Snake River and Alpine Slides!

Finally, it was time to say goodbye to Yellowstone. We checked out, and after a brief kerfuffle with the front desk about the bill ("um, I think this charge is off by at least $1000..."), and a parting visit to the gift shop (where Kasandra finally bought herself that cute "I'm Your Hucklebeary" shirt), we were on our way south to Grand Teton (again).

Signal Mountain

On the way south, we drove up to the top of Signal Mountain and saw both a great view, and this funny sign. If anyone can make sense of why it says "UserFee" on it, please tell me!

It seemed apt that we would have five bars at a place called Signal Mountain. This was probably the reason:

Our next activity was to do a scenic float on the Snake River, but the outfitters said it would be too windy to go out until the late afternoon. So how to burn a few hours?

Answer 1: EATING!
Answer 2: ALPINE SLIDES!

We had a delicious lunch at Dornan's Pizza and Pasta Company in Moose, WY. We had really yummy pizza, pasta, and beer – a perfect lunch, in a dining room with a spectacular view of the mountains.

Alpine Slides in Jackson

After lunch, we still had some time to burn, and we weren't sure what to do in Jackson, so we figured we would just...check into our hotel early? This seemed somewhat boring to us, so during the drive from Dornan's to Jackson, I frantically looked for things to do on my Nexus One. I suddenly remembered Uncle sending me a link about alpine slides, and managed to look up where it was, find out their ticket prices, and text the other van about the change of destination. I LOOOVE my data plan!

The alpine slides at Snow King Resort ended up being totally, totally awesome. (What else would you expect? I mean, *alpine slides*!)

Mom and Dad needed to be convinced that it wasn't dangerous, and they ended up going down sooooo slow that I got worried and asked the guy at the desk to radio up and check on them. But in the end, nobody fell out of the lift, had a heart attack, or broke any bones going off track. Everyone was all grins at the bottom – possibly the biggest grins we saw all trip!

Except maybe Tiffany, who got stuck behind speed-demon Kasandra. :-)


Scenic Float on the Snake River

Originally, I was completely gung-ho about taking the group white water rafting. Mom has always wanted to go, and of course, Chris and I had an amazing time on our three-day trip down the Rogue River in Oregon. But a week of snow and ice convinced us that perhaps getting soaked in frigid water in gusting wind and rain wouldn't be that much fun. So we went on the scenic float and hoped that we would spot some wildlife.

On the drive out, we briefly spotted a moose. On the float itself, we saw a couple beavers building dens, and a pair of bald eagles! Here's a shot of one of them sitting on a branch. I saw its mate sitting in the nest across the river, but couldn't quite catch it on camera.

We were also amused to find that beavers really do chew through the bases of trees like they do on cartoons!

Still, it was cold and we were happy to get someplace warm and have dinner! We thought our folks would appreciate some Chinese food (finally), and went to the Chinatown Restaurant in Jackson. The big "kids plus Ama" table thought the food was yummy, but when I asked my Dad what he thought, he was surprisingly frank: "Oh it was terrible. Everything tasted the same." In retrospect, I guess that was totally true, but still, I thought it was satisfying. We're such gringos. :-)

The menu even had a big tipoff how Americanized it was: "American Delights: French Fries". Ha!

And finally, for our last night together, we stayed at the Trapper Inn and Suites (a.k.a. The Lexington) and played poker, spoons, and Monopoly (the card game) into the wee hours of the night.

The End

Who knows when we'll EVER be lucky enough to get everyone's schedule lined up like this again, but wow that was a lot of fun memories! The sequel, I'm told, might happen in China – but we'll see!

Grand Teton and Jenny Lake

By our sixth day, we figured that we'd seen enough pools of steaming water, so we drove down to Grand Teton National Park to get a change of scenery! Besides the breathtaking snow-capped Tetons, the main attraction here was Jenny Lake.


We debated whether we should hike around the whole lake (Jenny Lake Loop is a ~7 mile loop), or just do a small piece, but once we arrived at the visitor center, we found a great compromise; there was a shuttle boat crossing the lake every 15 minutes, so we could hike ~3.5 miles to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point, and then take the boat back to the trailhead. Perfect!

On the trail, we saw this funny-looking bird, standing literally a foot off the trail.

