Glacier

We left Yellowstone behind on Tuesday and drove to Ted & Jen's house in White Sulphur Springs, Montana. Ted & Jen and their girls were wonderful hosts, putting up our whole crew, making a lovely dinner for all of us, letting the kids play with the chickens, showing us the fox den, and taking us for a dip in the Hot Springs pool at the local Spa Motel. After telling the kids tales of children falling in acidic hot springs in Yellowstone and being simultaneously boiled alive and eaten by acid in order to keep them on the trail (this place is a volcano too :-o why did you take us here ?!?), the Hot Springs pool wasn't exactly an easy sell . Add in the stench or rotten eggs, and it's a wonder we ever got them in the water. Despite the initial misgivings, they all had a blast in the pool, and they even tried out the hotter pool. Then they found out about the really hot pool in the steam room, and the dares began. I checked it out first, and sure enough, it was really hot with an overpowering stench of sulphur. The kids started running in for just few seconds, dipping a toe in the water, and proclaiming their bravery. Then to all of our surprise, Nora, the child who refused to get out of the car when there was a whiff of rotten eggs in Yellowstone, went into the steam room, and sat in the water for two minutes!

The next morning we hit the road for Glacier. First stop though was the Two Medicine Dinosaur Center, right in the middle of dinosaur country. We got to touch a giant sauropod femur, saw fossilized maiasaura dinosaur nests and a giant Seismosaurus, and even got to talk to some working paleontologists! After we had our fill of dinosaurs, it was on to Glacier! Before going to the lodge, we drove up into the park up to Two Medicine Lake. That first taste of Glacier was so gorgeous, we were tempted to scrap our plans for exploring West Glacier the next day, and just come back to this idyllic spot to canoe around the lake and explore some of the trails. After heading back to East Glacier Lodge and doing a bit more planning though, we decided to continue exploring.



The initial hope had been to drive across to West Glacier via the iconic Going-to-the-Sun road that is the centerpiece of the park. The road was still closed though, as record snowfall over the winter meant that even as Elaine and I were celebrating our anniversary on the first day of Summer (thanks Steve & Megan for taking the room with all the kids!), the road was still closed as the plows raced to open it up to visitors. Instead, we drove around the park, which at least let us stop at Goat Lick to try (unsuccessfully) to spot a ram for Steve, to the western portion of the road open below Logan Pass. We stopped for some beautiful scenery along Lake McDonald, and had lunch by Lake McDonald Lodge where we planned our first hike in the Park.

After much debating about just how much distance and elevation the kids could handle, we decided to do the 4 mile round trip hike up to Avalanche Lake. The hike started out surrounded by cedar trees along a stream raging with snow-melt, beautiful rapids around every bend. The trail then rose up into the woods, but with just 500 feet of elevation gain, the hike wasn't too strenuous,  When we reached Avalanche Lake itself, we were greeted by a glacially carved amphitheater with five water falls pouring into a picturesque lake. Best of all the weather was warm enough that we could take off our shoes, zip off the legs of our zippy pants, and wade out to the inviting rock islands. ("We're stranded on this island, waiting for a rescue, but we don't want a rescue, we like it on this island!" lyrics by Nora of course ;-) The hike back was a little rushed, as storm clouds were gathering, but whole experience was wonderful.



