We are so happy that we were chosen to lead the Fantasy RV Tour to the Northern National Parks this year. We Tail Gunned it last year and so, thankfully, we understand the tour. We left home on Tuesday, July 9th and stayed the first night at the Burns RV Park. When we made reservations they said we got their last pull through... Happy to not have to unhook the jeep. Leaving on Wednesday morning, this was the site right across from our space. Hard to see but the mom has twins with her. They still have their spots, soooooooo cute!!
We spent Wednesday at a new, to us, camp called Anderson Camp in Eden, Idaho. Very pretty camp with lots of grass to park on. However, we are working on the Rocky Mountain Tour as well as starting yesterday, we are getting all the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta stuff to go over and redline too. WHEW ! !
Arrived at Phillips RV Park in Evanston, Wyoming about noon. A much earlier day today, we needed it ! LOL We have been so lucky with the weather and the parks. Sunny, warm and 50amp for the air conditioner !! Lots of tour paperwork to finish up.
Red Desert Rose RV Park in Rawlins, Wyoming was just as nice as ever. They give you "pillow" mints and say that you bring your 5 star accommodations with you... LOL. They were so nice. So happy, that so far, we have had great enough power to use our air conditioner. Amazing that it has been so hot.
The drive in Wyoming has been so beautiful.. Lots of antelope grazing as well as wild horses, tame horses and cattle.
We are at Terry Bison Ranch tonight, July 13th. This is where the tour will come back to. Got all our plans verified. Clouds are sure dark when it is so hot. Wonder if we will get a storm. Last year, this was where we had a hail storm during the tour. Today, we traveled up to 8,700 ft in the Wyoming mountains. So pretty with green, rolling hills. Terry Bison Ranch has a little of everything: bison, camels, horses, ostrich, peacock, burros, bunnies, goats, llama's and probably more that we didn't see. They offer train rides to get closer... This statue is on the park property of 27,500 acres. Pretty cool.
OMG, Denver is the worst traffic our whole trip so far. First, we are on I-25 and right in the middle of Denver all these different highways are going off. Thank goodness for the GPS telling us which lane to stay in. We are south of the city before we see any indication we are still in I-25S... then we hit 18 miles of construction that the locals know they can bypass using the frontage road and just cut us off. Stopped the freeway twice, slowed us down by half hour. Hmmmmmm, wonder what is going on in this area for so much traffic on a Sunday. Will sure be happy to get to Garden of the Gods.
It seems the traffic and shopping and houses and ...... don't stop between Denver and Colorado Springs. So happy to arrive at Garden of the Gods where we will meet up with all our tour guests by Thursday... The park vibe is totally different than last year, what a welcome change. They are very nice and friendly, might I even add that they smile this year !! New management will do that ! ! ! However, as our time progressed we find the same electrical and water issues. The city is still working out on the streets and the park is old.... oh my..
We saw lots of antelope in Wyoming, hard to get pictures as they blend into the grasses.
Pizza out just before the Tour starts !! Very interesting venue...
July 19th, our bus tour up Pikes Peak...
Our George Raney look alike !! LOL
Donuts are mandatory at the top of Pikes Peak, 14,000 feet.. Amazing that they can fry anything at all..
Stealth was sure quiet!!
Lazy B Chuckwagon in Estes Park is always a great time. The entertainers are so talented and dinner is delicious
Michael J has an amazing voice, both high and low, love listening to him!!
and, he's a really funny guy!!
Our Rocky Mountain National Park tour was another great one !
This is the only rock that was cute for the road!!
We had our catered lunch at this pavilion on the water. Didn't get a great shot of the water !!
Love this statue
Not many pics of us !! This one is at the Cheyenne Days Rodeo !
Love the Cheyenne Days Parade, a true small town parade
Cheyenne does the best free breakfast we have ever seen... Pancakes flipped right off the grill and caught on a platter.. and a piece of ham. Fun to watch. The line was probably a quarter mile long and only took about 20 minutes.
Boots like this are all over town!!
This is all on the way to Scottsbluff
During our travels, Graham turned ten months... Boy, time sure flies by !! Isn't he a handsome guy !! Love him
He sure loves aquariums and fish... The pictures below are from Fort Robinson, one of my most favorite places. The horse drawn carriage tour was really great. We rode a jeep drawn ride up into the mountains for a steak dinner..
On the way to Mt Rushmore... We arrived in time for dinner but because of the construction going on there was very little we could do, sooooooooooo, wait we did. The program was only about ten minutes and they didn't honor the Veterans like they did last year. The lighting ceremony didn't happen until after 9:00pm so made for a long evening with not much to do. The avenue of flags area was closed for construction but the mountain is still magnificent.
August 1st we had an all day tour that took us to Crazy Horse, Iron Mountain Road and the Needles Highway... beautiful scenery again...
Then off to the Badlands National Park... Such interesting geography. We stopped for lunch at the Wall Drug complex.
There has been a lot of rain in this area this year so lots of green...
Bikers take up most of the parking but you can see from this sign that they all welcome !!
On to Deadwood... Can you tell it is Sturgis Week??
Mt Moriah Cemetery where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are both buried here.
This is the oldest gold mine in the area and still being mined today.
Saw this plane just along the road, out in the boonies !! On the way to Cody, Wyoming !!
Wild Bill Cody 5 Museum Complex
This is how I showed Kristina what we were thinking about getting for Graham. The trading post at the park in West Yellowstone is the best !! She approved of the grey moccasins.
Our first day of touring in Yellowstone took us to the Old Faithful Inn and Geyser as well as lots of hot pots
Old Faithful was going off as we approached in the bus.. Great to be up a little higher..
Yellowstone Lake
As we headed into the Mammoth Lakes area the driver went on this back road and look what we saw!!
These elk hang out in the Mammoth Resort area actually bedding down right outside the cabins. They sure don't seem to mind the traffic either. The Ranger's had to chase one back to the other side of the road by blocking traffic and then using a whip to make noise to shoo them back.
Lamar Valley in Yellowstone !!
Teton National Park... Aren't the peaks beautiful !!
Pelicans on our Snake River float out of Wilson, Wyoming, near Jackson. This was a beautiful float. We even saw a moose but it was faster than we were with getting out a camera.
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite tours ! !
