First cowpoke family road trip of the summer...18 days, a respectable 1,600 mi, and two tweener-teenage girls setting the stoke = yee hah, buckaroos!
Visit on photobucket.com
Huckleberry Bay, Priest Lake, ID
Visit on photobucket.com
Toys:
Visit on photobucket.com
Over 25 yrs since Kelly last slalom skied, and my babe has still got sweet skills. Cutting morning glass:
Visit on photobucket.com
First time water skiing for the girls and they loved it,
Visit on photobucket.com
but extreme tubing was the most popular with the kids. Did you know that if you circle the boat tightly at high speed, the 4-person tube will eventually flip and throw small children 15 feet in the air? Some little kids will lose a tooth (baby tooth on a five-yr-old, thankfully!) and, eventually, even the high-energy tweeners will pass out.
Visit on photobucket.com
An hour south of the bay, we visited LaClede. Cute, shady, short, sport climbs along the railroad and the Pend Oreille river.
The approach.
Visit on photobucket.com
Belay slavin’ for the kids.
Visit on photobucket.com
Visit on photobucket.com
Visit on photobucket.com
My 10-yr-old nephew, showed some local kids who boated over to the rocks how to keep cool.
Visit on photobucket.com
Back at the lake, Samantha gave the tooth-loser a gentle tour.
Visit on photobucket.com
And, when Sammy was spent, Kelly let her ride too.
Visit on photobucket.com
“Next stop, Boise!”
Visit on photobucket.com
A nice bouldering traverse with strange colors due to the smoke (more on that later) up on Table Rock.
Visit on photobucket.com
Visit on photobucket.com
Sammy and Kelly’s youngest sister, Liz, who lives in Boise.
Visit on photobucket.com
“Come on, Dad, stop taking pictures, we’re hungry.”
Visit on photobucket.com
Liz and her husband, Vince, provided guided tours of Boise. (Super thanks for the beds, food, and tours, guys!) their town is a new favorite: progressive, proactive, and pretty. One of the highlights for me was the Anne Frank memorial, a stunning social justice exhibit.
Visit on photobucket.com
Visit on photobucket.com
Visit on photobucket.com
With Liz in tow, we then headed for City of Rocks. But, first, some of the fire (really mostly smoke) picks. Those of you who live in the region know, but if you don’t: the Rockies are burning!!!
We drove past nearly a dozen separate wild fires spread across Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado, and finished our trip next to the Waldo canyon burn remains. It was really freaky to see this state after fiery state. We even saw a bolt of lightning start a fire at mile marker 1 on 84 at the Idaho-Utah border. The 911 operator had to ask, “Which fire are you reporting?” There was already a very large one burning across the highway.
Visit on photobucket.com
Traffic stopped on I-84 for a grass fire.
Visit on photobucket.com
Smoke from fire east of City of Rocks:
Visit on photobucket.com
Just across the Utah-Idaho border on 1-84:
Visit on photobucket.com
Visit on photobucket.com
Alright, “the city”
Visit on photobucket.com
…our first time...why, oh, why did we wait sooooo long?!?
We stayed in cabin 6 at the Almo Inn. If you are ever in the situation we were (i.e., don’t want to fly with your camping gear), this is a great option. 5 minutes to Castle Rock and 5.5 minutes to City of Rocks, and the folks at the inn are sweethearts…great food and beer at their steak house too.
Visit on photobucket.com
An evening scoot up bunch-n-bunches of bolts with some rock underneath seemed like the right start at Castle Rock. Coyotes were calling in the distance as Kelly climbed.
Visit on photobucket.com
Visit on photobucket.com
Visit on photobucket.com
Being mid-week with highs in the upper 80’s, the city was nearly our own private Idaho. And, chasing the shade was easy and pleasant: climb on the west facing in the morning, eat lunch under a shade tree, and climb east and northeast facing in the afternoon. Magical.
Tessa on Adolescent Homosapien.
Visit on photobucket.com
Liz cruizing Thin Slice.
Visit on photobucket.com
Rapping off Thin Slice.
Visit on photobucket.com
[Fun side note: Although the city was nearly deserted, as I was topping out on Carol’s Crack, Kim Schmitz was topping out on Teenage Homosapien and soon belaying up Dick Dorworth. What a pleasure to meet these legends and their friends! You guys rock! And, Dick, a great big thanks for convincing Kelly of my Argentina plans for this winter: “You can’t always trust guys when they want you to take a trip, but you can trust him on this one.”]
Travelin’ on.
"The air hisses and it is no local breeze but the great harsh sweep of wind from the turning of the earth. The wild country--indigo jags of mountain, grassy plain everlasting, tumbled stones like fallen cities, the flaring roll of sky--provokes a spiritual shudder." Annie Proulx, Close Range: Wyoming Stories
Relaxing along the north fork of the Little Laramie
Visit on photobucket.com
The Bear Tree in Centennial to see the Lonesome Heroes…if you live anywhere between Austin and Montana, and you appreciate psychedelic country, but haven’t checked ‘em out, then stop reading this and figure out when they roll into town. Best intimate-setting show I’ve seen in decades.
Visit on photobucket.com
Visit on photobucket.com
Colorado this year was bitter-sweet as we helped Kelly’s parents pack their springs home into a camper (and gave away the remains), rent the house, and set off on a year-long road trip that will likely end with them settling somewhere else. We started climbing in and around the springs, and for our girls the springs will forever feel like Grandma and Grandpa’s. We did lots of “This may be the last time in a while that we (fill in the blank) in Colorado Springs.”
A priority was an early morning visit to the garden.
A climber on Potholes.
Visit on photobucket.com
Tessa shoeing up for bouldering in the slash.
Visit on photobucket.com
After the slash, we tried some slab traverses.
Visit on photobucket.com
And, the blowouts.
Visit on photobucket.com
Well, we’re now back in Boston with temps in the 90’s and percent humidity seemingly higher, but feeling breezy cool like a Rocky Mountain sunset. Post trip buzz lingers on a few more days, I hope.
Visit on photobucket.com
Happy travels, folks.
