Just west of Denver, but a world away both weather-wise and population-wise, lies Clear Creek County. Up in the mountains, the air is clearer, the temperatures are cooler, and we can’t breathe. Like, at all. This is the beginning of a long’ish period of living at 8,500 feet altitude (or higher), and I wonder if we are really cut out for these Rocky...
It’s just a hop, skip and a jump across the border from Wyoming to get to Greeley, 50 miles north of Denver. Here, we spent the 4th of July weekend, attending the 100th Anniversary of the Greeley Independence Stampede. The Stampede’s mission, dating back to the late 1800s, is to “celebrate our nation’s independence and preserve our western heritage...
We had plans to rip up the town in both Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming, but those plans were quickly modified as we nestled in our campsite at Curt Gowdy State Park, located midway between the two cities. Why exactly would we want to leave to go anywhere? (Full disclosure: we didn’t really get rowdy at Curt Gowdy, but who can resist a good rhyme?) Curt Gowdy SP...
Leaving Custer, SD, we crossed over the Wyoming border into NW Nebraska. Many think Nebraska is nothing more than a “flyover” state, but we saw some really cool things! For instance … in Alliance, Nebraska, it’s NOT Stonehenge … it’s Carhenge! Stonehenge – ENGLAND Carhenge – NEBRASKA A to-scale replica of the...
Check out this “jewel” of a place in Custer, South Dakota: Jewel Cave National Monument! Indeed, she’s a bit of a hidden “gem” in this area, living in the shadow of other more well-known attractions such as Custer State Park and its thousands of roaming bison, Wind Cave National Park, and of course Mount Rushmore. Jewel Cave was so named...
Destination: Devils Tower. The setting of the 1977 Steven Spielberg cult classic movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. We mentioned this to our 20’s and 30’s kids before leaving home, and were met with blank looks. They had never seen nor heard of this movie! Then we realized it was made 45 years. Dang, we are getting old. Devils Tower …...
Picture yourself: driving through the fields of North Dakota, for miles and miles on end. Nothing to see but endless expanses of farmland … the occasional mailbox … a random abandoned tractor here and there. You’re yawning and biting the inside of your cheek hard to stay awake, when suddenly … “HEY, what’s that in the distance...
(Everyone sing along) “Oh, give me a home … where the buffalo roam …” Our current rolling home was nestled RIGHT where the buffalo roam! We had a “Bully Good Time” (to quote the man himself) at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the New York Times’ pick for the “#5 Place to See in the World,” and its roaming herd of 550+...
Halfway between Butte and Bozeman, Montana, lies …. pretty much nothing. Big fields. Expansive views. A few cows. Guys in trucks who tailgate and drive really fast. But also ….. Lewis and Clark Caverns! This unassuming little Montana state park packs quite a wallop, and you’re gonna have a cavern-sized hole in your heart if you miss it when in this...
Early June: It’s 106 degrees back home in AZ — 41 degrees here in Montana. Though none is falling on us, the 10,000-foot Highlands Mountains surrounding the hillside town of Butte are blanketed in snow. It’s simply Butte-iful! Butte is called the “Richest Hill on Earth” because of the immense amount of precious metals pulled from the...