Jackson Hole

 These last two days in Jackson Hole, Wyoming have been memorable, as you can imagine by looking at this photo taken from the Snake River early this morning.

Yesterday morning we rented a tandem kayak and went paddling on Jenny Lake, a glacial lake named for Jenny Leigh, the Shoshone Indian wife of the trapper Richard Leigh.  Even with two of us paddling, it was hard to track a straight course--very different from our own flat-water kayaks at home.

You can see how clear the water was. And how few other paddlers were out on the lake.

Later in the afternoon, we paid a visit to the National Museum of Wildlife Art, a beautiful stone building built into the side of the mountain with sculptures inside and outside. This owl welcomed us near the entrance.

And these are the only bear and elk we've seen thus far on our trip, though we're always watching for them.

This morning we went for a scenic float trip for 10 miles down the Snake River.

We were on their first run of the day, and you can see some of the spectacular scenery, taken from near the spot where Ansel Adams took his famous photo of the Grand Tetons.

We floated through calm waters and some white water with the help of our guide, Aaron.

And passed a large beaver dam.

Until we reached the take-out point.

Then I was lucky enough to meet an old friend and fellow writer (Nanci Turner Steveson) for lunch at Cafe Genevieve in downtown Jackson.  Nanci is the author of two middle grade novels, Swing Sideways and Georgia Rules (which I would highly recommend), and she is currently at work on another.

During our evening walk around Jackson, I was lucky enough to have a conversation with Benjamin Franklin...

...and Doug and I found the perfect vehicle for our next cross country trip.

Tomorrow we drive north to Yellowstone.

Onward to the Tetons

Tonight marks two weeks that we've been on the road, and here's a photo of our progress on the map. At this point, it would be difficult for me to choose my favorite place, and I imagine it will only get harder as we go forward.

I was amazed at the variety of landscapes in the state of Wyoming.  We traveled down Ten Sleep Canyon again, and I noticed things I missed the first time.  Or maybe I was looking out a different side of the car.

And then we entered a very desolate part of central Wyoming.  The only signs of humanity were some small oil wells (not pictured).

Next came Thermopolis with its Hot Springs and the start of the Wind River Canyon.  The most interesting spot was the "Wedding of the Waters."  This is the place where the Wind River becomes the Bighorn River.  In the next two photos, I was standing in the same spot, but looking in different directions.

On the left is the Wind River and the canyon we were about to drive through.

And on the right is the Bighorn River.  Can you believe these were taken at the same spot?  What a contrast in landscape!





Here's another photo farther into the beautiful Wind River Canyon.

We drove on through the Wind River Reservation with even more varied landscapes, including fertile farmlands.

This scene was closer to the Tetons.

In Dubois, we drove through a thunderstorm, and the temperature dropped from 83 degrees to 55 in a mere 15 minutes!  Then, within a half hour after the storm, the temperature was back up to 79.

And, finally, here's our first glimpse of the magnificent Teton Range!  We are treating ourselves to three nights of luxury at an Inn in Jackson, instead of camping.

Muddy Creek, Crazy Woman Canyon, and the Petrified Forest

 We've had a fun two days with our friend, Tom Bentley, as he showed us some of the scenic, but lesser known, areas around Buffalo, Wyoming.  On Sunday we started out near the Muddy Creek reservoir, where we stopped so I could take a photo of some horses.

 Well, the next thing we knew, one of the horses had put his head right into our window, thinking Doug had a treat for him.

Then we drove on through Crazy Woman Canyon as we made our way into the Big Horn Mountains. According to legend, sometime back in the 1800s Indians raided a small homestead in or near the canyon.  The husband was killed, but the woman pretended to be crazy, and her life was spared. The Indians were either frightened by her, or simply didn't want to deal with her.

Before we left the canyon, Tom built this small stone cairn on a perfect little rock shelf.

At the top of the Big Horn mountains (around 10,000 ft. altitude), we came across this beautiful outdoor chapel, called St. Christopher's of the Big Horn.

 And then we drove down Ten Sleep Canyon on the western side of the range...

...and passed a rock climber.  

Here's a photo of an old weathered building still standing on the outskirts of Ten Sleep, so named by the Indians because it took ten "sleeps" to travel there.

Today we stayed closer to our campground and took a short hike around the petrified forest.  Yes, I know there aren't many trees to be seen in these photos, but there are some magnificent examples of petrified trees.  Here is a metasequoia.  I'm especially interested in this because Doug and I have a metasequoia growing in our woods in Maryland.

