Road Trip 2025 – Day 7 – Heading Home

Posted on September 2, 2025 by Robin

We were gone from July 29 to August 4 and I wrote the first blog post about it August 8. I am finally finishing the trip today, September 2, and soon will get back to sheep and weaving posts…hopefully.

Highway stretching out towards desert hills. Blue sky above.

We spent Sunday night at a motel in Green River, Utah. I don’t remember when we got on the road, but this photo was at 8:50 a.m. At this point I don’t remember much about any of the photos I took, but it’s one way I keep myself entertained while being a passenger. Most of these photos were taken in Utah.

Trinidad is over 1200 miles from Vacaville and we didn’t always take the most direct route. That’s a lot of time in the car. Dan likes the driving part so I am happy to be a passenger. I had taken a dozen magazines and books and a couple of fiber projects to keep myself occupied. I barely looked at any of them. What’s the point of a “road trip” if you don’t experience the road? This scenery is beautiful..

,,,and vast.

We didn’t make many stops so most of these are “drive-by” photos.

Highway in Utah with cement silos along the road.

Sign that says Pony Express National Historic Trail.

We did stop here because this marker was a short distance off the highway. The story of the Pony Express is fascinating but it was only a fragment of our history. The third photo of this blog series back on Day 1 shows one of the stations that were located about every ten miles. That’s a huge undertaking when I think of our drive of over 1200 miles that followed some of the Pony Express route. From the Pony Express National Historic Trail site: “It is hard to believe that young men once rode horses to carry mail from Missouri to California in the unprecedented time of only 10 days. This relay system along the Pony Express National Historic Trail in eight states was the most direct and practical means of east-west communications before the telegraph.”

Driving across the salt flats of Utah.

Utah Salt Flats with mountains in the distance and blue sky.

Highway overpass with art work of cattle and words Battle Mountain.

It seems that this was the last photo I took during the drive. This is 4:30 p.m. Unlike last year’s road trip, we didn’t have vehicle or traffic issues through the whole trip until we got near home. Just west of Sacramento the Causeway (I-80) was narrowing to one west-bound lane for the never ending highway work. We drove in the driveway about 11 p.m.

Map of the western U.S. with green and red marker showing routes from California to Colorado.

The green line is the 2024 road trip and pink is this year.

Road Trip 2025 – Day 6 – Colorado

Posted on August 30, 2025 by Robin

We were on the way home after the stop inTrinidad Friday and Saturday. We spent Saturday night with Dan’s brother and SIL in Colorado Springs.

Two men and a woman standing in front of a seascape painting.

We had brunch with Dan’s sister, also in Colorado Springs. This is Dan and his two Colorado based siblings, Rob and Sally.

View of the highway where a road turns right. Clouds in a blue sky.

We headed west and planned to turn north to go through Leadville. We had thought about this on last year’s trip, but this intersection (or was it the next?) was blocked due to a fatal accident and we made a big detour. No such problem this time.

Sign about bighorn sheep horns with the title Sheep Shapes.

Somewhere along the road we stopped at this sign. I am interested that bighorn sheep horns are classified based on where the tip of the horn is in relation to the ear and the eye. I wonder if that could apply to Jacob sheep.

Dan standing next to a gravestone that says McKeen.

When we got to Leadville we stopped at the cemetery to look up Dan’s relatives. This is the headstone for Dan’s great grandparents on his dad’s side.

There was a detour driving into Leadville due to an event and we decided to see what was going on. It was the Boom Days Pack Burro Race!

Text about the Leadville Pack Burro Race.

I have decided that I missed out on an activity that I could have really enjoyed had I been able to start years ago. If you’re going to go on a long run why not take a burro? I would have loved to do this.

Burro at the end of a pack burro race with man in yellow shirt.

We got here as the last few competitors were finishing the course. This burro and his handler, in his late 70s according to the announcer, finished the 15 mile course. Remember, Leadville is at an elevation of over 10,000′.

Burro at the end of the Pack Burro Race with handler in blue hoodie.

