Vancouver WA – Spent the week taking care of some Licensing, Post Office and banking stuff – but we are here mainly to see the grandkids. Took Camryn and Colby to see the movie “Cars” (what fun!) and we took Ben and Anna to the park, McDonalds and Coldstone for ice cream (yum!) Mike played in an American General Finance golf tournament but failed to win me a trip to Hawaii…..he did, however, play later in the week with Marc, Brandon, Matt Soukup and Chuck where he got his first eagle! Eagles are an endangered species – especially for Mike
June 16th – June 23rdHeading east toward Colorado. Today begins our road trip – heading toward the Coontz Family reunion in Craig Colorado. We meet up with John and Sheri tomorrow AM. From Hermiston, we are traveling up through eastern Washington, across the Idaho panhandle where Mike has found a 72 mile bike trail traveling from the Montana/Idaho border to the Washington/Idaho border. (Might be a great ride for next year) We spent our nights on the road in St. Regis Montana (beautiful) and Billings Montana. When you hear the words “Big Sky Country” you can’t really imagine what it means until you see it. Montana has a BIG, beautiful sky for sure. We stopped at the Big Horn Battlefield – the site of Custer’s Last Stand. It is an awesome sight of some incredible American history. We spent one night at Devils Tower in Wyoming…..Hiked around the base - it’s pretty impressive. Next stop Hart Ranch in Rapid City, South Dakota where we spent 3 nights. While in South Dakota, we drove to Deadwood (had a great dinner at Big Al’s), went to Mt. Rushmore (an absolute must see for anyone’s stay in SD). We went to Crazyhorse monument (an Indian tribute to their leader Crazyhorse. When completed, it will be larger than one could imagine. This monument has been under construction for over 50 years - Right now, Crazyhorse’s face is completed – next they will start on his horse) We drove the Needles Highway – Beautiful. – A few of the 6 tunnels are “barely” large enough to drive our car through – 3-4 inches clearance on either side! We toured the Badlands and went to Wall Drug (more of an attraction than a drug store).
June 24th – June 27th – Coontz / Heintz Family Reunion in Craig Colorado.
We really enjoyed the 3 day Coontz/Heintz Family Reunion . It was fun driving through town and seeing the two homes that Mike lived in when he was a young boy in Craig. We had picnic’s in several parks in town and had a good time visiting with relatives and the Coontz’s and Heintz’s had plenty of time to talk about the “good ol’ days.” Sheri and I took advantage of the city swimming and wave pool. What fun ! The fella’s golfed one morning and Joyce cooked us some great food! We spent one afternoon and drove up to Steamboat Springs – a touristy, trendy little ski town. The next reunion will be at the Oregon coast in 2009 – hosted by the Fox family!
June 28th – Moab, Utah – This is a beautiful town. Very dry and hot but beautiful red hills surrounding the town. We are just spending the night here but we look forward to coming back to see the sights after our time in Durango.
