June 6^th.

We woke up and I took my pills and I started urinating furiously and I was still frightened. Linda was also frightened and we decided to leave our tent and air mattress as neither of us had the strength to take them down and fold them up. We gave them to the camp host who said he would see they would be given to someone in need. We started home through Moran Junction but stopped to eat a little breakfast and I continued peeing. I was still shaky but feeling a little better and not wanting to end our trip which we had risked so much of our savings on we headed to Yellowstone NP and I continued to pee. I think I had a fluid buildup on my lungs do to the cold weather and altitude.  The more I peed the better I felt. We took pictures at Lewis Falls and were able to get a cabin at Canyon for 3 nights at $76 a night and we called Gig, our dear oldest daughter who agreed that I had not had a heart attack but I needed to get a good night’s sleep and continue to get rid of the fluid. By now I am feeling much better. We took a nap at around 12:30 and woke up to find 6 inches of snow on our car. Two young men knocked on our door and I jokingly asked if they had come to evacuate us – they were nice enough to carry our bags etc. in to the room for me and had just come to check on our needs and also on the needs of others in cabins like us as there are no phones or TVs in these wonderful cabins. A perfect honeymoon place by the way. All in all it was a great and glorious day. We fell asleep at around 8:30 PM and slept most of the night until around 7:30 am only waking to of course – pee about twice Thank you God for taking care of us this last two days! John

The morning finally came and I gave John his pills and he immediately started going to the bathroom.  We left our tent and air mattress with the camp host as it was just too much to take down.  We were going to go straight home but decided to go up through Moran Junction.  After some breakfast and some more bathroom stops, John said he was feeling a little better, so we decided to try and get a room for several nights at one of Yellowstone’s lodges.  We called Gigi and asked what she thought and she said that it was both the cold weather and a buildup of fluid.  John was able to get us a nice cabin for a reasonable rate at Canyon in north Yellowstone.  We went to our room and lay down for a short while and watched it snow outside of our window.  When we woke up there must have been 6 inches of snow on the car.  We cleaned off the car, luckily we had left our snow scrapper in the trunk, and we went out for a short ride where we saw the tail end of a sow and her cub.  We went back to the room where we played cards and I won by double the points.  We fell asleep around 8:30 and did not wake up until the next morning.  We only woke up to go potty.   I am so thankful to God for takings care of John.  It was a very good day. Linda

 

June 7^th

As we began this day I felt a lot better. We drove to West Yellowstone where we took pictures of a baby eagle in its nest.  Although we waited for the mother eagle it did not show up so we left and drove to the Lamar Valley where we had a neat Grizzly experience. We drove back to Canyon and down to the Hayden Valley where we saw a mother grizzly and her beautiful cub. We took pictures of a

Sand Hill Crane and her nest in the Lamar valley and of a rare blue heron in YELLOWSTONE. We took many pictures of beautiful scenery also this day. We would drive from sunshine to snow to sunshine all day. The roads were dry and it was another great day. We arrived back to our room to find a small but nice box of chocolates and a card wishing us happy anniversary form the Canyon staff.

John

 

We had a wonderful day of driving all through Yellowstone.  We were able to take all kinds of animal pictures which include 3 grizzly bears, one with a cub, a baby eagle in a nest, sand hill cranes nesting, great blue heron, white swan,  white pelican, elk and , of course, the bison.  The scenery was as beautiful as it has ever been, especially with all the green and then all of snow that is still on the ground.  We were in so many different types of weather today, from it being sunny to

 

driving blowing white out snow.  It came and went so fast that you really didn’t have time to worry about it.  I am glad that I remembered to bring the San Francisco jackets that Gigi bought us when we were out to see her last year.  The Canyon staff left us a very nice of Huckleberry Bon Bon’s in a pretty wood box that says Yellowstone on it.  I had a very good day today.

Linda

June 8, 2008

We slept well and got up early and drove south to Fishing Bridge which was closed to Cody. We then continued to West Thumb in another snow storm and on to old faithful most of the way behind a very slow motor home.  We watched Old Faithful erupt and had lunch. We then drove slowly to West Yellowstone where we explored a little and then on the way back we stopped and took many eagle pictures and also some neat pictures of a bright yellow bird we have never seen before. We took nice pictures of a grizzly and her cub in Hayden Valley before heading back to the cabin and preparing to leave in the morning. It has been a glorious 3 days here and today was a special two a day special.  I have really enjoyed being here and that includes when the sun was out, when it rained and when it snowed which it did a lot.  John

The morning was a little cloudy when we woke up but the weather changes so fast it was not a problem. We headed toward Fishing Bridge and kept going until we got to Old Faithful.  The snow was really coming down and we got stuck behind a RV that did not seem to know how to drive in that kind of weather.  We got to Old Faithful just as it was getting ready to blow.  We had lunch in the cafeteria and the headed out to West Yellowstone so we could get some good pictures of the Eagle in her nest.  We took lots of the side roads and saw some pretty water fall areas, a really pretty yellow, black and red bird.  We went back to our room so we could fix a sandwich and take a shower as they were able to finally get us some hot water. 

