Missoula MT to Jackson Hole Wyoming

 On Day 14 we explored Yellowstone National Park. We started by driving through a stone archway entrance at the Northern part of the park.

The first section that we stopped at was Mammoth Springs - a series of bubbling geysers that smelled of sulfer and other nasty things. They were really cool to look at though.

 We also saw the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone", which was formed of beautiful colored rock and a gorgeous green river. Yellowstone is also one of the places that we saw the most animals. Bears, Elk, Bighorn Sheep, Coyote, Bison, all were there causing traffic jams just by going about their business.

I enjoyed Yellowstone, but I didn't connect to it as much as I did to Yosemite. I was a bit uncomfortable being on top of a volcano, which didn't help, and though the views were beautiful - I loved the Grand Tetons in the distance more than the mountains I was on.

 It was a good day though, a hot day. Walking around outside and driving through the beautiful park was fun and we even waited around for Old Faithful to go off.

Driving through Grand Teton National Park to get to Jackson Hole, I couldn't stop staring at the gorgeous mountains across the lake. The sun was setting behind them and they were glowing in the light.

In Jackson Hole, our fun stalled for a bit. We had trouble getting a hotel room as most hotels were full, food also became an issue. We decided to walk and arrived everywhere just as they were closing. We eventually drove to the two fast food joints just outside the cute tourist area. If you are planning a trip to Jackson Hole, WY and it is Summer - CALL AHEAD! This is the lesson we learned.

The town itself is super adorable and a bit upscale. Shops and restaurants are all Old West Cowboy style and their park entrances are marked with arches made of Elk antlers. Elk shed their antlers every year and the local boy scouts go retrieve them from the woods so that these arches can be made every year. Pretty cool.

Madera to Manteca California, Yosemite National Park

 Before leaving the Holiday Inn we had a bit of a madcap adventure movie type scenario. I asked Matt if he had the keys (meaning the car keys) and was like "Um no, I thought you did". We spent about 20 minutes searching the room for keys and then realized that he was looking for the room keys which were in my pocket and I was looking for car keys which were in his pocket.

::head desk::

We started the day with a trip to Michaels to return the sharpies that were smudging on our DIY toys. Luckily they had the new Sharpie Painter Pens, water based, which are supposed to work a lot better so we picked up a few of those and some spray paint. We haven't yet used them yet. Then we went to a Best Buy and a Camera store in search of a charger for Matt's camera (the most finicky piece of technology on this trip!). Finally, we headed out to Yosemite National Park.

I really felt a connection to Yosemite. I would like to go back someday and spend a week there being inspired and communing with nature. There were a lodge, campgrounds, a grocery store, an Ansel Adams gallery store and a small museum. You can rent bicycles, which I really wish we had been there long enough to do.

Yosemite is also one of the most beautiful places I think I've been. We went to Glacier Point first and the view was just incredible. Afterwards we went down to the valley below where most of the activity was and the scenery was just as incredible. I can't really describe it, but I absolutely loved being there.

CA-1: Lake Cachuma to Madera California

 The next day we picked up on CA-1 again and drove along the coastline. It was a foggy day, which made the drive a little less spectacular for me. Last time I loved seeing how blue the ocean was and the bright colors. Everything was sort of muted this drive, but it was still fun.

The drive goes up and down mountains directly on the coastline and there is nothing to block your view. Some of the turns are a bit tight and it's best to drive slow and just enjoy the drive. There are also plenty of pull off points to just sit and enjoy.

 One of our first stops of the day was to see the elephant seals that gather on one of the beaches just past Santa Barbara. There were a ton of them just laying on the beach, a couple playing in the water and this guy below throwing sand on his back and napping:

Not long after the elephant seals, we re-discovered a cute seaside town called Cambria. We had stopped there last time we were out west, but just to get gas. This time we walked around and looked in the shops and then went down to the beach. It was actually a bit cold so we didn't stay long, but it's a really cute town to check out if you are driving CA-1.

Another awesome thing to see on CA-1 is the beach cows. These cows just chill by the ocean all day.

The views were just gorgeous despite the clouds.

Our final stop before crashing for the night was Point Lobos. There are a lot of nature trails, cypress trees and gorgeous ocean views at Point Lobos, but we didn't have much time so we just picked a couple trails to take. We were searching for sea otters, who were supposedly hanging out with the seaweed, but I never found them. We did see a lot of sea birds, seals and bunny rabbits though.

This was actually solid rock, not loose sand. It fascinated me. There were also areas with rocks just embedded together in hard sand like the above, it was really really nifty to touch and look at.

