Vegas... and finally home! Plus Western route

Darby feeding the camel at the petting zoo.  Notice her facial expression.

 We got into Lost Wages on Thursday late afternoon after driving south from Salt Lake City.  We knew we were getting close to home as the temps were in the triple digits again!  The highest temp I saw on the readout in the van was 119 near Mesquite, NV!

Danica with a giant bunny at the petting zoo.

We passed on a few Roadside America stops closer to SLC - the miniature Mt. Rushmore display, and the "world's largest blender."  but we decided a good spot for a break and to see the recommended site was exit 189 off I-15.  There was a petting zoo at the Flying J truck stop in addition to the DQ in the truck stop for a lunch break.  I order us some food and an Orange Whip (Julius) and a Blizzard, while Bish and the girls went to see the animals at the petting zoo.

Danica sleeping in the LV hotel room... without being all snuggled under the covers for once!  

We decided to stay off strip and a bit closer to home, so we stayed at Green Valley Ranch for the first time.  It was a great hotel/casino, with a nice pool and plenty of things to do and places to eat in addition to the casino options.  It was a very nice "last night away from home" to wrap up our trip.

Slackettes sitting on pile of luggage after arriving home.

Danica posing with the Menudo I tried at the hotel breakfast buffet!

We headed out of LV late morning, on our way back home.  It was kind of sad that our trip was almost over, but at the same time, it would be nice to be home and sleep in our own beds.  Plus, I was really looking forward to seeing "my poopy" after so much time away from her!

All the friggen bird poop in our driveway from the solar panels after being gone for 5 weeks!

Welcome back to friggen HOT Arizona!

Gotta love Bermuda grass.  My hose seeming disappears into the Bermuda it has grown so much in the last 5 weeks.

Westbound route

It was hot as hell in AZ, but it was also very nice to get back home after 37 days away.  We unpacked the van, and I blew all the bird shit off the driveway so we didn't track it into the house.  We had remotely begun to cool the house off on our drive home, so it wasn't too friggen hot inside.  As we all began to unpack stuff, I ran over to our neighbors to get Maori.  Not surprisingly, she was very happy to see me!  I have traveled a lot over the years, and while it is always nice to get home and see Bish and the Slackettes, I really enjoy getting to see Maori after a lot of time away.  She has always been my buddy since we've had her, so getting to reconnect with her is even better for the soul than seeing the family (for me)!.

Jackson Hole, WY - Salt Lake City

The proverbial pic with the antler arches in downtown Jackson, WY.

We got into Jackson, WY mid afternoon on Monday, July 3rd.  As mentioned previously, we were all kind of tuckered out after two nights of poor sleep in the campsite from hell.  As a result,  we decided to cut GTNP a bit short, and go catch up on a nap in our cowboy hotel.  Again, due to getting our reservations kind of late, we were not always able to get top notch lodging for a reasonable price.  In Jackson Hole, we ended up with a hotel reservation at the Virginian Lodge just South of town a bit.  It wasn't a bad spot, as the beds were comfortable, the water ran hot, and they had ice machines!  It looked exactly like what you'd expect with a name like that!

Danica tasting the wort at Snake River Brewing Company with Brewer Keith!

So we got all rested up at our cowboy hotel, and then headed into downtown Jackson to kick around for the evening.  We got there just in time for the nightly "shootout!"  A local dinner theater company puts on a small show at an intersection on the corner of the town square 6 nights a week.  It is a few guys and a few girls that someone gets into a fight, and then there is a lot of shooting and eventually one of the ladies wins!  Loud, but fun!

After the shootout, we found one of the local micro brewery restaurants for an appetizer and a few beers.  We then decided to go visit another local brewery, Snake River Brewing Company not far away also.  This place was the bomb!  While waiting for our table, we got a few beers and sat outside in the grass playing games along with everyone else out there.  When they called us for our table, Bish and the girls started watching one of the brewers (Keith) inside as he was emptying the wort tank.  He started talking to them, and then invited them into the area where he was working to help.  They got to help pull the spent barley out of the wort, and he explained the process of brewing beer to them!  He talked about measuring the specific gravity of the wort, as well as let them taste the wort with the malty flavor.  It was a really neat experience for them!

