Yellowstone Pics Of The Day: Going Home--The Grand Tetons

The weather prognosticators promised us snow for the last few days, but didn't deliver. Boo. All we got was a week of temperatures in the teens and twenties, and a little dab of ice at the end. Where does that get fun? (I admit, the clear blue cold was quite pretty, but nowhere near as nice as snow!) Hmm... need something cheerful. What to do? I know! Lets go to memory lane! I promised myself that I would get my last Yellowstone post up before the old year passes, so here we go. I'm making it with two-and-a-half whole weeks to spare!! This set of photos won't really be Yellowstone photos, per se. These are pics from the drive home, but we drove home through the Grand Tetons, and I promise that the scenery was spectacular. Since it was early July, there was still snow on the peaks, too, so it comes as close as I can get right now to satisfying that winter wonderland yearning. Okay, okay, it's a winter wonderland with shorts and sun glasses, but I'm working with what I've got here!

Enough chatter. Let's get to the pictures, shall we? (Click on them to enlarge.)



Heading south on the way out of the park, we hit a construction zone, for a slight delay. We couldn't get too agitated about it, however. With the mountains in front of us, and one last chance to scout for wildlife, we just enjoyed the last of our time in Jellystone. You see our friends Scott, Mary, Emma and Ben in the car up ahead--or you would, if all our bikes weren't blocking the view. That was the only down side to the drive home--separate cars for the duration. Still, they got some family time, and Ked and I got hours and hours to listen to To Kill A Mockingbird on CD. (Great book, by the way.)

This was our first sight of the Grand Tetons. I was not prepared for the experience. Coming from the Pacific Northwest, I am used to splendid mountain views. I love mountains. I remember being so excited when I was going to see the Rockies for the first time. They are impressive, with their massive block of mountain-ness, but still they left me a little flat. They are higher than the Cascades, but the level of the land around them starts so high that the elevation increase is much less than the mountains I am used to. They just didn't impress me the way I expected them to do. Mt. Hood, Rainer, Adams, Jefferson, Shasta, even St. Helens, rise from basically sea level, so when they grow to 11 or 12 thousand feet out of the ground, standing in proud isolation, they are noticeable. (Not that the Rockies aren't noticeable, but you know what I mean.) I had no expectations of the Tetons. I don't think that would have mattered, though. If my expectations had been very high, I think they still would have blown me away. Jagged, sharp, abrupt, and tall, the Tetons are stunningly beautiful, and line up mountain after mountain in majestic array. I very much want to go back when we have more time to explore and camp. I think they need to be soaked in a bit.

Uh oh! The sign says not to feed the wildlife, but Emma's getting hungry...

Yay for maps! Where would we be without them? I assume we'd be somewhere, but we might not know where that somewhere was!

I'll just post a bit of beautifulness now.

More of the pretty.

Are you packing yet? One of the fun parts of this shot for me, besides capturing a shot of our friends heading into the gorgeous scene ahead, is the fact that I took that picture from a moving car, just by sticking my hand out the window and holding it as steady as I could. Came out pretty well, don't you think?

Here's a shot at Jenny Lake. This spot was so beautiful, and one of the places where a few extra days to find a campsite and start hiking would not have offended me. I was probably the only one on the trip who really did not feel ready to come home by this point, after almost two weeks, but I just couldn't make myself want to return to real life when views like this were right in front of me.

What do they say? "The family that rolls around on animals pelts together... " Nah. That can't be it. Looks like they're enjoying it, though.

Come on, guys. I know we've been living in close quarters for quite a while, but there's only a couple of days left!

Here she is--Little Big Horn.

Stopping for dinner, and a drum lesson.

Can you tell we are in Wyoming?

I can't remember the name of the dam, but I remember the name of the store!

We saw these tubes on trains and trucks on the drives both to and from Yellowstone. The first one we saw was in the middle of the night in a rest area where we stopped to sleep our first night out. It was huge, and slanted, and the only word on the tube was Titan. For a while, Ked and I thought it was a missile (we were sleepy), but later we saw some of these being unloaded, and discovered that there were giant windmill blades and towers inside. We saw them over and over, which made sense because we were driving through some very windy country, especially in eastern Oregon.

Our last night in the trailer--we spent it in a trailer camp at Wildhorse Casino outside Pendleton, Oregon. Not a place we anticipated camping, but it made its appearance when we were all ready to stop, and it had some advantages. Scott found a free wifi connection inside and some free coffee, which helped him catch up on the homework he had let slide the last couple days on the road. The kids got to ride scooters and bikes, and work out some of the kinks from the road, and we all got to eat outside in the dry eastern Oregon air, without getting eaten ourselves by mosquitoes. Can't say the campground was much more than a parking lot with power and some grass, but it was a welcome respite to driving, and stopping there meant we woke up just minutes from Pendleton, which meant one last adventure in the morning, before our final leg on the journey home.

