Days 32-40: Yosemite NP, Kings Canyon/Sequoia Nat'l Parks, Death Valley NP, Las Vegas, NV, Zion NP, North Rim of Grand Canyon NP, and Bryce Canyon NP

Sunday morning, we drove to Yosemite and set up camp for two nights at Crane Flats Campground. The campground was surprisingly not very full because it had rained the previous night and many kids were starting school the next day. This meant a good night’s rest for the BIG activity we had planned for Monday. Once we set up camp, we drove to Yosemite Valley. We were able to see Bridal Veil Falls, which is a beautiful waterfall. Unfortunately, Yosemite Falls, the 5th tallest waterfall in the world, is dry this time of year, so we could not see it. That evening, we attended a campfire talk with a ranger about the “giants” of Yosemite. She covered everything from the big trees to the waterfalls to the granite rocks.

Monday morning came bright and early as we woke up at 4:30 AM. We had a date with Half Dome. For those that don’t know, Half Dome is a granite mountain in Yosemite. It is one of the most photographed things in Yosemite. Its elevation is 8,842 feet. The hike is 14-16 miles round trip, depending on which route you take, and it gains 4,800 feet in elevation.

We started our hike right at dawn. We decided to go up Mist Trail, which was the shortest way up, but also the steepest. There were two very pretty waterfalls along the way, Vernal and Nevada Falls. We reached the base of Half Dome, and we wondered what we got ourselves into. There standing before us was a Sub-dome, which we had to climb before we even reached the bottom of the peak of Half Dome. The climb up the Sub-dome included granite steps with a sheer drop-off beside you. At this point, our legs were starting to get tired, but we were so close to getting to the top. About ¾ of the way up the Sub-dome, the stairs disappeared, and we had to rock scramble up slabs of granite to reach the saddle between the Sub-dome and the beginning of the actual Half Dome.

Once we were on the saddle, we only had about 500 feet left until we reached the peak of Half Dome. Unfortunately, the final ascent is probably one of the most terrifying events we have experienced so far. The only thing separating us and the peak was the 45+ degree incline that was one solid sheet of granite. It is so steep that there is a line of cables for climbers to use as they ascend to the top. This isn’t like rock climbing; you don’t get to clip yourself onto the cable.

Climbing up involved a lot of upper body strength as we had to pull ourselves up the cables. Thanks to our Sunday School class in Wichita, we had gardening gloves that served as our lifesavers to grip the cables. (Yes, going into it, we knew about the cables.) About a 1/3 of the way up, Marissa lost her footing for a split second, and she began to question our sanity. The same cables were used for people to climb up the dome as well as descend it. So, at that point, it was almost easier to keep ascending rather than quit and turn around. However, she was basically hyperventilating the rest of the way up due to the steepness and risk of life involved. Jeremy reassured her, and we kept going up…one foot in front of the other. Finally, after a few heart stopping moments, we reached the top! The view from the peak was breathtaking.

After 30 minutes of resting and soaking in the scenery, it was time to descend. To our amazement, the descent was easier. We basically had to just get a good grip on the cable and hold on tight as we walked down (or slide down as Jeremy did a few times). After 10.5 hours, we were back at the car and ready for a shower and some good eats.

Tuesday we drove across the park on Tioga Road to Tuolumne Meadows, and then back to Yosemite Valley. We checked out the Ansel Adams gallery and the Ahwahnee Hotel. After that we drove to the southern part of the park to Wawona Hotel, where we had reservations for the night. We also drove about 6 miles further south to the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. These trees aren’t as tall as the Redwoods, but they definitely have wider trunks.

Wednesday morning we partook of the Wawona Hotel’s “complimentary” breakfast buffet. It was a nice surprise that we didn’t expect. Then we headed south to King’s Canyon National Park. Our first attraction in the park was Grant’s Grove which is where General Grant, one of the world’s widest trees resides. Next, we headed south to the adjoining Sequoia National Park. There we made our way to the Lodgepole Campground to set up our tent. Then we took the shuttle down to the General Sherman tree, the world’s largest tree by volume (interesting to note that it is neither the tallest nor the widest, however).

Thursday morning we saw a black bear waddle across the road on our way to Moro Rock. It was one of our highlights of the trip so far. It didn’t seem at all affected by our car’s presence. We then climbed up some 400+ stairs to the top of the scenic Moro Rock. Afterwards, we departed for Death Valley National Park.

It was a long drive, but it was surprisingly beautiful. The drive was very mountainous, but even the desert area was gorgeous. We saw some orchards that we in the midst of desert. The highest temperature on our car’s thermometer was 117 degrees and that was around 5 pm. We stayed at a hotel which actually had a TV (that’s unheard of at national parks).

Friday morning, we woke up and drove to Badwater Basin, which is the lowest point in the western hemisphere. It was an ancient lake. It’s now a dry salt bed. By 9 AM that morning, the temperature was already 101 degrees.

