Please follow this link to see a more complete set of pictures from our trip.
Vacation Slide Show
Saturday, August 18, 2007
From Tuesday to Columbia, the grande finale
Day I have no idea…Tuesday July 31, 2007
We got up early to get to Yellowstone since we knew getting a campsite could be tricky. Not from lack of getting up super early, our plan was foiled! We had noticed that one of the Camelbak backpacks we got for the kids the day before was missing an important component: the water sack itself! Oy! Small town, so stores usually don’t open till 10am, double OY! Meaning, our arrival to Yellowstone was delayed and therefore our chances of getting a decent site were diminishing. BUT, we had some luck, the store that morning opened an hour earlier, no idea why, but it was, so we managed to leave a little after 9am. Okay, we figure not too bad to be about an hour and a half off schedule. The drive from Cody to Yellowstone is lovely, with quick roads and high speed through the Buffalo Bill National Forrest, which looks like a nice place to camp as well.
We get to the east entrance, and we are all excited, we show our annual park pass to the guard and ask for suggestions about campsites, there are two different types of campgrounds in the park, those run by Xanterra and those run by the National Park Service. One can reserve a Xanterra site, but one cannot reserve an NPS site. More on the difference later, under practical things we’ve learned so far. So, this ranger-dressed guy in the booth says “I wouldn’t know, I’ve never been to any.” OY! Really? Never? Usually we get good information from people who wear NPS uniforms. We see a sign that shows us which campgrounds still have openings, and all but two, are open, so we breathe a sigh of relief and proceed.
Proceed is a relative term…construction on the east entrance road soon turned our mood a little sour, especially since it was lunchtime and no place to stop to picnic. East entrance is not especially scenic. We drive into Yellowstone in traffic! This is quite a foreshadowing. We knew it would be high season at the park, but we had no idea how busy.
Still hungry, but in high spirits we got to one possible campground that we picked because forty minutes earlier at the only park sign, we saw it had vacnacies. Danko stands in line for what feels like forever (10 minutes) and overhears that the campground is full. This was a Xanterra campground, where you can’t pick your site, you register and are assigned a site. We overhear it’s booked and ask an employee passing by which campground to try, he suggests Bay Bridge. So, we play it “smart” and as we drive over to this suggested campground we call-in a reservation. We get there, and are given our assigned spot, we are relieved that with three kids we wouldn’t have to sleep in the car. We drive to our assigned site and it is hideous. We both assumed that there can’t be any ugly spots in Yellowstone…ha! It was in the sun, no shade, dusty, and no character, smack in the middle of an R.V. parking lot. Fortunately, this only cost us $14. We decide to drive to an NPS site at Norris Geyser Basin, worse case it will be full and we’ll return for one night to the ugly spot. The drive to Norris was unnerving. Lots of traffic for the 20+ mile drive (yes, Yellowstone is THAT huge, about 30 miles across and 50 miles down, mountain miles, so double regular travel time). To add to the many cars and super enforced speed limit of 45mph, there is wildlife traffic. That is, gawkers, rubber-neckers, and people who don’t know how to pass up a good photo op. Okay, I can’t blame them, but by the fifth stop for bison and elk, you lose your patience, and it was the same cars stopping for the same types of animals! Mind you, there are plenty of turn-off sites for cars to view the nature and beauty that is Yellowstone, so no reason to stop traffic, and yet people found reasons. Truthfully, if it had been for a grizzly, rarely seen, I would understand, but elk and bison are abundant and a dime a dozen, no need to stop traffic. NOTE: sometimes a bison will stand in the middle of the road and block both lanes of traffic, in which case you wait till he gets bored and moves. (See our exit from Yellowstone for a funny story about this.)
OH, we did see a wolf as our first official wildlife sighting in Yellowstone, and no we didn’t back-up traffic, but we did manage to snap a shot.
We eat lunch in the car, Danko came to his senses and made us all sandwiches; they were the best tasting sandwiches in the world. We got to Norris around 3pm and we just about got the last site, a beauty, a bit tight, but in the woods, right by the bathroom (which for us is a positive, nuff said).
We decide to see something beyond the main park road and take a trip to Mammoth Hot Springs after setting up the tent. Since we are in bear country, both black and brown, all food and smelly items need to be stored in the car or bear box, unless in immediate use. So, we had all of our gear to cook dinner wherever we were in the park, makes it practical while trying to cover so many sights.
Like the majority of geothermal features to visit, the Mammoth Hot Springs trail is a boardwalk and it is illegal to leave the boardwalk, namely because it can be deadly if you do. The terrain around these hot springs and the like is very delicate and one can fall through the top crust into a boiling cauldron of water, and not make it out.
We enjoyed checking out these unique features, bubbling hot springs, small geysers, and steam vents. Yellowstone is one huge active volcano, hence all the geothermal features. It blew it’s top over 600,000 years ago and the caldera has been a valley full of flora and fauna ever since, alongside volcanic features. It’s hard to describe, imagine you are walking along a pine forest, you see squirrels scurrying readying up for winter as they collect pine cones, elk grazing in a grassy field, and bison snorting around a valley; right next to what appears to be standard northern terrain is a hot spring bubbling over, geysers pushing up gallons of hundred year old rainwater, and bubbling mud volcanoes as proof that three miles below those trees, squirrels, elk, bison, and your feet is the magma chamber of an active volcano. You are reminded of this fact not only with seeing steam rising throughout the valley from fumaroles (steam vents), but you smell it, big time! For a virtual experience, find a pine tree, stand next to it smelling a rotten egg…now you are in Yellowstone! (No, the whole park doesn’t smell that bad, and you do get used to it, so no fear there is some fresh air to enjoy.)
It’s a fascinating place, and the animals do own it. The bear management committee has a strong fear campaign that is meant to educate and I would like to report has done a bang-up job freaking me out! Being the guardian of three lovely treasures, I was terrified of what could happen in the park. We did see two black bears on the side of the road, but those bears weren’t the ones making me nervous. Danko and I have had our run-ins with black bears, and not that I want to be with them, but from experience I know I can handle them. Grizzlies, however, are a different story. They are more aggressive and less predictable and harder to scare off. Yellowstone kitchen staff used to feed all the bears kitchen scraps up until the 1970’s and up until the 1980’s the park had open trash dumpsters in which visitors observed bears feasting. This created many problems, namely bears identifying people as a source for food. Grizzlies in Alaska eat a diet that is something like ninety percent vegetarian and ten percent protein. The grizzlies of Yellowstone at one point were almost 50/50, which resulted in an aggressive breed of grizzly. Sine the changes in the park, the closing of dumpsters and trash receptacles, the fineable if broken rule to hide all foods and scented items, and the park rule to maintain 100 yard plus distance from bears, has changed the grizzly diet from close to 50/50 to closer to 70/30; so, a marked difference in less than twenty years time. Nonetheless, due to all the signs, and reminders to make noise when you walk in the park so as not to sneak up on any animals, since bull elk and bison have been known to gorge visitors, I was on constant alert. After surviving a night’s rest, and getting up in the middle of the night to “take a stroll,” we both felt more relaxed with our surroundings and decided to stay for four nights total.
I’m going to describe the next few days in one posting, we attended several ranger talks and learned many things that are the uniqueness of Yellowstone, some of which I’ve already mentioned. It is the largest geyser basin in the world, and with much sadness we were informed by one ranger that the second largest geyser basin area was just recently ruined through uncaring and non-conservation efforts in Kamchatka. So, it is important for us to set aside this amazing land as a national park and preserve the delicate geysers.
Geysers appear powerful and overwhelming, especially during major eruptions, some of which are predictable, some of which are not. However, this is a deceiving characteristic, all this power and water pressure and hot steam. Geysers are delicate in that anything thrown into them can clog them up and ruin them forever. Hot springs are also as delicate. One hot spring that used to be a fantastically bright shade of turquoise is now a little blue and mostly brown because of “clever” visitors who threw in rocks and sticks to “see what would happen.” In the 1950’s, one beautiful hot spring dried up to become an ugly mud hole because two men threw in some bubble bath. Mind you, one cannot sit in these hot springs, they are at a surface temperature of 200 degrees, so these are not the sauna type of hot springs, they are too close to the source.
We had to be on constant watch with the kids, because there are many areas of the park where one cannot walk or stand because of the boiling features just below the surface. We had to be vigilant during the day on our walks and in the evening around our tent because we had a steam vent close by and we found bison scat in our area. On our first boardwalk trail, after a long explanation of the dangers, Nina imitated a skip Solomia just jumped and Nina’s flip-flop (I KNEW she should have wore her strapped sandals) flew beyond the boardwalk and onto the geothermal surface. Ofcourse, these were her favorite shoes and the tears were immediate. We looked around for a stick or something to grab the flip-flop, but this wasn’t an area overflowing with trees, a bit too hot for that. So, Danko climbed over the rail and stood on a beam under the boardwalk, Dmytro, who was fully aware of the rules, buried his head in his arms and sobbed with worry for Danko’s safety. I calmed Dmytro down and Nina beamed as her hero, her daddy, saved her flip-flop. I was more worried we’d be fined for going off trail, but the whole fiasco and tragedy was over in minutes and from then on all three kids walked with respect in Yellowstone.
Ironically, we have been training the kids for years to take quiet hikes in nature in order to appreciate all it has to offer. In these parks out west it is encouraged to walk loudly, and sometimes we had to beg the kids to be louder…isn’t it just SO typical? It’s the whole Warner Brother’s singing frog cartoon, life imitating art (for those not in the know, it’s a great cartoon, find it, anyone out there who wishes to post info as to where to find this particular cartoon is more than welcome, that’s you Boyan).
Yes, the animals do walk in the geyser basins, especially during the winter/colder months. Bison and elk frequent geyser basins to heat up. For the most part, they do not fall into any geysers or cauldrons, they seem to either know or have better balance. Get that, a 600-pound bison has better luck walking on the basin than us two legged 70-170 pound humans! It’s the whole spreading weight on four legs thing. BUUUT, sometimes a bison, usually a yearling, will fall in, and the rangers eventually lift out the carcass. Yes, it’s messing a bit with the balance of nature, it’s a compromise they make in order to protect the geysers especially those viewable to park visitors. Yellowstone’s features are a living museum, so the curators, the rangers, are there not only to protect and conserve, but even to preserve.
The kids completed their fourth junior ranger program and earned the badges after visiting a majority of the park, including:
--Norris Geyser, a family favorite, has great ranger talk, and includes the world’s tallest geyser eruption at Steamboat, although it is unpredictable, when it does have a major eruption the water reaches 300 feet and the park puts out a press release
--Mammoth Hot Springs and Terrace, which has beautiful white terraces in its basin
--Yellowstone Canyon (known as the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone because of its enormity) formed by the Yellowstone River, with a beautiful waterfall. The river flows into Missouri, which flows into the Mississippi, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico, which flows into the Atlantic, so technically we could just float home from Yellowstone. ☺ hee, hee
--Old Faithful, which for the last seventy-five years has been the most predictable geyser in Yellowstone. We attended a ranger led hike in the neighboring geyser basin and were lucky enough to see Castle Geyser have a major eruption, which lasts up to fifty minutes. Also, on this walk the kids were told about a nine year old boy who in the early 1970’s jumped into one of the hot springs to prove to his parents that it was not too hot, sadly, as we all know, it is too hot, and not much was recovered of this boy (very sad story).
--We took a quick look at the petrified tree, it wasn’t worth getting the kids out of the car and lose time from something else, though. It’s this petrified tree trunk that is gated, so one can’t touch it, and it stands on the side of a hill in not the most attractive spot in the park. Do not recommend. I read about a petrified forest in Yellowstone, but we didn’t have time this go around.
The Yellowstone region has about 1,000-2,000 earthquakes a year, which can drastically change the geothermal features of the park. It will be interesting to see how much the park has changed on a future visit. For example, one of the geysers in Norris Basin is written up in all the guide-books as the most predicable geyser in Norris. It has not been predictable for over a year and there is a sign posted at the geyser informing visitors that this is NOT a predictable geyser as posted in many books. Sadly, one sign was taken as a souvenir, so several visitors found themselves standing and waiting for a scheduled eruption (I think it used to erupt every 45 minutes or so). Despite the temptation to watch these visitors wait, rangers are kind enough to inform people as soon as possible that waiting is futile.
