photography

Maui, Hawaii

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On Easter morning, we left Big Island and got on a 35 minute flight to Maui.

It didn’t feel like Easter. I wondered how things were going at home. Arabella was spending Easter weekend with my parents. Dan and Angel were spending the day with his parents. But as far as I knew, Alex and Lexi didn’t have anywhere to go. It’s complicated because Angel and Alex don’t want anything to do with my dad (rightfully so) and haven’t seen him in over 4 years.

Then I saw a picture of Alex and Lexi with Angel at her in-law’s house. I was overjoyed they weren’t forgotten. Angel’s mother-in-law even made little candy baskets for my kids and invited them over for their family Easter meal. It was kind of late in the trip, but I felt like everything was going to be alright at home.

It was strange travelling over Easter. The beaches were full, but were they full of locals on holiday or tourists like me? We had 20 people in our tour group when they usually have 40. We were the youngest couple in the group. Even our tour guide was in his 70’s. It was a good trip for him to get his feet wet though. Everyone got along with each other and were pleasant for his first tour.

On Easter evening, our tour group went to a luau. They had a pig roast buffet and free drinks. We watched the hula dancers perform to live music. The dancers weren’t unhealthily thin. They looked like average people. At the end we saw a fire dancer perform. I’m just shocked he didn’t burn the place down or start himself on fire. It was still incredibly windy and we were set up outside. The show was something new and interesting to experience of the Hawaiian culture.

I have to say I absolutely fell in love with Maui. In my mind I started to plan my son’s wedding so we could go back there and enjoy it once again. I know, I know…they aren’t even engaged yet.

The hotel we stayed at was right on the ocean with a sandy beach you could feast your eyes on for miles. There were mountains in the distance. The water was a clear, clean blue. The temperature was perfect. Almost everyone on the beach was a tourist staying in a chain of hotels. We spent two full days on the beach. One day we went snorkeling with sea turtles and saw tons of beautiful tropical fish. On our last day, we even saw a whale. Another first.

Again, the food was mediocre. Spam is a big thing in Hawaii, but you won’t find it on restaurant menus. In a convenience/souvenir shop, Paul found Spam sushi which was basically warm Spam on rice. I tried it and it was great. They didn’t have a lot of specialty drinks either. I did have a guava daiquiri. The flavor was good but it was more like a watery slushy instead of a refreshing cool drink. I did like the Lemongrass Luau beer, very flavorful.

One day we had lunch at the Maui Brewery. Although it was next to the beach, it was very separate from it. You couldn’t just slide in wearing beachwear. I bought a pint glass to bring home as a souvenir.

I saw some seriously disabled people at our hotel. People who had to be pushed around in wheelchairs. I thought it quite unusual until our tour guide said some of the displaced people were staying at hotels. The Maui fires really did a number on a large population of people. After the fire last August, the citizens have not been allowed to go back to their property. The clean up has been stalled and people are very upset about it. We saw encampments along the beach of displaced people living in tents. There was also a community of displaced people living in small construction type trailers so they could be close to work. I’m hoping the people who couldn’t stay in tents got first dibs on the hotel.

As we were leaving, the hotel manager gave us beaded leis and did a good-bye ceremony with us. She told us that not only did many people lose their homes, many lost their lives. She said the island was usually a cheerful place before the fires. But everyone on Maui was collectively mourning the loss of their loved ones or their homes along with everything they had in some way. She said since tourism is how they make a living, a lot of people had to go to work with a smile on their face when they were still mourning. Everything looks beautiful on the outside, but on the inside there is a lot of suffering there.

The people of Maui are strong and will get through this. They have had a tight knit sense of family and community for many generations. They have something special there from living in an isolated area geographically. It’s not as easy to pack everything up and leave.

Visiting Maui was the highlight of our trip to Hawaii.

The Big Island, Hawaii

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On Good Friday, after spending two full days in Honolulu, we took an early morning flight into Hilo on the Big Island. Hilo is located on the windward side of the island. When we arrived, it was windy and rainy. Our tour guide, who lives on this island, said it rains almost every day of the year. He, along with the other locals, collects the rainwater for use in his house.

