Day 37 (Teton the wonderful)

Day 37
July 28, 2006
Grand Teton

We got up and on the road by 7:10 AM so that we could be to the Jenny Lake Visitor Center by 7:45 AM in order to be assured of being four of the first 25 people to sign up for a ranger-led voyage across the lake and hike up to Inspiration Point. We were first in line—East Coast habits die hard!

The 1-mile trip across the Jenny Lake aboard a pontoon boat and the 1-mile hike up to Inspiration Point was well worth the effort of getting up early. Even Emily, our late riser, said that this was the best hike we’ve done so far and that she was glad we woke her up to go on it (mighty high praise).

Our journey this morning took us closer to the Teton Range than we had been yesterday. Of course the closer we got the more imposing they were and the more impressed with them we became. These mountains rise very abruptly 6,000+ feet above the valley floor (Jackson Hole) to form a backdrop of grey granite that seems to take in sunlight and retransmit it with an intensity and beauty that defies conventional laws of nature. Elliot said he thought the Teton are the “Purple mountains” sung about in America the Beautiful.

On our way up to inspiration point, we saw Hidden Falls, part of a fast-moving, high-volume stream (by Maryland standards), fed by snowmelt, that dumps into Jenny Lake. Because the stone of the Teton is so hard, very little water erosion takes place leaving the glacier rivers and steams, as well as Jenny Lake (256 feet deep) extremely clean and clear. The view from Inspiration point (420 feet above Jenny Lake) looking east over the lake and Jackson Hole was magnificent.

It was 12:30 PM when we completed the Jenny Lake adventure and we were quickly turning into hungry cave people. We took the suggestions of other hikers and tried Dornan’s for a pizza lunch—quite good. We then drove into Jackson. Incidentally, the town is named “Jackson,” and the valley north of town next to the Teton Range is “Jackson Hole.” The local airport is in Jackson Hole, which is the source of confusion for many tourists about what the town is named.

Our first stop was the Jackson Visitor Center, an imposing, 2-story building with several impressive displays including a small herd of stuffed elk, and an outdoor deck which overlooks the National Elk Refuge just north of town. The visitor center is open to the public free of charge and is funded and operated without any public dollars. While there we attended a captivating lecture given by local resident and author, Ken Thomasma, who has written ten books, mostly historical fiction about Indian children. His one factual book, The Truth About Sacajawea, is considered the best and most comprehensive account of Sacagawea’s contributions to the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804. He spoke convincingly about how the expedition would have been doomed many times over and the explorers would have died if it wasn’t for the heroics of the 15-year-old mother of a newborn, Sacagawea.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Thomasma played an integral role in lobbying for Sacagawea’s likeness to appear on the gold U.S. dollar coins first minted in 2000. After the lecture, Frank bought two of Thomasma’s books and had them autographed by him. He gave Frank an uncirculated 2006 Sacagawea dollar and Elliot an audio tape of one of his books, read by Thomasma himself. Thomasma told us that since 2000 he has not used a paper dollar bill once, and is, no doubt, one of our nation’s most staunch advocates of doing away with paper singles and replacing them with coins (as Canada and the EU have). He claimed that doing so would save the United States $300 million per year.

We then drove into town and shopped for groceries at Albertsons. It was very nice to be in a real grocery store for the first time in a week.

Jackson stages a mock shootout, complete with shotguns, between some good guys and bad guys in the town plaza every day at 6 PM. It was the first gunfire Frank had heard since he last worked for the fire department more than a month ago. In fact, we realized yesterday that it had been many days since we heard a siren, jet airplane or the din of high-speed (Interstate) traffic. Ravens and diesel SUVs produced the only noise pollution we’ve encountered in a long time—nice.

We stuck around in Jackson and ate dinner at the Snake River Brewery and then drove back to our campsite and lit a fire and roasted s’mores. A nice day…

Day 36 (The Hazzards' day off)

Day 36
July 27, 2006
Yellowstone NP, WY to Grand Teton NP, WY (65 miles)

One of the great unexpected pleasures of this trip has been meeting campground neighbors along the way. Frequently we have discovered that we are headed in opposite directions so we each provide advice on where to go and what to do at the next port of call. At Grant Village Campground we were befriended by one of the nicest couples you could ever meet, Rose, a fireman’s widow (Minneapolis; Local 82), and her second husband, Tim, now retired to Mesa, Arizona, and traveling by motorcycle (and towing a pop-up) all summer to escape the heat there. They are known throughout the western US as Bonnie and Clyde (according to Thelma and Louise). They gave us advice on where to go and what to do in the Twin Cities area and we swapped email addresses and bid each other safe travel.