Wildlife we encountered in Yellowstone:
---at least three wolves, one who had just caught a black hairy animal hanging from its jaw
--many bison, up close and personal
--elk, elk, and more elk
--two black bears (on two separate occasions)
--a marmot sunning on a rock in the canyon
--loud and cute squirrels and chipmunks
--one bald eagle
--many loud ravens, namely on the cars in parking lots, cawing at all of us
--curiously, NO mosquitos or flies or anything that bits
On our final morning, Saturday, we got up at 6:30am in order to pack up our camp, have time to eat breakfast in the cafeteria, and see a few more sights before leaving the park in order to get to Grand Tetons in time to get a nice tent site. At our final stop in the park, the mud volcanos, we got out of the car to be greeted by a herd of bison. They were walking among the cars, snorting and grunting. It was quite an experience. I found one incident fairly amusing, a Chinese gentleman was getting closer to the bison to get a good photograph, and his wife was pulling on him and dragging him away. He was pulling himself away like a toddler who desperately doesn’t want to go where mom is going. It was hilarious. I think he was fine, he didn’t appear to be getting too close, but apparently too close for his wife. After he got his picture, he allowed his wife to drag him closer to her, and you could see the fear in her face, and the smile on his. They both laughed afterwards. I recognized myself in both of those people at different times in my life.
The mud volcano looked like a volcano that was about 45-65 feet across and then blew up. It looked like someone took a cross section of a volcano, and it was now bubbling over with a chocolatey goo. Almost appetizing, pass the cups and marshmallows!
On the south road leading to Grand Tetons, we came across a slight delay. BISON, again! The bison are mating at Yellowstone right now, so they are just all over the place showing off their manly ways. They couldn’t care less if a Ford Explorer is right behind them, they are busy putting on their aftershave, dressing in their best silk shirts, and letting their bling hang out to shine. At times, I think they were trying to impress the Ford Explorer, too. So, at one point, we were stuck behind two vehicles trying to get past a bison that couldn’t decide on which side of the road it wanted to be. I’m thinking why can’t these guys just pass the thing, it’s not that hard, it’s an overly decorated cow! No sooner do I think this that I learn my lesson. As it comes my turn to pass, the bison turns its head to look at me, and grunts. I stop. He proceeds forward, as do I. He stops again, turns, and looks at me, so I stop. After a few more similar dance steps, he seems to not take notice and I proceed, then, as the front of our van gets about even with his head, and almost passing it, he speeds up. The bison starts to race us! So, I’m worried that our Honda is about to become a blushing bride and a mother to bison calves. Again, a few more dance steps, I let the bison win the race, he crosses over and we finally have a clear road all the way to Wyoming’s Grand Tetons National Park.
NEAT musical discovery in Yellowstone: at the main visitor center bookstore, Darka found a cd marked “Yellowstone: for Violin and Orchestra,” by Jett Hitt, a Yellowstone wrangler, a horse trail guide. He himself was born and raised in Kentucky from a line of cowboys, but he holds degrees in German and music composition, a doctorate in music composition. We were able to listen to the cd in the store and decided it sounded interesting. I am glad we did buy it, because it served as the perfect soundtrack for our visit, and I know we will enjoy listening to it as remember the awesome sights. However, one doesn’t need to see the park, it is a beautiful piece of music. The composer has a website (www.yellowstoneCD.com) and I recommend anyone who enjoys good music to visit it (JON, I really thought of you when I read about this composer, I would imagine you two as fast friends). The cd notes mentioned that one could go on a trail ride with Jett Hitt, which Solomia and I were very tempted to do, but we had not time, so we know what we plan to do on our second visit to the park.
We got the Colter Bay Campground, in the Grand Tetons, about 1:40pm. We get in line for a spot and decide, since it is early, to take our chances at a NPS site, based on our Yellowstone experiences. So, we drive down to Jenny Lake to get some information. This is the most popular tent campground in the park, but it fills-up very early (by 8am), as it did on this day. We needed to get a map because coming from the north there is no manned park ranger booth to pay the toll, because a Yellowstone toll covers both parks (and vice versa). Since coming from the north you have to go through Yellowstone, the NPS doesn’t bother to man a booth at the north entrance. Which is practical financially, but not for visitors, we really needed a park newspaper, which Danko got along with junior ranger packets at Jenny Lake. We proceed to check out the NPS campground at Gros Ventre. The Bay Bridge RV parking lot at Yellowstone (the hideous spot I mentioned) looked like the Manhattan Four Seasons in comparison. This was a campground among the sagebrush and scraggly trees, dilapidated bathrooms, and full of dry dusty earth. Sagebrush is lovely to smell, and provides a great source of food for elk and antelope, but it is not a nice companion in a camp-site because it thrives in the dusty, dry climate. We are hungry and starting to feel like we can’t get any decent information on the park. We decide to find a room in Jackson, the town next to the park (yes, as in Jackson Hole, the known ski resort area). We find an okay restaurant at Moose Junction, just outside the official park boundary, and start calling around as we nourish ourselves. All hotels within an hour’s drive are booked. We find one room two hours away, and another in Cheyenne, seven hours away. The Cheyenne room sounded much better and we change plans, since we aren’t feeling too welcome at the Tetons at this point. We ask the kids if they mind giving up this junior ranger program, Solomia protested, Dmytro and Nina were ready for a hotel with a pool. We compromise, decide to hang-out at the park a little bit, enough to complete the program, and head to Cheyenne.
BUT WAIT, there’s more…
It just so happens that as we get to the main visitor center by the south entrance, a ranger talk that profiled the park was about to begin. To attend a talk was one of the requirements for the junior ranger program. Perfect, we’ll attend the talk, learn a few things, get the packet done, and move on.
BUT WAIT, there’s more…
This ranger, a naturalist from Madison, WI, gave a wonderful overview of the park, at one point I took a look at Danko and realized he was thinking what I was thinking: we cannot leave today, there is too much we want to see. During the talk, the ranger pointed out activities and areas of interest. Our initial impression of the park was that it had too many difficult hikes for our little hikers and really all we could do is look at the Tetons from the road. We were very wrong, as the ranger pointed to a three-dimensional map and showed us a day hike during which you take a ferry to cross Jenny Lake and hike up less than a mile for a fantastic view of the valley and a closer look at the peaks that make up the Tetons. We were drooling at the prospect. Okay, change of plans again. We cancel our room, and head back up to Coulter Bay figuring that even an RV parking lot in the bay area, which was all pine trees, no sagebrush, was good enough in order to do this day hike the next day. The 20 minutes up to the campground felt like a lifetime, with Danko and me wondering why we never learn how to do this right! On the way up the road, we read all we need to know in the park newspaper.
Before I go on, I cannot stress this lesson enough:
FIRST THING to do when coming to a national park, head to the visitor center, get the newspaper, read it carefully, and attend a park profile talk. This is better than any guidebook or website. It’s worth the half hour of time, even if it means you may lose a nicer tent site, but do this first and you will be able to wrap your mind around the whole terrain and feel completely secure in any decisions that need to be made.
So, back on our road up to Colter Bay: I ask Danko to call and find out when the local Roman Catholic Church has liturgy. We would prefer to go that evening since Colter Bay is farther north from Jackson than Gros Ventre, where we thought we should camp at first, and we wanted to know how early we would need to get up the next morning. That was our initial reason to camp at Gros Ventre, that it was closer to town and easier to get to church on time. Danko received the most wonderful news on the church’s recorded phone message. They have a deacon and priest who come up from Jackson every Saturday to a chapel in the park! And this chapel was a ten-minute ride from Colter Bay! This was sounding TOO good. Now we feared that Colter Bay would not have any vacancies, but I kept repeating that we were going to just trust God and will deal with whatever happens.
We take a further look into the newspaper as we are driving up and there is the full schedule for Chapel of the Sacred Heart! Mass every Saturday at 5:30, and it is almost 4pm, we could still put up a tent and make it to Mass. Now, would the campground have room…we drive up to the line, and God’s will was that we have a beautiful tent site at Colter Bay in the Grand Tetons National Park! It was just gorgeous! Trees, and fire pit, and picnic table, one site away from the bathroom, and a tent spot that had a “floor” of pebbles, nice and even and NO slope! We took the site for two nights, no doubt! We were home.
We put up our tent and went to Mass. It was a lovely Mass attended by about fifty park visitors. After services, a lovely older couple who are catechists in their parish told us that it warmed their hearts to see how Danko and I were bringing up our children in the faith and they noted how well behaved our kids were and were delighted to see them participate in Mass. I get teary-eyed just thinking about it. This man volunteered to read the epistles as he does it regularly at his church. He did a wonderful job. It really was a moving service. The priest was actually a vacationing priest from California because the regular parish priest from the Jackson parish (Our Lady of the Mountains) that usually serves in the chapel was himself on vacation. The homily focused on not seeking happiness, but seeking our lives with Christ, with living a life of purpose, and this in turn will result in happiness, not the other way around. Amen!
After Mass in the seventy year old chapel, with a billion dollar view!, we set out back to our tent. On the way we stopped to photograph our first Grand Tetons wildlife, a momma moose and her baby feasting in a marsh. We got some good photos of the moose and headed back to the campground for dinner. It was getting late, plus the cooks were getting a little tired, so we decided to eat at the Coulter Bay “food court,” as they call it. Actually, it is a very nice cafeteria-style restaurant with fantastic Mexican food. Next to it is a sit down restaurant, but the menu is a bit ordinary.
On the way back to our tent, Darka made the mistake of reading all the material handed out at registration. Among the typical info was a poster about the recent bear activity in the area. The grizzlies were out and about hunting elk because the elk were calfing, hence fresh, easy to catch meat. The flyer reported that bears were spotted in our campground, and so Darka gets nervous again. Don’t get it wrong, we had a lovely time at our camp, but at night, it was a little scary. Apparently, there wasn’t much to fear, we never did see a bear at the Tetons.
Sunday, we decided to have a lazy morning, and slept till about 9am. Our “cooks” staged a protest and we had to go to the campground restaurant for the breakfast buffet: afterall, we’re on vacation and it is Sunday! We headed out on the Jenny Lake trail to Inspiration point a little before noon. The ferry took us across the lake, about a 10-minute ride, and we hiked up for about a mile up the mountain. We stopped around Inspiration point for a snack and decided to see if we could hike a little more to get to the canyon in the mountains, it was about half mile to a mile away. A little way into this hike we heard that a male moose was hanging out in field visible from the trail. We passed the lovely gentleman catechist whom we met at church the day before and he repeated his compliment about the kids and our parenting. We learned from him that the moose was about a fifteen-minute walk away, but to much our dismay it started to thunder, and rain, hard. I did read that storms often come and go in 15-minute spurts in these mountains, but wasn’t sure how much of a risk we were willing to take with the kids. We were well prepared for our hike, all of us were carrying daypacks and raincoats, so we put on our raincoats and headed back to the ferry, knowing fully well that we had a bit of trail to climb down that was exposed, something to consider in a lightening storm. By the way, the Cambelbak daypacks were a very smart investment, we all stayed well-hydrated.
Our hike down was a little tricky, even though we all had raincoats and hiking boots, the rocky trail was getting quite slippery. The rain looked like it would never end, but by the time we reached the line for the ferry, the sun was back shining full blast. We had to wait in line for about thirty-minutes, but I must say the kids did a great job waiting. We chatted with a father and son team that passed us on the trail a few times. Turns out they were from Hudson, Ohio, which is not far from Parma (Danko’s hometown). Small world. All of us in line heard that there was a small fire caused by lightening on the other side of the lake, but it was extinguished before any major damage was done.
The rain continued on and off the rest of the day, causing us to eat the fantastic Mexican food at the campground restaurant. We had yummy buffalo brisket burritos, delicious chicken tamales, and delectable stuffed poblano chilies. We showered, did our laundry and went promptly to sleep.
The next day, we bid farewell to the lovely Tetons and the kids finished up their fifth junior ranger program. For each program, a child (actually anyone can do it) fills out an activity booklet that teaches them about the park and general conservation. Some parks require a ranger led talk, a hike, or a viewing of a park film, or all three. When all the requirements are filled, the kids take their booklet to a ranger who looks over their work and has them sworn-in as junior rangers. It’s a very nice activity and we strongly urge anyone to find the nearest national park or monument and start collecting junior ranger badges. Danko and I feel we have learned a great deal as well.
