On our four previous visits to Rocky Mountain National Park, we stayed one or more nights in the adjacent town of Estes Park. This time, we didn’t, as we were able to get reservations at Moraine Park Campground in the park for the duration of our planned visit.  As a result, we actually spent less time in Estes Park than any other visit – other than traveling through town and stops for fuel and groceries, just a short visit before and after lunch on September 15th, followed by an afternoon alpine hike back in the park.  It was an nice stroll along the street and into some of the shops – and much less crowded than our last visit on Labor Day weekend, 2009.

Estes Park, a town of just under 6,000 permanent residents, is a popular summer resort in the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies, though there are plenty of recreational opportunities during the rest of the year. Located at 7,522 feet above sea level, the town is at the east entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. Tourism has been a primary business for the town for most of its history.  Lodging includes The Stanley Hotel, inspiration for the setting of Stephen King’s novel The Shining.  (We stayed in the hotel during our 2001 visit.)

The word “park” used in place names in the Colorado Rockies often refers to a valley or meadow. Estes Park, then, originally referred to the valley and was named after town founder Joel Estes.

The town experienced severe damage in July 1982 from flooding resulting from the failure of Lawn Lake Dam.

Additional information on the Lawn Lake Dam Failure, July 15, 1982:

• KOA TV Channel 4 – YouTube, 1982 footage
• Wikipedia
• Town of Estes Park

Selected Information
Resources:

Rocky Mountain National Park

• National Park Service– Rocky Mountain National Park
  • Suggested Hikes
  • Conditions and Closures
• Wikitravel
• Wikipedia

Estes Park

• Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Town of Estes Park
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel
• Trail Gazette (newspaper)
• Stanley Hotel

Grand Lake

• Grand Lake Chamber of Commerce
• Wikipedia (the lake)
• Wikipedia (the town)
• Town of Grand Lake

We spotted this “cute” car in a parking lot for some popular trails in Rocky Mountain National Park.  It’s a Lotus Elise, certainly a nice looking and sporty car and, at around $50,000, is more than we would want to spend on a car.

There was one other “sporty” car that I caught sight of last summer on the 4th of July weekend.  As we were coming out of the parking lot of the Lake Village Tourist Information Center in Southern Arkansas, I saw an orange car that was shaped much different than most of the other cars on the road, but didn’t have a chance to get a picture of it.  Now, I’m by no means an expert on automobiles and can seldom identify one without the help of the internet.  For some reason, though, Lamborghini came to mind, even though I didn’t get a very good look at it.

A couple of hours later, after crossing a small corner, I spotted the same orange color on a car in a rear view mirror.  We were on I20 east of Vicksburg, Mississippi, heading for Biloxi.  I don’t know if it was the same make and model of the picture on the right (from Wikipedia), but the color was very close to this, if not identical – and, as it passed us, I spotted the logo on the back.

Like I said, I’m no expert on automobiles, but these sure seemed like a couple of hot cars.

We missed the big dust storm in Lubbock, Texas, on Monday by just a couple of hours. Even though we fought the wind all day, we managed to make it past Lubbock before the storm hit.

We were on the homeward leg of a 6 week trip and had planned to go further south, crossing Texas below Dallas and Fort Worth.  Saturday and Sunday nights, we had been camped near Carlsbad, New Mexico.  We were able to get online Sunday night, barely, and checked the weather forecast for where we were thinking of going – wind and blowing dust, with temperatures in the mid to high 90s.  The forecast for the Lubbock area was cooler and windy, but blowing dust was not mentioned. After talking it over for a bit, we decided to head north instead of east.

I did get a some video from our windy day’s trip and produced a short YouTube video.

On this trip, I decided that I was not going to try to keep up with a travel blog.  My intent was to keep a written journal and take lots of photos and video and to incorporate the journal and images into blog posts after we got home.  I was only partially successful.

While I did take lots of photographs and videos, the written journal fell by the wayside after only a few days.

I did read quite a few books over the last six weeks, though.

If I were to post a photo a day – or even 5 a day –  it would take quite a while just to share those that I have selected for posting.