None of us wanted to say goodbye to Yellowstone. We all agree that it was the best place we’d been to so far. Grand Teton is no slouch park, though! The drive was mercifully short today, we needed a short drive after the hundreds of miles we logged at Yellowstone over the past three days.

The weather today was absolutely perfect. There was not a cloud in the sky from dawn to dusk. The high temp was 83 degrees with about 15% humidity and almost no wind.

Even before we checked into Coulter Bay Campground, we stopped at the Coulter Bay General Store where we were wowed by the view from the parking lot. Seeing snow on mountains in late July is captivating for people of all ages. We noticed that almost everyone walking into or out of the store paused for a moment just to take it in.

After conferring with a ranger at the visitor center on what our options were, we had a family pow-wow on a bench under some lodge pole pines and decided that we would slow down our pace a bit and spend the day swimming and catching up on email. The Teton Lodge, just five miles to the south, had an outdoor pool that campers were welcome to use and the Lodge’s lobby was a hot spot, so we put on our swimsuits and headed there.

It was the perfect remedy for our weary clan. We spent most of the afternoon acting like we were on vacation for a change. Later, after we returned to our campsite, the kids sat in the car for an hour and read the newspaper (we think they were feeling sort of unsettled by such a short drive today). Good stuff!

Day 35 (Extra blankets)

Day 35
July 26, 2006
Yellowstone’s upper loop

At bedtime last night it was 53 degrees, ten degrees colder than the night before last. And since we were cold on the night before last, we decided to put on more clothes and cover up with extra blankets before bedding down. It was a good decision because the overnight low was 40 degrees! We have never camped in such cold conditions without using our propane furnace, but since it requires electricity to operate, and we don’t have any here, we had to tough it out. Surprisingly, we heard very little complaining, but then again, you wouldn’t expect any complaints from “cave” children.

Today we drove 162 miles within Yellowstone National Park. We began our 11-hour journey by heading counterclockwise from the 6 o’clock position on the lower loop, up the east side, to the junction of the lower and upper loops and then continued counterclockwise up the east side of the upper loop. We then completed the circumference of the upper loop and returned by the east side of the lower loop. We rated the east side of the lower loop as most impressive followed by the west side of the upper loop, but it depends what you’re looking for because the west side of the lower loop has the most geysers and active hydrothermal basins (2/3 of the world’s geysers are in Yellowstone). Yellowstone is huge, but every square inch of the place seems worthy of National Park status.

The “lower east side” is our favorite because of Yellowstone Lake and River as well as Yellowstone falls (upper and lower) and Yellowstone Canyon. All are the most beautiful examples of their kind we’ve seen anywhere. “Glorious” wouldn’t be an embellishment. Frank took 150+ pictures of them today and had to restrain himself to keep from taking twice that number.

Yellowstone Lake feeds the Yellowstone River which runs north, peacefully—flat and mirror-like—for about 15 miles, through beautiful meadows where bison, deer and elk run free before it narrows and gains velocity as it enters the mouth of a stone canyon. Soon thereafter, the river cascades over a set of two falls, the second of which is larger and more dramatic. We were surprised and impressed with the volume of water going over the falls. Upstream it’s so peaceful and appears to be moving so slowly that it betrays the volume it conveys.

Below the lower falls is Yellowstone Canyon. Although it’s not as deep as Grand Canyon, Zion and Black Canyon of the Gunnison, we agree that it has the rest beat on the beauty scale. The stone that comprises its steep walls really is yellow, giving the whole canyon an aura of warmth that is (literally) breathtaking when you first see it. We stood at the point where one first sees the canyon and people of all races and nationalities to a person walked up, took in a quick breath and said the equivalent of “Wow!”

The “Upper west side” was mountainous and forested with numerous vistas that seemed to be arranged in order of magnitude so that each topped the previous one.

During our travels today we crossed the Montana boarder, Continental Divide, 45th Parallel, and the route on which Chief Joseph led his Nez Perce people when they were attempting to evade the U.S. Army and escape to Canada in August 1877. We saw elk, deer, bison, 3 wolves, various rodents and a black bear.

Every American should make the effort to see Yellowstone. It is the crown jewel of the National Park system and after seeing it today we understand why it was America’s (and the world’s) first national park.

Day 34 (Wowed by Yellowstone)

Day 34
July 25, 2006
Yellowstone’s bottom loop

The overnight low was 45 degrees and the day broke with a thin fog and light dew—the first manifestation of humidity we’d experienced in about three weeks. By 9 AM, the fog had burned off and the forested campground was under a pure, blue sky, the likes of which we only see on crisp October mornings in Maryland. Again we were smitten with the high desert summer climate—what’s not to like?