Practical things we have learned visiting Yellowstone and Grand Tetons
For anyone planning to visit and camp in Yellowstone, we recommend two possible plans of action:
1. Back home, make a reservation through Xanterra at Canyon campground for one night (info on the web)
2. drive into the park at some reasonable hour (before 1pm) and head for your reserved spot, check it out asap. The Canyon campground didn’t look too great, but the facilities are the nicest in the park, as in showers and laundry
3. if the spot is unsatisfactory, don’t put up the tent, if it is still early in the day (before 3) head to Norris Campground, that’s the first come first serve NPS campground, if you find a nice site here, then just write off the Canyon $14 as a loss and set up a tent for several nights at Norris, it is about 12 miles from Canyon. Norris only has a bathroom and a sink room for kitchenware, but you can use the Canyon facilities to shower and laundry, you don’t have to be a Canyon camper to use them. If you do this, be so kind to call Canyon as soon as possible, tell them to keep the money, but let them know the spot is open so that someone else can take it.
4. IF you find yourself at Canyon a little later, then it might be best to stay put, you may not have a super level tent site, but you will have great conveniences right under your nose.
Canyon and Norris are centrally located in the park. Food-wise, the Xanterra cafeterias are pretty good and the grocery shopping isn’t bad either. If we did this again, we would have a shelter to use over our picnic table in our tent site, at one point we had a makeshift shelter so that we could cook dinner, and it was a good thing we did because it was hailing as we were eating. There are no picnic shelters in Yellowstone or Grand Tetons, which we found to be a bit inconvenient. Even though the food services were reasonable and tasty, we would have preferred to cook more ourselves, so we are planning on making an investment and purchasing a Kelty canopy; we envied our tent neighbors from Fort Collins, CO, and wondered for a brief moment would they really notice if their canopy would mysteriously disappear, alas, there simply weren’t enough bushes to hide it in our tent site, so we abandoned such a plan.
Another note on facilities, the showers at Canyon cost around $3 a person (a little less for five and under). These were very clean, warm, and convenient showers. The laundry room is housed in the same building, so one could shower and do some laundry simultaneously. The Old Faithful showers are not as nice. They cost the same, but it is a small shower building that serves the surrounding cabins, and they only have three stalls, only one that is extra big, the others were a tight squeeze for Darka and the girls. These showers are much older and not as clean, so if you can avoid it, do the Canyon showers instead.
As mentioned before, attend ranger talks, ranger-led hikes, and check-out the visitor centers, which are essentially mini-museums. Yellowstone does offer half-day and full-day ranger led hikes that do cost money, but there are many free talks and hikes to attend. On our second visit, I imagine we’ll probably try to do one of the paid full-day hikes, so as to see a deeper part of the park. There are many free hikes that are about an hour to 90-minutes in length, and cover 1-2 miles of easy terrain. Some hikes were shorter, but not of our particular interest.
Yellowstone is highly accessible to any physical level, that is to say, many boardwalks to see fantastic features, many roadside pull-offs to view wildlife and nature. One doesn’t need to be physically fit or worry about long hikes to see a majority of what Yellowstone has to offer. There are lodging options, such as cabins and hotel rooms. The Old Faithful cabins didn’t look too keen to us, we’d suggest getting a room either at the Old Faithful area or Canyon Lodge. The Canyon cabins did look much nicer than the Old Faithful cabins. If you are reading this and have stayed at any of these facilities, please post your opinion, since our opinion is based on driving by and not actually staying in any of them. Personally, we like the tent.
Weather in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons was mixed: warm, rain, and cold, all at different times, but nothing unbearable and nothing that overstayed its welcome. Temperatures ranged from mid-90’s to low 40’s. The cheap kiddie sleeping bags weren’t warm enough for the kids, but we did buy them fleece liners before we left that made them perfectly comfortable (the fleece liners also serve as comfy blankets in the car). One could say that we did have a perfect mix of weather. The tent is coming home bone-dry, so that says something.
ALTITUDE: most of the campgrounds are at 7,000 feet above sea level, so it may affect you. We suggest that if you fly into Cody or Jackson, do yourself a favor and stay one night in a hotel to acclimate. That night, drink plenty of water, avoid caffeine and alcohol, and take advantage of the indoor plumbing. Cody is great spot to acclimate, you might find you want to stay there two nights, do the museum and the rodeo, see the sights, swim in a pool, and then head out to do some serious camping.
We bid a fond farewell to the majestic Tetons and drove southeast to Colorado.
Day something like 10 or 12 or 45??? Monday in August
A little crazy, we left Grand Tetons in the afternoon after trying to find a male moose along moose drive, but instead we saw a coyote. Exciting and beautiful, but we still wanted to see a male moose. As we were driving across the great state of Wyoming, of which we have become huge fans, we took out our trusty AAA travel guide and started to look for rooms in Colorado. Since the tent was nicely packed and dry, Danko and I made the executive decision to skip camping in Rocky Mountain National Park and head to the ski areas to rest in some beautiful mountains. We figure we will return to Colorado another time to camp. Because we had added a few days here and there in South Dakota and Wyoming, we believe it was best now to “hotel-it” back home, especially since we had so many hours of driving ahead of us.
I picked the Keystone region to start searching first. Something we learned from traveling in the Pacific NW many years ago is that one can find very nice rooms for very good rates at ski resorts during the summer, because it is their low season. And boy, was that a good lesson to learn. We managed to book a two-bedroom/two bathroom condo, with a kitchen and living room, and across the parking lot from an indoor pool and hot tub, for $139/night! A room right on the mountain! The only catch is that we had a ways to go. We both decided it would be worth the miles, we booked it for two nights and sacrificed our stomachs by eating a MacDonald’s dinner in the car. NOTE, this was our FIRST stop at MacDonald’s on the trip.
We got to Keystone at 1am. The condo was a welcome oasis. It had a fireplace, a huge living room with a chess table, king size bed for mom and dad, and beds for the kids. Solomia had to sleep on a cot, because for some reason they booked us a condo with twin beds in the second bedroom, but she didn’t mind at all, she likes the cot. Even when I asked one of the other two to take turns so that Solomia wasn’t always on the cot, she protested and said she preferred the cot…easy kid, God blessed us with her.
The next day is the worst weather we encountered so far. It was non-stop pouring rain. To be honest, the lousy weather was welcomed a little by all of us. We took advantage of the condo, swam in the pool, and took the kids to the movies; Solomia desperately wanted to see the latest Harry Potter and was super delighted to go.
Here’s the funny thing: he we are in a super luxurious ski resort town, with top dining, and we end up cooking in the condo, we were that delighted with the room and just didn’t feel like dealing with a restaurant. Plus, we had a great view of the mountains.
The next day, we reluctantly checked-out of the condo, despite Nina’s request to stay longer, and started our drive home, but not before spending a day in Rocky Mountain National Park. We thought we would just drive through and check out things we’d want to see on a proper visit back. We would be taking the Trail Ridge Road, a thirty-four mile road through the Rockies, ascending up to almost 12,000 feet. Since we are quick learners, the first thing we did was hit the visitor center. There we did pick up the junior ranger books on the off chance that the kids would manage to complete it. Just our luck, we got to the center five-minutes before a ranger talk about the predators of the park, complete with hides and horns. The ranger told us that this was one of the major requirements of the junior ranger program, what luck! This talk is called “Skins and Bones,” and from what we heard from another visitor, this is an age old tradition in the park, she used to take her kids over thirty years ago to the “Skins” talk.
After the talk, we continued our brief visit. We headed for the Alpine Visitor Center, located at the peak of the road, where we hiked up a short tundra trail and got a great view of the mountains. During our hike, the kids continued to complete their junior ranger activities, by observing and discussing what they saw: which was no trees, several glaciers, and beautiful alpine tundra wildflowers. It was pretty cold two miles above sea level, so we were very happy to get back into the car and descend to warmer temperatures. At the east end visitor building, which was noticeably designed by an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright, the kids earned their sixth and final junior ranger badges. Final for this trip, that is.
I had managed to book us a room in Nebraska, and it wasn’t easy. The hotel concierges didn’t know what was going on, either, but many hotels right on our route in Nebraska were booked. After a tasty dinner at a Chipotle (felt like home), we continued a long drive to The Rodeway Inn in Cozad, Nebraska. Danko and I discussed several times how much we knew that this leg of the driving would be one of the hardest, Nebraska at this point isn’t very scenic. So, I read to Danko, the kids played gameboys and fell asleep, and we drove what was to supposed to be a six hour drive to our hotel. Did you pick up on that: “supposed to be?” Apparently Danko missed Wyoming, and instead of going east on I-80 drove west, about 25 miles in the wrong direction after we crossed over from Colorado to Nebraska. To end this painful story sooner, I’ll report that we got to the room at 2am, mountain time, but now we were back in central time, so we lost an hour and got to sleep a bit after 3am.
The bugs in Nebraska are mutants. I’ve never seen such huge meaty bugs. After camping for about ten days in the wild, this hotel room in Nebraska was the first place where I had to hunt down and kill huge crawling insects, which I was tempted to serve up for breakfast! Needless to say, we missed the “extravagant” continental breakfast, which we learned is the very traditional continental: juice, coffee, donut, and bagel if you are lucky. So, we weren’t sorry to sleep in and hit one of the local diners for a late breakfast. The place we picked was slow, because everything was cooked to order and it was worth the wait. The portions were in true American tradition way too big. And so we headed out to cross the other half of Nebraska, cross Iowa, to a room right over the Mississippi River in Illinois.
Iowa was a little more visually interesting than Nebraska. Iowa can’t hold a candle to Wyoming or South Dakota, but it’s terraced farmland and green valleys are a little more appealing than the flat cornfields and scraggly trees of Nebraska. Danko has deduced from several stops that the notion of fast in fast food is a foreign concept in Iowa, and he wanted to warn all future travelers and pioneers (did you get that Lewis and Clark?). We got to our suite in Illinois around 11:30pm, a record time for us. Got up, had a quick dip in the pool, and crossed Illinois into Indiana.
We are about three hours away from Danko’s parents in Parma, Ohio, where our trusted companion Zupa awaits us to take her back to Maryland after a wonderful visit with Baba Lida and Dido Evhen (Grandma and Grandpa).
FINAL POST: WOULD WE DO IT AGAIN?
Without question we would do this trip again. We have seen so much and learned a great deal, about the world in which we live and about each other.
Solomia has learned that “out west is not a desert, cowboys are ranchers, and all about geysers.” She liked Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota the most because she didn’t have to worry about bears and the lake was refreshing. She found it interesting to look out her window, but would have preferred a shorter drive. She managed to practice her violin and finish the final installment of Harry Potter. She says she’d do it again but the next time with her cousins.
Dmytro has learned that (TO BE ADDED, STAY TUNED)
Nina has learned that (TO BE ADDED, STAY TUNED)
What we’ve noticed and learned about our kids:
--they don’t need T.V. to survive
--they travel very well
--they hike very well
--they tent camp very well
--they prefer a tent to a hotel and cooking at the campsite over a restaurant
--redeeming qualities of a hotel: pool
--they appreciate the world in which we live
--they love animals
--they really do love to read
--a book, gameboy, drawing pad, and small action figures keep them busy for weeks
--Dmytro and Nina prefer to sightsee on their feet and not from the car
--they like to shop, but we have learned to talk them down and not indulge
--they collect too many travel pamphlets, especially for each other (Nina keeps picking dinosaur ones for Dmytro and he picks the ones with cute pictures for her)
--Solomia learns very well at lectures (we suspected this, but saw it super in action)
--they are growing up, fast, too fast
Danko has learned that South Dakota is beautiful and Wyoming is even more beautiful. He loved the Badlands, especially climbing on all the rock formations. He enjoyed the animals in Custer and wished we had more time there, especially because of the easy camping and swimming. Is considering buying a Harley and doing Sturgis, SD, for bike week (if you believe this, you really don’t know Danko). Never realized how much he likes rodeos, more fun than a baseball game, but not as much as a football game. He liked the geothermal features of Yellowstone, but didn’t appreciate the crowds, would like to return to see more of the backcountry of Yellowstone.
Darka has learned that her family is a great group of travelers and we can cross the country without a dvd player. I’ve learned that I really have a sick obsession with Starbucks. I have learned that I love Wyoming and South Dakota and gained perspective on that which is the United States of America. I’ve learned that through God’s grace we have been given an awesome earth and we need to take care of it.
