- the forests and the streams,
Seeking grace in every step he takes.
Had a few moments today, but took some time out to think about Dad.
Got me thinking that a parent's job is basically to give their kids the best possible push when they're learning to ride their bike through life, and that I couldn't really fault the start I got.
Thanks, Mum and Dad.
See you in the Three Tuns real soon.
Love, Danny.
Xxx
Up early again, and going to brave The Narrows today - this is where you hike up a tiny gorge carved by the Virgin River, and either wade through it, or walk along its rocky banks. It's knee deep most of the time, with dips to thigh and waist deep. If you keep going, it can be chest deep. There's mostly rocks on the bottom, that you can't see. You've also got to beware of flash floods from upstream, so if there's a sudden roaring sound or the levels increase, or the water colour changes, you've got to find high ground. Not easy in a canyon with vertical rock sides!
You can hire special water boots and neoprene socks to protect your feet, which were essential, and a stick, to support your weight and probe ahead - even more essential! We saw a few nutters trying it without either, and not having much fun. Elliot wanted to chill at the van, so we left him behind, and went for it. It was quite hard work wading against the current, but not so bad once you got used to it, and going early was good, as it stayed cooler, and the light on the canyon sides was amazing. I took Elliot's GoPro, but the battery was a bit low, but should have some good video clips. We hiked upstream for about 2 hours, and that was enough for us, as got to drive later. Had a short break, and headed back. Again, much hotter when the sun gets overhead!
Back at the van we cleaned ourselves up a bit, and then drove off - it was our last day in Zion, and we've got to bey at Bryce tonight. The road through and out of the park has a set of hairpins, but they weren't too tight, and we were in a bit of a convoy with one of the really enormous coach-like RVs in front, so if he could make it, our titchy 30 footer would have no problem. There's a tunnel that you go through at Mount Carmel, and it was dug 100 years ago, and wasn't built for RVs. So, they close it one-way every so often, and then you drive through in convoy the other way, right in the middle of both lanes. Bit freaky. There's also some cutaways in the tunnel wall to the outside world, which are cool. Bryce is only about 80 miles, but quite windey to start with, so took a couple of hours.
We were staying at Ruby's Inn RV park, which we thought was just a campsite, but it's the whole town! Ruby (Reuben) founded it 100 years ago, and it's gone from strength to (tourist) strength ever since. There's a Rodeo, a Cowbow Dinner Barn, and every other tourist geegaw that you could think of: Rockshops, fake Jail, the works. It was quite late by the time we arrived, so looked for our best food option, and the Restaurant was the biggest Harvester you've ever seen. Mediocre food all round, but at least our timing was good, as by the time we left, the coach parties were literally queueing out the door.
Finished with more Yahtzee, with Annie continuing her horrifically great run - getting near 500 points at one point! Considering that I managed 112 the night before, that's pretty good.
Well, we made it! Up at 6:30, at the park gates before 8, and then going up Angels Landing. 5.5 mile round trip, and a 1500 ft climb as well. We were at 4000 feet to start with. Quite a bit was paved, but proper steep in places, as it snaked its way up the cliffs, with effectively vertical drops on one side for the first part, then it ducked into a canyon, and then went up Walter's Wiggles - a mad set of switchbacks. There was a small plateau at the top, and that's where the fun started....
You had to make your way along rock angled at about 45 deg, holding onto a chain. There's probably 30 foot of angled rock below you, and then about a 1300 foot drop. Of course, there were people coming back, so every so often you had to figure out a way to get past each other. Nicola and Annie didn't fancy it, which was a wise decision for them, as there were even freakier bits later on. Elliot and I pressed on, up to the top of one crest, and you then had to go down (which was worse!), and along the side of a ridge, up onto the top, with drop-offs on each side, and now the chain was strung between poles for you to hold on to. There was then a series of scrambles up more rock, with more chain to get to Angels Landing proper. There were a lot of people doing it, so traffic jams sometimes came up, plus a few of them were quite mental - we saw at least 2 with papoose / rucksack babycarrier things. Well worth it though.