Its head looked distinctly snake-like, and yet its feathers reminded us of a turkey. Kally dubbed it Snurkey. Looking at a hotel wildlife classifier brochure, we thought it was a sage grouse, but Wikipedia now tells us that it's really a ruffed grouse.

Chris and I also spotted a couple of marmots off the trail, but they scrambled away quickly so we couldn't get a picture.

To get to Hidden Falls, we had to hike across some snow, but wow, it was awesome. It was the tallest cascading waterfall I'd ever seen, and I thought it was even cooler than Lower Falls in Yellowstone.

Our steep climb up to Inspiration Point was rewarding too. Gorgeous view.

But who's looking at the view, right? :-P I think Chris may have been most inspired at having cell reception.

Plus there were some very people-friendly chipmunks... It seemed like *someone* (i.e. maybe three someones) had been feeding them.

For dinner, we ate at the Jackson Lake Lodge, which was probably our group's favorite restaurant of the trip. They served us moose-shaped butter!

Kally recommended the Jackson Lake Lodge because it had a lovely view of the Tetons from the dining room, and her friend mentioned that it was a great place to watch wildlife.

I don't know if this is funny or just truly awful, but while I was looking at those lovely mountains, all I could think of was the Coors "Love Train" commercial. And Kasandra said she was thinking about Arrowhead Water. How sad is that?

Lower Falls, Norris, Cody Rodeo, and WOLVES

A couple weeks (and a trip to Colorado) later, I'm finally back to finish writing about the trip to Yellowstone!

Day 5 was a long, exciting day – so long and exciting that we actually got complaints from the peanut gallery. We woke ourselves up with a steep, slippery, nerve-wracking 325-stair descent to get up close and personal with the beautiful Lower Falls. Then we moved on to Norris Basin, where ominous storm clouds and thunder threatened to drench us at any moment. Then we witnessed a pack of wolves feasting on coyote cubs after chasing away the parents. And THEN we drove out to Cody, WY to watch the Cody Nite Rodeo, which was pretty fun to see overall, but man, the icing on the cake was their borderline-bigoted-misogynistic-homophobic MC to REALLY make us feel we were in the Wild West.

But let's start from the beginning!

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone: Lower Falls

As you might remember, our first attempt to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone was mostly foiled by the fog. Our second attempt was much more rewarding. We drove to the South Rim and hiked down 3/4s of the way down to the bottom of Lower Falls. The stairs were slick because of rain and little waterfalls splashing across the path.

I've always been afraid of heights, and being able to see through the metal grate stairs was not comforting. Even more disturbing was the number of dented or bent stairs, which made us think, hm, maybe we should have eaten less for breakfast... Mom stayed behind, but the rest of us helped each other down.

Even my cousins' Ama made it, and she's almost 80!

Finally, here's the view at the bottom.


Grand Canyon of Yellowstone: Artist's Point

After huffing and puffing our way back up (no really, it's the altitude, I'm in better shape than that, honest!), we drove out to Artist's Point, where we were treated to a rare but perfectly-timed beam of sunshine.


Norris Geyser Basin

The Norris Geyser Basin is supposed to be the most volcanically active area in Yellowstone, and as such, we read that the landscape is constantly changing. We didn't see any of the big geysers go off, though we did see little Whirligig Geyser send up a nice tall plume for a few seconds. Otherwise, we just took pictures of all the fascinating colors, while hustling along to finish before the threatening thunderstorm.


This one below was called Pearl Geyser, which I thought was a cool name.

And there was a monster sighting at Green Dragon Spring!

Wolves in Hayden Valley

As the trip progressed, we improved at spotting interesting wildlife, not by spotting wildlife itself, but by gauging the number of cars parked by the road and the number of people with fancy tripod-mounted cameras.

Lots of traffic => "This is MAJOR!"

This is how we spotted the wolves. They were far away on the crest of a hill, so I don't understand how anyone could see them without knowing what to look for! This is probably my best picture, pardon my sad 3x zoom again. If you squint you can see the silhouette of a black wolf right in the center of the picture.


