Saving Time in a Bottle

relishing the life God has given us

Wooden Topography

Wooden Topography Map | Written by Curtis

In 2016, while living in South Carolina, I stumbled upon a post on the image sharing site, imgur, that caught my eye. A woodworker had created a topographic map of the United States out of wood using a CNC machine. What’s more, he outlined his entire process in a reddit post, and later would create a small business producing even more of the Topographic states.

I saved the original post, and logged it in the back of my mind as something I’d like to do would I ever acquire access to a CNC Router.

Then in the Fall of 2020, in a scramble to finish a bookshelf that I couldn’t complete in my garage, I discovered the Loess Hills Maker Space, across the river from us in Glenwood, IA. And, in addition to every tool I would ever conceivably need, they had a large 5’x8′ CNC router. As I finished my bookshelf, I found excuses to return to the shop for small projects and slowly learned the programs behind the CNC – specifically VCarve.

My first project was to make a puzzle of the United States for my sister’s family as a Christmas present/education tool, as well as some small geography based ornaments and decorations. But really I was learning about the challenges of geometry and geography, namely the problem of meshing a concave and convex curve with a finite bit.

But once I figured out that I could definitely make it work, I set out in ernest recreating that topographic map. I’d love to say that I found my own way of converting raw USGS elevation data into usable raster files, but that simply wasn’t the case. After much trialing and erroring on the computer, I more or less mimicked the process that the original designer had devised. Using QGIS, I chose a map projection (US National Equal Area is so much more pleasing than Mercator), clipped the state shapes from the raw elevation data, and converted that data into a *.asc file. The most difficult portion was converting the *.asc files (or any type of geographic data file) into a *.dem raster file. Most programs required a rectangular field and would either choke on the data or create a null value that would break VCarve later on. But I eventually found a way around that didn’t involve manually editing megabytes of numbers.

Once I had *.dem files of each of the states, I could complete all the rest of the compression in VCarve. I knew that I wanted the final product to be around 4 feet tall and 6 feet wide and scaled the XY coordinates to approximate that (I think the final scale was close to 1:1750000). But, in terms of linear distance, the earth is very smooth relative to its size, and the highest point in the lower 48 at Mt. Whitney is less than 3 miles tall. Somewhat arbitrarily, and essentially by happenstance, I selected a Z scaling factor of about 10 giving a Z scale of very close to 1:175000, further emphasized by making sea level 10 mm high.

I made several test pieces of different sizes, learned that leaning on the table caused sufficient deflection to be visible, and then spent a long time trying how to get rid of edging effects. During the scaling process, individual pixels have to be averaged out, but pixels near the edge of each map were being averaged with null values which, for some reason, made them negative. As the finishing bit approached the edge of a piece, it would invariably drill straight through the other side.

It took a while to solve this problem, and it would occasionally come back if I wasn’t paying attention, but by March 2021 I had made my first acceptable state – Iowa. From then on, it was more or less just rinse and repeat. I ran into a few unique problems, made a few cosmetic errors, and broke a couple of finishing bits, but I eventually got to the point where I was finishing about one state a week.

Naturally, as the states got further west the topography got more exaggerated, and the states got larger, so I spent even longer at the shop on those days, working on small scrap wood projects.

The final state to be finished was California, not out of any sort of honorific, but because California required all the data to be modified on account of Bad Water Basin and the Salton Sea being below sea level.

Unlike the original map that inspired mine, I wanted my map to be portable (like almost all of my furniture) so I put together the map into two pieces divided East-West to the West of the MN/IA/MO/AR/LA line of states. And truthfully, gluing the states together was probably the second most challenging aspect of the project. The convex-concave problem became extremely exacerbated as more states came together – small discrepancies up in New England resulted in SC and GA not meshing fully together.

But this has easily been one of my most fulfilling projects. I’ve learned a lot about geographic data manipulation, 3D modeling, and the topography of this country. My favorite thing to do has been to learn not only about the physical landforms, but also the human history and habits that they indirectly caused. I absolutely love talking and comparing the Lewis and Clark expedition to the Astor Expedition/Oregon Trail and how incredible it is that the Corps of Discovery made it across such a dense mountain wilderness.

So now what? I estimate I’ve put in close to 500 hours into this project, and my love of topography is still not satiated. Part of me would really love to include Alaska and Canada to the same scale, and a small part of that part would absolutely love to see a 15 foot tall North America from Colombia to the Arctic Circle – I’ll need a bigger wall. But our time here (might) be limited, so I’m mostly focused on finishing some repeat states as gifts, and then maybe some high detail maps of some of my favorite topography in the Colorado Basin.

If you’re interested, you can see pictures of each individual state and the “full story” of this project on my Instagram page, @squatchis, or search the hashtag “woodtopomap“.

