Durango, Colorado to Silverton, Texas

Wednesday, May 10, 2017 -  This morning, we left Durango for a "mostly driving" day.  We have spotty cell service, so we stopped in Chama so that Dad could call into a client meeting.  While we were sitting there, it started to snow!!  If you don't believe me, here is a photo, as we pulled out and started down the road.

Fortunately, the snow didn't last too long, but turned to rain that lasted most of the way into Santa Fe.  Even with the unfavorable weather, it was a beautiful drive with gorgeous red cliffs.  We drove through the town of Abiquiu, which was Georgia O'Keefe's home for many years.  This scenery inspired many of her paintings.  Once we arrived in Santa Fe, we settled into our campsite at the Santa Fe Elks Lodge.  

Thursday, May 11, 2017 - We woke up to a beautiful clear morning and realized that the Santa Fe Elks are on a hilltop and we had a 360 degree view.  Marvelous!

We went into central Santa Fe.  Mom and Dad went to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum and then walked around the shops and galleries.  Buildings in Santa Fe look different than the buildings at home.

Friday, May 12, 2017 -  Today we left Santa Fe for another driving day.  At Amarillo, Texas, we headed south and then east.  We stopped for the night at the City Park in Silverton, Texas.  It's a nice little park with 50 Amp electric and, best of all, it was free.  They even had a playground.  Mom and I took a ride on the merry-go-round.  I had so much fun that I gave her a big kiss.

Just realized that the photo looks kind of like a prison.  It really wasn't.  The fence was for the tennis/basketball court.  

Durango, Colorado

Sunday, May 7, 2017 - Today we left Moab and drove to Durango, Colorado.  It was a nice drive and I slept most of the way.  We are staying at a place called the Lightner Creek Campground.  It's in a valley and about a mile off the highway, so very quiet.  The only noise is from the creek that flows through the campground.

After we arrived and set up the motor home, we all went into Durango to look around.  Mom and Dad went by the Irish Pub, because they were advertising that they had live Irish music on Sunday afternoons.  The musicians stopped an hour earlier than advertised, so they didn't stay long.  They did walk around downtown Durango and stopped in some of the shops.

When we came back to the motor home, Dad cooked a steak for them and I had kibble.

Monday, May 8, 2017 - This morning Dad had a conference call with a client and then had to put together some info to email to them.  Around lunch, we left the motor home and drove to Silverton, CO.  It was a pretty drive through the mountains to Silverton.  We stopped there and Mom and Dad looked around in the shops.  Then, they decided to investigate a Jeep road up into the mountains.  Did I mention that there is still a lot of snow in the mountains?   We went through here about a mile up the road.

That is the hood of our Jeep in the bottom of the photo.

It was a nice drive and we saw lots of old mine stuff and pretty streams coming down off the mountains.

When we got back to the main road, we saw a couple of Big Horn Sheep.  They were tussling along the edge of the road, kind of like I do sometimes with my friends at the dog park.   A big truck came along as we were getting out the camera and one of them ran off, but the other stayed.  In fact, there seemed to be something that he really liked that was on the pavement.  He stayed for a long time, even though more cars went by.

I even got a video of him.  Mom says that this is what I look like in our kitchen.   I've never uploaded a video before, so I hope this works.  He's pretty funny to watch.

As we were coming back into Durango, we stopped and got a photo of the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway train crossing the Animas River.  We didn't ride the train this trip.  Mom and Dad have ridden it before and I didn't want to go.  It makes really loud noises and I don't like that much.

It was a long day.  When we got home I was ready to curl up with my new pillow.  

Tuesday, May 9, 2017 - Today we decided to take a loop drive known as the San Juan Skyway.  It's a loop through the San Juan Mountains through Durango, Telluride, Ouray, Silverton, and back to Durango.  We drove through rain, snow, sleet and fog, but it finally cleared up around Ouray.  Mom and Dad stopped for lunch in Ouray and here are a couple photos of town.  

As you can see in the photos, it was a pretty gray and overcast day.  In one place we had thunder snow showers.  We still got to see a lot of beautiful scenery.   This is one of many waterfalls that we saw.

It's been a nice visit to Durango.  Tomorrow we are headed toward Santa Fe, New Mexico.  

Moab, Utah

Friday, May 5, 2017 - It was in the 80's today in Moab and all I brought to wear was my black fur coat, so I decided to stay in the motor home in the air conditioning.

Mom and Dad went for a drive on a Jeep Road to a place called Gemini Bridges.  They saw lots of wonderful views.

This is Gemini Bridges.  It's a double arch.

When Mom and Dad finished the Gemini Bridges Road, they drove to Canyonlands National Park - Island in the Sky District.   This is looking off the Island in the Sky toward a plateau called the White Rim.  

Dad took lots of pictures.  