There were also a lot of coves and private beaches on along the paths that made me want to go swimming, although the water did look very cold.

Day 6 Continued: Fires and The Grand Canyon

 Another fun Route 66 classic that we saw was the Wigwam Hotel. It looked pretty incredible with a line of old classic cars lined up next to each "room". We wished we could stay there, but that particular one looked very closed and the other was too far away.

As we got closer to Flagstaff Arizona, we saw this huge mound of white smoke rising up in the distance. Shouts of White Smoke Monster! filled the car, but we weren't joking anymore when we drove through it and saw the smoke was actually a sickly shade of brown. We found out via a fast food joint in Flagstaff that it was actually a forest fire. Because it was so close to Flagstaff, a town we had planned on coming back to after the Grand Canyon, we decided then that maybe we should stay closer to the canyon instead. A quick google search tells me that today, 10 days after the fire began, it has just been classified as fully contained.

I thought that driving to the Grand Canyon would be full of more flatness and a desert with a sudden stop at the canyon. For some reason I pictured just lines of people looking out into it with nothing to block their view. Boy was I wrong. We drove through forests of trees, saw mountains in the near distance, observed cows and farms and finally arrived at a tree covered bit of land and had no idea where to go to see the canyon itself.

 After a brief bout of confusion we obtained advice from a nice gentleman in the bookstore and got back in the car - taking the Desert Drive. We stopped at a several points and took photos, but eventually ended up at the Grand View. Stunned we stood there looking into the abyss just enjoying the view. Beautiful dips and curves below a flat horizon line full of gorgeous blues and purples and reds.

We took a ton of photos, but this is really something you need to see for yourself to fully appreciate. I never realized just how big and how incredible this sight would be. As it got darker we sat on the rocks and enjoyed a glorious, peaceful sunset over the Grand Canyon. I'll just leave you with that for now.

Route 66: Day 6 Santa Fe to The Grand Canyon

 In the morning we headed towards a roadside attraction called Tinkertown.

Tinkertown is something I've wanted to see since our last trip, so I was pretty excited to be on our way. About halfway there our GPS told us to turn and we ended up on a dirt road through a beautiful desert landscape. The mini got pretty dirty and it was a pretty bumpy ride, but we laughed about it and kept on going.

Tinkertown itself was everything I could have wanted it to be. The building is made from cement and glass bottles, making for some great lighting and colors. Inside were displays of hand carved wooden figurines within many different scenarios. One long hallway featured an entire downtown area and if you pressed buttons, some of the figures moved. Another was a full on circus scene and the detail was incredible. Other features included Otto the One Man Band - totally worth the fifty cents.

We drove from Tinkertown through to Arizona and The Grand Canyon, staring in awe at the gorgeous painted desert landscapes. Driving through so much flatness with occasional bursts of beauty made for a very long driving day. Added to the flatness was the fact that we crossed a time zone and added an hour to our day which was both good and bad.

From the highway we saw a variety of fun billboards, one leading is right to a rock shop that featured giant dinosaurs eating mannequins:

a live ostrich farm:

and a variety of other craziness.

This was another long day and so I'm going to split this post into two - next up : The Grand Canyon!

Niagara Trip Part 4: Day 3 and 4

Day Three of our Niagara Falls trip started with a drive to Niagara on the Lake, a cute town north of the falls on Lake Ontario. We wandered the main street shops, had some lunch and walked to the lake. Then we drove through wine country (flat flat flat) and visited the Ice House Winery for a taste of famous Ice Wine. Ice Wine is made by crushing the grapes when they are frozen, resulting in a very sweet, in this case berry flavored, dessert wine unlike anything I've ever tasted before.

Later that night we walked around more, took one last trip to the Street of Fun and looked at the Falls up close at night. The next day we spent some time on the New York side and then headed home. Here is a video of the footage we shot during our trip. Most of it is from these last two days since we continually forgot we had a video camera with us.

Niagara Trip Part 3: Waterfall Adventures

Day two of our Niagara trip was filled with adventures surrounding the Falls themselves. First we checked out of the Best Western and drove the car down closer to the falls. We couldn't check into the new hotel yet, so we parked the car at the Casino next door and headed down to the Maid of the Mist boat dock.

 For the uninitiated, Maid of the Mist is a boat ride that I am pretty sure is one of the oldest running Niagara attractions - they started in 1846! Blue ponchos are handed out and the boat goes as close to the falls as possible for an incredible adventure. We didn't get as wet as we thought we would, but photos were interesting to take with the mist constantly dotting camera lenses with water nonetheless. If you are going to do just one thing at Niagara, this would be the thing to do.

