Saturday and Sunday's Activities

Ok, let's try to get caught up on what we are doing and where we are. I think I left off telling you about my scary trip to Glacier National Park last Friday. On Saturday morning we were on our way to Washington. The drive was long and a little boring as the scenery was not "up to par" according to what we had seen so far. There was one interesting scenic lookout and we got some nice pictures of the bridge we would soon be crossing, as well as the river and mountains near by. As we were walking back to our car, someone asked us where we were from. We started up a nice conversation with June and Kathy, who lived nearby. They told us about some places of interest to visit in Washington and California. Here's a "shout out" to you both, if you are reading this entry.

We were headed to Port Angeles, WA for the evening. Along the route we passed through and looked around in Mt. Rainier National Park. It was as gorgeous as the other parks we had visited. Finally we arrived at our KOA around 5 and headed into town for supper after checking in. We ate at the Golden Gate Chinese resturant and the meal was superb. An interesting note, Port Angeles was the setting for some shots in the recent movie Twilight so we walked around town and took some pictures. If you are a Twilight fan, let me know and I will send you more of the pictures than what I will add to the slideshow.

The next morning we headed to the little town of Forks, which is the main setting for the Twilight story. It was neat seeing many of the places from the movie and we took about 2 hours looking around and snapping pictures. Some of those are included in the new slideshow I have now added.

As a Twilight fan, I was thrilled to actually be in the town and get a feel for the characters and story. After fullfilling my appetite for vampires, we headed into Olympic National Park. One of the spots we stopped was a beach area that overlooked a huge lake and 4 mountains. It was breath-takingly beautiful and I wanted to just sit and gaze at it forever. But the road called to me and soon Jeryl and I were on our way once again to the Hoh Rain Forest. I did not even know one exsited in the US but it does and we wandered through the trails for about an hour. It felt as if we were back in the dinosaur days and we expected to see one grazing or lumbering through the woods. It was very quiet and the woods held a somber feeling.

Sunday evening we arrived in Portland, Oregon to have supper with a friend of mine, Nat, who I knew when she was a student at UK and I was at EKU. She is living in Portland now and I hadn't seen her for about 6 years so it was good to catch up. She also brought along her good friend, Teresa, and we 4 enjoyed just chillin and talking on the patio of a neighborhood cafe.

We got back on the road about 7:30PM and headed to Waldport, Oregon. We thought it would be about a 2 hour drive but due to a curvy, windy road that led us into the mountains, we didn't arrive until about 11:3o. At one point on the road, we came upon a huge log that had fallen and completely blocked the road. One section was enough off the ground that Jeryl chanced driving the jeep under it and we made it. We were so dead tired at that point that if we had to turn around and go back and find another way, we would both have cried.

This morning we slept in a little, wrote some post cards, found a post office, and headed down the Oregon Coast on highway 101. We followed the coastline for 5 hours and I drove the entire time and never tired of just staring at the beautiful Pacific Ocean, the deep brown sand dunes and the giant black rocks as big as battleships dotting the water here and there. We stopped one time and walked to the beach to take pictures. The wind was probably blowing about 60mph and it was hard to walk but the sand felt amazingly warm on our barefeet and made the trip to the water worthwhile.

Finally we arrived in Cresent City, California for the night. Our cabin is right in the middle of the redwood forest. It feels like we are living in a fable for the moment and I half expected to see an old witch cackling as she stirred her boiling pot of water or an ancient troll beckoning us to come inside the hollowed trunk of some fallen tree to see their treasures. :0) After a bite of supper, we drove an 8 mile loop to see the redwoods and had fun taking pictures and walking around. A couple of times Jeryl and I tried to figure out how big a tree was and we spread our amrs as far out as we could and walked around the tree counting. One tree took 12 of our outstretched arms to go around it. WOW!!

Tomorrow we will walk around our campground and take more pictures. Then we will be heading to San Francisco. I'm excited about seeing the Golden Gate Bridge. Til then, happy trails and thanks for keeping up with our trip....R & J

Glacier National Park on Friday, Washington on Saturday

**The slideshow has been updated with pictures from Jackson Hole, Yellowstone National Park, and various pictures of the mountains and rivers along our drive. I added the new pictures first so you won't have to wait for the old ones to be viewed. I also believe there is a thumbnail file below the viewer that you can click on to view whichever picture you want to. When you get to a picture of the jeep, followed by a KOA sign, that starts the old pictures.**

Friday morning we left about 5:30 from our KOA in Yellowstone and drove towards Montana and our next KOA in Missoula. We had about an 8 hour drive. We checked in at our cabin and then headed another 3 hours towards Glacier National Park. The drive there was breath-takingly beautiful and I decided that after Utah, Montana is my next favorite state.