A friend who recently lost both his parents said he felt as if his whole past was erased, gone, lost. I know that emotion all too well. However, as I spent many hours in the car, I recalled many happy moments with my parents on our road trips, perhaps that past wasn’t completely lost. I found how much they taught me was being passed on to their grandchildren, and I am very grateful for how they raised me, because I found out on this trip that not only do I adore and love my husband, my kids, and find them to be great company, I found out that I do like who I am and for that I thank Lida and Yarko, who are sorely missed, but never forgotten.
6,380 or so miles of bonding, learning, and living: this is what it is all about!
We thank the Lord to give us this opportunity to experience this trip, in good health and good weather. We pray that sharing our experiences with you will entertain you and perhaps inspire you to make your own adventure, and pray God gives you the same good fortune that He has granted us.
Darka, Danko, Solomia, Dmytro, and Nina Nebesh
We got up early to get to Yellowstone since we knew getting a campsite could be tricky. Not from lack of getting up super early, our plan was foiled! We had noticed that one of the Camelbak backpacks we got for the kids the day before was missing an important component: the water sack itself! Oy! Small town, so stores usually don’t open till 10am, double OY! Meaning, our arrival to Yellowstone was delayed and therefore our chances of getting a decent site were diminishing. BUT, we had some luck, the store that morning opened an hour earlier, no idea why, but it was, so we managed to leave a little after 9am. Okay, we figure not too bad to be about an hour and a half off schedule. The drive from Cody to Yellowstone is lovely, with quick roads and high speed through the Buffalo Bill National Forrest, which looks like a nice place to camp as well.
We get to the east entrance, and we are all excited, we show our annual park pass to the guard and ask for suggestions about campsites, there are two different types of campgrounds in the park, those run by Xanterra and those run by the National Park Service. One can reserve a Xanterra site, but one cannot reserve an NPS site. More on the difference later, under practical things we’ve learned so far. So, this ranger-dressed guy in the booth says “I wouldn’t know, I’ve never been to any.” OY! Really? Never? Usually we get good information from people who wear NPS uniforms. We see a sign that shows us which campgrounds still have openings, and all but two, are open, so we breathe a sigh of relief and proceed.
Proceed is a relative term…construction on the east entrance road soon turned our mood a little sour, especially since it was lunchtime and no place to stop to picnic. East entrance is not especially scenic. We drive into Yellowstone in traffic! This is quite a foreshadowing. We knew it would be high season at the park, but we had no idea how busy.
Still hungry, but in high spirits we got to one possible campground that we picked because forty minutes earlier at the only park sign, we saw it had vacnacies. Danko stands in line for what feels like forever (10 minutes) and overhears that the campground is full. This was a Xanterra campground, where you can’t pick your site, you register and are assigned a site. We overhear it’s booked and ask an employee passing by which campground to try, he suggests Bay Bridge. So, we play it “smart” and as we drive over to this suggested campground we call-in a reservation. We get there, and are given our assigned spot, we are relieved that with three kids we wouldn’t have to sleep in the car. We drive to our assigned site and it is hideous. We both assumed that there can’t be any ugly spots in Yellowstone…ha! It was in the sun, no shade, dusty, and no character, smack in the middle of an R.V. parking lot. Fortunately, this only cost us $14. We decide to drive to an NPS site at Norris Geyser Basin, worse case it will be full and we’ll return for one night to the ugly spot. The drive to Norris was unnerving. Lots of traffic for the 20+ mile drive (yes, Yellowstone is THAT huge, about 30 miles across and 50 miles down, mountain miles, so double regular travel time). To add to the many cars and super enforced speed limit of 45mph, there is wildlife traffic. That is, gawkers, rubber-neckers, and people who don’t know how to pass up a good photo op. Okay, I can’t blame them, but by the fifth stop for bison and elk, you lose your patience, and it was the same cars stopping for the same types of animals! Mind you, there are plenty of turn-off sites for cars to view the nature and beauty that is Yellowstone, so no reason to stop traffic, and yet people found reasons. Truthfully, if it had been for a grizzly, rarely seen, I would understand, but elk and bison are abundant and a dime a dozen, no need to stop traffic. NOTE: sometimes a bison will stand in the middle of the road and block both lanes of traffic, in which case you wait till he gets bored and moves. (See our exit from Yellowstone for a funny story about this.)
OH, we did see a wolf as our first official wildlife sighting in Yellowstone, and no we didn’t back-up traffic, but we did manage to snap a shot.
We eat lunch in the car, Danko came to his senses and made us all sandwiches; they were the best tasting sandwiches in the world. We got to Norris around 3pm and we just about got the last site, a beauty, a bit tight, but in the woods, right by the bathroom (which for us is a positive, nuff said).
We decide to see something beyond the main park road and take a trip to Mammoth Hot Springs after setting up the tent. Since we are in bear country, both black and brown, all food and smelly items need to be stored in the car or bear box, unless in immediate use. So, we had all of our gear to cook dinner wherever we were in the park, makes it practical while trying to cover so many sights.
Like the majority of geothermal features to visit, the Mammoth Hot Springs trail is a boardwalk and it is illegal to leave the boardwalk, namely because it can be deadly if you do. The terrain around these hot springs and the like is very delicate and one can fall through the top crust into a boiling cauldron of water, and not make it out.
We enjoyed checking out these unique features, bubbling hot springs, small geysers, and steam vents. Yellowstone is one huge active volcano, hence all the geothermal features. It blew it’s top over 600,000 years ago and the caldera has been a valley full of flora and fauna ever since, alongside volcanic features. It’s hard to describe, imagine you are walking along a pine forest, you see squirrels scurrying readying up for winter as they collect pine cones, elk grazing in a grassy field, and bison snorting around a valley; right next to what appears to be standard northern terrain is a hot spring bubbling over, geysers pushing up gallons of hundred year old rainwater, and bubbling mud volcanoes as proof that three miles below those trees, squirrels, elk, bison, and your feet is the magma chamber of an active volcano. You are reminded of this fact not only with seeing steam rising throughout the valley from fumaroles (steam vents), but you smell it, big time! For a virtual experience, find a pine tree, stand next to it smelling a rotten egg…now you are in Yellowstone! (No, the whole park doesn’t smell that bad, and you do get used to it, so no fear there is some fresh air to enjoy.)
It’s a fascinating place, and the animals do own it. The bear management committee has a strong fear campaign that is meant to educate and I would like to report has done a bang-up job freaking me out! Being the guardian of three lovely treasures, I was terrified of what could happen in the park. We did see two black bears on the side of the road, but those bears weren’t the ones making me nervous. Danko and I have had our run-ins with black bears, and not that I want to be with them, but from experience I know I can handle them. Grizzlies, however, are a different story. They are more aggressive and less predictable and harder to scare off. Yellowstone kitchen staff used to feed all the bears kitchen scraps up until the 1970’s and up until the 1980’s the park had open trash dumpsters in which visitors observed bears feasting. This created many problems, namely bears identifying people as a source for food. Grizzlies in Alaska eat a diet that is something like ninety percent vegetarian and ten percent protein. The grizzlies of Yellowstone at one point were almost 50/50, which resulted in an aggressive breed of grizzly. Sine the changes in the park, the closing of dumpsters and trash receptacles, the fineable if broken rule to hide all foods and scented items, and the park rule to maintain 100 yard plus distance from bears, has changed the grizzly diet from close to 50/50 to closer to 70/30; so, a marked difference in less than twenty years time. Nonetheless, due to all the signs, and reminders to make noise when you walk in the park so as not to sneak up on any animals, since bull elk and bison have been known to gorge visitors, I was on constant alert. After surviving a night’s rest, and getting up in the middle of the night to “take a stroll,” we both felt more relaxed with our surroundings and decided to stay for four nights total.
I’m going to describe the next few days in one posting, we attended several ranger talks and learned many things that are the uniqueness of Yellowstone, some of which I’ve already mentioned. It is the largest geyser basin in the world, and with much sadness we were informed by one ranger that the second largest geyser basin area was just recently ruined through uncaring and non-conservation efforts in Kamchatka. So, it is important for us to set aside this amazing land as a national park and preserve the delicate geysers.
Geysers appear powerful and overwhelming, especially during major eruptions, some of which are predictable, some of which are not. However, this is a deceiving characteristic, all this power and water pressure and hot steam. Geysers are delicate in that anything thrown into them can clog them up and ruin them forever. Hot springs are also as delicate. One hot spring that used to be a fantastically bright shade of turquoise is now a little blue and mostly brown because of “clever” visitors who threw in rocks and sticks to “see what would happen.” In the 1950’s, one beautiful hot spring dried up to become an ugly mud hole because two men threw in some bubble bath. Mind you, one cannot sit in these hot springs, they are at a surface temperature of 200 degrees, so these are not the sauna type of hot springs, they are too close to the source.
We had to be on constant watch with the kids, because there are many areas of the park where one cannot walk or stand because of the boiling features just below the surface. We had to be vigilant during the day on our walks and in the evening around our tent because we had a steam vent close by and we found bison scat in our area. On our first boardwalk trail, after a long explanation of the dangers, Nina imitated a skip Solomia just jumped and Nina’s flip-flop (I KNEW she should have wore her strapped sandals) flew beyond the boardwalk and onto the geothermal surface. Ofcourse, these were her favorite shoes and the tears were immediate. We looked around for a stick or something to grab the flip-flop, but this wasn’t an area overflowing with trees, a bit too hot for that. So, Danko climbed over the rail and stood on a beam under the boardwalk, Dmytro, who was fully aware of the rules, buried his head in his arms and sobbed with worry for Danko’s safety. I calmed Dmytro down and Nina beamed as her hero, her daddy, saved her flip-flop. I was more worried we’d be fined for going off trail, but the whole fiasco and tragedy was over in minutes and from then on all three kids walked with respect in Yellowstone.
Ironically, we have been training the kids for years to take quiet hikes in nature in order to appreciate all it has to offer. In these parks out west it is encouraged to walk loudly, and sometimes we had to beg the kids to be louder…isn’t it just SO typical? It’s the whole Warner Brother’s singing frog cartoon, life imitating art (for those not in the know, it’s a great cartoon, find it, anyone out there who wishes to post info as to where to find this particular cartoon is more than welcome, that’s you Boyan).
Yes, the animals do walk in the geyser basins, especially during the winter/colder months. Bison and elk frequent geyser basins to heat up. For the most part, they do not fall into any geysers or cauldrons, they seem to either know or have better balance. Get that, a 600-pound bison has better luck walking on the basin than us two legged 70-170 pound humans! It’s the whole spreading weight on four legs thing. BUUUT, sometimes a bison, usually a yearling, will fall in, and the rangers eventually lift out the carcass. Yes, it’s messing a bit with the balance of nature, it’s a compromise they make in order to protect the geysers especially those viewable to park visitors. Yellowstone’s features are a living museum, so the curators, the rangers, are there not only to protect and conserve, but even to preserve.
The kids completed their fourth junior ranger program and earned the badges after visiting a majority of the park, including:
--Norris Geyser, a family favorite, has great ranger talk, and includes the world’s tallest geyser eruption at Steamboat, although it is unpredictable, when it does have a major eruption the water reaches 300 feet and the park puts out a press release
--Mammoth Hot Springs and Terrace, which has beautiful white terraces in its basin
--Yellowstone Canyon (known as the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone because of its enormity) formed by the Yellowstone River, with a beautiful waterfall. The river flows into Missouri, which flows into the Mississippi, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico, which flows into the Atlantic, so technically we could just float home from Yellowstone. ☺ hee, hee
--Old Faithful, which for the last seventy-five years has been the most predictable geyser in Yellowstone. We attended a ranger led hike in the neighboring geyser basin and were lucky enough to see Castle Geyser have a major eruption, which lasts up to fifty minutes. Also, on this walk the kids were told about a nine year old boy who in the early 1970’s jumped into one of the hot springs to prove to his parents that it was not too hot, sadly, as we all know, it is too hot, and not much was recovered of this boy (very sad story).
--We took a quick look at the petrified tree, it wasn’t worth getting the kids out of the car and lose time from something else, though. It’s this petrified tree trunk that is gated, so one can’t touch it, and it stands on the side of a hill in not the most attractive spot in the park. Do not recommend. I read about a petrified forest in Yellowstone, but we didn’t have time this go around.