By putting together a video, I can share a large number at once – and create a video library that we can view on a TV screen.  The original of the video below is higher definition than what I uploaded to YouTube.

The photos, in the sequence that they appear:

1. Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, September 2009
2. Menor’s cabin and store, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, September 20, 2007
3. Canton Lake, Oklahoma, August 29, 2009
4. Canyonlands national Park, September 23, 2007
5. Pronghorn, Custer State Park, South Dakota, August 22, 2007
6. Wild burro, Custer State Park, South Dakota, August 22, 2007
7. Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, March, 2011
8. Devil’s Tower National Monument, August 27, 2007
9. Devil’s Tower National Monument, August 28, 2007
10. Texas Interstate HighwayI40, eastbound rest west of Alenreed
11. Devil’s Tower National Monument, August, 2007
12. Cottonwood Tree, Lake Ogallala, Nebraska, July 8, 2010
13. Clouds, Lake Ogallala, Nebraska, July 8, 2010
14. Lewistown, Montana, August 30, 2007
15. Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, September 14, 2009
16. Nuthatch
17. Ouray, Colorado, September 2010
18. Rest are at Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge and Kansas Highway 52
19. Moraine Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, 2009
20. Rocky Mountain National park, somewhere trail to Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, & Emerald Lake, 2009
21. Pea Ridge National military Park, Northwest Arkansas, July 15, 2011
22. Abyss Pool, West Thumb, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, September 12, 2007
23. Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Utah, September 24, 2007
24. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Visitor Center, Colorado, 2009
25. Garvan Woodland Gardens, Hot Springs, Arkansas, April 13, 2010
26. Entrance to Yellowstone National Park, Gardiner, Montana, September 13, 2007

The music,  Improvisation On Friday… by Alex, is licensed under a Attribution (3.0).

Our preference is to flee the heat and humidity of Arkansas by heading to the mountains – when we can.

This year, that’s not an option.  I’ve got contract work through the hottest part of the year, so we’re not planning on a trip until later.

This fourth of July weekend, though, I had the opportunity to make it a four day weekend, if, on Thursday, we were able to get done with everything that needed to be done at work so we didn’t need to finish up on Friday.  I texted Karen to let her know, “May take tomorrow off and make it a 4 day weekend if we can finish this exam on the simulator tonight.”

“Ok, you probably need a break,” she replied, and then a little while later, she asked, “Do you want to take a day trip or overnight for something different to do?

I texted back, “Don’t know as hot as it is.  It’d be different if it were cooler.”

Karen: “Biloxi MS is to be in the mid to low 90’s maybe a shower or two. – Day drive look around – just an idea.”

I liked the idea, but decided to check to see just how long a trip that would be.  “That’s over an 8 hour drive by google,” I texted.

So there we were the next afternoon, south of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, with the heat mirages shimmering off the blacktop, without even a clue of the road construction traffic backup we would run into east of Vicksburg, Mississippi, or that we would end up in an extended crawl in Friday rush hour traffic in Jackson, Mississippi going into a long holiday weekend.

We didn’t take our motorhome, though there were plenty of recreational vehicles on the road.

Note: This “lost” Haw Creek Out ‘n About post was recovered from the Internet Archive WayBack Machine.

(Click on any of the thumbnail images for larger versions of the photos)

We got a little bit of a late start on June 10th, a Sunday, when we headed for Madison for a picnic and a hike. It was a beautiful day and I was skeptical that we would be able to find an empty table at a park in the city. We were following our daughter, Jessica, and son-in-law, Shane — the grand-kids were with us. Since we had never been in Madison before, and didn’t have a clue where they were heading, it could have been very interesting. However, Shane drove slow so the “old man” following him — me! — could keep up and we ended up finding a table at Tenny Park, a small park near Lake Mendota on the Madison isthmus.

After the grand-kids were done playing following lunch, we headed out again. I really didn’t have a clue where we were going and, for a while wasn’t sure Shane did either. However, before long, we stopped at a University of Wisconsin gardens.

