July 16, 2005 (Saturday)
We pulled out of Baltimore fairly early in the morning after a good night's sleep. Our two cats, Nip and Tuck, saw us off and sat in identical positions on the road to do so, looking bored. As cats do, they seemed not to care that we were going anywhere. We did feel good that Renee Nissley was going to house sit for us and take care of our many pets.
Goshen, Andrea and Ian and their boys welcomed us that evening after an uneventful trip. The kids traveled well for which we were grateful and they seemed excited and in good spirits. There was nothing much new to see across PA and Ohio but tomorrow we will head off in a new direction for them.
It poured down rain in Goshen and we decided not to set up the tent that evening. That is to say we chickened out. After a while the weather cleared up and the children played on the trampoline and swam in the Zuercher's pool.
"In your Face" Andy said to Chris just before he (Andy) fell off the floating chair on his own face.
July 17, 2005 (Sunday)
Andrea, Ian and their boys went to church and we set off to points west, towards Chicago. We saw more and more brown grass and fields as we entered Illinois. We have heard of the drought and the hardships the farmers are experiencing. What we saw confirmed it.
wasn't so much fun to go through, even on a Sunday morning. The industry of Gary, Indiana got tiring quickly, as did the numerous areas of road construction in the Chicago area and the many small tolls to pay. There was much waiting in toll lines and mini traffic jams and slow downs and we were glad to finally drive clear of the Windy City. On the way back we hope to avoid the Chicago area. We did see the Sears tower, the tallest building in the world (that building in Malaysia has an antenna (or spire) on top which makes it "tallest" but that doesn't count). We stopped for gas and groceries off an exit in downtown Chicago so saw a small part of the city at least. We drove by Comiskey Park and Lake Michigan.
Carla "You're so illegal!"
Dad "Bye, bye Miss American Cheese."
Chris "I'd admit it if I did it."
Hana "he who admitted it will do it."
Mom "Do it in the chair, not the air."
Andy "I'llllllllll check!!"
Dad: "Chris, calm down and take a relax."
It was a hot day, Temp in the high 90s or thereabouts. As we went north in Wisconsin, there were more hills but still flatter than I expected Wisconsin to be. In Madison we asked a student where the nearest Borders was and he directed us down University Drive. There we bought some books, etc. Andy got the new Harry Potter book, Hana bought the Little Shop of Horrors CD (I have no idea where she learned about this CD) and Chris felt the urge to buy some Simpsons DVDs. Ruth bought a tape to learn Spanish.
We drove up the highway, past exits for the Wisconsin Dells and found Mirror Lake State Park where we set up camp. This first night the "setting up camp" process took rather a lot of time but I expect that we will become more efficient as we get into this trip. We all (except Andy and Carla who read on the shore) went swimming in the murky waters of Mirror Lake after supper. Chris and Hana had a handstand contest which I judged, and we made trains and played with the seaweed. Chris and Hana just went on and on out there in the water. They are two peas in a pod that is for sure.
The kids in the campsite next to ours got noisy and drunk that night so I had to ask them (yell at them actually) to quiet down, which they did. One of the guys said "yes, dad."
July 18, 2005 (Monday)
The next day I went for a run and we had breakfast and continued westward, feeling more and more like Lewis and Clark. We crossed the Mississippi into Minnesota. We saw billboards for the Spam museum "Yes, we address the ingredients question." and saw signs for various Amish places. On one side road I saw an Amish boy riding a horse at a gallop, his hat flying back on his head, having the time of his life. There was much less traffic in W. Wisconsin and into Minnesota. At one grocery stop in Minn., the cashier sounded just like Garrison Keillor when he pokes fun at how Minnesotans talk. So they really do talk that way!
Carla came along on the trip prepared; she brought air freshener for the car when one of the kids (usually boys) has an unexpected encounter with a barking spider.
On these flat S. Minnesota roads the driving seems incredibly easy. You just sit there with the car in cruise control and watch the gas gauge go to empty. We moved from the Central Lowlands (Minnesota) to the Central Plain (S. Dakota) (that's what the guidebook said, anyway--the Plains ground flat by those big receding glaciers). Signs for the towns of Welcome, Minn. ("A Friendly City", the sign said. Quite something to live up to! One has to wonder how you are supposed to act when you happen to be in a bad mood some day), and Guckeen, Minn, and then Tea, South Dakota were some of the interesting names that we saw. We did some shopping in Sioux Falls, SD and were surprised by how spread out this city is.
