Lovely Lady Liberty

As soon as we knew that we could definitely make it to the wedding in New York, I booked tickets for us to go up to the crown of the Statue of Liberty with Statue City Cruises. As the only authorized concessioner to ferry passengers to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, there are a limited number of tickets to the crown each day. I was a little concerned since we would be there during the summer travel season, but I was super excited to find out that there were still some 9:00AM spots available two months in advance! Yay!

Into the Woods

This morning we checked out of Lake Crescent Lodge and made our way towards the western side of the Olympic Peninsula. We passed through the small town of Forks, but since we haven't read the books nor watched any of the "Twilight" movies, we didn't stop to look around for any vampires or werewolves. The movies weren't actually filmed in this area, but that hasn't stopped them from capitalizing on "Twihard" tourism.

170 miles

Chasing Waterfalls

Early this morning we rolled out of bed, threw yesterday's clothes back on, and headed out the door to hike up to Marymere Falls first thing. We only had directions from the trailhead at Storm King Ranger Station, so we probably added some extra distance to the 1.8-mile roundtrip hike wandering around the area trying to figure out if we were going the right way. Sadly I left my Fitbit behind in the room, so I didn't get any credit for the steps! 😭

Would have been nice to have this map this morning!

Memories Deceive Me

I used to scrapbook, as the cabinet full of supplies and tools still in my house would attest. Maybe one day I'll go back to it and catch up on the projects I've been meaning to complete. But at least I can stay reasonably up-to-date on this blog. Even if no one outside of our family ever reads it, I'll keep posting entries because I enjoy writing about our travels. It's important to me to have a record of what we saw and what we did because I'm sure that I won't remember the details as clearly later on. 

Case in point: Our first stop today was Deception Pass. R asked if we had come here during our trip to Washington in 1996 because it seemed familiar. 

I said, "Nope."

Bzzzzzt! Wrong answer. 🤦🏻‍♀️

May 1996

Lava, Lava Everywhere

We got another early start this morning, because we were moving to another hotel on the Hilo side of the island and spending the day at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park along the way. 

But in reality we were late. Eleven months late, to be exact. Erupting nearly continuously since 1983, the last time Kīlauea actively emitted lava at the surface was in early September 2018. How cool would it have been to see molten lava?! From a very safe distance, of course. Bummer.

100 Years Young

Clearly, the Grand Canyon is way older than a mere century. However, 2019 does mark the centennial of the establishment of Grand Canyon National Park. How cool to squeeze in a visit during this 100th anniversary year! Our only other trip to the South Rim was a little more than 10 years ago.

December 2008

To the Bat Cave

Months ago, I asked our cave tour planner to decide which one we should do during our visit to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. No surprise that every tour in which M was interested had "strenuous" in the description or involved crawling and/or climbing! Unfortunately, none were available during the time that we would be here. So I made reservations online for the 11:00AM King's Palace Tour, the only one we could do.

☑ National Park #29 (of 59)

Going Underground

When I was planning out our travel itinerary, I asked M to research the cave tours at Mammoth Cave National Park and pick out the ones that looked interesting. In no time at all, he handed me the names of the tours that he wanted to do. Now, it's really not that hard to come up with a short list when your sole criterion is the word "strenuous" in the description of difficulty! Thanks for taking your not-as-young-as-we-used-to-be parents into consideration, son!

Waiting for the Grand Avenue Tour to start

Two of the tours he picked weren't feasible because we don't have ankle-high hiking boots. Either one would have been fun to do since both involved real spelunking - climbing, crawling, etc. Instead, I bought advance tickets online for the other two on his list... the "very strenuous" Grand Avenue Tour in the morning and the plain ol' "strenuous" Violet City Lantern Tour in the afternoon.

Mounds and Memorials

Boys: What are we doing today?

Me: First stop is a few minutes away, just on the other side of the Mississippi River... Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. It's a World Heritage Site, too!

Boys: Mounds?! *groan* 

Such negativity! I assured them that this place was much more interesting than our first encounter with mound builders at Effigy Mounds National Monument in 2011 (read that blog post here). That episode is not-so-fondly remembered as our worst national park visit EVER. We hiked uphill in hot, humid weather and battled blood-sucking mosquitoes to see grass-covered bumps which didn't look like much of anything from ground level.  

OK, so maybe their groaning this morning was justified...

From One Mountain to Another

M and J wanted to get up early this morning. Why? To squeeze in one last hike before we left Yosemite? So that we could drive over Tioga Pass as an alternative route home? Don't be silly. Of course not! They wanted to hit the road early so that we would have time to stop by Magic Mountain. Good thing smart mom figured as much and brought our passes with us!

Down in the Valley

After our morning bike ride, we came back to our cabin to fix ourselves some lunch. While eating out on our porch, we drew a big crowd -- stellar jays and lots of fat squirrels that had absolutely no fear of people. Once we finished eating, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon exploring more of Yosemite Valley. So we hopped onto the shuttle and headed over to the Happy Isles Nature Center first, mainly for M and me to pick up another passport stamp.

Two-Wheeled Adventures

It was still hot inside the cabin when we went to bed last night, so we slept with the windows wide open. Every time someone turned over in their sleep, the beds would creak and I would wake up, convinced that Yogi and Boo Boo were trying to get at our food. (Yep, call me a city girl!) By early morning, it had gotten pretty chilly, so we definitely made use of the extra blankets in the room. No complaints, though - I'd gladly take cold over hot at any time!

Big Trees and Big Rocks

Since today was a summer weekend day, our goal was to get inside the park early to try and avoid the crowds. After a quick “breakfast included” at our hotel, we loaded up and checked out – we have this routine down-pat from last summer’s road trip! Driving through the foothills up into the mountains on winding Highway 41 meant that I was the designated driver.

Go East, Young Man!

We had a lot of ground to cover today, so we loaded up and got ready to head out of the park after having breakfast at the diner. Our traveling buddies and her brother (our DC host last fall flew out for a few days to visit Yellowstone as well) were going to hike to the brink of the falls, before heading off on their own separate ways. We took the easier way and drove back to Artist Point to view the Lower Falls with the morning sun behind us.

Tatanka

We've seen a *LOT* of bison so far, but I'll never get tired of taking pics of them. Of all the wildlife, they're probably my favorite (even though the bears and wolves are rarer to spot = a more prized photo).

Saturday in the Park

Do you think the stagecoaches have been upgraded since 1978?

Originally we had reservations for a stagecoach tour out of Roosevelt Lodge today, but when we checked in on Wednesday, we found out that the activity had been cancelled due to poor trail conditions from all of the recent rain and melting snow. Bummer!

Hunting for Animals

This morning we got up early to do the hike out to Mystic Falls, which starts out in Biscuit Basin.

Sapphire Pool

Little Firehole River

Mystic Falls



Hot Stuff

I wasn’t with the boys yesterday the two times that they saw Old Faithful go off, so I was determined to catch it this morning. True to its name, within five minutes of the predicted time…

Thar' she blows!

Goodbye, Tetons! Hello, Yellowstone!

Both R and I woke up early this morning – he went to Oxbow Bend to catch the sunrise hitting the Tetons…


…and I went to the main lounge area of the lodge to use their wi-fi to upload pics and update the blog. Clearly, only one of us had any measure of success. For some reason, I couldn’t insert pictures into the body of the text, and it was taking forever to upload photos to Picasa. So frustrating!