Brink of the falls

Nancy and Bruce

In front of the lower falls

Lower Falls

Lower Falls again

Hiking Elephant Back

View from the top of Elephant Back

At breakfast this morning we invited our friend, Bruce, to go hiking with us. We went to the Lower Falls. We walked to the “brink” of the falls, hiked Uncle Tom’s Trail (320 steps plus) and walked down to artists point. In the afternoon we hiked Elephant Back. That was five miles round trip. We got back to Mammoth just in time to have dinner and do our laundry.

On our way to Wraith Falls

River by the Natural Bridge

The first snowmobile, used by a mailman. McLeod

On the dirt road going to Livingston

After breakfast this morning we hiked Wraith Falls. We went to Gardiner and I had perm. Nancy had her hair cut and colored. We were both very pleased with the outcome. We left there and drove to Livingston. We were going to have lunch but it was 2:30 and every place we went to was closed. We finally settled on a Chinese Restaurant. We were the only ones in there but at least we got something to eat.
We drove to Big Timber and on to a National Park on the other side. We hiked the Natural Bridge, then tried to find Big Beaver. We drove on a dirt road for about 30 minutes and never found it. We drove back to what we thought was a town but it turned out to be a fishing camp with one house. I knocked on the door of the only house in McLeod to ask directions for the back/dirt road back to Livingston. He man gave directions, I guess he was Mr. McLeod, and said he and his wife had lived there since 1959. On the dirt road to Livingston we saw multi million dollar homes. To get groceries they probably have to drive an hour.
We stopped for dinner in Livingston at some little Toco stand. Before going back to Mammoth we had the car washed and got more gas. We got back to the dorm at 10:00

After dinner Nancy and I rode out to the Lamar Valley. We saw a black bear (cub) on the way out. It was down the hill a little way. People at the top of the hill were all taking pictures. All of a sudden we saw everyone running - the bear had started up the hill towards them. When we got out to the valley we saw lots of buffalo and then we went out to where there had been a kill a few nights ago. There was a grizzly chewing on it and a wolf circling around trying to get his share. On our way back we were stopped by a herd of buffalo. They kept crossing the road in front of us. Three of the cars ahead of me got through but then I was stuck. I tooted my horn and flashed my lights to no avail. They probably hung us up for at least 20-30 minutes.
By the time we were driving back to Mammoth it was dark. We had to be really careful that an animal didn’t jump out in front of us. We actually came upon a fawn on the side of the road. When she saw our lights she walked right out into the road. We were hung up there for awhile until she figured out that she should go up into the hills.

Children's parade - Cody

Children's parade

At the Cody Museum

Buffalo Bill Dam

Guess who?

The beginning of the "Stampede"

A bareback rider

The Buffalo Bill statue

The dumbest show in the world

Going over the Chief Joseph Highway

In front of the Irma Hotel where we saw the dumbest show in the world.


Part of the Old Town of Cody - that we didn't pay to see!

Old Town of Cody

7-1 (Thurs) On our way to breakfast it was hailing and I do mean huge balls of hail. We left for Cody at 8:30 this morning by that time the sun was beginning to come out. We went through Cook City and up over the Chief Joseph Highway. It was a breathtaking drive. We stopped up on a mountain and ate our bag lunch that the EDR fixed for us. The first thing we did after arriving was go to the Visitor’s Center. We found our hotel and checked in. It was a very clean and nice cabin. They only downside was the bedspreads. They were just too busy! When we check in they invited us to have appetizers and soft drinks from 5-8 p.m. We went to the “Old Town” of Cody. The buildings were the original but we didn’t want to pay $8 to see what was inside them so we took pictures and left. We went to the Old West Miniature City and Museum. It was free and darn worth the price. It told the story of the development of the west and was a great Indian museum. When we finished there we walked up and down main street. It was in the high 80’s or low 90’s and the heat almost made us sick. We heard that the Stampede Rodeo was going to be in town for the next four nights. This is when the really big stars come once a year. Cody has a rodeo every night but this one was special. We went to the Rodeo office and managed to get tickets for the evening.
We went back to our hotel because we were starving so we decided to try the free appetizers. The old people (like us) who were “tending bar” couldn’t believe that we were making a meal out of their samples! Their eyes almost bugged out of their heads. Fortunately for them we were going to the “shoot out” and had to be there by 6:00. Well . . . the shoot out was the biggest nothing, the biggest dud I have ever been to. The wind was blowing like crazy and all you could hear in their “mikes” was a whistling sound. The first 20 minutes of the “show” was thanking the advertisers and asking us to spend money with them. Then the show began . . . it was plain stupid and was as if 3rd graders were performing.
We went to dinner then on to the rodeo at 8:00. We enjoyed it but got home way after our curfew. It was midnight before we got in bed!

