20 Jan 07 Mammoth Hot Springs

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20 Jan 07 Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Back to Wallaceburg and the start

Once again we were on the road in time to enjoy the sunrise in our rearview mirror. It was less spectacular than yesterday but enjoyable nonetheless. Our first mission was to find chains for the tires. To that end we drove to a Honda dealership in Sheridan, Wyoming. They directed us to a tire shop down the road. The manager there told us that our tires were a very unusual size and no one carried chains for them. We decided to try in Billings, Montana anyway. Before that however, we visited the Little Bighorn Battlefield site.

It was nearly deserted and very cold, but we both found it very moving. There are two memorials – one erected by the US Army, to the memory of the soldiers who died there, and one by the American Indians to the memory of the men, women and children who died there in defence of their way of life. There are memorial stones scattered across the area showing where soldiers and warriors fell. The small museum is excellent too. From there we headed to Billings, MT and really lucked in . We found a tire store that was open ( unusual on a Saturday afternoon [ in these parts ] and they directed us to their supplier who had the cable chains we needed in stock. We could breath easier with those in our possession for sure. We had lunch in Billings and struck out for Yellowstone National Park. As we neared our turn off the weather really began to deteriorate and we drove the 50 miles to Gardiner, MT in heavy snow. Once into the park [ back in Wyoming ] it was quite treacherous driving, winding through the hills. However we found the hotel, signed on for a 2-night package including 2 tours for tomorrow and a private hot tub session. Delicious dinner in the dining room and a early night. We even saw elk grazing around the hotel here in Mammoth Hot Springs.

[ A very moving photo of part of the memorial to the Indians who died at the Battle of Little Big Horn:

All Pictures 20 January

21 Jan 07 Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone

An early start to catch the “ Wake Up the Animals tour [that took off] at 6:45. We and another couple were taken [ in the dark ] to Lamar Valley (the Serengeti of Yellowstone ). We saw many, many bison and elk, some quite close to the vehicle. We also saw lots of ravens. The high point though, was watching 4 wolves as they scouted a herd of elk and the elk used various tactics to fend them off. While Larry was on the road watching [ eyes in the binocs ], 2 coyotes trotted past him about 10 feet away. Overhead a couple of bald eagles soared and swooped. The whole trip was amazing and the scenery was spectacular. We wee back at the hotel around 10:15 and did a quick trip to the Visitors Center to get trail maps. We walked to a couple of the hot springs near the hotel here at Mammoth then picnic’d in our room. After lunch we headed out on a tour to the Noris Geyser Basin (VIDEO). We had the same guide, Paul, but a very different experience. A van picked us and a family of 5 up at the hotel at 12:15, but it only took us a couple of miles. We transferred to a Bombardier snow-cat vehicle and were issued with ear plugs. We then proceeded over hard-packed snow roads, stopping at a few points of interest. There were few animals, none close up. But there were amazing hot springs and areas with many steam vents across a pretty broad area. We saw frozen waterfalls and steaming streams full of [ tropical ] vegetation. There were snow drifts and areas where the ground was hot enough that the snow didn’t stay on it. At the Norris Basin we hiked for about an hour and saw many manifestations of geothermal activity – several “constant spouters” – small geysers that sploosh out water every few seconds or minutes, and steam most of the time. The most impressive was Steam Boat Geyser. It had several 10 foot eruptions while we watched and many smaller ones. It apparently has 70 foot eruptions fairly often and “major” (!?!) every few years. Then a noisy rough ride back to the hotel by about 4:45. [ a few drink in the room, dinner, and that free hot tubing, a musical slide presentation from a guide, put us to bed real early.

All Photos 21 January

22 Jan 07 Yellowstone WY to Nelson, BC

Up early to be in the dining room when breakfast started at 6:30, then out the slippery road from the park. Along the park road we saw a herd of bison at the edge of the road, and then had to stop for a buck elk standing on the road. Another one crossed just ahead of us. The weather was deteriorating, so we headed directly for Nelson. The Interstate was fine to Coeur d’Alene, but going north the smaller roads were a bit dicey [ horrible ] but we got to Nicole and Chris’s shortly after dinner time. Chris was shoveling out parking for us when we arrived, but their driveway was pretty heavy going.

23 Jan 07 Nelson, BC
Wonderful day discovering how grown up and clever Somer is. Both Nicole and Somer are suffering from a bad cold, so are laying low. But Somer loves to read books and is acquiring new words at a n amazing rate. She loves to find our the names of things and then practice them. So Grandma Jan decided to work on “armpit” with her. Sure enough she quickly mastered the idea and the word. In the afternoon Larry and Chris went out to Whitewater to enjoy the 8” of new powder. [ great to ski in rather than drive through the night before ]. Since we were still on Eastern time, it was an early night.

