The Relaxing 2014 Vacation: Visiting Salt Lake City

Since we are in the Salt Lake area, our visit would not be complete without an actual trip to Salt Lake City.  After arriving on Temple Square, we entered the North Visitor’s Center and walked up the curving, ascending ramp to see the Chirstus statue.  The trek up the ramp was a bit rough on Ben, but he managed with same help from his “human cane” and we set on the benches for a while to rest and look at the statue.  I’ve always liked this particular image of Jesus for the way his arms are depicted.  The outstretched position of the arms suggests a beckoning—either for an embrace or as a way to signify Jesus’ call to “Come unto me” (Matthew 11:28).  A Book of Mormon verse that comes to mind for me when I see this statue is when Jesus tells the people of the Americas that He was lifted up upon the cross that He “might draw all men unto [Him]” (3 Nephi 27:14).  I like how He invites us to Him, but we need to make the move to come up to where He is.  Jesus doesn’t step down to us in the sense that He doesn’t compromise His teachings to conform to us.  We need to humble ourselves and step up to where He is.  A young woman Jennifer approached agreed to take our picture in front of the statue; this is my favorite of the two.

 

Luckily, we located an elevator to get us back to the ground floor.  We decided next to walk around the Temple Square block and take some pictures of the Salt Lake Temple.  This is Ben’s favorite temple, so he made sure we took our time.  There were several wedding parties taking pictures in front of the temple.  It was interesting to watch the family groups move from place to place as the wedding photographer took his or her requisite family poses before breaking the bride and groom from the group to take photos in all the photo album worthy places.

 

From the temple, we entered the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and went to check on the times of the showing of the Joseph Smith film that has been showing there for quite some time.  Two reasons, 1) we all like the film, every time we come to Temple Square we end up seeing it), and 2) Jennifer was an extra in the film.  Back when the file was being produced, she took the boys and drove up to Utah (stayed with Joanna’s family back when they lived in Provo) for a week in order to participate.  She was in the Far West, Missouri expulsion scenes.  At one point she was got scraped up a bit because of an accident during the scene and didn’t want to leave—she felt she looked more authentic that way.  When we first saw the film, we were pretty sure we heard her voice and a scream.  At some point, however, the film was recut to add some things and give it the point of view of Lucy Mack Smith and we’re not sure if Jen survived the reconfiguration.  Either way, it’s a fun family story knowing that she participated in the production.

 

After the movie, we walked back onto Temple Square and then decided to cross South Temple Street to visit the Deseret Book store.  We bought a few things there and wandered out into the new (to us) City Creek shopping mall area.  Joanna had told us about a Farr’s ice cream shop and said it was across the street from the temple.  Ben’s legs were acting up and he needed to sit.  I told everyone to rest and I’d try to locate the Farr’s.  Thus began my odyssey.  I left my family and walked south until I came across a “you are here” sign giving directions.  A moment or three of searching helped me locate the Farr’s on the map.  I plotted a course in my head and began walking.  My path took me east, up to the second level, then north.  Before I knew it, I was standing … on South Temple again (“Are you kidding me?”).  I walked west about 5o yards and there was the shop; if I’d just walked east from where I’d left my family, I would have found the place easily. *sigh!* Just for the heck of it, I retraced my steps back to everyone.  As I was approaching them, I noticed a Polynesian family walking nearby and a young woman who looked familiar.  I was still several paces away from rejoining everyone when Jennifer noticed her and immediately went to give her a hug.  She looked familiar to me because was a young woman from our ward back home who was visiting her aunt and uncle and their family.  If I hadn’t gone through my odyssey to find Farr’s, we would have missed seeing her.  I guess sometimes it pays to do things the hard way. :)

 

Our ice cream was yummy.  Ben was feeling better and he wanted to see the Conference Center, so that became our next destination.  During our time inside the area where general conference is held, Clay Christiansen, an organist for the Tabernacle Choir, started practicing a musical piece on the organ.  During my mission, I had the privilege of hearing Brother Christiansen play the organ in the Riverside West Stake building during the Christmas season.  I heard him again on that same organ a few years later during the same season.  Isaac was manning the video camera at the time.  Since I didn’t want to conspicuously snap a flash picture while he was practicing, I whispered to Isaac to take a video of him in order to preserve the moment.  Turns out he played the piece he was practicing on the Music and the Spoken Word program two weeks later.  Midway through the tour, Ben began to hurt again.  The sister missionary serving as our tour guide left us in the area where the Arnold Friberg Book of Mormon paintings are located to get a wheelchair for Ben.  When she returned and Ben settled into the chair, Isaac quietly grabbed the handles and pushed Ben around for the remainder of the tour.  I was very impressed by that.  We’ve all dealt with Ben’s situation in our own ways over the last several months, but to see Isaac step up and want to be the one to push Ben showed me the love my sons have for each other.

 

Our last stop before returning to Joanna’s house to have dinner with Andrea, Kirsten, Heather, and Joanna’s family was to go to the Salt Lake City cemetery to look for some more gravesites of general authorities and prominent church members.  The visit to President Snow’s gravesite had been the catalyst for wanting to make a return trip to this cemetery.  I mentioned in yesterday’s post that we came to this cemetery in 2011 to find some gravesites.  At that time, we found Orrin Porter Rockwell’s grave as well as those of past presidents of the Church (Hinckley, Hunter, Kimball, Lee, Joseph Fielding Smith, McKay, Joseph F. Smith, Wilford Woodruff).  Since we had already visited many former church president’s grave sites, we decided to look for other earlier church members this time.  We spent such a long time looking for Eliza Snow’s site that we didn’t have as much time as we had hoped.  During our visit this time, we found William W. Phelps’ gravesite as well as Bruce R. McConkie, Hugh B. Brown, Emmeline B. Wells, Daniel H. Wells, William Clayton, Frances Monson, and Jane Elizabeth Manning (one of the first African-American saints).  It’s interesting finding these gravesites and being able to talk a little bit about each of these people and their role in the restoration and moving forth of the gospel.  Tomorrow we’ll be heading back home.