A little info about the park: It contains 2 mountain ranges and 130 lakes. Glacier Park covers 1.2 million acres of mountain ranges, deep valleys, and lakes formed by sixty glaciers that remain in the area. There are very few road-miles in order to maintain the primitive/unspoiled beauty of this very special area. The only exception is a 52 mile stretch called, “Going-to-the-Sun” highway. It cuts through the very center of the park, crosses the Continental Divide at Logan Pass.

At the beginning of the park we drove near a lake, with the mountains standing tall in the background. But we slowly began going up and up. I am not too fond of heights but since Jeryl was driving, I tried not to worry about it. We were on the "Going-to-the-Sun" road and we did not realize how high it would get. There was no place to turn around and so up and up we went, towards Logan Pass, which is about 7,000 feet and at the continental divide. I got real scared because of the height and the small road that followed the edge of the mountain. I think "frozen with fear" would aptly describe me at that point.

I couldn't even look up and had to put my head down and try to think of something else. Luckily Jeryl kept me real calm and didn't make fun of me. I was close to panicking and began to cry. We were right along the edge of the mtn and the road was not even a good one. They were doing construction in many places and the road was just gravel. In alot of places, the wall/barrier was missing or broken. And because of the height, the frozen snow left the road wet and slippery. Of course all those thoughts kept running through my head and I pictured us going over the edge. Jeryl later said she wouldn't ever drive it again. But she did stay calm and kept the jeep on the narrow road and I was thankful for that. We finally made it to the top and Jeryl got out to take pictures but I stayed in the jeep, head down. It wasn't too bad going back down since we were near the inside wall of the mountain but I still did not look.

Anyway, I was so glad when we got back down off that road. Jeryl did get some good pictures while I had my head hid, of the mountains and surrounding area.
I will be adding those on Sunday, along with a video I made of the river in the area.

This morning we again left bright and early and headed for Washington. We passed through Idaho for about 30 minutes and then into Washington to our ultimate destination of Port Angeles. We are real close to Seattle and went through a little section of it. Port Angeles was featured in the Twilight book, if you are a fan, and we took some pictures this evening of some places shown in the film. Tomorrow we are going through Forks and I will get some more pictures.

OK, well it's been a long day and we got to see Mt. Rainier National Park on our way here. Tomorrow we head to Oregon, with a stop in Portland to see an old friend of ours, Nat. Until then, happy trails.......R & J

Our Day in Yellowstone

I didn't get to post an entry last night because I could not keep an internet connection at our KOA near Yellowstone Park. So I decided to call it an early night and get caught up on my sleep. As I write, we are in Missoula, Montana and have had a long day visiting Glacier National Park. But more about that in the next post. Also from now on when I add new pictures to the slide show, I have decided to put the new ones first so viewers don't have to go through all the old ones. If you watch, when you get to a picture of Jeryl in the red jeep, that is the beginning of the "old" slide show. I have not added any new pictures yet but will try to do so on Saturday night. So just watch the video below for now.

We stayed Wednesday and Thursday night at our KOA near the west entrance to Yellowstone. On Wednesday we saw Old Faithful erupt. It was pretty neat to witness something I have only seen on TV or in movies my entire life. Here's a little info about the geyser.

Eruptions can shoot 3,700 to 8,400 gallons of boiling water to a height of 106–185 feet lasting from 1.5 to 5 minutes. The average height of an eruption is 145 feet. The highest recorded eruption was 185 feet high. Eruptions often occur about 90 minutes apart, but this interval can range from 45 to 125 minutes on occasion. More than 137,000 eruptions have been recorded. Old Faithful is not the tallest or largest geyser in the park; that title belongs to the less predictable Steamboat Geyser.

There is a seating area about halfway around the geyser and when it gets close to time for an eruption, the seats fill quickly. We sat and waited about 20 minutes before the "show." It was well worth the wait and pretty exciting.

On Thursday we also came back and spent the entire day in the park, visiting other less-known geysers and fumeroles and mud pits. We drove about 100 miles that day, stopping for picture moments and to ooh and awe along with everyone else at what Mother Nature had created. We also saw an abundance of wildlife and, like everyone else, we stopped our car to take pictures of the buffalo, moose, elk or deer. Another thing I noticed in the river as we drove along were the fly fishermen. They looked just like a magazine picture in their waders, funny hats, casting their lines far and wide in the hopes of snagging the perfect fish. It looked like alot of fun.

