The Roundup

OK I can’t get the map to embed correctly (too many stops I am guessing), but look here

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• 22 States
• 8522 Miles
• 8 National Parks
• 2 National Memorials
• 1 National Monument
• 1 National Preserve
• 1 Bridge from London
• 2 Singers Houses
• 1 Wedding
• 1 50 FT Green Giant
• 1 Corn Palace
• 10 Wineries
• 1 Woman
• 1 Man
• 1 Dog
• 1 RV

We would like to thank (and if I missed you I am sorry):

Clare, Andrea, Jeremy, Bhodi, Taj, Dave, Jeanine, Oliver, Eden, Uma, Annabelle, Tyson, Thomas, Betty, Barry, Anne, Anthony, Roger, Titus, Brenna, Andy, Lenni, Luke, Phillip, Bella, Diane, Pat, Mast, Kathie, Cisler, Jill, Aunt Sue, Uncle Rick, Kelly, Jacob, Scott, Debbie, Mom and Dad Zielinski, Kiki, Cheryl, Kate, Matt, Melissa and Greg Karczewski family and friends, Jim, Janet, Lisa, Morgan, Shay, Tim, Amy, Timmy, Joey, Tracy, Kevin, Johnny, Tyler, Hannah, Cindy,  Katie, Mr Noel, Mom and Dad Wiggen

Home Sweet Home

Not much to say today.  We got up early, 7, and headed home.  We dropped off all of our stuff at home (its AMAZING how much crap we had in the RV) and with the help of Mike Winstandley (who was house watching for us), we cleaned the RV and returned it.

All in all a great trip.  We are sad to be home, but happy to be in our own bed this evening.  We talk of doing the RV thing again.  We really enjoyed it

Crater Lake to Berkeley CA

A final day of driving brought us from the National Park to Jim and Janet’s house in Berkeley.

We slowly made our way into California, once again arriving in the state we live.  We drive by Mount Shasta (home of many a Houseboat trip), past Weed California (which always brings up thoughts of Terry McDaniel), and arrived at J&Js in time for dinner.

They were nice enough to host us on our last night.  We had a great BBQ and salad, drank some wine, and talked into the night.  Susan decided to sleep in a “real” bed this evening, while Stu and I decided to sleep in the RV one last time…

Umatilla to Crater Lake National Park

Today was exciting because we got to see yet another National Park.  Crater Lake is in Oregon and is a lake that has formed inside a volcano which has no top.  No water leaves the lake, and there are no rivers out of the lake.  The water is a crazy blue color (hard to see in photos) that you have to see.

It’s not a large NP.  In fact we saw most of it in one afternoon.  We both would like to come back and take a boat ride, as we arrived to late in the day this time.

We found a nice little RV park on a river and through Stu in over and over.  I think we overdid it as he was shivering at one point.  Another great day in one of the jewels of our country…

Glacier to Umatilla OR

Today is my birthday   37

Awaking in the park it was a good but sad day.  We had to say goodbye to my parents who were flying home.  We had a nice birthday breakfast (even though I really don’t like breakfast) and dropped them off at the Glacier airport.

On our way out of Montana we drove through some beautiful parts of the country.  We drove through the town where Harrison Ford lives (no sightings) and found a river for Stu and I to swim in.  We like Montana (and Wyoming) now only if it didn’t snow

From there Susan and I drove through Idaho and into Spokane, WA.  We were all excited to try the Spokane wine region and quickly got off the road and found our first Winery.   The whites were quite good.  We then tried to find other wineries.  Number two was interesting in that it was in an old school house (see picture).  From there however we realized that the Spokane Wine Region is really just wineries spread our all over downtown Spokane.  Not the best for those of us driving RVs.  After trying to find our way to a few more, we decided it was simply not meant to be.  We headed on to Oregon.

Our stop for the night was an RV park right on the Columbia River (Columbia separates Oregon from Washington and is the river that Lewis and Clark took to the Pacific).  We had a wonderful overlook of the river, a nice simple dinner of Taco Bell, and enjoyed the scenery.

All in all a good birthday….

Glacier National Park

Today we took the Red Bus Tour of Glacier.  This is one of the most beautiful parks I have been to.  Not a lot of animals, however the scenery is awesome.  The red buses have been around since the 30’s in the national park.  The roof of the bus comes off and gives you a convertible like feel.

We took the road-to-the-sun tour where we were taken over the 6000+ center of the park.  There is a 21 foot limit on cars for this pass so the RV was definitely OUT.

It was a great day (although we had some rain) and we saw a lot of cool scenery including some mountain goats and prairie dogs…

We ended the day at a rib place where we ate 4.5 pounds of Baby Backs for dinner….

All is good..

Polson MT to Glacier National Park

We awoke from our overlook of Flathead Lake and slowly moved on to Glacier.

We started by throwing the dog in the lake for a while, then went wine tasting at Mountain Winery (also on the lake).

The afternoon consisted of class II-III whitewater rafting.  It was my mothers first time in a raft and we had a great time.  The water was pretty low which made it perfect for a first timer.  Unfortunately we have no pictures of us on the river

We headed into Glacier to get the lay of the land.  tomorrow we have a guided tour of the park.  It seems that cars longer than 21 ft (ours is 25) can’t go over the pass.  O well we wanted to have someone explain to us the beauty of the park anyway.

Yellowstone to Polson, MT

We awoke in Yellowstone for our last day in the park.  Deciding to see more of the park we headed out.  Of course we got stuck in a 1 hour bison traffic jam where we did NOT move at all for 20 min and then only moved slightly.  It was great to just sit and watch them walk by, roll around, and even fight (we saw one get pretty bloody).

We saw some waterfalls (wonderful) and some more thermal activity.  On the way out we saw a large elk with big antlers.

We then headed to Montana.  Following the river (and a lot of rafting fun) we headed toward Glacier National Park.  Susan took a turn driving and at one point we had to literally pull over because of hail.  When it rains here, it POURS.

We arrived at the best campsite so far.  We are in Polson MT where there is the largest fresh water lake west of the Mississippi

.  Tomorrow off to the park.

We played Hearts in the evening after dinner.  Somehow my sister Meghan still managed to have more points than us…..

Yellowstone

Today we toured Yellowstone.   We started with a loop around Grand Loop and saw many geysers and thermal pools.  Of course we made it over to Old Faithful for a noon eruption.  One of those things that I am glad I saw in my lifetime.

Later in the afternoon we took a tour of the eastern part of the park looking for animals.  We saw a wolf (Susan spotted it first), some more bison, elk, and a bear (susan yelling O MY GOD ITS A BEAR).  It was a great 5 hour tour of the park where we learned lots of fun facts that I can’t remember.

A great time in the National Park…..

Yellowstone/Grand Tetons

After a mosquito evening and morning (they were terrible) we headed out to the Grand Tetons.  We had a great day in the National Park to the South.

We drove quickly to the town of Jackson (its not Jackson Hole like I thought, that is the whole region, Jackson is the ski town), and had a good thai lunch in the rain.  From there we followed the mountain range north and enjoyed the number of lakes in the park.  I would like to return here for some hiking.

At the end of the day we all collapsed after dinner having spent a great day in nature….