Walking through Pendleton in the morning, we came upon this pretty little one-room schoolhouse--no longer in use, but part of the town's storied past.

Wouldn't you love to have been one of the kids that had to sit right next to the stove in the middle of the room? Whatever you do, don't wear long johns!

Pendleton looked pretty charming from where our lens was sitting.

We ate at the Main Street Diner. Betty Boop wasn't the only nostalgic icon to meet our gaze...

Elvis, James Dean, Marylin Monroe, and Superman were among the luminaries to grace our environment. It was fun and (here's that word again) charming. Emma doesn't look like she's enjoying it, though, does she? Right now she looks like she's thinking, "Really? That's all you serve--liver?"

I'm happy that our last picture all together on our Yellowstone adventure turned out to be a keeper! Shiny, happy people, smelling hotcakes!

Here Ked and I pulled in for a quick stop along the Columbia River. Remember all those windmills in transit from earlier? Right across the road from me there are a bunch of them, already put together. I'll give you one look at my bangs to guess why this is a good spot for windmills!



Well, that's all folks. I dragged the memories of this trip out over almost 6 months, and (if you look at it from a positive perspective, rather than a "gee, it took you long enough" angle) got as much out of this vacation as I possibly could! I kind of liked blogging it this slowly. It kept a really special experience fresh in my head, and since this has been one of the hardest years I've had in a long time, was a good reminder that "everything happens." (Major bonus points if you know the source of that quote.) Good and bad both come. There is a time to laugh and a time to mourn, etc. 2009 has had more tears than most of my years to date, and fewer consolations, but it's also had some things that have really made me grateful. Our Yellowstone trip, with kind, loving and accepting friends was right up there next to finding out that my husband did NOT have pancreatic cancer. I treasure the memories, and am grateful for a way to preserve them in pictures, in my own little corner of the blogosphere.

This seems a good way to draw 2009 near to its close, by remembering the good, acknowledging a little of the bad, and praying that Ked and I will be able to face what comes in 2010 with faith and grace. I hope for more memories like Yellowstone, and good friends to share them with, to balance out the challenges that I know will be coming soon. I hope the same for you. In case I don't talk to you again before 2010 arrives, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year. May God be with you, and give you joy, peace and the blessing of knowing Him.

Yellowstone Pics Of The Day: Days 4 & 5

Days 4 and 5 were filled with bike riding and kite flying, scooters, books, and exploring the town of West Yellowstone, good food, great company, and a wonderful back-country hike. I'll get straight to the pictures, because there are lots of them (almost all of them from that splendid hike.) Click on 'em if you want to see them biggified.

This wood and stone edifice is an old Union Pacific Dining Hall, in West Yellowstone, currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This lodge, designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood to accommodate railroad passengers, was finished in 1926, and was intended to mimic national park architecture. Looks like a pretty successful attempt to me.

Note the use of native materials.

All this examination of dining halls made Ked hungry, so soon after our inspection we headed back to camp!

On the way back to the trailer we passed by this man-made horizontal waterfall. We talked to a maintenance worker who told us that the region around West Yellowstone had so much snow last winter, and so much rain last spring, that the town's water supply was full to overflowing--about six months worth behind schedule in water usage! When Ked and I wandered by they were purging some of it off. There was an awful lot of force behind that temporary fountain. They put that bucket there to keep the water from shooting way off down the street and hindering traffic. (Such traffic as there was, anyway.)

At some point the whole gang piled in the car and went out looking for adventure. We started our quest in the Canyon Visitor Education Center, where we learned all about the geology of Yellowstone. Interactive topographical maps like the one above are just one of the cool things about this new visitors' center in the park, and all four adults, and even the kids, enjoyed our exploration of this cornucopia of knowledge and information. As you can see, Scott, being a teacher, took full advantage of the opportunity to give his daughter a science lesson or two.

Emma found the science very interesting, I'm sure, but seemed a lot more enthusiastic about "hugging" a bear, if truth be told!

After our morning spent inside the halls of learning, we were all happy to hit the trails in the afternoon. On this day, our wanderings took us to the Upper and Lower Falls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Ben got a thrill or two when Scott held him out over the canyon for a better look at the view that most of us could see just by leaning out a bit. The Boy was a little lacking in height, so Dad helped him out.

Here's what he saw.

A little later in the day, we crossed this bridge to the other side of the canyon for a ranger-led hike and some truly impressive water. In case you missed it, those little blue and yellow specks on the right side of the photo are people! (Click on this one if you need proof!)

Backing out a bit puts this view into perspective. The people are still there, but the water looks a whole lot bigger when you can see how far those falls tumble. It really is a magnificent sight--one of many on the Canyon hike we experienced that day.

Our guide was interesting (if a little too enamored of the theory of Anthropogenic Global Warming), and we learned a lot about varieties of trees and lichen, among other things. It was pretty fun that she picked Ben as a helper, and even more so when, taking his duties very seriously, he explained to us that he needed to stay with her because she was his assistant!!

