We're Home!

DAY 48: Just a quick note to say that we are safely home. We got in late Monday night. Everything looks good at home, and we had a wonderful trip - much to be thankful for! I don't have the internet access at home that makes posting convenient and I'm about to turn in my computer to the shop for a check-up. but when I get a chance I'll post some photos from the last week of our trip. Love to all!  Larry and Ellen

Minerva, OH

Day 44: We're in Minerva, OH tonight: the Palmentier Motel, which calls itself a Retro Motel and it is old-fashioned, but also very nice. The room is huge and nicely appointed. We drove from Elgin, IL today and we'll be at Swarthmore, PA tomorrow night.  We're doing fine and I'll try to elaborate with photos and more description when I get the chance.

Beautiful Highways

DAY 39: In Indianola tonight. Today we drove from Ainsworth, NE along Route 20 to U.S. 275, stopped for a picnic out of our food box at a park in Wisner, NE, down to Blair, NE, across the wide Missouri over an historic bridge, to Missouri Valley, IA,  up the Lincoln Highway (U.S. 30) for a bit and along a scenic byway to Elkhorn, IA and then down to Atlantic, IA and across IA 92 to Indianola. What a beautiful drive through the Loess Hills of Iowa, through Danish villages, by many corn and soybean fields (sadly, some heavily damaged by drought), and a huge windfarm. A lovely day.

Picnic in the park

Danish windmill in Elkhorn, IA

"The Little Mermaid" replica in Kimballton, IA

Iowa countryside

Windfarm near Atlantic, IA

Vintage postcard of the Blair Bridge over the Missouri

Back on the road

DAY 39 (I think): We're in Ainsworth, NE this morning. We were in Yellowstone N.P. last Thursday and Friday (no WiFi). One thing we did in Yellowstone was to hike up Mt. Washburn (10,250 ft.). We didn't get to the top, but almost. We climbed probably 1000 feet anyway. Not too bad for a couple of oldsters.  And then on Saturday drove the Chief Joseph highway to Cody, WY and on to Buffalo where we spent Saturday night. Sunday we drove into South Dakota, making brief stops at Jewel Cave N. M. and Wind Cave N.P., both very interesting (we didn't actually go into the caves - next time!), and then on to Ainsworth - a beautiful drive.

Here are some photos from the past few days:

Bison right by the car

Bison at a distance

Butterfly up close

Fireweed on Mt. Washburn

Jewel Cave (not my photo)

From Mt. Washburn

Fireweed and bleached trees on Mt. Washburn

Longhorn sheep on Washburn

Two ravens at LeHardy Rapids, Yellowstone N.P.

Last day in Alpine

DAY 34: Today was our last full day in Alpine. Tomorrow we leave for Yellowstone Park where we'll have two nights at Roosevelt Lodge, our favorite place in Yellowstone. It will be sad to leave Max, Paul and Jenny. But there is some hope that we'll be getting together again either here or in Vermont for Ellen's 70th birthday coming up in November. We'll hope!!

There's been some talk of trying to connect with Ryan and Alicia McQuen (whom I married on July 13th) as they drive west to Everett, WA and we drive east.  Not sure it will work, but we might cross paths in Montana somewhere and maybe at least wave at each other. Alicia has landed her "dream job" with the Snohomish County Public Health Department as a Disease Intervention Specialist in her field of tuberculosis. Congratulations Alicia!! Big changes in their lives! Good luck to them.

Ellen and I took a walk up Granite Canyon in Teton N.P. yesterday. It wasn't a long hike - 3 miles r.t., but that was about right for me. It was pretty warm, but not too bad. We saw an unusual wildflower on the hike which we later learned was called pinedrops. 

Pinedrops.

Afterward we went to Victor, ID and Ellen had her favorite ice cream milkshake -a huckleberry shake at The Emporium, made with huckleberry ice cream and real, wild huckleberries. Yum!!
 
Not sure when the next post will be -- I think Yellowstone is basically a cell phone and Wi-Fi free zone.  Yay!

It is also a TV-free zone for the most part - so goodbye Olympics. Hello bison, elk, wolves, beautiful scenery, streams, late summer wildflowers, and maybe even a bear!

Huckleberry Milkshake

The Emporium, Victor, Idaho

Paul's work

DAY 33: Tuesday, August 7th we drove up to Jackson, WY and visited Paul's worksite. Paul works as a site manager for a company called OSM (On Site Management). He is currently managing a multi-million-dollar home construction job, a modern concrete and steel home outside Jackson near Wilson, WY. He is the guy who is "on the ground" as they say today, there at the site day after day, making sure everything is done the way it is supposed to be done. He interfaces with the architects, all the sub-contractors, workers, his own management team and the clients. It is a huge, complicated job which requires incredible attention to detail, constantly evaluating the process and updating it, often drawing plans which the architect has failed to provide, solving problems that arise on the spot, etc. We were impressed and Ellen is pretty proud of her son! It seems to be the perfect job for him which fully utilizes all his experience building two houses, but also uses his organizational skills. Here is a photo of an architects rendering of the final product, a shot of a set of plans, and a current on-site view of work in progress.

Artist's rendering of house

Site plan

Work in progress

Homebodies

DAYS 28-30: These have been lovely days just staying close to "home" at Paul and Jenny's. Max has been a homebody too - we asked him what he wanted to do most and he said, "just stay home and play." So that's what we've done, and boy have we enjoyed that.  We've had some lovely meals on the back deck in the evening - both Jenny and Ellen have prepared some fine food.

We went to the Alpine Farmer's Market, which is a small affair compared to Brattleboro, but for us it featured The Day Lodge Farm Stand - the "Day Lodge" being the place where Jenny works. Today we drove to Etna (4 miles) and got a creamie - Wow!- that's been the pace.

 Ellen and I have enjoyed short walks up the hill behind the house. Also, all along, I've been working hard on the "Tolles Project" -- transcribing the 278-page manuscript that Ellen's father, Frederick B. Tolles,  created back in the late 1950's - a history of early colonial America that has never seen the light of day before - but my hope is that now it will, at least for the Tolles family. I finished Chapter 3 today - about the Puritans and the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Very interesting! 215 pages down, only 63 to go!

We've watched quite a bit of the Olympics too. 

Tomorrow we'll take Max to church at the United Church of Star Valley, where he LOVES the nursery playroom, and we like the pastor,  Rev. Steve Crittendon. We're scheduled to stay in a cabin in Yellowstone N.P. Wed. and Thurs. of next week, and then we start the long trek home.

"Home" in Alpine, WY

Jenny, Ellen, Paul and Max at Market

Just after a berry-yogurt popsicle

Max & Truck

Back in Alpine

DAY 27: We're back in Alpine after our trip to Boise and Salem. All went well. Monday, in Boise,  we participated in a conference sponsored by the Idaho End-of-Life Coalition (a.k.a. the Idaho Quality of Life Coalition). Ellen and I  spoke briefly as a part of a presentation by the Boise Hospice Singers, and we joined in the singing. The event took place in the student center at Boise State College, so we got to see a bit of Boise State.

Yesterday before leaving Boise we visited a Human Rights Memorial dedicated to Anne Franck which has a large number of quotations carved into stone drawn from many individuals and traditions  - all lifting up the importance of human rights and dignity.  We were glad we made the visit. Be sure to revisit the Thomas Condon post - I've added some photos.

The trip back to Alpine yesterday was hot! We have been seeing temperatures consistently in the 90's over the much of the trip. But as we came into Alpine, the temp dropped to 70. Last night we had very nice air.  It is bright and sunny today but the air is still low humidity and cooler.

Idaho Human Rights Memorial

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