Alaska!!!

We made it!

Hello and welcome back to the Gownezio Blogosphere, right here on the internets. When last we met, we were in Jasper, Alberta, having a grand ol’ time. We have been in British Columbia for the last two days and we’ve seen some incredible things, both natural and cultural. We’ve also discovered that—as the saying goes—we’re not in Kansas anymore.



Alaska: The Majestic Landscape (bum-bum-buhhhhhhhhhh, bum-bum-bahhhhhhhhhh)

This is really a remarkable land. Everything is green. Everywhere you turn is another mountain, another waterfall, another glacier. An eagle’s nest. A spectacular rock formation. All you Lord of the Rings fans who have seen the incredible terrain of New Zealand where lush green mountains are everywhere… this is that place. We unfortunately ran into a lot of road construction in the last two days, but even the construction stops were beautiful!

Alaska: The Incredible Wildlife (duh-duh-duh duuhhh-dut – duh duh duh dee dah duh dee dah duhhhhhhhhh)

So in the last 24 hours, we’ve seen more bears than in all of the rest of our lives. Black bears, grizzly bears, young bears… you name it, we’ve seen it. Izzie and Kieran and I went to use a latrine of the type found in the wilderness areas, and when we opened the door to come out, a 3-year-old grizzly was hanging out, just looking at us, from 10 feet away. It was so surprising that it was good that we'd just taken care of business. We got to see another young grizzly standing up, and several just crossing the road. The highlight: We got to watch an adult grizzly chase down and catch salmon in a creek for about 30 minutes, while under the watchful eye of bald eagles. We’ve got a number of spectacular photos from Dad, and a great video of one of the feedings from Liz and Kieran.

Alaska: The Weirdness (reet-reet-reet-reet-reet)

Okay, so here’s the thing… this place, apart from all of the beauty, is really weird. The people here don’t actually see the sun for a couple months out of the year, and it seems to have affected them. But I don't mean in a funny, offbeat kind of way. They’re not actually all that friendly. Except for our new BFF, the border guard at Canadian customs, who just wanted to chat with us and let a line of cars build up at the border while we were hanging.

We have also been, for the last 24 hours, deep inside of a cloud. Visibility was so low that we could only see the sides of the road. We would have a vague knowledge that there was a river next to us, but not actually be able to see it through the mist. It was spooky, and we kept asking if any of us had ever been in a Stephen King novel before. (On the other hand, it did give us an excuse to play Misty Mountain Hop.) The spookiest place was when we decided to follow a one-lane road, which turned into a one-lane land bridge, which turned into a one-lane wooden bridge. And all the while we couldn’t turn around, we couldn’t see in front of us, and all we knew was that at any moment we were going to be swallowed up by the Pacific Ocean. When we finally got out of the car, I said, “Well, Mom, we did it. We finally made it to Alaska!” And then without plan, Dad and I both said “Can we go home now?”

But that was only the first Bridge to Nowhere we found. Here’s another:

Hyder, Alaska was once, in the late 1890s during the Gold Rush, the largest city north of San Fransisco. Yeah, um, not so much anymore. The government officially lists it as a ghost town. But there’s still people there. Hmmmm….

Incidentally, you don’t actually have to go through US Customs to get into Hyder. It’s a very odd thing… you see Canadian customs there, checking people, but you just drive right into the U.S. There’s not even a sign that says “Welcome to the United States of America.” It’s just “Welcome to Hyder.” And everybody uses Canadian money. And the metric system.

When we arrived at our campground, in the middle of a thick fog, in the middle of a downpour, Dad told the guy who runs the place that we’d waited a really long time to come and we were excited to be there. He looked around at the mud and the wet and the sorry conditions, put his arms out as if presenting us with his own part of the world, and deadpanned, “Welcome to Paradise.” I nearly peed in my pants from laughing so hard. His campground, however, is for sale, as is nearly every other business and piece of property around here. Bob, the owner, did give us some tips on places to go for a good meal. Places the locals like. He told us about a place that is hands-down the best place in town, a restaurant of such exceptional quality that even the finest French chefs would be embarrassed to have their food put side-by-side. Okay, maybe I made up that last part. Anyway, when we drove into town, we finally got to experience The Glacier Inn. Wow. One thing we discovered while there is that several movies have been filmed in Hyder and the Glacier Inn. This includes one called Leaving Normal. How appropriate.

So in the past few days we’ve been driving through northwestern Canada (I find it hard to believe when I say it like that), and we love it here. It is so beautiful, and the people have all been so friendly. Most of the people we have run into have been the native people, whom Canadians refer to as First Nations. We have stayed in the towns, visited the sites, and met the people of the Gitksan, Gitanyow, and Kitwanga. Git or Kit means either “people” or “river”, I forget which. Gitksan means “People of the River of Mist.” Now that’s cool. Gitanyow means “The place of many people”. This is the ancient name of the people which they have just started using again after calling it Gitancool (“The place of few people” for 150 years after smallpox reduced their population from 10,000 to 132. Bummer. They now have a population of about 3,000 and are very proud people, and they were very happy to show us their totems. They have just opened a small museum containing totem poles from as early as 1650, which were very cool.

Everything up here is made of cedar. When we visited the ‘Ksan village, the ancient longhouses were made entirely of cedar. Their furniture, plates, decorations, everything is made of cedar. It smells soooooooooooooooooooo good. And they were selling these awesome bench/planters, the bench about five feet long with a two-foot planter box at each end, all handmade, all cedar. Forty bucks. Canadian. And us with no place to put it.