The next day we decamped from Glacier Park Lodge, and made our way to the spectacular Many Glacier Hotel. We checked in to the hotel, and bought our tickets for the ferries across Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine, to the head of the Grinnell Glacier trail. The trail wasn't open all the way to the glacier, unless you had crampons and an ice ax to traverse a steep snowfield, but the portion that was open proved to be one of the best hikes of our lives. It started out as a raised boardwalk traversing a marsh at the edge of Lake Josephine, before starting a steep series of switch backs decorated with wildflowers. At this point Nora decided some plant made her itchy, and she threatened to go no further. After a little cajoling, we convinced her to forge ahead. After reaching the end of the switchbacks, we crested a ridge to behold our first views of Grinnell Lake and the Salamander Glacier above it. The lake is a striking blue color due to the glacial powder suspended in the water, and we just couldn't get enough of the views. The clock was ticking tough if we wanted to make it to the end of the open portion of the trail and back in time to catch the boat back to the hotel. Some of the kids were doubting we would make it, but Nora was determined. We charged ahead, hiking past tiny waterfalls, and along portions of the trail that turned into little trickling streams with snow-melt. We eventually reached the first snow covering the trail, a short but steep section with a long drop off that was just enough to give a feel for why you'd want crampons and an ice ax to go over a big snow field. We made it to the end of the open trail, with a last gorgeous overlook of the lake below, and a view of the intimidating snowfield covering the trail ahead. Our alarm for the turn around time was sounding, but the others radioed ahead that they were close behind, and we figured it would be quicker hiking back down hill, so we waited for the rest of the crew to join us a the end of the trail before working our way back down. We made it back to the boat dock with time to spare, but then the clouds started gathering, and when the boat finally arrived, we were the last ones that made it on, and as we pulled away from the dock, the skies opened up. We felt a little sorry for the hikers we left behind in the rain, but glad we didn't have to hike the 3.4 miles back to the hotel in the rain.



The last day was just going to be another drive around the park, past Goat Lick again on our way to the airport, but as we were checking out we got the news that the Going-to-the-Sun Road had just opened for the season! Fortunately, the iconic drive was also the shortest way to the airport, so we packed up the cars and hit the road! We quickly drove up the lower portions of the road we'd seen earlier, before climbing up into the clouds (literally) to Logan Pass. There were some amazing sites, and then plenty of white knuckle driving as the visibility dropped to just a few feet and we slowly crawled along the narrow twisty mountain road. We stopped at the Logan Pass visitors center, not that we could see anything, but then quickly started our descent out of the clouds. We started to regain visibility as we drove past the weeping wall, and were treated to some wonderful views rounding the loop, before we made it back down to the familiar territory of Avalanche Creek and Lake McDonald on our way out of the park and eventually back home.



(Click here for all the Glacier pictures.)

Yellowstone

The first National Park greeted us in grand fashion. The rain that had seen us out of the Tetons began to clear as we drove into Yellowstone, and the scale of the park began to reveal itself as we drove through the forests of lodge pole pines, stopping at random pull-outs for irresistible sites, crossing the continental divide (with a small lake that flows into the Atlantic and the Pacific!), and working our way around a small bit of the Grand Loop Road to our first major stop, the Grand Prismatic Spring. We braved the crowds and hiked along the boardwalks for a close-up view of the largest hot spring in Yellowstone and the striking bacterial mats, but it was actually difficult to see much from so close while enveloped in all the steam. For a much better view, we went to the Fairy Falls trailhead and hiked a little more than a mile up to the overlook where the spring revealed itself in all its grand prismatic glory.




After our little hike, we drove over to check in at the Old Faithful Inn, and right as we drove up we were greeted by the erupting Bee Hive Geyser. The Inn is one of those grand old buildings made up of all sorts of unique logs that you couldn't imagine being constructed today, and it was the perfect base for some hikes around the geysers, and of course great views of Old Faithful. After a lovely dinner at the Inn, we noticed the weather forecast for the next few days was looking decidedly wet. Steve and I had been planning on getting up super early to try to get a campsite at either Slough Creek or Norris campground, but the prospect of camping for two days in a steady rain didn't sound particularly appealing. We inquired with the front desk, and after talking to a few different people, we were able to get two adjoining cabins near Lake Lodge for the next two nights. Perfect :-)

The next day we hiked around Geyser Hill, up to Observation Point, and on to Solitary Geyser, before driving over to our cabins by Lake Lodge. In the morning, we woke up super early to drive up to the Lamar Valley in the rain to do some wildlife spotting. We saw bears, herds of bison, elk, mountain goats, coyotes, and of course plenty of pronghorns (none of which turned out to be a moose ;-) Driving back from Lamar Valley we stopped at Tower Falls and Artists Point for some spectacular views in the rain, then closed out our day with cocktails at Lake Yellowstone Hotel before returning to our cabins for the night.



