Boise to Burns

The trip from Pocatello to Boise on May 29^th was very scenic. The highway followed the Oregon Trail along the Snake River. We were surprised how pretty the Snake River was winding its way through canyons and across valleys. The surrounding mountains and hills were desert, but in the valleys there were many farms and ranches.

We enjoyed our overnight in Boise. We went out for dinner at nearby Edge Brewing Company, which was highly rated on Trip Advisor. The beer and food was very good. We shared some Snake Bites and a Scottish Edge (a hard-boiled egg wrapped in pork sausage). We enjoyed beer cheese soup and I had a “Grown Up Grilled Cheese” sandwich (an amazing combination of smoked gouda, Swiss, seasoned cream cheese and blue cheese melted on grilled buttery sourdough with roma tomatoes, roasted garlic and avocado). It was really yummy.
After dinner, we sat outside at the picnic table and played a new card game called “Sequence”. It was a warm beautiful evening, but our DWs (darling wives) beat us 6 games out of the 11 we played.

We arrived at LaPine State Park for two nights, just south of Burns, Oregon. It’s a nice park with full hookups and set in the tall pine trees along the Deschutes River.

On Saturday, May 30^th, we had lunch in Burns, and then drove to the High Desert Museum. The high desert included parts of Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, all west of the Rockies.  It was quite interesting with sections on the history of the pioneers, Native Americans, and the wildlife. Then we made a quick visit to the Newberry National Volcanic Monument.

 

Tomorrow we head south and west to Medford, after stopping by Crater Lake National Park on the way.    

Steve & Julie Cornelius

Wyoming and Idaho

The four of us left Boyd Lake State park on Tuesday morning, May 26^th, and headed up the road towards Rock Springs, Wyoming.

 

We stopped for lunch at a rest area along I-80 and enjoyed partly cloudy skies. There was plenty of snow on the nearby mountains, but they were shrouded in clouds.

We arrived In Rock Springs and celebrated Day 1 of our Alaskan adventure with grilled steaks, in spite of more rain showers and a muddy KOA campground.

Today we began the day with bright sunshine and a stop in Green River at Penny’s Diner for breakfast. We headed west on I-80 a short distance before turning north on highway U.S. 30 for about 200-miles before connecting with I-15 and driving 30-miles to Pocatello, Idaho. None of us had ever traveled this route on U.S. 30 before and it was beautiful. There were wide valleys, rolling hills and everything was green with the recent spring rains. This short-cut, avoiding the Wasatch Mountains and Ogden, Utah traffic, was well worth the trip.

Tomorrow we head west to Boise for an overnight, before going on to Oregon.   

Steve & Julie Cornelius

Cloudy, Cold, Rainy Colorado

After spending the winter and early-spring going east and west along I-10, from Florida to California, we ended up in Las Cruces, New Mexico on April 29^th. We got on I-25 for the first time since September, seven months ago, and headed north to Albuquerque to spend a week. We visited some very good friends there, before heading north again on I-25 for Colorado.

We arrived at Cheyenne Mountain State Park in Colorado Springs on May 8^th for a 12-night stay. It was nice coming back to Colorado Springs to visit family and friends and to take care of doctor and dentist appointments.

However, the weather has been atypical Colorado spring weather. What happened to their 300+ days of annual sunshine? It rained, or was foggy or misting nearly every day in Colorado Springs. We only saw Pikes Peak and the sun one day. Thank goodness we missed the hail storms they had the week before our arrival.

   

We’re spending the Memorial Day weekend at Boyd Lake in Loveland, Colorado. On Tuesday, May 26^th, we depart on a 3-month long trip to Alaska with our friends Vince & Lisa. We’ve been planning and anticipating this Alaska road trip for a couple of years, as they retired last October, and it’s their first big retirement road trip.    

Steve & Julie Cornelius