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Highlights from the 2009 Adventure Bus Season
Oh, the fun we had! |
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Nothing beats
standing on the rim of Bryce or Grand Canyon for the
first time, or watching a geyser explode in Yellowstone,
and although we have had the pleasure of viewing these
wonders several times, we LOVE watching the expressions
of folks seeing them for the first time,
and remember what that was like for us. In 2009 we made
a lot of new friends from all over the world. Our classic
Utah, Grand Canyon and Yellowstone tours are still full
of wonder and new adventures, and our 2009 season was no
exception: Wildfires and bison at Grand Canyon,
grizzlies and landslides in Yellowstone, and of course
countless beautiful sunrises, vistas and warm campfires
with good friends! |
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Close encounters!
The wildlife sightings on this season's adventures were
terrific! We had 3 bear sightings including 1 grizzly.
In Grand Teton we were blessed with seeing not one, but
two pairs of mom and baby moose. Our newest tour to
Washington was the most diverse, with star fish,
marmots, mountain goats, seals, and 7 eagles at one
time. Glacier was full of marmots, mountain goats and
big horn sheep (still no grizzly there!) In southern
Utah we saw lots of lizards, prairie dogs, deer, elk and
pronghorn antelope. There were several kaibab squirrel
sightings at Grand Canyon, and we finally saw the
mysterious heard of bison near North Rim! |
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New Places with lots of Old (Friendly)
Faces
This summer we explored more Native American Ruin Sites
at Chaco Culture and Bandelier on our Trail of the
Ancients tour with returning folks from DFW Outdoors in
Texas. Our newest tour, Washington Coast to Cascades,
saw the return of 12 guests from as far away as Japan,
with some folks returning for their 6th time! Although
Mother Nature did not cooperate with us the first few
days of the tour and didn't allow us to view Mt Rainier
and Mt St Helens, she certainly rewarded us with
beautiful sights on the Olympic Peninsula! We'll LOVED
this tour and we will return in July of 2010!
Our favorite group of Mt Bikers also came back for their
4th Chartered Adventure! This time they biked near Lake
Tahoe and Downieville, CA.
Thanks to ALL who returned for more adventure!
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Best Friends
In May and August we teamed up with Greenearth Travel
for a truly unique experience. We hosted two tours to
Best Friends Animal Sanctuary an Grand Canyon, where
guests volunteered with the animals for 2 days and then
spent 2 days exploring Grand Canyon North Rim. It was a
very rewarding experience, and we look forward to
participating in this again next summer. |
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Fun Times
We can't deny that the beauty of the National Parks and
surrounding areas are at the heart of what our tours are
all about, but we certainly like to have fun and be a
little silly at times too! |
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Molly heads to Death Valley
Adventure Bus Molly went to Death Valley for the first
time this year. We restructured the tour a bit to
accommodate her 40 ft length. She loved driving to the
lowest point in the Western Hemisphere in Death Valley,
cruising along on Rt 66, and seeing all the beautiful
Joshua Trees, Cactus, and Wild flowers in the Mojave
Desert! She can't wait to do it again this March!
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Yummy Treats
Along with the usual favorites of Navajo Stew, chocolate
chip pancakes, and burritos, we served up a few new
tasty dishes this year. On our Washington tour we made a
smoked salmon chowder with local Washington onions and
potatoes, and salmon caught and smoked by local Native
Americans. It was perfect! Of course eating it in a
campsite 150 feet from the Pacific Ocean certainly added
to it! We also picked local blackberries near Mt St
Helens and made a delicious berry syrup to go on our
pancakes. Also very yummy! |
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We are looking forward to
another fun filled season in 2010! We'll return
to Washington and Glacier, and our add two new
tours, Florida Everglades and Keys, and the
Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota.
Take care, and we hope to see YOU on the
Adventure Bus in 2010!
Stephanie, Ardell and Molly |
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