Yellowstone 2010

We entered Yellowstone on Monday. After over 30 hours of travel we found the following a big relief.

Our cabin is located on the north rim of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We found a good spot to shoot pictures of the family. Here are some of those.


Jeff is really an excellent photographer. He has a keen eye for good looking shots. You can view more of his pictures here.



Jeff and Sharria make a nice couple, don't they?

Nan makes trips so much fun. I'm blessed that we share so many interests and that our relationship in God has kept us together.

Here are two nice young ladies I get to travel with.

Nan found some guy to talk with. She really should pick better folks to hang around.

I've got more scenes to show but these will have to suffice for now. Some wildlife shots are below too.


This is just down the road from where we are staying.

This is the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Our cabin is about 2,500 feet away from this point.

Buffalo are common here. We saw this one walking along in the fog very early one morning. Last week a lady was trampled by one. There are warning signs every where telling you to stay away from the wildlife. Some people don't use the brain God gave them.

Here is another of the beasts.


And two other friends we meet along the way.

We have really enjoyed our time here so far. I've got 1,000's of pictures and little time to sort through them and post. Hope you enjoy these. Maybe I'll get some more up tomorrow.

Moose Quest 2010

Our quest has begun and we are having a great time. Internet access from the van makes life easier. I don't believe that Jennifer has asked one time, "When are we going to get there?"

The corn palace in Mitchell, SD is an interesting place. Everything you see below except for the spires are made from corn, either the cob, stalks, or other parts. Each year the city puts up a new design. Inside you can view photos of previous years. We asked about a couple of years that were missing and we were told that the corn harvest in those years was not plentiful enough for them to design the building.

Inside the corn palace gift shop Julie found that her natural color should be red. For those of you old enough to remember, that was my color, once upon a time.

All day as we were driving from Omaha, NE to Rapid City, SD, we kept seeing this guy pulling a boat named Erica. I first spotted him early that morning while everyone in the van was asleep. He was sitting on the side of the road under a bridge. We stopped for lunch and caught up to him at a rest area. We left before he did but after our stop at the corn palace we passed him again. About 50 miles down the road we stopped for supper. We figured we pass him again and did. WE all laughed and wondered if he recognized us. There was a beautiful sunset and we found a great place to pull over and watch. Sure enough, Erica passed us again, only for us to pass one more time. Late that night we stopped at a rest area before the final leg into Rapid City. As I waited on the women in pulled Erica.

I introduced myself to Ralph Downey, the new owner of Erica. I told him about how many times we had passed him and he said another family from North Carolina has been doing the same thing. Ralph bought Erica in Minnesota and is taking her back to Washington state. He had been having trouble with his truck and was taking it slow. I took the picture above because Erica needed to be documented for our quest.

Our first look at Mount Rushmore came Friday afternoon. You simply round a curve on a mountain road and this is what you see.

It is quite an impressive sight. We enjoyed our time at Rushmore and came back for the light show that evening. If you have ever been to the light show at Stone Mountain in Georgia, you know what a light show should be. Let me suggest that if you visit Mount Rushmore, don't worry about staying late for the light show. All they did was play patriot music and turn on some lights. It was nice, but nothing compared to Stone Mountain.

I learned that Julie nose a lot about Washington. You can tell from the picture below! I'll bet I'm in trouble for this one.

For all you folks back in Chattanooga...the weather here has been great. It was in the 70's today with these blue skies. At the light show it was actually cold. How nice to be here for the end of July.

More to come. No moose yet. First chance is at Yellowstone. We get there on Monday, if the Lord wills.

PS. For those of you checking the time on this post, keep in mind that we are on Mountain Time out here.

Washington, DC

Nan and I were in Washington, DC for about a week. I was working and she was vacationing. On a couple of evenings we went out and I took some night pictures of some familiar sights. If you have never been to DC, you really ought to go. It is impressive to see these historic landmarks in person.

Captial Dome

Tripod shot

Washington Monument

Tripod shot

Lincoln Memorial

Handheld - no tripods allowed

Capitol in Reflection Pool

Tripod Shot

Back In The States

We crossed back into the States about 12:30 this afternoon. It's nice to see signs in miles instead of kilometers, gas priced by the gallon, etc. You know, I could never quite figure out just how much we paid for gas in Canada.