The Allen Centennial Gardens are open daily from dawn to dusk and there is no entrance fee. The gardens serves as a 2.5 acre outdoor classroom for the Department of Horticulture. Allen Centennial Gardens is centered around a beautiful Victorian gothic house known by several names, including “the Agricultural Dean’s Residence.” One of the first buildings on the agricultural campus, the house served as residence for the first four deans. Today it is home for the offices of the Agricultural Research Stations.

Allen Centennial Gardens was dedicated in October 1989. It was designed to compliment the house and existing plantings, including a larch tree planted in 1899. (See more at the Allen Centennial Garden web site.)

From the gardens, we walked past Porter Boathouse to the shore of Lake Mendota and took a pedestrian/bicycle path along the shore over to Memorial Union. Round trip, we walked a little under 2 miles. It was a nice stroll through the woods along the lake. There were a lot of other folks out walking, running, and bicycling.

Memorial Union is one of two buildings that comprise the Wisconsin Union. The other is Union South, located in another area of this very large campus. The Union is the “social, cultural, and recreational center of campus” and “serves as a daily gathering place for students, faculty, staff, community members, and visitors.”

The 19th annual Isthmus Jazz Fest was in it’s last few hours on the Memorial Union Terrace on Lake Mendota when we got there. We stopped inside for some ice cream and then went down by the lake with the grandkids while Professor Les Thimmig was playing the sax.

Note: This “lost” Haw Creek Out ‘n About post was recovered from the Internet Archive WayBack Machine.

Note: This “lost” Haw Creek Out ‘n About post from June 12, 2007, was recovered from the Internet Archive WayBack Machine.

On June 8, 2007, after leaving Clarksville, we drove up the road to Louisiana, Missouri. Since there was minimal cell phone reception at the campground, we stopped at a city park on the bank of the Mississippi and made some calls to let family know where we were and what we were doing and to catch up on some things.

The bridge in the picture is the one that we needed to cross the next day. We had already checked it out the night before and I was not looking forward to having to deal with oncoming traffic on what seemed to be a long and excessively narrow bridge. (Fortunately, there was no traffic and I can’t say that I strictly stayed in my lane driving across it.)

Louisiana, Missouri is a town of murals. We did a little bit of exploring and found a few of them, and, since we will be coming up to Wisconsin on a fairly regular basis, we will probably go back to look for some more.

Other links:

Great River Road

Louisiana Missouri Visitor’s & Convention Center

Note: This “lost” Haw Creek Out ‘n About post from June 12, 2007, was recovered from the Internet Archive WayBack Machine.

Note: This “lost” Haw Creek Out ‘n About post was recovered from the Internet Archive WayBack Machine.

On June 8th, we took some time to walk through a park on the west bank of the Mississippi and through part of Clarksville, Missouri. Founded in 1817, the town is the “southern anchor of one of America’s newest National Scenic Byways-the Little Dixie Highway of the Great River Road.”

While in Clarksville, we stopped in several shops and watched the artisans while they worked.

At the Clarksville Glassworks, Nicolas Philips created a glass vase as we watched. We’ve always liked glass, having done a little stained glass work years ago, and it was a pleasure to be able to sit and watch as the vase was formed. While we were there we also talked to another of the glass artists, Lance Stroheker, who was very helpful in explaining what Nicolas was doing.

We also stopped and watched Amanda Moon in her Sunfire Pottery store on Front Street in Clarksville. She had some very interesting and original creations.

At The Bent Tree Gallery, we talked for a short while with Stacy Leigh as she worked with leather.

___________________________________________________
Amanda Moon’s Sunfire Pottery:

Nicolas Philips at Clarksville Glassworks:

The vase

Stacy Leigh

Other links:

Clarksville on Great River Road site.

City of Clarksville, MO

Clarksville, Missouri – Wikipedia

Note: This “lost” Haw Creek Out ‘n About post was recovered from the Internet Archive WayBack Machine.

Note: This “lost” Haw Creek Out ‘n About post was recovered from the Internet Archive WayBack Machine.

