On the Road Again

We hit the road and spent the next 10 days heading east until we reached the Atlantic Ocean.  It put a smile on Rich’s face to see the sea again.  We initially drove a little north out of Denver to avoid the heatwave across the Great Plains.  From Colorado we drove through Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia to Virginia.  The weather in those states wasn’t exactly cool, but the mid 30’s seemed better than 40+.

We knew we wouldn’t go hungry on our drive across America.  If we missed one of the ‘fast food’ exits, the Rest Area's had vending machines!

For most of the trip across, the land was flat and full of corn fields until we hit West Virginia, which is very mountainous.  Although not particularly high in altitude, it is extremely rugged and many of the highways had as winding through the trees.  It was very pretty.
We crossed the Mississippi River dividing the states of Iowa and Illinois, which was a bit of a highlight - tells you something about the rest of the road trip!

At one RV Park, we decided our ‘Minnie Winnie’ was actually mini.

Steamboat Springs, Colorado

We loved our time at Steamboat, a ski resort renowned for its ‘powder’ snow.  Another place we may have to revisit in the winter!  We stayed in a friend’s condo, which was very generous.  It was huge, perhaps as big as our house and we all relished the extra space.

The condo was in a great location, with views of the ski slopes or the grassy hills as in our case.   There was also a large hot tub which we frequented most afternoons and Luke’s confidence around water has improved dramatically.

Downtown Steamboat was really pretty and they had a free bus service around the whole town.  The bus stop was about 200 metres from the condo, it was perfect. 

Chloe and Abraham Lincoln

There was also an amazing outdoor swimming pool/gym complex.  It is called the Old Town Hot Springs, as the 8 swimming pools are fed by hot springs.  I think they actually have to cool the lap pool down.  It’s a fantastic complex; they also have 2 big waterslides and also a toddler water park, with small slides and little water fountains.  The kids loved it, as did Rich and I.

We farewelled Steamboat after 10 super days and hit the road headed for the East Coast.

Wyoming

Once we left Yellowstone we were headed for Gerard’s apartment in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.    Our first stop after Yellowstone was Jackson, Wyoming.  It was such a pretty town, we decided to stay 2 nights.  Jackson is in close proximity to several ski resorts, very much cowboy territory and certainly geared to tourists.  It makes for an interesting mix.

The Lonely Planet’s comment on Jackson is, it is as ‘jet-setting’ as gets in Wyoming , so one more stop at Rock Springs, pretty flat and industrial and then on to Colorado. 

I even had a drive!  We left so early, the kids are still in their PJ’s.  Every time we decide to have an early start, they seem to sleep in, always the way isn’t it.

Yellowstone National Park

The night before entering Yellowstone, we heard on the news that a man had been killed by a Grizzly Bear in the Park.  Although it’s the first fatal mauling in the Park since 1986, we were still a tad paranoid, especially with the kids.

Yellowstone had some pretty scenery but didn’t ‘WOW’ us as much as some of the sites in Canada and Yosemite.  

The actual size of the National Park is impressive.  It’s famous for being the first national park in the world, its wildlife and geothermal features. 

The wildlife was certainly abundant and we had to be careful whilst driving to ensure we didn’t hit any animals, especially deers crossing the road.

We dragged the kids around the West Thumb Geyser basin to see the natural hot springs that are fuelled by the active volcano under Yellowstone.  

We didn’t realise we were camping on an active volcano!  We also saw 'Old Faithful' geyser blow, we waited over an hour for the experience with about 200 other tourists.

 The kids had the best time when we came across snow again and get to build a snowman.  Pretty poor excuse for a snowman, but they love it.  Also gives Luke the chance to wear his gloves and beanie that his Mim sent over from Aus.

We only stayed 3 nights in Yellowstone.  With the mosquitos, bears, difficulty getting a campsite and limited activities for small children we decided it was best for everyone’s sanity to move on.

Back in the USA

We crossed the border back into the USA to Montana.  But just before leaving Canada we had to share the road with a moose!

We had planned to spend some time in Glacier National Park, however the scenic route taking you through the middle of the Park was closed due to 30ft of snow!  So we decided to make a beeline towards Yellowstone National Park.  It took us 5 days to reach Yellowstone and the landscape through Montana was pretty much dead flat with the Rockies to our right.  The new landscape brought warmer weather and finally we were into our summer clothes.  

We had a change of scenery for one night when we stayed in an RV Park located in the Missouri River Canyon.  The road snaked through the Canyon alongside a very fast running river.  The owner of the RV Park has never seen the river so high, due to the large snow falls they had over winter and spring.

Waterton Lakes

We returned to the mountains at a place called Waterton Lakes.  A fabulous place, extremely picturesque, with a huge lake surrounded by mountains and yes they had snow on them too.  We enjoyed it here so much we stayed for 6 nights.  The campground was in walking distance of town, a large playground with a water park that was opposite a café with the best coffee in town (as per Lonely Planet).  What more could you want!

The kids got drenched at the water park and the water was icy cold, I don’t know how they could stand it.  Chloe even insisted on paddling in the shallows of the lake, a lake that partially freezes in winter!!  Luke decided it was too cold for him. 

We hired a quad bike for an hour and Rich and I were counting down the last 15 minutes, it was hard going.  The kids loved it, then again they didn’t have to peddle.

We celebrated Canada Day, 1^st July, with a family BBQ lunch in town.  The kids were given a beaver tattoo from the man in the beaver outfit, which scared the bejeezus out of them.  You can just imagine Luke!

It was very fitting that Waterton was our last stop in beautiful Canada.

Banff

From Lake Louise we drove to Banff and spent 3 nights.  Banff was a really pretty town that was surrounded by more snow-capped mountains.

I insisted we do some ‘touristy’ things in Banff, so we went to Lake Minnewanka (pronounced Minnewonka….)  We spent a whole 10 minutes there, it was freezing.  The wind coming off the lake was icy. 

After we left Banff we hit the flat plains near Galgary.  The scenery was a stark contrast, paddocks for miles and straight, straight roads.