Browse Month: July 2006

Yellowstone Photos

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I took about 643 photos with the Nikon and Jes took about another 40 with the Canon. I ended up weeding most of them and uploaded 177. Along with Michelle’s Nikon and the Bangs’ Canon, we collected even more. It’s fun to see photos from the same trip taken by different people. You’ll find some very similar photos and you’ll also see different perspectives of the same sites. Here they are…
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Silly National Bird

Tuesday (07.04.06)
We spent our July 4th in the Grand Teton National Park. After an awesome brunch of fajitas and fried rice that was prepared with all our leftover perishables, we took the campsite apart, packed up the minivan, and headed south to our destination. On our way there, we made a stop at the Mud Volcano Area where we almost got gored two days prior. There was no buffalo in sight but lots of stinky mud volcanos. We took the boardwalk path up the mountain side to find several of our big brown friends getting sulphur facials. It was mighty stinky there and I couldn’t stand how itchy all my mosquito bites had gotten!
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Once we arrived in Grand Teton NP, we had some drinks at Jackson Lodge, enjoyed the view, and then headed out on a bus that took us to our “Meal Float”. For a whoppin’ $60 per person, Bang said that he’s better be sharding himself from the spectacular food and view. Well, the bus ride was extra fun since I had two “special” lemonades on an empty stomach. We rode in a vintage bus with no A/C but plenty of open windows. At the meal site, we had steak and trout with all the fixins including beans, corn, and salad. We later dunked our dirty feet into the chilly waters of the Snake River and attempted to skip rocks. How sad…everytime someone would pick up “the ultimate skipping rock”, it would go “DOONG” into the water with no skip in sight.
Then it was pontoon time. We all had to learn how to properly don a life vest from a girl whose delivery was hilarious. Once on the pontoon, we floated 10 miles along the Snake River where we saw a bald eagle, osprey, ducks, Canada geese, and elk. Speaking of the bald eagle…I just have to say that it must be the most retarded national bird ever. I learned that they can’t see very well so they don’t fish very well, often have to be scavengers to the more superior osprey, and have poor parenting skills. If the mama eagle finds food for her eaglettes, she will just drop it off and the babies have to fight for it resulting in one of them starving to death. Awesome. Anyway, it seems appropriate now that I’ve met so many horrible parents in my line of work. Perhaps the Bald Eagle is representative of American people…basically retarded.OK. Let me step off my soapbox now. Back to the river float. The trip down the river was cool and our guide was cool. We also got to see a couple beaver lodges and witness an osprey dive from a five-story-high tree into the river to catch a fish. Overall it wasn’t spectacular enough to make Bang shard himself but it was still worth it.
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The drive home was a tiring one. We stopped in Jackson to figure out our route home and we got to see a bunch of home-based fireworks along the road. We also got caught in the July 4th traffic in Idaho Falls at midnight, which was rather annoying. With minimal stops for gas and potty breaks, we made it to Sacramento Airport 9 hours early. So, Jes and I caught the 10:30 am flight and home by noon. What a great trip…but I think I’ll fly straight to Jackson Hole next time.

$3.25 well-spent

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Monday (07.03.06)
This was our hiking day. Each time we go camping there’s one day that we all take a little stroll up a mountain. With our “Best Hikes” book in hand, we took the South Rim Trail, which was just next door and rated 2 out of 5 on the difficulty scale. Alas, Ryan was still a hater but he went anyway. The trail started at the Upper Falls, went along the river, then to Lower Falls, the Grand Canyon, and out to a parking lot that we visited just the day before. On our hike, I saw a rainbow, elk, and a yellow-bellied marmot. The walk was rather easy with a couple steep ascents but it was nothing compared to the hike we did in Big Sur. We had a mini-swamp band this year but they were just as complainey. At the end of the hike, Ryan attempted to hitchhike back to the car but no one was willing to pick up his stinky ass so he ended up walking all the way back to the car with his thumb sticking out. The rest of us melters sat around and waited for him to pick us up with no idea how long it would take him to return.
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Once we returned to the campsite, we had brats for lunch and the girls went to the registration office for a hot shower. Ah…that was the most amazing shower ever and the best $3.25 I had spent in a while. It was clean, the water pressure was great, and they were like dorm showers where you get your own stall with a seperate changing section.
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Oh yeah, early in the morning, the park ranger came by to be on bear alert. Apparently there was a bear hanging out in Loop A, which is just two streets away from us in Loop C. I guess Yogi was hungry for another picanic basket.

