McDowell Trip 2006

The McDowell Trip cross country. Enjoy our trip with us as we finally make our "Western" trip.

Name:
Location: Syracuse, New York, United States

I am an Eagle Scout having been a member of the Scouting fraternity for over 30 years man and boy. Now that I have graduated from SU I am preparing to become more active in the fall. I am a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church and I have recently become the Presbytery Resource Person for the Theological Education Fund of the Presbyterian Church USA. As part of my college training I designed websites for both my church and the local Presbytery. I have been married for 36 years to a warm, loving, special lady named Charlotte and we have two great children, Margie and Francis, and one grandchild, Alex, who all live in the Syracuse area. Francis is getting married in October and Margie is dating a great guy named Mike.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Twelth Day on the Trail

Hi All, Well we made it again. We got a good start from Hill City, SD on our way to Yellowstone National Park. Most of the day was spent driving across open prairie with mountains in the distance.

Toward the end of the trip we went up over the Big Horn Mountains. Char doesn't do mountain driving very well. Something about looking out over an open space where you don't have any reference points really gets her nervous. It is one of those things that you can't really control. When I looked at the map after I posted the last blog entry I realized that I had made a tactical error. I didn't realize that it was about 60 miles from the motel to the park entrance. After we got to the motel in Cody, WY and got the car unloaded we went down to the desk and made a reservation in West Yellowstone, MT and canceled our second night in Cody. We got up this morning and went to Mickey D's for breakfast. After loading the car we headed for Yellowstone National Park passing scenery like this.

Char and I both agree that it is impossible to really discribe this country. It is OK to take pictures and try to verbally describe it but to really understand this area you have to see it in person. We finally drove into Yellowstone National Park after a 57 mile drive. There was construction going on just inside the park and we had a 20 minute delay before driving for about 15 miles in convoy going only about 20 miles per hour. What a pain. We finally got beyond the construction and found a latrine for a much needed rest stop. Below is a photo of Char standing next to Yellowstone Lake at the pullout where we stopped.

We stopped at the Bridge Bay Gift Shop / Restaurant for lunch and some gift purchases. The picture below of a buffalo was taken from a bridge while it was about 50 yards away.

After another couple of stops at other areas in the park and getting our National Park Passport stamped we headed for Old Faithful Geyser. Again this is one of those things that defies simple description it really needs to be experienced to be believeable.

Shortly after this we decided that we had better head for our temporary home in West Yellowstone, MT. Char was still not feeling well from the crazy ride through the construction area and possibly some altitude reaction and I was just simply dog tired from driving on the twisty roads in the park. On the way out we saw the smoke from a fire in the middle of the park.

I am writing this post about three blocks from the western edge of Yellowstone National Park. We had dinner in the motel dining room after a short swim in what was supposed to be a heated indoor pool. It felt more like a spring fed lake in the Adirondaks. Tomorrow we will be headed for Salt Lake City. The motel change from one side of the park to the other has saved us over one hundred miles off of tomorrows trip.
On another note Char and I have been collecting state liscense plates and Canadian province plates. Today we got Alaska and Hawaii. Char tallied up the plates for the states we have seen so far and we are only missing Rhode Island and Vermont. We also have seven Canadian province plates so far.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi! Just want to say what a nice site. Bye, see you soon.
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10:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

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6:20 AM  

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