At the July 4th parade in downtown Jackson.

On Tuesday morning, July 4th, we got up and went back into town to kick around for a bit and get some breakfast.  We lucked out, as they were getting ready for a July 4th parade later that morning!  After breakfast we stuck around and watched most of the parade.  The parade had all of the fixings - throwing candy, fire trucks, floats, horses, and throwing corn on the cob from a local farmers market float!

Bish, Slackettes, and cousin Mary Lane in front of her son's house.

We then started driving towards Salt Lake City and Bish's cousin Mary Lane who has lived in the area for years.  For some reason, our GPS took us south through more of Wyoming, instead of west over the mountains and down the interstate.  After we figured this out, we decided to continue in this direction, as the roads were pretty open and not busy.  Until we encountered another state trooper...dammit!!!  :-)

I'm getting tired of taking these pics to document the trip!

We met Bish's cousin at her son's house, just above the "U of U" in the hills.  Her son's family was out of town for the week with his wife's family back in Michigan.  So they let us move into their basement and spare bedrooms!  It was a neat house, with great views of the Salt Lake valley!  They made dinner that night, and we walked down the street to a park where we saw at least 50 fireworks shows going off throughout the valley!

Our view of the 50+ fireworks shows over the Salt Lake City area.

One of Darby's best friends from her school had just moved up to the SLC area after school was out.  So we were able to pick up Abigail from her dad's office in downtown, and she joined us as an honorary Slackette for the day!  Abigail is a great kid!  Her and Darby are similar in a lot of respects - like to read, kind of geeky, and like to joke around/be funny.  Abigail had what I think we the best line of the trip - We were in the van and driving back down the hill, and she was talking about wanting to go to BYU, but would then have to go on to get a graduate degree somewhere else, as she wanted to do CSI type work.  I asked her, "Do you like science?"  and she responded with "A bit obsessed!"  I think it is awesome that a 13 year old kid knows who they are and owns it in that manner!

Slackettes on the Mezzanine level of the Joseph Smith Hotel

We had some extra time after we got stormed out at the Utah Olympic Park prior to having  to drop Abigail off at her dad's office in downtown SLC near the Mormon Temple.  So we parked in the area and decided to walk around a bit to see all of the LDS buildings/sites.  Abigail pointed out a neat building she had been to once for a wedding reception, so we decided to go in for a look.  It used to be a hotel, but is now the Joseph Smith Hotel/Building in honor of the founder of Mormonism.  As we walked into the lobby, and were "ooohing and ahhhing" at the decor, architecture, marble statue of Joseph, etc., an older gentleman who was a greeter came over and offered to show us around the building.  So we proceeded to follow him around to see some of the rooms, architecture, and learn more about the LDS presidents and faith.  He told us that a majority of the offices for looking up family tree information that the LDS church offers as a free service were occupied most of the upstairs of the building now.  Fortunately Bish's cousin Mary Lane had warned us "not to sign anything" as we were driving into downtown!  :-)

Danica, Abigail, and Darby.  

Danica and Abigail on one of the rope course islands in Utah Olympic Park.

The next morning we got up and met Mary Lane and some of her grand kids up in Park City at the Utah Olympic Park.  The kids got all day passes and did the downhill tubing, the ropes course, and attempted to do the zip line, but got shut down by a small thunder storm rolling through the area.  The girls were disappointed as they had made it up to being 2nd in line when it was shut down due to weather!  Bish and I had been to the Olympic Park a few years back when we had came to Park City for a weekend away.  It was a bit better for us as it was not the middle of the summer rush.  Plus it was cooler then too!  The alpine slide was shut down for the summer due to the heat radiating off of the metal.  :-(

Mary Lane's grand kids/pseudo grand kids & the Slackettes in front of the acrobatic ski jumping pool/ramps.  Notice the ski jumper over Darby's left shoulder!

The view down one of the ski jumps in Utah Olympic Park.

