Home!

We are home. Spent the last 2 days traveling from Steamboat Springs to Jen’s House in Ault, CO to Omaha and today home. We are tired and happy to be back in Minneapolis. What an amazing and horrible and awesome trip. Goodbye until our next journey!

A day tubing on the Yampa

We are all tired and a bit sunburned (despite our best blocking efforts) tonight. The 5th of July was all about rafting on the river that runs by our home here in Steamboat. The Yampa’s water is low right now, so some of our tubing was actually walking along the slippery river rock, which was just fine. There were a few other tubers on the river but not so many as to fell crowded. And we all enjoyed the trip for the most part. The rapids towards the end of our adventure were a little much for some in the crew. And all of us were bone tired and hungry when we got out. Mexican food for dinner and then a little Queer Eye and games in the motel this evening rounded out the day. It was a good one.

Steamboat Springs with Jen and Eliza

We had a short drive from Craig, Co to Steamboat Springs yesterday (Tuesday the 3rd). Colorado is beautiful, for sure. Our newest home is the Rabbit Ears Motel on the south side of downtown Steamboat. The room is right on the Yampa river and we have a lovely balcony view. Jen and Eli joined us shortly after we arrived. The four of us spent the afternoon exploring downtown Steamboat and then had a tasty but expensive dinner at an Italian place. We sat outside and drank really yummy wine. Oh also, we bought an obscene amount of socks. So many socks. In our room we played games and told tales.

In the morning our first stop was the Creperie, which, alas, was closed. So instead a coffee shop was our destination and it was good. A blended chai was the perfect way to start the day. Others ate and drank too. And then, it was time for the hot springs. We chose our hotel for its proximity to the town’s hot springs pool. It’s a pretty amazing place, all natural spring water of the hot variety that’s fed into several pools that are different temperatures. Get too hot? Jump in the swimming lanes. Too cold? The heart pool with mineral goodness is for you. I opted to stay at the pool while Jen, Eliza and George went to the summer ski jump competition. Did I mention that today is the 4rth of July? All kinds of festivities were going on in town, including the jumping. We mostly scheduled our time to avoid crowds, so when the parade was going on, we were swimming. It worked like a charm. We met up in the motel afterwards and made plans to extend our vacation another day so that we can go tubing tomorrow. And then it was time to shop for tubing shoes for E and G. Mission easily accomplished with a visit to a shop that was going out of business. And then, we went to the candy store, much like the one that Alex, George and I went to on our first day of vacation. This time I didn’t buy gross soda. I did get some of the good stuff, though. Jen bought taffy. Dinner was at a cool place called Table 79, which serves appetizer portions of food that the table shares. I think we ordered 8 items and they were all amazing, especially the Brussels sprouts. Oh, and we also bought really good vinegar and oil and wine. Then we put stockings over our heads, which was very weird and funny. Eli and George took them from the shoe shop. Scary pictures were taken. And to cap off the night, we took another dip in the hot springs, this time during sunset. And that was magical. The air was cool and the clouds lit up with color. In the distance we could hear fireworks. A dang good day.

Dinosaurs! And more horses horses horses horses

We were sleepy this morning and pushed our check out time of 11:00 AM to the limit, leaving around 10:50. Our destination for today (Monday the 2nd) was Dinosaur National Monument. What a beautiful drive through northern Utah we had. The landscape is much more like Colorado and Wyoming than what I’m used to in southern Utah. Loved it. Dinosaur was a lovely little stop. Alas, we didn’t take the tram to the quarry due to time constraints (and fatigue) but the exhibits and drive through the park were lovely. We followed up Dinosaur with a 1 1/2 drive to Craig Colorado, where we were surprised to find out that the Elk Run Inn, our home for the night, also has a horse themed room, and it was booked for us! So we are headed to sleep thinking about the beginning of our trip and the Rio Grande Motel, with its horse room. Dueling horses.

George’s 15th Birthday and the Great Salt Lake

Happy birthday George! We celebrated the day with a trip to the Great Salt Lake, right here in , you guessed it, Salt Lake City. Brine flies are a thing and we became quite familiar with them. Antelope Island State Park is about a 15 minute drive from our hotel (this is not a coincidence) and we trekked there right after breakfast. First, though, we stopped by the local Target store for provisions, and it really needed a remodel. Old school, 90s or early 00s style decor greeted us, with the scripted Expect More, Pay Less slogan on the building. So the lake. We had to walk quite a bit out to the water and the sand was not fun, all rocky and hot. Then, we encountered the brine flies, which covered all of the sand and some of the water by the shore. They are harmless, not biters, but they are also not super fun. Yet we persisted, because when at the salty lake, one must swim in the salty lake. And that’s what we did. What a strange experience. The salt in the water is at such a high concentrate that there’s basically no way to sink. We floated around a bit and then headed for the showers. When we were in the water, our entire bag became covered with brine flies. We just picked it up and ran away. So, now we can say that we’ve been swimming in the Great Salt Lake and we don’t have to do it again,. Recommend? Hmmm. Maybe not.

We ate a quick bite and then shopped for the birthday boy! First stop was Barnes & Noble, where we found, fell in love with, and purchased a big ol’ book on Hamilton. Also, adult Legoes were purchased. Then, we headed to Michael’s for a little craft action. We are now both bejeweling in the hotel room and planning on some lego time in a bit. 

I’m so glad to be able to spend this time with George and to celebrate his 15th with him today. We had a very merry birthday indeed.