Rocky Mountain High

Saturday, 25 July, 2015

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Yesterday we drove to Yellowstone National Park.  Before we left, a colleague loaned me a book about Michael Dowling (the man our school is named for) and his family's trip to Yellowstone by car before there was a road to get there from Minnesota in 1913.  It was a personal narrative by his daughter.  So I read that aloud (the section to Yellowstone is only 40 pages long) to the family and showed them the photos that Ms. Pritchard took on the trip as we drove there.  It was fun to make comparisons of what they experienced compared to what we experienced.  

When we arrived at the park, our first stop was Mammoth Hot Springs.  Joshua was most offended by the sulphur smells!  When the hot water comes up through the limestone, it dissolves calcium carbonate, which is then desposited on the surface to form travertine (the white stuff).   The colors are caused by thermophiles (microorganisms).  Most of the walking is on boardwalks, which makes the walking easier, but doesn’t have the same feel as walking on a dirt trail.  I understand that they do it to protect the soil and plants, but it loses something.     

Then, we were stopped by road construction.  The traffic here alternates between seeing only a few cars to huge back-ups near sites.  At this back-up a ranger came to each vehicle saying that it would be about a 15 minute wait.  So, everyone turned their cars off, got snacks out from the trunk, took photos, took our Frisbees and babies, etc.  We ate our lunch (granola bars, grapes, and carrots—saving the almonds for later on).  Then we were led past two other groups of cars—I guess each group had to take it’s turn. 

Sabertooth Shelbysaurus

Next were the paint pots.  They are primarily the mud that forms.  One of the areas there is called the Red Spouter.  It didn’t exist before 1959.  Before that, it was a grassy knoll.  Then there was an earthquake near Yellowstone (measuring 7.5) in 1959 and the Red Spouter came to be.  It is supposed to shoot out water in the spring, mud in the summer, and steam in the dry fall.  It was just shooting out steam though—must be from all of the dryness out west.

The blue is caused glacier water

this is bubbling--we sang the Beverly Hillbillies theme song in the car

Red Spouter

Red Spouter

Our next stop—Old Faithful.  I believe I was last here when I was about 6.  This and the Old Faithful Inn are what I remember most from that trip (plus having cold cereal and hot chocolate that my mom made in a hot pot in our cabin in the morning; oh, and the blue plastic purse with the attached umbrella).   But, back to 2015.   We saw a lot of people waiting in front of  Old Faithful, so we figured it was almost time.  I found a seat in the front row (knowing that when people stood up to take pictures, I wouldn’t be able to see over them and their cameras).  The man I sat next to welcomed me to the party!  J  Then everyone I was sitting near began trading facts and thoughts about the geyser and checking the official eruption  ETA (though it gave a 17 minute window).   It was so funny, when it started, hundreds of cameras, phones, and iPads were raised.  I took some (OK—a lot of) photos, then put my camera down to enjoy the actual event in person rather than on a screen.  It was amazing to see so many people from all over the world, there to witness a geological phenomenon; no technology required (except for the photos to record the event). 

This is only half the people--see them even in the far distance all the way to the edge of the photo

After the geyser, we went to the Old Faithful Inn.  Randy and I saw a PBS special once on the old lodges of the National Park System and I love them.  They have such an early 1900s sense of grandeur along with rusticness.  

the main lobby

The dining room (the hostess told me how to go upstairs to get the best view,
even though she also allowed me to go in to take photos)

The windows of the dining room

See at the very top near the roof, the little loft area there was
designed by the architect who had a childhood
fairy-tale dream to build a space like that.  People aren't allowed
to go up there anymore because the earlier-mentioned 1959 earthquake
made it structurally unsafe for people to go up there.  (this
information was all provided by Joshua!)

the four-sided fireplace

a writing desk in the lobby

The clock on the fireplace

registration desk

The public bathroom--very fancy!

The front entrance

One of the two wings

After that, we went to our hotel—we were staying at the lodge in Grant Village.  Not one of the great originals, but it was nice and in the park.  We checked in at the registration building, then received our keys (real keys, not keycards) to the Antelope building.  Our keys did not work, which involved me driving back to the registration building, getting different keys and meeting the porter who wanted to make sure that these keys worked (they did).  The hallways reminded me of a dormitory, but the room was nice with thick, fuzzy blankets, a refrigerator, and nice bathroom.  To save waste, the toiletries were in glass pump bottles (and included body wash and liquid hand soap!).  Randy and Shelby took naps (Joshua and I had taken short ones in the car), then we went to dinner (Randy had made a reservation at the restaurant).  I wish I had brought my camera, but it was all wood with wooden beams and more modern chandeliers, but evoked the grand dining rooms of the older lodges.  It also had windows on one wall that looked over Lake Yellowstone.  It was quite pricy, and we all ordered bison burgers.  Then back to our building (quite cold outside) to watch a movie before bed.  No wifi, no internet, no cell service, no air conditioning--but we still had movies! 