We lucked out, and they gave us a rain check, to come back and attempt to use our all day passes within 7 days.  So we ended up going back up the hill the next morning before we drove Vegas.  The girls were really hoping to get to do the zip line, and with the rain check, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to give it another try while still in the area.

The Slackettes headed down the zip line!

Danica, I think, coming down the tubing hill.

Did I mention earlier that we knew when we left on June 1, that we'd need new tires once we got back home to AZ.  I had my brother in law Stan rotate the tires when we were in IN, as the front ones (more tread) were starting to wear a lot on the insides as this is what mini vans seem to do.  So to prevent the back 2 tires from wearing too much on the inside, we rotated them.  Well, the tires with the least amount of tread were now on the front end.  I thought we would be able to make it back home before having to replace the tires, but I guess I was off by a bit!  As we were driving back up to Park City to go back to the Utah Olympic Park, the "low tire pressure" light came on in the van.  I commented to Bish that we'd need to find a place to add some air to the tires, when suddenly I started hearing a funny noise!  So I put on my right turn signal and started heading over to the far right side of the road.  Sure enough, the front right tire had gone flat!  Woohoo!  :-)

My weenie spare tire on the way to the tire shop.

I got out and dug out the tire changing stuff, and Bish began to lower the weenie spare from inside (it's under the middle of the car!).  We were on a slight downhill incline, so as I began to jack up the car, I noticed it rolled a bit downhill and began to torque the jack.  So I stopped, set the parking brake, and restarted the jack.  That time it worked!  I flipped the flat with the weenie spare, and threw the flat in the back of the van.  The weenie spare was a bit low, but it was good enough to allow me to drop the Slackettes back up at the Olympic Park, and go find a local tire shop!  I sat and waited, while they got a few rides on the zip line, and then we headed South towards Lost Wages.

Yellowstone NP, Grand Teton NP and the campsite from hell!

We didn't get to see a live moose, so this is the next best thing.

Our time in Yellowstone NP was a lot of fun, and enough interesting things happened, that it deserves it's own blog entry!  As mentioned in the previous post, we drove into YNP via the Northeast entrance based on Clark's recommendation.  The drive was beautiful, and you got to see snow up near 9500' elevation!

The reason for one of the "wildlife jams" on the roads in YNP!

We drove through YNP Saturday afternoon.  The Lamar Valley was spectacular for viewing wildlife!  There were Bison and Elk all around on the drive through.  After driving through the Lamar Valley, we ended up at Canyon Village.  The Slackettes signed up to do the Junior Ranger Program at the visitor center, and then we headed over to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and Yellowstone Falls.  We had followed the Yellowstone River all the way across ND and MT, and then found it again inside YNP.  From the lookout points, you could see a beautiful waterfall of the Yellowstone River, and the canyon that had been carved out by the river over the years.

Slackettes at the Grand Canyon of YNP with Yellowstone Falls in the background.

After spending a few hours scratching the surface of things to see in the park, we headed out the West entrance to our home for the next two nights in West Yellowstone, MT at a KOA.  Boy were we in for some interesting times at this place!  Since we had planned this trip without much advance notice, we were not able to always get the best choices for hotels/camp sites, etc.  Completely understandable considering the timing.  We had to choose an RV site at this KOA as all the tent sites were sold out already.  Well, our RV site was right next to a well traveled highway, and therefore the amount of noise from cars and semi trucks was not good!

Bish and girls standing in front of some of the paint pots mud pots on Sunday morning.

We got to the KOA around 8 pm in the evening, so still had 2 hours of daylight in which to setup our tent.  Little did I know that we'd have a slight deterrent during the tent setup process!  We backed into  our parking spot, and began to unload the tent and other camping gear for setup.  I started laying out the tarps and eventually the tent.  We purchased a family size tent a few years back, so it's kind of big.  As I was unfolding the tent, I started getting attacked by "angry birds!"  There were 2-3 blackbirds sitting in tree tops nearby that kept diving down and attempting to peck at my head or my butt (when bent over).  I asked Bish to go up to the office and ask if they could come attempt to figure out why they were attacking us.

