Friday July 6, 2012

Dave and I woke up at 6:30.  It was quite chilly so I decided to wear my long pants and sweatshirt.  I made eggs and sausages for breakfast this morning and, of course, we all had hot cocoa to warm our bones.  We cleaned up after breakfast and drove down to a large geyser basin at West Thumb.  We took a long walk down the boardwalk and stopped to see hot mud pools as well as hot water pool.  The minerals in the water caused some of the pools to be different colors – green, blue, orange – they were all beautiful.  Some of them were very shallow and others were extremely deep.  We stopped at the visitor’s center and learned about the fire of 1988.  It was quite devastating, but the re-growth is amazing.  There have been other fires here, of course, but none as large as the one in 1988.  The most interesting fact I learned was that the lodge pole pine (80% of the pines in Yellowstone) has two types of pinecones.  One opens and falls every year and the other will stay on the tree for up to 20 years until a fire comes along and melts the waxy substance coating it.  It then falls to the ground (about 1 million per acre) and begins seeding the forest among the ashes.  We ate lunch at near the visitor’s center and then drove to Old Faithful.  On the way we passed the Continental Divide twice.  We sat for about 40 minutes waiting for the eruption, but it was well worth the wait – it is quite spectacular!  We came back to camp to pick up our towels and clean clothes and headed to Fishing Bridge where the showers are located.  We stopped at the general store where we bought everyone a hooded sweatshirt in anticipation of another cold night.  We camp back to camp to catch up on our journals.  We had burgers and beans for dinner and snickerdoodles for dessert.  Everyone voted them okay, but not nearly as good as homemade.  After dinner we read several chapters of Tucket’s Travels – we haven
T read for the last two nights.  The boys and I went to the ranger program on The Flight of the Nez Perce Tribe.  It was interesting, but it didn’t start until 9:30 and it was really cold out so we left before the end.  Dave was reading in his sleeping bag and was toasty warm.

Thursday July 5, 2012

We woke up this morning and gathered our belongings.  Dave and the boys got everything on the truck and then we sat down to sourdough pancakes.  Theo wasn’t so sure about them, but the other two boys enjoyed them, especially Dan!  We said our goodbyes to Charlie and Barb, their lovely home, and the fantastic views.  The boys had a grand time here and Theo was quite sad to leave, but I told him we would see Charlie and Barb again when they come out East.  We didn’t get but a quarter mile down the road when we had to turn around as we discovered the boys had left their hats and sunglasses.  When we found all of the lost items (Barb had loaned Dan her hat while we were there and said he could keep it), we finally got on our way for good.  We drove up to Cody and stopped for an excellent lunch in Granny’s Diner.  Just down the road from there is the Buffalo Bill Historical Museum.  We couldn’t see it all, but did wander through the Yellowstone Natural History section and the Firearms collection.  Alex, Dan, and Dave were quite fascinated with the huge collection of guns and Theo and I wandered around and looked at stuffed and mounted game animals.  It was 1 ½ hours to our campsite (Bridge Bay) at Yellowstone.  It showered most of the way from Cody and was still raining when we got to the campsite AND it was 50 degrees!  - quite a change from the 80’s and 90’s at Charlie and Barb’s.  Theo had his bag under the backseat of the truck so was able to pull out his raincoat.  The rest of us got soaked while we set up the tents.  We threw out sleeping gear under cover and stowed all of our food and cooking gear in the bear box.  The registration person said that there had been a bear spotted in camp so we didn’t want to take any chances.  By the time we finished, it was 7:00 and we were drenched.  I didn’t feel like cooking in the rain so we hopped in the truck, turned the heat on high and drove four miles back to Fishing Village for dinner at the snack shop.  The boys had burgers and pulled pork sandwiches and most of us had hot chocolate to warm us up.  Back at camp, the rain had stopped, but we brushed our teeth and got into our sleeping bags to read and warm up.