Side note: Mom and dad accidentally left the bathroom ventilation fan (henceforth referred to as the “fart-blower”) on all night a couple of nights ago, and woke to found that even their bathroom had turned into a cedar closet.

Have I mentioned how cool it is to see bald eagles just flying around and hear them talking to their babies?

Just a quick recap… our last couple of days in Jasper were splendid. We went on a beautiful short walk around a lake, and also hiked up 1200 vertical feet to Cavell Meadows on Mt. Edith Cavell to have lunch with the marmots. I went on a great mountain bike ride (on real mountains!), covering nearly every trail in the immediate Jasper vicinity in one ride. During the most remote section of trail, I heard a grizzly “huffing” at me from just behind. And I was happily surprised to learn that I actually can stay on course on my bike, pull the bear spray from the holster, and get the safety off, all with gloves on, without falling. Luckily, that was the end of the encounter and I didn’t have to use it. But a while later, as I was riding along noisy terrain, getting a sip from my Camelbak, in an area with reported cougar activity, I heard a growl. Again, out with the spray, but immediately hitting the brakes this time, as cougars are the ultimate “chase” predator. Again, the senses heighten. I squint into the trees. I spin and seek my adversary. I call out “ Where are you?!?!?!” I wait for this moment that will decide my fate. So thirsty. But I wait. Wait for the ancient warrior. Finally, I take another sip, and for an instant, I realize the beast is upon me. But then I realize that my water reservoir is empty. And that growl I’d heard was the gurgle of an empty drain. So much for master of the hunt.

Alaska… The Farewell

So it’s a funny thing driving to Alaska… when you get to Seattle, you’re halfway there, more or less. We’ve been planning this trip for more than a year now, and we’ve always had a concept of what the mileage would be like. But the fact is, we’ve been defeated. I won’t say that all of this driving has worn the kids out, but the kids have worn us out. To get to our next stop in Alaska is 1,000 miles. To get to the next stop after that is another 1,000 miles, and it goes on from there. This loop of Alaska would be essentially like driving from New York to Atlanta to Dallas and back. And at the end of it, we would be almost 2,000 miles further from home than we are now. It’s not just the mileage there… it’s there and back. So this is it. We’re bailing on the plan. (At this point, I’d like to once again recommend the book Deep Survival, in which he points out that survivors have a plan, embrace the plan, love the plan, but ditch the plan when needed.) But we can now legally put the Alaska sticker on our official RVer’s map-of-all-the-places-I’ve-been.

Remember when the penguins finally made it to Antartica in Madagascar?

Right now we are back in Vanderhoof, BC, 400 miles east of the Alaskan border, at the junction that will take us straight south to Vancouver and Seattle. We’ll be in Seattle for Mom’s birthday (the 27th) and then are heading to Mt. Rainier, Crater Lake, and then a full week in Redwood National Park, one of our favorite places. We will finish before heading home by visiting San Francisco and Monterey.

So there it is, in a nutshell. We said we were going to go to Alaska, and we went to Alaska. We still hope to get to other parts another time… the Inner Passage, Denali, Kenai Fjords. We may come by plane or by boat, or maybe even have somebody else drive our RV’s for us, but for now this will have to do.

We deeply regret not getting to meet Aunt Patti, and hope to have another chance.

There was one more thing, however, that we had hoped to see in Alaska that was missing from our visit. After we had decided to depart a great sadness came over us realizing that we’d come all this way and still missed it. And then, just as we left, as if just for us, the sun came out. The clouds parted and the sky turned blue and the great panorama opened for us and there it was. Big as life, the object of our vision. We finally saw it.

Russia.

We’ll keep you posted. See you soon!

More about the fort from the children's perspective...

We had so much fun going to Fort St. James. One of our favorite parts was getting molasses cookies from a tour guide that were slightly burnt on the bottom - they were supposed to be fed to the chickens, but she shared them with us instead. Our favorite part was meeting a local Carrier (a First Nations) man who showed us how they make leather. At the end of his talk, he gave us each a real rabbit fur to take to the general store and trade for a treat. We had to make up a good story to get a good trade. Here is my story:

I came from far, far away trapping animals. I caught a black bear while it was hibernating. It kicked me really hard and knocked out a tooth.

I traded my pelt for 'gold bars' - the best kind really, filled with chocolate!

Yaya didn't think she could survive an entire winter on canned fruit and dried salmon jerky day after day. Winter comes early and stays late here - their flowers (bulbs) are just coming up now! BRRR... I don't really know what this means but the lady said the average low temperatures in this area are -30 degrees Celsius.

The RV park we are staying in is cool - Dave made a mini golf course with real grass. He planted lovely gardens all around it with fountains and water and everything. They even had a life-sized checkerboard with pieces so big you could play wizard's chess (okay checkers, but the battles from Harry Potter are so much cooler - I can't imagine checkers fighting)

Today we are visiting a 'Ksan village - a First Nations village with totem poles. I'll write more later.

Talk to you soon...

After more than a week without a campsite wifi connection, we've got one now... but we're packing up to move on. Tuesday night in Jasper, sunset was at 11:15. We are currently in BC, and yesterday we visited Fort St. James, the Hudson Bay Co's most remote trading post that was known as the Siberia of the Northwest. Today we are traveling to Kitwanga (the town names are getting cooler) and are stopping at Ksan, a First Nations village. Tomorrow, we arrive in Hyder, Alaska. We don't know when/if we'll have net connections, but we'll post whenever we do. Talk to you then!

p.s. Brian and Eva... Driving BC is like driving Kansas in that the view never changes from start to finish, except the constant view is thick, river-filled pine & cedar forest. And it smells sooooooooo good.

