Monday, October 17, 2011

Monday, October 17, 2011


(Ok, Kathi wrote up this day and I am going to leave it in her voice)

 

Our last full day. Every year it catches us by surprise. We have so much more to do and to see!

 

I was in bed last and up first – that almost never happens. Lori must have been tired! I actually got up at 5:45, journaled, sorted pictures, and made coffee before waking Lori at about 6:55. We are getting out early today, remember?  Side note: this is obviously a lie, as I am typing this at 10:09 a.m.! We just hate to rush our last morning, since we have already planned to be ON THE ROAD tomorrow morning at 6:00. We’ll get out of here soon, we promise!  After Lori was up and showered we ate more delicious yogurt and furiously turned to getting caught up on blogs and journaling. It is a stunning morning, with crystal blue skies and lots of sun. The living room of the condo is such a pleasant place, as we can look out of the sliding glass doors and over the balcony to see the outdoors.

 

After it became obvious that indeed we would NOT get out of the house by 8:00, I made us a more substantial breakfast of broken yolk sandwiches with cheese (eggs fried in olive oil and butter, bacon, and sharp cheddar cheese on buttered toast – delicious!) Lori is now fussing at me to get out, so here we go on our adventure. It is 10:15. That is kind of like 8:00, just different. OH, WAIT!! First we have to toss the states. It’s my turn today…I can’t wait to see…..OOOOOOOOHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Only two are left face up on the floor. Colorado, and OKLAHOMA!! What the hell?? I feel like I’m back in Yellow Springs staring at the puzzle pieces which say New York and Arkansas. Please, Colorado, please!!!

 

Walking out of the World Mark brought a shock…it was COLD.  Maybe 40 degrees in the sun, but obviously much colder in the shade, as the car was covered in frost and the doors required force to be pulled open.  Lori went back inside to buy a scarf, hat and gloves set in the gift shop, and came back out looking smart in her new red accessories.  At the park entrance the ranger told about a road in the park that was closed due to snow, and Lori and I started thinking about our route back to Jackson tomorrow. We had planned to go back the way, we came, which was through the park, but if they were closing roads or requiring snow tires, it would throw a wrench in our works. We made a mental note to check out the alternate route on the interstate.

 

We entered the park through the now familiar west entrance, and decided to turn down a pass called Riverside Dr. which Lori had seen a couple of times but we had not explored. It was exactly as it was named, a beautiful drive along the river which eventually put us back on the main road about a 1/5 mile farther along.  Our elk were not in their normal spot today. We stopped to take pictures of, and us in front of, Mount Haynes, gorgeous in the sunlight and at an elevation of 8,235 feet.  After driving another ½ mile, there they were, our elk herd! They had moved quite  ways east, and were almost to Madison Junction.  They were all on the north side of the road now, in the woods, all reclining and chewing cuds.  We stopped for pictures, though the shadows of the trees made for tricky shots. Lori and I felt very close to this group of animals, as we have been privileged to see them every day now.

 

At Madison Junction we turned north (I have a vision of Lori and me at 80, sitting with heating pads and/or ice packs on our aching joints, sipping hot toddies and pouring over a map of Yellowstone, running our fingers along the routes, reading this journal and remembering these times…) heading in the same direction as we did on Saturday.  The road climbed higher, the temperature started falling, and we started to see snow on the ground. As we watched the digital thermometer in the rental car creep toward 36 degrees, and we saw the frost and snow on the ground and on the trees, we saw something unbelievable. It wasn’t a moose or a bear, though we’d have loved nothing better, and it wasn’t a cavern or a stunning mountain peak, though Lord knows there was an abundance of those.  Whizzing toward us from the other direction on the narrow two-lane road was a suntanned, sunglasses-wearing person – I couldn’t tell if it was male or female, though I highly suspect male – driving a convertible. With the top down. Like it was nothing. Lori and I, in perfect unison, exclaimed, “What the hell??!!” It takes all kinds. We turned up the heat. The sight had made us cold.

 

We drove a couple more miles and saw a wide open meadow, seemingly empty, although upon second glance it was possible to see that a small, stealthy shape was moving in the middle of it.  Coyote.  We pulled over.  Lori was able to zoom in to get a good shot of him.  My iPhone (I  no longer have a regular camera) had no chance to get close, but I managed a beauty of a shot to show perspective from where we were standing.

 

 

We reached Norris and kept heading north. On Saturday we turned east at Norris, so we were now forging into new-to-us park territory.  As we climbed, the road snaked between evergreens and sudden, sheer cliff faces.  Lakes dotted the landscape too.  We stopped to take pictures of a pretty valley covered with purplish brush – we have noticed that most of the color here is in the sky. The land – though quite beautiful – is almost always some shade of green or brown, and almost all the trees are evergreens, so purple is noticeable.  When we got out of the car the air was crisp and cold, and it was so quiet; there were far fewer cars and people on this route than the more popular, southern ones.  It was profoundly peaceful, and indescribably beautiful.

