Summer Trip 2020 (Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona) - Sept 2020

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Since we were still limited on travel due to Covid, we decided to take a three week trip to enjoy some of our favorites areas of the Western part of the US and to catch up with friends.  For the first week (this week we took off of work), we flew into Montana to spend time with Ginger and Michael and to visit Yellowstone and Grand Tetons.  For the second two weeks, we worked remotely from Denver (driving there from Jackson) and from Scottsdale (flying there from Denver).  It was so nice to get a way, get a change of scenery and see friends!

Montana:

We flew into Bozeman on Friday, arriving around noon.  We flew first class (direct) on American as the tickets were very cheap and it allowed us to have the two seats by ourselves.  We picked up a rental car (which we lived out of for two weeks) and drove two hours to get to Ginger and Michael's house where we stayed for three nights - they have a beautiful cabin in the mountains on 40 acres of land about 30 minutes from Helena.  When we arrived, we got the tour of the cabin which has great views of the valley, settled in and then had beer and chips on the deck while we laughed and caught up on all the news.  For dinner, they served a yummy grilled steak with salad and baked potato which was our first dinner like this since we started our diet in March!  

Ginger and Michael's House

On Saturday, we enjoyed coffee out on the deck (it was quite brisk in the morning) and then had eggs on toast with tomatoes, mushrooms, onions and avocado.  We then hiked for 6.5 miles at Flesher Pass which is part of the Continental Divide - part of the hike was through a forest that was burned from fires the year prior.  At the turnaround point of the hike, we relaxed and had a sandwich that we had packed.  That afternoon, we relaxed at the house and then had more beer on the deck.  Dinner was salad with the leftover steak.

Hike at Flesher Pass

On Sunday, we had the same breakfast and then hiked for two hours around their property to the top of Bald Mountain - there was a storm in the area so we did not linger for long and good thing we did as it started to pour right when we got back to the house.  We had a quick bite for lunch and then drove into Helena for a two hour boat tour to the Gates of the Mountains.  The scenery was gorgeous and the weather cooperated!  On our way back, we stopped in town for a beer and then drove back home where we had tasty grilled burgers for dinner.

Gates of the Mountains

On Monday, we worked from the house until about 9:30 and then said our goodbyes and drove to West Yellowstone via Bozeman and Big Sky.  Shawna had a couple of calls to do around lunch time so we stopped in Bozeman and grabbed a quick lunch at Noodles and Company.  We also went to the REI in town to get new fleece (since ours were too big).  The drive through Big Sky was beautiful and we arrived at our accommodation in West Yellowstone, Under Canvas, around 4:30.  

Under Canvas

Under Canvas is a clamping site about 10 minutes outside of town.  We settled into our tent which was a little more rustic than we had thought but still nice.  We had a king size bed which was quite comfortable with two chairs and a wood burning stove in the main room (which was needed as it got chilly at night) and a toilet and shower in the back part of the tent.  There was a front porch with a couple of chairs that overlooked a nice field.  The guy who helped us with our luggage got a fire started for us but it did not last so Shawna had to redo it and discovered that she likes lighting fires! Our main complaint with the tent is that the shower head was quite close to the back wall of the tent and so if there was any wind blowing in the tent, you had to fight away the tent from brushing against you - first world problems for sure!  That evening, we walked to the restaurant of the sister property, Bar-n-Ranch, for dinner. We shared a salad, roasted brussel sprouts and trout which was quite tasty.  However, dinner was served quite quickly (making us think it was not freshly made) and when we went back other evenings, the food was not as good.  On our way back to the tent, we stopped in the main tent and had a cup of hot chocolate before retreating to bed.

For the next four mornings (Tues-Fri), we went to the main tent to have coffee, get a little work done and eat our grab-n-go breakfast (they had this vs sit down due to Covid) which consisted of a breakfast burrito, granola bar, piece of fruit and a muffin.  During the day, we went into Yellowstone and in the late afternoon, we relaxed on our porch with a beer and then had dinner at the Bar-n-Ranch.  Except, one evening, we opted to have pizza in town for dinner at Wild West Pizzeria which was some of the best pizza we ever had - maybe because we had not had pizza in over five months and were tired of the food at our place!  Each evening after dinner, we had a hot chocolate at the main tent and one night we hung outside and listened to live music.  