The Relaxing 2014 Vacation: Mini-Excursions

I mentioned in my chronicling of our vacation last year that we like to visit temples.  For last year’s vacation I made it a point to find several along our route and we enjoyed the opportunity to walk the grounds and take pictures.  Today, we wanted to visit some temples nearby Utah temples, so we decided to make a trip to Ogden to see how the construction is coming along on the remodeling of the temple there and to see the recently completed Brigham City Temple.  Before we left, Mom and Dad arrived at Joanna’s house.  They had come to Utah for doctor’s appointments and stopped by on their way back to Wyoming.  It was nice to be able to see them again if only for a brief moment.

When the Ogden Temple was first built, it had the same design as the Provo Temple.  A few years ago, an announcement was made that the design of the temple was going to be changed in order to expand the current temple's capacity.  According to this article back in 2010,seismic requirements and modern mechanical systems were also considerations for the remodeling.  During our visit in October of 2011 to see a session of General Conference, Mom and Dad and I were in Ogden and they took me to see the how the temple was progressing, but I don't think the rest of my family were able to see it.  Since the temple was now near completion (we missed the open house by two or so months, bummer), we thought we'd swing by and check it out.  Because the area was still a construction zone, we couldn't walk the grounds or touch the temple as we like to do, but we were all very impressed by the work that has been completed.  The remodeled temple looks nothing like it did originally, but we all like the new design.  I think it will be a nice addition to the area when the construction is completed.

After stopping at a nearby Wal-Mart to buy a birthday present for Grace, we drove to Brigham City.  I think I visited this small Utah town when I was a teenager, but I don't recall the reason.  Not that it really matters one way or the other.  I guess I mention it because I was a bit surprised at how relatively close it was from Ogden.  I guess I was expecting a longer drive.  By the time we arrived in Brigham City, the weather had become a bit more threatening.  Even though the sky was generally partly cloudy, Mother Nature had settled on scatter showers in this particular section of Northern Utah.  Thankfully, we didn't get rained on since we weren’t really dressed for it (being from California, why would we think we’d run into bad weather in June? :)), but the wind picked up a bit during our visit.  The temple grounds were very nice and the building, as is all of the temples I’ve ever visited, was beautiful.  I always find temple grounds to be peaceful.  Even though the front of the temple is adjacent to a main roadway, the noise of the cars seemed muted somehow.  We walked around the temple, admiring the architecture and taking pictures.  When we came to the front of the temple, I noticed the Brigham City Tabernacle across the street.  From what I understand, it is still used as a meeting house.  I suspect it is thought of by the members in the area in the same way as the Provo Tabernacle—a treasured pioneer built building that continues to have functionality.  It was quite striking, so I took a picture of it as well.

Before we left Joanna's house, she mentioned that President Lorenzo Snow is buried in the Brigham City cemetery.  Back in 2011 when we visited Salt Lake City for a week in October and went to a session of General Conference, we spent some time one day in the Salt Lake City cemetery visiting the grave sites of general authorities and prominent people in Latter-day Saint history.  It was quite fascinating.  When Joanna threw out this little tidbit, we decided to take a look.  With the way Brigham City was laid out, I didn’t have too much difficulty finding the cemetery.  After a bit of looking and a visit to the main office to make sure of our directions, we found President Snow’s grave site.  We thought Lorenzo’s sister, Eliza R. Snow (who served as the 2nd General Relief Society president and who wrote several well-known LDS hymns), would be buried in what appeared to be the family plot there in the cemetery, but were disappointed in our search.  After we returned to Joanna’s house, she showed us on a map she and Chad have put together that Eliza is buried in area several blocks above the Temple Square block in Salt Lake City.  We tried to find the plot the next day when we visited the city, but had a very difficult time figuring out where it was exactly; maybe next time.

Our final excursion of the day was to have dinner with my brother Aaron and his family.  I had talked to him the night before and we had settled on meeting at a Mimi’s Café a few miles from Joanna’s house.  Before we left, I asked for directions and was told how to get there.  It sounded easy enough.  “There’s a big sign,” Joanna assured me. “You can’t miss it.”  The directions were very easy (turns out, I had driven this way earlier in the day), but as I looked for the Mimi’s sign, I couldn’t see it.  I looked and looked and then suddenly … “Wait!  That building!  Wasn’t that?  Oh, man, I missed it!”  As I drove over the overpass and made a U-turn (legal), I kept saying to Jennifer that I couldn’t figure out how I had driven past Mimi’s without seeing the big sign.  Greater insight was received as I came back toward the café.  There was the big sign Joanna had mentioned … but it was blank, empty, devoid of anything to expressly assure me that I had reached the right place.  As I turned into the parking lot, I found Aaron’s car in a very empty lot with a very vacant restaurant in front of us.  Apparently, the place had recently shuttered its doors.  Okay.  This is fun.  Aaron walked over to our car and we joked about our situation for a moment.  He then asked if there was anywhere else we were interested in going.  “Chili’s!” piped up Isaac; Ben quickly seconded the proposal (I don’t think they were really all that keen on Mimi’s).  Chili’s was on the other side of the street and west about 500 yards.  Sold!  After a couple of deft driving maneuvers, we found ourselves in the parking lot of a very active and open restaurant.  Yeah! :)

No sooner did we sit down and order drinks when Ben and Isaac began asking Aaron how he felt about the latest Marvel movies.  From the smile on his face, I got the impression that my brother was impressed with my sons as they gave their own critiques of the movies and offered their own opinions on what would be coming next.  I guess it’s good to know that I’ve raised my sons right.  I think Jen and I have done a pretty good job of teaching them the gospel and I’ve supplemented their schooling with just the right amount of Marvel lore (plus they’ve done a bit a digging as well).  I also tried to bring Anna and Alissa into the conversation so as to not allow the entire evening to be dominated by “guy” talk, but it was fun to see Ben and Isaac engage Aaron.  We had a great time.  I think we were all sorry to have to bring our time to a close.  After we finished eating, we didn’t immediately leave.  The waitress kept coming over and asking if we needed anything more.  Finally, after a few more minutes, we finally left the restaurant.  Jennifer wanted to take pictures before we departed ways.  She told Anna and Alissa she wouldn’t post her picture with them on Facebook; she only wanted the pictures for herself.  I will honor that promise and only post the “guy” photo.  We had a very fun day. :)

