Roadtrip 2004 Galleries

Nevada - July 3rd 2004 : Our trip begins! We are now sitting on our bed in a Quality Inn (I had to look at the bedside desk to figure out what motel chain it is. The room is indistinguishable from any other motel. The Daytona NASCAR night race is on the TV. Packing of the 4 runner was aided by Kelly's grandpa as he came by early morning to take Kelly for a walk. We finished off our packing and soon we were sitting in the truck staring back and Kelly and ALL our stuff. Dave and Lauren may have fitted everything into the back of a Subaru, but they don't have a CHILD. Actually the packing is pretty good. We can basically see out the back window and there's nothing on the roof all Kelly's car seat. But everywhere else there's stuff. We stopped at Davis for breakfast, which we often visit for croissant. Today they had decided not to make any. Could this trip have a more disastrous start? Actually, Davis was great in every other way. The sun shone, the nectarines were ripe. There were fountains for Kelly to frolic in. After breakfast and Farmers market shopping (we got peaches, nectarines, bread and cheese), we hit the highway towards Nevada. Kelly fell asleep right out of town and slept for (perhaps a record) 185 miles! We drove right past Reno (where we thought we'd be stopping for a break), and by the time we did stop it was at a rest area in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. A hot dry dusty patch with little shade areas and pit toilets. Rest stop We ate lunch there, and then headed towards Winnemucca along a baron landscape, big sky of clouds, the occasional downpour. Checked into Motel and then headed out for Dinner at a Basque restaurant (Martin Hotel, a historic landmark). An interesting place, serving us such things as 'Sweet Bread' (how euphemistic!) and Beef Tongue (yeah, that's what it is). We also had some pork chops which were average. [!^] The Martin Hotel Returned to the Motel and took Kelly for a swim. Such squeeling. Okay, the water was initially a little cold. She had fun in the end. Now bed.

Nevada - July 3rd 2004

Our trip begins! We are now sitting on our bed in a Quality Inn (I ha ...

Updated: Aug 01, 2006 11:54am PST

Twin Falls - July 4th 2004 : Long headache provoking drive across Nevada today. Got up, ate breakfast in a casino (Oceans 3?), 4th of July left little open. ($3.99 Ham and Egg specials. Kelly went healthy with Yogurt and fruit). Kelly in motel A little shopping, then packing the car again. We have a lot of stuff that needs to move back and forth to the room each night: Kelly's duffle bag, our duffle bag, Pack and Play, Pack and Play mattress, Laptop bag, Camera bag, Pillows and Cooler. Drove east to Elko and stopped for coffee and Kelly played on the slides. She's getting good, going down a giant slide. We had to catch her at then end or there would have been a Kelly-tragedy(tm) Continued on the Wells, NV and stopped at a windswept park and ate lunch. A big thunderstorm loomed above us, but except for the occasional spot we didn't get wet. Kelly picked flowers from the field. North on hwy 93 through an area that reminded us of the Alabama Hills near Mt Witney, a landscape of boulders. This slowly gave way to a greener landscape which became Idaho at a horrible looking casino town called Jackpot. Entered Mountain Time. Entering the twin Falls area we found our motel, the Super 8, and then set off to find the Shoshone Falls. This is in all the postcards and is far more spectacular there than in real life. When you're actually there its mid-summer, the falls are almost dry, it is surrounded by fat people with bad legs and white sneakers and horrible little children and video camera waving (and commentating) Russians. The canyon and waterfall are nice, but the top of the falls is heavily overdeveloped. Shoshone Falls Ate at Pizza Hut and then watched the fireworks from the front lawn of the motel (actually a good place to see them), before Kelly was completely baked and we too went to bed. 4th July fireworks 4th July fireworks Off to Craters of the Moon tomorrow. --PM

Twin Falls - July 4th 2004

Long headache provoking drive across Nevada today. Got up, ate breakfa ...

