Home Sweet Home

After leaving Colorado, we spent our longest day on the road driving across Kansas and into Missouri--probably our least favorite part of the entire trip.  We didn't take a single picture in Kansas.  Wherever the beautiful parts of Kansas are, they are not on I-70.  Our impression of the state was not helped by the 105 degree heat wave we drove through.  In Missouri, we stopped in St. Louis so Alex could add another Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt to his collection.  Then we made camp in Nashville where Alex scored yet another t-shirt, and we had a great breakfast at the Pancake Pantry the next morning before heading home.  We had been in St. Louis on our previous "trial RV trip" last November, and had visited Nashville twice before for tours of Vanderbilt University.  We like Nashville and the drive from there through the pretty hills of Chatanooga on the way home.  We arrived back in Columbus in the mid afternoon to a wonderful welcome sign on our door put up by our neighbors, the Hastys.  We spent the rest of the day and evening unpacking and cleaning the RV.  The following day, I returned the RV to the rental company in Tuscaloosa--another four hours of driving.

We wound up being on the road for 47 days . . .  just shy of 7 weeks.  During this time, we visited 19 states outside of Georgia, 10 major cities, and 11 national parks.  We travelled 9,749 miles in the RV and also rode on a bus, train, taxi, cable car, horse, ferry boat, house boat, raft, bicycle, ATV, cable gondola, and a borrowed SUV.

It was great family time, and a wonderful opportunity to see so much of the country that we had never experienced.  Every day, it seemed, was jam-packed with activities.  It was not a "restful" vacation, but resting was not what we had set out to do.  We had a couple of close calls--especially with Kirk.  But other than a sore wrist, he and everyone else made it home safe and sound with a lifetime's worth of memories.

George 7/22/2011

Colorado White Waters and Air Force Blue

Day 44, miles 8,049, states 15

Raft #1 with Kirk, Natalie, Tessa & Tammy

Alex checks out the Air Force Academy

Tammy and the twins met us as planned in Colorado Springs, and after taking a tour of the Air Force Academy with the boys, we drove into town and saw the final "Harry Potter" movie, explored the downtown area a bit, and then did a little shopping and had dinner at a mall before finally heading back to the RV park on the Air Force base and calling it a day.  Tammy and the twins got a hotel room just outside the base.  They met us again this morning, and we all climbed in the RV and drove to Canon City, for our Colorado white water expedition.  Natalie and Andi were a little nervous at first, but they did fine.  The weather was perfect and the river was not too cold. 

Getting ready for our Colorado white water adventure

Raft #2 with the twins, Andi, George, Alex, and two other rafters.

Following our white water adventure, we drove back to Colorado Springs and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant.  This is where we had to say goodbye to Tessa.  Her aunt Tracy, who lives in Colorado Springs, met us after dinner and picked her up.  Tessa will spend the next few days with her before flying back to North Carolina.  Tessa was also sad to say goodbye and asked if we could have one last breakfast together tomorrow before we head back toward home.  So we will meet her again in the morning (hooray!).  We are hoping to make it all the way across Kansas tomorrow.  Natalie made me check the weather (you know . . .  Kansas . . . Dorothy . . . tornadoes).  I didn't see any bad weather in the forcast--only a bad heat wave.  High of 105.

Friends, Gondolas, Caves, Swings, Slides, and Hail Storms

Day 42, Colorado Springs, CO, miles 7867, states 15,

Driving in to Colorado on HIghway 70

Wow, seems like it's been non-stop action since our last post.  I will apologize up front for what will be the longest post on our blog to date.



From left to right (more or less) Barb's kids Taylor and Alex (our Alex behind), Tammy (with twin #1 Samantha below), Barbara (with George behind and twin #2 Hannah below), Tessa, Andi, Natalie, Kirk



Glenwood Springs, CO

After our brief resupply stop in Grand Junction, we once again met up with Tammy and her twin girls in Glenwood Springs, CO.  Tammy had just driven down from Breckenridge with her friend Barbara, and Barbara's two kids, Taylor (14) and Alex (12).  Together we formed a good-sized mob of 12 people.  We met everyone at the hot springs, where Tammy and Barb's kids were having a blast.  Then we all had dinner at a local brew pub.  The food was good enough that we wound up going back the next night.  Natalie especially loved the root beer floats with root beer made at the pub.  It was nice to spend an evening socializing with some other families again.  We found a pretty good little RV park on the side of the mountain just south of town.  The nice dinner with everyone had kept us out later than usual, but I managed to snake the RV up the winding road at night and find our spot on the side of the hill, and we called it a night.

