Mann For All Seasons--Indeed!

Mann Lake, Oregon--and other Eastern Oregon Stops, 2016

When Mother Nature has her own ideas...

We've been at this “getting-out-in-nature” stuff long enough to know better than to have expectations.  Here's what we DO count on:  (1) some kind of adventure; (2) some kind of get-away; and (3) some kind of spiritual humbling to make us more aware of what's important in life.  Check, check, double-check!!

Days 1-3 (April 19-21)

As “usual” as anything can be, our journey to Mann was that...audio books to keep us company while driving...the relaxation that comes with being committed to any trip (too late to worry about what you forgot—you're on the road!) and the excitement of not knowing exactly what might be in store for us.  We had a smooth trip over, no major hiccups, and spent the first night at Chicahominy.  The lake was really low due to drought conditions of the past 2 years, so no fish to be found for Chris—it was just a stop.  The following day found us at Crane Hot Springs, to grab a soak before heading onto Mann to set up camp.

The weather was absolutely beautiful when we arrived and we stayed on the east side for a change since the west side was populated with not just people and campsites but resident cows as well!  

We got set up, took a nap, met neighbor Kevin who was here from Idaho, and then took a walk to the south end where Chris fished and caught 2 nice big ones for his dad Bill, who had sent us off with the challenge of catching him a couple of Mann Lake trout—check!  I filmed and read...a very nice way to end the day...

Old Dogs, New Tricks, No Instructions...!

Bill had also sent us off with his personal vacuum packer so we could preserve the fish properly until we got back to deliver them to him.  Simple.  No problemo.  Bill didn't have the instructions but we had used vacuum packers before, so how hard could it be? 

Nothing is funnier than 2 geezers in the wilds trying to operate unfamiliar machinery.  Surely an audience would have made it even funnier, but we entertained ourselves enough trying to figure it out (Which way does it go? Where does the roll go? Where does the roll feed into this thing?).  We were frustrated and cursing the thing at first, then lo and behold something finally “took” (not sure what or how) and we were off and running, laughing our butts off.  Ah, the cheap thrills of idiocy!  Turns out, based on our prior experience, we were actually making it harder than it actually was.  Typical.

Why I Love Pontoon Boating

(Admission Is The First Step...)

Day 3 was a gorgeous morning and we decided to get our pontoon boats out on the lake.  For those who don't know me well, let me just say that I'm not the most graceful person, especially in the great outdoors.  I tend to be a bit clumsy and, well...accident prone.  In fact, I've accomplished so much in this area, I've decided to start up a 12-step program for accident prone people (“Hi, my name is Darcie and I'm accident prone.  It has been 2 hours since my last accident when I jammed my toe trying to answer the phone...”), so we'll see if there's hope for improvement on that score. 

Suffice it to say that there are few outdoor sports that really interest me since many might require a trip to the doctor on my part.  Thankfully, there's one thing I can do that doesn't appear to do any damage to me whatsoever:  pontoon boating!!  We spent all morning out on the lake and the Steens mountain scenery was incredible.

Chris' buddy Steve B. showed up that afternoon, and the 2 of them got into some heavy-duty fishing. I did some filming of them from camp while testing out my new bug repellent, a non-toxic wrist band. Mosquitoes always find and torture me and I've found few things that work besides the dreaded Deet spray, so I was excited to try this new “invention”.  And so were the mosquitoes.  I had this terrific idea that I would watch the pests as they whiffed the repellent and flew off—watch the effectiveness in action as it were—bring it on!  But what I actually watched was one bite me on the same arm that the wrist band was on...cross another one off the list!  My desire to repel them might have been like some kind of foreshadowing for what happened to us the following day...

Apr 22-25                                                                                           

Some winds during the night made us skeptical about our chances at getting out on the lake today but Chris was up and out at 5:30 anyway, battling the wind to get at the fish.  At about 7:00, the winds had died down enough for me to give the pontoon another try and it was sweeeeeet!  I did a little bit of pelican-watching/filming, and then had a great drift/read—letting the boat go where it wanted while I read my book.  What an excellent way to experience Mann Lake, I was thinking!!

After about 2 hours out, the winds started to pick up (the pontoon was banging me around on the banks in pretty short order), so I came on back and we decided to load the pontoons back up onto the truck.  Mann Lake winds were showing signs of “having their way with us”.

There were some “teasers” of calm periods as the light faded, but then the winds came back with a vengeance!

Shoppie the Wind-O-Meter

You can usually tell how frightening the weather is outside of our trailer by Shoppie's behavior.  This time, when she wasn't squished into the back of her carrier, big eyes staring out, she glued herself under the covers between us. 

The wind got so bad that we had to bring in our slide-out extension because it sounded like it was about to get ripped to shreds and sent off into where Dorothy was spinning inside the twister in her bed screaming, “There’s no place like home!  There’s no place like home!”  Then Chris got out our old camera (in case the 60-mile-an-hour winds took off with it, he wanted to use one we wouldn't miss as much) and shot footage so we could remember this excitement. 

Shoppie actually got used to the wind at some point (not sure when), but sometime in the early morning she was laying on top of us and “going-with-the-flow” as the wind violently shook our trailer back and forth...Chris called her the “Bobble-Head” and we couldn't stop laughing every time it shook and she just wobbled back and forth, looking at us for all the world like she was saying, “Okay, REALLY?”  She was a master of the storm after a while...piece of cake!

Toughing it Out...

