Grand Tetons and Points South

Since I last posted, Lois and I left Salmon, ID, on Wednesday morning and followed the Lemhi River South through some beautiful farm country to Idaho Highway 33. At Idaho 33, we turned West and drove to Rexburg, ID. Rexburg has been a familiar place name in my family for years. When my brothers and I were young we all heard tales of Rexburg from our father, who worked a season in a sugar beet processing plant in Rexburg in the late 1920's. When I worked in Yellowstone in 1968, my mother and father came to visit. While there, daddy made a day trip to Rexburg. I remember his saying how little Rexburg had changed in the 40 years since he worked there. If daddy could see Rexburg now, after another 40 years, I don't believe that he would talk about how little it has changed. Today's Rexburg is a modern small city complete with a big WalMart and all the other trappings of modern life.

From Rexburg, we drove West, watching thunderstorms in the mountains, and crossed the Tetons just south of Jackson, WY. From Jackson, we drove north to Moose, WY. After a quick visit to the new Visitors Center (where I took this picture of the resident moose),we drove to the home of our friends Ann and Lee Izard, who live in the park. We got in to their place around 4:00 p.m. and set up our motor home in their driveway. We chatted with Lee for a while until Ann got home from work. We continued talking and bringing each other up to date on the events in our families since we saw Lee and Ann last year. Ann prepared a tasty dinner, and we chilled out for the rest of the evening.

Thursday morning we got a rather late start, and drove to the Death Canyon trail head. Although the name sounds ominous, the trail that we took was an easy 2-mile loop which lead to an overlook of Phelps Lake, one of the many alpine lakes at the base of the Tetons.
After our hike, we returned to Lee and Ann's for lunch, where we visited a few minutes with Carolyn Richard, a friend of ours from Grand Canyon days. Then we rested a while, and took a walk in the vicinity of their house. We had planned to take the newly opened ferry across the Snake River, but it wasn't operating.Instead, we walked to the new Visitor Center which had just opened. Even though we had been there the day before, we spent quite a while taking in all of the exhibits that we hadn't taken the time to enjoy on our first visit. I'll have to say, the new Visitors Center at Grand Teton is the most impressive visitors center of any National Park which I've visited. On the way back to their house, we got a chance for a short visit with Mallory and Patrick, old friends of ours from Grand Canyon.

Thursday evening we had an early dinner at Dornan's, across the river from their house and then took a drive to try to spot some wildlife and take some sunset pictures. We did see a few elk and some bison, but the sunset was the real star of the evening. There were enough clouds and some smoke from forest fires on the Idaho side to make for some really beautiful shots.

This morning, I got up early and walked to the Chapel of the Transfiguration (maybe 1/4 mile) from their house to get some shots of the chapel and the mountains at sunrise. I remember vividly the chapel from a trip that Lois and I made to Grand Teton when we worked at Yellowstone 40 years ago. It's no less beautiful and inspiring today than it was 40 years ago.

Lee and Ann are such dear friends and gracious hosts that we hated to leave, but we left Grand Teton around 9:30 a.m. and drove South along the Snake River and then East on U.S. 30. Around noon, we made a quick stop at Fossil Butte National Monument and were really impressed with the volume, variety and intricacy of the fossils that have been discovered in that area. From Fossil Butte, we continued West until we intersected with I-80 a little West of Green River, WY. After a short drive East on I-90 to Rock Springs, we turned South again on U.S. 191, skirting the East side of Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. After climbing up to a high plateau, we continued South until we began our descent to the Flaming Gorge Dam. After crossing the dam, we climbed again over a pass until we descended to Vernal, UT, where we're spending the night.

Tomorrow, we plan on a short visit to Dinosaur National Monument and a drive into northwestern Colorado. We'll meander South, intersecting I-70 around Grand Junction. At that point, we'll make a decision whether we'll swing through Moab, UT on our way South or go down through Telluride and Dolores, CO. I don't think we can lose either way we go.

By the way, our daughter Elizabeth and son-in-law Steven are in South Africa for a visit as I write this. We've had e-mail that they are well and having a great time. They are keeping a journal which is far more literate and artistic than mine. Take a look, and I'm sure you'll agree.
http://schindleradventures.blogspot.com/

Glacier and Points South

Monday morning, Lois and I left the RV park outside of Glacier NP by 8:00 a.m., which is early for us. We had light rain most of the night and drove to the park under threatening skies. We went first to the campground inside the park at Apgar Village and found a vacant campsite. We then caught a shuttle bus to the park's new transit center where we waited about an hour for another shuttle bus to take us to Logan Pass, the high point on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The scenery was really outstanding, but by the time we reached the pass, rain had set in, and the clouds were so low that many of the peaks surrounding the pass were obscured. We went inside the visitors center and found out that we had to wait outside for another shuttle bus to take us to St. Mary's, which is on the other side of the park. While waiting outside, the wind picked up to about 20 mph, and the rain changed to blowing sleet. We beat a hasty retreat to a shelter by the visitors center and went outside again only when we saw the bus coming.