7-2 (Fri)
We had an A/C in our room and slept so well last night. We watched Good Morning America on TV ! We found out the latest news about the “bachelor” and his girlfriend breaking up. Just what we have been wondering about all summer!
We ate breakfast at “Grannies” before heading off to the Buffalo Bill Museum. On our way we found out that they were having a children’s 4th of July parade so we decided to watch that before going to the museum. We sat down on the curb with our cameras. It was just like the small town parades that you see on TV - really cute. From there we went on to the museum. It was wonderful, just as we had heard. We didn’t leave there until about 2:00. We had lunch at the Irma Hotel which was a hotel that Bill Cody had owned and was named for one of his daughters.
On our way back to Mammoth we stopped at the Buffalo Bill Dam. They had the flood gates open and the water was rushing out. By the time we got back to Yellowstone we were cold which was a relief from the way we felt in Cody.
We stopped at the General Store at Fishing Bridge inside the park and tried on an Indian headdress so we could have our picture taken.

More pictures to come . . .

6-23 (Wed)


Gary's roommate, one of the security guards, and a friend of ours has had it with his job. Tonight is his last night so Nancy and I are taking him out to dinner and for wine tonight. Last night we got out my photo printer to print a picture of Yellowstone for the front of his going away card. First we printed another picture and then we worked on the computer fixing the picture for Dan. When we got ready to print his picture we couldn't find the cord that connected the computer to the printer. We spent 45 minutes looking for it. Our room isn't that big . . . we looked under the beds, in both closets, in the bathroom, under the covers, in all the drawers, in our backpacks, everywhere and some places twice and three times. Finally Nancy remembered that we didn't use a cord, we used the SD card!!!! Oh my gosh, how dumb was that?





Today is payday and tomorrow we are going to town! We're very excited (about town!)

6-21 (Mon)

Nancy and I walked the stagecoach road to Gardiner tonight after dinner. It was a five mile walk. When we were almost there we came upon an elk. Since we were out in the open with nothing to hide behind we were a little leery. We climbed up on a ridge to avoid it. We hitched back with a couple of guys who had just finished a 22 mile hike from Hellroaring Creek to Gardiner.

6-18 (Fri)
Heavy, heavy frost on the cars this morning. By the time we went to breakfast it had all melted. It looks like it is going to be a bright warm day. I'm off on a hike and Nancy is off to work. Tonight we're planning to go to the rodeo.

6-17 (Thurs)
It was snowing when Nancy and I walked to breakfast this morning! Today is my day off but it is too cold to do much and the sun isn't out so it isn't good for taking pictures.

Last night Nancy and I went to the Map Room in the hotel to hear the author, CJ Box. He writes books that take place in YS and the surrounding area.

Friday night we're going to the rodeo.

There is always something going on to keep us entertained.

6-15 (Tues)

Two buffalo came down off the hill around noon. One of them stopped in front of a cabin and looked inside since the door was open. I thought he might go on in but he didn’t.

