Inspiration

Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks trip August of 2017 Day 3 (part 1)

/ Terry / 5 Comments

I will be breaking this day into 2 posts as we covered a lot of ground during our all day adventure.

1800s Accounts From Out West
For decades, fur trappers and mountain men told stories of the lands out west. To folks living back east, all of the accounts must have seemed fantastical, yet today we know that some of the accounts were quite accurate (and some embellished works of fiction). How do you go about determining the truth of a story?

Here are some excerpts from people who explored the region now known as Yellowstone. Which do you find realistic? Which do you find fantastical?

“Boiling fountains having different degrees of temperature were very numerous; one or two were so very hot as to boil meat.”—Alexander Ross, 1818

“There is also a number of places where the pure suphor is sent forth in abundance one of our men Visited one of those wilst taking his recreation there at an instan the earth began a tremendious trembling and he with dificulty made his escape when an explosion took place resembling that of thunder.”—Daniel T. Potts, 1827

“The general face of the country was smooth and rolling, being a level plain, dotted with cone-shaped mounds. On the summits of these mounds were small craters from four to eight feet in diameter. Interspersed among these, on the level plain, were larger craters, some of them from four to six miles across. Out of these craters issued blue flames and molten brimstone.”—1868 account by Joseph L. Meek of his time in the region in 1829

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Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks trip August of 2017 Day2

/ Terry / 3 Comments

The next day my son, his wife, grandson and I did the park loop drive while the rest headed to Jackson Hole Ski Resort to take the gondola to the top then left for the cabin outside Yellowstone.

Stopping for breakfast at the Bunnery Bakery and Restaurant in Jackson we filled up on a delicious meal before heading out of Jackson. My son and I each had a Breakfast Sandwich of two eggs and cheddar or Swiss cheese with choice of ham, sausage or bacon on a homemade croissant. My daughter-in-law had the Croissant Breakfast of 2 eggs, chocolate Croissant and hash browns. Grandson ate off of everyone’s plates. WOW a wonderful place for breakfast, friendly staff, great service, and outstanding food.

 

 

Breakfast sandwich at the Bunnery
Chocolate croissant breakfast at the Bunnery

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Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks trip August 2017 Day 1

/ Terry / 7 Comments
Day 1 Tetons iPhone-1

Early morning in the desert

Pocatello Best Western

Pocatello Best Western room

Blasting through Southern California, Nevada, Utah and entering into Idaho on my first day I arrive at the Pocatello Inn Best Western, Pocatello, Idaho for a nights stay after an 860 mile (1,384 km) 14-hour driving day. This very nice complex has a indoor pool and spa, seating area, free in room wi-fi and a buffet breakfast. When I arrived at 6 PM I was pleasantly surprised to find an Applebee’s Restaurant within walking distance of the motel to grab a small bite to eat for dinner.

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SO WHAT IS STEAMPUNK?

/ Terry / 3 Comments

In the last post my grandson and I visited The Orange Empire Railroad Museum (LINK) while a Steampunk special event was going on. It was wonderful seeing this sub-culture and experiencing the fun and positive attitude of all the people there.

So what is Steampunk? 1987 marked the first known use of the term “steampunk”.

Steampunk perhaps most recognizably features include futuristic inventions as people in the 19th century might have envisioned them. Its basis in reinterpreting the era’s perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, and art.  Such technology may include fictional machines like those found in the works of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, or of the modern authors Philip Pullman, Scott Westerfeld, Stephen Hunt, and China Miéville.  Steampunk can contain alternative-history-style presentations of such technology.

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Chesters Fort and Hadrian’s Wall

/ Terry / 2 Comments

Chesters Fort Rendering from the south

After the morning wandering and exploring Beamish we drove approximately 30 miles to visit Chesters Fort (LINK) a part of Hadrian’s Wall (LINK). Driving along beautiful countryside we had to have the car disinfected for Foot and Mouth. Arriving at the fort we visited the museum to learn the history of the wall and fort, then walked through disinfecting mats for our short walk to the fort.

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Trip to Vancouver with a stop in the Redwoods

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All packed and ready to go

All packed and ready to go

On my way up to visit my son, his wife and my grandson I stopped for the night for a stroll among the redwood groves. I stayed at the Burlington Campground in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park of northern California just north of Meyers Flat. Situated along the Avenue of the Giants, a 31 mile long country road that passes through 51,222 acres of stunning redwood giants.

Paralleling Highway 101 it provides an outstanding display of these magnificent trees. This state park is just a small section of the 500-mile redwood belt, the largest remaining virgin stand of redwood trees in the world. It is a beautiful place to picnic, hike, camp, raft, bike or just experience the silence in the groves. There are plenty of tourist sites and attractions to visit and some pretty good B&B’s around, from what I have read.