Kayaking in Desoto NWR

Kayaking on Lake Desoto | Desoto National Wildlife Refuge | Steamboat Bertrand Collection Museum | July 2022

Ever since we visited Desoto National Wildlife Refuge in October 2020, we knew we wanted to come back as soon as we bought a kayak. Ideally we wanted to visit when migration season was in full swing, but we since learned that they don’t allow boating during that time. Unfortunate, but that’s okay, we can respect the birds.

The Friday of Fourth of July weekend started out cool and overcast with light showers; a refreshing break from the hot and humid weather that has taken over the area for the summer. We decided it was the perfect day to kayak to both enjoy the cooler weather and beat the holiday weekend busyness. Driving US-30 to Desoto brought back memories from our first visit, back when this area of Iowa and Nebraska was still so new to us.

We started our paddle at the put-in site near the Steamboat Bertrand trailhead. The water was quiet, still, with no one else in sight. We took our time, leisurely paddling here and there, enjoying the stillness and watching for birds. We ended up going almost as far as the museum/visitor center before turning around. The whole ride was very relaxing for us, though Charlotte got a little impatient with our lack of paddling towards the end.

Afterwards, we decided to check out the Steamboat Bertrand collection in the visitor center, which was closed last time we visited. Since Charlotte wasn’t allowed, we took turns with going inside and watching her. I volunteered to watch Charlotte first, thinking she’d probably just want to sniff around the parking lot and boardwalk along the lake. I was wrong — she almost immediately picked up on some scent and proceeded to follow it with a very fast-paced walk all around the trails surrounding the visitor center. We ended up walking almost a mile, keeping a quick pace the entire way, even with the sun breaking through the clouds and the weather warming up. She never did find whatever it was she was smelling, but by the time we ended up back at the museum, we were both out of breath and exhausted.

We sat down at a bench near the entrance, and shortly after Curtis emerged and saw us there. “Let me guess, she sat here the whole time and waited for me?” He asked. I laughed and told him all about our adventure. Lucky Curtis got the easier shift of watching a very worn-out Charlie while I toured the museum.

The museum was very impressive and absolutely worth revisiting Desoto on its own. The Steamboat Bertrand collection was much bigger than we had imagined, with shelf after shelf filled with items that were recovered from the sunken boat. I only vaguely remembered the details that we had learned about it from two years ago, but seeing all this made me realize it was so much bigger than what I pictured, and the efforts that went into recovering all these items were even more impressive. Some of our friends from AZ had talked up this museum and told us that this is their favorite National Wildlife Refuge, and now after we’ve thoroughly explored the trails, lake, and museum, we can see why! Besides the Steamboat collection, the museum also has information about the birds and animals that live here, the history of this area, and an excellent indoor area for bird watching.

Graduation Weekends in Iowa

As I mentioned in a previous post, this spring my family celebrated both the graduation of my youngest sister, and my mom’s retirement from homeschooling. Curtis, Charlotte and I happily made the trip over to our hometown for two different weekends to be present for the graduation ceremony and my sister’s grad party. Besides being able to celebrate with them, these trips had the added benefit of being able to see a lot of family and friends in a short amount of time, including my grandparents and some relatives, Curtis’ parents and younger sister, and of course our sweet new baby niece!

The ceremony was on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, so we spent Friday through Monday with my family. Highlights of the weekend include seeing Nanna (now Gigi!) meet her great granddaughter for the first time, hiking at Wikiup Hills with my parents & the dogs, enjoying strawberry daiquiris with my parents while playing 5 Crowns, and treating my sister to graduation sushi.

Another fun moment from the weekend was getting together with our youth pastor/wedding officiant and his wife for the first time in years. The purpose of the meeting started with his wife misplacing her wedding ring, which they believed happened while she was mowing their yard. Curtis offered to look for it with his metal detector, and after about 30 minutes he was able to find it!

The following weekend was the grad party. We returned on Thursday evening so we could help with the set up, cleaning, and errands that needed to be done beforehand. Besides the party prep, we spent another enjoyable morning with our niece and had dinner with both of our families together on Friday evening.

The party took place on Saturday afternoon. The weather was cool and cloudy, and thankfully the predicted rain held out until the last hour, and the tent did its job of keeping those underneath it dry! The decor was so cute and had my sister’s style written all over it; the food was delicious and there was enough leftover to feed us through the next week. Another big hit from the party was dad’s beautiful yard and gardens — it’s come a long way since the derecho almost 2 years ago!

I’m so thankful that we live close enough to be able to drive back and forth like this and be present for special occasions. Congrats again to my sister on graduating, and to my mom on retiring from homeschooling!

The Henry Doorly Zoo

The Henry Doorly Zoo | Omaha, Nebraska

Growing up in Iowa, it was always just a known fact that the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha was the best zoo in the country — it even ranks top 5 in the world! It made for an easy weekend trip, and I have several happy memories of visiting with my family over the years. So when Curtis and I found out we were moving to Nebraska, it seemed like a no-brainer that for one of our years here, we should get an annual pass.