Our big stop for the day was to visit the volcanoes. At the higher altitude the temps were cooler, in the mid 60’s. Along with the strong winds and rain, Paul and I decided to buy rain ponchos. The volcano wasn’t what I expected. It looked like a huge black smoking crater. The sky was hazy and the air smelled smoky like a campfire.

Volcano

We stopped at two places to see volcanos. The second place we stopped at was very windy and cool. We got stuck in a downpour so I didn’t take many pictures. We also stopped at the black sand beach. The beach was packed with people but it didn’t inspire me to go swimming since the water was filled with volcanic rocks.

We made a stop at a macadamia nut plantation. We were unable to take a tour, but we did sample macadamia nuts with different seasonings. We stopped for lunch at a botanical garden and took a tour of the grounds. It was peaceful and calming to see so many beautiful flowers. As we were walking, our guide showed us a large bell which people would ring with a large wooden beam for 7 years of good luck. At lunch our tour guide asked what we thought of the gardens. I said it was glorious except for one thing. No one was able to ring that bell. She asked if I wanted to ring the bell to which I responded yes. I figured I could use all the good luck I could get. So we went back and I rang the bell. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. At first I didn’t use enough force to ring it, then the second time I tried I think I used too much force. After ringing the bell, she said I needed to ring the bell two more times gently for prosperity and health. The next two times I think I rang the bell too gently as it barely tapped the bell. So far I haven’t really noticed a change in my luck. Maybe it takes awhile to kick in or someone has delayed the paperwork for my request.

After spending most the day on the windward side of the island, we headed to Kona on the leeward side of the island. As Hilo gets rain, Kona gets sunshine. When we got to Kona, however, the rain had followed us over. We ended up eating supper outside in the rain. I was surprised to feel a little chilly in Hawaii.

The following morning we took a tour of a Kona coffee plantation. We participated in coffee sampling then took a tour of the grounds. I really didn’t know so much went into making coffee. What a tedious process. The plantation tour guide was absolutely amazing. I wish I could explain everything like he did. The best I can do is show you some of the pictures I took. The coffee plantation tour was the highlight of my time on The Big Island.

Coffee plants

Our tour guide told us the island has a rat problem. Many years ago, the state brought in the mongoose to control the rat population. But there was a huge problem with this plan as the mongoose is diurnal and the rats are nocturnal. Should’ve used cats. I could’ve brought some with if I knew from the cat rescue I volunteer at. We saw several mongoose at the coffee plantation. I don’t know what I was thinking, but with the name mongoose I was thinking more along the lines of Canadian goose. But the mongoose reminded me of a gopher or ferret. They seemed to be quick runners.

Coffee plant ready to harvest

At the plantation I saw several things for the first time such as a papaya plant and a pineapple bush. I was thinking pineapples grew on small trees. I really love papaya which is something we can’t find at home. The tour guide gave me a papaya to take back to the hotel. We didn’t have any utensils or plates, nor could we find any. Paul used a coffee stirrer to cut it and found it to be overripe and mushy. We left it in our room but later found a garbage to dump it in because the last thing we wanted was giant rats or tropical bugs invading our room.

A baby pineapple

The rest of the afternoon we had free time. We walked to a local market to buy souvenirs. I bought some wild looking mushroom pants made by women in the ashram. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach. Our hotel had the most amazing beach. However, when I say ‘the hotel’ I say that loosely. All beaches in Hawaii are public along with this beach. This beach was sandy because they shipped sand into the beach. Again, the swimming area was rocky from the volcano. The beach was packed with people and the water was rather cool.

Again, there weren’t any tiki bars on the beach because alcohol was not allowed on the beach. We could buy drinks but we couldn’t enjoy them in our lounge chairs. We had to sit near the restaurant. While we were sitting by the restaurant, we heard a couple people start yelling. Apparently someone was rummaging through someone’s belongings which had us worried a little as we kept most of our items on the beach. Then I saw this guy stumble along the beach followed by hotel management. From what I could tell, this guy was naked. He left quickly with only a white hotel towel wrapped around his waist with a manager walking behind him. I felt bad for the hotel managers having to police a beach that anyone can use, or should I say misuse.

