The Triffecta Christmas Experience

With roughly four weeks under our belt we’re still going strong and the long drives have been less of a drain than expected thanks to some good conversation, company and music. The west’s moody clouds failed to dampen our spirits, Seattle kicked us off, a visit to the Space Needle and the Human Body Exhibition as well as a loud fish market were the most memorable moments. A drive round the Olympic NP and some twi-geeking hotspots were a bonus detour on our way to Portland – our Christmas destination.

After a trip out in Oregon nearly blew us away, Vancouver lent some sunshine and whistler was picture perfect – it was a pity though the snow wasn’t the same. Onward, our journey took us from moody weather to just plain gloomy, which after a week, began to take its toll. We met a few unique individuals such as Andrew’s favourite cancer survivor from Boise, our favourite motel receptionist from the Sundance Inn in Jackson and Shelby from our favourite mom and pop shop in a random town in SD who educated us that malt and latte’s didn’t just come as malt and latte. The Tetons – much to Andrew’s disappointment – remained clothed in thick cloud cover for the duration of our stay in the Grand Tetons NP. Moose were a great highlight though, as well as a successful completion of our first junior ranger program.

Further along our journey West Yellowstone gave us some top snow shoeing and cross country skiing thanks to the lovely ladies from The Heel and Wheel which just so happened to provide some decent coffee too! – needless to say we ended up there a few times. Snowmobiling into Yellowstone – yes, awesome again, to visit ye ol faithful and her friends in the geothermal zone of Yellowstone. North Yellowstone a few days later yielded more awesomeness with a dip in the boiling river, some more cross country skiing and a visit to cook city through fresh snow was a bit surreal and almost like entering another land compared to the north west side of the park.

The driving doesn’t end but it doesn’t seem to get tiring either which is probably testament to our frequent rest stops – or driver swaps. Now its off to South Dakota via The Devils Tower which we see nicely silhouetted against the night sky. Thrashing our Kia through a semi cleared snowbank on our way to Badlands NP had us guessing whether we’d make it for a moment. On the other side we were all smiles although the snowplough driver failed to see our exhilaration. Mt Rushmore (tick) was a little smaller than expected, Crazy Horse a little less developed  than expected but the surprise package was the Mammoth grave at Hot Springs. A concentrated deposit of Mammoth remains in a sinkhole provided us something pretty unique.

Coming back to Colorado though was like coming home, even though it wont be home for much longer it has become a comfortable place to live, familiarity with the mountains, the city and the people. We get a day there, which is mostly spent faffin about old town, a brewery tour of New Belgium and a deli/sandwich bar were popular stops.

Again we hit the road, this time after our first breakfast burrito from Big City. We are off to Telluride, for 5 days and despite the less than average snow base it is a week I will look back on with great memories. Especially tumbling down a couple of black runs, and leafing down some moguls, thanks to Molly’s lead.  Andrew and John ran round the mountain ticking off the runs and despite a knee jerk, Johns skiing came a long way, as well as Andrews turns.

Well a quick visit to Mesa Verde NP, Arches NP and Canyonlands NP pretty much finished us off. An asian dining experience that was surprisingly good and a Hockey game which was a little one sided and a tea factory tour were and eclectic mix to bring us to the end of the trilogy christmas experiences with John and Andrew. And thats not to mention Marcellas random introduction at the end.