The Yellowstone region has about 1,000-2,000 earthquakes a year, which can drastically change the geothermal features of the park. It will be interesting to see how much the park has changed on a future visit. For example, one of the geysers in Norris Basin is written up in all the guide-books as the most predicable geyser in Norris. It has not been predictable for over a year and there is a sign posted at the geyser informing visitors that this is NOT a predictable geyser as posted in many books. Sadly, one sign was taken as a souvenir, so several visitors found themselves standing and waiting for a scheduled eruption (I think it used to erupt every 45 minutes or so). Despite the temptation to watch these visitors wait, rangers are kind enough to inform people as soon as possible that waiting is futile.
Wildlife we encountered in Yellowstone:
---at least three wolves, one who had just caught a black hairy animal hanging from its jaw
--many bison, up close and personal
--elk, elk, and more elk
--two black bears (on two separate occasions)
--a marmot sunning on a rock in the canyon
--loud and cute squirrels and chipmunks
--one bald eagle
--many loud ravens, namely on the cars in parking lots, cawing at all of us
--curiously, NO mosquitos or flies or anything that bits
On our final morning, Saturday, we got up at 6:30am in order to pack up our camp, have time to eat breakfast in the cafeteria, and see a few more sights before leaving the park in order to get to Grand Tetons in time to get a nice tent site. At our final stop in the park, the mud volcanos, we got out of the car to be greeted by a herd of bison. They were walking among the cars, snorting and grunting. It was quite an experience. I found one incident fairly amusing, a Chinese gentleman was getting closer to the bison to get a good photograph, and his wife was pulling on him and dragging him away. He was pulling himself away like a toddler who desperately doesn’t want to go where mom is going. It was hilarious. I think he was fine, he didn’t appear to be getting too close, but apparently too close for his wife. After he got his picture, he allowed his wife to drag him closer to her, and you could see the fear in her face, and the smile on his. They both laughed afterwards. I recognized myself in both of those people at different times in my life.
The mud volcano looked like a volcano that was about 45-65 feet across and then blew up. It looked like someone took a cross section of a volcano, and it was now bubbling over with a chocolatey goo. Almost appetizing, pass the cups and marshmallows!
On the south road leading to Grand Tetons, we came across a slight delay. BISON, again! The bison are mating at Yellowstone right now, so they are just all over the place showing off their manly ways. They couldn’t care less if a Ford Explorer is right behind them, they are busy putting on their aftershave, dressing in their best silk shirts, and letting their bling hang out to shine. At times, I think they were trying to impress the Ford Explorer, too. So, at one point, we were stuck behind two vehicles trying to get past a bison that couldn’t decide on which side of the road it wanted to be. I’m thinking why can’t these guys just pass the thing, it’s not that hard, it’s an overly decorated cow! No sooner do I think this that I learn my lesson. As it comes my turn to pass, the bison turns its head to look at me, and grunts. I stop. He proceeds forward, as do I. He stops again, turns, and looks at me, so I stop. After a few more similar dance steps, he seems to not take notice and I proceed, then, as the front of our van gets about even with his head, and almost passing it, he speeds up. The bison starts to race us! So, I’m worried that our Honda is about to become a blushing bride and a mother to bison calves. Again, a few more dance steps, I let the bison win the race, he crosses over and we finally have a clear road all the way to Wyoming’s Grand Tetons National Park.
NEAT musical discovery in Yellowstone: at the main visitor center bookstore, Darka found a cd marked “Yellowstone: for Violin and Orchestra,” by Jett Hitt, a Yellowstone wrangler, a horse trail guide. He himself was born and raised in Kentucky from a line of cowboys, but he holds degrees in German and music composition, a doctorate in music composition. We were able to listen to the cd in the store and decided it sounded interesting. I am glad we did buy it, because it served as the perfect soundtrack for our visit, and I know we will enjoy listening to it as remember the awesome sights. However, one doesn’t need to see the park, it is a beautiful piece of music. The composer has a website (www.yellowstoneCD.com) and I recommend anyone who enjoys good music to visit it (JON, I really thought of you when I read about this composer, I would imagine you two as fast friends). The cd notes mentioned that one could go on a trail ride with Jett Hitt, which Solomia and I were very tempted to do, but we had not time, so we know what we plan to do on our second visit to the park.
We got the Colter Bay Campground, in the Grand Tetons, about 1:40pm. We get in line for a spot and decide, since it is early, to take our chances at a NPS site, based on our Yellowstone experiences. So, we drive down to Jenny Lake to get some information. This is the most popular tent campground in the park, but it fills-up very early (by 8am), as it did on this day. We needed to get a map because coming from the north there is no manned park ranger booth to pay the toll, because a Yellowstone toll covers both parks (and vice versa). Since coming from the north you have to go through Yellowstone, the NPS doesn’t bother to man a booth at the north entrance. Which is practical financially, but not for visitors, we really needed a park newspaper, which Danko got along with junior ranger packets at Jenny Lake. We proceed to check out the NPS campground at Gros Ventre. The Bay Bridge RV parking lot at Yellowstone (the hideous spot I mentioned) looked like the Manhattan Four Seasons in comparison. This was a campground among the sagebrush and scraggly trees, dilapidated bathrooms, and full of dry dusty earth. Sagebrush is lovely to smell, and provides a great source of food for elk and antelope, but it is not a nice companion in a camp-site because it thrives in the dusty, dry climate. We are hungry and starting to feel like we can’t get any decent information on the park. We decide to find a room in Jackson, the town next to the park (yes, as in Jackson Hole, the known ski resort area). We find an okay restaurant at Moose Junction, just outside the official park boundary, and start calling around as we nourish ourselves. All hotels within an hour’s drive are booked. We find one room two hours away, and another in Cheyenne, seven hours away. The Cheyenne room sounded much better and we change plans, since we aren’t feeling too welcome at the Tetons at this point. We ask the kids if they mind giving up this junior ranger program, Solomia protested, Dmytro and Nina were ready for a hotel with a pool. We compromise, decide to hang-out at the park a little bit, enough to complete the program, and head to Cheyenne.
BUT WAIT, there’s more…
It just so happens that as we get to the main visitor center by the south entrance, a ranger talk that profiled the park was about to begin. To attend a talk was one of the requirements for the junior ranger program. Perfect, we’ll attend the talk, learn a few things, get the packet done, and move on.
BUT WAIT, there’s more…
This ranger, a naturalist from Madison, WI, gave a wonderful overview of the park, at one point I took a look at Danko and realized he was thinking what I was thinking: we cannot leave today, there is too much we want to see. During the talk, the ranger pointed out activities and areas of interest. Our initial impression of the park was that it had too many difficult hikes for our little hikers and really all we could do is look at the Tetons from the road. We were very wrong, as the ranger pointed to a three-dimensional map and showed us a day hike during which you take a ferry to cross Jenny Lake and hike up less than a mile for a fantastic view of the valley and a closer look at the peaks that make up the Tetons. We were drooling at the prospect. Okay, change of plans again. We cancel our room, and head back up to Coulter Bay figuring that even an RV parking lot in the bay area, which was all pine trees, no sagebrush, was good enough in order to do this day hike the next day. The 20 minutes up to the campground felt like a lifetime, with Danko and me wondering why we never learn how to do this right! On the way up the road, we read all we need to know in the park newspaper.
Before I go on, I cannot stress this lesson enough:
FIRST THING to do when coming to a national park, head to the visitor center, get the newspaper, read it carefully, and attend a park profile talk. This is better than any guidebook or website. It’s worth the half hour of time, even if it means you may lose a nicer tent site, but do this first and you will be able to wrap your mind around the whole terrain and feel completely secure in any decisions that need to be made.
So, back on our road up to Colter Bay: I ask Danko to call and find out when the local Roman Catholic Church has liturgy. We would prefer to go that evening since Colter Bay is farther north from Jackson than Gros Ventre, where we thought we should camp at first, and we wanted to know how early we would need to get up the next morning. That was our initial reason to camp at Gros Ventre, that it was closer to town and easier to get to church on time. Danko received the most wonderful news on the church’s recorded phone message. They have a deacon and priest who come up from Jackson every Saturday to a chapel in the park! And this chapel was a ten-minute ride from Colter Bay! This was sounding TOO good. Now we feared that Colter Bay would not have any vacancies, but I kept repeating that we were going to just trust God and will deal with whatever happens.
We take a further look into the newspaper as we are driving up and there is the full schedule for Chapel of the Sacred Heart! Mass every Saturday at 5:30, and it is almost 4pm, we could still put up a tent and make it to Mass. Now, would the campground have room…we drive up to the line, and God’s will was that we have a beautiful tent site at Colter Bay in the Grand Tetons National Park! It was just gorgeous! Trees, and fire pit, and picnic table, one site away from the bathroom, and a tent spot that had a “floor” of pebbles, nice and even and NO slope! We took the site for two nights, no doubt! We were home.
We put up our tent and went to Mass. It was a lovely Mass attended by about fifty park visitors. After services, a lovely older couple who are catechists in their parish told us that it warmed their hearts to see how Danko and I were bringing up our children in the faith and they noted how well behaved our kids were and were delighted to see them participate in Mass. I get teary-eyed just thinking about it. This man volunteered to read the epistles as he does it regularly at his church. He did a wonderful job. It really was a moving service. The priest was actually a vacationing priest from California because the regular parish priest from the Jackson parish (Our Lady of the Mountains) that usually serves in the chapel was himself on vacation. The homily focused on not seeking happiness, but seeking our lives with Christ, with living a life of purpose, and this in turn will result in happiness, not the other way around. Amen!
After Mass in the seventy year old chapel, with a billion dollar view!, we set out back to our tent. On the way we stopped to photograph our first Grand Tetons wildlife, a momma moose and her baby feasting in a marsh. We got some good photos of the moose and headed back to the campground for dinner. It was getting late, plus the cooks were getting a little tired, so we decided to eat at the Coulter Bay “food court,” as they call it. Actually, it is a very nice cafeteria-style restaurant with fantastic Mexican food. Next to it is a sit down restaurant, but the menu is a bit ordinary.
On the way back to our tent, Darka made the mistake of reading all the material handed out at registration. Among the typical info was a poster about the recent bear activity in the area. The grizzlies were out and about hunting elk because the elk were calfing, hence fresh, easy to catch meat. The flyer reported that bears were spotted in our campground, and so Darka gets nervous again. Don’t get it wrong, we had a lovely time at our camp, but at night, it was a little scary. Apparently, there wasn’t much to fear, we never did see a bear at the Tetons.
Sunday, we decided to have a lazy morning, and slept till about 9am. Our “cooks” staged a protest and we had to go to the campground restaurant for the breakfast buffet: afterall, we’re on vacation and it is Sunday! We headed out on the Jenny Lake trail to Inspiration point a little before noon. The ferry took us across the lake, about a 10-minute ride, and we hiked up for about a mile up the mountain. We stopped around Inspiration point for a snack and decided to see if we could hike a little more to get to the canyon in the mountains, it was about half mile to a mile away. A little way into this hike we heard that a male moose was hanging out in field visible from the trail. We passed the lovely gentleman catechist whom we met at church the day before and he repeated his compliment about the kids and our parenting. We learned from him that the moose was about a fifteen-minute walk away, but to much our dismay it started to thunder, and rain, hard. I did read that storms often come and go in 15-minute spurts in these mountains, but wasn’t sure how much of a risk we were willing to take with the kids. We were well prepared for our hike, all of us were carrying daypacks and raincoats, so we put on our raincoats and headed back to the ferry, knowing fully well that we had a bit of trail to climb down that was exposed, something to consider in a lightening storm. By the way, the Cambelbak daypacks were a very smart investment, we all stayed well-hydrated.
Our hike down was a little tricky, even though we all had raincoats and hiking boots, the rocky trail was getting quite slippery. The rain looked like it would never end, but by the time we reached the line for the ferry, the sun was back shining full blast. We had to wait in line for about thirty-minutes, but I must say the kids did a great job waiting. We chatted with a father and son team that passed us on the trail a few times. Turns out they were from Hudson, Ohio, which is not far from Parma (Danko’s hometown). Small world. All of us in line heard that there was a small fire caused by lightening on the other side of the lake, but it was extinguished before any major damage was done.
The rain continued on and off the rest of the day, causing us to eat the fantastic Mexican food at the campground restaurant. We had yummy buffalo brisket burritos, delicious chicken tamales, and delectable stuffed poblano chilies. We showered, did our laundry and went promptly to sleep.
