The Dynamic Duo

I just had the most amazing and gratifying 5 day mini-vacation. Seeing beautiful and fantastic sites with people you love; what can be better than that?
This trip had been in the works for a long time, and I was brought into the equation, as usual, by my sweet sister Panther. (A side note on sister Panther: she appears to have fallen in love , and while I have not yet met the lucky man, he sounds pretty good, and so I am very happy for her.) Ahem: getting back to the present: Brother Dan and wife Mary, who hail from the Garden State of New Jersey, along with Mary’s parents ( also from NJ) , wanted to take a trip to the Wine Country, and UltraAuntDebi (Panther) informed them that there were some perfectly good wineries in Idaho. Add in a trip to Yellowstone Park, and what better vacation could you plan for some native Easterners?
As arranged I left a little past 5 AM on Saturday morn for a 9 AM Mountain Time Zone rendezvous with Panther in Twin Falls. I didn’t do too badly, arriving only about 1/2 hour late.
We left my car in the Shopko parking lot and loaded my purposely minimalist (for me) luggage into Panther’s Avalon, and we were off. No, to answer your obvious question, I didn’t even think twice about leaving my car in a mall parking lot for 4 days. Several people have informed me since that I should have been concerned, but thank goodness I didn’t talk to those nay-sayers until the trip was over, and my car was just fine, thank you. We made a brief stop in Pocatello to see Pather’s son Michael, who is attending college there, and met his very-nice girlfriend Erin as well. I was finally able to deliver Michael’s very-late Birthday gift: a plastic mug I had purchased for him at my prison store. The logo reads “Hard Times. Between a Rock and a Hard Place.” I also got to see his dorm room, an offer that Panther wisely declined. Its a little easier for a mere Aunt to view the jumble of books, paper and clothing, both clean and not-so-clean, and the mattress, sans bed frame, on the floor. Hospitably, Michael offered me a soda from his towering triangular “drink-a-mid” and a candy bar from his mini-fridge.

After this pleasant interlude, we headed for the Airport in Idaho Falls where we picked up the rest of our party and a rental vehicle, a nice SUV. It seemed at first that there was no way 6 people and a prodigious amount of luggage would fit, but with a little ingenuity, and folding down of half the back seat, we were soon sitting pretty. When I say “we” were sitting pretty, I am mostly referring to myself. Due to my tendency, real or imagined, towards motion sickness, I was awarded the coveted front seat next to Driver Dan. Panther, who has never suffered from this malady, gamely claimed the lone back seat, which could only be accessed by climbing over the folded down seat ahead of it. Mary, Mom & Dad had the middle seat (in that order). I made a few tepid offers to trade seat, but everyone heroically claimed they were fine where they were, and so assured, I finally just sat back and enjoyed the ride.
Before leaving Idaho Falls, we decided to drive past the nice brick split-level house my family had lived in after making the move from California in 1971. Dan and I remembered that the present owners of the house had not been particulary friendly the last time we had been there, right after our mother’s funeral, so we contented ourselves with a slow drive-by. We waited at the end of the street for Panther who was following us in her car, (which was going to be parked, not in a shopping center lot, but at her brother-in-law’s). After 10 minutes or so, she finally drove up alongside us. “I was talking to those people who now live in our house,” she explained, “They were really nice and friendly.” Huh.
Before heading out of town, we made a little dinner stop at one of my all-time favorite restaurants, The Texas Roadhouse. I am usually indecisive about my meal-ordering, but here I knew exactly what I was ordering: a 6 oz med-well done steak, baked potato and salad. Of course before the meal arrived we had all consumed our share of peanuts and rolls with honey-butter. Heaven.
After a few pleasant hours of driving, we arrived at the Yellowstone Park entrance. The park employee who sold us our $25 seven-day park pass informed us that many of the park roads were snow covered, which she proceeded to prove by marking them with colored squiggly lines. “Good thing this has 4-wheel drive,” commented our driver, deftly maneuvering the large SUV along the windy park roads. An hour or so later, just as it was getting dark, we arrived at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. We checked into our very nice, though warm, rooms, and went down to the restaurant, where we were informed there would be a 30 minute wait for a table. We waited in the bar, and after a few drinks, both alcoholic and non, decided that eating could wait til morning.
The next morning, we were delighted to see elk grazing placidly on the lawns about the hotel. There were also a couple of saucy ravens hopping around near the entrance looking for handouts. We were feeling pretty good that the snow we had been warned of had not yet materialized. In fact, the day, though not sunny, was clear and moderate of temperature. Perfect, since this was our sight-seeing day.