On our last day in Yellowstone we visited plenty more geothermal formations while we drove up to Mammoth Hot Springs to see the beautiful travertine formations and listen to Nora complain about how much sulphur stinks. Then it was on to White Sulphur Springs to stay with Megan's cousin Ted and his family.

(Click here for all the Yellowstone pictures.)

Grand Tetons

Our great National Park adventure of 2018 started with an early morning flight out to Jackson, Wyoming. We spent the night up at Mom Mom & Grandpa Don's (our first time sleeping in the new room!), and Don drove us up to BWI in the morning where we met up with the Telfair-Cha's and hopped on the plane. The flights went smoothly, even though we didn't have seats assigned beforehand, and when we landed in Jackson we were greeted with gorgeous weather, stunningly beautiful views, and elk horns! We picked up our rental cars, divided up the kids (Steve & Megan got the girls, since they needed Mirabel their car for her 4th grade park pass), and headed off to our first stop, the Grand Tetons Visitor Center.



Before we even got to the Visitor Center, the first curve ball came our way. A text from Megan told us that Nora had a head wound. What?!? The kids had been playing in the airport, we walked Nora to Steve & Megan's rental car, then hopped in ours and drove off, when could Nora possibly have gotten hurt? (I know, I know, this is Nora, and we were on vacation, so should we really have been surprised...) Turns out while the kids were playing in the airport Nora fell, hitting the back of her head on the corner of a bench (though the official story is a bison chased her). She didn't act hurt, so the kids kept playing. Once everyone was in the car, Nora said her head felt wet, and Mirabel noticed Nora's hair was soaked with blood. Thankfully, Dr. Steve was there to keep everyone calm, inspect the wound, and have Nora apply pressure (not bad for someone who's not even a real 24/7 doctor ;-). We were  all able to meet up again at the Visitors Center, where the Park Ranger EMT, cleaned up the wound, and let us know that she could use stitches. Luckily, there was a small clinic at Jackson Lake Lodge (right where we were headed!), and just enough time to get there before it closed. We rushed over (a quick half hour drive), and the very nice EMT there was able to close Nora's head wound with three staples. Nora was a trooper through it all. The only real cause for her tears was when she was afraid that her getting hurt was somehow going to ruin the trip. Her fears were completely unjustified, and before we knew it, we were sipping huckleberry mojitos and margaritas on the deck at Jackson Lake Lodge with a stunning view of the sun setting over the Grand Tetons!



On our first full day in the Tetons, Steve and I got up early to get our three campsites at Jenny Lake. Then we met everyone at Horseshoe Bend before heading back to the Lodge to for our rafting trip. We rode down to the Snake River, and had a lovely picnic lunch on the banks of the river as our guides gave us the orientation for the trip. Steve & Megan's old neighbor Grainne and her kids Iona and Daniel had joined us for the Teton's portion of the trip (they had moved out to Idaho a few years ago and were getting ready to move back to Ireland), so we had a raft to ourselves with a wonderful guide. The weather was perfect -- Low 70's with just a few scattered cumulus clouds, an ideal day to be on the water. The first half of the trip was some relatively relaxing floating, the kids even got to take turns on the oars as our guide told us about the history, geology, and wildlife of the park. Then things got interesting. As we learned, the Tetons are a somewhat unique mountain range (the Dolomites are the only others similarly formed) in that the eastern geologic plate dives under the western plate, so the young craggy mountains rise up dramatically from the smooth plain at fault line. That flat plain below the mountains is made up of glacial till 10,000 feet deep, so the Snake River is able to cut a wandering path across the plane. Wandering being the key word. As we learned from our guide, just a week before our trip this section of the river moved a full quarter mile to the east, cutting a new channel through what was previously a wooded plain. That meant this section of the river was even more challenging for our guide than the big rapids that this trip was trying to avoid. Our guide did a excellent job of course, finding the new channel and navigating through all the downed trees, with just one collision. We slammed into a big root-ball on the corner of the raft where Elaine and I were sitting -- thankfully our guide warned and prepared us just in time. The rafting trip was truly amazing (we even had a rare daytime beaver siting!), so much so that I may have cursed our Yellowstone weather by noting it could only go downhill from here ;-)