Again, the food on The Big Island was average. We decided to catch supper with another couple we met on the tour. We always have fun meeting new people and getting a fresh perspective on things. As we were walking back to the hotel after supper that evening, we walked by a restaurant we were thinking of going to. People were eating on a raised patio as we were walking by. The walkway was dark and I almost stepped on something. As I looked down, dozens of huge cockroaches scattered. I cried out. Paul asked me if I almost stepped on a frog. I told him I would tell him later as I didn’t want to freak out the people eating right above the place they crawled into.

I never saw cockroaches in the wild before. It totally creeped me out. I had a hard time sleeping that night because my mind was focused on bugs. Plus, we needed to get up early the next morning to fly to our last island destination in Hawaii.

Photos of the new pets

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Here are the pictures of our new pets I have been promising to post:

Here is a really cute picture of our Beagle puppies. They love playing together in the yard with toys, sticks, or anything they can find.

Here is a picture of my rescue cat. If you look at his paws, you will notice he is polydactyl. He is full of sugar and spice. Today I entered a writing contest about my cat and I to try to win a $100,000 grant for the pet shelter I got him from. It’s a real long shot, but why not?

Our trip to Curacao

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We stayed at the recently opened Sandals resort in Curacao. No one from our area knew where this Caribbean island was located nor could they pronounce it. The island is located in South America next to the island of Aruba in the Atlantic time zone. They are known for the drink Blue Curacao.

We were able to check in mid-afternoon instead of evening since we were able to move up our flight a little due to the snowstorm at home. This vacation provided a much needed escape from the stressors of home. We spent a lot of time sitting on the beach. It was warm and always quite breezy. We spent our time relaxing on the beach, snorkeling, sailing the Hobie Cats, playing fuzzball, and dancing to a DJ on the sand of the beach.

One day as I was walking to the bathroom I got called over to play a game of Bingo. I probably had the worst card of everyone. But then they were going to play a game where the biggest loser won. I said I could win that game. The game leader gave us each four game cards and if a number of ours was called we had to flip our card over and could no longer use it. I ended up winning the game and was told I would be given a prize. I was invited to play more games but I didn’t want to be gone for a long time as I just told my husband I was going to a little walk to the bathroom. That evening a bed runner (like a table runner but for the bed) appeared in our room. I sure hope that was my prize because I took it home.

The following day I played Name That Tune and was one of the top winners. Finally all the useless music trivia that swirls around it my head was put to good use. Afterwards, we went to lunch and when we were coming back to the beach the game leader for that game came up to me and said she was looking for me everywhere. She told me I could pick a bottle of wine off a wine list for our supper that night. Although it was all inclusive, there still were special bottles we could order. My husband and I were lead to believe it was a prize for my knowledge of useless music trivia. The lady told me to go online and give her a good review for taking care of us. Then when it was time to leave, we ended up getting charged for the bottle of wine. Other than that, the service was exemplary. Everyone went out of their way to make the stay a nice experience for guests.

One day we rented a taxi and went into Willemstad with another couple. We did this on a Sunday which was not the best day to go because the markets were closed. We did visit a few of the shops that were open and went out to eat. We walked across the floating bridge and watched it open to the side when boats came in.

We really enjoyed the infinity pool. I thought the food was good, although there were a few dishes I didn’t care for. Paul thought the food was amazing. I really liked some of the signature drinks at a few of the restaurants. All and all, I would rate the vacation a 7. We did see a huge rat run through one of the restaurants in the evening and there was a sickly cat roaming around that needed care. We did see some interesting animals such as an iguana. The first day we enjoyed a couples massage. It was very relaxing. In general, it was great to just get away from home for several days. We really enjoy Sandals resorts, this is the third one we stayed at. The things I liked best were the view, the service, and there is always something to see and do. I liked the all inclusive part of the trip and not having to worry about hidden expenses. Even though there was no tipping, the service did not suffer.

