Biking and Boating Through Glacier National Park

Yesterday was a quiet day, consisting only of last breakfast with Julie in Bozeman and a long drive to West Glacier.  We did manage to stop along the way in Seeley Lake for some much needed ice cream. After a quick dinner in the RV and an evening cigar, we bedded down fairly early.

This morning we rose late and had breakfast in the RV.  The stove in our RV has thus far been used only for cooking Butter Braids we brought along. I'm not sure what we will do when we run out, as I've only ever purchased them as part of school fundraisers and I don't think you can buy them in stores. If I'm mistaken,  please so advise.

After breakfast we unloaded the bikes for our journey into Glacier National Park and road from the RV park to the West Glacier entrance and to Apgar Village for a quick coffee and a potty break. It was touch and go with Dagny this morning as she has been fighting a cold and wasn't sure if she was up for the ride.  To her credit and her fear of missing out, she saddled up and came along.

From Apgar Village we road the Going-to-the-Sun Road to the Lake McDonald Lodge. Seeing that it had a scenic boat ride, we bought tickets and the kids played a little Rook before our outing. We spent about an hour on the ride.  In hindsight, I think I would have enjoyed more renting a small boat, equipped with an 8 horse power outboard motor to have our own adventure. It would have entailed less of the bus tour tourist types. We did enjoy some wonderful views and learned a little history of the park.

Walking back to our bikes, Alastair and I had visions of continuing another 6 or 9 miles up the Going-to-the-Sun Road, past where it is closed to cars. Those visions disappeared once our butts hit our seats and we decided to ride back with the women folk. Dagny started struggling at this point and we stopped in West Glacier Village for dinner and ice cream. We finally made it back to the RV, reloaded the bikes, and showered up. I imagine it will be an early night and we will all sleep well.  Tomorrow will be a driving excursion into the park.  Thanks to Maggie being a 4th grader, we have free entry into all national parks this summer, which is a nice perk. If you have a 4th grader, check it out and get out there.

- Dave

Bozeman rest up

Monday night we rolled into Bozeman for a quick visit with my sister and some down time. Bozeman is a really cute town and we have all spent a fair amount of time here. The kids fly to see Julie each summer but it had been 4 years since David and I had visited. Julie has a precious home just 3 blocks off of main street and she made our 2 days together so enjoyable.  Bozeman is super friendly and small. Julie knows lots of great people and even managed to connect Dave to a welder friend who gave us the friends and family hook up on a quick fix for our bike rack.

We played lots of Rook, which is a card game Julie and I learned from both sides of our grands. We play this game all the time and I have only encountered about a half dozen other people in my life (outside of my Scates family) who have ever heard of it. David learned to play 28 years ago and is a very good player and all 4 of the kids are decent players as well. We mix up partners each day, but Aunt Julie is always the favorite partner when we are together.

We did a good hike on Tuesday morning called Drinking Horse and fed the fish at the fish hatchery which was lots of fun. We had lots of time to visit with Mikey and his dog, Rigby. The kids played with the dog so much she was exhausted and probably glad to see us go. We enjoyed the farmers market and more than our fair share of sweet treats.

Said our goodbyes to my sister this morning to head back out on the road. We will drive all day to West Glacier were we will spend the next 4 nights. I look forward to more animal sightings and fun times together.

Jll

From Yellowstone to Bozeman

I have travelled to some fairly remote places in the world, from the Amazon Rain Forest in Manaus, Brazil to Kruger National Park in South Africa, but I experienced the greatest level of disconnectedness right in my own back yard, in the Yellowstone National Park.  For almost our entire time in Yellowstone, I was able to send only one text message and receive only one text message.  We had a great time, but I must confess that I felt a little ill at ease being so disconnected.  Perhaps this sabbatical is just what I need to break my technology addiction.  Perhaps Yellowstone will prove just a warm up for Glacier and Denali National Parks to come.

The texts I did send and receive were from Chris Inman and to his wonderful wife, Emily.  Chris and I lived in the Beta house years ago, though some of the memories seem like they happened yesterday.  At one point, Chris sprayed the entire contents of a fire extinguisher into my room at the end of a night's festivities, much to the chagrin of Scott Kirkegaard, my only roommate with anything of value, including his prized computer.  I am not sure how the two of them worked it out.  In any event, Chris informed me a few days ago that Emily and his daughters would be in West Yellowstone, so I texted Emily to say that we would be stopping by the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone and asked it they would care to join us.  This was the first day of the sabbatical during which we set an alarm.  We left the Fishing Bridge RV Park by 8:30 or so and drove arrived in West Yellowstone at 10, just in time to catch up with the Inman family.  We had an enjoyable time, the youngest among us had the opportunity to enter the bear enclosure (after the bears had been removed) in order to hide their food for them to find when they reentered.  According to Dagny, this sounded like more fun than it turned out to be.  We did see four of the grizzly bears and three wolves, which exceeded the numbers we saw in Yellowstone (one each).  Two of the younger grizzlies wrested in their pond, which proved to be the highlight of the discovery center.

After few hours with the grizzlies, wolves, and Inman's, we loaded up and headed to Bozeman, where we met up with Jll's sister, Julie, who lives in Bozeman for roughly half of each year.  Dinner and Fuddrucker's was followed by a game of Rook, which rounded out the night.  I hate to admit it, but I love Fuddrucker's burgers (which I think are second to Del Frisco's) and ever since Denver closed its last franchise, I have noticed them whenever we travel.  Jll and I left the girls with Aunt Julie while she, Alastair, and I headed to the RV park for the night.

