Long Weekend in San Diego

I went down to San Diego for a long weekend to visit with friends and family. My cousin Laura and her husband, Razz, were in town for a work trip...so I made a long weekend to visit with them and Rani and her family.

I spent a couple days with Rani and her family. We enjoyed the time visiting and scrapbooking. Lola is getting so big, so quick.


Laura, Razz, Rani and I went to Coronado on Monday evening. We walked barefoot in the sand and enjoyed the view of the Pacific Ocean. We wandered around the Hotel del Coronado, tooks photos, and enjoyed a drink on the deck. It was a beautiful, sunny evening.

Mt. Rainier - Sunrise

Todd went hiking at Mount Rainier - Sunrise. It was a beautiful sunny day and he was able to get some great shots of the Mountain..

Kayaks - Maiden Voyage

Todd has been building kayaks for the last couple years. He bought two kits from Pygmy Kayaks in Port Townsend (http://www.pygmyboats.com/) and was off and running. The kits contained all the parts and pieces for him to build the kayaks with the stitch and glue method...then fiberglass, epoxy, and on and on.


Todd built the Coho for him, and the Artic Tern for me. He added inlay wood turtles to mine. They came our beautiful!


Today, Saturday, September 13, 2008 was our maiden voyage. We loaded up the kayaks on the truck and were off to Lake Cushman.


We went kayaking with our friends, Rick and Erin. Rick had built kayaks for them as well. So, it was a wooden boat field trip for all of us.


It was a beautiful day...sunny and about 70 degrees. We unloaded the kayaks onto the beach, got prepared with our vests and paddles, and were onto the water.


We paddled for almost two hours. The sun was great, there was just a small breeze, and just a bit of a wake on the water. It was peaceful and a good time.

Tetons

Our road trip continued...we headed to Jackson, Wyoming. We stayed at Teton Village. We took the gondola up the ski hill to take in the view. There were a number of people who were paragliding off the hillside. We watched as they got ready...and jumped off the hill. It was a beautiful day and what a ride. They floated over the golf course and the lakes and landed at the base of the hill. (We did not venture out and go paragliding...but it looked fun!).

Yellowstone - Tibdits of Info

Some observations from Yellowstone...

• Labor Day week is a good time to go visit - less crowds, but cold.
• You are at elevations ranging from 6800 to 9000 while in the Park.
• There were a lot of foreign visitors in the Park - we heard so many different languages.
• A number of foreign people come to work in and around Yellowstone; we noticed a number of Russian and/or Ukraine people. Also, a lot of US college students.
• A number of the workers are also retirees. They come in May and work until September.

Yellowstone - Day 3

Today was our last day at Yellowstone. We slept in, packed up the car, and were off to enjoy our final day.

We stopped in town and got some last minute t-shirts. Got our mochas to warm up...it was only about 50 degrees. And then we made our bear statue visits to add to our collection of Todd/Bear photos. (photo)

We entered the Park from West Yellowstone, then went north at Madison Junction again. We decided to do a middle loop, see some of the east side of the Park and then head south. We stopped at Canyon at the Upper Falls View. This is the other side of the river from where we stopped previously. You could see the headwaters and the top of the falls. (photo)

Heading southeast from Canyon to Fishing Bridge, the Park takes on a totally different look. Its just rolling hills of plains...and lots of bison. We stopped at Sulphur Caldron...a quick stop. This place is aptly named...it smelled worse than any of the other places in the Park. Its a large mud pot full of sulfuric acid that reeks!

Mud Volcano was the next viewing area. We stopped and walked the boardwalk loop and saw mud pots, fumaroles, and sprngs. There were two pretty cool features here. One was the Churning Caldron. It is a continuous bubbling mud pot that steams and creates a "beach" of sulfuric acid. The second feature was Dragon Mouth's Spring. (photo) This is a spring that comes out of the hillside from a rock cave. As the water and steam come out of the rock cave, it makes a roaring sound that reminds you of a dragon.

We continued east and then south. We drove over Fishing Bridge - nothing exciting. We continued south along the west side of Yellowstone Lake. We stopped along the lakeside and had some lunch.

The last geyser basin that we visited before we headed out of the Park was West Thumb Geyser Basin. This basin has a two loop boardwalk right along the edge of Yellowstone Lake. Black Pool was probably the most interesting site here. Its a large, turquoise pool right by the Lake. It was pretty cold and the wind was blowing...so standing by Black Pool and enjoying the warm, humid steam was a nice. (photo) As we were heading out, there was a crowd watching the middle of the boardwalk. A large, male elk had climbed into the center area and was center stage for everyone to take photos. (photo)

We left the Park at the South Entrance and went into Grand Teton National Park (next blog).

Yellowstone - Day 2

Our second day at Yellowstone was September 3rd...our 3 year anniversary!

Our plan for the day was to go kayaking in Yellowstone Lake and then continue our Park sightseeing. We got up early and drove to Grant Village boat launch. As we sat in the parking lot waiting for the guides, it was snowing and about 37 degrees. All we could think about was how cold it was going to be. The guides and the kayak trailer showed up about 9:35 am...and they announced that the trip was canceled. This was one time we were happy to not be heading out onto the water.

Since it was so cold, we decided to head up to Old Faithful and go to the lodge. We had great timing and arrived 5 minutes before Old Faithful blew. So, we joined the crowed, watched the water and steam blow, and then went inside to warm up a little.

