Home Sweet Bend

We arrived in Bend at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, August 28.  Right away we began removing all the stuff that Clark would not be taking on the hunt then had to go to the storage he had here.  He put all his hunting gear, including 2 bows, a tree stand and clothing.  We could not take the bows into Canada as they are weapons so he came in June and put them here.  Once all was out, he staged what he was taking hunting and left on Monday morning.

This may be my last post to the blog unless he gets an elk, then I'll post that.  Thanks for following along with us.  It was a great trip with so many beautiful sights!  I always marvel at how in the U.S. we can drive from State to State and we have all the same great roads, restaurants, gas stations, Starbucks, Subway etc etc.  We are so fortunate to be Americans!

Home sweet Bend Home

Bailey guards the stuff

Off on the hunt!

On the Way to Bend

We left Jackson, WY and headed to Bend.  Along the way we followed the Snake River.  This is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest.  At 1,078 miles  long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. 

The overpass photo is and "animal overpass."  We have seen these in different areas as we travelled where states or in Canada, there is high fencing (metal mesh) along the highways to keep animals from coming on the road -- protects them and the drivers.  So these overpasses allow the animals to cross safely to the other side of the road as they are fenced as well and covered with dirt and shrubs.

Cement pad just a stop over in Caldwell, ID

Animal overpass - you can seen the animal fencing along the top

Snake River

Snake

Moose in Jackson

We were driving back to camp from dinner and this guy was along the road eating his evening snack. He's the only moose we saw and were thrilled to be so close.  He was unfazed by the cars and gawking.

Video

Jackson (Hole), Wyoming

I put the parenthesis around Hole because Jackson Hole refers to the valley including the town of Jackson, WY.  The town is commonly called Jackson Hole.  Really a cute town filled with shops and restaurants.  It also has a summer theater where performers come from Broadway to perform in theater  Our friends Debby and Mark Bernardi met up here so Debby and I went to see Unsinkable Molly Brown at the theater.  Great show!  We also went to the rodeo on Friday--they have one every Friday weather permitting.  Bull riding, barrel races, lots of fun to watch.  Every night there is a reenactment of a shootout in the town square.

Fireside RV Park - nice site!!

Rodeo - Star Spangled Banner - 2 young kids presenting flags

Me and Debby ready for the rodeo

Cowboy Clark and I 

Grand Tetons 

Jenny Lake, Grand Teton National Park

town square shoot out happens daily 

View of Jackson and Tetons

Steamboat Springs, CO

If you need to take a day and chill, Steamboat Springs is a wonderful place to that.  The Yampa River runs through this town and it is very Bend-like with specialty shopping and restaurants.  We had a 375-mile drive on Sunday Aug 20 to get here and needed to relax and do some shopping and eating while here.  This town is home to a lot of Olympic skiers and snowboarders.  You can see the ski runs on Mt Werner and the other shot is of the ski jumps at Howelsen Hill that is right in the downtown. 

Established in 1915, Howelsen Hill is the longest continuously operating ski area west of the Mississippi and has the largest and most complete natural ski jumping complex in North America. Howelsen Hill has been the training ground for more than 88 Olympians making over 151 Winter Olympic appearances. It is Colorado’s oldest continuously operated ski area. Steamboat Springs has sent more skiers to international competition than any other area in North America. I would like to ski it myself (not the jumps but Werner Mtn)  if I could find a friend willing to come with me!

Clark and his new hat!

Clark has his own town--moving there soon!

Howelson Hill Ski Jumps

Werner Mountain Ski Area

Elk hunters dream

The dream of an elk hunter is to see one up close, all muddy, and clearing the velvet from his antlers by scraping them on a tree.  Dream came true in of all places, the Safeway parking lot at Estes Park.
This big guy just sauntered through the parking lot, all muddy and started his scraping.  He was not distracted from his task by cars and cameras.  Highlight of Clark's day.  So funny that we spent 3-4 hours driving through the National park and didn't see one elk then went to Safeway and there he was.  Be sure to watch the video.

Rocky Mountain High!

We drove through the park up to the 11,000 foot stopping point. After being in Banff and Lake Louise, the US Rockies were not as imposing as I hoped.  Massive but just not as spectacular.  We did see some big horn sheep along the way and I was glad to have finally seen the Rockies!

The Stanley Hotel

I love old historic hotels so we could not be in Estes Park without going to The Stanley!  In its early days, regular guests were the Carnegie’s, Astor’s, Vanderbilt’s, and US Presidents.  Completed in 1909 by F.E. Stanley, originally it was a “guest house" for their wealthy friends to stay for the summer.  You could only stay there if you were invited.  We did the hotel tour and learned a lot about the history and the stories of haunted rooms (217, 407 & 418).  Stephen King based his book The Shining on The Stanley however, the movie was not filmed here; the mini series was.  Also Dumb and Dumber was filmed here and our tour guide said Jim Carey stayed in room 217 but after the first night, he refused to sleep there again and for the movie scenes, he would barely go into the hotel.  He would not say what happened in room 217 to “spook” him. The Whiskey Bar is famous for its 1200 bottle of whiskey.

I'm on the porch but not very visible

lobby stairway...we went all the way up on the tour

lobby has a Stanley Steamer 

Whiskey Bar famous for 1200 whiskey bottles

Exterior 

view from down the hill

Estes Park, CO

We arrived in Estes via highway 36 along the Big Thompson River and at our campsite, it was right behind our trailer so we had the view plus the great sound of the river.  Beautiful!  The town reminds me of Bend.  Lots of restaurants and shops!

great downtown

Never seen salt water taffy outside of Santa Cruz...if my Dad were still alive I would buy some for him. as he loved it.
I hesitate to eat any myself for fear of losing a crown1

All settled in

Great view and the sound of the rushing water was wonderful

Custer, South Dakota

Town of Custer is the oldest town in the Black Hills and was founded during the Black Hills Gold Rush of 1874.  It’s a small town with only around 2,000 people and many of the older buildings are still functioning as restaurants and shops geared around tourism since Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Jewel Cave are close by.  Clark wondered why the street was so wide—they made it that way so you could turn around a wagon with a team of oxen in the middle of the street.  It’s very cold there in the winter and the economy is supported by mining and timber.   We stopped there for lunch after our visit to Jewel Cave.