June 6, 2010 by LadyCC.

After getting a good night’s sleep last night, I woke up very refreshed. I let PTCC sleep as late as she wanted to since we didn’t really have too much planned for today. Our big thing is to get out of the park until after 2 pm when all the campers are leaving. SO we eventually move down the road to the Western Trails center again so I can put the real stamps in my book and then since PTCC noticed a JCPenney across the street the other day we stop in and go shopping. This is her new favorite store. They must have just opened it because it’s not completely stocked yet. She browsed around and found some tops and shorts and I get a purse since mine is literally peeling apart by now. Probably comes from shoving all my and everyone else’s stuff in it.

After JCP we need gas so we head back to the Walmart/Sam’s Club we found the other day and fill up. Gasp! We did not go in. PTCC wanted to go in Sam’s for the food samples but I said no we need to move on.

We set the GPS for the Golden Spike Monument. I can’t believe CC didn’t want to stop here the other day. It took all of 5 minutes to see when we finally got there. It sits across form a neighborhood in a patch of grass with a small sign board in front of it. I really thought it would have gold paint but it was just yellow paint. It’s about 56 ft tall and shaped like a RR spike made out of concrete. Kinda looks like one of those roadside attractions, but in the middle of nowhere. If you don’t know where to look you won’t find it. Well we’ve had enough of going back and forth from NE to IA today so we head back to Mahoney.

We get there in time for PTCC to finish up her Jr Naturalist with a class on horses and one on mammals. She’s then awarded her Jr Naturalist badge and her picture is hung in the craft center. There are still other classes she might take later in the week if we don’t have anything else to do. We have bought tickets to the 3 pm show of Miss Twain’s Train Troubles at the theater. So we get there a few minutes early and PTCC goes to the playground next door. Her greatest joy right now is to find someone who will push the merry-go-round until she is dizzy. I’m not that person so she finds someone else.

At 3 pm we go in to see the melodrama. The audience is very different this time. Last time it was young families and a GS troop. Today it is senior citizens mostly. They don’t yell nearly as loud as the kids do but we still have fun during the show. The last one we can see is on Tuesday so hopefully we can make that one as well.

We come back and cook dinner then hit the showers and walk over to the marina for ice cream and to feed the turtles, fish and geese our old bread. Then up to the lodge to use the wi-fi since the one in the campground and ours don’t work.

There are only 5 others camping in our loop and only 2 of them are staying as long as we are, so hopefully it will be a quiet week for us when we are there.

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June 5, 2010 by LadyCC.

We were woken up at 2:30 am with a severe thunderstorm warning from our weather radio. They said there could be winds in excess of 60 mph and large hail until 2:45 pm. I certainly hoped not after our ordeal in AZ with those winds. I don’t want to be in an RV with high winds like that again.

The thunderstorm warning was extended to 11 am but we get going at 10:15 am to south of Lincoln. We are going to Homestead National Monument. We stopped at the Heritage center first. PTCC got her Jr Ranger book and started working on it and I watched the movie. They had 2 floors of displays of the story of people moving onto the plains areas and working the land and raising their families. The center was about homesteading in general as well. There was a man who homesteaded in Alaska in the 1970’s that they have on film. 2 years after he staked his claim the statues ran out and there was no more homesteading. After we checked out the displays PTCC was finished with her book and received her badge and we walked outside to the Freeman cabin and grave sites. The cabin was moved here from ¼ mile away and set up like it was back when it was being lived in by 15 family members for over 12 years. When you looked back at the visitors center, if you were outside, they designed it to look like a plow that tills the earth like the homesteaders used.

After we ate our lunch on the back porch we went down the road to the education center which had displays of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific RR meeting in Promontory. It also had spring wagons and carts the settlers used to get here. Lots of farm implements were here as well. Then we moved on to the third site which was the Freeman School. This schoolhouse was used from 1872 until 1967. They have rolls of all the children that attended. Some years there were only 10 kids and some up to 42 children enrolled. It is a one room school house with 2 outhouses in the yard. The last class in 1967 consisted of 5 kids of various ages.

