And then there was this...

I'm running out of vacation photos to share, which means there are only a few good vacation stories left to tell.

I'll start with this one:

Have you ever noticed how my Jim doesn't ever want to be in any pictures on my blog? Well, I finally got a shot of him that I know he won't mind me posting. See that little black speck that's sort of on the left-hand side of the smaller mountain below? That's him:

Here he is through my telephoto lens:

Isn't he fun?

Then... we drove to the very end of a twenty-two mile gravel road to see an amazing view of Hell's Canyon and the Snake River.

A few miles into this gravel road, we came upon this beautiful herd of Bighorn sheep:

I was fascinated with Big Daddy and his youngster:

Jim, meanwhile, kept distracting me by telling me to "take a picture of my Mountain Dew!!":

He was obviously thinking about that Mountain Dew commercial from a few years back with the Bighorn Sheep. (If you haven't seen that commercial, it's worth your time. You can find it by clicking HERE.)

"Hat Point" was ultimately at the end of the twenty-two mile gravel road. There is a fire look-out station tower here:

This tower look-out is 93 feet tall:

We climbed to the top:

and could see the Snake River (among other things) far below:

We were overwhelmed by the beauty:

The last time I was here - some 17 years ago - we were fogged in. I had no idea at the time what I was missing:

And then there was this bench....

From this angle, it is very clear that you don't want to trip as you walk over to sit down. It's a long way down:

Fortunately, I did not trip:

You know, when you camp in a campground, you learn that it's pretty much luck-of-the-draw who you wind up with for a neighbor:

I tried not to be too rude, but I needed a close-up of this neighbor:

Handsome, isn't he? And apparently, very comfortable. Look at what a cozy set-up he's got:

Wow:

A true treat for me, the day before we came home, is that I got to meet up with my blogging pal, Sarah, from Between the Fenceposts:

You might recall, I first met Sarah in person a couple months ago when she and her husband, Malcolm, were driving through Portland. The truck on the left is Sarah and Malcolm's truck - they are always on the go. I'm guessing they cover more miles in a week than I do in an entire year:

This was Roxy's first time meeting Sarah, Malcolm and "the girls". Judging from her body language, I think she was a little overwhelmed:

I only got a short bit of time with Sarah, but it was good for my heart to see her. For one thing, wide-open-mouthed laughter is the sign of true friendship, you know:

She brought me a treat that made me smile. Cute, right?:

The night before we came home, we did one final kayak paddle on the river. The sun was setting, the weather was mild, we were totally relaxed, and it just felt right that our trip was drawing to a close:

Tradition has it, on the day we leave, as Jim finishes packing the trailer up for the drive home, I take a few minutes to write in our trailer journal:

I've been writing in this journal for thirteen years now. Wow:

In fact, on the second page of this journal are two Polaroid photos - one of each of my boys - on the very first night we all slept in our (then) new trailer:

Those sleeping sweethearts are nineteen and twenty-three years old now. Sigh.

And so, in closing, Roxy would like to personally thank you for reading about her 2011 roadtrip:

We really had a wonderful time. Maybe next year you can go with us?