Now that our year is up, we can attest to the fact that it was worth it, both from a financial and entertainment point of view. It would have taken only three visits to make the price of the pass worth it, and we visited almost once a month, getting to know both the exhibits and the behavior of the animals fairly well. With the purchase of our pass, we were also given a one-time free entry to the Wildlife Safari Park located Southwest of Omaha.

But are you ready for the best part of all? The zoo has been open for 125 years — it opened in 1894. Out of its 125 years of operations, the first AND second baby elephants to ever be born to this zoo happened to be this year (2022), the year we happened to be members of the zoo. Elephants are my favorite animal. All this proves to me that God loves me and wants me to be happy. 😉

In all seriousness, if you have the chance to visit the zoo this year, DO IT! Sonny and Eugenia are the cutest and worth the admission price on their own. If you can’t make it until 2023, not to worry, because another baby elephant is due to arrive in February!

The story of how these elephants made it to the Omaha zoo is quite special — in 2016, the Omaha, Wichita, and Dallas zoos went in together to rescue 18 elephants from a drought in Eswatini. They were flown across the ocean in giant crates, which you can see on display in the zoo.

After visiting the zoo many times over the year, we found that going in the winter months is our favorite time to be there. The paths through the zoo are cleared of snow and ice making it a safe place to walk, and the outdoor exhibits are almost completely empty, especially in the mornings. We just dress appropriately for the cold and then visit the indoor exhibits when we need to warm up.

We always enjoyed walking through the desert dome and seeing animals that remind us of being in the Southwest, such as the coati and the javelinas. The gorilla and sea lion exhibits were consistently exciting because the animals were always active. But it’s hard to top the penguin exhibit in the aquarium. We could sit and watch them forever, because each one is doing something different and they all look hilarious with whatever they’re doing. Curtis really loved the ‘sloth bear’ — who looked like a bear, but with extra shaggy hair. Also during our year of being members, one of the giraffes had a baby named Arthur (July of 2021) and while he’s grown quite a bit over the year, he’s still noticeably shorter than the other giraffes.

If we were staying in Omaha longer, we definitely would have kept up our membership. There were a few events we didn’t take advantage of, such as “late nights at the zoo” (for a 21+ experience) or trivia nights, which we could have attended at a reduced cost. Overall, we highly enjoyed our year of being members!

Kayaking the Niobrara River

Kayaking the Niobrara River from Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge to Smith Falls State Park | Hiking in Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge | Valentine, NE | May 2022

The main purpose of our trip to Valentine was to kayak a section of the Niobrara River. This was one of the first things on our “Nebraska bucket list” that we created when we found out we’d be moving here. In order to achieve this goal, several things had to happen: First, we needed to buy a kayak. We did this at the beginning of 2021. Second, we had to get comfortable with using it, which included getting Charlotte comfortable with riding. We have been doing that over the last year, paddling around lakes all over the country and completing a longer ride in Utah.

Finally, Curtis needed to convince me we could actually kayak on a river in a safe and enjoyable way. This is the part that took the longest — no, I take that back, buying the kayak took the longest if you consider that we had been thinking about getting one for about 6 years. But I digress; it took some time for me to come around to the idea of kayaking on moving water, even though I had a lot of experience with canoeing on a river while growing up. But in my mind, that was different because I was just a kid on a group trip and had no responsibilities and nothing to lose. Now, not only were we on our own — we went as far as taking this trip in mid-May so we wouldn’t be around anyone — but we were responsible for everything, and it all felt risky in my mind.

Curtis did a great job planning out this trip and making it feel as “comfortable” as possible for both me and Charlotte. He scaled back from a multi-day kayaking trip to just one involving only the first 10 mile section, and only one short section of class 1 rapids. This would allow us to gain experience in kayaking on an easier river, and also would be a great way to enjoy the beauty that is the Niobrara National Scenic River.

The one small arrangement we needed to make was to find a shuttle service to help get us either to Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge where we were starting, or to Smith Falls State Park where we would be ending. This was harder than we expected for a number of reasons — first, it was before the season officially began on Memorial Day, so there were less shuttles running. Second, many of the available shuttles only gave rides if you were also renting a kayak or canoe from them. We also wondered if we could just use a service like Uber, but Valentine is a smaller town and we knew from our prior visit that we didn’t have any cell service at Smith Falls State Park or really anywhere outside of the town, so we didn’t want to rely on that. We finally were able to find a service that would help us — but instead of giving us a ride, they would drive our car from where we put in at Niobrara NWR to where we would end up at Smith Falls. The service we used was Dryland Aquatics, located near Smith Falls, and it cost $50, which made this trip one of the most expensive ones we’ve taken in a while if you consider average money spent per day.