We also went back and got another "show" from Old Faithful and this time I videoed it for your viewing enjoyment. So what follows is a video of many of the natural features we saw during our visit. It might be a bit long but I hope you will have time to watch it. Until tomorrow, happy trails.....R & J

A Short Video from Tuesday's Trip and Latest Update

Hi everyone. I hope my video didn't cause your PC any problems in opening our blog. Let me know how it works out and if you were able to watch the video.

We're in West Yellowstone, Montana as I write. This morning we left the other KOA around 8:00 and stopped in Jackson Hole for an oil change and to get Jeryl a new phone at the local A T&T. Since it would take awhile for the oil change, we walked around the area and found a grocery store with fresh pastries, milk and juice. We ate breakfast there and then walked back to pick up the jeep. Next stop was the A T&T to get Jeryl one of the recently reduced-in-price 8gig I-Phones. I've had one for a few days now and it has been indispensable in helping us find our way around road construction, using the built in GPS system.

Back on the road, we headed for Yellowstone Park, about a 2 hour drive from Jackson Hole. The park is mostly in the state of Wyoming, but borders along Montana. Thus our stay at a KOA in Montana. We stopped at the park for lunch at a wonderfully rustic lodge and then walked outside just about the time Old Faithful was about to erupt. We took a seat with the throngs of people and waited maybe 20 minutes for the grand event. It was worth the wait and I was tickled to finally be among the people who have witnessed this American icon in person. We will try to get a video of it on Thursday and add it to the blog.

After that we headed to our KOA, about a 30 minute drive. We arrived around 3PM and took it easy the rest of the day. That was a nice change of pace.

So until tomorrow.........happy trails.......R & J

Rabbits, Snow, and Awesome Scenery

We started our day again about 5:30am. Walking outside our KOA cabin, we saw rabbits everywhere…well it seemed that way. Monday evening just outside our cabin we had fed 2 small rabbits, one black and one gray. They seemed fairly tame and we wondered if someone had bought them domesticated and then dumped them when they grew tired of caring for them. This morning we saw a huge white one and a huge gray one, maybe the parents? Then we began to see more and more. They seemed to be living underneath the KOA cabins. All were very cute and one small white one let me scratch its nose.

Heading out on the road, we were soon across the Wyoming border. The landscape again began to change. The forests and winding roads gave way to hills, buttes, canyons and plains, stretching as far as the eye could see. We stopped in the small town of Lusk to mail out some post cards. Later we passed a city limit sign with a population of only 1. We thought that was pretty neat and turned around to stop and take a picture of it.

For most of the day we traveled on one road, highway 26. Towns were few and far between and it would be easy to become mesmerized by the hum of the tires on the pavement as we rolled on towards or destination. To pass the time, we listen to our satellite radio, talk, take naps, watch for wildlife and try to work on our school content for the fall. Jeryl got real good at spotting deer, both "regular" and prong-horned. She also saw a golden eagle and some prairie dogs. We both saw bison, burroes, many horses and cattle.

The landscape slowly changed again as we headed into the Grand Tetons. The rolling hills, treeless for the most part, gave way to mountains with tall fir trees stretching as far up the mountain side as we could see. The change from no-trees to trees was quick. We were surprised at that. In the distance we kept seeing the majestic Rocky Mountains, topped with snow. The Wild River kept us company as we crossed and re-crossed it countless times during the day. It was a very fast moving, deep looking river, perfect for a day of tubing for those living nearby.

We got higher and higher into the Tetons and soon the snow was right there with us. We stopped at a small picnic area and discovered a half frozen lake, covered mostly with snow. Jeryl was in sandals as we trudged through the snow to get some pictures of the lake and she tried not to step too hard and fall through the snow. It wasn't too cold there, maybe 62, so I was surprised at the amount of snow left unmelted.

Back to the jeep and onward to our final destination of Jackson Hole. Maybe you've seen this town in a movie or in a vacation magazine. I always remembered seeing the main street, with the mountain almost going straight up into the sky at the end of it. At the park in the center of town, each corner entrance has an arch made from countless number of antlers, all starched white by the sun.

