What Is This Place?

I’ll tell ya what it is…it’s creepy!!

Our tour of Yellowstone National Park started at a lookout point over a beautiful, tranquil lake surrounded by mountain peaks.  Upon further research though (Daniel read the sign about it), we found that Earthquake Lake, unfortunately aptly named, was full of discomforting history.  It was the site of a riverbank campground until one fateful night in 1959.  A massive earthquake shook the area causing an 80-million ton landslide to fall on the campers and, in a domino effect, some sort of weird river tsunami buried them in what is now Earthquake lake.  That was some night, huh?

…so we went on to set up camp for ourselves…

Of course, a thunderstorm popped up as soon as we got the tent out of the bag, but then politely stopped the second our frantic setup was complete!  Isn’t that about how it goes?!

Creepy Sign On One Of Our Trails

We always enjoy the National Parks’ Visitor Centers, but this one was different.  When we walked in the front door, the walls literally said something along the lines of, “you are standing in the caldron (mouth) of one of Earth’s largest active supervolcanoes!”  Come again?!?!  We continued around the wall to find that there are over 2000 earthquakes in Yellowstone a year, and each one changes the “plumbing” of the volcano in some way.  I’m not sure why Daniel found this so interesting or why I kept reading but we did, each plaque more terrifying than the one before!  I was pleased to find out that if she did blow a cap while we were there, our crispy-fried ashes would be sprinkled over most of the US.  The last straw for me was the words “unpredictable” and (my favorite) “ticking time bomb”.  I had to get out of there!  All the pieces were coming together for a great night’s sleep under the stars.  Yeah right!  I could feel my blood pressure bubbling up like the 50 million trillion gallons of magma boiling below our air mattress.

All that horror aside, Yellowstone is a pretty interestingly bizarre place. 

Our first full day there was spent exploring the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Yellowstone Lake, Old Faithful, numerous geysers, fumaroles (steam-vents), and hot springs.  In between all of that, we dodged bison, antelope, and bears crowding the roadways.  We were absolutely blown away with the amount of wildlife that was present here…but more on that in a minute.

Yellowstone River Waterfall

One thing that was fascinating, but quite disgusting, was the putrid smells coming from the fumaroles and other thermal features.  Some of the vents smelled so much like sulfur that I had to cover my nose with our camera case…it didn’t work very well.  I am pretty sure that I left smelling just like rotten eggs!  Thankfully though, Old Faithful did not smell this way, so we were able to enjoy it blast well over 100 feet into the air without a hitch.

Two Of The Many Elk We Saw

Each of the three days we were in Yellowstone, we made some Jiffy Pop, got some coke, and went on an evening safari.  This consisted of grabbing our snacks and jumping in our car to go and see which animals were stirring that evening.  It was our ultimate goal to see some moose, but we were unlucky in that regards.  We did, however, see 1000’s of bison, 3 grizzly bears, 3 black bears, 1 MASSIVE roadside bear (not sure what kind), 1 wolf, and dozens of elk, antelope, and geese.  Many of the bison would literally stand in the middle of the road, causing traffic jams, forcing the park rangers to become matadors!

The rest of our time in Yellowstone involved more of the same, and although it was creepy, we enjoyed every minute of it.  This was our last major stop before heading back home, and we weren’t going to let the certainly imminent super-volcanic explosion take away any of the fun from the final days of our trip.

Over the next 4 days we drove from Yellowstone to Denver to Wichita to Little Rock to Birmingham.

We had an absolute blast! We realize how blessed we are to even have the opportunity to take a trip like this and we are so thankful!

Next Stop…. Who Knows!

Bison Owned The Roadways

A Grizzly Bear (One Of The 7 Bears We Saw)

A Thermal Feature

Lamar Valley (One Of Our Favorite Places) 

Grand Prismatic Spring

Old Faithful 

A Hot Spring

Looking For Wildlife

They Don't Call it The Crown of the Continent for Nothing!

Let me tell you a little bit about our stay in Montana…

1.)   IT IS HOT!  I’m not talking just hot for the Northwest.  I’m talking about a sweltering, South Alabama kind of hot.  “But it’s a dry heat,” you might say.  Yeah, yeah…whatever, it’s hot!  For our first full day in Glacier National Park, Daniel had an “approximately” 10-mile hike planned for us.  But when we found out the high temp that day was 102˚, we traded that hike for a shorter one, plus two scoops of ice cream, plus a motorboat on the lake.  A very wise choice!  During one of our short hikes, mystery of mysteries, we played in the snow.  For the life of me, I can’t figure that out!  Sweltering, miserable heat = crisp, cool snow?!  The heat wave we endured on our 3-night stay there proved nothing of the notion that Montana is a cold state.

