First off, hit the local McDonalds for breakfast, and then were off north towards Iowa. There was a strange roadside collection of statues we saw, but did not photograph...recognizable was Jesus (OK, sure, Lord and Savior that checks out), the Statue of Liberty (symbol of American welcome to immigrants, got it), and....a large Minion. So it was eclectic.
Also unphotographed was the billboard, deep into rural MAGA country, proudly telling you to "Eat Meat, Wear Furs, Keep Your Guns: The American Way!". There was something about "wear furs" that had such a posh affectation that it felt maybe a little disjointed from that overall cultural message. Those Big City Librulz can take my vintage ermine stole when they pry it from my cold, painstakingly manicured hands, I tell you what!
Eventually took an unplanned pit stop at a road side air museum outside of Sioux City.
Debra and Gretchen stayed out at the car, me and Pete went for a quick visit.
Flight engineer station for a Boeing 7-something-7, if I recall correctly.
The Huey...
Can't remember if this was an actual cockpit or part of a trainer.
I used this odd vehicle (home made?) to explain the concept of torque on a helicopter...this one having contra-rotating rotors to counteract it.
A pusher-type autogyro.
Then we hopped into the adjoining FedEx cargo plane exhibit, and got to sit in the cockpit.
The kid...he seemed like a teenager, or at least very young guy...manning the exhibit talked to us and was -extremely- knowledgeable. Meanwhile, looking outside through the weathered glass, Debra was at the car making PB and J sandwiches.
Throttle controls...I mentioned incidents where planes had successfully landed after losing all control surfaces and this kid started rattling off details and flight numbers. Like I said, this kid knew his stuff, and was probably a tiny bit on the spectrum, which I mean not at all in a bad way, for sure.
More panels and gauges...
Back in the main museum, the Huey's controls are a bit simpler.
Pete perched in the back. We didn't want to keep the others waiting long, so headed out to have a quick sandwich for lunch and get back on the road.
Our usual, but not this time, first stop when we go this route...the Sergeant Floyd monument.
It has a nice overlook of the river (and yeah...the highway) from the bluff.
I still haven't been to DC (the airport on a connecting flight surely doesn't count) so this is the obelisk we know.
Then up to Sioux Falls, first stop the USS South Dakota museum.
It's a clever usage of the few artifacts of USS South Dakota to escape scrapping, laid out roughly like a battleship, with the actual museum where the superstructure would have been
Pete tried, in vain, to lift one of the links of the anchor chain.
They've got only one or two remaining barrels of the 16" guns.
One of its propellers.
Gretchen had meanwhile found a jumping spider (it's there somewhere...I assume?)
Then a quick jaunt into the museum proper.
The flag from the Japanese battleship Nagato, the only Japanese capital ship to survive the war.
Likewise, was just me and Pete doing the tour.
I have one of these, from my somewhat silly attempt to become a very old Ensign in the USNR back in 2017.
From there to Falls Park, to see the...well, you know.
It didn't harf niff! Wondered if there was a sewage treatment plant around or something. But lots of rocks for the kids to clamber about on.
There were ducks here for Gretchen...apparently a dead one too? This is where I would typically look sternly at G and say "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
Pete loves rocks. Climbing on rocks specifically.
The Big Sioux River...
We let the kids do their thing here for a while.
But then, gotta check in eventually. We headed out to the hotel.
Once checked in, we decided to get dinner. In the parking lot we noticed a potentially insane-but-fun placard on a car, but although I was assuming it was going to be QAnon nuttery at first with "VIRUS VACCINE", on closer inspection it looks like a more mundane and less exotic religious thing, the vaccine of Christian salvation for the virus of sin. OK, that's fine, but I was hoping for something nuttier. But we went to Red Lobster.
Then it was time for....ENDLESS SHRIMP. We didn't even make it to a single refill. Good God how do people eat as much as restaurant portions seem to indicate? Our leftovers got left in the room the next morning which was OK, they were fine, just not especially great. We were supposed to go to the pool, but having eaten so much food, we begged Pete to make an exception and he did mercifully granted us one.
Next day, up early and onto the road. Noted an odd sculpture park here, looking it up later it has an oddly creepy giant bull head with some genuinely creepy goat skeleton "guardians" surrounding it, that was defaced recently by, I dunno, Christian vandals? who objected to the faintly Satanic or otherwise pagan look to the thing. Some people need a hobby I guess.
First stop, a quick visit to the US Minuteman Missile Museum.
The Triad on display.
Interesting Sun Tzu quote, with a little tribute to the Rooskies, too.
Seeing this classic again...[foreshadowing!]
"Captain...the reason for having...two missile keys..."
Not the most handsome armoured car ever but the USAF probably spent more of its fancy vehicle budget on flying things, so understandable.
From there, into Badlands, where we got our annual national parks pass. First up the rather busy Door and Window area.
It's impressive but much more monochromatic than other similar places.
Peter reverting to all fours. He's relatively into climbing on rocks but reverted to caution here.
Bighorn sheep, antelope, or deer droppings probably.
The land changes really abruptly here. At one point its flat grassland, then a couple miles and you have this alien landscape.
More clambering.
Hoodoo-like structures, similar to Bryce, but much less colorful.
Time to head out.
On the way out when we were almost to our car, we overhead a frightened/panicked kid...who climbed WAY the heck up onto a cliff face with his friends and was now panicking and thinking he'd fall. Not wanting (particular our kids) to witness anything in the unlikely event that he did (plenty of people around to help him, but mainly he just needed to calm down) we pressed on and got out of there. Looking up Badlands news a month later...sounds like nothing tragic happened at least. We headed out and stopped at the Pinnacles point on the other side of the loop.
We walked down to the viewpoint while Debra, less interested, opted to make PBJs.
Reminded me of some places in southern Utah, not necessarily the national parks, but along UT-12.
Pete with his cracked hand-me-down phone (thanks Aunt Lisa!), he was into taking lots of pictures.