Doing the last stretch took just over an hour, I guess, and then we returned to the plateau, where the ladies had found some of the last-remaining shade. Then, we hiked back down, but the sun was more or less overhead at this point, so proper hot. There were still maniacs heading up it at that point, but I wouldn't have liked to be in their shoes.
We read afterwards that 5 people have died on Angels Landing in the past decade or so ( **excluding** those that have died in 'suspicious circumstances' !!) Bizarrely though, 7 people have died at Emerald Falls (the place we went the day before), which seemed to make no sense to us...
Pretty tired after that, so chilled in the van for a bit. Nicola and Elliot fancied a swim in the park pool, but there was a bit of thunder rumbling through, so they closed the pool as people get hit by lightening?
There's a strange cinema at the entrance to the park, and it runs either a mocumentary about the park, or normal films. The ladies and I fancied the former 'Treasures of Zion', and Elliot the latter: Antman. So, I went to both. The Zion film was very funny (unintentionally) with a slight overdose of the Noble Savage thing, intercut with some bizarre climbing and hang-gliding scenes, all done in a very 90s stylee. Some beautiful footage though, and I'm sure there was a grain of historical accuracy in there somewhere.
Antman was excellent, a superhero film that didn't take itself too seriously, with an action packed finale that took place on top of trains moving at high speed. Only thing was, it was on top of Thomas the Tank Engine.
Nicola and Annie went shopping while we watched this. Good night all round.
Just finished in Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. Yellowstone is basically 65 miles square, with a massive square figure-8 central road loop and we drrove yesterday from the north, across the top, down the right, and back through the middle and then south. Stoped quite a few times, for oncoming solitary bison on one way road, also for Paintpots, where there's boiling mud pools. Had a lovely hotel back in the Grand Tetons, overlooking the lake with the mountains behind.
Annie had a little drive of the car too - only in a layby, but liked her first go in an automatic, even if it was a massive Toyota 4runner.
At Jackson airport now, waiting for flight to SLC, where we get the RV. Then drive to Zion Canyon, then Bryce.
Got to SLC, all good, barring (another) mental cabbie. Perhaps this one had god on his side, so didn't need to worry about being 6 inches away from the guy in front.
RV wasn't quite ready, so had to wait a bit, but got it, and decided to hit Walmart for provisions - must keep it in the family! Got a bit lost finding it, but made it in the end, but by the time we were done, it was starting to be rush hour, which was fun as the first RV experience. However, despite Nicola having kittens a few times, we made it out to Fillmore, about 2 hours away. Nice park, friendly people, and we spent the evening chatting with some Canadians from London, Ontario, who were coming to the middle of a 6 week road trip, and had done 16000 km! They only had a caravan, too, with fold out sleeping shelves. I think the wife had had enough, and was flying back in a day or two though. Husband and 2 teenage sons were pressing on...
First full day in Zion today, got the shuttle bus the half-mile to the entrance, showed our pass, then got the next bus up the canyon - about a 40 minute trip. Got off just before the end, hoping to do the Hidden Canyon Trail, but it was closed for construction. So, did another one there to Weeping Canyon, where the water moves down through one permeable layer, hits a solid one, and flows out sideways, causing a strange cascade coming straight out of the rock. It's eroded another overhang underneath that you can go into.
We then hiked to Emerald Pools, which has 3 'water features' - one similar to the one above, the next is a series of small streams with monster tadpoles (still?), and finally after a very hot and steep bit, a lovely pool, about 100 feet across, with a sandy beach there. Very nice to get the hiking boots off!
Hiked down a different way, then got a cold beverage and shower, and ready to go out in the town tonight!
Hoping to do Angel Landing tomorrow - search for Angel Landing Zion on Youtube ! - but want to be up early to avoid the heat, and that seems hard to do...
Got advice from Greg, the lovely hotel owner at the Yellowstone Basin Inn, and then headed off into Mammoth Hot Springs, which is a lovely town, and the centre of the Park Rangers organisation. Went around their tourist information centre, which had a bit of history about how they were founded, and to start with, there was just one of them! As the place is 65 miles on each side, that's a lot of ground to cover.... Luckily, there's quite a few more now.