The campsite that night was a State Park in E. South Dakota called Newton Hills. It seemed (by the map) to be within a stone's throw of Iowa. We did a little better setting things up, and I was surprised that there seemed to be no stones in the ground when I drove the tent pegs in. The weather continues to cooperate. Newton Hills is in an area where there is a fairly large growth of trees and lush vegetation which is surrounded by the plains and fields of SD and Iowa. So they made a State Park there. We were one of only a few people there that night, so I took advantage of this by taking Carla out to practice her driving around the campsite roads. She did fine for her first time--she just got her permit the day before we left on this trip.
Chris and Carla both have reading assignments for school this summer. They both worked on this during the trip. Chris needs to read Hiroshima by John Hersey, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines, and Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin. Carla needs to read A Storm in Flanders by Winston Groom, Siddhartha by Herman Hess, and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
is getting into following our progress along on the map as we travel, atlas on her lap. She is intent on doing so, and it keeps her occupied. I remember doing the same thing when I was a kid.
At Newton Hills we played catch, looked for 4 leaf clovers (didn't find any) and had soup for supper heated over the cook stove. One of Andy's projects has been to create maps of a city on sheets of paper.
July 19, 2005 (Tuesday)
We traversed southern South Dakota today, moving into the Central Plains of South Dakota. We stopped in Mitchell where the "Corn Palace" was located. There were tons of signs for it along the highway so we had no choice but to stop, I guess. It was interesting, when many complicated murals made of differently colored ears of corn. They make different murals each year and the have been doing this (almost straight through) since 1892. They are proud of their corn in that part of the country. Chris' comment was "I have to admit that these are the best corn murals that I have ever seen." We saw a video about the settling of the west, the gold rush, etc. Hana bought a cute hat that said "South Dakota" on it. It was a very hot day. They sold shirts with Mt. Rushmore on the front. On the backs of the shirts was the little known rear view of Rushmore, showing the casual backsides of four naked presidents. It was pretty funny but I resisted buying it.
We also noted that there was a steady wind blowing, and I wonder if this is a fairly constant factor in the weather on the plains. Some of the stories about pioneer life on the prairies talk about how the steady sound of the wind sometimes made them (especially the women) go a little crazy (eg. Giants in the Earth by Rolvaag).
Halfway across South Dakota on the interstate we passed a sign for De Smet, SD, home of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie. This was the house in SD where the Wilder family spent their hard winter, chronicled in The Long Winter. We exited, expecting it to be near, but the next sign said it was 55 miles north. We decided not to go there, but in retrospect it might have been a fun place to visit. Perhaps the children wouldn't have appreciated the way we would have.
Somewhere along in here we had a conversation with Hana. She was convinced, had heard somewhere, that you could hike up into the nostrils of the presidents on Mt. Rushmore. After much discussion she was finally convinced that it wasn't allowed.
An ongoing feature of our trip has been lunches of very delicious sandwiches made (usually) by Ruth while we are on the go. She sits in the van's middle seat beside the ice chest and takes orders. We call it Ruth's Deli. We always stock up on these supplies (including ice to keep the perishables cold) at grocery stores along the way. It is more efficient this way and also cheaper, and also probably better tasting. Once Hana didn't get quite what she wanted and she commented "Mom, you didn't make this sandwich very professionally."
Route 90 going west is completely lined with ads in South Dakota for Mt. Rushmore, etc.
Hana and Chris both are keeping track of license plates that they see along the road and in parking lots.
came to the Badlands. At the entrance point there was a sod hut. I admit that we expected this park to be a bit tedious. This expectation is largely because of the legacy left by the trip west my own family took in 1972 when we were exhausted and tired and thirsty when we drove through the Badlands. So my memory of this part of the trip wasn't a good one--we basically remember it as the doorway to hell. I had told stories to the kids about this part and they didn't expect a whole lot.
However, we all enjoyed the views and the climbing tremendously, even though it was 100-110 degrees. We were allowed a surprisingly free access to climb on the formations and see up close the rock formations and the crevasses that make up this very interesting park. This part of our trip ended up being a big hit.
We also took a detour over some prairie N of the badlands, and saw some prairie dogs and some bison.
We came into Custer State Park and set up camp in the dark with a bit of difficulty. This was a long day. We plan to stay here for three nights while enjoying the points of interest.
July 20, 2005 (Wednesday)
We had pancakes for breakfast. We asked a lady at the General Store and she recommended that we travel over Iron Mountain Road to Mt. Rushmore and on to Crazy Horse and then back to Custer via Needles Highway. So that is what we did. The elevation of Custer State Park is about 5000 feet. It is a wonderful and well set up State Park, set as it is in a prime area for tourists and campers. We saw much wildlife during our drive along Iron Mountain road, including Bison, Deer, Goats, Burros (who came begging for food from us through our open windows) and wild turkeys. We also drove over what were called pigtail bridges because of how they are shaped. Along Iron Mountain Highway there were three tunnels, each framing Mt. Rushmore in a spectacular way.
