Winding Down

Well we have finished our travels through Utah, Arizona, and are now in New Mexico starting the trip back East.  I must say the truck and I won't miss 8,000 - 9,000 foot peaks/passes.  Utah was fabulous and we left a lot to come back and see.  Another great surprise was Page Arizona, which we enjoyed immensely and could have spent 2 or 3 more days there...oh well hopefully another trip.  Our trip down to the Grand Canyon was interesting with hail pounding us for about a mile.  The road turned white with hail and I was glad to shift over to 4 wheel drive.

We are in Bernalillo NM right now getting ready to start a serious trek back East.  We need to be at the Grand Design factory in Middlebury, IN.  They are going to do a few tweaks to our trailer during which we will be homeless for about 3 weeks...so if you hear a knock at the door it's not a salesman.  Enjoy the pictures, I try to include several that I haven't posted on Facebook.  These are a mix between Capitol Reef, Zion, Grand Canyon North Rim and Page AZ.

Capitol Reef

 Angel's Window (above) and Antelope Canyon Lake Powell (below)

 The Castle at Lake Powell

 Horseshoe Bend

 Kiva (house) at Mesa Verde

Utah

Utah has been great so far, we are about halfway through our visit here and love the scenery.  The mountains aren't quite as much fun for the truck towing the trailer (it isn't thrilled from about 8,000 ft plus).  So far we have been to Flaming Gorge along with Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.  A few photos from our recent travels...

Flaming Gorge Dam

 Red Canyon Visitor Center

 Red Canyon

 Look at the Rock Strata, straight up...has to be some immense stress

 Spirit Lake 10,000 ft plus elevation

 North Window Arches NP

 South Window Arches NP

 Balanced Rock Arches NP

 Double Arch

 Grand Vista, Canyonlands NP

 Another view of Grand Vista

 Green River Overlook, Canyonlands NP

 Landscape Arch...spans two football fields.

 Mesa Arch, Canyonlands NP

 Mule deer showing us the way

Back in the USA and headed to Utah

We really enjoyed Canada, but we are glad to be back in the USA, for one thing it is cheaper living here even with the favorable US/Canada exchange rate.  We have been in Washington, Oregon, and now Idaho for a few weeks before heading to Utah (yes I know it is August coming up).  We definitely have found summer now that we are in Idaho.

Box Canyon Dam

 Hells Canyon Overlook

 Metaline Falls

 Oregon Trail

Canadian Rockies (we made it)

We made it into Canada!  The border crossing was uneventful, although Zoe took two shots for the team and they didn't even ask to see anything pet related.  

Wow, it sure is beautiful here.  We visited Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia for one week and Banff, Alberta for another week.  Our visit by Katie, Kyle, and Geneva (or Neva Neva as Marty calls her) was a highlight of our week in Banff.  The scenery was amazing with massive glaciers and mountains along with wonderfully colored lakes.

Harlequin Ducks

 

 The crew at Lake Louise

 

 Moraine Lake

 

 Peyto Lake

 Icefields Parkway scenery

 Sunwapta Falls area

 Us at Toe of the glacier (Columbia Icefields)

 Two Jack Lake sunrise

 Waterfowl Lake

 Bighorn Sheep

 

Glacier National Park

We are here for a couple of weeks before heading further North.  We've been sightseeing and hiking, boy this place is massive.  Going to the sun road is supposed to open any day, meanwhile you have to drive around the south end of the Park to get to the other side.  We've been within less than 20 miles of the Canadian border twice now, just seeing this park.  We've been enjoying the lap of luxury at Columbia Falls RV Park and we will be back to real camping on Wednesday when we plan to head into the Park and stay at Apgar Campground for a week (no hookups).  We will probably do another post at a later date for just photos from the Going to the Sun Road, meanwhile enjoy some from the last few days.

Avalanche Creek Gorge

 Many Glacier Road

 Hike to Redrock Falls

 Many Glacier area lake

 Many Glacier rapids

 Many Glacier Lake and hotel

 The water is so clear the rocks are in focus behind the rapids

 Lower Redrock Falls

Two Medicine Lake