Back at the park!

So, we're back at Cabri Regional Park. This will be our third summer here as park managers. The first year that we arrived there were no leaves on the trees. Last year, things were a little greener. But this year, spring has arrived early.

In fact, it looks like we're heading straight in to summer and might be bypassing spring completely!

The Wildlife of Wales

There are fewer things more beautiful than the British countryside on a summer’s day, when the flora and fauna is in full bloom and the natural wildlife it at its most vibrant.

If you’re planning on taking a walk on the wild side this summer, North Wales is a good place to start a staycation safari.

8,000 miles later...

We arrived back at Cabri Regional Park yesterday evening. What a long four or five days that was! But we made it, safe and sound. And, we arrived to better weather than we've seen since we left Utah.

I figured out that we drove approximately 8,000 miles (12,800 kms) since the time we left Cabri last October 5th.

Into Montana

Filled up again yesterday morning in Lovell, Wyoming, this time at $1.97 per gallon ($0.68 per litre CAD). One more fillup today, and we'll enter Canada full of cheap American gas. Stopped at the Lovell Information Center to use their free wifi and have our breakfast.

A bit of a late start today, as we didn't get on the road until just before 10:00am.

All the way through Wyoming in one day

Long driving day for us yesterday as we managed to put 356 miles (570 kms) on the odometer. We drove from the bottom of Wyoming up to the top! I think that's the most mileage Sherman has ever done in one day!

And through a wide variety of scenic vistas.

We sure do meet a lot of good people

Woke up to a dusting of snow this morning, and read the road reports for conditions north of here...which were not good! So we decided to stay put for the day.

We had heat, and food, and internet...so we were fine to sit and wait it out.

Around 11:00am, there was a knock on the door.

Hiking with Kevin and Ruth

Okay, so we had some free time today and a half decent internet connection. So I uploaded a five minute video for you from one of our recent hiking excursions.

Now, youtube has changed the way they display videos and normally you won't see it at the best quality. You may need to click the little "settings" wheel down in the bottom right corner of the video screen and change the quality to 720p so that you can see it in decent quality.

Stranded in Baggs, Wyoming!

On the road at 9:00am yesterday morning, with a plan to make it to either Craig, Colorado, or Baggs, Wyoming. Or, somewhere in between.

The first order of business was to make it through the mountain pass on Colorado highway 139 heading north. The weather was good, so no chance of problems at higher elevations. And it turned out the road was fine.

Well, that was a nice morning stroll!

We got up early yesterday morning and drove the 13 miles to the Little Wild Horse Canyon trailhead. Had some breakfast, and then hit the trail right at 9:00am. This is a busy hike, and it was a Sunday so we wanted to be among the first on the trail.

Kevin, in Little Wild Horse Canyon.

We had planned on leaving early anyhow...

I have an aunt and uncle who have spent a lot of time camping and hiking in Utah, and they offered some suggestions about some hikes in the area. So yesterday, we first stopped at a short hike in Capitol Reef National Park, but then we drove through the park and out the eastern side of it.

Ruth, out for a short hike in Capitol Reef National Park Saturday morning.

Another fun hike, with great views.

Drove into the town of Torrey first thing yesterday morning. That's the closest free internet to Capitol Reef National Park, at the visitor info center run by the county. No Verizon cell signal up here, so we can't get on the internet that way.

With that done, we drove into the park.

Sherman, in Capitol Reef National Park.

Utah...possibly our favorite state?

We think that Utah is well on it's way to becoming our favorite state. The number of stunning hiking opportunities is amazing. That said, we wouldn't want to be here in busy season. April is definitely the perfect time of year.

And they have some pretty birds here too!

Bryce Canyon Viewpoints

We got on the road at 9:00am yesterday, specifically to do the 36 mile (58 km) round trip drive through Bryce Canyon National Park. This drive has several viewpoints along the way, and we wanted to stop at each one. We were hopeful that our start was early enough to beat the traffic!

This road takes you up to 9,000 ft, and there is still some snow in places.

Prepare to be wowed!

We did an 8 mile (13 km) hike in Bryce Canyon National Park yesterday. There's no way to describe the landscape without showing you lots of photos...and maybe a video or two. So, for those of you who will never see below the rim of the canyon, this is what you're missing...

A neat little gadget

We had quite a few requests from various companies this winter to "advertise" their products for them. We turn most of them down, either because we're simply not interested in the product, or we actually try it and it's not worthy of a decent review.

But we've got a few good ones coming your way over the next couple of weeks. Here's the first one...