Summer Trip 2017

We spent July in Woodstock but found the weather hot and humid.  It had been a very rainy spring.  So in August we headed to Arizona arriving in Green Valley below Tucson in !07 degree weather.  We had been thinking of maybe relocating there but I wanted to experience the hottest time of year.  That is in June but August was terrible also.  We had an appointment with a realtor but after just one night I said "Get me out of here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" 

We headed north and Bryce Canyon National Park was our second stop. We stopped at Glen Canyon NRA first. After 3 days I said my goodbyes to Bryce and we headed north again.  Bryce Canyon is over 8,300 feet so it is much cooler.  And it was just as beautiful.  Then I wanted to stop at Salt Lake City, UT for the monument to people and settlers of the area.  It was sculptured by a grandson of Brigham Young and I learned about the artist and the monument when I was volunteering at Weir Farm in CT.  I was impressed with the monument.  From there we headed north and west to Washington State and Oregon.  We accidentally followed the Oregon Trail in Idaho and Oregon and we saw Mt. Rainier NP and Olympic NP before heading to Oregon and friends who taught us to crab from a dock in Bandon.  The smoke was terrible because of the fires and terrible dry summer.  East thru burning national forests we traveled out of our way for roads were closed. What a long day!!!!!! I had a last night saying goodbye to the Rocky Mountains and we saw Grand Teton NP again, then traveled east thru Casper, WY and into Nebraska following the Oregon Trail east thru Scotts Bluff NM and Chimney Rock.  When the emigrants saw Scotts Bluff, they knew they were 1/3 into their journey west. We spent 6 weeks roaming and completing missed parts of history arriving back in Connecticut September 17th.



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Our campsite in North Campground near the rim.

Beautiful as always



Crabbing with our friends

This is the Place Monument, Salt Lake City, UT



The Pacific Ocean at Olympic National Park

The very dry rain forest I had come to see.  (Terrible, very, very dry summr!!!!!!!!)

The Tetons and Snake River  in Grand Teton National Park

Mt Rainier NP gas  pumps from the past.



The mouth of the Columbia River and the Washington State side in the distance

The Nebraska light house dedicated to Hope (Beacon of Hope) build by CCC in 1930's

View from Scott's Bluff.  The Immigrants knew they were 1/3 to Oregon at this point.
 

A view of Mt. Rainier coming into the national park.  It was cloudy so when the mountain appeared it was a shock and impressive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!