Mt. Rushmore was sculpted by Gutzon Borglum. We learned that he was working on a Confederate memorial in Stone Mountain, Georgia that "wasn't going so well" so he was fired from that job. He then learned of the Rushmore project. The Visitors' Center and the walkways leading up to Rushmore were crowded. We walked up to the base of the faces and looked up. On the way back we stopped at the studio and heard a ranger give a talk about the project. One inch on the model at the studio corresponded to 12 inch on the mountain. A plumb line was used to properly scale the carving. Symbolically, Washington stands for the founding of the nation, Jefferson stands for the expansion (Louisiana purchase), Roosevelt for the development (establishment of the National Park Service) and Lincoln for the preservation of the union.
On the way out of the visitors' center there was a contemporary Native American band playing on a sort of bandstand. The sound was fascinating and sort of mesmerizing. A woman played the flute very energetically, a drummer drummed with terrific gusto, another man played the keyboard and the fourth played bass guitar. This bass guitarist was the calm one of the band, sort of providing the anchor to an otherwise frenetically paced musical style. Kind of like John Entwistle of The Who. They mentioned that this kind of music is truly a new variety--and is now a new category in the Grammys.
We made the short drive to Crazy Horse and saw a video, including interviews with the sculptor's family, Billy Mills (the former Olympic gold medalist and also a Lakota Indian) and others. The vision here is grandiose, that is all I can say. Korczak Ziolkowski was an assistant sculptor at Mt. Rushmore. He heard an Indian chief pointed out that if the White man can build a memorial to their leaders, the Indians should also have a memorial to one of their heroes. So Korczak Ziolkowski left the project at Rushmore and began the carving of Crazy Horse, living at first in a tent for seven years. He has since died and many of his remaining family, including his wife and a number of his 10 children, are continuing the work.
At the visitors' center there was a demonstration of the hoop dance by an Indian traditional dancer and his two sons. We stopped for a snack at a 7-11 and Hana nearly tripped an unsuspecting gentleman there, making a sudden unexpected move as she does sometimes.
We returned via Needles Highway and we all enjoyed the tall thin rock formations and tunnels that give the name. Once again, the children (except Carla) couldn't get enough of climbing on the rocks. There were bison on the road in Custer State Park, and they congregated by the hundreds in a field near the campsite. We got back after dark and after a very long day
July 21, 2005 (Thursday)
Our cookstove stopped working so we made pancakes over the open fire. They didn't turn out so well so we ended up calling the concoction "griddle crumble". I think that the kids still think that this was truly a new kind of a breakfast, not an attempt to salvage a disaster. It actually tasted pretty good mixed with syrup.
Across from the campsite was a steep hill that Hana was dying to climb from the moment we set up camp. So we did (all except Andy who read Harry Potter and Mom who wanted to relax a little). It was an excellent view from the top, and Hana was a little Mountain Goat up there.
We set out to see the National Woodcarving Museum near the town of Custer. Harley Niblack(1894-1966) was a chiropractor who made some inventions and got wealthy and retired to woodcarve full time. He apparently required little sleep, working 20 or more hours per day. He had a sense of humor which is evident in his carvings. He made incredibly detailed and artistic carvings, many of which were automated. Custer's last chess set, a Dentists office with the sign "Hard pull 50 cents, Easy pull 25 cents. The wood that is best to use is called Basswood because it has no grain to throw the knife blade off course.
We were going to go to Big Thunder Gold Mine but it appeared so touristy (by far the most touristy thing we had seen yet with the possible exception of Wall Drug and the Mitchell Corn Palace) that we didn't go in. We had a picnic lunch in the parking lot, though, embarrassing the kids. Our entertainment during our lunch was getting to watch a truck be pulled out of some rather deep muck. We didn't have quite enough paper plates to go around so Ruth tore them in half to make half plates. You learn how to make do, especially when one member of the family grew up in Africa.
The Reptile Gardens were next and were a definite hit with the kids. We heard a young guy named Lance talk about snakes and then talk about alligators and crocodiles. There was a performance involving trained farm animals, and then a presentation on birds (I am not sure how that relates to "Reptile Garden", and neither is anyone else in our family). When Lance made a rattlesnake upset so it rattled, Andy remarked "I heard that sound in the badlands. I ran." Showing good judgment. Lance asked the audience to answer "What do you do if you see a rattle snake in the wild." Some answers "You stop, drop and roll" or "You hit him with a hockey stick."