XOXOXO

The Beautiful Canadian Rockies!

Hello everybody! Hope you are all having a terrific mid-July! We’ve been as busy as beavers (but we haven’t seen any) and are currently in beautiful Jasper, Alberta, just over the border from British Columbia. So close, in fact, that I always thought Jasper was actually in British Columbia. We’ve got no wifi here or in Banff where we’ve been the past couple few days, but we’re making a run into the internet café in town just so we can keep you up to date on the goings-on. But I’ll bet you don’t even appreciate it, do you? DO YOU??? Bunch of lousy ingrates.

Oh, sorry about that. Continuing on... It is absolutely remarkable here. We are staying at the campground on Whistlers Mountain, which is named that because of the loud shrill whistle that the hoary marmots make. (Yes, I would also be offended if I was a marmot and got called that name.) It is a sound, incidentally, that Kieran can exactly duplicate, just as he was able to exactly mimic the “peep” of the ground squirrel in Glacier. This talent of his is really a point of pride for me… I mean, sure, maybe you have a kid that can throw a decent fastball or is good at math or can play the tuba or whatever. But lots of kids can do that stuff. How many five-year-olds can carry on an intelligent conservation with not one, but two species of rodent? And I think I should mention that it’s only two that we know of, so far.

If you’ve ever camped in a non-primitive campground—a KOA or some other type of RV park—there’s a certain aura about them, the way everything is in its place and all the ducks are in a row. Everything is arranged into a very special sort of blandness, a natural experience that seems to not have any nature. That’s not Whistlers. Here, we are in the midst of a mountainside forest. Right now I sit surrounded by dozens of pines trees, as birds flutter by and squirrels scurry through. The kids have a meadow right next to us to play ball or run or do whatever. Two years ago when we were here we actually had elk for breakfast! Whoa, don’t freak out Paul/ Darlene/ Rosemary/ anybody else… I mean they were our guests for breakfast, the whole herd of them hanging out in our campsites every morning for several hours. Today was our first wake-up here and we didn’t see any, but we remain hopeful.

Our campsite:

I just got back from maybe the hardest bike ride of my life, the only time I can remember that I almost barfed… I can barely stand up, so I’m here typing away and stirring chili for dinner while everyone else is on a short little hike to The Five Lakes. Check out the dude-sweet pics from my ride, including the black bear and the fantastic bit above and along the Athabasca River:

Note to you: All the other pics are going to be in one handy slideshow that covers the past few days. Quite simply, I’m just too lazy to split them up.

Last night we had Dad’s birthday dinner at Evil Dave’s, a one-of-a-kind restaurant here in Jasper that has a wonderfully evil theme. Since my fate has long since been decided I especially enjoyed this meal, but I want Gabe and Kieran’s Catholic school teachers to know that I had them do a Hail Mary in between every bite. The meal really was fantastic and quite delicious, decadent almost, but I suppose that’s to be expected when You-Know-Who is in the kitchen working up recipes for the mortals. Everything on the menu had names like “Evil Diva” (Mom ordered that, of course), and “Evil Genius” (yours truly). But our favorite name was the vegan dish known as a “Vicious Hippie”.

Driving from Banff to Jasper means driving the Icefields Parkway. This is, of course, an incredibly frightening thing to do while towing a five-ton trailer with a two-ton vehicle. But it is also exhilarating. When you visit the American Rockies, they are absolutely spectacular. But the Canadian Rockies are possibly even more spectacular in appearance and they go on forever. Every time you come around a bend a new line of ridges or mountains presents itself for your amazement. And yet there are some parts that are so straight that even the driver is able to enjoy it.

I’m sure we did something fantastically exciting on July 17, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what it was. I think I went on a bike ride and we probably hiked someplace and then I think there was some shopping or something.

July 16 was a great festive day for us in Banff… we hiked Johnston Canyon, and it doesn’t have a trail so much as a 1.5-mile catwalk above the river. Good fun with Izzie. But the views of the river and waterfalls were extraordinary. After our hike we drove to Lake Louise, a spectacular place with a resort built on it. I read somewhere last week that sunrise at Lake Louise has been called one of the ten wonders of the natural world. It was pretty amazing, packed with tourists, at four in the afternoon. On our way out of town, sitting in traffic, right on the main drag, a grizzly bear crawled up the embankment ten feet from our car. It was an amazing sight (to see while in a car), and all of the other travelers there were amazed and getting out cameras. That is until some jackass didn’t like sitting there for six whole seconds watching some stupid bear while his meatloaf got cold, honked his horn, and scared it off before anybody could really appreciate it or get much of a decent shot.

That evening was a real highlight, as Mom stayed with Kieran and Izzie while everybody else enjoyed our nearly-annual tradition of watching the new Harry Potter movie. The best part was (kids, stop reading here and leave the room until a grown-up says you can come back) when they’re all at the pompous professor’s little gathering for his favorite pet students, and there’s this really gross guy, and Harry somehow ends of holding this platter of the absolutely worst-tasting hors-d’oevres, and of course this guy takes one, eats it, wretches, and says “What is that???” Harry’s unexpected deadpan response? “Dragon Balls.” So Liz and I, being the immature cretins we are, simultaneously issue forth two of those side-splitting, milk-through-the-nose, raspberries-with-the-lips, 100 decibel guffaws. And everybody else, ever single freaking person in the entire freaking theater, was absolutely silent. Awk-ward.

