Our Latest Travel Adventure: O Canada, Here We Come

Last year we had plans to take a camping vacation to Nova Scotia, but it was a bad years for our bees and we ended up staying home to feed them so they would have a chance of getting through the winter. Both our hives made it and we were blessed with a great season this year that let us expand to four hives. And so...our delayed trip was back on the calendar and we left yesterday on the first leg driving from Woodstock to Stafford Springs, CT which is close to...get ready...Woodstock. Today we spent the late morning and afternoon exploring.

Checking Key West Off Our Bucket List

We spent the last two weeks travelling from Virginia to the Florida Keys and back. Our ultimate destination was Key West and, while we enjoyed our three days there, I'm not in a hurry to go back. The Keys are a coral beach and they have to import their sand. There are lots of stones and few sea shells although I did pick up a sponge on the beach. I decided not to take it in the car. Sponges have a reputation for really stinking.

What I liked best about our visit to Key West was the time we spent at Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic Church. They have a perpetual adoration chapel which is lovely and we stopped to say our rosary and then visit the gardens and grotto to Our Lady of Lourdes. The Church is the second oldest in Florida (I think the first is St. Augustine) and it was recently raised to basilica status, the fifth in Florida.

While we enjoyed walking around in shirt sleeves for our trip, I'm not sold on becoming snow birds. I kind of like cold weather. For one thing, it makes one really appreciate those unseasonal warm days that come as little mid-winter surprises. Besides, Florida is filled with old, and I mean really old, people. We went to Mass at one church and among about five hundred worshipers, I saw ONE elementary age child with an older teen I presume was his brother. Now CCD was the next day, but still that has to be a record. We certainly have more children at our vigil mass in our tiny parish than that. So we'll happily stick with our Virginia winters. It really is my favorite place of all. No matter where I go, Virginia is home.

Good-bye Salt Lake City, Hello to the Real Utah

We left Salt Lake City this morning with no regrets. Traffic was horrible -- shades of the Washington Beltway. There were orange construction cones for miles with little evidence in most places of anybody working. Finally, about 30 miles from the city, the highway went down to two lanes in each direction and a more country landscape. (Sigh of relief...) It reminded me of our Interstate 81 in the Shenandoah Valley with a large grass median and mountains to both the east and west, although the mountains here are much more rugged and with less vegetation than ours back home.

The ride was beautiful through the country, especially when we turned off Int. 15 and turned onto Utah 20 to go over the mountains and then onto US 89 down the valley. But the really incredible views began when we got to Utah 12. We drove into Red Canyon with bright red-orange rock formations, tunnels cut thorugh the mountain, and towering cliffs on either side of us.

But nothing could have prepared us for the incredible sight of Bryce Canyon. After we set up camp we drove into the park and went out to Sunset Point. We looked out over miles of towering rocks rising from the canyon floor in an amazing variety of shapes and forms. Some looked like giant chess pieces, others like walled cities and castle turrets. There were cathedral-like spires and rocks that resembled all kinds of things just like cloud pictures. I took one picture that appeared to have a duck in it and one group of rocks reminded me of the model of Jerusalem we saw at the Morman Temple visitor's center. Some of the rock formations looked absolutely impossible with large boulders balancing on the tops of skinny pillars. How could such a place exist? To me it is an absolute wonder of nature and should be listed among the wonders of the world.

This, to me, is the real Utah, the rugged natural landscape that celebrates the rugged individualism of the people who settled this great state. Larry read me an entry about the early settlers of Panguitch which is about 25 miles from Bryce Canyon. We passed through it on our way and will return on Sunday to attend Mass there. The early settlers had a difficult first winter when the crops failed. They were starving, so an intrepid group of men set off to Parowan about 40 miles away to get food for the settlement. The ox-drawn wagons couldn't make it through the deep snow, so the men abandoned them and used quilts to walk the entire way - putting one down, walking across it and putting down another in front while they retrieved the quilt behind. The town still celebrates the "Panguitch Quilt Walk."

That story speaks to the spirit of the people who settled this country. What a courageous band. Would that we had that same spirit in facing the challenges of today. We are stewards, individuals created in God's image and entrusted with the care of this beautiful country and the people in it beginning with the least ones, the little babies in the womb waiting to be born. May we be faithful stewards quick to respond like those men whose ingenuity and courage saved their families from starvation.

Salt Lake City and Antelope Island: Not Our Favorite Stop

Thursday, September 29

George Bailey would love the Salt Lake City KOA. Last night was filled with jet noise, train whistles, and traffic -- all night long! The only thing missing were ship anchor chains. Needless to say, we didn't get a great night's sleep. It's too bad they put us in the front near the road; the back of the park is probably quieter. Oh well, we're off tomorrow.

We got up early this morning to go to the 8:00 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral of the Madeleine which is absolutely beautiful, although I knew the Church had been renovated the minute we walked in because it had a large baptismal hot tub in the back.

A Big Thank You to the Angels

I haven’t said anything about our angels, but they’ve been busy watching over us ever since we left. We have our guardian angels accompanying us, of course, but we also asked St. Michael the Archangel to come along as a protector and St. Raphael who travelled with Tobias on his journeys. What better companions can one aske for. And they have definitely been on the job.