Lance explained how you wrestle alligators. You come up behind them and cover their eyes. His theory as to why this makes they relax is that their brain is so small that when it gets dark they think that they are dead. So they relax. Then Lance wrestled a gator. Chris bought a T-shirt that said "Go Wrestle a Gator". I think Lance is his hero.
The bird show talked about owls among other things, and the way the tips of the owls feathers have a very fine layer of fuzz that makes for the famed "silent flight" of owls. This is the reason why myths and legends have been built up around owls (The book I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven).
That evening we went to see the Passion Play in Spearfish, SD, recounting the last week of Christ's life before the crucifixion. We weren't sure how it would work out, would the play keep the interest of the kids, would it get too cool there in the outdoor amphitheater. The pace of the play was slow at first but built up. At the crucifixion on a hill to the right of the stage, while the spotlights were manipulated to seem like lightning, real lightning played behind the actors. While the spotlights played upon the actors, the full moon rose and then went behind a cloud, showing only the lit outline of the cloud in the sky behind the cross. Then, just as Jesus died, the full moon started to re-emerge from behind the cloud. All coincidence? I don’t' know. It was pretty powerful to me.
were sitting behind a number of men, all ages, wearing hats indicating that they were lamb farmers. They had reddish hair, and could well have been of Scottish descent. They clearly knew each other well. I thought of the Ivan Doig book (Dancing at Rascal Fair) which tells of the emigration from Scotland and the immigration to Northern Montana of Scottish farmers who go into lamb farming.
got back to the campsite at Custer Park at about midnight, the children slept in the car on the ride back and we didn't even have them put on pajamas this night.
July 22, 2005 (Friday)
packed up camp and traveled to Sheridan, Wyoming to our campsite for that night, Bighorn Mountain campground. The hills got more and more rugged, and there was evidence of forest fires. passed such points as Hell Canyon, Jewel Cave National Monument. The kids read books, looked out the window, in general traveled well. Chris must be on a growth spurt because he is eating a ton. The dynamic between Chris and Hana is such that they are often laughing uproariously at one another, Hana at Chris especially but plenty the other way around.
We bought lunch fixings at "Deckers Food Market", a supermarket in Sundance, Wyoming.
We then went north to visit Devil's Tower. On the way, we went through Four Corners, Wyoming, essentially a post office and a house. The children got a kick out of a place with such little there gets called something. Hana says that she wants to move to Four Corners, Wyoming when she grows up. If you blink, you miss it.
Devil's Tower is a fascinating geological marvel. It is an extrusion of ancient volcanic material--ancient magma. This magma hasn't eroded away over the eons because it is so hard, while the soil and rock around it has eroded. What remains is a huge almost cylindrical rock with vertical lines with sheer rock faces, dramatically coming out of the surrounding flat land, thrusting into the sky. Is that poetic enough? Rock climbers were there in fairly large numbers. We watched one group trying to climb the face of the Tower and not doing so well. It was about 100 degrees. The Indians called it Bear Lodge because of some ancient myths surrounding it that had to do with Bears. We weren't able to stay for the ranger talk that explained all of the myths. The Indians didn’t' actually worship the Tower, rather they came to the Tower as a place of worship. Andy, Chris and Hana had a great time climbing around on the boulders at the base of Devil's Tower.
The highway from Devil's Tower to Buffalo, Wyoming was desolate. We were glad that we filled up on gas before traveling it. We learned that this land is bought up for "mineral rights" (oil, etc.) and the huge ranches that raise cattle are allowed to graze them on the open range. If one landowner wants cattle to stay off, they have to build a fence.
In Buffalo, we camped at Bighorn Mountain Campground (near Bighorn Mountain National Park), where the kids swam in the pool. It is a private campground owned and operated by an older couple from Massachusetts.
July 23, 2005 (Saturday)
the morning we shopped at the local IGA where there was free coffee. The scenery around the campsite was impressive, with swooping hills in the foreground and snow covered peaks in the background (the Bighorn Mountains). Departing also that morning was a 35 member church youth group from Eden Prairie, Minnesota. They were going to climb Cloud Peak and camp there for one week. Ambitious youth leaders! At Powder River Pass on our journey further west we saw Cloud Peak, the highest peak in the Bighorn Mts at 13187. As we traveled the long descent from this pass the car thermometer went from 69 to 91 degrees. As we traveled along on the plain, we saw signs that said "Open Range, Loose Stock."
We stopped at a town called Ten Sleep for ice cream. It is so named because it is midway between two historical large trading centers, Bridger, Montana and Casper, Wyoming. The distance from both of those centers to Ten Sleep was ten days ride, or to the Indians way of counting long distances "Ten Sleeps".