Coolest thing we saw in Banff (according to me, other opinions may vary) was a double rainbow that went deep into the valley below us. It seemed to go on forever, and we could actually see the end of it down in the trees, and it had absolutely the most brilliant colors we’ve ever seen In Rainbows. I’ll put that picture right here for your cute little eyeballs.



Less than 24 hours after crossing into Canada, Liz flew Grandma home and then returned to us. Three border crossings in less than 48 hours. While I went and picked Liz up at the airport, Mom and Dad took the young’ns to the Calgary Zoo, where they saw The Fattest Prairie Dogs On Earth. Liz would like to place an addendum here, detailing her adventures in travel while escorting Grandma home:

I don’t much care for flying. Neither does Grandma. We tried to be troopers
though at times it was not easy. Customs went fine for grandma and I, although
watching the security officer use a wand to assure that grandma was not a threat
to national security could only be described as ludicrous. Our flight was 30
minutes late landing – it was a mad rush to make our connection three terminals
away. Luckily, the gate was the closest to the bridge between terminals and left
us time to grab iced coffee and scones for 2. Darlene picked us up in Rochester
at the airport.

Hugs all around and then off for a midnight Friendly’s
feeding with Sarah. Sarah dropped me back off at the airport, and a lovely
middle of the night conversation was had with Omeri – I was assured it was the
perfect time to have called. I spent the rest of the evening mostly creeped out
by the escalator noises and reading books to stay awake. Much sleep deprived, I
fell soundly asleep on the floor of the terminal in St. Paul. I woke up just as
the flight was called for loading to Calgary.

When we arrived I was a
little nervous about my chances at Customs. The fact that I had crossed the
border three times in three days was, I admit, a little strange. It did not help
that the customs agent above Glacier National Park not stamping my passport to
prove that I had gained permission to enter Canada and that my family had come
with us added some question marks to my story. I was selected for “additional
screening”.

It is times like that I thank my guardian angels for sending
me an avid RVer for a Customs agent who has family up in Jasper. He was kind and
talkative while checking out the details of my story. I made it. Isabella ran up
and said, “I knew you could do it”. It’s funny – there were times I thought I
wasn’t going to make it. In a 24-hour period, I had three hours of sleep. Not a
bad price to pay for Grandma to come along! (Again, major props to Jessica for
her competence with sleep deprivation with the twins)

It’s probably going to be a few days before we post again. It’s so incredibly remote out here it’s like we’re in 2003 or something. If it were any more rustic or primitive, we’d probably have to turn the coffeemaker on by hand, instead of programming the time we’d like our morning joe. We can’t even follow the stock market on-line. Yup, sure is bad being out here away from the daily news cycle.

So until then, stay safe, keep out of trouble, keep your campsite clean, and tell somebody at home you love ‘em.

Photos:

A blast from the past...

Liz is currently on a 24-hour round trip to Rochester (Yo! Roc City in the hizzouse!!! Straight up gangsta!) so we're here in a campground outside of Calgary waiting for her return. There is so much to do here... outside. Unfortunately, it's been 50 degrees and raining nonstop for 33 hours since we arrived. So today, I did $30 worth of laundry, and got an oil change. Here then, for your reading enjoyment, is one of my favorites from the last trip to Glacier, Gabe's first backcountry overnight, about what bears really do do (I said "do do") in the woods:



From Gabe: At 3 o'clock, mommy dropped daddy and I off to go backcountry camping in the wild. We saw tons of flowers, but no animals. Going out to our campsite at Atlantic Creek daddy slipped on a rock and fell in to a creek. What made it funny was that he was telling me to be careful. And he said, "you know Gabe, sometimes rocks move." followed by a big SPLASH. I think we crossed the water about 20 times, sometimes with bridges, sometimes with rocks. We met some other people, and they took our picture. When we got to the campsite we hung up our food on a tree so that animals couldn't get it. Then we set up camp. We ate Velveeta shells and cheese with hot dogs for supper. After we ate, we played crazy eights and played three rounds of it. We went to bed after 10 o'clock. (that would be midnight at home) When we woke up in the morning - after 6:30 - we packed up, had breakfast, and came back. I would definitely go backpacking again, but would like a shorter hike.

Daddy adds: Gabe was amazing on his first overnight in the backcountry. You would have thought he'd been doing this for years. For me the most exciting part was this... we left camp on our return trip at 7:00 am. If you've ever done this sort of thing, you know that one of the things they tell you is that bears are more active in the early morning. We were just about at the halfway point—read that as "two miles from any other human being"—going through deep forest; with the sun low in the sky, the forest was either pitch black or, with a break in the trees, blindingly bright. We couldn't see anything except for the trail... nothing to the sides. Suddenly, Gabe says, "Eww, Daddy! Did you fart?" Um, no. "It smells like poop right here." It sure did. This poop (as budding naturalists we're really supposed to say scat) had been deposited feet from us not more than a few minutes earlier. I was a bit freaked out by this. In bear country, you're supposed to sing to let the bears know that you are there so you don't surprise them, but we had stopped singing, clapping and making noise a few minutes earlier. So I ask Gabe to start singing again. What song does he choose? The church hymn Shepherd Me O Lord, a setting of the 23rd psalm (for you pagans out there, it's sometimes thought of as the prayer one uses at the time of one's passing). Gabe and I never discussed this on the rest of our hike. I'm pretty sure he still thinks I farted in the woods.


And just in case that's not a close enough grizzly encounter, here's from exactly one year ago in the Grand Tetons... but bears weren't the scariest creatures there...