Tomorrow should be a fairly calm day, though I do need to find a welder or fabrication shop to work on the RV.  Apparently putting six bikes on the rear bumper may not have been the best idea.  While the rack and its mount are holding fine, I fear that when we go over large bumps, we are slowly ripping the 4" steel bumper off of its mounts. 

A Lazy Day in Yellowstone

For our second day in Yellowstone we had a late start. After eating a few danishes for breakfast we loaded up the minivan and headed out from our campsite at Fishing Bridge. Since we did the lower loop yesterday we headed north stopping to see the Tower Fall before driving through Lamar Valley. We saw a bunch of bison, elk, pronghorns, a hawk with a snake in its talons, and a lone wolf.

We then drove to the Mammoth Hot Springs for lunch in the dining room before walking the hot springs terraces. We then drove back to the Canyon Village through Norris, seeing plenty of bison along the way. We stopped by the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone driving the north and south rims. Alastair was disappointed to find the Uncle Tom's hiking trail closed. He had hiked this previously with his Aunt Julie and wanted to show it to us. I was not disappointed as I understand the hike to include several hundred steps to the bottom of the canyon, with no way up but the same steps.

Back to the campground for dinner we had some brats followed by a few games of Rook.  Adelaide and Alastair have been on a run and they need to be brought down a notch or two.

Tomorrow we head to West Yellowstone to see some grizzly bear and wolves then it's on to Bozeman. Stay tuned for more.  Hopefully our internet connections will get better and we can start posting more regularly.

- Dave

First Day in Yellowstone

We arrived in Yellowstone today and we had a lot of fun plans. We decided to go to Old Faithful and other natural geysers. We drove in a loop and stoped at great destinations on the way. We saw great views of lakes, rivers, and streams. We got to Old Faithful and we were a few minutes from erouption. We were amazed at the sight and we went inside and got ice cream after the eruption.

The next thing we did was go to Gibbon falls and we watched that for a while. We kept driving and my mom insisted that we stoped and saw the mud pots. That was a good choice. We walked around the board walk and we walched all sorts of geysers and boiling or steaming pots. My favorite was a hole filled with boiling red mud. We drove back and stoped several times to wait for Bison to cross, bears to watch, and Elk to see. We got into town and ate dinner. Then we went back to the RV and went to the shower house to clean up. We came back and we brushed are teeth and got ready for bed. We finished the night by playing cards and putting together pictures.

       For now, Magnolia

Biking in the Rain

On our first sabbatical 5 years ago the children ranged in age from 5 to 10. Now, at 10 to 15 we have many more choices about what we are able to do. Last time, I brought a stroller; this time, bikes. One of the things I have always loved about bikes is that riding them feels youthful. I rode my bike a lot when I was a kid. I almost never ride it in Denver but I am always game to rent bikes on vacation. Riding a bike means I am not in a hurry and I have time to enjoy where I am going.

Our 6 bikes on the back of our RV required a lot of advanced planning to arrange. Thanks to David, they are all here with us. Last night the girls and I took the bikes out for a short test ride. Magnolia's bike is new to her and she needed a little practice getting used to her gears. The ride was on a seasonal dirt road that is not yet open for summer. If you take it for 47 miles you end up in Idaho. Last night was a quick ride but so rewarding with beautiful views and scenery we new it would be the primary activity for our day today.

It rained all last night, it rained this morning, in fact it rained almost all day. When the clouds broke ever so slightly at 4pm the girls and I headed back out. The boys didn't trust that the weather would hold and opted to stay behind. It is difficult to know exactly how far we rode but I am guessing 5 miles each way. I loved it the most but we all had a great time. We were all alone, no other people for miles. We saw really cool birds, ground hogs, and a fawn on this bike ride. Much of the ride is through an old burn area and that lends to some interesting landscape as well. The river was on our side the entire ride and we crossed several streams and saw a few beaver dams. We laughed, we pointed out our favorite wildflowers, and we munched on gold fish. Then the rain came.

We probably rode the final 4 miles home in a decent rain. We picked up our pace and didn't stop for anymore goldfish. I continued to look for more wildlife but mostly I kept my eye on my 3 amazing daughters. I was so proud of them for riding hard, in the cold, in the rain, and for mostly laughing all the way home. I try to tell them all the time not to lead a vanilla life. If we had skipped the ride because of the chance of rain, our afternoon would have been fairly unremarkable. Instead, it was amazing! I loved every minute of it. I even loved the cold and wet parts. I loved that we were in it together and they weren't intimidated by the chance of rain.

They are all tucked in tight now, and, it is raining. I have hopes of blue skies tomorrown but either way, it will be amazing.

Jll

All For One

Hello everyone! My name is Adelaide McLain and I am 15 years old. This coming year I will be a sophmore at Thomas Jefferson High School.

This morning started as a collective effort because as soon as one person is awake and moving, so is EVERYONE else. We woke up in Rock Springs, WY and had cereal for breakfast. We began driving eventually and headed for Jackson Hole, WY. It took us a few hours but we eventually arrived.

We explored the small town and took some pictures. All 6 of us were very hungry so we headed to a small restaurant called The Bunnery.  This was one of Aunt Julie and Mike's favorites when they lived in Jackson Hole. I had quesadillas for lunch which were very delicious. We went and looked at a few small stores and I got a new charm for my charm bracelet.

We got back in the RV after a late lunch and drove about 90 minutes to Grand Teton National Park. It is so gorgeous here so we parked and I went on a bike ride with mom and the girls. We biked a couple miles on a road through the park and found a great little creek. At one point the girls almost got run over by a baby deer. We biked back and started a fire. We made s'mores and all took showers. Now we are doing a Bible devotional and then we are going to play Rook. Goodnight!

-Adelaide