All of the Canadians we met were really nice. They appreciated our desire to visit their country and were glad to make suggestions about (aboat) what to see and do.

We'll end up back in New Jersey tonight and pickup the girls early tomorrow morning. If the Lord wills we will be back home in Tennessee by tomorrow night.

Happy Canada Day

OK, so I am a day late. We just had so much fun celebrating Canada Day that I didn't have time to post yesterday.

At breakfast when the server brought our check she said, "Happy Canada Day!" That was the first we had thought about it being a Canadian holiday. Everything except restaurants was closed. Even Walmart. They obviously take their holidays seriously here and don't use them as a means of wealth building.

Shortly after finishing breakfast we filled up the van with gas. I bought a couple of drinks and when I completed the transaction I looked at the clerk and said, "Happy Canada Day!" He smiled really big (knowing I was American) and said, "Thank ya! Sames to ya!" And they think we talk funny.

Last night we drove down to Toronto for worship and saw Heather and Dave. Dave's family was in for the holiday (July 4th, not Canada Day) and it was good to see everyone. We got in late but really enjoyed our time last evening.

A bit of history I learned from Dave about Canada Day. It seems that they celebrate July 4th but do it a few days early, shooting off fireworks near Lake Ontario for the Americans on the other side to view. How nice! These Canadians are really great folks.

Algonquin Provincial Park

Algonquin Provincial Park is nearly the same size as the Adorondacks in New York except that all of Algonquin is protected area while the Adonrondacks are combined protected areas and cities with many roads crisscrossing the park. Algonquin has only one main road crossing the park. The rest of the park must be accessed by either canoe, on foot and perhaps by horseback.

The park boasts a considerable amount of wildlife. While in the park only two days Nan and I saw 3 foxes, a woodchuck, several rabbits, and several deer. We also saw numerous beaver "huts." Nan didn't pay too much attention to the bird species but my count was nearly 50 species without really trying hard.

One animal that Algonquin is supposed to have is moose. We entered the park about 9:30, having left our hotel in Belleville, Ontario about 5 a.m. We paid our day use fee and asked about seeing moose. The young lady wasn't too sure we would see any but told us that the visitor's center would have a listing of moose sightings. Our arrival at the visitor's center poured a bit of cold water on our hopes as the rangerette said that she had not seen moose in quite a while.

I had been reading a blog that suggested that the western end of the park was the better location to see moose. Highway 60 traverses the park from East to West and at 80 kmh (50 mph) it takes about an hour to travel. We stopped several times along the way to see the beauty and for me to do some birding.

At mile marker 22km (mile marker for lack of a better word) we noticed numerous cars on the righthand side of the road. It reminded me of the scene in the smokies when a bear was sighted. We pulled over and were pleased to learn that the crowd was watching a bull moose eating grass in one of the ponds. The picture isn't too great but here he is.

By the time we had reached the western edge of the park is was after 2 o'clock. We were very hungry. Locating food isn't the easiest task because the area is not very densly populated. However, we found just the right spot. Here the sign in front of their cafe.

We ate at the Moose Cafe twice. The food was really good. For lunch I got a Moose Burger and for breakfast this morning I got the Moosecakes.

We saw 3 other moose. Last night we went out toward dusk and saw another moose up in the woods above Highway 60. This morning we got up at 5:30 and went out looking and found a cow moose and her calf walking down the road that leads to Rock Lake. Their pictures are below.

Our quest to find moose is much more satisfied but not over. You see, the quest is to find that bull moose with a full rack and get an in-focus, stunning photo. So the quest continues...

Picture From Prickett Fort

Here is the outside view of Prickett Fort. The settlers lived around the fort on their farms. When trouble with the Indians would erupt, the settlers would all go to the fort for protection. At times they would stay in this 100x100 foot fort for weeks or months, depending upon how long the trouble lasted. The fort was a cool place but I wouldn't want to be couped up for too many days were very many folks in that small area.