The Relaxing 2014 Vacation: A Change of Venue

Our last few hours with Mom and Dad were spent with them this morning.  A pretty good rain fall had happened at some point in the wee hours.  Thankfully, the rain stopped long enough for me to load our luggage and other various and sundry things into the car before starting to fall again.  Most of the dirt the car had accumulated during our almost trip to Lake Alice had been washed away and I could see out the back window--an added bonus.  Mom had volunteered to participate in a Relief Society service to some local ladies living in a nursing home in Montpelier, Idaho and  left before we were able to say good-bye to her.  I guess Jennifer was able take this picture beforehand, however.  Dad seemed to conveniently hide when Jen mentioned picture taking and wiggled out of getting his picture snapped before we left. :)  I guess Mom and Dad will be in Utah tomorrow for doctors appointments.  We should get to see them at Joanna's house.

 

About the time we said good-bye to Dad and piled into the car, the rain began to fall more earnestly.  The storm was very large and seemed to follow us all the way to Joanna's house.  The rain wouldn't stop until sometime in the late afternoon and would actually leave a dusting of snow along the tops of the mountains.  The storm wasn't so bad that driving was made difficult, the rain was steady, not a downpour.  Any outside plans we may have thought about had to be put on hold until tomorrow.  We didn't call Joanna until we had turned off the freeway and started on the city streets toward her home.  By this time, we found out later, she had left briefly to pick up Merritt from his piano lesson.  Consequently, no one answered the phone.  The trip from the freeway to her house didn't take as long as I had anticipated.  Before I knew it, we were pulling up to the curb.  The rain was still falling and none of us had packed rain coats.

Since Joanna hadn't answered her phone, I told everyone to stay in the car while I went to the door to see if anyone was home--no sense in all of us getting wet if there wasn't a need for it.  I jogged up to the front door and rang the doorbell.  The roof overhang afforded me enough cover to keep dry, but I had to squeeze onto the small porch and not move very much to remain water free.  I knocked with no immediate response.  I was beginning to think Jo had left to run a quick errand and we'd have to sit in the car for a bit, when the door opened and I found myself looking down at her daughter, Grace.  "Hi!" I said hopefully.  I'm not sure she completely remembered me.  She gave me a quizzical look.  "Are you here to see my mom?" she asked.  "Yes," I replied.  "Okay," she said as she shut the door.  I waited, thinking Joanna would come to the door momentarily ... nothing.  Ever had those moments when minutes seem like hours?  I had one of those moments as I stood huddled on the porch wondering if I should knock again or return to the car.  I turned toward the car and saw Jennifer looking at me as if to say, "What's going on?"  I shrugged.  Finally, after what seemed like hours (but was only two minutes tops), I heard the noise of the garage door opening and Joanna's van pulled into the driveway.  Saved!  I quietly chuckled to myself as I finally figured out why I'd been left on the porch. :)

On previous visits to the Stowell clan, Ben's younger cousins used him as their private jungle gym, but Joanna had warned them to treat Ben nicely.  Because of this, Isaac became the focus of rough-housing.  I'm not sure he was completely prepared for this up-grade in status, but I think, for the most part, he handled it well.  As for Ben, he was introduced to the game "Angry Birds."  When Grant and Joseph found out Ben was playing, they left Isaac alone for a time and became Ben's audience.  Grant offered a few pointers and some friendly advice to his older cousin from time to time (which was funny to watch).  Joseph was just happy to be there.  Heather came over at dinner time and we were able to sit and talk a while.  Chad is the ward mission leader for his ward, so he and I were able to swap stories and talk about missionary ideas that were working for our respective wards and to talk about things we were doing as member missionaries.  Again, much like the time we spent with Mom and Dad, being with family to reminisce or catch up on news was nice.  We have some places we'd like to visit tomorrow.  It appears the rain storms are finally finished with us (for the most part, a chance of intermittent showers tomorrow), so we'll see what happens.

The Relaxing 2014 Vacation: Partial Trip to Lake Alice

We decided to go for a drive today.  With the sky still overcast and threatening rain, a trip to Bear Lake was ruled out as being impractical.  We piled into the car and drove out to Pine Creek ski resort.  I've never been much of a skier.  My only real attempt was in high school during my class' senior sneak.  One of the places we visited was Snow Bird.  If I'd been left on bunny hills, I would have had a fun time (to a point).  Unfortunately, I was convinced to go up to the top of one of the major hills and then left there by those who initially came with me.  I tried to ski down, but I either fell down after 50 feet or so and my ski kept popping off my right foot.  After this happened several times, I grabbed the ski in disgust, yanked off the other one and stomped toward another chair lift some 200 yards from me.  One of the resort employees yelled, "Hey, you can't do that!" when he saw me walking.  "My ski keeps popping off!" I snapped back.  I think he realized I was going to walk down the hill if he didn't intervene, so he put me on the chair lift going down.  It was humiliating to watch the other people coming up the hill whisper and point at me.  The experience cured me of any desire to continue skiing; but I digress. :)

 

We stopped at the resort for a moment and I pointed out the different runs (as best as I knew them).  Afterward, we drove back to the main road and I turned right and continued driving along the road until we reached the end of the pavement.  The dirt road branched to the left and right.  Wooden signs pointed us in several directions.  We had driven on the left road the last time we came this way about 7 years ago, so we chose the road to the right leading to Lake Alice.  Although the road wasn't paved, it was maintained and in generally good condition.  There were a few places where prior rainstorms had made the road muddy, but not impassable.  Also, there were a few times when rain spotted the windshield, but it never turned into a huge storm.  The road took us through a couple of cattle ranges before becoming a part of the Bridger National Forest.  At one point, we were treated to a spectacular view of the local mountain ranges.

