Epilogue

July 9th-As we are enroute to Colorado Springs, I am numb with emotion.  I have thought of what this moment would be like many times.  It was hard leaving the Tetons knowing this was the end of our journey.  It has been a wonderful journey and kind of like having children:  it was the best thing and hardest thing we have ever done.  We saw amazing places and I’m so grateful for the incredible country we live in and the sacrifices of those who came before us.  It was a joy to see Janae and Stefan connect with each other in creative ways as they collaboratively made numerous moss huts, Indian and sand villages.  Each place has a beauty all its own and it became a joke that mommy never wanted to leave each place.  The old and new friends we met along the way were as beautiful as the scenery helping us create a tapestry of stories and experiences that will be with us forever.   

I have a sense of joy and peace for all we have seen and experienced.   I’m grateful for the lingering moments.  I so want to cherish intimate and quality time with my family void of outside competition. I also am experiencing a sense of grief and loss as I know these lingering moments will come even farther and fewer as we return to the tyranny of schedules, work and activities.  I regret the tension and conflict along the way and wish it would have been smoother. 

The numerous bike and boat rides all over the country were awesome and I hope that as the months and years unfold, we will all count our lives richer and deeper for  having stepped out of the mainstream this year to discover our country and ourselves.

stopped to see Grandma and Grandpa on way home.

I loved having Miss Jim B adorned with handwritten scriptures

Nanny Ruth, we missed you and are so glad to see you!

Grand Tetons

Grand Tetons-July 5-9-.We spent three great days in the Grand Tetons.  It is a gorgeous place with spectacular scenery.  On Thursday, we spent most of the day getting here from Yellowstone.  Even after all these months traveling, it hasn’t gotten much easier and we haven’t gotten much quicker on moving days.  We decided to have me drive ahead in the car to secure a campsite at Colter Bay.  Mark was following me and I turned at West Thumb instead of going straight into Grant’s Village.  Mark unhappily couldn’t turn Miss Jim B around so he and Stefan had to drive to Bay Village.  Turned out to be a blessing in disguise as he was able to get a temporary fix on our fridge and fixed the pump on the water filter.  Janae and I drove ahead, enjoyed the great views and scoped out the area.  We enjoyed the best pizza ever at the Leek’s Marina Pizzeria. 

Views coming into Colter Bay

The best pizza at Leek's Marina

 On Friday we took off late morning and drove the scenic loop around Jenny Lake and then took the boat shuttle across the lake to hike Cascade Canyon.  Met a really neat couple from New Mexico.  A gorgeous hike but Stefan wasn’t into it today.  Both he and Janae need new shoes plus I just think everyone but me are ready to go home.  A special moment was when Janae and I met up with Mark and Stefan after we had hiked a bit further.  Stefan had been grumpy the whole hike but when he saw me, he grabbed my hand and we enjoyed walking hand in hand the rest of the way.  We talked more about his lego village and his ideas to maybe change it to an Indiana Jones or Njanga theme.

After the hike, we drove to Teton Village and took the free gondola to the top.  A live band and restaurant waited for us.  Janae and Stefan loved their Shirley Temples and we devoured the terriaki edamames.   The  highlight was watching Janae and Stefan laugh histerically while their father imitated and sang along with the band.

Next we were on a moose hunt and as we drove home, we saw a mother with two babies far off in the distance, two large bucks along the river and then two younger bucks right under the bridge in you got it, the town of Moose.  It’s times like this that I really wished I had a great camera.  Some of these people have telephoto tubes that go on and on.  I did manage to ask a couple of these folks if they would email me a couple shots.  So maybe we’ll get some good animal photos.

On Saturday, I took the kids all day while Mark got some alone time to fish and practice.  We drove to Jackson and enjoyed a couple great overlook points along the way.  The alpine slide was our destination.  Albeit overly priced, it was truly a blast.  Janae and Stefan got to go down twice.  Wished we could have gone unlimited times.

Jackson is a cool little western town named after an early trapper.  We all loved the antler arches.  These are picked up by the boy scouts on the elk reserve and then auctioned off in May.  Japan is a big buyer.  Moo’s ice cream is an absolute must and Stefan loved the fact that his hero, Harrison Ford lives here.

Next up was a scenic raft ride where we met in Moose at 5:30.  This was something that I had wanted for my birthday as I had heard so many wonderful things about this experience.  It started off as a glorious evening with beautiful views on the Snake River.  We sat next to a nice family with two boys from California.  Shortly into the ride and soon after this picture was taken, the storm clouds let loose and boy did we get it.  Not just a little rain but pelting that hurt so much  we all huddled in our green borrowed ponchos to wait it out.  It was a long hour down the river not seeing anything but the tops of our shoes.  Andy the guide earned his keep as it wasn’t easy guiding this boat in these conditions while he got soaked.  The storm stopped just when the trip was over.  I was so proud of Janae and Stefan.  They had the best attitudes.  Stefan loved laying on the floor of the boat and kept saying this is the best ride ever.  Janae said it could be worse and at least we’re not Pilgrims on the Mayflower.  Plus I got to see eagles tonight and that was great.  Andy the guide was most appreciative of their positive comments since half the boat didn’t say anything on the whole trip. 

