Day 42 (Thusrday, August 5th) Yellowstone National Park

Today is our day in Yellowstone National Park. First, let us caution anyone who wishes to tour Yellowstone; don't try to do it in a single day. We knew it would be tough going in and we only planned to see the lower half of the park. We were still way off and could have spent several days, or more, exploring this part of Yellowstone. As it was, our day was 12 hours long. Holly was very glad to see us when we got back.

Our campground was just outside of the park, near the west entrance. The roads in Yellowstone essentially form a figure 8 and we camped just outside the lower loop. Our route brought us in the west entrance and in counter-clockwise direction around the lower loop and then back to our campsite. Almost everything we wanted to see was in this lower loop and the mileage was very reasonable, so we figured we could do it in a day. Significant portions of the loop run along lakes, streams, and volcanically active areas. We misjudged the amount of time we'd spend gawking at amazing views, watching wildlife, sitting in traffic because of wildlife-traffic jams, and behind some construction delays.

We started with a visit to Firehole Falls. The falls aren't very tall but the area is very picturesque. There is one area where you're allowed to swim but the water was a bit too chilly for our taste. As we left there, we entered the Lower Geyser Basin and walked a series of boardwalks around the fountain paint pots and colorful springs. We got lucky when we reached the Great Fountain Geyser because its eruptions are irregular and far apart (9-15 hours apart). When we arrived, it was rumbling and they predicted it would erupt within the hour. We decided to wait and after 40 minutes, we were rewarded by a gigantic eruption of hot water and steam that blasted 75 feet above our heads, part of which rained down over us. It was incredible to be so close that we actually got wet. Our pictures don't do it justice because we had to move to get up wind from all the steam. By the time we found a better vantage point, the highest eruptions were over but it was still quite impressive. It was truly an unforgettable experience to be inside the "splash zone" of a geyser. We think we may have gotten lucky to see an unusually large eruption because the seats were within the splash zone and that's unusual in the park.

Midway Geyser Basin was next on our journey. The highlight of this section was the Grand Prismatic Spring. This is a huge, shallow pool with a rainbow of brilliant colors created in some cases by minerals and in other cases by organisms that can live in super heated water. It was interesting to see the different colors reflected in the steam rising from the spring.

From there, we continued to the Upper Geyser Basin to see Old Faithful. The area was very crowded. About 3,000 people gather to watch this famous geyser erupt every 60-90 minutes. We wish we could have gotten closer but nobody's allowed closer than about 100 yards. It was almost an anticlimax since we'd just gotten rained on by a huge geyser that was close to us but it was still exciting to see.

From Old Faithful, we drove over the Continental Divide twice on a winding road that finally brought us down at Yellowstone Lake in an area called West Thumb. Here, we walked through an area with several colorful hot springs right at the edge of the lake. One of the famous features here is called "Fishing Cone". Legend says that fishermen used to fish on the lake and swing their catch over into the cone and cook the fish while still on the line.

After leaving West Thumb, we headed through Hayden Valley toward Canyon Village. Up to this point, we were happy we had seen a few elk, some birds (falcons, pelicans, etc.) and a few bison. Little did we know what was in store for us in Hayden Valley. This area is known for bison but since we were driving through the area in the hotest part of the afternoon, we didn't have high hopes. Apparently, bison don't hide in the heat of the afternoon because we came across two very large herdes. The second herd included two bull bison that decided the grass was greener on the other side of the road. They caused quite the traffic jam while trying to decide exactly when to cross the road. Luckily, it also provided us with great pictures.

After we made our way through the bison-jam, we headed for the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Although this canyon isn't many miles long and a mile deep, it was equally breathtaking. The Yellowstone river has carved its way through the colorful rocks creating a beautiful canyon with water falls. We viewed the lower falls and the river from Artist Point. The view was spectacular! We decided we really wanted to get a closer look so we hiked down Uncle Tom's Trail to a viewpoint of the upper falls. The hike was only 1/8 mile but it was 500 feet down so it included 325 steps. Although very tiring, it was well worth the trip.

By this point, we were way behind our schedule and decided to skip all of the features at the Norris Geyser Basin and head for the campground and Holly. We figured we'd be back in an hour. Unfortunately, our luck had run out. We ran into road construction that left us sitting still for 1/2 hour. So much for making stops at the gas station and grocery store on the way back. We decided to go back and get Holly first and she could join us on our shopping trip. It was quite late by the time we turned in for the night. Tomorrow, we'll leave by 9am to drive through Grand Teton on our way to Riverton, Wyoming. Once we leave Riverton, we'll be headed for Mount Rushmore.

