Curecanti National Recreation Area, Colorado

Today we made it to Curecanti National Recreation Area. We plan to stay for a while and do some hiking here and at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park which is just down the road. Today we got the RV settled in and drove down the road a piece to the east entrance which is only about 10 miles from here. Campground elevation is about 7800 feet but it's not covered with snow so we are pretty happy about that. Today the hgh was 72 degrees and it was a bit windy. We have no cell signal here at the site so leave a message when you call and we will get it when we can.

Flowers and Blooming Cactus

This post is especially for mom. We were lucky enough to be here at the right time to see the cactus starting to bloom. There were hundreds of buds just waiting to open. In another week, this place will really be beautiful.

Colorado National Monument, Fruita, Colorado

Today we drove up to the Colorado National Monument which is about 2 miles from our RV site. The scenic drive through the monument is approximately 23 miles long and took 15 years to build. It is pretty much dug out of the rock. One of the signs said that 9 men died while building the road when the rock caved in on them while they were making a half tunnel in the cliff face. This was back in like 1933 or so. We hiked 6 miles of trails within the monument. Definately a place to visit if you are passing through west Colorado. We may have to come back here again.

Northern Colorado

This morning we woke up in Craig, Colorado, just over the border from Wyoming, and drove on down to Grand Junction where we plan to stay for a couple of days. I've found that one of the side effects of Rving is not remembering where you are each morning. The really strange picture was a shot going through a tunnel.

Leaving Yellowstone enroute Colorado

We decided to leave Yellowstone early and head south for the warmer weather. It was snowing when we left and we had to cross Togwatee Pass which was 9,658 feet in elevation so we saw a bit more snow during the drive. We also came upon a landslide and had to wait a bit for an escort around the heavy equipment that was there to fix the road. Other than this, we had an uneventful, beautiful drive through Wyoming.

Grant Village, Fishing Bridge and East Entrance Continued

Here's a few more pictures, most of them out toward the east entrance. We have had snow, sleet and rain for the past week and we are ready for some good, warm weather. We will be offline for the next few days so no more posts until we get to Curecanti National Recreation Area, Colorado. This should be about Friday. We should have our cell signal back by tomorrow afternoon.

Grant Village, Fishing Bridge and East Entrance Drive

We drove down to Grant Village to get a stamp in our passport. Along the way we passed the Yellowstone Hotel which looked a bit out of place up here. Fishing Bridge Visitor Center had a small museum of animals that are found throughout the park. We took a few pictures. The eagle is much smaller than the ones we have seen here. We saw an odd flock of small birds gathered on the pond. We aren't sure what they were doing but we took a picture anyway.

West Entrance/West Loop, Yellowstone NP, Wyoming

Today, 23 May, we drove the west loop and to the west entrance of Yellowstone NP. Yesterday we had a snow storm and the temperature was 34 degrees. Today we had partly cloudy skies with a high temperature of 55 degrees. We have to check the weather forecast for each day because the weather here changes so much and so fast. We did get to see a bald eagle today, along with more buffalo, elk, prairie dogs, pelicans, ravens, ducks, geese, etc.

Snowy Day, Yellowstone NP, 22 May

We had a bit of a snow storm which came in rather quickly while we were driving around the park. The temperature dropped to 34 degrees and the roads started getting slushy but the snow was beautiful. The picture of the birds in flight is a flock of pelicans.

Snowy Down Day, RV Site, Fishing Bridge, Yellowstone NP, Wyoming

When we woke up this morning it was snowing and continued to snow throughout the day. We did take a little hike down to the general store for some chili but other than that we stayed around the RV. Our internet connection was and will be up and down for the next few days with all the snow we are supposed to get. Meldon goes out occasionally and knocks the snow off the satellite dish so we can get online. We are expecting about a foot of snow by tomorrow evening. I believe it is supposed to snow for the next four days.