We took a shortcut from Ten Sleep to Graybull through some very desolate territory. We then hit Cody, Wy. From there on to Yellowstone the geography was increasingly rugged, beautiful and fascinating. Increasingly grandiose rock and mountain formations. There was one called Chimney Rock, and all along were snow capped mountains in the background. Truly God's good earth. I read somewhere that Theodore Roosevelt called this the most beautiful highway in America.
We entered Yellowstone at the East entrance and wound through the park. There were meadows and woods full of spectacular growths of wildflowers, yellow and purple carpeting the ground, especially in areas where there has been a forest fire. There was also quite a bit of road construction.
campsite we stayed, Bridge Bay, was 7735' elevation. Carla was not happy that there were no showers, but we learned that we could drive a short way to pay for the privilege of showering if that was needed. We set up camp and took the short walk to Yellowstone Lake. Ruth was accidentally poked in the eye so that abbreviated our walk a bit. We saw some deer including a couple of antlered bucks.
Ruth and I went to a ranger talk that evening given by Park Ranger Karen Reinhart. It gave some general background on the ecology and geology of the park.
July 24, 2005 (Sunday)
had breakfast and drove to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone--Artist Point and the Brink of the Lower Falls. The Brink involved a fairly strenuous hike down and back (3/8 mile one way, 600 foot drop in elevation), to a point immediately next to the falls as the water begins cascading over the cliff to make the long drop. It was pretty cool.
In the afternoon we took a ranger walk around and over some bubbling mud pots. Our favorite "Ranger Karen" led the hike. She definitely knows about Yellowstone, and loves her work. We learned some of the terminology, mud "volcano", fumaroles (steam vents), mud pots, geysers. She took us on a special privileged hike off the beaten path to "The Big Gumper" so named because of the noise it makes. She had us be silent for one minute to hear the noises of nature and of the Gumper. It represents the breathing in and out of the volcano/caldera that underlies much of Yellowstone's phenomena.
She told of a fellow ranger, Rick something, who was killed while skiing down a mountain. She told the story very matter of factly, saying that his penchant for "extreme skiing" made his death "almost inevitable". I had read an article in the New Yorker about extreme skiing and wonder if he had been mentioned in this article. She said that his favorite joke, when someone looked at the mud pots and said "that's cool" was to say "no actually, that is quite hot." (180 degrees).
An old guy who was on the hike with Ranger Karen had as many stories as she had. He has visited Yellowstone countless times during his childhood growing up in the area. He said that his father, when he was growing up, said that there were three places in the world worth knowing about, Heaven, Hell, and Yellowstone.
told of visiting Yellowstone in the 1960s, when there were amphitheaters/bleachers set up to see bears. Garbage would be scattered in the grass at the front of the amphitheater, and people would come to sit and watch bears, grizzlies and black bears forage in the garbage. A park ranger would stand by with a pistol ready in case the bears decided to forage on some spectators.
We visited the Fishing Bridge Visitors Center and saw an expert fly maker tying flies to be used for fly fishing. He was making caddis flies, preferred by trout. We also got souvenirs, postcards and ice cream.
That night, Chris said very clearly and loudly in his sleep "Con-Ven-Tion." We found out over the course of this trip while sharing a tent that he talks in his sleep quite a bit and were amused. The youth group had recently gone to Charlotte NC for a church convention.
supper cooked over our cook stove, we went out to Hayden Valley etc. to look for wildlife. Not much success until at the N. end of Yellowstone Lake we saw an adolescent grizzly grazing and foraging in the meadow between the road and the lake, oblivious to those who were watching.
That evening Carla and I went to a ranger talk titled "1877, Nez Perce, the Coming Storm". It had to do with a pivotal period in the area's history, and involved the famous Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph.
The ranger told a story about a church service held about two months ago in the amphitheater. A grizzly bear walked between the amphitheater and the Visitor's Center. He said that the service got more exciting than it was intended to be.
Another story was about a big bison that got upset at someone in a yellow VW Beetle because they honked. So the bison hooked the edge of the car with its horn and flipped it over. "They" say that when a bison puts its tail in the air, it means one of two things: either "charge" or "discharge" (poop).
The skies are incredibly filled with stars. Coyotes howl every night. One night Ruth got up to walk to the bathroom along the trail and two coyotes walked across the path in front of her. She said that she hears them at night in her semi-sleep and dreams that the are a bunch of campers crying about something.
July 25, 2005 (Monday)
I was sitting up early reading and drinking my coffee and heard some sounds and saw two huge bison walking directly through the campsite across the road from us. One of them nosed around one of the tents for a while. They are in rutting season, and hence act a bit unusual. One rolled in the dust in a nearby field before moving on.