We arranged to meet the driver at our put-in site at 10AM, which gave us time to do a few things prior. We drove over to Valentine in the morning, stopping at an overlook just off NE-12 to enjoy the view of the Niobrara River and the sandhills, and we saw our bison for the trip (because we have seen bison on every trip we’ve taken since hiking the Centennial Trail in April 2021). In Valentine, we stopped at the Niobrara National Scenic River visitor center to get national park stamps and make sure there were no known hazards for that day. While it was chilly outside, there was no rain predicted during the day, and the water levels looked good. We decided that having it be cooler was better than it being too hot with the sun beating down if only for Charlotte’s sake.

Even with all that we still had some time, so we drove over to Niobrara NWR to go for a short hike. This allowed Charlotte to get some exercise before being cooped up in the kayak. We hiked the Fort Falls loop trail to see a waterfall, find a letterbox, and enjoy more views of the river before kayaking it.

Finally, just before 10 AM, we drove to the launch site at Cornell Bridge in the NWR. The bridge is just downstream of a dam and is the furthest upstream anyone can legally/realistically paddle. As Curtis set up the Kayak the driver showed up, we turned over the keys, and our car left, leaving us no choice but to paddle down river.

We coaxed Charlotte into the kayak and pushed off into the current. And it was cold and fast. Colder and faster than we really expected. A cold front had moved in overnight and the air temperature barely broke 60 all day, and with it came a constant breeze. Right away we noticed sizeable standing waves caused by the combined wind and current, and just as quickly we realized we should avoid them. It took some practice to figure how to best navigate back and forth across the river with a current continuously pushing you, but we’re happy to say that we never tipped or took on sizeable water. We bumped the occasional rock, and around Fort Falls we got stuck on that Class-1 Rapids and had to scooch our way out, but otherwise the kayaking was easy going. The river would be flat for a mile, then become choppy as we descended a few feet, then flat again. During flat sections we would paddle leisurely allowing the current to carry us and enjoying the landscape.

The landscape itself was quite scenic and there’s a reason the highest waterfall in Nebraska is right along the river. The Niobrara cuts through the surrounding plains forming a deep valley. At times the walls of the valley would close in giving rise to 50-75 ft embankments and sometimes these embankments had waterfalls flowing right into the river. While we didn’t see any more bison, we saw plenty of Mule Deer and were accompanied by a host of geese, herons, and chattering birds flitting across the water.

We measured how far we had come by the bridges we passed under. None are especially scenic outright, mostly dating from the early 20th century, but combined with the surrounding scenery, occasional waterfall, and complete isolation, they were quite picturesque.

We knew that our planned outing would be about 10 river miles and guess-timated that we would be on the water for about 3 hours, but as we crossed under Allen Bridge only a mile away from Smith Falls, and only 2 hours into our ride, we realized we had severely miscalculated the speed of the river. Factoring in our occasional paddling, we think that the river speed averaged about 3-4 mph. We probably could have made it slightly further down the river had we known better, but our car was at Smith Falls with all of our camping supplies so we got out there.

As it was not even 1 in the afternoon, we decided that we may as well drive home considering we hadn’t planned anything else for the next day or the rest of this one. We got a refund for the camping we had paid for, packed everything up and drove more or less straight home, collecting Nebraska Passport stops as we drove by. Even though this amounted to ~12 hours driven back and forth in two days, it turned out to be a good thing we drove home because the cold front ended up bringing a little snow to this area that evening!

Overall, we think this was a great learning experience and would even consider it again, and it was our last National Park site to visit in Nebraska. The river is considered by some to be one of the best canoeing experiences in the Midwest and very easy for new paddlers (for reference, some outfitters offer the option to float down in a stock tank). For me personally, my favorite part about this experience was how it reminded me of the canoeing trips I took with my family on the Upper Iowa River growing up. And while I’m not ready to say this made me want to kayak more rivers with more rapids or take multi-day trips, I know this trip put us another step in that direction, and one day maybe we’ll look back on this as our humble beginning.

Smith Falls State Park

Road Trip from Omaha to Valentine, NE | Cowboy Trail | Smith Falls State Park | May 2022

It’s no secret that we’re big fans of shoulder season travel around here, and as the summer was rapidly approaching we decided to squeeze in one more Nebraska bucket list adventure. We left on a hot morning in mid-May, heading Northeast to Valentine.

Our road trip began with the accomplishment of one of our main goals for living in Nebraska: seeing our last 3 out of 93 courthouses in the state! We took NE-92 West to NE-15 to see #90 in David City, Butler County, then jogged Northeast to Schuyler for courthouse #91 – Colfax County, then finally took US-30 to Columbus where we saw our 93rd and final courthouse in Platte County! This has been a fun goal that has helped us to see so many small towns in Nebraska that we wouldn’t have driven through otherwise. We’ve decided that it’s a bit extreme to make this a goal for every state and aren’t interested in going out of our way to see them on long road trips, but it was a great project for the time that we had in Nebraska.

