Ladybug?

I asked mom what she liked most about our Yellowstone, Rushmore, Glacier, Waterton trip and she said, "The views."

"But which views?" I asked.

She found this a difficult question because everything she saw was so wonderful that she said it was hard to choose. When pressed, she said she loved Apgar's Lake McDonald in Glacier. She said she loved that lodge right next to the lake.

Art says he liked the BEARS and CUBS. What can I say? We did live in Chicago for 35 years! (For friends from other countries: The Chicago Bears is an American football team. The Chicago Cubs is the baseball team.) It was the first time we've ever seen them (the animal bears and cubs, I mean) in the wild.

Auntie Grace said early on that she loved the colors of the Hot Springs in Mammoth, Yellowstone. She was just so impressed with all the vibrant hues we saw everywhere. She also loved the varied spring flowers.

I e-mailed Tif and asked what their favorite thing was. Looks like they couldn't decide on what was the one best thing because I got this list.

Tiffany said:
1. Having all of us together to see Yellowstone (including Jon)
2. The view from Village Inn at Apgar (and watching KC playing on the rocks by the water)
3. Seeing the little bear cubs, especially the little one catching up to the others.
4. Grand Prismatic Springs (seeing the orange clothed monks in the distance through the fog/steam)
5. Frozen over Lake Cameron in Waterton

KC said:
1. Seeing the lady bug (That’s what she's been telling people!) at the Grand Tetons
2. Seeing the bears walk by the window and mommy closing the window so the bears didn’t eat her. (She’s told a couple people this.)
Also the little bear that was slow, like her, running to catch up.
3. Macaroni and cheese
4. Getting the stuffed bear and little fish from Aachan. 

KC is referring to my mom (her great-grandmother). Aachan is short for Obaachan in Japanese. We had two grandmothers on this trip.) She calls me Grandma. Her other grandmother is called Harmoni (Korean for grandmother).

My favorite? You all know I love Apgar's Lake McDonald at Glacier too, but I've got to say what I loved most was being with family and seeing my son, Jonathan! That capped this trip as one of the best we've ever taken. I still haven't gotten over the shock of his surprise visit.

Oh... then there were the flowers, the mountains, the lakes, the animals, the gorgeous skies... sigh...

POSTSCRIPT: KC just called and I asked my four year old granddaughter what her favorite thing was on the trip. She confirmed what Tif said.

"The LADYBUG!" she laughed happily. Then she went on to talk about "the mommy bear and the two baby bears and that slow one who had to run on his paws to catch up and...."

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Sorry for the confusion yesterday everybody. I meant for only one post to go up yesterday, but I must have dated this one incorrectly and I had two posts being published in one day. It ruined my sense of order so I am moving this post to today.

Movie Recommendation: Finding Forrester

We ordered Finding Forrester from Netflix and watched it last night. I'd forgotten that we'd seen it before. In fact, I forgot almost everything from it. Maybe this is good because I liked it so much that in another few years I can enjoy it all over again without remembering what it was about...again.

I got this blurb about the movie online:

"Because of scoring exceptionaly high on a state wide standardized exam and being an exceptionally good basketball player Jamal Wallace is sent to a prestigious prep school in Manhattan. He soon befriends the reclusive writer, William Forrester. The friendship leads to William to overcome his reclusiveness and for Jamal to overcome the racial prejudices and pursue his true dream - writing."

I was surprised to hear Iz Kamakawiwo'ole on the soundtrack singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It's amazing how many times we've heard Iz's rendition in movies. It was also a surprise to see Matt Damon in a cameo.

I really would like to recommend this movie. It left both Art and me feeling really good. I love it when a movie leaves you feeling uplifted.

POSTSCRIPT: Two posts went up today by mistake (mine) so I've moved the other one about the Ladybug to tomorrow. I've saved the comments to add once it goes up also.

Shopping Frenzy or Back in Time With Friends

When Art and I moved back to Hawaii, I worried about leaving all our friends in Illinois, not to mention our daughter and her family. There were 35 years of friendships we were leaving behind, not to mention neighbors and the life we made there.

However, we did have our childhood friends here in Hawaii (and the rest of our family) ... and that has made all the difference to our making a new life for ourselves here.

I've known Diane since kindergarten and Joanne since high school. We were all roommates in college at one time or another.

