Bonneville Salt Flats 9.12

We stopped at the Bonneville Salt Flats on our way back from California.  Can see for miles. It's crazy flat there.

Diane's birthday

Homemade brownies (baked by Jesse) and mimosas for my birthday....perfect way to start the day!  Good stuff!

Camping at Yellowbanks & riding the R1 for my birthday!  Excellent weather for late September. 

Sept. 2012: Flying P-51 Mustangs

September 2012:  Jesse & Donnie flying their P-51 Mustangs on our new airport runway (mowed pasture) No crashes or major mishaps on this day.

Getting everything ready to go airborne!

Flying the cub on our lake

Homegrown Watermelon

Jesse with our 1st watermelon from our garden.  We picked it in late August. It weighed 36 pounds and tasted wonderful!  From just one watermelon plant, we got 15 watermelons....awesome!  We had tons of tomatoes too.  We were giving them away. 

Motocross practice



Jesse getting air on a jump at practice!



Grilling with the Chapman's at Park Creek

Dining with our camphosts, Jim & Bobbie Chapman at Park Creek campground
5.28.12

Jim Chapman grilling chicken and porkchops...yum!

Jesse & Diane enjoying the wonderful food!

Jesse making smores....Diane waiting patiently.  Visiting with Jim & Bobbie (photographer) Chapman

Arches & Canyonlands National Parks

We got to Arches National Park in Utah on May 26th.  The wind was blowing out of control.  It was difficult to walk, dust & sand hitting us with quite the force.  It made it difficult to see the sights.  We were troopers at first, taking lots of pictures, but soon grew tired of fighting the wind.  Jesse's camera had enough and shut down on him.  Glad we had 2 cameras! 

Getting to Utah ~ the wind is crazy!

Arches NP

Entrance to Arches National Park






We left Arches and headed south to Canyonlands National Park. It is a one-way in/out about 34 miles each way.  We drove in, looked around briefly and at this point we were running low on fuel, so headed back out the way we drove in. We found a station a few miles south and then decided to skip the rest of our planned Utah trip and headed back to Colorado......no destination in mind, just wandering....

Mesa Verde National Park 5.26 - 5.27



Deer walking thru our campsite

Our campsite at Morefield Campground

Where we camped last night (5.26)

We arrived at Mesa Verde National Park around 6 pm on May 26th.  We were excited to find open campsites and soon we were setting up our tent and Jesse was grilling chicken, sweet corn & potatoes/onions.  Delicious!  We had deer come right thru our campsite the next morning.  How cool.

Park Creek Campground

Here are pics of our campsite in Park Creek campground just south of South Fork, CO.  What an amazing place!  The campground only has 13 sites and they are huge!  Ours was just feet from a beautiful rushing river.  The only downside was that it was a bit chilly (24 for a low!)  We ended up sleeping in the rental van both nights.

Our campground hosts, Jim & Bobbie Chapman, were awesome.  She brought cocoa and coffee to us in the morning, gave us lots of ideas of things to do, and invited us to grill with them.  The food & company were great!  We look forward to going back to this gem of a campground soon!



Our campground 5.27 & 5.28



Jesse at camp 5.27



Campsite is just a few feet from river!





Jesse & Diane with Bobbie (campground host)





Jeep trip on Alpine Loop

Bobbie Chapman, campground host at Park Creek, recommended we hike the Archuleta Trail at Big Meadows Reservoir...what a beautiful site!




Big Meadows Reservoir (near South Fork, CO)

  It was here that we ran into a couple and their 2 dogs from Durango.  They said we "just had to" rent a jeep and do the Alpine Loop! Jesse was convinced, so, just like that, we had our next day planned!

Jesse enjoyed renting a jeep and tackling the "Alpine Loop".  We started our journey in Lake City, CO, & packed a cooler (Diane required liquid courage along the route).  We crossed Cinnamin Pass and continued on & had a great lunch & a beer at Handlebars in Silverton.  On our return trip, Jesse was determined to cross a creek....Diane got out to video & take pics.  See below!  After tackling the water, Jesse took us over Engineer Pass (lots of snow still up there).  It was quite the trip and Jesse is anxious to do it again soon.




Diane at top of Engineer Pass, CO 5.29.12

 



Jesse at top of Engineer Pass, CO 5.29.12










Diane & Jesse at the Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado ~ 5.30.12

We climbed up the sand dunes to the 2nd tallest peak (very strenuous uphill climbing).  Was definitely worth the effort!  We loved it and took lots of pics and video.  Kept wondering where our darn camel ran off to...lol!  Quite the adventure!