We took a short walk for Charlotte’s sake around the courthouse in David City and through Franklin Square Park in Columbus, then pushed on and continued our drive up to Valentine without stopping, just checking in to the Nebraska Passport app whenever we were near a featured location. The scenery gradually shifted from farmland to rolling sandhills, while the temperature dropped 20 degrees from what it had been in Omaha. Our first thought when we got out of the car in Valentine was how cold it was, and how we maybe didn’t pack for this weather. It always surprises me how different the climate of this area is from Eastern Nebraska!

Our first stop in Valentine was at the Cowboy Trail, where we parked at a trailhead Southeast of Valentine right off of US-20. The first thing I did was put on my jacket to protect myself from the cold and wind! From here, we walked about a half mile Northeast towards the High Trestle Bridge. There were a few scenic points along the trail that looked down on US-20, the Niobrara river, and surrounding hills, and Charlotte made sure we found the best overlook to see it all. The bridge was huge and very impressive, and Curtis even managed to find a letterbox. The Cowboy Trail is actually a 195 mile rail trail that runs from Norfolk to Valentine, and while Curtis often dreams of long distance trails, he admits that this one isn’t very exciting because it closely follows US-20 for almost its entirety.

After our walk, we drove to our intended campsite for the night in Smith Falls State Park. We had previously tried to visit and camp here last fall, but happened to arrive on the day after it closed for the season at the beginning of October. This time, we made sure to check and double check that it was open for the season since we were visiting before Memorial Day weekend. Thankfully it all worked out, and we were able to thoroughly enjoy this park!

There was only one other family camping that night, so we chose a first come-first served site on the opposite side of the campground. The mix of cooler weather and a big grassy space to run around gave Charlotte a burst of energy, and she was so playful and cute the whole time we were here.

Once our tent was set up and we were settled in, we went for a walk to see the main feature of the park — Smith Falls, which is also the tallest waterfall in Nebraska. We crossed over the Niobrara River and walked the ~1 mile loop trail up to see the falls and back. We had soup for dinner, played games, and read until bedtime. It rained a little through the night and was chilly, but we stayed warm and dry inside our tent.

Wabash Trace Trail / F Ave to Coin

Section Hiking the Wabash Trace Trail | F Ave to Coin | May 2022

After returning from Utah, we spent a day at home unpacking, doing laundry, and relaxing after our vacation. Curtis spent the afternoon at the maker’s space working on his wood topographic map and making a clock out of scrap wood. He’s now one state away from finishing the map, which means he’ll have to share a post about it soon!

We left again the next morning to go spend the weekend with my family. We enjoyed a relaxing weekend at my family’s home, celebrating Mother’s Day, attending the ‘chalk-the-walk’ and eating pizza from the Lincoln Wine Bar in Mt. Vernon, and meeting our new baby niece who had just arrived a few days prior. She is so easy going and adorable, and it gave me so much joy to see my sister living out her dream of becoming a mom.

The month of May was quite a busy one for us, and the only full week we spent at home came after returning from Iowa. Since the weather was starting to warm up, we decided to spend our Saturday morning hiking another section of the Wabash Trace Trail. We drove an hour to Coin, IA and parked near the campground/trailhead parking. From here, we began our walk heading Northwest towards the road where we had left off two months prior.

While we started as early as we could, it still warmed up rather quick as the morning progressed. This section also had notably less shade than previous sections, so we made sure to take our time and give Charlotte plenty of breaks in the shade. It turns out the biggest motivator for her wasn’t these pleasant breaks in the shade with lots of fresh water and treats offered to her, it was the gross smelling things on the side of the trail. They were just too good not to roll in! She hasn’t realized the correlation yet between rolling in gross things and having to take a bath…

Seeing wildlife continues to be a trend in the more “remote” areas of the trail. Today’s sightings were a garter snake and a giant raccoon crossing the trail a little ways ahead of us. Charlotte was completely oblivious to both of them. Not wanting to startle the raccoon, we made sure to speak loudly as we neared where we saw him cross, just in case.

Aside from these sightings, it was a lovely and uneventful 7.5 mile hike, and we made it back home in time for Curtis to spend a few hours in the maker’s space again. We now only have two sections left, which is great because we’re running out of time and nice days to walk! See our AllTrails recording here.

Fish Creek Falls & Zimmerman Lake

Uintah Basin Road Trip | Days 6 & 7 | Driving from Dinosaur National Monument to Omaha, NE | Hiking to Fish Creek Falls & Zimmerman Lake | Entering our Last Nebraska Counties | May 2022

After a very enjoyable few days spent in the Uintah Basin, it was time to make our way back East. We were excited to drive through the snowy Rockies, and were thankful to have a clear day to do so. We packed up our campsite one last time in Dinosaur National Monument and returned to US-40 to start our drive East.