Our other camping friends, Steve F. and his wife Lori, arrived that afternoon, and set up camp—we did a group Mexican meal that night on our trailer and watched a movie with some homemade popcorn Steve F. did up—when Mother Nature throws stuff at us, this is how we rough it, yes indeed.  The next day went as follows:

1.                  Boys attempted fishing (muddy waters—no luck)

2.                  Lori and I chatted, walked, read

3.                  Group dinner (Steve B on burgers and pasta salad—great stuff!)

4.         Movies

And all of this was followed by another violent windy overnight.  Steve B. left to head back to Salem before any of us got up (his pop-up camper really took a beating), and the rest of us got up in the snow/wind and intense cold to get the heck outta there.  We were on the road by 7:00 a.m.

April 26 and Beyond

Change of Scenery, Change of Pace

Steve F. modeling "relaxed fishing" technique at Krumbo

Two of about 50 antelope we saw on the way to Krumbo

We decided to stop at our old friend, Page Springs campground, and hit some beautiful weather and decent fishing at Krumbo Reservoir.  We also took some pleasant walks, did some neat wild horse-viewing, and ran into some beautiful mule deer bucks as well, along with all the “usual” wildlife that sometimes become commonplace (oh, another antelope!) but nevertheless still makes you gasp at their beauty.

Chris catching a good one at Krumbo

Mule Deer Buck near Page Springs

Chris, Lori, and Steve spy on the wild horses

Wild horses on the hill above us

Lori catching the first of several bigger ones there at Krumbo

After a couple of days, we opted to have breakfast at Krumbo after one last fishing session at Krumbo (where Lori out fished everyone—way to go!) and take off from there. Steve and Lori headed on to their next destination in Central Oregon and Chris and I headed back towards Salem, stopping to “re-group” and enjoy Detroit Lake for what it had to offer.

So, yes, the trip was probably not what any of us had hoped for in terms of the number of relaxing days and great weather, but our adventure once again left us in awe of our surroundings and the powerlessness of life itself.  That certainly makes it all worth it in the end!

The Healing Sun (Molokai, January 2016)

Go Where No One Goes…

After a long drought here in Oregon, the rains finally came in the late fall, and then they over-stayed their welcome by December 2015—breaking wet records all over the western valley portion of our state. After an emotion-packed year, we decided to check out what we might be able to swing as a brief escape from it all—the sogginess inside ourselves and outside our door—and discovered the island of Molokai, Hawaii. We were attracted to it because of its seeming aversion to tourist traffic and its lack of everything that tourists look for (and we do not). Coupled with that, and most likely because of that, prices were way more affordable than those popular islands we hear so much about (Maui, Oahu, etc.).

Day One

Although largely uneventful (no major catastrophe tripping us up), getting there was the usual “fun time” that flying/travelling generally is—waiting at airports, toughing out lines, making do with tight quarters on the plane—from Portland to Honolulu. Once there, we hiked our way over to the small airplane part of the terminal where a hopper later took us to Molokai. We went through yet another security station and then waited some more at the only eatery there before being summoned, in a sort of kindergartners-line-up-with-buddies-and-numbers way, to the little plane that would take us to our little haven. That flight was pleasant and brief, and we were able to see the whole island from the air, which is a nice way to get your bearings.

We landed at the small airport, got our little rental car (a Fiat, soon to become Chris’ least favorite car in the universe—“It makes our Prius seem like a race car!”), and headed for our cottage on the ocean, stopping first in the town of Kaunakakai to pick up groceries.

We were not to be disappointed in the least. The cottage was everything it was advertised to be and we were immediately impressed/comfortable/excited to be there.

We unpacked clothes and groceries, and then settled in to enjoy the view from our deck…ahhhhhh!! We had arrived…and were enjoying the peace and the sweet little “smooching” sounds coming from the resident geckos. In addition to the ocean, our backyard was also an ancient fishing pond...rocks walling in an area that provided even more snorkeling views as we later learned.

Day 2-Day 4 Highlights (because they all happily and easily blend together)

We spent a bit of time scouting the island by car—drove to the ends of all 3 main roads—and saw some beautiful spots. Since we were staying on the east end of the island where it’s mostly laid-back residents, we got a kick out of seeing the west end which was a totally different feel with its big fancy resort “ghost town”. The reason the resort was basically boarded up and abandoned was because the island told a developer “No!” to his desires to expand in order to “make Molokai some serious money”…they were not interested, so he up and left everything. Part of the place now gets used by a handful of tourists.

As we drove about, we decided to “treat” ourselves to whatever ice cream sandwich-type offerings the various stores along our way had. My favorite was a mocha ice cream ball wrapped in a soft sweet doughy rice outer layer—yum! Chris thought these were good too, but his favorite was a special kind of strawberry cheesecake ice cream bar. Okay, it's worth mentioning at this point that we KNEW we were going to have to diet when we got home (and we did, we are).

We saw the “highest cliffs” that overlook Father Damien’s leprosy colony (Chris’ comment regarding the cliffs was that maybe if we put the Fiat at the top and let it drop, it might actually make it up to 25 mph).

Along one of our “jaunts”, we went inside a little itty bitty church in the middle of nowhere that was all set up for service (including vases of fresh flowers) and no one there...

We enjoyed the local flavor and met some nice people, including Julie at the Visitor’s Center, Arelone (“Bird Lady”) who taught us about various birds we saw on the island, and our neighbor Tony, who generously brought over and served fresh coconuts, then gave us a lobster he and his dad had caught that day.

From our back deck or “back yard”, we watched fisher people in the ocean work their way along/around our fishing pond, followed the progress of divers working along the reefs, then did a bit of snorkeling ourselves ($7/day for that equipment).

Walking along the road was even enjoyable as there is almost no traffic and you essentially wind up walking along the ocean. Bird calls accompanied us everywhere and they were surprising us here and there along the way…

Maybe it’s the happy sun that did it, but we even began to feel like the crabs along our beachfront had personality and enjoyed watching their progress as we ate/drank on our back deck.