Nancy and I were going to walk after dinner tonight but it started to rain. A bunch of us were standing outside when we saw an elk corner a young girl up on the hill. Gary was yelling to her to get behind a bush. Matt who was on duty went up the hill to try to scare the elk away. He got chased into the trees. Gary went out in the rain to try to help. He talked the girl from bush to bush. When the elk wasn’t looking she made a run for it but Matt was still stuck in the trees. The Rangers finally showed up and went up the hill after Matt. They were banging shovels and finally got her attention so Matt could get away. The elk had a calf nearby.
Tonight we sat in the lounge and socialized. There was a real cute girl from Bulgaria who kept us entertained.

Gotta room for me?

I didn't like that room anyway.

It's time to scare a few tourists.

6-15

I haven't written for awhile because I have been too busy. First I was as stressed this year as I was last because I couldn't remember squat when I got back here. I had a day and a half of remediation and then it was back to the phones. Now I'm fine.

Sunday, Nancy, Gary and I explored the upper loop of the park. We went to Roosevelt, Canyon, Lake and to Fishing Bridge. We had a great time. We even played in the snow.

6-5
The Mormons don't seem to have any idea that there is a recession. We couldn't believe how much building is going on in SLC and how elaborate their buildings are.

Utah State Capital


Ziplining

6-5 (Sat)
We hated leaving Little America this morning. We left our car there and took the trolley back downtown. We walked up State St. and went into the Capital for a look around. We were very surprised that there was not one security guard inside. We had the run of the place. Occasionally a few other tourists would come in and leave. We headed out of town to go back to Park City.
When we got back we went to the Olympic Park where the 2002 Winter Games were held. I rode on the Ultra Zipline which goes down the winter freestyle hill. It was so much fun that I went on the Xtreme Zip which they say is the world’s steepest zipline. You ride up to 50 mph along the K120 Nordic jump hill. They were both so much fun and I was so excited and happy that it did it.
Tonight we ate dinner in old town Park City at a place called Easy Street. The meal was fabulous!

6-4 (Fri)
We tried to spend another night in Park City but the hotel was full. We heard on TV that on Sat. there is going to be a Harley Davison rally and a Gay Rights Parade in Salt Lake City so we decided to go to there today and return to P.C. on Sat. We went to a Tourist Center in PC and got info on what to do etc. The woman suggested several hotels. One was Little America. We thought we might like to stay at a Holiday Inn Express so we stopped at one before going into SLC. The guy was really nice. He couldn’t find any rooms so we asked him to check Little America. He found us a room there. When we saw it we thought, “this will be okay for one night.” Well . . . You wouldn’t believe this place! It has gold doors, a doorman, marble floors, art work to die for, gorgeous chandeliers, valet service, boutiques, cereal for $8, massage for $170, pedicure for 80 . . . Are you getting the picture? We have been walking around with our mouth hanging open. When I tried to check in at 11 a.m. the guy said the room was ready!!
We hopped on a free trolley and headed downtown to Temple Square. These Mormons don’t miss any opportunity to try to convert you. Our first tour, conducted by a girl from Hawaii and one from Peru, gave us some of the history of the church. I think they said that there are 53,000 missionaries working in the field at any given time. The girls have to commit 18 months of their lives and the boys two years trying to convert people. They took us in a couple of buildings and finally back to the Tabernacle. They wanted to send us all kinds of literature etc but we said, “No, thanks.” We went into the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and had lunch up on the top floor. It was lovely. One thing for sure, the Mormons have a LOT of money. The buildings are so elaborate and ornate.
After lunch we went up to see the rooftop gardens on top of the conference center. From there we went over to the genealogy section and researched our ancestors. That was a lot of fun.
We had a tour of the Beehive House which was Brigham Young’s home. I thought it would be a log cabin, but no it was a BIG fancy house. Two girls took us through there . . . One from the US and one from the Ukraine. I can’t believe how many people they have converted from all over the world.
I thought it was pretty hard to get answers out of them that we could understand. They talked really fast, skipped over the parts that were questionable and sometimes seemed a little disturbed when I asked something they didn’t like . . . “tell me the significance of the undergarment you wear?”
We ate dinner at the Lion House and then took the trolley back to Little America.

