Home at Last September 22, 2010

We had a long week in Chicago. Sad goodbye to our sister, sister-in-law Mary. She was a very special person. As we traveled around Chicagoland to various events, I noted that the monarch butterflies were still headed south. Saw them in the western suburbs, in the south suburbs(while having lunch with Judy) and as we traveled east to Pennsylvania. What a long journey they have to Mexico. Whenever I see them I will think of the long journey Mary has had and hope that she is enjoying them from above.

September 13, 2010 Omaha to Davenport

Omaha a much bigger place than we thought, but we missed the rush hour, so we had no problems navigating through the city. We crossed the Missouri once again, to Council Bluffs, Iowa. The eastern part of Nebraska is greener. The colors of fall are emerging; goldenrod turning yellow and the corn is turning brown.




Crossing Iowa, many amazing museums: Danish Immigrant Museum, Bob Feller Museum and the Iowa Historic Aviation Museum to mention a few.

Iowa is more hilly than I expected. Rolling hills so you are not looking out over flatness. Passed the "Bridges of Madison County" before we reached Des Moines, which is another capital city. A note about the name of a convenience store found in Nebraska and Iowa. "Kum and Go" Just grates on me sort of like "U-Totem".

Most amazing site on the road today is a rest stop about at the 237 mile marker, east bound. It is dedicated to writers. The picnic shelters have a wall of metal with quotes from authors cut out-a special place. The pictures cannot do it justice. Hooray for Iowa.

September 12, 2010 Nebraska

Leaving Cheyenne, the elevation was 6000 feet and we headed out across the high prairie, brown colors, buttes and stone formations. As we entered Nebraska, some of the same land formations, but the land flattening, with rolling hills. Elevation descending, fields of crops rather than ranch land with fences. Cows are brown. The wind continues to blow and lots of wind farms on the horizon. We end the day in Omaha, so we have touched several capital cities; Helena, Cheyenne and Lincoln.

September 11, 2010 Leaving Jackson, Wyoming

It was a spectacularly beautiful morning. As beautiful as it was 9 years ago on this date. The mountains were wonderful, with snow capped peaks. We headed north to head east, so we passed along the Teton range again. It turned out to be a bittersweet view, as we learned later that Mike's sister Mary lost her valiant fight with cancer this morning.





The drive out of the mountains was amazing, despite road difficulties early on. Then we traveled across Wyoming, from the mountains, over the high plains, with the terrain changing particularly in color. The mountains were green, then brown. Drove miles with little traffic and not much in the way of civilization. Lots of fence and the occasional herd of cows. Ended the day in the capital city of Cheyenne.

September 10, 2010 Leaving Yellowstone

No snow at our campsite, but very cold and damp. The rain stopped so we packed up the trailer and went for breakfast at the General Store. There we learned that several of the northern and eastern passes out of the park were closed by the snow. After breakfast we headed out without any bison jams. Going south, we had snow, and more so the higher we went, but the roads were clear. The snow was wet and it looked like a Christmas scene with the snow on the top of the pine and fir branches.

We came down slightly in elevation and entered Grand Teton National Park. You could catch glimpses of the Teton peaks, snow covered. Cloud were blowing in front of the mountains and as our friends in Europe would say, the mountains are sleeping. We didn't stop for pictures. We reached the park visitor center, where we had cell service and learned Mary was fading quickly. We made the decision to leave Teton tomorrow to head back to Chicago.

We found our campsite; it was so-so. Very nice Italian restaurant next to campground where we had a nice dinner as the weather cleared. Getting cold again at night, but tonite we have electric service, so better heat.

September 9, 2010 Upper Loop to Mammoth Hot Springs

While waiting for the bison jam, took a picture from Fishing Bridge. Once passed the bison jams and once we got to the Canyon junction it was smooth sailing. We stopped at a picnic area and took pictures of the ravens. They are huge birds.

Once we reached the Mammoth area we ran into another traffic jam, just volume. We stopped at the upper loop of the hot springs and walked out onto the platform and walkways. Quite beautiful, even with the cloudy weather. We drove down to the hotel and visitor center area and secured parking spaces at the general store, to eat our lunch, and then near the visitor center. The weather forecast was not good, 1-3 inches of snow overnight. We thought that would be just at Mammoth, but as we traveled back to Fishing Bridge, the same forecast followed us.

We stopped at the Canyon visitor center, where I had a nice conversation with one of the clerks about Thomas Moran. He was quite knowledgeable and gave me some references about artists painting in Yellowstone. I bought a poster of one of Moran's Grand Canyon Falls paintings.


