Day #6 Yellowstone to Rapid City, South Dakota

This was the view out of our Lake Yellowstone windows. Mom and Auntie said their room never warmed up like it was supposed to. It's a historic hotel and frankly... overpriced.


It made me think of that Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour movie, Somewhere in Time.


The cliff swallows nests on the hotel were fun to see.


We passed this bison on the way out of Yellowstone. We needed to leave early because the Sylvan Pass was only open between 8 PM to 10 AM due to threats of avalanche.


As we were leaving, I told 4 year old KC, "Say goodbye to Yellowstone, KC."
Perplexed, she asked, "Why? Are they taking it away?"


Along the way, we stopped at a field dotted with Silvery Lupine and yellow Mules Ear Wyethia.


The Lupines were gorgeous!


Road construction and some happy stops lengthened Art's planned 8 hours of driving to 10! It was great that Tiffany could do most of the driving.

Our son-in-law (who couldn't come with us) treated us to this special room at Fairfield Inn in Rapid City.

It was luxurious! He thought his daughter would enjoy the water park that was attached to the hotel.

Ahem... This was why I had to hunt down a tankini at the last minute.


Unfortunately, when we stepped out onto the balcony, the noise was too loud and the activity was a bit overwhelming for little KC.

"I don't want to go," she said.


It was OK with the rest of us. We were rather exhausted from the long day and just going to bed sounded like a great idea.

Instead of the water park, KC was much happier playing in the quieter tub.


HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, all you great guys out there!

Day #3 Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful

Jon arrived at 7:50 AM after sleeping in his tent about an hour's drive away from us. He was surprised to find us still in bed after we'd told him we'd be ready at 7:30.


I could still hardly believe our son had driven 16 hours to join us at Yellowstone so we could all be together. I took a million photos of him just to prove he was there with us.


We ate breakfast at the Mammoth Hot Springs Dining room and saw elk along the way.


After breakfast we went to the Visitors' Center where Art got KC a National Park Passport. Tif and Uncle Jonny helped her apply her sticker for Mammoth Hot Springs and stamp her passport.


Mammoth Hot Springs is really spectacular and both my mother and Auntie Grace were awestruck. My mother would have enjoyed it even more if she wasn't freezing from the cold.


As we made our way to Old Faithful, we stopped at Jon's campsite which is halfway between the two points. Auntie was amazed to think of Jon sleeping out in the cold by himself. We had all offered him a space in our rooms, but he refused.


We loved seeing our first beautiful Glacier Lily.


These bison caused a minor traffic jam. We couldn't believe how close they got to us!


We had to keep a close eye on KC who was darting here and there just loving the beauty all around her.


We took hundreds and hundreds of photos of the bubbling, boiling mud volcanoes.


The hot, boiling pools of mineral water had Auntie Grace commenting that the park service should set up an area for onsens (hot baths).


I can't imagine taking a bath here.

The colors, the sounds and sunny weather that we were blessed with made our day memorable.


My mother and aunt were probably the most layered and bundled people in the park.


There was so much to see!


We saw these golden monkey flowers near the warm areas of the park.


Jon and Art had a lot of catching up to do.


Auntie Grace would later say that the incredible colors of the pools of azure waters with the skies adding even more depth and beauty would be impossible for an artist to truly capture. This is what she would remember most about this trip.


There was that occasional bit of clowning around.


The museum had explanations in Japanese which thrilled my mother and aunt. They felt that they learned a lot about the scientific wonder of the park.


We arrived at Old Faithful to find that it wasn't quite as faithful as it used to be but it did still erupt almost every 90 minutes. We were able to watch it go off a couple of times before Jon had to drive back to his campsite. Tiffany treated us all to a fancy dinner, wanting her only brother well sustained before he went back out into the cold.


We saw this bluebird out by the Old Faithful geyser and my mother called it the Shiawase no Aoi Tori. That surprised me. I didn't know the Japanese called it the Bluebird of Happiness too!

That beautiful bird did symbolise our feelings that day. We were very happy... cold... but very, very happy!

2011 Travel Plans: Yellowstone, Glacier, Canada, Tetons, Rushmore...

How cool! Today's date is 10-10-10!

Art is busy today working on travel plans for June of next year. We were planning to do that Alaskan Cruise (on hold until August). The whole saga of our June travel plans was a journey in itself.

We were hoping to have my brother and sister-in-law join us. We tried to match their vacation times and budget along with the needs of my mother and aunt. Eventually, they decided that a trip to Yellowstone and Glacier would be better. We planned that out, too. However, that also went down the tubes.

Therefore, we decided to go ahead with the Yellowstone and Glacier National Park trip for June anyway with just my mother and her sister. Art and I have been there twice before, first with just our son, Jon and the second time with a friend from Japan. I'm posting some photos of that 1995 trip with Jon here.

However, because we waited a bit too long, many of the national park cabins and lodges were already booked up so we had to make the trip in early instead of late June. OK, that's fine. We may see more spring wildflowers, unless there's still snow up north. Some people will remember how my mother really dislikes (hates) the cold.


And then we got to thinking. Would our daughter, Tif and 4 year old, KC like to come along? (I think Tif has always been a tiny bit sad that she wasn't able to go along with us on the 1995 trip.) Or perhaps they could come for half the trip? It will be super helpful to have Tif as a second driver. We didn't think our son-in-law could manage 2 weeks away from work after coming to visit us in December for two weeks.

What a surprise to hear Tif say they'd LOVE to join us! Ed would have loved to come along, but Tif said, "Trust me, he wouldn't be able to survive one of our family trips." Ed likes to take leisurely vacations. We like to plan everything to the minute and squeeze every bit of glory out of our travels.


"You'd drive him crazy, Mom," she said. "He's under so much pressure at work that he'd be frazzled with Dad's kind of vacation trip schedule."

Speaking of which, we need some HELP with finding awesome places to visit between Grand Rapids, South Dakota and Great Falls, Montana. We've already got the Jewel Cave, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument, Devil's Tower and Custer State Park plugged in.

Much as we loved Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, Art wasn't quite as enthused about a 3rd trip back to the same places. However, he felt he would enjoy seeing that 1st time wonder reflected in the eyes of my mother and aunt.

Now knowing that our daughter and granddaughter would also be coming along and that our son-in-law has offered to take care of some of the accomodations (extra happy), the excitement is growing by the minute.


Art talked to Jon yesterday and mentioned to our son that we'd be going to the parks with Grandma, Auntie, Tif and KC.

"What? Without me?" he teased.