Our KOA camp is about 10 miles outside town. If you don't know much about KOA's, they have sites for RVs and tents, and also camping cabins. We decided to do the cabins this summer instead of the tents to save on set up time when we arrive. The cabin typically has a double bed and a set of bunk beds. Most have heat, some have AC. All have a small covered porch with a swing. To our delight, our cabin faces the Wild River and I can hear the water tumbling past our door, just a few feet away, as I type. There is a stairway leading down to the water and it is deep and wide here. I hope to be lulled to sleep by the sound tonight.

Tomorrow we head to Yellowstone National Park for 2 nights. We will be seeing Old Faithful among many other sites at the park. Jeryl says the park is over 300 miles in various directions and one driving loop alone is 166 miles. Maybe I will see Yogi Bear and take my picture with him. :0) OK, that's it for tonight troops. Thanks to all who are keeping up with us on our adventure. I appreciate the nice emails and the compliments on my writing. I hope you feel as if you are here with us in some small way. Until tomorrow....happy trails....R & J

The Badlands, A Corn Palace and Mt. Rushmore

Whew, the end of another long day driving and sight seeing. I know, it's a tough life we lead on a road trip. :0) But it's 2:20am my time as I am writing this and I am one tired puppy.

We began the day in Minnesota, leaving from our KOA cabin by 6:15AM. We
were headed for South Dakota and Custer, where we would stay for the night at yet another KOA.

More road construction kept the trip slow and long but we enjoyed the change of scenery as we entered South Dakota and left the land of 10,000 lakes behind.

Soon we began seeing signs touting a "world-famous" corn palace. Wondering what this could be, we eagerly took the exit and wound our way downtown. Apparently the first corn palace was built in 1892 in this city of Mitchell. The idea came from Louis Beckwith to showcase the crops grown in the area and to attract people to settle in the town. Every year since the first corn palace was created, a new decorating theme is chosen and the old outside of the palace is stripped and redecorated with new corn and grains. Over 3,000 bushels of milo, rye, oat heads, and sour dock are tied in bundles and attached to the building. Murals are created that tell a story or showcase something in the U.S. Over a half million ears of corn are sawed in half and nailed to the building to create the pictures. So now you know what a corn palace is.

Around 1PM we stopped for lunch in a small town that touts itself as an "1800" western town. Although we didn't pay to see the western town, we did eat lunch in the train diner and that was fun. Pictures will follow on the blog tomorrow.

In the afternoon we drove through the Badlands National Park. To me, it was like a miniature Grand Canyon. The scenery was breath-taking. We stopped many times to take pictures or to explore. Walking along the boardwalk at one point, we saw a sign warning of rattlesnakes. I was just about to jump down off the boardwalk, when we actually heard a rattle. Not wanting to risk a snake bite, I decided to stay the path. But on the way back, we did get a picture of the sign.

The Badlands Park is 244,000 acres of landscape where the wind and erosion have created eerie moonscapes of deep gorges and jagged sawtooth ridges. Rock layers painted in subtle hues of rose, gold and green add to the splendor. (Again, pictures will follow tomorrow.)

Coming to the end of the loop through the park, we entered a town called Wall. Apparently Wall is home to the "world-famous" Wall Drug store. The store is a combination of mini mall, souvenir shop, restaurant, and photo ops. Jeryl and I enjoyed having our picture taken with a Jackalope and a buffalo. It was fun wandering through the store.

Finally getting back on the road, we headed for Custer and arrived around 5Pm local time (mountain time). We registered and unloaded our stuff, then headed to see Mt. Rushmore. The monument is basically in the middle of nowhere and you wind through the mountains for about 30 minutes, getting tiny glimpses here and there through the trees of the majestic presidents. One neat thing we did, was after taking some pictures and then getting something for supper, we stayed for the 9PM lighting of the monument. A story was told about each president and then each face was slowly illuminated. It was a beautiful sight indeed.

And now this entry is far too long once again and it's way past my bed time so until tomorrow....happy trails to you.......we are headed to Jackson Hole, Wyoming next..........R & J

The Longest Day

June 21, the summer solstice, the longest day of the year....today took on a new meaning for Jeryl and I as we spent 16 hours traveling from Mackinaw City, Michigan to Jackson, Minnesota. Our total travel time should have taken about 12 hours but with major road construction in Minnesota, our drive time increased drastically.

