The Devil's Tower made me blog
So we are just a few miles from Devil's Tower in Wyoming. The hotel we are staying at has a lovely "Ring for Service" bell that sounds like the musical phrase oft repeated in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" to signal the alien ships. How apropos.
I have been avoiding calling Katie during our trip because I don't want her to feel like I am clinging to her or hovering via cell phone or checking up on her. She's a big girl now and I have to try to remember that. I know she doesn't need us anymore on a daily basis. BUT JIM CALLED HER while I was in the bathroom at a gas station! Look who is hovering now! He said that she has already been to the bank to move her account and change the address on her checks and she and Sara are going to go to the DMV for the license change sometime soon. (for those of you who don't know, Sara is Jim's cousin and she and her husband David are Katie's landlords now) She is moving on in her own direction. I haven't cried yet. I'll probably cry when I'm cleaning up all the leftover trash in her old room.
Our trip today has been so much fun! We drove through the Tetons (beautiful!!!) and through Yellowstone, where we saw some boiling springs. Yellowstone is amazing! The boiling springs were worth the hour-plus we stayed and walked around. I also got out at the side of the road to take pictures of bison on the side of the road--no, I did not get too close. I overheard a few bison encounter stories while we were lunching at the Fishing Bridge General Store, so I knew enough not to press my luck. Jim kept his butt firmly in the driver's seat of the truck so that at least HE could make a quick get away, should the bison come a-charging. (When he suggested that I get out to take some pictures, I wondered if he was trying to get rid of me. "She was gored by a bison" is a totally believeable story in Yellowstone)
Anyway, it took us 4 hours to go the first 100 miles from Jackson Hole to Fishing Bridge General Store and then another two hours to get out of Yellowstone, but every minute spent taking pictures or wandering around the boiling springs or driving slowly through the switchbacks, trees, mountains, and around lakes was worth it.
I have heard many say that Wyoming is the most boring state in the Union, but I vehemently disagree. I love the weird rock formations, the flatness bordered by distant hills, the rolling hills gouged into little canyons by exuberant streams (bear with me while I wax poetic). It's all so conducive to hermitude, which is something I've always wanted to do. Bighorn National Forest is worth a week of exploration too. I'd love to ditch the vehicle, load up a horse with as much water as it can carry and just start walking over hills and mountains in Wyoming. My point: Wyoming is not boring. I love it.
Tomorrow we are taking pictures of Devil's Tower, driving through the Black Hills and then speeding home. I'll have a lot of pictures to share when I get back to Minnesota. Bet you can't wait.
I have been avoiding calling Katie during our trip because I don't want her to feel like I am clinging to her or hovering via cell phone or checking up on her. She's a big girl now and I have to try to remember that. I know she doesn't need us anymore on a daily basis. BUT JIM CALLED HER while I was in the bathroom at a gas station! Look who is hovering now! He said that she has already been to the bank to move her account and change the address on her checks and she and Sara are going to go to the DMV for the license change sometime soon. (for those of you who don't know, Sara is Jim's cousin and she and her husband David are Katie's landlords now) She is moving on in her own direction. I haven't cried yet. I'll probably cry when I'm cleaning up all the leftover trash in her old room.
Our trip today has been so much fun! We drove through the Tetons (beautiful!!!) and through Yellowstone, where we saw some boiling springs. Yellowstone is amazing! The boiling springs were worth the hour-plus we stayed and walked around. I also got out at the side of the road to take pictures of bison on the side of the road--no, I did not get too close. I overheard a few bison encounter stories while we were lunching at the Fishing Bridge General Store, so I knew enough not to press my luck. Jim kept his butt firmly in the driver's seat of the truck so that at least HE could make a quick get away, should the bison come a-charging. (When he suggested that I get out to take some pictures, I wondered if he was trying to get rid of me. "She was gored by a bison" is a totally believeable story in Yellowstone)
Anyway, it took us 4 hours to go the first 100 miles from Jackson Hole to Fishing Bridge General Store and then another two hours to get out of Yellowstone, but every minute spent taking pictures or wandering around the boiling springs or driving slowly through the switchbacks, trees, mountains, and around lakes was worth it.
I have heard many say that Wyoming is the most boring state in the Union, but I vehemently disagree. I love the weird rock formations, the flatness bordered by distant hills, the rolling hills gouged into little canyons by exuberant streams (bear with me while I wax poetic). It's all so conducive to hermitude, which is something I've always wanted to do. Bighorn National Forest is worth a week of exploration too. I'd love to ditch the vehicle, load up a horse with as much water as it can carry and just start walking over hills and mountains in Wyoming. My point: Wyoming is not boring. I love it.
Tomorrow we are taking pictures of Devil's Tower, driving through the Black Hills and then speeding home. I'll have a lot of pictures to share when I get back to Minnesota. Bet you can't wait.
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