Since we left Cripple Creek we spent a few days at Rifle Gap State Park north of Rifle, CO, and a few in Thermopolis, WY. These two experiences were sort of at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Rifle State Park was a really nice, clean park with spacious sites and beautiful views. This part of Colorado reminds us a lot of the Texas Hill Country with no trees other than scrub cedars. Our site overlooked a beautiful lake that was the main attraction of the park. The weather was great and Mike took advantage of it to play golf one day at a nice little course just the other side of the gap.

The drive from Rifle to Thermopolis was one of the longest we've made in a single day, but the roads were good and the traffic was light so it wasn't a bad day. The route took us across the beautiful and desolate high plains of western Colorado and Wyoming. We crossed the Continental Divide four times at around 7,000 feet and saw what seemed like 100's of pronghorn antelope. As we were crossing the Great Divide Basin, Mike was glancing at the scenery and looked up to find a pronghorn standing right in the middle of the road immediately in front of us...they look so small out on the prairie but when you get them at the end of your hood they are a lot bigger! Thankfully he continued across; there wasn't any other traffic and we missed him. The drive ended with a beautiful stretch through the Wind River Canyon where the Wind River cuts through the Owl Creek Mountains. We will post some pictures of this canyon when we have a better internet connection!

Thermopolis is the home of the world's largest mineral hot springs. There is a state park with several baths that are very popular, but smelly! We stayed in the Eagle RV Park which appeared to be a former KOA; it was the tightest park we've stayed in on this trip. Some of the bigger rigs that came in could hardly maneuver into their sites! Thankfully all of our neighbors were nice, because you couldn't help but get to know them since you were camped right on top of each other.

Yesterday we moved from Thermopolis to Red Lodge, MT near the northeast corner of Yellowstone. Red Lodge is at the northern end of the Beartooth Highway, which is supposed to be one of the most scenic drives in America; it is also near the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway. We are looking forward to exploring this area over the next few days.

This is our last day at Cripple Creek and we have really enjoyed this part of Colorado. We were never able to work up to long hikes--too exhausting--but the campground is large and hilly, and we take several walks around the area every day.

Early in the week we drove to Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. A beautiful drive over yet another winding, scenic road. We listened to an interesting and enthusiastic national park ranger talk about the geological and more recent history of the area. There are many massive petrified stumps of redwoods that lived here millions of years ago. This area contains the largest number of insect and plant fossils anywhere in the world, the result of 3 large active volcanoes that were west of Florissant.

Yesterday we drove into Colorado Springs for a day of errands, and yes, over a winding beautiful road. For someone who's afraid of heights, Ellen is getting used to looking out over the tops of trees and down into deep canyons and valleys! Colorado Springs is a pretty little city in a spectacular setting; we had to drive around Pikes Peak to get there from Cripple Creek.

We've had our first bad adventure here in this campground. We've seen evidence of mice in our bottom kitchen cabinets! Some sort of sonic contraption that you plug in is now in place, plus sticky traps and clip-type traps. We see much less "evidence" and hope we don't take any with us when we move tomorrow! We told Max we were terribly disappointed in his not alerting us to those rodents.

We've added more pictures to our Colorado folder, so please check those out. We're on to Rifle in western CO, then back north into Wyoming. See you on down the road.

The KOA at Buena Vista was a good spot for relaxing, catching up on laundry, and going for a good long hike. We were just there a couple of nights, but we enjoyed beautiful views. We really could watch the storms come across the valley each afternoon.

Friday we drove to near Cripple Creek, southwest of Colorado Springs. We are again at a KOA with wonderful views, but with an altitude of 10,000 ft, it has taken us a couple of days to get used to! We suffered with headaches and shortness of breath, and the first day all we wanted to do was sleep! (We didn't.) We are much better today, Sunday. We drove the few miles into Cripple Creek this afternoon for a walking tour of the historical town. It was interesting and fun, despite the brief hailstorm! We were surprised that the town once had a population of 55,000, with railroads, schools, churches, opera houses, newspapers, brothels, a gold exchange, and 30 millionaires; it almost became the capital of Colorado. We also visited the Pikes Peak Heritage Center and learned everything we wanted to know about mining for gold!