Natalie prepares for another gondola ride up a mountain

Tammy and Barb had our next day planned for us at the Adventureland Park on the mountainside overlooking Glenwood Springs and the Colorado River.   This is a beautiful amusement park that includes a cave tour, a mountain roller coaster, zip line, and many other activities--including an amazingly thrilling giant swing ride (more on that later).  Transportation from the parking lot in the valley up to the rides is provided by a gondola lift.  We had seen the gondola cars gliding along the slender cable up the side of the mountain when we were exploring the town.  Natalie was not too pleased when she found out we would have to ride them to the park.

After having breakfast in the RV, we drove to the park and found a spot in the parking lot for our RV.  We bought our tickets and climbed in the gondola for the ride up the mountain.  Natalie did fine on the way up.  Going down later was tougher for her.

Thanks to lots of coaching from Barb (and a little peer pressure from Tammy and Barb's kids) our kids actually tried most of the rides and had tons of fun.  vonHilsheimer kids are not known for their love of scary amusement park rides.  I'd like to blame this on Natalie's "chicken" gene, but Tessa has always been just as big a chicken about rides even without any of Natalie's DNA.  Maybe they got it from me, because after seeing the giant swing flinging riders out over the 2,000 drop to the valley, I had no interest in trying it out myself.  Even after jumping out of airplanes, repelling from cliffs, flying helicopters and getting bombed and shot at, I was put to shame by a couple of ten year old girls who hopped on this monster without a thought.  The swing consisted of a basket attached to the bottom of an 80-ft arm that swung the riders up, out and over the cliff looking down into the valley.  At the top, the arm went nearly vertical, then plummeted back down, hurtling the riders in the basket toward the valley at free fall speed.

Andi and Tessa on zip line

Kirk and Hannah head out on roller coaster

Unlike the vonHilsheimer's, Barb and her kids have huge appetites for thrilling rides, and they eagerly jumped on everything--including the menacing swing machine.   Tammy and the twins also eagerly tried just about everything (although even Tammy wasn't up for the swing).  Barb was so enthusiastic that she got Tessa and our Alex to try a 70-foot bungee jump, and after a full-day of persuassion she even got Alex on the dreaded swing.  Kirk tried the mountain roller coaster, but wasn't going for the swing unless there was a serious bribe involved (truly he is  his mother's child).  Andi did the roller coaster and the zip line.  We were proud of everyone, and glad they had fun.  I was very impressed with Tessa for overcoming her fear of heights and with Alex for facing the Swing of Death.    Before leaving the mountain, we also did the tour of the cave, which, thanks in-part to an awesome young tour guide, was very interesting and fun.

Tessa on bungee line

Alex on "Swing of Doom"

Andi climbs the rock wall

Nat and Tammy in the cave

We had so much fun with Tammy and Barb and the kids that we decided to spend another day together.  After leaving the amusement park, we convoyed to Breckenridge, where Barb has a condo at a resort.  The drive along I-70 following the Colorado river was spectacular, but we only had light for the first third of the way.  Barb got us a parking spot for the RV at the resort, and we enjoyed a hot shower at her place before turning in.

