Rocky Mountain NP to B'ham

 
We headed towards Walden, CO where we stopped and had lunch.  Faris took off on his bike after lunch but we did not feel like the road was safe enough and he was averaging 12 mph with the headwind.   I picked him up then dropped him off at Rand, CO where the road was better and they have the loveliest outhouse ever, complete with western décor available for purchase.  He climbed over the pass and we headed towards Grand Lake, CO, which is right outside of Rocky Mountain National Park.  I found an awesome campsite on a ridge overlooking Grand Lake with a beautiful view of the Rockies. 

 I unhooked the camper and then decided to check the water….no water.  Walked up to the camp host who informed me that the bathrooms were locked as well because the temperature dropped to 9 degrees the other night.  That’s great, it’s 60 degrees today but let’s keep the water off “in case it freezes”.  So, I started looking for other campsites and of course, they all have the water turned off because of the freeze two days ago.  We drove into Granby and picked up Faris, had dinner, then started looking for a place to stay.  We headed into Rocky Mountain National Park to check out the RV resort there and almost ran into this guy:

He was just hanging out with his harem of does. He was huge.

That RV resort (that’s somewhat hilarious to type because using “resort” in the description of these places is very deceptive) was closed for the season as well so we headed into Grand Lake and really scored with Columbine Cabins.  Faris calls the number on the door, the lady takes our credit card over the phone, and tells us to just pick one that’s unlocked.  Hospitality at its finest. 

Eli's standard outfit, no pants

 So our wedding anniversary went from a beautiful campsite with a campfire overlooking the Rockies to a cabin decorated in wolf décor, complete with wolf shower curtain, two crying kids, and a cheap bottle of wine.  We opted to go to bed and try again the next day.

The next morning I did three loads of laundry while running in and out of the coffee shop where Faris and the kids were having breakfast.  We packed up and headed out for a hike to Adams Falls in Rocky Mountain National Park
This was our view from the meadow we hiked to:

Very short hike, breathtaking view.  Meanwhile, as we are enjoying the meadow and the view, Eli falls headfirst in a hole.  As he told me, “I fell in a hole Mama and it was dark in there”.  We both laughed silently as we cleaned him off and doctored his busted up chin.  

Rocky Mountain National Park

We headed back into town, grabbed a coffee and a birthday present for Eli, and headed towards Hot Sulfur Springs….not much here, keep going.  OK, let’s try Kremmling….even less here, keep going.  We decided to go over Gore Pass “just in case” we might want to stop in Summit County.  I pretty much planned on it from the minute we left that morning.  So we make it over the pass and decided that dry camping was not in the cards since it was getting below freezing again that night.  Onward to one of the most beautiful places in my world, Summit County!  

Minturn Saloon

We stopped in Minturn and had dinner at the Minturn Saloon which is where our rehearsal dinner was.  Had a couple of Fat Tires and grilled quail followed by some great Mexican.  We started looking for hotels and found out that the Park Hyatt had rooms available.  So, the Clampetts headed up to Beaver Creek with our camper, knowing they weren’t gonna let us in.  So we pull up to the gate and pulled the “we have a reservation at the Park Hyatt but don’t know where to put our camper” card. – because lots of people that stay there have campers in tow.   After several phone calls to security they reluctantly agreed to let us park it in a parking lot way on the backside of the mountain and we were in!  We pulled up to the Hyatt and Faris worked his magic, getting us a junior suite for a regular room price and we fell up in there like a bunch of fat cats. 

Park Hyatt, Beaver Creek

 They had s’mores out by the firepit which the kids loved right before bedtime.  After s’mores we went up to the room, let the kids jump on the bed and watch a movie, then settled in to the best night’s sleep we’ve had in weeks. 
The next morning was breakfast at the Hyatt followed by a dip in the hot tub while Mary Logue took a nap.  Sweet girl didn’t even know she was taking one of the best naps of her life, at the base of Beaver Creek Ski Resort under the golden aspens with a gentle wind blowing her hair.


