http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Boutelle-Family/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Boutelle Family en-us Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:53:05 +0000 Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:53:05 +0000 August 1820st We arrived at Lake Powell on August 18th after a 4hour drive from Bryce. The trip was fairly uneventful. We passed right by Zion and I mentioned to Joe that maybe we should add that to our trip. Although we are having an amazing time I think all of us are looking forward to some routine when we land at our new home.We are staying at the Wahweap RV Park at Lake Powell. I learne http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Arizona/Lake-Powell/blog-194654.html This morning Elise Simone and I went on a trail ride to the canyon. Elise road her own horse Strawberry and Simone and I rode Heeber. The ride was fairly uneventful as all we did was walk. Simone was immediately bored and wanted to go home so we made up some songs about the horses. She brightened up immediately. Elise was startstruck the whole time and was very proud of herself at the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Utah/Bryce-Canyon/blog-193737.html Yesterday we drove to Bryce Canyon. We thought it was going to be 4.5 hours but it was 5.5 hours. We are staying at Rubyrsquos Inn just outside of Bryce. I was expecting a smaller resort but this place has everythinghellippool store post office shopping internet. We went to the pool and hot tub with the kids and decided we liked Bryce Canyon immediately. These types of resort plac http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Utah/Bryce-Canyon/blog-193733.html Another hot one in the desert. Today we let the kids go off schedule and swim first then tour the park. We usually use swimming as a way of motivating them to do the things we want to do during the day but today we were more flexible. It was good because it was hot already in the morning. Today was declared sarong day and Elise Simone and I started the day off wearing sarongs.We decide http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Utah/Canyonlands-National-Park/blog-193197.html Elisersquos 6th birthday. Elise practically jumped out of bed this morning. She was so excited that it was her birthday. She got to open a few small presents and was happy as a clam all day.Today the high was 104 degrees by our car thermometer. We went to Arches National Park and tried to get there early. We stopped by the Visitors Center to get the kids registered for the Junior Ranger http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Utah/Arches-National-Park/blog-192286.html Today was a travel day. We drove from Longmont CO to Moab Utah. All in all I think it was about 7.5 hours through some beautiful mountain territory. Once we got closer to Moab it was clear that the topography changed. All of the sudden we were no longer looking at pine trees but red dirt and desert conditions. We arrived at our campground the Arches RV resort and swam. In addition it http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Utah/Moab/blog-192282.html August 9th12thWendi and Scott have two children Aimee 6 and Toby almost 4. All in all this was a wonderful stop for us. Our kids had a ball with the Stewart Children. In addition Wendi and Scott have two chickens Annie and Clarabelle two dogs Lucy and Chili and two guinea pigs didnrsquot catch the names and one beta fish maybe has a name. The chickens are extremely used to http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Colorado/blog-192269.html August 9 2007Today we hung by the camper until noon. We had an ldquoopen houserdquo where other campers came and saw the inside of our camper. So many people seem to be interested in the fact that we are pulling the camper with a minivan. Now that I think of it we really havenrsquot seen any minivans pulling campershellip.hmmmmm. We met some cool people named Alyssa and Andrew a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Colorado/Rocky-Mountains/blog-192265.html August 8 2007Today was a beautiful clear sunny day in the Mountains. This is what I remember of Colorado from when I was in college. The sky was a beautiful blue with fluffy white clouds. Joe got up early with Ethan and Elise to take them fishing at Sprague Lake. We are determined to have them catch something. They all bounced out of bed at 630 am and ran out to fish. Ethan ended up cat http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Colorado/Rocky-Mountains/blog-192256.html Today was a rainy day at Rocky Mountain National Park. We were able to get some time in doing some things around the campsite. Then we went into Estes Park to use the internet. Estes Park is a fairly touristy town but the McDonalds has internet access. Back to the campsite for movies in the afternoon. We have been so lucky with weather it is hard to complain. Wersquove been on the road fo http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Colorado/Rocky-Mountains/blog-190743.html Today was both a very unlucky and adventurous day. We started off the day by Simone falling in a cactus. Joe pulled out all the spikes that were visible but I ended up having to take tweezers and take out the ones that were not as visible. As you can imagine it probably feels like a hundred splinters in your hand. Then Elise was bitten by red ants. Finally we stopped in Manila to take a s http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Utah/blog-189539.html August 5 2007Today was rafting day. We went to the beach so that the kids could see their new friends again then off to the dam for rafting. Rafting on the Green River is fairly tame and the route we rafted only contained level 1 rapids. The entire time on the water was about 3.5 hours. The water was cold but absolutely spectacular and the Green River runs through red rock cliffs. We coul http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Utah/blog-189538.html August 4 2007Today we rode our bikes to the swimming beach. It is about 1.5 miles away down a long dirt and stone road. This beach is sandy and is in a cove on the lake. There are more motorcraft here than I expected but it is still relatively remote. We played at the beach for a few hours and Joe went for a bike ride on the beach. We met some nice kids and Ethan Elise and Simone spent ho http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Utah/blog-189536.html We drove from Thermopolis to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area today. It was about a 6 hour drive. The kids did really great again. Once again they watched Star Wars. I think one of the most amazing parts of spending time with kids is listening to their minds working. When they do not have TV they are able to generate a number of games and fun. We could here Ethan and Elise laughing i http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Utah/blog-189535.html August 1August 2rd Leaving Yellowstone stop in Cody and ThermopololisWe left Yellowstone after a wonderful stay and came down the mountain pass back to Cody. We wanted to stop in the Buffalo Bill Historical Center which was supposed to be a wonderful museum. There are 5 museums there the Draper Historical Center a Western Art Museum a Buffalo Bill Museum an American Indian Museum and a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Wyoming/Thermopolis/blog-189534.html Hi allAs you may be aware this website was down. We are still alive and traveling in Colorado. We have very limited internet and cell phone access right now. In addition we put Joe's cell phone through the wash so we only have my phone. We will post in the next couple of days or so.Kerri http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Colorado/Estes-Park/blog-189543.html Today is the first big driving day we attempted with our three kidlets. We have never driven 7 hours with them and this will certainly set the stage for the other big drives we have coming on this trip. We got up early determined to leave the campsite early and actually left at 11 am.It was a cool 62 degrees driving today and Joe redistributed our weight between the camper and minivan which http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Wyoming/Cody/blog-186462.html July 24 2007Yesterday it was 102 in Sioux Falls and today it reached 106 in the Badlands. Holy cow it is really hot I wasnrsquot sure our poor van was going to be able to pull the camper in that kind of heat but someone we made it.Yesterday we stayed in Sioux Falls the whole day. Luckily there was a camper dealer next door who very happily kept our van for most of the day to add the ca http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/South-Dakota/Badlands/blog-185571.html July 25th 2007We have decided that we love the Black Hills and if we knew it was here we would have been here sooner. The rolling hills the pine trees the quaint towns make this a really cool place to visit. We are staying here until the 27th then onto Cody Wyoming and then Yellowstone.We are staying at the Rafter J Bar resort. This has got to be one of the best campsites we have ever sta http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/South-Dakota/Black-Hills-National-Forest/blog-185806.html Yesterday our 3rd day in Yellowstone we went to the Mud Volcano on the way to Yellowstone Falls. We saw a number of mud pots mud volcanos and hot springs. I thought the kids would love watching the mud pots sling mud. I was totally wrong. The Mud Volcano area smells so much like sulphur that we had to cover our mouths at a number of points. We ran through the boardwalk trail and decided that w http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Wyoming/Yellowstone-National-Park/blog-187996.html