Utah-Dino Tracks

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 A local land owner in St. George, made an amazing discovery while leveling his land down to the level of the highway. He discovered Dinosaur Tracks, and instead of continuing on in the name of progress, he gave over to paleontaligists to investigate, and they discovering the largest collection of the tracks in the world. It preserved a lake that once existed and the clay was so fine that it even preserved the impressions of their skin. Amazing! And we got to see it all.



That T-rex foot was even bigger than it looked. Wow!

Grand Canyon

Tuesday, July 29, 2008 We entered the Grand Canyon National Park on the North Rim, and never expected to see this.
Beautiful meadows amoung the pines, with wild herds of bison roaming around. And the temperature was back in the 70's at this elevation of over 7000 feet.

We hiked amoung the pines and crawled out onto a few outcropping to get the full effect of the Canyon, its depth is beyond perception.

Utah-Sand Dunes and Volcanoes in Snow Canyon?

Monday, July 28th, 2008




With our hands, still feeling numb from the Glaciers of the Rockies, it was very surreal to play in the Sand Dunes of the Snow Canyon State Park in 105 degree plus heat?

It was a land of beautiful colors, and it was saw hard to miss the immense black lava flows that covered the Red and Pink landscape.
The kids had to play in the giant Air pocket in the ancient lava flow.

Leaving Colorado in our Good as New Van

Saturday, July 26th, 2008 We got our van back and are ready to leave Colorado and head up to Utah, right on schedule even.
It was a beautiful day of travel through Vail, Aspen, and several lengthy tunnels.

Colorado-A Helping Hand up the Glacial Peak

Friday, July 25th, 2008The Rainbow and My brother Mac were signs of encouragement to help us in our Journey. The First night in the Rocky Mountain National preserve was colder than we would have ever imagined for being in the middle of the summer. We all struggled to stay warm enough to sleep that night. So I called Mac and he met us with reinforcements of warm, blankets, sleeping bags, jacket, beanies, and gloves. That made our sleeping feasible. Thank you Mac.

Mac also joined us the next day on a hike up into the Hallet Peak basin and past three beautiful snowmelt lakes.

Colorado-Montane ecosystem enjoyment

Thursday, July 24th, 2008



The Rockies are being infested with the Bark beetle as well. The evergreens are turning red, brown, and dying by the thousands. They are able to infest because the winter temperatures are higher and are not freezing them out. The scientists are saying it is another effect of the global warming, a few say it is cyclical, either way it is a horrible tragedy.

This is the Mighty Colorado river 5 miles from its mighty point of origin.

This the Colorado's state flower, the Columbine, and it was certainly an eye catcher.
Here we stood at the point where the mountains split the runoff water into the Missisippi to the East and the Colorado river to the West.

Colorado-On Top of the World in our Rental Car

Thursday, July24th, 2008
We most definitely keep on trekking in our new little Chevy Cobalt rental. We made it up into the Rocky Mountain National Park a day late, but we could not miss this magical land. We drove up above the treeline on the nation's highest highway, also known as Trail Ridge Road. We pulled over to explore the apline meadows and play in the glacial snows at 12,600 feet above sea level.

Alyssa the brave one, standing at a safe distance from the Elk grazing in the apline meadow, while every one else stayed in the car. She is actually standing on the side of the road with dozens of other tourists standing by in awe. It was quite a spectical.


I was captivated by the beautiful miniture bunches of wild flowers that are able to bloom in this harsh environment.

Broke in Colorado

Monday-Wednesday, July 21st-23rd, 2008

   "This too shall pass."

    Nothing like a little adversity to remind you of human vulnerability in this age of modernity. We blew up our transmission at the end of 12 hours of driving through Kansas and Colorado, as we climbed up t0 5600 feet elevation, just about 99 miles outside of Denver.  Monday Night along side the road, Tuesday's uncertainty, and Wednesday's wait all worked out so that we had a place to stay, food to eat, and the time and resources to find a proper fix for our problem. Turns out this particular VIN of Honda Odyssey had minor problems with 2nd gear and the module that shortened its life. We are getting a Honda factory updated transmission and updated module that will bring our van back to modernity.  

In the meantime, we are departing for the Rockies in a rental to continue enjoying our time together.