To Estes Park and West Yellowstone

So, here we are in West Yellowstone, MT. Been a long time since I posted. We left home on June 25th, heading toward Estes Park, CO for the big Longtine Family Reunion. It was an interesting beginning. We left that evening, and made it to Spokane. You see, we needed to pick Micaela and Dakota up from church camp in Medical Lake on Friday morning. So, we boondocked it in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Although it may seem odd, it's not uncommon in the RVing world (check out the fringers of a Wal-Mart parking lot some evening or early morning).

On the 26th, we picked up the kids and headed for Montana. We ended up in Deer Lodge, MT taking Micaela to the ER for a foot injury that occured at camp. Yup, broken, so into a walking cast (or boot if you will) she goes. I titled this Longtine RV Adventures, didn't I?

Eventually, we arrived at YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park. Everyone had a good time, although it does take some time to remember some names and faces. The kids of course hit it off well with all the other youngsters. Miniature gold was enjoyed by all, and sometimes for many times a day. I got together with Mike and Lisa, Mike Stork, Scott and Josh Smith, and Ed to climb Flattop Mountain and Mt. Haullet (sp?), ending up at just over 12,700 feet in elevation. Amazing how the lack of oxygen sturck most everyone at about 12,000 feet. You really had to concentrate on breathing correctly. By the way, that peak behind Mike Stork's head is, I believe, Mt. Haullet. Mike eventually went on and climbed another peak just to the south of Haullet, that was over 13,000 in elevation. Can't remember the name of it right now. Mike, Mike, and Ed had an adventure of their own coming down the glacier after that, but you should ask them about it. Janae and Colton enjoyed horseback riding on a couple of occassions. However, Micaela was not happy, as she couldn't go due to her foot. Micaela was excited to fine that her walking cast did not keep her from rafting with Dakota and me on the Cache Le Poudre River. We enjoyed viewing the local wildlife including elk, deer, and owls along with a thunderstorm or two. The original plan was that we would check out on Saturday morning July 4th, along with everyone else. However, Janae found out that her Aunt Nancy would be at her Aunt Pam's house Friday evening. So we changed our plans, and checked out Friday Afternoon, saying our goodbye's a little early.

We arrived at Pam and Darrell's house in Parker, Co on the evening of the 3rd. We got to visit with Janae's Aunt Nancy for a bit that evening. After watching firworks the eveing of the 4th, we returned to Pam and Darrells where Dakota found his sole-brother, a toad. We went to a local amusement park with them. Now, Janae had been to this park many times in past, but never got to go down the alpine slides due to poor weather. This time she, along with the rest of us got to ride them. Later that night, we ended up at an interesting Mexican restaurant that he live shows, cliff diving, and an arcade for the kids. Very unusual. We left the morning of the 6th to head to West Yellowstone. This was tough on the kids, as they had become quite attached to Janae's neice, Taylor. We arrived in West Yellowstone on the evening of the 7th.