Traveling and visiting

       We are continually surprised by the beauty that we are finding in places that we've never heard of before. When we left the Zion area our first stop was at Lone Rock Beach State Park on Lake Powell. We camped right on the sand overlooking the lake!  Best camp site ever (well at least so far)! We went for sunset walks on the beach and explored the area during the day.

Moonrise over Lake Powell

   Horseshoe Bend overlook on the Colorado River is impressive.

     Before we visited Lower Antelope Canyon, we were slightly skeptical that it could live up to the hype, but it was so amazing that I couldn't stop taking pictures around every new corner!

The formations are other-worldly. 

         

Water is so powerful!

                                         




















 



   Next on to Sedona, which wasn't really on the way, but we wanted to check it out as a possible place to spend a season. Sedona is beautiful, but maybe too crowded for us to spend a whole season.

Devil's Bridge

Courthouse Butte with a shadow of Bell Rock

     Petrified Tree National Park and the painted desert were next.  It was interesting learning how the ancient trees turned into rocks. We even went on a haunted inn tour there.

Some of the ancient petrified trees were very large and very long!

We saw such beautiful colors in the petrified trees.

Blue Mesa in the painted desert

     Our stop in Texas took us to Palo Duro Canyon State Park.  We did a great hike through part of the canyon about  half way up the side where we could see both the cliffs above us and the canyon floor below.

     Back tracking in our story a bit, after Yellowstone and before Zion, we stopped at Grand Teton NP. We love the Tetons and definitely will spend a summer there in the future.

 Moose mama and her calf.

We finally saw a bull moose!! He was a young one!

Thought this little squirrel was too cute!

After we left the Tetons we stopped in Salt Lake City and went for a swim in the Great Salt Lake at Antelope Island.  

                                                                                                                                          The water level was really low and we had to walk about half a mile to get to the water.

     Branson was family time. We chose Branson, Missouri because Kari is going to school at Arkansas Tech, which is just a few hours from here. We celebrated an early Thanksgiving with the kids and my Mom. We challenged ourselves to make a turkey and some of the fixings in a apartment sized oven their cabin. It worked, and we even made our traditional homemade turkey noodle soup the next day. We had fun visiting with everyone!
    Branson is the "music capital" and when we are in new places we want to check out what the area has available. Our first show was the Dolly Parton Stampede with the boys and my mom. Ben and Dan had to head home, but we saw 5 more shows with my mom. We learned that Branson is also a huge timeshare place (but they don't call them timeshares anymore). So we funded most of our shows by listening to 4 "time share" talks. We have seen more than 17 shows here in Branson. Some shows were really good, some were ok, and some we were glad that we didn't pay for.

     We had hoped to work at the local amusement park, called Silver Dollar City, but due to our short stay they were not willing to hire us. Actually that was fortunate for us because most of their jobs are outside and the weather has been unusually cold here. We did get a chance to go to Silver Dollar City to check out the shows at the park and their Christmas light show was really impressive!!( And for me to say that means a lot!)
     We were able to find jobs at Kohl's and we tried something new this year for Black Friday, we worked retail instead of shopping. People were in the holiday spirit and while they waited in the long lines, they visited with whoever was next to them, and got some really good deals. Then even though the credit card machines were bogged down and rejecting many transactions, people waited patiently and with good spirits. We worked with some great people at Kohl's. Everyone here at work, and at the campground, has been very friendly and welcoming.
      We have been trying to plan where we will be for the winter and for next summer. All I can say is that we hope to be in Florida for the winter. You will have to wait for our next blog in January to find out what the future holds for us since we haven't figured it out yet! But whatever it is, it will be part of the adventure! We will leave Branson soon and visit Kari in Arkansas for a day, before heading north with her to Ohio for the holidays. She will head to London, and we will enjoy family!
     We just found out that next summer we are going to Maine!! We will be working at a campground about 30 miles from Acadia NP!! We plan on eating a lot of lobster and mussels! We would love to have visitors!
     Happy Holidays everyone!!

We love southern Utah-- the adventure continues

When we left Yellowstone, we checked out the Tetons (which we loved, and we hope to spend a season there in the future), we swam in the Great Salt Lake, then we headed to southern Utah.  Our plan was to spend a week visiting the parks in that area. Instead we had a six week stopover. There are so many beautiful parks and the weather was great, so we decided to try to find some work and stay a while. We had good internet and our timing was perfect! We pulled into a campground outside of Zion National Park on Sunday evening, applied for a job on Monday night, and started work on Tuesday evening!