Yellowstone’s roads are arranged in a huge figure 8 and we are camping at about 6 o’clock on the bottom circle. After breakfast we loaded into the car and headed north (clockwise) around the bottom circle of the figure eight, past Old Faithful, to the Biscuit Basin area. After talking it over at breakfast, we concluded that there is no efficient way to drive the entire distance of the figure 8 over several days without doing some backtracking. Our plan was to drive the bottom loop today and the upper one tomorrow. This means tomorrow will be a lot of driving, and, no matter which way to take to get back to the campsite, we will have to repeat some drives we’ve already made. Oh well, it can’t be helped, and there are certainly worse places to drive a second time.

The Biscuit Basin is an active hot springs area that runs alongside the Firehole River. We took a 3-mile hike originating there to Mystic Falls, which are about 500 feet high and cascade down several steps to the caldera floor below. It was an easy and beautiful walk through a burned and naturally reforested shallow canyon.

We continued our way around the loop, stopping for a picnic lunch at Fountain Paint Pot, and at several other places. The “lower west side,” as we’ve come to call it, had a very different look and character than the east side. It took ALL DAY to drive the lower loop, and we didn’t even stop to see everything! This is a huge park.

On the way back down the lower east side, we passed Yellowstone Canyon and Falls but we didn’t stop because we plan to hit that tomorrow morning. We then paralleled the Yellowstone River for many miles until we came upon Yellowstone Lake. We had seen the lake before, but not as close up and not with low light (late afternoon). Both the river and the lake were extremely picturesque. Twice during that leg of the drive we encountered huge bison walking right in the road. They were creating backups in both directions, and didn’t seem phased one bit by the hundreds of photos being snapped by vehicle occupants through their open car windows.

We saw a moose, female, in the mid afternoon, but she was too far from the road for us to get a good look at her, and so many elk that we are no longer slowing down for a look. We would like to see a male moose with a full rack. Perhaps tomorrow.

Most of the staff at the stores and restaurants in Yellowstone are retirees that RV full time and work retail jobs for the season to bring some money in and so that they can have a free RV site with full hookups. It’s weird to see so many seniors working cash registers. You can tell that most of them are underemployed, and therefore provide great service (one made change for Sessy using mental arithmetic—a skill not exhibited by a cashier in Central Maryland for decades).

We showered in the coin operated showers and did some laundry near the Grant Village Campground and then made sloppy Joes, with ground bison, of course, and stir-fried broccoli for dinner. Frank thinks were becoming cave people. We’ve had bison for dinner two nights in a row and today his mild-mannered, CPA wife bought some beef jerky for the first time in her life, tore open the bag and started gnawing it with very little fanfare. When Frank pointed out to Sessy that he had never seen her eat jerky before, she replied, “I think I needed some protein.” She bought two more pouches of it today.

Day 33 (Old Faithful)

Day 33
July 24, 2006
Yellowstone

The overnight low was 48 degrees; perfect sleeping weather. We took our time in the morning, allowing Emily to sleep as late as she wanted (10 AM) and eating a leisurely breakfast.

After procuring our daily requirement of ice from the Grant General Store, we set out for the West Thumb Geyser Basin of Yellowstone Lake. West Thumb is a basin within a basin, or caldera, a 40-mile-wide impression in the earth left by an ancient volcano.

From West Thumb, we took a hike on the Lake Overlook Trail (two miles round trip) through a section of the forest that had burned in 1988. After climbing 400 feet we came to a meadow where we could see for many miles in all directions, including the near and distant shores of Yellowstone Lake and the Grand Teton Mountains.

Yellowstone is 2.2 million acres in size and about 1/3 of that area, 800,000 acres, burned in 1988. At the time the Forest Service’s policy was to let fires burn unless they threatened developed areas on public land. Conditions that summer were so dry that soon after the fire started officials realized that nothing would check it unless fire fighters were deployed. Many people don’t know that only 2% of the woods that eventually burned had burned when the government decided to start fighting the fire. In spite of the efforts of thousands of fire fighters and millions of dollars, the fire burned out of control until the first snowfall of the winter. One half inch of snow achieved what all the money and manpower the U.S. Forest Service could muster could not. Because of the lessons learned in Yellowstone in 1988, the United States fights most of the wildfires that occur on public lands.

Eighteen years later the effects of the fire are visible everywhere we look. Many burned, dead trees (“snags”) are standing today. There are signs of renewal, however. In the areas where the fire wiped out the forests, new conifers are growing. They range in height from about 5 feet to about 12 feet, and seem healthy in most places, growing very close together like Christmas tree nurseries that will be majestic forests again in 50 to 75 years, baring another fire like the one in ’88.

