Bad Omens (Long Post)

     After our lovely drive through RMNP we continued on our way towards Steamboat. We drove over Rabbit Ear's Pass (another beautiful area) and found a quite, woodsy camping spot near the bottom of the Pass.

     We drove through the campground looking for the perfect spot to call "home" for the next 24 hours. There, in a magical setting (damp pine trees sparkling in the sun, a table nestled in amongst the trees, no camp spots too close by) was the perfect place just waiting for us. We started to unpack and set up the tent when we were greeted by a cloud of mosquitoes (we somehow overlooked the huge puddle of standing water, a fantastic place for the little brutes to call home). Not wanting to give up our spot, we quickly dug through the car to find the bug spray (which I'm pretty sure was just sugar water), and there, lying on the ground and looking pretty fresh, was a dead bat. THAT my friends, was our bad omen. From that moment, the next 24 hours continued to go downhill.

     After spying the dead flying rodent, we figured it was a bad idea to sleep there just in case a swarm of rabid bats decided to attack us. You know. Logical thoughts here. We drove to the other side of the campground and picked out another spot (rodent free, puddle free, MOSTLY mosquito free).

The final location.

     When camp was finally set up, we went in to town and walked around for a while. The shops in Steamboat were disappointing, so we thought it would be fun to take a drive on some of the back roads over the Pass. Everything was going beautifully. It was amazing how green everything and how blue the sky was and we even did a little... "off-roading" so to speak.

  Now...here's the thing...my cousins take their beast Jeeps out and do crazy ridiculous stuff with them and drive over massive rocks and up steep hills, and Sasquatch (even though I begged and pleaded) was the responsible adult and wouldn't take our "rad Subaru" on any rough trails. So we found this rock...and well...that's about as extreme as it got, ha!

   

Yeah, we get crazy out here man.

     So there we were, driving up a hill with no one around. We get to the top and we see 3 tents, a man with a crazy beard, and a mini van, clothes drying on a boulder, and for some reason our guard instantly goes up. We slow down as Beardy McBeardson starts walking towards us, and out of no where, these two scraggly haired men come out of the bushes grinning from ear to ear and start walking towards our car too (if you've ever seen scary movies, you know this is the point where we get eaten alive).
     Sasquatch rolls down the window (despite my pleas to keep driving) and Beardy walks up, the two of them exchange pleasantries, and then neither of them say another word but just nod at each other. I notice the Scraggle Twins pick up a little dog that was running around and start poking at it, making it screech in anger, all the while smiling at us. Weird.
    Beardy tells us that there is a spot just past his mini van if we'd like a place to camp (nooooo thank you!) and we tell him that we were just out driving around (the Scraggle Twins are still grinning at us). Beardy says that they have been stranded on top of the mountain for 3 days after ripping a hole in his oil pan driving over rocks. He then tells us that there were 8 of them in the car going on a backpacking trip (where were the other 5, I would like to know??) but that they luckily had enough food and water to last them. He then asked us if we were going in to town the next day and if he could hitch a ride to pick up the part for his van, and we, being kind people, told him that we were driving the other direction come morning. No part in that, thanks.
    We quickly said our apologies, wished them the best of luck, flung the car in reverse and drove out of there as fast as we could, all the while, the three are still standing in our rearview mirrow, smiling.
     We drove fast back to camp, imagining a few "hitchhikers" somehow on top of our car ready to pop out and as we're pulling in to our campground, we realize that where we had just been was directly above our camp spot. Somehow, they were probably watching....

     That evening we made a roaring fire and tried to push the nonsensical thoughts from our mind. We opened a bottle of wine and had a relaxing, cozy evening without any more weirdness (besides the sheep across the freeway yelling all night). I got a chance to try out the zoom capabilities of my new tablet, and I must say, I was pretty darn impressed!

Playing around with the sunset.

     The next morning I woke up and thought I would be nice and let Sasquatch sleep, and set up the stove and make coffee (something I have never done on my own while camping mind you). I get up, and of course since I'm trying to do something nice, it starts to rain. I brush it off and continue getting the propane and the stove set up. I get everything hooked up where it needs to be, turn on the burners and hit "ignite" and before I know what has happened, a blowtorch worthy amount of flames came shooting out the side, the flame from the burners shot out 6 inches past the stove, singeing my hand (losing all the hair on my knuckles), and the fumes had created a fire INSIDE the stove. All I can think about in this moment as the arm where the propane screws in becomes white with ice crystals is "It's going to blow...this thing is going to blow, all because of coffee!".
     I rush over to the car, my heart beating a million miles an hour, and try to stay calm, urgently informing Sasquatch that the stove is on fire and I don't know what I should do. Out spews a handful of curse words from the sleeping giant as he takes in the situation from a sound sleep, in his socks and underwear, while the rain is pouring down, the mud is getting thicker, and the stove is closer to blowing up. Eventually his thoughts are gathered and I'm told to throw water on it while he looks for a towel to try and smother the flames.
     In the end, nobody was harmed (not even the table that I was sure would be burned after that incident). But let's just say, that was a TERRIBLE way to start the morning.