Today’s plan was to drive through and enjoy our time in the Rockies, stay at a hotel in Fort Collins that evening, and then finish our drive home the following day. I made a short list of “easy” hikes we could do to break up the drive.

The first hike was to Fish Creek Falls in Steamboat Springs, CO. The number of signs directing us to the trailhead and the large parking lot indicated that this is potentially a popular hike in the tourist season, but luckily since we were in the shoulder season we were some of the only ones there — the theme of this vacation! The trail was mostly paved and clear of snow, so we hiked a loop first up to a higher viewpoint of the falls, then down besides the creek. The falls were very full from snow melt, and Curtis said this hike exceeded his expectations, especially considering how easy it is!

From here, it was time to cross over the Continental Divide at Rabbit Ears Pass, where we turned off of US-40 and began taking CO-14 East for a new highway and a new county. As we drove along the headwaters of the North Platte we admired the extensive snow capped peaks of the Medicine Bow Range to the East and Mount Zirkel and the Park Range to the West. The views of course were spectacular and we soaked it all in knowing we’d be heading back to the flat Midwest the next day.

Another hike that I had wanted to do was the trail to Lake Agnes within the State Forest. However, we found that because the roads to the trailhead were still snow-covered, we would have to park right off the highway and add 2 miles to our hike each way. We were disappointed because even from where we were, we could see the jagged peaks that stand behind the lake and knew the views up there would be even better.

Instead, we drove a little further East to the trailhead to Zimmerman Lake. This one was just over a mile to reach the lake, and we felt it would be better suited for us. As it turned out, even the elevation (almost 10,000 feet) combined with the snowshoes on this shorter hike was hard, so in hindsight, we’re glad we didn’t go for the longer hike. This was our first time hiking in the Rockies with this much snow, which while it was technically spring there was still a considerable amount — enough so that we could only see the very top of the sign at the trailhead! This was also the first and only time we were able to use our snowshoes this winter. They probably weren’t necessary, but I liked having a little extra traction when walking up the slanted trail. My heart was pounding as I slowly climbed up the switchbacks, and we even considered not finishing, but we pushed through and made it to the lake — which had a thick layer of snow covering it so you couldn’t even tell it was a lake. Oh well, we did it, and thankfully the walk back down was much easier!

We continued our drive on CO-14 through the scenic Cache la Poudre Canyon, through a recent burn area, out onto the plains, and finally into Fort Collins. We stayed in the La Quinta, which has become our favorite hotel chain because of being cost effective and not charging for pets, and this one might be the nicest one we’ve seen. The had a bar with a good happy hour special that we took advantage of, and we also got delicious burritos from Hacienda Real which was right across the street.

The next day was our final day of vacation, and even though all were doing was driving across Nebraska it would be an exciting day for us. We would be entering our final two counties in Nebraska, making it our eighth state completion! We drove CO-14 to US-6 retracing some of the route from our Panhandle trip last May, then Northeast on CO/NE-23 at Holyoke. The sky was overcast and we lost about a half hour due to a train in Ault, CO (and stubborn traffic in front of us that blocked us from turning to get around it). We entered into Perkins county and stopped to see the courthouse in Grant, then made our way to the Hayes County Courthouse in Hayes Center. There was no direct way to get the 3 courthouses we needed, so this drive was honestly painful, but we just knew that if we could push through and finish this then we wouldn’t have to go out of our way again.

Our final county for Nebraska was Frontier County, and the most direct way to get there from Hayes Center was to drive on several long dirt county roads. It really felt like we had found the most remote part of the state — but then again, we’ve driven many empty roads through the Sandhills and I think that every time. I know people say the “Loneliest Highway in the US” is in Nevada, but I’m convinced that giving a road that title will attract more people, so the actual loneliest highway is somewhere out here in the Midwest.

Anyway, I digress — unfortunately because we weren’t on a main highway, we didn’t get a sign marking our last county, but we had driven so long already that we really didn’t care. We saw the courthouse in Stockville, then finally met up with US-283 and took that up to I-80. We may not enjoy driving on interstates, but at this point it felt good to actually drive fast without stopping until we exited in Omaha.

And that wraps up our adventure — I don’t want to say it’s our favorite because we’ve taken so many good trips, but this one had so many highlights of places that are now our “favorite,” such as a new favorite National Monument, state park, place we’ve kayaked, arch, and more. And being able to travel during the shoulder season with less people and cooler weather made it even more enjoyable. Hopefully it won’t be another 6 years before we travel to Utah again!