Being that close to the falls, with the roar of the water and the mist rising up around you is such an amazing experience. It made me feel small and awe filled at Mother Nature.

Next we went on a Journey Behind the Falls, which is a series of tunnels that go behind the falls. You are able to look directly at the water rushing down from behind, which is a really nifty experience. The tunnels/portals are just plain cool and very old fashioned, it's almost scary to think that you are 150 feet down. And seeing the falls from behind them is an experience. The first tunnel is the best, in my opinion, the others are slightly anti-climactic because you can't see much and the effect is sort of ruined. The first one you are kind of next to the falls so you can see it from in front and behind - which is awesome.

After some more wandering and I believe some lunch, we checked into our hotel - The Oaks Overlooking the Falls, where we were slightly disappointed to be on the 4th floor. The view of the falls was okay, but slightly blocked by trees and a little bit distracted from by a parking lot. We tried to get up higher, but there were no rooms so we had to be content going to the 14th floor observatory for a better view.

I honestly can't remember much else from the second day. I know we wandered about the Casino a bit (and please note the awesomely steampunk-like fountain we saw) and tried to find a tourist channel on the tv for a little while, but other than that I think we mostly crashed at night. We were tired from a lot of walking, and therefore very exhausted. That night we might have eaten at The Famous, which was an awesome diner in the casino. It had a very 1930's feel about it, which I LOVED and also the most delicious chocolate chip muffin in existance. It had a slight citrus, orange taste to it and mmmm oh so good. I wanted to eat there again, but it was never where we were when we were hungry.

I had planned on showing you video that I took with my Nikon P4, however Windows Movie Maker won't import that type of video and I'm not sure what to do. So, unfortunately, no video today. Hopefully I'll figure it out for next time. Stay tuned for day 3, which I promise will arrive sooner than day 2 did. I've been a little busy over at FallenPeach lately :)

Niagara Trip Part 2 : Adventures on Day One

We originally planned our Niagara Falls trip for three days (incl. arriving and leaving days), but soon realized that we would need at least one extra day. This is still a very small amount of time, but as it turns out - just right for a trip to Niagara Falls.

Sunday we drove from Connecticut to Niagara, which took about 8 hours including stops for gas and breakfast snacks. The biggest toll we payed was $15.30, an amount we weren't quite expecting. We called the Skylon Tower just short of crossing the border to make reservations for brunch - the cheapest option they have - and went immediately there before even our hotel.

 The Skylon is an amazing adventure to start a trip with. You ride a yellow bug like elevator up up up to a three level observation deck and restaurant. The dinner level revolves so that over the course of an hour you have seen Niagara Falls in 360 degrees, which is awesome in and of itself. We, however, were eating at the brunch buffet - which does not revolve. Nevertheless, we had a fantastic view of the falls and couldn't help but stare (despite my fear of heights - going up that elevator was the hardest part for me, after that I was fine). Brunch was delicious and we followed that with a trip up one level to the observation deck for a more direct view of the falls. The wind and cold kept us from staying up there too long, however, plus we were ready to continue our adventure!

Sunday was the extra day we added on to our trip and we stayed at a Best Western about a mile or two from the falls. This was both good and bad. The hotel itself was beautiful, clean and the staff was extremely friendly. The pool area was obscenely beautiful, but we had not brought our suits so we didn't get to use it. The hotel was not, however, in the touristy or most beautiful part of Niagara. We had to walk down a slightly sketchy street in order to get to the tourist "street of fun" and even farther to get to the falls. We were okay with this, but if you are staying for more than one day and don't plan on driving and parking near the falls - I would recommend something closer. It seemed silly to us to pay to park when we could just walk, though, so we got plenty of exercise - especially that first day.

 Ahh, the Street of Fun. Walking we saw continual signs pointing us towards "Clifton Hill - The Street of Fun" and after all that build up... boy were we excited when we finally reached it. Along with very amused and slightly disappointed. The Street of Fun is about three blocks pure TOURIST kitchy insanity. Three haunted houses, several Ripley's Museums, two wax museums, fast food galore, arcades, giant ferris wheels, bowling.... this was obviously where the action was.

Clifton Hill is great for getting fast food (slightly cheaper than the over priced restaurants) and for a laugh, but it wasn't really what we were looking for in entertainment, so after a few photos and a snack we continued on our walk to the Falls.

 Niagara Falls is one of the most amazing natural sights that I have visited. So much rushing water, an almost constant rainbow and all that mist just rising up out of the middle of it all. If you ever have the chance, you should go and visit. And at least stop by the Canadian side - the view is much more spectacular and cohesive.

Stay tuned for Day 2 :)