When we got out of our vans, we saw a black wolf and a grey wolf, chasing what we thought was another light-colored wolf down the hill. Turns out the light-colored one was a coyote, which the ranger said had been trying to misdirect the wolves from its den since 10 a.m. Other visitors mentioned that the wolves had been digging for some time, and the ranger confirmed that they were hunting for the coyotes' den and cubs.

Kally, with her macho 7x zoom, even got a picture of the black wolf with something hanging from its mouth, so awesome! Isn't it almost cannibalistic for wolves to be eating coyote babies though?

Cody Nite Rodeo

All of this unplanned wolf-watching made us somewhat behind-schedule to make the two-hour drive to Cody, WY. We considered postponing the trip, but were told that it would snow the next day and the roads might be closed. Plus, my uncle and parents had heard from a friend that there was *gasp* Chinese food in Cody, so we decided to head out! Haha, so cute.

We played "I Spy" in our van, but got stuck on Z. I think Tommy said "zygote" (we had a six-character minimum rule), and we were like, um, I certainly HOPE you don't spy a zygote. (And also "I spy with my little eye" implies little *unassisted* eye. That was also a rule.)

Ultimately, we didn't have quite enough time for Chinese food. Here was the sad conversation we had when we got to the stadium:

Chris: "Don't worry, it looks like they have food here."
Mom: "You mean, like...hot dogs?" (Looking sad, kind of queasy.)
Employee: "Oh yeah! Hot dogs, and barbecue too! The food here is really great. And at a good price too!"

(Employee sees the look on Mom's face, getting sadder and more queasy-looking.)

Employee: "At least, *I* think so..."

Poor Chinese parents. But actually, the food was yummy. They had kosher hot dogs, and I liked the barbecue better than the Cowboy restaurant in Gardiner, MT (less vinegary).

The events were also fun: bucking horses, bucking bulls, individual calf roping, pair calf roping, barrel racing, and junior versions of most of the above too.


My first inkling that something was weird was when the MC made the comment before one of the women's events that this was the "most dangerous event in rodeo" (or something like that) because "it's all women driving". Yeah okay. Ha. Ha. Joke. Fine. Then before the ladies' calf roping event, he asked, "why do the ladies only need to rope the calf, but not tie it down?" And then proceeded to sort of taunt the event, going "yeah ladies, what happened to equal rights?" I was like...hm. And THEN there was that awful intermission act which culminated in the MC sticking his head between this woman's legs (an actor I'm sure, but still), and making fun of her big butt. Yeeecch.

Oh right, and then there was the part where the MC welcomed visitors from various countries (France, UK, Belgium, etc.). Then he asked the Californians to cheer, and said "Welcome to the real America!". Totally lame. Chris and I both shouted loud boos. I think I was most appalled because he was saying this to my family, a bunch of minorities sitting in the front row, and it reminded me of the George Allen "macaca" thing in Virginia a few years back. But then I realized he probably couldn't see us, and figured okay, just another bad joke, ha ha.

I don't think I'll even go into the comments he made about gays or Obama. But I will close with one last awful snippet of the show, which was that they had a straw man propped up in the center of the arena during the bull riding event. Those bulls are BIG, STRONG animals. One pissed-off bull, after bucking his rider, charged the straw man, and just sort of...blew through him like it was...well a straw man. It was a little horrifying because it was such a vivid illustration of what might happen if someone didn't dodge fast enough.

What DIDN'T need to happen, was the MC insisting that it was Bill Clinton getting what he deserved. And then kicking it around some more. In the nuts. Sigh.

I must say I was shocked that these comments were being made in public, but I guess Wyoming is really a different part of the country!

Cutest part of the rodeo:

• All the little kids in the audience were invited to come into the arena and try to pull ribbons off of three calves' tails for a prize. So cute...baby cows are much better at running than baby humans.
• There was a kid (must have been 4 years old or so), who did his barrel race at a walk. Reminds me of how I did barrel racing at Don-E-Brook, haha.

At 10 p.m. we began the long, mountainous drive back to Yellowstone, in the rain and fog. I can't say I blame the peanut gallery for being tired, but it was definitely a memorable day!

Mammoth Hot "Springs" and TWO BEARS

After our bear sighting, we were so filled with enthusiasm and spunk that we decided to get out the door SUPER early the next morning. We had heard repeatedly that dawn and dusk are the best times to spot animals, so we drummed up support to drive to Lamar Valley first thing in the morning and see some more wildlife! ("Maybe we'll see wolves! Ow ow owwwoooo!")