The restaurant has been described as "cowboy hipster" and was heated by wood stoves

     We were hired as servers at a guest ranch about 2 miles outside of Zion National Park.  Now keep in mind that we haven't served food in more than 30 years, but some of the servers had left to return to college, two others were leaving soon, and they didn't have anyone else coming for few weeks. So they were desperate enough to give us a try.  The restaurant is a unique and interesting place.  Under-staffed and needing some tender loving care, but full of potential. They have a great farm to table concept, and grow much of their own produce in organic gardens and orchards. We served so many wonderful guests from all over the world. They shared our love of the area and we enjoyed discussing our favorite parks and trails with them when we had time.
    We didn't just serve food  and/or work as host. The ranch had beautiful flowers beds that needed our attention dead heading flowers and pulling weeds. We helped to harvest squash, pumpkins and tomatoes from the gardens, and pears, plums and apples from the orchards. One day the owner was joking with me about doing something with the apples, so one morning I brought a basket of apples into the restaurant kitchen and prepared a sample of my apple crisp. Everyone thought it was good, including the owner. So several times a week, I went in and baked an apple crisp, or an apple plum crisp, that served about 15 people. The chef was pretty laid back about his kitchen and never minded when I showed up. Mark and I enjoyed offering my apple crisp to our guests for dessert. Homemade and fresh from the oven, it was usually not hard to sell!
   The ranch has a herd of ornery bison that kept getting out, horses to ride and goats and mini horses for the guests to pet. There are chickens that wander around the flower beds and walkways all around the outside of the building. I would count them as we walked by on our way home after work each night.

We did a great trail ride on ranch property. We really felt like cowboys riding on switchbacks in the wild west.

  On our days off we hiked!!

View from the canyon overlook trail

 We loved Zion National Park, even though it was very crowded.

One of our favorite trails was "Many Pools" where the pools filled up with water after the rain. The reflections were beautiful and there weren't any crowds!

Angel's Landing is one of the most famous trails in Zion. People come from all over the world to hike it. It is only 2 1/2 miles long each way, but the last 1/2 mile is very steep and narrow, with drop-offs on both sides.

The upper part of the trail has chains to hold along the cliffs.

Part of the trail was designed by giants! (or so it seemed to me)

The view from the top is beautiful!

Thea Narrows is another iconic hike at Zion. We rented water boots, neoprene socks and hiking sticks to help us navigate the chilly water. We hiked in and out of the river for about 5 hours enjoying the rock walls and scenery of 'Wall Street".

Each turn of the river held a different view.

We had an amazing day at a nearby slot canyon. We took a jeep ride through the deep sand to see "Peek-a-Boo" slot canyon. There was almost no one else there besides for our small group. A special thank-you to Kate, one of our restaurant guests, who offered to let us tag-a-long on one of her tours. It was a special day!

Eureka!  We finally found big horn sheep rams. We actually found a whole herd one morning in Zion and got to spend about an hour observing them!

Bryce National Park was a surprise for me. I loved hiking down in the "hoodoos"!

We also went to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park

The dunes were huge and we got our toes in the sand.

We hiked to see dinosaur footprints!

    We enjoyed the North Kaibab trail at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon!  Bright Angel Point Trail was beautiful also.

Cedar Breaks National Monument was a great surprise! It was like a smaller version of Bryce, but not as crowded. The park was at a much higher altitude, and the ancient bristlecone pine trees were beautiful.



Next on to Branson, Missouri to visit with family, and see if we can find a job for a month.

Leaving Yellowstone

    Our hearts are full as we leave Yellowstone National Park. When I think of Yellowstone I will remember abundance.

Watching the bears playing

 An abundance of beauty - meadows covered in flowers of every color, a variety of animals roaming the hillsides and valleys, mountain vistas, meandering rivers, flowing waterfalls, scenic lakes, beautiful sunsets, amazing geysers, and colorful hot springs. Every turn of the road and trail revealed beauty everywhere you looked.

 View of the Yellowstone River 

Mammoth Hot Springs

Yellowstone Lake

 An abundance of friendship and love - sharing all of this with my husband, and all the friends we made along the way. From the Old Faithful lower store to Tower General store, we will remember all the great people we met and go to know through our work. Especially the many international students that we spent time with at work and at play. These young people are so brave to come so far, some by themselves, for a summer job. The "kids" brought fun and energy to our summer. To all we say thanks for sharing Yellowstone with us. We feel like you are part of our extended family.

An abundance of walking - we hiked over 215 miles of trails in the park this summer, on about 40 different trails. Through our employer's "hike-a-thon" program, we earned water bottles, hiking poles and backpacks. We plan to use these things on many future hikes. We also joined the park wide employee hiking cub and earned our 100 mile t-shirts.

Coyote seen on a hike to Lost Lake

So many bison

There was such an abundance of animals, birds, insects, rocks and plants, all these beautiful things. We identified about 60 types of wildflowers, plus all the ones I couldn't identify (especially all the yellow ones!!)



Our camper gave us an abundance of comfort and a place to call home. It is spacious enough to have company and has enough storage for everything we needed this summer. We are truly fortunate to be able to enjoy this new lifestyle together.

This was the view right behind our camper one evening

Food, yes we even had an abundance of good food in the employee dining hall. We enjoyed having eggs and bacon or sausage each morning along with fresh berries, muffins and sweet breads. We mostly enjoyed not planning, shopping, cooking and cleaning up meals. Oh and dessert!!!! Ice cream and the best cakes!  We were definitely spoiled in many ways this summer!

Tower Fall

Cashiering was mostly a lot of fun. We enjoyed sharing park and trail info and our love of the park with the guests that came to the store. We also enjoyed hearing their stories and seeing their excitement of being in the park.

Our first "retirement" job was all that we expected and more, and we are looking forward to many more adventures!

Goodbye Yellowstone! The Ends.

P.S. Our next adventure has us staying in the Zion National Park area for longer than expected. We now hope to spend the next month working and exploring another amazing part of our great country!