Adventures Out West

Before I forget, here are the highlights of our trip to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Parks. All the photos are viewable on Flickr.

We flew into Sun Valley, ID and spent the first couple of days in Stanley for a gathering of the Furey family. We stayed at Stanley Town Square, which was lovely and right at the end of the dirt road leading up to the family's ranch at Goat Falls. While there we visited Redfish Lake and hiked up to Lily Pond and the falls above it and also went whitewater rafting on the Salmon River. Then we drove up to Salmon, ID, where Jason's mom grew up, and visited the house that her father built, where Jason celebrated Christmas throughout his childhood. From there we headed over to the parks.

Day 1
Activities: We drove a total of six hours from Stanley, through Salmon, to reach West Yellowstone, where we checked in, got dinner, and enjoyed a relaxing swim before bed.
Lodging: WorldMark by Wyndham, West Yellowstone, MT.
We booked this through AirBNB--it's a timeshare place and we had a very comfortable two-bedroom unit with a balcony where ravens landed on the railing at sunset, and use of their pool and hot tub.
Food: Lunch at Junkyard Bistro in Salmon, ID--a real find. Dinner was tapas at Cafe Madriz in West Yellowstone.

Day 2
Activities: Norris Geyser Basin, Mammoth Hot Springs, Artists' Paint Pots.
This was a big day of hiking around hot springs and geysers, admiring their variation and colors. Favorites included Canary Spring on the Upper Terrace at Mammoth and the Mud Pot at Artits' Paint Pots.
Wildlife: We saw several elk in Mammoth Hot Springs, including one that crossed the road to the lawn we were standing beside, right as we were leaving lunch.
Lodging: WorldMark
Food: Lunch at Mammoth Hot Springs' Terrace Grill. Dinner at Madison Crossing Lounge.

Day 3
Activities: We visited Artist's Point in Canyon and the brink of the Upper Falls, both of which were gorgeous. Then we drove through Hayden Valley, one of the prime wildlife viewing areas. Traffic was backed up for a mile or more from where people were looking at bison near the road, so the others got out and climbed a hill and walked along the road to catch up to me at the bottom. We stopped at Old Faithful, just to use the bathrooms, but decided to go ahead and see when the next eruption was predicted, which was less than half-an-hour from then, so we sat on the benches around the geyser to wait and got to see Beehive Geyser erupt and then Old Faithful join it, a very unusual coincidence.
Wildlife: Bison. Lots of bison. A bunch of baby bison in the bison basin.
Lodging: WorldMark
Food: Lunch at the Canyon Village. Dinner was pizza from Wapiti Pizza--I went to get it, which was a bit of an adventure, since it's actually located inside the Zipline Adventure Park, but it was quite tasty.

Day 4
Activities: We got up early to drive down to Headwaters and claim a same-day campsite reservation. By then it was clear to me that I had a UTI, so we went down to the Urgent Care Clinic at Jackson Lake, where I got antibiotics and we had a lovely lunch in the hotel, looking out at the mountains. Then we drove up Signal Mountain, arriving just as a thunderstorm was moving over the peak--very exciting and lovely views of the valley with fog and rain moving across it. In the evening Jason and I drove down to Jackson Hole for dinner, while Steve and Alice tried out the restaurant at Sheffields in the Headwaters lodge.
Wildlife: Deer.
Lodging: Headwaters at Flagg Ranch on the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway. Alice and Steve camped out, while Jason and I shared one of their luxury cabins (basically a hotel room with a bathroom in a freestanding cabin).
Food: Lunch at the Jackson Lake Hotel. Dinner at The Kitchen in Jackson Hole, the highlight of which was wagyu beef wrapped around fresh, crisp scallions and topped with an amazing miso brown butter.

Day 5
Activities: We took a trailride through the area around Flagg Ranch, mostly through forest that burned last year, but is quickly coming back with gorgeous wildflowers. After that we went down to Colter Bay where we had lunch and went kayaking on Jackson Lake for an hour. In the evening we drove down to Jackson Hole again for dinner and back up along the other side of the lake at sunset.
Lodging: Headwaters
Food: Lunch at Colter Bay Village. Dinner at Glorietta in Jackson Hole, WY that included grilled rabbit, duck, mussels, and green beans, fried squash blossoms, and Italian stir-fried rice.