We rounded the Badlands loop and then doubled back for a 1pm appointment at the Delta-01 launch control facility, once where men in control of nuclear tipped Minuteman ICBMs stood watch, now a museum that can be toured by reservation.
The outside is just a series of antennas and communication equipment, some of it under bunker doors, and an above ground small facility where the enlisted folks (security personnel, cook, etc) stayed and worked. We didn't tour the above ground section, which was under refurbishment, but headed straight down via the elevator to the bunker area below ground.
Our tour guide (group of six, two older gentlemen and our group) was retired LtCol Tony Gatlin, now operating as a ranger giving tours, but he spent plenty of time in this exact facility pulling watch duty. Turns out, surprise surprise, he is said to be the artist who painted that classic Domino's artwork on the blast doors down below. The fons et origo himself! Funny that years ago I bought myself a shirt of it, and my dad as well on a subsequent trip.
Into the spherical area that housed a capsule on shock absorbers where the two officers had their control station and living quarters.
Lots of very old analog gear here. Admittedly your smart phone could out-process all of this hardware, but then hackers couldn't install ransomware on these computers.
The bed where one officer could actually sleep for a while.
He went in great detail about all the systems and procedures.
The last section, he described the process of receiving an order to launch, and what both officers would have done in the case of such a grave order.
The escape hatch; a tunnel existed that would get you up close enough to the top where you could dig the rest of the way out...if there was anything out there worth digging yourself out for. Col Gatlin made a dark reference to them having their service .38s.
It's a very small enclosed little space so you'd kind of want your coworker to not have had a big Mexican dinner before pulling shift with him.
Back up to the outside world, which fortunately had not been nuked...we were chased by some insane horde of Dakotan mosquitoes back to our car, and then we went on our way towards Wall, for ...you guessed it.
Wall Drug...required tourist trap. Still happy G was willing to climb onto the jackalope.
Splash area to cool off a bit...
Peter was -petrified- of this thing years ago.
Some shooting gallery fun before pleasantly wasting money and time in the toy shop, leaving with a couple plush jackalopes.
We were going to do ice cream here...but the line was too long so we bartered with the kids...for something else, I don't even recall. Gas station snacks? Maybe...we left after not too long. Worth noting there was a motorcyclist with a plush covering on his motorcycle helmet that looked like Cookie Monster (mouth where the visor was) that seemed to be amusing to all and sundry, and he drove like a maniacal muppet, too. Didn't get a picture because, well, I was driving.
Arriving in the Black Hills we got a nice little family cabin at the Powder House Lodge.
It had a nice upstairs loft for the kids.
Swing on the front porch...
A mildly heated pool.
It's a pretty area for sure, not as built up as Keystone with all the shops and stuff. Just trees and hills. And traffic...it is close to a main road. But not bad.
That night we went to the on-premise restaurant...Gretchen got a big "game sampler" dinner, Pete I don't remember what he got, Debra got a cajun pasta which is sort of the "I can always order this and it will be pretty good" order for her, and I got a buffalo meatloaf...with mashed potatoes that I quickly sculpted into a likeness of Devil's Tower. [this is more foreshadowing]
Next morning, lacking a microwaveable plate or a [free] hotel breakfast, we breakfasted on leftover game sausages on tortillas (microwaved on a napkin I think), a cold elk medallion, and chicken and sausage from Debra's pasta, and left our hotel reasonably early to make a quick stop at Rushmore on our way west.
Ka Hae Hawai'i.
Can't wait for MY PRESIDENT DONALD JOHN TRUMP to get put up here, bringing in hematite-rich sandstone from Utah for his glorious hair. Maybe they could carve out a couple of tiny thumbs up?
We walked around the little pathway.
There was some complaining but the path was like less than a mile.
At the end though they got to see a deer and that was fun for them.
The kids remembered another family where the father had to simultaneously convince one child that no, the baby deer wasn't about to charge and maul him, and another child had to be convinced that no, he should not walk up to and pet this wild animal cause it might...hurt him.
Back into the car and we headed to our next stop...the Muse of My Mashed Potatoes...Devil's Tower.
It was incredibly busy and it took us...I don't know?...an hour or so to get through the line to get parking.
Debra's flirtation with studying geology is why we were here...the columnar jointing, man.
We did another short walk up towards the tower, which kind of blocks you off at the rock pile at the bottom, unless you want to actually climb the thing.
Debra is usually very practical about stuff "for her" but goshdarnit she needed to see Devil's Tower.
Pete did some probably overly-cautious climbing on rocks.
Gretchen was tired and was not interested in hiking the...maybe 1/2 mile? involved, but like c'mon, we just spent an hour to just get in here, so we made her trudge along...but left pretty soon. I mean, all you can do from here is look up at the thing. Which is, admittedly, impressive.
We drove out of there, laughing at the much larger line because schadenfreude, as unhealthy as it may be, is still freude after all, and headed sort of south west through Wyoming. We ended up in Riverton, in a Comfort Inn. There was some melodrama, while Debra went to Taco Bell to pick up dinner, where the kids and I were roped into a search for a crazy lady's two dogs. This woman was a bit strange. But I think her dogs were eventually sorted out. Afterward I worked on buying traveller's insurance, something we had overlooked but given our trip into Canuckistan seemed maybe prudent.
Next morning, quick hotel breakfast, a trip across the street to get stuff from Walmart like shorts for Pete and a loaf of bread, and we were off, with a fairly short drive to Jackson WY. First stop, with altogether too many photos I admit, is this private museum, the "National Museum of Military Vehicles". The guy who bankrolled this sunk some very, very serious money into this project.
Out by the entrance an M47 Patton...
M3 Lee, an odd design overshadowed by the M4 Sherman.
The Veteran's Pavilion is an outdoor, shaded group of miscellaneous vehicles that we wandered through before it was fully open.
Noted a MiG21 just sitting out there in the backlot!
Recoilless gun...got the kids to understand the principal of the sighting gun on top.
An M4 Sherman...
Then in the museum, the famous "parabellum" quote, attributed apparently to VeggieTales.