6-3 (Thurs)
We left Nephi headed for Park City. When we drove through Provo we looked for Donnie and Marie but didn’t see them. Provo is such a beautiful city and sits at the bottom of several mountains. When we came to Sundance we decided to drive in and see if we could see Robert. No luck there either.

We drove over the mountain - switch backs at 10 - 15 mph. We came to a National Park and heard about the Timpanogos Cave. We decided to hike up to see them. You have to buy a ticket $7 and then they give you a time for your tour at the top. They allow you an hour and a half to make it to the caves. We took a little longer but they still put us on a tour. We needed to bring a jacket because it was 45 degrees inside and we were inside for about an hour. The thing they forgot to tell us was that it was straight up!!! I mean straight up! There were sheer drop offs, narrow trails, and you must be careful of falling rocks. They have red lines painted in several areas which mean don’t stop, you’re in an area of great hazard to falling rocks. They also had signs saying we were in rattlesnake territory “stay on the path.” The caves were cool and wet. We had to bend and crouch in several places to get through some of the small chambers and passageways. There was a giant cave formation called the Great Heart of Timpanogos which actually looked like a giant heart. We didn’t get off that darn mountain until 4:00 and we started out at 12:30.

We drove on to Park City, UT and checked into a wonderful Best Western right next to Walmart!

We went to the old town of Park City to have dinner and walk around.

We're in Salt Lake . . . I got converted!

Red Canyon near Bryce

5-31 (Mon)

On our way out of the Bryce area we stopped at Red Canyon and did a hike. I was also a beautiful area.

From there we headed on down the road to Zion. We had to retrace some of the same territory we traveled yesterday.

We found a hotel, the Driftwood Lodge. I asked if they had any discounts - only if you're 62 or older. Thankfully Nancy qualified and we got $5 off. The room was beautiful, all black and white. The bedspreads were white down comforters. We didn't dare sit on them or put any of our stuff on the beds.

We settled in, did email etc. We were exhausted. About the time we were ready to go to bed we noticed our A/C wasn't working. I called the desk and told the girl we couldn't sleep because it was too hot. She came down to check it out. I had it on 68, she cranked it down to 62 and cold air came out. As soon as she left the darn thing went off. I called her back again. she said she didnt know how to help us. I asked if we could change rooms. She had to talk to her manager. She called back and said she's upgrade us. I asked if the price would be the same and she said, "yes." I had on my pj's but we threw everything in the car and went to our new room.

5-30 (Sun)

We arrived at Bryce about 10:30 and after saying, “WOW” at least 100 times we headed down into the canyon to do the sunrise/sunset hike. It was so beautiful and the sky was so blue it was almost black. It took us 2 - 2 ½ hours to do the loop.
We had a scrumptious lunch at the lodge. From there we took the shuttle to Bryce Point and then Inspiration Point. We hiked a little at both places but nothing major. We saw some girls hiking in their stiletto heels! How weird is that?
We checked into our hotel, Ruby’s Inn, did laundry and shopped in the gift shop. We walked across the street to some shops but all they were selling were rocks and we weren’t interested.

5-29 (Sat)
Lake Powell/Glen Dam

Once again I did not sleep well. We had a wonderful breakfast at the hotel and then drove over to Glen Canyon Dam on Lake Powell. We took pictures and then went to Walmart before heading over to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Unusual rock formations

We ate lunch first and then walked Bright Angel Point and Bridle Path. Coming back on Bridle Path we saw 2 deer who took time to pose for us. Grand Canyon
We made it a point to leave as close to 4:00 as we could because we had about a two hour drive ahead of us. We drove to Mt Carmel, Utah where we had a room reserved for us by AAA! The room was actually very nice but the people at the front desk were so rude. The town didn’t have a stop light, just a stop sign. Do you get the picture? PLUS gas was $3.15.

