RV'n 4 Jesus: Playing Catch-Up! From Montana to Colorado!

Ok, since I'm apparently having issues trying to get this blog caught up, I thought I would do like a whirlwind post. We are going to cover three weeks of travel, a couple thousand miles and 8 campgrounds, all in one post. Don't worry about it being too wordy, because well, it was three weeks ago and I have a lot of new stuff in my brain now. LOL I told my best friend once that my brain was like a bench, only so much room, something new comes in and something else has to go...LOL...But the great thing is that I have lots of pictures to help jog my memory and will let them do the story telling this time! Thank goodness we actually write down were we stay or I would be at a loss there too.

When we last left off we had just come out of Canada and stopped at St. Mary's, Montana, at Glacier National Park. AWESOME, AMAZING BEAUTY!!! Loved it there. We were able to stay in the NP (which made it really neat being on the inside. BUT at NP's out there, most have slim hookups (water/elec/sewer) so most of the NP stays are dry camping - NO hookups and this one was one of those. As we checked in she gave us a (felt like) 20 minute lecture on bear safety, protocol and warnings since they had sighted a grizzly family at the park. So, I really do hate to admit, I was truly hoping we were going to get to see her with her cubs....from the INSIDE of our car/rv, but no sightings during our stay.

We ventured out to do the loop around the park, I mean seriously, nothing prepares you for this stuff. Being raised in Florida pretty much my whole life, I couldn't comprehend the concept of 18,000 ft tall mountains with glaciers on them.....EVERYWHERE! I praised God I think every turn and thanked Him for such beauty. I was literally awe struck the entire drive pretty much. So yes, we have some great pictures, but remember, they do the true beauty of the mountains no justice. I am just again so grateful to have had this opportunity, it has been a trip of a lifetime that I will never forget!

The funny part of leaving Glacier heading to Great Falls, Montana, was this great little road that we decided would be a good route (per random stranger we asked). It was INSANITY from the beginning! Need I remind you we are in a 32 ft rv pulling a 12ish ft car and this road was one curve after another around one bend after another UP one mountain DOWN another..and on top of all that it was an open range as well...cows everywhere...Oh and construction you say....Yep, had that too. It was crazy I tell ya. Luckily the crazy Canadian and Alaskan road construction prepared us for this road and God graciously kept me calm and got us through once again! Oh how HE is faithful!!!! And the views were wonderful as well :)

After that splendid road and a few more miles we arrived at Malstrom Air Force Base where we stayed for the next few days to see some of the Great Falls area. As God would have it, we met up and went to church with one of Mom's past WMU presidents that she served with, Tami Parks. She was able to give us the low down on places to visit and see during our short stay. She gave some great advice. We were able to visit three different falls, a little different from what we are use to, but beautiful non the less.

We said good-bye to Great Falls heading to our next NP....YELLOWSTONE! I have always heard so much about this park, so I was super excited that we had 4 days planned for our stay. We were even blessed to have electricity during our stay (no water or sewer) and since it was only 4 days it would be no problem. We were having really cold nights down in the 40's and were super excited for the electricity.

All that I was told about Yellowstone was true. What a great park, over a million acres, with wildlife EVERYWHERE! From the smallest of basin's to the largest one...Old Faithful! We saw them all....ok, not really! We saw a bunch, so many that it was like, "ok, whatever another basin." It was hot during the day and they put off a whole lot of steam and they did smell, so I lost interest in them really quickly. But Old Faithful was awesome! SOOOO much power, pressure and water all combined for an enormous explosion. Really exciting to see. Oh and the elk, we saw two different ginormous daddy elk. Their racks looked so big I was wondering how in the world are their necks strong enough to hold their heads up....and WOW at their families, there were elk everywhere. Oh, and we even got to see a grizzly while we were there, he was quite a ways off, but we say him, so it counts :) We took picnic lunches into the park each day and found great spots for our breaks. They were really beautiful peaceful spots which was great since there were 4 billion people in there. I can't even imagine what that place must be like during the summer.

