Saturday, September 6, 2013. A Date with Kyle

Today is the day we meet our daughter, Kyle, in Portland!

Our morning was spend merely driving towards Portland's airport. We arrived ahead of Kyle's scheduled 2PM arrival, so we spent the time visiting an IKEA store near the airport. This was the first time either of us had been able to actually visit an IKEA, although we were familiar with what we might discover.

We had fun wandering around the showrooms. Of course, we found several great ideas that we would like to use both during our remodeling and even some that might be applicable at work and for our libraries. It was especially interesting to see the complete rooms that were displayed, as well as the entire small apartments/houses. The displays showed how maximum space could be used in a stylish way. Chris was especially impressed that nearly every room display included books. He even noticed that they were Scandinavian language titles, in keeping with IKEA's heritage.

Since it was nearly time to go to the airport we didn't really get to do much more than walk through the Marketplace floor on the way to the exit. I would really like to visit  again to see the organizational ideas, etc. We picked up a catalog on the way out!

I met Kyle at the Frontier baggage claim after a short wait. Her plane was taxiing in while we approach the terminal. We first decided to head for Washington Park and visit the Japanese Garden there. This public urban park covers over 410 acres, including a zoo, walking trails, a rose garden and much more. Although parking was a problem, with vehicles lining all the roads, we considered ourselves lucky to get there before paid parking is initiated later this fall! 

The Japanese Gardens are tranquil and lush. Kyle took many pictures, including many of the statues that are partially covered with moss. We later also went through much of the Rose Garden and enjoyed the variety of roses, all in differing colors and with different odors.

We the headed downtown to introduce Kyle to Powell's City of Books. This is the main store for Powell's, one of the larger online bookstores also. There are at least 68,000 square feet packed with books, both new and used. They have thousands visit the main store each day; probably more than live in most of the towns we visit in our library system! Kyle found some titles to take camping next week and agreed that it would be easy to spend days browsing in the multi-leveled store and reading in the Powell's on-site coffee shop. Of course, some books found there way to our camper, too!

After walking around downtown for a bit, we decided to find the home of Kyle's guides for her trip. She planned to stay at there house that night. After locating the address (they were out for the evening), we looked for a restaurant nearby to eat a late supper.

We discovered The Baowry in St. Johns. It appears this Vietnamese/Korean fusion restaurant began as a food cart and then moved fixed up and moved in to this former crackhouse a year ago!! It appears we ate there one day after the 1st anniversary. Everyone had a great time eating there. We also were able to eat out in the yard under the stars.

We then decided to find a place for Chris and I to camp for the night. By the time we found one within a reasonably short distance (Jantzen Beach RV Park), it was getting late, so Kyle texted her. hosts and told them she would just stay with us for the night and meet them the next day. Walking to the restrooms, etc., with Kyle reminded me of all the years that my kids (Ben, Jason, Kyle, Megan) and I went camping for vacations from the time they were around one-year-old until they were college-age.

We were lucky to get a spot that late at night. The campground had two spots available posted on the door. Luckily, one of those would only take a shorter rig, so our RoadTrek was ideal!

Friday, September 5, 2013. Cheese, Glorious Cheese!

We spent the morning at the Tillamook Cheese Factory and Store. In the late 1800s, pioneer farmers showed up in this coastal county called Tillamook. They discovered that their usual agricultural crops did not thrive and the growing season was shorter than that to which they were accustomed; the best crop here was grass. They had lots of rain, 90” a year on the coast and up to 150” a year in the mountains. And they had milk cows. They had trouble shipping milk over rough roads, so they converted it to cheese. Ten of the farmers gathered together to create a cooperative cheese factory. This cooperative eventually had a boat built called the Morning Star to ship their cheese up to Seattle and to Portland. Tillamook is now the 44th largest cheese producer in North America. They have a large store selling cheese and a huge variety of related products.

