December 20th - We fly to Minnesota

We made the decision back before we left North Dakota, that we would fly back for Christmas with our Daughter and her family. Imagine getting on a plane with temps in the 70s and flying to a place where the temp is 20 degrees.  Now imagine that an unexpected cold snap hits the entire eastern US that puts local temps around 20 to 30 degrees below. 

Poor little Gypsy, our travel cat, was not to be left home.  We purchased a soft cat carrier.  It was designed to fit under the seats like a carry-on bag.  We put it opened on the floor a few days before we left so she would get comfortable with it.  She did.  She even slept in it at times.  We drove the truck to San Diego and left it in her sister's care as we got a ride to the airport.  Gypsy did really well on the flight. 

We flew Frontier Airlines.  Cut rate, but the flight out wasn't too bad.  The plane had video screens on the back of each seat and you could pull up many TV stations or movies to watch.  It also had a section for kids that showed a map of the land below us and where we were.  It was cool looking out the window and having the screen tell us what we were looking at. 

Then we land in Minneapolis.  Mama!!! it was cold.  nasty, snow, tired, etc. etc.  A couple of kids with us, Eliza and Brett.  We stopped at a noodle place for a bite and then took the long drive across Minnesota to Moorhead, across the river from Fargo.  For being nighttime, it was typically light.  This is normal, when there are a few street lights, and the snow, overcast, and ice crystals in the air spread the light everywhere.  It's beautiful, but cold. 

Did I mention it was cold???

Time to snuggle in, get ready for Corbin's birthday, Christmas, and New Years.

Nothing but family and grandkids could have gotten us to forsake our warm camper for a place where the air hurts your face.  Soon, we would go to our house and get her Jeep so we would have a car to drive of our own.

Gypsy's first flight.

Arizona, or Colorado, or....

The view after leaving the airport

Someone is not happy

Evening

The next morning

April 12th to 14th - The Voyage Home.

One final California desert sunset, load the truck, hook up the camper and "outta there".  We dropped the fifth-wheel off at a friend's ranch down in Campo.  Put a few final items into the truck, tarped it down, and hit the road.  Making good time considering we weren't dragging the Bighorn with us.  Trying to get home without incident and quickly.  We bought a small cylindrical, carpeted "house" for Gypsy.  She became accustomed to it sitting on the console between us and spent most of the ride home there.

Zipped through California and stopped just over the Nevada border at Primm.  Passing Las Vegas, we noticed how the town, outside of the casino areas, is starting to grow.  There is a large area opening up of warehouses, and industrial parks.  Amazon has a huge center there.  When we got through Nevada, she was sleeping as we went through Arizona's Virgin River gorge and into Utah. 

We stopped for a bite at Scipio, UT.  The town is under 300 people and is located just east of the highway.  They have incorporated a square couple of miles around I-15 as well as another small square that covers a truck stop, DQ, and a petting zoo full of bored lamas and turkeys. There is a geocache here which we've found before, but I got out and took a few tourist pics there.

We decided to spend some time in Salt Lake City to check out the craft beer scene.  The laws are different in Utah than anywhere else.  Establishments can not sell any beer out of a tap with a greater than 4% ABV. They can pour higher ABVs from bottles.  We stopped at Epic Brewing first. They have a small taproom with only 8 chairs.  There are a lot of restrictions on liquor licenses there. They couldn't get a bar license, and had to settle for a food license.  This meant that anyone there to drink has to first buy food.  We had grilled cheeses.  They are pretty new, but their beers show promise.  The next place we went to was Squatter's Pub.  Located in an historic downtown building, The Salt Lake Brewing Company purchased the building in 1988 and opened the pub in 1989.  The place is large and airy. It was very busy and had some interesting brews. 

Leaving Utah, we moved on north into Idaho.  We had to stop in Idaho Falls where we had been forced by the truck to spend days there.  We went to Idaho Brewing as a reminder and a celebration that the truck was still running well. 