As we prepared to pack up to leave the next day, we got word of a cold front/storm coming in that night bringing snow and rain. Since we had to head through the mountains on our way out, we decided to hunker down as Mom put it (too many hurricanes in the past...lol). We found out the next day it was staying for a few days, so we extended our stay until it blew over. So, we had a couple of rain days in the RV to rest up and regroup. I, for one, was really thankful for the downtime. I don't always realize how tired I am until I stop.

On the third rain day we decided to venture out (Mom was getting restless) and go to Idaho

to track down a waterfall over there. I am so thankful we did, about 30 miles into the 60 mile drive, the skies opened up and we saw the sun for the entire 2 hours we were there. The waterfall was amazing (I need to come up with new words...I use amazing and awesome all the time...lol) anyways, the cool part was that we could stand right next to it at the drop off point....the sound, the power, just amazing...(see there I go again...lol).

As we drove back to the campground, the skies let go again and the rain began to fall. When we woke up on the day we were to leave, the sun was shinning and we hit the road. We had to drive through Yellowstone on our way out and it was just beautiful. The higher we got up in elevation, the more snow we saw on the ground until it was just all covered in white, a winter wonderland! I was in heaven, so beautiful!

We left out of Yellowstone heading to the Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole....bummer, as we passed through they were completely clouded in, but we got to see the base of the mountains. Oh well, so these two I had to google and see what they looked like UNDER the cloud cover, so all good.

Now we were off to Estes Park, Colorado, to see the Rocky Mountain NP. WOOOHOOO I loved Estes Park, cute little touristy town, but the Rockies all around. Just beautiful! They even had a market/festival/art show thing going on when we arrived, so we definitely had to check that out. Got lots of great ideas to work on and even got an ice cream, imagine that. LOL

Again the awe and beauty of the Rockies. We read in one of the shops that the Rockies go from Canada to New Mexico. Now that's a lot of mountain range right there. Again, Mom had me on the windy crazy mountain roads, which yes, I have survived all of them so far. Again, all because God is getting me through it all. Loved the mountains and the town, hated we were only staying two days, I could have settled in there for a bit longer for sure!

Our last stop on this post was Evergreen, Colorado, where Mom's cousin, Charleeda, lives.

What a great time we had there. I got to meet cousins, families and was just a great time around the table and a great visit. We even were able to get in a game of Skipbo together, which was wonderful! While we were there, we went to Mt Evans. Mom wanted to go there so bad and we heard that the road to the top was closed, but wouldn't you know, it wasn't! So I got to drive to the very top of the 14,000 ft mountain where there are NO side rails, and you think you are going to go right over. It is the highest roadway in North America. We lived long enough to make it to the top and then there was another trail to go to the tippy top and yep, you guessed it, Momma wanted to go...so we went! You know, it is so great having a Mom that has no fear, cuz you do things you wouldn't normally do because she wants to do them. We got to the top and it was FANTASTIC! (ha - new word). You could see for miles and again, breathtaking! I will never forget those moments shared with my Mom, just her and I. But I won't be skydiving or zip lining with her anytime soon, just sayin, one of the other siblings can do that with her...LOL On the way down the mountain we even got to see white mountain goats. On the way up, we saw some brown ones. They are just so confident in their life on the ledge so to speak...LOL But these guys weren't on the ledge they were just heading up the mountain to other pastures. We finished the tour by riding through some of the area mountains, seeing bubbling creeks, waterfalls and I can't say enough about the stunning yellowing aspens. Sure wish we had those in Florida.

I just have to throw in a shout-out for the Smiling Moose. What AMAZING sandwiches!!! If you are ever in that area, on Interstate 70, get off on the Evergreen exit. Look up and you will see a large log building...Smiling Moose in on the lower level. We can vouch for the "The Sloppy Mo", "The Parisian" and "The Bayou Chicken". We each shared a bit of ours and couldn't decide which one was the best.

We were able to stay only 3 days, but we had great family time. It was a wonderful way to wrap up our visit to Colorado.

Hope you enjoy the pictures, sorry there are so many. I mean, how do you chose just a few? Thank you for following us on our journey across the US sharing God's love with all we encounter.

Love and prayers -
Kristi
Carol & Bob
Galatians 6:9-10

Glacier National Park, Montana