July 14: Yesterday (Monday) was our greatest adventure so far! We left our campground on foot at about noon, and began the five-mile hike out to Hermitage Point, a peninsula that juts out into Jackson Lake across from the Teton Range. When we arrived, Mark, Alex, Jack, Gabe, and Kieran set up camp for an overnight stay, while Jerry, Kathy, Lisa, Liz, and Izzie (on Liz's back the entire way!) continued the loop and completed a 10-mile hike.

Our backcountry camp was loads of fun... Gabe and Kieran cooled off in an underpants swim in the lake as soon as we arrived, and Alex and Jack started fishing for our dinner. Unfortunately, after much fun swimming and splashing in the lake, we discovered that the fish weren't biting, Kieran almost got hypothermic, and Gabe discovered that there was a "worm" attached to his body that wouldn't let go. Ewwwww...leeches! So I did a full crack check of the young boys, but we were all clear.

We had, of course, brought plenty of food in case we didn't catch fish, so we enjoyed a great dinner of hot dogs and mac and cheese. After that, we finished setting up camp, and wondered what to do, as it was only about 6:00. It was at the time that the western sun started moving just slightly downward, and They arrived. The swarms. By the millions. Have you ever seen footage from Alaska or other remote location and the sky is darkened by flies? It was like that, except mosquitoes. So the rest of the evening was spent in tents playing cards, reading books, and trying to stay cool. Be sure to check out the mosquito bite gallery below.
Despite the fact that the temperature was still in the 80's when the sun went down at around 9:30, it got down into the 30's by the middle of the night. I was in my "two-man" ultra-light tent with Kieran, who was stirring constantly in our little spoon nest, so I was sleeping quite lightly. It was at 3:30 that I was awakened by the wind rustling the tree right next to our tent. But after a few seconds, I realized that it wasn't wind rustling the tree, but breathing and rubbing against the tree. This was soon followed by the sound of heavy, slow steps moving through our campsite. Apparently, Jack was also woken up in the other tent, and he was nearly as close to soiling himself as I was. No, neither of us actually mustered up the courage to look out. When we got up in the morning, we found several tracks in camp, with circular points out in front of the print - the defining clawprint of a bear. We spoke to the backcountry ranger when we got back. It is believed that the bear is a rather famous three-year-old male grizzly (Ursus arctos horribilis). Two years ago, when he was just a cub, his mother, bear #399, chased down an elk and killed it near the Jackson Lake Lodge. She was feeding her three cubs from the carcass, when an unsuspecting visitor/hiker walked out of the lodge and in between the mother and her cubs and their dinner. He survived, but received more than 200 stitches from the mauling. The man who was mauled, rather than demanding her extermination, begged for the life of the bear, saying that she was acting as a bear and a mother are supposed to act. Since then, the story of bear #399 and her cubs has been followed in the local papers and even books, and has brought much-due attention to the needs of wild bears and their interactions with humans in GTNP. So it turns out we were a part of bear history, and didn't even need stitches. Just a change of shorts.

But I digress... We got up in the morning and, since the temperature was only the 40's, were glad to shiver in trade for mosquitoes. Unfortunately, the little devils soon realized we were there and exposed, and we were treated to swarms and cold. We hike the five-miles back, had some ice cream, and were glad to be home! I don't want to sound like it was entirely a negative experience... we had a great time, saw amazing views, took some fantastic pictures, just HATE mosquitoes.

See you next time, from beautiful Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies.

Wet in the Wilds

Okay, it's not that wild.

This morning we left the beauty of Glacier National Park behind us. A thunderstorm started as we were packing up, leading to a good thorough soaking, and the storms continued right up through our arrival in Calgary. Setting up camp here led to an even more impressive soaking. It's all good though, got to try out the new rain jacket and see if it actually works.

It does, but that sort of made it obvious how wet the rest of me was.

It's great to be oot here in Canada, to see what the great city of Calgary is all ahboot.

It really has been pouring nonstop... when we stopped to fill up on petrol, I had to keep one foot on the pump island and the other on my tire as there was an 8-inch river flowing through.

We had PKF for dinner tonight. Poulet Kentucky Frit.

We don't actually have anything to do here, 'cause it's pouring rain. Although this is the first RV park we've ever stayed at with a fantastic on-site liquor store.

And some of our children are on day 19 of a nonstop temper tantrum. Need to find some sort of Zen self-help book to get the rage under control. Um, I mean mine.

Tomorrow morning Grandma is flying back to Rochester; Liz is accompanying her and then flying back to Calgary. We wish them the best of luck!

We also wish good luck to Ms. Carroll and company from St. Louis on their trip to Kenya! Liz says take lots of pictures and bring home some audio.

This campground has the best WiFi connection we've had the whole trip, but I've got nuthin to right about.

Wild Animals and Death-Defying Danger!

We sure have had a couple of exciting days here on the east side of Glacier! We’re staying in St. Mary, with our campsite on a ridge that overlooks both St. Mary and Lower St. Mary Lakes. We’re a quarter-mile from the park entrance. (This pic to the left is the view out of the windshield of Mom and Dad's RV.)

July 10: Yesterday we moved camp and arrived on the east side around 1:30, and by 3:00, we were already out on the trail again. Liz was kind enough to stay at the campers with Kieran and Izzie while they napped (a decision she would come to regret), and Jerry, Kathy, Alex, Gabe and I headed into the park. We left from Sun Point at St. Mary’s Lake and departed on what Mom told us was a 3-mile hike. But she forgot to mention it was three miles each way!

