Moominmama's Adventures

Wherein Moominmama relishes a return to clear mountain lakes but struggles with wayfinding... Snoqualmie Pass is a historic route trod first by native people and later by wagon trains moving between the Pacific coast and the southern Cascades. It's now a busy interstate highway, which Moominmama learned quickly heading west on a Sunday afternoon when Seattle traffic clogged the route back to the city. Fortunately I was stopping well before the city, at Kachess Lake Campground, and looking forward to a week near the pass and the area just to the north called the Alpine Lakes. Exhibit No.1, Snow Lake, above!  Swimming and kayaking were on my mind but the weather refused to cooperate my first two days. Thunder and dark clouds rained or spit the entire time. I was also completely without any cell service and had to drive back up to the interstate every time I needed to work or check online for hiking options. On the third day, I found a visitor center that had a book of day hikes in th...

In which Moominmama endures many days of rain and hard travel to reach the Pacific Northwest... Moominmama left Wyoming during on-and-off waves of rain, heading west through Togwotee Pass toward Jackson and the Tetons. Even with the mixed weather, those mountains are majestic. Driving directly toward the peaks, I could watch them grow larger through my windscreen, wrapped in a feather boa of clouds. I longed to revisit the Tetons, remembering the glorious hikes from two years before. But the weather was uncooperative, and Moominmama is now on a timeline to catch the ferry for Alaska at the end of the month. My travel target for the evening was a campground in Idaho, with an early departure planned for the next morning. Again it was raining in the morning, but I set out to cross most of the state, with plans to stay overnight north of Boise. By 4 p.m., traffic was so bad in Boise, even the exit ramps were backed up. I stopped to get gas and found a line of cars at gas stations on both s...

Wherein Moominmama is greeted by familiar Wyoming sarcasm but finds much to love near the Wind River Range... Driving in from Colorado and approaching Laramie, Wyoming, Moominmama was greeted by a billboard that read: "Save the Planet, Reuse Your Spork." Poking fun at liberals via billboards seems to be a regular pastime as I remember similar sentiments expressed on the road to Yellowstone from Cody two years ago. But no one has been unfriendly, and there certainly is space to spread out. Moominmama intended to camp just one night on Bureau of Land Management land because I am generally uncomfortable leaving my trailer unattended when not in a designated campground. But this spot was a combination of isolated/not isolated where I felt safe. These acres and acres of public land are open to camping (up to 14 days) but are mostly occupied by pronghorn and cattle. The only traffic on the nearby dirt road was cattle trailers and cows aiming for the best grass. Occasionally I could...

  In which Moominmama gets a rare dose of the urban in Denver and learns about its gold-fevered history and revival... According to the one-time vice-president of the Union Pacific Railroad Thomas Durant: "Without railroads, Denver would be too dead to bury." Early settlers arrived in the parched landscape on horseback and in wagons in search of gold but found precious little until they moved deeper into the Rockies. Denver thus became a jumping off point for prospectors that may have faded away were it not for the transcontinental railroad -- which despite early hopes, skipped Denver and routed through Wyoming instead. A spur of the railroad connecting Denver with Cheyenne came to the rescue. That and a few successful mines near Leadville led Denver to grow as a transportation hub and resupply center until it became the traffic-clogged modern city it is today. Union Station first opened in 1881 about 10 years after the first trains entered Denver. This Beaux Arts entrance ha...