After rafting, we drove down to Jenny Lake to set up our tents, find Mt. Owen, explore the trails near the campground, relax in the hammocks, and cook a chicken and vegetable satay feast over the campfire courtesy of Grainne's outstanding provisioning. We even had time for s'mores for dessert, though that went better for some people than for others. That first night in the tents was the one clear night we had while camping, and Nora and I took advantage of it with a middle of the night bathroom run to get us outside to see the stars and the Milky Way.



In the morning we caught the first boat across Jenny Lake for a hike up into the mountains. The trail led us along streams raging with melt water, across rustic bridges, and eventually to the beautiful Hidden Falls. On past the Falls, we ascended the trail to Lower Inspiration Point with a stunning view out over Lake Jenny. Beyond that point the trail was closed, so the whatever further inspiration was available up at the true Inspiration Point will remain a mystery to us.

After a bunch of games back at the campground, we drove down to Dornan's Chuckwagon for dinner, then relaxed with some whiskey by the campfire before turning in for the night. We woke up to rain on our last morning in the Tetons, spoiling our plans for a relaxing pancake breakfast by the campfire, but even as we struck camp in the rain, we couldn't help but marvel at how wonderful the Grand Tetons had been. We finished packing the minivans, said our goodbyes to Grainne and family, then hit the road for the next stop on our adventure, Yellowstone!



(Click here for all the Grand Tetons pictures.)

Go Ask Owen

After an amazing turn as Grandpa Joe is Stuart-Hobson's fall production of Willie Wonka, we figured Owen was certain to have a role in their spring musical. And he was really interested in auditioning... when they were planning on doing School of Rock. Once Ms. Pergerson realized that staging that musical meant her leads would actually need to learn their instruments, she decided to switch to Alice in Wonderland (sadly, middle school isn't known for guitarist that can shred). As a result, Owen decided that he'd rather do sound crew (and help out with the props).

We were a little bummed that Owen wasn't on stage (though it was great that his friends Adam, Aiden, Han, Mason and Patrick were), but I have to say he did an amazing job mastering the sound board. He even got a shout-out afterwards from Ms. Pergerson as it was the first production they'd had without any major sound malfunctions.

Owen announced that he's hoping to master all the parts of theater before high school, so it looks like he might be doing lights in the fall, unless he convinces Ms. Pergerson they should do Phantom of the Opera...

Girls on the Run!

This weekend was the Spring Girls on the Run 5K, and Elaine was in Iowa for Bernie's 50th anniversary of becoming a priest this weekend, but luckily for Nora, she has an aunt that likes to run Marathons :-) Unluckily, it was pouring the morning of the race, so when Nora, Katherine, Owen and I got down to Freedom Plaza for the pre-race festivities, we hid under the awning of the National Theater. Nora did manage to get a little purple hair dye before the rain really started, but then the skies opened up, and for the next 30 minutes or so we wondered how wise it was to run in this rain-or-shine race. But then with a few minutes to spare before the start the rain eased up a bit, and we headed for the starting line on Pennsylvania Ave.

Once the race started, Katherine and Nora kept up a great pace, with Nora buying into Katherine's plan for a few minutes running then quick walking breaks. When Owen and I saw them running towards the finish line, Nora had a huge grin on her face, and they finished in just about 43 minutes, an even better pace than Nora had for the Classic 3K. Great race girls!