We were able to watch some of the assembly line processes that included cutting, weighing, and packaging the cheese blocks both for aging and distribution. We imagined our family quality control authority, Polly, would have done a great job there (well, after she became accustomed to the differences between airplane components and cheese!)

Of course, cheese sampling was a hit with both of us, as usual. And we dropped a sizable amount on purchasing various goodies in the store. The Tillamook folks know a lot about marketing because we then had to stop at the on-site ice cream section to get a couple of scoops each. Chris was especially pleased to find a wide variety of no sugar added varieties, including a black cherry that he enjoyed! Thanks for thinking about the non-sugar crowd, Tillamook!

We continued down the coast and stopped two times. First we stopped at a Walgreens to refill a prescription for Kathy. That took 2 1/2 hours, at least! For part of that time we went to a nearby Goodwill store and browsed. OK, we also bought a few things... We drove a bit further and stopped to do laudry. Those two stops used up enough time that we didn't have time to visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium as planned, so we finished the evening at Lincoln City in the KOA near Devil's Lake.

Thursday, September 5, 2013. Ike Kinswa State Park, WA, to Nehalem Bay State Park, OR

Thursday, we visited Fort Clatsop National Memorial, near Astoria, Oregon. The Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery spent three months in this fort preparing for their return journey, during the winter of 1805/06. During their three-month stay, it rained all but twelve days. The clothing rotted. Clark spent a lot of time making the maps of the journey west. Kathy and I took a short walk to the reconstructed fort. Lewis and Clark forts are small, maybe 200 feet by 200 feet, large enough for about six rooms, total, on either side of an open area in the middle. The walls are 10 feet high. Three rooms on the left side of the open area were for the men. The rooms on the right are for officers, Lewis and Clark, and another room for Sacagawea, her less useful husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, and their baby son, Jean Baptiste, and York, Clark's slave. According to what I have read, York participated as a full member of the group, doing regular work of hunting and exploring and voting on the location of winter quarters. However, unlike other members of the group, he was never paid for his services, though he may have won his freedom. Sacagawea's official job is listed as a guide. However, she was more useful as a translator of the Shoshoni language. And, I have read that being a woman signified the Corps' peaceful intent to the Indians met along the way. Indian war parties didn't carry women. After the journey, Sacagawea's son received a white man's education. When he was 18, he lived in Kansas City; a German prince befriended him and took him to Germany for awhile. Jean Baptiste eventually returned and lived a restless, but respectable, life out West. He died of pneumonia on his way to the Montana gold rush and is buried in Danner, Oregon, an unincorporated community in Malheur County.

As we worked our way down the Oregon coast, we stopped at Cannon Beach. We walked out on the beach to view Haystack Rock. This 235-foot tall rock rising from the ocean is very distinctive. The rock and surrounding area has also been granted Marine Garden status by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in 1990. Collecting plants or animals is strictly prohibited. Climbing above the mean high tide level (barnacle line) disturbs nesting birds and is not allowed. 

The rain storm that had been threatening moved in while we were on the beach, so we returned to the camper in a rather bedraggled  state. The temperature also was falling. Ben tells us that is has been "hot" back home, but it's been hard to imagine that on this vacation. Most days have been very pleasant, Kathy's even work jeans a few times rather than shorts. Nights have been mostly in the 50-60s degree range, so it will be odd to return to a Kansas summer.

We found another nice state park campground at Nehalem Bay State Park. The park is right on the beach, although separated by some sand dunes. We hiked through to the ocean in the waning daylight and in the sprinkling rain.

Wednesday, September 4, Glaciers!

In the morning we drove to Mt. Rainier, which is covered with 26 glaciers. We drove two sides of Mt. Rainier National Park. Typical winding, mountainous roads with forest on each side. We eventually reached Paradise visitor center and village. Inside the visitor center is a shop and displays about the tectonic origin of the northwest volcanoes and the wildlife surviving the harsh winters. The glaciers are easy to see from there with the eye and binoculars mounted on stands. From here numerous trails leading up to the glaciers, 200 or more feet above. Since it was afternoon, many people were returning to cars, removing packs and putting them into car trunks. Serious hikers are most easily identified because they carry walking sticks that look like ski-poles.