But let me digress and go back to the beginning. We left Mackinaw City about 5am and headed across the famous Mackinac Bridge leading to the Upper Michigan Pennisula. Fog shrouded the famous landmark as we headed across, the silent water below hidden from our view. This was probably a good thing for me, because I am afraid of heights. My brother Matt watched a documentary on the bridge and told me about grids in the driving lanes that allow wind through to help steady the bridge in gusts. As Jeryl drove along in the right lane, I peered through the fog at the left, inside lane, and saw the grids Matt talked about. It looked like your feet would slip right through, should you be walking across. I was glad we were driving on a "solid" lane. Suddenly out of the fog appeared a blinking sign: Right lane closed, please merge left. My heart sunk and I just knew as Jeryl merged over, the grids would collapse and we would fall to a watery death below. Yes, I really believed this, I am not being dramatic. (Well it was early and the fog can play tricks on the tired mind.) I held on tight as she changed lanes and heard the tires hitting the grids and the weird grinding noise it made. My eyes close tight, I waited for the plunge to begin. But lo and behold, we survived and made it across.

We paid a toll of $3 once we got to the other side. Matt had told me if you were too scared to drive across, someone would drive you across, but Jeryl pointed out that we saw no one ready to jump in and take over for us and even if they did, how would they get back across to help the next "faint-of-heart" driver? The question left unanswered, we headed to Upper Pennisula Michigan.

We learned 2 new things today. One, there is another meaning for the word pastie. As we drove along the beautiful Lake Michigan coast for a good 2 hours, enjoying the fabulous sunrise, we kept seeing little places advertising "pasties." We wondered why there would be such a need for pasties in the middle of nowhere. "Brenda's Tastie Pasties" "Grandma's Old Fashioned Pasties" "Bob's Hot Pasties" We wondered for 2 hours what the heck they were advertising for. Stopping at a McDonald's for breakfast, the first thing I asked the cashier was "what's a pastie?" Jeryl laughed at my abruptness but I really wanted to know. Turns out, a pastie is a piece of crust filled with meat and veggies, sealed and cooked. In the past, the miners would take the pasties for their meals deep in the mine, and still have a tasty meal. Mystery solved, but we still need to try one some day and find out for ourselves just how tasty a pastie really is.

The 2nd thing we learned is the definition for a yooper. We saw t-shirts for sell with the word 'yooper' on it. I asked the clerk and she said it was a take off on living in the upper pennisula. That was the residents' nickname. The upper pennisula is called U.P. and that transfers into the word yooper (rhyming with pooper). I bought myself a t-shirt to commemorate learning a new term. The clerk also told me the yoopers refer to the people who live in the lower pennisula as trolls, because they live "under the bridge." (The Mackinac Bridge) I thought that was cute.

The rest of the day was spent traveling all the way across the state of Wisconsin and Minnesota. In Wisconsin, we stopped in Abbotsville for lunch. This little town was only 25 minutes away from the town of Medford, where my daughter Kristy was born. Sadly we did not have enough time to drive there and let me revisit my memories of when we lived there. I guess it was a good thing we didn't because in Minnesota we ran into the road construction problem.

At one point, it took us an hour and a half to drive only 10 miles. We finally got off the interstate, and using the GPS system on my new I-Phone, Jeryl figured out an alternate route to our destination. As I said in the beginning of this entry, it took us 16 hours to get there, instead of the anticipated 12.

I am sorry this is too long and if you are still here with me, thanks for reading. Tomorrow we head to Mt. Rushmore. I am super excited. This will be our 2nd time to see this great monument. I have started a slide show of our trip, in order of when we see things. So every few days, I will add more pictures to it.

Check out the picture of pigzilla. If you read this and want to know what the heck a pigzilla is, email and ask............happy trails.........R&J

We're On Our Way: First Stop, Mackinaw City, Michigan

Hi ya'll. Jeryl and I are on the road. We left Friday afternoon and headed to Hocking Hills, Ohio, to visit Jeryl's family. They are all camping in the area for the weekend. We left about 11 and drove until 2 AM, stopping for the night in Finlay, Ohio.

For most of the day, we traveled through Michigan. Although I had read that gas prices were the highest in the nation there, that story proved untrue. We found several places in the $2.65 range to our surprise. PB stations seemed to have the best prices.

Now it's 7:30PM and we are stopped for the night in Mackinaw City, Michigan, near the shores of Lake Michigan. We wandered into town and had supper at a place on the lake but the AC wasn't working and the food wasn't the best so we were disappointed.

We'll be heading to Jackson, Minnesota tomorrow, about a 12 hour drive. Nothing there in particular we want to see, it's just a stopping place along the way to South Dakota and Mt. Rushmore. Til then.....happy trails..........R & J