Just one more post about the vacation

I just can't stop reflecting on the great time we had and so many places of beauty we got to see on our recent vacation. I hope you aren't tired of hearing about it but when I get to see & learn so many neat things about the places I visit I like to pass it along to anyone who will listen. Since this is my blog you are going to endure another post of three of the other interesting places we visited.


We encountered this huge snow plug over the road on our way to "Scofield pass" in Colorado, it was another way to access an area known as "Lead King basin", but since there was this huge snow plug that covered the road we couldn't drive there from this direction. We were told that there had been over 30ft of snow in this area & that this road probably would not open at all this year. Do I hear another question about global warming??? Now that is a lot of snow folks. The day we were here it was 68 degrees, very sunny but breezy. We saw two deer running over the snow but I didn't have my camera handy to get a good shot of them.



We Drove through the Grand Tetons & marveled at the incredible beauty & distinct look that only the Tetons have. What you see in this picture is Jackson lake & the back water dammed up from the Jackson dam. It is actually the baby of the mountain ranges out west and they are still forming so the look will continue to change, of course we will not live long enough to see difference. We stopped to enjoy a tailgate lunch of cheese, apples, Mountain man made bison salami,, grapes and yogurt. Nothing like eating in the most glorious ambiance of nature. .This turned out to be almost our daily rations at lunch time. It was easy to carry in a small cooler we kept in the Jeep along with Gatorade, & water. Water is something you don't want to be without when doing any kind of hiking or back road traveling out west. It gets very hot in the day time & dehydration & the heat can hit you very fast. Staying hydrated is very important.


One of our last stops was at "Devil's Tower" in Wyoming. You will recognize this mono lift from the movie "Close Encounters", we didn't see E.T. there but it is considered a sacred place by the Indians. There is an Indian story that seven sisters were playing when a bear came after them so they climbed up onto a rock & prayed to the rock to save them. The rock grew up out of the ground but the bear continued to claw at the rock leaving the marks that we see all around the tower. The seven sisters are now the constellation seven sisters in the sky.
Climbers are almost always seen climbing this monster rock on a daily basis.
We had visited this place in 1995 but Sweetman had been extremely sick that year, so we never hiked around it, but this year we did. It gave us a feeling of finally finishing something that we started out to do years ago. As we walked around the tower you could see prayer cloths left in the trees that the Indians leave. We are told not to disturb these prayer cloths & there is a sense of quiet sacred calm in this place. Of course as Christians we know the true calm comes from our God who created this beauty for us to enjoy, but Indian folklore is interesting to learn about.
If I can help myself I will try not to indulge in any more newly learned wisdom that I have acquired on this trip but you just never know what might pop up from time to time. My mind tends to work in strange ways & after all life is an adventure. One can never stop learning I always say... What do you think???