This mammoth donkey and his handler finished the 22 mile course. I looked up the rules. Burros must carry the pack saddle with some basic equipment–a pick, shovel, and gold pan. The rules state that the burro must be on a 15′ lead and “the runner may lead, drive, push, pull, or carry the burro…may not ride the burro…”

Head view of burro with green halter and handler with blue sweatshirt.

This burro seemed to enjoy being petted after the race.

Sign that says Tennessee Pass on the Continental Divide.

We continued west on Hwy. 24 and stopped at the points of interest.

The story of the 10th Mountain Division and their impact in WW2 is fascinating. It is also interesting that well known ski resorts in Vail and Aspen were started by veterans of this regiment and many were also involved in manufacturing of ski equipment and clothing, trail development, and developing skiing for the disabled.

Large granite pillars that make uptime 10th Mountain Division Memorial.

The memorial for the 10th Mountain Division.

Sign for Camp Hale National Monument on the Continental Divide. Mountains and trees in the background.

Camp Hale is 7 miles beyond the Memorial site. I’d like to return to explore the trails of this National Monument .

Sign about Camp Hale that shows the footprint of all the buildings that used to be there.

There were several signs to explain and point out the remnants of Camp Hale. It is hard to imagine 15000 soldiers and 5000 pack mules and horses in this valley. We read the signs and pondered the impact of this Camp. Then it was time to move on.

Highway winding through mountains on either side.

We drove through some beautiful scenery, eventually making it to Green River, Utah where we spent the night.

Road Trip 2025 – Day 4, Part 2

Posted on August 22, 2025 by Robin

In the last blog post I shared photos of a brief stop at a corner of Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Then we were on the road to Trinidad. We had time for one more stop.

Colorado grassland with mountains in the background.

We turned south off of I-50 on Hwy. 69, east on Hwy. 96, and south on 165 to find Bishop Castle. We had never heard of Bishop Castle, but the campground host at Bryce Canyon suggested a stop here.

We parked along the road and walked past other cars on the road to this entrance. This is not part of the castle, but the entryway to the property.

This sign is at the right of the entryway. I guess this is enough to limit any liability claimed by visitors.

View of one portion of the castle. This project was started by Jim Bishop in 1969 and was a work in progress until he died in 2024. Wikipedia says: “James Roland “Jim” Bishop was born in Honolulu in 1944.^[6] He moved to Colorado with his wife, where they raised four children, including a son named Dan.^[6] Bishop bought the land for the site for $450 when he was 15, and construction on what was originally intended to be a family project to build a cottage^[7]started in 1969.^[8] After Bishop surrounded the cottage with rocks, several neighbors noted that the structure looked something like a castle. Bishop took this into consideration and soon began building his castle.“

View from another corner. It’s hard to get the whole thing in one shot. The tower is 160 feet tall.

The property is owned by the family and, despite the warning posted, they seem to welcome visitors. There is a gift shop on site as well as a food truck.

We did not take the winding stairs on the outside or the inside all the way to the top, but we stopped here.

I saw on Instagram that the dragon breathed fire on July 4th and on Halloween.

Interesting detail.

Near the castle are the workspaces where lumber is milled and metal worked.

There is also a small cement mixer.

This is the backside of the entrance in the first photo. Bishop Castle is an interesting place to visit. Dan came home with ideas!

Road Trip 2025 – Day 3

Posted on August 16, 2025 by Robin

I left off in the last post when we arrived at Bryce Canyon and secured the last tent campsite in the park.

After looking over the landscape from the rim that evening Dan studied the park map and planned a hike. We started at the Queen’s Garden Trail, so called because of one of the hoodoos that looks like a statue of Queen Victoria.

We followed the trail down, which gave a different perspective than the view from the rim.

We came across a sign that explained the Hike the Hoodoos Challenge. If you photograph yourself with three of the benchmarks along these trails you get a prize! We found four. The prize is a sticker from the visitor center.

I took over 175 photos on this day and that’s one reason it’s taken me so long to write this post. I try to keep my blog posts to ten photos or fewer and that means a lot of sorting and decisions. I still didn’t meet that goal.

Two perspectives of the same formation (photo above and below).

