Christmas 2015 in San Jose, California with daughter Julie, husband Ben and grandson Drake. Lots of good food, family love and Christmas cheer! Continue reading “The Nights Before Christmas……”
David Willett
Big Bend National Park, South Texas
Chisos Basin
The basin is at over 5,000 ft elevation, the nearby peaks rise over 7,000 ft.
Trail to “The Window”
Desert Bloom
Hiking Oak Creek Canyon. The volcanic rock has been scoured and smoothed over centuries by the water.
Oak Creek “pour-over”. The water drops hundreds of feet to the desert below.
Lost Mine Trail
Castolon
Wimberly and Fredricksburg, Texas
We had a lovely visit with our family, the Etzler’s, in Wimberley, TX. Barbecue field trip to Cranky Frank’s in Fredricksburg, TX. Rated #19 of 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas by Texas Monthly Magazine.
Joe, Jani, Jae and Sally enjoy tasty BBQ. Great conversation and warm Texas hospitality. 
Levelland, Texas
John and Bette Hope offer wonderful hospitality at Hope House B&B, Levelland, Texas
Lathrop State Park
Early morning hoarfrost
Cody, Wyoming
Clear sky, absolutely no light pollution, amazing stars, 30 degrees.
Early lakeside breakfast…
Down the Beartooth Highway, connecting to the Chief Joseph Highway
On to Cody, Wyoming to tour the Buffalo Bill Museum (Rocky Mountain Natural History, Plains Indians Life, Buffalo Bill Cody’s life, Western Art and firearms history wings).
Camping near Cody at the Buffalo Bill State Park.
Tomorrow – home to Colorado
The Beartooth Highway
Often described as the most beautiful road in America, the Beartooth Highway is steep, windy and spectacular!
After breakfast at a local diner in White Sulphur Springs (great, crispy hashbrowns, tender chicken fried steak – OMG are we eating this?) the drive to Red Lodge, Montana took us through pretty ranch country. Out of Red Lodge, we started climbing the narrow, winding road to Beartooth Pass at 10,947 ft.
Finding Island Lake campground (9,500ft) closed for the season, we decided to camp at the boat ramp, next to the lake. Technically illegal, but sooo pretty!
Akamina Lake
Before driving back across the border, we explored the Akamina Parkway (a grand title for a narrow, twisty two-lane road) to Cameron and Akamina Lakes. The clouds were low, making for some moody shots of both lakes.
Waterton Lakes National Park
Starting the day in Banff at Touloulou’s Louisiana breakfast restaurant, we tried their “hearty breakfasts”, aptly named, everything covered in hollandaise sauce!
Driving 150 miles down to Waterton Glacier NP. Pretty rolling fall country. Crosswinds gusting to 50 MPH, made for pretty interesting driving. One truck and travel trailer combo we saw was pushed clear off the road.
Peyto Lake and Lake Louise
Driving in a light rain to Peyto Lake and Lake Louise
Icefields Parkway
Icefields Parkway
The drive from Jasper to Banff is spectacular. More incredible alpine vistas, Athabascan Falls with its moss-clad rocks, the Athabascan Glacier Fields and our lovely Wilcox Campground near Sunwapta Pass having a spectacular view of a snow clad mountains.
Alpine Lakes and Hot Springs
Jasper National Park is chock full of unexpectedly beautiful vistas. Around every turn, it seems, we find a new opportunity for exclamations of “Oh, my god, look at that!” In addition, abundant wildlife viewing opportunities (today, including Bighorn Sheep, elk and moose) remind us that we are truly in the wild.
Todays destinations included, Medicine Lake, Lake Maligne and Miette Hot Springs, where we soaked in the 104 degree waters (outside air temp being 46 degrees!), ate a home cooked Greek dinner At our innkeeper’s restaurant where we rented a small bungalow cabin for the night.
David Willett 