At West Thumb we saw our first hot springs, vent holes, and several bubbling mud holes known as paint pots. Some of the springs’ run-off went down the banks of Yellowstone Lake and into it, warming the water above its standard 45 degrees. Access to the lake, however, was restricted because the earth’s crust in the area is too thin to reliably support people (boardwalks had been constructed for people to walk on and view the springs safely). The kids were impressed!

In the afternoon we drove the 19-mile distance to Old Faithful Geyser, where we waited for about 45 minutes with THOUSANDS of other people for the predicted 4:01 PM eruption. The eruption came at 4:03 and delighted the crowd. Old Faithful erupts once every 92 minutes on average and last about 4 minutes each time. The parking lot and access road to Old Faithful were of Yellowstone proportions, reminding us of a baseball stadium’s infrastructure. The crowd viewed the eruption from a semi-circular boardwalk with benches that skirts the famous fount on three sides.

After the eruption, we visited Old Faithful Inn, which was a magnificent wooden lodge straight out of a Harry Potter movie with a central room six stories tall and crisscrossed with a tangle of staircases leading ever higher to a roof hatch to a widow’s walk. Visitors are no longer permitted above the third floor, however.

We bought bison patties in the Grant General Store that we cooked and made bison burgers with. Tasty. The evening hours were spent next to a campfire (Frank) and watching a DVD on our laptop (Sessy, Elliot and Emily). We have noticed that the days are long here, with sunrise at about 5:45 AM and sunset at about 10 PM—evidence of how far north we are. We went to bed with the last light still showing in the western sky and slept past dawn this morning.

Day 32 (On to Wyoming and Idaho)

Day 32
July 23, 2006
Midway, UT to Yellowstone NP, WY (342 miles)

We decided to see how fast we could break camp this morning. Emily was the time keeper and we all worked as fast as we could to put things away, pack, fold up the trailer and hitch it to the van. 23 minutes! Practice does make perfect.

It was about 8:30 AM when we hit the road for Yellowstone. This was a day for crossing state lines. After ten nights in Utah, we finally left the “Beehive State” this morning when we crossed into Wyoming on I-80. We didn’t stay in Wyoming for long, though, as our route took us back into Utah for a while. In fact, during our trek north today we started in Utah, crossed into Wyoming, back into Utah, back into Wyoming, into Idaho, and, finally, back into Wyoming. We were in Idaho for less than 10 minutes, but we all agreed we should add it to the list of states we’ve been in on this trip. This brings the total to 13, counting Maryland.

As we drove north in Wyoming, we gradually gained altitude and the land became a bit more lush, with trees eventually dotting the countryside. We followed part of the Oregon Trail along the Salt and Snake Rivers through SMALL towns including Smoot (population 100). As we drove down the main drag through Afton, we suddenly were greeted by a huge arch constructed of elk antlers that went from sidewalk to sidewalk over 6 lanes plus a concrete median. There must have been hundreds of antlers in the arch. A modest sign attached to it said “World’s Largest Elkhorn Arch.” Who were we to doubt it? Apparently elk antler arches are sources of civic pride not just in Afton, but in other Wyoming towns, including Jackson, which has four in its town plaza.

Speaking of Jackson, we loved it. After driving more than 250 miles, the majority of it on 2-lane roads, we needed a break. Jackson provided just the opportunity. It turned out to be a great place to stop. All of us remarked at how much it reminded us of Santa Fe’s Plaza, with a bit less of an artsy bent and a bit more of a wilderness one. We also thought it resembled Bar Harbor and Lake Placid in ways. Most of the streets in the town center were lined by 2-story storefronts with covered boardwalks rather than concrete sidewalks. Several real estate offices showed listed properties in their windows with asking prices as high as $5 million for a single residence. Clearly this is a prized vacation spot.

Shortly after we left Jackson, headed north out of town, the fabulous Grand Teton peaks came into view. Even though we’ve been looking at mountains and rocks for the past 3+ weeks, these impressed us immediately. They were in a league of their own. They looked to be between 3,000 and 5,000 feet tall, mostly bare stone and snow-capped, even in late July. To their east were lush meadows, populated with wild bison roaming freely which added to their majesty. It was all Frank could do to watch the road for the hour it took to drive past the Teton on our way to Yellowstone.

We drove more than 20 miles within Yellowstone Park before we came to Grant Village where our campsite was located. After we set up, we looked closely at a park map and were a bit startled to see that we were still on the park’s fringe. Yellowstone is HUGE. We wonder if three days here will be enough to see everything.

We ate dinner in our campsite and then drove to a nearby laundry facility to wash clothes. Like all things in Yellowstone, the laundry facility was very large and busy, with dozens of people washing and folding clothes.