"Hey, guys," said Joanne one day. "How about going shopping to Price Busters and Ross?" Ross is a discount clothing store like TJ Maxx in Illinois. Since it's a break from Line Dancing right now, we decided to take that night to go out together.

Oh my gosh! What a time we had!

"Isn't this like high school?" Joanne asked at one point.

And indeed it was! What a feeling! We would all take some blouses into the dressing room, change and then jump out at the same time and ask, "What do you think? Can you see through this material? Does this color look all right? Is the neckline too low?"

We all encouraged each other to try something out of our comfort zone. I usually wear solid knit t-shirts or tank tops.

This was a departure from my usual style, but I'm glad Joanne and Diane convinced me to try it.

This one piece blouse was $9.99 and made in the U.S.A. Can you believe it? Wahoo!


This blouse was $7.49 and on the Clearance rack. With the Tuesday Senior Discount, my purchases totalled less than $17.00. I just looked at the tag a moment ago and saw that the 2nd blouse was actually Maternity wear. (I can't hem it up because it's a stretchy material and one piece as well.)

Oops!

No wonder I liked the way it covered certain problem areas!

"Remember how we used to take The Bus to Honolulu when we were in high school?" asked Joanne.

"We used to go to Kress and buy nail polish (that's about all we could afford) and feel so free and grown up," added Diane.

Yes... those were the days my friends, and I'm so glad we have them back again.

Day #14 Billings to Seattle to Honolulu

Tif woke when we started quietly preparing for our departure. KC slept through it all.

The Quality Inn in Billings was wonderful. They provided free shuttle service for Tif and KC, a free breakfast buffet and even free chili for a late snack the night before.

After sad parting hugs with Tiffany, we were quickly out the door and on our way to Billings Airport.


The little propeller airplane was a surprise.


The flight was uneventful to Seattle and we had an early morning brunch of Ivar's clam chowder.

Once on the airplane we were shown that it was 2,677 miles between Seattle and Honolulu. It was startling to realize that our road trip according to the minivan rental company covered 2,648 miles.


It felt strange to be home in Hawaii again. Cousin Arnold was there to pick up his mom and us.

When I got up the following morning, I didn't quite know where I was and felt a little disappointment that there wasn't one more day to see even more of our country and Canada's wonders.

And then the jet lag hit!

But you know what? It was worth it! It truly was a fabulous trip and we were awfully lucky in so many ways. Everyone in Yellowstone and Glacier told us about the humungous snowfall they had the week before we arrived. When we talked to our neighbors in Hawaii they all told us about the horrendously unseasonable and violent weather Hawaii had been having while we were gone.

All I can say is... we were lucky, very lucky.

Day #13 Waterton, Canada to Billings, Montana

We got up today at 6:00 AM in Waterton and were on the road by 6:40.


KC went back to sleep in her carseat.

While crossing the border into the U.S. Art asked if they would stamp KC's passport for her. The agent said they did have a special stamp that they use only for children. We thought the bear was very appropriate.

The weather was absolutely stunning.

There was no flooding on this return trip.


There were no bison on the road, but plenty of cattle.

When we arrived back in Billings, we ate at the Jade Palace. Someone saw Art taking our photo and ran over to offer to take it for us.

We were a little melancholy knowing that Art, Auntie, Mom and I would be getting up at 3:30 to catch the 6:00 AM flight back to Hawaii. We had a later flight originally, but Alaska Airlines cancelled the flight and we were stuck with this one.

Tiffany's flight had also changed and she would leave at a later time. We were supposed to have left at the same time. Luckily, the hotel offered a shuttle to the airport for her and KC.

It made us sad to think of KC waking to find us gone.

Day #12 St. Mary, Glacier National Park to Waterton, Canada

We had breakfast at the Park Cafe close by the St. Mary Lodge and Resort and were on the road again by 9:15. Service at the cafe was very slow.

Great Grandma had bought KC a stuffed bear in Yellowstone and she grew very attached to it, hugging it while napping in her car seat.

There were quite a number of people who were surprised to see four generations traveling together and commented on the pleasure of seeing it.

At last! We were in Canada!

And so were the bears!

What a surprise! In all the years where we've been warned about bears, this was the first time we'd actually seen them in the wild.


This mama black (looked brown to me) bear with three of her cubs went right by our car on Akamina Parkway. Tiffany quickly rolled up our windows... just in case, especially with KC wanting to stick her head out for an even closer view.

We thought there were only two cubs until we saw the third slow poke come moseying out of the woods.

