Day 14 - Yellowstone to Grand Teton National Park and back

We woke up early on our second day in Yellow Stone and made it to Old Faithful as quickly as we could. We missed the first eruption, so we made breakfast by some picnic tables while we waited for the next one. It was magnificent. We then saw Midway Geyser Basin (where the Grand Prismatic Spring is) as well as Firehole Lake road, and by then we were all geyser-ed out.

Old Faithful


Grand Prismatic Spring

The next stop was the Grand Tetons National Park, which we drove down to see. Our mission was to find a moose, which we asked about and were given some good spots to look for them at dusk. The Grand Tetons were amazing! Far less crowded and had stunning views. We found a short day hike around String Lake which was breath taking. On the hike we saw plenty of yellow bellied marmots which was fun.

Grand Tetons


marmot!

We continued South to the bottom of the park and pulled over where other people had gathered. There was a bull and female moose lounging in the tall grass on the other side of the river. We pulled out our chairs and opened a beer and waited for them to get up. The bull moose was beautiful! It really in inc readable how large their antlers are. We also saw a beaver swim by.

On the way back North to Yellowstone we saw a heard of elk acting strangely. There were wolves attacking the herd trying to separate one of the calfs, but ultimately failed. Further on we saw a bald eagle. We then stopped at the Jackson lake Lodge to watch the sunset over the Tetons and were amazed by how plush and luxurious the Lodge was.
-Pete


Animals Seen:

Yellow Stone:
Elk
Mule Deer
Pronghorn
Grizzley Bear
Bisson (Lots!!)
Blue Heron
Cannadian Geese

Grand Tetons:
Bison
Elk
Pronghorn
Moose!
Beaver
Wolves (attacking Elk!)
Bald Eagle
Yellow-Bellied Marmot

Day 13 - Bozeman, MT to Yellowstone National Park, WY

We woke up around 8:40 after hitting the snooze a couple of times and got up to head to Yellowstone. Just outside of the park Elena and I stopped by the "Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center" to see both Giant Grizzlies that had been deemed dangerous as they were too comfortable with human contact as well as a captive bread wolf pack. It was both awe inspiring and a bit sad to see such beautiful animals housed in enclosures. The most disturbing part was how the bears would run for food when a bell was rung to get them to leave the enclosure.
We drive through Yellowstone to see the Mammoth Hot Springs and then drove the Northern loop and saw amazing Wildlife. We saw mule dear, elk, pronghorn and even a grizzly! We stopped to make dinner (macaroni and seasoned chicken breast, mmmm) while overlooking a herd of bison with young. The herd slowly meandered across the open area and even crossed the road in front of cars, which caused quite a traffic jam! We eventually rolled into camp and settled down after a satisfying day of spotting wildlife.
-Pete


Paint Pots


Mammoth Hot Springs


Big Bison!

Day 12 - Glacier National Park, MT to Bozeman, MT

A somewhat uneventful day of driving all the way to Bozeman (about 10 hours) during which we had to figure out where to stay on the fourth of July! We figured some small town in Montana would be kinda fun, so we shot for Bozeman and called every place we could find. We settled on a private camp ground that had showers (!!!) and wifi (!!!!) although we found we were so exhausted we hardly had any time for the blog or emails.

Just when we were going to make dinner, a lovely couple named Jill and Gilles (french) invited us for dessert with their family (they had two young sons) and explained that they were embarking on what they considered to be the closest modern equivalent to a nomadic lifestyle. Gilles worked one day a week as a psychiatrist over the phone, and with that they intended to travel the world, seeing six continents they hoped, for the next 2-3 years. Amazing! It was really inspiring to meet a 30-something year old couple that had not given up on their dreams of living abroad and travelling. We found out they both had several connections to Stanford and San Jose, so we exchanged blog info and maps as they were headed to Glacier and coming from Yellowstone (our next destination). Great couple.

Having not had dinner, we realized it was time for fireworks, and upon the recommendation of the campground attendant, headed to the Wal-mart parking lot with the rest of Bozeman to catch the fireworks. I picked up some Wendy's (the first fast food of trip) as it was so late nothing else was open, and we had lost the opportunity to cook dinner for ourselves. Nothing like watching fireworks on the 4th of July eating Wendy's in a Wal-mart parking lot...very American. We collapsed soon afterward in anticipation of waking up early to get to Yellowstone.


Part of the fireworks show.


The boys at the fireworks show.

Day 11 - Glacier national Park

One of the amazing views from Going-to-the-Sun Road.


The group in front of Jackson Glacier (that white triangle way in the distance).


The group at Avalanche Lake for lunch.


Very cool stream on the hike to Avalanche Lake.

After sleeping quite soundly at the community center in Flathead National Forest, we sped over to Glacier National Park (about 30 miles) and quickly figured out that we would drive the only road in the park, Going-to-the-Sun Road (what a name!) We stopped at the Avalanche Lake trailhead for a short 4 mile hike and some lunch, and continued until we saw Jackson Glacier from the road (about 2/3 the way up the road). If you haven't been here, driving the road is really incredible, and the park guide is really good and directing you where to look.

