stinkyslinky

Arco, Idaho June 21-27, 2014 Idaho is an amazing state. I never thought I would be saying that but it does have some unique features that mostly only the natives know about. One example and the main reason we headed in this direction is the Craters of the Moon National Monument. This park is unique in it lies in the middle of Idaho and it is a park dedicated to lava fields.  Lava fields as far as the eye can see!  The park highlights remnants of the extreme geological activity that took place here in the not so distant past. The national monument itself is in the middle of some impressive lava fields affording park goers to majestic views of ancient volcanoes. Peering back in time by walking through layers of rock is one of the finest and informative ways of understanding our past and also our future. Yellowstone is known for the supermassive volcano that the park rests upon but what most people don’t know is that same super volcano has been on the move for millions of years. It just so happened that the last explosion was in Idaho. Yes it is true; the hot bed that is Yellowstone migrated from Idaho to its current location. See I told you rocks are interesting! So that means that by wandering around the Craters of the Moon one could get a glimpse of what could happen to Yellowstone in the future. Our visit to the park got even more interesting when we climbed some old volcanoes, walked through folded fields of cooled lava, and we even descended into a few deep underground caverns that the flowing of lava left behind. Not much in the name of [...]

June 8-15, 2014 The Three Nipples, otherwise known as the Grand Teton National Park is such a wonderful and soul-refreshing place. In fact, it is one of our favorite places in the world!  The Tetons are a mountain range just south of Yellowstone National Park and they are just as wild now as they were in the past.  Fur trappers originally came here for the wildlife and luckily for us they didn’t trap and skin everything. The French fur trappers were the first to arrive, thus the name Tetons, which translates to nipples from French.  This is one of the few places left in the continental US, or the world for that matter, where you can hike with the wildlife. The animals know the park is a sanctuary, even though just outside the park hunting is prevalent.  It is amazing to walk deep into the forest and see black bears, moose, herds of elk, deer, grizzly bears, otters, and water fowl all in the same day. In Grand Teton National Park this is not only possible, but also probable. We stayed in the northern half of the Tetons, just two miles from the south entrance of Yellowstone National Park so obviously we spent the week enjoying aspects of both parks. We both felt that on our previous visit to Yellowstone (see our posts here) we saw most of what Yellowstone has to offer.  So by choice we decided to spend a little more time in Grand Teton National Park. The first day we decided to take a scenic drive through the Tetons and have an easy day.  However, once we arrived at Colter Bay and started hiking the Hermitage Point trail the [...]

May 11-18, 2014 Zion. If you’ve ever visited this slice of paradise then nothing more is required to be said. You are free to move on to the rest of your daily Internet surfing. Everyone who has visited this National Park understands that few places on the planet are as pure as Zion and words can only describe so much. With only two roads meandering through the park, one you can drive from one side of the park’s entrance to the other side’s entrance, while the other road is reserved for the Zion shuttle, help maintain the park fresh clean air.   The first day we visited the park we decided to drive from entrance to entrance, stopping at all the overlooks to get an overview of the park. The views are amazing! There is a small tunnel section that you have to drive through and upon our exit we popped out and bam a family of desert bighorns. By the way, the tunnel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as it was finished in 1930 and it is 1.1 miles long through a sandstone mountain. We finished our drive in wonder as we hit the end of the park and turned around. After a few stops to view the Canyon, which is 15 miles long and up to half a mile deep and cuts through the reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone by the North Fork of the Virgin River, we did the short hike to Canyon Lookout. Majestic.   After such a great day we choose to take the next morning and drive to West Zion and visit the Kolob Canyons. Again the views did not disappoint. Along our route we even found [...]

April 18-May 1, 2014 Sedona Sedona is high on our list of favorite US spots to recharge so it should come as no surprise that since we were in the area close to my birthday we chose this little gem to settle down in and enjoy. We visited almost all the shops in downtown Sedona over the course of our stay. We ate to heart’s content as Sedona has a wonderful foodie environment. We walked the streets and enjoyed the many views this red rocked city provides. While we where in town we also got some of our culture on. Montezuma Cliff Castle was on our must see list and this little slice of native paradise did not disappoint. Anytime you have the privilege to see first hand into the past please don’t miss it. When history contains cliffs, dwellings, and awe inspiring views it’s easy to take time to understand why this location was home to so many native tribes. The Verde Valley is a special place and everyone who walks these well-trodden paths can feel it. It feels like home away from home. Sedona is also known for its new age community, which claims the area is a hot spot for personal growth. They say certain locations have vortex energy that help push through old stagnate issues in the Mind/Body. I won’t go into that here but suffice it to say that these locations would be hiked even if they were not labeled vortex sights. The views are amazing and the trails are abundant making it our kind of place, New Age, Old Age, or No Age! While we were in the area we spent [...]

Benson, Arizona April 2-6, 2014 As I said in the previous post we left Silver City early to have some more time in Benson. Why Benson? You might be wondering. Well, you see Benson is close to Tombstone and everyone needs to spend some time in Tombstone, more on that soon. However, once we pushed our slides out in Benson we went for a soak in our resort’s hot tub. I know rough life right? After soaking our petty little worries away, we still have no backup or side cameras (its been over a month now and yours truly has since taken the entire dashboard apart looking for fuses), the TV antenna booster is blown and has rightly been ripped out of the wall leaving only a rats nest of power wires dangling behind, and we are in desperate need of a good old fashion monster truck oil change, but we heard the calling from tombstone. Wyatt Earp: How are you? Doc Holliday: I'm dying, how are you? Wyatt Earp: Pretty much the same. So like any travelers worth their weight in silver (another mine town) we answered, jumped in the toad, and took off to make some more memories. No sooner had we arrived when a couple of guys were posing for photos with us and inviting us to pay a small fee to watch some of them die. We kindly agreed and were promptly escorted to the actual O.K. Coral. A gunfight did take place and left 4 men lying motionless on the ground. They were later buried at the Boot Hill Graveyard and we personally saw their graves to prove it. So after watching Doc and Wyatt kick some ass at the O.K. [...]