Where The Dinosaurs Roam

After returning from Europe on June 5, we picked up our trailer & truck that we had left stored in Desert Hot Springs, CA and made a bee-line north to visit family in California, Idaho & Oregon.

Liam & Ethan with German pretzels Karen made

Liam's birthday party at a Lego store!

A first for all of us-we took Liam & Ethan to a Monster Truck & racing show-they were so excited!

Billy, Melissa & the boys-we took the ferry across the bay to San Francisco for a day

a movie, ice cream & cookies at a bakery for Isaac & Owen-spoiling our grandkids???

East Coast-West Coast cousins meet for the first time!

Bert (in the driver's seat) Jack & Billy cruisin' in Bert's rental

It was great to spend several weeks with each of our childen but we after 6 weeks we needed to “hit the road” in our trailer while summer still lingered.  The only commitment is an RV Rally in August in North Dakota so we are free to wander for several months.  

Our first stop was one of our favorite “hidden gems” at Lake Tahoe, a COE (Corps of Engineers) campground near Truckee.  But we were surprised that they started requiring reservations rather than “walk-ins”. We lucked out and were able to reserved two nights as we sat at the entrance of the campground.

bear up the tree

When we came back from a hike to the campground we had some excitement.  A bear visited our campground In The Middle Of The Day.  We heard a couple of guys shouting and they were chasing the bear away because the man found the bear INSIDE his trailer!  The bear somehow opened the screen door and rummaged around while the man was gone. Boy was he surprised when he went to open the door and the bear jumped out with a bag of marshmellows in his mouth.  The bear was pretty calm and really wasn’t too interested in leaving so climbed a tree for a bit. Eventually he ran off. Unfortunately this bear has become way too comfortable around people and will need to be captured to be moved deeper into the forest where hopefully he’ll stay.

another wild animal??  chipmunk checking his reflection in our solar panel

Boardwalk in the Tahoe Meadows

Heading east we spent several days in Utah at the Dinosaur National Monument and the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.  We had never visited either of these areas and they were absolutely spectacular. While it was in the high 90’s and very hot to walk around, we camped at Steinaker State Park with electricity where we could use our air conditioner.  

Definately one of the "little known" national monuments

 

we went on a Ranger-Led hike & saw bones & fossils just in the rock/dirt cliff next to the path

The Quarry Site in Dinosauer N.M. was where the work began in 1910 and by 1926  there were 150 dinosauer species discovered. The side of the hill is now enclosed and available for visitors to view the 1,500 fossils still embedded in the rock.

I just had to learn more! Great Book

Yep!  Jack is sitting on a dinosaur bone bench!!

The historic Green River flows in the Colorado River

Flaming Gorge National Recreation Site

We camped one more night on the Wyoming side of the Flaming Gorge at a campsite with stunning geography and views of the River

 there are a few other campers but the spaces are very wide apart