my travels in pixels

Goblin Valley State Park, Utah While this is the third visit to the area, this is the first time we have actually gone through the gate. The first time the campground was closed because of faulty plumbing and we weren't prepared to sit in the soaring heat outside in our Dodge Van (it was our first year). The second time the rangers said that the three day forecast was for heavy rain and we didn't fancy getting stuck in the mud.  We nearly didn't come this time but the rain wasn't supposed to be bad and there were a couple of campsites available - we got the second last one. The campground is actually quite good, with a shelter and concrete driveway, so when it does rain you don't get covered in red mud. There is a free BLM campground about 7 miles away which is where we stayed last time but we knew that it's just too easy to look out the window at 6am and decide that it's too cloudy to get up for sunrise. Cowboys found the area while l...

One of the most photographed places in Colorado apparently is Maroon Bells. It's near Aspen and as we had some time we did a bit of a detour down to it. There are no campgrounds in Aspen, but I found one National Forest campground called Difficult to the south of Aspen that would fit our 35' trailer. Under the "know before you go" section they said that vehicles over 35' are prohibited from going over Independence Pass and as we are about 52' when hooked up, that meant us. When I looked at the pass on the map I could understand why as it has a series of nasty switchbacks. The road is understandably closed in winter. Independence Pass CO All the mapping software takes you this way as it's the shortest route, so we had to force our GPS by giving it other towns to go through. This meant we had to drive the long way around and approach Aspen from the north, going through places like Vail. The colours going down the I-70 were spectacular. Roadworks at on...

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado Bear Lake This is the first time we have been to Rocky Mountain even though we have been in Colorado before. You just can't do everything. We couldn't have come at a busier time of year. The first weekend Estes Park was hosting a fine art festival whereby people had stalls up and down the mains streets. Lost of photographers, so we got to see some wonderful pictures of the area. The second weekend, there was a beer festival, plus it was a "free weekend" at the national park, which always brings herds of people. The weekends are bedlam. We spent about about twelve days here and could come back to do more. No moose unfortunately as we are a bit late. It's hunting season now, so they have dispersed. Good on them. The elk have started rutting, but we haven't seen too many punch-ups. The best times for viewing them are early morning and late afternoon. By 6pm, it's getting too dark for a good photo as you can'...

Madison County, Winterset, Iowa While working out our route home I realised we could come through Iowa. We could find some covered bridges in the town of Winterset and visit our friends Harold and Kim whom we had met in Yellowstone a few years ago at the same time. It was great to catch up with them again and they wanted to show us the area. Harold knew where all the bridges were and we visited most of them until the sun went down. Madison County has the largest group of covered bridges that exists in one area. Of the original 19, only 6 remain, but only 5 are on the historic register. Hogback Covered Bridge We couldn't be at every bridge at sunset, but I think this would still have been my pick if we had. Cedar Covered Bridge Roseman Covered Bridge Someone had just got married at the famous Roseman Bridge, this is the bridge featured in the movie with Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood. Imes Covered Bridge The following day we tried looking for old barns to...

Minnesota's North Shore Part 2 1-4 September 2016 Judge CR Magney State Park Our campsite in the forest The lower of Two Step Falls Judge CR Magney State Park Nice easy hiking until you get to the steps - 200+ The upper falls of Two Step Falls in Judge CR Magney SP A few hours up the road I wanted to visit the falls at Grand Portage, I wasn’t sure if it was the National Monument or the State Park, so we did both. Grand Portage National Monument The National Monument follows on from our Canadian history as this was the summer inland headquarters for the North West Company that was based in Montréal. The peak French fur trading years over the Grand Portage were between 1732-54. The company realised that the 8.5 mile Grand Portage from Lake Superior to the Pigeon River was the key link to the upper area of north and western Canada as it led around the impassable falls on the Pigeon River. It’s a rugged trail, with rocks and marshes, and increases by 600ft...