2nd Installment of the Epic Road Trip

After our stay in Gillette which I incorrectly posted as Cody, Wyomning, we did indeed go on to Cody, Wyoming. That was our base for alot of our travels.

We went to Big Horn Canyon. This is a most awesome place. We spent one day driving around the top looking for critters. We saw the big horn sheep/goats (whatever); the wild mustangs; prairie dogs. We basked in the awesomeness of the canyon. Cliffs are very special to me. I love sheer drops. They move me. No. I don't want to jump. I just stand in awe of God and the powers of nature as they've cut these deep crevices into rocks. We think of rocks as these hard things but yet they are susceptible to wind and water. Water in my opinion is the true awesome material. We need it to live but it can destroy us so easily in so many ways.

The next day we took a boat right. We got to see the cliffs from the bottom up. Our skipper told us the Native American stories about the canyon. MI got to steer the boat. DQ and MI had playful antics. ST was in a mood so nothing was going well in her opinion.

Another day PF took us to a Medicine Wheel. We hiked a good mile or more to get there. The kids got to play in snow that hadn't melted from the winter. The vista was beautiful and inspiring. I liked the feel around the Medicine Wheel. It inspired mediatation.

PF wanted to see this museum that replicated the internment camps that the American Japanese endured. It wasn't opened to the public yet. I think he was really disappointed.

When we did finally leave Cody. We stopped in at the Buffalo Bill Dam Visitor Center. One of the most interesting fascets of this adventure was the toilets. They were not flushable. Another amazing thing was watching the water pound out of the dam down into the river. There was a rainbow down there.

Finally we drove on to Yellowstone National Park. We had to go through it and the Grand Tetons to get to the yurt where we would be staying for several days. All I can say is God is an amazing artist and I revel in His works. These parks are beautiful, breath-taking places. I want to go back some day. I would like to stay in the park itself.

We stopped at a restaurant in Yellowstone where we met up with a biker group. Their leader looked like Dogg, the Bounty Hunter! It was uncanny the similiarity. Embarassed DQ to know end when I told him that he looked like the bounty hunter. He offered to take a picture with DQ but she was too shy to do so. We did take pics with a big furry dude though. They had a big Teddy bear dressed like Theodore Roosevelt in the gift shop.

While we were there we got up close and personal with a bison who was chilling on the baseball field. We learned while driving around Yellowstone that wild life sightings create traffic jams because people stop to take pictures and to gawk. One day while we were there a bison just calmly sauntered down the road totally ignoring the spectacle he created. He handles celebrity much better than humans.

This next leg of the trip was rather scarry for me because we were driving through all these switch backs and mountains. Natives wanted to do 60 or more on these roads and I, who had lost her confidence earlier in the trip, limped a long slowly. I think I had a mantra of "I'm a low lander. I don't do mountains." I still think they were crazy for wanting to speed around those curves. It was worse going into and out of Jackson Hole. The grades were crazy and I told PF, "I don't want to ever go back that way." Guess what!??? We didn't.

We had to go into Idaho to get to the yurt. The sky was darkening. We had these directions to follow. Every turn we made had us driving on a more rustic road until we were actually just following a track made through the field into the forrest. The trail ended at the yurt. We were alone! It was so quiet. The kids being kids made so much noise; it was overwhelming. I was looking forward to seeing the night sky without light pollution.

I think I will end this entry here. The yurt experience deserves its own post.

My blouse

PF and I have discussions about how to wear one of my blouses. I bought this back in February. The first time I wore it I put the pretty lace inset in the back and PF came along and said, "That should go in the front." So I dutifully turned it around and wore it the way he wanted.

I went through that whole day feeling a bit odd. I could feel air going down my front. It just didn't feel right. I discussed it with my co-workers and we all decided that the next time I wore it it would be with the "tag" in the back. Which means the lace inset would be in the back.

This morning I put the blouse on and along comes PF and he says, "You have your blouse on backwards." I told him that I wore it the way he wanted last time so today I'm wearing it this way. It feels better. It's one of my favorite shirts because it has bat wings!