All Photos 23 January

24 Jan 07 Nelson, BC

Nicole still wasn’t feeling like being in a crowd, so Somer and Grandma Jan went to Mother Goose Time at the Nelson Public Library. We met Amy and Gracie [ 1 ¾ yr ] and the girls had a good time singing and playing and listening to a story. Afterwards we went to the Kootenay Bakery for lunch, where Somer demonstrated her advanced soup-eating skills. Amy delivered us home. Meanwhile Larry were working on getting the van out of the parking space and turned around facing out. In the end Chris had to drag it out using his truck and climbing rope. It proved to be impossible to install the chains in the parking spot [ because the wheels were so deep in snow ]. We saw deer around the house just wandering and nibbling.

All Photos 24 January

25 Jan 07 Nelson, BC

Larry planned an early departure to Rossland but was thwarted by the driveway. The van simply couldn’t do it, and eventually we had to get tow=truck to pull it out to the main road. There he was off for a couple of days of fun with Hugh and Maryetta at Red Mountain. Jan decided to learn to use the bread maker. What fun to throw in a few ingredients and have a fresh delicious loaf of bread 3 hours later! In the afternoon Nicole, Chris, Somer and Jan went to the Nelson Recreation Complex for a swim and then to the Diner on Baker St. for dinner. The swimming facilities are great – several pools and a hot tub. Somer enjoyed riding the current in the kiddies pool. The same complex has a skating rink and after watching figure skaters for a bit, Somer chattered about hockey for the rest of the evening.

26 Jan 07 Nelson, BC
Larry was enjoying his second day at Red and the rest of us took it a bit easy. While Somer napped, Nicole and Jan walked to the point and on to Taghum Beach to see the ducks. Of course they were all at a distance, but we had binoculars so enjoyed watching them. Larry was home for dinner and hot-tubing. He prudently left the car at Amy and Marcus’s.

27 Jan 07 Nelson, BC
We headed into Nelson for brunch at the “PEACE” restaurant and it was yummy as always. Then we headed for the museum to take in the Freshly Squeezed installation. It was really interesting and very informative, as well as being fun to look at. [ it was a study/demonstration of the process of design ] Somer enjoyed running around and looking at the parts at her eye level. The museum was terrific too with many well-presented materials and pictures of Nelson history. Somer enjoyed the Canoe and movies of fish and talked about them for days.

All Photos 27 January

28 Jan 07 Nelson, BC
Nicole, Chris and Somer were out at a birthday party for Nieva for the morning. Somer came home with a balloon (BAL-oon) and a package of stickers she won in a game. They had a bonfire and tubing, and the older kids road a canoe down the driveway. Meanwhile, Grandma Jan had progressed to level 2 bread making and was creating hamburger buns at home. Came out rather well, if I do say so as shouldn’t. After rap time we all headed for the Garveys’ for dinner. Chris, Larry, Somer and Jan walked over, and on the way saw a couple of deer. We were warmly greeted by Amy, Marcus, Grace and Champ [the dog] and Amy’s parents, Jean and Blake, who are visiting from Washington State. Nicole arrived later with salad and buns and we all enjoyed a delicious meal of home-made burgers with great conversation and much laughter. Near the end of the evening Jan bean to sneeze and snuffle. Uh-Oh maybe the hot tub will fend it off.

29 Jan 07 Nelson, BC
Sure enough, Jan’s sniffles turned into a full-blown cold, so it was a quiet day. Larry felt a little under the weather too so was happy to comply with that. Heard Nicole cancelled their plans to ski at Whitewater and she went off to take care of some errands in town. In late afternoon we finally got to do our belated Christmas celebration – stockings for the adults and gifts for Somer. We did Christmas crackers and donned paper hats. Somer liked her gifts and loved crawling into the bags. She got a book, Little Miss Chatterbox, in her stocking and stopped to “read” through it before going on to the rest of the stuff. Then we feasted on home-made squash soup and had a last hot tub session before bed. Shortly after we turned in, we heard the eerie and frightening sound of a coyote outside. It seamed to be on this side of the river, though we thought they were all on the other side.

30 Jan 07 Nelson, BC to LaGrande, Oregon
Leaving Nelson was difficult, as it always is. We had a wonderful visit and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. We were up early and dropped Somer at the Garveys’, giving us a chance to say goodbye to them too. Nicole headed out cross-country skiing. The roads were still difficult from all the snow. At the Border we spent nearly 30 minutes with a very pleasant young woman who was thorough but most friendly. Fortunately this time we had no items confiscated. By the time we got to Spokane the roads were clear. They stayed good until we had passed Pendleton, Oregon. The pass between there and LaGrande, OR was really socked in with fog and we crawled through it in company with a lot of transports. We were happy to come out of it and find a motel in downtown LaGrande. Dinner at sports bar next door and an early night.