We headed out of Death Valley and into Las Vegas. Despite the shady dealings going on along the Strip, there was actually beauty to be found with the casino buildings and lights. Our motel had lions in the lobby that you could watch for free. We also went to the Venetian and saw the canals and gondolas. That night, we went to one of six Cirque du Soleil shows going on in Las Vegas. This was an awesome show full of acrobatic stunts, choreography, and special effects. After the show, which was about 8:30 PM, we headed over to Mandalay Bay to eat at their buffet. (We figured we had to try one since Vegas is known for its buffets.) We journeyed up the Strip to the Bellagio, and we watched the FREE water/light show that is often depicted in movies. It was late to bed that night, even though Jeremy’s parents were to arrive the following morning.

After meeting Jeremy’s parents at a McDonald’s near the Strip, we headed for the Hoover Dam. We had a dam tour, which included the dam power plant. The dam guide was very informative. Then, it was on to Zion National Park. We didn’t do much that evening as everyone was very tired. So, we just stayed at a motel at the entrance to Zion. We did have some Bumbleberry pie for dessert, which was pretty tasty.

We woke up early on Sunday, and headed into Zion to catch the free shuttle up the canyon. We all donned our water shoes and walked a ways up the Virgin River into a part of the park called The Narrows. It is only accessible via hiking through the river. This was extremely fun, but the water was only in the 60s. The rocks were very slippery and hard to see through the water. The water only came up to the mid-thigh region before we turned around. (We did see people further up stream with water up to their stomachs.)

After The Narrows, we drove a few hours south to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We went to the afternoon ranger talk about California condors. The condors were practically extinct in 1985 with only 9 birds left in the wild. These birds were eventually all captured, and they were bred in captivity. There are now approximately 385 condors in the wild. (We saw 2-3 condors in Zion National Park.) Around dusk that evening, another ranger brought out a high-power telescope and showed people the moon and Jupiter. Afterwards, there was another ranger talk about various deaths in the canyon. As morbid as this sounds, it was a very interesting talk.

We went on a short hike on Monday morning along the rim of the canyon. Following this, Jeremy’s parents went back to Las Vegas, while we went up to Bryce Canyon. We plan on exploring some of Utah’s canyonlands the next few days. Both of us were commenting that at the beginning of the trip, we weren’t expecting much from Utah due to the desert conditions. However, it has been one of the most beautiful aspects of our trip.

(We'll post pictures at a later date as we are receiving very slow Wi-Fi service at the moment.)

Days 25-31: Oregon Coast, Redwoods Forest, Point Reyes National Seashore, San Francisco, CA, and Sacramento, CA

Sunday morning, we woke up and began our trip down the Oregon Coast on the infamous Highway 101. We stopped at Depoe Bay and saw gray whales. We camped out that night at Beachside State Park, which was within spitting distance of the ocean. We heard the ocean waves all night long, but at the time, we thought it was wind in the trees because it was so intermittent.

We were awakened Monday night to very cold temperatures. We only had our fleece sleeping bags with us in the tent. Luckily, we also had a huge flannel sleeping bag as our mattress pad. So, we both zipped ourselves into the 1-person flannel sleeping bag for warmth. It was close quarters indeed. I don't think either of us moved the entire night, and therefore didn't get much sleep.

On Monday, we continued our journey down the Oregon coast and into California. We set up camp at Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park near Crescent City, CA. We had seen some big trees along our trip, but the redwoods put all of those to shame. After setting up camp, we ventured into Crescent City to explore. There was a lighthouse, which was only accessible during low-tide. Luckily, we were there at the right time. On the walk to the lighthouse, we were able to see many starfish clinging to the exposed rocks due to the low tide. That night, we went to a Ranger talk about bears. This didn't help Marissa fall asleep that night.

We went on a small hike on the Boy Scout Tree Trail. Along the way, we finally saw banana slugs! These things were huge! We had been wanting to see these since we had first heard about them in Olympic National Park in Washington. It was a very exciting moment for us when we were actually able to see many of them slithering across the trail. The picture below shows the tip of a shoe compared to the size of the slug.

After the excitement of seeing the slugs, we ventured to our next stop of the night at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. (We should mention that in California, the Redwoods are managed by both the National government, as well as the state of California.) We just hunkered down for the evening and read some books.

Wednesday was a long day for us. We drove from Prairie Creek to Point Reyes National Seashore. Normally it's about a 4.5 hour drive. Somehow, we made it in 6-7 hours. We did stop a few times for attractions along the side of the road. One such attraction was the One-Log House. That's right...a house made out of the trunk of one Redwood.

Once we finally arrived at Point Reyes, we picked up our back country camping permit from the Ranger station. The ranger warned us as we were heading out to watch out for the raccoons and skunks that were being pests at our particular campground. We hiked to our campsite, which was a few hundred feet from the ocean. We had our gourmet meal of Ramen noodles, then once again, bedded down for the evening as it was really foggy and dreary out. In the middle of the night, Jeremy woke up to a strange sound. He thought it was a critter nibbling at our shoes, which were just outside our tent in the tent's vestibule. Mountain lions were known to be in the area as well, so neither of us wanted to move or turn on a light to find out what was making the noise. Finally, Jeremy got up and realized it was the camping permit flapping on our tent. Marissa was able to fall back asleep, but Jeremy was up half the night hearing seals barking on the beach, elk walking down a path next to our campsite, critters squeaking close to us, etc.