Saturday, May 6, 2017 - For those of you who have been following my blog over the years, you know that I had a really bad dream at the Grand Canyon, a few years ago.  I had it again!! but thankfully, it wasn't so bad this time.

Just like last time, it was dark and Mom and Dad got up and left me.  At least this time, they gave me breakfast before they left at 6:00 am.  When I woke up, I realized it wasn't a dream this time either.  They were really gone.

They went to Arches National Park and hiked to Delicate Arch.  It's 1.5 miles each way.  On the way there, there is a 480 foot elevation gain.  That's like climbing the stairs in a 40 story building!!  Then they had to turn around and come back to the parking lot.  The place they went looks really neat.  I'm glad they brought back pictures.  This is Dad in front of the Arch.  It's REALLY big.

Mom and Dad were really glad they got up early to take the hike.  It was still cool outside and there were only about 20 people.  They said that on the way down there was almost a steady stream of people coming up, including two tour buses.  When they got to the bottom the parking lot was full.  If they would have waited until later, there wouldn't have been any possibility of getting a picture of Dad by himself.

After they got done with their hike, they went back to Canyonlands National Park and drove down the Shafer Trail.  This is a Jeep road that starts at the Island in the Sky, goes down to the White Rim (see picture above), and then winds around back into Moab.  This is a photo of the road down to White Rim.  

Dad was pretty happy when he made it to the bottom.  The cliff in the background is where they started.

From this plateau they were closer to the Colorado River, but it was still far below.

They had a good time on the drive and then came back to me in the motor home.  I was calm and cool with my air conditioning.  

From Moab, we are moving on to Durango, Colorado.  I'll write more about our adventures there.

Salt Lake City Area

Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - We spent the day today in Ogden.  Mom and Dad toured the Museums in Ogden's Union Station.  There was a museum for trains, one for old cars, one for Browning guns, and one for Cowboys and the West.  They had a fun time and saw lots of interesting stuff.  I got to see these trains that were outside.

After Union Station, Mom and Dad had lunch and then we went for a walk around Ogden's Botanic Garden.  Late in the afternoon, I got to go to an off leash dog park.  It was great.  This is me and my new friend Axle.  We had a great time.

Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - Today we went to downtown Salt Lake City.  I spent most of the day in a really nice parking garage.  Mom and Dad toured Temple Square.  

In the afternoon, we drove to Park City.  It was a beautiful drive.  When we got back to the motor home, we had another nice sunset.

Thursday, May 4, 2017 - Today we left Antelope Island.  The campground had nice large sites and beautiful views.  We highly recommend it, BUT not in April and May.  That is no-see-um season and mosquito season.  This is the front of the Jeep after 3 days.  I learned to do my business very quickly.  We hope to go back at another time of the year.

Today we drove to Moab.  I'll tell you more about our stay there, next time I write.

Home to Salt Lake City

Saturday, April 29, 2017 - Today we drove from home to Pendleton, Oregon and stayed at the Wild Horse Casino.  We stayed here in December, 2015 and I'm happy to say that this time, there wasn't any snow on the ground when we got there.  Today was mostly driving and this picture sums up my thoughts on the day..

Sunday, April 30, 2017 - Today we continued on and made a stop near Baker City.

It was a cool stop.  Mom and Dad enjoyed the film in the Visitor Center and we saw ruts where the wagon trains crossed the prairie.   I'm glad that I get to ride the way that I do.  We spent the night near Burley, Idaho.

Monday, May 1, 2017 - Today we continued on.  First we visited a rocket display outside of ATK Orbital.  The nice ranger took a photo of us.

There is a display of rockets made over the years by ATK (previously known as Morton Thikol).  It's actually a pretty cool spot.  As I learned from the sign -

"From here, you can see where the first emigrant train to reach California overland came through in 1841.  The Oregon Trail passed 80 miles to the north.  Also near here the Union Pacific coming west from Nebraska and the Central Pacific coming east from California, joined their rails in 1869.  Today, ATK builds and tests solid rockets to support America's space and defense programs."

It's kind of the crossroads of American frontier exploration.  We actually found this place by accident on the way to see the Golden Spike National Historic Site.  The big rocket in the background is a space shuttle booster.

 

We got to see a steam demonstration with the Jupiter, the Central Pacific's train.

Monday night we arrived at Antelope Island State Park, just north of Salt Lake City.  Antelope Island is an Island in the Great Salt Lake, but you can drive there on a causeway.  Besides tourists like us, the island is home to a herd of Antelope and a herd of Buffalo.  Here are some photos.

Above is the View from our Camp site.  Below is from a drive around the island.

This is one of our neighbors out for an evening stroll.  The shadow is from our Jeep.  He's on one side of the road and we are in the lane on the other side.   

We had a beautiful sunset.

We stayed in the Salt Lake area on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I'll try to tell you about those tomorrow.