We took a few minutes to visit the chapel where we were married and it was just as beautiful as it was seven years ago.  Eli thought we said “We’re going to show you where we got Mary” because he kept asking us, “Where is she?”.  We finally figured out that he either thinks we have someone named Mary hidden in our basement that we’re waiting to spring on him or that we picked up Mary Logue from the Beaver Creek Chapel.  Regardless,  we stopped trying to explain it to him and just took some cute pics on the altar:

As we were admiring the chapel the 1:30 chimes started playing “Oh the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus” which just brought me to tears thinking of how blessed we are to have each other, our beautiful children, and the strong faith in Christ that we share.

Beaver Creek Chapel

We hitched up the camper and started heading towards Vail while Faris took off on his bike to conquer Vail Pass as his last ride, a 4,000 foot climb.  We stopped in Silverthorne because I just wasn’t feeling like the weather was great for riding and sure enough, Faris called and said he was riding through several inches of snow and couldn’t feel his hands.  We picked him up at Copper Mountain and headed towards Indian Hot Springs Resort in Idaho Springs. 
Our little camper rocked all night from the strong winds and even lost power once because the wind was blowing so hard.  Sarah V told us the next morning that several windows in downtown Denver had been blown out of buildings from the 90 mph wind that came through that night.  We were happy to see the sun come up and get out of that place that once again, had no water. 

So we got some coffee in Idaho Springs at the best doughnut shop with the nicest owner who comes in at midnight to cook his old fashioned doughnuts.  Faris is a doughnut connoisseur and he christened it the best doughnut shop ever.  We headed towards Denver to meet Sarah and Ron for breakfast, stormed Annie’s Café in our pajamas for a quick breakfast, then headed east.  Leaving Denver, we both kept glancing in the rear view mirror at the Rockies, sadly leaving the mountains that are so dear to us.  Such a comforting place that transcends all the worries and silly things we busy ourselves with at home.  I had just read 2 Corinthians 10:12 which says those that compare themselves with others are not wise.  I feel surrounded by comparison at home and am thankful to have escaped that hollow feeling for a few weeks in the wilderness where that measurement does not exist. 

From this point on it was just about getting home.  The kids did great in the car on Thursday since they were catching up on sleep.  We let them play at the mall in Salina, KS before strapping them in the car for a couple more hours of driving while they were sleeping.  We pulled into Kansas City, KS about 1:30 am and slept in a cheap hotel for the night.  The next morning we celebrated Eli’s birthday by letting him have a balloon bath and letting him swim in the hotel swimming pool.  I know, we’re parents of the year. 

We celebrated with birthday cake and presents at the local Chipotle Mexian Grill where I’m sure they were thrilled to have me lighting candles on a three year old’s birthday cake during their lunch rush hour.  Eli questioned my birthday tactics with, “How did you make that cake Mama?” and I begrudgingly told him I bought it at the grocery store that morning while he was sleeping.  Didn’t seem to phase him but that kid wants to know the details of how things work, and he could not figure out how I whipped up that cake in the hotel room.

We made it to Clinton, MO before finally having an issue with the camper.  However, it was a very anticlimactic event as we were only going 30 mph when the right tire on the camper went flat. 

 There happened to be a tire store in Clinton that had two tires that fit our camper so Faris pumped it up enough to get us to the tire store.  This interesting establishment had the following:  several negatively connotated signs stating in some way or another “do not bother me” or “you get on my nerves”; an elk with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth; and several boxes and file cabinets that have not seen daylight since the 1960’s.  We had quite a crowd of ruffians changing the tire, and since we had been warned by the signs to not bother the lady running the shop, we paid our bill and headed out.  Of course Eli had to use the bathroom while we were there since he picks the most inopportune times at the nastiest bathrooms to have to go, but we told him this time he was gonna have to take one for the team and hold it. 

We made it to the outskirts of Springfield, MO for dinner and a romp through WalMart as our physical activity outing for the night before donning the kids in pajamas and heading towards Memphis.