Dinosaur National Monument

Uintah Basin Road Trip | Day 5 | Hiking to Moonshine Arch | Visiting Dinosaur National Monument | May 2022 | Written by Curtis

This morning began with packing up our campsite at Red Fleet State Park and continuing on our road trip to Dinosaur National Monument. But Jess had one other hike saved on the way there that we decided to still do because it was dog friendly, and there weren’t many trails Charlotte could do inside the monument.

The hike was to Moonshine Arch, because you simply can’t take a trip to Utah without hiking to see an arch! It was about a mile there and not too challenging, making for a pleasant morning stroll. We had the arch to ourselves, and so we spent a while there enjoying it. Jess said it was her favorite arch we’ve hiked to simply because of the experience of being here all alone, walking up the sandstone, and letting Charlotte explore as much as she wanted.

The hike back to the car was uneventful, and soon we were driving through Vernal, UT heading back East on US-40. Right near the border with Colorado, we jogged North to the first, and arguably the most famous, section of Dinosaur National Monument – the Quarry. We stopped at the visitor center to get our park stamps and get the lay of the land as well as check some of the road conditions. The rain the night before might have made some of the roads sticky, but nothing that we had planned that day. From the visitor center we drove all the way to the end of the road, admiring the way the morning light lit up Split Mountain and the Green River.

At the end of the road, we found ourselves unequivocally in springtime. At least once a year, every Midwesterner has the realization that ‘it is finally spring’ and ‘everything is so green’, and for us it happened here. Here at the far end of a valley, we found the homestead of Ms. Josie Morris, who at the age of 40 built a cabin and ran a moderately successful cattle ranch almost exclusively by herself. For 50 years she lived here, from 1913 until her health declined in the 60’s. And spring was here. The trees were starting to leaf, wildflowers bloomed, and the lilacs smelled so sweet. I watched Charlotte while Jess followed a short trail up into a nearby box canyon.

We began our drive back again admiring the steep walls of Split Mountain. We parked at one of the two campsites along the Green River and started following the Green River Trail upriver towards the second campsite, as this was one of the few trails dogs are allowed on. But it was getting warm, and the sun had burned off the clouds…it was spring alright. Fortunately, we managed to make it to a promontory that gave us a great view of Split Mountain and the Green River. Here, the Green River exits out of a series of narrow canyons that are almost completely inaccessible except by the river itself.

But this is Dinosaur National Monument, we had to go see some dinosaurs, and the trackway we had seen the day before just wasn’t going to cut it. We returned back to the visitor center and then made our way to the Quarry. It’s an indoor space, so we took turns going and looking at the fossil beds. The fossil beds are honestly unlike anything we’ve seen before, and probably the first real dinosaur fossils we’ve seen in situ. The fossil bed is a vertical wall of fossilized bones spread out over 100’x30′. But that was only a fraction of the original fossil bed! Originally, 8 vertebrae of an Apatosaurus were found by a Carnegie University Paleontologist (Earl Douglass) at the top of a ridge line in 1909, and over the next 20+ years the ridge was split in two lengthwise revealing a fossil bed roughly the size of a football field with 1500+ different fossils from the Jurassic Period. The archaeological philosophy of the time was very Indiana Jones – “collect, remove, research, this belongs in a museum!”, and the bulk of the fossils (>60%) were removed from the wall and transported across the country to various institutions, including an almost complete Stegosaurus which is on display at the Nebraska History Museum. But Douglass had a vision (which proved to be ahead of his time) of leaving a remnant of the fossils in the wall exposed for study, but also for the benefit of the populace to enjoy. And it’s a wonderful thing he did, compared to the contemporaneous excavations at Agate Fossil bed in Nebraska which today has next to no fossils to display, even in the visitor center, the Bone Wall at Dinosaur NM is incredible. And that mentality is pervasive to this day with dig sites like Ashfall Fossil Bed and the Hudson-Meng Bison Kill in Nebraska focusing on preserving the fossils and artifacts as they are found (there was also a change in that archaeological philosophy which certainly helped).

But there is so much more to Dinosaur National Monument than Dinosaur bones, so we continued further East into Colorado. After a brief dip South on CO-64 to grab another county, we started the very long drive through the high plains along Harpers Corner Road. The road climbed up and up out of one watershed and onto the Yampa Plateau and finally out onto a point ‘overlooking’ the confluence of the Yampa and Green Rivers. Truthfully, I don’t think you could see either river except for the tiniest sliver here or there, but the views were never-the-less stupendous. From our viewpoint and the road we could look East up the wide but deep canyon of the Yampa River with such a juxtaposition of gentle plain and steep cliffs. To the North we could trace the Green River as it made its course South from Flaming Gorge and Browns Park through the Gates of Lodore. And to the West the Green Continues through more canyons until it exits where we started the day, only to travel through more parks and canyons until it forms the Colorado in Canyonlands National Park. And to think they almost dammed this whole area.