Shortly after this stop the road started angling down again, and the temp was back up to 42 degrees in no time!  My ears, which are always so sensitive, were popping like crazy. A few more minutes and the temp was at 46. The road was now quite sinuous – though not necessarily torturous, as it was fairly easy to navigate.  Rolling, undulating layers of mountains were all around us, seemingly close enough to touch. This Indiana girl was awestruck.

 

And then, we reached Mammoth Hot Springs – our destination for the day!  It used to be a US Army Fort in the early 1900s, when the Army was responsible for maintaining the Park.  It is still like a little town, though the soldiers have been replaced by Park Rangers. There is a hotel, restaurant, general store, visitor center, public restroom, and several other buildings, but most of all, there are elk! Anyone who wants to see elk needs to go to Mammoth Hot Springs, they are literally everywhere – on the lawns of the visitor center, the hotel, the park. 

The problem is, elk are not tame, and in rutting season, you don’t really want to go close to one. Lori always accuses me of putting us in danger, and I did go closer than I should have to get a picture of the buck of the herd. This elicited a strong warning from a passing ranger…OK, he yelled at me. I got the point, and backed off…after I had my picture. Later we saw video of bucks attacking tourists and cars, which made me admit that perhaps I had been a bit careless, but it’s all good – I survived! Anyway, the preponderance of wild animals makes it fun to walk about, you are sometimes guided to cross the street and come back over later, or use a difference entrance to a building. It’s a great sight to see the humans giving way to the animals who rule here.

 

Mammoth Hot Springs yielded a surprise – a black person sighting! An older woman, taking a picture of the elk! She must have missed the meeting the other day too. She brought the count to three, and that is where it remained for the rest of the trip; I can assure you of that as I am typing this right now during my layover in Denver. Therefore, to my knowledge, until I boarded my plane on Tuesday afternoon, and assuming the two men I saw on Saturday had not already left the state, there were four black people in Wyoming on Monday.

 

We spent a few delightful hours in this great spot. It is also a thermal area, which you may have deduced from the name, so we took a hike around all the formations and thermal pools, though it wasn’t as active as the Porcelain Basin or the Artist Paintpots. Still very beautiful though, and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, despite the huffing and puffing that our strenuous activity produced. Lori and I really want to blame the altitude for the heavy breathing, but we both know we need to be in better shape if we’re to keep this up for another 30 years.

 

Shortly after 4:00 pm we called it a day and began the drive back to the west entrance. It was a much quicker trip out, of course, as we had done so much stopping on the way in.  We knew we had to get up very early the next morning, so we went straight in to the condo and settled down for a great final girl-bonding evening at home.   Since we only had two states left, and since I needed the suspense to be over, I told Lori to go ahead and toss the puzzle pieces. Sigh. Yep. 

Oklahoma it is. I griped and moaned, but really, it’s all good. My bestest buddy and I could spent the weekend locked in a bunker and come out having had a ball, so bring it on, Okies!! I am ready for you in 2012!   We spent the evening watching some TV, snacking on hummus and popcorn, sorting the day’s pictures, and doing our normal thing, which we both love so much, until it was time for bed. 

 

Sunday, October 16, 2011

(Again, this day's journal is actually stolen from Kathi and I just made a few adjustments and made it sound like I wrote it.......but I really didn't.  Anything in italics are my additions and personal observations).  Thanks, Kath, for doing most of the work!!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Kathi was up before me (ya think? Considering she went to bed at 10:15 and I stayed up until something like 1:30am??) but we were sipping coffee together by 7:30, and enjoying yummy Greek Gods yogurt. Realizing we had again forgotten to toss the states, we did so, and now have only 8 states remaining as our possible for next year’s destination. They are: North Carolina, South Carolina, Colorado, Oklahoma, Washington, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. 

Kathi and I had both been rooting for Arizona, but since it is gone we really don’t have a favorite. We are, however, joined by a strong desire NOT to go to Oklahoma!  Please let that puzzle piece land face down next time!! 

 Because of the morning blogging, journaling, and research, time got away from us and we didn’t leave the room until noon!  On the way to the car we promised each other we would do better about getting out earlier in the mornings.

We are crossing both Wyoming and Montana off our list this trip, and the World Mark is indeed in West Yellowstone, Montana, but since Yellowstone National Park – where we’ve spent most of our time -  is located mostly in Wyoming, we need to do some exploring of Montana as well.  We drove 90 miles to Bozeman, a historic town in the southwest corner of the state which is home to Montana State University.  It rained the first hour of the drive, but stopped about 30 miles from our destination.  We wanted to stroll downtown, look in shops, and perhaps take a walking history tour, though we didn’t end up doing that. We eventually found the Visitors Center, only to discover it was closed, as were most shops and venues. Only then did we realize it was Sunday! Not the best choice of day to visit the downtown area of a town with a population of under 30,000.  We decided to stroll a bit and regroup. It was then that we remembered the Girls Weekend tradition of bowling, an activity we had not been able to do since Philly 3 years ago, due to the lack of bowling alleys. Bozeman, however, is a college town, and what self-respecting college town does not have a bowling alley? Indeed, we found one easily, and it was only 2 blocks away from where we were standing when inspiration hit! 