The Queen’s Garden Trail led to the Peek-A-Boo Trail which connected with the Navajo Loop, part of which is what they have named Wall Street (below).

Its difficult to show how amazing this formation is.

This view is looking back towards the path with the stairs, through that slot and past the tree growing in the slot. There were a lot of people on this part of the trail. Look at what I just learned how to do:

I use Lightroom to edit photos and I was just able to remove all the people from this photo. That’s a great thing for ending up with pleasing photos, but it does make me realize that you can’t believe everything you see in print (or online).

A non-edited photo in which you get a feel for the scale of this place because I did not remove the people. .

View from the top after we finished the hike. You can see some of the trails–along a ridge in the center, and just below center on the left.

We hiked about 7 miles. That was significant because this is the first time Dan has hiked in a year and a half, after a knee injury in 2023. He’s had a new knee for just under four months!

Two other thoughts: 1. We stayed on the trails. I found myself wondering how many other formations there are like that slot canyon called Wall Street. 2. In this photo, what looks like clouds, is smoke, probably from the fire burning at the Grand Canyon. I’ve been following the progress of the fires because my kids’ involvement in wild land fire fighting.

Road Trip – 2025 – Day 2

Posted on August 9, 2025 by Robin

We left home Tuesday morning and I shared photos in this post. It was getting late in the day when we got gas in Ely, Nevada and we took time to look at the map. We found a place to camp in the Ward Mountain Recreation Area a few miles out of town.

Campsite with picnic table in the middle. Juniper trees are around a brown tent and the car is parked in the front.

Here is the campsite in the morning. Dan was still in the tent.

High desert two-track road with sagebrush and juniper trees on the sides. Sun is shining on a mountain in the background.

I went for a walk as the sun was coming up.

Roadside sign that says Welcome to Utah.

We packed up and got to Utah about 9:30.

Sign describing the aerial tramway used by mining in Pioche Utah.

We got off the main highway to drive the original road through the mining town of Pioche. This sign describes the tramway, the remnants of which are still here on the east side of the road.

Remnants of the aerial tramway used by mines in Pioche Utah.

This is the tramway that facilitated movement of ore from higher up the mountain (behind us) to the valley below.

Remnants of ore tramway showing cart that carried ore down the mountain.

This is a closer view showing the cogs that held the chain or cable that carried the buckets. The structure that is on the horizon towards the left of the photo is one of the buckets still on the cable.

Our first stop where we planned to spend some time was Cedar Breaks National Monument. We checked out the visitor center first and then went for a hike.

Circular formation of rock layers in red tones at Cedar Breaks. Blue sky overhead.

All the views of the breaks are incredible. Do you notice that light spot just right of center on the bottom of the photo. It sure looked like a rock for the longest time.

Then I saw it for what it was – a hole through that wall. I still see it as a boulder part of the time.

Layers of red rock across the canyon at Cedar Breaks. Other colors are almost white to purple.

Closer up view showing the colors in the rock walls.

Marmot holding stem of plant with white flowers.

Marmot along the trail.

View of red rock layers across the canyon at Cedar Breaks National Monument.

View of the ridge where we had been walking.

Horseback rider on palomino horse with dog following and flock of sheep in the background.

We left Cedar Breaks to get to Bryce Canyon before night. Flock of sheep and their herder along the road.

Road Trip 2025 – Day 1

Posted on August 8, 2025 by Robin

Except for some of the pandemic years we’ve taken a road trip each year since 2014. That’s when I see a trip to Yellowstone in my blog posts. There were a couple of years more recently where the road trip became a sheep themed trip. That’s different. It’s hard to stop for a hike when you have a trailer load of sheep. So this was planned to be a regular road trip. The major difference is that after last year’s trip the green truck is no longer an option for our travel. It was easy to crawl in the back of the truck for sleeping, but we’d need a tent this year if we were going to camp.

We began the trip on Tuesday, July 29.

View from inside the car with map books for Nevada, Utah, and Colorado visible.

The only part of the trip we had planned was to be in Trinidad, Colorado Friday night and Saturday for the opening of the art show sponsored by Cowgirl Artists of American. Other than that we were going to figure it out as we went along.