A bit of a cool and blustery day. We saw an elk cross the road and, while driving around to the east side of the park, saw evidence of the wildfires that took out much of the lodgepole pine forests in 1988 (I think it was).
crossed the Continental Divide on the way around to Old Faithful, and of course, had to stop to pose next to the sign that said "Continental Divide". A couple on a Harley from Tennessee took a photo of Chris, Ruth and me. The other kids opted not to get out of the car to be photographed. The lady was funny, asking "Where are those little snot nosed kids" and wanted to see inside the car. When she saw the other three she said "They're sooo cute--You did good!". She said that when her kids were young and had a similar reluctance to be photographed, she would say "we feed you your meals, you git in that picture..."
We went on a ranger walk to the hot spring areas. He explained that an eruption occurs in this area every 64,000 years, and it has been almost that long since the last one, so "we are due." His philosophy is that it will affect life everywhere on earth fairly dramatically, so we might just as well stay put in Yellowstone and "get a ride." He explained that the ground we were on is moving about 1" per year. "So come back in five years and I will be here" and he moved 5" to the right. 80% of the trees at Yellowstone are lodgepole pines, straight trunks in thick forests. I remember being impressed by the straightness of the trees when we drove through when I was a youngster.
saw Old Faithful erupt. This is the most touristy of the areas in Yellowstone but it was still impressive. hiked out to another one named Grand Geyser and waited about 40 min (and a couple of false starts) for this less frequent and less predictable geyser to erupt. It is higher than Old Faithful and we also were fairly close. Hana had her own geyser to deal with (she had to run to the bathroom, about 1/2 mile away), and I went with her. When we were jogging back we saw the Grand erupt, everyone cheered, and everyone on the windward side scrambled away en masse like some horror or disaster movie. It was like the Splash Zone at the dolphin show in the National Aquarium. Ruth was one of those running away frantically, not wanting to get her camera wet. Hana and I (and the others) got a kick out of seeing her run. The blustery and windy weather made the water spray the spectators (the water cooled in the trip through the air).
Walking back we saw Old Faithful erupt again, this time from a distance. We also saw an osprey swoop in and grab a trout from a stream we were walking over.
That evening we saw a rainbow over Yellowstone Lake. At supper when Carla accidentally dropped a big gob of jello on the bench, Chris said "Well, that's nothing like the jello spill of 86." It was funny but Ruth especially couldn't stop laughing.
July 26, 2005 (Tuesday)
rained last night fairly heavily, then it stopped. The tent kept us mostly dry but not perfectly dry. I did some fine tuning to the tarp in the morning to prevent further problems. It was also cold as well as rainy, and parts of the park got snow! It was probably our most difficult night on the trip because we were all freezing, but we got through it. Temperatures: 42 degrees at 2:30 AM and 41 degrees at 7:30 AM. The coyotes during the night were in rare form, howling in bursts from different locations in the distance and some quite close it seemed.
took a hike out to Storm Point, a 2.3 miler, on a gorgeous day. We caught part of a walking ranger talk. These rangers are always very knowledgeable. But this particular one was really gung ho-- almost too much so-- and gave anyone who so much as stepped an inch off of the path a real hard time. She talked about how the cutthroat trout, originally from the Pacific Ocean, populate the Yellowstone Lake. Fishermen and women are allowed to catch rainbow trout because they are displacing the cutthroat. After this, Ruth and I had a joke, taking off on this tough ecologically correct ranger/drill sergeant, that we can't do _________(you name it) because it will send the cutthroat back to the Pacific.
After a while we had had enough of this sergeant and while her back was turned we slipped on ahead, walked on to the shore of Yellowstone Lake, and skipped stones. We saw a yellow bellied marmot colony. We also encountered a family with eight blond blue eyed kids from Utah. We assumed (?) that they were Mormon. Our hike took us through a lodgepole pine forest. They grow straight up into the air and grow very thickly.
There was a traffic jam caused by bison, and one big bull got impatient with the cars in their path crossing the road and lunged at our van. Hana was sitting just inside the window from this lunge and this experience haunts her to this day. We saw an elk crossed the roadway as well, our first one.
Back at the campsite, the ranger talk that evening at 6PM was excellent. It was advertised as being geared for the children, but I also found it most fascinating. The ranger was a re-enactor who dressed much like the scout John Colter (who accompanied Lewis and Clark). He demonstrated how Colter would have lived and survived at that time, especially during the cold winters. His clothing allowed him to survive well below 0 degrees. He showed us how Colter would have fired his flintlock rifle and immediately reload. The ranger accomplished this rather complicated feat three times within a minute. The phrases "flash in the pan", "lock, stock and barrel", and "don't go off half cocked" all came from the flintlock rifle. The ranger also started a fire with flint and a tinder box, and we were all impressed with that.