Off we went, to find that once again, we were where we were supposed to be. It was 2:30 by this time, and league bowling started at 4. Kathi had 90 minutes to try to actually win a game against Killer Lori Arnold, who – with only two known exceptions in the 14 year history of Girls Weekend – has delivered a sound beating to her every time.  I started out great, and was 9

points ahead of her in the 3^rd frame, but that didn’t last long. By the bottom of the 5^th the score was Kathi – 50, Killer – 64. She never recovered, and the final score of Game One was 125-100. She was actually happy to even get to triple digits, since she had not touched a bowling ball since the last time we had played. Neither had I, but nevermind that. Kathi geared up for Game Two…and actually won (but not by much)! Unfortunately we didn’t have time to play the tiebreaker, because I'm sure that I would have won the third game and thus, the series, so we had to leave it at one game all. I WAS quick to point out that my total of the two games was higher than hers, making me the OVERALL winner of the day.

After bowling we strolled back down Main Street and actually found a couple of bookstores and a record store (yes, I said record store, and it looked like a hippy throw-back joint inside, too!) which were open. We spent an enjoyable hour browsing through those, then it was back to the car and back on the road.  We got back to West Yellowstone at 6:45p.m., and decided to take a quick drive into the park, hoping to hear or see some animals. Dusk is one of the best times to catch them, but we saw nothing out of the ordinary. Our favorite elk herd could be seen off in the distance, by now looking like dark moving lumps. We found out from our chat with the park ranger yesterday that moose were actually considered to be somewhat rare, and we would probably have to go into Teton National Park to have much of a chance of seeing any.  We would still very much like to see a bear from a very safe distance, but it’s looking like we’ll have to adjust our goals, substitute the coyote onto my list, and just be satisfied with that.  Maybe if we get out early enough tomorrow we’ll have more luck. 

After driving 10 minutes into the park we turned around and came back out, ran into the grocery to get a couple more items, came home to eat leftover pasta and pizza. While eating we watched Limitless, bringing to 4 the total number of hours the television has been on since we got here. It really is bliss to barely have that machine on at all, and only when we really want it. I  pooped out first tonight, and was sound asleep by the time Kathi went to bed at about 11:30. And yes, you guessed it, we forgot to toss the states. Again. 

October 15, 2011

(Kathi wrote up this day and I just stole it!)

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Kathi got up at 7am from a lovely night’s sleep…I mean nap…to find that I had been up since 5:00! Yikes! I had made coffee, the smell of which is what had finally penetrated  Kathi's subconscious and caused her to come out and investigate.  We spent our normal couple of hours writing, blogging, and arranging and sorting pictures. We finally showered and left the condo (did I mention this place beats the hell out of a hostel?) and went to breakfast at Running Bear Pancake House. I had French toast and Kathi had eggs and pancakes. Both of us had lots of yummy bacon on the side and justified it by saying we needed to have lots of energy to get through the physical day we had planned.

We haven’t talked much about the weather, which has been really great so far. Despite the threat of rain and possibly snow, Thursday and Friday had lots of sunshine, and temperatures in the low-to-mid 50s during the day. It definitely cooled down last night, but in general it could certainly be worse up here in the mountains. Today it is somewhat cooler, with a definite nip in the air, but still there is some sun despite the forecast this morning of 70% chance of rain. So we’re feeling optimistic!

After breakfast we drove into the park. Just so that anyone reading this can understand the breadth and grandeur of what we mean by “park”,Yellowstone National Park is 3,469 square miles in size, larger than either Rhode Island or Delaware.  We stopped at the ranger station at the entrance to show our paid receipt (we had to pay $25 yesterday to enter the park, but it is good for an entire week and both Grand Teton and Yellowstone) and the ranger told us that Dunraven Rd. is closed today, probably for the season. We were slightly bummed because we had intended to drive this stretch as it spans some of the highest areas (and areas where bears are most likely to frequent), but we quickly got over that. After studying our map, we decided that, having driven in from the south the day before, today we would go east and then north to Norris, which has a geyser basin – an area of thermal activity where it’s plain to see that Yellowstone definitely still has volcanic activity.

On the drive to Norris, we experienced our first “real” sighting of surprise wildlife when we came across a herd of bison lounging off the side of the road. We pulled over to watch and to take pictures. As we got back into the car, I asked, “Do only male bison have horns?”  This is a type of question quite typical to Girls Weekend,  and one of the reasons we so love travelling and seeing new things together. The question was not rhetorical, and was not asked benignly – in fact, Kath immediately wrote it down so that when we got back to the room we could look up the answer. There is nothing like being around someone who has the same thirst for knowledge as you do; even if the appetite is not for the same TYPE of knowledge, the understanding is still there to support the SEEKING of the knowledge. By the way, both male and female bison have horns!