We hiked back to our car the next morning. We went on a very short walk on Earthquake trail, which runs alongside the San Andreas fault. There's a fence along the trail that was in existence during the 1906 earthquake and part of the fence was moved 20 feet away. We set out for San Francisco shortly after that. One of the first things we saw was the Golden Gate Bridge. We got off at the exit right before the bridge and parked our car. (A lady that we sat next to in Jackson at the chuck wagon told us that this was a great spot for taking pictures of the bridge.) We walked part way across the bridge. Along the way were signs and phones for crisis management for people contemplating suicide. Then, we drove around Marin Headwaters National Site and saw some cold war bunkers and missile defense systems. After this, we headed to our hotel via the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge. As we were getting on the Bay Bridge, Jeremy had a revelation that this was the same bridge that collapsed during the 1988 earthquake. We happened to be driving on the lower deck of the bridge for the entire 7-8 miles of the bridge span. Needless to say, Marissa did not appreciate the timing of Jeremy's comment. Oops!

Friday was a busy day for us as we rode the subway into San Francisco. We were pleasantly surprised at the first stop of the day...The Ferry Building. We had only heard about it because we were going to be eating some raw oysters at a little cafe there. The building itself was quite something. They also had many local vendors selling various products such as breads, caviar, cheese, and of course, seafood. We had never had raw oysters before, and we actually really enjoyed them. Oh yeah, and we shouldn't forget to mention that we walked by the coolest toilets. They are on the sidewalk, kind of like port-a-potties. Except, you have to push a button for the door to open. Once you use the restroom and leave it, the door closes and cleans the floor for 55 seconds.

We then walked to Union Square and bought tickets for the trolley. We had to wait in line for 30-45 minutes just to get on the trolley. Even though it was a long wait, the street performers were very entertaining. We hopped off the trolley at Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world. (In actuality, there's an even more crooked street in San Francisco, but it was less scenic.) From there, we walked down to Ghiradelli Square and Fisherman's Wharf. Jeremy thinks that we had the best cupcakes in the world at a cupcake bakery at Ghiradelli Square. We shared a S'More and a double chocolate cupcake. Yum, yum, oh so good! We also went to another National Park-sponsored site that had several historic ferry boats. After a long day in San Francisco, we hopped back on the subway and went back to the 'burbs for the evening.

On Saturday, we stopped at the Jelly Belly factory on our way to Sacramento. It was a free tour, and they gave free samples. You can't beat that price! It was a pretty neat tour, but it would've been better if they would've been in production. (Jelly Belly gives its' employees the weekend off.) We also stopped at In-N-Out for lunch as we had never been to one, and it's supposedly a fast food icon in southern California. It was pretty tasty. We made our way to Sacramento, and Jeremy was excited to be able to see the start (or the end) of US Highway 50. (This is the highway that runs across the nation, including Kansas. It's known as the loneliest road in America.) We drove down to the state capital building and also to the California State Fair. Compared to Kansas' State Fair, California's fair has a lot more food vendors and midway rides. We didn't really see any 4-H projects or a butter sculpture, and they definitely didn't have The Old Mill ride. They did, however, have 3 rides from Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch to ride on.

Days 16-24: Seattle, WA, Orcas Island, WA, Olympic National Park, Mt. Rainier National Park, and Portland, OR

We arrived in Seattle, WA on Friday, where we checked into our downtown hotel. Once checked in, we went exploring. We walked through Pike Place Market, where the sellers throw fish to the buyers. We also scoped out where the very first Starbucks was located because Marissa’s parents were going to be joining us the following day, and needless to say, they are big fans of the company. That night, we ate on a pier at The Crab Pot, which has been featured on “Man vs. Food.” We ate a crab boil where we had to break open the crab with wooden mallets. It was very tasty, but a lot of work just to eat.

Saturday morning, we woke up and walked to Top Pot donuts, which is a Seattle tradition. After donuts, we had a few hours to kill before we went to pick up Marissa’s parents from the airport. Therefore, we went to Point Defiance Zoo. Lucky for us, we already had a membership to our local zoo, and we were able to get into this zoo for free. We like free! It was a pretty neat zoo.

We picked up Marissa’s parents Saturday evening from the airport and went directly to the Space Needle. We ate in the restaurant on top of the needle. It had an awesome 360 degree view of the city and surrounding area, and it had excellent food. The restaurant rotates in a complete circle every 44 minutes. We highly recommend this to anyone who’s going to be in the area.

On Sunday morning, we went back to Pike Place Market and walked around. We then went to the Starbucks where several pictures were taken. After this outing, we loaded up Captain and headed for the ferry to Orcas Island.