After leaving we stopped at the Walmart in Beatrice (said like BEE-AT-Trice) to get PTCC some shorts as she had only packed 1 pair (after being told by LCC to pack for all kinds of weather).It has finally gotten hot here and I think she will need them more now. She bought 2 more pair and we traveled on to Lincoln to see the NE State Capitol building.

We arrive in Lincoln and find parking right on the street in front of the capitol. It helps to come on a Saturday as well as when they are not in session. There was a tour going on when we got there so we joined up with them to find out more about the building. NE is a unichamberial state, which means they do not have a senate and a house just one chamber because they only have one party. They used to have 2 but dissolved the other in the early 1930’s. They are the only state like this now. The more I learned about it the more I thought we should go back to this system. The members can only serve 2 terms of a total of 8 years (If they are re-elected after 4 years), there are no republicans, democrats, independents, etc. On odd years they serve from Jan-June for 5 months, and in even years Jan-Apr for a 90 day term. They are only paid $12,000 a year because it is supposed to be a part time job. They must have other jobs to support themselves the rest of the year.

This is our 5^th capitol city and the third one we have toured. SO far FL is losing in the beautiful capitol buildings category. So far we have the ugliest one built in the 1970’s and it looks it. Just like a federal penitentiary.

We are getting tired and it is nearly 4:30 now so we head home to have some dinner and to see if the mi-fi works yet. Either we have used it up again or it is broken. If it is we will trek up to the lodge and used their wi-fi there.

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June 5, 2010 by LadyCC.

It rained all night so when we get up there is a huge puddle that is under our RV again. I get up early and eat PTCC’s donuts that we bought yesterday at Walmart. Then I get myself ready and drive down to the administration building to pay for horse trail rides ($15 each). I sign up for the 10 am ride hoping it won’t be too hot by then. Then I head back to make sure PTCC is up and having breakfast. She wants to go to the reptile encounter at 9 am so she needs to be awake. When I get back she is and we are on time for the seminar. It is held at the conservatory which has a butterfly garden outside and a koi pond and a stream inside with a lot of plants. The reptiles are in a small foyer area. They are not supposed to be an attraction here. People find them and give them to the rangers so they are housing them hoping to put them back in the wild. The first set we look at are bearded dragons, a male and female, that were given to the park. PTCC and the other kids get to feed them their mealworms today. Then we move on to the snapping turtle, who gets to eat shrimp. Then a box turtle who ate some soy stuff. Then the highlight, a bull snake, who eats live mice. The ranger fed her one and we got to see what happens. First she constricts it and then swallows it whole. Then we moved on to 2 bull frogs, who ate live crickets. Then finally the koi, who ate some kind of pellets.

After that excitement we walk across the road to the stables for our trail ride. This was different from Yosemite because today is hot. I’m sure our hands won’t freeze. Also, unlike Yosemite, we aren’t getting a private ride. There are 10 others going with us as well as 4 helpers. This ride was basically going up a slope behind the barn and turning a circle and walking back to the barn. Each horse had its nose in the tail of the other. Not very exciting and no landmarks or other animals to see either. So I won’t recommend this activity.

After that we got dressed in our swimsuits and headed to the pool only to find out that it doesn’t open until 12 pm. So we went back to the RV and had lunch and tried again. The pool area is pretty basic here. 2 twisty high slides, 1 slide that lets you fall about 4 feet above the water, a diving board, a wave pool, and a kids water play area. You can rent tubes for the wave pool if you want. Our original plan was to stay until 3 pm but PTCC liked it enough to stay until 4 pm. It was plenty hot enough today so it was very refreshing. I chose the quieter side to sit and finish a book I was reading. Whenever the lifeguards needed a break they would shut down the wave pool and PTCC would come and get me and we would ride the slides.

After 4 hours of hot sun we were done in and went and got showers because tonight we are also doing the dinner and a show. At 5:30 pm we went to the lodge for dinner, tonight specialties were BBQ ribs and shrimp. We had a nice view in the dining room of the park and river.

After dinner we came back to the RV where PTCC got on her computer to talk to her buds and I went to take a walk in the Little Creek campground area. I’m glad we aren’t leaving on Sunday because there will be a mad exodus from all the check out slips I saw with 6-6 on them. I think only 1 group was staying until 6-8 in that campground. In ours we had a couple of tenters show up today that will be here through the week but I think that’s it. It will be a ghost town during the week.