This woman did a fine job of explaining life during the mid 1700's. She gave us a tour of the Prickett house and talked about daily life as a settler.


The fort is located near Fairmont, Va. This young man demonstrated pottery making and is a student at Fairmont State University. He was quite interesting to talk with and has already figured out he can't change the world. However, he does realize that changing one person at a time makes a difference and he is trying to be influential to those around him. I really enjoyed speaking with him.



The young man demonstrating blacksmithing was also interesting. He was fashioning a piece to go on a chest he and his fellow blacksmiths will use to house their tools.


Since we are on a moose quest I thought I'd show what we found. No, no moose, but this gal and Nan had a long conversation about raising kids.

All of these pictures were taken by Jennifer except for the fort. I thought she did an exceptional job. I promised pictures as soon as we got back to an Internet connection. Now I've kept my promise. I hope you enjoyed them.

Belleville, Ontario

We made it to Ontario in time to go to bed. We're up at 5 this morning to get off to Algonquin Provincial Park. Everyone we're talking with says it should be easy to see moose there. They don't realize the conspiracy that moose have going against me. Perhaps news of our arrival has not spread to the moose on this side of the border.

More tonight I hope, perhaps with pictures this time.

Prickett Fort

We visited Prickett Fort today. It is a reconstructed 1770's settlement with various craftsman demonstrating blacksmithing, pottery, farming, etc. We really enjoyed the visit and Jennifer probably got some good photos. Ut we have no Internet access except email through my BlackBerry. So I will try to post some pictures tomorrow evening.

We're in NJ tonight staying at a really nice Marriott (they had a good Saturday rate). The door man, dressed in fine black attire, opened the door as we entered. The girls were quite impressed as this is their first stay in a hotel more fancy than Courtyard! Julie said, "So is that the way you get treated on all those business trips you take?"
She began to realize the trade off when we declined the $12.95 per day Internet access fee.

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Sent from my mobile device

New River Gorge In West Virginia

Instead of driving straight up I-81 we detoured at Wytheville, VA and went north into West Virginia. Several years ago Nan, her mom and Pauline Wright had travelled in this area and saw the New River Gorge Bridge. They were here in the Fall and the colors were much more beautiful than today. But the views were terrific and the day was fun.

Here is a full look at the bridge followed by a picture from a sign explaining the height of the bridge. It is 876 feet high. If you stacked the Washington Monument and two Statue of Libertys one on the other, you'd still have 20 feet to go to reach the bottom of the bridge.

To give you another perspective on just how tall the bridge is, I took this photo of Julie as we stood below the bridge near the bottom of the gorge. Look at the top of the bridge and consider that there are 4 lanes of traffic up there with the equivalent of one more lane on each side for emergency stopping.

Down in the gorge we found one of several creeks that flow into the river. Rhododendrons were blooming all around and the air was fresh and clean. The humidity was high so shortly after snapping this photo of the girls we stopped for soft drinks.

It was a long day but we really enjoyed it. The girls are so much fun to be with. We're sorry that Jeff wasn't able to come along this year. Unfortunately, life is calling his name these days and he has to work.

Of course, no moose along this portion of the trip. Our first opportunity for moose probably will be in Canada since we will not get into the mountains of New York on this trip. Heather offered to take us to the Toronto Zoo to see a moose but that seems too much like claiming a sighting because we saw it on Wild Kingdom. We want to get with Heather and Dave but probably not to see a captive moose. We should end up in New Jersey tomorrow night if the Lord wills. Until then...

We've Begun

We left later than expected but are on the way. Today our plans are to
go to the New River Gorge bridge in West Virgina which stands 876 feet
above the river. We'll also see Beckley, WV. By Sunday night Nan and I
will be Belleville, Ontario.

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Sent from my mobile device

MooseQuest 4

I guess it is MooseQuest 4. Some number. Anyway, we leave tomorrow! We'll spend a couple of days with the girls travelling up. Then we'll leave them at camp and have the rest of the week to ourselves. Like before I hope to post pictures. With my fancy Blackberry I should be able to post updates along the way so check in often during the day. It is going to be nice to get away for a while.