While in Yellowstone on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we did the following activities:

• Hiked Fairy Falls Trail - an easy hike to a nice waterfall that also had nice views of the geysers in the Midway Geyser Basin.  Hike was about 6 miles and took us 2 hours.

Fairy Falls Hike

• Old Faithful - there were quite a few people so we tried to sit apart as much as we could with our masks on while we waited the 30 minutes for it to erupt which was quite spectacular.  We then hiked up to Observation Point to see it from above and then walked along the boardwalk to see the other geysers and pools in the area

Old Faithful

• Kayaked on Yellowstone Lake - Did a five hour tour with Geyser Kayak Tours which was very nice.  The guides were great and the scenery very pretty.  We saw a few geysers from the water as well as elk walking along the shoreline. They had packed us a lunch which was sandwiches, chips and fruit.

Kayaking Yellowstone Lake

• Hiked South Rim Trail - Hiked along this trail to Artist Point and then to Sublime Point and then did the same hike back.  It was about 6 miles and took about 2 hours with lots of stops for photos!  The hike has great views of the canyon which is considered the "Grand Canyon" of Yellowstone!

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

• Saw lots of bison (which prompted us to research the difference between bison and buffalo) and elk in the park!

That's a shaggy bison!

Wyoming:

On Friday, we drove down to Jackson from West Yellowstone arriving around noon (around 4 hours).  Since it was too early to check in to our hotel, we dropped off our bags and then had lunch in town at Persephone Bakery where we sat outside and shared a salad and sandwich - the food was very good.  We attempted to hike Cache Creek but we could never really find the trail so we instead went to StillWest Brewery where we sat outside and had a couple of beers.  At this point, we were able to check in to our cabin at Rustic Creek - the cabin was a nice size with king bed, bathroom and sofa and table and chairs.  Best part was the front porch that overlooked the creek where we had dinner a couple of nights.  That night we ordered takeout from King Sushi (which was yummy) and enjoyed it on the porch with a bottle of wine.

Rustic Creek

On Saturday, we got the grab-n-go breakfast from the hotel which was just a breakfast burrito and then headed out for the day to hike the Taggert and Bradley Lake Loop hike in the park - 6.5 miles that took 2 hours and 20 minutes.  The hike was easy to moderate with great views and the trail was very well maintained!  Back at the cabin, we had cheese and crackers and wine on the porch for lunch and then got a much needed nap (our first for the trip)! We then each got a massage at the spa at the hotel (had to wear our masks the whole time) - Keith really enjoyed his.  Afterwards, we relaxed for about 15 minutes in the hot tub that was located outside of the spa and then had take-out Indian from Teton Tiger on our porch - the food was not very good.

Taggert and Bradley Lakes Loop Hike

On Sunday, the grab-n-go breakfast was pastries which were not that good.  We left early to do the epic hike of the trip - Surprise and Amphitheater Lakes which was 5 miles each way (10 miles total) with a 3200 food elevation gain.  The hike had a steady incline the majority of the way and while not extremely difficult, it was tiring.  The views at the lakes were stunning - we relaxed there for about 20 minutes eating granola bars and apples.  On the hike up, we saw a mama bear with two cubs - they were off the trail and not really interested in us!  We really enjoyed this hike!  That evening, we cleaned up and had dinner outside at The Kitchen where we shared some yummy dishes - himachi, bao buns and Korean pork shank. We ended the evening with one more drink on our porch.

Surprise and Amphitheater Lakes Hike

Denver:

On Monday, after eating our grab-n-go breakfast (this time breakfast burrito), we drove eight hours to Denver, listening to podcasts the whole way and enjoying the scenery.  We had bought cheese and crackers so we just ate that on the road.  As we approached Fort Collins, we started to see a haze, then yellow and red skies - we learned from online that there was a large forest fire in the area.  At one point, it felt like we were driving into hell.  We got to Denver around 4pm and stopped at the REI and then checked into our AirBnB which was a small one bedroom bungalow on the western side of Wash Park.  We ran to Whole Foods to stock up on groceries, had sushi from Whole Foods for dinner and squeezed in one lap around the park before heading to bed.

