No Rest for the Weary

After awakening at our resort in Teton Village (the upper crust of Jackson Hole), our first order of business was to find a CHEAPER place to stay for the night. I started dialing a list of hotels and ‘no vacancy’ unless we paid $300 for a room. I called the Kudar Motel and was told- yes, we have a cabin for $90, want it? I almost jumped through the phone. Yes!!! More on the cabin later. In order to make the most of our resort investment in Teton Village, abutting the ski slopes (of course with no snow yet), I worked out in the gym before we left. What a gym!

Then off to Teton National Park. The Tetons are distinctive mountains and considered ‘alpine’ in the US. I’m not sure what the criteria is, but these are the only ones. And yes, crazy people do climb them. The Snake River is at the foot of the range and makes for great fishing and pictures. The park is quite impressive for its beauty, but also for its facilities: lodges, visitor centers, museums. And it still is very undeveloped. The other significant find is wild animals! We had fun spotting moose, elk, coyotes, deer.

Fearlessly we decided on a hike. The trail around Jenny Lake is relatively flat and considered ‘easy’ per the national park hiking guide. A comment about the national park hiking guides: a paved walkway is not considered a hiking trail as we city folks might think. The easy trails are typically hilly, even when described as flat, and rough with rocks and uneven surfaces. As some of you may know, balance is not a strong skill for me. Despite these challenges, we had an invigorating and beautiful 2 hour hike around half of Jenny Lake and up to Hidden Falls (considered ‘moderately difficult at this point). We took the park boat back across the lake which was a nice reward for all that work.

Excited about having a room for the night, we decided to go back and find it. The Kudar Motel cabins were built in 1938 by a woman who is still alive (98 yrs old). Her cabins are in the registry of historic buildings. We were so excited to see them and even more excited when we found out that they had bathrooms with showers! The cabins are truly log and that is what you see on the inside. We had 2 rooms plus a bathroom, with TV, microwave and small refrigerator. Wow!!

With all that hiking and working out, I was so hungry I was going to start chomping on the log walls. Knowing how grumpy I get when hungry, Mark wisely decided we should go forage for food. We found an interesting restaurant that once was a taxidermy museum called Gun Barrel Steak and Game House restaurant. They specialize in game (aligning with the décor from the museum) and it was delicious!!

We walked around the town, complete with wooden sidewalks, cowboy bar, and elk antler arches at each of the four corners of the town square in Jackson. Realize that elks lose these antlers each year and they are typically eaten by smaller animals for calcium. In this case, they became art!

We slept quite well in our cabin. Cool air, no noise, cozy bed. We slept 10 hours that night!! We clearly needed the rest. Much more restful than the Teton Village resort room we had the night before.

Food and Drink: The buffalo prime rib and sirloin steak from the Gun Barrel restaurant were great! Cooked over a flaming grill – viewable from the tables – the meat was tender and cooked to rare/med rare as it should be for such lean meat. Both steaks were moist and delicious, accompanied by garlic mashed potatoes and fresh beans, cooked to just crunchy. Mark’s house beer was medium lager and very good. My syrah was perfect with the buffalo meat.

Where is Yogi??

We drove from Bozeman to Yellowstone today and continued the volcano theme of the western part of the trip. While I still think Yosemite has the most beautiful landscapes, Yellowstone has an abundance of fearless wildlife and geysers. In fact, Yellowstone has the most geysers in one area than anywhere else in the world!
We later found out that all hotel rooms in 100 mile radius were sold out due to hunting season. (more on this later) No wonder – the wildlife practically jumped in the car with us! How hard could it be to hunt them?! We were greeted by a bison munching grass beside the road near our car, a coyote sauntering across the street without concern for traffic, many many elk either lounging or eating, deer were the cute but commonplace critter.

Geysers were loads of fun as they would surprise you by spouting off right behind you when you were poised to take a photo of the one in front of you. Of course we saw Old Faithful and it was right on time. The colors of the travertine formations from the geysers are made of bacteria that thrive in extremely hot, sulfuric conditions. There is a place in Turkey (lots of volcanoes there) called Pamukkale that has similar formations.
It is a wonder to see the continuing impact of volcanoes in our landscape today. Virgins beware!!!

Hotel rooms became an issue around 7pm when we decided to find one in Grand Tetons National Park- just south of Yellowstone. After a warning from one hotel in the park, I started calling around and found that yes indeed, rooms were not available. That is, normally priced rooms were not available!