Surprisingly, we saw bears two more times while in Canada. I guess the bears like Canadians just like we do.


Lake Cameron was covered with ice and snow. You wouldn't think KC was from Chicago. She had such fun stomping on snow and rolling snowballs.


And yes, we took a million photos here. I'll spare you and post just these few.


A Canadian visitor (I just love LOVE the Canadian accent) said this bird was a Camp Robber or a Whiskey Jack. When I checked my Pocket Guide, it's listed as a Gray Jay.

When I think about it, it must be funny to listen to our group. We had a Midwestern accent, a baby accent, a Japanese accent and a Hawaii accent... well sort of. Local people say Art and I haven't quite perfected the Island speech yet.

We stopped along this roadside to look at all the gorgeous wildflowers. I don't have enough adjectives to describe the beauty of the day.

I wish I knew the name of this flower.


This is a Larkspur.

Lungwort is rather a funny name for this shy flower.

Red Rock Canyon was also full of different wildflowers.


We stayed at the Bear Mountain Motel and were surprised to be charged less than we thought we were going to have to pay. We are quite aware that the Canadian dollar is doing better than ours right now.


Despite the little chill, nobody passed up the chance of having ice cream.


We took a walk around town and managed to find a park where KC had a fabulous time.


Dinner was at Zums right in Waterton. Tif drove her grandmother, grandaunt and me back to the motel while Art walked back with KC.

When we were all settled for the night, KC asked, "Can I have a foot massage, Grandma?"

She remembered my giving her foot massages when they were in Hawaii last December.

Our trip was coming to a close and I really didn't want it to end.

We had only one day left to be together.

Day #11 Apgar to St. Mary, Glacier National Park

Auntie Grace gets up at 3:30 every morning. She says she saw the skies turn red around 5:00 AM. Art got up at 5:30 and was only able to catch a hint of the crimson left in the skies.

I was barely awake and caught Tif looking out on the deck and just contemplating the beauty around us.


We were in a second floor suite. Mom and Auntie Grace were on the first floor. We could see them soaking in the morning magic from above.

These cliff swallows never stayed still, but were always darting to and fro. Incredibly, this pair decided to pose for Art.


Art took a morning walk and strolled onto a pier to take this photo of me.


And then we were on our way to see more Glacier sights.


Running Eagle Falls:
"This falls is named after Running Eagle (Pitamakan), a Blackfoot tribeswoman who lived around 1825. As the story goes, she gravitated to the skills of a Blackfoot warrior. She became a great hunter and was incredibly brave in the face of her tribes’ enemies. At one point, Running Eagle was instructed by the village elders to go on a vision quest in order to find her true calling. It is said that she went on this quest near the falls. Running eagle was able to tell of her adventures in the Medicine Lodge ceremonies while also becoming a member of the Braves Society of young warriors. She continued to lead successfully war and hunting parties until she died in a battle against a party of Flatheads near the Sun River."


I'm so glad my brother, Dennis showed me how to photomerge photos on Photoshop so I could give you a more complete photo of what we were seeing. (Please click to enlarge.)


The Beaver Pond Trail was supposed to be full of wildflowers so we decided to try it.

The Pasque flower is South Dakota's State Flower.


I think this is called Creeping Barberry. It's rather funny that I worked so hard to find out the names of these flowers. I don't know 80% of the plants in Hawaii.


We saw this gorgeous purple Slimpod Shooting Star everywhere in Yellowstone and Glacier.


I know you can't see it very well, but this meadow was blanketed with Shooting Stars. Unfortunately, a dark blanket of clouds also started to roll above us.

This trail was supposed to be only a little over a mile long. Well... I don't think so. It felt like we'd been walking forever. It's a good thing the clouds stopped us because mom was getting pretty tired.



We finally made it back to the minivan and did the rest of our viewing with the car.

By the way: The Going-to-the-Sun Road was still closed due to snow. We've done the road twice before, but erred this time in not checking to see when the road typically opens. It doesn't open until mid-June or later, probably later this month. If you plan to go to Glacier, be sure to check when the ideal time to go is. We actually went earlier than we should. We were just lucky that everything else worked out for us.

Our hotel for the evening would be at St. Mary Lodge and Resort. This was a rustic lodge with not many places for hanging things but there's really not a lot of other places to stay at in this area.

It didn't matter. We slept well.

The next day, we'd be on our way to Canada.