A picture of me after driving for 9+ hours and having to deal with stupid drivers/wildlife jams in YNP.

While she was gone, I figured I'd look in the local large bush to see if there was a nest in there, and sure enough, a small next with a baby black bird was about waist high in the bush.  Two guys from the park staff, and eventually the owner came out to look.  None of them wanted to remove the nest for some reason.  So I eventually got one of our cooking sticks and went into the bush to knock the nest out as I knew the darned angry birds would not stop attacking me!  Once the nest was gone, one of the park employees picked up the baby bird in his hand (sure death IMHO as my knowledge is that a wild animal will be rejected once touched by a human).  They put the baby out in the grass near the nest.

I was hoping that was the end of the "angry birds" incident.  The next morning, as I was walking to the bathroom to brush my teeth, one of those damned "angry birds" followed me and dive bombed me 2-3 times as I was walking!  I called the office again later that day and they were going to try and get someone out to the site to somehow get rid of the "angry birds."

Old Faithful going off right on time!

We got up early on Sunday and headed into the park to try and get ahead of the mad rush of foreigners visiting YNP.  We stopped and saw the mud pots on our way to the Old Faithful Lodge and Visitor Center area.  We got to see OF go off 3 times while we were in the area!  We initially did a ranger led walk around the boardwalk that circles OF.  It was very  interesting to learn about the geysers and some of the characteristics of the different geysers/colors of bacteria/etc.

Slackettes standing in front of a blue colored (around 195 degrees) fumarol near OF. 

As Ranger Carl was just beginning his introduction of his talk on geysers, he had just mentioned the very important aspect of NOT getting off the boardwalk to try and get closer to the geysers as the ground can be unstable in some areas, and the water is very hot and corrosive!  He explained to us that a lady had approached him a few minutes before with pictures of some dork that had walked out to get a closer look at OF.  Just as he was telling the group this information, the same idiot (we thought) walked off the boardwalk in the distance behind Ranger Carl and right out to the Old Faithful Geyser hole!!!!!!  Ranger Carl yelled at him to get back to the boardwalk, and he then radioed the law enforcement rangers to make them aware of the guy and hopefully come grab him!  Unfortunately  we all stood and watched the guy walk back to his car and eventually leave prior to the law enforcement rangers showing up.  It was really sad that one asshole thought their interests were more important than nature's and everyone else's!  To really make Ranger Carl's talk entertaining, (at least for Bish and the girls!) I made the boneheaded move of falling on my ass while walking along a paved walking path!  I was dinking around on my phone, and listening to the ranger, when my foot hit the edge of the path I went down hard on my knee and palm!  Ranger Carl offered first aid, and said that was "one additional task he was allowed to do."

Darby helping the wildlife talk ranger to show how far away from wild animal you should stay.

We also did a ranger talk later that morning to learn about the wildlife in the park.  Both ranger talks were very good and informative.  If you ever go to YNP, definitely take some time to listen to some ranger talks.  We drove over to the West Thumb area of Yellowstone Lake in the late morning to see the lake and go for a hike.  After that, we decided to head out of the park around 2-3 pm as it was getting really busy, and the traffic was slow and heavy everywhere!  The rangers talked of "wildlife jams" which is when there is a siting of a bear/bison/moose/elk/etc. near the road.  It seems that every idiot tourist has to not only stop their car in the middle of the road to take 10,000 pics from their phones, but also feel the need to often get out of their cars and try to get closer to the wild animal for a friggen selfie!!!  I was hoping to see some stupid tourist get gored, but wasn't that lucky!

Danica volunteering to do her best "bear impression" for the ranger to help show how far away you should use bear spray!