We knew Kyle would be at Mt. Rainier in a few days on a volunteer trip to help with re-vegetating (is that a word?) some of the area. So we, playfully, created a list of all the things she could do when she arrived with the volunteer team. I'm sure they will do other, more appropriate projects and we're proud of her service to our environmentl!

From Mt. Rainier we headed further south toward Oregon. We have made "a date" to meet Kyle there, but we still have some time to enjoy other scenery and places.

Tonight we stayed at Ike Kinswa State Park in Washington. It's on a lake. We really liked the park; spacing of the sites is very generous and there weren't many others there anyway. It is so nice when we find state parks or forest service parks, etc. that have electricity for our C-PAPs. We both really enjoy the more rustic settings, even when it's only for a night.

Seattle, Once More.

On Tuesday, we toured the Seattle Public Library and the EMP Museum at Seattle Center, especially the science fiction, horror and fantasy exhibits. The Seattle Public Library is a newer building. Its construction was controversial because the collection was greatly reduced in size. Book-lovers were outraged. And the collection does seem small for a library in a town the size of Seattle. Computers and computer stations are everywhere. Moving from floor to floor is a mixture of stairs, escalators which skip floors, and elevators which don't. The fourth floor is famous for being all red: walls, floors, ceiling. This whole floor has six meeting rooms and bathrooms. When we were there only the bathrooms were used. No meetings were taking place as far as we could tell. Kathy and I found the layout confusing. The walls, floors and furniture were hard surfaces, a few brightly colored. The overall effect was not warm, cozy or inviting. I was reminded of the George Pompedieu Centre in Paris without the buskers out front entertaining the crowd. The EMP is near the Space Needle. From their website: “EMP is a leading-edge, nonprofit museum, dedicated to the ideas and risk-taking that fuel contemporary popular culture. With its roots in rock 'n' roll, EMP serves as a gateway museum, reaching multigenerational audiences through our collections, exhibitions, and educational programs, using interactive technologies to engage and empower our visitors. At EMP, artists, audiences and ideas converge, bringing understanding, interpretation, and scholarship to the popular culture of our time.” We camped overnight in Kent, Washington. During the evening, we purchased tasty chocolate-vanilla ice cream at a poorly attended ice cream social at the campground. Actually, I went back for seconds (kdr). A great, nourishing supper! Later we the camp had an outdoor showing of Dwayne Johnson's movie, Gridiron Gang. During the credits, the movie showed clips of the real life football coach saying the very phrases Dwayne Johnson's character used in the movie. “On the football field we will do things my way. You are losers. Doing things your way got you here [in prison]. Doing things my way will make you winners.” Stuff like that. Once again, we were pretty much the only ones that watched the whole movie.

