Helloo again!  Since we plan to leave on Saturday (today being Monday) I should catch you all up with the rest of our trip from last year.

 

We left North Dakota and traveled west to Montana where we were really excited to return to Yellowstone and Jackson Hole.

Hoping for nice weather, we drove straight into the teeth of a storm.  Cruising a hundred miles out of our way due to snow in the Park, we wound our way through Gallitin Canyon and arrived at last in West Yellowstone.

What all did we see in Yellowstone, our country’s first national park?  Sorry I can’t show you because I accidentally deleted all the pictures we took.  What a dummy!  But in the fog we drove through the park to old haunts of Fishing Bridge, Grand Prismatic Pool, Yellowstone Lodge,  Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone Falls,  and of course Old Faithful.  The only wildlife we saw was a herd of bison and some mountain sheep.  There were no “bear jams” those days, but we did go to another place…..

The Yellowstone Wolf and Grizzly Discovery Center right in West Yellowstone was a highlight of our stay there.

These bears are HUGE!  It was a lot of fun watching them forage for food and treats hidden by the Center staff.  You better believe the bears left no stone, rock, or boulder unturned while looking for their booty.

Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons have always been favorites of mine.  My family went there often when we were kids and I have many fond memories of that time, so this trip did not disappoint.

We drove all through the park and spent a couple days exploring Jackson.  Some things haven’t changed in town but some things have.  Jackson may be the only tourist trap in the whole country without a Walmart, but do not despair!  There is a K-Mart!

Note the bullet holes.  Welcome to the wild west!

One time I was flying from somewhere to somewhere else and the pilot kindly tipped us sideways so we could do a circle around Craters of the Moon National Park.  We decided to go so I could retrieve the part of my stomach that stayed there after the tricky figure 8 we made in that DC-3.  At ground level the park is even more stark and beautiful especially in pouring rain and after a visit to Arco, the first nuclear powered city(?) in the US.  I loved it when the lady at the desk of the RV park where we stayed said the whole town, including the residents, glowed.

Volcanic action created this park, and with the Fall colors and rain, if you squinted, it looked like fiery lava was still moving along.

Volcanic soil is not as barren as you might think.  Little patches of moss and lichen were all over this hill.

Yes, a river flows through it now-a-days.

Onward to Oregon.  Eastern Oregon wasn’t looking pretty for us so no pictures of it.  We did stop in Pendleton, site of the historic Pendleton Round-Up and also where my doll’s leg fell off when I was about two.  Family legend has it that we were in some bar after the rodeo and when Daughter’s leg fell off I screamed it to everyone for blocks around.  Mom morphed into nurse mode and took Daughter off to the ladies room and performed safety pin surgery saving the day and everyone’s ears.

So after that we went on to Portland.  The picture above is the day treatment center for, as we called them then, chronically mentally ill.  We barged in and the staff kindly gave us a tour of the house  which is now a counseling center.  Very cool!

We stayed a few days to help brother, Jeff, celebrate a Big 0 birthday, drove back to Hood River to visit Dawn, a dear friend from graduate school days, and her daughter, Suzi, who is now all grown up with a son of her own.  Suzy remembers us kindly because we gave her her first job of doing our laundry.  Memories were made then!  We also reconnected with Tom and Wendy.  Wendy and I worked together at Day Treatment and I introduced her to Tom, with whom I went to graduate school.  Happy memories, all!

Finally on to Salt Lake City to meet Doug and Susie so we could continue our trip to AZ.  The picture above is the house I grew up in.  900 square feet of post-war wonderfulness.  We lived in Provo until the house was finished about 1947.  Then we moved to SLC and stayed in this house until I went away to college and Mom and Dad built a new house in Mt. Olympus Cove.

Oops!  Forgot to tell you about the blowout we had in Idaho on the way from Portland to Salt Lake.  Scary!!  Mark did a heroic job of keeping us safe and we found a guy who came and fixed the tire so we could continue.  It sure wasn’t as bad as it could have been!

A stop in Mesquite and on the road and home again to

ARIZONA.  What a year we had!  10,000 miles, 22 states, 1 Canadian Province, a whole new family, a great old family, death staring us in the face, and survival and the will to head out again!  Stay tuned!  You won’t believe 2017!!