In our typical blind luck fashion, we had arrived back to our campsite around 3 pm.  To have a quiet evening, and get away from the rush of tourists in YNP.  Thank God we did, as about an hour after we had arrived back at camp, a small rain storm decided to blow in.  I really like our new tent, and it seems to be pretty easy to set up and very functional for our use.  However, we learned that it is NOT the type of tent that can withstand wind gusts very well!  As I lay in the tent attempting to get in a nap, the wind began to blow.  Eventually Bish and Darby had to stand at the corners of the tent and hold onto the poles to help prevent it from collapsing!  I ended up getting out, and we decided to collapse the tent by removing the vertical poles, so that the wind didn't implode the thing!  So we removed 6 poles, and then got our suitcases out of the van and laid them on top of the tent in the windward direction to help prevent the wind from catching the material.  And we all settled into the van to hunker down and wait out the storm.  It only rained a little for about 10 minutes after the wind came through, and eventually the sun came back out.  We were lucky we had decided to not stay in the park all day or else we would have come back to a mangled tent that evening.

Our collapsed tent and refuge van, with rain clouds overhead and that damned angry birds bush in the back left!

We just hung out at our campsite that night and cooked left over peirogies on the fire, and also made some brats and popcorn for dinner.  We attempted to get a good nights sleep in between all the traffic noise and cars driving over the rumble strip in between lanes on the highway.  We got up relatively early the next morning, tore down our wet tent, and headed back into YNP to see a few more sites in the southern portion, and for the Slackettes to get their Junior Ranger patches!

Darby and I cooking dinner at the campfire - peirogies in the used Pop secret pan and brats on the stick.

We drove out the South entrance and right into the Grand Teton NP.  Yellowstone is really cool and very diverse, but I think I like GTNP even better!  There is less to do, and it is smaller, but the view of the Grand Tetons is just amazing!  We initially went to the Colter Bay visitors center to get maps, sign up the girls for the Junior Ranger program, and learn where we wanted to visit as we passed through the park.

I, state your name... (what movie?) - Getting sworn in as a Junior Ranger at GTNP.

We did less than we probably would have preferred in GTNP, however, we all were kind of tired after two nights of poor sleep in the campsite from hell!   We walked around while at Colter Bay, and then went to see Jenny Lake, and attempted to try to see Moose (plural Meese - just ask Darby!!!) near Phelps Lake.  Then we went to the Craig Thomas Visitor Center in the southern part of the park for the girls to complete their Junior Ranger work.

Slackettes with Jenny Lake and the Grand Tetons in the background.

After that we took the short drive down to Jackson, WY for the next leg of our adventure!

Minneapolis - Bismarck - Billings

Milking Salem Sue!

The drive through Western Minnesota, and all of North Dakota was very interesting in many respects.  Having never traveled through this part of the country, not only the landscape of the area, as well as the types of agriculture prominent in the areas was fascinating to me.  Probably not so much to the rest of the people in our car!

We left Minneapolis midday on Thursday (Or at least I think it was a Thursday morning?)  All of the days have begun to blend together for me on this trip.  So I know the dates, but not necessarily the day of the week!  Anyway, let's assume we left Minneapolis on a Thursday.... headed for Bismarck, ND to sleep in a friggen tee pee for the night!  I figure I now have something in common with the mom of a girl I graduated from high school with! (It's a long story I can tell you sometime if you really want to know). 

Having just toured a flour mill museum in Minneapolis, I learned of the different types of wheat that are grown in different parts of the US, as well as what the different varieties of wheat are most suited for when it comes to cooking or baking.  Well, most of Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana, and a few other areas in the northern US they primarily grow a "hard red" variety of wheat that is primarily used for making bread.  While in the central part of the Midwest, they grown more "soft white" wheat that is used more for making cake.  Well, there was a ton of wheat being grown as we crossed through Minnesota as well as ND!  A lot less corn and soy beans than we saw in OH-IN-IL-WI. One odd thing I noticed, mainly in ND, was that as the farmers find big rocks in their fields, they just make piles of rocks in the middle of the fields instead of carrying them off site.  So as you drive across ND, you see a lot of rock piles out sitting in the middle of farm fields.  I found that to be interesting! (I know, my life is pretty sad if that's what I find interesting!)

Traffic jam in downtown Menden!