Ruth gave Andy a haircut which he didn't like but everyone else did. We had a campfire in the evening, which was pleasant. However the night got cold again, down to 38-40.
July 27, 2005 (Wednesday)
Carla, Ruth and I took turns driving to Fishing Bridge facilities to shower and do laundry. Christopher, Andrew and Hana still didn't seem to need one. I was disappointed to learn from the older guy monitoring the shower facilities that the Beartooth Highway was closed due to mud slides. We had hoped to take that out of Yellowstone--it is a highway that goes above the treeline and is quite spectacular I understand.
We had a leisurely and enjoyable morning, with pancakes for breakfast. At my bidding, the kids started calling me the "Griddle Meister."
took a day trip to the Grand Teton National Park. On the way we saw a big owl swoop through the trees. felt inspired (at least I did) as we traveling listening to a Paul Simon tape with the awesome Grand Tetons looming ahead of us on the John D Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, while l'essence d'campfire permeated the car. The children and I completed the USA Today crossword puzzle after our picnic lunch along Jackson Lake. have learned that we have to create attractions and diversions such as skipping stones on the Lake, climbing on the rocks with beautiful scenery in the background, etc. The younger ones don't go for the scenery alone. Soon after the lunch we saw signs for Signal Mountain so we drove to the summit and looked around. stopped briefly at the Visitors' Center to view the Tetons. Mt. Moran is the highest.
We reviewed a summary of our Yellowstone National Park experience. The formula is [Have a great time during the day + Freeze your buns off at night] X 6. It is simple algebra.
We took a shortcut off the main highway and saw a moose grazing in a shallow lake area. He would graze by putting his head underwater for the longest time while eating the vegetation on the bottom.
We wanted to treat ourselves to a Chinese meal in Jackson, Wy. We asked the cashier at the Rite Aid about her recommendation. The Hong Kong Buffet was right next door and the Chinatown Restaurant was nearby. She said that people eat at the Hong Kong Buffet but then usually seen to come right next door to the Rite Aid and buy a bottle of Peptobismol. So she recommended Chinatown. It was very good, with no need for Peptobismol.
On the way back from the Tetons we saw an Elk couple grazing near Grant Village. We tried to get a fire started at the tent site but failed so we went to bed and read, getting ready for another cold night.
July 28, 2005 (Thursday)
But it wasn't as cold, just getting to 48 degrees early in the morning when I woke up. I have been getting up ahead of the others and reading, while drinking coffee. Coffee made outside like this seems to taste better than any other kind of coffee. Why is that?
drove east to climb Avalanche Peak. On the way up the mountain we had lunch. The peak is 10,500 feet above sea level. Chris and I made it to the top wearing sneakers. There weren't too many other climbers and most of them looked more "official" than we were. It really felt like a major undertaking ("Into Thin Air" kind of feeling) and at the summit (I guess you should call it that) well above the tree line there were several tame chipmunks who begged for food. A chipmunk licked Chris' hand because he had some peanut butter on it left over from lunch. At the top we met a father and two children from Illinois. Chris climbed over to some snow on the way down and I made a snowball that by the time we got to the parking area had totally melted. All that was left was a large wet spot in my backpack, not such a great idea. The others all laughed at me. drove from the parking area to go and get ice cream at Fishing Bridge. On the way back we saw a coyote.
In the evening the ranger talk was about the bison's role in American history. The Felix Burgess (hero) and Edgar Howell (villain) story was the centerpiece. The recognition of the bison as an endangered species was a turning point in American conservationism.
July 29, 2005 (Friday)
was only 52 degrees at 7:30AM while I was drinking my morning coffee. There was a spattering of rain as we took down the tent and packed up. On the way out there were many buffalo to be seen in Hayden Valley--they were all over the place!
We departed Yellowstone with a scenic drive to Bozeman, Montana. The sweeping hills and mountains, a very arid terrain. In Bozeman we went to a Target and to a Borders, and from there on the Missouri Headwaters State Park. We pitched our tent and took a drive to the Headwaters. The Madison and Jefferson Rivers come together and flow to merge with the Gallatin. When the waters of these three rivers combine the mighty Missouri of Lewis and Clark begins. For some reason, I found this fascinating. Others in the family did but to a lesser extent. . . . Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and their expedition camped at and explored this region, and a very well done display near the Headwaters described this in great detail.