We are going to see a melodrama called The Villain’s Secret. During the summer a theater company puts on 4 shows rotating through them during the week. While we are here they are doing 3 different ones. If tonight’s is good we will see the others as well.

Well we went to see the Villain’s Secret. Just like most theater companies this one seems to have time management problems. The show started about 10 minutes late but in the end was decent. At first the audience didn’t understand how a melodrama works. It needs audience participation so the stage manager at the beginning had told us what to do when the villain, the hero, and the heroine came on stage. They even encouraged the throwing of popcorn at him. So the audience was slow to get into it but once they did it was fun. Some of the actors had a hard time not laughing and sometimes they failed and forgot their lines. It just made it funnier when they did that. I asked PTCC if she wanted to see more and she did, so I guess we’ll be going back.

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June 3, 2010 by LadyCC.

Today CC is flying home again, but before he goes we are going to sightsee a little since he has a late afternoon flight. So we cross back over to Iowa to the Western Historic Trails Center. This is an Iowa Visitor Center that has a movie and a lot of displays on everything that has happened in Iowa in history. The displays were very unique; they were all made of metal sculpture and were vignettes. The movie was very funny. It was the story of the pioneers be it Indians, Plains peoples, or Mormons. But it was overlaid with a 1970’s family traveling in their VW van across the country. I’ll just say you do need to stop here to see it. It was very worth it.

After that stop we traveled on to the Lewis and Clark Monument above the bluffs on the Missouri River. This is the place where L& C counciled with the local Indian tribes by the order of President Jefferson before journeying on. It is also how it got the name Council Bluffs. There is a monument wall here no statues though. There is a great view of the river and nearby airport. You can also see downtown Omaha very clearly.

Our last stop was supposed to be the Mormon Historic Trail Center. This is a smaller version of what PTCC and I saw in SLC. CC wasn’t with us then so he didn’t get to experience it. We were greeted when we entered by Sister Bertrand, who was from Washington State and doing her 18 months of missionary work. We were not allowed to tour by ourselves but were asked to see a movie of the history of the travels of the Mormon people to get to SLC and Zion. Most of it was cut from the longer movie PTCC and I had seen before. The original version was over an hour this one was only 15 minutes. Then Sister Bretrand was our tour guide as we walked around the small museum that told the story of their journey. It was a shame they don’t let you tour by yourself because a lot of it didn’t make as large an impact on us since we weren’t allowed to see it in our own way. She skipped quite a few displays that looked interesting to us. And we were being evangelized in almost every breath. This was after telling her several times we were quite happy in our faith. We only had 45 minutes for this stop so we brought it to an end and left.

Then we had spied a small pocket park around the corner so we stopped to have lunch and figure out if we wanted to do anything else. I voted for President Ford’s boyhood home but CC wanted to see a naval museum. As we were leaving in the car an animal that was quite large and cinnamon colored ran in front of us and up the hill into the woods. PTCC and I found out later it was a badger.

As we were driving to the naval museum we passed the airport and it is small. No problem getting lost here. We turn down the road to get to the museum and see a sign that says “Welcome Back to Nebraska” It seems like every time you drive a mile you keep changing states here.

We arrive at the museum and find out it is a park with many large aircraft and ships, subs, anchors, chains, and propellers displayed. It really looked like someone collected these at a surplus sale and gave them to the city and they had to display them somewhere. It is the first time I have seen a full size destroyer and a submarine up on land. Usually they are cut outs since they are so large. We walked among all the equipment and then left to take CC to the airport. It was an easy drop off but a long trip home since it is about 30 miles from where we are staying and you have to drive through downtown Omaha on the I-80.

We got back and rested for awhile and then PTCC wanted to do an Animal Tracks seminar at the craft center. This was very interesting as I did not know they had such an array of animals in Nebraska. Hopefully soon we will go to the Wildlife Safari Park that is next door and see them up close. The instructor’s name was Matt and he told the kids about tomorrow’s class which is reptiles. The great thing about that he said was that it will be feeding day and they eat weird things that the kids get to feed to them. So PTCC is all in for that. After the kids made rubber stamp tracks we climbed the observatory tower and looked all around the area. It is about 80 ft tall and was very windy up there.