The sound of the waves put us to sleep every night and it was absolute heaven to me. I would go back there just for that. And we would both go back again just to enjoy this low-keyed, easy-going, low-populated island. No complaints (until Day 5 when we had to travel back)!

Raw Simplicity (John Day, 2015)

What the doctor ordered…

Raw simplicity—that’s what extended camping gives back…a chance to wonder at all that I’m grateful for – a loving fun, and easy-going marriage, great friends, amazing family, wonderful grand kids—a great time with son Randall and his family recently when they came to Oregon – and a chance to soften the blows of harsher times – like the sorrow of losing my Dad or the surrounding family intensities, and then the agony of untimely deaths of spouses in the lives of a dear friend and now also my sister.

When I get out in the wilderness—albeit in “spoiled” trailer camping style—I revel in the realization that only everything basic truly matters—eating, sleeping, loving, breathing, appreciating nature and true beauty—and nothing that I convinced myself as mattering—what people think of me, what I have “accomplished”—actually does.  Chris and I marvel at how our “world” of the trailer (our home) gets “transported” to other places so that, much like the holodeck on the Star Trek Enterprise, we have the same home wherever we go, but we open the door onto whole new worlds.

This year, Chris drew 2 tags in the John Day area—one of our favorite places to be—and it gave us an opportunity/excuse to disconnect for what turned out to be 4 weeks—longer than we had before. And although not a hunter myself, I’ve come to appreciate his brand of hunting, with the emphasis on respect, knowledge, and a love of being in touch with the surrounding wilderness.  He doesn’t like the kill but appreciates the gifts.  This activity that used to bring about an eye-roll has now commanded my respect.  I’ve learned a lot of life lessons from those unusual settings, including from a philosophical sniper…yes, you read that correctly.


Thursday, 9/24/15
We took off at about 8:30 (we being Chris, me, and Shoppie our campin’ cat), had lunch at Marion
Forks along the creek, then into the Clyde Holliday campsite by about 4:00.  Nice weather…we took a walk on the trail by the river while Shoppie scoped out the grounds from her window (“Kitty Television”).

Friday & Saturday, 9/25/15-9/26/15
Scouting Days--I love scouting days, especially when the weather’s perfect!  We get to drive, listen to audio tapes, stop and take walks, and of course look for wildlife and possible campsites.  We had some exciting spots—a nice 4-point on the East Northside area, then 2 big huge bucks on the West side which was thrilling—tried to film them but got too excited before getting them.  Found a perfect camp spot nearby—no people, no potential neighbors, great country for walking, scouting, hunting, AND right next to a perfect clear spring water source—wow!





Scouting day evenings involved cleaning up (showering), having supper, and crashing…this becomes kind of a common theme.





Sunday, 9/27/15
We decided to drive and film the John Day fossil beds today, thinking we would move to our chosen
campsite on Monday.  We had some fun hikes and got some good footage, and then Chris was anxious to get to the campsite before anyone else took it.  So we gassed up, hit the grocery store and left the full hook-ups of Clyde Holliday to head to our new wilderness (dry-camping) “home”!

Monday-Friday, 9/28/15-10/2/15 - Scouting
The week was filled up by scouting activities—lots of driving (occasionally on hideous roads), and lots of walking/hiking.  A few times I rose early with Chris but often he took off and I ended up sleeping in until about 7:00 then walking in our “back yard”—surrounded by beauty and migrating cranes—then reading back at camp, and feeding chipmunks to entertain Shoppie.

We’d meet up throughout the day and make various plans on where we’d go next.  Chris figures he walked an average of 10 miles per day most of the 3 weeks, much of it hiking the ridges around camp.  He loves this part of hunting trips—getting out in the woods and being surprised by the unexpected.  I do too, but prefer less bush-whacking when I hike than he enjoys.

At one point, we walked together along our road a couple of miles, then Chris went down to walk along the creek back to camp and I came back on the road with our camera to see what I could see and to film anything interesting.  By the end of my walk (almost back to camp), I was lulled into a relaxing walk outdoors, nothing more…hadn’t seen much but did get some good footage of a woodpecker.  All of a sudden, I heard something up the hill to my right (the creek Chris was walking was to my left), and looked up in time to see a huge buck start downhill, and then ANOTHER huge buck followed behind him.  I was excited and it took me a few precious seconds to fumble around with the camera.  They got down to the road about 50 feet in front of me and stopped, looking back at me—photo opportunity supreme!!!  I carefully zoomed in and was talking to Chris on camera—“Boy, I hope you’re going to see these guys pass in front of you, Honey…but at least I’m getting them on film!”  When the bucks continued on to the creek, I stopped the camera…or actually STARTED the camera…I did not have the flipping thing ON---AGHGHGHGHGH!!!!

Other highlights of the week:

• The cranes, the cranes, the cranes!!  Loved the blue-blue sky and the beautiful cranes flying and making their cooing noise above us.  They were with us the entire 3+ weeks we were at this place.  Just amazing!
  
• Chris found a bear paw and not much else in the remains of a small bear that SOME critter had eaten (either a bigger bear, or a cougar he figured)…made us a little wary for a while, looking over our shoulders for that “other” guy!!
  
• Watched and filmed a Great Gray Owl only 20 feet from us.
  
  
  
  
• Caught a coyote in the act of terrorizing cows.
  
• Talked a while with a rancher who was looking for some of their missing cattle; later the horses came through our camp to scout the road behind us and Shoppie let us know how impressed she was by those animals (flew under the covers and scuffled a big wad of bedding above her).
  
• Saw quite a few bucks from the car, but still nothing for the most part on-foot.
  