5-28 (Fri)
We left Durango at 8:00. After a shopping trip to Walmart we departed for Mesa Verde (Connee thanks for telling us about this) about 30 miles up the road. We were able to use our National Parks pass to get in free. The earliest tour ($3) we could get was 11:30 but we decided to do it even though we thought we had an 8 hour drive ahead of us. While we were waiting in line I interviewed one of the Rangers about how to drive up and down the mountains.

Mesa Verde

The tour was supposed to last an hour but you know how that goes. We stopped in the park for lunch because we were afraid we wouldn’t find anything along the way. It was probably 2:00 by the time we left the park. Nancy got on the phone with AAA trying to find us a place to stay for the evening. There was NOTHING up around Arches National Park. The girl found one room in Page, AZ. It was more than we usually pay but we were grateful to get it especially with this being Memorial Day weekend. We also had AAA book us a room near the North Rim of the grand Canyon for tomorrow night.
Good news, bad news . . . The good news is we have been keeping the car nice and clean - washing the windows at each gas stop etc. The bad news is between Cortez and Page we went through a MAJOR dust storm. The wind must have been blowing at least 70 mph. I kept saying, “Oh no, my car is getting dusty.” It about drove Nancy nuts. She drove through the worst part of it and she had to fight to keep the car on the road. There were times when we couldn’t see a car’s length ahead. Everyone was driving with their lights on. It was like a thick fog or heavy rainstorm back home. Similar to our rain in that we drove in and out of pockets of it. There would be no dust/sand but the wind still blowing and up the road we could see where we could enter the dust again. It probably took us an hour and a half to get through it. When we stopped to change drivers we could hardly open our doors.

We took a short cut to Page and saw many unusual rock formations along the way.

I went inside to check in. A guy was ahead of me making a reservation for $119. AAA had told us we were getting the last room. While I was hanging around the lobby they were selling rooms right and left. When I got up to the counter I asked if there was a $119 room left. There was so I told the girl I wanted to change our $143 room for a $119 room. She said she couldn’t do it because AAA had made the reservation. Before we went to dinner we stopped by the front desk and talked to her again. She agreed to drop the price to $119.

We had dinner in a FABULOUS Mexican restaurant. .

7-27 (Thurs)

It was very cold this morning. Since we were taking the train to Silverton and riding in an open car we decided to wer long pants, thermal tops, and I put on the fleece I bought yesterday at the Thrift Store over my sweatshirt.

After everyone was loaded we went whistling and tooting our way through town. We were in the last 2 seats on the open air car and we had a great view.

It took about 2 1/2 hours to reach Silverton. We ate lunch at the Pickle Barrel then walked around town until it was time to get the bus back to Durango. We got great advice from our friends to take the train up and bus back. I slept most of the way back because I hardly slept at all last night.

When we got back I took off for the laundry mat and washed our clothes.

The top picture is on the train today. The second pic is me driving across country wearing my garden gloves.

5-26 (Wed)

Spending the night in Durango. An uneventful day . . . I remembered how to turn on the car and we didn't run out of gas! Toured the Azetc ruins in Aztec, NM. Had lunch at the historic Strater Hotel in Durango.

We're now at our suite sitting out on the porch having a glass of wine!

7-25 (Tues)

Good news, bad news . . .

The good news is that Nancy had AAA. The bad news is that we ran out of gas! I was tooling down the road and forgot to look at the gas gauge. We were about an hour into our departure when I heard a sound. I asked Nancy if she heard it and she said, "yes." She checked both cell phones and didn't see anything unusual there. I told her it sounded like a doorbell. We forgot about it. Maybe 30-45 minutes later I noticed the gas gauge was on empty and the gas icon was lit up. I had Nancy get out the car instruction book, she read, "your vehicle has a programmable electronic feature that will sound a chime when the Low Fuel Warning Light come on." I think it must sound like a doorbell!