 Here are a few more scenes from our walk this morning, including Doug playing with his drone.

And here is one of the huge murals painted on the side of a building in the historic town of Buffalo.

Thank you, Tom, for being our chauffeur and guide these past few days!

Tomorrow Doug and I move on to Grand Teton National Park...

A Hike Around Devils Tower and on to Buffalo, Wyoming

How many of you remember this geological formation from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind?"  There were no mashed potato sculptures this time.  Doug and I hiked around the base on a 1.3 mile loop trail and caught glimpses of some rock climbers.

Can you see the climbers in both of these photos?  This should give you an idea of how massive Devils Tower is.

Here you can see the red dirt and rock in this area of Wyoming.

And a view of the valley below the tower.

 There were many prayer flags tied to trees around the base.

After leaving Devils Tower, we drove on to Buffalo, Wyoming, where we met up with another childhood friend, Tom Bentley.  Last night he took us to dinner at the Occidental Hotel in historic downtown Buffalo.  The hotel, which dates to 1880,  was frequented by Buffalo Bill Cody, Teddy Roosevelt, Calamity Jane, and even Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

This morning we're off for a hike with Tom, who knows this area well after camping here for most of the summer.  More later...

Through the Black Hills to Nebraska

These last two days have been a trip back in time for me as we traveled through the Black Hills of South Dakota to visit an old friend in Nebraska.  This first photo was taken along the highway designed by Peter Norbeck to offer the best views of the Black Hills at nearly every turn.  There were at least three pigtail bridges (which curl back on themselves just like a pig's tail) and offer panoramic views of Mount Rushmore in the distance.  Even from the tunnel in this photo, the presidential faces could be seen in the distance, although the lighting was too bright for them to show up in this picture.  And there were numerous scenic stops along the way, as seen in the photos below.

Most of my photos of Doug seem to be of him taking photos.

At the end of this highway was Custer State Park, named for George Armstrong Custer, cavalry commander known best for his part in the Battle of Little Bighorn.  The park is famous for its bison herds and other wildlife (elk, antelope, prong-horned deer, prairie dogs, etc.), which can be viewed from its scenic wildlife loop.  You can see below that the buffalo (a name used interchangeably with American Bison) were not bothered in the least by traffic.

From Custer State Park, we drove on to Hot Springs, SD and onto a far less traveled road (71) to Nebraska. In about an hour's worth of driving, we met 4 cars, but did drive alongside a very long freight train


 

This sign and bountiful roadside sunflowers welcomed us to Nebraska.

Our destination was Harrison, Nebraska and the home of an old childhood friend, whom I met on my first day of seventh grade at Ponce de Leon Junior High School in Coral Gables, Florida.  We both played flute in the band and were best friends through high school. Somehow she ended up teaching math in Sioux County High School.  In fact, Barb Engebretsen is the entire math department in this school, which now has a total of 25 students.  Here we are in front of the school...

... and in Barb's classroom.

What an inviting place to learn math!  Her smallest class has one student, and her largest (Algebra 1) has nine students.  Her enthusiasm, even after 40 years of teaching, is infectious, and her students love her.

After the tour of the school, Barb's husband Lee took us on a road tour of the beautiful high plains to see their 960 acres of land, which includes pasture land, creek beds, natural springs, and their own personal "badlands," where fossils of ancient turtles can be found.  Doug is holding one in his hand.

We passed an abandoned one-room school house...

and went on to enjoy lunch at the "Cookshack" which people manage to find in the middle of this beautiful, yet isolated, countryside.

Hollyhocks were the flowers of choice.

And finally we were enjoying a relaxing late afternoon chat in the shade of their yard...

when the high school art teacher, Rex Rodenbaugh, stopped by with a gift and a request for us.  He gave us a beautiful ceramic ocarina (a small flute-like wind instrument) in the shape of a turtle shell, which he demonstrated below.

Then he asked us to help spread his art around the world by releasing his ceramic ball into the water along the east coast.  In this year in which he turned fifty-four, Rex made 54 of these ceramic balls.  Sometimes the balls float, sometimes they sink, but he hopes someone will pick one up on a shore somewhere and wonder where it came from.  We plan to send this marbled red and white one on its way in the Rappahannock River just above the Chesapeake Bay.  But it will be hard to part with this beautiful piece of art.

Thank you to Barb and Lee Engebretsen and Rex Rodenbaugh for such a delightful day!  Tomorrow we move on to Wyoming.  Stay tuned for more posts...