We snagged some muffins to go, bought a picnic lunch, and set out on a leisurely drive through the park, stopping now and then to marvel at bubbling pools, a magestic canyon with waterfall, or a petrified tree. At one point, Mary remarked on the predominance of ‘yellow’ in much of the landscape. Finally, a clue as to the naming of this remarkable National Park! We ate delicous pastrami sandwiches at a convenient picnic table, along with my favorite junk foods; potato chips and pink-frosted animal cookies.
We arrived that afternoon at Old Faithful Lodge, where we had reservations. I had always wanted to stay there, but never had before. It was a terrific experience. The hotel is heated by geothermal heat, so your room warms to a comfortable temperature without the ubiquitous noisy blowing fan. Like the night before, a bear-shaped soap was in our bathroom, reminding us of the park’s most famous residents. Old Faithful Geysor can actually be viewed from the motel lobby or from the upper porch, but we walked outside to be “upclose and personal” when the promised eruption occurred.
Old Faithful, Dan informed us, was not quite as faithful as it used to be. It seems the eruptions used to be a little more predictable, but due to semi-recent seismic activity, they now varied a bit more. Still the experts were able to predict their occurence to within 20 minutes or so, and viewing it was well worth the wait.
Once we saw a line of cars stopped alongside the road, with people gaping at something down below in the woods. “Bear,” we were told, but it seemed a bad (and crowded) spot to pull over, so we passed up the chance (only chance, as it turned out) to see the bear. But I don’t think any of us, unless secretly, harbored any deep regrets at the omission. We did, however, get some awesome photos of a group of bison (buffalo). It was a family group of sorts, ranging from cute little babies to big he-man bulls. Which brings me to an incredibly corny joke, “What did the father buffalo say to the baby buffalo when he left for his first day of school?” “Bye, Son. (Bison)” Ha, ha.
Perhaps this is a good time to interject a side note about the Italian contingent among my fellow travelers. I had met Mary’s parents a couple of times, but not knowing their first names, with Mr. & Mrs. Callo seeming entirely too formal, I called them ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ when I had to call them something. Mostly though, unsure of their preferences, I had avoided calling them anything at all. While hiking along one of the Yellowstone Trails, I asked Dan. “Their names are Carmen and Carmella,” he informed me, “or Tony and Gabriella, depending on if you are using their first names or middle names.”
“Well, which do they use most often or prefer?” I persisted. “Either. They use them pretty much interchangeably.” Interesting names, but too much ambiguity. I decided to stick with “Mom” and “Dad”.
Mom & Dad met in Italy and still have much family there. In the recent past, they paid for all of their 11 offspring and their spouses & offspring to make a trip to Italy for a big family reunion. I think it is remarkable that all 11 still live in near proximity to their parents’ New Jersey home. Dan & Mary are by far the favorite Aunt & Uncle to numerous nieces and nephews ranging from tiny to co-ed. Mom & Dad had, in fact, returned from an extended stay in Italy only one week before making this trip west. They were great to travel with; patient and entertaining. They must have been exhausted at times, but I never heard them complain. And they have the coolest Italian accents.
Before dinner, some of us took advantage of the numerous paths and trails branching out from the lodge. Panther and I saw lots of geysor holes (I ‘m not sure, but I think Seesaw Geysor was erupting as we walked by it) and some beautiful, colorful rock formations and pools. At one point, we were startled to see a large bull buffalo just a few hundred feet away. I briefly considered capturing his image on digital film, but, remembering park literature on the speed & dispositon of the species, decided to merely capture it in my memory and kept on walking.
We had dinner that night in the Yellowstone Lodge, a buffet. It did not have as many food choices as the tradional buffet, but Dan, Panther and I enjoyed the buffalo chilli, buffalo roast, Ceasar salad and parslied potatoes. I heard later that Mary and her parents didn’t enjoy it as much, but then they are used to exceptional cuisine since Mary & her Mom are both such good cooks. To me almost anything I don’t have to cook myself tastes pretty darn good.
The next morning we awoke to a winter wonderland. The predictions of snow had finally come true. It was actually perfect timing since we were leaving that day anyway, and it was quite the site seeing the pristine white landscape punctuated by steam and spewing plumes of boiling water. But now it was time to leave Yellowstone and head off towards our next adventure.
Next time: Antlers & Driftwood….........tbc