Before going to bed we complied with all the directives we received about bear-proofing our campsite…

Day 31 (Minivan in the hospital)

Day 31
July 22, 2006
Salt Lake City

Frank woke up at 5:15 AM (for the first time in weeks) and showered in order to get on the road by 6 AM so that he could arrive at the Larry H. Miller Chrysler dealer when it opened at 7 AM. It wasn’t all bad waking up at that hour—he was treated to a spectacular sunrise studded with hundreds of little puffy clouds highlighted in hues of pink and purple that seemed to change every few seconds. He snapped about a dozen photos as he drove along.

He would have been on time except that he became confused by the street numbering scheme in Salt Lake City. The service manager, a very friendly and helpful guy named Jim had told Frank to take the I-15 exit for “106 South.” We had seen numerous towns in Arizona and Utah that numbered their streets instead of naming them. The way they number them is a little different than the way it’s done in the East, however. Instead of designating them First, Second, Third, etc., they are numbered as “100 South,” “300 West,” and “400 East,” so that your address might be 205 E. 100 South. What Frank failed to realize right away was that “106 South” is actually “10600 South.” When he went to 106 South, there was no Chrysler dealer to be found. He found it easily, at 7:15 AM, once he drove 12 miles to the south.

Todd Makin, the Orange Team’s service advisor, was very compassionate and vowed to fit our van into his packed schedule. Indeed, within ten minutes, Service Technician Mike Wilson carefully listened to the details of the A/C problem and whisked our white steed into the service bay for teasting and treatment. The attitudes displayed by everyone at the dealership were unmistakably different from those you might encounter from similar people working on a holiday weekend Saturday at home. Frank couldn’t help but wonder if this particular Chrysler dealership was unusual even for Salt Lake City or if the decency displayed by the employees there was typical of the area in general. Could this be the incarnation of Mormon values? Frank left with an Enterprise rental car to use for the day confident that if anything could be done to make the A/C work, the folks at Larry H. Miller would make it happen.

Frank agreed to meet the rest of the family at the Great Salt Lake, partly because we felt it would be a place we could all easily find but mostly because we wanted to see it. Our opinions were unanimous: Salt Lake didn’t quite live up to our expectations. It was hazy and sort of boring and it had a bit of a rank odor about it. Perhaps the coolest thing about the lake is Antelope Island, a large, hilly piece of public land where buffalo still roam free much like the wild ponies of Assateague Island. We only stayed at the lake for about 20 minutes before heading for downtown SLC.

The Latter Day Saints headquarters section of the city (Temple Square) was, on the other hand, very impressive. We marveled at how clean and well kept everything was. The temple and surrounding buildings, including a new conference center that seats 22,000 people, were just beautiful (exceeded a Disney architect’s knack for drama). We looked at what was built there by the Mormons and we marveled at what 12 million loyal congregants who all tithe can accomplish!

While we watched, three separate bridal parties posed for photos among the beautiful flower gardens in front of the temple. Later we learned that as many as 60 weddings are performed there on some Saturdays in May and June.

While we were tootleing around the huge fountain that forms the focal point of the complex, a “host” approached us and invited us to go with her to the 26th floor observation platform of the church’s office building. From there we could see for many miles in three directions while we were given a brief history lesson on the mass Mormon immigration to the valley where SLC now exists. We learned that Brigham Young led a group of Mormons who had been persecuted first in Ohio and then later in Illinois over the Wasatch Range in search of a place so unattractive that he could be sure no one would ever desire it and force them from it. It is said that on July 24, 1847, Young and a band of 140 followers first gazed down on the valley and Young proclaimed “This is it.” The land was a barren desert wasteland that even the Indians didn’t want, but Young knew about irrigation and figured there would be enough water in the mountains that surround the city on three sides to sustain their farms here. The rest is, as they say, history. Within a very short period of time, 70,000 more faithful followed. SLC is now a city of about 200,000 (60% Mormon) with a large suburban population surrounding it.

Frank received a phone call from the Chrysler dealer while we were on the roof of the Mormon headquarters building saying the car was ready. We ate lunch in “The Pantry,” a Mormon-run cafeteria-style restaurant in the LDS complex, before driving south to the dealership. The A/C was COLD in spite of the 101 degree temperature, and the passenger window and passenger-side sliding door worked like new! The diagnosis was a bad A/C compressor and motors on the window and door. Thanks Mike, Todd and Jim!

After we got the van out of the hospital, we drove to a local 17-screen Megaplex where Mom and Dad watched Superman, Sessy, Elliot and Emily watched Cars and Frank surfed the web in the snack bar. It’s hard to say who had more fun.

We had our last dinner together out at “Spaghetti Mama’s” across the street from the theatre before driving back to Mom and Dad’s hotel in Heber City. We checked our maps and made plans for tomorrow and then kissed and hugged goodbye.