The next day, we bid farewell to the lovely Tetons and the kids finished up their fifth junior ranger program. For each program, a child (actually anyone can do it) fills out an activity booklet that teaches them about the park and general conservation. Some parks require a ranger led talk, a hike, or a viewing of a park film, or all three. When all the requirements are filled, the kids take their booklet to a ranger who looks over their work and has them sworn-in as junior rangers. It’s a very nice activity and we strongly urge anyone to find the nearest national park or monument and start collecting junior ranger badges. Danko and I feel we have learned a great deal as well.
Practical things we have learned visiting Yellowstone and Grand Tetons
For anyone planning to visit and camp in Yellowstone, we recommend two possible plans of action:
1. Back home, make a reservation through Xanterra at Canyon campground for one night (info on the web)
2. drive into the park at some reasonable hour (before 1pm) and head for your reserved spot, check it out asap. The Canyon campground didn’t look too great, but the facilities are the nicest in the park, as in showers and laundry
3. if the spot is unsatisfactory, don’t put up the tent, if it is still early in the day (before 3) head to Norris Campground, that’s the first come first serve NPS campground, if you find a nice site here, then just write off the Canyon $14 as a loss and set up a tent for several nights at Norris, it is about 12 miles from Canyon. Norris only has a bathroom and a sink room for kitchenware, but you can use the Canyon facilities to shower and laundry, you don’t have to be a Canyon camper to use them. If you do this, be so kind to call Canyon as soon as possible, tell them to keep the money, but let them know the spot is open so that someone else can take it.
4. IF you find yourself at Canyon a little later, then it might be best to stay put, you may not have a super level tent site, but you will have great conveniences right under your nose.
Canyon and Norris are centrally located in the park. Food-wise, the Xanterra cafeterias are pretty good and the grocery shopping isn’t bad either. If we did this again, we would have a shelter to use over our picnic table in our tent site, at one point we had a makeshift shelter so that we could cook dinner, and it was a good thing we did because it was hailing as we were eating. There are no picnic shelters in Yellowstone or Grand Tetons, which we found to be a bit inconvenient. Even though the food services were reasonable and tasty, we would have preferred to cook more ourselves, so we are planning on making an investment and purchasing a Kelty canopy; we envied our tent neighbors from Fort Collins, CO, and wondered for a brief moment would they really notice if their canopy would mysteriously disappear, alas, there simply weren’t enough bushes to hide it in our tent site, so we abandoned such a plan.
Another note on facilities, the showers at Canyon cost around $3 a person (a little less for five and under). These were very clean, warm, and convenient showers. The laundry room is housed in the same building, so one could shower and do some laundry simultaneously. The Old Faithful showers are not as nice. They cost the same, but it is a small shower building that serves the surrounding cabins, and they only have three stalls, only one that is extra big, the others were a tight squeeze for Darka and the girls. These showers are much older and not as clean, so if you can avoid it, do the Canyon showers instead.
As mentioned before, attend ranger talks, ranger-led hikes, and check-out the visitor centers, which are essentially mini-museums. Yellowstone does offer half-day and full-day ranger led hikes that do cost money, but there are many free talks and hikes to attend. On our second visit, I imagine we’ll probably try to do one of the paid full-day hikes, so as to see a deeper part of the park. There are many free hikes that are about an hour to 90-minutes in length, and cover 1-2 miles of easy terrain. Some hikes were shorter, but not of our particular interest.
Yellowstone is highly accessible to any physical level, that is to say, many boardwalks to see fantastic features, many roadside pull-offs to view wildlife and nature. One doesn’t need to be physically fit or worry about long hikes to see a majority of what Yellowstone has to offer. There are lodging options, such as cabins and hotel rooms. The Old Faithful cabins didn’t look too keen to us, we’d suggest getting a room either at the Old Faithful area or Canyon Lodge. The Canyon cabins did look much nicer than the Old Faithful cabins. If you are reading this and have stayed at any of these facilities, please post your opinion, since our opinion is based on driving by and not actually staying in any of them. Personally, we like the tent.
Weather in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons was mixed: warm, rain, and cold, all at different times, but nothing unbearable and nothing that overstayed its welcome. Temperatures ranged from mid-90’s to low 40’s. The cheap kiddie sleeping bags weren’t warm enough for the kids, but we did buy them fleece liners before we left that made them perfectly comfortable (the fleece liners also serve as comfy blankets in the car). One could say that we did have a perfect mix of weather. The tent is coming home bone-dry, so that says something.
ALTITUDE: most of the campgrounds are at 7,000 feet above sea level, so it may affect you. We suggest that if you fly into Cody or Jackson, do yourself a favor and stay one night in a hotel to acclimate. That night, drink plenty of water, avoid caffeine and alcohol, and take advantage of the indoor plumbing. Cody is great spot to acclimate, you might find you want to stay there two nights, do the museum and the rodeo, see the sights, swim in a pool, and then head out to do some serious camping.
We bid a fond farewell to the majestic Tetons and drove southeast to Colorado.
Day something like 10 or 12 or 45??? Monday in August
A little crazy, we left Grand Tetons in the afternoon after trying to find a male moose along moose drive, but instead we saw a coyote. Exciting and beautiful, but we still wanted to see a male moose. As we were driving across the great state of Wyoming, of which we have become huge fans, we took out our trusty AAA travel guide and started to look for rooms in Colorado. Since the tent was nicely packed and dry, Danko and I made the executive decision to skip camping in Rocky Mountain National Park and head to the ski areas to rest in some beautiful mountains. We figure we will return to Colorado another time to camp. Because we had added a few days here and there in South Dakota and Wyoming, we believe it was best now to “hotel-it” back home, especially since we had so many hours of driving ahead of us.
I picked the Keystone region to start searching first. Something we learned from traveling in the Pacific NW many years ago is that one can find very nice rooms for very good rates at ski resorts during the summer, because it is their low season. And boy, was that a good lesson to learn. We managed to book a two-bedroom/two bathroom condo, with a kitchen and living room, and across the parking lot from an indoor pool and hot tub, for $139/night! A room right on the mountain! The only catch is that we had a ways to go. We both decided it would be worth the miles, we booked it for two nights and sacrificed our stomachs by eating a MacDonald’s dinner in the car. NOTE, this was our FIRST stop at MacDonald’s on the trip.
We got to Keystone at 1am. The condo was a welcome oasis. It had a fireplace, a huge living room with a chess table, king size bed for mom and dad, and beds for the kids. Solomia had to sleep on a cot, because for some reason they booked us a condo with twin beds in the second bedroom, but she didn’t mind at all, she likes the cot. Even when I asked one of the other two to take turns so that Solomia wasn’t always on the cot, she protested and said she preferred the cot…easy kid, God blessed us with her.
The next day is the worst weather we encountered so far. It was non-stop pouring rain. To be honest, the lousy weather was welcomed a little by all of us. We took advantage of the condo, swam in the pool, and took the kids to the movies; Solomia desperately wanted to see the latest Harry Potter and was super delighted to go.
Here’s the funny thing: he we are in a super luxurious ski resort town, with top dining, and we end up cooking in the condo, we were that delighted with the room and just didn’t feel like dealing with a restaurant. Plus, we had a great view of the mountains.
The next day, we reluctantly checked-out of the condo, despite Nina’s request to stay longer, and started our drive home, but not before spending a day in Rocky Mountain National Park. We thought we would just drive through and check out things we’d want to see on a proper visit back. We would be taking the Trail Ridge Road, a thirty-four mile road through the Rockies, ascending up to almost 12,000 feet. Since we are quick learners, the first thing we did was hit the visitor center. There we did pick up the junior ranger books on the off chance that the kids would manage to complete it. Just our luck, we got to the center five-minutes before a ranger talk about the predators of the park, complete with hides and horns. The ranger told us that this was one of the major requirements of the junior ranger program, what luck! This talk is called “Skins and Bones,” and from what we heard from another visitor, this is an age old tradition in the park, she used to take her kids over thirty years ago to the “Skins” talk.
After the talk, we continued our brief visit. We headed for the Alpine Visitor Center, located at the peak of the road, where we hiked up a short tundra trail and got a great view of the mountains. During our hike, the kids continued to complete their junior ranger activities, by observing and discussing what they saw: which was no trees, several glaciers, and beautiful alpine tundra wildflowers. It was pretty cold two miles above sea level, so we were very happy to get back into the car and descend to warmer temperatures. At the east end visitor building, which was noticeably designed by an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright, the kids earned their sixth and final junior ranger badges. Final for this trip, that is.
I had managed to book us a room in Nebraska, and it wasn’t easy. The hotel concierges didn’t know what was going on, either, but many hotels right on our route in Nebraska were booked. After a tasty dinner at a Chipotle (felt like home), we continued a long drive to The Rodeway Inn in Cozad, Nebraska. Danko and I discussed several times how much we knew that this leg of the driving would be one of the hardest, Nebraska at this point isn’t very scenic. So, I read to Danko, the kids played gameboys and fell asleep, and we drove what was to supposed to be a six hour drive to our hotel. Did you pick up on that: “supposed to be?” Apparently Danko missed Wyoming, and instead of going east on I-80 drove west, about 25 miles in the wrong direction after we crossed over from Colorado to Nebraska. To end this painful story sooner, I’ll report that we got to the room at 2am, mountain time, but now we were back in central time, so we lost an hour and got to sleep a bit after 3am.
The bugs in Nebraska are mutants. I’ve never seen such huge meaty bugs. After camping for about ten days in the wild, this hotel room in Nebraska was the first place where I had to hunt down and kill huge crawling insects, which I was tempted to serve up for breakfast! Needless to say, we missed the “extravagant” continental breakfast, which we learned is the very traditional continental: juice, coffee, donut, and bagel if you are lucky. So, we weren’t sorry to sleep in and hit one of the local diners for a late breakfast. The place we picked was slow, because everything was cooked to order and it was worth the wait. The portions were in true American tradition way too big. And so we headed out to cross the other half of Nebraska, cross Iowa, to a room right over the Mississippi River in Illinois.
Iowa was a little more visually interesting than Nebraska. Iowa can’t hold a candle to Wyoming or South Dakota, but it’s terraced farmland and green valleys are a little more appealing than the flat cornfields and scraggly trees of Nebraska. Danko has deduced from several stops that the notion of fast in fast food is a foreign concept in Iowa, and he wanted to warn all future travelers and pioneers (did you get that Lewis and Clark?). We got to our suite in Illinois around 11:30pm, a record time for us. Got up, had a quick dip in the pool, and crossed Illinois into Indiana.
We are about three hours away from Danko’s parents in Parma, Ohio, where our trusted companion Zupa awaits us to take her back to Maryland after a wonderful visit with Baba Lida and Dido Evhen (Grandma and Grandpa).
FINAL POST: WOULD WE DO IT AGAIN?
Without question we would do this trip again. We have seen so much and learned a great deal, about the world in which we live and about each other.
Solomia has learned that “out west is not a desert, cowboys are ranchers, and all about geysers.” She liked Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota the most because she didn’t have to worry about bears and the lake was refreshing. She found it interesting to look out her window, but would have preferred a shorter drive. She managed to practice her violin and finish the final installment of Harry Potter. She says she’d do it again but the next time with her cousins.
Dmytro has learned that (TO BE ADDED, STAY TUNED)
Nina has learned that (TO BE ADDED, STAY TUNED)
What we’ve noticed and learned about our kids:
--they don’t need T.V. to survive
--they travel very well
--they hike very well
--they tent camp very well
--they prefer a tent to a hotel and cooking at the campsite over a restaurant
--redeeming qualities of a hotel: pool
--they appreciate the world in which we live
--they love animals
--they really do love to read
--a book, gameboy, drawing pad, and small action figures keep them busy for weeks
--Dmytro and Nina prefer to sightsee on their feet and not from the car
--they like to shop, but we have learned to talk them down and not indulge
--they collect too many travel pamphlets, especially for each other (Nina keeps picking dinosaur ones for Dmytro and he picks the ones with cute pictures for her)
--Solomia learns very well at lectures (we suspected this, but saw it super in action)
--they are growing up, fast, too fast
Danko has learned that South Dakota is beautiful and Wyoming is even more beautiful. He loved the Badlands, especially climbing on all the rock formations. He enjoyed the animals in Custer and wished we had more time there, especially because of the easy camping and swimming. Is considering buying a Harley and doing Sturgis, SD, for bike week (if you believe this, you really don’t know Danko). Never realized how much he likes rodeos, more fun than a baseball game, but not as much as a football game. He liked the geothermal features of Yellowstone, but didn’t appreciate the crowds, would like to return to see more of the backcountry of Yellowstone.