Seattle, Day One

Kathy and I spent Monday and Tuesday in Seattle. On Monday, we first parked near the Space Needle, $40 for the day. First, we toured the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit recommended by Shannon and Polly. Chihuly is known for fanciful, organic shapes. This exhibit was a lifelong retrospective of his work from the 1960s to the present. Though I have seen his chandeliers before I was not aware of the variety of his work. It is very impressive, fun and amazing. A delightful exhibition. His use of bright colors was especially stunning (kdr). Next we went up the Space Needle and viewed Seattle. We had a very expensive, gourmet lunch in the revolving restaurant at the top of the Needle, but the meal was quite good. In the afternoon, we rode the Emerald City trolley, green line, to Pioneer Square in the oldest part of Seattle. We toured Seattle Underground. Unlike, the underground of Ellinwood, Kansas, the story of the Seattle Underground is about the early history of the building of Seattle. It is an amazing story. Seattle was originally built on the tidal flats at the bottom of a cliff This is late 1800s. City sewage control, e.g., flush toilets were becoming popular. When first installed the city sewage, including the toilets, flushed out to sea, except at high tide when everything flushed backwards. In 1889, Seattle's wooden city center burned to the ground. The city proposed a plan to build hills from the cliffs to the ocean shore. Since this would take several years, the town's people decided to build brick buildings on the tidal flats anyway. And then the city decided to build streets that were hills from the cliffs to the ocean shore. This created, as the guide said, a waffle looking city. The buildings and sidewalks were the indentions. The streets were the high parts surrounding the indentions. Shoppers would walk along the sidewalks along the ground. When they reach the end of the block, they climbed ladders up to the street, crossed the street, then climb back down the ladder to the sidewalk. Later, sidewalks were built on street level. At the street level, the fronts of stores were the second and third stories. So there were stores at the street level and stores below the stores below the streets in the underground. Since, it rains almost every afternoon in the summer, shopping the underground was favored. Eventually, though, the lower level had to be condemned when the rats became so numerous several cases of bubonic plague were reported. The second history we learned about is how the money for licensing prostitution funded the development of Seattle: schools, sidewalks, etc. When the most successful madame of Seattle died, she left $250,000 to Seattle schools. We were shown a picture of this madame, The picture included five of her top earners. Four of them were dressed in white. These were women. The one dressed in black was a guy in drag. His name was Mike. In the picture, the Mike does look like a guy. We were told that dressing in black was “code” all over the West for a cross-dressing guy prostitute.

North Fork, Idaho to Lolo, Montana to Kamiah, Idaho

Today was mostly driving. We had two adventures today.

We visited the Darby, Montana bookstore and then library. The bookstore sells books weeded from and donated to the Darby Community Library. We had a great time talking with the ex-board member volunteer clerk running the store. Afterward we visited the library. Since Darby is on the Bitterroot River, fly fishing is big business. The library offers a fly tying station with instructions, tools and materials needed to tie flies.

After Darby, we drove north to Lolo, Montana and turned west along highway 12. Highway 12 is an All American Byway because is offers scenery and history. Highway 12's history is the Lewis and Clark Trail during 1805 and the Nez Perce flight from federal troops in 1877 up the Clearwater River Canyon, i.e., Highway 12.

We camped in Kamiah, Idaho.

Kamaish, Idaho to almost Seattle

We left the campsite and drove across the highway to the Nez Perce site called Heart of the Monster. Heart of the Monster is the Nez Perce creation story. Coyote kills a monster by cutting out its heart. Coyote then cuts off pieces of the monster and flings the pieces around the country. Each piece becomes a different tribe of Indians.  Drops of monster blood are the Nez Perce themselves. Heart of the Monster is one of 38 national park sites scattered across four states dedicated to the Nez Perce. The main site is in Spalding, Idaho. At that site we viewed a film and small museum about the Nez Perce. Nez Perce is French for pierced nose. Their own name for themselves is Nee-Me-Poo.

In 1877, the U.S. Army chased the Nez Perce from their homeland in northeast Oregon, up the Clearwater River valley, i.e., Highway 12 through Idaho, across Yellowstone Park and up to northern Montana. Nez Perce warriors bested U.S. troops in 20 battles and skirmishes, but these were Pyrrhic victories. At about 50 miles from the Canadian border, the Nez Perce had to surrender. Landscape of History video describes this event. Most of the 38 national park sites also preserve this event.

In the traditional/mythic history of this event Chief Joseph is given credit as the military genius behind the Nez Perce's military success. A short history (1964) I just read claims this is a myth. Chief Joseph was a respected chief, but he was not a war chief. Other warriors are responsible for the Indian victories.

Afterward we drove west into Washington state, driving north toward Spokane, but turning west through the rolling wheat and mint fields of central Washington and across the Columbia River basin east of Seattle. Washington is the No. 1 producer of mint oil in the United States. We could smell the mint as we drove past those fields.