Wednesday July 4, 2012

What a busy day!  We had breakfast this morning and then headed into downtown to watch an old-time parade.  It was wonderful – lots of tractors, fire engines, old cars, lots of horses, and flatbed trucks loaded with high school reunion participants.  There were several guys next to us who were lobbing water balloons (by hand and with a giant sling-shot) at some of the fire engines and floats as they went by.  Some of the firemen retaliated by hosing them down!  We loaded back into the truck and drove out to South Pass.  Charlie and Barb thought they were going to have a celebration out at the old gold mining town, but they had changed the date to the 14th.  We had a good time looking at the old buildings:  hotel, school, jailhouse, houses, markets, etc.  We then drove down the road a little to Atlantic City, population 57, to have lunch in the old saloon.  On the way back to town we stopped at Sink Canyon.  At one spot you can feed the trout in the river – the boys really enjoyed that.  At the next spot we saw the waterfall and the cave carved out of the rock – quite cool there and very picturesque.  The water runs underground from the cave to the “fish pond”.  We went back to the house for a short time for sandwiches and then headed out again for the rodeo.  We watched bull riding, bucking bronco riding, calf roping, etc.  The boys really enjoyed the experience and voted bull riding as their favorite.  There were no fireworks tonight as the fire danger here is extremely high – Lander had not had any appreciable rain since April!  We got home at 10 so the boys will have to write in their journals tomorrow.

Tuesday July 3, 2012

We let the boys sleep in a little this morning.  Barb and I packed up a picnic lunch and when the boys woke up, we all breakfasted on cereal and fruit.  We loaded the small ATV onto the back of the truck and the large one on the trailer.  We drove up the hill beyond the house onto state property where we found a place to park the truck and unload the ATV’s.  Charlie drove the small one and Dan and Alex took turns riding behind him.  Theo really wanted to try it, but his legs were too short to fit in the footholds.  Dave drove the bigger one and the rest of us piled in – 3 to the front and 2 in back.  We drove over very rocky and dusty roads for a number of miles (Charlie said we were 11 miles from the house) until we came to the top (about 10,000 feet in elevation) and were presented with a fantastic view of Shoshone Lake below us and the snow-capped mountains above us.  It was a magnificent view!  We ate lunch on some rocks and gave the boys a chance to scramble and climb before heading back to the house.  We all cycled through the showers – we were covered in red dust and are now having a quiet time (writing in our journals) until dinner – I think Charlie said he was making elk burgers.  Some good friends of Charlie and Barb are coming to dinner so I thought it would be a good idea to journal before then.  We had a nice dinner: elk burgers, brats, salad, pototo puffs, and chocolate cake for dessert – yum!

Monday July 2, 2012

We had Danish pancakes with blueberries, raspberries or applesauce for breakfast this morning.  This is one of Charlie’s specialties.  Barb’s nephew and his wife joined us this morning.  We had a very nice time chatting with them.  Charlie had a physical therapy appointment and while he was gone, Barb and I made up a picnic lunch.  When Charlie came back, we all piled into his truck and drove about an hour out of town and stopped for a picnic lunch at Green Mountain.  After lunch, the boys walked down to the creek to play for a while.  Alex fell off of a log and scraped his leg, but he said it wasn’t too bad and refused a band-aid (Mr. Tough Guy).  We used the outhouse before we left and the kids enjoyed seeing that a chipmunk had taken up residence in the building.  I think we scared him more than he startled us.  We drove over to Agate Flats and on the way saw a zorse (a zebra/horse combination) in the pasture on the side of the road.  We stopped to take pictures.  We walked off the road into the flats and hunted for moss agates.  Everyone found some, but Dan was the best agate magnet – he found 41 of them!  Alex was excited because he found some bandolier clips for a 50-caliber machine gun.  Apparently this area used to be a government practice firing range.  Planes would fly over and do target practice as it is a very isolated area.  We drove back to Lander and threw the kids in the shower before heading out to dinner.  We went up to Hudson to Svilar’s – a well-known Serbian steak house in the area.  We all had great meals and enjoyed the appetizers that came with every meal – ravioli and sarma (stuffed cabbage rolls).  We took lots of leftovers home, as the meals were huge.  The kids are writing in their journals and are excited as we are taking the quads out tomorrow.