We came back to the RV and decided we wanted a fire tonight so we walked over to the marina to get firewood and ice creams, taking pictures of the baby Canada Geese while there. PTCC wanted to prove how strong she was so she carried the bundle of wood back to the RV almost all the way. Now I can’t say she is a weakling.

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May 31, 2010 by LadyCC.

Today we sleep in late and have a pancake breakfast. Then I go to do laundry and read a book while PTCC plays and CC works on his photos. Then we meet for lunch and head to the pool and hot tub. Only today the tub isn’t hot and it is a little breezy but very sunny. So CC and I sit at the pool and read while PTCC hangs out in the lukewarm tub. Then we come back to the RV where PTCC takes a shower and CC and I talk to the guys next door. They mentioned a good place for dinner so we think we will try that today. PTCC comes out and we go up to the camp store for ice cream and then play ball in the field. This is where the day goes bad for her. I suggest we play h-o-r-s-e and the loser will have to clean the RV. Everyone agreed and it was a way to play together for awhile. So at first I’m ahead then PTCC catches up and CC is last. Then he catches up and passes PTCC and I, then he’s done and it is just PTCC and I. She gets ahead of me then I catch up and finally I pass her and I’m out. She starts screaming and crying like a banshee. What a bad sport she was being. Tears are running down her face and she won’t stop crying and screaming. CC and I are laughing at her. Imagine a 12 year old acting like such a spoiled brat.

We all come back to the RV and PTCC crawls under the picnic table and cries how she just wants to die here. CC and I ignore her and get to cleaning up the RV. We were always going to help but we knew if she won she wouldn’t have helped at all. She’s becoming real spoiled lately. So after her conniption fit she comes inside and starts to clean. After we are done (it took a total of 25 minutes to do everything) she said it wasn’t so bad after all. Go figure!. I told her I was putting this into the blog so everyone can read how juvenile she acted.

After cleaning we played around on the computers for awhile and then went into Custer to the Purple Pie for dinner. They were running a special for a sandwich, side and a slice a pie for $7.50, so we ordered that and enjoyed our meals.

We came back and took a walk along the George Michelson trail that was an old railroad line. The temperature was getting nippy so we walked back to the campsite. CC checked all the tires and fluids so we are good to go tomorrow. I think we are trying to get to Mitchell so we have 2 days of 350 miles each instead of 1 really long push to Omaha.

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May 27, 2010 by LadyCC.

We were so cold last night. It was 47 degrees inside the RV and 33 outside when we got up this morning. PTCC jumped in bed with us and snuggled until 7 am. We got up and ate breakfast in the cold with the gas heat going until 8 am when we turned on the generator for 30 minutes before we left to head north. We had to brush the snow off the car because it had 1.5 inches on it. The road to the south entrance was closed today because of too much snow.

We head out towards Canyon Village and of course see bison grazing in the valleys, we also see another headed up the side of the road again. I wonder if it is the same one from yesterday? We stop in Canyon for a second to use restrooms and take a quick look in the visitor center but we don’t stay long because we will stop on the way back. Our idea is to go to the north entrance and turn around and come back and do do most of our stops then. We continue on to Norris and take a right to go north. We do stop at a pull out to take a picture of Roaring Mountain which is covered in snow. Good thing I put snow boots in the car for PTCC and me. We then drive until we come to Sheepeater Cliff where the Shoshone Indians lived. It is all basalt lava that looks stacked in columns and marmots are said to live in the joints. We weren’t lucky enough to see any of them. We continue on past Golden Gate where we ended up driving through the clouds where it was very hard to see anything. We finally get it to Mammoth Hot Springs. PTCC spied some mule deer on the side of the mountain so we once again stopped to take pictures and where we pulled off was the horse ranch near Mammoth. Good thing we saw it because we were going to try to ride horses here too but the ranch is closed to rides right now. The Yellowstone newspaper said it was open so that saves a drive back up here later. Then we looked around and saw part of the Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces. It was the upper part and very beautiful with all the different colors mixed together.