They have elk just wandering around in the town, and a few skitted through, looking somewhat freaked by all the attention. Not helped by idiots going up to them to take pictures. Nicola found a story from a few weeks back of a woman and her daughter taking selfies in front of a bison, which then cheerfully tossed her into the air... We spoke to a park ranger later, and she said that the elk actually seem to prefer the town, as although they don't like cars, they like wolves even less, and they won't come into the town.
Drove on, stopping for a few short hikes and photo opportunities as we went. Ended up at a Wolf Den, where the wolf spotters were gathering. Apparently, a young family of them had been out at one point earlier, but they were normally more active later on, around 8pm. There was supposed to be a bison on its last legs down by the river too, and they were expecting the wolves to fall on it, like, er, wolves.
However, we couldn't wait that long, and I suspect Annie would have been quite freaked by it, not that any of us would have relished the sight. However, on the way back, there were herds of bison everywhere, with some of them just ambling about by the road quite cheerfully, and so we had a 10 minute wait while about 5 of them took turns just standing in the road, staring down the traffic. They seemed to be saying ' yeah, I weigh about a ton, and I can run at 45 mph, and I got these biiiiig horns... and what are you going to do about it? Oh, and I was here first. '
All of a sudden, the 2 guys in front of us on Harleys didn't look quite so badass.
Back to the hotel, where Greg the owner knocked on our door, and then called us outside to see a bald eagle, perched on the other side of the road. He then showed us his pictures of a wolf being seen off by some coyotes in the field opposite. The wolf had just eaten, and was the size of a house, and was basically slouching disconsolately off their territory, while they nipped his heels.
Annie cooked for us this time, some great pasta, tomatoes and mozz, and we'll finish with another game of Yahtzee - Annie's keeping a running total of all the games across all the holiday. Think I'm gonna lose....
Quite a mixed up day here, all told. Up 7:30 ish, sort the room, then head out to pack the car, and it's raining! Alternating between drizzle, and chucking it down. This prompts some radical clothing rethinks. Quite pleased to leave the Hibernation Station, as we were all suffering from cheese-overload by the morning. There's a truly horrific painting of some dude on a Harley, parked in a barn, looking down on some 6 year old farm boy, sat on the hay. The kids have constructed a whole story around this, and it's worse than you can imagine...
After recent food mishaps, where we seem to miss meals, mostly lunch, we decide to find a supermarket, which handily has a coffee shop and bakery opposite. That sorts breakfast AND lunch. However, still tipping down. However, we haven't any option but to hit the park, and see how it goes. It's my turn to drive The Beast, which is pretty fun to drive, with cool toys like the reversing camera.
Driving through gets pretty crazy at times with the rain, and I even have to pull off at one point as it's so heavy that I can't really see where we're going. However, we get to Old Faithful itself, and it's calmed down a bit. However, Annie didn't pack a raincoat, so we hit the shop first. As I seem to have inherited a strange predeliction for bizarre headgear, I buy myself a stetson - well, not quite, but close enough! After protecting ourselves from the elements, we head out to Old Faithful, where a crowd are gathered for the next eruption. They can predict the timings to within a few minutes - hence the name - and we get to watch the water spouts pretty much straight away. It's not raining now, but very grey, which makes the clouds of steam a little less spectacular - still pretty epic though! After about 10 minutes, it's subsided, so we follow one of the boardwalks that run around the vicinity. Some amazing colours (and smells!) in places, and it got so steamy at some of them that I had to take my glasses off.
Generally feeling very pleased and proud of my family who have made all this possible over the years.
After we've walked the loop, we go into the Old Faithful Inn, which is huge inside, with a 7 storey wooden-built interior dating from 1904. There's a series of balconies around the central space, so I snap some photos. It looks so impressive, we stay for lunch (so much for the supermarket!), and have one of those relentlessly cheery waitresses - ' You want the grilled cheese sandwich? - Awesome! - and coffee? Good Job! '
We drive on later, stopping by the Midway Geyser Basin, and driving along Firehole Loop. Here, there's basically a boiling river cascading down a hill, with vivid brown and orange runoffs, before joining the main Snake River. It must have been totally bizarre for the first Europeans to have come through here 100 years ago.