Along the way we stopped at a large fruit stand. We bought fresh peaches, cherries and blueberries. Three weird characters were hanging around the fruit stand.

To bee or not to bee a fruit lover.

Smile, when you say you don't like fruit.

There's a fruit fly on your head. Let me shoo it away.

Can you name this actress from the show?

About dusk we stopped at Roslyn, Washington where Northern Exposure was filmed from 1990 to 1995. We only recognized three things from the show: this mural for the Roslyn Cafe, the Brick bar, and the KBHR radio station. In the show, the mural had an apostrophe and "s" added to the end of Roslyn to make the cafe dedicated to one of the fictitious founders of fictitious Cicely, Alaska.

We are now camped at a RV park associated with a golf course about 50 miles west of Seattle.

Hot Stuff: Nuclear Reactors to Volcanoes

EBR-i? No, EBR-One.

Friday morning began with breakfast back at Pickle's Place. Kathy ate an omelet. Chris a buffalo burger.

We then headed back a few miles to visit Experimental Breeder Reactor No. 1 (EBR-I) Atomic Museum. The museum is housed in the original nuclear energy station on the site and it is much smaller than those we are accustomed to, like Wolf Creek Power Station near Burlington, Kansas. It is also listed on the National Historic Register. The guide gave us a tour explaining how nuclear reactors and breeder reactors work and the various areas in the station that dealt with each step in the process. She emphasized the safety features, even in the early 1950s, and I came away with a much better attitude about nuclear energy and it's role in our future (--Kathy). It reminded me of the early Robert Heinlein novels of the '40s and '50s that I have enjoyed where nuclear energy is taken for granted and used in all aspects of life.



This whole area of Idaho is centered around nuclear energy, it seems. The museum is on land owned by the Idaho National Laboratory, once known as the Atomic Energy Commission’s Argonne National Laboratory.

Chris prevents a nuclear catastrophe by manipulating wooden blocks.

EBR-1 was followed by EBR-2. Museum displays claim the three major nuclear accidents at Three-mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima-Daiichi could not have happened with the EBR-2 design.  During its life, EBR-2 ran tests demonstrating that as the nuclear core heats up the fuel spreads out to slow the reaction without the insertion of "control rods" or additional coolant to prevent  melting the reactor.
  
Idaho should be called the "Smile State" because the Snake River Plain is shaped like a large smile across the bottom half of the state. In the eastern half of the smile, running perpendicular to the smile, is the Great Rift of Idaho. Out of this rift came the 60 lava flows that now make up the Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve.

In the early 1900s a geologist estimated the lava to be 150 years old. However, tree ring dating of a large gnarled tree showed the tree to be 1,300 years old. But how long had the lava been there when the tree started growing? Further study showed the lava had flowed from the Great Rift around 2,000 years ago.And this is the most recent of the eight periods of volcanic activity in this area.

So now the story is that lava started flowing up through the rift about 15,000 years ago and has done so about 8 times. The longest flow is 30 miles long. Two kinds of lava can be seen. Lava types have Hawaiian names. "Pahoehoe" looks like smooth, billowy and ropy. "Aa" is rough and jagged. These flows created a number of cool features such as lava caves and 25 cinder and splatter cones. 

Horizontal tree mold

When the lava covered trees and cooled, the wood burned out and decayed leaving tree molds. Vertical tree molds are created when trees remain standing and look like perfect holes drilled in the lava. When trees fall over, horizontal molds show the tree bark burned into squares. In the picture on the right, the flat curved surface is the mold of tree bark. The impression in the lava is easier to see in reality than in this picture.

Another story is how the vegetation is recovering the land, turning lava into soil. More details.

We left the lava flows at about 6:30 pm. Drove back to Arco and then turned north up the Big Lost River valley, passed the Mackay dammed lake, over a pass to the Salmon River. The valley was filled with smoke from Idaho wildfires. The pass was so smokey that the surrounding could be barely seen.