Get gored!

buffalo.jpgSunday (07.02.06)
When we arrived at the park the day before, we were warned not to approach the wildlife for risk of getting gored by a buffalo or mauled by a bear. We joked all day about the dumb tourists who would approach a huge buffalo only 50 feet away. Why would you want to be THAT guy if you were to be charged by one of those humungous beasts. Well, we stopped at the mud volcano area where I tried to set up for a picture of the stinky springs. Little did I know that there was a buffalo walking along the sidewalk just about 10 feet away from me. All I heard was someone say, “Lady, move out of the way.” At first, I thought, “How rude. Am I in the way of your precious photo?” Well, I looked to my left and saw a big brown beast walking towards me. I quickly snapped a photo and walked the other way. Jes was up the boardwalk, desperately waving me over. I picked up the pace thinking that he was just being paranoid. Well, I turned around and there was Vyl behind me and then Mr. Buffalo RIGHT BEHIND HER charging in our direction! We ran in all directions and then eventually back to the minivan. I can’t believe Vyl almost got gored in the arse after we were just making fun of the FOBs down the street. Later that day, we spoke with a Park Ranger who said that the buffalo was playin’ with us and just wanted us to get out of his way. Uh…ok. So, here are some lessons we learned today: if a buffalo charges, run. If a bear is in your area, make a lot of noise and don’t run.
abysspool.jpgThis was basically our “see all you can day”. We started by visiting the Upper and Lower Falls along with the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Next stops were the mud pots and then the mud volcano area (that we ended up not seeing). After lunch, we visited the West Thumb Basin and Old Faithful. It was a very throrough day and it seemed like all the geysers and steaming holes in the ground were starting to look the same. We were pooped by the time we got back to the campsite and oh yeah, it also poured that night. It’s a good thing we put up the refugee tarp!

Road Trip

polarbear1.jpgFriday and Saturday (06.30.06-07.01.06)
I always wondered what it would be like to do a road trip across America. Well, I got just a hint of it and it’s pretty rough when you’re riding in a Toyota Sienna mini-van. We flew to Sacramento on Friday evening and the gang (Ryan, Michelle, Bang, and Vyl) picked us up at about around 10:30 pm. Once we repacked the van, we headed east on I-80. We drove and drove and drove. Unfortunately, Ryan got a speeding ticket just 8 miles from the CA/NV border where the speed limit changes to 75mph. Booo…
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I got to see Nevada, Idaho, Montana, and then finally Wyoming. We stopped to see the World’s Tallest Polar Bear in Elko, NV. We had pancakes and steak at Smitty’s in Idaho Falls (by the way there are no falls to be seen there). We also shopped at two WalMarts on the way.
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By Saturday afternoon, we arrived at the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park. On our way to Canyon Village, where we were going to set-up camp, we saw lots of burnt trees from the 1990 out-of-control fire, bison, deer, and Gibbon River. We shared a box of Runts while Jes was in pure agony because of his dire need to urinate. That’s what happens when you chug two cans of COORS LIGHT.
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Once we arrived at the campsite, we pitched our tents, set-up the canopy, hung tarps, and started dinner. Ryan and Michelle’s tent was under the deluxe canopy while we shared our refugee camp with The Bangs. With the threat of rain, you can never be too prepared. Fortunately, we got them up and finished dinner in time for the first sprinkle. It just comes out of nowhere. You get one warning rumble of thunder and then woosh! We were all so pooped from the 18-hour drive that we went to sleep pretty much after dinner. No s’mores tonight.

not stinky anymore

We just got back from our annual camping trip and I’m pooped. This year, we spent 5 days in Yellowstone National Park and what an incredible place it is! It’s located on the northeast corner of Wyoming and the weather there is really moody. I’ve heard people say that if you don’t like the weather in Wyoming, wait 15 minutes. It’s so true. As predicted, it did rain several times but luckily we were prepared with tarps hanging over each of our tents and over the picnic table. I’ll have a recap of each day this week as soon as I get my photos organized. I ended up bringing home 643 photos on my SLR and a few more on the little digi. We had a great time but it was so nice to get out of my smokey clothes and take a long hot shower.