Day 4 – Monday

Posted by Jay in Ohio Move

Sights to See: Wyoming (BigHorn) & South Dakota (Deadwood)

We slept in a little late since our guaranteed lil alarm clock didn’t go off (Mateo). We had to head off the eastern portion of Yellowstone to exit out towards Wyoming as we continued east. It went slow as all heck due to construction and the windiness of the park mountains. We did get a few nice shots of Yellowstone Lake on the way out but Norma was driving with the lead foot and made up some good time.

Wyoming had some of the best backdrops you can imagine. Wide open plains, caverns and canyons, red rock and limestone, waterfalls and raging rivers through BigHorn national monument. We stopped for our lunch break in Sheridan, WY for some lunch at a rustic old western inn that was the home of Buffalo Bill and then continued trekking eastward for some of the highlights of this leg. Deadwood, Sturgis and Mt. Rushmore are all within minutes of each other and close to the day’s stop for us in Rapid City, SD.

Mateo has been sleeping lots during the car rides but he probably will personally light his car seat on fire before learning to walk after this trip is over since he undoubtedly hates having to sit in it for our long drives. Mommy has been taking turns reading his favorite books, singing nusery rhymes or letting him play with his favorite brush (he loves to bang things and make noise with his toys nowadays).

We got to Deadwood in the early evening and took in a stroll through main street to see what an old western town would look like. Turns out the wild west in the 2009 is more about gambling and tourist traps rather than a historical depiction of the late 1800s. The hoochie mama manequins in the hotel windows were funny to see though.

Lots more pics from Day4 in the Ohio Move section of our gallery.

Day 3 – Sunday

Posted by Jay in Ohio Move

Sights to See: Grand Tetons, Lower/Upper Yellowstone, and Old Faithful 

The weather forecast predicted thunderstorms all day, but as luck would have it we got in some beautiful sunlight and light clouds most the day. It made for great great pictures. We started with Jackson Lake and Colbert Bay Village where we were staying at and the Tetons were in vivid splendor with the lake as a backdrop. My best shot of the trip so far came from an early morning photography walk.

It felt good not to have to drive all day again – so the little 45min trip back up to Yellowstone was small potatoes. We got in some waterfalls and other good shots until we ended up at the main tourist attraction for Old Faithful. It is on a 90min schedule nowadays so we didn’t have to wait very long. Maybe we watched too many movies as we were expecting the earth to rumble, a light show, and the Scorpions to play a ‘Rock You Like a Hurricane’ as the geyser went off – it was kind of uneventful and lasted about 3minutes. But at least we can say we’ve seen it now :)

We walked all around Geyser park and saw lots of small pools of hot springs, mineral pools which all smelled a lot like rotten eggs (it was the sulphur).  Castle Geyser isn’t as well known as Old Faithful but it was probably more exciting to see since it billows steam all the time.

The rest of the day was taking it easy – stopping at turnouts, taking pictures and heading back to Colbert Bay to have a relaxing dinner. We missed the forecasted thunderstorms all day – so I guess we had luck on our side. I was aiming for some beautiful sunset shots of Jackson Lake with the Tetons in the background but it was too overcast unfortunately.

Again, lots of pics from Day3 found in our Ohio Move portion of our gallery.

Day 2 – Saturday

Posted by Jay in Ohio Move

Sights to See: Glacier National Park, Helena Montana, and the drive thru Yellowstone

We started a little late this morning but headed out for a snack breakfast and into Glacier National Park through the West entrance. The main pass through the park was still snowed in and closed so our intentions of taking the ‘Going to the Sun’ road that traverses the park didn’t pan out. We still got in some great scenery and picture taking as we wound around the park to the eastern entrance.

After Glacier we head southeast out to Helena, MT for our lunch time break. We stopped at a great local place called the Staggering Ox. They had the funkiest sandwiches wrapped in some type of tubular bread. Look weird but tasted great. We found a place to self-wash the car and got rid of the nasty bugs all over the front windshield and bumper. It was as disgusting as you think it to be.

Back on the road we cruised through large portions of Indian reservation land – which was gorgeous against the foothills of the glacier mountains. We made great time until we got just outside of Yellowstone and got pulled over by the Montana State Patrol. Now mind you I’ve never received a speeding ticket before. Yes, never. And if it wasn’t for the radar detector, he would have nailed me, but he gave us a warning to slow down so my streak stays intact!!

Yellowstone itself was an absolute wonder. An amazing pristine habitat for all sorts of wild animals. I remarked to Norma that the animals probably have more rights than we do while in the park :) This is where we lost much time on the road since you can’t go more than 45mph and it doesn’t help when the traffic jam is caused by the herds of Bison crossing the road. The pictures tell it all.

We staggered late into the Grand Teton National Park and made our stay in our cabin for the next two nights. We’ll be hitting Old Faithful tomorrow. Here’s hoping the weather stays ok.

Lots of pictures from Day 2 here in the Ohio Move section of our gallery.

Day 1 – Friday

Posted by Jay in Ohio, Ohio Move

Off we go! Headed east across the interstate, traffic was very light but the cops (better known as the Po-Po) were heavy. We made good time trekking over the Cascades after taking one last picture on the outskirts of Seattle. 

We crossed the Columbia River still in Washington and stopped to take some scenic shots when we saw a tow-truck pulling up from the side of the cliff, a old Ford Taurus station-wagon. How that accident happened, no one knows. But we did get some nice river shots besides the towing comotion

Next we crossed into Idaho and stopped right across the state line into Coeur d’Alene. A cute resort town that has expensive lunches and it was out 87degrees hot with the sun right on your back it felt like. Since we were in the panhandle of Idaho, crossing into Montana was pretty quick and not long into the ride we understood why it is called ‘Big Sky’ country. Amazing vistas.

We stopped at Flathead lake in the Indian reservation and arrived at our destination just outside of Glacier National Park around 7pm. The cottages were really cute and totally cozy. We plan on taking the ‘Going to the Sun’ road tomorrow and end up in Yellowstone sometime in the evening.

The rest of the pics are in the Ohio Move portion of our gallery.

Saying Goodbye

Posted by Jay in Ohio, Ohio Move

Thursday was our last full day in Seattle and we had lots to do with closing out the house, final cleaning, and fix-up jobs to get done. It was busy as usual but we made some special time to spend a little afternoon lunch picnic with Cristian to say our goodbyes. His identical brother laughed and played a bunch and we got to talking about how special Cristian was and always will be to us. It was a great and happy time.

More pictures from the picnic here in our Ohio Move section of our gallery.