We were 8 miles from a little town called Grooms, in Texas when we saw an exit and it showed a gas sign. This was more like a service road and there was NO gas. This service road shot right back up onto I-40 but we didn't make it that far which turned into a blessing.

Nancy called AAA. The 800# connected her to Tennessee and they couldn't find Grooms. We finally got connected with the right group and they said they'd send someone from Amarillo in 30-45 minutes. We just sat and waited. About 45 minutes later a guy showed up and poured a couple gallons in the car. He said he would follow me to the gas station. I put the car in gear and mashed on the gas but it wouldn't go. I put it in park and then back in drive but it wouldn't budge. I jumped out, ran back to the guy in the truck and told him the car wouldn't move. he got in my car, turned the key and that was it. How dumb was that? I didn't even know the car wasn't turned on!

We are in Farmington, NM for the night.

5-24 (Mon)
We were up by 6 a.m. getting ready to depart, packing and having breakfast. We had to wait until after 730 so wee could see Murphy (the dog) off to school. We finally pulled out at 8:00.

It didn’t take us long to get into our stash of food.

We stopped for lunch and gas in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. We went through Oklahoma City around 5 p.m. rush hour. Nancy was doing the driving and she did great. We wanted to get on through so we wouldn’t have to contend with the morning traffic.


We spent the night in Weatherford, OK.

5-23 (Sun)

We were tired last night so we went to bed about 10:00. There was something that kept ticking all night, I thought maybe it was the A/C when it would shut off but in the morning Nancy put her ear to all of the appliances and discovered it was the refrigerator!

We had planned to sleep in but both of us were awake by 5 a.m. . We had breakfast (included) at the hotel. After we threw everything in the car we went to Walmart! We bought two more window shades and a water bottle. We departed Jasper at 9:30 headed for Memphis.

We arrived in Memphis around 12:30. We went into the Piccadilly to eat. The black ladies in there had just come from church and they were decked out in beautiful clothes and fancy hats. We decided it was going to be too expensive to eat there so we went to Chilies and split a salad.

We arrived at Bill and Mary Ann’s at 2 p.m. Bill helped us organize the back seat of the car. It was so much better than the mess we had.

In the evening we went over to see Brenda’s new, beautiful house, in Harbor Town on Mud Island. She is still in the process of getting settled. We all went out for dinner. Later Bill, Mary Ann, Nancy and I went down by the Mississippi River and took pictures.

When we go0t back Bill helped Nancy with the editing of her pictures.

5-22 (Sat)
Good news, bad news . . . The good news is that we found our way out of Orlando, the bad news is that we got lost before leaving Florida.

We got up at 5:30 very excited to be on our way to Yellowstone with stops in between at Memphis, Durango, Zion and Salt Lake City to name a few. We had planned to leave by 7:00 and only missed it by 15 minutes. I started the car then turned to Nancy and said, “Which way do we go?”

We decided that we’d each drive 2 hours and then change. At 9:30 we thankfully found a rest area. We were both hungry so we ate a boiled egg that I made yesterday. We got back on the road and began stuffing our mouths with cookies and nuts.

We had planned to stop at the Alabama Welcome Center. The next thing we knew we looked at each other and read “Welcome to Georgia!” Needless to say Georgia wasn’t on our list of states to go through. We had gotten lost before we ever left Florida. Instead of turning back we continued on to Valdosta and Tifton. At Tifton we hung a left towards Montgomery passing through Albany and the lovely little town of Cuthbert. It had the most beautiful old houses. We drove slowly and kept pointing to each one we passed.

At 2:30 we stopped for gas and then some lunch. The ride to Montgomery was on country roads but it was beautiful. We were kinda glad we got lost.
We drove 600 miles to Jasper, Alabama where we stayed at the Jameson Inn for $80.

My friend, Nancy D, and I are leaving today for our great adventure in Yellowstone. Yes, I'm going back for another summer of work in reservations! Can you believe it after all the worry and stress I went through last year? We are both so excited. We plan to depart Orlando by 7 a.m. Tonight's goal is Birmingham.