It is difficult to describe how beautiful these scenes were to us and me personally. Pictures only go so far, and describing the hydrology and topography are lacking. But, as I said to Jess as we made the long drive back to US-40, I was not on the verge of tears. But I was on the verge, of the verge of tears – I really liked Dinosaur National Monument and easily place it as my #1 National Monument and probably in the Top 10 for National Parks.

But our day at Dinosaur still wasn’t done. We continued still further east until US-40 crossed back into the Yampa River valley. There we followed a road back into the Monument to Deerlodge Park, a campground along the Yampa, and one of the only vehicular access points to either river between where we were and where we began our day almost 50 miles away. As such, we weren’t alone this night but were accompanied by a whole troop of rafters; a large group of 16 were going those 50+ miles on 8 rafts…needless to say I was just the slightest bit envious.

We set up our camp, had some dinner, and since the sun was still up, Jess let me wander a ways down the Yampa River. I walked cross country through the campground and surrounding flood plain to the end of the road and a small infrequently used trail head. There I followed the Deerlodge Trail into Disappointment Draw where the official trail ended, but bushwhacking was permitted and there were plenty of pleasure trails to follow. I found myself being lead to what looked like an old homestead dugout and outhouse which, paired with the setting sun and the red cliffs around me were picture perfect. I then made my way over to the River and watched the waters entering into the canyon to the West until the sun started to dip below the canyon walls.

Overall, our day at Dinosaur was very thorough; the only area we hadn’t seen was the North end by the Gates of Lodore. But I would gladly return and explore some more. Most of the surrounding land is BLM, which would make hiking with Charlie allowed, and we found that the Yampa river had many, many, boat launches further up river – though we are still far off from attempting any sort of rafting trip.

My Mother, My Teacher

This year marks the end of an era in my family: My youngest sister is graduating from high school, which means that my mom is retiring from homeschooling after over 25 years. Today I want to reflect on and appreciate this huge accomplishment, and the hard work and sacrifices she made to give my siblings and I the best education and childhood possible. Because when she made the commitment to homeschool me, she may have thought she was just giving me an education. What she didn’t know was that through her example of being a godly woman, wife, and mother, she was giving me everything that I needed to live the life God had planned for me.

It all started with teaching me to read and write. Writing has always been a passion of mine, and it was my mom’s encouragement, proofreading, and challenging me to write more that helped fuel this passion. She gave me my first journal and set aside time in my schedule for me to write, which created a daily habit that I learned to love, and now have years of my life documented in journals.

Through the years, my mom taught me math, spelling, science, English, history, Greek, Latin, and more. When I reached high school and it came time to learn things like algebra, chemistry, calculus and physics, she relearned the subjects right along with me. I might have not enjoyed every day of school, but the one-on-one time with her was the highlight of every day.

Besides the subjects that she taught me directly, there were so many ways that she contributed to my education indirectly. I cannot fail to highlight the hours she spent every week driving my siblings and I to homeschool classes and other enrichment activities such as sports and music lessons. One of the things I neglected to appreciate as much as I should have was how whenever I needed a piano accompanist, she always stepped up to the plate and helped me out. I don’t think I fully realized that other kids actually had to seek that out and couldn’t just depend on their parents to help!

Even more than giving me an education, I learned so much more about what it means to be a Christian, a wife, a mother, an adult, and a housekeeper. I saw her spending time in the Bible and being encouraged by other like-minded women. I admired how she expressed love and respect toward my dad. I watched her do tasks like meal planning, budgeting, grocery shopping, cooking, baking bread, and so much more. And of course she taught me how to keep a house tidy and to do daily chores. By the time I moved out and started my own home, there was very little that I couldn’t do thanks to her showing me all I needed to know!

Most of all, the greatest lesson and gift my mom ever gave me was having a positive attitude. For as long as I can remember, her favorite adjectives were “Happy” and “Fun” — usually said together. For example, apples cut up using the apple corer were referred to as “happy fun apples,” or the park within walking distance was the “happy fun park.” She read many books to me over the years, but one that stood out to me was “Pollyanna,” the story of a girl who would look for the good in every situation. The positive words and encouragement she gave became the voice inside my head that has carried me through some difficult years. I don’t know how I would have gotten through the years that Curtis was stationed on a submarine without having this optimistic outlook on my life.

Thank you, Mom, for everything you’ve given me, and all you gave up to raise me and educate me. I’m so blessed to have once called you my favorite teacher, and to now call you my best friend. Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all. I LOVE YOU!

Connect

subscribe

Affiliate Links

We occasionally post affiliate links to products we use. If you make a purchase through a link, we may receive compensation at no extra cost to you.

Privacy Policy

We do not collect information from you as a reader. If you leave a comment or subscribe, we will have your email address. We will never sell or disclose your email to anyone else.

Categories

Archives