Day 40 (Tuesday, August 3rd) Glacier National Park, Montana

It was a long drive from Seattle to Glacier National Park in Montana. We haven't blogged in a couple days since we took two days to drive that leg. We spent one night in a really nice campground on the Spokane River in Couer d'Alane, Idaho. It was nice, even though it was sandwiched in between two driving days. Holly (our Lab) even got to go swimming in the clean river.

We got into our campground at Glacier last night. Our space was so narrow and on such a narrow road that we drew a crowd ro see if we could get our trailer into it without using it to trim the trees. Kim did her usual excellent job of signalling me and we disappointed them all. A clean back-in and no show for our audience........

We headed into Glacier National Park early in the morning for a ride up the road called "G0ing to the Sun Road." Going to the Sun Road is a road that rises 6,646 feet into the glacially created mountains that gave Glacier National Park it's name. At times it was hard to believe that the road was originally built in the 1930s. It literally clings to the side of the mountain at many points. The views were stunning!! When we got to Logan Pass (the high point), we were completely inside the clouds, but by the time we got to the Jackson Glacier Overlook, the clouds had cleared and we all got to see one of the few remaining glaciers in the United States that you can drive close enough to see. Since we didn't have the time for a 3-day hike into the interior of the park we felt lucky to get the view we did. The water in the glacial valleys, between the majestic peaks, was icey cold and so clear you could see way down to the rocks.

As we entered the park, we were rewarded with a clean view of two young bears foraging for food near the road. These were the first wild bears that the Kim and the boys have ever seen. At the other end we spent some time observing some beautiful deer that were watching us from only 50 feet away, in the woods. The animal sightings were a perfect cap to a day of absolutely amazing mountain views. While on the Going to the Sun Road, we stopped at one of the many hiking trails and hiked in to see St. Mary Falls. They were spectacular! They consist of melt from glaciers and snow-pack and were crytal blue! The boys dipped their hands in the water there and pronounced that it was as cold as ice-water. Who would have guessed?

If I can get my trailer back out of this narrow space without damage, we'll head out for another long drive. This one is only one day and ends with us camped near the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park. We can't wait!

Day 37 (Saturday, July 31st) Vancouver, British Columbia

We drove up into Canada today to see a fireworks show in Vancouver. Each year they hold an international fireworks competition. The winner of the competition has a big show the last Saturday of July. This year, it was won by a Chinese company. Their fireworks show was set to music that was played over a Vancouver radio station. We were across the harbor in a public park so the sound was delayed a little but the fireworks were still in time to the music being played on a radio nearby. Several of the fireworks were unique and the show ran for 30 minutes. We didn't bother taking pictures, we all just sat and enjoyed the show.

John's sister gratiously volunteered to do our laundry while we went to Canada so on our way back to our trailer, we picked up our laundry and said our goodbyes. We'll spend the next 2 days driving to Glacier National Park, Montana. We'll overnight in Couer d'Alene, Idaho and be in Glacier by Monday.

Day 36 (Friday, July 30th) Seattle

We got up early to start our day with a tour of the Boeing factory in Everett, WA. They wouldn't allow cameras or even phones for fear of corporate espionage so we don't have any pictures but, take our word for it, the place is absolutely huge. Some of the tunnels in the basement are over 1/3 mile long. The working floor is so big that it could contain enough football fields for the NFL to play its entire season in one day. There are 29 cafeterias and everything else employees would want, right on the campus. They bused us from one part of the building to another to see several assembly lines for airliners. The place is amazing!

After we left the Boeing factory, we headed into downtown Seattle. Our first stop was the Seattle Space Needle. We've been there before but it was so long ago that the boys' memories have faded. The lines were short so we got up top quickly and enjoyed our view of Seattle and the Sound. After the novelty wore off, the boys were ready to move on so we decended and headed over to Pike Place Market. We'd never been there before and it was facinating. We expected a simple fish market and found a several block long, multiple-story complex of unusal, one-of-a-kind stores. We could have spent the entire day strolling from store to store and even the boys were entertained. Leslie had told us that we needed to see the "flying fish" and the monkfish but we hadn't realized exactly what she meant by that. As we passed the largest fish shop, someone purchased several complete salmon. The clerk at the register shouted the order to the guys near the iced fish and they responded by flinging entire 20 lb salmon through the air. The cashier deftly caught them and rang them up; "flying fish" indeed. Then we found the monkfish. It was the ugliest fish we'd ever seen and was dangling from the ice at the front of the counter. Leslie encouraged us to pose for photos with it but forgot to mention that the fish is attached to a rope that can be pulled by any employee. The result is that the head of the monkfish jumps almost a foot in the air like it was still alive. You can imagine the reaction of anyone stooped over, posing with their face next to this ugly fish. If only we'd had our camera ready when Jake was surprised by the fish coming alive.