We drive through Mammoth and see the Mammoth Hotel and one of the Yellow Tour buses in the parking lot. On the road outside of town we pass a wooden sign that said entering Montana. We come to the exit of the park and go through the entrance arch and are now in the town of Gardiner, MT. We park and walk back to the arch to take our pictures. Then get back in the car and go back into the park through the north entrance. The entrance station is not as nice as the one in West Yellowstone even though it is the only one open all year long. We come to another sign that advertises the 45^th parallel. This is the halfway point between the north pole and the equator. We then see the sign that says entering Wyoming, which is on the back side of the entering Montana sign. We make it back to Mammoth and stop at the visitors center and look around. It seems really small compared to the others in the park but it is in an original building from 1909. Most of Mammoth is part of Fort Yellowstone when the army ran the park until the National Park service was formed. There are lots of historic buildings in the town. We then head over to the lower terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs to look at the geysers there. This area is one of the world’s best examples of travertine -depositing hot springs. The features here are changing constantly so every time you see them they will look different from the last time. The Minerva Terrace looked like huge blocks of ice stacked on top of each other in a staggered array. No water was running down them at the time. The Palette Spring looked active and we also took pictures of the Liberty Cap with looks like a large African anthill. We then walked on another boardwalk to get to the front of the Palette Spring to see the water cascading down it creating awesome colors. The travertine pools in the Main Terrace looked as smooth as glass with steps coming down.

We ate lunch and warmed up then drove up to the Upper Terrace area. This is on a one way road that is very narrow so no RVs or buses can drive on it because of the way it twists back and forth. We stopped and took photos of the Orange Spring Mound, which was as the names implies bright orange. It actually had water seeping down it. Then we went to see White Elephant Back Terrace which did look like the back end of an elephant lying down. Then on to Angel Terrace which wasn’t as impressive since the water wasn’t flowing down it.

Then we get back on the road and drive until we see a side road that leads into a miniature canyon across from the Hoodoos. They are huge boulders made from travertine that look kind of spooky to people. The fog has become so thick it is very hard to see beyond the road. We have 3 NP rangers pass us with their lights and sirens on in this area so it’s possible there was an accident in the fog. We head back to the Golden Gate, so called because of the color of the rocks. It is a bridge that pretty much hangs suspended from the cliff. You do not realize it unless you are traveling northbound since you can’t see the structure from the southbound road. Here is also where we found Rustic Falls. They are about 40 feet high and if you don’t look for them you will miss them because they are not marked by any signs.

As we come to Norris we decide we are still good on time so we will stop at the Geyser Basin here for a walk around. They seem to be pretty active with some beautiful blue pools of water. There are also some bacteria pools which make the water green. So we walk the boardwalk area through the Porcelain Basin to view all the geysers. We were able to see 2 actually in action. The colors come from chlorophyll(green), sulfur(yellow), iron(dark brown and red), and algae(dark blackish green). Some of these get up to 200 degrees F.

Then we headed up the road to the Canyon Visitors Center to look more in depth at their displays. We hammed around with the bison display acting like PTCC was petting and kissing the baby bison, and I was kissing the back end of the adult bison. It looks really funny in the picture. CC didn’t want a picture of him with the bison, I don’t know why? We looked at their volcano and caldera information and then want to the bookstore. We were stopping by the sporting goods store there as well because on my hike around the Lower Geyser Basin at Mammoth I discovered my hiking shoes soles were peeling apart so I was looking for new shoes. As it turned out they had 2 types that fit and were a good price so I was able to replace the old ones today. It was not so fun walking everywhere in my snow boots but I was lucky I had them in the car with me. At the store CC was able to get a photo of a tiny chipmunk that was hanging around the trash can area. It looked like it could fit in your hand. Hopefully PTCC doesn’t see the pictures or she will want one as a pet. The last thing we did today was stop at the Fishing Bridge visitor center. It isn’t open yet but the view of the mountains and lake behind it were beautiful at the end of the day so we had to get a photo of them. Then back to the RV to charge the batteries and warm it up for tonight. Early dinner and another early night. Tomorrow we will try to see Grand Tetons if the road is open. PS It is starting to snow again. When will it ever end?