I couldn't drive very fast on the road, so the miles didn't pass as quickly as they normally would have (driving fast on the dirt road wouldn't have been a particularly good choice on my part).  We had a feeling we were pretty close to our destination which caused me to keep going forward.  Finally, the road wound its way down the mountain in a series of switchbacks (not too overly pronounced) until we came to a river.  At first the river ran alongside the road until we came to a bridge.  I thought this was good since we wouldn't have to ford the water.  Five hundred yards later, however, we found the river had overflowed its banks and covered the road.  I didn't like our chances of making it through the water and mud without getting stuck--not a good plan with us so far away from Cokeville and I don't think Jen brought her cell phone (not sure if we would have had reception out there).  Reluctantly, I carefully turned us around and we started our way back to the main road.

The trip wasn't a total bust.  Even though we didn't make it to the lake, we were able to see some beautiful country.  Also, we caught sight of some animals on the way back.  We hoping to see a bear (we saw two black bears during our trip 7 years ago), but no such luck this time.  Instead, we found two does grazing in an open field.  One of the does hurried quickly into a group of nearby trees, making it impossible to get a picture of both animals, but the other one hung around long enough to get her picture taken.  I also caught sight of a cow elk (it may have been another doe, but it seemed too big to be a deer).  She was also on the side of the road and quickly ran down an embankment into a stand of pine trees.  Everyone else caught a glimpse of her in the trees before she disappeared deeper into the woods.

Later in the evening after we returned from our excursion, Dad gave the lesson for family home evening.  He focused on Adam and Eve and pointed out two additional things to go along with what I wrote in my posts about them and agency.  When we read (Moses 5:4), he pointed out that Adam and Eve had couple prayer.  His comment for Moses 5:12 was that Adam and Eve had FHE with their family.  I like those insights, along with the others he mentioned because they "likened the scriptures unto us" (1 Nephi 19:23) as I mentioned in my post concerning scriptures.

This is our final full day with Mom and Dad.  We have had a very nice time with them and have been grateful to spend a relaxing 9 days with them.  Dad even got a sample of Jennifer's Father's Day gifts as she put together a picture craft for both he and I yesterday.  I love my parents and am glad they let us come and disrupt their lives for a little while. :)  Tomorrow we make our way to Utah.

The Relaxing 2014 Vacation: Yellowstone

Mount Lassen 2008

Jackson Hole 2014

*Groan!*  The kabin here at the KOA was nice in that it gave us a solid roof over our heads to keep us from getting wet (a possibility if we had been in our tent), but the mattresses on the beds were . . . more firm than comfortable.  Of all of us, Ben was affected the most by this situation.  In his condition, a firm bed is not his friend.  Still, we seem to have worked out most of the kinks in our bodies and are in good spirits as we prepare for a breakfast of either chocolate or strawberry milk, chocolate covered mini-donuts and fruit snacks (breakfast of champions!).  Also, before we leave, Jennifer, Ben and Isaac want to recreate (after a fashion) a picture I took of them back in 2008 during our very first stay at a KOA when we visited Mount Lassen in Northern California.  This kabin here at Jackson Hole has a chair swing that is very similar to the one on the porch of the kabin at Mount Lassen..  Maybe I'll contrast the two pictures when I type out this post; I think it would be fun.  Anyway, my reasoning for staying at this KOA was to give us time to get into Yellowstone park in plenty of time to see the sights and return to Cokeville at a descent hour.  We'll see how well my theory works.

Old Faithful

It's now the next day.  I'm sitting in the living room of Mom and Dad's house and have a moment to finish writing what I started yesterday.  One of the things I always seem to forget (but am quickly reminded) about driving into Yellowstone is the time factor.  It takes longer to actually reach the park than one would predict because of 1) the reduced speed limit, and 2) the cars one ends up driving behind.  RVs are the worst of the second scenario because they are slower and the drivers won't move into the passing turnouts until there are 7 to 10 cars piled up behind them.  "Gawker" cars are almost as bad.  These are filled with the people who are too busy looking at everything around them to remember to drive.  They remind me of the dogs in the Pixar movie Up who are constantly distracted by the non-existent "Squirrel!"  A shadow in the trees suddenly becomes a "Bear!" or a "Deer!" or a "Moose!" and they suddenly slow down long enough to confirm they're seeing . . . nothing.  When they finally do see something (or think the shadow really is an animal), they pull off the road to take pictures which causes great rejoicing in my vehicle.  Over the years, I've had this interesting (to me, anyway) phenomena occur in Yellowstone where I'm consistently stuck behind someone with a Texas license plate.  I'm not sure if I've been surrounded by some weird cosmic force that attracts Texans to me, but this year there may have been a shift in the magnetic pull.  Instead of Texas, cars with Colorado plates (either initially parked at the side of the road or making turns onto the main road at junctions) would pull in front of me at the last second and proceed to drive 10 miles slower than the speed limit, apparently on the lookout for Bigfoot or something equally photo worthy.

