First post for Yellowstone, September 2013

Have ignored the Blog for too long!!   Yellowstone National Park was the most recent adventure, so here it is!

Many of our group of over 30 convened at the Atlanta airport the morning of September 10.  What fun!  It is a lot more fun to hang out with lots of buddies on an airplane than to fly alone!   We had a short stay in Salt Lake City with some good laughs (ask about George), then on to Idaho Falls.  There may be smaller airports, but comparing this one with Atlanta was, well, pretty interesting.  They actually did have a carousel for luggage, we walked on tarmac to get to the wee lobby, but it was clean and both employees were so nice!!   (just kidding - there were four!)  Brother Bill arrived just after we did, and we toodled off in our rental vans to the hotel for the night.  Walked the Idaho Falls Greenway Loop in town - it is really awesome, as are the waterfalls . 

We ate at Ming's Chinese, most of us, and I had the largest bowl of soup I have ever seen in my entire life!!!!!  It was delicious!!!! 

We passed a peaceful night and were ready to drive to the Park on Wednesday morning, bright and early!   Our van held B.J., Judie, George, my brother Bill, and me - we soon realized being in sync with our "car group" would make the week a lot more pleasant (i.e. doing the same things meant we could get in the car and go rather than waiting for someone in another car group to decide to do what we wanted to do).  My roomie was in another car group, which made communicating a little tricky with virtually no cell phone service.
We first saw glorious mountains of Idaho, Montana, then Wyoming...then the Bison Viewing began.  My goodness, there are a lot of Bison!!!!   They say over 3000, and I'm pretty sure we saw most of them!!!  Twice each!!!    Close up pictures to come on another day.  While driving to Yellowstone Lake, where we stayed, we stopped at the Sulphur Caldron

There was loads of steam, a strong smell of sulphur, and these pots were boiling - wow!!!     Then we stopped at the Mud Volcano area, for more boiling mud and some beautiful, colored "pots" of boiling water. 

In the afternoon, prior to getting into our cabins on Yellowstone Lake, we hiked as a large group on Storm Point Loop, through forest and meadow to a rocky bluff overlooking Yellowstone Lake.  Our own private buffalo was hanging out there!  

Bill, Candy, Pam

Judie and BJ

Yellowstone Lake, Sept 11

I forgot where we ate dinner, but we did eat, then meet to see how the following day was to go.  My car group, "77" after our license plate, went out animal searching after dinner, and were well rewarded!

Floors.....ugh!

"sub-floor"

contractor beginning to see the rotting I spoke of...

more rotting obvious now...

uh-oh, he says...this is looking worse and worse

today he decided he'd have to go back on the deal and charge by the hour...hah!

sub floor in the other room wasn't as bad - sealed it, then plastic

hallway subfloor - could have been worse!

the repaired joist - put in a crossbeam to raise the cut joist

no more subfloor!   Luckily, no rats came up at night -at least none I saw or heard

new flooring going in - yea!!!

equipment returning to utility room, piece by piece - finally had hot water again!!!!!

got to do some laundry after nearly 3 weeks!

oak floors still need finishing, but what an improvement -  no more mildew smell!!!!

One of the reasons I had to leave Anchorage early was to repair these floors before the rotting got any worse.  See some before and after pictures!!!   The joist with a piece chopped out so the air handler could fit explained why the floor caved in!  The air handler had dropped 2 inches into the crawl space.   The sagging flexible dryer hose, full of lint and of rat holes, explained why the dryer wasn't drying.  The myriad loose cords are still unexplained, but at least are attached and out of the way now.  It is nice to have a floor which supports the 4 machines in the utility room as well as me!  This isn't as pretty as Alaska or as Atlanta in spring, but it is nice to walk on solid floor and breathe air without mold in it!!!  (p.s.  I am VERY poor now!   :)  ) 

Spring in Atlanta

These are some of the reasons I like being in Atlanta in the spring - wish I could put the smells on here for you to enjoy.  It's been a spectacular spring here!!!