Later, we head north, to Gardiner, where we have an apartment, and go for some proper cooking - pasta and courgettes! Restaurants are just too much sometimes.
Had a few moments through the day, just thinking, and will raise a glass later. Cheers, Dad!
Fri - Aug 7th.
Had to leave Jackson this morning, heading up to Yellowstone. Made an initial stop at the supermarket, of course, where we're delighted (or I am, at least) to discover that America has finally wised up to Salt and Vinegar crisps. We stock up on other essentials, like snack bars, trail mix, and temporary tattoos - ask the kids....
Then we head out to a tiny church, by the snake river, built in 1890, where Jesse the Ranger explains all about it. He didn't seem too chuffed when Nicola blurts 'but our house is older than this!'
But, totally weird that this place was essentially an uncharted wilderness red in tooth and claw only 100 years ago, when England was settling down and pouring itself a nice cup of tea.
Drive on, stopping at viewpoints as we go. Main advantage of this place is that there's essentially only 1 road through it, so you can't miss anything, your only choice is where to stop.
Car's going very well, kids arguing about what to call it. Various names been suggested as it's a Chelsea Tractor - Rupert, anyone? But, I think it's such a beast that it has to be Idris... The kids are big fans of Mr. Elba.
Keep driving north, and get into Yellowstone itself, after stopping for Grand Teton itself - 13000 feet? World record for climbing it AND coming back down is about 4 hours. Apparently, back in '71, someone skiied down it too, from the top. The fact that no-ones done that since shows how mental an idea that is.
Yellowstone looks great, but we don't have a lot of time to stop, but see a few scary looking eruptions in the distance. Now, we're in West Yellowstone, a town on the very edge, in some bizarre disney-esque log cabin, complete with (padded!) wallpaper covered with Harleys, and little placards saying 'Legends Never Die' on top of a motorcycle-encrusted lampshade. Very odd.
Trying to add a few photos to the blog, but seems to make it a bit unstable, but working on it...
Off to more Yellowstone tomorrow - including Old Faithful! Seems appropriate.
Arrived in Jackson, which is quite a nice town, bit touristy, but not as bad as some of the places in Canada, which were wall-to-wall t-shirt shops. Hotel is amazing - the Alpine Lodge - lovely people, free coffee/cookies/brownies in the lounge, epic breakfasts, and an honour bar - just leave a note saying what you've had to drink!
We've also got The Beast now - a Toyota 4runner, which isn't quite the Jeep that Nicola was hoping for, but is still pretty epic. The kinda car where you need a stepladder to get into it.
As we arrived, the radio sparked itself into life, with a storm warning, saying that lightning strikes gave danger of death.. We'd just arrived at the hotel, so were expecting a real barnstormer, but all we got was a few raindrops. Typical americans, just bigging stuff up...
Nicola's done all the driving so far and is a bit power-crazed with it all, quite frankly. Talking about getting one back home?
Today, we drove to Jenny Lake, then got the boat across the lake and were aiming to hike along to a viewing point - Observation Point, but we missed a turn and ended up in the canyon, but as we were going along, we met folk who'd been out there for 4 days... then the kids ended up way in front, and it took us forever to catch them up. By the time we'd got back, gone to the viewpoint, and then gone back around the shore, we'd done about 12 miles. I was doing ok, as I'd Gone Large on the breakfasts, but Annie was preparing to chew on the nearest moose at this point.
However, all worked out in the end, we made it round, and she was saved by a large bag of Cheetos. Like Wotsits, but more orange. I didn't think there was a colour that was more orange than Wotsits, but I was wrong.
Home, then found another cool place in Jackson to eat - Thai Me Up - but again with the enormous portions, and Nicola's was too spicy for her. So, that's lunch for tomorrow sorted.