Delaware

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Delaware is my 42nd state I’ve crossed off my bucket list and we had two full days to spend there. I’m a small town girl and wanted to visit somewhere off the beaten path. So I choose a small bed and breakfast in the town of Milton. Not a lot different from rural Wisconsin. The first evening we walked from the B&B to an Irish pub for supper. I have to say I was very happy with the food and service everywhere we went in Delaware.

Let’s get the negatives out of the way first. Traffic. I will never complain about traffic at home again after visiting out East. Oh my gosh! We must have sat forever at a yield sign before merging onto a busy highway. The lady in the car behind us was gesturing at us emphatically. I guess we were supposed to just go and hopefully someone would let us merge. Thankfully our rental car had Florida plates. Traffic was terrible. The other thing I was not impressed with was the live music I heard.

The bed and breakfast was a charming place built in I believe it was 1810 and a governor once lived there. The house is on a historical registry. I’ve never stayed in a B&B that was so old and as always kept a lookout for ghosts. But the innkeepers said the flickering lights had more to do with a hot water heater than anything else.

Our first day, Paul and I decided to hit up Bally’s Casino in Dover. I hate to admit it, but we had a great time losing our money. The casino was large and opulent with many choices. I liked that it was non-smoking although they did offer a separate room for the smoking section. We ate lunch at the casino and again the food was great. They had specialty drinks. I ordered a root beer float mixed drink which could be really dangerous.

That evening we walked to the Dogfish Head Brewery. We were hoping to get a tour but we arrived just after the last tour of the day left. I got a beer flight. We sat outside and enjoyed the nice weather. There were a lot of families playing outdoor games and people with dogs. I bought a t-shirt and a pint glass to remind me of our trip.

Our last full day we heard it was snowing at home and decided to soak up some sun at the beach. We decided to go to Cape Henlopen State Park. The water temperature was supposed to be the warmest at the cape at a balmy 69 degrees which was pretty close to the air temperature. At the point was where Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. At first we walked along the bay. We had the beach to ourselves but the water was very cold. We decided to walk to lunch at Big Oyster Brewery from there which ended up being a long walk. Afterwards we took an Uber back to the cape.

At the cape, we got on our swimming suits and headed to the beach. We ended up walking around the whole cape which was rather massive. People were not swimming and sunbathing there as I imagined. Instead, people were driving on the beach with Jeeps that had a cart on the front full of fishing poles standing straight up. We saw them let air out of their tires to drive on the beach, then fill them up again once they left. No one was walking or frolicking in the water. It was way too cold for that. They were fishing. This plan of mine was an epic fail.

It was really windy and cool on the beach. People had little tents set up to block the wind. They were wearing pants, sweaters, and/or jackets. Meanwhile we were the crazy Midwesterners in swimming suits laying on beach towels getting pelted with sand. It was really quite miserable. We didn’t end up staying that long. It was a long walk back with no bathrooms in sight. It was not what I had in mind. I think we would have been fine if we stayed at the Delaware Bay beach, but we didn’t know. It was the middle of October and I guess I was expecting it not to be. I think we seriously need a beach vacation.

That evening when we got back we went out for seafood. If we couldn’t be in the ocean, we could at least enjoy eating things that did live in the ocean. We enjoyed our little weekend getaway in Delaware. Here are some of the photos I took at the beach.

A spontaneous trip to Washington D.C.

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I didn’t plan on crossing Washington D.C. off my bucket list but when the opportunity struck I jumped into the car. The conversation came up at the sushi bar. We met a guy from Alabama. Now before this gets a little weird, we didn’t just meet a stranger in a bar and get into his car. My husband talked to this man several times on the phone before because he was starting up a business like ours and wanted some advice. I remember one conversation quite well even though it occurred back in 2020.

We were in New Orleans when Paul was on the phone with the man from Alabama. We were thinking of visiting while we were in the area but he was out of town. I remember the conversation because some guy came up to us when Paul was on the phone with him wanting us to buy drugs. Another street over there was a pedestrian on a bike almost struck by a car fighting it out in the street exchanging a lot of f words. What must this guy think of us if he heard any of the background conversation?