It was hard to believe that, after traveling together for almost three weeks, we would be driving in separate directions and that we would be more than 800 miles apart within 24 hours. The time passed very quickly and we all felt the sadness that is familiar from the end of vacations past.

The overnight low was about 63 degrees—perfect for camping. We all slept well.

Day 30 (Park City, good; heat & bugs, bad)

Day 30
July 21, 2006
Capitol Reef NP, UT to Midway, UT (194 miles)

We got underway at about 9:30 AM and drove, with one stop for fuel, until lunchtime. The country just west of Torrey, in and around Bicknell and Loa, UT, looked even more like Iceland to us than the areas we had already seen. As we headed northwest toward the Provo/Salt Lake City region, the population density slowly increased. In Provo I-15 goes to the west of the Wasatch Mountains and US 189 goes through Provo Canyon to the east of them. We took 189 and paralleled a beautiful river that people were tubing in.

Our destination was Wasatch Mountain State Park near the towns of Midway and Heber City. Mom and Dad stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in Heber City. This was our first experience with a Utah state park and we were impressed with the visitor center, but the campground, although adequate, was nothing special.

During the drive to Midway, the temperatures climbed until, upon arrival, it was 103 degrees. The air conditioner in the minivan has had quite a workout on this trip and we think perhaps it’s been too much for it. Slowly, over a period of days, the A/C has been less and less effective at keeping the van’s interior cool. It got to the point today where we were very uncomfortable (sweating), so soon after we arrived and set up our campsite we drove to the Heber City Chrysler dealer with hopes that they could do something to help us. Unfortunately the dealer was closing for the weekend just as we arrived, but the service manager helped us find a dealer south of Salt Lake City that has Saturday service hours and Frank made an appointment with it to have the van looked at tomorrow.

This happens to be the “Days of ‘47” celebration weekend in Utah. We had never heard of this and didn’t have a clue what it was about. As it turns out, “’47” refers to 1847 and is a celebration of the pioneer (Mormon) history of Utah. This is a big deal in these parts. In fact, Monday is a Utah state holiday! From what we can tell, Pioneer Days are celebrated primarily with parades, carnivals and rodeos. It has been years since we’ve seen a rodeo and the kids have never been to one, so we hope to catch one in SLC on Saturday night.

We next drove 20 miles to the west for a look around Park City. One of Elliot’s classmate’s families, the D’Zmuras, recently purchased a Courchevel vacation condo in the Deer Valley section of town and we drove by it to take a look at it. We loved Park City. It is absolutely beautiful. There are many Olympics-driven improvements evident throughout the town that have left it looking fantastic and will carry it architecturally for years to come. The heart of the historic section has some wonderful pedestrian-only avenues flanked by new construction meant to look historic. They got it right and the effect is very inviting.

Frank, Elliot and Emily decided to ride the Town Ski Lift, which operates in the summer in spite of the lack of snow, and originates right in the historic area, while Norman, Sylvia and Sessy drove back to the campground to start cooking supper. The lift provided a great ride and gave some really good bird’s eye views of Park City. Elliot said Park City reminded him of Lake Tahoe. After the ride, we listened to some very good live music being played in a public courtyard before driving back to the campground.

The supper that Sessy and Mom cooked tasted great but was spoiled a bit by some incredibly bothersome and aggressive tiny flies. We don’t even know what they are called, and although they didn’t bite, they did get in our ears and eyes and seemed impervious to citronella candles and Deep Woods Off. This was our first encounter with insects on this trip and we realized that we’ve quickly become accustomed to camping without bugs in the desert southwest. We worry that this is a sign of things to come on our return trip across the northern tier states.

Day 29 (Iceland in Utah?)

Day 29
July 20, 2006
Capitol Reef

The dawn was clear, breezy and very cool at Thousand Lakes Campground in Torrey, UT. We slept well in Site #13 which was in a rear corner of the campground, and, it appeared, on the cusp of development in Torrey. Except for a seasoned barbwire fence, there was no sign of human presence for miles just beyond our site. The morning sun on the red sandstone plateaus to the north and west was close to magical. We liked this place. So we walked down to the office and extended our stay by one night.

It was in the campground office that we met the proprietor, Valgerđur “Vally” Alexandersdottir. We couldn’t believe it. In Torrey, which can’t be too far from the center of the Utah desert, of all places, we met an Icelandic woman running a campground (and doing a great job of it). We also met her husband, John Reilly—both were extremely nice. Sessy and Vally conversed for several minutes about their shared ethnicity and then we stepped outside and posed for a photo with them.