A little farther along we stopped again, this time to gaze at a herd of elk. We didn’t get out of the car this time, as there was a majestic male with a full rack of antlers who was out in the meadow looking around and grazing. All of the literature warns tourists that regardless of how beautiful and calm they may seem, these animals are wild, and it is not smart to get too close.  A couple of his harem were with them, but several more ladies were on the other side of the road, looking as if they wanted to cross. After a few moments, that’s exactly what they did 

do, taking their time and causing all the drivers to have to wait patiently until they 

were across. 

Our next stop was at Gibbon Falls, and overlook of a beautiful waterfall of the Gibbon River. This stop prompted the next non-rhetorical question of the day: How many rivers are there in Yellowstone? Answer: A lot. J We found the names for 12 rivers, the largest being the Snake and the Yellowstone, and 3 creeks. There are also over 292 waterfalls and cascades. It’s a bit overwhelming in scope. In a word, this place is stunning.

Back into the car and driving again, thinking that surely we will now go directly to Norris without stopping, we saw cars pulled over. This always means that someone has seen wildlife and others have also stopped to look. We saw, way out in a meadow, one lone bison and thought we’d just drive on by, when I spotted…a coyote! He was moving stealthily and steadily, stalking some birds and something else that only he could see. We pulled over and jumped out of the car, trying to get a good shot and probably risking life and limb in the process, but it paid off. My zoom enabled her to grab a great picture of the coyote shielding behind a bush. This is like real-life National Geographic, folks!

We finally reached Norris Geyser Basin at 12:45pm. We parked and took a walk around the Porcelain Basin, which took almost an hour. This is a thermal area with areas of fragile ground. Visitors must remain either on the paths or on the boardwalks which are built up and out over the area, to prevent stepping through a brittle shelf into boiling thermal pools! With all the small geysers and bubbling thermal ponds, walking around in this area has to be similar to walking on the moon.

After we had experienced our fill of spewing geysers and spitting puddles, Kathi and I returned to the car, drove east to Canyon Village Visitor Education Center, and spoke for about 10 minutes with one of the park rangers stationed there.  We wanted to find out whether we would still be able to view the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, the area we wanted to get to by driving along the road that the ranger at the west entrance had warned us was now closed.  We were thrilled to learn that we could still view the Upper and Lower Falls and followed the directions given to us. We were faced with a choice of staying up high where we were, going onto an overlook, and viewing the Upper Falls, or making our way along a precipitous, winding path to the brink of the Lower Falls. The park ranger had told us that taking the steep (600 foot change in elevation), sinuous path to the Lower Falls was well worth the trip, so that’s what we did.  It is important to note here that I always blame Kathi when we find ourselves in the midst of anything overly strenuous or seemingly dangerous. I want it to be noted here that it was a JOINT decision to go down – and more notably, back up – this path.  You could call it steep…or you could call it damn steep – either way we knew that the trip back up the thing was gonna be a doozy. There were 12 switchbacks (Kathi counted just so she could record that piece of data here later) that took us down hundreds of feet to the edge of the falls, where an observation platform was built out and over the rushing water. Words cannot describe the beauty we saw here. The Yellowstone River raced toward, under, and next to us, then dropped down over the falls to continue its journey what seemed to be a mile below. Meanwhile, sheer golden brown jagged cliff faces soared upward on both sides, forming a tunnel-like structure that zigzagged ahead, channeling this rushing lower river into a long ribbon that snaked forward so far until it seemed the two sides met. In mockery of the weathermen who said it would be an overcast day with a high chance of rain, a huge shaft of sunlight shone on the entire scene. It was truly God’s country, and a wonder to behold. Awesome.

Inevitably, the time came to begin the climb back up, and oh boy, was it torturous. (Holy crap, Batman, now it's time to climb back UP that 600 feet.  This is where I accuse Kathi of trying to kill me and tell her how much I hate her and that I will never do another trip with her again!!  All in jest, of course.  Look what we would have missed had we not taken this little hike.) Kathi and I stopped at least 6 or 7 times to catch our breath (that sounds so gentle, but we were actually heaving with exertion a couple of times. Damned altitude!) but we did eventually make it back up and to the car into which we gratefully climbed. I had to admit that the reward had been well worth the climb, and even said that since I knew what I was getting into, I would not blame Kathi for making me do it. Wow, now that is progress!  At 3:50 p.m. we decided to go west toward our park exit point, tired and figuring we’d had just about enough for the day. As we left the Falls parking area we began to feel a few raindrops. Maybe the weatherman was right after all, though we didn’t much care. We had just seen the artistic mastery of God.  We did not, of course, make it out of the park quite yet. We had heard that the area called Artist Paintpots was another thermal area where the bacteria produced much more vibrant colors than in the Norris Basin. Since we had to drive right past it, we decided to make a quick, easy stop there. Note the words quick and easy. We navigated the non-taxing walk in with no trouble, and were faced with a largish area of thermal ground which was smouldering and we could hear bubbling, but we couldn’t really see into the pools well, and it appeared to not be very interesting at all.  It was then we noticed that the wooden boardwalk path took off and climbed – yes I said climbed – quite a ways up, leading to a path that hugged the surrounding hillside. It was obvious that the view would be much better up there. I – still suffering the effects of having hiked up from the Falls, declared that if seeing more involved going up that path then I would just miss it, because there was no way I was going up there. After some extremely gentle and loving encouragement on Kathi's  part I did indeed agree to go with Kathi, but I let her know that I thought she was a   bitch for making do more climbing! (again, this is all said in sarcastic jest for I know of course, that Kathi is right and that there will be something spectacular to see once we climb those hundred stairs and I will be happy that we did so,  I just like to complain!) Once up there I did have to admit that the view was wonderful, we could see the colors in the pools, and we happened upon an amazing mud pit that was spitting boiling plops of mud into the air. It was so cool! We both just had to take a video of the bubbling wonder.