Orcas Island is located in the San Juan Island chain in the Puget Sound. It is about an hour by ferry from the main land to the island. The island itself is very laidback. There are about 4500 people who live scattered throughout the island with only 5 cops. We stayed at the Turtleback Farm Inn, which is featured in numerous publications, including “1,000 Places to See Before You Die.” It is a B&B, and their breakfast has been featured in Gourmet magazine. It was a great experience.

Monday was bitter sweet for us because we had planned to go sea kayaking amongst the orcas, aka killer whales. However, the whales were too far from the island to kayak near. Plus, it was rainy and overcast all day. (Unfortunately for us, this would be the theme for the week that Marissa’s parents were with us.) So, we abandoned the kayaking idea, and instead went on a 4-hour whale-watching cruise. We saw numerous whales skimming the surface of the water. Unfortunately, none of them “leaped” out of the water like those seen in pictures. It was a unique and exciting tour.

We got up extremely early on Tuesday in order to ride the first ferry departing the island at 7:20 am. We were told to arrive at the ferry dock by 6 am. Unfortunately, that meant we had to miss the great breakfast at the B&B. Tuesday included two ferry rides and quite a bit of driving. We drove to Olympic National Park and got a chance to see one of the rainforests located there. The rainforest is the only rainforest in the western hemisphere which is protected by a government.

Wednesday morning we went for a short hike through the rainforest before departing to Mt. Rainier. The forest lived up to its name, as it rained on us the whole time we were there. We were disappointed by all of the logging which started immediately after the boundary of the national park and forest. I guess that only reinforces the importance of protecting national parks and forests. Our route to Mt. Rainier went through Olympia, the capitol of Washington. There was dense fog most of the way to Mt. Rainier where we stayed at a park inn near the mountain. Due to the fog, we never got a glimpse of the mountain. In fact, we have not seen the mountain yet (you can see it even from Seattle on clear days).

Thursday we traveled south to Mount St. Helen’s. We drove to the east side of the volcano where we viewed the damage from the 1980 explosion. There has been quite a bit of re-growth, but you can definitely tell the extent of the damage. Marissa’s mom was a very good sport on the ride up the mountain due to the fact that she is not so keen on heights. She was very thankful when we pulled into Portland later that day. We ate at a Lebanese restaurant which surprisingly, everyone seemed to enjoy.

Friday we checked out Voodoo Doughnut’s downtown location which was only a block from our hotel. It has a very eclectic mix of doughnuts, including body part doughnuts and maple and bacon doughnuts to name a few. Then we went to Portland’s Japanese Garden. Supposedly, it is one of the best in the US. We took Marissa’s parents to the airport around noon. Then we set off to see the Columbia River Gorge and Multnomah Falls. It is the second highest year-round waterfall in the US. We hiked up to the top of the falls which was a pretty steep hike. It was worth the effort to see the view at the top. Next up was the Oregon Zoo in Portland. Their exhibit featuring animals of the Northwest was impressive. The bald eagles were only caged in the exhibit by the doors that the patrons entered into. There wasn’t any barbed wire between them and us which was pretty cool. Also, the zoo had a 40th anniversary for Woodstock concert. We think that group/singer was Topaz?? The line for the concert was full of 60-something-year olds and had hundreds-to-thousands of eager ex-hippies waiting to relive Woodstock. Friday night was laundry night.

Saturday morning, we once again headed over to Voodoo Doughnut for breakfast. This time, Marissa got a Voodoo doll donut (person-shaped donut with red raspberry filling) and a chocolate glazed donut with peanut butter and Oreos. Jeremy got a Cap’n Crunch topped donut and an M&M topped donut. Yum-O!

After a delectable breakfast, we headed to Oregon City, OR, the oldest incorporated town west of the Rockies. It is home of the only municipal elevator in the US. It is also the end of the Oregon Trail. We ventured to the Oregon Trail Center, but were rather disappointed as it didn’t match up to the previous trail centers we had been to previously. We then headed to a National Park-sponsored historical house. The house was the home of Dr. McLoughlin, who was the city founder. It was a pretty good tour of the house, especially because it was free!

Once we completed the tour, we met up with one of Jeremy’s old college roommates, Brent, and his girlfriend, Rebecca. We had a tasty supper and chat, then we headed down the road toward the coast. However, as we were driving, we started calling hotels along the way, and they were all sold out. Therefore, we diverted to Salem, OR, the capital city, where we are once again doing laundry because we found out that some of our sleeping bags were damp from being stored in coolers which were on the back of our car.

Tomorrow, we head back to the Oregon coast, and we plan to camp on the beach.

Day 15: Leavenworth, WA

Guten tag! (That's "hello" in German for those of you who need a translation.)

On Thursday, we made our way from Spokane, WA to Leavenworth, WA. Along the way, the scenery changed from hills to farmland to semi-arid volcanic foothills to fruit orchards to mountainous. We stopped in Cashmere, WA at a small candy factory. The name of the place was Aplets and Cotlets. They make Armenian gel-like candies with apples plus walnuts (aplets) or apricots plus walnuts (cotlets). They also make many more flavors of these candies in addition to some chocolate candies. The interesting thing the tour guide mentioned during our tour was that the CEO chooses to have people hand-make all the candies and hand-package all the candies to help keep jobs in the area, instead of transforming these jobs into a robotic process.