The initial exhibit was of small arms and had quite the assortment. A Winchester trench gun shotgun with bayonet, and a Browning Automatic Rifle being some WWI era American arms.
Vietnam era guns with a couple Kalashnikovs and a few LMGs, including an M60 and Stoner.
More interesting arms, including the M16, M203, and M79 grenade launcher.
WWII German guns, MP40, StG44, and scoped Kar98.
Japanese rifles, Nambu pistols, and machine guns.
The famed MG34 and MG42 machine guns of Germany.
American and Soviet submachineguns, and an M2 HMG.
WWI era MGs and an anti-tank rifle.
More WWI MGs, including the French Chauchat.
I forget the details of this one but the side-fed clip is interesting.
Anti-tank weapons including bazookas, Panzerfaust, PIAT, and the 20mm Finnish Lahti anti-tank rifle.
More modern AT weaponry.
And the infantryman's weapon against attack from the air...Redeye and Stinger MANPADS.
Amphibious gear at the beginning of the main exhibit area including a Higgins boat that served on D-Day.
Japanese tanks, and what are a lot more like interwar "tankettes".
Another M3 Lee and a Priest self propelled artillery.
The German 88mm gun, designed as AAA but found to be especially effective as an AT weapon.
M36 tank destroyer, similar to a tank but specialized, not "generalized" like medium tanks were at the time.
M18 Hellcat and M10 tank destroyers.
Another Grant.
The ladies were mostly along for the ride, but being good sports.
Logistics...a long line of trucks laid out like a convoy.
The small German Hetzer tank destroyer and a half-track.
PzKpfW III.
Another Sherman and a USMC amphib.
Tried to get the kids to guess what this guy was holding (I had to tell them).
British tank of some kind.
This may be a British flame tank?
Kettenkrad (such a unique thing, probably quite rare) and Kuebelwagen.
They had a small annex for naval stuff...including a Bofors.
Not naval per se...I think this was a replica shell of the railway based artillery system Schwerer Gustav.
Japanese field guns and artillery...
A replica Heinkel He162.
Harley Davidsons, I assume.
Soviet T-34/85.
M42 Duster and halftrack with quad .50s.
M26 Pershing I think...we'd gotten into the Korean War exhibit.
Then into Vietnam...a Huey set up as gunship.
MIM23 Hawk SAM system.
Weapons of tribal "hill" people of Vietnam.
APCs...smaller M114 with the M113 in the background.
Pete found this Viet Cong related exhibit in the bamboo interesting...you press buttons and it would light up things like punji stakes or other traps.
Big ol' self-propelled gun, the Paladin.
You walked through this section like you were a part of the firebase.
Machine gun positions around the perimeter.
M60 MBT.
The Onkos, a sextet of recoilless rifles on a small tracked vehicle. It could lay down a lot of fire quickly, but the crew had to exit to reload, so hopefully the first six shots did the trick.
Closeup of the recoilless rifles.
Some riverine patrol craft of varying sizes.
Wide assortment of helmets here. Things started getting less themed and more miscellaneous admittedly at the tail end.
A gallery of various mortars. And then we were done, really.
Every time I see this plush tank I want to buy one for the lolz. "Contact your doctor if the gun remains" no never mind
Another M60.
M8 AGS / CCVL prototype light tank outside the food court.
While the family went to get snacks, I wandered into the hallway with meeting rooms and found a vast gun collection in long cases.
There was an exhibit to a guy who collected, basically exclusively, bayonets, and boy did he ever have a collection...it went a lot further than this.
Ice cream for the kids...
And pretzel bites for us, and the kids.
Then on towards Jackson...driving by the Tetons.
The ravens were not so much flying here, as sailing, given the strong winds.
Such a pretty spot.
Then, a bit of a disappointment...my plan was to get us all on the gondola at the Jackson Hole resort...despite attempts at cajoling, Peter was too scared, so we ended up skipping it. It ended up being OK then, and we spent a small amount of time there at the resort. Saved some money for sure though! Gretchen handed me a pamphlet about a bear and wolf sanctuary in West Yellowstone, but I told her sorry, that was going to be too far out of the way...
Then to the hotel in Jackson. Nice place, we had booked with points. Really nice albeit small outdoor pool.
For dinner we headed to Snake River brewpub. It was fairly busy!
We got too much / just enough pizzas, with soda, IPA, and a margarita. Service was really good (like, shockingly good...the waiter materialized out of nowhere at just the right times, a whole slew of staff helped clean up a soda spill, etc, just really impressive).
I gave them a good tip (I should say, an unprecedented one, for me...I am not a bad tipper but I rarely extend myself beyond a certain just-above-average baseline) and we headed out.
Then back to the hotel, an evening spent on the terrace there, and rest for some mild hiking the following day.
Next morning, we headed out after a bit of a late start, had pizza leftovers for breakfast. On the way north we passed the Jackson Hole airport and saw to my delight a pair of fighter jets scream through the valley and buzz the landing strip, after which they banked sharply left and upwards, and ended up flying right over us on the highway...I watched as the shadow of one of the plans blinked right across the road in front of us! It was pretty cool. I initially thought they were F-22s, but I'm really bad at differentiating F-22 and F-35 from a distance / in flight. In retrospect, based on what units were in the area (Mountain Home AFB in Idaho most likely), I'm guessing it wasn't the Raptor but "Fat Amy" err excuse me "Lightning II" instead.
We got to our first stop, the Jenny Lake area, only to realize that we were never, I mean, never getting parking in that lot. We had plenty of time that day so we circled for, I don't know, a very long time, but I lack the proper ass-holery requisite for such situations, declining to drive unsafely or overly aggressively, and fairly willing to defer politely to others. Eventually we gave up and drove out to the highway and parked in the long line leading up to the pull-off. What's a bit of extra hiking?
Our plan was to do a similar thing as we'd done when last here...get the shuttle across the lake and then hike back.
