Trip South October 2014 - Salt Lake City

We began our trip south in a mad rush this year which left me feeling a bit disorganized.  So far, we haven't missed anything vital, but it's always a bit troubling to leave in a hurry. Even though we had been planning the trip for a month, we waited until we had word that our Washington building permit was approved before we left.  Since we had been waiting since July for that day, we didn't want to leave if we had some minor detail that still needed us to hand carry some paper to the County.  On our last trip to the County Jennifer assured us that our application was complete, approved, and ready for "copying" - which takes another 24 hours.  We took it on faith that we could leave and ended up leaving after 1 p.m.  (We usually leave around 5 or 6 a.m. when we travel.)

My camera quit working before we even got to Stevens Pass, so the first pictures of the trip were done with my tablet and I can't figure out how to transfer them to the computer. But we had a really nice although short visit with Tony, Tina, Sara, and Jesse in Eastern Washington where we stopped for the first night. 

So the pictures on our trip log start after we left Tonasket and stopped in Wenatchee at Costco for a new camera.  First picture - the mighty Columbia River at Vantage.

Second stop:  Salt Lake City to see Cameron, Anne, Gavin and Marcus.

Anne's uncle, Robert, grows an interesting variety of pumpkins every year and then hosts a party for the grandkids to decorate and take home.

 

The kids got lots of adult help decorating their pumpkins. 

Siblings debating the BBQ of bratwurst. 

 

Mom helped - or was she just trying to keep warm around the campfire?

Marcus found a truck to play with while the bigger kids decorated pumpkins.



On to Iowa - where we saw miles of windmills as the sun rose to blind us for several hours as we traveled due East.

 

Tripping across the U.S.A. (again)

Twice a year, Ron and I drive across the country.  Usually we take the "short" way - or what we call the "Northern Route".  However, last year when we were driving two cars, we ran into snow, sleet, ice, wind, and overall miserable driving conditions.  Since we were leaving about two weeks earlier this year and the weather forecast looked a bit formidable for the I-90 corridor, we decided to take the "southern route".  This one takes us all the way across the southern tier of states on I-20 and I-10, and then straight up I-5.  The overall trip is about 500 miles further this way, but we can be pretty sure if we see snow it will only be for a few miles in the Siskiyous in northern California and Oregon.

 

It's coming back to us why we avoid this route. 

Palo Verde trees are in bloom and beautiful in Arizona.

The dessert is at its most vibrant.

 

So a lot of the trip is much more interesting on the southern route at this time of year.

 

Love the rock formations of Arizona.

 

We smelt this coming for about 5 miles before we got to it in California.

Now this is dedication to protecting a crop!

Many different crops for hundreds of miles in Southern California, from citrus, to nuts, to row crops.

Olives,

Pistachios, and much more!

We've missed all the California agriculture.  I love to see things growing, and California is the growing capital of the country.  Forty years ago, I took an Environmental Studies course, and the underlying theme then was how limiting a factor water was and would increasingly be in the future.

 

 

The future is here.  We saw signs all over California about water, and the last wheel line we saw was somewhere in Alabama.  

 We saw our first white mountain when we were a little south of Redding, and Mt Shasta was gorgeous as we went further north.

I have been missing mountains!



Saratoga, Wyoming

We love hot springs!  So when we are traveling, we always try to include at least one hot spring stop.  On our trip across the U.S.A. this fall, we have been fortunate enough to have two such stops.  The first we enjoyed while we were staying at a VRBO loft in Missoula (171639)


Tonight, we are at Saratoga WY at the Saratoga Hot Springs Resort and Spa.  (370861).  We have stopped at Saratoga Hot Springs hobo pool several times.  It is about 20 miles off I-80 and well worth the slight detour.  The hobo pool was donated to the town of Saratoga with the proviso that no fee ever be charged to people using the pool.  Located on the banks of the North Platte River, the pool is very hot - last time we stopped, we couldn't even get in the pool.  There were a few hardy souls who were lobster red anywhere the water had touched their bodies.  We did find a place in the river where the hot water flows from the pools that was comfortably warm, so it wasn't a wasted trip.  


This year, Saratoga fell on a spot where we wanted to stop for the night, so I clicked on the Wyoming map on VRBO.com, and found this resort listed.  We planned to stay two days, but the second day was booked solid, so we settled for one day.

This place is absolutely beautiful.  The main pool is about 95 degrees, with the teepees in the background each over a smaller pool. The smaller pools average 105 degrees.

The room is modest, but there are so many interesting lounge areas and places to spread out that even with a fully booked resort, we never felt crowded.

The entire resort is western themed, with some very interesting furniture, lamps, shelves, and even coat racks.  There are at least 4 different rooms with huge stone fireplaces and comfortable lounge chairs.

Chess anyone?  This cowboy and Indian chess set has huge hand- carved pieces.

We can recommend all of the VRBO.com places we have stayed so far:

McCall Idaho - Listing 149397

Missoula, MT - Listing 171639

Idaho Falls, ID- Listing 304070

Saratoga, WY - Listing 370861

To access any VRBO listing, go to VRBO.com