On June 7th and 8th, we stayed at the campground at Tievoli Hills Resort, near Clarksville, Missouri.

From the time that we left Springfield, Missouri, until we got to the Mississippi River, we fought the wind. All across the state, the radio stations broadcast wind advisories from the National Weather Service.

We arrived at the campground around 4 in the afternoon and, after setting up and relaxing for a bit, drove north up to Louisiana, Missouri. I wanted to drive across the bridge over the Missisippi to see what it was like — and it was pretty darn narrow for hauling a high profile, 32 foot fiver over, especially on our very first extended trip and after we had an accident on our last trip. After going across, we decided that we would make an early departure when we left, in the hopes that there wouldn’t be any significant traffic on a Saturday morning. After that, we stopped at an old Dairy Queen for burgers and fries and did a little driving around Louisiana and Clarksville.

The following day we went back to both towns, walked around a bit and took some photos. It’s a little late right now, so I’ll be adding more information about the area later and adding photo galleries to the site here.

The glassblower in the photo is one of several artisans in Clarksville that we talked to and watched while they worked.

More later!

Note: This “lost” Haw Creek Out ‘n About post was recovered from the Internet Archive WayBack Machine.

Note: This “lost” Haw Creek Out ‘n About post was recovered from the Internet Archive WayBack Machine.

The morning started out very cloudy with a forecast of 60% chance of rain. We had been planning on taking a 2.8 mile loop trail, but decided to wait awhile to see what the weather held for us. When the clouds lowered and it started misting, we decided to go for a drive back to Spearfish in South Dakota, do some shopping and see some different country on our way back.

On the way back it was still raining intermittently.

In one section of Wyoming 24, the fill dirt under the road had settled a lot earlier this summer. Until just the last couple of days the road had been closed as a result.

We had gone over that section of road the day before and had been wondering whether the workers would be out in this kind of weather. Having lived in this kind of country before, we were not terribly surprised to see them out in the misty fog. There is not a lot of time left before the weather could get inclement to the point that the job will have to be shutdown until late spring.

While the road is open now, there is only one lane open — and it is nasty muddy. It was a bit windy and cold and the flaggers were all bundled up. In just a short section of road, the truck got dirty enough that we need to take it to a car wash so that we won’t have to be careful of leaning or rubbing up against it.

On the way back from Spearfish the conditions must have been just right to entice deer to come out in the open. We counted 95 deer — almost all of them white-tails — between Belle Fourch, South Dakota, and Devil’s Tower, Wyoming, and I’m sure that there were many more that we didn’t see.

Three of them were pretty close to the road and I got some close ups of one of them. I was very pleased with her doe eyes, but when I saw the second picture, I was surprised that it looked like she was sticking her tongue out. She’s really in the middle of eating, but it is one of the oddest pictures of a deer that I’ve seen.

By the time that we got back to the campground it had cleared up considerably. Deciding to take a walk while it was clear, we first went over to the front of the KOA store. At the entrance to this campground, there are 2 artistically painted large boots. The first boot has the KOA logo on it and it is also painted on all sides.

This is the other side of it.

The other boot is also painted on all sides. The back of the boot has an image of Teddy Roosevelt and the front has an image of Sitting Bull. The side that is in this image is interesting in that it depict Devil’s Tower and above and behind it is the real Devil’s Tower.

When we got to the overflow camping area on our walk , I changed lenses on the camera replacing the telephoto zoom with the closeup zoom so that I could get more area into the shot. However, just after I did, we spooked two deer and they took off running for the national monument. I didn’t have time to switch back to the telephoto zoom, so the images of one of the deer as she ran and then jumped the fence are not as clear and crisp as I would like.

The area at the rear of the campground is by far the prettiest. It is wide open with a lot of tall cottonwood trees. One side borders the national monument and on another the campground property ends at the Belle Fourche River, with a red rock cliff on the opposite side of the river. There are a lot of photo opportunities in that part of the campground.

This photo is a twisted dead tree with the Belle Fourche (pronounced foosh) River, part of the cliff and other land in the background. The buildings in the picture are KOA Kamping Kabins.