I mentioned in an earlier post that we had lots of thunderstorms while we were in Yellowstone, and the day we explored the canyon had its share of lightning. In fact, the lightning got close enough that our guide bailed on us! The ranger did not want to continue up the trail and approach this metal fence (which we thought was a little silly, because the storm never did get that close), so we few intrepid souls travelled on without her. Scott knew of a back-country trail we wanted to take later on, and turning back would mean we didn't get there, so off we went. A stranger was kind enough to snap this photo. I post it, despite the glare and blur, not as proof that we were more brave (or more foolhardy) than a forest ranger, but because I think it might be the only picture we got of all six of us together the entire trip! Proof that we were at Yellowstone with our very dear friends--that alone makes it worth posting!

Further up the trail we came to another massive plunging torrent of water. I think this is the lower falls, but I'm not sure. Again, there are little, tiny people there for scale.

Here's a nice one of Scott and Mary, don't you think? If you look closely, you can see those little people behind them.

As we followed the path, we saw how this canyon is still changing shape. I would recommend to any squirrels that live in this tree that they might want to pick another home. After all, there's plenty of nice real estate in Yellowstone!

Of course, that particular tree does have an awfully nice view!

Continuing up the path, we found that others were more than happy to brave the weather. We reached a popular viewpoint (with a parking lot close by) that proved to be quite crowded.

You can understand why the crowd gathered when you see the view. Remember where those little people were behind Scott and Mary? They're looking a bit microscopic in this one.

Okay, now for the really backed out view. No way you'd even know those little people exist now, is there? It kind of gives you a feel for how big this canyon really is.

This is about the time we headed off the main trail for a trek through the undiscovered country. Okay, okay, clearly it's not undiscovered, but we were completely on our own from the minute we took the road less travelled. It was great!! Scott scoped out the whole hike before we went exploring, so we felt perfectly safe (Scott's bear bell helped with that part), but we did feel wonderfully adventurous in breaking with the crowd.

Here's our last view of the river.

We did find more water on the journey. This charming spot is called something like Lily Lake. I don't really remember, because its rightful name is Mosquito Central. Ked did an amazing job of looking calm for this picture (which I should never have begged him to pose for), because he was being eaten alive at the time. I'm glad it turned out to be a nice picture of him--I definitely only got one shot at it.

You can see that getting away from the canyon took us into some rather desolate country. It never ceases to amaze me how you can walk a trail in Yellowstone and find both sulfurous wasteland and thriving forest right next to each other. So, so very cool.

Hey! We got to see clear evidence of why they call it Yellow Stone!

What's this, you may ask? Why post this one? Ked is filming, and Scott is directing traffic, and there's really nothing to see in this shot, right? So why put it out there for public consumption? Well, you see that bubbling pot of mud in the background? Do you notice what's missing? There's no fence!! There is no barrier to keep us safe from our own stupidity! It was very liberating--at least adult-wise it was liberating. We did have to stop Ben from running headlong in the wrong direction occasionally, but he managed to come out of there alive, and it was totally worth it to feel we were really out there in the wild. Loved it.

One thing that was definitely not missing--the smell! That sulfur packs a wallop. However, to its credit, it's also rather good at keeping the mosquitoes at bay. So we had that going for us, which was nice.

Being on our own, there was no one to stop us from doing dangerous science experiments, like seeing what we could find if we went fishing in this mud pot.

What do you think? I'd call that some lovely goop from the gloppetta-gloppetta machine!

Occasionally we found our journey taking us back to the land of water, where we saw lovely views like this one. Evening was fast approaching at this point, and we needed to pick up the pace (after the photo, of course.) This lake had the obligatory mosquito infestation (especially since night was coming on), but here the sky was filled with swallows who seemed to find the insects a very satisfactory evening meal. They don't show up in this picture, but they made a pretty sight swooping about below that bank of clouds.

Hooray for cameras that compensate for fading light! This was the part of the hike where we were most grateful for that bear bell. The light really started to dim, and we knew that the evening is when the bears come out to play, so we were getting a bit nervous. Scott insisted on walking in the front, so that he would be the first target spotted if we encountered wildlife. The rest of us played our part in ensuring that he wouldn't have to sacrifice himself for the greater good, though. Ked and I, especially, sang at the top of our lungs, so that the bears would know we were coming and make tracks. The wind was howling around us, too, and Ked and I found it lots of fun to sing "They call the wind Mariah" in keeping with the weather. "Oklahoma" made its way onto the program, too, although that one was a little problematic, since we were in Wyoming at the time. Oh well. It kept the bears away, in any case. Really, though, it turned out that it wasn't bears we had to worry about. Something far more menacing waited on the trail ahead. Be prepared. It's pretty frightening. It was...

Zombie Deer!!!

And with that, I will leave you to return to your own world. Hope you had a little fun in mine.