Avalanche Lake...Cadie's Favorite Place in the Park

2.)   It’s absolutely gorgeous!  Although Daniel disagrees, Glacier is definitely my favorite place of the trip…so far!  (His favorite place is still Yosemite.)  Of course, there are mountains and glaciers so numerous and majestic that it’s unbelievable.  But then you have waterfalls draping the mountains literally EVERYWHERE!  We even had to cross a few on our hikes.  And as you hike, you’ll come around a corner, and all of a sudden there will be the most tranquil, crystal-clear lake you’ve ever seen.  My favorite place was just that.  Avalanche Lake is the most gorgeous place I’ve seen (so far).  Four separate waterfalls met up at the base of the lake directly across from where we stood.  Ya know how sometimes things (especially nature) look so ridiculously beautiful that it’s almost weird?  It’s like someone is holding a tapestry of imaginary scenery right in front of your face that’s so awesome you know it can’t be real life!  But then you get a little closer and touch it, and realize that it is, surprisingly, real life and so much more gorgeous than any man could think up, much less create.  Unfortunately, that’s my best effort at describing what it all looked like…so I encourage you again, get in the car and go there!

Beautiful White Coyote We Saw On Our Drive

  3.)   We saw the most wildlife here.  Supposedly Yellowstone is known for its wildlife though, so this status might not hold for long.  During our 3 days in Glacier/Waterton Lakes (Canada’s side of the park), our wild animal count was as follows: 3 mountain goats, at least 12 bighorn sheep, 1 white coyote, 3 marmots, millions of ground squirrels, 1 black bear cub, and 1 giant grizzly bear!  So, it will be interesting to see how this list adds up in a couple of days.

I’m writing this blog to pass some time during the multi-hour drive from Glacier to Yellowstone.  We actually just heard a comforting news story on the radio about a man making a narrow escape from a grizzly bear at Yellowstone…where we will be sleeping outside for the next 3 nights!!  So…you can understand why I’m a little nervous to say…

Next Stop - Yellowstone National Park!!!

Us at Avalanche Lake

Butterflies at Avalanche Lake

A Snow Fight in Late June!!

The Continental Divide

A Grizzly Bear We Saw at Waterton Lakes Park in Canada

A Couple of Marmots...They Loved to Pose for the Camera!

Some Mountain Goats on the Highline Trail

Our View From the Highline Trail at Logan Pass

Daniel Driving our 8hp Motor Boat

Gorgeous View of the Mountains From our Motor Boat

Haystack Falls...One of the Innumerable Waterfalls in the Park

USA/Canada Border

Canada, Eh!

So, we went to Canada the other day.  We only stayed for right around 24 hours, but we can officially say we’ve been there now.  Other than having to convince the Mountie in the booth that AL stood for Alabama, not Alaska, crossing the border was pretty simple since we actually remembered our passports this time.  We noticed a few immediate differences as we crossed the border.  The accents were many and various.  We never knew what we would hear when someone opened their mouth.  Also, the metric system is awful!  It took a while to figure out how fast we could go, and we still don’t know how much gas costs.  What kind of gas price is 136.9?!

Our Tiny Little Plane!

We went to Whistler, British Columbia for one reason and one reason only.  I had somehow convinced my acrophobic husband to climb aboard one of the tiniest planes we have ever seen, and soar high above glaciers and ancient volcanoes.  I’m still shocked that he agreed to fly anywhere when not necessary, but he was very brave.  Once we reached the end of the dock on Green Lake, we had to stoop to even fit through the plane’s door.  We had to sit single file inside, which made it hard to squeeze each other’s hand when we were scared.  I really wanted to ride shotgun when the pilot offered it up, but I couldn’t take that joy from the little old man sitting in front of me!

Lake Garibaldi (1-Mile High)

The ride up was not bad at all actually.  We enjoyed unbelievable views of mountains, glaciers, and a mile-high lake.  We had seen plenty of waterfalls so far on the trip, but as we flew over Mount Garibaldi, we got to see our first (and probably only) icefall, especially in June!  I was soaking it all up, taking a million pictures (just like my momma taught me), and loving every second!...but then we turned around.  I guess maybe we were against the wind, or something, but the ride back was sheer misery, even for me.  I tried to sike myself out and say it wasn’t even as bad as riding an Arkansas interstate, but who was I kidding…it was bad.  I haven’t been that nauseous since the time I ate a fried Snicker bar before getting on a Peanut Festival ride!  In fact, I am proudly vomit-free since 2006, but I almost lost that status all over Whistler!

Ok, enough about that.  It was rough, but we are both so glad we did it.  There is no other possible way we could have seen what we saw up there.  And now that we’ve seen it, we can’t imagine missing it on account of fear.