This was the first time we met our friend from Alabama in person. I laughed when I told him the story of the background conversations. He offered us a tour of D.C. a few days later after dropping off his wife at the airport. He said he lived there for several years and knew his way around. I told him about my bucket list and instantly took him up on the offer. He was pretty quirky himself and said he also had all 50 states on his bucket list. He said his goal was to see all 50 states by age 50 which he did. He also said he had a goal of running a marathon, 26 miles by 26 years which he also did. I really like lists and think he had some amazing ideas by coordinating his lists to his age.

The next day at the conference we didn’t talk to our new friend much. I was a little worried the trip into DC was just bar talk. But it wasn’t. There were certain things I was expecting upon visiting the capitol of our great country and some things I was not.

We saw the Lincoln, Jefferson, and WWII Memorials. The memorials were absolutely stunning and I felt which I can only describe as wonder and patriotism upon seeing them and the words written upon the walls. The architecture was beautifully breathtaking. It was a perfect autumn day, sunny and warm to walk around. I’m not a huge history buff, but it was interesting to think about what our country and its people were like in the early years.

I was hoping to get a little closer to The White House but only saw it from the distance. There were a lot of people at the memorials. I didn’t stay long inside the Lincoln Memorial. I was feeling a little claustrophobic in the crowd. There was a steady stream of noise with planes flying over and tourists. I enjoyed my time in DC and think everyone should experience going there at least once. If we had more time it would’ve been nice to visit the museum.

Other than that, frankly I was not impressed with our capitol city. Maybe I’m just not a city girl. DC was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. We spent a lot of time sitting in traffic. Parking was limited and we had to pay for it everywhere we went. The airport was busy hustle bustle. There was A LOT of garbage on the side of the highway. I’ve never seen more litter anywhere else. My first impression of DC was that it’s an old, dirty, rundown large city. I saw the homeless. I heard a lot of sirens. There seemed to be some nice parts where the memorials and monuments are, but other than that I would never want to live there. How can you take pride in a capitol city that seems so filthy? But that’s just my opinion as an outsider looking in. And I didn’t even mention politics.

Anyway, I’m happy to have had the opportunity to check Washington D.C. off my bucket list. Here are some of the pictures I took.

The Washington Monument with a view of The White House.
The World War II Memorial
The Lincoln Memorial
The Lincoln Memorial viewed from the WWII Memorial
The Jefferson Memorial

Adventures in sailing

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We spent last week sailing Door County on a cruise with a couple of other sailboats. Door County is located on the thumb of Wisconsin and is a very popular tourist destination. We ended our trip right before Labor Day weekend because on a holiday weekend slips are harder to come by with multiple boats. But the week before they are generally plentiful.

The cruise started off a little rough. Paul and I decided to go to the boat early because the forecast was showing hot and humid weather conditions. We thought we could get everything ready and then hit the pool before everyone else showed up. It didn’t quite turn out as planned. When we got there a pop up storm came through and it was cool and rainy. The other couple that was planning to sail with us weren’t sure they were going to go with because she was feeling sick and wanted to get tested for COVID.

The following day we sailed through the wind and the waves reaching our destination just before another round of storms hit. I was in a foul mood as well. Along with getting whipped around on the boat, I was suffering through cramps and arthritis pain. Not a good mix. To add to that, my body does not tolerate beer, burgers, and pizza well. You know, pretty much all the fun vacation foods and drinks. So, I had to deal with indigestion and acid re-flux as well. I topped all that off with my usual insomnia.

By the third day, the other couple joined us. Our friend did not have COVID. Instead she was put on antibiotics for an infection but overall was feeling a lot better. From there we sailed to Sister Bay under strong winds and high waves. It was not a very comfortable sail. We decided to stay in Sister Bay for a couple days and visit some of the shops.