The hike was a terrific adventure full of drama, excitement, wild animals, religious cults, and staggering views. There were three main waterfalls on the trail, Bering Falls, St. Mary Falls, and Virginia Falls, and all along the way were rapids, cascades, and smaller falls. We did this hike two years ago, but stopped at the upper cascades. Yesterday we pushed on and were rewarded with the arrival at Virginia Falls, a 100-foot tall waterfall set in a round amphitheatre of rock.

We spent much of the time leapfrogging with a group of about 30 college-age hikers, all looking normal, talking normal, being normal, but all fifteen of the women were on this challenging hike in full-length skirts. Hmmmmmm…

We also ran into a guy on our return to the trailhead (about 6:15 pm by this point) who was looking for a backcountry campsite that was miles away, all by himself, in grizzly country, who had absolutely no idea where he was despite the fact that he was holding a map and we were on perhaps the most clearly defined trail in America. Now close your eyes and picture this… this is a big guy… real big… like six-foot-something, lots of muscles, broad shoulders. Plus he adds on an enormous pack, and he looks also six feet wide… but then below the waist, besides the hiking boots, all he has on is UnderArmour spandex undershorts. And the view was, well…. ewwwwwwwwwwww. So then Dad whips (be sure to pronounce the H first, as in “Cool h-wip”) out his awesome new $500 superduperawesomewickedthrashinboominsickphatnasty Garmin GPS, and can’t actually figure out how to get it to just tell us where we freaking are. Wahhh-wahhh…

We did, in addition to the amazing views of the falls, forest, and river, see the most beautiful and enormous buck.

And then, on the way home, we had the wildlife moment of our lives. We spotted a black bear… a HeeeyuuuuuuuuuJah male black bear the size of a grizzly, about 100 yards from the road. We watched this bear for about ten minutes, taking many pictures, videos, and looking through binoculars. Then, suddenly, there was movement to the right…. And out came a large canine creature… we have checked this photo against our guidebooks and consulted a number of Rangers, but have not yet determined if it is an extremely large coyote or one of Glacier’s nearly unseen grey wolves. But what we do have is a set of unique pictures not only of an enormous black bear, but of a second predator alongside it.

p.s. Note to Joe & Maureen: While we were away Liz cracked open the summer kits, and the kids went nuts, especially so far for the jumbo bubble wands!

(July 11 follows the slide show!)

July 11: We actually got on the road early today, taking only 1hr40min for our departure instead of the usual 2 hours! We drove up to Logan Pass, and hiked exactly one mile of the Highline Trail, along a section known as The Garden Wall. This trail provides a unique experience for those hiking with children in Glacier, as just to your left are the most spectacular views you will find anywhere in the park, as well as your certain, untimely, and scream-filled death. The Garden Wall is a remarkable place… this cliff (next to you) is what is known as a weeping wall, and water continuously flows from the melting snow above. This causes the cracks and slopes in the wall to fill with the most remarkable plant life you will find anywhere. Unfortunately, we found that the level of nervous attention we were having to pay to the children was causing both them and us to not have as good of a time as we could have had. So, after exactly one mile (which we knew because last night Dad learned how to work the GPS!) we turned back and returned to the trailhead.

We stopped for a brief snack and rest, and then continued up in the other direction from Logan Pass toward Hidden Lake. Snow still covered much of the trail, and we all had a great time throwing snowballs and slipsliding away. Izzie especially enjoyed throwing snowballs at people we didn’t know.

We had dinner and pie at the Park Café which is located between us and the park entrance at the end of Going-to-the-Sun Road. The Park Café is well-known in these here parts… there’s actually a terrific magazine ad I saw a couple of months ago for tourism in Montana, but it’s actually about coming to Glacier and seeing everything and hiking everywhere… but the whole ad is actually about the pie at the Park Café! The title is something like “It’s all about the pie.” And their entire message is: if you drive 2500 miles to Montana, and you go all the way to Glacier, and you hike a gazillion miles, and you fight off bears, lions, and rattlesnakes, then you’ve earned a piece of this pie. And the state actually put this ad together and the café had nothing to do with it. Pie’s pretty good, though.

After dinner we drove back to Logan Pass, this time with Alex and Grandma. This means that Grandma got to ride on Going-to-the-Sun Road for the very first time. If you’re not familiar with it, Going-to-the-Sun Road is often referred to as America’s most beautiful road. It’s also one of the scariest if you’ve never been on it. It’s an interesting experience taking Grandma on a cliff-side drive, which we’ve actually done a few times now. She makes these different types of noises as we drive, alternating between a high giggle and a low, painful moan. But I digress… up at Logan Pass, we saw even more unexpected wildlife. First, most surprisingly, was a 22-or-so-year-old female changing out of her itty-bitty, well-fitting, bright pink, possibly sequined bikini. Yes, in a parking lot. On a mountain pass. When it was 55 degrees out. Second most surprising was that there a bighorn ram standing not 10 feet behind her, apparently checking this out, just bemused and shocked as the rest of us.

We took Grandma and the gang on the loop around the visitors center, played in the snow a bit more, and saw four bighorn rams. All appeared to be brothers, and they enjoyed messing with each other quite a bit. Lucky for us, that means we got them see them doing lots of headbutting. Also, lucky for us, they kept their somewhat aggressive play limited to their own species.

Signing Off?

We are going into the wilderness... you know, campgrounds, with hot showers, electricity, sewer, etc., but NO WiFi (eeeek! however will we survive?!?!?!) for the next 2 1/2 weeks. We will be posting during this time, but probably not as regularly as we have been until now. See you soon!

July 9, 2009 Lake McDonald, Rocky Point

Last night... smores!!!!