Grand Geyser

Nevertheless, we arrived at Old Faithful about 20 minutes before noon and learned it was scheduled to erupt 5 minutes after noon.  I believe this was the earliest we'd ever arrived at the Upper Geyser Basin and I don't know if it was because of the earlier hour or just fortuitous timing, but we were treated to more geysers than usual.  The storm from the night before caused the weather to be cold and windy.  Somehow, I got a bit turned around as we drove into the parking lots and we ended up initially parking several hundred yards from the main lodge.  When we finally reached the Old Faithful viewing area, I noticed people looking toward the northwest.  When we looked in the same direction, we saw a geyser erupting in the distance.  We found out later the geyser was Grand Geyser.  Not long after the Grand Geyser completed its spray, Old Faithful lived up to its name and started close to on time, shooting water high into the air.  After watching nature's display, we walked to Castle Geyser to watch it shoot spouts of water and gouts of steam, one which enveloped us, into the air.  As we continued along the boardwalk, we eventually made a stop at Grand Geyser.  While my family rested on one of the benches, I walked over to the sign showing when it would erupt.  The times listed coincided with the geyser we saw erupted when we approached Old Faithful--this is how I made the connection.  Later, as we walked along the boardwalk, we saw another geyser erupting.  We were close enough that we could watch it from where we stood.  When we approached it a few minutes later, we found it was the Beehive Geyser we had seen.  By this time, Ben was getting tired, so we made our way toward the lodge.  As we approached the area where the trail dropped toward the bridge crossing Firehole River, we saw Old Faithful erupt again!  I can't recall if we've seen this before, but it gave us a different perspective of the geyser.

Beehive Geyser

Old Faithful a Second Time

After leaving the Old Faithful area, we decided to drive along the Firehole Lake Drive and view the sights from the car to give Ben a chance to recover.  Not long after that, we reached the Fountain Paint Pot area.  Ben felt good enough to walk again, so we decided to hike up the incline to the paint pots.  At first, we didn't plan on going any farther.  Luckily, Ben felt good enough to continue.  When we arrived at the overlook area for several geysers, we were treated to the sight of three geysers erupting at once: Fountain, Spasm, and Jet.  It was difficult to get Jet in the picture from this vantage point and its spray wasn't as much as the other two, but this was a sight none of us had seen!  Jennifer started talking to another family standing nearby.  The father told her that two "professional" (I guess) geyser watchers had told him that these three erupt in sequence every 5 or 6 hours.  I don't dispute his claim, but I guess I've never walked along this particular boardwalk when this phenomena has occurred.  The Spasm Geyser always seems to be shooting out water in small to medium fits, but the amount of water coming from Fountain was quite amazing.

Fountain Geyser

At first, Ben wasn't sure if he wanted to walk down the stairs from the overlook to get closer to the geysers.  After several minutes, however, Ben indicated he wanted a closer look.  We descended the stairs and approached Fountain.  From this vantage point, we could see Jet better.  The water playing from this small geyser wasn't much, but since I had never seen it erupt before, any amount was fun.  Also, I noticed the lady and the man who the family at the overlook had said were the professional geyser watchers.  She was closer to us.  I didn't talk to her, but saw several people having a conversation with her.  A few minutes later, Fountain went quiet.  It was quite a contrast.  For about ten minutes we had watched water explode out at heights of around 10 to 15 feet.  When the eruption stopped, the pool reverted back to what we had seen on all our previous visits; a blue pool of very hot water with wisps of steam curling up from the edges.  Thankfully, the boardwalk loops around back to the main trail and we didn't have to return to the staircase.  By this time, Ben needed extra assistance.  I sidled up alongside him as I've done at other times and we walked in lock-step back toward the car.  Moments after we reconnected with the main walkway, I felt a touch on my arm.  Glancing to my left, I found the lady geyser watcher at my side. "I wanted to tell you," she said, "that this is one of the most touching scenes I've seen in all my years coming to this boardwalk."  I was stunned, but honored by her words.  When I relayed our conversation to Jennifer after Ben and Isaac had gotten into the car, I couldn't stop from tearing up.

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Our final area to visit was the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the upper and lower falls.  Before visiting Niagara Falls last year, Ben and Isaac thought these waterfalls were amazing--now, as Ben says, they're just descent.  Still, when we drove to Artist's Point and viewed the lower falls framed by the beautiful yellow rock on both sides of the canyon walls, we were all impressed by the sight.  Obviously, this is where the park gets its name.  The Grand Canyon has this canyon beat as far as depth and size, but what sets this canyon apart is the yellow rock and power of the falls as the water cascades down the cliff sides.  As we left the falls and started on our way back to Cokeville, we encountered a herd of buffalo.  After all our visits to Yellowstone, buffalo have become a familiar sight and don't cause us to want to pull off the road to look at them.  The only time we do stop is when they're walking across the road.  In this case, however, the buffalo were close to the road and some of the people who had pulled off the road were getting out of their cars and approaching them to take closer pictures.  This is a practice the park brochures warn against because of the unpredictability of these animals and the chance that they might charge anyone coming close to them.  In this case, we slowed down because of the people crossing the road and the off chance we might see the one particular knucklehead, edging in very close to the lead buffalo with his expensive camera, get head-butted.  No such luck; although the two in the foreground are giving the guy a good long look.

As I mentioned at the beginning, my second hope in getting into the park earlier than we had before was to return back to Mom and Dad's house at a decent hour.  This also worked out for us.  We made a stop at a Wendy's in Jackson for dinner to go and drove the Jackson to Alpine portion of the trip with enough daylight for me to pick out two does eating near the side of the road.  I saw one other deer a few miles outside of Smoot.  Other than that, our return trip was as uneventful as our two days were eventful (still no stars, however).

The Relaxing 2014 Vacation: Tetons

It's raining.  I'm sitting here on the porch of the KOA kabin we've rented for the night, listening to the water drops strike the roof and patter against the dirt beyond the porch.  I'm bummed.  From the moment I plunked the money down on this kabin, I wanted to be able to write about looking up into the night sky and seeing the millions of stars I've missed for years.  Instead, I'm watching lightning flashes and listening to huge grumbles of thunder.  I have to admit I haven't heard or seen this type of thing in a long time so there is a certain fascination, but it wasn't what I was looking forward to seeing.  Interesting: the fire in the pit of a neighboring kabin has turned a turquoise blue as raindrops sizzle and spit into its heart.  An unexpected sight to be sure; still I wanted to see stars.