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Somewhere over the Rainbow beauty will find you.

/ Terry / 2 Comments

Somewhere over the Rainbow – Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole

I heard this song in a mix I was listening to today at work and this gentleman’s voice just made me want to look and see it who it was. Although I have not been fortunate enough to capture a rainbow photo yet, these were as close as I could find for this beautiful song.

PLEASE ENJOY – Mahalo

Morning PanoGlacier Bay

The gardens of the Canada Pavilion

The gardens of the Canada Pavilion

Frilandsmusset-3

Country Lane

Geiranger Fjord Seven Sisters Waterfall

Seven Sisters Waterfall

Valley Community along Flam RR

Valley Community

 

Completed Trips and Bucket List

/ Terry / 4 Comments

Morning Pano

COMPLETED TRIPS and VISITED SITES

  • Monterey, CA / Santa Cruz, CA
  • Sequoia – Kings Canyon NP
  • Yosemite NP
  • Lassen NP
  • Death Valley NP
  • Grand Canyon NP
  • Crater Lake NP
  • CA redwoods
  • Joshua Tree NP
  • Mesa Verde NP
  • Hawaii Volcanoes NP
  • 9-days backpacking into Kings Canyon NP
  • Ride the Mojave Road – Barstow CA to Laughlin NV
  • Mammoth Mountain, CA skiing, camping, hiking
  • Telluride CO skiing
  • Winter Park CO skiing
  • Park City UT skiing
  • Lake Tahoe skiing
  • Whistler BC Canada skiing
  • 10-day Alaskan cruise vacation with a land add-on to Anchorage, Denali and Fairbanks.
  • 7-day Alaska cruise round trip from Seattle,WA
  • 18-day cruise to Mexico, Costa Rica, and through the Panama Canal to Cartagena, Columbia; Aruba; St Thomas and Puerto Rico.
  • 4-week trip to England, Scotland and Wales with a Chunnel trip for the final 4 days in Paris and an additional day at Disney Paris.
  • Walt Disney World and Universal Studios, Florida, Disneyland CA, Disney Paris France
  • 4-week car adventure exploring Germany, Austria, Northern Italy, Eastern France and Switzerland.
  • New York City
  • Washington DC
  • Boston, Lexington, Concord, Plymouth, Yorktown, Williamsburg, Gettysburg and many other historic cities.
  • Hawaii
  • Visited 36 States of the USA
  • Route 66 the Mother Road (original)
  • 4-week car trip across America. Seeing many historical sites on the east coast.
  • 3-week train trip to see London, Paris, Venice, Florence, and Rome, ending in the Amalfi Coast in southern Italy.
  • 3-week driving vacation thru France, the Netherlands and Belgium.
  • San Francisco, CA
  • Coastal road Highway 1 in CA and Oregon
  • 3 week adventure to Stockholm, Sweden; Oslo, Norway; an 8 day Norwegian Fjords Cruise on Royal Caribbean and ending in Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • Many other short weekend trips to numerous to mention

REVISED BUCKET LIST  (in no particular order and never complete)

o   Australia and New Zealand

o   Walk the Pacific Crest Trail (Mexico to Canada)

o   Bicycle the Adventure Cycling Association’s Sierra Cascades Trail stopping at Portland, OR then continue back along the Pacific Coast Trail back home

o   Bicycling or motorcycling the Rocky Mountains and the Great Divide Trail

o   Visit Ireland and revisit Wales

o   Back to France to bicycle the areas of Brittany and Normandy, continuing across the Channel following the southern coast of Great Brittan to return to Paris.

o   Iceland

o   Hungry, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece

o   South America; Peru, Chile, Patagonia (cruise or motorcycle?)

o   Revisit Costa Rica and Belize

o   Travel around all 50 USA states

o   Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico

o   USA National and State Historic sites and Monuments

o   Cross Canada east to west, explore Newfoundland and Nova Scotia

o   Head to Alaska along the Alaskan Highway to Skagway then to camp/stay at Glacier Bay (Bartlett Cove) and finally take the Alaskan Ferry system to Ketchikan and end in Prince Rupert

o   Revisit Switzerland and the Bernese Oberland area and hike the traverse

o   Bicycle or motorcycle Denmark, Sweden and Norway

o   Disney World with all the family and grand kids

o   Visit all the US National Parks

o   Hike the Pilgrim Trail in northern Spain

o   Tokyo Disney visit Japan

o   Highway 50 across the US

o   Exotic cruise tour of Southeast Asia

o   See a couple of stages of the Tour de France

o   Watch the Isle of Mann TT motorcycle race

Can I do this in the time I have left; I sure am going to try!