     We pack up our muddy mess, ditching the coffee idea, and head back to town to try and find coffee that I have no part in making. We find a quiet coffee shop where we could recover from the traumatizing morning and decide to go to Strawberry Hot Springs (a place I've always wanted to take Sasquatch). By this point, I just had a feeling it was going to continue to be a crumby day. We drove to Strawberry Springs, a long drive up a dirt road that leads to the middle of nowhere, only to find out that they don't take credit cards. LOVELY. After the morning we had, the lack of sleep, and not having the necessary form of payment for the one thing we had planned to do in Steamboat, we decided it was time to just head home. Sasquatch was extremely accommodating and offered to drive back to town to get cash but I pouted like the child I felt like and said to just go home.

     And that is our tale of our ridiculous 24 hours in the stupid little town of Steamboat Springs. So if you see a dead bat, just stop what you're doing and change every plan you made for the next 24 hours. Because chances are, they're going to be crazy.

    After unloading our muddy mess, throwing in a load of laundry, taking a hot shower, ordering a tasty pizza, renting a couple movies from the Redbox, and falling asleep in my clean, soft bed, those 24 hours had been redeemed.
 

The Travel Bug Has Bitten Again

Well, here we are nearly a year after our first major roadtrip.

     Not much has changed over here on the Western Slope. We just got back from an overnight trip to Boulder for a Great Gatsby themed birthday party. That short, 3 hour drive has whet my appetite for adventure. The pine trees, the mountains, the snow. The mountains are calling....

     With little money to spend, and several days of vacation time to use up, we're getting ready to hit the road once again and use our super smart minds to have a frugal but fun trip. This time around will not be as long and as crazy as the last, and we will probably be following a similar route that started us on our journey last year.

     So, feel free to follow along. Again, the posts may not be often or they could be every hour, but I can promise lots of pictures and lots of memories.

Road Trip 2013: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Hi everyone! We are home, safe and sound.

     We got home at about 3:30am last night. It was so nice to wake up in our own bed and to sleep in, but I'm already missing the simplicity of camping. Waking up with the sun, not caring about what you look like, making pancakes and bacon on the camp stove, being outside. I feel almost like I've experienced culture shock coming back to town.

     Our first night in Glacier was fun. We got close to the park in the evening and the drive in was just beautiful! It was rainy and the mountains were covered in clouds and mist and it gave it a magical feeling. We found a KOA campground at the edge of the park and got to shower (FINALLY) after days of being stinky. It was a drizzly evening and we set up camp and lit our fire and got settled in for the night. Our "neighbor" got back to camp and he joined us for a drink and shared our fire. He ended up being a pretty neat guy with lots of life experience and we had a nice time getting to know him. He told us that he bought a book called "The Most Scenic Drives in America" and how he was going around seeing the places in the book. I am now going to buy the book because I think it's a fabulous idea!

     The next morning we woke up and packed up camp. It was another rainy day but it cleared up right as we hit the road to head through the park. It was the most beautiful sight EVER having the clouds clearing and everything being wet and UGH. It was just so beautiful. We both kept yelling "IT'S JUST SO PRETTY!" while we were driving around. We saw a group of mountain goats on the hillside and it looked like something from out of movie. The grass was glowing it was so green and the goats were so white. I just can't even describe how beautiful it all is! My boss was the one who told us we should go to to Glacier and that if you were ever going to see unicorns somewhere, it would be there. And it is absolutely true! Just go see it. That's all I can say.
     I want to go back to Glacier when I'm a little more prepared for hiking around. The difference between Yellowstone and Glacier is that Yellowstone has more paved roads which I think makes it more appealing for the average tourist because you can drive around to all the pretty places and stay in the comfort of your car. Glacier is a lot of dirt roads and there is really only one road that goes straight through the park. The only way to see most of the park is to hike to all the sights.