Even before we met Vally and John, Sessy and Frank had commented on how Utah’s high desert country resembles Iceland in many ways. In fact, the interior of Iceland is a desert, albeit a colder one. Both Iceland and Utah have lava boulders strewn throughout the landscape, very few trees, perpetual breezes, clean, clear air and mountains visible regardless of which way you’re facing. And the sky seems similar, too. We mentioned our observation that Utah and Iceland shared some characteristics with John and Vally and they agreed, noting, of course, that Utah is a LOT farther away from the ocean!

After signing up for another night’s stay in Thousand Lakes, Sessy, Elliot, Sylvia and Norman went in Norm and Sylvia’s car to the orchard to pick fruit while Frank and Emily took the minivan to go scrambling. If you’re not sure what "scrambling" is, don’t feel bad; we learned on this trip that climbing rocks without gear is now known as scrambling, and it’s the fastest growing activity in western U.S. National Parks.

Emily had expressed a keen interest in climbing rocks ever since Grand Canyon, but we had put off her requests there and at Zion and Bryce mostly because those parks discourage having visitors leave the designated park trails. Capitol Reef is quite different. We were told at the visitor center that there are no restricted areas within the park and that we were welcome to scramble anywhere we wanted. So…Frank and Emily got to it this morning. They ended up scrambling in three different areas until their appetites for crawling over rocks of various sizes, shapes, colors and types were fully sated. They returned to the campsite at 2 PM with stories of adventure that rang with a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment. During their escapades, Frank and Emily picked up about a dozen small rocks and brought them back with them. The variety of colors and component minerals that the rocks they readily found just lying around gave an understanding of why Capitol Reef is a National Park.

The other party found the orchards to be a little disappointing. No peaches were ripe, and the apples and pears were not the best we’ve ever seen. Nonetheless, we picked a pound of fruit for which we paid a dollar. We also bought two fruit pies (peach and blackberry) at the Gifford House, an historic landmark that is now a gift shop inside the park.

We spent the afternoon lazing about the trailer. It was great to spend time reading, working on summer “case books” that the children received from their schools to keep their skills up while school is out and writing post cards.

Before dinner Emily swam in the campground’s pool while Frank watched her and read So Others Might Live, which documents the complete history of the New York City fire department. Dinner included pancakes, Canadian bacon, and refried bean dip followed by pie for dessert. Food never tasted so good. We snapped some remarkable pictures of the sunset as it appear from the screen door of the trailer, and the stars after sundown were pretty impressive.

Day 28 (Life's a peach)

Day 28
July 19, 2006
Bryce Canyon NP, UT to Capitol Reef NP, UT (127 miles)

In spite of having to fold up the trailer wet, we were on the road by 9:30 AM. The drive from Bryce to Capitol Reef via Utah Route 12 was absolutely spectacular. In one stretch of approximately 70 miles, there are 3 National Park Service properties, three Utah State Parks and a National Forest. To be honest, the whole distance could be a national park—it is that beautiful. As you depart on Route 12 from Bryce Canyon, which is actually a plateau with a notable edge, not a canyon, you immediately descend several thousand feet to a valley floor where Tropic, UT, population 460, quietly exists. From there the road climbs up, over and through several more plateaus, mountains and valleys, each topping the previous with vistas and rock features straight out of a Road Runner cartoon. At one point the road is routed along a ridge top that is no wider than the road itself with significant drop-offs on both sides. It was sort of like driving up to Angel’s Landing! One segment of Route 12 had a 12% grade that we pulled in first gear (4,000 RPM) at a maximum speed of 21 MPH.

Slowly. impossibly dry air gave way to higher and more lush terrain as we began a LONG and steep climb into the Boulder Mountains. The Boulders were covered with pine and aspen groves that reminded us of the Colorado Rockies near Silverton. Just past the 9,300 foot summit we suddenly drove into a tremendous thunderstorm with cloud-to-ground lightning and pea-sized hail. We got to see firsthand flash flooding in the wash that paralleled the road during our descent. As we have experienced so many times on this trip, the storm’s edge was definite, and within a tenth of a mile we transitioned from hard rain to dry pavement and sunshine. The only sign of the storm was the black clouds in our rear-view mirrors and muddy water rushing down the mountain beside us. Very strange for us!

Dad and Mom checked into the Torrey Schoolhouse Bed and Breakfast and we set up camp at Thousand Lakes Campground, about a mile down the road from them, in Torrey. We then drove to the park and viewed an orientation slide show at the visitor center. Before returning to the campground to cook dinner, we visited an historic 1-room schoolhouse (not the one where mom and dad were staying) in what was once the town of Fruita, which is now contained within Capitol Reef National Park. Fruita was settled by Mormons in the 1800s and became known for numerous fruit orchards (peach, apple and pear) that the Mormons planted there. The orchards survive to this day, managed by the park service.