All Photos 30/31 January

1 Feb 07 Ogden, UT to Cedar City, UT
[ First: Happy Birthday to Logan Dodsworth, who is 4 years old today. Hi 5, Logan! ]
We found it much easier to navigate once we found a Salt Lake City map. It’s still a convoluted city with numbered streets working out from Temple Square [ headquarter for the Mormon Church, worldwide ], It’s possible to be at the corner of N 300 W and W 300 N – I think. Anyway, we parked about 3 or 4 blocks from Temple Square, and walked there on falling snow. We were warmly greeted by two lovely young women – missionaries from Australia and Paraguay - who gave us a tour . As non-Mormons, we couldn’t enter the temple, but there are virtual tours. [ as well as tours of supporting buildings ] It’s just amazing! We chatted with several people – they are, for the most part, volunteers or missionaries. All very interesting and friendly. After Temple Square, we crossed the street to the Conference Centre, an awesome building with an auditorium that seats 21,000 people and has no pillars or other obstacles, so all seats have clear view. [ we were treated like VIPs with a private tour guide, much like our 2 little missionaries in the Square ] The other spaces and the exterior are also wonderful. The snow continued to fall as we walked uphill several blocks to the state capitol environs. Then back to the Temple area where we found a mall with a food court and a Macy’s. After lunch we headed back to the car, successfully navigated our way back onto Interstate 15 and headed south. We were concerned about the roads, since we had seen two cars skid into each other at a stoplight; however, Larry managed the difficult, snowy conditions for the first few hours after entering the highway. It had cleared well before we reached Cedar City and found a hotel. Now for Thursday night TV. [ the country-side was rolling, barren hills, plains with mountains on each side and a few snowy passes – some spectacular vistas. All through our trip through Utah we listened to a 5-DVD narrative about fanatically religiously inspired murders by 2 brothers of another brother’s family. The narrative of the murders was interposed with a very complete history of the Mormon Church, from its birth in New York State in the early 19th century to present day. It was chilling and interesting at the same time and offered a fascinating juxtaposition with our tour of Temple Square.]

All Photos 1 Feb 07

2 Feb 07 Cedar City, UT to Zion National Park, UT
On the way south from Cedar City we saw many rifts and the land became increasingly broken. The road into Zion National Park is far tamer than we’ve experienced at places like Yellowstone and Yosemite, but the scenery is spectacular. Once inside the park gates, we stopped at the visitors’ centre for maps and advice. We walked one of the trails that led uphill from there and enjoyed more terrific views. We walked one more short trail before arriving at the Lodge. There we checked in, selecting a cabin with a fireplace. We decided this was a golden opportunity to do some organizing, so made several trips to the car to bring stuff inside. We made lunch and enjoyed it in the cabin, then headed to the far end of the canyon to a trail we’d been advised was best in the early afternoon. There are no huge crowds here, but the weather is just about perfect for walking or hiking, so there were people every where we went. I wore my new winter hiking boots for the first time and have declared them a success. We went to the end of the Temple of Sinawara trail and were astonished by the towering red and white cliffs. The trail was paved the whole way and most slopes were very gentle. Easy route to wonderful views. We then worked our way back to the Lodge, walking parts of two or three other trails. This park is a really unique place in our experience and, although we didn’t see any wildlife except squirrels, well worth the visit After dinner we walked across the road to a very dark parking lot to view the stars and the moonlight on the cliffs. Priceless!

All Photos 1/2 February

3 Feb 07 Zion NP to Las Vegas and Kingman, Arizona
Awesome to wake up surrounded by Zion’s 2000 foot cliffs! They’re lovely in the early morning sun. We enjoyed a lavish breakfast at the Lodge and then a beautiful drive out to the highway. We were “bound for Vegas baby”! We were able to find easy, free parking at the Fashion Show Mall, so used that as our base for the day. We wandered through a few casinos, had lunch at the vast buffet at Treasure Island and explored the canals of Venice thoroughly. What a busy happenin’ place it is! And what a variety of people – ordinary middle class middle agers in running shoes and comfort-fit jeans, all the way to a bride in a billowing train with 2 pink-haired attendants.

After leaving Las Vegas, we crossed the Hoover Dam and stopped for a couple of photos looking down on it. Quite an impressive piece of engineering - holding back Lake Mead. The next section of driving continued the very “crumply” landscape we’d seen before Vegas. It’s almost as if someone has randomly bulldozed and shoveled soft piles of debris hither and thither. Every once in a while there is a small rift or jaggy hill, and everywhere there are sage brush, mesquite, and sometimes tumbleweed. Little huddles of trailers here and there on the desert. We’ve stopped for the night at Kingman, AZ, right on the fabled Route 66.

All Photos 3 February

Continue to 4 Feb - Kingman AZ to Elpaso TX