Traveling back to Fishing Creek, we encountered no more bison jams. We did see bison in a beautiful setting as they grazed in a field away from the highway. But it was now very chilly and overcast and damp. We were hoping the battery holds out until morning.

September 8, 2010 Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Thomas Moran is one of my favorite landscape painters and he made Yellowstone famous, especially the Grand Canyon. We headed out to see it, but not before being stuck in not one, but two bison jams that were huge. The first was broken up by a ranger and the second by a rain storm. We started with the south rim and drove all the way out to Artist Point. The sun came out briefly and the canyon lit up. You cannot imagine how beautiful it is and really, a photo cannot do it justice-hence Moran and others who painted here. The colors shifted as the sky changed. We walked about a half mile further out along the canyon trail to reach Point Sublime, but we turned back because of time. The view from Artist Point is the upper falls.

We went back along the rim to the lower falls. There is a trail that goes down 328 steps to a viewing platform. The catch is the 328 steps back up. Uncle Tom's trail. I went about 1/3 of the way down, with knees screaming. Mike continued the whole way. I will have to view Mike's photo's to see the view.

In the afternoon, we went on a wildlife tour. We went to the Lamar Valley. Along the way, we saw pronghorn, the ubiquitous bison, a grizzly, mule deer, an elk, who was attacked by a wolf and took refuge in a creek, with the wolf laying in wait(never did see the wolf). Tour was not what we expected, but someone else was driving through a mountainous part of the park.

September 7, 2010 Scaling the Big Mountain

It is still cold in Yellowstone. It is a beautiful day, so we decide to climb Mt. Washburn, the tallest mountain in Yellowstone. I do not know this fact until we reach the summit. At the top is a fire tower and a glassed in viewing room and bathrooms!



A note about traveling from Fishing Creek to Canyon. It is loaded with bison and folks just stop in the road to take pictures while the bison decide to cross the road. It is crazy. It can hold you up to 30 minutes or more as each car stops to photograph. Now there are pull offs where you can safely park and see the bison, but most tourists decide not to do this. However, if you are waiting for the bison to cross the road, by all means shoot some pictures.

Our first stop was the visitor center in Canyon. Upon checking with the ranger, she said it was a wonderful hike, but strenuous. She advised taking the southern approach which was a little longer, but easier and more scenic. I said, lets do it. It took us two hours to reach the top. I felt as tho I was climbing Everest. The altitude was getting to both of us. Anyway, took it one step at a time. We were passed by hikers who were chatting as they walked. Finally got to the top. Elevation 10,243 feet. Wonderful views of the park and you could see the Tetons 75 miles to the south. The whole caldera was in front of us, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the rivers and lakes. We ate our lunch and started down. The trip down was easier, but hurtful in the joints. So four hours round trip; not bad for a couple of 62 year old people. It made up missing the Grinnel Glacier hike.

We drove back to our campsite and then had dinner at the Lake Hotel, one of the historic hotels in the park. Wonderful meal. Off to see the sunset and then back to the trailer.

September 6, 2010 Yellowstone Labor Day

Lets give thanks to the unionists of the late 19th century for this wonderful end of the summer holiday! And thanks to all who labor to make this country a great one!




In Yellowstone, at Fishing Creek this morning it was 26 degrees, with a light snow covering the trees. We were driving the lower loop today. We stopped at various overlooks, and bison were everywhere,but spent time at the Norris geyser basin, which was really spectacular. We walked the 1.5 mile loop path. We then drove to the midway geyser basin, where the Grand Prismatic spring was located. Beautiful colors. Thought this was the highlight of the day, until our next stop, which was Old Faithful. We got a seat and waited......... It finally erupted and beautifully so.

September 5, 2010 To Yellowstone

Waived goodbye to the Flamingo Grill and headed out across the rest of Montana towards Yellowstone. Crazy weather continues. We could see the dark clouds and lightning ahead and hoped the road would take us to the clear sky between the darkness. That worked for awhile but as we were approaching I-90 west of Bozeman, the sky opened up with hail. It came down like crazy, covering the road like snow. I was driving and it was scary. Mike said to stop under the expressway when we got there. Well, our road went over the expressway! We finally passed through the storm and came out to sunny weather.

Continued driving to West Yellowstone, MT where we stopped for lunch. Then into the park and another hour of driving to our campsite at Fishing Creek. There were quite a few animal jams along the way, which slowed travel. We signed into the camp ground, set up the trailer and immediately went to the laundry. Mike worked on the trailer while I watched the clothes go round and round. He discovered an electrical problem with a fuse. Found a place to buy fuses, fixed the fuse but the battery was dead. We needed that for heat. So, as I was cooking on the grill, in the wind(what else), snow started to fall. The night time temp was expected to be 26 degrees. Hooked the camper electric to the car, ran the car for several hours and had minimal heat. Burrrrr! Looked like a Christmas card the next morning.