Pete realized as we got in line for the shuttle he had to use the restroom so we went to find the pit toilets. Meanwhile, found a squirrel eating a mushroom in a tree:
Back in line at the docks...
The kids spotted a ...fish, maybe trout? I don't know and I reserve the right not to know fish.
On our way across...
Once over on the other side, we went "mauka" a bit to see some sights before returning "makai" to the lake shore to walk around.
It's really well travelled so while we were provisioned with bear spray, no great risks here statistically speaking.
Not a long hike, at least this first section...just upwards, towards the falls.
Thimbleberries, a long way from ripening (although ripe berries along the path would also put me more on guard for ursine fellowtravellers).
We eventually reached the falls...
You feel the mist coming towards you from the falls.
A study in bad portrait lighting.
Then back down towards the lake, along the river.
Once at the lake we leave most people (who take the shuttle back) and turn right to walk along the trail by the lake to get back to the other side.
It's a pretty lake...maybe someday I'll return and swim in it!
This section was less heavily populated so we made more noise and had the bear spray at least more accessible.
We spotted a moose from a lookout, distantly.
Finally back to the main area on the other side of the lake.
We hiked back up to the highway and along it to get to our rather distant car, adding a modest bit of extra mileage to our hike. One last look at the mountain (well, sort of...we weren't travelling too far).
We went up to where we were staying...Colter Bay, where we had a nice two room cabin booked. It was rustic, like you'd expect historic cabins to be in a national park, but nice, and spacious. We got settled in, and then drove down to the lakeshore where they had a "beach" of sorts.
The water was cold, but I'd kind of determined...I was going to try swimming in a mountain lake.
It was glorious. I mean...everything I hoped for. Cold, crisp, clean...once your body adapted to the shock of "omg are we dying is this the north atlantic" then it was just magnificent.
Yeah, I could have stayed in there for hours. I was / am a new convert. I refuse to get in the richly perfumed, bacteria / algae / brain-eating amoeba infested lakes of the temperate regions I know of...but the cold alpine lakes of the north? SIGN ME UP
The kids meanwhile, Pete having quickly reached his limit of frigid swimming, moved over to the marshy area to hunt baby fish, which entertained them for a good long time.
Nice backdrop for both the swimming and the marsh-scouring.
They weren't easily convinced to give up their quest.
But they were eventually rewarded. Fish dinner!
We got food at the little grocery store in the village and went back to have an odd mixed dinner of sandwiches, chips and bean dip, cheesecake, and grapes (the Forbidden Fruit we only get on vacation since it is so toxic to dogs).
Next morning we aimed northbound into Yellowstone, taking a first quick stop at the West Thumb of Yellowstone lake.
An interesting diversity of pools and hot springs here...
We've been here before when it was more busy and it was a bit anxious given the unsupervised children running around (in a somewhat perilous area with the hot springs) but this morning it was mostly empty.
A burbling hot spring:
Steam rising from this pool...
The art of the warning sign is no doubt effective, but also served as a source of dark humor...there's something about all those different faces that feels faintly operatic.
Next up we spent a very short amount of time circling the parking lot of the Grand Prismatic Spring...in fact, while I'm not quite sure, maybe we just turned around before we could even get into the lot...we decided to do similar to before and park further away along the road and hike in along the river.
Hot spring water pouring over the edge down into the river.
Another view as we crossed the bridge.
The lower "Excalibur" pool is much more attractive, if not as colorful as the Grand Prismatic Spring, when the wind blows the steam and fog off.
The visibility wasn't exceptional!
A bit higher to the grand prismatic spring...as you can see, it is not the classic viewpoint, even if perhaps the closest...the spring is best viewed from above, to see the rings of color.
Another smaller pool on the walk out.
We drove backwards to the Fairy Falls parking lot and got a lucky spot, and hiked the solitary mile up to a higher overlook.
Now this was a much better spot to see the GPS. Gretchen looking cooler in my aviators than I ever could hope to.
Can't beat this view of it without a drone, helicopter, or plane.
Then we hopped back in the car, and this is where I got a bit sneaky. I said we needed gas...we kind of did, yeah...so I hung a left and we exited the park, a moderate detour but we weren't covering that much ground that day anyway. We kept kinda quiet about it until I turned into the lot of the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone...the one Gretchen showed me the pamphlet about.
It was a fun way to surprise her, and Peter. Wolves are cool but they really just remind me of my dog Yuri, a Siberian husky.
Bet they shed a lot!
Slightly thinner looking wolf here pacing.
The ground squirrel exhibit (aka "The Snack Bar") proved popular to all kids, including mine.
Somebody's been sneaking this one Snacky Cakes.
Vulture and an owl...
Then they emptied the bear exhibit and had kids and volunteers go in and place food all over the place. After the humans left the crows moved in quickly to get a first shot at it.
They released the bears who came gamboling out.
I'd never seen a grizzly this close before, for sure.
The bears did their thing and eventually we exited...
Quick stop at the gift shop...
And still happy that G is willing to play along with this stuff!
Back in the car for a quick bit of McDonalds, and then back into Yellowstone, crossing the park to get to the canyon. Note the person holding a Disney tour sign, we almost followed them.
It's not the Grand Canyon but it's a good size.
Seeing this at low resolution as I write the blog, this looks like a painting. Which makes sense, we were at Artist's Point, known as a place that inspires painters.
Back in the car and hit a traffic jam, which apparently was just this guy (no I didn't slow down too...Debra took the picture as we passed). He looks stuck between two trees.
Last stop in Yellowstone was Mammoth Hot Springs.
Peter reenacting a picture from when he was much smaller and pointing out nails that had been hammered in wrong.
The screaming face in the rock, still there!
Large sections were inaccessible.
Back down and walking towards the little village area. We got ice cream.
Driving out of the park on the north side, spotted some pronghorn.
Then we checked into the Antler Lodge, which is so named, because it is a lodge.
The upstairs has a nice pub and grill which is similarly decorated...
Good food and drinks...I think it was elk meatloaf for me.
"Best Pizza In The West" is a bit like saying "Best Sushi In Sedalia Missouri".