 We drove home through Idaho and Utah yesterday and I was surprised that I fell in love with Idaho too! I didn't think that I would like the more flat landscape of Idaho, but it was green, beautiful farm land and I just loved it. I knew that Idaho was the "potato state" but I also found out that Idaho is known for their opal mines. We stopped at a little shop in Spencer, Idaho and the couple who owned the store did most of their own mining and make their own jewelry from the opals they pull from their own mine. Their jewelry was beautiful, and everyone who comes into the shop gets to take home a free piece of opal in it's natural state.
      I got to see Salt Lake City for the first time and I think it would be a fun place to explore. We drove through in the middle of the night and it was eerie. There were massive factories everywhere that were all lit up and this huge city in the middle of the mountains. It was just a crazy sight. The Temple is beautiful though. We saw it from a distance and it's just this magnificent thing glowing on the hill above the city. We took the back roads to Price, Utah that dumped us right out on I-70. That drive was a little sketchy. It was dark, and kind of creepy and then you'd round a corner and there would be a little town tucked into the cliffs or a factory all lit up. Such a strange feeling. It could have had something to do with the fact that it was after midnight and we were exhausted and started to get goofy and freaking ourselves out, haha. But after all the crazy driving madness, being stuck in the car for 18+ hours, loading up on caffeine, and some Taco Bell, we finally made it home.

     Bring on the next adventure!

            Love you all,
                   Buns
   
    

Road Trip 2013: Driving, Driving, Driving

BUNS. SO. TIRED.

    Sitting in yet another Starbucks but in Missoula, Montana this time. We're heading back home now and plan on being there tonight but that could change depending on how long it will take. If we decide we want to stop, we'll probably call it a night in Salt Lake City. Our plan is to drive through part of Idaho, into Utah and then come home up through Grand Junction like usual.

     If you want to die happy, go to Glacier National Park. It's beautiful and I wish we could have spent more time there and that I had better hiking shoes. It's pretty undeveloped land. Not as popular (or populated) as Yellowstone which makes it better in my opinion. It's a lot of American Indians living around the area. The people in Montana are so friendly. We could happily live here I think. It's a lot of small towns that are still in the 1950's (with their storefront signs). People here just seem happy.

     I am soooo tired probably because I didn't sleep very well. Knowing we were getting up and going to be heading home today made for a sleepless kind of stressful night. We enjoyed our last night in the park though. Went on a long drive to the border of Canada and took a photo. Took an awesome dirt road around to Polebridge and had THE most amazing huckleberry macaroons. Apparently Montana is famous for their huckleberry products? So far we've had huckleberry cordials, huckleberry macaroons, huckleberry brownies, and I bought huckleberry scone mix and huckleberry syrup. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for a grocery store to hopefully pick up some cheaper huckleberry honey or jam for the Moms. They had some in the park but the prices are so high and we're running a little low of cash. If I can't find any, we'll just have to have a huckleberry scone tea and picturing sharing party!

     I am off now. Time to order a coffee and get on the road again.

Road Trip 2013: On the Road Again

It's Buns!

     This morning was our last morning in Yellowstone. Now we are on the road again (sitting in a mall parking lot eating Wendy's in Butte, Montana) heading up to Glacier National Park at the top of Montana. It feels like we've been gone for a long time yet not long at all. It's crazy that we're on day 6 of the trip and we could still be gone for another 4 days if we wanted.

     Our first day in Yellowstone we saw Old Faithful. Their were so many people there, it was absolutely ridiculous (refer to pictures in previous post). It's pretty mind blowing that there is boiling water under the earth that just decides to erupt right on schedule throughout the day. WEIRD.

     Yellowstone is beautiful and I couldn't get over the fact that it was in yucky ole Wyoming. It seems like it should be somewhere else where magical fairies live.

     We hiked to Mystic Falls (our longest walk while we were staying there). We drove around more of the park and saw boiling pots of water and mud and lots of animals. Well, mostly just buffalo. LOTS of buffalo.

      While on our trip so far we've seen a snake and scorpian in the desert, and a black bear, buffalo, bald eagles, big horn sheep, two wolves, osprey and a porcupine in Yellowstone. No grizzlies. Sasquatch was sad.

     The other night we drove around Yellowstone looking for a campsite until almost midnight. I was tired, I was grumpy, and I wanted out of the car. At about 10:30pm we stopped at the Lodge at Old Faithful to ask if there was anything available in the park and we ended up having to drive OUT of the park, back to the Tetons to camp at a site with a broken picnic table, right on the freeway for almost $40. And we had to drive almost an hour away to get there too.