July 30, 2005 (Saturday)
We packed our tent and gear up for the last time and drove to Three Forks, Montana (what would prove to be the westward most point traveled on our entire trip) to get gas and some drinks. We drove around through Three Forks admiring the lawns, then headed east for a bit and then south along the Gallatin River. The Gallatin River is large and beautiful and in a most spectacular setting. It flows northward, cutting between the Gallatin Range on the east and the Madison Range on the west. We went as far south as a road spur off to the west which took us to a Village called Big Sky. It is an exclusive ski resort area, some place that is really geared for the wealthy- the "haves"- to ski in the winter. A very nice wide expensive road up to the top of a mountain. We left and drove north and stopped and had a picnic lunch at a table along the Gallatin River in the Gallatin National Forest.
The Gallatin River is a favorite for white water rafting and during our lunch several rafts full of people led by a guide drifted down the river. They looked like they were having a good time and the guides were explaining everything in great detail, wanting to give them their money's worth I guess.
Back up out of the Gallatin canyon area we drove through Bozeman. On this Saturday afternoon there were lots of people out doing various things and enjoying the sunny day, including an outdoor pool tournament. The outskirts of Bozeman is sprawlish but downtown seems pleasant. I did recall Bozeman playing a prominent role in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig, a book that made an impression on me about 25 years ago.
As we came east on highway 90 we saw Montana's often spectacular and changing geography, with the mountainous terrain giving way to wheat fields and large combines harvesting the wheat. The rock formations were unusual, large rock outcroppings with sheer faces. There were a number of broad buttes, some with trees on the flat tops. The speed limit was 75 and I set the cruise control at 80 and seemed to be going a bit slower than the average car, which generally passed me. I only saw one police car, a marked one, parked off to the side in plain view. I got the impression that not many people are pulled over for speeding. I guess that Montanans have the reputation as people who don’t' like being told what to do, including how fast to drive.
The interstates have cattle guards at the entrance and exit ramps.
At Forsythe, MT where we stopped to get gas, we saw a big hotel that had a sign "Hotel Howdy." Seems like a friendly place to spend the night.
However we continued on to Miles City in eastern MT, where we checked into a Super 8. Miles City doesn’t seem like a city that would attract tourists. It is flat, dry and hot with lots of chain stores and sprawl all around. Some of us wanted to eat at Wendy's and others wanted Subway, so we stopped at both places. The guy at Subway enjoyed joking with Hana. We brought our meals back to the hotel to watch TV while we ate. We felt like this night in the hotel was well deserved, having spent 13 straight nights in our tent
July 31, 2005 (Sunday)
I talked with the Front Desk receptionist, a Miles City native. My impression is that W. Montana with more tourists and more scenery and more transplants from the East is also more self-conscious of these things. This receptionist had a quality of being genuinely friendly and open to conversation.
Our trip continued east through badlands type geography, along the Yellowstone River for quite some time. We stopped at the North Dakota welcome center and picked up some brochures, and continued on along the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the Painted Canyon. The latter looked interesting but our goal at this point was to drive on through N. Dakota and make it to our destination hotel in Moorhead MN/Fargo ND by nightfall. We did stop at Davidson, ND for food shopping at Albertsons and a delicious picnic lunch at a table along the road in Davidson. My main memory of Albertsons is Hana careening around the aisles of the store pushing the cart. As we got in the eastern side of ND we noted more lakes and generally greener territory.
King House Buffet, a Chinese restaurant in Fargo on the corner of Broadway and N. 2nd Ave is an excellent place to eat for a reasonable price. We all enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who might find themselves in Fargo. After our meal we all felt full so strolled down the street in downtown Fargo. The movie theater was showing "March of the Penguins". We spent the night at another Super 8 and watched funny animal videos on TV.
August 1, 2005 (Monday)
drove to Minneapolis/St. Paul the next day and visited Virgil Wiebe and Susan Schmidt and their two small children Maggie and Luc. had pizza and ice cream with Cindy Howard and her twins Loice and Christine. The children got wet in the little swimming pool at Cindy's house. spent the night with Virgil and Susan. It was a very hot night in St. Paul.
August 2 and 3, 2005 (Tuesday and Wednesday)
We had a long day of traveling, and covered 615 miles over four states, Minn, Wis, Ill, and Indiana. The van turned 100K miles in S. Wisconsin and we all appreciated that fact. Hana's questions and continued engagement with and interest in what she was seeing continued. She also has developed an interest in crossword puzzles. We stayed at Don Hall's guesthouse in Fort Wayne for the next two nights and visited Ruth's parents in their nursing home. We also took Ruth's brother-in-law Bob Miller out to eat at a Mexican restaurant.
"These days were some of the best days of my life."
August 4, 2005 (Thursday)
Our trip from Fort Wayne to Baltimore was uneventful and we arrived to see that Renee had kept our house in good shape and had fed all of the pets. When I finally got around to washing the van, I scrubbed off bugs from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana.