Vacation

On the Road Again

About six weeks ago, these hoomans got their second dose of vaccinations, and we hit the road to visit family. We hadn’t made the trip since October 2019. That last trip had been the first with our aging husky and our Casita trailer. We found the best route to travel with stops at Clayton Lake State Park and Gentry Creek Campground, make the trip more enjoyable; and we don’t feel like zombies when we arrive.
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Juniper’s First Campout

The new year brought a sad parting with our 15yo husky-malamute, Pakak, the pup, the last of our original pack of seven dogs. The house sat quiet and empty for about a week while we allowed ourselves some time. Having spent the last 18 years with a family of four husky-malamutes, we knew we wanted another husky or malamute, a sled dog, a northern breed. We also wanted another rescue dog, so we started looking around our local humane societies and Colorado based breed specific rescues. Pakak on the Chama River, September 2020
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Best Laid Plans

In my last camping post, I signed off with the intention of being Alaska bound this summer. That dream did not become reality this year. It is interesting to observe the twists and turns, the changes that life has laid before us as an alternative.
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Looking Back as We Move Ahead

I’ll admit, I’ve been dragging my heels to make a post after my last one about fire season, lest I jinx us. We held our breath for an awful long time. Since I started writing this, the Camp Fire and other wildfires in California showed us that those fears can be well founded. Neighborhoods are not immune, and I know ours has a big forest, wild-land interface.
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Chaco NM trip

November 14-22, 2014 Now that it’s been a year since we visited, I’m finally getting around to writing about our Chaco vacation that I mentioned in my last post about my Chimney Rock Workshop. I thought about making this post a series like I did for our Utah trip, but I didn’t have nearly as many photos to share.
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Ultimate Summer Camp(s)

Autumn is coming at least a week later this year, and I don’t mind at all. I’d meant to write and post this at least three weeks ago when we would have celebrated the equinox with a color drive, but we still haven’t really taken that drive. We did head to Colorado Springs the first weekend of October to pick up our rebuilt transmission. The aspen were changing, mostly on the east side of the Divide. A week later, the Gamble oak in our yard started to change.
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Utah Spring Vacation | Final Day 7

Our neighbors really did leave early, before the dogs woke us up, and so quietly that we didn’t realize they’d left. Originally our trip plan was to get back by Saturday so we could have Sunday to recoup. When we woke up on Friday, April 18th, the weather radio again prompted us to change our plans. Storms were expected at least by the next day. Not wanting to travel in the rain and wind, we decided to go ahead and head home via Comb Wash Road – Aneth – back to where we’d crossed into Utah at Ismay Trading Post and on to McElmo Canyon.
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Utah Spring Vacation | Day 6

By Thursday, April 17th, we’d hit most of our highlights and were trying to decide what else we should do on the way back home. Knowing it would be too warm to sit in the canyon with the dogs that day, we packed up and headed to Natural Bridges National Monument. Since we did still have the dogs, we didn’t take any hikes—although the helpful Ranger at the station let us know where our dogs were allowed, but we did drive through the park and pull over at each vista, taking in the Owachomo, Sipapu, and Kachina Bridges.
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Utah Spring Vacation | Day 5

Routej Day 5, You can see my map of the overall route on google maps.
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Utah Spring Vacation | Day 4

Tuesday, April 15th was our layover day in the Cathedral Valley campground. We spent a lazy day drinking margaritas and baking biscuits in the dutch oven. Our neighbors went out for a hike so we took the opportunity to walk the dogs around the campground, and I picked my mandolin. We were visited by a park ranger, and took every opportunity to walk to the edge and take in the view.
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