Sunday July 1, 2012

Dave and I woke up early, showered and started taking down our tent before the boys woke up.  When everyone was awake we showed them how to roll their bags and mats.  We then had a quick breakfast of bagels and cereal before stowing the tents, chairs, kitchen equipment, and sleeping bags to the back of the truck.  We said goodbye to Custer State Park and got on the road at 8:20.  We traveled for three hours before stopping in Douglas, WY for an early lunch.  We tried to eat at the local diner, but there were about 20 people in line so we went across the parking lot to Pizza Hut.  We finally decided that the diner was so busy as today is Sunday and people may go out to eat after church.  We called our friends, Charlie and Barb, to let them know where we were and that we intended to be at their house by late afternoon.  By looking out the windows, the boys have seen why Charlie calls Wyoming, the Big Empty!  We drove for three more hours until we got to Riverton where Theo and Dan had to stop to use the restroom – the waitress at Pizza Hut kept filling the boys’ glasses with root beer and for some reason, the boys felt obliged to drink every drop!  We pulled up at Charlie and Barb’s at 3:30 and by 4 we were up the road to their neighbor’s house – today was a local get-together for the people who live on Ridge Road.  We had a wonderful dinner of brisket, chicken wings, salmon, sloppy joes, salads, homemade bread and homemade ice cream for dessert.  One set of neighbors, Robin and Jack, invited the boys to come up to their house.  They each had a chance to ride a horse, Yetta, and Jack taught the boys how to rope with a lasso.  Charlie let Alex drive the “quad” back to the house – he was in 7th heaven.  They all had a wonderful afternoon and now they are writing in their journals before bedtime.

Saturday June 30, 2012

We got the phone call this morning that Pinkie (Dan’s great-grandmother) had died in the night.  Dan was very sad and spent some time crying in the tent.  I tried to help him by talking about what an amazing person she was and that she had lived a very long and happy life.  He was rather solemn all day.  After breakfast, the boys and I drove to Wind Cave.  Dave chose not to go as he thought the cold and damp might aggravate his bronchitis.  We took the longest guided tour with 450 steps!  It was actually a very nice and unusual cave as it has 95% of the world’s box work.  Our guide told us that a 16-year-old boy was the first to map it – 10 miles of it, at any rate, with only a candle and a roll of twine.  He must have been very brave!  The cave tunnels run for 138 miles in one square mile of area.  We took an elevator down 195 feet to begin our tour.  We walked up and down stairs and along a concrete path in and out of caverns.  At one point our guide had us sit on benches and then took out a candle and turned out the lights – it was amazing to see how little was visible by just candlelight.  She then blew out the candle and it was as dark as I have ever seen.  I held my hand on my nose and couldn’t see my wiggling fingers!  The boys said it didn’t make any difference whether your eyes were closed or open – you got the same effect – complete darkness!  On our way out of the cave, Alex got ahead of us and we got behind with ten other people.  We somehow lost the rest of the group and ending up in another cavern.  I said that we should stay all together and that the guide would find us, which she did in about 15 minutes.  The boys were excited about the adventure when it was over!  We got back to camp and had lunch.  After gathering all of our dirty laundry, we headed into Custer to the Laundromat.  I elected to do the laundry while Dave took the boys for a walk down the main street of town.  There wasn’t too much of interest, but they did manage to find a rock shop where Dan bought a “treasure” for Ella.  The sky was darkening while the clothes were washing and the laundry attendant turned on the TV.  There was a warning being broadcast about severe thunderstorms.  They said that 6 miles sough of Jewel Cave the hail was as large as hen’s eggs!  Thankfully the storm skirted us and we got nothing.  When the laundry was done we packed it into the truck and drove again down Needles Highway.  That was voted the most popular place to visit again.  We gave the boys 20 minutes to climb and Dan made it to the top of one of the rock spires.  He was out of sight from where I was standing and Alex came to ask me to come and take a photo, but there was no way I was going to scramble up the scree zone to get a shot!  Back at camp, we set up to make dinner: pasta with sauce, salad, and garlic bread.  Unfortunately, as Dave and I were straining the pasta, the pot handle let go and the pasta went all over the ground!  Dinner was garlic bread with sauce and salad.  After dinner, the boys played pick up the ziti!  We wrote in our journals, had popcorn and read some more of Tucket’s Travels.  Alex opted not to attend the Ranger talk on Guns, Ghotsts, and God of the Black Hills.  Theo and Dave started down and I went to look for Dan.  He was in the tent crying.  We talked some about Pinkie and I think he eventually felt a little better.  He said he wished he had been there to hold her hand.  It is so hard at this age to understand that the extreme heartache will soften with time.  I tried to tell him that some day he will be able to think of all the happy times they had together.  We went to bed after the program knowing that we have to pack up camp tomorrow morning.