2011 Vacation Journal

My friend Jill K. Berry gifted me this journal she made. I had been saving it for "something special". Something special was a trip with my husband Mark to visit long time friends John & Gail in Idaho and Randy in Montana. I love the small portable size of this journal and it was my goal to completely fill it during our vacation. The 72 pages, although tiny proved to be a daunting task. Today I have finished the journal, 10 days since the end of our 10 day trip. So this journal comprises everything artful that I have created in 20 days. Below is a sampling of the pages.

A fold out map showing the route we took plus where we stayed overnight.

This was one of the few paintings that I was able to create while on our vacation. It is a view from "Ancient Hunters Overlook" in the Badlands. I had a lot of time to journal while driving but motion sickness makes this impossible for me. By the time we parked for the night I was usually too tired to journal.

I did take over 300 photos during the trip and Mark took over 700. So I had a lot of reference photos to work from.

We visited Yellowstone. I was in awe about the numbers of wildlife that we seen there.

We brought a lot of food along and cooked many of our meals. Mark's fortune from a chinese take out that we treated ourselves to.

Road Trip 2011

On Thursday, May 25, Mark and I started our road trip to Idaho. About thirty years ago we went on our first road trip, our honeymoon. We don't vacation very often and with the current price of gas and other reasons to think of it, it probably wasn't the best time to travel. But we had already delayed this trip for 18 years...

Spanky came along. Rufus and Ziggy went to Grandma's house and Edna stayed with Brook.

Nice View!

Mark did all of the driving.

Spanky and I enjoyed the scenery on the way.

There was elk all over town in Mammouth Springs.

I found a buffalo in a wash of paint in my Journal earlier this year. I had no idea at that time we would be traveling out west and actually see buffalo. Many buffalo!

I was in awe of all of the wildlife at Yellowstone Park. Mark and I seen 4 black bear, many bison, lots of elk, mule deer, Eagles, pronghorn,mountain goats, dall sheep, and even a wolf. Is this how it used to be all over, before "white man" took over? We traveled through different temperatures and weather depending on our elevation in the mountains.

We even were greeted by a Raven at the park. I now have several nice reference pictures to add to my folder.

We seen buffalo at all different elevations in Yellowstone.

We stopped to see "Old Faithful". Not yet time for it to spout off.

Our next stop was Thompson Falls where we met with our good friend Randy Umbs. Randy used to be our next door neighbor, then he moved to Hayward, Wisconsin. For all the time he lived there we talked about visiting him but never made the trip. Now that he lives on the West side of Montana we visit him. Life is full of surprises, and sometimes you need to make them happen!

Spanky thoroughly enjoyed being the only spoiled dog. The sleeping space above the cab was the perfect spot. He could see out the windows on all sides.

Our Locomotion and Lodging. Our riverside camping spot on the Clark Fork River, courtesy of Randy.

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A pair of eagles floating on a log in the Clark Fork River.


Our destination point was Clark Fork Idaho where we spent three fabulous days talking, eating and relaxing with good friends John & Gail, Kristin and Gerald.