On our drive across I-94, we decided to pull off and hit a Gander Mountain in Fargo as they are having a going out of business sale.  We thought we might be able to find a few gemstones that might help to keep us warm the nights we would be camping near Yellowstone NP.  I think we kicked around for 45 minutes or so in GM.  The girls got some thermal underwear, as well as a pair of gym shorts each.  We bought some socks that were "rated for -5 degrees" to help keep our feet warm.  What a joke those were as they weren't thick enough to do much good!  And we also bought some little warmer packs too!  Those little packets that you mix together and they produce heat for a long period of time due to a chemical reaction.

We were taught about the "horse- cow game" during dinner with our friends in MN.  So to help occupy the time while driving, we began to play this game with the girls.  Each kid has the side of the car they are in, and have to keep an eye out for horses or cows out their side windows.  Whichever side/kid counts the most animals, wins for the day.  However, there is a catch, if you go by a cemetery on your side, your animal count drops back to 0!  On our drive to our tee pee, Danica was way ahead of Darby with her cow/horse count... until we drove by a state veterans cemetery about 1/2 mile from the entrance to Abraham Lincoln State Park.  So Darby ended up winning for the day!

Ready to sleep in the tee pee for the night!

Staying in a tee pee was kind of cool, and less hassle than putting up a tent.  We were provided with cots by the park staff, so had less work to do to get settled and then leave.  The tee pee was along the Missouri River in Menden, ND, just South of Bismarck.  Thee were some recreated Indian mound-hut type of structures in the ALSP.  We went for a walk and saw these mud structures.  It was cool to learn about how the Indians had settled here years ago.

An Indian mud hut near our tee pee.

After leaving Bismarck, we stopped and saw "Salem Sue" a huge Holstein cow overlooking the interstate about 30 miles West of Bismarck.  She sat on land that was part of the county fairgrounds, and was up on a hill overlooking the interstate, and was HUGE!  Salem Sue had been built years ago to promote the dairy industry in the area.  So as you drive by, you see this big cow overlooking the interstate.

The Slackettes underneath Salem Sue.

We had been told to try and stop by Theodore Roosevelt National Park along I-94, about halfway between Bismarck and Billings.  So we stopped off there for a bit as well as walked around the local town of Medora, ND.  Most of the park are badlands, basically land that is not of value to be used, that have eroded and formed mounds due to the easily eroded soil type.  It was a very pretty park, and neat to learn how the town was settled initially to be used for beef production.

The badlands of Theodore Roosevelt NP.

We rolled into Billings around 4:30 that afternoon.  We stayed with Clark, my turf professor from Purdue, our night in Billings.  He is a native Montanian and grew up in Billings.  He moved back to Billings after being away for 30 years or so, as he had always hoped to get back to the area as he really likes to fish, and loves the area.

Drinking a beer at Thirsty Street Brewing with Dr. Thirsty!

Visiting with Clark is always a blast.  He showed us around the big town of Billings.  First we went to a local microbrewery called Thirsty Brewing.  Which was actually quite ironic as Clark's nickname is "Dr. Thirsty" per a few friends of mine that were ahead of me in school, and were turfers also.  We had dinner at a local Irish pub, and then he took us up to the butte that overlooks Billings to see the views and get some walking in after dinner.  Since it stays light until almost 10 pm, it was a great after dinner activity.  We wrapped up the evening by going back to Clark's house for chocolate covered Twinkies and a beaker of milk!

Drinking milk out of the beaker glasses Clark had in his cupboard.

We got up Saturday morning and headed towards Yellowstone National Park for our next adventure!  Clark recommended we go into the park via the NE entrance, and man was that a good recommendation!  We headed South and eventually into Red Lodge, MT and then up and over the mountain and into Cooke City, MT before entering Yellowstone NP.  We stopped for lunch in Red Lodge, and all thought it was a neat little town and that we'd like to come back and stay for a few nights.  The drive over the Bear Tooth Mountains was beautiful, and the girls stopped to play in the snow for a bit near a small skiing area that was still open on July 1st!

Slackettes in the snow in the Bear Tooth Mountains.