You guessed it, Mark and I ended up in a resort, overlooking the Grand Teton range. Our room, complete with stone fireplace, in-room Jacuzzi, granite countered kitchenette, full gym, pools and hot tubs. We were determined to get our money’s worth, well, as much as we could. So we took a bottle of port to the roof Jacuzzi, at 10pm, to find a sky deep with stars. Wow! While we were soaking, a hotel staffer showed up to say he was locking the door so no one else could come up as they were closing the Jacuzzi, but we could stay as long as we wanted. Ya, our Private Jacuzzi!! Ok, that was, say, $45 worth of the price. The kitchen where we’ll make breakfast…about $20 worth. If I work out…another $20. Internet access $10. Not sure we’ll be able to make the total price sound reasonable, but we sure plan to make the best of it!!! I guess we’ll start calling around first thing in the morning to find another room that is more like $100 range. Yikes!

Observations of the area during our drive - casinos are everywhere. Not the big flashy ones, but ones that are attached or next to the Motel 6 or the gas station. Log homes and barns are the standard, with metal roofs. The tone is very conservative politically. We see signs of extremism like the billboard to help prevent the killing of pets (it appears these are in dogfights), large dogs are the norm, as are the humans. We are noticing a distinct growth in girth after crossing into Montana. hmmm.

Contest: Clue - we found out this week that the car trip mileage resets at 2000 miles. But dont worry, I just add 2000 to the current number.

Food and Drink: Ok, we are at Yellowstone, so we had to have buffalo!! The Buffalo carpaccio we had at the hotel restaurant was mouth watering good. I will have to stop thinking about its cousin beside the car today.

Big Sky Montana

Our trip from Seattle took us east on I-90 through Washington, across Idaho and into Montana. It was a long drive of almost 600 miles as we wanted to get close to Yellowstone for the next day’s visit. The long drive seemed even longer with the time change to mountain time.
Several things stand out from that long drive. After crossing the Cascades, eastern Washington looked a lot like California with farmlands, cattle and rolling hills. We stopped in Spokane for lunch and ate at their Riverside Park downtown along the…guess what…Spokane River! Really beautiful with gardens, fountains, trails. Then through Idaho. It seems that the determination of the Idaho state line was due to the change in topography. Idaho had lush mountains and valleys with lots of fast-water rivers for fishing. And there were a growing number of log cabin homes and barns. Montana, across the continental divide (which we seem to have crossed 6 times in the past 2 days), was definitely Big Sky country. So much land!! And so much sky!!! At dusk, we were surprised and awed by an amazing sunset that sent a spectrum of colors across the full sky. It was remarkable…but alas the camera was in the trunk.

Late night, but the promise of a Yellowstone adventure the next day!

Food and Drink: Yellowstone Lager, especially after the long day of driving

Pigs aPlenty!

I had to make a special blog entry to recognize the Pigs of Seattle. Like Chicago and their cows, San Francisco and their hearts, Seattle has offered pig sculptures for artists to customize and situated them throughout the city. These will be auctioned for charity at some point, but for now they are hanging around downtown for all to enjoy – especially me. Why pigs? Pike Place Market has a life sized bronze pig named Rachel ‘guarding’ the main entrance and collecting over $100k since it arrived in 1986. So the pigs are to celebrate with Rachel, Pike Place Market’s 100th anniversary.

So, here are some photos of Seattle pigs, and the pigs’ best friend!

Contest: Mark and I are tracking our mileage, from pulling out of the driveway in Redwood City to arrival at mom and dad’s house in Lakeland. We decided to hold a contest to guess our total trip mileage, without going over. Prize is a $25 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble. To help you, here is our general trip plan: Redwood City north to Seattle via Lassen Volcanic National Park and Crater Lake, Seattle east to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons, south to Ft. Collins, CO and Mesa Verde National Park, then southeast to Carlsbad Caverns in NM, east to Dallas, Ft. Worth and then Austin. East to Atlanta, South to Lakeland. Got it?!Guess it!

Food and Drink: We had a great hike in Belleview and found wild blackberries along the way. Since the forager Turk was there, picking was the only option. We put these plump, deep crimson berries over vanilla ice cream for dessert that night. The tangy, rich and juicy flavor of the berries with the cool, sweet vanilla ice cream was … happiness. Not even chocolate could surpass those full flavors.

Feel Like You're Swimming Upstream?

Seattle was wonderful! Thanks Tim and Blue for hosting us. The weather was warm and clear - showing off Seattle in her best light. Mt. Ranier and Mt. Baker were visible with snow.

We went to Pike Place Market to buy a large halibut for Mark to grill. The guys there were throwing the fish across the shop and out to the waiting customers - BIG FISH. You dont see that at Safeway!

