Every American needs to see our country. This trip we explored the Rocky Mountains. Immersing myself in true wilderness changed my perspective, increased my confidence and brought unimaginable joy in the form of a new level of fitness, spirituality and relationships. I am truly excited to bring you photos and thoughts from our epic 53 day Rocky Mountain Adventure.
As you may know for the last five years my husband has been creative at making my Birthday celebration special. We used to work so much that all I wanted for my birthday was a day off. I would walk on the beach hang out with my dog, Frost, may he rest in peace, or mainly sleep. When I turned 50, however, my husband, David, took my on a tour of Northern California. I took two weeks off from CrunchTime Popcorn and Kim’s Creamery, leaving it in the hands of college students: 1 American, 2 Polish and 1 Filipino. Thank goodness for the J-1 Visa program that provided us with much needed help. We bought a basic camper van and toured Northern California including wine country, the Red Woods and Sequoias and Shasta Mountain, Bodega Bay and beach cities on the way home.
When I turned 51 I celebrated at the pool at the Marriott Marque and Marina by selling CrunchTime and retiring. David was dealing with rentals in Tennessee. Soon after we purchased our 40 foot cruising Coach.
At Birthday 52 we were at a magnificent giant glass Butterfly building in Callaway Gardens near Pine Mountain, GA. We hung out with the giant and beautiful Blue Morpho Butterflies.
At 53 we went on an East Coast road trip and were at Niagara Falls for my Birthday week. Very scenic and romantic. We followed up with a trip to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, DC and all the spots in between.
At 54 the pandemic had halted our travel plans to Yellowstone and the Mountain west. The spread of Covid 19 seemed to be wanning so being in Oklahoma where many relatives live, David threw me a huge Birthday Party with Bar B Que and Cake with all my relatives in attendance. It was a blast. How would he top that?
He had not announced his great plan to me until the last week in August for my 55th Big Day. Somehow, he got reservations for Yellowstone for 19 days! That is not supposed to be allowed to stay longer than 14 days. Reservations were just three weeks away. We had sold our 40 foot coach and bought another camper van. He got it tuned up and ready to go just in time.
I had been working heavily on expanding my novel, Between Thorns and Glory. I expected to work on it on the road. However once we hit Glacier it became apparent that the Rockies indeed deserved my undivided attention. So I postponed my deadline with my editor.
What began as a 45 day trip turned into a 53 day extravaganza. This was the first real vacation we ever took. All the other trips we still had the business or rental properties. I had my book in the back of my mind but what ever adventures we were to have could only improve it when I got back to it. We were truly free.
This trip had been planned at least three times before and for one reason or another we had to change our plans. We planned to go to Yellow Stone in 2019 when our friends invited us to go to Nova Scotia with them. Because of a hurricane we did the Niagara Falls and the East Coast instead and never made it to Nova Scotia.
Then 2020 we had reservations and the pandemic closed all the parks. Latter that year we were still determined to go and were driving away when our air brake alarm went off. A rodent had eaten the air brakes cables of our 40 foot coach. We fixed the brakes and ultimate decided to sell the big camper when we realized how hard it would be to navigate the Rockies in a 40 foot coach and that a wild animal could eat our break system, yikes! We bought a camper van and got it ready to go. We were finally, finally on our way! Really, we drove off this time and everything!