This morning we took in a lovely short hike along the northwest shore of Lake McDonald to Rocky Point. Most of it was, like yesterday's hike, through forest which was burned during the 2003 fire. Unlike yesterday, however, this moist area is rich with life and filled with new growth. We saw some varieties of wildfowers we've never seen before and the fireweed was some of the most vividly-colored we ever seen.

We came to a junction and decided to turn back to the car while the children were still being successful. It turned out to be a great choice as the sky opened with steady rain literally the minute we reached the car.

We all had a delicious dinner at the Lake McDonald Lodge, which was followed by a short hike on the John's Lake Trail over to McDonald Creek.

Congratulations Lisa!

Congratulations to our darling Lisa, Washington DC's newest and most wonderful pre-school teacher!

Grandma's first great hike of 2009, part 2

She's making pretty good time for an 87-year-old!

This video is from yesterday morning, and she looks like she's doing pretty well... the aftereffects, however, have been remarkable. Grandma is walking today with full strides at full speed and the best gait we've seen from her in some time. She asked if we were going to go on a short hike after dinner this evening, and so we went to the John's Lake trail. Tonight, she walked downhill on the gravel trail from one camper to the other without assistance, for the first time

Grandma's first (and last?) great hike of 2009

Today we went to the west boundary of the park, an area we've never visited before. When we first came to Glacier in 2003, there was a major fire in this area that resulted in the park being closed and visitors (including us) being evacuated. That decision was, of course, right on time, and none of us suffered from a premature evacuation. Today we went on what used to be called the Huckleberry Mountain Nature Trail, and is now known as the Forest and Fire trail. With a very short distance, limited elevation, limited visitors, and lots of plants to look at, we all made the decision that this would be an excellent trail for Grandma. She did a great job, holding hands and supported by the rest of us. It was hard for her and in the second half (after the big climb) she rested frequently. She said numerous times that she was very disappointed in her performance on the trail, but we asked her how many 87-year-olds she thought were out on the trails today... she remind us with a wink that she's forever 79.

We finished the hike (it was of course one of those deceptive trails... "the end is just over this ridge... no, this ridge... no...") and got everybody back in the car and drove north to the "town" of polebridge. On the map, it looks like it's as big as Chicago or at least Afikpo, but you get there and it is - seriously - a store, an outhouse, and three cabins. But the store... the store has a bakery... and the bakery might just be the best you've ever had. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. And we were certain it was going to be all flannel, beards, and shotguns, seeing as how there was no way to get there without 4x4, but it was all hippies, college kids, and Phish-types. But even though we'd kept Grandma going on the hike with "We're going to bakery! How many cookies do you want?", we had to coax her out of the car. I think she thought we were going to trick her into going on another hike.

We then got on the hard road and drove another 10 miles to Bowman Lake, which is just as beautiful as any of the top spots here in Glacier. We spent a good 30 minutes skipping stones with a backdrop of the most beautiful mountains you can imagine anywhere.

It's been raining and hailing on-and-off (2 minutes on and 2 minutes off) ever since then, so e've been amusing ourselves here at Casas de Gownezio for the past couple of hours.

Going Home to Glacier National Park

We've had a few days away from internet access, which is a good thing as it allows us to make a break from technology. When last we spoke it was the 4th of July and we were in Medora, ND... we are all treated to a fantastic nearly-midnight fireworks show, which we can only assume was in recognition of Liz and my anniversary. Seriously, Medora has like seven full-time residents so we weren't expecting much... but it was a spectacular show.

We arrived yesterday in Glacier National Park. There is something so special about Glacier... other parks may have slightly more impressive scenery or better hiking trails, but Glacier just feels like home.

Yesterday after setting up at the campground, we all went to the Trail of the Cedars. This is important as this trail is only .8 miles long and is entirely handicapped accessible, meaning Grandma got to come for the entire thing. We saw some very cool things on the trail through the 500-year-old cedar forest, including many varieties of moss, an upturned tree with a massive root system stripped free of dirt, and the rapids of Avalanche Creek. It has rained quite a bit here in the last week, and we have never seen the water flow downstream and over the many waterfalls like it is now.

Last night we spent at least two full hours organizing our gear as we plan to start going out on some real hikes, and then this morning we returned to the same trailhead and hiked up to Avalanche Lake. This is one of our all-time favorite hikes, and both two years ago and this year it marks our first real hike. It is 6.2 miles round trip and a total ascent of 500 feet on the way up, but it goes up and down so much that it is probably up 1200 and down 700. The Avalanche Lake hike serves as our family's hiking banchmark, in distance, elevation, terrain, and beauty. No matter where we go, as we consider a hike we always ask each other Is it longer or shorter? Steeper? As beautiful? as Avalanche Lake.

This was Izzie's first real hike as well. She got carried to the lake, but did the entire 3.1 mile return on her own. As always, the overfed ground squirrels were in full attack mode, and for every bite of sandwich you took you had to take 3 swipes at squirrels.

To my husband on our anniversary...

(Sorry for the momentary loss of humor and the thick and gloppy lovey dovey stuff all you reading at home - read ahead at your own discretion)

I love my husband. We have been married for 11 years today. I have now known him an improbable half of my life. What strange and impossible circumstances lead to our meeting have lead down this path to our happiness beginning that first day, through our marriage and the wonderful family we now share. Thank you for all you are and all you do to be the you that has lead us here. Shmoopie shmoo.

Medora - July 3

We can't seem to upload any of the absolutely amazing photos from today. We'll get them up on the internets and the googles tomorrow.

