Day 4 - Glad to See Ya Glacier

We woke up in Missoula, Montana and thankfully, it had stopped raining. It was good to sleep on a bed and not in a tent. Missoula is actually a bit more interesting than we expected but there was no real time to explore. We needed to push forward to our ultimate destination, Glacier National Park.

The road to Glacier took us through Flathead Lake, a really beautiful lake surrounded by fruit trees. They are apparently known for their cherries so we pulled over to a roadside stand and picked some up for the road. Yum! They were delicious and Dan is now determined to grow a cherry tree at home... I'll get back to you on that!

We pulled into our campground in Glacier...and it's called Glacier Campground. Very creative, don't you think? It was heavily wooded and we had reserved a small cabin since this is bear country and we've already had our one mandatory bear experience. Basic but nice cabin. It's nice to just pull sleeping bags and clothes out. Once we set up, we headed into Glacier. We didn't get too far in. We hung out in Apgar Village and enjoyed the lake and the mountain views. Of course, Brenna had to run into the water and claims it's not too cold... we'll see.

We drove a little way into the park and saw beautiful waterfalls and thundering rivers. We were starving soon and headed to a restaurant close to the campground. Great BBQ and our new favorite fruit... huckleberry. We are eating ANYTHING that has huckleberry. If you're in the northwest area of the country, it's everywhere so try it!

Off to the cabin to rest up for our exploration tomorrow of Glacier.

Day 3 - Yellowstone Surprise

Sunday morning we packed up early and loaded the kids in the car. When we told them where we were going, they were so excited. We headed in the Western entrance, make a right towards Old Faithful and made a loop around the park, exiting at the North West entrance. We were able to see some tings that we missed last year on our trip.

It is just jaw-dropping when you come upon a stretch of the road and can see six or more geysers erupting in front of you, on both sides of the road. As one starts, it seems to trigger others close by. We saw some beautiful geysers and crystal clear 'lakes' that were bubbling from deep below. The colors in nature here are a Pantone dream ~ shocking blues, yellows, greens, oranges....

One of my favorite sites was at Yellowstone Lake in Big Thumb. There are geysers, paint pots, lakes.... all boiling and churning, next to this amazing lake. You can see volcanic activity at the edge of the lake with crystal clear blue waters. Beautiful scenery so hopefully the pictures can capture some of it!

We also visited the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The teal color of the water tumbling over Upper Falls was captivating. Not a 'dirty water' teal but so cystal clear and clean that it is teal.

Wildlife was out in full force. We saw elk, Canadian geese, and a herd of HUNDREDS of bison. Talk about causing a traffic jam. The bison were all around us, walking in front of our car to cross to the other side of the meadow. Four male bison were acting really aggressively with each other and were chasing one another alongside the cars. You could hear kids screaming two cars in front of us. I didn't think this could be topped but we saw a mother bear and two cubs amongst some trees fairly close to the road. Based upon her size and their coloring, we think they may have been grizzly bears. Wow!

Off we went to head back to Montana and towards Glacier National Park. Dan has been a saint with all the driving. Montana is a beautiful state. We drove for h-o-u-r-s and finally stopped in Missoula. It was pouring rain for hours and we saw a lot of lightning (very impressive!) We have collapsed at the Holiday Inn Express (and as I type this, Dan has fallen deep asleep ~ poor guy!) We're learning that there is great distance between 'big' cities which can sometimes make finding services difficult. Add in a Sunday when things close early, if they open at all and it makes it challenging.

Tomorrow we head to Glacier National Park. But not until we find Wal-Mart and get me the device to download pictures!

Day 2 - Hello Idaho

Finally connected again... tried to update this last night but had problems with the WiFi...
We started off by having breakfast at the KOA in Twin Falls and then headed over to the actual Twin Falls.

These falls are called the "Niagara of the West" and were really incredible. It is the Snake River that plunges over these falls. Double rainbows appear in the mist of the falls while you are surrounded by plunging cliffs, beautiful mountains and trees. And as soon as we find a Target or Wal-Mart and purchase the right device to transfer pictures, I'll post some! We then headed over to the upper level of the Snake River, where they have created a 'swimming hole'. Brenna just had to try it out. Although it was slimey on the steps built to help you in, she really enjoyed it. Swam out to the diving platform and also dove in from the diving board... fun, even though it ended in a belly flop! But a beautiful one it was! As we left the lake, we saw a dozen or so elk on the crest of the hilltop. Wow!

The one thing Dan wanted to do was to see the spot where Evil Knievel attempted to jump the Snake River.... we have no idea how it happened but somehow we forgot...oops! Next time, right?

We headed north to Shoshone and visited the Ice Caves. It is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by lava fields. You climb down about 100 feet into a lava tube. Then you are allowed into the cave, where it is about 40 degrees and ice covers the cave floors. They have built wooden walking paths above it and you walk all the way to the back of the cave. It was awe-inspiring and a welcome relief from the 90 degree weather up top! If you are ever in this part of the country, check it out!