Montana.  When we first left California over two decades ago, we were headed to North Dakota for a better life.  We had it planned that if we didn't like it, we would go on to New England.  When we hit Montana, the beauty and the people made us put Montana on that list.  As we left Idaho and started into Montana, we were beset with a rain storm that turned into a snowstorm as we drove through the night.  The next morning, we stopped for breakfast in this little lodge up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere.  A quaint local diner full of down-home atmosphere.  We had definitely left the big city.  The locals were talking about how unexpected last night's 3 inches of snow was.  We felt we would get to Bozeman close to noon.  We stopped in Butte, "The Richest Hill on Earth" for fuel, and continued on.  We used Bozeman for a lunch and craft break.  We went to Bozone near downtown.  Nice little place where a couple of locals told us all about the Montana brew scene.  In a corner were some antique chair sets from an old school or theater.  They serve flights on a small ski.  We finished up at 406 Brewing.  There are a number of old granary's, and flour and baking mills.  Many are being repurposed into strip malls.  406 was located in one of these.  They had some great tastes and we really enjoyed it there.

Cruised into North Dakota in the evening and stopped in Moorhead, MN at Eliza's for a couple of days.  It was Easter.  Spring.  Family.  yes, cold and had some flakes.  but we were home and would be opening the house up in a couple of days.

A final sunset at Rio Bend RV Resort

Got the trailer and the cat. Time to leave.

Travelers, soon to be weary.

Truck stop at Scipio, UT

Epic Brewing. Salt Lake City

Squatter's Pub

Comfy in her home

Snow

morning clouds oozing over the mountain tops

Butte, MT. An old silver mining town.

Bozone in Bozeman

Metal straps under the chairs provide a place for your hat.

Flight

406

I love this chain footrest

it was 4:06 at 406

Painted electrical box downtown.

June 6th. Later that day.. and June 7th.

France had an appointment, so Laurie, Francine and I drove to downtown Golden.  It is a beautiful little trendy town straddling Clear Creek.  We went to a cute restaurant and ate and sampled local beers.  The girls wanted to talk and I wanted to see more of the town, so I walked around and took pictures while they waited for it to be time to call France. 

Down at the river front, the water was rushing pretty good as it was the early spring thaw.  In a lot of places there are walks down to the river.  These were closed off below a certain point for safety.  A girl in  kayak was traveling down the river.  I noticed a place where there is a small park with a playground.  There is a slide that empties down on the edge of the river where some barriers make a shallow wading pool for kids.  This was closed at this time, but it looked like a fun place.

In the distance, stands the Coors brewery.  We didn't go there.  We met up with France and went home to dinner and some heated games of Rummicube.

JUNE 7th

Golden is just west of Denver.  We should have taken I-76 northwest to where it connects to I-80 in Nebraska.  However, by going straight north on I-25to Cheyenne, we had the opportunity to get a find in Wyoming.  When we left, they led the way up 25 to the Rocky Mountain National Park.  Since we now get into National Parks for free, we thought it a good idea.  O the way, they stopped us at a stone church somewhere in the mountains for some sightseeing.  The Church is St. Catherine of Siena Chapel.  Also called the Chapel on the Rocks.  Here's a link, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapel_on_the_Rock . It was pretty amazing. There is a statue up on the hill above the parking lot.  We looked around and took pictures of course, Then we proceeded to the park.  The weather wasn't going to co-operate, but we went for a short walk down a path.  This is early June in the Colorado Rockies,  A little cold still, and lots of snow in places.  We had a good time while we were there.  A little rain, thunder, hail.  As we were leaving, it got warmer and we came across some elk in a field who seemed unaffected by the throng of visitors talking pictures.  Finally, we said goodbye to our friends and with good directions, continued on our journey.  We stopped in at Fort Collins Brewery and had dinner and sampled their line of crafts. 

The rest of the trip home was uneventful.  We stopped in a number of states for geocaches, Wyoming, Nebraska, where we stopped to see Laurie's recruiter at the medical travel company, Then up I-29 catching finds in Iowa and South Dakota. We landed in Fargo at Eliza's and spent the night.

The next day we finally arrived home to our home in Petersburg.  It was good to get home and I had spent that little time here before Memorial day to get the house ready for us, so we had water and electricity. 

Arts theater in Downtown Golden.

Many cool statues adorn the downtown area.  Love this one.

We had lunch here.

Nature Park and walk ways along the river.  Parts are restricted during the spring thaw.

A local kayaking down the river.

Shallows area for kids.  slide from park up top dumps down here.

Plaques along both sides of the bridge tells the story of early Colorado.

Stone Church.

The ladies.

Rocky Mountain National Park.

Warm day in Golden, up here it was snow on the ground, rain and hail.  Nice walk, though.

Elk

Curvy winding roads.  Lots of high cliffs.