Today has been a great day for everybody. I started the day with my first real mountain bike adventure since injuring my knee two months ago. Rode about 20 miles on the Maah Daah Hey Trail, which runs 100 miles through the ND Badlands. Got to hang out with some cows on the trail. Wanted to go a little further, but a big thunderboomer was predicted and some nasty-looking clouds and wind were starting to come up. Mom just finished and Liz and I are in the midst of reading Deep Survival, and I remembered the point of the book: Those who survive "wilderness accidents" are usually those who avoid them altogether, by being able to adapt, change their plans even when it is disappointing, and turn back long before it is obvious to do so. So remembering these words, I turned back. And it never rained. But it was still an awesome ride. [Note: Special thanks to my sadistic, er, effective PT (that stands for "personal torturer") and Mom's cousin Doug Kulp for getting me back on the bike!]

While I was riding, everybody else went into Teddy Roosevelt National Park, and saw all sorts of cool things, including prairie dogs (which Izzie insists are "Fairy Dogs"), bison, wild horses, and Gabe and Kieran came face to face with a prairie rattler. Yes, that prairie rattler. Everybody went on a great two-mile hike that Izzie did all of by herself. Oh wait, here comes Liz:

I just felt like 4 lines just didn't cut it! The hike was the 2 mile Ridgeline Nature Trail. Izzie really liked the hike and was highly motivated to find the next number post where mom did her bit, reading to us from the trail brochure. There were parts of the trail where it was tempting to pick Izzie up - they didn't name it ridgeline for nothing. Recent rain washed out parts of stairs and had Gabe and Kieran taking it slow. When we completed the loop, having seen many beautiful flowers, the kids bounded down the wooden steps and stopped dead at the bottom. Gabe said, "SNAKE" and Kieran (who apparently hadn't seen it) stopped too. Alex was closest, but his fast footsteps got the snake moving back into the tall grass. Size, shape and coloration lead us to believe a prairie rattlesnake. YIKES!!!

We got back in the car and drove the rest of the loop road around the park. We saw wild horses, including foals with their mothers, and the stallion at lookout. We only saw two buffalo, but one was right out Grandma's window. She got a thrill, as when we drove by he started coming our way head down and tongue out. What a fun time!

We all met up for lunch and naps, then went to the Marquis de Mores ice cream parlor for "dinner", then The World's Greatest Playground for about an hour, then a 5-mile bike ride with the boys while Mom and Dad went back into the park for an evening hike, home for grilled cheese since we were hungry after "dinner", and now the kiddos are in my bed watching the end of Kung Fu Panda.

Tomorrow is Liz and my 11th anniversary, so don't expect too much in the way of blogging.

The Road to Medora

Today we drove across most of North Dakota, with two key stops: WalMart (yeah, we don't feel good about either), and Fort Abraham Lincoln.

Many of you know that my hometown on Monroe, Michigan was General Custer's hometown and that I am a recovering re-enactor. I know.. between that and the mullet...

Fort Lincoln holds a special place in my heart... on our very first trip to Montana for the Little Big Horn reenactment, we had four of us, all of our stuff for two weeks, plus a La-Z-Boy chair, plus a BUFFALO HEAD, all crammed into a minivan. We delivered the chair and the buffalo head as gifts from La-Z-Boy and the people of Monroe to Fort Lincoln.

We all enjoyed the tour of the Custer house, and especially enjoyed comparing it to our house which was built at the same time. We also especially enjoyed the tour of the rebuilt Mandan viilage. It was amazing how the "air conditioning" in the hand-built, clay-covered lodges kept them cooler than the electric AC in our own homes. Everyone's favorite part was the "childrens' lodge", which had a display board featuring a Mandan children's story. Now, most children's stories, no matter where you go on Earth, follow the same sort of structure, and have the same sort of morals and lessons to be learned. This story, however, was different. It was about a coyote that angered a potato, and then couldn't stop farting. That's right, I said farting. We all - including the park guides and our own children's literacy experts - stood around for some time trying to discern the point of the story. The best we could come up with is this: If you make a potato angry, it will make you fart until your butt hurts. The entire text is included below.

We have arrived in Medora, which is possibly our favorite one-square-block town in the West. Population of like 100 people, with three ice cream parlors. We had a lovely dinner at the campground, and then walked around town. We finally made it to the World's Greatest Playground, which was enjoyed by all.

p.s. You know you're in the West when... you're driving on a two-lane highway and the speed limit is 75.

The Award for Greatest Reaction to a Mosquito Bite Goes to...

Her name is Izzie. Weighing in at a scant 28 pounds, this lightweight does heavy duty in the bug bite department. What looked like three small bumps last night sent Poppy into a panic this morning - he claimed to want to go home, saying he left for the summer but our children's problems follow him everywhere. Was he kidding? We'll never know. Benadryl hasn't helped much to this point. Aunt Patti - if you are reading this, please understand now my concerns about the biting bugs up north! We're not easily deterred from our plans, but it does in fact look like she was in a heavyweight fight with Mike Tyson.

We had a carefree drive through Minnesota and into eastern North Dakota, stopping to enjoy a sunny picnic lunch. KEY WORD: SUNNY. Dad has a smile on his face now.

None of us could remember tonight's campground from the last time (Jamestown) until we got here and travelled down that dusty road - see the picture of the bikes on the back of the big RV. Once here we recalled our first visit and our first ever flat tire. The kids ran off to the playground happily, Kieran tried his first training-wheels-free bike ride with some success, and Gabe and Mark are battling it out in Scrabble.