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May 27, 2010 by LadyCC.

We get up to find out it snowed about ½ an inch last night. The RV is covered in snow as well as the car and campsite. It is 32 degrees outside. CC goes out to hook up the water so we can get breakfast and brush our teeth. Then we pull in the slides, hook up the car and away we go to the Yellowstone Visitor Center. Before we left we did check with Grizzly RV to find out if they had openings in case the roads closed down on us and they did so we have a backup plan if needed. At the Visitor Center we get PTCC her Jr Ranger book and recheck the conditions. The last update was at 1235 am and the only thing closed is Dunraven Pass because of the high elevation. So we get back in the RV and head out. We show my pass at the entrance station and we’re now in Yellowstone. The roads look clear with no snow on them, which is good. We are riding alongside the Madison River and not too far down the road we see a bison family. 2 adults and a calf are walking alongside the road. We of course take pictures and move on since they weren’t blocking the road. Still following the river we see some Trumpeter Swans floating along. Then we take the turnoff for Firehole Canyon Drive which runs next to the Firehole River and has a waterfall. We take lots of pictures and videos and get someone to take our picture by the sign here. We are going in the direction of the Midway Geyser Basin when PTCC yells bison! There is a large bison walking down the center line of the road so we give him room to walk and wait for him to go by. In one of the pull outs I snap a picture of a Bald Eagle high in a tree next to the road. Our next stop is at Nez Perce Creek where we stop and read the information sign about Chief Joseph trying to keep his tribe off the reservation. Then we come to the Fountain Paint Pot area and stop there to walk around the mud pots. The ground is all white from the minerals spewing up and it smells like sulfur. We see a lone bison right next to the boardwalk grazing. They look so bad this time of year since they are molting their thick coats. They should probably keep them a little longer since it is still snowing this week. We walk around and see the Clepsydra Geyser and Spasm Geyser which have lots of steam around them. All the tree branches are bleached white from the minerals in the water.

Then we make our way to the Midway Geyser basin where we walk over a bridge on the Firehole River. We could see streams of water running into the river from the geysers and wherever they fell in the river plumes of steam came up since the river is so cold right now. The streams were amazing colors of orange, rust , red, and browns. The steam was so thick we couldn’t see where we were going sometimes. The pools were the most beautiful aquamarine blue I’ve ever seen. It was hard to get good pictures because of the amount of steam coming from them. We walked the boardwalk until we got to the Grand Prismatic Spring. This is the one that has the most colorful pictures taken of it. It’s hard to see unless you are above it. There are these really bright orange bacteria mats that we walked over. At the end of the boardwalk was this little conifer tree that had icicles all over it so we snapped a shot of it. As we drive on towards Old Faithful we see several herds of bison with the calves and mothers near the river. There was also a lone bison across the river-I guess he didn’t want to be crowded.

We make it to the Old Faithful visitor center and park the RV and go inside. PTCC has already finished her Jr Ranger worksheet and can be awarded her patch. CC gets his pin and I get my NP stamp. Then we head outside to look around since Old Faithful will blow sometime near 1217 pm. We get our picture taken at the Old Faithful sign and then walk over to the Old Faithful Lodge and walk around inside and check out the shop. They have a cafeteria inside as well. We head back to the viewing area and take seats in the front row to wait for the show. We work on the pages of PTCC’s Jr Ranger book that she didn’t have to do before. We wait around and at 1219 pm Old Faithful starts to blow.(PTCC here- It started with 2 false alarms, and when it actually went off at first it was like “This is worse than the ones at Disney” but after it got a good start I was actually like “WHOA THIS IS AWESOME” and that was an awesome experience totally epic). After the show we walked around the geyser basin. The bridge to the upper area was closed because an elk had been killed near the upper side of the river and the rangers didn’t want people near where a bear or wolf might show up. We were able to see Castle Geyser and the Beehive Geyser before moving on to the Old Faithful Inn. We purchased our Yellowstone picture frame here and took pictures inside the building and then headed back to the RV for lunch.