On the Salmon River we stopped in Challis for dinner. It was dark when we drove on. The lights of the van are weak. I drove from Challis to North Fork at about 45 miles an hour, the speed limit in Yellowstone. At one point, a young deer ran out. I swerved. The deer swerved. But there was still a loud bang. The solid front bumper of the camper is unharmed. I did not stop to check the damage to the deer, but I fear the worst.

This night was spent in the highly-rated Wagonhammer KOA park in North Fork, Idaho. We arrived late. Since there is little light pollution, the stars were bright. The Milky Way was easy to see. Our spot was right on the Salmon River.

Experimental Breeder Reactor No. 1 (EBR-I) Atomic Museum - See more at: http://www.inl.gov/ebr/#sthash.KSFiUnGE.dpuf

Experimental Breeder Reactor No. 1 (EBR-I) Atomic Museum - See more at: http://www.inl.gov/ebr/#sthash.KSFiUnGE.dpuf

Experimental Breeder Reactor No. 1 (EBR-I) Atomic Museum - See more at: http://www.inl.gov/ebr/#sthash.KSFiUnGE.dpuf

Experimental Breeder Reactor No. 1 (EBR-I) Atomic Museum - See more at: http://www.inl.gov/ebr/#sthash.KSFiUnGE.dpuf

Experimental Breeder Reactor No. 1 (EBR-I) Atomic Museum - See more at: http://www.inl.gov/ebr/#sthash.KSFiUnGE.dpuf

Experimental Breeder Reactor No. 1 (EBR-I) Atomic Museum - See more at: http://www.inl.gov/ebr/#sthash.KSFiUnGE.dpuf

Experimental Breeder Reactor No. 1 (EBR-I) Atomic Museum - See more at: http://www.inl.gov/ebr/#sthash.KSFiUnGE.dpuf

Dubois, WY to Fishing Bridge, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Chris sees the Grand Tetons!

We reached the Grand Teton National Park at about 9:30 am, Wednesday, I think. The lakes and land are already at 6,000 elevation. The granite Tetons rise another 5,000 to 6,000 feet almost straight up. The day we were there a layer of clouds drifted at about 7,500 feet in front of the Tetons. Another layer floated just above the peaks. It was a very majestic site. A few recesses had glaciers from the top many thousand feet down the face. It was truly a grand and majestic sight. Lakes and swampy land are at the base of the mountains. I read that wildlife is abundant, but we saw none on our drive north into Yellowstone.

At the visitors center we saw a short film about the 1988 fires which destroyed 36% of Yellowstone's forests.

In Yellowstone we drove straight to the campsite near Fishing Bridge because it is the only camp with electrical hook-ups we need for our c-paps. After getting our campsite, we drove one of the loops to Old Faithful.

While we waited a soft drizzle began, then it began to actually rain. We took shelter under a pine tree where we could still keep an eye on Old Faithful. We were told the geyser would erupt at 6 pm. Old Faithful went off right on schedule with a 5-minute gusher. One thing I noticed is that as Old Faithful was gushing, steam was also rising from the cone's surface, not just from the hole.

C. J. Box is honored to meet the Rippels.

After the eruption, Kathy and I walked to the historic Old Faithful Inn. It is very impressive with a cathedral ceiling and numerous atriums overlooking the central area. Wyoming mystery author C. J. Box was doing a book signing of his July 2013 book, The Highway, which takes place near Yellowstone.We discussed his books and ebooks, libraries, and publishers.

 On the way to and from Old Faithful we stopped at some hot springs. I had originally thought the colors are created by minerals in the hot water. Educational signs, however, the colors are are “mats” of thermophilic microorganisms, archaea and bacteria, that use the colors to absorb the specific colors of lighted needed for their photosynthesis. They are pretty and awesome. (http://www.nps.gov/ns/yell/planyourvisit/upload/r&i10_4.pdf)

After sleeping at the campsite, we drove to Mammoth Hot Springs in the northern part of Yellowstone, Thursday morning.