A moose hidden in an alcove.
We did some laundry, Pete and I played some arcade games in their little game room, and called it a night.
There was supposed to be a chance to see the Northern Lights as far south as we were, but as we got closer to the day the forecasts shifted and it seemed unlikely. So I missed my chance to annoyingly quote Superintendent Chalmers: "Aurora Borealis? At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within your kitchen?" "...Yes!"
Next morning, breakfast downstairs under the watchful eyes of this menagerie:
While packing the car, spotted some live ones, including a calf.
The trip across Montana was relatively nondescript, barring a minor urination emergency featuring one of the members of the group, necessitating, ultimately (there being no rest stops or public restrooms for many, many miles per the map) a careful scrum by the roadside to provide a modicum of privacy to the person with excessive bladder contents. But eventually we got up to the West Glacier area, entered the park and arrived at Lake McDonald Lodge, where we had rented a (lakeside, previously unbeknownst to me!) cabin.
Down to the lake to swim, of course. The valley was lightly shrouded in Canadian wildfire smoke, but it gave it a beautiful effect I thought...the "Misty Mountains".
Yeah at this point I can't say no to an alpine lake. It was very serene and few other people around.
We went back up to the cabin, got changed, and explored a bit. Lots of ground squirrels.
Over to the main lodge...
It is definitely smaller than Many Glacier, but similarly old and beautiful.
The lake-facing side was popular for folks to sit with their drinks and relax...not a wild party scene by any stretch...calm and relaxed.
Inside the lodge itself, lots of old art and old taxidermy (of varying degrees of quality).
Debra had to run back to our cabin and me and the kids explored a bit.
This one was slightly confusing as the face was vaguely moose-like, like a reindeer or caribou, but the antlers had no palmated effects and it looked more like an enormous elk antler set. Who knows, could just be an exceptional caribou or an elk with a bad taxidermist.
Mountain goat and bird...
Amused that my son will never likely experience a working payphone. The last time I tried to use one was in an airport in Atlanta in around 2009, I had to go to 3-4 of them to find one that was actually working.
The restaurant (we would not be going there, a little too fancy for us).
We got some breakfast stuff, if I recall, at the camp store, and then went to get pizzas and a salad.
No more swimming but we did go to see the sunset down by the lake.
Gretchen wanted to stay in the cabin, so she missed a muley doe that walked right by us.
The sun burned red through the haze. Boy that sounds like kinda low rent narrative fiction writing, right there, but I just meant it literally.
It's not exactly sand, but it's hard to keep this boy from following his instincts.
Next morning, to give Gretchen a chance to experience what she missed, we went back down to the lake to swim, before heading out for the day.
It was quite lovely...cold, but then, I've been clear on my preferences thus far. If you stood still enough tiny fish would swim up and peck at your feet...they seemed to think a mole on my foot was edible and went at it repeatedly. A band of bikers, passing through, arrived while I was sitting on the beach drying off, and we had a nice chat with them before heading back up to pack up and get on our way.
Then onto Going To The Sun Road.
We've been here before and it looks more stunning without the smoke haze, but it is still nice to be back.
Lots of sharp drop-offs along the road. A fun drive though!
We quickly realized our planned stop at Logan Pass...was not going to actually happen. After circling for a while without a hope of a parking spot we decided to just let people out and circle, and then Debra would take over when I went to snap a couple pics and get the kids.
Ground squirrels at the visitor's center...
Mountain looming overhead as we made our way back to rendezvous with Mom.
Heading out of Glacier on the east side, we stopped at a couple points for a good view...a good sized glacier visible here.
Me and Pete took a walk down a path that went under the road itself...probably intended less for humans here and more to keep game off the road.
Another stop at St Mary Lake...
Wild Goose Island visible in the center, with a boat circumnavigating it.
We stopped to get picnic food in St Mary at a grocery store, as well as gas. Then heading back into the park further north, we stopped at a pullout along the road to make sandwiches, by the river. Bees eventually found us and were a little dogged in their pursuit. No one got stung, thankfully.
Finally to our location for a couple of nights, the Many Glacier Hotel.
I always do the Pink Panther, Inspector Clouseau joke here. Something along the lines of "keep up ze good work my fine fellow, and I vill zee to it that you become a bell MAN"
It's a beautiful and historic hotel...had to warn Pete off the piano though.
Exploring the lakeshore a bit before we could check in.
The rooms were great...we somehow got a family room with two rooms adjoining, it worked out great.
Swiss chalet style is everywhere...
Dual spiral staircases take you to the lower level...
Then Pete and I went swimming, Debra came along and Gretchen holed up in the room.
Swiftcurrent Lake is cold, but not bad at all.
While drying off, a moth/butterfly decided to stow away.
The very old taxidermied moose is still there. We went and got a weird mix of breakfast convenience food for dinner at Heidi's Cafe, the cheapish/casual food option there.
Back out to the lakeshore a bit afterwards...
Then walking north towards the falls...
Hiking up the little hill that adjoins the falls...something we did (precariously) when the kids were much tinier.
The kids were disciplined and didn't push the limits of Mom's safety preferences.
A good view afforded from up here...Grinnell, Swiftcurrent, and Wilbur.
We headed back down gingerly...
A view of the falls...not far from where we were swimming, so we were extra careful.
More scampering on the rocks at the shore as the sun sinks...
And a lovely view of the sun's rays over Mount Wilbur...then to bed.
Next morning we got up, snuck downstairs and got some half and half from Heidi's to make our in-room coffee drinkable. We got in line to try to get tickets for the boat ride to Grinnell Lake at 07:30, which ended up being...too late. They sold out, but we got on the waitlist at least. The skies were relatively clear, though, of Canadian pollution.
We then pivoted to the idea of renting tandem kayaks. This also failed, them having been reserved beforehand. However, they suggested an alternate option, so we rented a rowboat:
That basically meant I was the propulsion! Off we went, and passed a few ducks.
