Vacation

October 5
Idaho Falls, ID

My two sisters, Rose and Leona, and a friend Vernita arrived Monday evening for a visit. After camping in my basement overnight, I cooked them a five-star breakfast of fresh Idaho fried potatoes, and toast, and we took to the road to explore Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, and parts of ID, MT, and WY. We spent the first night in West Yellowstone, MT, the second in Jackson, WY, and arrived back at my place on Thursday morning. We managed to travel nearly every road in the parks, as well as taking an adventurous trip across a mountain pass in the snow en route to Cody, WY. Lots of good eateries were encountered along the way, as well as lots of wildlife, and fall scenery.

Fall In The Tetons

September 29
Idaho Falls, ID

I took a day off on Tuesday to utilize my National Park Pass, and take in some fall colors in the Grand Tetons. I started with a hike in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, followed by another shorter hike to Taggert Lake. The fall colors are at their peak, and hopefully will stay so when my sisters come to visit next week. The temperatures have been in the 70's lately so I'm trying to enjoy them before winter arrives.

Streams and Steam

Sept. 10th
Idaho Falls, ID

I made it up to Yellowstone yesterday. It was still a little crowded, but I manged to find a few out of the way spots to enjoy some solitude. I checked out some of the geysers, and hot springs, as well as taking a back country hike. I also got to experience the obligatory wildlife traffic jams on the drive out, as tourists were stopping to view the animals, namely bison and elk, which were coming out for their evening feeding along the roadsides. I purchased an inter-agency pass, which entitles me to free admission to any national park for a year. I will be putting it to good use.

Fire On The Mountain

September 3rd
Idaho Falls, ID

It's been a hot, dry, smokey summer. Lots of wildfires burning throughout Idaho. On some mornings there's a light dusting of ashes on my car, and the hazy skies remind me of Midwestern summers. We had some rain over the weekend which has cleared things up a bit. On Sunday co-worker John and I traveled to Lava Hot Springs, and Bear Lake in southeastern Idaho and northern Utah. The water in the lake was clear and blue, and a nice cool temperature for a refreshing swim. A few weeks back I camped in the Caribou National Forest near Pocatello, and checked out the sand dunes near St. Anthony. Other than that I haven't been up to too much. I still haven't made it over to the Tetons and Yellowstone, but with the tourist season winding down, and the temps. moderating I plan on taking in some late summer and early fall scenery there. I also have some family coming to visit at the end of the month.

Teton Canyon

July 9,
Idaho Falls, ID

Hello, I'm still alive and well. Haven't done much post-worthy lately. I picked up a second massage gig at a nail salon. The owner and employees are all Vietnamese. As one of my clients put it "You're the first Caucasian I've ever seen working here." I hang out there when I'm not busy at my other job, (which is quite often) and do chair massages. It's entertaining listening to them talk to the customers in broken English, "You want massage? He very good." On Sunday my co-worker John (from the other salon) and his roommate Brian, and I drove back out to the Jedediah Smith Wilderness area and hiked along the Teton Canyon trail. The cool breeze blowing through the valley felt like outdoor air conditioning. It's been a little on the warm side here lately, but not nearly bad as y'all in the Midwest. We also stopped at Falls Creek along the Snake River on the drive out and saw this neat waterfall.

A Stroll In The Snow

June 10
Idaho Falls, ID

This weekends expedition took me across the state line into Wyoming and the Jedidiah Smith Wilderness. Jedediah Strong Smith (January 6, 1799 – May 27, 1831) was a hunter, trapper, fur trader, trailblazer, author, cartographer and explorer of the Rocky Mountains. What I originally intended to be a short, leisurely walk turned into a five hour hike. Once I sighted the snow capped peaks I couldn't stop until I reached the top. On the descent I decided to leave the trail and go straight down the side of the mountain...it was a lot steeper than it looked. The snow, loose rocks, mud, and bushes didn't make matters any easier, but I managed to slip-slide my way down without any broken bones or muscle strains. I think even ol' Jed himself would have nodded his approval.  By the time I made it back though my legs felt like a couple of rubber bands. As I walked to my car a couple of hunters in an SUV pulled up and asked if I'd seen any bears. I replied no, the only game I'd seen was a red fox with a freshly killed bird in its mouth. Satisfied with my bear sighting abilities, they drove away confident that there were indeed no bears in the area.

Last Sunday I camped in the Targhee National Forest. I found a nice spot on a ridge to set up camp, and just as I was about to slumber for the night, I was greeted by a nearly full moon rising over the mountains and the serenade of some owls hoo hoo hooing in the distance.

Eclipse

May 28
Idaho Falls, ID

We had a partial eclipse of the sun a week ago Sunday. Mark and I drove out to the hills overlooking town and watched the event unfold. It wasn't too impressive, actually we didn't even notice except for a little dimming of daylight. Not too much else has happened lately. I'm starting to get a few clients, and they all like me so that's encouraging. I've been volunteering at St. Vincent DePauls thrift store on my days off, going through donations and sorting clothes. I still have lots of free time for reading and watching movies. This weeks recommendations are Tom Brown Jr's "The Quest" (book), and Stephen King's "The Stand" (mini-series and book). I tend to go hiking on the weekends. Last week I drove out to the Targhee National Forest. Today I had planned to drive to Mt. Lookout, but the rains (and snow in the higher elevations) we had over the weekend thwarted my plans, turning the unimproved roads a little too muddy for my Sentra's taste. So I decided to ad lib and find another hiking destination. So down the backroads of Idaho I traversed, taking a right at a likely looking intersection, and less muddy than the previous road. As I gained in elevation the snow got deeper. The tire tracks on the road were clear, but the snow in the middle kept dragging up under my low clearance carriage, so I found a suitable place to turn around, and back to the crossroads and another right. A few miles down this road and my progress was again impeded, by some cowboys on a cattle drive down the roadway. Not having a particular destination, and no set time to get there, I chose to turn around and explore the last remaining option at the crossroad, another right. This time success. I drove a ways and then pulled off and ate the lunch I had packed, and as I was relaxing a convoy of about a dozen semis with livestock trailers rumbled by, on there way to another roundup I suppose. I finally found a decent spot and spent a few hours hiking, seeing a couple of mule deer, and hearing the "drumming" of several grouse. On my drive back I saw a lone moose as I was descending the hills toward town. It's dark coat really stood out against the light color of the wheat field it was in.