It just so happened that the Johnson Orchard was coming into season tomorrow, beginning at 9 AM, so we made plans to be there at that hour. The rangers at the visitor center told us that the peaches will be picked clean in only five hours, so if we want some we had better get there early.

The air was cool and breezy in Torrey this evening. Enough so that we zipped up the trailer all the way before bunking down for the night, with visions of fresh fruit dancing in our heads.

Day 27 (Refuge at Ruby's again!)

Day 27
July 18, 2006
Bryce Canyon

We spent the morning on the park’s main road, which runs for 18 miles to the south from the main entrance, ending at Yovimpa Point, elevation 9100+ feet. As we drove back down the park road, we stopped at a half-dozen overlooks, each seemingly more impressive than the last. Per normal, still photos don’t seem able to capture the full grandeur of what we witnessed—we guess that’s why people make the effort to visit the national parks!

We ate lunch at the Bryce Camper’s Store, where we paid too much for things we shouldn’t be eating in the first place. At least we've been active on this trip! Although the scenery is beautiful and the people of Utah are friendly and endearing, we cannot imagine living here. The lack of access to goods and service that we have become accustomed to would drive us nuts in short order. At the only grocery store in Bryce, UT, we could not buy any fresh vegetables (expet potatos and onions) or meat (they did sell some frozen versions of both). They sold no skim milk, no whole grain bread, and no healthy cereal. Sessy said it’s like we went through a time warp to the late 1970s or something. We could use a trip to Roots Market right about now.

After lunch it was a unanimous decision to return to Ruby’s Inn. Although the temperature was only in the mid 80s, the sun was relentless. We paid $8 and swam, showered and surfed the Web. Again, it was money well spent.

We intended to go to a rodeo at 7 PM, but lightning and light rain kept us away from the grandstands (sitting on metal bleachers in an open field that was a mile across didn’t sound like a good time to us). The rodeo went on as scheduled without us.

The rains continued overnight and were heavy at times, but we hardly noticed inside the trailer. We are getting a lot more used to sleeping with the pitter-pat of rain on the camper’s roof.

Day 26 (Halfway)

Day 26
July 17, 2006
Hiking Bryce Canyon

Today marks the halfway point of our 52-day odyssey. It's been great so far and we plan to visit many more terrific places in the next 26 days.

We ate breakfast inside the trailer and then while Norm and Sylvia decided to see if they could get a nicer room at Ruby’s than the one they had booked at the Bryce Lodge, the rest of us decided to hike into the canyon. We chose the Queen’s Garden and Navajo Loop Trails and drove to Sunrise Point where Queen’s Garden begins. We were once again surprised by the scale of the canyon. It wasn’t until we hiked down around, through and beside the hoodoos that we grasped their scale. Some of these things were hundreds of feet tall!

The most famous icon associated with Bryce Canyon is a huge Ponderosa Pine that lives in the middle of a section of the Navajo Loop Trail known as “Wall Street” because it passes through a narrow slot formed by shear stone walls that rise hundreds of feet. The famous pine looks to be thriving in the most improbable location imaginable; “miraculous” in a word.

One day this May, at about 5 PM and under clear skies, a few huge boulders suddenly became dislodged and tumbled down from above into Wall Street, completely blocking the trail and nearly crushing five hikers. Two of the hikers bolted uphill and three ran down, with thousands of tons of stone separating them. Miraculously, the rocks came within a foot of the pine, but it was spared, too.

Sessy and Frank wanted to see the pine again and wanted Elliot and Emily to experience it, but because Navajo (“not a”) Loop Trail is still closed at the point where the rocks fell, and the tree cannot be seen from the trail above the slide zone, we had to walk three quarters of the way around the loop and then three quarters of the way back. In all, we walked about 3 miles; most of it in the full sun, with some significant elevation changes that left us feeling spent. We took two liters of water and drank almost all of it before we got back to the Rim. This was a vivid reminder of how inhospitable the desert can be. This is not an environment that should be taken lightly. Poor planning or a lack of respect for the severe conditions here could have tragic consequences.

The midday heat combined with more than 24 hours since we last bathed made swimming and taking showers sound like the best use of our afternoon. Five minutes in a shower in the park cost $2, while swimming and showering for an unlimited time, plus towel service at Ruby’s was the same cost. Needless to say, Ruby’s it was! That $8 was the best money we’ve spent in many month!

After showering, we washed 3 loads of laundry at Ruby’s and caught up on email and the blog. Tip: if you ever visit Bryce, consider staying a Ruby’s. It looks a bit like a tourist trap from the road, but actually everything there is quite nice (remember, add a star to any hotel's rating).