The Lake Washington Ship Canal, the "Ballard Locks", was active with boats crossing between Lake Washington and the Puget Sound - 14 to 28ft difference. Watching the locks open and close, the water rise and fall, fasinates me (you are finding out my odd fascinations). The poor salmon dont take the lock route. They have special steps to swim up. We were able to see them jumping from the surface of the water, but could see even better from the viewing windows under the water. Huge salmon were fighting to swim against strong currents, and to swim UP to Lake Washington from the Sound. There was a cheer each time a fish made it. I was exhausted just watching them.

We got to see the gum wall, the space needle, and I did get to go to the wonder gym to work out!

Food and Drink: Brunch at Macrina's Bakery in Belltown area of Seattle was a highlight amongst many food highlights in Seattle. Scrambled eggs with gargonzola cheese and figs presented a tongue dancing way to start the morning. Accompanied by french press tea, which might have required some coaching from our breakfast host, it was a great start to a busy day. The thing about this restaurant is, I wanted every dish coming out of the kitchen. The waffles, the brioche french toast, the other egg dishes, the coffee cakes, the sweet breads, and on and on. Ya gotta love brunch!

Volcanoes + Glaciers + Floods + Dams = Columbia River Gorge

Remember the volcano theme. Well, it was alive and well as we left The Dulles - a town on the Columbia River that was the main Indian trading area for thousands of years. We followed the path of the 1805 travels of Lewis and Clark along the Columbia River Gorge. The Gorge is formed by layers of volcanic rock, hewn by glaciers. Massive floods changed what soil was left, and dams changed the river to what we now see.

We traveled along the historic route 30, built in the early 1900's to bring visitors to Oregon. Beautiful water falls and trails, vista views of the gorge and valleys. The western section is full of waterfalls, including the famous (to those of you who follow waterfalls) Multnomah Falls. Pictured above with the bridge.

Our drive ended in Portland, then up I-5 to Seattle. After 4 long hours of driving, we arrive at Herb and Nancy's place (Sara and Tulin's grandparents) in Edmund, WA. It was great to see them, tho a short time. Then on to Tim and Blue's house in Bellevue. Lots of stuff to catch up on as sit in the hot tub under the Washington stars, tossing tennis balls to 3 legged Blue.

I've been promised a visit to the wonder health club that is used by Microsoft in Bellevue. It has 3 levels, multiple pools, cardio and weight rooms (each the size of a gym). One of the cardio rooms has muted lighting supposedly so it is more soothing to those sweating techies. I think its so Bill Gates can come over and sweat without anyone recognizing him. The locker rooms have fireplaces, flat screen TVs, mohagany lockers, and of course saunas and whirlpools. ahhhhh, cant wait!

Food and Drink: Along the gorge trip, we had sandwiches made of pugliese bread, heirloom tomatoes (from the yard), pesto (from the yard), feta cheese and fresh peaches (from the yard). A slice of moist chocolate cake for desert! What a lunch!

Craters and Cows

We stayed at the local Best Western in Klamath Falls. I could tell we weren't in California any longer when I looked up and saw the lobby encircled with dead, stuffed wildlife!

Continuing our volcano saga - we went to Crater Lake today. Already familiar with fumaroles and cinder cones, we hiked to the rim of the former Mt Mazama volcano and gasped at the lake's pristine, deep blue water. It makes Tahoe pale in comparison.
Mt Mazama blew 6800 years ago, creating an eruption over 100 times greater than Mt St Helens in 1980. It blew so hard that the volcano collapsed and filled the hole. The hole became Crater Lake. We were walking along the rim which had been the sides of the volcano. Cool!

Then we made our way up to the Columbia River, Oregon side. Along the way, we drove through many areas where we saw no vehicles on the rode...at all, no humans...at all, no cell phone reception..at all, no radio reception! The thought struck me, probably originating from all those Saturday afternoon 'B' movies again, that aliens could have beamed up the human race and missed us. And we wouldnt know it until the end of the day when we tried to get a hotel room and no one answered the reception desk bell! Just me, Mark and all those cows. And the imagination continued to create a complete horror movie series. Alas, we started seeing cars, motorcycles and humans.


Food and Drink: The standout food today was from the free breakfast we had at the Best Western. After surveying the assortment of carbs and fruits, I spotted a single slice of raisin bread. I havent had raisin bread in too many years to count. I grabbed that remaining slice, toasted it, slapped a bit of butter on it, and wow! So many juicy raisins in the bread with a touch of cinnamon, a touch of crunch. It was Wonderful!!