Saturday-Wednesday, 10/3/15-10/14/15 - The HuntThe hunt days mostly involved Chris rising early/at dark, and trying new strategies each day to find the bucks.  I stayed, slept in with Shoppie, and then did my own walking/hiking—with bright orange on!—followed by reading (sometimes at a secluded spot by the creek)/writing/chore-doing back at camp (which of course included being entertained by Shoppie)—enjoyed the sounds, the smells, the air.  We’d meet up and often do “drive-abouts” or various “walk-abouts” to see if we could spot some better places for Chris to try either on his evening prowl or the following day.

Other highlights:

• Met a pretty cool couple of characters up the hill from us.  Art’s a retired military sniper with a Native American mother who taught him a spiritual way of appreciating the hunt and honoring the animals.  He had a lot of interesting things to talk about, but his lifetime buddy, Herb, kind of cringed whenever Art started because he had a hard time stopping.  Herb was in the habit of carrying a book with him everywhere (including Chris’ book which he had given them) and read novels while Art expounded.
  
• Chris hanging his “Asshole!  Put Trash Here!” sign next to the water source where thoughtless ones had trashed their candy wrappers.  It’s a sore subject with him—litter bugs.  I was agreeing with the sentiment but questioning the wisdom of calling gun-toting folks assholes in the middle of the wilderness.  Ahhh, testosterone!  Someone later wrote in “AMEN!” underneath Chris’ note.  He also stopped next to some ATVers who had been powering down cans of beer while they drove about and asked if they had been the ones trashing their cans by the side of the road.  You could tell they were the ones, even though they answered “No”, by the way they blushed and looked so wide-eyed but someone did pick up the stuff later.  Cool.
  
• Chris missed a buck (a 4-point he’s pretty sure) because he had taken the cartridge out of his rifle and had to spend time getting it reloaded.  He was kicking himself for that one (“Well, if I’m not successful, I’ve only myself to blame—I had my chance!”).
  
• Chris had another chance with a buck later in the hunt but it was behind brush and his shot did not connect.  He decided it was almost laughable now—he had plenty of chances and was impressed by the simple fact that he HAD another chance.
  
• “Pity Parties” back at camp included fixing/eating amazing meals (as always, we enjoyed these a little bit too much—the scales ratted us out when we returned home), playing Scrabble, napping while listening to audio books, watching movies (Blue Bloods, Bonanza) as well as keeping up with Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune via satellite daily…rough life!
  
• Hilarious “successful hunts” to find lost glasses and gloves—one time Chris had gotten up out of his chair up on a hilltop and his glasses had fallen out of his lap (he had fun hunting/locating those) and then he located his gloves in the middle of the road where he had gotten out of the truck to investigate something.
  
• Beautiful back road hike looking for Art who had downed a 4-point in a remote canyon.
  
• Trips to town to do laundry, check phone messages, call my mom, gas up, dump garbage, and catch up on email at the library.

Buck Spot Tally:  12 big bucks, 3-pt or better (including 2 that we almost hit with our truck on the way out to go home!); 2 forked horns; 1 spike

Thursday-Saturday, 10/15/15-10/17/15
We spent the following days relaxing around camp, driving around to see if the deer would show up
again, and scouting any elk for Chris’ 2nd tag (he hadn’t seen much sign of them in the area yet).  We still had beautiful weather and enjoyed our drives and walks; the other camps had left, so we had the entire place to ourselves and that was neat.  We played Scrabble, watched movies, made brownies, ate brownies…roughin’ it…

Sunday, 10/18/15
Chris decided that there weren’t enough elk sign to make it worth staying for that tag, and we were ready to move on.  Got back to Clyde Holliday in the early afternoon and set up in time for a nap.
 
Monday, 10/19/15
After a nice restful night, we got cleaned up and dumped the tanks before leaving Clyde Holliday and John Day.

Drove into Prineville where we made use of their ladder/plank stall to wash the truck and trailer. Grabbed some burgers for lunch and picked up some salad kits and eggs at the Sisters grocery store, then got to Detroit Lake by about 2:00 (passes were uneventful so the driving wasn’t hard and Chris and I listened to audio books while Shoppie slept in her box between us).

Got set up at Detroit Lake State Park, complete with satellite.

Tuesday-Thursday, 10/20/15-10/22/15
Chris decided he might need his fishing pole, so we disconnected the truck and headed into Salem to pick that up.  Shopped and headed back to camp at Detroit Lake.

We took some eerie walks through what is now the dried up lake bottom of Detroit Lake—Chris has never seen it this low before (dry, dry, dry year here in the northwest)!  It was muddy and no fish to be found (they were jumping, but not biting).

Wound up watching Major League Baseball play-off games, eating popcorn, taking walks—and having the campsite pretty much to ourselves (nice!).

And in that way, we eased ourselves back into society, the real world, with its real stuff.  It was nice to disconnect for a while, which is how we ultimately measure our success (not by “tags”).

It is important to reconnect though…and so here we are, back home!
 

When Life Gives You Excuses To Visit Places - 2015

(Nevada-Utah-Wyoming-Montana-Idaho-Washington-Oregon Circuit)

More Family Finds Chris…

At 68-years-old, Chris ended up with a good excuse to visit the state of Utah and explore surrounding states more.  He wanted to meet a sister he never knew he had until about 6 months ago.  Through some history searches done by his Arizona sister Dallas on Ancestry.com, the connection blossomed into email correspondences between Chris and his “new sister” Cheryl, and finally, this face-to-face opportunity.   An amazing and awesome journey, all the way around!