We thought about driving through the night but once we got to West Memphis, AR and saw a KOA right off the interstate we decided to pull over.  It was a good decision since we were both asleep withini minutes of unpacking.  We decided on this trip that staying in a hotel is troublesome compared to staying in the camper.  We can unpack and set the camper up in about five minutes whereas a hotel room can take us up to an hour beause we have to rummage through everything.  The camper has been great.  Need some socks?  Just stick your hand under the bed and there should be some there.  Want a snack?  Just open up the pantry over your head and get something. Our little mobile house has been perfect, cozy, and warm.
We met up with Drew and Kim Willson and their kids for coffee on Saturday and completely demolished Holiday Ham between our four kids.  They had a blast playing together.  On our way out we spotted a new Gus’ Fried Chicken location, circled back around, and got us a brown paper bag of hot fried chicken.  We felt like the most gluttonous people ever but enjoyed every single bite.  If you’ve never had it, I suggest you drive to Memphis and get some.  It is delicious.  Nothing like your family of four munching on chicken legs and fighting over the crispies in the bottom of the bag on the drive home. 
We pulled into our driveway and got a very big welcome from Waylon, our stunning pedigree shelter puppy. He was very relieved to see us and gave Mary Logue lots of kisses.  They are big buddies and were so glad to see each other.  We decided we needed another day off so we picked up dinner and watched some football completely ignoring the camper on the street and the car that was so packed you couldn’t fit a shoestring in it.

So it was basically a perfect trip.  We lived simply, with nature as our entertainment.   It would do everyone good to MAKE the opportunity to spend some time with your spouse and children completely out of your element.  It was the most wonderful, peaceful time of our marriage.   We were able to escape the weight and awareness of time, and with it the trite sayings that people believe to be true for their lives, such as “the grass isn’t always greener.”  Well, sometimes it is, and it definitely was for us. There’s nothing wrong with wanting different if you’re willing to go for it.  You will be better just for having exposed yourself to something new.   

 We live in a world where we don’t get outside to experience the main gift God gave us, His creation, therefore we have too much time and lack inspiration.  We amuse ourselves to death with reality shows and the quest for comfort and safety instead of experiencing what it feels like to live a little bit on the edge.  God rewards us for living a little bit on the edge.  Christ says in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it ABUNDANTLY”.  You don’t get abundant life by always seeking comfort and safety.  The world tells us if we, “buy this, do this, use this product, eat this food, do this workout” we will be made complete but really this just keeps us from knowing the life that we were meant to have, which is joyful and abundant.  

 Again I’ll quote from “Through Painted Deserts” where Donald Miller says,
“God bestows three blessings on man: to feed him like birds, dress him like flowers, and befriend him as a confidant.  Too many take the first two and neglect the last.  Sooner or later you figure out life is constructed specifically and brilliantly to squeeze man into association with the Owner of heaven.  It is a struggle, with labor pains and thorny landscape, bloody hands, and a sweaty brow, moments of severe loneliness and questioning…..life is a dance toward God….and the dance is not so graceful as we might want.”

He goes on to talk about how we are not missing anything we need to experience the magnitude of our life story.  Everything is the same as where we left it five weeks ago, but we have changed for the better.  You only have one story to live, why not venture out into it? 

Grand Teton NP to Encampment, WY

Our first full day in Grand Teton National Park was great.  Faris went through Wilson and rode over Teton Pass.  The other side of the pass is in Idaho and we had talked about meeting there so I went on with the kids and set up their lunch in a field while we waited on Faris.  What he meant to say was “I am turning around and coming back to Wilson.”  So, me and the kids had lunch in a random field in Idaho,  filled up the car, and headed back into Wyoming.  Since the kids were sleeping, I drove the Jenny Lake scenic route and it was spectacular.  When they woke up I took them to the summit of Signal Mountain and we “hiked” a little at the top of the mountain. 

Signal Mountain summit

 Eli was really excited to be up there and wanted to take off down the mountain.  I finally convinced him that if we did we wouldn’t have our car and he agreed to go back down in the car.  