Darka has learned that her family is a great group of travelers and we can cross the country without a dvd player. I’ve learned that I really have a sick obsession with Starbucks. I have learned that I love Wyoming and South Dakota and gained perspective on that which is the United States of America. I’ve learned that through God’s grace we have been given an awesome earth and we need to take care of it.
A friend who recently lost both his parents said he felt as if his whole past was erased, gone, lost. I know that emotion all too well. However, as I spent many hours in the car, I recalled many happy moments with my parents on our road trips, perhaps that past wasn’t completely lost. I found how much they taught me was being passed on to their grandchildren, and I am very grateful for how they raised me, because I found out on this trip that not only do I adore and love my husband, my kids, and find them to be great company, I found out that I do like who I am and for that I thank Lida and Yarko, who are sorely missed, but never forgotten.
6,380 or so miles of bonding, learning, and living: this is what it is all about!
We thank the Lord to give us this opportunity to experience this trip, in good health and good weather. We pray that sharing our experiences with you will entertain you and perhaps inspire you to make your own adventure, and pray God gives you the same good fortune that He has granted us.
Darka, Danko, Solomia, Dmytro, and Nina Nebesh
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
continuing about Cody
The pictures in the previous post include sculptures in the Buffalo Bill Museum sculpture garden, Nina picked Sacagawea as her favorite, she love Sacagawea, to the point that I had to look at every museum and park bookstore to find her a book about her, a kids' book that is, finally found one and she was delighted.
A few specifics on our visit: the Buffalo Bill museums were way more than expected. We heard it was a large complex, but we assumed it as a large collection of Buffalo Bill’s stuff, from his Wild West Show travels, perhaps childhood memorabilia, and the like. Boy, were we wrong. First of all, the center has five museums, all connected indoors, beautiful done, very accessible, and even though the collections are huge, it is not overwhelming, that’s how well it is put together. The five museums are:
1. Buffalo Bill--his life history, films of his show, memorabilia, and artifacts of his time, including my favorite photo of Annie Oakley that I mentioned earlier
2. Museum of the Plains Indians--a fantastic and comprehensive museum that teaches about the history and culture of native peoples in the plains of N. America; the Smithsonian’s Museum of Native Americans could learn a great deal from this museum, I can’t even begin to explain how wonderful the Cody museum is. It had arifacts, large structures of the various dwellings, including what native peoples moved into after they were forced out of native dwellings. It had great sound bytes, interactive displays, all done in such a way that it doesn’t overwhelm, yet it displays a great deal. I have no idea how they did it, but they did.
3. Natural History Museum: same as above, lots of information, not overwhelming, well thought out displays, accessible information. A note about all the parts so far, often there were little quiet corners with loads of books about the certain section (Indians, Natural History, etc…) where anyone could sit and browse, read, rest.
4. Whitney Art Museum: a wonderful display of fine art depicting the wild American west, history, landscapes, native, so on. It included two reproductions of artists’ studios, Remington’s in NY and another (I’m drawing a blank). It was interesting to see these two artists who are considered experts on America’s west have studios in the east, that looked like they belonged somewhere in Wyoming, South Dakota, Oklahoma, or the like. The only complaint I have about this museum was that the bookstore did not have a comprehensive catalogue of the collection, which I was ready to buy because I fell in love with the art, definitely not celebrated enough in my humble opinion. I think when official shows are put on, such the national Fourth of July, too much is concentrated on either Broadway culture of NYC or something a bit too general to really fit any region of the States, I would like to see students in schools learn more about these American treasures, the artists in this stunning collection. The museum also included a small gallery of contemporary artists, mostly those of the west in USA, but some who have concentrated on the western American culture. Great stuff!
5. For this fifth one, I can’t comment, we were out of time and I did not make time for this part. It is the Firearms Museum. Not of my interest, so I can’t fairly report on it. Danko did take a peek and it didn’t peek his interest, but he said it had lots of lots of guns, including a Gatlin gun. In his opinion, it had too much, but to be fair he took a peek at the end of our visit.
NOTE: the museum entrance fee is good for two days, and I understand why, because you absolutely need more than one day. However, in our four hour visit we got a good taste and a good education, so much that I really can’t put it all in words here. We walked a lot, yet it was relaxing. I cannot stress how much I feel the Smithsonian staff, in fact ALL museum staffs, should visit this museum and get their ideas, philosophies, and somehow incorporate the ideas to fit their own places. Do you all get the idea that we cannot stress enough how wonderful the Buffalo Bill Museum Complex is? A MUST to see for everyone. And I understand our Smithsonian American History Museum is undergoing renovations: think they could copy Buffalo Bill’s place? Now THAT would be awesome.
Okay, so we ate dinner and headed off to the Cody Rodeo, that is part of the professional rodeo circuit, meaning these cowboys and cowgirls make a living from these events.
We had no idea how much we would enjoy the rodeo. The Late Night Rodeo of Cody is geared to visitors and tourists, so they are kind enough to explain the events we watch. We saw amazing cowboy and cowgirl talents: lassoing a calf (important to catch a calf on the range); riding bulls (not sure why one needs to ride a bull, but it was quite a feat); talented western riding, around barrels and such (I forgot the name for it); and finally, the big event, bronco busting. Solomia got a great photo of one. We were told how the way the rider sits, what he or she may do on the ride along with length, no longer than a certain number of minutes depending on the event, determine one’s score. Cowgirls did everything but bull riding and bronco busting (riding a wild or non-broken horse). We saw contestants from various states (none from back east, but Texas, Kansas, Washington state, etc…) saw some young cowboys and cowgirls in the events as well, perhaps some as young as six, it was hard to tell from where we were sitting how old these cowpokes were, but they were tiny.
The kids all wanted to go to another rodeo, alas we won’t have time, but perhaps someday we’ll get to one again, maybe we’ll even start following the circuit on ESPN.
ADDENDUM II
Some thoughts on past postings:
Regarding the federal monetary gift for Crazy Horse, we were not under the impression that if the foundation building the sculpture accepted the money the monument would be government-run. In fact, we were under the opposite impression, that it was a “no-strings attached” gift, a grant. Again, it was not clear in the spiel during the orientation film, during the “give donations” spiel that is. I understand the foundation needs finances, but just after we paid $25 to enter the monument, we were directed immediately to the orientation film, and a good portion of the film was a donation spiel. So, made us a little anxious as to why not take the federal gift. So, that’s some clarification or rather a few more specifics as to the financial state of Crazy Horse Memorial.
Regarding the part in the second post about my “kvetching” about the state of things in the world. I say kvetch with a jest, because as many of you who know me, when I do criticize I always offer an idea for a solution and am always ready and willing to offer any of my energies toward a solution (mine or other). I believe life is too short to settle for mediocrity and we all need to reach for the stars, especially in matters that concern raising our children. A little info for those that didn’t realize that I do realize what I’m saying when I’m saying it and I have a purpose to my actions (a method to my madness, if you will ☺ ).
A few specifics on our visit: the Buffalo Bill museums were way more than expected. We heard it was a large complex, but we assumed it as a large collection of Buffalo Bill’s stuff, from his Wild West Show travels, perhaps childhood memorabilia, and the like. Boy, were we wrong. First of all, the center has five museums, all connected indoors, beautiful done, very accessible, and even though the collections are huge, it is not overwhelming, that’s how well it is put together. The five museums are:
1. Buffalo Bill--his life history, films of his show, memorabilia, and artifacts of his time, including my favorite photo of Annie Oakley that I mentioned earlier
2. Museum of the Plains Indians--a fantastic and comprehensive museum that teaches about the history and culture of native peoples in the plains of N. America; the Smithsonian’s Museum of Native Americans could learn a great deal from this museum, I can’t even begin to explain how wonderful the Cody museum is. It had arifacts, large structures of the various dwellings, including what native peoples moved into after they were forced out of native dwellings. It had great sound bytes, interactive displays, all done in such a way that it doesn’t overwhelm, yet it displays a great deal. I have no idea how they did it, but they did.
3. Natural History Museum: same as above, lots of information, not overwhelming, well thought out displays, accessible information. A note about all the parts so far, often there were little quiet corners with loads of books about the certain section (Indians, Natural History, etc…) where anyone could sit and browse, read, rest.
4. Whitney Art Museum: a wonderful display of fine art depicting the wild American west, history, landscapes, native, so on. It included two reproductions of artists’ studios, Remington’s in NY and another (I’m drawing a blank). It was interesting to see these two artists who are considered experts on America’s west have studios in the east, that looked like they belonged somewhere in Wyoming, South Dakota, Oklahoma, or the like. The only complaint I have about this museum was that the bookstore did not have a comprehensive catalogue of the collection, which I was ready to buy because I fell in love with the art, definitely not celebrated enough in my humble opinion. I think when official shows are put on, such the national Fourth of July, too much is concentrated on either Broadway culture of NYC or something a bit too general to really fit any region of the States, I would like to see students in schools learn more about these American treasures, the artists in this stunning collection. The museum also included a small gallery of contemporary artists, mostly those of the west in USA, but some who have concentrated on the western American culture. Great stuff!
5. For this fifth one, I can’t comment, we were out of time and I did not make time for this part. It is the Firearms Museum. Not of my interest, so I can’t fairly report on it. Danko did take a peek and it didn’t peek his interest, but he said it had lots of lots of guns, including a Gatlin gun. In his opinion, it had too much, but to be fair he took a peek at the end of our visit.
NOTE: the museum entrance fee is good for two days, and I understand why, because you absolutely need more than one day. However, in our four hour visit we got a good taste and a good education, so much that I really can’t put it all in words here. We walked a lot, yet it was relaxing. I cannot stress how much I feel the Smithsonian staff, in fact ALL museum staffs, should visit this museum and get their ideas, philosophies, and somehow incorporate the ideas to fit their own places. Do you all get the idea that we cannot stress enough how wonderful the Buffalo Bill Museum Complex is? A MUST to see for everyone. And I understand our Smithsonian American History Museum is undergoing renovations: think they could copy Buffalo Bill’s place? Now THAT would be awesome.
Okay, so we ate dinner and headed off to the Cody Rodeo, that is part of the professional rodeo circuit, meaning these cowboys and cowgirls make a living from these events.
We had no idea how much we would enjoy the rodeo. The Late Night Rodeo of Cody is geared to visitors and tourists, so they are kind enough to explain the events we watch. We saw amazing cowboy and cowgirl talents: lassoing a calf (important to catch a calf on the range); riding bulls (not sure why one needs to ride a bull, but it was quite a feat); talented western riding, around barrels and such (I forgot the name for it); and finally, the big event, bronco busting. Solomia got a great photo of one. We were told how the way the rider sits, what he or she may do on the ride along with length, no longer than a certain number of minutes depending on the event, determine one’s score. Cowgirls did everything but bull riding and bronco busting (riding a wild or non-broken horse). We saw contestants from various states (none from back east, but Texas, Kansas, Washington state, etc…) saw some young cowboys and cowgirls in the events as well, perhaps some as young as six, it was hard to tell from where we were sitting how old these cowpokes were, but they were tiny.
The kids all wanted to go to another rodeo, alas we won’t have time, but perhaps someday we’ll get to one again, maybe we’ll even start following the circuit on ESPN.
ADDENDUM II
Some thoughts on past postings:
Regarding the federal monetary gift for Crazy Horse, we were not under the impression that if the foundation building the sculpture accepted the money the monument would be government-run. In fact, we were under the opposite impression, that it was a “no-strings attached” gift, a grant. Again, it was not clear in the spiel during the orientation film, during the “give donations” spiel that is. I understand the foundation needs finances, but just after we paid $25 to enter the monument, we were directed immediately to the orientation film, and a good portion of the film was a donation spiel. So, made us a little anxious as to why not take the federal gift. So, that’s some clarification or rather a few more specifics as to the financial state of Crazy Horse Memorial.
Regarding the part in the second post about my “kvetching” about the state of things in the world. I say kvetch with a jest, because as many of you who know me, when I do criticize I always offer an idea for a solution and am always ready and willing to offer any of my energies toward a solution (mine or other). I believe life is too short to settle for mediocrity and we all need to reach for the stars, especially in matters that concern raising our children. A little info for those that didn’t realize that I do realize what I’m saying when I’m saying it and I have a purpose to my actions (a method to my madness, if you will ☺ ).