 

 

The rain sprinkles, which had stopped, started up again as we went back to the car. This time it seemed more intense, but as it turned out they only lasted maybe 15 minutes.  Driving toward the west entrance we came upon our herd of elk again. This time we got a great picture of a yearling.

Every year I keep a count of how many black people we see on our trip. I suspended this practice when we went to New Orleans, D.C., and Philly, but especially when we are west of the Mississippi, this is not a particularly demanding chore. This year, not only will I be able to leave my socks on, I won’t even have to take my second hand out of my pocket to keep tabs. We have seen exactly two – both were men, both in their 30s, both seen within 10 minutes of each other by the visitor center at Old Faithful. I guess I missed the meeting.

 

After all the distractions of the Paintpots and the elk herd, we finally left the park for the day and went to buy groceries. We then went back to the condo (soooooo luxurious, especially after the clean but bare-bones hostel) where I made a delicious dinner of pasta with garlic, olive oil, lemon, chicken, and broccoli. It tasted like it came from a restaurant! After dinner we settled on the couch to journal and sort pictures, but Kathi was a complete wuss and lasted only about an hour and a half before she had to give in and go to bed. My head was literally rolling on my neck. What a day!

October 14, Day 2 Girls Weekend, Wyoming

We started day two of our trip by sleeping in a little bit.  We realized that we forgot to "toss the states" the night before so made it one of the first things that we did.  Still quite a few states left!!  Kathi is hoping that Oklahoma goes out soon.  We both agree that Arizona is our top choice for next year.  We will see what happens!!!  

After tossing the states and catching up on e-mail, we showered, packed up, loaded the car up and went to breakfast.  Upon the suggestion of one of the shop owners in Jackson we went to a place called Nora's.  I had some yummy bacon and eggs and Kathi had bacon and eggs and a blueberry pancake.  All of the food was delicious and we felt energized and ready for the day.  We went back into Jackson to buy some things that we had spotted on our shopping outing the evening before.  We also discovered a chocolate and gelato shop called Coco Love where we walked away with some scrumptious hazelnut and chocolate gelato.   Mmmmm, mmmmmm.  Then back into the car and off we went toward Grand Teton National Park.  We stopped in at the local ranger station on our way out of town to get some maps and information about the "must see" places in the park and came away with a plan to go to Jenny Lake, which, we were told is an exceptionally beautiful place.   We also came away just a tad bit concerned about weather and/or the need for snow tires to travel on some of the roads  through the park.  It became clear to us that we really couldn't dilly dally too much on the drive to West Yellowstone (our ultimate destination for the day), because we wanted to be sure and get through the parks (both Grand Teton and Yellowstone) before the temperature dropped (meaning potential for snow)  and before it got dark.  We pulled over a few times to take pictures at exceptionally beautiful spots.

We also happened to miss the turn off to Jenny Lake   so we made the decision to just stay on the road and get to West Yellowstone.  This is unfortunate because it meant that we really did not have any time to explore Grand Teton National Park at all.  

 

I think we came to the realization this year, after our late start on this day,  that we really need to build time into our days for putzing on the computer.  Kathi and I both love our laptops.  We download our pictures on them, we check up on our e-mail and Facebook pages at least once daily and we believe that journaling our trips is important.  In fact, our friends and family have come to expect our daily updates of what we do on our trips. While we both enjoy writing these updates, they do take quite a bit of time to write and we are finding that, if we don't force ourselves to stop, we will spend almost an equal amount of time sitting in the room on our computers as we do going out and exploring and experiencing our location.  Hmmmm.... something to think about.

Kathi has been jotting down notes and observations in an effort to help us be more efficient in our daily journaling, as well as help us to remember what we have done throughout the day. One note she made was about how I am doing the driving this year and how this is a bit unusual.  She's right.  For the past several years when our destination has required a rental car, Kathi has been the one to make the rental car reservation and thus has been the driver.  This year I made the reservations for both of our airline tickets as well as the rental car, so I became the driver for this trip.  This is ok with me, because frankly, Kathi's driving sometimes scares the living daylights out of me!!  You see, Kathi likes to go real fast and use the cruise control.  I, on the other hand, having some control issues, try to observe posted speed limits and almost NEVER use the cruise control, because I want to be in control of the car.  So, when Kathi is our driver, I try really hard to keep my mouth shut, but my body language......you know, clutching the door handle, stamping on the imaginary brake pedal on my side of the car, things like that........tell the story.  Fortunately, Kathi is very patient with me and puts up with this.  This year, however, I think it actually works out well that I am the driver because the speed limit in Yellowstone is never any faster than 45 mph due to the large amount of wildlife present in the park that can wander and roam freely.  It is quite possible to come around a curve and find a herd of bison or elk in the middle of the road, so you need to be alert and ready to slow down or stop at any time.  I imagine that my slow and cautious driving probably drives Kathi as crazy as her wild and fast driving does me, but hey, that's the kind of thing that keeps life interesting and teaches us patience, right?   