Saddle sore

Friday, 24 July, 2015

Washington, Idaho, Montana

Today we are sore from too much sitting in the car.  Other than bathroom, fuel, and food breaks, we only stopped once.  In Washington, off the road, we saw some horse shadows up on the hill.  A side road led to a parking space.  Then, of course, we had to follow the narrow, extremely steep path up to the top to see them.  The path contained a lot of scree so it was slow going both up and down.  Unfortunately, the horses had a lot of graffiti on them, but were kind of cool to see.  

This is about half-way on the path looking down.

This shows the steep path up.

The browns of Washington became green, pine-covered mountains in Idaho, then more brown in Montana.  We criss-crossed the Cross Fork River about 7 times which was weird.  

Tomorrow we will be staying in Yellowstone and will have no wi-fi or cell service, so the next post will be in two days.  Enjoy your weekend!

Labyrinths, flying fish, and trolls

Thursday, 23 July, 2015

Seattle, WA

Today Randy's friend Heather and her husband and daughter Aubrietta took us to show us Seattle.  They picked us up and we headed downtown.  When we arrived there, Heather dropped all of us off and Lawrence took us on the monorail to Seattle Place.  Both are from the Seattle World's Fair in 1962, as is the space needle.  We decided not to go up in the space needle, both because we didn't really care if we did and because it is really expensive.  Joshua just wanted to see it up close and get a model of it in the gift shop to add to his collection.

We saw this on the way to the monorail.  It is water falling in two sheets and you can
walk on a sidewalk in the middle (and only get a little wet).

The Space Needle

 Then there was a park on the other side of Seattle Center (which was filled with artists, booths, and shops).  It was called Artists at Play, Seattle Center Playground.  A very cool, arty playground.

This is the Experience Music Project (EMP) building.

This is a rebus at the center of the labyrinth

A musical toy

You pull on the pool ball and let it bounce back to a pipe

The labyrinth

A swingset

There were short 3 sentence stories by children with their names and ages (mostly aged 5-7)
and brass pictures of the stories, drawn by the children.

A story of the Parasaurolophus and how they
discovered why he had the horn on his head.

The first sentence of one of the stories.

The drawing that accompanied it.

Large flowers

Public art

Our group:  me, Joshua, Randy, Shelby, Lawrence, Abrietta, Heather

Then we drove to the Museum of History and Innovation.  It was a very interactive museum about the history of Seattle.  It is very well done and interesting.  It is in South Lincoln Union park.  Interestingly, there is a tram that stops there.  The locals call it the South Lincoln Union Tram--they ride the SLUT (their word, not mine!)

The lobby of the museum

The lobby

 

Then we were on to Pike Place Market.  We stopped in a Beecher's, a well-known cheese shop to grab lunch (Heather and I had grilled cheese, Randy and Aubrietta had mac 'n' cheese, and Shelby and Joshua had huge baguettes--soft and herby (Lawrence was parking the car).   

He looked so much like a real statue!

The Original Starbucks (almost called Chart House)

The line at Starbuck's

Shelby trying some honey

Flowers were everywhere--it smelled so good!

The well-known Flying Fish
(look carefully--it's in the middle of the photo by the lights)

Next, we drove to a beach on the Puget Sound.

Kite-flying on the beach

We saw a submarine in the Sound! 

Then we drove in an area called Fremont which is very well-off and, according to our friends, very "hippie."  There is a lot of public art--one of them being a troll under the bridge.

This is a real bridge in the troll's hand that the artists covered up.

Shelby and Aubrietta have triumphed over the troll!
(His eye appears to be a hubcap)

Joshua is on his head

Next, we went to Iver's, a seafood place, for dinner.  The food was good, but very expensive (at least compared to places we usually eat).  They brought cornbread with lavender butter (yum).   

Then we went to another creative playground at another park.

We are grateful to our friends for showing us parts of Seattle that we wouldn't have seen otherwise!! Busy day, but we had a lot of fun!   We had a great time and are headed West tomorrow.