Updated: Aug 01, 2006 8:38pm PST

Craters of the Moon - July 5th 2004 : Woke up this morning at the Super 8 in Twin Falls. We all slept well and assume that firework mayhem didn't continue around us until too late. Breakfast of home cooked cinnamon rolls (we've encountered this at a Super 8 before and they are highly recommended), banana (for The Kellsta), juice and coffee. Left a little after 9am and headed north on Hwy 93 up to Craters of the Moon National Monument. Kelly slept most of the way, for the hour or so we drove through lush Idaho fields. The campground at the National Monument only had three current occupants so we staked our claim to a nice spot (site 32) at the far end with a tree and a view (from its second level) over the volcanic landscape. Cooked up a backpacker meal of Mac and Cheese for us all. Walked over to the visitor's center where Kelly collected another stamp for her park passport. Drove the park road, which is very short. We stopped at the caves only. Took off walking just in front of a large group on the 2pm tour. The caves were fun, almost completely undeveloped. The first one we went into we almost wondered what we had got ourselves into as we negotiated a steep rock fall into the dark hole, with baby in arms. But the second cave was connected to the outside world by a narrow path and a short easy section of rock. Once inside it opened up into a large tunnel that could be followed up to a marked off area. There the walls glowed like sheets of silver as tiny drops of water on the surface reflected our headlamps. The third cave we went into was a large tunnel that could be entered by metal steps. Inside it was the size of a subway station with periodic openings in the roof. We followed this along to its exit, over a large rock pile, which Kelly climbed over, aided by Assistant-Mommy(tm). Back in the car Kelly was asleep before we got back to the campsite so we took off up the road towards Arco. Arco, it turns out, was the first town powered by Nuclear energy. We turned south there, Kelly still asleep, and headed for Atomic City. Along this road, the average speed seemed 80 (even though posted for 65) and as with elsewhere in Idaho the norm among motorcyclist is to ride without a helmet. Here we came across the first nuclear power plant (EBR-1, experimental breeder reactor) in a creepy landscape of power poles, strange buildings with guard towers and signs to things like RWMC (radioactive waste management center = spent fuel rod dump). We took the turn for EBR-1, a national historic place run by the Department of Energy. Out front was an actual nuclear rector sitting along side the parking lot. Inside a woman wearing a tie-dye shirt greeted us. The contents of the building were a series of stations to look at and read about where they illuminated 4 light bulbs with their reactor. It was all well worth the stop. We wished we had more time. Returned to Arco and stopped at Pickles, a burger joint filled with manly Idaho men, that served us up a great Atomic burger and fries. Kelly had a hotdog. Back at our camp we set off before sunset to the nearby interpretive walk, empty now where it had been swarming with people early in the day. Bed time was difficult, our first night in a tent since last summer with Kelly, so she had a hard time calming down, or getting comfortable. Plus it doesn't seem to get dark here until after 10! And then just as she started to go down a car pulled into the next spot and started to set up. We declared there was no hope for any of us now. But Kelly fell asleep anyway. In fact the people managed to set up with a minimum of noise. What followed was a restless night for all of us. -PM

Craters of the Moon - July 5th 2004

Woke up this morning at the Super 8 in Twin Falls. We all slept well a ...

Updated: Aug 02, 2006 10:58pm PST

Jackson WY - July 6th 2004 : It was a slow beginning to the day as we disassembled our camp and lounged around drinking coffee and eating oat meal. It was almost 10am by the time we pulled out onto the highway and we pointed the 4Runner towards the Tetons. Took the road back past Arco and EBR-1 then on through Idaho Falls then over Teton Pass and down into Jackson. Stopped for lunch a campground in a stretch of national forest. We had it to ourselves. There were wild flowers everywhere and a small little stream that Kelly could throw rocks in. (Cooked a couple of dehydrated meals and ate the last of our fruit from Davis.) Jackson itself was kind of swarming with people whose origin it was hard to place. Certainly not from where were from, but not what you see in MSP during a connection either. Who is it that flies or drives (mostly flies I suspect) to Jackson to shop at expensive stores? We stayed only long enough to buy some like hiking shoes (for Peter) and eat ice cream (organic Huckleberry and Belgium chocolate). Then we headed for the park. Kelly was asleep as soon as we left, so we drove a loop of the park road, taking in the mountains for the first time. They were, of course, spectacular. We made our way to our Hotel (the Best Western in Teton Village), ate at and expensive saloon style place (there was NO CHOICE but expensive HERE), then went for a swim in the pool. We all slept well. --PM