 

*Sigh!*  Oh well.  I can't let this turn of events dampen the good time we had today.  We left Mom and Dad's house this morning and made it to Jackson Hole a little after noon (twenty minutes or so according the car's clock).  On previous trips to the Tetons, we have visited Jenny Lake and hiked the 2 miles (give or take) up to a place called Hidden Falls.  The falls are very beautiful.  The water from Cascade Creek (it helps to have the map of the park handy) makes a preliminary drop before tumbling down the cliff side.  With the volume of water crashing against the bottom of the cliff, sometimes the spray is powerful enough to reach the viewing area which is over a 100 yards away from the falls.  For those people who don't wish to make the hike along the trial, boats shuttle passengers across Jenny Lake to a loading dock at the base of the mountain.  From that point the hike is less than half a mile if memory serves.  One year, we hiked up to the falls and took the boat back to the visitor's center.  With a 4 mile round trip hike being out the question for Ben, I considered the possibility of us riding the boats.  We may not have been able to hike up to the falls, but I thought it would be fun to be on the boat and then hike around the immediate vicinity of the docks before returning to the main dock.  I looked up Teton National Park yesterday on the Internet after returning from the temple trip and learned that the price for a round trip boat ride would be $60 for the four of us.  This left us with a decision: the boat ride, or dinner at a place called MacPhail's Burgers.

 

Actually, this point brings me to another bummer (it should have been the only one, but I'm still hoping the clouds will clear up :)).  Since the time back in the early 1990s when Dad took me on a trip to Yellowstone with a foreign exchange student who was staying with my parents at the time (as I recall, this was the trip when I first told my parents about this beautiful girl named Jennifer who I was falling for), I've been eating dinner in Jackson Hole at a place called Billy's Burgers.  A Billy Burger was a half pound of greasy cheese burger with all the fixings.  Although no one could remember it, I took them there during our last trip to Jackson Hole seven years ago.  I was excited to return to Billy's--if for nothing else then to see the look on Ben and Isaac's face when they laid eyes on that wonderful creation (they had only eaten 1/4 pound burgers; in fact, the first time I took Jen to Billy's, Dad told me to get her a 1/4 pound burger, but when I went to order it, she looked at me like I'd lost my mind: "What are you doing?  I want the big one!" she declared).  To my dismay, I learned Billy's closed in 2012.  Curses!  I started to google restaurants in Jackson, hoping to find another comparable burger joint, and came across MacPhail's.  After reading positive Yelp! reviews (the biggest complaint seemed to be that they didn't season their meat . . . ooookay), I was able to find a website . . . half pound specialty burgers--exciting, but also expensive; 15 bucks a plate!  The choice became: pay $60 for a boat ride on Jenny Lake or $60 for specialty burgers.  In true Metcalfe style, food trumped boats.

 

After ruling out the boat ride, Ben said, "Why don't we go to some places we've never seen before?"  This was a reasonable suggestion. :)  Usually, by the time we finished the hike we would either 1) run out of time to see anything else and returned to the hotel in Jackson Hole, or 2) race off to Yellowstone to make a quick tour of the high points of that park.  We still decided to make Jenny Lake our first stop.  We walked along the paths near the shore until those paths ascended in ways that Ben would have difficulty following.  At one little alcove, we stopped and stepped down onto the rocky shore line.  I helped Ben maneuver down the steps until his feet were solidly on the shore.  Jennifer took off her shoes and socks and stepped into the water far enough for it to cover the tops of her feet.  She wanted me to hurry and take a picture of her because the water was very cold!  I kept making excuses ("Wait, that didn't turn out very well.") to make her stay in the water longer. :)  Jen was able to get a good picture of me with Ben and Isaac.  While we were still in the alcove, a mother and father appeared on the paved walkway pushing their 20-something-year-old son in a wheelchair.  It appeared to me that their son had muscular dystrophy.  Perhaps they had seen Ben with his wraps and his cane and felt we would be understanding of their situation (or maybe I'm just imagining it), but they stopped above us and helped their son out of his chair to take a few pictures.  After they left, Ben came to me and said, "I needed to see that.  If he can be here, then so can I."  I'm grateful this family stopped because of the impact if had on Ben.  There were plenty of people staring at him as he walked with his cane and unintentionally showed off his wrapped hand and ankle.

The additional places we visited were the dam at the west end of Lake Jackson (we saw a different view of the Teton range and had a good view of the largest lake in the park) and the top of Signal Mountain to see the park from a higher vantage point (bird's eye view).  A good time was had by all of us and by the time we finished, we were all sufficiently hungry for specialty burgers.  MacPhail's was tucked back a bit from the main street (Broadway).  It appeared to be a converted fast food place.  We perused the menu for several minutes and made our choices.  Ben and Isaac decided they wanted to try blue cheese, so they ordered the Oh So Blue burger.  Jennifer went with the All Jacked Up and I couldn't avoid The Shroom burger.  They were all very delicious (even without the burger seasoning :)).  The fries were also very good and we each got a personal cup of . . . fry sauce! :)  After dinner, we purchased some snacks for the next day and learned very quickly that Jackson Hole is a very expensive place to shop for food.  Yikes!

 

The KOA in Jackson is actually 12 miles south of town and abuts the Snake River.  We checked in and were lead to our kabin by a man on a scooter (nice touch).  After opening the windows of the kabin to air it out (it was warm and stuffy inside), we walked down the dirt road to the banks of the river to stretch our legs.  I believe this was the closest I've ever been to the Snake River.  The water was very swift.  Tents lined the bank of the river.  We walked beyond them to a place where we could be by ourselves.  I tried to teach Isaac the fine points of rock skipping--not easy to do on the surface of a fast moving current.  Thirty minutes later, we returned to our kabin.  Jennifer and I were able to start our laundry.  We made it to the building just as the first rain storm hit.  That fall wasn't a huge one, but it was enough to dampen the ground.  The rain fall that came as night set in was the larger storm.