In addition to seeing eagles, we did learn the difference between a raven and crow.  As Andy humorously pointed out, it’s just a matter of o-pinion how they’re different.  The ravens have five feathers called pinions at the end of their wings and crows have four.  We learned the snake river was named because the early explorers named the Shoshones the snake Indians because they would move their hands in a snake like fashion when talking.  On our way to pick-up Mark, the lighting was glorious and we even had a rainbow put the finishing touch on our great day.

Sunday, I had lost my steam in organizing so we didn’t make the best use of our time.  I practiced in the morning and then we missed the campground church.  Janae planned a nice service. She picked bible verses that we each read when the frisbee was thrown to us and then we picked a hymn to sing.  We left to have more pizza at the marina and try to finish our Jr. Ranger booklets.  We were on the fence whether to go on the complimentary raft ride again or rent a boat to go on Lake Jackson.  After visiting the Jackson Lodge and doing a short hike by String Lake, we received a great endorsement from some nice locals to go out on Jackson Lake.  We raced back to the marina in time to get a boat. We all enjoyed the beautiful views and venturing onto an island.  I was perfectly content but Janae and Stefan had hoped for a bit more pick-up in our transportation.  We kind of putzed along.

After stopping at the visitor center to receive our Jr. Ranges, attend a short history presentation, and shopping for souvenirs and food, we went back to our campsite.  We cooked an awesome meal of potatoes, beans and hamburgers over the open fire.  Absolutely delicious!!! We wrapped up our journey with sharing highlights from the year while roasting chocolate marshmallows.

Since we hope to come back here again, a few things to remember.  We liked our campsite of #J186. 183 was good too.  Next time, check if water sites will be open.  Will want to visit Triple X ranch for tour, rent boats or paddle boards to float in String Lake, visit Morman row, hike Garnet or Paintbrush canyon and sit and wait on the deck of the Jackson Lodge for wildlife.  We never really got to see a grizzly and there was a mom and her babies that frequented behind the lodge.  Wished we would have gone in the evening of our last night.  Also, may want to come for 4th of July for rodeo and gun reenactment.  If not, check and see if have reenactment another time.  Also, do another raft trip with Solitary Raft Company.

Yellowstone

Sunset as we head towards Yellowstone

June 26-July 5th-We arrived very late about midnight at the Madison Campground in Yellowstone that we had booked in January.  One reason we arrived so late is that we stopped to see longtime friends Lynn and Keith Petersen in Helena, MT.  I had met Lynn on an airplane years ago when we were both commuting to our university music faculty positions in Minnesota.  We became fast friends.  Lynn now teaches at Carrol College and it was wonderful reconnecting after all these years. 

We awoke late on my birthday to great sun and a nice roomy campsite.  I practiced and then after lunch, I was to pack for a special surprise. I was taken to the Yellowstone Lake Lodge for an overnight and dinner.  Janae and Stefan were so cute.  They had coordinated that they all wore blue and Stefan was excited to wear his tie.  The room only had a double bed in it and Stefan and Janae made up beds on the floor while I was showering.  Stefan said, “Mom what side are you sleeping on, I want to sleep next to you.”

Our backyard vies

We didn’t end up spending the night because it wasn’t as comfortable as Miss Jim B and when Mark told me how much it was costing, I asked if we could use the money for a horseback ride or raft trip down the river.  They were nice enough to give us our money back and we went out for a lovely dinner at the lodge.  The lodge was very nice with great lake views and background piano music.  It even had peach walls.   I’ll always remember how fun it was to explore the lobby and artwork with Stefan holding my hand while he was sporting his cowboy boots and tie. 

Our dinner was delicious.  For starters they served crackers with a huckleberry cheese and my salad had huckleberry balsamic with roasted hazelnuts.  Awesome!  Mark and I split bison tenderloin and pasta with salmon.  What was special was that Janae, Stefan and Mark verbally shared loving thoughts about me.  Stefan said that I played with him, wasn’t too strict and that I was fun.  Janae said that I was kind, fun and that I wasn’t a perfect housekeeper and Mark thanked me for all the life, organization/planning and beauty that I brought to our home.  Janae and Stefan had their best manners on and I was serenaded by the waiters to the tune of “Oh Give Me A Home, Where the Buffalo Roam.”  Very appropriate we would see as the week would unfold.

We liked Yellowstone and we had awesome warm, sunny weather. However, I think we had all hit the wall by the time we got here.  Mark and Janae had colds and I had a hard time getting people up and going in the morning.  The kids were campaigning to return home. The park was so big and I wasn’t as efficient with organizing our days. It was nice though that I could get my practicing done first thing in the morning.  But we were all a little testy with each other and weren’t the best in the relational department.