Jackson WY - July 6th 2004

It was a slow beginning to the day as we disassembled our camp and lou ...

Updated: Aug 03, 2006 8:23am PST

Grand Teton - July 7th 2004 : The nice thing about the Teton Village location is that there's a short, partially unpaved road that runs directly into the park. This is far better than the long drive around via Jackson, or even from Jackson and especially having to drive THROUGH Jackson. After packing up we headed up this road. The only downside it seems is that Buicks with Illinois plates drive VERY slowly on this road. Perhaps they'd never encountered a dirt road before. Or perhaps they were looking for moose, because no sooner had we overtaken every Buick on the road than I spotted our first moose out the window. "Patty! Stop! Moose!" Patty backed up onto the shoulder and I grabbed my telephoto lens. Within a minute three or five other cars had already pulled up! Suddenly there were people EVRYWHERE at OUR moose spot. The moose spotting itself was great, the subject was knee deep in a perfect moose pond munching on weed and unconcerned by us. I took a bunch of photos. We headed to the Jennie lake area to see what was going on there. Stopped at the visitor's center to get Kelly her passport stamped, then headed into the Jennie lake campground all set to camp somewhere in the national forest near shadow mountain. Luck was on our side. The campground was actually really nice AND we managed to find a great spot. So Jennie lake campground it was. In the afternoon we set off for a drive around the park, giving Kelly a nap, and ending up near Yellowstone in a traffic snarl related to some roadwork. We turned around and headed back. We really wanted to be our hiking, not in traffic, and the day was wearing on. Finally we arrived that the Taggart lake trailhead, and after some further delays, finally set off. The hike was great. The Tetons loomed above us as we hiked a 4.5 mile loop first to Taggart and then Bradley lakes, both glacial. Spotted a bear on the way back and watched him for a while. Returned to camp at around 7:30pm. Cooked hotdogs on our campfire and toasted marshmallows. Took Kelly to bed after the sunset and she went down with ease. Us too. Today's wildlife telly: 1 Moose in the pond 1 Bear looking for roots near the trailhead to Taggart lake 1 fat marmot sitting on a rock a log a deer --PM

Grand Teton - July 7th 2004

The nice thing about the Teton Village location is that there's a shor ...

Updated: Aug 03, 2006 9:40am PST

Grand Teton - July 8th 2004 : Our big hike day in the Tetons. Started out a little later than originally planned (the theme of our mornings so far), but took our seat on the 9am boat across the lake. The sky was clear and the mountains gleamed in the morning light. On board were mostly people from a ranger led walk to Inspirational point, so as we got off that group collected to side and we were able to head up the trail with nobody else around. Not far along we came to Hidden falls, which if anyone was to do one thing in the park, this would be it: Take the boat over (before the hoards do), and go see this waterfall. Further up the trail, perhaps a mile from the boat dock is Inspirational point. Though if you ask us a view towards the mountains, as most of this hike is, is better any day that a look the other way towards the lake and the plains beyond. We were only inspired to keep walking for 5 minutes or so and then made our first stop. For the next three hours we continued up the trail, stopping just a couple more times, and also for some moose viewing (this time thanks to other people on the trail.) The scenery was spectacular, surrounded by huge cliffs and winding along next a raging steam with a perfect combination of sky, snow, rock, trees, grass, and water. It was hard to imagine it being better! At the 4.5-mile mark we reached our goal, the fork in the canyon. Here we turned around. The walk back was pretty tough as we (and Kelly) were getting tired. For the first section we let Kelly walk herself, using a contracted trekking pole. She amazed us by having no real trouble coming down quite a rough trail, and effectively using the trekking pole to help her down rocks that were too big, and even to catch herself from falling. Eventually we made it down, 9 miles with near 40 pound load in the form of a very under-napped baby. Both of us have sore feel and backs from the effort, but it was well worth it. One of the best hikes we've ever done. After the hike we relaxed a while and then drove into Jackson to do some shopping, then to bed for all of us. --PM

