Starkeys Go West

Wow, what a day, what a day, it felt like the day and road would never end. We pulled out of Cody, Wy. at 10:00 am and took a “short cut” (from Amy’s Badin friend) and ended in the small town of population…….and I am not lying 100, salute. After getting back to the “highway” we started to go up hill, I should say up mountain. The Big Horn Mountains, top out at 13,000 plus feet, I think we were driving at 10,000 feet. It took us about 2 hours to get through the Big Horn Mountain average speed about 25-30 miles per hour. Then we had to go down the mountains….I didn’t need to worry about having enough power to move my family, I was now worried about having enough braking power. Apparently shifting down ... read more

Today was our day to do nothing, which we all desperately needed! Amy went to the pool and read a book, Rachel and Emma layed in the camper and watched t.v. all day, and Shawn went shopping for a knife and a new truck. He got the knife and instead of a new truck, got the oil changed and the truck washed, much cheaper. It was a nice relaxing day. I had an "it's a small world" moment at the campsite. I was wearing a Bengals tshirt, and a guy who worked at the campground said he was from Cincinnati. After we started talking, it turns out he used to live in Fairfield on Northridge Circle, off Pleasant Ave. about 1/4 mile from our house. Wierd. Apparently he went to Badin, so Shawn didn't know him. ... read more

Starkey's are back, back again.................. It sure is tough not having internet or cell phone service at some campgrounds......it is almost like roughing it. The next 3 enteries are posted as the days unfolded. Today we left Gardiner, Mt and headed south for Flagg Ranch, Wy. Flagg Ranch is just south of Yellowstone, and north of Grand Teton National Park. It's also known as "a dead zone!" On our way south we stopped in Yellowstone at the mud pots, and some geysers. Outside setting up for some 1st Amendments rights protest was this guy (see pic), if you can see the tag on his shorts he shops at Marshalls. The mud pots were cool...they looked like boiling paint, just as advertised. Our next stop was Old Faithful. We timed it just right and walked over about ... read more

Entering the Yellowstone Park, it was as if someone said "que the eagle" and with that an American Bald Eagle came flying down the Gardiner River, very cool! Blog from Emma: Yesterday we went to Mammoth Hot Springs. It was neat you could see steam coming from the springs and small waterfalls. The smell was horriable. :-( It smelled like boiled egg salad sandwiches that my mom makes). The water temputare was over 212 degrees farenhight! Right after that we went to Tower Falls. There we had lunch and then went on a hike to see Tower falls. We got to see it from the top but the bottom was blocked off. But there was a path to the yellow stone river that had fallen down trees on it. We climbd over them and went to ... read more

Today we were able to take advantage of the park buses to drive to Logan Pass so we could hike from the pass to Hidden Lake. Not having to drive on Going to the Sun Road with the construction was very welcomed. With water and sweatshirts we ventured up to Logan Pass. It was a good thing Amy reminded the girls to take their sweatshirts since there were still acres of snow several feet thick in most areas of the hike. It is amazing how some people dress to go for a hike in the snow (incredible since it is July), flip flops, sandals, dresses and platform sandals. Amy was quite the nervous nelly as the girls hiked up the snow and especially the side of the mountain (see picture). Amy was able to successfully navigate ... read more