What we liked most about Yellowstone was the wildlife and the thermal activity.  We learned a large part of the park is a giant caldera (formed from the top of an ancient volcano blowing a 30 by 40 mile valley).It was 10,000 times bigger than Mt. Saint Helens!  Since the magma is 3-4 miles underground, this creates a lot of thermal activity such as hot springs, geysers, fumarols and mud pots.  The prismatic hot springs and morning glory were the prettiest with all the different colors of bacteria living in them.  We learned that only 1% of the 10,000 microbes have been identified.  One of these identified microbes was used by a scientist in the 1960’s in discovering DNA testing.  We enjoyed seeing Old Faithful erupt twice and walking around the Upper Geyser area at sunset.  When we first saw them, Stefan said, “I think this is my favorite national park.”  Unfortunately, his enthusiasm waned after I tried to get us to see the Grand Geyser erupt and it became a timing and patience test.  We tried a few times to see it and we always just missed it.  I got upset because we didn’t have to just miss it.  At any rate, it was frustrating but we did eventually see the Giant geyser go off and almost saw the Lone Star.  The fumarols just let out steam and the mud pots were very entertaining with their blurps, squirts and splats. 

Castle geyser



                                      

                                                             

Prismatic Springs

One afternoon we went driving around looking for the best swimming hole and we stopped and enjoyed a spot along the road while Mark fished upstream.  It was fun being the mama express  carrying Janae and Stefan on my back upstream so we could ride the current down.  It turned out that the best place was our campground.  It was over the hill and we were there three days before we discovered this gem of a spot.  The Firehole and Gibbon rivers converge into the Madison and it was just a beautiful place and a great place for cooling off (though the water was really warm in spots).  Janae and Stefan began learning to fly fish here and this is the spot where the meeting took place to establish Yellowstone as the first national park.  Pretty amazing that 90 countries followed suit and there are now over 1200 national parks/reserves in the world.  It makes me proud of my American roots that barely a100 years old, our forefathers and leaders were thinking ahead this way for future generations.  What an incredible gift that we should always cherish.

Swimming hole along the road

                                                   

                                           Madison Campground Swimming Hole

                                                        

We drove a lot and encountered lots of buffalo along the way.  Several times they were right by the car and in the road.  The little calves were so cute.  One morning I went to practice and the whole valley around the campsite was covered with hundreds of buffalo.  One by one the mothers and their babies walked passed me as they migrated from the top of the hill to the valley  pasture.  The prettiest place I think in the park was around our campsite and the Lamar Valley.  We were there in the evening and it’s a magical place with beautiful lighting.  We didn’t see much wildlife beside the buffalo but this would be a place we would want to go again.  One day, we saw two bull elks fairly close to the road.  We got out of the car to take pictures and we’re amazed by the brashness or stupidity of tourists who got within 5 feet of these creatures.  They didn’t seem to be aggressive but it was frustrating to see people so insensitive to the animals and other people.  We would have loved to see a grizzly but never did.  We did see a black bear and her two cubs at dusk one night.

View from my practice room

Taking over the campground

                                             

                                            Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

The rocks had a yellowish tint, thus the name Yellowstone

                                                       

                                                      

Gorgeous Lamar Valley in the magical evening light

                                                          

We hiked one day to the top of Mt. Washburn.  It was a nice hike and enjoyed seeing the firehouse at the top.

On our way up Mt.Washburn

The wildflowers were beautiful at the beginning of the hike.

One day we spent the day in West Yellowstone grocery shopping and doing laundry.  We loved eating the best burritos in this restored school bus.  What a great idea!

Church at the Madison Campground amphitheatre. This is the spot where meeting took place to establish Yellowstone as the first national park.

The fourth of July we debated in leaving for the Tetons but were afraid we wouldn’t get a campsite so we stayed put.  Janae, Stefan and I enjoyed going in the hot spring pool over the hill.  It was so nice to be the only ones enjoying this beautiful spot.  We then had lunch and left to go see the Grand Geyser which was like a kind of a firework in it’s own right.  We took our bikes and rode the trail to the Lone Star geyser.  It was a beautiful trail along the river that went to this secluded spot where this geyser was.  Impatience and family tensions caused us to leave 10 minutes before this erupted.  We stopped home for a quick supper and then headed into West Yellowstone for fireworks.  On the way, Mark had scoped out a great place for fly fishing.  It was fun watching them all wading in the water fishing together.  Stefan was the only one who caught one.  The fireworks were very good and it was so nice how laid back and uncrowded the experience was.  Very enjoyable and relaxing.  On the way home, a full moon shone brightly against the black sky.

                                                            

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Next time we come to Yellowstone, I would like to make advance reservations for the chuck wagon dinner at the Roosevelt Ranch by Lamar Valley.  We heard it was really good food and entertainment but it was booked and I couldn’t get a guaranteed spot.  Also would like to spend more time in Lamar Valley watching longer.  We drove a lot and did a lot of back tracking.  Next time, would like to drive the entire figure 8.  We missed the upper portion between Mammath and Roosevelt and the West Thumb basin area.