Mary Logue calling a chipmunk

 We met up with Faris at String Lake and let the kids play on the banks of the lake for awhile.  

String Lake

String Lake

 As we were walking across a small bridge I saw a really big bird.  All the birds out here seem awfully big but this one seemed bigger and different.  Turns out it was a bald eagle!  Absolutely beautiful bird.  As it flew it glided through the air with what looked like no effort.  Quite a privilege to see such a beautiful animal. 

It was dinnertime so we headed back towards our campsite down Moose Wilson Road.  We were able to pull over again and see another mooa seven point elk and his harem (which really means a 14 point elk and his 10 doe), and a beaver.  We fed the kids at The Mangy Moose in Teton Village and headed home for the night. 
We decided to spend a couple of days in the town of Jackson so we headed into town to check it out.  After stopping for coffee and a danish (we have yet to have a good cup of coffee on this trip which is astonishing as there is a coffee house on every corner), we checked out several mid range hotels and decided on The Lexington because it was right in town and the kids could swim.  We came back, packed up the camper, and headed out on a hike down the Death Canyon trail.  Of course Faris picked that hike, do you think I would pick anything called Death Canyon? 

 We hiked up, each with a child on our backs, to the Phelps Lake overlook.  There we had lunch and enjoyed the incredible views of the lake and the canyon. 

 Eli was saying he was ready to go back to the car which is our signal for naptime so we headed down bouncing and jumping and rocking the kids in the backpack the whole way trying keep them awake.  We made it to the car, but they never went to sleep.  Not good.

At The Lexington there was an indoor pool so we swam with the kids then started getting ready for dinner.  Eli was already melting down in the room but we were determined to go to dinner at Local to have an early anniversary celebration.  During the off season the nice restaurants do two for one entrée specials so we wanted to take advantage of it.  It definitely turned into a three ring circus.  Both kids were melting down.  Faris left with the kids, I ordered wine, he came back with Mary Logue asleep in the stroller, Eli with the iPad and headphones, ordered a stiff drink, and we made it through a wonderful ribeye dinner.  Took the kids for ice cream afterwards and they slept until 8:00 the next morning.  

Mary Logue and I did a little shopping the next morning while the boys rode the scooter.  We met them in the park for a camper sandwich (that’s when you walk all the way back to the hotel to make sandwiches in the camper then walk back to the park with lunch even though there’s a sandwich shop across from the park – we’re serious about using up our groceries!) then headed out towards Granite Falls and hot springs.  After a wrong turn detour, we got on course and found the road to Granite Falls.  It was very windy, steep, and bumpy.  Needless to say, we were the only ones on it.  Seems that we are pretty much the only ones backcountry camping in Wyoming right now period.  Whatever, everyone else is really missing out because we’re having a great time and loving!  At the hot springs we are, of course, the only ones there. 

Granite Hot Springs

  The guy that lives there seven months of the year and runs it told us to be careful if we were hiking because there was a bear cub and a moose behind his cabin yesterday.  Well, I’ve been cool about bears as long as someone else was around, but since we were the only ones camping in the closed campground that night in the backcountry, I was freaked out.  I’m pretty cool about letting Faris  go do whatever but that night I told him he couldn’t walk down to the river to get water because that’s where all the animals were and if he got eaten by a bear I wouldn’t know who to call that night.  He just looked at me with that look of “you have made this much bigger in your head than it will ever be in real life”, went on a walk, then came in for the night.  I had had a double espresso earlier in the day so between that and being afraid that a bear was going to come shake our camper that night, I probably slept three or four hours. 

Faris teaching Eli how to warm his hands over the fire

 The next morning we cooked breakfast with the deer standing there watching us and headed out.  This campsite was truly the earth God meant to speak before we finished His sentence, to borrow another quote from the book I'm reading.  Gorgeous and pristine.  I’m glad we did it despite my fears of being a bear snack.