 Monday, 5/25/15

Lots of prep-work and then we’re off—1^st night at Chicahominy Lake in Oregon (not much of a lake right now).  We chose to leave on the last day of a 3-day weekend, figuring we’d miss some traffic leaving town, and that turned out to be the case.  Traffic was horrible coming back against us—we felt kind of like salmon trying to swim upstream!—and were glad we were going the other way!  Set up, dinner, listened to our audio book and…zzzzzzz

Shoppie the Pointer Cat...

Tuesday, 5/26/15             

We were woken up in the middle of the night by a crashing/thumping raucous and discovered Shoppie after a mouse that had gotten on board.  We were amazed by the show but she’s not much of a “closer” with this particular skill.  We’ve decided that being her spoiled self, she just doesn’t want to “put those nasty things” in her mouth, so she chases them down, corners them, then points (“There it is, Dad!”) at which time, Chris and Shoppie double-team to “complete the mission” shall we say!

After the excitement, we managed to sleep a little more, then got up and continued to drive on—through Winnemucca, Nevada—to Elko and South Fork Reservoir surrounded by the Ruby Mountains.  A nice 2^nd night to camp and we took some time to stroll along the shore side before having dinner and getting to bed.

Of Mice and Man/Woman/Cat…

More fun with a mouse tonight…and thunder/lightning/wind storms---whew!  Not much sleeping!  Chris wants Shoppie to learn how to actually catch mice, but I’m not so sure that’s in her future.  She’s more of a sport-mouser.  At any rate, no catching by any of us that night, but we somehow managed to run the thing off (Chris thinks maybe Shoppie jumping off the bed with all 14 pounds of her not-so-petite-self probably scared the heck out of the critter (like Godzilla was after him) and perhaps that was enough of a message.  Good work, Shoppie)!

Wednesday, 5/27/15

Our goal today was to find anything camp-worthy between Elko and Salt Lake City.  We were awed and amazed by all of the salt flats but were equally amazed by the lack of services at most exits and camp spots anywhere.  We ended up driving on into SLC pretty late and looking for something other than town-camping places that would be close to Kaysville, where his sister lives.  Looking for a place around a city pulling a trailer is its own scary kind of adventure, and things got pretty hairy for us.  We finally gave up the good fight and rolled into Cherry Hill Park (a.k.a. “Disneyland”—complete with water slides and noisy amusements)—so UN-like what we usually go for on our trips, but we were glad to find anything at this point, as late as it was.  And as it turned out, this spot was absolutely perfect for our visiting goals, and the noise was at a minimum since it was still early in the season.  It actually turned out to be a comfortable and pleasant place to stay.

We got set up just in time for another rip-roaring thunderstorm which was fine with us since we were snug and warm in our trailer.  Pretty tired after our long day and we didn’t last long after getting something to eat—sleeping well with the Mother Nature show outside.

Thursday, 5/28/15

Still some occasional thunder storming outside but we slept like babies (no mice excitement—whew!) and began the day.  We had noticed where Bountiful was on the way to Kaysville and decided to go ahead and visit Chris’ niece Liz and her family there today instead of Sunday “on our way out of town” as originally planned (Bountiful turned out to be in the opposite direction of where we wanted to head out after the family events this weekend).  We realized how unreasonable that would have been as we drove from one place to the other and were glad that Liz was able to accommodate our change in plans so we could see them too. 

We arrived in Bountiful a little early and Chris called sister Cheryl, excited to set up the “meet” with her the following day.  We were all so excited and nervous about getting together, it was kind of cute.

Niece Liz made an excellent potato soup and we passed the day catching up with her, husband Jered (Chris and Jered share the same passion for woods, camping, fishing, hunting—lots to discuss!!) and adorable Beckham who, at 3, was able to update us on any topic imaginable—not always sure what he was saying exactly but he sure is an enthusiastic conversationalist nonetheless!  We made our way back to the trailer and our campin’ cat, got showers and supper.  Tomorrow we meet Cheryl and her husband Ross—can’t wait!

Friday, 5/29/15

We slept until almost 7:00 and got cleaned up and ready for our new family connection—exciting!

…AND…very satisfying to be sure—very easy-going, relaxing, and informative!  Cheryl and Ross were perfect hosts for us—easy to be around and talk to.  Breakfast was gourmet for us—a quiche-like casserole and caramel-covered mini French toast—yummy!  Cheryl called it a “simple” one—wow!  She said her daughter Angela could out-do her in a heartbeat.  Our waistlines were happy enough with “simple”. 

We met her sons Devon and Brian and then talk continued as did picture-sharing and memory-sharing.  The whole new family thing was made real when Brian casually told his buddy who had come to pick him up, “Yeah, that’s my uncle from Oregon!”  Sweeeeet!

Time flew by and dinner time was upon us before we knew it.  The 4 of us went to the Olive Garden where the conversation never died and we had to practically peel ourselves out of there.  Chris and I did likewise after our further yacking at their house after.  Cheryl does beautiful work with her genealogy books and shared some of those with us.  Cheryl noticed quite a few similarities between Chris’ and their dad—a man Chris didn’t know.  Quite the awesome stuff!

Saturday, 5/30/15

Cheryl and Ross took us to the Aerospace Museum with son Brian before the BBQ which started around 3:30.  As Cheryl says, this might be the last time we see each other—who knows what’s in the future?—and so we’re all trying to make every minute count.  Chris was like a kid in a candy store, looking at every plane and taking pictures of many of them.  Lots to see—there were a larger number of bigger planes than at our McMinnville, Oregon museum, and we took in the well-placed/well-done educational kiosks as well.