High desert with blue sky and white clouds. Sign that says Sand Springs on the left.

We were following Highway 50 and our first stop was along the Pony Express National Historical Trail. The Pony Express operated for only 18 months before being made obsolete in 1861 by the telegraph. But in that time young men traveled on horseback 1800 miles in about ten days. Stations were about 10 miles apart and there are remnants of some of these along the route.

Black lava rock remnants of the old Penny Express station in this area.

This station probably started with two rooms but additional rooms added as the telegraph came in. The site had been completely covered with sand and was rediscovered in 1975.

High desert with green grass in foreground, blue sky with a big white cloud, and a sand dune in the middle.

This site is part of the Sand Mountain Recreation area managed by BLM, featuring 3-1/2 mile long Sand Mountain.

Sand dune with blue sky and white cloud to the side.

This is a popular OHV destination.

Continuing on through Nevada.

High desert with mountains in the background and also clothes so sheer I have seen. Sign that says Petroglyphs.

We stopped at this Petroglyph site…

…and walked the trail to find some of the petroglyphs.

It was late in the day when we drove into Ely, Nevada. This open pit copper mine is west of Ely. We found a place to camp in the mountains just west of town.

Michigan – Days 3-4-5

Posted on July 20, 2025 by Robin

I wrote about Day 1-2 in this post.

I got to Michigan on Wednesday. The Annual General Meeting began on Friday.

Handwritten sign to Sheep Barn on a bale of straw.

The meeting was held at the Branch County Fairgrounds in Coldwater, Michigan. First stop was the sheep barn.

Old walking wheel outside the sheep barn with flowers in front.

This old spinning wheel was outside the barn.

Sheep pens in a barn with dozens of Jacob sheep.

It was sure fun to see this many Jacob sheep from different breeders in one place.

Notice the ear tags including a CA scrapie tag. This is Meridian Saffron who I sold to a fellow Jacob breeder in 2018. I was able to get her to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival that year. I just found the blog post about that. I wish I could have participated in some of the fun at AGM–that is buying and selling sheep–not possible when I’m flying.

Front of barn with sign that says Barnyard Children.

There are several barns at this fairgrounds. They are labeled sheep, cattle, horses, etc. I was amused by this sign.

Fleeces in bags at wool show with blue and red ribbons.

A wool show was one of the activities at this meeting. Another activity was the sheep show. I don’t have photos of that because I was a judge. I said I’d do it with a partner, not by myself. That was a challenge. I got good feedback, but I don’t want to do it again. Too much stress and it’s difficult to place 10 sheep in a class when they all look pretty good. Fortunately we needed to place only the first four sheep in each class.

Woman with large blanket knitted with gray and white roving.

One of the participants showed me her “arm-knit” blanket made of roving. It weighs 14 pounds!

Text on slide about mutation causing lilac coloring in Jacob sheep

The presentation I was most interested in was that by Gary Anderson about the study being conducted about lilac Jacobs. Gary showed this slide from a 1995 (I think) paper and noted that they said “the causative mutation” instead of “a”. I think I have written a blog post about the current study in which he involved, but I’m not looking for it now. I’m at the gate for my flight home and want to finish this before we board. I did find this post that is related to the study because of the sheep involved I may have to write more later.

Plaque on large rock about the Anderson Farm in Michigan.

Sunday morning I helped with some sheep loading and a little clean up. Then I got a ride with Gary to his farm in Sparta. My flight wasn’t leaving until 7:30 p.m. so Gary gave me a tour of the area. This is a plaque in place at his original family farm.

Large red barn with two silos on green hillside .

The gorgeous barn at that farm.

Michigan – Day 1-2

Posted on July 20, 2025 by Robin

On Wednesday I flew to Michigan for the JSBA AGM. What? Jacob Sheep Breeders Annual General Meeting. It made sense to fly that far for a few reasons beyond getting to visit with other Jacob breeders whom I’ve met over the years. Dan’s sister lives in Kalamazoo, between the airport and the location of the meeting. She offered to pick me up at the airport and deliver me to the meeting. I could visit with her for a couple of days and not need to rent a car. In addition, because I use a Southwest credit card, the trip cost me only $11.20. Win!