Andi had been dying to go to a water park during our trip, and she had researched a couple along the route.  We finally relented and agreed to take her to "Waterworld" near Denver, which is advertised to be the largest waterpark in the country.  After getting some laundry done at the condo (thank you, Barb!), we loaded all of the kids (and I do mean ALL of the kids) in the RV and headed out for Denver.  Tammy and Barb (minus any kids) followed in their rental car.  The drive leaving Breckenridge was once again stunning, but as we got closer to Denver, some ominous clouds began rolling in.  The hills on I-70 were pretty steep, and the RV was straining to pull all of us plus our extra passengers and full tank of gas over them.  On the down side of the hills, I had to downshift to avoid burning up the brakes.  We even passed a big rig who had pulled to the side with smoking brakes.  Then it started raining.  Then it started raining hard.  Then big chunks of ice started falling out of the sky and Andi started screaming.  Boy, there is nothing so fun as driving through the mountains in a hail storm in an RV with eight kids, a nervous wife, and two whimpering dogs.  I was ready to head back to the Swing of Doom.

Kids at "Waterworld" in Denver

Andi and Dad at end of slide

Fortunately, the sky over Denver was blue (at least for the time being), and we were able to find a spot for the RV at the waterpark.  After being put to shame by Tammy and Barb as an amusement park parent, I was determined to show some enthusiasm and go on all of the rides with the kids at the giant water park.  So off I went with Andi and Tessa.  Barb came along (to make sure that we would try all of the biggest slides, no doubt).  But we only made it on a couple of things before the storm we had encountered in the mountains caught up with us.  The dark clouds, thunder and lightning rolled in, and the staff cleared out all of the pools.  We waited for an hour or so for the park to reopen, but the weather did not cooperate, and the park was closed for the day.  It was too bad because it really was a nice waterpark, and Andi had been so excited to go.

Making it out of the parking lot in the RV during the mass exodus in the storm was another adventure in itself.  But we weren't leaving Denver without stopping at the Hard Rock Cafe to let Alex get another t-shirt for his collection.  His rule is that he has to personally go to the restaurant and buy the shirt for it to be a "valid" addition to his collection.  The storm subsided to a light rain and, amazingly, we were able to find a spot to park the RV in downtown Denver only two blocks from the Hard Rock.  Tammy and Barb arrived ahead of us and got us a table at a better restaurant (thank you, Tammy!), so after collecting Alex's t-shirt, we were able to enjoy a nice dinner with the whole mob. 

"The Gang of Friends" in Denver

Alex heads to the Hard Rock for another t-shirt

We bid farewell to Barb and her kids after dinner (we have more adventures planned with Tammy and the twins), and parted ways.  Barb and Tammy and their kids headed back to Breckenridge, and we drove the RV down to Colorado Springs where we will spend three days camped at the military RV park on the grounds of the Air Force Academy.  Tammy and the twins will meet us here today, and we are planning on doing some white water rafting tomorrow.

Canyonlands

We did our 13th (and final of the trip) visit to a national park yesterday at Canyonlands.  Canyonlands is near Arches, and the terrain is like a combination of that park and the Grand Canyon.  It is the park that recently received some fame when the hiker Aron Ralston amputated his own arm to escape from a crevice he had become trapped in. 

There is no canyon like the Grand Canyon, but the ones in Canyonland are still pretty grand.  We got a fairly early start, but the day was hotter than on our trip to Arches.  There were also clouds of annoying little bugs.  They didn't bite, but they were a nuisance nonetheless.  We hiked the rim of one of the major canyons and a trail to "Upheaval Rock" -- an interesting ancient crater that may have been formed millions of years ago by a meteor or shifting salt deposits.  We decided that the bugs and heat would be too much after lunch, so we packed up and headed for Grand Junction, CO.  There was nothing in particular in Grand Junction that we wanted to see.  It was just the first good-size city on our route through Colorado.  We arrived fairly early in the afternoon and resupplied at the Walmart Supercenter.  We had dinner at the kids' favorite, Golden Corral.  Then Natalie and I saw another movie (Bad Teacher), and we made camp at the local KOA.

