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Published: September 8th 2007
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Yellowstone Grand Canyon
Hard to capture the view, but very spectacular. Well, I guess things come full circle. We are now in Bozeman (motel night, so bathing and clean underwear). Taking John to the airport in the AM (at dawnthirty per Jim). Hiked up to Mt. Washburn this morning. Great dinner this evening (Thank You John). Granted, I had an ice cream sundae for lunch. Not very fufilling, but yummy still the same. Camped last night. A bit chilly last night and very windy and chilly this AM on top of Mt. Washburn. First I want to share a few observations from the past few weeks. 1)Jim is a tree perv. I hate to put this in a blog, but I think you all should know this. Jim cops a feel on all the evergreens as he walks by them. He says "I want to determine the type of pine, fir, etc.", however, John and I think there is more to this. Obviously he has evergreen issues that we hope counseling may resolve. 2)Jim is part mountain goat, part surly bison. I'm sure John will explain further. 3)John snores. I confirmed this as I elbowed Jim last night to stop snoring and he moved (hard to do cause he was mummied up in his sleeping bag, and the snoring continued (John's tent was next to ours). But I think John's snoring is what saved us from bear attacks. We have had a great time. The stars were incredible the two nights we backpacked in Yellowstone. I have never seen anything like it. Course Jim and John kept seeing shooting stars and I didn't, but I'm not bitter. The night sky was still the most beautifully lit sky I have ever seen. Yet, this part of the good times will end as John returns home. Jim and I likely will be saying goodbye to Montana tomorrow or at least getting close to the Idaho border.
I hereby declare Alan Kines the winner of last week's trivia question. Though we had several good guesses. Jim basically came across antlers and felt the need to put the antlers in a circle (he did make sure there were 13 in the outer circle of course ). Alan, your prize will be so very exciting. You can collect it at our Halloween party. Likewise to you Susan R (and future winners). Tune in to a future blog for the next trivia question.
Squirrel
Confessions of a Late Night Snorer
I snore, I think we all get it. Sometimes I also fart. Apparently Susan only farts in the middle of the night. I am amazed with all of that bowel activity exploding over in the next tent anyone could here me snoring. In spite of this malady, it has been a great vacation. Wednesday we hiked around Jenny Lake past Hidden Falls to Inspiration Point (Tetons el Grande). Susan refered to it as Perspiration Point. Anyone who has ever hiked with me knows that Perspiration Point is whatever point of the trail I am on. Jim decided to hike back around the other side of the lake and the weather decided to do an about face. About the time Susan and I got back to the car the heavens opened up. After about 30 minutes I informed Susan Jim would not be back for at least another 45 minutes. 2 minutes later Jim showed up. He had been doing around 20 minutes a mile. That's awesome!! I have taken to calling him "Pronghorn" Jim Mongold or Prongold for short. Both of these parks are incredible. One of the cool things about Yellowstone is the diversity of both animal life and landscape. The diversity of the people that visit is really neat. When you walk around Old Faithful or Mamoth Hot Springs there are people from all over the world. We finally saw that big Bull Moose Jim and I longed for. Yesterday after we sat up camp we hiked to Cascade Lake. We ran in to a buffalo with IBS (Irritable Bison Syndrome). We had a time getting around that guy, he had some unresolved issues. We finally made it to the lake and it was beautiful. Imagine a little lake at the end of a long meadow with ducks and trumpeter swans swimming across it. As you look back across the sunny meadow you can see Bison grazing, a flock of Mountain Bluebirds and several Northen Harriers flying over the tall grass. Now you are right there with us. Mount Wasburn was a cold, hard climb but it sure was pretty up top. We could almost see The Grand Tetons On the way down we saw some mountain goats. Well I guess it's E.T. phone home time. PEOPLE OF THE ORANGE NATION UNITE!! A late August lost means we need a clean sweep in September. See you back in Knoxville.
Silver Chin
Scenes from an Adventure
I'm going to give you some random thoughts from the trip so far.
If I was on a photographic journey, I would have taken pictures of all the abandoned farms in Iowa that litter the fields. Former homes and proud farms, now covered with tree limbs and falling back into dust. We passed dozens. Heartbreaking.
From what I have observed, I don't think Americans or visitors to the US are going to give up their travel ways easily. Camping and RVing are enormously popular and the campgrounds in these parks are crowded with people. Gas was $4/gallon in Yellowstone and people paid. We've also seen lots of motorcycles and some bicyclists though.
There was a restaurant on the way into Mammoth called "The Lighthouse." ? There was another place nearby, now closed, with a sign that said, "Sushi." What were they thinking?
Here are some songs we made up: Looking for Grizz in all the wrong places; I could be happy the rest of my life with a Cinnamon Bear; We don't need no pop-up camper, we don't need no motel room, Hey! Grizzly--leave those tents alone. Celebrex, Hike to the Music.
John described me as having the speed of a pronghorn, the sure-footedness of a mountain goat, and the disposition of a Bison. I figure everybody will get a laugh out of that.
Silver Chin Bear turned his pony back toward the East this am. Me and the little woman are going on into the unknown west. We don't have a plan for the next few days. We're headed to somewhere Idaho. Take it easy muchachos. Give Iris a hug for me. I do miss her.
Moose
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dave
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What to watch out for in Idaho
1) Potatoes 2) The Fleshy-Toe-Tapping-Craig. 3) Did I mention potatoes?