We are off to the 2018 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, along with 150 other Airstreams. As with the other two times we attended, the Airstreams have a prime site right next to the balloon field. We traveled with Ann and Bruce for their first experience at the fiesta.

We left on our adventure, heading first to the Barstow – Calico KOA for the night. It’s a nice desert stop for the night. The next day brought us to Williams, Arizona for a couple of nights at the Grand Canyon Railroad RV Park. We drove through a lot of rain on the way, but next day after arriving, we had beautiful weather and a great bicycle ride to the Grand Canyon from the town of Tusayan. There is a 10 mile bike path into the park through beautiful forests. I believe the plan if to have more people ride to keep cars out of the park, but the lot was pretty empty when we were there.

The next stop was the Enchanted Trails RV Park on the west side of Albuquerque, near the Camping World staging area for all the Airstreams. The plan was to arrive at Camping World right at 7:00 am to stage for an 8:30 departure for the field. We had 7 rigs from our CCC Unit and we had heard that Airstreams started to queue up as early as 6:00 for the 7:00 departure. So, the plan was to have the 7 of us line up at 6:00 to be sure we were close to the front of the pack. We were the front of the pack as you can see from the images. Texas was next.

The weather was pretty good for the Fiesta, with one morning of static display instead of a launch, and no Evening Glow displays because of the wind. Otherwise we had great launches and balloon competitions. Enjoy the images!

Bruce and Ann then took off back to San Luis Obispo and Judy and I went on to Craters Of The Moon National Monument, Idaho, by way of Logan, Utah where we lived for three years while a graduate school. Craters Of The Moon was beautiful place, with an amazing, stark, landscape. Even the campground was set in the lava flows. The park encourages you explore lava flows, cinder cones, and lava tube caves. An interesting couple night experience. From here we went south to visit Angela, Steve, Nick, and Alex in Sparks, NV before going back to San Luis Obispo to cleanup to be ready for another adventure.

After Dinosaur, we left for Jordanelle State Park in Utah, stopping one night at Strawberry Reservoir. While at Jordanelle, we spent a day in Park City, Utah and then took an amazing hike in the High Uintas, east of Kamas. The loop hike started at the Crystal Lake Trailhead, went to Notch Mountain, around numerous lakes, and back to the trailhead. We passed by so many beautiful lakes, it was hard to believe! You will see our experiences in the images.

Our next destination is Dinosaur National Monument on the Utah/Colorado border. Lu and Joe headed back to their home in Oregon, we packed up and we took Highway 40 across Colorado, through Steamboat Springs. That area has really grown since we last visited. As we approached Dinosaur National Monument the landscape sure changed, we’re not in the Rockies anymore. We entered the park to lots of rock and little vegetation, until we dropped into the campground on the edge of the green river, beautiful landscape but very hot! Here are images of the campground and the hikes around the area.

From Grand Junction, we traveled East to Grand Lake and the Stillwater NFS campground for a night so we could arrive at Timber Creek NPS campground on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park by mid morning to find sites. This park is one of our favorites that we have been visiting for years. Enjoy the images.

Heading northwest, we next went to Grand Junction for a couple nights to re-provision and explore the Colorado National Monument.

Next our travels took us up near Gunnison, Colorado to the Curecanti NRA on Blue Mesa Reservoir. Lu and Joe joined us for for camping at this and the next stops on our way to Rocky Mountain National Park. While at Curecanti, we explored Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP and then Crested Butte, Colorado where we hiked and Bruce fished.

We came down the mountain and into Ouray, Colorado (the KOA a few miles from town) for two nights. The afternoon we arrived we checked out Jeeps in Ouray and landed the last available one! We were able to have it for the evening and next day, so as you look at our images you’ll see our late afternoon excursion to Yankee Girl Mine and the next day to the top of the Rockies and through Corkscrew Gulch, and Hurricane and California Passes to Animas Fork ghost town and on to Silverton, Colorado.

Just before we left on our trip, we received a call from the Forest Service cancelling our three nights in the Cayton Campground near Lizard Head Pass (above Telluride) because of fires nearby. We scrambled and found two nights in Durango and two nights north at Ridgway State Park. While in Durango, a favorite place, Judy, Ann, and I hiked, and Bruce fished. When we left Durango, we decided to drive the San Juan Skyway through Delores and Rico and check out the Cayton NFS Campground that was cancelled. We were surprised and excited to find the campground open and few people there! And, our two favorite sites were available! So we cancelled Ridgway and spent two beautiful nights at Cayton. Again, Judy, Ann, and I hiked and Bruce went fishing and caught two trout for dinner, well, a snack before dinner. Enjoy our images of the beautiful places.

From Monument, we took off for Mesa Verde NP in SW Colorado. We found two great sites for the stay. It has been years since we visited, but it was as impressive as ever. It was again hot and with fires all around southwest Colorado, fire restrictions were everywhere. Of course I can’t imagine a campfire in such heat. Enjoy the images.