 

I've now come full circle back to the beginning of my musings.  I've been sitting here writing long enough for the rain to finally stop.  There is a break in the cloud cover to the east.  A near full moon has appeared.  With the porch light off, I can see three stars twinkling beyond the bright influence of the moon.  Stars, but not the amount I was hoping for.  Not that I've ever been a huge fan, but the title of the Rolling Stones' song "You Can't Always Get What You Want" comes to mind.  Oh, well, I told Ben and Isaac I'll take them to an area outside of Cokeville before we leave and show them some stars later on this week--that is, if the weather cooperates and gives me a clear night sky between now and the time we leave. :)

The Relaxing 2014 Vacation: Trip to Logan Temple

Jennifer and I attended the Logan Temple today.  As I think about it, I'm almost positive this is the first time I've participated in an endowment session at the Logan Temple since I took out my own endowments there before leaving on my mission.  It is possible that I made a return visit after my mission ended and before I resumed "civilian" life by going back to school, but if I did, I don't recall.  Either way it's been a good number of years since I entered this particular temple.  We made a family trip to Logan several years ago and walked the temple grounds.  Every time we make a family temple trip, we have a good time together, but walking through the front door with Jen and being able to participate in an endowment session made today a great experience for me.

I recommend to the brothers and sisters who take the Temple Preparation class from me to write a journal entry after their first endowment experience and express their thoughts and feelings about the day because I didn't and I find myself wishing that I had.  I don't know how many people have actually taken my advice, but I hope they have.  The reason I wish I had a written record of my endowment experience in the Logan Temple is because I can remember certain details and feelings about the day, but I don't recall the subtle nuances or the emotional flavor.  I admit, being inside the temple did help to re-energize the things I do recall about that day.  I remember the temple worker who was assigned to me.  He had a full head of brilliant white hair and he was short, reaching my sternum.  He was so excited to help me that day.  When he found out I was getting ready to leave on my mission, he went out of his way to call me Elder.  He took me in hand and lead me to my locker and helped me through each preliminary step by explaining everything I needed to know.  With all those steps completed, I was ready to be handed back to my father who was my escort for the session.  My memory of that first time partaking in the endowment session is a warm one because of the kindness, attentiveness, and welcoming way this brother helped me.  Now there are seven lessons to assist those people going for the first time in their preparation for the day.  My temple prep consisted of a 30 minute to an hour meeting with the counselor in the Stake presidency (who lived in Cokeville) talking with me an answering questions--not that I had a huge amount; I didn't know what to ask.  Any anxiety or fear I might have had was alleviated because of wonderful brother.

I also remember coming into the Celestial room after the session was completed and seeing Mom and Dad waiting for me.  I have a vague recollection of wondering if this was what the Celestial Kingdom might be like, seeing family members waiting anxiously for my arrival.  As I sat in the Celestial room with Jennifer after the session today, a nostalgic type of feeling overwhelmed me.  I'm not sure how to exactly describe what I felt--it was almost a full-circle kind of feeling (it's good a young Simba wasn't in the room--I might have jumped onto the back of one of the couches and attempted to recreate the initial "pride rock" scene of The Lion King).  All joking aside, I couldn't help but evaluate myself.  Thinking back on that wide-eyed kid preparing to embark on a full-time mission, I could see that I am different now in a good way.  I am a better man today than I was back then.  Many of my rough edges still need a lot of sand paper, but they're not a sharp as they once were.  At the same time, however, I know the Master Carpenter still has long way to go with me.

It was nice to be sit next to Jennifer and soak in the fact that I was back in my "home" temple (for lack of a better description).  As I looked around the room, I couldn't help but wonder if the trappings were the same, or if any remodeling had been done in the intervening years.  Memory being what it is, I could not recall what the Celestial room looked like during my first official visit.  I had a vague notion of pioneer craftsmanship, but I think I was getting the Logan Temple's Celestial room mixed up with Salt Lake's.  We stayed for about 10 or 15 minutes, quietly talking or silently lost in thought.  After leaving the building, we took some pictures and made our way to a Chinese restaurant I had seen as we drove into town before returning to Cokeville.

The Relaxing 2014 Vacation: Our Arrival and First Day

Our 2014 vacation exploits started with a 10 or 11 hour trip to Cokeville, Wyoming.  While Ben took the SAT test Saturday morning, the remaining three of us finished packing and then Jen and I drove to Avis to pick up this year's vacation vehicle: a Toyota Rav-4 (okay, but not as good as last year's Optima).  After I brought it back home, we loaded it up and drove over to the school where Ben was taking the test to wait for him.  We arrived about noon because we were hoping he'd be finished by then.  Unfortunately, we ended up waiting about 20 or more minutes before he finally emerged from the school.  Jennifer broke out lunch, we got ourselves situated in the car and our adventure began!

I told Ben if he needed to stop at any time along the way to get out and stretch or walk around or whatever, to let me know and I'd do so as soon as I was able.  We were all pleasantly surprised to find he could go for long stretches before needing a break (a little more frequent toward the end).  Dinner was picked up in St. George, Utah.  Actually, we were all excited to find a Cracker Barrel in St. George and even more excited to find the potato chips we had fallen in love with back in Illinois last year (all the chips were devoured with gusto a few hours after dinner).  A funny moment, for us anyway, came at Carl's Jr. when Jennifer asked for "house dressing" (ranch dressing, basically) for our fries and was met with blank stares from the Carl's employees.  "We could give you fry sauce," one girl said with a helpful smile.  Jennifer started to reiterate her request, but I whispered to her, "We're in Utah, they may only have fry sauce."  A bit reluctantly, she gave in.  Four containers of pink fry sauce were enthusiastically handed to us.  As we reconnected with the freeway, Jennifer noted that the sauce was "okay," but she preferred house dressing.