Back at their home, we assisted in minor chores—they had everything so organized and ready—and then Chris’ new nieces and their families began showing up.  Everyone was so nice and welcoming and the families all so relaxed and easy to be around.  I hope I don’t butcher spellings here:  today, Chris gains more family and meets daughters Laura, Angie, Cassie and their spouses, JD, Cody, and Brandon and the grandkids number 11—this is where my remember-the-names test stops in the hopes that I don’t butcher any further names.  So Chris figures he has met 19 more family members yesterday and today—and that’s not counting sister Bonnie and brother Ray who couldn’t be there.  Wow.

The food was amazing, the conversations were fun and the day was special indeed.  It was hard to part/say goodbye.  They’re all threatening to come visit us in Oregon and we’re hoping they hold to those threats!

We got a bonus side trip to see Cassie and her family’s new house—great piece of property!  Finally, we had to say goodbye to Cheryl and Ross back at their home.  We pretty much poured into bed back at our trailer and went into a deep sleep with smiles on our faces.

Sunday, 5/31/15

We slept in late (past 8:00—yipes!), got our breakfast and are up and at the new adventure ahead.  Shoppie began a habit which she continued the rest of the trip:  as soon as she realized we were readying the trailer for travel, she hopped into her travel box as if to say, “Okay, I’m packed!  All ready to go!”  She stayed there until I finished the inside chores, then stayed quiet as I picked her up, put the door on her cage, and took her to the truck for travelling.  She gets extra points for that, we think…might even help with her non-mouser status!

We connected with family as we drove into the canyon and then continued on into Wyoming to enjoy the view/scenery.  Lots of beauty—painted hills and Tetons in the distance.  Chris got inspired to climb on top of the painted hills place where we stopped and had me film him.  Pretty fun/funny!

We made our way to Pinedale and set up camp.  Chris decided to throw together a stew of sorts—plus we have yummy leftovers from yesterday’s BBQ.  We still ain’t sufferin’!  Audio book (more John Grisham)—sweet!  And then…Chris had grabbed 2 movies while in the office of this place and, because for some reason we just weren’t sleepy, watched both Open Range and Dances With Wolves.

Tough life!

When Early Isn’t Early Enough…

Monday, 6/1/15

It’s the beginning of a new week and a new month—we’re going to start ours by checking out the Mountain Man Museum that Chris had heard about.  We slept late after our late night movie-watching, and got breakfast/ready to go by around 9:30.  The museum was outstanding—lots of interesting history and beautiful artifacts, including lots of Native American intricately-beaded bags, moccasins, shirts, everything!

After we finished oohing and ahhing our way through that, it was time to head for Teton National Park.  What an incredible drive of amazing scenery!  We tried to stop as much as we could to record with film but it was challenging at times to get over with the trailer, so we couldn’t capture everything pretty—and a lot of it was!  More oohing and ahhing.

Then we went about the biz of finding a campsite which was made challenging by the fact that it was “still early in the season” so the more out-of-the-way campgrounds that we tend to prefer were closed.  We managed to get a space in the furthest north open campground, Colter Bay, and did just fine as “dry campers” there since we had plenty of propane and fresh water on board (the full hookup spots were all taken).  Bet it’s quite the overloaded (populated) place as the season progresses.  We’re glad we’re early!

Distant thunder and cool breezes started in as we drifted to sleep with our audio book.

Tuesday, 6/2/15

Today’s goal was to find a “base campsite” in/near Yellowstone where we could park the trailer for a few days, unhitch the truck and do our sight-seeing, hiking, fishing, from there.  We spent a disappointing morning looking for “just the right spot,” graduated to “any spot that’s available that looks okay” to “ANY spot, period!”  The fact that we timed this vacation to include Tetons/Yellowstone early in their seasons meant that we were early enough to see some lightning, thunder and hail, but not early enough to avoid the kinds of crowds that normally make Chris and me cringe.  Amazing how many people swarm this place this early—can’t imagine what it’s like during the peak—aghghghgh!  Don’t want to find that out.

So the swarms make it hard to find a place but we managed to snag the last spot in a far-from-wilderness campground, but have decided to let go of our ideas of what camping is about as we enjoy the beauty that is Yellowstone.  Went ahead and committed to 3 nights here in “campground city” and got settled, unhitched and explored parts of Yellowstone.  Wow—the beauty is absolutely breath-taking at times.  We had fun capturing some of what we saw on film.

Fight fire with fire:  when life gives you crowded campground lemons, make satellite-TV lemonade!  We decided to make do with our situation by setting up the satellite dish, closing up the windows to pretend we were somewhere else—and watched a nature documentary.  Then we broke out the Scrabble game…fun.

During the game, I could tell Chris was troubled by the way we had to position the trailer and truck in our spot.  The space—being the last one available—was actually too small for both and we had to go through quite the contortions to back the truck in at an angle against the trailer in order to free up the road for vehicles to pass.  Also, the trailer, being at a downward slope, was not as secure/stable as Chris wanted—he was fearing that the trailer might drop and the truck would get damaged (he promised we would live through such an event but was bothered by the possible threat of property damage.

So, before it got dark, we decided to fortify the trailer—went to the office and bought a box of firewood so that Chris could pound in enough of it to stabilize things.  Satisfied that the trailer was now stabilized, we went about the biz of backing the truck up out of the road and trying not to hit the trailer—a very frustrating time!  We ended up back at the office, seeing if we could rent another space (we saw the space across from us had been vacated earlier that afternoon) just to park the truck in.  No luck—all spaces had been reserved by late-comers.  Our only option was to park in overflow parking and hike the 10 minutes back to our trailer.  Guess that’s what seeing the great places costs sometimes!

Whew!  Back to warm up, finish our Scrabble game, drink coffee, and turn in.