After the brief stop in Cashmere, we headed for Leavenworth, WA, which is mentioned in the book "1,000 Places to See Before You Die." The town is Bavarian themed. The downtown area is decked out with Bavarian buildings and murals. They have many German restaurants and shops. It may seem like this is a cheesy concept, but the town pulls it off very well. We highly recommend anyone who wants to go to Germany, but is afraid of the language barrier, to go here instead.

This weekend, we're in The Emerald City...Seattle, WA.

Days 13-14: Coeur d'Alene, ID and Spokane, WA

Tuesday we stopped along the road at Hungry Horse Dam, the largest dam in Montana and the 11th largest in the USA. Our next stop was near Libby, Montana to see a swinging bridge (see picture below) and Kootenai Falls. After a quick roadside meal of Ramen noodles, we continued to Idaho. We arrived at Farragut State Park and set up our campsite. We drove to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho which was about 20 miles away for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. We trying to find some good ole Idaho potato dishes, but no one seemed to be advertising that.

We were awake around 6am Pacific time on Wednesday and tried to remain in our tent until 7am when camp quiet hours were over. Once we broke camp, we headed back East to the MT/ID border to ride bikes along the Hiawatha Rails-to-Trials path. After an hour's drive there, we were told that the trial started 7 miles East of the bike rental shop and that we had to transport our bikes to the trailhead. Well, our car is extremely full of camping gear and such for the trip, so we don't have room for bikes. We were disappointed because there is no way to ride your bike along the interstate for 7 miles to the trailhead. Once again, we were headed back West.

We arrived in Spokane around noon. Tonight we're staying at a hotel to do laundry. We at a local fast food restaurant called Zip's. It was a hamburger and fish sandwich place. We also checked out the downtown area. It was a nice area, but there were quite a few homeless people. Tonight we're just doing laundry and getting ready to head for Leavenworth, WA tomorrow.

Days 10-12: Glacier National Park

On Saturday, we planned to stop by a Grizzly Festival. However, as we drove through the little town of Dupuyer, we realized this was pretty much a locals-only type of event. So, we kept on the road. We arrived at Many Glacier Lodge early in the afternoon. It was a Swedish lodge which was breathtaking. We didn't do too much that day because Jeremy was feeling a little sick. We hung around the Lodge and read. That evening we tried huckleberry icecream. It was delicious! We also attended a ranger talk about the birds of Glacier Natl Park.

Sunday morning we attended a church service hosted by Lodge employees. After the service, we hiked 12 miles roundtrip to one of the few remaining glaciers, Grinell Glacier (see picture below). The hike was beautiful; on the ascent, we saw a moose wading in a pond far below us. We saw bighorn sheep near the glacier itself. The park doesn't expect any of the glaciers to exist after 2030. Next year the park will celebrate its centennial anniversary as a park. After our hike we drove to Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier. It was also a very nice stay. We tried huckleberry pie that evening. It is sort of a mix between blueberry and cherry. Delicious...

Monday we left the hotel and set out for the Road-to-the Sun; it is a very scenic drive through the Park. On our way to hook up with the scenic road, we saw a few wild horses slowly making there way down the middle of the highway (see picture below). Once we got the scenic road, we stopped and did a short hike near the Continental Divide. On that hike, we saw mountain goats (see picture below) as well as more bighorn sheep. We drove to Lake McDonald Lodge. We rented a rowboat for an hour and set out on Lake McDonald. This was one activity that Marissa was very much looking forward to. We drove over to Apgar Village in search of a particular souvenir shirt that Jeremy had passed by a couple days prior. Thank goodness they had what he was looking for. That evening the Lodge's ranger talk was about artists that have been at GNP as well as their art.

Next up Coeur d'Alene, ID and Spokane, WA.

Day 9: Great Falls, MT

Today started out wet and cool. We drove from Bozeman, MT to Great Falls, MT via Helena. Along the way, we stopped at the state capital building. Closer to Great Falls, we partook of many Lewis and Clark stopping points. The first one was Tower Rock, which was the marker between the plains and the start of the Rocky Mountains. Next, we stopped at First People’s Buffalo Jump. This is the longest buffalo jumps that the Indians used to kill buffalo off the side of a cliff. The jump itself was over a mile long and up to 65 feet high. In Great Falls, we stopped at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Trail Center. It was very similar to the trail center in Casper, WY, but it covered the Lewis and Clark expedition only.


From the trail center, we walked along the Missouri River path to the shortest river in the world, the Roe River. The river measures 201 feet in length. It just so happens to flow into the longest river in the US, the Missouri River, which spans 2,540 miles. This is actually 200 miles longer than the Mississippi River. The Roe River was certified the shortest river in the world by the Guinness Book this year. It starts from Giant Springs, which is one of the largest freshwater springs in the world. Below is a picture of the springs with the 1st half of the Roe River flowing from it.