Grand Teton - July 8th 2004

Our big hike day in the Tetons. Started out a little later than origin ...

Updated: Aug 04, 2006 9:14pm PST

Yellowstone - July 9th 2004 : Reluctantly we packed up camp this morning and headed north to Yellowstone. The transitional day was a good chance to recover a little from the hike yesterday. The drive north was slow as we went through the roadwork we'd encountered a couple of days ago. Then once inside the park the speed limit was 45 and this park is BIG. Made our way to Old Faithful through mostly fire-affected areas. Apparently 1/3rd of Yellowstone burned in the 1988 fires. Old Faithful was such a scene I don't know how to describe it. To begin with the park road has on and off-ramps to this attraction! Then the parking lot looked like a concert event was about to start. There were people everywhere. A giant RV near us had a gas line running to a BBQ (IN the parking lot). There were picnics everywhere. There were tourists everywhere. So many. While we waited for the BIG-EVENT, we looked around the Old Faithful Lodge, a giant log wood construction, and visited a couple of Bison hanging out on the lawn. Now they are crazy animals. We took our place and eventually watch Old Faithful blow steam and water high into the sky. Everyone said "Wow!" together. But in reality it wasn't worth the crowds and the wait and the completely unnatural setting. What a difference from our hike the day before. As we left we were still discussing whether to get out of the park and never come back. Each area of interest we passed was also swarming with people. We made it to West Yellowstone (a horrible tourist town) and found a $119 a night room at the Kelly Lodge. It seemed every room was exactly $119 a night in the whole town! Anyway, the Kelly Lodge seemed nice enough. We eventually made a plan. We'd go to the supermarket and buy a lasagna to cook in our microwave, have an early dinner, and then head into the park after everyone else had left. And what a different place the park was. Not only was it late, but also a thunderstorm timed itself perfectly to scare out all the tourists. We stopped at a couple of sites with cool pools and steaming vents and boiling springs. These were fantastic, clearly world-class geothermal activity. Feeling like we'd had some Yellowstone experience we returned to town, stopped at Dairy Queen for an ice cream and then went straight to bed. Tomorrow another day avoiding the crowds in the park. After that we start heading north (and west) to Glacier and then on to the Canadian Rockies. --PM

Yellowstone - July 9th 2004

Reluctantly we packed up camp this morning and headed north to Yellows ...