Wednesday, 6/3/15

WOW!  The frustration we had finding a place to camp has paid off BIG time today—couldn’t keep the truck going hardly at all before stopping again for wildlife or beautiful scenery.  Here’s a list of wildlife we saw in order of their general appearance: 

grizzly bear, bull elk on road, bison, sheep, antelope, elk cows, wolves (5 of them working on a bison kill), coyote, buffalo stampede on the main road, rocky mountain goats, mule deer, black bear, 5 big bull elk in the grass

The whole drive through the northeast section was exceptional—Lamar Valley our favorite, hands down—awesome views, vistas, wildlife.  No words can do it justice—antelope and bison coexist in green lush surroundings everywhere.

After Lamar Valley, we decided to explore the rest of the upper loop.  The hot springs at Mammoth were a big hit—couldn’t film enough of the intricate patterns and colors.  Then the town of Mammoth was full of elk just walking through the city, laying comfortably next to buildings—different!

After all of that awesomeness, we ran into a bad stretch of road construction, complete with long delays—no need to return to this part of the loop!

Our day was capped off by the surprise 5-pack of big bull elk on the way back to camp which we filmed and watched for a while.

The weather was perfect all day—couldn’t ask or plan it any better!

Thursday, 6/4/15

Be Bear Aware! 

The signs are everywhere.  When Chris got his Park fishing permit, the guy there said he doesn’t go fishing anywhere without bear spray.  And ever since our mama-grizzly-with-2-cubs-close-encounter in Alaska, I’ve been very bear aware…like bear phobic almost…at least when it comes to walking in grizzly bear woods without bear spray.

Chris doesn’t believe in bear spray (might partly be the $50 price tag but also stories of its ineffectiveness in Alaska), and is of the philosophy “live a little—have some adventure…don’t come to Yellowstone and be afraid to get out of the car.”  He’s fearless.  And I’m a ‘fraidy cat, I guess.  That’s why this morning, he’s off early (5:30 a.m.) into the 35 degree cold to fish and I’m back at base camp sleeping in with the cat.  Okay, so the 35 degree thing and the promise of lots of mosquitoes didn’t help either!  I’m thinking “good trade”—except for the fact that he’s enjoying some pristine solitude in nature and I’m surrounded by the campground city.

Oh well—good chance for me to get caught up on trailer cleaning chores (some badly needed), reading, writing.

Our plan is to explore the rest of the lower loop (Old Faithful) except the part where the road is closed, and to check out permit requirements and trailer parking possibilities for a Grebe Lake hike/fishing for grayling adventure Chris wants to try before we leave the park tomorrow.

After cleaning up the place, I felt like a walk, so I took off towards the marina.  Had an excited bit there where I saw the rental boats (the day is gorgeous again—perfect day to be on the lake!) and inquired about them at the store.  They do rent boats…just not until June 15^th.  Dang!  I told them I was enjoying my little escape from “campground city” and they laughed, then told me about a pretty shoreline path that I really did love.  I saw Chris go over the bridge while walking so I headed back to hear the fishing report…

…Not good…not even a bite.  We breakfasted up for our new adventure/trek today and wondered what we would see.

Well, we SAW some cool things but probably the least exciting thing we witnessed was Old Faithful.  IT was throbbing with people and touristy build-up and the actual blast-off was rather anti-climactic.  I’m sure some people just can’t get enough of hot springs and crowds—Chris and I CAN and DID.  But we got some good photos of the neat colors and various “fire holes” too.

We enjoyed driving and laughing at the weird stuff we like to laugh at (I love it when Chris puts voices to animals we see—we have Gary Larsonesque fantasies about animals taking smoke breaks and then taking turns to pose and give the tourists photo ops—ha-ha!!) and then got treated to a fox hunting in the woods on the way back.  Later, we had adventures around getting photos of signs we decided we needed for our “movies”.

Back at camp, we showered and had dinner, then began planning our next day as we travel to Cody.  It turns out that the direct route to Cody means skipping Grebe Lake and Chris’ first grayling catch.  He’s more than willing to keep that on his bucket list in order to skip a lot of extra travel hassles.

We took time to relax and head into our packing-up routine tomorrow.  I promised Shoppie we’d try to get her a better view tomorrow.  She seems to be as tired as we are with “campground city”.

Friday, 6/5/15

Got all loaded up and chores done to get on the road towards Cody.  Got treated right away to a herd of elk lounging off of the road and had to stop to film, naturally, then got to see some Rocky Mountain Sheep on the hillside next to us, but they were in a bad spot for us to stop and take a picture; we’ll just have to keep that as a memory!  Said goodbye to Yellowstone, headed onto Cody, and enjoyed the beautiful drive.

We found a pretty little camp spot next to the Shoshone River, unhooked the truck and headed into Cody.

Our plan was to just check on the hours of the Buffalo Bill museum, and we ended up taking in the place on the spot.  Entry is good for 2 days (they expect you to take 2 days, and you do), so we got in a lot of great stuff today.  There aren’t enough superlatives to do this museum justice.  We started in the Plains Museum section and couldn’t ooh and aah enough—so many intricate bead works and tools—wow.  Then Chris focused on the ammunition section and I focused on the art one.  When we caught up with each other, we had things to share and ended up appreciating it all.  The exhibits are so well put-together—truly amazing.  It would take weeks to fully absorb and take in all this place has to offer, honestly.

After spending half a day in the museum, we stopped at Cody’s Walmart and picked up some items needed grocery-wise and an RV part needed.  RV life involves various necessary repairs and such:  (1) refrigerator—fixed now (had to get it cleaned out); (2) drainage of tanks—couldn’t empty all the way out so we had to figure that one out; (3) The cap broke on the drainage tank—Walmart had that part (yay)!  There’s always something, and as long as the fun and adventure outweigh those headaches, it’s worth it.  So far…it is!