Monday, July 30, 2007
Day 12 Cody to Yellowstone
Not sure when we'll get access to the internet again, so just posting a quick beginning to this day. We are in the hotel in Cody, about to leave for Yellowstone and stake our claim at a tent site, hopefully relax with the kids by the campfire.
We may not be able to post for at least a week, so don't panic if you don't see updates for a while. If we have a dangerous run in with a grizzly bear, we'll let you know sooner than later! So, no news is good news.
We hope to make it back to Cody sometime this week to hit the Buffalo Bill museum complex and catch a rodeo.
RE: photos, as we posted in the header, we hope to set up a photo album to make downloading photos faster and more accessible. As nice as it is to include visuals in between the text, it seems to be a time-consuming process and we simply have too much to share with all of you.
Thought: we think every person in every country should be required to travel cross country at least once in their lifetime. I think it would help every country find unity and understanding, and tolerance among its own borders, and shouldn't we all start at home when it comes to peace and living together in harmony? Travel as much as you can, that's our motto!
ADDENDUM:
Change of plans and uh-oh and uh-oh II
I will need to fill in a longer blog about Cody, WY, it is late and we are getting up early tomorrow to get a good spot in Yellowstone. So, we decided to hang out here for a day, to rest and get a quicker start the next day. We figured we would swim in the pool, sightsee a little, rest, clean the car, and see the Cody Rodeo....well, let me briefly tell you: we swam, went out to pick up a few things, ate lunch, hit the Buffalo Bill Museum Complex (FIVE museums), ate dinner, and did the rodeo. It was FANTASTIC and if I do not manage to make it back to Cody, WY, one more time in my life I will NOT be happy...so the uh-oh: I fell in love with Wyoming (but no frets, to visit, not to live)
uh-oh II: at the museum and the rodeo the kids revealed two new loves. They LOVE country western music, Dmytro any kind, Solomia likes certain ones, Nina hasn't decided, AND the whole race car career idea of Nina's has taken a second to Cowgirl, as in professional rodeo entertainer.
More later on the wonderful town of Cody, WY. God Bless it, it is an honest, loyal, big hearted town. And very elegant at the same time, just like its larger than life founder, the well-read Willam F. Cody, "Buffalo Bill" (whom I've admired since I was a kid and whom my great grandmother saw in Ukraine in his Wild West Show tour of Europe). OH and before I forget, my absolute favorite photograph in the museum, of a childhood hero: Annie Oakley, sitting in front of her tent, dressed elegantly (long dress, day wear for her time) reading a book. Yipie ya yay...I love this country!
We may not be able to post for at least a week, so don't panic if you don't see updates for a while. If we have a dangerous run in with a grizzly bear, we'll let you know sooner than later! So, no news is good news.
We hope to make it back to Cody sometime this week to hit the Buffalo Bill museum complex and catch a rodeo.
RE: photos, as we posted in the header, we hope to set up a photo album to make downloading photos faster and more accessible. As nice as it is to include visuals in between the text, it seems to be a time-consuming process and we simply have too much to share with all of you.
Thought: we think every person in every country should be required to travel cross country at least once in their lifetime. I think it would help every country find unity and understanding, and tolerance among its own borders, and shouldn't we all start at home when it comes to peace and living together in harmony? Travel as much as you can, that's our motto!
ADDENDUM:
Change of plans and uh-oh and uh-oh II
I will need to fill in a longer blog about Cody, WY, it is late and we are getting up early tomorrow to get a good spot in Yellowstone. So, we decided to hang out here for a day, to rest and get a quicker start the next day. We figured we would swim in the pool, sightsee a little, rest, clean the car, and see the Cody Rodeo....well, let me briefly tell you: we swam, went out to pick up a few things, ate lunch, hit the Buffalo Bill Museum Complex (FIVE museums), ate dinner, and did the rodeo. It was FANTASTIC and if I do not manage to make it back to Cody, WY, one more time in my life I will NOT be happy...so the uh-oh: I fell in love with Wyoming (but no frets, to visit, not to live)
uh-oh II: at the museum and the rodeo the kids revealed two new loves. They LOVE country western music, Dmytro any kind, Solomia likes certain ones, Nina hasn't decided, AND the whole race car career idea of Nina's has taken a second to Cowgirl, as in professional rodeo entertainer.
More later on the wonderful town of Cody, WY. God Bless it, it is an honest, loyal, big hearted town. And very elegant at the same time, just like its larger than life founder, the well-read Willam F. Cody, "Buffalo Bill" (whom I've admired since I was a kid and whom my great grandmother saw in Ukraine in his Wild West Show tour of Europe). OH and before I forget, my absolute favorite photograph in the museum, of a childhood hero: Annie Oakley, sitting in front of her tent, dressed elegantly (long dress, day wear for her time) reading a book. Yipie ya yay...I love this country!
Day 11 - Devil's Tower
(picture of our camp at Custer State Park, Black Hills, SD)
We got up at 6am to shower, pack up our camp and head out to Cody, WY, with a stop off at the only Catholic church we saw in the area. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is a tiny RC church in Keystone, SD. Mass is at 8am, and we camped about 30 minutes from there. So, we needed to get an early start. We made it five minutes after Mass had started, and surprisingly the place was packed, but I suspect mostly with vacationers. It was a lovely service with some heartfelt prayers, despite the singer’s lack of exact intonation, but her enthusiasm (and bravery) shall be praised and honored. I heard someone meet the priest with “Nice to see you here, Monsignor,” I guess he’d be from Rapid City, no clue, if I remember I’ll look it up on the web. Note to fellow Swansfielders: Danko managed to read the name of the other parish priest, his last name is Wirostek…any relation? (Yes, spelled with a W not a V, but I assume that linguistically the names are related, not necessarily family)
After Mass we ate breakfast near the Rushmore Mall, which appears to be a shopping Mecca for many who live miles around Rapid City. Then, we saw an amazing sight: a Starbucks, our first since Ohio (I’m sure Illinois has them, but we saw none in Indiana or Southern Minnesota, but then we saw NOTHING in Southern Minnesota, a sentiment shared by several fellow vacationers with whom we’ve chatted of late). Okay, Starbucks is nothing compared the greatness of God’s earth that we’ve encountered so far, but I really needed decent latte and Danko a well-brewed iced tea (and Solomia is hooked on their teas and juice blends). I shall now defend our vice: we love to experience new things, we will try anything, we aren’t big fans of fast food, and we love to experiment, however, Darka loves coffee and Starbucks does it right, Danko loves ice tea and they never fail to brew a good cup, and the kids have their favorites as well, better that as a treat than chicken nuggets. Yes, it is a chain, yes, some say it is over-priced, etc, etc…but we admit it, we are Starbucks addicts, and we have made peace with that truth. For anyone worrying about our health: Darka doesn’t drink flavored coffee, Danko gets unsweetened ice tea, and the kids dig the organic juices. Not too horrible a vice.
Okay, on to much more exciting adventures, next stop: Devils Tower, Wyoming. WOW!!!!!!!!! Still in the enchanting Black Hills region.
History: so here’s this big rock, familiar to many through the movie Close Encounter’s of the Third Kind. Many theories exist regarding the formation of this huge rock tower, among them Native creation stories, such as it being a rock that rose up high to save seven sisters from a big bear, whose claws made the deep crevices on the side. In one of the versions, the seven sisters decide to escape to the skies, and became a constellation known to us as The Big Dipper, in another version it’s not seven sisters but a group of brothers who kill all but two bears in the area to teach them a lesson that bears shouldn’t harm people, and that is why there are no bears in the Black Hills.
I don’t recall the exact geological theories, so I won’t attempt to explain them here, but I found the ranger’s talk on the history of the area fascinating. So basically the west was a mix of many tribes, some of which were forced out of the east coast of the US back in the 16th and 17th centuries. By the 1800’s there were 22 different native peoples living and fighting in the Wyoming and South Dakota area. The US government had a treaty with the tribes to give them these lands for their own, but col. Custer wrote in a surveying letter that when he pulls grass out of the ground in the Black Hills its roots are covered in gold. Well, this is obvious bunk, but it sure started a group of folks to pine for occupation and ownership of the Hills, so Custer’s small cavalry went up against 30,000 natives. Obviously, he didn’t win, but even though Custer was considered an impossible, uncooperative, selfish, and egotistical man, it was not taken well that the native tribes killed him, and so started another eradication of native peoples on American soil.
I find it interesting that much of the displays and pamphlets in the area give a very Native perspective to history, lots of emphasis on both sides given equal importance and respect and neither side really shown as the more important.
So, continuing the history, how did Devils Tower get its name? Actually, its amusing and maybe some would say kismet. So, the native tribes had various versions of Bear Lodge or Bear House. Col. Dodge came over in the late 1890’s (I think) and since he was not fluent in any of the local languages, he brought along a Native American from the east coast along as an interpreter. Some of you are jumping ahead and guessing what happened: when the name of the tower was asked of a local Native American, the interpreter didn’t hear “Bear’s Lodge” but “The House of the Bad God.” Col. Dodge wrote it down on his surveyor map and went home. Back in DC he figured that “The House of the Bad God” wasn’t an elegant name, so he “Americanized it” (as the ranger put it) and called it Devil’s Tower, which due to a clerical error later became Devils Tower (someone forgot the apostrophe). In 1906, Theodore Roosevelt declared Devils Tower the first national monument. Some have complained that the name should be changed, but that would take an act of congress. It can be done, but this particular ranger, who is of the Devils Tower Historical Society, feels that the name may have been a saving grace for the monument in that it’s intriguing name has brought more visitors versus the name Missouri River Buttes, similar formation 30 miles down the road from Devils Tower, about which very little people know, including this particular man who after thirty years of living in the area saw the Buttes just recently. So, perhaps, that misinterpretation was a good thing, for this tower as a national monument, but others would argue it opened up a whole can of worms.
Some Native communities are arguing that the tower is a sacred place and using it as a recreation area is insulting. This tower is very popular for rock climbers, been so since the end of the 19th century. Some Native Americans think that hammering stakes into the tower is like hammering into a living body. Many Native Americans come to pray at the tower and leave prayer cloths hanging in the trees, we as visitors and the rangers are forbidden to touch these cloths; they are removed only by Native Americans.
The month of June is closed to climbers so that Native communities can hold religious ceremonies at the tower. However, there is a lawsuit in the courts now appealing the decision to close the tower, a national monument, in the month of June for religious reasons because then this would be, as the claimants argue, a sanctioning of a religion by the federal government, which is, according to the lawsuit, unconstitutional. I am on neither side of the argument, but I am curious as to the outcome of this dispute.
NOTE: for future visits to Devils Tower, eat before you go into the park or pack a picnic. Again, we didn’t plan too well, we assumed we could at least get cold drinks up at the visitor center to accompany our picnic, but the visitor center is strictly a small bookstore and small and informative exhibit. We ate at a KOA “restaurant” at the entrance to the park…we should’ve eaten our picnic.
Since we miscalculated our time at Devils Tower, our time of arrival at Cody was 11pm. On our way in we wanted to take the “scenic” route, but due to the late hour decide to take the “not as much to see” route to get to Cody faster, as was recommended by a local who travels from DeSmet Lake to Cody (over 120 miles) for soccer games (that’s dedication, I think Beckham’s mission to make soccer more popular in the states should be an easy mission, although I still think if he were serious about his mission he would’ve done it on the east coast, but that’s another story). So…we drove through Big Horn National Forest, this is some of the “non-scenic” route…we are awed as to what is considered scenic!
Currently, we are at a Days Inn in Cody and we may not be back on-line for a week, but check in occasionally, perhaps there are a few Wi-Fi surprises waiting us in the Yellowstone area.
OH and PS, another good thing to get the kids: small aluminum stools on which to sit around the fire, didn’t want to drag their huge camping chairs, so hoping to pick up some stools tomorrow. So, that’s CamelBak Hydration backpacks, aluminum stools, and odor eaters…the van is taking on an interesting waft, odor, uh…stink that even the TWO Yankee Candle air fresheners cannot conquer, hmmm…perhaps we need to take more advantage of those nice clean free showers at the campgrounds.
Goodnight and sleep tight and hope you are enjoying the blog, please feel free to post comments and share thoughts. Roma, I was excited to read your comment about Wisconsin curds, we aren’t planning to hit WI on the way back home, but maybe next WI visit. ☺ Sounds yummy.
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