     The next night we drove across the Yellowstone/Montana border and found an awesome camp spot that was so beautiful AND only $14. That's close to where Earthquake Lake was (refer to pictures in the previous post). Montana is gorgeous and reminds me a lot of Colorado but not as touristy and just...simpler.

     When we got into town in Montana to camp that night, we walked around some of the gift shops and the funniest thing that I saw was a Belly Button Lint Cleaner "For the person who has everything". I was so tempted to buy one just because I couldn't stop laughing!

     We are about four and a half hours away from Glacier right now and will end up driving the whole way there today (so we'll be sleeping somewhere in the park most likely, Mother 1 + 2. We are having an incredible time (but would like to shower soon) and we will continue to keep everyone posted!

      Love you all!

              Buns 

Road Trip 2013: DO NOT READ THIS.

Hey there fart farmers! Not a whole lot to report from the Sasquatch side.

    Spent the morning in Leadville yesterday shopping at the antique mall. We picked up a couple of epic pieces before we hit the road for Wyoming. After that, I spent the entire day behind the wheel torturing Buns with music and my my usual idiocy. Buns was getting grumpy around sunset, longing for some din-din and seepy time. So, being the incredibly reliable and visually tantalizing beast of a husband that I am, I used my keen sense of direction (and the teepee icons on the Road Atlas) to hunt down a suitable campground to bed down for the night.

     We landed at the Flaming Gorge Reservoir. We decided that since the camping spot was a slab of asphalt, we would sleep in the metal wagon. After a ton of rearranging and some extremely satisfying pancakes, we were ready to call it a night. After another night of flopping and twitching, Sasquatch bathed for the first time in a shower stall that more closely resembled a serial killers photo booth. Breakfast, coffee, and back on the road.

    Wyoming, for the most part, is a pretty unappealing place to be. But after the thousand hour drive through the barren wasteland of sage brush and handlebar mustaches, we made it to the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Stopped at McDonald's in Jackson to use the Wifi in order to write this entry that will only end in the brutal massacre of the readers' brain cells. But hey, that was well worth the food poisoning that will inevitably plague my innards once we are hundreds of miles from civilization.

     Next stop Yellowstone.

Road Trip 2013: Oh Give Me a Home Where the Buffalo Roam....

Hi everyone, it's Buns here sitting in the car at a gas station!

     
     We made it to Wyoming yesterday afternoon and stayed the night at the Flaming Gorge Reservoir campground between Rock Springs and Green River. It was a loooong afternoon because we couldn't decide where we wanted to stay. We drove to the KOA campground and it was only for RVs. So we tried to Google campgrounds in the area and the only thing that would come up were mobile home parks. We ended up driving about 30 minutes out of the way to finally find Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

     We were smart this time around and slept in the back of the car last night (cozier, warmer, safer). It rained just a little last night so I was glad we were covered in the car and didn't have to wake up to a wet tent again. It is HOT here today and we are just about ready to hit the road and head up to Grand Teton National Park and then up to Yellowstone. 

     
      On a more exciting note....I saw my first wild scorpion last night and it was tiny and! And! Soooo cute and....I wanted to take him home and mean ole Sasquatch told me no and, and, and....and then he smooshed it with a rock. Poor lil fella. Oh well. Probably for the best. After all, I didn't want him getting in our stuff.

   
I'm off to a potty break! 

      
     Talk soon!

             Buns

Road Trip 2013: Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's On the Road We Go

Hey there all you attractive mountain folk, this is Sasquatch comin' at you live from the lead mine, Leadville, CO.

     So far, so good on this epic trip we have embarked on. I don't have a lot to say about the trip so far except that it is exactly what I've been needing to break up the monotony of day to day life. The first leg of the trip has been pretty awesome. It's been fun watching Buns get all excited about sharing some of her favorite parts of her childhood with me. Leadville is a pretty rad little town. I think I'm going to have to drag my brothers up here for a weekend of debauchery.

     Our first night in the surprise tent we discovered in the back of our car was...interesting to say the least. I found that my 6' 1" body does not like to be compacted into a 5'x4' tent with another body and multiple bags. But, I conked out pretty quickly nonetheless. I slept great until I was awoken by the sounds of nature spitting in our faces. After that, the night was filled with tossing, turning, cursing, and trying my hand at the art of contortion. After a long night of no rest, I woke up in a not-so-great mood, but after a delicious breakfast and a little Jim Croce's "Photographs and Memories", I'm convinced that it will be smooth sailing from here on out.

Prepare yourself Wyoming...

     Until next time, this is Samsquamtch. Signing off.