9236 miles. 

Albuquerque. Colorado Springs. Denver. Grand Teton National Park. Yellowstone National Park. Cannon Beach. Olympic National Park. Seattle. Thor's Well. San Francisco. Yosemite. Los Angeles. White Sands National Monument. 

Quite the trip. I'll admit that the itinerary suffered from a bit of scope creep but there are simply so many locations to visit. 

First up was the Balloon Fiesta. 

It's amazing to be able to visit the balloon festival again after two years. Not a great start, I'll admit. I busted open my eyebrow shortly after arriving but a morning glow with a black eye is still quite nice. The glow happened so fast that I only had time to take a few shots. The whole event really is something special. Specifically, the fact that so many people are willing to get up at some god awful hour to wait in traffic to see this amazing event. If only my big sis was here to round out the family. 

The organized frenzy of mass ascension was soon upon us. Row after row of hot air balloons are laid out, inflated, burn and ascend. Not long after the first balloons rise, the sun rises over the Sandia Mountains to the east and illuminates the colorful canvas. Soon, there are hundreds of balloons passing overhead. Unlike my 2016 visit, most of them didn't drift far away making for a dense airspace. My black eye is looking blacker. My girlfriend tells me it looks like I'm wearing makeup. So, yeah. In the evening, we went in the hopes of seeing the evening glow for the first time. Unfortunately, it was too windy for the balloons to even stand up. We didn't feel up to staying around for the fireworks and that was the night.

The next morning was even earlier. It was to be a very special day where we went up in one of the balloons. It was so cold. I really shouldn't have lost my gloves in the car. Idiot. To get to the point, it was clear but too windy to launch. So, it was the end of the festival. I'm really quite sad that we didn't get to go up but it was just as special seeing the event the second time.

On a side note, where was the Spiderpig balloon? That was my favorite one!

After dropping off my parents at the airport, I was off to Colorado Springs. I was hoping to make it in time to take a few photos of Garden of the Gods before the sun set behind the mountains. Sadly, I made it about 10 minutes too late. Sunrise it was! 

A great benefit to taking my mother's minivan is that I can lay out in the back to sleep. It's far more comfortable than sleeping in the driver's seat. I was up and at 'em, waiting for sunrise well before I needed to be. The fact that this place, Garden of the Gods, is a public park is incredible. The color was great for the 20 or so minutes before the sun came up over the horizon. That's all I wanted to do in Colorado Springs.

It was such a short drive to Denver. In retrospect, I should have gone up into the mountains to see the Aspens turning gold. I'll keep it in mind for the next trip. I didn't do much in Denver besides go to REI drooling over outdoor gear and put new tires on the car. The only reason I had to stop in Denver to to wait for my girlfriend to arrive. She was flying in from Canada to spend a few weeks on the road with me. On Tuesday, October 17th, she landed around noon and I met her at the baggage claim. I had some major trouble rolling her suitcase to the car. The darned thing kept rolling to the side. 

AND WE WERE OFF....only to stop an hour in.

When we stopped for food the car wouldn't start. Thought the battery was dead but once the AAA tech arrived he told us it was probably the starter. His short term fix was to find something long and thin to poke the starter when it was acting up. I ended up using my tripod to poke it a few times. 

That night we made it about an hour outside the east entrance of Teton National Park. It was a good spot to stop because it meant that Andrea's first view of the landscape would be a crisp clear sunrise at Schwabacher's Landing. It was cold and I was so happy to finally be in a climate other than summer. It seemed as though we missed the fall colors by about a week. Oh well, next time. 

We spent a few days in the park and did quite a bit during the short days. Two sunrises at the landing, one at Snake River Overlook, had the car repaired in Jackson Hole, explored Jenny and Jackson Lakes, spotted a few moose, and finally spent one sunset each at Snake River Overlook and Oxbow Bend.

Something I didn't account for was that the facilities in the park were closed. This mainly meant no showers or camping in the park. There wasn't much to do about the showers unless we got an expensive room in Jackson Hole. Luckily, Andrea is accommodating and wasn't too put off by my scent. As for camping, the ranger I spoke to suggested that we set up near Shadow Mountain in the National Forest just outside the park. The road wasn't maintained very well and made for a bumpy ride. They were cold nights that required thick wool socks.

On the third day, a snowstorm was coming in from the west. The clouds of the storm made for some of the best photos I have of the park. We moved up into Yellowstone and planned to explore the park for a week or so. In the park, there were only two campgrounds open, one at the southern end and one at the northern. We set up at the southern as it was the first one we passed. After that, off to Old Faithful. The snow was coming down now. The springs and geysers were expelling vast amounts of steam, swaying in the direction of the wind. It made for a moody experience that I haven't experienced in the area before. 

We stopped in the visitor center to find out that Craig Pass, our route back to the campground was closed. The closure meant that we had to drive the entire Grand Loop. Not too bad. We stopped every so often to take in the views and wildlife. The bison were easy to spot lounging near a stream. Andrea, with her eagle eyes, spotted a coyote (I think) off the side of the road. The last sight we visited was Yellowstone Falls. It was only a quick stop because the sun was setting and I didn't want to drive on snow and ice covered roads in the dark. It was for the best as the snow fall increased and the road condition made me uncomfortable. Eight miles from a comfortable sleeping bag the road was closed. Apparently there were 10 or so accidents on the road. After about two hours of waiting, a ranger led the four vehicles who were staying at the sight through while the others were turned away. 

The next morning, the roads were still closed and calling the ranger station informed me that they were expecting more snow and that they didn't expect the roads to open for a day or two. Not wanting to waste days doing little to nothing, Andrea and I decided to head to Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast.

On the way out, we were blessed to see a grizzly bear grazing in the snow just off the side of the highway. It is always special to see these large animals.