Yesterday, was a case in point. We were planning to travel to Jackson Hole and stay at a campground there called The Virginian (appropriate for us coming from Virginia we thought). We’ve had no problem anywhere without reservations. But we stopped at a scenic pull off and a lady struck up a conversation asking if we were going to Jackson. When I said yes she said they had a reservation, but were coming a day early and the campground was full. They were going to be parking that night next to the dumpster. Well, we made an instant change of plans. We went as far as Colter Bay in the Grand Teton National Park and booked a site for the night in their RV park, the last night it was open actually. That particular campground closes Sept. 25th for the season.

The blessing of our change of plans was a lovely two-mile hike around Jackson lake with beautiful views of the mountains and a close encounter with a very tame mule deer who was munching on salad in the woods near the trail. She wasn’t the least bit afraid and we were no more than ten feet away. When she decided to move toward us we backed away. As the park warns, these are wild animals and deer have sharp hooves.

We went to Saturday afternoon Mass at the Chapel of the Sacred Heart which advertised a 5:00 p.m. service. It turned out to be a wedding as well. What an odd crowd with the wedding guests dressed to the nines and the campers in jeans and sneakers. We seem to be lucking out on the sacraments with a baptism at last week’s Mass and a wedding this week. May the bride and groom be blessed in their married life together.

Instead of heading straight back to the campsite we stopped at the Jackson Lodge for an appetizer and drink. The ranger at the campground advised us that they have floor to ceiling windows in the second floor lobby with spectacular views of the Grand Tetons. She wasn’t exaggerating. What a view of the sun setting behind the mountains. And to top it off, after it got dark (and chilly) there was a nice warm fire in the most interesting fireplace with moose andirons. It was a delightful end to a lovely day. Thanks, angels!

Surprising Yellowstone

Old Faithful, the icon of Yellowstone

I’ve always thought Yellowstone was about pristine crystal lakes, rivers, and streams with fishermen casting with graceful movements. I imagined the forests with towering pines and rushing waterfalls, a land filled with wildlife: moose, bear, deer, antelope, coyotes, buffalo and wolves, and, of course, Old Faithful. And Yellowstone is all of that. But I didn’t realize that a major portion of Yellowstone’s features were geothermal. I had no idea that there were HUNDREDS of geysers and sputtering mud pools and fumeroles (steam vents) and hot springs. In the two days we travelled the northern and southern loops of the park we saw steam rising everywhere, even at the edges of the lakes. When we first entered the park we thought there was a fire and there was some fire activity, but most of what we saw was steam from the various thermal spots. Almost everywhere there was at least a faint scent of sulphur from the simmering geothermal activity. Yellowstone is actually a huge volcano and when you drive around the park and stop at the various geyser basins you realize it. In the Old Faithful geyser area we saw three major geysers erupt: Old Faithful (three separate times), the Beehive geyser, and the Castle geyser which went on for at least half an hour of throwing up water and was still belching steam twenty minutes later when we moved on.

We did a tour of the volcano mud pots with a park ranger, a retired biology teacher who works during the summer and goes home to Virginia at the end of the season. We learned the four different types of geothermal activity in the park: geysers, fumeroles, hot springs, and mud pots. The colors are amazing and in one area called the Porcelain Basin the rich turquoise, orange, copper, and yellow reminded me of Indian pottery – beautiful! There’s one area called the paint pots, but we didn’t stop to tour that area. There just wasn’t time to do it all.

Simmering pool in the Porcelain Geyser Basin

One of the most interesting areas we visiting was on the Firehill River Loop. After stopping at a geyser called the White Dome that erupts every 35 minutes(Luckily we caught its five minute show.), we moved on to a spot that features the “constant geyser” that bubbles and spurts continuously. It was in a lake called the Black Warrior set between Fire Lake and Hot Lake. The “lakes” were more like ponds, but the entire area was a steam sauna. Walking the boardwalk around Hot Lake we passed through a cloud of steam that was like a steam bath. I’m sure during the winter it’s a popular spot for wildlife. One of the rangers told us bison will often settle down in steamy areas during the hot summer because it suppresses the stinging insects. In the winter it no doubt keeps them warm.

Speaking of wildlife we saw quite a bit. Buffalo were all over. We were stopped by a group in the road on our way in from the east entrance when we arrived. One night in the dark we almost hit a large bull sauntering along in the road. He obligingly moved over to the other side to let us pass. We saw elk, but I can’t claim they were in the wild. One group was lounging around next to the parking lot at a visitor center. Another group were in the grass around the lodge in Mammoth. They apparently have no fear of people, but the park emphasizes with signs everywhere to keep your distance. They have many more injuries from charging buffalo than from bears.

We never did see a bear as a matter of fact, but I wasn’t about to go hiking in the woods looking for one. Mostly we were on the boardwalks in the geothermal areas and around the lake. We probably hiked about ten miles while we were in Yellowstone but none of it was in the back country where we might have met a bear. That was fine with me. We did see two coyotes from a distance and later a grey wolf crossing the road as we headed toward the southern entrance on the way to the Grand Tetons on Saturday. We felt we had seen more in our two days than anyone has a right to expect and were well satisfied with our visit.

Yellowstone is definitely an intriguing and fascinating place and I hope we make it back again before we hang up our hiking boots.