After leaving the Old Faithful area we cross the Continental Divide (elev 8262 ft) at Craig Pass and again a few minutes later (elev 8391 ft). Then we see the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake. It is huge and covered with ice. We see elk on the left side of the road but can’t stop because there is no room left in the pull out. We then drive on to the West Thumb Geyser Basin and stop to walk around the boardwalk here. It flanks Lake Yellowstone and the geysers are all pure topaz blue in color. There were ducks out swimming in a little patch of water in the frozen lake. The Grand Tetons could been seen in the background. The pools looked just like some of the springs we have in FL such a deep blue in color. One of the signs I saw said the water was 167 degrees. Not a good idea to jump in.

We continue driving and see the Arnica Creek Sandbar that was the original road that stagecoaches used to get around Yellowstone. We pass Bridge Bay and the fishing traps that Indians added to the lake to catch fish. We then pass Lake Hotel and the next stop is Fishing Bridge. We roll over this old wooden bridge with pedestrian walkways on each side and come to a small village that has a gas station, shop, visitor center, mechanic area, and a warming hut for cross country skiers. And then we finally see the sign to check in for Fishing Bridge camping. Yeah we are here. We check in and go to our site. We are in the last section because we want to use our generator. We have sewer and water but no power. A lady in a shop later told us that Xanterra is 2 years away from the end of their contract and they don’t want to make expensive changes unless the NP renew the contract so they are waiting to see what happens. The power fluctuates so much because of the larger coaches taking 50 amps when the park was only built for 20/20 amps years ago. It caused so many meltdowns and brownouts that they are not offering power anymore.

PTCC sees snow piled up in the woods so the first thing she wants to do is play in it. So she grabs her bibs and snow boots and away she goes. She works on building a petite snow woman that is really cute. After we get set up we head back up to the village to check it out in the car. The shop has a grocery, a dining counter and a huge array of goods for us tourists. CC talked to a saleswoman that was from AZ and got the low down on stuff in the area and I met a woman that lives around the corner from us in FL. Literally ¼ mile from our house. She and her husband came out last year and liked it so much they decided to work here this summer. They will stay until mid September and then head back to FL. After checking everything out we came back to run the generator to charge all our electronics and make dinner since we won’t have power after 8 pm. It’s been a busy day so I’m sure we will all sleep well tonight.

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May 22, 2010 by LadyCC.

CC and I get up early and have breakfast and finish up the preparation for leaving. We are going to stop at the Flying J for more propane and then drive to the Walmart in Layton for an oil change. It is 39 degrees outside. It rained all night and snowed in the mountains. You can’t see the tops of them because the fog/cloud cover is so thick. It will not be a sunny day for a drive, that’s for sure.

We have no problem at the Flying J getting the propane so we mosey on to I-15 to go to Walmart. We get there and park and then go in to tell them we called about an oil change. They had to roll the doors all the way up to get us inside. We go to do our shopping and return to find out that they couldn’t do the oil change after all. They did not have the filter necessary for our RV. So all we can do is hookup and leave after loading our groceries. CC also bought a pool noodle hoping that it will help insulate our water line in Yellowstone at Fishing Bridge.

We get on our way and it does look ugly ahead of us. There are very dark clouds hanging over the mountains and the road is still wet from the rain, but at least it is not raining right now. We make it into Idaho and they actually do have a visitor center in this state. But we pass it up because we have just started on journey. About 20 miles into Idaho we hit sleet. Not what we want to see right now. It is piling up on the front window. PTCC wants to sit in the front so she can see it. It piles up so much from the wipers pushing it and then it falls off the windshield. CC told me it is 36 degrees outside. Yuck.

We go for another hour and then stop at a rest stop to have lunch.

All through Idaho we encounter snow showers and they continue into Montana. Even with them we are making good time so we should be in West Yellowstone around 3 pm.