We decided to wander around the boardwalks in the Old Faithful area and look at the geysers and pools. This is a large area and so many features to see. We went by a geyser that had a seating area and people were starting to gather. We heard someone say that it should blow in about twenty minutes or so. So we continued our walk and came back for the show. This geyser is Grand Geyser and has two smaller geyser right next to it. The water and steam lasted about 5-10 minutes...it was a great show! (photo)

As we walked along the boardwalk, I saw a number of people talking on their cell phones...I thought how awful, enjoy the scenery and stop talking on the phone. Then, I heard my cell phone ring with the ring tone for Deb...she was calling from Tripoli. I had to answer. So there I was...talking on the phone (how wrong). We took the below photo of Todd and I on the phone with Deb...to share the trip with her.

We went over to the Lodge and had some lunch and took photos of the inside of the lodge. What an interesting structure. On the second floor, they have a deck with a number of benches that all face Old Faithful, so you can view it in the comfort from the Lodge.

We started our drive north and stopped at numerous geysers and pools. One of particular note was the Midway Geyser Basin. You could see steam from the main road and it just drew your attention to stop. We parked and followed the path to a bridge over the river and then up to the boardwalk. There was so much steam it was hard to see the pools. I decided to call this place 'smoke and mirrors'...there was so much steam, it was like smoke, and the water covered the ground in a thin layer that reflected the sun and clouds as if a mirror. We took a number of beautiful photos of these effects and the great colors.

Heading back to West Yellowstone for the night, we were lucky enough to encounter some wildlife for the day. First, there was a traffic jam caused by a roaming bison (buffalo). He was just doing his own thing and ignoring the people. Then, we saw a bear. It was up on the hillside quite a ways away...but we were able to watch him wander the hillside for awhile and get a few 'zoomed in' photos.

It was another good day in the Park. Tomorrow is our last day and then we are off to the Tetons.

Yellowstone - Day 1

Our annual road trip this year is to Yellowstone and the Tetons. We left Olympia Sunday morning, spent the night in Missoula, and then down to West Yellowstone on Monday.

So starts the events of our trip...

Today was our first day at Yellowstone Park. We awoke to a chilly morning; it was quite a shock to have such cold weather, since it has been so nice back in Washington. We drove around to find the corner espresso stand, so we could start our day out in proper Washington fashion with our coffee to go (or Chai tea in my case).

We entered the Park from West Yellowstone in Montana and quickly passed the small, wooden park sign that says 'Entering Wyoming'. We followed the main road to Madison where we got our first wildlife sighting, a coyote. At Madison junction, we decided to head north and do the 'north loop' for the day.



Our sites and photos of the day started with Gibbon Falls, a wide flowing falls right along the main road (photo).






We then stopped at the Artists Paintpots. This is a short walk and then boardwalk around some mud pots.













We then continued our drive north to the Norris Geyser Basin. This is a great spot with a number of walking loop boardwalks and trails through a number of hydrothermal features - vents, hot rivers of water, geysers, etc. We did one of the loops where we enjoyed the warmth of the steam and the smell of the sulfur. We also encountered 'geyser spit' as we walked closely alongside one of the steaming geysers. We then took a short trail to two more geysers. The Steamboat Geyser put on a small show with 3-8 feet water spouts. After an hour or so there, it was back to heading north (photo).



Along the road, we enjoyed the scenery of the Park. We took a quick photo of Roaring Mountain, and a number of bison along the roadside. We stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs and had a quick bite to eat...we were starving after all the stops, walks, and photo shoots.

Mammoth Hot Springs have pretty much dried up, only two of the 'steps' still had water running. However, the 'white steps' are still intriguing to see (photo). There were lots of elk in the town area of Mammoth, including a large male that had maybe 10 points (I think that's how its said).

We headed east to continue on the loop. First stop along here was Undine Falls. We followed the road to Tower, where we stopped at an overlook of Tower Fall. This is a small waterfall with some great rock features/spires alongside it. In this same area is Calcite Spring, which is a large calcite hill alongside a beautiful river.

We then headed south, and stopped to take photos of a bull moose alongside the road. He was laying down in the woods just relaxing, but we were able to get some decent photos. I had hoped to see a moose...so this was great. He was laying down, so we did not get to see his height, but it was amazing to see him out in the wild.

Next stop was Canyon Village. We had hoped to take the Canyon Loop down to Inspiration Point, but the road is closed for construction. So...we continued south across the Yellowstone River for a different view of the 'yellowstone grand canyon'. We took a side road along the River to Artist Point. There is a lookout here to see Lower Falls. There were a ton of people here, so we took some photos and went back to the road to head to Upper Falls.

We parked at the Upper Falls lot and there were two overlooks to get some photos, then we decided to take the South Rim Trail for a walk down to the falls. What we found was Tom's Trail. This is a steep trail that heads down towards the river. Eventually, you are walking on steel grate steps down, down, down (~325 steps) to an amazing overlook of the Lower Falls. It was worth the hike...the water spray created a great rainbow, the falls are a deep green right were they start to fall, and the rock hillside showed various colors - white, yellow, red. A wonderful sight!

It was starting to get late in the day...so we headed west toward town. We saw a number of bison and elk on the way back. It was dinner in town, buffalo steak and potato, and another night in West Yellowstone.