We crossed the lake and ended up in a spot where the foliage was known to be where the moose would hang out...thankfully no close encounters.
Eventually we cast off again and Peter wanted to try. I mean, we didn't move much but he gave it a good effort.
Gretchen wanted to try it out as well.
Then I took over again to ensure we got back in time. We went to the hotel and changed for a hike, hoping to get on at 10:40 for the big boat, since I think by that point we were the next up on the waitlist. And we got on...
Grinnell Point, Swiftcurrent in the distance, and Wilbur.
Close to where we landed earlier with our rowboat.
We exited the boat at the end of Swiftcurrent Lake, hopped across a short "land bridge"...
And then we boarded another boat to cross Lake Josephine.
Gloriously blue water from the glacial till.
Slightly longer (but still quite modest) hike from the end of Lake Josephine to the Lower Grinnell Lake, visible as bright blue through the trees.
Grinnell Glacier is up above, leaking as it melts down the rock face into Grinnell Lake.
The lake was said to be in the 30s Fahrenheit. I didn't swim here that long but I had to experience it!
We walked back and waited at the spot for the ferry, and I used the opportunity to swim in Lake Josephine as well.
Kids were more into wading.
Then, our boat ride back...
Crossing the bridge between Swiftcurrent and Josephine...
Once back we went to the Interlaken Lounge for lunch.
Later that day Pete kept working on trying to make weapons with driftwood and rocks. He managed to make a little axe here (it was a days long effort...not this specific one, but he was determined).
I convinced him to not try and take it with us (it's a National Park, that's not kosher anyway) so we kind of buried it under some rocks and put an "X" to mark it, so some other kid may find it and imagine they are recovering a great treasure.
Revisiting the moose...we explored a tiny bit more.
We had heard a story from one of the boat operators of a goat or sheep walking on the roof during winter when this place is hopelessly snowed in and crashing through a skylight, quite obviously to its death...
We got a cheap/simple dinner from Heidi's Cafe, and retired on our balcony. I didn't tell you about the balcony did I?? It was great.
Watching the sun set, as someone told us, you can see eroded holes in the Ptarmigan Wall...
Lovely view...but this was late. At that latitude the sun just never sets in summer.
Still later, though we were inside...had to get a picture (through the bug screen, though it seemed to not mess up the shot) of the sunset.
Next morning we were moving out of the hotel, but not going far...just down the road to Swiftcurrent Lodge where we had a very rustic cabin reserved for the night.
We were meeting up with a group for a ranger-led hike to Redrock Falls. While waiting, noted a large amount of unripe serviceberries.
I'd done this hike before, solo, and had considered trying to extend it (also solo) up through Swiftcurrent Pass to actually climb Swiftcurrent Mountain, but at 16 miles roundtrip, and being armed with nothing more potent than bearspray, decided against an ambitious solo hike.
A moose feeding at Fishercap Lake.
Many ripe huckleberries along the path! We tried some ripening serviceberries as well (the ranger helped us identify them) but they were definitely not as good as the huckleberries, which I kept snagging. Per the ranger...the more berries we take along the path, the less likely the bears are going to want to spend time on the trail with us. Kids got to try them as well (Debra acquiesced given the ranger's authority on the matter).
Swiftcurrent Mountain is sure a long way off, so wasn't entirely heartbroken by removing that from the agenda.
Grinnell Peak...vs Point...in the distance, the actual top of the mountain.
Large group made for relative safety in numbers. Along the way Gretchen found a butterfly and the ranger identified it with "iNaturalist Seek", an app, as an Edith's Checkerspot. Promptly installed that on our phones, afterward.
Reaching Redrock Lake we got a bit of a quick rainstorm that passed, not too bad.
Then a nice break for 20 minutes or so at the falls themselves.
Included this one just because...the hair.
Lots of clambering around.
Fun to be back at the same place again, but this time with the whole family. It's a pretty spot.
We went on a bit and climbed a tiny bit further to have a good viewpoint. Sometimes wildlife can be spotted from up here, per the ranger...no dice this time.
Looking back towards where we came from.
Beautiful pool near the top of the falls.
Then turning back towards home, we got started...and promptly...stopped again:
Definitely some excitement for the group...a blonde-ish black bear, they said, and it kept us held there for a bit.
The look from Gretchen made it all worth it. Then it started coming towards us (not pictured!) and the whole group backed up in a hurry. Another ranger was on the other side, yelling instructions to our folks to get back.
The bear eventually moved off, and we slipped through...with a quickened pace. Grabbing huckleberries as we went. Back at Fishercap, no moose, but a raven or two.
We got back, started laundry, and had lunch at Nell's Restaurant which I remember principally because I ordered water, but I was sneakily getting a tiny pump of the huckleberry syrup (probably intended for coffee and tea) from the beverage station...just enough to give it a hint of flavor. It was nice. I think Debra and I, after checking in, walked down to sit in front of the main lodge area here to get wifi for our kindles to download books, but it's a pretty spot, if overlooking a parking lot.
We had a tiny rustic cabin in a set of a half dozen, arrayed in a ring. No bathroom other than the separate communal one. Debra went to take a shower and I went to use the restroom, at the same time of which were about 5 crazed fratbros goofing off extremely loudly in the shower. I ignored them and made my exit...not realizing that to Debra on the other side of the wall, it sounded horrifying like someone was being attacked or something (just idiots being...what they are). She was kinda shaken and not super happy that I had gone back to the cabin instead of waiting outside, but all's well that ends well. Thankfully those guys did not end up being our neighbors (or they got it out of their system and became demure, peaceful cabin guests?).
We had a nice relaxing time in the evening there reading, had a kind of thrown together dinner in the cabin, and went and got ice cream from the softserve machine in the gift shop / convenience store.
Side view of Grinnell Point from our cabin as evening descends. As bright as this was, again given the latitude, it might have been pretty late.
