The Boat

We bid farewell to Victor, ID and the Grand Tetons and drove down to Green River, WY to spend the night on our way to Steamboat Springs, CO. Jim and I planned to tent camp, but once we saw the site (which was also surrounded by I-80 and a busy railroad track) we rented a room at the nearby Travelodge instead. Hilariously, the campground’s policy is that campers must cancel their reservation within 30 minutes of arrival; otherwise, there is no refund. It didn’t take us 30 minutes to cancel…

The next morning we hit the road bright and early to make it to Dinosaur National Monument (near Vernal, UT) by our 11am reservations. On the way, we drove through Flaming Gorge and the Ashley National Forest, both of which were lovely.

We arrived at Dinosaur National Monument around 10:30am and had plenty of time to hit the bathrooms before jumping on the shuttle over to the park’s famous quarry.

On the shuttle ride over, Jim and I were scolded by a fellow rider for not wearing our masks properly. Good times.

The fossil bone quarry is full of real dinosaur bones still positioned as they were when discovered in 1909 (excavation continued until 1990), and, lest anybody think we are total scofflaws, touching the fossils is permitted!

To avoid any further interactions with our authoritarian compatriots, we walked back to our van on an interesting trail.

Afterward we proceeded on to our condo in Steamboat Springs, where we met up again with Cappy and Grandma for a delicious pizza dinner.

The next morning was Sunday, and we attended an outdoor service at Concordia Lutheran Church.

Next we checked out the Spring Creek Trail, which started next to the church’s parking lot. It was a lovely walk and had some nice fall colors!

Hungry from the walk, we had lunch at a local Mexican restaurant called Salt and Lime and then headed home to rest at the condo for a few hours. We had dinner at the RV campground and enjoyed a beautiful walk after dinner.

On our drive back to the condo that night, we soon discovered that we had a very flat tire! But, of course, Jim and Cappy quickly had the spare in place.

The next morning we had breakfast at The Iron Waffle, before hiking to Fish Creek Falls.

Everyone split up after the hike, with Jim heading to the condo to work, the kids venturing to the botanical gardens with Cappy and Grandma, and myself on the search for a replacement tire.

Unfortunately the lone tire shop in town refused to sell me a single tire citing safety concerns over mismatched tires. Instead we will be crossing the continental divide on a donut. 🤷🏼‍♀️ This also forced us to rework our plans as now we need to drive directly to Denver to buy a replacement tire at the closest Honda dealership. We are now skipping Winter Park and Colorado Springs, instead spending one night in Denver before heading to Oklahoma City to visit Jim’s business partner Taylor.

Evie, Jack, and James remained with their grandparents for the rest of the day, while I did laundry and walked to the store for some provisions. We had planned to go on a date that night before the tire saga, so, I fixed my hair for the first time in three months, and we drove our very pitiful looking minivan to Laundry for dinner.

Steamboat Springs is a great place (unless you get a flat tire). It’s high on our list of places to visit again during ski season. Pray for an uneventful drive to Denver!