We got back to camp around 7pm in time to cook a delicious dinner of sausage pasta with corn (we are learning to use canned vegetables more and more - so easy!) and attend a presentation by the ranger entitled "Birds of Prey," a slideshow that was more meant for 10-year olds, but enjoyable none-the-less. By this time, we discovered that Russell had left his sleeping pad at the community center, but we improvised with some blankets and such so that everyone, again, slept quite soundly.
(Elena)

Day 9-10 - From Hood Canal, WA to Lake Chelan, WA to Flathead National Forest, MT

We woke up early and left the canal to visit Elena's good family friends: Bill and Marilynne Lilly. We left the canal by 10:30 and just barely made (or should I say timed perfectly) our ferry from Kingston to Edmonds. It was the first time for some of us driving onto a ferry. It was pretty fun.
The drive through the Cascades were inc readable. There were beautiful forested peaks and a rushing river that followed the road we took. We finally came up upon a unique little town called Leavenworth. Apparently some time ago the residents of Leavenworth had decided to give their entire town a German Spin! All the houses had wooden shutters and German looking decoration and signage on all the buildings. Even the Shell station!
After driving through the Cascades, we made it to Bill and Marilin's beautiful house! They have an infinity pool and a breath taking view over Lake Chelan. They were incredibly welcoming and made us feel at home. We then went out for dinner at Cambells as well as for a tour of the growing town. The wonderful day was finished with a relaxing evening in the hot tub which Bill was thoughtful enough to heat for us beforehand. The view was increadable from the hot tub and infinity pool over the star and moon lit Lake Chelan. (Pete)

Side Note: Bill and Marilynne are great friends of Grandma Betty's, and Elena had the chance to befriend them as well when she lived in Hawaii in 2001.




After a lovely breakfast, we left very early in the morning in anticipation of driving all the way to Flathead National Forest, which is right next to Glacier National Park. We had rented a fire lookout tower for the evening, which ended up being about 12 miles away from the Canadian border. Unfortunately, the directions led us to the top of a mountain ridge where we were supposed to find a trailhead - alas, no trailhead to be found! We hunted around for a bit but gave up as it was getting late, and ended up spending the evening in the backyard of a community center back down in the valley. What a bummer! We at least got to see the views that the lookout would have offered, but I will be calling the reservations system that is for sure! (Elena)

Day 4-8 - Cedar Lodge, Hood Canal, WA - June 26-30

Wow! We have had an awesome time up at the Canal. We spent five days there, from Saturday the 26 through Wednesday the 30th. Being at the Canal is always one of the highlights of summer, and is one of the things I look forward to the most. Among the many things to do include intertubing, wakeboarding, and kayaking on the Canal, digging for clams and schucking oysters to be cooked that same night, playing board games on the porch, helping around the house with various little projects that need to get done, and, last but not least, shooting Gordy's Potato Gun.


Eric-"Explosion!!!"

Elena's dad and step mom came to visit while we were there. It was great to meet them and show them around the Canal.

This time we also took a trip to Seattle where we visited the Market on Pikes Street, explored the Science Museum, and finished off the day with some Clam Chowder from the famous Ivar's Restaurant.



Pikes Street!

Midway through our stay, Eric's family came to town and on the last night we had a big dinner together at their house where we ate good lasagne, had a guitar jam session, and set off some incredible fireworks. Pete, Elena, and I were urged to stay through the Fouth of July - Mark even wagered the number of days we would stay based on if we could keep track of a designated card that he flipped around in a few of his clever magic tricks. We're going to stick to the plan, however, as we have a reservation to stay at a fire tower in Glacier National Park on Friday the 2nd.

One last experience I'd like to relate has to do with a particular phenomenon that occurs at night on the canal. If you walk down to the water after night fall and swish your hand through the waves, you will sometimes see your hand lit up in a neon green light by microscopic algae that give off light when they are agitated, aka Bio-Luminescence. The more you move your hand around in the water, the greater the light that's given off. Pete and I decided to jump in and swim around on the very last night when it was particularly powerful. It was surreal to see our every
movement followed by a trail of light in the water, almost something out of mythology. It was an incredible experience and a great exclamation point to another fantastic stay with Dede and Gordy at the Canal.

Day 3 - Newport, OR to Hood Canal, WA - June 25

We woke up in the campground and enjoyed showers and an amazing oatmeal breakfast. Elena and Eric even got their coffee since there was an electrical outlet at the campsite. We then made it to Cannon Beach by around 1pm. Dispite a little fog, we had a great time throwing Elena's fox-tail and the frisbee around. Haystack rock was pretty spectacular. After harrassing a group of seagulls by running through them at the surf we made the drive to Portland, OR. Portland was an awesome city! Eric showed us the free drinking fountains that are always flowing on the sidewalks on our way to Pioneer Square in downtown Portland. Russ showed off his hacky sack moves with some locals in the square.
-Pete



Hey there! Russell, here, stepping in to tell about the rest of Portland. So, while I could hold my own, it was clear that I still had much to learn from these seasoned hacky sack artists. After thanking them for letting me join them, Pete, Elena, Eric, and I headed off to check out Powell's City of Books, the largest independent book store in the country. It literally takes up a whole city block and is five stories tall! We all got a book (how could you not?), and then went to find the Tug Boat Brewry, a pub recommended to us by a friend of mine who used to live in Portland. Fortunately it was not too far away, and and when we got there we immediately sat down in a window-side table, brought down a couple board games, orded some food, and, oh yes, bought two delicious pitchers of beer. Started out with a old classic -Clue - before moving on to the main event: Taboo! Best quote from the game came from Eric - "it's something that pushes paper with words on it!"
-Russ

I had volunteered to be the designated driver for the rest of the day, but I heard that both pitchers were good. We left Portland and I drove the lot of us all the way to Cedar Lodge at Hood Canal. We arrived around 1am where we were warmly welcomed by my family, after which we all pretty much fell asleep imediately after.
-Pete