We are still plagued with afternoon storms, all of which are accompanied by hail. Gracie barks at the storms to make them go away; Max hides behind our legs! After hearing about the Texas heatwave, we're not going to complain, however! It was 34 degrees last night and mid-50's this afternoon!

While in the area, we plan to visit Fossil Beds National Monument (maybe we'll find something!), Pikes Peak (don't plan on hiking to the top...), and the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. Keep in touch, everybody!

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We had a great weekend with Gwen. She arrived in Denver early Friday morning and we enjoyed the day together catching up. Saturday we headed to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. We hiked to a beautiful mountain lake called Nymph Lake. We tried to go further to Dream Lake but the snow (!) was too deep and the path too steep, so we headed over to Alberta Falls instead. It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed the scenery and having Gwen along to share it with. Sunday, before we had to take Gwen to the airport, we managed to get a good hike/walk in with the dogs at a county open space area called Devils Backbone.

The weather really turned bad on the way to the airport--rain, wind, hail and tornadoes. You may have seen the pictures of a shopping mall near the airport that was struck by a tornado.

Sunday evening we drove over to Estes Park and had a wonderful dinner with our friend Laura Grantham who lives there in the summers, and in Kingwood in the winters. We enjoyed getting to see her and her beautiful mountain home.

Monday morning was cold and damp but we headed out for Yampa River State Park near Hayden, CO. The route we chose took us up the Cache La Poudre River canyon. It was kind of twisty and slow going for us with the trailer, but it was an incredibly beautiful drive. We passed several really nice USFS campgrounds and thought about just stopping. When we crossed Cameron Pass the temperature was 32 degrees and it was snowing/freezing rain...what fun! The drive also took us over Muddy Pass and Rabbit Ears Pass on the way into Hayden.

I can't remember why we decided to come to Yampa River State Park but it is a real disappointment. It is on the Yampa River which is running high and fast right now, but other than fishing there doesn't seem to be much to do here. It's not in the mountains either so there aren't really any views. We've had thunderstorms and hail both days too, just to add to the atmosphere.

The other disappointment is that the facilities (restrooms, showers and laundry) are all very new but they have not been taken care of and are filthy. When Ellen asked one of the "Rangers" in the Visitors Center about the cleaning schedule she just sort of shrugged and said she guessed she could go clean them! Anyway, we were supposed to stay here for four nights but we're leaving tomorrow and going down to Buena Vista. We'll have a better 'net connection when we get down there, so keep an eye out for updated pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/TxMike3 .

37 degrees, light rain mixed with a little sleet, June 2--unbelievable! This was the weather the day we left Custer State Park, SD. We really enjoyed camping in this large beautiful park, though. The campsites were really large and grassy, and there were bison everywhere. One evening we took the dogs for a walk, but when we walked back toward our area of the park, there were 2 bison grazing right on the walkway. Mike suggested we walk on the road, but there were 2 more bison. After waiting about 20 minutes for them to move, and they didn't, we walked back to a lodge where someone called a park ranger to come and give us a ride to our camp area! Within the park was a wildlife scenic drive, which we took one evening. More bison and pronghorn antelope!

From our base in the State Park, we went to nearby Mt. Rushmore. We enjoyed not only seeing the sculpture, but also reading all about the design and making of the monument. The visitors' center had fascinating displays and photos of the process and the men involved. We also went for a drive on the Needles Highway--"needles" for the unusual pointed rock formations along the road and on either side of the tunnels. A big surprise for us was our visit to Badlands National Park, where the photo above was taken. We drove along rolling prairie grasslands, and suddenly these expansive rock formations, canyons, and buttes came into view. They were stark and beautiful. We had no idea that this area is home of the largest mammal fossil beds in the world.

Prior to our week in Custer State Park, we spent a few days in Hardin, MT, and visited Little Bighorn National Monument. We heard an interesting talk on the battle, walked and drove through the hills where the battle took place, and saw the 1881 monument honoring the cavalry and the 1993 memorial to the Indians. It was all quite impressive.

From the 37 degree weather earlier in the week, we were glad to move south. We are 25 miles east of Estes Park, and looking forward to a visit from Gwen this weekend. The weather here is mild, much more pleasant than that Texas heat we're hearing about!