Other than laundry, that’s our day in a nutshell. Tomorrow we’re off to the Grizzly Festival in Dupuyer, MT and Glacier National Park. Therefore, the next post may be delayed a few days because we’ve come to find out that most National Parks lack modern conveniences, which is the whole point of going there in the first place.

Days 7 and 8: Yellowstone National Park

On Wednesday morning, we woke up bright and early to try and beat the crowds to Yellowstone. However, we were hindered by road construction, so we arrived later than expected.

Our first impression of the area made us feel as if we were in pre-historic times, and a dinosaur was about to come around the corner. Our first stop was at Old Faithful. We ate breakfast at the Old Faithful Inn. We also watched Old Faithful erupt. After the eruption, we drove the lower loop of Yellowstone. Our favorite section was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone which had breathtaking views, similar to its cousin in Arizona.



One of our last stops of the day was at the Mud Volcano. As with all the other attractions in Yellowstone, there was a huge crowd. Luckily, we found a parking spot and started walking on the sidewalk which looped through the mud volcanoes. The walk was about 3/4 mile long on a heavily-traveled, paved path. As we were walking along, we noticed bison footprints and excrement close to the path and around the volcanoes. As we were coming to the last leg of the loop, we saw a girl running down the path with her camera. We were headed that way anyway, so we continued walking down the path to where the girl had ran. As we rounded a hill, we were greeted by the sight of 4 bison approaching us from below. If we could've turned around without them noticing us, we would've. However, it was too late. We decided to slowly walk another 15 feet to where a group of 4 guys were standing on the path. At this point, the bison were about 20 feet away from us. We also realized that the animals' path was only about 5-10 feet from our paved route. We had just watched a movie at the Visitor Center about an attack by a bison on a little girl. It was amazing how fast the bison ran and how far it flung the girl. This was going through our heads the whole time. We stood as still as possible and avoided eye contact. (Of course, Jeremy had to take the camera from Marissa and start taking pictures as the bison passed.) The pictures below show the bison coming up from near the road, and one of the bison as it passed us. These pictures are NOT zoomed in! After a few tense moments, the bison finally passed, and the 6 of us made our way to safety. One of the guys we were walking with told us that someone had been killed 2 weeks ago when a bison gored him. It happens to be mating season, and they are especially hostile right now. At the end of the paved loop, we saw a warning sign mentioning the bison and their propensity to gore people at 30 mph! We wish they would've had a sign at the beginning of the loop.






After getting our heart rates up, we decided to check into the Lake Lodge Cabins. This was on Yellowstone Lake. (Today's nature lesson: Yellowstone Lake is the largest high altitude lake in the US.)



Today, we spent about 10 hours on the road. Most of this was scenic driving. Our first stop was Mammoth Hot Springs. On the way there, we saw a black bear foraging in the woods. We tried to get a good picture, but there were too many trees in the way, and we weren't about to get out of the car after yesterday's event with the bison. Also along the way, we saw a wolf walking along a creek bed. Below is a picture of him (or her).





After Mammoth Hot Springs, we headed out of Yellowstone through the northeast entrance near Cooke City, MT. We decided to make a pit stop here because there would be no towns for about 3 hours afterward. The only restroom options available were port-a-potties (PP). We stopped at a gas station, and Marissa asked to use their restroom. They gave her a key to the locked PP. She went in, lifted the lid, and quickly came out gagging. It was completely full of excrement and the visual was not pretty. So, we walked across the street to some other PP's. This time Jeremy went in first. Jeremy had no problem using the urinal. He said, "It isn't bad in there." So, trusting him, Marissa went in and lifted this lid, and quickly came out not only because it was full but also there wasn't any TP. She went to the other 2 PP's. Same story.. gagging each time. Someone needs to actually empty those things occasionally! Normally, they aren't so bad.

After Cooke City, we drove the Beartooth Scenic Highway. This was a very pretty drive. There were a few waterfalls, lots of switchbacks, and gorgeous views of mountains in the distance. There was also a Forest Service Fire Tower that we walked up in order to get a better view of the area.



Coming off of Beartooth Highway, we made our way to I-90 in Montana. We drove through Livingston, MT, which was where the movie "A River Runs Through It" was filmed. Tonight, we're staying in Bozeman, MT. They happen to be having "Music on Main" festival, so we partook of that after supper.



Next up: Great Falls, MT (and laundry day!)

Days 4-6: Jackson, WY and Grand Teton National Park

Sunday morning we woke up early and headed to Grand Teton National Park to claim a campsite at the very popular Jenny Lake Campground. The campground usually fills before 9AM on most summer days. We arrived around 7:30 and waited in line for the ranger station to open at 8AM. The ranger told us we were in the wrong spot to reserve a tent camping site and that at that point, we may be out of luck on getting a campsite. We bee-lined to the campground and were lucky enough to find a site.