While the house was small, it was clean and did the trick.  We based out of here for the week, Shawna working from the house during the day while Keith visited properties.  We got a few workouts in at the park but not as much as we would have liked. Each evening and the following weekend, we caught up with friends:

• Tuesday - Had dinner with a few of Keith's colleagues at Brett F's house and we were joined by Andy D (and his wife).  We had a delicious meal of pasta, fish and apple pie.
• Wednesday - Shawna met with Julie (her boss) for dinner at True Food (where she had a yummy beef quinoa bowl) while Keith met a work colleague at Linger.  
• Thursday - We met up with Chad and Kara at Sarah and Jonathan's house where we sat outside with a fire and bundled under blankets (it got cool during the week but then warmed up by the weekend). We drank wine, snacked on cheese and then ordered in some very tasty Indian food for dinner.  

Keith, Jonathan, and Sarah

Chad and Kara

• Friday - Met with Athena and Chris at Fruition where we sat outside and shared the corn bisque, bacon with shishito peppers and halibut for dinner - all very good.  We also shared the cookies for dessert.

Chris, Athena, Shawna and Keith

• Saturday - We started the day with a walk with Ali around the park and then had coffee with her and Kristina at the park - Kristina had picked up coffee for us.  We then went to Kelly and Danny's house (they had moved to a new place a few months prior) and had a drink there before having lunch with them at The Bindery where we shared a salad and duck confit hash (tasty). We napped in the afternoon and then went to Michelle and Martins house where we and drinks and tacos outside in their backyard.
• Sunday - Had lunch at Elizabeth and Joe's house (sat outside on their patio) where they made us some yummy muffins, salad, quiche and fruit salad.

Keith, Shawna, Elizabeth and Joe

As you can tell from this schedule, we were quite busy and did not even remotely stick to our diet! But it was so awesome to catch up with everyone!

Scottsdale:

We flew to Scottsdale on Sunday, arriving late afternoon.  We flew Southwest which is still blocking middle seats so we had the row to ourselves.  Everyone were a mask so we felt pretty safe. We picked up our rental car and then checked into the AirBnB which was not as nice as we had hoped.  It was a spacious three bedroom that had some nice furnishings but on Monday, Shawna started to notice that it was quite dirty so she complained to the owner who attempted to rectify the situation by sending a cleaner the next day.  However, the cleaner did not do a satisfactory job so we left and got all of our money back and instead checked into a one bedroom condo at Mountain Shadows which was very nice (and clean)!  The only downside was that the wall at the top that separated the bedroom from the living room was open so we had to be quieter on work calls.  We both worked all week with Keith visiting properties on Monday and Tuesday.  Shawna took the day off on Friday and just read at the pool all day.

Mountain Shadows

Like Denver, we used the evenings and the weekends to catch up with friends:

• Monday - Keith met with Matt, a former colleague from Aimco at Spoke and Wheel.  Shawna stayed home and walked to Cornish Pasty for dinner and had the Asiago Chicken - yummo!
• Tuesday - We met up with Keith's colleagues Keegan and Matt and their wives for dinner at Olive and Ivy (sat outside) where we shared some apps for the table and halibut for dinner.
• Wednesday - We invited Rak over for dinner at our condo where Shawna made hummus with veggies for a snack and then salmon with Israeli cous cous and a tomato, corn and avocado salad for dinner.
• Thursday - We went over to Rak and Sim's rental house and had dinner with Rak, Ria and Roop in their backyard.  Simran was out of town so we were bummed to have missed her.  Rak made a tasty meal of fried rice, chicken and stir fry bok choy.  Ria made macaroon cookies which Keith enjoyed liberally!!
• Friday - We went over to the new house that Rak and Sim had purchased - very nice house with views of Camelback.  They had closed on the house the day prior.  They were not moved in yet so we only went over for a short while to see it and then went back to their rental house for take out pizza and roast chicken from Doughbird - so good. 

Shawna, Rak and Ria

• Saturday - Keith went for a hike with Rak up Piestewa Peak while Shawna ran near the resort.  That day, we relaxed by the pool and ended the trip with our favorite Scottsdale meal - greek salad and Asiago chicken pasty at Cornish Pasty.

Cornish Pasty

On Sunday, we checked out early and got a 7am flight back home, getting back home around 1pm.  The rest of the day was spent doing laundry and catching up on items.  We laughed that it was weird initially to leave the house for this trip and yet it was weird to return!  Such a great time!