Salt Lake Adventure: Day 7

Day 7 found us attending WGU’s “All Hands” meeting at the Delta Center arena in downtown Salt Lake City. About 1,500 employees gathered for the highly polished, heavily produced event also brought in thousands more employees who gathered at viewing hubs across the country. It was quite a spectacle! Kudos to the production team—they kept…

Salt Lake Adventure: Day 6

The sixth day of our Salt Lake adventure was the first opportunity Cliff had to meet in person with his entire team after more than 10 years with Western Governors University. While Cliff spent some time earlier in the day getting a new tire (it was beyond repair) and shopping for supplies, Jon logged an…

Salt Lake Adventure: Day 5

The long drive from Estes Park to Salt Lake City was mostly uneventful. Driving along Highway 34 to Loveland was spectacular. The drive along Highway 287 from Fort Collins to Laramie, not so much. Although the ridges, or “hogbacks” in the foothills north of Fort Collins were colorful and unique, they were no comparison to…

Salt Lake Adventure: Day 4

We returned to Rocky Mountain National Park, a promise we made to ourselves when we first visited five years ago. Then we spent five days exploring the park, from end to end and all points in between. This time, we decided to include a hike on the Tundra Communities Trail, located at Rock Cut near…

Salt Lake Adventure: Day 3

Deciding whether to take a driving tour of Rocky Mountain National Park or attend the Estes Park Wine Festival was an easy choice: we went with the wine. And we’re so glad we did. The ninth annual event, held in beautiful Bond Park, was an absolute joy. The weather was ideal. Bond Park, located in…

Salt Lake Adventure: Day 2

Our second day of travel found us driving from Amarillo to Estes Park, a route that took us through Oklahoma and into Eastern Colorado. This westernmost portion of the Great Plains is sparsely populated, largely farmland, with many small farming communities. In fact, more than 90 percent of the farms in Eastern Colorado are family…

Salt Lake Adventure: Day 1

Cliff was offered the opportunity to visit Salt Lake City for meetings with his team from Western Governors University and commencement exercises, so we decided to camp there for the week. The first day of our Salt Lake adventure was spent driving from Dallas to Amarillo, traversing seemingly endless miles of oil fields, cattle ranches,…

At Long Last, Lockhart

We began planning for our weekend at “The Barbecue Capital of Texas” the moment we received the invitation from our AluminumPride rally group in July. Despite our decision in August to divert our camping funds and activities to visiting Jon’s mom for one week of every month, we were determined to keep this longstanding commitment…

Window of Opportunity

This weekend, while camping at Loyd Park, we decided to take advantage of a window of opportunity and revisit our plan from last year to take a long trip to Shenandoah National Park and Washington, D.C. In May 2022, with inflation soaring and gas prices at historic highs, we couldn’t justify spending so much money…

Oh Shenandoah, We Long to See You

This weekend, while camping at Cedar Hill State Park, we finalized our reservations for our next big trip — to Shenandoah National Park and Washington, D.C. (For the record, the folksong refers to the Missouri River and in most versions of the song the name “Shenandoah” refers to an Indian chief, not the Shenandoah Valley.)…