Next morning had a little tiny bit of adventure...Gretchen wanted to use the restroom so we walked down to the gift shop area, and while I was waiting in the lobby I heard some one say "bear running" or something like that. As we got back, I wasn't sure what was going on, but Debra and Peter were on high alert...having seen a bear run full speed straight through the center of our little ring of cabins. So Gretchen and I missed it, but thankfully avoided getting in that bear's way when he or she was obviously in a hurry.
We got packed up, and on our way...north. To the Land of Terrence and Phillip!
Our first stop was not far...Waterton Lakes, where we figured we'd check out the fancypants hotel on the hill (that I had failed to secure reservations at).
The Prince of Wales hotel, a pretty one and very posh.
The lobby has quite the view.
The view through the lobby window:
Using the ...historic bathroom. Pete was impressed.
We went to the gift shop and got a Mars bar I think (for the novelty) and maybe I got a shotglass (my go to souvenir in that it is tiny and packable). Then walked outside to view the lake and the town below.
It was rather windy...the hotel sits on a tall hill overlooking the valley.
Still, they have a nicer view up here.
Down into the town, we were a ways away from being able to check in so we wandered a bit...our hotel had the curiously over-Canadian addition of a "SORRY!" placard affixed to their no vacancy sign.
As planned, off to get our Beavertails fix!
It was a decent amount of food, two sweet beavertails (flat fried dough topped with stuff...cream cheese and chocolate toffee candy on one, some kind of nutella and brownie thing on the other) and an order of poutine.
Local mule doe just ambling around as we sat there.
The local constabulary, or Mountie station ("we always get our man!")...if this isn't the cutest little police station...
Then we were able to rent a couple tandem kayaks which we hauled over to the water to get our first bash at kayaking.
Pete and I gave it a good effort and we wore ourselves out a bit.
Gretchen and Debra did too but a little less ambition and drive, maybe more basking in the relaxation of it.
If I recall correctly we were in Emerald Bay and kept out of the main channel.
Gretchen particularly was embracing the passenger life.
We got into the motel, got changed, and tried a couple spots to swim...the first one being too shallow and muddy (although very popular with people), the second one being where we had kayaked and it was -perfect-.
Kids mostly kept to wading.
Walking back, more deer...these were not skittish animals. They knew they owned the place.
After relaxing at the motel and a massive personal stress-out session about how we would get to Lake Louise, which I had no idea was as popular as it was (absolutely no hope of parking after like, 3am)...I eventually found a deal still available to park at a ski resort that would run bus shuttles there (for a princely sum to be sure) we headed back out to get dinner.
Wieners of Waterton for some fancypants hot dogs and sweet potato fries (learning then that the kids are not big fans of sweet potato fries).
And another Beavertail for dessert (peanut butter, nutella, and Reese's Pieces...it was messy and the kids had to kind of wash up in the lake).
Not exactly a "sea" gull at this point. But on watchful eye for food to steal.
I really was just going for how pretty the valley looked, but I did really end up highlighting this guy sitting there pensively.
Cute little historic boat, probably does tours.
Another deer who could give a flying toss about our presence.
I could use deer like this in Missouri, hunting would be a lot easier.
Kids wanted to take a lot of pictures and stay there.
Back at the motel we got hot chocolate and sat out front...during which an evangelist (of some brand, who knows, of probably Christian or Christian-adjacent religion) talked the ears off a couple residents, prompting the owner to come over and grouse about them to us in the most Canadian way, threatening to just, I don't know, give them a piece of her mind if they came into THEIR office... The Canadian way...outwardly quite nice, inwardly reasonably nice too, but certainly not without a capacity for passive aggression.
Next morning, a slightly longer drive in store, we headed out at seven.
First stop, Tim Hortons of course, in Pincher Creek. Had a nice breakfast. I almost followed a guy into the public restroom which apparently was single occupancy, pushing on the door as he was actually closing it, then realizing my mistake and apologizing profusely NO SIR I AM NOT SOME PERVERT WEIRDO we are just used to larger restrooms in my country which is not as destitute as yours
Then up into Banff...we went up to the Lake Louise ski resort, where we did find our expensive parking. There was a gondola ride which came with the whole park and ride package (at the price paid, it ought to have) and we did that first. It's basically across the large valley from Lake Louise. Debra and Peter had a minor panic attack on the way up, but they survived. It is essentially a ski lift, but we had an enclosed gondola car to ourselves instead of an open chair lift. The view from the top was sweeping, Lake Louise a tiny blue spot in the upper right.
After at first protesting that I was used to it, a kindly Canadian gent insisted on taking our picture with me in it.
On the way back down, people were less nervous and we ate (still nervously) dried cherries.
Then to find the shuttle to Lake Louise we'd paid so handsomely for. While waiting in the shuttle, noticed that Scary Pockets was touring close to KC in Lawrence so managed to snag tickets to that all the way from Canada.
The ride over was non-eventful and we disembarked...its quite pretty here and packed with people.
Camera does not easily capture the blue. Well my camera doesn't. But it is beautiful.
Debra took this one...
As much as I dared do...there were thousands of people thronging here, and no one else was swimming. I had brought my swim stuff and had considered swimming, but being the only one to swim with thousands of onlookers...wading was enough I suppose.
Lots of canoers, and from what I recall the rental fee is very steep.
Strangely given the thronging masses there is almost nothing here to buy or eat...they keep non-hotel-guests out. So we just hung around waiting for the bus to return.
Then after returning to the ski resort, we got some ice cream and a bag of vinegar chips (good god the smell) and then, the drive back down south to Banff where we were staying at the Caribou Lodge.
It was moderately posh (Banff is upscale generally) and Pete and Debra and I went to the indoor "spa" heated swimming pool.
We eventually realized there was a switch for the jets. I also tried my hand at enduring a sauna, which is a first for me. Stayed in there for a bit at I think 140 degrees. I'm not a Finn, but I love their country and culture. I can see the appeal of jumping in a frozen lake, sitting in a sauna, and repeating the cycle. Pete eventually just wanted to play with the foam, which admittedly, was not enhancing the serenity and atmosphere they were going for.