For breakfast one morning, we ate at Al Johnsons the place with the goats on the roof. It is a Swedish restaurant with an adjoining gift shop which we visited as we waited to get a table. According to my DNA results, I am a large percent Swedish. I traced my genealogy back as far as I could go on all sides without finding an ancestor from Sweden. So I ascertained I have Viking blood which explains so much as far as my temperament goes.

When we walked by later, there were people on the roof with the goats. None of us have ever seen people on the roof before. I sent the photo to several people and regretted sending it to my son who thought it was pretty cool. I pictured Alex and his friends trying to get up on the roof some time. Alex’s girlfriend commented asking what would happen if they fell. I said if the people fell off they were pretty screwed with broken legs and necks. If the goats fell off, then goat curry. Honestly, though, Al Johnsons is not like Red Lobster. They don’t have goat on the menu.

The wind and waves were pretty strong most of our trip. At Sister Bay waves crashed over the breakwater. I tried to take videos of people getting doused but every time I brought out my camera it tamed the wicked seas. We sailed to another harbor but that was pretty much uneventful. Then we took advantage of the one day with no wind or waves at all to motor back to our home port before the onset of more strong winds, waves, and storms.

The most enjoyable part of the trip back was having multiple monarch butterflies follow our boat. It’s hard to understand how such a small insect can fly so far from shore. Even though the trip started off rough, it ended on a good note. It’s hard to believe just like that summer is pretty much over. All the things we had planned came into fruition. I’m happy we were able to do so many fun adventures, but I’m sad to see summer slip away.

Yellowstone, day 2

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The second day at Yellowstone was our 25th wedding anniversary. I had a plan, and that plan was to see Old Faithful. Very fitting of the situation for someone who has a bad sense of humor like me. The day before we made reservations after being on hold forever and losing the call several times for the earliest opening for supper which was 9:45 PM at the Old Faithful Inn.

The second day we visited the south loop which we were told takes two and a half hours to drive without stopping. We had no idea how long it was going to take to get to Old Faithful. We did stop at several places along the way. One of the places we stopped had bison along the trail. There were signs to stay 25 feet away. At this particular location, there was a park ranger answering questions. After that stop, I decided being a park ranger was not as much fun as it was cracked up to be. When I first saw her, she was picking up garbage. Not long after that, someone came up to her and told her people went off the walkway. She found the people and told them to go back to their cars that they were in extreme and grave danger. I didn’t know if they went close to the geysers or approached the bison.

Old Faithful

This was also the only day on our trip there was a small chance of rain in the forecast. By the afternoon there was a downpour and we could hear distant thunder echoing off the canyons. Everyone ran for shelter and the idea to ever visit the park on a motorcycle was crashed. The rain pooled and flooded the roads. We couldn’t see anything. This also happened to be the place where we ran into road construction.

We were getting close to Old Faithful and decided to stop to see if they could move our dinner reservations up. It was still pouring and there was hardly any room to park at the inn. The inn itself looked like a magnificent castle. I jumped across the puddles to get inside fast. Somehow Paul was able to move up our dinner reservation. Maybe it helped to tell them it was our anniversary, I’m not sure but we were 4 hours early. The staff was very cordial and accommodating, but the meal itself was buffet style and nothing to write home about. We couldn’t even see Old Faithful from the restaurant, but it was a short walk away. It stopped raining and we called a number which gave us the estimated wait time until Old Faithful was supposed to go off again which was an hour wait. There were some people waiting because last time if went off a lot earlier than the ETA.

This was the first time we were able to really talk to other tourists while we were waiting. There was a nice couple from Oregon who came over on a motorcycle. They told us they had to be careful of bison because sometimes they charge motorcycles because they view them as a threat. Another reason why going on a motorcycle might not be the best plan.

We ended our trip by seeing the Grand Prismatic Spring. It was steamy and nearing nightfall which was not the best time to see the brilliant kaleidoscope of colors. I’m sure it’s amazing to see on a bright sunny day. We were tempted to come back, but decided not to make the drive.

The park was beautiful and worth visiting. It’s hard to believe how massive the park is. I think two days was enough but you could probably spend a week there and still not see everything.