Arches

Delicate Arch

Alex takes in view near Delicate Arch

Girls hike toward Delicate Arch

Wow.  Arches National Park lived up to its reputation as a scenic wonderland.  Just like the Grand Canyon, the pictures just don't do it justice.  The whole place is otherworldly--unlike any terrain I have seen anywhere else on Earth.  We drove in to the park fairly early and parked at the Delicate Arch trailhead.  We were lucky that during the two mile hike to the Delicate Arch, we had enough cloud cover that the heat was tolerable.  After reaching the Arch and taking a few photos, we hiked back to the RV and drove the the Devil's Garden trail.  We couldn't talk the kids into another hike, so Natalie, Tessa and I did some of the trails on our own.  We ate lunch in the RV and then drove to some of the other scenic overlooks in the park, including the Balanced Rock, and the Fiery Furnace.  All were amazing.  The hiking wore us all out, so we decided to skip a bicycle ride and instead visit the local movie theater.  We moved the RV to a park inside of Moab (our last one was about 5 miles outside of town), and walked to Moab's only movie theater.  Of our three choices for movies, we picked "Zookeeper".  Probably only worth seeing if your choices are as limited as ours were.  But it was a nice, relaxing outing after all of our hiking.

Andi is worn out from hike to the Arch

Landscape Arch

Tessa on Devil's Garden Trail

Balanced Rock

Nat looks down from trail to Delicate Arch

Houseboat Adventures

Day 38, miles 7,049, states 14

Hey, George here again after a break in internet access.  From where I left off, we continued our drive to Lake Powell through Capitol Reef National Park, which gave us our first real taste of the geologic wonders we would see in eastern Utah.

Driving Through Capitol Reef National Park

Kirk and Alex on the top deck

I was hoping that our 3-day houseboat adventure on Lake Powell would be one of the highlights of our trip and give us a little respite from the RV.  The houseboat was 46' long and had a full-size kitchen, and living room, an outdoor grill, and an upper sun deck with a slide for the kids to splash into the lake.  We got to the rental place in the late morning and after getting a 10-minute block of instruction from a 19-year-old kid who didn't know port from starboard, we finally got underway a little after lunch.  I looked at the chart of the lake and headed for one of the canyons near the marina.  After about an hour of


Entering a canyon on Lake Powell

motoring along, we entered the canyon and started looking for a place to anchor the houseboat.  We saw other houseboats anchored in some peaceful appearing coves and decided to give that a try.  The idea is to put the bow of the boat against the shore and, with the anchor lines tied off at the stern, secure the anchors to something on the beach that will hold the vessel in place.  This sounded pretty easy, but with an inexperienced skipper and crew, it was a near disaster.  The site we picked was too steep and rocky, and the wakes from the many passing speed boats (who didn't slow a bit) rocked the lumbering houseboat all over.  When Kirk slipped into the water while trying to secure one of the anchors and nearly went under the boat, we decided we'd had enough.  We left the canyon and found a cove with a more gentle slope on the bay.  This made "beaching" the boat much easier (but still challenging for novices).

Our Houseboat is finally "Beached" in a cove

Alex and dogs enjoy a swim

The kids quickly made use of the slide, and we all cooled off in the lake for a little while.  Even the dogs had a good swim.  We cooked some burgers on the grill and had a nice dinner before calling it a night.  I'd had problems starting both the houseboat generator and the main engine, so we decided to try the first night without the generator since the air-conditioner was pretty anemic anyway.  But there was no relief from the heat at night.  Opening all of the windows and doors didn't do much to cool off the boat.  The only place that offered any relief was the top deck, where there was a nice breeze.  None of us slept much the first night.  In the morning I found that the wind had pushed us closer to the the shore. I was worried that we would get stuck, so we moved the boat to a nearby shore with fewer rocks.  But the engine starter was giving me fits, and we could not start the generator at all.  We were out of cell phone range, and I didn't have much faith in the shipboard radio.  So we decided to call it quits while we still could make it back.  I was able to get the boat started, but had quite a time dislodging it from the beach.  When we finally got out of the cove and motored the five miles back toward the marina, a thunderstorm rolled in.  The refuel station shut down due to lightning, and the rental company would not send a pilot out to take the boat in (their pilots normally take the boats in and out of the slips).  They told me that I could wait the storm out in the bay or try to bring the boat in myself.  Well, I sure as heck was not eager to test that fine ship's qualities in a storm, so I motored in to the marina in the 40-knot gusts and made it into the slip with some help from the rental company crew on the dock.  After some gentle "persuasion" from Natalie, we managed to get a partial refund on the houseboat rental fee, and a free night's stay at the RV park.  Even Kirk was glad to get back in the RV.