Damn I thought the Patronus was a protected species here
The fanciest Chili's we have ever seen. Debra kind of resentful that I didn't take her here, I have to confess.
Walking around in Banff, its a busy place.
Then dinner...Banff Poutine, where we got an order of Montreal-style smoked meat on rye, and of course, poutine...with extra smoked meat on the poutine.
And a nice view, back at the hotel, from our balcony.
Next morning we were off again...first getting food at, of course, Tim Horton's.
And gas at "Fas Gas", which I only pronounce using a voice like Phillip of Terrence and Phillip. Fasgas fasgas fasgas
Debra got dill pickle and "all-dressed" chips, which are basically the soda fountain "Suicide" of Canadian chippery.
Stopped briefly at an unexpected roadside museum, for Canadian bombers...I guess there was such a thing!
A monument to fallen airmen here...
And of course...as expected, a Neufeld was memorialized. I know it sure seems like it but NO WE ARE NOT CANADIAN. But there sure are a lot of Neufelds up here. Maybe when in the old country they heard that this is where the "Newfies" live?
We didn't actually stay, it was about to open, but we had a long day of driving ahead.
We did however make a planned stop at a Burger King...intending to get their "Angry Poutine", instead they had changed their menu to have regular poutine and a sort of "tikka masala" poutine with a basic tikka masala sauce instead of gravy. Interesting for sure. And we got the ketchup-flavored nuggets because that was just weird.
We passed through border control safely and without problem (the agent saying "welcome back" and I very nearly got out and kissed the ground), and made our way through to Billings. We got a pretty good dinner that night at Cafe Rio, which is kind of like a slightly advanced Chipotle...we liked it a lot.
Next morning, up to get a quick hotel breakfast and be off. Noted this excellent Piso Mojado sign; should become the new standard.
As we left Billings, lots of hot air balloons aloft.
Chief "Plenty Coups" State Park...I mean, Montana is about as red of a state as you get, but this isn't exactly a subtle dig on the last president guys, maybe something a little more tasteful next time?
We were killing time before arriving in Denver and found that we had another possible stop right along the way...another missile site! This one a Peacemaker site after it had been a Minuteman one, in southern Wyoming. So yeah, we stopped. Edutainment time kids!
Rabbits relaxing in the shade.
And down we went on another tour, this time the Quebec-01 station! Interestingly enough, the tour guide was another veteran of these facilities, and I mentioned the tour featuring the artist behind the Domino's painting on the missile door up in Delta-01. He seemed to cast aspersions, and I didn't pry...maybe there is controversy around who came up with that one.
A lot of equipment down, even outside the main capsule.
Hefty power generator unit.
Guidance unit for the missile.
Layout was almost identical inside the capsule. Our visit was shorter this time, but that was fine.
Back up top, we toured the living facilities for the enlisted folks above ground.
VHS collection is a 1990s time capsule.
For not having a huge amount of people, this is a pretty luxurious kitchen. Being the cook would've been a good job here.
Then further down to Denver, with a stop at...yes yes, the newly reopened Casa Bonita!
Except that at this point...Casa Bonita is essentially Cartmanland, having been saved and renovated by Parker and Stone, but under such demand only some people have gotten in, having won a lottery for a chance to buy expensive tickets. [sings] "There's so much to do at Cartman Land and You, Can't, Come! ...Especially you Stan and Kyle!"
Yes, another duplicate picture just because we were there. It was enough, for now. We shall return.
I could feel the warmth of its presence.
Then on to the hotel. Which is a generous term. I should probably say, we booked this hotel with points on the strength of it showing up in a major hotel chain's site. But we kinda felt a certain dread pulling in...Debra zeroed in on the visible blinds in the room windows, which were of a type that probably had not been replaced in many decades. I walked in, noting a sign disclaiming responsibility of all the sorts of theft you should rightly expect if you park there. Inside, the lobby was...not exactly great. I realized, kind of slowly dawning on me, that the lobby front desk was surrounded by glass, perhaps bulletproof, or perhaps something enacted during Covid and still after all these years not removed. Either way, not great. And then as I was signing the receipt to finish paying, a couple walks in behind me. I think, hmmm, skimpy bikini shouldn't be out of the norm for a hotel, perhaps they were swimming? But the (not wet) electric orange hair and fishnet stockings didn't shout "just out for a refreshing swim".
I'm a little bit on the sheltered side so there was a tiny bit of "maybe I didn't see what I thought I saw?", so I collected the family and luggage and we hiked it up the stairs to our room (elevator was out of service) and the room was...gross...dirty, etc. I heard female laughter as we opened our room's door and I thought oh dear God it would be our luck to be next to the brothel (at which point I turned on the TV, I don't know how thin those walls are). Debra was getting increasingly grossed out too, and found loose tiles in the bathroom.
We spent about 10 minutes there before I realized...we're never going to feel comfortable sleeping there. We decided to cut our losses and flee eastward. I checked out promptly (probably ironically spending less time in the room than the average guests of this hotel). We were abandoning our morning plans of going to Meow Wolf Denver...but we were able to cancel our tickets and move them for a future visit. We did however get In-N-Out on the way out...
It was a relief to just escape Denver at this point, and In-N-Out is always worth a stop.
A rainbow seemed to certify the hopefulness of our snap decision.
As we got outside the city, a storm moved in behind us.
The setting sun behind the storm gave it an ominous glow.
We considered, could we make it all the way home overnight? But that would be like 4am and we were tired. We stopped in Burlington at a hotel we'd stayed at before. Honestly it's a pretty basic place but it was clean and well cared for, and we loved it!
Breakfast the next morning and we hit the road with a short, and uneventful trip across Kansas. Good trip...great to see Glacier again, visit a foreign country for the first time (Hawaii feels like it should count...blame imperialism for that not being our first visit to a foreign country, but selfishly very happy to have them in the Fifty), discover the glory of swimming in frigid alpine lakes, and prove to ourselves that our roadtrip chops are not entirely atrophied. But, lesson learned, always read the hotel reviews. Glad to be home!