The shuttle to St. Mary's was a bigger bus, and the weather on that side of the park had not yet deteriorated, so we could see more of the sights than we saw climbing up to Logan Pass. Still, we didn't get off the shuttle at any of the stops, because another wouldn't be along for 30 minutes and we didn't know how long the weather would hold up. So, I resorted to taking photos through a dirty window from a moving van. Still, I got a few decent pictures. Digital cameras with image stabilization are amazing and well worth the money.

Because it was so windy and cold, we spent only about 30 minutes in St. Mary's before we caught the van back up to Logans Pass. Logans Pass was still "socked in", so we got off one shuttle and right on another for the ride back down to Apgar. We got to the transit center about 3:30 and walked to the village, where we did a little shopping and browsing. Apgar is on Lake McDonald, which is bordered by some of the most dramatic mountains in North America. So while Lois finished shopping, I went down to the lake to take some pictures. The clouds were still around, but the rain had stopped, and I think I got some pretty nice shots.

Because of all our shuttle riding, we had missed lunch. This meant we were looking forward to an early dinner. So we walked back to our motor home in the campground, and cooked some burgers on the grill. After dinner, I walked back down to the lake to see if I could get some good sunset shots, but the clouds were still so heavy that sunset was essentially a non-event. This morning I tried again for sunrise, but with the same results.

All-in-all, our visit to Glacier was less than we had hoped for. Despite the weather, we could see enough, though, to tell that it's a fabulous place that we would like to visit again. Next time, we'll plan for more mobility and hope for clearer weather. It's hard to be too disappointed with the rain, however, because it helped a lot with the numerous forest fires which have been plaguing the area.

We left Glacier this morning around 8:00 a.m. and started driving South toward Missoula, MT. We skirted the east shore of Flathead Lake, a gorgeous lake ringed by mountains, which is billed as the largest fresh water, natural lake east of the Mississippi River. After Missoula, we continued South through Polson (where we shopped at the "Three Dog Down" factory outlet, and continued South into Idaho driving in the lovely Bitteroot Valley most of the way and the equally lovely Salmon River Valley the rest of the way. Tonight, we're camped on the banks of the Salmon in a commercial park in the quaint little town of Salmon, Idaho. Tomorrow, we'll veer Southeast and then turn east into Wyoming for a visit with our friends Lee and Ann Izard at Grand Teton NP. Ann worked with me at Grand Canyon, and she and Lee moved to Grand Teton a couple of years after I left. We're looking forward to seeing these good folks and revisiting what is truly one of the earth's special places.

More later.

Rainy Days and Sundays

Today was one of the rare rainy days we've had on our trip. It started raining during the night last night, rained lightly almost all day, and is still raining now as I write. From what I hear, the area needs the rain to help put out some forest fires, but we're hoping that they taper off before tomorrow so that they won't interfere with our big sightseeing day in Glacier NP. We're camped tonight in a commercial RV park in Hungry Horse, MT (the name is much more exotic than the town appears to be) 10 or 15 miles from the park entrance. In the morning, we're planning on driving the motor home to the park and catching the park shuttle bus for the route over the "Going to the Sun Highway", which is touted by some as one of the most beautiful drives in the world. We have to take the shuttle bus because our motor home is prohibited from driving the narrow, winding mountain road.

Today was a fairly routine driving day, punctuated by an experience that we won't soon forget. Because it's Sunday (hence the clever title "Rainy Days and Sundays"), we planned to look for a Methodist church along the way so that we could attend services. We were on the northeast outskirts of Spokane, WA, about 9:45 when we had to stop for gas. Since it takes a while to fill a 55 gallon gas tank, I thought I would multitask and see if our GPS could find a Methodist Church in the vicinity. So I got back in the motor home and typed Methodist Church. It returned a whole list of Methodist churches, including one which was on our route about five miles from the gas station. It even gave us the church's phone number. I asked Lois to call the number to see if they were having a 10:00 a.m. service. She called, and according to their phone message, they were having a 10:00 a.m. service. After I completed filling the gas tank, I asked the GPS for directions, and we were on our merry way. We followed the directions to the letter, pulled into the church's parking lot a few minutes after ten and parked in the rear.

We didn't notice a sign outside the church but didn't think much about it. We walked quickly through the rain into the narthex, asked some young people we saw where the services were being held, walked into the sanctuary and, like all good Methodists, took a seat on the back row. We both noticed that the congregation was dressed much more formally than we were accustomed to seeing, especially in the West, but thought perhaps it was a Spokane thing. When we sat down, a young woman was standing at the pulpit giving a tearful testimony. Behind her, in what appeared to be the choir loft, several men, dressed in coats and ties, were sitting. This struck us as somewhat unusual, but again, we didn't think too much about it. However, when the young woman was followed by a man in a business suit who began to talk about "greetings from the Bishop", and "how well the stake was doing", we began to get suspicious. What really gave it away, however, was when he talked about reading from the Book of Morman. I whispered to Lois, "We're in a Mormon service." She asked if I wanted to leave, and I said yes. We quietly, but quickly exited. When we drove around in front of the church. sure enough, the engraved sign on the corner of the church building read, "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."