Shoppie greeted us when we returned and then dove under the covers at the first thunderclap.  Oh well…she knows what she has to do!  Ate a light dinner (Chris and I had taken in Buffalo burgers at the museum so we could last), and studied the map to see where we might end up tomorrow.

Camp neighbor Larry Roberts came over and introduced himself.  He and his wife are from Salem (he actually worked with and knew Chris’ dad, Bill Preuitt), retired to Wyoming and love it here—more sun, fewer people, simpler.  He made it sound so attractive until he got to the grizzly bear danger part.  His wife has been charged, his friend has been mauled and he cited several instances of tent campers being eaten.  He doesn’t go anywhere anymore without his 44 mangum.  “These grizzlies here aren’t anything to mess around with.  Alaskan Browns will leave you alone mostly, but these Wyoming grizzlies have a whole ‘nother temperament—they’re nasty, mean, and will come after you!”

Maybe just visiting here is just the thing after all.

Saturday, 6/6/15

Up and ready to go by about 9:00 this morning.  Thinking we might stop again at the museum on our way out of Cody, which we do—got some great shots of more things that we had missed yesterday. 

We decided to head toward Greybull on a road that looked like it had better camping possibilities.  Got some shots of the beautiful scenery that is Wyoming and Shoppie worked her way into her morning nap (she was asleep after she put herself in her box this morning—what a crack-up!).

On past Greybull, the scenery got spectacular.  The lighting wasn’t ideal for filming but we kept taking pics because it was so awesome—painted hills, wonderful spectacular rock formations and big mountains surrounding this gorgeous canyon.  We crested the pass at 9,000-foot elevation and then found a neat little campsite near a creek in the woods—quiet!!  Got settled and into a game of Scrabble.  Shoppie’s enjoying the view!

Sunday, 6/7/15

Started out early (just woke up early—partly due to Shoppie who decided it was “up time” at 5:30 a.m.) and got treated right away to 2 moose sitings and filmed that—wow!  Great start!  Then we went through some more marvelous scenery and a harrowing road down (complete with signs at the beginning of it—“9 crashes per year, 1 fatality—steep grade!”), especially a bit of a nail-biter pulling a trailer!  But we made it and even had a chance to film some of it—whew!!

Once we were down the Big Horn Mountains, we made our way to the Little Bighorn Battle site and we were awed by that.  We drove the tour road and walked lots of the battle sites.  Chris is contagious with his enthusiasm for history like this.  I eat up all of his stories and accounts.

After our exploration there, we began the happily anticipated “fairly easy” task of finding a camp spot on the road we had chosen towards Idaho.  More beautiful scenery of Montana—big skies, green lush valleys—gorgeous!  We were almost giddy at the camping possibilities that lay ahead for us!

Until…we drove and drove and drove—and we’re talking miles and miles—without one camping indicator.  As it got later and later for finding such (6:00 p.m.) we finally stopped for a potty break and lo’ and behold, Chris found some state recreation spots right next to the pull off we chose…AND…it was right on a lake!!  Best camping view of the whole vacation so far—wow!!  Shoppie, who like all of us was tired from a long day of travelling, gave her approval by prancing around the trailer and looking intently out each window for her new “kitty television” views.  Nice!  Had showers, supper, plugged in a movie after dark, then slept like babies.

Monday, 6/8/15

Slept until about 6:30 when Chris got up because the sun was shining into his face.  Took a walk and took pics (Chris, like Otto Premenger, directing where the best shots would be to capture our beautiful campsite—“We’re making memories!”  He exclaims, “We’re filling up the bank!”—love that guy!).  Got back to the trailer, had breakfast and then prepped to get on the road again, Shoppie hopping in her box as if to say, “We’re on the road again!”

We appreciated more amazing scenery—first the endless green hills, then mountains, blue, blue sky, trees, nice creeks/rivers—absolutely perfect.

Gassed up in Townsend, and then headed north for Helene then Missoula.  Enjoyed beautiful Montana until Missoula where we had to find our way to 12 East into Idaho…wow.  These folks need better signage there, as we twisted our way around streets and almost missed some turns because signs were obscured behind trees.  Breathed a sigh of relief after we got out of that mess, and the beautiful Clearwater highway over the Lolo Pass was every bit as awesome as we remembered it from 10 years before when we went to Glacier National Park—100 miles of no traffic, the beautiful Lochsa River, and beautiful “aahs” around every corner!  We took a nice nap/snack break at one of the fishing pullouts along the way, then drove into Powell campground and set up early enough to play Scrabble and relax in the woods as the beautiful day wound down—even a little too warm—whew!  Went to sleep to the wonderful Lochsa River roaring nearby.

…And woke up to assist Shoppie the Chaser/Pointer cat once more to take care of yet another mouse that had sneaked on board.  Got back to sleep and she continued to patrol.  Quite the excitement for her!

Tuesday, 6/9/15

Another gorgeous day and our drive is very pleasant.  Chris thinks Shoppie’s wondering what the mice are like in Washington...but that will have to wait until another time, as it turned out.

Today’s drive through the rest of the Clearwater Mountains, all along the Lochsa River, was voted best 100-mile drive ever—best book-listening road EVER.  It was so great, we were feeling like we just couldn’t top that and decided to head closer to home for tonight.  We drove all the way to an Oregon gorge camp spot on a reservoir, and had a last night of relaxation.  Headed home the next day and we ended up timing it well…we just missed a big traffic jam mess with a forest fire in the area.  Way to go, gang!

Can’t wait to see what other excuses we come up with to see more stuff!  New family, new places…can’t beat that!