Unfortunately, if it’s not winter, then there is not a terrible amount of things to do in Whistler.  So, after our plane ride, we enjoyed afternoon nap time, and woke up in time to watch mountain bikers fly down a course while we ate supper.  Then…back to bed.

We Were Glad to Be Back!

Everyone knows vacation can be a lot of work.  So, Canada was a bit of a rest stop for us before the last leg of our trip.  We enjoyed a great time of relaxation, and headed towards Spokane, WA for a layover night before reaching our next true destination.  On the way, we stopped at the North Cascades National Park, and checked out some waterfalls, lakes, and dams.  However, it was nothing compared to what we were about to see.

Next Stop – Glacier National Park!!!

Our Pilot...His Name Was Daniel!

Icefall!!

Do We Look as Nervous as We Were?

Mount Garibaldi

Our Tour of Washington

I could really get used to this whole waking up to the sound of waves crashing on the shore thing.

Sunset from Kalaloch Campground at Olympic NP

We spent a couple of nights in Olympic National Park in northwest Washington.  This may be one of the most diverse parks we have been to yet.  We set up camp at one of the parks’ beach campgrounds. The first morning, we woke up (late as usual...we are really getting spoiled) and drove to the only rainforest in the US.  Yeah, I said it… rainforest!  We (Daniel) had a few hikes planned for us in the Hoh Rainforest.  There were two main reasons, however, for us not completing much of said hikes:

1.) The land-of-the-lost-sized bugs were about to carry us away. Literally, I felt something land on my leg and when I looked down, I was alarmed to see a prehistoric looking horsefly fully shadowing my calf.  So it didn’t take us long to realize that in Olympic NP, the size of the bugs is directly proportionate to the size of the trees...which by the way are ridiculously huge.  

Mount Olympus (in Olympic NP) covered in clouds

2.) Once we got a pretty good ways down one of the trails, we met up with a group of about ten or so hikers going back the opposite way.  They didn’t seem to be on a peaceful stroll through breathtaking scenery either.  They were on a mission. The lead guy did slow down, however, to ask us if we saw the bear just a minute ago...which we had not.  Apparently, Mama Bear and Baby Bear were hanging out right off the trail not far in front of us.  The guy even said that Mama had stood up when they came by.  She never charged or got aggressive or anything but, seeing how we were only two lone hikers without the strength in numbers that they had, and Daniel was carrying a big bottle of sweet nectar (Mountain Dew…actually, I’m not supposed to say that since he’s a dentist now...He didn’t swish it, I promise), we turned around.

Once we gave up on the hikes, we got back in the car and headed for, you guessed it, another beach.  Ruby Beach is probably my favorite beach of the whole trip!  Its giant climbing boulders, rock caves, rumbling waves and collision with Cedar Creek earned it this prestigious recognition.  Oh yeah, and the wildlife there was pretty incredible…we saw a BALD EAGLE just hanging out in the wild! We didn’t get to stay there too long, though.  We only had time for one chorus of “This Land is Your Land” and a few minutes of gawking before we got hungry.  I know, it sounds like a ridiculous reason to leave but, we have learned the hard way that if either one of us lets hunger progress to hanger…things can get pretty dicey.  So, especially on a trip like this, we have to nip that in the bud pretty quick.

The next morning we had to get up and hit the road early because we had a date with some whales in the San Juan Islands. We boarded the boat at 10am and didn’t come back to shore until around 4pm.  In between those times, we hung out with two humpback whales and at least eight different killer whales.  One of the killers even brought us a seal right up to the boat before he (warning-weak stomachs please skip ahead a few lines…) ripped it to shreds! There was definitely some wild shark-week action going on.  It was pretty disgusting to see the water turn red like that but, at the same time, it was so cool to see nature take its course out in the wild.

The Original Starbucks

From there, we checked in for a couple of city nights, and not a moment too soon.  So thankful for a place to do laundry…I was really starting to look like a hobo!  We have loved being in Seattle.  I have seriously never seen so many coffee shops in all of my life and I don’t hate that.  We, of course, had our morning coffee at the original Starbucks, visited the Starbucks Reserve and checked out all of Pike Place Market including the gross, giant, headless fish that were being tossed to and fro at one of the seafood stands.  We later saw one of those (fully intact) fish golden-fried to crispy perfection resting in Joe’s birdbath of a plate at supper.  It was great to be able to meet up with another survivor of the UAB School of Dentistry class of 2015 all the way across the country.

Mount Rainier from Seattle (over 70 miles away!)

We are starting to get a little sad because we know that our trip is on the downhill slope.  But we still have a ton of stuff packed into this last week and a half!

Next stop – Oh, Canada!!

Humpback Whale Tail

Seattle Skyline

Pike Place Market - Before...

...After