September 4, 2010 Back Across Montana

OZ a possibility last night. The wind was really blowing. Looking forward to a quiet night without the wind and I hope that exists in this state. The winds followed us down to Great Falls and farther along to Helena. Here in Townsend, it is quiet and I hope it stays that way all night.

There is a great little grill next to the campground. The Flamingo Grill. A pink school bus is decked out as the Flamingo Lounge. Fake palm trees are scattered about. This is its last weekend for the season. You got to love it.


Montana is really a beautiful state.

September 3, 2010 Many Glacier

This park is so amazing, so many sides to it and so many personalities. Our last day here was at Many Glacier. On our way in we had our only bear spotting.

There is another historic lodge here and some great hiking trails. My goal when leaving home was to hike to the Grinnel Glacier. My knee mishap on the Peace Hike put an end to that, but we hiked the nature trail around Swiftwater Lake and then took the boats, one across Swiftwater Lake, followed by a quarter mile uphill, slight downhill to the next boat on Josephine Lake that took us to the point where we could hike to Grinnel Lake, which we did. It was a beautiful day. Grinnel Lake was marvelous-the beautiful glacial color. Ground squirrels greeted us as we sat on a log and marveled at the scene.

As we boarded the boat on Lake Josephine we saw a female moose and her calf wading in the lake. It was nice to see them since we have been know to be moose deterrents. A great day as our final day in the park.

September 2, 2010 Eastbound on Going to the Sun Highway

Just so you know, there is a mountain here called Going to the Sun. We woke up to fog, but the forecast was for a good day. The Lake McDonald Lodge is one of the "great lodges" and the lobby was amazing. The Red jammers are restored 1930 circa vehicles that take people on tours across the park. They run on propane and gasoline. There are thirty some still in operation and are quite popular if you do not want to drive the at times, hair raising Going to the Sun highway.



We decided to go back to Apgar Village (west gate) to see if we could find a WIFI connection. No such luck, so we set out slowly eastbound and as we traveled, the weather became better. We stopped at the West Tunnel and walked into it to take advantage of the cutouts to view the mountains. Kind of scary, had to make sure no one was coming, although there was a sidewalk. People would beep their horns going through the tunnel. We then stopped at the only switchback on the road, to take advantage of the views. Folks who were heading westbound said that the weather was clear at Logan Pass.



We reached Logan Pass around noon and yes, it was clear, but everyone else in the world was there and the parking lot was full. It took 10-15 minutes of circling before we found a spot. For those of you who know my traveling partner, you can imagine how special that was. We took out our chairs and our lunch and parked at the end of the lot to eat, with the most spectacular view of the mountains.

After lunch, we headed up the Hidden Lake trail, behind the visitor center. It was a boardwalk to begin, and it went up to the snow line and beyond. We trudged upward and we were rewarded by awesome views at every turn. At the top, we saw several mountain goats. Missed the marmot who was supposedly sunning himself on a rock. What a great hike.

Mike wanted to do a quarter mile on the Highline trail, but my knee was aching so I passed that up. He said the views were amazing, and I will look forward to seeing his pictures.

We continued down the eastward path of the road to our campsite in St. Mary. We were glad we decided to go west and then retrace our steps, as the views were worth it.

September 1, 2010 Westbound on Going to the Sun Highway

OK, I thought we would end up in OZ-the wind really howled, trailer creaked, bumps in the night-finally quiet. Morning was calm, sun, we had a leisurely breakfast as the weather changed again with wind and rain. Waited awhile, then came a break in the action and we put the trailer down for our 24 hour absence.

We headed out on the Going to the Sun highway. This road is a national historic engineering landmark and is undergoing a several year reconstruction. We passed several stops, but said, hey, weather has to be better coming back, we will stop then. As we ascended towards the continental divide, the weather deteriorated. When we reached Logan Pass, we were in the clouds and it was cold. The weather improved as we went westbound, but it was not as scenic as the eastern side of the divide.

We did stop at a popular hiking spot called Avalanche Creek. We took a hike on the Trail of the Cedars. This was old growth cedar that had not been burned. Very green and lush, like a rain forest. Nice waterfall, trees and a deer lurking near the campground.

We stopped and took some pictures along Lake McDonald and drove down to the Western Gate and returned about 10 miles to the Lake McDonald Lodge where we were staying for the night. We had dinner at the Lodge and the sky cleared, so we took a hour long boat ride on the lake. Beautiful scenery and we saw an eagle.

No WIFI here at the Lodge, nor cell phone. It is really strange to be without both. But we survived.