Once we entered Yellowstone and realized that we would be going right by Old Faithful, we decided that we wanted to stop and watch the famous geyser erupt.  As we approached Old Faithful we saw a plume of steam off in the distance and thought that maybe it was Old Faithful that was the cause of that steam.  We made the turn into the visitor center and discovered that we had, indeed, just missed the show and that it would be about an hour and a half before the next eruption.  We decided that we could kill some time walking around the area so that we could see the geyser do its thing.  We headed over to the geyser and were pleasantly surprised to see that a herd of bison were lounging close by, so we took the opportunity to get some photos of these impressive beasts.

Being the curious people that we are, watching the bison brought up the question, at least in our minds, about whether these animals were buffalo or bison and what, if any, difference is there anyway?  Of course, once in the room and at our computers we had to research this.  Turns out that these animals are bison.  There are only two actual species of buffalo in the world and neither are what we have here in America.  The two true buffalo species are the African Cape Buffalo and the Asian Water Buffalo. Somehow, here in America, the words bison and buffalo became interchangeable, but they are, scientifically speaking, bison.  There is the fun fact for the day!

As the time grew closer for Old Faithful to erupt (I think that's what you call it),  the bison started to get up and move away and more steam starting pouring out of the vent as well as some small gushes of water.  I set up my camera on my handy little tripod and pretty soon the show began.  What a weird, wonderful, powerful thing it is to witness.  I spent a lot of time setting up "the shot", but frankly, Kathi got the better pictures with her iPhone.

After witnessing this wonder of nature we hopped back into the car and drove the remaining 30 miles to West Yellowstone.  We did come across a herd of elk during this drive, but by this time it was fairly dark and the pictures that Kathi took didn't turn out well enough to keep and we figured we would have plenty of daytime opportunities to get better photos.

Another question that came to our curious minds while driving, in addition to the "are they buffalo or are they bison and is there a difference" question, is just what the heck is the Continental Divide? because we crossed it 5 times during our trek.  So, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, the Continental Divide is;  an extensive stretch of high ground from each side of which the river systems of a continent flow in opposite directions.  Yet another fun fact for those who might be interested.

We finally arrived at the West Yellowstone World Mark around 7:30pm and checked in.  We ordered pizza delivered to the room, watched a little TV and settled in to do our computer thing and journal our day only to find that we were both so tired that we could barely keep our eyes open.  So we decided that we would take a short "nap" then get to journaling.  Our "nap", of course, turned into a good night's sleep, explaining why I am sitting here journaling day 2 on day 4!!!!  We even forgot, AGAIN, to toss the states before turning in.  I think we must be getting older or something.

October 13, 2011 in Wyoming and Montana

October 13, 2011

I spent the night last night at the Marriott Residence Inn by the airport due to my scheduled 6 am flight out of Portland.  My phone alarm went off at 3:30am and while I can't say that I, exactly, leapt out of bed, I know that I did far less groaning at getting up at such an early hour than I normally would because IT'S GIRLS WEEKEND!!!  That blissful time of year when Kathi and I meet somewhere in our beautiful country to catch up with one another's lives, relax a little and explore a place we have never been before or have no recollection of.  This year that place is Wyoming and we plan to explore Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, with maybe a little bit of Bozeman, Montana thrown in on the side.

I arrived at the airport at 4:45am, went through security, found my gate and headed to the nearest Starbucks.  Got my favorite drink, a grande, decaf, soy peppermint mocha, some oatmeal and settled in at the gate to wait for my flight.  I don't really know why, but I do love sitting anonymously at the airport with a good book that I can immerse myself in and just tuning out the rest of the world and quietly reading.  I guess it is because I so very rarely allow myself moments like these when at home.  

All goes well with the first flight.  Land in Salt Lake City, Utah at their beautiful, mountain surrounded airport, and settle in for an hour and half layover.  Check in with Tom to let him know that I have arrived safely and see that I have a voicemail on my phone.  When I listen to the voicemail, my mood changes a bit because that voicemail is telling me that something has gone amiss with Kathi's connecting flight out of Denver and that United has rescheduled her on the next best available flight which would put her in Jackson, Wyoming at 9pm.  Nooooooooooo!!!!!!  The original plan has us both arriving in Jackson by 1 pm, giving us a good half a day to begin exploring.  Not a total disaster, but we hate to lose any moments of Girls Weekend.