View for the forest and city from the window a Southwest airplane, including a view of the wing tip.

Close to landing in Grand Rapids.

A green sign with white lettering that says Elvis Presley Blvd.

For years I’ve heard of the Elvis Museum created in the basement by my brother-in-law.

Looking down a stairway with Elvis Presley memorabilia on the walls.

I finally got to see it.

Room filled with Elvis Presley mementos on the wall and discs hanging from the ceiling and effects of a strobe light on the ceiling and floor.

I wish I could share the video that shows this in its full glory along with music. We spent the first evening watching footage of some of the Ed Sullivan shows that featured Elvis, and Michael filled in many details of Elvis’ life and impact on the music to come.

Quotes by Frank Sinatra about Elvis Presley.

Michael has included quotes sprinkled in among the photos and other memorabilia.

Two people standing on the pier with a lighthouse at the end with a view of Lake Michigan beyond.

On Thursday we drove to Lake Michigan. I had looked at weather apps that showed 80’s to 90’s with high humidity. Not this Thursday at the lake! North wind and cold. Red flags on the north side of these piers signaled that people should stay away from the shore. Yellow flags on the south side indicated caution. This is Molly and Michael on the pier with the lighthouse in the background.

Two people on the pier into Lake Michigan with the lighthouse in the background.

Molly and me on the pier. We didn’t walk all the way to the end because waves were splashing over the pier and we were COLD.

Label on an ice cream case that says Michigan Pothole with the list of ingredients.

The town of South Haven is tourist focused, at least near the lake. Cold as it was, a stop at the ice cream parlor was called for. Molly had told me that the four seasons in Michigan are Fall, Winter, Spring, and RoadWork. So I got a kick out of this ice cream label. The ice cream was excellent. That was only the beginning of great food all weekend!

November Adventure – Ironman Arizona – part 3

Posted on November 30, 2024 by Robin

I left off in the last post with Chris starting the marathon, the third part of the Ironman that was two weeks ago.

This photo is about a half hour into the marathon.

This is a screenshot from my phone very nearly at the end of the whole thing, but I’m including it here to show the course and to show how spectators are able to track their athletes through the day on this app. The blue line in the river (which is truly more of a lake here because of a dam) is the swim course. The green line is the bike course and the red one is the run. It was complicated. The runners first went out and back on the red line that goes to the top of the photo. Then they cross the river and make the loop where it says 129, go down to the bridge at the bottom, run along the river, do that out and back part again and do this whole course three times. On the last one they turn where it says 123 and run to the finish. As spectators we try to position ourselves in strategic places to cheer them on.

This view shows the transition area where all the bikes are and where the athletes had lined up along the river before the start of the swim

Meryl and Katie and the kids and I walked across a bridge to position ourselves where we’d see Chris twice as he went around the loop on this side of the river. Kasen made sure he got a High 5 in when he could.

This was the best place to be with the Kasen and Kirby because there was a sandy beach for entertainment. It’s a long day for everyone, but especially for the kids.

More High 5’s for Uncle Chris from the kids. This is about two hours into the marathon.

At this point I walked back over to the other side of the river where Dan had been greeting Chris as he ran by. Meryl, Katie, and the kids stayed here until closer to the time Chris would finish.

The view back across the river. That arched bridge is the one I had just walked across and the kids were on the beach below there.

This is at about 3-1/2 hours.

The marathon finish.

Total time for the whole event: 11:49:56.

Meryl and Chris wearing a well-deserved finisher’s medal.

The family (except Dan snuck out of the photo). We went back to the hotel where they were all staying. The grandkids played in the pool and the big kids sat in the hot tub while we all rehashed the day. We got together Monday morning for about an hour and then we all had to go our respective directions. Katie had to get a rental car to get back to Safford, Arizona where her car had been towed the previous day after breaking down about 2-1/2 hours from Phoenix (and I had driven to pick up her and the kids, but that’s another story). Meryl and Chris visited a friend in the area for a couple of days and then made a trip to the Grand Canyon. Dan and I had to get home by that evening.