Once we stopped sightseeing, we got down to the business of purchasing food for dinner. We got some Koho salmon, shrimp, French bread, and various fruits and veggies. We headed back to Leslie and Tom's for a wonderful dinner. Tom had caught some Dungeonous crabs that went well with the salmon. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing around a fire on the deck while the kids roasted marshmallows.

Tomorrow, we'll sleep in and then head up to Vancouver, British Columbia for the final day of an international fireworks competition. The guys are looking forward to that and to visiting a different country.

Day 35 (Thursday, July 29th) Driving to Seattle

Today, we drove from Mount St. Helens to Seattle (actually Arlington, WA) and met up with John's sister, Leslie, and her family (Tom & Ann Marie). We finally got to meet their Newfoundland, Murray, a 148 lb ball of black fur. Since we got in early, we drove over to the marina where Tom works. Evening was approaching so we all boarded Tom's sailboat and went out for a brief sail. While we were out, we drifted quite close to two Osprey nests. They don't usually let you get that close before flying away so we all got an amazing view. Before we docked, we went by the maring where Tom works. While we were getting a tour, a friendly harbor seal swam up to the dock to greet the kids. They threw him some fish guts but that wasn't enough to interest him so he finally swam off. Then we docked and returned to Leslie and Tom's where we spent the evening relaxing and planned our day of sightseeing in Seattle for the next day. It was a late night but it was really nice to just relax with family.

Day 34 (Wednesday, July 28th) Mount St. Helens

We drove from Oregon to Washington, yesterday, and today we toured the Mt. St. Helens area. The day started off cloudy but cleared by mid-day. There are a series of four welcome center/museums that start about 40 miles from the actual volcano. We started the day at the visitor's center farthest from the volcano. Each progressive center is significantly closer to the volcano so you get to see the scenery change as you get more and more information on the volcano and what it did to the ecology and community when it erupted in 1980. One of the most amazing things was seeing how the ecology has adapted and recovered when you were further out, but how little it has recovered when you get within 5-10 miles on the volcano cone.

When Mt. St. Helens erupted it started as the largest landslide that man has ever witnessed. This allowed the magma to vent, massively, out the side of the volcano. There was a 5-mile evacuated zone radius for safety, but the observer on that side of the mountain only had time to radio, "Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it!" One of the rangers explained that he was killed almost instantly (at 5 miles away!!!) by a 300 mph wall of rock and timber-filled wind. Another observer, more to the side and 1/2 mile further away, actually got out two tranmissions, the last of which was, "I'm going to make a run for it, but I don't think I'm going to make it!"

The closest you can get to the actual volcano is the spot where that closest observer was set up. It was really eerie because there's very little recovery inside that 5-mile ring. There are still thousands of grey trees (whole forests) lying where they were blown down on the hillsides and mountaintops that were scoured by the blast. There was also a lot of information on people who were nearby, but survived, and many who didn't. We all remember how much ash Mt. St. Helens blew into the air and all the problems it caused, but we hadn't known much about the ash and mud flow that ran down to Toutle Valley. That's what killed the majority of the people who died. It filled the entire river valley below the volcano to depths of 150 feet and so much ran down nearby rivers that they had to close the Columbia River to shipping after the river channels went shallow and stranded over a dozen ocean-going ships. Most of that ash in the Toutle Valley is still there and although the river flows through one of two gigantic new lakes, the rest has carved a 30-50 foot deep canyon in that soft ash. It's alsmost a miniature Grand Canyon, but created in just 30 years. They actually had to build a dam further down the river just to trap the ash run-off so it wouldn't clog up rivers downstream.

We were all very impressed by the destructive power of the volcano.

Day 33 (Tuesday, July 27th) Multnomah Falls

Today we drove up to the Mt. St. Helens area but only after driving a short distance to see Multnomah Falls. We discovered that we were only about 20 minutes from the falls and since it's a short drive day, we didn't need to leave until later in the morning. Multnomaah Falls is the second tallest continuously running water fall in the United States.

The boys were very impressed with the falls and how high they were. John and the boys even made the hike up to the top (about 700 feet above the parking lot on a 1.25 mile trail). Tyler was so excited that they jogged up the first half of the trail. There's a platform at the top that lets you look over the falls and the views of the Columbia River gourge were fabulous. The boys thought it was so cool that the water falls so far that it turns to spray in the air even before it hits the rocks.