We then went back to Jackson, WY and ate lunch at The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. It was a historical building and seemed popular, but we don’t know the story on it. That afternoon we set up our tent and explored the Jenny Lake area. We were just going to walk down to the lake to take a peek at the scenery but ended up walking 7 miles around the lake. After working up an appetite, we splurged on some pizza. On the way to pizza, we saw a moose and its calf. That was pretty exciting!

We were planning on doing a 20 mile hike on Monday and Tuesday in the backcountry. The ranger told us that there was still snow on our route. We tried to fit all of our warm gear in our backpacks, but we couldn’t, so we abandoned that idea. Instead, we back to Jackson, WY for a little while. We also got to take showers which are now a luxury. It was very rainy and cold so we spent most of the day in our tent listening to rain and hail. It was very relaxing. During a break in the storm, we boiled water and ate some Ramen noodles for dinner.

On Tuesday, we woke up early and broke camp. Then we rode a ferry boat across Jenny Lake to the trailhead. We hiked 9 miles in the mountains past several waterfalls. We are so thankful that we went early in the day before the crowds came out. We stayed in Colter Bay Cabins and took a scenic boat cruise on Lake Jackson in the Park. We saw bald eagles on our voyage, which was very exciting.

We’re off to Yellowstone next!

Lesson for today: Do you know what is the number one reason for bald eagle deaths? Drowning. (Look it up if you want to know more. Hint: It has to do with their talons.)

Day 3: Casper, WY to Jackson Hole, WY (Mormon-Style)

Before we begin, we would like to thank today's sponsor, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (or LDS for those of you in the know)...

Last night's accommodations at the KOA were much less eventful. We were asleep before sundown and arose at dawn.

We had two route options for our trek to Jackson Hole. We decided on the more historical of the two. We followed the historical trails from yesterday's blog. Our first stop was at Independence Rock which was the most important monument along the trials. It was where settlers carved their names into a large rock as a registry. If the settlers made it to the rock by July 4, they were nearly guaranteed to make it to their destination before winter's storms struck.

Our next stop was definitely the most interesting part of the day. That occurred at the Martin's Cove and Devil's Gate. This stop also happened to be run by the LDS church. We were greeted by one of the Elders and his wife whom was referred to as "sister". We were looking forward to a five mile hike to Martin's Cove, however, the polite man wanted to describe everything in great detail about the Mormon Trail. Eventually, he allowed us passage and a handcart to pull along on the hike. About 1/4 mile down the trail, there was a little hut with LDS missionaries. They also had many stories to tell us and were very nice. We finally were able to proceed again with our cart. We made it about another 1.5 miles before another hut with missionaries. This time, however, there was a huge group of kids who were in the area, so we were able to bypass without stopping. We proceeded up the hill for another mile or so before we saw this lady peek around some bushes at us. It was a little creepy. We walked around the bushes and found another hut. This time they wanted us to sit down and chat. We politely told them that we had a long day's drive ahead and that were used to physical activity, so we really didn't need a break. We knew that if we sat in their chairs we would be there all day. While Elder Johnansen and Sister Johansen were telling us about the Mormon's arriving in Zion and spreading the word throughout Utah, Marissa heard their walkie-talkie broadcast about how many hikers were headed in a particular direction on the path. It was a little disturbing to know that our every move was being watched. We went back and our handcart and booked it down to starting point and politely bypassed the remaining Elders and Sisters. Our five-mile hike at a very minimal incline ended up taking about three hours due to all of the unplanned stops along the way.

By that we were hungry and thirsty, so it was time to think about lunch. If people think Kansas is desolate, try out eastern Wyoming. We were to the point where lunch at a gas station sounded gourmet, but there were no gas stations for at least 100 miles.

We passed the Grand Tetons on our way to Jackson, WY and are very excited to explore them in the coming days. We splurged on tonight's accommodations and are actually staying at a motel, The Jackson Hole Lodge. We also worked up an appetite with all of the cart-pulling and worries about fighting off religious conversion. We went to the Bar-J Chuckwagon Supper this evening. The food and entertainment were both exceptional.

We better let you go for now. Tomorrow morning we will rise early once again. We will head to Grand Teton National Park to try to get one of the few campsites around Jenny Lake. It's first-come-first-serve. Goodnight, y'all.

Days 1 and 2: The Adventure Begins (Cheyenne and Casper, WY)

We started our adventure on July 22nd as we pulled out of town mid-afternoon. We drove to Jeremy's parents' cabin in south-central Colorado and spent the night there. On the way there, we were greeted by this scene as we were pulling into the cabin.

We woke up on the 23rd and drove to Cheyenne, WY. We explored the town, but we were mostly there to check out Cheyenne Frontier Days. This year was the 113th year for event, and last night the festivities included Taylor Swift and Kellie Pickler in concert. We enjoyed the concert with 20,000+ others. Even Jeremy, who is not a Country music fan, liked the concert.