Next Moose Quest

Our next Moose Quest begins soon. We're looking forward to seeing some new places...places that may very well have moose for us to find and photograph. I have a better way to update the blog this year by using my BlackBerry so we can post information as things happen. My BB doesn't have a camera so I'll still have to wait until we have an Internet connection to post pictures. Until then...

Interesting Church

Nan and I were surprised by the lack of churches of any type in Upstate New York. When we saw a church building, out of curiosity we looked close to see the name. This one was interesting. We figure these folks never get off "the milk of the word."

Trails End Inn & Other Locations

We had a nice stay at the Trails End Inn (say that 3 times fast!), a bed and breakfast in Keene Valley, NY. David and Susan, along with Marco their Labrador Retriever, were our hosts. They have a number of rooms in different sizes with different features. We stayed in the Marcy Suite and really enjoyed our stay.

Keene Valley is in Upstate New York about 14 miles from Lake Placid. This area of New York is rather remote and cell phone service is hard to find. Food is not the easiest to come by either, except you can get plenty over in Lake Placid but it is very crowded and expensive. New York has little diners in some towns. We really enjoyed finding them and seeing what sort of cuisine they offered. Breakfast is always good.

We left the Trails End Inn on Thursday morning and headed out the long way for Albany. I guess you could say that when we left the B&B, there was room at the Marcy Suite!

When Nan and I travel we like to take the scenic route. Sometimes Nan will point to a road and say, "Wonder where that goes?" I'll turn and we will explore. We have found so many neat little places on our trips. We turned onto Millbrook Road in the Catskills Mountains and wound around for several miles. Along the way we saw a deer, a bear cub which quickly ran away when we took interest in him, a rabbit and lots of scenery like this old covered bridge built in 1902.

We passed a very nice farm where a man was splitting lots of wood. Most people in the rural areas burn wood for heat during the winter and they spend a lot of time in the summer gathering their wood for winter. What caught our attention was the sign in his front yard. It read "New York Maple Syrup." New York produces more maple syrup than Vermont but Vermont's syrup has the reputation.

We stopped to see if we could purchase some syrup and found Mr. Kenneth Burger a delightful person to talk with. We were at his place about 2 hours as he showed us through his sugar house, told us all about how the syrup is made and how his wife packages it. In addition to syrup, they also make maple jelly and cream. We bought some of each and were glad to actually pay the producer rather than a store.

Here is Mr. Burger beside his growing stack of wood. His sugar house is in the back. If you get a hankering for some maple syrup or jelly, please call him and order some. His number is (845) 586-4784. Tell him the couple from Tennessee sent you.

Some Pictures Along The Way

At Gettysburg there are lots of monuments related to the Civil War. Some 58,000 men were wounded or lost their lives in just a few days of fighting.

The Amish country has lots of these and you'd better heed this caution sign. I wouldn't let anyone in the family take a picture of the buggies we saw since the Amish feel that is a rude thing to do.

This is fairly representative of one of their farms. They are quite beautiful thought a subdivision may sit next door.

This is where we left the kids. We think they were happy for us to leave.

We stopped at the Adirondack's High Peaks visitors center and caught this moose. It turned out to be the only moose we would see.

Before we arrived at our bed and breakfast we stopped at Chapel Pond. There were climbers across the pond going up the side of a steep rock face. Nan was watching with interest.

Driving around we came across a sign pointing to the North Pole. It is true that global warming is affecting the Arctic regions. No snow as we expected to find.

This sunset took place across the street from the only place we could find cell service. It was just up the highway from our B&B, right across from the grass runway of the airport.

We visited the Adirondack Park VIC (visitors interpretive center) at Paul Smiths. There are about 12,000 acres of land to explore. Here is one scene from our hike.

I had always heard about frogs and lilly pads but had no idea they actually sit on them. This little guy was busy moving from pad to pad trying to snatch up flies. We saw other frogs doing the same. If you don't get out and enjoy God's good earth you never get to see this sort of thing. That is, unless someone like me takes a picture. However, first hand viewing is far better.

I have other pictures I'll post later. These will give you an idea of what we've been up to. It has been a great week and the office has been about as far out of my mind as Tennessee is. I've needed that break.