Elk asks for a ride, but we were going the other way.

Along the way, we saw forests of 12-foot trees, the regrowth from the 1988 Yellowstone fire. And
during our drives through the park, we saw herds of bison, a family of elk, a momma bear and her cub, geese and chipmunks. Kathy was disappointed that we did not see any moose.

One amazing feature of Mammoth Hot Springs is the formation of flat travertine terraces. In many places travertine terraces look like steps. At Mammoth, the travertine terrace reminded Kathy and I of pueblos. When fresh the terraces are beautiful, bright white. Weathering turns them gray. Travertine is a popular building stone in places such as Italy. Travertine terraces occur all over the world. (http://www.atlasofwonders.com/2012/11/travertine-terraces.html)

At around noon, we headed out of Yellowstone for Idaho. Our goal is Craters of the Moon National Monument.

On the way to our destination we learned about Spuds Drive In Movie Theater in Driggs, Idaho. We are going to try to visit it on the way back through Idaho to Kansas.

At dinner, Kathy relaxes reading.

We are now camping at the KOA in Arco, Idaho. We ate at a place called "Pickle's Place: home of the Atomic Burger", neither of us had an Atomic Burger. After dinner, Kathy read for awhile in their green rocking chair. Across the street was the "sail" of a retired nuclear submarine USS Hawkbill (666), known fondly as the "Devil Boat." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Hawkbill_%28SSN-666%29)

Arco is surrounded by small knobs. One knob is called "Number Hill" because each high school class, beginning in 1920, writes its year on a spot on the hill. Tomorrow we will visit "Craters on the Moon."

My French Grandmother Would be Appalled : Strasburg, CO to Dubois, WY

Vedauwoo

As many of our readers know, the last few years we have pretty much made up our travel destinations on the fly. After eating breakfast in suburban Denver (Cracker Barrel), we knew we needed to decide on a route by the time we reached Cheyenne, Wyoming. Our options were to go north through Casper to Montana, or west toward Laramie, Rawlins, etc. for Utah, etc. But after looking at the map we decided to stray from the original “Pacific Northwest” and detoured toward the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park. Chris had never been to northwest Wyoming! With his interest in geologic “stuff” and love of travel it seemed like a place he would have visited before. Well, it was time to rectify the situation... We lunched at Undine Park in Laramie, Wyoming, on our brisket sandwiches (home-made brisket sandwiches for vacation lunches is a long-standing Reid-Mitchum-Rippel tradition). It was then back to I-80. We turned north at Rawlins, passed through Lander, and stopped for the night in Dubois, Wyoming. After checking in at the KOA, we toured the downtown area of Dubois and visited the local grocery store for some staples we needed: bread, paper towels, etc. (“How fascinating”, you think). Then back to our temporary home for the night. Why would my French grandmother be appalled? Grandma Smith was an immigrant from southern France when she was twelve. She always cringed when we would tell her about friends with French names that had been Americanized (Bourgeois pronounced something like “bur-goyce”, rather than the much prettier-sounding French pronunciation that I can only phonetically spell as something like “boor-zhwa”). Well, my great uncle and aunt (other side of the family!) lived in Dubois for awhile and I've been taught to pronounce it “du-boyce” rather than the French “du-bwa”. Grandma would NOT be amused... Tomorrow? Yellowstone and vicinity. Note to our loyal followers: Most of the time we've been in Wyoming we have not had internet or even phone service, period. That's why this blog is already past due. As soon as we get in to an area with some service we will be loading all the days we've prepared.

Westward Ho! : Great Bend to Strasburg, CO

We got away around 2:45 PM because Chris had an appointment earlier. Dilly is “sleeping over” with the Sanders's and Bungee was anxiously awaiting the time Ben would come visit her. Of course, it didn't feel much like vacation yet, since we were traversing areas we drive through regularly while consulting. We finally stopped for the night at the KOA at Strasburg, Colorado, outside Denver.