Mendenhall Glacier Plus

The Mendenhall Glacier from near the Visitor's Center, Sunday

 

 

The sign I didn't see Saturday - someone had hung a lost crampon on it - I took it off so folks could see the sign!

Me close to the glacier - I am standing on what would be liquid most of the year.

Yosuke entering the ice cave - these colors in clear ice are beyond stunning!

Looking out from the cave - the differences in texture, clarity, and colors of the ice are marvelous. 

The 2 large pieces in front which look like rocks are ice - likely one has already detached, but it sort of froze back for now.  Notice the crevasses beyond - would be near impossible to get out on your own.

Looking out from the cave "floor" - This ice is so smooth, smoother than tiles or glass.  I rubbed it for a while and was rewarded with very fine grit on my palm. 

These are pieces of wood which must have traveled many miles since there is nothing but ice for a long, long way above!!!

A hole in the ice above the cave

This is one of the already calved pieces laying about the lake bed.

This is me sitting in a curvy hole in the same iceberg as above to give some perspective of size.  (not my size!)

Yosuke and Darcy in front of the Mendenhall! 

Saturday, January 21,  I picked up my friend Yosuke whom I met in Fairbanks Aurora watching.  He had been to the Glacier taking pictures (he is an excellent photographer) in an ice cave the previous day.  Intrigued, I wanted to go.  We walked across the lake seeing icebergs stuck in the ice in various positions.  While I did question the security of the ice, many people were out there with us - some skiing, some skating, some walking like us, some with dogs.  I returned on Sunday to learn from USFS employees in the Visitor's Center that those trapped icebergs will roll or flip, but that it usually happens at night.  They stressed the ice is never safe, and you can see the picture of the sign saying so....didn't see it yesterday :{.  But, we had a wonderful time, and saw things I had never heard of before.  Ice caves are underneath glaciers.  We climbed into one - it is like fairyland!   The ice is smooth, very blue, and you can see the dirt, the rocks, and crystals inside the ice.  We also saw a joint between 2 pieces of ice.  We did hear cracks and would go outside to relative safety.  The colors were beyond exquisite,  like nothing I've seen before.  I learned in the VC that iceworms do not live on this glacier as they do on some in Southcentral Alaska and elsewhere.   There are more pictures to be shared, but these should give you an idea.  The colors were much more vibrant in real life, especially when the sun would peek through.  Ask me later to see other pictures, and check out Yosuke's pics, too. 

From Whittier to Juneau

Waiting for the ferry - gorgeous colors in the sky!

Sunrise on January 19, 2012

Sunrise a little later - the fingers of God!

Icefield along the Gulf of Alaska - note the ice on the Kennicott, too!

This is Sophia's Point, named for my beautiful granddaughter, no doubt!

Some of the ice on our boat!

These waves were wild!!   Great job bringing us in safely, though - what a crew!!!!

Spray on our boat from the high winds!!!   One ferry turned back rather than travel in this - good decision, but too late for us!

This was quite a trip - the first day the water was calm, the sky was blue, and the views were spectacular.  I took many pictures.  There were lots of cars on board, but not too many people.  Legislators fly into Juneau, apparently, and have someone send or bring their cars when the ferry travels.  Met some nice folks.  Three of us ladies slept on the Solarium deck.  The second night, winds were up to 95 knots.  Several crew members offered to help us move down to a more stable deck, but we were able to get some rest where we were.  The waves were high, spray covered the ship often, and there was a lot of rocking.  Those who get seasick likely were!!!   I have to hand it to the crew - they did a wonderful job  getting us safely to Juneau.  There, we had 90 mph winds predicted downtown and on Douglas Island, especially.  The hostel where I'd planned to stay is on a very steep hill downtown, on an icy road, with only street parking available when it can be found.  The wind made simply walking a challenge.  I didn't feel comfortable leaving my car where I would have had to with all my possessions in it, so ended up in "the valley" in a motel.  The next morning began the next adventure....more to come!!!