So here we are. Final trip tallies… Continue reading “In which I tally up the final trip stats”
Tag: travel
In which we fly home
Smooth.
No one oversleeps. No issues at TSA (other than one item forgotten in the bottom of a bag, but such is life). No delays on our flights. No problems finding food to keep us afloat at our connection point. No turbulence. Continue reading “In which we fly home”
In which we cross to Spokane
I sleep like the dead (once I get earplugs in) and sleep until after 7am. Mom is already awake. Dad is already up and out.
He comes back at 7:30, concerned because our flight is tomorrow at 7:20 and it won’t let him check in. It takes a moment to realize our mistake: we are on Mountain time; Spokane is on Pacific. Continue reading “In which we cross to Spokane”
In which we make record time down the road
We have options this morning – we can get up and on the road early, so that we get to Logan Pass before 8:30, when they might still have parking, or sleep in, have breakfast, and just hope for the best. Continue reading “In which we make record time down the road”
In which we take a Red Bus Tour
We get up and ready in plenty of time for a bellman to help us get our belongings down three floors, check out, get breakfast, race down to get my mother’s accidentally packed tablet out of the car (ugh), and hop on our Red Bus Tour of Glacier.
We’re on the Grand Circle tour, looping the outer edges of the park to come down Going to the Sun Rd west to east. It will take all day, and we get a late start because two members of the group are no-shows. Continue reading “In which we take a Red Bus Tour”
In which we cover a lot of ground…
… under a big sky.
We don’t have to get up early today. Which is good. It’s been a lot of early mornings.
Except I forgot and left an alarm on. Rats.
Our only plan for today involves covering a lot of distance. About 360 miles in all. Continue reading “In which we cover a lot of ground…”
In which the buffalo are plentiful… but have no wings
We time our day to depart in time to get coffees at Tumbleweed, just down the street from the Riverside Cottages. They open at 7.
Well, first we see the deer that are right in our own parking lot this am. Then…
We each get a coffee plus a thermos to let us top off through the morning. We originally thought we might cross to Pebble Creek, near the Northeast entrance, for an early-morning animal seeking session (we would so love to see moose) but already the morning is warm, and the 40 miles across isn’t going to get us there in anything like prime viewing time. And we want to see the Terraces we skipped yesterday before it gets appallingly hot again.
So we visit Mammoth Hot Springs upper terraces instead, first walking it, hearing the elk trumpet as rut season begins…
Continue reading “In which the buffalo are plentiful… but have no wings”
In which we get there too early
We check out of the Old Faithful Inn, with an aim of seeing the Great Prismatic Spring ahead of the crowd. It is a good theory. But it is still early and cold – so much steam is rising from the springs that they aren’t visible.
In which we start dark and early
We get up at 5am, creeping out in the chill and darkness in hopes of seeing animals before the day gets too hot.
We are nearly alone on the roads, inching toward West Thumb. We stop a few times, signs of elk having been through in the past but none so far this morning.
But when we stop at Grant Village for coffee and start back out, two females pass beside and in front of us in the quiet of the morning. Continue reading “In which we start dark and early”
In which we make our way to Yellowstone
On our way out of town we pick up some essentials. Windex wipes for the car windows. Ice. Wine.
You know, basic stuff that the pioneers would have needed as well.
We head north through the Grand Tetons again – the only way to get from here to there, stopping to see some of what we missed yesterday. The Craig Thomas Visitor Center. The Signal Mountain Summit. Continue reading “In which we make our way to Yellowstone”
