Date: July 8, 2008
Weather: Great during the day- freeze your tush off at night!
Health: all ailments cured by the hot springs of CO
Morale: Overcoming the oddity of seeing each other 24 hours a day
Food: Grand Lake brewery’s hopdiculous ode to the pale ale… yummy!
Current location: Strawberry Park Hot Springs, CO
Next Landmark: Grand Teton National Park
Miles Travelled: approx. 2600
We had a great night camping in the Rocky Mountain National park. It was so quiet and beautiful and we had a yummy meal (shucking compliments of Ro) and other assorted goodies like S’Mores and more S’mores. Who knew you could play shoot shoot without a shirt on, and only one shoe in a national park!? It gets cold at night in the Rocky Mountains… which leads to a Rowan in our bed kicking us all night. We woke to Ro yelling hey out the window as a deer munched on his spilled Cheerios from the night before.
We headed out the next morning to drive the Trail Ridge Road through the park climaxing at 12,500 feet. The view was gorgeous and to Jess’ delight, there was also a great gift shop at the top. To Russ’ delight they had elk sausage with peppers and onions. We saw huge elk on the way down which then made Russ sad that he just ate their brother, cousin, sister, mom, or dad….. shame…
We headed down the mountain and through the west entrance to the park at Grand Lake. There was a great brewery there- highly recommend it and that entrance was tons less touristy and enjoyable. Ro especially loved the homemade ice cream and buffalo jerky.
We continued north through Colorado and ended up at Steamboat Springs, CO. Fun times were found up a 7 mile steep road, half of it dirt and windy. With white knuckles and a tired car, we pulled into the Strawberry Park Hot Springs- a place where clothing is optional after dark. Skeptical, but definitely enticed by the awesome hot springs, we decided to take a great campsite and spend the night. Ro lived in the hot springs- nothing like a hot spring to finally get a dirty baby a bath!
We made a great friend- EJ- a motorcyclist from Bloomington, IN. We had a great time hanging out in the springs and back at the campsite enjoying the hopdiculous beer. Thanks for the great conversation EJ and have a great trip to the motorcycle rally- anytime you’re in Ithaca, look us up! Another good tip we learned- it’s great to make friends because through our conversation we learned that a road we planned on taking to Grand Teton, ends at a bridge that is no longer there. Saved us a big argument and a lot of time….
Anyone with tips on how to use a camping percolator and not end up with tons of grounds in your coffee or burnt coffee, please comment and let us know… we’re struggling a bit in that department and Jess is seriously jonesin’ for some good coffee.
3 comments:
Hi Jess,
For the Coffee, what I did when we RVed in Alaska is I had a stainless steel French Press. Very easy to use while camping. Boil water in a pot, pour into Press, wait a while and then push down and pour. I'll bring it to the reunion, but I guess that won't help you on your trip. Your title reminded me of a blog entry that my sister-in-law wrote last year. She lived in Idaho with a great view of the Tetons. She now lives in France.
I go to the grocery store and grind my own coffee. There usually is a perculator setting. Elsewise, just grind it as coarse as you can. You still end up with some, but not as much.
I am glad you are having so much fun!
I am impressed with Ro's devotion to the shoot shoot. I guess without the shirt, and only 1 shoe, he was trying to assimilate to the RV haute couture. I think he succeeded. Thrilled you are all still speaking to each other...and having a great time t'boot. Quite inspirational for the grand ol' family X-country road trip. You could call yourselves "rubbertramps"; and when people ask where you are going...just say, "the road is our home, destinations just get in our way." I miss you guys big time, and have enjoyed reading the anecdotes of your excursion. Glad you and the Elk had a mutual understanding, instead of a stand-off. I know (from personal experience) that if you go to Bryce canyon, and have a granola bar in your car, the chipmunks WILL come into your car and get them...Good luck Ro.
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