Sulock Family Album
I am going back to Montana tomorrow morning. Yesterday I decided to take some pictures of the family’s photograph albums in attempt to take some of them with me.
Asheville Sunset
I miss disc golf at the Richmond Hill course in Asheville. I played 2 rounds today and it was a good time. There was an excellent sunset that stuck around for a while during my bike ride to meet my sister in west Asheville.
I was glad to have my little point and shoot camera. I like the concept of always carrying a camera with you.
Saw a Black Bear
I was biking up our driveway and right before I got to the house I looked up and saw a black bear right in my way. I knew there are bears around the Beaverdam area but my only previous encounter had been a passing glimpse at night once. I stopped and watched it walk across, then I hurried into the house to get my camera with my best lens.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to see it again but as I was walking down the driveway, there it was in the neighbor’s yard just sitting and munching on this tree like it didn’t have a care in the world.
It looked right at me and went back to eating. I was able to watch it for a good little bit before it walked into the woods and I became worried about being responsible for making it go somewhere it definitely shouldn’t be. It was the best view I’ve ever had of a bear not in a zoo, but I wish it was in a less populated area.
Biking Elk Mountain
I brought my bike back to North Carolina with me in the hopes of doing some riding. Davy and I managed to get out and do one of my favorite rides a couple times. You start up Elk Mountain Scenic Highway and continue to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Turn right and go down a little ways and then back up Town Mountain Road, (going down Town Mountain is hella fun) and finally back home via Kimberly Avenue.
Tube it up Broski
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Masters of Tube, David Sulock, Dot Sulock, Scott Sharpe, Michael Sulock, and Rebecca Sulock.
At Lake Chatuge
A few pictures from the more mellow times at the lake. It was the first time our immediate family had all been together in a good while.
Crash
The family and I spent the weekend at Lake Chatuge, in northern Georgia. Yesterday we rented a boat and pulled a tube.
The thing about tubing behind a boat is that you just hold on for dear life, hoping to prolong the inevitable epic crash as much as possible.
Mount Evans Scenic Byway
One of the last things we did before driving 24 hours straight to get home was go up the highest road in the United States to the top of Mount Evans. The road is only open from Memorial Day to Labor Day and in typical Colorado Style doesn’t have any guardrails.
If you even find yourself on Interstate 70 west of Denver I highly recommend it.
Rocky Mountain National Park
After a bit of driving we came to Rocky Mountain National Park. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but the road going through the park is quite amazing. Also, the park has more alpine area than any other national park. We took a short walk at the top with epic views in every direction. It was cold in the middle of August and during the winter it must be an incredibly hostile environment.
Wyoming and Colorado
From Yellowstone we went south through Grand Teton National Park and camped about an hour south of Jackson, Wyoming. The next day we drove to Rocky Mountain National Park by way of smallish highways through southeastern Wyoming, a bit of Utah, and quite a lot of Northern Colorado.
Cooke City and Onward
After the Beartooth Highway we camped by Cooke City in what would turn out to be one of my favorite campsites of the trip. The next day we drove across the northern part of the park to the Boiling River, which was open to the public (Unlike when I was there with my sister Rebecca a few weeks earlier) They were doing some work on it though as the Boiling River had apparently “changed course” a little bit.
From Mammoth we went south to one of my favorite spots, the Old Faithful area, where we spent a decent amount of time making fun of how big of a deal Old Faithful is made up to be. We skipped waiting for Old Faithful in order to see the more interesting features nearby.
My old friends the geothermal features were still looking good, as always. I am a big fan of the concept of revisiting places. I’m specifically talking about the natural world but as I sit here in Asheville for the first time in 8 months I think this idea applies to cities as well.
Things are constantly changing with the day to day weather, the seasons, and just the random changes that constantly occur in the universe on any given number of levels.
The Beartooth Highway
One of the first things we did on the drive back to Asheville was head east on I-90 for a short while, then turn south onto the Beartooth Highway down to the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park.
From north to south the road goes from the small town of Red Lodge, Montana, to the way smaller town of Cook City, Wyoming.
I had heard a lot about this road but living in Bozeman it isn’t on the way anywhere so I hadn’t been on it yet. It was an amazing way to begin what would be a fairly epic 3000 mile journey back home.
Climbing Gallatin Tower
Davy and I did some rock climbing during his brief stay in Bozeman. We climbed Gallatin Tower, 3 fun pitches in the Gallatin Canyon. It was only Davy’s second time climbing outside (the first being when we went the day before) and he handled it like an old pro.