Our RV on the Ferry

The next morning, we drove the RV to the ferry landing and took the ferry across Lake Powell for our drive up to Moab.  This was another scenic delight, and we found a funny tourist trap called the "Hole in the Rock" just south of Moab--a 5,000 sqaure foot home that a man and his wife had carved in to the sandstone in the late 1940's and 1950's.  It was a fun little diversion.  We arrived in Moab early enough to restock at the grocery store and have dinner at a local pasta place before setting up camp at an RV park.

Tessa Arrives!

Salt Lake City

At Breakfast with Greg Stewart in Provo

Yesterday we continued along the very scenic Highway 89 from Idaho around Bear Lake in to Utah and Salt Lake City.  Once we got set up in the KOA in Salt Lake, the kids hung out in the RV for awhile while Natalie and I walked to a nearby mall and watched the movie, "Larry Crowne".  When we got back, we put Kirk in a taxi to the airport to pick up Tessa.  Kirk and Tessa returned together in another taxi near midnight.  We were all tired, but it was great to have the whole family together again.

Kids at our camp in Torrey, UT

Tessa enjoys the scenery in Utah

We left the RV camp fairly early and drove up to Ensign Point to take in a quick snapshot of Salt Lake City before heading down to Provo where our neighbor's son, Greg Stewart, attends BYU.   Greg picked out a great breakfast restaurant, and we all stuffed our faces.  We said goodbye to Greg and continued toward Bullfrog Basin on Lake Powell, where we will pick up the houseboat we are renting.  The drive toward Bullfrog was spectacular, and we found a nice campground about two hours short of our destination.  This may be our last chance at internet or cell phone use for a couple of days since we don't know what the situation will be on Lake Powell.

Geisers, Waterfalls, Canyons and Mountains Galore

Andi enjoys Old Faithful

Alex in front of the Prismatic Spring

We spent our first full day in Yellowstone exploring the geisers, boiling pools, and steaming springs near Old Faithful.  Natalie and Alex were most impressed with the amazing "Prismatic Spring" -- a bubbling, boiling, multicolored pool that produced kaleidoscopic steam.  We were disappointed to find that after unloading all of the bikes for a ride, the bike trail did not connect with the area where our RV was parked.  On top of that we had to work the RV out of a major traffic snarl in the
parking before driving back to the RV camp. 

The "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone"

The following day, we drove to the south rim of "Yellowstone's Grand Canyon" and found a good spot to park the RV.  Natalie once again baked some fresh biscuits to start our day, and we hiked five miles along the scenic south rim trail, checking out the canyon and waterfalls.  After our hike, we ate a late lunch in Canyon Village before heading back to camp.  We decided to try our luck with the bikes again and stopped at another bike trail near the RV camp.  This time we found the trail, but we weren't very impressed with it.  Good bicycle paths were definitely the one thing missing from Yellowstone (and most other national parks).

Grand Teton

Grand Teton

We left Yellowstone this morning via the southern exit and headed in to Grand Teton.  The drive through Grand Teton provided some of the most stunning mountain vistas we have seen on the trip (and by this point, we've seen a lot).  We decided to spend our limited time in this magnificent park doing another hike along one of the scenic trails.  We parked the RV at Jenny Lake and hiked the three mile trail along the southern tip of the lake to Hidden Falls.  After reaching the falls, we walked down to the shuttle boat launch and took the shuttle across the lake and back to the parking lot.  It was a great hike and a fun ride on the little shuttle boat.

Jenny Lake hiking trail at Grand Teton

Nat on Jenny Lake hiking trail

Jenny Lake Shuttle Boat

Next, we drove another 30 miles or so to Jackson Hole, Wyoming--home of the famous ski resort.  This was a fun little resort town where we had dinner and did a little shopping before continuing down Highway 89 through Wyoming and in to a small piece of Idaho where we made camp at the KOA in Montpelier.  The drive from Yellowstone to Montpelier was absolutely stunning and might even qualify as the most beautiful leg of our journey to date. 

Jackson Hole, Wy