The Traveling Pine

Day 5 - 26 June 2019 Day 5! Neither of us was as sore as I expected after all those hours hiking yesterday. The alarm woke us up at 7am. We were shooting for an 8am departure, but it was 8:33 when we got on the road. I made us a pot of coffee so we could fill our mugs for the drive. We also finally got to see the scenery of Star/Boise, ID. It was beautiful and the houses were as big as we had guessed the night before.  Once we got on the road we crossed into Oregon at 9:19am. About 40 minutes later we arrived at our first stop, Baker City, OR. How could we not stop?! We had breakfast at the Lone Pine cafe. I had some avocado toast and Ross had some Huevos Rancheros. Both were very tasty! The weather was great, so we sat outside. Baker City’s main drag is cute and has an old feel to it. It was fairly quiet and we had a nice meal.  Cider Stop #1 We got back on the road and headed for Washington. We crossed that border about 12:20pm. We also gained an hour by cro...

Day 4 - 25 June 2019 This day was designated as my day because we started in the city of my birth and we planned on searching out Leah’s Lake in the afternoon. Our alarm went off at 7am. I managed to post Day 2 of the blog this morning right away. We eventually got going, had our leftover pizza before we left the hotel room, grabbed a light breakfast from the hotel, and were on the road at 9:08 am. Our first stop was the bridge we had found the night before. My parents gave us super specific guidance about what we were looking for......”A train tressel in Idaho Falls”.....ok, no problem. Well, I think we found the right one, but unfortunately, no initials. So we put ours on it!  Maybe some day I’ll send Charlotte in search of it with equally vague direction. I will give my folks the benefit of the doubt, it was about 36 years ago, so I guess I can’t fault them for not having more specific detail. I can barely remember last week.  After the bridge, we went in search of...

Day 3 - 24 June 2019 Our alarm went off around 6am. I had woken up about 4am, but managed to fall back asleep. The tipi bed was very comfy and we stayed warm with a pile of    blankets. I eventually rolled out of bed, gathered up a towel and toiletries and wandered to the shower/bathroom area just a few yards from our tipi. One of the guard llamas was grazing in its pen near our tipi. It still had a very suspicious look on its face and wouldn’t come near me for a few pets. The bathroom set up was very nice. The hosts had some croissants and cinnamon rolls out for all the guests to snack on. We packed up and were headed to Yellowstone by 8am. We made it to the entrance of the park by 8:40. It took another hour or so of driving, with construction, to get to the heart of things. We had to stop for gas once we got into the park. We stopped to see some sulfur springs, aka Earth farts. Pheew! While we were driving super slow in construction traffic, Ross plotted out the rou...

Day 2 - 23 June 2019 Cheeky marveling the majesty of a giant Bison pie Our alarm went off at 5am. Oof! The weather was in the mid 50’s and a few showers, but those were done by the time we were out the door. Our goal was to get on the road between 6 and 6:30. Ross had devised our morning driving plan the night before while waiting for our food at dinner. We packed up the car and grabbed a few bites to eat at the hotel continental breakfast. We made it out of the parking lot at 6:18am. Ross drove us through the Iron Mountain Road in Custer State Park. I didn’t want to drive because of all the switchbacks and a few one lane tunnels. I’m sure I could have managed the drive fine. The drive was beautiful and peaceful. We got out a couple of times and we were the only ones observing the majestic beauty of nature.  As we were driving through one of the small tunnels we came around the corner and out in the distance was Mount Rushmore! I might have yelped with excitement as I’ve n...

Day 1 - 22 June 2019 The start of our road trip! We had spent the night before making sure everything was all packed up and staged in the living room so we could load up the Mazda nice and quick. That 4:45am alarm was still not welcome, even though it signaled the start of vacation. We got ready, loaded up, and out the door at 6:08am. We were shooting for 6, so I’d say that was a good start. Our original plan was to head to Urban Joe’s for a coffee and a quick bite, but we found out that they didn’t open until 8am, so we were already making changes to our very detailed plan. We opted for a waffle at home and a stop at Grebe’s for some coffee and donuts to start the day. As we get into the car, the first (and only) mishap for the day occurred. Ross sat on his sunglasses, breaking them. .1 miles and 10 minutes into our trip.....maybe we should turn back. The house is right there. But, we decided one pair of broken sunglasses shouldn’t deter us, so we hit the open road.  ...