A little side note here.  There has only been ONE Girls Weekend (Michigan) out of our 14 years of doing this where one of our flights (mine) got delayed significantly causing us to lose a little Girls Weekend time.  Kathi and I both think that this is amazing.  We both feel that God smiles on our Girls Weekend trips and always throws in a little added extra blessing in the form of good weather and most things going according to plan and schedule.  Thank you, Lord, for that.  We so appreciate it!

I shoot Kathi a text message to let her know what is going on, if for some reason she doesn't already know.  I receive a text back indicating that she DIDN'T know because she has just landed in Denver and has not received any information about her connecting flight yet.  Once on the ground and out of the plane, she sees that she has FIFTEEN MINUTES to get from her arrival gate to her departing gate if she wants to catch the originally scheduled flight.  She does her best OJ Simpson in the airport imitation (which makes her painfully realize how out of shape she is) and makes it!!!!  The Lord has been good, once again, and Girls Weekend does NOT experience a delay, after all.

My flight from Salt Lake City to Jackson is a quick 32 minutes and we land right on time at 12:14pm.  This, too is a beautiful airport surrounded by snow-dusted mountains and this is the first time I have ever been to Jackson, Wyoming.  I am trying to remember if I have ever been to or through Wyoming before at all.  I think that I may have traveled through at least some part of Wyoming when I moved out to Oregon from Cincinnati, Ohio over 20 years, but if so, it would have been a quick drive through without any real chance to explore or experience the culture here.  This airport is one of those little airports where small planes land, not the giant commercial jets, and you actually step down onto the tarmac to make the journey between plane and building.  Well, here in Jackson, Wyoming, you are greeted with a sign above an arch made of antlers welcoming you to Jackson.  

How very charming.  We later found out that the people of Wyoming, at least Jackson, Wyoming, seem to have a great fondness for the antler arches, because they are EVERYWHERE.  Downtown Jackson has a central square where they hold a farmer's market in the summer and every corner of it has an antler arch.  Turns out the Boy Scouts in this area of the country go out and collect antlers that the males of the local elk population shed every spring before migrating, and auction them off to the highest bidder.  In fact, they have a festival every spring in downtown Jackson, Elkfest, where this auction is the highlight.  The antlers, which are actually bone, are used to make furniture, jewelry, light fixtures, door handles and wall decorations, as well as the arches.  The money raised is used to help enhance elk habitat in the nearby National Elk Refuge where those antlers are collected in the first place.  Kind of a cool  circle of life thing, huh?  I like it.

Kathi arrived about 30 minutes after I did (I am soooo glad she made her connecting flight), we hopped into our rented Chevy Cruze and hit the road to Teton Village where we had booked our first overnight stay here in The Hostel in Teton Village.  We drove through the town of Jackson on the way to the hostel and decided that we would head back into town for some shopping once we were checked into and settled in at The Hostel. 

So, this is the second hostel that Kathi and I have stayed in when on our trips and, while neither has been luxurious, both have been interesting and unique places to stay.  We had originally discussed staying here at this Hostel for the duration of our trip, but once we discovered that there is a World Mark in West Yellowstone, Montana, a short walk away from the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park, my husband, Tom, convinced us that we would probably be more comfortable staying at the World Mark over the Hostel and I must say, honey, you were right!!  While the hostel was clean and comfortable, the room was pretty small and had no refrigerator for snacks and beverages and the wifi connection was inconsistent, at best, and with our addiction to our computers and keeping in touch with the world, this was a bit frustrating.

We both found ourselves to be pretty hungry after our travels and we wandered over to a place called "The Mangy Moose" that was a short walk away from the Hostel for a late lunch of hamburgers and french fries.  From there we headed back into downtown Jackson to do a bit of exploring and shopping.

We always shop for gifts for our loved ones while on our trip as a way of letting them know that we really do think about them while we are away from them!  Jackson is a cute little town with many very nice, unique shops, not just the run of the mill junk souvenir/t-shirt shops kind of place.  However, many of those very nice, unique shops carry very expensive items that, while fun to look at, are a tad bit out of our price range.  The people here are very friendly, however, and we got tips on good places to eat as well as advice to be sure and be in the park at dusk so that we could hear the elk bugling.  What is elk bugling, you may ask?  It is the sound that male elks make during rutting season in an effort to attract female elk.  It is a very distinct sound and one that I hope we do get to hear while here.

Once done shopping, most of the shops in Jackson closed at 7 or 8pm, we went back to the Hostel and settled in for the evening. We chatted and caught up with what is going on in each other's lives and spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get Kathi's old, tired laptop connected to the poor wireless signal there which, ultimately, proved unsuccessful.  She finally just finished up what she needed to on my laptop and we called it a night and turned in for some sleep.

Anticipation........

It is that time of year again.  Time for Girls Weekend.  It begins 1 week from today.  Knowing that it is so close that I can touch it crowds almost all other thoughts out of my mind.  I check the weather at our destination (Jackson, Wyoming) every day (today it was snowing there!!).  I imagine what our lodging will look like.  The first night will be spent in Jackson at a hostel.  We have stayed in only one hostel previously, in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, and it was a very interesting experience.  All other nights we will spend in a condo in West Yellowstone, Montana.  What will we see and experience in Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park??  The anticipation is delicious and I am loving every minute of it.  See you in a week, Kathi!!