We are in West Yellowstone now. We gassed up before finding the RV Park. CC had a surveyor ask him a lot of questions while he was gassing up the RV. All about what we planned to do while in town and how long we will be staying. After he is through we head to Yellowstone Grizzly RV and check in. It looks like a nice park with lots of green space. Our site is directly across from the playground like we asked for so PTCC could play if she wants. It is still snowing though so I think it is a little too cold to hang around outside. We set up and then head into town to get gas for the car. It is hard to fuel both the car and RV at the same time because the car has the gas fill on the passengers side which makes it hard to reach with the gas hose. So we check out the town while driving around. We stop at the Bear and Wolf Discovery Center and look through a few gift shops. We then decide we are hungry and eat at a Mexican restaurant. Then we find the Visitors Center that also has a National Park desk for info. The gentleman there said we could pick up PTCC’s Jr Ranger book in the morning before heading into the park. We asked about road closures since it’s been snowing and he gave us a number to call in the morning for the latest closures. We then went to get our gas and come back to the RV park. On the way we saw a bison grazing in town. That makes 2 animal sightings today. I saw a moose eating a tree in the Targhee Forest on the way in but could not get a good picture because of our speed and the snow. Hopefully tomorrow we will see many animals and lots of geysers on our way to our campsite. We finally got our Mi-Fi working so as long as we have Verizon hopefully I will be able to post.

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May 22, 2010 by LadyCC.

Today is the day that CC comes back to SLC. I check his flight data when I get up and see that his plane left on time to Denver. He said he would call when he gets in there. PTCC sleeps until 9:15 am and then gets up to have breakfast. We finish up some last minute clean up stuff and around 10:45 am CC calls to tell us that he made it to Denver. His plane will land in SLC around 1 pm. We make plans on where to meet and then hang up. PTCC starts working on finishing up her 1^st semester module in Spanish. She takes her mid term and now has only a collaboration to do. She posts that and needs to wait for someone to answer her and then she will be finished. I do some more research on Yellowstone but the wi-fi is acting up again. This has been a nice RV park except for 2 things: how close the RV’s are parked to each other and the crazy wi-fi. It seems to work fine either real late or real early but is very iffy in between.

CC has called to tell us to pick him up and we head to the airport. They only have 2 terminals in SLC so it is very easy to navigate. We get him and make him drive us back to the park. PTCC is already jumping up and down and wanting to swim. So after a quick lunch we all head out to the pool. CC and PTCC jump right in and CC finds out he needs to stay in the deep end because if you pop your head up it is cold outside. The pool temperature is about 90 degrees but the outside air is only in the low 60’s. They play for awhile and then I leave to go back and take a nap. I’m glad PTCC finally has her dad to play with her in the pool. I know it was getting boring being in it by herself.

The weather is going to get worse soon so when they come back we start racking the bikes and picking up the inside so we can go early in the morning. PTCC helps CC make dinner and then we watch some TV and CC goes to bed. He is still on East coast time.I’m so glad we’re going to move tomorrow. SLC is nice but too cold for me, but I know Yellowstone will be colder.

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May 20, 2010 by LadyCC.

Today is the day to clean the RV thoroughly before we begin the 2^nd half of our trip. PTCC slept until 9:15 am this morning, so we waited until breakfast was finished then got to work. I got to work vacuuming and she got to Windex everything in sight. After changing sheets and towels and cleaning the bath and kitchen. We head to the office so PTCC can work on her WebKinz video that she is creating. Then she swims for awhile. I think she will miss this nice warm pool when we hit Yellowstone this weekend. The weather will be ugly, they are expecting snow showers almost everyday while we will be there.

I really wanted to see Yellowstone in the spring, we have been there before in the winter before PTCC was born.

When watching the news tonight I saw where a girl had fallen off the trail at Timpanagos Cave yesterday (she’s in serious condition) and a ranger was killed today when he slipped off the trail while riding his scooter to the top. It seems we have been there just hours before a lot of news this week. The same day we went to Antelope Island State park several bison were released there because they could not make it to Idaho because of the snow. I’m wondering if those were the ones we saw because when I talked to the people from Panama City they said they did not see any wildlife when they visited. We have traveled through several areas that later that day or the next were on the news. When we went to This Is The Place, the March of Dimes were having a walk that day that was later on the news. Luckily for us we were off I-15 before a huge accident took place where a mid size car ended up under an 18 wheeler when the FedEx driver was cut off and another truck hit the FedEx truck and tipped over. I hope it stays like this for our future travels, I know we don’t need any problems.

The rest of the day was uneventful for us and we finished up the laundry and had dinner, then settled in for the night. CC will be here tomorrow so we will all be together again.

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