I took this photo just inside California at 11:40. We got home about 8:30 that evening. I sure enjoy hanging out with my kids. I wish we could do it more often.

November Adventure – Joshua Tree NP on Day 2

Posted on November 22, 2024 by Robin

I’m interrupting the Pasture and Irrigation Renovation posts (#9 of that series) of the last few weeks because we had an adventure before the project was completed.

Two Road and Recreation Atlas books on my lap. One says Arizona and one says California.

Chris was to compete in the Tempe (AZ) Ironman on Sunday. Dan had gone to Idaho for a visit and to pick up Chris’ bicycle so he wouldn’t have to ship it. We left November 14 (Thursday) with the plan to camp part way and get to Tempe mid-day on Friday.

Sign that says Entering Joshua Tree National Park with blue sky behind.

I took this photo when leaving the park on Friday, because by the time we got to Joshua Tree NP it was dark and I did not take a photo at the west entrance. I did not take any photos that evening. We set up the tent and ate bagels and cheese for dinner. This trip was not intended to be a real camping trip. We just needed a place to stay on the way to Arizona and it seemed that it would be fun to have short National Park experience. When we got there we realized that we hadn’t even brought any water, other than the water bottles we’d already emptied. I have learned that I am not a winter camper. The last (and maybe only other) time I have camped in the winter was at Big Bend National Park in 2017. I know that because I just looked for the blog post and found it. I have the same sentiment now that I did then–you get to a campsite in the dark and it’s not bedtime but you have to get in a sleeping bag to be warm.

Brown tent in campsite with rocks behind. Sunrise glowing in the background.

I think we got in sleeping bags about 6 p.m. I read awhile and eventually fell asleep. I woke up at midnight and the wind was howling and the rain fly was slapping the tent. Dan told me the next day that he wondered if he left the tent in the middle of the night if it would blow away with me in it! I read until I finished a book about 3 a.m. and then slept. I woke up early and thought I’d be better off moving than lying in the sleeping bag for longer. I thought I might find some sun since it was starting to come up.

I found a marked trail not too far from the campground.

I didn’t see any bighorns, but I liked the sign.

Dawn in the desert.

This seems like a prickly place for a bird nest, but maybe it’s protected that way.

Remnants of adobe house. It's just parts of walls standing now.

We were staying at the Ryan campground, named for the Ryan family who settled this area in 1896. It’s hard to imagine that 60 people lived here and worked in at the ranch and mine until 1908. This is one of the buildings built of adobe bricks. There are other remnants of the ranch as well.

Desert landscape with mountain in the background.

You can see this structure centered the right of this photo. Those two large rock features are part of the campground and our tent was behind the one on the right.

Old windmill blades on the desert sand with dry grass in the middle. Mountains with sunlight in the distance.

Part of a toppled windmill. At this time the sun had reached the hills across the valley but there was not sun where I was.

Trail through desert with sunrise behind the hills.

I continued my walk until sun appeared over the hill and from behind clouds and I could stand in a sunny spot for awhile.

Tent and picnic table with ice chest and food box.

The tent was still in the shade when I got back. Dan had emerged, but maybe you can tell that he was cold. We didn’t linger there, but packed up and headed for Arizona. We did spend some time in the park, stopping to read signs and take in the sights.

Landscape with rocky points in the foreground and the Coachella Valley below.

This is a view over the Coachella Valley with Santa Rosa Mountains in the background and the San Andreas fault at the eastern edge of the valley.

Cholla cactus in the foreground, hills and blue sky in the background.

We stopped at the “Cholla Garden”, a location along the road filled with cholla cactus.

Close up of cholla cactus, spiny with remnants of yellow flowers.

Dan walking on trail with cholla cactus filling the landscape.

This is a fascinating landscape, and I’m glad it’s preserved by the National Park system.

Sign explaining differenced in Mojave and Colorado deserts.

Another sign tells that Joshua Trees live only in the Mojave Desert and that is in the northern section of the Park. The Mojave and Colorado Deserts overlap in the park and the vegetation in each is different.

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