Girls Weekend, Thirteen_Monday, November 8

Woo Hoo!!  Today is ziplining day!!  I went ziplining with my family while up in Whistler, Canada this past summer and had an absolute BLAST!!!  It was so much fun that I actually have given thought to becoming a zipline tour guide when I decide to retire from pharmacy. All of this is to say that when I found a brochure for ziplining in nearby Branson while we were at Cosmic Caverns, I told Kathi that we MUST go do this.  She, of course and as always, was game.  So Monday morning had us getting up early to make the hour drive up to Branson, Missouri to do some ziplining.  Since ziplining had not been on my mind when I packed for this trip, I realized that I did not have the appropriate shoes.  None of my shoes tied on, they were all slip ons, and I didn't trust that they would stay one my feet while flying through the air so we had to stop at, where else....we are in Arkansas, after all, Walmart so that I could get a pair of tie-on tennis shoes.  About 20 minutes past our Walmart stop, Kathi's phone rang and IT WAS RIDLEY!!!!!  We pulled over so that Kathi could talk to her.  Ridley, honey, I don't know if you are reading this or will ever read this, but if you do, I want you to know that your Mom's face absolutely lit up like the stadium lights at a Cathedral High School football game when she heard your voice.  There was even some "sass" in your voice this time and it was like music to your mother's ears.

After the phone call, we were back on the road.  Once again, God blessed us with an absolutely, magnificent, beautiful day.  Clear blue skies, warm weather.......we couldn't have asked for a better day.  We even spotted a pair of bald eagles flying overhead while driving.  Don't see that everyday!!

We actually arrived a little bit early at the zipline place, even though we passed the entrance to the place  (somehow the GIANT signs on the highway weren't enough for us), and we could SEE the zipline towers from the highway.  We wandered around outside a bit and took pictures and watched some other folks zipping through the trees before it was our turn to get geared up.

 And off we went!!  First we hopped into a Humvee and they drove us up the side of the mountain(?) , then dropped us off  at the foot of one of the towers along with our two zipline guides.  We walked across a few suspension bridges to the first tower where the guides gave us a few pointers about ziplining.  It was a bit windy so we were warned that on a couple of the lines we could possibly be zipping into a head wind and might not make it all the way across.  No worries, we were told, they were ways that we could be retrieved if we didn't quite make it all the way to the other side.  As our darling guide Mady said, if we didn't make it all the way across, they would let us dangle on the line for a while "to think about what we had done" :-), then we would be "rescued".  Funny girl!!!

Once done ziplining, we made our way back to Eureka Springs.  Because it was such a beautiful day, we thought we would see if we could take a hike somewhere.  We had seen signs for Pivot Rock very close to our lodging  (Pivot Rock!!  Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!!) and thought we would go check it out.  After driving a couple of miles on a narrow, winding road we came to a parking lot and the Pivot Rock gift store.  There was a sign in front of the gift store saying that it would cost us $4.50 to go take a look at Pivot Rock.  Hmmmmmm, we wondered, was it worth it??  We went into the gift store, took a look around, checked out a few postcard shots of the rock and decided that it wasn't worth it to pay $4.50 to take a 2 minute walk to a rock.  So back to the room we went.

Now, one thing that I have left out is that the place we are staying, Oak Crest Cottages, has a variety of lodging choices.  There are 3 cute little rock cottages, several small suites like the one we are staying in, a "chalet" that looks like a barn and 3 treehouses.  I really wanted to stay in one of the treehouses when I  was browsing the internet for places to stay in Eureka Springs, but the suites were much more attractive economically and how could I resist staying in a suite that was used in a Billy Bob Thornton movie??  But Kathi and I were very curious about the other types of lodging, so upon returning for our morning adventure, we went and asked our host, Don, for a tour of the other places.  He showed us the Rock cottages today and promised to show us the treehouses tomorrow after everyone had checked out.  Each cottage had a "theme". One Italian, one New York and one Southwest.  All were quite charming and I would definitely recommend any or all of them to someone looking for a place to stay here.  Turns out that Don also officiates at weddings right there on the property.  There is both an indoor and an outdoor chapel and both are delightful.  Remember Eureka Springs is second only to Las Vegas in the number of weddings performed in the United States and this place definitely caters to those that are coming here looking for romance.  Although, this, obviously is not what Kathi and I came here for, we can certainly understand why people do.  After our tour of the property, back to the room we went to settle in for the evening.  Kathi decided to make a snack run, while I stayed in the room to catch up on e-mails and Facebook.  When Kathi returned we watched Pelham 123 and ate leftovers and snacks.  Did a little bit of packing since tomorrow is our last day here  (always over way too fast!!), then the final tossing of the states for this trip.  Where will we be going next year???  Wyoming!!!!  Yellowstone?  Jackson Hole?  I will do a bit of research and see what looks interesting.

Off to bed!