Finished the day with more Yahtzee outside the hotel, with the kids convinced that there was a 'Lucky Seat', and it has to be said that with a very small sample size, they were right....
Jetlag - everyone up a bit early, except Annie, who managed till about 8am. Nicola woke up about 4, then read for a bit on the sofa and then fell asleep there. I woke then too, but went back to sleep till 7. Elliot woke at 4, and then watched 2 films on Netflix. Sigh.
Nicola and I go out hunting for breakfast provisions, but despite hundreds of tasty looking cafes, there's no convenience stores open at all. We settle for Cafe Roma, an old fashioned place with its own enormous roasting machine. It's got half a dozen cops there, shooting the breeze, which we take as generally a good sign. Even if lots of firearms early in the morning is not something you'd generally be too happy about...
We get some scary strong coffee and bagels to get us going, and after they're eaten, head off to the Bart, which is a 20 min walk. Travel out OK, after the loveliest ticket inspector in the world comes out of his office to show us how to use the slightly bonkers ticket machine..
Anyway, get there OK, and Margaret's got the blueberry pancakes and french toast ready as we walk in. After a lovely brunch, we head out to Univ of California, Berkeley, which I've always been a bit intrigued about as it's where Carroll went back in the 60's, but you still hear a lot about it now. Wander around, dodging the touring chinese student groups, and stop for lovely sodas and iced teas on the far side of the campus. Carroll has to stop for a few breathers, but we cover quite a lot of ground.
Then, we drive to Twin Peaks, up past Golden Gate Park, where there are awesome views over the whole city, but it's mad windy up there, and everyone's a bit scared about being blown over the edge.
We end up eating at Max's at the Opera, a rather groovy American restaurant, complete with live piano player, and terrifyingly large portions. Everyone eats too much, and even the salad I order fills me up. Even Annie can't manage the desserts, with her patented Pudding Stomach (tm). Doggy bags (or boxes) all round! M&C drop us back at the apartment, and the tiredness is definitely kicking in by 9 o' clock. Not sure what the plans are for tomorrow yet, but a Segway tour of Golden Gate Park might be one of them?
On the flight now, just watched a couple of films, but just have delightfully been given the smallest Fab lolly in the world - about the size of my thumb. Oh well, suppose it keeps the hydration going!
Journey out here pretty smooth, no particular signs of travel mayhem due to the Ride London thing. Minor complications at Piccadilly, as the automated ticket machines wanted to sell us week-long season tickets to Heathrow, for 200 each. The nice lady there shrugged, said 'something's been done to them...' and kindly pointed us to the ticket office. There, another nice lady pointed out the Group Saver ticket, $14 bargain.
Managed to get my manifold and varied electronics through security without too many cavity searches, and Nicola even got through the foil-wrapped brownies, which Elliot was convinced would be a total red flag that we were a family of international drug fiends..
Even survived the nightmare that is Airport Pret, with 1000 spanish students unaware of how to choose food in any kind of civilised manner. Kids these days... Had a nice peruse of the shops too, even played a bit with Windows 10 in Dixons - looks quite tidy.
Even caught a few glimpses of Greenland, scarily snow-less (guess it's too ironic to worry about global warming while flying overhead in a jumbo jet?). Also, odd white dots floating in the water - icebergs, but kinda tiny?
Plane is not bad, a bit cramped, but hey, I'll put up with all hella things for a tiny Fab.
OK, so here we go, on our trip firstly to SF, to see Margaret and Carroll, then we fly to Jackson, Wyoming, via Salt Lake City.
There, we pick up a jeep, and drive around Yellowstone for 6 days or so, then back to Jackson.
After that, we fly back to SLC, to get the RV, and then off to Zion and Bryce Canyons.
Then, we return to SLC, fly to Minneapolis, and then back to London for the Day of Truth (DoT, from here on...) for Elliot's GCSE results.
Had the normal bonkers day here of all those tasks you do before leaving: last minute shopping, cancelling the papers, sorting the house out, washing all those clothes you simply must take, update the satnav (so slooooow), etc.
