Adventure in the mud at Dove Creek, Colorado

The one night we decided to camp on the side of the road we nearly got bogged because it rained all night. We had gone up a dirt road and into a bit of bush to set up camp and the next morning we drove out onto the dirt road, now a quagmire. Al drove like a rally driver for about a half a mile to the highway. He steered and the car slid all over the place; I prayed and we made it with out getting stuck.

The Wild West

My apologies for taking so long to up date the blog. After travelling through the Mountains of Montana we found ourselves in the most amazing plains country. Apparently it was Blackfoot Indian land. It went on for miles with the Rocky Mountains in the background. It was stormy and raining and we took some fantastic pictures of the sky and hills with a magnificent rainbow over it. If you get out the map you will see we came over the mountains and then travelled south along the boarders of Montana, Wyoming and Utah and into New Mexico. We were heading into desert country and the scenery changed from these lovely rolling hills, through more magnificent Rocky Mountain vies to red canyons and sage bush. Wyoming and Utah are the "wild west".

We went to Yellowstone National Park and saw the famous Old Faithful that faithfully did its thing but unfortunately for us the camera ran out of battery at the last minute and we MISSED getting it on film.

Glacier National Park, Montana

From Tri-Cities, we took Dick's advice and headed for the magnificent Glacier National Park in Montana. It was everything that we were told and more. The scenery in this park is spectacular. Lakes, forests, snow capped mountains. Every turn was Aaaaw, will you look at that!!!!

Back to Seattle and off to Tri-Cities

After an excellent visit to Vancouver we headed back to our friends, Dan and Karlene in Seattle where we bought a car. Its very reliable (so far). A Honda Civic LX. We bought it through a broker ( the broker cost $300) and he took us to a number of dealers that he knew and we chose he car. All up with insurance paid, rego for 12 months, broker and the car it cost us just under $5,000. On the Memorial Weekend we headed off with Dan and Karlene to Karlene's family in Tri-Cities (Richland, Kennewick and Pascoe) in East Washington. We stayed with Dick and Lyn and caught up with Don and Terri and their families. They made us very welcome and Lyn's cooking was to die for. Dick bought a didgeridoo when he visited us in Australia and he plays it really well. We really enjoyed our stay there and appreciate the kindness and generosity of the Hodgeson family. They set us up and got us on our way for a big touring adventure of the states.

Grouse Mountain, Vancouver

We had a great day trip to Capilano Suspension Bridge and Grouse Mountain where we went on the Sky Train. The Capilano Suspension Bridge was 100 years old ( I think they have done some safety updates) and the park had been added to with a series of suspension bridges strung among the trees. It was really worth the visit. We took a lot of photos and somehow managed to put the camera on black and white with only one colour. It produced some pretty good pics.

Stanley Park, Vancouver

Stanley Park is the most beautiful public park. It takes up a whole peninsula of Vancouver Bay. We had a lovely day there. There is a great collection of totem poles that was very interesting. We hired bikes and rode around the perimeter of the park. Al fell of his bike into a puddle, the only puddle on the road, and got mud all over his foot and leg. I of course laughed. We had lunch and watched the beach touch football and to boats out at sea. It was a really relaxing and lovely day. We also took a picture of a raccoon in the wild. Its a big park. After such a pleasant day we taxied it back to the hostel, collected our gear and headed back to Seattle.

The Templeton Cafe, Vancouver

Just across the road from the hostel is the Templeton Cafe. It served great organic food and became our haunt while we were in Vancouver. The place had a great 1950's feel and had interesting period info on the tables. I particularly liked this Wonder Woman cartoon.