We decided to attempt the natural hot spring the next morning so Eli and I walked down the road to the waterfall to check it out.  Faris and Mary Logue joined us shortly and we found a place to cross the river.  We each grabbed a kid and started across.  Coldest water I’ve ever felt in my life up to our mid shins with the current rushing by.  It took us about 30 seconds to cross the river and when I got to the other side I could not feel my feet at all.  We stood there for a second then crossed the second crossing before coming to the natural hot spring. 

quick diaper change!

 Well worth it!  It was a little pool under a hot waterfall that cascaded into a pool.  Such a cool experience.  We hung out for awhile then headed back across the river to wrap up our Granite Springs experience.  

We drove back through Grand Teton National Park and dropped Faris off at Moran Junction, which is where you can go towards Yellowstone or Grand Teton.  I drove over the next two passes down the Togwatee Trail into Dubois, WY.  Cooked a spaghetti dinner and felt my heart stop when a raccoon jumped out of the dumpster at me as I was taking out the trash.  I used to get scared as a kid when possums were in our trash can but they don’t have a fight in them like this raccoon did.  I slammed the lid down and he opened it himself and jumped out, causing such a ruckus as he got out that I was sure he was headed straight for me.  Since it was dark I couldn’t tell where he was going but then I saw him scurry off towards the woods, which was away from me, which was the most important thing at that time.    Never have I been so scared of a small furry animal.  Every time I look at Mary Logue’s little stuffed raccoon I shudder a little now. 

 Did the scenic drive of Dubois, home of the 2010 state chariot racing finals…what?  Yes, they get in chariots with horses and race for a state title.  Need to see that one to really wrap my head around it.
  Stopped at a leather shop to get Eli a western belt but only ended up having a very uncomfortable discussion with a man who wanted to get my name and number in case I was able to find some spare animal parts for him once I got back down south.  Enter Faris into the shop, thankfully, because I then drug him into the discussion and let him squirm for a little while.  This ole boy uses every part of an animal you can think of to make dresses, crochet needle, anything imaginable.   

 We headed towards Saratoga, WY and stayed at the Wolf Hotel because there was no place to camp, hit the free hot springs the next morning, and headed towards Encampment and the Medicine Bow National Forest. 

Encampment is where Faris guided for Young Life in the summer of 2000.  He took inner city kids out into the wilderness for a week and they had to be self sufficient, meaning they carried all of their food and gear for a week.   It is also the summer that I ran into one of Faris’ friends while I was living in Colorado and that said friend reminded Faris about me when he came to visit him in Encampment and the rest is history.  I’ll just say this….for those of you that don’t know the details of the story of how we ended up together,  just ask one of us one day.  It’s a crazy beautiful story that could only be orchestrated by God.  Our marriage is a true blessing and journey that only He could have pieced together.  

In Encampment you have one shot at camping.  We pull up into the RV park and basically got run out by the lady that runs it.  Not sure what her problem was but she made both of us just mad enough to figure out a way to stay in Encampment regardless of her.  It was too cold to dry camp in the forest so when the lady in the gas station told Faris about the free hookups beside the senior center “in town” on Fourth Avenue(which was a dirt road) we were all about it.  So here’s our lovely campsight with 12 mph winds:  

Again, the only ones there but we don’t care, it’s perfect for us!  We unhitched the camper and headed into Medicine Bow National Forest.  We drove over the top of the Snowy Range, named so because it has snow year round.  Eli and Faris built a snowman at the top of the pass and we all played outside in the cold, windy weather.  

Here’s an island that Faris and his other guide friends dared each other to swim to in June 1999 and ended up with hypothermia.  Probably seemed like a good idea at the time.   

Coming back down we took a different back road that was gorgeous.  It wound through private forms along the North Platte River so the kids were able to see a lot of cows, sheep, and horses, and even a herd of black antelope.

We cooked pizza, broccoli, and sweet potatoes in our toaster oven, watched a movie, and called it a night.  Woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise, ready to head to Colorado!