We took off to get some more pictures of the sow grizzly and her cub.  We saw a pair of blue herons making a nest but it was too far to get pictures.  The sun came out as we were heading back to get ready to leave tomorrow.  This has been one of the nicest and most special 3 days that I can remember.  No hurry, no rush just enjoying being together. Linda

 

June 9, 2008

 

We got up very early and headed to the Hayden Valley and sure enough, our bear and her cub were close to the road. We spent over an hour taking more pictures of her and her cub. She is beautiful and the two of them provided us with a great deal of pleasure and entertainment over the past few days. She is easily one of the highlights of our trip so far. We then went to look for the wolves but our luck ran out and we did not find them. We headed down toward Oxbow Bend and the weather which had been so bad in this stretch yesterday and the day before was beautiful today. We could even see across the lake. The moose with the new born calf near Jackson Lodge was up on her feet today with her calf. We were delighted even though we never got a very good picture of her. We headed to Lander after going to Pacific Creek where we did not see anything today. North of Dubois we went up the Fish Hatchery road again and took pictures of the Osprey and John left a monument. Enough said! We reached Lander and the day began to get away from us as we needed to find a phone charger for Linda’s phone and the motel we thought we would stay at raised its rates $10 so we decided not to stay. We reached Rawlings and found a mom and pop motel - not the greatest but adequate. We had a nice day and despite a frustrating loss at Gin by Linda and a momentary loss of focus -putting it nicely by me, we are fine and have reservations for the next 4 nights in Denver.

 

Linda and John

 

June 10, 2008

We got up after a night that saw John sleep well then not be able to sleep. We took a short cut from Rawlings to Walden that saved us about 175 miles of driving and gas, maybe more. In Walden we were surprised when a young moose ran across the road in front of us. We stopped at a turn in and were again surprised as the same moose running faster than we could have imagined ran across and up a large meadow right in front of us. This moose was really moving. We took a picture of the meadow he was running in – no picture of the moose although Linda and I will have a picture of him running forever. He was both beautiful and very fast. We went on to the Rocky Mountain NP and drove through it very slowly. We went by the place where you are supposed to be able to see big horn sheep but we had not eve r seen them and – surprise they were there. We took many many pictures and they seem to be fine. We drove on to Denver and went to the musical -3 MO DIVAS- and what a great way to end the day. They were talented and energetic. It was a nice night. We are tired and hope – really hope to sleep well tonight.

 

June 11, 2008

Today is Zach’s 18^th birthday. We called him just after midnight and wished him well. He had endured a difficult day yesterday. Today we began by going to the Denver Botanical Garden and there we took many many beautiful flower pictures. We really like the gardens. We went to lunch at Strings and Noel Cunningham, Owner and Chef extraordinaire visited with us after we had eaten and signed an autograph for r Portia. The meal was fabulous and with tip was $43 –Botanical cost us nothing as we are members of Wichita’s gardens. We stopped at Whole Foods and just walked around and bought some bubble bath. We went to two movies, The Visitor and then she met me.  Both movies were great and it was a nice day.

 

Linda and John

 

 

June 12, 2008

Today we went to a Rockies game. We also picked up the famous pastry Chef Keegan Gerhard’s autograph for Portia and took his picture with Linda. His pastry was very small but tasty for $4. The game was terrific and we had very nice seats. I got a ball from one of the Rockies and we sat with some young mortgage bankers who felt the bottom had not been felt and in fact was a year away. We then went to dinner at Le Central and it was super including the fact that the Pastry Chef made us Grand Marnie Soufflés for desert. We got her autograph and the chef’s autograph for Portia. We then came back to the motel and are recouping from the day which was very sunny and hot. We might or might not go out to a late movie.

Linda and John

June 13, 2008

Wow what a day!!! It was a great day of vacation that just happened to be the last full day before we leave for home tomorrow. We got up early and went to the flea market which had not many sellers or buyers. Linda found a piece of Griswold very cheap and I picked up a “Todd Helton Stacking Doll”. We then went to Mt Evans –which is the highest road in America at over 14000 feet. We only made it to the Summit Pond at 13000 feet but we did see and get great pictures of mountain goats. The road was washed out and terrifying to drive on with no guard rails and narrow. We only had 5 more miles to the summit but chose not to try and I think we made the right decision as it was 10-15 miles an hour down the whole 9 miles stopping to let cars we met pass while we waited. We then went to 2 good art movies –The children of? –and Before the rain. We found a new theatre complex called Starz Tivoli – hard to find but a neat place. We also rediscovered Whole Foods which has the best pastry etc in Denver. We returned safely to the motel and look forward to a nice return home tomorrow. We had the pleasure of meeting a man who we had seen and enjoyed his company in the Tetons, Jackson with the fox, Rocky Mt NP with the bighorn sheep and today at Summit Lake with the Mountain Goats.

June 14, 2008

 

Well we are headed home after a fine 12 days on the road. There were moments of great joy and moments of terror like when I thought I was having a heart attack at Jenny Lake. I remember so many things from slowing down deliberately to rushing only once and then I did not need to. I don’t remember a single serious issue and only one or two times my blood sugar dropped. We are I think much more aware of our mortality and we are trying to cherish each moment as though it might be our last. Gas prices are incredibly high and people seem to be angry a lot yet we had a very great time. We saw so many beautiful things, the new camera takes very good pictures but does not lend itself to quick focusing. We got home safe and earlier than I thought! We passed a huge  motorcycle group on the way home.

 

John

 

I truly think that this trip was one of the best trips that we have ever taken. There were so many wonderful sights, people, and food that each day was special in a different way.  We also passed the huge wind turbine field.

Linda