Prior to the concert, we decided to check into our "campground." We pulled up to a ranch in the country in which the owners rented out slots under dwarf pine trees. These were the shaded tent sites. Needless to say, most of the people staying there went to the concert, and they all came back very late, very loud, and mostly drunk. Unfortunately, we did not get much sleep. (BTW: Did you know that roosters not only crow when the sun rises, but they also crow throughout the night? We learned this first-hand last night as the people noise quieted, and the animal noise increased.)

This morning, we woke up at first sunlight and packed our tent up. We ate breakfast at Little America Truck Stop and Resort. (We had seen this a few weeks prior on The Travel Channel.) After breakfast, we took off for Casper, WY. On the way, we passed through the metropolis of Buford, WY, the smallest town in the US with a population of 1.

We drove through Laramie, WY before heading north to Casper. The road between the two towns was very desolate. We saw several pronghorn antelope before later hearing that there are actually more antelope in Wyoming than there are humans.

We went to the National Heritage Trail Museum in Casper. The Oregon, California, Mormon, and Pony Express Trails all intersected in the Casper area.

Tonight (the 24th) we are staying at a KOA near Casper. We are hoping for a good night's sleep to make up for last night. We're off to Jackson Hole, WY tomorrow.

Prologue: Adventure Before THE Adventure

Welcome to our blog! We have started this blog to keep all of our friends and family up-to-date on our life's happenings. We hope you enjoy reading about our adventures.

I (Jeremy) am writing this sitting at a desk in a motel in Wichita. The past two weeks have been a crazy smorgasbord of stress, anxiety, and excitement. After finishing residency at the end of June, we started focusing on our transition to our next stage in life. We moved out of our apartment on July 4th. However, because today (July 16) is Marissa's last day of work, we have been sleeping on an air mattress in an empty apartment.

Prior to moving out of our apartment, we decided to take most of our breakable items to our new house. Therefore, on the Monday before our big move, we loaded Tinkerbell, our Ford Explorer, and Marissa headed west. When Marissa was about 30-45 minutes west of Wichita, Tink's check engine light came on, and the car started shaking violently. Luckily, she was within 6 miles of Cheney, KS, where there happened to be a Ford dealership. So, she drove Tink at a slow pace to the dealership to find out what was going on. After a diagnostic test was done, Tink was officially pronounced dead. Not only did we have our move to worry about, but we now had to worry about finding a replacement vehicle as Tink was going to be our ride for our big adventure to the western US.

We returned to our empty apartment after we moved over the 4th of July weekend. Marissa had to work on Monday, so I began the process of calling around for the best deal on a new vehicle. We had an idea in mind as to what we wanted. I made calls to most Honda dealers in Kansas and in northern Oklahoma. Surprisingly, the best deal we found was in Bartlesville, OK. So, on Tuesday, we made a road trip to Bartlesville to buy a Honda Pilot. Because he is a Pilot, we affectionately named him Captain. (Our cars started having names about 3 years ago when the first "Transformers" movie came out. It's only appropriate to give a proper name to something that keeps you protected, right?) Whew! All of our troubles were solved. Or were they just beginning?

The next night, we decided to test out the new speakers of Cap by going to the drive-in movie. This would be the evening of July 8. As most Wichitians know, this was the night of the huge, surprise hail storm that blew through the city. The drive-in manager reported that a severe storm was heading our way, so we jetted out of the parking lot, hoping to beat the storm. We did not. We made it to I-135 and Pawnee before the big hail started. We pulled into a residential neighborhood that had lots of large trees, hoping they would help block some of the hail. Here's the radar signature from that storm:
The whites and purples in the image are the largest hail. This measured baseball to softball size. Luckily, we were "only" in the red area. Therefore, our hail was only about golf ball to tennis ball size. Needless to say, our new vehicle now looks like a golf ball on wheels. I guess it could be worse. None of our windows were broken, and we were safe.

Our pre-adventure doesn't stop there. We decided to take Cap our for a spin since he had been garaged for a few days after the storm. As we were were driving down the main road in Andover, a police man came up behind us and turned on its emergency lights. I quickly pulled Cap over, wondering what was going on. Surely one of the tail lights wasn't busted from the storm. I definitely wasn't speeding. The cop came up to the window and proceeded to tell me that our temporary license plate had expired. "What!?" I exclaimed. I told him we bought it 3 days ago in Bartlesville. He looked at the tag again, and he apologized for pulling me over. Apparently, in Oklahoma, they print the day that the vehicle is purchased on their temporary tags. In Kansas, they write down the day the tags expire.

And that leads us to now. On top of all these stressful and exciting events, we have experienced many Wichita "lasts." We said good-bye to our Sunday School class and our church on Sunday, we ate at our favorite Mexican food restaurant in Wichita for the last time, I ran my 3-mile route and my 4-mile routes for the last time, and I saw one last movie at the Warren before heading west for good. Needless to say, we will come back for the occasional weekend, but it won't be the same as living here for the past three years.

The next week looks to be busy as we prepare for our 6-week road trip to the American West. We hope you continue to follow us as we begin our journey and have the experience of a lifetime.