Updated: Aug 05, 2006 7:02am PST

Yellowstone - July 10th 2004 : Braving the crowds we returned to Yellowstone today. This time we headed for the Canyon area. Kelly fell asleep so we drove by the canyon and south towards Yellowstone Lake. On the way we drove down the Yellowstone River and through some beautiful rolling hills, some of which were covered with actual herds of bison. This is when we had the first of several incidents in which we were stopped on the road as a bison meandered along. Down by the river we spotted a frolicking baby bison, running up to his mama. We drove as far as the lake which was huge then returned to the baby bison for a better look-there were 4 in total and very cute-they looked just like baby cows. Then we drove up towards the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone". We stopped at the first parking lot which was labeled "upper falls". The falls were a short walk and were really beautiful. A one mile hike along the rim trail brought us to Artist Point which looked up the canyon at the lower falls. Considering how many people were at this viewpoint it was amazing how nice and quiet the trail was (though pretty hilly for a rim trail). At Artist Point we made the decision to get the heck out of there and away from all those people! We had lunch at a picnic area along the river and threw stones into the river. Then it was time to exit Yellowstone through the north. Quite different up there, it would have been interesting to take a closer look at the terraces around Mammoth Hot Springs-they looked freaky from what we saw-but Kelly was asleep so it was one of those times to put down some miles. We reached Bozeman, home of Montana State University, around 5 and had dinner at the Ale House. Even though a thunder storm seemed imminent, we took a stroll through the downtown area-really cute with lots of stores for home restoration, outdoor adventrues, etc. Seemed like our kind of place. We drove to Butte to spend the night but there were NO rooms available-seems there were a bunch of events going on such as the Butte High School Class of 1954 reunion which we ran into at the Ramada Inn. We called a few Super 8's and found one back about 20 miles (Whitehall) but at least there was a room. Later we read about the terrible troubles of Butte being a major superfund site and we were thankful we hadn't stayed there. --PH

Yellowstone - July 10th 2004

Braving the crowds we returned to Yellowstone today. This time we head ...

Updated: Aug 11, 2006 11:27am PST

Montana - July 11th 2004 : Drove back through Butte and on to Missoula-Kelly slept most of the way. Stopped to visit family friend Dixie and her mother Edie. Missoula is home to University of Montana and had a college/outdoor enthusiast vibe going. We had great cappuccino and carrot cake. Tubing seemed to be a big thing, as we saw large rubber inner tubes for sale all over. Walked around town and campus before lunch from Dell's, a diner near Dixie's. Left about 2:30 to drive north along a couple of rivers-full of tubers and rafters. We arrived in Kalispell and checked into the Super 8. Unfortunately the part of town where we are staying (as well as about 30 miles leading to town) is under heavy road construction. A little later we drove downtown in search of "fantastic" Chinese food (as improbable as that sounds) but the place is closed on Sunday. Downtown is cute but modest. So we drove just up the highway to Whitefish which is a much showier old town, with lots of tourist shops. We stopped for mediocre brick oven pizza and Kelly was mesmerized by the baseball game on TV-couldn't get over the guys throwing the ball. Back in Kalispell our power was out for awhile in the motel but came back before it got dark out. Kelly wore her new pink dress today and was quite a show stopper. --PH

Montana - July 11th 2004

Drove back through Butte and on to Missoula-Kelly slept most of the wa ...

Updated: Aug 12, 2006 8:30pm PST

Glacier - July 12th 2004 : Drove into Glacier National Park, taking the incredible Into the Sun road. This road cuts up the side of a giant glacier formed valley to Logan Pass and then descends to St Mary on the other side. This road is one of the great drives in North America. Before our assent we stopped at the Avalanche campground. Although nice (and very lush) we decided that it was just too far to go for the hikes we planned, which were on the other side of the pass. On the St Mary side we stopped at the campground of the same name. This seemed a little grim, rather exposed with only a few scraggly elms for protection. So we drove around to the Many Glacier area. Here we found a great site, with its own river frontage and nicely shaded. Looking back some how we scored one of the best sites in the campground. In fact the day we left at least a half dozen people came by to ask for our site. Ate lunch at the Two Sisters Cafe, just north of St Mary (first pie) and then decided to check out another area of the park called Two Medicine. It turned out to be a really long (one hour) drive. Our hike was derailed by the so-called schedule of the ferry. This ferry runs every two ours, and we'd missed the 3pm one by 15 minutes. So instead we walked around the edge of the lake for a about a mile to a little rocky beach were we spent a long while skipping rocks into the water. (Kelly just throws hers, she doesn't get skipping yet - it's all about the plop). Returned to camp and cooked hotdogs in the campfire for dinner. Followed by toasted marshmallows. Yummy. Then bed. --PM

Glacier - July 12th 2004

Drove into Glacier National Park, taking the incredible Into the Sun r ...

Updated: Aug 12, 2006 8:55pm PST