The following day we attended the hooding ceremony.
After the graduation we spent a few hours in Portland.
After we left Yosemite we spent some time on the Oregon coast. Our first stop was at Pacific Shores Motorcoach Resort in Newport, OR.
We saw some beautiful views right from the campground and the beach below.
We drove up the coast from Newport as far as Lincoln City and enjoyed some beautiful scenery. It was very windy but sunny and bright.
And we got a closer look at the Lighthouse.
Our next stop was at the RV Resort at Cannon Beach. From there we visited Tillamook Cheese Factory (no pictures) and Haystack Rock.
The road to Yosemite were not built for a 37 foot motor home pulling a car. Bill, as usual, did an amazing job navigating our RV over the steepest and twistiest roads I have ever been on.
We saw all the famous sites in Yosemite Valley.
On the second day we visited Wawona & the Mariposa Grove (giant Sequoias)
It’s been a while since my last post because the internet at our previous campground was horrible.
Last week our good friend Debi arrived to travel with us for a few weeks. She flew into Las Vegas and we stayed at Lake Mead Village Campground in Boulder City for a few days.
We spent a day in Las Vegas. It was extremely hot that day (105° F). We walked the strip but kept ducking into air conditioning to keep cool.
The Bellagio had a fun Ocean themed display.
We visited the Auto Collections on the top floor of the Linq.
Jake and Elwood were at the auto collection.
We walked by Paris.
Saw gondolas at the Venetian.
And finally drove north a ways to visit Gold & Silver Pawn shop (of ‘Pawn Stars’ fame).
We are in Wahweap Campground in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Nice Campground with huge sites (we could fit a second RV in here if we wanted).
We have a view of Lake Powell.
On Sunday we took a tour of Glen Canyon Dam.
Yesterday we went to the Lees Ferry section of the park. Near the park entrance is the Navajo Bridge that spans the Colorado River. There are actually two bridges, the original historic bridge was built in the 1920s. It was replaced by a modern bridge in the 1990s but the original bridge was kept as a pedestrian bridge.
There was a California Candor under the new bridge.
Lees Ferry was actually the site of a ferry boat that provided Colorado River crossing before the Navajo Bridge was built. There is an old ghost town where the ferry was located.
There was some nice closeup views of the Colorado River. Some rafter were started a journey.
Some beautiful and interesting sights as we drove out of Lees Ferry.
Today we took the kayaks out into Lake Powell. Much different scenery than we usually have when we kayak.
The water is so low in Lake Powell that the launch ramp was about a quarter of a mile long (maybe longer). In the picture below Bill is at the top of the ramp (top left) after a long hike up to get the car when we returned from our trip.
We are in Salt Lake City. Yesterday we toured the city.
First stop was the Natural History Museum. My kids gave me tickets for Mother’s Day.
We had lunch at the Garden Restaurant at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Temple Square.
We had a great view of the Salt Lake Temple (pretty much the center piece of Salt Lake City) from the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, where we had lunch.
The Joseph Smith Memorial Building is an elegant building that was originally a hotel and later was named after Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement (aka Mormons).
We walked around Temple Square after lunch.
Today we took a ride out Antelope Island on the Great Salt Lake. The lake is extremely low and many of the places you would expect to see water are salt and mud.
The day was overcast and I don’t know if it was the weather or the salt that made the unusual colors below.
One of the great treats on the island was the Fielding Garr Ranch that was established in 1848. It was an active sheep and cattle ranch until 1981 when the Antelope State Park was established.