We then headed to Craters of the Moon National Park. Such a stark landscape that was oddly mesmerizing. We went to the visitors center and learned more about it. Informative, interesting and more importantly, an air-conditioned escape from the heat. There is a campground there which boggled my mind as to why anyone would want to stay there, camping on black dirt and uneven ground, no trees and high temperatures. I must be missing something because there were lots of people there. Oh well, to each his own!

The kids had been very excited about the trip but kept asking to return to Yellowstone again. It was a trek out of our way but with Alex being a senior now, we want every opportunity to make memories. So, unknown to them, Dan and I planned on surprising them with a visit to Yellowstone. We headed towards West Yellowstone with no reservation, never thinking we'd get that far today. Well, we did and long story short, no room at the inn! It was getting late and we had been driving through a thunderstorm so we just wanted a place to stop. Trusty KOA to the rescue again. We got the 2nd to the last spot and were glad to have it!

Tomorrow, Yellowstone!

Day 1 - Blowing through Nevada

Unbelievably, we got out of the house at 4:15 a.m. to hit the road and begin our new adventure. Our goal was to stay in Ely, Nevada so we headed out past Las Vegas and up the 93 through Nevada. It was actually pretty beautiful, better than we expected. Thunderstorms surrounded us but we were never lucky enough to get caught in one.

We hit Ely...... cue tumbleweeds. There was nothing to do so we decided to push on. But before exiting Nevada, I had to play a slot machine, right? No luck but how do you pass through Nevada and not gamble at all? No luck but still needed to try. We pushed on into Twin Falls, Idaho and found a campground. They are on Mountain Time so it gets dark late. But still barely late enough for us. We hastily threw up the tent but were too exhasuted to drive for dinner. Cup of Noodles anyone?

We forgot the cable to download photos but I'm heading to find one and get some pictures up.

Montana or Bust

We're getting ready to hit the open road and explore more of the beautiful Western U.S. My goal is to update this blog daily, of course hoping for WiFi somewhere along the way each day. We would love your comments as we travel. Montana or Bust!

Adventure 2009 Approaching....

Hello Family & Friends!

We are preparing for our 2009 trip. Last year we were lucky enough to visit Wyoming (Yellowstone Park and Grand Teton National Park), go whitewater rafting, etc. This year we are again heading north, this time to Glacier National Park in Montana. Figured we better check it out before it's gone, right?

So check us out as we explore the great Western states. The adventure begins Friday around 4:30 a.m......

Day 14

Ok, I'm finally back on schedule with writing this blog. We were able to sleep in a bit today and the kids spent some time visiting the resident bison that live at this hotel They were even able to pet them... well, the babies anyway.

We had big plans for today that we have been looking forward to this whole trip ~ whitewater river rafting! As you can see, we were successful at meeting this goal, even though we just scheduled it this morning. This photo is from the end of a HUGE rapid we went through. But I'm jumping ahead of myself.

We headed back into Jackson Hole and had lunch at the Wort Restaurant, which is one of the oldest hotels in town. When Brenna's kid's meal was delivered, a woman from the hotel came to us and asked Brenna if she would be a junior sheriff for the town. She said yes and was sworn in right there. She received her badge and a chocolate silver dollar as payment. It was really cute and she loves having a new souvenir.

We then hurried over to Mad River Boat Trips for an 8-mile whitewater trip and dinner. To be honest, I was a bit nervous since I'm not a real strong swimmer and Brenna was nervous as well. We loaded onto the bus and headed down to the launch spot. We were divided into boats and were lucky enough to have really, really nice people on our boat. A family from Kansas City. We got our life-jackets on and loaded into the boat. I headed to the back, Dan and Brenna were in the front and Alex was behind them. We took off and pretty quickly, Brenna fell completely in love with rafting and basically became the hood ornament for the boat, hanging over the front to get soaked. Alex was such a stud on the boat and paddled with the best of them!

I soon relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Our guide was awesome and let us try lots of fun things. Everyone jumped overboard and floated for a wee bit... and by everyone I mean, not me! But Brenna was the first in and loved it. Since I hadn't jumped in, our guide made sure to turn the boat at the next rapid in order to ensure that I was completely christened with river water. My sinuses are clear, thank you.

We stopped partway and climbed up a hill to a setting with tables and a bbq. As we dropped our life-jackets off, Brenna wasted no time and ran straight to get a cheeseburger, salads, brownies and a drink. It was pretty good but only enhanced by the ability to sit overlooking the river and watching other rafts and kayaks tackle the big rapids. We saw plenty of people pop out of their boats or flip their kayaks, which brought my nerves back.

We got back in the raft and headed for the big rapids. This was the only time that Brenna sat on a seat and had me hold the back of her jacket. It was just a-m-a-z-i-n-g!!! We had so much fun and the biggest smiles on our faces.

It ended all too soon and we have all decided that another rafting trip is on our list! The people we rafted with had a waterproof camera and took pictures of us saying they would send them to us so hopefully they don't lose our address!

We start heading home in the morning. We're going to hit part of Idaho just to say we did... not sure where we will end up Friday night but if there is WiFi, I'll update this blog.