The Fabulous Winter Break of '12/'13!

Four weeks ago to the day, Carl and I loaded our camping gear in the Rocket Box and set sail from Missoula in the trusty Purple Pancreas for an epic journey through nine states in the Southwest U.S.of.A. (and the Pacific Ocean). Our first stop: Craters of the Moon, Idaho. We camped just outside the park on the coldest night of our trip. We ended up eating dinner that night and breakfast the next morning in the heat of the Soobee just to stay warm.

We hastily packed our camp in the morning and headed for Reno because we had friends to stay with, to whom we are eternally grateful! Our stop in Reno was quick. We got up early and hit the road, headed to San Fran to see the Golden Gate Bridge. I'm lacking in photos from the first few days, but after San Fran we headed to Death Valley, which is where the photos begin.

Driving into Death Valley

 

SWEET syncline in Titus Canyon, Death Valley

(That's me for scale down at the bottom of the curve.)

That's some stressed out rock.

(Me for scale again.)

More in Titus Canyon.

Gas in Death Valley cost an arm, a leg, and a tiny wooden figurine

with an over-sized 'badonk-a-donk.'

Salt flats in Death Valley.

Dante's Overlook - Death Valley

Helicopter riding to see LAVA!!

There's the lava! :)

The cruise ship docked in Hilo. We hung out

at a cool little park/beach soakin' up the rays.

That's when I realized that was the boat we were on.

Our second day in Hawaii was in Honolulu. We decided to go see Pearl Harbor and then find something else to do for the rest of the day. We ended up getting on the wrong bus and drove WAY past Pearl Harbor and then finally got off the bus somewhere quite far from where we had intended on going. While we were waiting at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere, a super friendly bus driver who was just starting his route for the day picked us up - evidently we looked lost - and we weren't even on his route. He took us to a transfer station and gave us new bus tickets and sent us on our way! It was a fun journey to nowhere! We finally made it to Pearl Harbor and then off to the beach!

Sheela the Destroyer!

(Pearl Harbor)

Waimea Canyon - Kaua'i

Whale watching!!! The people watching on tour boat

was just as fabulous, if not better than the whales!

That's our cruise boat waaaaay of in the distance.

La Brea Tar Pit - L.A.

Dr. Seuss plants at La Brea

Another exotic plant. I'm standing upright

in this photo! The leaves are HUGE!

Eight seconds, baby.

We headed for Las Vegas out of L.A. after our first stop on our Tour of the Southwest Auto Repair Shops. We had to see the night life in Vegas just because. We went to the MGM Grand and bought tickets to a Cirque du Soleil show, which, unfortunately, happened to be the WORST live performance we've ever seen. Ever. So we left and headed to a campground. It was the warmest night we spent outside and we were greeted by Coco the Ewok Spaniel. Next stop: Hoover Dam!

The Mighty Hoover Dam

The Grand Canyon

T-Rex prints in the middle of nowhere Arizona.

(Pink Crocs, size 9 for scale.)

Fossilized Dino yolks.

Thanks to Sheela's sturdy birthin' hips, she was able to

be in four states at once!

When we got to Flagstaff, we had to do our second stop on the Tour of the Southwest Auto Repair Shops, which set us back a little on our schedule, but again, not too bad. We got the car back in the late afternoon and decided to head to Mesa Verde.

Mesa Verde - The Spruce Tree House

Cliff Palace

After the awesome sights at Mesa Verde, we set a goal to just get to Moab so we could spend some extra time at Arches National Park. However, that's when our third and final stop on the Tour of the Southwest Auto Repair Shops happened. We stopped to try to heist a funny road sign and the car just puttered out with no warning! We managed to get it running for a few more miles when came upon a car accident that had closed the road. We had to wait for a good while and luckily, the car started again, but not for long. We made it about 3 more miles and the Soobee couldn't do it. We were about 50 miles south of Moab and we called AAA, who sent us a tow truck with "clutch issues." The driver was in good spirits about it and took us to Moab, dropped off our car, and then took us to a nearby campsite. We ended up spending the day in Moab while the mechanics replaced the alternator and the drive belt on the car. At the close of business, the car was fixed and we headed into Arches. . . FINALLY!

One of the Courthouse Towers in Arches National

Park at Moonrise.

(Moon for scale.)

Double Arch!!!!

Mildly inappropriate, but oh so very funny!

Delicate Arch at Sunset - May be my favorite sight

of the whole trip!

The weather was kind of foggy here, so the pictures aren't superb, but it was beautiful! We camped one night in the park before we beet feet up to West Yellowstone and then back to Missoula.

Canyonlands National Park

Seattle

A few weekends ago, Carl and I drove to Seattle to visit a friend of mine from Ireland who was visiting the area. It was so good to see Gianna! We spent one day in Seattle and another day on Whidbey Island, which is where we stayed for the weekend. 

View of the Seattle skyline from the 

new ferris wheel on the pier. 

And of course, we brought Sheela. 

Here she is in the Space Needle

Sunset at the Deception Pass Bridge

We tried to take a photo of Sheela outside this cool old

military fort (Fort Ebey, but more commonly known as

Fort eBay) but it's hard to see her, so Carl is there to help

see her. She's right above the 1942 in in the top right corner.

Taking the ferry from Whidbey Island to Seattle.

Snow!

I woke up this morning and what do I find? SNOW in my backyard! It was quite the zinger! 

Get ready for ski season!

Missoula from the Air

Pictures from Carl's paragliding flight today.

Missoula is still really smokey. 

Lewis & Clark Caverns

I took a jaunt with Carl and Sheela to to Lewis and Clark Caverns on Saturday to evade the Griz Football crowds in Missoula. The smoke was terrible in that part of the state, but it was a nice day to be out anyway.

Sheela Stalagtite.

We let Sheela go down the slide on

her own and her OTHER toes fell off!

Looks a bit like a scene from the Little Mermaid if you ask me.

Kind of looks like an alien. Or Grandmother 

Willow from Pocahontas.

Cool geology. :)

They have begun to put in new lighting in the caverns. This

is the only room they've completed the process. The new lighting

is colored more like natural light, so supposedly you see 

the more natural colors of the rocks here. Pretty cool, eh?

This is an old limestone quarry cave down by

the Jefferson River, just on your way up to the 

caverns. My shoes are pretty reflective.

South to Montana!

I'm ba-ack!! Two weeks shy of a year and I'm finally back in Montana. It's been a good, good year, but I've sure missed home!

My two friends Whitney and Helen flew to Anchorage to make the drive down with me. We were SO lucky and ended up with absolutely wonderful weather for the whole drive! It took us three and a half days to make it from Girdwood to Libby! Unfortunately, we didn't stop to do much along the way, but the scenery and the company was incredible!

Destruction Bay at sunset

Uh-oh! We made it, but just barely! Thanks to Helen's

Mario Andretti entrance into the gas station!

I think the Canadians were impressed!

Who is actually working here? And why can't we get through? 

We had to sit here while these two chatted, then the girl in neon 

got a roll of TP and made her way into the trees for a spell, 

and then the lady holding the sign tooksome pictures of the 

neon girl. The Yukon is a strange place.

Mount Robson. Almost to Jasper!

Jasper National Park

Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig strrrrrrrrrrrrreetch. . . aaaaaaaaah.

Stuffed in the car.

Makin' dinner on the road.

Beautiful sunset in Jasper.

 Group foto.