We pulled into Cokeville at about 1:40 Sunday morning.  Mom and Dad had waited up for us.  They showed us our rooms, told us they were happy we'd arrived safe, informed us church would start at 10 a.m.,  and we all crashed into bed.  Because of the late hour, I missed the clues signaling the fact that we were not alone in visiting.  I awoke at around 8 a.m.  As I lay stared at the ceiling, trying to decide whether I should get out of bed or not, I became aware of the sound of little voices and pattering feet.  As my sleep addled brain began to make possible connections, I heard Sandra's voice admonishing her kids to be quieter and not wake Chris and Jen.  This was the catalyst I needed.  I quickly got dressed and came out of our room to greet her.  When I had talked to her on the phone a week or so earlier, no specific weekend had been mentioned as to their potential visit.  I had no idea she and her family would be here when we arrived (although their van was parked on the other side of the street when we drove up to the house; Mom and Dad had made no mention of them when we arrived).  They had slept in the "bunk house."  I was happy to learn that her entire family had come (there had been a question as to whether Keith would be able to make it or not).

What a nice surprise to begin our vacation!  Actually, my first surprise had been Friday night at about 12:30 (well, technically Saturday morning) when the phone rang and I found myself talking to Dad!  "Where are you?" he had asked.  I was momentarily stunned by the question.  My mind raced as I considered my answer.  It's funny how my parents can make me feel like a young teenager with just the right question spoken in just the right tone of voice (he wasn't angry, it was just that authoritative tone I remember well). :)  My reply began, "I'm home," but then it dawned on me why he'd be asking such a question in the first place. "Wait, did you think that . . . oh, I'm sorry we are coming tomorrow night, not tonight."  It appears our arrival time was put on their calendar for late Friday, not Saturday.  After the mis-communication was cleared up, Dad said, "Well, if I don't have to wait up, I'm going to bed."  Apparently, Sandra had also come thinking we would arrive Friday night/Saturday morning and we had missed spending an extra day with them.  I was bummed by that news, but was happy to be able to spend one full day with her and her family.

The last time we had seen Sandra and her crew, her youngest, Tyler, had not been a part of the mix; he's quite the little ball of fire.  I had a great time watching Tyler and Mckenna and Eli interact with Sandra and Keith.  It's always interesting to me to watch how my brothers and sisters interact with their children.  I find it fascinating to see the differences and similarities in our parenting styles.  After a bit of hesitation, Eli and Mckenna warmed up to Ben and Isaac.  With our two boys being older, I think it was a bit difficult for them to figure out what to do at first, but soon the age gap was bridged and common ground was found.  Before the day was over, Ben and Isaac had Eli creating his own comic books (Mckenna tried to join in as best she could).  After church, it was great to eat and talk and play Scattergories and just enjoy being with family.  I have to admit a part of me wished we could have left on Friday, but we made of the most of the day we had together.  It was hard to see them leave this morning, but I was happy we could begin our vacation in such a good way!

Pre-2014 Vacation Thoughts



Note:  I wrote most of these vacation posts on paper either on the day of or a day or two after to preserve my "in the moment" thoughts.  I'm transcribing them with any additional thoughts that might pop in my head as I type. :)

* * * * *

This blog of mine found its genesis at the conclusion of our family vacation last year.  In some ways, it's a bit difficult to believe nearly one year has passed since then.  Last year's trip was quite the undertaking.  The planning, logistics, itinerary and everything else needed to be started months in advance and continually honed and tweaked right down to the day before we packed up the rented Optima and drove away from our home.  We were blessed to have a successful journey and to learn much about each other and the places we visited along the way.  My random musings on cyberspace was an unexpected outgrowth of the journey.

 

This year, vacation plans have been different.  I started with an idea of going to visit my parents in Cokeville and then making a quick visit with my brothers and sisters (2, 3, 4, 5 & 7 of 8--see my "about me" for the reference) who live in Utah before racing off to spend a day in a couple of National Parks on the way home.  It seemed like a good idea at first, but the more I tried to put the plan into motion, the less interested I became in actually executing the idea.  While I am very glad we took the trip that we did last year, it was a bit taxing at times.  Four days of all day driving to get to New Jersey and 4 or 5 hours stretches here and there to get to the Church site destinations, topped off with 2 more days of 10 hours of driving to return home.  Don't misunderstand, the trip was definitely worth the travel, but as I think back on it a year later, the whole idea seems a bit crazy as well.  This year, the more I thought about it, the more a desire to just slow down and take things easy settled into my brain.  Also, with the physical limitations Ben is experiencing at the moment due to his new condition, I thought it best to scrap the whole idea and rethink my goals.  After due consideration, I came away realizing that the best thing we could do for ourselves this year was to just take it easy; relax; watch the clouds go by.

 

After talking it over with Jen and the boys and gaining a full agreement of my new outlook from everyone, I made a phone call to Cokeville to tell my parents we wanted to stay longer with them then I originally indicated--9 days instead of a week.  Originally we had planned to leave May 30th and return home June 14th, but then we remembered Ben was scheduled to take the SAT test on June 7th (good thing, *sheepish grin*).  I explained we would now be leaving around noon on Saturday the 7th because of Ben's test and our plan was to drive all the way to their house because I wasn't interested in getting a motel and felt it would be easier to make the trip in one shot.  If Ben's condition made it impossible to accomplish this desire, we'd let them know, otherwise, we'd arrive early Sunday morning.  Next, I called my sister Joanna (who had graciously said we could stay with her family while we were in Utah) to let her know we planned to spend 3 days with them before leaving to return home.  With those arrangements finalized, I felt impressed to call my sister Sandra (8 of 8), who lives on the east side of Wyoming.  During the course of our conversation, we talked about the possibilities of her family coming to Cokeville for one of the two weekends we'd be there.  She said she'd talk to Keith about it and hopefully they all could come.  After those conversations, I felt quite pleased with myself and re-energized at the idea of a nice, relaxing time with family with a side trip up to Jackson Hole to visit the Tetons and Yellowstone.

Last year, I called my vacation blog posts: The Great 2013 Vacation.  This year, I think I'll call our vacation: The Relaxing 2014 Vacation.  I'm looking forward to it. :)