Time to Travel!

Our camper at Hourseshoe Canyon Trailhead

It is a beautiful spring in Colorado and even though we are enjoying it we are still feeling the urge to explore. Our last trip to Utah did go not as expected.  I hurt my knee so we were forced to hang out in Durango instead of doing a backpack trip to Grand Gulch with our friends. After all the planning and packing it was really tough to have to stay behind.  We had a quiet week while I rested  my knee.  The following week we went back to Utah, to Horseshoe Canyon and Bruce fulfilled our volunteer commitment doing trail maintenance and answering questions from visitors to the canyon.  For a remote site there were more people that we expected.  Bruce did the 7mile hike each day and enjoyed the interactions with visitors. It turned out to be a good week even though I spent most of it in the parking lot.

Volunteer Bruce ready to hike

Some of the amazing rock art in Horseshoe Canyon

Now head towards the Pacific Northwest.  The plan is to spend a night in Utah to see rock art near Vernal then up through Idaho and into Oregon to see Crater Lake.  From there we plan to folow the coast up through Washington, turn west to northern Idaho to visit family and back to Colorado.  We hope that the weather will be cool and the roads not yet crowded.  We have visited this area a few times before but hope to take a more leisurely pace.  That will be hard for us but we really do have to learn to slow down!

Packing this time will be so much easier.  Packing for Utah was difficult because we were stayin in such a remote areas.  Packing for Newfoundland was challenging because we were not sure what to expect and we were gone for a longer time.

This trip we hope to visit farmer's markets and farms and will be more familiar with the lifestyles and stores.  We just need to remember to take the rain gear.

In Utah I really learned to use my ipad and it was great for travel.  We still have not made the conversion to smart phones and so will have to depend on finding places where internet is available. We have read that all Oregon State Parks have wifi in the campsites.  That will help a lot.

The camper is packed, mail stopped, house keys handed out to friends who will keep an eye on the house so I guess we are ready to go!