To our dismay, it turns out that 7 a.m. does not count as dawn. Not even close. Now that we're home and have access to internets, it turns out that sunrise at Yellowstone (today) was at 5:36 a.m. and dawn was at 4:59 a.m. Plus we didn't check ahead of time that the road to Lamar Valley (through Dunraven Pass) would be open. It wasn't. Seriously stupid.

Should. Have. Gone. With. Dusk.

So instead, we drove, all sleepy-eyed, out to the opposite corner of Yellowstone, the Mammoth Hot Springs area. I remember telling Kasandra that while Eric Hutchinson, Jack Johnson, and Jason Mraz were all very nice, her mellow-licious iPod was not going to cut it that morning (no offense).

I've wanted to see Mammoth Hot Springs ever since I wrote my science report about Yellowstone National Park in sixth grade. If you search for pictures of Mammoth Hot Springs online, you'll see lovely photos of colorful, delicate, glistening mineral formations. I spent the long drive hyping this up to my slightly-cranky and sleep-deprived family. Imagine my disappointment, when I found out that the springs have been dry for quite some time now!

But all was not lost. Some of the springs still had water. Here's one with a pretty bacterial mat, which I touched despite the copious "do not touch" signs. (Rest assured, I made sure a little boy dipped his hand in first, to make sure it was safe.)

Once again, however, we saw the best stuff last.

For lunch, we were seriously sick of lodge cafeteria food, so we drove out to Gardiner, MT, to see what we could find. One of the locals recommended that we try the Cowboy Lodge and Grill, which just opened up last week and served delicious BBQ (the real kind, with a smoker).

After lunch, as you might expect, everyone had major food coma. But just when we least expected it, on the road between Mammoth Hot Springs and Roosevelt-Tower, we saw TWO MORE BEARS!! And a bighorn sheep!

Then, ironically enough, we finally made it to Lamar Valley and saw no animals. (Well, no animals except buffalo, which we'd seen plenty of already.) But the valley was very pretty!

We drove home via the now-open Dunraven Pass (it opened at 9 a.m., go figure), and had dinner at the Fishing Bridge cafeteria (more burgers and hot dogs...uh, yum).

I digress now to discuss the following depressing display at the gift shop.

Mugs for kiddies. When I was growing up, I could never find my name, because it was so popular that it always ran out. And now, I can't get one because nobody is naming baby girls Jennifer anymore. All the trendy names, like Jaden, McKenzie, etc. were there, but no Jennifer! I realized with horror what was happening.

I'm going to be the Gertrude of the 80s.

According to babynameshub.com:

Girls Named Jennifer

This chart illustrates how many Girls were named Jennifer in the U.S. since 1880.

On that note, we all went to bed at 8:30 p.m., well before official dusk at 9:42 p.m.

West Thumb, Old Faithful and a BEAR

The road to the Old Faithful and other nearby basins opened up on our third day, so we saw lots of geysers and hot springs, and breathed in lots of delicious sulfuric steam. ("Mmm, smells like Taiwan!")

West Thumb

I think I was most impressed not by geysers going off, but by the bright, vivid, colors of the pools and their "bacterial mats". Apparently you can tell the temperature of the water by the colors of the "extremophiles" that live in it. (Warmer colors mean warmer water, cooler colors mean cooler water.)

Here are a couple nice colorful pools from West Thumb:

Old Faithful

Here's the obligatory picture with Old Faithful! (And various other Asian tourists...there were a LOT of Asians out there.)

And here's a couple more neat ones from the Old Faithful Basin:

We wanted to hike a longer loop around the Old Faithful area, but it was super cold and about half our group looked sort of sad and shivery when we suggested a longer walk, so we moved on to other basins.

Unfortunately, the weather was too cold for the hot springs too. I was super excited to see the Grand Prismatic Spring.

But there was too much steam coming off the water to see anything. :-(

Our next spot, Artists' Paint Pots, however, was a cool-looking surprise.

And we were really pumped to see a black bear in Hayden Valley on the way back home!

Curse my feeble 3x zoom, but I'm sure Kally and Kasandra will have some awesome ones to share later!