This is a similar image, except I’ve focused in on the grasses along the river, with the background intentionally blurred.

The monument boundary fence ends right at the river and then picks up again at the top of the red rock cliff, as shown in this picture:

Every month during the summer and when weather permits, a nighttime walk is conducted on the night when the moon is full. In the morning the weather looked like it would likely cause the walk to be canceled. However, after we got back to the campground from our drive earlier in the day, the sky just got more and more clear. By the time we headed up to the trail head where we would be hiking from, the sky was almost perfectly clear. This photo was taken with my camera held in my hand, no tripod. The night by that time was too dark for any other photos without using the flash. I didn’t want to use the flash because it would momentarily impair the night vision of the other hikers.

We enjoyed the walk, though when we stopped for the park volunteer to talk, the breaks lasted too long. The temperature has dropped into the low 50’s and there was a slight wind blowing. Even though everyone had bought flashlights, the moon light was bright enough in the open areas away from the trees that you didn’t really need them. We started out on the trail at 9 P.M. and got back to the truck at 10:30 P.M.

I’ve always had the best intentions in the past for blogging about our trips, complete with descriptions and photos of some of what we have seen and done.  Unfortunately, with the seeing and doing, the blogging can’t keep up, I get further and further behind and end up not sharing all that I had hoped to share.

I  think on our next trip that I’ll take a different approach.  During the trip I’ll record what we do and see using the camera, a handwritten journal, and brochures from places we visit.

Blog posts will be developed sequentially from the journal entries and photos at some point when I have the time to sit down and write.  Sometimes a single day of our exploring, doing and seeing may play out over several daily blog posts.

Hopefully this will give me a plan for better sharing of our future trips.  I do intend to continue posting and sharing material from past trips that I have not yet shared or which has become “lost” over the years.

With my current employment situation, we won’t be doing as much traveling this year as we have in previous years, so my opportunities for trying this plan are going to be slim.

The photos on this post are from a 2007 weekend trip to Dallas, Texas.

Yankee Fork Historic District, Idaho, July 28, 2010.

Bonanza City, laid out in 1877, was the Yankee Fork’s first mining camp, with pack trails converging from Ketchum, Stanley, Loon Creek and Challis.  At its peak, Bonanza had over 600 residents, a rectangular grid of streets, and provided city services such as community wells.

An underground water system piped water for drinking and fire protection throughout the town.  Despite this foresight, fires in 1889 and 1897 devastated portions of Bonanza.  The loss of business due to the fires and the increased activity at Custer encouraged many to relocate.  Today little is left of Bonanza with the exception of a few buildings and the Forest Service Guard Station constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934.

Bonanza, Idaho

Yankee Fork Historic District, July 28, 2010

The Bonanza Cemetery provides an example of the many ethnic groups attracted to the Yankee Fork.  Despite the harsh living conditions, the promise of good times and prosperity brought immigrants from many countries.  Cornish people, referred to as “cousin jacks,” worked for the English owners of the Custer mine.  Austrian crews built roads and many Italians lived at Bayhorse.  The Custer County census of 1890 indicates sizable populations of Canadian, German, English, Irish, Italian, and Swedish residents.  The largest single ethnic group found in the Yankee Fork Mining District came from China.  Though prejudice kept the Chinese from working at most mines, they worked unwanted placer claims, operated laundries, or worked as cooks…. most Chinese initially buried here were later disinterred by relatives and friends and returned to their homeland.

from sign at cemetery

Sego Lily, Calochortus nuttallii, the state flower of Utah.

Insect getting nectar from wild rose.

Lizzie King and her husbands on Boothill

Lizzie and Richard King lived in Bonanza where Richard worked in real estate.  A heated argument with a business partner left Richard dead and Lizzie alone.

Lizzie and close friend Charles Franklin purchased the gravesite for Richard and two more next to it, presumably for themselves.  Soon, Charles and Lizzie began courting and a wedding seemed eminent.