Day 6
Activities: Midway Geyser Basin. Grand Prismatic Spring. Old Faithful Geyser Basin where we saw another eruption from the veranda of the Old Faithful Inn. Then we hiked up to Solitary Geyser, helping Alice to complete her Young Scientist packet. From there it was only another .3 miles up to Observation Point, which didn't seem far until we realized how steep it was. But we made it, hot and huffing, and flopped down on the logs there and looked out just as Old Faithful erupted again, which was a marvelous surprise. We headed back to Headwaters for dinner, then Jason and I went back down to Colter Bay, where we could sit in the bar and use their wifi.
Lodging: Headwaters.
Food: Lunch at Old Faithful Inn--quite a destination on its own. Dinner at Sheffields, followed by roasted marshmallows for dessert at Alice and Steve's campsite. Kudos to Jason for building a very nice fire.

Day 7
Activities: West Thumb Geyser Basin. Tower Fall. Lamar Valley. Petrified Tree. Chico Hot Springs.
Wildlife: Bison, right in the road next to our car! Plus bighorn sheep.
Lodging: Chico Hot Springs
Food: Lunch at Lake Yellowstone Hotel. Dinner at Chico Hot Springs--a delicious meal, slightly marred by slow and inaccurate service, but they took one of our entrees off the bill in recompense, so we left feeling ok about it. The best thing was an appetizer of mushroom risotto with rabbit.

Day 8
After a swim in the warm (98.5) and hot (105.3) pools at Chico, we headed for Bozeman where we returned our rental car, checked in for our flights, and had a good lunch in the airport restaurant before seeing Steve off to Seattle and boarding our flight to Denver. We were delayed in Denver for over an hour and then delayed again getting into Boston, so didn't arrive home until 2:30am--a very long day.

Overall, it was a very good trip. I really enjoyed rafting and kayaking for the first time and the chance to ride, though my knees are getting old for that. Alice had a marvelous time and took great pride in getting us into the parks for free, as part of the Every Kid in a Park program, and fulfilling the Junior Ranger requirements in both Yellowstone and Grand Teton and the Young Scientist program at Old Faithful. Her favorite part was camping out with her grandfather--as was his. We were delighted that he could join us for the trip and Jason is very pleased to have gotten to take Alice there at just the right age to make the most of it.

Jeepers!

While I was in Northern Ireland last summer, I started making a list of all the stories I tell that I'd like to write down. This is one of them.

As anyone who drives Rte. 16 through the western suburbs knows, there is no safe lane. You are always either in the right-turn only lane, or the left-turn only lane, but unless you are very familiar with the road, you will not know which until you arrive at the intersection and see which arrow is painted in your current position, assuming that the street-painters have been out recently enough for them to be readable.

One night I was performing No Exit at Wellesley and my whole family and my best friend, steve, came out to see the show. I wanted to go back to Boston afterward, so we piled into my folks' car. Beckie was driving, with my father in the front seat and my mother, steve, and I crammed into the back.

At one intersection, Beckie suddenly realized that the lane she was in had become left-turn only. She was facing oncoming traffic with another vehicle to our right, so she gunned her way through the intersection and swerved into the right-hand lane ahead of the other car.

As she completed this maneuver, we all swore, loudly. Beckie said "Jesus!" and Dad said "Damn!" and I said "Shit!" and steve said "Fuck!" and Mom said "Jeepers!" And she really meant it, because she was distracted enough not to scold any of the rest of us for our language.

So weird

While I was in Northern Ireland last summer, I started making a list of all the stories I tell that I'd like to write down. This is one of them.

My dad was a United Church of Christ minister. For twenty-seven years (from before I was born until after I went to college) he served a church in a small town in Upstate New York--population right around 3000. While he had a good ministry there, I never really felt at home there. We had no family within hours of us, and we valued education and travel and culture much more than the local average. I was a precocious kid with the vocabulary of an early reader and a tendency to talk about things that few kids cared about.

One day I was playing in the shrubbery outside my dad's office. I didn't know that the window was open, but my dad was working at his desk and half listening to my conversation with Evelyn Ottaviano as we played.

"Elizabeth," said Evie at one point, "You are SO WEIRD!" My dad paused, wondering how I would respond and was very proud to hear me reply, with a sigh, "I know. But I'm perfectly normal for a Hunter."