For the next couple of hours, we chuckled about Niles, the voice of our GPS, leading us astray. I concluded that perhaps Niles is Morman and intentionally led us to his church in an effort to convert us. I think I'll offer Niles a cup of coffee in the morning just to check him out.

The rest of today's trip was less exciting but more scenic. Almost all the way across the panhandle of Idaho and for over 100 miles into Montana, the road follows scenic river valleys. The rain followed us most of the way, but we still saw some gorgeous sights and even got out to take a short hike from the highway to Kootenai Falls on the Kootenai River. The view of the falls and the walk across a narrow swinging bridge suspended 50 feet over the river were definitely worth the short hike in the rain.

Tonight we stopped in Kalispell, MT, for groceries, took advantage of the first RV park that we came to, had a nice spaghetti dinner in the motor home and will turn in early. If the weather cooperates, we're hoping tomorrow will be one of those memorable days spent admiring God's handiwork.

More later.

Trip Resumption

As Willie would say, we're "On the Road Again".

After a couple of weeks in Atlanta, where we roasted in 100 plus temperatures after having our central air go caplooey, we flew back to Seattle on Wednesday. Our next door neighbor and surrogate daughter, Jasenda, was kind enough to take us to the bus stop early Wednesday morning. We rode the the bus to the Five Points Marta Station and then the train to the airport. Steven and Elizabeth picked us up at the airport in Seattle, and we went directly to Safeco Field to see the Mariners play an afternoon game with the Minnesota Twins. Lance Barksdale, Major League umpire and son of our good friends Bob and Margaret Barksdale of Jackson, MS, was on First Base and was kind enough to get great tickets for the four of us. Although the Mariners lost, it was a fun afternoon.

After the game, we walked from the stadium to Steven and Elizabeth's apartment just west of downtown Seattle. The horizontal distance from the stadium to the apartment is not that bad--about a mile or mile and a half, I suspect--but the vertical distance is a killer. Luckily, Steven and Elizabeth have figured out which buildings in the downtown area have inside escalators that you can enter on one street and exit on a higher street. That saved us some pretty steep climbs.

Lois and I were bushed and jet-lagged after the game, since we had gotten up at 1:45 a.m. Pacific Time to make it to the airport, so we flaked out pretty early.

Thursday we were lazy for most of the day until we went shopping around noon. We bought some linens for the cabin in Taos and then went to Trader Joes for some essentials like chocolate chip cookies for Taos as well.

Thursday evening after work, Emily came by Steven and Elizabeth's. Elizabeth wanted to take some family pictures, since we all have not been together at one time for quite a while. We went to the roof of their apartment building, and Elizabeth took some pictures of the whole group, and I took some pictures of my three girls. Maybe Elizabeth will send me some of the pictures she took and I'll post one of those to the blog as well.

We had a good dinner at one of our traditional favorites, "Old Spaghetti Warehouse", and then Emily took Lois and me, along with a car load of luggage and linens to Port Townsend with her. For those not familiar with the Puget Sound area, this involves taking a ferry across the sound and driving a considerable distance, which Emily does every day. We got in around 11:00 p.m., and went right to bed in our motorhome, which we had left parked in Emily's yard.

Friday, we puttered around for most of the day repacking the motor home for our trip back east, dumping the holding tanks, etc., while Emily spent the day working from home. We had a nice lunch at a little restaurant down by the marina in Port Townsend. Late in the afternoon, Lois and I combined taking Emily's two boxers, Stella and Annie, for a walk with a trip to the local supermarket. They're active dogs, but a lot of fun.

This morning we left Port Townsend around 10:00 a.m., drove to the ferry which goes to Edmonds, WA, and went north from Edmonds to Everett, WA, where we picked up U.S. Highway 2 to head east. Highway 2, which runs from the west coast all the way to Bar Harbor, Maine, is one of the old transcontinental routes like Route 66. We're not going all the way to Bar Harbor this time, but will take it all the way to Glacier NP in Montana. The route from Everett through the Cascades was beautiful, but less so, I thought, than the Highway 20 route which we took west. We did stop for one beautiful waterfall alongside the road.

Leaving the Cascades, you drive along the Wenatchee River to its confluence with the Columbia through one of the most productive fruit growing regions in the country. Of course we had to stop for a basket of fresh fruit straight from the orchard which we enjoyed with our dinner tonight.

After leaving the Columbia valley, you're back in wheat growing country. Most of the wheat had been harvested between the time we went to Seattle and our return. Still the scenery is stunning. The rolling hills covered by golden wheat stubble in patterns left by the combines is really beautiful. We stopped several times for pictures along the way.

Tonight we're camped at a very small RV park in a very small town in Eastern Washington. When I turned my computer on, I was surprised to see that the RV park or someone nearby has an unsecured wireless network that I could access.

Tomorrow night at this time, we plan to be camped in or near Glacier NP.

More later.