Yellowstone, day 1

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First of all, Yellowstone is huge. For $35 per car, we were able to get a park pass for a week. That probably would’ve been enough time to see everything, but we only stayed for 2 full days. There were 5 entrances to the park, two of which were closed due to the massive flooding earlier in the season. We came in from the west and tackled the north loop on the first day.

There were some challenges with the north loop we weren’t expecting. We decided to stop in Mammoth Hot Springs for lunch. It would’ve worked great, but the restaurant was closed there due to the earlier flooding. The only thing that was open was a general store were everyone went to buy food. They had a couple picnic tables set up outside which we ended up sharing with a random family. A lot of people were just sitting on the ground eating. Eating in the park was a big problem. But there were plenty of stores, gas stations, and restrooms. They even had an automotive garage on site for car repairs.

For the most part, parking was not a huge issue. There were little areas to get out and see the sights along the loops. We especially enjoyed the geysers and hot springs even with the whiff of sulfur in the air. If you are looking for one of the most beautiful breathtaking places on Earth, surely it is to be found here.

The trip wouldn’t have been complete without wild animals. We saw a bear, elk, and a ton of bison. There were many signs reminding tourists that these are wild animals. We decided not to go hiking on the back trails because of it. If you do, you would need to buy or rent bear spray in case of a bear attack. We decided to stay on the main walkways for the attractions which provided us with plenty of walking without having to go on the hiking trails. It also allowed us to keep within our allotted time frame of two days and still see a lot. Time management was very tricky because we never knew how long it would take to drive somewhere or how long the walkway was to get there. Plus we needed to add extra time to pull over and look at animals. Animals could be blocking the roads, there are long lines at the park entrance, and of all things we ran into road construction in the park.

We received several detailed maps of the park and talked to several park rangers for information. Cell phone coverage is spotty within the park itself so I wouldn’t rely on that totally for navigation.

The picture above and below are of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The above picture we walked down a steep descent to see a waterfall going down into the canyon. It was a challenging path. The picture below was taken from the opposite side of the picture above.

We didn’t end up getting out of the park until after 8 PM the first day. We were really tired, hungry, and worried about where we were going to eat since it was late on a Monday night. However, we found that West Yellowstone had plenty of restaurants open. We stopped at the Wild West Pizzeria and Saloon. It was really packed, but their pizza was amazing. It ended up being my favorite meal on the trip. We learned a lot on that first day and we thought we were ready for day two.

Craters of the Moon, Idaho

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The first half of our trip we stayed in Twin Falls, Idaho and the second half we stayed in West Yellowstone, Montana. From point A to point B, it was about a five hour drive. So we decided to break up our drive with a stop at Craters of the Moon.

This park was created by a volcano. The craters were mostly black. In most areas it looked like a freshly cultivated muddy field. We hiked up this hill and were surprised to find the picture below on top. This on top of a hill of rocky soil in a dry climate. Made me think of the weeds growing back at home.

It was another very hot day when we visited, over 100 degrees.

We decided to visit some of the caves. We had to get a permit to go inside which they never asked us for upon arrival into the caves. They asked us if we’ve been to a cave within the last 15 years and if we were wearing the same clothes or glasses. They said a certain bat disease can live that long on our clothes and couldn’t be washed off. Although I was apprehensive about bats, we didn’t see any.

The caves were not at all what I was expecting either. We didn’t go down into a dark tunnel with dripping water and bats. It was more like a tunnel with openings in it so a flashlight was not necessary. The surface was not flat at all. We had to hike over big rocks on uneven ground that threatened to twist an ankle.

There was also a short trail to see the last remaining snowfall. I was expecting to turn a corner and see a mountain covered with snow but instead saw this dirty bit of snow in a crevice. Although it was surprising to see because it was very hot outside.

It cost us $20 to get in which was worth the money. The terrain is unique. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I thought the park was very well maintained. It’s literally out in the middle of nowhere. I think we saw a sign that said last gas station in 50 miles. There was nothing but mountains in the distance and large open spaces. It wasn’t a tourist trap either. I would highly recommend a visit if you ever find your way out there.