To everyone’s surprise, Lizzie married Robert Hawthorne, a newcomer to Bonanza.  Six days later, both were found shot to death.  Soon after, Franklin left the area for a secluded cabin near Stanley where, years later, he was discovered dead.  Clutched in his hand was a locket which held the picture of Lizzie King.

Due to the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Lizzie King, Bonanza residents chose to bury their loved ones elsewhere, leaving Lizzie and her husbands alone on Boothill.

from sign on Boothill

July 27, 2009 – Stanley, Idaho

Stanley is in the Salmon River Valley, quite near the Sawtooth Mountains.  These photos were all in the evening after supper.

Sandhill cranes, between the campground and Stanley.

Large flock of sheep not too far from the cranes:

On July 26, we moved from Arco, Idaho to Bull Trout Campground, about 26 miles down the road west of Stanley.  The campground is next to two lakes, Bull Trout Lake and Martin Lake.  Our campsite was in the newer section of the campground and  was just a short walk from the smaller of the two lakes.

We didn’t get over to the larger lake – Bull Trout – other than driving the loops to see what the other campsites looked like.  We walked the short distance to Martin Lake and hiked all the way around it.

The campground was 1.9 miles down a very dry dirt road whose surface was like powder.  Fortunately, it rained that night.  The rain washed the worst of the dust off the car and there was very little road dust for the rest of our stay.

The campground elevation is 6900 ft in a mixed growth forest of Douglas fir and lodgepole pine. Wildflowers are plentiful.

July 29, 2010 posts:

• Karen’s post about our stay – Bull Trout Campground – Stanley, Idaho.
• My post on Exit78 – Bull Trout

July 25, 2010, Arco, Idaho

After a day trip with crystal clear skies for most of the day, it turned cloudy and very blustery as we were getting back to the campground.

photos – July 25, 2010

Located in the central section of the Lost River Range, Borah Peak (aka Mt. Borah) is the highest mountain in Idaho.

On Friday, October 28, 1983, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake centered near the base of the mountain lifted Borah Peak about a foot, while the Lost River Valley floor dropped up to 7.5 feet in places.  It also resulted in a 20-mile scarp along the base of the Lost River Range and sand boils near Chilly Butte and the Lost River and Pahsimeroi valleys.  Two elementary school students were killed in Challis.

The scarp – highlighted in blue – resulting from the quake can still be seen 27 years later. The red line highlights a dirt “road.”  The above image was cropped from the photo below.

Pioneer Mountains, Idaho, July 25, 2010 –

While it’s nice to find a picnic table, when we’re traveling, we can picnic in places that don’t have tables.  We were going to picnic at Wildhorse Campground, but the flies and other bugs were just too annoying.

We had driven all morning on dirt roads and it shows on our black 2004 Honda CRV.  I took the car to a car wash several times on this trip.

Below – Wildhorse Creek and Pioneer Mountains.

September 15, 2009 – Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

On our last full day in Colorado, we toured the six-mile Mesa Top Loop Drive, visiting most of the archeological exhibits and overlooks.

Pithouse – For thousands of years, native peoples were living in the surrounding areas before coming to Mesa Verde.  As with people all over the Southwest, Ancestral Puebloans lived in modest dwellings  — shallow pits dug into the ground, covered with pole and mud roofs and walls, with entrances through the roofs.

In this excavation (above), what appears to be one pithouse is actually two.  The larger one, built first, around AD 700, was destroyed by fire. The smaller one, which looks like an antechamber to a larger room, is actually a second pithouse built soon after the first one burned.  It contains a new feature, a verticle ventilator shaft in one side, which appears in pithouses from then on — innovation!

Above is an Ancestral Puebloan kiva – an undeground religious room.  The small circular hole in the floor is a sipapu, a symbolic entrance into the underworld – the Pueblo place of origin.  This early kiva design was continued in the Mesa Verde villages and cliff dwellings.

Many fires have swept across Mesa Verde over time.  Recent fires have exposed previously undiscovered Puebloan sites.

At our campsite on our final afternoon in
Colorado, 2009.